Dependance and Dependability

I have taken a position with an organization that advocates for mental health patients, It's called Mental Health America of Greater Saint Louis. My job is to teach a class called the Bridges Program, it's meant to inform and empower our clients to reach their life goals. Personally I can't think of one unaccomplished goal in my own life which would be obtainable. After years of personal experience dealing with disability and treatment, my own coping skills are still inadequate I feel. The next time i am facing a difficult and stressful situation in life I don't know how well I will fare. If I have anything to share that would help others cope better, I would be surprised. But the content of these classes is perfectly represented within a teacher's manual; and teaching the class consists of reading the material out-loud more or less. So I wouldn't say that its a difficult job for 2 hours per week over 10 weeks.

One of my good friends says I need to do this so that my life can have purpose again, but I think that my life is already meaningful enough, I don't really need to do more. But I took the teacher training years ago when it was available and now they need someone to do the work. I have been pursuing my case for disability benefits from our Social Security System here in the USA for many years. I once had them but I was taken off because I tried to work; unsuccessfully in my opinion. I maintain that I am unemployable and uncompetitive as an employee in the field of unskilled labor. A couple of Social Security Judges have already decided that I am able to work, but they've never taken the time to convince me they were right. In fact time is one commodity in short supply for a professional judge's it seems, they hold interviews which is not quite the same thing as a simple conversation.

Perhaps the only thing which is disabling me today should be defined as a Personality Defect rather than a medical condition. But I am the product of my life's experience; and it hasn't all been good or pleasant experience. Even though I have worked in the past, I never once managed to obtain financial independence. I was never able to support myself, let alone a family; I have always been dependent on my parents for support. They have always paid some of my bills, they paid for the cars and the car insurance, when I lived on my own they paid my rent. Still Dad has never once claimed me as a dependent in his tax filings even though that is the truth. If I fail to qualify for the disability benefits I also fail to qualify for the medical coverage from Medicare, which is something that I really do need. Otherwise all my medical expenses will be paid by my father, which I deem to be unfair because Dad worked and paid for the disability insurance all his adult life, and he shouldn't have to bear the full burden of my care. He paid for protection as every US citizen does; my psychiatrist is of the opinion that my case has been denied on the grounds that Dad is well-off financially.

Admittedly I've spent long hours worrying over the possibility I'll be drawn into court over my unpaid child support. But i'm unmoved to take any action in the matter that would eliminate that possibility, my attitude is one of waiting out the situation. I've also spent long hours worrying over such problems as the eventual extinction of my species here on planet Earth. I'm sure that most people would agree that it's well beyond my individual power to influence the outcome of historical events. And of course if we are truly powerless to change a thing, we should try not to be too concerned about possible futures. I would love to save the World for Peace on Earth, but clearly that goes well beyond my abilities. And to be honest, should I be the one to say how other people should behave; because changing the world means changing human behavior more or less. If I could do one thing to improve the quality of life for my own children, by all means I should try to do that thing.

My daughter is a bit older than the two boys and she's become disenchanted with the world and committed to serve God in some way. By serving God I think she means to convert people to the doctrines of Christianity, she's been posting a sort of video blog on youtube, airing her own convictions. If I could do one thing for my children they should see the Earth as I see it; as a wonderful and beautiful place to live. But then I would have to prove to them that Humanity only makes the world a better place, and that's a hard thing to credit. We know that bad things have happened in the past and that bad things continue to happen in modern times. And I want to sell them on the idea that this is HEAVEN, the world is perfect just the way that it is. I want to convince my daughter that everyone makes their own choices in life and that God guarantees each of us free-will; but she's already convinced that some higher-power is in control of the world for ill, the personality of the devil or Satan. If I try to suggest that no such spirit of pure-evil exists or has influence over the world she would be vehemently opposed. Conveniently this is exactly what our friend Satan wants people to think, I've been duped into believing it. Ultimately we ourselves are responsible for conditions here on planet Earth, we can not easily lay the blame on some higher-authority than humanity itself.

But still there really is a God who cares about us, at least I am convinced of that. A God who has everything and needs nothing from us not even our love. We are the ones with needs and desires, God is unlike one of us and we can never become like God or a God. We are entirely dependent upon God every moment of the day and we can never become independent; not even God can give us independence from his grace. The only thing that one of us really needs to feel happy, is to trust God to be dependable. "I know that I will never be forsaken, I've found my way into God's heart." If we can say this and believe in our heart that God is trustworthy, then we have won the greatest victory in life. And in this respect I have been remarkably successful, and I have never achieved a lot of success as the world defines success in life. I don't have to be the better man, I just have to improve myself. If life on Earth could be described as once Grade Role-Playing Game, then clearly the player's could be ranked in any number of ways. But once the full story has been told, our individual ranks don't matter. It doesn't really matter how well we compare to one-another, that some form of progress was made makes all the difference.

Once we come to full appreciation that we are Established within the Kingdom of Heaven (this Heaven) we are forever separated from the circumstances of our lives here on planet Earth. We can not be defined by our accomplishments, and we are not defined by our intellect or rationality. We are only defined by the fact that we exist and have existed as a part of this greater whole, and that we have been blessed with the gift of consciousness. Perhaps we really do have some definate beginnings here in the Universe, but now that we are a part of it we will be a part of it for as long as it lasts. And it may very well last forever, despite the fact that it also has a definite beginning by all appearances. We have to be satisfied that we live in Eternity even though ultimately we ourselves (and this Creation) are not eternal. Will consciousness endure beyond our mortal ends? We have a few good reasons to think that it might. We have a good reason to think that all of this physical stuff is NOT the sum total of Creation, there is still something more to this Universe, something that has never really been seen. But when we look out to the distant stars and galaxies we find the hard scientific evidence that there really is something more. And how many of us have heard a tale of the near-death experience? A few of us have died and been revived, and some of these people have a story to tell. A story of an experience and of a memory when there was no brain to remember it.

