Why would anyone want to come from a place of love, truth, and joy? Because unconditional love is unconditional acceptance. It lets us breathe and sets us free to explore and find ourselves without conflict and judgment. It frees us to learn the difference between what we like and don’t like, what works for us and what doesn’t, what makes us happy and what doesn’t. Without being free to learn what it is we don’t want, how can we make clear and create what we do want?

Love

What is unconditional love and what does it know?

• Unconditional love is unconditional. It says: “Nothing you can ever think, feel, say or do can keep you from being loved unconditionally.” For reference read: My Encounter With the Energy of Unconditional Love.
• Unconditional love may not like who we are or what we’re doing right now but it does know that, ultimately, we’re lost love trying to find itself. If we were consciously aware that we’re doing the best we can with what we know and learning more to do better, we would do and be a lot better.
• Unconditional love knows we’re perfect just the way we are.
• Love gives birth to every idea, even though, for the life of us, we may not be able to figure that out.
• Unconditional love sees the magic and wonder in All That Is.
• It knows and supports the idea that consciousness wants to know and learn everything, that it wants to be everything.
• It knows that we are Aware Energy or Consciousness and that, as we think, feel, act and react, we create.
• Love knows that we are the energy and potential of All That Is, and that what we are is good.
• Love knows that we are both one with and separate from All That Is.
• It knows that we are both products of creation and creation itself!
• Love knows that our oneness with, and separation from All That Is, is equally important to the creation of All That Is and All that is possible.
• Love knows how important it is to peace, freedom, and creativity.
• Love knows All That Is wants to love and be loved without condition.
• Love knows we’re all in this together – partners in evolution.
• Love knows we’re never alone.
• Love is what we feel when we sense our oneness with the energy of All That Is.

Truth

What is truth and what does it know?

• Truth knows how important honesty and integrity are to the balance and stability of All That Is.
• Truth seeks the greatest understanding and serves the highest good.
• Truth affirms itself with a sense of satisfaction, the feeling of a job well done.
• Truth is the honest assessment of what works best and makes us happiest.
• Truth is what we find as we free our minds from fear, misinformation, conflict and limitation.
• Truth knows that we are waking up, wising up, and rising up to greater awareness and understanding.
• Truth is love.

Joy

What is joy and what does it know?

• Joy knows we are the energy of the universe at play.
• Joy knows we are loved and valued.
• Joy knows we are doing the best we can with what we know and learning more to do better.
• Joy knows we are free to Be and think for ourselves, to make our own mistakes and learn form them.
• Joy is a sense of satisfaction, the feeling of a job well done.
• It is the perception of an important thought, a meaningful touch, a pleasing smell, a great flavor, and a beautiful sight or sound.
• It is the feeling we get when our joy makes others feel theirs.
• Joy is what we feel in those few moments we sense our connection with our own greater self, each other, nature, the universe and All That Is.
• Love, truth, and joy are spiritual values shared throughout the energy of All That Is.
• Joy is love.

What do you see when you look at the world through the eyes of love, truth, and joy? When my wife and I look at the world through the eyes of love, truth, and joy, we remember that they’re a natural part of All That Is. Why not take this idea for a spin? Who knows what great and wonderful insights you might have as a result?

Every idea has its own validity and presents us with a choice. This seems to support the idea that we’re here to live, love, learn and evolve. Conscious Creators – always looking within and without for the best to express!

Roger “Pete” Peterson – https://realtalkworld.com

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” – Albert Einstein

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” ― R. Buckminster Fuller

What others will not or cannot do for us, we must do for ourselves.

Seek the greatest understanding and serve the highest good.

Read all about it at The LifeSong Store at Cafe Press!

Affirm what you believe!

The post From A Place of Love, Truth, and Joy first appeared on Real Talk World.

If we’re not doing the best we can with what we know and learning more to do better, what do we think about ourselves, what do we feel? Should we keep asking this question until the answers become clear, until we know what to do in response?

What can we do today for the selves we’ll be tomorrow?

What do we want most for our children, ourselves, and the world?

Questions, repeated, give us access to the collective consciousness of All That Is, which, in turn, helps us gain clarity and focus on what we want.

“Become the change you wish to see in the world.” – Gandhi

We all have our own worldview because we’re not only following the “rules,” we’re creating them. When we stop worrying about right and wrong, good and bad, and start looking for what works best and makes us happiest, we create our own rules. The challenge is to make good rules, rules that work and make us happy in both our oneness with and separation from All That Is – as both products of creation and creation itself.

“Everything you do must be worthy of your ideals or they become something else, something less than ideal.” – Seth

Being and doing what works best and makes us happiest is challenging sometimes but isn’t it worth it?

What works best and makes us happiest in our oneness with and separation from each other? Don’t we need to take everything and everyone into consideration to be at peace with ourselves and to remain free from the need for control by others? If we love and value others, they will love and value us. What we give is what we get.

Every idea has its own validity and presents us with a choice. This supports the idea that we’re here to live, love, learn and evolve. Conscious Creators – always looking within and without for the best to express!

For reference, read, A Different Worldview.

Roger “Pete” Peterson – https://realtalkworld.com

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” – Albert Einstein

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” ― R. Buckminster Fuller

What others will not or cannot do for us, we must do for ourselves.

Seek the greatest understanding and serve the highest good.

Read all about it at The LifeSong Store at Cafe Press!

Affirm what you believe!

The post Questions first appeared on Real Talk World.

Have you ever looked for the secrets of the universe that lie hidden in the shadows of your experience? Have you ever had an experience in life that just couldn’t be explained through “official” channels, like science and religion? From my own conversations with people, I suspect most, if not all of us, have. For example, many people claim to have seen recently deceased relatives or friends. For the fun of it, Google categories like: seeing ghosts of loved ones, how to tell if a deceased loved one is around, or dreaming of a deceased loved one and what does it mean?

You can spend days, weeks, and months reading all the stories people have written about seeing recently departed relatives and friends. Exposing the larger picture of who and what we are involves more than sharing stories of ghostly encounters we may have had in life. What about dreams and the role they play in our lives? What about the mental constructs of beings, landscapes, and events we create during dreams, waking visions, and imagined experiences? What’s the difference between what we call a “real” event and an imagined one? Aren’t the possible and probable events we imagine just as important as the events we make real? Without a wide range of choices, how can we change ourselves and the world? Without a left, how can we choose to go right? Without a down, how can we choose to go up? Without undesirable events to choose from, how can we have desirable ones to choose from?

Waking Up, Wising Up, and Rising Up To Greater Awareness and Understanding

One of the best ways to open our hearts and minds to new ideas and understanding is to ask  questions. For example, what are thoughts – where do they come from and where do they go? What are emotions – where do they come from and where do they go? Where does each moment come from and where does it go? Where is the you that existed two minutes ago and in what form does it exist now? Where is the you that will appear two minutes from now and in what form does it exist in your present? In what form do we, and the universe, exist in the past and future relative to Now? Who or what creates each new moment of our personal and collective experience in the infinite universe of thought, feeling, action and reaction with such exquisite detail, clarity, and integrity? Who or what calls us forth from the subjective universe of infinite possibility and probability, the larger reality behind this one and our lives in material form?

Questions whispered throughout the Consciousness of All That Is.

What are we?
How are we?
Who are we?
What is Reality?
What is the purpose of life?
What do we know that we don’t know we know?
What can we do that we don’t know we can do?
Where do we begin and where do we end?
What are we trying to teach ourselves?
What do we want to learn?

Questions we whisper to ourselves as Beings of Aware Energy in human form.

What can we do today for the selves we’ll be tomorrow?
What do we want most for our children, ourselves and the world?
What is the best way to treat ourselves and each other?
What works best and makes us happiest?

For more on alternate perspectives, read the following:

Do Ghosts Attend Their Funerals by me

Out of Body, I watch Grandpa Die by Marilyn Taylor

Dreams of My Unborn Grandson by me – inner communication through dreams?

My Encounter with the Energy of Unconditional Love by me – operating in multiple dimensions at once

The Inner Senses by Seth – channeled by Jane Roberts and recorded by Robert Butts

By Roger A. Peterson (Pete) at https://realtalkworld.com

“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having (creating) a human experience.” – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” – Albert Einstein

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” ― R. Buckminster Fuller

Always doing the best we can with what we know and learning more to do better.

Always remembering and appreciating how good we are, how much we do, and how well we do it.

