Science Of The Heart

What follows are copy and paste excerpts from a free online book called - Science of the Heart
available at Heartmath Institute

         Check this video     The Heart’s Intuitive Intelligence


The link to the book is is here       Science of the Heart

I did a quick read of this book and here are the direct quotes I found most interesting for myself.

New research shows the human heart is much more than an efficient pump that sustains life. Our research suggests the heart also is an access point to a source of wisdom and intelligence that we can call upon to live our lives with more balance, greater creativity and enhanced intuitive capacities. The heart has been considered the source of emotion, courage and wisdom for centuries.

In the early 1990s, we were among the first to conduct research that not only looked at how stressful emotions affect the activity in the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and the hormonal and immune systems, but also at the effects of emotions such as appreciation, compassion and care. It became clear that stressful or depleting emotions such as frustration and overwhelm lead to increased disorder in the higher-level brain centers and autonomic nervous system and which are reflected in the heart rhythms and adversely affects the functioning of virtually all bodily systems.We also observed that the heart acted as though it had a mind of its own and could significantly influence the way we perceive and respond in our daily interactions. In essence, it appeared that the heart could affect our awareness, perceptions and intelligence. Numerous studies have since shown that heart coherence is an optimal physiological state associated with increased cognitive function, self-regulatory capacity, emotional stability and resilience. The heart is, in fact, a highly complex information-processing center with its own functional brain, commonly called the heart brain, that communicates with and influences the cranial brain via the nervous system, hormonal system and other pathways.

.....the mobilizing part of the nervous system (sympathetic) energizes us for fight or flight, which is indicated by an increase in heart rate, and in more quiescent moments, the calming part of the nervous system (parasympathetic) calms us down and slows the heart rate. Cannon believed the autonomic nervous system ( ANS) and all of the related physiological responses moved in concert with the brain’s response to any given stimulus or challenge. Presumably, all of our inner systems are activated together when we are aroused and calm down together when we are at rest and the brain is in control of the entire process. A number of health problems can arise in part because of improper function of the ANS. Emotions can affect activity in both branches of the ANS. For example, anger causes increased sympathetic activity while many relaxation techniques increase parasympathetic activity. The heart was behaving as though it had a mind of its own. Furthermore, the heart appeared to be sending meaningful messages to the brain that the brain not only understood, but also obeyed. Even more intriguing was that it looked as though these messages could affect a person’s perceptions, behavior and performance. The Laceys identified a neural pathway and mechanism whereby input from the heart to the brain could inhibit or facilitate the brain’s electrical activity. The heart-brain, as it is commonly called, or intrinsic cardiac nervous system, is an intricate network of complex ganglia, neurotransmitters, proteins and support cells, the same as those of the brain in the head. The heart-brain’s neural circuitry enables it to act independently of the cranial brain to learn, remember, make decisions and even feel and sense. the heart sends more information to the brain than the brain sends to the heart. The heart also communicates with the brain and body biochemically by way of the hormones it produces. Atrial peptide the balance hormone, plays an important role in fluid and electrolyte balance and helps regulate the blood vessels, kidneys, adrenal glands and many regulatory centers in the brain.[18] Increased atrial peptide inhibits the release of stress hormones,[19] reduces sympathetic outflow[20] and appears to interact with the immune system.[21] Even more intriguing, experiments suggest atrial peptide can influence motivation and behavior.[22]the heart contains cells that synthesize and release catecholamines (norepinephrine, epinephrine and dopamine), which are neurotransmitters once thought to be produced only by neurons in the brain and ganglia.[23] More recently, it was discovered the heart also manufactures and secretes oxytocin, which can act as a neurotransmitter and commonly is referred to as the love or socialbonding hormone.Unspecified negative emotional arousal, often described as stress, distress or upset, has been associated with a variety of pathological conditions, including hypertension,On the other hand, positive emotions and effective emotion self-regulation skills have been shown to prolong health and significantly reduce premature mortalityFrom a psychophysiological perspective, emotions are central to the experience of stress. It is the feelings of anxiety, irritation, frustration, lack of control, and hopelessness that are actually what we experience when we describe ourselves as stressed. In essence, stress is emotional unease, the experience of which ranges from low-grade feelings of emotional unrest to intense inner turmoil. Stressful emotions clearly can arise in response to external challenges or events, and also from ongoing internal dialogs and attitudes. Recurring feelings of worry, anxiety, anger, judgment, resentment, impatience, overwhelm and self-doubt often consume a large part of our energy and dull our day-to-day life experiences. Additionally, emotions, much more so than thoughts alone, activate the physiological changes comprising the stress response. Our research shows a purely mental activity such as cognitively recalling a past situation that provoked anger does not produce nearly as profound an effect on physiological processes as actually engaging the emotion associated with that memory. In other words, reexperiencing the feeling of anger provoked by the memory has a greater effect than thinking about it.[51, 52]