If God or Creator guarantees us certain individual and equal rights, its difficult to define what those rights might be. Clearly we all want more rights than God does guarantee, to this end we have established governments backed by the threat of violent means to secure the desires of a few. A portion of the world's population is served by tyranny, and we do not fight against tyranny when it serves us. Life is very very good for those people who get to make the rules and conditions. Of course its not quite good enough to be able to make rules, you have to be able to bind other people to those rules. But clearly even the threat of physical molestation is not enough to bind some people; because if they have a good reason to feel angry about something, they are often willing to die (and to kill) for a cause. This will to violence shapes our world, "Peace through Strength," we say and the power to destroy guarantees our right to govern the rest of the world. So long as the people place their faith in the idea that, "might makes right" it will always be like this. Popular consent and numbers of votes provide all the necessary rational for doing things a certain way. But I think that history has proven well enough that a man may have good reasons and still do the wrong thing. Enough people would argue that the world shouldn't be the way that it is, and its not the place of perfection that it could be. Life doesn't have to be hard or unpleasant, it could be enjoyable and comfortable for all the people. No one should be made to suffer so that someone else can get ahead of the game, but some pockets are always growing deeper while many people go without food and adequate shelter. How can we make sure that everyone has enough, there's too many of us and our numbers are constantly growing while the world's natural resources are dwindling. And all the while it seems fundamental human nature to struggle for a larger share; we'll take whatever we can get and always want more than we have.

We are all-together on the road to becoming something more than we have been. Its true that we each begin life with some small power over creation or reality. We are endowed by consciousness and therefor volition, a muscle to move hands and shape the world around us. And we have created tools that extend our reach and our strength, they empower us to do more. And we have created the Hierarchy in order to better organize a group effort to change the world in ways that a single person alone could never accomplish. Even given unlimited time and intelligence no one person could ever recreate the world as it stands today. And someone decides which jobs will get done, and what needs we can afford to neglect. And we all make these kinds of judgments to decide who we would like to have for our friends, and which people we can afford to neglect. And I guess we have to make these kinds of judgments because our capacity to pay attention is limited. But so long as we are all on this journey together, is it even possible that we could ever become more than merely human? Perhaps, as many of us do allow for higher-powers, we have something more to aspire too. We can imagine a Creator, a person of greater authority and greater power with unlimited reach within this Universe. And as soon as we imagine such a great person, we can imagine a multitude of lesser persons, a population of Angels and Demons above humanity yet beneath God. And according to the evidence of our own eyes and experience, there is a multitude of persons within this Heaven. We are all aware of many other persons just like ourselves, our peers; although some we may think are less than peers. I stand above someone else and perhaps there is a lord above me, hopefully someone that I can admire and respect. Or perhaps we should only give recognition and pay homage to the Lord of all Lords, the Creator himself. But of course very few of us have ever been given the opportunity to meet such a person. If such a person exists they seem to be undemanding, content to allow humanity to govern itself, making no effort to govern us here on Earth. Of course a great many people trust Moses and believe that a God did give humanity a few rules, more likely Moses used his best judgment and scribed the 10 commandments himself. I can very well appreciate and feel the anguish of a man who desires guidance from the God of his own belief when nothing comes. At least nothing as overt as a booming voice from the sky, if men ever do enjoy guidance from on high its never clear and obvious how it comes to us. But as I've heard a few people testify, and as Moses did claim to experience, and which i myself have experienced, occasionally there is some sign which represents objective reality for the observer and is undeniably divine or at least super-natural.

I met one person via Facebook who claims a personal experience of Jesus in the flesh, and said that the Lord gives him instruction frequently. He suggested that I pray to Jesus for the things I want, and keep a written record of the prayers that are answered. I esentially told him i wouldn't presume to make a score-card for Jesus; and while he may pray for the things he wants, he doesn't really know who or how many higher-powers can hear those prayers. If we speak the words out loud or write them down then practically anyone and everyone could be a witness to our desires. We've all heard someone pray before, in-fact we have some Prayers of Jesus in a written record. And who did Jesus say we should pray to, himself? I think he clearly said we should pray to this other person he called, "Heavenly Father." The writers of the New-Testament books have confused the issue further by saying that the father and the son are one and the same person more or less; and Jesus is presented as the Creator. But evidently Jesus was a human-being like us, with a definite beginning at the time of his conception, and before this moment in time we are nothing that can be accounted for. The Bible suggests that Life on Earth began as the Angels and Demons fell from Heaven, and it's a favorite doctrine of some that we did indeed enjoy some pre-existence and that perhaps we even chose to be here. But for all these people it is not a matter remembered but an article of faith, they have made an investment in this thing as truth, and if it is wrong they only stand to be disappointed. I for one am satisfied that I did not come here from somewhere else, nor was a choice made, clearly we don't always get to make a choice and choices are always being made of which we are completely unaware. Inevitably some of those choices being made by other persons will impact our lives directly. The person in question may very well be dead and long gone from our world and still exert some influence by a decision they made. The past decisions or discoveries which matter the most in our lives are usually very well documented whether or not we ever learn to read and understand them ourselves. These are our arguments, our rationality, whenever we take action in the world it has to make some kind of sense. And when we can see the sense of it, it becomes justifiable; if we can not make sense of it then it may be deemed unjustifiable.

