DICTIONARY & ANECDOTES
HABIT:
When one speaks of habits, one is usually describing some type of re-
occurring aberrant behavior such as smoking. A bad habit, is a behavior
based on an aberrant belief and can be illuminated in the same manner
as any other belief. In fact, the habit itself keeps the belief alive
and harbors the pain which such belief contains. Many bad habits are simply
the "acting out" of the original trauma which caused the aberrant
belief to begin with. This "acting out" is the re-creation of
the original loss of control. Often, the best way to overcome bad habits
is to decide one has already overcome them. If one can stop the habit,
or behavior, that one uses to keep the belief alive, then the pain can
be dealt with. Believe in perfection and live up to it.
HALO: A halo is a symbolic crown designating authority
and royalty which seems to float above the head of the enlightened for
it is "not of this world" nor subject to the laws of this world-
such as gravity. An enlightened person or someone filled with the Holy
Spirit is more than just filled with the goodness of the Ultimate Reality,
this goodness almost seems to beam out from them. Their "cup runneth
over" with goodness so to speak for they have overcome this world.
Halo is the anecdotal name and metaphoric representation of this state
in which someone seems to glow from the light they contain within themselves.
It is a way of identifying the enlightened in art. A halo is a permanent
crown which lasts forever and cannot be removed. Why be a king for a day
and wear a crown of this temporary world when you can wear the crown of
eternity with God?
HAND MIRROR OF GOD: The world is like a hand mirror
being held out so that God might see itself in its reflection. As long
as God can see itself in the reflection of the world, God will smile at
the world and keep the hand mirror. However, should the hand mirror become
cloudy and cracked, God will stop smiling and throw the useless hand mirror
away. Give thanks and glorify God by polishing the hand mirror of God.
HAPPINESS, WHAT IS? As Kirillov said "Man
is unhappy because he doesn't know he's happy." The unhappy man is
a king blind to his treasure. The well of happiness is within oneself,
for happiness comes to one internally, not externally. Happiness is the
complete peacefulness, contentment, and fulfillment which one can attain
by embracing the truth about oneself and God. Happiness is being a child
of God. Happiness is feeling that ones life and ones environment are in
complete control. (You can only feel this way by putting your life in
God's hands.) Truth is happiness, the more you know, the happier you are.
Celebrate happiness through God and not through ones self. Happiness through
God is the celebration of life and goodness with blessing, respect, and
thankfulness for what has made all happiness possible- God. Happiness
through ones own self, is to have pleasure in worldly possessions or at
the expense of truth and goodness- it is temporary. Technically, I prefer
the word "joy" over the word "happiness" because it
is less emotional and rarely confused with pleasure.
The "hap" in "happiness" is the same as the "hap"
in "what's happening" and means an occurrence of chance. What's
happening is happening right now, in the present of all possibilities.
Happiness is found in the present. If one does not already feel rich,
one does not see the abundance one has already been given. Do not let
selfishness stand between you and happiness. The ignorant only find happiness
in getting what they want. But, as Mick Jagger of THE ROLLING STONES says,
"You can't always get what you want." So, the ignorant aren't
always going to be happy. Since God itself is ultimately in charge, if
one wants what God wants, one will always be happy. There is spiritual
wisdom in the old adage, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!"
You cannot attain happiness, happiness attains you.
HARMONY: Alignment. Harmony is the state of being
in tune with the preexisting truth. When one is in tune with God, there
is a peace and calmness that results. When one is out of tune with truth,
the result is discord, sour notes, and dissonance, which causes pain.
Get in harmony with God.
HEART: Heart is the word used not only of the organ
that pumps ones lifeblood throughout ones body, but is used to refer to
the center of ones soul, ones innermost essence. Ones heart is like a
garden, and the word of God is like a seed.
HEAVEN, WHAT IS? Not Hell. Heaven is not a white
crystal city on a hill with pearly gates. That, as far as I know, is just
an anecdotal representation of Heaven. Upon accepting the existence of
God, one would logically ask, "Where does God live?" Thus, a
name was given to the place where God dwells. God dwells with the living,
inside those who accept God. Even while one is alive, one may enter into
the Kingdom of God, which is truth. It is not a kingdom of flesh, but
of spirit. It is the truth which exists even beyond death. Those who are
rich with the treasures of flesh, have identity in the flesh, and so may
have a difficult time seeing and wanting to enter this spiritual kingdom.