“We are coming to understand health not as the absence of disease, but rather as the process by which individuals maintain their sense of coherence (i.e. sense that life is comprehensible, manageable, and meaningful) and ability to function in the face of changes in themselves and their relationships with their environment.[57]”

Despite the importance of self-directed control, many people’s ability to self-regulate is far less than ideal. In fact, failures in self-regulation, especially of emotions and attitudes, arguably are central to the vast majority of personal and social problems that plague modern societies. For some, the lack of selfregulatory capacity can be attributed to immaturity or failure to acquire skills while for others it can be the result of trauma or impairment in the neural systems that underlie one’s ability to self-regulate.[58] Therefore, we submit the most important skill the majority of people need to learn is how to increase their capacity to self-regulate emotions, attitudes and behaviors. Self-regulation enables people to mature and meet the challenges and stresses of everyday life with resilience so they can make more intelligent decisions by aligning with their innate higher-order wisdom and expression of care and compassion, elements we often associate with living a more conscientious life.
Three 10-year studies concluded that emotional stress was more predictive of death from cancer and cardiovascular disease than from smoking; people who were unable to effectively manage their stress had a 40% higher death rate than nonstressed individuals.[74]
60% to 80% of primary care doctor visits are related to stress, yet only 3% of patients receive stress management help.[60-62]

...neural connections that transmit information from the emotional centers to the cognitive centers in the brain are stronger and more numerous than those that convey information from the cognitive to the emotional centers.
...intentional activation of positive emotions plays an important role in increasing cardiac coherence and thus self-regulatory capacity.[5] These findings expand on a large body of research into the ways positive emotional states can benefit physical, mental and emotional health.[44-49]

The autonomic nervous system (ANS) (Figure 1.1) is the part of the nervous system that controls the body’s internal functions, including heart rate, gastrointestinal tract and secretions of many glands. The ANS also controls many other vital activities such as respiration, and it interacts with immune and hormonal system functions. It is well known that mental and emotional states directly affect activity in the ANS. This system underlies one’s ability to self-regulate and calm oneself by inhibiting sympathetic outflow to targets like the heart and adrenal glands.



Thoughts and even subtle emotions influence the activity in the autonomic nervous system.
   
The ANS interacts with our digestive, cardiovascular, immune, hormonal and many other bodily systems.
   
Negative emotions/feelings create disorder in the brain’s regulatory systems and ANS.

Feelings such as appreciation create increased order in the brain’s regulatory systems and ANS, resulting in improved hormonal- and immune-system function and enhanced cognitive function
The feelings we label as positive actually reflect body states that are coherent, meaning "the regulation of life processes becomes efficient, or even optimal, free-flowing and easy,"[160] and the feelings we label as "negative," such as anger, anxiety and frustration are examples of incoherent states.

...studies have shown increases in parasympathetic activity (vagal tone),[133] reductions in cortisol and increases in DHEA,[116] decreases in blood pressure and stress measures in hypertensive populations,[113, 115] reduced health-care costs[112] and significant improvements in the functional capacity of patients with congestive heart failure.[192]
nonlocal intuition, which refers to the knowledge or sense of something that cannot be explained by past or forgotten knowledge or by sensing environmental signals. It has been suggested that the capacity to receive and process information about nonlocal events appears to be a property of all physical and biological organization and this likely is because of an inherent interconnectedness of everything in the universe.

....the physical heart also has communication channels connecting it with the energetic heart.[244] Nonlocal intuition, therefore, is transformational, and from our perspective, it contains the wisdom that streams from the soul’s higher information field down into the psychophysiological system via the energetic heart and can inform our moment-tomoment experiences and interactions. At HeartMath Institute, this is what we call heart intelligence.

Heart intelligence is the flow of higher awareness and the intuition we experience when the mind and emotions are brought into synchronistic alignment with the energetic heart.When we are heart-centered and coherent, we have a tighter coupling and closer alignment with our deeper source of intuitive intelligence. We are able to more intelligently self-regulate our thoughts and emotions and over time this lifts consciousness. In other words, there is an increased flow of intuitive information that is communicated via the emotional energetic system to the mind and brain systems, resulting in a stronger connection with our deeper inner voice.

As we learn to slow down our minds and attune to our deeper heart feelings, a natural intuitive connection can occur.Our intuitive insights often unfold more understanding of ourselves, others, issues and life than years of accumulated knowledge. It is especially helpful for eliminating unnecessary energy expenditures, which deplete our internal reserves, making it more difficult to self-regulate and be in charge of our attitudes, emotions and behaviors in ordinary day-to-day life situations. Intuition allows us to increase our ability to move beyond automatic reactions and perceptions. It helps us make more intelligent decisions from a deeper source of wisdom, intelligence and balanced discernment, in essence increasing our consciousness, happiness and the quality of our life experience. This increases synchronicities and enhances our creativity and ability to flow through life. It also increases our ability to handle awkward situations such as dealing with difficult people with more ease and it promotes harmonious interaction and connectivity with others.
The research discussed above suggests it’s possible to access intuitive intelligence more effectively by first getting into a coherent state, quieting mental chatter and emotional unrest and paying attention to shifts in our feelings, a process that brings intuitive signals to conscious awareness.


