Friday, July 22, 2016

An open letter to my President

A Florida policeman shot and wounded an autistic man's unarmed black therapist on Monday, local media reports.

Charles Kinsey, who works with people with disabilities, told WSVN television he was helping a patient who had wandered away from a facility.
Mobile phone video shows Mr Kinsey lying down with his hands in the air, and his patient sitting in the road with a toy truck.

North Miami Assistant Police Chief Neal Cuevas said officers were called out on Monday, following reports of a man threatening to shoot himself. Police ordered Mr Kinsey and the patient to lie on the ground, he told The Miami Herald.
The video shows Mr Kinsey lying down while trying to get his patient to comply.
He can be heard telling officers he has no weapon, and that the other man is autistic and has a toy truck.

An officer then fired three times, striking Kinsey in the leg, Mr Cuevas said. No weapon was found. Police have not released the name or race of the officer who shot him but said he had been placed on administrative leave. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the incident.

In an interview with the TV station from his hospital bed, Mr Kinsey said he was more worried about his patient than himself during the incident. "As long as I've got my hands up, they're not going to shoot me. This is what I'm thinking. They're not going to shoot me," he said. "Wow, was I wrong."  Mr Kinsey is a member of the Circle of Brotherhood, a collective of African American men and community activists in south Florida.

"It could be any of us," Lyle Muhammad, a spokesman for the group, told BBC.
"Here's an individual who is going about his daily employment and doing it well, and speaking clearly and following every single instruction he was given, and he still finds himself assaulted."


Dear Mr. President,

I cannot stop tears running down my cheeks.  The story above is too difficult to read, but cannot be buried either.  Mr. President, the problem we are facing cannot be solved through politics or with money.  As a nation we are going to need a sincere effort on both side to want to overcome it at the root.  This will require a tremendous effort on all parties, a lot of humility from every one and a heart of love that we, human beings are able to possess, if we let it.
 
It is obvious that our police force is behaving out of fear and consider everyone, but especially a certain segment of our population as extremely dangerous, no matter, how mild and gentile their behavior is.  It is also clear, that some people are not capable today to overcome their resentment towards this kind of unfunded fear and are retaliating with the wrong weapons.
 
Weapons of mass destruction are not only the kind we were trying to discover in Iraq.  Weapon of mass destruction are the pain that we all carry in our heart because of physical, mental, and social abuse.  Those weapons are a lot more dangerous because it is easy to ignore them.  Though they are the one causing our destruction today.

I have not watched much of the politics in the past many months, as there is nothing told of any value.  The behavior of our politicians has been the kind we see in children 5 years old and younger, reciting a list of misdeeds that their peers may have done.  I would have been a lot more interested in listening to a concrete plan on how each one was planning on solving the human crisis that we now have on our hands.  It is not going away by simply wishing it.  It will take a lot of courage for a politician to take on this kind of problem, but that is the kind of politician that we need.

Let us not pretend that we can help the world be peaceful and stable.  We are unable to do it at home.  Let’s encourage every one of us, Americans, to be the kind of people that deserve the freedom we enjoy.  Let’s take responsibility for our shortcoming and solve it together – we cannot do it separately – we have to work together. Stop the destructive and selfish politics and work together to bring humanity back to our society.  For the sake of the future, please.

Friday, June 24, 2016

Condition of the Heart: Example 1

Example 1:
When one feels anger and frustration because the head of states is making decisions that are against one’s own life principles…

How should one react?
Option 1: Vent the frustration on Facebook, by calling him/her “names” and posting derogatory messages that will vilify the individual.  Find a photograph with an attached statement that may or may not relate to the picture and could also be a lie.  It may feel good for a few minutes but it won’t last.

Option 2: If, able to, research the background of the decision made.  The pros and cons of the decisions.  Research who participated in making the decisions.  Research possible statistics of similar decisions made in the past by prior head of states, either from one’s country or others.  Refrain from posting anything that will inflame in oneself or others the negative feeling toward the head of states, because it will only multiply anger and frustration in oneself and others without accomplishing anything productive.

Option 3: If research as mentioned in option 2 cannot be done, one will still refrain from spreading negativity and frustration.  Try to express one’s own point of view, in a way, that will make others think and be curious about why one may not approve of the decision made.

Option 4: Frustration and anger may push someone to write on Facebook what one believes should have been a better decision and why.  It should be done with respect towards all individuals concern, and statistics if available should be presented.  The argument will have supportive documents that may make other people think and review the decision made.

What is the best answer?
Option 2, 3 and 4 are acceptable answers depending on abilities and knowledge of the subject at end.  Option 1 is not a good option.  It does not stimulate goodness in others, it is spreading possible false statements. It is stimulating confrontation instead of cooperation.

                                                          _____________________


A condition of heart is an action that will stimulate and uplift our ability to love humanity and be a positive influence in helping each other to become the citizens of a stable, reliable, confident, supportive, caring, forgiving, intellectually stimulating, serving, giving, and kind cosmic world.

