Losing My Religion For Equality
by Jimmy Carter
July 15, 2009
Women and girls have been discriminated against for too long in a twisted interpretation of the word of God.
I have been a practising Christian all my life and a deacon and Bible teacher for many years. My faith is a source of strength and comfort to me, as religious beliefs are to hundreds of millions of people around the world. So my decision to sever my ties with the Southern Baptist Convention, after six decades, was painful and difficult. It was, however, an unavoidable decision when the convention's leaders, quoting a few carefully selected Bible verses and claiming that Eve was created second to Adam and was responsible for original sin, ordained that women must be "subservient" to their husbands and prohibited from serving as deacons, pastors or chaplains in the military service.
This view that women are somehow inferior to men is not restricted to one religion or belief. Women are prevented from playing a full and equal role in many faiths. Nor, tragically, does its influence stop at the walls of the church, mosque, synagogue or temple. This discrimination, unjustifiably attributed to a Higher Authority, has provided a reason or excuse for the deprivation of women's equal rights across the world for centuries.
At its most repugnant, the belief that women must be subjugated to the wishes of men excuses slavery, violence, forced prostitution, genital mutilation and national laws that omit rape as a crime. But it also costs many millions of girls and women control over their own bodies and lives, and continues to deny them fair access to education, health, employment and influence within their own communities.
The impact of these religious beliefs touches every aspect of our lives. They help explain why in many countries boys are educated before girls; why girls are told when and whom they must marry; and why many face enormous and unacceptable risks in pregnancy and childbirth because their basic health needs are not met.
In some Islamic nations, women are restricted in their movements, punished for permitting the exposure of an arm or ankle, deprived of education, prohibited from driving a car or competing with men for a job. If a woman is raped, she is often most severely punished as the guilty party in the crime.
The same discriminatory thinking lies behind the continuing gender gap in pay and why there are still so few women in office in the West. The root of this prejudice lies deep in our histories, but its impact is felt every day. It is not women and girls alone who suffer. It damages all of us. The evidence shows that investing in women and girls delivers major benefits for society. An educated woman has healthier children. She is more likely to send them to school. She earns more and invests what she earns in her family.
It is simply self-defeating for any community to discriminate against half its population. We need to challenge these self-serving and outdated attitudes and practices - as we are seeing in Iran where women are at the forefront of the battle for democracy and freedom.
I understand, however, why many political leaders can be reluctant about stepping into this minefield. Religion, and tradition, are powerful and sensitive areas to challenge. But my fellow Elders and I, who come from many faiths and backgrounds, no longer need to worry about winning votes or avoiding controversy - and we are deeply committed to challenging injustice wherever we see it.
The Elders are an independent group of eminent global leaders, brought together by former South African president Nelson Mandela, who offer their influence and experience to support peace building, help address major causes of human suffering and promote the shared interests of humanity. We have decided to draw particular attention to the responsibility of religious and traditional leaders in ensuring equality and human rights and have recently published a statement that declares: "The justification of discrimination against women and girls on grounds of religion or tradition, as if it were prescribed by a Higher Authority, is unacceptable."
We are calling on all leaders to challenge and change the harmful teachings and practices, no matter how ingrained, which justify discrimination against women. We ask, in particular, that leaders of all religions have the courage to acknowledge and emphasise the positive messages of dignity and equality that all the world's major faiths share.
The carefully selected verses found in the Holy Scriptures to justify the superiority of men owe more to time and place - and the determination of male leaders to hold onto their influence - than eternal truths. Similar biblical excerpts could be found to support the approval of slavery and the timid acquiescence to oppressive rulers.
I am also familiar with vivid descriptions in the same Scriptures in which women are revered as pre-eminent leaders. During the years of the early Christian church women served as deacons, priests, bishops, apostles, teachers and prophets. It wasn't until the fourth century that dominant Christian leaders, all men, twisted and distorted Holy Scriptures to perpetuate their ascendant positions within the religious hierarchy.
The truth is that male religious leaders have had - and still have - an option to interpret holy teachings either to exalt or subjugate women. They have, for their own selfish ends, overwhelmingly chosen the latter. Their continuing choice provides the foundation or justification for much of the pervasive persecution and abuse of women throughout the world. This is in clear violation not just of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights but also the teachings of Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul, Moses and the prophets, Muhammad, and founders of other great religions - all of whom have called for proper and equitable treatment of all the children of God. It is time we had the courage to challenge these views.
Jimmy Carter was president of the United States from 1977 to 1981.
The Age
******************************************************************************I took this article is from Dale Allen's August Newsletter
In Our Right Minds.com
Guiding Women to Their Strength as Leaders
Leading Men to Strength Without Armor - by Dale Allen*
Our Call Rises: WE GATHER THE WOMEN; the drummers, the dancers, the singers, the healers, the priestesses, the dreamers, the weavers, the mystical and wise ones. We call the young ones, the mothers, the seekers, the elders, the women who know that their power, their visions and essence are needed in all forms of expression for the balance of life now. This women's gathering is a deep exploration of our visions, voice, magic, intentions, and our place here on the planet sharing stories and inspiration that will help guide and sustain us during these times. Daughters of the Earth Gathering calls women of many ages to show up in their leadership for a collaborative experience where our own commitment creates a deep container for us to be together.
***********
You may contact Dale Allen @
Dale Allen Productions, LLC | PO Box 12 | Fairfield | CT | 06825
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Monday, August 3, 2009
HEALING AND WHOLENESS
Spiritual Healing and Wholeness
by Rev. Ann Emerson
Love the Gift of Peace
Love is not something you do, Love is a way of being. And more than that is simply being, being with another person, however that may be. Holding no judgments, having no agendas, no desire to control, no need to prove you love, no intrusion upon their soul. Nothing but total acceptance of their being, born of your acceptance of yours.
