Blame the Mirror

Too often, people will point to an uncaring and unconcerned god as proof there is no god. That is only proof, as people see it, of a god that does not love and does not care for his children not of lack of proof of a god. What is really at issue is that the god they have been taught to believe in, the fire and brimstone-breathing god of vengeance, the loving god for whom all is forgiven, the god who demands obedience and submission, the god who is going to smite or reward followers as deemed fit by the gods' infallible and incontrovertible sense of right and wrong.  The god of such trivialities, preferences, and ego is a god made by men and worshiped by men without too much interference. We point to the old gods -- Zeus, Hera, Jupiter, Janus, Zoroaster, Ba'al, Odin, Thor, Quetzalcoatl, etc. -- as having been gone for a long time, far longer than modern man has known and of no consequence, except for those pagans who refuse to move with the times. We no longer believe in the old gods of civilizations long past but in the gods we were brought up to know: Jehovah, Yahweh, Jesus, and Allah. These are the gods that govern our thoughts and our actions and to whom we turn in times of need. Why do these gods not protect a young child from cancer when life is just beginning or give us, the faithful, a reason why such a young and innocent soul is taken? Why? Why? Why?

People are barking up the wrong tree, expecting answers from a god that is as false as the gods the ancient peoples believed in and sacrificed to. Their idols, or statues, still need to be mended, which the Jews and Mohammedans avoided by making their gods invisible with no need of mending, setting them in the imagination of the believers' minds and thus inviolate. The Jewish god will not allow his believers to submit their faith to Asherah poles and will have no god before him as stated in the First Commandment of the Ten Commandments. You can't state the rules clearer than that. The Jewish god, Jehovah, Yahweh, or the dozen or so other names he is called in the Torah, is a jealous god and will have no other gods before him. That is presupposing there are other gods out there vying for the same throne. You do not have jealousy when you are the only one and jealousy cannot exist in a vacuum. So, why was Jehovah a jealous god? Vacuum or contenders?

We as modern humans see the ancient gods of Rome, Greece, Egypt, South American tribes, and others as no longer part of the game, no longer relevant, so why do we continue to submit ourselves and our beliefs to the so-called modern gods of Jehovah, Yahweh, Jesus, and Allah. Sure, Jesus was the purported son of god, but was he merely a teacher who got caught up in the media hype and branded as God's Son? Did not Jesus say he came to fulfill the Law and offered a very different way, one which he taught as The Way, which was to be spread among the Gentiles who did not and had not been circumcised as a sacrifice to God? Is that not why the Jews do not see Jesus as the Messiah they had been waiting for, the one who had been prophesied? The Jews, devout as they may be in following the Law and living the kosher life (Hassids) are not the genetic children of Abraham, but a group of Eastern Europeans who have accepted the Jewish beliefs and follow the Jewish law, keeping the customs of the Jewish law, who are not the remnants of the 12 tribes of Israel. The remnants of the 12 tribes were lost hundreds of years ago and have not resurfaced as far as we know.

Jesus taught us the way of peace and loving your enemy as yourself, spreading his beliefs in the slaves and among the Gentile for which Saul, now named Paul, acted as teacher and for whom the Roman Catholic Church is built even though the Romans killed him and Peter, Jesus's chosen disciple who envisioned the spread of The Way to the Gentiles. The Pope is the heir of Peter, whom the Romans also crucified.

Gods appear and disappear unless someone rebrands them and gives them new life as the Roman Catholic Church did with the Gentile version of the Jewish faith spreading it throughout the conquered world by the Jesuits. The Romans couldn't eradicate the slave religion not even after Christians were murdered in the Coliseum by the Emperor Nero and his followers and the Emperor Constantine realized if he couldn't destroy it, the slave religion would be the new way to save the Roman Empire through the sign of the cross.

All worked well until Martin Luther rebelled against Rome and spoke of another way, a schism in the Roman ranks that was sparked by the availability of printed bibles that were affordable by the man in the street. Luther sparked a rebellion and others followed with their own take on the official Roman religion that was part of the Protestant rebellion that made the Holy Bible easier to understand and to spread throughout the Protestant ranks.

In the 6th century Mohammed decided to make his views of Allah the basis of his religion, giving voice to the forgotten son of Abraham, Ishmael, and giving the sons of Ishmael more power. Allah is all about submission. I believe that is what Islam means -- submission. The whole point is rewriting the focus of Abraham's relationship with God/Jehovah/Yahweh that makes Ishmael his heir and the sons of Isaac the pretenders to the throne that must be wiped out and destroyed utterly, so says the word of Mohammed writing for Allah.

It's all ego. From the gods to the prophets to the teachers to the faithful of all kinds. Everything is about ego -- how I and what I believe is powerful and how I must get everyone to submit to me and what I stand for.

What we as humans should be doing is following our ancient ancestors who out grew their gods and became autonomous, looking to the stars as destinations and not for the face of god. That is what artists, writers, and poets have done for centuries and what beauty they have left us with their talents. What ultimately matters is what is inside of us, what Jesus began to teach with his The Way that was all about love and peace and avoiding violence.

