DICTIONARY & ANECDOTES
DEVOTION VS. OFFERING:
An offering is any contribution or sacrifice for God, but devotion is
the only offering that will help one become enlightened. Give of oneself
spiritually, as one does in devotion, and find God. An offering, such
as putting money in an offering basket may help the cause of God, but
will not help one find God. The treasures of enlightenment cannot be bought.
DIE YOUNG, ONLY THE GOOD: Seems that way doesn't it?
However, life continues beyond the flesh. The length of a life is not
what is important. Perhaps in God's eyes those who die "young"
have already lived a whole life. Ones own expectations are simply delusions.
Do not mourn bitterly and curse God in ones own selfishness regarding
that which God has allowed to happen. After all, everyone of us must die.
So what of young children stricken down with some deadly disease at an
early age? Are they too young to be saved? Do not fear, God knows God's
own. It is only the ignorant that must fear the wrath of God's judgement
not the innocent. Trust in God no matter what happens and accept that
sometimes the plans one has for oneself and for others are not the same
plans that God has for oneself and for others. Chuang- Tzu once said that
no one has lived longer than a dead child.
DISCIPLINE OF GOD, THE: It seems all pleasure
contains an equal amount of pain. Coincidence? Not likely. It is part
of God's plan. Every drug has its side effects. Sugar causes cavities.
Fat causes heart attacks. Cigarettes cause cancer. The "bad side"
of pleasure is pain, and perhaps could be called "the discipline
of God". The discipline of God is a result of being ignorant. For
people often do things they know are bad for them. When people are being
sanctified by the Holy Spirit, how much harder it is on them when they
backslide to doing things they know are wrong. Failing to behave according
to ones true beliefs causes all kinds of dissonance and pain.
Attempts by mankind to override the discipline of God will surely fail.
God gives mankind a cure, and mankind abuses it and takes upon itself
a greater evil for which there is no cure. Instead of seeing cures as
a second chance, many people no longer recognize the original disease!
Mankind is given a birth control pill and a cure for syphilis and then
goes on a sexual frenzy. As a result, along comes A.I.D.S. God will give
us a cure for A.I.D.S. only when and if God is ready to give us a cure
for A.I.D.S. Perhaps never, for mankind is sure to abuse it. Just because
God has provided an antidote to the poison one drinks does not mean one
should continue drinking poison! God made all things according to God's
plan including A.I.D.S, cancer, and fat. To tempt us? No, it is so that
one sees ones error, honestly repents, and finds God. If one follows God
rather than the desires of ones flesh, one would not be affected by the
consequences of sin because one would not be sinning!
DISCIPLINE VS. DEVOTION: Self discipline is
knowing and doing what is right, but often implies self-denial, lack of
understanding, and self punishment. Self discipline may be knowing, but
may not be believing. While denying sin is good, overcoming temptation
is better. Discipline is an attempt at self-control. Devotion might be
considered superior to discipline in that devotion implies understanding
and doing what is right because one knows and believes what is right.
Devotion to God implies believing and loving God.
DIVING FOR PEARLS: There are millions of pearls in
the sea, do not be frustrated if you do not find one the first time you
dive. Do not be frustrated if you do not find the One Great Pearl but
instead find a smaller one. The treasures of enlightenment should be sought,
discovered, and put into one's chest. At least one is diving! Spectators
on shore may watch in amazement and disbelief, but they will never enjoy
in the treasures of truth. When one has gathered enough smaller pearls,
one is given the chance to share in the treasure of the One Great Pearl,
which is enlightenment, as the reward for one's search. When one accepts
this offering, it is as if the accumulation of smaller pearls in one's
chest are exchanged for the One Great Pearl of truth in ones heart. The
smaller pearls are illuminations in truth, the One Great Pearl is belief
in Jesus Christ. Beware, however, whenever one dives, for there are sharks
wherever there are pearls ready to frighten and snatch ones pearls away.
DOORS, LOCKS, FENCES, AND WALLS: Every man-made object
is only a reflection of an idea that was in ones mind. Doors, locks, fences,
and walls are man- made dividers. Yet, where has God put a door or a lock
or a fence or a wall on the earth to separate God's own from each other?
