With My Own Two Hands

Stepping into the Canvas with my own two. When things don’t go as planned, we can choose to give up and/or allow someone else to solve our dilemma, we can choose to take pills to mask our pain or we can choose to take action. Through our actions, our reality is unveiled. Choosing to be passive or active, within the Canvas of Life, is merely our choice. What we choose has consequences…how do you want them to pan out?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEnfy9qfdaU

Love Is My Religion

With so many groups telling us which way to go or how to live a peaceful life, it is easy to get confused or second guess our own belief systems. One group is told theirs is the way, while another wages war on the next because theirs is the way. We all seek to fill a void within…that absence of Love. Anything that preaches anything other than Love is surely not The Way.

Filling this void with Love, all other teachings fall short to what matters most…Love one another as you want to be Loved. With that we visit our good friend Ani Po, who learns first hand that there are many pathways to paradise. While many have valuable lessons along the way, it is not the easiest path to choose. The easiest to choose is often thought unrealistic.

Ani Po recalls lessons Jesus taught: Jesus invited a tax collector to lunch. Back in his day it was thought wrong to befriend a tax collector, let alone have lunch with him. Jesus also shared fellowship with a prostitute…again thought to be wrong. Both of these examples were taught by his example. Finally through story telling Jesus tells a story of a Samaritan man helping a beaten man at the side of the road. The man was a Jew and during this time Samaritans and Jews did not get along…nevertheless it was a lesson of going beyond what is expected and doing what is right. These stories are about crossing the barriers of our inherited faith and exercising The Way of Love.

Ani Po reflects on this teachings and parallels them to today. The story of the tax collector would probably be the same, because who in their right mind would befriend a tax collector?! Similarly, the prostitute friendship would be frowned upon today and would have people talking for days…with possible legal implications. The last lesson, where Jesus tells a story of the Samaritan  would be comparable to a Christian helping a Muslim or a Muslim helping a Christian. Heaven forbid either one befriends an Atheist!

Sadly, Ani Po recently loses some friendships as she recently befriended a group of another affiliation. Ani Po, Hebrew for I Am Here, is considered a warrior in her culture and is not to mingle with the pilgrims of their day. A pilgrim is considered a seeker still searching for truth, until one day the accept the path of warrior. Ani Po recalls that all Warriors were once pilgrims, lost and searching for that which was lost…Love. She is saddened by the recent loss of friendships, but is assured these are not true friends.

Have you ever joined a group or different religious body, only to be chastised by another? Are you guilty of pointing at other religious affiliates and claiming them to be wrong? Are you a part of a certain political party, judging another for opposing views? Do you think Christ would judge a Jew, a Gentile or Samaritan? I think not. Do you think he subscribed to any religious bodies? No again…in fact it is written that he even challenged the Churches or synagogues of his day. Judgment day is coming in modern day…we will all be judged for how we treated our Brothers and Sisters.

Whether, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Atheist or Jew…let go of your disbelief and embrace Love for all. If another human being brings harm to you…by all means protect yourself and your family. If it is mere words…let the words go…for that is all they ever will be. If this resonates with you, you may very well be on your way to singing…”Love is my Religion.”

The narrow path is not defined by a narrowed religion, but defined by vastness and oneness. The wider the road, the narrower the path. The narrower the path, the fewer the seekers. The few seekers…they are the Believers.

Stepping into the Canvas, walking a Narrow path between flesh and Spirit. While the path Narrow, the road is vast. In vastness we find our Way. The Way carries Love in our Hearts and we instinctively find ourselves walking in Spirit. To be In Spirit is to be inspired, to be inspired is to be inspiring. This is The Way…Be The Way…and soon you will be singing…”Love is my religion.”

httpv://youtu.be/q8pv6Dqn7Jo