R.I.P.--A Post Mortem on Death

Nobody--I mean, no body--is leaving this planet alive. By contrast, every soul will be very much alive and kicking when it pulls out of here.

A part of us grasps this Truth: We know indisputably that no one has ever come to Planet Earth and stayed. We know that this is not home. We know that we have bodies and souls--and we know that the two are not synonymous. We know that one is finite; the other is infinite. And we know which is which.

On occasion, we even verbalize our understanding of this difference: When souls leave human bodies, we often say that they "passed" or they "passed on." We use an active verb that indicates that these souls went somewhere. We know that lifeless bodies aren't going anywhere that they aren't physically carried.

More frequently, however, we act as if the physical body and the immortal soul are the same thing. "Michael died," we say. Did Michael's body die, or his soul? Which was the real Michael, the mortal body or the immortal soul?

We do something else that's quite confusing: We say or write, "Rest in peace" (R.I.P.). Are we talking to the soul? The body certainly doesn't need a directive to rest or rot; it will do both naturally. It seems to me that if an immortal soul had the option of departing a lifeless body or resting peacefully within it, that soul would get out of Dodge-immediately. Of course, I could be wrong.

How did we get so confused? If we believe that every soul has a purpose for being here, do we know when that purpose was established? Was it done prior to its arrival-or years later, after reading A Purpose-Driven Life? Who has the greater vision to establish the purpose of a lifetime on Earth: the infinite soul or the ego that is inextricably attached to the finite physical body?

If the soul is on a mission, do we believe that it will subordinate its plan to the ego? In other words, can a body or ego's desires trump a soul's mission? If not, could that explain why bodies don't always get what they ask in prayer: the job, the house, the car, the mate, the baby?

Did millions and millions of Michael Jackson fans worldwide want the undisputed King of Pop to entertain us forever? Absolutely. Did our collective desire trump his soul's divine plan? Absolutely not. That's difficult for us to grasp because our egos want what they want, when they want it--and they're egotistical enough to think that they can run roughshod over the soul's desires.

Our egos' battles with our all-knowing souls is what makes us "double-minded." We cling to two diametrically opposed belief systems. "Double-minded" is a phrase we learned from James, in his book that became part of the best-selling anthology we know as the Bible. In the 18th verse of his first chapter, James noted that you can predict that a man who is double-minded in one area of his life is unstable in others. The inconsistency becomes a common thread woven through his thoughts and actions.

James' theory has held up for nearly 20 centuries: Humans believe that God is angry and vindictive. Worship is mandatory and free will is granted; but if we exercise that freedom in ways that God does not desire, He will torture us throughout eternity.

Conversely, we also believe that God is Love--and we don't believe that Love is angry, vindictive or that it mandates worship and obedience from loved ones or it will exact a painful long-lasting punishment. That's double-mindedness in action.

But that's the tip of the iceberg. We also believe that we should drop bombs on our enemies; but don't believe our enemies should drop bombs on us, their enemies. We believe that we can be unfaithful to our spouses, kill a gang member's child, infect millions of computers with a disabling virus, and steal quarters from a jar or billions in a Ponzi scheme; but it's an indignity if others do these things to us. We believe there should be harsh penalties--even capital punishment--for some crimes; but we want mercy if we or a loved one committed the illegal act. We also believe that our loved ones are dead when only their bodies and egos have died. Yes, we are double-minded; but we don't have to stay that way, unless we choose.

Several high profile souls left the planet this past week: TV's most famous talk show sidekick, Ed McMahon; model, actress and pop icon Farrah Fawcett; Oxi Clean's screaming hawkman, Billy Mays; and the Thriller of them all, musical genius Michael Jackson. There were also countless mothers, fathers, children, relatives and friends whose souls completed their missions here. We can also look at these transitions as our egos' loss or their souls' victory: Consider the possibility that their souls had a schedule for this visit (remember, this is not home)--and they left according to that schedule.

In one of my favorite books, a simple little allegory about life and death, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Author Richard Bach offers a gull proverb: "The gull sees farthest who flies highest." When we're able to see beyond the physical props and the costumes to that invisible realm called reality, the realm of spirit, soul and God, it's amazing what is revealed to us. Bach writes:

"As the days went past, Jonathan found himself thinking time and again of the Earth from which he had come. If he had known there just a tenth, just a hundredth, of what he knew here, how much more life would have meant! He stood on the sand and fell to wondering if there was a gull back there who might be struggling to break out of his limits, to see the meaning of flight beyond a way to get a breadcrumb from a rowboat."

That was the birth of a new mission for the soul known as Jonathan, prior to his return to Earth. When we understand the meaning and the multiple dimensions of Life, we understand that "loss" is a thought, not a reality.

When our loved ones pass, they are not lost. Because of our limitations, not theirs, we simply cannot see them. In reality, they are more accessible to us, in spirit, than they were in body. Yes, we miss their physical presence. Let's not deny that. But it doesn't mean that they are dead. It means that their bodies are no longer animated by the infinite life of their invisible, invincible souls.

Maybe it's time for the rest of us to R.I.P.: Rethink the Idea of Passing.

Is God Your Father or Your Daddy?

I visited a friend in the hospital yesterday. As I approached the reception area, I noticed a beautiful little boy accompanied by a couple that might have been his grandparents. This cherub couldn’t have been more than four years old. Round-faced with pinchable cheeks, big brown eyes and a fresh haircut, boyfriend couldn’t stand still, as the receptionist prepared the badges permitting them in the patient rooms. He was busy, busy, busy.

Suddenly he looked up and screamed, “Daddy!” Seconds later, he leaped into the open arms of his spittin’ image: a gorgeous brother that this child obviously adored. The little boy grasped his Dad’s cheeks and kissed him squarely in the mouth. His little fingers surveyed his Dad’s face, then rubbed his head and hugged his neck. The child was so breathless, so delighted to be with his Dad; I wondered if his parents were separated or divorced, and he hadn’t seen his father in a while.

“Are you ready to meet your little sister?” his father asked.

Ahhh, now the picture was in focus: Dad had been at the hospital with Mom through labor and childbirth, and Little Bit had stayed with his grandparents. But while their separation was a brief one, it had been much too long for this child.

It reminded me of Sasha and Malia at the Democratic Convention, when they saw their Dad on the huge monitor on stage. Remember that? You could almost feel their urge to go up to the screen and hug him. They had missed him so much.

Daddy love. More than that, it’s Daddy like—a much greater compliment to a father, in my humble opinion. Fathers can be anyone whose sperm fertilized an egg. Only fathers who treat their children well—and do it consistently, consciously and unconditionally—earn the name “Daddy.”

I’m not saying that abusive, caustic, negligent, absent and unsupportive fathers can’t be loved; they can. But rarely are they liked: Their children don’t feel an overwhelming urge to kiss their faces, rub their heads or hug their necks. These children don’t squeal with delight when they see their fathers—or jump up and down while squealing and clapping, as my daughter, Maiysha, used to do. Lordie, Lordie, that child would make so much noise when her Dad came home from work.

Most children have a deep affinity for their fathers. When they grow older, many notice that they resemble their earthly fathers, or maybe they were frequently told, “You look just like your Daddy!”

On the other hand, no one has told them that they looked like their heavenly father, God. When they look in their mirrors, they can’t see a resemblance, either. Why is that? What are we looking for? That fascinates me, so I often ask Drama Queen Workshop participants, “What does God look like?” Their responses are always insightful.

Once, with great pride, a woman said, “When I look in the mirror, I see God. God looks like me.” Others nodded in agreement, though I noticed that none of them was a man. Perhaps it was the idea of God looking like a woman that they couldn’t accept—or maybe they had a more expansive view of what God is. Men can be great thinkers. Mean it.

In another workshop, for example, a man asked me, “Do you think God looks like something or nothing?”

My response: “I think God looks like everything. If it’s true that God is omnipresent, then there is nothing in which the spirit of God is not present.” He had no comeback. He just smiled, although I could tell that he initially intended to bait me into saying something stupid or shallow.

I’d only be in danger of that if someone had offered evidence that God has a physical body that resembles ours. Humans assumed that if we were made in God’s image, God looked like us. I can understand how ancient illiterate people concluded that. I’m not sure what our excuse is.

We believe that God resides outside of Earth’s atmosphere, yet we know indisputably that human bodies really can’t function outside of this atmosphere without special equipment such as space suits. So the likelihood that God is wearing a human body beyond Earth’s atmosphere is probably slim to none.

The ancient scribes didn’t know that, so they wrote stories claiming that the profound Jewish rabbi named Yeshua, ascended into the heavens in a body that had been brutally tortured and rendered lifeless after Roman soldiers crucified him. What, pray tell, was he going to do with that carcass, if he went where they said he went?

There’s also no evidence, aside from the conflicting texts of these scribes, that God—portrayed as both omnipresent and physically light years away, as in all ancient myths—would be so satanic as to orchestrate such an inhumane death. But many mythical gods were diabolical, so there’s a logical explanation for why they told the story this way. There’s no logic at all to why we still believe it.

You have to read books about ancient history and mythology before the light turns on and you realize what formed our beliefs—and how innocently those beliefs were formed. Everyone knew these ancient myths, so the scribes probably assumed that the rank and file would not regard their updated versions as news reporting. They were wrong. Once the religious giants at the Council of Nicea declared these books as the “Word of God,” myth mushroomed into fact. Allowing only a chosen few to read or interpret these words for more than 1,200 years cemented them into the human belief system.

Eighteen centuries after the confab at Nicea, we still believe these tales are true—and we vigorously defend the words, even though they desecrate God’s image as an unconditionally loving Father.

While discussing my first book, one woman argued, “God is sovereign! He can do anything he wants.”

I concurred. My question to her was, “But would God want to do anything inhumane or satanic?” She admitted that she hadn’t thought about that.
Perhaps, on this Father’s Day, we should think about that. Perhaps we should look at why we hold human males to a higher standard of conduct than we hold our Divine Father:

• If an earthly father raped his virgin daughter, he would be labeled a degenerate sex offender and could spend years in prison for incest.
• If an earthly father solved problems by committing acts of violence against his children, we’d label him an abusive parent and throw him in jail.
• If an earthly father plotted with others to brutally kill his only child by allowing others to nail him to a cross and subject him to three days of excruciating pain, we’d call him hateful and satanic, and our outcry for justice would be deafening.
• If an earthly father had a multitude of children who repeatedly committed crimes and hurt others, and he decided to stop them by killing his only good child, we’d label him criminally insane and send him away forever.
• If an earthly father kicked his naughty kids out of the only home they’d ever known, and banished them to the wilderness without any survival skills or visible means of support, we’d think he was demented, demonic—or both—and we’d press to convict him for child abuse (after we garnished his wages for lack of child support).
• If an earthly father told his kids to forgive others’ sins 70 times seven, but threatened to punish his kids’ sins with unending torture, we’d call him a hypocrite.
• If that same father told his kids not to kill others, but he was guilty of genocide, we’d lock up the hypocrite and throw away the key.
• If an earthly father,who had a huge mansion and lots of children, gave a known demon total control of those children’s thoughts and behavior, we’d move heaven and earth to free those kids from the gip of the demon and deprogram them so that they could function normally and harmlessly in society.
• If that same father declared that only the kids who outsmarted the demonic caretaker’s tricks could return to the mansion, we’d imprison both of the conspirators for child endangerment, sadism and more.

Oddly enough, when someone tells us that God—our Father—has done all of these things and more, our reactions are totally different. We respond with praise and worship. We look to the heavens and sing love songs. Yet we demonize earthly fathers who have done far less. It’s amazing how the human mind works.

A couple of years ago, a devout young man asked me a question I’ll never forget. He was planning a praise and worship festival, and needed public relations counsel. Sensing my discomfort with some of his dogma, he pointed toward the door and said, “If God walked in here right now, wouldn’t you drop to your knees and start praising Him?”

