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Forgiveness, Forgiving Others, Fear, Conquering Fear, Non-Denominational Prayer, Spiritual Oneness

Fear is the mind-killer.  It blinds us to compassion and merciful judgment.  When someone has done something, or through their inaction and outright rude indifference to your situation, are causing you distress, it is easy to become overwhelmed with negative emotions toward that person or group of people.  We become fearful of what might happen due to these people that we perceive hold power over us and our property or circumstances in our lives.  When we invest that much power in someone else, it can be easy to despise them if they do not do what we want them to do to help us.  It is out of this fear that our hatred can blossom. 

There are others who have simply done us wrong.  They are wrong.  We didn’t deserve that.  What did we do to deserve that?  It is easy to become the victim and to harbor the fear and resentment against those and against other whom we believe have done similar things or who might do such things to us, to hurt us and damage our position in the World.

My father had ulcers.  The doctor said is was because he had stress from his job.  There were people above him that he had said : “did me dirt,” meaning that they had done things to damage his position where he worked.  He felt powerless to do anything about it.  And this affected his health.  He had one very good thing going for him: we was a good worker and had a solid work ethic and no matter what anyone said, he worked hard and smart everyday.  That work ethic saw him through his crises, because in the final analysis, he did good job and the results of his work were irrefutable.  Year later, the ulcers were no more.

How To Take Charge of Your Life and Situation to Begin Forgiving

It can be almost impossible to forgive those who have hurt us or tried to cause us harm or through their inaction, have caused damage to our situation.  What can we do?  First of all, take 3 deep breaths in a quiet room where no one can bother you for at least 30 minutes.  Think about what is happening.  Are there really no other options?  Can you call on someone else to help you?  Perhaps, if you have the financial capability, engage a special consultant to help you solve the problem that you believe is being created by someone that you think is about to hurt you or to cause you, your business, or loved one damage?  You may find that there are plenty of people in the world who love to help those who need their advice, counsel and assistance.  You need to think about who those people and organizations might be, then get on a computer and type in what you think they might be called (if you can obtain access to a computer, or if you have one).  Then, contact those people and organizations through e-mails and phone calls and explain your situation and ask for help and what you might be able to afford to pay them for their assistance.  Some organizations are free, for instance nearly every city in America has unwed mother assistance for free, educational literacy programs and many more.

The point is: think about What You Can Do About It in a positive, constructive manner.  What can you do to take charge of your situation and remove the ability of the decisions of others from adversely affecting you?  Are you working hard and smart? Are you making every day a learning experience so that tomorrow you will not repeat mistakes, but learn from them.  Are you learning how to better get along with other people?  Here’s a great book that every human being needs to read: Dale Carnegie is the author: “How Win Friends and Influence People”.  I first read it when I was a high school senior and unfortunately for me, promptly forgot about it.  Big mistake.  After really creating a mess of many things in my life, I found some recent CDs of Mr. Carnegie’s book and I listened to them while driving in my car.  Wow!  What a transforming experience!   You have to be nice to other people!  You have to ask them questions and Listen to them.  They like that.  They are much more prone to do things that you like if they like you.

Forgiveness Prayer

Dear God, let forgiveness flow to and through em that I may know your grace in my life.

Make me a channel for compassion.  Help me to see through your eyes, please work through my hands.  Help me to know that Love is all that is real.  Specifically, I ask that _________________________________ (your persecutors or wrong-doers) be forgiven and that they and I be released from the bondage of fear, guilt and shame.

Please clear my mind of past stories and events that have taken root and blossomed into limiting, sabotaging beliefs.   Renew my mind and spirit with visions and stories of Light, Love and Laughter. 

I am love; I am peace; I am free.  I am forgiven as are those who I have seen as transgressors, now forevermore.

(we don’t say Amen, because we want to keep the channel to God always open)

much of the forgiveness prayer above is courtesy of spiritual teacher Mark Anthony Lord, with some of our additional words.  We apologize to Mark and take complete responsibility for anything not of his intentions by our additions.

Once You Have Taken Charge, Do Constructive Things To Improve Your Life

Okay, so you have forgiven those people who you perceived as damaging you and your loved ones and you have obtained assistance and you are now in control of the situations of your life.  The question is: what will you do?  You are now totally responsible for yourself and your own future.  Watch TV for 12 hours a day?  Learn useful new skills to become a success? Work smart and hard?  Love your children and spouse?  Your future is up to you.  You no longer have to be afraid.  Be powerful and wise.

God’s Name is Not The Focus – Non-Denominational Prayer, Spiritual Guidance, Loving Your Fellow Man

Teachings of the Prophets Should Be The Focus

Was Jesus a Christian?  I don’t think so.  That was a religion begun after his death, to celebrate the life of God’s son preaching good things.  Was Mohammed a Muslim?  I don’t think so.  He, as God’s son, was explaining to people, during his lifetime on Earth, how to live better lives.  His followers established the Muslim faith.  Was Buddha a Buddhist?  I don’t think so.  He, as God’s son, was here, explaining to us humans, how to live good lives and do good things.  It was the followers of Buddha who came later, after his death, that established the rituals of Buddishm, without the direct, physical involvement of the man around which that faith in based.

