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.

Do you believe in miracles?

They were only capable of being performed by Jesus correct?

The stories that we read and heard about these miracles were pretty cool.  Jesus did amazing things like give sight to the blind, raise people from the dead, cure the sick and multiply a few loaves and fishes to feed hundreds.

Okay, it was fun thinking about what some guy did 2000 years ago but, it’s time to get back to the reality of our every day lives – unfulfilled or no job, family issues, debt, health issues, wars.  You may be thinking something like, “I’m not capable of performing miracles and I’m not even sure that this guy Jesus ever existed”.

What would you say if I told you that most if not all of the problems that you’re facing in your life and that we’re facing in the world would be solved if we were to increase our wisdom (that’s a nice way of saying eliminate our ignorance!)?

How would you react if I said that the answers to our problems already exist but, many of us are blind, deaf or dead to the information?  Sometimes called sense-less.

Would it be easier if I took words like God and faith out of the equation and used another non-spiritual example?

I’ve have access to the information that will cure 99% of the obesity cases that exist in the world today. Through a friend, I have a piece of software (think spreadsheet) that gives every imaginable mix of an individual’s height, weight, body mass index and body fat percentage. The spreadsheet lists a variable such as whether the individual chooses to exercise on a daily basis (burn a minimum of 300 calories per day with exercise) or not.  All the user has to do is enter the information and a very simple two number answer would pop-up. One number would equate to the amount of calories that the individual could consume on a daily basis in order to get their weight to a healthy range when they choose to exercise.  The second lower number would be the number of calories consumable on days that the individual decides not to exercise. The document also contains the calories and serving sizes for every fresh and packaged food available on the market today.

The information already exists. Anyone choosing to get that information can have access to it and solve the problem.  Are people unaware that the information exists or would they prefer to live an unhealthy lifestyle?  There are people who fall into each category.

What would happen if everyone who was struggling with his or her weight followed that simple plan? Obesity would be eliminated.  Are you with me?

Why hasn’t it happened yet?  In some cases it’s lack of wisdom (ignorance). I have immense compassion for people who have not received access to knowledge and information. I was one of the people who had a problem with his weight since childhood who did not get access to the recipe until much later in life. Once I gained access to the wisdom, my weight problem miraculously disappeared.

In other instances, very good people choose to ignore the information and decide not to follow the simple recipe for success.  There are always good reasons (in their minds) why they can’t.

My great friend Greg has a fantastic personal training business that is built upon a recipe for guaranteed success.  Each of his clients receives a team of personal trainers who act as accountability buddies. Each client receives an exact number of calories that they can consume on days that they exercise and another lower number of calories to be consumed on the days that they don’t exercise (what a great incentive to exercise regularly).  Each client receives a handy journal to track the number of calories consumed at each meal throughout the day, a recipe book full of healthy meals and a menu of foods that is customized for them with portions and calories.

If you can read, follow instructions and show up, you will get results.

Have faith in the trainer, follow the process and expect great results.

During the 1:1 sessions, the trainers provide feedback to the clients, give the clients world-class knowledge on exercise safety and proper form with the equipment, offer daily encouragement and make slight modifications to the recipe that will allow the client to reach his goal. Greg has an unbelievably high success rate because there is a recipe for success and because his clients have faith in Greg and his team of physical health experts. The client must have the discipline to track food consumed and stay within the prescribed calorie range.

The process is  foolproof.  It’s 100%  customizable based upon any and every variable that a client might bring .  It doesn’t matter what business were in, every client thinks that he or she is unique.  Any guesses what might cause the process to fail? Yes.  Failure to follow the recipe. Once the wisdom is provided to the individual and the person chooses not to implement, it has become a rejection of the knowledge.

What are the key ingredients to Greg’s recipe for success?

• Faith in the provider of the wisdom and the recipe: lower your ego enough to listen to the expert; if your way was working, you wouldn’t need the trainer
• Accountability to yourself and to someone else: when changing, many of us need to be accountable to another person; the ultimate goal is accountability to self
• Access to world-class knowledge
• Daily encouragement
• Discipline to follow the process: show up for scheduled sessions with trainers; exercise in-between sessions without your trainer; track food consumed (calories) at every meal

Okay, now let’s go back to the original premise that we could eliminate all of our problems as individuals and all the problems facing the world if we were to increase our wisdom.

Let’s apply Greg’s process to the elimination of fear, worry, doubt, anger, anxiety, stress, hatred, war, homelessness and every other feeling and problem you can imagine.

