A More Accurate Bible

The book "Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why" takes a close academic look at the Bible by going back to the original writings, which were written in the ancient Aramaic language. By doing this, the author, Bart Ehrman, discovers an astounding amount of errors, flaws and discrepancies in the Greek and English translations that we have been reading, studying and practicing for centuries.

He then goes on to explain the many reasons why there are so many mistakes, but his book was written primarily to explain these "why's", and it's by no means a new translation of the entire Bible. Far from it.

Fortunately for us there was a man named George Lamsa.

But before we get to Lamsa's work, we should understand that the many books included in the Bible weren't written until several decades, or even a century or two after the fact, often by anonymous random people who never even witnessed the teachings firsthand. Thus, the recorded accuracy of what was originally taught is highly questionable, but despite this it's obvious that the Bible still has some very important teachings in it.

So, despite the many flaws and errors that are contained in the Bible, we still want to read it to improve our lives.

While it's pretty much impossible to know what the exact words and teachings of Jesus and the various Saints were, we have to work with what we have, and what we have is the "original" texts written in Aramaic.

Unbeknownst to most people, there was a man named George M. Lamsa that translated the entire Aramaic Bible directly into the English language! Naturally, it's far more accurate than the versions that have been translated into Greek, and then later into English, by people who sometimes had hidden intentions and agendas.

If you enjoyed the immensely popular "Misquoting Jesus", "The Holy Bible: From the Ancient Eastern Text" is a perfect compliment to it. You could say that Ehrman gave us step one by explaining that our Bible does indeed have flaws, and Lamsa gave us step two by giving us a proper translation, except Lamsa's Bible has been available since 1985 while Ehrman's book is only 2 years old.

Power vs. Force

We all have opinions and beliefs, and we express them constantly, but are those opinions and beliefs actually true, or is it just wishful thinking on behalf of the ego? What if those opinions and beliefs are in reality quite negative and harmful to us, creating all sorts of discord and suffering in our life that we're not even consciously aware of?

As David R. Hawkins points out, the fundamental limitation of the human mind is that it's unable to tell the difference between truth and falsehood, positives from negatives, and that which is beneficial from the harmful. Thus, we have problems in our lives and in the world.

If we all actually knew the truth, and were living that truth, there wouldn't be a single man-made problem in the entire world, ever, because truth doesn't ever create problems. Only falsehood creates problems, or the illusion of "problems."

David Hawkins' book Power vs. Force provides a solution to the human brain's built-in ignorance; a means to tap into pure all-knowing consciousness so that we can drop negatives from our life, adopt positives, and solve the world's problems. We can now tell - instantly - whether anything at all is true or false, despite all opinions about it.

Power vs. Force is a monumental achievement in the study of consciousness that will undoubtedly, if practiced, change the world in profoundly beneficial ways. The painful process of learning by trial and error can now be a thing of the past, and consequently, the evolution of mankind has the potential to make huge leaps and bounds in very little time.

If you're a fan of "The Power of Now" and other such "self-help" style books, or anything on the topics of enlightenment and the nature of the ego, Power vs. Force will change your world in ways you can't even imagine. I HIGHLY recommend this book (and Hawkins' others). It's absolutely vital reading for anybody on the spiritual, philosophical, or even scientific path. If you seek truth of any sort, at any level, this is the ticket.

To give a (very) small taste of what you'll find, here's a few quotes from the book:

"Intelligence and rationality rise to the forefront when the emotionalism of the lower levels is transcended."

"By taking responsibility for the consequences of his own perceptions, the observer can transcend the role of victim to an understanding that 'nothing out there has power over you.'"

"Relatively few people are genuinely committed to peace as a realistic goal, for in their private lives, most people prefer being 'right' at whatever cost to their relationships or themselves."

"At the lower levels of consciousness, propositions are accepted as true even when they're illogical, unfounded, and express tenets neither intellectually provable nor practically demonstrable."

"Facts are accumulated with great effort, but truth reveals itself effortlessly."

"Man's dilemma - now and always - has been that he misidentifies his own intellectual artifacts as reality. But these artificial suppositions are merely the products of an arbitrary point of perception."

"There is only one absolute truth; all the rest are semi-facts spawned from the artifacts of limited perception and positionality."

Dante is Daunting

I say, reading Dante is a bit daunting,
though no longer in native tongue,
the great Comedy remains haunting.

Many weeks will be spent reading,
entranced in the beauty and grace,
it urges one's soul to sing.

