There was an article in the January 25th edition of USA Today submitted by the Associated Press, Bin Laden praises attempted Christmas attack. While Bin Laden is praising the heroic warrior Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab who unsuccessfully tried to blow-up a U.S. airliner on Christmas Day, the article quotes him as saying, “If our messages had been able to reach you through words, we wouldn’t have been delivering them through planes.”

I wonder if he truly means it?  I wonder if he tried speaking with us and we either didn’t listen to him or we just heard what we wanted to hear?

Is it possible that each of us is part of the problems which exist on a global basis?  Are we isolating ourselves from problems that exist around the world?  Do we tend to focus too much on ourselves and the interests of our country?

We all want to be heard. Humans will do anything to receive attention. Although we’d prefer positive attention, if we can’t get enough of it, we’ll accept negative attention. Is terrorism a way of getting attention from people who appear to be living in isolation?

Have you ever had to yell, scream or punch a wall to get somebody’s attention?

Have you ever ignored what a child or spouse was saying to you because you were pre-occupied with something else that seemed more important than another human?

I wonder if Osama Bin Laden would try speaking with us again?  I wonder if he’d meet with me in the location of his choosing to have a civil one-on-one conversation about how to stop the killing in the world by replacing hatred with love?

What I know about Islam is that its’ followers profess tremendous love for Allah.  Devout Muslims pray 5 times per day. Islam is an Abrahamic faith that has much in common with Judaism and Christianity.  It is a faith which demonstrates tremendous love and compassion for Allah and others.

Many despicable acts have been accomplished throughout history in the name of religion.  Religion, like a tongue, can be used to bring love or to bring hatred.  Neither religion nor the tongue is bad – it is how it is used by the owner. Development of God-like loving and compassionate thoughts trains our tongues to be instruments of peace.

How can any person who professes to love God, kill in that God’s name?  Probably in much the same way that parents and children hurt each other on a daily basis with their words.

Each of us is being called to do the exact opposite of killing in God’s name: each one of us is called to love in God’s name.  It is love that is our true being and at the heart of our souls.  It is God’s love which created us and sustains our very life on a daily basis.  It’s only when we’re shielded from God’s words and God’s Spirit that we act un-Godly. It’s when we intentionally separate ourselves from our Creator that we become hateful, selfish, miserable and hurtful.

Would Osama Bin Laden really like to put an end to the wars in the world?  I would.

Would he like to discuss how we can begin educating the world so that ignorance would stop breeding hatred? Would he like to replace the hatred which exists in the hearts and souls of people with love?  I would.

Would he like to bring knowledge about God’s love for every single human to each of our 6.7 billion brothers and sisters?  I would.

Would he like to eliminate the doubt which exists in the minds of millions with a faith that only brings joy and love to self and others?  I would.

Would he like to replace the darkness that is clouding the souls of millions of people with a light that comes from the love of God?  I would.

Our planet is way beyond the point of  thinking and acting locally and selfishly.   It is our small minds and selfish thinking that have the world in the state in which it’s in today.  Each of is is a part of one Global Tribe.  We are one huge family.  Yes, many of us are not speaking with each other.  Yes, many of us are waiting for the other family member to admit that he or she is wrong.  Yes, many of us are turning our heads to the realities that are being faced by our family members.

Each of us has the potential to admit that we’ve been wrong and are part of the problem.  Once we admit that we have a global problem, we can commence with the global solution.  Selfish solutions from one country or one faith will not work in solving universal problems.

Each of us was created in the image and likeness of God. No one of us is more valuable in God’s eyes than another just because of a particular name, faith, family or net worth.  Each of us is a child of God and deserves to be treated with love, dignity and respect.  Together, each of us makes up one global family.  Each of us is a member of this family.  When one of us suffers, we all suffer.

Like a small paper cut can bring tremendous pain to us even when the rest of our body is healthy, any individual or groups of people who are in pain across the world bring pain to our global body.  Our global body is covered with numerous band-aids and many of our minor cuts are now seriously infected.

In a global body, amputation of an individual, country or faith is not a realistic remedy.  Love, compassion and understanding are the remedies to solve this body’s wounds.

Yesterday I spoke of reading comments made by Osama Bin Laden.  Today I issue the following letter, in hopes of furthering the previously stated desire to share my belief that all faiths and religions proclaim love for God and love of others. We cannot be a global community if we are each separated by faith, religion, creed, color, gender, or orientation. We must be willing to understand one another. We must put aside our differences long enough to hear one another. Only then will we be a successful global community.

Mr. Bin Laden:

If you choose to speak with me, you’ll be speaking with a citizen of the world who happens to have a mailing address in the United States. I am not a member of any government or political organization.  I am aware of the suffering, poverty, ignorance and helplessness that is going on in many parts of the world. I am also aware of the ignorance and selfishness that are running rampant in the industrialized, wealthy nations.

Ignorance is nothing more than a lack of knowledge, education and awareness.  I would like to bring education, love, hope, faith and prosperity to each of the world’s 6.7 billion humans.

You are currently influencing the minds of millions of your followers with messages of hatred and death.  You can be part of the solution if you’re still willing to use words of love and hope instead of airplanes and other weapons of destruction to get the world’s attention.

You have the potential and the ability to restore Islam as a faith of love and peacefulness in the minds of the ignorant who only associate it as one of hatred and killing.  You have the potential to refocus your followers to assist in solving the problems that exist in the world with their brains and their love.

You have the potential to redeem yourself by helping to create answers to the problems that you so deeply care about.

If you’re still willing to talk, I am willing to listen. I will seek to understand. Let’s bring people together with love in God’s name and put an end to the ignorance and hatred which exist only in the absence of God’s Spirit.

