The title of this article is a line by Edmund Burke in his intellectual attack against the French Revolution in 1790. It reflects an observational position that was addressed in a previous article I wrote on how the second rat gets the cheese. Sometimes things appear alright, but after careful inspection and just your gut feelings, things begin to become much clearer. What is a fool? A person who lacks common sense and judgment in evaluating events, situations or people. A fool pursues an opportunity based on the demands of his ego and not necessarily on what his feelings are telling him. He chooses to ignore his gut feelings and rushes in to stake his claim disregarding any thoughts about the consequences. Sometimes it works and most times it doesn’t. If you pursue an idea where angels fear to tread the implication is that you are taking a big risk. A wise person is one who has the power of discernment, proper judgment and discretion. He looks before he leaps, reflects on his experience or simply creates a reverie in his mind where he views the possible results of his actions. Then he makes an informed decision.
How many times does something in your life have to happen before you accept it as true? Once, twice, three times? It might be true but is it valid? Validity requires replication of something that is true time and time again. According to logic you can test the validity of something based on a syllogism. A syllogism is an argument in which the conclusion is supported by its premises. A premise is a proposition or statement made in order to draw a conclusion. In its simplest form deductive logic allows two general premises to deduce a specific conclusion. For example, in one of Sherlock Holmes’ cases he knew a lady was recently present in the room because there was a burning cigarette with lipstick on it when he arrived. Knowing that the cigarette burning indicated the recent presence of someone and that the lipstick indicated a woman, he deduced that she wasn’t far away. Following is a deductive logic syllogism:
Premise #1: The sun is shining.
Premise # 2: It is warm.
Conclusion: It is warm because the sun is shining.
First, you observe the sun is shining. When you exit the shade you feel warmer. You re-enter the shade and you feel cooler. The obvious conclusion is that you feel warmer when you step into the sunlight. Therefore it is warm because the sun is shining. Is this true? Yes, based on your observation. Is it valid? Yes; validity requires that it produces a desired result. Each and every time you step out of the shade into the sunlight you get warmer. But this is this only half of your analysis. The second half requires you to test and re-test your conclusions to view their validity. You need to induce or establish results based on the facts. In its simplest form, inductive logic allows multiple specific premises to induce a general conclusion. Following is an inductive logic syllogism:
Premise #1: Giraffe number 1 is silent.
Premise #2: Giraffe number 2 is silent.
Premise #3: Giraffe number 3 is silent.
Conclusion: All giraffes are silent.
Is this statement true? Yes. Is it valid? No! Why? Because you have only tested 3 giraffes! If there are 50,000 giraffes in the world and you only tested (sampled) 3 giraffes, your validity is weak at best. Now if you test 25,000 giraffes and they are all silent, then your conclusion is more valid than when you tested only 3 giraffes. There are many truths in life but are they valid? Only when these truths are subject to repeated tests and experimentation and arrive at similar results, then one can truly claim that these truths are valid. Science uses logic to test the facts. If they can be repeated under the same experimental circumstances and yield similar results each and every time, then they are truly valid.
What does this have to do with religions that control and manipulate their constituents? It is the basis on which we will analyze and reveal their validity based on their supposed truths. Yes, many people have found truths in religions. But are they valid? My duty as a Spirituality Guide is to look at the facts under a microscope with a strong light source, good magnification and clear lenses. I invite all of my readers to submit comments on their experiences with their religions. I would like to thank those who previously submitted a wealth of information both pro and con on the results obtained from various religions. Let the debate begin!
Elizabeth and I would like to invite you all to our site ‘Service In Prayer’. For many months we have been led to offer a way for our online friends to have a forum to share our prayer needs with each other.
The purpose of this website is to connect with one another and share our needs for healing in whatever areas we feel we need. Please visit the website or go to the Facebook forum to post any public prayers on the Wall or PM us for private prayers.
We will pray for you or help you to find Prayer Partners to assist you in healing and realization of your Divine purpose and the unfolding of it in Divine order.
Thank you all for your support, kindness and for blessing us with your ongoing friendship. Peace and blessings to all of you and your families! ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
OUR PAST ISSUES
Did you miss any of the issues of The Spirituality Post Daily? If so, following are the links to each and every day for you to peruse. Please visit our advertisers and help us to keep going in our service to the spiritual community of souls who long for a greater spiritual perspective on life. God bless you and your families! ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
What is the Spirituality Guidance Channel? SGC is a video portal designed to introduce spiritually inclined individuals to be exposed to spiritual videos, radio, teachers, music, art, books, resources and links from a selected group of teachers and requests from viewers. Each featured coach/teacher will have their own page highlighting any videos, audios, websites or printed material they have produced. This portal will be regularly promoted on the Internet through social networking and targeted marketing channels. Please visit the website at the following address:http://www.spiritualityguidance.com and email me at webproducer@hotmail.com with any suggestions, links or materials. Thank you for your most courteous participation in this project. I welcome your input. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
What is the Spirituality Guidance Channel? SGC is a video portal designed to introduce spiritually inclined individuals to be exposed to spiritual videos, radio, teachers, music, art, books, resources and links from a selected group of teachers and requests from viewers. Each featured coach/teacher will have their own page highlighting any videos, audios, websites or printed material they have produced. This portal will be regularly promoted on the Internet through social networking and targeted marketing channels. Please visit the website at the following address:
http://www.spiritualityguidance.com and email me at webproducer@hotmail.com with any suggestions, links or materials. Thank you for your most courteous participation in this project. I welcome your input. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
EBOOKS
SPIRITUAL BOOKS
FORGIVING AND
FORGETTING
We have all heard the expression to forgive and forget. But what does that truly mean? Does it mean that we let go of what someone did and forget that it ever happened? Or does it mean that we absolve them of their behavior towards us and forget that they committed that behavior? It is hard for most people to understand that when someone does something ‘bad’ it doesn’t mean that they are ‘bad’. It simply means that at that moment they were acting ‘badly’.
