Leave your past in 2008.

 

As we approach the end of another year people start to think about their New Year’s Resolutions. Some say they want to loose weight, while others want to take up a new hobby or job, some even make bold statements like, I want to change who I am. I can’t help but think these are all doomed to failure unless we leave our past in the past.

It is a fact most people drag the past around like a ball and chain. This past colours their view of everyday life and limits the ability to truly live life. So despite the fact we may enter a whole new year, within a few days we have dragged all our past into it and nothing changes.

Every addiction and negative thought we hold is because of our past, we carry our ‘sins’ with us like a cross which we crucify ourselves on daily. The funny thing is most of the time we don’t even know we are doing it. Nothing can ever change for us until we can see we are not the person we where.

The past can destroy our now and our future if we let it. We see this on the world stage day in day out as our ‘great’ religions battle over the same things they have done for hundred of years. Countries still hate other countries for wars that where fought in the past. Even in the UK history gets in the way of the Scottish, English and welsh being one nation.

Inside us we battle the past daily, things that where said and done to us, things we did and said play over and over again. The Christian concept of sin is a powerful sick which we beat ourselves with, even if we have never been to church that mindset runs through the very heart of western society.  Our ‘evil’ deeds no matter how mild stay with us day in day out eating away at our soul. We so want to confess who we really are to the people we meet but society does not hold the truth in hi esteem, compassion and forgiveness are not things practiced in our modern world.

How often do we see our leaders and media stars persecuted for things that have been dug up in their past, society expects payment for past sins and often great people are forced to step down from positions because of long forgotten acts. This then sends a clear message to us to keep quite about anything we may have done in the past that friends and family may find objectionable . So we live a lie and we never escape our past because we are in fear people may  discover who we really are. What they don’t know won’t hurt them, but boy is it killing some of us.

As Jack Nicholson said in A Few Good Men ‘you want the truth you can’t handle the truth’ and he was right, we can’t handle the truth about our loved ones our leaders our stars our country our history. No one is perfect yet we all demand perfection from everyone we meet what a mess we have gotten ourselves in.

Obviously not all past is dark and sinister much of it seems to be good  but over time good becomes great and then we find ourselves sounding like our parents dwelling on the good old days. In truth what has gone before was never that great, we simply see the past through rose tinted glasses this does us a great disservices as everything is measured against our past and found lacking. So once again even our good past appears most of the time to have a negative effect on our daily lives …….

I’m sure many of you will disagree with what I have said but I can assure you this new years eve I intend to mentally grab my past by the throat and throw it away once and for all and while that will be far from easy to do it will be far more beneficial that all the other Resolutions I’ve made over my life and not kept.

How do News readers sleep at night?

I was wondering how news readers sleep at night. Everyday they spin a web of fear based news that cripples society’s growth and stunts hope and joy. Do they truly believe that there is only bad news in the world? That everyday the planet truly goes without any good deeds to report. No lives are saved, no jobs are created and no eco developments are rolled out and proved to work.

If we are to believe the media the Middle East has not a single positive story to tell, it is just a 24/7 battlefield devoid of love and compassion. We all know deep down that this can’t be true, yet we don’t object to the propaganda and stereotyping we are fed.

For every negative news report that traumatizes the nation there is an equally positive tale to tell, sadly they obviously have no interest in that as they say ‘if it bleeds, it leads’. How can people with such a polarized views of the world be considered award winning journalists? Conspiracy theory would have us believe its because they serve the hidden powers need to keep the public in disempowered fear, so they can enforce more and more laws that eat away at our freedom and privacy. This is an argument that is becoming harder and harder to mock.

I would suggest all major news readers review their place in life and ask the question, are they adding to the fabric of society or causing it to rip apart. If they truly believe all news is bad news then their judgements should be put into question. I find it amazing that society will not let kids watch violent films yet its perfectly ok for them to be fed this distorted view of our planet day in day out.

It could be said that our news is every bit as morally corrupt as the news in that brilliant film V for Vendetta. If you have never seen the film watch it, for if we continue along this negative pathway it could become our reality sooner than we think (some would say it already has).

Turn off the news and go and do something to lighten and enlighten your heart and soul.

 

A Course in Miracles upon a Christmas day

It’s just about 6am on Christmas day as I write this and I have been up for an hour or so. My walk with max the dog this morning was wonderful, the sky was clear and so the stars were visible and a joy to see. Unlike most mornings at 5am (My new time for walking max) not one car past me in fact apart from an over eager cockerel (rooster) crowing away there was silence all around. I got to thinking what my blog for today should be about and I decided that I would write on the ‘Course in Miracles’. Now before I start I should clarify I’m not trying to sell you the book or the ideas in it. It matters not to me what you think of the book and I know for many reactions as usual will range from profound wonder to utter disbelief and ridicule. I have A great many books which I reference and this is just one of them.