Sincerely,

Bob

Osama Bin Laden caught my attention in the newspaper last week. I’m requesting a meeting with him to discuss the following subjects and anything else that may be on his mind.

There is one Creator of the world.  Everything I know about that Creator keeps bringing me back to one word – Love.

If this Creator is associated with love, why does so much hatred exist?

Some of us don’t believe in this Creator because we don’t want to work too hard to come to really know and establish a relationship with God.  All relationships take work and because many of us are having a hard enough time working on relationships at work, school and home, we don’t have much left in our tanks to try and figure out this Creator who may or may not exist.

What better use of our time could there be than to learn how to sustain inner-peace, hope and love at all times?  Our minds, souls and world peace depend on that investment in ourselves.  Peace is established one mind at a time.

Many people who were born into a faith or who have developed faith later in life have come to know God because of a particular religion. I’ve come to know and love God through Christianity.  I am thankful for that gift on a daily basis.

That very faith has taught me that each person on the planet is my brother and sister. It’s taught me that it’s my responsibility to love each and every one of my brothers and sisters.

Once I chose to become aware of other faiths, and their predominance in countries and continents around the world, I now know that billions of great people around the world have come to know and love God through many other faiths.  My faith asks me to love each and every one of them.

How we come to know and love God is much less important to me than the love that we show to God and to each other.  People of differing faiths have much to teach each other as we work toward building our love and compassion for each other. As I’ve begun studying other faiths, that knowledge has helped me to increase and solidify my Christian faith.  The knowledge of other faiths has also allowed me to respect and appreciate our diverse paths that lead to the same outcomes:

• Love of God
• Love of all humans
• Unity with and dependence upon each other

I’ve yet to read a word about any faith or religion which does not proclaim love for God and love of others.

About a month ago, I found out that one of the two priests from our parish was in the hospital. This particular priest is not just any priest to me.  This priest is Fr. Ouellette.

Fr. Ouellette was one of the many priests at my parish when I was a young boy.  Way back then, daily mass was said several times per day at our church and altar boys were assigned to serve at each mass.  I served with Fr. Ouellette many times at these daily masses, for funerals during the school week and at weddings over the weekend. He always treated me – any everyone else -  like gold. He was one of the most appreciative people that I’ve ever known. He taught me how to show sincere appreciation for the smallest acts of kindness shown by others.

Somewhere around 1973, the Christmas masses were so crowded that we had two midnight masses – one in the beautiful, ornate upper church and a second in the darker, dingier but, just-as-large lower church. On this particular evening, this 12-year old was sick, but still wanted the honor of serving at midnight mass (even though I was relegated to the downstairs dungeon!).  I must’ve been sicker than I thought because I fainted right in the middle of the mass.  This was not just any lazy, quiet, not-get-noticed, graceful faint either.  My entire pudgy body smashed against the kneeler and caused it to crash against the solid marble altar floor with a resounding boom!  My older brother, Bill, and  my Dad rushed up to the altar to carry me into the sacristy as Fr. Ouellette looked-on to make sure that I was okay. Fr. Ouellette followed my Dad and brother into the sacristy to make sure that I was okay before proceeding with mass.  He taught me kindness and compassion.

One of the reasons that he’s been assigned to our parish almost continuously since 1973 is that his dear Mother lived in our city.  The great part of that is that he frequently incorporated stories about his family into his homilies. He wasn’t  a boring priest who spoke in monotone about God,God,God.  He was a human who had a real family. He frequently spoke about real family responsibilities and challenges from first-hand experience. He spoke of each challenge in his life with faith in God and hope and confidence that things would always turn out well. He taught me how to honor and appreciate family-especially when things are not perfect.

The St. Vincent de Paul Society is a group within the Catholic Church that cares for the poor within the parish. Its members collect food and money from the parishioners so that they’ll be able to provide for the poor on a weekly basis throughout the entire year. Fr. Ouellette has always been our biggest ambassador and salesperson. When he speaks about a topic, he never uses notes and always speaks from his heart with tremendous passion.  He doesn’t act like he cares…he cares.  He taught me sincerity and authenticity.

When I went to visit my 83-year old friend a few weeks ago, there were signs all over the door to his hospital room. Disinfect hands before entering. Caution: Infectious matter. Put-on gloves prior to entering. Dispose of gloves before leaving room. Nurses must put on gowns prior to entering. I was afraid to go in.

Once in the room, I saw my friend in bed with visible tubes everywhere  – his nose, mouth and arms.  He was having difficulty breathing. The nurse told me that he’d been unable to eat solid food for three weeks. He looked awful. His mouth was open. His lips were chapped. His arms were badly bruised from all of the the IV’s there were inserted into his veins.  I pulled up a chair and sat next to his bed and began to pray. My mind immediately came to a standstill.  Because of his age, poor health, and the obvious pain that he was in, I wasn’t sure if I was praying for him to recover or for him to die quickly and peacefully.  After a little consideration, I proceeded to pray for about 30 uninterrupted minutes for God’s will and not mine. He was so bad that I expected any one of his gasping breaths to be his last.  I was giving up hope.

All of a sudden, the silence in the room was broken. A chipper nurse entered the room to check on his vital signs. I took that opportunity to step out of the room to give my friend some privacy. From just outside the door, I could hear the nurse wake up Fr. Ouellette and tell him that he had a guest.  When I re-entered the room, he rolled over to face me.  The man who looked like he was ready to breathe his last breath, opened his eyes and said with a top-of-the-mornin’-tone, Hello Bob. I thought that he was about to die and within a matter of a few seconds, he began engaging me in conversation just as he had since 1973. How are you? It’s so good to see you.