    “Natural forces within us are the true healers of disease.”      -Hippocrates


An estimated 60% to 80% of primary-care doctor visits are related to stress.[60-62] HeartMath’s easily learned mental and emotion self-regulation techniques and practices can provide an effective strategy for stress reduction in many clinical contexts. As discussed earlier, these intentionally simple techniques allow people to quickly self-induce a physiological shift to a more coherent state that takes advantage of the concurrent change in afferent neuronal input to the brain, which is associated with increased self-regulatory capacity and thus, ability to more successfully handle the demands and challenges of life with more ease and composure. Consequently, there is a greater experience of connectedness, harmony, balance and physical, emotional and psychosocial well-being.

The Heart

Each of us are on a spiritual journey, whether we realize it or not .


"The journey of personal discovery... may lead us away from what’s been familiar in the past, and it may take our entire lifetime to complete, but, the distance of our trip is a very short one. It only covers about 18 inches. The distance from our brain to our heart.
But the short distance can be deceptive. Depending on the beliefs of our families, our communities, our religions, and what happens in our life experiences, it can take months, years, or a lifetime to learn how to make the shift from the logical thinking of the mind to the intuitive wisdom of the heart..."    - paraphrased  quotes  by Gregg Braden, scientist , author , and spiritual leader.


The last post called 'The Road To Discovery' was an updated one from earlier in 2018 . It was the story of my road to discovery and the personal journey I have been through over the past few years. In order to go down this road of spiritual discovery we often have to break free of the restraint of preconditioned thinking. There has to be an open mindedness and a moving beyond beliefs set in stone.This has become my new normal. I greet each day not knowing what life is going to teach me. It is a life of unknowing outcome, yet, it is a living filled with anticipation of  the mystery of life lived in the moment.


I spend months sometimes trying to understand  certain subjects . Last year my main theme of study and learning was that of the ego, dying to the false concept of self  and discovering what is often called the true self. For me its not about destroying the ego, I am not sure that is possible, but, rather a taming of it. The goal is to get the ego, the thinking mind, the monkey chatter mind, under control, by taming it to be transformed into a servant rather then master. The mind does make a good servant but it is a terrible master. When Ego is in charge there is chaos. Ego has many different definitions. But I think of it as a part of the thinking mind that has set itself up as master and controller of the human organism. It is based in a false sense of self. Ego does not have a true existence; it arises as a result of thought processes which believes itself separate  from our core inner wholeness. It survives by concentrating thought on past, future, and a focus on perceived lack and problems. It loves drama and being the victim. It keeps us constantly focused on doing rather then letting us fall into a contemplation on being. It cannot survive in the 'Now' and it loses its grip when it is observed.  Here is a a definition of the egoic mind : its the state of being identified with the ego, the power which seeks to defend and glorify the separate and separated self, works for separation, unhealthy self rule, or determined independence, and it works to obscure or destroy the Divine true self and prevent it from becoming master over the whole. Plato was credited with the quote, "An unexamined life is not worth living". I will take it a step further and say that the unexamined 'mind' makes life not worth living. I wrote about becoming the observer of thought and  getting the thinking mind under control in other posts, here is one Become the observer.
And another  here :  Can you coax your mind from its wandering 


Lately I have been learning all about the possibility of living life from the spiritual heart center rather then living from the mind dominated mode. This shift from  the logical thinking of the mind to the intuitive wisdom of the heart seems to be the next step in our conscious evolution. Spirituality in the west  seems to have been focusing on techniques to get the mind and body disciplined in order to live a balanced and stress free life. Egoic mind diminishing is a big part of that. When the mind becomes still then it will be able to communicate more clearly with the heart and the  rest of the bodies intelligence centers.This is what I realize so far; the communication network from the heart is not through spoken language as we speak, but it seems certain limited  words and the stirring of emotion can activate what is  more like messages of feelings coming from the heart region. I find that a mantra such as saying thank-you repeatedly toward the heart seems to work. Generating thoughts of love and kindness along with forgiveness seems to be the communication the heart works with. I experienced this today on my daily walk. I kept repeating thank you  and concentrating on the positive emotions love, joy, peace. I was thinking of loved ones as I walked and forgiving those who I was holding minor grudges toward. After 45 min of this ,I started to feel subtle feelings of love coming from the heart region. So, this is my first glimpse of a whole new realization. The spirit is full of mystery and we humans have only just begun to understand the potential fulfillment of this relationship with the divine.