Non-Denominational Faith and Prayer.  How to Reconcile Faith in Every Good Religion’s Inspirational Teachers and to Expand That to Encompass Them All

Are we starting to see a pattern here?  Every faith has followers who believe that their faith is the one and only and that every one else is going to perdition in a handbasket if you don’t believe exactly as they do and participate in their human-created rituals, established to celebrate and memorialize each of these great leaders.  Some might say, “But I have to believe in Something!”  Okay, why not believe in them all?  Not necessarily in the rituals created by men and women after their deaths, but in the actual teachings, duly recorded by faithful disciples while they lived and were trying to teach us how to have better lives and eternal blessings.

What is God’s Name… Does it Matter? Big Foot?

What did God say when Moses asked him his name?  God probably laughed to him/her/itself, understanding how important this was to one of his/her/its faithful, but Knowing that the use of such names can result in dogmas and all sorts of unintended misuses, dismissed the request and simply said:  I AM, THAT I AM.  In other words, a name for the almighty is not important.  Neither are the names of any particular set of rituals used to encapsulate and define any particular religious faith.  True spiritual faiths have at their roots, positive, constructive, lovingness and help to every man, woman and child on our planet and in the Universe.  Names and sects only seem to serve to create divisiveness, because everyone believes that they have the One and Only True path to enlightenment and salvation.  Let’s try to better understand God’s reasons for Not giving one of his most faithful disciples an actual name, like: Rama or Big Foot, or Sahooosepeddedlyingsky.  It simply wasn’t important then and isn’t now.  Names seem to only separate Man from his fellow Man, unfortunately in something (religion) whose purpose would more properly seem to be: bringing humankind together to help one another and this planet constructively and sustainably move forward to evolve our species to an ever purer enlightenment about the true nature of the Universe and and place and purpose in it.

Oh No!  My Religion is THE Religion.  You Have to Believe What I Believe, Or You Are Not Saved!

I believe that the Pope recently apologized for The Roman Catholic faith’s war on humanity (those who didn’t believe as the Catholics did several hundred years ago, during the Middle Ages in Europe): one of the most horrible travestys of relgious persecution our planet has ever known: The Inquisition. While it was nice that the Pope recognized the unholy aspects of his faith’s brutality upon other people several hundred years ago, that does not dismiss the sinfulness of those long-ago acts of outright terrorism and animalistic cruelty, for which, the perpetrators should have been immediately recyled (both physically and spiritually, because they used up any good graces they may have had in their particular lifetime then).  During this beastly assault on people who didn’t happen to agree with the this particular religion, those in power used force over the weak, committing all manner of man’s inhumanity to his fellow man.  Where, by God, if you don’t believe as I do, I will hurt you, killing you, if I have to, to Compell you to believe as I do, “for your own spiritual good”.  The futility of coercing someone to say what you want them to say under duress is obvious.  And its horror to us now here several centuries removed, in supposedly more civilized times (although there are many examples of our unhumaness still surround us) still is appalling. 

What we might try to learn from this, is that in every Age, throughout Mankind’s rise to enlightenment, there are those currently in power during various decades, who believe that they are God’s Chosen few and that everyone else must be converted “for their own good.”  This spiritual arrogance nearly always comes back to haunt those who perpetrated their own particular jihads, if they live long enough, or those of their followers, years or centuries later.  One of God’s main precepts is Free Will in each of us, to choose our own path.  We each bear responsibility for our choices and our lot in life is largely determined by our choices to do or not do millions of things during our lives, which is what makes each of us so unique. 

While you are making history, it is sometimes hard to understand that you need to make compassionate decisions regarding your fellow humans and never allow blind faith in human-created dogmas to compell you to mistreat innocent people who simply believe something different than you, or look a little different than you or talk differently or who happen to live somewhere else.  Your personal judgments about who is innocent and who is not may eventually result in your own condemnation.  Beware of judging others and of religious zealotry.

The religious teachers, around whom all major faiths have sprung forth, have common sayings and meanings about being peaceful and loving understanding of your fellow humans and other living things.  War is not the answer and no one should initiate that organized violence on this planet and against other humans.  That only provokes more bloodshed. 

If we can only tolerate each other and respect each other enough to not irritate each other and not invade each other’s privacy (or lands or personal space).  That would be a good start.  Realizing the value of each other’s goods and services is the basis for a solid economy, worldwide.  Establishing fair prices for these goods and services allows more people to enjoy the benefits of them and to reward each other with the fruits of our labors.  Everyone is entitled to decent food, shelter and clothing and lives for themselves and loved ones and they should have to do something of value to earn those things.  Industriousness is a virtue, especially in the creation of positive things that help other people have better lives. 

We need to help each other succeed.  I remember an outstanding engineer telling me once, “We will not allow anyone to fail.”  What a great guy, and while he would deny it, spiritual teacher.  During some of our own lifetimes, an empassioned plea of one abused person echoes through our memories: “Can’t we all just get along?”

All Great Historic Religious Teachers Have Something of Value and We Can Learn From Them All

The point of all of this is that there will always be those powerful faiths that happen to have more people in their numbers, given the particular century.  That does not mean, in the fullness of time, that their manmade rituals built around any particular historic religious teacher is the one and only faith, without which you and I and our entire planet will be cast into the pit by a hateful and vengeful higher power.  God is love.  God is positive creation and organization and constructive evolution of enlightened understanding.  We tiny humans in this great big Universe desparately need each other to help figure it all out.