Monthly Archives: January 2015

My Spiritual Journey: Following a prophet

We Are Worthy of Our Dreams

We, as humans, make wishes and then wait. We think we know what we need to make us happy — gobs of money or that amazing car or that mansion on the beach or a book contract and fame and fortune or a prize acknowledging that we’re good at what we do. Funny, though. After all those things come our way, many of us still feel empty. Something’s missing.

So we question our gifts and we keep looking. We start believing we don’t deserve those dreams we always wanted.

There’s one truth we’re missing. One truth that will extinguish the angst of this life.

We are worthy.

It’s not our fault we doubt. Or maybe it is. Regardless of where we’re getting our information, it’s always right and we’re always wrong. We’re not used to being happy and being right. Or maybe we doubt our own talents and gifts despite what others tell us (I know I do.)

Maybe it’s the influence of the person in our life who thinks we’re great, but we could be better.

Maybe it’s the people in our life who think we’re ALMOST ready to be good.

Maybe it’s our religious organizations who swear we are the reason everything went to crap – we crucified our Lord or we sinned against Yahweh or we are the reason the world is going to end because we don’t pray right or we don’t believe right.

Those are all lies.

We are blessed. We are loved. We ARE love.

That’s a tough truth to accept, especially for those of us who have been so indoctrinated that we think we will never be worthy. To acknowledge that we are blessed, we have to accept that we were made perfect, “in the image of God,” as it says in the Bible.

“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” Genesis, 1:27

Many believe God makes no mistakes. Believing that, it must follow that there is no way He would make a mistake with us. We are his perfection, despite the flaws we judge ourselves to have. Despite the flaws others imagine us to have.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying we must accept murderers and thieves as perfect in the eyes of God, but the truth is we all started out perfect. Something along the way mars us.

Maybe, I’ve been thinking lately, … maybe what mars us, what makes us less than perfect, is the judgment of others. Like a self-fulfilling prophecy, the doubt others inject in us becomes our own doubt in ourselves. We start believing the lies and believing that the only way we can make our dreams come true is by stealing them from others, hence the main idea of the Ten Commandments that we shouldn’t covet what others have.

Imagine a perfect world. Imagine a world where everyone feels loved and blessed, where everyone acts kindly toward one another because they know the same likeness of God that is within them is within the hearts of every being walking the Earth.

John Lennon imagined that and got blasted by the Christians because the world he imagined wasn’t the world their Christ preached about.

“The lines, Imagine there’s no countries, would incite unnecessary tension in the already volatile Israel-palestine zone,” said Texas Senator Lee Tiralo during a debate in 2013 on the proposal to ban the song. “The opening lines Imagine there’s no heaven, are outrightly, impudently blasphemous.” According to the senator, “this is just another example of Lennon’s extremely subtle contradictory style:  as if heaven were a product of imagination instead of being a solid fundamental reality.” (http://wadiyan.com/2013/03/27/u-s-senate-tables-bill-to-ban-john-lennons-imagine/)

I wonder if the problems in this world are caused by the divisiveness of humanity. I wonder if, without the judgmental comments of those who claim to love us, would we allow ourselves to accept our blessings as well-deserved?

I struggle with that reality all of the time.

What if we allow ourselves to dream and accept that our dreams are coming true? What if we allow ourselves to accept The Secret that we can have anything we want and we DESERVE anything we want?

I don’t know, but I’m going to give it the old college try. Maybe the answer is simply learning to love ourselves like Source loves us. … hmmm …. that’s a thought on which to ponder.

Until the next lesson, my friends, I remain, ever faithfully,

The Dragonfly’s Student

My Spiritual Journey: Following a prophet

Testing Faith

Take a walk in the forest and you will hear her breathe. You will feel her envelop you in her mist, a hug so glorious it gives you a taste of perfection. You will smell the peace of creatures who no longer have fear because they know they are safe in her arms.

image

I know, though, that most of us do not experience these things. Most of us live in a world where the breathing we hear is the exhaust of passing cars and trucks. Most of what we feel is the stress that is borne of the matrix-like world into which we humans have inserted ourselves. Most of what we smell is our own rancid fear of judgment and the unknown.

We don’t know how to maneuver this world if not by following the road maps set by others who have gone before, by others who believe they know what is right for us – go to college, get a job, buy a house, get a credit card, start a family, dress appropriately, don’t be strange, and don’t ever think outside the box.

What if that doesn’t work for us, though?

I don’t want to be like everyone else. I want to believe there is a greater plan for me. I want to believe my faith is enough to get me through this life successfully.

Then the chains of the matrix, bolted into this matrix we’ve created for ourselves, pull me down to the ground.

The life of faith is not easy, folks. Envy me for the freedom I have given myself, not for the life I have chosen. Believing in a higher power is a lonely life. There is no owner’s manual. There’s no tech support number to reach in order to get the answers.

When you doubt, there is no way to find your way out of the dark except for the light the radiates from inside of yourself.

Don’t worry, friends. I am not having a spiritual crisis. I’m just reminded of the prophets who did, though.

First in my mind and on this list is the Prophet Abraham, the one who was about to kill his son because God asked him to prove his faith. Fortunately, God held his knife-weilding hand back before it plunged into Isaac.

