Why do you care?

Today's Reminder is: 

"Does God care? Do You? Why? Your answers only explain your limitations."

Why blame God when human choice and human error are sufficient explanation for any given circumstance? 

Why get angry when God does not save you from your folly? When you blame others for your own faults, you have some "work" to do.

As for those who declaim that God does not exist? To paraphrase the Tao: 

The God that can be spoken of is not the eternal  God
The name of a God that can be named is not the eternal name

The God that you say does not exist agrees with you- That God does not exist. The God that most people talk about is not The Eternal. 

One might say then, "But there is no need for a God!" But then conveniently forget that declaration is also true for their own existence: Universe has no need of them-- it will happily go on its own merry way.

Sometimes we touch upon a shadow or a reflection of the Nameless. Sometimes this fills us with joy or terror. If you cannot name it then certainly it is genuine... as the Numinous is as Nameless as it is Indescribable.  

Does the Infinite care? Why should that matter?

Do You Care? Why should it matter?

Your choices limit your beliefs. Your Beliefs limit You.
Some limitations are better than others. 
Examine your beliefs. 
Choose wisely.

History

Today's Reminder is: 

"Our vision of history and historical 'truth' is distorted and dimmed by our desire to place our civilization at the apex of social and political evolution. The reality is that history is a myth we tell ourselves to support an unjustified belief in our own superiority."

History is made by individuals making choices. 

Social groups are made by inventing a shared history based on 'historic' individuals. Look at the cultural icons of a culture and you will find an individual or group of individuals that the culture as appropriated as their "totem".The common cultural tag line is "We are great because we are [fill in the individual's name] followers." The group takes the deeds of those individuals who made history and claim those deeds make the group superior. 

You are not your culture nor your ethnicity. Your place in the world is not dependent on your ethnicity or your culture's place or status in the scheme of things nor on the actions of an iconic figure of some other time in history. Many cultures and ethnic groups emphasize the importance or place of their group with in the social milieu. They attempt to convince each member of their importance and status is derived from the group rather than the individual. 

This distortion is a method of "social" survival for the cultural or ethnic group. The notion of social and personal "superiority" based on culture, ethnicity, philosophy, or religious theology is false. Those groups that insist on "social" or "moral" superiority simply because of membership need either to change that false belief or face eventual extinction.

The notion that an individuals 'place' or 'status' or 'specialness'  in the world is conveyed simply by being a member of an ethnicity or a culture or religion or philosophic belief is not true. Instead it is a memetic function of the culture used to transmit and maintain a group's cultural identity and social cohesion. 

To put it simply, "you" are not "black" or 'white" or "yellow" or any other shade. You are not English, Anglo-Saxon, Irish, Latin, Germanic, Gallic, Hispanic, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Bharati, Nihonic, Buddhist, Taoist, Bonist, Arabic, Turkic, Mongolian, Han, Mandarin, Korean, Zulu, Tutu, or any of the other thousands of cultural, ethnic, or religious groups. 

You are you. 

Certainly, you are a product of a culture and its associated memes. 

Still, You are you. 

Unique. Different. Special. 

This is because You are You. 

The proper way to look at this is: You are not your Culture or Ethnicity. Your Ethnicity or Culture is You. Now ask yourself what do you want your culture to represent? Positive ideas? or Negative? Uplifting or repressive? Freedom giving or freedom taking?

At some point some cultural and some ethnic beliefs need to be disallowed or forgotten. While others just need to be 'enlightened'. Social groups need to become self selective based on the desire to improve everyone's place in the world and not just an exclusive group. You have the power to make these changes.

You are the future of your culture. How will you shape it?

Are You Willing?

Today's Reminder is: 

"To be loved, you must be willing to be Loved. The same is true for being hated."

Never doubt that you have the power to choose what you will experience in your life.  You have the power to accept love... 

But what about hate? 

It is no different than love-- except it is a "negative" emotion which usually comes with hurt. It seems that we mistakenly believe we have no control over being hated. That is not true. 

To really feel hated one must accept that the person hating you is somehow justified in feeling the way they do. In other words when you feel hurt because someone "hates" you it is because you have accepted their judgement of you. The hurt can wound you even if it is untrue because some part of you believes it is true.

When you do not accept another person's judgement of you, you cannot be hurt emotionally by them. That is not to say that "haters" can be ignored but the emotional damage they might cause you can be stopped. Once you stop accepting their judgement of you, you can make clear decisions on how to deal with them.  

The Price of Freedom

Today's Reminder is: 

"You will never know the price of freedom... Until you lose it."

We all give up our freedom to a certain degree to have a job, maintain a relationship,  or fulfill legal or contractual obligations. Sometimes certain choices we make have a great impact on our ability to make choices for future action. One morning we might wake up to find we do not have control over our present or our future. Why?

"Teachable Moments" sometimes come at horrific costs. Experiential wisdom  is usually 20-20 hindsight. Looking back at past events and learning from them is not as wise as looking at current or possible future events. Being aware of the present is a safer way to learn what is a wise course of action. This is not to say one should ignore history but one should not focus only on what was.  Remember -- If you are facing backwards it is certain you'll learn the lesson that is coming at you "in the end"-- That might be painful.

We occasionally have people or events that appear in our lives that are "toxic". While it might be comforting to say "Karma will get them." Isn't it better to take action to move away from people or events that do not bring you Joy? Or is your lack of motion a sign that you feel you deserve to suffer at the hands of others? 

This reminder should make you ask yourself: "How have I given up my freedom? To Whom? Why?" Then act as maybe appropriate to regain your freedom of choice. 

Serve

Today's Reminder is:

"We serve what we deserve."

Consider this reminder for a moment... break it into thought filled pieces. 

We Serve?
If we serve we are taking action... but to serve also means that we are in the service of "some one or some thing.

What?
What? What is it we serve? Our belief! How do we serve this What? 

We deserve.
What do you deserve? Really?

The interesting thing here for you to consider is: If we change our belief what we deserve changes as well.

It's not a game.

Today's Reminder is: 

"It is not a question whether you win or lose. The question is: Why are you playing the Game at all... or is that Et al?"

Some people are obsessed with "winning". Winning what?Winning at the expense of someone else?  Being better? Being better than who? 

To"play a game" means you must accept the rules. If you assume that others are nothing more that a "game piece" or a "game opponent" then that is what you are -- a game piece or an opponent in someone else's game. 

Yet the meaning of life has nothing to do with a game or winning or losing. If you believe it does then you should reconsider that belief because it is a belief that will limit your opportunities to help others and help your self.