What Are We?

…Concepts of  “was,” “did,” “become,” “will/shall,” “may”…..concepts of “want,” “can,” “have,” and “HAD”……………
WHAT ARE WE that we are able to even think, wonder, and desire? What are we that we can even ASK THIS QUESTION: “What are we?”

The IDEA  must exist within any thing that lives and changes, and it must be benevolent in order to guide or impel that organism towards its good. A PLAN is an Idea with legs.
A blueprint is an application of a Plan. It cannot change, even in reaction to need or threat. Someone has to erase or bypass the old part and replace it with a new, compatible but different, part.
In the human DNA structure, the BLUEPRINT does not change, but the ability to mutate is built into the Plan. Also the past experience of the species is recapitulated as the organism develops to its adult form. Thus, the body grows until fully formed, then maintains that form by taking in what it can use, and eliminating what it cannot use. And at some pre-set point within the Plan, no matter how well we take care of ourselves–even replace parts or grow new ones–our DNA no longer directs the body to heal itself as fast as it is failing (apoptosis–the timed death of certain cells), and the body wears out. The brain ceases to function. The personhood of that body gradually ceases to exist, even as a memory. And the self-energy rejoins the universal energy.

The form grows, maintains itself, and then disintegrates. The Plan may evolve over time, but once in place for any conceived living form, it does not change. It is the only constant in one’s existence. The rest consists of organized interacting patterns of matter/energy.”I” do not exist, except to the extent that I can create and maintain the IDEA in my own mind and in the minds of others that I do.
(However, stubbing my toe on a door frame can be a potent reminder if I forget–part of the Plan, no doubt!)

The Plan is a blending of 2 (and only 2) forms (along with their histories.) Only a clone can be a copy of its ancestor.
      ”You have your mother’s eyes.”
      ”You’re just like your father!” [not!]
      ”You inherited [that talent] or [that disease*].

*Unity’s Myrtle Fillmore did not believe that a child of God inherits disease, and built a healing ministry on that premise.

Most genetic defects were not “meant” to be defects, but variations.
Most variations are never noticed.
Unsuccessful variations die out with their unviable forms (or are supposed to.)
The ability to mutate enables forms to adapt to a changing environment. It is the instrument of survival and evolution.

And where does all this leave us, as conscious, aware beings with memories, hopes, beliefs, and desires, the ability to affect our environment, the course of our lives, and those of others? What of the ability to sit here and write these thoughts out loud?

We are manifestations (SONS) of Original Being, vehicles for “God” to be and do ALL THAT “HE” CAN IMAGINE through us.

That is the only answer there can be. Are we having fun yet? Well, WHY NOT?

Going pro?

In college–even an Agricultural & Engineering college where I went–it was fashionable for the Science students to be either agnostic or studying  Eastern theology. I read the Bhagavad Gita and “Bridey Murphy.” I learned to play chess (sort of), hung out at the college radio station, and felt that I had found a place where my questions about philosophy would not be considered heretical, but interesting. I even had a novice ham radio license (KN5KBL) for a year, though it was more a trophy than something I used. Though I could not stay longer than 3 semesters, due to lack of direction and money, when I left to get married (in a church), I took my attraction to Eastern theology with me, and I did not go back to church for several years.

I missed it, though. I missed the music, mostly. I tried taking the kids to Sunday School a few times, but it was a hassle getting them dressed and driving to the Methodist church where we didn’t know anyone. It didn’t last long. We stayed away from any church until the kids grew up. Once they went to a Vacation Bible School and were indoctrinated with some Bible stories and learned to recite the names of the books in order. It is not surprising that two of them never went to church after becoming adults.

What IS surprising is that the other two did attend regularly, at least for a few years, one at a Baptist church where he was the sound engineer, and the other at a Unity church where she served on the Board for one term.

