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the Hunt for Truth

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the Hunt for Truth

Tag Archives: Christian

Change your Brain

08 Sunday Jun 2014

Posted by Hunt 4 Truth in Consciousness, Happiness, Health, I can improve today, Inner peace, Meditation, Mindful, Self-improvement, Spirituality

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

awareness, Christian, consciousness, coping, Dalai Lama, God, happiness, Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill, Health, Jesus, life is beautiful, Matthieu Ricard, open mind, Peace, Prosocial behavior, serenity

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Change your Mind; Change your Brain

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The Inner Conditions:

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Program Description
If happiness is an inner state, influenced by external conditions but not dependent on them, how can we achieve it? Matthieu Ricard presents factors that generally may increase or decrease well-being, happiness, authenticity, compassion, peace, and joy.

Happiness and joy may stimulate compassion and compassion may stimulate happiness and joy. This is ideal. This may then be noticed to be increasing positive energy, empathy, pro-social behavior, and the change within may serve as the kernel of an evolving moral-ethical framework.

Matthieu Ricard is a scientist turned Buddhist monk and a best selling author, translator, and photographer. He has lived and studied in the Himalayas for more than 35 years.

This recording is from Google Tech Talks in March of 2007
60 minutes Youtube watch?v=L_30JzRGDHI

A wellness approach in learning: act as though we don’t yet know anything more important — eliminate the inner ego voice from learning.

I pray to be released from any responsibility for making judgments and to learn as though this is all new to me. Later, I’ll review the important lesson again. Always when material is important in my life, I review the material many times.

TreesBirdsBeesInFreshAirStarting off into a new day, there is something to learn and something to share — what that is comes to me with my morning meditation — I don’t really even think about it until it comes — I remind myself, “This is my wonderful journey of self discovery. Love envelopes me and the gentle waves of peaceful waters and the light shine from my mind into the world around me.” As I face myself in honesty, open to guiding spirit, I turn my life over to God and I ask Him to allow me to do whatever I may to do His will — Thy Will, not mine be done.  

His Holiness the Dalai Lama says “in today’s secular world, religion alone is no longer adequate as a basis for ethics… any religion-based answer to the problem of our neglect of inner values can never be universal, and so will be inadequate.” My religion practice is rooted in utmost fondness and enthusiasm in me. I love Jesus and being Christian. I also love all others as best I am able and this is certainly a growing condition in me, prompted by my love of Jesus’s words that make clear that we are to love God with all of our being and also love others as we would be loved. I realize that my world around me is a secular world where my religion is separate from societal norms and therefore that I must involve myself with others in ways that make me attractive; not by promoting my religion. I am to be a channel for love. 

I hope that this lesson is helpful for you in your life of spiritual enlightenment — awakening the skill to foster well-being and for freedom, mastery of living in moments of serenity, inner peacefulness, joyfulness, and of course for sharing happiness.

Thanks for learning with me.

 Eric

Bloggers For Peace

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Where You go… I go

27 Sunday Apr 2014

Posted by Hunt 4 Truth in B4Peace, Consciousness, Culture, Faith, Happiness, Inner peace, Religion, Spirituality, Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

B4Peace, Christian, Christianity, consciousness, God, happiness, Jesus, Jesus Culture, Kim Walker, Kim Walker-Smith, prayer, Religion and Spirituality

.praying-boy

Jesus — we will not forget
who you are
and what you’ve done for us.

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“Where You Go I Go”

Where You go I go
What You say I say
What You pray
I pray
What You pray
I pray
 

[repeat]
 

Jesus only did what He saw You do

He would only say what he heard You speak
He would only move when He felt You lead
Following Your heart, following Your spirit
How could I expect to walk without You
When every move that Jesus made was in surrender
I will not begin to live without You
For You alone are worthy,
You are always good
You are always good
Where You go I go
What You say I say
God What You pray I pray
What You pray I pray
Though the world sees and soon forgets
We will not forget who you are
And what you’ve done for us, what you’ve done for us
 
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Bloggers For PeaceThanks for visiting.

New post ERIC

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not of this world

18 Friday Apr 2014

Posted by Hunt 4 Truth in Faith, Inner peace, Religion, Spirituality

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Christian, Eternal Life, Jesus

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“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and 
 only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish 
 but have eternal life.” John 3:16

In John 18 we read,

1 When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was an olive grove, and he and his disciples went into it.

2 Now Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples. 3 So Judas came to the grove, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons.

4 Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, “Who is it you want?”

5 “Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied.

“I am he,” Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) 6 When Jesus said, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground.

7 Again he asked them, “Who is it you want?”

And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.”

8 “I told you that I am he,” Jesus answered. “If you are looking for me, then let these men go.” 9 This happened so that the words he had spoken would be fulfilled: “I have not lost one of those you gave me.”

10 Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.)gardenBetrayal

11 Jesus commanded Peter, “Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?”

12 Then the detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus. They bound him 13 and brought him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. 14 Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it would be good if one man died for the people.

15 Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus. Because this disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the high priest’s courtyard, 16 but Peter had to wait outside at the door. The other disciple, who was known to the high priest, came back, spoke to the girl on duty there and brought Peter in.

17 “You are not one of his disciples, are you?” the girl at the door asked Peter.

He replied, “I am not.”

18 It was cold, and the servants and officials stood around a fire they had made to keep warm. Peter also was standing with them, warming himself.

19 Meanwhile, the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.

20 “I have spoken openly to the world,” Jesus replied. “I always taught in synagogues or at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret. 21 Why question me? Ask those who heard me. Surely they know what I said.”

22 When Jesus said this, one of the officials nearby struck him in the face. “Is this the way you answer the high priest?” he demanded.

23 “If I said something wrong,” Jesus replied, “testify as to what is wrong. But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?” 24 Then Annas sent him, still bound, to Caiaphas the high priest.

25 As Simon Peter stood warming himself, he was asked, “You are not one of his disciples, are you?”

He denied it, saying, “I am not.”

26 One of the high priest’s servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, challenged him, “Didn’t I see you with him in the olive grove?” 27 Again Peter denied it, and at that moment a rooster began to crow.

28 Then the Jews led Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness the Jews did not enter the palace; they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. 29 So Pilate came out to them and asked, “What charges are you bringing against this man?”

30 “If he were not a criminal,” they replied, “we would not have handed him over to you.”

31 Pilate said, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.”

“But we have no right to execute anyone,” the Jews objected. 32 This happened so that the words Jesus had spoken indicating the kind of death he was going to die would be fulfilled.

