Health Mental

Unholy Religion

Published on by Jim

From a web page titled “All Have Sinned” (http://www.santacruzbible.org/findingGod/allHaveSinned.php)

Man is SINFUL and SEPARATED from God, so we cannot know Him personally or experience His love

Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Romans 6:23 “The wages of sin is death” [spiritual separation from God].

Romans 8:6-8 “The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.”

A great gulf separates man from God. Man is continually trying to reach God and establish a personal relationship with Him through human efforts, such as living a good life, philosophy, attending church or religion. But he inevitably fails.

I find this as a sick attitude or should I say, following a sick doctrine from a sick individual.The apostle Paul who wrote the above mentioned doctrine admitted that he did not get it (Philippians 3:12) so he was what Jesus called the “blind leading the blind” who “neither enters the kingdom of heaven nor allows others to”.(Matthew 15:14, 23:13)

From a more intelligent perspective, to tell people that they are ‘fallen’ or separate from God or failures or sinners or anything like that is to destroy any faith they might find in themselves to be good and healthy beings.

This doctrine is “of the sick, by the sick, for the sick” and adds nothing to humanity.It does not come from a place of love (God), but instead comes from a place of fear (Satan) and judgment.

This is NOT Jesus’ teachings but the teachings of one who used to identify with those that diabolically opposed Jesus in his time (the Pharisees).Pharisees like Saul of Tarsus (the one called the apostle Paul) wanted to rout out any who would actually follow Jesus’ suggestion and came instead to bring them back to “sound doctrine”.But Paul’s doctrine is not sound or health, at least not today by today’s standards.It might have been better for people then what they had back in his day, but today only the sickest would consider it healthy doctrine.

And yet, it is taught here in an educated society as ‘sound doctrine’.I find that this is possible only because we have a taboo about questioning people’s “faith”, even if that is not faith but faithlessness.The only reason somebody would believe Paul’s faithless doctrine is because they DO NOT have faith in Jesus’ more faithful doctrine or ways of thinking.Where Jesus advocated that people “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48), which means they NOT think of themselves as sinners, Paul encourages people to think of themselves as sinner.These are diabolically opposed positions and any church that follows Paul’s way is following the way of the antichrist, or what we call today Christ-anti; Christianity.

To the Christian mind this is ridiculous because they have been programmed all their lives to see themselves and everybody as sinners.But to a healthy mind this is obvious.

Of course, Jesus came to save the sinners, for they were the ones who are still gullible enough to believe they are sinners.Those of us who are righteous do not need to be saved, for we can see that we were never imperiled.

Atheists

Published on by Jim

I find that atheist tend to “throw the baby out with the bath water” in that they reject the god concept while missing the underlining REASON for creating the concept of god. The etymology of the title “Holy Bible” shows that it means Health Book; meaning that it was a primitive attempt by primitive people to share what they had learned that was healthy for the mind, body and society. Atheists tend to miss this all together.

But one of the unhealthy aspects of religion is the belief in a personal creator god that rules the universe, for this belief in that leads to wars, torture, murder, terrorism and all kinds of suffering in the person, in society and for the planet itself.

So I feel that the idea is to get people to focus on a healthy DISCUSSION of OUR ways of thinking and our lifestyle choices and away from the superstition of theism.

Unfortunately, theists do not seem healthy enough to look at deep issues like this, so how do we get their attention, or how do we circumvent their unhealthy efforts to reach the youth of the world or those who would be open to it?

I want to raise the level of debate in the world but I am not sure how to do that, short of writing a book about it and going on the speaking trail.

Judge Me, Please!

Published on by Jim

I want to improve myself and my ability to help people be healthier and happier. Your comments and criticism are appreciated, either here or at YouTube.

I want to hear people’s criticism and judgments.I recognize that they cannot hurt me, only MY REACTIONS to words and thoughts can cause me harm.I have overcome my unhealthy habit of reacting to words and thoughts so now I am open to what others have to share with me.AND, I can show others how to get free from their habitual reactions to words and thoughts.

If you like the ideas I have presented here then please share them with others.

Educating the Heart

Published on by Jim

The author is Melvin McLeod.

This article was NOT WRITTEN by the Dali Lama, but ABOUT him and his talks. I find that in this type of situation the writer sometimes does not convey the true mean or intent of the speaker.  Nor do many writers understand the words used and their INTENT, which is important.)

Here are some quotes from the article that I like and then my comments:

He doesn’t deny the reality of our differences or the inevitability of conflict. What’s important is how we choose to react. (referring to the Dali Lama)

A lot of the Dali Lama article seems to be focused on how people relate to others.  There is little to no discussion on how we relate to OURSELVES.Are we being compassionate with OURSELVES? Or are we beating ourselves us with our emotional reactions to what life is offering us?If we do not FIRST have compassion for ourselves then we will not be in any shape to care about and have compassion for others.

