Human or Sinner?

A Catholic friend once told me, "Jews invented guilt but the Catholics perfected it." Yes it is funny, I personally am not Jewish or Catholic but the rituals I have learned about these since becoming an adult has made me wonder, "Why would anyone want so many rules about everything you say, do, or think?" Not me. Another thing I have heard is the only way to get anyone into these religions is to to be born and raised in it, no free thinker would choose these religions.

As an adult I believe if any of us were brought up to believe in the goodness of who we are in connection to the universe which operates in order, we all would not choose any group or religion. I once asked my brother, "Why do people cling to Christian beliefs so tightly when they could forgive themselves, learn from their mistakes and move on?"  To date he gave the most logical answer, "Most people are so hard on themselves in their own judgment of mistakes they have made, that they need an outside savior to pay a price for them in order for them to move on." (Wow that is tough) I like myself too much to go there.

Being human is not easy.  We cannot even in the best of loving homes grow up knowing how to handle every situation we find ourselves in when we leave home and venture out into the world. It is this fear of the outside world that makes some parents want to protect their children and keep them close to home, I get it.  But to be human and make mistakes is human, that's all, not a sin, just a learning curve till we get it right.

How do we know we finally got it right? By the results we see in our lives. Are we feeling more confidence doing the right thing or do we feel more afraid every day because we are afraid someone will find out our dark secret? So is self judgment good? Yes!  Inside everyone of us we do know when we are doing something that would hurt someone else if they knew. What is the answer? Stop doing it, ask the person for forgiveness if needed, and move on doing better because you now know better.

So to me, to be human is to make mistakes, stop, think about how to do things better and move on with wisdom.  If not "Life lessons will be repeated until learned."  The Bible and other spiritual books have great wisdom if you study however, just being human is a lesson in life as well.

If we can get sin consciousness out of our psyche and keep in mind two things, "Do no harm to self or others," this is a simple place to begin again as needed.

Am I atheist? No, but I do believe there is a powerful force that is positive and helps us do good every day, if I want to call it reality or God, it makes no difference to me. I believe this powerful goodness lives inside of us all.  Some know it and can access its goodness easily, others do not believe it exists in the world or themselves so they pray endlessly, daily.  I do not believe life on this planet is that much work. Life is wonderful.

There are Two kinds of Awakening

One is the awakening that most of us think means to see there are others suffering in the world besides you... but the awakening that truly benefits us all is the awakening to the reality that our thoughts are illusions.  Two very different perspectives.

Stating Facts is Not the Same as Being Unthankful...

Growing up in a religious household often a valid concern or complaint was stopped because Mom thought I was unthankful or judging.  Realities of life troubles were swept under the invisible carpet and I was expected to act as if everything was perfect when it was not.

This kind of thinking makes a child doubt reality.  When actions of others hurt feelings of a child, or in reality are bad, it has to be openly discussed and remedied if possible. Communication and teaching a child how to understand there are hard, bad, times in life, as opposed to acting as if nothing happened or changing the subject mid conversation will make anyone crazy.

"Prince of Tides" movie expresses this in clear terms with an extreme situation but the lesser acts are as harmful if not discussed openly.  In our house, nothing was discussed, nothing was ever wrong, no one was allowed to complain out loud or have a hurt feeling. "If you have nothing good to say, say nothing" is poisonous to a young mind that is learning and downloading information at lightning speed every minute of the day.  

Telling facts as they are, good and bad help to discover the world around us and how to respond positively instead of react.

Makes me wonder how our parents were raised?

I love sharing in the happiness of others!

Today I get the news that a friend's mother finally got her childhood dream of a home by the water. Later I saw pictures of her and her mother out on the ocean in Miami, FL driving a boat together.  I cannot tell you how happy I felt knowing another person saw their dream come true.

Days of things like this make me happy.  The smiles on their faces reflected the smile on mine. Simple things make me happy.

So thankful they made the right life decisions to make the dream come true.  I'm very sure because I celebrate with them, I will celebrate again with another as well. I love being happy. Congratulations!

Great Thought Why to Forgive and Quickly

"Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it"  ~ Mark Twain

Words when used correctly express thoughts easily understood by all.  This is why I love using the exact words to articulate my thoughts.

Forgiveness releases creativity.

Forgiveness expresses the kind essence of who we are.

Forgiveness is powerful to find our highest purpose.

Forgiveness rids us of anger.

Forgiveness rids us of victim mentality.

When you are not a victim, you are free to discover your strengths and soar.

More things I have learned the hard way but know for sure now. Forgiveness is for me to move on.

Many sages know this but how many of us study them?

Another Person Condemns Wealth without Knowing...

As I rode on the shuttle bus to Kykuit I sat beside a retired Art gallery manager that lives in NYC. He was friendly and we struck up a mutual conversation.  In our talks he brought up Jeff Bezos becoming the richest man in the world.  I, who no longer has cablevision and chooses not to listen to the news was not aware.  He does not know the man personally but is already worried and judging the guy as not doing enough for mankind by spreading his wealth.

I cannot believe how as soon as someone acquires the title of "richest," average income persons go into judging wealth as bad if he does not give it away now.  This one topic is a live wire in this world. So I commented, "We have to wait and see how he decides to diversify his wealth.  Bill Gates and Warren Buffett decided in later life after making the money to give it away.  Maybe Jeff needs to keep multiplying his money to make a lot more while he young and when he decides, he will become philanthropic."

The retiree said. "Let's hope."

Me: Really? We need to concern our thoughts with what somebody else is doing with money we have not found a way to make?  Good grief... I got a life to live machacha. Moving on.

Sweetheart found this article...how did I know this without reading this article?  Because I believe in the goodness of wealthy people.

http://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-richest-person-philanthropy-2017-7

Why we have employee mentality instead of living a visionary life...

Discussing the Kykuit and the family with my Sweetheart, I said these people, these visionaries, worked from the moment they awakened to the moment they "had" to sleep. Their basic needs were supplied every day of their life, no question, their safety was assured, belonging, love and fun activities came from parents and home, esteem (I can do attitude) was surely there if you count their foundations, and political seats accomplished, and when these basics are lived and taught daily by your parents you have a much better chance of self-fulfillment and living your creative ideas, because you have watched your own parents do it.  You expect you will do well too.

Most parents today are spending the majority of the time trying to learn how to pay the bills, maintain employment, status, feel good about themselves after a divorce or business failure, etc., keep the lights on, food on the table, (two parents work for these comforts more than spending time with their children) and rarely do we get to put into action our creative activities to serve the world.  I get it, we are not the Rockefellers, but I observe...

It does take money to have basic needs met and the knowledge how to make more money, multiply it, and one observation I see in all of these visionaries is they own their own business, maybe more than one to diversify the monies at some point. It may be we need to open our creative minds and create our own business to begin to learn what it is to be free here in USA.

Employee mentality does not make a person free from servitude tasks.  To be a visionary one must be free to think and create and that is much easier when you have basic needs met, a good income, and networking contacts in every field. Working as an employee for others does not obtain this individual monetary success we all claim to want but are too stagnant, comfortable, or maybe scared to give up, to create.

Today with the internet connecting us with the entire world there has to be a way for us all to supplement our income or make our entire income from an online business. It has to be, when we get our creative juices flowing there has to be a way.

It seems to me that good intimate relationships, and true friendship throughout your life enables everyone to focus on inner peace, fidelity, and happiness once you get to the top of Maslow's triangle.

I'm just rambling and thinking out loud... what do you observe in the lives of people you admire the most?