I've been led.....

I have not posted recently but once again I feel led to say what is on my heart..  I was reading my Devotional "Jesus Calling" this morning for December 6.  What was said really hit me.  The Bible references the devotion was based on were Deuteronomy 6:5; Colossians 3:23; and Psalm 16:11.  To paraphrase both the author and the Bible passages: Man creates duties and rituals to give God money, time and work but neglects to give God what he really wants which is our hearts.  By performing ritualistic, mechanical and habitual actions, over and over,  they come to require no thought.  "the soul becomes comatose."
What God really wants and what he created us for is our presence with him and our joy in his creation.  God does not want or need money, sacrifice of lives, ritualistic prayer, robotic-ally performed duties for the church, the poor, the sick, or the hungry.  What he wants is for us to pray, love and give with joy and wonder.  He desires our hearts and  thankfulness for the blessings we have received; and the relationship we continue to develop with him.
How indeed can the creator of the universe be in need of anything.  He has it all.  Except he gave us free choice.  Each of us can choose to be in relationship with this Awesome Being whom we cannot approach physically, but only with our hearts and minds.
It is as if one has a child who offers his parent blind obedience and respect, in his presence;  but once out of sight, merrily pursues his own appetites and desires with no thought or concern for who he hurts or kills in the process. What Parent could hold such a child in esteem when he learns his child has cast his values and principles into the mud and then stomped on them.  What Parent could be proud when he learns his child has deliberately stolen, raped, maimed, brutalized, and destroyed the very home and persons, with whom and into which, the child was lovingly born and raised.
When we care more for our own interests then for the Parent who gave us life and raised us, then we trample on sacred ground.  We pay homage to the god of self and try to buy off the Creator of all that is and has been and will be.  We offer meaningless rituals, prayers and offerings, never touching and engaging with the Blessing of Creation.
Yes, I am a Creationist, but not in the common meaning.  The Creator of all the laws and principles which yields us insights into Being and science is the Creation I believe in.  The God of Love who holds all of his children in the center of his Being and infuses those who choose to listen with knowledge and joy, and his Eternal presence within.
So say I, PooBah, on this glorious and God filled day.

Religion in the name of Religion?

This is going to be a hard one to both write, and read if you are one of my followers.
I watched 60 minutes last night and learned about the Yezidis in northern Irac who fled to the mountains and had one of their ancient cities destroyed by Isis.  I had understood them to be Kurdish people but now realize they are a separate religious group within the Kurdish people.They were assisted by other Kurds and allied fighting forces against Isis.  I was shocked and angered by the genocide being perpetuated against this group whom the terrorists have labeled devil worshipers.  After watching this program I was sick with anger and did some research on the beliefs of this ancient religion being persecuted.
I am not going into details; you can look them up yourself, but unfortunately was surprised to learn they are a closed religion who are monotheistic and practice endogamy.  Endogamy is the practice of marrying within a specific ethnic group, class, or social group, rejecting others on such a basis as being unsuitable for marriage or for other close personal relationships.

Endogamy can serve as a form of self-segregation; it helps a community Population genetics and inbreeding to resist integrating and completely merging with surrounding populations. It helps minorities to survive over a long time as distinct communities within societies with other practices and beliefs.

 the Yazidi are a Kurdish-speaking ethnoreligious group, which makes it complicated for scholars and historians to pin down the nuances of their religion.  They share a belief in Adam as the first man with Christians, Jews and Muslims but other beliefs seem to go back to the pagan era.

l also learned in my reading that some families within the Yazidi religion have participated in honor killings when their unmarried you have tried to run away and marry outsiders.

