What is profanity? Is it using ‘curse’ words to emphasize your point? Is it an act of defiance of religious tenets as a form of expressing one’s angst against those tenets? Is it a way of controlling what people are hearing or reading? Or is it simply human acts of disgust that create images that horrify others?
Profanity is defined as the expression of the quality of being profane. Profane is characterized by irreverence or contempt for God or sacred principles or things; irreligious. Being profane is not being devoted to holy or religious purposes; unconsecrated; secular (as opposed to sacred). It is something unholy; heathen; pagan: as in profane rites. Expressing profanity can be construed as not being initiated into religious rites or mysteries, as persons. It is also construed as being common or vulgar [dictionary.com].
My question is, by whom? Religious authorities? Secular leaders? Authority figures with personal agendas? Generally, in religious communities profanity is an unacceptable form of expression because of its tenets that it is disrespectful toward God. WTF? (Excuse me!). Who in God’s name EVER said that? Some pompous ass with a sense of superiority who is constantly implementing agenda manifestation upon others? Whoever it might be, the fact remains that words have power and create images in other people’s minds.
The use of profanity is a way of cutting through the veil of erroneous beliefs and capturing another’s attention. Those who are pre-programmed by fear from religious institutions most often seem to react with disdain toward those using profanity. Get off of your high horse you self-righteous ass! Who died and left you God’s representative on earth anyway? Your own sense of self-importance?
Yes, you can choose how you want to be talked to and that is your right. But to ignore someone’s argument because they choose to use words you don’t like or that ‘offend’ you is childish at best. Why? Because a child reacts to what people say and a mature adult proacts from what people say, how they say it and why they have said it. Maturity is not based on the words you use but the discernment you employ in dealing with reality.
Rejecting someone because they express themselves with profanity reveals that your ego is uncomfortable with the fact that you cannot control them or what they have said. It is part of the expressions of the ego that seek to control, dominate and manipulate the actions of others because they threaten your sense of self-survival. In essence, it is imposing your own limited restrictions upon others.
Love allows others to be who they are but also stands firm on the solid ground of realistic boundaries; not egotistic ones. Being irreverent of religious authority figures is not a bad thing. Being irreverent of God is. Religious piety is more ego than spirituality. Being spiritual means that you respect the Divine within others just as much as you respect the Divine within you! It doesn’t mean that if someone violates the assumed ‘rules’ of communication that they are being irreverent or bad. If one arrives at that conclusion then they are judging the other person for the behaviors that they express as being bad. You can judge those ‘behaviors’ as being bad but NOT the person for using them. People sometimes act badly, when in reality, they are not bad! They are humans expressing their compounded stresses that they experience in their lives.
Being devoted to one’s religion is admirable, but when one tries to impose their religious tenets upon another who doesn’t believe what they believe, then that in itself is profane. It is always easy to point the finger at another, but, as the saying goes, three of your remaining fingers are pointing right back at you. Those fingers should always remind you that your perspective is just that; your perspective. When you walk a mile in the other guy’s shoes you might understand more of why they look and speak of things the way they do. That, in itself, it the beginning of understanding the relationship the other person has with their inner divinity.
If they curse and use profanity it is because they are expressing their angst and emotional conviction about a particular subject and not necessarily an irreverence of God. When anyone jumps to that conclusion, it reveals that their ego is elevating itself to Godhood and that their sense of superiority is more important than understanding the other individual.
A person’s values reveal just what is important to them. If their values are based on justifiable circumstances, then they become a part of their daily existence. If their values are based on the ongoing judgment of others, then they reveal that their egos are more in command of their expressions than the Spirit of God. What is truly profane? The judgment of your ego over what someone else values and expresses in their lives. If someone else’s behaviors are aberrant, it is justifiable. If their behaviors are within the established social mores then they are not justifiable.
The bottom line is that if you do not like the expression of profanity, examine why you feel that way. If you don’t like it, then remove yourself from it but don’t judge others for their right to express themselves. If you do like it, then you are truly f***ked! Just joking!
If you want others to respect your ability to communicate then get the corn cob out of your ass. Stop being so prudish and judgmental and see how much more you can learn. Open your heart to understanding more than judgment and you will see that there is more that you can learn, experience and value than you’ve ever considered before. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
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.
What is desire? In the Latin it literally means ‘of the Father’. It is the expression of Divine love into our individual spirits that drives us to do whatever we can to arrive at a state of complete peace. Peace is a state where we completely absorb and project Divine love. We are not in need of anything. We want for nothing. Our desires are fulfilled and our expectations are met; until our next desire surfaces and starts the cycle all over again.
Our Divine desires are never completely fulfilled until we expect them to be manifest and arrive in a state of peace where we have experienced and reflected on their manifestation. When we become who and what we were created to be we are not living by what someone else thinks we should be, but who and what we truly are.