Most human behaviors and acts deemed criminal will be counted as unjustifiable. There may very well be some kind of rational behind such deeds, but the rational may be considered one of insanity. Of course we like the world better if it all makes perfect sense, we would like to have a reason for our existence, a reason that we can understand. The sane rational world is the one we want to live in, a world where every human behavior and deed can be justifiable. Well it is all justifiable, and because human behavior is always justifiable in consideration of all conditions and circumstances, it is not punishable. We can always argue for a case of ignorance, a person did act without some knowledge, their rational may have been erroneous but perhaps it can be understandable how the error occurred? Jesus himself used this argument to suggest that humanity deserves a pardon, and not just on an individual case by case basis but as a community of people. There are things we have done as a community that might be punishable, but the people simply didn't know any better.

So there is my rational and my argument, the sum total of human behavior is always justifiable, the Earth is and has always been a place of perfection. If we have been victims of Insanity we are not to blame for this, in most cases we have been taught what to believe in. If we have been given bad instructions we are blameless for this. Our intellect and rationality has faults, and we are often motivated to act out of very passionate feelings, we don't always need a good reason for doing the things we do. In most every case we are able to make some kind of sense out of our own choices, decisions and actions. If my beliefs or my feelings and my faith make no sense to anyone else its of little consequence to me, I do not take my validation from the community of humankind, I only need to be presentable before my creator. In my own faith everything that we do experience that is subjective, can be rendered objective before God. God is the one great observer of all things, all human experience is genuine experience. When we honestly believe a thing, God knows exactly what it is we believe, therefore he is always aware of how we have been motivated.

I trust God, he may not guarantee my life to be free of all suffering, but I know that he's dependable for something that I will always need. I would love to be guaranteed freedom from molestation, freedom to travel unhindered by worldly authorities and to make my residence wherever I choose. I would love to be guaranteed the means get all manner of material goods. And above all else, I would love to be guaranteed the means and capacity to become something more than I am today, a person far less limited and far more empowered. If I could get one thing guaranteed for the whole of humanity it would be the long life, that they should be made to live again and long enough to become wise. My family and friends should all enjoy the opportunity to learn history first-hand, in conversation with the people who lived it. I think it is not wrong that we might judge one another, but we should all learn to be kind and forgiving judges. We only need to realize that an opinion is not a thing set in stone, our feelings may be subject to change over thousands of years of experience. And in the long run, whatever the truth may be, we should be happy with it.

For What Are We Responsible?

We fight a battle for survival every day; and we win it little by little. But no-one has ever managed to win this battle completely and decisively. For some of us the battle is very easy, more often pleasent than un-pleasent. No-one can show us how it should be fought, we struggle through our own trials and errors.

There's no argueing philosophy with a man of action. We can not get through life by avoiding work. It seems that some battles need to be fought by someone. Quite often we trust not in our God more than superior firepower. Is it truely the most persuasive argument, "Do or be killed?" For many there is some noble cause worth dieing for. By submiting to an aggressor we think it does cause our loss of dignity. We want rights, and to be treated as soverign powers, independent and creditable. We insist, we demand, fair treatment and when its not forthcoming we complain. The right to life alone is most sacred, even if we must survive a life of hardship. Better endurance lends itself to better solutions, in a world full of combatants we win by outliving them.

When we do place our trust in Higher-Powers we need to cultivate a great deal of patience. It seems the best answer to violent conflict is simply to do nothing, wait and occupy yourself with a little game. If we could walk away from a heated argument, we can only get so far away. And then we must contemplate this ineffable companionship and our great interdependence; there is no divorce, no possibility of seperation. We may not choose to ignore our peers because the world is full of dependencies; otherwise we are neglectful of our own responsibility. But what demands can we really make? We often try to get away with as much as we can, we presume that one person may have superior authority. And if we believe thats true we often struggle to be that person.

If there were an authority above all men, its hardly offering to solve our problems for us. We can not complain about the means to an end, where we see no means employed. No one can tell the boss what problems are his responsibility, or how they should be solved. The best we can do is make a suggestion, and offer up our rationale. We can plan for the future we find most desireable, but it wouldn't be realistic to think some divine agency will guide is right to it effortlessly. Some of us even feel that some particular sort of future has been promised, and this possibility has been described in a variety of ways. More often than not the wicked should be punished and our oppressors permanently condemned to some seperate existance. You see we long for seperation, we think it the best solution. If only we could each choose our most favored companions, then we must hope to be chosen by them as well. But who can really decide where to draw the dividing line? Who knows best what is good for us in the long run? Perhaps there is a God who will judge between us, who loves some more than others and dispenses either honor or dishonor. And for what might a person be honored; we are often at odds over this in our faith. For what noble cause has been served, at personal risk and sacrifice. Those who have proven most effective at changing the world, whether they changed it for better for for worse should reap the greater rewards or punishment.

But just for a moment try to imagine a future Earth without punishment or rewards. There is no glory in all the works of humanity that dwells upon us, because all glory goes up to God. The one source of all inspiration, whether a man be inspired for good will or ill. The Arts of Humanity will endure forever and be scribed upon history and the memory of all things even if Life fails us. But it is life that we should really want, manifestation and everything that goes along with it. That is the promise of a ressurection, neverending life that mortality flees beyond the farthest horizons. None may be punished with death, we must endure that company long time. Because there is only one Earth, and its a small world such that none may escape it. There is no other world in the furthest reaches of the Universe that a man may inhabit, and therby gain a greater degree of seperation from his own community. Its a world where no-one can be bothered to lie about something that did happen, only the true story may prevail, it will be told and re-told. And if we can be judged, we judge one-another; if we can be forgiven that person must learn self-love.