I will end this post with an article link that explains all this so much better than I could. This is all new to me and I will be focusing on this subject for a long time. As I learn more on this subject I may post more of my thoughts on it. The Heartmath institute at heartmath.org is the go to place for the science behind this subject but I will give the link to a site that takes this type of info and simplified it for us all to understand. click here:   Thinking with the Heart

Road to Discovery

This is an updated post with some added material at the end.

 

 

The spiritual journey is the unlearning of fear and the acceptance of love.

— MARIANNE WILLIAMSON

 
 Road to Discovery ( a painting I did in 2004 acrylic on canvas)

At around age ten, I began pondering deep questions about life. One day I was alone on a hill top over looking our small home town in Newfoundland. I asked myself a question that would interest me all through life....who am I ?  This question and many other philosophical questions would seem to pop into my young inquiring mind often as a young man. I have always been this way for as long as I can remember.

For most of my adult life I followed a path, a belief system, that seemed to demand that I live a life that strived after some divine ideal. It created great fear, guilt and anxiety in my inner core. Because I always felt that I was not good enough. I was trying to meet unrealistic expectations that I had set for myself in order to meet a certain standard, to satisfy external expectations. Over a period of years this developed into conflicting assumptions and beliefs that produced a feeling of discomfort and stress, along with anxiety. This condition eventually lead to a need for a complete re-examination of these assumptions, and beliefs in order to restore a balance. This started me on a very rewarding spiritual journey down the road of discovery into what is truth. In my case the truth has set me free, but not in a way most people would think. To use a computer analogy ...Truth is like a re-programming of your entire operating system. A deleting of the old information program system and installing the new.

I have spent the past six years slowly dismantling this belief system that held my spirit in it's grip, for so long. It involved peeling back the multiple layers of assumptions to test each one for truth. Finding truth and freedom is a process of learning what is untrue and then detaching yourself from all false beliefs and illusions. Perhaps the greatest untruth is the idea that we are separate from others, nature and "God". This belief is so ingrained in our psyche and it is perhaps the single greatest root cause of our fear, guilt and anxiety. This belief, when it is looked at deeply, seems to be in complete opposition to the realization of the love based intelligence, foundational to the principles and laws observed in the universe. It has been said that fear is the opposite of love, but perhaps a more accurate statement is, fear appears when there is the absence of Love. Fear is rooted in the thinking mind, its a thought form. Love comes from the intuitive heart and is a product of divine energy. When I view God as the source of all life, love and universal intelligence, how can we be separate from this life, this love? Why would we fear life, love and this super intelligence all around us?  Would this intelligence be for us or against us? It seems to be a system based on cooperation rather then competition. Its more like oneness then it is  duality and it may not have the good vs evil division that we imagine.

I realized that it 's our own thoughts that creates the sense of separation. When we allow our egoic mind (false self) to control us we Edge God Out (EGO) and then we cause in ourselves a perception of separation. When we see the illusion of the false self , it will slowly dissolve and our true self once again becomes who we really are. When we live from the true self, who we really are, called many names .. Spirit, essence, the soul, the heart, the center, the core of our being, there is now no perception of separation from our creator, our source, nature and others. Today the answer to that question "who am I "  becomes more like a realization that we are all one and we share that oneness with all life. If we move on in the spiritual journey, away for the personal "I " , away from false fear based beliefs, into the acceptance of a love based reality, we begin to get a glimpse of what  Jesus called the kingdom of heaven :and get this, ..... he said it was within us. Now ponder that for awhile.

I end this post with some quotes from an article written by ANNELOES SMITSMAN

click link below

The Evolution of our Ego Consciousness

'Ego and its shadow dynamics can only operate where there is inner division; when we believe ourselves to be separate from Nature, the Universe and others.'

'Remember, our ego is our wisdom in reverse. Its purpose is to benefit this false self-perception, rather than the greater whole. It generates small mindedness rather than big-heartedness.'

'...ego does not have inherent existence; it arises as a result of stretching away from and denying our inner wholeness.'

Liberation isn't about breaking out of anything , it's a gentle melting into who we really are  -Marianne Williamson

Futile Sacrifices

I finally found the courage to post this. I have never shown this to the public. It may be offensive to some people for different reasons. But, I feel the time is right to post it. Its an acrylic on Hardboard panel 24" x  32"


