Times Gone By

As we are finishing off the year 2012 and sing ‘auld lang syne,’ it is appropriate to reflect on the past year.  By keeping the good memories and meaningful experiences, we want let go of the trauma, the pain and the negative ordeals.  Letting go of the sufferings we experience in daily life is crucial for peace of mind.

 

“Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”

~ Colossians 3:13

 

Until recently, I have never heard of the work of Robert Burney. Then somebody send me a quote, which I can’t get out of my mind:

Excerpt from Codependence: The Dance of Wounded Souls

“We learned about life as children and it is necessary to change the way we intellectually view life in order to stop being the victim of the old tapes. By looking at, becoming conscious of, our attitudes, definitions, and perspectives, we can start discerning what works for us and what does not work. We can then start making choices about whether our intellectual view of life is serving us - or if it is setting us up to be victims because we are expecting life to be something which it is not."

"In order to stop giving our power away, to stop reacting out of our inner children, to stop setting ourselves up to be victims, so that we can start learning to trust and Love ourselves, we need to begin to practice discernment.

Discernment is having the eyes to see, and the ears to hear - and the ability to feel the emotional energy that is Truth.

We cannot become clear on what we are seeing or hearing if we are reacting to emotional wounds that we have not been willing/able to feel and subconscious attitudes that we have not been willing/able to look at.

We cannot learn to trust ourselves as long as we are still setting ourselves up to be victimized by untrustworthy people. We cannot learn to Love ourselves enough to meet our own needs until we start to release the attitudes and feelings that tell us that we are unworthy - that it is somehow shameful to be ourselves. We cannot learn to Love ourselves without learning discernment.

The black and white thinking of Codependence causes us to either keep the baby in the dirty bath water or throw out both. Discernment is picking the baby out of the dirty bath water."

Letting go has a lot to do with forgiveness.  Forgiving ourselves, letting go of anger and old grudges—is to make room in the heart for peace.  Emotional issues are always the hardest to face, therefore, acceptance, awareness and discernment are the beginning of letting go.

 

A lot comes from the fact that we see and experience things from our own point of view.  A child feels guilty for her parents break-up; we feel shame and uneasiness when we see a couple hugging and kissing; we feel envy when a friend wins the lottery; we feel unworthy of a complement, etc.  In the Emotion Code, taught by Dr. Bradley Nelson, we learn of a long list of emotions we have been carrying around with us.  Dr. Nelson teaches that we don’t have to burden ourselves any longer with these emotions.  Rather through a very easy method of identifying these negative emotions, we can let them go and be free for a new beginning, even being pain-free because trapped emotions can cause all kinds of dis-ease in the body.

 

The beauty of this letting go is that we can create new connections, wholesome relationships and a life of true love.  I watched a video on TED by Brené Brown on the power of vulnerability.  She talks about how we are all connected in this web of life.  Most of us walk around life with many masks, covering all of our past experiences, fears, memories, and even ancestral baggage.  All this keeps us away from “real” life and feeling worthy of love.

 

“True self-worth is about feeling completely free to be your amazing self; trusting your strength of character and your own judgment. Why is self-worth so important? When you approve of yourself, you stay calm and move easily forward toward success, with spirit and courage, making clear decisions, confident of the results. You become more resilient, self-reliant, and self-sufficient. Self-worth is how you measure inner strength.”

~ David Sharps – creator of “The Cure Is… .”

 She suggests that the way to wholeheartedness is to allow ourselves is to be vulnerable.

To me this is the best advice for the New Year.  In our society where we are so guarded and pretend to be politically correct, this sounds like a fresh breath of air.  It is truly a way to be responsible for our lives and experience the full range of emotions to reach an authenticity which we can enjoy and which can change our society as well--a change which can only come from the inside out.

 

Happy New Year 2013!

 

 

What do Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Jesus Christ Have in Common?

We all know the beloved Christmas song about the famous reindeer Rudolph.  We celebrate the greatest Holy Day for the birth of Jesus the Christ.  What do a reindeer and the savior have in common?  Let me explain where I am coming from.

 

My husband and I spend Christmas Day with the in-laws of our son in Kentucky.  On our way home, we were listening to Christmas songs, and I tried to sing the lyrics to keep focused on the road.  We had heard “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” already several times on our road trip, when right after “O Come, All Ye Faithful”  came through the radio.  I started to reflect on the meaning of both and suddenly realized that the popular song of the famous reindeer had a very deep meaning behind. 

