Mission Accomplished!

This belief helps me tremendously dealing with the passing of loved ones. And it also makes me look forward to "signing off", rather than being afraid of it...

This world needs Jesus! Really?

This world already has a Jesus. And what did the people of this world do to him? Then - as now - too many are blinded by ignorance and religious fanatism into hateful self-righteousness against anybody that thinks, looks, acts, feels, loves, behaves differently. We people killed Jesus then. We people are continuing to kill today.

We don't need another Jesus to tell us how to fix things. The one 2000 years ago already told us. We don't need somebody or something else to fix things for us. We need to fix things ourselves, by fixing our own selves!

What we need is more willingness to:

• put aside traditions and customs and embrace new ideas and perspectives
• turn off our auto-pilot more often and try something new
• stop blindly repeating what others - especially religious people - are saying, and double-check if it is really making the world a better place
• allow others to make their own choices without having to fear to be ostracized
• try to find a "loving" way, rather than always simply following the instinctual animal response (which is usually "fighting", thus usually making things worse, rather than better)

Let me encourage you, to try to at least once a day think afresh about one "something" that you are used to do or believe.

Let me remind you to try to reserve half an hour a week for reflecting on the questions of:

• What did the Universe have in mind when it created you and shaped you?
• How is the Universe using you to create change and improvement in this world?

Let me invite you to try once a month to connect with a kind of person that you have never connected with before, and to try to learn as much as you can about how life is to and for that person, while also honestly sharing yourself with that person as well.

Magic is happening through you - whether you are aware of it or not; whether you want it or not; and whether you are actively trying to let it happen, or simply leaving it to chance.

My experience is, that when I make a contribution to the development of this creation, I receive happiness in return. A happiness that comes from deep within. A kind, that can not be bought or acquired in any other way.

I strongly believe, that if you follow the simple three requests above, you'll become less destructive (as we all are) to everybody and everything around you, and more capable as a tool for the Universe to cause improvement. You'll notice more opportunities to make a contribution, and are more able to do so. And with all of that, you'll become much happier and more fulfilled.

But, don't blindly believe what I say! Try it yourself, and observe.

Letter to my Turkish friend

Dear Friend,

 

The area you live in has been at the center of development of civilization for many, many centuries. Your people are capable of greatness!

Such development came in boosts. With times of stagnation in between those. However, during such rest-phases the seeds for the next boost germinated.

You may find yourself in such a phase of stagnation. If so, you may be the part of the seed-starter soil where the next boost is germinating.

 

There are those who blame outside forces for their situation. Such blaming is futile. You can not change outside forces. The best you can do is accept them and move to suit. There are those who stop their work when it is raining. And there are those who accept the situation (i.e. it rains), move to suit (for example put on a rain-coat) and do the work that is possible within the limitations and due to the special circumstances of the outside situation (for example plant seeds).

 

I find, there are many among your neighbors, among the people in your country, and the whole world, who are frozen in centuries old religions and traditions. Like a fish in a block of ice, they are incapable of moving, of growing, or changing.

Then there is another large group of folks, who are uneducated and misinformed. They don't understand what is going on in the world, how things are connected, what causes the effects they are experiencing negatively. Their ignorance causes them to fall victim to fear mongering demagogues. They are afraid of anything that looks, sounds, or acts differently then what they are used too. Sucked into their fear like into quicksand, they, too, are incapable of moving or changing.

But there are also a few like yourself. Your horizon is wide. Your experiences have opened your mind. Your ability to speak another language indicates you are a communicator. Your willingness to engage in conversations with people that are different than you indicates you are a bridge-builder.

 

I am reminding you of all of this, because I saw the sparkle of idealism and energy in your eyes. Even though it was wrapped in a vail of sadness and frustration, which itself you were trying hard to hide behind a mask of sarcasm and fatalism.

 

You are a descendent of great people. You are capable of greatness. Through you, the frozen have a chance for the ice to melt around them. Through you, the fearful have a chance to see the potential of the changes around them to cause improvement of the situation. You are the best chance the frozen and fearful who come into your life have.

 

I wish for you, that you'll find ways and the energy to do your work. Little by little. One situation at a time. One friend after another. My hope for you is, that you'll be able to help people understand. That you may provide the seeds for thought people need to ask the questions that allow them to make the next step.

 

Just remember, you are not responsible for the greater picture. Nor should you allow the appearance of the greater picture to get you despondent or lose hope. As long as you are doing your share - as little and insignificant as it may appear to you - this is all that is necessary; this is the only responsibility you have.