                                                          _____________________


The small video below is from Viktor Frankl, an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist as well as a Holocaust survivor.
https://www.ted.com/talks/viktor_frankl_youth_in_search_of_meaning

He wrote a book worth reading, Viktor E. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning.

Forgiveness is a very necessary but difficult thing to do.

I am responding to someone who has difficulties with the memory of her mother.

I am very sorry that you may not have had the loving, caring, and embracing mother that you should have had. Going to the funeral or not is not necessarily important.  What is most important is for you to get rid of the feeling inside your heart about your mother.  Not because it is important for your mother, but it is important for you.  A lot of people hurt others, voluntarily or involuntarily, and it is very hard for the person on the receiving end to go beyond that hurt but it is necessary for the well-being (physical and spiritual) of that individual and the well-being of everyone around as well and the children if you have any.

A person that my late husband had great regard for was Viktor Frankl.  He was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist as well as a Holocaust survivor.  Please research this individual and read his book.  You may also watch this short TED talk, the English is not really good but good enough to understand what he has to say.
https://www.ted.com/talks/viktor_frankl_youth_in_search_of_meaning

If you cannot go to your mother’s funeral because it will hurt you in a way that will endanger your stable self then don’t go, what is important is your own mental and emotional stability because if you are not stable then others will suffer too.  It is not selfish to take care of oneself, it is necessary for the sake of others.

Mother Theresa said to her sisters that they had to take care of themselves if they wanted to take care of others (they had to sleep and they had to eat).

I hope that what I am telling you will help.  Be the best that you can be regardless of the shortcoming of your mother and others.
Sincerely,
Anne-Marie

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Let Us Pray...

To Whom It May Concern:

I don’t watch TV, I don’t have cable, on purpose.  When I want to see the news, I watch BBC.

Today, March 23, 2016 I watched the news and I saw the report on the Brussel’s attack.

I want to pray. I so want to pray!  And I can, of course, but, me, alone, how powerful can my prayer be? Will it reach the gods?  Will it reach the powerful forces in the universe that can change us and make us humans and not monsters?

How do we deal with this?  I am asking you? And you, and you.  I am not asking, my government, I am not asking my military, I am not asking my police force, I am asking you.  The humble no body that makes 90% of humanity.  Do we have the power to change things – yes I believe we do.  Where is this power?  It is not G for gun or W for war or H for hate or I for indifference.

Google says that 84% of people living on earth have faith.  We may not know what to do with it, we may not practice it, and in some places we may even have to hide it, but….somewhere, deep inside us, at the core of our human being we believe that we are different than the rest of the creation.  We may not understand it but we know, we are not like any other creatures on earth.

Would it hurt, if suddenly this 84% was praying to their God asking for guidance, asking for a hint, or just a suggestion, on how to help us live together in peace?

I want to pray with everyone, I don’t care which church you belong to, or even if you belong to one, it is not important to me.  What is important to me is that you want to pray too.  Pray for understanding, pray for us to live in peace. Pray that our leaders will be guided to make the right decisions, the right choices, for the sake of humanity and the future of our children.  Pray that our leaders will not act out of revenge, out of anger, out of outrage, though they have the right to be angry.  I want them to be able to receive guidance beyond their own abilities so that they will succeed where everyone else, before them, for so many thousands of years have failed.

It is time that we take hold of who we are as human beings.  We may look different and speak different languages.  But the language of the heart is the same regardless of where we come from.  Let’s give our heart the ability to do what it has always be capable of doing.  Let us learn to care, to be companionate, to be understanding, to ask for forgiveness, and to forgive, to respect our differences, let us learn to love.

Let Us Pray…
 

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Give and Take between the Spiritual World and the Physical World

By 2:30 pm Monday, February 29, 2016 I lay down in my reclining chair pretty much exhausted from the last day and half.  However, I am not unhappy.  Actually, I am very content with what happened the past few days.  Let me try to explain.
Our local church community decided to have a “Sunday Service” at my house.  We are a very small community, so the total number of people who actually gathered was four, add me, and we were a big five in total.  We gathered in my family room at 10:00 am.  We started with a prayer, then a reading, then discussed the topic that we had had in mind this time around: 

the spiritual world, spirituality, relationship between the spiritual world and the physical world, how to improve our relationships with the spiritual world, etc.

None of the five of us are mediumistic—we do not see images or hear voices from the spiritual world., All of us, however, do believe in the existence of a spiritual world and spiritual beings.  We have felt that world and experienced it throughout our lives on many occasions.

It is not my goal to give you a report of what we discussed.  I simply want to tell you why I am so exhausted but A-OK!  After our Sunday Service we had lunch and then two of the four people went back home.  Two stayed.  They stayed because the next morning they were going to meet a gentleman coming from Philadelphia at my house.  For the discussions of Sunday afternoon and evening one more person joined us.  She is my friend and she and her husband share my house with me.  She has an extensive knowledge of the spiritual world, does not pretend to know everything, but definitely her input is worth listening to.  The four of us talked a lot throughout the evening and the following morning.

