America's Sacred Contract: No Torture

Although there are tens of millions of beautiful, loving people out there working and giving and praying and meditating, we need the rest of you to come on board.

This is no time to sit on the fence. It's decision time. Time to decide if you are going to be on the side of love or fear, grabbing or sharing, killing or forgiving, insisting on humane standards or letting your government torture in your name.

It's time to realize that peace is an inside job and each one of us must tackle it.

I have been corresponding with an extremely vitriolic man who believes in the war in Iraq, claiming that "there are no Muslims for peace."

This is a ridiculous statement. The Muslims in your community and in mine are for peace. If there were no Muslims for peace in Iraq, all our troops would have been killed by now, for every Iraqi would have turned against them.

Of note, a fatwa was issued by France's largest Muslim fundamentalist organization, the Union for Islamic Organizations of France, forbidding the rioting and "any action that blindly strikes private or public property or can harm others."

But as Eric Margolis has written, the inspiration behind the rioting in France is not Osama bin Laden, but American and French "gangsta " rappers.

Muslims want peace. My correspondent refuses to acknowledge that.

Yet the basis behind my correspondent's assertion has finally become clear. He finally admitted that he doesn't care if innocent Iraqis are killed. Indeed, he wrote that is in favor of killing every Muslim because "they want to drag us back into the twelfth century."

Although this man calls himself an American, his sentiments are those of the fascist and equal to Hitler's.

Ironically, his assertion is a lie as were Hitler's about the Jews. It is we who want to change Middle-Eastern cultures and make them more western. The issue about whether or not they live in the 12th century is not worth debating here simply because I'm afraid we don't need anyone to drag us backwards.

There are many like my correspondent - and some in very powerful positions - who are in favor or our committing atrocities typical of the twelfth century.

The greatest evidence is the torture that has been going on in U.S. prisons. There have been studies that say what has happened to foreign detainees is symptomatic of deeper problems in our respect - or lack of it - toward life.

While it is an easy cop-out to blame those who are in favor of keeping abortion legal for lowering our standards, our present problems cannot be blamed on them. For example, it's common for those who are against abortion to be in favor of war and the death penalty.

Such inconsistency is insane. If you are "pro life" you must be pro all life, including adult lives and those who you think of as your enemies. Those are the rules. It's all or none, not a picking and choosing situation.

And who are violently opposed to abortion - to the point of injuring those who are in favor of it - are the anti-Christ, pure and simple. They focus on the mote in their sister's eye while ignoring the plank in their own.

But this is a big problem in our nation. We have become a nation of people who tell others: do what I say, not what I do.

We all do it, it has just become a matter of degree.

Of note, our nation was founded on principles that forbid torture and inhumane punishments - and rightly so.

For early settlers steeped in Puritanism had little compunction about leaving people in stocks, whipping them or mercilessly tarring and feathering those who broke the law. We have always had a fight between the compassionate and the fearful, but, thanks to God, compassionate men won out in writing our Constitution.

Why? We have a divine destiny. And we need higher guiding principles for this nation if we have any chance of fulfilling that destiny. To understand the nature of our contract with God, as a nation, please read Carolyn Myss' remarkable The Sacred Contract of America.

We have an agreement with God to live up to a higher standard. It's time to get back on track with no excuses.

Let all bitterness and wrath, and anger, and clamour and evil speaking, be put away from you. Ephesians 4:31

With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. Matthew 7:2

The Pagan Christ

Have you read The Pagan Christ written by Tom Harpur?

It's a lovely book that discusses what is really in historical tracts and makes a case that the story of Jesus is a metaphor, not reality, and would, in fact, be more transforming if we accepted it as metaphor instead of reality.

Regardless if whether Christ was a real person, or is a metaphor trying to show us that God is within us and that God has manifested in man as opposed to as one man, I know The Christ Within exists.

Years ago I spent a great deal of time in meditation and prayer and had some remarkable dreams.

Each one gave me a link to the real world. In other words, something from the dream would show up in my real life the next day, "proving" to me that the dream had been "real" and God had communicated something profound to me.

In one of these dreams I experienced the love of "The Christ Within."

It was the most amazing feeling I've ever had and defies description.

All I can tell you is that there is, truly, no judgment, no agenda, no holding back of God's love for us. All our "faults," although surely known, cannot be perceived and become irrelevant in the Presence of that great love.

