Thou Art God

Posted by: Goddess of Java

That pantheistic, mystical “Thou art God!” chorus that runs through the book is not offered as a creed, but as an existentialist assumption of personal responsibility, devoid of all godding. It says, “Don’t appeal for mercy to God the Father up in the sky, little man, because he’s not at home and never was at home, and couldn’t care less. What you do with yourself, whether you are happy or unhappy–live or die–is strictly your business and the universe doesn’t care. In fact, you may be be the universe and the only cause for your troubles. But, at best, the most you can hope for is comradeship with comrades no more divine (or just as divine) as you are. So quit sniveling and face up to it — “Thou art God!”

– October 21, 1960 Robert A. Heinlein to Lurton Blassingame

Grumbles from the Grave, Virginia G. Heinlein, ed.

 

It’s all your creation.

No, really, it is. Your entire life is what you made it.

No, don’t tell me how rotten your parents were to you, or tell me horror stories about bad partners. Not saying that what got done to you might not have sucked. It probably did. I’ve heard some horror stories in my time and I am genuinely sorry for anyone who has had a rough time. I ain’t trying to blow off the fact that things happen that really are terrible.

Thing is, no matter what got done to you, what you did with it is actually what makes your life.

And what makes your life is utterly, totally and completely up to you.

You’re free. Right now. In this very second, you are completely free to choose what you want to do with your life.  You might feel like this is not so, but I promise you that who you are, where you are and what you are is due to the choices you made.   If you do not like any of these things, you are free to make different choices to change them.

“Free to choose” does not mean that your choice will be easy, or the execution of a particular desire will be automatic. That’s where a lot of people trip up. They think if it ain’t easy, or if it’s got a heavy price, then they aren’t really free.  Many times, choices can have a heavy price, indeed.  But don’t think you can escape the price of your choices.

Friends, life doesn’t work that way.

“‘Thou art God.’ It’s not a message of cheer and hope, Jubal. It’s a defiance–and an unafraid unabashed assumption of personal responsibility… But I rarely put it over… The notion that the effort has to be their own… and that all the trouble they are in is of their own doing.. is one they can’t or won’t entertain.”

Thing is, even if you do accept this personal responsibility, there’s one more great nasty pitfall waiting for you.

Guilt.

God, what a horrid, poisonous little barb that can be. You can choose to be paralyzed by it. You have one more escape clause if you want to avoid taking responsibility for yourself. You can choose to hate yourself, and not act because you’re so rotten — because you made such bad and foolish and unloving and unworkable choices.  You can hate yourself down into your bones for how terrible you are, and then you can be paralyzed from acting and wave your bleeding wounds like a flag.

If you think I’m saying that self hatred is a form of procrastination and laziness, you’re very right. It is. Hating yourself is a block to change, or trying to weasel out of accepting what is. Think about it, if I want to be able to bench press 40 lbs, and I can only bench 12, hating myself is not going to help. Lifting that 12 lbs until it’s easy and then lifting something that’s heavier is what’s going to do the real good. The only thing self-hatred and guilt is going to do is give you a socially acceptable excuse not to try.  People pity those in pain, as they should, but sometimes it’s weaseling. It also lets you avoid confronting the idea that maybe you don’t particularly want to work on whatever it is you feel guilty about. Me? I say step up to the plate and admit you don’t want to work on whatever it is and let it go. You’re already dealing with the consequences of your choices, so what the hell?

It’s a very freeing feeling to realize that everything you do, you choose to do. It’s also a great way to get rid of the guilt monster.

Not too long ago, one of my kids was ill and up a lot in the night. I got very little sleep attending to the child. Now, I normally get up around 0500 so that I can be at the gym to work out when it opens¹. I chose not to go and swim that morning. Not “I was up with a sick child and could not go”. I chose not to go. Conscious. Decided. Understanding the consequences. <grin> I also chose to lose sleep to attend to the child². Because I knew these were conscious choices, I did spend my time frustrated at what was going on, but simply dealt with what was in front of me free from any anger or resentment at loss of sleep.

Tonight, I am choosing to have my favorite Appletini.  As a beginning bodybuilder, I know that alcohol adds excess calories that do nothing to help build muscles — indeed is catabolic to them, and suppresses the testosterone I need to build muscle, while preventing fat metabolism.  I accept this choice.  I will never look like a fitness model choosing this.  And I am choosing to enjoy my drink.  Because I am choosing it with open eyes, I have the opportunity to look at it free of guilt and self hatred and any of that foolishness.