Faith in the provider of the wisdom – God

• God says, “Have faith in me, talk to me”
• “If I take care of the birds and animals, surely I’ll take care of you.”
• “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as your self.”

Accountability to yourself and to someone else

• We’re accountable to ourselves, to God and to our neighbors
• We have a daily check-in conversation where we assess our progress toward our goals
• Our ultimate accountability partner is open 24 hours per day – including Thanksgiving, Christmas.

Access to world-class knowledge

Scripture – It’s in writing in black and white

Daily encouragement

• Scripture reading – Learning
• Meditation – Listening
• Prayer Talking: ask, and it will be given; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you

Discipline to follow the process

• Invite God’s mind into every part of your life
• Prayer on a daily basis
• Talk and listen to God
• Love and serve others

Just like Greg’s process is fool proof for losing weight, God’s process is 100% guaranteed to provide feelings of joy, tranquility, love, peace and serenity for you and for each person in the world.

Inviting God to be a part of every second of our lives because we welcome and want His help is very similar to admitting that we need the help from other experts – personal trainer, psychologist, marriage counselor, accountant, etc.

When Jesus came to show us a better way to live, he provided words that allowed the deaf to hear, the blind to see and the lame to get up and walk.  Those exact words will do the same thing for us today if we’ll follow the process.

The radiance of his personal presence, his loving, positive vibration and profound words of love and peace allowed the blind to open their eyes and the deaf to hear and become aware. For many, it was the first time that they could truly see and hear – even if they were not deaf.

Because of the faith shown in Jesus by the relatives of the dead, the blind and the deaf each of the individuals was healed. What was their real sickness? Confusion, apathy and ignorance.  We all know the truth when we hear it.

The truth spoken by Jesus literally caused people to believe that he was powerful enough to make them see, hear and live.  It was their faith that healed them.

It’s our faith that will heal us.  It is the same faith that will eliminate our confusion, apathy and ignorance.

What type of healing do you need?  What type of healing does our world need?

Faith in God and belief that through Him, all things are possible is the miracle.  When we align God’s mind with our mind we engage in the process of co-creation.  When our thoughts and actions are in alignment with God’s will, miracles do happen.

Miracles are everyday happenings for people who believe in God and the power that is present in themselves and others who choose to align their minds with the mind of God.

When we begin living our life based upon love of God, love of self and love of our neighbors, we bring God to the God-less and make his presence known wherever we’re present.

When we share this wisdom with people who are ignorant through no fault of their own, the outcome will be our actions mirroring the mind of God so our outsides will match our insides and that will result in the earth looking like heaven.

Jesus came to make our insides – our minds and souls – be as clean and pure as our bodies are on the outside after a hot, soapy shower.  When our insides are as clean our skin, then earth will become heaven.

Is this possible?  Yes it is.  All change manifests itself one mind at a time. You create miracles when you welcome God to take permanent residence inside of you.

The knowledge exists.  Will you use it?  Ask and it will be given.

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My faith is based upon my unshakable belief that the Son of God came to earth 2000 years ago to show us the way to life, happiness and enlightenment. He came to bring us the knowledge of his Father in heaven and how to live whole lives that are full of love and peace. He lived along side of us to show us that we’re more than capable of living the way that he did.

He’s given us the secret sauce. All we have to do is follow the recipe.  Are you good at following a recipe or do you prefer to wing-it? I find that when I wing-it, my results are not consistently good.

He came to tell us that we were off-track. He didn’t come to reinforce the ways we were thinking and behaving, but brought us new and simple ways of thinking and living. He came to show us the path to becoming beacons of light whose love radiates throughout the world.

I was raised in a Catholic family and encouraged to live the Catholic life of attending church, praying, receiving the sacraments and serving others.  I lived at home during college and maintained these habits until graduation.

Carolyn and I got married when I was 23 and she was 20. We lived in a two bedroom condo that was on the campus where she was attending college. I don’t think that I ever entertained the thought of stopping the practices that had served me well for the first 23 years of life.

In every aspect of my life, when I learn a best-practice, I commit to adopting it and living it until I learn that there is a newer, better way of doing something.

I think that one of the problems with faith and God is that there is nothing new. It seems like God’s been around forever. Maybe if Jesus came back to earth again today, he’d be saying the exact same things but, with earbuds, jeans and sneakers instead of a robe and sandals. The message that Jesus brought thousands of years ago is 100% relevant in 2009. We either have to commit the time to learning what he said on our own or pray that a new, hip messenger will allow us to pay attention to his message and begin applying it to our lives.