This painting has a long history attached to it. But, the story line behind the subject material goes back thousands of years.   I researched the subject material for this work, off and on for more then 20 years, with far too many days and hours invested into it, then I want to disclose. I started the painting in 2010 after all the research, and didn't finish it until 2017.  It is based on  Isaiah1:11-13  'Bring no more futile sacrifices'. Since the beginning of time man has been offering up sacrifices to their gods. They would bring animals to their temples and sacrifice them in ceremonial ritual, in hope these burnt offering would appease their angry gods. They believed in a concept of a god that was separate from them, and this separation theology caused them to believe in what has been called substitutionary atonement. A living being was sacrificed as a substitute for the tribe so they could feel in right standing, at-one-ment,  again with their distant and angry deity.  This idea carried over from ancient temple worship to modern day Christianity where the Jesus character became the symbolic human sacrifice, that would end all this futile sacrifices once and for all. Progressive Christianity have rejected this idea,of any need for atonement at all, and along with it, the old view of a vindictive and angry tribal god, out there somewhere, that needs to be appeased.  They have realized a new way to view what the Divine is. Jesus spoke of the kingdom of heaven within us. The divinity and realm of heaven is found within our hearts, not at some remote location. The loving intelligence that is at the matrix of all being is found within. Modern Spirituality has come a long way and there has been a rethinking and appreciating the deep underlying truth in the old myths. Myths in this sense is not necessarily false, but rather their symbolism brings out even greater truth, that have always been there, but not easily realized. Parables tell stories that bring out great truth but we don't believe the characters are actual persons who lived in real life, myth is similar except they are more like embellished storied that are based on oral stories, passed on through multiple generations and then written down decades or centuries later. They bring out great truths like parables, and are not meant to be always seen an historical literal fact.This painting is all about symbolism and myth and the power of myth to change lives.  I won't get into all that, here.


(detail section of the temple)

 In this painting  I have installed the Jewish holy temple which stood on the temple mount in Jerusalem, before it was destroyed by the Romans in 70CE.. The vantage point is looking westward from the slope of the mount of olives, where some historians believe the Crucifixion of Jesus took place 2000 years ago. Info here. This is the setting of the painting, based on myth and reasoning of others,  that I have researched. It is on a day when the animals were sacrificed and burnt offering were made. The sun is setting in the west over the temple and the smoke of the sacrifices are bellowing upward. I have Jesus on the cross at the same time the animals were sacrificed just before sunset. The eastern twin gates (Golden Gate) have been sealed up, off and on since the 9th century and has remained that way since 1541.click here Golden Gate In this painting I have them open. A causeway was said to have been there, according to one source, that led from the eastern gates to the mount of olives,it is believed to have intersected an old road that went to Bethany. This is where Romans crucified criminals and enemies of the empire, at a busy crossroad, so all would see.  At the moment of Jesus's death there was a myth that the temple curtain ripped in two pieces and exposed the  Holy of Holies . That is why I have a white light shinning at the temple door opening, with imagination you could say its in the shape of a divine presence Shekhinah leaving the temple.There is so much more symbolism but, I can't get into it all, here. It would take many pages to explain.I have a huge stack of research paper to back up my reasoning for this setting. Much of it is controversy, including this painting, concerning details of location, timing of events,  and whether it all happen as we have been told.  I will not judge the truth of it all. This painting cannot be based on fact, but it is more of a synthesis of myth.  The bottom line, is the fact that nobody really knows exactly what happened so long ago. The painting is based on myth passed on to our generation. I turned it all into a painting that tells a different story then all other crucifixion paintings have done. Its totally different then any other painting I have done. Its a dark subject about a dark age that not everybody will appreciate, but its a story that needs to be brought out.

I will add here also, other thoughts on design for this painting. You will notice the rays of the sun radiating outward from the sun center and upward  I fanned the original gesso brush strokes like that to create brush marks so the final paint coats would follow in those grooves. The sun setting directly over the temple is not uncommon in temple design and position, what adds to this painting is that it is seen precisely directly over the temple at the location of where the cross is placed, at the western mid slop of the mount of olives. The temple is at the 1/3 horizontal and  1/3  vertical crossing point and the cross is intentionally tilted toward the temple slightly. The temple and sun are meant to be the main vocal point. The Moslem dome of the rock temple sits at the Jewish temple site today. The olive gardens were common at this location. If you look close there are figures in the garden looking toward the cross. The cross is dark because it is in shadow and I didn't want this image on the cross to be the main point of interest.