Very few people I have met in the UK have ever heard of ‘A Course in Miracles’ and those that have usually say something like yes I tried to read it but I gave up it was too difficult. I would agree the book is far from easy especially as a large section of it is written in Shakespearean iambic pentameter and also the whole concept of the book is a bit of a mind bender to say the least. I will not go into detail about how the book came about as you can watch the video posted below or reference the links. What I will say is that this book is basically a channelled work, so I know many people will brush it aside as stuff and nonsense. When you look through history much of what we now take as true from religious books to scientific theory to even the worlds great inventions came from out of nowhere so to speak. So I think it is far more important to listen to what is being said rather than focusing on how and why the words and ideas came into being.

Here are some of the great lines in the book for me, but as the whole book text & workbook runs well over a 1,000 pages this is just the tip of the iceberg…

‘Seek not to change the world, but choose to change your mind about the world.’

‘Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists’

‘All thoughts have power. They cannot be without effect.’

‘The ego seeks to divide and separate.  Spirit seeks to unify and heal’

‘No one can suffer loss unless it be his own decision. No one can grieve, nor fear, nor think him sick unless these are the outcomes that he wants. And no one dies without his own consent.  Nothing occurs but represents your wish, and nothing is omitted that you choose. Here is your world, complete in all details. Here is its whole reality for you. And it is only here salvation lies.’

If you have tried to read the book before but have not been able to grasp it, maybe these authors’ books which reference the courses ideas maybe able to help you:-

A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of “A Course in Miracles”: Marianne Williamson:- http://www.marianne.com/
Disappearance of the Universe Gary Renard :- http://www.garyrenard.com/
If book reading is not your thing then this podcast could be worth a listen as I found it helpful A Crash Course in Miracles ‘A cloud does not put out the sun’ by Philip Urso Find the podcast on Itunes or here:- http://removebarriers.libsyn.com/
Here is the Courses main website: http://www.acim.org/index.html

Finally I will leave you with this old documentary on ‘A Course in Miracles’ make of it what you will. Have a great day!
Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

part 4

Part 5

part six

Christmas Eve a personal view point

As a Child I was bought up a Christian by default through a junior school system that was heavily Church of England, so I know the meaning of Christmas. Now as a man, my belief system deifies description and spans many faiths and beliefs. The core elements being drawn from Zen Buddhist, Hinduism, Paganism, New Ageism and I fully embrace all the most positive elements from the Christian, Muslim and Jewish worlds. This looks like I’m sitting on the fence but it just means I chose to see what connects us and not what separates us. I recoil at all dogmatic teachings and fanatics who can not see anyone else’s view point (sadly many atheists fall into that category) but as usual I digress.

Christmas Eve was always my favourite part of Christmas. I remember as a small child sitting on the window sill singing my favourite hymns at the top of my voice looking for Santa in the snow (Yes it did snow in those days)

Now I still see it as metaphoric time of hope and birthing of knowledge and the ways of the Christ. For while many say Jesus the man never existed, the wisdom and values of the Christ can not be easily brushed aside for they represent what is the best possible side of us. A side of us that knows not of cynicism, lack, fear, hate, or separation ….having a Christ nature is not the same as being a Christian, just as having a Buddha nature is not the same as being a Buddhist.

So as I walk around the shops this morning as I like to do every Christmas Eve, I will seek not to judge or label. I will try to see the Christ nature within all I meet. This is far from easy but on the Eve of the birth of history’s ultimate metaphor for good ~not a better thing to do.

Here’s hoping, no matter what you do or don’t believe, that this Eve you can embrace all that is good in humanity… Merry Christmas one and all.

Living Dialogues and Beyond Reason

As you will know I’m a big fan of podcast as I feel they play a important part in expanding the mind beyond the dross that is the main stream media. For those of us in the UK who are into Non-Aligned spirituality, podcast are a easy and most of the time free way to expand our horizons. Two podcast which I very much enjoy listening to are Living Dialogues with Duncan Campbell and Beyond Reason with Teddy Bart and  Karlen Evins. Both programs are very professional produced and both never fail to have some very enlightened and thought provoking guests on them. Sometimes I guess the topics on these programs may be a little Americanized for some ears , but I have no doubt that in general you will find these podcast’s a breath of fresh air.

While you maybe in what I call a spiritual comfort zone, I feel all of us must keep our eyes and ears open to new ways of seeing things. Unless we can embrace other ideas or the very least understand them, we will never grow as people and will be doomed to repeat the darkest moments of history again and again. If you truly see yourself on a spiritual path of self discovery you will not reject any concepts or favour one system over another until you have opened your heart and mind to all possibilities. Also you should not use ‘Computer competence’ as an excuse for not being able to listen to these free programs.

