Thursday, April 30, 2009

What's so Important about Learning - Zig Ziglar Video

Zig Ziglar explains how the learned will inherit the earth.

Greg is currently working on a self help library filled with great subjects on a wide array of topics, like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world. His views on religious freedom are slowly changing the way people think about institutional religion.

Getting Up Earlier

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

The Healing Power of Spirituality and Beliefs

Evidence is growing that suggests our well-being is influenced by our spiritual and religious beliefs and practices.

Dr. Andrew Newberg, a professor of radiology, psychology and religious studies at the University of Pennsylvania and co-founder of Penn's Center for Spirituality and the Mind, studies the effects of spirituality on the human brain. He and his team of researchers have noted that during prayer the frontal lobes become engaged, affecting focus and concentration. And in very deep prayer the parietal lobes become disengaged, helping us to feel detached from time and space, leaving behind our everyday concerns.

For those individuals who have meditated longer than 15 years, their frontal lobes appear thicker than people who don't meditate. What does this mean for power meditators? This can help with improved memory, for one thing.

Religious fasting-as well as fasting strictly for health benefits-appears to affect the brain by getting a boost from endorphins, neurotransmitters, and other biochemical reactions because of physiological changes from lack of intake. Such changes bring about profound clarity and feelings of peace or elation.

There's the theory, as yet unproven, that individuals who regularly pray, attend religious services, or in general find deep meaning in their lives experience increased well-being simply because of the placebo effect.

As more people discover and embrace the health benefits of adding spirituality to their lives, the health care industry is taking notice and discussions and practices involving spirituality are turning up in doctors' offices and health care facilities, with patients positively responding to such added therapy.

Such benefits are understandable as many patients are confronted with issues of life or death situations and feel the need to reach out and communicate with the person in the white coat who they feel has control or professional insight over their fate.

Linda Sue Anderson, founder of Holistic Future, is a Certified Alchemical Hypnotherapist and has studied naturopathy, herbalism, and acupressure. She has a background in greenhouse management, growing medicinal herbs and other organic produce.

Linda has researched holistic, spiritual, and metaphysical subjects since childhood. Since 2005 she has been undergoing a progressive kundalini awakening with subsequent physical, spiritual, and perceptual changes associated with the kundalini's transformative energy. Linda sees herself as a futurist - a conscious explorer of the evolutionary leap humanity and our planet is currently experiencing, and an observer of where we are headed.

More articles can be found here: http://www.holisticfuture.com

Stop Procrastination With This Simple Tip

We all have dreams and for some reason or another these dreams seem to be drifting further and further away. Whether it be caused from lack of knowledge or bad habits your dreams just haven't come true. Did you know that working on yourself can bring amazing results in less than 24 hours? Self improvement can help you get everything you've been dreaming about.

One thing that most people seem to do that sabotages their success is procrastinating. People naturally will try to go the easier route when faced with a task such as putting the task off until another day but that day never seems to come. This is because we as people tend to look at the big picture rather than breaking it up into smaller sections. The best way to look at it is that you need to take baby steps.

Breaking things up into smaller tasks can help you stay focused and motivated. A good example of this would be if you were trying to incorporate exercise into your daily routine because you want to lose weight. While we all have good intentions on getting up and hitting the gym for an hour, chances are you will most likely make it once or twice but get discouraged from the aches and pains.

Instead break it down and start with 10 minutes 2-3 times a week. Then after a week or two make it 30 minutes 2-3 times a day. Then after you've done that a few weeks add a day.

In order to work on self improvement, you need to make it a point to work on your goals a little bit each day and before you know it you will be where you want to be. You will find that your motivation will soar once you see yourself reaching the small goals that you set. This will help you gain the momentum you need to get where you want to be such as loosing those extra pounds that you want to get rid of.

In order to make this work you should make a list of what you would like to improve on then break each goal up into smaller tasks. Be sure to work on those smaller tasks each day and before you know it you will be the person you want to be and you will be well on your way to having the things you have always wanted in life. Self-improvement can get you what you want in life; you just need to learn to take smaller steps in order to reach your goals easier.

http://www.SuperSonicSuccess.com has awesome tips to help you develop positive thinking habits, and to http://www.supersonicsuccess.com/beyond_positive_thinking.html get rich from your thoughts.

Monday, April 27, 2009

The Ultimate Illumination on Mary Magdalene

This video has more information on Mary Magdalene, great video on advanced spiritual thinking.

If you're really seeking the kingdom of heaven, the glory of God and the true vision that Jesus had, check out some great Christian articles . These articles are designed to teach and educate Christians.

Louise Hay
Accomplishing Your Goals

The Ultimate Illumination on Mary Magdalene

This video has more information on Mary Magdalene, great video on advanced spiritual thinking.

If you're really seeking the kingdom of heaven, the glory of God and the true vision that Jesus had, check out some great Christian articles . These articles are designed to teach and educate Christians.

Paul Kurtz
Daniel Amen

Mary Magdalene and Spirituality - Movie Video

This video has more information on Mary Magdalene, great video on advanced spiritual thinking.

If you're really seeking the kingdom of heaven, the glory of God and the true vision that Jesus had, check out some great Christian articles . These articles are designed to teach and educate Christians.

Purpose Of Stair Nosing
Believing In Yourself

The Ultimate Illumination on Mary Magdalene

This video has more information on Mary Magdalene, great video on advanced spiritual thinking.

If you're really seeking the kingdom of heaven, the glory of God and the true vision that Jesus had, check out some great Christian articles . These articles are designed to teach and educate Christians.

Cost Effective Stair Constructio
Deepak Chopra

Is Mary Magdalene and More Than a Christian Legend - Movie Video

This video has more information on Mary Magdalene, great video on advanced spiritual thinking.

If you're really seeking the kingdom of heaven, the glory of God and the true vision that Jesus had, check out some great Christian articles . These articles are designed to teach and educate Christians.

Jack Canfield
Richard Dawkins

Video on Mary Magdalene

This video has more information on Mary Magdalene, great video on advanced spiritual thinking.

If you're really seeking the kingdom of heaven, the glory of God and the true vision that Jesus had, check out some great Christian articles . These articles are designed to teach and educate Christians.

Old Souls Of The World
Robert Schuller

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Who is Eckhart Tolle?

A truly enlightened spiritual teacher or just good writer and collector?

Even Oprah Winfrey is delighted about his books. She don't just read his books, but also advertise them loudly. A man from Germany has become a spiritual teacher for thousands of people all around the world. But what has he done so special? His books "The Power of Now" and "A New Earth" are best sellers. But if his books are selling so well, does it mean that indeed they bring men towards the light?

We can ask a question - why do his books are so popular? In this time, when human race observe the weaknesses and worthlessness of so popular values - money and power, people are seeking for something else. Different men for ages have been searching the answers on spiritual questions. And actually Eckhart Tolle does not write something new. As he admits, he has combined the best from different teachings. He is quoting such great teachers as Jesus, Mohamed, Buda and many others. And books of their teachings unfortunately stand in lower shelf.

But he really has done very significant thing. He writes in language, which is clear for people and which is audible in the noise of our days. People have become too lazy, they do not have enough free time, or just they do not have enough knowledge to understand the words of prophets. And Eckhart Tolle is like translator, who is doing his job well. But it is for people to decide, what they should adore - The Eckhart Tolle or knowledge and information he gives.

I definitely suggest You to read his two books - "The Power of Now" and "A New Earth", because they really putting together whole picture. But do not forget, that benefit comes from knowledge only then, when we use it in action. Knowledge without action is worthless. So, ACT!

http://findyourmaster.blogspot.com/

Who is Eckhart Tolle?

A truly enlightened spiritual teacher or just good writer and collector?

Even Oprah Winfrey is delighted about his books. She don't just read his books, but also advertise them loudly. A man from Germany has become a spiritual teacher for thousands of people all around the world. But what has he done so special? His books "The Power of Now" and "A New Earth" are best sellers. But if his books are selling so well, does it mean that indeed they bring men towards the light?

