Soaring Like an Eagle

Would you believe me if I told you that within you lies everything you could ever need to survive, to thrive, to prosper, and to fulfill your potential as a human being?  Does it sound too good to be true?

The modern world is full of confusion.  Millions of human beings live lives of quiet desperation, never knowing or fully realizing who they are, or why they exist.  Under the hypnotic spell of the human race mind, they never believe it is possible to know or be anything other than the way society tells them they should be.  Many people feel that something is wrong with the world, that life should be richer, fuller, and more exciting.  They wonder why human life is so full of deceit, hypocrisy, violence, poverty, and despair.  They complain about work, about politics, about their families, or spouses.  They say things like,” life sucks and then you die.”  Many think life should not be like this, yet we do not question it, we simply shrug our shoulders and accept it.  Humans exist, but few of us ever truly live.

It is a tragedy that most people never realize that the way out of this situation lies within themselves, as a constitutive dimension of their being human in the first place.  It just seems to them to be too easy, too convenient, or silly unrealistic wishful thinking.  And perhaps it is, if it begins and ends as a wish and is not followed by steady and persistent desire and action.  However, desire and persistent action will show convincingly that it is true;  that human beings are made in the image and likeness of God, and have at their disposal powers given them by the creator, powers that are virtually infinite in scope and nature.

The answer to the problem of life, and the problems of life, are for every human being to take responsibility for his or her own life, and begin to make it a life of power and overcoming by tapping into and becoming a channel for the divine which lies hidden within them.  Until they do, life will continue to puzzle and confuse them, and send lessons which are designed to rouse them from their hypnotic sleep and awaken them to the truth. They will live as a slave, while being secretly Noble.  I will end with a fable which illustrates this fact clearly:

A fable is told about an eagle who thought he was a chicken. When the eagle was very small, he fell from the safety of his nest.  A chicken farmer found the eagle, brought him to the farm, and raised him in a chicken coop among his many chickens. The eagle grew up doing what chickens do, living like a chicken, and believing he was a chicken.

        A naturalist came to the chicken farm to see if what he had heard about an eagle acting like a chicken was really true.  He knew that an eagle is king of the sky.  He was surprised to see the eagle strutting around the chicken coop, pecking at the ground, and acting very much like a chicken.  The farmer explained to the naturalist that this bird was no longer an eagle.  He was now a chicken because he had been trained to be a chicken and he believed that he was a chicken.
 

        The naturalist knew there was more to this great bird than his actions showed as he "pretended" to be a chicken.  He was born an eagle and had the heart of an eagle, and nothing could change that.  The man lifted the eagle onto the fence surrounding the chicken coop and said,  "Eagle, thou art an eagle.  Stretch forth thy wings and fly."  The eagle moved slightly, only to look at the man; then he glanced down at his home among the chickens in the chicken coop where he was comfortable.  He jumped off the fence and continued doing what chickens do.  The farmer was satisfied. "I told you it was a chicken," he said.
 

        The naturalist returned the next day and tried again to convince the farmer and the eagle that the eagle was born for something greater.  He took the eagle to the top of the farmhouse and spoke to him: "Eagle, thou art an eagle.  Thou dost belong to the sky and not to the earth.  Stretch forth thy wings and fly." The large bird looked at the man, then again down into the chicken coop.  He jumped from the man's arm onto the roof of the farmhouse.
 

        Knowing what eagles are really about, the naturalist asked the farmer to let him try one more time.  He would return the next day and prove that this bird was an eagle.  The farmer, convinced otherwise, said, "It is a chicken."
 

        The naturalist returned the next morning to the chicken farm and took the eagle and the farmer some distance away to the foot of a high mountain.  They could not see the farm nor the chicken coop from this new setting.  The man held the eagle on his arm and pointed high into the sky where the bright sun was beckoning above.  He spoke: "Eagle, thou art an eagle!  Thou dost belong to the sky and not to the earth.  Stretch forth thy wings and fly." This time the eagle stared skyward into the bright sun, straightened his large body, and stretched his massive wings.  His wings moved, slowly at first, then surely and powerfully.  With the mighty screech of an eagle, he flew.

