My Deepest Truth

Well done Ron - Amir - what is a lie? Interesting question. . . It is an avoidance of truth.When someone's truth conflicts with your own, you have a choice, or rather a number of choices.You can try to understand the new truth and embrace it or if it does not fit your reality, you may undestand it and file it.When you understand it and your core tells you it is truth, and then you deny it. . . THAT is a lie. [according to MY truth] "You will know the truth and the truth will set you free"

Great answer, Bill.
My teacher Ernest Holmes, the mystic who founded the Science of Mind (they do not call their meeting places churches also not wanting to be a religion):
"We believe in the unity of all life, and that the highest God and the innermost God is one God. We believe that God is personal to all who feel this indwelling Presence.
We believe in the direct revelation of Truth through our intuitive and spiritual nature, and that ANYONE may become a revealer of Truth who lives in close contact with the indwelling God."

I am not sure that I don't like your answer better, Bill?
In gratitude, Ron

In acceptance, Ron. . . . or in the vernacular, I'll buy THAT for a dollar!B

Hey you guys...you made my head spin as I wrapped all that around in my mind....very good!!!! It sounded like a conversation, philosophically-wise, that my son and his best friend have but over stuff like the speed of dark as opposed to the speed of light, or other scientific things too.... in the mornings and late at night, when I am trying to put my eyes in front of my face after a longhard day! They are not here anymore, but now I have Plaxo to do that for me In Gratefulness,M-D

M-D - you are a pure delight. . . a gift for all of us to value. Thank you so much for being you.Essentially in existance, there is truth and lack of. . .just as there is Love and absence of love.This is what governs - emotions, actions, reactions, thoughts, feelings, movement. . . Everything!Think for a moment - when you feel the presence of Love, how do you feel?Now, how do you feel in the lack of love?A completely different set of values, actions and emotions. . . right?Think of great people you have known in these terms. . . .then think of monumental criminals . . . . Love. . . . absence of love. . . . The simplicity of the universe boggles the mind. . . You know what the BIG SECRET TO LIFE IS?????Keep going. . . It's coming Just a little more. . . . THERE ISN"T A BIG SECRET TO LIFE!! It's just there to enjoy and experience. . . what you make of it, is what YOU make of it. . . . . B

Digesting all this wonderfull stuff.
Amir

I have been reflecting on truth inspired by Bill, Amir and Marie on this board, and it can be mind boggling so I meditated and came up with a simpler (deeper) Truth for me:
The Deepest Truth (to me anyway as I am committed to Oneness): We are all One!

"Bhagavan states that there is only one cause for human problems and that is a sense of separateness-the sense that the world can be divided into 'me' and 'not me'.

"The ultimate potential of the Oneness Blessing is much more that in its effect on the individual. The Blessing can precipitate a shift toward a completely different state of consciousness, where the sense of 'me' as a separate entity dissolves. What remains is a simple and direct realization of Oneness, unclouded by the conceptual mind. The Oneness Blessing has been able to catalyze this shift for thousands of people, both in India and in the rest of the world. This is something so profoundly simple and glorious that it defies logical description. Oneness is the heart's deepest longing, the song of ages.
from AWAKENING INTO ONENESS (ARJUNA ARDAGH)
Also see onenessmovement.org
In gratitude for the Reality of our Oneness, Ron

Love Power (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.)

I am repeating this, because I think our country is in need of reviewing and using Dr. King's and Gandhi's powerful non-violent very effective methods of change.
Which candidate do you think is the most effective at "Love Force"?

"When I speak of love, I am not speaking of some sentimental and weak response. I am speaking of that Force which all great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality. This Hindu-Moslem-Christian-Jewish-Buddhist belief is beautifully summed up in the first epistle of Saint John: 'Let us love one another; for love is God and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God..'

At the center of nonviolence stands the principle of love. The nonviolent resister would contend that in the struggle for human dignity, the oppressed people of the world must not succumb to becoming bitter or indulging in hate campaigns. To retaliate in kind would do nothing but intensify the existence of hate in the universe. Along the way of life, someone must have the sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate. This can only be done by projecting the ethic of love to the center of our lives. Christ gave us the goals and Mahatma Gandhi provided the tactics."

Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Coretta, his beloved wife, wrote: "Martin Luther King Jr.'s theological belief in the interdependence , of all life inevitably led to the methods for social change advocate as well as his adversary. Christ gave us the goals, he would often say, and Mahatma Gandhi provided the tactics."

On page 150-151 in hi book Strength to Love, Dr. King writes of his fascination with the Gandhian concept of “Love (Truth) Force” and the great success of non-violent resistence in India. In Montgomery, Alabama in 1954, "as a pastor, at the beginning of the protest, the people called me in to be their spokesman. In accepting this responsibility, my mind consciously or unconsciously, was driven back to the Sermon on the Mount and the Gandhian method of nonviolent resistence. This principle became the guiding light of our movement. Christ furnished the Spirit and motivation and Gandhi furnished the method."Dr. King wrote of his trip to India to: "My privilege of traveling to India had a great impact on me personally, for it was invigorating to see firsthand the amazing results of a nonviolent struggle to achieve independence. The aftermath of hatred and bitterness that usually follows a violent campaign was found nowhere in India, and a mutual friendship, based on complete equality, existed between the Indian and British people within the Commonwealth."

In the next paragraph, "…the nonviolent approach does something to the hearts and souls of those committed to it. It gives them new self-respect. It calls up resources of strength and courage that they did not know they had. Finally, it so stirs up the conscience of the opponent that reconciliation becomes a reality."

Here is more of Dr. King's writing from STRENGTH TO LOVE:

Loving Your Enemies
“Ye have heard that it hath been said,
thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate
thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love,
your enemies, bless them that curse you,
do good to them that hate you, and pray
for them which despitefully use you, and
persecute you; that ye may be children
of your Father which is in heaven.”
Matthew 5:43-45

This command of Jesus challenges us with new urgency. Upheaval after upheaval has reminded us that modern man is traveling along a road called hate, in a journey that will bring us to destruction and damnation. Far from being the pious injunction of a Utopian dreamer, the command to love one’s enemy is an absolute necessity for our survival. Love even for enemies is the key to the solution of the problems of our world. Jesus is not an impractical idealist; he is the practical realist.

Jesus realized that every genuine expression of love grows out of a consistent and total surrender to God. So when Jesus said ‘Love your enemy’, he was not unmindful of its stringent qualities. Yet he meant every word of it. Our responsibilities as Christians is to discover the meaning of this command and seek passionately to live it out in our daily lives.

"Teach Oneness"?

I was surprised recently by a friend introducing me as a "Teacher of Oneness". Not wanting to get my ego involved, or probably it was just that my mind was too busy, I quickly changed the subject.
Seriously, though, looking back at it, I am grateful that I was introduced that way, for it has led me to inquire about how to teach oneness?

Teaching Oneness
Ron Alexander
It would be as if teaching a wave that it is part of the ocean,
a flower that it is part of the earth,
a bird that it is part of the sky,
or a fish that it is part of the water.
Being Oneness is The WayTo teach Oneness.

Inspire oneness (?), hopefully, would be about the best I could do, but only for the experience of oneness. The best a teacher could do would be to set up conditions to experience oneness. What "conditions" would that take?
Encourage an open mind, a "beginners mind" as the Buddhists call it. Encourage a sense of wonder, of freshness, of surprise and spontaneous joy.
Teach meditation - help guide one to a still mind, a silent place inside where all is new. Where there is the end of knowing and the start of realizing that there is no separation.
Encourage exploration, adventure Inside allowing Reality of our shared Spirit to be our guide.
Inspiring the grateful mind, the interdependence of us all - givers and receivers alike.
Encouraging the spontaneous spark of the joy of a shared heart with each other and/or nature, the ever-widening circles of mindfulness of presence of nowness of newness that make our world come alive.

A friend/teacher of mine, Don Johnson wrote:
"...I walked out onto a dock in the Gulf of Mexico. I ceased to exist. I experienced being a part of the sea breeze, the movement of the water and the fish, the light rays cast by the sun, the colors of the palms and tropical flowers. I had no sense of past or future. ...
I did not experience myself as the same as the water, the wind and the light, but as participating with them in the same system of movement. We were all dancing together.........."

I have had a similar experience on a sailboat, except it was at night..." the stars were sending rays......".
And I had another joining experience with a wise friend of mine at the gift shop at church. It was a depressed time for me, and the "oneness" I felt with her was very helpful in moving out of the "valley of the shadow".