All of this leads me to my rant today. I really do hate religion and seriously believe, at times, that all religions should be destroyed.  I am a practicing United Methodist who attends Church most weeks and who participates in Communion and prayer for others; I love the old hymns of the church.  I attend Church because of the love and care and fellowship of the other participants. This  is what keeps me returning week after week.  I do not agree with the social position that Ministers of our religion cannot be practicing members of the LGBT community, not can they marry persons of the same birth sex.
What I cannot stand in any religion is what I feel is the hypocrisy in their professed beliefs and their treatment of their fellow man.  Particularly in my own Christian religion.  I do not like to even call myself a Christian anymore, but rather a follower of Jesus.  I have read the old and new testaments through and through several times.  I have attended college courses on religion and have participated in many Bible study groups as well as internal church courses.  I am a local lay leader and hold a weekly Bible study group in my home.
I believe What Jesus called the two most important commandments. I paraphrase:

1. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ ... ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. ...
2. These two commandments constitute my faith and beliefs.  Everything else is up for question in my mind.
3. I believe all of the great religions have these two core beliefs somewhere in their theology and if they do not they should.  
4. I love God, Creation, and all of the the fellow beings in the Universe.  I believe God or Being created everything. There is no beginning and no end.  There is eternal life and truth.  Being dwells within every thing and every creature or piece of vegetation.  I believe our task is to pass as gently as possible through our finite existence and to honor the being present within others.  We are to grow and learn and ultimately pass to whatever is beyond our own finite existence.  
5. People and religions who feel it is their right and duty to impose their belief systems on others and who interfere with another's right to an existence filled with life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness .I consider people like this are just plain wrong and their arguments upset me.
6. Poobah has spoken again, alienating both friend and foe.  Woe is me.

PS Since this is a blog and not a formal piece I have not noted my sources.  I have plagiarized.  So sue me!

The week in highlights

This has been an interesting week for me.  I have found many new and unexpected thoughts have been crowding into my mind.
On Monday I started to write about my view of the current Primary season candidates but something told me to hold off.  Tuesday came and went and then Zodiac killer dropped out of the race with a final punch and elbow to wife's face and I felt nothing I could have written could top that.  Even my sense of humor could not have anticipated a punchline to beat that.
Moving along.  On Wednesday I planned on meeting a friend at the supermarket Starbucks and then doing my monthly Senior day 10% off shopping at the same supermarket.  The best laid plans........it turned out another friend needed transportation to and from a Dr's off ice to have a skin cancer removed from the rear of her driving foot knee.  I changed plans and found myself off to Youngtown to pickup my friend.  " Youngtown is the oldest retirement community in the US. In 1954, two developers bought 320 acres (1.3 km²) of farmland & built is notable as the first master-planned, adult community in the United States, dedicated exclusively to retirees, designed by Ben Schleifer.^[5] However, in 1996, the town denied extending the stay of a 16-year-old child to live in the community. In response, the Arizona Attorney General investigated and determined it was unenforceable. In response Youngtown repealed the age restrictions in 1999.^[6]"
Later Sun City was built and overshadowed the original retirement village.
" Sun City was opened January 1, 1960, with five home models, a shopping center, a recreation center, and a golf course. The opening weekend drew 100,000 people, ten times more than expected, and resulted in aTime magazine cover story.^[2] The future retirement community was built on the site of the former ghost town of Marinette.^[3] Developer Del E. Webb expanded Sun City over the years, and his company went on to build other retirement communities in the Sun Belt. Sun City West was built in the late 1970s, Sun City Grand in the late 1990s, Sun City Anthem in 1999, and Sun City Festival in July 2006.^[4] "
All of these retirement areas are affordable and welcomed by both older citizens and snowbirds.  The main dangers of living in these areas are being run over by an octogenarian in a golf cart, or dying of boredom or sunstroke.
I thoroughly enjoyed taking my friend to the medical center and returning her home little the worse for wear but very tired and feeling no pain,YET).