When your actions align with your Divine purpose, manifestation of that Divine purpose is the result. There is no right way or wrong way to attain this dynamic state of creativity. The true test of whether you are on the right track or not is whether the unfolding of the desire through expectation is proceeding in Divine order and whether or not you are aligning yourself with it in Divine order.
When you trust in the Divine within you to guide you is the point where you accept, allow and experience your natural state of complete well-being. We were created to actualize our Divine purposes. Do we take the opportunities that arise everyday to move toward that state of peace where we have experienced the fruition of our Divine desires? Or do we dismiss them as unattainable or not worthy of our investment of expectation?
We are Divine co-creators and anyone who tells us otherwise is operating from a state of internal denial as to the Divine order of the universe. Through observation, collation and deriving conclusions we learn about how the perceived dualistic reality operates. Through introspection, intuitively listening and manifesting inner peace we learn about how the Creator operates according to Divine law.
By integrating all that we’ve learned we align our Divine purposes within Divine order in order to ‘arrive’ at a state of complete peace, joy and understanding, where we automatically co-create the complete manifestation and fulfillment of our Divine desires.
Be the vehicle of Divine love expressing peace into all of eternity! ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
WEBSITE HOSTING
OUR SERVICES IN
DELAWARE
Please visit our websites and send them to anyone you think would need our services. If you are out of our area (Northern Delaware) and know someone in our area, please forward these links onto them.
We are available for work over the next few months, so please let us know as soon as possible. ~Liz & Dean
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.
After finishing up with a client yesterday she offered me a basket of eggs from the farm up the road. The eggs were brown and light green. As she handed me the basket, she said please put your hand on the bottom as the basket is weak underneath. I replied, “Thank you, but now we both know why we should never put all of our eggs in one basket.” She laughed and I left.
This expression implies that by putting your valuables into one thing that you have the chance of losing everything. Is that true? Or is it just possible? Yes to both. It is true that when you invest in just one thing to ‘hold’ your valuables your risk is increased that if you lose, you will lose everything. It is both possible that you will win AND it is possible that you will lose.
As you consume the eggs in the basket the weight gets lighter and the strain on the bottom of the basket gets less, minimizing the risk of the bottom giving out. But the risk is still there. If you take half of your eggs and put them in another basket, then if the basket with the weak bottom breaks, you have only lost half of your investment. Yes, there is wisdom in this saying but there is also the thought and emotion of fear that is generated that can supersede the logic and reason of whether or not the bottom will ever fall out.
Much is the same with our talents, skills and abilities. If we invest them into one area and it doesn’t work out to our favor, we will perceive that we have wasted our time in that area. The fact is that none of us EVER waste our time in service to others. We are ALWAYS edified by sharing and caring regardless of what our respondent thoughts and emotions reveal to us.
We learn from each other at all times when we look for the meaning in what we have experienced. We, in essence, become the by-product of our experiences because they forge our beliefs. Our beliefs are the filter through which we live our lives, make our choices and move toward fulfillment or perceived failure. Remember, failure is being successful at doing something in a way that didn’t produce the desired results. We are ALWAYS successful at no matter what we do.
Decisions result in choices, choices result in direction and direction results in progress. Whether or not you put your eggs in one basket always move toward your desired result by expecting the best for all and not fearing what ‘might’ happen. Even if you lose all of your eggs there are more out there to put in a new basket.
Your options are always present when you focus on the abundance of the omniverse and not your perceptions of lack and limitation. Hedge your bet that the bottom won’t fall out by KNOWING where you are going instead of just BELIEVING that you ‘might’ get there. Be ye therefore perfect! ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
EBOOKS
RADIO SHOWS
Over the past few years I have been blessed to be interviewed by some of the best hosts on Internet Radio.
My first Internet radio interview was with Steve Toth of RCRN (Real Coaching Radio Network). His network has grown in leaps and bounds over the past few years. Please check out this video to learn more about Steve.
My second Internet radio interview was with Dr. Denise “Making a Difference” Graham on her show, “It’s Not Law And Order”. Her show is available on Blog Talk Radio. Her blog focuses on what is currently happening in the Criminal Justice System. Please visit her Facebook page for more information on her program and on DrD.
My fifth radio interview is coming on Thursday, September 5th at 8:00 EDT with Diamond Kimyon Zari. She can be found on Facebook at and on her personal site. I thoroughly enjoyed to sharing with this dynamic and inspirational teacher. Please visit us at the following link.
Please visit the following link to listen to the broadcasts and please continue to listen to the programming of these hosts. They are all doing the best that they can do to make this world a better place in which to live for all of us. Thank you for visiting the radio interviews and much success in maintaining your spiritual health and well-being! ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
REACHING OUT
A couple of weeks ago I made a post on my wall asking for help ‘from anyone who is in the position’ to help one of our FB friends with some financial help. Understandably, I received warnings from my friends that this could be a scam and to not be involved. Normally, I advise my friends and clients never to get involved in any ‘send me money’ scams on the Internet. There is a plethora of greedy and evil people orbiting the cesspool of the Internet. However, in this case, it was a friend of ours that we’ve known for awhile on FB.