Tonight our group will be an inquiry, meditation and dialogue group. Come dialogue and inquire about your experiences of oneness (or not) and hopefully the meditation will help us find that still Perfect Reality and realize that the great dance of life where the giver and receiver are one.

Yours in amazing wonder, Ron
Response from Sally who was the friend:

Hi Ron,

Well you are a teacher of Oneness.....because it is something you KNOW and want to share. At this moment, you are gathering together others who also believe in Oneness - each coming from our own perspective, seeing that small part the "elephant" in that old folk story. From my perspective, we are one with eyes on different parts so the more who acknowledge their connection - the more vision we have.

But you hit on something in your email..... the letting go of ego. Because differences only appear to be there because we tend to hold tightly to our beliefs which causes conflict. We tend to connect with "like-minded" people. And then there are people like me who have felt like aliens from the very beginning because few people saw things the way I did. After reading The Highly Sensitive Person I realize that society NEEDS the diversity, the warriors along with the peace makers, the pragmatic along with the dreamers.

I have felt Oneness with all of creation any number of times - and connected with a man to the extent that he can be (and is) across the country and he'll know when I'm troubled or in pain - and visa versa. It was hard for me to understand that you can have a "soul mate" who isn't a lover or partner - but it exists. Now I realize that is what I have when I make that "immediate" soul connection with people. They may be in my life for a moment or for years, but they bond with my soul.

Thanks for writing.....my son and I are dealing (again) with having only one car, but barring the unforeseen, I'll be there tonight. It's 7 or 7:30?

sally

Inspirational Video With "Stroke of Insight" Scientist

99.99% One

Oprah's Soul Series If video does not play here, I suggest going to oprah.com. & buying Dr. Taylor's inspirational book Stroke of Insight.
Four parts to this video about 20 minutes per part - very fun to watch! Oprah's interview is brilliant.
Also, Dr. Taylor appears on ted.com

Jill Bolte Taylor
When she was a young girl, brain scientist Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor became fascinated with the functions of the human brain. Jill, one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people of 2008, has a brother with schizophrenia, and his brain disorder led Jill to dedicate her career to studying severe mental illnesses as a Harvard-trained neuroanatomist. While she worked to uncover the differences between the brains of people born with mental illnesses and those who were not, something remarkable happened to Jill's own brain—it went silent. On December 10, 1996, at age 37, Jill awoke with intense pain behind her left eye—a blood vessel had exploded in the left hemisphere of her brain, and within hours, Jill could no longer walk, talk, read or write. She was suffering from an arteriovenous malformation—a rare type of stroke. While Jill struggled to phone for help, she was aware that the left hemisphere of her brain was shutting down, taking with it her language, organizing and other analytical skills. Without the dominant left side of her brain controlling her thoughts, Jill says her mind went silent, leaving only the right side of the brain functioning. Through the right side of her brain, Jill says her consciousness shifted away from reality—and the trauma her body was suffering through—and into a place of inner peace and Nirvana. The experience was life-changing. Not only did Jill face years of recovery after her stroke—and major brain surgery to remove a large blood clot in her brain—she also discovered a better quality of life through increased use of the right hemisphere of her brain. She's now an artist as well as a scientist, creating anatomically correct stained-glass replicas of brains that are sold as fine art. She's also published My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey. The book explains in scientific detail exactly what happened during Jill's stroke and how she recovered. It also takes a closer look at how the right hemisphere of the brain works and how Jill says people with normal brains can access it to find their own inner peace and improve their quality of life and the lives of those around you.

I saw a lecture by Dr. Bolte (another pod cast, I think) while I was at the Feminist Leadership Academy in April.
Thanks for your response, C. The "podcast" is on ted.com. I like this one better because of Oprah's brilliant interview, Ron.
It was terrific! C
Thanks for the endorsement. I'll be sure to watch it! C

C, You are welcome, the relationship/interview between Oprah and Jill is an "insight" itself. Tears came to Oprah's eyes several times as well as to ours watching it. The book Stroke of Insight is a must, also.
One of most important books to come around in a long time. She describes caregivers coming to her in hospital as either "energy givers" or as "energy takers", vividly describing how important the "bedside manner" is ........she is now teaching first year medical students.
Her description of her Mother coming to her, while she was in "infantile state", was a tear dropper also. She did not know who it was, yet her Mother got into bed with her and wrapped herself around her, just what she needed as a patient, then her Mother took her home with her...................I am going to get that book soon. Ron


I have seen this.....remarkable. That we are most likely wired for oneness, Sally
Re: Committing to Oneness Group:

Thanks for the response, Sally. I am looking at possibly dialoguing about "felt" experiences of oneness at the group, with a goal of feeling group oneness.

