FOOD FOR THOUGHT, Ron's Articles

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This section contains articles and poems by Ron. All are copyrighted, with all rights reserved. Permission to repost is granted provided all credits and contact information is included in posting. Courtesy notification is requested. NOTE: I just did an Internet search of my name to see what was out there. I found my articles posted on blogs without my website or any other contact information. I thank those who are "struck" by my articles and wish to repost them; however, please allow the opportunity for those who may read them to respond. Perhaps I am vain, but it feels good to hear someone say they appreciate what was shared. Thanks for understanding... And I, too, need to be more aware and do a better job of telling those whose articles touch me that I appreciate their contribution.

Here's a link to a song for your inspiration and upliftment: LOVE CAN BUILD A BRIDGE by Naomi Judd and sung by The Judd's.

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(A few years earlier...no beard, shorter hair)...Ron on March 9, 2007... (Then again on September 9, 2007...still no haircut!)
back to long hair and with three weeks of new beard growth after three+ beardless years and even more with short hair.
The old hippie has returned.

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POWER TRIP

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LIBERATION and SOVEREIGNTY

Those were the two words I chose yesterday at church when we were asked what word describes what we felt is most important in the world today. Some of us got to go twice, which is how I ended up with two words. Nonetheless, as I sit here this morning reflecting on those words and my life at this point, I recognize an issue that is no doubt extremely important. The issue is this: if I truly want to be liberated and express my sovereignty, I first need to stop seeing things as outside of myself, as responsible for my situation ... no matter how it may seem otherwise. I have to be responsible – completely – for all aspects of my life. Sometimes (often) that’s a real challenge for me.

Throughout my life there have been two major issues that I have had to confront again and again in which I have generally viewed myself as a victim of circumstance. Perhaps others can relate? Finances and relationships have always presented problems for me. Even when I was in a relationship, I often had the feeling after the initial thrill wore off that she may not be the life-partner my soul preferred. Even when I've had good jobs and was making fairly decent money, I often felt that I was not doing what my soul wanted me to do. In other words, in these areas, especially, I felt that I was not fulfilling my calling or my destiny in life. So, in both areas I ended up making a crucial choice: my intention was going to be to live in integrity to my soul as much as I possibly could, and as much as I understood what that meant in any given moment. No more settling for less!

Regarding money, that decision came in 1992-3. My wife and I had both lost our jobs in early ‘92. We had gone from making $50-$60,000 a year to unemployment compensation. That was when I launched my own business, MHD Technical Services – financed by credit cards. It was a business I really believed in, a technology I felt whose time had come, yet I found myself competing with very powerful corporate interests. No matter how hard I worked, how much research I did, how many newsletters I published, how many people I contacted or how many states I visited – the result was always the same. I would get a few tiny sales here and there; nevertheless, the big ones that would put me in the black always seemed to evaporate.

In June 1993, as I was preparing to leave on yet another business trip to the northeastern U.S., a strange thought came to me. I did not mull it over; instead, I blurted out the question to my wife: "You're leaving me, aren't you?" Her eyes got as big as saucers as she responded, "How did you know?" She was planning to move out the next day; and I wouldn't have known about it until a day or two later when I would call her and my teenage children would tell me what had happened. Immediately, I canceled my business trip and helped her move from our home into an apartment provided by her sister.

She told me that she still loved me, and she was going to give me six months in which to turn the business around. However, she just could not live with the uncertainty of the business and the fact that we were using credit cards to pay around 50% of our expenses each month. Well, in September and October, everything fell apart. Two major deals that I had been working on for over a year each came to an abrupt and unanticipated end.

When I walked into the Hilton on that fateful day, the man I had been working with could not look me in the eye. I had to plead with him to get any response. Finally, he admitted that the chemical company had been there the day before, offering him kickbacks and other incentives to stay with chemical treatment rather than switching to the more environmentally safe magneto-hydrodynamic technology I was offering for scale and corrosion control in his cooling tower. He was very clear that he did not take the bribe, and also quite upset that they had gone to his boss. He did not have to say anything more. I knew…. His look said it all.

About two weeks later I spoke to the man at the Coulter Corporation that I had been working with for over a year. He was retiring at the end of the month. His replacement was a man who sat in on many of our meetings and the seminar I conducted for many of the bigwigs in the company. I was told that he had decided not to go with the newer and “unproven” technology. After the first man had left Coulter, I spoke with him once again on the phone. Though he was careful in what he said, reading between the lines I realized that the chemical companies had played the same game in South Florida as they had in Central Florida at the Hilton. In about three weeks I had lost over $46,000 in commissions that I thought were in the bank – earnings that would have easily paid all of the debt being incurred – and bring back my wife. When I told her, she decided to file for divorce right away, thought it was a month before her deadline.

So there I was: my wife was divorcing me, my credit cards were nearly maxed out, and I broke my leg in four places just a few months later. That was when I decided I would no longer chase money. Money would have to come to me. I committed to putting my spiritual values first – above everything else. To this day, only once have I looked for a job … only once in over 13 years! All other job opportunities have come to me without asking; and the only one I found by seeking was most unpleasant as I worked for a boss that criticized me often. (Now I see that as a reflection of my own self-criticism for breaking my vow to myself. It’s all within me.)

Since my divorce at the end of 1993, I have had two relationships that lasted two to three years each, one that lasted about eight months, and a couple others that lasted around a month or so. As always, there are beautiful memories with each of these relationships. In each one, there were times of joy and pleasure. Nevertheless, none of them were the relationship for the rest of my life … each with their own reason. It was then, over two years ago, that I decided it would be better to be alone than to be in a relationship that did not promise the long-term commitment I thought I needed and wanted to give in return. Now I have come to realize that what I am looking for is not a long-term commitment after all, but rather a willingness to co-create together. This revelation came from reading the Anastasia/Ringing Cedars of Russia series where our ability to co-create is stressed as our purpose in life. In order to co-create, both have to be on the same wavelength. Both must share the same vision for their life. Both must be willing to go where neither has ever been before, and to create a different kind of relationship that neither has ever experienced. In that kind of relationship, love does not fade away and die. It is eternal, for co-creation is based upon and flows from a union of three: God, Man and Woman. It is Divine.

That's an awfully long lead-in to an article about liberation and sovereignty; and at this point I have no idea where it will go. You see, to this day I have felt, often unconsciously, that I could not be liberated until the system changed. When I say, often unconsciously, I only mean that I never put it in words – until today – to someone else. When I did so, I instantaneously recognized that I cannot be sovereign or liberated as long as I remain dependent and enslaved by anything perceived as outside of myself. The implications of that revelation still have not sunk in completely. I still don't know what decisions I am able to make in regard to establishing sovereignty and financial independence. Yes, I think they go together…. Well, it seems so at the moment anyway.

As I have been exploring issues of personal sovereignty in recent weeks, I realize that all of my research has been in relation to the system that now exists. Oh how I want to live in a world without all the greed, corruption, injustice, and the violence bred by those aberrations of human nature! Yet, I have trouble seeing myself apart from that system. The lawsuit still exists in the system, even though nothing has happened in nearly a year. I am sill living alone with very meager income and resources. This, while I have fancied myself to be some kind of liberator! The truth be known: I don't even know how to liberate myself! What a laugh! What a dilemma! Ah, the impasse! What's a person to do with revelations like these? Where does one turn? Are the answers really within me? Surely this is not even a meaningful article without a definitive answer or a rational and pragmatic solution.

In a little over a week, a lady from Venezuela with whom I have been communicating since January – and this is May 5 – will be a guest in my home for nearly two weeks. We are exploring the possibility of a relationship together. She, too, has similar issues. Unlike me, however, she grew up in the home of an ambassador, while I grew up in the home of a building subcontractor: plastering and plumbing. Other than that, we have similar spiritual paths and insights. At this point, neither of us is certain what will happen when we actually meet each other. On both counts, financial and relationship, she expresses more confidence than I do. She knows that she can draw money into her life, and has confidence that this is so – even though she is at a financial low point at this time. That same confidence has also been expressed in regard to a relationship with me. I can only wish I had the same confidence in myself.

A union between this lady and me would meet the criteria for co-creation, as I currently understand it. Still, I am apprehensive and anxious. A good deal of that anxiety and apprehension was triggered when I realized she will be coming here without access to funds due to crazy regulations in Venezuela that place limitations upon those going abroad. That means additional financial responsibilities will fall upon me when she is here. It's so easy to listen to the monkey-mind chatter that presents problems without solutions. Still, I continue to make the choice to trust – despite sometimes overwhelming doubts. What is it that I am trusting: The sovereignty of my own soul or God? Sometimes I am acutely aware of how little I know either.

How much easier it is to write an article focusing on them. Talking about the system is easy for me. Having to find answers within myself that I've never found there is a whole lot more problematic. I'm feeling a sense of hopelessness and lostness. It's easy for me to accept and identify that this is what I am feeling. At the same time though, I also feel resistance, not knowing what it’s telling me. I already know that the solution will not come from merely beginning a new relationship. This demon in me knows all too well how to sabotage those. Yes, recognizing that brings up the feelings of not enough and not deserving. Oh, how familiar these have become to me. Just when I think I’ve released them, there they are again. How does one let go? How deep do the wounds penetrate the psyche?