Human beings were made to soar like eagles.  It is time for us to claim our birthright.

Psalm 14:1-3

The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none that does good. The LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any that act wisely, that seek after God. They have all gone astray, they are all alike corrupt; there is none that does good, no, not one.

Does God exist?  This is an absurd question, and fundamentally meaningless, a question that is essentially impossible to prove either positively or negatively.  Simply put, if God does exist, then how do we define what we mean by that existence?  What type of existence does God have?  Unless we ourselves are God, which is unlikely given our reality as an earth bound and limited creature, then our understanding of existence is also limited to what we understand and experience as earth bound and limited creatures. Religious people claim that God is an infinite being. What do they mean by the term infinite being?  Beyond limits?  Try to imagine that.  You cannot, because humans are limited, and finite.  Essentially, human beings cannot know what it means to say God exists, therefore to speak of it is folly, because if an infinite God exists then God requires no one to assert God's existence, since God IS existence.  Moses asked God’s name and God replied I am Who I am.  The name means I AM Existence , with no beginning and end, a reality which is so outside of human experience that the only response that is truthful and appropriate is one of silence.

And arguing against the existence of God is equally impossible and absurd, for the same reasons.  The atheist claims science has shown more evidence against God’s existence than for God's existence. Again, what does science mean by the term existence? If science means existence which can be observed by earth bound limited beings, then we cannot ever know anything beyond our earth bound observations.   Science can only describe existence as it is observed and tested, and develop theories on how they believe existence evolved, but it can never define that which could exist beyond its observations and theories. Again, the best response to this paradox is silence.

Ultimately, as I observe the two poles of the existence or non-existence of God, in both cases I am confronted with a mystery which my mind cannot solve.  And since human beings find it difficult to exist in a world of mystery, we lean on faith as the vehicle by which  we can explain the mystery.  The religious person extols the virtue of faith in their creeds, rituals, scriptures, and religious practices.  The atheist extols faith in human reason, science, evolution and progress.  Both camps settle on opposite sides of the poles of God’s existence, and resign themselves to further ignorance and error. The answer, as always, lies in the balancing of the poles.


If God exists then the only way to truly know it is to experience it.  You cannot think about the existence of God as a concept, since God's existence is the source of all conception and all thought.  Atheists and agnostics deny this fact at their peril because God is all life, all existence.  So how do we experience it?  By living our lives in love and service to God, ourselves, and our neighbor. By living faithfully not to a set of dogmas, creeds, and church regulations but instead to a deep belief in the law of love. A life lived in this manner reveals that God is present within each person, aye every atom in the universe is filled with the prescence and power of God.  We see that existence itself is the proof of God's existence.

Religious people often feel that God demands that they believe in Him and the doctrines of his church, and in doing so they are justified by faith.  However, a closer examination shows us that it is by engaging life postively and with love in our hearts that we are justified, and made partakers in the eternal life of our creator.

Contacting Your Higher Mind

What does it mean to say that human beings are made in the image and likeness of God?  This is a difficult question to answer because in order to answer it properly one has to know what image of God is being reflected in the human person.  Some would say for this reason it is an impossible question to answer.  I disagree, and I believe that the answer to this question can provide great spiritual knowledge to the one who understands it.  The answer can be trans-formative.

In order to understand the God whose image we were made to reflect, we need only look at God’s main attributes, like infinite goodness, love, joy, peace, etc. How do we know that these are God’s infinite attributes?  Because human beings seek what is good, and loving, and what will bring them happiness.  Human ideas of love, and the good, and what will truly make them happy are in a state of error and disorder, however, no one can deny that all human beings seek good things in abundance. Therefore, they must be the attributes which show us what image of God we were made to reflect.