The idea that the Jesus character was looking toward the temple adds to the whole mythology because Christianity later made the crucifixion symbolic of him being the final sacrifice to supposedly end all ritual sacrifice.  However, this sacrifice, with symbols of wine (blood) and bread (body) are re-enacted continually over and over again in Christian ritual, to this day. It still proclaims a separation between us and God and it is only through belief in this blood sacrifice of Jesus that we can have access to the divine. It is just a remake of the old temple sacrificial system rebranded to be more socially acceptable. People still need a priest and an institution to have access to the holy presence in this system of belief. The unity message of Jesus was completely misunderstood. Its hard to see the small figures on the walkway through the eastern gates  but they all have a lamb following behind them. The whole sacrificial system of atonement was barbaric by modern human standards. The sheep going to the slaughter is a little side detail that is not easily seen on the digital small image you are looking at  on your screen. The smoke is the burnt offering being offered in the fire in front of the holy of hollies. I mentioned before the large curtain that separated people from the supposed seat and presence of God was ripped asunder the same moment Jesus died, according to the legend. The white light where the dark curtain is split in the center of the temple is symbolic of the spirit departing the earthly temple of stone (hardened hearts) and the beginning of it residing in the open Spiritual Heart of the people. Or, put it this way, its symbolic in the sense that with the ripping of the veil of separation we now all have access to divinity. It resides in our spiritual heart, the true holy of holies. Jesus was the one who pointed to the new way, the new life and the new truth with his message of the kingdom of heaven found within. It was his message of individual access to the oneness of the divine Spirit, for all, that got him killed by the religion of separation theology. His message of the kingdom of heaven within all, did not fit well with both the Jewish and Roman system of ideology. For the past 2000 years it still did not fit with the ingrained idea of a separate god and the need for an institutional religion of belief and ritual, to regulate our access to the divine. The deeper story of Jesus is not  about blood sacrifice, although we can respect its symbolic effect, but, it is more about his message, the good news, that removes the veil of separation between us and the divine. His whole message in summary and the message in this painting, is the proclamation that we all have access to the divine presence, now, through the holy of holies found within our spiritual heart, it is not found in temples of stone or through tablets of clay. The message is loud and clear  'Bring no more futile sacrifices' on stone alters (with hearts clenched), for the kingdom of heaven is found within, in a open and pure spiritual heart, beyond the veil of separation woven by a false sense of  an egoic self  and beyond body and blood.This illusion of a separate egoic self is the root cause of all our perceptions of separation from others, nature and the divine presence. But, you will have to do your own research on all that. The wisdom teachings for thousands of years have been saying this, and now we have the internet full of information on this subject.

“God is born in the Heart and the Heart is born in God,” as the great Christian mystic Meister Eckhart


Luke 17:20-21  (the kingdom of heaven/God is found within you)

My painting web site is here:My paintings


 

A new kind of Christianity

This is what is written on the amazon write up about this book:


'What would Christianity look like if we weren't afraid to ask questions'

"Wherever the willingness to rethink has been squelched, wherever that sense of quest has been buried under convention and complacency, the Christian faith in all its forms is in trouble. But even there, something is trying to be born. Even now, right here, among us, inside you, inside me. You may feel it as a curiosity, a desire for better answers than you inherited so far. You may experience it as frustration, knowing that there must be more to faith than you currently know. You may know it as hope, hope that God is seeking humble people whose hearts and lives can be the womb of a better future.... In you, your family, your faith community, and circles of friends, among people of peace and faith everywhere, something is trying to be born."
We are in the midst of a paradigm shift in the church. Not since the Reformation five centuries ago have so many Christians come together to ask whether the church is in sync with their deepest beliefs and commitments. These believers range from evangelicals to mainline Protestants to Catholics, and the person who best represents them is author and pastor Brian McLaren.
In this much anticipated book, McLaren examines 10 questions facing today's church - questions about how to articulate the faith itself, the nature of its authority, who God is, whether we have to understand Jesus through only an ancient Greco-Roman lens, what exactly the good news is that the gospel proclaims, how we understand the church and all its varieties, why we are so preoccupied with sex, how we should think of the future and people from other faiths, and the most intimidating question of all: what do we do next? Here you will find a provocative and enticing introduction to the Christian faith of tomorrow.

https://www.amazon.com/New-Kind-Christianity-Questions-Transforming/dp/B004XXVSNI
   
Here are my thought on this.



I like the title of this book 'a new Type of Christianity'. A honest critique of core beliefs has been lacking in Christianity, since its beginning. To 'question more' concerning what Christianity teaches as truth, has never been encouraged within the institutional church. Maybe this is why the 'spiritual but not religious camp' has been growing in recent years. When trapped in our certainties of belief, we become enslaved in our mental concepts of what reality is. When we believe we have the whole truth, all other perspectives will have to be discarded as false, or something coming from the perceived enemy in another. Perhaps greater truth can be realized when we look more closely, with critical thinking, at what it is, that we have been conditioned to believe.

I am no longer involved with the church and mainstream Christianity.  I went through a process, over the years, of deep inquiry into what it is that I truly believe. This happened over a very long period of time, perhaps 7 years. I became more concerned about truth and reason rather then blind faith in what I was conditioned to believe over a 35 year period. I have always had a good relationship with all Christians that I knew. Half my family are Christians. I had a lot of questions that my local church pastor, or  Christian apologetics  could not answer. I searched long and hard concerning core beliefs in Christianity. I researched the history of Christianity and the church, I studied what other world religions have to say and was pleasantly surprised at what I found.  I admire the Jesus character and his  teaching. However, I can no longer  fit my current view of what God is inside a narrow box of belief anymore. I became obsessed about God and spirituality, all through this process. I have read perhaps over 200 books and listened to hundreds of video's on the subject.  I dared to crack open the door of perception and developed an open mind on other ideas. I dropped my certainties on perceived truth and embraced 'not knowing' as my position to most deep subjects.  The search for truth did something unexpected ..it brought a tremendous sense of freedom in my spirit. The search for truth set me free.  I no longer have fear and guilt brought on by not living up to some unrealistic divine ideal. I accept myself the way I am, a work in progress. I no longer feel any separation at all from an external God who is way out there somewhere. I feel the presence of the divine all around me, most of the time. There is a peace that passes all understanding. Jesus said the Kingdom of heaven is found inside us, not out there somewhere . I have sensed a glimpse of this state of being Jesus talked about.  My method of prayer is more meditative/contemplative, with a lot of silence and being still before the great unknown. Life is a journey of many seasons and I love it .

