Is God a failure?

(Comments written in response to remarks concerning the inadequacy of "God".)

Can't people see God/Life is perfect? We are each given all we need to live fruitfully and are left in peace (by God) to live life as we choose, with our intuition and rational faculties for guidance.

What about the poor and the starving, you say? That is a creation of humans, not God! It would be a poor God that intervened in Earthly life and overrode our free will.

Think of the ideal parent- that is one who allows us to make our own choices! I don't understand what people get so unhappy about. Your life is in your own hands- why blame God for it? And if you don't believe in God then no problem, there is nothing to complain about!

Why do people go on about the God of the Christian bible? Why care about it? It's just some old book, some of it of value, some not. If you don't like it, just ignore it! It not as if anyone is forcing you to read it or live life according to it!

further comments regarding "God", life and suffering:

@ Kevin- some good questions to ask may be: what would this reality look like if there was no suffering? Is suffering necessary? Do we create it?

If people want a physical world, like the one we live in, then I would suggest physical suffering is necessary for survival purposes. As for emotional suffering- that's up to us!

Emotional suffering also has its purpose- to stop us creating negatively through our thoughts. Constructive thoughts do not cause pain, only destructive ones do that!

We are the extensions of "God" that get to choose.

Sharka Todd

Nature, left to its own devices...

Pic: Andy Cook

is sublime!


Sharka Todd

The beauty of natural crystals

Pic by Sharka Todd in a Washington DC Museum, 2009

Some people laugh because some “New Age” people attribute great significance to crystals, but they are beautiful and they do make wonderful decorations around the house!

So, whether they can act as a thought enhancer or not, they do make a wonderful addition to any space!

Sharka Todd

'True Religion' by Osho

The true religion can only be one, just like science. You don't have a Mohammedan physics, a Hindu physics, a Christian physics; that would be nonsense. But that's what the religions have done – they have made the whole earth a madhouse.

Modern medicine, mind and disease

Medicine, as currently practiced, studies the physical processes of disease in the body, but not the behavior of the consciousness that impacts on physical functioning. This is due to the difficulty in obtaining any meaningful "scientific" measure of thought patterns in the mind and instead, having to rely on the patient to describe their mental state, which is of course unreliable when compared to the simplicity of observing objective bodily states.

Science tends to stick with what can readily be observed, hence the focus on identifiable physical processes rather than the states of mind that give rise to these processes. It is no wonder that people of a “scientific” nature, and those influenced by them, tend to view the body as a machine and regard the role of the consciousness as being negligible in the cause and cure of disease.

However, the often marked variance in health conditions in people suffering from multiple personality disorder (disassociate identity disorder), as they switch from one personality to another, and the existence of the often powerful “placebo” effect points to the crucial role consciousness plays in the "outpicturing" of bodily conditions.

Sharka Todd

Grass is a sacrament...

Pic: Sharka Todd

particularly to cattle!


Shark Todd

Your feelings are a magnet: ABRAHAM-HICKS

photo by Sharka Todd

You will notice that those who speak most of prosperity, have it. Those who speak most of health, have it. Those who speak most of sickness, have it. Those who speak most of poverty, have it. It is Law. It can be no other way...

The way you feel is your point of attraction, and so, the Law of Attraction is most understood when you see yourself as a magnet getting more and more of the way you feel.

When you feel lonely, you attract more loneliness. When you feel poor, you attract more poverty. When you feel sick, you attract more sickness. When you feel unhappy, you attract more unhappiness. When you feel healthy and vital and alive and prosperous—you attract more of all of those things.

--- Abraham

source: Abraham-Hicks.com

Is the naming of disease harmful?

In conventional medicine great importance is placed on giving a name or disease template to the list of symptoms a patient presents. This is done so the healer can prescribe a treatment plan that is believed to best treat the underlying illness.

Without such a diagnosis, conventional medicine is generally unable to make any treatment recommendations to the patient.

From a mind-based medicine viewpoint the naming of dis-ease patterns in the body is seen as potentially highly disadvantageous. This is because any identification by the patient with a previously described disease pattern may only aid in fixating their mind upon the diagnosed condition and its expected progression. Such a fixation may make any movement away from existing conditions more difficult than it would otherwise be.

More on the Godforce

Those who believe in the living force don't believe that the 'Originator' (the Godforce) gave birth to the universe and let it go at that, but rather that the Godforce is the creative force that underpins and sustains the universe and the beings within it, in every moment.

In this view, every physical law or form of energy is an expression of the Godforce, a qualification of what God is. God is the whole, the seen and the unseen, the sea of life and the entity or consciousness which views and experiences life through every life form that exists.

