The clarity of One-ness
Worship is a wonderful thing for many people. It is uplifting.
It is inspiring.
Generally speaking, the more we put into worship - the
sincerity with which we pray, the enthusiasm with
which we sing, the studied concentration with which we
listen - the more we receive from it.

That's a basic law of life - the more we put into it, the more
we receive from it.

But I cannot help thinking that worship can be a self-rewarding
scenario and has little to do with pleasing, honouring, a
perception of God. Or it can be a ritualistic rhythm of conformity
in religio-politico societies.

Would it not be more 'self rewarding' to do an action of
kindness or display an ernestness of compassion without
placing upon another the 'burden of gratitude'?

Would this not be a truly worthy offering to any
perception of Divinity?

In other words, worship can be a 'strength builder', a
means of focusing. Yet worship in and of itself is not
a substitute. For a moment of kindliness,compassion,
unconditional lovingness is a melody of worship of
the highest calibre.

"If you do it to the least of my brethren,you do it unto me"

Islam re-orientating?
Since this blog started 7 years ago,I have on many occasions
protested the distortion of spiritual insights by so called 'religious
leaders/scholars/preachers/Immams'. I have particulary and specifically
tried to show that 'fatwas' and 'jihads' are,generally, socio-political
tools derived from highly questionable 'interpretations' of ancient
texts/quotations. This campaign for 'religious accuracy' has nothing
to do with a specific religion (see also my blogs on,for example,
The Vatican's distortions). It has to do with TRUTH. Spiritual TRUTH.

Today, here, appears an interesting report documenting efforts within
Islam by moderates to reclaim the beauty of Islam and transform it
from the religion of terror and oppression which Jihadists and power
hungry Immams have created into it's original concepts of lovingness.

Here are some excerpts from the well-worth-reading article:

"Back in the mid-1990s, Osama bin Laden had a problem, and it was Islam. He
wanted to say the Qur'an gave his followers license to kill innocents—and
themselves—in the cause of "jihad." That was how he could justify his global
campaign of terror. But that's not what the Muslim holy book says,
and that's not the way it was interpreted by any of the great
scholars and preachers of the faith.(see this blog as recently
as 22 April on this subject)
Once sympathetic publics in the Middle East and South Asia are growing
disillusioned
Momentum is building within the Muslim world to re-examine what had
seemed immutable tenets of the faith, to challenge what had been taken
as literal truths and to open wide the doors of interpretation (ijtihad)
that some schools of Islam tried to close centuries ago".

Differing cultures,differing traditions,differing languages are all used by
the One God to disseminate spiritual truths that speak to the individual's heart
in a comprehensible manner. Conformity is not an option if you truly believe
in the awesome power of lovingness.Nor is any proclamation that does
not speak of love.

I wish all, who seek to speak with loving and compassionate hearts about a
perception of LOVE and healing as an active force in society,every success in
their endeavours to celebrate the differences that are the expressions of
uniqueness.

If one man gains spiritually, the whole world gains with him.

Mahatma Gandhi

(photo courtesy:http://www.themothersunion.org/worship.aspx)

Spring Flowers

slide show HERE

Today the country with the largest population in the world stopped for a 3 minute silence

in memory of all the

victims of the earthquake.

.

.

"Our tears are the jewels with which we adorn the memories of those

we have loved and have lost.

Our heartache is the pulse of unfulfilled loving in this life's walk:

and one day

we will know the beauty of the tears

and the infinite joy of the heartache

for in that moment

we shall behold the indestructibility of Love.

.

But for now,

let us weep together"

gg

In these moments the politics of a nation are irrelevant. Devastation

and bereavement on such a scale evoke compassion that transcends

all,all,barriers. Deepest condolences and heartfelt empathy to the

peoples of China who have been affected by this catastrophe.

A student aiding a classmate still in the ruins of a high school in Beichuan County.
Photo: Chen Xie/Xinhua, via Associated Press

if you haven't seen/heard this...you should,hehehehe. Go here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJEacTZmd7I

THE ABOVE LINK HAS NOW BEEN REMOVED

so try this one instead

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9t-TC-PfDFY

(post updated 5th Nov 2008)

UN-prejudice
I am not sure that I understand all the intricacies of sex-change operation
needs.But then, I am only challenged to accept another person's character
and self-requirements.To be willing to accept the person as they are and as
they seek to be.

It seems as if humanity is really making some progress on the issues of
intolerance and prejudice.As evidence take a look at the truly wonderful
support these young people are giving to another young person:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,354426,00.html

Ah, what we can achieve when we set the needs of others as a priority -
even above our own misconceptions, misunderstandings, or simply
lack of awareness.

The Reign of Confusion causes death

Last week, British teacher Daud Hassan Ali, 64, was shot dead in Somalia. His widow, Margaret Ali, said her husband was targeted by Islamists who "believe it is ok to kill any man who was born into Islam and left the faith".

" I was staggered to learn that the Quran does not say anything about punishing apostates and that its proponents use two hadiths instead to support their view. Hadiths are the recorded traditions and sayings of the Prophet which, in addition to the Quran, provide an additional source of Islamic law.
The hadiths which relate to apostasy are linguistically ambiguous and open to interpretation. Distinguished scholars told me that the hadiths actually speak about a death penalty for treason, not apostasy. And even then, they stressed the punishment is discretionary. "

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7355515.stm

Oh with what ease we take words and twist,distort or disorientate them to suit our own purposes.In case you misread, I show again:
The Quran does NOT SAY ANYTHING about punishing apostates
??????????????

SALES DRIVE?

In the face of falling revenues, membership, new-priest sign-ups, the VATPRC did what all sales organisations do - they organised a sales drive (otherwise called a Papal visit).

photo Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/Newsweek

Speeches to the UN, at Yankee Stadium, to clerics about child Sex Abuse - all,of course, played to the tune of Vaticanus Harmonius Humilitatus.I,however, would be better able to contemplate the concept of 'sinners becoming saints'. or in this case cardinals becoming popes, if apologies were adequately made for ......Crimen Sollicationus (the present pope was in charge of thee department responsible for the issuance of this)

In the absence of adequate and suitable attention to this 'minor' (as in child) detail, the rest is simply a marketing road show (see duck rolling).

The church still has a very long way to go to catch up to the higher standard of morality currently shown by and in secular society. I doubt it can ever catch up

Duck-rolling,Rick-rolling, God-rolling


IT began with a duck. A while ago contributors to an anarchic internet message board called 4chan started fooling others by luring them to click on interesting-sounding links. The clickers thought they were going to get the latest video game news or pictures of hot babes or celebrity gossip; what they actually got was a picture of a duck on wheels. They had been “duck-rolled”.

Then an idle inspired prankster changed tack and replaced the duck with a video of Rick Astley singing his 1987 classic 'never going to give you up' creating the (so far) largest viral video on the net (You tube hits of 7m last month) - hence Rickrolling.

The whole principle of the prank is to take you somewhere you had not expected to go - whether this is a pleasant or unpleasant experience is entirely subjective.

This kind of reminded me of the track record of so many 'religions'. You 'click on God' and the network ends up taking you somewhere else entirely.

LOVE ROLLING, in the spiritual sense, is absolutely different. The whole purpose is to go where you had not expected to go, do what you had not self-wished to do, be what you had not thought yourself to be (thought being the operative word here).

UNCONDITIONAL LOVINGNESS is the biggest,best,most invigorating trip you'll ever take....when you 'clicked on the life url' you started the networking.

"That which we cannot change, we ignore" Gail Collins, New York Times columnist.

"When you meet a life circumstance that you feel you cannot change,
change your perception of it, change the way you view it. Then,the
'unchangeable life circumstance' has lost it's power over you, it's ability to
frustrate your spirit's pathway by clouding you with emotion.
A good way of achieving this perceptive mechanism is to seek out the
blessing in the life circumstance. Believe it,there always is one hiding
there somewhere. A blessing that reveals more of who you really are,
spiritually, than your consciousness had manifest to you". (gg.gallnas)

One cannot ignore 'earthquakes'. Events which shake the foundations of
one's existence/belief system/concepts.

Aeschylus wrote: "Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God

Quoted by Robert F Kennedy during a speech in Indianapolis in which he broke the news to the unknowing crowd of the assasination of Martin Luther King.

Nearly all peoples,everywhere, dream of a good future for their own children.

Some dream of a fair and just future for everyone,seeing all as brothers and sisters, children of the 'One God'.

In respectful memory of a man with a loving message.

The message lives on.

“Self-discipline is a form of freedom.

Freedom from laziness and lethargy,

freedom from expectations and demands of others,

freedom from weakness and fear — and doubt.”

H.A.Dorfman in "The Mental ABCs of Pitching"

Sometimes, most times, unconditional lovingness creates miracles.
Check out this story.

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/03/27/heroes.andersen/index.html

I wish them both well.

A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds, 'What does love mean?'
The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.
Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.
When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said,
'Nothing, I just helped him cry'

“Whenever you have truth it must be given with love, or the message and the messenger will be rejected”

M.K.Gandhi

shadows of Divinity

Knowledge is not necessarily understanding.
Understanding is not necessarily wisdom.
Wisdom is not necessarily Love.
For even a small child may be lacking in knowledge, understanding and wisdom...
but exudes such unconditional love
as to render these other things a poor reflection of Divinity.

gg

The ABUSE of understanding - Fitna

As I have commented before on this blog, the 'beauty' of ancient manuscripts is the lack of real understanding of what the language actually meant in the culture of the time. This allows for all sorts of 'misinterpretations and kaleidoscopic conclusions' - giving rise to sectarianism, schism,
dysfunction.


There is no greater threat to the established 'religions' than the proclamations of one of influence who claims to have discovered THE truth about God (as opposed to A truth about God), and then proceeds to 'justify this declaration' with all sorts of ancient texts interpreted to suit the argument.

FITNA is a case in point! 'Anonymous' responded to my blog thursday post on Sat, Mar 22, 2008 at 8:16 AM with :"Fitna doesnt mean "oppression", it means "opposition". The same way a dictator would outlaw and squash any political opposition This is totalitarian theocracy imposed by the sword and it is why Geert Wilders title his movie "Fitna". Muslims try to twist the meaning of fitna to make them sound like victims when actually it is quite the opposite. " (I will post comments that are signed with something more precise than anon and reserve the right to edit any comments I deem especially offensive)

So I thought I better google and check out other meanings of the word FITNA to those I had already assembled: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitna_%28word%29 and this article starts "Arabic word, generally regarded as very difficult to translate", difficult to translate is a euphanism for 'it can mean almost anything".



This is Islamist centrist intellectual Mohamed al-Amara who published a thought provoking, faith enlightening - and storm
surrounded book "Fitna al-Takfir" last year.
You can see some of the turmoil in The Islamic religion's propensity to accept innumerable interpretations of a sura/text/takfir here: http://abuaardvark.typepad.com/abuaardvark/2007/02/amaras_fitna_al.html
and one of the comments on that blog says as follows:

"He is focused on "fitna" - or in-fighting amongst Muslims. He is saying, basically, that it is brother with brother, and brother with cousin against the stranger, i.e. Muslims should not fight amongst themselves and hence weaken themselves vis a vis the West"

In short, there is not ONE Islamic religion,there are many - though there is but 'One God'. As I wrote on thursday:
"In the normal way of old-fashioned politics,if you seek to unite a people - or distract a population from what you are doing - the finest way is to' create a common enemy'. Where 'traditions and sectarian religious concepts are concerned' it is fairly easy to find targets".

Thus we see that the dysfunction of Islam, the 'civil war within Islam', gives rise to attacks upon 'kafir'(non-believers) not because of their non-belief, but because of Islam's inability to define what IT really believes in a universally agreed format.

But,hey, don't just point the finger at Islam here - almost every major religion has divided into warring sects. Even worse, most have claimed 'divine authority' for imposing torture and death upon their victims - like they have played the role of God, taking life (note, they are not so good at the other extreme of giving/creating life).Remember Beslan. Remember Islam Khardykov?

So who to believe? which to accept?
I have a very simple test - if it isn't loving, compassionate, merciful - it isn't from God!

Listen to your heart