Though just beginning, I already sense
that words are just words,
and of value is the primal essence.

The message is timeless and true,
turning from vice, and toward virtue,
transcending inner hell are the few.

Clinging to beliefs and desires,
ruled by the mind and rarely the heart,
chasing illusions till the body expires.

Experiencing within, feelings of all sorts:
Of inferno, purgatorio or paradiso,
whatever it be, the mind distorts.

"Leave the mind behind" say the wise,
and with this I must agree.
Stay true to the heart and thou shall rise.

The heart thinks too, but not with words,
it just knows, innately, intuitively and always.
Adopting love and peace has many rewards.

When pushing on and reaching towards
a heart of perfect wisdom,
just know that your heart is the Lord's.

For years now I have been led,
and thanks to the graceful Lord in my heart
there are few illusions left to shed.

I know Dante's message before it's all read,
far from my first spiritual book,
I've almost lost my head.

Christianity, Hinduism, Taoism, Zen:
There remains little I haven't read.
Love & truth are universal, Amen.

Inspired by

The Divine Comedy, Translated by John Ciardi

Ocean of Energy

From the perspective of science, quantum physics, vibrational frequencies, resonance, entrainment, electromagnetic fields, and energy oscillations, we become what we surround ourselves with. Or from a spiritual point of view, it's called "karma", "your reap what you sow", the law of attraction", and so on.

Everything is energy and everything is affecting everything else in various positive and negative ways. Physical life unfolds according to energy, or "karma". It's why reading highly advanced spiritual teachings like the Buddha's is so powerfully uplifting and life changing, and it's why Gandhi was able to ward off the entire British empire by simply being peaceful.

If you simply change yourself, and what's going on inside your own mind and heart, you'll be absolutely amazed at just how radically your "outside" life changes automatically as a result. If you don't ever put it to practice for yourself, then you'll never be able to see the profound truth of this. All of these words being written right now are absolutely worthless unless the information is put to practice in one's own life. Life is not about merely obtaining external "proof". It's about firsthand verification. Believe nothing blindly, no matter who it comes from. Come to know it yourself, by being that truth yourself.

The basic elemental teaching of every Enlightened teacher throughout history is to let go of negatives, and to adopt positives. Personally, I gave up listening to heavy metal because it's aggressive, violent, and negative in nature. It has nothing at all to do with Peace, which is identical to the condition of Enlightenment. And the television was given up for basically the same reason. It's entertainment for the mind, when the individual personhood of the mind is now seen as the thing to be transcended and left behind.

Meditate on This

Silence of mind precludes the thinking activities of the mind.
Stillness precludes motion.
Formlessness precludes mental concepts of form.
No-Mind dwells prior to active mind.
Voidness precludes perceptions.
The Unmanifest lies beyond the manifest.
The Unseen resides ahead of the seen.
The Ungraspable lies beyond knowledge.
The Non-Definable precludes definitions.
The Undetectable subsists previous to the observable.
The Unmeasurable rests beyond the reach of science.
Changeless Existence precludes evolutionary change.
Shapeless Reality precludes the physical world.
The Uncreated precludes creation.
No-Thing exists before something.
The Unborn is beyond birth and death.
The Uncaused is beyond being affected.
Essence precludes substance.
Emptiness exists prior to space.
Non-locality underlies location.
Non-duality resides beyond duality.
The All precludes individuality.
Infinity is beyond all limitations.
The Absolute lies beyond relatives/relativity.
One underlies the many.
Source is the foundation of life.
The Self precludes notions of self.

Consciousness precludes mentation.
Awakeness precedes erudition.
A subtle intuitiveness lies before notions and ideas.
An innate comprehension resides prior to intellectualizing.
Epiphanies dwell prior to conceptualizing.
Insight lies in advance of perceiving.
All-Knowing Awareness precludes thinking.

No thoughts preclude thoughts of "me", "myself", "mine", and "I".
A selfless state precludes the self.
Selflessness precludes selfish thought and behaviour.
Humility exists previous to ego, vanity, and righteousness.
Full-blown acceptance exists before the formation of judgements.
Truth dwells beyond opinions and beliefs.
Love precludes self-indulgence.
Ecstatic Bliss precludes emotions.
Ineffable Joy precludes negativity.
Profound Peace lies before "you".

