DICTIONARY & ANECDOTES
ABORTION: Abortion is the termination of a human life in its mother's womb. Should one become "accidently" pregnant, remember that two wrongs don't make a right. Do not engage in intercourse unless one is prepared for pregnancy. Enlightenment is built around loving and trusting God no matter what happens. When one puts ones own desires, ambitions, and expectations first, at the expense of life, one is living in delusion. Abortion is unnatural and selfish. "It's a baby, not a choice." Abortion is another word for murder. God does not burden a person with more than he or she can handle. In fact, what one considers a burden today, one often considers ones greatest blessing tomorrow. I have yet to meet a mother who wished she had killed her child in her womb. Abortion is a sin, and yet even this sin may be forgiven through Jesus Christ.
ADAM & EVE: The Biblical concept of a human being is that it is made up of two things- flesh and spirit. Someone had to be the first human, or Homo Sapiens, and according to the Bible, the first human was named Adam who was made in God's image. The name "Adam" translates loosely as "red earth" and also basically to simply "man". The first woman according to the Bible was named "Eve" which is very close to the Hebrew word for "Life."
We are all related to each other and to the first two humans, Adam and Eve. Long ago, the original family of mankind broke away from each other into smaller groups, families, and tribes. Everyone on Earth today, is in the least distant cousins. This is one reason why one should love everyone regardless of sex or race with all of ones heart.
Jesus is often called the second, or new, Adam. Whereas Adam was made in the image of God, Jesus, or the "second Adam", is God. Whereas all are sinners worthy of death from the beginning with the first sin of Adam and Eve, with the coming of Christ, who led the perfect life, all may be justified through him. St. Paul says, "then as one man's trespass led to the condemnation for all men, so one man's act of righteousness leads to acquittal and life for all men." (Romans 5:18)
ADVERTISEMENTS, WHAT ARE? Advertisements are the sales pitches people tolerate in exchange for entertainment or information. Besides letting an audience know where to purchase certain products or services, an advertisement is often the biggest lie that the advertiser thinks the customer will believe about how important it is for him or her to have the product or service they are selling. Too often, the advertisement echoes the original temptation which the Serpent said in the Garden of Eden, "Eat the fruit and be like God."
Corporations want to ingratiate their trademarks and products with pleasant feelings, or emotions. (See CONCEPTUALIZATION) Their hope is that when one thinks of those pleasant feelings, one will also think of their trademark, and vice versa. When trademarks find their way into ones observations, it is not long before they find their way into ones beliefs.
Think of a famous cigarette brand race car, if every time people have fun watching a race they also see a particular famous cigarette brand logo, they will come to a point where every time they see the logo, they will remember how much fun they had at the race. In other words, the associations created by the advertising trigger an emotional response in hopes that such emotional response will lead to buying behavior and continued use of a product. Trademarks, and other "symbols", can turn people into Pavlovian dogs when the advertising has created such emotional conceptualization.
Advertising works. Advertising is the largest source of income for most media companies. The lies of advertising work so well that people smoke even though there is a health warning right on the pack! In smoking, for example, the pleasant emotional observations are so ingratiated with the product, through association, that people feel the pleasant feelings of buying and using cigarettes outweigh the dangers of the product. A reality of lies looks like the truth to those who don't know truth, or refuse to believe truth.
An advertisement is a biased attempt to change another's beliefs. Advertising actually creates a physical change in the body of all those who observe it. Upon being exposed to any advertisement, all sorts of physiological chemicals are created and released throughout ones blood stream changing ones molecular structure and causing an emotional response depending upon the degree of conflict or agreement with ones belief system. An advertisement is information designed so that a certain observation is inferred by the victim of it.
Advertising is used not just for worldly products, but exists regarding spiritual matters as well. The Devil uses any and all means to lure people away from truth. One way the devil does this is by trying to get people to make faulty observations and conceptualizations regarding truth. This is propaganda. Although the Coca-Cola corporation would like you to believe that "Coke is it", truly "God is it."
AFFIRMATION: Acting upon, or executing, a decision or belief which results in behavior is affirmation. When one affirms a decision it becomes a belief. If you've made up your mind to do something truthful and good, do it! Until a decision leads to its corresponding behavior, the belief contains doubt. Doubt and hesitation are suffering.
AIMING: There is a famous expression amongst carpenters, "measure twice, cut once". This is because after one has made a cut, one cannot go back and fix it if one has made a mistake. Too often, people practice the misguided attack of "ready, fire, aim" rather than the more logical progression of "ready, aim, fire". Similarly, if one wanders off the path of righteousness, one is quickly lost, and once lost, it becomes even harder to find the path and get back on it. Aim in all endeavors in life so that one may more easily achieve ones goals and objectives. It is not enough just to aim. Achieve what one is aiming for or nothing will change.
If one aims high along the path of righteousness, one is more likely to reach enlightenment. A person who walks with his or her head down does not see where he or she is going. Then again, one who has his or her eyes focused only on one's destination, does not enjoy the steps one takes to get there. Keep in mind that all of ones own goals and objectives are subject to God's will and ultimate plan. The more ones own goals and objectives stray from God's will and ultimate plan, the less likely they are to come to fruition.