We are all capable of displaying endearing or aberrant behaviors depending upon the stresses of life and our ability to instantaneously switch from a ‘reactive’ mode to a ‘proactive’ mode. In reaction we recognize and believe in our separation from one another. In proactive mode we recognize and believe in our Oneness with one another. In the reactive mode it is difficult to ‘separate’ the behavior from the person, while in the proactive mode we can separate the behavior from the person because we understand, from our acceptance of Oneness, that the other person is reacting to the stresses of their lives that we haven’t experienced. In other words, we haven’t walked a mile in their shoes and we give them the benefit of the doubt.
Alexander Pope once said, "To err is human, to forgive, divine." What is it to forgive another? It is to absolve another of their behavior toward you by ceasing to resent them for committing that behavior. It means that you give up any feelings of being hurt by them for their behavior in order to sustain your ‘own’ peace. What is it to forget? It is to cease to remember or take note of another’s behavior because you understand that they are NOT that behavior; they simply expressed that behavior before. It doesn’t mean that you forget that behavior; it means that you ‘forget’ that the person committed that behavior intentionally to hurt you (unless of course they did commit that behavior to intentionally hurt you).
To forgive and forget means that you ‘separate’ the behavior from the person in order to understand their plight or reactions. It is putting you in their shoes in order to understand their journey. It means that you free yourself from the reactive feelings of being harmed or slighted. Lewis B. Smedes once said, "To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you." When we don’t ‘forgive’ and ‘forget’ we are holding ourselves back from moving ahead unfettered by feelings of frustration and guilt. We are, in effect, stifling our progress because we cannot let go of the behaviors we don’t like or abhor.
Emotional reaction has a way of getting a grip on our beings that seems like it won’t ever let go. We rehash and repeat these self-defeating feelings and end up in an ‘endless loop’ of recycled reactions. Jump off the hamster wheel of self-sabotage and free yourself of reactive conclusions. Step into the light of proaction by forgiving others (and yourself) for aberrant behaviors and forgetting that the person committed that behavior if, and only if, they recognize their error. If they haven’t recognized that they have committed aberrant behaviors toward you forgive them but don’t forget what they have done; you haven’t any obligation to anyone to be their doormat.
However, if someone persists in aberrant behaviors towards you remove yourself from their sphere of influence. It is not necessary for you to remain around those who consistently exist in a pattern of unchecked and undisciplined behaviors that cause you to remember those behaviors. The very thing that irritates you about those behaviors will keep cropping up until you deal with them by removing yourself from your exposure to them.
You are not obligated to keep re-learning the same lessons over and over again. If you are, you haven’t completely removed yourself from the influence of those behaviors over you. You are in a state of recycling those behaviors because you have focused your attention on those behaviors and your reactions to them; they have become a part of your comfort zone and you derive purpose and meaning from them.
Your Divine purpose and meaning in life is revealed and understood when you forgive others (and yourself) for aberrant past behaviors and reframe them as lessons learned. Just because you or others exhibited aberrance in the past doesn’t mean that you or others will continue to exhibit them in the future. Forgiveness loosens the bonds of guilt over those behaviors and forgetting the commission of those behaviors frees you from ‘separating’ yourself from others. It brings you together with others in the sense that you recognize that we are all connected through the Spirit of God and we have all, at one time or another, fallen short of being the perfect beings we were created to be.
When we decide to forgive and forget we are acknowledging that connection and we are proactively moving forward off of the hamster wheel of reactive recycling of guilt and aberrance. We are becoming free from the self-imposed binding of restrictive and erroneous beliefs that hold us back from manifesting our Divine purpose in Divine order.
It is up to us to ‘be’ whom and what we were created to be. Until we align ourselves with that purpose in Divine order we will continue on the wheel of regret and withholding. It all starts with being able to ‘forgive and forget’ what we don’t want in our lives. Life is a process of holding onto what you want and letting go of what you don’t want. Free yourself from the chains of reaction and proact your way to freedom. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D
Have you given up on yourself and can’t figure out why? Has the juice for life been filtered so much that the pulp of your existence has disappeared? Are your core values intact or are they subjugated to the status of transitory or erroneous beliefs?
Are things not moving quickly enough to your liking or are you feeling that no matter how things are happening that you can’t keep up? When we live in the past we rerun the emotions that led to frustration, lack and limitation or fulfillment and abundance. When we live in the future we anticipate either the let down or the fruition of our aspirations.
When we live in the now we embrace the peace, joy and understanding of the moment. Each moment of your awareness is new and creates an opportunity to get it right. Learn from the past and move toward the future. Live in the present and realize that each new step you take brings you closer to the fulfillment of your Divine purpose in Divine order when you share your talents and abilities in love with others. That is the key.
Giving back from the gifts you have been given makes you grow as a person, expands your sphere of influence and co-creates love into your world. It’s as simple as that and as difficult as you make it. Be here now and walk boldly into your future; it is up to you and you alone. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
GOD GIVES...
God gives us family to know the love he has for us. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
God gives us clarity when we choose to see the truth as it is, and not how we want it to be. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
God gives us life for us to realize that He is our source, provider and Father of all of creation. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
God gives us joy when we accept our Divine purpose and allow Divine order to operate in our lives. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
God gives us peace when we turn inward and experience His silence and stillness. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
God gives us understanding when let go of our beliefs and allow His awareness to be born as intuition in our lives. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
God gives us health when we allow His grace to operate in our lives. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
God gives us wealth when make choices that benefit ourselves and others without hurting anyone in the process. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
God gives us prosperity when we use our talents and abilities to help our neighbor prosper. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
God gives us abundance when we open ourselves to His bounty of love, joy and understanding. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
Currently Bobby Hinkle, Elizabeth
May Sutor and Dean A. Banks, D.D. have uploaded podcasts. Robert Yarbrough will be added soon. Just click on the podcasters placards below and click on the Podcast title. Currently there are five podcasts on Bobby Hinkle's page, one on Elizabeth Sutor's page and nine on Dean A. Banks, D.D.'s page. Stay tuned for more! Thank you for choosing us!