Although his body was failing him, his teacher’s mind was as sharp as ever.  He asked me how Virginia (my Mom) was doing.  He told me what a great man Oscar (my Dad) was.  He and my Dad both went to the same high school. He went on to compliment my wife Carolyn and say what a valuable member of the parish she’s always been (not bad for a convert!).  He praised both of my kids (again by name). He then asked me about both of my brothers and sister by name. Because each of my siblings lives out of state, he hasn’t seen any of them in years. His name recollection was better than mine and I was not currently on drugs!

A few minutes ago I was considering praying for this man to die and he’s now speaking to me with his usual compassion and the memory of a teen-ager.  What was I thinking?  God does know better than I do.

Fr. Ouellette never complained (he did mention that he missed having turkey on Thanksgiving) during either of my hospital visits. For his entire life he was grateful and appreciative. He’d been lying in bed for weeks without solid food, without the ability to say mass and his thoughts were on God’s will – not his. His thoughts were on me and my family – not himself.  He always looks out for the well-being of those around him.

That is the exact attitude that he’s been preaching from the pulpit and living in his everyday life since I’ve known him. He has an unwavering faith in God. He has trust in God. He knows that God’s will is better than his. He always talks about the importance of family. He talks about how faithful and generous his parishioners are. He makes the people around him feel good about themselves.  He knows that we all make mistakes but, we can always recover.  He always has us leaning in the right direction – towards the positive, towards the good, towards God. I learned each of these things from him.

That is the type of attitude that has made Fr. Ouellette one of my family’s favorite priests -ever!  When our parish had the luxury of having 5+ priests on staff, we’d never know which priest would be celebrating at any given liturgy.  I can remember family members returning home from church saying with pleasure and thankfulness, it was Fr. Ouellette!  It was like someone had won the lottery.  He was always the gift that was given freely.

At mass last Sunday, another dear friend, Fr. Sannella walked down the center aisle of the church, leaned over, put his hand on my shoulder and whispered, Fr. Ouellette died last night.

Although I was a little sad, a smile came to my face after a few seconds of thought.  His entire life was dedicated and focused on helping people get to where he has now taken up residence. As I said prayers that night, I knew that I was not praying for Fr. Ouellette to get into heaven. He created heaven on earth for himself by living a Christ-like life each and every day.  He brought God’s presence with him wherever he went.  He now has a permanent residence in His Father’s mansion.

A friend’s daughter just walked into the coffee shop where I’m writing today. I told the beautiful 19-year old about Fr. Ouellette. She said with a proud smile, Oh, I love him, he baptized me!

Fr. Ouellette made the world a better place because of his presence: may you and I do the same each and every day.

Adversity is tough to deal with when we’re very strong.  It can feel overwhelming when we’re weak and vulnerable.  Eleven days ago I received news that made me thankful that I had built-up a strong reserve of internal strength.

My mission is to give people the tools to develop their own internal strength – mentally, spiritually and physically – so that they’ll be able to live the best lives possible each and every day.

If I haven’t said this lately, if I had to choose one of the three – and I don’t – it would be spiritual strength.

The knowledge that God exists and is dwelling within our minds and spirits is the strongest support that we can have in dealing with our every day realities. It is my faith that gives me the power to remain strong and focused during my life’s challenging times.

Having strong mental health means creating and maintaining a positive, efficacious  mind. It means that you’ve intentionally built a very strong self-image and are great at noticing each of the strong qualities in the people around you.

Maintaining a healthy body provides a peaceful home in which our minds and spirits can dwell for as many days as we’re fortunate enough to live.

With positive minds, healthy bodies and the spirit of God alive and well in our being, we’re positioning ourselves to be constructive souls across the planet. We’re also better prepared to try and understand our setbacks and the setbacks of those around us.

On December 3rd, I started receiving news from people around me that I love which made me thankful for God and my internal strength: my great friend Tracy from high school called me that day to tell me that his sister, my 47 year old friend and first girlfriend, Leah, had succumbed to breast cancer. Leah was happily married and the mother of two beautiful children. She was part of a loving family who welcomed me into their world when I was 15 years old and kept me there in their minds forever. Although Leah and I dated for only about a year, she has maintained a place in my mind and heart and will be there forever. She gave me her gift that will last a lifetime.

You and I have the ability to positively, negatively or neutrally impact each person  we touch throughout our lives.  It’s not the length of time we’re with someone, it’s the impact we have during the time that we’re given. Leah was very high-impact.

When Tracy called me to tell me of his sister’s death, I had just returned home from a 3-day business trip and was scurrying around trying to play catch-up.  At that instant, all of the very important things that I had planned for that day suddenly seemed very unimportant.  As I was listening to Tracy speak, in the back of my mind I knew that I was leaving the following morning on a 6AM flight for another 4-day trip.  I was petrified that I would be out of town during the wake and funeral. Tracy, Leah and the entire family are all very dear to me.

Leah’s funeral was held last Saturday, December 12th.  She was all I could think of that morning at home and at the gym.  I left the gym at 8:40 to make sure that I arrived at the church early.  My brand new car doesn’t have GPS and I made every possible wrong turn imaginable. Was my mind elsewhere?  Yes.  Instead of arriving between 9:15 and 9:30 for the 10AM funeral and relaxing in the parking lot, I pulled into the parking lot perspiring at about 9:50.

My compassionate friend Tracy came out into the 19 degree parking lot without a jacket, scarf or hat to greet his old friend. After signing the guest book at the back of the church and winding around the perimeter of the church in a long line of people, I found myself at the side entrance to the church which is at its’ front. The hallways, choir loft and church were filled with family and friends and every seat and space appeared to be full with the exception of the front 2 pews which were reserved for the family. I did not want to miss a single word of this service!  Out of desperation, I asked an usher if she had any suggestions where one person could sit. She turned around and pointed to a single seat just to the right of the pulpit. Am I lucky or had that exact seat been reserved for me by someone very special?