33 Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

34 “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”

35 “Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”

36 Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.”

37 “You are a king, then!” said Pilate.

Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

38 “What is truth?” Pilate asked. With this he went out again to the Jews and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him. 39 But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?”

40 They shouted back, “No, not him! Give us Barabbas!” Now Barabbas had taken part in a rebellion.

Pilate confronts Jesus with “Are you the King of the Jews?”

Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it
were, my servants would fight to prevent my
 

arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from
another place.”

WARNING:
This video contains a graphic account of the
torture and death of Lord Christ.

Jesus told Pilate his mission:

  1. He did not come to rule the world.
  2. He came to testify to the truth.

Many people today claim to know the truth.
However, on issues of morality and ethics
people today conflict 
with God’s original
plan. We have our own truth.

God has his own truth. Read John 11:25
where in Jesus said, “I am the resurrection
and the life. Whoever believes in me, though
he die, yet shall he live.”

In the end, whose truth matters?

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Thanks for visiting.

 Eric

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C. S. Lewis and Evolution

16 Wednesday Apr 2014

Posted by Hunt 4 Truth in Consciousness, Culture, Faith, Happiness, Health, Inner peace, Lessons, Philosophy, Spirituality

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

apologist, C. S. Lewis, Christian, Christian apologetics, Christianity, Clive Staples Lewis, CS Lewis, Evolution, God, Holy Spirit, John G. West, Lewis, Mere Christianity, Religion and Spirituality, scientism, scientocracy, The Discovery Institute, The Magician's Twin, Theism to Christianity

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“C.S. Lewis and Evolution” is the second of three short documentaries inspired by the book The Magician’s Twin: C.S. Lewis on Science, Scientism, and Society. It examines the evolution of Lewis’s views on orthodox Darwinian theory from his time as a college undergraduate to his death in 1963.

Lewis’s first exception to human evolution was his insistence on an actual Fall of Man from an original state of innocence. The creation story (or cosmogonical myths) is similar in ancient cultures. In these, it is suggested that there was a finished creation from which we were fallen into sin, and therefore, we needed a divine presence to restore us to what God had originally created us to be. Lewis emphasized that man prior to the Fall had unimpeded fellowship with God.Lewis and Aslan 

At his time, archaeological discoveries could not tell us whether prehistoric peoples were kind, or courageous, or noble, or just. Nor do they tell us about their capacity for poetry or song. We know today that there was a great deal of evidence of advances that are impossible to explain if evolution of mankind were to have originated from lower animals. I may delve more into the ancient evidence; probably not though since it is a huge mystery.

Lewis foresaw that science could be twisted by greed and self-aggrandizement in order to attack religion, undermine ethics, and limit human freedom. The description of Transhumanism (the human enhancement movement) is written in Lewis’s predictions in The Abolition of Man and is seemingly frighteningly accurate as today, technology advances rapidly while moral knowledge declines.

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C.S. Lewis and Evolution examines Lewis’s growing doubts about parts of Darwinian evolution, beginning with his views while still an atheist. NOTE: Lewis believed in the common descent of all human beings from one non-human ancestor, although he was skeptical of unguided natural selection.

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More than a half century ago, famed writer C.S. Lewis warned about how science (a good thing) could be twisted in order to attack religion, undermine ethics, and limit human freedom. Throughout his life, C.S. Lewis struggled with what he called the “argument from undesign,” the reality that nature exhibits cruelty and imperfection as well as purpose and beauty. In this documentary “The Magician’s Twin: C.S. Lewis and the Case Against Scientism,” leading scholars explore Lewis’s prophetic warnings about the abuse of science and how Lewis’s concerns are increasingly relevant for us today.

The Discovery Institute released the book The Magician’s Twin, edited by John G. West in 2012. West was a senior Fellow of the Institute and one of the editors of the highly C. S. Lewis Readers’ Encyclopedia. The Magician’s Twin is actually a collection of essays written by contemporary writers about Lewis’s warnings of how dehumanizing scientism would take us in ethics, politics, education, faith, reason, and even in science itself.

The book explores Lewis’s views on bioethics, eugenics, evolution, intelligent design, and what he called “scientocracy.” The book is divided into four sections: Science and Scientism, Origins, Reason, and Society. I previously posted about the first section here.

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C. S. Lewis and Intelligent Design explores Lewis’s personal struggle to find evidence of intelligent design in a world filled with cruelty, imperfection, and injustice.

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In That Hideous Strength, Lewis observes, “The physical sciences, good and innocent in themselves, had already… begun to be warped, had been subtly maneuvered in a certain direction. Despair of objective truth had been increasingly insinuated into the scientists; indifference to it, and a concentration upon mere power, had been the result… The very experiences of the dissecting room and the pathological laboratory were breeding a conviction that the stifling of all deep-set repugnances was the first essential for progress.”

 

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For more information visit http://www.cslewisweb.com. 
There is a main page for “The Magician’s Twin” video series.

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I hope you’ll come back often — there is more to be discovered.

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Need help or want to collaborate with me?
Just e-mail me at thehunt4truth@yahoo.com

Thanks for learning with me.

 Eric

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She’s back: Kim Walker (Smith) has 10,000 Reasons

30 Sunday Mar 2014

Posted by Hunt 4 Truth in B4Peace, Culture, Entertainment, Happiness, Inner peace, Mindful, Music, Peace, Prayer, Religion, Spirituality

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

2 Timothy. Paul, Almighty, Arts and Entertainment, Bible, Bless The Lord, Christian, Christianity, God, Holy, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Jesus Culture, Kim Walker, Kim Walker-Smith, praise, Religion and Spirituality, song, worship

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Stay with me here…
I’ve got a point today along with the inspiring Sunday music.

I read (March 29 actually):

“Researchers used brain scans to analyze the thought process of people with ‘high justice sensitivity’. By using a functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) brain scanning device, they studied the brain activity as the subjects watched videos showing behavior that was morally good or bad like seeing a person put money in the beggar’s cup or kick the beggar’s cup away. They were asked how much they would blame or praise the person in the video and to complete  questionnaires that assessed cognitive and emotional empathy and their justice sensitivity.

Those who scored high on the justice sensitivity assigned significantly more blame when asked to evaluate scenes of harm and also praised more the act of an helping person. But it was the brain scans that surprised the scientists.

During the behavior-evaluation exercise, people with high justice sensitivity showed more activity in the parts of brain associated with higher order cognition as compared to an average subject whereas the areas of brain concerned with emotional processing were not affected at all. Thus proving that individuals sensitive to justice are cognitively driven, not emotionally as everyone thinks.