I have a couple of stories I would like to share - one a feeling of Oneness with the Universe (an experience on a sailboat), and the other a feeling of Oneness with another being (it was not romantic though not ruling that out.) These were vital epiphanies in my life that have kept me motivated to "commit to everyday experiences of Oneness" thus leading to the inquiry: How can we feel oneness with those we apparently think, feel and look so differently?"
Committing to Oneness: An Inquiry, Meditation, & Dialogue Group
Yours in Oneness, Ron


There is a silence into which the world can not intrude.
There is an ancient peace you carry in your heart and have not lost.
There is a sense of holiness in you the thought of sin has never touched.
All this today you will remember.
ACIM

Love Power

When I speak of love, I am not speaking of some sentimental and weak response. I am speaking of that Force which all great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality. This Hindu-Moslem-Christian-Jewish-Buddhist belief is beautifully summed up in the first epistle of Saint John: "Let us love one another; for love is God and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God..
At the center of nonviolence stands the principle of love. The nonviolent resister would contend that in the struggle for human dignity, the oppressed people of the world must not succumb to becoming bitter or indulging in hate campaigns. To retaliate in kind would do nothing but intensify the existence of hate in the universe. Along the way of life, someone must have the sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate. This can only be done by projecting the ethic of love to the center of our lives.
Christ gave us the goals and Mahatma Gandhi provided the tactics.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr. King in India (Words From A Georgia Jail)

Rough draft- will re-edit later:

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Ideas From India Written in a Georgia Jail

Dr. King confirmed in India what Jesus had already tried to teach him.
"Love your enemies", when he observed the former antagonists were now friends.
How Truth is Love saying no to unjust power in a Powerful Peaceful Way.
How non-violent resistence can stop an injurious administration.

Dr. King came back to the U.S. and applied what he had learned from Gandhi
And the Word, integrated by writing his sermons in a Georgia cell
Initially testing them successfully in Montgomery
By saying no to receiving the acts of violence and resisting unjust authority.

Words can be like billy clubs of police, or they can inspire Truthful Power of Love
Peaceful Commitment to this non-violent resistent way.
Sermons coalesced into a book he named Strength to Love
Stirring consciousnesses so reconciliation can become reality.

Thank you, Jesus, Thank you, Dr. King, Thank you, Gandhi
How much we need to read and apply your words and examples today.
For there are people in authority
Using words like billy clubs as well as waterboarding, bombs and bullets.

Confession - Captain or Counselor?

Subject: Thoughts and words that hurt - that separate!

I want to learn what I want to teach. (Read response below)

Yesterday at work, I found out that I said something to another employee that kept them from sleeping all night. I was saying it from a place of authority, but I was saying it from judgement and at someone's else's request. It turned out that the person I said it to was innocent, and I went back and apologized profusely.
However, it was a hard lesson, I have a long way to go to turn my thoughts and words from dividing to unifying.

So I was premature in my email yesterday about wanting to title the next Thurs. about the "Felt Experience of Oneness" or something like that. Reflecting on that and the many dividing words I have dismayingly seen issue forth from my mouth, the more I study Oneness, the more I realize how unworthy I am to lead this group.

Whatever, I want to concentrate on the "learning to love everyOne" part of the group this Thursday and as long as the group lasts? I am not attached. I have too much to learn myself.

Kit mentioned the "wounded healer" last week, and my words that hurt others definitely hurt me - "cancerous" as Dr. King calls them.

My goal is to heal myself, and if the group can bear with this wounded soul(?), at least to the rest of the month, I will really appreciate it.

May my thoughts and words be "sweet as honeycomb, soothing to the soul, and healing to the bone."

At least you can see why I was asking for your help, Gratefully, Ron

Response:

Dear Brother Ron,

Welcome to the "Secret" of the Great Design - we are all teaching what we most want to remember. We teachers are never exempt from the learning and deepening - we are actually the most blessed recipient. Humility is a beautiful companion, is it not? Glad to be in your class.

