When is a flood not a flood ...

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Dictionary definition:
http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&defl=en&q=define:flood&sa=X&ei=I6M3TabYG8SxcZ-XkewB&ved=0CBwQkAE

· the rising of a body of water and its overflowing onto normally dry land; "plains fertilized by annual inundations"
· an overwhelming number or amount; "a flood of requests"; "a torrent of abuse"
· deluge: fill quickly beyond capacity; as with a liquid; "the basement was inundated after the storm"; "The images flooded his mind"
· light that is a source of artificial illumination having a broad beam; used in photography
· cover with liquid, usually water; "The swollen river flooded the village"; "The broken vein had flooded blood in her eyes"
· a large flow
· supply with an excess of; "flood the market with tennis shoes"; "Glut the country with cheap imports from the Orient"
· the act of flooding; filling to overflowing
· become filled to overflowing; "Our basement flooded during the heavy rains"
· flood tide: the occurrence of incoming water (between a low tide and the following high tide); "a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune" -Shakespearewordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn


I think that explains it. Do you think we should all email it to the Australian Insurance companies that are busy saying that the water in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria are not a flood and so no one is covered by their, usually expensive, insurance policies?

I guess all those people are expected to sacrifice their goods and chattels to the greater good of the Insurance God .. whichever God that is? I just checked Google and there doesn’t seem to be a God of Insurance? Hmm... I wonder if we could define it as Ego?

And on this subject of sacrifice – I wonder how the Life Insurance companies are going to feel at the end of December 2012 when lots of people put in claims for all the people (over one million according to something I read) that are suppose to die before then – for the greater good of Mankind. Is mankind a God? Does it deserve that much sacrifice? Not in my opinion, and yes it is my opinion, but then .. this is my blog.

When I joined the new age industry, following the advice of my guides and angels, and opened a Healing Centre and learned Reiki, and Counselling, and became a Spiritual Teacher, I hoped that I would stop seeing the world fall apart around me. Perhaps, from my light and happy vantage point the small nasty things that people do to each other wouldn’t touch me anymore, and I would no longer weep at the confusion in people minds and hearts. No such luck. (Hang on a minute, according to one workshop I went to Luck is a Babylonian God and we are not even supposed to mention that name, let alone wish anyone any of it .. but I still do). I guess I am going to be going to hell, but then .. sometimes I think we are already here.

So here are three prickly topics to look at ... the powers that be in the Insurance industry who redefine water falling from the sky, filling up a big dam, and rivers and lakes, and then overflowing and ‘inundating’ thousands of homes as not a ‘flood’ and ‘therefore they don’t have to pay’. Geez man .. if it was your house, you’d need help getting your life straight again .. but hey, I guess you can’t see me at the top of the corporate ladder with your dry feet and your thousand dollar suits .. and btw, my house isn’t in a region that flooded. I am counting my blessings on that one.

When did you forget, in all that worship of Mannon, that there are people out here who do not earn top dollar, or live on high ground. No, the council approved the speculators to sell land in the flood plains and then build houses on it. Great. And what about all the farmers and the lost crops .. oh, you probably don’t insure for them either .. and neither do the banks awaiting to foreclose ...

Yes I am ranting again. In the scheme of human lives, given that we are supposed to lose over one million people in the next almost two years, twenty or more people is probably not too much to lose, but for your mother, brother, sister, cousin .. the lady across the street who lost her husband and her nine year old son .. it's TOO MUCH! And now you say they have no right to rebuild using the money they paid you in good faith. What happened to your ‘good faith’ return .. to looking after them when they are fallen? Hell no, it might have to come out of your wages? They are just unlucky, aren’t they?

There’s that word again, but I don’t feel like debating with a small group of Christians about whether wishing someone something wonderful is invoking a ‘demon’. Intention is actually everything, and I am sure that God, whose name is El, btw, will understand the will of my heart, and perhaps my lack of wisdom in the saying. At least that’s what it says in the bible.

And then we get to the sticky one – sacrifice.

According to the Christian Bible there was a man called Jesus Christ who was crucified and died on the Cross, as ‘the perfect sacrifice’, a once only event, his blood breaking a lock that freed all of humanity to go get on with their lives. (Hebrews 9:28) My theology teacher described Jesus’ outstretched arms as reaching towards all people in every direction. I know it’s hard to believe in the metaphysical in this age of mechanical wonders – but what does it cost you – you only have to believe in the Christ to be free, you don’t actually have to go to church – plenty of people have proved that. In the Catholic church you can even buy ‘redemption’, if you have enough money – but why do people have to buy redemption? Hmm.. which church is worshipping which God these days, or spiritualist group for that matter - seeing as many of those I have visited have the 'Lord's Prayer' as the only part of God in the 'service' (dedicated mostly to proving there's life after death by having unidentified spirits 'standing beside you - your mother perhaps - oh she's still alive, did she have an sisters?' giving advice about stuff that even I don't relate to. ("You don't connect? Well, can I leave it with you .. I'm sure it's for your future.) Hmm.. do I sacrifice my commonsense just by going to those 'churches'?