I took a deep breath. “That presumes that I believe that God isn’t here already—and that if He came from someplace else, He would scare or harm me. Is that what Love would do?” The young man hadn’t thought about that. All of his life, he only believed what others told him to believe.

I never saw him again. Hallelujah! I keep telling you: God is good.

On this Father’s Day, let us give our Heavenly Father a well-deserved break from centuries of bad publicity. Let’s give God the benefit of the doubt by challenging every allegation of inhumane behavior with the question, “Would Love do that?”

On Father’s Day 2009, let’s declare that while the word of God is inerrant, the word of some of the ancient scribes is verifiably inaccurate. Let’s dare to believe that God does nothing demonic, and does not solve problems by hurting people.

As a Father’s Day gift to God, let’s read more than one book—or vow to read the one we have more carefully. All the evidence that it’s time to stop blindly accepting other people’s answers and start asking our own questions is right there.

On this day, instead of simply declaring that we love God, let’s begin to like God as a Father who treats all of us well—and does it consistently, consciously and unconditionally. Today, let’s allow God to become our Daddy. Who knows: When we feel that Divine presence washing over us, we might begin to squeal with delight, rather than tremble with fear.

What a difference an "R" makes

I received an email the other day with the most intriguing subject line: “Are you revolving or evolving?” It occurred to me that many of us don’t know the huge difference that an “r” can make:

The concept of evolving is a bit “woo-woo” to most of us. It’s that spirituality thing. We tend to shy away from it because it is distinctly different from religion: the rules, regulations, rituals, readings, and restrictions that grow from a peoples’ belief of what God is and what God does. Many religions discourage thoughtful consideration or questions about the mandated beliefs and issue deadly and diabolical threats to those who don’t share those beliefs.

By contrast, spirituality invites questions. It makes us think much bigger thoughts about a much bigger God. Its very nature is evolutionary; it’s about growing in awareness of the ever-present nature of God, rather than trying to establish a relationship with a judgmental, angry, hard-to-please God who is far away. Spirituality teaches us how to be consciously aware of God’s immediate presence so that we can leverage it to guide our steps, and it teaches us to trust God’s presence so that we are not shaken by economic downturns, relationship upheaval or even the death of physical bodies. Spirituality gives us a greater understanding of ourselves as human and spiritual beings and provides context for everything that happens in our experience.

Are we evolving or revolving? The question reminds me of the time I went to Northern California with my “wasband.” (It rhymes with husband; I borrowed that term from the Rev. Vici Derrick. Don’t you love it?)

My ex is a car fanatic–one of the reasons we had four fine automobiles. As a kid, I had a fascination with cars, too. Detroit didn’t produce a vehicle that I couldn’t identify by make and model year; but that’s about as much as I wanted or needed to know. By contrast, when my spouse was a kid, he read encyclopedia volumes, cover-to-cover. (Yeah, I thought that was weird, too.) Even as an adult, this guy loved books. If we were in a mall and somehow got separated, my daughter, Maiysha, and I knew to look in the nearest bookstore. He was always there, reading some car magazine.

One fine day my car fanatic wasband decided that we should experience the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, up close and personal. Whoo hoo–until he said that he also wanted to attend a drag race in a nearby town. Strolling through the lovely shops in Carmel and gawking at the array of fine vintage automobiles amid the heart-stopping beauty of Pebble Beach golf course was right up my alley. Watching some guys going nowhere at death-defying speeds, making more noise than my earplugs could silence–not so much.

Finally, the moment I’d dreaded for weeks was almost upon us. That morning’s brunch felt like the Last Supper. After I’d played with my meal as long as I could, I had to face the inevitable.
As we walked out of the restaurant, I asked that annoying girl-question: “Do you know where we’re going?” Tsk, tsk was the essence of his annoying-boy response. After all, EVERYONE in town must be going to the race. We’ll just follow someone.

And so we did. The guy in the 700-series BMW, who was exiting the restaurant parking lot ahead of us became our designated leader. Of course, this guy was totally qualified to show us where to go: He had a luxury car, which meant he was smart and successful like my wasband; his car also had California license plates (but so did our rental car), which meant he knew how to get there quickly.

So, off we went, away from Monterey’s traffic lights and street scenes, heading directly into the Northern California countryside. And I mean countryside. Every 15 minutes, my wasband declared that we must be close because it was almost race time. Pretty soon I noticed that nobody was behind us. Where were all the other race car fanatics? I wondered. Mr. BMW must have been wondering what was going on, too. There was a car tailing him–with two black people in it. No matter what he did, he couldn’t shake us.

Nearly two hours passed, and we were halfway up a mountain, nowhere near our desired course. I was too relieved to be disgusted. When our lead car turned onto a very long winding trail and sped toward a farmhouse, the guffaw that I’d been squelching for hours finally burst free.

Mr. BMW probably darted down that path to get away from us, and I wouldn’t blame him. But now what? How would we get ourselves off of this mountain? I wondered. We passed a gas station, but my wasband refused to stop. When we passed it again, he was finally ready to ask for directions. Too late. It had closed.

Finally, we ambled down the mountain toward civilization, heads bowed, tailpipe tucked between our legs–and we actually made it to the track. But the traffic was going the opposite direction. The race had just ended. God is good!

It occurs to me now that we had been presented a wonderful lesson about evolving and revolving. Everyone’s lessons aren’t so in-your-face definitive; consequently, we must be more attentive and inquisitive, no matter how smart we are.

That could be a problem. Most of us have an aversion to asking the right questions to the right people get the right directions. We choose the folks we’ll listen to, even accept their answers and beliefs, even if they are inconsistent, implausible and illogical. We make judgments about what others can do for us, based on their superficial trappings.

Is it any wonder that we keep revolving around the track, making the same mistakes, repeating the same lessons, and meeting, dating, even working with the same type of people? Every situation, every person has value, but we don’t look for it. We complain, but we don’t ask why we attracted them into our lives or what they came to teach us.

When we live like this, we revolve unconsciously. By contrast, it’s absolutely impossible to evolve unconsciously. We are always fully aware when we’re growing and living with spiritual guidance. We know that we are evolving–heading to a higher plane on purpose (and not playing follow the smart guy in the BMW)–when we begin to take responsibility for the people that we attract into our lives and for the situations that we create or encore ad nauseum. We know that we are evolving when we actively seek directions from within.

Taking responsibility for our lives and our outcomes is as simple as asking: “Why did I create this? Why did I attract this person? What is the lesson my soul wants me to learn from this situation, this person, this bank account balance, this job loss, this mortgage foreclosure? What growth opportunities lie within this?” Evolving is like traversing a spiral staircase: No matter what the speed, we are constantly ascending and never encountering the same challenge twice.

This economic climate is gifting us with some awesome opportunities to evolve or revolve. Are we ready to ask the questions that can lift us to the next level? Or will we be satisfied with someone else’s answers, even if they don’t take us where we want to go?

Your path is not the same as mine or your parents, siblings, friends, neighbors or coworkers. There are no cookie cutter answers, affirmations, denials or treatments for your life challenges. Your path is unique and so is your mission and your lessons. Those who claim that they can tell you how to live a better life in five, eight or ten easy steps might mean well, but they are not equipped to guide you the way that your Higher Self can. They don’t hold your answers. Only the God within you knows why you are here and what path you need to take and what decisions you need to make.

You have free will, and every decision has its natural consequence. Will yours be evolutionary?
Shout back at the Loud Mouth.

Solving problems by killing people: A Divine idea?

Weren’t we just talking about abortion—and judgment and condemnation—last week? How ironic is it that today a judgmental, condemning human pranced himself into a church and executed a physician who performed abortions. Where’d this guy get the idea to solve problems by killing people? And why did he choose the church to stage this drama?

What’s the appropriate way to respond to behavior that’s disagreeable to us? Anybody know what the Bible says we should do in these instances?

1. Kids giving you mouth?

a. Give them good counsel
b. Forgive them
c. Kill them

Hint: Ex. 21:17, Deut. 21:18-21

2. Cold-blooded. Murderers on the loose?

a. Arrest them
b. Forgive them
c. Kill them

Hint: Ex. 21:12, 21:15

3. Cheating spouse?

a. Divorce them
b. Forgive them
c. Kill them

Hint: Lev. 19:20, 20:10

4. Kidnappers, body snatchers?

a. Make them sleep with wolves
b. Forgive them
c. Kill them

Hint: Ex 21:16

5. Bad-mouth blasphemers?

a. Publicly humiliate them
b. Forgive them
c. Stone them to death

Hint: Lev. 24:16

6. ”Me and Mrs. Jones?” Men who have sex with their father’s or son’s wife:

a. Castrate them
b. Forgive them
c. Kill them

Hint: Lev. 20:11, 20:12

7. Sexy Mama? Men who have sex with their mothers-in-law:

a. Castrate them
b. Forgive them
c. Burn them to death

Hint: Lev. 20:14

8. What to do with ungodly atheists and agnostics?

a. Cripple them
b. Forgive them
c. Kill them

Hint: Josh. 1:18, 2 Chr. 15:13

9. No “Welcome to Walmart?” Those who work on Saturdays (includes cooking, looking for food, leaving home and making a fire):

a. Arrest them
b. Forgive them
c. Stone them to death

Hint: Ex 31:15, 16:25, 16:26, 16:29, 35:3, 31:14, 35:2, Num 15:32-36

10. Lost forever: Virginity

a. Slap on a chastity belt immediately
b. Forgive her
c. Stone her to death

Hint: Deut 22:21-24

I gave you the chapter and verse for every answer, so if you answered anything but “C” for every question, I’m utterly speechless. Now you know why killing people has been such a popular way to solve problems for lo these many centuries—even after man-made law ruled these solutions inhumane and illegal.

Who’s right? Is killing people is a divine or satanic method for solving problems?

In Memoriam: Life as we once knew it

I watched in wonder as the debate over Notre Dame’s invitation for the President of these United States to speak at this year’s commencement hit a fever pitch of judgmental rhetoric—led by those who call themselves Christians. Fascinating stuff.

Maybe I’ve been watching the drama on Earth from too far away. I’ve obviously lost the ability to zoom in on the important stuff. I certainly missed the moment that “judge not and you will not be judged, condemn not and you will not be condemned” ceased to be central to the teachings of the radically non-religious Jewish rabbi named Yeshua. People on both sides of the issue claim to be his followers; but they clearly don’t walk his walk.

The Loud Mouth is brash enough to call out non-Christlike Christians; but the President, who consistently confronts hot topics directly, without being confrontational, delivered a speech that appealed for both sides to disagree if they must; but do it with Christ-like civility:

“I do not suggest that the debate surrounding abortion can or should go away. No matter how much we may want to fudge it—indeed, while we know that the views of most Americans on the subject are complex and even contradictory—the fact is that at some level, the views of the two camps are irreconcilable. Each side will continue to make its case to the public with passion and conviction. But surely we can do so without reducing those with differing views to caricature.

“Open hearts. Open minds. Fair-minded words.”

As the resident bull in the china shop, let me take this debate to a place where our President couldn’t: To “The Beginning.” At the heart of the abortion issue is this: When does Life begin—and does a woman have a right to choose to give birth to an infant body?

Much of the debate rages around whether Life begins at conception or at some stage in the development of an embryo or fetus. The presumption here is that Life is physical—and that a human can give It, take It, save It, or even make It miserable. Perhaps we have forgotten what Life is—Life with a capital “L,” that is.

Have you ever seen Life with your physical eyes? Where was It? What was It doing? What did It look like? What was it wearing? Can you draw a picture of Life? Have you ever photographed It? How old was It?

What does Life look like at birth? At death? Can you describe it? Have you ever thought about it? Have you considered the possibility that we have made the words “life” and “body” synonymous?

When Life leaves a body, the body dies. Does that mean that Life is dead, too? Unless you send me evidence to the contrary, Life—like Spirit, like Soul and like God—is invisible to those in the physical world. And, unlike those in the physical world, Spirit, Soul, God, and Life have no beginning and have no end.

