The Illegitimacy of Disease

What if disease is illegitimate?

What if it's our focus on it, our sheer fascination with it, our obsession with it, that gives it its very power to even exist...?

(radical thought, no? what if it's true?)

Once again, I see how our fear, individually and collectively, has created something -- which is really a nothing, a no-thing. Unless, of course, we believe it is a thing, unless we give it legitimacy, by the power of our own thoughts.

Let me share a story about a man ... a man who had AIDS. He'd been told he was dying, and he believed it. All the evidence was there to back up that thought. And so, he prepared to die ... and he visited a spiritual practitioner whose focus was to increase the awareness of his own spirituality and his connection with God. This man did not focus on healing .. he wanted only one thing -- to know God -- not the images of God he'd formed through his former religion, not the pat answers that he'd already received (and which had failed him in his need), but he just really wanted to know God - as God IS.

The practitioner was astonished -- most folks came to him wanting symptom relief, healing. Something from God. This man wanted God Himself, and nothing less, nothing more. Over the course of a couple of years, they discovered that God was willing and eager to reveal Himself -- He fully responded to the prayer to know His true nature, to bring understanding of Himself. The two men experienced much joy and excitement in this compelling journey -- each discovery of God's nature was a delight ... old and tired concepts of God (lies of human constructs) were replaced, one after another, with God's revelation of Himself, and of man's relationship to God. Because they desired nothing less than God's truth, the mind and heart of God were accessible to them, and transformation became a way of life.

While they were focused and consumed with pursuing the Kingdom of God (God's reign in our minds and hearts - for the Kingdom is within), an amazing thing began to happen ... the man's HIV symptoms began to cease, and even to reverse. Upon checking with his doctor, he discovered that he had become HIV negative. He had not pursued this, hadn't even considered that it was remotely possible! He had done nothing to earn it, hadn't qualified for it, hadn't thought himself "worthy" of it ... but in coming face to face with God's true nature, his wholeness and health was the only possible result ...!

So, what happened here? What can we learn from this? Can we discern a principle, a truth, that we can understand and apply, so that we, so that others, can also experience such a healing?

The only requirement seems to be that we approach God with a desire to want truth far more than we want to be "right". We need to let go of our own preconceived notions, opinions, beliefs and thoughts (and our "right" to have them!), to let go of all we think we already know, all that we insist that we're correct about, and to let God, and God alone, teach us about who He is, what His nature is like. We need to wipe the slate clean, and have a do-over, from God.

Here's the reality: we experience life according to our own perception of God.

When our perception of God is corrected by God, when we are aligned with His thoughts, when our minds have been renewed, when lies have been replaced with truth, when our perception is God's perception -- our experience is also corrected.

With no striving, with no human effort, with no intervention of any sort.

Want some scriptural backing for that...?

Matthew 5:8 ~

Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.

Titus 1:15

To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled.

2 Samuel 22:26-27 ~

With the good man thou wilt show thyself good. With the upright man though wilt show thyself upright. With the pure thou wilt show thyself pure; and with the perverse thou wilt show thyself perverse.

However our minds perceive of God -- that is how God appears to us.

God created us in His own image, and we've been "returning the favor" ever since.

Is it time to fire the god in your own carnal/egoic mind, and let the real God, who is in you and fills you, emerge from behind the shadow of that which is false...?

As Jesus asked -- do you want to be whole..?

(& do you want to know that you already are...?)

Shalom, Dena

What do You BELIEVE about Disease: Tweak a Belief - Change Your Life...!

Well, if the number of comments on yesterday's post is any indication, this topic is a timely and deep one for many of us...!

Just so you know, it's not that I've formed a conclusion here, and am trying to "get" the rest of you to see what I see... I'm sharing what I'm reading, AS I'm reading, and putting my thoughts out there -- as one journeying-human to other journeying-humans, discovering together, as we go, what the Spirit is saying and doing, as He's leading us into all truth. I have an inkling about where all this is going, but it feels, to me, more like a deep "remembering" than like a new concept -- can anyone else relate to that thought?

I'll assume that this isn't unique with me, and that others can, or could, relate. I believe that deep within each of us, perhaps seemingly out of reach, perhaps buried under much distraction, perhaps skewed by what we've been taught, and have collectively believed, we already *have* the truth about life, we already have access to God's perspective, and that His perspective is our own truest, deepest, perhaps-forgotten, perspective as well.

This realm of knowing seems so obscured, and even denied, by our own egoic/carnal level of "knowing." The limited-human level of knowing is skewed. It will only accept that which can be proven, verified, authenticated through evidence. Y'know, that which would hold up in court. But we have a relational-connection to God, not a judicial-connection.

And so we have religious authorities and medical authorities, declaring that they, and they alone, have the answers for us to accept. To me, this smacks of "arrogant ignorance."

