Question about Religion

“… I was baptized Christian when I was only two months old. I go to Sunday church often with my parents but I don’t feel a real connection with Christianity,  for me it is all about tradition… I have read the Bible, but the words felt so outdate, boring and even difficult to understand at times (though I consider myself well educated)… also I tried to find more information from the internt attempting to decifer what Christianity is all about, but failed. There are so much of 'mumble jumble' out there in the social media which have made me feel more confused than ever … Could you please give me some insight about this religion thing? Are there any real substances in the religious beliefs? Or is it all just a big fat lie? ...’

      You told me that your parents are devoted Christian, but it doesn’t necessarily make you a devotee by default too.  You shouldn’t feel guilty or shamed if you are not a believer or a believer of something else.  In my opinion, there is something pretty depressing with our human society- Metaphorically speaking, as if we were born eagles, soaring sky should be our innate nature. But we are being gradually ‘nurtured’ into believing that we are just ordinary chickens who are bounded to the herds and bounded to the ground helplessly, soaring sky is just somewhat silly dream… So who has cut away our wings?! What has taken away our dreams?!...

     We shall never forget, that we are spiritual beings who are having physical experiences, instead we are physical beings who are having spiritual experiences sometimes. Spirituality is a divine gift bestowed upon every soul- the spiritual connection to the Most High, to the Universe and to each other... It is coded in our soul remembrance waiting to be activated. Spirituality does not originated from any religion but originated directly from our soul. Religions are merely the materialized forms of spirituality, as being said, souls’ expressions. As I see it, soul’s freedom to express is primary, the forms in religion or other spiritual practices are secondary. When human’s ego sets in, things can be turned upside down- Being a free spirited soul incarnated on earth, yet does not have the freedom to express its divine nature due to all forms of man-made suppressions and manipulations, how frustrating is that?! how tragic is that?!

     Thus in my opinion, religious preferences should not be passed on from parents to children like some kind of inheritance. Children at their younger ages should be encouraged to have an open mind towards different religions and spiritual practices(which will probably help to reduce the religion related prejudices and fanaticism), then the children should be given total freedom to choose what to believe or not to believe, as long as it is resonated with their heart and harmonized with their own chosen path, it should be accepted and respected by both the parents and the society. Otherwise, this whole religion thing, without this fundamental freedom of choosing of its own soul expression, would be totally pointless and meaningless! Sometimes I don’t understand the rigidities in people, why would it be so wrong that parents are Christian and their child Buddhist or Muslim?! If God loves all His/Her creations, every human, every animal, every leaf, every sun ray… and God brought us all together here so we souls in human forms can experience both the richness of diversities of life given by Him/Her, and the greatness of unity consciouness in all things bonded by Him/Her… but what is within us which make us feel the need to separate ourselves from everyone and everything else, in the excuses of different skin colors, in the excuses of different beliefs, even in the excuses of God's name?!...

       You expressed that there are so many contradictory information and theories out there, you don’t know what to believe … I share your concern and frustration, because it is not easy any more to discern the truthfulness of an information since many false and manipulated information in the social media has already become one of today's new norms. I can share with you my view but you need to keep in mind:Truth is subjective term with human conditionings, what I have accepted as my truth may not be your truth.

        Just as an example, you were made Christian outwardly, but what does that mean to you inwardly? What would you like to believe?What is your inner voice? Old Testament or New Testament? Are those four offically chosen Gospels in the Bible by the Roman emperor Constantine’s council appealing to you ? Or, the esoteric  Gospel of Thomas and other early Christian Gnostic manuscripts discovered near Nag Hammadi in 1945 may be more satisfying to your soul's thirst? Which version of Jesus's teaching resonates more with your heart and soul? ... I know it is tricky, but your own soul is your best guiding light, so make friend with yourself, your innerest self! Don't you ever think as it is said in the Bible ' ...Ask and it will be given to you; Seek and you will find' without hard work! The path you choose will be yours, whatever you choose to accept into you mind/heart will eventually become you, so do choose carefully and wisely…

        Have you heard about the ‘Killing Buddha’ story? In the ninth century a fierce and uncompromising Zen master Linji said to his disciples: ‘If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.’ What an insult to the great Buddha, many were angered! But I don’t think an enlightened being like Gautam Buddha would mind being ‘killed’ by Linji, metaphorically speaking of course, instead I think he would be happy that finally someone like Master Linji understood the essence of his teaching instead of turning him into a religious festish, just for the sake of worship… because Buddha taught his disciples the same thing: ‘Believe nothing, no matter where you read, or who has said, not even if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.’