If I hadn't experienced it myself, I wouldn't have understood how it could be possible, it would only be rhetoric.

In the presence of that love, it would be impossible to do harm.

I believe we are meant to strive to love ourselves as God loves us.

It may not be possible on this earth, but the closer we get, surely the less harm we can do.

This I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in all knowledge and judgment. Philippians 1:9

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear. John 4:18

If someone says "I love God" but hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, how can he love God, whom he has not seen? John 4:20

---

Of note, I wrote this blog as a draft on Wednesday, November sixteenth. My husband and I went out for a walk and coffee around 5:30 p.m. En route we ran into a friend who advised us that he was going to hear Tom Harpur speak at 7:30.

Now, my copy of The Pagan Christ has about forty little tabs in it, marking pages, and is full of yellow highlights of what I consider significant passages.

A splendidly written and scholarly work that examines the historical evidence as to whether Jesus was an actual person, I believe it is essential reading for anyone who really wants his or her faith to be an active force in creating peace in the world today.

There are researchers such as Gerald Massey and Professor Alvin Boyd Kuhn, Ph.D. whose works I have intended to get my hands on and read as a result of Tom Harpur's book.

In short, I have, what I feel is an ongoing relationship with this book, if that is not too dramatic a way of putting it.

So imagine my delight and enthusiasm to find that I could hear a lecture by the author, get to meet him and have my copy signed?

I went and was reminded of how important it is to get Mr. Harpur's message out.

But isn't it amazing that I would "feel" like going out for a walk and coffee, "run into" someone who "just happened" to be going to see Tom Harpur and that it was just early enough for me to go, buy a ticket and attend?

Had we gone for coffee five minutes earlier or later, we would have never connected with my husband's acquaintance and I would have missed seeing and hearing Tom Harpur.

There are no accidents. If I had not written about Tom Harpur's book yesterday, he would not have been on my mind. If he had not been on my mind, I would not have mentioned him "out of the blue" when I met this person on our walk and he, in turn, would not have told us about the lecture.

So I am telling you why I think I was guided to go.

I need to tell you: get a copy of the book. If your faith in God is ailing, it will restore it. If you have rejected the idea of Christ because it makes no sense to you, Tom will explain it to you so it does.

His book is a gift to Christians and Christianity and, indeed, the entire world because it reframes Christ in an incredible way.

God is amazing. We are so blessed.

Blessed are ye. Matthew 5:11

You Are God's Miracle

When I began this blog, I had a vision of providing uplifting words and inspiration for any reader who happened upon it.

While that was a good idea, I haven't really been able to implement it, for it seems that every day I read about some new outrage against God and humanity by some person or persons in our human family, and feel the need to make some cautionary comment about it.

This, of course, can get depressing. Who logs onto a spiritual blog to be depressed or have their ire aroused?

No one. And that's also why church attendance has always been so problematic. The minister seeks to lead his flock, but in doing so, winds up talking about what is wrong in the world instead of what's right and berates the flock for being "sinful."

Yet, when any of us berate someone or shame someone, no matter how "elevated" our purpose, we just contribute to the same old beliefs that keep us locked in suffering: that we're shameful, flawed and the only hope for it must come out of the sky.

That philosophy just lets us off the hook. For it's our thoughts, words and actions that create the reality of this world. When they are negative, they do harm. Period.

It's totally counterproductive to God's plan to deliberately produce all this negative which creates immense problems in the world, and then think we can petition God for forgiveness.

In fact, it's really hypocritical.

God needs us to change our thoughts, not apologize for them.

That's why, although we can't ignore the state of the world, neither can we afford to be "of it." That's why we are told to be in the world but not of it.

We must strike a balance between observing the truth of it and maintaining a positive outlook about how we can alter it.

As the Dalai Lama has written, "Every action [and holding a thought or image qualifies as an action] establishes an imprint on the mind that contributes to our future evolution. Therefore, the aim of all religious practice is to cultivate and strengthen positive, creative states of mind and eliminate negative, destructive states. A mind thus cultivated is both disciplined and calm; it gives peace to the person who possesses it, as well as to all with whom it comes in contact."

If this is true, and I believe it is, for I've seen concrete changes in my own life as a result of deliberately thinking positive thoughts, praying and meditating, then we all own a piece of the karma that has been playing itself out on the world stage.

Not only do we create our own lives with our thoughts, words and actions, we contribute to our collective reality with them.

