FINDING GOD ON THE TRAIN STORY BLOG - NOTES ON ENLIGHTENMENT: BOOK CHAPTERS

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Tuesday, February 12, 2019

POSTSCRIPT TO BOOK ONE - THE CRYSTAL PATH - THE FINDING GOD ON THE TRAIN STORY - NOTES ON ENLIGHTENMENT - QUEST FOR A POSITIVE, PERSONAL, AND CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUALITY

<a class="asset-img-link" href="https://www.findinggodonthetrain.com/.a/6a0120a4f9a0cb970b022ad3e235b4200b-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="DSC_1207" border="0" class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a0120a4f9a0cb970b022ad3e235b4200b image-full img-responsive" src="https://www.findinggodonthetrain.com/.a/6a0120a4f9a0cb970b022ad3e235b4200b-800wi" title="DSC_1207" /></a> POSTSCRIPT TO BOOK ONE - THE CRYSTAL PATH   TORRENT Nothing within our existence is stationary; unchanging; or static; rather it is like a spring torrent – rushing uncontainable, forming then shifting, becoming again, zestful, unhampered or directed by what was or what should be: and, so it is, with each moment of life, appearing robust then in pieces shattered, only to be restored, formed, captured, and forgotten, as swiftly as it is generated profoundly once more; and in this, with this torrent, we seek to slow the pace, find a meaning, a common thread, holding on for dear life, wishing for stasis, when none exists, until, with reflection and careful meditation, our pursuit of order and control gives way to a giving in, releasing, an allowing, and we understand our place in the motion and being of this torrent; one not separate; contained; not impacted by – we, the momentum rather than the moved.  NOE G. 4.20.2016    A MOMENT OF REFLECTION  Be thirsty for the ultimate water. Then be ready for what will come pouring from the stream. Closing Stanza of Having Nothing –  Rumi’s Poem  from A Year With Rumi Translated by Coleman Barks   As we end Book One of this Finding God On The Train Story series titled The Crystal Path – Quest For A Positive, Personal Spirituality which elucidates my spiritual quest as it has intersected with the message from God on the train: and as each reader personally decides to detrain at this juncture, or possibly, remain on board to continue this spiritual train quest - transitioning to Book Two of the Finding God On The Train Story series titled Mind Control – The Control Of Consciousness, it is worth pausing for a moment to reexamine our original objectives - mine as the author, and yours as the reader, assessing our forward progress.   I will start. Based on my actual and on-going quest, I wanted to share my experiences, the message I received, and the path I have pursued in seeking a “positive,” personal spirituality. Most importantly, I wanted to encourage those who felt so inclined, to stretch for a personal connection with God, to listen for God’s guidance, and, hopefully, share this with all of us in the future.  Along the way, I have structured and organized the message of this Finding God On The Train Story; which as I received it, I felt urged to convey on the blog and include in this book series. En route, hoping to ascertain whether a set of usable spiritual tools or templates, existed that we all might adapt to accelerate and enliven our efforts: the Crystal Path framework unfolded, finding form as I drafted Chapter Six. In truth, much of the message I received and have communicated in this book reverberates the guidance and wisdom of the great mystical traditions through the ages. I have worked to lay this out, so it is functional and usable in today’s world.  In addition, reflecting on the compassion and kindness of the tone of the message received on the train, I have felt personally compelled to move the spirituality I present in this and future publications, away from the characterization of a harsh, uncaring God, who seems overly concerned with retribution rather than transformation: stepping clearly beyond the painful fixation on sin – original or self-created, evil, and guilt. Most importantly, I want every one of us to realize; fully, that we are not alone – rather, we are joined in our consciousness with a loving, encouraging, supportive God at all times.  As a representative of all the readers who are, have, or will be reading this Finding God On The Train Story, I sincerely hope you have found, and will continue to find, what you may need to assist with your spiritual quest. I also realize that my approach - offering this guidance without encouraging readers that this is “the way,” the only way - leads to some personal confusion: basically, how is the reader to approach all of this material; that is, as a guide, as a formal approach, as a dogma or doctrine, or maybe, like a manual. Now, here is where I will add to the confusion, and tell you I believe it is all of the above, some of the above, or none of the above, depending on the needs of the particular reader/seeker. The more I consider it, the more it reminds me of one of those Sufi tales that can be read on multiple levels. To be honest with you, I am still working to answer this question for myself.  I have been so blessed to have this opportunity to present the message of this Finding God On The Train Story. I wish for you, and all you love, heaven on earth – with all the joy, peace, love, and happiness you desire and deserve.  WITH LOVE, G.         WHEN GOD IS POURING Let us not expect less when more pertains, driven by some foolish notion of our worthiness, or a confused impression of appropriate desire – instead; when God is pouring, may we lift our most substantial cup, to capture every intended drop.   As we do this, may our twisted notions of scarcity and self-denial seem pointless in the strong and ample flow of God’s favor – the heavy drops of good fortune, the abundant grace anointing us.   Far and wide, let us strip any and all limitations that we adhere to a boundless God, prepared to receive even more than this, if so ordained – replacing joy for temperance, wonder for frugality, heaven on earth for simple accommodation. AT G. 1.26.2015   FOR THOSE CONTINUING ON  Next stop - Book Two of the Finding God On The Train Story – Mind Control - The Control Of Consciousness, is intended to expand the discussion introduced here in Book One - The Crystal Path, with a practical focus on key mind control techniques and approaches that each of us can readily apply and utilize to improve, not only our spiritual pursuit of happiness, but also our secular day-to-day happiness and mental health.  Book Two provides a more advanced and in-depth focus on actual mind control, mindfulness, and control of consciousness techniques and approaches, along with guidance on incorporating the seven facets of consciousness into the reader’s personal, positive approach to spirituality. If we did nothing else, but incorporate the control of consciousness in our lives, we would take a giant step towards our spiritual and physical well-being.  We will arrive at our destination with Book Three of the Finding God On The Train Story series – to be titled God Consciousness And The Divinity Within; the final book in this Finding God On The Train Story series, where we will, together, focus on God Consciousness and its relationship to our internal divinity.  NEXT STOP – MIND CONTROL   CONSIDER A DONATION TO SUPPORT THE FREE ACCESS TO ALL  FINDING GOD ON THE TRAIN STORY POSTS AND BOOKS VIA PAYPAL AND MANAGED BY OUR OWN G DOT PUBLISHING VENTURES LLC <div style="text-align: center;"><form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post" target="_top"><input name="cmd" type="hidden" value="_s-xclick" /> <input name="hosted_button_id" type="hidden" value="MQAGXRV9GHX2W" /> <input alt="Donate with PayPal button" name="submit" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_donateCC_LG.gif" title="PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!" type="image" /> <img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" /></form></div> IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO CONTINUE READING THE CRYSTAL PATH - BOOK ONE OF THE FINDING GOD ON THE TRAIN SERIES, EACH BOOK CHAPTER IS OFFERED IN THE FORM OF A BLOG POST AND ACCESSIBLE BY CLICKING THE APPROPRIATE CHAPTER TITLE  ON THE RIGHT-HAND SIDE-BAR OF THIS BLOG OR USE THE LINK BELOW TO RETURN TO THE INTRODUCTION <a href="https://www.findinggodonthetrain.com/book_one_the_crystal_path/g-dot-publishing-ventures-llc-presents-the-blog-book-the-finding-god-on-the-train-story-notes-on-enlightenment-qu.html">https://www.findinggodonthetrain.com/book_one_the_crystal_path/g-dot-publishing-ventures-llc-presents-the-blog-book-the-finding-god-on-the-train-story-notes-on-enlightenment-qu.html://www.findinggodonthetrain.com/book_one_the_crystal_path/g-dot-publishing-ventures-llc-presents-the-blog-book-the-finding-god-on-the-train-story-notes-on-enlightenment-qu.html</a>

Posted on Tuesday, February 12, 2019 at 12:24 PM in BOOK CHAPTERS, BOOK ONE - THE CRYSTAL PATH | Permalink | Comments (0)

Monday, February 11, 2019

CHAPTER EIGHT - FINDING LOVE AND HAPPINESS - PART TWO - THE MESSAGE - BOOK ONE - THE CRYSTAL PATH - THE FINDING GOD ON THE TRAIN STORY - NOTES ON ENLIGHTENMENT - QUEST FOR A POSITIVE, PERSONAL, AND CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUALITY

<a class="asset-img-link" href="https://www.findinggodonthetrain.com/.a/6a0120a4f9a0cb970b022ad3be9326200d-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="DSC_1207" border="0" class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a0120a4f9a0cb970b022ad3be9326200d image-full img-responsive" src="https://www.findinggodonthetrain.com/.a/6a0120a4f9a0cb970b022ad3be9326200d-800wi" title="DSC_1207" /></a> PART TWO THE MESSAGE CHAPTER EIGHT – FINDING LOVE AND HAPPINESS   MOTION OF OUR HEARTS Let us search and find our love     in the motion of our hearts -             the spirit of all divine –                     built on perfect kindness                        and gentle devotion         we send vibrations throughout  the world and all humankind.   Let us search and find our love     in the motion of our hearts –               knowing this is God’s voice –   God’s full communication –                         perfect in its simplicity    and wondrous in its depth.   Let us search and find our love     in the motion of our hearts                and know the beat of this emotion        provides the rhythm of all life the breath of the divine. POEM G. 8.4.2010   FINDING LOVE Oh oh What’s love got to do, got to do with it? What’s love but a second-hand emotion? What’s love got to do, got to do with it? Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken? Tina Turner What’s Love Got To Do With It   View Tina Turner’s Official What’s Love Got To Do With Video shot  in New York the summer of 1984 and offered on YouTube via the link below: <a href="https://youtu.be/oGpFcHTxjZs">https://youtu.be/oGpFcHTxjZs</a> Listen On Spotify <a href="https://play.spotify.com/album/5HmYiJnUkFuciiqRrAAv4o">https://play.spotify.com/album/5HmYiJnUkFuciiqRrAAv4o</a> Preview and Buy on iTunes <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/whats-love-got-to-do-with-it/id804178529?i=804178540">https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/whats-love-got-to-do-with-it/id804178529?i=804178540</a> The ability to experience love – to give love and to receive love, in all of its forms, is truly a gift. It is what separates humankind from all other life on the planet, and it is surely the truest marker of our connection with God. As expressed in the titles and content of our songs, our movies, and our books - love appears to be on our minds and in our hearts at all times. But a discussion of “Love” as it relates to enlightenment, requires that we first sift through the sands of the multitude of meanings for love, and honestly reflect on what is a related expression of “enlightened love.” Webster’s New World College Dictionary offers a good starting point with their standard definitions: 1. a deep and tender feeling of affection for or attachment or devotion to a person or persons; 2. an expression of one’s love or affection; 3. a feeling of brotherhood or goodwill towards other people; 4. a strong liking or interest in something; 5. a strong, usually passionate affection of one person for another; 6. sexual passion – sexual intercourse; 7. (my favorite), a tennis score of zero; 8. Theology – a) God’s tender regard and concern for all people, b) devotion to and desire for God. Webster takes a crack at an all-encompassing definition when discussing synonyms, offering the following, which is a useful global definition of love:        Love implies intense fondness or deep devotion and may     apply to various relationships or objects – sexual love,      brotherly love, love of one's work, etc. These definitions make me think of 70’s rock hit, “Whole Lotta Of Love” by Led Zeppelin – a song from Ann’s favorite rock band of all time, so this tune still gets a lot of airplay in our house. Yes, these definitions do encompass a whole lotta love; frankly, it’s just too much weight for one word to carry, which only adds to the confusion when using love as a clear indicator of enlightenment.  I am somewhat sure the pursuit of enlightenment was not Led Zeppelin's intent when they wrote this song. So let’s start sifting. Although, some may consider sexual passion as an excellent addition to their vision of heaven on earth, for our definition purposes, let’s start with taking out the sexual stuff. This said, there are some mystics who have mixed their devotion to God with sexual passion. We will pass on this. OK, the first tendency is to move to a theological definition, including devotion to God and God’s love for us. When discussing spiritual love and enlightenment, all eyes must focus on the life of Jesus, who added love as the major element of enlightenment, giving us the two main commandments centered on love - which I now consider hurdles we must surmount on our road towards accomplishing heaven on earth:  “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment.  And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” To make sure seekers did not miss the importance of these two precepts, Jesus adds: “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets,” basically clarifying that if you do not adhere to these precepts, you have seriously missed the mark. As we will discuss shortly, this is a call to complete God love and devotion, along with loving our neighbors as ourselves – setting up the greatest challenge to enlightenment ever voiced by a spiritual leader. To read further about Jesus and enlightenment, I would strongly suggest reading Deepak Chopra’s The Third Jesus – The Christ We Cannot Ignore. So, using the summary definition supplied by Webster, spiritual love based on enlightenment might be:      Returning God’s love with deep, unquestioned,                  devotion of a spiritual nature for God, along with      an intense fondness and a feeling of brotherhood        or goodwill towards all other people.  This is a good start, with a mix of God love, brotherly love, and loving-kindness defined as goodwill. As we progress, we will need to answer some clarifying questions to define what love will be like in our heaven on earth: that is; when we are truly enlightened, will we: 1. love God, others, the universe more? 2. be loved more by God, others, the universe? 3. or just act with more love and kindness, or perhaps all three? Of course, the goal of this section, and our discussion is to answer these questions, and hopefully, dig even deeper into the concept of spiritually enlightened love. GOD WEIGHS IN In caring for others and serving heaven, there is nothing like using restraint. Restraint begins with giving up one’s ideas.         Opening Lines From Passage Fifty–Nine                        Tao Te Ching – Lao Tsu         Now, it would be easy for me to continue, discussing how love is essential to enlightenment and impacts heaven on earth; but I would fail to be fully transparent, missing the opportunity to share with you my experience over the past few weeks that underscores my interactive connection with an active God, fully involved, at least, in my life. To be honest, when I started out writing this chapter, after having reviewed my meditation guidance, I felt the impact of love on enlightenment was unclear, and I went on to write this chapter on Heaven On Earth featuring only Joy, Peace, and Happiness; leaving out Love. It turns out that God did not fully agree, and as a result, I have learned, as the Lao Tzu’s quote above conveys, a spiritual lesson on restraint and giving up my own idea’s; somewhat. But more than this, I finally understand the profound impact love has on our spiritual awakening, and why. LOVE POWER Today let us vibrate and resonate the power of pure love for ourselves, for others, and for all that exists within this universe of God – realizing love is the energy that propels our existence – all existence. Today let us take this love power with us as we recognize there are no strangers – no unfamiliar – only the recurrent presence of God in all we encounter, all we see, all we meet in this universe of God. Let us love every manifestation. Today let us be a beacon of this love power, understanding this is our destiny, our potential, our purpose – to meet and touch our divinity through love. AT G. 11.3.2011 Some of you who follow my blog, will be able to refer to blog posts I have published over the past few years, including Affirmative Thoughts, Poems, and Meditation Guidance, showing that love has been a major theme of the Finding God On The Train Story, both within the book and the blog: fully obvious and evident in this Meditation Guidance  posted October 29, 2010. THE GIFT OF LOVE        Love is the fuel, the power, the energy of all existence, all creation. Within love is the spark of God, connecting, caring, totally immersed in the beauty and wonder of creation, of all life becoming.  Love is the elixir of God and under its charm, you and all life will flourish, grow, and reach full potential. Love is truly all you need – with it; mountains can be moved, without it, nothing can be created. Love everything about your life and what you are seeking to do – love the equipment you use, the pen in your hand, the notebook you write into. Love the message – love those who read your work and find a suggestion or an answer.  Love the moment - love the opportunity to be alive – creating and authentic.  Love is the solution – love is the answer, creating an environment of possibility for all existence – for all creation. Love your obstacles, love through your issues and problems, love yourself into success.  Love the positive and even the negative - know God’s energy –  God’s power is with you when you lead with love. Make your first response and last response – love.  Cherish this moment: love the gift God has given you and all humankind – the gift of love. NOE G. 10.29.2010 7:05 AM You may go on to point out that my primary focus has been on the concept of “loving-kindness,” often considered the centerpiece to enlightenment by the Jewish Kabbalists, the Buddhists, and let us not forget, Christianity, which as we just introduced, is built on Jesus’ focus on loving our neighbors. You might even point to my New Thought Note For The Day that stated the following: THE EYES OF LOVING-KINDNESS       Today let us face our challenges with love powered by kindness and know each obstacle is only another test to see if we truly understand the way of God – powered by the scared energy of all-encompassing love.  Today let us touch the image in the mirror – our perfect countenance with love and kindness, centered on gratitude, for the gift of this physical form and the amazing strength of our inner and outer fortitude, always ready to grow and become more.  Today, we are empowered by loving-kindness and rejoice in its magnificent strength. AT G. 8.31.2008 Or, you might point to the Affirmative Thought published as a New Thought Note For The Day 8.9.2010 titled Secret Power,  where I comment that in my reading of the spiritual wisdom through the ages, I am truly amazed that “love is the centerpiece of most guidance for reaching enlightenment.” Two thousand years ago, the Upanishads, written by the early Hindu mystics, spoke of the “Lord of Love,” featuring love as the key ingredient for transcending this plane, saying   “drink deep of divine love, and you will reach the unitive state.”    SECRET POWER Today let us realize the amazing power of love,     to change the world or change the moment – the secret ingredient of our humanness –      the essence of our Godliness – always within  us to mold and shape our lives for the better.   Today let us realize the amazing power of love,     used by Jesus to heal the sick and the afflicted – used by every mother to sooth     the hurting child.   Today let us bring the power of love out      from within our hearts and souls, to mend our minds, heal our spirits,     uplifting the world.   Today let us use the amazing power of love –     God’s gift of godliness to us,  to mend and transcend our day,      touching all we meet.   Today, let us use our secret power!     AT G. 8.9.2010   Or, the simple message provided by the Affirmative Thought below:       A SIMPLE ACT Today, reflect on one simple idea,         the singular law of the universe,         the one rule of God         and all that is divine – What is done in love surpasses            all achievements,            all heights reached,            all mountains moved, one simple act of love and kindness  reverberates throughout the universe,                         caressing the heart of God. Today, reflect and fully understand         this one simple spiritual truth,         realizing all that has been written,         or said, is based on this wisdom –         this divine guidance.   AT G. 6.3.2014 At this point, a reasonable man, or God, would have expected “Love”‘ to be included in this chapter from the beginning. But this said, writing a book on enlightenment, based on what you think is guidance you have received from God on the subject, is not only challenging, but many would say, worthy of institutional treatment.  Having accepted my mission, I originally approached this chapter with what I thought our lives would be like if we were, truly, to obtain enlightenment, and as a result, experience Heaven On Earth. We would live a life of joy, peace, and happiness.  I want to do a sort of blog reenactment and present the actual blog posts that follow, since they convey best my questions and reactions in real time, allowing the guidance to unfold over seven days in March. As I express in the first Blog Post in this series below, titled Love Is The Gateway, God indeed had other plans, and in one week I transcribed much of the meditation guidance on Finding Love used in the remainder of this section.  Yes, after all of this, God was right, love was missing. I have certainly learned a great deal about love and its connection to enlightenment. Hope you will also find it useful; and so we don’t get too serious, I would like to kick this section off with one of my favorite west coast rock songs from the 1980s, made super famous as the song featured in the mega-hit movie Back To The Future, you guessed it, The Power Of Love. It seems like Huey Lewis And The News knew the secret about love all along, “you don’t need money, you don’t need fame, you don’t need a credit card to ride this train”…" and with a little help from above you feel the power of love.” View Huey Lewis And The News The Power Of Love Video (Offical Video)  offered on YouTube via the link below: <a href="https://youtu.be/KCkgYhtz64U">https://youtu.be/KCkgYhtz64U</a> Listen On Spotify <a href="https://play.spotify.com/album/0u34k1ANjgZ47uQfG9yaLj">https://play.spotify.com/album/0u34k1ANjgZ47uQfG9yaLj</a> Preview and buy on iTunes: <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-power-of-love/id725784933?i=725785116">https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-power-of-love/id725784933?i=725785116</a> <hr /> LOVE IS THE GATEWAY  NEW THOUGHT NOTE FOR THE DAY –  MARCH 4TH As I mentioned, I am now focused on writing Chapter’s Seven and Eight of the Finding God On The Train Story titled Heaven On Earth – Joy, Peace, and Happiness, and yesterday I shared the guidance I received titled  Internal Peace. During my writing session, I incorporated this guidance, completing my first draft of the section on Finding Peace.  I was pleased but felt like something was missing from the whole chapter, and since I was not clear what was missing, I turned my sights to the last section, which is on Finding Happiness.   This morning I got up at 6:00 AM, did my reading and started meditating. I would ask God what might be missing from my work on Chapter Seven and Eight, which focuses on attaining heaven on earth through enlightenment, thus finding joy, peace, and happiness. So I asked, and I would like to share the reply below. My title has been revised to Heaven On Earth – Joy, Peace, Love, and Happiness. LOVE IS THE GATEWAY Love is the gateway to enlightenment – love is the only way to God – love is the power of all connection – it is the seeing  of the divine in all life – all existence – love is the essence  of God, and without love enlightenment is only a bright light  without passion, without joy, without substance.   Love requires that the ego be left at the gate – personal desire  stripped away – the shedding of past and future, leaving only  a bursting emotion of caring, kindness, respect, and admiration –   a realization of oneness – seeing your face in every face, it is the  desire to worship the perfection of life – to understand the  essential connection.   Love of child, family, community, or world emanates from an  overwhelming desire to nurture, to protect, to develop, to  flourish, to breathe life into all you come in contact with –  understanding the nature of God and God’s love  for all creation. To love like God is to connect with God.   Love is ingrained and sewn into every cell of your being –  move towards the light, and you will find yourself worthy  of  love; humankind worthy and in need of love; and  eventually, see through the loving eyes of God – a force of love –  boundless – infinite – without  limit, overflowing with love  for all.   The light you will see is the light of pure God love radiating  to all from all. See the love, feel the love, be the love. NOE G. 3.4.2011  7:10 AM <hr /> Wow, “love is the gateway to enlightenment” - “without love enlightenment is only a bright light.” After I transcribed this guidance, I just sat in my library chair and kept reading it over and over; it was 7:15 AM and I still needed to write Ann’s morning note, fix her tea, and walk the dogs. But God was letting me know I had missed the point and needed to adjust. I was elated and also worried at the same time because I did not have the material to entirely make this case for love as a cornerstone of enlightenment. This would be the start of several communications with God on the subject, as I tried to fill in the gaps and complete the section. Here is the next blog post in the series published on Saturday, March 5th. <hr /> OPEN YOUR HEART  NEW THOUGHT NOTE FOR THE DAY –  MARCH 5TH  As I outlined in my last post, I have added “love” to my definition of what we would unveil as we approach the attainment of spiritual enlightenment - actually creating our heaven on earth. The title for Chapter Eight is now Heaven On Earth – Finding Love and Happiness, with the recent addition of a section on finding love. You would think growing up in the “City of Brotherly Love,” Philadelphia, I would have some grasp on this subject of love. The reality is, of course, that life in any major city is often focused on survival, rather than loving your neighbor. The direction to love or “be loving” has often felt like an overused remedy, a spiritual panacea of sorts – just love everyone and you will be saved. To truly love your neighbor as yourself, is probably the most challenging direction ever given by Jesus, or any spiritual leader, who has ever walked this earth. As I  type these words, I fully realize why love would be the gateway to enlightenment. To pass this litmus test, we would need to see as God sees, with love, and therefore be enlightened. To accomplish this, we would need to see ourselves in our neighbor, to see our neighbor’s divinity, and through this renewed perception, experience divine love. Perhaps, those who point to love and practice something distinctly different, have thrown me off course at times. As you may have detected, focusing on love may be just what God wanted me to accomplish with this guidance. This made me start searching through my journals, seeing what message God had communicated on the topic. I decided I would thoroughly understand each message, trying to incorporate all of them into my life. I randomly opened one of my journals and stumbled upon this guidance from Sunday, November 22, 2009, titled, Open Your Heart.  OPEN YOUR HEART Open your heart to the love within your soul that is fed by the love of the universe.  Is your love blocked by fears, worries, challenges – look closer at who is talking within you – who is leading you astray, is the same old ego masked as a spiritual advisor or psychological counselor?   Open your heart and find the love you have for all you encounter – your family – your church – your community – your world. Only love clears away anxiety and stress - only love refreshes your spirit and lets you celebrate your life and existence.   Open your heart and dance the dance of life – fully alive in this the miracle that is this moment – clear away your hopelessness – dance with joy at the opportunity to experience life as you – with God as your full partner and co-creator.   Open your heart and enable and allow the joy of life to rush in and fill and expand your capacity for love. Then and only then, will you love as God loves. NOE G. 11.22.2009  9:25  AM <hr /> Is enlightenment founded on learning to love as God loves? Is this even possible given the strength of our egos and our culture of separation? Could we see ourselves in our neighbor, and by recognizing our neighbor’s divinity, be able to love our neighbors as ourselves? To do this, we must first love ourselves. Would we be required to love someone who is unlovable in our opinion? As the week progressed the debate continued, as I searched for these and other answers. My next blog post, which was published on Tuesday, March 8th was based on the Meditation Guidance below I had received over the weekend. <hr /> REAL LOVE  NEW THOUGHT NOTE FOR THE DAY  -  MARCH 8TH  I want to continue to share my communications focused on love, since most mornings this week; God has added a new message to help clarify the essential nature of love in our lives and for the pursuit of spiritual enlightenment. In the Meditation Guidance below titled Real Love from this Sunday Morning’s meditation - love is described as passion – a complete desire to bring someone or something to life, keep it living and nurture its existence. A key theme of all of God’s communications on love is the direction to start with loving ourselves, first. For some of us, who are living up to some ego or parental expectation, this may be the greatest challenge of all. Today, would you be willing to do something for the world to aid in spiritual enlightenment? Would you take yourself to your favorite natural setting, look up to the sky, stretch your arms out wide and up high in a sign of victory and joy, as full and outstretched as possible, and then slowly wrap them around the beautiful being who is you, giving yourself a well-deserved loving hug. REAL LOVE Love is passion – the act of being connected with someone, or something, in a complete desire to bring it to life – keep it living, and nurture its existence.   Love is to cherish – hold it so dear you would offer anything,  do anything, to protect it and give it form.   Love is becoming one with the object of your desires – breathing through it – with it – your breath and life in sync with the essence of your attention. When your loved one is impacted, you are impacted – when your loved one is hurt; you are hurt.   You have experienced this love for a child, a parent, or a loved one, but true love – as God loves -  requires the love of all that exists – of existence itself – overwhelmed with the very fabric of life – loving every cell – every thread, every moment.   To love,  you must give of yourself  – be emotionally and spiritually attached to all creation.  Begin with loving yourself – your unique nature, and grow out to loving others close to you – and then into the community – and your life.    Love takes risks, takes effort, and must be cultivated and nourished. Love is at the heart of all life – connect with your power to love – open the cage and set it free.   Learn to love as God loves. NOE G. 3.6.2011 8:30 AM <hr /> Although I was struggling, at this point, with the concept of loving all that exists in a world often controlled by the misguided egos of a few who create havoc for many; each morning, I would receive new guidance that continued to broaden my perspective of love, and test the constraints of my belief system – such as the guidance below to “Love those you admonish, those you hate, dislike, do not care for.” <hr /> RECIPROCAL LOVE -  NEW THOUGHT NOTE FOR THE DAY  -  MARCH 9TH  As you know, I am writing two chapters focused on Heaven On Earth – Finding Joy, Peace, Love, and Happiness, and after some guidance from God, I have only recently added the section on finding love. I am attempting to define what enlightened love would look like - and in a few words,  I would describe it as loving as God loves. In my opinion or spiritual orientation, this love needs to be unconditional and without judgment as Jesus described, very much like the love of a parent for a child, and remarkably similar to the way children love their parents.  As difficult as loving without judgment may be, when applying this to loving our enemies, we can see this aspect of enlightenment is also not easily attainable. In all of this, I realize I have a great deal to learn about love, and this week God has tried to fill in some of my blind spots through my Meditation Guidance. In the guidance below I received yesterday morning, I am reminded of the reciprocity of love – where we are loved in proportion to the amount we love. It is not by chance the unloving are usually unloved, and of course vice versa. Let me know if you have any additional guidance you would like to share on finding love. RECIPROCAL LOVE Love is reciprocal – you get what you give – you are loved  in proportion to the amount you love - let love flow out  of you and it will flow back to you multiplied.   Start with yourself – truly love the wonder of you –  fully and completely, let the sensation of  love be in your thoughts – treat yourself with love, care, and respect.   Move to those close to you – your family and friends –  intensifying and reflecting on your existing love for them – love even the unlovable aspects without  reservation or limitation.   Move to your co-workers and those at work, showering  them with love and kindness.  Let this love flow to those  you meet and encounter – living with compassion,  caring, and kindness.   Then love those who you admonish, those you dislike,  hate, and do not care for – push through the negative  feelings and connect with their souls.     Turn your love and attention on your life, your  job,  and all you encounter, loving the opportunity to  experience all of it – loving being fully alive and  capable.   As you expand your capacity to love, notice how the  love generates and flows back to you – suddenly you have arrived at the loving universe you always  dreamed of – you are experiencing heaven on earth. NOE G. 3.8.2011  7:20 AM <hr /> At this point, I was feeling like God was actively writing this section of the book with me, guiding me, at times spoon feeding, and at other times pushing me well beyond where I was ready to go. I continued to ask God for guidance in my daily meditations and continued to receive more clarification and insight into the relationship of love to enlightenment. I had tapped the well, and it was gushing spiritual oil. <hr /> LOVE LIKE GOD LOVES –  NEW THOUGHT NOTE FOR THE DAY –  MARCH 10th   This week, I have been focused on defining love and its relationship to enlightenment. I have been receiving daily meditation guidance leading deeper into the power of love. This week, I have often felt like I was attending a crash course with God as the instructor.  As I have questioned, I have received the answer, or I have received inspiration to reach for a certain book, which opens up to a discussion on love. Honestly, I have been somewhat obsessed with the topic, as I am sure you have noticed from these posts. Up until yesterday, I have been taking my dictation from God, like a good messenger and writing these posts while clarifying some key points, but for the most part in general agreement with everything that has been conveyed including: love is the key to enlightenment; to reach enlightenment we need to love as  God loves; this love should be unconditional and non-judgmental, enabling us to love both our neighbors and our enemies;  and, taking this a step further, we should love those who are unlovable in our perspective, those we feel are not worthy of love. It was the direction to love those who I feel are unlovable that gave me pause and led me to question the validity of the argument. I kept asking, how could God love someone who through ego destruction was creating pain and havoc for themselves, others, and the world. Why offer positive reinforcement and love power for someone who desperately needed to reform.  By yesterday afternoon, I was at an impasse on this issue after conjuring up every evil creature from history and considering loving them. As I stewed, sitting in my library, I focused on a book titled Your Forces, and How To Use  Them by Christian Daa Larson, a New Thought pioneer, leader, teacher, and prolific writer whose books are still published today.  This book had been originally published in 1923 by Larson who was the President of The International New Thought Alliance. Larson had also inspired Ernest Holmes, founder of Religious Science. Larson is best known for writing the Optimist Creed, still used today by the Optimists Club. I had scanned this book, which was the basis for Rhonda Bryne ’s book tilted the Power when I had purchased it from Amazon - but had not had the opportunity to read Larson’s book fully. Yesterday, I took it down off the shelf and just opened the book directly to page 129 of Chapter 13, titled, The Art Of Changing For The Better and my eyes read these passages: We may give our kindness and our sympathies to all, but we must not love anything in anyone that is not ideal…but we can love the greater possibilities and the superior qualities that are inherent in the individual... the power of love is the greatest power in the world … we steadily grow into the likeness of that which we constantly love… the power of love must direct the greater part of its attention upon that which is rich and beautiful in mind and soul. This was clear guidance, providing a perspective on how one might consciously love the unlovable while avoiding attracting similar attributes into their own lives. And even if we are personally struggling with our inner turmoil or dis-ease, we can still love ourselves. For what we love is “the secret realms of soul life,...where the forces of love are drawn instantly to the highest, truest, and most noble.” Larson goes on to tell us that the “law of love… determines what we are to think, what we are to work for, where we are to go, and what we are to accomplish. Therefore, among all great essentials, the principal one is to know how to love… the secret is to love the great, the beautiful, and the ideal in everybody and everything; and to love with such a strong, passionate love that its ascending power becomes irresistible.” I still had my questions, which were clarified by my meditation guidance this morning titled Love Like God Loves, where I was instructed that God loves the divine potential in all life, but does not address or acknowledge the work of the ego. Using this paradigm, it is not only possible but also quite purposeful, to love the unlovable.   LOVE LIKE GOD LOVES The secret of loving as God loves is to understand the nature of God love and the essence of God. In the eyes or experience of God, there is only perfect wholeness, wellness, potential, oneness, the spirit of pure good.    God sees only this, even in those who have been overtaken by the will of their ego’s and are far less than their potential.  God does not acknowledge or love the handy work of the ego, since to do so, would be to energize this negative creation and  lead to further dis-ease.   Like God, you must love the divine potential existing in all life, all existence, the element of growth - hope – the desire for further perfect creation. Do not address or acknowledge the work of the ego – the madness that often results, see beyond the dis-ease, the conflict, the pain and connect with the aspect of God – the divine potential of all living things.   Love like God, infused with the power of love, that which you wish to infuse with the power of further creation – water only the blossom and not the weed – for the weed cannot flourish, if the blossom is to grow.   Like God use your power of love, to encourage, to manifest the full potential of everyone you meet – all you encounter – touch their God potential and love it with all your heart – all your strength, calling it forward into form – pulling it with your love power into the light of pure existence.  Love the essence, not the dissonance.   Love as God loves and you expand the creation – you are God in action creating more love, more life, more perfection. Love what is loveable – the essence of God in this world –  and you will not only see the light - you will be the light.    Namaste – (I honor the spirit in you, which is also in me)    NOE  G. 3.10.2011  8:40 AM    <hr /> I would like to close our blog reenactment with the final blog post I published in this series on love and enlightenment titled Reflecting The Light, which features an Affirmative Note I had written during this journey. Over these seven days, I had learned why love was an essential ingredient of enlightenment  - expanding my new knowledge of love and enlightenment. <hr /> REFLECTING THE LIGHT - NEW THOUGHT NOTE FOR THE DAY –  MARCH 11TH  Thank you for bearing with me, as I have taken this mental and spiritual voyage into the depths of the meaning of love, as it relates to enlightenment.  As a result, I feel I could join Rhonda Byrne and write a book on love. But in all of this, I think I now have a glimpse into why love is so crucial for humankind, for God, and all existence. To love, we must move out of ourselves, and without our egos, approach the world as one, as related, as our spiritual relatives, our co-conspirators in finding heaven on earth. Real love is not conceived out of obligation but is created out of desire, necessity, requiring us to invest our power in what we hold dear and cherish. The act of love is often only noticed in the actual demonstration of love – the kindness that is shown, the compassion felt, the hand outstretched in the time of need. In the end, it is the love and kindness we display, our devotion to God and humankind that will light the individual paths we each traverse down our road towards enlightenment. As the Affirmative Note below conveys, let us reflect the light of God’s love into the world – caring, nurturing, and empowering. REFLECTING THE LIGHT Today approach the day with love – reflecting the light of God’s love into the world – seeing the world through God’s eyes of love – caring, nurturing, protecting and empowering all you meet and encounter with the power of divine love.   Today approach the day with love – allow compassion to flow through you and from you – be the hands and feet of God – carry love with you and shower the world with it – shower yourself with it until all is immersed in pure love.   Today approach the day with love and move with its energy, its passion, its glory – triumphant through love! <hr /> Love is the litmus test for enlightenment, because it requires that we have evolved beyond our egos, and have laid a foundation of God love, and self-love, and from this base grow to love not only our friends and family, but our neighbors, our co-workers, our boss, and those who we consider unlovable, even our enemies, until we love all existence, as God loves the world. This “God love” is the love of potential or possibility, seeing the divinity and beauty - not the ego or the dis-ease - in all life. As we move towards real love, we harness the power of God consciousness through the reciprocal nature of love that we have discussed - our expanded capacity multiplies the love we receive - fueling our love power to create and sustain our heaven on earth, lighting the path for ourselves and all those we touch.  IF ONLY LOVE WERE EASY There is no doubt in my mind, now, that love is an essential aspect of enlightenment – and our establishing of heaven on earth. It is in this practice that reciprocal love, loving our neighbor, loving our enemy, loving as God loves often falls short. One of my favorite posts involves the complexities of actually loving as we know we should love. <hr /> EXTENDED LOVE NEW THOUGHT NOTE FOR THE DAY  Last Thursday, Ann had surgery on her Colon. I found myself dealing with having someone I love dearly, being wheeled away by strangers, to have an operation, alone, without me. Waiting for word of the results, during which time I made so many deals with God that it will take two lifetimes to fulfill my end of the bargain. Ann is now home and recuperating, and I am so very grateful.  I woke up early this morning, so I could meditate and be sure to write Ann a special note for Valentine’s Day, in time for us to get to her doctor’s appointment scheduled for 9:15 AM.  As usual, I meditated briefly and asked for God’s guidance before writing Ann’s note, even though I had planned to write a personal note for Valentine’s Day.  I kept getting the first line of the note below titled Extended Love, with the message coming to me so strongly I felt compelled to write it and give it to Ann with her morning tea. Later, Ann would remark that she was surprised her note was focused on global love, rather than personal message meant just for her.  I woke up Ann, she got ready quickly, and we headed out the door around 9:00 AM with barely enough time to make it to the doctor’s office on time. As I walked out the door, I saw my neighbor, Nathan, with the hood of his car up and jumper cables attached and hanging out waiting for assistance.   As I was helping Ann down the steps to the car, I thought - “no, we do not have time for this,” and did my best to avoid eye contact. As Ann was nearing the car, she surveyed the situation and said - “I think we should help him.” I immediately replied that we did not have time and we would be late. Ann said that we should make time and reminded me that we had a portable battery charger in one of our cars that could easily jump his car without us using our new car.  I begrudgingly agreed, went to get the charger and Nathan started his car a minute or two later.  As we were driving away, Ann looked at me and said, “you know, it was your note this morning that reminded me I needed to be loving and kind to others, and this was an excellent opportunity.” I said, “yeah, I guess I failed the test, I’m sorry.” In my defense, I said, “the truth is, I am working on all of this just like everyone else.” Ann went onto talk about the significance of random acts of kindness, the power of a simple smile, or a hand held out to assist.  I realize, now, this morning’s note was meant for me, and those of us who find it expedient to turn away from our opportunities to be the hands and feet of God in the world.    EXTENDED LOVE This Valentine’s Day, let us open ourselves             up to love the world and all life  that occupies this moment in time with us –  extending loving-kindness beyond our lovers,              our families, and those we cherish, to all who we encounter along the way.   This Valentine’s Day, let us realize the power             of love to heal, renew, and restore  the world as we reflect and mirror the love              God radiates in the world – a thriving,  vibrant, positive, and empowering love.   This Valentine’s Day, let us answer  a global              need for love, generosity, caring, and  kindness – expanding our consciousness              as we envision a loving world – knowing this would indeed be heaven on earth! AT G. 2.14.2012 <hr /> EPIDEMIC OF GLOBAL LOVE AND TOLERANCE NEW THOUGHT NOTE FOR THE DAY I am sincerely thankful for the technology that allows me to publish a blog and send it out worldwide; otherwise, I would be just one of those “crazy” folks who stood in the market-place of old spouting messages from God. So, here is another message! When I received my copy of Time magazine this week - which I purchased to assist my grandson’s school with their fundraising effort, breaking my prohibition from listening or reading the news from any source other than my easily edited NPR phone app - I eagerly flipped through the pages to see what the  human race has been up to recently. I was stunned by the stories of intolerance and injustice, both religious and secular. One image, although from our hopefully never to be repeated past, will haunt me forever. This morning, as I started to write my daily Affirmative Thought, letting the words come to me, out of the greater reaches of consciousness and probably my recuperating psyche, came the note below. As I usually do when I would prefer another topic, I tried to go back for a more user-friendly communication, that was not to be the case today. Sometimes when I read a note like this, I think, “I know this,” so there is no need to focus on it, but with today’s note, I was not so sure. And although I realize that I am preaching to the proverbial choir of spiritual blog readers, I realize this was the message I was meant to convey. A message calling on all of us to contribute to the transformation of consciousness, in hopes perhaps, of fostering an “epidemic of global love and tolerance.”  EPIDEMIC OF GLOBAL LOVE AND TOLERANCE Today let us be an expression of a  greater love, demonstrating our  understanding of the true connection     of all life, realizing an existence at  odds with itself shall surely perish.   Today let us refuse to be a part of the     mayhem engendered by a human spirit  refusing to accept even its closest      neighbor, often taking up arms in the name of its own divinity?   Today let us hold a thought of peace     and coexistence in our intentions,  prayers, and meditations in the hope of      creating an epidemic of global love     and tolerance, seeing through the  illusion of separateness, into the      perfect oneness that makes us whole.   <hr /> EVEN THIS NEW THOUGHT NOTE FOR THE DAY  Even for the faithful, the loss and suffering that follows the death of a loved one are staggering. Our lives are destabilized; often with regret, guilt, and despair our constant companions. When my youngest son died last summer, I found myself caught in a consciousness somewhere between life and death. Existing in a waking purgatory, requiring all my faith to climb out of and transcend.   This simple note below, guided me during this time, reminding me to refocus where my life and God exists: in the here and now.  EVEN THIS Today, here and now, is where our lives     reside, these are the moments that deserve         our reflection, our inner contemplation;         these are the times love touches us, and our love touches the world.   We create the useful, the purposeful,     the meaningful – a life truly worth living,         and although our suffering is real, tangible,     we must never allow it to thwart our well- being, our forward progress.   Here, now, this day we stand tall, breathe     deeply, fixing our sights on the worthy,         the valuable,  the essential aspects of our         lives – calling forth the courage, and divine assistance needed to transcend, even this. AT G. 5.14.2014 <hr /> Let us today each grasp, in our own way, for this “higher love,” no more beautifully conveyed musically and lyrically than by Steve Winwood’s and Will Jenning’s award-winning song, and a personal favorite of mine, Higher Love. My favorite version of this song is the more recent single by Lilly Winwood and Steve Winwood available via a YouTube video featuring the lyrics.  <a href="https://youtu.be/SU0AH4O1HhI">https://youtu.be/SU0AH4O1HhI</a> Listen On Spotify <a href="https://play.spotify.com/search/Steve%20Winwood Higher Love">https://play.spotify.com/search/Steve Winwood Higher Love</a> Preview and Purchase on iTunes <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/higher-love/id520644?i=520640">https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/higher-love/id520644?i=520640</a> HIGHER LOVE LYRIC EXCERPT Think about it, there must be higher love Down in the heart or hidden in the stars above, Without it, life is wasted time Look inside your heart, I’ll look inside mine. Things look so bad everywhere  In this whole world, what is fair?   We walk blind and we try to see Falling behind in what could be. Bring me a higher love Bring me a higher love, oh Bring me a higher love Where’s that higher love, I keep thinking of?   Worlds are turning and we’re just hanging on Facing our fear and standing out there alone. A yearning, and it’s real to me… There must be someone who’s feeling for me.    I could light the night up with my soul on fire, I could make the sun shine from pure desire, Let me feel that love come over me Let me feel how strong it could be,  Bring me a higher love. You may be saying - “sounds wonderful, but what do I need to do?” Each of us will approach this differently, but for starters, we need to consider the following: Love yourself first –  handle yourself with care, concern, compassion, and respect - with love and kindness. If needed, forgive yourself, pardon yourself for past sins, mistakes, and mishaps.  Do not allow anyone to use you, abuse you, or lower your self-confidence. Develop a working relationship with God through prayer and meditation. Let God work in your life and understand the essence of God’s real love for you and all existence. Be grateful for all you have already received. Harness your ego and work to overcome your feeling 0f separateness – search for similarities, commonality, and connect with the divinity within each person you meet, seeing their potential and possibility. Try not to judge, condemn, or speak negatively about others for not being or believing like you. Remember, just because you love lobster does not mean that everyone must love lobster.  