Sharka Todd

God substance defined

The God substance is the inner ineffable substance experienced in consciousness of which the outer world is but a grosser outer reflection.

Sharka Todd

Fewer laws, less governing...

more freedom!

What is true royalty?

Each being is royal unto Itself. All beings are sovereign of their own domain. This is the rule of law- the law of free will that allows each to govern their own life in their own way.

Outer authorities would wish to to do away with our self-sovereignty, and their innumerable "laws", and the control of money and the means of production are ways they seek to do so.  Even still, the individual is still king of their own mental domain which can (hopefully) will never be usurped!  Of course, attempts to control human mental programming through the control of the media, social institutions and the education system have made inroads into individual human consciousness, but still we have the freedom to say "no" and plot our own course- as difficult as this may a times be!

Sharka Todd

Lord have mercy

One does not need to ask God to have mercy on one’s soul. God IS mercy, complete acceptance and non-judgement. But we do need to be merciful to ourselves and one another. For we all make mistakes and treating each other and oneself harshly only compounds the error.

Religion, fear, control

Religion is a creation of the priests in an endeavor to raise themselves and subject others to their influence. To this end they create a fictional god who is full of judgement and wrath. Ironically, the God Force or Central Atom is totally accepting and loving of its creation, having no judgement for any of us whatsoever. Instead the Central Atom upholds our very being allowing us the freedom to do as we wish.

It is only our judgement which exists and when we cease judging ourselves we not only become free but we also begin to act in a more benign and magnanimous way.

Sharka Todd

The British Empire

The British “Reptilian” Empire is one based on subjection and control; exploitation of the many for the benefit of the few. The idea that supports this empire is that it is not only ok but holy and good for those with worldly power to subjugate those who are without. It is a type of social Darwinism that is totally opposed to the teachings of Jesus Christ upon whom the state religion is supposedly based.  Colonialism itself, is a relic of a bygone age when subjection and slavery were openly practiced and appreciated.  Today this subjection is more hidden and the powers behind parliaments and social institutions are not in plain site, preferring to operate in the shadows so their control is not apparent to the population.

Sharka Todd

What you deliver unto OTHERS...

shall in time be delivered unto YOU!


Images: The Tracker (film)

Possessions and spirituality

The spiritual life is not to be free of possessions, but rather to be free from possessions. However, it is certainly wise to keep possessions to a minimum to limit the amount of time we need to spend caring for them rather than going on with more important and enjoyable activities.

Love your enemies

A person shall not be measured by how they treat their friends but rather by how they treat their "enemies". For "enemies" are none other than our friends in disguise, sent to us to enable us to demonstrate our mastery of our emotional nature and our expression of compassion for all life.


This differentiates a true "man (or woman) of God" from a follower of "the evil one"- the disturbed mind. Treating the "enemy" with charity is the only path for the follower of the Christ (the personification of compassion/love).

No obligation to any government

Living on land deemed to be one “country” or another does not mean we owe any allegiance to the government of that country or its “laws”. “Countries” and “laws” are human fictions, created in an attempt to control people. They actually have no intrinsic or moral authority. We have no obligation to obey “laws” or to pay homage to any “government”.

It is true that such governments can use their self-created laws to justify the abuse of those it deems under its “jurisdiction”. But these things are purely fictions created by the government in its grab for power.

Truly, we are responsible only for ourselves and our impact on the world, not to some fictitious entity called “government”.

Sharka Todd

The boundary between science and pseudoscience

Star Wars Episode III

Article source: WIKIPEDIA

The boundary lines between the science and pseudoscience are disputed and difficult to determine analytically, even after more than a century of dialogue among philosophers of science and scientists in varied fields, and despite some basic agreements on the fundamentals of scientific methodology.

The concept of pseudoscience rests on an understanding that scientific methodology has been misrepresented or misapplied with respect to a given theory, but many philosophers of science maintain that different kinds of methods are held as appropriate across different fields and different eras of human history. Paul Feyerabend, for example, disputes whether any meaningful boundaries can be drawn between pseudoscience, "real" science, and what he calls "protoscience", especially where there is a significant cultural or historical distance.

If one cannot improve one's self-

then one can at least improve the company one keeps!

Sharka Todd

What is an old soul?

Source: Dolores Cannon- Between Life and Death - Conversations with a Spirit

Dolores: What about you? Are you a young soul or an old soul? In
other words, have you been around a long time or a short
time?