We have forgotten. That’s why this Memorial Day weekend, I honor the Divinity that we once knew as Life: The powerful, invincible, God-like essence that we temporarily abandoned to slip into costumes called human bodies and solve problems by disrespecting, maligning, berating, battling and killing those who disagree with us, or belong to a different army, tribe, gang, race, gender, sexual orientation, political party or religion.

I mourn the loss of our memories. We have forgotten that at “the end of the day,” our souls will not be held accountable for how others treated us—only how we treated them. If we remembered that—even if we forgot what Life really is—Memorial Day would be just another day on the tiny planet called Earth.

"We have met the enemy, and he is us"

Many of you think that the Loud Mouth sits in the balcony alone. Actually, I have plenty of company. Your souls are here, watching all your dramas with me. In fact, some of them are putting on quite a show themselves: They are screaming frantically, arms flailing, trying to grab your attention and warn you to make better choices. But they’re invisible, so you can’t see them. Their voices—even at top volume—are barely above a whisper, so you can’t hear. And you rarely leave the stage to hang out with them a bit and simply enjoy their presence. Poor dears.

We don’t have a clue how frustrating it is for our Higher Selves to watch our egos amass years of karmic debts that they will have to repay in full—an eye for an eye, as they say. Myopically, we buzz around the stage, focusing on stockpiling earthly profits, no matter what the ultimate cost: We treat others in ways that we would not want to be treated; engage in disrespectful, dehumanizing behavior and crabs-in-a-barrel antics; bear false witness against others and covet others’ position or property. On occasion, we outright abscond with it. Ouch!

This win-the-battle, lose-the-war drama is not very entertaining, inspiring or evolutionary to those who share your stage or watch from the audience. I’m sure that Pogo and the other philosophical animals in the fabled Okefenokee Swamp would probably say, “You’re stinking up the place, Dude.”

Those old enough to remember the Pogo cartoon strip might recall the lead character’s most famous line: “We have met the enemy and he is us.” Thousands of years earlier, the Jew who later became known as Jesus, said something similar: “Whatever you do to the least of my brothers, you also do to me.”

What were they talking about? There is only one Life in the Universe and we are it. We can’t help others without helping ourselves. We can’t hurt others without hurting ourselves. We are One.

I know it’s difficult to remember that, especially when we’re pointing fingers at someone else. Add all the tempting gotta-have-it-now props, the material stuff littering our stages that distracts us from achieving our soul’s higher mission and you have a formula for missed growth opportunities.

Preventing ourselves from sinking to the lower levels of consciousness requires the fortitude of Job. According to the ancient scribes, God diabolically made a bet with Satan, inhumanely killed Job’s children, servants and animals; heinously tortured Job; refused to explain why He was so cruel; then gave Job new children and more money.

While those of us who believe that God is Love can’t quite wrap our heads around this story as illustrative of divine behavior or literal truth, the premise is unequivocally inspiring: No matter what happened to him on the physical plane, Job maintained his belief and trust in almighty God.

Over the centuries, we seem to have lost sight of the meaning of almighty. Somewhere along the way, it was diluted from All-mighty to “Some-mighty,” meaning that God has some of the power and Satan has some. Basic math dictates that if God has ALL the power, that leaves zip, nada, zilch for Satan or anyone else. But I’m open to the possibility that I might have made an error in that complex calculation.

I also could be wrong about my take-away from Job’s story. For me, it’s not about suffering. It’s about trusting—trusting that everything is in Divine Order always, no matter what it looks like on the surface.

Throughout the ages there have been many souls who have maintained Job-like belief and trust in an Almighty God, and they have been willing to teach us so that we can speed along our evolutionary path without succumbing to our egos, which like to detour frequently and wrestle with the Darkness.

Thanks to social networking in the Beliefnet community, I was blessed to meet one of these teachers. I’ve mentioned him before: Melvin Forrester is an American who has lived in Germany since World War II. Melvin had an out-of-body experience while serving in the war that not only gave him a balcony view of Life on Planet Earth; it fortified his trust in God. He knows what it feels like to be consciously aware that we are eternal spirit, not bodies.

On May 9, Melvin and his wife, Gabrielle, celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary. There was no champagne or hoopla. It was a quiet celebration with a glass of mineral water. The reason: Last year, Melvin was diagnosed with a debilitating illness that is slowly rendering him motionless.

Melvin has a very strong relationship with God. Under normal circumstances, he might be expected to pray or petition for total healing or a different diagnosis. He didn’t. Instead, he trusted that God knows what God is doing, and furthermore, could do it without Melvin’s guidance.

Since God is not cruel, no matter where it is written, if this illness had appeared, Melvin concluded that it must be there to benefit him (and consequently, others) in some way. If his mortal body was going to slowly shut down, he decided that he was going to teach others how to fearlessly let go of things that are not eternal.

Periodically Melvin emails an update, which always provides insight on how real faith works. True to his evolutionary soul mission, he is allowing me to share his story so that it might bless you, too. Here is an excerpt from his latest update:

“I sometimes think that this philosophical stuff is getting too much for me. I want to give up sometimes and end this experiment. Also I recently have severe problems with swallowing and side effects from the medicine, therefore I have begun reducing the doses of medicine, especially when I cannot breath and have pain.

“I always thought that I could master a two-minute struggle for air, but recently it went on for hours. But that’s the “Exit Plan” of my spirit. I will bow to his better judgment. When it seems too much to bear, I go into a mental state that I learned through meditation, which allows me to see and communicate with my spirit. I ask him if he really wants to have this experience, and ask him how I am doing with my part in this little drama.

“You know that about 40 years ago I had a special experience, and I know what awaits me on the other side. I am going joyfully and without regrets and fear.”

What would you do if this happened to you or a loved one? Could you be so focused on the divine, so undistracted by the physical circumstances that you could unwaveringly trust and unflinchingly embrace God’s will? Are you willing to lose to win?

Remembering how you got here--and why you came

Does this ever happen to you: You’re confidently traveling down some path–maybe one you’ve envisioned or planned for days or years–and you suddenly discover that the destination is not what you expected? I get that wake-up call almost every Sunday. All I know, for sure, is that I’m going to write a blog post; but I rarely know the topic when I sit at the computer. Most times, I write hundreds of words before Spirit directs me to go in a completely different direction. It’s as if the movement of my fingers on the keyboard stimulate my muses.

Today was going to be different. I’ve known my topic since mid-week, when I received a powerful message from my friend Melvin in Germany. I could hardly wait to share it. Then yesterday, everything changed: I read a story in N’Digo, Chicago’s “magapaper for the urbane,” by award-winning author, journalist, attorney and University of Illinois Associate Professor Christopher Benson. It began:

Just about two years ago, my mother died.

Just about two weeks ago, she called to let me know that she was going jogging.

Huh? How’d she do that?

Benson quickly explained in his story that his mother had a back-from-death experience two years ago, after a serious fall. He reflected on how precious each additional moment is now, and how much his mother impacted his many successful professional careers. Benson traced those successes back to his mother’s response to what he, at age nine, considered to be an impossible class assignment. He had to write an essay on why his dad should be named “Father of the Year.”

“I didn’t have a father. He wasn’t there,” Benson wrote. “I had never known him.” What was he going to do?

His mother’s response reshaped Benson’s self-image and his view of life. She challenged him to write about his mother–the greatest father any child could ever have:

“She also wanted me to know deep down inside that, yes, I was different. But my difference was not something to be ashamed of. My difference was not something to be shunned. Indeed, my difference was something to be proud of, to celebrate in ways that would cause others to celebrate with me.

“In my difference, there was value. There was something I could use to help other people come to understand things they never really had considered before. I was different. Yes. But I was just as good, just as talented, just as worthy as anybody else.”

In the process of meeting his mother’s challenge, Benson and his teachers made a life-altering discovery: This child had a gift; he was a talented writer. From that point on, he decided, the circumstances of his birth would not define or limit him.

Conventional wisdom says that we do not choose our families, just our friends. Spiritual wisdom, which is not rooted in or bound by the limitations of earthly thought, espouses something different and more evolutionary:

• Spiritually, we existed before the mortal body was created and will continue to exist after it decomposes.
• We chose to be here at this time and in this place.
• We had a purpose for coming–a purpose that is revealed to us when we ask, Spirit to Spirit; a purpose that will be supported, Spirit to Spirit.
• Each actor on our stage, even those we choose (and who agree) to be our parents, are perfect for our purpose-filled script of this physical experience. If someone is missing from the script, it’s because we intentionally didn’t include him or her. A father or a mother, siblings, spouses, children would have been perfect for another story, but not for this one.
• Even murder mysteries and horror stories have some entertainment value.

Everyone’s experience with their mothers doesn’t end up in a glowing tribute on the pages of a newspaper, like Benson’s. Every character who gives birth is not a nurturer. Some provide horrific stories of abandonment, neglect, abuse, torture, unloving and unsupportive behavior. And, while every stepmother isn’t a wicked witch, some are.

The childhood of recently retired Chicago broadcasting legend Merri Dee comes to mind. Merri was a toddler when her mother left this life. Her father then married a woman who was a storybook-cruel stepmother. Within a few years, he became ill and was unable to reign in this woman who was terrorizing his baby girl. Soon, he also left his body behind, leaving Merri in her care.

Merri recalls the stepmother severely punishing her for minor infractions. She stripped Merri of the family name, forbade contact with her siblings and other relatives, and forced her to fend for herself at the age of 14. Merri was not the least bit intimidated. No matter how much the woman beat her, Merri said that she refused to cry.

Her stepmother’s fury over her fearlessness, stubbornness and strength translated into even more cruelty. One day, the woman hung Merri out of their apartment window, head-first, until a neighbor spotted her and threatened to call police.

Years later, the plot for Merri’s life story revealed that her childhood was a dress rehearsal for the most critical act of her life: After working, continuing her education, marrying, giving birth to a daughter, and divorcing, Merri landed a job in sales for a multinational corporation. At the urging of a friend, she enrolled in broadcasting school, and became one of the great voices on Chicago radio. Because she had good looks to go with that voice, she soon became a local television talk show host.

One night, Merri and her talk show guest were kidnapped after the show, blindfolded, taken into the woods, shot in the head and abandoned. Her guest died; Merri didn’t. Mustering every ounce of strength in her body, just as she had as a child, she crawled through the thicket to a highway and summoned help.

Merri’s broadcasting career continued for three more decades, until she decided to pursue other interests last fall. Throughout that career, she raised more than $31 million for children’s causes through a variety of organizations, including the McCormick Tribune Foundation and the United Negro College Fund. She has raised even more spirits with her wise and gentle counseling and role modeling. Though she’s not nearly old enough to be my mother, she often watches over me and so many others, as if she was our Mom. (Thanks for sharing her, Toya.)

Once, while watching her bravely overcome yet another hurdle, and knowing that she didn’t have the benefit of a nurturing childhood as so many of us did, I asked her, “Where does all that strength and all that wisdom come from, given the upbringing you had?”

“From within,” she said, flashing that trademark Merri Dee smile.

Her lesson: Our source of self-worth or truth, financial supply or encouragement is not outside of us; the Invisible Spirit that is God is within. Everything we need is within.

If we could only remember that when stuff is hitting the fan and we have to respond quickly and instinctively. That’s the challenge, especially when we’re distracted–no, mesmerized–by all the drama on the world’s stage. If we look at our childhoods and adulthoods from that vantage point, the props and the actors seem real. We are more apt to react and judge people and their behavior as “good” or “bad.” When we judge them as “bad,” we close our eyes to the benefits that we asked them to deliver to us. That certainly includes our mothers and those who have played the mother role in our lives.

Is it implausible that we are Invisible Spirit, and we asked a soul wearing a specific body if she would be the vessel through which we, too, could experience physical life on planet Earth?