But is the ressurection really a promise from some divinity with the power to make it real? Is that a possibility? Is that fated? Is it gaurenteed or conditional? The Universe itself is wonderfully strange and its hard to say what's possible here or to rule out one possibility. If we are willing to consider testamony as evidence, there is a considerable amount of evidence favoring divine powers. There may be a kind of super-nature underlying the fabric of reality that is easily overlooked because we suffer limitation in the ways we can observe this reality. There may yet be some subtle quality here, of which we do partake, that has never been measured or weighed. Observational evidence suggests that there really is an invisible world, invisible yet substantial and influential.

It shouldn't be hard for us to imagine one person, one personality. And still very easy to imagine a multitude of persons and personalities, because we can see that much evidence around us. Clearly there are, and have been numberous persons existant, inhabiting this place. But usually we imagine the limits of this great multitude can be defined by Humanity itself. If there is any purpose to the Universe we must be it, we give it purpose. Without the life of homo-sapiens this Universe should be rendered meaningless, a highly predjudiced point-of-view. And while we observe one another, its easy to imagine another intelligent personality beyond the scope of Humanity. Individually we human beings exert some influence over the material world around us, we are endowed with some kind of common power over reality. And we have imagined a person with more power and influence over this reality than we have. We have imagined a Creator for all this stuff, a person of superior intelligence and longevity. It couldn't possibly be true just because so many of us have believed in it. There is absolutely nothing within reality that could depend upon our beliefs and opinions, there are only factual events. There are events that we have not observed ourselves, some events that no man has ever observed because afterall some places are far distant and history is longer than Life itself. But our friend the Creator has some kind of life that does extend at least to the very beginings of creation. Inasmuch as we have discovered that this wonderful place does have some definate beginings, it's not by appearances an Eternal thing. Of course if the Universe does have a definate begining we can easily imagine it may have a definate end as well. There are few things that we have been able to apprehend with our senses that seem to last forever. Certainly some aspects of creation will last a very long time, far longer than a single human life-time, perhaps longer than the life of the species. If we try, we might be able to imagine an Earth and a Universe where Humanity has become extinct, we know of other species that have failed here, to be found no more.

While we are here, we are men and women of action; Life demands work from us. We can labor to make the Earth a more comfortable place to live, we have succeeded in this respect and may continue to succeed. Yes there are battles for us to fight, there are causes to be served. There are tyrants to be opposed; there are violent men to be vanquished. And we never cease struggleing for a little bit more even after life has become easy for us.
Its not a bad thing to have desires, to want better and more and higher-quality experience. It's not entirely a bad thing when the neccessities of life become convienient to most of us. We can spend some of our time in leisure and rest, life may be a stuggle or a battle but its not a constant battle. Occassionally there is a moment that we can enjoy. There really is no other purpose to life than simply to endure for as long as possible. Ideally we will discover that we ourselves last forever, something endures beyond mortal ends, the physical self is not the full story. A consciouness of personality that perhaps longs for its loss and a return to manifestation. To embrace Life once again, what sacrifices should we be willing to make for this boon? And if there is some sacrifice that we can make to assure this, can one person make it for all the rest? It would take a God to make such a sacrifice as this, human-beings are too feeble. And of course some people do believe that the sacrifice has already been made; salvation favors a friend to that Lord.

Where Art Thou oh Great Kingdom

The Kingdom of Heaven is here and now on Planet Earth as one person among six and one-half billion now living. As Jesus always proclaimed the Kingdom is near at hand, and not coming soon to a theater near you. The Kingdom lived in the person of Jesus, as it lives in me. If only because we know in our hearts that we belong to it, and it belongs to us. We take our place among Kings and Lords, of which there have been many before us. We possess a small piece of the world in this flesh and bone that we wear like a garment. That is enough of a territory within the realm of manifestation for a fair kingdom, it doesn't really depend upon greater authority than any man may have.

I am a nation of the world unto myself, although I reside within the national borders of these United States of America. I am not an American, I am an Earthling without respect for the world's political boundaries. I am not a patriot and citizen of the USA, although by birth I may make that claim; instead I am a citizen of the whole world and Humanity. Every man i call brother, and every woman i call sister, and every child i call my child. But in truth even the adults are my children because I claim them, I claim responsibility for them. For the 14 billion citizens of Humanity, of those now living and all those who have already lived and passed away, I claim responsibility. And what does this responsibility demand from me? I should do whatever can be done to promote the welfare of all people, because I am one of the people and I have a special interest in the people. But I get to decide for myself what it is that the people deserve from me, and how it will be delivered. And of course I am subject to certain limitations; I certainly do not have the means, independently, to feed the hungry. My authority goes as far as it does, and I have done nothing to gather supporters from the world. I have no need to command the labors of men, they have already organized themselves to pursue their own goals in the world. And it pleases me that roads have been built, and bridges, and cities.