Refuse to condone intolerance in any form, whether it is based on religious preference, ethnicity, race, gender, or sexual orientation. Always be tolerant. Let Loving-Kindness Rule Your Actions – live as an active agent for God in the world by committing random and purposeful acts of kindness – be an example of giving, nourishing. Give more than you receive. Live With Passion – love what you do – do what you love -  approach all you do with love and passion, living with enthusiasm and energy, allowing your creative powers to be fueled by your love. Love Like God Loves – whether it is your best friend or the guy at work who is a pain – see their potential and possibility - work to really love your neighbor. Can you imagine living in a world where everyone worked hard to accomplish these bulleted elements of love above - sure sounds like a major step towards my vision of heaven on earth? Think about what life would be like for you and your family if you did. I think you get the point. Let’s move on to happiness, which does not seem to be all that difficult if your life is full of joy, peace, and love. FINDING HAPPINESS Here’s a little song I wrote You might want to sing it note for note But don’t worry, be happy   Bobby McFerrin  Don’t Worry, Be Happy lyrics Listen On Spotify <a href="https://play.spotify.com/album/4zhRkgoZKC2xCPPys1gK4b/4hObp5bmIJ3PP3cKA9K9GY">https://play.spotify.com/album/4zhRkgoZKC2xCPPys1gK4b/4hObp5bmIJ3PP3cKA9K9GY</a> As I begin this section and reflect on the meaning of the word “happiness,” and my own experience with the pursuit of happiness, I am somewhat overwhelmed with the multi-faceted nature of this concept. To fully understand how happiness applies to creating our Heaven On Earth, we need to clearly differentiate between secular - or physical world happiness - and the spiritual happiness that is associated with enlightenment. Before we move on to defining what happiness means, as it relates to enlightenment, and how it couples with joy, peace, and love to create Heaven On Earth - let’s discuss happiness in more universal terms. Since happiness is a state of being happy – let’s start with the word “happy” – which to me sometimes just sounds a bit silly, especially when worked into phrases like “slap–happy” and “happy–go–lucky.” As you might expect, there are a number of definitions for happy, starting out with being lucky, moving onto a feeling of great pleasure, and finally arriving at being intoxicated.     happy adj. (from the old English hap meaning lucky) 1. favored by circumstances; lucky; fortunate;  2. having, showing, or causing a feeling of great pleasure or contentment; 3. suitable, appropriate to the occasion; 4. intoxicated, or irresponsibly quick to act.  Would we have been better served to have just used the word “contentment,” or a phrase like “great pleasure,” or even better yet, how about the loftier or more formal sounding words like “ecstasy, bliss, or rapture,” which all have spiritual connotations and overtones.               ecstasy – implies extreme emotional exaltation, intense                                   delight that overpowers the senses and lifts one                                        into a trancelike state.           bliss -  implies a state of great happiness and contentment,                                 often suggesting heavenly joy.           rapture – mental exaltation experienced when one’s entire                                  attention is captured by something that evokes great                                         joy or pleasure.  To be honest; ecstasy, bliss, and rapture may be closer to what we are talking about when we are discussing spiritual happiness, but for our everyday purposes, these words are often just too intense, each carrying an element of “extreme” elation. Since “Happiness” is the baseline for these words, I propose that it is the more useful or appropriate term for our discussion here. Let’s face it; the word happiness won its place - at least in the United States - when the “pursuit of happiness” was established as a basic right by the Declaration of Independence, adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. This simple political act, set in motion a great cultural expectation that I do not think was seriously considered feasible, or achievable, in the past. My personal experience has not been much clearer. Growing up in a family where moments of turmoil were mixed with moments of peace, love, and happiness; albeit rare, I became very attuned to the emotion of the moment, basking in every positive experience possible. I also became a master at making other people in my family happy, to mitigate possible eruptions and discord, a behavior pattern that still surfaces today. I was sure others with a “normal family” were happy and, as would be expected, I often longed for their lives. As I grew up and met those who had been nurtured in what I thought were marvelous families, I realized that happiness was in the eye of the beholder. Few seemed to have had happy childhoods, and to my surprise, I often had more happy memories then they could muster.   As I grew older,  acquired some degree of personal, professional success, enabling me to live in wealthy communities and work with peers who had been given all of the advantages, I would like to be able to report that I have met a long list of happy people, but this has not really been the case. This is not to say, those I met along the way, were not in hot pursuit of happiness, just that few appeared to have succeeded. Frankly, compared with many of my peers, I was quite fortunate to be at least happy with my professional life. When the rest of my life did not measure up, I rationalized that no one was really “totally” happy. In truth, the happiest people I have met, turn out not to have been the wealthiest, or most successful, just the most contented and accepting of their lives. THE PURSUIT OF SECULAR HAPPINESS A PSYCHOLOGY OF HAPPINESS/WELL-BEING? As difficult as it is to determine a working definition of happiness, it appears to be even more elusive when trying to create a psychological approach to grasp or replicate it. Before we focus on spiritual happiness, I would like to spend some time reviewing the enormous strides that have been undertaken by the psychological community towards addressing happiness or often referred to as well–being, in the past twenty plus years.  In its rather brief two hundred year history, psychology has primarily focused on suffering, victims, mental illness, and trauma - boasting that fourteen of the major mental illnesses are now treatable by psychotherapy or medication.  The skills of becoming happy turn out to be almost entirely different from the skills of not being sad, not being anxious,  or not being angry. But at best psychology only told us how  to relieve misery.  The quote above is by Martin E. P. Seligman, Ph.D. – Zellerbach Family Professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Psychology. He was previously the Director of the Clinical Training Program in the department, and is now the director of the university’s Positive Psychology Center, and considered one of the founders of Positive Psychology: the scientific study of the strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive; focusing on the empirical study of such things as positive emotions, strengths-based character, and healthy institutions.  Like most other modern-day researchers in psychology, Dr. Seligman’s early work on the phenomenon of learned helplessness in animals was originally applied to understanding pessimism, when his future literary agent suggested that perhaps his work was really about optimism, not pessimism. With this suggestion, Seligman’s perspective broadened, going on to write his landmark book, Learned Optimism – How to Change Your Mind And Your Life, laying the foundation for his thinking regarding Positive Psychology, later expanded in his three major books to follow - The Optimistic Child in 1996, Authentic Happiness in 2002, and Flourish in 2011.  Let’s take a quick review of the foundation of Dr. Seligman’s work, including learned helplessness, optimism, and later positive psychology; since I believe there exists within, worthwhile insights that we might well apply to our understanding and pursuit of both secular and spiritual happiness. Based on the Seligman’s research, each of us, in a sense, carries in our heart, a “no,” or a “yes” – the first step being to determine the word we each carry. Those with a “no” are impacted by what Seligman labeled, “Learned Helplessness” - a giving-up reaction - a quitting response, surfacing from the belief that whatever we do, it will not matter. Based on an our “Explanatory Style” - the manner in which we habitually explain to ourselves why events happen to us – it can be determined if we lean towards a “yes” based optimistic explanatory style, which limits helplessness, or a “no” based pessimistic style, which spreads helplessness. Dr. Seligman went on to theorize, the defining characteristic of pessimists is that they believe bad events will last a long time; will undermine everything they do; and are their own fault. Optimists, on the other hand, think about misfortune in the opposite way, they believe the defect is not their fault: circumstances, bad luck, or other people brought it about. Confronted by a bad situation, optimists perceive it as a challenge and try harder. But most importantly, Seligman also realized: pessimists can learn to be optimists.  What is crucial is what you think when you fail, using the power  of “non-negative thinking”- changing the destructive things you  say to yourself when you experience the setbacks that life deals  out is the central skill of optimism.   “Learned Optimism,” teaches us to change our explanatory style. The book, Learned Optimism, provides a comprehensive approach to developing what Seligman refers to as, a “flexible optimism,” which focuses on addressing how we address adversity and our beliefs, using a series of clearly documented techniques; such as, disputing, distracting, distancing, and arguing with ourselves, to change our negative perspective.  We will discuss these techniques, in-depth in Book Two of the Finding God On The Train Story titled Mind Control – The Control Of Consciousness, when we will focus on mind control, providing a more advanced perspective of actual mind control techniques, including mindfulness, along with incorporating the seven facets of consciousness into the reader’s personal, positive approach to spirituality and control of consciousness. In the late 1990’s, Dr. Seligman was elected president of The American Psychological Association, and began applying his work to create a theory of  “happiness/well-being,” joining forces with another leading researcher, Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, incorporating his landmark research on FLOW: The Psychology Of Optimal Experience, to lay a research and theoretical base for the positive psychology movement (we will also cover Flow in-depth in the next book).  In his book, Authentic Happiness, published in 2002, Seligman theorized that happiness and well-being - defined as the desired outcomes of Positive Psychology – are, in turn, the result of positive emotions. These emotions; may be based on the past - exhibited by satisfaction, contentment, pride; the future – displayed by optimism, hope, confidence, trust, and faith; and in the present  - described in the following three categories of emotions; gratifications – activities we like doing; higher pleasures such as bliss, glee, and comfort; and bodily pleasures such as scrumptiousness, warmth, and orgasm.  Much of the happiness or the well-being discussion focuses on “gratifications,” which the theory and research suggest, cannot be obtained, or permanently increased, without the development of personal “strengths and virtues.” Three criteria for strengths are proposed and outlined as follows: valued in almost every culture; valued in their own right (just not a means to an end);  and they are malleable.  Those “strengths” that are deeply characteristic of us are “Signature Strengths,” with the highest success in living and the deepest satisfaction resulting from building and using these signature strengths. “Virtues” were researched and studied across the millennia and across cultures, resulting in six core virtues: (1) wisdom and knowledge; (2) courage; (3) love and humanity; (4) justice; (5) temperance; and (6) spirituality and transcendence. These strengths and virtues serve us in good moments and are specially tested when ill fortune strikes.  The good life is using our signature strengths every day to produce authentic happiness and abundant gratification. According to Seligman, this is something we can learn to do in each of the main realms of our lives: that is, work, love, and raising children. There are also levels of well-being or happiness - just as well-being needs to be anchored in strengths and virtues, these, in turn, need to be anchored in something larger. As the good life is something beyond the pleasant life; the meaningful life is beyond the good life. Worth noting is that statements about the “meaningful life,” as applied to positive psychology, seem to converge on aspects of spiritual happiness and enlightenment we will discuss shortly.  In 2011, Dr. Seligman’s book, Flourish – A Visionary New Understanding Of Happiness And Well-Being, was published, reframing his authentic happiness theory - as a “Theory of Well-Being,”  with the measure of well-being, defined as “flourishing.” Well-being has five measurable elements (PERMA) in Seligman’s latest work that count towards it: positive emotion (of which happiness and life satisfaction are aspects); engagement; relationships; meaning; and achievement. No one element defines well-being, but each contributes to it. The goal of Positive Psychology, as noted in Well-Being Theory, is to increase the amount of flourishing in our lives and on the planet. To flourish, an individual must have all the core features of PERMA - and three of the six additional features; which include, self-esteem, optimism, resilience, vitality, self-determination, and positive relationships.  The book, Flourish, offers applied practices: such as; WWW (What Went Well)  Exercises, where we are asked every night to write down three things that went well during the day, and why they went well.  The Signature Strength Exercises encourage us to own our signature strengths, by finding new and more frequent ways to use them. A signature strength is further defined, in “Flourish,” to include the following hallmarks: ownership and authenticity; excitement displaying it; rapid learning curve; finding new ways to use it; desire to use it often; invigoration using it; personal projects revolve around it; feelings of joy, zest, and enthusiasm using it. We are encouraged to take the strengths survey on the positive psychology website, listed below, and work to find new ways to utilize our designated strengths each week. I strongly recommend reading Flourish to expand on these and related topics, as well completing all the exercises used to increase personal Flourishing.  In the eighteen plus years since its initial inception, Positive Psychology has spawned a variety of applied positive psychology degree programs, along with large-scale educational and organizational change initiatives. The Positive Psychology Center site at the University of Pennsylvania is an excellent resource for understanding these programs: <a href="http://www.ppc.sas.upenn.edu.">http://www.ppc.sas.upenn.edu. </a> Likewise, The Authentic Happiness site - Dr. Seligman’s homepage at the University of Pennsylvania, offers an astonishing variety of questionnaires and inventories, already utilized and validated by millions of participants, which will enable you to measure your level of Authentic Happiness and determine your signature strengths  <a href="http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu.">http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu.</a> I have personally participated in most of the tests, inventories, and assessments on this site, finding them to be very useful, and for me at least, amazingly insightful. These links are also available on the right-hand sidebar of the original Finding God In The Train Story blog marked Positive Psychology Websites.   It is important to note that Seligman concludes his book Authentic Happiness with this sentiment - “I am not sophomoric enough to put forward a complete theory of meaning, but I do know that it consists in attachment to something larger, and the larger the entity to which you attach yourself, the more meaning in your life. Positive Psychology points the way toward a secular approach to a noble purpose and transcendent meaning – and, even more astonishingly, towards a God who is not supernatural.”   The belief that we can rely on shortcuts to happiness, joy, rapture,  comfort, and ecstasy, rather than be entitled to these feelings by  the exercise of strengths and virtues, leads to legions of people  who in the middle of great wealth are starving spiritually.                                  Martin E. P. Seligman, Ph.D., Founder of Positive Psychology   THE “HAPPY” SONG PHENOMENON  Although Dr. Seligman, quoted above, reminds us that there are no shortcuts to happiness: I might argue the point, at least for a fix of temporary happiness, citing an outbreak of happiness created by Pharrell Williams’ hit song and video, simply titled, “Happy.” The song has been extremely successful, peaking at number one in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, and 19 other countries, with an initial sales of 5.6 million copies in the U.S. alone. The video has created a virtual phenomenon. Before I fill in the details, let’s test my hypothesis, by watching the original video below, and honestly assessing if we feel a surge of happiness, and maybe, even a few tears of joy.  Click on the YouTube link Below To Connect with the Official Pharrell Williams – Happy Music Video on YouTube with lyrics - currently with 961,507,284 views. <a href="https://youtu.be/y6Sxv-sUYtM">https://youtu.be/y6Sxv-sUYtM</a> Now that you have watched the video, first, was the happiness contagious? Did the lyrics fully convey that this emotion we call happiness, does not just happen to you, it springs from you? Let’s look at the main lyrics: “Happy” By Pharrell Williams    Verse 1:  It might seem crazy what I’m about to say Sunshine she’s here, you can take a break I’m a hot air balloon that could go to space With the air, like I don’t care baby by the way    Chorus: Because I’m happy, clap along if you feel like a room without a roof Because I’m happy, clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth Because I’m happy, clap along if you know what happiness is to you Because I’m happy, clap along if you feel like that’s what you wanna do   Verse 2: Here come bad news talking this and that, yeah, Well, give me all you got, and don’t hold it back, yeah, Well, I should probably warn you I’ll be just fine, yeah, No offense to you, don’t waste your time Here’s why    Bridge: (Happy) Bring me down Can’t nothing bring me down My level’s too high bring me down Can’t nothing bring me down I said (let me tell you now) bring me down Can’t nothing bring me down My level’s too high Bring me down Can’t nothing bring me down  I believe that for all of us listening to this message – the one billion souls that were touched by this particular video undertaking alone – the song expresses the possibility that happiness does not just appear in our lives, but must be grasped for, actively accepted, and then continually declared – knowing full well the world is structured to bring us down with “this and that,” impede our attempted expression of happiness; yet in the end, for each of us, it is our choice to be happy or not. Such a powerful message. No wonder that our souls respond with an unrestrained – YES! It was Ann who, late one night in early 2014, suggested I watch this video - by Pharrell Williams, a singer, songwriter, and producer, originally from Virginia Beach - based on a song that was featured on the soundtrack of the 2013 movie Despicable Me 2, and republished in early 2014 as lead song of Williams’ second studio album, titled Girl. I said to Ann, that it was strange she should mention Pharrell Williams, since he was featured on two Grammy-nominated songs I had been listening to, Get Lucky by Daft Punk, and Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke. Although, I hadn’t heard his Happy song since our grandson had seen the movie with his other grandparents. A little later that evening, as we were getting ready for bed, I could hear Ann repeatedly watching this Happy video, over and over, its catchy melody and lyrics repeating on her iPad. I asked, cautiously, why she kept listening to the same video - she looked up, smiling, and said, “you should see this, there are thousands of “Happy” videos, from all over the world, even our hometown has produced a very sophisticated video, with local notables dancing and singing to the soundtrack. It turns out, when the Happy song was originally re-released as a single, in November of 2013 - in preparation for what I would assume was Williams’ early 2014 release of his studio CD, Girl – accompanied with the video above, along with a companion website - 24HourHappy.com - <a href="https://youtu.be/i0A3-wc0rpw">https://youtu.be/i0A3-wc0rpw</a> featuring the world’s first 24 hour music video; overflowing with a host of guest celebrities singing and dancing to this Happy song, as Pharrell Williams opened each song segment.  The Happy videos became an instant sensation, spawning countless cover videos on YouTube, usually labeled Pharrell Williams – Happy – We Are Happy from (name of the city). Inspired by this global phenomenon, a French couple launched a website – We Are Happy From - to gather all the Happy videos at one internet location. As of August 2014, more than 1,950 Happy music videos from 153 countries had been created, many still available on YouTube. There is also a We Are Happy From facebook page and twitter site, for a thrill, go to one of these sites and take a world Happy tour – it is amazing! I want to continue our experiment, doing some low cost mood altering, as we proceed on with the remainder of this chapter and the book, by asking you to invest in the online purchase of the Happy song from iTunes, or whatever site you use to download music via the internet that is, if you are not already one of the millions who own the song. Next, I am going to suggest that you set the Happy song as the alarm sound on your phone, or related device, to wake you up in the morning, or whatever time of day you start. If you participate in this experiment, I believe you will find it hard to shake this song's meme-like quality, and you will spend the start of your day, every day, focusing on being happy.  I believe, this Happy song phenomenon, is a clear indication that a vast number of people on our planet are just tired of living in an unhappy world, wishing desperately for something positive and awe-inspiring to lift them, their families, their communities, their countries, and all humankind in general, out of the mire of depression and hopelessness we seem to have created for ourselves. You may say this is only a band-aid, but I say, when you are bleeding, a band-aid is a great start. So, as I am putting the finishing touches to this revised addition to Chapter Eight – More Heaven On Earth – Finding Love And Happiness, with the inclusion of the Happy song phenomenon section above:  Ann, a Green Bay Packers fan and shareholder, receives an email from the Packers home office that Pharrell Williams will musically kickoff the opening Thursday night football game of the 2014 NFL season, between the Seattle Seahawks and the Green Bay Packers, in Seattle. I am sure the Happy song will be featured on the set list.  THE PURSUIT OF SPIRITUAL HAPPINESS A leading pioneer in the study of the pursuit of happiness - linking both the secular and the spiritual realms - is Robert Holden, PhD., and author of the book Happiness Now!.  Who, through his counseling and seminars conducted as part of The Happiness Project,  has revealed some fascinating notions relating to our human approach to happiness. Holden asserts, many of us have “Happychondria,” a fear of being happy, while others feel they are unworthy of happiness. Holden suggests living unconditionally and practicing acceptance, and goes on to write: It is, after all, impossible to be happy and play small, to be happy and hide, to be happy and inauthentic.,.. the real reason happiness feels so good is that when you are truly happy, you are being your Self - your unconditional, original self. As I reveal the messages I received from God regarding spiritual happiness, you may notice the similarities to Holden’s work, which I will continue to quote throughout this section, and often to Seligman’s, we have just reviewed. I also highly recommend reading Happiness Now! After reading my related Meditation Guidance for this section, I have realized that secular happiness, may be fleeting because it is only grounded in the physical world and not in the spiritual. We survey our lives; they may be abundant and full, but even when we are happy with the result, there is still something missing. I believe what is missing is a connection with our divine self and God. Spiritual happiness, unlike joy, peace, and love, does not seem to exist internally, waiting for us to reach a place where we can experience the emotion of “happiness” coming from within – but is more of a summation of all these emotions combined - an end result of all of our spiritual and life activity. So happiness, in a spiritual sense, may be an appropriate synonym for enlightenment - what we feel when we are living a life of joy, peace, and love - experiencing our full Heaven On Earth. Unlike my work on love, I started off by first asking God for guidance up front. This past Saturday morning, sitting in my library, I received the following guidance listed below, aptly titled Happiness, which, I believe provides a good starting point for this section. Happiness is defined not as an action, but in the guidance as an assessment: described as a “sense of delightful balance, a confirmation that we have spiritually arrived.” HAPPINESS Happiness is not an action but an assessment of where you are now –a description of the culmination of the positive forces in your life, a sense of delightful balance – a confirmation you have arrived: living authentically;  spiritually connected; actualized, and of one mind with the divine self - orchestrating a cooperative ego and operational self. Happiness is being aware of and living your perfect life now.   Happiness is being all, being one, fully loving, being joyful, and at peace. It is nirvana, the perfect state of active enlightenment – all is well with your soul and you are awash with the elation of it all – a connected bliss founded in a genuine, authentic, purposeful life – not found in material wealth but spiritual wealth – for you are prosperous, abundant and overflowing with the gifts of life.   Happiness is the sum of the parts – the apex of our physical, mental, and spiritual lives – no conflict, no doubt, no fear, only positive movement with the flow of the universe – a pure vibration of the awakening of the God within you at one with its destiny – its mission –  its power - the ecstasy of being and accepting your own destiny. NOE G. 3.26.2011 8:45 AM Along with the references to bliss and ecstasy, it is important to note that in this opening guidance above, the key elements of spiritual happiness – “the perfect state of active enlightenment” - include some of the key themes we have discussed in this chapter: living genuinely, authentically; being spiritually connected; self-actualized; and living based on the divine self. Here exists happiness, where we are at the apex of our physical, mental, and spiritual lives. Happiness challenges us to make peace with ourselves.                       Happiness Now! Robert Holden, Ph.D. The issue of genuine, authentic living has been a major theme of my Meditation Guidance since the beginning; pushing me to listen to my inner voice and work with the divinity within me. Here is early guidance from a Wednesday morning commute titled a Perfect Life. PERFECT LIFE As a creation of God, you are able to obtain a Perfect Life. The qualities of God exist within you, the potential for God perfection is your essence and birthright.   A perfect life is a genuine/authentic life. It is the life you are designed to live, the life that will reveal your full potential. Perfect life exists and is within your grasp if you reveal the true message – the guidance that leads you to this existence.   Listen to your inner voice – your God soul and understand where it is calling you. Where you are now may be close or not, but do not despair. The movement toward authentic perfect life is a force that will prepare the way if you let it. Listen and understand.   Frustration, anxiety, and despair are all indications that you are on the wrong path or need adjustment. All you need to do is stop resisting, take the lesson and understand what is lacking or not. Look towards your joy or excitement. Envision the perfect life, role-play, dream, and let this expression reveal it to you.   You are on the road to this genuine, authentic, perfect life. Move in this direction and prepare when needed. Be honest and willing to risk what is needed – be willing to work and adapt.   Work with the divinity within you to reveal your destiny. NOE G. 8.13.2008  8:00 AM   When you are truly happy, you are being yourself.                    Happiness Now! Robert Holden, Ph.D. One of the greatest hurdles to experiencing happiness is self–acceptance; that is, overcoming our ego-based thoughts that we are not worthy of happiness, have not earned it, or we do not deserve it, because of some transgression committed in the past. Often we act like Wayne and Garth in the Wayne’s World movies, who when meeting a celebrity, or presented with an opportunity, fall to our knees in homage chanting “We Are Not Worthy.”    To withhold self-acceptance is to judge you’re not   worthy of happiness. You cannot, however, have low   self-acceptance and happiness.                                  Happiness Now! Robert Holden, Ph.D.  Let us turn to my guidance from God on this point, and understand that we need to accept who we are, and where we are, to obtain spiritual happiness and enlightenment, as outlined in a number of excerpts from my guidance below. ACCEPTANCE You must strive to accept who you are, where you are, and what you are, in order to find peace and so learn that the experiences of your life do not determine your life.   Life experiences are often challenging, frustrating, and at times appear insurmountable, but they are only momentary – temporary - and your fear focus makes them appear incomprehensible and insurmountable when they are merely a moment in time.     Acceptance and non-resistance are the keys to surviving and growing as a spiritual being. Today accept, reacting without emotion, knowing it is as it should be. You are as you should be and life is on track. Excerpt NOE G. 4.19.2010 7:50 AM   ACCEPT YOUR LIFE Accept your life - what is occurring in your life - and go with the stream of life. To accept is to cease resisting – fighting – working against what is already set in motion to happen. To accept, you need to mix surrender with belief – the belief that resistance will not accomplish your objectives. Excerpt NOE G. 5.1.2008 7:45 AM   RELEASE, ACCEPT, RELAX, AND ENJOY Accept what is your life now – all of it – every aspect – accept and be thankful for what you are receiving. At times radical  acceptance is required – forcing acceptance even when you are sure it is not what you want, or have had any intention of co-creating. Excerpt NOE G. 10.28.2009 7:50 AM   As you see from the three excerpts listed above, I have had a real problem with acceptance and non-resistance - so the message has been repeated to get me to frame a more positive approach.  A key to being happy requires the control of the ego, which will enable us to accept who we are and where we are in life. Actually, acceptance requires the control of the mind and the ego, both topics of Book Two of the Finding God On The Train Story focused on mind control and the control of consciousness. I am going to conclude our discussion on spiritual happiness, its impact on enlightenment, and the creation of Heaven on Earth, with the Meditation Guidance I received just a few days ago, after asking God if I was heading in the right direction with this section on happiness. The first sentence offers a poetic definition of spiritual happiness as a ”single harmonic existence when all aspects of your body, mind, and spirit play in harmony … a symphony of authentic, purposeful life emitting full creation … every intention energized with the power of rightness … joy, peace, and love fueled by a connection with God.” Could there be any state more desirable than this, I think not.   HARMONIC HAPPINESS Single harmonic existence when all aspects of your body, mind,  and spirit play in harmony – synchronized – in perfect oneness,   all playing and striking pure wholeness - a symphony of authentic  purposeful life emitting full creation – the creative power of divine  existence. Every thought, every movement, every intention,  energized with the power of rightness – expressing the full chord  of all existence – the expression of purpose.   Happiness is joy, peace, and love fueled by a connection with God,  and the elimination of internal conflict – mind, and spirit move in  unison towards the acceptance of their own divinity. This is life in pure divine oneness. This is life singing with the voice and  breath of God in harmony with all creation. NOE G. 3.27.2011 8.45 AM Let us take a moment here to reflect on all that we have covered in regards to happiness, along with its relationship to joy, peace, love, and enlightenment. First, I think most readers would agree, based on my guidance, that the pursuit of happiness is a God-given expectation; and in the U.S.A. at least, our founding fathers considered it a basic right, along with life and liberty, worthy enough to ignite a revolution. Can you survive without it? Of course, you can, but I would add, that living without happiness is like driving your car with the emergency brake engaged permanently, you will eventually stress your entire system and prematurely self-destruct. Does it take work to accomplish? Yes, it does, but it is effort well spent. Now let’s look at the ingredients needed to create some happiness in our lives. First joy, peace, and love - with all of the steps that have been listed in previous sections - must be well underway to being accomplished and mastered. Happiness is obtained when we have worked our way through the Heaven On Earth game levels and have mastered finding joy, peace, and love in our lives while being fully connected with God. Happiness is truly the perfect state of active enlightenment.  We need to master the following at this level, as we work to overcome all doubt, fear, and resistance. 1.  Harmonic existence – all aspects of our body, mind, and spirit        live in harmony. Perfect oneness, health, and wholeness. 2.  Spiritually connected with God and our divine self. 3.  Complete Self-Actualization – fully self-accepting -  convinced        of our ability to obtain, and our worthiness and right,        to possess happiness. 4.  Living a Genuine/Authentic Purposeful Life in full cocreation -       every intention energized with the power of rightness. ENLIGHTENMENT - HEAVEN ON EARTH Are we capable of experiencing Enlightenment - Heaven On Earth, rather than creating hell on earth? Is this our divine purpose? Is this our next stage of evolution, where we stretch our consciousness, expanding our mental capacity by harnessing the full powers of our minds, until, we each have the ability to co-create our existence, our happiness flushed with joy, peace, and love – perhaps providing the same evolutionary moment as did the first fire – producing warmth and renewed life, unheard of previously, for all humankind? Is this awakening occurring right on cue, hardwired in our souls to make us wander from the caves of our ego restricted minds and create spiritual fire, this time? Has God, Source, the Universe, or whatever names we care to use to describe the master of this consciousness of life, hardwired us to move into this new life, and create this new earth?  I believe the answer is yes. Simply yes, and now is the time!  I believe the message I have received, and I am conveying here in Part Two - The Message of the Finding God On The Train Story - echoes the voices in the wilderness of so many others who are also receiving this call to action - and provides a reference for making this spiritual and life transformation.    Our discussion on Heaven On Earth – Joy, Peace, Love, and Happiness describes the result of this effort towards spiritual enlightenment and outlines some basic guidance we each will need to master in reaching for our awakening and entry into the heaven that is waiting for us. Our efforts with this awakening will communally impact the consciousness of all who live on this planet through a combined vibrational force of renewal.  Will everyone reach the same level of consciousness? No, I believe we will each find the amount of enlightenment that we desire, and are comfortable with pursuing, but each person, who does move forward on the path, will create, for all, positive change for the better.  As I close this chapter with an Affirmative Thought titled Right Course, I can feel our spiritual train gaining speed, and want to thank you for continuing on this journey with me, wishing for you all the Joy, Peace, Love, and Happiness of Heaven On Earth!   RIGHT COURSE Today know you are on the right course                 and moving in the desired direction                                to fulfill your destiny and manifest                                                                                       your heaven on earth – a heaven full                                                                     of joy, peace, love, and happiness –                 meaningful existence.   Today know you are on the right course                    and listen only to your heart –                             the still small voice of divine direction                                          offering subtle guidance indicating                                the way forward – suggesting possible                      solutions – creating coincidences –                                                                                    opening the doors previously                                               shut.                           Today know you are on the right path –                       go with confidence, clear intentions,                                                                                                                                                                          and enthusiasm to your paradise.         AT G. 4.11.2010       CLOSING NOTE ON ENLIGHTENMENT As we have explored love and happiness in this section, we have been engaged in what I would describe as a search for the truth, as it relates to spiritual enlightenment. For me, especially in ferreting out how love contributes to our heaven on earth, it has felt like deep sea diving, where I have had to submerge myself in divine consciousness to come to the surface with a pearl of wisdom now and then. This truth mining, as the Meditation Guidance below refers to it, is an essential personal practice needed for clarifying and utilizing our guidance.  TRUTH MINING  Spiritually, we must all be miners of the truth that will truly set us free. This truth is a current running through all conscious life, revealing the clear purpose and divine meaning of this existential experience.    Each day, let us don our helmet and begin to mine for both the apparent and the not so obvious truths, waiting for our discovery. Knowing each is a kernel of God’s essence – a piece of the puzzle of existence that will enlighten us and grow us.    Spiritual truth, of course, begins with an individual or personal truth, for on the surface an untrue consciousness cannot mine for the deeper gems existing within. Open yourself up to revealing and accepting the truth of all things.    This truth is not critical or caustic, but civil and honest, the real truth is potent in its healing power, even if it at times, it is uncomfortable and uneasy.    As you mine your individual and spiritual truth, be open to the rethinking or reflection needed to bring you towards a truthful equilibrium. Take each truth to God in prayer and meditation, letting it grow like a seed in spring until it is lived fully in your life. NOE G. 4.28.2013 9:25 AM   CLOSING AFFIRMATIONS As we discussed, affirmations are positive statements announcing to God – universal mind – and to our subconscious mind, how we view the world, and what we expect to occur during the day, or in our life. It is a powerful way to use the Law of Mind Action, or Attraction, to frame our reality and set positive expectations.  As I mentioned in the previous chapter, I enjoy writing affirmations so I can tailor them to my mood and life experience at the moment. As we have learned, love is an essential ingredient in our recipe for enlightenment, so let’s start with an affirmation that pushes us beyond our separateness and into a connected, centering of our being in love for all we encounter.                                               FINDING LOVE                                     Today I relinquish the illusion of separateness, exalting the truth that I am one and the same with all I encounter,  connected through the consciousness of God, I am a relation to the world, to all sentient life, and in this regard, I connect the love within me with the love of others, family all. I feel this love surge from within my soul like a tidal wave of grace, flowing from me, to me, surrounding all I encounter with potent, powerful, lasting love. I am a lover of the world.  Next, let us turn our sights on writing an affirmation for happiness. We have learned that this happiness must come from within, especially as we realize our genuine, authentic nature or calling, allowing well-being to be fostered in both our secular and spiritual realities. I believe the following affirmation expresses these sentiments.                                FINDING HAPPINESS         The essence of happiness exists within my soul. I affirm and establish that all facets of my life, both secular and  spiritual, come together for my betterment and greater good, with my authentic life etched from my intentions and desires, co-created with spirit into something tangible, worthy, and formidable. I find true and lasting happiness in every enterprise and encounter. Try your hand at writing your own affirmations, or feel free to take one of the love or happiness related Affirmative Thoughts on the blog and adapt it to your needs.  Love and happiness have been the subjects of numerous Affirmative Thoughts posted on the blog. The first Affirmative Thought below reminds us that true love must start with our own self-love, followed by the closing note on happiness, reminding us that we have the ability to ignite our happiness, setting any day ablaze.   LOVING YOURSELF TODAY Focus on loving yourself today –     start with a kind word, move on to         recognizing all you have accomplished             lately, how about a special treat for     hanging in, going the extra mile, always being supportive. Focus on loving yourself today –     insist on a rest from the busy schedule,             perhaps a nap to recuperate or just                    some alone time to recharge, offering     all with a smile, and a sincere look of compassion and empathy. Focus on loving yourself today     just like you love all the meaningful         others in your life, practicing patience,             tolerance, forgiveness, acceptance, and                 kindness: reminding yourself often what         it is you actually love so much about you – wiping away the tear of gratitude at the thought.     Love yourself today!     AT G. 8.2011.12    THIS DAY ABLAZE Set this day ablaze with your enthusiasm          for living, with your zest for life – refusing to compromise one moment of this precious         existence with less than complete and total     commitment to purposeful, authentic action.   Set this day ablaze with your positive life         affirming perspective – knowing that a “yes” attitude is based on divine strength, overcoming doubt, fear, and worry –         instilling every cell, instead, with the         energy to reach its full potential and for you to grasp your magnificence.   Set this day ablaze lighting up the world         with your joy, igniting a spark of wonder and hope in all you encounter – being     and instilling a sense of attainable                 happiness within each soul you touch. Set this day ablaze!   AT G. 9.20.2012 It is time to move on with the message, continuing our journey on the spiritual train to the next stop, Book Two of the Finding Gog On The Train Story – Mind Control - The Control Of Consciousness, which opens with a discussion of the message as it relates to mind control, outlining related approaches and supportive techniques. This will then be followed with a clarification of the message, providing useful insights for utilizing the message on your personal journey, as well as enhancing your personal connection with God.  CONSIDER A DONATION TO SUPPORT THE FREE ACCESS TO ALL  FINDING GOD ON THE TRAIN STORY POSTS AND BOOKS VIA PAYPAL AND MANAGED BY OUR OWN G DOT PUBLISHING VENTURES LLC <div style="text-align: center;"><form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post" target="_top"><input name="cmd" type="hidden" value="_s-xclick" /> <input name="hosted_button_id" type="hidden" value="MQAGXRV9GHX2W" /> <input alt="Donate with PayPal button" name="submit" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_donateCC_LG.gif" title="PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!" type="image" /> <img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" /></form></div> IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO CONTINUE READING THE CRYSTAL PATH - BOOK ONE OF THE FINDING GOD ON THE TRAIN SERIES, EACH BOOK CHAPTER IS OFFERED IN THE FORM OF A BLOG POST AND ACCESSIBLE BY CLICKING THE APPROPRIATE CHAPTER TITLE  ON THE RIGHT-HAND SIDE-BAR OF THIS BLOG OR USE THE LINK BELOW <a href="https://www.findinggodonthetrain.com/book_one_the_crystal_path/2019/02/postscript-quest-for-a-positive-spirituality.html">https://www.findinggodonthetrain.com/book_one_the_crystal_path/2019/02/postscript-quest-for-a-positive-spirituality.html://www.findinggodonthetrain.com/book_one_the_crystal_path/2019/02/postscript-quest-for-a-positive-spirituality.html</a>