I was thankful to be seated on time prior to the arrival of the family into the church.  Once the family was seated, I realized that I had a direct line of view to Leah’s mom and dad, so I knew that I couldn’t look in that direction unless I wanted to break down uncontrollably. I’ve loved her parents for almost 35 years and couldn’t imagine the sadness that they were feeling if I was feeling despair and emptiness over a person I hadn’t even seen in 14 years. The last time that I saw Leah was at my Dad’s wake.

Leah’s beautiful sister Heidi spoke on behalf of the family.  Heidi looked me right in the eyes and gave me a big, radiant smile as she climbed the steps into the pulpit. Heidi then gave an uplifting message of joy as she spoke to Leah’s husband, children, parents, brothers, family, neighbors and friends.  Heidi wasn’t speaking to have us feel sorry or sad, she spoke to remind us how Leah lived – with smiles, light and humor and to invite us to do the same. She was a very bright light in the world who loved her family, friends, strangers and God.

The Episcopal minister was phenomenal!  It was easy for her to speak because she really knew Leah and journeyed with her during her  two-year sickness. She spoke of Leah’s concern that her children knew that she hadn’t given up on them.  Leah loved in life and she loved at the time of her death. She knew that it was time for her to leave her family and friends and to go to God. She was at peace with her awareness.  Her faith had kept her strong in spirit.

After the 55 minute service, I waited in a 30-minute line in order to get into the church hall for the reception. There was no way I could leave without seeing the family that I’ve loved so much for such a long time.  When I finally saw Leah’s mom, she gave me what might be the best hug that I’ve ever had.  The barely 5-foot woman hugged me with tremendous strength and held on to me for what must’ve been 60 seconds. Neither one of us wanted to let go.

I’ve maintained my friendship with Tracy over the years and had dinner with him on November 17th. As always, I inquired about Leah, his Mom and Dad and the rest of his family. Neither one of us knew at that time that Leah would be leaving us this soon.  We never really know when will be the last time that we’ll see, talk with, hug or kiss someone.

Wakes and funerals are always tremendous reminders for me to do those things today. I’m sure that’s what Og Mandino meant when we wrote in his book, The Greatest Salesman in the World, “I will live this day as if it is my last”.   What would I say to you if this were my last day with you?  How would I hug you?  How would I kiss you?  How would I treat you?

My life has been filled with one blessing after another. In my life today is a fantastic wife of 25 years, two phenomenal children, a loving, generous mother, two great brothers, a caring sister, numerous cousins, uncles and aunts and many dear and great friends. Each one is irreplaceable.

I felt a sense of tremendous loss when my father and mentor died 14 years ago.  I’m feeling a very similar sense of loss today over the loss of Leah. I’ve come to realize that there wouldn’t be any feeling of loss if that individual had not given so deeply of themselves to me. This knowledge allows me to be unbelievably thankful for the special time that I did have with them.  Those are the thoughts and memories that will remain with me forever.

Special people provide us with something unique that can only be given to us by them. It’s the thought of his love, her smile, his hug, her giggle, his voice or her humor that brings smiles to our faces and stirs happy memories inside.  To say that each of us is  unique is an understatement of great magnitude.  When you and I give our unique gifts to the world every day with such effort that we drop into our beds each night with nothing left to give, it’s a tremendous feeling of knowing that you’ve given all that you could to the world.  It’s a feeling that although we were not perfect, we did the absolute best that we could in everything that we did.

Each night before falling asleep I review the activities of the day and ask myself that exact question: Did I do the best that I possibly could in every circumstance throughout this day?  When the answer is yes, I’m at peace.  If the answer is no, I’ve already begun my list for tomorrow.

Only you can provide the unique gift of yourself to the world.  Your smile is unique. Your eyes are unique.  Your voice is unique.  Your spirit is unique.  You are you-nique!  Please don’t hold back. We need you to share yourself with us – today.

You cannot be replaced.

Your job can be filled.

There is no one or thing that can ever replace you.

You are truly special.

I miss you Dad.  I miss you Leah.  I’m looking forward to seeing both of you in heaven.

Signs of God’s love are everywhere when we choose to pay attention to them. There are opportunities for us to give love and receive love every single day. Smiles come to our faces as our prayers are answered in the funniest ways. It’s our responsibility to be aware of those opportunities.

I communicated last week with a friend (I’ll call her Faith) who is deeply involved with her church.  Her ministry is dedicated to serving the youth within her parish.  After ten+ years of working with them, she was wondering if it was time to move on.  In her words she said to herself, “I’m just not feeling it right now!”  She went on to say in her prayer to God, “I don’t think that I’m making a difference in their lives.  If you still want me to continue in this ministry, I’d appreciate some kind of sign”.

Faith went to the church that day to do some work and noticed a letter in her mail box.  She figured that it would be a letter from someone complaining about something.  What she found was a beautiful letter thanking her for her courageous and loving work for others within her ministry.  The envelope also contained a crisp $50 bill with instructions to “prayerfully use it where you see best in your work”.  The letter was mysteriously signed, A Friend.

Faith smiled to herself and said, “Good one, Lord.  You really know how to answer my prayers and give me a good slap on the head at the same time!”

After leaving the church filled with the love of God in her heart, Faith headed to the post office to mail a few letters. She accidentally missed the post office closest to her home and found herself driving toward the main post office downtown which is about 2 miles further from her home.

When Faith got into the post office parking lot, she noticed a van with fluorescent pieces of poster board taped to it with sayings written on them in black magic marker such as, “Free food. Feeding all families in need. Evangelical Ministries”.  Another read: “Love one another as I have loved you, says the Lord, Jesus Christ.”