We have examples in modern day parlance on how to live a good life. We call it by including magic in the message, but it's not magic in the sense of witches and demons. Magic is what we have all around us every single day and fail to see. There is no need for lies or ego or power, except the power that resides in each of us. We do not need to pray to gods because they do not exist. We need to look inside ourselves, face the wo/man in the mirror and see what is there, and choose to deal with the outside world with peace and friendship and the tenets that Jesus taught in his sermon on the Mount where he fed thousands with a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish. He shared all among the gathered and taught the most important lesson of all -- peace and harmony.  Balance. We do not need Gods' or gods' permission. We do not need to submit to gods or Gods. We need to face ourselves and accept that we are all we need, that all the power was inside us all along. All we need to do is cast off our shackles and ignorance and embrace the true peace and enlightenment that is around us and within us.

We are all we need.

It will take time to get over the need for violence and force and it will take generations because violence and force have been such a part of our lives for so long. Peace is within our grasp as long as we stop praying and look inside, see ourselves as we really are, and manifest what is inside us all around us.

It has taken me a lifetime to realize what I knew as a small child. It takes me time and struggling against what I have learned to choose the peaceful path. It is there inside me. All I have to do is keep facing myself and choosing the right path, the right way, the peaceful choice. I will slip and stumble, but less so each day. Each right choice brings me closer to what I have spent my whole life believing in and manifesting in small ways. This time I choose truth and peace. Each time is easier. Peace is the only way.

That is all. Disperse.

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire

While reading a report on rises in violence against Muslims, I was struck by the feeling that I had when I read "Peter and the Wolf" as a child and the lesson that is part of the story.  I felt sorry for Peter and in my child's mind cam bubbling up the question, "He was telling the truth. Why didn't you believe him?"  I still wonder why.

Then again, I had not lived through the decades where I became all too familiar with the lies the government -- and my family -- told me for my own good. I still do not agree that lying is the best policy, but the best policy is not what tripped up Peter when he lied the first time.  It was fear. Fear is at the heart of every lie, big and small, and why those who know the truth go along with the lie, a new version of the emperor who has no clothes.

Though we don't know it, and often don't find it out, most of the reality we allow is based on lies . . . and has been from the beginning. The lies begin with how Man came to be and how man owes his allegiance and submission to an All Powerful God. The names change as do the manner in which we pray and how often we pray. We get our visions of God from artists who chose people in the street to paint to serve as the model for our views of God and the prophets, sybils, Adam and Eve. The same is true of Hell and damnation, burning in a fiery pit for all eternity, a concept I could not understand and would not believe because I had not read Dante where he created the circles of Hell and who is tortured and punished at each level. Artists, poets, and writers fashioned the very Heaven and Hell we believe in. The artists and writers and poets of antiquity used their imagination to create the horrors and the pleasures that await us and we accept them because the ones that stick with us, the visions that remain, were fashioned by the most adept and most talented among us. We accept them, marvel at the visions, and take them with us through every hour of every day and night . . . and they are all lies. We base our whole existence on the pretty lies because we are creatures of mind and fear and we fear the punishment we deserve when we believe in the tenets and pronouncements of our leaders and teachers, parents and wo/men of faith who have fashioned the path we are to follow. Gods' retribution, Gods' punishment for disobedience will be swift and terrible and the rewards great . . . if we believe. And they are all lies.

Taqiyya is one technique that is part and parcel of one branch of faith.  Taqiyya is codified and is a keystone of the Islamic faith that allows adherents to lie to a friend or a foe secure in the knowledge that Allah will forgive. If the kaffirs (unbelievers) fall for it, so much the better for Allah and his followers. After all, everyone lies and everyone believes the lies even after they find out the truth. Look at all the countries where taqiyya has helped carve out a space for the adherents and faithful followers of Islam to understand how taqiyya works. If the kaffirs fall for it, so much the better. The kaffirs will either convert to the true religion, to submit themselves to Allah, or they will die and water the earth with their blood.

A child brought up in a devout household learns taqiyya and knows to lie to unbelievers, to kaffirs, and to keep the truth for only the submissive and devout Muslims who taught them taqiyya. A child learns taqiyya at the earliest moment of life, imbibing it with the mother's milk and reinforced with the father's and siblings' pride or condemnation. Children are natural liars and will use their Allah-given gifts to perpetuate the lies. In this modern world with cameras on every phone in every pocket, lying comes easily and frequently and the warm feeling that suffuses the body when submitting to Allah's will to further the cause of jihad and the earthly Caliphate are reward enough -- as long as the ultimate reward of Paradise will also warm you on cold nights for your loved ones after you have gone on to enjoy the virgins of Paradise and the warmth of Allah's regard.

Jesus Christ and Yahweh also promise their obedient followers a paradise of their own devout belief that will fade when the Final Battle is fought and the true and faithful warriors have been raised to Paradise to Gods' reward on a mountain of the skulls of kaffirs and sinners and Jews upon the bedrock of taqiyya.  How could the unbelievers be fooled? It is Allah's will.

When all is based on lies, what can we do but continue the lie and deceive the followers so they will not lose faith?

That is all. Disperse.