It Is a Good Thing to Dialogue Until We Understand One Another, Fully..., Furthermore, it is okay to disagree, agreeably :) Options

[Casey]

Time is money, but money is not time.

Think about that for a minute.

[Lindsay]

Okay, I took one minute. What do I do next?

BTW, our cyberspace paths crossed. Don't forget to check page 2. There, I posted about my early experience with the lack of money.

[Joesus]

"Giving because you enjoy giving rather than giving because you want something in return from who you gave"

That is totaly selfish~ You are giving because you ENJOY giving. You are getting joy in exchange for giving. I know very few people in this world who give selflessly, but I believe they are gaining something as well. I have a few friends who have given away all of their posessions and live in the woods, but in exchange for givning away all of their posessions, they gained piece of mind. An individual who is truely selfless would have no concept of property. Anyone who "owns" anything is not a selfless individual. To give selflessly would imply that something was first yours to give~

"Just as nature gives freely and with abundance when man doesn't destroy the natural conditions that allow the earth to produce vegetation, and animals of different species."

Looks like nature is a bit like I am~ To get food from the earth, you must provide the earth with food and nutrients. A cow takes a dump in a pasture, in exchange, the pasture grows grass for the cow to eat. Plants take carbon dioxide in exchange for the oxygen they give. We take oxygen in exchange for Co2--it is all balanced reciprocity.

Selfish from awareness of Union not from separation, fear and judgment. Everything is the Self and therefore "Selfish"

Nature doesn't make judgments it gives because that is its nature.

[Hey Hey]

The universe is selfish. (That might need two minutes )

[Joesus]

Oh I have no doubt that we are all interconnected~ But that strung out homeless person was not producting anything, and thus did not recieve anything in return. What are you giving the homeless man who does nothing?

Love


If I don’t feel I am worthy of love, I will structure my life quite unconsciously to prove that I am not loved. Again and again I will demonstrate the truth of my own self image. Then, I will be able to say to others and to myself , “See, it didn’t work out because he or she just didn’t love me enough�, “It’s not my fault�, “I am quite innocent�, “he or she betrayed me.�

Taking personal responsibility for the parts of our lives that don’t work to our satisfaction can be one of the more difficult parts of assuming control of our own destiny. Yet this is also one of the most important.

If we condemn anyone else for anything at all, we are projecting our own guilt and lack of worthiness onto the world. It is difficult or impossible to see anything outside that does not exist inside.

Rabbits live in rabbit world, not a birds. Dogs live in dog universe, not our human one. If an angel comes to your door, and you don’t believe in angels, what will you see? If you believe that everyone is out to get you, how will you greet anyone you don’t know? If you believe everyone is basically untrustworthy, how can you ever hope to trust anyone?

In large cities we walk by thousands of strangers everyday. We have become so inured to their presence, we frequently don’t even glance at them. They could be smiling with joy to see us, but we don’t look up from our private world to greet them. This is not just true on busy pedestrian thoroughfares. It carries over to our silent and sparsely populated pathways in our public parks. We are walking alone. Another person approaches us. We pass each other without sharing a single glance or a word. How often this occurs everyday. Of what are we so terrified? Is every stranger a criminal? If we dare to smile or take a dangerous plunge and say hello, are we going to be mugged or raped on the spot? We act as if we believe this is so.


The basic principle at work is that the Universe perfectly reflects back to us our beliefs….

[Flex]

Every "stranger" shares culture with you (culture IMO is a synonym for ego--every thing a person does, produces, and learns throughout their life) that is why you fear interaction with them. Each one of those individuals in a crowded city is capable of judging you, and thus you fear interaction. If a dgo approached you, I am sure you would walk right up and give it a pet, because there is no cultural barrier~

That homeless man doing nothing does reflect a part of me, and that is why I decide to not give him anything. It is the selfish part of me. The part that wants without giving. It is not selfish to harbor what I have earned, it is selfish to take what I have not.

[Lindsay]

Joesus writes

Rabbits live in rabbit world, not a birds. Dogs live in dog universe, not our human one. If an angel comes to your door, and you don’t believe in angels, what will you see? If you believe that everyone is out to get you, how will you greet anyone you don’t know? If you believe everyone is basically untrustworthy, how can you ever hope to trust anyone?

Makes sense to me. And if the following basic principle is true

The basic principle at work is that the Universe perfectly reflects back to us our beliefs….

Then what does it say about people who are destitute and homeless, whatever? Does this mean that they are reaping the results of what they believe about themselves? That they are reaping what they sowed?

If this is true, then what, in my relationship with them is, is my role?
I have an idea, but let us dialogue about the principle and the questions, first.
============

[Joesus]

Every "stranger" shares culture with you (culture IMO is a synonym for ego--every thing a person does, produces, and learns throughout their life) that is why you fear interaction with them. Each one of those individuals in a crowded city is capable of judging you, and thus you fear interaction. If a dgo approached you, I am sure you would walk right up and give it a pet, because there is no cultural barrier~

That homeless man doing nothing does reflect a part of me, and that is why I decide to not give him anything. It is the selfish part of me. The part that wants without giving. It is not selfish to harbor what I have earned, it is selfish to take what I have not.