So the search of justice does not primarily come from the sentimental motivations like portrayed rather it comes from reason and mental sophisticated analysis.

When evaluating good actions, a high  activity in the regions of brain involved on decision making, motivation and reward was shown, answering why some people react more strongly to justice related situations and why they value justice more than others. The findings also suggest that individuals make judgement about behavior based on how they process the reward value of good actions as compared to bad actions.”

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How do you suppose people are coming to higher-consciousness about social justice?

If you have been following my blog, you may guess that I believe it isn’t by accident — I’m pretty darn sure its because this is what we are doing while we are getting more spiritually fit and mindfully attuned and prayerfully loving. We are changing our brains and our genetics. We are evolving. We are learning and teaching that it is good to love being loving and compassionate. We are learning that we may even have compassion for people that are awful (and of course still have legal justice)… its work; yes it is… its God’s work.

My mission is to promote loving; not religion. You may also though enjoy the remainder of my post today. I hope so.

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Wikipedia short biographyKim Walker Smith

Kim Walker-Smith is an American singer, songwriter, worship leader, and recording artist. She produced her first solo album, titled ‘Here Is My Song‘, which was released in February 2008 through the Jesus Culture record label.

 

Kim Walker-Smith
Sermon: Impatience and fear 

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Program Description
Women’s Conference – Session 2 – August 18, 2011 – Under the theme “What If…”

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 “My hunger for God
far outweighs the hunger
to understand or to have all the answers.”

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Bless Your Holy Name; Jesus!

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Thanks for visiting.

 Eric

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As I face myself in the mirror…
I’m looking for holiness within my human face… 
that will come along.

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Only one Word was on my mind

My soul longs for You

2 Timothy

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.Bloggers For Peace

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Aside

Captured Thoughts

27 Thursday Mar 2014

Posted by Hunt 4 Truth in Inspiration, Poetry, Prayer, Religion, Spirituality

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Christian, poem

FANTASTIC ! ! !

CHRISTian poetry ~ by deborah ann

taking-every-thought-captive CHRISTIAN poetry by deborah ann

Capture my thoughts Lord,
free me in the truth
let me follow Thy Word
as in the days of my youth.

With childlike faith,
take into custody my mind
keep me close to You
so Your ways I can find.

Control and restrain me,
release me not from Thy hold
may my heart for You
not turn luke-warm or cold.

Let me not be disillusioned,
by the wisdom of man
seize upon my belief
show me Your perfect plan.

Capture my thoughts Lord,
be in complete control
I give to You my life . . .
let not man conquer my soul!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

2 Corinthians 10:5
King James Version

“Casting down imaginations,
and every high thing that exalteth itself
against the knowledge of God,
and bringing into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ;”

Copyright
Deborah Ann Belka

View original post

How Some Of The World’s Most Successful People Discovered Their Spiritual Side

11 Tuesday Mar 2014

Posted by Hunt 4 Truth in Consciousness, Culture, Faith, Happiness, Inner peace, Lessons, Mindful, Peace, Philosophy, Religion, Self-improvement, Spirituality

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

B4Peace, Buddhism, Celebrities Spirituality, Christian, Ellen Degeneres, Gabrielle Bernstein, God, Healthy spirituality and its biology, Jim Carrey, John Lennon, Mark Bertolini, Mindfulness, mindfulness and prayerful healing, Oprah Winfrey, Paul Jones, Sonia Jones, Spiritual But Not Religious, Spiritual Coming Out Stories, Spiritual Development, Steve Jobs

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I came upon an article that features spiritual “coming out” stories from successful thinkers, performers and business leaders. I had 54 drafts today nearly complete, but this post suddenly ‘made me’ happy with myself. My theme here is inner peace — it comes through us by spiritual growth. Even non-religious people agree… inner peace is a transcendent quality.

Animated_Moses_with_10_Commandments

I love my faith and for me Christian belief is in my heart. Yet, deeply, I learn every day at WordPress about spirituality and reverence for life… and therefore in the bricks and mortar world too… from dozens of fellow bloggers here and from dozens of people in community… what’s most important to me — being usefulness for others… I am to be love… to love being loving.

That is what was working on me since childhood. When I got that, FINALLY, I had a complete faith that transcends egoistic me. 

I don’t anymore care much about what religion, if any, that a person follows. I care about inner peace and sharing that.

I don’t think that God is religious. I think God can handle anything and that He wants us all with Him — I think we are all pieces of the kingdom come puzzle. I think, in the end, God will have His way. That’s me… keeping it simple — nothing more complex than that really is here and there in my blog about my religious thinking. I like my religion simple. For me spirituality isn’t about religion.

Now, for the good stuff: here are 10 short “coming out” stories about people you probably know of… hope you love the stories. Oh, and there are links to video and other presentations in the text — hover the mouse pointer to get a description. I went the extra mile for you.

~ Eric

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The Huffington Post  |  By Carolyn Gregoire (reblog)
How Some Of The World’s Most Successful People
Discovered Their Spiritual Side

Now, with nearly one in five Americans identifying as “spiritual but not religious,” and countless successful people in a range of professions saying that meditation is their greatest secret to success, some of America’s most beloved public figures and successful business leaders are following suit, opening up about their first “big jelly” moments of spiritual awakening — and telling the world why they believe.

John Lennon

In a 1967 interview, “What I Believe,” John Lennon opened up to the world about how he discovered God.

You don’t have to have a great faith or anything. The whole thing is so simple — as though it’s too marvelous to be true,” Lennon said of discovering Transcendental Meditation in India with guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, during the interview with The Daily Sketch. “I don’t and never did imagine God as one thing. But now I can see God as a power source, or as an energy.

Lennon went on to say, “It’s all like one big jelly. We’re all in the big jelly.”

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Jim Carrey

In 2009, Jim Carrey gave a heartfelt talk about the first time he realized that his self was something bigger than his mind, body or thoughts. Carrey said of his spiritual awakening:

I understood suddenly how thought was just an illusory thing, and how thought is responsible for, if not all, most of the suffering we experience. And then I suddenly felt that I was looking at these thoughts from another perspective, and I thought, ‘Who is it that is aware that I’m thinking?’ Suddenly, I was thrown into this expansive, amazing feeling of freedom — from myself, from my problems. I saw that I was bigger than what I do, bigger than my body, everything and everyone. I was no longer a fragment of the universe. I was the universe.

In a 2006 “60 Minutes” segment, Carrey also said that spirituality has helped him through bouts of depression, and helped him to engage with the world from a more loving place.

