Body Building For Better Self Confidence

No one should buy a book because of its cover, but publishing companies spend millions on its design and print, so it must be worth something. This isnt going to be a tirade on inner beauty. Everyone knows its essential. The next step is outward, physical beauty and health and, in fact, outward physical health as a result of a career in Bodybuilding can actually aid you in your pursuit of inner beauty, otherwise known as self-confidence. Self-confidence is one of the most essential characteristics we all need to lead a healthy, happy life and bodybuilding can play a big role. Lets see how.

Using positive affirmations will go a long way for you. A positive affirmation is your supportive mental dialogue. Confident people use them. Athletes use them and thus Body Builders use them. When youre lying beneath 500 pounds of weight, youve developed a trust in yourself that few others outside the sports arena experience on a regular basis.

The force of your inner voice, is one strong key to use. When you learn how to talk to yourself this way with regard to Bodybuilding, theres a spillover effect. You start to talk to yourself that way in other trying life situations. (Not the 4 reps part!) It becomes your way of dealing with stressful situations you lie down, breathe deeply, give yourself reassurance and act. Thats how leaders work.

Some people crack under pressure. They dont know how to deal with it. Their fragile mental stability caves in at the first sign of resistance. This type of mentality can lead to anti-social and other unhealthy behavioral patterns. Test your ability to deal with adversity. Stack up the weights and see how many you can squeeze out. You can do more than you think but as you learn to develop the positive affirmation, youll trust yourself more and youll succeed more.

Another great thing about Bodybuilding is the Goal-Setting factor that is such an integral part of the sport. In Bodybuilding, just as in Business, there is an end product and a plan to create it. The product is your body. You have to decide what you want it to look like and then you MUST develop a plan to get there. Everyday, it becomes your job to hit the small benchmarks, the small goals that will eventually lead you to the end product - a well-sculpted structure. Whether the goal is to lift this amount or follow only these nutritional guidelines, the Body Builder must develop the ability to carry a task through to the end or your destined to fail.

Body Building can have a very significant effect on your life, improving your health and mental stamina, and causing you to adapt a better and healthier life style. Learn how you can use Body Building to build confidence and power, visit bodybuilding.advice-tips.com Mario Chompass body building tips and advice site

Rose Vanden Eynden

Someone Else's Point of View on Creation

Here's a different point of view of how life originated in what's going on on our planet and throughout the universe.

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing, and personal development.

Greg is currently working on a spiritual and sell help articles filled with great subjects on a wide array of topics, like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world. His views on religious freedom are slowly changing the way people think about institutional religion.

Make A Live Out Of Your Life
Listen To Your Own Advice

The Laws of Attraction Video Portrays Our Divine Essence

The Laws of Attraction video like "What the Bleep" beautifully portrays that what-we-all-are in our essence is profoundly exquisite, or divine if you will.

Quantum entanglement is an area of science that will one day dominate the way we look at information; the way we communicate secretly and the way our computers do their thing. Problem, however, is, it's really bloody complicated.

Thus, in order to know the Laws of Attraction, you do not need to know about Quantum entanglement. You just need to know that positive emotions brings forth more positive manifestation in your life. You can use the fact in your day-to-day life, but you may want to use its power to its full advantage so you can be ensured of a better and brighter future ahead.

When you catch yourself being "negative," don't beat up on yourself --that only keeps the negativity going. Your emotions power your visualization. Feeling good is a must for the Secret Law to work, as suggested by the Laws of Attraction video.

Affirmations are positive statements that reinforce your definite purpose.

One may ask how does Laws of Attraction help you improve your life? It is purely by meditating you will lower your stress and stress is a major cause for numerous illnesses. Without any stress, your life quality improve. It gives you a healthy mind to pursue your dreams.

Your life journey is not only to enable yourself to go for your dreams, but also to help other individual find their life purpose using the principles of self-belief, values-building processes, collaborative learning, and sustainable personal development based on the Law of Attraction.

You know you have been watching the Law of Attraction video and other daily affirmation videos and take heart that positive results are showing up in surprising ways.

John Lee is an entrepreneur, who has found successes using the Law of Attraction Video. Not only he built his business from 5-figure debts to 5-figure passive income, he helps others to do the same. He is also a student of Bob Proctor and learn The Secret directly from Bob. Visit http://www.isthesecretlawofattraction.com/11-forgotten-laws/law-of-attraction-video/ to claim his FREE 52 email series revealing the secrets of his making 5-figure profit-pulling business on auto-pilot every month for the last one and a half year.

Zlata Filipovic

Spiritual Connection to the Earth movie video

From an oversea's show, spliced to view the message from one elder (Floyd Red Crow Westerman)...how america has come and is destined to go. .. added the Elders Speak to the title

Life of Jesus

You are free to copy this article to your site as long as you include the following resource information with an active link to my site:

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing, and personal development.

Greg is currently working on a spiritual help library filled with great subjects on a wide array of topics, like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world. His views on religious freedom are slowly changing the way people think about institutional religion.

Vibration And Universal Energy
Chakras Book Review

It Just Makes Life A Little Brighter

Just eight letters can mean so much. What eight letters am I talking about U I O E V Y O L, now you say that doesnt make any sense, so lets move them around a little, I Love You. Three little words that can mean so much, and at the same time are often said without much thought. To some it can only be related to the physical act of love.