“The day will come when after harnessing the winds, the tides and gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of Love. And on that day, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.”
-- Teilhard de Chardin
The Spiritual Path
the Way to
Healing and Wholeness
“What if we weren’t alone after all?
What if you were really a fragment of a
Great and glorious mind
Like an individual wave
Is part of the magnificent ocean.”
by Joan Borysenko
Then any thing would be possible.
Illness is a crossroads in ones life. A time to take stock in your life. It can become a time of awakening and renewal if you will develop a spiritual path to follow.
A spiritual path is not better than modern medicine. It is a complement to medicine.
Prayer, meditation, medications, and surgery are all a blessing, a grace, a gift.
Why not use all of them, with reverence and gratitude. Teilhard de Chardin, the Jesuit priest and scholar said “Scientific research is the highest form of adoration.”
Without faith in universal order science would not be possible. Faith is the foundation of both science and prayer.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said “Religion that is afraid of science dishonors God and commits suicide.”
A spiritual path takes you on a journey to a deeper knowing of self and a deeper connection with universal life energy which is called Ki – (Japanese), Chi – (Chinese), Divine light – (Christian) and Prana – (Hindi).
This universal life energy comes from a Supreme Being or other names that are used are The Absolute – God – Allah – Krishna – Brahman – The Tao – The Universal mind – The Alpha and The Omega – The One – Higher Power. In Hebrew, the name of God can not be written or spoken.
Lighter and Happier
With this holy path you will learn to open your heart to yourself. As you do this you will learn to shed the burden of judgments and old angers you hold about yourself and others. This process will help you feel much lighter and happier.
Your Life is Important
You will understand the richness and beauty of your own life. You are part of a Sacred Dance with pure life force always flowing throughout your whole being. Your life is important – you have special gifts to give and receive in this lifetime.
Life Filled with Richness
As you find a deeper understanding, of the richness of who you are – you will relinquish your need for approval from others, and you will learn to forgive past errors. You cannot grow without taking risks and in those risks there are errors made. That is the human condition. You will become inner directed, not outer directed. This will bring a new freedom into your life.
New Joys
Understanding that you are a sacred being will help you replace rear-motivated behavior with love-motivated behavior. As you become skilled in this, it will bring new joys in your life.
Inner Wisdom
Human beings need time to be silent. You will learn to silence your mind with meditation. You can learn how to quiet your inner dialogue, be guided and learn about your own inner wisdom rather than externally imposed interpretations of what is or is not good for you.
Inner Peace
You will learn to connect to the core of your being. Your soul is that unique part of you that is connected to the Godhead with you. Every human being can develop skills to make the connection. There are skills you learn to make the connection. Meditation is one form to learn to release stress and acquire inner peace.
On a spiritual journey, you learn that all of life is interconnected and the physical world mirrors the process of your own consciousness.
Modern physicist, Mac Planck, whose discoveries set the stage for the quantum-relativistic revolution in physics, saw that religion and science were naturally intertwined. He said, “There can never be any real opposition between religion and science; for one is the complement of the other. Every serious and reflective person realizes, I think, that the religious element in nature must be recognized and cultivated if all the powers of the human soul are to act in perfect balance and harmony. And indeed it is not by any accident that the greatest thinkers of all ages were also deeply religious souls, even though they made no public show of their religious feelings...
Every advance in knowledge brings us face to face with the mystery of our own being.”
Seeking the spirit within is a place to grow and to heal and to enjoy life more fully.
As the speed of modern life increases, it is imperative to stay in touch with our deepest feelings by listening, carefully to our body as it holds the truth for our health and well being. Our body is the vessel for our life force. If we treat it badly it becomes dull and we are unable to channel divine life force. This divine energy is available to us at all times. When the body has become dim and dull it becomes unable to receive. Then the light of life cannot flow brightly through us. It is as if we have turned down low the electromagnetic field that runs throughout our whole body and our energy field that surrounds our body. The field of energy that surrounds our body is called our aura.
We need to keep our body healthy and receptive. Our body is the sacred vessel that connects us to Spirit, the universe, other human beings and all other life forms.
When we are fully open to universal life energy we feel enriched, nourished and refreshed, connected to our core. We become centered and opened to our own soul and the many gifts of being fully alive. Then we can witness miracles and have the ability to accept them in our own lives.
“To be fully alive means – to be new –
to be fresh at every moment
as though one had just issued from
the hand of God”
Five Keys
To Healing and Wholeness
When you become ill, it is time to focus on yourself for a while.
The keys are simple to state, but they take great skill and determination to follow:
1. Self Love – caring for yourself before you care for others…often when you do this your own expression in loving others becomes more pure.
Most of us are not trained to care for ourselves first. This means we do not care for our own personal environment. Things like eating well, getting enough rest, being careful about not being with toxic people and in toxic environments. Taking time for developing spiritually in our lives with meditation, prayer, time in nature, sacred music, and times of silence.
2. Allowing others to be who they are and you to be who you are. This means letting go of your expectations and demands as to what your relationships and life should look like. Learning to let go of others expectations and demands if the are harming you in any way.
“Going with the flow” or “Letting go and letting God” are tow phrases that speak well to this second step.
3. Forgiving Others FOR HOW YOU PERCEIVE THEY HAVE HARMED YOU. You can forgive the person, but not the act that harmed you. Unforgiveness holds you in bondage. It is for your own health and well-being that you forgive. This also means stopping those who are hurting you now, learning to make strong boundaries for you own protection.
4. Forgiving Yourself for any mistakes you have made. It is own human to make errors. In fact it is impossible to live life without error. We are all constantly evolving, the key is to learn from your errors.