What others will not or cannot do for us, we must do for ourselves.

Start your own Story Room with ideas from The LifeSong Store!

The post Looking for the Secrets of the Universe first appeared on Real Talk World.

Dionne Warwick

What’s it all about Alfie
Is it just for the moment we live

What’s it all about
When you sort it out, Alfie
Are we meant to take more than we give
Or are we meant to be kind?

And if, if only fools are kind, Alfie
Then I guess it is wise to be cruel
And if life belongs only to the strong, Alfie
What will you lend on an old golden rule?

As sure as I believe there’s a heaven above
Alfie, I know there’s something much more
Something even non-believers can believe in

I believe in love, Alfie
Without true love we just exist, Alfie
Until you find the love you’ve missed
You’re nothing, Alfie

When you walk let your heart lead the way
And you’ll find love any day Alfie, Alfie

Songwriters: Burt Bacharach / Hal David
Alfie lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

*****

Deep down, don’t we all want to know what life (Being and Creation) is all about, especially during confusing and challenging times? Aren’t we all striving to make the invisible, visible; the unknown, known; create order out of chaos, and make sense out of nonsense every living moment? Doesn’t the quality of our lives depend on the quality and character of our thoughts, feelings, actions, and reactions? With thoughts in the form of beliefs, attitudes, values and expectations, don’t we paint the landscape of our lives?

Songwriter, Hal David, captures the importance of acquiring greater awareness and understanding with a few powerful and meaningful experiential reminders. Musical composer, Burt Bacharach, honors the spiritual significance of this belief with beautiful sound, perfect timing, and exquisite emphasis. Singer, Dionne Warwick, with her incredible presence and voice, completes this holy collaboration.

Through this haunting work of art, are we reminding ourselves of how important it is to continue asking questions that help us expand our awareness and reconnect with the greater consciousness of which we are all a part? Is it meant to suggest that greater understanding and happiness is what we want most for our children, ourselves and the world? I believe so. What are your deepest inner thoughts on this matter? Are we here to live, love, learn and evolve? Are we here to wake up, wise up, and rise up to the greater selves we can be?

“What’s it (life, Being and Creation) all about?”

Roger “Pete” Peterson  https://realtalkworld.com

“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having (creating) a human experience.” – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Instead of money, power and privilege, would love, truth and joy be a better measure of success? One set of values isolates us in the material world of separation, scarcity, and competition when we use it as our primary measure of success. The other establishes our oneness as well as our individuality and acknowledges our role in creation itself. Values like love, truth and joy encourage us to live for the love of Being and Creation, instead of running from the fear of suffering and death. They inspire us to find and express what we like most about ourselves and ALL That Is, instead of justifying ruthlessness, cruelty, and manipulation for the sake of short-term, personal survival.

In life and business, how often do we ask: is what I’m doing worthy of my highest ideals? Do my actions improve the quality of life or undermine it? Do they improve humanity’s chances of survival or threaten it?

How we define ourselves and the world around us forms our intent, which, in turn, creates our reality. If we don’t take responsibility for choosing our beliefs, we unconsciously absorb those around us. In other words, we create reality from what we believe, whether by fault or default, intentionally or unintentionally. How can we afford not to question all beliefs?

Should a meaningful “education” include doing for ourselves what others will not or cannot do for us?

What do we want most for our children, ourselves and the world?

What can we do today for the selves we’ll be tomorrow?

What works best and makes us happiest?

The secrets of the universe lie hidden in the shadows of our experience. Look for them!

Visit The LifeSong Store for life-changing ideas on posters, t-shirts, hats, hoodies and more

Affirm what you believe!

The post Life (Being and Creation), What’s It All About? first appeared on Real Talk World.

Let’s start by asking ourselves a few questions. For example, what are thoughts? Where do they come from and where do they go? What are feelings? Where do they come from and where do they go? Where is the “you” that existed two minutes ago? Where did it go and in what form does it exist now? Where is the “you” that will appear two minutes from now? In what form does it exist before it becomes “you” in the present? What about the earth? Outside of Now, in what form does it exist?

Let’s assume for the moment that every “thing,” including every human being, is a Multidimensional, Vibrational Being of Aware Energy suspended in an infinite field of Aware Energy. How does it feel to be a self-aware “I Am” within your body, mind and All That Is? What does it tell us about ourselves? What does it tell you about yourself?

As a Multidimensional, Vibrational Being of Aware Energy, how would you describe your experience in Being and Creation? To give you a nudge, here’s how I define my experience in Being and Creation:

1. I think, feel, act and react; therefore, I AM. (expanded version of “I think therefore I am” by Rene Descartes)
2. As I think, feel, act and react (conceive and perceive), I create.
3. To change what I create, I change what I think and feel, how I act and react.
4. As a Multidimensional, Vibrational Being of Aware Energy, I am both one with and separate from All That Is. I am not only a product of creation; I am creation itself!
5. The self (the thinking, feeling, choice-making and action-taking intermediary between inner reality, the body, and outer reality, the “I Am” of what and who I am) is my seat of power.
6. The present is my point of power.
7. Being and creating what I value is the promise of power.
8. Being and Creation are the manifestations of power.
9. Being and Creation make the invisible, visible, the unknown, known, driven by the impulse to create order out of chaos and make sense out of nonsense.

To Be, we must create. To create, we must Be. One creates the other in an endless web of entanglement.

Whether we are individual Aware Energy or Consciousness Units (AEUs or CU’s) or complex gestalts (organizations) of AEUs, like human beings, it works the same. To create what we want, the outer self, ego, or self-identity, pushed from within by the Impulse to Be and Create and drawn from without by the Promise of Being and Creation, the Beating Heart of Consciousness, must learn the difference between what it likes and doesn’t like, what works for it and what doesn’t, what makes it happy and what doesn’t. In other words, to create what we want, we must know what we don’t want.*

Dominant World Views and What We Tell Ourselves Through Them

Religion: My source for biblical quotes is the St. James version of the Christian Bible, printed by Cambridge University Press. Perhaps the most important chapter in the bible is the story of Genesis because it’s a story of Creation. Moses tells the story but it’s unclear whether he’s telling it in his own words or if he’s directly quoting (channeling?) God. Keep in mind that biblical words and phrases can be interpreted in many ways. There’s what the bible says, there’s your interpretation, and then, there’s the interpretation of every other person and organization that uses it as a guideline for living.

It’s important to remind ourselves that once an idea becomes institutionalized, it tends to become more solid and unchanging. During the process of adopting a new idea, new thought and behavior patterns are established. New objectives and commitments are established. New jobs and assignments are defined. New rituals, words, art and music are created to clarify and reflect ideology and intention. A new cultural structure is created to give life new meaning, shape and substance. When a mental or subjective structure becomes objectified to this degree, when people’s lives come to depend on it, when their lives are defined by it, it becomes difficult to change. It seeks to preserve itself.

To change anything about it when we think something is working for us would represent a great threat, unless or until we see it as more of a hindrance than a benefit, more of a threat than an aid, something we must outgrow before it destroys us.

Genesis: The Story of Creation and Humankind’s Commitment to Explore the Nature of Good and Evil

(Chapter 1, Verse 1) “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.” (Verse 31) “And God saw every thing he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”

What does this say about God’s creations or about us? Are we simply products of creation or are we both products and creators? When Moses says,

“(Verse 25) And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and the cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind…”

What does he mean by “after his kind”? Is “God” from another planet where all these creatures already exist and he’s simply using them as familiar models for populating the earth with plants and animals (For reference, read: Genesis – A Lucid Creation Dream. In this dream all I had to do was wonder where something was before I saw it come into existence). Or, does God represent the potential to be anything and everything? Is God the Source and Substance of All That Is? Is “God” another name for All That Is?

What does Moses mean when he says: and “after their kind” in reference to the cattle and “every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind…” Is he talking about other biological forms that exist elsewhere? What do our most prominent religions tell us? What do we tell ourselves? What do individuals and churches emphasize and why do they emphasize it? Where are they coming from? What underlying impulses or beliefs drive or motivate their behavior? What underlying impulses or beliefs drive or motivate our own behavior?

For reference, read What I Learned in Catholic School and My Recurring Superman Nightmare. Both experiences illustrate my thoughts and feelings about religion and the role of the church.