These manifested ideas are designed to keep certain people from going
certain places. However, everything which can be used for good can be
misused for evil. For if one sets up barriers dividing truth from truth,
and brother from brother, one errs. By what authority does one limit the
movements of ones brothers and sisters? If such authority is not aligned
with truth and God, one has divided against truth and God. As Jesus said,
"...a house divided against itself falleth."- Luke 11:17
Since ideas which have been manifested are a reflection of ones mind,
and existed in thought before being manifested, examine ones mind to see
what doors and locks and fences and walls to truth one has erected there.
The enlightened mind is free of doors and locks and fences and walls which
separate truth from truth. The enlightened erect such barriers only against
evil. Unfortunately today, the forces of evil are erecting barriers to
truth and encouraging brothers to build walls between themselves. These
are not spiritual barriers, but barriers of the flesh.
There is a Native American philosophy that "We belong to the Earth,
the Earth does not belong to us." The Earth was here before us, and
yet, everywhere, it has been divided and ownership has been claimed upon
it. There are thousands of cities, towns, farms, houses, roads, and other
areas wherein ones movement is limited, or prohibited. Everyone is becoming
increasingly locked out from access to parts of the Earth. The companies
manufacturing doors, locks, fences, and walls are not out of business,
in fact, the demand to enforce private ownership has never been greater.
What we see happening to the world is a mirror of the aberrant beliefs
of those who live in it.
DOUBT: Doubt is a cause of pain. A belief fails if
it contains enough doubt to keep one from acting upon it. Feelings of
doubt are caused by observations of pain and painful expectations which
one has associated with oneself. Change ones belief altogether by making
a new confident decision. Illuminate the belief in order to get rid of
the doubt. Invalidate doubt. Free oneself of painful expectations, they
are unwarranted. Only God knows the future. A belief without doubt is
a clean, confident, successful belief.
DREAMERS, TWO: Long ago there were only two dreamers.
One walked towards the Sun to see where it rose. One followed the sun
to see where it set. And they walked on and on and on I suppose, till
one day again, they both met. Often when one goes ones separate way, one
eventually finds oneself back together with the one he or she parted with.
DREAMS, WHAT ARE THEY? When the body is deprived
of sensory input, such as during deep relaxation or sleep, the door to
the subconscious opens. Dreams are the unresolved conflicts between the
way things are and the way one expects or wants things to be which ones
mind tries to resolve through imaginations drawn from memory. All of ones
sensory receptions, observations, and actions are stored in the subconscious
memory. What separates the conscious and subconscious is a system of beliefs,
many of which are wrong and contradictory. These beliefs are a playground
for the imagination which reruns sensory receptions and substitutes data
creating interesting and meaningful dreams.
As you strive for enlightenment your dreams will be increasingly of a
religious nature.
There is a famous quote by Lao Tzu regarding enlightenment which goes:
"Am I a man who has just been dreaming that he was a butterfly, or
a sleeping butterfly, now dreaming that he is a man."
DROP OF RAIN: From a cloud of thunder and lightening
a drop of rain was loosed. It fell through the sky in glory. As it neared
the ocean below it cried out, "Lord, keep me as a drop when I enter
the sea!" The lord spoke back, "You are truly a tear, you do
not know what you ask. You act as though you know what is better for you
than I! Do you not trust that I know what to do with you? A drop cannot
enter into the sea and remain a drop. If you were to remain a drop, then
you truly would not enter the sea." If one begs to be saved in ones
sin, one will surely be lost.
A drop of rain can do little by itself. A cup of water can nourish a flower
which grows on the side of a mountain. A river of water can cut a mountain
in half. A sea of water can make mountains disappear. So it is with truth.
DRUGS, WHAT ARE? Almost anything one puts in ones
body could be considered a drug since it creates a chemical reaction in
ones body. Food is broken down chemically and used by ones body, thus,
even food is a drug. Many drugs are medicine. However, when one thinks
of drugs, one usually thinks of those substances which are mood altering
and thus used for pleasure or to escape pain. Like other things, drugs
in themselves are not evil, it is how they are used which dictate whether
or not they are beneficial. If drugs are used for pleasure or to "escape
from pain", then they are obstacles to enlightenment. Only God should
be our master. Drugs are like temporary beliefs. Such beliefs then could
expose more of the truth or disguise more of the truth, nevertheless,
they are temporary.