I then went for my senior day supermarket run and emerged two hours later with aching legs and hot(it almost reached 98' by the time I was putting $176.00 worth of groceries in the car)  I had saved almost $70.00 between sales, 10% off and my coupons.  Not a bad investment in my time.  I got home unpacked groceries and collapsed for the remainder of the day.
Thursday brought me to my Martha's Circle group, where we cut up, donated and canceled, postage stamps to borders of 1/4 to 1/3 of an inch on all four sides of each stamp.  These stamps are then further sorted by type and sent to a Christian organization in Florida which in turn sells them and uses the funds for education programs in Latin America.
Folks, this is the kind of tedious mission work little old ladies love to do.  So cut your envelopes completely in half and send the stamped end to me to continue this valuable program. If you do choose to participate please send the whole half envelope including the back.  Some put their stamp right at the top and side of the envelope not leaving any border.  So we use the back and side to cut the border.  I bet you never knew collecting stamps for charity is such an exacting science.
Later we watched a DVD from "Women of Faith" and listened to Lora Schwlinder speak. This lady is in her 70's and full of pep and vigor and has a lovely singing voice.  She spoke of inviting  God to accompany you throughout the day in all the Little Things.She said most of us are savie  or desperate enough to call on God in prayer for the large events in life like illness, sorrow, death, fires, disasters  and one could go on and on. Few of us keep in touch with or pray to God in all the little things which make up all of our lives.  She says she wakes up and gives thanks for all her blessings and then asks the Lord to be with her in all the little things she encounters each and every day which we seldom give over to him.  We think we should be able to direct and order our own lives.
I must say we ladies had a good discussion about this talk, but It has been on my mind ever since. For years I have tried to pray continuously and to ask the Lord to be beside me throughout my day, But I do too often get distracted and find myself seldom thinking of the Lord or Spirit while  standing in line at the grocery store or getting the mail.   Then too, we know terrible things happen to us when we least expect it.  We blurt out mean or sarcastic things to a friend or are involved in a robbery, out of the blue.
The things we worry about most never happen but something even more devastating sits around the corner waiting for us.  Now I do not want to say I want to go around scared all the time, but rather just the opposite.  I want to proceed through all occasions with God, or Spirit, or Christ or whatever names we call the Holy Presence.  I want that Presence to accompany and share with me all the occasions or events or people I encounter.  I want my thoughts to be deeply embedded in the Holy and Sanctified so whatever life throws at me I can proceed confidently, powerfully, and with love in my heart expressed through my actions.
Pretty powerful stuff isn't it.  I guess I should listen to others speak more often.
Well these are some of the exciting adventures which have made up my week.  Let us see what life has in store for me next week.  

Thinking about Spirit

As I was on my computer, early this AM, I also said a morning prayer.  Not the first of the morning as I try to pray continuously.(impossible for me at all times, but at every time I think of it).
Anyway, I began to wonder when Mankind first began to worship the God within, The Holy Spirit, or just Spirit.
I thought of ancient man worshiping trees and rocks and animal spirits.  I thought of Greek and Roman Gods like Zeus, etc. I thought of the Jewish un-named God, Yahweh, I thought of the Muslim God Allah. I thought of Hindu Gods like Krishna; and  Buddha.
Most, if not all of these Gods were and are worshipped externally.  They are worshiped as mountains, statues, at Holy places like Mecca and Jerusalem, and countless other places around the world which are deemed to represent the dwelling place of God.  Temples, synagogues, churches.  Countless fields( Stonehenge), mountains, waters( like the Ganges), many, many Spirit filled places.
God has appeared to men and women, and even children, in dreams, visions and prophesies, altered states and told them many things, instructions, the future, etc. 
I wondered when however, the first of humankind began to worship the God within each one of us? How and when did the external become internal as well, or was it always so? 
This is not a learned discussion.  I have done no research, not do I intend to. Far better and more educated minds than mine have most likely thought about, written about and discussed this question.My thinking tells me that we acknowledged this Spirit within as God when Jesus said

And I will send to you my Spirit of Truth.

"But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come."

John 16:12-14

I welcome your comments and feedback.  PooBah

An irreverent and perhaps irrelevant, formation of a new religious

I am starting my own religion.  I shall call it the Religion of All for All.  It has always existed and always will, for God is Eternal and Infinite.  Always Was, Is and Will be and never was not
No thing doesn't exist and could not exist because existence implies being and being is inherent to itself.  So here it is, all in all.

It is a religion inclusive of all creation.  Unfortunately there are those will not choose to participate in our fellowship.  Those individuals and groups are ones who have either exclusive, or no beliefs, or those whom through nature or nurture are incapable of recognizing the beauty and majesty of creation.  These creatures choose to go it alone and spurn the laws and principles of the goodness and fellowship of all living beings.