Liberation and sovereignty? I have no doubt that the offer of both is before every man and woman on this planet as the 21st Century completes its first decade. For me, I can taste them: Freedom! Peace! Justice! Equality! Unity! Joy! Love – not the kind we have experienced and called love – but the genuine attitude that comes from the soul that knows and values all of LIFE! My heart longs for these. Still, the task of creating such a world seems so enormous, while I often see myself as so insignificant. No matter how many times I assert my intention of being here to help change the world, darkness manages to overtake me from time to time. This is a good thing! It’s the reality of living in a dualistic world; and we will never achieve the vision except by starting from where we are now!

We live in this world with the polarization of Light and Dark. We have been taught, incorrectly, that these opposites do not mix. Our belief in that unspoken dogma establishes our resistance. Even when we know this, we still resist even the resistance itself.

Well, I’ve shared my experience with you today. I’ve shown you my feet of clay. I’ve demonstrated the way out.

The first step toward liberation is always telling the truth about yourself; the second step is sharing that truth with someone else; and the third step is recognizing your own sovereignty. Yes, you and I are allowed and even encouraged to feel whatever we feel. That does not change the Love that flows to us unconditionally – even when we are most critical of ourselves. A Sovereign is a Child of God. It has nothing to do with our performance on the stage of life. It is our eternal reality. It is our unalienable right. It is inherent – present at birth. We do NOT need to establish it! (Did you hear that, Ron?) The system does not grant it; and it cannot take it away. You shall remember this Truth, for this Truth has set you FREE! Simply declare, affirm and assert this Truth.

That was the message! Read it again. Let it sink in, assimilate it and know it!

I am learning by fits and spurts to let my contradictions dance with each other. Paradoxman still fits me well. Do I know what I will do tomorrow? Well, yes, my routine is fairly well established; but I’m not referring to the literal day. What does my future hold? If the past is any indicator, my commitment to growth will bring more revelations, more challenges…and, yes, more changes. To the best of my ability, I will keep the promises I have made to myself, watching Life unfold moment by moment and day by day. Somehow, I will trust in Grace to always provide whatever I need for the next stage of my development. Yes, even a lovely lady, and real wealth. I am sovereign. By faith, I am liberated. How can a sovereign be anything less? It’s impossible! … Namaste.

© by Ron Van Dyke

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JUSTICE, AND THE CHANGING OF THE GUARD

© By Ron Van Dyke

Since childhood I have felt my connection to God. Of course, over the years, my understanding of God has changed. As I grew older, the sense that I was here to help bring transformation to the planet became more and more obvious. While it may sound pretentious to think that I'm here to help change the world, that is, nevertheless, my sense of destiny. I don't, however, feel that I'm the only one who has that mission in their life. There are many of us.

Since 2001, when I stopped publishing Paradox Magazine, and following the incident of September 11 that same year, my understanding of what was happening in the world changed significantly. With this new perception, my view of world leaders changed from seeing them as servants of the people to seeing them as enemies of all growth in consciousness, which is spiritual growth. No longer was I able to be naïve in my viewpoint that there was any such thing as justice, that truth always prevailed, or that leaders actually wanted peace on earth. On the contrary, I began to realize more and more that leaders are opposed to peace, are opposed to truth, and are opposed to justice. They actually manipulated the system to increase their power and wealth at the expense of those they were purported to serve. Not only in government was this true, it was also true in the world of religion, the corporate world, and most large institutions. An intricate web had been woven that literally ensnared the souls of men and women without their knowledge or conscious consent. A controlled media was the capstone of disinformation that maintained this web of deceit.

For me, this was a rude awakening. In many ways, I lost my innocence as my rose-colored glasses fell to the ground and were trampled by a reality that was almost too difficult to comprehend. Yes, I guess you could call me a conspiracy theorist. Without a doubt in my mind, after watching many videos and reading scores of articles, I am convinced that insiders within our own government orchestrated and/or stood aside while those dastardly deeds were performed in bringing down the World Trade Center towers – all three of them – and causing a gaping hole to appear in the side of the Pentagon in Washington, DC. Nothing was as we were told it was on that day! Every part of the official story was a bold faced lie. Of course, that was merely one of many incidents that I learned were “black operations” of the criminal element in our government.

Because of my spiritual sensitivities, and doing years of integration of my personal shadow, these revelations presented me with a tremendous dilemma. On the one hand, I was being moved toward a nonjudgmental approach on behalf of those I perceived as committing evil. I was guided persuasively to integrate the darkness of others within my own being and find a place of forgiveness within my Self. However, on the other hand, this process left a horrendous feeling of incompleteness, and more importantly, gross injustice. This dichotomy remains to this day, which is why I am writing this article.

My friend, Luis Garcia, has emphasized again and again during the four years I have sponsored his workshops that the spiritual high ground is always a place of neutrality. This is the nonjudgmental approach. Many have asked about such people as Hitler, Jeffrey Dahmer, and others who have committed atrocious acts of violence against individuals and humanity at large. While I agree with Lulu that we should find the place within ourselves that is capable of such acts and heal that place by going into the feelings; nevertheless, it does not produce, for me at least, a sense of justice. Yes, we are one. I know that to be true. Still, I cannot accept the concept of an indifferent God. While it makes sense that God highly values free will, and has given us tremendous latitude as witnessed by our own history, it makes no sense that God could care less about the actions we have chosen. How can that be love?

Of course, I can admit that I do not see the entire picture. There are aspects and dynamics that are present that are well beyond my intellect to comprehend. I speak here of the higher perspective; nevertheless, the lower perspective also must be taken into account. There are man-made laws – most would even call them inspired laws – that call for an accounting of the actions of all people: leaders and common folk alike. No one is above the law! Yet, leaders have placed themselves exactly there: above the law. Perhaps this has always been the case; however, now I am aware of it along with millions of others around the globe. The lights have come on. Through the Internet, we have been given many glimpses behind the curtain and into the ivory towers where those who pull the strings in our world operate with impunity and with intensions that could only be considered evil (anti life) by any thinking, sentient being.

In light of these revelations, how can any loving heart justify neutrality? I can and have waxed eloquent in expounding upon my perceived truth that knows leaders represent, for all of us, the insanity of our own ego from a place of separation consciousness. Does that excuse the behavior? I think not. Even though they are operating within God-given parameters of personal freedom, the exercise of that freedom to injure others is inexcusable. This is true on all levels; and it has to be the case. Otherwise, justice is a cosmic mockery. Is it not written that "whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap”? That is Divine justice. Do any escape?

Over the last several years, I have read and been inspired again and again with talk about NESARA and other global plans to address injustices, inequities, and real human grievances and needs. Supposedly, these plans are to be implemented by those referred to as "White Knights" working in conjunction with the Galactic Federation of Light. I do believe both exist: because I want to believe it, because it uplifts my spirit, and because it incites my passion for life and my reason for being alive. I have read repeatedly how the arrest of George W. Bush and other leaders at high levels in our government either occurred or were imminent. Even though I know very well that President Bush is only a puppet, along with Dick Cheney and the others of his ill-advised, neocon cabal, the visible removal of such charlatans would be a strong indicator for me that action is being taken to shift the leadership in our country, and therefore the world. I am well aware that people like David Rockefeller and other internationalist bankers are truly the ones who pull the puppet strings of those we see and recognize as our leaders. And I rejoiced greatly when I read and heard reports from a powerful group of people who were determined to reverse the decades, if not centuries, old plan for a new world order of a totalitarian nature. Their determination was even announced publicly to Davis Rockefeller, himself; and I watched their spokesman, Benjamin Fulford, talk to Mr. Rockefeller face to face. Yet, things seem to continue unabated.

Folks, I am a sovereign citizen of Heaven. So are you. Our Creator has endowed each one of us with the unalienable right to be a sovereign citizen. We owe no allegiance to any government or any leader who would dare challenge that sovereignty. We are free men and women, and as such it is our responsibility to stand in the truth of our being, not merely against those in authority, but for the authority and power and honor bestowed upon us in the way we were created to be. To do less, to fail in this most auspicious of responsibilities, is to abdicate the very nature and needs of our Authentic Self. We are Children of God!

In recognizing the illegality of the Federal Reserve Bank, it's criminal collection agency known as the Internal Revenue Service, and the unlawful aspects of the corporation known as the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, I pledge myself to refuse to pay taxes to the IRS or to receive money from the IRS. I will not be a pawn in their warmongering and genocide. If millions and millions of us would do this across the country, this Ponzi scheme that has operated for 95 years will cease to exist. The trouble is that so many who consider themselves spiritual people will not take action. Somehow they have been hypnotized into the belief that political action is non-spiritual. In this hypnotic state, all personal power and autonomy is lost ... forfeited to those who are only too happy to keep the world enslaved. For me, I am awakening from my dream, my nightmare reality of being imprisoned in my own ignorance and naivety.

There are many, many things that are happening in our world today, which, if they were telecast on national TV, would create such an uprising that those who have been deemed our leaders would be overthrown in less than 24 hours. Rightly so! Even though they have gifted us with a wake-up call, they are not without personal responsibility and accountability to the people and to the just laws of our Constitution and the Divine and Natural Laws given to us and written in our hearts by our very Creator God. Make no mistake about it; until justice is rendered upon this planet there will be no peace on Earth. We can talk all we want about loving our enemies, and even recognize that our only real enemies are within us: our passivity, our ignorance, our denial, our laziness, our unwillingness to take a stand, our apathy, our greed, our lust, and all of our other weaknesses and shortcomings, still, until we accept and stand in our own sovereignty, tangible manifestations and demonstrations of love will remain but wishful thinking.