Since we are going through some challenges ourselves right now, we weren’t in the position to help. I asked our friend if she would mind me posting on my wall about her need. She agreed but didn’t want her name mentioned and I can understand why. She had recently lost her mother and soon after lost her job. She needed some help with food and a bus pass to go on job interviews.
One of our dear friends, who also requested to remain nameless, contacted us and we put both of them together. We have just received word that our friend overseas sent our friend here the money she needed. She bought some food and her bus pass and is now going out on job interviews.
We are so thrilled that we have used the Facebook forum to help someone who had a genuine need. Thank God that despite all of the ‘negativity’ surrounding the stigma of the Internet, someone who actually needed help, has gotten it. Please pray for our friend now going on job interviews that they get a good job that will support them. Also, please pray for our friend who extended themselves to help because they had been there once and wanted to help someone as they had been helped.
We are a vibrant and spiritually based community here on FB and we can make a difference. Our sincerest and heartfelt thanx to all of you for your comments and help. This shows that we can make a difference. God bless all of you. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
REALITY OR ILLUSION?
We exist in an emotional world of reactions to events, circumstances, situations, occurrences and people. We either define our reality as real or an illusion based on what we ‘feel’ will happen or not. If something is not to be, is it just an illusion? Are our dreams an illusion or are they a pre-cursor to a manifested reality?
On the average, we spend about 6 years (15,000 hours) of our lives dreaming. Dreams contain emotionally charged images. Since the mind controls the body as the body controls the mind, we are subject to chemical interactions in our brains that determine whether we remember something in long term memory or not. Over the course of our lives we learn over 100,000 words, read over 1000 books and encounter over 1700 people. Do we retain all of these experiences or do we only remember those we emotionalize?
All events, circumstances, occurrences, situations and people that we have experienced in our lives have either been committed to long term memory or not. Brain studies have revealed that our Hippocampus, Inner Temporal Lobe and Amygdala are responsible for integrating our memories of experiences and their subsequent emotional reactions to our experiences. Further brain studies have shown that social pressures ‘change’ our memories in order to conform to being accepted within our social groups.
Memory confusion occurs when we emotionally ‘want’ to conform to the group consciousness. Our memories become charged with our emotional acceptance and commitment and affect our brain centers with what we deem as appropriate social responses. In other words, our emotional commitment to our accepted social agenda alters reality to suit its perceived emotional needs. Our memories at this point become fallible and subjective to the emotions we identify with in order to function socially.
We also respond to painful memories because they are emotionally charged and we react to similar circumstances with the response of avoidance. This, in effect, holds us back from moving ahead with the manifestation of our Divine purpose in Divine order. These ‘reactions’ become accepted connections of neural responses and our forged neural pathways go on automatic.
But how do we change this internal chemical programming? Do we fake being happy trying to convince ourselves that what appears detrimental to us is just an illusion? Or do we seek understanding in how our brains work in order to free ourselves from perceptive illusion?
Emotions are mostly layered one on top of another. For example, being unhappy about something in our lives results from a feeling of not getting what we feel we want. We feel deprived of this and begin to feel anxiety and/or rage. We become frustrated and convince ourselves that we no longer want to suffer and feel ‘left out’ so we blame the circumstances for the occurrence without realizing it is our reactions that are creating the frustration. We then can become miserable because we don’t completely understand what is happening and we will blame ourselves next for not ‘reading the handwriting on the wall’. Guilt can then creep in and further stifle our progress. We accept the situation that created this mess as ‘the way it is’ and blame ourselves for not being able to proact with alternative measures to co-create exactly what we want.
We cannot feel good about something when we consistently feel bad about ourselves and our choices. If we are constantly in a state of feeling bad about our lives we will only manifest experiences that reinforce that feeling. It is natural for us to experience an ongoing and consistent state of well-being. A state where we stand firm on what we know we are here for and what we know we can create.
Our dreams reveal our ‘possibilities’ and our experiences reveal the ‘probabilities’ in our lives. Every day we need to pay attention to the way we feel about our lives and ourselves. We need to immerse ourselves in our inner peace in order to sort out the chaos of our outer world. From this state of centering, we can better direct our thoughts to accepting a state of feeling better about our lives and vibrationally aligning ourselves with our Divine purposes in Divine order.
It is unnatural for us to experience the acceptance of frustration and painful memories that we alter to suit a personal agenda of social acceptance and self-survival. It IS natural for us to experience the unfolding of our Divine purpose in Divine order while accepting reality and allowing the Divine to guide us every step of the way.