In todays culture a lot of what is called love is just the physical act. This is not love it is merely physical, but is often confused with the emotion of love. The truth is that true love is emotion pure and simple. Does that mean love cant be physical, absolutely not the physical part of it can be the completion of love. That is the way it should be, the physical act should be a fulfillment of love, not an end unto itself.

We have the other form of love such as a mothers love for her child and visa versa. This love is a bond that lasts forever. Im in my sixties and yet my mom still worries about her little boy. This feeling goes both ways, yet Im sure a mothers love is stronger than that of her siblings.

Sometimes the person saying, I love you is doing so just because they know thats what the other wants to hear. In that case a disservice has been done and it really affects both. The one who says it knows he/she isnt being honest and the one hearing it has a false hope. In the end they both lose.

Maybe if we applied a honest look at the world we would discover the main reason for all the turmoil is because we as humans have forgotten how to love. A lot of our actions bear this out, we have road rage, warfare, politics and a thousand other things that we get caught up in and its always the same. We have to win. Well when its all said and done, just what have we won. Its been said that he who dies with the most toys wins. What does he win hes still dead? Maybe someone who doesnt have many toys but lives longer with a partner that he loves, and who loves him is really the winner. It would appear to me that all the toys in the world arent going to bring much real happiness if there is no love. Now if you love what you are doing and also make a lot of money at it that would be one thing. If youre just doing it for the money then your goal is just material things. To some people material things are everything, but what happens when you either get everything or you cant get something you think you want. There is always that person who is right behind you out to get more than you have, so the race is on and never finished.

I have known many wealthy people and some enjoy life, but so many are so busy making sure that nobody is getting ahead of them or out doing them that they never take any real time out to smell the roses. They also have a tendency to only associate with people who can benefit them in business or is in the proper group. They couldnt even imagine having a friend just because they liked him. I guess in some ways you cant blame them because they have to be cautious because someone is always trying to use them also.

Now having put those on the tables so to speak, how about the real emotion of love.

The American Heritage dictionary has many explanations for it. Among them are:

1. To have a deep, tender, ineffable feeling of affection and solicitude toward (a person).
2. To have a feeling of intense desire and attraction toward (a person).
3. To have an intense emotional attachment to.

All of these listed are the emotion of love. If you really love someone and tell him or her so, and if you hear the same back from them, admit it you heart skips a beat. Your outlook on life just got a little brighter. Those three little words, eight letters, can make your whole day. Without love we just exist. Some say money makes the world go round, but it wouldnt be much of a world without love.

I think I prefer a life of unconditional love, with someone who loves me the same way. To me that makes the love for material things pale by comparison. Maybe you just have to reach a point in life where you decide that material things really dont matter. As long as you have a place to sleep and food to eat, and someone to love that is the real meaning of life. As long as you can say and mean it with all your heart I Love You then you have the essence of life. This of course is just one mans opinion.

Charlie

Charlie Phillips has been in construction, and has done everything from labor, carpenter, heavy equipment operator and contractor. Owned and operated of his own truck over forty-eight states and three provinces in Canada. He never attempted much writing until he came across a little tool called spell checker. There are no titles after his name, just a lot of life experiences. Website: http://www.charliephillips.net

Low Energy People

How Many Disciples Were There, Really

Dealing With Invisible Gods
Why Dont We Listen To Our Parent

A Spiritual Check-up

Now is a great time for a self check-up. The new year is here and you have probably renewed your resolutions from last year. Why settle for failed resolutions again when you can have guaranteed results. The results I'm talking about are the ones that will take you to the next level of performance, promise and purpose.

Not another year of disappointment, defeat and disillusionment.

This is not a physical or mental check-up, it is a check of your spiritual man to make sure that you are prospering eternally and externally in accordance to the promises and purpose of God.

Let's begin our spiritual check up by inspecting our fruit, this will be a major indicator of what is going great and where we need to change.

Then we'll look at how we can increase our efforts to get even better results throughout the year. Followed by identifying strategies to increase our fortitude, the inner strength we'll need to complete the journey we have before us.

God has assembled each of us here for his purpose and cause, in this specific time period and particular place. This cause is bigger than just your needs.

We should be sharing/sowing fruit daily, spurring each other towards love and good deeds. Some of our fruit are peace, love and forgiveness. The areas of life that we are responsible for sharing and showing others.

These are the tools that we have at our disposal to build bridges from us to other people so that God can come across.

If you harbor prejudice, hatred or have not forgiven someone then you are unable to bear fruit and you stand where you are today, because you have failed to fulfill your spiritual purpose and you should take a deeper look inside yourself, to determine why you are not progressing in this important area of life.

Having a brilliant career and a great personal life will seem unimportant if they are centered around emotional indulgence instead of spiritual progress.

How can one change their spiritual condition or situation?

First, let me warn you, that you can't reach any level of true spirituality without obeying the first tenet, which requires that you must be born again. Not just a mere spring cleaning but a rebuilding of the whole house.

Then it takes consistent and regular habits of prayer and meditation. I'm not talking about the habit that some have become accustomed too of pronouncing affirmations once or twice as if they were a magical incantation.

Could you practice on the piano occasionally and yet expect to be able to play well on any desired occasion?

To strengthen your spirit you need to build up a faithful daily habit of prayer and begin exercising a true love-consciousness, then the rest of the spiritual development will follow after that.

Some people pray only when they are in trouble or on their Sabbath and then, they find it hard to get any sort of meaningful results. Maybe you have heard the old adage, " little prayer, little power; much prayer, much power."