When we look into the difficult situations of our live, we can see we had an important part in creating them. When we look deeply into our lives we see the hardest things we go through also add the most insight, compassion and wisdom to our lives.
If you are caught in unforgiveness of self and others, your own energy is not fully available for you life and your healing. Forgive yourself and others in the situations and move on.
Living fully in the NOW, not in the past or the future will awaken you to a sense of a new freedom in your life. The NOW moment is all we really have. The past is just a memory, the future is just a vision or a dream.
5. Gratitude - seeing what is rich and good around you and seeing the lessons in what is hard. The greatest time of growth is when things are hard. We often do not look for new ideas and new ways of being if life is good.
“The reason why love and compassion bring the greatest happiness is simply that our nature cherishes them above all else.
The need for love lies at the very foundation of human existence. It results from the profound interdependence we all share with one another.”
-- The Dalai Lama
“To forgive is to abandon your right to pay back the perpetrator in his own coin – but it is a loss that liberates the victim.”
-- Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Mastery of these 5 Keys to
Healing and Wholeness
is a lifetime job.
Opening to the Spiritual in Your Life
Spirit is something that cannot be seen but can be experienced.
In the poetic words of an anonymous teacher “There is a force that is unfathomable – omnipresent – unnameable – and omniscient.”
This intelligence and loving force stands behind manifestation.
Spirituality is the label we use to describe what occurs when we connect with the source.
By opening to our spiritual nature – we open to the New and Unexpected.
Ernest Kurts and Katherine Ketcham authors of The Spirituality of Imperfection put it this way:
“Spirituality – points always beyond –
Beyond the ordinary –
Beyond possessions –
Beyond the narrow confines of self –
And above all beyond expectations.”
As we age, all of us have had many trials and losses and many external demands that have wounded us. Our vital energy gets redirected, blocked, submerged from physical – emotional – mental and social disturbances.
Illness is a tension in our tone and vibration – also dissonant tones in movement and voice.
The word healing comes from the root word in Anglo-Saxon ....Hal which means – Whole – Hale or Hearty also – Holy – Wholeness.
Healing is the reorganization, reintegration of things that have come apart.
What is a Miracle?
A Miracle is a spontaneous shift in reality – brought about by a shift in the vibrational energy in our body and in our aura. The aura is the field of energy around our body.
St. Augustine said –
“Miracles happen not in opposition to nature
but in opposition to what we know about nature.”
In Christianity there is a story about a woman who had been bleeding for years and she touched the hem of Jesus’ cloak and she was healed.
She touched the higher vibration field that flowed around and off of Him and into her and she was healed.
Even today, people receive Miraculous healings just by being in the presence of the energy of an advanced being.
The Dalai Lama is a profound Buddhist Leader and master teacher, and just being in his presence some people receive healing without prayer or by being touched by him.
Let me share a beautiful prayer
By Joan Borysenko
“I am a child of the one light
the wisdom of the entire universe
is present within me.”
The 7 Levels
You will move through to
Your healing
This is not a straight path from number one through number seven but a journey moving back and forth through the steps. Each of us must find our own way. That becomes your unique spiritual journey back to health and wholeness.
1. Denial - The beginning of emotional, physical, mental or spiritual trauma. Denial is used to forget the experience and provide physical comfort and safety. We become numb. Energy becomes blocked and produces enough pain so we must just close down. There appears to be a direct relationship of numbing out memories and physical pain in the body so that we can survive.
Therefore, it appears the first level of healing is to experience (but not yet on a conscious level) what we have buried. It is what is hidden that leave us feeling unstable, weakened and ill.
If we stay at this level it reduces the possibility for our personal growth.
2. Self Blame - The beginning of healing that may last minutes or decades. Self blame produces awareness of the issues and may evoke anger. Energy seems to be moving and is often felt in the body with high levels of intensity. The purpose of this level of healing is to have us notice the pain and to move towards self love and self acceptance and desire to find creative solutions for our lives.
3. Blaming Others – Feeling the victim, bargaining to understand why this experience is in our life. The third level of healing also produces intense pain that comes in patterns associated with the intensity of our fear of becoming a victim. The purpose of this level is to teach us clarity so that we might understand the situation clearly.
4. Indignation – Self righteousness, how dare you! This level typically creates muscle spasms and unbalanced muscle functions. Because this level creates feeling of depression, we tend to retreat into ourselves. This provides the opportunity to allow us to move towards accepting our relationships and learning to receive and give love at a deeper level.
5. Surviving – allows us to accept the experience and understand that we have survived the event or events. Energy begins to move more freely and we feel a lessening or healing of the pain. The purpose of this experience is to allow us to develop our own personal truth.
6. Integrating the Experience –what can we learn from the experience? The sixth level permits integration of the experience into our wisdom and brings our body to a higher vibration. We feel a new openness and begin to see new possibilities to explore.
Many people use this level of healing as a re-birthing of who we are and for finding the purpose for their lives.
7. Understanding the Serendipity of Life – the definition of Serendipity from The American Heritage dictionary is; “The faculty of making fortunate and unexpected discoveries by accident.”
Understanding the serendipity of life moves us from the physical realm of understanding and connects us with the Divine Mind – The Absolute – as we begin to vibrate at the higher frequencies of clear light. It is at this point that we learn how we function within the great patterns of the serendipity of life. This experience allows us to become clear about our part in the perfection of life and how we relate to others. We realize that we have become willing participants in the serendipity of life to teach ourselves and others. We see the wisdom that comes from the consequences of life. Life is perfect – it is only our own belief systems that make that untrue.
Here is an old adage; God is a circle whose circumference is everywhere and whose center is in every person.