Wherever there is life, there is by definition, God, and thereby also
that place where God is, Heaven. God dwells here in this Universe, but
God, the Ultimate Truth, is not limited to this or any other dimension.
There is the Kingdom of Heaven which one may enter when one has found
God, but is still alive in ones flesh, and then there is the Kingdom of
Heaven apart from this world one may go to when one dies and is free from
flesh.
Since Jesus is inseparable from God, if you have Jesus, you have God.
Thus, if you have Jesus in your heart, you have God in your heart, and
Heaven in your heart. Jesus Christ is the key to the Kingdom of Heaven.
What happens to one when one dies is entirely up to God. One cannot really
even be positive that one will die, though it is most surely probable.
It is not up to one to decide or even fathom ones own eternity- it is
up to God alone. Trust in God completely and do not worry about the future.
If one cannot have faith and trust in God now, how can one have faith
and trust in God for all eternity?
HELL, WHAT IS? Not Heaven. Perdition. Separation forever
from God. The concept of Heaven presupposes that there is something that
is not Heaven, this has come to be called Hell. Hell may or may not exactly
be the fiery inferno which it is so often represented to be. Metaphors
are used in the Bible to describe Hell and the underlying terror being
described. Nevertheless, Hell is as real as death itself, and fire is
probably the closest concept to explain what Hell is like. It is the place
for the unregenerate, incorrigible, unbeliever. The big empty. Do you
not fear Hell? What guarantee have you that none exists? What guarantee
have you that some type of consciousness will not survive death?
If one does not become adopted as a child of God, one becomes a child
of the Devil. Too many people fight against God and truth, clinging, and
attaching their identity, to their youth, their worldly power, and their
flesh. Until one is able to become enlightened, one is doomed to suffer
in ones ignorance. If one rejects God, what does one have, but identity
in being lost.
When one becomes enlightened, ones life is heavenly, and one is freed
from what is otherwise eternal suffering. According to the Bible, the
total nightmare of Hell hasn't even really happened yet, as the world
has not yet been judged. This means that the dead are awaiting judgement.
Funny isn't it, that so many of the people that don't believe in Hell
are the same ones telling you to go there! Those who deny that the Kingdom
of Heaven has come may still be denying it as they suffer forever in "Hell".
Hell is for the half-hearted.
According to the Bible, God separates the dead into places which are often
called "Heaven" and "Hell". This is the eternal separation
of the Sheep, or Children of God, from the Goats, or Children of Perdition.
When judgement comes, each will be judged according to his or her deeds
and rewarded or punished accordingly.
HOLY SPIRIT: The Holy Spirit, which is part of the
Trinity, which is God, is also called the Counselor, or Comforter. It
is a gift of God, or what might be called, a spiritual anointing, by God's
grace, for those who ask God to lead them to truth. It is the baptism
which pollinates and leads one to seek, and flower in truth. It impregnates
one with the seed of truth. The Holy Spirit is the countenance of spiritual
life which resides in those seeking truth. It is the Holy Spirit which
allows one to discern truth from error and to find meaning in what might
otherwise appear meaningless. The Holy Spirit provides guidance.
Until one has the Holy Spirit residing in oneself, one is spiritually
dead and uninterested in truth. The Holy Spirit makes the spiritually
dead hungry for life. The gift of the Holy Spirit is such that as many
are led by the Holy Spirit, are the children of God. After receiving the
Holy Spirit, one enters into the process of sanctification in which one
is illuminated gradually into the likeness of Christ. It would be better
for those to have never known truth then to know truth and continue sinning
for they are then being hypocritical and ignorant and are then subject
to the discipline of God.
The Holy Spirit is the breath and life of Jesus. The desire to be like
Jesus Christ is the Holy Spirit. The spirit of Jesus is the spirit of
God. To have the spirit of God is to do the will of God. Doing the will
of God is God at work.
The Holy Spirit is really the "Whole I" Spirit, as one is not
truly whole who walks alone.
HOLY, WHAT IS IT TO BE? To be holy one must be made
"whole". One is not "whole" until one fills the empty
cup of oneself with the truth of God. To be holy is to be under the metaphorical
wings of God. To be holy is to be separate from sin.
