My favorite part... "Anyone who aspires to raise his or her consciousness can begin here; the results will be far more rewarding than any legislative movement that puts the right laws in place while allowing the wrong attitudes to fester."

This certainly gives one hope!

Lily S.

Myths of the Old Testament

There are tons of spiritual myths from the times of old and we should take this into consideration, because back then it was a time of murder, mayhem and magic. Back then the mind wasn’t nearly as developed as it is today. They believed in magic as a miracle from God, and the self proclaimed seers had the voice of God and were held in high esteem. They were well thought of and had seniority with the Kings and Emperors, and since they didn‘t want to die they would often agree with the Kings wishes. If they or anyone wanted to destroy the neighboring village or kill someone, if God gave them the command it was alright to do so, and not suffer any consequences. If God told him or the seer told him to slaughter hundreds of thousands of people, their children, livestock and burn the town down, well, it was in their divine right to do so. If you have a problem with it! Take it up with God, for I am just the messenger. This was the reasoning of that barbaric time, death and catastrophe was the proof of Gods power. My God is more powerful than your God, and this sort of retched competition was going on all the time, to see who had the most powerful God. Magic was a form of expressing Gods power and it would place one in high regard in the community. In the Old Testament God was an angry, jealous, frustrated, and vengeful God that needed revenge on all those who didn’t agree, and it was extremely bloody and merciless situation. There was a wide variety of amazing miracles already in the books showing Gods power (such as Noah and the parting of the Red Sea), and to come up short with your God meant certain death. In the New Testament it is a loving compassionate God who allowed different views through acceptance and forgiveness. In reality the two books don’t blend well together at all, and Emperor Constantine did it anyways, but first they needed more miracles and words from Jesus to bring the two together. And, they had to squash the remaining cells that were still preaching the Gnostic faith, which wouldn’t budge with the showering of riches and fame. I believe in Jesus ability to heal and it was truly amazing, but it was not enough for the Old Testament. After all with all the unbelievable things that we’re suppose to accept how can a simple man compete or get noticed as a savior. The ignorance of old has mislead us, and we stopped using Gods power of pure reasoning in order to reveal the truth, which in essence stagnates us spiritually. For instance; in Christian faiths today they still believe that Jesus is the only son of God, which does its job by bringing in a lot of people. In reality, between all the Gospels the words only son of God is present only twice in the Gospel of John. When Jesus said throughout the Gospels that he was only the son of man 68 times, and the son of God three times. There are many more misinterpretations from the so called scholars of old, which by today standards is probably a high school education. Yet they have the audacity to bash and judge other religions for their myths and misguiding, but absolutely refuse to budge on theirs. Slowly they do rise from the depths of ignorance, but it is so far behind and its still living deep in the past. ~Kurt~

Aloha Everyone

Maybe Rev. Wright watched Lies You Trust on YouTube. You can just click my name. I am not surprised the Black Churches were quite. It is a known fact that aids is active within the Black community. It is time American's as the world wakes up about physical differences. Racism and Sexism is a disease.

I never heard Rev. Wright's speech but everyone's reaction was my deciding vote for Obama. As Leonard Horowitz shares in end of Lies You Trust, it is not Communism or Judaism to be afraid of but Americanism. I think most Blacks know this through the lives lost and are waiting/praying for the rest of us to wake up to say, "No More." love patty

There is only One Son and we are all part of that One Body. Also, try reading the NT and replace SON with SUN and give it the definition of LIGHT. There is nothing wrong with the Bible, but one's understanding of this Holy book.

Love, Char

Anyway, Deepak is right ... change must start within each one of us, as we begin to know our Higher Self. Then the world will not have the problems that we currently have with inequality.

Love, Char

Also, we are not separated from the PAST, as it is as much apart of us NOW as well as the FUTURE... it's all the same, but separated by time.

Love, Char

What's that say about someone who sits in the pews for 20 years and listens to the "unevolved" Rev. Wright?

Aloha Deepak and Everyone

I don't know if anybody is following Eckhart Tolle with Oprah. The one thing he talks about is the pain body and activating the pain body. Rev. Wright's speech probably collectively activated the pain body, a body that is left brained. I am truly grateful for him. All our feet are firmly placed on the ground and we are looking up. May our stellar memory remind us of our brilliance. love patty

Hello Deepak and Everyone,

Very good article, Deepak.

Deepak you write, "The shoe can be put on the other foot, too, given the anti-white ranting of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, which black theologians and prominent black ministers are inexplicably reluctant to condemn, even at this late date. They rationalize it "in context," as one might rationalize German anti-Semitism "in context" (i.e, we grew up with it, it's part of our culture, it represents what many of us think, we have old grievances, etc.)