Prayer from the Unity Church :
The Light of God surrounds me
The Love of God enfolds me
The Power of God Protects me
The Presence of God watches over me
Wherever I am – God is
Religious beliefs from around the world –
All That Is – is within you
Judaism: Create in me a clean heart, O God and put a new right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Your presence, and take not the Holy spirit from me.
Christianity: Jesus being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, he answered them, “The Kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, Lo, here it is! Or There! For behold there it is. The Kingdom of God is within you.” (i.e. Here and now, we do not have to wait.)
Islam - Mohammed: “He who knows himself knows God.”
Buddhism – Buddha: “The light of the truth within me enlightened me.”
Hinduism: - “It is impossible to find God outside ourselves. Our own souls contribute all of the divinity that is outside of us. We are the greatest temple. The objectification is only a faint imitation of what we see within ourselves.”
Sikhism – Guru Nanak: ”As fragrance abides in the flower, as the reflection is within the mirror, so does the Lord abide within you, Why search him/her without?”
Native American: The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of humans when they realize their relationship, their oneness, with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells in Wakan-Tanka (God). That this center is really everywhere, it is “within each of us.” This is the real peace, and the others are the reflection of this. The second peace is made between two individuals. The third peace is between two nations. But above all you should understand that there can never be peace between nations until there is first known “within the souls of humans.”
Zoroastrism – Zoroaster: “One need not scale the heights of the heavens nor travel along the highways of the world to find Ahura Masda (God). With purity of mind and holiness of heart one can find it in one’s own heart.”
Questions to reflect upon
to develop your connection to the divine within you.
1. What gives me life?
2. What lifts us into wholeness?
3. What enhances our being?
4. What introduces us to transcendence?
5. What calls us beyond our limits?
6. What do we ultimately value?
Poet and writer – Marianne Williamson: “As we become purer channels for God’s light, we develop an appetite for the sweetness that is possible in the world. A Miracle worker is not geared toward fighting the world that is, but toward creating the world that could be.”
The Christian Prayer of St. Francis:
“Lord, Make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is despair, faith;
Where there is double, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, Joy.
Oh Divine Master
Grant that I may not seek to be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love.
For it is in the giving that we receive;
It is in the pardoning, that we are pardoned;
And it is in the dying that we are born to eternal life.”
Let me share this meditation to open you to God’s love and presence in your life. Use it early in the morning and at night just before you go to sleep.
May I be safe
May I be healthy and strong
May I care for myself easily
May I have peace of mind
I am whole – I am holy
Gandhi’s grandson stayed 18 months with his grandfather. The day he was leaving his grandfather handed him a paper with these thoughts on it.
SEVEN BLUNDERS THE WORLD MAKES THAT LEAD TO VIOLENCE
1. Wealth without work
2. Pleasure without conscience
3. Knowledge without character
4. Commerce without morality
5. Science without humanity
6. Worship without sacrifice
7. Politics without principals
His grandson added:
8. Rights without responsibility
Four other quotes by Gandhi –
1. “There is more than enough for everybody’s need but not enough for everybody’s greed.”
2. “Live simply that others may simply live.”
3. “Be the changes you want to see in the world.”
4. On Gandhi’s gravestone: “Think of the poorest person you have ever seen and ask if your next act will be of any use to him.”
Peace is not the absence of war but the presence of a higher evolution of human awareness with respect and trust and integrity toward all humankind.
The Universal Golden Rule
Brahmanism
This the sum of duty; do naught unto others which would cause you pain if done unto you. (Mahabharata 5, 1517)
Buddhism
Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful. (Udana-Varga 5, 18)
Christianity
Therefore all things whatsoever yea would that men should do to you, do yea even so to them: for this is the law of the prophets. (Matthew 7:12)
Confucianism
Surely it is the maxim of loving-kindness:
Do not unto others that you would not have them do unto you.
Islam
No one is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself (Sunnah)
Judaism
What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man. That is the entire Law; All the rest is commentary.
Taoism
Regard your neighbor’s gains as your gain and your neighbor’s loss as your own loss. (T’ai Shang Kan Ying P’ien)
Zoroastrianism
That nature alone is good which refrains from doing unto another whatsoever is not good for itself. (Dadistan-i-dinik 94-5)
and George Bernard Shaw
Do not do unto others as you would that they do unto you.
Their tastes may not be the same (1903).
Meister Eckhart, a great 13th century German Christian mystic said:
“Whoever perceives something in God and attaches thereby some name to him, that is not God. God is... ineffable. And it is God’s nature to be without nature.”
God’s universal truths surfaces in all cultures and rings in our hearts when we hear them.
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The Shift is Now
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by Rev. Ann Emerson
Love the Gift of Peace
Love is not something you do, Love is a way of being. And more than that is simply being, being with another person, however that may be. Holding no judgments, having no agendas, no desire to control, no need to prove you love, no intrusion upon their soul. Nothing but total acceptance of their being, born of your acceptance of yours.
“The day will come when after harnessing the winds, the tides and gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of Love. And on that day, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.”
-- Teilhard de Chardin
The Spiritual Path
the Way to
Healing and Wholeness
“What if we weren’t alone after all?
What if you were really a fragment of a
Great and glorious mind
Like an individual wave
Is part of the magnificent ocean.”
by Joan Borysenko
Then any thing would be possible.
Illness is a crossroads in ones life. A time to take stock in your life. It can become a time of awakening and renewal if you will develop a spiritual path to follow.
A spiritual path is not better than modern medicine. It is a complement to medicine.
Prayer, meditation, medications, and surgery are all a blessing, a grace, a gift.
Why not use all of them, with reverence and gratitude. Teilhard de Chardin, the Jesuit priest and scholar said “Scientific research is the highest form of adoration.”
