roger

"What you want is love and power. You will have them both when you see that they are one and the same." -me

"There are no accidents, everything is happening as it's supposed to." -Maitreya the Christ

Timelessness, Self-acceptance. This is the key to healing. You need to forgive yourself for anything you feel guilty or ashamed about, and accept yourself as you are. Self-acceptance is self-forgiveness, and self-forgiveness is how one "remembers" their divine nature. You can do all the spiritual practices you like, but without self-acceptance, you'll never completely purify yourself. Self-acceptance means ACCEPTING all your thoughts and emotions, WITHOUT judging or denying them. Just let them BE. Don't try to FORCE yourself out of them. Just accept them, and know that it's 100% OKAY that you have them. Then they will leave you NATURALLY. This is how healing occurs. You're 100% OKAY, timelessness. There is nothing wrong with you. You're worthy and beautiful just as you are. YOU ARE GOOD ENOUGH! When you really accept these things, you will be healed and purified.

Tatsumaru, J. Krishnamurti once said, "The only intelligence is the intelligence of compassion." Love is the nature of truth, and love is joy. It seems to me that this can help one to find truth, knowing its nature. In my opinion, some examples of the idea that love and joy are the nature of truth are: -Everyone is beautiful. -Life is eternal. -Life is a miracle. -Everything is happening perfectly. These ideas are loving and joyful. Btw, I'm talking about ULTIMATE truth, not "truths" like the world is a rotten place. God said in one of Neale Donald Walsch's books that He speaks to us through our, 1) clearest word, 2) highest thought, 3) grandest feeling. So when something is clear, joyful, high, loving, beautiful.....that's from God. Abraham says that we know we're in touch with our Source when we are FEELING GOOD. So the key to knowing truth (ultimate truth) is if it feels good, if it feels right, if it feels loving and joyful. I hope this helps.

Hi 4bsolute. I think we should not see thought as a "bad" thing, because if we see it that way, that's what it will seem to be. Our perspective creates our experience of things. For example, if you see people as bad, you will create that. If you believe thought is a hindrance, it will be that for you. I see thought as a river flowing to the ocean; the ocean being Ultimate Reality, Tao, God or whatever you want to call it. You ride with the river until you reach the ocean. The river flows perfectly. So we should know our thoughts are perfect. Everything that happens is the highest good, including our thoughts and feelings. Being aware of this is very powerful and will make your thoughts a blessing that takes you to the ocean faster. So my answer to the question, "What is the true nature of thoughts?" is, DIVINE NATURE! Our thoughts are perfect manifestations of love/Tao and should be acknowledged as such. Basically, one's Divine Being, Soul, Self, or whatever is directing their thoughts for the highest good.

I have strong feelings about this, and I'm interested in what you all have to say about it. It applies to nearly all people, because almost no one truly loves everyone unconditionally, including myself. Problems have arisen within me about this issue recently, and I really want to resolve it once and for all. I heard a guy on the radio once say that "hatred is not the opposite of love, apathy is." I feel somewhat threatened and offended by this statement, and I strongly disagree with it. I think my fear and anger have to do with the fact that I have dealt with both hatred and apathy within myself, and I honestly feel that it is far more SELF-loving to be apathetic towards another than it is to hate them. One thing is that many crimes, including two of the very worst, murder and rape, are often committed out of hatred, not apathy. People with hatred often have a strong desire for the people they hate to suffer, and take great pleasure when they do. When you're apathetic you just don't care. It isn't nearly as painful to be apathetic towards a person as it is to hate them. I can't fully explain this, but I think the idea that hatred is more "loving" than apathy arises out of the illusion of separation and the false belief that to love oneself and to love others are not the same. The truth is that what is best for and loving towards oneself is best for and loving towards all. This is a great truth, and if it were not true then love would be a fallacy, an illusion. This might be why I'm offended by the idea (although I know intellectually that I have no reason to be). I disagree with the teaching that people "should" try to love all others unconditionally. For one thing, it isn't practical. Osho said that Christianity is the religion of hypocrites because they preach unconditional love but don't practice it. Jesus said, "love your enemies," but almost no one actually does this. I've noticed within myself that when I feel guilty about not loving another, it can become hatred towards them. Anger arises when one feels guilty and ashamed about being apathetic. Is it more loving to hate your enemies than it is to be apathetic towards them? I think the idea that it is is both absurd and dangerous. I thought of something else. Love is free. We should give ourselves the freedom both to love and to not love. It isn't loving to "demand" of oneself to love. That's makes one NOT love. But in freedom, with the freedom to or not to love, then we can love.

It's in "The Book of Secrets." He refers to Christianity as a religion of hypocrites.