       You see, those are the great egoless masters, the real enlightened beings! Regardless whether they were from the East or the West; Regardless whether they lived in the ancient times or in the new modern eras; Regardless how differently they may have appeared to people; they all are different yet the same, their consciousness are vibrating on the same level- you may call it Christ consciousness or Cosmic consciousness. Therefore despite of all the differences from the outer looks, their core messages and their essential teachings are identical- all about unity consciousness; all about self-mastery of body, mind and spirit; all about self-healing and self empowerment; all about transformation; all about freedom and unconditional love… because that is universal truth, that is what I have accepted as my own truth as well-the only truth! Thus any religion creates separation among people instead of unifying people can not be my religion; Any spiritual guru can’t inspire people to be freer and more empowered in themselves, and less depended on even his/her guruship can’t be my guru; Any holy man make people more fearful and sinful, more of 'chickens' instead of 'eagles' can not owe its  holiness in my heart; … So this is my chosen version of truth, what is yours?... Good Luck with your seeking!

*(P.S. Question has been slightly edited for the protection of its privacy.)

Questions

  

       I am going to take some time to answer some of my readers’ questions. It is not possible for me to answer to everyone with every question. Names are anonymous here for the protection of privacy. I may answer your questions in a longer or a shorter fashion, which has nothing do with my opinion of the importance of the question, simply because I prefer to work with letting the words occurring to me in a more nature manner than a more forceful manner.  Sometimes maybe few words are more than enough, so why ‘painting some extra legs to a snake’, just for the sake of painting?! I don't want to do that.

Question:"...Recently I was called ‘Chinese virus’ by a man in a grocery shop due to my Asian look even though I have never lived in China. This incident made me very upset and even started to feel afraid to go out… it seems people filled with fear and hatred…”   

            I am sorry to hear about your incident. We all fear at times. Fear can bring out many negative and shadow sides even the worst within us. It seems that there is little we can change how the world is, how the people are. But at least there is much space to change our ways and reactions to the people and the world around us. Like the sun, though it doesn’t receive gratitude from us, but it shines on us anyway. Try to focus less on the darkness of the others but more on the light of yours; Try to focus less on re-living the past but more in the present…There is a well known Buddhist parable about two monks:

A senior monk and a junior monk were travelling together. At one point, they came to a river with a strong current. As the monk were preparing to cross the river, they saw a very young and beautiful woman also attempting to cross. The young woman asked if they could help her cross to the other side. The two monks glanced at one another because they had take vows not to touch a woman. Then, without a word, the older monk picked up the woman, carried her across the river, placed her gently on the other side, and carried on his journey. The younger monk could not believe what had just happened. After rejoining his companion, he was speechless, and a hour passed without a word between them. Two more hours passed, then three, finally the younger monk could not contain himself any longer, and blurted out ”As monks, we are not permitted to touch woman, how could you then carry that woman on your shoulders?’’ The older monk looked at him and replied‘Brother, I set her down on the other side of the river, why are you still carrying her? ’’

You see, it is time for you to put down that man who has upset you as well, why are you still carrying him around?! Putting down does not mean that you should be passively swallow and tolerant other’s bullshit. I highly respect Jesus’s teachings about compassion and non-violence, but ‘ turning the other cheek’ is not really my thing even though I understand his concern about our human’s ability of defending ourselves in certain justice manners without jeopardizing unnecessary negative karma upon ourselves…because for souls, karma is real thing. Whoever has done you wrong, whatever  the wrongdoings, big or small, are registered in his/her akashic soul records unmistakably and inescapably. Though I don't believe there is a wrathful God who will judge your deeds and sentence you to some horrifying hells to repent accordingly, it is more likely your own soul will be seeking for justice, to right the wrongs, in your next incarnation, or the one after and after. Your soul would like to be incarnated in a position of being bullied in this case, so enable the lesson to be learned by feeling and understanding what is like to be bullied in order to balance out the karmic scales…So please have some faith, even though you don’t see the immediate justice done at this very moment, but believe in your soul that justice will be served always , in one form or another!

