DICTIONARY & ANECDOTES
TALENT: In the Biblical days,
a "talent" was a coin of valuable money. In the parable of the
talents, Jesus explains how God gives each of us a number of talents and
rewards those who take the risks to use their talents to do God's will.
Those who bury their talents have their talents taken away and given to
those who do the most with their talents. Those who are given more are
expected to do more with what they are given.
TEACH A MAN TO FISH: There is an old saying, "Give
a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed
him for a lifetime." The same could be said of truth. Truth is like
a spiritual fish. Give a man a spiritual fish and you feed him (set him
free) for a day; teach a man to fish for spiritual fish, and you feed
him (set him free) for eternity." When one teaches illumination,
one is teaching how to search for truth.
TEACHER, WHAT DO YOU SEE? "What do you see?"
asks the teacher to the young spiritual aspirant. "I see you."
responds the pupil. "What do you see, teacher?" the pupil asks.
The teacher responds, "I see God looking at God." When one becomes
a part of the body of Christ, one then may find one interacting with other
parts of the body of truth as well.
TEACHING VS. PREACHING: A teacher teaches truth
so that there might be an understanding of truth. A teacher often answers
questions and explains difficult scriptures. A preacher often just says
what is right, and that's it. Often preachers shout making their message
seem hostile. Many people have stopped going to church simply because
they were preached at instead of taught. Teachers need to be "reachers",
not preachers.
TECHNOLOGY, WHAT IS ALL THIS? There is a common
misperception amongst many that the world is improving. On the contrary,
we are but the cattle of technology fencing ourselves in and leading ourselves
to slaughter. The idea of technology implies that mankind and the world
are not perfect and that rather than adapt ourselves to the world, something
must be done to adapt the world to mankind. Technology is mankind's invention
used to exert itself upon the environment and, in theory, eliminate excess
effort and waste. Unfortunately, technology has evolved to the point where
mankind is not needed for its continued evolution and survival. Mankind
has become the excess effort and waste. Technology's hidden agenda when
applied to corporations is the complete doing away with human workers
since advances in technology eliminate human jobs. Think of how quickly
horses were eradicated when the car came along. To the Devil, people are
no different than horses. In the future, it may be that if one is not
fortunate enough to be born a business owner through society's inheritance
laws, one will be nothing more than a slave to corporations. In a way,
technology is the forbidden fruit mankind has taken and eaten because
it was not satisfied with the world as it was created.
There is nothing new about truth under the Sun. Since technology offers
something "new", it is not the truth. The truth always was,
always is, and always will be the truth. Technology is distraction. When
is enough, enough?
TEMPTATION: Temptation is the desire for the
temporary. To be overcome by temptation is to make a decision to sin.
To overcome temptation one need only turn to God for strength.
THERAPY, SHOULD I GET? Therapy is a process by which
someone helps one discover truths about oneself which one has hidden from
oneself or which have been hidden by others. Thus, therapy is similar
to illumination. Illumination differs only in that it extends to reality
and spiritual matters. Do anything in ones power to find truth as it will
relieve one of pain, depression, and many illnesses. However, like so
many other things in life, it is only as good as the therapist who may
just want ones money or who may not have the skills to help one find the
truth. Also, knowing how things are does not help one learn how things
should be, but it is a good starting place because one can not even move
on to living right until one knows how one is living.
TIME, WHAT IS? Time is the speed of a measurable activity
in space. There are three general observations one is likely to make regarding
time. What has happened in the past, what is happening in the present,
and what is likely to happen in the future.
Time is like unto a reel of movie film moving in one direction as entropy
unfolds. The passage of time is noted by ones consciousness through the
use of memory. One is able to discriminate the present from the past because
the present is entering ones mind through the senses, and the past, or
memory, is just a record of those receptions, which called upon can be
compared against the immediate sense receptions of the present and can
be shown to be the past.
In a sense, the way one knows that it is the present is that one is remembering
it and it exactly matches what is coming into the mind through the senses.
One can tell time by the rate things change relative to the rate ones
own body is changing. Even if one was put in a room where nothing seemed
to change one could still tell time by all the changes going on in ones
body. Ones heart beats, one breathes, etc.
One has no memory of the future, for it has not yet happened. One may
say that there is no future, only now unfolding. Time is the consequence
of matter, entropy, and space. The past does not control the future, the
present controls the future, and we each have much control over the present.