Bountiful Blessings, M.

This is e-mail that I wrote that prompted the above (confession & response):

Dear Angels of Oneness,

Thank you both for mentioning group on Thursday. This is a reminder that the title for the group is COMMITTING TO ONENESS. The next Thurs., I think, will be on "The Epiphany of Felt Experience of Oneness" or something like that. I would joyously appreciate both of you angels to help me with that One.

God is Love
One God
One Love
God is One

The Rock of Reality

Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee:
and the light shall shine on thy ways. Job 22:28

"As I attune myself to the Perfection of God; It flows through me; It dissipates all the obstructions of my everyday life, transforming all confusion into Love and Beauty.
I realize that I must bring this Perfection of Reality into expression, for the mind and the heart of each human are the only channels God has through which to manifest God's Infinite Mind and Perfect Love, which must be expressed continually that Life may evolve in greater and greater perfection.
As I permit this Reality to be expressed in me and through me, I am joyous in the assurance that I am bringing into being that much more of God Perfection. I am transforming a part of Life, just as Nature passes through the beautiful transformation called spring.
I know I need only to realize the true state of Being, which is Love - that which I really am - to transform all that appears to be imperfect. Love is that which is Real - complete harmony. Love is the Great Harmonizing Agency.
I stand firm on the Rock of Reality, knowing all is well, knowing that there is but One and that One is Love."

Ernest Holmes Daily Wisdom May 12

Yours in the awe of Onederfullness, Ron

Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Coretta, his beloved wife, wrote: "Martin Luther King Jr.'s theological belief in the interdependence , of all life inevitably led to the methods for social change advocate as well as his adversary. Christ gave us the goals, he would often say, and Mahatma Gandhi provided the tactics."

On page 150-151 in the Strength to Love, Dr. King writes of his fascination with the Gandhian concept of “Love (Truth) Force” and the great success of non-violent resistence in India. In Montgomery, Alabama in 1954, "as a pastor, at the beginning of the protest, the people called me in to be their spokesman. In accepting this responsibility, my mind consciously or unconsciously, was driven back to the Sermon on the Mount and the Gandhian method of nonviolent resistence. This principle became the guiding light of our movement. Christ furnished the Spirit and motivation and Gandhi furnished the method."

Dr. King wrote of his trip to India to: "My privilege of traveling to India had a great impact on me personally, for it was invigorating to see firsthand the amazing results of a nonviolent struggle to achieve independence. The aftermath of hatred and bitterness that usually follows a violent campaign was found nowhere in India, and a mutual friendship, based on complete equality, existed between the Indian and British people within the Commonwealth."

In the next paragraph, "…the nonviolent approach does something to the hearts and souls of those committed to it. It gives them new self-respect. It calls up resources of strength and courage that they did not know they had. Finally, it so stirs up the conscience of the opponent that reconciliation becomes a reality."

Oneness - Chp. in Dr. Wayne Dyer's book: WISDOM OF THE AGES

Wayne Dyer in Wisdom of the Ages (Chp. on Oneness)

Uses Dunne’s 16th century poem on “No man is an island…….”

“See God in everyone and everything and behave each day as if the God in all things truly mattered. Try to suspend your judgements of those who are less ambitious, less peaceful, and less loving, and instead know that hatred and judgement are the problems in the first place. When you judge the haters and hate the judgers, you are part of the cancer rather than the treatment.”
“Use fewer labels that distinguish you from ‘them’. You are not an American, Californian, Italian, Jew, middle-aged, stocky, female, athletic, or any other label. You are a citizen of the world and when you stop the labeling process you will begin to see God in every garden, every forest, every home, every creature, and every person, and inner peace will be your reward.”

Eckhart and Oprah had something to say about oneness in their webcast:
“We are connected – one with the Universal Source of Power or Energy – we allow that Power to flow through us and this Source supports us as we do. Or allow God within to come through and God supports It.” Oprah with Eckhart on Awakening To Your Life’s Purpose. Chp. 9, p.265 (In dialogue about “evolving universe.)

Here are some quotes from the ACIM about Oneness:
The holiest of all the spots on earth is where an ancient hatred has become a present love. t, 522
Put all your faith in the Love of God wihin you: eternal, changeless and forever unfailing. This is the answer to whatever confronts you today. W, 75
A sense of separation from God is the only lack you really need correct. t, 11

On this day of your life, dear friend, I believe God wants you to know...
....that obstacles are not opposing you, but merely and
gently re-routing you.