(Chapter 1, Verse 26) “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” (Verse 27) “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” (Verse 28) “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”

What does God mean when he says, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness”? Is He saying that he exists in human form too? What does the word “our” refer to? Is he a spaceman referring to others of his kind? Is He from another dimension of reality? Is he implying that we’re gods becoming too? With Verses 26 and 28, does God suggest that life is about “survival of the fittest, it’s eat or be eaten, kill or be killed”, when he says: “Be fruitful and multiply, replenish the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth?”

Is he suggesting that we’re meant to compete with each other? Is he implying that every man is an island and that the ends justify the means? Is he suggesting that we conquer all who oppose us, that we multiply without regard for consequences? What is major religion’s position on these ideas? What are your personal positions on these ideas? What does the church want us to think? What do you want to think? When exploring the nature of “dominion,” can we go too far? Can the extreme end of “dominion” result in parasitism and annihilation? And when it comes to God saying, “Be fruitful and multiply,” why do so many people seem to forget that he qualified this idea with: “replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”

Didn’t we do more than “replenish the earth, and subdue it” long ago? Why are we still trying to “replenish” and “subdue” it now when confusion reigns and people  are starving?

(Conscious Creators, support Real Talk World and plant a thought seed with this question on clothing and gifts from The LifeSong Store.)

(Chapter 2, Verse 1) “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.” (Verse 2) “And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made…” (Verse 5) “…the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.”

According to Moses, or God, speaking through Moses, it took six days to create the heavens and the earth, and all the plants and animals upon it. In Verse 5, God mentions “a man to till the ground.” Like the plants and animals God created “after his kind” how does he know about “rain” and “man” unless he already knew what they were?

(Verse 7) “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”

Again, don’t we, as human beings and dreaming souls, also create things?

(Verse 8) “And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.” (Verse 9) “And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” (Verse 15) “And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.” (Verse 16) “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:” (Verse 17) “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Verse 18) “And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.” (Verse 21) “And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof.” (Verse 22) “And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from the man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.”

(Chapter 3, Verse 1) “Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” (Verse 2) “And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:” (Verse 3) “But of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, God has said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” (Verse 4) “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:” (Verse 5) “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” (Verse 6) “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.” (Verse 7) “And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.”

Does it sound like Eve coerced Adam into taking a bite from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? All it says is: “she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.”  Is this humanity’s first act of defiance? Are Adam and Eve proclaiming their unhappiness with the idea of themselves living under the authority of God, doing the same things day in and day out without question or change? Where’s the stimulation? Where’s the excitement? Where’s the challenge? By eating of the forbidden fruit, are Adam and Eve proclaiming their desire to think for themselves, to determine their own futures, to be independent and godlike in their own right? It sounds heroic to me that we aspire to be something more than we are. How else can we grow and evolve? Can this be the very reaction God was looking for?

Have you ever heard of reverse psychology? If you want to make sure someone will do something, tell them they can’t. Here’s a great example starting with (Verse 9), “And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” (Verse 15) “And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.” (Verse 16) “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:” (Verse 17) “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” That said, let’s keep this in mind as we move on.

(Chapter 3, Verse 8) “And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.” (Verse 9) “And the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him, Where art though?” (Verse 10) “And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.” (Verse 11) “And he said, Who told you that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?” Should there be a muffled, ha, ha, ha, here? (Verse 12) “And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.” (Verse 13) “And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.”

If God really didn’t want Adam and Eve to eat fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, why did he give the tree that name? Why did he put it in the middle of the garden and tell them where it was in the first place? Was he testing their obedience to his authority or was he forcing them to fight for their independence, to take responsibility for their own thoughts and actions? Why did he place so much emphasis on not eating fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, or even touching it?

As mentioned above, was he using reverse psychology so they would eat of the forbidden fruit? Also, with Adam and Eve’s first act of defiance, are we also seeing the birth of deceit and denial? How is blaming others taking responsibility for your thoughts and actions? Is this their first lesson in learning the difference between good and evil? Isn’t accepting responsibility for our actions the only way to learn from them? How can we be free if we refuse to accept responsibility for what we think and do? How can we be free if we refuse to pay attention to and learn from our experiences? Are we here to mindlessly follow a set of rules or are we here to figure out what works best and makes us happiest, individually and collectively?

(Verse 14) “And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.” (Verse 15) “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

Can the fear of suffering and death be a source of enmity between individuals? When we fear the power of others to harm or kill us or, when we blame others for what we do to avoid guilt and punishment, even though they may have suggested it or even participated in creating circumstances that make our behavior seem necessary, are we placing anger and hate (enmity) between us because we feel powerless to do anything else? What a depressing thought!

(Verse 16) “Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.”

Is God exacting vengeance on Eve and the serpent or is he challenging us all to rise above our perceived limitations?

(Verse 17) “And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it; cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thy eat of it all the days of thy life;” (Verse 18) “Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;” (Verse 19) “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it thou wast taken: for dust thou art and unto dust shall thou return.”

Again, is God exacting vengeance on Adam or is he forcing him to rise above his current level of understanding? Isn’t it obvious, from our own experience, that humanity is perfectly capable of  learning how to grow plants, build comfortable homes, create clever gadgets  and even develop complex social systems, something that would never have happened if Adam and Eve had remained in fear of and under the direct control of God in Eden?

(Verse 20) “And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.” (Verse 21) “ Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.”

Does making “coats of skins” and clothing them sound like the behavior of an angry God or a loving and concerned parent?

(Verse 22) “And the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever:”

What does God mean when he says:“And the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become as one of us, to know good and evil:…”? Who is he talking to, himself or a larger audience? Is he talking to future generations of humanity, like us, or others of “his kind”? Is he celebrating humanity’s ascension to a higher and more complex level of awareness?

(Verse 23) “Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.” (Verse 24) “So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.”

Swim or sink. Is this what God is saying to humanity (Adam and Eve) when he sends them out of Eden clothed and with experience to survive on their own while, at the same time, making it seem impossible for them to return? Was God abandoning them or did he know he had the power to hide in the shadows of their being and whisper in their ears whenever they needed help beyond their own developing abilities?

(For more on this, read: The Ball of Light – A Lucid Dream About the Nature of Being and Creation. In this dream I enter a computer and create many lives from fragments of my own personality. Each one gets to choose there own beliefs, attitudes, values and expectations to explore and learn from them. Finding two of my progeny especially interesting, I spend some time with each one.)

When I was a child, I was afraid to challenge church authorities on their interpretation of the bible. Given the choice, “it’s my way or the highway”, I chose the highway. I ran from everyone and everything that tried to take power and love away from me. Now, in my 70’s, I’m reading the bible with joy because I feel free to interpret it as I see fit. As a result, I see a whole new and wonderful meaning hidden in plain sight. I can also see other meanings and intentions hiding behind common religious rituals and symbols, all put there by ambitious men for their own reasons.

(Disclaimer: I love to think out loud and about big issues, even though, I don’t pretend to know anything with certainty. By reserving the right to think and feel out the answers to questions, I get to sort out what makes the most sense to me. If you stop to think about it, don’t we all do this already, to one extent or another? Fear of disapproval or punishment has been a huge challenge to overcome but, for some reason, I am driven to find my own truth because others will not or cannot do it for me. Now that I know I create my own reality from what I choose to believe about myself and All That Is, I know how important it is for me to accept full responsibility for the consequences of my  thoughts and actions. It’s not only for my own sake but for the sake of my children and the world. In love and peace. – Pete)

Roger Peterson “Pete” https://realtalkworld.com

The post What’s the Single, Most Important Thing We Can Do to Change the World for the Better? (Part 1) first appeared on Real Talk World.

While I literally experienced the Energy of Unconditional Love during my encounter with it, I had a distinct feeling that it was my real HOME. Why would I think that? Also, if this is the birthplace of All That Is, why would anyone leave it? It seems to me, these two questions are extremely important.

First, why would I think of the Energy Field of Unconditional Love as my real home, unless it was? Can you think of a better place to be than inside a field of unconditional love? Who wouldn’t fall in love with the  forgiving nature of this Energy or Entity, its acceptance of you without judgment, it’s assumption that what you are is love trying to find itself? It made it okay for me to see and accept my own basic goodness. It made it okay for me to be me!