Spirit: All souls have been around for the same degree. Some of us
have chosen, for our own personal reasons, to incarnate into
the body more often than others. That is where they get the
term “old or young soul.” Some are young in terms of
Earthly experience. I have found that I like to do what I can
in a tangible way to help not only myself but others. Thus I
have had a tendency to keep coming back over and over.

D: Then a young soul would be one that has not had much
Earth experience?

S: Yes, or just experience in the other realms because Earth is
not the only realm of consciousness.

D: Are there any rules or regulations about how many lives you
have to live altogether?

S: Some may be able to complete their karma in one life if they
live a very exemplary life, and that is the end of it. Others
must go on and on for many, many lifetimes to work out
things that they have brought upon themselves and to learn
what they need to learn. There are some who are very new
in experience because they have perhaps just recently decided
to try out Earthly incarnations. Others have been around
since the beginning working on what they need to work on.
Others who, perhaps, started at the beginning with the others
but through long periods of rest in between lives or learning
through other means, perhaps have only had a few lifetimes.

Buddhism is the true science of psychology, not behaviorism

In science, the subjective element is minimized as it is seen as unreliable and subject to interpretation. In psychology, the field of study is the subjective realm (i.e. mental states). Therefore, one cannot minimize the subjective element. This is why psychology is generally not regarded as a science.

Science limits itself to external states observable by many. True psychology is concerned with internal states experienced only by the experiencer. To get around this problem the behaviorist school was developed which focuses on observable behaviors of sentient beings.

Many do not class behaviorism as a school of psychology (the study of the psyche) but instead as a separate discipline. While the study of behavior will reveal something about a person’s inner states it cannot reveal the inner states themselves.

In its aim to remain objective and subject to the scientific method behaviorism concerns itself only with those things that can be observed and agreed upon by many. So it is a study of behavior, not subjective states, and so is not a true study of the psyche.

Perhaps the school of thought that is most psychologically detailed is Buddhism.  This is based on thousands of years of observation by practitioners of meditation of their own mind.  This is the true psychology- for only by observing our own subjective states can we claim to be an expert on the mind.  Observing other people and animals behavior just doesn't do it.

So I would say that Buddhism is the true science of psychology and that behaviorism is some separate discipline.

Sharka Todd 

See also: Science of the mind: Buddhism v behaviourism

An argument in support of Homeopathy

Homeopathy has come under fire in recent times from people who call themselves “skeptics”. They claim that the methods used to create homeopathic medicines could not possibly result in an active ingredient being present in the medicines and therefore such medicines are worthless. It is claimed homeopathic medicines are no better than placebos.

Even if the preceding is true, there would still be value in homeopathic medicines. The reason for this is that homeopathics harness the power of belief (which gives rise to the placebo effect) in people who have faith in the efficiency of the medicine. In those with no such faith we would expect no effect, if the claims of the skeptics are true. Such people would not be drawn to homeopathic remedies. If it is believed homeopathic medicines will give the desired result with no negative side effects, then those who are able to harness the power of belief to heal their own body will receive a good result.

He who disbelieves gains poor results! (PIC)

Pic: Wesley Snipes, The Art of War (film)

A response to James Randi's call to ban psychics

 Watch a video of James Randi expressing his desire to outlaw the promotion of supernatural beliefs here.

Well known "skeptic" James Randi believes supernatural ideas are promoted by the media to please sponsors. But he fails to mention that the sponsors like having people watch their ads and that TV and radio are programmed to draw an audience to increase advertising revenue. In other words, psychic matters are discussed because people are interested in them and it therefore draws an audience with the resulting advertising revenue. This is democracy in action in the marketplace.

What Randi seems to be suggesting is some kind of elitist or totalitarian approach to remove from the media those things that a select "knowledgeable" few believes promotes untruths or "pseudoscience". But who gets to choose what is banned and what would this mean for a supposedly "free" society?

Randi seems unable to realize what he is promoting. He is certainly un-American in his thinking. Instead, he is more aligned with the Communist Chinese Government who seek to control what the public has access to, to protect the government's interests. Why any free society would wish to move closer to such a repressive regime remains unclear and highlights the shallowness of thought entertained by James Randi.

Sharka Todd

What is open-mindedness?

Banksy

For me being open-minded means allowing for the possibility of something existing which a person has not yet experienced.

It is not linked to any particular belief system, but rather refers to the stance of being willing to consider the possibility of something being true without any prior bias, even if we think that the potential of that something existing is very low.

Closed-mindedness, in contrast, is taking a pre-set position on a phenomenon, being rigid in our thinking towards it and being unable to reasonably consider evidence for its existence.

