Knowledge and Religion

Can You Experience Joy

Now that you know how difficult it is to find happiness an object or in a person, the question comes, “Can I be happy?” After all there must be happiness somewhere. No one can honestly say, “I am so happy being miserable.” People even commit suicide to get out of their misery.

Did God just play a cruel trick on us or is there a way of finding happiness. Here is a quote from “Making Your Wisdom Come Alive” written by me to start off this discussion:

In this book I am going to pass on the secret of standing as Wisdom and Happiness. The depth of this wisdom constantly amazes me. It's no exaggeration to say that when you know this, it is like knowing everything.

If you wanted to take a guess at what this secret is, here is a hint. If you were God and wanted to put Wisdom and Happiness in the world, where would you put it? Now I know that like God you are a compassionate being, and since you are compassionate you would like to put it where the maximum number of people could experience it. Where it wouldn't matter if they were rich or poor, young or old, sick or well, or Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Christian or Jew. That no matter what difference seems to distinguish people, they could still be happy and at peace. Maybe the same place that you would put this Happiness and Wisdom is the place where God put it.

So let’s look at our own experience and not some theory. When you experience happiness where do you actually experience it? Do you experience it in the hair or bright eyes of your lover, or in the many facets of a perfect diamond? Do you experience it is the shinny windows in your new house?

The answer would have to be no! You experience happiness right where you are, in your heart. Take a look for yourself and see if this is true. The place where you actually experience happiness is the source of that happiness. Not the objects and people that you see. This is the secret to finding happiness, the good news! Stay tuned for more on the source of joy, tomorrow.

Please leave comments and questions below. I hope that this blog will not just be me, but will be your comments and questions too.

If you are curious about “Making Your Wisdom Come Alive” or wish to read the rest of the introduction go to: http://www.light-up-your-life.com/wisdom.html .

Best Wishes Until Next time,

 

Michael

Lasting Joy

Now I get to write on my favorite subject. How to find lasting joy. Isn’t that what you really want? The kind of joy that never swings into sorrow. If you follow me closely over the next few day I think you will unwrap a present that you never could have imagined.

At first blush it seems like it would be impossible to find lasting joy. When you look closely you will see how hard it is to even find joy at all.

First you have to have the object of your enjoyment and in good shape. If you don’t have the spouse, family, car, or house you won’t quiet have the happiness that you want, right?

Here’s my favorite example of this. You’re about to bite into your favorite chocolate ice cream cone. You’re hungry, it smells great and you’re ready to eat. All of the sudden your dog sneaks up from behind you and snatches the ice cream out of your hand. You lose the object of your joy and your anticipation of joy turns into sorrow.

Then you have to have the capacity to enjoy the objects that you get. The first ice-cream cone might taste great but I don’t think I could eat 30 Ice-cream cones.

Finally you have to be in the mood to enjoy the object. As you’re about to bite into your ice-cream cone you watch your dog get run over by a car. Your attention goes to your dog and you forget about the ice-cream.

The object, the capacity to enjoy it, and the right mood all have to be there so that you can enjoy an object. Sounds impossible, doesn’t it? But if you think it is hard to get joy from an object, what about a human relationship. Your friend has to be there; your capacity to enjoy has to line up with his or her capacity to enjoy, and your mood has to line up with his or her mood. That’s really hard.

And yet despite all of the complications we spend so much time and energy looking for joy. The advertisements on the radio and TV are constantly telling us what will make us happy. Are friends and family are telling us how to be happy. But with all the complications how could anything bring us happiness?

The good news is that you can be happy and the key is that happiness feels natural. My favorite quote from Jesus is “The kingdom of heaven is within you”. Stay tuned, tomorrow we will reveal the secret to being happy. If you want to cheat and look ahead go to www.light-up-your-life.com.

Best Wishes Until Next time,

 

Michael

Can You Know What’s True

You might find it surprising that to know God is to know who you really are. But it always amazes me how many people sell themselves short. For instance the other day we went to lunch with a friend who said that the Buddha really didn’t find an answer for old age, disease, and death. He only came to terms with them.

Well, I think you’re in for a pleasant surprise. That you can find an answer to the things that haunt all human beings, and for the things that haunt you personally. The key is to know where to look; to reexamine your own direct experience as opposed what you are supposed to experience.

Maybe in the past your friends, your parents, your teachers, and your religious leaders have told you the way things are supped to be. Here we will give you a chance to explore and experiment so that you can see things afresh, from your own experience.

“Now we see things through a glass darkly but then face to face.” You will get to see how clear things can be. Tomorrow we will start with joy. Where is it and how do we lose it. If you want to cheat and look ahead go to www.light-up-your-life.com.

Best Wishes Until Next time,

Michael

The Good News

If you can know God, by your own direct experience then you at least have to know what God is, don't you? After all we don’t want to aim short, right? How about infinity for starters. Peace and joy that does not come to an end. Undying Consciousness and the reality behind that which seems to exist.