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Gabrielle Bernstein

New York Times best-selling author and guru to young professional women Gabrielle Bernstein was a hard-partying New York City PR girl (and cocaine addict) when she “hit bottom” — and turned inward to find a new way. Bernstein said in a TEDxFiDiWomen talk that she woke up one morning and heard a voice tell her:

Get your life together, girl, and you will live beyond your wildest dreams.

After 25 years of looking for direction and happiness “in all the wrong places,” Bernstein got clean, began following the metaphysical text “A Course in Miracles” — which she says helped her move from a place of fear to one of love — and soon afterward wrote her ultra-successful self-help book, “May Cause Miracles.”

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Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs was a practicing Zen Buddhist. At 18 years old, the tech visionary dropped out of Reed College and went to India to find himself — and came home with Buddhist values that would shape the rest of his life and career. At his memorial in 2011, Jobs had arranged for guests to be given copies of “Autobiography of a Yogi,” the classic spiritual memoir on the power of self-realization.

That was the message: Actualize yourself.

Said friend and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff who attended the funeral at the 2013 TechCrunch Disrupt SF conference, “If you look back at the history of Steve and that early trip to India … He had this incredible realization that his intuition was his greatest gift. He needed to look at world from inside out … His message was to look inside yourself and realize yourself.”

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Ellen Degeneres

When “Ellen” host Ellen Degeneres first came out as a lesbian in 1997, the reaction from Hollywood was devastating: Advertisers pulled their funding and she was forced to cancel her show for three years. During that period, Degeneres told TODAY’s Ann Curry in 2012, she began to look for happiness and wholeness within herself.

I don’t think it was a failure, but it certainly gave me a lot of time to sit still and go, ‘Who am I?’

During that period, Degeneres found her center and created a spiritual lifestyle by becoming a vegan, yogi and, in 2011, a Transcendental Meditation practitioner. “[TM] just gives me this peaceful feeling and I love it so much,” Degeneres said at a David Lynch Foundation event.

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Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey has become a guru for modern Americans, doling out self-help, spiritual guidance and meditation tips. Winfrey has said that the only life is a spiritual one — something she knows because she has “lived in the space of spirit [her] whole life.” Oprah knew this truth even when she was four years old, she claims, when she profoundly felt the truth of her favorite Bible verse, Acts 17:28 (“For in him we live and move and have our being”).

There is a force/energy/consciousness/divine thread that connects us all spiritually to something greater than ourselves.

Oprah stated this during an Oprah’s Life Class program in 2012, defining spirituality as “living your life with an open heart through love.”

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Tina Turner

Tina Turner turned on to Buddhism in the 1970s when she was struggling to put an end to her abusive relationship with husband and fellow musician Ike Turner. Turner now follows a sub-sect of Buddhism known as Soka Gakkai, which emphasizes chanting and follows the teachings of the Lotus Sutra. Beyond, an album of Buddhist and Christian music, features Turner chanting the Lotus Sutra (“Nam Myoho Renge Kyo).”

Turner told Shambhala Sun in 2011:

I feel that chanting for 35 years has opened a door inside me, and that even if I never chanted again, that door would still be there. I feel at peace with myself. I feel happier than I have ever been, and it is not from material things. Material things make me happy, but I am already happy before I acquire these things. I have a nature within myself now that’s happy.

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Tim Ryan

Congressman Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), author of “A Mindful Nation: How A Simple Practice Can Help Us Reduce Stress, Improve Performance and Recapture the American Spirit,” has been instrumental in bringing mindfulness to the nation’s capital — and into schools and communities across the U.S. Since last December, he’s led a silent meditation time on Mondays for members of Congress, the “Quiet Time Caucus.”

The Catholic former high school football player turned to meditation (which he now practices for 45 minutes every morning) when he was feeling stressed and overwhelmed with campaigning and constant work travel. So he went on a five-day mindfulness retreat in the Catskills with Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction — and the trip changed his life.

Ryan told the Washington Times:

I had two BlackBerrys. I checked them at the door. You learn to follow your breathing, appreciate how your mind works. When it starts to wander off, you come back to your body. By the middle of the retreat I felt my mind and body sync up. Like being in the zone.

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John Mackey

In 2008, Whole Foods CEO John Mackey was going through a rough patch in his life. Whole Foods was being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission after acquiring its largest competitor, Wild Oats, and Mackey himself was caught in the middle of a stock market scandal. It was then that the “Conscious Capitalism” author turned to spirituality.

Mackey found solace in the practice of holotropic breathing, which led him to several important epiphanies and acted as something of a spiritual awakening.

 Mackey said in a CD released with his Conscious Capitalism:

I had this very powerful session, very powerful. It lasted about two hours. I was having a dialogue with what I would define as my deeper self, or my higher self.

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Mark Bertolini, CEO of Aetna

Like Mackey, Bertolini turned inward and explored alternative healing remedies in the wake of a traumatic event. After the Aetna CEO broke his neck in a skiing accident, he was hooked on painkillers for a year. But then he found natural pain relief through mindfulness practices like yoga and meditation. Now, he’s been practicing viniyoga for nearly seven years.

Bertolini has become an outspoken advocate of mindfulness, which he credits with improving decision-making skills in the workplace. At Aetna, he introduced a 12-week mindfulness and yoga program for employees, and according to Bertolini, it’s resulted in dramatically lower stress levels and increased productivity among its 34,000 participants.

Bertolini said in an interview with yoga website Alignyo in May:

Every morning I get up and I do my asana, pranayama, meditation, and Vedic chanting before work. It’s helped me be more centered, more present.

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Paul & Sonia Jones

In 2012, Tudor Investments founder Paul Jones and his wife Sonia donated $12 million to establish the Contemplative Sciences Center at the University of Virginia. The exploration of contemplative and yogic practices is close to both of their hearts.

 The couple said when they announced the gift:

We both started practicing Ashtunga Yoga in 2000 and it changed our lives. Our hope is that every person that goes into the Contemplative Sciences Center can have the same great experience that my wife and I and our family and all our friends have had.

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_ _ _ _

I don’t even like what some of the above people have done or said or still do and say. However, that isn’t what is important to me about them. They are fellow human beings on an elusive road to spirituality. Their ego is probably a crafty and tenacious adversary like mine. They get over that and the failings, and they focus on spiritual growth. I love that about them all. Today, I’m about tolerance, acceptance, patience, empathy, compassion, love and you and me with inner peace.

May God bless us all — every one of us.

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Thanks for reading
spiritual topics in a secular age.