Actually, I did hear some black ministers speak out against Rev. Wright's perspective on race, and they did it on some of the talk shows. And they where very questioning of Barak Obama's continued affiliation with Rev. Wright..if he, in fact disagreed, with him so much.

It is very hard to fathom that one with a "raised consciousness" could sit in on sermon upon sermon with a man who was supposed to be "so different in feeling and perspective" from oneself as Barak Obama claims the two are. To sit and listen, and I am sure Rev. Wright didn't just keep his perspective for the pulpit he had to have discussed his views with his friends and others who had relationships with him off the pulpit, as well, so, for Barak Obama to claim "ignorance" is well ridiculous, his close relationship to the Rev. says he knew full well "all" of the Rev. views.

Frankly, I just do not see someone with a "raised consciousness" exposing themselves to this kind of perspective if they didn't have to.

He could have very well continued a relationship with the Rev. without the constant personal attachment for close to 20 years.

Barak Obama stood up and gave his "so-called" brilliant speech on race" to tell the people he couldn't disown his minister anymore than he could disown his grandmother...but he could have "totally" cooled his participation and support but he chose not to. We all know you do not have to disown anyone but you don't have to sit front and center while they perform their act that happens to be somewhat slanted in perspecive in comparison to your own.

I think Barak Obama wanted the opportunty to give his "much anticipated" speech on race. I think he believes himself to be a "raised consciousness" when it comes to race. I think he desires "very much" to get the topic of race to the forefront of our Nation's attention because I am getting the feeling he might consider himself "kind of an "expert."

Many Democrats and others "loved" his speech, raved about it without really scrutinizing it, looking at it, feeling it out, a lot like they do with everything that is Barak Obama and it is almost mind boggling. Really, the man can do no wrong, say no wrong...everthing Barak is simply brilliant!! Race is an issue that can explode in one's face, easily, it only needs a spark to ignite a full blown raging fire, and, frankly, from where I stand it looks like Democrats and others are hungry for it, thinking, in some strange way that "it's all good," "don't worry," "Barak is way beyond race and we are too!!" While there are those of us saying..."maybe you want to get to know him a bit more, see what he does and says for a few more years...scrutinize the man a little....can he really handle a raging fire if a Rev. Wright/look alike, sound alike, act alike...starts to demand some ATTENTION. Is Barak Obama fit and ready, really, or are Democrats too greedily focused on the plate full of idealistic dreams they are viewing when Barak Obama stands in front of them to stop and chew a bit.

Me, I don't even light a candle and leave it unattended in a room....fires, to me, are serious business. I want an expert firefighter on call.

since Barak has started the "race" conversation....I was just wondering.

have a great evening, ruth

I heard about a couple of years ago or less from Spirit or my Higher Self ....

"The President of the United States will be a young male."

Now I know why. Obama is connected and he is what this country needs going forward.

BTW: I come home at night and candles are lite for me, so if there is a fire, I let God worry about it.

Love, Char

And if it's any consolidation, I also heard at that time ...

"The President of the United States if faithful."

President Bush Jr. was and is still our president. And next year, we will have another faithful president.

Love, Char

PS: However, I don't condone the torture or innocent lives lost (or any life) and I think something went terrible wrong as well and surely too far and too long. In the current state of the world, countries are put in a position to defend themselves. It should not be this way. Peace on earth and good will to mankind was the message in the birth of Jesus as the Christ. That's my 2 cents, worthless as it may be.

Love, Char

A funny thing happened on the way to my mouth....or was it my mouse. Something clicked.
Was it the Frog down my throat? Was it the woman in mind? Was it coffee coloured the thought?

Nah, I love my neighbour who is happily married.

Touché Deepak. Words that in their articulation dissolve the fictions that divide.

"unevolved consciousness" works well doesn’t it. Eventually we will get to the point where we can say connected and disconnected consciousness. Which is a truth, yet at the same time even the disconnected consciousness is connected, the operator just isn’t aware that it is, and that an infinite self is operating at a deeper level with overriding intentions.

Even though there is a free will clause in the life contract, the ego provides puppet strings, and only spirit has real freedom, of course if the ego embraces the truth, and not fiction it will of course experience freedom.

The thought came to mind last night, a way to articulate the contradictory nature of a truth, first being that truth is always relative to a perspective, such that the answer to most things is yes and no from one perspective yes and the other no. I was thinking about matter and anti-matter, the same thing with a different polarity both are valid representations of the same particle. When they come together they self annihilate leaving the one absolute truth, or energy in the world of physics. An interesting part of the puzzle, which physicists are looking at in the recent weeks, is what caused the dominance of what we call matter (one specific polarity) and where did the anti-matter go, the other polarity? Does this correlate to other things? Something to ponder…

If any one hasn't read the Lethal Text Series you might get the impulse to do so.

Lethal to the world’s fictions, religion as we knew it is in it's last days as an instrument of Ego.