We can ask a question - why do his books are so popular? In this time, when human race observe the weaknesses and worthlessness of so popular values - money and power, people are seeking for something else. Different men for ages have been searching the answers on spiritual questions. And actually Eckhart Tolle does not write something new. As he admits, he has combined the best from different teachings. He is quoting such great teachers as Jesus, Mohamed, Buda and many others. And books of their teachings unfortunately stand in lower shelf.

But he really has done very significant thing. He writes in language, which is clear for people and which is audible in the noise of our days. People have become too lazy, they do not have enough free time, or just they do not have enough knowledge to understand the words of prophets. And Eckhart Tolle is like translator, who is doing his job well. But it is for people to decide, what they should adore - The Eckhart Tolle or knowledge and information he gives.

I definitely suggest You to read his two books - "The Power of Now" and "A New Earth", because they really putting together whole picture. But do not forget, that benefit comes from knowledge only then, when we use it in action. Knowledge without action is worthless. So, ACT!

http://findyourmaster.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Great Video For Opening Your Christian Minds

I was reading a book on advertising when the author mentioned, "All Advertising Is about Hope."

This got me thinking about other people's dreams and aspirations, most of this is wrapped around them hoping to accomplish something or do something. I never gave it much thought but hope is one of the most important things in our lives. Some people go around hoping that they will keep their job, when the economy is in bad shape. Others go around hoping for forgiveness for their sins or other bad deeds they have done in the past.

What is it you're hoping for? There's got to be something. Are you hoping to become a multimillionaire or even the world's first trillionaire. Are your dreams big or small? Are you the kind of person who is happy living a simple life with very little possessions like a Buddhist monk or are you one who is seeking the lifestyle of the King.

Hope supplies us with the will to continue through hopeless obstacles during our lifetime.

Most people seeking hope are looking for a way out of something or a way toward a better life. These people often fall easy prey to large religious organizations, as they take them under their wing and slowly start to brainwash them. They seek the weak minded, helpless, poor and trusting people and build their organizations using them. I once believed in Christianity, but it no longer offers me true hope, the more I study Christianity and other organized religions, I noticed certain similarities based on inspiration.

I hope I live the good life, so I can go to heaven, the promised land, our ultimate enlightenment.

I hope I am living the true will according to God, Buddha, Krishna or other supreme beings.

I hope that the Bible is wrong about the 144,000 people from the 12 tribes.

I hope I'm living a life that is pleasing to the Lord.

If you're part of an organized religion, ask your religious leaders, any questions that you have about your religion. If they can't answer these questions, try to find them on your own. Books, videos, and the Internet are great sources for information. If you're living your life for the sole purpose of going to heaven one day, you could be disappointed, when that day arrives.

Ask a couple of questions and I hope you will get honest answers to them.

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing, and personal development. Check out one of his recommended books, Read This Book

Greg is currently creating articles on religion filled with great subjects on a wide array of topics, like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world. His views on religious freedom are slowly changing the way people think about institutional religion.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Read and Change Your Life

Most people read a book and if it's good, they might recommend it to someone else, but if the book is great, you can guarantee they will recommend it to everyone who is interested or who they think might be interested in the book. In the field of personal development, one book comes to mind, it's called, "You Can Have It All" by Arnold Patent.

I found the book in one of our antique thrift stores and paid less than $10 for it, I really didn't think much of it and never heard of Arnold Patent before. We've all heard of Anthony Robbins, Susie Orman, Wayne Dyer, but I never heard of Arnold Patent. I skimmed through the book and it looked like a short read. I read the book in about six hours and plan to reread the book, as soon as I get it back for my daughter. The book has short chapters, most of them less than five pages.

Looking at the short chapters, you could get the impression, that there isn't very much information in each chapter, how could there be with less than five pages and some chapters less than three pages. This was very deceiving to me, because each paragraph, was like a chapter and each chapter was like a small book.

The book is full of tools and advice and combines personal development with spirituality. He has chapters on meditation, energy, enjoying what you love to do for the rest of your life, cause and effect, abundance, attachment, pain and suffering, harmony, karma the past and forgiveness.

I can't tell you what a pleasure it was to read this book and if you're looking for some basics on quite a few motivational, spiritual and laws of attraction topics, this book has almost everything you need to get you interested in changing your life. You could actually read one chapter a day and think about it for the rest of the week, there's that much information in each chapter.

I was reading one of his recommendations and it was from Oprah Winfrey, she said, "It was one of the most important books that I had ever read." That's coming from one of the most successful people in the entertainment business. I stumbled across this book and might not have ever found it, but I'm telling you about it and highly recommend it.

You are free to copy this article to your site as long as you include the following resource information with an active link to my site:

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing, and personal development. Check out one of his recommended books, You Can Have It All

Greg is currently working on a self help library filled with great subjects on a wide array of topics, like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world. His views on religious freedom are slowly changing the way people think about institutional religion.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Clearing a Space For You!

This time of the year is full of renewal, rebirth, growth, development, restoration, and cleansing. Along with the rest of nature, you tend to feel vibrant and inspired to clear things out and get a new start. It is a great time to clear away the past and plant new seeds for your life!

Here are a few easy ways to meet your cleansing needs:

The Space Within You

Fuel up! Think about creating your own cleansing experience to get rid of excess waste. Take advantage of all the great whole foods during this season. Add more fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds to your eating plan.

Express yourself. Journaling can help you know your Self and learn how to express your truth. You don't have to write a novel. A few words can go a long way and set you on the path to self-discovery.

Start exercising. Physical activities allow the body to sweat and rid itself of toxins. Movement will help clear your mind and focus on creating your life.

The Space You Are In

Surround yourself with beautiful things. Create a beautiful space with your new favorite color of the season. Spread some nature throughout your home with plants and flowers. Open up your blinds and let the sun shine in!

Clean out those closets. Remove things in your house or storage that you do not need. Keep the items that bring you joy and happiness.

Have a party! Encourage your loved ones to join you in celebrating renewal and growth. Share your desires, needs, and intentions. Cultivate an environment that is supporting and loving.

Like health, cleansing is not exclusively about how you eat, it's also about how you live! This is just a start.

What else can you do to renew yourself this season?

Takeyah A. Young is the Founder and Director of Core Connection Lifestyle, a company dedicated to providing life essentials for well-being and tools for balanced living. Through health counseling, lifestyle coaching, and sustainable living consulting, she serves as her clients' personal advocate for living an energized and passionate life. Takeyah's mission is to empower people to live their dreams in balance; connect the actions in their lives to their dreams; and inspire them to take living personally.

She is a Certified Holistic Health Counselor, Speaker, and Educator with a private practice offering assistance countrywide. She received her Bachelor's degree from Lincoln University (of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania) and Masters degree from University of Maryland. Educated at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York City, Takeyah is certified by the American Association of Drugless Practitioners. To learn more about Core Connection Lifestyle, please visit http://www.core-connection.org

The information in this article is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

The Wisemen Weren't Very Wise

Here's a verse from Matthew in the New Testament, read this first and then I will explain why the wisemen weren't very wise.

"9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route."

The wisemen traveled great distances from around the world to see the new King. The star in the sky obviously pointed the way to his birthplace and when they saw him, they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, and incense and myrrh. It doesn't really say how much or what the value of these gifts was, but if I was to guess, it would've been around $1 trillion dollars. Okay that's pure speculation and let me get back to my point.

Here's the part I don't understand, if Jesus was born King of the Jews, how did we get Christianity. How come the Jewish faith didn't become stronger and more powerful with this newborn King. I know, there's probably all sorts of things you could say in Christianity's defense, like the Jews killed him or even the little dying on the cross incident, kind of put a damper on things, but the Jews lost there king and the wisemen disappeared, never to be heard of again.

Now if I was one of the wisemen or the Magi, I would have been smart enough to stay in contact with Jesus. I couldn't have e-mailed him but could have used the stars somehow to find him, like they did originally. If it were smart enough to use the star in the first place, he could have been found using the solar system a second time. Don't you think.

What it all comes down to, is this, if these Magi were so smart, why didn't they seek Jesus's advice or counsel in days to come. Why would they have given him these gifts, only to never be heard from again in the Bible. Another thing to think about on your religious path to spiritual enlightenment.

Oh by the way, what the heck did Jesus's parents do with the gifts.

Hope in Religion

You are free to copy this article to your site as long as you include the following resource information with an active link to my site:

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing, and personal development.