HOLY WATER, IS THERE SUCH A THING: All water is already
holy. After all, God created all of it, do you think God created unholy
water? All of creation was made holy, anything "unholy" is the
result of mankind's corruption. Nevertheless, a priest may pray over a
small quantity of water to sanctify it and use it in a religious ceremony.
Holy water is used in ceremonies as a metaphoric representation of the
Holy Spirit.
A priest was once asked, "How do you get holy water?" The priest
responded, "We take ordinary water and boil the hell out of it."
HOMOSEXUALITY: What society calls "homosexuality"
is indeed a sin in the eyes of God. However, any sex which is pleasure
or pain based is a sin. Any sexual behavior based solely on desire is
a sin. Nothing must come between one and God. Sexuality amongst even married
people of the opposite sex is technically a sin if it is based on lust
and desire rather than love.
The problem with homosexuality, or succumbing to any other lustful sexual
desire for that matter, is that it ignores God. It would be next to impossible
for one to worship God and have homosexual sex at the same time. In fact,
homosexual sex might even be likened to flesh worship, masochism (pleasure
from self punishment), or even self worship, all of which are hardly the
behavior of the godly. In fact, such sex is defiant. What one finds temporarily
in homosexuality, can be found more completely and permanently in God.
Only love based sex is acceptable, and even then really only to affirm
a marriage in the spirit of love and for hope of reproduction. Should
the fires of desire get the best of one (which is the reason for marriage
in the first place), at least recognize the sin of succumbing to such
desire and repent when one does. Lust is not spiritual. All in all, how
can one walk with the God of spirit with ones mind on the flesh?
Homosexuality and other sexual deviations are behaviors which are the
result of acting out certain deviant beliefs which are based on pain and
trauma. Any longings one has are desires which can be overcome when one
faces the root causes of such longings. Desires are feelings of incompleteness.
Identify where ones desires are coming from and illuminate the truth regarding
the pain one is harboring in those areas. In reality, homosexuality and
smoking actually have many similarities.
Perverted thoughts are not separate from the Universe since one is oneself,
a part of the Universe. One cannot simply ignore the perverted desires
in ones mind. One must overcome ones perverted desires in the same manner
as one overcomes all of ones other worldly desires- through illumination.
HONEY, THE TRUTH IS LIKE: The ignorant are like those
who rush to the hive to gather honey, and in their haste, are instead
stung. In ones bitterness at being stung, one learns to detest the hive,
claim that there is no honey to be found, and call the bees hornets.
The truth is like honey. It is indeed the sweet nectar one is looking
for, but it must be gathered like a bee. Become like a bee or not only
will one find nothing, one will be stung as well.
Bees pollinate flowers, gather nectar, tell other bees where nectar can
be found, and make honey for the good of the hive. The bees should remind
us that before anything can bear fruit, it must first be pollinated, or
fertilized. Pollinate the flowers of goodness with good pollen so that
one will see good fruit. Do good, and good things will come your way.
The reward for goodness is the honey of truth. Become like a bee and you
will gain access into the hive of truth.
Honey catches more flies than vinegar. Share the sweet nectar of truth
with open arms, in the spirit of love and understanding, whilst being
an example, or lighthouse, to those who are lost.
HONOR AMONG THIEVES, THERE IS NO: Fortunately for
the forces of good, there is truly no honor among thieves. Suppose the
police catch two thieves but need a confession. The two thieves are split
up and offered a reduced sentence if he or she is the one who confesses
first. Since there is no honor among the thieves, neither thief wants
to be the one with the longer sentence. Since neither thief trusts the
other, both will confess. Police can count on the self-interest of the
two. If either thief trusted the other to keep his or her mouth shut,
perhaps both would have gotten away with the crime. So too, the self-interest
of the Devil can be counted on as the Devil does not trust its own and
will betray itself in its own ignorance.
HOURGLASS OF LIFE: When the hourglass of life
runs dry, God counts the good fruits of love, kindness, and compassion
and also the worthless grains of sand which lie piled at the bottom of
ones hourglass. Those in Christ bear fruit which is pure and good, so
God is pleased and replaces the hourglass of this world with an eternal
one. Sand alone is the result of the lives of the wicked who bore no good
fruit. These grains are like quicksand from which the wicked cannot escape,
and they are lost in their own wretchedness. Jesus is the rock one may
stand upon to bear good fruit, everything else is sinking sand.