What is truth?

I started asking deep questions about life at a very early age . When I was in my early preteen years I was asking, who am I?, and why am I here? As a late teen, I was asking what is true?

What is truth? This is a question that has been asked by the deepest thinkers throughout history. There has always been a great debate among philosophers and theologians on what is truth.Then, there is this idea of subjective and objective truth ... what the heck is that ?... philosophy jargon. I won't get into all that.  Basically for the average person, it comes down to what we have been conditioned to believe, the supposed truth of science, politics, ideology or religion  and its scriptures (law) and the perception of truth as a result of experience (Life).  My focus in recent years has been, on the truth of personal experience. Perhaps we all have our own window into truth. Maybe truth is not not always absolute and objective, there may be a case for the truth being more personal or subjective. The whole purpose of humanity may be experimental. Are 'we' living 'our' life or is life as 'a greater consciousness' living in these mortal bodies in order to grow and experience life. Maybe real personal truth is found, in real life, in open minded inquiry, looking within and being less judgemental, in loving and being compassionate toward all forms of life. If there is a choice between the letter of Law (literalism) or Love, wouldn't Love be the highest human-divine ideal and truth?

For most of my adult life I followed a path that seemed to demand that I live a life that strived after some divine ideal. I was trying to meet unrealistic goals that I had set for myself in order to meet a certain standard, to satisfy external expectations.

It has been proven over and over again in history that our need for "the safety of certainty in our beliefs" has killed creativity, innovation and the search for truth. The dark ages in Europe was a good example of how an ideology, one warped version of Christianity, based on a certainty of belief was forced on the masses and it restrained all growth in its wake for 1000 years. For over ten centuries all other spiritual and scientific ideas were persecuted, their books burnt and hundreds of thousands of humans were slaughtered and even burned alive for not believing the same way as this orthodox church. We will never search for greater truth as long as we hold absolute certainty in our current perceptions and beliefs. If we do search for truth beyond what we already believe to be true, it will cause a discomfort to such a degree that we may be forced to abandon our former beliefs and assumptions. This is a very painful process and most of us would rather continue to rest in the safety of our certainty (belief system) then search for the mystery of truth which by its very nature is uncertain. However, it is a paradox that its only when we embrace uncertainty that we can then experience truth and freedom.The truth will set us free to explore the mystery of life. As long as we are trapped in our certainties, we are enslaved in our mental concepts of what reality is.

I believe there is a reluctance to accept what others have to say when we feel our view is the only truth. If other views don't fit inside of our data set of belief, then it gets discarded as false or something coming from 'the enemy'. This dualistic thinking of the imagined enemy, in the other, keeps people in their own dark age thinking. To love our neighbor is to hear what our neighbor has to say. When we hear the world, outside of our conceptual box of belief, and listen to their truth, then we may begin to see clearly, the bigger picture. We may realize greater truth when we clean the dirty window of our perception and see others face to face.


Truth is so expansive, isn't it , it cannot be fully grasped at all, we can know " a truth " but not all truth, because it encompasses all of life. The more we seek after truth the more we realize how little we know, we seek but we cannot find. But, when we surrender to the uncertainty of the "truth", because it is so clouded by untruth, we enter into the freedom talked about in the phrase " the truth will set you free. When we surrender to 'not knowing', after all our seeking, searching and grasping, for that which will satisfies our longing, we will find true freedom. When we stop the seeking and accept, not knowing, then we will find life in its fullest. The surrender to "not knowing" fully is perhaps the most liberating experience in life. When the mind is stilled and the seeking is over, we have found true salvation. It frees us up to be still, and silent before the great unknown power behind life, to the greatest mystery of all, that which is called by many names. "Truth" is just one name among many for this mystery.