The fact is that 9-11, all the suicide bombings, the war in Iraq, the earthquake in Kashmir, the tsunami affecting Sumatra and Sri Lanka and the many hurricanes that have destroyed so many lives and communities around the world including New Orleans, are our collective creations.

These events reflect the collective state of our minds and what we are doing to the earth. They affect not just those hardest hit, but each of us, for we are a global community. Yet, more than that, we each belong to a spiritual community. As John Donne wrote so many years ago: "And never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."

The need for prayer and meditation and positive affirmations to cultivate and strengthen positive, creative states of mind and eliminate negative, destructive states cannot be overstated.

For, if we don't change our thoughts, we will keep on getting what we're getting. And we all know what we've been getting.

For those with good lives who think they can ignore what is going on in the world, harbor their grudges in support of war, intolerance and torture and continue to dodge the bullet, there's bad news.

Carl Jung said it best: "A collective problem if not recognized a such, always appears as a personal problem."

There can be no bystanders in the world of mind. You either commit your mind to justice, love, tolerance and peace or prepare for what you are putting out to come home to roost.

The good news is that we each have a choice and, by the Grace of God, can change what's in our minds and make a positive difference.

The bad news is that we must each desire change and make the effort to be more and more inline with God's love.

That's not exactly in line with Bill O'Reilly's statement reported in the San Francisco Chronicle:

"And if al Qaeda comes in here and blows you [San Francisco] up, we're not going to do anything about it. We're going to say, look, every other place in America is off limits to you except San Francisco. You want to blow up the Coit Tower? Go ahead."

It's quite safe to say that Bill O'Reilly, with his hate speech, is an active force for chaos, war and suffering. He fits the description of an anti-Christ.

But then, he's not a Christian, is he?

Okay, so I've given you the depressing news you already know. Where's the balance? Where's the good news?

Here it is:

God's love is infinitely more powerful than Bill O'Reilly's hate.

In fact, we should thank Bill O'Reilly. His statements are a wake up call to us to redouble our efforts in transforming our own thoughts, minds and hearts.

Affirm O'Reilly's nonsense goes back into the nothingness from which it came.

Affirm that O'Reilly's message has the opposite effect of what he intended, that it brings people to their senses and to the side of peace.

WE can do this.

You can do this.

For you are God's miracle.

You are His hand and voice in this world that can, through the power of His spirit within you, end suffering and create peace.

God bless you in your efforts.

Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called children of God. Matthew 5:9

Motes Versus Planks

I read a blog post from by a man named Ken who lives in Japan. In it, he states the following:

Japan, The Japanese were quite ruthless during WW2 and after the peace treaty was signed General Macarthur ordered to have 200 Christian Denominations come to Japan in hopes of making things more peaceful.

Well for the most part the Japanese rejected Christianity and just decided to be "Good People". They worked hard and stayed away from war etc.

So they tried to create a "Good" perfect nation, work hard and average 1.29 children per family.

Well the goodness and work has paid off materially and financially but without Jesus the core has been showing signs of rottening. And it's all been coming out in the form or corruption over the past 10~15 years and is getting worse all the time.

And as for the Christ less second generation they created with materialism and gadgets and over education the fruits are even turning more sour. Violence is on the rise and suicide numbers continue to climb. Jobless and Homeless on the rise.

The new generation doesn't want to be bothered with raising kid etc. The just want the American dream and then some.


I think Ken is either out of touch with the U.S. since he is in Japan or suffering from selective vision - that looking at the mote in your neighbor's eye while ignoring the plank in your own syndrom - because what he's saying about materialism, violence, homelessness, joblessness, etc. fits the United States today.

And the criticism of the Japanese for "wanting the American Dream" seems odd since, after all, who wants the American dream more than Americans?

While there may well be rot in Japan among non-Christians, there's certainly a lot of rot in the U.S. among Christians too.

Pat Robertson's call for Hugo Chavez to be assassinated and President Bush's insistence that the United States maintain torture as a weapon of interrogation for the CIA are indicators of how pervasive the rot is and how unloving - and removed from Jesus' original teachings - current versions of "Christianity" have become.

Truly, if you look around, everything he wrote about Japan can be said about the United States even though the U.S. considers itself a Christian nation.

A stunning example of this is that Internet Filter Review reports that 47% of Christians polled said they had a major problem with addiction to pornography in the home.