Here is just a small list of some of the guests who have been on Living Dialogues over the past few years :- Eckhart Tolle, Deepak Chopra, Rupert Sheldrake, Byron Katie, Marianne Williamson

You can find out more info about this free program at http://www.livingdialogues.com/

Here is just a small list of some of the guests and topics that have been on  Beyond Reason over the past few years :- Neale Donald Walsch, Gregg Braden, living in the now, Mayan predictions, indigo children, UFO sightings, Remote viewing

You can find out more info about this free program at http://www.beyondreason.com

Or better still get the free itunes program on your PC or mac and sign up to these programs through that.
See my blog on itunes and podcasts here :-

http://tonypinfold.wordpress.com/2008/07/04/what-is-a-podcast-how-to-listen-to-one/

So if you want to escape to a world of new ideas and possibilities give these podcast’s a listen. Enjoy

STOP! Waiting for approval

When I look back over my life so far (42 years) I find that much of it was wasted waiting for approval. This need for approval is a very disempowering trait as it holds back creativity and forces us to conform to family and social patterns that many times do not take into account our individual abilities or wishes. It is a fact that no matter what you do in life or how sensitive you may be to others you will always upset someone. The human race is so I’m told in excess of 6 billion people and I would contend than not one of those 6 billion people could agree on everything or in most cases anything. While I believe that ‘We are all One’ as I have said before this does not negate our own personalities in this worldly realm. In fact without our own sparks of individual thought our planet would have stagnated long ago.

I would suggest that unless we break free from our need for approval or support for how we live, our lives can never really represent our true spirit. We will all only be what others want and so despite our apparent freedoms we will always be slaves to others ideals and standards.

I think an example of what I am talking about is required.

Lets say you wish to become an artist be it a musician, painter or photographer. Your standard way to do this is to learn it via a school or collage or video, magazines etc. What does this ultimately mean? It means that from the outset you will be molded to create in a certain style, All personal ideas and techniques are overlooked in a decree that says you shall paint, play like this. Many people will say yes but you have to learn the basics before you can find your own styles. And I would agree to this up to a point but let’s take photography which I know a little bit about. Time and time again I have seen amazing photos taken by people who don’t know an ISO from a f-stop yet they take wonderful photos because they love the subject matter or they are in tune with the moment.

Purists would say yes but they exercised no skill they just pressed the button and took a picture and it was pot luck. I know a photographer who must be the luckiest man alive as he takes wonderful pictures time and time again but know nothing of the working of the camera he just see a great picture. He has never had a photography lesson in is life and I hope he never does. Mind you, he does not make this common knowledge for fear for rejection.

Now put this man in a room of photographers and he would be made to feel a fool, but put him in a room of people who love to buy his style of photography and he would feel right at home and he would also receive respect and support for what he does. Now the whole point of this is if he was waiting for approval from the photography fraternity he still be waiting but the fact is he just went out and did it and now he makes a good living. On the other foot I know another photographer who takes photos that would blow the guy I have been talking about out of the water. But despite pleas from friends and family he doesn’t think his work is good enough to sell. He draws this conclusion from the fact he hasn’t yet got some piece of paper saying he is a photographer. This is complete bollocks to my mind. I and most people I know like the art, photography, music they do just because they do and not because of the qualifications the person that produces the work has achieved.

Stop right now and think are you holding yourself back because of some social protocol. Do you believe that you are what a piece of paper says you are? Do you think that the way things are done is the only way. Do you believe that what we know is the truth …then think again and again for time and time again the established way of thinking, seeing and doing as be shattered by people who refused to see things the way they were or wait for approval of their peers.

Below My Artwork ‘Doubt’ – The destroyer of dreams

Hallelujah for the Alexandra

Last night I did something I have never done before under my own will – I watched X-factor!!! I have to say that while much of the program made me cringe I was captivated by the voice of Alexandra. If you stripped away all the glitz and over produced dross of the program here was a girl that could sing and was singing from the very core of her spirit. It was refreshing to see Simon Cowell generally gob smacked when faced with true pure talent. It was also wonderful to see a girl who truly wasn’t able to really take the night’s event in by displaying genuine gratitude and shock.

I have not become an x-factor convert and I may never watch the program again. But last night bolstered the soul and proved to me that maybe Britain can tell quality when it sees it ….I was soo pleased for this girl that I brought the track on Itunes this morning. Over the coming months I have no doubt the cynical media will do is best to destroy this young lady or belittle what she achieved but that is just the yin and yang of life.

In just a few hours Alexandra probably experienced more pure emotion than most of us will in lifetimes, but her experience would have lifted all but the coldest of souls. So I have to say well done X-factor for showing us some wonderful reality for a change. Finally I won’t resent X-factor being number one for Christmas. Hallelujah!!!