The real trick to life is not to be in the know, but to be in the mystery- Arjun Walia

The realization of  truth is really more of a process of learning what is not true. Perhaps the greatest untruth is the idea that we are separate from others and 'God'. The word 'God' is a very loaded word.  My view of  'God' is, more like the source of life, the ground of all being, Tao or universal consciousness. This is a more universal accepted view of what God is. Even atheistic scientists can warm up to the view of a universal intelligence or consciousness that is the matrix behind all that is. How can we be separate from this source of life? What is Life?  We don't have a life, we are life. It is our thoughts that create the illusion of separation. When we see beyond this illusory mind set we find  no separation, at all, and  this allows us to experience unity with God and others. When we allow our egoic mind, the separate self, the false construct self, to control us, we in a sense edge the awareness of God out of our lives. This egoic thinking mind is what causes within ourselves a mere perception of separation. When we see the illusion of the false ego self, it will slowly dissolve, because it has been exposed as false. Our true self, once again, comes to the surface and it becomes so obvious, that this deeper essential self, is who we really are at our core. This essential self, is connected to what has many names, universal Self, universal mind, infinite intelligence, divine intelligence or God Self. When we live from the true essential self also called many names.. the soul,the heart, the center, the essence, the core of our being, there is now no sense of separation from our creator, our source and others. We realize we are all one and we share that oneness with all life. Jesus called this state of awareness, the kingdom of heaven, and he did say it was within us.


I will spend the rest of my earthly life peeling back the many layers of untruth that I have been conditioned to believe. It is this deliverance from illusion that sets us free. I am convinced that  we should all question our core beliefs to see if they can stand the test of truth. It may result in  a loss of certainty but it will open up our door of perception, and we will gain a greater understanding of reality.

Cosmic Intelligence

https://www.scienceandnonduality.com/relationship-with-the-silence/

Relationship with the Silence

• by Paul Mulliner
• in Dialogues, Space
• 0 Comments

by Paul Mulliner



The conventional explanation for the existence of consciousness is that it’s generated somehow by the brain. It’s possible, though, that the brain acts as a window into a field of consciousness which is present everywhere in the universe. Indeed, if we gently hold a focus of attention in the inner core of ourselves, we can quite easily reach an intuitive realization that the conscious awareness we have inside us exists also in the space around us.

It seems that the ‘I am’ awareness, which exists, apparently separately, inside each one of us, is an intrinsic property of all space everywhere and is simultaneously present inside all of us. Cosmic consciousness seems to be a core attribute of all space everywhere and the primary stuff of the universe, and this consciousness isn’t something limited to our human brain or to planet Earth. Our brain is immersed in this spatial consciousness, allowing each one of us a unique window into the cosmic field-awareness.

We can’t think our way to this realization though, because it’s not a concept. Instead, we need to pay attention to the presence of the conscious space inside ourselves. This is easy to do, and requires that we focus our attention inwardly for a few minutes occasionally rather than just exclusively focussing on the world around us.

If we find time every day to let our thinking subside and take a focus of attention inward, we can begin to intuitively realize a connection into the living cosmic intelligence which is generating the universe out of itself.

A spatial cosmic intelligence seems to be the core stuff of the universe and everything visible is a continuously generated expression of it, a real time vibrational altering of itself that allows it to become visible and touchable as trees, flowers and human beings. Cosmic intelligence seems to be making itself visible to itself.

The cosmic intelligence field-organism, which fills all space everywhere, is expressing itself as a visible world by facilitating the continuous dynamic emergence of clusters of quantum-scale resonance vibrations, which we interpret with our senses as the branch of a tree or the shape of a flower. Tuning in to this field helps us to know ourselves as cosmic intelligence expressing itself as a living being, and this can help us both live better and re-consider our notions about dying. Rather than the onset of an abrupt nothingness, we might consider that dying in a meaningful, living universe is a dissolving into an immense intelligence that we suddenly recognize and know – an intelligence that seems very familiar and has always known each one of us, during every moment of our life, as an expression of itself, a cosmic intelligence that helps us know ourselves as expressions of itself who took on a human form for the lifetime of a human being.

Keeping in touch with the living cosmic field-intelligence organism which is our source, by taking a focus of attention inward, is an inner work which helps us be happy, a crucial part of our everyday life in the world.

The living presence of cosmic intelligence always exists within us, waiting for us to reach into it with our attention. As we inwardly focus our attention, the deep silence of this intelligence field tugs us into itself, dissolving our separation from it, helping us into itself. As we reach into the silence with our attention, we become the silence.

During our life, as we tune in to this intelligence, we can begin to feel more at home in the universe and on this planet. Our connection with cosmic intelligence re-awakens an intuitive realization that we are cosmic beings, the continuously generated vibrational expressions of a field of cosmic intelligence. Human beings are allowing cosmic intelligence to consciously realize and know itself within the context of a sentient living being.

Even though the events of our daily life on planet Earth can seem challenging, regular contact with the cosmic intelligence which is generating all of us in real time out of itself can help us find the resilience and intuitive inspiration to find solutions to the issues we have to deal with.
One conscious, no-boundary spatial cosmic intelligence, which exists prior to thought, is present in all space and is where all seeing and knowing occurs. As we take a focus of attention inward, we become conscious of this cosmic intelligence or, we could say, it becomes conscious of itself within us.

Within each one of us is the whole conscious space in all of us