There is an individual in the highest position of authority and respect today who planned the killing of countless thousands of innocent children, including the tearing apart of forty of them by bears, who advocated genocide and the selling of people into slavery, was implicated in the rape of virgins and wives, counseled pederasty, and who – among many other atrocities - advocated wife beating, the mutilation of corpses and human sacrifice.
To this very day these actions are part of the official picture of the God of the three great western religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
This is not an attack on those religions, and certainly not an attack on God; it is actually an attack on those who would demean God by promulgating such an image of God. These, and many other descriptions, are officially and unashamedly espoused as part of the inspired written word of God, especially in the Old Testament. One may very well ask what such pictures have to do with the vastly different type of God that Jesus described?
The Autumn of Our Lives
In Chicago where I live, autumn is an amazing time of year. The temperature is a bit cooler at night. The leaves of the trees are painted wondrous shades of red, yellow, and orange as they outwardly express the inward change. Squirrels scurry around gathering and storing nuts as the birds begin their migratory movement to warmer climates. Life is dancing its preparatory dance during this season, getting ready for the long, dark, and cold nights of winter. This is the time of year when we are provided the opportunity to observe and understand our oneness with nature.
The “autumn of our lives” is a phrase used to describe the direct connection between our own process of transition and transformation, and the process of transformation in nature, such as the leaves changing from green to golden hues, then falling to earth. Seasonal changes are not negotiable. They are part of an inherent sequence that is necessary for survival. Our ability to survive is based on our ability to flow from one moment to the next; from one season to the next. During autumn, the energetic flow of nature has begun its journey inward. It is also the season of harvesting, a reaping of the fruits gathered during the year; a time to prepare for the protective and restorative power of winter.
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Empowered dialogue can bring wisdom to democracy
by Tom Atlee
An emerging form of democracy offers hope for generating the wisdom our cultures need to survive the 21st century and co-evolve into higher levels of awareness and aliveness.
The new democracy is grounded in the power of true dialogue among diverse people to help The People (as a whole) transcend the limits of personal perspectives and
resonate with each other and the world through the fact of their interconnectedness, revealing bigger pictures and deeper wisdom than any individual or group could find alone, making it possible to create together solutions, visions, communities and societies that make sense and serve Life now and for generations to come.
Letting Go - the Key to Getting What You Really Want
by Guy Finley
Each time we see the need to let go of something – a bad habit that drags us down, an unsatisfactory relationship, a career choice that can’t complete us in the way we dreamed it would, or maybe unrealistic expectations of ours about others that eventually spoil our partnerships with them – whatever it may be: what is it that’s actually happened in these moments of honest self-examination? See if this simple answer doesn’t describe our situation:
Aren’t we being “asked” to give up an existing relationship in order to make room in our lives for something higher? Of course we are. Then why is it so hard to act on our intuition? After all, who doesn’t want a life that’s better, brighter, and truer?
Here’s why we hesitate to make this exchange, as so many of us do: the real challenge in such moments is that what we must choose in favor of can’t be seen by our physical eyes! Can we see the truth of this, no pun intended?