Greg is currently working on a self help library filled with great subjects on a wide array of topics, like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world. His views on religious freedom are slowly changing the way people think about institutional religion.

If The Greeks Were Wrong

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Whose God is Better? Religious Knowledge

If you're part of a religious organization, and were asked this question, "Whose God Is Better" meaning of course, is your God better and stronger or smarter and better looking than the religious competition. Is this something that you believe or were taught while you were young? Obviously you wouldn't think that the Hindu god Brahma is better than Yahweh or Jesus, if you're a Christian. It just wouldn't make any sense to belong to a religion that was weaker than the competition.

It seems like most religions around the world have gods or even one almighty God that is the biggest and baddest god in the neighborhood, maybe even the entire universe.

If we look at the numbers, the Christian God Jesus of Nazareth is the strongest by far. A survey that was done in 2005, showed Christians 2.1 billion strong and growing. With numbers like this, their God must be doing something right. Do you think these numbers are large because of their financial influences in poor countries? Something to think about, how did Christianity become such a large religious institution. They've got plenty of money and pay relatively little taxes. Remember the golden rule, the person with the most gold makes all the rules.

Second on our religious scale are the Muslims, the Islamic religion has over 1.1 billion followers and that puts it at almost half the size of Christianity, but more than doubled the size of the third largest religion by the numbers.

The third largest religion in the world is Hinduism and most of India which is second only to China as the most populated countries in the world are Hindus. Hinduism ranks around 800 million followers.

I'll stop right there. I wanted to give you an idea of religion by the numbers, realistically the Christians and the Muslims believe in the same God but the Muslims recognize Jesus as a prophet and the Christians don't recognize Mohammad at all and Mohammad is the number one prophet for the Islamic religion. But if we put the two of them together, it would be the largest religion by far with almost no competition economically or with military strength.

So to answer our question," Whose God Is Actually Better", I would have to say the Christian God is the most popular and powerful God and the universe. The only problem is, there's no actual proof that Jesus, Mohammed, Yahweh, Krishna or any other supreme being is real. People follow these religions and base almost everything on faith with very little facts that can actually be proven.

I'm not talking about small facts, I'm talking about big ones like, how the world was created, you can choose to believe, anything that you want but until we have some facts or at least something that sounds pretty good, you should probably stop thinking, that your religion is the only way and your God the best. Show some compassion for other religions around the world, their beliefs are no better or weaker than yours.

Hope in Religion

You are free to copy this article to your site as long as you include the following resource information with an active link to my site:

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing, and personal development. Check out one of his recommended books, religious books

Inspiring Or Controlling Our Children

Factual Information in Christian Documentaries

I was watching a television show a few weeks ago and I would rather not mention the name of the program or the presenter of it. I can make my point without making anyone angry. The television show was all about proving that Christianity was real and they had evidence to prove it. The program was full of scholars and teachers. Some of these teachers were from unknown universities, as a matter of fact, I hadn't heard of any of them before this program.

Some of these teachers had very interesting ideas and philosophies on Christianity and I could see quite clearly how someone who was looking for facts could very easily get caught up in the hype in the program. When you start off asking a question, you should be able to answer it without beating around the bush and the answers should the comprehendible and easy to understand. Especially if the question was easy to understand.

If I asked you the question, is Jesus God, and your reply is frank and to the point with a simple "Yes He Is". I can accept this as your beliefs and could probably make sense out of your beliefs through your education, what you were taught and who taught it to you. This makes perfect sense to me and is easy to understand.

If I asked the same question, is Jesus God, and you reply with "let me set the record straight here and give you some truthful information about something that you might not know about. Searching for over 40 years and found the answer and now know for a fact and without a doubt that Jesus is God. Reading the Bible and talking to other Christian scholars has presented me with information that points to the truth and can prove the existence of Jesus and therefore, without a doubt in my mind, I can honestly say that Jesus is God and will be god forever and for anyone who doesn't understand that or agree with it, I feel sorry for them, because they will have to burn in purgatory forever. This death will be the most agonizing and painful death you could ever possibly imagine.

The second answer doesn't give me any more information than the first one, and this is what some religious documentary programs do. This program did it so much, that I had to watch it a second time, just to see if I missed what they were saying. I did gain a little more insight, the second time but the point of the program was completely misleading and relatively speaking, very little factual information was obtained from it.

Don't get caught up in the hype, while watching or listening to some of these programs. Try to watch them with an open mind and see for yourself, just how much factual information or scientific proof there actually is in the program. When I say, to watch these programs with an open mind, that doesn't mean to accept their information without proof. Do some research for yourself, to verify their opinions.

Hope in Religion

You are free to copy this article to your site as long as you include the following resource information with an active link to my site:

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing and personal development.

Would you still be reading this article, if you had no desire, for better life. Find out more by visiting habits changing skills.

Five Things You Should Know

The Wisemen Weren't Very Wise

Here's a verse from Matthew in the New Testament, read this first and then I will explain why the wisemen weren't very wise.

"9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route."

The wisemen traveled great distances from around the world to see the new King. The star in the sky obviously pointed the way to his birthplace and when they saw him, they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, and incense and myrrh. It doesn't really say how much or what the value of these gifts was, but if I was to guess, it would've been around $1 trillion dollars. Okay that's pure speculation and let me get back to my point.

Here's the part I don't understand, if Jesus was born King of the Jews, how did we get Christianity. How come the Jewish faith didn't become stronger and more powerful with this newborn King. I know, there's probably all sorts of things you could say in Christianity's defense, like the Jews killed him or even the little dying on the cross incident, kind of put a damper on things, but the Jews lost there king and the wisemen disappeared, never to be heard of again.

Now if I was one of the wisemen or the Magi, I would have been smart enough to stay in contact with Jesus. I couldn't have e-mailed him but could have used the stars somehow to find him, like they did originally. If it were smart enough to use the star in the first place, he could have been found using the solar system a second time. Don't you think.

What it all comes down to, is this, if these Magi were so smart, why didn't they seek Jesus's advice or counsel in days to come. Why would they have given him these gifts, only to never be heard from again in the Bible. Another thing to think about on your religious path to spiritual enlightenment.

Oh by the way, what the heck did Jesus's parents do with the gifts.

Hope in Religion

You are free to copy this article to your site as long as you include the following resource information with an active link to my site:

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing, and personal development.

Greg is currently working on a self help library filled with great subjects on a wide array of topics, like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world. His views on religious freedom are slowly changing the way people think about institutional religion.

What Happened To The Wise Men

Friday, April 10, 2009

Never Let Anyone Get Your Goat

Stay Happy, never let anyone get your goat.
Whether phrased as "push your buttons," "get your goat," "get you riled up," or "annoy you," it's no fun to be on the receiving end. How to cope?

1. Don't take it personally. Even when someone criticizes your actions or demeans your very nature, know that they are merely directing their inner turmoil in your direction. Someone else's opinion of you is mostly irrelevant, and basically none of your business. Don't assume that there is any validity to an accusation. Perhaps there is a valuable lesson buried inside the unkindness that merits objective consideration, but negative emotions are best quickly discarded.

2. Look to the positive people in your life for support. If you balance many positive and supportive friends against one or two negative influences, it is much easier to cope. If you don't currently have enough positive people in your life, begin a focused effort to add positive people to your inner circle. If you don't have personal connections, search for groups of positive people at MeetUp.com.

3. Remove negative people from your life. Yes you can, even if it's your boss. You don't need that job so much that it's worth your health or happiness. Everything in life is a choice. Sometimes making a change is important, while other times just knowing that you hold the power to make a different choice is enough.

4. Forgive the offender, not for their sake, but for your own sake. The act of forgiving releases your anger and provides space for rational thinking and action.

5. Be grateful for the wake-up call. Any time that someone or something grabs your attention is a good time to be grateful - even if the message is unpleasant. Something is happening that requires your conscious awareness. Perhaps you have a lesson to learn or an action to take. Perhaps it is time to remove another negative influence from your life.

6. Release any expectations that the unkind person should have acted differently. Life is not fair, and you only cause yourself unhappiness if you hold an expectation that life or any individual should be fair or kind.