Next question, if this is the birthplace of All That Is, why would anyone leave it? This question is a little more complicated. Suppose you’re the Energy of Unconditional Love. How could you know that if Unconditional Love was all there was? How could you know yourself as accepting unless you understood what it feels like to be rejected? Look at hate. Isn’t hate the most common reaction we have when we feel farthest away from love, when we feel unwanted or unworthy of love? In these moments, don’t we feel hatred for ourselves and hatred for others? What better way is there to appreciate the value of Unconditional Love? No matter how awful some states of mind may feel, how can we define ourselves without being able and willing to explore the differences between things?

So, is this why individual parts of Unconditional Love leave the nest, to be something else for a while so the Energy of Unconditional Love can know itself from every other form of energy? How can you and I know ourselves from each other unless there are differences between us and All That Is? How can All That Is fulfill its greatest potential without individuality and the ability of each individual to think, feel, act and react in its own unique way? Isn’t the glue that holds us together the occasional thought or feeling we have of being loved unconditionally, or wishing we be loved unconditionally? Like a moth to a flame aren’t we always being drawn back to our home of homes, the Energy of Unconditional Love?

What makes unconditional love so difficult to experience in human form? Is it the idea that we have to deserve something before we can experience it? Who says that we’re not good enough to receive it and who determines what it takes to be found worthy of experiencing it? How and why does it trigger such a strong emotional reaction in those of us who do experience it? Read Jay’s Story and mine to see how unconditional love affected us. If you want to read more accounts of people who have had encounters with the Energy of Unconditional Love, search for unconditional love experiences Online.

What are your thoughts about the nature and power of Unconditional Love? All I know is that, in the presence of Unconditional Love, I want to perform miracles, I want to be my best self. In the presence of conditional love, it’s another matter. By accepting and practicing Unconditional Love in our own lives, can we change ourselves and the world for the better? Is it worth exploring as a possible strategy for bringing about self and world improvement? Are we doing it already?

Pete – https:/realtalkworld.com

“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having (creating) a human experience.” – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

“How you define yourself and the world around you forms your intent, which, in turn, forms your reality.” – Seth

In other words, we create reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves and All That Is.

If we don’t consciously choose the ideas we accept as beliefs, attitudes, values and expectations, we unconsciously absorb them from our surroundings.

If the ideas we accept as beliefs, attitudes, values and expectations create our reality, can we afford not to question them?

What others will not or cannot do for us, we must do for ourselves.

What do we want most for our children, ourselves and the world?

The secrets of the universe lie hidden in the shadows of your experience. Look for them!

Visit The LifeSong Store for life-changing ideas on posters, t-shirts, hats, hoodies and more

Affirm what you believe!

The post Unconditional Love, Can It Change the World? first appeared on Real Talk World.

Why do some of us spend so much money on personal weapons and insist on large, well-armed police and military forces to protect us? What are we thinking and doing as individuals and nations to make us feel the need for such strong and costly protection? Does the energy of our beliefs, attitudes, values and expectations affect the world around us as well as ourselves? Isn’t it time for us to stop blaming others and start looking at ourselves and how we might be contributing to making the world the way it is? Instead of defining ourselves by our experiences, shouldn’t we learn from them so we can do better in the future? Do we all do the best we can with what we know and as we understand more, do better?

Why can’t we live by value fulfillment and practice idealism? Why can’t we, individually and collectively, determine the qualities of being and creation we value most, our ideals, and actualize them to the best of our ability? Isn’t this what we do unconsciously, if not consciously, anyway? How many of us ask, is what I’m doing good or worthy of ideals? Do my actions improve the quality of life or undermine it? Do they improve humanity’s chances for survival or threaten it? The self is our seat of power and the moment is our point of power. Is there any better time for us to Wake up, Wise up and Rise up to a greater awareness and understanding? Should we seek the greatest understanding and serve the highest good? What’s the best way to fulfill our greatest potential, to fulfill the greatest potential of All That Is?

Isn’t it true that when our well-being rests in our own hands, we pay more attention to our experiences and learn from them? At the deepest levels of consciousness, there is no right or wrong, good or bad, guilt or punishment; there just IS! There is what we like, and what we don’t like, what works for us, and what doesn’t, what makes us happy and what doesn’t, in our oneness with and separation from All That Is, as both products of creation and creation itself?

If we accept that the purpose, or challenge, of being and creation is to learn how to use the power of thought and imagination to shape the energy of ideas into a pleasing reality, how do we measure success? By the amount of money, power, and privilege we acquire? No! Why? Because when one person corners the market on all the money, power, and privilege, there’s nothing left for anyone else, including the person who has all the money, power, and privilege. What good is it when everyone else is dead?

For me, the prize for learning how to use the power of thought and imagination to shape the energy of ideas into a pleasing reality is not a matter of how much money, power, and privilege I accumulate; it is a sense of satisfaction, the feeling of a job well done. Like learning how to walk or talk, it is a personal, subjective endeavor that requires creative aggression but, it takes everyone and everything else into consideration. Think about it! When the prize is a sense of satisfaction and the feeling of a job well done, where do those feelings come from? They come from the collective consciousness of All That Is. Is there a healthy balance between these two opposing value systems? The answers lie within us and our ability to understand the difference between what we like and don’t like, what works for us, and what doesn’t, what makes us happy and what doesn’t, in our oneness with and separation from, All That Is, as both products of creation and creation itself.

Do you trust your ability to know the difference between what you like and don’t like, what works for you and what doesn’t, what makes you happy and what doesn’t, in your oneness with and separation from All That Is, as both a product of creation and creation itself? If you do the best you can with what you know and learn more to do better, what more can you ask of yourself? Be the change you love to see in yourself and the world!

Whether you agree or disagree with these ideas, let’s begin a discussion around the Internet! What’s more exciting, or worth doing, than living, loving, learning and evolving?

Pete – https://realtalkworld.com

“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having (creating) a human experience.” – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

“How you define yourself and the world around you, forms your intent, which, in turn, forms your reality.” – Seth

In other words, we create reality from what we think and feel about ourselves and All That Is.

If we don’t consciously choose our beliefs, we unconsciously absorb them from our surroundings.

If our beliefs, attitudes, values and expectations create reality, can we afford not to question them?

What others will not or cannot do for us, we must do for ourselves.

The secrets of the universe lie hidden in the shadows of our experience. Look for them!

Change yourself for the better with Philosophy On T-Shirts!

The post Why do We Expect Disasters first appeared on Real Talk World.

All That Is thinks, feels, acts and reacts; therefore, we Are! As we think, feel, act and react, we create. To change what we create, we must change what we think and feel, how we act and react. There is no other way. If Aware Energy, or Consciousness, is the Source and Substance of All That Is, not only are we both one with and separate from All That Is, we are both products of creation and creation itself! (From: We Create Our Own Reality)

Science tells us that Consciousness arises from matter but without the mix of awareness and energy, the ability to think, feel, act and react, how can anything exist, let alone survive, beyond the smallest unit of time? Without Consciousness, or Aware Energy, to explore the differences between ideas like here and there, now and then, how could consciousness create dimensions like space and time to express its energy in? Out of a genuine need to pay attention to our biological experience, have we become too ego-bound or over-identified with the material side of our existence? Have we learned to ignore our inner processes of thought, feeling, action and reaction? Have we hidden conscious knowledge of our inner self and reality from ourselves to make the illusion of outer reality more real? Is the seen and unseen universe alive? Without a vast unseen universe of potential thought, feeling action and reaction, where would we find new ideas to translate into material reality?

For more on this, read In the Beginning, there was Nothing.

Aren’t we thought processors as well as thought in action? Doesn’t this make us both one AND separate? Doesn’t it make us both products of creation, and creation itself? As complex gestalts of Energetic Awareness (entities), don’t we use less complex thought forms as building blocks to create the reality we then experience? As we think, don’t we create? Change what we think and don’t we change what we create? If “God” exists within each person or thing, doesn’t that make each one of us a unique, individualized expression of God – another face of “God”? What are your thoughts?

The examples below represent a variety of experiences I’ve had over the years that seem to back up the notion that Consciousness, Aware Energy, or Energetic Awareness is the source and substance of All That Is. While subjective experiences like these cannot be duplicated, the inner senses and intuitive abilities that allow us to have them are the same and can be tested, examined and compared. They are the same senses we use for Remote Viewing, Out of Body experiences, telepathic communication, dreaming and imagination. What greater authority is there than our own experience, providing we keep an open heart and an open mind?