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Monday, February 04, 2019

CHAPTER SEVEN - FINDING JOY AND PEACE - PART TWO - THE MESSAGE - BOOK ONE - THE CRYSTAL PATH - THE FINDING GOD ON THE TRAIN STORY - NOTES ON ENLIGHTENMENT - QUEST FOR A POSITIVE, PERSONAL, AND CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUALITY

<a class="asset-img-link" href="https://www.findinggodonthetrain.com/.a/6a0120a4f9a0cb970b022ad3da67d1200b-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="DSC_1207" border="0" class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a0120a4f9a0cb970b022ad3da67d1200b image-full img-responsive" src="https://www.findinggodonthetrain.com/.a/6a0120a4f9a0cb970b022ad3da67d1200b-800wi" title="DSC_1207" /></a> PART TWO THE MESSAGE  CHAPTER SEVEN – FINDING JOY AND PEACE   SHOUT OUT! Shout out a joyous noise unto the Lord knowing you are saved, and whole and walk in oneness with the spirit of all life and creation.   Shout out and let the world know your joy and glad tidings –  let the world know you are safe and secure in the hands of God.   Shout out and let the universe know you are thankful for all you have and are yet to have – all the beauty – the abundance – all of the love.   Shout out for the healing power that is within your soul – mending you – cleansing you – clearing away the wound and replacing it with smooth flesh.   Shout out for the strength within - the power and energy of God’s presence – feel the strength – feel the power.   Shout out and know the blessings of all existence wait for you to receive – for you to open your heart and truly understand you are worthy.   Shout out and rejoice for you have found favor with God – and are truly blessed – you the sons and daughters of God – you with the Christ potential built into your divine soul – you who are perfect and always have been perfect in divine sight. SHOUT OUT!   I woke this morning planning to start this chapter of Part Two The Message  with another aspect of the message I have received from God on my commute, but the lyrics of the Los Lonely Boys rhythmic, enchanting, but eerie hit song “Heaven” - that poses the central existential question, “How Far Is Heaven?” - was on an endless loop in my mind. I realized during my morning reading and meditation that I should start with finding Heaven first, since this is what I have understood as the goal of all our spiritual efforts, creating Heaven On Earth and living with joy, peace, love, and happiness. <a href="https://youtu.be/wvkzoqQ5Oak">https://youtu.be/wvkzoqQ5Oak</a> Official Los Lonely Boys Video of Heaven  Listen To Spotify - <a href="https://play.spotify.com/search/LOs%20Lonely Boys">https://play.spotify.com/search/LOs Lonely Boys</a> Preview and Buy on iTunes <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/heaven/id157923778?i=157923900">https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/heaven/id157923778?i=157923900</a> HEAVEN Save me from this prison  Lord help me get away Cause only you can save me now  From this misery I’ve been lost in my own place  And I’m gettin’ weary How far is heaven  And I know that I need to change My ways of livin’ How far is heaven, Lord can you tell me…. So, in a sense, we will start at the end, discussing first, the most important and complex concept I have learned from my meditation guidance, and hopefully, the answer to the Los Lonely Boys’ existential question – How Far Is Heaven? In truth, I believe the answer is a simple one: not far, we are now in heaven. From all I can understand from my guidance, it appears we have reversed the concept, and instead of living and then dying and then going to heaven, it is the opposite: life itself is our opportunity to experience heaven. Also, in my guidance “Heaven” is not a place or a location, but a level of consciousness, which is used as a synonym for the state of spiritual “Enlightenment.” Heaven is a state of mind, a perception, available to us all at this very moment. You may be saying out loud, “say what? OK, G. you may be in heaven, but I am with the Los Lonely Boys, and this sure does not look or feel like, heaven. Hey G. open your eyes and look around, can’t you see the misery, the poverty, the crime - cancer, AIDS, and that’s just for starters - it looks more like hell to me than heaven.”  I would reply, there is suffering, but I also say, look into the eyes of a child; touch someone you love and care for; observe the beauty of art, dance, music; understand the amazing sensory vehicle you have been given to touch, feel and love this miracle we call life. So, we both have our points, but I would like to present in this chapter of the book, for possible consideration in your spiritual pursuits, the case I feel God has presented to me.  As we described in Chapter Six, the Seven Facets Of Crystal Consciousness culminate in attaining a genuine, authentic, purposeful life – being fully you - and in the process creating your own heaven on earth. As I was trying to determine how to present these key topics in the book, I received the following Meditation Guidance, which emphasizes the importance of the connection between a Genuine/Authentic Life and Heaven on Earth.   FULLER LIFE - MEDITATION GUIDANCE Fuller life is what you seek and is the essence of all struggle and movement on this earth. Fuller life is not more of what you have but is conceiving and seeing what exists around you. What is your heaven on earth? Would you recognize it, if it appears?    Heaven is being one with life – living in full enthusiasm – loving abundantly and becoming your genuine, authentic self.  The squirrel moving across the lawn is not divided within itself –  it has one purpose – live life to its fullest – pushing boundaries at times – taking risks, but being a squirrel first and foremost.    Being fully you – is genuine, authentic life – not the you of your parent’s dreams or your lover’s desires - but the you God has empowered you to be.  Move back to this and start exploring from there.    This is the you of your talents, your ability, your dreams. What impedes progress towards being fully you? Every day we are presented with the life of our past – created from our past desires.    Learn to live and accept it – to flow with it and see its place. You must accept this place and create from this spot – not negating – but affirming and building. NOE G. 9.10.2010 8:05 AM   HEAVEN OR HELL - A PERSONAL CHOICE? Since the focus of Part Two of this book is on the actual message, and not just my perspective, let’s travel back to Sunday, November 16, 2008, and the Meditation Guidance I received titled Heaven or Hell, and understand the actual message to see if it makes any sense.  HEAVEN OR HELL? Each person has their unique vision of this world, their reality. Heaven and hell are created and composed of this vision. Heaven and hell are within you, not outside of you, you make the choice, you lay the foundation. You come to this experience of creative life, this world, to find heaven and experience a living heaven on earth.  This is the gift from God to all life – the opportunity to experience life as God experiences life in a heaven of joy, love, peace, and happiness. Heaven and hell are the results of your spiritual and physical life journey.  Heaven and hell are the visions of the world that you create, not that is created for you. Heaven and hell are within you, and they are the result of your own vision of this world. Much of the world today, now creates a vision of hell, thus living in the hell  of guilt, shame, poverty, lack, hopelessness, illness,  and despair. These are the emotions of hell on earth.  Create heaven in your mind, see heaven, visualize  heaven, and experience the love, peace, joy, forgiveness,  actualization, and creativity of an internal heaven – and an external heaven. All enlightenment is the pursuit of becoming God and experiencing Spirit’s heaven on earth – within you.  This is the time – this is the truth that you seek. NOE G. 11.16.2008 9:50 AM The “key tenets” of the message listed above relate to finding heaven, or hell, on earth, and as a result: true enlightenment. These tenets reflect, in some sense, all the other messages I have received during my commutes to DC on the train. I use the word “tenet” as it is defined by Webster as “a principle or belief, especially one of the main principles of a religion or philosophy.”  I like the concept of a “principle” – defined as – “a fundamental truth or proposition that serves as a foundation for a system of belief or behavior or a chain of reasoning”. Although spiritual in nature, I am not proposing a religion, but instead, I am proposing a “chain of reasoning or fundamental truth” that I believe God is conveying. I want to review each tenet briefly, without explanation, so each of us might determine if they appear at least tenable. <ol> <li>Heaven or Hell is a matter of interpretation – a choice we all make based on our vision of the world, our faith, and our perspective.  </li> <li>If we create a vision of heaven in our minds, then we will exist in heaven.</li> <li>As spiritual beings, this life is a gift from God to grow spiritually, and an opportunity to experience life as God would experience it – with joy, peace, love, and happiness.</li> <li>Many, today, have chosen to envision and create - through the power of their egos – a real hell on earth for themselves and the world.</li> <li>Enlightenment is living as God intended and experiencing heaven on earth with joy, peace, love, and happiness. </li> </ol> The message above is certainly a radical departure from what we have been told by established religious doctrine. Gone is the motivation to live a life of misery for a potential reward in heaven, or based on the fear of punishment, in hell. Humankind has often set up its hell on earth through its ego-driven vision, yet by just changing this perspective, and awakening to the potential for enlightenment, we have the ability to create heaven on earth, and by doing so, experience love, peace, joy, and actualization - and as a result, experience heaven on earth as God intended us to experience it. In the end, the attainment of heaven on earth - known as enlightenment, is, for all intents and purposes, a personal choice. HeavenOnEarth Game Version 20XX.Infinity To continue our discussion, I would like to have some fun by viewing this from another perspective and see what it reveals. Let’s take a fantasy journey to meet the supreme software maker of eternity, the geek of all geeks, God, CEO and COO and Lead Developer of the Lifeware Project, whose primary product is the hit software game HeavenOnEarth version 20XX.Infinity. The HeavenOnEarth game enables game participants - spiritual souls - to take human form and create a world of their choosing, along with billions of other participants.  To make the game competitive, those souls who decide to participate, pick a level of life difficulty, the more difficult, the more life points, with poverty and abuse giving the highest points, if overcome by the time of transition back. But the key is to a select a spiritual mission, which is forgotten at birth, but through a series of game clues, while living, a participant needs to identify and accomplish the mission to maximize their score and win. God has been developing this game for ages and, although it still has some glitches, it beats the earlier versions where all participants became Cicada Bugs and had to burrow into and live underground for seven years, only to come to the surface, mate, and die. OK, there have been a lot of customer service issues regarding the Ego Module of the game. And although God has sent some of Lifeware’s key technicians in to assist – Moses, Lao Tzu, Buddha, and Jesus to name only a handful, few participants have learned how to handle their Ego issues. Frankly, God decided a while back to let the Ego Module bug stay in because it made the game more challenging and dynamic. Sometimes things do work out for the best. All HeavenOnEarth participants are capable of making anything happen by using their mind to cocreate with God – and since each participant has free will, they get to pick what they want HeavenOnEarth to look like. The selling point for joining the game is free will, create your own world, and get what you want or need by using the Law of Attraction feature. The downside is that many participants have not been able to control or harness their egos so that play can become very difficult and downright dangerous. This Ego glitch has resulted in the ability to create hell on earth for some participants who can’t quite get the knack of mind control. So although it is needless - war, poverty, and starvation are common grips of participants who feel the game is too hard to master. On the positive side, there is much guidance available within the game features to help participants overcome their egos and discover and accomplish their spiritual mission. Of course, when this occurs, these lucky players live in abundance, joy, and peace, enjoying all the pleasures of heaven on earth. The game is quite challenging and very addictive, with souls jumping back in as soon as they transition to improve their scores with each visit. Sound familiar? As our visit to Lifeware, Inc. ends, and we return to our own lives and realities, I propose that we are all currently playing the HeavenOnEarth game. I hope this chapter of God guidance provides some consulting assistance on how we all might maximize our chances of experiencing some of this joy, peace, love, and happiness built into our lives and waiting for us all. YOU NEED MORE I know you may believe the help feature in this real-life game is nonexistent; only providing you with the support, you need long after you have fallen into disaster. And how about the suffering, pain, and anguish that seems to flow abundantly? Some of you would sue if you could. I am sure we all have a list of questions we would like to have answered like, “what would this heaven on earth be like and how do we find it?” What would we experience? How would we live? Would we all have meaningful jobs, wonderful relationships, and abundance – a life overflowing with enthusiasm, joy, peace, and love? As you might expect, I feel God’s answer would be yes, but with a condition - we would all need to be willing to learn to look at life just a bit differently than we do now. Let’s look at some of the advice I have received and see if it sheds any light on the process. Since the message of Finding God On The Train Story, which we have discussed in the Chapter Five and Six and will continue to be examined throughout the remainder of the book, works diligently to answer these questions in detail, thus preparing the committed reader for excelling at the actual HeavenOnEarth game, I would suggest we first focus on what heaven on earth would be like. For starters, since these concepts are often discussed, but rarely experienced, what would joy, peace, love, and happiness entail, and if so, how would they impact our lives.  Let’s start off with the Meditation Guidance below titled Joy, Peace, Love and Happiness, which communicates that all four elements are available on a daily basis, as a result of our spiritual connection with God - when we live in harmony with our own divinity, fully connected and trusting in God. JOY, PEACE, LOVE, AND HAPPINESS Experience the joy and abundance of your life, the gifts that God has given you.  All is provided for you to ensure you live in perfect harmony with your spirit. Become who you are meant to become, realizing this is just a step on the path to the realization of full abundance.   Enjoy this step; enjoy the sights and sounds and emotions of this phase of life. This is your life now and must be fully appreciated before moving on.   Live today in joy, peace, love, and happiness - surrounded by and assisted by the support of God  in you – the divinity at the heart of your soul. Feel the pleasure that only your senses reflect – the sensual pleasure of life.   Pay attention to the needs of others, their fears and wants. Relate to their hopes, and struggles – empathize, and you will connect with their love.   All love requires the generation of love from the start. Love draws love and to live in a loving manner takes concentration and work. Do not fear loss or rejection for in the spirit of love all the world will come to you.   Understand that joy is the gift of love from God – understand this way, and it will bring you forward if you are willing. Bringing you forward to the joy, peace, love, and happiness of enlightenment.   Stay focused and lean on God for your direction and guidance. NOE G. 2.19.2008 7:40 AM   Let’s recap what the actual message from God on the train has clarified regarding the attainment of our own personal heaven on earth – also referred to by using the traditional term - Enlightenment - or a broader and more modern concept, Genuine/Authentic Life. The Crystal Path was fully defined in Chapter Six with the Seven Facts Of Consciousness, listed below, as the progression through each facet, combines to bring us closer to our heaven on earth. F1: Master Mind Control – Control Of Consciousness. F2: Live Mindfully – centered in the “now” – the present. F3: Attain God Consciousness through a direct connection with God. F4: Adopt the God qualities of loving-kindness, compassion, empathy, etc. F5: Clarify personal spiritual and physical life intentions.  F6: Marshal the mind, soul, and self to cocreate with God. F7: Live a Genuine - Authentic Life – a life both fully alive in God and living.  The guidance tells us that we will experience joy, peace, love, and happiness in our lives if we are fully aligned with the facets of consciousness on the Crystal Path. Yet,  it is not clear in the guidance, which comes first  - the joy, peace, love, and happiness: or the enlightenment. One premise I will make here is that we need to fully align ourselves with the joy, peace, love, and happiness that we seek throughout the process: to have each as lasting aspects of our lives.  The remainder of this chapter is focused on finding joy and peace, followed by Chapter Eight, which continues the discussion with a focus on finding love and happiness, both chapters providing a detailed understanding of what heaven on earth entails and presents in our lives.  FINDING  JOY Joy is the name of the strong spring In eternal nature. Joy, joy drives the wheels In the great clock of worlds. She lures flowers from the buds, Suns out of the firmament, She rolls spheres in the spaces That the seer’s telescope does not know. Happy, as his suns fly Through the heaven’s magnificent plain Run, brothers, your track Joyfully, as a hero to victory. English Excerpt From Ode an die Freude –         Ode To Joy by Friedrich Schiller   YouTube Version of BEETHOVEN -  Symphony no. 9 “Choral” – Leonard Bernstein Conducting (4) <a href="https://youtu.be/t4N5-OALObk">https://youtu.be/t4N5-OALObk</a> Preview with the link below and purchase from iTunes Leonard Bernstein –  Beethoven: The 9 Symphonies conducting the Vienna  Philharmonic including Symphony No.9 in D Minor, Op. 125 “Choral.” <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/symphony-no-9-in-d-minor-op-125-choral-iva-presto/id79126879?i=79127063">https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/symphony-no-9-in-d-minor-op-125-choral-iva-presto/id79126879?i=79127063</a> Spotify - Leonard Bernstein Op. 125 Choral  <a href="https://play.spotify.com/search/Leonard%20Bernstein">https://play.spotify.com/search/Leonard Bernstein</a> There has rarely been a musical expression of joy, in my opinion, that has surpassed the intensity and beauty of the coupling of a poem - Ode an die Freude (Ode To Joy) written to celebrate the ideal of unity and brotherhood of all mankind by a German poet, playwright, and historian named Friedrich Schiller - with the musical genius of Ludwig van Beethoven, resulting in the 4th and final movement of his Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op 125, thus linking poem and music for eternity in a pure expression of joy and creative splendor. This would be the last completed symphony written by the then stone deaf Beethoven, who reached into his soul and offered the world his work of joy based on Schiller’s poem - adding the choral voices to a symphony, resulting in what many still consider the greatest musical masterpiece of all time.  For a real treat, and a rush of joy, I would suggest the YouTube video link above with Leonard Bernstein conducting the finale of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, featuring the “Chorale” version of Ode To Joy; or exploring the iTunes and Spotify links, both featuring audio renditions of Bernstein’s take on this amazing work.  But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them shout for joy…,  Psalm 5:11 The word “Joy” is both uplifting and powerful, a concept that makes me think of bliss, extreme happiness, peace, nirvana, and elation. Joy is a powerful emotion representing the feeling that exists on the emotional continuum beyond mere happiness and right before bliss. Joy is also an explosive emotional concept that is built on energy and full experience.  As a BMW ad that is currently airing states, the car company is no longer selling a car but the experience of “joy.” There is a sense of momentum about the word, and you can readily feel the adrenaline when you contemplate the experience of real joy. As the Meditation Guidance below tilted Perfect Harmony instructs, “joy” is an emotional reflection of the coalescence of a number of key components of enlightenment: living a genuine, authentic life; practicing full acceptance without resistance; being focused on loving-kindness; and most of all, maintaining a personal connection with God. Joy is the emotional reward for our spiritual growth and development. Perhaps, there is no better way to explain the attainment of heaven on earth, than the descriptive phrase highlighted in the republished post below: “life in perfect harmony - synchronized living, believing, and being.” Since Perfect Harmony was originally published in one of my favorite early blog posts titled, Joy In This?, I would like to share this post as a lead into this guidance, since in a very real life way, it reminds us that as we live our lives - the pursuit of joy in our quest for enlightenment, is not ever easy  <hr /> JOY IN THIS?  NEW THOUGHT NOTE FOR THE DAY Today, I write this post after a long day at work in Washington, DC, which started with my driving through the snow and ice of Fredericksburg to the train station, and now ends in the crowded Virginia Rail commuter train car after the cancellation of my usual, and much more comfortable, Amtrak train. This is real life, and I am sure the others on this train would agree with me that “Joy” is a difficult emotion to manifest.  Some might say that to be joyful at these times, when life does not work out as planned, would not be enlightenment, but might more properly border on temporary insanity. Even so, I find myself wondering what it would take to feel joy at this moment. First, I would have to stop resisting what is happening to me at this time, giving up feeling stressed because I didn’t get what I wanted.  I would need to accept the situation, finding some value in this experience - maybe the people or the situation or how I can still sit here typing in this cramped seat. And maybe, I need to think of all the positive things that happened to me today and work on gratitude for this life. I am still a long way from joy, but I am moving in the general direction. And this is what happens when we stop resisting, accept our lives, and look for the message and meaning it offers. This is what happens when we change the dissonance of our lives and choose to listen for the harmony. The following Meditation Guidance, from my ride in this morning, titled Perfect Harmony, sheds some light on what we may need to accomplish to experience joy. Hope this provides some insight.  PERFECT HARMONY Joy manifests in your life when all aspects of your life are in perfect harmony – genuine, authentic living, full acceptance, a connection with God and positive thought and spirit.    Joy is the emotional reflection of all forces moving in the intended direction, moving in unison, synchronized, fully complimenting each other.   With joy, there is no need for doubt or concern, no room for negative interpretation – no room for remorse.  With joy, there is the magic and wonder of feeling fully alive and one with all aspects of your life – synchronized living, believing, and being.   When resistance or doubt or lack of enthusiasm erupts, look to this area and bring it in line. Either accept the event, or change your reaction to it, or find another way.  For joy exists in un-resisted movement – full manifestation and cocreation with God; trust in the positive intention of the universe.   If  life is dragging you through the day, there cannot be joy – only when you are fully cocreating positive action, profound good, meaningful love, and kindness, and internal peace, will you clear your soul to celebrate t he true joy of living and being.   Open your mind, heart, and soul to the full life of joy that was always yours to receive. Open to the joy. NOE G. 2.16.2010 7:40 AM <hr /> In actuality, I could stop here, since this note so clearly expresses the very essence of joy and its importance in obtaining our personal heaven on earth. But the question remains - what do we need to do to get to this point, to experience this joy?  What are the actual approaches we need to accomplish to set the stage for this level of awakening? I have often received meditative guidance regarding “joy,” as God has tried to help me see the point; life should be full of joy. I have realized that “joy” appears as we move forward on the path of our own spiritual awakening and enlightenment, evolving to the point where we can experience the joy from everyday existence. As stated in the Meditation Guidance below titled Awake In Joy – “a joyous life is the ordinary life envisioned and lived as extraordinary.” AWAKE IN JOY Awake in joy! Live this day as if joy has taken over all of the cells, muscles, and fibers of your physical form. What is joy except for the celebration of the wonder of life? A joyous life is not spectacular or out of the ordinary, it is rather the ordinary envisioned and lived as extraordinary.   Ask if what you are feeling is joy? You may say this is impossible in your world of demands and expectations. I say this is where joy must reside, in the un-joyous.   Clear your vision and see the full life worthy of celebration. Do not be set back because you have tasks to complete – these tasks can bring you joy.   You are alive and watching the sun move with the train. This “now” is a unique now for you. It is full of possibility and spirit. Move with the now and release your desire to control. In this flow is the reality of God working in your life. The presence of God moving you through the day.   Relax the apprehension and flow with the spirit of life and joy. Cherish the moments, the interactions, and the pleasure of being alive and creating. This way you create joy for yourself and others.   Awake in joy! Live in a consciousness of good. NOE G. 8.5.2008 7:25 AM To accomplish finding joy, thus living our ordinary lives as extraordinary, the Meditation Guidance below titled As You See It, emphasizes the need for all of us to take control of our consciousness and see through our divine mind. We need to fully understand that all of this; joy, peace, love, and happiness – heaven on earth - is as we see it, and is all subject to our interpretation. AS YOU SEE IT All of this, life, is as you see it and is subject to your interpretation.  If you see happiness, it is happy. If you see misery, it is miserable.  All subject to your interpretation and definition. Sentient life –  conscious existence can only be lived and experienced through  the framework of your mind and perception. Change the perception  and you impact the thinking involved and your emotional response. The challenge lies in the fact that the mind – your mind, with its  penchant for negative creative thought – framing the worst-case scenario - is at the center of this interpretation. This mind could  and does interpret a neutral reality into a potential nightmare. The God mind – divine mind within you is available to call you  back to reason and see the completeness and wonder in each moment, each event – good or bad. Work to see your life and the unfolding events as gifts from God, and if possible, accepting the learning experience of each event and situation.  Work with positive interpretation – see joy – feel joy – have joy.  See happiness – feel happiness – have happiness. The more your divine mind controls this interpretation,  the more at peace you will be – the more authentic, real, and purposeful your interpretation. And when this is not possible, start with acceptance – accept and do not resist.  Work on your interpretation, for all of this, is as you see it. NOE G. 10.8.2009 7:25 AM Finding Joy is an essential ingredient for attaining heaven on earth, and its importance is reflected in the messages I have received from God. At the center of this guidance, is the need to live a genuine, authentic, purposeful life, in order to find lasting joy by ensuring all of the following have been accomplished and mastered: <ul> <li>Control of our minds along with the reframing of our consciousness, especially managing our egos; </li> <li>Connection with God by recognizing and listening to the divinity within each of us;</li> <li>Focus on self-empowerment and enhancement of self-esteem, learning to believe in our self and trust in God;</li> <li>Clarify what we want and establish clear goals;</li> <li>Discover our genuine/authentic selves and live a purposeful life - follow our bliss, our passion – do what we love and enjoy;</li> <li>Accept and optimize the lives we are living now  - learn to enjoy every action, even the most mundane;</li> <li>Avoid being focused on fixed outcomes - enjoy the journey wherever it leads.</li> </ul> To close this section on “joy” where we started, I would like to offer the poem written by Henry van Dyke in 1907 - Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee, which was linked with the music from Beethoven’s No. 9 to become a very popular Christian hymn.   YouTube Video from 2013 of Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee at Royal Albert Hall,  London at the link below: <a href="https://youtu.be/eMY3ivdNzwE">https://youtu.be/eMY3ivdNzwE</a>   Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee, God of glory, Lord of love; Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee, opening to the sun above. Melt the clouds of sin and sadness; drive the dark of doubt away; Giver of immortal gladness, fill us with the light of day!   All Thy works with joy surround Thee, earth and heaven reflect Thy rays, Stars, and angels sing around Thee, center of unbroken praise. Field and forest, vale and mountain, flowery meadow, flashing sea, Singing (sometimes chanting) bird and flowing mountain call us to rejoice in Thee.   Thou art giving and forgiving, ever blessing, ever blessed, Wellspring of the joy of living, ocean depth of happy rest! Thou our Father, Christ our Brother, all who live in love are Thine; Teach us how to love each other, lift us to the joy divine.   Mortals, join the happy chorus, which the morning stars began; Father love is reigning o’er us; brother love binds man to man. Ever singing, march we onward, victors in the midst of strife, Joyful music leads us Sunward in the triumph song of life.   Now that we have addressed joy let’s find peace, love, and then move onto happiness in our pursuit of mastering the HeavenOnEarth game. FINDING PEACE                   Peace: a word from a Merciful Lord.                                    Koran 36.58 Yasin    The peace of God that surpasses all understanding,       will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.                                    Philippians 4:19 Grabbing for my Webster’s New World College Dictionary, I feel compelled to start with the definition of this very complex word. As we are all aware, the most prominent definition of peace has to do with the absence of war, or as I will refer to it - external peace - often controlled by forces outside of ourselves. I am highly aware of this, as I watch the YouTube videos of the civil unrest, as the Arab world moves into all-out revolution, and peace is sacrificed for the hope of freedom and independence. Our definition then moves inside, to the absence of mental conflict, or internal peace, which each of us, considering our life circumstances, maintains essential control over. PEACE - 1. freedom from war or stopping war; 2. a treaty or  agreement to end war or the threat of war; 3. freedom from public disturbance or disorder; 4. freedom from disagreement or quarrels; harmony; concord; 5. an undisturbed state of mind; absence of mental conflict; serenity; in full peace of mind; 6. calm; quiet; tranquility. For our purposes in defining spiritual peace, I would choose definitions five and six above - an undisturbed state of mind - full peace of mind – tranquility. Unlike joy, which energizes our senses, peace moves us to a state of serenity and calmness. There is a lack of tension, lack of struggle, and a sense of full acceptance, knowing all things are as they should be; almost an absence of desire. Like joy, I believe the attainment of peace is also at the center of enlightenment. A question we also need to address, as we work our way through joy, peace, love, and happiness is their causal relationship to enlightenment or heaven on earth; basically what comes first, the enlightenment or the joy, peace, love, and happiness? For example, do we obtain joy by following the Facets Of Consciousness we outlined in Chapter Six – The Seven Facets Of Crystal Consciousness, or do we become enlightened, and are we then joyful? I believe enlightenment requires working on each of the building block facets of crystal consciousness, mastering as much of each Crystal Path facet as possible, and when we have significantly progressed on each facet, we climb to the top and see the light, or at least more light than we did down below. So we have covered joy in the previous section, but what are the ingredients or building blocks of peace, as outlined in my guidance from God, and how is it obtained. We will kick this off with a Meditation Guidance titled appropriately, What Is Peace? Where we meet some familiar themes; such as being connected with God, living in the present, and the ego working in cooperation with the divine self. It ends with a focus on unity, or oneness, of all the diverse aspects of our spiritual lives: one with God and the flow of life, emerging with one thought, one voice, and one being. To accomplish this oneness, we need to have an absence of mental conflict, with the mind acting in divinely inspired unison. WHAT IS PEACE? Peace is the result of living immersed in God, living within the present in full cooperation with your ego and your divine self, accepting all that is, or will be, as purposeful and divinely inspired.   Peace is being fully alive, at one with the motion of your life, protected and synchronized with the universal flow – each breath is an awakening – each thought a revelation – totally at one with all existence – all creation.   Peace is letting go, believing, trusting and becoming new with each breath – alive in living – fully conscious of the God, you are and were always meant to be.   Peace is power confined to the blossoming of your genuine, authentic soul – alive and fresh,  becoming new with each moment.  There is no then – no when – only “this” – “what is” – is the splendor of universal love and consciousness.   Peace is nirvana – awakening to the essence of living with God as one – one thought – one voice – one being. NOE G. 11.19.2010 7:10 AM There is undoubtedly an element of spiritual surrender in this note above, and my guidance has echoed this concept in other notes regarding peace. Ernest Holmes - New Thought Pioneer and founder of Religious Science, previously discussed in Chapter Three – New Thought Positive Spirituality Yesterday And Today - says it best in one of my favorite quotes regarding peace.        God is peace. We enter this peace in such degree                  as we withdraw from confusion.                       From Words That Heal Today  I was intrigued by this line when I first encountered it  – “God is peace.”  On an individual level, to be at peace in our world, it does seem to take divine power. So when we find a way to stay in peace, we find a way to connect with God. We simply need to make a conscious decision to “withdrawal” from the confusion. This is also clearly the message of the following meditation note.  