Leo Tolstoy on God

LEO TOLSTOY ON GOD: "When you look inside yourself, you see what is called 'your own self' or your soul. You cannot touch it or see it or understand it, but you know it is there. And this part of yourself--that which you cannot understand--is what is called God. God is both around us and inside of us--in our souls.

The more you understand that you are at one with God, the more you will understand that you are at one with all His worldly manifestations."

Sunday, May 22, 2011

The World Needs A Facelift: Cracks Are Beginning To Appear!

According to some religious circles, you should not be reading this piece.

The world should have ended yesterday, May 21, 2011.



The fact that you're still here and reading this means that those people with their predictions about end of world times were wrong.

It gets me thinking about how many other predictions we make on a daily basis that simply do not happen and are just wrong.

We get to the point in life where we think that we follow the rules of life and certain things are bound to follow.

Live long enough and you realize that things are not necessarily that well ordered. In fact, you get to the point where you know the "world" we're living in is being "created" as we move along from family to family in generation to generation.

Yet, we're still doing a great pretense of acting with certainty about the world.



But cracks are beginning to appear in the carefully erected facade in the world that we have been living in.


If you look closely...through the cracks...you can see the crumbling and falling down. Not only the walls we've erected to separate ourselves from others...the outside wall...are falling, but the very foundation of the facade is begin to erode and erupt and crack!



Every time a Soul breaks from the tradition of doing "evil," as the world is having some do, then a little crack appears. More individuals moving along that "fault line" add to the widening of the crack...until eventually that part of the wall falls down.

Look carefully around you...and more and more...you should see little "cracks" appear in an otherwise normal wall.

The thing is that it is "ordinary" men and women...who are causing these little cracks to appear...all over the surface of this facade.

The pretty picture that was painted already was beginning to look old...and faded...and now, with the cracks, there's no going back to that old picture!

The World Needs a Face Lift!
A New Order Must Be Put In Place!


The carefully erected world those of us who are of the Baby-Boom generation grew up in has long been discarded.

We know that certain "truths" we took for granted have been spat upon and broken down.



First, it started with a new generation of parents teaching their kids that they don't have to live segregated from each other because of race, color, creed or religion.

So the children of those Baby Boomers now are integrating in ways those parents never, ever could have foreseen as youngsters, though the consciousness had already begun with their parents' parents' parents.

As a result of those set of rules changing, we are now witnesses to an ever evolving, changing world.

*Barack Obama is president of the United States, elected by a coalition of people of all races, creeds, colors and religions. His parents, one black one white, could not have imagined or dreamed of this when they dared to strain the rules of integration by coupling up as college students.


By saying "NO" to the world that made interracial dating taboo, they said "YES" to the possibilities of tomorrow and the reality of today, where Barack Obama, an African-American, was elected president in 2008.

In more ways we're seeing the "old world" order fall apart.
But the world always has been falling apart. We just had the illusion that it was all permanently pasted together. The world has never, ever been stationary!


Each generation of people has had to deal with the changing world and "the illusions."

Today, many are waking up to the illusion of predictability in the stock market and real estate market. The old rules for money making and growing prosperous and rich that worked for earlier generations are now no longer a guarantee of a secure future or for "old age."

Many people are afraid. They are very, very afraid about their finances.

Job security?

Totally a thing of the past, except with very few organizations and entities.




In Egypt and in Middle Eastern countries we were witnesses this year to major changes. People born into hierarchical systems that kept average citizens enslaved to the wealthy, and women subjugated to men, began saying "NO" to those ways and "YES" to freedom.

As a matter of fact, this year alone we saw the toppling of several entrenched regimes, as people took power into their own hands and said "NO" to the old ways.


This was evidenced first, in Egypt, then Syria, Yemen, Baharain and Libya and other countries that had long histories of hierarchical and patriarchial rule.

So the evidence is clear.

What is not clear but still is central to our understanding of the changes occurring in our world is the mass consciousness that has developed and declared "war" on the old ways.

People have said "NO" to old ways for a long, long time. This was imbedded into the consciousness of each new generation that was born. It took decades...but eventually, the old ways of thinking, being and doing have given way to our new and evolving world.




Our parents' parents' parents did not live to see their consciousness interplay in their world for their generation. But their children's children's children are now beneficiaries of those "new thoughts" they imbedded.

Even though we may never directly reap the benefits of our current thinking and actions, we leave a legacy of those thoughts and actions for those following behind.

Since the old world did not give way and crumble as predicted yesterday, there's a question now for us all as we move into the "new world." What legacy are you leaving for the world?