Reversing Disease Naturally

When you realize that the human body/mind is a community of trillions of individually living cells,
When you come to understand that those cells are literally made of natural fats, proteins, sugars, cholesterol, etc.,
When you learn about the role that vitamins and minerals play in the body/mind/cells,
When you comprehend that our cells are at all times in a state of repair, regeneration, rebuilding and healing,
When you know that the body is an incredibly efficient self-healing mechanism when honored as such,
When you understand that physical, emotional, and energetic stress on the cells is what prevents the body from healing,
When you see that all degenerative diseases are the result of stress on the cells of the body,
It becomes very apparent that organic nutrition (and positive peaceful emotions) is the treatment and cure for virtually all degenerative health problems, ailments, and diseases, of the body and mind, including cancer, diabetes, psoriasis, eczema, acne, schizophrenia, depression, headaches, aches & pains, allergies, vision loss, lyme disease, etc.

But the trillion dollar pharmaceutical industry and food companies don't want you to know that. And legally, nobody is allowed to use the word "cure" unless it refers to a pharmaceutical drug.

The body is in a constant state of regeneration (healing), but its ability to do that more effectively depends upon us letting go of the stressful negatives in our lifestyle.

A clean natural diet free of unnatural substances like artificial sweeteners, colors, dyes, plastics, heavy metals, growth hormones, pesticides, herbicides, highly processed, modified, and altered foods, etc., will provide amazing all-encompassing results for you. Forget about "low fat", "low cholesterol", calorie counting diets. Ignore the fads. Natural organic nutrition has been very successful at supporting life for millions of years. And don't eat soy. That's just another highly successful advertising scheme that even a great deal of the natural health food companies fell for. It's been shown very clearly to mess with estrogen and thyroid functioning, among other things. Asian cultures ferment their soy which breaks down the harmful molecules, but the soy used in western foods isn't put through this process.

What you need is a pure organic all-in-one whole food nutrient product that gives the body literally everything it needs to heal itself of pretty much anything. Myself, I've been using FrequenSea on a daily basis for over 3 years now, and this product for over 1 year, for general health and vitality purposes.

God is Formless

When you experience something, can words and descriptions even come close to doing it justice when explaining it to somebody else? Of course not.

Nobody can deny that the experience of Love is beyond all words.

As far as Silence is concerned, it's the absence of mental activity, and therefore, Silence is also beyond all manmade symbols, concepts, ideas, perceptions, thoughts, words, and form.

Awareness/God/Divinity/Reality/Love/Truth/Peace is shapeless, formless, timeless, and beyond physicality altogether.

The Bible says repeatedly that "God/Spirit/Divinity" is "unseen", Buddhism says that "Buddha/Reality/Awareness/Absolute" is "formless" and "void", and Hinduism says that Brahman/Atman/Self is "unmanifested".

Considering that none of our ancient texts were originally written in English anyway, there is certainly no point in nitpicking about which English words are used. Those who have silenced the mind permanently (Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, Zen Masters, Plotinus, etc.) all speak of, and teach, the exact same thing.

All concepts, perceptions, ideas, notions, images, thought processes, thinking, neural functioning, and mental associations of the mind fall short of the Truth of Reality. The intellect, and science, are simply the wrong tools for the job. They can only take us so far in the search for understanding the nature of Truth/Reality/Universe/Existence. We can't know formlessness by means of using form. That's like trying to figure out the weight a rock by using a ruler that measures distance. It can't be done.

The Infinite Reality of Love is always present, and the simple fact is that this is in actuality, our true nature. All that is necessary to discover this for oneself is to remove the barriers (the thinkingness of the mind) that stand in the way, because Existence/Reality/Truth/God/Love already is what it is, and it has nothing to do with the mind's perceptions of it.

But, if your mind has a hangup about which word is used in describing that which is beyond words, this information is perhaps not for you at this time. Or if you're not wanting to put things to practice for yourself in order to discover the truth, again, this information may not currently be for you.

God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. - I John 4:16
At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. - St. John 14:20

"Only awake to the One Mind and there is nothing whatever to be attained. This pure Mind, the source of everything, shines forever and on all with the brilliance of its own perfection. But the people of the world do not awake to it, regarding only that which sees, hears, feels and knows as mind.... If they would only eliminate all conceptual thought in a flash, that source-substance would manifest itself like a sun." - Huang Po

Only When...

Only when one sees the vast limitations of the intellect/brain/mind, that is based on seperateness,
Only when one learns of the automatic physiological consequences (disease) of stressful negatives and selfishness,
Only when one sees the errors of their current way of being,
Only when one is attracted to being kind, compassionate, and selfless,
Only when one questions the validity of one's own perceptions and thought processes,
Only when one is curious about the true nature of reality,
Will one finally surrender to that which is beyond a personal "me", "myself", "mine", or "I".