Back to topic in hand: According to Christian teachings no other human sacrifices are needed to keep open the door into the heaven for all of humanity, nor has it slammed shut – you would think we would have heard – so why suddenly is a group called the Light Force saying that over one million people will be sacrificing their lives for the rest of us, through earth changes they are creating before the 21st December next year (the end of the Mayan calendar in case you are wondering about the date) to force humanity to change? What happened to the one perfect sacrifice? Wasn’t the Son of God ENOUGH?

I live in a world where the news is mostly propaganda, where the latest headlines are more important than the simple truth (see my last blog on Sacred Gates Blog - the link is on the right).
Propaganda is defined as a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda

Take the angels .. we have two main kinds in the world, those in the Light and those who are fallen. The fallen you might know better as demons. I believe the angels are supposed to be part of the Light Force .. the good ones .. the ones that say "love one another" and not the ones that say "die for Jesus". We get so upset when someone chooses to "die for Allah", you know them as suicide bombers, and then there were the Kamakaze, who died for their Emperor .. they thought he was a god. They sacrificed themselves for something they believed in, a form of ritual suicide .. taking out as many of the unbelievers as possible .. and they did it for the greater good - the greater good that they believed in, which in a way is understandable, since the Light Force are now saying that the folks who have to die are also doing it for the greater good. But whose Good is it?

Back to JC and the perfect sacrifice. It can't be for God, because God sent Jesus as humanity's redeemer, and s/he doesn't need us to sacrifice ourselves for him/her. So it can't be for humanity for the same reason .. its already been done.

So I ask again, who is it for? Or could it be that someone is lying?

Do the Light angels lie? Or does it simply mean that over one million people will die anyway, in the next two years, due to natural attrition and silly accidents? I certainly hope so.

I will leave you with those thoughts ...

Love & Light
Ama

Are we pawns or willing players?

My daughter once explained to me what a player is .. someone who dips into life, rather than commiting to it, or anyone. That's the polite version, anyway. Dips into life - doesn't commit - doesn't stay for the long haul, doesn't try when things get tough. Easier to walk away, change job, change location, change clothes, change friends, change spouse or partner, even change your name and start again .. only to repeat the whole thing, because we learn nothing from turning our backs on challenges and running .. the challenges follow us, in one form or another - until we stop and confront them and stop being 'players'.

The other side of the coin are pawns. Life is so tough 'for' them (you might know them as their other name 'victims'). Everything always goes wrong. Everyone hates them, does things 'to' them, doesn't do what they want them to do .. makes life hard. And they are not responsible for any of it. You've heard the reasons that are really excuses. Once again they are players .. not pawns. There are no such things as human pawns, because God/Spirit gave us Free Will, and there are very limited circumstances that take away our right to choose. And even then, our actions usually set up the circumstances. Don't know what I mean? How about a graphic example, political prisoners become prisoners because they choose to defy their leaders. Sometimes they do this for the greater good, but often they are only doing it to satisfy some 'want' within themselves ... even the greatest of them, whose motives seem so pure, could be trying to manipulate an outcome that backfires on them.

Manipulation .. yes, even they are players - for players try to manipulate others to suit themselves. You could say I am being cruel, or overly judgmental, but look at the world around you, where are the great people now .. mostly they are dead. These generations of ours seem to have forgotten how to be 'great'. We venerate footballs who can't keep their clothes on, the notoriety makes them more popular? And the drug dealers who admit their crimes are still talked about in the media as if they are suffering some fate worse than death in their Asian prison .. for the addicts its a fate worse than death. If the drugs were not available anymore, there would be no addicts. But, people become addicts through choice, and people become drug runners through choice also. And where are the bosses, who paid them so much money when they succeeded with the deliveries, when they needed bailing out of gaol .. ? More players.

Who are your heroes? I admit to having none. Oh no, that's not entirely true. I have a few whose words of wisdom have touched the hearts of so many people - you know them - Jesus, Buddha, Gandhi .. all of them were human, all of them defied societies expectations, and all of them left a legacy of wisdom that we can dip into anytime we feel the need to 'play'. And there are so many others, poets and muscians, simple people and cranky old nuns. Did we listen when they spoke, do we now?