SURRENDER TO THE PEACE Surrender to the peace within your soul and let go of your struggle to God. Surrender and free your tormented soul – free yourself and touch God’s outstretched hand. Release and breathe – let peace move through every cell – every fiber of your being. Know all is well and you are well.   Surrender to the divine magic within you – strong – courageous – powerful – loving. Surrender the negative thoughts, and negative emotions, that suck your strength and serenity. Feel the peace flow through your veins – moving through your nervous center – through the circulatory system. Breathe in peace – breathe out surrender.   Today join hands with God and enter the world – calm – strong – patient – loving – knowing that all that happens was always meant to happen. All that is – has always been – has been prepared.   Today with God, move in peace, security, certainty that all outcomes will be affirming and positive.   Today move with God in peace and harmony and love and know all is well. NOE G. 4.29.2009 7:55 AM Although we do not often associate the concept of peace with power, I have received a number of meditation notes which, make a strong case for doing so. In the following Meditation Guidance titled The Power Of Peace - internal peace is accomplished through the acceptance of our current lives and the elimination of resistance. We will find, these are the two primary ingredients for obtaining and maintaining peace. Failure to achieve acceptance, and eliminate resistance, results in not only the absence of peace, but also the continuation of stress, anxiety, turmoil, and disease. My favorite analogy regarding resistance has to do with driving a car with the emergency brake on.  When we resist what is happening to us, we cannot fully commit to our lives, thus wasting our power, as we push against the reality of the brake. In the end, the car experiences a breakdown, similar to how we breakdown - overtaken by dis-ease. On the other hand, when we truly accept and do not resist, we are empowered and obtain enhanced creative energy. THE POWER OF PEACE  There is power to be found in peace, peace of mind, peace in your heart, peace through acceptance of all that appears and impacts you each day in this life.   With God and through acceptance of God’s force of good in your life, you will transcend your frustration and the expectation of a different reality from the one you encounter.   Peace is found through acceptance -  that this life experience is the experience you are meant to live – to learn from, and to evolve through. Peace is the complete lack of resistance to what is, along with an understanding that resistance breeds stress, anxiety, and turmoil.   All disease is founded in resistance: all resistance is the unwillingness to accept the now – this moment – which often summons a tendency to compare the now being lived to a desired fantasy, or a wish that is not currently available.   Although this contrast can help you define what reality you prefer, it can have you spinning in circles of frustration.    Peace – internal peace, frees your creative energy – life energy – manifestation energy,  enabling you to connect with the power freely and force of the creative mind of God. Work to be at peace and you will find the energy you seek to move forward, becoming one with life and God. NOE G.  9.4.2009 6:50 AM Peace, in my Meditation Guidance, is often added to other elements that are needed to find enlightenment, usually as the first step towards moving on the Crystal Path, as it is in the following note Peace, Power, and Purpose. PEACE, POWER, AND PURPOSE  Follow the three P’s as you progress along the Crystal Path.  Peace, Power, and Purpose are the linchpins of enlightenment –  they are the three legs of the stool, on which, we will sit and go forward. First Peace - peace is your mind at rest and your ego in check, or in cooperation. A peace centered in this “now,” free of the weight of baggage from the past, or fears of the future. Peace to sit still and do nothing, or peace while still being active and creating. The peace that surpasses all understanding. Next is Power. The power of co-creation and belief in your ability  to manifest the life of your dreams into reality or form. Power based on the strength of will and your belief in the Law of Right Action and the positive force of God. Power to create – creative energy fueled by a focused unencumbered mind. Then Purpose – your genuinely authentic true purpose based  on your divine calling – the purpose that has brought you to  this place, this moment. Understand the purpose fueled again  by yours and God’s energy to create good in the world –  to assist others on the path to a full and perfect life.  Fulfill this purpose, and you will fulfill your life. Meditate on these three words, understanding that they are  the foundation of enlightenment and a full life. NOE G. 7.21.2010 10:00 AM But as with joy, the true obtainment of inner or spiritual peace is not easily mastered, requiring constant diligence and recommitment. In our Mad Hatter, caffeine driven world, we often have traded peace for productivity – including me - pushing ourselves along with all humankind at an exhausted frenzy. It is not by accident that I have written numerous Affirmative Thoughts for Ann, and me, helping us regain balance and peace in our lives. Here are two brief Affirmative Notes that provide some guidance, or suggestions, for regaining peace when the frantic world wins out.     SEEK PEACE AND SOLACE Today let us seek peace and solace in a hectic world - let us go within and focus on each breath – moving inward to our inner calm. Today let us use a mantra to quiet our overactive minds, saying with each breath; “I am at peace and so is the world.” Let the day flow easily and become what it is meant to become  - moving through it at peace! Have a peaceful day!   PEACE AND CALM Today let us connect with the gentle peace and calm     of life, always present in our lives but often drowned out by the noise we create. Feel the calmness of the      day, like sitting in the backyard in the early morning with only the sounds of life to accompany the moment.     Be at peace!   Today let us connect with the peace within that we carry     with us on this journey – this peace is heaven – this peace is enlightenment.   Let us linger in the peace and clam, holding off our ego’s     rush to move –  practicing and teaching our minds this is our birthright – this is our true spiritual essence –     our nirvana.   Let us connect with the peace and calm and the oneness of a loving God and the universe.  Peace is both a destination and a consequence, on our way to experiencing enlightenment – heaven on earth. We all realize that to truly live in internal peace, without mental conflict, with no competing voices in our heads, in complete harmony and acceptance – fully connected with God - would replace, for many, what drugs, alcohol, therapy, and the pursuit of physical pleasure has not been able, fleetingly, to accomplish. This internal peace, the peace that surpasses all understanding, is what we are after, and will result, as we move toward enlightenment. This final meditation guidance titled Internal Peace, resulted from my asking God, this morning, to help me further reveal the role of peace in our lives and explain why it is so important. This note also serves as a guide to what we need to accomplish to obtain this peace. INTERNAL PEACE Peace – internal peace – the absence of mental conflict –  the full acceptance of what is in your life now – the elimination  of resistance – is the first level of enlightenment. Internal peace is the foundation needed to obtain a full  connection with God and complete God consciousness.  It is the reward for the control of your consciousness,  allowing you to turn your sights to your own divinity. Internal peace occurs when your divine mind, your  operational mind, and your ego are in sync and move  forward without conflict. Internal peace clears your energy for the pursuit of oneness,  and wholeness, required to reach for genuine/authentic existence –  purposeful life. This peace is the freedom from stress, worry,  doubt, fear, anxiety, and depression – all signs of a lack of  hope and faith in God. Internal peace readies your soul for growing, developing,  and becoming the essential part of you – all issues have been  resolved, all sins are forgotten, injustices forgiven, as you  are prepared to move on along the Crystal Path to your  enlightenment – your heaven on earth. NOE G. 3.3.2011  7:16 AM Along with joy, finding peace is also an essential step to attaining heaven on earth, and its importance is reflected in the meditation note above, and all the messages I have received from God. It is considered the foundation, the first step because it requires that we pull in the reins of our consciousness, gain control of the competing voices in our heads, and deal with the man in the mirror as Michael Jackson’s self-aware song so aptly conveys. Michael Jackson – Man in the mirror (Official Music Video). <a href="https://youtu.be/90C-Wx_uGdM">https://youtu.be/90C-Wx_uGdM</a> I’m starting with the man in the mirror I’m asking him to change his ways And no message could have been any clearer If you wanna make the world a better place Take a look at yourself, and then make a change The attainment of spiritual peace requires a complete commitment to our positive, personal, spiritual quest, to be one with God while making substantial progress traversing the facets of consciousness we outlined in-depth in Chapter Six – The Seven Facets Of Crystal Consciousness. Along with this, the Meditation Guidance I have received on the train also points to a few other elements or approaches that will assist us with this effort.  <ul> <li>Work to eliminate any resistance to the life we are now living – letting go of expectations and investments in the outcome.</li> <li>Accept our current life, recognizing this life experience is the experience we are meant to live -  to learn from and to evolve through.</li> <li>Work towards, and secure, the absence of mental conflict, ensuring the divine mind, the operational mind, and the ego are in sync.</li> </ul> Peace, in this sense, requires a leap of faith, a true letting go and letting God, to obtain enlightenment and our piece of heaven on earth. As we realize the HeavenOnEarth game is not for the faint of heart -  but the payoff of joy, peace, love, and happiness is surely worthwhile. But even more than this, the attainment of spiritual peace, even by 10% of the seven billion plus of us on this planet, 700 million people, would have a tremendous impact on the manifestation of actual world peace. Who knows, maybe this is God’s motive - to create world peace, one soul at a time. This is only the opening discussion, with the remainder of the message geared to helping us obtain our goal. As we journey on the Crystal Path, let us move on to our next stop on the train to enlightenment - love. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OTHER HEAVEN AND HELL? As outlined in the Blog Post below, I feel I need to answer the question posed in the title above - what happened to the other heaven and hell? To examine this concern, I would like to discuss what I feel my guidance has been on the traditional concept of heaven and hell; that is, what happens to us when we die or transition. I think this post below provides the answer and a starting point for discussing the afterlife.  <hr /> POSTSCRIPT TO HEAVEN ON EARTH NEW THOUGHT NOTE FOR THE DAY  Over five daily posts, I have published  Chapter Seven of Finding God On The Train titled Heaven On Earth – Finding Joy and Peace, followed by Chapter Eight tilted More Heaven On Earth - Finding Love And Happiness. During this posting process, I did some major editing, feeling good about the offering except for one unanswered question. If heaven is here on earth, what happens to you after you pass away, die, croak, or transition? What about the heaven featured in standard religious thought and practice?   This caught my attention, as I noticed Ann’s reaction to these chapters. Culminating one night when, as we were driving home discussing how much she misses her father who passed away two years ago – turning to look at me and saying with tears in her eyes – “I  still believe in the traditional heaven, and I am sure I will see my father again.” Suddenly I felt like someone who had accidentally told a child for the first time that there is no Santa Claus or Easter Bunny.  I had inadvertently, taken something away from Ann, and possibly many other readers of my blog. Later as I reviewed the chapter, I realized I only briefly discussed the afterlife -  saying glibly we come from source energy, and will return to source energy. I guess this does not sound much like a heavenly afterlife. So I am adding this as a Postscript to Chapter Seven hopefully to explain, what happened to the other Heaven and Hell? I do believe that there is an existence after we are finished with our lives here on earth, that our unique consciousness continues full of our life experience, emotions, and memories to exist after death, as we return to a combined state of conscious existence. It is this consciousness that I feel formulates the basic infrastructure of Infinite Intelligence, the Universal  Mind, or the Consciousness of God. God expands through the combined living experience and wisdom of all who have existed. A topic, I will discuss in more depth with an upcoming book.  This said, I do believe that the major playing field of eternal life is here on earth, where we have form, and can actively participate in the creation of even more and better life. I also propose, that most of us will do whatever we can to return and rejoin the living and the learning. Although this afterlife state may allow us to reconnect with those we have lived with and loved, it is not an end in itself.  I will go one karmic step further, saying this afterlife state can be either Heaven or Hell depending on how a person has lived their last life on earth. For those who have mastered the challenge of a loving existence, this afterlife will be a reflection of a life well lived. Those who have personified evil, hatred, and destruction will be faced with the truth of their actions and will spend their afterlife reflecting on how lost they were alive. This will be their hell – a consciousness of remorse and regret – a lasting self-punishment.  Trapped in a mental hell knowing they have missed the mark so completely.  This morning at 6:40 AM, in my library, I tried to connect with God on the next chapter, but found myself reflecting on consciousness, during and after life, resulting in this Meditation Guidance, which as you can see, framed my day, and will be featured in my Postscript to Chapter Seven.   COLLECTIVE SOUL CONSCIOUSNESS In prayer and meditation, you connect with the collective   consciousness of all existence, the consciousness of each  person, or living soul, who is alive now, or has ever lived or  existed. The faces you encounter in deep meditation are  the reflections of this conscious energy – each a pattern  or imprint of this life consciousness – existing as memories  of all the lives they have lived.   This collective grouping of all soul energy combines  to expand and reform constantly, and in total creates  the infinite consciousness or universal intelligence –  connecting all humankind. This consciousness –  collectively – forms the ever- expanding consciousness  of God – the creative energy of existence.   Each question, or request, framed in prayer and meditation  connects to this collective soul and is responded to in kind  with the appropriate answer or action. In this way God  harnesses the collective life  experiences of all who have  ever lived as a reference - as consultants to what is real  human existence.   Each of us, upon transition, will enter this consciousness  carrying with us the life experience, the joys, the knowledge,  the creations, as well as the sorrow, the regrets, and any  evil personally created. To find peace, those who  have created hell on earth will be forced to reflect on their  deeds, and seek resolution through the forgiveness of  those who have been hurt. Those who have created hell,  will carry their pain until they are released, or can attempt,  another opportunity to live.   The collective soul consciousness - the essence of God - is  the center of all knowledge and of all love. It is the source  of all cocreation – existing and finding form as the soul  consciousness continually expands. NOE G. 4.27.2011  7:25 AM  <hr /> One of the unique features of having a blog is that you can document major life experiences, sharing them with your readers. As I put the finishing touches on this chapter in preparation for publishing, I realize this postscript would be enhanced with the addition of this blog post below. It is especially meaningful because it is an experience Ann had with her father two years after his death. <hr /> WILDWOOD FLOWER –  BREAST CANCER SCREENING AWARENESS –   NEW THOUGHT NOTE FOR THE DAY   <a class="asset-img-link" href="http://www.findinggodonthetrain.com/.a/6a0120a4f9a0cb970b017ee41fc983970d-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="IMG_2257" border="0" class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a0120a4f9a0cb970b017ee41fc983970d image-full at-xid-6a0224df307def200b0223c849a281200c at-xid-6a0120a4f9a0cb970b022ad3b925fc200b" height="777" src="http://www.findinggodonthetrain.com/.a/6a0120a4f9a0cb970b022ad3b925fc200b-pi" title="IMG_2257" width="722" /></a> Like many families, a highlight of the fall season, for us, is a visit to a small farm with a pumpkin patch, to test our skills traversing the cornfield maze, listening to the grandkids laugh with excitement as they speed down an underground slide cleverly carved out of the side of a small hill, watch the pigs race and stop in mid-scamper to nibble a bit of the hay, and of course, load onto a tracker pulled cart for a ride to the pumpkin patch, to pick this season’s to be carved Halloween companion. Yet, the trip this year was different, it was the birthday of Ann’s father who had died a few years ago after a three-year battle with a stroke. Ann loved her father dearly, his kindness, positive personality, and sheer love of life made him the center of her world. He loved the Green Bay Packers and taught her, at an early age, to love football.  Most of all, she loved to listen to him play his guitar and sing.  One of Ann’s favorite childhood memories had to do with her father playing the traditional folk song, made famous by the Carter family, Wildwood Flower. They shared a sort of ritual, with Ann gleefully asking for her favorite song – calling out “play Wildwood Rose, daddy, play Wildwood Rose. “Runt” her father would say with a smile  - using his nickname for his tiny, shy, fragile daughter -  truly the runt of the family litter - “you know it’s called Wildwood Flower, Runt,” as he would begin to play and light up his adoring daughter’s smile. I could see Ann’s well-concealed melancholy, as she gladly performed the role of the excited Nana laughing, running, and enjoying the day with the grandchildren. I could also see the strain of an excruciating week that began with a phone call Tuesday morning from the Women’s Health Center at our local hospital. The caller informed Ann that there was an issue with the Mammogram she had taken the week before, there was an asymmetry detected, and the doctor wanted her in for a more extensive Mammogram, along with an Ultrasound - both being scheduled for Thursday afternoon.  When I received the call from Ann, I knew instantly something was seriously wrong, prompting me to ask what had happened even before she relayed the details of her call. You often hear it said that it is one call that changes your life forever, as I caught my breath and emotions, I realized this might be the call. I asked Ann to go over the Women’s Health Center call word for word, questioning whether the caller had explained what “asymmetry” actually meant. With her voice trembling, Ann said she was really frightened because it had been several years since she had scheduled her annual mammogram. She worried out loud asking, “have I waited too long and now this,” as her voice trailed off.  The retest was scheduled for Thursday, a full two days off, an eternity when you are waiting to determine your fate. Ann said, she would call and ask if it was possible to reschedule it sooner because two days was just too long to wait. I got off the phone and went onto Google to understand what “asymmetry” actually meant in lay terms, and soon realized that asymmetry referred to the mass of one breast being larger than the other, a sign that there was an issue that required more extensive retesting and usually an Ultrasound. The internet doctor’s attempted to mitigate the fear and panic that had understandably overtaken most of the women, as they searched for some hope to deal with the terror of waiting for the retest. The sites were full of women baring their souls, as their mind’s bombarded them with every worst-case scenario conceivable. All caught in a what can only be called a hellish limbo.  Thankfully, Ann had called and gotten the test moved up one day, as I could hear the nervous panic beginning to take its toll. Ann knew it would be the longest twenty-four hours of her life. Mind control is difficult enough when there are no pressing health issues, but often impossible when the verdict is still out. The human mind is hardwired to prepare for the worst, and in this case, it meant cancer, surgery, and possible death. Ann who understands all the modern mind control approaches, admits that she lost control early on, as her mind prepared her for cancer, getting the family ready for her death, and planning the videos for the grandchildren to be watched as they grew up without her. By evening, I could see that Ann needed a rest, so I suggested that she take her migraine medicine to knock the fear and the worry out for the night. Before she drifted off to sleep, we held each other and prayed. Ann would tell me later that she prayed to her angels. Ann also asked her dad for a sign that he was there with her and would protect her through this ordeal.  I woke up and wrote Ann the note below, striving to bring hope and faith back into what was fast becoming one of the worst experiences imaginable. As we worked to get the courage to get up and face the day, Ann turned and said, “I am going to say a bad word, really,  I am going to say a bad word.” This is something quite uncommon for Ann – so she paused as if to gain the courage and said – “this is a bitch!” With this word, I felt the air clear, and Ann seemed to release the pent-up fear as her breath became peaceful. I said with all the strength I could muster, “I cannot agree more – it is truly a bitch!” Ann looked at me and said peacefully, “I am ready now, I have told my mind that it has had its say, and I am now prepared to go on with strength and not as a victim. “ I drove Ann to work, trying to convince her to take the morning off.  Ann said she would be crazy having nothing to do. I would pick her up at 2:00 PM and drive her to the Women’s Center, a few blocks from her office. I told her that I loved her and that I firmly believed all was going to be OK. She said she trusted my connection and hoped so. So did I. She said with a touch of sadness in her voice,  “you know what is the most troubling thing about this, is that I might have prevented this if I had only had my routine screening. I was always too busy; I canceled my appointment over and over because I was busy at work.  If I get another chance, I will never miss or postpone my annual screening.” All I could do was nod my head in agreement.  We arrived at the Women’s Health Center building, a state of the art facility recently constructed to focus on medical issues unique to women. There was an older couple, also waiting patiently, and we watched as the women kissed her husband and nervously made her way to the exam rooms. Ann went through the process with me – she would go in and have her Mammogram, and then an Ultrasound, and would come out to get me when the doctor reviewed the test results. Ann told me not to worry because they were backed up, and it might take longer than expected. I kissed her and said that I would be there waiting for her. I could see the panic making its way, but she regained composure and went in for the tests. I prayed, waited, and tried to read. About an hour into the procedure Ann called me and said she had already finished the extensive Mammogram and was waiting for the Ultrasound, asking me not to worry.  After what must have been another forty minutes, I look up, and Ann is coming towards me with an amazing smile of joy on her face. “I am ok; the doctor said I am ok. It was a lump in the Mammogram, but it did not show up on the Ultrasound.” The compassionate doctor had walked into the exam room as soon as he got the positive results, and said to Ann – “First things first – you are ok!” Ann was ok and in an instant life, hope, future, family, all restored. As we were driving home, Ann said, “you know the women who went in before me – she was sitting with her husband when we arrived.” I nodded, and Ann continued, “well when I shared with her that I had missed getting my Mammogram last year, she confided that she had not had a Mammogram for over ten years. She was worried because they had just retested her a second time before I talked with her, and she was waiting for the doctor to go over the results together with her husband. Like me, she was so worried that she might have made a dreadful mistake.” I listened, knowing full well, that we could have just as easily been on the wrong side of this message. Later, Ann and I agreed not to publish this story on the blog, but by the weekend, Ann asked me to publish the story, so others who may have delayed getting their breast exams, would not delay further, and get them done now. She felt it was an important message. She looked at me and said – “we need to understand how lucky we are and be grateful.” I do, and I am.   So back to our Sunday fall outing visit to the pumpkin patch.  It had been several days since the retest - we are tired, but happy, to be alive and well. The grandkids eye an antique carousel – a merry-go-round in a large barn at the top of the hill, complete with painted horses, moving up and down, with the music and mirrors reflecting the pastoral scenes -  so we make our way to enjoy a ride.  No one else is waiting, so we have the carousel to ourselves. The baby is propped up on a horse, with dad and mom holding firm, the nine-year-old independently picks his steed, as Ann’s younger daughter opts to sit on the stagecoach type seats, and Ann finds a horse just in front of the stagecoach, getting on for the ride. I am videoing the scene, thinking that I am grateful beyond words for this moment. Again, I realize for Ann, it is her dad’s birthday, and all of this must be bittersweet. Ann gets off her horse during the ride to join her daughter in the open stagecoach. Since I am busy videoing on my phone, and not paying close attention, I have to rely on Ann’s account of what happens next. As they sat in the stagecoach, taking in the picturesque carousel, Ann looked at the horse that she had originally been riding, noticing a name on the back of its saddle. Tears came to her eyes when she realized the name painted in hand-lettered calligraphy on that saddle was – Wildwood Flower. Ann told her daughter to look at the saddle, as they both began to cry, remembering having heard their dad and granddad play the song countless times. They snapped the photo I used to start this piece as a lasting memory of a magical moment.  After the ride, Ann looked at me, and said, “it is the sign I asked for, it is the sign, it is my daddy, and it is his birthday, and now I know he is with me.”  I agreed fully, overcome with goosebumps. WELLNESS, ONENESS, WHOLENESS Today reflect on thoughts of wholeness,      knowing you are a being conceived in             wellness, oneness, complete and lasting,                           perfect form missing nothing, lacking                             nothing, always returning to a state of         profound health.  Today reflect on thoughts of God’s grace,          knowing you are not alone – able to turn                   your concerns over for divine assistance –                        freeing your heart and mind from                                   needless worry or doubt – filled instead           with confidence that existing issues    will be resolved in your favor. Today reflect on thoughts of abundance,        prosperity, and the love that surrounds                    you, supports you, enfolds you – knowing                             your strength is mighty, your power to                             manifest is without limits, your future is                      long and stretches out ahead of you full           of peace, joy, love, and happiness – wondrous, splendid, and magnificent. <hr /> CLOSING NOTE ON ENLIGHTENMENT When we speak of peace, I feel compelled to discuss my guidance as it reflects physical aggression and violence, since the absence of external peace in our world is guaranteed by our frequent and rampant acts of violent human aggression – wars, riots, genocides, revolutions, coups, assassinations, retaliation, terrorist acts, and all forms of armed rebellion. It seems every country has an enemy, internal or external, and is at war with that enemy. A few years back, I remember being told that on our planet, at any given time, up to fifty wars were being waged. I fear, today, this may be a conservative estimate. The message below clearly stresses what has been repeated guidance from God on the train - complete and total nonviolence towards all sentient life - calling us to be the defenders, the nurturers - leading with love, tolerance, and forbearance. No one said that enlightenment was going to be easy, as we will see, this same concept reinforced in the next section on Finding Love.  ALL LIFE IS SACRED  All life is sacred – protect it, support it, encourage it, refusing to be involved in the ending of it, the consumption of it, the destruction of it. Inflict no harm, no pain, no retaliation, but instead foster freedom, growth, and complete forgiveness.   Abandon the ways of the predator and realize the living are sacred – each life containing the essence of God – never strike out, cause pain, or hurt – instead gather those in need of care, offering protection, safe haven, offer sanctuary to all life.    Abandon the ways of the accuser, the punisher, realizing this is not your task, instead take the role of the defender, the nurturer, even to the least deserving – offer assistance and forgiveness, providing relief from their lost endeavors.   Abandon any thought, word, deed, or indication of superiority or intolerance, knowing in the mind of God all exist as even. Refuse to set others aside, look down on them, or feel superior to them - knowing you are not superior. Only lend assistance, promote, encourage, and give love. Your place is to not judge but to forgive.    Open your being, stretching your arms wide to foster all life – knowing all life is sacred – a work of God’s creation – leading with love, tolerance, forbearance, and forgiveness being – at all times a nurturer of God’s infinite domain.  NOE G. 4.27.g2013 9:40 AM   CLOSING AFFIRMATIONS As we discussed, affirmations are positive statements announcing to God – universal mind – and to our subconscious mind, how we view the world, and what we expect to occur during the day, or in our life. It is a powerful way to use the Law of Mind Action, or Attraction, to frame your reality and set positive expectations.  I enjoy writing affirmations so that I can tailor them to my mood and life experience at the moment. I have a two-year-old grandson and watching him totter across the floor brings a smile to my face and a glow to my heart. I offer the affirmation below, titled Finding Joy,  to assist us all with recognizing the many opportunities to experience joy in our day-to-day lives. Try your hand at writing your own affirmations, or feel free to take one of the joy related Affirmative Thoughts on the blog and adapt it to your needs.                           FINDING JOY Joy is mine to have today, fully contained in every moment  lived; a quiet laugh, a heartfelt thanks, a baby's tottering gait. I am immersed in a joyous song of living, light and lively, crisp with possibility, God’s work obvious at every turn. I am living a joyous existence, joy fills my senses, captures my emotions, and gives energy to my every endeavor. Joy is mine to have today.  Peace in our hectic world, both internal and external, seems in constant short supply. Below, I have offered an affirmation for Finding Peace in your life. Use it daily to center yourself, to find the tranquility and the calm you will need to truly traverse the Crystal Path.                   FINDING PEACE                 Peace is at the center of my life this day and every day,  flowing like a vast sea of calm - tranquil and serene - beneath the hectic pace of daily life, it gently washes  away my stress, my anxiety, my impatience, my longings,  my fear - soothing my very soul, bathing every cell and fiber of my being with its placid nature until I succumb and  surrender to its gentle ebb and flow. Breath by breath, I am the peace that surpasses all understanding.  Joy and Peace have been the subjects of numerous Affirmative Thoughts published on the blog, and I would like to close out our discussion with two that bring home the point poetically. THE  SONG OF YOUR HEART Listen to the song of your heart –                 play through your every breath – your every movement with its                  intoxicating melody of joy and wonder – its harmony composed                  of all the perfection of your soul’s desire for genuine, authentic life.   Listen to the song of your heart –                 hum it, sing it, dance to it, rejoice with it like a dervish in mid ecstasy –                 pound it out with your hands and feet until the beat and rhythm                  resonates and vibrates you with the thrill of living –                 with the God within you.   Listen to the song of your heart –                 don’t be shy, instead, let it play loudly and boldly through you –                  let it entertain all existence with its magnificence. AT G. 8.20.2011   INNER TRANQUILITY       Let us live from our center of tranquility     today, exchanging stress and anxiety with         a sense of calm and peace, as we choose                     our divine nature within, over the ego’s                 perpetual need for more, bigger, better.                        Let us realize within this tranquil center,                 we will recognize our true nature, connect             with our soulful longing, touch our genuine,                  authentic spirit and know that who we are,       and what we are, is defined and set within  waiting for us to uncover and discover. Let us throughout the day, know we may     return to the center to regain our peace,         our equilibrium, our essential balance,            simply by focusing on our breath and          quieting our minds: mindful and aware      of the present moment, we regain our   poise, our power, our inner tranquility.   AT G. 11.20.2012                            CONSIDER A DONATION TO SUPPORT THE FREE ACCESS TO ALL  FINDING GOD ON THE TRAIN STORY POSTS AND BOOKS VIA PAYPAL AND MANAGED BY OUR OWN G DOT PUBLISHING VENTURES LLC <div style="text-align: center;"><form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post" target="_top"><input name="cmd" type="hidden" value="_s-xclick" /> <input name="hosted_button_id" type="hidden" value="MQAGXRV9GHX2W" /> <input alt="Donate with PayPal button" name="submit" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_donateCC_LG.gif" title="PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!" type="image" /> <img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" /></form></div> IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO CONTINUE READING THE CRYSTAL PATH - BOOK ONE OF THE FINDING GOD ON THE TRAIN SERIES, EACH BOOK CHAPTER IS OFFERED IN THE FORM OF A BLOG POST AND ACCESSIBLE BY CLICKING THE APPROPRIATE CHAPTER TITLE  ON THE RIGHT-HAND SIDE-BAR OF THIS BLOG OR USE THE LINK BELOW <a href="https://www.findinggodonthetrain.com/book_one_the_crystal_path/2019/02/chapter-eight-.html">https://www.findinggodonthetrain.com/book_one_the_crystal_path/2019/02/chapter-eight-.html://www.findinggodonthetrain.com/book_one_the_crystal_path/2019/02/chapter-eight-.html</a>