Enlightenment by Love/Truth

How does Enlightenment Happen? First off, you (the mind) doesn't ever make it happen. It happens by ITSELF when all concepts of the mind are let go of, when the very energy behind thinking is let go of, when all wantingness and neediness is let go of, and when not even Enlightenment is sought after.

1. This can be done by the completely unconditional and radical forgiveness and acceptance of absolutely EVERYTHING, as it is right now in this very moment, always. This is the path of nonjudgemental acceptance, forgiveness, Love, compassion, and selflessness. If there's full blown acceptance of absolutely everything as it is, then there's nothing to judge, nothing to describe, nothing to define, nothing to talk about, nothing to express an opinion about, no thing to make into something, nothing to express a belief about, nothing to search for, nothing to manipulate, nothing to change, nothing to force, and there's nothing to think about at all. Everything just IS, nothing more, and one sees the absolute perfection and beauty in everything because everything and everyone is currently operating at it's own level of awareness and/or evolution. Everyone and everything is what it is right now because that's what it needs to learn, or un-learn. They REALLY DON"T know otherwise, or they don't want to know otherwise. If they REALLY knew otherwise, they would be otherwise.

2. Enlightenment can also happen by way of wisdom/Truth/mindfulness/Awareness, which involves non-effort, loss of interest in all thinking and thoughts, and letting go constantly and continuously. Watching the mind does not mean concentration or effort because concentrating is something that the ego/mind does. Nothing can be forced to happen, as force is the nature of the ego/mind. As soon as you watch thoughts, they dissapear. If you try to fight thoughts, you give them more strength because focus and energy is being put into fighting and conflict, which is again, a thing of the mind.

World Peace

The truth is the answer to every problem that ever has and ever will exist, and if we look at the state of the world today, it's pretty obvious that we are quite unaware of what the truth actually is. Why is it that we're so unaware of the truth? Because we don't want it, we think we already know it, or as Dr. David Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D. says in Power vs. Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior, that "The design of the human mind renders it intrinsically incapable of being able to tell truth from falsehood."

What we think and believe in our minds determines our actions, and so, the state of the world, and it's problems, are a perfect reflection of the thought processes of the people that inhabit it. The world's problems cannot be solved by trying to fix the outcomes and EFFECTS of our thought processes. It's the THOUGHT PROCESSES that must be changed. In other words, every individual has to change oneself in order to change the world. Rather than thinking that others need to change themselves to suit your opinions, you must change yourself, and those opinions. World peace cannot be forced upon anyone because force creates more conflict. It will happen when every individual is at peace within their own mind. Conflict in the mind creates conflict in the world. Peace of mind creates peace in the world, and it all starts with you. If you're not at complete peace in this very moment, and every other moment, it's because of the thought processes and emotions that are standing in the way, in this very moment, and every other moment. If you want complete peace for yourself, or for the rest of the world, simply let go of those thoughts and emotions, in this very moment, and every other moment. It's no more complicated than that, even if the ego/mind would like to think otherwise.

"There is no path to peace. Peace is the path." - Mahatma Ghandi

The Nature of Truth

relative
1. Not absolute or complete
2. Properly related in size or degree or other measurable characteristics

absolute
1. Perfect or complete or pure
2. Complete and without restriction or qualification
3. Not limited by law
4. Expressing finality with no implication of possible change
5. Without conditions or limitations
6. Not capable of being violated or infringed

The words of truth are always paradoxical because there are different levels of truth (relative). What is "truth" at one level is not necessarily "truth" at other levels. Quite often, higher levels of truth render lower ones irrelevant and obsolete. For something to be truth at all, it must be relevant and beneficial to oneself, and all others, without exception. Truth is universal and impersonal. It applies to all and excludes no one. The truth is still the truth even if it's rejected or not currently understood. Everything you believe, is the truth, but only to you, and only because you believe it's the truth. The real truth already is what it is despite our opinions and beliefs about it. Truth never creates or perpetuates problems. It only solves, dissolves, and removes problems. In order for something to be Absolute Truth, it must be unlimited, whole, complete and perfect beyond description. For this to be possible, it must be INFINITELY EVERYTHING beyond change, words, mental concepts, form, and physicality. In other words, it is No-Thing, yet Infinitely Everything, yet beyond both because both are mere concepts.