Facing up to the fact that everything you do is something you’re choosing can be difficult. Sometimes you learn some not so flattering things about yourself³. Sometimes you take a good, hard look and realize you’ve been making some choices that are very pleasing to you, indeed.

But in all ways it is freeing. It frees you from resentment, because you accept that everything you do is a choice. How can you resent someone else if you’re the one choosing? It frees you to act with wisdom because you’re conscious that every minute you’re choosing your behavior, and constructing your future.

¹I’m not really all that fond of working out, but I want to get stronger. So I choose to go early and get it out of the way so I don’t wind up wasting time making excuses.

²Of course it was a choice. People do choose not to look after their children, after all. It’s not a choice I admire, but it’s a choice.

³And learning to face up to that without using the escape of self-hatred is quite the challenge!

Hanging out with some friends last night got me thinking about love and everything to do with it and especially why it is such a complicated subject. But most of all WHY DO WE FEAR IT SO MUCH?

 Now, unlike the title suggests, I'm not going to even try and describe the definition of Love, many better writers and philosophers then me have tried and failed.

Love, obviously is something that brings us together, yet so many of us are hurt by love, hurt by the people we love, hurt by the people that love us, and have very painful memories of everything in between. Why does love end up so often being so painful? Why do so many suffer for love? And does it truly have to be this way?

I am not speaking primarily of romantic love, but then what other kinds of love are there? There is friendship love, there is closeness love, there is tough love and soft love. For some reason when we all think of love we think of the pink fluffy love. Whenever people start talking about "sharing the love" and "make love not war" and other such Hippie ideas we get this pink bunnies and pink ruffles picture in out mind.

Obviously love is not just about oochy-coochie lovable fury animals and such mushy things that repulses the majority of us (aside from the first three dates) and is a great insult to us manly men. Indeed the idea of any kind of affection seems to scare the majority of us off! Why is this? Why do the words "I love you" make too many of us queez inside and make us hit the deck?

No, I do not have an answer. Maybe it makes us feel strange? Maybe we're afraid of change? Or perhaps it is a fear of it not being how we imagines it, or maybe it will be EXACTLY as we imagined it!

The ghosts and demons that haunt all of us are beyond my vision. I do know that we all have our reasons to fear love and many of these reasons are very good ones at that! But they will still keep us away from love, and at the end of it all we all want to feel loved and wanted by someone. And no, none of us can deny it.

Now something interesting to point out is that the different expressions of love are numerous beyond imagine. We might be afraid of it, but we cannot help but feel it (as we are all human) and we will also feel a need to expresses it, no matter what. How is this? The punch on the arm, the playful tackle, throwing snow or leaves (depending on the season). Remember pulling that girl's pigtails in fifth grade? So much that we do to other people is simple a show of affection in disguise. How often do you see real close bros tackle one another for no real reason? Just an excuse to touch each other, admit it.

We've been socially conditioned to hide love, out of fear and hate, to the point where it is almost horrific to tell another person that we love them. Admitting to trying to bring more love to New York is a strange and alien idea. But there is no love to bring, it is already there! We just need to learn not to fear it, allow ourselves to let it out and not get scared we will turn into fuzzy-wuzzy cuddle bunnies (no, love will note do that to you).

Spreading love is not just about knowing how to give it, but also knowing how to receive it! Because everyone expresses love differently, and we have to be ready to receive it just as much as we are ready to give it, and keep in mind that not everyone (not many, for that matter) know how to give OR receive love.

One small note on the subject of anger and hate, these are not opposite emotions to love, as many sources will pose. They are not on any kind of spectrum, indeed it is quite possible to feel all these emotions at the same time. Love, hate and anger are all different emotions and conflict with each other none at all.

Now to finish this article I'd like to share with you this video that comes to us from Another Gulliver Production. ENJOY!

Last couple of weeks we've been doing a LOT of work on the new LightSource website and creating a new place to play. Check it out at www.lightsourcemovement.com and sign up for our newsletter updates.

"Free Advise" if you do not know what that means I suggest you go to New York City and walk around a bit, maybe you'll see a young man dressed up nicely walking around with a big sign saying "free advice" walk up to him and ask him what are the five greatest tips to keeping your life on track.

But as I know the grand majority of you won't do it I'll just give you the five tips right now:

1. Always keep your mind on your target-

you have to know what your target is. In any given circumstance you have to know what your goals are before you set off to complete them. 