A couple of seconds after noticing the van, a man got out of the driver’s side who looked very discouraged and worn down.  For some reason, Faith waived at the man and he approached her. Faith then said to the man, “Excuse me, but I think I’m supposed to give this to you.”  Faith handed the stranger the $50 bill.

The man (let’s call him Bill) went on to tell Faith that he was called into the ministry of feeding and worshiping with the hungry.  He lines up tables filled with food in the center of town each Saturday and feeds people while they pray together.  Because times have been so tough lately, he’s found the ministry’s finances so tight that he was unable to pay the rent on the van.  On that day, he got down on his knees and prayed, “Lord, You’ve called us to this ministry and You’ve always provided what we need to do Your work. But Lord, You know we have to rent this van to collect and distribute this food. And, Lord, we don’t have the $50 to pay for the van this week. I’m asking you to provide what we need.”

Faith and Bill  proceeded to pray with and for each other right smack center of the post office parking lot.  In addition to praying for each other’s ministry, they prayed that each would continue to have faith that God will always provide whatever they need to fulfill the ministries that He’s called them to.

Faith realized that when she was questioning her ministry, she was asking herself lots of  I and Me questions:  “ Am I still….?”,  “Is it good for me…?”  She noticed to herself that whenever our thoughts are focused on “I” or “me”, our thoughts drown out God’s thoughts.

Faith’s prayers were answered by God in the form of a hand-written letter, receipt of a $50 bill and prayers from Rev. Bill.

Rev. Bill’s prayers were answered by God in the form of kindness, prayer and a $50 bill from Faith.

Faith will allow us to pay the Bills.

A Spark to Ignite Your Joy

Download A Spark to Ignite Your Joy and Faith
Right click the link and click save as.

Thank you for your interest in this ebook, and being a part of our community of faith.

This book as a continuation of my mission to bring peace to the world, through the increase in wisdom and knowledge. We believe that peace will only come when each of us has peace in our own minds and hearts and when each of us is living a life of love and compassion within our own family and community on a daily basis.

Cultures are comprised of the collective thoughts of the individuals within a particular group of people. Groups of like-minded people form mini-cultures within families, cities, regions and countries around the world. Although our unique cultures are good and provide us with wonderful richness and diversity, we sometimes lose track of our commonality as humans as we focus on our differences instead of all that we have in common.

Peace will come as we spread the message of our spiritual connection to each human in the world. If each person is truly a spiritual brother and sister, it makes no sense whatsoever to continue practices, which cause us to hate, hurt and kill one another.

My primary strategy for bringing peace is to do it one mind at a time by increasing the knowledge of the principles of peace, love and compassion that are found within the world of faith. I believe that it is usually our ignorance on a particular subject that causes us to fear or hate another person or group of people.  Wisdom, which comes as a result of education, typically resides in the area of our minds that used to be taken up by fear and ignorance.

This foundation brings the best practices and wisdom from the worlds of faith and psychology into easily understood and simple practices that can be implemented on a daily basis.  Practices include reading, prayer, meditation, community service and the recitation of affirmations to slowly fill our minds and souls with loving and peaceful thoughts. If our thoughts are loving and peaceful, our actions will also be loving and peaceful.

Please accept this e-book as a small gesture of thanks for the role that you’ve played in communicating this message so far. I invite you to forward this book to every person in your family, company or school and entire network who will either benefit from its contents or assist us in spreading its message.

Peace and love,
Bob

You can download the free e-book here.

Prior to the Fort Hood killings, Reverend David Rinas, a Lutheran Minister in Chelmsford, Massachusetts and Imam Hafiz Abdul Hannan from the Islamic Society of Greater Lowell (MA) had planned an Interfaith Thanksgiving Service. The timing of their service could not have been any better. It was a great time for people within Massachusetts to learn more about Islam and other faiths different than their own.

When I saw the notice in my local paper announcing the service, I immediately tore the clipping out and entered the 7PM service into my Blackberry.  That slot was locked-in on my calendar for several days until I found out on Sunday morning that the New England Patriots-New York Jets games started at 4:15 (which meant it wouldn’t end until about 7:30PM)  The interfaith service would significantly cut-into an evening of relaxing football!

As it got to be about 5:30PM, it was pitch black, cold and raw in Massachusetts.  I was comfortably settled in front of the football game with the gas fireplace in our family room cranked to the temperature of a pizza oven. I had to decide whether to finish the football game while toasty warm, or change clothes, freshen-up and head-out into the dark, dreary night.

Why does doing the right think always make us feel good?

I strolled into the Trinity Lutheran Church at about 6:55PM after listening to the Patriots game on my car radio in the church parking lot up until the last minute.  Like most church services that I’ve ever been to, most of the people there were seated in the middle of the church toward the back.  There were plenty of seats available at the front on the left-hand side, so I headed in that direction so that I’d be able to see and have a little breathing room (H1N1 is everywhere!).

At about 6:58, about 6 people and an infant chose the row directly in front of my pew and settled-in comfortably making sure to completely obstruct this 5 foot 8 inch man’s perfect view of the lectern and altar.

After a short greeting by Rev. Rinas, John Kurland from Congregation Shalom lead us in this prayer:

God of all creation, we stand in awe before You, impelled by visions of the harmony of humanity.   We are children of many traditions–inheritors of shared wisdom and tragic misunderstandings, of proud hopes and humble successes.  Now it is time for us to meet and worship–in memory and truth, in courage and trust, in love and promise.

In that which we share, let us see the common prayer of humanity; in that which we differ, let us wonder at the freedom of all; in our unity and our differences, let us know the uniqueness that is God.

May our courage match our convictions, and our integrity match our hope. May our gratitude and thankfulness which brings us together today unite our hearts in love. May our faith in You bring us closer to each other.  May our meeting with past and present bring blessing for the future.

Amen.

What football game? At about 7:02, I knew that I had made the right decision to leave the pizza oven and venture into the cold church that was full of warmth.

The 80 minute service alternated between music and prayer. A member from each faith lead us in a prayer that was deemed appropriate by each of the clergy prior to the service.  They got together to decide how to focus on all that we had in common rather than focus on our differences.  I love that!

One of the guys in front of me who was obstructing my view had the red hymnal open but, was not singing.  It appeared as if he had a piece of paper in the hymnal that he was studying while pretending to be looking at the hymnal.

When it came time for the recitation from the Quran, that man got up and proceeded to the lectern. The most touching part of the evening for me was scripture sung from the Quran in Arabic.  His voice trembled from nerves at the beginning most likely because he was out of his comfort zone–I think that everyone else was too. He quickly settled in to singing the Word of Allah.  Muslims are serious about their faith.

Knowing the little that I do about meditation, the body is divided into 7-8 chakras (energy centers) that start from the base of the spine and proceed up to the tip of the head (the crown chakra). The chakras are called energy centers because these are the places where we have large collections of nerves that can frequently become stuck.  Yoga, meditation and chiropractic are all ways of making sure that these chakras are working properly. When each of them is working properly, our body is at ease and free from dis-ease.

Each of the chakras is related to a unique color and  note from the musical C-scale.  Having the scripture sung to me seemed to touch each of my chakras as his chanting resonated with each energy center from the base of my spine up to my crown.

What I now realized is that I had been lucky enough to sit in the section where the Muslims decided to sit.  In addition to the man who chanted from the Quran, the Imam’s wife was to my right and immediately in front of me was a young couple who had a 5-month old infant in a bassinet in-between them.  Amir (the Dad) could not have payed any more attention to his beautiful little daughter if he tried.  She was gorgeous as she sat there sleeping through most of the service waking up only to have the pacifier returned to her mouth or for a sip from the bottle. When Amir’s daughter occasionally woke up, her beautiful, sparkling eyes were looking directly into mine as if she were peering into my soul.  Her Dad turned around and looked at me for the first time to try and figure out who or what she was looking at so intently.

The keynote speaker was the Imam from the Islamic Society.  If I ever had a doubt about our ability to have Unity Consciousness become our collective reality across the globe, that thought was quickly removed. The Imam and each of the clergy from every faith focused on a common God and the common spirit present in every human.

While Imam Hannan was talking about Islam and how Muslims pray 5 times per day, he also told us how they are thankful for so many things including simple things like clothing.   He reminded us that each of us has so many things to be thankful for that we could never count all of Allah’s blessings bestowed upon us.  Well said.

He went on to say that although Thanksgiving is largely a North American tradition, we should include each member of our global family into our prayers of Thanksgiving and not restrict our thanks and blessings to the United States or Canada only.

The service ended with Rev. Rinas, suggesting that we introduce ourselves to each other before going into the hall for coffee and baked goods. Because of the H1N1 virus precaution, the Lutheran church members have stopped shaking hands and instead started touching each other’s wrists. Because Muslim women are prohibited from touching other men, we were asked to either bow or give a visual hello or sign of peace to each other.

I said hello to the man who had sung the Quran scriptures and told him what a great voice he had. He smiled with appreciation. Amir (the little girl’s Dad) had left the church for a few minutes when his daughter had started crying and didn’t hear the announcement about no hand shaking.   He gave me a big, bright smile that came close to matching the brightness of his daughter’s eyes as he extended his hand as a sign of peace. I ignored the no-hand-shaking rule and eagerly extended my hand to my new friend as I told him how lovely his daughter was.

I didn’t want to leave the football game and drive 15 minutes to get to get to the service. Amir and his wife got their 5-month old daughter bundled up and drove 45 minutes to get to the service to hear his friend – Imam Hannan – speak.  What was I thinking?

Our world is small.

We are all the same at our core.  We’re humans who fall in love with other humans.  We care deeply for our children.  Many of us have come to know God through the faith we learned as a child or deliberately chose as adults.  The more that we learn about each other, the more it becomes easy for us to love each other.

Knowledge brings us together, but it is knowledge of God’s love for us that makes it easy to love each other.

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Wholeness. Complete. Lacking in nothing.  What does that feel like?

Today in North America, and increasingly in other industrialized countries around the world, we’re having a harder time keeping our bodies healthy.  There are plenty of great reasons for us to be unhealthy.  Restaurants supersize our portions, buffets are everywhere and many of us have been brought-up to “eat what’s on your plate!”.  With unemployment above 10% in the United States, those of us who are fortunate enough to be gainfully employed are working longer hours and being asked to be more productive.  The increase in hours, pressure to produce more and fear over possible loss of our jobs have caused very high levels of stress. Many of us find release from stress and fear through the comfort of food, drink or both.

Many people have become so unhealthy that they’ve said to themselves “that’s enough!  It’s time for me to take control of my health and get my body back into ideal health.” Many of my family members, friends and customers have either hired personal trainers to develop the knowledge and best-practices required to be able to eat properly and exercise safely or they’ve learned these great habits on their own via self-study.

They’re proud of themselves because they’ve allocated time on either a daily or multiple time per week basis for exercise and they now treat food and drink as a source of nourishment for their bodies instead of using food as a  bandaid to cover the wounds of stress, fear and unhappiness.

Although they’ve made major positive changes in their lifestyle and have transformed their bodies back to their normally healthy states, I still hear them saying, “I’ve made the changes that I needed to make on my body, and that’s still not enough!”