You may turn your head if you wish to, putting it back into the sand; and I realize that I'm not speaking to many here because those who would be disposed to turn their heads have not read this far even if they even began the article at all. However, for those one or two who have been led by the Spirit of the Living God to read and consider what is being said here, I applaud you. I also encourage you to take a similar stand for your God-given rights. We do not know how it will work out in the physical world; but I am convinced that until we do take that stand, little will change. In all of your spiritual practice, please choose justice and the changing of the guard. In so doing, we co-create the new heaven and the new earth long prophesied. The planet, Earth herself, travails until we do our part. Heaven asks, “Who are you: sovereign or slave?”

Only those willing to serve the highest good of all are fit to be leaders. May God bless the entire world with people of vision and compassion rising to positions of leadership! May justice with mercy prevail … with no exceptions for anyone, no matter how wealthy or seemingly powerful!

Namaste and Shalom
Wednesday, April 16, 2008

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CHRISTIANITY: A NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGION!

© By Ron Van Dyke

It breaks my heart to say it! Still, it's true. The myriad of religious sects founded in the name of Jesus of Nazareth have, over the centuries, degenerated into dogmatic me-too clubs that little resemble the ideals of grace and truth as exemplified in his life two thousand years ago.

(Rush Limbaugh used to refer to his listeners as ditto-heads , which is what I mean by me-too clubs—people devoid of independent thought, and often with seared feelings, who project everything outward, never facing what is inside of us all. Of course, I haven’t listened to him in years. Is he still around?)

Much of the problem is that Christians, by far and large, still have the attitude of soldiers marching unto war; but it isn't the cross of Jesus that they march under, it's a banner of prejudice, and sometimes even hatred. Everywhere, in everything, they perceive an outside enemy that must be defeated at all costs; and many so-called Christians spare no amount of unmerciful judgments in waging their holy war against the evil they see in others. Is it any wonder there is so little manifestation of the loving kindness taught by Jesus, from whom Christianity supposedly derives its name?

In Windows of the Soul (published by Nelson, a Bible and Christian book producer — and authored by Paul Meier and Robert Wise) there is a great saying that I wish everyone would understand. It’s a quotation taken from Frances Wicke's book The Inner World of Choices. "For every war has its beginning in the heart and mind of man. The primary battle is with the inner enemy. Until a man has conquered in himself that which causes war, he contributes, consciously or unconsciously, to warfare in the world."

There, for those with discernment, is the answer to the question: Why is Christianity no longer a Christian religion? It has, for most practitioners, never penetrated into the inner realms of their being. As it exists in the world today, Christianity is a mostly surface religion – many front organizations for bigotry and other narrow-minded viewpoints held by people who refuse to grow up. Yes, most of my Christian brothers and sisters, because they are too busy minding everyone else's business, have no inkling of what lies within them on the inner planes of their own beings. Their religion reflects this lack of true integrity – integration of the paradoxes of life. They have become the heathen who are always in a rage against…almost everything. What a travesty!

Paul and Robert, a minister and a psychologist, pointed the way out of the quagmire for Christians who aren't even aware of how much they have become the very antithesis of Christian values and principles. Again, from Windows of the Soul, I quote from page 81 in the chapter entitled, The Windmills of Your Mind. The subtitle is The Shadow. "Repression of the Shadow's existence often results in moral explosions that wreck people's lives. [Isn't that the truth!] On the other hand, failure to recognize the Shadow produces both hypocrisy and intolerance for which church people are often noted, unfortunately. Moral courage and humility are required to face up to the Shadow lurking in the Wilderness. But here's the surprise: Sifting through the garbage leads to a wonderful discovery. What seemed so repugnant generally turns out to be pure gold!" (Have I not long taught – since those days when I published Paradox Magazine –that there is treasure in the darkness, if only we are willing to face it honestly as part of ourselves?)

Here are two Christians with marvelous insight. Unfortunately, most Christians will never hear them – or the many other voices that speak in the wilderness. They are too busy fighting the devil in everyone who disagrees with their particular bandwagon issues to hear what the Holy Spirit is saying. So, these men within the church, and others like me who have left it, are effectively silenced in that our words of wisdom never reach the ears of most. The blame for this lies directly with the church leaders who run the show and direct the current battles of Christian soldiers who know little about the Prince of Peace. And so, Christianity has become a non-Christian religion!

I remember several years ago when The Tabernacle Church here in Melbourne, Florida was hosting on-going revival meetings. It was well publicized and people were coming from all over. Various preachers filled the pulpit each night. I decided to go on a Thursday evening just to see what was going on there. The crowd was large, perhaps 250-300 people. The speaker was from an evangelical congregation that held their meetings in the old Catholic Church hall in Melbourne. I don't remember his name, but I'll never forget his title: WE HAVE MET THE PHARISEES AND THEY ARE US! What a marvelous time for me to be in attendance. I was amening him throughout his sermon. He was right on. Still, I have to wonder how many actually heard him with the ears of their heart? How many of these well-meaning Christians had their armor penetrated enough for the truth to reach their soul so that healing could begin? I wish I could say the message landed; but as I perceive most fundamentalist and evangelical churches today, they still seem to be major training facilities and gathering places for the wars so popular in those circles today. That's sad – truly sad!

Why is it, I ask with so many others, that those who claim to be pro-life are also pro-war. How can so many still support G.W. Bush and his terrorist regime? I watched the interview posted on one of my favorite websites, FourWinds, earlier today: BANNED President Bush Interview . It was an interview by a courageous Irish journalist who challenged Bush on many fronts, including his faith. He said, “The God I know is one who promotes peace and freedom.” Of course he, Bush, promotes neither; yet so many Christians see him as one of their own. He also talked about terrorists being willing to kill innocent people. Was he describing his own administration? Such hypocrisy! He was right on one point, however, when he quoted “the good book” saying we should not try to take a speck out of someone else’s eye when we have a log in our own. Of course those were words attributed to Jesus (or as Patrick Bellringer (the FourWinds creator) calls him: Esu Immanuel).

Whatever he was called, having been raised in that evangelical culture, I still and will always have great respect for the living Christ; however, the historical Jesus is not as important for me as he once was. That man is no longer with us in the flesh; and we cannot know him that way. But we can know him or her as the living Christ within each of us. The Spirit of God fills us and gives us Life, Light, and Love. By grace we can laugh at our own inconsistencies, our own human frailties. That ability to recognize and laugh at our self is our greatest strength – as long as we own those inconsistencies and frailties as our own, instead of projecting them as belonging to someone else, to others.

Because we are loved truly and unconditionally as we are, we can love others as they are. That, to me, is the essence of real Christianity (and Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and all the other religions).

Because of that Love and Grace, I can even love my Christian brothers and sisters who do not understand and, therefore, refuse to embrace the paradoxes and contradictions in their own lives – yes, even George Bush, whom I once called: An Unlikely Hero. Still, it really does break my heart that Christianity has become a non-Christian religion.

I am ready for the awakening. Are you? Namaste

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THE TRICK OF THE MASTER ILLUSION

Fearful place, this world created separate
As if separation was even sensible;
But we were determined to try it...
Results have proved reprehensible!

We began by creating amnesia,
Forgetting the truth of our being,
Forming bodies of flesh and blood,
And reality based upon seeing.

Oh, how solid our substance.
How separate we each could appear.
How powerful we had become
In creating our world of fear.

Safety was sacrificed next,
With the freedom relinquished to be
Connected in physical bodies
By means we could no longer see.

Dimension’s perceptions evaded.
How far could we drift from our Source?
We were free to experience whatever
As we set a new journey and course.

Feeling unaided, abandoned,
We struggled as aliens alone.
We feared what we didn’t understand;
Lost all ideas of home.

Some killed while others submitted,
Each taking turns in these roles:
First victim, then victimizer;
Each soul now paid all the tolls.

A price was extracted for living
In a world where all could be free.
Again, we had chosen amnesia,
So our dramas became tragedy.

Our Father in Heaven forgotten;
Our Mother, the Earth, was abused;
And we who had died in our birthing
Now lived our whole life so confused.

We created so many diversions
To escape from the pain deep inside,
To numb profound isolation,
And to find somewhere to hide.

Many relished the role as a leader,
Sadistically proving their power;
While others most gladly relinquished
Their sovereignty hour by hour.

Acquiescing was now seen as normal:
The way it was destined to be.
Life became mere survival,
Surrender to passivity.

And passive, we drifted still further,
Storm-tossed on the waves of the sea,
Meandering, aimless, forsaken;
And death was the way to be free.

Our separate world a disaster:
Terror, tribulation and woe.
The freedom we had been given
Made Life our horrendous foe.

Oh, how grand the illusion!
The experience, was it not real?
Could it be we weren’t really separate?
Did we manufacture this deal?

Yes, some of us did awaken,
Saw that it all was so true:
We’d created a master deception
As if from out of the blue.

We, not some other outside us.
Yes, we wrote the script for our play.
Indeed, we did trick ourselves;
Yet thought it didn’t seem that way.

Truth remembered, seemed awful.
Still, we knew it was so;
But so long we played the victim...
Now what do we do since we know?