Belief in Jesus is, obviously, not the key to avoiding rot. Pat Robertson "believes" in Jesus, yet he does not follow Jesus' teachings. So the key is not "belief" in the entity Jesus, the key is aligning one's thoughts with love and following the teachings.

While Jesus preached compassion, forgiveness, and loving one's enemies and has been equated with love and with God, even he said it was his message that was important, not his person.

Calling Jesus God and worshipping him - as opposed to walking his talk - is of little use. Besides, Jesus was not the "God," he was a man and a messenger who had so aligned himself with God that he could know truth and perform miracles.

To worship Jesus instead of doing the hard work of learning how to love as he did is a cop out and defeats what he came here to do.

As he told us, As the Father hath sent me, even so send I you. John 20:21
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 1 Corinthians 3:16

To be spiritually minded is life and peace. Romans 8:6

There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. 1 Timothy 2:5

Torture Belongs in the 12th not 21st Century

Who would have thought that in the 21st century torture would be something that people in this country would banter around quite easily, as though it's a game.

Yet it is not a game to cause any person physical or psychological agony. It is a sin against God, our own species and ourselves. For how we treat others will come back to us.

In fact, torture is completely unnecessary given the truth serums we have at our disposal. Heck, even laughing gas in a dentist's chair has always made me spill the beans about my life.

It is, therefore, disgraceful that President Bush, after labeling himself a Christian, has shown that he did so just to get votes.

For despite the fact that Forbes reported that U.S. authorities have confirmed that torture occurred (the acknowledgement was made in a report submitted to the UN Committee against Torture, according to a member of the ten-person panel, speaking on on condition of anonymity), despite the documentation by the well-respected Amnesty International, and despite the wide-spread photographic evidence to the contrary, on Monday President Bush issued this declaration: "We do not torture."

He said this even as he fights his own Republican led Congress to keep torture legal. The U.S. Senate passed legislation banning torture, yet both President Bush and Vice-President Cheney are seeking an exemption for the CIA which maintains a network of prisons in eastern Europe and Asia - previously unknown - where terrorist suspects are held and, obviously, tortured.

If they weren't being tortured, why would this administration be seeking an exemption? The answer is obvious. They wouldn't.

So this President and Vice-President stand for torture.

And what message does this give our nation?

The first message is that President Bush is lying to us once again - as he did in his case for the war in Iraq - to further his own political agenda. The reason for this baffles Republican Senator Chuck Hagel who has labeled the President's position "a terrible mistake," adding: "Why in the world they're doing that, I don't know."

Of note, John McCain, who knows first hand why torture must be banned, has stated that "Our image in the world is suffering very badly, and one of the reasons for it is the perception that we abuse people that we take captive."

As Senator Dick Durbin said, torturing and degrading people in custody "is not what America is about. Those aren't the values we're fighting for."

But perhaps those are precisely the values that this administration - and those who voted for it wittingly or unwittingly - are for. They represent a certain callous mindset that is gaining popularity.

Note this story that serves as a barometer for where we are heading, as a nation:

The Mayor of Las Vegas, Oscar Goodman, has suggested that those who deface his city with graffiti should have their thumbs cut off on television.

He also advocates public whippings and canings.

And he is serious.

It is outrageous that we have reached a place where such a barbaric idea can be owned - and promoted - by a public official.

So what's next? Public stoning? It would fit in the package. Yet isn't that what we say we're against?

We have been struggling to get out of the dark ages - to lift ourselves up out of the mire of that despicable delight which our species seems to get out of seeing others in agony - since our inception on this planet.

Just as we are reaching a place where technology, science and communication could help us really understand what God is trying to teach us - that we must love each other or perish - we elect a President who masquerades as a Christian, insisted on embroiling us in a horrible war that has caused more suffering than Saddam Hussein ever did, discredits science - that is on the cusp of proving God exists - and now fights his own party for the right to torture.

I must assume the Mayor of Las Vegas must be a great fan of President Bush, since they seem to be on the same wavelength.

My fellow Americans will we allow our mission to fail?

If the answer is yes, then Mother Earth can just wipe us all off and God can try again if we cannot get it together to reject fear and selfishness.

We have come such a long way. It took our species millions of years to get this far and to create a country like ours with compassionate, humane values and a sacred mission.

Are we going to throw it all away? On what? Protecing what? On "protecting" lives through preemptive wars? On selfishness that lays the groundwork for riots and a "dog-eat-dog" attitude? On fear, greed, refusal to conserve or share? On the right to torture?