Its original creation came from Robert L. May, a 34-year-old copywriter who wrote the story for Montgomery Ward Department store in 1939.  A little while later, May’s brother-in-law, Johnny Marks wrote the music to the beloved Christmas song which is now the 2^nd most beloved Christmas song after White Christmas.

 

As the song goes:

You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, and Blitzen but do you know the most famous reindeer of all?

Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer
had a very shiny nose
and if you ever saw it
you would even say it glows
all of the other reindeer
used to laugh and call him names
they never let poor Rudolph
join in any reindeer games
then one foggy Christmas eve
Santa came to say:
"Rudolph with your nose so bright
won't you guide my sleigh tonight?"
then how the reindeer loved him
as they shouted out with glee (yippee)
"Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer
you'll go down in history."

Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer
had a very shiny nose
and if you ever saw it
you would even say it glows
all of the other reindeer
used to laugh and call him names
they never let poor Rudolph
join in any reindeer games
then one foggy Christmas eve
Santa came to say:
"Rudolph with your nose so bright
won't you guide my sleigh tonight"
then how the reindeer loved him
as they shouted out with glee (yippee)
"Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer
you'll go down in history"

 

As the story goes, there were the eight reindeer which teased and persecuted Rudolph because he was different.  He was a misfit with a red nose and the others bullied him and called him names.  During all this time he became a strong reindeer, fulfilling his nature-given purpose.  He waited bravely for his glorious moment when Santa Claus himself chose him to become the leader of the reindeer sleight to light the way to deliver the gifts to all the children for Christmas.

 

Here is my take on the similarities: 

Jesus was an outcast, an eccentric and a rebel, while Rudolph was shunned by his fellow reindeer and excluded by their games.  Both were born in a stable, in humble circumstances.  Jesus developed his leadership and internal determination to save mankind by communicating with his heavenly Father who helped him to love the unloved: lepers, tax-collectors, prostitutes and sinners.  Rudolph was given the chance to lead the sleigh-team because of a snow storm on Christmas Eve.  Both led with their internal light, their shining example.  Their glorious moments came when in time of dire need where nobody else could help.

 

In a way the story of Rudolph is the story of our lives, we struggle through life with disappointments and ups and downs.  We all have a red-nose story because we are all different from the others who may tease us for being too tall, too fat, too smart, too weak.  We tend to belief in our weaknesses more than in our strength.  When Robert May made up the story he pretty much told the story of his own life, growing up being bullied because of his weak and small stature and encountered many unfortunate situations in his life.  He feared for his little daughter Barbara to have a future of poverty and poor health (his wife had just died of cancer).  He worked on the story for a long time to give to her as an original present, and then even presented it at a Christmas party at Montgomery Ward.  It became an instant success.  His behavior was like the ending of his book: Rudolph was bashful, despite of being a hero. 

 

Both Rudolph and Jesus believed in their strength despite the persecution and ridicule and they became victorious.  That’s where their similarities end because Jesus gave up his life, saying: “Yet Not as I will, but as Thou will”. (Matthew 26:39)

 

 

I like to finish this blog with an excerpt from a sermon by the Reverend Sun Myung Moon who had many personal experiences with Jesus during his life (1920-2012).  This is an excerpt from a sermon given on October 11, 1959, entitled The Situation of Jesus:

 

“Jesus was supposed to walk to the end of the path of suffering while he was on earth.  He had to walk to the end of the path, no matter how difficult it might be.  He was born in a barn.  No matter how difficult and miserable a person’s situation may be, no one was born in a barn.  The providence of salvation begins from the lowest point.  Jesus was born in this lowest of situations and did not receive love while he was growing up.  Christians should understand this clearly.  In the thirty years of Jesus’ life, there were many sorrowful events.  Although Jesus was born into Joseph’s family, to Joseph he was a stepson.  He was a stepson of no blood relation to him.

The children born between Joseph and Mary looked down upon Jesus.   Think about it.  Jesus was a stepson.  Jesus was a miserable person who was mistreated even by his younger brothers and sisters.  He did not have parents he could depend upon emotionally, and he did not have a family where he could find a place of rest.  That was not all; yet Jesus grew up under the direct instructions of Heaven.  Because Jesus possessed a heart of hope for the future, even in such circumstances, he looked at the people, the nation and the world.

Why didn’t Jesus resent the situation he was in?  It was because he understood God’s heart.  He knew that the Father he believed in and worshipped had walked a bitter path for four thousand years.  He knew that he had the mission to take responsibility for and restore through indemnity all the mistakes of his ancestors who had repeatedly wronged God.  Therefore, he could not be resentful toward those who opposed him.  Because he had the same heart as God, even when he was dying on the cross, he blessed the people who opposed him.  Christians today think that Jesus came to die.  It may seem simple because they only look at the outcome.  However, they do not understand the situation of Jesus up to his death.  They do not understand the heart of God as He looked down at the dying Jesus.”