Then you're unable to give love without conditions because you believe you get nothing in return.
Selflessness is giving because giving in itself increases love in you and everything around you regardless of who you give to and regardless of what another gives you in return. In the case of Selfless love what you get comes from you not the other.
When you judge the part of yourself as separate you can never be whole because you deny that part of yourself as being within the designs of your creation.

God does not see within it's creation, failure nor does it deal in terms of greater or lesser worth.
Everything that is created is created from the same source and given the same amount of attention as it is created.
The energy it takes to allow and accept what is present is less than the amount of energy it takes to push away and deny as you build systems of measure and separate the whole into pieces.
The parts are destined to come together due to the attraction of the manifest to its source. The active attention the waking state mind gives to separating objects from its source takes greater energy than to allow the inevitable to coalesce into its natural state.

The natural state of affairs is that Love abounds within all objects. The reflection of the slothful addict is the reflection of the mind that is distracted from the Truth of reality.
In a society that believes that love comes with the measure of what you accomplish or deserve is backwards to the reality of spiritual Truth.
God gives equal consideration to anyone and allows one to make a choice to be what they are without prejudice.

What one thinks they are as opposed to what they are is not always in sync.
Compassion combined with wisdom is not to jump in the hole one has dug to join them in their experience nor their belief in self worth, but to stand outside in Truth and to offer the Truth to them.

It would be one thing to step back when one pushes help away, but then if one is in need of help what will you do if you have judged their actions and offer nothing because you can't see beyond the actions that have created their suffering. The truly compassionate are still standing behind the suffering ready in every moment to offer the support as they need it. This is what everyone desires God to be for them.

It is only the dis-belief in God and uncondional love that causes humans to experience suffering.

Suffering is created by the distortion of perceptions of reality.
Self Judgment, Beliefs that nobody else cares, physical and mental abuse both created by the Self and manifest in conditions such as early learned programs in the beliefs of being alone and without support.

You know nothing about the homeless person other than what you don't like about the appearances. The judgment you made and carry still are about the outer appearances but not the inner man and the choices he made and why. Nor do you know what is inside his heart, if all you seek is what he can offer you before you can give him any consideration.

If you were a parent and your child made a decision contrary to your beliefs would you abandon the child for the sake of your own judgments and feelings?

If you empower someone with love they are more likely to see the love in themselves and experience a change in their perception of reality. If you show nothing but your judgment, resentment and criticism, you empower them with nothing. You offer them emptiness only.
This you give to yourself and this is what you receive for yourself.
You get what you give.
This is selfishness in action just as much as desiring to get something in return because of greed, or "ignorance" of Self, not because it is the nature of the Self.

The Culture you chose to share is the culture of judgment, fear and hatred for creation.
Not Love, Unity and compassion.

Clarence Darrow:
The first half of our lives is ruined by our parents, and the second half by our children.

You are the child of example, and now the emerging parent who will show your children.

[Casey]

The universe is selfish. (That might need two minutes biggrin.gif )

118......119......120....... Hmm..I suppose so.

[Casey]

The universe is selfish. (That might need two minutes )

118......119......120....... Hmm..I suppose so.

I'd assume anything that happens to be everything would be selfish.

[Lindsay]

In the spirit of communicating, I republish the following--slightly re-edited:

As one who believes in dialoguing and communicating with others, until we possibly understand one another--for better or for worse--I offer the following:

I believe this because I believe it can lead to rapproachment--the preferred result--or to a necessary parting of the ways--that is, agreeing to disagree, agreeably.

In this spirit, I quote

1.....I have noticed that you (Lindsay) tend to divert many discussions away from the topic....
2. ...your own "beef" areas has become obvious and unacceptable.
3. ...you should try and place your topics and comments in the relevant boards.
4. ...Maybe you should complain to Shawn if you feel strongly about this issue. Then I can also put my case to him in reply.

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
1. In the spirit of communicating, effectively, it would be helpful for me if I had an example of this, so that I could take care not to offend, again.
2. What do you perceive are "my" beef areas?
BTW, what is an "unacceptable" beef?
3. No problem. Give me an example, or two.
4. No need, unless Shawn wants to comment.
Shawn knows that his comments are always valued, and welcomed, by me.

In all this, I am very flexible and very willing to accept any rule meant to encourage effective and positive communication.

HERE IS A RULE WHICH MAKES SENSE TO ME:
If any one starts a thread, that person, in my opinon has the right to tell me, for example: Your response is out of place, here, Lindsay. It does not fit in with what I have in mind.

If I get this response I would be very willing to remove my comment, immediately, and add my sincere apology.

[RevLGKing2]

MAP--Meditative and affirmitive prayer--im my opinion is a form of communicating.