It is important not to view that which stands in your
way as your 'enemy.' It can often be your best friend,
sending you on a detour that takes you around what
could have been your biggest stumbling block.

Send a word of gratitude, then, for anything that seems
to be 'opposing' you now. All things in life happen for
good. Trust God about that.
Love, Your Friend....Neale Donald Walsh

The whys? and hows? of Loving Our Enemy..Chp. 5 SYNOPSIS of Dr. Martin Luther King's STRENGTH TO LOVE

Loving Your Enemies

“Ye have heard that it hath been said,
thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate
thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love,
your enemies, bless them that curse you,
do good to them that hate you, and pray
for them which despitefully use you, and
persecute you; that ye may be children
of your Father which is in heaven.”
Matthew 5:43-45

This command of Jesus challenges us with new urgency. Upheaval after upheaval has reminded us that modern man is traveling along a road called hate, in a journey that will bring us to destruction and damnation. Far from being the pious injunction of a Utopian dreamer, the command to love one’s enemy is an absolute necessity for our survival. Love even for enemies is the key to the solution of the problems of our world. Jesus is not an impractical idealist; he is the practical realist.
Jesus realized that every genuine expression of love grows out of a consistent and total surrender to God. So when Jesus said ‘Love your enemy’, he was not unmindful of its stringent qualities. Yet he meant every word of it. Our responsibilities as Christians is to discover the meaning of this command and seek passionately to live it out in our daily lives.
Why love our enemies?

1. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate - adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. The chain reaction of evil – hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars – must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilitation
2. Hate scars the soul and distorts the personality. Hate is just as injurious to the person who hates. Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity.
3. A third reason we should love our enemies is that love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend By its very nature, love creates and builds up, hate destroys and tears down Love transforms with redemptive power

How do we love our enemies?

1. We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. Forgiveness does not mean ignoring what has been done or putting a false label on an evil act. It means that the evil act no longer remains as a barrier to the relationship. Forgiveness is a catalyst creating an atmosphere necessary for a fresh start and a new beginning. Forgiveness means reconciliation, a coming together again. Without this, no man can love his enemies. The degree in which we are able to forgive determines the degree to which we are able to love our enemies.
2. We must recognize that the evil deed of the enemy – neighbor, the thing that hurts, never quite expresses all that he is. An element of goodness may be found even in our worst enemy. Each of us is something of a schizophrenic personality, tragically divided against ourselves.
There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this we are less prone to hate our enemies. We recognize that his hate grows out of fear, pride, ignorance, prejudice, and misunderstanding, but in spite of this we know God’s image is ineffably etched in his being. Then we love our enemies by realizing that they are not totally bad and that they are not beyond the reach of God’s redemptive love.
3. We must not seek to defeat or humiliate the enemy but to win his friendship and understanding. Every word and deed must contribute to an understanding with the enemy and release those vast reservoirs of goodwill which have been blocked by impenetrable walls of hate.
The meaning of love is not to be confused with some sentimental outpouring. Love is something much deeper than emotional bosh. Agape love is an overflowing love which seeks nothing in return. Agape is the love of God operating in the human heart as opposed to eros(lust) and philia (friendship) love. At this level, we love every man because God loves him. We love the person, who does an evil deed, although we hate the evil deed that he does.
We should be happy that Jesus did not say “like” our enemies. It is almost impossible to like some people. But Jesus recognized that ‘love’ is greater than ‘like.’ When Jesus bids us to love our enemies, he is speaking of agape, understanding and creative, redemptive goodwill for all men. Only by following this way and responding with this type of love we are we able to be children of our Father who is in heaven.

The ultimate reason we should love our enemies is expressed explicitly in Jesus’s words, ‘love your enemies……that ye may be children of your Father which is in heaven. We are called to this difficult task in order to realize a unique relationship with God. We are potential children of God. Through love that potentiality becomes actuality. We must love our enemies, because only by loving them can we know God and experience the beauty of his holiness.
Jesus is eternally right. History is replete with the bleached bones of nations that refused to listen to him. May we in this time hear and follow his words – before it is too late. May we solemnly realize that we shall never be true children of God until we love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.