Do not focus on the contrast of your experiences in your external world but identify with the Divine desires that have been seeded in your heart. This way we will all minimize changing reality to become socially acceptable in favor of expressing Divine love into our world each and every day. The result will be the consistent manifestation of our Divine desires and the Divine desires of others through the ongoing expectation of positive, fruitful and life expanding experiences by sharing Divine love with all. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
REVISITING THE OLD WEST
Ah, the Old West. America seems to have a romantic involvement with the open range, thousands of cattle grazing on government lands and the opportunity for sheer profit. That’s what the cattle barons did in the 1800’s. As America expanded into the new earthly frontier certain individuals modeled their behaviors after the Manor Lords of Britain. Anyone who was a threat to their ‘opportunities’ to make money off of the beef market was hoodwinked or ‘saddled’ into selling out their stakes. Those who wouldn’t, like Cattle Kate were hung by the neck on trumped up charges of cattle thievery.
It was a time where the ego and the sidearm of the opportunist was the only law and it decided what was said in the newspapers as well. Arguments and disputes were settled in gun battles more than a court room. It was the age of ‘Cowboy Diplomacy’ as Star Trek’s Spock once said. Decisions being made by the fastest guns; it didn’t matter what the truth was because it was the ego of the one aiming the gun that had the power over life and death.
Flash forward to today and we see the same type of ignorance and ‘Cowboy Diplomacy’ witnessed in the middle class consciousness. The middle class, born out of the yeoman class in Britain, were self-sufficient and lived ‘free’ from the tyranny of the ‘Lords’ or ‘Barons’; i.e., until they started making a good profit and became targeted for extermination.
Nowadays, the Barons are on Wall Street. No longer aiming guns and killing those who stand up to them, they still wield their ‘financial’ pistols at the rest of us in hopes of squeezing out more dollars each and every year from our sweated labors. They sit on high and play chess with our futures while we fight among ourselves over second amendment rights, gay marriage and the onslaught of religions, banks and corporations padding the wallets of ‘OUR’ representatives. They keep trying to distract us from focusing on the fact that they are ripping us off at every turn. They don’t have to kill us any longer, just keep us distracted and occupied enough while they pay for laws that our representatives ‘sneak’ in with earmarks.
It is a shell game of the highest order; while we are concerned about our families, jobs and lifestyles, they are influencing more and more of how much they rape our finances with the ultimate goal of bleeding us dry. The bankers, corporate heads and ‘investors’ in opportunities don’t care about you or your family’ needs, wants, desires and expectations; they only care about themselves and theirs. You are just a way for them to make a profit.
Only when the hearts of humankind focus on mutual respect and sharing Divine love will we, as a collection of divine souls, be able to live in peace, understanding and harmony. A society where it is alright to make a ‘fair’ profit off of products and services but NOT alright to employ greed or avarice in taking advantage of others. Living in the Kingdom of God starts in our hearts and spreads into our world.
It is up to us to be steadfast and demand the regulations, checks and balances to keep greed in check. It is NOT alright for us to be threatened with their ‘financial weapons of mass destruction’ anymore. It is up to us to STOP them where they stand and make them accountable for their aberrant behavior against us all. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE
No matter what happens throughout your day remember whom and what you are. You are the dynamic expression of Divine love living your Divine purpose in Divine order. You are not just a cog in the wheel with no soul in your eyes!
When others try to convince you that you are not a child of the Most High smile, agree with them and go about your way. Fighting their ignorance is not part of your Divine purpose; letting it pass through you without attaching any significance and emotion to it is.
When you live in this manner you are living in the fact that if God be for you, who can be against you? No weapon, coercion or manipulation can stand against you because you know whom and what you truly are; a child of the Most High God! ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
“No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.” ~Isaiah 54:17 (King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)). ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
We are evolving towards a realization that we are expressions of the Divine. We engage in external activities because we react to our environmental illusions as reality. Monism, or any other form of belief system, is a construct. It is a thought pattern that allows an individual to come to certain conclusions about their place in the environment. Wayne Dyer once said, “We are enviro-organisms.” We cannot exist without our environments. Why? Because it is where we exist IN THIS FORM. What Bobby Hinkle (Facebook Spiritual Teacher) and others teach, or should we say, put into words, is not dogma. It is an attempt at putting finite terms to the infinite thoughts that we experience. Sure, it might not be as descriptive or finite as one might hope, but it points the way to where YOU can personally experience the revelation of the stillness of the Divine.
Melville once said that God’s voice is silence. Only in the silence can we let go of the distractions and noise of the perceived dualist reality and come to know the still small voice of God. I experience the physical world AS the physical world by SENSING and FEELING. I know the law of gravity and its consequences. I experience the spiritual world through twice daily meditations that confirm my KNOWING and BEING of the spiritual world. The daily relaxation allows me to squelch the noise enough to embrace the peace of God.