In our religion we know that all things or beings are conscious to some greater or lesser degree.  The principles will be explained in great detail later in the religious publications but for now little explanation is called for. We also know that all life is incredibly valuable. We know this because we have eyes to see and ears to hear and bodies which feel pain and minds which experience even more pain. Self exclusion from the church occurs because of conscious or unconscious choice not to accept our laws and principles.

If one chooses because of whatever rational, to deliberately and mercilessly harm or kill another with no compassion or regret, then they have self-excluded from our religion.

Murderers, rapists, child molesters, merciless farmers and slaughter houses, corrupt politicians, child, animal or human abusers; and others who choose to exclude themselves because they do not accept the inclusiveness of All for All.
There is only one creator God, there are many gods humans create out of their hopes, desires, and dreams. The gods of the great and known religions who exclude their fellow creatures from inclusions and rites in their churches are self-excluded.  Yes,  there are many men and women touched by God who express to the best of their abilities, truths and insights they feel God has imparted to them. How many are Truly Touched in this way instead of just being touched., we may never know.  There are enough examples of false prophets that we must always be leery of ones who exclaim the exclusive truth  and then exclude others from their fold.  We must also accept those who are sincere and seeking and feel they have found another religion which more expresses their beliefs.  There is noting to my mind which excludes a sincere individual who intends no harm.  However, and this is a big one: those who exclude other races and cultures, gays, lesbians, transgender, and even buy and try sexual; those who exclude other political groups, religious groups; or even cattle ranchers who exclude sheep ranchers instead of sharing the land, are all self-exclude-rs.
I know what I am explaining here can be very confusing. In short, the Laws are simple and mostly self explanatory.

1.  Love the Creator God with all your heart and Soul

2.  If you do not know God or believe in God, love the universe and all it's creatures and beings.  God really doesn't mind if you do not give him the credit.  Being is too big for all that.

3.  Love your neighbor, if possible, more than yourself, ' cause we do not all love ourselves as we should.'

4.  Be gentle and forgiving of yourself and others.  We are all in this together and no one makes it out alive.

5.  Share the abundance you have received with others and try not to hold onto anything too dearly because it will all pass away eventually.

6.  Nothing (no thing) truly belongs to any one of us but truly, everything belongs to all.  It is given freely and taken back again, over and over. ( Those who think they possess the land or a thing or even an idea,) can only learn, if they dig deep enough, that every thing has been held before by civilizations and beings in the past.)

7.  One cannot possess an animal or another human being.  We enter into a covenant relationship with all creatures we think we possess. Neither their minds or persons belong to anyone and they are taken from us mostly with no notice.

8.  Believe in Angels, Fairy's, Monsters and Myths because all are in some sense real.

9." There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy"

10. Do not be deliberately cruel to any other creature living or dead. Desecration of the dead is frowned on, mostly because it desecrates ones own soul.

11.  Soul is eternal, as is life .

12.  Do not exclude anyone or thing even if it self-excludes.  Hope springs eternal that realization and recognition of folly, is both possible and necessary for growth in any individual.

Being and Nothingness, a journey in understanding.