The challenge for me now is to win the world as a personal property, not that I need so much for myself. But with property comes property rights and the right to make demands. Such authority as I require for my work could never be granted by a national government or a king of the Earth. No power on Earth can guarantee my rights, especially If I believe it is the right to govern all the people. I want to take my turn at making all the rules, I have waited for the opportunity very patiently. But clearly I do not have an army of the world's young men and women standing behind my great cause, who would be willing to fight and to kill for me. Evidently I can not muster the force required to beat the people into submission. They will never allow me to exercise my property rights, no amount of argument would ever suffice to convince the people the whole world belongs to one man. But there must be a Landlord you see, its a role required by historical precedents, an no one man has ever been able to fill that role. Its a job or career much like any other job or career, and clearly a position of great authority, just waiting for the man who can fill the requirements. No-one can really say what qualifications will be needed to govern the world, we are not choosing our candidates, no-one is voting on the matter.

You really only need to win one vote to win the job, you only need one supporter. If that person is the Lord of Angels and Demons alike, Father to the stars and planets of Heaven, and a force unto itself. The highest possible authority has never resided here on planet Earth. And as a child growing up in America, I believe we were all taught to believe in this Higher-Authority as we pledged allegiance to the American Flag and said the words, "One Nation under God." If higher-powers had the will to intervene in our human affairs, every patriotic American should bow to it. Even Jesus himself who many have believed to be a Lord and King, has a Lord and King above him and he admits as much. If the spirit of Christ is an eternal principle of God as exemplified by the ideal first-born son, then there must also be an eternal principle for the great sire and progenitor. The Heavenly Father himself, a mortal man and not a God descending from Heaven. Its hard to reconcile the idea of a Heavenly Father with a man who has a beginning and a natural birth. If such a person could appear in our world in modern times, then who was it that formed Adam and Eve? Who is this person who wrestled with Jacob and gave him the name Israel? And who's voice was it that spoke to Moses from the burning bush? We have always believed these persons are God, and that God has appeared in our world as a man in the past. Heavenly Father has been considered a God by Christians, and every bit as eternal as a God should be, ever-present in the long-distant past. To allow for the possibility of a mere mortal man to rise into that position in these latter-days breaks the continuity of our story.

But that is exactly the way things work in the Kingdom of Heaven. For every living species there must be a Sire to sponsor them before the agencies of Heaven. In a small way Moses himself played that role but only for the people of Israel. Moses did not say to himself, "I am an Egyptian, I am everyman and love all men equally." Moses showed preference, and that the true King of Kings among men can not do. The true King and Sire must be the Good Father to all people, he can not even prefer the good and honorable over the wicked. He must say to himself, "Every last man is worth fighting for, and deserves good, and deserves salvation." He must believe that no man deserves punishment, he must see the criminal as a victim. Time alone makes all men wise and redeemable, and everyone deserves more time. To learn and to grow and become mature, that is the one great goal of life and God's plan.

Homosexuality and the Kingdom of Heaven

Technically sex is all about making babies and not about our personal pleasure; however it is this mutual pleasure which often binds us together in partnership. If we can manage to make a lasting commitment to another person, it's always a good thing. Of course we may have feelings of love for another person without sex ever coming into the relationship, and its hardly wrong to have feelings of love for a person of the same sex. But when we do have feelings of physical attraction towards person's of the same sex; I don't think its as simple as making a choice to feel that way. Indeed some people seem to have been made homosexual, by whatever agency of creation, and we really have no explanation for why this is so. Like it or not, homosexuality is a part of Life, and we shouldn't have a problem with that so long we enjoy some personal freedom. No-one should be forced into sex or molested in any other way, if we did not have to fear this, then we should have no fear of homosexuality.

If there are two consenting adults, bound together by emotional commitments they should be allowed to sanctify that union as they see fit. Whether you want to call it a marriage or a civil union, a little ceremony is good and far better than a written contract. And all the trouble with it begins and ends with legal entitlements that should be due to a spouse and family members of someone who is gainfully employed. It should be enough to prove our commitment to another human-being just to live together in one household, it shouldn't require a legal document as proof. But most people fail to make the lasting commitment, and we need a way to settle disputes when partners separate. Unfortunately such matters often require a court of law if our partners can not separate amicably. We really have to wonder how Love fails us so often, or ask if there was truly Love in the first place.

More often than not, we expect a little fealty from our sex partners; we demand exclusivity. Of course this makes perfectly good sense whenever offspring may be involved because you have to resolve the matter of who will do the parenting. If we allowed for a larger household and more partners, the issue of parenting could benefit. But most of us feel that we would have to sacrifice to much of our rights and privileges to an expanded partnership. As much as some people would like to dominate the lives of their children, we share the burden of parenting with the greater community. In a perfect world we would share the financial obligations as well, among every adult citizen of the community. For the most part our children will get to choose their own hero's in life, mom and dad often provide the best examples of what not to be. I think its fair to say that homosexual couples could do the parenting job as well as anyone else, and if they desire to have children should be allowed to adopt.

So is there a place for Homosexuals within the Kingdom of Heaven? If that Kingdom may be extended to Planet Earth there should be. As the Earth is one planet in the vast expanse of Heaven, I've repeatedly tried to make the point that it's already a part of that Kingdom. But many of God's faithful and true believers will tell you that the Kingdom of Heaven is something else, something separate from this Universe even something unmanifest. Our spirits are caught up to this Heavenly Kingdom only when we die and leave this manifestation behind. But in my opinion these 3-dimensions of physical existence of which we are most familiar is not the full story. Manifestation is key to existence, no thing may exist in an unmanifest condition. And every manifest thing exists within God's presence, separation from God's presence is not a possibility. Many scriptural and inspired writings talk about separation as either a fact or a promise, some of Heaven's personalities will be cast out to another realm forever separated from God's presence because they are enemies to God. But in my estimation most people are confused about who God is and what it is exactly that he does for us. Some people feel that there can be more than one God, and perhaps even a man can become Godlike. There may be many Lords within the Kingdom of Heaven, each with his own authority and capacity to accomplish work. Some of these Lords may have followers and some may have no followers, and every Lord pays homage to a higher Lord. Until you come to the Lord of Lords and yet still beyond him lies the One-True-And-Most-High-God. The Kingdom of Heaven may yet be one Kingdom among many, even our creator may have his peers. But until a man grows so much that he can become a Heaven unto himself, we are bound to this Heaven as children of a Higher-Power.