STRENGTH TO LOVE by MLK, jr. Chp. 4 Synopsis

Love in Action

“Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them
for they know not what they do.” Luke 23:24

Few words in the New Testament more clearly and solemnly express the magnanimity of Jesus’s Spirit than that sublime utterance from the cross, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” This is love at its best.
Though subjected to inexpressible agony, suffering excruciating pain, and despised and rejected, nevertheless, he cried, “Father, forgive them.” Two basic lessons can be gleaned from this plea.

1. It is a marvelous expression of Jesus’s ability to match words with action.
One of the great tragedies of life is that men seldom bridge the gulf between practice and profession between doing and saying. This strange dichotomy, between the “ough” and the “is”, represents the tragic theme of man’s earthly pilgrimage.
But in the life of Jesus we find the gulf is bridged. Never in history was there a more sublime example of the consistency of word and deed. During his ministry in Galilee, Jesus talked passionately about forgiveness. Jesus responded to Peter by affirming there is no limit to forgiveness….”Until seventy times seven.” Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a permanent attitude.
Contrasted with Jesus’s command to forgive, is society’s final assertion that it will not forgive with the act of capital punishment. (An author’s note think about the brilliant film DEAD MAN WALKING where the nun is able to love the seemingly unlovable murderer, and help him find some comfort in repentance and asking for forgiveness finally at the last few days of his life.)
Jesus eloquently affirmed from the cross a higher law. He knew that the old eye-for-eye philosophy would leave everyone blind. He did not seek to overcome evil with evil. He overcame evil with good. Although crucified by hate, he responded with aggressive love.
What a magnificent lesson! Generations will rise and fall; men will continue t worship the god of revenge and bow before the altar of retaliation; but ever and again this noble lesson of Calvary will be a nagging reminder that only goodness can drive out evil and only love can conquer hate.

2. The second lesson is and expression of Jesus’s awareness of man’s intellectual and spiritual blindness. “They know not what they do,” said Jesus. Blindness was their trouble; enlightenment was their need. The men who cried “Crucify him, were not bad men but rather blind men.”
Saul was not an evil-intentioned man when he persecuted Christians. He was a sincere, conscientious devotee of Isreal’s faith. He thought he was right. He persecuted Christians not because he was devoid of integrity, but because he was devoid of enlightenment.
Our world is threatened by the grim prospect of nuclear annihilitation because there are still too many who know not what they do.
Apostle Paul noticed the blindness of many of his opponents, he said, “I bear them record that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.”
Over and over the Bible reminds us of the danger of zeal without knowledge and sincerity without intelligence.
Only through bringing together of head and heart – intelligence and goodness- shall man rise to the fulfillment of his true nature. One does not need to be a profound scholar to be open-minded, nor a keen academician to engage in as assiduous search for truth.
We must see the cross as the magnificent symbol of love conquering hate and light overcoming darkness. But in midst of this glowing affirmation, let us never forget that our Lord and Master was nailed to that cross because of human blindness. Those who crucified him knew not what they did.

Learn to Love your Enemies - a Requirement for Committing to Oneness

In STRENGTH TO LOVE, a book written in a Georgia prison, Dr. Martin Luther King is very clear on the need to love our enemies. And his writing is the clearest on the why? and the how?
When I speak of love. I am not speaking of some sentimental and weak response. I am speaking of that force which all the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality. This Hindu-Moslem-Christian-Jewish-Buddhist belief about ultimate reality is beautifully summed up in the first epistle of Saint John: "Let us love one another: for love is God and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God."
In the foreword, Coretta King writes: "If love is the eternal religious principle, Martin Luther King, Jr. believed, then nonviolence is it's worldy counterpart. He wrote:
At the center on nonviolence stands the principle of love. The nonviolent resister would contend that in the struggle for human dignity, the oppressed people of the world must not succumb to becoming bitter or indulging in hate campaigns. To retaliate in kind would do nothing but intensify the existence of hate in the universe. Along the way of life, someone must have the sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate. This can only be done by projecting the ethic of love to the center of our lives.
Coretta, his beloved wife, wrote: "Martin Luther King Jr.'s theological belief in the interdependence , of all life inevitably led to the methods for social change advocate as well as his adversary. Christ gave us the goals, he would often say, and Mahatma Gandhi provided the tactics."