I'm not sure how to title this yet as I don't know what it is about.  I sit here as the sound and the muse enter my consciousness.  It is an altered state as I am here but not here.  Everywhere I hear other sounds like the keys clicking and the heater motor whirring but the sound in my head overrides all else.  I experience dry mouth so go for more coffee all the while my sound is with me.  I know what most of you must think.  Tinnitus. Srini experienced tinnitus several years back and it was found he had a blockage in his inner ear channel. It almost drove him crazy until he went to physical therapy and in one session it was gone.  I would be very unhappy if my sound disappeared. It grounds me in everything I do.   Dizzy Gillespie said once that on drugs he could hear the space between the notes.  That is what this is like.  The sound beneath all sounds.  The continuous ground which lies beneath everything.
Being is that ground.  I AM that I AM.  Nothing can exist without the ground or Being, but everything exists within it.  Contrast every thing with no thing.  All things come into and then pass from existence.  No thing can nor can not exist because it is NO THING.  Existence presupposes thingness. Non existence is just a metaphor involving that which cannot be imagined. One cannot imagine nothingness.  Space/time/universe, existence is always filled with some thing.  That thing can perhaps be imagined as a vacuum or a void or a blank space or antimatter.  Each of these participates in thingness. Not, no thing ness. Nothing can be conceived as outside the whole of existence.  We can talk in the abstract about WHAT IS NOT. If we try to deny existence in any form we are left with SOME THING beyond infinity or eternity but we always hold in our imagination some thing, that is the WHAT.  So we are left with what is and what is not. Notness trys to deny existence, but since it is not, it can not.
This is all so clear to me and my muse but I am aware that is can be confusing or even absurd to my audience.  All I can say is Everything IS, and Nothing is Not.  There is nothing outside the Whole or Being, or God.  All things are contained within the Whole and it is inconceivable that they are Not. How do I know this.  The only way one knows is to know.  Many people believe that they know but when you really know there is an internal realization that yes, this is not a belief or something some wise man said.  It is knowledge itself , recognized.
I owe my tortured journey to three individuals,  Plato, Spinoza and Harvey Burstein, (teacher of philosophy at Queens college.  I owe my understanding to my ground of my being who let me know.

Sunday Morning

It is Sunday morning, September1, 2013 and in a few more minutes I will be going to Church.  Why bother, you might ask.  You all know me for what I am.  Sarcastic, gossipy, lazy, materialistic, irreverent, and very critical of religions in general.  So why would this woman be going to church?  Does she think a few minutes in a sacred environment will change her?  Does she not notice that her pew mates share some of her characteristic's and that in fact some of them may be even worse than she is? 
No, I am not silly enough to believe an hour or more in church is going to change the bad habits or thoughts, or actions of me or anyone else.  In fact it could be even worse.  I might become sanctimonious, believing that because I spend an hour thinking of and worshiping a higher power, I might be better than those who do not, or who worship differently. 
I know God, if he exists, and I do believe he does; is too big for any religion or church and he gathers to himself any who wish to be with him anywhere, from gutter to mountaintop, and loves us all equally.
So why am I happy about going to church today?  I am happy because I look forward to greeting my friends, with whom I have worked for years, on projects and missions which bring comfort and aid to many others in my community and world.    I am happy to sit in my pew and say the old prayers, sing the old hymns and listen to the reading from our ancient texts. I am blessed to listen to a live sermon from our pastor who illuminates with compassion and love the trials we face in our daily life, and offers comfort and support for those who seek it. 
I become present in a holy environment, "For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst." 
I feel I walk with my God, each day of my life.  I am in a holy presence whenever I turn my thoughts to that which is so much greater than I.  I cannot hope, in this life, to ever know the answers to all my questions.  I do know, however, that I did not create myself and that neither I not anything else is accident or chance or natural selection.  Where accident, chance and natural selection play a part in the creator's plan I am unable to fathom. I know in my most present moments, my darkest thoughts, my most destitute moments, I feel the action and presence of God and he sustains me.
Church service is a moment in time where I share with others our belief in the divine and holy being who creates, sustains and destroys each of us in turn in this life; and who one exists in, eternally.   