Sharka Todd

Physical form: a "camouflage" reality adopts- SETH

Bontecou

 Physical form is one of the camouflages that reality adopts. The camouflage is real, and yet there is a much greater reality within it - the vitality that gave it form.

Your physical senses then allow you to perceive this camouflage, for they are attuned to it in a highly specialized manner.

But to sense the reality within the form requires a different sort of attention, and more delicate manipulations than the physical senses provide.

Source: Seth Speaks by Jane Roberts, p.6

The universe "adjusts" to our viewpoint

Those who look for evidence of wrongdoing will find it; those who look for evidence of good deeds will find it.

Seth- “You get what you focus on.” 

Those who focus on the negative will receive a negative response; those who focus on the positive will find a positive response. The universe is really quite amenable to our viewpoint!

Sharka Todd

The fog of war (PIC)

Image edit by Sharka Todd

The Arcturians have arrived! (PIC)

Image by Sharka Todd

No denying purpose- AGENT SMITH

"There is no escaping reason; no denying purpose. Because as we both know, without purpose, we would not exist. It is purpose that created us. Purpose that connects us. Purpose that pulls us. That guides us. That drives us. It is purpose that defines us. Purpose that binds us."

Agent Smith, The Matrix Reloaded (film)

GENES: two differing interpretations

Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene:
[Genes] swarm in huge colonies, safe inside giant lumbering robots, sealed off from the outside world, communicating with it by tortuous indirect routes, manipulating it by remote control. They are in you and me; they created us, body and mind; and their preservation is the ultimate rationale for our existence.

Denis Noble:
Genes are trapped in huge colonies, locked inside highly intelligent beings, moulded by the outside world, communicating with it by complex processes, through which, blindly, as if by magic, function emerges. They are in you and me; we are the system that allows their code to be read; and their preservation is totally dependent on the joy we experience by reproducing ourselves. We are the ultimate rationale for their existence.

Source: The Dawkins Delusion by Alister McGrath

Do subatomic particles have free will?

“If the atoms never swerve so as to originate some new movement that will snap the bonds of fate, the everlasting sequence of cause and effect—what is the source of the free will possessed by living things throughout the earth?”—Titus Lucretius Carus, Roman philosopher and poet, 99–55 BC.

article here

The intellect and mental disintegration

When the intellect alone is used to understand reality without recourse to the intuition, insanity is often the result. This may explain the high rates of dementia among ex-engineers and university professors. Without the head and heart in harmony there is discord and unhappiness and ultimately, mental disintegration.

The intellect working alone just doesn't have the resources to deal with the mysteries of life. The intellect is removed from the bigger picture, whereas the feeling nature, specifically the intuition, is connected to the whole and feels much more secure with its place in the world.

It is this security, trust and sense of belonging in the universe that makes the intuition our greatest aid in connecting with and understanding the grand design of life! And when used in conjunction with the rational nature we become a more well-rounded and grounded human being.

Sharka Todd

Violence in all forms is wrong

It is not only religions that bear responsibility for needless violence in the world. Governments also send out unclear messages in this regard.

Many governments practice (and therefore condone) capital punishment, torture, political murder, terrorist acts (generally designed to be blamed on others) and unnecessary war mongering. This sends out the message that it is OK to use violence to advance one's political aims.

When a group uses violence to advance their aims which run counter to a particular government's aims they are generally termed a "terrorist" organization. This is quite ironic given the fact that the vast majority of terrorist acts are government funded or supported.

When violence is seen as unacceptable by ALL civilized people, including their governments, then groups which use such means will become marginalized to the point where they will no longer have the support to continue their actions.

Sharka Todd

Basic ideas discussed in the Seth Material

“The basis and firm ground work of the material, and its primary contribution, lies in the concept that consciousness itself indeed creates matter, that consciousness is not imprisoned by matter but forms it, and that consciousness is not limited or bound by time or space; time and space in your terms being necessary distortion, or adopted conditions, forming a strata for physical existence.” Seth

Possible evolution of the human form

Image edit by Sharka Todd

Natural v modern housing

Modern houses tend to cut us off from natural earth energies that permeate the atmosphere. Concrete under our feet blocks subtle energies that emanate up from the ground.

A house built from natural materials helps us to maintain our health by allowing the free flow of subtle energies through the home. Such houses aid in maintaining our connection with both the natural world and with the subtle non-physical realms. Natural houses also assist in maintaining delicate balances within the body.

Modern houses, in contrast, are built from unnatural materials which interfere with natural energy flows. They form an impermeable skin that does not breathe the way natural materials do. Modern houses cut us off in a very real way from the natural world.