I have an interesting idea about the relationship between the observer and the observed. J. Krishnamurti says, "The observer is the observed." Yet other teachers teach that they are different. Maybe it's like the question, "Was Harrison Ford Han Solo?" Yes and no. He played the part, but the part was not his true self. The observed is a part we play, but it might not reflect our true nature. But the thing is that it's only when you FIRST see that you ARE the observed (seeing Harrison Ford AS Han Solo), that you can see that you are NOT the observed. I'm not 100% certain about this stuff but it seems like something worth exploring.

specialness I just want to share a few thoughts about this, mainly for my own sake, because I've been dealing with the idea of specialness, especially when it comes to negative emotions. ACIM says, "Salvation is the end of specialness," and, "In this world specialness is the substitute for love." Think about this. ON WHAT BASIS would one be special? Specialness seems to me to be the ultimate "conditional love." It's because you meet certain conditions. A man loves a woman because she's pretty. That's not LOVE! A mother loves her son because he's her son. Again, not real love. Here's the ultimate in conditional love, in specialness: I love myself because I'm I. THAT'S NOT TRUE SELF-LOVE!! I think it's not that love SHOULD BE unconditional.....it can't not be. Conditional love, which is the essence of "specialness," is the ultimate subject-object relationship, seeing others as an object to be gained from. ACIM teaches that there is a moment when the meaning of love dawns on a person. A quote is, "Death is not overcome until the meaning of love is understood." I see love as the meaning of itself. Therefore one must understand the NATURE of love. That's why I'm making this post. I want to know what love is. You see, I, and most people, know what love is to some degree, we know love in part, but not fully. Basically, I feel that we have to grasp the fact that love is unconditional and that no one is "special." You are not special to yourself or to your loved ones in any real sense, it's just that they love you. We need to reinterpret our specialness AS love, and our APPARENT desire to be special as the will to love within us. NO ONE truly desires to be special. What seems to be the desire to be special is the desire for love, and calls for reinterpretation.

You are immortal!!! You have eternal life!!! WHEW!!!!!!!

Flolfolil, It seems that the lesson you learned from this was to be careful and not let yourself get duped. Maybe there's a greater lesson to learn though. If you believe in divine justice, you might say that the Universe, God, Tao, or whatever, will compensate you for this loss. To put it another way, there WAS NO LOSS. See my point? If there really is justice (and I'm NOT saying the people who stole from you are gonna pay for it), then the loss of your money must have been for your highest good. Either that or it wouldn't matter because the Universe will meet your needs anyway.

It might be your own fear that is doing this to you. Fear can arise when you feel threatened by an impending awareness or insight. It might help to repeat the affirmation, "There is nothing to fear." Know that everything is happening perfectly, for the highest good of everyone. This idea can heal you of fear.

T.S., I'll tell you what I would do if I were you, but it might not help very much depending on your beliefs. I would pray to God for protection. But you can also ask for your angels/guides to protect you. If you don't believe in God and angels, you can ask the Universe, or Tao, Ultimate Reality, the Self, or however you conceptualize it, to protect you. I have been a victim of psychic attack before, and I prayed about it, and the problem was completely solved.

There's this lie that many people believe. It's this deep sense that they're an unworthy piece of shit who deserves to suffer. IT ISN'T TRUE. The real truth is that everyone is 100% worthy, and deserves perfect happiness throughout all eternity. Think about it.

DrT, It's crazy, but it seems that it's true that people CAN'T HANDLE the fact that they're beautiful, worthy, perfect, divine, and otherwise glorious and wonderful. Most people are far more comfortable believing that they're a basically evil and sinful being who deserves to suffer forever. They feel more secure believing that.

Unlearner, The problem here, as I see it, is the same basic problem that nearly everyone has, whether it is apparent or not. This problem is a negative, fear-based, view of self. Unlearner, you are a worthy, beautiful, glorious, divine being, just as everyone is. You can come up with affirmations to help yourself know this, such as: I am worthy. I am beautiful. I am lovable, and so on. The thing is that you can do all the spiritual practices you wish, but still never deal with this main issue. Ideally, spiritual practice should help us think more lovingly about ourselves and others. There is nothing wrong with you, Unlearner. You're beautiful and perfect just like you are. Know it!

Steve, This is definitely one of the best things I've ever heard. Thanks for posting it. My brother, who is the one who told me about this website, was once trying to help me with a problem I had with anger. He suggested that I look into my beliefs, because I SAY I believe that I should forgive, and let go of anger, but yet, I wasn't doing that. WHY? That was the question. I needed to examine the contradiction in my perspective. This was a long time ago, though, and I had nearly forgotten about it, so I'm very glad you reminded me of this wonderful teaching, to look into our contradictions. I can immediately think of several areas of my life about which I need to do this, and I think doing so might be the answer I needed. Thanks!

