Today is a super day, and we can all be champions

Today is a super day! And we can all be champions!! One of the definitions of champion is: An ardent defender or supporter of a cause or another person. Can you think of something positive to become a champion for. It is the things that we defend, represent, stand up for, support, and praise, that give our lives meaning and purpose. Today, champion for your family, and friends, champion for your ideals, and the determination to somehow make life better; not only for yourself, but for everyone who you come in contact with. And then do something to make that happen.

Practicing the Principles of Jesus: The Kingdom of heaven is within you

When Jesus was asked when the kingdom of God would appear he said that the kingdom would not come in a way that can be observed visually; and not to go running here or there if they were to hear that it was arriving somewhere. He finished by telling them, "For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you." Matthew, in the first gospel speaks of the kingdom many times, only he called it the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus was obviously not talking about the kingdom that we think of as the place where people go to spend eternity after they die, because he was telling them that it was inside them, in present tense. The word translated as within in the verse only shows up one other place in the bible; in that verse Jesus is talking about people who put on airs, and try to look better then they really are. He told them that rather than making the outside of the cup all shiny and beautiful, while the inside is filthy and putrid, that they should clean the inside of the cup first, then the whole cup would be suitable for use. "Inside" is the word translated "within", telling where the kingdom of God is.

In the verse about the cup, Jesus is making the cup a metaphor for a human being, and in this verse about the kingdom of god, he is completing the thought by illustrating the fact that it is within ourselves that we actually experience life, and that by working on our lives from within ourselves we can make our whole life experience better by improving ourselves, our relationships, and even our circumstances , and thus, our life experience. We will not find a way of doing this by searching for it outside of ourselves.

Certainly there are things and people that are outside of ourselves that can effect our lives, that can hurt us and make our lives miserable; and there are certainly things outside of ourselves that we can effect as well, that can bring us great satisfaction and enjoyment; but the main focus should be on the work we do inside of us; for the development that occurs inside of us determines how we react to what people do to us, and increases how effective we can be at influencing and changing our surroundings, how we come across to other people, and thus how influential we can be with them (in a positive non-manipulative way). And the more influence we have over ourselves, our surroundings, and the people around us, and how we react to those things, the larger is our realm of control in our lives.

We all react differently to events in the outside world anyway, which shows that our perceptions of events are more powerful than the situations that we face. If what happens outside was totally responsible for our life experience, then the same outside circumstance would effect everyone the same way, and we know that is not the case. Two people in the exact same circumstance experience and react to that circumstance differently. Some people actually take what looks like a negative circumstance and turn it into an advantage, others just complain about it. And it is their reaction to the circumstance, rather than the circumstance itself, that determines to a great degree how that circumstance evolves, or at least how they experience it.

And just as important as the relationship we have with the people and things outside of us, is the relationship that we have with ourselves. Through activities such as meditation and contemplation, and through thinking positive thoughts about positive things, and creating inside of ourselves an internal environment that is conducive to experiencing positive and peaceful emotions; and the possibility of even experiencing a connection with what we might identify as divinity or a higher power, we have a massive array of things that can be done and experienced within ourselves, and that can effect the world around us, that can truly be described as a heavenly life experience.

So lets take advantage of this principle that Jesus taught us, that the kingdom of God lies within us, and build for ourselves a kingdom of heaven, where we can experience treasures that no one can rob us of, and can lead us into the life experience we long to live.

Practicing the Principles of the Buddha: Karmic Senility

I have come to the conclusion that I must be a very old soul, karmiclly speaking, because I seem to have developed karmic senility, and for the life of me, I cannot remember a thing about any of my previous lives. I can’t even remember if there was a time when I could remember any of that stuff. Now, I know that there are folks out there who can remember previous lives, or can communicate with those on “the other side,” so I know there must be something to it, but none of those gifts have been given to me.

In the little studying of Buddhism that I have done, one of the things that impressed me were the statements that I kept hearing that, unlike those dogmatic religions (aka; the big three: Judaism, Christianity, Islam), there is nothing that needs to be taken on faith; in fact, the Buddha himself said not to take anything on faith, but to test the teachings out for ourselves, and based on sound reason, let the proof be in the results that we can see and prove for ourselves.

It wasn’t long though, before I was hearing that I have been alive for thousands of lifetimes, and depending on the “denomination” of the Buddhism, I have gone through lifetime after lifetime as an evolving human being, or, gasp, have kept coming back as some other creature, depending on the karmic load I had acquired in the previous lives; and this will continue until I finally get it right. And then I started to hear about more heavens and hells, gods and satanic beings, then I had ever read about in the bible. Whew, so much for nothing to be taken on faith.

And yet, if limited to the psychological aspects of the teachings, Buddhism is one of the most mature, sensible, straight forward and rational religions that I have come across. But again, it needs to be kept in mind that there are easily as many different traditions, teaching styles, and therefore emphasis on different teachings of the Buddha as there are in Christianity and the teachings of Jesus, so you need to do some searching to find the teachers with whom you can identify with. I prefer the overall approach, emphasis on quality human interaction, and inclusiveness of other religious perspectives of Thich Nhat Hahn, and the in depth understanding, knowledge base, and intensity for and about breath focused meditation of Thanissaro Bhikkhu.

It will be these functional principles of Buddhist psychology and meditation that will be the focus of future articles about Practicing the Principles of the Buddha.