Visit Jonathan's Daily Inspiration - Daily Quote blog at http://www.DreamThisDay.com, and read his article: Stop Anger Before It Stops You - 7 Secrets for more ways to cope with anger.

Jonathan Lockwood Huie is an author of self-awareness books. He has been dubbed "The Philosopher of Happiness" by those closest to him, in recognition of his on-going commitment to seeing Joy in all of life.

Today is your day to dance lightly with life. It really is. - Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Hoping to Enter Heaven - Religious Views Based on Hope

I was told by an advertising executive one day that all of your advertisements need to deliver some sort of hope for the people you're trying to persuade into buying your products. Funny, if you think about it, I got some and great advice about life from someone in the advertisement business.

Most people are looking for hope, in everything they do. Most of our daily activities revolve around hope and this gives our lives some sort of direction. If you believe in an almighty being and creator of the universe, often you will try to please him, ....or her, ....or it, in hopes of entering the kingdom of heaven or the promised land after you die.

Often our fears will increase our levels of hoping, the fear of doing something against your religion can often inspire you to become a more spiritual person, a good and moral person. Fear of making the wrong choices will inspire us to make better, moral choices, all for the sake of acquiring a ticket to Heaven or Nirvana. You're hoping, your good deeds on earth will earn you a place in heaven.

Most people are afraid of dying and leaving this world, for good. They don't know where they're going and that seems to scare most people. If we can offer someone a little hope, that they are going to a much better place than here, we can often ease the pain and suffering associated with death. I have to admit, most religions of the world promise another world, after we're done with this one.

If you're living a honest and moral life with the hopes of living a bountiful life in heaven, could you be wrong. What if you're seeking Hope in the wrong religion? If you're a Christian and the Hindus are right and you're wrong, do you get to enter there eternal kingdom.

Think about this question, I'm about to ask you. What if spend your whole life studying your religion and it's wrong? There is no heaven and when you die, that's the end of your existence

Have you ever wondered why you believe in your religion and someone in another country or even a couple of miles away believes in something entirely different.

Don't get mad at me or yourself, simply think about the question for a while, this question has transformed my life and put me on a wonderful spiritual path of learning.

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing, and personal development. Check out one of his recommended books, The Power of Intention

If you want to read something funny and get your daily laugh in, you need to read this, it's funny Using Religion Responsibility. It's based on overindulgence.

Byron Katie

Hope in All Religions

I was reading a book on advertising when the author mentioned, "All Advertising Is about Hope."

This got me thinking about other people's dreams and aspirations, most of this is wrapped around them hoping to accomplish something or do something. I never gave it much thought but hope is one of the most important things in our lives. Some people go around hoping that they will keep their job, when the economy is in bad shape. Others go around hoping for forgiveness for their sins or other bad deeds they have done in the past.

What is it you're hoping for? There's got to be something. Are you hoping to become a multimillionaire or even the world's first trillionaire. Are your dreams big or small? Are you the kind of person who is happy living a simple life with very little possessions like a Buddhist monk or are you one who is seeking the lifestyle of the King.

Hope supplies us with the will to continue through hopeless obstacles during our lifetime.

Most people seeking hope are looking for a way out of something or a way toward a better life. These people often fall easy prey to large religious organizations, as they take them under their wing and slowly start to brainwash them. They seek the weak minded, helpless, poor and trusting people and build their organizations using them. I once believed in Christianity, but it no longer offers me true hope, the more I study Christianity and other organized religions, I noticed certain similarities based on inspiration.

I hope I live the good life, so I can go to heaven, the promised land, our ultimate enlightenment.

I hope I am living the true will according to God, Buddha, Krishna or other supreme beings.

I hope that the Bible is wrong about the 144,000 people from the 12 tribes.

I hope I'm living a life that is pleasing to the Lord.

If you're part of an organized religion, ask your religious leaders, any questions that you have about your religion. If they can't answer these questions, try to find them on your own. Books, videos, and the Internet are great sources for information. If you're living your life for the sole purpose of going to heaven one day, you could be disappointed, when that day arrives.

Ask a couple of questions and I hope you will get honest answers to them.

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing, and personal development. Check out one of his recommended books, Read This Book

Greg is currently creating articles on religion filled with great subjects on a wide array of topics, like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world. His views on religious freedom are slowly changing the way people think about institutional religion.

Spiritual Growth

Saturday, April 4, 2009

The "Reason" and "Moral" Dimensions of the Human

(If you wish to obtain more benefit from this article, please read firstly our "Correct Understanding the Human" titled article.)

My precious brother,

I had talked about five dimensions of the human existence in my previous article.

"Substance", "Physiological" and "Psychological" dimensions are present also at the animals. But "reason" and "moral" dimensions belong to the human only. I want to emphasize the last two dimensions for the reason that these are the base of the human behaviors.

A human in the reason dimension

The human gets a "character" and "personality" with being taken over the management of the body by mind, in the fourth "reason" dimension. Because, the reason is a mechanism for "thinking", "analyzing and synthesizing", and "deciding". For this reason, this dimension is a dimension that the human behaves according to his self free demands and desires, with his self free volition and with his self free decisions. But, by reason of the fact that the divine education doesn't occur yet, the desires and ambitions of the ego dominate the behaviors of person, in this dimension. That means, person takes the base entirely his own demands and desires, his own volition, when he decides on any subject.

The "good" and "bad" in this dimension

As a result, in this dimension, those being suitable for the desires of the person are "good", but those being adverse to the desires of the person are "bad". For this reason, the person can not be rid of having a double standard. Because, while a thing and a situation is "good" for being suitable for his personal interests; at an other time, the same thing and situation is "bad" for being adverse to his personal interests.

An other characteristic of this dimension is to be fond of money, status and having. In this dimension, for the reason that the person bases on the demands and desires of his ego as main manager of his behaviors, everything satisfying this desires gets a big value in his eye. A big fondness arises in his heart for everything satisfying this demands and desires of his ego. This extreme love and fondness for the things such as money, status and having divinizes these things in their owner's eye. And makes him become merciless and hard-hearted against the other humans.

The boredom of the human in the fourth dimension never finish

The boredom and confusions of the human in this dimension never finish. Because, the human obeying to his ego, in the fourth dimension, consumes all the time of his life by trying to satisfy the interminable demands and desires of his ego. However, the needs of human are endless. The demands and desires emerging in the heart for these needs are also endless. Does it finish the troubles of the human who tries to satisfy his own every whim? For this reason, the main characteristics of this fourth dimension is the boredom, heart unrest, and precipitancy.

One of the most important characteristics of this dimension is haughtiness. Haughtiness means to see himself superior to other humans. This is an inherent result of being egocentric. Because, the ego changes the realities according to self's demands and desires. And it sees excellent itself over everybody and everything.

The human in the fourth dimension doesn't know also a true "love"

The human in this dimension, also, doesn't know a "love" in real meaning. Because, the "love" of him is only for his ego and it's demands and desires. For this reason, he loves everything and everybody satisfying his desires and giving the pleasure himself. But, he becomes instantly distant from everything and everybody giving a little trouble himself. He loves everybody fulfilling any desire of him, he hates everybody who doesn't fulfill his desire.

Therefore, the majority of humans are very "good" as long as you perform his demands. "The good and the bad of humans is understood when you have not fulfill his desires."

Briefly, the man in the fourth dimension is a human who is owner "personality", but egoist, hard-hearted, atrocious, troubled, unrestful and unloving. Although he tries to seem like a good human for the reason the behavior patterns coming from value judgments placed in society, there is always an egoism under these views. There is an artificiality and a spuriousness in these behaviors, always.

Everything changes with "the faith" in the moral dimension

Everything starts to change, when a person has accepted to be subject to the will of his God, believing Him. This instant is an instant that the human has took first step to the maturity. The fifth dimension starts here.

My dear brother,

The fifth "spiritual" or "moral" dimension of the human is a divine education process that its rules are put by God. The name of this education process is the religion. The religion is a mercy and beneficence of God. Unfortunately, only the believers to God and after death take advantage of this mercy and beneficence. This mercy is only for those giving themselves up to God with a contented heart. Most of humans are so engaged in the demands and desires of their ego that they are not fully aware of this mercy and beneficence of their Creator.