I would say that our physical bodies represent the lowest level of health that we can achieve as humans.  It’s critical that we take care of our physical bodies but, that is just one step in a 3-step process. You get to decide whether it’s step one, two or three for you.

I’ve trained hundreds of people at companies around the world how to monitor and control their self-talk - the thoughts that they hold in their mind which create their beliefs.  The people that have received this knowledge understand that our positive beliefs about ourselves and others lead to positive expectations and results.  Our negative beliefs about ourselves and others lead to the self-fulfilling prophecy of negative results.

Accepting responsibility for our own thoughts and for the thoughts that we allow into the sanctuary of our minds is a life-changing modification to our overall well-being.

People who become aware of this information are always amazed at how destructively they were speaking to themselves prior to receiving this education. Our beliefs are the software that is used to control our lives. I hear on a daily basis how they’ve used the knowledge of assimilating positive thoughts proactively to intentionally eliminate the negative, destructive thoughts  in order to make major transformations in their performance at work and in their personal lives.  Individuals have told me about how they’ve improved their incomes, changed careers, lowered their golf scores, started exercise routines, transformed their bodies, etc.

Some of the people who went through these education sessions came into the program with already healthy bodies.  Others have used this knowledge to transform their bodies. They’ve modified their own body-image by reconstructing that image in their mind first. They also used the information to make additional changes in many other aspects of their lives by monitoring and controlling their self-talk.  They’ve taken on this proactive approach to making the changes that they desire for themselves with a gusto and wonder how they ever managed to get this far in life while ignoring their thoughts and beliefs.

It’s a fantastic feeling when we become aware of new knowledge or knowledge that’s existed for a very long time but, is new to us and transform our lives with that information.

These individuals used the new knowledge to eliminate the negative self-talk and proactively input positive affirmations related to the goals of what they could become.  They’re now moving quickly along the path to becoming healthy of body and healthy of mind.  Again, through my 1:1 conversations with them, there still seems to be something missing. I hear things like “I’m taking care of my body and now I’m making improvements in other areas of my life by creating positive self-talk in my mind with affirmations and that’s still not enough!”

This next higher level of managing our total self is managing our brains.  By monitoring, managing and changing our beliefs intentionally, we’re able to bring about amazing improvements in every aspect of our life.

All of the problems that we’re experiencing in our lives were created with our mind.  We’re going to need some additional out-of-our mind help with our thoughts and awareness to order to  create the solutions to these problems.

If we picture our complete self – our wholeness – in a pie chart, one small slice of the pie would represent our physical health.  Another larger slice of the pie would represent our mental health- the thoughts and beliefs that we’re using to run our lives. The third, largest and what ideally will become the foundational piece of our health would be represented by the spiritual slice of pie.

The spiritual piece of the pie contains four components: faith, hope, love and knowledge.  This is the third step in the process.

Our faith is what keeps us grounded on a minute to minute basis. Faith is our belief in God.  Our faith allows us to accept the promises given to us by God.  When we’re living and abiding in God’s word and allowing God’s spirit to dwell in us, we’re able to remain in a state of peace at all times.  Knowing God’s promises comes as a result of reading, learning and internalizing scripture. Our confidence in God comes as a result of coming to know God.

Some of us quote lines from movies. Some of us can give statistics from every athlete and team that has ever played a sport. Some of us have a hobby and can tell others everything related to that passion.  These are all good things. How about taking this same skill and applying it to the secrets of eternal peace?

For many of us, spiritual hope is based upon the expectation of everlasting life in heaven.  Some of us believe that the resurrection (taking ourselves from death to life or from darkness into the light) occurs while we’re still on earth as a result of believing, living and acting in alignment with God’s word and receiving the Holy Spirit into our being.

We show our Love by how we treat each of our brothers and sisters.  We become God’s eyes, ears and hands when we become aware of people who need assistance and give them our love by listening, hugging or assisting them with whatever they need.  The love in our minds and hearts manifests itself in our service to others. We are the spirit of God at work in our families, the community and the world. You and I are the answer to other’s prayers.

Our knowledge of God can be increased on a daily basis in a few simple ways.

• Our knowledge increases by reading and studying God’s words to us in the scriptures
• Our knowledge increases through prayer. In addition to formal prayers, our relationship develops as a result of silently talking to God and inviting God’s presence to be with us in every interaction throughout the day – in traffic, during meetings, in discussions with family – everywhere.
• Our knowledge increases through meditation.  There are many forms of meditation.  In its most basic form, meditation is a silencing of our minds to the point where we’ve silenced our own thoughts – our egos.  Through the process of eliminating all of our thoughts, we make room in our life to hear God’s thoughts.  When we stop talking and thinking, we’re able to actually listen.

If you’re trying to figure out where to start if you are trying to work on all three connected aspects of your being – your mind, your body and your spirit – I would suggest that you begin with your spirit.  Just the desire of inviting God into your life will begin the transformation of your mind and body. The practices of reading scripture, praying and meditating will manifest themselves in reduction of stress, increase of love and thoughts of well-being for your mind and body.

Over time, the fear, worry and stress that we experience will be completely replaced with faith in God whom we’ve intentionally come to know.

The pie chart is made whole and complete with the pie’s most significant secret ingredient -God. And that’s enough!

Have you lost your wisdom teaching?

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Many people have completely thrown away the teachings of the most important knowledge in the world because of alienation with the institutions associated with the teachings.

At this time of year, many parents of high school juniors and seniors and their children are traveling around the world looking at colleges and universities to receive higher education. If scholarships are not involved, many families consider spending 20, 30, 40 or $50,000+ per year for this education.