In Alice in Wonderland, Alice comes to a cross roads and is trying to figure out which path to take. Enter the Cheshire Cat, who suggests he could help her on her way.
"Which way should I take" asks Alice,
"Well, that depends where you want to go" He replies.
"Well, it doesn't really matter to me" says Alice.
"Then it doesn't matter which path you take!" Advises the cat.

So often I hear people saying how they fail to do something, yet when asked they find it troubling to describe what success is. Always know what your goal is, and how you know when you reach it, the better defined it is the better. Work towards a general goal will never get it done, and not knowing exactly what it is will never give you the tools to complete it.

2. Quick decisions are good decisions-

Putting too much time into making a decision is never good, you just end up standing in the same place. Not making a decision is a refusal to move forward and it opens up space for others to make the decision for you, which as easy as it will make things for you it is NOT what you want.
Quick decisions will send you forward, and even if it's not the right decision you will have realized that path is wrong and you will have learned from your mistakes.
So many people fear making the wrong decision. It is a fear that was built into us ever since we were young kids. But it really is not all that terrible making a bad decision, life goes on and we get many more opportunities in the future. We shouldn't beat ourselves up so much over bad decisions we've made, only focus on getting it right the next time and learning the lesson that needed to be learned.
It has actually been scientifically demonstrated that making quick decisions tend to bring out the right decisions, and that computer less data actually helps make a good decision rather than negate our thinking ability. Just leave it up to your subconscious mind and let your conscious mind let loose it's worries.

3. Always ask what you can be doing with your time-

This is a switch from the "can't do" attitude to the "can do" attitude. Most people will focus on the elements blocking them from their goals. While many self help gurus advise to face these barriers and see what you can do to get rid of them, I advise you to focus not on what you can't do at the moment, but at what you can be doing with the resources you have and with the time that you have instead of waisting it.
So often do people end up doing nothing because they fall under the mentality of "I can't do anything right now" when they could be doing something, even if it is not the biggest thing. When you have a goal, but you can't do anything about it at the moment use your time to do a side project until you do have the time or resources to focus on your original goal. Your time is precious, use it wisely. You shouldn't need me to tell you that.

4. Take things one step at a time-

People are not meant to multitask, juggling more than one task at a time will make you end up completing none of them. When you keep things in order they tend to get done quicker. When you are working on a task focus on it alone until you are ready to move on to the next. Attempting to focus on more than one task at a time will only stress you without getting the job done.

5. Don't get in the habit of waiting for the right moment-

Waiting is a bad habit, the worst of them all. So often will you hear people saying that they are "waiting for the right moment to take action". Waiting is a habit and once you get into it it is very hard to get out of and you'll end up with the right moment passing you by without you even raising a finger. While this present moment might really not be the right time to take action you can put yourself into the habit of taking action and thus preparing yourself for the right moment of taking action.

Today I made it my daily mission to make people happy. It is something I should make a mission of every day.
I have this thing that I have a mission every day. I wake up and decide that today I will tell someone I love them, or do two hundred push-ups before the day is over. I recommend you adopt this habit for yourselves too.
Making people happy is not an easy task, everyone seems to be so unhappy. What makes people so unhappy? I do not know. Am I happy? For the most of the time- yes, I am very happy. But happiness is not something I seek.

To understand how to be happy you first have to understand what happiness is. Most people believe that happiness is something you have to find or get, something only other people or other things can give you. This is high quality french fertilizer- bullshit.

People will seek happiness in their jobs and relationships. People will chase after women and money to find happiness. Some will even go after drugs and addictions to find happiness and do not find it there. That is because happiness cannot be found in a job or in money. It can't be found in friends and family, it can't be found in relationships and women and sex. It can't be found in medication or drugs or addictions. Is it any wonder then that so many people are so unhappy? They waist their time looking for happiness in places that it does not exist.

Well, where can you find happiness then? Look at happiness any way you want to. Look for the explanation of happiness in philosophy and religion. Look at it ethically spiritually, scientifically, biologically, neurologically or chemically. Any way you look at it, every places you find an explanation for it you will find the same answer every time! Happiness is only in the mind and body, exists there, is created there and is found there. It is, like every other thing in your world, a thought going through your mind.

What is the simplest way to be happy? You CHOOSE to be happy. Give yourself the happiness you seek.

By thinking that you are happy, by BELIEVING you are happy, you will be happy! That is all it takes. Because being happy is a mindset, it is a way of thinking, and it is a way of thinking anyone can use at any time anywhere. If you choose to be happy you can be happy no matter what goes on around you.