THURSDAY, MAY 8th

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Committing to Oneness
A Learning To Love Every One Group
(including your enemies)

Ron Alexander has been an adventurer his whole life, traveling around
the world to study with a healer in Bali, a medicine man in California,
worked with Jerry Jampolsky and young adults with life-threatening
diseases, and with Yolanda King and the Dali Lama working with
Children of War. He has been licensed as a a clinical pathologist, sailing boat captain, and then as a counselor in California. He has learned much from
former “enemies” and thinks we can all learn more about how to love
even those we do not like.

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We will also be studying the writings of Byron Katy, Eckhart Tolle, Thich Nhat Hahn, A Course in Miracles, and what you bring.
Joyfull Oneness/ Divine Timing
Thich Nhat Hahn (correct spelling)

In this Inquiry Meditation dialogue (passing Native American Talking Stick) Group, we will primarily be listening to the Voice of Great Spirit as it comes through You! For more info. please click on: now that you are here - please read the other posts to find our more.

Realization of Oneness - True Fountain of Youth

“In him, we live and move, and have our being.” Acts 17:26

“It is an interesting fact that, whether we know it and whether or not we like it, our lives are so tied in with God, the living Spirit, that we cannot remain young and enthusiastic, unless we know that we are one with that which which knows no age and no burdens.”
Ernest Holmes

Committing To Oneness - Even Mom?

Even Your Mom? Yes, especially with your Mom!

Sometimes your family members may be the hardest Ones to feel one with - in my case, I have finally united with Mom again after years of feeling seperated from her. One important healing tool is the good memories with them. And then using creativity to ground the new found unity (or was the separation an illusion?) Here is a healing Mom's Day Tribute Poem I have recently put together.

Happy Mother's Day EveryOne - We are all part of each other:

Momma’s Amazing Audio Cocoon

Ron Alexander

Mom’s reading bedtime stories
was a blessing beyond any
technical device’s ability to convey
caring, security and a sense of wonder.

Innocent adventures, mysterious places,
heroic children in brave pioneering families.
brought out the fascination in me
as much as going to the
beach and gazing at the horizon
wondering what it was like across the sea.

I will always be grateful that television
was late in coming to our house,
and that mom took time to provide
us a nurturing, educating, entertaining
safe cocoon with her voice.

Now the table has turned except
It’s her sister reading to Mom
like their Mother and Aunt before them -
widowed sisters - blossoms in a garden
sweetly sharing literary inspirations.

I enjoyed your tribute..........especially the last line.

Oceans of Oneness,
SS
Thanks Susan Sunshine, I know you had no problems loving your Mom, so I am especially grateful that you enjoyed my "tribute" - I think you are cognizant of "problems" I had loving my Mom, but that is in past and almost forgotten. Did I need to add that Mom is almost blind?
"Literary inspirations" was your favorite, huh? Not surprised - I guess all writers would like that - here is what my cousin, who writes historical articles, said and my answer:

Hi, Did you write this? It really warmed my heart. Thanks for the Mother's Day greeting. We will attend our first granddaughter's (Alexander) wedding on May 17 in Sumter, SC. Time certainly does pass fast! Love, Cuz Peggy

Yes, Thank you, Peggy. I did write it, I am a published poet as well as columnist and home-made book (like you so graciously purchased) author. Your granddaughter name is "Alexander"? Congratulations to her.

"Time does pass fast" yet good memories are eternal. Her reading to me as a child led to my exploring as a captain and writing about it later. I am forever grateful to her for that "Audio Cocoon." Happy, Happy Mom's Day and I think Grandmoms are among the most important people in the world. From Bubba, my maternal Grandmom, I always felt unconditional love, which was also vital to my development as a person.
Love, peace and joy, Cuz Ron

My favorite part of the poem:

blossoms in a garden

sweetly sharing literary inspirations.

I loved the 'blossoms in a garden'. Only love recognizes the blossoming of others! If you mention your Mother is now blind, I'd allude to it only obliquely.

Oceans of Oneness,
SS
Thanks Angel of Oneness for the clarification, and I will just leave the poem as it is.... By the way, I have been posting your answers under the "Even Mom" post.

You see I have been writing much but cannot share this with whole prose group, and only a small part with most of poetry group, although I judge more soulful members overall as poets.
In Joy Oneness, Ron

I added this image to card: