The Secret

I felt it is time to share the secret since no one is guaranteed tomorrow. It would be a shame if something happened to me before I could help others. Ok.. How should we start...Well, since life starts with pain lets dive into suffering. Ah.. oops, before we dive into that we need to set some basic parameters about humans.

Defining ourselves:

We define ourselves or compare each other using various standards. Many of us allow media to dictate which standard we hold more important in the valuation of fellow human beings. Here are the standard four criteria most of the world uses to assign value on another individual.

   1. Success, money, fame fortune etc..

2. Intelligence
3. Physical Attributes, I.E strength, beauty, size, stature and health
4. Spirituality

For the most part the world views number one as the best way to value an individual in the game called life. We strive to increase our value intrinsically and externally using these measuring sticks.

Many of us focus more on the top 3 items and very little on the fourth. Many of us who focus on the 4^th find it confusing and a bit unfulfilling. The purpose of this blog is to share with you bread for the 4^th category Spirituality.

The funny thing about the fourth criteria. If you have an abundance of spirituality...... Let me put it in a different way. If you are spirituality strong you can make up shortages in the other three categories and live a happy and fulfilling life. You can make it through any problem or terrible event whereas others may falter . Those that are weak spirituality are prone to encounter additional problems that rob them of precious time here on earth and life energy. Unfortunately a time true method of gaining more spirituality is to suffer.

Our most Spiritual leaders, Jesus, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa, Buddha, Mohammad shared the common experience of suffering. They suffered and desired that mankind would learn to walk a different path towards enlightenment. Something every human has in common... We all have suffered.

I journey the path toward spiritual enlightenment as well. I believe that I have advanced a bit further than some of my fellow brothers and sisters here on our beautiful planet. I want to share with you what I have learned.

I like many of you are no strangers to suffering. I was an abused child, product of the ghetto, father was a crack head etc etc etc. But that is not point of this blog. This blog is more a map on how to walk and find peace within. To find like minds to share and grow together from all walks of life. To look at the bigger picture. However, to suffer is to rejoice! Says the the Bible. We will touch more on this on later blogs. Ok. So lets get started shall we.

What is this big secret that I possess? I can only relate this through the Christian perspective so bear with me. Most of my spiritual training in my life was learned through Christianity. I have studied Islam and I am currently studying Buddhism. So I will relate it to you through the eyes of a Christian. But please bear with me the concept embraces us all.

Ok.. My problem with faith started after reading the book of Job in the Bible. I am not sure you are familiar with this story. I will summarize it as best as I can. The story starts with Job, God and Satan. Basically God is proud of Job. He has a conversation with Satan and Satan says. The only reason Job is such a faithful servant is because he has not suffered. Long story short God allows Satan to affect Job´s life. Job loses his fortune and wealth. Job´s wife asks Job to curse God for their misfortune. She states that Job has always honored God and this is the the thanks we get. ( Man, I know this lady from somewhere.) Job refuses. God is happy and proud. Satan says basically ¨ Ok, Mr. G!  Job passed the first test but let me take his health away. I bet he will curse you then. God gives the Satan the green light to hit Job with sickness, boils you name it everything under the sun. Job is balled up in a corner writhing in pain unable to wear clothes because the pain would be to unbearable. Enters the wife again. Curse God! You don't deserve this! ( I am positive we all have met this woman in our lives lol.) Job refuses and suffers through it all. God is proud, Satan is unhappy. ( I am sure you see where all this is going.)

Satan asks for one more opportunity. ¨ Ok.. Let me touch him and take away what he loves. Let me touch him with death. He will curse your name and the day he was born then.¨ ( I am paraphrasing the story. Feel free to open the bible and read the story on your own.)

Thereafter Job´s children die. The wife comes to Job sobbing in tears.. Please curse God.. You have been a loyal servant we did not deserve this. Job remains loyal and does not curse God. God is proud and rewards Job with his fortune, health and more children. .. Here comes the kicker! Job then asks God after his wager with Satan. Why? Lord... Why? What have I done to deserve this?