Without faith in universal order science would not be possible. Faith is the foundation of both science and prayer.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said “Religion that is afraid of science dishonors God and commits suicide.”
A spiritual path takes you on a journey to a deeper knowing of self and a deeper connection with universal life energy which is called Ki – (Japanese), Chi – (Chinese), Divine light – (Christian) and Prana – (Hindi).
This universal life energy comes from a Supreme Being or other names that are used are The Absolute – God – Allah – Krishna – Brahman – The Tao – The Universal mind – The Alpha and The Omega – The One – Higher Power. In Hebrew, the name of God can not be written or spoken.
Lighter and Happier
With this holy path you will learn to open your heart to yourself. As you do this you will learn to shed the burden of judgments and old angers you hold about yourself and others. This process will help you feel much lighter and happier.
Your Life is Important
You will understand the richness and beauty of your own life. You are part of a Sacred Dance with pure life force always flowing throughout your whole being. Your life is important – you have special gifts to give and receive in this lifetime.
Life Filled with Richness
As you find a deeper understanding, of the richness of who you are – you will relinquish your need for approval from others, and you will learn to forgive past errors. You cannot grow without taking risks and in those risks there are errors made. That is the human condition. You will become inner directed, not outer directed. This will bring a new freedom into your life.
New Joys
Understanding that you are a sacred being will help you replace rear-motivated behavior with love-motivated behavior. As you become skilled in this, it will bring new joys in your life.
Inner Wisdom
Human beings need time to be silent. You will learn to silence your mind with meditation. You can learn how to quiet your inner dialogue, be guided and learn about your own inner wisdom rather than externally imposed interpretations of what is or is not good for you.
Inner Peace
You will learn to connect to the core of your being. Your soul is that unique part of you that is connected to the Godhead with you. Every human being can develop skills to make the connection. There are skills you learn to make the connection. Meditation is one form to learn to release stress and acquire inner peace.
On a spiritual journey, you learn that all of life is interconnected and the physical world mirrors the process of your own consciousness.
Modern physicist, Mac Planck, whose discoveries set the stage for the quantum-relativistic revolution in physics, saw that religion and science were naturally intertwined. He said, “There can never be any real opposition between religion and science; for one is the complement of the other. Every serious and reflective person realizes, I think, that the religious element in nature must be recognized and cultivated if all the powers of the human soul are to act in perfect balance and harmony. And indeed it is not by any accident that the greatest thinkers of all ages were also deeply religious souls, even though they made no public show of their religious feelings...
Every advance in knowledge brings us face to face with the mystery of our own being.”
Seeking the spirit within is a place to grow and to heal and to enjoy life more fully.
As the speed of modern life increases, it is imperative to stay in touch with our deepest feelings by listening, carefully to our body as it holds the truth for our health and well being. Our body is the vessel for our life force. If we treat it badly it becomes dull and we are unable to channel divine life force. This divine energy is available to us at all times. When the body has become dim and dull it becomes unable to receive. Then the light of life cannot flow brightly through us. It is as if we have turned down low the electromagnetic field that runs throughout our whole body and our energy field that surrounds our body. The field of energy that surrounds our body is called our aura.
We need to keep our body healthy and receptive. Our body is the sacred vessel that connects us to Spirit, the universe, other human beings and all other life forms.
When we are fully open to universal life energy we feel enriched, nourished and refreshed, connected to our core. We become centered and opened to our own soul and the many gifts of being fully alive. Then we can witness miracles and have the ability to accept them in our own lives.
“To be fully alive means – to be new –
to be fresh at every moment
as though one had just issued from
the hand of God”
Five Keys
To Healing and Wholeness
When you become ill, it is time to focus on yourself for a while.
The keys are simple to state, but they take great skill and determination to follow:
1. Self Love – caring for yourself before you care for others…often when you do this your own expression in loving others becomes more pure.
Most of us are not trained to care for ourselves first. This means we do not care for our own personal environment. Things like eating well, getting enough rest, being careful about not being with toxic people and in toxic environments. Taking time for developing spiritually in our lives with meditation, prayer, time in nature, sacred music, and times of silence.
2. Allowing others to be who they are and you to be who you are. This means letting go of your expectations and demands as to what your relationships and life should look like. Learning to let go of others expectations and demands if the are harming you in any way.
“Going with the flow” or “Letting go and letting God” are tow phrases that speak well to this second step.
3. Forgiving Others FOR HOW YOU PERCEIVE THEY HAVE HARMED YOU. You can forgive the person, but not the act that harmed you. Unforgiveness holds you in bondage. It is for your own health and well-being that you forgive. This also means stopping those who are hurting you now, learning to make strong boundaries for you own protection.
4. Forgiving Yourself for any mistakes you have made. It is own human to make errors. In fact it is impossible to live life without error. We are all constantly evolving, the key is to learn from your errors.
When we look into the difficult situations of our live, we can see we had an important part in creating them. When we look deeply into our lives we see the hardest things we go through also add the most insight, compassion and wisdom to our lives.
If you are caught in unforgiveness of self and others, your own energy is not fully available for you life and your healing. Forgive yourself and others in the situations and move on.
Living fully in the NOW, not in the past or the future will awaken you to a sense of a new freedom in your life. The NOW moment is all we really have. The past is just a memory, the future is just a vision or a dream.
5. Gratitude - seeing what is rich and good around you and seeing the lessons in what is hard. The greatest time of growth is when things are hard. We often do not look for new ideas and new ways of being if life is good.
“The reason why love and compassion bring the greatest happiness is simply that our nature cherishes them above all else.
The need for love lies at the very foundation of human existence. It results from the profound interdependence we all share with one another.”