• My Encounter With the Energy of Unconditional Love. This experience was two years in the making. In a moment of total frustration while sitting at my desk at home alone, I threw my arms into the air and asked the universe, What do I want more than anything else in All That is? In response, a disembodied male voice, about six inches in front of my forehead said, “Love.” That’s it, I yelled; what I want most is to love and be loved without condition! Two years later my desire became reality. This experience demonstrates the power of imagination and the multidimensional nature of you and me, and reality.
• The “Suck Face” Incident. After conducting a Guided Imagery or Guided Imagination exercise at a friends house in South San Francisco, I felt spiritually sensitive on the drive home to San Francisco. In a heightened vibrational state you seem hyperaware. As soon as I entered Highway 101, northbound, two men on a motorcycle caught up and passed me in the right. As soon as they passed the nose of my car, the driver veered left just a few feet in front of my bumper. His action got my full attention. What happened after that is a story two realities. One is the usual outer reality we’re all familiar with and the other is an inner, spiritual reality we only experience through dreams and imagination. This journey illustrates how our inner and outer senses can work together to give us experiences and empower us in ways we have yet to understand. You can see this same mechanism at work in My Encounter with the Energy of Unconditional Love and The “Suck Face” Incident.
• The Ball of Light – A Lucid Dream About the Nature of Being and Creation . While  My Encounter With the Energy of Unconditional Love and The “Suck Face” Incident occurred during waking hours, The Ball of Light… occurred in the form of a lucid dream. In other words, I was awake in the dream and knew I could consciously control it but chose to let the dream unfold on its own. It’s one of the most profound experiences I have ever had. It illustrated for me what life is like at less material levels of being or as a nonphysical being. The rules are different and so are we.
• Inside Ivy. Do you talk to your plants? This experience goes one step further and uncovers the spiritual nature behind all things. Through direct communication, what can we learn from each other? Inside Ivy also demonstrates the role of beliefs and emotions in setting the stage for our life’s experience. It also suggests that we can leave our bodies while they’re awake. Another example of this is remote viewing. How can we observe a remote target without the some or most of our conscious awareness being their to make observations? Daydreaming may fall into this category as well.
• Dreams of My Unborn Grandson. Grandparents should like this one. I had a dream about my grandson and told my daughter and her first husband, Mike, about it before they told me Crystal had a sonogram and both the technician and themselves were certain it was a girl because none of them couldn’t see a penis. Several weeks later, I had another dream about the baby and it was still a boy. Again, I told my daughter and son in-law about the dream and they both pooh-poohed me. Jordan was born several weeks later.

Join the discussion and share your stories! Post them as comments or send us a link for longer stories. Since we’re unable to duplicate subjective experiences, sharing a large number of dream and visionary experiences will help us determine whether there’s any validity or value in exploring this aspect of humans being.

Pete – https://realtalkworld.com/

“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having (creating) a human experience.” – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Instead of money, power and privilege, wouldn’t love, truth and joy be better measures of success? One set of values isolates us in the material world of separation, scarcity and competition, while the other not only acknowledges our oneness as well as our individuality, it acknowledges our role in creation itself. Using love, truth and joy to measure success provides us with a moral compass. It encourages us to live for the love of Being and Creation, instead of running from the fear of suffering and death. It inspires us to find and express what’s best in us and ALL that we’re a part of, instead of giving in to the least of what we can be.

“How you define yourself and the world around you forms your intent, which, in turn, forms your reality.” – Seth

In other words, we create reality from what we choose to think and feel about ourselves and All That Is.

If we don’t consciously choose our beliefs, we unconsciously absorb them from our surroundings.

If the ideas we accept as beliefs create our reality, can we afford not to question them?

The more we love and understand ourselves, the better we treat ourselves.

What do we want most for our children, ourselves and the world?

The secrets of the universe lie hidden in the shadows of our experience. Look for them!

Visit The LifeSong Store for life-changing ideas on posters, t-shirts, hats, hoodies and more

Affirm what you believe!

The post What/Who Are We first appeared on Real Talk World.

What do you think will work best for you, as an individual, and the world as a whole? Currently, many of us accept the idea that money, power and privilege are the keys to success. Money is certainly important because, as a medium of exchange, it enables us to satisfy basic human needs like food and shelter. But, should we view it as the source of happiness? Why can’t we simply choose happiness as a personal value or goal in life?

Happiness, sadness, a sense of pleasure, fear, anger, hate and love are subjective emotions attached to what we think and do. We feel them directly. Emotions are the voice of the soul. They serve as a moral compass to guide us spiritually as  surely as our physical senses guide us materially. To the extent we allow ourselves to value money, power and privilege over love, truth and joy, we lose control over our lives.

Look at what happens when the acquisition of money, power and privilege becomes our dominant goal in life: We often become people we don’t like. We do work we don’t like. Some of us will lie, cheat and steal for money. We will lie, cheat and steal to gain power and privilege over others. Pay us enough money and we will kill other people for you. Pay us enough money and we will fire any employee you want, including all of them. Pay us enough money and we will fish out the oceans. Pay us enough money and we will cut down every tree in the forest. Pay us enough money and we will write or vote on any piece of legislation you want, no matter the cost to ourselves or others.

Money is a double edged sword. It can either “make the world go round” or it can be “the root of all evil.” Who really wants to sell their soul “to the company store” Who really wants to give up direct control of themselves? Isn’t a satisfying balance what we are looking for?

The material below is from Thom Hartmann’s message board in response to this article. I post there under the User Name, Worldchangeguy. Thom is a great thinker and so are a lot of people who post on his website. He has a syndicated radio talk show, which you can listen to on his website: http://www.thomhartmann.com/, if you don’t have local radio access to it. – Pete

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Re: Money or Happiness?

by Footprint – Thu Dec 17, 2009 5:26 pm

Money is just a tool to open opportunity if used wisely. I prefer to be happy (which I am) and have enough money to provide for those I choose to support and enjoy those opportunities that enough money can provide to me. It’s not an either/or.

Name a government program that works well, is financially sustainable and benefits everyone in the country.

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Re: Money or Happiness?

by meljomur – Fri Dec 18, 2009 2:09 am

Footprint wrote: Money is just a tool to open opportunity if used wisely. I prefer to be happy (which I am) and have enough money to provide for those I choose to support and enjoy those opportunities that enough money can provide to me. It’s not an either/or.

Interesting…. I find you, Saw, and a few other Cons to be by far the crabbiest, most disgruntled posters on this site. If money makes you happy, I certainly hope you guys are NOT the poster boys for that sentiment.

God Save the Queen!

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Re: Money or Happiness?

by drew013 – Fri Dec 18, 2009 6:57 am

meljomur wrote (Fri Dec 18, 2009 2:09 am): Interesting…. I find you, Saw, and a few other Cons. to be by far the crabbiest, most disgruntled posters on this site. If money makes you happy, I certainly hope you guys are NOT the poster boys for that sentiment.

Footprint wrote (Thu Dec 17, 2009 5:26 pm): Money is just a tool to open opportunity if used wisely. I prefer to be happy (which I am) and have enough money to provide for those I choose to support and enjoy those opportunities that enough money can provide to me. It’s not an either/or.

I’ll second that…

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Re: Money or Happiness?

by longshot – Fri Dec 18, 2009 7:15 am

Worldchangeguy wrote: We become people we don’t like. We do work we don’t like. Some of us will lie, cheat and steal for money. We will lie, cheat and steal to gain power and privilege over others. Pay us enough money and we will kill other people for you. Pay us enough money and we will fire any employee you want, including all of them. Pay us enough money and we will fish out the oceans. Pay us enough money and we will cut down every tree in the forest. Pay us enough money and we will write or vote on any piece of legislation you want, no matter the cost to ourselves or others.

These behaviors don’t sound very nice at all. In fact they sound downright evil. You will lie cheat and steal? You would kill other people for money? Talk about being brutally honest. Yikes. Seriously you guys, please don’t steal and kill for money. It’s wrong.

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Re: Money or Happiness?

by Pete – Fri Dec 18, 2009 9:42 am

Pete wrote: We become people we don’t like. We do work we don’t like. Some of us will lie, cheat and steal for money. We will lie, cheat and steal to gain power and privilege over others. Pay us enough money and we will kill other people for you. Pay us enough money and we will fire any employee you want, including all of them. Pay us enough money and we will fish out the oceans. Pay us enough money and we will cut down every tree in the forest. Pay us enough money and we will write or vote on any piece of legislation you want, no matter the cost to ourselves or others.

longshot wrote (Fri Dec 18, 2009 7:15 am): These behaviors don’t sound very nice at all. In fact they sound downright evil. You will lie cheat and steal? You would kill other people for money? Talk about being brutally honest. Yikes. Seriously you guys, please don’t steal and kill for money. It’s wrong.