We actually see time but many people wrongly think everything they see
is the same time. What one calls the "present" is actually the
observation of several times at once. One actually sees much of the "past"
in what one calls the "present". Look up at the Sun. What you
are seeing in the present actually happened eight minutes ago. When one
looks at the stars one is perceiving hundreds, thousands, and millions
of years ago all at the same time. When one looks in between the stars
at the vast blackness one is looking right into the past to the beginning
of time.
Now lets say one looks up and sees the moon. One is seeing the moon as
it was a few seconds ago. But the moon is blocking the stars behind it.
In this way the moon is blocking ones view to the past. It is not just
that it takes a certain amount of time for the light to reach ones eyes,
everything is actually existing in different time frames. Time is moving
faster or slower relative to "gravity". Even the clouds above
are existing in a different time frame. Time is relative.
Because one may wrongly think everything one perceives is happening at
the same time, it is no wonder that ones concept of cause and effect may
be flawed. There is an interesting old anecdote about the concept of cause
and effect:
Imagine a garden wall with a hole in it. On the other side, a snake passes
by head first. As it slithers past, the body is revealed, and then the
tail appears. Now, did the head cause the tail? No. The whole snake was
there all along, one just couldn't see it. The hole is like the present,
one cannot see the entire picture and often may think what one sees now
causes what one is revealed later.
In some ways, time might be considered to be the consciousness of space.
TOLERANCE: Sadly, when one tolerates sin continually,
one puts ones identity in it. This is why justice must eventually come.
Evil, to some extent, is tolerated, albeit temporarily, by God. This doesn't
mean evil deeds won't go unpunished by God, or that they will be tolerated
forever. God is simply allowing, by Gods love, the sinner enough time
to find his or her way back home before God closes the door for good.
It is also said that God is slow to anger which is another reason why
God's justice would appear slow.
The gift of free will has given the sheep the choice to enter or leave
God's fold. Should one find oneself lost, endeavor to return as quickly
as possible back into the shelter of God.
Model ones tolerance and discipline after God's own. Allow others time
to change their evil ways before bringing them to justice. Give the lost
sheep time to come back into the fold before erecting a fence to protect
ones flock from the wolves which lurk on the perimeter. Be as forgiving
as God.
TONGUES, SPEAKING IN: Speaking in "tongues"
is when someone, filled with the Holy Spirit, speaks in "ecstasy"
a foreign language, perhaps a language not even of this world. Such tongues,
when interpreted correctly, were said to be a source of revelation. It
is also thought that the gospel itself may have been spread throughout
the world by early Christians who were given the gift of being able to
speak in some foreign language. There are many people, however, who believe
that the gift of tongues ended with the completion of the Bible itself.
There are many different gifts God gives to believers. With regards to
tongues itself, some may be given the gift to speak in tongues, whilst
others may be given the gift of interpreting these "tongues".
Some contend that speaking in tongues is the only sure sign that one is
saved and/or filled with the Holy Spirit. The body of truth, however,
is made of more than just tongues. There are many organs in ones body,
each working together with the rest for the good of the body. There are
many different spiritual gifts besides tongues which each contribute an
integral part to the entire body of truth.
TRADING BOATS: A newly illumined man arrived at
the boat store to get a new boat and to trade in two of his own. He saw
a plain average looking boat in the store that had just arrived on the
showroom floor. "I'll trade you these two boats for that one,"
he offered. The dealer looked at the two boats the man brought with him
and thought this man crazy. One of his boats was an antique and the other
a prototype that wasn't even on the market yet! "It's a deal!"
proclaimed the salesman thinking he got the better deal.
Be like the newly illumined man. Trade in the S.S. Tomorrow and the S.S.
Yesterday for the S.S. Today. One can only be happy in the "now"
for it is all one has. The past is gone and the future doesn't exist.
TRAUMA: A trauma is a period of time in ones life
in which one experiences a loss of control. Trauma is being controlled
against ones will, or having the will of another forced upon oneself.
Trauma causes one to retain painful observations which in turn result
in aberrant beliefs. Aberrant beliefs result in aberrant behavior. Often,
traumas result eventually in the "acting out" of these periods
of loss of control in self- destructive behaviors and habits. A molestation
trauma, for example, can lead one to reenact the trauma over and over
again in ones life playing the role of abuser or victim.
Overcome the traumas of ones past, and prevent future traumas from occurring.