 

The reason we love Jesus is that he understood other’s situations, lived for them and redeemed them.  That's why we call him Savior.  That’s why we celebrate Christmas and celebrate his birth.

 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

 

 

Consult Your Inner Oracle

Now, you don’t have to travel to Greece, run to the high priestess for a prophecy, have a Tarot card reading or seek advice from a fortune teller in order to consult your inner oracle.

 

When we understand that all of our life’s experiences, thoughts, emotions and perceptions are recorded in our subconscious mind we have to discover how to access the infinite storehouse we are carrying with us at all times.  Dr. Joseph Murphy wrote an excellent account of the Power of the Subconscious Mind.  

 

How do we access the inner oracle?  There are several methods:

 

1)    Kinesiology is used by applying muscle testing

2)    Pendulum is a free swinging object which one uses by letting it swing back and forth or sideways in order to solicit ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ answers.

3)    Trance is a form of resting state which was used by the famous Edgar Cayce who would give healing predictions while sleeping.

 

Besides these methods the unconscious mind can spill out information anytime and anywhere. 

 

Here are some other techniques:

1)    Being centered or aligned with the spiritual laws of the universe;  we call this mind-body unity or fulfilling the first blessing.

2)    Being attuned.

3)    Being in the flow.

 

 

What can this inner Oracle tell us?

As humans we are not only living in this physical world but also in an invisible spiritual realm.  That sphere always surrounds us and after our physical life ends here on earth, we will live there for eternity.  According to the Divine Principle man is to grow here on earth, learning to love and relate to other people, creating a family, reproducing children, and be a good steward over the creation.

 

The inner oracle is not a loud voice telling us what to do.  Rather it works through intuition  and subtle impressions.  We live in a very noisy world; it takes practice to trust that inner feeling.  It may come as butterflies in the stomach, or a mushy sensation in your heart; or even the knowing conviction of belief.  In any case, we have to nurture and grow it through actions and mostly, by surrendering ourselves to the higher power which I call God.  When our mind is centered on God, our conscience will guide us to do the right thing.  Unfortunately, some people’s conscience is not focused on God, rather influenced by an agenda of cultural morality (man-based) and can therefore not distinguish between right and wrong.  That can lead to immoral acts like the one at the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. 

In the light of that recent tragedy we are all shocked and disgusted of what took place on that Friday morning.  Those frightened little children and their brave teachers had to pay the price for someone whose conscience was deranged.  Our society is now facing the effects of years of anti-godly behavior.  Darrell Scott, the father of Rachel Scott who died at the shooting at Columbine High School in 1999 said it best in his poem:

 

"Your laws ignore our deepest needs,

Your words are empty air.

You’ve stripped away our heritage,

You’ve outlawed simple prayer.

Now gunshots fill our classrooms,

And precious children die.

You seek for answers everywhere,

And ask the question “Why?”

You regulate restrictive laws,

Through legislative creed.

And yet you fail to understand,

That God is what we need!"

~ Darrell Scott; father of Rachel Scott, a victim of the Columbine High School shootings; in an address to the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday, Dec. 13th, 2012.

 

Regarding these crimes people have many different ideas for the best solutions.  I like Mr. Scott’s the best.  We need God in our lives.  Certainly, gun control cannot prevent evil.  Even trying to control mental illness as one writer suggests is not dealing with the root cause.

 

The evil spiritual world has settled on the earth and taken possession over many souls. This is the cause, and the massive use of psychotic drugs and violent video games only reinforces their influence in people’s minds-and ultimately, their lives. 

 

Jesus gave us the best suggestion by saying:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

~ Matthew 22:37-39

 

What better reason during this Christmas season to reflect on those words and pray that God may forgive us for all of our transgressions so that we may qualify for blessings for the holidays and beyond.

Transitions

When does the night end, and the day begin?  It is hard to pinpoint a certain moment.  The calendar tells us when a new month starts and the clock tells us when the sun rises.  Since we live in a physical universe and invented calendars, clocks and other mechanical devises, we can measure time and calculate other events.  When we think of getting older, we can estimate our age by years; none-the-less it is hard to determine when we transition from youth to adulthood, from middle-age to being old.

 

Another whole factor comes into play here.  It is man’s mental outlook and attitude which determines when we are old. 