Because Carolyn was a Protestant and I was a Catholic when we married, we made a decision that it would be easier to raise our future children with one faith and house of worship rather than two. Her preparation to be received into the Catholic Church caused me to deepen my faith at the same time.

As I look back, a seed was planted in me by my parents and like a seed from a mighty oak – it’s grown a little each year.  I can almost look back at the rings of annual growth in my faith like each of the visible rings in the trunk of a tree. With each passing year, the roots of my faith get deeper and the branches extend more toward the light.

Here is a high-level overview of some of the major milestones that added a new layer of growth to a faith that keeps getting stronger with each passing day:

• Faith from my parents – worship at church, prayer with meals, sacraments
• 8 years of Catholic grammar school education
• Participation in religious education classes while in high school
• Teaching religious education and confirmation preparation while a newlywed in my early twenties
• Carolyn and I were facilitators in marriage preparation programs for engaged couples for the first several years of our marriage
• Becoming a Eucharistic Minister (distribute Holy Communion at Mass and to the homebound)
• Participation in the sacraments for our two children – Baptism, Holy Communion, Reconciliation and Confirmation
• Becoming a Lector (reader of scripture at Mass)
• Studying the Bible and other faiths

While growing up in our family of six (two brothers and a sister),  participation in the practices of our faith wasn’t a choice.  It was something that was made mandatory by my parents as something that was essential to living life.  It was a requirement for my brothers, sister and I just like we were required to attend school.

This is what faith means to me at this stage of my progress:

• I believe that God created the world and is still present in all of life today.
• The spirit of God dwells within each of us. We get to decide whether or not that spirit has a leading role in our life or is an understudy who never gets on the stage,
• I believe that he sent his Son Jesus to give us the recipe for how to live life.
• I believe that we need a relationship with God just like children need their parent or guardian growing up.
• When I was growing up, my parents served as mentors – people I aspired to be like.
• As I got older, I developed mentors within the workplace and people who were best-in-class within their fields.
• Today, I use Jesus as the mentor to emulate. I base my thoughts and actions upon his words, actions and miracles.
• I believe that after Jesus spent his time on earth, he and his Father sent us the Holy Spirit to live and dwell inside each of us to assist us on a daily basis and to reinforce our faith. I know that I’m never alone. I know that the Spirit of God has made a permanent residence inside the temple of Bob.
• If I were to sum up the message that Jesus brought us in one word it would be Love. We’re called to love ourselves, love our neighbors and love our Father in heaven.
• Reading and meditating upon the New Testament allows us to fill our minds with God’s words, which reinforce His love for us and promise to always believe and trust in Him.
• The words of God give us clear advice on how to interact and establish rapport with our 6.7 billion neighbors:
• Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you
• To him who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also
• Give to everyone who begs from you
• Do so unto others as you wish they would do to you
• Do good and lend and expect nothing in return
• Show mercy to others
• Judge not, and you will not be judged
• Condemn not, and you will not be condemned
• Forgive and you will be forgiven
• Give and it will be given to you

People who take care of their bodies knows that it requires daily discipline. For many of us it includes exercise, attention to the quantity and quality of food consumed and proper amounts of sleep.  We spend a lot of time maintaining a piece of our being that will only be with us while we’re on earth.  Our bodies are the temporary dwelling places for our spirit.

When we come to the awareness that our spirit will be with us forever – long after our physical body has decided that its has given us all that it’s capable of giving – we’ll start devoting a significant amount of time to the development of our spirit and to increasing our knowledge of and relationship with God.

Enlightenment – living with the light of God within us – is supposed to happen while we’re on earth. The earlier in our life that we choose to live with and within this light, the happier our lives will be.

As this faith in God and relationship with God is developed and nourished, we come to understand that when working in alignment with God – the source of all creation – there is nothing that you and I cannot accomplish. When working alone, life can be lonely, tiring and difficult. When working in concert with God and with the divinity within us and others, we know that we’re capable of miracles. We’re never alone anymore. Even when there is no other human present, we’re confident that God is present and happily living within us at all times.

I had faith in my parents when growing up. One of my parents has since died and the other is in assisted living.  My parents did their job by giving me all of the tools required for a healthy and happy life. Thanks Mom and Dad.

I’ve had a few credible mentors along the pathway of life. Somehow, mentors give us the knowledge and tools required to progress to the next stage of our journey. Thank you to each of my mentors.