After we divorced, my husband got involved in a correspondence Bible Study course. After some time, he told me that the teachers had encouraged him to become a minister, and he asked me what I thought. I told him that I honestly thought they encouraged anyone who stuck with the program as long as he had. Since he was a socially shy person, I suppose that he decided against it, kept his religion to himself, and lived a basically moral, Conservative life. He had burglar bars on the house and went to the Target Shooting Range every Sunday.

In the years when one is busy making a living, church does not seem important, especially if his/her weekends are the only time left to take care of personal things and get some rest. Newly single, with the kids on their own, I wanted spiritual company and support. By then I had studied astrology and been through nine degrees of the Rosicrucian Order. The Unity Church seemed the right place for me to find others with unconventional beliefs. I found friends there and discovered abilities that I did not know I had. I sang, I wrote, I healed, I reached out, and I loved. I went to retreats. And then I went back to college to train for a career as a health professional. When I graduated, I moved 500 miles away to a part of Texas where I could get a job and comfortably work as a middle-aged white woman who couldn’t speak Spanish.

I found a Unity church 25 miles away from where I lived, and I attended for a while, even after I moved farther away from it. But every Unity church is different, and this one was more formal than the one I had left in the Rio Grande Valley, and most of the people had more money than I did.  I did not fit. So, soon I was spending my Sundays at home with my cats, or doing something  that interested me, often with someone I liked.

And then I retired and out of necessity moved back to the Valley. Less able to go anywhere and do anything I wanted now, due to physical and financial restraints, I went back to the little Unity church where I had blossomed many years ago, and I took an active part. But it is because I wanted to avoid becoming a “potted plant” at home. IN MY 8TH DECADE, I no longer accept the dogmas that were the foundation of my spiritual beliefs when I was younger. I believe that we all have to work through these ideas near the end of our lives, in order to discover what we CAN believe as the truth. And at this point, that’s ALL I am interested in. (Well, almost all.)

Here is where I am now:
ENERGY—->BEING/”IS-NESS”(I AM)—->EXPRESSION—->OTHER.
DESIRE (to act)—->ORGANIZATION—->MATTER—->CHEMICAL REACTION—->LIFE.
CONSCIOUSNESS.

All this I can believe.
Where does the idea of a personal God come from? Or the idea of many gods? It is that there seem to be forces more powerful than we are, and that we cannot control. It is that we don’t know how we got here, why we are here, what we should do, and what happens to our “self” after the body dies. We need a God in charge of all that–and someone to blame for it. Most of us need to believe that someone knows the “how” and “why”, and that someday we will know.
But has anyone heard a voice, seen a non-material being, or been transported instantly to a place off the planet? I can only say that I have caught hold of occasional intuitive ideas during my lifetime, and acted on them with success.
I have felt healing energy, gentle support and guidance, and on rare occasions, joy when I had no reason to feel it.

DO WE NOT LIVE IN A CLOUD OF ENERGY THAT CAN BE DIRECTED AS NEEDED? POWER IS DIRECTED ENERGY. IS THAT NOT GOD? God is not outside the creation: God expressed IS the creation, and that explains how S/He can be everywhere at once and know everything at once.

Really, who is there left who could possibly feel discriminated against? Even white kids who are neither poor, nor disabled can get the free lunch and breakfast. An alien from another planet could eat for free in this school district, and have the right to complain if he/she/it were denied service!

The only common-sense reason that I can see for doing things this way is that it is simply less expensive and time-consuming to go through the process of  qualifying the kids according to whatever legal/social standards are left. Everybody gets fed for free. No cash register, no vouchers or tickets. Just step up and get your politically-correct meal (half of which will probably be wasted, but that’s another story.)

[Author's note]: It has been suggested to me that a much simpler reason is the basis for feeding all the kids, regardless of family income, and I should have thought if it before. It is simply that the more kids they feed, the more money the school district gets from the federal government. This is a “depressed area,” and it would not surprise me if once a certain percentage of low-income families is verified, declaring it 100% can be deemed automatic. Have I guess the truth?