So ‘turning the other cheek’ if you feel like; So stand up and defend yourself if you feel like, but don't seek revenge. Keep your karma clean, let the Universe balance out those energies... Whatever it has happened, or could have, should have or shouldn't have happened are the past tenses now, so it is time for you to let it go just like that senior monk- when it is done, leave it be done!

Question: "...I think I am having middle age crisis right now. I feel that I have not accomplished anything, not specially successful in my career, not have enough money in my bank account… my life seems so ordinary and insignificant comparing to others …it is very depressing…”

               What is the success to you- money? wealth? status? a happy family? good friends?...  For some, having one is enough to make them feel successful and satisfied; For others, having it all is not enough to make them feel successful and satisfied. So what is your idea of success? And are you sure that is really your own idea? You see, how illusory those are already in comparison with one another, which indicates there is no definite definition of success,  All the thoughts, ideas, concepts belong to the mental world, they come and go like the passing clouds. Unfortunately, today most people live in their mind due to the one-sided promotions of mental ability in almost all the established school systems. Those ideas become crystalized and solidified by the mental projections from our minds through exercising the constant competitions, comparisons and giving each other the validations, so they appear so real to our ego mind, but they are nothing but purely rubbish and delusional to our souls. Your soul did not come here for the purpose of being successful, of being rich and famous, because it knows too well how all the glamour, all the fame and all the successes are nothing but mirages in the moment of physical death, even the greatness of leaving one’s name in the history book means nothing to your soul! Because your soul doesn't bond to the earthly, three dimensional exsitence, it is your physical body together with your ego mind is bonded to this 'reality' as the only reality you have known ,your soul knows the truth, so are the other souls - 'we are neither our mind or our success''. But of course the game goes on as long as ego goes on, but you don't have to play along with the game! Measure your success not by what it may look to the others nor what the others may expect of you but solely by how happy and how free you feel... Because, in the end your soul concerns only for its authentic experiences and expressions through its physical vessel – good or bad, success or failure all has its experimental value to your soul’s journey! So stop listening to the outer world there how you should be successful(3D concepts) instead of listening to the deep calling of your soul before it is too late- you are here simply for some rides, so do enjoy the rides!

Coronavirus Fear

           

               Coronavirus is spreading cross the world, so is the fear. The coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan city has not only caused the shut down of the entire Wuhan city but also has affected the entire Hubei province with about 58 million population in many unimaginable ways, physically and even more painfully mentally. I have heard stories after stories about people who are associated with Hubei province, despite of they living in or outside of Hubei province have become the targets of harassments, discriminations and ill treatments like being discharged from their jobs; being refused to check in hotels; their kids being bullied in schools; being distanced by their relatives; being cursed evil; their dignities being tramped and reduced from a human being to a virus… It must be already hard enough for those people affected to deal with the severe impacts from the outbreaks of the virus upon their normal lives, but those kinds of behaviors or treatments with lacking of basic sympathy and compassion especially from one’s own fellow countrymen must be more devastating than the virus itself…

            Of course there is no way for me to validate the truthfulness of all the stories. But I know how things work in China and I also know too well of the psychological effects of fear on people- Chinese or not Chinese. It is almost ironic in a way: Within China people are paranoid towards Hubei people; Within Asian outside of China, people are paranoid towards all the people from China (There are already many ongoing outright anti-Chinese sentiment ’inspired’ by the Coronavirus in many Asian countries like Japan, South Korea etc., for example, some shops even putting up ‘No Chinese’ signs… Have people forgetten that most of we Asian descendants like Japanese, Koreans share the common ancestors- Han Chinese?!) I am not here to blame anyone, but to highlight the tragic reality what fear can do to people, even  those normal decent people. Thus, it is not so difficult to predict that soon the whole world will be paranoid not only towards all the Asian looking people but also towards each other…

           Looking back at the human history, what fear has done to us? What we have done to each other because of fear-annihilation of Jews? long time discrimination against black people? singling out certain ethnic groups?... Are we going to repeat the history and same behaviors over and over again? Are we humans so incapable of learning the lesson and overcoming those deep-seated fear related patterns?! When a fear strikes in, do we just let our biological fight-flight response taking over us or do we have some courage to look behind the fear? What is behind the fear monster really- traumatic memories from the past? distrust between each other? Or picking up some fearful vibes from the people around us? Or simply fearful for the fear itself?