In this world I know the law of attraction and its consequences. I daily strive to correct and filter my thoughts and belief system to allow the greater good to be attracted to me. It is an ongoing process towards peace. Peace is the state where we feel comfortable and secure with our place in our environments; physical AND spiritual. Our existence occurs simultaneously in both worlds. Bobby Hinkle, or any of the other teachers on the threads in Facebook, can only point the way. It is a personal experience of the Divine that ultimately allows you an understanding of ‘how things work’. The more time you spend in meditation, the closer you become to the source of all life.
To define spirit with thoughts and words is an exercise in folly. However, I will play the fool and try to explain it. It is transcendent and imminent simultaneously and contains everything that has ever existed everywhere. Energy cannot be created or destroyed. Matter is energy vibrating at a slower rate. When spirit “expresses” itself, it manifests as energy (i.e. the Big Bang). The resultant dualistic reality eventually cools down after a period of intense growth and expansion. The perceived dualistic reality is the result of spirit “expressing” itself into this universe. We can only explain spirit by the results we observe through sensing and feeling. We can come to a state of knowing and being through an ‘understanding’ of spirit. We can conclude that spirit exists when we remove or minimize the distractions of the perceived dualistic reality.
Mind is the connection or bridge between the physical and the spiritual. Our brains generate the electrochemical energy that absorbs the presence of spirit and directs the course of our lives. These energies are directed through our hearts and we ‘feel’ them in the process of manifestation. We express our Divine desires by knowing them, feeling them and expecting them to manifest. This explanation pales in comparison to the actual state of existence and how it unfolds into our perceived dualistic reality.
Every day is an opportunity to come to the realization that God is within each and every one of us and that He is expressing His Divine will ‘through’ us in direct proportion to our awareness of our allowing it to manifest within us. We decide by His gift of ‘free will’. He gives us the opportunity to co-create with Him in His creation.
What a wonderful and blessed creator we have! He gives us the tools to create, the ability to sustain ourselves and the free will to choose His will or ours! Living a fulfilling life means that we allow His presence to move within our spirit to fulfill Divine order, Divine will and Divine purpose, perfectly.
By turning everything over to God we come to the realization that He has created it all anyway and that His love for us brings it into existence. Give thanks every day for His love and manifest your destiny by allowing God to steer your vehicle. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
RELAY YOUR THOUGHTS
What does that mean? One commenter on my article Ask and it is given stated “All good gifts come from God, not from some imagined human ability to 'create'. Duh.” And what does any human capacity of creativity have to do with the gifts from God? Everything!!! Duh! If one cannot see the glory, majesty and blessings that God has given us then they need to turn on the windshield wipers. I have repeatedly referred to this statement, and I will refer to it again; “Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done (Matthew 21:21). God’s greatest gift to us is the power of creativity. But how does this come about? Are our brains truly thought generators that reach out and move mountains and worlds? Hardly. Or are our brains directors of energies that move mountains and worlds? The symbology here is critical.
From about 1973 to 1993 I was a practicing Astrologer. I did charts on many types of people and the results were startling. I researched the energies involved between the Earth, the Moon and the Sun, as well as the planets. I designed a computer program to track the gravitational relationships and energies transmitted and received only to realize that there are miniscule effects at best. Yes, the Moon affects the tides and because our bodies are between 88% to 92% water it does affect us. Without the life giving energy of the Sun we couldn’t survive on this planet. These are all facts I struggled with but just couldn’t resolve whether or not physical interactions genuinely existed or were at least, influential to our human existence. The Bible does state that Astrology is for signs and the seasons, yet, primarily due to misunderstood translations, the Christian community tends to ignore them as being valid or relegates them to being evil. They seem to forget the 3 wise men who used these signs to locate and provide finances to Jesus for his ministry. They forget that Joseph and Mary weren’t rich and the gifts from the Magi provided them with the necessary capital they needed to keep Jesus alive.
In 1981 I read a book by Dane Rudhyar, a transcendental astrologer entitled “The Astrology of Transformation.” He proposed that Astrology was a language of symbology and not an interactive energy measuring device. When we were born on this planet at a certain time of day, a certain day of the year, the reference of the planets in their houses and signs provided an analysis of our tendencies, not a predetermined stance or posture of a person’s entire life. Wow! Just like what the Bible said. A language for signs and for seasons. Not an evil method to steer one away from God. Hmmm! I can hear the tapping of the commenter’s keys right now. Here comes judgment rearing its ugly head. However, I won’t focus on that image since I don’t want to create it.
