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New Civilization News: Death and Birth - The balance of Life |
Category: Spirituality 7 comments 6 Jan 2003 @ 19:24 by spiritseek : Thanks CraigLooking at life in a new way like what you said helps. Love goes out to you and your family along with his family. 7 Jan 2003 @ 06:43 by shawa : The Wheel... ...turns, turns, turns... (((A friendly hug))) CL Note: Thanx. BTW: I can't remember who I grabbed the graphic from, but my thanks to whoever-it-was... :-) 7 Jan 2003 @ 09:34 by theguider : How true Craig, and I would like to add; How true Craig, and I would like to add; As the pendulum of time swings farther into the darkness of evil, the thoughts of more move deeper into selfishness as they force their beliefs upon others who fall pray to Domination. But yet, we must see life not as the only life but merely as a small part of life that is continued everlasting after life. Therefore, when we speak of life here on earth, it is no more comparative than a bad moment in our daily life. And those who cannot stand to hear or speak of the End of Time are self-centered fools that do not know our lives as God Wills will prevail. During the mid-80s, I became ill with EB Virus (kissing disease, now known as the Yeppie Flu,) I was hospitalized many times and disabled for 10 months as I watched doctor and hospitals bills soared. (My part of my medical bills was well over $40,000.00, and they wanted payment in full immediately and therefore I had to declare bankrupted.) It was at the time that I tried to decide what is "Quality of Life" and when does it end. For I had decided that when quality of life ended for me, I would commit suicide. As time went by, I found many others were suffering from EV as well as I. I soon found others who were sicker than I, and somewhere without much energy left in my body I started an EV Virus support help group. And soon thereafter, I realized that I could not keep saying, "poor me." I had to get on with life, no matter how bad I felt or how much energy I had I just had to DO IT. Thinking that I would soon die, I felt I must do whatever I really wanted to do before I died. And I recalled as a teenager I used to love riding motorcycles, so therefore, I decided to ride a motorcycle again, but not just ride, I wanted to ride around the world on a motorcycle. I was soon writing and calling companies for sponsorship for my ride. Oh yea, I had a TV station that would air the beginning and ending of my world ride on their News. I had a magazine who would send a writer and photographer with me and who would use my ride in a series in their magazine. I had a motorcycle rebuilding company who would give me the motorcycle that I wanted to ride, a 1937 Indian Chief, and I had parts manufactures that would give me all the parts and supplies that I needed. What stopped my ride around the world? Money. I did not have the money to support my family nor myself during the ride. It was then I realized that I needed to get back to work. So still suffering with EB Virus, somehow daily I forced myself to get up out of bad and go to work. (Once a person has EB Virus, you never get over it. The Virus is in all people, but does not become active until your immune system gets run down from depression, or from fatigue, or when you suffer from any other disease as the flu or a cold.) Today I still suffer from its many symptoms and still have to continue to force myself to get up daily. But I was able to work for over 15 more years before heart disease forced me to retire. My story shows that we live for the moment alone, and while we should live life of this moment to its fullest enjoyment and experience, for those days and months that I was down and disabled is only a short time compared to the total time the world has given us life. But yet, this time is not the only length to our individual lives, for we shall continue to live forever with God if you allow yourself to live as His wills. And for those who look at the End of Time as doom and gloom, do not understand God or life just as I did not understand when I was disabled. And I have found the answer to the question, "When does the quality of life ends." It never ends; if one can only watch a sunset, or only see a sunrise, or only taste any of the wonderful food that God has given us, or can only smell coffee brewing, or only hearing the sweet sounds of children playing, then one has quality of life. As we as a civilization enter into a world of darkness and evil, we need to see that there are things to continue to live for. Many will die in the days to come, but even in their last moments of life before Everlasting Life there are things that make life worth living. Money does not make life worth living; Love for others is the true key to "Quality of Life" as God's will, but for the human the simple things that we enjoy may be the "Quality of Life" that we need to continue our endeavors of life. But yet, all people view the "Quality of Life" differently, for that is part of the Gift of Choice as given to each as individuals by God. Personal perspectives - the relative importance of facts, or matter, or beliefs systems, from any specific point of view, can be misjudged by not understanding the complete situation. And if one continues to comprehend, in his opinion, situations without taking in all facts involved in the situations but continues to judge, then one's judgment becomes malice motivated, and then all of his perspectives become twisted and warped from the evil within himself. The three major religions - Christianity, Muslim and Jewish religions all claim that their Messiah shall come before the End of Time and His appearance will indicate the end is near. And while each religion state their Messiah will place their