Although I may be considered blasphemous, I contend that even Jesus, himself, had questions. In the Garden of Gethsemane, as the clock wound down to his final conflicts, Jesus questioned himself, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me.” His faith was strong enough to add what he knew was the truth — but thy will be done. He knew that no matter what he wanted, there was no way his own will would be greater than God’s.

Then there’s the Book of Job, the story of the faithful man who is driven to question God because of his own pain and suffering.

“In the end, God answers Job in a whirlwind, reminding him that

humans can never understand how great God is. After Job hears

God speak, he says, “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the

ear, but now mine eye seeth. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent

in dust and ashes.” Job realized that his trust in God should not

depend on what happens to him. (http://acts38-39.hubpages.com/hub/a-short-summary-of-the-book-of-job)

What’s my point? When you decide to follow your beliefs in an omnipotent being, denying yourself the luxuries available in this world because you truly believe you have a calling to something higher than yourself, you run the risk of running into naysayers who think you are crazy or delusional.

“Seriously,” said naysayer would begin, “God won’t mind if you don’t go to church on Sunday,” or “Aw, come on. God doesn’t really care if you eat pork,” or “My God would never tell a mother to leave her (grown) children to follow a path she thinks leads toward Him.”

Fortunately for me, my faith is still strong, but I know there will come a time when doubt will chip away at the rock that sits at the base of my house of belief.

I hope my faith proves as strong as the faith of those who have been my Spirit guides on this personal journey.

Keep the faith, my friends,

The Dragonfly’s Student

My Spiritual Journey: Following a prophet

There’s a creator in us all

Has it ever happened to you?

Something somebody does or says, whether just an off-hand comment or a pointed argument, finds a place in your subconscious. It twists and digs itself deeper into you, making you doubt and question everything you ever believed. Maybe, it creates a new fear. Sometimes it becomes a new bias. That customer who calls you a slave for following the rules of your employer despite your best interests? That driver flicking you a finger? All have an effect on us.

On the other hand, what if that little nugget that comes to life in your heart is good. What if it moves you to action and to fully understand other points of view? What if it helps you realize that you need to make a change and stop being a slave to your captors? Sometimes it becomes that seed that somehow creates a giant Samauma tree.

It all begins with a comment someone makes.

I fear you may misunderstand. I don’t believe that I have supernatural powers. We all have this ability. Others do it for me ALL the time without realizing it. As for me, I’ve often let my words settle on the ears of my students and my friends. It could simply be a question that randomly enters my mind in the hopes that it triggers something in the listener. There’s no test that can determine how much of what I’ve said truly affects you, but I’m happy knowing it was heard. Just a little bit is needed to germinate a plant.

Sometimes, I see immediately how my presence affects those around me. Maybe a former student follows his dream instead of his father’s business. Maybe a friend acknowledges that what I said immensely affects her.

Most times, though, I must rest assured that one day I will be remembered when they least expect it. Maybe my name will never be mentioned. Maybe the other will never realize his idea was borne of my pains.

It doesn’t matter, really. All that matters is that my words or actions may have been the spark that helped someone create their own happiness.

Creation. That’s the lesson we need to learn while alive on Earth. We were made in the image of the Father. We, too, can create. Of course, not on such a grand scale …. Hmm. Let me think about that ….

We all have that power to create. We are creators. We can influence others with everything we say and do, despite our meaning behind it.

That’s the reality that is missing for many of us. We think we have no power, but we are powerful.

I hear that when we die, we are led to witness our lives from the eyes of those we affected most greatly. From their point of view. I wonder …. If we were able to see how our actions affect others now, before we die, would we change the world we create?

http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/loggers-accidentally-cut-down-worlds-oldest-tree-in-amazon/

Today, an ember in me was fanned when I read about the illegal loggers in Peru who chopped down the Earth’s oldest tree. Gaia is crying. I feel her needles pain. Her tears have planted a battle cry in my soul. I feel like I need to go to her children and heal their pain, because I know there were many indigenous souls who went to her for some kind of nourishment. She’s lost a connection to us.

See, even Gaia is a creator, but not the way you think. She hasn’t just created animal and plant life. She isn’t just constantly birthing rocks and crystals. Have you ever sat under a tree and felt a feeling, or smelled a flower and remembered a love? Isaac Newton sat under a tree, they say, and came up with the theory of Gravity when an apple fell on his head. A lightning storm inspired Tesla. And a song a friend heard while walking through a forest led me to start questioning my reality.

We all have that power. We can create good dharma that can follow us for the rest of our lives and balance the eternal karma of creation.

I’d like to put out a homework assignment for my readers. Realize you are a creator, my friends. I challenge you to start thinking about how your words and actions affect your fellow human. (Future assignments will ask you to realize the same for other creatures and plant life.)

Don’t accept the old New Age belief that everything is justified because of some contract two non-corporeal beings made before this life. The truth is the contract is more general and supposes you will choose the best outcome for all concerned. If you agreed to help each other learn to trust others, violence and pain is not the only option to accomplish that task.

Remember that and step forward. Imagine it … how would our world be if everyone starts thinking of their fellow man’s feelings and their own power to create?

Namaste, my friends. I continue, most faithfully,

The Dragonfly’s Student