What crack are you putting into the world's wall as you go forward in your life?

These are important issues as day by day, in what we may consider our limited way, we make a crack in the wall of "old" thinking and actions.

Your crack becomes the opening through which an entirely new universe emerges for yet another new world.

Think on these things. Then...

Get Cracking!


Namaste',

Che'
*NOTE: Oprah Winfrey also defied the odds by becoming the Number One Talk Show host of a day-time television show. After 25 years, on May 25, she's finally ending her top-rated talk show, begun in May 1986. Over the 25 years of her program, Oprah Winfred inspired millions to change their lives.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Book Review: "God is a Brown Girl, Too" by Cecilia B. Loving


The experience of God is a unique and personal one and so individualized that it becomes a huge challenge to communicate this "knowingness" to others.


Some how, in some way, Cecilia B. Loving has been able to accomplish this feat with the book, "God is a Brown Girl, Too."

This talented poet, teacher and preacher reaches deep into her own soul to share the absolute truth as she knows it about God. In doing so, she provides readers with a confidence and clarity to be witnesses to the same experiences and claim them for themselves.


At the end of this terrific and empowering book, readers are left breathless with confidence and a sense of direction in discovering their own personal relationship with God.

If they didn't know what God should and could feel like, this book is a guide to uncovering the mystery. If they didn't know what God should and could look like, this book is the truth!

Without a doubt Rev. Loving's passion and sincerity capture your Soul. You're easily able to ride along with her through characters, named Grace, Myrtle and Karma, all providing, light and enlightening for your own passage to truth.

The fact that Cecilia Loving is a poet certainly brings life to the many biblical passages she uses throughout, heightening your sense of places and time so long ago.

The confidence that Rev. Loving shares stories about Grace, Myrtle and Karma allow you to embrace their experiences and insights as your own.


I highly recommend this book for "brown" girls and all others throughout the United States and around world. In fact, if you're "brown," it's downright required reading!

Here are some highlights that fully bring alive the experience and sensation of God, as you, and as a "brown girl, too."


"Disregard those who believe that you have no right to God--for they want you to believe that you have no right to yourself."

"When you know that it is my pleasure to give you the kingdom, you will feel your cup running over and the abundance of good that pours and flows from it."

"When you need to get your glow on, I am the only real 'exfoliate.' Not only do I clean the toxins from your body, but I scrub away the thoughts that clog your mind."

"Walk beyond the confines of your self-imposed limitations, so that I can shine through you."

"Walk as an unlimited expression of all that I AM."

"I am here to help you realize the benefit of surrender. There is no need for a 9/11 or some catastrophe."

"You define yourselves based on the environment in which you grew up as a child---even though you may not have seen or experienced that environment in 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 or even 60 years."



Sections such as: "Awaken to Love," "Dance Beyond Done and Do Even More," "Create Outside the Box of Conventionality," "Release Your Demons," and "Tell a New Story," each with many powerful chapters, have you reading...and reading...and gasping...through the end.

By then...you believe!

You know the truth and TRUTH: God IS a Brown Girl, Too!

[Pictured: Senaya Miles (L) and Shondelle Solomon-Miles (R), a brown girl who certainly knows TRUTH!]



Thank you, Cecilia B. Loving, for this awe-inspiring book!

Namaste',

Che'

EDITOR'S NOTE: Rev. Cecilia B. Loving is the spiritual leader of SPIRITMUV (www.spiritmuv.com), a nondenominational church in New York City. Before becoming a minister, she paracticed law for more than 20 years. Rev. Loving is a graduate of Howard University (BFA); University of California, Los Angeles (MFA); New York University School of Law (JD); and New York Theological Seminary (MDiv) where she received both the President and the Rising Star Awards. Her first book, "Prayers for Those Standing n the Edge of Greatness" is available at www.prayersontheedge.com or http://myrtle-treepress.webs.com. "God is a Brown Girl, Too," is available through SPIRITMUV, http://www.spiritmuv.com, or amazon.com, or where ever books are sold.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

GO AHEAD: Pop "The Pill" For Resurrection!


Upon leaving the movie "Limitless," starring Bradley Cooper and Robert DeNiro, I began to think of getting my "pill."

I wanted to be able to take a little colorless pill and leave all of the troubled world behind, rising high above the clouds and fulfilling all of my human potential.

Like characters in the movie who took the pill, then ran out, I could imagine overthrowing whole apartments, too, to find my "pill."

Yes.

That's what happens to us when "magic" happens. We get hooked!