Let's get BASIC. God knows I need it! 1. It is in MY best interests for ME to be kind to OTHERS. 2. It is bad for ME for ME to mistreat OTHERS. How simple is the obvious!

Cat, when you really know that attack is an illusion, that love is all there really is, your reactions will naturally and automatically be different. You might not really CARE at all if someone is "rude" to you. You might be so free that you just don't give a damn if people are rude. But we still have to live in the world, and sometimes we have to set boundaries, express negative emotions, and "defend" ourselves. It's just that these things will take a different FORM when you no longer believe in attack. I have experienced this many times. It's like the "fire in the belly" is gone. You express yourself, but it's like you're just playing your part, you're not in need. Attack is no more real in life than it is in a movie. It simply doesn't exist. So when someone "attacks" you, you respond appropriately, but you know it's JUST A MOVIE.

Cat, Guilt, which is the cause of fear, comes from belief in lack of love. It is the belief that we are not loving beings, because attack is REAL. You agreed with me that, in actual truth, everyone is ethically PERFECT. Guilt comes from the belief that we are evil and unloving. The premise of this misunderstanding is: "Attack" is REAL. That's how I see it.

Thanks Cat. Love you too.

What I believe is that the only "will" anyone has is the will to truth/love. The Hindus call it sat-chit-ananda. They say that EVERY desire you have is a manifestation of the desire for sat-chit-ananda. People seem to want to be SPECIAL. They believe this is what they want. But the desire to be "special" is, in actuality, only the individual's MISINTERPRETATION of their desire for love, truth, sat-chit-ananda, their divine nature, however you wanna put it. I'm saying that no one REALLY wants to be special. They just misunderstand their true desire, their true will. We are all equals. This is everyone's true will.

Hi NTF. I have some ideas about "romantic love" that you might find interesting. ACIM basically teaches that what we call romantic love is essentially a form of GUILT. It talks about "guilt rising in the form of 'love'". BUT, the good news is, we can TRULY love our romantic partners.....but it would be love in the form of what you have called "spiritual love". There's nothing preventing me from loving a woman SPIRITUALLY, regardless of whether or not I'm sexually attracted to her. You CAN love a woman you're sexually attracted to. ACIM teaches that there are two (and only two) different kinds of relationships, "holy relationships," and "special relationships." A "special relationship" is a relationship in which there is an ego-agenda of making oneself SPECIAL. For example, maybe the two have sex five times a day because they think it makes them special. Or maybe they constantly compliment each other saying things like, "You're so special and beautiful." It could be anything. Maybe the two fight constantly, each trying to be "special." But you see, all beings are EQUALS. In that sense, no one is "special." A holy relationship is a relationship in which the two have accepted their PURPOSE of LOVE. This "purpose" is essentially the opposite of an "ego-agenda." Btw ACIM says, "It is the destiny of all relationships to become holy relationships."

3bob, I strongly believe in a Father/Mother God/Goddess as an all-good, all-powerful Being. In Neale Donald Walsch's book, Conversations with God, God says, "Do you imagine that God can't laugh at a good joke?" He also says something that Paramhansa Yogananda taught, which is that, if the CREATION can have personality, then the CREATOR must be capable of having it. I will add though that in another one of Walsch's books "God" says, "God is not a singular super-being, but All Being." But the thing is that YOU and I are equally that Universal Being. Why doesn't "God" do something about the world? Well, first of all, He/She IS acting, just not in the way a PERSON might find appropriate or helpful. God may have been involved in some way in the creation of this website, for example. Why is there evil? Because God WANTS there to be! God explains in Walsch's book, Tomorrow's God, that EVERYTHING that could possibly happen, has happened somewhere in the Universe, so All That Is could FULLY experience life. In other words, God (All That Is) wanted ALL POSSIBILITIES to exist, so we could have "total experience."

What I believe is that EVERYTHING is consciousness. A pencil is consciousness and has conscious awareness. The sun, the moon, the stars, and even a rock has and is consciousness. Consciousness is being, love, joy, truth, peace.......all of these things are ONE. So basically, in my belief, there is only one thing that exists, and every form (all relative phenomenon) is a manifestation of that One. I'd love to hear if you all agree with this, not to argue, but just to hear your opinions, as I'm open to different ways of looking at things. I feel that one of the most helpful things people can do is be open-minded to different points of view.....otherwise you might never learn anything new. You guys said that a thing is not the FORM, but rather, the CONSCIOUSNESS of that form, and that through conscious awareness, it can realize that it is not the form. Is this like the teaching that when I observe my inner activity, I can realize that I am NOT that activity, and know myself as pure consciousness?