 Eric

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Bloggers For Peace

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Other WordPress Peace bloggers:
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Aside

Christian Mysticism – Philosophy/Religion

23 Sunday Feb 2014

Posted by Hunt 4 Truth in Faith, Philosophy, Religion, Spirituality

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Christian, God, love, Love thy neighbor, Mysticism

always_there.

But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.

— Matthew 5:44-45

Children Of Light

allsaints

~ Essence of  Love by Kiernan Antares ~

Lit up from
Within
I am

Free
Empowered
Whole
I am

Stars aflame
Soul on fire
With passion
I am

Birthed anew
Radiating a light
A force
A Source

…

FOR reasons that are not too clear, thirteenth-century Europe represents the single greatest flowering of mysticism in the West. It was also a time, nearly unique in Western history, for the extent to which feminine voices were raised, tolerated, and even revered. In the following article, Jake has generously given us many unknown facts, certainly unknown to me, and to which I offer my gratitude. Having read and enjoyed books on Christian Mysticism over the years, I cannot find the language to do them justice. Jake does. (Jake Murray graduated from Oxford Uni. He works as a Freelance theatre director, teacher and writer. )

What is Christian Mysticism?

by Jake Murray

C

View original post 1,050 more words

My soul longs for You ! ! !

16 Sunday Feb 2014

Posted by Hunt 4 Truth in Culture, Inspiration, Music, Religion, Spirituality

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Arts and Entertainment, Brandon Heath, Christian, God, Jesus, Jesus Culture, Kim Walker, Kim Walker-Smith, Mandisa, Misty Edwards

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CLICK to visit biography.com: Jesus

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world, he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” He claimed attributes belonging only to God; to be able to forgive people of their sin, free them from habits of sin, give people a more abundant life and grant them eternal life in heaven. Unlike other teachers who focused people on their words, Jesus pointed people to himself. He did not say, “follow my words and you will find truth.” He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father but through me.”

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Misty Edwards:.

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Kim Walker:

 

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************************
* Only one Word was on my mind *
Kim Walker and Jesus Culture

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in her own words… say a little prayer Whitney
Sunday with His Son MercyMe
God Is Love Misty Edwards
Give Me Your Eyes Brandon Heath
A new Hallelujah Michael Smith
Jesus Culture – You Won’t Relent and Jason Upton – Peace
MercyMe, I can only imagine
nostalgia for… Amazing Grace Santana
I look to you Whitney
nostalgia for Norman Greenbaum Spirit In The Sky
Can you have the greatest love of all? Whitney
when you believe Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston
Mandisa – God Speaking
MercyMe all of creation
Ave Maria

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Thanks for visiting.

 Eric

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C. S. Lewis: The Magician’s Twin

15 Saturday Feb 2014

Posted by Hunt 4 Truth in Consciousness, Culture, Faith, Happiness, Lessons, Philosophy, Religion, Science, Spirituality, Universe

≈ 24 Comments

Tags

apologist, C. S. Lewis, Christian, Christian apologetics, Christianity, Clive Staples Lewis, CS Lewis, God, Holy Spirit, John G. West, Lewis, Mere Christianity, Religion and Spirituality, scientism, scientocracy, The Discovery Institute, The Magician's Twin, Theism to Christianity

recall: I love science!
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The Magician’s Twin:
C. S. Lewis on Science, Scientism, and Society

The Discovery Institute released the book The Magician’s Twin, edited by John G. West in 2012. West was a senior Fellow of the Institute and one of the editors of the highly C. S. Lewis Readers’ Encyclopedia. The Magician’s Twin is actually a collection of essays written by contemporary writers about Lewis’s warnings of how dehumanizing scientism would take us in ethics, politics, education, faith, reason, and even in science itself.

The book explores Lewis’s views on bioethics, eugenics, evolution, intelligent design, and what he called “scientocracy.” The book is divided into four sections: Science & Scientism, Origins, Reason, and Society.

The Magician’s Twin addresses and challenges the claim that the works of C. S. Lewis are a friend to Darwinian evolution. The book does not address the question of the age of the earth. It’s chapters profess dangerous implications of the Darwinian theories of evolution. Three chapters by John West address how ‘neo-Darwinism’ and ‘scientific materialism’ shape American public policy and culture since the nineteenth century to the present. Writes West, Lewis was “appalled by the growing dogmatism and intolerance he saw among evolutionists.”

C.S. Lewis foresaw that science could be twisted by greed and self-aggrandizement in order to attack religion, undermine ethics, and limit human freedom. The description of Transhumanism (the human enhancement movement) is written in Lewis’s predictions in “The Abolition of Man” and is seemingly frighteningly accurate as today, technology advances rapidly while moral knowledge declines.

In the video documentary “The Magician’s Twin: C.S. Lewis and the Case Against Scientism,” leading scholars explore Lewis’s prophetic warnings about the abuse of science and how Lewis’s concerns are increasingly relevant for us today.

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.NOTE: Lewis believed in the common descent of all human beings from one non-human ancestor, although he was skeptical of unguided natural selection.

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CLICK HERE to explore black holes with the Universe Expansion Cosmic Distance Ladder

Click the Universe Expansion Cosmic Distance Ladder to explore black holes at the Hubblesite Special Feature pages.

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I love the show and C. S. Lewis. I don’t care about evolution. Some of it occurs — so what. I have a simple approach:

    • The complexity of our universe is a created universe sustained by a protection of energy that supports and sustains life.
    • Every cell of our bodies is new in a year and each new cell is a product of thoughts that we think.
    • The universe came about from cause. It plays like a fine instrument. The universe operates by perfect uniform laws of nature.
    • God constantly reveals more simply the complexities of His universe.
    • DNA assures that we will act just as God’s plan calls for from each of us at just the right moments doing in those moments just the exact thing that we as unique aspects of an entire community of humanity must do at an exact time so that we will keep our subconscious agreements with each other. Those moments are unavoidable. Our circumstances will compel us to be exactly in the right place at the right time and we will do and or say exactly the right thing then; no matter what we may mess up most of the rest of our days. We are usually unconscious about it or chalk it off to coincidence. There are no coincidences.
    • Most of us are unconscious about our individual purpose until the time is exactly right and even then it rarely dawns upon most any of us that we have a purpose.
    • We are eternal spiritual beings. Most of us are fearful much of the time and thus we are separated from knowing fully God’s loving presence. Some of us are even oblivious about God.
    • We all need to be aware that our upsets belong to we as individuals and take responsibility for these without finding fault with anyone else.
    • We must be loving and compassionate, empathetic and we must find our self-actualized purpose before looking to outside for satisfying relationships.
    • The Holy Spirit is the protecting and sustaining energy of this universe. We ought look inward and be still to allow the Spirit to fill our bodies and fully enliven our hearts and then the Spirit will direct us as we’d never known possible.