What type of education and degrees are we willing to spend this kind of money on?  Law, Engineering, Pre-med, Business, Liberal Arts, Art, Music, Psychology, etc.

Will you please answer these questions?

If you wanted to eliminate war from the face of the earth and instruct people how to peacefully co-exist, what type of education would you give to people?

If you wanted to eliminate hunger and homelessness forever, what would be the types of courses you’d make mandatory?

If you wanted to educate individuals on their power to cause the changes that they desire for themselves, their families and the world, what would you teach?

If you wanted drug and alcohol abuse to become a thing of the past, what would we teach people?

If you wanted each person in the world to have equally high self-esteem, what would we teach?

If you wanted to reduce or eliminate our dependance upon counselors, psychiatrists and psychologists, what would we have people learn?

What did you come up with?

I came-up with a self-study program that would either be free or cost less than $100. The education that I’m talking about which would solve each of these problems is available in a book or two for free at any library or for less than $100 at a bookstore.

Most of us had parents who raised us by bringing us to a religious service on a weekly or very frequent basis.  Are you aware that today 17% of people go to religious services on a regular basis (more than 3 times per year)?

One of the reasons that our parents or grandparents attended services on a regular basis is that this service was the primary form of education within many faiths.

Did the education and knowledge that people found to be the foundation of their values for the last 2000+ years suddenly become irrelevant with my generation and by default for our children?

Do we really think that sports practice, dance lessons and Xbox 360 and Nintendo are really better uses of our time than developing our spiritual health?

I understand that many people have become alienated with the institutions themselves and/or with the fighting going on in the world which frequently seems to have religious ties.

If you’re unhappy with your particular house of worship, I’ll encourage you to do one of the following:

• Ask yourself if you’re letting the messenger get in the way of the message. The message is always good.
• If you can’t get past the messenger, search for a new house of worship whose messenger is more consistent with your personality.
• If that doesn’t work, create a home-study program for yourself and your family that allows you to spend time weekly (or daily) studying your faith and/or multiple faiths. In addition, meditation and prayer are habits that can be conducted anywhere at any time.

I don’t know of any God or any faith that promotes war.  Do you?  Any person that is using God as an excuse for war has corrupted the message that Allah, Jesus, Buddha and all of the spiritual teachings that I’m aware of.

The education that I believe each of us should receive, which would serve as the foundation for the education that we’ll need for our vocation, is an education on how to live with God-like qualities.

• Unconditional Love
• Integrity
• Service to others
• Kindness

Yesterday’s topic on BlogTalkRadio was God.  Greg Stewart and I talked about some definitions of, perceptions of and reasons for believing in God.

A lot of people fight against the idea of God being real because they’ve never shaken God’s hand or been able to pull up any of God’s clips on YouTube.

I admit that going from a position of “I don’t believe in God” to “God is the center of my life and basis for each of my thoughts and actions” is a drastic jump. What I’ve recommended to many people who are interested in understanding and developing a relationship with God or living with God-like qualities on a daily basis is the following two-step process.

Here’s the first step.  Read the teachings of  people like Jesus and Buddha like you were reading any other book that you had to read while in high school or college. While reading the teachings, ask yourself the following types of questions:

• Do I agree with this principle?
• Do I incorporate this teaching into how I run my life today?
  • If I agree with it and am not living it, why not?
• Would I be a better person if I practiced what this teacher taught?
• What type of person would I be if I began thinking, believing and behaving in this manner?
  • Do I like what I’m capable of becoming?
• What would my community (or the world) be like if others lived their lives in this fashion?
• Could we eliminate each of the problems listed above if others were educated and lived with this knowledge?

This first step allows us to come to know how the world’s greatest teachers of truth have advised us to proceed towards enlightenment.

The second step is for you to decide how you want to proceed based upon 3 possible outcomes.

The first possible outcome (I don’t believe in these teachings)

After reading these teachings, you might decide that you absolutely disagree with these concepts.  I doubt it but, it’s a possibility. If you do, you’ve made an educated decision.

The second possible outcome (I believe in these teachings and commit to living them but, I still don’t believe in God)

A second possible outcome would be that you’ve decided that this teacher or these teachers were very wise and that you and I would have happier lives and live in a peaceful world if each of us truly implemented the teachings.

I’ve thought about what the world would be like if each of us were educated in these principles and implemented them – even if we still didn’t believe in God.

We’d have a world without weapons -assault weapons, tanks, fighter jets – because there would be no need for them.

We’d have a world where people were better at listening to and understanding each other than ordering around and giving ultimatums.  If we had disagreements – and we would – we would engage in conversation with the expectation of coming to peaceful outcomes.

We would have a world that treats every person on the planet with dignity and respect.

We would allocate our tax dollars toward education and solving the hunger and homeless issues instead of funding war with and security from our family members.

The third possible outcome (I believe in God)

A third possible outcome would be that you would come to believe that these teachings could have only come from someone with much higher thoughts about love, peace and compassion than any human you’ve ever met. That these thoughts were designed to have us works toward perfect love.

You might come to believe that there is tremendous causative, creative power that exists within you that manifests itself when aligned with the teachings that you’ve learned and implemented. You might come to believe that you have the ability to co-create solutions to every problem that exists when you combine your consciousness with that of God.

You might come to believe that the life that exists within you was created by and comes from the spirit of God that is dwelling within you and I and within every person in the world.

You might come to develop faith in a spiritual power that created the world and everything in it that you’ve never physically seen or touched.

We can’t ask others to do what we’re not willing to do ourselves.

Are you willing to make an educated decision for yourself?

Are you willing to discover  whether or not you believe in and are willing to implement what the teachers of truth have taught us?

A WORD of CAUTION: These principles when acted upon will cause you to change and could possibly result in Sainthood and Enlightenment.