religion above all other religions, and that their religion will rule the world. It was prophesied that the Muslim Messiah will appear during the time when a Lunar Eclipse occurs one the first day of Ramadan and a Solar Eclipse occurs during the middle of that Ramadan. This double Eclipse will happen this coming November - this coming Ramadan. Do I believe the Muslim Messiah is coming? NO! But many Muslim Terrorists will believe that their Messiah is here when the double Eclipse occurs, and will use this prophecy to fight for control of the world. Last year, I heard many discussions between Muslims about is bin Laden the prophesied Messiah. You must understand that Terrorists will try to use the appearance of their Messiah (bin Laden or any other) to fight the Jews and Christians throughout the world. The warped perspectives of the Terrorists and most Muslims demand a country without any boundaries. (That means a country that is continuous, stretching around the world in which the Muslim religion in the only beliefs system that is practiced and followed.) Therefore, when we see the Palestinians crying for land for a country, and when we see them begging for part of Jerusalem for their capital; they are merely trying to take over Israel. And if they are allowed these lands, they will continue their push until they have taken over the world. Life is like a ball of individual pieces of string all rolled together and while all are inter-woven. We cannot remove one piece of string and understand life as God intended it to be. Life continues as we are born, live and die. We are merely (individual) pieces of string in the ball of string. But yet, we are have our individual thinking of life's concepts and think of life as per our life alone, and of these our personal beliefs systems are founded upon. 7 Jan 2003 @ 09:41 by cho : The old Shaker hymn ... ... how does it go? "Tis a joy to be simple ..." Anyhow, I came to the comment section thinking along the lines of "oriented towards the good; flexible and ready; being in the right spot". Reading Shakti-lha's comment, the hymn came to mind: "Turning and turning | to come out right." [or something like that] We /cannot/ control things. We can, at best, be good dance partners in our situation. (I've often thought of phenomal world in terms of it being an exquisitely responsive lover.) Concerning ultimate aims and such, I'm likely to respond with "42" being as correct an answer as any. And yet ... When I was a kid, quite god-filled, I pondered life after death and it occurred to me that, really, it's quite simple: we live on as the impressions and artifacts we create during our time here. I can't now say that an external god plays any part in my thinking, but that interconnectedness is so very mundane ... the very fabric of our known universe. Being good to one another, without patronizing or contrivance ... how can anything but the good arise from that? !Mangalam! 7 Jan 2003 @ 11:07 by craiglang : Fascinating, and moving Thank you all for some very heartfelt comments. I pick up many glimmers from a wonderfully diverse set of political and religious paradigms. Yet in all of them, I sense that there is a deep consideration of what life is all about. How do we come to terms with the seeming-randomness of it, while at the same time seeing a purpose in our own lives. And at it's core, I wonder if that isn't what religion/spirituality is all about. Whether it is belief in your higher self, one of the mainstream religions (fundamentalist, or more loosely interpreted), ultra-rationalism, or any other belief set - it is at least to some degree, a way to come to do come to terms with the meaning and mission of life. A tool for healing and understanding by we mere mortals try to deal with the vast, complex and capricious ways of the Universe. 7 Jan 2003 @ 11:11 by craiglang : No one has the answers I noted Cho's references to the Islamic goals of - well, not sure of what... I have to ask: "Does anyone have the answers?" I don't think so. I doubt that this is even possible. I view through the glasses of extreme discernment, anyone who claims to have the answers. At least in part, this thought of having it all spelled out in a book - be it the Bible, the Koran, or any other - would seem to me to be the source of much of the strife in the present-day world. I do believe that they each have wisdom for us all. And furthermore, I also believe that ultimately all of this wisdom comes from the same source. An analogy in the Eastern tradition is that of many rivers flowing into the sea. They are each different rivers, with very different courses. Yet they all carry water and they all end up at the sea. So I think it's great that we have a range of paradigms reflected even in ths comment thread. My belief is that the world will find peace when all the roads to God (even those that don't believe in God) realize the synergy with eachother. Namaste, -Craig 7 Jan 2003 @ 17:13 by martha : evolution well said craig and Î agree. No one knows. "Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy." Anne Frank (1929 - 1945), Diary of a Young Girl, 1952 Other entries in Spirituality 31 Jul 2010 @ 16:29: Innovation Yantra 31 Jul 2010 @ 16:01: Randy Paush - Lessons for Life 30 Jul 2010 @ 16:30: from Baudrillard to Verger: Diversification Vs Global Norms 22 Jul 2010 @ 13:16: Cartographers of No Man's Land 22 Jul 2010 @ 02:28: PUNISH BUSH & NEO-CONS FOR WAR CRIMES! 20 Jul 2010 @ 14:24: Getting other people to do stuff 16 Jul 2010 @ 22:57: Considerations on writing 14 Jul 2010 @ 14:53: Therapy Dogs Serve our Wounded Warriors 14 Jul 2010 @ 13:35: Consciousness of Pattern 13 Jul 2010 @ 17:04: What is Consciousness? - My answer on Quora.com
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6 Jan 2003 @ 19:17, by Craig Lang