Sooner or later, through trouble or triumph, you will find the need to put God first in your life, but it must be the first thing. When this happens you will find that you have gotten rid of the mental junk that people try to carry around with them.

You'll spend less time pursuing material possessions and stuff, our artificial needs, things that don't really matter and only waste time and energy. Your life will become simpler and quieter, but spiritually richer and infinitely more worthwhile.

E J Jolivet is a freelance writer working, writing and worshiping in Houston, Tx.

Ronald Reagan

Can It Actually Prove That God Does Exist

Power Of Visualization
Living With What If In Your Life

From Pain To Power: Suicide, Part One; The Big "Why?"

Just last week, I heard of another friend who committed suicide.

I can think, offhand, of about five people, not including him, whom Ive been somewhat close to, whove made that choice in my lifetime of 55 years. Sad to say, but my immediate thought when writing this was, That aint bad, considering the state of the world and the challenges of living!

Corey (name changed) was special to me in that I had been a part of a healing ceremony with him where, essentially, he was baptized by fire. I believe I witnessed his physical transformation from a man hounded by personal demons into a man willing to face life squarely. It was a phenomenal experience that happened in an instant. Youd expect someone like Robert DeNiro to pull an instantaneous, visible, change like that off, but the actor would be doing it so we could see it, whereas what we witnessed in Corey was the choice to be it.

Transformations like that happen all the time. We say to ourselves, Well, in Coreys case, it didnt hold very well, did it? But who are we, who keep on going, to say?

What I havent mentioned is that Ive been an integral part of one or another stage of two hundred or more suicides. I was in emergency services as an ambulance paramedic for twelve years, and I doubt theres a phase Ive missed in whatever process there may be. In those and subsequent years, Ive counseled many on the brink. Of those whom Ive counseled, I dont know that any have followed through on the act. Usually, the encounters were flashes of despair that dissipated over time (more on this, later).

But the first thing I say to someone whom I counsel is Yes, suicide is an option.

I come from the point of view that it happens enough, it is such an integral part of the experience of being human, that it could not be otherwise than an option. No matter how much you may try to regulate it, you cannot stop it. You cannot even stem its tide by promising eternal damnation. Its something we do, and some of us more happily than others.

Yes, I said more happily. In conversation, Im sure youve heard of the term shit-eating grin. In the ambulance trade it refers to a look of complete relief and contentment on the face of a dead body. I have encountered these kinds of facial expressions most often in suicides.

With most everyone else, if there is any clearly definable expression at all its in the vein of What the Hell? Get me outta here! The grins of these suicides, however, speak, Ive made it!

Generalization is a trap, of course, and by no means am I saying that suicides are a happy thing. The point I wish to make is that suicide can be as much a vehicle of personal empowerment as it appears to be evidence of resounding defeat.

To live is to get scarred. No one gets out alive -- in the form we have right now, anyhow. The only difference for any of us is when. There is not a one of us who isnt doing something to hasten our own deaths, if nothing else than clinging to a belief in it.

What we do with our lives is a function of choice, which is so sacred even God doesnt mess with it. Free will has no limitations, which means even causing our own deaths (which happens all the time) is a gift offered by life.

What our impressions of life are what our interpretations of our circumstances are is what our lives become. If we interpret our lives as intolerable, with the only outlet remaining to be death at our own hands, then that is exactly what it will be. To the person who commits suicide, it is a by-product of their considered, not casual interpretation of their circumstances.

By no means am I advocating suicide. I am just suggesting that those who are left behind make room to see the world through the eyes of the person who has cashed in his or her chips. If you begin from the place that, for the individual, her world-view was valid, under the circumstances you may be able to grasp that taking her own life was appropriate.

Its funny how we use phrases like, those who are left behind, or, we, who carry on, or, the ones remaining to describe who is left after the dying go and these not being specific to suicides. The implication, as Buddha says, is that life is suffering. We all know and experience this. Perhaps the wonder is not that so many people commit suicide, but that so many more of us dont.

Next, walking in the others shoes.

Russ Reina shares over 35 years of experience in the healing arts through his web site http://mauihealingartist.com. It is a potent resource for those wishing to deepen their abilities in connection and develop their powers as healers. For a powerful free tool to explore your inner world, please check out his adjunct site http://thestoryofthis.net

(Permission is granted to reprint this article, unedited, provided proper attribution is made and the signature line -- the above resource paragraph -- is kept intact)

Joyce Meyer

Why Should We Give Thanks in Times Like These?

According to History.com, the first Thanksgiving took place in Massachusetts during the Pilgrim Settlers second winter in America in December 1621. The first winter had killed 44 of the original 102 colonists. And because an unexpected trading vessel arrived, and swapped beaver pelts with them for corn, they were able to survive. Since next summers crops brought hope, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast on December 13, 1621, which is acknowledged today as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. Although this feast is considered to be the very first Thanksgiving celebration, it was actually in keeping with a long tradition of celebrating the harvest and giving thanks for a successful bounty of crops. The Pilgrims gave thanks to God for helping them find acres of land that had no hostile Indians and for newfound religious freedom. They also celebrated with the friendly Indians who brought wild turkeys and venison with them. As well as prayers, sermons and songs of praise. They spent three days feasting and praying. Since that time, Thanksgiving is a celebration of thanks of gratitude to God for His grace and mercy upon us. And President Lincoln officially set aside the last Thursday of November in 1863, "as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father." In 1941, Congress ruled that after 1941, the fourth Thursday of November be observed as Thanksgiving Day and be a legal holiday.