Google: Lethal Text Infinite Play

or click my name

great post deepak!

To Conservative ignorants and trolls...

Hillary Cliton's pastor (a white man) yesterday came out in defense of Rev. Wright, whom he highly respects for his great work and has high regards for his sermons. And chastised Clinton not use the controversy to play divisiveness, which she tried to do when she wanted to divert attention from her Bosnia story.

Remember... Wright's few three word bits from a footnote of a sermon he delivered some 8 years ago, were digged out of his 30 years of giving sermons.

The liberals, the spirituals among you can take note that he is not a fundamentalist Christan of any sort. This can be seen in politcal views of his very strong advocacy of the sepration of the Church and the State. There is nothing wrong with listening to sermons by Rev. Wright who is a Biblical scholar. And you are fooling yourself if you think he goes to Church EVERY Sunday for the past 20 years like a religious maniac who got addicted to his pastor. Praying in Church for Jesus, peace or something is a kind of meditation and this personal spiritual truth has nothing to do with the pastor's political or social views.

The cynics can take note that, to do proper work in community organizing and later in political work in Chicago he needed to the networking of a Church; the Trinity Church of Christ in his neighborhood is a huge church and does great community work.

Rev. Wright btw, was highly respected by the Clintons when he was invited along with the select Christian religious leaders on the hour of his greatest need when he sought forgiveness in the Monica Lewinsky issue.

Obama's Church is a not a racist church, many prominent whites in Chicago are members.

Hillary Clinton as a first lady had connections with some of the most controversial fundamentalist Christian groups in America. She might just be triangulating, for political reasons, but we never know.

To answer Ambasteve's suggested false dilemma, consider these words by Obama:

"Given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. Why associate myself with Reverend Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church? And I confess that if all that I knew of Reverend Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television and You Tube, or if Trinity United Church of Christ conformed to the caricatures being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way

But the truth is, that isn't all that I know of the man. The man I met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor. He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine; who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing God's work here on Earth - by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS.

In my first book, Dreams From My Father, I described the experience of my first service at Trinity:

"People began to shout, to rise from their seats and clap and cry out, a forceful wind carrying the reverend's voice up into the rafters....And in that single note - hope! - I heard something else; at the foot of that cross, inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lion's den, Ezekiel's field of dry bones. Those stories - of survival, and freedom, and hope - became our story, my story; the blood that had spilled was our blood, the tears our tears; until this black church, on this bright day, seemed once more a vessel carrying the story of a people into future generations and into a larger world. Our trials and triumphs became at once unique and universal, black and more than black; in chronicling our journey, the stories and songs gave us a means to reclaim memories that we didn't need to feel shame about...memories that all people might study and cherish - and with which we could start to rebuild."

That has been my experience at Trinity. Like other predominantly black churches across the country, Trinity embodies the black community in its entirety - the doctor and the welfare mom, the model student and the former gang-banger. Like other black churches, Trinity's services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. They are full of dancing, clapping, screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear. The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in America.

And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Reverend Wright. As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children. Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect. He contains within him the contradictions - the good and the bad - of the community that he has served diligently for so many years."

well, sexism obviously. There are more women than members of any one race therefore it wins on points, but you can't expect to make much change without addressing both.

People need to have a strong identity, be comfortable with themselves first then they are more tolerant of others.

Lacking an 'open topic' to post this on, I'll do it here. This is a copy of a letter I sent to Maria Chapelle Nadal:

Maria, back in 2004, I piled on more miles on my shoes than I ever had as I blanketed metro Kansas City with pamphlets for Howard Dean. In fact, I believe I turned the entire Hyde Park area into a miniature Dean enclave, proof positive that one individual can make a difference. It was freezing when I went up to Iowa and visited people in their kitchens to share what we believed, our common struggles, or shared visions.

When you were added to Dean's list of politicians running for local office, I visited your website: I liked your style, your frankness, your commitment. I forthwith made a modest contribution, and in doing so, added to the roster of those I believed to be change-agents in the political process. As it turned out, you were my only success in 2004. It was a rough year, but receiving an invitation to your inaugural ball was a BIG deal to me and my wife.

Maria, I hope that as a super delegate, you'll recall your political roots in this upcoming election with the utmost fidelity.

Howard Dean came from nowhere and interrupted the painfully irksome din of politics-as-usual, forcing conversations that hitherto had remained buried in habit and complicit silence, and outworn decorum. I got excited about him and about the possibilities he articulated, the principles he stubbornly bore. I learned to ignore the petty insults of better-healed establishment democrats and stick up for what I know is right.

In my heart-of-hearts, I believe that Barrack Obama is the bearer of that same torch. Please don't lose touch with your origins.

Remain always the person of high fidelity that I knew you to be in 2004.

May God Bless.

Respectfully,
Dana Shields