Although it has been said by Aldous Huxley that there are "doors"
in the wall of truth called "dope", if one does not enter truth
through the "main gate" one is like a thief of truth and cannot
call the truth ones home. The "main gate" in this case would
be by illumination leading to acceptance in the truth of Christ. What
good is it to be in the Kingdom of God illegally? Get a "green card"
in Christ or one will be deported. Illumination creates permanent beliefs
regarding truth.
Nevertheless, it has been shown that certain drugs, most of which are
illegal such as L.S.D., mescaline, and psilocybin, may offer a "peek"
at the truth regarding reality which illumination surely and more safely,
ultimately reveals. Remember, one seeks access not excess. Furthermore,
if one starts using God as a drug, it is a sure bet that the Holy Spirit
will flee from ones life.
DUALISM: Dualism is the aberrant belief that there
are two equal powers at war in the Universe. These two powers could be
likened to Good and Evil or mind vs. matter. Although Christianity has
God and Satan, Satan is not equal to God, but is likened to a fallen angel.
The Christian view is more truthful in that evil is described as but the
privation of goodness rather than an equal opposing force. There is only
one God, and God is good.
ECCENTRIC: An eccentric is someone that does not
have the same center as God. Align oneself and share the same center as
God, which is truth as revealed in Jesus Christ. If one centers oneself
around something besides God, such as fame and fortune, one has eccentric,
or aberrant beliefs.
EGO, WHAT IS? Ego is ones self-interest. Ego is a measure
of selfishness. The greater the ego, the greater the selfishness. Ego
might also be considered to be the buffer between ones self and God. Keep
ones self-interest in check so that one does not become selfish and greedy.
After all, the Devil perhaps could be considered the ultimate egoist.
A low ego will enable one to have compassion, empathy, and caring for
the goodness of others. You and everyone else in the world are really
one.
If you leave the "W" of the "Word" behind, it's not
"we go", it's just "ego."
ELECT, THE: The concept of the elect has to do with
the fact that God knows everything that will happen in the future. Knowing
such, God knows who will pursue truth and become reconciled through Jesus
Christ and who will not. God knows every lost sheep that will be led home.
The sum total of all who will accept Christ is referred to as "the
elect" of God.
ELEPHANT AND THE CHAIN: An unruly elephant tried
to get away from its master, so its master chained the elephant's foot
to a large tree. The elephant pulled against the chain but could not get
away. Later, the master replaced the chain with a string. The elephant
could have easily broken this string, but remembering the chain it doesn't
even try. The elephant has a belief that it cannot get away. Because the
string feels like the chain, the elephant still thinks it is chained.
Often one may have imagined chains from ones childhood that are only strings
today and could easily be broken if one would only try.
ELEPHANT, GOD IS LIKE AN: There is an old story
about four blind men who had come upon an elephant and were asked to describe
it. The first grabbed a hold of the elephant's tail. It was long and thin.
"An elephant is like a rope," he said. The next blind man grabbed
a hold of one of the elephant's legs and said, "No, an elephant is
like the trunk of a tree." Another blind man touched the broad side
of the elephant and said, "You are all wrong, an elephant is like
a wall." The fourth blind man grabbed a hold of the moving trunk
of the elephant and said, "No! Truly, an elephant is like a large
snake."
Which of the blind men was right? They all accurately described their
sensory receptions, but they were all aberrant in their beliefs. None
of them could see the entirety of the elephant because of their limited
sensory receptions. They had made up their minds too soon. Had any of
the blind men taken time to get to know more of the elephant, perhaps
his understanding of what an elephant was would be more accurate. God
is like the elephant.
EMOTION, WHAT IS? There is a direct correlation
between emotion, surprise, and trauma. The greater the difference between
the way things are and the way one wants, and expects, them to be, the
greater will be ones emotion. When one has beliefs which one restrains
from acting on, or which one cannot act on, ones body exhibits emotion.
Emotion is the result of delusionary expectations. One may find this emotion
painful or pleasurable. Think of hunger. If one eats small portions all
day one will never really be hungry, but if one goes awhile without food,
ones desire for food, or hunger, grows. Emotion is the fruit of desire.
Many people are emotional because they need reassurance before they act
on their beliefs. Their beliefs may contain doubt. Contradictory beliefs
held by an individual will also cause emotion. Emotion could be said to
be the body's physiological reaction to reality challenging one's beliefs.