But why should we give thanks in times like these today? It is true that in today's society, some of us may think we don't have much to be thankful for. From loss of jobs, homes, cars and possessions, what's left? From the fall of Wall Street, the never ending war and the bad economy, why should we still be thankful to God? 1 Thessalonians says, "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." This means, no matter what we may go through, good or bad, God will always make a way for us. Even at our darkest time or hour, God will always turn a negative into a positive, if we only believe and trust in Him. Even in the book of Exodus, the Israelites sang a song of thanksgiving as they were delivered from Pharoah's army after they crossed the Red Sea. And the book of Psalms is full of songs of thanksgiving for God's grace to the Israelite people as well as for His individual graces to each of us.

In this life there will always be things to complain about. But God gave us a choice. Do we choose to be positive or negative? Is the glass half empty or full? No matter how grim our situations may be, there will always be something to be thankful for. Did we live to see another day? Do we have our health and strength? Are our families ok? Do we have clothes, food and shelter? If we only believe and trust in God, He will give us our needs and not necessarily our wants. For Romans 8:28-30 says, "For those who know Christ, God also works everything together for good, even events we would not necessarily consider good." May God grant that He may find us grateful everyday for all gifts- spiritual and material.

Wanda is a wife, mother, public speaker and contributing author of EzineArticles.com. She has been writing about God and spirituality for over 20 years and has researched the bible and its history. Wanda also specializes in Christian poetry and children books and believes and teaches that regardless of a person's background or their mistakes of the past, God has a place for them.

She is the publisher and bestselling author of "Kids Ask The Darndest Things About God And The Beginning- Answers From The First Five Books Of The Bible" available at http://www.amazon.com

Visit Ball Publications Christian Books at http://www.ball-publications.com and sign up for "The Knowledge" monthly Newsletter. Gain Knowledge and Power with articles, discussions, tips and special offers that will be provided from time to time. Take advantage of up and coming events, radio broadcasts and recommended products of interest for you and your family!

Albert Hofmann

Should Christians Buy This Book?

Childhood Religious Control
Gregs Videos

The Jewish Menorah - A History

The menorah is a seven branched candelabra which has come to represent the Jewish People and Israel. Its origins directly derive from the Torah and its symbolism has proven to be long lasting.

Early coins and pottery containing images of the menorah and dating back to biblical times have been recovered from archaeological sites.

The first menorah was originally made for the tabernacle and later placed in the first and second temples. The Torah records how the great artist, Bezalel, fashioned the menorah in accordance to detailed Divine instructions. These instructions are recorded in Exodus 25:31-40, see excerpt below:

"31 And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work shall the candlestick be made, even its base, and its shaft; its cups, its knops, and its flowers, shall be of one piece with it. 32 And there shall be six branches going out of the sides thereof: three branches of the candlestick out of the one side thereof, and three branches of the candle-stick out of the other side thereof..."

Listed below are some of the facets of the menorah:

- (as stated above) it was hewn out of a single block of pure gold

- it weighed approximately 150 pounds and just under 5 ft in height

- it had seven branches; a middle branch and three branches extending from each side

- according to Maimonides and Rashi, the side-branches extended from the middle branch in a diagonal line, not in a semi-circular arc as most drawings depict

- extra pure olive oil was used in the cups - gently pressed, not crushed and just the first emerging drops were considered pure enough

- it was positioned beside the southern wall of the temple, opposite the 'shulchan', the table which held the twelve show-breads.

The daily maintenance and lighting of the menorah was a task allocated to the Kohanim (priests). Interestingly, although only the Kohanim were permitted to prepare the menorah, there were no restrictions as to who could light it.

It is written that one branch of the menorah miraculously stayed alight continuously. Synagogues today have a 'ner tamid' (everlasting light) situated opposite the ark, which contains the Torah scrolls. This reminds us of the significance of the menorah during temple times. In addition many synagogues also display a menorah, or an artistic impression of one, in painted decorations or on stained glass windows.

After the fall of the Second Temple, Jewish historian Flavius Josephus recorded that the menorah was taken to Rome and carried along during the triumphant homecoming parade. A depiction of this event is preserved on the Arch of Titus that still stands today in Rome.

During the Jewish festival of Chanukah a menorah is lit on each of the eight nights. This menorah differs from the temple's menorah in that it has nine branches instead of seven.

The location of the original menorah is unknown today but the symbolism lives on; the national emblem of the State of Israel is a menorah, flanked by two olive branches.

The author of this article researched the origins of the menorah during the development of a range of Judaic themed homeware. http://www.judaicamosaica.com

Felix Dennis

Observer and the Observed

So quantum physics tells us that the observer causes the observed, or at the very least that the observer interferes with that which is being observed by the very process of observing it. Ive heard some people crying "heresy!" They do not like the idea that once the observer is not observing the observed, then the observed is not.

In my mind that misses a large, obvious point which makes the concept ludicrous. We are all one, god if you will, or at the very least energy, unseparated my anything other than atomic configuration which on a larger scale appears to create separation of bodies of mass. Since we know better, then theres a couple other points we cannot overlook.

Firstly, because we are all one energy field, for lack of a better term, there is no disappearance of anything when it is not being observed. Our human notion of not existing encapsulates anything not within the small frequency band our six physical senses can pick up. Perhaps the observer causes the observed to become a manifest, physical experience (to the observer), but the lack of observer in no way takes away the existence of that experience/being/energy.