God´s response.... Who are you to ask me why I did what I did? Where were you when I created the earth and the seas! Basically rants on a bit longer about him being all powerful. Etc..etc etc.

As a child I had a serious problem with this portrait of God. This can´t be the God that we serve,

or is it? If you don't believe the story I just told. Pick up a Bible and read the book of Job.

So brings us to the next question.

Why are we on earth?

Well if you ask any religious person we are here to praise God. ( After reading the book of Job I was not to happy about this answer.)

Scientist, Atheist, Evolutionist- response to the before mentioned question. We are here specifically for the purpose to reproduce. To ensure the survival of our species. ( Don´t really like that response either.)

So why are we here on earth? My simple answer.. Well because God put us here.

Stay with me here.

Next question. Does he exist?

That is a personal question that you have to wrestle with. I can help you in how I concluded that there is an existence of a higher power.

Ok..so does he exist? Well lets look at that.

Ah.. My fellow scholarly evolutionist. How I love Science. The Question of the existence of a God. Hmmm... Here goes. Speaking with limited knowledge of science there are a couple constants that seem to arise throughout Science and Math. Has it ever puzzled you that everything has order to it?  You don´t have to be a Scientist to appreciate the beautiful order in science. Even the smallest electron follows a path that can be computed mathematically. Take electricity for example from Ohms law to Amperage you have to admit the order and how everything works is both efficient and mind blowing when you step back and look at the grand picture. How everything can equate from both a mathematical chemical and physical perspective. How Albert Einstein searched for the Holy Grail of Science with a theory that unifies everything. Nature, Mathematics... The Golden Ratio.. forget PI, look at PHI..Good Ole 1.6180339. The reoccurring number that resides in all organic organisms. Order normally stems from intelligence, Chaos the lack thereof. The Greatest Scientific minds of all time agreed that there is an existence of God.. Carl Sagan, Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci the list goes on and on. I am not as smart as any of those individuals but they reached a similar conclusion. However please feel free to believe in what ever you like. Your opinion will be greatly appreciated. Share your thoughts. I know that it is quite benign to try to persuade you that there is God through science. ( I think that is the realm of Scientology. Not the greatest fan of L. Ron Hubbard. A great author nonetheless. Feel free any Scientologists to share you viewpoint as well.) Back to my point, I truly believe order stems from intelligence

Back to spirituality and the secret. Part of secret is Love but let me explain it and how it works and the context. Love is a form of energy immensely powerful. It has rescued countless lives and probably killed and ruined that same exact amount. Take the greatest author of a love story ever written, William Shakespeare. He never found true love. Yet that did not stop him from writing about it. Because of Love he is no longer considered a mere mortal.

Which brings us back to God, and Job.... That picture of God displayed in the book of Job was not one of Love. Let me understand how this works from a Judo-Christian perspective. I am placed on earth to live a limited number of years. Lets say 100. I do not remember signing up or requesting life from God. But lets pretend we were all in heaven. But we get to go through a test called life. If we pass the test we return to heaven with some sort of improved status. Maybe we become Angels who knows.  Since we want to praise God and we love him dearly, we accept this lopsided bet of life vs eternity.  Of course the test is going to be extremely hard, lots of temptation, sin feels good. Satan has home field advantage, But we take the plunge anyways.

Now let me understand this correctly We have either never existed for eons or lived in Heaven for eons. Irregardless, we say that we will go to earth live a short amount of time and prove that we are loyal and love God. If we fail we go to Hell. Our memory is erased so we don´t remember signing up for this challenge. Yikes!

Ok. Now let me get game correct. Time is infinite. We gamble with this short period of time in relation to total time, eternity. If we lose we spend eternity in Hell. Wow! This is a wager where the odds definitely out favor the player. Maybe if your lucky you get 70 yrs of life, you do bad things. BAM hell for eternity! Some how it seems like the house wins. I don´t like this. Because we are naturally selfish beings with a propensity to do evil. Satan has to feel like he won the jackpot. If he gets some sort of credit for fallen souls.