These people are going to see that an old lady doesn’t necessarily want to watch soaps, chick flicks, sit-coms, and reality shows. They  may be surprised to find out that I almost never watch network TV, and that I don’t even turn on the TV during the daytime hours unless there is a breaking news situation that is being covered by cable news. I listen to the radio instead. And I don’t have a DVR. If I miss a show I like, I watch it later on Hulu.com.

They are going to learn that I think the best original programming is on TNT and USA, that I loved the SYFY “Stargate” series, that I don’t like vampire and horror shows, and I don’t think “WWE Smackdown Wrestling” belongs on the SYFY channel, unless they classify that as Fantasy. They will learn that I am among those who were very disappointed when NBC finally put a serious scifi series (“The Event”) on in prime time, and then cancelled it at the end of one season. I thought it had potential.

They will learn that, although I don’t believe the Earth was created in six days, I DO think there is entirely too much sex/crime/obscenity everywhere on TV. There is also entirely too much “reality”, which in my opinion is certainly bogus and contrived.

So if I watch the “Falling Skies” Marathon all evening on Sunday, it’s because it’s a well-acted story that takes watching a couple of times to “get” what is going on in the story, and  it’s because there is nothing else better to watch.

Now, about that other survey booklet, I got about 2/3 through the questions what I started finding some that I did not think I should answer–or should be answered by anyone, frankly–and I wrote “None of your business”, and refused. Strangely enough, I got a call that day from the company to ask if I had received the materials and whether I was going to do the survey. The caller voluntarily told me that I did not have to answer any question that I did not want to, and I told her that I had found some of those, and I didn’t think they needed to know those things.

I will finish my diary on Sunday, and I will seal the booklets up and put them in the mail. It won’t cost me anything–and they paid me $7 for my effort.

Click here–>   http://www.a-course-in-miracles-news.com/helen-schucman  for a brief story of how it began.

Thesis: We, as our ego personalities, are WRONG, and we are always trying to defend our WRONGNESS–and make it RIGHT, rather than accept the truth: that the world is OK, and it is OUR PERCEPTION OF IT THAT IS THE ERROR.
You have to be a mental contortionist to accept this.

 
The following  quote, from the book “One Day My Soul Just Opened Up,” by Van Zant, appeared on the back of our [Unity] church bulletin:
“What is the ego?
“Ego is the part of the mind that believes it’s separated from the Mind of God. It believes in sin, guilt, fear, attack, lack, and death. It’s but a dream of what you really are, and is a wish to be what God did not create. It is a thing of madness, not reality at all.”
[The person who wrote this may have been a student of ACIM.]

At the beginning of the Sunday Lesson, entitled “My Ego and I,” the congregation received a handout (from a former ACIM facilitator) of a responsive reading based on “truths” asserted in ACIM (probably the Workbook portion.):

Responsive Reading- – from A Course in Miracles:
(Leader ) ” I have judged everything I look upon, and it is this and only this I see. My judgments have been made quite apart from reality. They lack validity and have hurt me. I do not want to see according to them. I am willing to change my mind.”
(All)  “Let me remember the power of my decision, and recognize where I really abide.” (This response followed each statement.)
WHAT I HEAR: I cannot trust my own ability to discern what is good or bad, beneficial or harmful, true or false, real or unreal? I am delusional by nature?
(Leader ) “I have judged amiss and could not understand what I see. What I see is the projection of my errors of thought. I do not understand what I see because it is not understandable. There is no sense in trying to understand it. I therefore let it go, and make room for what can be seen and understood and loved. I am willing to change my mind.”
WHAT I HEAR: I should not even try to understand the world, since I am unable to understand and judge correctly. Instead, I should just let it go, let it be, and just love everybody.
(Leader)  “My thoughts of which I am aware do not mean anything because I am trying to think without God. What I call “my thoughts” are not my real thoughts. My real thoughts are the thoughts I think with God. I am not aware of them because I have made my thoughts to take their place. I am willing to recognize that my thoughts do not mean anything, and to let them go. I choose to have them be replaced by what they were intended to replace. My thoughts are meaningless (italics mine), but all creation lies in the thoughts I think with God. I am willing to change my mind.”
WHAT I HEAR: I am not capable of thinking any meaningful thoughts of my own. I am not capable of creating anything. I am unable to solve any problems (because there are no real problems, except in my error thinking). My brain is good for nothing but operating my body.
(Leader) ” I am never upset for the reason I think because I am constantly trying to justify my thoughts. I am constantly trying to make them true. I make all things my enemies so that my anger is justified and my attacks are warranted. I have not realized how much I have misused everything I see by assigning this role to it. I have done this to defend a thought system that has hurt me, and that I no longer want. I am willing to let it go. I am willing to change my mind.”
WHAT I HEAR: I am little more than an animal with primitive emotions. I am angry, selfish, and greedy, and I draw bad experiences to me so I can hate others and feel justified in attacking them. (This speaks of the world of movies, TV, and video games, which play to our lowest emotional level in order to keep us involved in watching/playing them. They are meant to be exciting and entertaining, which our daily lives often are not. This infantile behavior is not normal and most of us are not normally that stupid, unless we are carefully taught to be.)