One scientist that was interviewed by Larry King on CNN stated that our minds do not generate enough energy to rearrange matter as is proposed in the movie, “The Secret.” Technically, he is right. The Law of Attraction is beyond science’s ability to measure, qualify and quantify. Why? Because they are opening the front door of the barn looking for the horse while the horse has already left by the back door. Read the criticism section under the above LOA link. Years ago I worked for Amtrak at the Wilmington shops as an Electronics Inspector. We spent most of our days cleaning off electrical devices called relays. Relays are basically switching devices that use a safe lower voltage to change direction of a not-so-safe higher voltage. Without relays, human beings could be fried to death with the high voltages required to run locomotives. Yet, with these ingenious devices, we have mastered the power of the electron and made it safe for us to harness it. Our thoughts are generated from our brains at a lower voltage. God has freely given us the gift to choose what thoughts we focus on. Could it be that the thoughts we generate harness the greater energies present in the universe that move worlds? I believe that this is the case. Just like Dane Rudhyar stated about Astrology being a language of symbology I propose that our thoughts create symbols and archetypes that relay our thoughts to the universe, and through the Law of Attraction, create the circumstances in our lives.
The Law of Attraction obeys the symbols, archetypes, pictures and verbal proclamations, whether we believe this or not. The Law of Attraction precisely responds to what you envision, state and hold true about yourself and your world. If you offer a vibration of confusion and disharmony, it will respond with more of the same. Conversely, if you offer lucidity and focus, it will relay your thoughts to God’s clock (the Universe) and the powers that are already there will obey. This is what Jesus meant when he said that the mountain will move.
God has given us the gift of creativity and the ability to harness the powers of the universe simply by focusing, maintaining and relaying our thoughts on a consistent basis. Which thoughts will you choose? Will you focus on lack and limitation or will you focus on abundance and prosperity? Will you seek to help others or further your own selfish causes? It is your choice. Act responsibly! ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
RELIGION OR SPIRITUALITY
In order for religion to survive it must divide believers from non-believers and recruit non-believers in order to justify its own existence. Religions are institutions of rituals, traditions and dogma. They are farther from the Divine then they want you to believe. The more they remain the middle people between you and the Divine, the more you will support their existence.
Why would you look outside for something that can only be found within? Why would you support institutions that divide us more than unite us? Why would be a part of something that does not contribute to our mutual growth and expansion in unity?
Spirituality is when you KNOW the existence of the Divine and you share Divine love with all of life. It means that you forego rituals for quiet communion with the Divine. It means that you abandon traditions that separate you from others and embrace those that do. It means that you let go of religious dogma in favor of Divine inspiration.
Christ said quite clearly in Matthew 15:9, “And they revere me in vain while they teach the doctrines of the commandments of man“(Aramaic Bible in Plain English).
Do you revere the Christ within you? Or do you teach the doctrines of priests, murderers, slave owners, gay bashers and misogynists who designed the Bible? Do you believe what they have written down OVER what the Divine within is saying to you? Are you so blind to the truth that you do what others do just to ‘fit in’?
If you do, then spend time praying, meditating and serving the Divine by sharing Divine love with all WITHOUT imposing your ‘beliefs’ on others. Show them how to KNOW God within more than look for God without. Be a proponent of the truth more than the verbal and written descriptions of the truth.
Be ye therefore spiritual and NOT religious! ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
REVELING IN IGNORANCE
Refusing to have a battle of wits with an unarmed person only delays the inevitable. Sooner or later ignorance resurfaces when ego decides it’s time to lash out. Now, you can either ignore ignorance, or you can meet it head on with truth. Whichever way you choose there are consequences.
Letting ignorance flourish will end up biting you in the ass one day. Meeting it head on will cause you to bring the truth forward and put your cards on the table.
If someone backs off from a legitimate question or a necessary debate, one thing is for sure: Either they are so self-absorbed by their ego or they don’t have a truthful argument to begin with; which means they aren’t interested in the truth and they are only interested in a ‘version’ of the truth that suits their agenda.
Either way ego is comfortable reveling in ignorance. That way it maintains control over you. Truth will set you free from ego only when you are aware enough to realize it. Peace. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
RIGHTS
NEVER meddle with the RIGHTS of others concerning their acceptance and perpetuation of fear! That’s what the conservative mind-heartset keeps yelling loudly! Just point them in the direction of knowing where they are using their perceptions of those RIGHTS to allow the infliction of harm on others.
Their right to protect themselves because they choose to live in fear does NOT supersede YOUR right to peace and safety! There IS a difference between perceiving the ‘possibility’ of harm from another and actually experiencing it. If your perception of aberrance and the justification of using weaponry or force to stop it is known for what it truly is, resistance, then you will understand that what you resist persists until you GROW UP and deal with it.
Allow the peace, beauty and love from the Divine to surround you with the white light of protection and safety from all harm. It is there for a reason and Divine love is that purpose personified in you when you simply allow it to happen. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
In a debate there are different ways to respond to the argument your opponent introduces. When you answer the question presented by your opponent directly, your opponent can then respond directly or attack your character to initialize an emotional response in you and the audience. This is known as an ‘ad hominem’ attack; it is a Latin expression meaning “to the man.” An ad hominem argument is one that relies on personal attacks rather than reason or substance [dictionary.com].