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Tuesday, January 29, 2019

CHAPTER SIX - THE SEVEN FACETS - PART TWO - THE MESSAGE - BOOK ONE - THE CRYSTAL PATH - THE FINDING GOD ON THE TRAIN STORY - NOTES ON ENLIGHTENMENT - QUEST FOR A POSITIVE, PERSONAL, AND CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUALITY

<a class="asset-img-link" href="https://www.findinggodonthetrain.com/.a/6a0120a4f9a0cb970b022ad3d80d8a200b-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="DSC_1207" border="0" class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a0120a4f9a0cb970b022ad3d80d8a200b image-full img-responsive" src="https://www.findinggodonthetrain.com/.a/6a0120a4f9a0cb970b022ad3d80d8a200b-800wi" title="DSC_1207" /></a> PART TWO THE MESSAGE    CHAPTER SIX – THE SEVEN FACETS    AN ESSENTIAL NOTE We are each a distinct, unique, succinct       expression of life – a leaf, a petal, a magnificent wonder  birthed      in a moment of time to flourish and shine – a vestige of a creative force, budding and blooming, reaching out     to fuse its original destiny.     In this presence, we singularly grasp the torch of all existence, surging forward     with our soul’s strength to forge our desired contribution, etching upon this     eternity a lasting wonder – a flash of beauty upon the retina of all existence. Know all of this is a perfect moment,     never forgotten or erased, instead, an essential note in the symphony of     this perfect being, forever pushing and encouraging each tone, hereafter, to     reach for timbre yet unheard of – unimagined – reframing the sonorous  song of perpetual becoming. POEM G. 2.24.2013 This divine message, in its infancy, continued to unfold in the early part of 2008, with what I would later understand to be the foundation of all the messages that would follow – the Crystal Path, the Heartlight, which we have already discussed, and finally a focus on enlightenment defined in the guidance as the attainment of a genuine, authentic life. At first, the enlightenment message was focused on developing what I believe to be the essence of “Enlightenment” – reaching God Consciousness through developing a direct connection with God. As the years have progressed, the message or meaning of enlightenment has expanded, to go beyond a divine connection, entailing living an authentic, purposeful, or fuller life, with a workable blend of spirituality and practicality. IS IT GENUINE OR AUTHENTIC OR BOTH? Life often comes to a matter of semantics, and I have been vacillating on whether the descriptor “genuine” or “authentic,” or both, best describes what I am attempting to convey in the Crystal Path message.  As a descriptor, “authentic” is starting to vie for celebrity, almost cliché, status, while “genuine” seems somewhat forgotten and rarely expressed. As you probably have noticed, I have opted to use both: for example, “genuine, authentic,” or “genuinely authentic,” or an “authentic, genuine nature,” or with the use of a dash, as in my favorite; “genuine – authentic.”  I would like to republish an excerpt from a post titled The Genuine You that addresses this conundrum, and hopefully expresses what I am attempting to convey.   <hr /> THE GENUINE YOU NEW THOUGHT NOTE FOR THE DAY As I am typing this, I am thinking about how I prefer the word “genuine” to “ authentic.”  The word genuine – often defined as:  truly what something is said to be, authentic:  (of  a person, emotion, or action) sincere. To be fair, I need to define authentic.  The word authentic is defined as:  of undisputed origin; genuine: made or done in the traditional or original way: based on facts;  accurate or reliable.  Genuine just feels stronger than authentic to me, seeming to have more gravitas. In human, behavioral terms, I would further add to the “genuine” definition - “it is what someone is designed to be,” not what they have to be, are told to be, or what others think they should be, but what they were “designed” to be - their original intent for existence here on earth. And often, certainly not what they turn out to be. Note, that my added definition uses the phrase “designed to be,” we might also say “created to be,” “meant to be,” or “preordained to be,” that is, decided or determined beforehand.  The definition of genuine listed above starts with the word “truly,” which adds to the concrete, actual, tangible nature of the “to be.” Let’s think of this as the “genotype,” the genetic constitution of an individual organism, what the organism is born with. In a spiritual sense, we could apply this to the individual’s divine self.    Authentic, by definition, is of the origin, that is genuine - but can then be made or done like the original, based on the original, even be factual, or accurate. Here, continuing with my genetic analogy, authentic seems similar, to me, to the genetic “phenotype;” that is, built on the set of observable characteristics of an individual; resulting from the interaction of its genotype with the environment; or in our case, we might say - the divine self with the reality of life. With this framework in place, I would suggest that we can be both genuine and authentic, when we realize and acknowledge what we were designed to be, and based on this foundation, via our interaction with the environment, authenticate our original natures.  The revised descriptor, I would propose, clarifies our spiritual strivings for, and the potential attainment of, a level that would be considered – genuinely authentic. In other words, the divine plan for you, God’s plan, melded with your plan for yourself, resulting in, a genuine, authentic existence.  Often spiritual teachers seem to focus on our calling, what God created us and intended us to be. I do believe this calling does exist and is at the heart of what I would consider our “genuine, soul based,  purpose or nature.” I believe God is constantly working to steer us towards our genuine mission. Yet, I have little doubt, God realizes that “fate and will” are both active in human development: fully aware most “willful” human beings, if they do discover their genuine calling, would incorporate their wants, needs, desires, and plans, thus formulating a hybrid calling, one that is both genuine and authentic - incorporating their “genuine calling,” with their individual “human, authentic, calling.”  As the Affirmative Thought below suggests, being genuine does require opening yourself up and taking a look within, and, it requires that we work counter to our cultural training and put ourselves first in this case.  I am not saying here that you should let the kids starve as you jet off to a monastery in Tibet.  What I am saying is that being genuine, is a major step in our understanding of ourselves, our purpose, and our spiritual journey.    THE GENUINE YOU Open yourself up today to who you are,       what you want, and the path you desire to  follow - reaching for a place of true balance       and equilibrium found in the authentic,  the honest pursuit of your dreams, your vision       of heaven on earth.  Open yourself up today to the clarity of      purpose within you that urges you to live for you and not for others, the purpose that       says “you must make yourself happy before you can inspire happiness in others,”     the purpose within you that knows when you  move towards it or away from the target      of your desires.  Open yourself up today to the genuine you,       the only “you” you should aspire to –  the “you” you were created to become –      the “you” who extends you, excites you,  and vibrates the essence of the successful –      fulfilled – magnificent you.   AT G. 6.15.2012 <hr /> So, based on this paradigm, I will proceed by using both genuine and authentic as descriptors for what I will offer as Facet Seven of the Crystal Path; Living a Genuine - Authentic Life. I realize that some readers will consider this redundancy, exclaiming that the use of authentic alone would suffice. I guess this comes down to a matter of semantics, and I hope you would allow me, by doing this, to remind us all that spiritual authenticity involves understanding our genuine, God created natures.  The Finding God On The Train blog post below, titled Genuine - Authentic Life = Enlightened Life, introduced blog readers to an expanded definition of this aspect of enlightenment, referring to it as the attainment of an “genuine, authentic life,” which we learn, requires our progression through a clearly defined series of spiritual and physical realizations. This expanded definition, would also further clarify the Crystal Path, along with the steps needed to progress towards the attainment of heaven on earth, often used in my guidance to describe the end state of full enlightenment.   <hr /> GENUINE - AUTHENTIC LIFE = ENLIGHTENED  LIFE  NEW THOUGHT NOTE FOR THE DAY Continuing with this blog discussion focused on living a “Genuine - Authentic Life,” a life where our spiritual-self blends with our physical self, to move, progressively, towards enlightenment. When we live a Genuine - Authentic Life, we receive all we are destined to receive, from both our physical and spiritual lives - actualizing both. Since most of us have families, jobs, and related commitments, leading a Genuine - Authentic Life allows us to be spiritual, even enlightened, without retreating from life. Connecting with God as we live, work, and strive.  As I spend the week further clarifying Genuine – Authentic Life - what I think is the essence of my message from God - I would like to share the following meditation guidance I received, which is focused on living a Genuine- Authentic Life. It is a bit long, but it clarifies this concept. Let me know what you think. GENUINE - AUTHENTIC LIFE = ENLIGHTENED LIFE MEDITATION GUIDANCE  Enlightenment is living a genuine - authentic life, where your spiritual or divine self is fully aligned and merged with your physical self–divine and secular – spiritual and physical - moving in unison and perfect harmony – total self-actualization.   Genuine – authentic – enlightened life – recognizes your spiritual destiny and your earthbound form destiny – maximizing the full potential of life and resulting in joy, peace, love, and happiness – heaven on earth – enlightenment.   Genuine - authentic life requires a series of steps or levels – best considered as facets of consciousness to be obtained: with the first being, the control of your consciousness – control of your mind through right thinking–reframing the ego to quiet the negativity, doubt, worry, and fear, through belief and positive reinterpretation.   The second facet is being centered in the “now,” the present – mindful – leaving the images and nightmares of the past behind, while avoiding the “what if” of future living.    Only in this “nowfulness” are you fully alive, aware, and connected to your true self. This experience of now is direct, clear, and allows you to connect with God,  who can only exist in the present.   As you progress, the next facet is to realize God Consciousness – the divinity within you that is connected to God. This is our soul, or divine self, and is the portal to communication with God.   Through the divine self,  you become aware of your spiritual purpose in life – your mission in a spiritual sense. As you discover this mission, and become more aware – your God Consciousness becomes more powerful – you reflect your true God nature – as you see God within all things – especially yourself and the events around you.   God Consciousness will impact you, as you relate to all existence with loving kindness – the true essence of God. You will apply this most when moving to the stage of forgiveness – forgiving  yourself and others – moving forward in love, even for those who have hurt you most, and as a result, let go of the past; freeing your life from anger, resentment, hatred, and contempt.   Next, as you progress, you will clarify what you want from both your spiritual and physical existence. Clarification of your wants will assist you in obtaining an authentic, genuine life. This clarification is the major step towards purposeful action – living fully aligned with who you want to be, what you want to do, and the path you are willing to take to get there – living with purpose.   In the pursuit of purposeful action, you will learn to marshal your mind, soul, and selves to actively co-create with God, to create the world, you wish to live in and inhabit. You will need to refine and develop your belief system – to believe  in your ability to create miracles and co-create your life.   This path to discovery – what may be called the Crystal Path – a path to spiritual and life enlightenment will be traversed, and you will begin to glow with the full light of enlightenment, as you progress towards your genuine - authentic life – a life fully alive in God and living. Here is where joy, peace, love, happiness, and oneness reside – true heaven on earth.  NOE G. 11.8.2010 9:30 AM <hr /> Let’s take a moment to digest what is being said in this blog post, and the meditation guidance featured. As we will see shortly, if we had no other guidance but this one post, we would have, virtually, the entire guidelines needed to traverse the Crystal Path,  which is defined here; as a path to spiritual and life enlightenment; thus, enabling us to live a genuine - authentic life – experiencing joy, peace, love, and happiness  - our true heaven on earth.  Those seekers, who have already been on their path to enlightenment, will recognize each of these facets of consciousness - they are not new, and in fact, many books have been written to address each separately. What I find unique, useful, and refreshing, is that this guidance fully incorporates these often disjointed aspects of spiritual and life development into a constructive paradigm, a model that we can understand and follow, if desired.  Below, I have listed the “Seven Facets of Consciousness on the Crystal Path,” taking each level separately, and discussing it in more depth, offering related Meditation Guidance, Affirmative Thoughts, and Finding God On The Train Story blog posts that clarify and amplify each facet where appropriate, while providing a flavor of what is to come later. For those, who wish to more fully understand the message, or wish to incorporate it in their own spiritual approach, I will be focusing the remainder of this book, as well as the subsequent books in the series,  on providing detailed and in-depth guidance on fully incorporating each facet of consciousness to be illuminated or achieved on the Crystal Path. THE SEVEN FACETS OF CONSCIOUSNESS ON THE CRYSTAL PATH FACET ONE: CONTROL OF CONSCIOUSNESS     Control of consciousness - mind control through right  thinking - reframing the ego to quiet the negativity, doubt, worry, and fear – through belief and positive thought. The message I have received from God during my commutes on the train, constantly stresses and reinforces the need for mind control – the control of our consciousness. Putting in the daily effort to fully understand this facet, is essential to both our physical and spiritual well-being. Who would have ever guessed that the majority of our spiritual work would involve controlling and marshaling our thoughts? One would think that our minds would be a ready ally, and lead us in the proper direction. In reality, it is the opposite, with the mind easily taking us into the negative, promoting our fears, doubts, and insecurities.  Mastering Facet One - Control Of Consciousness, conveyed by the message I have received on the train, as the first step on our road to genuine, authentic, enlightened life, clearly requires a controlled mind focused in a productive manner, through positive thought, affirmations, visioning, and constant diligence when thinking; thus, eliminating, or at least taming, our negative consciousness. The Meditation Guidance below, titled appropriately Negative Consciousness, is the divine response I received to a question regarding what can be done on a personal level to manage this negative aspect of consciousness. The note below conveys what is at stake for both our physical and spiritual well-being.  NEGATIVE CONSCIOUSNESS - MEDITATION GUIDANCE  What can we do to manage our negative consciousness that permeates our awareness, stifling our lives and our attainment of joy, peace, love, and happiness?   The truth is that this all-pervasive or dark consciousness – thought to be ego based, but often appears to have greater strength at times – severely limits our lives, turning our days into barrages of false thinking, disempowering thoughts rehashed fears, and for some, a continual, dialogue of distress.   We can only imagine what life would be like with a fully cooperative mind, but through constant diligence, faith, and mind control, we can tame and nullify this dark consciousness, replacing it with an affirmative consciousness that encourages, flatters, and reinforces; instilling confidence and love.    Our spiritual life mission is to harness the negative consciousness and quiet it – redirecting it to focus on the pursuit of heaven on earth. This requires a constant awareness of what we are thinking, the insertion of our authentic mission, and the use of our mind control tools, provided by the wise throughout time.   Assess where you are now, determining how much of your thinking is negative, dark, and disempowering. Work to reframe and increase the positive consciousness within you. NOE 8.26.2012 9:50 AM As you know, or will quickly realize, when you do your assessment as suggested above, this level of mind control and control of consciousness is a major undertaking, requiring a thorough understanding of what is currently occurring and what needs to be changed. Addressing this, much of the message of Finding God On The Train Story, on both the blog and in this book series, is directed towards gaining control of negative consciousness and redirecting our thoughts in a positive, constructive manner. Facet One of the Crystal Path will be handled at length in Book Two of the Finding God On The Train Story– aptly titled MIND CONTROL - THE CONTROL OF CONSCIOUSNESS, focusing in-depth on mind control and offering a thorough handling of the subject, including an extensive review of practical and useable mind control techniques and approaches that you will be able to apply immediately. The Affirmative thought below emphasizes that we have the power to transform our consciousness.  POWER TO TRANSFORM - AFFIRMATIVE THOUGHT The power to transform your life resides in your mind -  your consciousness - forming your thoughts, attitudes,  and perceptions to exist in unison with your divine  purpose and all of existence.   The power to transform your life exists within your belief - in your ability to master the mental chaos - give it order and  purpose leading it to the promised land waiting for you  to arrive.   The power to transform your life is created by your desire  to touch the truth of all existence - to immerse yourself in its splendor and appear again reborn - over and over and  over again. Seize the power!       AT G. 6.11.2011 The most disturbing aspect of achieving Facet One is that our minds are often creating “needless” stress, tension, and anxiety by telling us, daily, we are not OK, not good enough - we need to change, improve, or give up completely before we get any worse. The truth is - we are OK, and instead of listening to the negative banter, we need to be getting to the root of this turmoil by controlling our minds.  I wrote the Affirmative Thought below titled - You Are Ok  - after waking up to my own mind, working me over for what I was doing or not doing. When I fully listened to the urgent voices in my head, I realized the critique was based on a series of totally implausible worse case scenarios. I said, enough! Got up and wrote this note to remind me and anyone else who may need it that  - WE ARE ALL OK! YOU ARE OK - AFFIRMATIVE THOUGHT  Your life is OK, even if your mind tells you it isn’t –      like a child in the dark, your mind reacts      to every creak or strange noise even when,  especially when, all is well, safe, and comfortably      flowing to your intended destination.   You are OK, even if your mind tells you, you are not –      like a critical parent, it demands that you live up to its      expectations of unfounded and unfathomable perfection –  often chiding you constantly for not meeting a standard      that was neither sensible or plausible – providing little  or no recognition for a life truly well lived.   Your soul is OK, even if your mind tells you it isn’t –     like a Puritan of old, it encumbers you with thoughts      of sin, shame, and guilt - reminding you of the penalties  and punishments, when all that exists is God’s grace,      understanding, and forgiveness.   Today remind your mind that you’re OK and enjoy the day! AT G. 7.28.2012 Buddha, after years of struggling with, and finally obtaining, mind control - what he considered a major component of Nirvana, or enlightenment - taught that the only devil, or Mara, we needed to overcome was rooted in our very own minds. Constant practice and training are necessary to get our minds to obey our conscious, as well as our spiritual wills, and when accomplished, enables us to overcome the antics of the uncontrolled mind.  In truth, why should the slow progress of the evolutionary development of our brains hold us back? If a vast number of us, were to all learn the art of mind control, and transform our lives, there are some scientists who would say, that by doing so, we would inspire the actual genetic shift needed to enable us to evolve and develop a newly supportive brain. As previously noted above, the upcoming book on mind control - control of consciousness will strive to offer a comprehensive working guide to help readers fully understand, and hopefully, master this facet of consciousness, and, if not capable of stirring an actual evolution, will at least help readers make a personal transformation.  The next facet of Crystal Path consciousness features expanding “mindfulness” in our day-to-day and spiritual lives. So the next stop, Facet Two – Mindfulness, represents an essential element of effective mind control. FACET TWO: MINDFULNESS Being centered in the “now” – the present – mindful – leaving the images and nightmares of the past behind, while avoiding the “what if” of future living. Fully alive in “nowfulness” where God resides. Mindfulness has been at the center of my meditation guidance during my years connecting with God on the train, with God repeatedly nudging, encouraging, and finally directing me to understand the importance of focusing on the present to quiet my mind and nullify the demands of my ego.  Early in 2008, I was starting to receive guidance focused on Facet Two – Mindfulness:  IN THE MOMENT - MEDITATION GUIDANCE Live in and within the moment – this exact moment is life – moving the ego away, experiencing the natural joy and fullness of life. Take in the fragrance, see the connections, understand the order.   Today know these moments are the essential ingredients of life. In this moment, now, you are fully conscious and act and live without mental restraints.    Try to limit thinking about the past or the requirements of the future. Respond only to the action, or topic at hand, and respond from your whole being.   Take back the wheel of the car that you have given to the ego. Live in pure action – action, based only on the requirements of this now.  NOE G. 4.14.2008 7:30 AM The guidance instructs us that being focused in the “now,” not only helps us manage the turmoil in our minds, but also is the clear pathway to God, since God only actually exits in the now, the present.  CHERISH THE MOMENT - MEDITATION GUIDANCE Cherish this moment – for this moment is your life and should be approached with love and joy. Now, this breath, the set of sensory cues – these emotions – awake – tired – whatever – it is a moment of pure life that needs to be lived fully.    Breathe in the full breath of life and feel God at the core. This is the miracle of life, and you are experiencing the miracle.    Cherish the opportunity to be fully alive, lay down the worries and concerns. Look at the burden as the payment for the pleasure of this amazing existence. Move into the moment and shut down the chatter – the banter – of your mind.   The world is full of richness – manifested by life through God. Dive into the manifestation – swallow the experience and know you are blessed. This full measure of life is a creation of God in humankind – the perfect manifestation of life from life evolving, progressing.   Cherish the moment; it is your life.  NOE G. 8.6.2008 8:00 AM   Life can be found only in the present moment. The past is  gone, the future is not yet here, and if we do not go back to  ourselves in the present moment, we cannot be in touch with life. Thich Nhat Hanh I have learned, there is no better technique to find peace, and mental quiet than to focus on my breathing and intently engage in what I am doing in the present. As conveyed in the quote above by Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen Buddhist Monk and popular author of You Are Here, who has translated this key Buddhist concept, which stresses the focus on the breath and the clearing of the mind, to accomplish living in the present moment. This has been adopted by New Thought and has been taken worldwide by Eckhart Tolle in his books The Power of Now and The New Earth. EMPTY CANVAS - AFFIRMATIVE THOUGHT Today is our day – it does not belong to the thoughts      and worries of tomorrow or next week – it does      not belong to the could have been, the might  have been, or the should have been of the past –      it belongs to us now – to cherish – to enjoy –       to fully live.   Today is an empty canvas – let us come to it with      clean brushes and fresh paint.         Let us enjoy and live each moment robustly –      all out - thanking God for each breath      along the way.   Let us live Now!                                   Living in the present, the now - is the second facet of consciousness, required for attaining a genuine, authentic, purposeful life filled with joy, peace, love, and happiness, heaven on earth.  To master Facet Two, we are instructed to resist our ego’s natural inclination to have us live in the past - where we can be reminded of past mistakes, or focus on the future, and the potential negative scenarios waiting around the corner.  We will explore in more depth the concept of mindfulness in our upcoming discussion of mind control approaches and techniques, which will offer guidance for fully understanding and mastering mindfulness in our day-to-day and spiritual lives. For now, let’s move to the next stop, Facet Three.           FACET THREE: GOD CONSCIOUSNESS Realize God Consciousness – the divinity within that is connected to God. This is the soul or divine self, the portal to communication with God. Through the divine self, we become aware of our spiritual purpose, or mission in life.   WITHIN US NOW Within us now is all the wisdom we seek –  all the compassion possible to feel – all the wonder anyone could wish to experience –  all the magic waiting to be performed –  every miracle bursting forth into life. Within us now is all eternity –  the past, the present, the future –  the potential moment –  the vision of heaven on earth –  the suffering with its lessons waiting to be revealed – our soul – our God – our magnificence. Within us now is all existence, flexing its creative muscles – urging us on to our purpose, our destiny – saying yes even when we say no – cajoling us forward with arms outstretched to catch us with each tentative step  we harness the courage to take.    The foundation message of Finding God On The Train Story has centered on our personal capacity to connect with God, directly, via our internal divinity.  This divinity within is often referred to as our Crystal Self or Divine Self in the message, although it is also referenced by the more traditional terms, such as the Soul. This Crystal/Divine Self, or Soul, is both of God and of us at the same time, joining in one being, combining both our spiritual and human consciousness.  We are called to understand this internal God nature, by using our Crystal Self as the portal of communication with God, thus becoming more aware of our spiritual purpose in life; that is, our mission in a spiritual sense. The basic premise is that as this connection grows, we share more of our consciousness with God, becoming more powerful on a personal and spiritual basis, beginning to reflect our true God natures, seeing God within all things, exhibiting the qualities of God as we understand them, and enhancing our ability to create our life through God, previously referred to as co-creating.  Let’s take a look at the Meditation Guidance to get a sense of what is being conveyed by the message. First, I would like to share the guidance below titled, God Waits In The Back Room, a message I received in the summer of 2008, during this first year of my revelation. GOD WAITING IN THE BACK ROOM -  MEDITATION GUIDANCE  You seek God in the wrong places. You search for the connection in the external – move back into the internal. God waits for you in the abundant mansion of your conscious soul – waiting in the back room. Move through the distractions of the gold and silver, sparkling trinkets of each room, moving to the small room where God waits. This is your God – the living God that lives within each living  spirit – God waits and will wait until you arrive.    God in the back room knows the illusions and desires of life are enticing and difficult to reject. God wants you to have them all and more but wants you to understand the source of this abundance. God wants you to have all life, as full and as rich as you can embody. Put on the fine clothes and jewelry, eat the abundant foods,  lavish in the pleasures of form, but remember these will fade – grow stale – rot and fall away. Left in the end as a pile on the side of the road.    Only connection with the spirit of God – the connection with you as God -  will enable you to find pure joy. Only by meeting God in the back room –  making your way through the mansion, will you meet God face to face – one spirit. As you turn the knob on the back room door where God waits, and open into the pure joy of oneness - you will stand frozen and alive in the moment, as you meet the waiting God – who is you. NOE G. 7.16.2008 10:10 AM As I remember, I was on vacation when I transcribed this note, during a meditation overlooking New River in Virginia, and as I recorded each word, I thought of this God figure who sat in this metaphorical back room, maybe sipping coffee, reading worn magazines, like a character in an old movie, just waiting patiently. It was a comforting thought until the last line, which I resisted writing because it sounded so bizarre and weird.  Based on this final phrase  - “you meet the waiting God who is you”  - I never used this note in any of my posts, or book examples, never showed it to Ann, I just let it sit and wait in the back room. Such are the complications with receiving divinely inspired messages.  Today, as I write this chapter, I release this note held for over four years, as I finally arrive at a point where I understand its meaning and do not take offense with the suggestion that I am the God I meet in the backroom. I realize now the note was not referring to a physical appearance or a personality, but instead to an evolved spirituality that I would have most certainly have obtained, if I was truly prepared to enter the back room, and finally meet my true divinity.  Similar to describing how to ride a bike, this guidance seems more complicated than the actual experience: we tap into our divinity within, which then provides a portal to expanded God Consciousness, we connect to this consciousness or spiritual center, ask for guidance, and we discover our genuine, authentic purpose. Using my experience as an example, which was fully outlined in Part One of the book, all I did to connect with my divinity within was to meditate, ask for guidance, and I made a connection with God, recording the guidance when received in my journals. For me, once a connection was made, there was an outpouring of guidance. The mechanics of this connection is not the difficult aspect of Facet Three – God Consciousness, or any of the other facets presented here - what is difficult is making room for it in our lives. It takes time, and constant effort, to make this connection with God Consciousness through our divinity. Our egos will most certainly get in the way, if they can sniff out any doubt, or lack of confidence, on our part.  I am planning what will be Book Three of Finding God On The Train Story– to be titled God Consciousness And The Divinity Within. This final book, in the Finding God On The Train Story series, will focus on God Consciousness and its relationship to our internal divinity, providing an in-depth discussion of both Facet Three, and upcoming Facet Four – the incorporating of true God qualities.  This said the final chapters of this book will actively work to enhance the clarity of this facet – as we each reach to obtain our own heaven on earth.       FACET FOUR: TRUE GOD QUALITIES Exhibit the true essence of God by adopting the qualities of  God, including loving kindness, forgiveness, and freeing life from anger, resentment, hatred, and contempt.    As we progress on the Crystal Path, discovering our true God natures, we are expected to adopt, or emulate, some of the qualities most recognized as God-like; including, compassion, empathy, loving-kindness, and forgiveness, as well as mastering the control of our passions and emotions; such as anger, resentment, envy, hatred, or contempt. Let us touch on some of the most obvious God qualities as outlined in the following blog post. <hr /> TRUE GOD QUALITIES  NEW THOUGHT NOTE FOR THE DAY  What if humankind is still in the process of evolution, where the focus is no longer on physical development, but instead, is centered on the refinement and improvement of our level of personal consciousness? Taking this a step further, what if our next evolutionary thrust is a movement towards overcoming our ego dominance and attaining what some would call – God-like qualities – including love, kindness, compassion, a collective sense of oneness, and empathy. And what if, along with this evolutionary thrust towards better being, was the expectation that we, both individually and collectively,  are to hone the powers to co-create our lives freely through conscious intention, supported by our access to our divine natures? In other words, we are to evolve into our true God natures.  The Meditation Guidance below, titled True God Qualities, addresses this potential, clearly outlining the rationale for this evolutionary step, and highlighting what qualities we might expect to encounter. This is a concept that has been addressed by others, as noted by the work of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin - Jesuit Father and distinguished paleontologist who, over sixty years ago, addressed this very theory in his landmark work The Phenomenon Of Man. My guidance seems to echo the same sentiments. Is it plausible? Is this where the current spiritual awakening is leading us? I believe this is the case. Your thoughts? TRUE GOD QUALITIES - MEDITATION GUIDANCE  We are here to assume our true God qualities and powers, by overcoming our propensity for negative thought, neglect, hopelessness, and evil; by marshaling our divine wills towards greater achievements, genuine - authentic living, peak spiritual experience, and our connection with God – refueling our potential to live beyond the illusion of material pleasure,  grasping the greater good of collective consciousness.   We are here to transcend - to transform beyond our infantile focus on the acquisition of pleasure and the avoidance of pain – to reach a pinnacle of human excellence and evolution, ensuring our God powers and qualities are recognized and grasped by those who wish to go on growing, becoming, moving towards their genuine, authentic natures.   We are here to create heaven on earth - not hell, as it appears many are engaged with today – our conscious focus as a collective humankind on this heaven allows us to move forward, grow, and assume our true birthright – our genuine, authentic God nature of power – co-creation – and love in balance - all supported by positive purposeful action.   Although many have careened in the opposite direction, there are a growing number of those who have grasped this message, who are moving in this divine direction – working hard to prepare themselves, consciously, for the catharsis of heaven focused living. NOE G. 1.15.2012 7:50 AM <hr /> This Meditation Guidance above also touches on some of the other key qualities of God that we need to strive to possess in order to reach our heaven on earth: being selfless - stripping away our personal desires and marshaling our ego; being empathetic - seeing our face in every face of all we encounter, knowing all life is worthy of love; and  experiencing unity – the oneness and connectivity of all existence. As the guidance reveals, much of God’s essence is based on God’s inherent ability to love without regard or restraint. In Chapter Eight, More Heaven On Earth – Finding Love and Happiness,  we will discuss “Love” in greater depth, how it relates to obtaining heaven on earth or enlightenment. Also in Book Three, focused on God-consciousness and the divinity within, we will continue to expand on these God-like qualities.  Based on the guidance I have received – creativity - that is the ability to create via force of will, or better put, by force of aligned consciousness, is a key element of God that is miraculously included within human nature. At the center of positive spirituality is the act of creativity – the ability to use our minds to create tangible life – physical form. It is at the heart of the creative process that we most resemble God. Each day, we all live our own Genesis creation story - utilizing our gift of creative energy for our growth, or at times, our hardship. CREATIVE CONNECTION - MEDITATION GUIDANCE  The creative energy of God is within you – surrounds you –  radiates from you  - infusing you with the creative powers of the universal mind.  Simply tap this power by going within, connecting to its source -  then feel the surge of perfect thought – alive within every cell of your being – feel the connection to all that is, becoming one with the creative force within you.   All creativity is at your fingertips, ready to be harnessed by your consciousness – open the canvas and create the life of your dreams – heaven on earth – outlining the knowledge or guidance you wish to convey.  There can be no wrong, no missteps since you are all creative energy – just trust in the source of the signal and move  forward. There is no failure in this creative action – it is the work of God – the divine calling – the building and forming of what is at first thought and then becomes form.   All you create comes from source – is one with source – an expression of God through you – wake up to it – use it to light the path to oneness, to wholeness, to the connection with God. The ability to co-create with God is at the very essence of the message of Finding God On The Train, the subject of numerous meditation notes like the one above, and others we explored in our discussion on the Perspectives of God in Chapter Five - The Foundation. Let’s move on with consideration of the next facet of consciousness, Facet Five – Clarify Intentions,  which is a key ingredient for any co-creative enterprise.    FACET FIVE  – CLARIFY INTENTIONS To clarify our intentions – what we want from both our spiritual and physical existence; thus living with purpose or purposeful action – a life fully aligned with who we want to be and what we want to do.   I spent the early part of my professional career as the Director Of Career Services with the Temple University Career Development Center, providing career and employment counseling for students and alumni. An important element of career planning is having the client complete a values clarification exercise to determine what they truly want and value; for example, financial security, assisting others, the opportunity to travel, job security, creativity, autonomy, to name a few preferences.  Facet Five asks us to determine our intentions - what we truly want from both our secular and spiritual existence.  Living a “purposeful life” or “genuine - authentic Life,” one that mirrors your divine and secular callings, often starts with clarifying your intentions through focused meditation. In the Meditative Guidance below titled Clarifying Your Intentions, I am asked about my intentions and how clearly I have thought them through. CLARIFY YOUR INTENTIONS - MEDITATION GUIDANCE Clarify your intentions – what is it you want to accomplish? What do you want to come from this? Know that to move forward will take risks on your part, requiring dedication to the task and commitment to the goal. Clear and well thought out intentions will guide you, motivate you, along the way.   Are you the teacher, are you the messenger, or, are you a spiritual explorer diving into the mystery of the metaphysical world to understand its vastness – its potential for human growth? Or, are you all three; messenger, teacher, and spiritual explorer all combined in one individual effort.   The path is open and has been laid out for you, but you will need to be thoroughly committed to the plan. Prepare yourself for the challenges of this engagement – of this effort. Take time to build strength, find peace, meditate, and practice. Do not try to please all aspects of your life, but keep them in balance through focused attention.   Focus on your personal life and keep connected and actively participating. Let the calm you feel erase whatever stress you have and be a tool for moving  forward.    Know the destination, and the journey is easy. Clarify your alternatives and move forward with confidence and joy.  NOE G. 2.18.2010 8:05 AM This guidance lays the foundation for clarifying intentions, with the key question being - “what do you want to accomplish,” and the follow-up,“ are you willing to take the necessary risks?”  I believe a key element of attracting what you want from the universe is declaring your intention(s) to the world, rather than keeping your intention(s) secret until fully conceived. In a sense, my blog offered a public venue for declaring my intention to write this book, long before the actual writing was underway. Often, we avoid this declaration of intentions for fear of negative feedback that will stall our progress, and this is a legitimate concern.  In my case, I did not run and tell those who would not understand but choose a medium that would broadcast it to those who would be my potential audience and find it useful. The guidance that follows instructs us clearly - to declare our intentions.  DECLARE YOUR INTENTIONS - MEDITATION GUIDANCE Declare your intentions to the world, giving form to your dreams, your visions, your plans to create a fuller life.   Declare your intentions to the world with passion – with emotion, vibrating with the anticipated joy of becoming new.   Declare your intentions to the world, pushing past the alarms of your ego – the voices of the internal naysayers - the chorus of  “you are not ready – maybe later.”    Declare your intentions to the world fully, envisioning the end result and breathing life into thought – creating from pure desire.   Declare your intentions to the world and watch the intentions take shape, take form, take life, and fly. Declare your intentions to the world! NOE G. 9.16.2010   FACET SIX: CO-CREATING WITH GOD Through purposeful action, marshal the mind, soul,  and self to co-create with God - creating the world we wish to live in and inhabit, with full belief in our  ability to create miracles and co-create our lives.    If you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that  what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you. - Mark 11:23 We touched on this topic of co-creating with God in Chapter Three – New Thought Yesterday and Today, and later in the foundation perspectives of God, in Chapter Five, as well as the closing Note On Enlightenment of that chapter, titled Tangible Creation. The ability to co-create with God is a key concept in Positive Spirituality/New Thought, known by a variety of labels; such as the Law of Mind Action, the Law of Cause and Effect, or much better known, since The Secret was published, as the Law of Attraction. The basic concept is that our thoughts; both positive and negative, are vibrational, and attract into our lives, in physical form, corresponding desires, wishes, or dreams.  Have you ever started your day thinking it is going to be a bad day, and this feeling was confirmed, as you faced negative events all day? This is the Law of Attraction, or co-creating with God, at work. Simply put – when you expect positive experiences, you get a positive life. Focus on the negative, and you will also attract the negative into your life. The difficulty for humankind is that our minds are set biologically in a survival mode, constantly looking for negative scenarios, and as a result, our thoughts are naturally negative.  From a positive spirituality perspective, this is a loving God giving you exactly what you ask for without question, no matter whether you realize it or not.  Those who are aware of this law, usually want to make their intentions clear to God, so there is no confusion about what they want, need, or desire. First, they work to focus on positive thinking as a baseline. Second, they use prayer, meditation, affirmations, visioning, and similar techniques to attract major things or events, they desire, into their lives. Facet Six entails actively working with God, to manifest into physical form, and your day-to-day reality, the life of your desires and dreams. But, the catch here is that you need to be emotionally aligned and ready to receive. If you don’t really believe that you can co-create, you will not be ready to receive what God is ready to give, and nothing happens. For me, it is often this doubt, with my ego keeping my co-creating from working, especially, if what I am asking is really beyond my current reality. The meditation guidance below focuses on building this power of belief. POWER OF BELIEF - MEDITATION GUIDANCE Believe and it will be true – it will be created – manifested into full form – full life. Simply believe. Belief is a full alignment of your focus and vibration – of your energy – your creative soul energy - and takes a tremendous act of clarity and focus. Belief requires that competing forces in your mind and soul do not question, but fully support the effort – totally – completely.   Otherwise, “doubt” splits the focus like a wedge, impeding the movement to total belief. What is  “doubt” but the competing ego driven voices  of fear and insecurity?    The ego shouts – “how could this be true – how could you move the mountain. You are crazy! You need help!”   It is your job, and in your self-interest, to re-indoctrinate the ego – sooth it and retrain the voice in your head to seek the safety of total belief, total clarity in pursuit of the prize of enlightenment.   Utilize the ego, teaming with the ego in the pursuit of full and total belief. Belief in yourself and your capacity for cocreation – your capacity to harness the power and create your heaven on earth. NOE G. 11.7.2009 9:20 AM The most difficult concept for those who encounter New Thought for the first time to comprehend and accept: is their own innate ability to create their own lives.  Many of us believe that forces outside of our control are creating our lives; that these forces are far stronger than we are – socio-economic class, financial position, cultural background, family connections, inherited talents and abilities, God, Karma, or just plain luck. Being responsible for the results of our efforts is not always the most comforting notion. But in my meditation notes, like the one listed below titled The Power To Create, I am constantly reminded that I have the power to create into form or experience, what I hold in thought.  THE POWER TO CREATE - MEDITATION GUIDANCE You have the power to create into form, or experience, any thought, dream, desire, emotion, or vision. You have the innate capacity for co-creation through God, using the Law of Attraction/Mind Action or any label you wish to give it.    For God, has given each of us, the capacity to create and become what is held in thought. Clarity of thought is essential for the development of the life you wish to manifest. Negative thoughts will also attract negative outcomes, so you must not focus on the reasons why your dreams cannot be brought to life.    The Power to Create is on-going, always working, and never stops. Practice focusing and training your mind to create a need, desire, or want. Watch how the world will deliver this wish. Focus your mind on the desired result you wish to manifest and prove the action.   This is the reason you must constantly inventory your thoughts to ensure you are always thinking positive, affirmative thoughts. If not, change the direction by clearing your mind and focusing your breath until your mind is clear. Then, start again, working to reset your thoughts and clear the slate.   Test the power you have to create by focusing on one unlikely positive wish, and seeing if it manifests  into your reality. It will! NOE G. 4.16.2010 7:20 AM This an extensive subject, really worthy of its own complete book. So let us understand the co-creative power, holding our discussion, for now, ending with the Affirmative Thought below, aptly referred to as Your Creation, which provides a fitting segue to the final facet of consciousness.  YOUR CREATION - AFFIRMATIVE THOUGHT This is your time, your life, your moment – live it today with authority and purpose knowing that no one is better prepared to make the most from this experience, so trust your instincts, follow your hunches, and listen to your own guidance.   This is your opportunity to soar and flourish, to tackle the waiting tasks and projects with renewed enthusiasm and clear intention, moving all you do a step closer to closure and completion – knowing you have the power to create lasting success.   This is your creation, your chance to shine –  to fill your life and the lives of those who depend on you, with clarity, a sense of direction, and a refreshed vision, of what together, you can all seek to accomplish.  AT G. 7.16.2012   FACET SEVEN: GENUINE-AUTHENTIC  PURPOSEFUL LIFE Continue to traverse the Crystal Path to spiritual  and life enlightenment - progressing to an Authentic Life –  a life fully alive in both God and living – experiencing joy,  peace, love, and happiness – true heaven on earth.  We now find ourselves at the seventh, and final facet of consciousness, on the path to our spiritual and life enlightenment – the Crystal Path, a path to the discovery of a positive spirituality, where if we are successful, we have a life fully alive in God and living – true heaven on earth. What I find so positive about this approach to spirituality is that it requires our complete attention to succeed, mixing equal measures of heaven and earth, to create its enlightenment.  Whenever possible, I like to present the original guidance that introduced me to a phrase or concept, which would later turn out to be a major theme of the message of the Finding God On The Train Story. The Meditation Guidance below, titled Perfect, Genuine, Authentic Life, is from August 13, 2008, and is one of my first communications referring to an “authentic life.” As the note below conveys, I believe God is our coach and will do whatever is needed to help us achieve our perfect life; if we are willing to participate and overcome our fears, doubts, and negative life patterns keeping us from creating our heaven on earth.  The note tells us that my genuine – authentic, purposeful life, the life I was designed to live and would reveal my true potential - is tied to communicating the message from the Finding God On The Train Story as outlined by my initial early revelations in Chapter Five, The Foundation. It is important to note, when I was originally given this mission, there was very little actually existing to communicate. But God has been true to the coaching promise, assisting with expanding my understanding and vision as needed to grow with the project, keeping the material coming, so I would have something to write. I also feel, God has indirectly provided the financial support, over the past ten years, so I could have time to finish what I have started, without struggling.  My life has evolved and has expanded as I have been empowered, broadened, and educated. Although I am grateful, there are rare moments when I have wished I had been napping, rather than meditating, on the train.  PERFECT GENUINE - AUTHENTIC LIFE  MEDITATION GUIDANCE  As a creation of God, you are able to obtain a Perfect Life. The qualities of God exist within you, and the potential  for God perfection is your essence and birthright. Perfect Life is genuine - authentic life. It is the life you were designed to live, the life that will reveal your full potential. Perfect Life exists and is within your grasp if you reveal the true message – the guidance that leads  you to this existence.   Listen to your inner voice – your divine soul and understand where it is calling you. Where you are now may be close or not, but do not despair. The movement toward perfect,  genuine, authentic life is a force that will prepare the way if you let it. Listen and understand.   Frustration, anxiety, and despair are all indications you are on the wrong path or need adjustment. All you need to do is stop resisting, take in the lesson, and understand what is lacking.  Look towards your joy or excitement. Envision the perfect life – role play - dream and let t hese expressions reveal it to you.   You are on the road to your perfect, genuine, authentic life. Move in this direction, and prepare when needed. Be honest and willing to risk what is needed – be willing to work and adapt.   Work with the divinity within you to reveal your destiny. NOE G. 8.13.2008 8:00 AM A key to living a Genuinely, Authentic, Purposeful Life is finding meaning in our lives. I believe, on both a spiritual and human plane, life is a quest for meaning – a search for purpose – an answer to the “why” of existence, and in the end, this answer, is a catalyst for infusing a sense of mission into living. This meaning and the resulting mission allow us to obtain the most from life. As a young business professional, I was introduced to a form of corporate goal setting known as Management By Objectives – M.B.O.’s - which on an annual basis, reflected what we would do personally and as a team to accomplish our corporate goals, which, in turn, reflected, the organization’s mission and vision. Now, most competitive organizations clearly follow some sort of goal setting process. Since clarity of goals is essential for all purposeful action, I am proposing we all establish L.B.O.’s – Life By Objectives, setting up clear operational life goals, based on our purpose and mission, to ensure we attain a Genuine - Authentic Purposeful Life. FINDING MEANING - MEDITATION GUIDANCE  Life without meaning is like taking a journey without a destination, it is pointless because you will never know if you have arrived. Knowing where you are going, and why you want to go, is essential to a purposeful life.  Infusing meaning and purpose into your existence  breathes energy and power into your life. Evolving this purpose into a “mission” – a strategic plan for living, one that you live with passion, dedication, and complete focus, is the true elixir of life. This strategic plan, or mission, or quest, will enable you to get the maximum from life, providing you joy  and happiness from just living.  This meaning and mission can be spiritual or life driven – when both are blended, the power of your commitment will enable you to move mountains – cocreate and manifest all you need to succeed. Finding meaning and creating a mission to lead the way – will also provide you the feedback needed to adjust your efforts.  Authentic, Purposeful Life is built on establishing a mission infused with meaning, passion, and desire – a mission beyond yourself, but of yourself.  NOE G. 11.11.2010 7:00 AM   Meaning and mission make up the Seventh Facet of Consciousness on the Crystal Path, based in purposeful action, as outlined by the note below.  PURPOSEFUL ACTION - MEDITATION GUIDANCE  In every moment – every thought – every action – do it with purpose – with intention – fully connected to your strengths, your divine guidance, your wisdom.   Each action carries with it a vibration into the world – rippling across time – across humanity – rebounding and colliding with  similar vibrations until they combine into a wave - a forward motion of forceful – powerful – impactful action – setting off further vibrations and changing the world and all humanity.   Purposeful action is genuine and authentic, powered by love for yourself and love for others. This is co-created action – teamed with God to become full creation – manifested and real.   These actions have power – substance and are totally real. Each day look at your actions, and the motivations behind them, reflecting on the origin. Do they come from your desire or the desire of others? Are they meaningful and purposeful or shallow or just for the pleasure of others – fulfilling their wishes and not your own?    Today make every action magnificent, personal, and fully purposeful – connected to the clear vitality of your divinity. NOE G. 2.17.2010  8:10 AM Genuine and authentic purposeful action is really accomplished by living a purposeful life, which I believe is your “genuine/authentic life” focused on both your divine/spiritual calling, as well as your secular.  The title of the guidance below states it more clearly – Follow Your Heart – your God connected heart. This calling is not always easy, but it is authentic and will put you into alignment with the flow of universal forces, taking you downstream as Ester Hick’s Abraham would reference it. Let us meditate on whether we are following our hearts, thus living a genuine, authentic, purposeful life. FOLLOW YOUR HEART - MEDITATION GUIDANCE  Follow your heart and become who you are meant to become – the genuine you, the authentic you – the you who waits for a turn to be. Know that all your life has been moving to this point, this destiny. Take the step and walk to the edge, and you will find through your efforts and God’s assistance, there is a bridge forming to carry you to the next life.   You are afraid – afraid of having no money – no job – no means -  so you linger and wait. But what do you really have, if you gain the world, and lose yourself? No one else can make this choice – no one else can take this risk, and in the end, no one else can reap the rewards. Laugh at your fear, and believe it will be so, and it will be so.   Look again at the fear of losing it all – love –respect – money – family – but is this possible? Do you continue to live a life for them and not for you? Let yourself take a moment, prepare, and then find your way to your destiny that waits for your courage and belief NOE G. 2.9.2010 7:45 AM The Seventh Facet Of Consciousness on The Crystal Path – Living A Genuine - Authentic Purposeful Life is a new life where we live in perfect harmony, by actualizing both our spiritual and physical natures, through connection and co-creation with God. This “New Life,” does not require escape to an ashram or monastery or the desert, but allows us to attend to our families, jobs, and related commitments while obtaining joy, peace, love, happiness, and ultimately enlightenment.  The Affirmative Thought below, tilted Authentic Life – New Life, summarizes this message.  GENUINE/AUTHENTIC LIFE – NEW LIFE  AFFIRMATIVE THOUGHT All of life is as it should be, a blend of perfect harmony - clear intentions resulting in purposeful actions all leading to our Genuine/Authentic Life –  our New Life – our heaven on earth. New Life fueled by our love and kindness - set in motion for ourselves, our loved ones  and all we meet, enabling us to grow in God  and experience true joy, peace, love, and happiness. Genuine/Authentic Life – New Life focuses our attention  and enables us to reach for the most from  every moment – enjoyment of every action –  bliss in every breath – peak experience in every event. All life is powered by our creation.    AT G. 11.10.2010 So this New Life, this Genuine, Authentic, Purposeful Life, enables us to reach for the most from every moment, have enjoyment in every action, bliss in every breath, peak experience in every event. Living a Genuine, Authentic, Purposeful Life is defined as enlightenment. The closing Affirmative Thought in this section explains why the light is the centerpiece of enlightenment. THE LIGHT IN ENLIGHTENMENT - AFFIRMATIVE THOUGHT Today let us reveal the “light” in enlightenment, and             understand its source and how to sustain it throughout our lives, this year, and this day we are                         now living.   Today let us use the light – bright from seeing the world             without the illusion of fear, doubt, and worry - without a focus on the past or concern for the future –             the light unencumbered and uninterrupted.   Today let us unveil the divine light within ourselves -             God’s light given to us at conception to brighten the path and lead us to our destination of oneness with             God’s love – trusting in God’s place in our lives.   Today let us realize the light is powered by our ability             to love – without judgment  – without expectations – brightening our lives and those of             humankind – providing light for all who need       to see the path to full genuine, authentic  life in God –  true enlightenment. AT G. Not Dated  TRAVERSING THE CRYSTAL PATH As we consider each of the Seven Facets of Consciousness comprising the Crystal Path, I think it is essential to fully recognize this path is not a simple checklist but is something that requires diligence and active participation. Personally, I feel that in this paradigm, each level signifies a progression or continuum of heightened awareness. I am working on each of the seven facets at the same time, with the goal of reaching my intended point of expertise for each. I have no timetable or set of deadlines; most of the time I feel I am progressing, occasionally backsliding, but for the most part, always on the path. And when I lose my way, often my guidance is directed towards shaking me up and getting me back on the path.  Being on the path opens me, the seeker in this case, to a vast range of emotions: especially, when I think I am keeping my side of the bargain, but there seems to be no contact on the other side. The blog post offered below provides an excellent description of what I mean by this, offering, as well, a forward-thinking wrap–up to our discussion of the Seven Facets of the Crystal Path, along with this introductory discussion of the foundation of enlightenment. <hr /> SPIRITUAL ACTIVISM  NEW THOUGHT NOTE FOR THE DAY My life is centered around connecting with God, recording this divinely inspired guidance,  sharing it on my media sites; and when appropriate incorporating it into the book rolling out on my blog. As with all seekers, there are times when the “still small voice” is silent, and I have learned to take it in stride, looking for inspiration elsewhere,  except when the silence lasts too long, in my opinion.  I have experienced such a meditation guidance dry spell in the past few weeks. I started wondering  - if this is it, have I, in the past five years, received all that I was intended to receive? Day after day, I have prayed and meditated,  but no still small voice, just silence. Last night, before going to sleep, I prayed and asked if there is more, is there a next step, a next level that I should be focusing on - perhaps book number two? A very timid and respectful “what’s up” with the silence? This morning, as I started to meditate, the first sentence of the guidance below came to me, over and over, in a louder and firmer voice than usual - “be the enlightenment you wish to see in the world.” The words kept coming, line after line, so after ten minutes I ended the meditation and began transcribing what I heard in my head into my journal, resulting in the guidance below tilted,  Spiritual Activism.  After rereading and reflecting on this guidance, I believe this message is pointing to the next step on the Crystal Path, a challenge for me, and possibly all of us, to step out of the theoretical zone, moving beyond the comfort zone, into true spiritual activism.  I believe God is clearly indicating that since I have been given the message, now it is the time for me to live the message. Your thoughts? SPIRITUAL ACTIVISM - MEDITATION GUIDANCE Be the enlightenment you wish to see in the world, be heaven on earth, demonstrate and be the joy, peace, love, and happiness  in tangible living form – be the hands and feet of God in the pursuit of spiritual transformation – change the consciousness, by being the consciousness, you desire to manifest through  the world.   Be the enlightenment and actively step out, one significant step at a time, to be joy in the world, creating joy, exhibiting joy, overcoming someone with a sense of joy, being in each action the joy you wish to bring to the world. Create joy.   Be the enlightenment, by finding your peace within, as you work to establish peace in your home, with your family, in your community – pushing the world – your world, into peace through being a living example of peace. Create peace by committing to at least one peaceful action per day.    Be the enlightenment you wish to see in the world, the heaven on earth, by loving without bounds, without limits, through tangible acts of love and kindness, broaden a smile into a gesture of love, make room for loving yourself, committing to spreading it to others,  knowing you are connected to all you see – love as God loves without qualification or expectation. Create love.   Be the enlightenment in action – in thought, word, and deed until the happiness you seek is the happiness you give. Let others know the source of your happiness, the bliss of a life formed in faith and connected with God, let them know that God wants them to be happy by creating happiness for others who are struggling or need assistance. Create happiness.   Be a spiritual activist, moving the concept of heaven on earth, into the reality of heaven on earth, for the world you inhabit – for your life and the lives of those around you  - reaching out beyond to all who would benefit from your efforts.    Create heaven on earth for all! NOE G. 5.2.2012 7:17 AM <hr /> CLOSING NOTE ON ENLIGHTENMENT There is so much for us to learn on the Crystal Path, but for me, a key lesson is presented in the note below, titled Wordless Form, reminding us it is not about the words, it is about the feelings of love, confidence, strength, security, patience, and kindness. Again, it is not cerebral; it is visceral.  It is not about doing; it is about inspiration – what we can create from pure feelings, will assist us, with obtaining our genuine, authentic self.    WORDLESS FORM - MEDITATION GUIDANCE  Wordless form – formless life energy vibrating feelings –  founded in wonder, splendor, and the love of God. It is not about words; it is about feelings – feelings of love, confidence, strength, security, patience, kindness – feelings cannot be expressed in words.    How do you feel now – are you at peace? Are you secure? Are you anxious wanting to get along with the day? The day is not an endless set of tasks, it is simply time to be lived and enjoyed. Stop and do nothing and watch your ego taunt you into action, push you onward. Listen to your ego remind you of your commitments – your to do list – what is next.    You must move away from duty and move into inspiration – what you can create from pure feeling. This is not a contest,  it is a process of becoming your genuine, authentic self, the self of your dreams, the self of your soul. Work on asking yourself how you feel – not what is required – not what is on the schedule.   Creation – creating divine love through action takes time. Give yourself the gift of time. Address your fears and open your heart, knowing your fears will not come to life. Learn to imagine what you would like to accomplish and become and move forward alive in God. NOE G. 8.4.2010 9:55 AM   CLOSING AFFIRMATIONS As we discussed, affirmations are positive statements announcing to God – universal mind – and to our subconscious mind, how we view the world, and what we expect to occur during the day, or in our life. It is a powerful way to use the Law of Mind Action, or Attraction, to frame your reality and set positive expectations. As we traverse the Crystal Path, it is important that we are able to learn easily. Here is an affirmation to assist us.       ABLE TO LEARN EASILY  I affirm and establish now that I easily, completely, and fully comprehend and learn any skill, process, instruction, theory, or body of knowledge; whether learned through practice, experience, or documentation, and when desired, I am able to fully recall and utilize for my educational, professional, and or personal development.   And as we learn, here is an affirmation to ensure all we learn is remembered and recalled easily.    MEMORY I remember everything I hear, see, or experience and can easily recall when needed. I am especially good at remembering names, faces, cell numbers, directions, instructions, and passwords.    I remember every word, phrase, and concept I read, and when desired, I am able to recall every word I have ever read, heard, or written.   As we get ready to move on with our spiritual quest, I would like to close this Chapter with the following Affirmative Thought, which defines what we need to accomplish.                                  AN AUTHENTIC BLEND - AFFIRMATIVE THOUGHT Today lets us strive to become who we are        and what we are as spiritual beings having a physical life – learning to blend our       divine destiny with our daily life –           blending and actualizing both.   Today let us comprehend that to achieve            joy, peace, love, and happiness    we must be fully who our divine selves                and our egos wish us to be –      know we should be – push us to be.   Today let us live this dual mission working            to realize both spiritual and   worldly success is required to obtain               our heaven on earth.   Today let us feed both our souls and        our egos working with both             for our greater good. AT G. 8.8.2008     CONSIDER A DONATION TO SUPPORT THE FREE ACCESS TO ALL  FINDING GOD ON THE TRAIN STORY POSTS AND BOOKS VIA PAYPAL AND MANAGED BY OUR OWN G DOT PUBLISHING VENTURES LLC <div style="text-align: center;"><form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post" target="_top"><input name="cmd" type="hidden" value="_s-xclick" /> <input name="hosted_button_id" type="hidden" value="MQAGXRV9GHX2W" /> <input alt="Donate with PayPal button" name="submit" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_donateCC_LG.gif" title="PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!" type="image" /> <img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" /></form></div>   IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO CONTINUE READING THE CRYSTAL PATH - BOOK ONE OF THE FINDING GOD ON THE TRAIN SERIES, EACH BOOK CHAPTER IS OFFERED IN THE FORM OF A BLOG POST AND ACCESSIBLE BY CLICKING THE APPROPRIATE CHAPTER TITLE  ON THE RIGHT-HAND SIDE-BAR OF THIS BLOG <a href="https://www.findinggodonthetrain.com/book_one_the_crystal_path/2019/02/chapter-seven-finding-joy-and-peace-.html">https://www.findinggodonthetrain.com/book_one_the_crystal_path/2019/02/chapter-seven-finding-joy-and-peace-.html</a>