I can hear your questions now, “How can I possibly know that which has no boundaries, is everywhere, is ever at peace, and never dies. Isn’t that impossible?” The good news is that you are that. If you know yourself you will know God.

Second objection, “But isn’t that egotistical insanity, to think you are God?” It is not just that I am God and you are not. If God is truly infinite there would not be room for anything else.

Actually, I am being egotistical by saying that I am not God. Then God would be everywhere, all knowing and all powerful except for one little spot and that would be me. I would in effect be saying that I limit God.

As you continue to read these entries I think you will start to see yourself in your full glory, full of bliss and wisdom. What seems fantastic now will seem normal then.

The things that now seem to cause you suffering and the feeling of limitation now will wash off you like water off the back off a duck. Suffering never feels natural. What remains will be your natural state.

If you want to cheat and look ahead go to www.light-up-your-life.com.

Best Wishes Until Next time,

 

Michael

Is Limitation Necessary

I hope that you are starting to get curious. It is surprising how often we live under the weight our own assumptions. Assumptions like what’s possible for us, what our mind is, what life is, and who we are. We might see these assumptions in statements like, “Well, this is just the way I am.” Or, “That’s life.” These assumptions bog us down and soon we find that life gets boring.

We get lots of suggestions from our family, friends, and the TV on how we can fix this boredom. Maybe a new car, or a bigger house, or a trip to Hawaii , or moving to a better location. If I can only graduate from college, get a better job, retire and……

When we try these various solutions to ease our feeling of limitation and suffering, we may feel better for a month or two. But sure enough, soon the old feelings of suffering creep back to haunt us.

It seems like wherever we go or whatever we do we bring our own mind with us. We start to realize that our usual distractions are not going to give us what we want. That’s when we wonder, “Is there a different approach.”

So what is your potential any way? I already mentioned that you can know God by your own direct experience. We certainly don’t want to limit God by our own conceptual thinking; with thoughts like he’s a man, or woman for that matter, that you see when you die. Or he’s the guy who is always fighting the devil, or the person in the heavens playing the harp.

Who wants to spend eternity playing the harp anyway. This is not God. This is just us thinking about God with our own limitations. In my next entry we will look at our real potential. God without the slightest limitation.

If you want to cheat and look ahead go to: www.light-up-your-life.com. By the way don’t hesitate to ask questions or leave comments.

Best Wishes until next time.

Michael

Can You Trust Me

In my last blog I told you that I was going to tell you how you could know God directly, free from faith, experiences of energy, and other subtle experiences. If I didn’t quite say that I am saying it now. But the obvious question is how can you trust me?

Here is a guy coming out of nowhere, onto the airwaves telling me that I can know God directly; hmmm! Well perhaps I could give you an impressive resume with such facts as, “I started meditating in 1965 when I heard that you find God by looking within.”

And you might say “wow 41 years, that’s a long time.” But God’s infinite, isn’t he or she? Compared to that 41 years in nothing. Furthermore, I don’t want you to take 41 years to know God. As you will see that’s much too long.

So I think I’ll have to find another way to establish some trust, won’t I? In order to do this I am going to bring in part of the introduction to “Making Your Wisdom Come Alive”. I’m the author, so of course I would recommend this book as a straightforward way to get to the heart of this matter.

What I hope you will do is look and see If what I say meets these qualifications: 

If I was to tell you that you could stand as Infinite Wisdom and Bliss, could you believe me? How would you know that this book is not written from a figment of my imagination. How would you know that it comes from real experience accessible to anyone?

I would like to set up three tests to show the validity of the knowledge contained within this book:

First, is what I am saying reasonable? Does it make sense or is it some mystical mumbo jumbo that is incomprehensible. After reading this book, I think you will see that the Sages of old actually wanted you to under­stand what they were saying. You'll see that spirituality and reason are not opposites.

Secondly, can you experience this? If you can't experience what I say, what good is it.

Thirdly, am I the only one to experience this or has this knowledge been passed down throughout the ages?

If you feel that this book meets these three tests, I would encourage you to open up your mind. Perhaps here, in this little book, you can discover the secret teachings, passed down from antiquity, that when discovered have made many people exceedingly joyful.

 

If you want to read the rest of this intro, or more about "Making Your Wisdom Come Alive" go to:

http://www.light-up-your-life.com/wisdom.html

Best wishes until next time!

Is it Possiable to Know God

Some people say that there is God and some people say that there isn’t . Even for the most pious among us, their faith is sometimes matched by their doubts. In this blog we are going to explore the possibility of knowing God directly. Not as some flimsy mental construct that can disappear in a flash, but by our deep and immediate experience.

For example if I describe our house in California you may or may not know what our house is like. But once you visit us you will know our house by your direct experience. Can you know God that directly?

Since I’m talking about knowledge and not faith, I’m not asking you to believe what I’m saying. But if you’re curious, stick around as we develop this subject. I think you will be amazed at what’s possible for a human being to know.

And if you want to cheat a little and move ahead you can go to www.light-up-your-life.com. If you have questions or comments feel free to leave them for me. I think you will be surprised by how to the point and direct a response from knowledge can be.