I am working on a daily basis to manifest the lessons of the ultimate mentor. Thank you for the gifts of the example of your life, words to fill my mind and spirit that nourishes my soul. You are the mentor who inspires me on a daily basis.

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This weekend, I attended a wake and funeral for a long-time friend’s Dad. Funerals and wakes are great places of unity because people of all backgrounds, faiths and incomes come together in one place to pray for and respect the deceased and to support those who are living.

Because the services were on Cape Cod in Massachusetts (about 2 hours from my home), I had the chance to spend Friday afternoon and evening after the wake and Saturday morning prior to the funeral with my in-laws.  During several hours of conversation over dinner, they asked me about one of my recent posts about Unity Consciousness. When I started engaging them on this topic, it brought back memories from 26 years ago for the three of us.

That was when I asked their daughter to marry me.  They were petrified because their 20-year-old Congregationalist (Protestant denomination) daughter was engaged to a 23-year-old Catholic. Beyond the usual parental sentiment that no one would ever be good enough for their daughter, my in-laws had several fears based on this inter-faith match:

• Catholicism teaches that our faith is the right faith and everyone else’s is wrong. | Fear #1: we would be married in a Catholic church and they would feel uncomfortable to the point of not attending their own daughter’s wedding.
• Catholics have traditionally not treated Protestants well. | Fear #2: my future bride would not be seen by me and my family as an equal in our marriage because she didn’t share our faith.
• Catholicism teaches against birth control. | Fear #3: Carolyn would become pregnant and be unable to earn her college degree and unable to support the baby should we get divorced.

I give you that background because fear is a very strong emotion that gets in the way of our ability to love and our ability to learn. Fear frequently puts up an artificial barrier which prevents us from hearing, seeing and learning the truth.  Fear inhibits our senses and ability to receive new, helpful and valuable information (fear causes us to act sense-less).

A natural instinct for many of us is to focus on the differences which exist between people rather than focus on and appreciate all that we have in common. After 25 years of marriage, my in-laws and I laugh at the fear that wasn’t funny for any of us at the time. Not only do we attend each other’s church services when visiting each other, my fantastic father-in-law sings with our choir on Christmas eve each year.  Each of the fears has been transformed into tremendous love and understanding.

My basic definition of Unity Consciousness is an awareness that each person in the world is our brother and sister and is connected to us and to God by the spirit of God that resides in each of us.

Each of us was born innocent and good.  For a variety of external reasons, some of us have turned away from good and hold bitterness, hatred and fear in our minds and souls. Ignorance, hatred and fear are signs of an absence of God.

An awareness of Unity Consciousness, allows us to look at each person with God-sense.  God-sense is perceiving humans with God’s senses of love, understanding and compassion.

It’s through a conversion of mind and soul that disenfranchised people will come together and live in happiness and peace with all humans.

As I began thinking about states of mind and faith that each of the 6.7 billion people in the world might fall into, I came up with the following categories:

People of differing faiths who believe in God, whatever his name may be

People of differing faiths who don’t believe in a God, but practice actions that are similar: love, compassion, wisdom

People who were raised within a faith community who do not make their faith – God or Spirituality – a part of their daily lives

People who have been raised without any practical knowledge of God, spirituality or religion

In my opinion, there is a huge overlap between the first two categories. What I mean by that is people of faith – whether they worship a God or not – display many of the same characteristics.  The faith that they follow allows them to pursue a life that is led with love, compassion, wisdom and a pursuit of peace (internal first, external after that).

Are there gaps that exist between different faiths? Yes.

Are the gaps easily filled in as a result of conversation and understanding? Yes.

Can each of us learn from faiths that are different than ours? Yes - once we are open to expansion of thought.

In every relationship that we have, we have to choose whether we want to focus on all that we have in common and on all of the good that exists within the other person or whether we’d like to focus on the thing(s) that we don’t have in common or that we don’t like about this individual.

If we chose to distance ourselves from people who are different than we are or from people who display traits that we don’t find attractive, we’d all be hermits. When we choose to focus on all things that unite us, we’re able to surround ourselves with friends from every nation, faith and socio-economic class. We become full of love and compassion and absent of fear.

The third and fourth categories have much in common too. These two categories also have people with gaps in their potential. In these cases, the gaps exist because of religion gone bad or because of a gap in knowledge – education.

I define religion gone bad as when an individual becomes turned-off to faith because of an interaction or incident with a relative (parent, grandparent, sibling), or clergy that has caused them to divorce themselves from that faith, and frequently from all organized religion.