If your response is skewed based on how you look at and feel about women and their role in society, then your response is said to be ‘ad feminam’. Now, let’s look at what has happened recently about women’s reproductive rights. Ad hominem and ad feminam attacks and responses have proliferated from both sides of the issues. Why? To generate an emotional response in you in order to get you out and vote for the candidate who aligns with your view on women’s rights. If we strip away the emotion completely, we can see the ‘real’ picture.
Each one of us has a body that we live our lives in and most of us believe we have a right to treat this body as we so choose. No one has the right to inflict their will on anyone else to manifest their agendas. Murder is illegal and punishable by death in some cases because it involves someone making the choice to deprive another of their right to their own life. Rape is illegal and punishable in our society because it involves someone forcing their will upon another and violating their body. For a man to decide how a woman should treat her body is NOT coming from experience but from supposition. He does not have a female body and has NO right to choose how to treat that body because he does not live in that body. Women, and women alone, have the right to choose how they will live in their bodies and should not live in fear of persecution as a result of their choices concerning their bodies.
Sandra Fluke stood up for herself against the bigot Rush Limbaugh and his ad feminam attacks on her. She rose to the occasion and stood her ground. She is a true ‘shero’! Her acceptance and dedication to ‘owning’ her body over the agendas of men who have NO clue what it is to be female is inspiring. Much like the civil rights movement was inspiring. My shero when I was a child was Rosa Parks. She was so tired after working hard one day that when she was told to give up her seat and move to the back of the bus so that a white person could take her seat she said, “No!” We all need to say NO to bigotry, sexism and those who foster separation of the races.
We all bleed, breathe and exercise the three ‘S’s every day. We might appear different on the outside but we all have the Spirit of God on the inside. Identify with the Spirit of God and live from that center. Then, and only then, will we be able to see things as they are and NOT how others ‘color’ them to be. Always seek fairness for all people on this earth; we are all connected and deserve each other’s respect, consideration and love. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
RUNNING YOUR
OWN RACE
Do your run your own race? Or do your run the race that others have told you that you MUST run? Do you march to the beat of your inner drummer or do you step in line with what others THINK you must do?
The more you come to understand exactly what you have been created to be, the clearer your inner sense of your Divine purpose will become and how to allow it to unfold in Divine order. However, many people identify with whom and what others, or some book, tell them who and what they are.
Is this the correct way to Oneness with the Divine? Or is it a side road that leads you away from your Divine purpose? Only you can know that. If you depend on what others say or what some book tells you is your Divine purpose, you have missed the point completely. You are allowing things ‘outside’ of yourself to govern your inner world of spirit.
Your spirit is ever present and does not depend on some obscure definition contrived by someone who has shared their own experience with Divinity. In their sharing, they have used their own terms and understandings to express their experience in order to share the truth of that experience OR they are trying to manifest an agenda of creating a belief system that others can follow and support. Take Scientology or Mormonism for example; contrived religions by charismatic egotistical individuals who elevated ‘their’ view to ‘the way it is’ as revealed to them by ‘intellect’ or God.
Furthermore, let’s take the concept of the ‘Holy Trinity’. Is it real or contrived? Are there really 3 individual ‘spirits’ or is there only one Spirit of God? The Biblical scriptures are quite clear on this. Not once is it ever mentioned in the Bible because it was an invention of the Catholic Church. Yet many followers of Christianity swallow it hook, line and sinker because some charismatic preacher without sufficient knowledge of history told them it was so. They began to run that preacher’s race and NOT their own.
Biblical scholars of the Catholic Church declared that the Bible was the ‘holy word of God’ and used it as weapon to hold over the heads of their constituents to become the ‘middle man’ between them and God. It is mass ego validation.
When the Divine reveals a path to you that leads to the truth, you have a choice based on your free will to either follow that path or follow the path of your ego. When you blatantly resist what has been agreed to by many historians whose true agenda is to relay the truth of how things really happened, it is your ego that is taking hold and NOT your inner spirit. You begin to run the race of your ego’s quest for self-survival instead of the Divine race of seeking out the truth.
You will encounter one challenge after another until you ‘allow’ the spirit of truth to lead you to the truth. When you run your own race the only way you will win is if you don’t allow the distractions of others and their ‘opinions’ from influencing your decisions to stay on course.
The winner of a race leads the pack or is closest to the leader and paces themselves to overtake the leader at the appropriate time. ‘I’ll Have Another’, the winner of the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness is a prime example. The horse was behind the leaders most of the race and won the race after the jockey made his move at the appropriate time to take the leading position.
In reality, there is no race at all. Life is the unfolding of your Divine purpose in Divine order and it is YOU that either allows the influence of others or some book to become the key understanding in the unfolding of your purpose. Why go to a source outside of yourself when the Divine Spirit of God is within you right now? It is there speaking to you in the voice of silence; guiding and directing your thoughts, ideas, beliefs, words, actions and behaviors to unfold your Divine purpose in Divine order.