-- The Dalai Lama
“To forgive is to abandon your right to pay back the perpetrator in his own coin – but it is a loss that liberates the victim.”
-- Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Mastery of these 5 Keys to
Healing and Wholeness
is a lifetime job.
Opening to the Spiritual in Your Life
Spirit is something that cannot be seen but can be experienced.
In the poetic words of an anonymous teacher “There is a force that is unfathomable – omnipresent – unnameable – and omniscient.”
This intelligence and loving force stands behind manifestation.
Spirituality is the label we use to describe what occurs when we connect with the source.
By opening to our spiritual nature – we open to the New and Unexpected.
Ernest Kurts and Katherine Ketcham authors of The Spirituality of Imperfection put it this way:
“Spirituality – points always beyond –
Beyond the ordinary –
Beyond possessions –
Beyond the narrow confines of self –
And above all beyond expectations.”
As we age, all of us have had many trials and losses and many external demands that have wounded us. Our vital energy gets redirected, blocked, submerged from physical – emotional – mental and social disturbances.
Illness is a tension in our tone and vibration – also dissonant tones in movement and voice.
The word healing comes from the root word in Anglo-Saxon ....Hal which means – Whole – Hale or Hearty also – Holy – Wholeness.
Healing is the reorganization, reintegration of things that have come apart.
What is a Miracle?
A Miracle is a spontaneous shift in reality – brought about by a shift in the vibrational energy in our body and in our aura. The aura is the field of energy around our body.
St. Augustine said –
“Miracles happen not in opposition to nature
but in opposition to what we know about nature.”
In Christianity there is a story about a woman who had been bleeding for years and she touched the hem of Jesus’ cloak and she was healed.
She touched the higher vibration field that flowed around and off of Him and into her and she was healed.
Even today, people receive Miraculous healings just by being in the presence of the energy of an advanced being.
The Dalai Lama is a profound Buddhist Leader and master teacher, and just being in his presence some people receive healing without prayer or by being touched by him.
Let me share a beautiful prayer
By Joan Borysenko
“I am a child of the one light
the wisdom of the entire universe
is present within me.”
The 7 Levels
You will move through to
Your healing
This is not a straight path from number one through number seven but a journey moving back and forth through the steps. Each of us must find our own way. That becomes your unique spiritual journey back to health and wholeness.
1. Denial - The beginning of emotional, physical, mental or spiritual trauma. Denial is used to forget the experience and provide physical comfort and safety. We become numb. Energy becomes blocked and produces enough pain so we must just close down. There appears to be a direct relationship of numbing out memories and physical pain in the body so that we can survive.
Therefore, it appears the first level of healing is to experience (but not yet on a conscious level) what we have buried. It is what is hidden that leave us feeling unstable, weakened and ill.
If we stay at this level it reduces the possibility for our personal growth.
2. Self Blame - The beginning of healing that may last minutes or decades. Self blame produces awareness of the issues and may evoke anger. Energy seems to be moving and is often felt in the body with high levels of intensity. The purpose of this level of healing is to have us notice the pain and to move towards self love and self acceptance and desire to find creative solutions for our lives.
3. Blaming Others – Feeling the victim, bargaining to understand why this experience is in our life. The third level of healing also produces intense pain that comes in patterns associated with the intensity of our fear of becoming a victim. The purpose of this level is to teach us clarity so that we might understand the situation clearly.
4. Indignation – Self righteousness, how dare you! This level typically creates muscle spasms and unbalanced muscle functions. Because this level creates feeling of depression, we tend to retreat into ourselves. This provides the opportunity to allow us to move towards accepting our relationships and learning to receive and give love at a deeper level.
5. Surviving – allows us to accept the experience and understand that we have survived the event or events. Energy begins to move more freely and we feel a lessening or healing of the pain. The purpose of this experience is to allow us to develop our own personal truth.
6. Integrating the Experience –what can we learn from the experience? The sixth level permits integration of the experience into our wisdom and brings our body to a higher vibration. We feel a new openness and begin to see new possibilities to explore.
Many people use this level of healing as a re-birthing of who we are and for finding the purpose for their lives.
7. Understanding the Serendipity of Life – the definition of Serendipity from The American Heritage dictionary is; “The faculty of making fortunate and unexpected discoveries by accident.”
Understanding the serendipity of life moves us from the physical realm of understanding and connects us with the Divine Mind – The Absolute – as we begin to vibrate at the higher frequencies of clear light. It is at this point that we learn how we function within the great patterns of the serendipity of life. This experience allows us to become clear about our part in the perfection of life and how we relate to others. We realize that we have become willing participants in the serendipity of life to teach ourselves and others. We see the wisdom that comes from the consequences of life. Life is perfect – it is only our own belief systems that make that untrue.
Here is an old adage; God is a circle whose circumference is everywhere and whose center is in every person.
Prayer from the Unity Church :
The Light of God surrounds me
The Love of God enfolds me
The Power of God Protects me
The Presence of God watches over me
Wherever I am – God is
Religious beliefs from around the world –
All That Is – is within you
Judaism: Create in me a clean heart, O God and put a new right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Your presence, and take not the Holy spirit from me.
Christianity: Jesus being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, he answered them, “The Kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, Lo, here it is! Or There! For behold there it is. The Kingdom of God is within you.” (i.e. Here and now, we do not have to wait.)
Islam - Mohammed: “He who knows himself knows God.”
Buddhism – Buddha: “The light of the truth within me enlightened me.”
Hinduism: - “It is impossible to find God outside ourselves. Our own souls contribute all of the divinity that is outside of us. We are the greatest temple. The objectification is only a faint imitation of what we see within ourselves.”