As our senses awaken, the natural world reveals increasing levels of subtlety. This makes living in close communion with the Earth increasingly important. Nature is an inbuilt balancing device which assists us in our evolution towards Godhood. It is the Creator's great gift to us to support us in this endeavour!

Sharka Todd

Isaac Newton, science and the "supernatural"

"When Newton proposed the theory of gravitation it was dismissed as supernaturalism because it was action at a distance. What constitutes supernaturalism in today's science may very well not be supernatural in tomorrow's science."  

Jonathan Wells

Environment, air quality and consciousness

Nature provides the optimal conditions for consciousness to flower. Trees and bodies of water provide the air with oxygen, moisture and negative ions which enhance brain function. This enables us to rise in consciousness and enhance our perception which require a higher rate of of respiration and metabolism and consequently more oxygen.

If we wish to ascend in consciousness it is beneficial to spend time in places where the air is cool, moist and alive. The air of cities is deadened by the over use of concrete and bitumen, the removal of vegetation and the toxic fumes from cars and factories.  Cities located in cool, moist climates and those situated by large bodies of water such as New York and Seattle do not have many of these problems due to the positive effects of these environmental factors.

As our bodies evolve and become more alive and able to sense increasingly more subtle energies we require more oxygen and increasingly "vital" air to support our increased rate of respiration. Cool, moist climates are the most supportive of this as is being surrounded by healthy, lush vegetation and living bodies of water.  In particular, the air by the ocean, particularly when then there is an onshore breeze blowing and the air in large areas of healthy forests are particularly health inducing and supportive of vitality and awareness.

Sharka Todd

At the heart of all creation is God...

But what is God?

The Glory of Creation.
The Heart of Creation.
That which upholds creation.
That which is infinitely good and supporting.

God has been personified, but God is beyond personhood.

How could God be a person when all life and all creation emerge from the same source- the Godforce?

God is the ground of all being, not just human being.

In near death experiences, after the body has been cast aside, God is experienced as Light, a glorious light of infinite love, wisdom, gentleness, and compassion. Sometimes this light is personified as a being of light. This person is often identified as Jesus, the savior of mankind. Why is he seen as the savior? Because he is man made perfect. Man who reflects the attributes of god through a physical form.

To emulate Jesus is divine, but of course, it must be done in our own manner, for each being or entity is endowed with unique qualities or why would the Godforce engine of creation have created and individualised us? There would be no need if we were all the same. No, the aim is to bring the divine qualities through our own being, in the unique manner that only we are capable of!

Sharka Todd

The mystery of the origin of life

"When it comes to the origin of life there are only two possibilities: creation or spontaneous generation. There is no third way. Spontaneous generation was disproved one hundred years ago, but that leads us to only one other conclusion, that of supernatural creation. We cannot accept that on philosophical grounds; therefore, we choose to believe the impossible: that life arose spontaneously by chance!"

George Wald, "The Origin of Life," Scientific American, 191:48, May 1954.

To this I would add another possibly: life (i.e. consciousness) has always existed (outside of space/time), but not in biological form.  How life stepped into this universe (or created it out of its own consciousness) is not something we currently understand!  But one thing I will say is that seeds may have something to do with it, for all life seems to arise either from a seed, or from cell division in the simpler forms of life.  So wherever life is found in this physical universe it may well have been seeded there by a preexisting race, but of course the original life in the universe must have come from somewhere, and I would say that somewhere is outside the physical dimension.  To me, this is the only conclusion that makes sense!

Sharka Todd

Why is euthanasia unallowed?

Why is ok to euthanize a dog but not a human? The former is widely accepted as an act of compassion but the latter is a crime. Why is this and why can't people be allowed to go peacefully into that "good night" of their own free will? Who is hampering them and why?

Sharka Todd

The glory at the heart of creation (reprise)

The glory at the heart of creation probably cannot be measured mathematically or understood by scientists such as Richard Dawkins. Thought, after all, cannot touch it! But it is the primary reality, experienced by all who open themselves to it!

Sharka Todd

Love your enemies, or at least...

give them no thought!

Sharka Todd

A physically focused experiential unit...

for consciousness to inhabit!

We call it a "jellyfish" but the consciousness inhabiting it just accepts its life as it is, without labels or judgments!

Sharka Todd

Consciousness is within (PIC)

Image: Ghost in the Shell (Anime film)

Love is the answer...

but what was the question?

Sharka Todd

Receiving the kingdom of God

I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter therein.

Jesus
in Mark 10:15