“And your empathy can be extended further, eventually towards your enemy. Your enemies may disagree with you, may be harming you, but in another aspect, they are still another human being like you. They also have the right not to suffer and to find happiness. If your empathy can extend out like that, it is unbiased, genuine compassion.”

THIS I fully agree with.

Interestingly, the next paragraph the writer (not the Dali Lama) talks about “the three poisons of passion, aggression, and ignorance.”This shows the ignorance of the writer in that he included passion as a poison.Without passion there can be no com-passion.

“This touches on the very definition of what we mean by compassion,” the Dalai Lama replied. “At the heart of compassion is our response to someone else’s suffering. The first point is their immediate suffering, and at another level is the causes or conditions of the suffering. Maybe it is wiser to develop compassion toward people who are creating the causes of their future suffering. That’s wiser, because compassion can bring preventive measures. Immediate suffering has already happened—we feel a sense of concern, but sometimes nothing can be done. Maybe our efforts should be to prevent these kinds of things in the future.”

This is what I talk about the most, Preventative Compassion, a compassion that confronts the CAUSES of injury BEFORE they happen.Sometimes bringing about crisis is the most compassionate way to wake people up to their habits that are causing the suffering.Confrontation is just bring forth the truth of what is happening so confrontation is a healthy way to wake people up to their unhealthy habits.

“The basis of compassion for others is compassion for oneself,” he said. “If you don’t have the natural wish to be freed from your own suffering, you won’t be able to empathize with others’ experience of suffering. Therefore, the basis is compassion for oneself.”

YES, absolutely.My point exactly.

I wrote about Dynamic Compassion yesterday in my blog.You can read it below and may see some differences between my perspective, which I would call a more holistic perspective, and the Buddhist’s perspective.

Fear of Self

Published on by Jim

Today I am struck by how people are so afraid of themselves. Everywhere I go I see people afraid. At first they seem afraid of me if they know anything about me, and sometimes even if they do not know anything about me.

I see this as a “problem” within society but here in lies the rub; maybe this ‘problem’ is only in MY mind. When I speak about this ‘problem’ with other people they only run from the discussion, so I speak about it more saying that people’s running from discussions is a symptom of the ‘problem’. The more I speak about it the more people seem to be afraid of me.

On the other hand, I recognize that I have had this same ‘problem’ myself and I found a solution to that problem: meditation or practicing relaxing around words, thoughts and ideas. I have found that what I make important I create tension around, so to relax I let go of making anything important. In order to share my insights with people I have to make them important, which creates tension or fear.

This is all a vicious cycle or a Catch-22 type situation.

I suppose that I just have to play with the dilemma; talk about it and then let it go.

Stopping the Spin

Published on by Jim

When emotional drama becomes too much and you feel you are traumatizing yourself (injuring yourself), stop the spin of the drama by getting back to a place of stillness and the clarity that it brings. When you are uptight or tense it is difficult to find clarity and peace of mind. The following steps or perspectives will enable you to relax and regain the clarity, peace and wholeness you are seeking:

SIMPLIFY

  • Get back into the PRESENT MOMENT. Get back into the Here and Now. Recognize that you are experiencing life in the present; the past is but memory and cannot hurt you, the future is just imagination and is not real. “What is the situation right now and here?”
  • Recognize that when you are upset or experiencing an emotional drama you cannot possibly help or benefit another. FIRST CONCERN YOURSELF WITH YOURSELF. “What am I doing that is upsetting myself?” You cannot love another until you can love yourself.

SOFTEN Yourself:

  • Become aware of your body and be aware of your BREATH. Feel where the tension is located in your body and breathe into it to relax and let go of the tension.
  • Recognize that outside of this moment and this place you really DON’T KNOW anything. “Only don’t know.” “Dwell in a cloud of unknowing.” Be innocent like a child.
  • Get a bigger perspective. Expand your consciousness and recognize that whatever your problems are, they are NOT REALLY THAT IMPORTANT in the big picture of life. “Nothing that ever has happened or could happen on this puny speck of dust in the universe, that we call Earth, could ever really be important.”

Remember to SMILE:

  • Look at whatever your situation is and feel an acceptance or YESness toward it. It is the attitude of No-ness (disagree, dislike, etc.) that is our resistance or fear of the Perfect Reality that we have manifested.
  • Practice APPRECIATION of what you are experiencing. The attitude of appreciation leads to Joy and Love. What all people want is the lightness of enjoying and loving life.

Allow for STILLNESS:

  • It is in the Stillness, Rest and Peace that we gain the clarity that enables us to perceive the truth that will set us free to fully enjoy and love what life is offering.
  • With CLARITY we are better able to perceive and assess what is really happening, enabling us to choose the path of least resistance to a more full or WHOLE LIFE EXPERIENCE.

Your quality of life is up to you.
The choice is yours, the power to choose comes with practice.