             For me, the fear of losing my integrity or my humanity is much greater than the fear of any virus danger. Virus causes sickness in the physical body, while fear causes the longer-lasting-effect sickness in the mental body and even to the soul. As the greatest Chinese sage Laotzu says: ‘ There is no illusion greater than fear.’ Fear is NOT real, but it has become so real in the projections of human minds- those projections are based on our past experiences both individually and collectively. Unfortunately there were so many traumatized experiences being experienced in the human history due to the manipulations of the fear in one form or another, by sharing those common negative experiences, by validating each others’ fears, so its energy became so powerful and thus crystalized deeply in human’s psyche which make us experience the real fears... But illusion is illusion after all , illusion does not become more real just because of being validated by everyone; and it definitely doesn’t justify any fear-based wrongdoings or injustices in the past, because danger may be real but fear is a choice, always!

             Our bodies may tremble and shake in front of fear but our souls know nothing about fear. In the very very beginning, when the souls freewilled to participate this divine experiment in amnesiac 3D dimension even though the souls knew the risks of this experiment: amnesia from its own soul’s past, the downpulling of the heavier energies – it was warned that most of the 3D relationships and experiences were built to break and we were supposed to experience separation, loss, hurt and fear, yet that is not the purpose to break us but to push our souls to transcend- to seek for the unconditional love in HIM because what we have experienced otherwise; to seek for the ultimate peace and joy in HIM because what we have experienced otherwise; to seek for the unity and and the sense of belonging in HIM because what we have experienced otherwise… All those seemingly obstacles were there meant for the divine purpose of our soul evolutions- since we have used our free will out of the Source then by default we have to use our free will to find our way back to the Source … 

           But unfortunately our amnesiac and ignorant human minds seem incapable of conceiving this grand divine plan nor recognizing the purposeful soul connections, that is why we keep falling into negative patterns of feeling abandoned, alone and separated lifetime after lifetime and repeating the same vicious cycle over and over again. Even more so, we have become such experts in hurting each other and even the nature kingdoms which are supporting our experiment of soul evolution. We keep living our lives in fear and we keep destroying the connections rather than honoring them, to the point that we are in great danger of destroying our civilization and the world in which we live; We have been exploiting our mother earth to such a degree that the imbalance has reached such a critical point- disturbing signs are already everywhere like extreme weathers, floods, wild fire, heat waves and droughts etc.. and they will probably accelerate in unimaginable ways due to the the domino effects like more severe global pandemics or wars between countries due to the shortage of the natural resources etc.... By then, the imbalances of the natural kingdoms caused by human’s ignorant activities will force we humans to deal with not only more of the natural disasters but also more of the health issues like virus pandemics, cancers and bacteria mutation related diseases caused by unusual bird/bats immigrations, water/air contaminations, abuse of drugs and stressful way of living etc… Right now, the whole world is fearful for the Coronavirus,  but what if this is merely the beginnings of the domino effect scenarios?!

             How shall we humans live our lives? How shall we coexist with each other and with other sentient beings? The law of Karma encompasses cause and effect-an unbreakable law of the cosmos. In essence, everything we do creates a corresponding energy that come back to us in some form or another. We are here supposed to learn our lessons in order to forward our soul’s journey through working out some past karmas, personal karmas or even collective karmas. During those soul’s incarnations, we have created both good and bad karmas through our interactions with other souls, but also we humans have created the collective karmas with the natural kingdoms (incl. animals) which need to be worked out as well. As a Chinese decedent, I have witnessed and experienced earlier how we Chinese have mistreated animals in some ruthless manners. Many Chinese see animals simply as food instead of living beings. I believe those kinds of mentality with lacking of respect and compassion towards sentient beings will bring the bad karmas upon ourselves soon or later. Who knows, this outbreak of Coronavirus could be our karma?! I know that a hypothesis like this may bring me many criticism by the Chinese community. But the thing is that I don’t identify myself in that way: I am neither Chinese nor Swedish; I am neither this nor that; I am just an earthling who is inhibiting on the earth temporarily just like everyone else; and I am just a child of the Universe, a citizen of the Cosmos just like everyone else… Anyway this does not mean that only Chinese have created karmic debts with the animal kingdom, we all humans ever lived on the planet earth have attributed in one way or another to good or bad karma with each other, and also with the natural kingdoms. What we have done to our mother earth is not only done by Chinese, we all are in this together. 