Is it implausible that the circumstances and challenges that surrounded our birth, adolescence and adulthood followed the script we wrote to help us practice, practice, practice bringing Light into the darkness, and respond in a more Christlike way to those who hide their Light under a bushel, a barrel or a big head?

Are you open to the possibility that there’s a greater plan for your life than your brain is aware of? Can you even imagine that you helped to create that plan–or does it make more sense that you are not here by choice, but by biology?

In the balcony of the Home-Church, there are no right or wrong answers. This is safe space. No one’s telling you what to think, what to say or what to believe. Here, we share our thoughts and exchange ideas. I certainly hope you’ll share yours.

Your entire life in only six words

Prolific thinker and author Ernest Hemingway once said that his six-word story was one of the best pieces of writing he had ever penned: Ever read it? For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn. Brilliant: Opening act. Climax. Denouement. Curtain. In six words. And nobody left the theater wondering what happened.

Many have issues challenges to write a story in only six words–fiction, non-fiction, sci-fi, romance, even autobiographies. The cutest one I’ve seen was the life story of an elderly dog: “Lost then found. Worked out great!”

As humans, we tend to complicate our lives, then we say that life is complicated. But we’re the ones unnecessarily creating challenges, and often making an even bigger mess when we try to resolve those challenges. Consider this: Life is not difficult; only a sadistic God would have made it so. Most things in life can be handled as simply as a six-word story, if we follow a few simple guidelines:

• Love yourself. Once you know who you are, you can't help but love every bit of you. And when you understand that you are part of the One Presence in the Universe, everything changes.

• There is no spot where God is not. Consider the possibility that God is bigger and greater than a mythical male being who lives millions of miles away. If a spark of God is in every soul, everyone encountered is a Holy One. Is that how we treat them?

• We reap what we sow. If we reflected on everything we did or said to someone during this past week alone, would we be eager for our harvest–or regretful?

• Judge nothing, condemn no one, forgive everyone. It is reported that a loving Jew, who centuries later came to be known as Jesus, said: “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged; condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned; forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.” (Luke 6:37) At the end of the day, we will not have to account for what others did to us–only for what we did to them.

We frequently excuse or justify our unChrist-like retaliatory behavior by pointing fingers at the other person, and repeating what he or she did–as if it’s our job to determine harvest time. All we’re really saying is that we don’t trust God to do God’s job. We use it as an excuse for not doing ours: Our job is to be the Light of the World. Our job is to remember that Light and Darkness cannot occupy the same space at the same time. Our job is to see Invisible Omnipresent, Omnipotent and Omniscient Spirit that is God in everyone.

Let’s also remember that God must balance each situation on Earth through a physical channel. That channel might be you; but the only way you’ll know is if you ask for guidance, and remain open for direction, so that you can take the proper action.

There will be times when Spirit says, “Sit down, I got this.” Sit, trusting that the matter will be resolved in a most divine way, for the Highest Good of all concerned.

Other times, Spirit might say, “Listen, this is what I need you to do…” Do you know Spirit’s voice when you hear it? Don’t fool yourself or try to fool anyone else by saying that Spirit directed you to do something mean-spirited or self-righteous. If the solution is not simple or loving, it’s not God. You’re listening to your ego. You’re serving a false god. Be careful: It will compel you to make a withdrawal from your soul’s karmic bank account, and you might not have enough deposits to cover it.

Trust that everyone will get exactly what’s they deserve, in the manner and intensity that their behavior warrants. That’s the immutable law of the Universe. Unfortunately, our egos are so shortsighted that they want justice to show up a certain way, at a certain time. They don’t have enough insight to distinguish the mortal body from the immortal soul.

Egos have no idea that everything we do becomes part of our soul’s record. Some of the consequences meet us right way. Others don’t revisit until after our bodies fall away, throwing us off-guard, making us think that we’re victims.

If egos were eternal, they’d care more about that; but personalities die with bodies, and we’re left cleaning up the mess at some other juncture in our eternal lives. How do we get the upper hand?
Personally, I try to be very mindful of the consequences of every action. I ask frequently ask myself, “How would I want someone to treat me, if the situation was reversed?” I also pay close attention to the kinds of situations in which I find myself, always asking: “Why did I attract this situation or person? What lesson do I, as a soul, want to learn that this scenario or person came to teach me?”

I’ve discovered that certain dramas encore at a mind-numbing rate. The reason: I didn’t learn the lesson the previous times. I didn’t respond with love, rather than anger or revenge. I wasn’t patient with myself and others. I didn’t forgive. I didn’t let the Light lead. I didn’t choose peace. I didn’t trust God. If, as a soul, I have made a commitment to learn these lessons, I will voluntarily repeat these classes and call in tougher teachers until I pay attention and capitalize on these opportunities to practice responding to all situations in a more Christlike manner.

Life is not complicated when you seek higher consciousness. Actually, it’s so simple that you can write your memoir or epitaph in six words: “Asleep, then enlightened. Life became fun!” And nobody will leave your theater wondering what happened.

Your greatest stressor: expectations

While in a meeting the other day, a high level executive mentioned that he has been chronicling some of the extremes that he’s experienced since moving to Chicago last year. Among them was this gem: Every day, a well-dressed woman arrives at his stately home, and for about a half-hour or 45-minutes, she stands on the sidewalk, gazing at the home.

Apparently, this woman didn’t restrict her visits to daylight hours. One morning around three o’clock, the executive and his wife were awakened by repeated flashes of light hitting their bedroom wall. The flashes were coming from a car parked across the street. The couple was understandably unnerved.

One Saturday the executive spotted the woman outside and ventured down the long driveway to greet her. When they were face-to-face, he asked if there was anything he could do to assist her. Most of us don’t value civility as much as this man, and probably would have greeted her quite differently.

Pointing to the house, the visitor explained that it was the home of her dreams. That’s why she felt compelled to spend time visually embracing it every day. The man found her response quite odd. I didn’t.

This woman was exhibiting all the predictable symptoms of someone who has a small library of books and tapes proclaiming that she can have anything she wants. Typically, this material outlines several steps for manifesting one’s desires.

Without serious thought or question, this woman had followed step one: We must make our desires our most dominant thought, and we must expect our desires to manifest. Her daily visits and the pleasure she derived from them demonstrated the next steps: We must visualize our desired object in great detail–soffit, fascia and slant of roof–and experience the same emotion we’d feel if we’d already received it.

That is, after all, “The Secret” that brought millions of dollars to those who produced and sold the book, CD, DVD, audiobook, soundtrack, “secret scrolls” email messages and even daily text messages promoting this extreme and implausible interpretation of the spiritual law of attraction. It didn’t bring nearly that much cash or comfort to those who bought it, which is precisely why I was compelled to write Crossing an Unseen Bridge: The Law of Attraction Secrets No One Wants to Talk About.

Let’s get real: Everyone who has experienced a disappointment–including those who spent their hard-earned money buying secrets–knows that life doesn’t work like that. It would be impossible for us to have been disappointed if we hadn’t been focused on our desire, expected to receive it. Just the thought of having it made us giddy. There, we did all the steps. Where’s our stuff?

Conversely, if we accept this as the secret to the human creative process, then we are forced to believe that everyone who was ever diagnosed with a disease they couldn’t pronounce and had never heard of manifested that disease because they’d held it in their minds as a dominant thought.

Give me a break! Didn’t we go through all those steps the last time we applied for a job? Didn’t we obsess about getting that offer letter? Didn’t we envision the details of our lives and lifestyles, if we had a bigger office or a larger paycheck–or in this recession, a paycheck, period? We might have even pondered the best route to work to avoid the traffic. Do we land every job for which we apply?

Starting tomorrow, if five people stand in front of their dream homes for an hour every day for a year; if they embed every detail of the houses’ architecture into their minds; if they visualize themselves bringing in groceries, washing clothes, making beds and watching TV in those homes; and if they replicate the excitement they’d feel if the homes had become their residences, will all of them eventually live in those homes? I rest my case.

Remember: If it doesn’t happen the same way, 100% of the time, for 100% of the people, it’s not a law. Maybe the real secret is that we should stop believing things that our own experience tells us are not true. Maybe we should stop trying to be in control–and stop listening to people who tell us to place demands on the Universe/God because It/He responds to our commands/prayers.

After years of inconsistent results from applying this so-called law, we conclude that either we aren’t really in control or we’re not smart enough, persistent enough, consistent enough, faithful enough or ”favored” enough to get what we want, when we want it, in exactly the right size, shape and color, without fail.

When we mention that we didn’t get the results we desired or expected, we’re often told that we must have let a fleeting negative thought creep into our minds, and it negated weeks or months of positive thoughts. A fleeting negative thought is more powerful than a hundreds of positive ones. Not only is that bad messaging, it’s just downright scary.

Luckily, it only works for a limited time. Eventually, thinking people see the gaping holes in that theory and they stop coming to hear it. We have been fed unrealistic expectations by well-meaning people who thought that they were inspiring, motivating and empowering us to do great things.

How do we achieve great things? What should we believe? It depends upon whether you’re open to the possibility that your physical life and your path were created to serve your soul, not your body. Whatever you have right now, whatever you’re experiencing right now–if you haven’t gotten in your own way by imposing your will–is precisely what you’re supposed to have and experience at this moment.

It’s possible that every one of your experiences is a teachable one, a growth opportunity. Embrace that experience; focus on finding the lesson and the blessing in it. If you can’t detect or even fathom a blessing in what you’re going through right now, ask for it to be revealed to you. Then act as if you really want to know: listen. When the answer appears and you don’t know what to do with it, ask for direction. Then listen.

Earth Is the Mother of All Drama Queens readers know that I have gained tremendous insights from the turmoil that I have experienced in my lifetime. Soon, I’ll share with you my latest drama, and how applying the lessons I’ve learned–especially the ones about imposing my will–brought it to an astoundingly better conclusion than I could ever have designed, desired or expected.

To those who are waiting for a big breakthrough, a great relationship, a new job or a miracle: You are more than a physical being with physical needs and desires. You don’t alway have what your bodys wants; but you always have what your souls need. Seeing and being the Light within you could shift some static energy or attract some complementary light to you.

When you fixate on your physicality and your physical needs, you can’t see the big picture and you limit your possibilities. Sometimes situations such as the one you’re experiencing appear and recur to provide you an opportunity to question your expectations and beliefs, or to practice trusting that everything is going to resolve itself for your highest good–and the highest good of everyone involved in a situation.

Seize the opportunity your soul has created. Work with it, not against it. Learn, practice and master the lesson so that you no longer need to have this undesired physical experience.

I predict that the lesson the daily visitor on Longwood Drive will learn is that fixating on someone else’s home can make you miss the one that’s really yours.

Is Your Consciousness Ascending?

As I watched the sunrise this Easter morning, a question popped into my mind. Perhaps you have asked yourself the same thing, but were afraid to ask it of anyone else. It’s not a simple question, and maybe you’re not ready for it; but the Loud Mouth is here to help if you get stuck. Read it slowly and repeatedly, if necessary:

Can we accurately call ourselves Christians if we believe in and try to practice the powerful teachings of Jesus, but it doesn’t make sense to us that God allowed Jesus to be brutally tortured and murdered three short years into his ministry, in lieu of satanically brutalizing the rest of us throughout all eternity?

Is prayer a "law?"

Most of us are quite confused when we try to understand how--or if--prayer works, especially when we're told that whatever we ask, in prayer, we will receive. Our experience tells us that this is not always true.

For example, many of us received (and continue to receive) emails urging us to pray for the protection of then-candidate, now President Obama. What I find so interesting about this type of message is that it presumes that God will not protect our president from malicious people unless millions of us pray. I'm guessing that's the number since hundreds of thousands prayed for Rev. Rick Warren's wife to be healed. Many feel that their prayers failed.