Make the time to listen, understand and follow that inner voice. It is the truth of spirit that reveals your Divine purpose. How do you know it is real and from the Divine? If it tells you to create experiences that contribute to the growth and expansion of all, then it is Divine in nature. If it tells you to create experiences that place your needs, wants, desires and expectations over the lives of others, then it is from the ego.
Learn and practice discernment. It is one of the tools you have been given to balance out occurrences in your outer and inner environments. It is based on YOUR experiences and observations concerning YOUR life; whereas judgment is based on your understanding of others’ experiences in their lives without you having knowledge of their individual experiences and observations.
It is not our job to judge others, but we can discern what is good for us or not. By daily and consistently aligning ourselves with the spirit of truth we come to learn the rules of living and we will begin to respond automatically to distractions from unfolding our Divine purpose in Divine order. Tune out the distraction and rhetoric of others and their personal and judgmental agendas and focus on manifesting YOUR Divine purpose in Divine order.
Run your own race. Make your own decisions. Be who you were created to be unfettered by the external distractions and conclusions of others. Only when you master this will you be able to live in the flow of Divine order and be joyous with the results. Peace and blessings to you and I hope you win the race! ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
SECOND GUESSING
How many times have you second guessed yourself? You feel down deep inside that you must do something and when it comes time to doing it you hold back. What is it that stops you from doing what you KNOW you need to do? Is it fear of rejection or is it sheer laziness? Is it not being sure or is it that you just don’t care?
Whatever it may be similar situations will keep occurring until you move beyond the situation and make a decision. Taking a stand clears out the clutter from your mind and heart. It allows you to feel that you have taken action and made a move in a direction.
Whether you perceive that direction as ultimately good or bad is another thing altogether; the fact is, you made a move OUT of mediocrity and took a risk in moving forward. The energy and focus you receive from committing yourself to action charges your being with energy and excites your soul.
Move ahead confidently and take the risks you are led to take. You will never know the feeling of joy and accomplishment until you do. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
SEEING FROM A
DIVINE PERSPECTIVE
Why is it that some of us always make important decisions when we cannot see beyond our current situations? Why do we insist upon making major steps when we cannot see around the next corner?
When we are in the valley we cannot see beyond the surrounding mountains. We sometimes feel that because we are in the valley that we will always be there. The time to make major decisions is when we climb to the top of the ‘inner’ mountain and see from a Divine perspective.
How do we ‘see’ from a Divine perspective? We use our imagination to envision ourselves at the ‘top’ of the mountain and trust in the Divine to bring us there. The combination of imagination and Divine trust create our ‘knowingness’ of arriving at our destination; this is Divine expectation.
Becoming whom and what we were created to be is accomplished by embracing our Divine purpose and allowing Divine guidance to unfold that purpose in Divine order. We don’t need to see beyond the next corner when we completely trust in the Divine. After all, the journey to the mountaintop is the destination; fulfilling our Divine purpose while sharing love with all. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
SIDESTEPPING YOUR VALUES
When you sidestep your values to accomplish your goals you are sending a clear message to the omniverse. You are basically saying that what you have learned to value is not important to the manifestation of your goals and that your ego is truly in command.
You have learned many lessons in your life that have molded and shaped your value system. Your values are your thoughts, beliefs, actions and behaviors working in tandem that are worthy to you, imbue excellence, manifest usefulness or create importance to you as a person. If you sacrifice these values to ‘shortcut’ to the manifestation of your goals you are tainting the outcome of their fruition.
How is this possible? Because your values reveal what you have learned is right for ‘YOU’! Denying what the Divine has given you interrupts the flow of love into the manifestation of your goals. Truly being One with whom and what you are is revealed in the implementation of your value system into the manifestation of your innermost dreams and Divine desires.
Living from your value system creates the alignment of your Divine purpose with Divine order. The Divine has blessed you with grace, individual talents and your values to align yourself with the expression of love into the omniverse. Why go against the grain? ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW
In this moment you have created everything in your life and can now reflect on it. Are the reflections clear? Or are they nebulous? You are in a place right now where you can choose to be whom and what you were created to be; right here, right now.
All of your past experiences have been in how to handle this moment. Why don’t you listen to the silence, see the stillness and feel the peace of this moment? Is there ANYTHING more important than this moment? The NOW is where you make the choices to unfold your Divine purpose in Divine order. What choices are you making?
Are you fulfilling your Divine purpose? Are you paying attention to the unfolding of the Spirit of God within you? If you aren’t, it’s OK. The first step is to recognize this and the next is to act accordingly to become whom and what you were created to be.
Trust in Divine guidance and traverse the journey from self to SELF and experience the peace, joy and understanding of complete and utter fulfillment. Thank you, God, for this awareness. Thank you for your ongoing blessings in my life. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
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