We are creators and progenitors here on planet Earth, but we are not THE CREATOR, we are not THE PROGENITOR of the species. And no matter what happens to us we can never be elevated to these roles. A man can never become A God, a person can not become like God, there can never be more than ONE God. But a man can become something more than his beginnings. And you'll just have to trust that there is a beginning to all good things under Heaven, no human-being is or has ever been eternal. But we are part of eternity now so we have not failed, and I pray thee God that we can become a more durable part of eternity and endure forever. If you can see the great multitude as personalities we can take a broader view on this Kingdom, clearly it is not limited to just human-beings. But every personality is dependent on this flow from God as the one and continuous source of consciousness, consciousness is our best evidence for God's presence within the Universe.

Dawning of Aquarian Age

The People apply their own judgement to create a sliding scale of importance; which is really neccessary if you're applying that judgement to tasks. Some jobs have dependencies and need to be completed before other jobs can be done. But its not so great if we apply the same judgement to persons, and decide that some one person is more or less important than another person. Clearly some people are more or less influential in our Global Community, which leads us to believe that power and authority can be focused on an individual. But the truth is we are equally powerful and equally important. Time is the commodity, we are alloted equal shares at the exact same rate, and it spends in the exact same way - although you may choose what to spend it on. 1 hour out of any human life is just as precious, irreguardless of the person's ability to perform some useful labor. The most fundamental activities of human life - such as breathing for example; are work and labor intensive - but nobody ever gets paid just for breathing. But most of us deserve some recognition just for surviving in this world, longevity is a fair measure of success. Many of us have had to endure some kind of hardship in life, it doesn't always seem fair, but there is no higher authority to gaurentee us comfort and security. We suffer the loss of our property or our companions as gracefully as we can; and there is no-one really to blame for these losses, thats just the nature of reality. While its true that we collectively create our own reality to a degree, the greater part of it is circumstantial and beyond our power to affect or control. But since we are each endowed by some power of will to influence our environment, we still get to make choices of consequence. We shouldn't have to depend so much on the choices that other people are making all the time, independence is freedom, but our interdependence is unavoidable. Most of the time our interdependence works out to be an advantage, but someone is always trying to take advantage of us. We don't always get a fair exchange of labor for labor, someone is always looking to profit. Who would choose to forego profits in favor of fairplay, and share the advantages life has given us? There are few things in life that we may easily afford to give away, and not be deprived of something valuable. We may spend an hour of our time only once.

We should exercise some care not to become too demanding of other people's time and attention; but not because we are unimportant, but because we are NOT more important and shouldn't want to promote the other guy's importance above our own.

When we can look at the 6.5 billion people without prejudice and see peers, companions, and enduring relationships we begin to achieve the true spiritual awakening.

The relationships between the people will endure; and you can't say, "But we've never had a conversation, there is no relationship!" In due course of time you may get the opportunity to have that conversation, we only need to be willing.

Majorities and Popular Support

Of course I do not have the means to subdue the American people on my own, but I never work alone. The number of companions I have available is simply unknown, I may easily have a majority opinion behind my great cause. But the truth is I only need to win one supporter, if that person has greater authority and strength than the American people can muster.

If I propose that the world needs to be forced into peace, then obviously such an idea will not make me popular. I could make more of an effort to gather support from the greater community of humanity, but popularity is not a requirement for the King to do his job. We don't vote for a King you see, the King votes for himself, the ultimate minority. The King defines his own career, he's self-employed always. And we should only hope that the person who wins authority over every nation of the world, is motivated by the noblest intentions. Ideas like, "the greater good" should prevail over personal gain.

But what does our world really deserve, and what are the people expecting? Are they expecting a Kind and Loving Father to rise up from their midsts and guide the world to prosperity? A good judge who will not punish the people. Most people seem to agree that there are some wicked men and women here on planet Earth who do deserve punishment. If there is no punishment they will be greatly dissappointed.

But many people who follow the New Testament Bible are expecting an Anti-Christ to rise to power over the world. A great villan and tyrant, but still a person of considerable authority. This person's authority does not come from God, or so it is believed; this is not a person of superior faith. It all seems to depend on the agency of some Higher-Powers which exist between God and Men. A pact with the Devil perhaps, or should we call him the Ancient Dragon? Clearly this person's time and authority on Planet Earth will be limited, if we follow the prophecy. If we look at this person as the Anti-Christ he is just doing a job, and a neccessary job by all indications. And for his part of the work there is a reward, the reward does not sound very appealing but someone has to claim it.
These are the conditions that will advance our great cause, the ultimate survival of our species depends on this. And the promise of our immortality and ressurection depends on this. Therefor we must consider the possiblity that our favorite enemy, the expected anti-christ, is motivated to make the personal sacrifice out of compassion.

Its long been a saying that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
And Hell is meant to be a place of everlasting suffering, nobody wants to end up there. Who can cope with that, and endure it? Only the Most-High-God can grant us the strength to endure everlasting torment. The person who finds himself there may long for an end to come, but the end will be far removed from his reach. Curiously this condition does represent a kind of immortality, and the life of that man must be preserved indefinately.