What is the Spirituality Guidance Channel? SGC is a video portal designed to introduce spiritually inclined individuals to be exposed to spiritual videos, radio, teachers, music, art, books, resources and links from a selected group of teachers and requests from viewers. Each featured coach/teacher will have their own page highlighting any videos, audios, websites or printed material they have produced. This portal will be regularly promoted on the Internet through social networking and targeted marketing channels. Please visit the website at the following address:
http://www.spiritualityguidance.com and email me at webproducer@hotmail.com with any suggestions, links or materials. Thank you for your most courteous participation in this project. I welcome your input. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
Welcome to our new Sunday Morning Service by Dr. Dean A. Banks, D.D.
Every week Dr. Dean will be engaging subjects that are pertinent to your growth and expansion into recognition of; respect to; and communication with your inner spirit.
Please feel free to comment or suggest topics for review. May the Divine always bless you and your families! ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
Anytime you share your heart with another you are making your heart vulnerable. It is placing ‘what you feel’ about others out on the table and their reaction to it can go either way. When you feel that they aren’t reciprocating the way you believe they should you are ‘expecting’ them to respond favorably to you. The only expectation you should have about sharing love with another is that it will bless them and you at the same time; not that they need to reciprocate in how you ‘feel’ they should. This is where many misinterpret the term ‘expectations’.
Expectations are the results that we look forward to or regard as likely to happen. They are the anticipation of events, situations, occurrences, circumstances and the behaviors of others to play out in our favor. We look for certain results because we ‘believe’ they are reasonable and just for the behaviors we have expressed. When our experiences don’t result in an alignment with our expectations we can become hurt, depressed or dejected. We are subtly teaching ourselves that when we ‘expect’ we get hurt. This is HOGWASH! When we expect others to ‘reciprocate’ what we ‘think’ they should, this is what is wrong; not expecting in of and as itself.
Giving of yourself while expecting others to give back to you is not truly giving; true giving is giving freely WITHOUT any expectation. However, giving yourself to the manifestation of co-creating the expression of your Divine purpose in Divine order without ‘expecting’ it to happen is NOT trusting in the Divine! It is ‘believing’ and NOT ‘trusting’. Trusting requires the discharge of any and all beliefs that ‘prop you up’ and simply letting go in faith ‘expecting’ the best to happen for all concerned. It is, in essence, freeing yourself from ‘how’ things will be created and allowing you to live in Divine trust.
If others return your kindness with derision, hatred and anger it is not because you co-created those reactions; it is because you ‘believed’ that you were ‘better’ than others for operating in kindness. The ego constantly tries to ‘fool’ us into believing that ‘righteousness’ is the key to being treated fairly. It is NOT! Trusting in the Divine is the key to the unfolding of your Divine purpose in Divine order; NOT the ego’s incessant search for ‘glory’.
When you pray for others to ‘experience’ the peace, joy and understanding that you have experienced with the Divine you have planted a seed within your own heart for forgiveness. Forgiveness in that you KNOW that they are ultimately NOT their behavior and that you are blessed in letting it all go. Seek not the recognition of others for your behaviors; seek to allow the Divine to share love through you to effect positive change for everyone. Just as those who pray in public have their reward from the acknowledgment of people, being alone and allowing the Divine to work through you rewards you with inner peace, joy, understanding and love.
Pray for all of us to be released from the veil of the ego’s demands to be in control, to dominate the behaviors of others and to manipulate its personal agendas on everyone else. This way, your energy is being focused on the source of the problem and NOT the results of the problem. Be ye therefore perfect! ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
EBOOKS
FREEDOM?
Are you truly free to do what you need to do to become who and what you were created to be? Is the creation of your being a series of random occurrences that just happened to come about? Did the cosmic dice just fall where it may? Or did the Divine in its infinite wisdom design natural order through the impetus of Divine order to create you at this place and at this time to express your Divine purpose? And if this is so, then is your sense of freedom just an illusion?
Freedom is the state of being free rather than in confinement or under physical restraint. It is an exemption from external control, interference, regulation and the power to determine action without restraint [dictionary.com]. If the Divine truly created us with freedom and ‘free will’ then why do we feel that we are constantly at war with external forces that keep us from realizing the fulfillment of our innermost dreams?
Free will is defined as free and independent choice and the ability to make voluntary decisions. It is the doctrine that the conduct of human beings expresses personal choice and is not simply determined by physical or divine forces [dictionary.com]. In other words, we have the power and the ability to determine how our lives unfold by what thoughts, beliefs, words, actions and behaviors we express. Living with free will means that we are in command.
As we view and experience the external forces of nature, many of us assume that we have no control whatsoever over these forces. If that was true, then the astronomical possibilities of our existence to begin with would be so random that we would never be able to realize just who and what we are. We are the omniverse realizing itself. We have at our disposal the ability to mold and shape reality through the God given power of co-creation.
We attract all types of things into our experience by the thoughts, beliefs, words, actions and behaviors we express. We have the choice to either accept and allow or reject and resist these experiences as part of our growth and expansion into our Divine purposes. Things do not happen randomly. We choose to be where we are and what we will experience by setting our point of attraction with the allowance or resistance of our experiences. We either develop fear of undesired experiences or we develop faith in developing desired experiences.
Our egos will keep telling us that we need to control, dominate and manipulate the behaviors and desires of others in order for us to experience the manifestation of our desires. Nothing could be farther from the truth! Knowing the truth from the Spirit of God reveals that we only have to ‘allow’ its guidance to take hold in our lives to manifest our Divine desires. The ego always seeks to restrict your true freedom by influencing your environment.
True freedom can only be allowed by you getting out of your own way and creating your point of attraction to match your state of Divine allowance. This harmony creates the manifestation of your Divine purpose in Divine order. Undesired results occur when there is a disharmony between your innermost thoughts and beliefs and your ability to allow the experiences you need to grow and expand. By choosing life-giving thoughts and beliefs and aligning yourself with Divine allowance, growth and expansion occur.