If you think everyone has forgotten your birthday and then encounter a
surprise party, you are likely to become very happy. The degree of emotion
can be said to be the difference between the state a person is in, and
the state of contentment.
Contentment, or peace, is not an emotion. As one becomes more illuminated,
ones beliefs becoming increasingly freed of the pain of emotion. If ones
beliefs are freed from emotion, one is no longer ruled by emotion.
The more reconciled one is to God, the less surprised one is when things
go wrong in the world. One might think becoming less surprised by the
world would cause one to be apathetic, or unfeeling, however, the true
state of contentment is bliss, or joy. It doesn't take much to convince
a person who spends ones life in varying states of anxiousness, depression,
and discontentment, of the joys of contentment.
Even the most enlightened people will still continue to exhibit emotion.
This is because when one is reconciled to truth, one continues to be surprised
and angered, now and then, by the ignorance one continues to encounter
in the world.
Ones goal is not to become unfeeling through illumination. On the contrary,
be sensitive to ones emotions. Feel, but not to internalize ones emotions.
Feel and experience the pleasure and pain, but let it go. Take it as it
comes and let it go.
ENABLING, THE PROBLEM WITH: The Admiral's son was
something of a pirate. Rather than tend to the maintenance of his ship,
the pirate son would party and sail along the dangerous reef. Needless
to say, the pirate son's ship began to take on water. The Admiral recognized
that his son's ship was sinking, and he sent help to "bail out"
and fix his son's ship. The pirate son was thankful, but never did realize
that he had a problem. Certainly after being "bailed out" he
didn't have a problem anymore, and so he continued in his ways. The Admiral
warned, "You must stop this behavior or you will sink!" But
the pirate son shrugged, "I'm O.K! I'm not sinking. If anything goes
wrong, someone will bail me out."
If you recognize that someone has an aberrant belief, do not interfere
by helping until he or she realizes he or she has an aberrant belief.
Award the positive, do not "bail out" the negative. Facilitate
only the making of a new more truthful decision because if you don't,
then he or she will continue to think that their aberrant belief is fine.
If you are always "bailing out" someone, then they will continue
to wrongly get into situations where they need to be "bailed out."
Enabling prevents someone from making a new decision about an aberrant
belief. Enablers often enable because they "wish someone did that
for me." In a strange way, enabling is selfish because it makes the
enabler feel good about what they are doing even though they are perpetuating
an aberrant belief. Enabling is really disabling.
ENEMY: Many times in life it appears that all there
is, is you and the enemy. When one loses faith in friends and lovers,
one finds oneself alone. It is just God, you, reality, and what appears
to be the enemy. When friends let you down, one wonders who one can you
trust? It is the varying definitions of "enemy" that leads,
and has led, to most of the evil one finds in the world.
It is important not to fall or accept the ignorance of others in the world,
which may lead one to become of the world as opposed to one who has overcome
the world. Every human one meets is ones distant cousin. Few of the people
one meets believes this truth. Even knowing this however, does not free
one of the desire to achieve status and financial gain in this world.
Peer pressure is a reality. One may feel that one must behave in a certain
way to please ones lovers, parents, and friends. However, you must take
control over your own life and recognize that the expectations of others
are part of the delusions that others perpetuate. Their expectations proclaim
their own ignorance.
Most important is to know that forgetting about God and ones cousinship
to everyone regardless of race is wrong. Do not let others set the standards
of happiness and success for you in this world. To do so is to fall victim
of the ways of this world and become victim to the desires of this world.
Strive to be of truth and a lighthouse of the true reality. Recognize
that what others may perceive as success and failure may be the snares
and trappings set for you by those of this world. Those who are slaves
already want nothing more than to make themselves feel better by trying
to make you a slave as well especially if they recognize that you are
not yet a slave to the desires of this world. Recognize that Satan who
is the enemy, and whose ways are the ways of the enemy, wears many robes,
two of which are called pleasure and success. Both of these are distractions
from the truth. Both are given to those who are leaders of such distraction.
Remember most of all that the enemy of your enemy is your friend. You
are not alone in your stand against the ignorance of this world. Seek
out those who are also pursuing the way of truth and share your knowledge.