Whether we realize it or not, this concept of so-called "failed" prayer really portrays God not only as capricious, but diabolically so. If we're honest, that's what we've been taught. Some people's prayers are answered--others, well, maybe next time.

This diabolical behavior sounds suspiciously like that of mythological gods who were rumored to live on mountains on the other side of the clouds. These megalomaniacs commanded, conspired, brutally killed, raped virgins and terrorized the poor humans below, forcing them to supplicate, worship and sacrifice for the gods’ mercy–or face their wrath.

Even after monotheism banished this storied band of bad boys from the celestial mountain range, the belief in capricious and misanthropic behavior lurked behind–and was transferred to One God. By the time the storytellers finished, this god was unmistakably bipolar. Even in the 21st century, we still believe in a loving God who solves problems by killing and torturing his children. Today’s headlines scream of parents who mimic this filicide. I strongly believe that there is a connection.

Because we still cling to the mythical portrayal of God as tyrannical judge and executioner, we often pray to appease His anger and violence. We pray for mercy and forgiveness. In Crossing an Unseen Bridge: The Law of Attraction Secrets No One Wants to Talk about, you met a former client who was a victim of this stinkin’ thinkin’. After he was charged with a federal crime, this mini-mogul sought strategic PR counsel. By that time, he had been stricken with religion, or more accurately, religiosity. Most sentences included, “My Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.” He attended three church services on Sundays.

Honoring the ancient belief that God rewards sacrifices of money or freshly slaughtered meat, he donated generously to his church. He lavished gifts on his pastor. His Bible was always at his fingertips. Every time I spoke with this man, he mentioned that he had begun the day at 5 a.m., on his knees.

The update: He wakes in the federal pokey every morning now. I doubt that he ever falls on his knees. Like so many of us, he did all the things that religiosity dictates, and it didn’t work. How many more centuries will it take for us to evolve beyond Greek mythology?

We’re not always sure that our prayers will be answered, and we get mad when they aren’t. We do it again and again, hoping to improve our average. At some point, we have all prayed from the depths of our hearts that a loved one would fully recuperate from a serious illness, and it didn’t happen. We have all prayed to win something, own something, keep something or someone, cure or be cured, and it didn’t happen.

We have seen others pray and get precisely what they wanted. Do they always win? No. Experience has repeatedly taught us that there is a chance our prayers will be “answered,” and a chance that they will not. Knowing that, why are we so bewildered, brokenhearted or even angry when we go to the mountaintop and are sent home empty-handed? Why do we treat prayer as if it’s not only a slam dunk, it’s a spiritual law?

In Crossing an Unseen Bridge, I define a law as something that works the same way for 100% of the people, 100% of the time. If you and I release a handful of pencils, will yours float to the ceiling and mine fall to the floor? No. They are governed by the law of gravity, which doesn’t respond unpredictably. There’s no 50 percent or 99 percent chance that my pencils will fall. All of those jokers are going to hit the ground. Period.

Is the same true with prayer? No matter what someone tells us or tries to shame us into thinking, the outcome of prayer, as we understand it and as we have experienced it, is uncertain.

Have we believed so long in a capricious God, who highly favors some and curses others, that it is too late to think a new thought about prayer, too late to realign our expectations, too late to trust that everything will work out just fine--no matter what it looks like on the surface? Have we believed so long that the outcome our personalities' desire is our souls' desired outcome that we are convinced that our prayers weren't answered?

Those of you who have read my books know that I have had my share of drama. While none of it felt good while I was going through it, in retrospect, you were able to see how every bit of it benefited me, how my path was clearly paved to lead me to a powerful destination. You also know that it wasn't until I chose to use my prayer time to receive direction, rather than to direct God, that the miracles began to show up.

That's the beauty of these experiences. That's how I discovered what prayer is and isn't. Redefined, it now has become a law for me. I only have one prayer, one miraculous prayer that releases all anxiety and repels all worry about outcome. It is this: "I pray that everything is resolved for the Highest Good of all concerned--in the most perfect way, at the most perfect time. And so it is. Amen."

You can trust God like that. In return, I guarantee that you will get what you want 100% of the time.

Meanwhile, down there on the stage...

TV Guide documented Maiysha's week of activities at the Grammys. (Minus the part where she was roped into singing back-up for Bobby Brown. Some moments in our lives should simply be left on the cutting room floor.)

Anyway, you only get to be a first-time Grammy nominee (or Mom and Dad) once. I hope you enjoy watching the experience from your balcony as much as I did from mine. http://www.hulu.com/watch/65834/mvids-maiysha-road-to-the-grammys

Homage to Stevie and Melvin

"When you believe in things that you don't understand, you suffer."

I received an email a few days ago--the third or fourth time I've received it in the past year. It was the transcript of Rick Warren's interview with Jim Dailey of Billy Graham Evangelistic Association's Decision magazine. This time, I printed it because I thought it might stimulate a thought-provoking discussion during my Drama Queen Workshops.

Of particular interest was this part of his interview, in which he addressed his wife's experience with cancer--and prayer:

"We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her."

My first thought was: What impact does a testimonial such as this have on millions who believe in the power of prayer--particularly the power of "two or more gathered in His name?" If a renowned man of faith has declared that God did not respond affirmatively when hundreds of thousands prayed together, what hope do they have when they pray alone?

When I asked this question this weekend at a phenomenal retreat for women, someone passionately responded, "[Rick Warren] doesn't understand the awesome healing power of God!"

I was somewhat prepared for that because last spring, I wrote a post about a Chicago Tribune story featuring a Mexican immigrant who fervently prayed for her safety before leaving for work every day. For added protection, Artemia Torres, a devout Catholic, carried rosary beads and pictures of two saints with her. One day, she was wounded by a potential robber who shot her at close range.

When I asked spirituality authors on a social networking site what this said about the power of prayer, one replied, "Her heart belonged to God but not her walk. Now she's placed in a position to rest, to be still. She can now hear God's plan for her life. In that quiet still place we can hear God clearly."

Fascinating stuff. In both cases, the respondents believed that the person petitioning to God was at fault when things didn't go as they hoped. The assumption, of course, is that if we do certain things, say certain words in a certain way, we can convince God to do our will. That's what prayer is supposed to do.

What if that's not what prayer is all about? What if the purpose of prayer is to receive direction from God rather than give it? My dear friend Melvin, a man I've never seen but whom I've grown to love dearly, can teach us a thing or two about this.

Melvin's journal, posted on the Beliefnet community website, caught my eye in December 2007, just as I was wrapping up the final chapters of Crossing an Unseen Bridge. A native Californian, Melvin and his adoring wife, Gabriele, live in Germany. He decided to remain after being stationed there in the military.

Melvin is an author, father and grandfather who is experiencing a tremendous challenge with the fearlessness and unshakable faith of one who truly understands what God is and what God and prayer does (and doesn't do).

I've read numerous accounts of those who had near death experiences, of children who had stunned their parents by vividly recalling past life experiences--even guiding them to their previous homes and introducing their current parents to previous (read: freaked out) relatives who corroborated their stories. I've read about souls who had out-of-body experiences. But I'd read nothing like Melvin's journal post recounting a memory of a dream he'd had years ago while in the military.

In that dream, Melvin left his body and felt himself traveling into the starry sky (His book is entitled A Trip to the Stars). Through his prose, I shared his surprise when he looked down and saw that he had no legs, feet, hands or body; he was a ball of pure Light! I also shared Melvin's disappointment when another intelligent being of Light insisted that he return to the uniformed body on the beach. Go back? Now? There was so much more he (and I) wanted to learn about life outside of a body!

Decades later, Melvin's body is now slowly shutting down, and he is fearlessly--in fact, joyfully--chronicling his journey back to pure Light. I am honored to be among the close friends with whom he shares his updates. Through his experience, he wants others to understand themselves as souls, not bodies, so I am sure he will not mind me sharing an excerpt from one of his messages:

"I can accept this as God's will or [I can focus on] the biological facts and natural way of we mortals. Whatever, I am happy that my mind is clear and it is not painful. Eventually, if the present course continues, all muscle control will cease; only the automatic muscle activity will remain, such as breathing,
heartbeat and swallowing. Then these will be slowed down. I am happy and enjoying each day in ways for which I have studied and prepared a life long."

I have not read one case of a person who has experienced "life after death," who does not look forward to leaving the body again--for good, eager to return to the living loving Light, ready to BE the Light once again. Melvin is no exception.

What does that tell the rest of us? As I told the young lady at the workshop this weekend, each of us had a plan and a purpose when we squeezed ourselves into these human bodies. We will fulfill our purposes if we don't get distracted by things that focus our attention on our humanness or our bank accounts, instead of our divinity and our karmic accounts. It would be a shame to have a prosperous body and a bankrupt soul that has come here and achieved no spiritual growth.

As souls, not only did we know what we wanted to accomplish when we arrived, we gave ourselves a time limit and an exit strategy. Sometimes our exit strategies provide us a final opportunity to hold fast to our truth or to accomplish a spiritual goal.

What if, as souls, we wanted to learn to say, "Thy will be done"--and mean it? What if we wanted to remember that we are not bodies, and created dis-ease in our bodies to make sure that the lesson was really learned? What if we wanted to remember that there is only one thing in the universe--God--and created the illusion of loneliness and adversity for our classroom?

How can we learn to honor another soul's timetable for leaving a body if no one ever leaves? How can we learn to trust God unless we understand what God is? How can we overcome adversity like Stevie and Melvin?

It's only when we believe in things that we don't understand that we suffer.

The world that lives happily on your face

The humongous photograph in the Museum of Science and Industry stopped me in my tracks long enough to read the caption. I gasped, pivoted and fled the room, completely grossed out. For a split second, I even forgot where I had been headed before the frightening encounter. The gigantic face had to have been 20 feet tall--no exaggeration. A high-powered microscope revealed thousands of bugs scurrying across a man's forehead, eyelids, cheeks and mouth. Ewww!

You know, I hadn't thought about that frightening photo in about 25 years. But yesterday, while thinking about how many invisible life forms live among us, the photo suddenly popped into my head, reminding me that many of those life forms actually live on us. While trying to verify my recollection, I found a BBC news article claiming that human skin is a "virtual zoo" of microscopic life forms.

Do you ever think about the world of organisms that lives happily on your face, in the air you breathe, the food you eat and the bed in which you sleep--or is the Loud Mouth the only one who is oblivious? Sure, we are aware that dust mites, germs and bacteria are rampant in our reality; but because they are invisible to the naked eye, we disregard their presence in our living space and totally ignore the fact that they have a life parallel to our own. In fact, our skin might be their world!

The same is true in the world we visited last week, the world of the tennis ball, fourth largest in a special system of spheres. Tennis is big brother to the marble, golf ball and powerball, kid brother to the hard ball, soft ball, fireball and volleyball. (Recently, the tiniest sphere, the BB, was cast aside after being treated like a member of the family for many, many years. Sad. The good news is that it's still quite a distance from the goof ball, which lives in a world of its own. Even sadder.) Each of the other balls, however, still play a significant role in this unique universe.

As you'll recall, every soul in the tennis-sphere is transient. That's the way the souls designed it. Also by design, something miraculous happens whenever one of them clothes itself in a body: All memory of the soul's reality--its likeness to and oneness with its immortal Creator--is erased. As a practical matter, the memory loss enables each soul to begin the game of "So, You Think This Is Life?" with the same handicap on a level playing field.

Since the object of the game is for the souls' bodies to reflect the divinity of their Creator in their behavior, they must first remember that they are divine and leverage their relationships in the invisible world to get the support they need to overcome anything they might hear on the tennis-sphere. Problem is, they're oblivious; their memories have been wiped clean. They are convinced that they are merely mortal bodies, and they trust only what they can detect with their physical senses. To complicate matters, they also believe that the tennis-sphere not only is their real home, it is the only place in the universe that can sustain life.