Your free will is implemented by working within the laws of the omniverse and you become an effective co-creator of the experiences you need for your growth and expansion into your Divine purpose. How do you know if this is true? Are you currently living the life that you feel you should be living? Are you living in your divine purpose or are you living in frustration or apathy?
The external results of your living experience will always reflect your inner state of being. If you are in alignment, your growth and expansion is moving in a direction of fulfillment. If you are not in alignment, you will be repeatedly encountering events, occurrences, situations, circumstances and people that will challenge you into dealing with them for you to grow and expand.
How you master your awareness of your free will is the key. Will you use it to co-create blessings for yourself and others? Or will you use it to repeatedly created challenges and problems that you will have to solve or deal with in order to become the ‘real’ you? Your true sense of freedom lays in your ability to make the effective choices about becoming the ‘real’ you every day.
Freedom is what you have and free will is what you use to co-create your reality. Why not co-create the life you desire to live by expecting it to happen through Divine trust instead of a self-centered sense of power or powerlessness? It is up to you to choose your path and follow through by allowing the best to happen in your life. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
F.R.RITTENHOUSE ART
I have the pleasure of having a great artist as a dear friend. In fact, it turns out she and I are the same age and born on the same day. She was born about 12 hours earlier than me and we are so much alike. My Mom always told me to look out for older women!
My friend is an animal protector and caregiver to her cats and her passion for drawing animals and bringing out their soul in her renditions is simply amazing. She asked me to design a website for her and I was only too glad to accommodate her request.
She cares for many of our furry friends and makes sure they are fed and well cared for each and every day. Her heart is enormous as much as her talent for drawing. Following is a short biography on F.R. Rittenhouse taken from her new website:
“F.R. Rittenhouse was exposed to art by her mother at an early age and she continued to draw into young adulthood. Both of her parents died when she was young and the need to support herself became of paramount concern.
While working full time she put herself through college. During the era of Joan Baez and Bob Dylan, she started playing guitar and singing to express her creativity.
But as much as she enjoyed music her heart was still committed to being an artist. In recent years, she has rekindled her passion for drawing.
The art on this website About page to see her distribution page. If you enjoy her unique style, F.R. Rittenhouse is available for commissioned work.
She specializes in drawing pets and other animals. If you have a picture of a pet, someone or something else that you love, F.R. Rittenhouse will create an artistic rendering that will seem to jump off of the page and bring a smile to your face for years to come.
Please visit her website to view her art. We sincerely hope you enjoy her work.
Please email her for more info. E-mail. Click hereto order framed and non-framed art.” ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
FRUITFUL CONTRIBUTION
What we do with what we have determines how our Divine blessings will unfold within our hearts; for in the action of sharing our gifts of Divine grace with others we are fulfilling our Divine purposes in Divine order and contributing to the mutual growth and expansion of all life.
We are the instruments of Divine manifestation and when we hold back on what we know we must do and when we must do it, we are resisting the flow of the manifestation of Divine love in Divine order. Allowing the flow of Divine love to move through us unfettered by limiting and erroneous beliefs is the method by which we express and exude the benefits of health, wealth, prosperity and abundance. The results we experience in our lives are inner peace, Divine understanding, perpetual joy and Divine love; all key elements in our personal experience of divinity.
Without inner peace, we experience ongoing confrontation because we resist what we don't divinely understand. Without Divine understanding, we experience ongoing challenges because we resist what we experience as being not in our favor enough to bring us joy. Without perpetual joy, we experience ongoing frustration because we resist what we don't divinely love. Without embracing Divine love, we experience isolation because we resist being a part of the Divine whole of existence which maintains inner peace amid apparent chaos.
The keys to living a fulfilled life are in maintaining our inner peace, always seeking Divine understanding in all of our experiences, living in perpetual joy by expressing gratitude to all of life and feeling the presence of Divine love deep within our hearts with each and every breath we take and give. As a living and breathing child of the Divine every thought, feeling, action and expression of our being moves the omniverse to co-create our perception of reality.
We must be diligent in what we think, feel, speak and express in the actions and behaviors that we manifest; for they are tools of our experiences and the perceptions of our understanding of our mutual inner divinity. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
GOD IS MY PILOT
What we have resisted in the past is now occurring in the present. What we will resist today will be created tomorrow. What we have allowed in the past has opened up the connection within between our mind, body and spirit. What we allow in the present will move through us and be released into the oblivion of the omniverse.
Whatever it is in mind, body and spirit that we resist we are co-creating right now to be reflected back to us tomorrow. Conversely, whatever we allow to flow through us without any emotional attachment will be discharged into the omniverse without any deleterious effects upon us.
Living in health, wealth, prosperity and abundance every day means that we are allowing our greater good to manifest without any negative emotional attachments as to how they will flow through us. Conversely, whatever we resist by maintaining an emotional attachment to becomes forefront in our co-creative virtual mechanism (omniversal relay).
The more we fight what we perceive is not beneficial to our growth and expansion the more it will appear to block our forward progress. The more we allow the Divine to guide our life’s journey we come to an understanding that we don’t have to know every move and how our Divine purpose in Divine order is unfolded.
Through Divine understanding we develop a sense of inner peace and joy by choosing to traverse the perceived path in Divine love. Allow instead of resist. Accept instead of reject. If you truly are in touch with your inner spirit you will grow and expand into your Divine purpose by simply letting it be without trying to control any aspect of how it unfolds. God is not your co-pilot; God IS your pilot! ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
GOD IS IN THE DETAILS
From one moment to the next you experience the bounty of the omniverse and whittle it down to what is important to you. You focus on what you need to take from your experience in order to survive, thrive and be alive. But what about all of what you dismiss and let go that is fleeting through your attention? Was it pertinent to your current situation? Or was it just a transitory experience that doesn’t apply? The idiom that the devil is in the details comes to mind. It generally means that “even the grandest project depends on the success of the smallest components. In this version of the proverb it often implies that the details might cause failure. A more positive version is “God is in the details,” a saying often attributed to the architect Le Corbusier” [dictionary.com].