When one aligns ones will with God, one finds life less traumatic.
TREE FALLS..., IF A: If a tree falls in the forest
and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Of course it does.
The truth is not subjective, it just is. If you die and there is no one
around to see you die, do you die? Of course you do!
There is a saying about trees falling that goes, "If you are going
to cut down a tree you better think about which way you want it to fall."
There is another saying to remind one to be humble which goes "the
ax falls first on the tallest tree."
TREE OF KNOWLEDGE OF RIGHT AND WRONG: Lured by the
Devil, Eve ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of right and wrong
and gave to Adam to eat of it as well. Since this was forbidden, mankind
fell from grace. If one knows the difference between right and wrong,
do what is right, or be cut off from God. Adam and Eve found themselves
"naked" before God, and cut off. Mankind's sin led mankind "east
of Eden".
Many feel that the forbidden fruit which was the knowledge of right and
wrong was not that once eaten, one had gained THE knowledge of right and
wrong, but rather that one THOUGHT they had gained THE knowledge of right
and wrong. Such knowledge explains how one might then alter God's Garden.
By altering God's garden, one is setting oneself up as the gardener. In
a way, farming could be likened to saying that one knows better than God
what and how much of something should be planted. In order to make room
for what is Right, one would also have to have the knowledge of what to
kill in order to make room..i.e. what is Wrong. The fall of mankind then,
could be likened to the destroying of the Garden of God.
TREE OF LIFE: Whoever eats the fruit of the tree of
life shall live forever. But what is this fruit? The fruit of the tree
of life is Jesus Christ. Faith in Christ leads to ultimate enlightenment.
To eat the fruit is communion. God has chosen to give us the tree of life.
In fact, it could be said God was sacrificed upon the tree of life, and
the tree was watered with God's own blood so that we might eat of it.
Although kept from us for some time, God now shows us the way to the tree
and offers us the fruit of the tree of life that we might eat of it. In
fact, when we graft ourselves to this tree, we can bear good fruit. The
way to the tree is through illumination of truth.
In the times before Jesus, according to orthodox Jewish belief, all sin
required a sacrifice of something innocent to take the blame of God's
wrath. For instance, at one time, killing an innocent male goat may have
been enough to forgive one's transgressions if offered to God on one's
behalf. Hence the term "scapegoat".
This sacrifice does not mean that the goat goes to Hell in place of the
person, it means that the death and blood of the goat negates, or cancels,
the debt owed. It is like ripping up an I.O.U. By believing in Christ,
one receives the benefit of his innocent sacrifice on the "tree",
or cross, for ones sins, and the ceremony of communion is a reminder and
celebration of this belief. Believing in others connects one to them.
This is mind, be careful of the company you keep. Good and evil cannot
knowingly walk hand in hand just as night and day cannot entirely exist
side by side.
TREE THAT WOULD NOT GIVE UP ITS FRUIT: In the orchard
stood a beautiful tree. The tree was laden with fruit for it was the height
of summer. One day, a breeze came to the orchard and whispered to the
tree. "Autumn is coming! Let go of your fruit and prepare for winter."
But the tree would not listen. "This summer is so beautiful it must
not end. These fruits are mine. I will not give them up."
The other trees listened to the breeze, they felt the coolness of its
breath upon them and dropped their fruits upon the soil. When autumn came,
they dropped their leaves and were ready for winter. But the tree that
would not give up its fruit clung to its fruit and leaves saying, "This
summer must not end! Winter will kill you all! There will never come another
spring!"
Autumn came and went, followed by winter. When winter was over, the breeze
returned to the orchard to warm the trees and they began to bud and blossom-
all except for the tree that would not give up its fruit. "What has
happened to this tree?" Thought the breeze, "it is dead and
laden with rotten leaves and fruit. It will no longer bloom for it would
not listen to me and did not prepare for the winter."
This story illustrates how clinging to ones body and youth will not prepare
one for death. It also illustrates how those who refuse to listen to the
truth kill themselves with their own aberrant beliefs. The ignorant are
much like this tree in the orchard. Make room to bloom.