I love this passage from James (1:27): Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. Religion in and of itself is good. It can be abused and misused by people.  The tongue is a very useful and helpful body part.  It too can be misused and become an instrument that harms rather than heals.  I choose to keep religion and my tongue but, endeavor to use both as tools of love and peace.

I would say that the gaps in knowledge that exist in each of us can be easily filled-in with education. When one becomes exposed to the words of Jesus by reading the new testament or to Buddhism by reading the writings of the Dalai Lama, how could anyone not embrace these ways of thinking, acting and living?

Until each of us reaches perfection and comes into perfect truth, fullness and knowledge of God, gaps exist in each of us. Those gaps are filled through a daily practice that is designed to close the gaps (distance) that exist between us and God.

Buddhists have created the antidotes to the afflictive emotions of lust, hatred and ignorance.  The antidotes are love, compassion and wisdom.

Enlightenment comes as a result of a daily pursuit of faith, hope, love and knowledge.  It comes to us via prayer, meditation, reading, service to others and worship. It’s an environment where everyone is welcomed and appreciated. The more that we serve God and others and come to understand God and others, the more we come to know and understand ourselves.

At wakes and funerals, everyone is welcomed and appreciated. They are a time to focus on our spiritual life on earth and our spiritual life after the death of our earthly bodies. We go to wakes and funerals out of service to others and end up reflecting on our own lives and our own spirituality.

Unity Consciousness is our united relationship with God and with all humans.

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On Thursday’s blogtalkradio program hosted by Greg Stewart, he and I talked a lot about the relationship between the mind – our words and thoughts (self-talk) – and our spirituality – our relationship with God.

One of the concepts we spoke about was the practice of utilizing the affirmation (statement of fact or belief) process to convert our negative or mediocre thoughts into positive, emotional present-tense sentences. Through this practice, we can not only raise our own self-esteem and performance levels, but we can convert ourselves into individuals who are great at increasing the collective self-esteem of the groups to which we belong – family, church, work, etc.

One of the practices that I’ve been making use of for many years is to convert the positive thoughts, traits, and habits that I read, hear or notice in other people – that I wish to assimilate into my own being – into affirmations.

While reading scripture this morning, several concepts that I was reading seemed to jump-off the pages as perfect examples of how to integrate faith with the mind.

In Philippians, Paul says “Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication (to make a humble request of) with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

I’ve converted those lines from scripture into the following affirmations:

I am in a state of peace at all times because I know that God is with me in each of my thoughts and actions.

I humbly share all of my concerns, fears and anxieties with God and feel confident knowing that my always thankful prayers are heard and will be answered.

There are so many places for you and I to improve ourselves and become the types of people that we’re capable of becoming -it’s incredible!  When we focus our minds and awareness on our desire to improve, the answers seem to spring up from everywhere – literally!

When we tell ourselves that there is “no hope”, that’s exactly what we receive. When we tell ourselves that the answers always exist and that there is always hope, miraculously we bring into our lives all that is good and wonderful.

In the very next paragraph within the same Chapter of Philippians 4, Paul says the following: “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

Paul said it and it makes great sense to me so, I’m going to do it!

How many great traits could we assimilate into ourselves by utilizing the affirmation process from just that one sentence?

I look for the truth in each circumstance. I am patient and kind with myself and others while constantly searching for my own truth.

It’s easy for me to act in a dignified, gracious and honorable manner at all times.

I treat each person that I meet with dignity and respect and feel confident knowing that justice is always served in my presence.

I fill my mind, heart and soul with thoughts of all that is pure and lovely and give thanks to God for the beauty that is found in my wife, my children, my family and throughout all of humanity and nature.

In each act that I perform on a daily basis, I perform it with excellence in mind.

It’s exceptionally easy for me to give sincere praise to the people around me. I am blessed to be surrounded by competent, loving people who are all living life to the best of their capabilities at all times.

Our minds, bodies and souls (spirits) are all part of the package that makes up our being.  The mind, body and spirit are all inextricably connected. We use our minds to come to know our true spiritual self. We use our minds to develop our relationship with God. When our thoughts and actions become one with God’s our bodies take on a new posture of confidence and hope and love.

The great spiritual and inspirational writers have done their work by providing us with their words and the inspired words of God in written and audio format. It’s now our choice as to how much of this wisdom and knowledge we’d like to truly make our own.

