soulspiritjourney-blog

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Why then 'tis none to you; for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. To me it is a prison.

Williams Shakespeare: Hamlet Act 2, scene 2, 239–251

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“Beware of “organization.” It is wholly unnecessary. The Bible rules will be the only rules you will need. Do not seek to bind others’ consciences and do not permit others to bind yours. Believe and obey so as far as you can understand God’s Word today, and so continue growing in grace and knowledge and love day by day.” – Charles Taze Russel I’d like to add to the words of this quote that Bible rules are not rules so much as guides. The same goes for any religious text. Spirit is ever expanding and the moment we use the mind to embed and indoctrinate dogmatic rules is the moment we’ve attempted to contain and limit spirit...which is limitless.

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Sunday at Max Patch in Hot Springs, NC. I made my favorite dish growing up, #Ox-Tail Osso Buco in honor of my mother :)

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Spiritual Path … Two Years Later: 03. Soul Pull: Return to Stewardship and the Divine Mother.

This is part 3 of a 3-part introduction to my blog. I recommend you start from part 1.

Permaculture may seem like a new term to some, but really the term applies to practical things most of us do every day. Did you pick your current home because it was farthest from your place of employment and also had nothing you need either practically or aesthetically? . . . No, you chose an efficient place to live based on your wants and needs. Permacultures scientific approach takes this concept infinitely further. It’s three guiding ethical principles are: 

1. Care of the Earth. 2. Care of the People. 3. Return of surplus to Earth and people (also called “Fair Share”). 

With these principles applied to our decision making, we work with Nature to make things better with the Human element rather than impacting our environment in a detrimental way. We achieve more, we provide for all, and we steward the Earth. While Permaculture is certainly something you can teach yourself, for someone like me who had little to know natural hand-ons experience with gardening and caring for the Earth (thanks, NJ public school system), a teacher was ideal in initiating me into stewardship. There are many excellent teachers and a global community of Permaculturists who have completed a globally recognized Permaculture Design Course (PDC). We have all the know-how to make this Earth a paradise, and no one will step in and do it for us. We must co-create together.

Two years after leaving JW, and after a two-month journey exploring the United States for a more ideal place to live (other than NJ), I found myself in Asheville, North Carolina. This diverse region with awe-ing views of the Blue Ridge Mountains and warm southern hospitality was a refreshing change of pace from NJ. Prior to leaving NJ I had seen over 100 hours of video, mostly by Geoff Lawton’s online PDC, but I was ready for a hands-on course of which the NC region was the perfect classroom. After reviewing my options for the PDC, my teachers revealed themselves. Natalie Bogwalker from Wild Abundance,  Laura Ruby from The Ruby Roost, permaculturists, over a dozen inspiring classmates, and several local farmers and homesteaders provided a two-week intensive course that was exactly what I needed to not just learn Permaculture but to once again see and remember the Earth, our Divine Mother. One of our PDC classrooms - Beaucatcher Mountain is located in a portion of the Appalachian Mountain Range known as the Great Craggy Mountains, in Asheville, North Carolina. Approx. Elevation 2,694 Ft.

I was born in Georgetown, Guyana formerly British Guiana – yes, the Jim Jones place, the irony makes me smile  – a region defined by its dense jungle rainforest. Leaving involuntarily when I was six, I am truly grateful for spirit guiding me to my new home in North Carolina. The Naive Americans here called this land Catua, which means home. I look forward to writing more about the Native peoples of the Earth and the memories and lessons they hold. Remembering their rich history and cultures is one of many ways we can restore balance with our relations, free ourselves from insular doctrine and dogma, and live in harmony with our divine Mother Earth. Closing circle of two-week intensive PDC.

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You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.

R. Buckminster Fuller

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Changing the world with Permaculture 1 Cor. 3:9.

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More on Permaculture and how we can use these practical sciences to re-green the Deserts, making them productive food bearing systems Psa 72:16.

And a powerful Ted talk by Allan Savory https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpTHi7O66pI

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Spiritual Path … Two Years Later: 02. Soul Pull: Correlations of World Religions

This is part 2 of a 3-part introduction to my blog. I recommend you start from part 1.