The most important reason of the deprivation from the mercy and beneficence of God is, doubtlessly, the arrogance of human. The haughtiness is the most important barricade in front of all the divine benefits. But, the worst of the haughtiness is that being against his God by human. It is such a foolish behavior to be conceited against his God by human, whereas he was created by Him, his all needs are provided by Him, and he is a weak creature who will be dead if he remains breathless a few minutes.

The results of being subject to the volition of God

If the human begins to be subject to the volition of his God by relinquishing his self free volition and his haughtiness, in self heart contentedness and believing Him, he goes into a spiritual ascension and maturation process.

The method of this spiritual ascension and maturation process is to remember always his god, Allah, and to do "riyazet" and "mucahede". "Riyazet" means not to do the things which ego desires (such as forbidden things), "mucahede" means to do the things which ego doesn't desire (such as worships and favors).

As long as this maturation process is completed by doing "riyazet" and "mucahede", the politeness and maturity of the human increases. He begins to be a "human" in a real sense of the word. The endless desires of the ego being present in his heart decreases little by little. The person is rid of his ego and egoism. The fondness for the money, status and havings in his heart finishs. The love of Allah who is the real deity and is owner the mercy and high favour, takes place in his heart, in the place of these fake deities.

If how much a person be sincere in his faith and be desirous in performing the worships for his God, this maturation process is completed so much quickly.

A new personality

When the love of Allah has settled to the heart by disappearing the other loves and passions, everything changes. The person has got an altruistic divine personality now, in place of the previous egoistic personality. I just compare this situation to this that one greedy caterpillar which devours everything becomes one elegant butterfly which carries fragrances from flower to flower. After being completed this maturation process, takes modesty the place of haughtiness, gentleness the place of coarseness, compassion the place of heartlessness, bashfulness the place of shamelessness, beneficence the place of grimness, love the place of hate. This "love" in fifth dimension differs from the "love" in fourth dimension. It is a true "love". It is not like the loves which be showed for wold benefits and then disappears when this benefit finished.

My dear brother,

The most important results being obtained in consequence of this process are those: A strong faith and a heart serenity depending on it. Being in submission. Marifetullah. "Marifetullah" means to know his God by the human. The most valuable knowledge for a human is to know his God, namely "marifetullah". The human has been created for this purpose. The religion is not a somniferous as the socialist mentality supposes. The religion means to be "a true human" by passing through the education of God. If a man doesn't pass through this education, in spite of to be an intelligent creature, he becomes a cruel, fiendish, merciless, shameless, contradictory, tightwad, egoist, unrighteous creature, who always uses his mental activity for viciousness. He sometimes is insomuch cruel that, even any animal doesn't make which he does.

The evilness can not be controlled in the atheist societies

The evilness can not be controlled in the societies being deprived of the religion. The society becomes full to overflowing with the humans who try to crush each other. Therefore, the religion is not a somniferous, but it is a perfection and maturity elixir for the human. There are always serenity and happiness at the societies which sincerely lives the religion. The perturbations and discomforts stalks at the societies which don't live the religion sincerely or they have suspended from the religion.

The human knows his self and his God owing to the religion. He becomes a saintly creature owning the heart serenity, morality and good behaviors, by means of the religion.

The khalif of Allah on the earth

By looking at his behavior, you can easily distinguish such a human who has raised to the fifth dimension by passing through a divine education. Because he always adjudges according to the laws of Allah on every subject, by considering the consent of God every time. He never deviates from justice even it is disadvantageous for himself. He says the good and usefulness when he speaks. He says the true when he says. He never betray when be trusted him for something. He doesn't squander anything. He is true to his word when he gives a promise. He never persecutes anybody. He doesn't despise nobody. He doesn't deem proper anything which he doesn't desire it for himself. A human always feels himself at ease and secure when he came near him. Because he knows that no evil emanates from him.

Briefly, a human in the fifth dimension is a human that he is a symbol of goodness, maturity and perfection, having a divine personality. He is the khalif of his God on the earth. He is a true human.

Be trusted to God.

Dr. Ismail Ulukus is a former phytopathologist and researcher. He has various articles written on plant diseases. In these days, he has begun to write articles on the religion and moral values due to a moral degeneration growing up on all the world.

Sarah Ban Breathnach

The Heretic's Daughter - Religion, Fear and the Salem Witch Trials

The Heretic's Daughter is author Kathleen Kent's first novel, and it is a stunning debut. It takes place in and around Salem, Massachusetts during the 1690's, before and during the infamous Salem witch trials. The narrator's mother, Martha Carrier, is based on the real woman of the same name, who was one of the first woman to be tried and hung in the trials. Ms. Kent is herself a tenth generation descendant of Martha Carrier.

Ms. Kent has done her research, and she does a beautiful job of depicting the harsh realities of life during this time. While the initial Puritan settlers had come to this land to escape persecution, and hoped to found a new religious community, they were besieged by plagues, crop failures, and attacks by indigenous tribes. The child mortality rate was so high, we are told in the first pages, "that some families did not name their child until the child was past twelve months and more likely to live. And in many households if a baby died, that same baby's name would be passed on to the next born. And to the very next if that babe died as well."

This is from the novel's narrator, Sarah Carrier, Martha Carrier's daughter. If Sarah sometimes seems distant and unfeeling as she describes horrific events, it is no wonder, based on the climate in which she was raised. In fact, Sarah's voice and attitude was at first a put-off to me, making her difficult to relate to or feel for. But as the novel progresses, her voice becomes one of the book's greatest strengths, because it provides such a vast contrast to our emotion-laden, Oprah-fueled times. Sarah helps us to see what a stark and difficult existence does to people, and as she does mature - through watching her mother's trial and surviving her own incarceration - her growth and new-found wisdom is that much more evident.

As the novel begins, Sarah and her family are on their way to live with her grandmother, and, unbeknown to them, are bringing smallpox with them to their new community. This fact, along with Martha Carrier's headstrong and outspoken nature, will ultimately lead to the family becoming a target when the terrible accusations begin. Those accusations, as presented in The Heretic's Daughter, gain traction in the community because of the lethal combination of fear and damnation-based religion. The community, facing so many challenges to its existence, cannot fathom why they are being targeted by God for such wrath. Surely there must be some offense, some sin, that they are being punished for? In their desperation, they seek out the 'sinners' amongst them, literally demonizing their own neighbors for the smallest of offenses. They seek to scapegoat and purge - as so many have done in the name of religion throughout history.

From there, the paralysis of fear takes over, with each new charge silencing more people within the community, all seeking to protect their own lives and families. Children as young as four are taken into custody - since the 'devil' is behind it all, and can take over anyone's mind, no one is considered innocent. Quite the contrary, during the trials the defendants are most definitely considered guilty until proven innocent. And their innocence is in the hands of several hysterical, adolescent girls no less (I'll let you read the book to learn more about this.)

One of the most touching aspects of the book is how Martha gets Sarah to save herself, helping Sarah to realize that behind her mother's stern exterior lies the greatest of maternal loves. While Sarah at first despises her mother's difficult personality, wishing she would just capitulate to others, she comes to realize her mother's seeming obstinance is actually born of tremendous faith and wisdom. This is exactly the opposite of what her community elders teach - that strict obedience is the foundation for faith. As Sarah observes, that obedience, along with fear, is what allows the madness to continue for so long.

And so The Heretic's Daughter works on at least three levels. First, as a gripping historical novel that masterfully depicts a certain setting and time period. Second, as a personal story of a mother and adolescent daughter struggling to understand each other. And third, as a cautionary tale about how religion can be twisted when a society is ruled by fear.

Lisa Erickson is a mom, meditation teacher, and writer. Visit her blog http://www.MommyMystic.wordpress.com for spiritual book reviews and information on meditation and spirituality

Ayn Rand

My Walk With Farrakhan - The Reality of the Million Man March

"Call to the way of thy Lord

with wisdom and goodly exhortation,

and argue with them in the best manner."

Continuing on in the series, My walk with Farrakhan, we will examine the Million Man March on October 16th, 1995 called by God through The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan.

It is amazing to think that 12 years have passed since that beautiful day on the Washington mall with nearly 2 million black men congregating in love. From that day until this day many have not understood the purpose for the march nor its goal by the author. Who was the ultimate author of the Million Man March and for what cause?