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More C. S. Lewis
    • C. S. Lewis – why he still matters so much today
    • Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis (Youtube read aloud by Jeffrey Howard)
    • Mere Christianity (MP3 read aloud by Jeffrey Howard)
    • Mere Christianity Text and PDF (online – download)

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I hope you’ll come back often — there is more to be discovered.

.

Need help or want to collaborate with me?
Just e-mail me at thehunt4truth@yahoo.com

Thanks for learning with me.

 Eric

.

See also:

    • Sacred Technology?
    • Scientist debunks Hawking’s ‘no God needed’ theory
      How the Universe Works (in 25 minutes)
      Hawking: ‘Heaven is a place for people afraid to die’
    • Is the brain spirituality wired?

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C. S. Lewis – why he still matters so much today

13 Thursday Feb 2014

Posted by Hunt 4 Truth in Consciousness, Culture, Faith, Happiness, Inner peace, Philosophy, Religion, Spirituality

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

apologist, C. S. Lewis, Christian, Christian apologetics, Christianity, Clive Staples Lewis, CS Lewis, Eric Metaxas, G. K. Chesterton, God, Holy Spirit, immortal, James Como, Lewis, Mere Christianity, Theism to Christianity

1898 – 1963

.

I am posting this today because I believe that God made us to be immortal. Further, I believe that anyone that decides to seek God is blessed in such a manner as that they will know this. I am Christian, however, I personally believe that God’s Holy Spirit embraces every soul, plant, animal and even inorganic matter. Science can “see” this as quantum energy. Science cannot explain this. It requires faith to understand the mysteries of God’s Divine Love.

Aside from a handful of apostles and saints that I cannot locate on YouTube, there is in my experience, no greater explainer for Christianity that was C. S. Lewis.

Our hearts must be on fire for the things of God; and so must our reason.

 ~ C. S. Lewis

.

Lewis was not always devoutly Christian. In fact, as a young man, Lewis was deeply bothered by evil and suffering in the world that didn’t fit with whom he imagined God to be. In his early adult years he was actually an outspoken atheist.

In his words: “My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. Just how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust? … Thus in the very act of trying to prove that God did not exist—in other words, that the whole of reality was senseless—I found I was forced to assume that one part of reality—namely my idea of justice—was full of sense. Consequently atheism turns out to be too simple.  If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning.”
(Mere Christianity, 45-46)

Being disciplined and diligent about the truth of his beliefs, Lewis came in some time to dramatically reverse his decision.

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Lewis and AslanA former atheist he once exclaimed “Had God designed the world, it would not be A world so frail and faulty as we see.”

There is an old saying, “When the pupil is ready, the master will appear.”

C. S. Lewis has been a teacher and a mentor whose books and writings appeared at just the right time in countless lives.

The documentary seeks to answer the question of why C. S. Lewis — an Oxford scholar who specialized in Renaissance literature — still matters today. Lewis’s importance is heard through a renowned group of Christian pastors, artists, producers, writers and scholars.

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Who was this man, C. S. Lewis?

Clive Staples Lewis, commonly called C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as “Jack”, was a novelist, poet, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian, and Christian apologist.

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C. S. Lewis from Theism to Christianity:

C. S. Lewis 1:25: [Reading from G. K. Chesterton]
“A great man knows he is not God and the greater he is, the better he knows it. The gospels declare that this mysterious maker of the world has visited his world in person. The most that any religious prophet has said was that he was the true servant of such a being. But if the creator was present in the daily life of the Roman empire, that is something unlike anything else in nature. It is the one great startling statement that man has made since he spoke his first articulate word. It makes dust and nonsense of comparative religion.”

James Como 6:16:
I think it would be a mistake to think that argument converted C.S. Lewis. Because he thinks that we have to be oblique. We can’t look at things directly. They escape us. This is what his attempt at introspection taught him. When you’re thinking and now you start to think about your thinking — you’re not thinking about the original object anymore, you know. I’m thinking about baseball, now I’m thinking about how I’m thinking about baseball, so now I’m not thinking about baseball, you see. Very elusive. So Lewis understood that we had to have an oblique approach, as he put it, you have to sneak past the watchful dragons of self-consciousness.

C. S. Lewis 6:52:
I know very well when but hardly how the final step was taken. I went with my brother to have a picnic at Whipsnade Zoo. We started in fog, but by the end of our journey the sun was shining. When we set out I did not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and when we reached the zoo I did. I had not exactly spent the journey in thought. Nor in great emotion. It was more like when a man, after a long sleep, becomes aware that he is now awake.

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More C. S. Lewis
  • Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis (Youtube read aloud by Jeffrey Howard)
  • Mere Christianity (MP3 read aloud by Jeffrey Howard)
  • Text and PDF (online – download)
  • C. S. Lewis: The Magician’s Twin

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I hope you’ll come back often — there is more to be discovered.

Need help or want to collaborate with me? Just e-mail me at thehunt4truth@yahoo.com

Thanks for learning with me.

 Eric

.
Related articles (hunt4truth.wordpress.com)
  • Scientist debunks Hawking’s ‘no God needed’ theory
    Hawking: ‘Heaven is a place for people afraid to die’
    How the Universe Works (in 25 minutes)
  • Looking at yourself honestly – Respect
    Looking at yourself honestly – Gratitude
  • mindfulness and prayerful healing
  • is the brain spirituality wired?
    change from within
  • stillness – your essential nature
    Rippling
  • Give Our Lord the benefit of believing
    Only one Word was on my mind

.

let’s say hello in a new place

27 Sunday Oct 2013

Posted by Hunt 4 Truth in Afterlife, Faith, Happiness, Heaven, Inner peace, Religion, Spirituality

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Christian, Christianity, God, meditation, Religion & Spirituality

1-John-2-17

The material world is awesome it seems. Science proves it is imperfect and that in fact even the universe, huge and awesome albeit, is temporary. Yet, we may live forever in the peace and serenity of a permanent and perfect place.

Spiritual topics in a secular world…
Thanks for your visit.

New post  Eric

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Aside

Pope Francis: ‘Ideological Christians’ Are a ‘Serious Illness’

26 Saturday Oct 2013

Posted by Hunt 4 Truth in Faith, Religion, Spirituality

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Catholic, Christian, Christianity, ideological, Pope, Pope Francis, Religion & Spirituality

Pope Francis is not your usual Pope it seems.