CONCLUSION: There is a good and life-sustaining purpose for every ability that we have. The ego is not our enemy. Through it, we learn over a lifetime, who and what we are, and are not. Through it, we protect ourselves from danger as we learn to perceive it, and seek what we need to stay alive and safe.
We cannot live by “bread alone,” but without the bread, we can’t live at all!

 I just read another piece about how the American public needs to arm itself and buy up ammunition–if they can find it–because  Muslim agents are here in our country, actively working to take us down.  According to the email, specific cases are cited where they are spying on our coastal defenses, and doing things such as buying quantities of pre-paid cell phones to be mailed through Canada to Afghanistan to be used in making and setting off roadside IEDs.

About the “devout Muslims” sworn in and working in our Homeland Security Agency, it could be argued that they are needed because only they can truly understand the mind-set of the enemy and pass for one if necessary. The people we are at war with are indoctrinated barbarians who will never understand the concepts of peace, tolerance, and unconditional love. And frankly, we are fools to believe we can defend ourselves with these “tools” against them. But I don’t want to buy a gun. Our only hope is to *corrupt*  the common Muslim people with prosperity, information, and choices.  People who can find something worth living for in this world, are not so eager to pass on to the next. But it will take a generation or two to accomplish this.

I’ve taken a course in marksmanship, and I can shoot if I have to, but I am not handy with a gun. I forget how it works from one time to the next. And I wouldn’t be able to take it apart and clean it. I’m old and I’ll be gone soon, and in a few more years, so will everyone I care about. “May you live in interesting times, and may you get what you wish for,” goes the famous Chinese curse. Well, it seems that I have…and you are. Good luck!

Map Of Middle East

What good reason does America have to stay in the Middle East? Besides “helping” the people in the small countries who, one by one, decided it was time rise up and overthrow their longtime dictators, the only other stakes we have there are Israel and a source of oil.
It is good that we first got NATO involved. This is how it is supposed to work. When one country or group of countries rises up against its oppressive dictator / government that is starving its people, and they ask for help, the rest of the world should intervene, not just the USA, which always does. Good to see us trying to disengage now, too, and let someone else carry the ball for a change. It doesn’t help that some of the news media (namely CNN) is already sowing doubts like a controlling nanny, as to whether NATO will now be willing and able to carry on if  America is not there to lead them! What chutzpa!
Israel is a successful country. Despite some of the questionable things they have done in Gaza, they are an honorable people and they will defend themselves in any way they have to. They deserve our help and respect.
We only get 10% or less of our oil from Saudi Arabia and the Arab States. Why do we hang on so desperately to our interests there, especially when our government and environmentalist PACs are clamoring for wind and solar power and electric cars? Let the Saudis have their oil, which was just a soil-poisoning nuisance before we developed its use.
Israel succeeded as a state in a tiny [see map] harsh land, but the Muslims want to wipe them off the planet. Let Israel bring all their holy relics and come to America where they will be a productive asset. Let the Muslims have Palestine, get our soldiers and economic interests out of there, drill for our own oil and gas, and see if the Middle East can prosper by itself under Sharia Law.

