del.icio.us tags: Peace, God, Philosophy, War on Terror, Freedom
If you have taken an interest in the missives that I publish in this space, I want to thank you. I believe these ideas can be life changing, if we want to change our lives in joyful, magical ways. That was and is my desire in contemplating these issues, and in sharing the results of said contemplation.
Magic is available to all, and in fact, we’re all magicians. But we’re not all happy with our magic, so it’s easier for some to question, easier for others to deny the presence of the Magician Within. It doesn’t change the reality, however, for our awareness (or unawareness) stays intact.
The ultimate magician is God. The ultimate potion, is love. We are ripe with both, for the two are one, and permeate our being. Our question is at what point do we allow the God-love… the Magician within us, to come into season in the present moment, and for the magic to bloom through our conscious desire, intent, and expression?
I have written before about love and God being, in actuality, one in the same thing. We can question, even deny the existence of God, Allah, or a Supreme Being, which we think we cannot see. We can’t be so blasé about love. We also cannot see it, yet we know when it seems not to be present, and no matter where we happen to live on the planet, we’re never happy about that. Love is one of the few things you can use the words “always” and “never” about.
Sadness and depression, anger and rage are all demonstrations of actions that we permit ourselves to take or experience when we think that we are not being loved, and convince ourselves that we are “right” in doing (or being) so. In other words, when the God within others is not being expressed toward us, it’s okay to be “ungodly” ourselves, mainly because we don’t see ourselves as connected to God, or even significant. We wonder how could God possibly “hear” us, or care about our situation? While we may think that it’s unlikely that God, or others would ever love us, it doesn’t stop us from wanting it, and feeling good about the possibility or bad about the apparent absence. Yet, it sometimes seems a cruel joke to think that the magic that we need and seek from others, is actually, and has always been, present within us.
Kindness, hope, respect, generosity, altruism, truthfulness, honor and regard are all aspects of loving behavior and magical experience. They are evidence of the Magician’s active presence. It is no accident that they also “track” as signposts and expressions of God, from which “good” things happen.
The question today is that IF, God (love) is ultimately ALL that Is, and divine, then all that we acknowledge as God, are also divine. This would likewise mean that all expressions of “the ugly”, e.g., rage, vengeance, fear, and destruction, are divine too. So how do we reconcile the two? Or do we? If God is ALL, “good” and “bad,” then why should we even care about honesty, integrity, safety, joy, peace, or life itself, or what happens to anyone, much less, to one’s self?
Well, maybe the terms “good” and “bad” don’t tell the whole story, if all is God. If all is God expressed, and you know this statement includes you, then you know there’s reason to care.
If you are reading thoughts from this particular source, YOU do care. That’s the only reason you really need. It’s certainly all that I need. This is not about anyone agreeing with me either. I don’t really care not about making someone else “wrong” or converting them to my “right” position. Seeking, gaining, and applying wisdom, knowledge, and understanding pays dividends that I find meaningful.
Wisdom should not be cloistered from day-to-day life, corked in a bottle while the fires of confusion burn out of control. It should be sought, and applied in confusing times, to tough issues and questions that clearly affect the quality of earthly life, for only wisdom will uncovers the position that allows all “sides” to “win”.
When we talk about “winning” the War on Terror today, we’re talking about someone else losing; the opposition, enemy, or other “side.” When the leadership of the U.S. government resists withdrawing military forces from their current deployment, it is because it fears appearing to lose, more so than caring about the peace process. Government leaders are willing to put yet more people at risk — Americans, Iraqis, and whoever else appears to get in the way of what we want — and delay the establishment of real peace, and then diffuse the underlying tension that permeates that part of the world.
The preservation and celebration of life takes a back seat to the preservation and escalation of strife. There’s no such thing as a won war, only a stopped one. Peace brings with it a lifting of the threat of danger, unrest, and strife that comes with war. It lifts the veil of fear. However, the crack in the veil starts within, in our own hearts as we realize that war is not the pathway to peace, and choose real peace over the mere cessation of hostile action. Said cessation is a point along the pathway that few have really explored.
Perhaps it’s time we did.
Realizing that we actually have nothing to fear, not even fear itself, is very liberating. It doesn’t make me want to go out and hurt someone because I can. In fact, it makes me want to spread the idea that we don’t have to hurt or kill others in order to “protect” ourselves. We don’t have to label others as enemies, publicly positioning ourselves as their opponents when, behind closed doors, we’re in bed together. This has been the normal “M.O.” of politics and foreign policy for decades. The human family can get much further when it treats others as friends and family than we can as enemies.
Even if you don’t agree with my conclusions, it’s a good bet that we share a common desire to understand how to experience the magic that lives somewhere in our hearts, we know is possible… even if our conclusions differ. The measure of our ability to grow in human spirit, more conscious in our oneness with God (Love), is getting to the point of being at peace with where we are, and with where others are, even if it appears that nowhere near each other ideologically.
Imagine those who have convinced themselves that life offers NO magic, and that there is no Magician. Does that make them any less divine that you or me? No. Does it make them less an expression of God than you or me? No. They are exercising their right and power of beingness, just as I am. The distinction is, if I believe that there is no magic in life, that there is no joy, or hope, love or God, then my life will reflect that position back to me. Most people want others or conditions to change before they are willing to see things differently. In actuality, it is the perceiver who must do the changing… of attitude, and of belief, before actually experiencing a perceptual change.
I submit that experiencing life’s magic has to do with embracing and embodying love. Some will say the love of God, and I would agree. But who or what is God? It’s you and me. It’s our friends and our “enemies.” God can’t be ALL that IS, and not be “present” within each of us. We’re free to deny this, and even to disbelieve it. But there’s no existence without God, and we exist. And if God is Love, then there is no love without God, even though we can disbelieve it and not demonstrate it. We’re also free to believe that “no one loves us”, or someone hates us, and act unlovingly or with hatred toward others. However, if you even begin to consider that God is in all, I believe you’ll have second thoughts about those people you thought of as enemies.
We’re free to attach the word love (God) to the most unloving acts. We are appalled at Muslim radicals who convince innocent, impressionable children to strap bombs around their waists to give up their lives, killing innocent kindred for some “noble” cause. Yet we believe and wave the flag when politicians in custom tailored suits say that conditions are so dangerous that we should make your young and impressionable children take up arms and travel to a distant land on an aggressive mission to search, destroy, and kill, and be foils and targets for Islamic zealots.
If we, and our weapons weren’t in Iraq or the Middle East facilitating the continued elevated threat level, then what would the people have to do? Yet, both sides maintain the rightousness of their position. “Leaders” of both sides continue to find recruits to carry on, for the love of God (Allah) and country.
This is old news. Too old.
We are free to change our beliefs any time we’re ready to turn the “light” on. It’s taken some time to see it, but now is as good a time as any. We are free to be the Magician. In truth, we already are, even when we don’t know it, or believe. However, if we do believe in that divine Magician within, call upon it and reveal it, our magic will become our reality.
I didn’t even write about what was on my mind when I started, but I’m done for now. I’ll continue in another post.