It doesn't take too much of an imagination to know that what sometimes is too good for us also turns out to be "too good to be true."

An everlasting...permanent...state of enhanced view of the world. The ability to clearly see all things in milliseconds. The ability to manipulate the stock market and gather millions into a bank account in one or two transactions.

Yes. A pill.

I want that pill!

I began to imagine what my magic pill would taste like when I swallow it...especially the first time.

I began to imagine what my magic pill would do to my senses when I swallow it... especially the first time.

The time...before I got "hooked."

You see, the time to think before we swallow...a pill, or anything else, is BEFORE the first time.

We need to really...really think about our altered state, and do we truly, really, truly want to "go there."

Eddie Morra's (Bradley Cooper) girlfriend, "Lindy," played by actress Abbie Cornish, was forced to take one pill ...at a time when her life was in extreme danger and this was the only way for her to survive.

So, she took the pill...and she lived.

Unlike Bradley's character, she didn't like the impact of the pill on her "Beingness." Sure, she functioned at a higher level. Sure, she was able to have strength and power she never would, could have under normal circumstances. But, it was clear that she was not looking to radically change her life.

So, she opted out of continuing on the pill.


Many people living in an unstable world at this time would love to have such a "pill" to swallow.

As we celebrate this Easter, there's a little "pill" I'm offering that you swallow. I'm suggesting that like Bradley Cooper's character in "Limitless," you'll find yourself in the right frame of mind, i.e. clear, all the time...performing optimally...all times. I can't promise that you'd be able to accomplish physical feats, but again, I'll promise you that you wouldn't constantly be "running for your life, looking behind you" or chasing your own shadow.

I promise you that much.

The "pill" that you should take is a little clear pill, too.

It's filled with an invisible substance.

That substance is the SPIRIT of God: the Holy Spirit.

You see essence of the pill already resides within you. But since it's taken you a lifetime and you obviously haven't tapped into it, I'm recommending that every day you get up, you make a concerted effort to take the "holy spirit" in a pill form as you begin your day.

As you take that first swallow...I want you to imagine what it will do to your body.

I want you to imagine this pill penetrating every pore...every cell...every inch of your body and mind.

Then sit back and imagine.

Imagine the places you could go that day...Imagine the feats you could accomplish that day...Imagine the doors you can have open for you that day...

That day...and every day...you take that pill!

Let's look at this special pill and what it would do for you.

1. It would make kindness a permanent state of "beingness," not an option, depending on your mood.

2. It would take fear out of your vocabulary and out of your life, filling you with FAITH as the only operating system that you know.

3. It would make you compassionate in a way that is second-nature, not as an afterthought, or because of extreme effort, or worse, to make you "look good."

4. It would make every person a special extension of yourself, making no one a "stranger" at least in your heart.

5. It would make you see past the exterior of troubled souls and able to look deeply into their hearts and know exactly what burdens that person may be carrying and challenges he/she may be facing that day.

6. It would make you passionate about caring about life outside your own limited sphere.

7. It would make you see beyond your immediate borders and see inside the world. In fact, you will have a view from a higher level and where you can see the world from the "Center of the Universe."

8. It would help you understand the role you came into the world to play...in the job, career, family and life you have built for yourself.


That little pill...

the little pill I'm suggesting you take would lift you beyond your wildest imagination into a resurrected world that you can not even now imagine. That's because...

at the heart of that little pill, you see, is the key ingredient that makes us all our most optimum in all ways at all times.

At the very center of that pill...

is love.

Love is kind...
Love is true...
Love is compassionate...
Love is LIMITLESS.


Isn't that the pill you need for your RESURRECTION, today?

Think about it.

After that...

I want you to ...

swallow that pill.

Yes.

I want you to take this mind-altering DRUG!

I want you to GET CLEAR...today...and EVERY DAY!

Yes. I want you to get CLEAR on love.

Take that pill...please...for your continued resurrection.

Happy Easter!

Oh...and please don't forget to go see the movie "Limitless."

You'll see that all I told you...is true...about your "limitless" and resurrected self.
Who knows...one day you may look up and see "his" reflection... as yours.

One day, too, you might even see the face of real strangers reflecting back. Isn't that the point of living in the "ceaseless flow of transcendent life?" Isn't that the point of "limitlessness?" Isn't that the point of your "Resurrection?"

Namaste',

Che'

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Are you READY to "Cross Over?"


I've always been fascinated with supernatural events and happenings. So you shouldn't be at all surprised to hear I enjoyed the television show, "Ghost Whisperer," starring Jennifer Love Hewitt. The show ran on CBS from September 23, 2005 to May 21, 2010.