            Plants, animals and everything on the earth are here for supporting we humans to grow evolutionary awareness that there is more to life than fear and pains, so should we humans for the plants, animals and everything on the earth. We ALL are here together, facing the challenges together. When the fear is shared with fear, the fear will be doubled; when the fear is share with compassion, the fear will be halved. Whenever facing the fear-based challenges, ask yourself honestly: “ What am I willing to give in to my fear- my integrity? my humanity? my soul?...’’ I like Osho’s beautiful saying: ‘ Don’t move the way fear make you move; Move the way love make you move; Move the way joy make you move.’ Now, we all are facing the fear of Coronavirus spreading, let us face the fear and take proper precautions and actions, but not let the fear grow out of propertion so we lose our compassion and humanity, because a human world without humanity is not worth living in anyway!  Of course we shall fight Coronavirus, fight the fear, fight the injustices and fight our shadow shelves- but there is no need to be hysterical or let fear grow out of proportion in our minds because after all we all want to live a happy and fulfilling life with less of fear and more of love. And because, Love knows NO fear while fear knows NO love...

No more the Old Story of Tears

A woman came to me for help, she looked distressed and broken. 

Even though, she is well aware-

that she has been in a toxic and unbalanced relationship for years;

that she has not been loved or respected the way she deserves;

that she may never be able to change her man nor their relationship...

But still she holds tightly onto her old life- the only kind of life she has known…

‘Why?’ I questioned her.

“Why not?!’’ She tried to defend herself,

‘ We made our vow that we shall stay together through thick and thin;

we have such a long history together, it is not easy to restart a new life;

we have children and there are responsibilities;

I still love him- there is no love not painful…’’

(Who says that, woman, love is supposed to be painful?!

Loving is not painful but loving a wrong person is painful!)

It is interesting how we talk ourselves into things and also out of things;

It is interesting to observe how we speak to ourselves and about ourselves;

Who is there telling the story?

Who is there speaking really?

Is it your ego self or your higher self speaking?

Is it your 3D programmed mind or your divine mind speaking?

Is it your wounded inner child or your grownup version speaking?

Is it your distorted feminine energy or your unbalanced masculine energy speaking?

Is the voice from you or from your mother or your mother’s mother?...

So please tell me, who is there speaking to me right now?!

You may deceive others with your words;

You may even have yourself deceived;

But your energy can never lie–

which is constantly broadcasting to the entire universe

who you really are and the true story about you

despite what you say or portrait to the world otherwise…

Just like different radio wave lengths,

you pick up the signals of certain wave lengths

which you are attuned to, not more not less

(If you have been in attunement with certain wave length, certain vibration for longer period of time, you might get certain false sense of security and feel ‘home’ in that familiar delusional reality of your making. But this is not home for your soul. Your soul will always long for its journey home by raising its soul energy gradually- in order to return to God, to the source, to that ALL loving energy where it originates from. That is why, many souls from earthly realm are so distressed because of the inner conflicts between the soul and the body, between the spirit and the mind. This kind of distress and agony in souls can be expressed through different physical illness, even the total soul withdrawing its energy from its physical body which leads to death eventually or earlier death than planned.)

Everything is energy

Your words are energy

Your thoughts are energy

Your actions are energy

So be careful with what kind of energy you are attuned to-

you are manifesting it into existence as we speak in this very moment

with your words, with your thought, with your emotions…

Please keep yourself reminded, woman-

You will attract what you are, that is the law of attraction.

Your energy speaks louder than –

what you try to convince or portrait to the world otherwise

Please keep yourself reminded, woman-

that you are not here to do it right by the others

You are here solely to do it right by yourself

You belong to no one and no one belongs to you

You are not here to fulfill a relationship

You are here to fulfill yourself through relationships

Self love is not selfish, it is the foundation of healthy loving relationships!