Another direction spirit steered me in, was towards the study of other Religions of the world. Nothing overly in-depth, but enough to understand their origins/history, scientific views, as well as their correlations to other religions. Correlations are important here! I say that because for too long has it been said by Jehovah’s Witnesses and many other Christian groups that other religions, especially Eastern religions, are false. Even worse is calling these religions demonic. Without getting into detail about the hypocrisy I’ll divert to some correlations as they speak for themselves. 

Even though my first three postings in whole or in part were written months ago, I mentioned in part 1 that the impetus for publishing these now was from a letter I received from a JW doing letter writing. He doesn’t know who I am, nor my history and I haven’t the slightest clue who he is either. I also just moved to a new apartment in Asheville, NC recently and his letter wasn’t intended for anyone specifically, just whoever was residing here at the time. His letter just happens to touch on the exact subject I had written about while Wintering in Mexico. We’ve all heard that spirit works in mysterious ways, well it’s often synchronistic (law of attraction) and whether he intended for this letter to reach me or not, it was clearly spirit intent.

Daniels Dream:

I as well as many JW are very fond of the dream in Daniel chapter 2 where King Nebuchadnezzar has some troubling dreams. He sends magicians, psychics, sorcerers, and oh yea . . . astrologers (satanic according to JW, we’ll touch on that later) to interpret his dream. So they came to the king and their reply, “No one on earth can tell the king what he asks . . . No one can tell what you dreamed except the gods, and they don’t live with humans.” Etc etc . . . eventually, Daniel is brought in and translates the dream in verses 31-49. Below is an infographic representation if his spirit-given interpretation of the dream.

JW and many Bible scholars deduce that each element GOLD, SILVER, BRASS, IRON, and IRON/CLAY represent the ruling powers through the ages and that present day is the near future where the god of heaven will establish a heavenly government that will crush and puts an end to all worldly forms of government.

Now I feel compelled to clearly re-state the intentions of my writings. It’s not to confuse, stumble, disprove or even prove anything. I view all humans as equals regardless of spiritual affiliation, beliefs, creed, race, age, gender, or sexual affiliation. My intentions are more in line with syncretism and I aim to break barriers of differences. Put bluntly, we the human race need to get our shit together. Seriously! We need to stop focusing on differences/division and living in polarity and work together towards whatever positive visions we all share. Only together with spirit can we manifest whatever paradise it is we seek. Onto the correlation.

The Yugas:

The next infographic is a representation of the Hindu Yugas. 

Are we noticing some similarities? It basically represents the same elemental interpretation of Daniels GOLD, SILVER, BRASS, IRON, and IRON/CLAY. In the Hindu interpretation, the cycles have less to do with ruling nations (a mind-based concept of what we see) and more to do with the cycles of the celestials. The entire cycle totaling about 24,000 years Psa 90:4. Notice the Golden Age on the top of the cycle. The term Golden Age (Greek: χρύσεον γένος chryseon genos) comes from Greek mythology and refers to the first in a sequence of four or five (or more) Ages of Man, in which the Golden Age is first, followed in sequence, by the Silver, Bronze, Heroic, and then the present-soon-to-be-past Iron Age, which is a period of decline.

““Golden Age” denotes a period of primordial peace, harmony, stability, and prosperity. During this age peace and harmony prevailed, people did not have to work to feed themselves, for the earth provided food in abundance. They lived to a very old age with a youthful appearance, eventually dying peacefully, with spirits living on as “guardians”. Plato in Cratylus (397 e) recounts the golden race of humans who came first. He clarifies that Hesiod did not mean literally made of gold, but good and noble.” –Wikipedia

I don’t intend to explain what any of this means, though I welcome open discussion. These days I take everything with a grain of salt, leaving open the possibility of all things. I believe the more we remain open and freely accept the beliefs of others, the more we all grow. Rather than limiting and clinging to a single organization's teachings and pointing the finger at others, we need to remember we are all sons of god and we all have the power to manifest the kind of world we want to live in. And, that we must do together.

I’ll cover more correlations in future posts and assume for now that I have rational, free-thinking readers. For those who don’t fit this description, I encourage you to stay tuned for posts on correlations as, I find it vitally important that we as a species see through the divisive guise of some religious organizations, rather than continue to be divided and conquered.