Now the secret. Welcome back if you just scrolled directly to this part. I boldfaced the font to to help you find this part. In case you did not have time to listen to the above rambling. Ok.. God is love right? The Job example contradicts with this statement. I can only explain this from the perspective of being a father myself. I am a father. I love my children dearly. Of course I get upset with them. I threaten them with harsh punishments. But in the end I would never do anything to hurt my little boys. I say these things to keep them in line. When my children heed my warnings they become great contributors to society. If not they may end up in prison. I am sure God is a much better parent than I. That´s child rearing. The goal of each parent, to help create good people to outnumber the numerous existing bad individuals.

That being said... Think about this

Do you actually believe God created you for 70 or 100 yrs just to send you to Hell if you acted bad?

That is not love. God is love and a loving father. It does not matter what religion you believe in.

Yes, he knows that you are bad at times. That does not mean he is going to send you to Hell. Well maybe Hitler will get to experience Hell in some form. I do believe that there will be punishment. And some sort of reckoning. However, It is a truth that God is a loving Parent. Hell is a place created to scare bad children. To put them in line. Sadly some of us need to know that hell exists. Other wise we would go and do what ever we felt like.

There is a God. He loves you, when you have a coincidences in your life, that´s just him sprinkling his magic.

Pray and believe that he will answer and watch what happens. The power of prayer is an entirely different topic.

Religions were created to give man a set of guidelines on how to behave with one another.

They are great tools. If you are a Christian you should read the Bible, So many Christians don´t read the Bible and would not Jesus if he walked up and said hello.Take the words and your respective religion to heart. ( Preferably read the New Testament if you claim to be a Christian.) If you are Hindu you should study your faith. Jewish, Muslims Etc. studying your religion faith and beliefs are spiritual nourishment that each of us need.

We are all his children. There is no need to fight or condemn another. We should learn about each other adopt wonderful principles. We should strive to walk the path together. Study ideals virtues, that my friends is the point.

To focus your spiritual energy teaching and sharing with others. Not judging. Not fighting, but helping your fellow man. To create a better world. Adopt principles of the great spiritual leaders of the past and learn from their teachings and examples. You will find peace. You are able to see the bigger picture. You have a Father that loves you. He will help you if you ask him.

Back to the topic of hell. Do you think criminals are actually afraid of prison or jail? Yes, somewhat but they continue to commit the crimes. We are a species that reacts better using a reward system versus the use of castigation. I cannot see a God of love sending his or her children to Hell. For eternity. Hell was created to scare those that needed to be scared. You need not live in fear. Once you are spirituality ready to take the next step.

Live a good life and be a good Father, Mother, or Brother or Sister to your fellow human. Not because a religion told you to. Or that you are afraid of going to hell. But because it is the right thing to do. You feel the good within your heart, your soul. We will learn to let go of hate and petty differences. Forgiveness. Endure suffering and remain a strong pillar. To walk a road of light. Different religions, comparing thoughts and mantras. Learning as children together finding and sharing inner peace and spirituality. We are all much closer to that goal than many of us think.

God is a good father. Use nature as an example. The way an arctic penguin cares for his egg. Picture a good mother Bear, How protective and nurturing is she of her children? brother or sister Wolves. How the unit is greater than the whole. We are all family and we have a wonderful father. This who we are, his children. Here is the beginning of your peace. Journey with me share your thoughts and views. Let´s walk the path of light together.
I would also recommend if you have not already read Dale Carnegie´s book ¨ How to win Friends and Influence People.¨ It is a great book and a wonderful precursor to self improvement, dealing with others and the road to enlightenment.   I would suggest each person should have a personal copy. A must read!  I was even thoughtful enough to add a link for you : )  Auf Wiedersehen!