.Gingho

change from within

15 Tuesday Oct 2013

Posted by Hunt 4 Truth in Consciousness, Happiness, Health, I can improve today, Inner peace, Inspiration, Lessons, Meditation, Mindful, Philosophy, Science, Self-assessments, Self-improvement

≈ 27 Comments

Tags

awareness, Christian, consciousness, coping, Dalai Lama, God, happiness, Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill, Health, Jesus, life is beautiful, Matthieu Ricard, open mind, Peace, Prosocial behavior, serenity

.

Change your Mind; Change your Brain

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The Inner Conditions:

 .

Program Description
Presented by Richard J. Davidson

In this talk, Richard J. Davidson explores scientific research on the neuroscience of positive human qualities and how they can be cultivated through contemplative practice. Distinctions among different forms of contemplative practices will be introduced and they will be shown to have different neural and behavioral consequences, as well as important consequences for physical health in both long-term and novice practitioners. New research also shows that meditation-based interventions delivered online can produce behavioral and neural changes. Collectively, this body of research indicates that we can cultivate adaptive neural changes and strengthen positive human qualities through systematic mental practice.

If happiness is an inner state, influenced by external conditions but not dependent on them, how can we achieve it? Matthieu Ricard presents factors that generally may increase or decrease well-being, happiness, authenticity, compassion, peace, and joy.

Happiness and joy may stimulate compassion and compassion may stimulate happiness and joy. This is ideal. This may then be noticed to be increasing positive energy, empathy, pro-social behavior, and the change within may serve as the kernel of an evolving moral-ethical framework.

Matthieu Ricard is a scientist turned Buddhist monk and a best selling author, translator, and photographer. He has lived and studied in the Himalayas for more than 35 years.

A wellness approach in learning: act as though we don’t yet know anything more important — eliminate the inner ego voice from learning.

I pray to be released from any responsibility for making judgments and to learn as though this is all new to me. Later, I’ll review the important lesson again. Always when material is important in my life, I review the material many times.

TreesBirdsBeesInFreshAirStarting off into a new day, there is something to learn and something to share — what that is comes to me with my morning meditation — I don’t really even think about it until it comes — I remind myself, “This is my wonderful journey of self discovery. Love envelopes me and the gentle waves of peaceful waters and the light shine from my mind into the world around me.” As I face myself in honesty, open to guiding spirit, I turn my life over to God and I ask Him to allow me to do whatever I may to do His will — Thy Will, not mine be done.  

His Holiness the Dalai Lama says “in today’s secular world, religion alone is no longer adequate as a basis for ethics… any religion-based answer to the problem of our neglect of inner values can never be universal, and so will be inadequate.” My religion practice is rooted in utmost fondness and enthusiasm in me. I love Jesus and being Christian. I also love all others as best I am able and this is certainly a growing condition in me, prompted by my love of Jesus’s words that make clear that we are to love God with all of our being and also love others as we would be loved. I realize that my world around me is a secular world where my religion is separate from societal norms and therefore that I must involve myself with others in ways that make me attractive; not by promoting my religion. I am to be a channel for love. 

I hope that this lesson is helpful for you in your life of spiritual enlightenment — awakening the skill to foster well-being and for freedom, mastery of living in moments of serenity, inner peacefulness, joyfulness, and of course for sharing happiness.

Thanks for learning with me.

 Eric

Bloggers For Peace

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what is done for us…

11 Friday Oct 2013

Posted by Hunt 4 Truth in Faith, Heaven, Inner peace, Inspiration, Mindful, Poetry, Prayer, Religion, Spirituality

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

Christian, Christianity, consciousness, God, happiness, Jesus, prayer, Religion and Spirituality

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Jesus — we will not forget who you are and what you’ve done for us.

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“Where You Go I Go”

Where You go I go
What You say I say
What You pray
I pray
What You pray
I pray
 
 praying-boy
[repeat]
 
Jesus only did what He saw You do
He would only say what he heard You speak
He would only move when He felt You lead
Following Your heart, following Your spirit
How could I expect to walk without You
When every move that Jesus made was in surrender
I will not begin to live without You
For You alone are worthy,
You are always good
You are always good
Where You go I go
What You say I say
God What You pray I pray
What You pray I pray
Though the world sees and soon forgets
We will not forget who you are
And what you’ve done for us, what you’ve done for us

Thanks for visiting.

New post Eric

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Related articles
  • When I Think of You… A new Hallelujah
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Only one Word was on my mind

29 Sunday Sep 2013

Posted by Hunt 4 Truth in Consciousness, Faith, Heaven, Inner peace, Meditation, Mindful, Music, Prayer, Religion, Spirituality

≈ 16 Comments

Tags

Almighty, Christian, Christianity, God, Holy, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Jesus Culture, Kim Walker, Kim Walker-Smith, praise, Religion and Spirituality, song, worship

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As I face myself in the mirror…
I’m looking for holiness within my human face… 
that will come along…

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I was looking deeper than at my face. I was facing myself just as I’d been doing many dozens of times before, but this is what I need to share  — it was different this time. I was looking through myself and beyond the past of myself, even faster than the speed of light it was. I was really this time in acceptance that I’ve been doing the best that I can do. I know darn well that nothing that I can or did do or even will do makes me worthy of God’s Grace; no matter if I even by some chance may do one thing even perfectly. In fact, I wouldn’t have to work at it to tear up my mental image of myself doing the best that I can — recalling times that I was mean or worse even.Gingho

I’ve been so wondering and cherishing and thinking about positive qualities and training myself in the moment to hold His Love in my heart.

Tearing myself up didn’t work. I’ve done that. These recent years, I’m praying and cherishing God’s Holy Love.

Seeing past my shortcomings — its time to give this a try  — focus on His Love and happiness and that living in the now awareness that compels strong connection to Holy Jesus — is what is best for me and anyone.

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I want to see only His Love in my face.

God is maker of all of heaven and earth;
Of ALL that is, seen and unseen,
And if we are without Him,
We do not exist.

Thanks for visiting.

 Eric

About Jesus Culture

[ sing along – I do! ]

HOLY

Just one look on your face.
Just one glance of your eyes.
My whole world has changed.
My whole world has changed.
Oh I see – only to see your face.
I don’t want to go anywhere without you God
… without your Presence.

Oh let me see your face.
The beauty of your holiness God.

Take me into the Holy Place.
And only one word comes to mind.
There’s only one word to describe.
Only one word comes to mind.
There’s only one word to describe.
Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty.