Sikhism – Guru Nanak: ”As fragrance abides in the flower, as the reflection is within the mirror, so does the Lord abide within you, Why search him/her without?”
Native American: The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of humans when they realize their relationship, their oneness, with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells in Wakan-Tanka (God). That this center is really everywhere, it is “within each of us.” This is the real peace, and the others are the reflection of this. The second peace is made between two individuals. The third peace is between two nations. But above all you should understand that there can never be peace between nations until there is first known “within the souls of humans.”
Zoroastrism – Zoroaster: “One need not scale the heights of the heavens nor travel along the highways of the world to find Ahura Masda (God). With purity of mind and holiness of heart one can find it in one’s own heart.”
Questions to reflect upon
to develop your connection to the divine within you.
1. What gives me life?
2. What lifts us into wholeness?
3. What enhances our being?
4. What introduces us to transcendence?
5. What calls us beyond our limits?
6. What do we ultimately value?
Poet and writer – Marianne Williamson: “As we become purer channels for God’s light, we develop an appetite for the sweetness that is possible in the world. A Miracle worker is not geared toward fighting the world that is, but toward creating the world that could be.”
The Christian Prayer of St. Francis:
“Lord, Make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is despair, faith;
Where there is double, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, Joy.
Oh Divine Master
Grant that I may not seek to be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love.
For it is in the giving that we receive;
It is in the pardoning, that we are pardoned;
And it is in the dying that we are born to eternal life.”
Let me share this meditation to open you to God’s love and presence in your life. Use it early in the morning and at night just before you go to sleep.
May I be safe
May I be healthy and strong
May I care for myself easily
May I have peace of mind
I am whole – I am holy
Gandhi’s grandson stayed 18 months with his grandfather. The day he was leaving his grandfather handed him a paper with these thoughts on it.
SEVEN BLUNDERS THE WORLD MAKES THAT LEAD TO VIOLENCE
1. Wealth without work
2. Pleasure without conscience
3. Knowledge without character
4. Commerce without morality
5. Science without humanity
6. Worship without sacrifice
7. Politics without principals
His grandson added:
8. Rights without responsibility
Four other quotes by Gandhi –
1. “There is more than enough for everybody’s need but not enough for everybody’s greed.”
2. “Live simply that others may simply live.”
3. “Be the changes you want to see in the world.”
4. On Gandhi’s gravestone: “Think of the poorest person you have ever seen and ask if your next act will be of any use to him.”
Peace is not the absence of war but the presence of a higher evolution of human awareness with respect and trust and integrity toward all humankind.
The Universal Golden Rule
Brahmanism
This the sum of duty; do naught unto others which would cause you pain if done unto you. (Mahabharata 5, 1517)
Buddhism
Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful. (Udana-Varga 5, 18)
Christianity
Therefore all things whatsoever yea would that men should do to you, do yea even so to them: for this is the law of the prophets. (Matthew 7:12)
Confucianism
Surely it is the maxim of loving-kindness:
Do not unto others that you would not have them do unto you.
Islam
No one is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself (Sunnah)
Judaism
What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man. That is the entire Law; All the rest is commentary.
Taoism
Regard your neighbor’s gains as your gain and your neighbor’s loss as your own loss. (T’ai Shang Kan Ying P’ien)
Zoroastrianism
That nature alone is good which refrains from doing unto another whatsoever is not good for itself. (Dadistan-i-dinik 94-5)
and George Bernard Shaw
Do not do unto others as you would that they do unto you.
Their tastes may not be the same (1903).
Meister Eckhart, a great 13th century German Christian mystic said:
“Whoever perceives something in God and attaches thereby some name to him, that is not God. God is... ineffable. And it is God’s nature to be without nature.”
God’s universal truths surfaces in all cultures and rings in our hearts when we hear them.
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The Shift is Now
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Rev. Ann Emerson bio:
Ann Emerson is the current director of the Sanctuary of Sophia, a peace, justice, and healing center in Mount Dora, Florida.
Ann has been in private practice for over 24 years and has directed or co-directed five different holistic growth centers in both New York and Connecticut. Her newest center is in Mount Dora, Florida.
Before she opened her private practice she spent 14 years teaching in psychiatric hospitals and maximum security prisons in several different states for both men and women.
She has taught thousands of people over her 38 year career.
A spry, witty and energetic 75 year-old mother of five, and grandmother of ten, Ann has pursued a lifelong study combining community, family and spiritual paths. Her family spans four religious traditions: Protestant, Eastern philosophies, Jewish and Roman Catholic.
Rev. Emerson has been an Interfaith minister for over 24 years.
At The Sanctuary of Sophia which is located in Mount Dora Fl. Ann leads advanced meditation groups and teaches advanced energy medicine workshop.
Ann has been in private practice for over 24 years and has directed or co-directed five different holistic growth centers in both New York and Connecticut. Her newest center is in Mount Dora, Florida.
Before she opened her private practice she spent 14 years teaching in psychiatric hospitals and maximum security prisons in several different states for both men and women.
She has taught thousands of people over her 38 year career.
A spry, witty and energetic 75 year-old mother of five, and grandmother of ten, Ann has pursued a lifelong study combining community, family and spiritual paths. Her family spans four religious traditions: Protestant, Eastern philosophies, Jewish and Roman Catholic.
Rev. Emerson has been an Interfaith minister for over 24 years.
At The Sanctuary of Sophia which is located in Mount Dora Fl. Ann leads advanced meditation groups and teaches advanced energy medicine workshop.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Wired for God
WIRED FOR GOD
Why have we humans always longed to connect with something larger than ourselves?
The emerging science of Neurotheology, dedicated to understanding the complex relationship between spirituality and the brain, is finding answers to that very question.