Funny how the angels say to me, when they want me to do some serious work for them, "Ama, come and play". Who took the words, and the world, and twisted it in knots.

And how do we untwist it again?

I'll start with me ...

I am neither a pawn nor a player. I will walk the path of Light to the best of my abilities, watching my step so that I don't 'tread on anyone's dreams' (WB Yeats), watching my tongue so that my words will 'harm none' (the Wiccan way), and watching the love and joy dance lightly on my heart.

Try it .. you might enjoy the sensations.

Love & Light
Ama

I do wish that I was wise

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If I was wise I would know the right thing to say in the right situations without wondering if they were 'right', without having to double-guess myself. When you work with Spirit you don't automatically become wise, you still have to work on it, on a day to day basis. And the lessons can hurt, because your ego is very much involved in your everyday life - and when you want to become a good person, free of fears and phobias, you have to face those fears and learn their source, and let them go. And letting go can be one of the hardest things you ever do - for often the foundation of your life, of who you believe you are, is based on those fears.

Spirit asks me, from time to time, who do you become?

Who do you become? Who am I becoming with my choices and beliefs and attitudes? Where is God/Spirit in the process? The Christians say 'what would Jesus do?' in any given situation, or they are supposed to? What do the new agers say? What do I say, perched, as I am, between the two?

What would 'love' do? What would a loving person do .. in any situation? How do I react from Love, even when I want to react from anger? What do I learn in the process?

If I was wise I would know the perfect answer to these questions. But as I am a growing being, I am still learning, them, and many more.

So my question to myself is always 'who do you become'?

Love & Light
Ama

How can I Pray and be Heard by God?

Would you like to Know the Truth (part 4)

How can we possibly not be? God is everywhere. God created all things. God is in all things. If God is in ‘all’ things, so then God is in, and within, us. Since God created ‘all’ things, s/he created atheists and people with other belief systems. Since God created all things, then God created other belief systems and other ways of coming ‘Home’ to the source energy that is in ‘all’ of us .. in other words, God.

So why is there separation? Separation begins with us, with our lack of belief, or faith (which are two different things). When we doubt we put a barrier between us and God. That barrier is our free will. Because we were granted it back at our creation, and because it was restored to us by Christ at the Crucifixion, (after we had so foolishly given it away to the ‘devil’ .. see the story of Adam and Eve as a metaphor for our choices ...) we have the power to stop God from helping us, to remove his/her ability to give to us what we most want – Love.

Sometimes our prayers are not answered, or seem not to be. There is a saying “be careful what you ask for, you might get it”. God in his/her infinite wisdom does not always give us what we want, because s/he knows that spiritually most of us are like small children demanding sweets. We try to bargain (if you do this, I will do that) and what we bargain for may well not be what is for our greatest good, and so we are not given what we seek. And God knows that we don’t always understand, at the time, why this is so, nor do we all understand about free will, but s/he doesn’t punish us when we become angry and despondent ... no, s/he loves us anyway, whole heartedly, unconditionally, knowing that we will understand one day – and that day might be the last of this lifetime, or it might be tomorrow.

So praying to God is important because it takes down the barrier between us and him/her, and tells God what we want, and, if we get it right, gives God permission to help us. It also tells God that we are listening when s/he speaks, and that we are grateful for all the good that comes our way each day, and accepting of the challenges that also are part of our lives.

The brochure says that for God to listen to us we have to pray in ways that s/he approves of. That seems a bit of a conundrum, given that first we have to learn God’s will, and then pray accordingly. How do we first learn God’s will? We can find lessons throughout the New Testament in the words of Jesus Christ. Love one another, be honest, truthful and kind. And the Watchtower quotes 1 John 5:14, which says “And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us”. So be bold, be truthful, be trusting, be loving .. and just Be .. a daughter or son of God, a spiritual being in the material world.

Do you remember to say thank you when you pray? Gratitude is incredibly important. Or do you mouth rituals without thought for what the words mean? I agree with the Watchtower brochure here – do not just mouth prayers that you know without putting your heart and soul into the words. (Matthew 6:7-8) Keep it simple. Make it obvious. The Lord ’s Prayer in Matthew is lovely, to begin with –

Our Father who is in heaven
Hallowed be thy name
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done
On Earth as it is in Heaven
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive our debts
As we also have forgiven our debtors
And do not bring us to the time of trial
But rescue us from the evil one.

Begin with this and move on.

Sometimes I do feel unworthy of being the crumbs beneath his/her table, but most of the time I know that God seems me as s/he created me ... a perfect ‘likeness’. The imperfections are my own beliefs and attitudes that put the barrier up between what I want from God and what s/he wants from me. Just how thick is your barrier?