I so much enjoyed the show that I now watch it in re-runs on Ion television, whenever I get the chance.



As the character Melinda Gordon, Hewitt has the ability to speak to ghosts who are still lingering on Earth because of unresolved issues. With her assistance, the ghosts are able to resolve their earthly concerns and finally cross over into "the light."

Today's post, too, is about crossing into the light and getting rid of "ghosts" from our past that keep us from moving forward.

"If we don’t start treating ourselves with the love and attention we need, we will continue to be our own worst enemies."
-Debbie Ford, highly esteemed spiritual teacher, tweeted on April 4, 2011.


Many of us are afraid to delve deeply into painful experiences of the past because we don't want to disturb our current peace. Until we do, though, we are living a false reality.

Unearthing negative past experiences, if correctly handled, reveals to us the truth about who we always were as a person. It also shows us how all along the journey, there always was a loving, gentle hand leading us and comforting us. Seeing this, and knowing this truth, helps us reach Wholeness.


What this truth also should signal to is that since The Presence was always there ...it always will be there.

As we look back, we should remember that the consciousness we have today is not the same consciousness that we carried yesterday.

Every day...in every way...we are evolving.


The Soul does not retrogress. It moves us forward into a new level of consciousness with each new experience of each new day.

So, when we did something 20, 10, five or even two years ago, we did so with the consciousness we had at the time.

It's always wise to remember, "consciousness we had at the time!"

[DISCLAIMER: If you've got serious issues from your past that need to be resolved, please seek the help of a licensed psychiatric professional.]



Most of us are walking along the road...going into our todays...and tomorrows...with lots of "ordinary" baggage from yesterday weighing us down. This type of baggage needs to be discarded and left at the curb of our past.

We cannot keep dragging along stuff that no longer serves us and expect that one day, we'll wake up whole.


No matter how many spiritual teachers you hear speak...no matter how many spiritual self-help books you read... you will not be able to move into "the light" until you take a long, long look at your past.

No person is born into Wholeness.

Even Jesus...the Buddha...Mohammed...fill in the names...evolved into the essence of who they were after years of LIVING.


They didn't get rid of their past; they integrated it beautifully into their PRESENCE.

That's what you also must do...to move into the LIGHT of your Soul and into Wholeness.

If we look around our world, we'll see that all aspects of life keep evolving: our corporate world ...countries around the world...our family, friends...the microcosm we operate in as our world.

This is the essence of life: Evolution.



"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it."
--Nelson Mandela

For you to be afraid to look back on your past because of shame or fear is doing a disservice, not only to yourself but also to the rest of the world. By not showing up as the person you were meant to be, you cheat us all!

We are all born with unique gifts and talents that should be shared with the world. Your gifts were intended to be used in the world for the "common good."


"You've been given YOUR life. No one else has your version. You'll never bump into yourself on the sidewalk. You'll never meet anyone who has your exact blend of lineage, loves, and longings. Your life will never be lived by anyone else. You're not a jacket in an attic that can be recycled after you are gone."
--Max Lucado, Outlive Your life

As we move closer to the resurrection of "The Christ" spirit on Easter Sunday, I urge you to open up your past.

Go into the silence of your Soul.


Speak to God in the silence.

Then...listen...listen...listen.

Once you've heard and seen areas of your life causing you current discomfort.

Examine them.

Examine them.

Examine them.

Then...discard them.

Hop out of the box of yesterday.

Cross over.


D-E-C-I-D-E to cross over.

It's only by making a conscious decision to "cross over" can we do so.

So, decide...then, in one leap...move over...
into the light.That's it.

After that...don't look back. It's gone.

From then on, trust God to lead you.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy path."--Proverb 3: 5-6

"If you've felt like you've wasted years of your life in the wrong job, hanging around the wrong people, doing the wrong things, God will gather those years and restore them back to you."
Joel & Victoria Osteen, Word For Today, Friday, April 8, 2011

You will reach Wholeness. You will find TRUTH.




Pray...pray...pray...
in the Silence.


Affirm today's Daily Word: "This day is a new beginning for me, and I embrace it with enthusiasm!"

I'm hopeful you'll find that new beginning by Easter Sunday...in time to be resurrected...into the light!


I'm wishing the same for myself, too, i.e. illumination becomes a "sustained state" vs. periodic states of enlightenment.

Namaste',

Che'

Personal Authenticity: "To Thine Own Self Be True"...

"To Thine Own Self Be True and it must follow as the night, the day, Thou canst not then be false to ANY man."
William Shakespeare.