We begin again at beginning,
Starting over by seeing the One;
And knowing that Love is abundant;
We can heal and join in the fun.

We work through all of our feelings,
Learn lessons from the sad and the bad,
Rising from where we descended,
Our hearts transforming to glad.

Embracing our acts of creation,
Thankful for even the viral,
Reversing the flow of destruction,
And rising in uplifting spiral.

The frequency of our vibration,
Going upward, higher and higher,
Transmuting experienced illusion,
Burning away dross in the fire.

Standing alone at the crossroads,
A decision all must now face:
Do we see the world created,
As a world we can embrace?

Or do we maintain the delusion
That we can be separate indeed,
Rejecting the Love of the Cosmos,
Remaining alone in our need?

The trick of the master illusion
Is a journey offered to all
With courage to expand in awareness
And pay heed to the infinite call.

While the risks seem awfully fearful,
The destiny staggers belief:
Creating new worlds while knowing
Is bound to be a relief.

We can master illusion,
Or allow it to master us.
It’s all in our choice to be loving,
And to stop the resistance and fuss.

Since we are here it is certain:
We already joined in the fray,
Right here, right now in this world,
Our nighttime soon can be day!

© By Ron Van Dyke
March 8, 2008

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THE WORLD IS CHANGING

The world is changing—I want you to see:
The way it has been is not how it will be.
As the old passes away, gives birth to the new,
A surprise transformation co-created by few.

The world of Truth is a world of Light;
Replacing the lies, dawn bursting from night.
False rulers chagrined, “their” anger and rage,
“Their” plans lie in ashes at the start of an age.

So powerful ”they” seemed to the whole human race,
Till the truth was revealed that all had to face.
“They” lied and ”they” schemed, conspired to kill
The love and the hope … imposing their will.

“They” were the Ego’s grandest display;
Desiring control,“they’d” lost their way.
Life’s flow was stronger, empowering souls,
Bringing end to the slavery, and all ego goals.

A heavenly host responding to cries,
Shifted the pattern to mankind’s surprise.
They joined with the dreamers, the people of vision,
Standing in unity and ending derision.

From the clouds, from the skies, from within and below,
New realities appeared; new energy did flow.
Showing forth for all time, the triumph of peace;
Prosperity for all, as all wars could now cease.

Somehow we could see beyond the charade,
What Reality’s support had always displayed.
So we focused and focused, and what did we see?
We’d all been deceived; yet we all could be free.

A phoenix reborn from ashes and dust,
Recommitting ourselves, we saw what we must.
Beyond the illusion, yet within the grand game:
Mirrors, more mirrors, all images the same.

Looking back we recalled our journey towards home,
All the pitfalls and dangers through which we did roam.
We walked long in darkness, and often in fear …
Alone life after lifetime, year after year.

Our helpers though present, seemed out of our reach,
Unseen and unheard, we could feel the breach.
Separated from good, or so it did seem;
We played the victims, a nightmarish dream.

Oh, how we longed to be in control,
And beating our masters was our greatest goal.
We schemed and we plotted, we just would not quit.
We longed for the answer … didn’t know we were it!

The hope of the world on our shoulders did lie:
The call to create a new day by and by.
Shaking and trembling every doubt would arise,
As we wondered and worried if God heard our cries.

By grace some remembered that we were gods too …
Beyond the delusion of intoxicating brew.
We were spirits made flesh in the limits of time …
Infinite, eternal, oh how sublime!

Beyond our own masks, beyond our charade,
We saw the design that we too had made.
We saw that the ”they” we all liked to accuse,
Somehow was us … it all was just a ruse.

We saw that the answer was not in a fight,
But in letting our fears step into the Light,
Allowing our shadow to speak to our heart,
And bring us its gifts that were here from the start.

How often we ran … how often we hid …
Unwilling to open and peer ‘neath the lid.
Resisting, denying … this cannot be me!
I'd rather blame “them” for what I can see.

Revelation for many: we're each found in all!
We had forgotten, though now we recall.
Remembering, we awakened, saw darkness: the gift;
Stepped into the Void, which gave us a lift

To a realm of connection, unity and love …
Everything made one: below and above.
No more division, and certainly no blame …
We had all played roles, whatever their name.

Forgiving myself was surely the key
To birth that new world from inside of me.
Perspective was gained; my vibration was raised—
Finding the treasure before so unfazed.

Now we could see a new civilization
Where harmony and truth would guide every nation.
Sometimes I say “I,” yet always it's “we”
Who create this new world where all can be free.

Interconnected, unselfishly serving,
From the vision of Life always unswerving.
Each for the other, and all for the One.
This paradigm is here: a new world’s begun

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RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY… DO YOU KNOW THE DIFFERENCE?

© April 2000 (from the May2000 issue of Paradox Magazine) by Ron Van Dyke

That's me 8-9 years ago.

It all started in the garden…or so the story goes. The Creator made Man in His image; but it was not good for man to be alone. So He made Woman. Male and Female—both were created in the Divine image and told to be fruitful and multiply. And they had intimate communion with their Creator, until…

It wasn't about sex, even though many have placed that interpretation on the story. It was about judgment—about the loss of innocence. As I read the story, it strikes me that they were naked and not ashamed; and why should they have been? There was nothing to be ashamed of. They had been graced with an innate and pristine beauty that continues to this day, if only our minds were not so clouded with judgments. And that's what happened to them in the story; and it may well be a viable explanation of what happened to us. But we need to understand the difference between religion and spirituality. It may well be the difference between life and death.

The day they ate from the proverbial Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was the day religion was born. They were already spiritual before that, having unencumbered fellowship with God. But then "their eyes were opened and they saw that they were naked." I think that's funny, because to me their eyes were closed after that. Anyway, the very first religious act on record was the sewing together of fig leaves to cover human nakedness. And whether that story is historical fact or not, it is a feasible psychological explanation why religion, to this day, is so uptight about nudity and sexuality.

Religion, to me, could be defined as the binding of judgments upon our consciousness in regard to the nature of things. Those judgments, far from liberating us, rob us of the beauty of our own innocence. They also separate us, first of all from our own selves, then from each other, and finally from the Joy of knowing the Divine in all of Life. Religion robs us of our own spirituality and wholeness. Religion gives us the rules that teach emphatically that we are not good enough, that we are sinners. We are not sinners because of how we were created—naked—but because we decided we had to cover our nakedness. We are clothed, and ashamed!

My Dream

Years ago, when I was still very much a fundamentalist christian (purposely lower case), I had a dream. It seems I had it repeatedly, until I got it. I was in a prison constructed of pallets, which, as I reflect on it now, was an upscale prison compared to the dungeons I had been in previously. At least I could now see out through the cracks. I could see the green fields, the blue sky, and even feel the breezes pass through my restricting structure. I could see beyond, and oh how my heart longed for freedom! There was a whole new world to be explored.

Finally, in the dream, a great wind arose—inside my prison. It blew and blew until the walls fell outward. I was still within the boundaries, but now I was free to venture out. And I did—cautiously, to be sure. I was walking on the green grass I had so long admired. But my newfound freedom was soon threatened as a bull came out of nowhere and began chasing me. I ran for all I was worth; but the bull was rapidly gaining on me. And there was no place to hide. Just as it caught up to me, I woke up. As I did, I realized that the bull had merged with me. It was not gone; it was IN me; it WAS me.

I've had other animal dreams since then, usually bulls or buffalos—always symbols of masculinity. It's strange, because for some reason I fear masculinity. But that's another subject for another time. The point is: freedom brought new dangers that were unknown within the safe confines of my religious prison. I had to face my fears as I ventured into a place of unrestricted freedom.

The Gift of Religion!

What? Ron, from what you have been saying here and in other issues of Paradox, how can you call religion a gift?

Let me tell why. My soul, as every other human soul, longs to return to that innocent fellowship with my Originator. In fact, returning is my destiny—as it is yours. But in that original, innocent association with God, I knew nothing—as I can know it now. I could not appreciate what I had been given. So I sinned! I created, with God, the loss of that which would forever call me back. And life became one drama after another, each making its tiny imprint on my spirit. And all of life was religion. It was all a binding to beliefs that I was no longer aware that I had chosen—beliefs by which I defined myself. Yes, I chose to become limited. I chose all sorts of prisons for my soul. Religion was my paradoxical pathway home. It provided everything I needed that would enable me to appreciate wholeness when I experienced it again…for the first time.

So religion is the gift of what we don’t need, because we need it before we can comprehend and be grateful for what we do need. And what do we need, really? Love! Not the kind of love we're used to as imprisoned religious beings—it's much greater than that. That love is saturated with condition on top of condition. Yes, religious love is about conditions, about laws that define what is permitted and what is not permitted to be. Religious love says, "I will accept you IF you wear the proper masks and costumes to cover the nakedness of your pristine and innocent being as you were created." (Except it doesn't know it's saying that!) Oh yes! Make no mistake about it. Wearing masks is hypocrisy; and that is the only way religion allows you to deal with life—one mask after another, after another, after another. That's the drama of human existence. It is a play designed to cover truth, because truth will turn up the lights and let us see what was always there all along. And what is that? Love! Unconditional Love! Once we see THAT, the dramas change to another level.