I’m anxious to get to some really passionate topics, especially on the Native peoples of the Earth and their beliefs. For now, I will leave you with the Mayan greeting and law of In Lak'ech Ala K'in which means I am another yourself (modern day interpretation). It also means I am you, and you are me and is an honoring for each other. It is a statement of unity and oneness.

In Lak'ech brothers and sisters!

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Spiritual Path . . . Two Years Later: 01. Permaculture and the Pull of Spirit & the Soul

Permaculture and the Pull of Spirit & the Soul

As a member of the organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses (a Christian organization) for just about 4 years, I fully appreciated learning about Spirit and it’s activities, as well as what roles we all play in the divine purposes. In continuing with the zeal for Jehovah and his unfolding will, I reached a tipping point where the confines of an organization's dogmatic teachings conflicted with how Spirit itself was directing me in different directions of teaching . . . and knowing. I chose to officially leave the dogma behind, and follow spirit and the callings of my soul . . . wherever it would lead. This blog was inspired primarily for reaching those Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW) whose spirit has also reached confining limits though, it can apply to anyone who’s reached limits and their soul is seeking expansion. I was inspired by spirit to write this article in the Winter of 2016 while in Baja California Sur, Mexico while getting away from the cold for Sun and to be with the Cetaceans (Whales). I never posted it, but spirit continues to guide me as the impetus for writing/posting this part 1 of 3 articles, was from a letter written to me by a Jehovah’s Witness that touches on the very subject I was inspired to write about while in Mexico. . . Daniel’s prophecy in Daniel 2:44 and “God’s Heavenly Kingdom”. My reply to the letter is in part 2 here.

I know how JWs love their Bible translation, and I actually love their website and platform as well, so I’ll be referencing any Bible scriptures using their online New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures. I encourage you to use any translation you’d like. In my opinion, all translations, and all religious text for that matter merely try to explain the expansively unexplainable. Right off the bat, I’d like to say for those who question whether the Soul & the Body are one or separate based on the Bible, refer to Matt 10:28. JW will often use Gen 2:7 to deduce that man became a living soul and the soul is not separate from the body. I don’t know about you readers but I’m not ready to deduce the dreams, out-of-body experiences, personal experiences of telepathy, and other god-given gifts and the supernatural based on that one interpretable line fo text . . . especially when it contradicts the previous scripture in Matthew so heavily. The fundamental belief of the soul being the body limits man to the 3D realms of earth and also limits our beliefs to the mind-based thinking, dogma, and belief systems that we ourselves have created. In my experience, part of the journey is being able to listen to your soul's calling and not the words of other people. If you remove the belief that you are the center of your universe, you create the perfect canvas for enslaving the mind to words and reason. 

On January 13th, 2015 I wrote a letter to my body of Elders asking to be disassociated from JW after they showed their inability to address my personal spiritual journey. In addition, I felt the organization as a whole had strayed very far from where they started. What started as a group of bible students freely and openly discussing Bible teachings, has become a closed one-way stream where all teachings stream from their Governing Body.  

Now, May 2017 I realize how much good the organization did me in grounding me in spiritual practice as well as some spiritual truths. I also, however, find myself being drawn to draw out those who also find themselves confined between dogmatic teachings, and the strong pulls their soul may be drawing them too. For me, one of the things spirit steered me too, was Permaculture. The Bible has fanciful descriptions of the paradise Earth described in the Bible . . . and yet, some of us unconsciously and consciously act in complete opposition of this hopeful promise. We forget to be stewards of the very Mother Earth that sustain us each day and instead, just hope that someone else, or spirit will step in and fix the problem. Well folks . . . spirit works with us and through us, and not just for us. 1 Cor. 3:8-9. I’ll discuss this more in part 03.

Permaculture is many things, but in short, it’s the development of systems that are intended to be sustainable and self-sufficient. For me, it was also a soul remembering of the Earth from which we came. Life, water, food, shelter, clothing, entertainment, you name it and the Earth is a significant provider of all these things. Since learning, studying, and working with the Earth I’ve re-gained a priceless connection that I feel JW only speak and dream of, but yet is a reality now. We are on Paradise Earth and we are the ones we have been waiting for to bring about change. Again, 1 Cor. 3:8-9.

I’ll end with that for now. I welcome open discussions and I thank the brother who wrote the letter for helping me to realize this article and further writings is a part of my journey.

Blessings to all beings, and peace upon the earth.