Dr. Andrew Newberg is a pioneer in the field of Neurotheology. His work explores both the miracle and biology involved in the yearning for an enduring relationship with The Divine that all human beings experience.
In every race and religion, there are accounts of people connecting with a Higher Power. Descriptions include, “there is a sense of timelessness and infinity,” and “it feels like I am part of everyone and every thing in existence.” Perhaps you have experienced this connection yourself.
In the book How God Changes Your Brain, authors Dr. Newberg and Mark Waldman use their extensive brain research to map these experiences and provide proof that mystical experiences are biological, observable, and scientifically real. Their work shows that the root of spirituality is intimately interwoven with human biology, and that biology compels the spiritual urge to connect with something larger than ourselves.
The biological basis for the experience exists in the Pineal Gland, referred to by mystics as the Spiritual Gland or God Gland. This tiny gland is protected in the very center of the brain. Its function is still not fully understood by older sciences, though it is believed to regulate diurnal and nocturnal cycles, and is linked to light sensitivity, circadian rhythms, and deeper natural biorhythms. The Vedic Scriptures view the pineal gland as an ultra-refined portal for the movement of energy or spirit from the invisible to the visible. The pineal gland has a unique place in the design of life; it is a conduit for the streaming of consciousness into the physical dimension.
Meditation, prayer and chanting all open the circuits in our brains that expand consciousness, bring clarity of mind, expand reality information, error detection, empathy, compassion, emotional balance, and the suppression of anger and fear. They activate the pineal gland.
To enhance the experience, there are specific steps to follow:
1. Desire to improve a part of your life
2. Have a strong, desired intention
3. Stay focused on your intention, be it consciousness, spiritual knowing, health related, or something else
4. Consciously regulate breathing, posture and some body movement
5. Be consistent in practice
Note: movement is important to opening the circuits in the brain. Moving more parts of the body stimulates more parts of the brain. “Cells that fire together – wire together;” the mantra of Hebbian learning, states that new pathways in the brain are formed as brain/mind expansion occurs.
Brain/Mind Expansion requires three important steps:
1. A conscious commitment to making small improvements every day
2. A good dose of social support to help you honor your commitment
3. A hefty serving of optimism and faith
For more information, check out How God Changes Your Brain by Newberg and Waldman, Stalking the Wild Pendulum – the Mechanics of Consciousness by Itzhak Benton, and Why God Won’t Go Away by Andrew Newberg.
By Rev. Ann Emerson
Rev. Ann Emerson is the Director of The Sanctuary of Sophia - A safe harbor for Spiritual Awakening and Healing - the Center is in Mount Dora, Florida 32757
www.theharmonyproject.org
www.Oneness-Now.net
Reverend Ann Emerson, Interfaith Minister for 25 Years, Director of the Sanctuary of Sophia
Why have we humans always longed to connect with something larger than ourselves?
The emerging science of Neurotheology, dedicated to understanding the complex relationship between spirituality and the brain, is finding answers to that very question.
Dr. Andrew Newberg is a pioneer in the field of Neurotheology. His work explores both the miracle and biology involved in the yearning for an enduring relationship with The Divine that all human beings experience.
In every race and religion, there are accounts of people connecting with a Higher Power. Descriptions include, “there is a sense of timelessness and infinity,” and “it feels like I am part of everyone and every thing in existence.” Perhaps you have experienced this connection yourself.
In the book How God Changes Your Brain, authors Dr. Newberg and Mark Waldman use their extensive brain research to map these experiences and provide proof that mystical experiences are biological, observable, and scientifically real. Their work shows that the root of spirituality is intimately interwoven with human biology, and that biology compels the spiritual urge to connect with something larger than ourselves.
The biological basis for the experience exists in the Pineal Gland, referred to by mystics as the Spiritual Gland or God Gland. This tiny gland is protected in the very center of the brain. Its function is still not fully understood by older sciences, though it is believed to regulate diurnal and nocturnal cycles, and is linked to light sensitivity, circadian rhythms, and deeper natural biorhythms. The Vedic Scriptures view the pineal gland as an ultra-refined portal for the movement of energy or spirit from the invisible to the visible. The pineal gland has a unique place in the design of life; it is a conduit for the streaming of consciousness into the physical dimension.
Meditation, prayer and chanting all open the circuits in our brains that expand consciousness, bring clarity of mind, expand reality information, error detection, empathy, compassion, emotional balance, and the suppression of anger and fear. They activate the pineal gland.
To enhance the experience, there are specific steps to follow:
1. Desire to improve a part of your life
2. Have a strong, desired intention
3. Stay focused on your intention, be it consciousness, spiritual knowing, health related, or something else
4. Consciously regulate breathing, posture and some body movement
5. Be consistent in practice
Note: movement is important to opening the circuits in the brain. Moving more parts of the body stimulates more parts of the brain. “Cells that fire together – wire together;” the mantra of Hebbian learning, states that new pathways in the brain are formed as brain/mind expansion occurs.
Brain/Mind Expansion requires three important steps:
1. A conscious commitment to making small improvements every day
2. A good dose of social support to help you honor your commitment
3. A hefty serving of optimism and faith
For more information, check out How God Changes Your Brain by Newberg and Waldman, Stalking the Wild Pendulum – the Mechanics of Consciousness by Itzhak Benton, and Why God Won’t Go Away by Andrew Newberg.
By Rev. Ann Emerson
Rev. Ann Emerson is the Director of The Sanctuary of Sophia - A safe harbor for Spiritual Awakening and Healing - the Center is in Mount Dora, Florida 32757
www.theharmonyproject.org
www.Oneness-Now.net
Reverend Ann Emerson, Interfaith Minister for 25 Years, Director of the Sanctuary of Sophia
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