This is quite perplexing to anyone observing the tennis-sphere from a distance, because everyone in the tennis-sphere knows that nobody has ever come and stayed forever. They've also observed that everything on the sphere is constantly changing, deteriorating and disappearing--from bodies to buildings--evidence that the sphere is the permanent home of no one and nothing. It probably was never intended to be.

The vast majority of these forgetful souls also believes that the tennis-sphere is eternal and they are not. Consequently, whenever souls withdraw from their bodies and move on, according to the itineraries they established prior to arriving, the others believe that these departed souls are no longer alive, which makes them very unhappy. In truth, only the body the soul was wearing has died; the invisible soul within them, their breath of life, has not ceased to exist.

The tennis-souls' confusion over their identity and reality is best reflected in poems such as this one found on plaques, stones and paper and embroidered on cloth (author unknown):

"If tears could build a stairway and memories a lane,

I would walk right up to heaven and bring you home again."

During the next few weeks, we'll look at the inception and perpetuation of this belief, and the effect that it's had on the joy and fulfillment of all souls who visit the tennis-sphere. Throughout this process, I'd like you to give some serious thought to the genesis of your own beliefs and, if you choose, update them. You already have empirical evidence that invalidates some of your beliefs, yet you are unwilling to release them. When you pay attention, you'll discover that your beliefs directly impact your behavior and subsequently reflect in your life experiences.

The fact that you're paying any attention at all to the Loud Mouth indicates that your soul is ready to stretch, even if your body and brain are resisting. But this is not your body's life, its your invisible invincible soul's. Until it's departure date, it will endeavor to accomplish its goal: To master the game of "So, You Think This Is Life?"

Every shift in your thoughts and beliefs will create a shift in your physical experience. Your soul knows that it has all eternity to win this game, and it will win, no matter how long it takes, how difficult you make the lessons or how painful you make your physical experience.

Please don't feel pressured to do anything. You don't have to know yourself right now. You don't have to learn or grow. You can stand still and repeat your current mistakes as many times as you like--or you can create a more enlightened experience.

If you want to free yourself from the quicksand sooner rather than later, put on your thinking cap and return to the beginning--not of the tennis-sphere but of our own planet:

1. How many souls were the first visitors?
2. How did they multiply into billions?
3. How did you reach that conclusion?

Please share your thoughts by clicking "Comments" next to the date at the top of the page instead of emailing, as many seem to prefer. We all know that Together Each Accomplishes More. Together, let's create a more joyful and fulfilling life experience.

A reminder: Today is the last day to register for the dynamic Women's Leadership Conference (March 26-28) at the Hilton/Indian Lakes Resort in Bloomingdale, Illinois. Thursday is spa day! To find out if there are any rooms and workshop seats still available, contact the Rev. Jacqueline Atkins, J.D. at revjatkins[at]ameritech.net.

Your blessing might be wrapped in adversity

I had the most delightful telephone chat yesterday with a dear friend who, after asking what day it was, gleefully declared, “It’s been 14 days!”

She explained: It had been 14 days since she smoked a cigarette. Hallelu!

Jeanne had smoked for 39 of the last 41 years, taking a break during pregnancy and again, following acupuncture treatments targeting her nicotine addiction. A bright woman with an advanced degree from an Ivy League school, Jeanne was always aware that cigarettes were ruining her health, but—

“I wanted to be a smoker,” she conceded. “I enjoyed it!”

Jeanne also had a hefty incentive to smoke: The last time she stopped she mushroomed from 110 pounds to 170. Hands down, cigarettes seemed a cuter alternative—until they weren’t.

Jeanne’s undergraduate major was math; but she didn’t need a degree to calculate that, at $9.21 a pack (with Illinois, Cook County and Chicago taxes), cigarettes were burning an irreparable hole in her monthly budget—more than $200 in cold hard cash that she could have saved or spent on something more beneficial, like food or a health club membership or fun, like designer pumps or books.

Jeanne had the option of clutching her habit, even though it didn’t serve her well, and complaining incessantly about the high cost of cigarettes and the bitter Chicago winter, as her teeth chattered between puffs. That’s what most of us do when adversity strikes: We get stuck in what we think is a comfort zone. It’s not.

Longing for what was (in this case, cheaper smokes) prevents us from experiencing the blessing of what is (a healthier body). Most new situations demand change, and change removes us from the familiar; that’s why we are so hell-bent against it. It’s like the old adage, “Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.” We don’t want to be stagnant, but we don’t want to change, either. Can’t have both: We can’t grow unless we move from our current level—and take the lessons we’ve learned with us.

As Albert Einstein once said, “The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them.” Makes sense, but whether it’s a problem in our workplaces, our relationships or our checkbooks, we still look for answers by maintaining the same thoughts and beliefs, and consequently we take the same shortsighted and often counter-productive actions.

What if, instead of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, we approached challenges from a higher level of thinking? Aloft, we might be able to see our problems differently. If nothing else, they would look smaller and have less power over us, and absolutely no power over our emotional state.

Thinking about our problems (or obsessing about how to solve them) every waking hour not only holds the problems in the mass between our ears, it slows the natural cycle of their departure. Quite possibly, acquiring answers requires less thought and more creativity.

If you can accept that possibility, maybe you can imagine this: You are more powerful than you think—and you have access to more powerful answers than you know: Just for fun, close your eyes and imagine Earth as a sphere the size of a tennis ball. Hold it in your hand.

Imagine that this ball is inhabited by millions of intelligent, invincible and invisible beings—each made in the image of their Creator. Let’s call them souls, for lack of a better term. You can’t see them and they can’t see each other unless they’re wearing some kind of physical gear. Let’s call that gear a “body.”

Are you still with me? OK. Now let’s suppose that none of these intelligent beings is native to the tennis ball planet; everyone is a visitor. They come for only one purpose: to play a fascinating and clever game called “So, You Think This Is Life?” The rules of the game are simple and redundant, by design:

1. Do nothing to others that you wouldn’t want others to do to you.


2. Love others as you love yourself.


3. Forgive others’ mistakes the same way you’d want yours forgiven.

All acts that violate these simple rules are self-punishing: As one of the books available on the tennis ball admonishes: “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment that you pronounce, you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.” (Matthew 7.1-2)

Long story short: Violating these simple rules absolutely sucks the fun out of the game. But even that misery doesn’t last forever because every invisible soul enters the game (and the planet) with an exit strategy. Every soul gets out alive. After all, they were made in their Creator’s image, so they are just as invincible and eternal. By contrast, no body has ever left the game alive. Many are so focused on what happens when the game clock runs out that they fail to accomplish the goals of the experience.

The real object of this game, which is very popular among the invisible intelligent beings, is to remember how creative and powerful they are—no matter what distracts them or scares them into believing that they’re mortal. Mortals are naturally afraid. Fear naturally leads to failure because fearful souls have impaired cognitive ability. In fact, they’re too afraid to trust anyone to successfully navigate them through the challenges of the game. And what an extremely challenging game it is, which is why billions of souls are so attracted to the little sphere.

If given the opportunity to spend a brief period, let’s say an average of 75 tennis ball years (a bat of an eyelash in the infinite scheme of life), navigating through a variety of dramatic scenarios designed to make you forget that you are eternal, would you try it? What if you could bolster your chances of success by playing the game as a team sport? Like you, some of your team members are inside physical bodies and have egos. They can be helpful, but not consistently, because their physical trappings are also handicapping them.

Luckily, some of your teammates are not visible. They are sparks of Divine Light. They have not forgotten who you are, and they have agreed to remind you and guide you back on track whenever you wander out of bounds.

Despite their accessibility, chances are, you only consult with them unconsciously, when your ego/personality and body are asleep. Rarely do you recall what happened or the guidance that you were given. You can’t understand why you’re not making progress.

Perhaps you’ve noticed that others are able to overcome more challenges in a shorter period of time, and rarely are they fearful, stressed over overwhelmed when a challenge arises. Just a guess, but these souls are probably consulting with the Divine more frequently, through prayer or meditation, and they have managed to maintain some perspective. They remember who they are and why they are here, despite the fear-peddling and other chaos that run rampant on this small sphere.

What if you, as an infinite and powerful Soul, were aware that whatever you are experiencing right now is precisely what you need to go through to grow to the next level? Perhaps this difficulty might have been created to get your attention so that you could get back on course. Perhaps it’s merely balancing out one of the rules you might have broken. No matter what the reason, until you learn the lesson inherent in the experience, you are bound to repeat it until you do.

What do we create when we believe that life is difficult and that we serve a hurtful, vindictive, complicated and capricious God who solves problems by satanically killing and torturing people? Confusion, fear and pain. Maybe we stand a better chance of winning this game if we consider that everything we experience is designed for our benefit—even if it’s an astronomical price tag on a pack of worthless cigarettes.

More trust = more peace

I had a different topic in mind for this week's homily. Then I was abruptly awakened and given a new one. It was almost 3 o'clock this morning. That's when my phone rang.

It was my daughter, Maiysha. She was in the Amsterdam airport, en route to South Africa, and she was in tears.

"It appears that my wallet is missing," she said calmly, but I could hear the tears in her voice.

There have been many moments during her young life that Maiysha has made me immensely proud. The moment she spoke those words ranked among my favorites: Why? She'd told me that it appeared that her wallet, debit card and all her cash were missing.

Whoo hoo! Maiysha not only had heard the Loud Mouth's rants, she'd internalized them. How many times had I told her that what happens on planet Earth is a physical appearance--only a shadow of what's really happening in the world of Spirit, the Source of all Life? How many times had I said that when we believe that the physical plane is real and the spiritual plane is not, we're more likely to live in fear, a state that prevents us from thinking clearly and responding appropriately when challenges arise?

Those concepts are tough to embrace because, like most of us, Maiysha spends practically every waking moment with people who believe that physical life is Life Itself.

"Remember to breathe," I said, reminding her of the email message from "Loving Each Day" that I'd forwarded hours earlier. (If you're ready to think rather than blindly accept others' beliefs, treat yourself to a free subscription of these daily thought-provoking emails.) Yesterday's message was:

"When you find yourself in a tense situation, for example, you may notice that you are holding your breath. Putting your attention on your breathing can help you relax and immediately be in the here and now. This practice, found in many spiritual traditions, is often referred to as mindfulness, being present, or living in the now.

"You may ask, since we're breathing all the time, why do we need to practice it? What we're practicing is conscious awareness of the breath. Then breathing becomes a concentration exercise that not only focuses the mind but brings many healing benefits as well."

- John-Roger with Paul Kaye
(From: Momentum, Letting Love Lead - Simple Practices for Spiritual Living, p. 61)

"I am trying to breathe, Mom," Maiysha said. "Actually, it's helping me stay calm."

True, she wasn't flipping out, despite the disappointment of retracing her steps, speaking with empathetic but unhelpful airport personnel, and coming up empty. Plus, her flight to Capetown left in less than an hour. Luckily, she had her passport and boarding pass. A limousine was picking her up at the airport, and her hotel was paid. But she had no money--and no access to any. As much as she hated to wake me, she needed her Mom by her side at that moment.

As I "stood" in line with her at the customer service counter, a more helpful airline employee took one look at my child's tear-filled eyes and offered to check the cabin of the plane, just in case she'd left it onboard. It was a long-shot, but the wallet hadn't turned up anywhere else. What if she'd been pick-pocketed?

I started to get dressed so that I could dash around the corner to her bank, and withdraw her daily cash limit with the duplicate debit card that had her bank had issued me. Afterward, we'd cancel both cards and I'd wire the cash to a location near her Capetown hotel.

That resolved her problem on the physical plane; but we knew there was more. We began to look deeper, pondering the questions I always ask in situations such as this: "Why did I create this predicament? How does it serve me: What learning opportunities does it present? How does it help me grow spiritually?"

When we see exclusively with our physical eyes, we miss the information, answers and blessings from Spirit that are so close to us. Seeking the opportunities for growth in every situation brings us closer to the "I am always with you" Christ Spirit that lives within us. It allows us breathe peacefully, not panic.