Secondly, because all energy is the same, and we as apparently individual human beings are conscious, then its very difficult to imagine that any spec of the energy field of all-that-is could not be conscious. The type of consciousness may vary greatly, in an infinite number of ways, but is still basic consciousness nonetheless. For us to be conscious implies that everything is, that energy itself is consciousness. That ours is focused into a small amount of matter at the moment (exclusively, as far as what we deem our conscious mind is concerned) does not mean that every other piece of this energy shares that form of focalised consciousness.

If our rule of free will stands up, as it must, in that the law of attraction clearly states that we create our reality by what we think about, thereby allowing that to become part of our reality, then all forms of consciousness must inherit this same trait, although perhaps experentially very different. Therefore the observer cannot observe the observed unless the observed is also an observer that is observing the original observer.

With this understood, all observers are in fact by nature observed, as that which they are observing is also by nature observer. The process of observation therefore does not contain observed and observer, but both of those in both participants, or what I will now call observed(er).

I dont mean to shake rocky ground, but this places all new challenges on the understanding of the role of observer in the observed.

And having raised an issue without providing satisfactory resolution, I leave you now.

jonpeeoh (http://www.jonpeeoh.com) is a new web community devoted to raising consciousness, magick, and teaching others to take control of their powers as creators of their own reality.

Did Jesus Actually Ever Get Mad

Amazing Sai Baba
Smiles Are Free So Give Them Awa

The Sound of Soul

Have you ever wondered if soul has a sound? We may experience the sound of soul more than we know. Any time you move your attention to the inner dynamics of what lies behind your body and your mind, your soul will reveal itself to you.

Soul can be experienced outside your body and your mind as well. Just the other day, I was riding in my car with my friend Suzanne. We drove by an old barn that was caving in upon itself.

At some point, this barn stood upright. It was strong and enclosed many vehicles and animals for years. As with people, this barn aged over time. What once was a structure capable of containing many experiences of life, now, became a broken reflection of moments filled with life suspended in time.

You and I are a structural mind/body system that holds experiences within us just like this barn. As we recall these memories, these past experiences move our awareness toward an expression of experience where stillness allows us to re-live soulful memories filled with life and vitality. These inner visions, feelings, and experiences are our soul's way of speaking to us.

In silent reflection, our attention moves into expressions of living that are eternal. It is the part of us that is aware of our awareness. The part of us aware of our awareness and not identifying with the need to compete, become successful, or any other manifestations of the material world.

Our soul is the identification with what lies behind all appearances of separateness. This part of us needs no eyes to see, no ears to hear, no hands to touch, no tounge to taste, and no nose to smell. Our soul is completely free of any expression of our world. Our soul is the part of us that infuses all these qualities of attention.

Our soul is the silent spaces between every thought, word, and deed. It is a pregnant silence, all pervading, all knowing, and filled with eternity. Our soul is a connecting point from the world of flesh and the world of Spirit. The sacred human relationship between the form and formless states of our being create a spacial quality of existence within and beyond us whereby infinite possible correlations become the path of our soul.

* Try this exercise:

The next time you wake up in the morning, listen to your surroundings, just listen and do not analyze any sound. Let your attention be drawn into the sounds around you. Notice how far they are from you or how close. Do not try to define anything - just notice. You may hear birds, cars on the street, or the sounds of your home. Now, notice the part of you noticing all these sounds. What does this part of you sound like?

There is another sound within you. It is the part of you constantly speaking, analyzing, and judging. This part of you begins to plan your day, organize, and worry. It is the part of you that drives you out of silent witnessing all the events taking place around you. This part of you will get you out of bed in the morning.

At this point, learn to integrate the two consciously. They are going on anyway. This way ordinary events in your life will become sacred human awareness and a life filled with gratitude for every moment. Did you notice the difference between these two sounds? One moves your attention into the material world. The other moves you deeper into silence - the part of you aware of life's inner qualities the Sound of Soul.

Sam Oliver, author of, "A Fish Named Ed"

http://www.soulandspirit.org

New Thinking About Noah's Ark and Family

Spoiled Children
Learning From The Masters

Hope in All Religions

I was reading a book on advertising when the author mentioned, "All Advertising Is about Hope."

This got me thinking about other people's dreams and aspirations, most of this is wrapped around them hoping to accomplish something or do something. I never gave it much thought but hope is one of the most important things in our lives. Some people go around hoping that they will keep their job, when the economy is in bad shape. Others go around hoping for forgiveness for their sins or other bad deeds they have done in the past.

What is it you're hoping for? There's got to be something. Are you hoping to become a multimillionaire or even the world's first trillionaire. Are your dreams big or small? Are you the kind of person who is happy living a simple life with very little possessions like a Buddhist monk or are you one who is seeking the lifestyle of the King.

Hope supplies us with the will to continue through hopeless obstacles during our lifetime.

Most people seeking hope are looking for a way out of something or a way toward a better life. These people often fall easy prey to large religious organizations, as they take them under their wing and slowly start to brainwash them. They seek the weak minded, helpless, poor and trusting people and build their organizations using them. I once believed in Christianity, but it no longer offers me true hope, the more I study Christianity and other organized religions, I noticed certain similarities based on inspiration.

I hope I live the good life, so I can go to heaven, the promised land, our ultimate enlightenment.

I hope I am living the true will according to God, Buddha, Krishna or other supreme beings.

I hope that the Bible is wrong about the 144,000 people from the 12 tribes.

I hope I'm living a life that is pleasing to the Lord.