Overall, it means that small things in plans and schemes that are often overlooked can cause serious problems later on. In a more vernacular expression, it means that which we did NOT pay attention to as being important information at an appropriate point in time is what will creep up to bite us in the ass later. But what was it about this information that wasn’t significant enough at that point in time that we didn’t give credence to it? We only pay attention to things based on what we ‘value’ as being important. You can take an essay test and know all the answers, write glowing essays and misspell key words that reduce your overall score. Paying attention to form and content together as a cohesive whole demonstrates a fine tuned awareness to the importance of each element in the overall picture. Dismissing ANY part of an effective presentation ‘takes away’ from the overall message. Why?
Because it reveals just what the author values as being important. If one key area is neglected, then what other areas are being neglected? Can you trust what the author says in one thing if they miss or dismiss other things that are important? Take graphic artists and sign painters. Some of the best artwork out there will contain obvious and major spelling errors. What the artist was paying attention to was the artistic expression MORE than being accurate in their spelling. They ‘valued’ this more than being accurate in their ‘overall’ presentation. Was it hard to pay attention to other details that you didn’t value? No, not at all! The artist could have asked someone else, looked it up in the dictionary or used spell check. There WERE options available to proof their work and they simply did not choose to use them. This reveals what they ‘value’ and because of them ignoring important details it ultimately takes away from their message.
When we all come to the realization that ‘God’ is in the details, we begin to understand that being precise is an extension of our divine perfection. We are perfect spiritual beings expressing ourselves through perceived ‘imperfect’ physical bodies. It is in this illusion that we are our physical bodies that we grow to accept our imperfections as being ‘how it is’. Nothing could be further from the truth. When we focus our attention on being precise means to ‘cut off’ the options that are not pertinent and focus on the ones that are. Precision means that we pay attention to the details that are being revealed to us at any given moment. Each breath imbues thoughts and feelings that we experience and focus on as being important, or dismiss as being unimportant based on exactly what we value. If our attention on what is important is constantly being distracted by thoughts and feelings that have nothing to do with our ability to pay attention to our current observations, then we WILL miss important details.
Doubting what we observe, worrying about what ‘could’ happen and fearing what ‘seems’ like it will happen, creates ‘distractions’ from our focus that lets important details ‘slip by’. Being here in the now and trusting in the Divine implicitly affords all of us the opportunity to pay attention to the important details that surround and influence our survival, our ability to thrive along with others and our ability to stay alive. Let go of the things and people that distract you from your Divine purpose and focus on what the Divine is guiding you to do. This will guarantee that you will not miss what is important, for if it was, it would have revealed itself to be in Divine order. Trust, don’t just believe. Focus on what is divinely important in the overall scheme and you will flow along with Divine order. Be ye therefore perfect! ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
Why are some so preoccupied with getting even when they get hurt? What joy is there in doing to someone else what they did to you? If you did what they did first, then the other person would feel that they have to get even with you.
The ego acknowledges its perceived ‘station’ in life by resisting and fighting back when it perceives it is being hurt. It rationalizes the only way to ‘make the other person pay’ is to respond with the very same behavior that caused the hurt in the first place. Is this logical? Is it appropriate behavior?
It is for some because their view of themselves is less than the truth that they are divine beings. They feel they have to ‘acquire’ things, adorn themselves in a certain way and control others in order to feel ‘happy’. They will also protect themselves, their families AND their property with their very lives sometimes in order to feel justified in how they feel. This does NOT take anyone else into consideration but it reinforces their self-image enough to claim that they fought for their security.
Security in what? Being a warrior? What about having security in being a peacemaker, a teacher and a lover of humanity? The one thing that has driven civilized people for many years is that they want to see their children and grandchildren do ‘better’ than they have! Not in getting even with some perceived hurt or injustice and resorting to resisting and fighting.
Be like the behavior of water. It allows the vehicle of emotions to create waves in it and it moves in synchronicity with what is projected; it also responds with what is reflected back to where the waves originated. Project Divine love in all you do and respond to the reflections of life with Divine love as well. Give to that which you perceive hurts you and its energy will be dissipated into oblivion.
It’s when you resist what you perceive as being hurtful is when you create more hurt in your life. Allow it to pass through you and let it go the way of all things. You are worth it. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
EBOOKS
CONSULTATION
GETTING ON THE
SAME PAGE
Before a good musician begins to interact with other musicians they seek to ‘get on the same page’ with others by tuning up their instruments so that there can be congruency and perfect harmony. By making the time to ‘set the tone’ for their performances, they ensure that if their performance is flawless, that all the listeners, including them, will be blessed with sounds that are ‘in tune’ and harmonious. The unfolding of your Divine purpose in Divine order is the ‘one song’, or ‘uni-verse’ that you create each and every day of your life. By starting your day with the following steps, you will daily remind yourself of the greater good in the scheme of all things and minimize any selfish desires that don’t integrate into the ‘whole’ of life. These steps show us how to set the tone for our day and purge ourselves of selfish tendencies:
Alignment - Each and every day I align myself with my Divine purpose in Divine order and carry out Divine will into my world by loving and respecting myself and others no matter what circumstances arise.
Interaction - When interacting with others I speak the truth and relay the facts no matter how I feel at the moment in order to edify all of humankind.
Guidance - I act on the guidance of the Most High by doing what I know is right and decent, assisting others in finding their light and being kind and loving to all.
Sharing - I daily share Divine love for myself and others by making my well-being a priority and sharing my talents and abilities to those in need.
Maintaining - I take full responsibility for my actions and maintain truth and honesty in all of my endeavors, communications and expressions.
Alignment allows us to clearly see where we are in relation to where we want to be. If our goal is obscured by our beliefs, disillusionment or lack of conviction, we need to align ourselves with whom and what we truly are. Being clear on our Divine purpose allows us to see opportunities to appropriately act in Divine order.
Interaction is something that most of us experience every day. Whether we experience real or virtual people, we are interacting with their words, actions and behaviors. They have an effect upon whom and what we are and it is our choice to allow that effect to alter us or not. Our feelings react to these interactions but our subsequent thoughts as a result of our interactions need to be proactive and based on the truth of what is revealed in order to positively contribute to the mutual growth and expansion of all.
