Thinking Out Loud

This title has dualistic meanings. First, read I can't believe what I used to believe in an astonished tone as in "I have no idea how I actually once believed some of the things I used to believe." Second, read I can't believe what I used to believe as a matter of fact in that I can't go back. My eyes have been opened and I can't unsee all the reasons why I no longer believe what I used to believe. As I wrote yesterday, I believe we already have everything we need within . We don't need a Holy Ghost, teacher, prophet, bishop, or parent to tell us what to do. We need to find a quiet place to think, ponder, meditate, or pray. Looking back over my life, it's all so clear why I never received answers to my prayers. I was looking for those answers to come from without  instead of looking for the answers within. I remember praying to know which college to attend. I had received scholarships to a couple of universities and felt that surely God had a plan an...

I read once that Gandhi used to chant the words  Rama, Rama, Rama under his breath throughout the day. Rama, Rama, Rama  means God, God, God. Is it any wonder Gandhi was one of the most patient, loving men our planet has seen?  I don't know that I want to chant God, God, God all day as that doesn't really resonate with me, but chanting love, love, love, does so today I started it doing it and it has already paid off immeasurably. First, as I was driving to work this morning, I was chanting it as a truck cut me off. My thought was, "He must be in a hurry and I sometimes do that too," rather than, "What a butt!"  Furthermore, I was in a meeting today wherein I got my head bitten off by a guy in IT. It was super awkward and I wanted to tell him he was a Jack-Ass, but instead, I chanted, love, love, love, and stayed objective. He stopped by my office later today and apologized for his inappropriate behavior. Honestly, I was touched because his apology was...

I love my new job. It gives me several opportunities to squash my ego. I like to think of my ego as this wild monster whom I stuff into a little box and then sit on top. He's always trying to get out and he hates his little container that I'm constantly stuffing him into. I derive great satisfaction by keeping him at bay, and I am equally amused by its strident attempts to escape! I just finished reading Dr. Dyer's book The Shift. I loved it as much as I love his other works so I had my family watch The Shift last night for family home evening. It's available for free on YouTube because Wayne Dyer is epic like that--he always wanted his content disseminated as freely as possible so that it could bless as many lives as possible. Anyhow, I took notes on ego and I'm pasting them here. I'd like to spend more time caressing these thoughts, but tonight I'm in a crunch so I'll have to come back. But I did a pretty bang up job scribbling down my thoughts in ...

What if the purpose of life is to simply transcend our differences? What if the reason we are all born into certain religions, cultures, families, etc. is so that we can rise above them? My Theory of Everything is that we were sent here to create a world-wide oneness. In my world there is no place for “God Bless America;" there is only "God bless us all." There is no “We are a peculiar people;” there is only "We are the World." The "me" over "you" or "us" over "them" mentality keeps us separate. It pits us one against another and is diametrically opposed to what we came here to achieve. I believe the purpose of mortality is to learn and grow. Of particular importance is learning how to love, serve, and bless one another. We must transcend our differences and embrace our universal humanity. We must come to see that we are more the same than we are different. Every divine soul wants to be loved, share love, feel safe and...