Minister Farrakhan while speaking to the gathered men reminded them,

"You came not at the call of Louis Farrakhan, but you have gathered here at the call of God. For it is only the call of Almighty God, no matter through whom that call came, that could generate this kind of outpouring. God called us here to this place. At this time. For a very specific reason."

Minister Farrakhan said that he called for the "march" in response to the pitiful global image of black men as portrayed in film, music and the some media. He further stated that he wanted to show an example to the world that black men can and must unite together in love and harmony to affect positive change in our communities.

The call of the Million Man March is rooted in biblical tradition of Jesus calling Lazarus from the grave. However, today a modern day man of God is calling a people, not from a physical grave of death, but from a spiritual-mental grave of death and ignorance.

Let us review John 11: 43-44 for clarity

"And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, loose him, and let him go."

The Holy Qur'an bears witness in similar words

"We have revealed to thee that

thou mayest bring forth men, by their

Lord's permission, from darkness

into light, to the way of the Mighty, the Praised One,"

When you look at the black community then as well as now it becomes clear that we are in need of a healing and resurrection of our minds.

My condition at the time of the Million Man March

At the time of the call of the Million Man March my life was similar to the life you see many young black men participating in. I walked with my pants hanging of my behind(sagging). I didn't attend school much and didn't take authority serious. I spent my nights getting drunk and/or high with drugs. I thought I was living the good life in my downgraded life of sin. I didn't know at the time, but Almighty God was preparing me for bigger and better things.

I was told by my mother, who was fed up with my behavior, she was requiring me to stay home and watch the Million Man March. She told me that since I can't do anything with you maybe Farrakhan can put some sense in your head.

I sat at home watching the many men and speakers on that blessed day on October16th, 1995 and was being transformed on the inside by Almighty God's spirit. However, when I heard Minister Farrakhan speak I received a message, not so much in words, but I felt him speaking directly from his spirit to my spirit. I took the pledge of the Million Man March and decided to begin the journey towards elevation.

The pledge of The Million Man March asked(by Minister Farrakhan) encouraged us to do the following things,

"Take this pledge with me. Say with me please, I, say your name, pledge that from this day forward I will strive to love my brother as I love myself.

I, say your name, from this day forward will strive to improve myself spiritually, morally, mentally, socially, politically, and economically for the benefit of myself, my family, and my people.

I, say your name, pledge that I will strive to build business, build houses, build hospitals, build factories, and then to enter international trade for the good of myself, my family, and my people.

I, say your name, pledge that from this day forward I will never raise my hand with a knife or a gun to beat, cut, or shoot any member of my family or any human being, except in self-defense.

I, say your name, pledge from this day forward I will never abuse my wife by striking here, disrespecting her for she is the mother of my children and the producer of my future.

I, say your name, pledge that from this day forward I will never engage in the abuse of children, little boys, or little girls for sexual gratification. But I will let them grow in peace to be strong men and women for the future of our people.

I, say your name, will never again use the B word to describe my female, but particularly my own Black sister.

I, say your name, pledge from this day forward that I will not poison my body with drugs or that which is destructive to my health and my well being.

I, say your name, pledge from this day forward, I will support Black newspapers, Black radio, Black television. I will support Black artists, who clean up their acts to show respect for themselves and respect for their people, and respect for the ears of the human family.

I, say your name, will do all of this so help me God."

I know where I came from and where I was inspired to go as a direct result of the call of the Million Man March. I will never let anyone disrespect that day by saying it didn't achieve anything. I was a man that was lost, but was inspired to be a better person by the truth and presence of Minister Farrakhan at the Million Man March.

I like to use the example of a patient going to a doctor as an example of the Million Man March. You can't blame a doctor if you are sick and you go to a doctor to heal you and the doctor prescribes you a prescription, however you never go home and take the prescription, so you die. Such a doctor cannot be charged with malpractice. It is the responsibility of both the doctor to prescribe and the patient to take the medicine to affect healing.

In conclusion what medicine did "doctor" Farrakhan give to black men at the Million Man March?

In the following words he gave the ultimate medicine and purpose for our presence at the "march",

"Well, some of us are here because it's history making. Some of us are here because it's a march through which we can express anger and rage with America for what she has and is doing to us. So, we're here for many reasons but the basic reason while this was called was for atonement and reconciliation. So, it is necessary for me in as short of time as possible to give as full an explanation of atonement as possible."

He gave us the following summation of 8 steps of atonement

1) Point out the wrong

2)Acknowledge the wrong

3)Confess fault

4)Repentance

5)Atonement

6)Forgiveness

7)Reconciliation and restoration

8)Perfect union with God

Long live the spirit of the Million Man March!

Mustafaa Muhammad is an "African American" who is a follower of the Islamic faith. Through independent religious studies developed an ecumenical view of the world's religions and the people of God. And while he is devoted to Islam as his faith he is at home in the Church(or other religious institutions) as he is in the Mosque.

He has been featured on the Radio, Newspapers, public speaking events and at Mosques/Churches telling his story and offering his understanding of Almighty God's plan for salvation.

Mustafaa is involved in community activity. He believes that our faith must inspire us to greater service to humanity or we may be making a mockery of the purpose of faith. Contact him @ http://brothermustafaa.com

Martin%20kohe

Find Out Why You Believe in Your Religion

Whenever I ask someone involved in a religious organization, the question, do you really believe in your religion? Most of these people will often answer would be yes and start their religious conversion. Some of these people can become very intrusive if I don't stop them soon, very few of these people listen with an open mind.

I have talked to quite a few men and women about their beliefs over the years and still find it hard to believe that most of them live a life of faith with very little understanding or education about their religion. Now some strong believers might take offense to that statement, while others will listen to what I said and start doing a little more research on their religion.

Most of these religions throughout the world make perfectly good sense to their followers and I understand the reasoning behind some of them, it's all they know, everyone around them believes in the same religion and they get some sort of happiness and joy from it.

It's not hard to imagine a young child, walking around with strong religious beliefs if their parents are strong believers in it also. These children grow up and eventually train their children to follow the same path of their parents. Our children should be able to choose, what they will believe in, by the time they are adults.

This is a natural process of life, your parents learned from their parents and whenever someone asked them a question that they really couldn't answer or were uncomfortable answering, they can always reply with, I'm living a life based on faith or you just have to believe. You have to believe that someone is looking out for you and taking care of you. Most of these people think that something else is responsible for the events that take place in their life.

Is it possible for people that live a life of faith to educate themselves about their religion, to find the origin and maybe the destination of their religions. Could these people actually assume responsibility for their choices, whether they're good or bad. It's often hard to listen to somebody tell me that some evil entity made them do something bad. These people are easily convinced by others who agree with them and support them with their statements and beliefs. This seems to be where the biggest problem lies.

Once the people around us support our beliefs, they soon become realities in our lives. These realities will be transferred to others around us and give them support eventually about their beliefs. It's like a vicious circle that never ends. One believe supports another belief, until it's a fact.

Education is the path to freedom and will soon deliver the students from religious bondage. Someone a long time ago said," Seek and You Shall Find, Knock on My Door and I Will Open It.

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing, and personal development. Check out one of his recommended books, Science Getting Rich.

Greg is currently working on a religious education also visit our article library, filled with great subjects on a wide array of topics, like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world. His views on religious freedom are slowly changing the way people think about institutional religion.

Kathlyn Hendricks

The "Reason" and "Moral" Dimensions of the Human

(If you wish to obtain more benefit from this article, please read firstly our "Correct Understanding the Human" titled article.)

My precious brother,

I had talked about five dimensions of the human existence in my previous article.

"Substance", "Physiological" and "Psychological" dimensions are present also at the animals. But "reason" and "moral" dimensions belong to the human only. I want to emphasize the last two dimensions for the reason that these are the base of the human behaviors.

A human in the reason dimension

The human gets a "character" and "personality" with being taken over the management of the body by mind, in the fourth "reason" dimension. Because, the reason is a mechanism for "thinking", "analyzing and synthesizing", and "deciding". For this reason, this dimension is a dimension that the human behaves according to his self free demands and desires, with his self free volition and with his self free decisions. But, by reason of the fact that the divine education doesn't occur yet, the desires and ambitions of the ego dominate the behaviors of person, in this dimension. That means, person takes the base entirely his own demands and desires, his own volition, when he decides on any subject.