HUMAN BEING: Does one know why one is called a human
being? What does it mean to be a "being"? To be "being"
is to have been born and to be observing. One is "being" alive
and discriminating the Universe. One is a creature of the Living Light.
Human beings are conceptualizing the Universe according to the gifts God
has given them. As such, one is either "being with God" or "being
apart from God", which is the Living Light.
HUMAN CONDITION: The truth regarding the human condition
is horrifying! Is humanity, and each one of us individually, but a variable
in the complex equation of life? Are we each simply an expression of some
math formula? Is the objectivity we encounter but an agreement amongst
subjective individuals in a subjective Universe?
We are alive, but chances are, we are all going to die, everyone of us!
Isn't that scary? Why should we do anything if everything is in vain?
Often, it is the recognition of this very fact, the human condition, that
leads mankind to seek truth and find God.
Take heart! All is not hopeless! There is good news as revealed through
Jesus Christ. God is the answer to the human condition. There is hope
in being reborn spiritually and the promise of everlasting life for those
who believe and get their identity in Christ. In a way, this world is
a testing ground. And if you think about it, who would make something
eternal that had not tested it first? Since mankind is unable to pass
the test of God's law, God has become the test of mankind coming to earth
in the flesh and offering eternal life to those who believe in Jesus.
Such eternal life does not begin when one dies, but the moment that one
believes.
HUMAN RACE: We are all a part of the human race.
In fact, all humans regardless of race are the exact same species. This
is because we are all related to one another.
Now, imagine the word "race" being used to describe a competition.
Are we all racing against each other? Are we racing to our graves? Are
we racing to gather the most stuff before we die? Is it a marathon or
a sprint? It seems that the type of race you enter is up to you. Enter
the sprint and race against time. Enter the marathon and race for longevity.
It seems to me, the race for truth is the only race worth pursuing since
it sets one free and is the only permanence one finds in life. Put the
"G" of "God" into your "race" and have "grace".
HURT MYSELF, WHY DO I? If one hurts oneself, then one
hurts oneself because the person who usually or originally hurt one isn't
around to do it anymore. In a way, one hurts oneself because one is used
to it and expects it. One may wrongly punish oneself because one feels
one deserves it. Do not judge oneself.
One hurts oneself to keep an aberrant belief alive. The aberrant belief
may be that one deserves to be punished. The aberrant belief may be that
something is true which is not true. Since pain is associated to any aberrant
belief, to keep the aberrant belief, one holds onto the painful observation.
If the pain is gone, people often begin subconsciously finding a way to
regain it by either getting themselves hurt again or hurting themselves.
This can happen when painful observations are exposed and neutralized,
but not replaced. The original painful observation could be the result
of shame or guilt.
Perhaps originally one was wrong about something. Now is the time to learn
what's right, not to be hurt or punished. One may have been hurt by someone
who was frustrated and did not understand things themselves. Understand
and forgive the error of this person. One may have been hurt out of the
weaknesses of others, not ones own. Learn from ones mistakes, do not punish
oneself, especially when one is trying ones best. Pray for the strength
to forgive others and/or oneself. God will forgive you immediately if
you ask with a sincere heart. Self punishment or self denial can achieve
no greater spiritual state because it is disrespectful to the gift of
life and the body, which is the temple of the holy spirit.
HYPNOSIS, WHAT IS IT? SEE HYPNOSIS
HYPOCRISY: Hypocrisy is saying one thing and doing
another. There is nothing worse than hypocrisy for it makes a mockery
of what one knows and says is true. Often hypocrisy is observed in those
who are struggling with doubt in their beliefs. People have knowledge
of what is right, but they do not truly believe it themselves. One must
do what is right. One must do what one knows to be true in order to affirm
ones beliefs. If one does not affirm ones knowledge of truth, it will
not be true belief. Failure to affirm ones knowledge into true belief
results in pain caused by the dissonance between what one knows to be
true and what one actually believes to be true. Hypocrisy is a sin, but
to be a hypocrite purposely is simply evil.