If you're part of an organized religion, ask your religious leaders, any questions that you have about your religion. If they can't answer these questions, try to find them on your own. Books, videos, and the Internet are great sources for information. If you're living your life for the sole purpose of going to heaven one day, you could be disappointed, when that day arrives.

Ask a couple of questions and I hope you will get honest answers to them.

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing, and personal development. Check out one of his recommended books, Read This Book

Greg is currently creating articles on religion filled with great subjects on a wide array of topics, like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world. His views on religious freedom are slowly changing the way people think about institutional religion.

Forgive Everyone in Every Way

Forgive everyone, everyday, and in every way. Each person is doing the best he or she can. No one, absolutely no one is perfect. Since no one is perfect, this means that we all need to share more patience and more understanding surrounding all aspects of our interactions with one another. Think of the last time you needed to forgive someone. And, think of the last time you needed to be forgiven. When we need to be forgiven, there is a feeling of lack or something as missing. When we need to forgive, we often feel anger. Anger is a secondary emotion for loss. When we lose something, the need to restore what was lost. This sends us on a search within ourselves for attention in a peace filled direction. If you noticed, to forgive or to be forgiven leads you to the same place. Both paths of awareness lead us on a search. What are you searching for? You are searching to find wholeness. What is wholeness? This is often one's perception of reality created by what one believes to be true. This creation of what one believes to be true is the path of one's soul seeking manifestation in the world of form from the formless.

There is no set way to wholeness. Simply being aware that you have a self-defined understanding of wholeness that is within you is what we simply need to give attention to within us. This continued attention on what we seek the most within us will grow in our awareness until the need to place our attention on forgiveness fades away.

If a person was to believe that forgiveness is something obtained through the human psyche alone, we all would find the journey into such a place within us as something to avoid. In the deepest parts of who we are, we want to connect to what is sacred within us. Therefore, to re-create a past interaction with someone who we feel we harmed or who we feel harmed us is a useless attempt to embrace what cannot be. This is not to say that certain relationships close to us do not need verbal efforts to make up for a past action leading to harm. In fact, a person can find this useful, and even, helpful. The point I want to make is the place one's attention may be at the time such a verbal interaction will become vital in the success of such expressions taking place.

Dying patients remind me that there are countless times in all our lives where the issue of forgiveness was perceived and we become aware of it. There is no way a dying person can retrieve all their past life experiences in physical form, but we can recall these moments in time and visualize how we would have handled them differently. This is our soul seeking to make right a wrong our personality may not allow us to do, or it may no longer be feasible to take place in our current circumstances. People are such a vast array of experiences. There are endless paths of attention within us calling for our attention. Perhaps, the instant we remember who we are and who others are in the deepest parts of our being, we begin to remember the love that brings all our lives together, and into, being. This remembrance of who we are as children of our Creator reminds us of the unconditional spirit reflected within our own selves. The transcendence of flesh and blood inspires us to give our Creator our lives, the lives of others, and our very reason for living into the hands that created us.

For More on this Author: http://www.soulandspirit.org

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Whadda ya know?

Seriously. With absolute certainty, what do you know?
Put aside all opinions, beliefs and theories for a moment and address this one straight question: What do you know for sure? Or, as Thoreau put it:

"Let us settle ourselves, and work and wedge our feet downward through the mud and slush of opinion, and prejudice, and tradition, and delusion, and appearance, that alluvion which covers the globe... through church and state, through poetry and philosophy and religion, till we come to a hard bottom and rocks in place, which we can call reality, and say, This is, and no mistake; and then begin..."

In other words, let's cut the crap and figure out what's real. The cogito does exactly that, and it's very simple. The question is: What do you know?

The answer is: I Am.

All other so-called facts are really non-facts and belong in the category of consensual reality and relative truth, i.e., unreal reality and untrue truth.

::: Cogito Ergo Sum

Cogito ergo sum is the equation that proves the fact. But first, before we go on, let's ask what else we know. What else can be said for certain?

Nothing. We don't know anything else. And that's the real point of the cogito. The importance of I Am isn't that it's a fact, but that it's the only fact.

I Am is the only thing anyone has ever known or will ever know. Everything else, all religion and philosophy, is nothing more than dream interpretation. There is no other fact than I Am. The cogito is the seed of the thought that destroys the universe. Beyond the cogito, nothing is known. Beyond the cogito, nothing can be known. Except I Am, no one knows anything. No man or god can claim to know more. No God or array of gods can exist or be imagined that know more than this one thing: I Am.

We can't avoid letting this topic drift briefly into the Christian realm. When Moses asked God His name, God answered, "I am that I am." The name God gives for Himself is I Am.

Note that I Am is unconjugatable. It allows of no variation. God doesn't say, "My name is I Am, but you can call me You Are, or He Is." The cogito, the I Am equation, does not extend beyond one's own subjective knowing. I can say I Am and know it as truth, but I can't say you are, he is, she is, we are, they are, it is, etc. I know I exist and nothing else. Understood thusly, I Am, aka God, truly is the Alpha and the Omega; the entirety of being, of knowledge, of you.

::: The Line Is Drawn

The cogito is the line between fantasy and reality. On one side of the cogito is a universe of beliefs and ideas and theories. To cross the line is to leave all that behind. No theory, concept, belief, opinion or debate can have any possible basis in reality once the ramifications of the cogito have fully saturated the mind. No dialogue can take place across that line because nothing that makes sense on either side makes sense on the other.