And being happy is more than just feeling good. Getting into the habit of letting yourself be happy is healthy and productive. Being happy releases endorphins into your bloodstream which heal you faster and make your mind and body work better. faster and healthier. Being happy will help you solve problems quicker and more easily and it will help you get through crises with more ease.

It has been scientifically proved that happy people live longer and healthier lives! It is time that you CHOOSE to let that happen to you, you have no reason not to.

So today you should make it your mission to let yourself be happy, extremely happy, head over heals unreasonably insanely happy about something today. Exaggerate that happiness on that one thing and see how that makes you feel.

I'm sitting here alone,
by choice, not from desperation.
It is my own doing why I'm here,
Yet I do not know why I chose this.

The mysteries of life, the mind the heart,
evade me wherever I turn,
and no matter how deep I delve,
it is still beyond my grasp.

This is where my heart has brought me
This is where I want to be,
I seek the pain, I relish the suffering
and still I ache for them to leave.

My words mean nothing, I let them bleed.
Crimson and black upon the page.
I bleed my soul upon this paper,
pretending that it might heal the pain.

I know not what I'm doing, or where I will go,
I know nothing of what I'm writing now.
My mind is racing, my heart is numb,
My fingers sore of writing things down.

I no longer know how to express myself,
what words to use to make you laugh or cry.
You are mine, my love for all eternity
yet at the present moment you are gone.

my friends, my peers, enjoy me terribly,
they wish me close, for all the wrong reasons.
It id not pleasant company that I seek,
it is the touch of those who I love.

I write these words without thinking
no control to what spills out.
My mind is black, my heart is tired,
I will now put this empty pen down.

There are seven billion people on this planet, out of them you are one.
There are a hundred billion stars in this galaxy, out of them you are one.
There are a billion billion galaxies in this universe, out of them you are one.

You are one, and you have the strength and power of just one person. You entire life is worth nothing in comparison to even the local universe we live in. If you were to die tomorrow life and existence will go on without so much as a stir or a stutter. This is a fact.

An untold trillion other people have lived and died living in the system. Their entire lives spent pursuing common themes of food, sex and money. the grand vast majority of humanity devote their life to staying afloat and getting enough means to reached the next day and the next.

We are spending our lives waiting for the next moment to come and pass. This is your life, and it is ending one minute at a time. In most likelihood it will be so to the end. Passively watching things go by, never taking chances, never taking risks for fear of failure, for fear of losing that which we have and living the rest of our life in shame.

I say ENOUGH OF THIS! Stop living your life like this, for it is not truly living. Stop fearing death, for it is inevitable. Death will come no matter what you do, and it will come to everyone when their time is up! You must not fear death, you must be thankful of it for it is the only certainty you'll ever get in life.

Cast away your fears, take your hesitations and squash them down to the size of a grain of rice. Take your dreams and hidden desires and paint them in large pictures wherever you can. Make your goals your only objectives. Forget about surviving, that is cheap. Start living and fighting! SUCCEED, for the only alternative is failure. Death is better then failure. If you strive to SUCCEED you will never falter, as long as you have breath in you fight on to get what you want and what you dream of.

SUCCEED OR DIE TRYING! That is the only way to be alive.

 

I will not die:

I will not die!
Not wind or hail
will bring me down
or break my sail.

I will not die!
These broken wings
still carry me afar
expect many things.

I will live on
and embrace the heat,
of torches many
from the deep.

I will live on,
and fight the day
when spirits break
and are ruled by dismay.

This fire, this life
so hot so fierce,
yet still dim compared
to the one within.

My life, my soul
forever strong,
will continue to endure
be it right or wrong.

For even though
I have you here,
it is the voice deep inside
which I always hear.

THOU ART GOD!

Copywrite © 2008 Solomon Seagal

This amazing interview with Edgar Mitchell, one of the Apollo astronauts who walked on the moon gave this amazing interview where he admits that NASA and the US government has been maintaining contact with intelligent beings of another planet!

This is the time I want to stop and say I TOLD YOU SO! In your face doubters. This is just the beginning. We are at a turning point here, in these years, where the truth will no longer be able to be held back. We are on the verge of Singularity, my friends, there is no longer any reason to doubt, although it might still be hard to believe. The world is on the edge of vast change, and we have to get ready for the excitement.

What will happen from this point on? Where will this go? This is a choice that is left up to us.