The "good" and "bad" in this dimension

As a result, in this dimension, those being suitable for the desires of the person are "good", but those being adverse to the desires of the person are "bad". For this reason, the person can not be rid of having a double standard. Because, while a thing and a situation is "good" for being suitable for his personal interests; at an other time, the same thing and situation is "bad" for being adverse to his personal interests.

An other characteristic of this dimension is to be fond of money, status and having. In this dimension, for the reason that the person bases on the demands and desires of his ego as main manager of his behaviors, everything satisfying this desires gets a big value in his eye. A big fondness arises in his heart for everything satisfying this demands and desires of his ego. This extreme love and fondness for the things such as money, status and having divinizes these things in their owner's eye. And makes him become merciless and hard-hearted against the other humans.

The boredom of the human in the fourth dimension never finish

The boredom and confusions of the human in this dimension never finish. Because, the human obeying to his ego, in the fourth dimension, consumes all the time of his life by trying to satisfy the interminable demands and desires of his ego. However, the needs of human are endless. The demands and desires emerging in the heart for these needs are also endless. Does it finish the troubles of the human who tries to satisfy his own every whim? For this reason, the main characteristics of this fourth dimension is the boredom, heart unrest, and precipitancy.

One of the most important characteristics of this dimension is haughtiness. Haughtiness means to see himself superior to other humans. This is an inherent result of being egocentric. Because, the ego changes the realities according to self's demands and desires. And it sees excellent itself over everybody and everything.

The human in the fourth dimension doesn't know also a true "love"

The human in this dimension, also, doesn't know a "love" in real meaning. Because, the "love" of him is only for his ego and it's demands and desires. For this reason, he loves everything and everybody satisfying his desires and giving the pleasure himself. But, he becomes instantly distant from everything and everybody giving a little trouble himself. He loves everybody fulfilling any desire of him, he hates everybody who doesn't fulfill his desire.

Therefore, the majority of humans are very "good" as long as you perform his demands. "The good and the bad of humans is understood when you have not fulfill his desires."

Briefly, the man in the fourth dimension is a human who is owner "personality", but egoist, hard-hearted, atrocious, troubled, unrestful and unloving. Although he tries to seem like a good human for the reason the behavior patterns coming from value judgments placed in society, there is always an egoism under these views. There is an artificiality and a spuriousness in these behaviors, always.

Everything changes with "the faith" in the moral dimension

Everything starts to change, when a person has accepted to be subject to the will of his God, believing Him. This instant is an instant that the human has took first step to the maturity. The fifth dimension starts here.

My dear brother,

The fifth "spiritual" or "moral" dimension of the human is a divine education process that its rules are put by God. The name of this education process is the religion. The religion is a mercy and beneficence of God. Unfortunately, only the believers to God and after death take advantage of this mercy and beneficence. This mercy is only for those giving themselves up to God with a contented heart. Most of humans are so engaged in the demands and desires of their ego that they are not fully aware of this mercy and beneficence of their Creator.

The most important reason of the deprivation from the mercy and beneficence of God is, doubtlessly, the arrogance of human. The haughtiness is the most important barricade in front of all the divine benefits. But, the worst of the haughtiness is that being against his God by human. It is such a foolish behavior to be conceited against his God by human, whereas he was created by Him, his all needs are provided by Him, and he is a weak creature who will be dead if he remains breathless a few minutes.

The results of being subject to the volition of God

If the human begins to be subject to the volition of his God by relinquishing his self free volition and his haughtiness, in self heart contentedness and believing Him, he goes into a spiritual ascension and maturation process.

The method of this spiritual ascension and maturation process is to remember always his god, Allah, and to do "riyazet" and "mucahede". "Riyazet" means not to do the things which ego desires (such as forbidden things), "mucahede" means to do the things which ego doesn't desire (such as worships and favors).

As long as this maturation process is completed by doing "riyazet" and "mucahede", the politeness and maturity of the human increases. He begins to be a "human" in a real sense of the word. The endless desires of the ego being present in his heart decreases little by little. The person is rid of his ego and egoism. The fondness for the money, status and havings in his heart finishs. The love of Allah who is the real deity and is owner the mercy and high favour, takes place in his heart, in the place of these fake deities.

If how much a person be sincere in his faith and be desirous in performing the worships for his God, this maturation process is completed so much quickly.

A new personality

When the love of Allah has settled to the heart by disappearing the other loves and passions, everything changes. The person has got an altruistic divine personality now, in place of the previous egoistic personality. I just compare this situation to this that one greedy caterpillar which devours everything becomes one elegant butterfly which carries fragrances from flower to flower. After being completed this maturation process, takes modesty the place of haughtiness, gentleness the place of coarseness, compassion the place of heartlessness, bashfulness the place of shamelessness, beneficence the place of grimness, love the place of hate. This "love" in fifth dimension differs from the "love" in fourth dimension. It is a true "love". It is not like the loves which be showed for wold benefits and then disappears when this benefit finished.

My dear brother,

The most important results being obtained in consequence of this process are those: A strong faith and a heart serenity depending on it. Being in submission. Marifetullah. "Marifetullah" means to know his God by the human. The most valuable knowledge for a human is to know his God, namely "marifetullah". The human has been created for this purpose. The religion is not a somniferous as the socialist mentality supposes. The religion means to be "a true human" by passing through the education of God. If a man doesn't pass through this education, in spite of to be an intelligent creature, he becomes a cruel, fiendish, merciless, shameless, contradictory, tightwad, egoist, unrighteous creature, who always uses his mental activity for viciousness. He sometimes is insomuch cruel that, even any animal doesn't make which he does.

The evilness can not be controlled in the atheist societies

The evilness can not be controlled in the societies being deprived of the religion. The society becomes full to overflowing with the humans who try to crush each other. Therefore, the religion is not a somniferous, but it is a perfection and maturity elixir for the human. There are always serenity and happiness at the societies which sincerely lives the religion. The perturbations and discomforts stalks at the societies which don't live the religion sincerely or they have suspended from the religion.

The human knows his self and his God owing to the religion. He becomes a saintly creature owning the heart serenity, morality and good behaviors, by means of the religion.

The khalif of Allah on the earth

By looking at his behavior, you can easily distinguish such a human who has raised to the fifth dimension by passing through a divine education. Because he always adjudges according to the laws of Allah on every subject, by considering the consent of God every time. He never deviates from justice even it is disadvantageous for himself. He says the good and usefulness when he speaks. He says the true when he says. He never betray when be trusted him for something. He doesn't squander anything. He is true to his word when he gives a promise. He never persecutes anybody. He doesn't despise nobody. He doesn't deem proper anything which he doesn't desire it for himself. A human always feels himself at ease and secure when he came near him. Because he knows that no evil emanates from him.

Briefly, a human in the fifth dimension is a human that he is a symbol of goodness, maturity and perfection, having a divine personality. He is the khalif of his God on the earth. He is a true human.

Be trusted to God.

Dr. Ismail Ulukus is a former phytopathologist and researcher. He has various articles written on plant diseases. In these days, he has begun to write articles on the religion and moral values due to a moral degeneration growing up on all the world.

Can One Book Change Your Life

Friday, April 3, 2009

Putting Up With Organized Religion

Let me explain where I'm coming from in my writing. Organized religion worked good 200 or maybe 500 years ago, but I really don't see a need for it today. We fight wars over religion and even kill people that speak out against organized religion. Religions and governments all over the world control people through fear and pleasure.

I'm tired of people fighting and killing all over the world in the name of some religion. I once heard an Iranian man, through a translator, on our local news say, "if he dies in the name of Allah, he gets to go to heaven." I don't know if I want to be signed up for that program but obviously he believes in it enough and is willing to die for what he believes in, right or wrong. Some people view this man is evil while others view him as a hero, how do you think you would do this person?

What the Romans did to people 2000 years ago is what I would consider a very bad. Was the devil actually providing an evil influence for Roman leaders back then. I've never heard anyone mention that but they did kill Jesus of Nazareth and he seemed like a pretty good person.