The Goal of Spirituality

Religion has been frustrating us forever, or so it seems. Why won't they wear the same masks I have chosen to wear? Why don't they accept the beliefs I have chosen to define my self and my life? Yeah! They are a real problem, aren't they? Why some of them don't even believe in God! Some of them have sex with others of the same sex they are! Some of them even flaunt their nakedness as a profession—and some even sell sex! Oh, my goodness! I thank God I'm not like them!

Yes, that's the goal of spirituality—to see THEM! I'm not kidding. They are our teachers. They show us what we're hiding from ourselves. They teach us what Love is NOT! And the reason for these lessons is so that we'll wake up and see what has been inside of us all along… "Oh, my God! That's me! That's me!" And tears well up in our eyes—tears that wash away the blindness and enable us to finally see what spirituality really is. It's identification! Spirituality is seeing the wholeness and interconnectedness of all that is. And All That Is, is God! There is nothing else. God (Life, Love, and Light) is the drama of losing identity so that there can be great joy in heaven when it is rediscovered, when a soul that was all caught up in religion's ridiculous—but necessary—games, finally re-members. Oh, yes! Spirituality is about re-membering—re­claiming the members of our own being that had become alienated in the games. And we learn that those lost members were giving us the greatest gifts of all. They were giving us the gifts of personal experience so that we could know, not just good and evil, but Life, Love, and Light (God)…(and Laughter, too, as we learn to laugh at our own foolishness). And this knowing, which those gifts provided, goes far beyond the intellectual kind of knowledge. This knowing is sexual, raw, naked, intimate, and real. This knowing produces unity and wholeness. This knowing is that religion is contained within the broader scope of spirituality—that beyond all religions, God is. And because God is, I am.

"Religion is for those who are afraid of going to hell.
Spirituality is for those who have already been there."

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CITIZENSHIP CARRIES RESPONSIBILITY … AT THE VERY LEAST: TO BE INFORMED

NOTE: This article was written as a flier for distribution in churches that cannot be partisan under (illegal) IRS rules that effectively silence freedom of speech. As those who are infomred know, the IRS is, itself, illegal: the collection arm of the also illegal, private Federal Reserve System. In any case, please feel free to use this yourself in your church or place of worship. Oh, of course the three non-globalist candidates are Cynthia McKinney, Dennis Kucinich, and Ron Paul.

Our country is under severe, though subtle, attack! Our Freedoms! Our Constitution! Our National Sovereignty and our very Rights as Sovereign Citizens! We will lose all of this and more if we do not pay attention…if we do not seek out information and become aware of the real issues at stake.

Criminals have hijacked our government. These criminals are Democrats and Republicans, men and women, white and black. However, they are not poor; they are very rich, and very well organized. They control the mainstream media: television, radio, newspapers and more. They control institutions of all varieties here and around the world. They have one primary goal: ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT – also called the NEW WORLD ORDER!

Two classes of people will exist if and when they succeed: the elite and the peons. There will be no middle class!

We need not fear! In fact, fear is what they want to generate, since fear makes us irrational. It is through fear that we give our power away. It is because we are afraid that we relinquish our personal sovereignty to those who are only too happy to set limits on our freedom.

Since 9-11, the Bill of Rights has been greatly eroded … because of fear. As Benjamin Franklin said, “Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.” Citizenship carries responsibility … at the very least: to be informed! Freedom is not free!

We need to change direction in America. We need to reverse the downward trend that is debasing our currency, sending our jobs to foreign countries, and generally undermining the values of freedom and prosperity that have been ideals that used to make us the envy of the world. Now, we have become the most hated nation on earth, not because Americans are bad people, but because we have allowed those values to be subverted.

WE NEED TO WAKE UP! WE NEED TO PAY ATTENTION!

There are several people running for President of the United States this year; and at least three are people of high integrity who want to help us take our nation back. Two are men and one is a black woman. Three political parties are represented: Democratic, Green, and Republican. Investigate, find out who these people are. Then support them. Make YOUR voice heard.

Those who serve the system, the new world order, will push hot button issues that continue to be used to divide us. However, their ultimate goal is the same, regardless of superficial differences. They are globalists and control freaks. The only freedom they will protect is their own. Virtually all major candidates – the one’s labeled “front runners” – will continue the downward trend at an accelerated pace. Why accelerated? Because we the people are waking up! For them, it is now or never. (It’s that way for us, too!)

Let’s make it never for them! How? Stop hiding our heads in the sand. Stop ignoring politics because it’s not spiritual … or whatever reasons you may assign to your lack of interest. Stop getting all of your information from mainstream media. Stop being uninvolved and unconcerned. Stop seeing yourself as separate. Together we are in this world; and together we ARE guiding the course of our future … either consciously or unconsciously.

Sovereignty is our individual and collective birthright, which has been neglected and ignored. Stop the ignorance! This year, become an informed citizen. You can still vote for the lesser of two evils if you want to; or you can support and vote for those who represent the world you want to help create. Please join the new American Revolution as we take our stand for FREEDOM! We are the hope and light of the world. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.

© January 2008 by Ron Van Dyke

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MUSLIMS DISCOVER RON PAUL - Ron Van Dyke's Appeal to the Spiritual Community

Hello Rami Sabawi and Atif Fareed,

Greetings to men of peace and lovers of God...Blessed are they who Love Life and choose Wisdom.

From my heart, I ask that you circulate this in your community. As one who has been recognized as "Heart of the Community" by some of my own peers, I want to reach out to people of the heart everywhere I can. We are being given a unique opportunity with the Ron Paul candidacy to actually vote for personal and national sovereignty—for all individuals and all nations, as well as peace policies that will impact the world for good—reversing the trend towards the degradation of the human soul and the wounding of the human spirit. Our voices can and will be heard as we advantage ourselves of this rare occasion in the political structure of America.

So many in our communities are caught up in false choices based on party, gender, race, religion, or anything else the dark forces use to divide us from each other by appealing to the lower aspects of our egos. They "buy" unprincipled men and women from all aspects of society for the express purpose of deceiving us while pushing their agenda for a New World Order, which is a totalitarian state. ANY candidate put forward by the mainstream media as a leader is a scam, no matter what they espouse or seem to represent. They are not leaders at all, but followers of a corrupt, unethical, and immoral ideology. What they really represent is more of the same double-speak that created the mess we see all around us...and we allowed it by not seeing or caring what was happening.

However, as we grow in conscious awareness of the unity of all things, recognizing the omniscience and omnipresence of God, realizing the interconnectedness of all Life, visible and invisible; we must take a stand, not against anything, but FOR ideals of truth and love that promote peace and the individual right of all humans to live in the integrity of their own hearts and souls.

Personally, I know of only three people in the political arena that are champions of speaking truth to power, not bought and paid for by "big money" criminals that want to control everything by deceit...and force, if necessary. These are Dr. Ron Paul, 10-term, republican congressman from Texas, Dennis Kucinich, long-time democratic congressman from Ohio, and Cynthia McKinney, a black, democratic, former congresswoman from Georgia. Of these, only Ron Paul has sufficient grass roots and monetary support to actually win; and he is garnering that support exponentially from across the political spectrum. In addition, he has great respect for Dennis, even though they are on different sides of the aisle. This respect is simply the honoring and recognition that they are both men of high integrity. Actually, I can see them running together on the same ticket to change America by restoring constitutional values and destroying the illusion that the two-party system actually gives us a choice; and it's not too big a stretch for me to see Cynthia as their Secretary of State...perhaps, herself, a future president. (Yes, we can have a dark-skinned leader who is also a woman!)

Besides sending this to you, Atif and Rami, I am copying (BCC) it to the leaders at The Gathering where Atif has presented the Muslim viewpoint on two occasions in recent weeks. I am also copying it to select individuals as well as leaders at The New Way and other groups in which I am personally involved. My prayer is that we will use our God-given wisdom to recognize the common ground we share, and choose to stand together to make a difference on this troubled planet. I know and recognize the tendency to think that we can make a difference by ignoring the problems...wishful thinking that by turning our heads, the injustices and abuses of power will go away. I'd like to believe that myself, but following in the footsteps of the great prophet, Mohammed, I am convinced that spirituality and politics MUST overlap, not in the sense of a theocracy where a priesthood controls the government, but rather in the sense that the government is run by principled men and women of impeccable integrity. Like Muhammed, I am not afraid to speak truth to power, nor to join my voice with those heroes that have always done and continue to do the same.

Therefore, I ask each of you to investigate the issues fully, educate yourselves on the political realities of our world in which we are called to be lights, and stand with me in support of FREEDOM for ALL!

See this email letter I received from Ron Paul: http://www.metagroups.info/GuestArticles.htm#EMAILRONPAUL.

Peace be unto you,
Ron
http://www.metagroups.info
321-426-4948

P.S.  Please feel free to contact me with any questions, comments, or suggestions. Thank you.  Salom (Peace in Arabic), Shalom (Peace in Hebrew).

MUSLIMS DISCOVER RON PAUL

By Maria Hussain, 11-18-7

After the Republican debate on Tuesday evening in Dearborn, Mich., a reporter from the Arab-American News asked Ron Paul what he thought of the term "Islamic fascism."

"It's a false term to make people think we're fighting Hitler," Paul responded. "It's war propaganda designed to generate fear so that the war has to be spread."