There comes a time when the pat answers no longer suffice ... life itself demonstrates that it doesn't stay within tidy and explicable categories. We can end up with a million unanswered questions, and answers that no longer make sense. I believe that the uanswered questions are not nearly as dangerous as the unquestioned answers. I came to the place where I strongly believed that I was supposed to challenge those unquestioned answers -- and that it was God who was leading me to do so, because the answers were totally illegitimate, and did not reflect Him, or His nature...!

It seems to me that we've got to take this all the way to the root of who we think we are, as human beings. Who first told us that we were fallen, unworthy, and that we must therefore suffer pain and sickness in order to earn worthiness...? Who first told us that we were depraved? That we were separated from God? Who told us that it was our lot in life to suffer, and that this was part of our redemption? And who told us that it was GOD who required this...?!?

What if the very acceptance of such thoughts/beliefs, about God, about ourselves, is what has caused and allowed the suffering to exist in the first place...?

What if disease does *not* have a physical origin and cause...? What if the physical disease-symptoms are just the manifestation of what we think and believe...?

In so many ways, I've been discovering that our experience of life is based on our perspective of life. To change our experience, we must change our perspective. It seems quite imperative that in order to launch into this journey, we must have an open mind, the ability to let go of what we think we already know, and a desire to know the truth, whatever it may be. Of course, with that, a requirement to believe that God has the truth, and wants us to know it. And that He's rendered us capable of knowing His truth. If we believe we cannot know truth, and that God even does not want us to know truth -- we may do well to question that belief, and see if THAT belief is true...!

Y'know, I think that if my old way of thinking/believing could've set me free, it would've by now. I've sure given my old ways much time and effort...! Maybe 'tis time to stop beating my head against that wall? Maybe doing/thinking/believing the same thing, over and over, and expecting different results, really IS insanity (whether individually or collectively)?

Another belief that could use some questioning is the concept that we are comprised of matter. The modern era has been dominated by scientific proof and evidence -- and yet, even science is now moving beyond-proof ... quantum physics goes beyond matter ... to show that matter is more ethereal than material ... and is held together by a "force". Even the very laws of nature are expanding, as our minds are opened to the "much more" that there is for us to discover.

Science itself has become a "god" that we've collectively created.

Perhaps we need to allow our "religious" concepts to expand as well ... perhaps we need to move completely beyond religion itself, in order to be led by the Spirit into the "much more" that God has for us to discover.

What if we're more spiritual, than material ... what if our bodies are mere "vehicles" to be used during this human-life we're experiencing, but are not who we really are? What if the belief that we ARE our bodies, coupled with a belief that we're "meant" to suffer, is what's causing all the suffering and disease?

Look at what we "blame" for disease: our age, our gender, our parents, our environment, our habits, the water, the air, the soil ... everything outside of us. Thus, we've become victims -- and hopeless victims at that!

Even more, we've made everything around us a potential enemy! The worst enemy being our own unpredictable and self-betraying bodies! The solution, the medical profession tells us, is to take a pill, follow a diet, or undergo a surgery. And the driving motivation behind it all is FEAR.

And so we turn to God, but the problem is, we've been taught about a God who is to be feared -- and that He WANTS us to fear Him. We end up with a sense of dread, a sense of separation from God, a sense of separation from all other human beings. We're taught that we're inherently unworthy, and that God is impossibly exacting, and wholly un-pleasable.

What if disease is the result of, and a physical manifestation of, all the fear, confusion and defeat that we've been taught to feel - because of our "inescapable failure" in God's perspective...? What if we have both created the experience of disease, AND the very reason for it to continue to exist...? And how insane is it then to approach God for healing, believing that we've earned this suffering, and that God wants us to have it "for our own good?"

What if disease is a physical manifestation of belief -- whether the belief is our own, or that which comes to us as a collective-belief -- about God, about ourselves, about life...? (an interesting and eye-opening study is to look at the power of propaganda!)

It seems so very starkly clear to me, that we must shed "man's image of God", and let go of what we've been taught, what we've told ourselves, to let go of the ego's/carnal-mind's understanding of what we think we know, and to turn to God for our answers, for our perspective...! In short, to align with God, with God's Kingdom, and allow "all these things" to be added to us.

Here's the good news: beliefs can be challenged. beliefs can be corrected. beliefs can be transformed. And when our beliefs are transformed, so are WE, and so is our experience of life!

We CAN find freedom from our current enslavement -- not only is it OK with God, but Who do you think is leading you into this awareness...? ;)

(Tomorrow, let's look at the illegitimacy of disease...)

Shalom, Dena

Some Quick Thoughts on the Bible ...

Once a person sees that the Bible was never meant, by God, to be what we've made it into today (a collection of books to lead us into all truth -- something Jesus said the Spirit would do, not the Bible) ... once we see that it's a reflection of what humans thought/perceived about God ... once we see that while it IS inspired (just as humans, God-breathed, are also inspired), that all of creation is also inspired, that sets us free to partake of the WEALTH of all that God has inspired throughout creation.