Interdependency

In order for life to succeed on this planet (or any planet), there must be ORDER. “In order for” me to even think about the idea I am trying to put on the screen here, I have to start with “orderly thinking.” There must be order to the seasons, the weather, the ocean tides, and the smaller movements of fluids. If we did not know when the sun would rise and set (if our planet’s rotation were so wild and unpredictable that our days were of random lengths), if we had no moon to infuence the tides and reproductive cycles, if we never knew when–or if–it would rain, we could not survive.

If the orbit of our planet were more elliptical, it would be too hot at its nearest distance, and too cold for much too long at its farthest distance to sustain life. Although it does not seem so, with all the extreme weather and natural events we have had lately, we do live on the only “Goldilocks” planet in our solar system.

Given a balance and order in these basic requirements, to be successful life forms, we also need ORDER, CYCLES, AND REFERENCE POINTS that are off the planet, and even outside the solar system, “in order to” know WHERE we are.

OTHER

An Other

I need “other” so that I can define myself. Another (An “other”) unites seemingly diverse and disorganized parts into “I” vs “him” or “them,” and “this” vs “that.” From this point of view, “God” created “others” to define Himself. Even though I have been told that God does not need anything, since He IS everything, I ask, “Why, then, are WE here?” Plants and animals need the sun and moon as gods. So do people, until they become aware of other suns with other planets circling them. Then they become aware of LAWS of motion; then levels of perception, chemical reactions, cycles, and equilibriums among and within living and non-living forms.

And finally, we earn the luxury of such questions as “How?” and “Why?”

ORDER–CYCLES–EQUILIBRIUM–AND A DISTANT REFERENCE POINT (either physical or in time.)

IS-NESS

Illogical

That which is–is, and always has been SOMETHING, and must ALWAYS BE something, since NO thing can spontaneously spring into being from NOT being, and NO thing which is, can cease to be [anything]. I am here, I am real, and I have a consciousness of being real and able to affect my surroundings and other conscious beings. And so, when my body stops functioning, I must continue in some other form of consciousness and/or being.

Er…right?

I do not use the same password for every Internet site on which I am registered.

I do not believe there is any chance I have won a sweepstakes, lottery, or contest that I have not entered. And I do not believe that there is anything that is “free.” Nor should there be.

When cancelling a service, I have the confidence to say NO, unequivocally, spoken slowly and spelled-out, if necessary, to any other deal that would keep me tied to that service provider, keep me paying them for anything–especially for something I am unlikely to use–and complicate my relationship with a new service provider.

I have a healthy respect for myself, and while validation from others is pleasant, my own evaluation of my conduct, work, ability, and appearance is my standard. And I have learned that a smile irons out wrinkles better than any cream or treatment.

I have learned that honesty in all my dealings and relationships is easier than trying to deceive anyone for any reason, but I also know that it’s not necessary or desirable to reveal everything. I know how to apologize and how to forgive, sincerely, including myself. But I don’t forget the lesson.

I’ve been married and raised a family, but now I enjoy my own company, and prefer to live alone. However, I sometimes talk out loud to myself, just to keep my voice working. And I CAN be nice to people when I am with them.

Finally, at 72, I may not always like myself, but I wouldn’t want to be anyone else.

Kaye at 72

 By the way, I have my Internet back, courtesy of a new DSL modem! There must be a lesson in this experience, but only time will tell me what it is. I think I am unlikely to draw the correct conclusion right now, even though it may be most obvious one. Meanwhile, I am enjoying being able to work in my little “office”, using my own huge, ergonometric keyboard with the hump in the middle and its special shortcut keys! It’s one luxury that makes typing a pleasure for someone my age. And it’s the one thing I miss most when having to work at someone else’s computer (besides my Trac-ball mouse, that is!)