God’s Love travels faster than the speed of light.

In a moment all is one and one is all.

In a moment the universe is, I Am That, I Am.

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Related articles (hunt4truth.wordpress.com)
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You can Load My blog READER list (for WordPress members – signed in) 

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9-29-13

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what is the happiest person in the world saying?

23 Monday Sep 2013

Posted by Hunt 4 Truth in Consciousness, Faith, Health, Inner peace, Meditation, Mindful, Philosophy, Science, Spirituality

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

Art of Meditation, Brain, Buddhism, Christian, Christianity, DNA, God, healing, Jesus, joy, Matthieu Ricard, mind, Peace, Religion and Spirituality, serenity, Thought

Oh yes, I’m back on happiness and changing your DNA and your brain chemistry too; and so I’m taking a closer look with my new friend Matthieu Ricard from his Google Tech Talks in 2007 at how to re-program brains. His lecture is stored in the Youtube video library (its so nice to browse Youtube occasionally–well, actually, I do daily).

Mattieu Ricard spoke about ‘The Art of Meditation’ in a video from the charity RSA. Here are some hints and tips…

    • A healthy mind should act like a mirror – faces can be reflected in a glass but none of them stick. Use the same technique with thoughts – let them pass through your mind but don’t dwell.
    • It’s impossible to stop thoughts from coming but focusing on a particular sound or the breath going in and out calms the mind, giving greater clarity. Controlling the mind is not about reducing your freedom, it’s about not being a slave to your thoughts. Think of it as directing your mind like a boat rather than drifting.
    • Be mindful – pay attention to the sensations of your breath going in and out. If you notice your mind wandering simply bring it back to focusing on your breath. This is known as mindfulness. You can apply it to other sensations to bring you into the ‘now’ rather than dwelling on the past or future. You could focus  instead on heat, cold and sounds that you hear.
    • Once you’ve achieved some skill in this you  can use that to cultivate qualities such as kindness, or dealing with disturbing emotions. He says everyone has felt all-consuming love but usually it lasts for about 15 seconds, but you can hold on and nurture this vivid feeling by focusing on it in meditation. If you feel it becoming vague you can consciously revive it.
    • Like when playing the piano, practicing the feeling for 20minutes has a far greater impact over time than a few seconds.  Regular practice is also needed like watering a plant.
    • You can then use meditation to gain some space from negative emotions. Ricard says: ‘You can look at your experience like a fire that burns. If you are aware of anger you are not angry you are aware. Being aware of anxiety is not being anxious it is being aware.’ By being aware of these emotions you are no longer adding fuel to their fire and they will burn down.
    • You will see benefits in stress levels and general wellbeing as well as brain changes with regular practice in a month. Those who say they don’t have enough time to meditate should look at the benefits: ‘If it gives you the resources to deal with everything else during the other 23 hours and 30minutes, it seems a worthy way of spending 20 minutes,’ Ricard says.

I understand that what once was thought a miracle is a law of nature as it turns out.

Change your Mind; Change your Brain
The Inner Conditions:

60 minutes Youtube watch?v=L_30JzRGDHI

Next, I also want you to see this talk from Ricard on the habits of happiness at Ted Talks (also stored on Youtube).

21 minutes Youtube watch?v=vbLEf4HR74E

Thanks for learning with me,

 Eric

Why is Ricard “the happiest man in the world?”

A friend wants to know if I’m still Christian. YES, I am. Everything that I’m referring to from science and new age and Buddhist teachers is complimentary with Jesus’s teachings. I posted a couple of the most important Christian practices–in my opinion, 1 John (NIV) and the Our Father prayer are essential in Christian belief.

1 John 4:9-11

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  

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Related articles

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  • morning Meditation (hunt4truth.wordpress.com)
  • 1 John (NIV) (hunt4truth.wordpress.com)
  • your eMotion matters (hunt4truth.wordpress.com)

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Inner Peace

Inner Peace Award - I would have a no-awards blog but this award changed me. Thanks Suz. I'm glad I changed.

November 2013

Top Posts (LIkes)

  • Looking at yourself honestly - Mental Strength
  • Only one Word was on my mind
  • A Virus Called Fear
  • Five steps to mindfulness
  • Scientist debunks Hawking's 'no God needed' theory
  • Happiness: Self-acceptance
  • How is feeling upset my problem?
  • 7 Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra
  • 10 Principles for Success and Inner Peace
  • How Meditation Changes Our Brains

Recent Posts

  • Psychic Ability, Remote Viewing and A Course in Miracle with Russell Targ
  • America’s Great Divide
  • ACIM Zoom
  • Christ & Christianity { Alan Watts }
  • A Course In Miracles (training and discussions)
  • Awareness
  • Imagination creates reality
  • The World As Emptiness, and Being Let Go
  • Man cannot stand a meaningless life
  • Empath Support
  • Don’t take consciousness for granted
  • The World is Only Reflecting Back to You What You Are
  • Living Happily
  • we are holographic
  • How close is science to understanding consciousness?
  • Mapping the “War on Christmas”
  • The Fountain (95 minute Full Feature Film)
  • laugh… evolve…
  • be still and contemplate
  • Year 3 in WordPress time
  • mind is everywhere
  • Three Hermits – the simplicity of joyful worship
  • Love one another
  • Do Your Best
  • within these reflections…
  • signs of the Soul (reblog)
  • Verbal and Emotional Abuse… is More Than Just Words Said
  • How are you stepping outside of your childhood programming and recovering your power of creation?
  • Dreamwalker’s Hearts Beat as One!
  • Humble (reblog)
  • 2015 – resolutions
  • Artists 4 Peace
  • irrational ideas – quality of life (reblog)
  • dreams fly free (reblog)
  • A Virus Called Fear
  • The sky is not the limit (reblog)
  • Thanksgiving – Why?
  • Science and Prayer
  • Veterans Day Thanks
  • What If Heaven Is Here And Now?

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Hunt 4 Truth

Hunt 4 Truth

For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." https://hunt4truth.wordpress.com/ Absolute Truth is whole, complete and perfect. Absolute Truth is just beyond words, mental concepts, and form; Non-being, yet in everything and yet beyond thought forms. Prayer and meditation fashion in our hearts further honesty, openness, and willingness and thus, we may glimpse guidance and truth to rightly think and act. Any glimpse of truth is not Absolute Truth. It may be sufficient until we renew our commitment to serve God. Life is thus best navigated during mindfulness of prayer and meditation by an inner peace. "For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse." Romans 1:20

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