So be like a diligent scientist-

examining your thought patterns and unhealed emotion triggers;

So be like a warrior woman-

Cutting through all the bullshits no matter how painful it is;

Be like a chain breaker-

Breaking the old cycles and paradigms which no longer serve your highest good

no matter how established how rooted it is…

Don’t ever underestimate the power of the ripple effect of a divine-inspired idea. It can penetrate the mountains, cross the oceans and seed into human consciousness for the right time to grow, to blossom, to express … So please seed wisely.

Dear heartbroken, I am not here to tell you to stay or to leave. If that is what you expected from me, I am afraid I have to disappoint you, that you need figure it out by listening to your inner voice; But in order to be able to hear your inner voice clearly, you need to establish close communication with your soul, by turning your attention to the external world into your own inner world; by giving yourself love and energy instead of needing energy being fed by others; by clearing the garbages from your energy field; by learning about your own emotional energy or mental energy etc.; by distinguishing which is your energy which is other's energy'received' by you…who knows,  if we shall meet again in the future, I hope you will tell me a different story of yours- not the old story of tears but a new story of love, joy and abundance……

Journey Home

If I haven’t known-

the pain of abandonment

from my earthy parents

Would I have known you-

My divine mother?!

If I haven’t experienced –

the sorrow of unspoken loneliness

even among my crowds

Would I have longed for you-

My soul mate?!

If I haven’t felt-

the bitterness of separation

from my own fragmented soul

Would I have looked for you –

my spirit guides?!...

When the intuition was ignored,

I looked for the eternity from the mortals-

my failure was destined;

When the inner guidance was ignored,

I looked for the unconditional love-

from the conditioned man,

My disappointment was guaranteed;

I did not know any better, then.

What our human sense desires –

may be fulfilled by another human being;

What our higher soul desires –

yet can’t never be fulfilled by another human being

Because , "Human, all too human..."

as Nietzsche put it.

Here is my contemplation for the soon passing year:

All kinds of life journeys –

either successful or unsuccessful

 lead us to the journey back to one’s self in the end;

All forms of relationships –

either good or bad
serve us as transitory lessons to prepare us for

our ultimate relationship with

God/Buddha/Tao/Life force/Higher consciousness
Holy Spirit/Divine mother/Divine father

Whatever you call it;

Whatever you believe in your heart…

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year2020!

Tears of God

There is a beautiful poem about –

a girl crying over her lost lover…

I was the diamond

You chose the rubies;

I was the ocean

You wanted the rivers;

I was the moon

You chased the stars…

Thus, I keep wondering: If God is conscious,

wouldn’t He/She be tearing over his fallen children?…

I gave you my light

You walked in shadows;

I showed you the path

You got lost in gardens;

I bestowed you with abundance of an emperor

You chose to settle in poverty of a beggar;

I brought you into this life as a child of Mine

You left this place as a child of Man only...

Lost in translations

I am a translator

I can translate for you-

from word to word intellectually

if you meet me only

in an intellectual space

I am a translator

I can translate for you-

from unspoken words to words

if you meet me in a heart space

I am a translator

I can translate for you-

from the unseen realm to the seen world

if you meet me in a soul space

Having worked with words long enough to understand-

both the power of words and the manipulation of words

with truth being covered by beautiful yet deceitful words;

with essence being hidden under the cloak of the narratives;

with great mystery being lost in translations…

Just like I try to capture the beauty of a butterfly-

by thinking about its biology and its winged ‘engineering’

In that very moment-

I am missing its beauty

I am missing its joy

Just like I try to figure out the mystery of Jesus from Nazareth

by studying his birth facts and memorizing his Gospels

by researching the places he may or may not have been

In that seemingly clever minded space-

I am missing his true teaching

I am missing my own healing

You may have your choice,

I may have mine

You may choose me as your translator

I may choose not to waste my words with you

You may have your will

I may have mine

You may choose me as your translator

I may choose to serve my secrect world to you-

translating the sound of a chipping bird into sweetness;

translating the color of autumn into richness;

translating the passing clouds into sacred meditation;

translating the worldly loss into divine blessings;

translating the tears of your sorrow into the pearls of your strength...

Yet, even the best translator can’t serve you better than you serve yourself

through learning the language of  the universe by yourself

through no translator but communicating directly with your God

There, you answer to your call 
and I answer to mine......