TRINITY, WHAT IS THE? The concept of the Christian
trinity is not three but one. It is said that no one can fully comprehend
the trinity as being one, and this is why Christians refer to the three
but do not separate them completely from each other. The three persons
of God are the one eternal God. This is why God is sometimes referred
to as the "triune" God. God is described as being made up of
three personalities which are each God: God the Ultimate Truth and creator
which one may be with after one dies; God the truth made flesh in Jesus
Christ (the Son of God); and God, the Holy Spirit which is Counselor,
and leads people to belief in truth. All three are fully the same, one
eternal God in substance, but perform three different functions. The idea
of "three being one" should remind a person of the incomprehensibility
of God.
There is only one God. Each personage of God is fully God. God in the
flesh, Jesus Christ, for example, is fully God plus the additional nature
of flesh. God can be thought of as being like an egg: the yoke of the
egg, the white of the egg, and the shell of the egg. All three parts individually
are entirely egg, and all three parts together is the entire egg.
The reason one cannot separate the members of the trinity is that to do
so would not only separate one from ones only hope in atonement with God,
but intent to do so could only be for evil purpose. Why separate Jesus
from God? To do so would be to separate the vine from the root.
God is the Ultimate Truth. Jesus alone leads one to complete belief and
trust in God, and is the graft for those who believe in him. The Holy
Spirit leads one to knowledge and belief in Jesus. Since all members of
the trinity are God, it can be said that God itself leads one to the knowledge
and belief in God.
One must believe in the entire trinity to have a saving understanding
of God. Two- thirds is not enough. No one can believe that Jesus Christ
is God unless the Holy Spirit has led one to such understanding.
If there is an unholy trinity, it may be the belief in Me, Myself, and
I.
TRUST, WHAT IS? Trust is faith. Trust is the behavior
which results from beliefs based on love. Often, before one may trust
someone, one must first love that person. After all, who trusts ones enemies?
As one becomes more illuminated, ones trust in God grows, and ones doubts
fall away.
TRUST VS. SURRENDER VS. ACCEPTANCE: I believe the
phrase "accept God" is superior to the word "trust in God".
This is because in the eyes of the ignorant, often the concept "trust"
implies that one might be let down, whereas acceptance implies agreement.
However, I believe the term "trust in God" is superior to "surrender
to God" when explaining ones faith because surrender to God implies
mindless failure to the ignorant. Although surrendering to God is a necessity
to enlightenment, in explaining such surrender, it should be further conveyed
that God adopts those who surrender.
TRUTH, THE SEARCH FOR: In seeking "A" one
finds "B". In seeking the lock one finds the key. Stop seeking
and one shall find. Looking makes one blind.
The truth lies within, not without. One is either apart or a part, of
the truth one seeks. In seeking truth, one is really seeking answers.
Thus, the truth is an answer. The seed of truth is in ones heart.
In the Kingdom of Doubt lies the Castle of Truth. An eager villager approached
the castle and came at last to the door of truth. The villager wanted
badly to get inside. He tugged on the handle but it was locked and would
not open. "I have the key" said the village baker. The villager
borrowed the key but it did not fit the lock. "That's funny,"
he thought, "someone must have changed the lock." Other villagers
too, claimed to have the key. He borrowed and tried everyone's key in
the kingdom who said they had the key, but none of those keys would fit
the lock. The villager went to a locksmith, but the locksmith could not
pick the lock. At last, he went to a fortune teller who told the villager
to reach into his pocket. The villager reached into his pocket and produced
a key. "How did that get in there?" he wondered. "I had
the key all along."
The villager went back and opened the door to walk inside the Castle of
Truth, but no sooner had he walked through the door than he found himself
back outside of the door again. "What's this!" he thought, "As
I walk in, I walk out. I didn't learn anything!". The villager assumed
that there was nothing to find until one day when he met a priest. The
priest explained that the villager had looked for truth outside of himself,
and found nothing. The priest further explained that when the villager
used his own key, he was able to open what appeared to be the door, but
could not enter the castle and found himself back outside. If one believes
in oneself, one cannot enter the castle. The priest explained that the
only key to the Castle of Truth is Jesus Christ, that whoever believes
in him may enter the Castle of Truth and that castle home.
TRUTH, WHAT IS? Whereas good is the way all should
be, truth is the way things really are. One must know the difference between
good and evil to know the truth. To know goodness is to know the truth,
for the knowledge of what is right is the knowledge of the difference
between right and wrong. After one knows the truth, it only makes sense
to move towards goodness. References to truth in religion are dependent
on knowledge of good. You cannot offer the truth without offering knowledge
of goodness as well.