If Jesus would have kept his mouth shut, he could have lived to a ripe old age. He chose not to, because he believed in his cause. Some Jews believe that he was under the influence of evil, that's hard to imagine. He believed that some of the ideas and teaching of the Romans and Jews were wrong and he was going to make them better. These leaders were afraid of change and decided to eliminate what they view as they evil problem.

I started writing to influence and educate people in a positive way. I really don't want to upset religious followers, but I would like them to understand, a little more about their religion. What causes people to kill others in the name of their god? Is that evil or an evil influence from other religion's of the world.

I would imagine most of these people choose to accept words from their religious leaders as facts and will never question their faith. If religious followers could understand other religions, maybe they wouldn't persecute them or try to convert them into their own beliefs.

My influence will affect others and will provoke them to think, always question your religion and when they start thinking, this is when I've made a positive influence in a constructive way. If someone starts to think about their religion and it gives them stronger feelings and deeper beliefs, maybe they can answer some of my questions, instead of avoiding them with spiritual scripture or faith.

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing, and personal development. Check out one of his recommended books, The Power of Myth. If you've ever wondered, where religion has evolved from. Check this book out.

Florence Scovel Shinn

Can You Tell the Difference Between Evil Profits and Good Profits?

I was reading through an article the other day about the Wiccan religion and they were very upset about a comment that the Christian website owner had made. I would like you to read the response from the Christians first.

"I was watching a police show on television some time ago, and saw a sting operation in which undercover police officers bought drugs from dealers on the street. Invariably, some of the dealers would ask, "You a cop?" The officer would say "no," and the deal was made. Satan often goes undercover. The Bible tells us that he can even masquerade as an angel of light. Just because a certain religion professes no belief in Satan, does not mean its adherents are not falling for his lies. It just means that they're unaware that they are. You said God would be disgusted by our judgmentalism. God has told us in His Word (The Bible) to watch for false prophets and false apostles. God has told us to contend for the faith. He has told us to evangelize. In other words, God has told us to do just what we are doing."

Here's something I would like you to think about if you consider yourself a Christian, read this very carefully.

"God has told us in his Word the Bible to watch for false prophets and false apostles." I would like you to read this statement a couple of times and see if you agree with it. How can you possibly tell who the false prophets are? Do you think that because you are a Christian and believe in Jesus or God, that you will know the difference between a evil profit and a godly one?

I often write articles and have written quite a few of them about religion and Christianity. Seems to be the one that I know the most about, so it gets the most attention from me. If I was to make a statement like the Bible has contradictions in it, would you consider me an evil profit. Someone working for the Devil. I don't think so, because it doesn't make sense, how could you turn a truth full statement into evil prophesies.

If I was to introduce you to a hundred people, could you tell me by looking at them or talking to them, which ones are evil and which ones are good. Most Christians would probably respond to that with, God knows and that's good enough for me. Everyone else who talks bad about Christianity will be considered evil or searching for the truth. They just haven't found Jesus yet, is that right, is that what you believe.

I found this response to the Wiccan believer to be one that I run into often. It seems unfair to others who aren't Christians and one-sided. Most organized religions have answers for everything, the problem is that some of the times these answers don't make any sense at all. If you're going to follow this part of the Bible word for word, shouldn't you follow all of the Bible word for word.

Leviticus 14:9 On the seventh day he must shave off all his hair; he must shave his head, his beard, his eyebrows and the rest of his hair. He must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water, and he will be clean.

Leviticus 19:27 " 'Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.

This will make Christians easier to spot, a bald head with long beards.

Spiritual Change Education

You are free to copy this article to your site as long as you include the following resource information with an active link to my site:

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing, and personal development.

Greg is currently working on a Religion help library filled with great subjects on a wide array of topics, like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world. His views on religious freedom are slowly changing the way people think about institutional religion.

Byron Katie

Is Jesus the Only Way to Heaven? - The Good People Get to Go to Heaven Also

I found a website that was recommended to me and it had the comment, is Jesus the only way to heaven at, Gotquestions, seems like your typical Christian website that replies with biblical quotes and simple to follow information. If I was lost, they will help me find a way. There's even a button at the bottom that states, I have accepted Christ today. I guess if I was to push that button, I get to go to heaven and be with Jesus. Hard to imagine, avoiding a life of burning in hell could be as simple as pushing a button and uttering a few simple words.

I found this question and began reading their comment. The first comment is from somebody answering as a nonbeliever in Christianity. It states something like, if I'm basically a good person and live a moral life, I get to go to heaven, right, only the bad people like murderers go to hell.

Now the answer that the website gives, seems to create fear if you do not belong to Christianity and provide you with hope if you join the group.

It mentioned Satan as the ruler of the world, and he can plant these thoughts into your head if you're not a Christian. He also controls your mind and let's you believe, that it would only make sense to any rational person, they get to go to heaven if they're good.

Now this is what makes sense to me but according to this information, I am doomed to rot in hell for eternity, even if I am a pretty good person. All I have to do is accept Christ as God and I get to go to heaven. That seems pretty easy and I wonder why more people don't do it. Just push the button.

I wonder if Satan is controlling, non-Christians minds and that's why there's brutality and war throughout the world. If everyone was a Christian, would our world be better.

Here's a quote from Wikipedia The Crusades were a series of religion-driven military campaigns waged by much of Christian Europe against external and internal opponents. Crusades were fought mainly against Muslims, though campaigns were also directed against pagan Slavs, Jews, Russian and Greek Orthodox Christians, Mongols, Cathars, Hussites, Waldensians, Old Prussians, and political enemies of the popes.

These Christian Crusades killed thousands of people. To give you an idea how many people were killed, all I had to do was type the word crusades into a search engine and it took me to the Christian Crusades.

I guess that rules that out, it seems like the Christians a long time ago were pretty aggressive towards their enemies, I wonder if most Christians would refer to these people as enemies today or are they just being controlled by Satan. Do these Christians from the Crusades get to go to heaven? If people like this get to go to heaven, may be hell is a better place anyway.

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing, and personal development. Check out one of his recommended books, Mere Christianity

Here's something to think about, go to heaven

Spiritual Growth

Religion and Yoga

Etymologically the word religion denotes duality, as it is a combination of Latin re and ligare, meaning to bind or connect again. Cicero, Lactantius and Augustine slightly differ from each other in their meaning of religion, which is quite natural. Through millennia, after many definitions and interpretations, the word religion has become a loaded word, and organised religion has further distorted its meaning. But shorn of the dross gathered around it, it means reunion with something from which we have separated earlier (fall of man). Similarly, yoga means to yoke or join together in Sanskrit, denoting--again--duality. Therefore, translation of religion should be yoga-not dharma, as is the case-and vice versa.

Like religion, Yoga, too, has also become a loaded word, by and large meaning a regimen of exercises, breath control and meditation (dhyana) to tone up the body and control the mind.

From the above, it follows: Bind or connect again to what (in case of religion)? And yoke or join to what (in case of yoga)? You reconnect with something where the connection has been snapped. Likewise, you yoke or join two things that once constituted one undivided whole.

Both the words were coined by the aspirants in the distant past to describe what they thought to be the source, since lost somewhere along the line. But, was there really a source? If yes, then, how the source was lost? There has to be a self or I together with something dividing it from the source; however 'I' is nothing but first person, singular pronoun.

The famous American philosopher Daniel Dennett maintains in his book, Consciousness Explained, that the self is an illusion-no more than a series of shifting "multiple drafts" or narratives, with no central focus or continuity.

On the other hand, the illustrious British mathematician Roger Penrose says: The world is an illusion created by the conspiracy of our senses.

When these two statements are juxtaposed with each other, we find that "the self is an illusion" according to Dennett, and "the world is an illusion" as per Penrose. Hence, the self is an illusion and so is the world. Is it then all Maya? The word Maya means illusion in English. In Sanskrit, however, Maya means measurement. What can be measured is Maya. English words like measurement, myth, meter, matter, and music, share a common ancestry with it. All measurements start from the point called 'I' or 'self'. When this I or self is knocked off, then Maya collapses along with religion and yoga. Then what is left is the Source.

Currently, I am working on a book for children.