 

The dictionary defines transition as movement, passage or change from one position, stage, concept, etc. to another.  The sound of music comes into play by stringing the notes together to make a beautiful melody.  In literature we have transitional paragraphs to share stories and plays.

 

What am I getting at?  We are coming up to the date of December 21, 2012 which many believe to be “the end of the world.” Just like any other year the day will bring the winter solstice and the days will become longer again.  Just like we celebrate every New Year’s Eve and a New Year follows the next day, the only external change will be that we change the date of the year into 2013.  All the other transitions will have to come from the inside out.  It is up to each one of us to expect doomsday or to welcome an exciting time of new opportunities with greater internal freedom and alertness.

"Your vision will become clear only when you
can look into your heart. Who looks outside,
dreams; who looks inside, awakens."
~Carl Jung (1875-1961), Swiss Psychiatrist

 

 

 

The Purpose of Dual Prophecies

Have you ever wondered why there are dual prophecies in the bible?  Many Christian believers have tried to understand the meaning of biblical prophecies.  Some interpret it as short-term and long-term fulfillment and especially as warnings for the people to change their ways.  Some others deduce that there are five different types of prophecies regarding the messianic prophecies, Last days, etc. One has to also mention (in Jesus own words) that:

 

"I tell you the truth," he continued, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown”.

~ Luke 4:24

 

I believe that there is a principle behind each of these forewarnings because man was giving FREE  WILL by the creator, God. To understand the meaning of Dual Prophecy I cannot make any sense from the bible or some of the interpretation thereof, except in the teaching of the Divine Principle taught by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, can we take a larger perspective. 

 

Dual prophecies started in the Garden of Eden where Adam and Eve were told:

“Do not eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.”

 “… but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."

~ Genesis 2:17

 

By giving Adam and Eve a commandment God reminded them of their free choice and warned them that they would die.  The problem with our understanding is that what they ate was not a real fruit and they didn’t die physically.  Again, the Divine Principle gives a new view of what happened in the Garden of Eden and why we call it the “Fall of Man.” 

 

From the beginning of time God’s purpose for mankind was be his physical manifestation here on earth by fulfilling the “The Great Blessings” and establishing harmonious families on the earth.

 

“God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

~ Gen 1:28

 

The common thread runs through all of the history of restoration. History of Restoration is also called History of Salvation.  God always had to consider man’s response to his commandments or prophetic messages.  What would man decide?  Would he be faithful and respond to Him, or reject and disregard the prophetic communications.  God’s will is predestined in the sense that He will absolutely fulfill his promises to man.  In comparison God’s accomplishment of his will is 95% to only 5% of man’s request for execution.  It always depends on man’s response how fast and when the prophecy will be fulfilled.

“See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today; and the curse, if you do not obey the commandment of the Lord your God, but turn from the way that I am commanding you today, to follow other gods that you have not known.”

~ Deuteronomy 11:26-28

"See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the LORD your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess.
But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess.”
~ Deuteronomy 30:15-18
 

From the beginning to the end God had only one desire to restore his lineage on the earth.  After Adam and Eve fell, God started the history of restoration with his sons.  Unfortunately, Cain killed Abel; that’s where death entered into the family of God. Adam was the first son of God; Jesus came with the same mission, being the 2^nd Adam.

 

God had prepared the Jewish people for 2,000 years to receive the Messiah.  The purpose of the Messiah is to save man.  Salvation is the same as restoration.  There is even a prediction in Isaiah 9:6

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.  And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

 

Some people believe that this prophecy was meant for the second coming.  According to the teaching of Rev. Moon who had personally met with Jesus on several occasions, Jesus didn’t know in the beginning that he had to go to the cross.  Many Christians believe that Jesus came to die.  Again, Rev. Moon learned from Jesus himself that this course became necessary because of the disbelief of John the Baptist.  In our last Original Divine Principle seminar Archbishop Augustus Stallings made it very clear that it was John’s failure to believe in Jesus and follow him; that Jesus’ course was changed, and he was delivered into the hands of the Romans and Pontius Pilate sent him to the cross.

Therefore, it was the failure of the Jewish people to understand the duality of prophecy and played a role in their rejection of Yeshua as their Messiah.

“Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him—“

~ Act. 7:52-53

 

Let us remember during this Christmas season that God always sets before us choices.  He asks us for faith and obedience but he also gave us the freedom to decide otherwise.  That seems kind of paradoxical but it expresses a very deep love and trust in man that we will eventually decide on the right path.  He didn’t create us as robots, only with the infinite potential to be like him.  It is up to us.