Yes, including other books (even books "outside" of our particular manmade-religious constructed background), that resonate with the Spirit within us.

I no longer see scripture being limited to the Bible ... and I notice that God never said that was so ... I don't see anywhere within the Bible that the Bible says it's the only source of truth... though I do see that many *Christians* do say so...

Nor do I believe that everything withIN the Bible is an absolute reflection of God's truth ... it's an evolving understanding of mankind, about God ... some of it is a rather murky understanding ... even in the new testament.

I treasure the Bible -- much more so today, with this understanding, than I ever did when I tried to reconcile the irreconcilable within it ... I no longer see God as schizophrenic ... I see that humans perceived Him as best they could ... and I see that understanding becoming clarified in Jesus -- but even those who knew Him missed much about Him.

IOW, I don't see the Bible as the end-all-be-all where God is concerned ... HE's still speaking, still revealing truth -- and I'm greedy and gluttonous enough for truth, that I'm going to stay completely open to the MANY ways in which God reveals Truth (which is Himself - He is Truth).

And ... I trust that I do hear His voice, and do not confuse Him with either the thief nor the stranger ...

And even IF I get confused (or when ...), I fully trust Him to know how to leave the 99 and search until He finds me.

It's all good ... it's really all too good to *not* be true...!

Shalom, Dena

In The Beginning ...

Some of us, in a discussion forum, were having a (rare!) congenial discussion of Creationism vs. Evolution.

I honestly don't see that it's an either/or dilemma, but a both/and expression. (This from a woman previously well-entrenched in the 6-literal-days Creationism camp ... who started thinking.)

The Genesis account was always meant to be a lovely poetic rendering of man's
musings on what happened "in the beginning". The gist of the story is that God gets the credit, and the weight of the responsibility.

It was never meant to be a scientific or literal account. We humans, particularly in our egoic bent, insisted that literalism was truth.

Balderdash.

There is deeper truth to be found in mystery than could EVER be grasped with our
finite minds...!

When we're set free from literalism, we open ourselves to the greater truths
that are both higher and deeper than the ego-perspective that was our
(necessary) infantile beginning.

To remain in that state of non-critical literalistic thinking is to remain in
undeveloped and dependent immaturity ... wherein we only parrot that which other
(humans) have told us. To dive off into the deep end of inquiry, exploration
and abandon, is to trust in the experiential relationship we have with God --
rather than on the things we were told about God.

True freedom...!

Shalom, Dena

Another Truth Quote...

“From the cowardice that shrinks from new truth,
From the laziness that is content with half-truths,
From the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth,
O God of Truth, deliver us.”

What more needs to be said on the topic...?

Shalom, Dena

Absolute Truth

I've been asked this question a lot: "What do you believe are the absolute truths."

I get that. I used to do that to people, too.

It's a litmus test -- the purpose of which is to determine whether or not the responder is "in" or "out."

My absolute-truth-list used to be a mile long ... it was founded upon the Apostle's Creed, and the Nicene Creed, and an accumulation of all those things that *others* told me were "absolute truths."

This was my plumb-line, which I used to divide from others ... because they will know we are Christian by our divisions, y'know. Must. Stay. Safe.

Reminds me of this rather uncomfy-yet-hysterical joke:

I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. I immediately ran over and said "Stop! Don't do it!"

"Why shouldn't I?" he said.

I said, "Well, there's so much to live for!"

"Like what?"

"Well ... are you religious or atheist?"

"Religious."

"Me too! Are you Christian or Jewish?"

"Christian."

"Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant?"

"Protestant."

"Me too! Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?"

"Baptist."

"Wow! Me too! Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?"

"Baptist Church of God."

"Me too! Are you Original Baptist Church of God, or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God?"

"Reformed Baptist Church of God."

"Me too! Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915?"

"Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915!"

To which I said, "Die, heretic scum!" and pushed him off.

As for absolute truth ... I see Truth as a Person to know (Christ) and not a concept to grasp/defend.

As I get to know Him more and more (experientially), my list of absolutes has radically shrunk. More and more it's looking like: Love God; Love Neighbor.

I believe that God is absolute, but that our concepts of Him, and of His nature, are very subjective. And that we, who are mid-process, have no business in telling other mid-processors what's absolute truth, and what's absolute falsehood.

We were told to stay *away* from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, not to climb it and throw rotten fruit.

While we're all (all!) mid-process here, journeying from "looking through a glass dimly" into all truth, we can afford to treat each other the way that Jesus said to treat each other. Whether we consider each other a brother, friend, neighbor, or "enemy", it's the same heart-response: Love.

As we each follow the One who is both Guide and Goal, let's practice that love-thing, more than we practice that division-thing.

Just for a change of pace.

Shalom, Dena