We can then conclude that since we all desire these things, then human beings were made to reflect infinite goodness, mercy, love, compassion, forgiveness, happiness, life, health, etc;  that is, we were made to reflect any positive idea or attribute you can think of. These attributes are what God IS, and therefore this is what humans SEEK, and thus comprises the image we were made to REFLECT.  However, our errors, lack of faith, fear, encounters with evil, and other problems of life cause us to reflect other things into the world, bringing trouble, pain, suffering, death, and other negative experiences to ourselves and others.  This happens because humans have freedom, which is attribute of God, and as a result they can choose things which they believe are good and will make them happy, but these choices are made in error.  For example, the modern world is in obsessed with material prosperity, because they believe, in error, that it will make them happy, provide them access to love, fame, adoration, etc. What it brings, however, is a deeper slide into error, and pain, and unhappiness.

The unfortunate side effect of the human propensity to choose that which appears good, is that people begin to believe that life is a mixture of good and evil, joy and pain, which is symbolized wonderfully in the story of the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve eat from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  The reason God warns Adam and Eve not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is because we were not made to reflect good and evil, we were made to reflect good and as a result, experience God’s infinite life.  Through freedom, human beings choose both good and evil, and through this error leave themselves outside the garden, cut off from the Tree of Life, trapped in a world of struggle, frustration, pain, and lack. 

The path back to the Garden, the Way to the Tree of Life lies in realizing the central, foundational truth of the Bible which calls us to become images of the infinite and invisible God. We can do this because Jesus has shown us the Way, through Love, Works of Charity, Service, and Prayer.  We can train our mind to depend on God alone, and to think and act on thoughts of infinite love, happiness, joy, health, and know that the more we think these thoughts and act on them, the more we become transformed into the image of the Infinite God.  And if God is with us, then truly who can stand against us?

                                   

The Secret to Unleashing The Infinite, Creative, and Limitless Power of Spirit In Your Life

What would you say if I told you that within you lies an infinite, creative, and limitless power? What would you do if you knew that you could easily access this power through focused meditation, the use of affirmations and denials, and living a life of service and charity? And further, how do you think your life would change if you began unfolding this power in your life today?

It is by now an accepted fact of science that the human mind operates on two levels. The first level is the objective or conscious level. This level of the mind thinks, reasons, makes hypothesis, and makes choices. It is a small part of the overall human mind, the tip of the iceberg so to speak. The second level of the human mind is much larger, and usually operates in the background hidden from the musing, reasoning's, and deliberations of the objective mind. This is the subconscious or unconscious mind. The subconscious is like the part of an iceberg hidden by the water. It is the largest part of the iceberg (ask the Titanic!), and operates largely unseen and in the background. It is easy to take the subconscious mind for granted for this reason, however, it is a mistake to ignore the subconscious.

The subconscious is a giant, and is extremely powerful. It operates largely on suggestion, so whatever you send to it unfiltered by the objective mind will usually end up manifesting itself at some point in your life. Thus it is extremely important to learn to control the influences, thoughts, and suggestions which bombard us on a daily basis, so that our subconscious is focused on only our good.

The conscious and subconscious minds are very powerful. However, they are still limited because they function in the material realm only. They are not infinite, and limitlessly creative. That distinction is held for the higher, or spiritual mind.

The universe we inhabit is very real. However, it is only a small reflection of the sum total of reality. The conscious and subconscious minds, as powerful as they are, are limited by our senses. However, the spiritual or higher mind transcends these limitations through inspiration, wisdom, and truth. Once we learn to access this higher mind, this inner wisdom, we truly overcome. Our lives become infinitely more powerful because spirit is an infinite power. Spirit is the foundation and driving energy of the created, material universe.

This spiritual mind, the Power of the Spirit, is the real Secret, and the Master Key to truly manifesting goodness and abundance in life. Through meditation, focused affirmations and denials, and good works we can release into our lives more good than we can imagine.

How do you contact the higher mind? By spending time, each morning and evening, entering the silence and learning to listen to its voice. By practicing affirmations and denials which strengthen and fortify your mind and heart. And by living a life of service and commitment to oneself, and one's neighbor.

We are more than we imagine because we have access to the infinite power of spirit. Begin practicing meditation and affirmations today and watch your life begin to change in ways you never imagined.

What is Meditation? An Exploration of the Possible Benefits of Meditation

Can the practice of meditation really relieve stress, bring serenity, and possibly improve your health?