Sure, it was possible that thieves might have made a hefty withdrawal from their karmic accounts by trying to steal money from Maiysha's bank account; but we trusted that God would bring perfect balance to both sides. Trusting that, we also realized what a divine blessing it was that she was compelled to buy a gift for her Dad at an airport shop; otherwise, she would have been in Capetown before discovering that her wallet was missing. Finally, we trusted that the situation would resolve itself for everyone's Highest Good.

It certainly was good for me to witness Maiysha moving through this dilemma fearlessly and peacefully. She was prepared to accept the outcome of the search of the plane, no matter what. She merely hoped that she'd discover the outcome before time to board her next flight.

Finally, she spotted the agent approaching her. Before I could ask, I heard her say, "They found it!"

We breathed more deeply. What an opportunity had been presented to us. We could mouth the words, "I trust God," and we can say we trust in a perfect outcome. But until we demonstrate that trust to ourselves, they are empty words.

What was the "perfect" outcome here: having Maiysha's wallet returned intact? No, although it was. Remember "thy will be done?" That's what it means: trusting and acquiescing to the will of your Higher Self. "Perfect" was whatever her soul wanted the outcome to be, even if it meant that the body surrounding the soul went to Capetown penniless. Physical life is just a shadow.

Wow, you're not going to believe this: The phone just rang again. It was the doorman. It appears that I left my wallet in a chair downstairs a couple of hours ago. I hadn't even missed it. As I rode the elevator down to the lobby, I couldn't help but laugh at the irony. It's as if it happened so that the story angle I'd been given came full circle.

Yes, every card and every penny in the wallet were there. But I would have been as peaceful, even if they hadn't been.

Trust me: You can do this. You can enjoy the peace that comes from trusting the divine God within you, no matter what appears to go awry on planet Earth.

Will you be in the Chicago area March 26-28? The Loud Mouth in the Balcony is conducting a workshop at the Women's Leadership Conference. For more information on this event and the other dynamic presenters, visit my website: http://www.dramaqueenworkshop.com/events.html.

Is life more fun for those who think?

Truth shows up in the most unlikely places. I recently stumbled upon one of the most profound bits of truth printed on the tag of my tea bag:

"The world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think."

The writer was Horace Walpole. I'd never heard of this English nobleman; but he instantly felt like kin because, like the Loud Mouth, he subscribed to his predecessor William Shakespeare's theory that "all the world's a stage." What intrigued me, however, was that Walpole seemed to be declaring that life is actually more fun for those who think--and more tragic for those who respond to life's dramas emotionally.

Let's think about that: What if you were born in the kingdom of a monarch whom no one had actually ever seen? He lived on a mountain that no one had ever visited and returned to tell firsthand stories, but you had it on good authority from well-respected leaders in the community that the king could be violently angry and vindictive. They said that he sometimes used excessive force to punish disobedience, but most of the time he simply ignored it. There was no predictability to his actions.

You never understood, and never questioned why the king behaved this way. You weren't sure what would happen if you asked why he commanded his subjects to be forgiving and nonviolent, since he didn't value or emulate this behavior. And why did he demand love, worship, and money?
Can you really love this volatile hypocrite? Could you truly entrust your life to him--or would you continue to live in fear, stress out, like everyone else around you?

Have you noticed that fearful people are typically reactionary and rarely rational? Take the leaders in this kingdom, for instance: To save themselves and others from a horrible and painful fate, they might create rules, regulations, restrictions, rituals, readings and regimens designed to appease the tyrannical king. Their aim was to control behaviors in the kingdom so that they could control outcomes from the king, especially since good people got hurt when he summoned the forces of nature against the entire kingdom.

Fearful people are more likely to create stories or dramas that support their fears and rally support from others. After all, who wants to be in a frightening situation alone? Since the beginning of recorded time, the most effective tool used to control human behaviors and outcomes is...Fear. It launches a never-ending cycle of drama of the most tragic kind.

Is the ruler of your kingdom a vindictive hypocritical tyrant? How can your life become less tragic?

Is God Evolving at the Speed of Man?

This week’s homily was motivated by an particularly insightful response to last week’s essay, “God as Valentine:”

“I am of the mind that the practice of the time should not be mingled with the theology/belief that we in today’s world have or should have for who God is.”

What’s so exciting about this response is that it addresses, with laser focus, the reason so many of us are hurting right now: We have accepted ancient scribes’ vision of what God is, what God wants, what God does and through what practices God should be served.

Is it possible that the ancient scribes’ view of God might not be real? Their view of God is based on their limited knowledge of everything from genetics and geography to astronomy and physics. Most of those who heard their stories were illiterate, not intellectuals.

Our understanding of life on this planet has evolved; yet we place our faith in ancient scribes who believed that the earth not only was flat; it was the center of the Universe. The ancients believed that God demanded live sacrifices. Today, we call such sacrifices satanic.

What changed: Us or God?

If we had a better understanding of what God is and what God does, we wouldn’t feel so abandoned or punished when Life flips us on our heads. Is our faith in the words or in our God? As Stevie says, “When you believe in things that you don’t understand, you suffer.”

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand this: In the ancients’ version of human history, God planned a mass murder; he declared that he would ”wipe out” every plant and tree, and all but a few living creatures. He then waited patiently for decades for Noah to build an ark so that God could stow away a few survivors.

Then, the scribes tell us, after that long wait, God turned on the spigot and forgot about the ark. On the 40th day, they wrote, God “remembered” (Gen. 8:1). Are we to believe that God is not omniscient or that the ancients weren’t sophisticated storytellers?

Not sure? Try this: As their story continues, the rain suddenly stopped; but the waters didn’t recede for another 110 days. That seems to have confused poor Noah–and we certainly can understand that. He had to have been delirious by then.

Let’s face it: 150 days on a luxury cruise ship would drive anyone batty! What would be the mental condition of someone confined to a vessel with one window and one door–and filled with fecal matter and carcasses of animals (and perhaps humans) who didn’t survive the life-threatening and unsanitary conditions? Without a 150-day supply of food and potable water, how did any of them survive?

The ancient scribes didn’t think that through. They could only write what they knew.

An omniscient God, however, certainly knew what would happen under such inhumane conditions. So what does that say for this version of history being from God’s mouth to the scribes’ ears? What do you say when a 21st Century construction contractor in the Netherlands devotes nearly four years of his life replicating the vessel to the exact dimensions that the scribes provided?

As the ancient story goes, Noah trusted a dove, who didn’t escape the horrific conditions on the ark by flying out of the open window, to be smart enough to bring him proof that the water had receded. The fact that the bird returned wasn’t a miracle. But returning with a freshly plucked olive leaf? (Gen. 8:11) Every plant, tree and bush on earth was root-rotted. The ancient scribes weren’t aware, but we know that dead bodies contaminate water; so how on earth did an olive tree grow?

And how on earth did they devise this ending to this story? After leaving the ark, a grateful Noah built an altar to God, took some of the surviving animals and birds and inhumanely killed them, as a sacrifice (Gen. 8:20). Help me out here: They had miraculously managed to survive the grotesque conditions with little food and water, among carnivorous predators–to end up on a butcher’s slab? Raise your hand if you believe this.

Keep it raised if you believe the next sentence in this saga: “The LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and the LORD said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.” (Gen. 8:21).

Yes, we are to believe that:

• God found the smell of the dead meat soothing. (Did the aroma waft up to Heaven?)
• God decided that killing everything and everybody wasn’t such a great idea after all–and said that He would never do it again (God makes mistakes?)
• God came to the conclusion that humans are simply evil. (Wouldn’t an omniscient God would know that before the genocide?)

I know someone is going to object: We shouldn’t question what God does.
Of course, that presumes that God is so impotent that He is threatened or angered by our desire to understand Him. More important, it presumes that God is not fully evolved and that man is not evolving toward Godliness.

Are you open to the possibility that God has been waiting patiently for centuries for us to evolve enough to ask these common sense questions? Is it possible that God has been waiting for someone–maybe you–to disassociate him from these barbaric, inhumane acts and clear His good name?

God as Valentine

Raise your hand if you expect your significant other to “show you some love” on Valentine’s Day. After all, there’s only one day in the year that celebrates Love. Maybe that’s why we have such great expectations. Admit it, Girls: We want something a lot more romantic and thoughtful than chocolates and flowers. If only our men were as romantic and thoughtful as our First Lady’s. (Sigh)

Chances are, it was chocolates and/or flowers again this year. Right? We held back the tears, fawned over the flowers, and munched every chocolate, hoping that that there was something gold, platinum or even diamond hidden inside one of those tiny cups. It was not to be.

Look on the bright side. It could have been worse.

John Hinckley, Jr. comes to mind. Remember Hinckley? He attempted to assassinate then-President Ronald Reagan. It was a rather, er, dramatic way of expressing his love for actress Jodie Foster, whom he’d never met. Ms. Foster didn’t feel the love—and neither did anyone else, as far as I know.
I could be wrong. Does anybody out there believe that the blasts from Hinckley’s .22 pistol were appropriate expressions of love?

No? How about Susan Smith and Andrea Yates? Both women claim that their love for a man compelled them to drown their children. Do you think the men in question were freaked out or grateful that these living sacrifices were made on their behalf?

What did you think about these women committing filicide in the name of love: Was their behavior divine or satanic?

I ask this because it has been written and oft repeated that God sanctioned the unspeakably inhumane torture of one of his children–ironically, the only good one. We have been told that this murder demonstrated God’s deep love for those who are not so good.

Is that what you believe? If so, do you also believe that Hinckley, Smith and Yates’ behavior was an expression of divine love? (Please note: this is an apples to apples comparison of behavior.)

Most of us don’t think about what we believe. We believe what others tell us to believe–and, in many cases, we are discouraged or even threatened if we don’t blindly accept their beliefs. In this space, you are encouraged to think, analyze and ask yourself…

1. What Do I Believe–and Why Do I Believe It?


2. Do I believe that God is Love?


3. How do I expect God to express love?


4. Do I believe that Love would torture an innocent person to death, to benefit the guilty?


5. Do I believe that God would torture an innocent person to death, to benefit the guilty?


6. Do I believe that Love commits or sanctions inhumane behavior for any reason?


7. Do I believe that God commits or sanctions inhumane behavior for any reason?


8. Are live sacrifices satanic or loving acts?

There are no right or wrong answers here. The important thing is that you begin to think about your beliefs, and begin to understand what your beliefs mean and how they make you feel? For example, are you more likely to be fearful if you believe that God who solves problems by killing people? Does fear generate peace or stress?

I’ll be asking questions every week. You supply your own answers. As you explore your beliefs, in private, you’ll begin to discover a lot about yourself–perhaps even more about your perceptions of God.

What Should the "Loud Mouth" Wear to the Grammy Awards?

Every parent knows how giddy we get when our kids do well. My over-achiever potty-trained herself, was "top of the class" smart in school, graduated from a prestigious college and became a successful Ford model. Now my singing/songwriting baby girl has captured a Grammy nod.

Maiysha's middle name, Kai, means "lovable" in Swahili. What I love most about her is that this wunderkind is as sweet an unaffected by her talent, looks and brains as the day is long: a beautiful person as well as a beautiful woman. (Thank you, God!)

Maiysha started singing when she was two. It stunned her Dad and me back then that she actually sang on-key. On my birthday this year, her debut album, "This Much Is True," was released. Earlier this week, her debut single from that album, "Wanna Be," was nominated for a Grammy.

This is not hip-hop; it's music that appeals to all demographic groups. I invite you to enjoy it absolutely free and with no obligation: Visit her website, http://www.maiysha.com/. And watch the performance videos. (Personally, I think the "Wanna Be" music video should have been nominated, too. You'll see.)

I hadn't thought about what I should wear to the awards show until so many of my friends asked. Frankly, I thought my indelible Cheshire cat grin would suffice.

No?