The call has gone out to all the Muslim Americans to hurry up and register to vote Republican so that they can vote in the Republican Primary to support Ron Paul, the anti-interventionist, non-isolationist candidate for President of the United States. Muslims are opening their wallets and joining teaparty07.com as well.

An anonymous Ron Paul supporter posted the following message on the internet: "Muslims and Americans have an unique window of opportunity for the 2008 election. There is a candidate running as a Republican that would work to completely cut off the funding to Israel, remove ALL US troops from Arab lands, and repeal the Patriot Act. He's a Republican with Libertarian views named Ron Paul. Ron Paul's policies ranging from monetary to foreign are top notch. Till now Muslims and Americans have not had an American Presidential candidate that really suited their best interests. This election is unique in that we have a man running as a Republican that speaks the truth. We know the current policies in the Middle East are failing, not only making it less safe in the world but hurting and killing innocent Muslims, which our media callously calls collateral damage. It is our duty as Muslims to follow the truth regardless of how futile it may seem. Ron Paul is the only candidate that does not seem to be swayed by the influential lobbies that the other candidates are catering to."

Ron Paul stood up in Congress in 2006 and opposed a resolution that sided with Israel in the Lebanon-Israel conflict. He stated the following.

Ron Paul: "Mr. Speaker, I follow a policy in foreign affairs called non-interventionism. I do not believe we are making the United States more secure when we involve ourselves in conflicts overseas. The Constitution really doesn't authorize us to be the policemen of the world, much less to favor one side over another in foreign conflicts. It is very clear, reading this resolution objectively, that all the terrorists are on one side and all the victims and the innocents are on the other side. I find this unfair, particularly considering the significantly higher number of civilian casualties among Lebanese civilians. I would rather advocate neutrality rather than picking sides, which is what this resolution does."

Ron Paul has also sponsored a bill to overturn the Patriot Act. He is one of the few members of Congress from either of the major houses that is speaking rationally about these issues. How can we get everyone, and I mean everyone, to join the Ron Paul Republican voter sign-up campaign?

There is general frustration with politicians these days, and the unwillingness to believe that supporting a particular candidate will make a difference. But whether Ron Paul wins or loses, ronpaul.meetup.com is a great way to meet your neighbors who are against the war and organize the community on a grassroots level. If something like Katrina ever happened to us, knowing our neighbors could mean the difference between life and death to our families.

The common thread I've been reading lately about leftists and Jews is that they are having trouble getting more than a dozen people to come to their stuff (whether anti-Zionist or Zionist). The anti-Israel movement is not moving forward, because "protest Zionist imperialism" is just not a catchy slogan. By contrast, there are over 400 RP activists against war taxes in Boston alone. Every day the list of passionate anti-war activists grows. Very few of them agree with every single RP position, they just want to get the Lobby out of the way and pull the troops out of Iraq.

One reason it's working is because of the software. They made the ronpaul.meetup.com site almost like a dating site, where you can make friends with people in or near your zip code. They made it very easy to get together with new people to join the activism. You can't beat technology, may as well use it.

In the event that RP actually won the election and got the Hamas treatment, his supporters are fully in support of the Right to Bear Arms. It would be interesting to see what followed.

If anti-war protesters want to continue to focus on the genocidal machinations of the global zionist-imperialist military, industrial, financial, political, neoliberal, media complex, they have to be willing to meet with anyone any time to hear what ideas people have to address this, which is our primary responsibility - even if they are Republicans.

If you ever saw Ron Paul in an interview it cannot be said that he avoids discussing vital issues. He is someone who is willing to make a statement and stick by it even when no one agrees with him. I don't "believe" in electoral politics but it's not that much sweat off my brow to go and vote to end war.

I think the fact that NO pro-Israel group will let Ron Paul speak at their convention, not even peace Zionists, is evidence enough that he is the only person to put in charge as commander-in-chief. And, even if he loses, making all these contacts with local anti-interventionists is priceless. If you want to expand the peace movement so that it overlaps with the freedom movement like ripples in a pond, you just have to respect the fact that people might agree with you, but for different reasons.

http://mariahussain.wordpress.com/2007/11/18/muslims-discover-ron-paul/

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RON'S REFLECTIONS ON HIS WHITE SHADOW

It's only been a few days since I finished my last article. I was feeling pretty good at the time, which, I'm sure, was evident. Later that night, I prayed that I might be able to clear up more of my unfinished business—the inner stuff the white shadow likes to hide. In other words, I invited thoughts and feelings to arise within me so that I could learn from them. Arise they did!

Since then, I have faced an onslaught of negativity; and my resistance wants to kick in full force. Unlike what I said in that previous article, I have tried to stop the resistance from activating in its habitual pattern. I want to feel, really feel my feelings and glean the wisdom of my own darkness so that I can heal and fulfill my soul's purpose. It's not been easy. I have not been feeling good.

Despite the wonderful day on Sunday, I seemed plagued with all sorts of judgments, first towards others, then towards myself for judging. I was able to see the vicious cycle, and felt growing frustration. The peace was NOT present simultaneously as had been occurring in the days and weeks preceding my invitation to face my inner patterns of thought and feeling. Regardless of how much I tried to switch the energy towards something that felt better, the negativity held its grip. Of all the good I want to be, the opposite is also true! This has made itself known in spades, though I would prefer hearts and diamonds.

So, what to do! I'm doing it. It's what I have often done in these moments when I sit down to write my reflections: I tell on myself. I have been aware that this pisses some people off when they read such stuff. So what! If you see your reflection in my vulnerability, so be it.

Yes, I felt the arrogance, too. It hasn't always been so easy to detect; but I seem more sensitive than ever to my less-than-desirable feelings. Of course, I invited them; and I am committed to paying attention.

One of the things that came up powerfully for me on Sunday and Monday was my resistance to the idea of being neutral. Dammit, I don't want to be neutral! Some things really do matter to me…a lot. I cannot be like LuLu who seems to not care whether the world blows up or peace is established; and I realize that may NOT be his actual mindset, though it is my perception of his through my own. Whatever his position of neutrality may be, I am not neutral. Neither do I feel the role I am here to play is one of neutrality. This, more than anything else, creates the “stuff” that has been coming up for me.

You see, I now have this new image of how I am “supposed to be” in my life. Neurotic, isn't it? Yes, I am. Very! I don't want anyone—no matter how much respect I may have for him or her—to “should” on me. Not even God! How can I be in integrity if I allow someone else—anyone else— to define me, and refuse to stand up for what I feel is right for me? I cannot continue to play that role, though my white shadow has mastered it! My white shadow is my saboteur.

I choose to not be afraid to own my feelings and to tell the truth about them; yet, though I don't like to admit it, I am very afraid of the judgments of others. Yes, there is a huge contradiction there. So, I guess I really am afraid? How can I go from such amazing clarity less than a week ago to such stupefying confusion now? I really am a paradox man; and I'm ok with that…except when I'm not. This is one of those NOT times; yet I can feel the shift taking place by simply reflecting and writing about it. Something is saying, with LuLu's voice, “Good for you!”

Yes, I guess so. This is, after all, the paradigm of duality; and I often feel uncomfortable with what I have co-created to be experienced. That's the truth. However, I know that there is ONE, not two here. It only appears separate. The experience is conflict; but the destination and ultimate purpose is peace.

That's how it is in our world; and it is why I feel out of integrity when I try to stop myself from taking a stand for what I believe is true for me. While I can truly appreciate the role being played by the dark regime of GW Bush and the puppeteers behind the curtain; that role MUST be shown for what it is. In fact, we all must see for all time and eternity that such attempts to be separate and superior can only result in destruction…never in Life-affirming conditions. This is what my Soul created when my ego first chose to resist what was, is, and always will be: UNITY. This is my Luciferian experience designed to teach me wisdom.

We, in America especially, have before us a great opportunity to re-create by re-membering the unity that will lead to peace on Earth. We have two great American heroes running for President of the United States: Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich. Others, I'm sure, are also men and women of integrity in politics. Cynthia McKinney comes to mind here, a Black-American woman with amazing courage and a heroic heart. Nevertheless, these two individuals have a vision of peace and prosperity through unity. I am well aware that they come from different political perspectives, which is EXACTLY why they MUST be brought together to help us all heal, and thereby heal the planet and its people.

Folks, America, Israel, and Great Britain are the true “axis of evil” on this planet. We three nations are playing the “bad cop” role. As spiritual people, we need to stop trying to separate politics from our lives. Political involvement IS our sacred duty! We are here to shine Light, our light. We are not here to hide that Light under our beds with the boogeyman. We are here to flesh out the Reality of creating wholeness out of disunity, bringing healing to the hell we have created on Earth. We need to use our voices and our energy to raise up a “new” standard to replace the self-imposed tyranny that has arisen due to our apathy and non-involvement. We need to wake up!

My son, Tom, and I, neither of us wealthy by any monetary measure, each gave $100 on November 5 to the Ron Paul campaign. That left me with a bank account under $200; but I needed to put my money where my mouth was and is. Dr. Paul raised over $4.2 million that day, with an average contribution of about $103. That's means a lot of people like Tom and me contributed to the Ron Paul rEVOLution. (See the LOVE there.) Remember, remember, the fifth of November! We are taking this country back…NOW!