Of course our great tyrant does not go alone to the fire, he has a companion in the Ancient Dragon, and the Beast of the Earth. I've never talked about the nature of the Beast in my blog as yet. This is a creature of Humanity, it is made up of men and women. Possibly every man and woman should be considered as a part of it. In a sense it represents the modern age of humanity, and our civilization is characterized by it. No one has ever been able to tame the beast, it has a life of its own and pursues it's own interests. Those interests are characterized by 7 heads and 10 kings or horns. We could try to guess at the meaning of those 10 horns, and it would be fair to say that material wealth is one strong motivation among men. Political Authority is another strong motivation, in fact religious leaders depend on that kind of authority as much as leaders of nations do. But we don't really need to have it all well defined in order to understand what it is, in essence it is the system that governs our world today.

If we look at our world today and see evil intentions at play, we might conclude that some of the people are evil. We may believe in a Satanic Higher Power, whispering inspiration into the ears of men. A force that opposes life and peace, engenders hatred and not love. But I have never believed in our purity, as manifest beings we depend on immpurity. And I will never be convinced that a spirit of pure evil exists to oppose the Most-High-God. I will never be convinced that a personality may be seperated from God's presence and continue to exist. Therefor I will never agree on seperate realms of existence, where a God is present in one exaulted realm and absent from another realm. The One-True-And-Most-High-God has no enemies in my humble opinion. The Most-High-God is indifferent about life, it is not particularly Pro-Life, it's neither a champion or opponent of Life. But it is a champion of Persons, and Pro-Choice.

I am still unconvinced that a personality may exist and exercise any will or agency within the Universe unless it is also manifest in some way. Therfor I don't agree with a view of Heaven that has it populated by disembodied unmanifest spirits. I'm willing to consider the posibility that our little Universe has more than 3 physical dimensions, perhaps as many as 10. Clearly there is something to this manifestation that we have been unable to observe. I think that the Universe is a wonderful thing and should be preserved and not destroyed. Personally I can't think of a better way to enjoy the experience of Life, than what we've been given. The Earth is still a beautiful world, it shouldn't be a place of suffering.
I'm perfectly content to live here forever in this Universe just the way that it is, without modification, and with good companions.

If the Ancient Dragon will be a good and faithful companion to me I'm willing to meet this person. I'm willing to meet every person as a peer, and to extend the hand of friendship. To walk and talk together, conversation is the best past-time. Even a good argument can be enjoyable if we can manage our own temper. The best way to enjoy life is to treat the other guy as an equal, and to be treated as an equal, even if we are not equals.

The Fundamental Authority

There is something very fundamental about individual human authority which is exactly the same for all men. Despite all appearances, no one human being can be more or less powerful than another. While its true that some people are more or less influential with the rest of the population; its untrue that their individual interests are more or less important than anyone else's interests. And the interests of a group of people can not be superior to the interests of an individual. So long as these imbalances exist, we may not enjoy equal rights.

I can not appeal to a higher authority than myself among men. To be certain there may be men who are more knowlegeable and better educated and better informed than myself. Simply being very knowledgeable about a particular topic represents a certain kind of authority. But this is not the authority to make demands upon the time and attention of others. The almighty dollar does represent the authority to make demands upon the time and attention of others. But even if you have the dollars, the other party must be agreeable to the terms of payment. Often the person or agency that provides goods or services has all the authority required to define it's own terms and conditions. So that our consumers must agree to those terms at the risk of being refused services, even if they have the means to pay a fair price. For some of life's neccessities we often need to win favor and be considered creditworthy, because we do not have the means to pay. But we might have the means to pay over a length of time; depending on our ability to earn a wage.

How do we evaluate the human potential for earning a wage? We look at a person's qualifications, commonly represented by a diploma or piece of paper that claims we know something. If we know what kinds of jobs a person can do, we can evaluate their earning potential. And the value of any given job depends to a large degree upon the demand for that type of labor, and the availability of qualified laborers. But as individuals we can create our own careers in life, we can choose to work for ourselves and define our own jobs. So long as we can find people willing to compensate us for our time, we may enjoy some financial success.

Now with the authority of all men being equal; we can speculate on a person of higher authority. We can speculate on a person of greater means with less limitations; A non-human entity. Consider for example the authority to grant a plot of land, or a deed to any other material resource. We must first find out if someone owns the land already before we can make use of it. And if a group of people craves a land that is already occupied, they must often fight for it. Possession is nine-tenths of the law concerning property rights. And if we can muster the force to deprive someone else of their property or destroy it, thats the other tenth of the law.

The force required to deprive someone of life may be rendered trivial; and we should consider the physical body to be a personal property. Therefor whenever a person is killed in our world, they are also deprived of personal property here. A house takes some time and effort to build, and minimal effort to destroy, therefor it is easy to deprive someone of their house if not their life. And whenever we are powerless to defend our property rights, we must surrender them. And all other human rights depend upon property rights.

Now if there is a Creator Persona who was instrumental in the formation of our solar system and planet, then naturally that person would enjoy prior-claim to the property. And if it by making some choice made life a possibility here on planet Earth; or anywhere else for that matter, then we are completely and utterly dependent on that decision being made. If it was in fact a decision at all, there must be a greater authority to make that decision. An authority which preceeds the creation of life itself, and is therefor greater in scope than the authority that we as individual people enjoy. But I'm talking about a unique individual with very definate beginings. It would enjoy some degree of influence over the whole process of creation just by its position, and guiding creation may be considered as this person's job or career. If we may be gaurenteed any property rights, that gaurentee must come from it, we can not gaurentee those rights to one-another. But our friend the Creator has never saved one of us from our own mortality to best of my personal knowledge; and thereby gaurenteed us a place in creation. If we are given the right to personal property at all within this realm of manifestation, it appears that grant will always be of limited duration.