 

Here's another analogy: In the older days, during the winter months farmers in the Alps would not sit around lamenting that it is cold, that they can neither plant nor harvest anything. They would work on their tools, so when the spring comes they are ready to plant.

 

So, there's no sense in lamenting the situation. Brainstorm about what you can do, given the situation - and do it. Work "indoors". Educate. Inform. Connect with kindred spirits. Support each other.

 

And lastly: stay away from violence. Force destroys. Stick with love! Love conquers all. Love is the only path to real success. Love is the only warmth that thaws the ice of religious and traditionalist fanaticism. Love is the only lotion that soothes and heals fear!

 

In the end it will be all good. If it is not good yet, it just means it is not yet the end; and your contributions are still needed.

Dear Lord...

I know you must be cringing every time somebody refers to you as "Lord" or "King", since these where the aristocrats that waged war, ruled mostly cruel over their subjects, and got rich on their people's back. You, however, do not rule over us, but gave us free will to do whatever we feel like. You gave us the instinct of inquisitiveness that can help us search for what makes sense, and a brain that can help us in any situation identify many available options, and choose the one that makes the most sense.

 

I am sure, if you had a head, you would shake it in disbelief, every time people start talking about you performing supernatural miracles. You have sent and keep sending us instance over instance, opportunity over opportunity where we could realize that you are not using supernatural magic to improve situations; you are not sending lightning-bolts, not flicking your fingers even if you had fingers. You are working through us humans, you are using us as instruments, as tools to implement the divine intervention.

 

I am convinced, if you had arms, you would through them up every time people are misled and taught useless, illogical religious traditions. Some claim you sent your son to give us the message in clear language, yet, they focus on all kinds of other texts - some in total contradiction of Jesus' simple message: love your neighbor and love your god. Some focus on the question whether Jesus was a real person, and on examples for how his message was implemented 2000 years ago, instead of pondering questions that are relevant today - for example:

• What mode of transportation would Jesus use?
• Would he use styrofoam?
• Would he use his money to pay for cable, weaves, breast implants, or sports tickets?
• Would he glorify the military?
• Would he encourage youth to study science or football, language or soccer, math or basketball?
• To what temperature would he set his thermostat in the summer, and what temperature in the winter?
• Would he vote in the elections? And if so, for whom?
• Would he run, or send his kids to a Martial Arts studio?
• What kind of food would he buy, prepare, and eat?

 

So many questions that are highly relevant and important today! Yet so many focus on repeating over and over again, that Jesus died FOR us! Heck, he died THROUGH us! We killed him! And we would kill him all over again today, if he came back - we surely are making peoples' lives miserable if they don't believe, behave, look, act like us! I can not fathom how you have not yet given up on us!

 

I guess you must often wonder what might have gone wrong when you created us; why are we just not getting it? You provide for us situation over situation, where we could realize that when we are making a contribution to the development of this world, we are rewarded with happiness and fulfillment. Yet, we always look for "what is in it for me?" We try to achieve happiness through shopping, controlling other people, striving for personal comfort - and fail miserably. We seek fulfillment through money, power, status - and fail miserably. We choose to believe this world was created for us - and wonder why we destroy it!

 

Here I pray:

• May we start teaching our children to ask in any situation: "What contribution could I make now?", so that the next generation has a chance to fix the problems we're apparently so incapable of resolving.
• May we stop glorifying military and martial arts and guns and fighting, so that peace may come to our streets.
• May we stop trying the same old approaches and wonder why we get the same old outcomes. May we instead change our core world-view, as doing this will automatically change our values, our priorities, our approaches, and our actions.
• May we stop acting like animals, and instead learn to go beyond our animal instincts, so that we become the angels that we were meant to be when we came to this world.
• May we each accept our function as highly sophisticated and specialized tool to work on specific issues in our world in whatever little way we can, may we each search for our specific purpose, and may we each accept our mission to make this world a better place! And may we see in everybody else the potential for being an angel - no matter what color, race, sexual orientation, origin of birth, language, age, background, or whatever..., so we can attempt to help them with their mission, rather than hinder and harass them.

 

I hope this my prayer would put a smile on your face, if you had a face - it is the best I was able to do. Well I guess, you might be curious now to see, how many people who read this prayer will act like the pharisees in self-righteous upset, and how many will be good soil where these seeds of thought can germinate and grow.

 

Amen