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Thursday, January 10, 2019

CHAPTER FIVE - THE FOUNDATION - PART TWO - THE MESSAGE - BOOK ONE - THE CRYSTAL PATH - THE FINDING GOD ON THE TRAIN STORY - NOTES ON ENLIGHTENMENT - QUEST FOR A POSITIVE, PERSONAL, AND CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUALITY

<a class="asset-img-link" href="https://www.findinggodonthetrain.com/.a/6a0120a4f9a0cb970b022ad3ac8a46200d-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="DSC_1207" border="0" class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a0120a4f9a0cb970b022ad3ac8a46200d image-full img-responsive" src="https://www.findinggodonthetrain.com/.a/6a0120a4f9a0cb970b022ad3ac8a46200d-800wi" title="DSC_1207" /></a> PART TWO THE MESSAGE  CHAPTER FIVE – THE FOUNDATION   CRYSTAL CONSCIOUSNESS  Space, infinite, unbounded, exists within the soul. This is the center of God’s grace! Watch the abundant sky of the universe within - reflecting, mirroring the universe without. Connect tightly to the core space and venture only to the crystal heart. Here, at the crystal light, you will find the portal – the path to awakening. You must prepare to receive the full bounty of God’s glory. You are not yet ready to unleash the full state of grace – the crystal heart. The day is coming – prepare.   SOME KIND OF MAGIC With Chapter Five, I begin Part Two – The Message of the Finding God On The Train Story, moving into the very heart of the guidance I have received from God on those long commutes to my job in Washington, DC.  I will attempt to not only unveil and unravel these key concepts - the Crystal Path, the Heartlight, and the God I have met on the train but describe how all of this arrived in my life.  I have Joshua Radin’s song  Brand New Day, from his CD - Simple Times, playing on my iPhone, with Joshua almost whispering, as if praying these Whitman like lyrics to his enchanting melody: Some kind of magic happens late at night when the moon smiles down at me and bathes me in its light.   I fell asleep beneath you in the tall blades of grass  when I awoke the world was new I never had to ask.  It’s a brand new day, the sun is shining.  It’s a brand new day, for the first time in a long, long time, I know I’ll be ok.   <a href="https://youtu.be/9XhYr74ARJc">https://youtu.be/9XhYr74ARJc</a> Official video for “Brand New Day (Live from the Village)” by Joshua Radin Buy Live from the Village on iTunes: <a href="http://hyperurl.co/1dy5mx">http://hyperurl.co/1dy5mx </a> Listen on Spotify:  <a href="http://hyperurl.co/zm4qlc">http://hyperurl.co/zm4qlc </a>   It has truly been “some kind of magic,” this journey and the “still small voice” that has whispered this message to me, first in poems like Crystal Consciousness, listed above, and then in greater depth during my sessions of prayer and meditation – pointing my soul to what I would know as the Crystal Path, the Heartlight, and Universal Consciousness. I believe it is time for me to do what I was asked to do, and share “the message,” as outlined in this Meditation Guidance below, titled Messenger, I received on Wednesday, November 19, 2008, at 7:35 AM on an Amtrak train moving its way to Washington, DC. After a few years of self-debate, I have accepted my role as a messenger with this book and the blog, both representing my major effort towards the dissemination of this information. Although along with publishing the unedited meditation notes, affirmative thoughts, poems, and related blog posts, I will be doing my share of explanation and interpretation, as you will pick up when you read the chapters that follow; contrary to the guidance outlined below - such is the impact of free will.   MESSENGER - MEDITATION GUIDANCE In all of this, you will be a messenger. Your role is to carry the message to those who are seeking the way, the path to spiritual fulfillment. Simply take the notes and offer them to those who seek, who wait for the word.   Do not alter the notes - simply write and transcribe and pass the pure thought to those who wish to listen. The message does not require explanation or interpretation – just dissemination. The waiting will understand the words, the guidance, and prepare the way.   You will need to record the message in physical form and transmit it to the world. Transmit the clear and untampered with word - let the message receiver read and comprehend. It is time to compile the message and transmit. NOE G. 11.18.2008  7:35 AM In all of this, I believe, I am one of countless the messengers who are now translating and sharing the divinely inspired message they have received - only a drop of water in an enormous spiritual wave that is forming and will change the consciousness and the evolution of humankind forever. As I have documented in previous chapters, many are at this time carrying the message forward, with others being prepared to deliver a similar message. I am grateful to be a part of this awakening. Let’s trace my steps towards accomplishing my mission so far. In May of 2009, while recovering from the removal of my Pituitary Tumor, I began to write the Finding God On The Train Story, and in August of 2009, with Ann’s prompting, I created my blog and began publishing chapters of the book. In February of 2010, again with Ann’s guidance, I began doing New Thought Notes For The Day and my readership expanded. Blog readers enjoyed the book chapters that were being posted - often revised and edited by me in real time - but were also attracted to the affirmative thoughts, poems, prayers, and tales of my spiritual journey posted on a more frequent basis. Joel S. Goldsmith – the author of the spiritual classic The Infinite Way -  one of the great New Thought spiritual pioneers and healers of the 20th century, clearly outlines below that we are all able to connect with God.  As we learn to listen to the “still small voice,” The Spirit of God opens our consciousness…. This spiritual food is never rationed to those who learn to meet with God within the temple of their being. I contend that receiving divine inspiration from God, although interpreted by some as madness, is truly possible for all of us, if we will listen. Why I am a messenger, frankly I still have no clear idea – except, maybe, it fell to me because I was willing to listen and transcribe without my ego getting in the way, or I had somehow set this in motion that Sunday morning in January of 2007, when half paralyzed and facing spinal surgery, I asked for a chance to do what I had left undone spiritually. I believe that finding a job a few weeks later, which involved a long train commute,  resulting in my finding God on the train; creating the blog; and writing this book you are now reading - was no coincidence. I also believe I have some of the verbal and writing skills needed to handle the assignment, and I was confident enough to convince myself, Ann, and the readers of my blog at least, that I was not completely crazy and was able to continue on with the project. Or, maybe, I am just foolhardy enough not to be worried about the potential for negative reactions and feedback from those who will be positive I am dead wrong, demented, or at least in need of immediate salvation–or all of the above. If you were to ask Ann, she would tell you I have been desperately searching for God all my life, and finally, after countless years and misdirection, I stumbled on the way to connect with God, and God finally, in God’s mercy, responded. When I was a child, my mother would tell me, and others who would listen, that I was suffering from “Divine Discontent.” I guess it has continued on throughout my life. More important though, is the “Message” itself, and whether or not what is conveyed is of any use in our modern world; or is the message just my personalized guidance, and as such; does not apply in a generic sense. Honestly, each communication I received during prayer and meditation, had about a one-day shelf life for me. It came in the morning, directly impacting my day, but by the next day, new guidance would appear, and I would move on. I used these messages as daily guides for moving forward spiritually, enabling me to handle my life issues at the time. Frankly, there was such a plethora of spiritual guidance being received; I was often overwhelmed by the quantity and variety. Now, that I have had the time to study what I have written, including the poems, prayers, and affirmative thoughts,  I believe the message is the same message, God - Source, Spirit, the Universe, Infinite Intelligence, the Tao, or whatever term we feel is appropriate  - has been communicating for centuries, and will continue to communicate until we listen and learn: that is, a message of Enlightenment. But before we explore the details of the message, let us take a moment to understand the origin and foundation of the message.  CORNERSTONES OF THE MESSAGE Let us start by exploring the cornerstones of this message – The Crystal Path and The Heartlight - to provide some needed perspective on the meditation guidance to follow. Sometimes, it is not just what is said - but how and when it is said, that makes for an impactful message. This certainly was the case with my introduction to the Crystal Path and the Heartlight – leaving no way I could miss the point. It is worth traveling back to a gray and overcast New Year’s Eve morning, the last day of 2007,  to retrace these steps. The year 2007 had been an amazing year for me; I had spinal surgery in January, read The Secret in February, started a new job in Washington DC in April, learned to meditate in May, found Unity - a New Thought Church, in July, and started to connect with God on my long train commutes in November and December.  The following account was published on my blog. It was New Year’s Eve morning, 2007, and I was attending a group meditation, sponsored by Unity Church, which tied into an international World Prayer/Meditation Event for Peace, with people from all over the world participating at the same time, or at least the same day. Ann and I got up early so we could get there at 7 AM - the coordinated start time for the event. Since we were running late, we agreed to eat after the event, which was to last about 45 minutes. As I walked out the door, I remembered my blood pressure medicine and took it. The room being used for the meditation was too small, with twenty of us packed into a space that could comfortably fit about ten. In true Unity tradition, this would be a guided meditation with our pastor, Rev. Carolyn, doing the guiding while music played in the background. I worked to shake off my general feeling of claustrophobia. Rev. Carolyn, a master of guided meditation, quickly put me into a deep meditative state.   We started by visualizing the earth from outer space, moving in on the planet, until we saw our country, region, state, and finally our town. I am not usually good at visualizing, but I could see every detail in clear color, starting in outer space and slowly moving towards earth as if in a slow moving space vehicle planning to land. For me, it was amazing, and somewhat frightening, at the same time.  As I came down to the local frame, I could see thousands of figures that were like black shadows moving through a black and white landscape. Each figure was connected with a white beam of light that came from their chest’s - each connected to the person closest to them. At this level, there were no identities, just vibrational shadows connected by beams of light. I was overcome with a sense of joy and pure peace. Afterward, I would describe, to those who asked about the experience, that I saw these shadows connected by lights from their hearts. This was my first experience with what my meditative guidance would, in the future, refer to as “the Heartlight.”  I moved in closer and found myself being projected into a variety of locations around the world, all amazingly vivid as if I was there observing the scene standing right next to the people in the vision. My first stop was on a mountaintop that looked like it could be in Afghanistan, as I joined a group of bearded men in robes who were nestled around a large machine gun aimed at the valley below. They were talking and laughing as the light of dawn peaked above the horizon. I knew they were soldiers ready to do battle for what they believed to be a worthy cause.   Then, I felt myself traveling to the next stop, which was a dirty street illuminated by broken street lamps. Later I would think it looked like a street scene in Brazil, especially given the chaotic crowd of children and teenagers – some shoeless – others just ragged and worn out, as they searched through large trash bins. Again, I felt as if I was there with them, but they could not see me.    The speed of my experiences quickened, as I moved around the world, with a stop in a plush palace where I listened while a general told a commanding figure, who looked like a president or leader, that there was no way to avoid a war. As I moved quicker, I started to feel nauseous and opened my eyes, trying to muster the energy to leave the room, but being sucked back into the movement.  After some time, I heard my name being called through the distance, and I started to fight to regain consciousness. As my eyes opened – my Ann was facing Rev. Carolyn holding her hands and crying. Someone standing near me was trying to find my pulse. It was a Physician Assistant, who was a member of the church, and in relief shouted, my God, I feel a pulse.  When I regained full consciousness, I was told that a few of my fellow meditators, including Ann, had heard me take a strange gasp of air and I had seemed to stop breathing. As they tried to revive me, Ann fell on her knees and began to pray with Rev. Carolyn for me to come back to life. Others called for the emergency squad. Ann and many of the others admitted that they thought I had died during the meditation. The emergency squad took my blood pressure, and it was so low and they took me to the hospital. I was released about three hours later when I stabilized.  So, what happened? As I mentioned, some of the participants in the room firmly contend, including Ann, that I had died and been revived.  To this day, Ann feels fear when she meditates with me. A few in the room thought I had experienced Astral Projection, also including Ann, after she heard the whole journey, reasoning that I had left my body to travel the world, only to return to full life when finished. My doctor, who is also an expert on meditation, said it is a common occurrence for blood pressure to drop 15 to 20 points during very deep meditation. In his opinion, it was the deep meditation, combined with my taking blood pressure medicine on an empty stomach that drastically lowered my pressure and I lost consciousness. He does agree this could be fatal if my pressure was already low when I started the meditation.   I am not sure what happened,  but I will never forget the Heartlight experience and my journey around the world. A few days later, I was riding on the train to work, and struggling with meditating, as I often did in the beginning, when I received my first meditative guidance, and soon after received the direction to write Finding God On The Train.  Nothing has been the same since.  CRYSTAL ON MY MIND For first few days of 2008 - still recovering from my New Year’s Eve Unity world peace meditation session where I lost consciousness - I had a phrase that was stuck in an endless loop in my mind – “Follow the Crystal Path, Follow The Crystal Path” - and it would not be until Thursday, January 17, 2008 that ‘’Follow The Crystal Path” would be explained in one of my first meditation notes received on the train.    THE CRYSTAL PATH TO THE HEARTLIGHT - MEDIATION GUIDANCE You ask the way and I say you are the way, the light, and the crystal path to the new world – paradise, freedom, elation, and joy. The way is in your soul, your soul connected and formed in spirit. There is only simple joy from simple action. The journey is not complicated or mysterious; it is only profound because the pursuit of the way is profound.   It is the mission of the spirit that you seek, and it can only be found in life, this life. Inside each moment of “now” exists the full extent of joy – the way is in the moment where God lives. God does not live in a place, but instead, in the eternal, lasting vibration of pure joy, love, sincerity, and being.   Search not in the fields but within your heart – the heart of your soul. In each breath, there is life, hope, and the creation of forwarding movement – the divine in being is all present, all knowing, and never wavers from a course of love.   You struggle because you want to be something, someone special, elite, profound, and in this struggle you lose the way, and you are like a deaf child pounding on the piano keys – wondering why there is no sound.   No sound from life because you do not appreciate that the day-to-day activities are but a vehicle for learning the way – not the way. When you pass to the next plane, you will not be known for your title, or wealth, or even your accomplishments. The authenticity – of who you evolved into, what you created in your spirit, will determine your worth if worth matters.   You are here to experience the joy and pleasure of waking, walking, and creating. A vehicle of pleasure existing to grow and evolve into a being of evolved spirit. Leave the focus that the physical rewards, that the ego will fulfill you; it has not for many years. It is only through finding the spirit that you connect to the source and realize “everlasting joy.”   The way is in front of you, surrounds you, you swim in it like a thick soup of fetal protection – it oozes in and out of you. You move through the thick spirit – as does everyone, every day – protection in the pre-birth state waiting for birth. This time, the womb of joy is pleasurable but holds no measure to the infinite joy of light that waits when you find the peace of the lasting connection with God.   God surrounds you, envelops you, and moves through every pore. You search for what already exists, but you are unable to see. Stop looking – start feeling.  It is all here – the divine heaven of eternal joy – you walk and live in it, but as of yet, you cannot see the Heartlight – the Heartlight connects all beings through love. See the Heartlight, and you will see the connection. Search for the Heartlight and follow the path.  NOE G. 1.17.2008 7:15 AM As you can see, the New Year was starting off with a bang. I was stunned when I received this Meditation Guidance. I had fought with myself as I was transcribing the message, which is one of the longest I would ever receive, wanting badly to rephrase and reword, but I resisted. Had I not been involved with a church that encouraged this type of connection, like Unity, I would have sought immediate therapy. I just kept reading the note and saying – my God what does this mean? I had many questions - Who or what was talking? – God or my demented ego? What is the Crystal Path? And most importantly - what did it mean for my life? I did not tell Ann or anyone else for a few months but decided, then and there, to just go for the ride with God and see what would happen. What I did glean from this meditation is bulleted below, because each concept is central to the message going forward. <ul> <li>The Crystal Path takes us to a new world - paradise,  </li> </ul> freedom, elation, and joy. <ul> <li>Our soul connected with God is the way, and we </li> </ul> will be guided along the path. <ul> <li>God lives in the eternal, lasting vibration of pure joy, </li> </ul> love, and sincerity. <ul> <li>We lose our way because we want to be someone </li> </ul> special, elite, and profound. <ul> <li>On the next plane only our authenticity - who </li> </ul> we have evolved into and what we have created - will matter. <ul> <li>We are here to experience the joy and pleasure </li> </ul> of an evolved spirit.   <ul> <li>Infinite joy awaits when we find the peace </li> </ul> of a lasting connection with God. This meditation guidance also left me wondering why the word “crystal” was being used and what was its significance. Of course, crystals are not new to the spiritual world, where crystals have been used for healing and other purposes. Along with the “Singing Bowl,” which is a crystal bowl vibrating a healing tone, there are also chakra-balancing crystals, grounding crystals, energy crystals, meditation crystals, and even manifesting crystals. A quick visit to Google filled in the scientific details. Crystals could be formed in a few minutes, or take millions of years to develop. A crystal, or a crystalline solid, is a material whose constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in an orderly repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions. The unique aspect of the crystal is that it grows based on an orderly, preordained plan, which is unique to the individual crystal. The crystal can keep growing, or remain dormant for thousands of years, and then grow again. The crystal is also quite hard, conducts electricity, and of course, refracts light. Coincidentally, early radios used a crystal radio receiver for transmission, called a “crystal set,” made up of a crystalline mineral such as galena, now called a diode. This crystal receiver needed no battery, or power source, and ran on the power received from the radio waves over a long antenna. Strangely similar to the role of the “crystal soul” in the transmission to infinite intelligence, and the power of God, outlined in the meditation guidance below. I continued to wonder about and meditate on what the “crystal” referred to until I finally received the following guidance, defining the crystal as the divine self, or the soul, transmitting to infinite intelligence. Maybe the Crystal Self works just like the Crystal Set?   CRYSTAL SELF - MEDITATION GUIDANCE The crystal is the divine self – the divine soul within you that is connected to the infinite intelligence and the power of God. It is your soul - like a crystal – hard and durable – capable of growing and becoming more. Through the crystal, all light passes becoming more, unfolding into a spectrum of full life.    The crystal of the divine self has always existed, and will always exist, and is the essence of your soul spiritually evolving and becoming. The reason for your existence is to rediscover this crystal, follow its path and become one with your divine self/soul and begin to grow again, drawing strength and power from your connection with the Infinite Source, Spirit – God.   Cherish the crystal and follow the path back to your true consciousness – unreflected, unexpected by the ego – constantly forming and reforming to scare away and deal with the threats of the world.   The path to enlightenment is the Crystal Path –the path to the divine you. NOE G. 1.17.2008 7:15 AM  So the “Crystal” of the Crystal Path is your divine self - your genuine soul evolving and fully connecting with God – resulting in full God Consciousness - Enlightenment. This Crystal Path – this path, or road, or journey to enlightenment, is through the soul – the divine self – and this Crystal Soul knows what it needs to do spiritually to be both “genuine” and “authentic, reconnecting with God, although it may have remained dormant for many years, as mine did. When this is accomplished, the Crystal Soul becomes the enlightened soul and truly finds heaven on earth.  Mind control is at the heart of each message I have received on the train, with the focus being on controlling negative thoughts, overcoming fear, worry, and negative emotions. The meditation notes above were also the first to introduce the Ego – considered the greatest obstacle we all face in reaching this destination. The Crystal Self note above, reinforces the need for all of us to manage, or handle our egos, keeping them from doing what they often do best - Edging God Out. We will review the guidance offered on how to harness the ego, and redirect its often-neurotic power, in Book Two of the Finding God On The Train Story – focusing on mind control and the control of consciousness. THE HEARTLIGHT As encountered in my New Year’s Eve meditation, I believe we may all be connected by the Heartlight - connected with a white beam of light that comes from our chests and connects to the person closest to us. This Heartlight is what makes us both finite, while at the same time attached to the infinite or universal. Only one spiritual teacher, I am aware of,  has directly referred to the Heartlight; that is, Dr. Zhi Gang Sha, Physician and soul communicator, who wrote the book, Soul Wisdom. In his Soul Wisdom video, he speaks at length about seeing his patients with lights coming from their hearts and being connected to heaven. The concept of a light connecting every heart has been a recurring theme of my train meditations — a spiritual connecting force joining us all together as one. The meditative guidance listed below was received on the train March 8, 2008, in response to my questions regarding the nature of the Heartlight.    THE HEARTLIGHT - MEDITATION GUIDANCE The Heartlght is the portal to the divine consciousness and the Godhead that you seek. The light is the beacon of the soul transmitting the radiant energy and the true vibration of all life force - connecting between soul and soul – all souls connected and one with the light.    The center of the Heartlight is the area of your heart and chest. You have seen the second view – the view of the  light as it connects. This is where infinite connection and the oneness of the soul transmits to all creation.    When you connect with this portal, you move to the single consciousness, the one entity, and the light of all creation. This is the plane of full consciousness, and once connected, you may visit with any life form and experience their wholeness.    You are fooled by your form state, your physical ego striving. You have lost touch with the Heartlight and are seeking the headlight – this path is one of hopelessness and loss, moving instead into the ego.                      Follow the Heartlight – search for the Heartlight not only in prayer and meditation but with every interaction within  your life. The Heartlight is there – you must see it to <div> touch your divinity.    You have seen it once, you know what it looks like – search – strive – seek – be aware  - abandon the ego and you will find everlasting life and the kingdom of heaven on earth.  NOE G. 3.8.2008 8:45 AM This meditation guidance was received over two months after my New Year’s Eve experience outlined in the opening section of this chapter, but the memory of the shadowy figures with lights connecting their hearts was and still is etched in my memory.  The guidance goes on to clarify that I had witnessed “the second view,” where the infinite connection and the oneness of the soul transmit to all creation – and what is being transmitted - is radiant energy and the true vibration of all life force.  At the time, I remember shaking my head, wondering where this was all leading, having the distinct impression I was entering the realm of science fiction. But as I was being instructed, I was also being admonished for losing touch with the Heartlight that I did not fully understand, or really knew existed due to my ego focus. I was told, if I abandoned my ego, I would find everlasting life and experience heaven on earth. Yet, with this message, my New Year’s Eve experience began to take on a new sort of mystical meaning, appearing to have occurred for the purpose of enabling me to actually experience what would be referenced as the Heartlight in these later messages.  It was actually a full year after I received this guidance regarding the Heartlight that I returned to this message, realizing I was being told that the Heartlight is our connection to all life and divine consciousness.  I began to put the pieces together - using a computing analogy, the Crystal Soul would be our spiritual Mac Book Pro or PC,  while the Heartlight would be our FIOS or Cable infrastructure, connecting our soul to the spiritual internet – infinite intelligence – universal consciousness – God.  I would like to close this Heartlight discussion with an inspired poem I recorded, which further describes the Heartlight.   THE HEARTLIGHT POEM   Feel the clear and perfect moment, fresh and full, aware      from meditation. At peace, refreshed through spirit –  how do I reveal the God in me? Where is the center      of internal divinity? In the vibration passing through  the Heartlight – connected souls – strung together      on a leash of light.  The power of all creation is revealed as the connected      consciousness of all living presence. At the moment  understand, as the essence of spirit moves through you,      surrounds you, in eternal light and vibration, flowing  through the spaces of your cells.  We, you, me, all move through the substance of God      energy, the vibration of creative God force, we breathe  the breath of God into our lungs to fuel our beings.      Breathe in God!  The Heartlight is the portal of all human connection –  move to your heart center and see the connection –      mentally move through – from the mind to the heart  and through the portal of connected life.      We are one energy connected by the Heartlight!  POEM G. 6.28.2008 MY GOD I would like to open this section with a poem that offers us an analogy or metaphor to describe God,  which might help us understand God as more than a concept, giving life to Spirit. In my poem below, Fabric of God, Spirit is the strong thread holding together life.   FABRIC OF GOD POEM Move through this life transcended – awake and alive   beyond the consciousness of the physical – material world.     Comprehend the depth of the spirit holding together      this moment like strong thread. The fabric is textured and full of manifested and    preconceived desire. Look deeply at the fabric of life –      the beauty and craftsmanship of all the forces creating        this moment. The fabric of now was sewn with a million manifestations –   interrelated – conjoined by mutual desire.     Live this moment – understand the creative energy       required to bring you this order – this into being. Wrap yourself in the fabric –focus on the threads    of integrated life creation. Rejoice in the opportunity to be a participant in this creation.   This is the fabric of God – constantly evolving – changing –     reforming and becoming more. POEM G. 8.8.2008 We each carry a vision of God in our minds and our hearts; this God is real and personal for us - alive in our consciousness. In my opinion, there are as many interpretations of God as there are those who believe in God. As we all try to peer into the unknown, we attempt to describe what we have experienced or wish to experience. For example, my wife Ann believes in the traditional concept of God, as a father figure who is located up in heaven. Ann is not alone and is joined by millions, if not billions, of other traditional believers. Before proceeding to outline “the message” I have received during my meditations with God, I need to fully introduce you to the God I have met on the train.  For some of you, this God will be like a breath of fresh air in the stale room of life, but for others, this God may not fit the preconceived notions of your religious beliefs or spiritual training. I am in no way saying that my concept of God is the ultimate or the only appropriate vision of God, or that it is “the truth.” What I am saying, is your interpretation of God does not have to agree with mine, or mine with yours, for us to travel together on this spiritual journey. I would only suggest, if possible, reading the related meditation notes and forming your own conclusion on whether our views of God are similar or different, and whether it matters. I would like to introduce the God of my commute, in a series of “perspectives,” that I believe are being conveyed from my meditation guidance, when from time to time, God responds to my questions about God’s nature or clarifies a point requiring God to be further revealed. By the word “perspective,” I am using the Webster definition – “a particular attitude toward or way of regarding something; a point of view.” Since God is in fact beyond our comprehension, the best we can accomplish is to have a point of view. I would like to introduce six perspectives based on my guidance. PERSPECTIVE ONE – ONE GOD All the meditation guidance I am using for this section, or notes, as I often refer to them, were received through prayer and meditation as outlined in Chapter Four - Connecting With God On The Train. So let’s see what God has to say about God. I would like to start out with the following meditation note, titled One God, which was an answer to a question I posed about the true nature of God. The meditation communications I have transcribed, for the most part, refer to God as God, not with a personal pronoun, such as, he or she, which, when I think about it, would make sense, at least for me, since the God of my experience is not a person, but a force like consciousness, a universal spirit. What I do not get is the smooth conversational style represented by Neal Donald Walsch’s  – Conversations with God, although my content is often very similar to Walsch’s, but instead, many of the communications, even though poetic, at times seem a bit formal, or better put, academic, as if they had been downloaded from a standard cosmic instruction manual or textbook. At times these meditation notes, or meditation guidance, appear to be at an advanced philosophical and theological level, expecting the reader, which was me up until now, to work hard to fully comprehend.  Given these notes are transcribed totally in a matter of minutes, after my meditation session, based on an opening line I am given during the meditation - with absolutely no editing on my part - they arrive in a surprisingly coherent and well-organized fashion - almost like a  prepared text, as if God knew the question and had already formulated the answer long before I ever actually asked. As outlined below, my first perspective conveys that there is only one God – not often debated by the major monotheistic religious orientations – a God which is nameless, formless, faceless, and described as the creative force of the universe, a force we can connect directly with and obtain “God Consciousness.” This Meditation Guidance came on Saturday, June 6, 2009, just one week after the surgery to remove my Pituitary Tumor. You may have picked up that meditation notes are usually dated with the actual time listed. I do this to keep accurate records, and to provide some perspective on what was happening at the time. It also allows me to track similar messages, over time, for consistency and comparison.    ONE GOD - MEDITATION GUIDANCE There exists only one God – nameless – formless – faceless – all power – all wisdom – all life. The creative force of the universe – universal life and love – the essence of all that exists or will ever exist. Through God, the breath of life is given – through God all minds are connected – all vibrations set – all evolution transpires.   God is an energy of life – empowering and powering all growth and development in the world. God is the universal life force moving all life to greater beauty, kindness, love, and potential. God is the authentic life force inside every cell of everything we encounter or hold dear, a life force pushing to become more, better, fuller, more beautiful, wonderful, and glorious.   God moves through you, with you, and surrounds you – is whole but formless and is all form. God is spirit; God is power, God is all and God is the space between all. No one needs to become God because you are God  - full of God’s love and intention. Your spiritual mission is to know the God potential – the living God in you – alive – in full vibration.    No person can stand for God – for God is all humankind, all existence. A person can move towards God consciousness, connect with the God-self, and live within and with the nature of God. Is this, not the way of the mystics, and all who have deeply connected with God?   Connect and become one with God – the one God – the all –  and the all less. NOE G. 6.8.2009 9:25 AM PERSPECTIVE TWO – A UNIVERSAL FORCE The basic premise of my work and the key concept conveyed in what I call Positive Spirituality, which is most noted in the New Thought literature, is that we are in some way always connected with God, and as a result, connected with the force of creative energy that emanates from God. As I have asked these questions during my meditations, I am often given an explanation of this unique spiritual connection between God and humankind. In this meditation note below, titled Unified Universal Force, transcribed on April 11, 2010, on a Sunday at 9:00 AM, nearly one year after the One God note above, we are told that God is again the creative energy of all life and matter in the universe, and we are all connected by this unified universal life force. This is a human connection to divinity, but the note clarifies that we can never become God, because a part cannot become the whole, with God being the whole. We are told we have the power to be like God and create our own heaven on earth.  UNIFIED UNIVERSAL FORCE - MEDITATION GUIDANCE Always connected to God, you are encompassed in a force beyond all comprehension – a force consisting of the creative energy of all life and matter in the universe directed towards empowerment, growth, and continued creation.   This unified force of all universal life and form is connected and made one by the love of God. For God is all of this life force and more - so much more that we cannot comprehend. Unified life is the connection of all existence within God – a blade of grass in a universal field of intention and growth.   As a human being, you have this connection to divinity – you are a part of a magnificent growing and expanding energy of God. Within this connection, you can become part of God and move towards the qualities of God - become more like God, as you acquire the divine nature within.   You can never become God, for a part of the whole cannot become the whole that it is part of originally. All true mystics have moved to this God nature – divine nature – and obtained power over the forces of creative life. This connection to the unity of all life is the creative connection behind the Laws of Attraction – all cocreation.   Unified with all as a facet of God - you have the power to be like God and create a heaven on earth through love, positive thought, and centered emotion. You are connected to the power and love of God!                NOE  G. 4.11.2010 9:00 AM   PERSPECTIVE THREE –  CONSCIOUS CONNECTION As we fully analyze each of these meditation notes, behind the views or perspectives being presented of the God, I have met on the train and the related messages, it becomes clear that God and humankind, along with all creation, are fully intertwined. In the Meditation Guidance below, we are told all consciousness is connected – from the smallest particle of matter to the intricate human form, existing within a “universal consciousness” –a vibrational connection. Via this connected vibrational consciousness, we manifest our thoughts and our intentions, thus co-creating our existence. This would serve as an apt definition of the infrastructure for the Law of Attraction or Mind Action. If we can plausibly define this universal connected consciousness as God, then we, when properly aligned, co-create our lives through thought with God. Let me rephrase this because it is a pivotal point in the message - each of us has the capacity to co-create and attract what we want in our lives through our thoughts, utilizing the universal connected consciousness of God. This is not a new concept but has been the foundation of positive spirituality, originating from the theology of Plato with the Universal or Over-Soul, to the Hindu Atman or Soul. The Infinite Mind, Infinite Intelligence, or the Universal Mind are all terms used to describe this phenomenon. All of my related guidance supports this assumption that we co-create by partnering with God in this endeavor. Note the Jewish mystics of the Kabbalah, refer to the concept of co-creating with God, as “Godding.”   CONSCIOUS CONNECTION - MEDITATION GUIDANCE Consciousness and connection are at the core of all life and existence in our universe. From the smallest particle of matter to the full life of human form, we are conscious of our existence, exert will over the outcome, and impact all of our actions.    All matter is aware of its existence and the impact of others. All consciousness is connected, and this connection allows for the communication between all matter. A vibrational connection flows through the connected consciousness, allowing all matter, all existence, to impact whatever it interacts with.   Through consciousness–universal consciousness – we are all connected and are impacted, by all form. This is the infrastructure of our existence, and if fully understood, it can be used, through love and clarity of thought, to manifest what is desired. Every particle  is connected life – conscious and fully aware of its environment.   The vibration of your existence, of your thinking and mind is connected and communicating – asking the manifested world to respond to your expectations and view of existence. With thought, you are forming your experience, your life – formulating your environment.   Clarity, and positive communication, to the connected consciousness is essential for finding joy, peace, love, and abundance. The mystics of the ages understood this connection, and that all of existence obeyed. Always be aware of your consciousness, and connection, and what you are intending and manifesting. NOE G. 9.26.2008 8.04 AM    PERSPECTIVE FOUR – GOD HAS A CHOICE In this meditation note below, we are instructed that God has a choice, as we do, but always chooses love, creation, abundance, and joy. God is fully aware of good and evil – positive and negative – growth and stagnation. What connects us with God is our free will – our capacity to choose between the positive life force and the negative life force. Since we learn from our choices, we are told in the guidance, that there is no punishment, except the resulting effect of poor choices on our lives.    GOD HAS A CHOICE - MEDITATION GUIDANCE God has a choice, as you do. God is infinite wisdom, infinite love, infinite knowledge, infinite caring, infinite creativity, infinite power, infinite strength, infinite will, infinite growth.   God is fully aware of the potential for good and evil in the world, with full knowledge of the positive and negative, of life and death, growth and stagnation.   God understands these choices and fully understands the ramifications, and outcomes, and has chosen, and always chooses love, creation, abundance, joy, peace, beauty and the creation of positive life based on divine awareness.   As the living part of God – not God but of God – you have the choice between the positive life force – and the negative life force.  What connects you with God is the capacity to make this choice – the capacity to understand that life flourishes in good – and life diminishes with non-good.   There is no punishment or negative reinforcement or direction from God – for in infinite wisdom God understands the consequences of your choices help you learn, redirect, and make more loving choices.          NOE G. 9.20.2009 10:30 AM This Meditation Guidance below, titled Evil, clarifies God’s powerlessness in the face of the evil permeating and enveloping our world. This note was a response to my questioning why God would allow evil in the world to exist, as reflected in constant war, brutality, homicide, genocide, torture, injustice, avarice, and unspeakable pain and suffering. Why would a loving God condone this evil? The answer is outlined below, but to summarize - God does not and cannot transform the evil created by us into good. Since humankind is endowed with “free will” - the power of choice between a positive life and a negative life - we have the responsibility for the evil we create.  According to this message, this evil is the direct result of the human ego gone out of control. We, not God, can only accomplish the elimination, or reduction of evil. In short, do not blame God, or other cosmic entities, real or imagined, such as a “devil,” for the works of humankind. The true devil is within the ego of humankind. God does offer hope, and pledges to help, in whatever way possible.    EVIL - MEDITATION GUIDANCE God cannot stop or prevent the evil created by humankind, only humans can do this. God who is love and good does not know or deal, or intervene,  or transform evil into good.    Evil, despair, and fear are based on unlove – </div> <div> </div> <div>the desire to control, dominate and dictate to others. </div> <div> </div> <div>Evil is the work of the human ego separated from God, </div> <div> </div> <div>and as a result is separated from hope, love, caring, </div> <div> </div> <div>and peace. Negative acts and negative thoughts generate </div> <div> </div> <div>the ills of this world. </div> <div>   Before the human race, the world survived, evolved, and created life through the Laws of Spirit and Nature. Humans, endowed with free will and choice, entered into this life with the capability for positive change, and the capacity to accelerate the creation of growth and good.    But humanity has created and empowered the ego – separate – working to the best interests, at times, of hysteria, paranoia, and avarice. Then, has turned and blamed their own handy work of these negative pursuits and intentions, these harmful results and impacts, on God, fully expecting God to solve and resolve.    God does not invade, imprison, commit homicide, torture, or persecute anyone or anything. God does not starve the innocent or condemn the hopeless. This is the work of human ego desires gone out of control – this is the presence of evil, or hell, in your life today.    Do not blame God for the works of humankind, do not expect God to intervene;  God will always work for the good, but only humans can eliminate their human-created evil. Humanity, must reform and transform humanity –and God will help.  NOE  G. 7.17.2009 8:00 AM This note effectively establishes that God is not the cleanup crew for the havoc often created by humankind, and honestly, although it explains why God did not assist during genocides like the Holocaust, or arrange a cure during the plaques, or stop the crusade - it leaves me with an uneasy feeling, a sense of dismay – that the hope of humankind rests with humankind. As we will note below and in the later chapters, our awakening is not only essential for our spiritual development, but for our own survival.  PERSPECTIVE FIVE – THE HANDS AND FEET OF GOD The Meditation Guidance offered below – The Hands And Feet Of God – further expands on humankind’s essential partnership with God: God being the source, providing the universal consciousness and the creative energy, but we are the conduits of this divine power. You might ask, why does God need us since God should be able to create anything God wishes - but after more than ten years of messages, I believe God cannot fully create alone. It is like God has set up this Internet – universal consciousness - but without users – in this case, people with energized individual intention – there is nothing to create. The fun comes when we add the intentions of billions of people, seven billion plus to be exact, creating and manifesting their hopes, dreams, and desires. Worlds are conceived, cures created, empires built, art formed, and yes all the evil, but also the potential of moving beyond the ego created evil, thus creating true heaven on earth. To do this, we need to be the hands and feet of God, as outlined in the note below.   HANDS AND FEET OF GOD - MEDITATION GUIDANCE You are the center of all creation in the universe. You are the hands and feet of God and through you and with God – the inner and outer substance of divine will co-creates the world.   Your thoughts create and manifest your life circumstances, your life experience. Each thought is a prayer, a creative wish that is fulfilled by the universe – by life energy.   The divine power – the source of life in life – created man as a thought of an active God – a God on earth, who is capable of positive, manifested life.   The essence of all life is seen in the culmination of a life force that can create easily in the world – who can visualize a new world, and has the power to combine forces to build what is seen.   The power of all creation requires the force, mobility, the creativity of both humankind and God to bring it into being. Each of you is God – source energy – a full creative energy force. As creative forces, only you can resist this essence, resist your birthright, and focus on the non-positive, the negative.   Joy is the full co-creative bliss, when you are aligned, and creating at full throttle.  Creation leads to more life and a complete abundance. All you need is the inner soul – the spirit. You carry the source of all creation and are connected through the Heartlight, to the combined power of universal manifestation.   As source – connected to infinite intelligence – with the power of co-creation, there is nothing you cannot have, be, experience, or create into being, as the hands, feet, and mind of God. NOE G. 1.29.2008 7:30 AM   The message is simply - you, me, we are all active players in this life experience. Free to allow our intentions to grow our lives, along with the creation and evolution of all life. God does not direct us, only guides us and assists us in expanding the fabric of consciousness, effectively, the growing of God itself. I would like to close this review of the perspectives of the God I have encountered on the train, and have fallen in love with once again – the God of our heaven on earth – with this final message:     GROWING GOD - MEDITATION GUIDANCE God grows with each moment of creation in the manifested world – with each idea, movement, and breath – the fullness of God grows.  All life grows God in the pursuit of more life, more creation, more growth.   God is the force of growth behind all positive creation. This movement forward is the manifestation of the continued moving forward. This life force, this creative force is the essence of God, the source – where all creation is fueled and put in motion.   God – the source – moves only towards the clear truth of perfect, abundant life. Each step builds on the previous </div> <div> </div> <div>step, each creation forms and becomes a new creation. This source is God.   God is in you – God surrounds you – God moves through you – realize you are a creative, living, cell of God – an individual creation inspired by divine creation.   We all must grow God.            NOE G. 11.18.2008  8:50 AM   AN EMERGING PERSPECTIVE OF GOD The spiritual messages I have received over the past ten years have grown progressively more detailed and complex. From the very beginning, as the note from 2008 just offered above conveys, with ideas such as the growing of God, were far from traditional and conventional. Yet lately, here in 2017, the concept of an “emergent God” has raised the bar to a new and more complex level. I would like to republish a post from June of 2017 titled Our Earnest Effort. As the post warns, some may find this just too far out or disturbing to consider, but, as I promised myself early on in this quest, I would listen and communicate the message I received, stretching to comprehend it, even if I did not find it in alignment with my core beliefs. After we review the post, I will come back with some coalescing remarks.    <hr /> OUR EARNEST EFFORT NEW THOUGHT NOTE FOR THE DAY earnest (adjective) - resulting from or showing  sincere and intense conviction.    OUR EARNEST EFFORT  We are mobile creatures in search of our origin, our primal essence, the first cause of our very existence; this search ignites our creative center, as we conjure gods, rulers, myths, magic, wizards, and/or shamans to interpret our place, our possible situation; perhaps to connect with our creator, to return to where we originated, once more.   This molten force of will has formed a conjoined intention, given life to this distant, passionate pursuit; overwhelming, unwieldy, forging a consciousness of human longing, a continual cry for our lost place, our desire to be spiritually comforted by our universal, ancestral Mother – Father – the formulator of our beingness.   From this earnest effort, we, humankind, manifested a presence, a conscious response, the hoped-for overseer, a gentle, engaged strength – a God –a tangible consciousness, a combined soul evolved through and by conflicting views, this presence finds being, and provides love, peace, joy, and happiness – our combined intention. NOE G. 5.18.2017   What if the note above is tenable, would the following conceptual foundation be supportable?  Our Universe is continually evolving in order to fulfill our unique desires – at its core, at the root of its very essence, hardwired into its firmware, an algorithm existing for growth through conscious creation – a creation engine of sorts, a 3D printer producing thought into being, being that is tweaked and altered into a better being, then into evolved being – often appearing to take even our sketchy thoughts, dreams, and visions -  for good or ill  - seriously - working beneath and beyond our understanding, to make them appear. All this with consciousness as its medium, strong intention as its catalyst, tangible reality as its exhibition.   So, if this first proposition is supportable – then the creation engine referred to above, would certainly qualify as a potential god-like presence; yet one that is founded in natural law, or possibly better put, algorithm based, rather than love and kindness centered? Although, a god providing an existence that attempts to give us what we desire, for the most part, does seem rather loving to me.    We, humankind, each of us, our world, our reality would be the result of this continual creative force – given that we, each of us, would be mobile creative creatures, fully designed and connected with this universal consciousness, capable of bringing what we wish into being. Thus, all of this, every human-adapted thing we see and touch: our human world, manifested by us, for us, in less than a few hundred thousand years.   So with this creative power, the combined consciousness of humankind fuels the emergence of all it surveys, a communal force so potent it can change the very underpinnings of reality, enabling all life to flourish in a virtual heaven on earth – or, as we sometimes do, create a virtual hell on earth that unknowingly speeds humankind, all of us, towards our own extinction?   Perhaps, within our combined creative reach – is a God of worth, a God of merit, a God of love and hope, a God of our own creation – or maybe altering.  The note above seems to suggest that we collectively, unknowingly through the millions of prayers, and pleas, and thoughts over thousands of years of struggle, suffering, and hard-fought existence, that we, we may have created, manifested a God of meaning, a God of purpose, a God of goodwill, a God that we deserve – through our own vested power of creation.      As often occurs when writing these posts, my original objective to present this speculative concept of an emergent God, created from our conjoined human consciousness, has, over a few paragraphs itself evolved into a fuller, and I guess for me, a more fascinating and plausible concept - that through our spiritual based intentions, we all created a more engaging, loving, useful, caring God, enhancing the universal creative engine with a heartlight. A God of the heart as well as of natural law.   However it happened, this is the God I am going to keep empowering and fostering through my prayers, my gratitude, and my love.   Thanks for speculating with me, as I continue to attempt </div> <div>to understand the guidance I receive fully.                   </div> <div><hr /> This post expresses what I believe is a unique take on this emergent perspective: that is, a God that encompasses both the natural/physical/material world we exist in, as well as the domain of consciousness through which we interact with life, enabling us to think, imagine, and create.   I will take even a bolder leap of faith, conjecturing that one aspect of this emergent God is the very formulator and foundation for the hardwired, algorithm-based creative force we discussed in the post above, with its structure of laws and processes, yet always connected and interacting with pure conscious intention. This natural or physical world, although regulated by fixed laws, offers the pliability through the creative framework of the Law of Mind Action or Attraction, equipping us all with our very own virtual, consciousness based 3D printer.  The spirit or consciousness aspect of God may have emerged from our own use of the Law of Mind Action/Attraction to create a livable universe, one with some measure of love, kindness, and compassion: or, it was always present, just waiting for us to wake up and connect with God. Whatever its origin, this consciousness aspect of God provides us all a pathway to divine guidance, underscoring God’s involvement with our lives. And although God may not grant every wish and prayer, God can and I believe does, assist us in understanding our own creative powers and personal ability to mend, heal, and empower our lives. It also enables us, collectively, to bring about significant change through our own thoughts, dreams, prayers, and intentions. We, connected with God, have the power to truly create a heaven on earth if we so desire.   As all of this has been consuming my thoughts lately, I realized that this dual aspect of God – with its intersecting form and consciousness -  is exactly how we function with our form based bodies and our consciousness based minds. Perhaps, this is what was meant by the concept that we were created in God’s image.  Thanks again for considering these notions. I will ask you to keep this emergent God argument in mind as you proceed with the book. I will return to it in-depth in Book Three of the Finding God On The Train Story – God Consciousness and The Divinity Within. CLOSING NOTES ON ENLIGHTENMENT As I have presented these perspectives of the God I have met on the train, I have realized that “my God,” instead of being a separate entity, is actually intertwined with and coexists with all of sentient life, an active partner with, instead of a controller of, humankind, existing as a creative force, like a kiln where our ideas can be fired and given lasting form. The note below titled, Tangible Creation, expands our perspective of the creative force of God in our lives, telling us that our contribution is the total focusing of our emotionally charged desire, fueled by complete belief.    TANGIBLE CREATION - MEDITATION GUIDANCE Tangible creation is envisioned desire formed into existence through the power of co-creation, through your divine spirit connected and one, with God’s force and power of creation.   Tangible creation is thought in form, in substance, where the imagined becomes real, takes life, and appears in front of you.   Tangible creation springs from total focused desire, uninhibited by the thought of lack or impossibility – empowered by emotionally charged belief, powering the connection to both your and God’s creative force –  a life force combination so infused with potential – intention – that it becomes real –takes shape – and inhabits conscious form.    Tangible creation is your birthright – is at the essence </div> <div> </div> <div>of the human spirit – the divine soul – a power so vast, </div> <div> </div> <div>but often unutilized, except for those who marshal its </div> <div> </div> <div>forces, and work to create the world of their dreams – </div> <div> </div> <div>their heaven on earth. A power fueled by complete belief, </div> <div> </div> <div>the absence of doubt,  loving desire, and faith in the creative </div> <div> </div> <div>power of the universal mind. Here is the universal power </div> <div> </div> <div>at the fingertips of humankind.    Learn it, harness it, and create with it now! NOE G. 8.2.2011 7:15 AM I would like to add two additional Notes On Enlightenment to this chapter, sharing with you below what I believe to be one of the most fascinating God concepts I have received in my meditation guidance on the train – titled God Has No Voice, which suggests that God, in fact, communicates via a conscious vibration, that creates a sensation of meaning, rather than with a voice. I follow this, with a more recent reiteration of the same concept, in a blog post titled The First Language.    GOD HAS NO VOICE - MEDITATION GUIDANCE God has no voice, being but a vibration, which when you touch creates a vision, a sensation of meaning translated by your need to form experience into words. The pounding surf of God’s message wares away at your hazy awareness until you quiet the clamor of your restless mind, receiving the transmission of a few drops of thirst quenching nectar – yet this is all that is required since each contains the whole story – for all is alive within a single drop, for those who can connect.   God has no voice, this is your idiom, instead, expressing more clearly through an emotion of being, forming waves of conscious vibration, waiting for some connection to be attained and secured.    Listen deeply, feel intensely, connect earnestly, allowing the message to move through you, before you rush to chip away at it in words, realizing, someday you will communicate so much deeper, fuller. No reason to feel anxious or slighted, if the reception is unclear, know God is always expressing, learn to listen, all that is needed is one magnificent drop.  NOE G. 6.3.2012 8:00 AM <hr /> THE FIRST LANGUAGE NEW THOUGHT NOTE FOR THE DAY  Although God communicates with us through our own language, expressing in the terms and idioms and icons, we most understand perhaps God’s language, is the first language of sincere expression, primarily vibrational, emotional, intentional as the note below conveys; and we – if we really listen with our full hearts are capable of translating this communication into our own words and symbols. Perhaps, our literal brain-ware has been engineered to translate  this God message, and does so, if we will intently listen, with faith, for its song.   THE FIRST LANGUAGE - MEDITATION GUIDANCE Within deep consciousness, we speak in emotions, vibrations, intentions rather than words that require learning and translation; we speak the first language of sincere expression – feeling – the intensity of expression spoke with and through the heart; moving via the heartlight; sounding and resounding and rebounding and reverberating through time and levels of space – across dimensions: this is the communication, the language of the cosmos – listen intently, heart-focused, and it is possible to hear the sounds of aware life expressing,  listen even more complete and the messages will find expression within and through you, as they have and continue to do, as this note validates. Today, again place your ear to the tracks of the cosmos, listen for its song - sonorous and lush. NOE G. 4.4.2017 <hr /> CLOSING AFFIRMATIONS As we discussed, affirmations are positive statements announcing to God – Universal Mind – and to our subconscious mind, how we view the world, and what we expect to occur during the day, or in our life. It is a powerful way to use the Law of Attraction to frame our reality and set positive expectations. The two affirmations shared below, titled Cocreation and Ready To Receive, will help us prepare to tap into, and use the creative powers we have just discussed. We will top it off with an Affirmative Thought titled, Visions Of Dreams Obtained.   COCREATION I am able to manifest and cocreate into the physical world, anything I want, need, or desire. I am able to do, be, or obtain anything I want to focus my thoughts on manifesting.    READY TO RECEIVE Thank you, God, for I know you have already solved the problem, and I am willing to receive.    VISIONS OF DREAMS OBTAINED -         AFFIRMATIVE THOUGHT Today fill your mind with visions     of dreams obtained, desires fulfilled, goals accomplished, challenges overcome –     visualizing the intended or desired end result, rather than the details of each step     on the path to actual attainment.   Today fill your heart with the emotions     and feelings of the joy hoped for, the happiness encountered, the peace     and serenity of life subdued, the love felt and found in a heaven of your     own making.   Today fill your life with the qualities     of authentic being – the energy and the pure enthusiasm of living on purpose,     being in the zone of constant fulfillment –     the resonance of a vibration whole, solid,     complete and divine – all already present within you, waiting for you to arrive today.             AT G. 8.31.2012     </div> CONSIDER A DONATION TO SUPPORT THE FREE ACCESS TO ALL  FINDING GOD ON THE TRAIN STORY POSTS AND BOOKS VIA PAYPAL AND MANAGED BY OUR OWN G DOT PUBLISHING VENTURES LLC <div style="text-align: center;"><form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post" target="_top"><input name="cmd" type="hidden" value="_s-xclick" /> <input name="hosted_button_id" type="hidden" value="MQAGXRV9GHX2W" /> <input alt="Donate with PayPal button" name="submit" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_donateCC_LG.gif" title="PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!" type="image" /> <img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" /></form></div> IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO CONTINUE READING THE CRYSTAL PATH - BOOK ONE OF THE FINDING GOD ON THE TRAIN SERIES, EACH BOOK CHAPTER IS OFFERED IN THE FORM OF A BLOG POST AND ACCESSIBLE BY CLICKING THE APPROPRIATE CHAPTER TITLE  ON THE RIGHT-HAND SIDE-BAR OF THIS BLOG OR GO TO THE FOLLOWING LINK <a href="https://www.findinggodonthetrain.com/book_one_the_crystal_path/2019/01/chapter-six-.html" title="https://www.findinggodonthetrain.com/book_one_the_crystal_path/2019/01/chapter-six-.html">https://www.findinggodonthetrain.com/book_one_the_crystal_path/2019/01/chapter-six-.html</a>