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I just read the very brief article in USA Today called “Students sent home for wearing ‘Islam is of the Devil’ shirts.“  In Gainesville, Florida a 10 year old student and 3 high school students were sent home because they were wearing those shirts to school.  The Dove World Outreach Center Church’s Senior Pastor Terry Jones said that “spreading the church’s message is more important than education.”

Those are the kinds of messages that promote hatred and violence instead of love, peace, tolerance and compassion.

One of the reasons that so many people call themselves “spiritual” instead of “religious” is that they’ve become turned-off by the fighting that goes on between people of faith (the religious)!

Eight times in the Bible we are told to love our neighbor — one of the Bible’s most repeated commands.  Are we only supposed to love people who share the same faith?  Are we only supposed to love the people who are easy to love?

I’m pretty sure that calling people whose faith differs from ours “devils” is not God’s intent.

Check-out the next few lines from Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Christianity and Hinduism:

Do not get equal with one who has done you wrong, or keep hard feelings against the children of your people, but have love for your neighbor as for yourself: I am the Lord. (Leviticus, 19:18)

“God does not forbid you to be kind and equitable to those who have neither fought against your faith nor driven you out of your homes. In fact God loves the equitable.” Qur’an Chapter 60, Verse 8

“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries.  Without them, humanity cannot survive.” His Holiness the Dalai Lama

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (NIV, John 13:34-35)

“The universe is the outpouring of the majesty of God, the auspicious one, radiant love. Every face you see belongs to Him. He is present in everyone without exception.” Yajur Veda.

The Buddhists are talking about love and compassion.

The Christians are talking about love.

The Muslims say that “God loves the equitable.”

The Jews are talking about “love for your neighbor as for yourself.”

The Hindus are talking about love for “every face.” God is present in everyone without exception!

Once we take off the blinders of our own faith, we’ll realize that the other faiths share many of our core values – peace, love, compassion, understanding, equality, reconciliation, etc.

Why are you and I so vehemently attached to our faith?  For many of us, it’s because it’s the faith that we were raised with.  We become very protective and defensive. It’s almost as if we’re afraid that we might lose it if we’re exposed to other beliefs.

Is it possible that people of all faiths who believe in God are all praying to the same God?  Give yourself a minute to answer that question.

Is it possible that because of our strong connections to our families and faith communities we’ve insulated ourselves from other faith-filled people?

Have we formed safe tribes or comfort zones that keep us safe from people of other faiths?

Are we afraid of people who are different from us?  Yes.

Be not afraid.

We tend to celebrate and defend the things that are part of our background and heritage. We get defensive and emotional over our ethnicity. Why do we defend our ethnicity? We didn’t have any say in the matter.  I’m half French and half Irish by birth. I didn’t have anything to do with it.

Many people spends hours each day rooting for a sports team.  Why that team? Because it’s where they happened to be born or currently live.  Because so many people are so entrenched in their “comfort zones” they would never imagine living anywhere else or rooting for another team.  When people do “have to” move out of state, most tend to continue rooting for the team that they rooted for when growing up.  If you were born in a different state would you be cheering on another team than the one you’re committed to today?  Probably.

I think that many of us treat our faith the same way.  I happen to be a Catholic Christian because I was born into a Catholic family.  I was so naive and sheltered when growing up that I didn’t even know that there were other religions until I got to high school.  Now that I’ve begun to study other faiths, I’ve learned just how much each of the faiths have in common.  If you were born into a different family or country, might you be part of a different faith family? We all know the answer to that question.

I wonder if the people from The Dove World Outreach Center Church know that Muslims see Jesus Christ as a great prophet and messenger of God. The Qur’an describes the life of Jesus, including his miraculous birth and his service in calling people to monotheism. Christians have a lot in common with Muslims.

As the world gets smaller each day because of improved transportation and technology, it will be helpful for us to learn more about each other’s faiths so that we can have peaceful dialogue on our shared values.  Once we get beneath the labels – Christian, Jew, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist-our beliefs and values are remarkably similar!

I wonder if it would be a good idea to educate our children in other faiths too. Would they be more tolerant?  Yes. Would they be more compassionate?  Yes.

Here’s the “fear” question.  Would it cause them to lose their current faith?  Probably not .  It just might cause them to deepen their current faith. That’s what happened to me.

Welcome to a new tribe.  Welcome to the Global Tribe!

“The practice of peace and reconciliation is one of the most vital and artistic of human actions.”
Thich Nhat Hanh (Buddhism)