Guidance is either what our lower ego self tells us we ‘must’ do or what our higher ‘spiritual’ self reveals. Our ego ‘guides’ us based on the securing of our self-survival at all costs and our inner Spirit of God guides us into securing what is the best for all concerned. Spiritual guidance promotes sharing love and providing assistance to all of those in need whereas egotistical guidance ALWAYS promotes ‘what’s in it for me’.
Sharing is the process of action that allows us to contribute to the well-being of others, and ultimately ourselves. It is taking what we have been blessed with (our talents and abilities) and using it to better the circumstances for all of us. It is stepping out into the world and giving of ourselves to grow and expand the conditions and happiness for all of us.
Maintaining is recognizing what works and what doesn’t, discharging what doesn’t work and utilizing what does work. It is being responsible for your actions and making the steps necessary to continue the flow of good to all. It requires being able to clearly see the truth, being honest about the results of everyone’s actions and communicating this unfettered by the ego’s desire to embellish what has happened and put itself in a favorable light. It is a consistency between understanding your Divine purpose and how you express that purpose in Divine order and in accordance with Divine will.
By aligning yourself with your Divine purpose in Divine order you become more in tune with your interactions in your environment, By listening to the inner guidance of the Divine you will encounter more and more opportunities to share your blessings with others and it will ultimately allow you to understand how to maintain an ongoing state of inner happiness each and every day of your life. Be true to whom and what you are and all that you Divinely desire will be added unto, pressed down and running over in universal abundance. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
GHOST IN THE MACHINE
Every time I dig deeper and deeper into Quantum Mechanics I further understand that how you experience things in your life affects your outlook on it. Depending on where you observe will affect your sensory input and what you mentally conclude. To experience the totality of the omniverse is to realize that without the presence of the Divine it is nothing more than a huge mechanism with no ‘soul’. It follows certain laws that slightly bend to the presence of consciousness, just as space-time bends from objects expressing gravity.
The suppositions we surmise from what we perceive are our personal experiences filtered through our belief systems. We bend and shape our experience with what we believe is true and what is false. Stephen Hawking is right when he says that the rules of the universe demonstrate that there is no need for God; however, that is his perception derived from his experience. We all need to feel more of our environment and experience the grand design to completely know that this omniverse could not have happened by chaos and chance alone.
Our experience of Divine expression locked in a perceptive war with entropy is the result of our perception of the ‘Perceived Dualistic Reality’ as being all there is. This omniverse is mostly occupied by energy and matter beyond our realm of sensing. It exists and cannot be sensed and is referred to as being ’dark’, or imperceptible. There are many things beyond our ability to sense and many constructs to describe their presence and perceived interactivity with whom and what we are.
I know that the Divine exists because I feel the Divine presence every time I enter deep meditation. I accept my being as it is and I experience life from that perspective. Being open to anything is not being constricted to something. Experience your life and listen to the ‘theories’ of others but experience divinity within every day. Understand that the omniversal mechanism is the natural order that is moved by Divine order that emanates from our consciousness.
We affect this omniverse as it affects us. Think the thoughts that generate life and the perpetuation of consciousness in the limitless space-time continuum in which we exist. Contribute to the growth and expansion of the omniverse by sharing Divine love with everyone you encounter. After all, you live in the world of your making. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
OBSERVER OR
CO-CREATOR?
When an observer looks at an event in the omniverse it causes a collapse of the quantum wave functions (natural order) and influences the information that is yielded from the event. What does this mean? Consciousness affects the outcome of events because in the act of ‘observing’, energy is transmuted at a quantum level to ‘alter’ the outcome.
Now, let’s look at the Law of Attraction. When we express emotional energy that negates or accentuates what we seek to happen, it affects the outcome. We only have the power to alter outcomes when we are aware that we do.
It’s not that our brains broadcast massive amounts of energy; it’s that we use our small amounts of energy (our consciousness output) to mold and reshape larger forces of energy (natural order) much like the function of an electronic relay. A safer and smaller voltage triggers a mechanical connection that passes a more dangerous and higher voltage that actually ‘does the work’.
In reality, however, it is not necessarily the Law of Attraction at work; it is more like the Law of Allowance. When we minimize the emotional energy output of our individual consciousness through meditation we begin to allow the presence and expression of Divine order to mold and reshape natural order to manifest our individual Divine purposes.
In other words, the Divine always has our best interests at heart and it is WE who interfere with the natural progression of the unfolding of our Divine purpose in Divine order by outputting contrary emotional energy. Our reactions to perceived circumstances, events, situations, occurrences and the behavior of the objects in the perceived dualistic reality actually taint the unfolding of our Divine purpose in Divine order.
That is why we need to get out of our own way every single day of our lives. We need to balance the egocentric forces of our chemically based brain reactions with the harmony and peace of Divine understanding. It is in the allowance of Divine knowledge that we come to the understanding that we influence our environments as much as they influence us!
We are the progenitors of our subsequent experiences and perceptions in our environments. When we can clearly see this we can begin to allow the infinite presence of the Divine Spirit of God to guide our proactions to manifest our Divine purpose in Divine order and minimize our reactions that interfere with the natural unfolding of our destiny.
We are co-creators of our existence and we have the responsibility to act as co-creators by choosing that which ‘edifies’ our beings and the conditions of co-creation for others. We do this by allowing the best to unfold for all by lifting the restrictions of erroneous beliefs and tainted perceptions. We put in check what doesn’t work and move full speed ahead on what does work.
Create the life you KNOW you are destined to live by allowing the guidance from the Divine to allow you to make the ‘correct’ choices to unfold your Divine purpose in Divine order each and every moment of your life. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
What does this truly mean? Does it mean that others judge you by whom and what you ‘associate’ with or does it mean that you judge yourself by the things you express as a result of your erroneous beliefs? As with fear, there is false guilt and real guilt. If a child stepped out into the street and got hit by a car and you did nothing to stop it (assuming you were in a position to stop it) and you felt ‘guilty’ that you did nothing that would be genuine guilt.