We all think we know what the cogito means; this is an invitation to challenge that assumption. If professors of philosophy truly understood it, they wouldn't be professors of philosophy. Alfred North Whitehead said that all philosophy is a footnote to Plato, but all philosophy, Plato included, is rendered obsolete and irrelevant by Descartes. Nothing but the subjective I Am is true, so what's the point of prattling on?

The cogito isn't a mere thought or an idea, it is an ego-eating virus that, properly incubated and nurtured, will eventually devour all illusion. Once we know the cogito, we can begin systematically unknowing everything we thought we knew, and unraveling the self we aren't.

::: Life is but a Dream

There is no such thing as objective reality. Two cannot be proven. Nothing can be shown to exist. Time and space, love and hate, good and evil, cause and effect, are all just ideas. Anyone who says they know anything is really saying they don't know the only thing. The greatest religious and philosophical thoughts and ideas in the history of man contain no more truth than the bleating of sheep. The greatest books are no more authoritative than the greatest luncheon meats.

No one knows anything.

::: Disprove it for Yourself

Anyone wishing to deny these statements about the meaning of the cogito need merely prove that something, anything, is true. By all means, give it a try, dash your head upon it, but it can't be done. Cogito ergo sum, however, isn't the endpoint of inquiry, it's the starting point; it's a tool that helps us see, without intermediaries, exactly what is true and what isn't.

How great is that?

::: About the Author

"Jed McKenna is an American original." -Lama Surya Das

Jed McKenna is the author of "Spiritual Enlightenment: The Damnedest Thing" and "Spiritually Incorrect Enlightenment", published by Wisefool Press. Coming in 2005: "Spirituality X" and "Jed McKenna's Notebook". Visit http://www.WisefoolPress.com to learn more.

Philosophy in a Nutshell - Freedom Versus Determinism

Two of the most important and most noble purposes of philosophy are to promote intellectual independence and to awaken the thirst for wisdom. Put simply, philosophy aims to get individuals to think, hopefully to ponder deeply about more fundamental issues than those which occupy most of our everyday lives. A brief examination of the issue of freedom versus determinism helps to define the scope of philosophy and related controversies.

Theories concerned with the issue of freedom versus determinism seek to discover the cause of human behavior. Are human actions predictable in a scientific manner? In other words, are there laws of nature, though complex and largely unknown, which would tell us exactly what a person will do in a given situation and which completely rule out any other possibility? This view, known as determinism, has been bolstered since the sixteenth century by the scientific principle of universal causation: every event has a cause and predictions of results can be made with total accuracy.

Hard determinism further holds that moral responsibility is incompatible with universal causation. Soft determinism argues that some behavior is free of compulsion so that people can be held morally responsible. Libertarians maintain that human beings do possess freedom of action. Otherwise, libertarians claim, human deliberation is an illusion. This, they assert, would be absurd. Furthermore, libertarians believe that exact laws of human behavior will always be elusive. Human behavior will therefore remain unpredictable and uncontrollable. In addition to this, a society perfected through application of science to produce specific human behaviors would be morally unacceptable.

This process of questioning the very foundations of life takes a certain amount of courage and psychological fortitude. Independence of thought is critical for a free society, and philosophy aims to spur us on to deep thought about the things that matter in life.

Kathleen Karlsen, MA is a professional artist, a freelance writer and marketing consultant residing in Bozeman, Montana. Karlsen offers classes and workshops on symbolism, sacred art, healing art and the psychology of design. To learn more about color symbolism, visit http://www.livingartsoriginals.com/infocolorsymbolism.htm

For information about the meaning of flowers, please visit http://www.livingartsoriginals.com/infoflowermeaning.htm

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The Devil and the Mystery

Most Christians know more about the devil than they know about "The Mystery." Even so, they do not know any more about the devil than they should know. They should know more about him, so that they can truthfully say, with Paul, "We are not ignorant of his devices" (II Cor. 2:11). Certainly every Christian should know more about "The Mystery." God wants every Christian to know "The Mystery," and to make it known to others (Eph. 3:9). You say, "Then it would no longer be "The Mystery." Certainly not. Why after over 2,000 years should this divine truth still be a mystery so far as ninety-nine per cent of God's people are concerned? Can you answer this question? It is true that the devil doesn't want any one to understand or even study this divine truth. But is not God's will to be desired by Christians more than Satan's? Doesn't God's power exceed the devil's power? Satan is mighty. God is almighty. Genuine spiritual Christians know that God's power exceeds Satan's power.

But let's take an inventory. As we take in the world-wide political situation, the distress of nations, with even the so-called Christian nations on the verge of bankruptcy and destruction, we may wonder that Satan has such power after 2,000 years of Christianity. But we believe that Satan knew what he was talking about in Luke 4:6 when he told the Lord Jesus that the kingdoms of the world were under his control. The Lord was right when He called Satan "the prince of this world."

When we consider the millions and millions of people of the world religiously, and see what the devil has done to them, surely we give a hearty "Amen" to the statement of I John 5:19, "the whole world lieth in [the evil one]." In his tricks to keep sinners away from the saving gospel of Christ, Satan is called "the god of this [age]" (II Cor. 4:3,4). To accomplish his purpose with people who want some kind of a so-called Christian religion, the devil transforms himself into an angel of light and instructs his servants to pretend that they are missionaries of Christ (II Cor. 11:13-15).