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Monday, January 07, 2019

CHAPTER FOUR - CONNECTING WITH GOD ON THE TRAIN - PART ONE - MY SPIRITUAL AND LIFE JOURNEY - BOOK ONE - THE CRYSTAL PATH - THE FINDING GOD ON THE TRAIN STORY - NOTES ON ENLIGHTENMENT - THE QUEST FOR A POSITIVE, PERSONAL, AND CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUALITY

<a class="asset-img-link" href="https://www.findinggodonthetrain.com/.a/6a0120a4f9a0cb970b022ad3cb9062200b-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="DSC_1207" border="0" class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a0120a4f9a0cb970b022ad3cb9062200b image-full img-responsive" src="https://www.findinggodonthetrain.com/.a/6a0120a4f9a0cb970b022ad3cb9062200b-800wi" title="DSC_1207" /></a> PART ONE MY SPIRITUAL AND LIFE JOURNEY  CHAPTER FOUR  -  CONNECTING WITH GOD ON THE TRAIN     CARVING GOD                                                                   I whittle away slowly, meticulously, carving piece by piece from the solid chunk of my soul – chipping, slicing my way to the spirit of God within.   Like the sculptor who lets the stone reveal the image, I let the art of God guide my hands, shaping, smoothing, chopping, caressing my way to the Divine.   JANUARY MORNING It is a wet Friday morning – 6:45 AM - January 21 to be exact - as I move through the Fredericksburg Station, watching the pigeons as they seek protection from the rain, with my umbrella still opened in one hand, with my case wheeling behind me, as I approach the ramp up to Track 3.  Ann has gotten out of bed at 6:30 AM to drive me to the train, and on the way, attempted to inspire me by joyfully singing “I got the love of Jesus, love of Jesus down in my heart.” As I make my way through the station, I find myself whistling the melody of this positive hymn. On the platform, I chat with John, one of my fellow commuters, asking if the track announcement has been made, and he confirms I am on the right track. Our conversation centers on the rain and when I will be able to take my Christmas lights down. The cast of Amtrak characters has changed since the March morning I started this book, most notably, Ron the architect, who was a brilliant conversationalist, was laid off in December and disappeared.  I recently found out he has a new job and no longer takes the Amtrak. I miss the lively banter that Ron brought to the platform.  Down the track, through the rain, we can hear the rumble of the train in the distance, and finally, around the bend, we watch the flickering headlights cut through the darkness as the horn blasts twice. The tracks reflect the lights as the train pulls up. Near the end of the platform, the conductor sets out the yellow step-up stool, and with my fellow travelers, I board as the conductor repeats, “watch out, it is slippery.”  I make my way to the back of the train, which is my habit, but stop in one of the updated train cars with plush, roomy seats, usually reserved for the business class, or the trains that run to Florida. Since it is a more modern car, it fills up fast with the chatterers, and I move to the back of the train to find a quieter place to meditate. As I write, I realize that it has been over ten months since I began the journey of writing this book, recording my train trip of March 15, which now opens Chapter One – God’s Wake-Up Call. During this time, I have had and recuperated from Pituitary Brain surgery, met my grandchild - Christian, and learned the basics of Blogging. With the encouragement of Ann, I set up my Blog - Finding God On The Train - Notes On Enlightenment, which may be where you are now reading this chapter unless the book has been published.  This chapter focuses on the methods and approaches I have used to connect with God on the train directly, and brings the story of Part One – My Spiritual And Life Journey, more spiritually current, recognizing that all of the proceeding steps have led me to find god on the train. I hope to explain and explore my connection with God, and by using my experience as a guide, inspire others who are seeking a personal spiritual connection. I say this with the understanding that, each of us, will have our own unique and distinct personal connection with God: each of us, will have a different approach and style of contact and will receive messages that pertain to our unique beliefs and quest. To augment this, I would also like to highlight my actual train experience by sharing snippets of my daily commutes.  During this initial period of writing, my concept of the book has also evolved, as I have become more attuned to my own divinely inspired guidance, along with incorporating what is of interest to my blog readers. I hope you will bear with me as I open myself up to divine inspiration, in a sense, co-authoring the book with God. Most importantly, to any spiritual journey, I have continued to learn a great deal about my life, my God, and myself.  We will leave Fredericksburg behind, traveling east along the CSX Railroad track line leased by Amtrak and the VRE Commuter Train, with the passenger and commuter trains competing with the long, large, and loud CSX Freight Trains. We climb, heading north through the small town of Brooke, and cross the Aquia Creek, meandering our way through some of the most scenic countrysides Virginia has to offer, heading to the Potomac River, and the Virginia/Maryland border, at the river’s edge. The sheer beauty of the trip, peaceful, serene, and full of panoramic forest and water scenes, overwhelms non-commuters and commuters alike. I am alone now, and it is my time to prepare for what I call meditative prayer, which is a combination that I have found to be very effective in connecting with God. PREPARATION FOR PRAYER AND MEDITATION Learning to pray and meditate effectively, is at the center of my spiritual time spent on the train. Although I have spent countless hours praying to God as a Methodist, a Jew – and later as an Episcopalian -  I was never very adept at prayer. My training, regarding prayer, had been centered on thanking God or asking God for something, which I found most useful in times of fear and worry. I would often ask God to keep something from occurring in my life, to spare me, or to assist in saving me. For the most part, prayer was for Sunday mornings. As an Episcopalian, in my adult years, this was made even more mechanical with the use of the Book of Common Prayer, where all the prayers for the Sunday service were provided, and you were instructed when to say each silently, or in unison. Jewish religious services were quite similar, also using a prayer book, except in Hebrew, which, I believe, set the tone for the Christian prayer books used by the Catholics and the Episcopalians. Overall, I never fully understood what to pray or what to expect. Surely, I was never prepared for or expected a direct answer or communication. I was OK with the concept that God worked in mysterious ways, helping out or assisting if able. As a result, I found prayer to be a Sunday thing, never expecting it to be very fulfilling or meaningful. Meditation was even more difficult and perplexing for me, and it seemed somewhat mystical. I knew, from what I had heard about Transcendental Meditation, that a Mantra was needed to quiet the “monkey mind,” as the Buddhists call it, or often referred to as the “mind chatter,” which is running an endless loop of nonsense in our heads. This chatter, by the way, emanates from a few cells in the left hemisphere of our brains, whose job it is to interpret our reality, thus keeping a constant story going of potential issues in our lives. They are a creative group of cells that will embellish on reality, creating a whole false scenario, thus keeping our attention, if needed. In Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor’s book,  My Stroke of Insight, A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey, you can learn about the monkey mind cells, and the amazing functioning of the brain, from a brain scientist’s personal experience with a stroke. Returning to the point, which is: meditation assists you in quieting your mind chatter and entering into the silence. Although I had read extensively about meditation in the past, I never could quite master it as a daily practice. My mind was not to be quiet, and I would just stop trying. Another issue was that, besides a feeling of peace and oneness, I was never sure what it was I needed to accomplish. Back to the train and the spiritual time each morning I use to connect with God. Over the years, commuting on the train, I have dedicated over an hour of my morning commute time to focus on my spiritual life. I have had a chance to develop a prayer and meditation style that fits for me. This took at least six months before I was able to develop a system that worked.  I want to emphasize, your approach to prayer and meditation should be personalized, to fit your individual preferences, and what follows, should be used only as a guide. As I discuss the process and the techniques, I will refer to the books and guides I have found useful as I have progressed. I will also underscore, the conceptual approaches used by established religious New Thought organizations, such as Unity and Religious Science. But, before we start, let us understand what it is we do expect from prayer. Do we just want to let God know things are not going so well with our lives, and God needs to jump in and save us? Do we want to thank God for all God has done for us? Do we want something to change? Do we just need guidance and assistance? I believe God needs clarity to work with to understand what we need in our lives – a clear definition of God’s expected role in accomplishing our positive progress. But telling God what we do “not want,” does not express what we do want. This would be like telling a waiter, who requests our order, what we do not want. I believe, affirmative clarity, centering on exactly what it is we do need or expect, is the clearest way to communicate through prayer and meditation. Affirmative prayer is what this is called, and we will cover it in more depth, as we proceed.  Preparation for prayer and meditation requires that we move our focus from the physical world to the spiritual world. In our modern lives, this transition can be challenging and takes time. For me, with my hour and twenty-minute undisturbed train rides, I have a perfect environment, although a bit non-traditional. Likewise, to accomplish this, you will need time and space away from the physical world disturbances. If you are like me, this means your iPhone, Blackberry, and /or pager needs to be handled. I have all three, and I turn the ringers off, much to the chagrin of my clients at times. This is, my time, for rejuvenation and spiritual growth! You will also need a place where you will not be disturbed, or interrupted. On the train, I seek a spot away from my fellow passengers who are holding conversations or making noise. Although I do hear train noise, I have learned to incorporate the rumble of the train into my meditation, finding it quite soothing and comforting. When considering how much of my day I now spend in meditative prayer, I would suggest dedicating at least fifteen minutes, to begin with, seeing how it works for you. Of course,  as your prayer and meditation sessions become more involved, you may want to increase the amount of time you dedicate to your daily spiritual practice.   WHY BOTH PRAYER AND MEDITATION? I want to take a moment here to clarify why you might want to both pray and meditate, and not just do one or the other, which of course, is always your option; your choice for your spiritual growth.  Prayer, from my perspective, is your time to clarify with God (or Source or Infinite Intelligence or Divine Mind or Spirit or any term or phrase that best conveys the concept of God for you) what you want, need, or desire to happen in an affirmative way. With prayer, you are up to communicate and lay the groundwork – set the stage – and frame the request. Equally as important, during this time, you also frame your expectation for your subconscious mind by clearly outlining your expected outcomes, specifically, as if they exist in reality today. Your subconscious mind takes these positive affirmations as fact, framing them as “reality” in your mind. In this type of prayer, you are preparing God at the same time as you are focusing your mind. During meditation, you give God a chance to provide you with guidance, feedback, and assistance. I believe that God is connected with you at all times, and if you can be silent, or “enter the silence,” as many spiritual seekers describe this state, God will respond to you directly. Overall, what I am suggesting here, is to communicate with God effectively, you need to both talk and listen. Honestly, this took me several months of praying to find out. I finally realized that God was not responding because I never gave God a chance. I was too busy talking. I needed to listen. So this is why, a blended session, including prayer and meditation, has been so powerful for me, and is what I recommend. TRANSITIONING TO THE SPIRITUAL WORLD Effective mental transitioning from the physical to the spiritual world is assisted by preparing your mind for prayer and meditation; basically, getting into the mood for the experience.  When I first started on this path, I had not discovered the abundance of spiritual literature that exists through the New Thought movement and the other spiritual writers just mentioned in Chapter Three. I focused on positive thinking and attitude improvement books, such as Jeffrey Gitomer’s, Little Golden Book of YES Attitude, which I would re-read every day, following his lead when he suggested reading positive thinking greats, such as, Dale Carnegie, Napoleon Hill, and Dr. Norman Vincent Peale. So as time went on, I added a morning dose of Dale Carnegie’s success focused book - How To Win Friends & Influence People, then moved on to Napoleon Hill’s books, Think and Grow Rich, and Keys to Success. My first exposure into more traditional New Thought concepts came by way of Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, as I mentioned in Chapter Three, who in the 1950s published a bestseller titled, The Power of Positive Thinking, which I consider the world’s first modern mass marketed prescription of New Thought concepts and techniques, including affirmative prayer, and even a form of silent meditation.   The Power of Positive Thinking was The Secret of its time and touched on most of the topics approached in The Secret, or any New Thought work, I have read since. At the time, I had no idea that I was being exposed to the framework of New Thought, but I enjoyed Dr. Peale’s focus on God, which stressed our ability to connect with God in our lives. Today, I realize that Peale was one of the New Thought leaders of the 20th century, although he never mentioned the phrase. For a special treat, pick up the CD of the original audio recording of the book by Peale. As I discovered the New Thought spiritual world, I began to set the stage for my day, and my daily meditation and prayer sessions, by reading Unity Church’s Daily Word along with the Science of Mind, A Guide to Spiritual Living magazine, published by the Church of Religious Science. Both are monthly publications offering a daily spiritual message with quotations from a wide range of spiritual writers. Most churches have similar daily guides and support materials, and as long as they are positive, read these to prepare for your meditation and prayer sessions. Now, as an experienced New Thought oriented meditator, my lineup of spiritual reading has become quite varied, as over the years I have added what works for me, altering each as needed to add variety. In Chapter Three, I mentioned Dr. Ernest Holmes and his New Thought spiritual textbook, Science Of Mind, and I have added a daily reading from 365 Science Of Mind – A Year of Daily Wisdom From Ernest Holmes, edited by Kathy Juline. To add a Buddhist mindfulness focus to my preparation, I read another daily devotional titled Your True Home – The Every Day Wisdom of Thich Nhat Hanh, compiled and edited by Melvin McLeod.  I would also strongly suggest considering a daily reading from a wonderful compilation of spiritual masterpieces tilted Timeless Wisdom - Passages for Meditation From The World’s Saints And Sages, by spiritual scholar Eknath Easwaran. Depending on my focus at the time, I also add a brief daily reading, selected randomly, from one of the following spiritual texts of India, all available with excellent translations by Eknath Easwaran - The Upanishads, The Bhagavad Gita, or The Dhammapada.  I end my spiritual reading with one or more poems from my favorite books of spiritual poetry. First, Rainer Maria Rilke, one of the twentieth century’s greatest poets, who while visiting Russia was overcome by the simple spirituality he encountered, and upon returning home to Germany, was divinely inspired to write his most famous poetic work, The Book Of Hours - a testament to the divine, reflecting his deep connection and intimacy with God. I use, and highly recommend, the English translation by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy titled, Rilke’s Book of Hours – Love Poems To God. My day would not be complete without reading from The Gift - Poems By Hafiz The Great Sufi Master – translations by Daniel Ladinsky. Recently, I have added a poem from a compilation of the works of the world’s great mystics, representing diverse spiritual paths, also translated by Daniel Ladinsky and titled, Love Poems From God – Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West. I am sure you have or will find, other poets that speak to you spiritually. Again, the key here is to find what works for you, so let your heart and soul take the lead. The train keeps rolling northeast and meets the Potomac as the CSX tracks follow the natural curve of the river,  moving into the Wide Water area where the Potomac expands to the widest section on its movement to Washington, DC. The train moves at full steam, or diesel, with the forest on the left, and the Potomac on the right, expanding under the new light of day. I truly feel this is one of the most beautiful areas of Virginia, as the train rumbles towards Quantico, Virginia - the home of the Marine Corps Base and the FBI Training Center - and I hear as the conductor shouts out,  “Quantico, next,” and the train prepares to make its first stop. USING POSITIVE AFFIRMATIONS When I am finished with my inspirational reading, I have added a step which you may wish to consider, and this is the verbal reading, out loud if possible, of positive affirmations. As we have discussed, affirmations are positive statements announcing to God – universal mind – and our subconscious mind, how we view the world, and what we expect to occur during the day. This is a powerful way to use the Law of Mind Action, or Attraction, to frame our reality and set positive expectations.  I will go into more detail on how to write positive affirmations in Book Two, but before I begin to pray/meditate daily, I recite a number of affirmations that I feel are most appropriate for the day, including affirmations on abundance, loving kindness, health, healing, positive mental attitude, confidence, memory, organization skills, and a host of other topics. I also include some affirmations focused on the completion of current projects and tasks, which promote immediate action or staying organized, because I do work, and these affirmations help me focus on doing the best job possible.  I usually kick off my spiritual session with an expansive and very comprehensive affirmation I offered at the close of the introduction to this book titled Today I AM - it is an excellent affirmation for starting off your daily practice. You may want to consider making it a habit of reciting the Today I AM affirmation out loud each day if you find it helpful and relevant. Another example is my Abundance affirmation listed below, which reflects the reality I want to manifest, even if, it is not always fully evident in my current life. Affirmations provide excellent spiritual and personal benefits, and where helpful, I will continue to provide an affirmation that I have found success with at the end of each chapter.                                        ABUNDANCE Through God, the world supplies my every financial, spiritual,  and emotional need, want, or desire, and when appropriate, provides even what I am at this time, unaware of, but need to progress. The bounty of my life creates joy in knowing that if I ask, or think, or dream, it will be given. Financially, I have an abundance of money, wealth, and assets. I pay my bills and obligations, give substantial amounts to those in need, and have significant amounts in reserve. I am able to purchase the house, cars, clothes, furnishings, and education that I want, need, or desire, without concern. I am wealthy beyond my imagination. I am abundant. I am grateful.   BEGINNING OUR MEDITATIVE PRAYER SESSION  Now we are ready to begin our meditative prayer session. We will need to review a few simple techniques to put ourselves into a good meditative state and to quiet our minds for the session. I only first, fully understood meditation after reading Deepak Chopra’s excellent book The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire. Part Two of the book is titled Paving Destiny’s Path, offering a section on Meditation and mantras, highlighting an easy to understand guide on how to meditate. The mantra Deepak uses and recommends; the one I often still use effectively today, is the “so–hum” mantra. What I do is; close my eyes, and as I inhale deeply I sound out the word “so,” and on exhaling, I sound out the word “hum.” This allows me to focus on my breath as I inhale, saying “so,” and as I exhale, saying “hum.”  It is also an option to verbalize the “so-hum” in your mind, if you prefer, or if you are not in a place where you can say it out loud. The use of the “so–hum” mantra forces a focus on the breath, quieting the chatter in your mind, and in a short time, putting you into a meditative state. If I cannot quiet my mind with “so–hum,” I have often used Wayne Dyer’s Joppa Meditation, as outlined in his gem of a book, Getting in the Gap, Making Conscious Contact with God through Meditation. The one I use is based on the Lord’s Prayer, and I highly recommend its use when your mind will just not settle down. With Joppa, we use the “Ah” sound - which is used by many spiritual seekers as the sound for God - in a meditation using the Lord’s Prayer. The technique I use is to say “Ahhhhhhhh,” to fill the gap between the words of the prayer. I first say, “Our Father,” and then mentally, I fill the gap, or space, in my mind, after “Our,” and before “Father,” with a fully exhaled “Ahhhhhhhhh,” done three times to extinguish all the air, and again forcing me to focus on my breathing. Usually by the time I finish the Gap between “Who Art,” I am in a deep meditative state and ready to pray. Of course, this technique would work with any spiritual material that has meaning for you. For an in-depth and fairly exhaustive study of meditation techniques, centering on clearing your mind, or what is also termed Mindfulness,  I would suggest Jon Kabat-Zinn’s book titled Coming To Our Senses – Healing Ourselves and the World Through Mindfulness. This book is based on Kabat-Zinn’s work over the past thirty years at the Stress Reduction Center and Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, located at the University of Massachusetts Hospital and Medical School.  At the core of Mindfulness is our ability to silence our thoughts, clear our minds, and focus on our senses through meditation. Clearing the mind is what we are after to create the silence. Depending on my mind chatter, and/or preoccupation with the physical world, the “so–hum” and Joppa mantras prepare me for meditation in a few minutes. I have found these techniques so much more effective than jumping right into the meditative prayer session. Throughout the book, I will share blog posts that I feel support the material and add something to the discussion. The blog post below titled Alive In This Moment,  published July 6, 2010, highlights an opening prayer that I was instructed to memorize and use whenever I prepared to meditate. I have followed this guidance, finding it very effective when preparing to meditate, and possibly, you will also find it useful in your preparation.   <hr /> ALIVE IN THIS MOMENT - PRAYER/POEM – NEW THOUGHT NOTE FOR DAY I have been expanding my meditation sessions to do some experimenting, seeing if I can get a little deeper and a little more connected. Near the end of a pleasant forty-five-minute meditation, I received a message in the silence that simply whispered, “memorize this prayer.”  When I get a message, I try to remember the first few lines, and when I finish the session, I reach for my Moleskine journal, record the line I remember, and then transcribe whatever comes to mind without editing. The first section came as a directive:      Memorize this prayer and say it until these words     are written on your heart – inscribed within your     soul and you are one with its rhythm and rhyme. Here is the prayer that I then transcribed. I plan to take the advice and put it to memory, using it as an opening whenever I meditate. ALIVE IN THIS MOMENT  In this moment now I am fully alive – my blood flowing strongly through my veins – I am all senses alert – full of the substance of life. I see the wonder of the Universal soul – I smell the fragrance of beauty – of reverence – I feel the satin of cosmic flesh polished smooth with the brilliance of everlasting life. I taste the symphony of flavors of perfect life alive, refreshing, bursting with a taste beyond comprehension. I envision in my mind the lavender splendor of a universal landscape and seek the portal to all grace, to all-knowing, to all love and peace. I am alive in this moment now - all that is – is now. I am the sense of all creation in search of my universal home, my divine self, my purposeful life.   POEM G. 7.16.2010                <hr /> LORD, HEAR MY PRAYER At this time, my mantra changes, and I use a more traditional phrase, “Lord, hear my prayer.” I repeat this numerous times to open my prayer session while focusing on the rhythm of my breathing. “Lord, hear my prayer,” repeating it a few more times, and then I begin every session with thanks and gratitude. Each morning I begin with thanks and gratitude for all I have and all I have been given. Yes, this is the time I thank the Lord for all that I have received, expressing how grateful I am for my life, my love, my job, my breath, my abundance, and all the other wonders God provides my family and me. I may simply state it as - “Thank you Lord for this train seat that provides me comfort, for this train carrying me to my job,  for this opportunity to pray, for my health and the health of my family, for the issue you resolved for me yesterday. Yes, thank you, God for being with me through the day, for your guidance, and your love.” If I asked for guidance or assistance and received it the prior day, I give thanks. I thank God for my job, my loving partner, my great church, and my wonderful children. During this time I realize and feel grateful for the abundance of my life and the joy of having God included.  Once thanks are given, and I am in a receptive mood, I like to establish my connection with Universal Mind, or the Infinite Intelligence of God. In New Thought, terms such as Universal Mind, Divine Mind, Creative Mind or Infinite Intelligence are often used as synonyms for God, similar to names like Spirit or Source, which are also used, rather than saying, God. I also use these terms to signify the personal connection of my mind with God’s universal mind, or if we look at this in modern system terms, we might say the Divine Internet. I simply state the following: “I affirm and establish now that I am connected with God and infinite intelligence.” As I mention this, I realize I need to discuss my approach to prayer. For me, J. Douglas Bottorff’s A Practical Guide to Meditation and Prayer, which follows the Unity prayer tradition, has been a great guide, one of the more profound and effective books on prayer I have read. The concept here is that we need to clearly affirm what we do want, and expect, from our prayer requests. So before most prayer statements, I have added a brief phrase, saying the following: “I affirm and establish now.” With this phrase, I not only affirm that my statement is true, but by adding “establish it now,”  I am affirming to God that this affirmative prayer statement is now true and active. To me, this clears up any confusion for God, and more importantly for my subconscious mind. I consider this affirmative prayer request: occurring - now, established - now, and true - now.  I believe this is much more effective than saying – “I wish, or someday I would like, or if possible, or would you please make this happen.” If this sounds too bold for you, or mechanical, it is your option to leave it off, but I would recommend that you focus on declarative statements with clear expectations. As a result, the line, “Affirm and Establish Now,” gets added to most of my affirmations and requests to God. Let’s move back into our meditation, where we want to be sure to stay focused and in our meditative prayer state. We have established our connection with God, and we are ready to continue the session. If stray thoughts or chatter are breaking in, always go back to focusing on your breathing, and reintroduce “so–hum” until you are ready to proceed. At this point, I do ask God to be with me throughout the day, guide my actions, give me strength, help me resolve the issues of the day, and be my companion. Although I believe that God is with us at all times, I find it comforting to make this clear as my first request. I move on to affirm my expectation for the day, and what I would like to accomplish. <p style="text-align: justi

FINDING GOD ON THE TRAIN STORY BLOG - NOTES ON ENLIGHTENMENT

Chronicles my twelve plus year quest for a positive, personal, and contemplative spirituality, highlighting my experiences connecting with God while commuting on the train to Washington, DC, with a focus on sharing my divinely inspired guidance on this blog and related social media sites.

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