Guilt is a feeling of responsibility or remorse for some offense, crime or wrong that you have committed; whether real or imagined [dictionary.com]. The above example is real guilt; however, there is an imagined or ‘false’ form of guilt that one accepts as ‘real’. The typical controlling, dominating or manipulating form of guilt is; “Go out and have a good time while I sit at home alone. Don’t worry about me; I’ll be OK all by myself.” A sensitive person will be imposed with guilt from another when they accept the manipulative words of another as true.
When it comes to fear you hear the acronym repeated ad infinitum by many New Thought people that fear is False Evidence Appearing Real. That is true for ‘false’ fear but NOT for ‘real’ fear. Real fear is Factual Evidence Actualizing Reality. For example, if you feel and believe that you make a step and you will receive dire circumstances as a result, then it is false fear. If you make a step of the edge of the precipice and fall to your death it is real fear.
It is true that there are many more false situations of guilt and fear then there are real ones; however, we must use our minds to discern the differences and not listen to teachers, gurus, spiritual leaders who downplay the effect of real guilt and real fear. These conditions exist for a purpose; to allow you to evaluate your beliefs and behaviors in order to survive, thrive and manifest your Divine purpose in Divine order.
When you discharge your erroneous beliefs as a result of your evaluations and awareness of those effects of your evaluations, then, and only then, will you be able to move forward toward the actualization and fulfillment of your Divine purpose. The greatest impediment to your individual progress is retaining the beliefs, choices and decisions that led to your current state of NOT being whom and what you were created to be. Let go of everything that separates you from listening to the guidance from the Divine. Get out of your own way and be the love that you are; no matter what ANYONE else says or does.
Jump off of the virtual cliff and not the literal cliff. You will embrace eternity when you leap off of the virtual cliff and you will experience physical death when you leap off of the literal cliff. Discern these facts and judge your self-survival always predicated on the mutual survival of all.
Move forward and thrive by judging which behaviors are detrimental to the mutual growth and expansion of all and which are not. Decide which things are real and which are not. Decision comes from the Latin word ‘decisio’ which means to ‘cut off’ any other possibility. Decide for life and NOT for death. It is up to you and no one else. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
HOMES FOR CATS
We are two people who live surrounded by homeless cats and kittens. People move out of the neighborhood and leave their animals behind; people do not spay or neuter and when the adorable kitten has become a cat, they simply toss them out to fend for themselves. The result is that we are caring for between 8 and 20 cats and kittens and any one time.
Please help us find good homes for our feline friends so they can have a chance at knowing love and ongoing health. These beautiful creatures need the love and attention that any living being requires. They provide friendship, affection and warmth to their benefactors. The only thing they need is a loving home.
What are the benefits of adopting a cat? Not only do they provide you warmth and love they are a constant companion. Stroking their fur and hearing them purr is so relaxing at the end of your day. Most of the stresses from work, driving and shopping and life in general, just melt away when you hear your friend purr.
Cats get a bad rap sometimes when people say that they are aloof, too independent or 'finicky'. That may be true to some but cats, like people, generally reflect what you give them. If you give them ongoing love and attention they will bring you much joy and love. If you teach them love and affection, play with them, and take the time to be a good companion yourself, you will find that cats are loving, affectionate companions.
Please visit our website at if you can provide a good home for these beautiful and loving creatures. They need your love and attention and give so much back in return. Thank you for visiting our website and are looking forward to hearing from you.
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HOSTAGE TO YOUR EGO
AND NOT A HOST TO GOD
"In every moment you can be a host to God or a hostage to your ego." ~Dr. Wayne Dyer quoting from ACIM. Now I will include an ACIM explanation of this: “Chapter 11 ~ God vs Ego. What's your name? Who's your Daddy? Either God is insane or the ego is insane. Which would you bet on? Remember, the "ego" is the part of you that believes it is separate from God and has created a world to prove it. At least, it thinks it has. But it is impossible to create anything that isn't Whole, Eternal, Loving, and Joyful, so this world exists only in our dreams. We can only see one world at a time: God's or the ego's.
The ego is nothing more than a delusional system. The ego creates by projection (projecting a world without God), and God creates by extension (extending His Love to all His creation). The more you approach the center of God's thought system, the clearer His Light becomes. The closer you come to the ego's thought system, the way becomes darker and more obscure.”
Now this paragraph says that the ego has created a world to prove it. In a sense it has, but many ACIM’ers take this literally. The ego creates an ‘assumption’ of the world but NOT the world itself. It states that the ego thinks it has. In actuality, the ego has created its ‘impressions’ of the world and NOT the world itself. It further states that it is impossible to create anything that isn’t Whole, Eternal, Loving and Joyful and that this ‘world’ exists in our dreams. HOGWASH!!! This world that we experience in mutual sensory agreement is real in the sense that it is a projection from the Source Creator.
The passage next says that the ego ‘projects’ a world without God and that God ‘extends’ His love into His creation. The ego only reacts to perceived projections from the ONE source. Love is the ‘projection’ that ‘extends’ itself into the creation of all that exists. Some ACIM’ers take this as only the ego projects this reality into existence and this couldn’t be farther from the truth. It is close to it, but does not ring true when interacting with quantum physics.
If you are a hostage to your ego you believe that just because certain revelations have become apparent to you that they are correct. If you are a host to God you understand that all the revelations come to you are in line with your understanding of reality. The observer affects the experiment just by observing it! Just as the channeler of ACIM used what she had received and explained it within the framework of HER belief system and the terminology SHE understood. In many things she is spot on except in some critical areas. Her ramblings have led several generations astray from the center of truth simply be her speaking with authority and others accepting what she has said as the gospel truth.
I took a stand again last week and explained about what I discovered after I turned over the ACIM rock. As a result, my dear friend on FB defriended me after vehemently defending ACIM. If you take anything positive at all away from the ACIM training, it is that God is a God of love AND understanding. Defending a book and what it says over a friend you have associated with for a couple of years, to me, is ludicrous.