Then let us consider what the devil has done with Church members who are actually members of Christ's Body, God's one and only Church today. Note God's instructions in Ephesians 4:3-6:

"Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one Body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling: one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all."

Meditate"the unity of the Spirit." Where is it found? One faith, one hope of your calling, one baptism. One Body. How many sects and denominations? Several hundred. How many bodies? One Body. Note Ephesians 1:20-23:

"Which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in [the heavenlies]. Far above all principality and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: and hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the Head over all things to the Church, which is His Body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all."

Christ is in the heavenlies. Christ is the one Head of His one and only Church, which is His Body, "the fulness of Him that filleth all in all."

No matter how loyal, zealous sectarians may defend and contend for their denominational churches, the student of the Word of God knows that "denominationalism" is absolutely unscriptural. There is one, and only one, true Bible Church and that Bible Church is denominated, The Body of Christ, "the fulness of Him that filleth all in all." In Ephesians 3:6 that one Church is called the "Joint-Body" (see the Greek).

Members of Christ's Body are seated with Christ in the heavenlies and are blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies (Eph. 2:6 and 1:3). One reason why God wants all men to see "The Mystery" is expressed in Ephesians 3:10,11:

"To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in [the heavenlies] might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord."

The Mystery then, is divine truth concerning "the heavenlies" and "according to the eternal purpose which God purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord." By searching the Scriptures we find that this divine message was not in fulfillment of prophecy, but was a spiritual program predestinated by God before the foundation of the world.

We have seen how Satan works politically as "the prince of this world"; how, as "the god of this age" he blinds the unbeliever to keep him from believing the gospel of salvation. In Ephesians 6:11-20 we learn of Satan's spiritual wickedness in the heavenlies, his opposition to the message and the messenger of "The Mystery," divine truth concerning the heavenlies. Note Ephesians 6:11,12:

"Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places [in the heavenlies]."

And note Ephesians 6:19,20:

"And [pray] for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak."

Why was Paul a prisoner of Rome? Hear his own words: for "the mystery of the gospel." Read this again in Colossians 4:3,4 and hear his testimony in Ephesians 3:1-3:

"For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles. If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which is given me to you-ward: how that by revelation He made known unto me the Mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words)."

Note God's Word in Ephesians 3:9:

"And to make all men see what is the [dispensation] of the Mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God."

Here we see "the dispensation of the grace of God" and the dispensation of the Mystery are linked together. This glorious truth was made known by revelation to the Apostle Paul, who became the prisoner of Jesus Christ for the Gentiles. Do we appreciate what he suffered for us? Let's get into the Book and try to understand the message for which he suffered.

While Paul knew that religious men were opposed to "The Mystery" and were determined that he should not preach that divine truth, he knew that he was not wrestling against flesh and blood; that his real opponent was the devil as the ruler of world darkness in the heavenlies.

Paul wrote in II Corinthians 4:3 and 4 that Satan blinded minds. But note his request for a very specific prayer in Ephesians 1:17,18:

"That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints."

Paul did not want minds blinded to "The Mystery." He knew that it required a special spirit of wisdom and revelation to comprehend that particular glorious truth.

Yes, the devil succeeded in getting Paul in jail for "The Mystery," bound as an evil doer unto chains. But from his prison cell he wrote: "The Word of God is not bound."

God wants you to know and to make known this glorious truth...which should have ceased to be a mystery more than twenty centuries ago.

This article originally appeared in the Berean Searchlight, the free monthly magazine of the Berean Bible Society. For over 60 years, the Berean Bible Society has been proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery.

What is a Psychic

The word psychic (pronounced /saikik/; from the Greek psychikos--of the soul, mental') refers to the ability to perceive things hidden from the normal senses through what is described as extra-sensory perception, or to those people said to have such abilities.

The truth of the matter is that everyone has extra sensory abilities or psychic-ness. It is what the common-or-garden term used these days is your 'gut feeling', intuition, sixth sense; that little voice in your head that tells you otherwise. It is the sense that tells you to avoid a certain place or person without any logical reason. Everything and everyone has a psychic ability that we either choose to use or ignore. It is just a matter of being aware of your own unique gift.

Being a psychic person in simple terms is the process of being aware and developing a greater heightened awareness of being aware. For some it might be a daunting task and for others is might be easier. This is one of the reasons that many people engage in the practice of meditation, practicing bringing the mind to the present moment, yoga or any activity that develops the habit of strengthening your awareness.

A person who is highly intuitive/psychic or possess a greater heightened sense of awareness is not necessarily living the life of Buddha or anything profound but an ordinary life with all its up and downs of the day-to-day trials and tribulations. It is like some people can wiggle their ears or raise one eyebrow and some people can tell you are going to call them before the phone rings. It can also be a difficult way of being without the help and understanding of others. Have you ever been told you are just too sensitive? Are you hypersensitive in crowds? Electronic gadgets drive you crazy sometimes? Or maybe you have dreams that actually come true? literally.

These are all symptoms of having a psychic sensitive awareness. Some consider it a wonderful gift on a good day and some days a great burden. It is a responsibility that is not carried lightly but with guidance and support by those of us who have been there (especially in the more difficult times) to help learn to manage these gifts, it can be a beautiful way of being.

So in my opinion, everyone is a psychic and everyone has the ability to master their gifts of the extrasensory ability, it is just a choice as to whether you choose to use it, follow it, have confidence in it or not.

In the next issue of PsychicsEmerging Newsletter we will explore different types of extra sensory/psychic abilities, what they mean, and for what they are used.

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