If you are not familiar with Ron Paul, spend on hour or two on line. He is the most searched for of all presidential candidates on the World Wide Web. He is the most watched on You Tube. He has won more straw polls and more online, post-debate polls than anyone else. He is way ahead of all other candidates in worldwide voting, with Barack Obama second, and Dennis Kucinich third. He has received more contributions from active military personnel than any other candidate in either party. His supporters are made up of Americans from across the political spectrum: conservative to progressive. Don't believe the mainstream pundits that downplay or ignore these facts. They, in the mainstream media, are bought and paid for by the elite that is desperate to hold onto power in the face of rising consciousness and the awareness of the sick games they have been playing…games that cost a fortune in human blood and anguish.

Yes, I feel those old friends, Guilt and Fear, protesting and suggesting that this political appeal will turn people away from me. Thank you…and SHUT UP! The dialog continues: “You're telling us to be quiet, shaming us for trying to protect you?” Yes! I am. You've lied to me*. I can embrace you as my own creation, as prodigal children that have lost their way; but I can no longer allow you to control my life. I need to stand; and I am standing up for what is important to me. Loving you does not mean letting you walk all over me or hold me down. You have managed to do that for longer than I can even imagine—but no more. With or without my brothers and my sisters, I am taking back my power. I am not disowning you or denying you; but I am reassigning you to a different role. You are my memory of how I have sabotaged myself lifetime after lifetime, sacrificing my own God-given nature to wallow in my false sense of neediness and victimhood, or to exult in my equally false sense of control over others. You have done well, little ego, faithfully teaching me everything I am not, allowing me to experience the opposite of my Divinity. I have learned to love in ways I never thought possible. Now, I declare my freedom to be whole; and to experience and express what I truly am, what I always have been: Holy and innocent.

You see, it's all very spiritual; and it's all quite political. Why? Everything is interconnected. Everything!

This is how I am dealing with my demons and dragons. I'm not going to pretend they do not exist, even if others choose to judge me for being negative, weak, confused, or whatever. I am choosing to share them with any who will read, any who will listen. Perhaps you will see yourself in me, and know that your journey is very similar to mine? Perhaps you will join me in reclaiming our sovereignty? Maybe, just maybe, we will stand together and change to world? It is, I know, our destiny. Carpe Diem. (Seize the Day!)

*NOTE: I think LuLu has said that our feelings never lie to us; and that when we feel so-called negative feelings, they are telling us that we are out of alignment (which is true of sadness as the example he generally cites). If that is a correct statement of his teaching and my understanding is on target, my experience teaches me otherwise regarding guilt and fear. These negative feelings do lie to me...ALL the time. They are NEVER truthful, for they would always have me betray my Self for something less than what I am. Reflect on these things; and believe nothing anyone says—including LuLu, and especially me—without testing it for yourself.

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WILL WE CONTINUE TO SEE OUR PAST IN OUR FUTURE; OR WILL WE STOP RESISTING AND CREATE PEACE ON EARTH?

© By Ron Van Dyke, October 2 and November 3, 2007

The place to start, I guess, is with the article I wrote on Labor Day. The working title became ENDING THE OLD, BEGINNING THE NEW as I posted it on my website. The energies were swirling—I could feel them in my quiet times. In fact, the frequency that I pick up almost continuously was so loud I could hear it even with quite a bit of activity and sound around me. Also, my news, the Internet, was full of indicators that were easily interpreted as precursors of sweeping changes in September. I won't repeat what was said there; you can read it for yourself should you choose that.

The changes I anticipated did not happen in 3D. This saddens me. I so long for an end of our insanity, yet I realize how paralyzing fear can be. We seem to be a nation (world) gripped by terror and immobilized in so many ways. Most do not see what is happening all around us; and mainstream news is deathly silent about the really big events—both positive and negative. I often wonder how many “spiritual” people are equally blind. Do we not realize that when we see our past in our future, the past becomes our future? Yes, we are caught in a deadly spiral of recreating the very thing that we already experienced; and because we hated that experience, we seem doomed to repeat it. As my late friend Art Sellers used to say, “Hate is a boomerang marked: return to sender.”

It doesn't have to be that way. If only we would choose to see that our future is glorious—not filled with gloom and doom—we would co-create that future instead of reruns. Yet, paradoxically, we cannot create the wonderful future that lies ahead as long as our reason for wanting that is to get away from what we do not like or want. The law of attraction does not work that way. Much as I have railed against the principle at times, Higher Powers pay little heed to what I say I want as long as my energy, subconsciously, is to disconnect from the mess I (we) made in the past. There is no disconnect; there's only interconnectedness! As long as we fail to see unity, our lessons will keep on producing what we have already experienced.

[That is as far as I got on October 2; I continue on November 3.]

October has been a very heavy and enlightening LuLu month. For those who do not know who LuLu is, his birth name is Luis Garcia, Jr. He was born on September 16, 1976. From earliest childhood he chose to feel and to listen to his feelings. He began healing at age six, and teaching in his mid teens. He is a Personal Healing and Self-Development Coach. Since his teachings deal a lot with the law of attraction: that is an excellent place to pick up where I left off.

One of my first meetings with him this year (I host seminars and workshops for him every year when he comes to Florida from his Brooklyn home, this being the fourth Fall in a row) was in a restaurant in Cocoa Beach. It was September, and I began talking with great anticipation of the changes I saw coming. As he always does, he asked me how I felt, and how I would feel if the changes I saw as imminent did not occur when and how I anticipated them. As usual, my visualized reality had placed me on disconnect from my present feelings; and I was unable, at first, to notice and feel the fear—my fear—behind what I believed I wanted. Master of penetrating to the feeling level that he is, he lead me to look inside. As usual, he was correct.

(Let me interject one of LuLu's teachings here: We are afraid to feel, even though emotions and feelings do not hurt! It is our resistance to and judgment of feelings that cause pain and discomfort. This is something I was learning for myself.)

After a few moments of silence, I went into my heart space, the place he says that all feelings are actually felt. What I “felt” was a smile. Actually, a laugh! Of course fear was present. It is always present in this dimension of reality. God forbid, however, that I should acknowledge it. That would make it increase, or so the popular teaching goes. Yes, the fear was there in that moment—not fear of world events or cataclysmic outcomes that would affect the entire world—a worse fear was present. I was afraid that after three years of listening to LuLu, and three decades of teaching the importance of embracing the shadow and integrating the opposites, I still didn't get it…not really. Yet, I felt that smile…that laugh in my heart!

Yes, my heart was laughing at me; and I felt the joy of its laughter. Then the peace! Then the awareness, the enlightenment! Oh, how wonderful!

This past Wednesday, Halloween, I raised my hand to say something to LuLu and the group assembled in my home for the fourth of five Wednesday LuLu Seminars this season. LuLu surprised me. “Oh, my God!” he exclaimed. “Four years, and he's asking his first question (in a public meeting).”

I responded with humor and a correction. “No I'm not! (His God) I talked about the white shadow four years ago in Heart and Soul.” (That was my first workshop with LuLu.)

He reminded me that I did not really ask questions, but was only manifesting the arrogance of false knowing. “How does it make you feel to hear that?” he asked. “How do you feel right now?”

Living in my heart as I have been more and more, the answer came quickly and easily this time. “Needy!” I responded.

“And how does that make you feel?”

“Alienated.”

“And how does that make you feel?”

“Powerful!”

You see, I got it! When the negative feelings are acknowledged without judgment or resistance, the opposite is right there bringing healing through transformation. The negative energy doesn't go away; it is merely neutralized, co-existing with its polar opposite. How beautiful! How powerful I am! How powerful we all are! We can actually convince ourselves that the impossible is true, creating substantiating evidence all around us to verify our belief in the illusion of separation. Of course, admitting the presence of the negative is frowned upon, so fearful we have become of being vulnerable…and judged, which is exactly what we do to ourselves, and, therefore, to each other.

Oh, yes, we are master creators in manifesting everything we are NOT…and judging our creations! Well, maybe I can't speak for you; but it's true for me. I see it. And my soul gave me the one feeling with a word-picture—needy—that has terrified me, knowing how repulsive it is. Alienated is a piece of cake to admit; but needy sounds so helpless, such a horrible admission of victimhood. How does one who wears the mask of a want-to-be spiritual teacher admit such foolishness? Easily, I found out. (Although years, and even lifetimes of denial made it seem difficult.)

That “spiritual teacher” role is my white shadow. It has held me in bondage, making me it's victim—even when I pretended to be powerful and free. Oh, yes, that is exactly how my past has continually created my future…and kept me from feeling in the present. It has been easy to admit anger, sadness, and a host of other innocuous feelings; but to come to grips with the death blow produced by my fear that I'll never get it, that I'll never be good enough…well, that's been a hard nut to crack for the arrogant Paradoxman. It's much easier, I convinced myself, to hide behind that mask, turn from the mirrors, and deny my dark shadow of self-deception.

Even now as I write, negative feelings arise in me; and my natural and habitual tendency to deny and ignore them remains strong. What feeling is it? Pride. Look at me. I made it; I finally got it. That's the inner voice lying to me just as it has in the past when I convinced myself that I had “arrived” and wouldn't have to deal with all the bad stuff any longer. I am reminded, again, of Sheldon Kopp's quotation: "Transformations cannot be gained without cost. They require my learning to live the rest of my days in the ambiguity that of all I am, I am also the opposite. I cannot rid myself of my demons without risking that my angels will flee along with them." - from his book: Mirror, Mask and Shadow.