As I have said before, I don’t agree with many ‘explanations’ revealed in ACIM. However, I do like the feeling of love it shares. I will miss my friend and her musings; however, I will not back down to what is so obviously and blatantly misleading to people I respect and care about. That’s why I take stands on what is revealed to me. If people don’t agree, they can discuss it or they can leave. It is their choice.
Always be careful when receiving second hand information from a spiritualist, spiritual teacher or minister. Go to the source YOURSELF and discover YOUR inner truth. After all, you live in a world that we have ALL created because we are ALL individualized expressions of the Most High! ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
HOUSE OF WORSHIP
Most of us have heard the term, ‘house of worship’ before. What is the purpose of a house of worship? It is the societal way of bringing people together under one roof that have similar beliefs; this is where they can bind their beliefs together and ‘worship’ their God. Religion comes from the Latin word ‘religio’, which means a binding together of people with common beliefs. Beliefs are the key; not necessarily inner spiritual convictions (knowingness), Divine trust or faith in the Divine. Beliefs are nothing more than accepted thoughts and ideas that after being repeated enough you accept as true without any further challenge.
If you believe that God is Almighty, All-knowing, Ever present and Ever Creative, then you, in your limited perspective, acknowledge that deity as worthy of ‘worship’. But why does ‘worship’ even exist? Worship is the “reverent honor and homage paid to God or a sacred personage, or to any object regarded as sacred” [Dictionary.com]. If you honor God, how do you do it? Do you marvel at the Divine’s glory? Glory is “adoring praise or worshipful thanksgiving” [Dictionary.com] to God. Worship and glory are terms understood by your ego as self-endearing and self-supportive. But does God demand worship and glory? Does God have an ego that requires worship and glory? NO!!!
Attributing God with an ego is lessening the greater understanding of the Divine. Attributing God with any egotistical functions is tantamount to defiling just what the Divine is. The Divine is Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent and Omniparient. Are we? Our source of life comes from the release of our inner Divine power (love), our inner understanding of knowledge (wisdom), our inner acceptance of the Spirit of God within (inner presence) and the demonstration of Divine will through our release of inner creativity (parenting growth and expansion). It is simply something we ‘allow’ by getting the demands of our egos out of our way.
The Divine does NOT require our ‘worship’, our glorification, our fear or our constriction of expression to create the life that was pre-programmed into our beings. On the physical level we are a collection of cells working in unison as a collective body that we perceive as whom and what we are. On the emotional level we are a collection of beliefs and reactions to what we perceive in our environment. On the mental level we are a collection of thoughts and ideas that we identify with and facilitate our coming to an understanding of our individual meaning in life through our spiritual ‘awakening’. On the spiritual level we become aware of our individual Oneness with the Divine when we allow the Spirit of God to guide all of our individual aspects and attributes.
Worship and glorification belong in the realm of the ego and are NOT required to honor and communicate with God. It is about time we all grow up from our programmed egotistical outlook and anthropomorphizing of the Divine. The Divine is truly beyond anything that we could even comprehend, yet in flashes of insight and intuition we align ourselves with its truth.
Where you are every moment is your ‘house of worship’. Worship in the purest form is allowing the Divine to work THROUGH you to create an expression in your world of Divine love. Glory is not patting your ego on the back for making the right moves, at the right time and with the right people in order to fulfill your Divine purpose in Divine order.
Remove any and all egotistical attributes that you have erroneously attached to the Divine, open your heart and allow Divine love to express through you. That is worship and glory in action; not to edify your ego but to align with the Divine expression of love. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
HOW DO I COMPLETE THE PUZZLE
WITHOUT THE MISSING PIECES
Do not care what others think about you, what you do or what they think you are. Bridge the perceived gap between where you are right now and what you want to do to be where you want to be.
Focusing on accepting where you are right now, what you want to fulfill in your life and making the steps to get there each and every day brings you closer to its realization.
Speak with authority in your life and declare exactly what you want to manifest and the omniverse will part the sea of the unseen energies that connect us all to allow it to be realized in Divine order.
Think, speak, act out and behave the way you desire to be from the depths of your heart. Always act as if you have it already because in actuality, you do! If you can think it, you can speak it, take the actions toward it and behave responsibly to manifest it.
Don’t accept how it appears to be now in your life as the way it will always be. Acknowledge its current existence and accept the fact that with Divine guidance you will be led to meet the right people, at the right time, at the right place, in the right circumstance and for the right reason to become fulfilled.
As with the missing pieces of a puzzle in your life, re-create what is needed to become fulfilled by using your imagination and developing it into expectation. Use your talents, skills and abilities to contribute to the greater good and be thankful for being able to co-create with the Divine.
Look for the blessings in everything and feel good about yourself and others as much as you allow yourself to maintain the universal vibration of the personal attraction of manifesting your destiny.
When you align your Divine purpose with Divine order natural order moves to actualize it by the daily vibration you maintain. Share the vibration of love and it will be shared with you. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
GOING AROUND
Whatever it is you ‘think’ is holding you back from unfolding the real you is there for you to ‘go around’ your perception of obstruction. How can one know growth without experiencing reduction? How can one know expansion without experiencing contraction?
It is in the choice of forward progress that the soul grows and expands into its Divine purpose. Without the perception and experience of external resistance one cannot learn true allowance. The omniverse breathes in and out in waves of negative and positive simultaneously for a purpose. Within one perceived state exists the other to balance the experiences needed to make the proper choices to grow and expand.
Perspective comes from experiencing both the negative and positive and both exist to allow you to make the appropriate choices to unfold your Divine purpose in Divine order. Only in the presence of Divine stillness do we truly experience the silent neutrality of inner peace. Instead of interacting and participating in an external resistance and reaction we simply let go of the external chaos and resonate on inner peace.
Make the time each and every day to go within and bathe yourself in the peace, stillness and silence of Divine joy. It will refresh your ego with the guidance of spirit and allow your being to align itself with Divine order. Be ye therefore perfect! ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
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