Evil is obstruction or ignorance not only of good, but of truth as well.
For if evil could recognize itself as such, it would move towards goodness.
Truth destroys evil (i.e. illuminates), thus evil itself is temporary.
Truth is everlasting, all else is temporary and the cause of delusion.
God is the Ultimate Truth in all things. One cannot call the truth ones
own for it can be found by anyone.
If you cannot see the "T" in "truth", how could you
possibly see the "G" in "God", or in "good"?
If you cannot see the "G" in "God" everything you
see will look "odd". If the truth will set you free than that
which binds you is not truth. Thus, spiritual liberty is a good test of
truth, if one is not free, one does not have all the truth.
TRUTH, IDENTITY IN: One is not the truth oneself.
To be the truth oneself is to be indiscernible from it. Sadly, until one
connects oneself with the truth, one does not have identity in it. To
be apart from the truth is to be living in error. The search for truth
is the search to become one with the truth, and in becoming one with the
truth, one has identity in it. To have identity in truth is to be inseparable
from truth. Ones only hope is in grafting oneself to the truth, which
is perfect, and letting the goodness of truth grow through one. Such grafting
requires an atonement. Jesus Christ made the sacrifice necessary for atonement
for those who believe in him. That belief, and thus acceptance, of the
sacrifice enables one to be forgiven of ones sins and grafts one to the
vine of truth which is rooted in God.
TRUTH VS. HISTORY: Many people read history and mistake
it for the objective past. However, history is subjective. The past is
foregone opportunity. For the most part, what is left of history is just
"his story". Everyone with an agenda seems busy rewriting history
accordingly. Do not confuse history with truth. The truth was, is and
always will be the truth.
Edmund Burke once said, that if there is one lesson to be learned from
history, it is that if one does not know it, one is compelled to repeat
it. Society is even more certain to repeat the mistakes of the past if
society rewrites the history of the past. How many times have you seen
someone make the same mistakes as you have made? If they only knew what
you knew, they would not have made these same mistakes.
Likewise, as one is sure to make many mistakes oneself in the future,
one may be able to avoid many of those mistakes by asking those wiser
than oneself for advice. Don't reinvent the wheel! Even if one was to
add or subtract a spoke to the wheel, one would not be adding any more
utility to the wheel. There are already surefire beliefs being used all
around you bringing people peace and joy. Just ask or look for the accurate
information. Billions of lives have been lived, imagine what they could
teach you!
TRYING: Why is it that one may know what to do, but
is still unable to do it? This is because one does not really believe
that he or she can do it and fails by not trying. Pain may keep one from
trying. Such pain is a feeling of loss of control. It should be exposed
and in exposing it for what it is, one is then able to try again. One
must overcome past failures and learn from them before one is able to
try again. Trying is the only way to get anything done. One who can no
longer try has already failed. Illuminate the beliefs that keep one from
success. If one believes in oneself and God, then where lies the "risk"
in trying? See ELEPHANT AND THE
CHAIN.
You can't please everyone, you can only try. Trying to please everyone,
however, will result in failure because everyone is never in agreement
on any one issue. In many ways, compromise is failure. A wave that moves
in all directions at once goes nowhere. Do not become a "jack of
all trades, but master of none." Becoming a master of a particular
skill gives one expertise. A pool of different experts creates a market
for trading expertise.
One may fail by trying in the same way that one fails by not trying. Trying
isn't enough to succeed! The phrase "trying too hard" itself
shows that trying is not the same thing as succeeding. The concept of
"trying" almost implies that success is impossible as long as
one is "trying". Stop trying and start succeeding in ones endeavors.
TWO IMPS, THE: There were two imps guarding two doors.
The imps and doors looked exactly the same so it was impossible to tell
which was which. One imp always told the truth and guarded the door to
eternal life. The other imp always lied and guarded the door to eternal
death. Each person was allowed to ask only one question and to only one
imp before choosing the door to their eternal fate. What is the question
which will insure one of picking the door to eternal life?
Answer: Ask either imp, "What door will the other imp say is the
door to eternal life?" One would then pick the opposite door of the
imp's response. Although this fun little puzzle would seem to have no
spiritual significance, sometimes one comes upon "imps" in ones
life and does not know what type of "doors" they guard. One
cannot tell from appearances alone where people stand. Two things can
be counted on: God will always speak the truth, and the Devil is always
going to lie.