Please say no to this trend. Stand up for Jesus.

Do not go along with this madness of becoming like the enemy in a vain attempt to protect yourself. Instead, transform your mind in service of God and peace today.

If you need help, I offer you Prayerforce, a book of prayer that has helped others release negativity.

As you commit to renewing your mind, renewing hope for this world and our nation's role in its salvation, take action today by telling President Bush and your Senators: My America is still under God and God does not advocate torture.

Eyes have they, but they see not. Psalms 115:5

Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans 12:2

Cosmetic Surgery and Diets

After my last post, a blogger left an advertisement for plastic surgery.

While I'm not opposed to cosmetic surgery, I do want to say that a person must learn to love him or herself, no matter what he or she looks like.

While a surgeon may give you a beautiful face that matches your inner beauty, he or she can't make a troubled person who hates himself feel whole or happy.

Look at Michael Jackson. He's had over forty operations on his face. He was once good looking but, never satisfied, now his face is decimated.

The truth is, too many people suffer from low self esteem. They look in the mirror and find fault with everything. If you feel this way when you look in the mirror, plastic surgery is not the answer.

Some people will scoff and say: you don't know my problem.

Let me put it this way. Say you have some real deformity that you know is not attractive and you dream of having it fixed, but have no money to get it remedied.

Let's go a step further and say that, when you were small, children made fun of you. Perhaps even now, as an adult, people look at you strangely or make comments.

If this is happening to you, obviously it's painful. Saying "learn to love yourself" may seem like a cruel joke.

But it isn't.

If you don't love yourself, it's doubtful you'll ever have the money for the surgery because - in this example I've described - having the disfigurement fixed cosmetically would be a great act of love toward yourself.

Bottom line, with or without surgery, to have people love you better, you must learn to love yourself better. Why? Because we can't change others, only ourselves.

So if you really want surgery, but you can't afford it, my advice is to embark on a program of positive self-talk. Really learn to love yourself. Tell yourself you're pretty or handsome, even if you feel it's a lie. Then look, every day, for all that's good about yourself.

In short, stop every self-critical thought in its tracks.

If you do this - if you learn real self-love - then if it is in your highest and best good to have surgery, the money will come to you.

Cosmetic surgery in itself is not bad. The desire for such surgery does not mean one is shallow or only concerned with looks. However, the act of having such surgery must be undertaken as an act of love toward the self, not an act of hate for what one looks like. Anything else can lead to further dissatisfaction and more surgeries until one's face or body is beyond repair.

I also noted that the blogger was advertising a diet. This is another area in which people - and especially women - go through agony. Virtually every woman is on a diet and billions are spent in an attempt to look thin.

The best "diet" is no diet. Healthy eating and an active lifestyle - in which one walks or bikes instead of driving - is really what is needed. Learning to listen to when your stomach says you're full is crucial to keep one's weight down. For men, beer is the main culprit in weight gain as they grow older and lose muscle mass.

Although the need for excess food and alcohol is symptomatic of deeper problems -perhaps with self-worth or with feeling disconnected from others or God - anything that helps a person battle inner demons that put his or her health at risk is worth considering.

The answer to every problem is, ultimately, a spiritual solution. However, the human psyche is not often healed overnight, so one must be open to whatever other, temporary, help is available.

God created the people creating the diets and the surgery. Obviously both have a place in this world.

However, I believe there is far too much emphasis on dieting and looks than on learning to appreciate people for the quality of their characters.

If we were more focused on service, on giving and receiving the love within us through helping others in those ways in which we are each uniquely suited, we would be less interested in food.

Happy, busy people tend to be thinner. People full of appreciation for themselves, others, this world and God have little time for dissatisfaction with their weight or their noses.

God can see the quality of our souls. Once you really see your own inner beauty, what you look like, physically, will be less important. Then you will dress in celebration of your beautiful, authentic self instead of trying to appear acceptable to others.

Ultimately, it is more important to think lovely thoughts than to try and attain some standard of physical beauty, for that standard changes and is fleeting.

Think on beautiful things, think on the beauty of God and your soul, and you will appear to be more beautiful to others, no matter what you look like.

Beauty starts inside. The plastic surgeon may play a part, but most of the work is an inside job and our responsibility.

Whatsoever things are lovely, think on them. Philippians 4:8

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify God. Matthew 5:16