Scientific studies seem to indicate that it can. Meditation has often been used as an effective method of stress and pain relief. Meditation has also been shown to be effective in increasing attention span, which may be good news for people who have attention deficit disorder. The evidence is clear, although much study still needs to be done, meditation has been shown to help relieve stress, bring a sense of serenity, and may improve some health issues like attention deficit disorder.

However, while meditation promises a host of verifiable benefits, and maybe others yet undiscovered, it remains shrouded in mystery. However, as mysterious as it may seem to the beginner, over 20 million Americans are now practicing some form of meditation. Are you interested in joining this growing number of people who are practicing meditation to improve their quality of life? If so, this lens will attempt to unveil some of those mysteries for you, and offer good, balanced information which will help you unlock the secrets of mediation, and be able to take advantage of its unique benefits.

Let me begin with a disclaimer. I strongly believe that meditation can be a powerful tool for personal growth and healing for everyone who practices it. However, some meditation techniques are not appropriate for most people, and in some cases are self-hypnosis programs which, in my opinion, you want to stay as far away from as possible. Be cautious as you begin your meditation journey, and keep your meditations as simple as possible. Any meditation program that calls for long hours, complicated breathing techniques, or asks you to buy lots of materials or go on long retreats, is not necessary for beginners. However, where you go on your meditation journey is up to you. My advice at the beginning is to keep it as simple and easy to use as possible. This will ensure you get off to a good, positive start.

One last disclaimer. The mind is very powerful and you may find that once you start to spend time exploring the deep recesses of your mind, you are becoming aware of strong emotions, or issues which you had long ago repressed, or forgotten about. You may find that these issues are causing you distress. If so, you may need to seek professional help, or the help of a member of the religious clergy of your particular spiritual tradition to deal with the problem. Meditation is a tool to help guide us to good health. Sometimes it functions as a sign post to point us in the direction we need to go to get the help we need. Be aware of what you need, and do not substitute meditation for the help of qualified professionals who can further guide you towards serenity and peace of mind.

How to Begin Meditating. Is it AUM or is it OM?

At its most basic level, meditation is the practice of focusing the mind on a particular object. All meditation practices which are common today are rooted in a particular spiritual tradition, and were developed around focusing the mind on the divine, however the divine was conceived to be in that particular tradition. Most of the more advanced meditation practices of these traditions were kept secret (although they can now widely be found all over the internet). They were only available to priests, monks, nuns, and other adepts who had given up everything to learn these secret techniques and achieve enlightenment. By giving up all worldly pursuits, and submitting to the discipline of a master, guru, or church, a person showed his/her worthiness to be trusted with these secret teachings, among them specific methods of meditation and breathing which were designed to bring a person into an altered state of consciousness. Eventually, if the student faithfully practiced and followed the advice and teachings of his spiritual teacher or church, he/she could achieve a state known as divine union. This state of divine union is called many different things like satori, nirvana, or Kingdom of Heaven, however, while the names are different, the experience of divine union is always the same for those who achieve it. The practitioner who achieves divine union experiences an expanded state of consciousness where he/she feels completely submerged into another reality, one of which he/she is a part of, yet is completely beyond them as well.

It is impossible to avoid the fact that all meditation methods are rooted in a particular religious tradition. If you are an atheist, it will be difficult to find practices which do not, at some level, point to something beyond as the source of all existence. And even if you are not an atheist, you need to come to grips with this fact before beginning meditation, otherwise you will find yourself confused and frustrated. For example, some westerners can easily incorporate eastern meditation practices into their lives. However, eastern practices are centered around certain fundamental principles; like Karma and Reincarnation. Eastern meditation also demands, in some traditions, total detachment from all worldly pursuits. Westerners, (like myself, I have problems with these beliefs), may find it difficult to accept these teachings, affecting the quality of the meditation.

What do you believe? Are you a Christian who wants to develop a deeper relationship with Jesus? Or are you suspicious of organized religion, but open to the possibility of some reality that exists as the source of all life, but are unready to commit to a particular religious tradition? Be honest, because the answers you get will determine what kind of meditation practice you use, and how effective it is.