Head-to-Head with Einstein's Brain

I wouldn't pit my brain against Albert Einstein's, and I certainly wouldn't bid against the guy who forked over $404,000 in an auction for one of Einstein's letters. Just a guess, but I think he has a higher credit limit on his cards than I do.

Is this undisclosed bidder a show-off, a physics buff, a spend-thrift, or are the contents of this letter really worth that much money? It depends upon how much you value the genius quantum physicist's thoughts about God--and religion (terms that, for some, are mutually exclusive). An article in today's New York Times gives us a peek into this unique missive, at a price that will fit our budgets.

The Answer to Prayer

An article in today's Chicago Tribune has once again stirred my curiosity about the power of prayer. I'm wondering what you think about it.

According to the Trib's story, Artemia Torres, a single mother from Mexico, came to Chicago at the advice of relatives who assured her that she could earn more money to keep her two children in college. The relatives forgot to mention that they lived in a rough part of town. Oops.

When Ms. Torres discovered that she'd landed in a high street crime area, she did what any devout Catholic would do: Every morning before leaving home to sell corn-on-the-cob, mangoes and snow cones from her mobile cart, she prayed for God's protection. For good measure, she traveled on her daily rounds with a rosary and two pictures of Catholic saints.

One day, after going a full morning without a sale, it looked as if her luck was about to change. A customer finally appeared. He asked for corn; what he really wanted was her money. When she didn't have any, he did what any Chicago street thug worth his stripes would do: he shot her. He could have been more ruthless; he aimed for her thigh, not her heart.

Fascinating stuff. What does this incident say to you about the power of prayer?

Tour Begins, Freebies End

Friday, March 28, marks an important milestone: The launch of the most joyful work of my lifetime: The Bringing in the Light Tour and the release of my new book, Crossing an Unseen Bridge.

Last summer, four authors and speakers, Gaile Dry-Burton, Patrice Gaines and Trevy McDonald, and myself founded HIPP Books, LLC, deriving our name from our dedication to promote Health, Inspirational, Peace and Prosperity. When we decided to take our act on the road, it was best-selling author Patrice Gaines who offered another name: "Bringing in the Light." It described our mission perfectly.

Since that fateful day, we have created an empowering series of workshops that are as insightful as they are fun. As the tour schedule develops, I will keep you posted. In most cases, the events are free. In each city, we're featuring a local author in our genre. In New York, it's best-selling author Terrie M. Williams. We're very excited about that.

There will be two "Come, Bring Your Light" panel discussions on each side of the main event. Both are in Harlem. Friday evening at 6 o'clock, we'll be at the National Black Theatre of Harlem and Sunday afternoon at 2 o'clock, we'll wrap up at Hue-Man Books and Cafe.

Publicity surrounding the main event on Saturday, March 29 at The New School University in Greenwich Village has created quite a buzz. (Maybe it was the news that New York's famed Dinosaur Bar-B-Q is catering the free lunch.) At any rate, it's the hottest ticket in town. To make sure that they don't have to turn you away, RSVP no later than today to: marciam@datewithabook.com. Warning: It might already be too late. Speaking of too late...

Free Downloads End Tonight!
The floodgates are about to close! If you're one of the few who hasn't read Crossing an Unseen Bridge (and hasn't discovered the Law of Attraction secrets that no one wants to talk about), downloads are free until midnight. I've enjoyed sharing it with you.

Have you seen any of the Crossing an Unseen Bridge reviews? Readers are sending back a lot of love from the other side. Not since "Drama Queens" have I cried such happy tears! The feedback has touched me as deeply as you tell me that this book has touched you. Read a few reviews.

We've noticed an uptick in downloads and sales of EARTH Is the MOTHER of All Drama Queens--especially by those who have read Crossing an Unseen Bridge. Maybe it's because the two are perfect companion books--or maybe it's because this is the first time that the 320-page book has been offered free. If it's the latter, here's a news flash: Drama Queen freebies also end tonight.

The Politician and His Pastor

In my role as the spirituality editor of The Daily Voice online news source, I was asked to weigh in on the controversy surrounding Barack Obama's pastor's resignation from his presidential campaign from a spiritual rather than political point of view. If you're interested in what the Loud Mouth saw from the balcony of that drama, read it here.

Why Do We Believe It?

I'm always in awe of people who can quote scripture. I'm equally intrigued when they insist that it is the Word of God. My latest book delves into our beliefs a bit. I am convinced that many of us haven't the slightest idea what we believe, what our beliefs really mean or why we believe them.

Is it important to understand what you believe? Well, since our beliefs motivate our actions, I think so--and so does retired Episcopalian Bishop John Shelby Spong*, renowned expert on the Bible, best-selling author and former fundamentalist from the Bible belt.

A minister at my church, who knows I am a big fan of Bishop Spong's, sent me this illuminating speech. I thought I'd share. When you have 83 minutes to spare, it will be time well-spent: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZM3FXlLMug

Enjoy the enlightenment!

*Disclaimer: Bishop Spong endorsed my first book.

In Violent Dramas, What's God's Role?

A few days ago, I theorized in this space that violent behavior stems from our beliefs about what God is and what God does. If we believe ancient stories that tell us that God solves problems by killing people, we're more likely to view violence as a logical and acceptable way to solve our problems.

Within 24 hours of posting that essay, a Kirkwood, Missouri man left home saying, "To God be the glory!" Moments later, he shot six and killed five people that, he believed, were causing him a problem.

These horrific murders caused me to examine my theory more closely. What I found was scientific evidence that I might be on the right track. I posted those findings in today's edition of The Daily Voice, where I serve as the spirituality editor.

Time for a "Shift"?

I stopped watching the evening news and switched to online newspapers. Not only was I was burned out, after 20 years in TV news, I typically felt emotionally drained at the end of the newscast, a bit overwhelmed by man's inhumanity to man.

Now that watching is no longer a job requirement, I choose not. If a headline is screaming bad news, I can instantly dash to another part of the page; I don't have to sit through the bloody details or watch the crime scene video.

I swear, if one more anchor reported a "senseless" murder, I was going to scream. Are there any murders that make sense? Let's see: Five women slain in a clothing store, man opens fire in a shopping mall, a Boy Scout kills his parents, women suicide bombers wreak havoc. Which of these made sense?

The acts are becoming more and more bizarre, more and more inhumane. I could be wrong, but I've theorized that the way we solve problems is directly related to our beliefs about God.

We can be as punitive and unforgiving as the God who kicked Adam and Eve to kingdom come. We can be as outraged and brutal as the God who commits filicide or genocide. We believe that Our Father solves problems by killing His own, torturing His own, threatening His own. He favors some over others. Human life is expendable.

We were taught this as children. It's deeply seeded in our psyches: this is the way to solve problems. This is the way we treat others.

In that context, murders make perfect sense, and they will continue until we shift our perceptions about what God is and what God does, until we decide to believe that God behaves more divinely.

It's an option. I'm not sure if we can do it; we are so attached to the sadistic model of God. In fact, we believe that God will torture us eternally, if we believe otherwise. Fascinating stuff.

At times, it seems hopeless to think that we can grasp how heinous we believe God is. Only a Pollyanna would believe that we can challenge these reports of Godly misconduct by asking, "Would LOVE do that?"

There is hope. Today, I am filled with it, after receiving an email today from the Rev. Shaheerah Stephens, a New Thought minister in Detroit. Maybe you'd like some hope, too: The Shift Movie

Honk if You're a Non-Believer!

It happened again. I received a wonderfully inspiring e-mail--lengthy, but inspiring--and just as I neared the end, there it was: the threat, preceded by a command to say "The Lord's Prayer" for the person who sent the e-mail. I was OK with that, but the writer wanted more:

"Next, send this message to everyone you know. In a while, more people will have
prayed for you and you would have obtained a lot of people praying for others!"

In principle, it sounded reasonable and mathematically sound; but I have hundreds of friends in my address book, including many who do not say "The Lord's Prayer". Plus, I have no doubt that many who do wouldn't know what to say, in response to the writer's next command. I was a bit speechless myself:

"Next, stop and think and appreciate God's power in your life, for doing what
you know is pleasing to Him."

I stopped and thought. I'm still not sure whether this writer was saying that God would have power in my life if I pleased "Him", and no power if I didn't--i.e. a conditionally powerful quid pro quo God? Alrighty now!

And then came the Big Threat, the one that has found its way to the Loud Mouth's mailbox once too often:

"If you are not ashamed to do this, follow the instructions! Jesus said, 'If you are ashamed of me, I will be ashamed of you before My Father.'
"If you are not ashamed, send this message... only if you believe."

Believe what, exactly? Does this writer want us to believe that Jesus was a hypocrite? That's what we'd have to believe, to accept anyone's claim that he made such a manipulative, vindictive threat. This proclamation defies the spirit, intent and teachings of Jesus.

Believe what, exactly? Does this writer want us to believe that Jesus was a hypocrite? That's what we'd have to believe, to accept anyone's claim that he made such a manipulative, vindictive threat. This proclamation defies the spirit, intent and teachings of Jesus.

Bible scholars tell us that this alleged direct quote was written 70-85 years after Jesus' crucifixion--and not by one of his disciples. In fact, they say, none of the gospels was written by someone who personally knew Jesus. Why do we repeat second-hand information that maligns his character and makes him appear duplicitous?

What we know, for sure, is that Matthew wrote this quote--and he clearly couldn't have been paying attention to anything else Jesus reportedly said, or he would have written something that was more accurately aligned with his character and teachings.

Maybe Matthew was being overly zealous in his attempt to attract converts to Judaism's Christian sect. I don't know. And I don't know what motivates those who keep breathing life into such a damning characterization of Jesus by tacking this threat to the end of their e-mails, either.
This one stood out from the rest because, like Matthew, the scribe wasn't thinking clearly. In the same e-mail, the writer wrote every word of "The Lord's Prayer," but apparently didn't read them--and expected us to say them and not read them, either. Curious stuff.

The writer obviously believes that Jesus prayed, "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive others'," before the crowd gathered on the Mount, but would not be forgiving of others, when in his Father's presence.

Makes you wonder: Who's really the non-believer here?

Heard behind the Curtain

By now, most of us are a bit weary of presidential politics--and the year is young. But, while most of us are turning a deaf ear, some are tuning in to hear the words more closely, as I discovered when reading June Michael's Spiritualdiva blog a minute ago.

She relates that she heard Barack Obama offer us three simple steps to lasting freedom! Did you?

What is Mid-Life?

Upon returning to the lovely gateway of the Beliefnet Community today, I spotted a question asked by one of my neighbors: "Is it a mid-life crisis?" he wondered.

He made me wonder, too: When's mid-life? I mean, if we are spiritual creatures, made in the image of God, if there is no beginning or end to us, where is that point that we can designate as the "middle" of our lifetime?

Now that I've become aware of what a theater Earth is--and have become totally convinced of its departure from reality--the word "life" hits my eyes and ears differently. Words such as "life-saving" and "life-threatening", and yes, "mid-life" are curious to me. In fact, one of the questions in the Drama Queen Workshop “reality check” exercise is: It’s possible for medical professionals to save a life. True or False?

The answer, at least in that venue, is “false”. You can save a body, but you can’t save a life. We’ve confused the two, with obvious and frightening results.

We've been taught that reality is only what we can see: the slow moving molecules that constitute physical life. We've been taught that we have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Consequently, we tend to be fearful and defensive. We're spooked more easily. After all, there's so much to lose; no one is guaranteed tomorrow. Gotta get it now, gotta keep it, gotta keep others from trying to take it. Control whatever and whomever you can in this finite world.

What if Paul was correct when he told the Corinthians in his second letter: "What is seen is temporary, what is unseen is eternal?" Is reality temporary or eternal?

Wouldn't it be great in 2008, if we could more consistently "keep it real?" Who knows? Maybe the Loud Mouth wouldn't feel so compelled to rant!