FINDING GOD

The Sun is shining brightly! It is cool, still in the thirties, there was a little ice on the sheep's water this Morning. The wind has died down after three days, it is quiet. If the forecast is to be believed, it is the calm before the storm, wintry weather is to descend on us tomorrow.

We may have an economic storm coming soon. The Chinese are to start contracting for oil using the Yuan in two months. Folks are referring to it as the Petroyuan inferring that it will supplant the petrodollar. This would be a huge thing for the U.S. and world economy. I will research it and report later,

I was going to continue my theme on loving ourselves. Although, I think it is the single most important thing in the awakening process, I don't know what to say. We are all on a path that leads to our loving ourselves. Everybody has a different path. We can all give insight from our own experience that may help others on a similar path. Some people get a great deal from meditation. Some folks are able to remind themselves frequently that they are love. Others don't mind the trial and error of plowing on ahead and learning as they go. Many people find various forms of therapy very helpful.

Anything that helps us be alert in the moment is useful. Love is in the present. When we pull ourselves out of the past and future and let ourselves sink into the present moment, there is peace. I have discovered this even during experiences of potential pain. Somewhere along the line I have learned to put myself into a very relaxed state when I am having a medical procedure or in a dental chair. I have had professionals comment on it. I can be just 'now' and absolutely peaceful. Then, much of the rest of the time, I am plowing through life like the bull in the china shop.

Some kind of belief system helps. Religions that teach that God is Love and nothing else can be helpful. I was raised Roman Catholic, fortunately my Mother was wise and not doctrinaire. Once when I was tennish I was wondering about the creation myth as we were familiar with evolution. My Mother said, “To God everyday was millions of years.” I didn't have to think about that anymore.

I went to a Catholic elementary school and had other influences. I couldn't swallow the notion that God would punish man for his foolishness on Earth and certainly not in hell for eternity. When the age of masturbation emerged, the Catholic God didn't have a chance. How could anything so delightful be a sin?

From fourteen or so on, God was in the back seat. For many years I thought of myself as an atheist. On seeing it from this point in my life, I don't think I was ever a qualified atheist. An atheist is one who believes there is no God. I didn't believe one way or another. I couldn't see any evidence as proof there was a God. However, I was always a searcher. I read a great deal of philosophy. I read the major religions' theocratic works including the bible cover to cover, both the Douay and the King James. I didn't find God.

It wasn't until I was in my early forties that I found things that I could believe in and then it was experiential not intellectual. In my practice of psychotherapy I occasionally used hypnosis. Out of curiosity, and the full agreement of my clients, I started exploring past life regression. This is a long story, I eventually became convinced that reincarnation was real. These stories could not have arisen from their egos or any unconscious process I could understand. That was the beginning of my search for our spiritual nature. When the door was opened a flood of experiences entered. I met psychics, palmist, fortune tellers, people who had out of the body experiences, etc.

At some point I said to myself, “God if you exist lead me to you” The search in earnest began. I was lead to the “The Course in Miracles” “The Urantia Books” and many many other sources. I eventually concluded [or experienced] that God is Love. And God is just our name for the ultimate source of everything or we could say Oneness. There is nothing else but Source or God.

I don't think there is any immediate end to our search.

I give all this background just so I can say, “ I think it is helpful in loving ourselves, if we have some kind of spiritual conviction.” When we see ourselves as part of a whole and that whole is love, it is easier to see ourselves as love. We know we are surrounded by Love and it is only our perception that has kept us blind to it.

We don't have to search for love it surrounds us. We just need to submerge ourselves in it. It helps us dissolve those stubborn egos. We do love ourselves we need to discover it.

Love and Peace, Gregg