“Yikes” is right, longshot! When you remove the first sentence from this paragraph (Look at what happens when money, power and privilege become our primary goals in life!) you change the meaning of this article. It’s like seeing a sand painting, and just because you’re alone and you can, you run your fingers through it to destroy its contextual integrity so the next person viewing it sees something completely different than you. Why would you want to do that? The behavior outlined in this paragraph is all around us and in us as potential behavior, deny it though you may. Dishonesty and denial do not help us become better people and they certainly do not help us become a better country.

We’ve been told to believe that we’re basically bad and we can’t trust ourselves (the Bible and church). It’s time for us to remember how good we are, how much we do and how well we do it. As we think, we create. Change what we think and we change what we create.

Cheers,

Pete

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Re: Money or Happiness?

by polycarp2 – Fri Dec 18, 2009 9:54 am

In my line of work, I’ve never seen anyone on their deathbed wish they had made more money or bought more stuff or obtained a bigger McMansion. The regrets are usually what they could have done had they not been so concerned with getting more. That goes for the rich as well as for those less well off.

Happiness can’t be found at Neiman Marcus anymore than it can be found at WalMart. Gratification/happiness aren’t the same thing…and people often confuse one with the other.
If gratification was happiness…one trip to Walmart ought to do it,….. one good stock trade would make it complete.

Retired Monk

“Ideology is a disease”.

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Re: Money or Happiness?

by norske – Fri Dec 18, 2009 10:04 am

polycarp2 wrote (Fri Dec 18, 2009 9:54 am): In my line of work, I’ve never seen anyone on their deathbed wish they had made more money or bought more stuff or obtained a bigger McMansion.

At Hospice, the number one regret I hear is not spending more time with their family, especially the children. It transcends all classes.

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Re: Money or Happiness?
by polycarp2 – Fri Dec 18, 2009 11:10 am

Precisely. It’s about human relationships…not bank accounts to buy those relationships in absentia. The most valuable thing human beings have is their time…and how they spend it.

What is Life ? It is the flash of a firefly in the night.
It is the breath of a buffalo in the winter time.
It is the little shadow which runs across the grass
and loses itself in the Sunset.”

-Crowfoot….April 1890, on his deathbed”

Don’t waste life on nonsense. The last 20 years were how long in retrospect? Spent how? Gone…. like the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. The next 20 disappear just as quickly.
My own fondest memories aren’t of my wealthy uncle who showered me with gifts…they are about grandma and the time we spent together on trout streams or gorging ourselves on watermelon. Well….I did the gorging thanks to grandma’s garden. She did more slicing than eating!

Grandma had it right and few regrets. I still miss her after nearly 50 years… and we weren’t related by blood. A beautiful, kindly step-grandma. Poor as a church mouse with a joy in living. She shared that joy with others. I miss her.

Retired Monk

“Ideology is a disease”

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Re: Money or Happiness?

by norske – Fri Dec 18, 2009 11:53 am

One of the happiest times in my life was when I was working on a ranch in Texas, living in a broken down trailer, shooting quail for lunch and gathering eggs for breakfast and dinner. After that it was when my wife and I had our first apt., sleeping on the floor, cable spool for a table, and bricks and boards for bookshelves. Going to the store and buying Top Ramen and a turkey leg for dinner was a highlight. You really can’t go back home.

For a while I was caught up with my motorcycles and books, that was about it. Got rid of most of the bikes and farming out most of the books as I write. Never was into the mass consumerism thing. My best friend who earns around $160,000 a year or so has a nice little 50 acre spread and a nice house. He and his wife (Mostly the wife) accumulate more worthless items that sit unopened than I have ever seen. His wife has some serious issues. She has every book written about quilts there is. She has a $10,000 sewing machine just for quilts. She goes to quilting meetings twice a week. This has gone on for about 10 years. Every once in a while I will ask him how the quilting is going. “Quilting. You see that quilt on the bed? Bought that at Sears. She has not made one patch of a quilt, not one.” About twice a year I come over and help him toss much of it out or donate it to charity. He works 70 hours a week to buy things he doesn’t need. Not very happy either.

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Re: Money or Happiness?

by longshot – Fri Dec 18, 2009 11:56 am

Pete wrote: We become people we don’t like. We do work we don’t like. Some of us will lie, cheat and steal for money. We will lie, cheat and steal to gain power and privilege over others. Pay us enough money and we will kill other people for you. Pay us enough money and we will fire any employee you want, including all of them. Pay us enough money and we will fish out the oceans. Pay us enough money and we will cut down every tree in the forest. Pay us enough money and we will write or vote on any piece of legislation you want, no matter the cost to ourselves or others.

longshot wrote (Fri Dec 18, 2009 7:15 am): These behaviors don’t sound very nice at all. In fact they sound downright evil. You will lie cheat and steal? You would kill other people for money? Talk about being brutally honest. Yikes. Seriously you guys, please don’t steal and kill for money. It’s wrong.

Pete wrote (Fri Dec 18, 2009 9:42 am): “Yikes” is right, longshot! When you remove the first sentence from this paragraph (Look at what happens when money, power and privilege become our primary goals in life!) you change the meaning of this article. It’s like seeing a sand painting, and just because you’re alone and you can, you run your fingers through it to destroy its contextual integrity so the next person viewing it sees something completely different than you. Why would you want to do that? The behavior outlined in this paragraph is all around us and in us as potential behavior, deny it though you may. Dishonesty and denial do not help us become better people and they certainly do not help us become a better country. We’ve been told to believe that we’re basically bad and we can’t trust ourselves (the Bible). It’s time for us to remember how good we are, how much we do and how well we do it. As we think, we create. Change what we think and we change what we create.

Cheers,

Pete

Longshot wrote: Sorry, didn’t mean to butcher the context. I don’t know whether it came across, but I was actually agreeing with you. You described how you guys have made money, power, and privilege your primary goals, and then described all the horrible things you guys end up doing because of this. Even with the first sentence included, I still think that you’re making a mistake to let money, power, and privilege become your primary goal. As you accurately observed, it will drive you to do all sorts of nasty things. That’s my point, and I stick by it even considering the entire quote. Regarding your thoughts on the possibility for change, I agree. If you’re in a place where money, power, and privilege are your primary goals, you should definitely look to change what you think and create. The rest of us (the ones being stolen from and killed) would certainly appreciate it.

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Re: Money or Happiness?

by Pete – Fri Dec 18, 2009 1:06 pm

Polycarp2 and Norske,

Great stories! I read them to my wife, and being a very emotional person, struggled not to cry as I read them.  Speaking of emotions, some men object to them but I find they provide me with access to an inner reality few of us ever discuss, even though some of our greatest music and writings have been inspired by dreams and visions. If you have time, read: The “Suck Face” Incident. It’s a provocative name but it illustrates how our outer and inner senses can work together to help us resolve issues or challenges in our lives.

Again, your stories and observations were great. Thank you for sharing them!

Pete

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Re: Money or Happiness?

by Pete – Fri Dec 18, 2009 1:46 pm

longshot wrote (Fri Dec 18, 2009 11:56 am): Sorry, didn’t mean to butcher the context. I don’t know whether it came across, but I was actually agreeing with you. You described how you guys have made money, power, and privilege your primary goals, and then described all the horrible things you guys end up doing because of this.

Longshot, I think of All That Is as both one and separate. The same holds for the way I look at humanity. When I use the word “us”, I include myself even though I don’t personally choose to do the things I described. I see us all as both one and separate. What I do to you, I do to me, and so on. As a result, I often wonder if the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder so many of our troops experience is the result of knowing that when they kill someone, they intuitively understand that they’re killing a part of themselves. This would present them with a profound dilemma. On the one hand they’re told they’re doing a good thing by their superiors (masters?) and on the other, they sense it as self-destructive. How do you reconcile such a profound conflict of ideas and feelings, especially when they spill over into your imagination and dreams? Speaking from our oneness, I’m suggesting that in our present culture of ideas some of us unwittingly choose to put money ahead of feeling, not realizing the consequences. We must be aware of that, if we want to make choices that serve our best interest both individually AND collectively.

I like money! It’s a form of energy and a medium of exchange. But, love, truth and joy – happiness – is more important to me than money. As souls learning how to create a pleasing reality, we offer one another great opportunities for learning. One of my favorite affirmations is: What an amazing gift we are to each other and what an amazing gift life itself is!

Cheers my friend,

Pete

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Re: Money or Happiness?

by peewee returns – Fri Dec 18, 2009 2:51 pm

Footprint wrote (Thu Dec 17, 2009 5:26 pm): Money is just a tool to open opportunity if used wisely. I prefer to be happy (which I am) and have enough money to provide for those I choose to support and enjoy those opportunities that enough money can provide to me. It’s not an either/or.

meljomur wrote (Fri Dec 18, 2009 2:09 am): Interesting…. I find you, Saw, and a few other Cons to be by far the crabbiest, most disgruntled posters on this site. If money makes you happy, I certainly hope you guys are NOT the poster boys for that sentiment.

Mel, that was a pretty crabby response to a pretty reasonable post. Are you in a bad mood today?

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Re: Money or Happiness?

by bdc – Fri Dec 18, 2009 3:45 pm

Money will not for sure make a person happy, but poverty will certainly make a person unhappy and worse……..I favor redistribution of wealth………..

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Re: Money or Happiness?

by Footprint – Fri Dec 18, 2009 9:42 pm

meljomur wrote (Fri Dec 18, 2009 2:09 am): Interesting…. I find you, Saw, and a few other Cons to be by far the crabbiest, most disgruntled posters on this site. If money makes you happy, I certainly hope you guys are NOT the poster boys for that sentiment.

Somehow….what you “find”, is supposed to matter…. somehow…. Money in it’s form and what it’s used for, doesn’t have anything to do with “happiness”. Money is merely a tool. I will admit that pre 1898 double eagle gold coins do make me happy, Those minted in Carson City especially, as the gold was most likely mined from Bodie, Ca. which I have explored and studied.

Money as a tool can open great opportunities in the societies we live in. It is the form of commerce. If you have the means (money) you can explore more, purchase more, educate more, empower more, and enjoy luxuries more. It’s not a bad thing and the premise that money and happiness don’t co-exist, is naive at best. To be short, I’ve tried it both ways. IMO, life is more enjoyable when you have more options. It depends on what you want to do.

People will be happy or unhappy whether they have money or not. I’m far from crabby and/or disgruntled. I’m very satisfied with life and where I’m at. My feet hit the floor 7 days a week and can’t wait to do what is on my busy agenda. I couldn’t get it all done if there was 2 of me, and that’s what I enjoy.

Some of the best times I’ve had have been quality time with family and friends hangin on my deck listening to the wildlife, laughing around a campfire, quiet time reading a book listening to the rain on the roof, hunting with my son, or watching the sunset while walking hand in hand with my wife on Kaanapali beach. On the other hand, cruising at 70mph in a 150K offshore boat sipping a margarita, marlin fishing off Cabo, racing exotic cars at the track, or taking helicopter rides in Kauai for the thrill of it, providing an education for another, buying food, clothing, and housing for those who can’t, contributing to the cure for cancer, and so much more is a fulfilling use of earning money.

Money is just an enhancement to opportunity. Happy is from within.

Name a government program that works well, is financially sustainable and benefits everyone in the country.

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Re: Money or Happiness?

by Pete – Sat Dec 19, 2009 10:09 am

I slept on what polycarp2 and norske said earlier on this thread, about what’s been really important to them and the people they’ve known in life. Others have spoken since. It’s love of “being” itself!

When I woke up this morning, I started thinking about the Catholic Sign of the Cross, a ritual where you touch your forehead, heart, left shoulder and right shoulder to form a cross as you utter the words: “In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the the Holy Spirit (their sacred Father-Son relationship) – Amen.” As I thought about this ritual, I realized I was being asked to forget my own worth and give greater value to something outside me, something supposedly more worthy than me! The words and my signing made me feel left out in the cold. By performing this ritual, it felt like I was teaching or programming myself to worship external authority above my own. The words: “In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit – Amen”, rang hollow to me.

I wondered what would happen if I replaced these words with: I love You, I love Me, I love Us (our relationship) and All That Is? Would that add more meaning to this ritual? When I recited these words, while imaginatively crossing myself, it did mean more to me! Suddenly you and I, and our relationship, were sacred too. I no longer felt outside in the cold and left to fend for myself. For the first time, I felt that my being was right within the world. I could see that the being of everyone and everything was right in the world. By acknowledging You, Me, Us and All That Is, we include all of us in the sacred circle. In doing so, not only do we acknowledge our oneness AND separation, we acknowledge that we’re not only products of creation; we’re creation itself!

Even as a young child, I felt uncomfortable reciting the Catholic Sign of the Cross. Something about it didn’t seem right. It felt like I was giving away my power. The thought that I would willing do it made me feel sick to my stomach. It was like admitting that I was unworthy of having power because I was bad and couldn’t be trusted. What a terrible self-indictment. By creating my own Sign of the Cross, I proclaimed my goodness and the goodness of all. We’re all free to make our own choices, to create our own reality. I want to create an understanding and a reality that has meaning for me.

Sleep on this idea. Experiment with it and see how it feels to include yourself as a valued, loved and loving part of All That Is. Trust your feelings for the answer.

All that Is, is sacred. Without it, how can we exist?

Pete – http://realtalkworld.com/

“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having (creating) a human experience.” – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

“How you define yourself and the world around you, forms your intent, which, in turn, forms your reality.” – Seth

In other words, we create reality from what we believe about ourselves and the world around us.

If we don’t consciously choose our beliefs, we unconsciously absorb them from our surroundings.

If our beliefs, attitudes, values and expectations create reality, can we afford not to question them?

The more we love, understand, and appreciate ourselves, the better we treat ourselves and the world.

Bless us all with love and understanding!

The secrets of the universe lie hidden in the shadows of our experience. Look for them!

The post Money or Happiness? first appeared on Real Talk World.

If Consciousness, or Aware Energy, is the Source and Substance of All That Is, why don’t we talk to it?

By Roger Peterson “Pete”

In desperate moments, many of us seek help from “God” or a higher source of consciousness. Isn’t that right? When we do this are we affirming that, somehow, we’re both one with and separate from All That Is, that we’re not only products of creation; we’re creation itself? If we really believe that we’re separate from everything else, why, during moments of tragedy, do we act as if we’re connected?

By asking questions concerning things we want to know, value questions, and listening for answers, are we hoping to form a bridge that enables us to receive answers from other areas or levels of Consciousness? It seems that way to me. To activate this ability in yourself, open your heart and mind. Believe, focus, be patient and practice. Experiment, explore!

Once you prepare a question, it’s important to be in a relaxed state of consciousness before directing it to the source you want to communicate with. Imagine you’re talking to a friend, your inner self, God or the collective consciousness of All That Is. You would expect the entity your addressing to answer your question if they could, wouldn’t you?

Even though names are labels, they serve as meaningful identifiers. They help you focus on whatever aspect of consciousness you want to communicate with. When I think of “Tom” and “Jane”,  I think about  my brother, Tom, and his wife, Jane, even though there are many Toms and Jane’s in the world. By using labels as identifiers, we can direct questions to any aspect of consciousness we choose and get answers from them in the form of telepathic or symbolic (experiential) messages. We’re only limited by our imagination and what we choose to believe.

If you already meditate or study dreams, you may receive answers as soon as you ask a question. Some answers may come to you in the morning when you wake up, or over the course of several days as complete thoughts. Like recalling a name, they may just “pop” into your head during unguarded moments. Some answers are even triggered by experiences in waking reality. There are many ways other aspects of consciousness can communicate with us when we open ourselves up to receive it. (See Inside Ivy for an example of Direct Inner Communication)

One thing to be aware of; there are many less-evolved entities happy to lead us astray. It’s important to be clear about who you want answers from and the quality of the answers you’re willing to accept. Not only is it important to seek out the best sources of knowledge, it’s important to challenge the answers you get to make sure they support the kind of experience you want. When someone has a bad experience with the Ouija board, it’s often because sh/e expect the unknown to be scary. It’s the Law of Attraction at work; you get what you concentrate on. Demand the best and you’ll get it! Look for the worst in your experience and you’ll get that too.