LuLu teaches and demonstrates powerfully that we only have two choices in duality: Resistance or Acceptance. Human history is abundant with evidence of our resistance; in fact, the opposite is virtually unknown. We do not like what is, and we judge it unmercifully—beginning in our own selves. We experience this war within every day of our lives. We see it in the mundane happenings as well as the macrocosmic events (read government and power structures) that seem to play such an enormous role in our lives when we take time to think about it. People trying to control others, is rampant; and it all starts with us trying to control and flee from the things about ourselves that we do not like. Folks, we are looking at the fruits of resistance. The false ego is born in resistance; and for most of us, it's all we've ever known. It's our identity. And the past creates our future…unless we find the courage to make the other choice.

Emotions, LuLu teaches, recycle as long as we resist them. That's their job. It's our karma: unfinished business with our own Selves. Their assignment, wisely and lovingly given by our Soul, is to get our attention. Can you hear them screaming? Can you see the insanity of continuing to recreate the same old trauma? As LuLu often asks, “Give me a peaceful reason to continue.” There is none! Yet as long as we chase “good” emotions to get away from the “bad” ones we have judged, we live in resistance, at war with our Selves, hating Life, and wondering why dreadful things keep happening—even when we try so hard to focus on what we want, denying how we really feel.

Many of us are learning to make that different choice: to actually accept our negative side with joy. The heart smiles… then laughs. Do you see it? Can you hear the laughter? Are you able to realize that the illusions we have created actually have meaning and substance? They teach us joy unspeakable, and they are full of glory. We Luciferians, which we all are, created a powerful test for ourselves; and we convinced ourselves that we succeeded in separating ourselves from Source. Of course, the ego cannot admit failure, can it? But the heart knows better…and laughs. In the embrace of our failure (falsely labeled: success), we find victory. Holding in our arms and nurturing the wounded inner child in each of us, we heal by simply acknowledging the truth. Who was it who said, “The Truth shall set you free!”

Ho'oponopono to the rescue here: “I'm sorry; I forgive me; I love me.” That's ownership! Yes, I did it. I created the wounds, my wounds. No one did it to me. No one else could have, if I had merely remembered. Nevertheless, I powerfully created my amnesia. I played the roles of victim and victimizer with amazing credibility, forgetting that I am neither. Like God, as quoted in the Bible: “I create Light and I create Darkness; and they are alike unto me” … yes, just like God! Unlike God, however, I came to really believe they were different. They aren't at all…merely two sides of the same coin! Master teachers of Love and Unity!

Now, the words of Jesus make sense: “Resist not evil.” But we have resisted…repeatedly. We have convinced ourselves that it makes sense. Yet, as Art Sellers always said (and he stole it from someone else, I'm sure), “Reason and logic are fear.” The way home, the only way home, is always through the heart. Love is never afraid, for it is never separate…from anyone or anything. In everything it sees itself…and rejoices, knowing there is only One for all, and All for one.

As Anastasia says, “Everything, but everything, is created for Man.” There are no mistakes. Even the apparent imperfections are perfect, and perfectly designed by God in co-creation with our Soul. Seeing this, feeling it, and knowing it: this is our future, and it is grand. “In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God concerning you.” St. Paul said that in his first letter to the Thessalonians.

For a long time, I have understood these things intellectually (or at least convinced myself that I did). What I have said here is not new to me, or to anyone who has read my stuff in the past. What is new is that I can feel both sides of the polarity, virtually at the same time. As soon as I allow the negative, the positive is right there making love in my heart. I sense that I am no longer trying to get away from anything. There is greater clarity for me. As I shifted—and I'm not even certain how or when, exactly, it happened—the things in my past, my old conditioning, simply let go. Did I do it? I certainly allowed it; and evidence of the shift seems to be appearing in my life. As I love myself more completely, others seem more loving towards me. (This could be less projection of judgment on my part.)

Will I continue to see my past in my future? Perhaps. I know that there are many layers of experience, each with its own storehouse of wisdom and revelation. However, I can now recognize even my own resistance, and choose to not resist it. In other words, I can even accept my resistance, my ego, my white and dark shadows, along with my feelings of inadequacy and the entire host of related feelings, including death itself. I am playing roles; but I am not any of the roles I play. I am creator of my destiny…co-creator with the One who is Creator of ALL things. By the grace of God I have received this knowledge; and I am remembering who I am. “My son, you are infinite; you are eternal…and all your dreams are within you.”

Will I help create a new world? Yes, emphatically: YES! I have been creating worlds forever. It's what I do. So have you! As we embrace our past creations, they are infused with new meaning, and we gain understanding. With that understanding, we enter the Age of Aquarius, the Golden Age, and the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. I am learning to say, “YES!” to Life in all of its paradoxical manifestations. As Rosalie (The Gathering) says, “It's a beautiful thing!”

Namaste

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ENDING THE OLD, BEGINNING THE NEW

© By Ron Van Dyke, Labor Day, 2007

The headline(* see footnote at the end) says it all. Still, I hesitate to talk about what I really see, or, more precisely, feel about what I see. Oh, yes, I am well aware how most Americans, most people for that matter, shy away from those who rock the boat and challenge the status quo. Yet, I have challenged that most of my life. So, why now do I hesitate?

I stall for the simple reason that I lack confidence when I feel insecure and disconnected. That’s how I’ve been feeling a lot lately. Why? Because I pay attention to things that do not make headline news on TV or in the print media. I read, listen, and watch the Internet as my primary news source. It’s not perfect; I admit it. Still, it reigns head and shoulders above the nearest competition in bringing us the widest perspective on what’s happening in our world; and with www.Rense.com, www.Fourwinds10.com and links from those websites, I get a pretty broad view of what is really happening in our world.

Paradoxically, I also sense that I am more connected than ever before in my life. I feel as if I know who I am. I do not feel as alone as I felt so often in my life. Yet, I sense an almost overwhelming concern that we are on the verge of something so powerful, so shattering of the norm that I simply cannot escape the thought that all Heaven is about to break loose on Planet Earth. I lack confidence because I have not had that “substantial” revelation that erases all doubt, the kind that bolsters one’s faith when the chips seem down.

I say it that way—all Heaven breaking loose—on purpose. However, to those who are trying to hold onto the old ways and manners, to those still stuck in the systems and dogmas of the past, it would seem quite the opposite. I know that for sure. Their world is about to come apart at the seams, shredding every vestige of normality as they have known and defined it.

It’s this month too! It’s not pushed off into the nebulous future somewhere; but it’s here now. What is it? I’m not certain. All I know is that THEY (those who have secretly controlled the world’s system with cunning and deceit) are not happy with the awakening occurring across the planet. Despite how it may appear, they know something is up. While THEY try desperately to hold onto their long-term plan to rule the world with an iron fist and an invisible combat boot on everyone’s throat, something is slipping away. That something is the darkness that has always concealed THEM in the past. Now, their secret plans, and sub-plans, and alternate agendas are showing up on the Internet before they have a chance to carry them out. It ruins their element of surprise. Of course, since most only get the news from their TV sets, the majority can still be hoodwinked by unexpected turns of events.

WHAT SIGNPOSTS ARE THERE TO READ

Perhaps the biggest one involves the billions of dollars in put options that expire on September 21, 2007. Somebody(s) in the know, we have no names, have bet a lot of money that a crash of 30%-50% (or more) is imminent. We’re talking finance here, money, dollars and cents of massive proportions. The last time there were so many put options placed was just before September 11, 2001 (and that was in the millions, not billions as with the current value). We all know what happened that day; even though many still suffer the delusion that the “official story” was what really happened. What a successful brainwashing effort on the part of the US Government and the controlled media! That's what happens when FOX guards the henhouse!

Then there is the obvious fact that many “insiders” are jumping ship—as in resignations from the Bush cabal, intelligence agencies, the military, and more. Even the mainstream press does not hide the more public figures, although many of the lesser-known names do not make headlines. Still, many “in the know” are bailing out on the obviously (to those who maintain reasonably open minds) sinking ship of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Corporation. Yes, we are not a country, but a privately owned business venture. Wake up, you who still sleep. The Federal Reserve and the Internal Revenue Service are both private businesses set up to defraud the average citizen without his or her awareness. It’s been that way since 1913; and it is a criminal scam, to say the least.

On top of that, there is talk of trials on a worldwide scope, like the famous Nuremberg Trials following WW2. And who might the accused be: none other than George W. Bush, Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Tony Blair, and many more on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean—criminals all—who masterminded the illegal war on Iraq and Afghanistan. Calling it a war is an understatement: genocide is a more accurate term to describe this misadventure as well as the abhorrent Israeli/Palestinian atrocity. (FYI: Tribunals have already been held in various places where these illustrious leaders have been tried and found guilty in absentia.)

Oh, yes! I am one of those “conspiracy Gnostics” who believe we are lied to from cradle to grave and from the right and left of our political, institutional, corporate and economic establishments. To me, those who are not aware of the conspiracies have their heads in the sand as they attempt to maintain their Pollyannaish attitudes. Get real! Of course those with power (representing our personal ego that tries so hard to be separate) have always conspired to maintain that power at any cost against anyone who might be seen as a potential or real threat. Having people wake up and see what goes on behind the curtains is a real threat to these people! This is so obvious, how can any thinking person miss it? By not looking, of course