Now our good friend, the Universal Overseer, would naturally be interested in Human affairs. And it may be within the realm of possiblities that one of us could win favor from it, to be considered creditworthy. As individuals we have the power to accomplish some work in creation, we are each creators in our own right. If our individual efforts may be of any value to meet the desires of a Universal Overseer, we may find ourselves with a worthy career. And of course the rewards in terms of material wealth may be virtually limitless. But the very best reward we could possibly win is virtually unlimited time, the right to exist and continue to exist. And if we have any ability or capacity to provide services of value, a victory over mortality would allow us to continuosly provide those services. Part of being creditworthy is the ability to make a lasting commitment, but only the creator can guarentee that our existence here is uninteruptable.

Jesus told us the parable of the buried treasure, and he said that the Kingdom of Heaven is very much like this story. The treasure was hidden away in some field, and this field has a landlord who employs people to work in his field. And a man so employed discovers the treasure, but he doesn't run to inform the landlord. Instead he covers up the treasure and hurrys off the earn the means to purchase the land, so that he can claim the treasure himself. The field is the Earth itself, and the buried treasure is the sum total of human experience. Its easy to deduce that nothing in the world is more valuable than personal experience, and the quality and abundance therof. We are blessed when we enjoy long lives because we also enjoy a greater share of personal experience. But where does a man go to earn a wage which represents the means to purchase this field? And who is the current landlord that we must find agreeable to the means we have available? Can a man purchase the world by taking a portion therof and by shaping it and crafting it produce durable goods? How could a well crafted portion of the Earth serve as the means to purchase the whole Earth? There must be something of intrinsic value that does not depend upon manifestation at all or the ability to produce durable goods. And it must be something of value to our prior-employer and current landlord.

Therfor i make my appeal to a higher authority and a Higher-Power; to get something that would be of value to our friend the Creator I'm willing to work. I wanted to earn the wages, to purchase the field, to claim the treasure. What is this mysterious wage if not money? We should call it faith, we all start out life with one talent worth of faith, the proverbial mustard seed. But a seed has the power to draw upon the enviornment and grow, eventually it may become more than a seed. As the seed becomes the good tree, the tree becomes the producer of more seed. That is the fruit of a well developed healthy faith. And so from one good tree a forest may be produced. I am the guardian of this tree and it shelters me from the storms, I defend it from harm because it has a life unto itself. I see the tree and it is good to me, so I have hope for the forest. Am I the tree, or is it just an idea about the nature of reality? Is the flesh of this tree built up from facts and hard knowledge or merely beliefs, perhaps a little of both come together in some kind of alchemy. I don't really know how the seed becomes the tree, I just know it takes time to grow, and perhaps a little nurturing.

If you've read much of my little blog you should be able to tell that my self-love and self-interest is very strong. I believe in myself, I believe that I have something to offer. I believe that I have the power to make a decision, a decision that no-one else will be able to make. And a decision that may be of consequence to you, not because I am popular or influential within the community. But because I have a plan, and the ability to communicate that plan in great detail. I've lived long enough to become very well established as a personality within the great Kingdom of Heaven. I've made my mark upon the fabric of reality, a mark that can not be unmade or erased. That I have been here as one human being among many will pass the test of time, that fact will endure even if this body does not. And I have long known something that most people are never made aware of, there is a God or Creator paying attention to me. Therfor I know that higher-powers are very well informed of every plan that I've made. I just need approval, and something that is not entirely subjective. But I have received some validation that should be considered objective and factual. And if it was only one person who believed in me, that would have been Eve, and whenever two agree on something that is all it really takes to make something objective.

I don't know why the world should be saved, I don't know if the people really deserve peace on Earth or any other blessings of prosperity. As a responsible and mature member of the species, I don't need to decide why. I don't even need to decide who is deserving, as far as picking and chooseing between individuals I can't do it. Evidently some people will have to make sacrifices in order for Peace to be established here, in fact every person may be asked to make some kind of sacrifice. The children of humanity may have to endure a little more hardship but not out of unkindness. Clearly it seems unfair that one of us should be elevated above everyone else, and the playing field leveled. Its hard to justify a King's authority, its just irrational that one man's opinion should take precedence over popular opinion. One must be willing to deliver the species into the Dragon's jaws; because if the beast can not be tamed it serves the greater good that it should be destroyed. Unfortunately the threat of destruction is the only argument which carries much weight with the people.

The fine art of leadership is to limit our options; and to describe what those options will be, then to let the people choose. So there are two paths of advance for the human species. One path leads to Peace and the practice of non-violence, a Peace that will last a Millenium at least. And that path leads on to the promise of a ressurection whether or not thats what you want. The other path leads to genocide in the belief that 'might makes right,' and our story will end. You can forget about any kind of life within this Heaven and take your chances on the Eternal Kingdom. I think that most people would be willing to sacrifice just about anything to be on the path to survival. As soon as they realize they're caught in the trap, they'll start trying to escape. A day of judgement without the threat of punishment, since a swift death can not be viewed as punishment.
We all succeed or fail together as a species, the long struggle for survival is meaningful or rendered futile in an instant.