Cain and Abel, and maybe Sally, today

We all know that in the Bible, when Cain slew Able it was the first murder and the first we know of a life threatening dispute between brothers.  This apparently started the series of all the sibling disputes which have followed.
My question is as follows: WHY?
I know of two situations intimately, where two sets of brothers who once loved each other, fought for each other and seriously planned their lives around one another, have become sworn enemies and are totally incapable of even talking to one another. WHY?
Oh, I know the circumstances of each situation and there all sorts of incidents which led to the breaking point of each relationship, but what I cannot understand is WHY?
It is always somewhat understandable when siblings with large age or character differences just cannot get along and avoid each other.  Sometimes they do not see each other for many years and there is little or no communication, but they do not hate each other.  They just do not like each other too much and there isn't a lot of love lost between them.
In the situation, however, when the brothers or sisters have been very close I can only ask WHY?
What is it which comes between the two to cause such anger and separation?  From my observations it seems to be two things.  Control and money.  In both cases the final split came after the death of the Father, who was loved and respected.  The mother was left a widow and the younger brother assumed a position of control he had previously been denied when the father was alive.  For differing reasons the younger brother was asked to assume some help and assistance with the estate which remained  for the widow.  During the remaining years of each mother's life the tensions built between the elder and second brothers.  The third brothers, in both cases, took sides with the elder brother.  When the widows finally passed there were open fights with words and insults and the 2 sets of brothers have been unable to get along since.  If they are to meet there are harsh words and further alienation.  I believe these matters can never be resolved as neither set of brothers wants them  to be.  The money and inheritance problems have never been completely resolved and lawyers have been consulted in both cases.
I have been thinking and thinking and several possibilities come to me.  In both cases the younger of the two brothers had health problems which most likely led to them being somewhat spoiled, but nonetheless neither felt he had been given enough love from the parents. The elder brother in both cases was strong and competent and the apple of their mother's eyes.  I am sure for many years resentments smoldered in the younger brother's hearts but they both made it seem like they loved and admired their older brother.  They used to trail after their older brother when they were young and tried to get their attention.  Once the parents were gone their true feelings were given an outlet and what had smoldered, burst into flame.
The families of both sets of brothers have been devastated by the fractures and keep trying to handle what went wrong. 
I do not know if my thinking makes any sense to anyone but me.  I would seriously make sure that if I had more than one child my will would be in place down to every last detail before either me or my husband became incapacitated.  Siblings and relatives will fight over animals, possessions, jewelry, money, the family Bible, you name it. Whatever is left can be a fight if resentments have been buried over time.  My two close encounters involve men, but it is the same for sisters, or brother and sister.  Beware the murderer in your midst.  He or she would slew their sibling if given the chance.

To be or not to be good or evil-Is either real.

It has all been said before.  Why do I keep regurgitating the same material?  Who cares what I think and does it mean anything to anyone?  I sit down this morning awaiting my muse. I wonder why I bother.  Can what I say or think ever make a difference to anyone or should I still be sleeping?  It is so hard to know if what one does makes a difference to anyone.   Is it only to myself and my ego that I reach out  each morning?  What if the voice is silenced forever?  Would anyone even care?   Why is it that the questions are so much easier than the answers?
Evil keeps marching in a relentless surge forward.  It never stops.  Sometimes it regroups but then off it goes again.  Some people think there is no real evil.  It is to them just the absence of good.  Everything is on a graded scale.  A is the best anyone can be-God, or whatever.  Everything then proceeds from there, lower and farther from the ideal, until finally one reaches Z or absolute evil.  But for these thinkers there are no real absolutes.  Just shades and shades of gray, and we know where that leads.  Are there really just shades or degrees of good and evil? 
We measure the perfect red, shiny, sweet, crunchy apple high on the tree against the wrinkled, brown rotten apple, full of decay and worms, lying forlornly on the ground.  Yet the diseased apple feeds someone or something.  Birds peck at it.  Ants roll over it and take home tiny bites of it.  Maggots invade the decaying tissue, and bacteria thrive.  Life benefits from even the most diseased and debased life forms.  The Circle of Life and all that. 
So, is there no absolute Good or Evil?  Are God and the Devil just allegory and metaphor for processes we just do not yet understand?   Many brilliant minds believe this.
I, however,have a hard time believing this even while reason appeals to me. 
I have experienced goodness and joy and love.  I have faced evil and looked into its mad and desolate being.  I cannot reason it or explain it, but I know in my own being the differences are real.   Even as I write this I keep getting this warning at the top of my page: (an error occurred while you are trying to save or publish this,  Do you want to ignore or keep trying?)
Why am I getting this warning?  I believe there are no accidents.  Is something tying to stop this from getting out?  No, it can't be, this is just my fantasy.  Then why is an ugly, huge black house fly busing around my keyboard?  All I am saying is that God in his Glory and Evil in it's demented state are real.  Do not take either for granted.  I cannot prove it rationally but I do accept it on Faith and in the core of my very Being, or for lack of a better word Soul.