Several answers I received below made me cry as I wrote them down. Unlike many of our “official” cultural values, they contain values I want to live up to. They not only express love, they make sense to me! Some answers were challenging and took a while for me to “Grok” (understand). Eventually, I was rewarded with new understanding and new meaning that helped me move beyond some of my old beliefs and limitations. The answers I received represent the kind of higher understanding and wisdom, the kind of guidance and direction, I’ve longed for my whole life. Ask your own Value Questions and listen for your own Intuitive Answers. I asked these questions in the early 1980’s. They’re a little goofy but they worked!

Value Questions and Intuitive Answers

Inner Self, what has the greatest meaning in my life and how can I have more fun doing it than I can possibly imagine?

1) Love yourself unconditionally and appreciate yourself for the magic and wonder that you are!

2) Remove all limiting and conflicting beliefs that impede the full and joyful expression of your spontaneous* self in All That Is!

3) Be the full and joyful expression of your spontaneous self right now and always!

4) Begin to materialize the most important and stimulating project ideas that arise out of the full and joyful expression of your spontaneous self, right now!

* Spontaneity: the natural and unimpeded expression of Consciousness (Energetic Awareness). To allow spontaneity in our thoughts and actions, we must trust the goodness of who we are and what we’re doing in the present.

Inner Self, how can I continue to operate at optimum levels of health, vitality, and performance for the rest of my life?

1) Continue to live your life with joy, eat responsibly, and exercise regularly for the rest of your life!

2) Trust all that you are to naturally operate at optimum levels of health, vitality, and performance!

3) Love yourself unconditionally, and know that your being is right within the world.

4) Continue to work with your beliefs to create even greater clarity, personal power, health, and vitality.

Inner self, how can I help the members of my family achieve optimum levels of health, vitality, and performance?

1) Love the members of your family unconditionally!

2) Acknowledge the power and worth in every member of your family!

3) Trust every member of your family to naturally operate at optimum levels of health, vitality, and performance!

World, how can I help you change for the better?

1) Change yourself for the better by continuing to improve your belief system!

2) Develop a meaningful plan of action and work on actualizing it every day!

3) Believe in yourself and your own unique abilities. No one can do a better job of creating your reality than you!

4) Live by value fulfillment and practice idealism. In other words, determine the qualities of being and creation you value most, your ideals,* and actualize them to the best of your ability!

* Ideals are ideas that represent who we love to be and what we love to do. (“Everything you do must be worthy of your ideals or they become something else, something less than ideal.” – Seth)

All That Is, how can I best serve you as a human being here on earth and as an eternal soul in All That Is?

1) Love both the Oneness and individuality of All That Is. In other words, love All That Is, unconditionally! (Read Encounter with Unconditional Love)

2) Be who you love to be and do what you love to do to maximize your enthusiasm, joy, and success in life. In other words, be yourself to the best of your ability!

3) Be absolutely joyful about living your life, expanding your awareness, and consciously creating your reality from moment to moment!

4) Learn and teach a loving, playful, and empowering form of reality creation!

Human Consciousness, how can I experience more love, truth, and joy in our relationship than I can possibly imagine?

1) Be yourself to the best of your ability!

2) Love us and accept us as we are – as living, loving, learning and evolving aspects of consciousness!

3) Stop putting conditions and limitations on our being!

4) In other words, love us unconditionally!

“Be the full and joyful expression of your spontaneous self…’, ‘ Love yourself unconditionally, and know that your being is right within the world…’,’Trust All That You Are to naturally operate at optimum levels of health, vitality, and performance.’, ‘Continue to work with your beliefs to create even greater clarity, personal power, health, and vitality.’, ‘Change yourself for the better by continuing to improve your belief system.’, ‘Acknowledge the power and worth in others (and yourself)…’, ‘Believe in yourself and your own unique abilities. No one can do a better job of creating your reality than you!’, ‘Live by value fulfillment and practice idealism.’, ‘Be who you love to be and do what you love to do to maximize your enthusiasm, joy, and success in life.’, ‘Be absolutely joyful about living your life…’, ”Be yourself to the best of your ability!’, and, ‘Stop putting conditions and limitations on our Being!”

Wow, what a radical departure from the “official” values of this world, and what a profound affirmation of our basic goodness! How many of us receive love, trust and encouragement like this from one another, society or its institutions? Much of what we get from one another, and our institutions, is the need to distrust ourselves, the need to put conditions and limitations on our being because “we’re basically bad and can’t trust ourselves.”

It’s not that any of the Intuitive Answers above are new or unheard of; it’s that they clearly emphasize love, personal power, self-acceptance and spontaneity over the “official” waking world values of fear, distrust, limitation, competition and survival of the fittest. Read What I Learned in Catholic School and My Recurring Superman Nightmare. Both experiences describe my inner thoughts and feelings about the version of reality I was creating. I don’t know if it applies to you but it might.

The Intuitive Answer I found most challenging came from All That Is. It was, “Love both the Oneness and the individuality of All That Is.” My first reaction was, Are you kidding me? How can I love that person who just rudely cut me off in traffic, or someone who, in their pursuit of personal wealth and power, is responsible for the death, poisoning or maiming of innocent people and the planet? As a matter of fact, I could think of countless examples of human behavior that should not be forgiven. As I considered these many, seemingly, good reasons for not loving someone, I recalled an experience that looked at this situation from a different viewpoint.

It concerned my parents and our relationship while I was growing up. During meditation in the 1980’s (in my early to mid-forties), I began to think about them and the contentious nature of our relationship. I couldn’t wait to join the Air Force to get away from home and school. As soon as I turned seventeen, I quit school and joined the Air Force. (See: The Healing Power of Forgiveness)

During meditation, after reviewing the unhappy times during my childhood, I began to look at the world through my parent’s eyes. As I did, I began to appreciate how challenging life was for them. I began to remember all the things they did for my brothers and me, not just what they didn’t do. For example, they kept a roof over our heads. They kept food on the table. We had race horses, a dog, cats, goats, rabbits, and a garden every year. When I turned twelve, we sold the race horses and bought an old thirty-foot boat that had been used as a Rum Runner between Cuba and the United States during prohibition. We kept it in Casco Bay off Falmouth Foreside, a beautiful spot, and spent many summers boating, swimming, fishing and picnicking on Basket Island. We even water skied when the bay was calm. While it’s true, I didn’t receive much personal attention, moral support or affection from my parents, I did experience a rich life with them.

As I thought about these things in meditation, tears filled my eyes and I imaginatively hugged my parents. Surrounded by love, I forgave them for their shortcomings and apologized for mine. Oddly, once the process was  finished, I realized there was nothing for any of us to forgive because, we were all doing the best we could with what we knew and, when we understood more, we did better! It’s automatic!

Challenge the answers you get no matter what their source. Be fair! If they don’t feel right, throw them out! Trust your heart and mind to know what works for you and what doesn’t, what makes you happy and what doesn’t. Just because a parent or teacher tells you their truth, it doesn’t mean it should automatically become your truth because it comes from them. If ideas don’t serve you well or make you happy, discard and replace them with ideas that do work and make you happy. The buck stops with you when it comes to giving and accepting ideas as bedrock reality. We owe it to ourselves and All That Is to evaluate every idea that attempts to define who we are and what reality is because it impacts our being, which in turn, impacts the world and beyond.

For further reference on Inner communication, read Talk to the Universe. It’s a great example of what can happen when we follow spontaneous intuition.

Pete,  https://realtalkworld.com/

“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having (creating) a human experience.” – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Instead of money, power and privilege, would love, truth and joy be a better measure of success? One isolates us in the material world of separation, scarcity, and competition while the other not only acknowledges our oneness AND separation, it acknowledges our role in creation itself. Using love, truth, and joy as measures of success provides us with a moral compass. It encourages us to live for the love of Being and Creation, instead of running from the fear of suffering and death. It inspires us to find and express what’s best in all that we are.

“How you define yourself and the world around you, forms your intent, which, in turn, forms your reality.” – Seth

In other words, we create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves, and the world around us.

If we don’t consciously choose our own beliefs, we unconsciously absorb them from our surroundings.

If beliefs, attitudes, values and expectations create our reality, can we afford not to question them?

Bless us all with love and understanding.

The secrets of the universe lie hidden in the shadows of our experience. Look for them.

Affirm what you believe!

The post Ask Value Questions and Listen for Intuitive Answers first appeared on Real Talk World.