We probably had been talking for at least a couple of hours on Sunday Night when I started unconsciously rubbing the back of my head.  I did not have a headache but felt tremendous pressure that started to feel quite uncomfortable.  About that time my daughter called from LA, so I left the discussion to talk to her.  I went upstairs and started to pet my cat and feed him by hand; within 10 minutes I realized that by doing something very physical I was doing much better and that the pressure I had experienced while downstairs was not as intense, and almost all gone. 

Then, I figured out and understood what was going on. We may have been only four people from this physical plane talking but I had the feeling my family room was actually packed with spirits.  They wanted to participate in the discussion or simply listen.  It became very obvious to me.  Then I remembered that it was not the first time for this to happen to me.  I had forgotten because it does not happen often.  Knowing that the house was full of spiritual beings just like us who wanted to share or learn more about the relationship between our world and their world was uplifting to me.  It made me feel that we were on the right track.  We were discussing something important and something in which they definitively were also very interested. 
The next morning over our morning cup of coffee we talked for another couple of hours until the guest from Philadelphia arrived.  The same thing happened to me.  For whatever reason, spiritual beings seem to think that my cerebellum is an entryway or door of some kind.  So, at some point I had to leave that conversation, too, and do something physical like the dishes.  That helps a lot to feel grounded.

As I write this, it is Tuesday morning.  I am back to my normal routine.  I have no more guests in my house.  Just the three of us living here (I think!).  The pressure is going.  ….Elvis has left the building….

Sunday, February 7, 2016

Adam and Eve

As I started to read Cheon Seong Gyeong* today, thoughts came pouring into my mind so I had to write them down.  Here they are.

Adam and Eve had to have enough intelligence to understand God’s commandments, their physical brain abilities had to be very developed.  Through science we know that humans appeared on earth a very long time ago but they did not look the way we do today.  There was a need of great physical and mental development to reach the level of thinking of what we would consider advance humanoid.

So, just because we have discovered human existence to be millions of years old, that would not

If what I say above is true, now it is very easy to explain the fact that Adam and Eve had parents that nurtured and raised them.  It is also easy to think that both of them were not physical brother and sister.

The Garden of Eden that they were living in may not have been a particular area on earth, but may have very well meant simply a world without sin, a world without evil.


mean that Adam and Eve are that old.  I would think that Adam and Eve are probably a lot more recent.  This kind of thinking would explain the phrase, “The son of man” that is in the bible, and explain why it was not that difficult for the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve to find spouses.

*CSG page 1168
I wrote this January 10, 2014

Thursday, January 14, 2016

That shall not judge

Many humans have done amazing great deeds of serving and sacrificing and giving for centuries, I am thinking especially of religious missionaries in Africa, Asia, and South America. It is amazing, when thinking about it, how many millions of dollars and lives have been invested in serving mankind and yet, it is not enough.

One should wonder if money is the answer. I would argue against it. I have deep respect and would certainly put anyone on a pedestal who serve and sacrifice their entire life for the sake of the unfortunate. But, it is also important to understand that, that alone will not save us from our ultimate inhalation. Why, simply because the fundamental reason of man’s misery is within his soul.

One of the mistakes that all humans make is the mistake of judgment. We pass judgment on others in the daily course of our day; we do it not just once but many a times, each and every day. We pass judgment about religious, business, and political behaviors of our peers simply because they think and act differently than I. This is one of the most fundamental mistakes of us, humans.

Case in point:
A young man from church recently made the following comment about adoption.
“Why would a couple adopt only from another couple of the same church? There are so many children out there who need to be adopted.”   There are many ways to review and respond to this question. One is obvious; it has a religious connection, which makes just plain sense. To me, the second part of the comment is a lot more important than the first part. He is passing judgment according to his way of thinking and that is where we always go wrong.

He is basically accusing other people of not adopting these hopeless children. Why, should judgment be passed? Please adopt children from where ever background you would like, I will not pass judgment, I will command you for your giving heart, and respect the way you found to help your fellow man. And do not judge me for not doing so.  My sacrifice, my ability to serve mankind is just different, not wrong, just different.

Religious people should know better, but we still fall into the pattern above and delay spiritual process every time we do so. 

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Nobody loves or cares about me!

My answer to a friend:

The weakness of a person is measure by the lack of acknowledgment of it. The strength of a person is measured by the ability to recognize the strong and weak points and do something about them on a daily basis. I believe you are the later. You know and understand who you are and are working every day on becoming the person that ultimately God wants you to be, therefore, you are already a victor.

As for your question or statement about, “nobody loves or cares about me?” forget this statement. It has no value coming from you. The most important question or statement is, “Do I love this person, when I dealt with this person today, even if I had to reprimand this person, did I do it with a parental heart, did I do it with God’s heart, or did I do it to release my own frustration towards this person.”

That is the question we should all ask ourselves on a daily basis. If we do that, we will never have to worry about do people love us or not. I am grateful of your sharing on Facebook. That is the level of discussion and sharing I like to have with others. I appreciate your effort in wanting to make us think and read and pushing us forwards. You have the mark of a great leader.

Don’t give up, you have a beautiful family and I have no doubt that they love you.
Anne-Marie