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You Must Live by Faith

admin — Sun, 19 May 2013 12:53:20 +0000

What is Faith?

“It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is evidence of things we cannot yet see.” Hebrews 11:1

This is what a true christian lives by – faith.

Many people don’t believe in God the creator because they cannot see him. Even the Israelites that Moses led out of Egypt lacked faith from time to time. They even built an image to worship when they got impatient after Moses went up to Mount Sinai. This is what we do sometimes, when our patience runs out because God does not seem near, we falter in faith.

“So you see, it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that there is a God and that he rewards those who sincerely seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6

We must live by faith and not by sight. Anything you want for your life can be achieved if you just have faith.

Now don’t confuse faith with wishful thinking. It is not a matter of sitting around waiting for things to happen, but by working toward making it happen. But while you are working, you are praying and believing. Some things just take a little time, and there may even be times when we don’t get what we want, but that does not mean that God is not with us.

God promised Abraham that he would be a father of many nations. Abraham did not live to see this happen, but it did happen because God promised. Some of the things we hope for may not happen in our lifetime, but it still can happen and benefit our loved ones. God does things His own way and we should not question it.

However there are some things that you do need to wait on God for. Perhaps you are terminally ill, then you need to have faith that God can heal you. It takes a little faith to make big things happen.

“I assure you, even if you had faith as small as a mustard seed you could say to this mountain, ‘move from here to there’, and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.” Matthew 17:20

Have you ever seen a mustard seed? It is very small indeed. So imagine what you could do with a whole lot of faith.

We must live by faith for you see, we will not always get what we want in this life, and we have to face trials and challenges that we sometimes don’t understand, but there is a higher reward awaiting us.

“Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of highest privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.” Romans 5:2

In God’s Kingdom we will be rewarded for all our faith and patience. We should not be anxious about anything but continually trust in God for all our needs.

The Unbelievable Truth by Gordon Smith

admin — Sun, 19 May 2013 10:53:20 +0000

There have been many books written by psychics but this has got to be one of the more credible. Gordon Smith has been hailed as Britain’s most accurate medium. I saw him at a theatre in Birmingham and clearly the audience were astonished at the detailed factual information he gave that was confirmed by the individuals he was talking to.

Of course our western culture tends to be sceptical about anything that is not rationally understood and claims such as those by Smith are highly contentious within the world of science. Having said that many people nevertheless embrace paranormal beliefs. Gallup has conducted several polls and found that about three-quarters of the American population believe in the one or more paranormal processes.

The author comments on how amazing it is to watch the reaction on someone’s face when a certain piece of evidence comes through from the other side. It can put a light back on in a person’s life. One example is when he was talking with a woman in her mid-forties who had arranged a half-hour sitting with him. He heard the voice of a young man by his left ear saying ‘Mum I’m here’. Smith passed on his name, how he died and many features of his life. All seemed to be going well until the woman asked about a special code she had arranged with her son before he died. Her face fell when nothing came back.

Smith often looks at a private sitting as the spirit person getting a chance to make a phone call. If we imagine what we would say to our family in what might be a one-off call, it would probably not be a very measured and concise conversation. For me his sitter exemplifies the sceptical attitude of many. Despite all the evidence that it was her son who was present, she still disbelieved. However, finally as she stood up to depart, he heard her son suddenly call out the word ‘clover’.

“At this she stared at me, shocked. Tears began to run down her cheeks.”

This was the code that they had agreed upon.

I approached this book aware of Emanuel Swedenborg’s warnings about the dangers of open communication with spirits. In books about the history of modern spiritualism considerable space has been given to Swedenborg because of his voluminous writings detailing his extraordinary experiences of spirits including evil spirits who wish to cause harm.

This links in with the attitude of Christians who have traditionally been wary of contacting spirits. And so I asked myself ‘Why has Smith not come a cropper through contact with malicious spirits? How advisable is it to have any truck with psychics such as those who apparently believe what the spirits are saying?’

I have come to think that genuine mediums such as Smith who are seeking to bring comfort to the bereaved and hope in a future reunion are protected by a divine force. If you open yourself to the psychic realm in the right spirit of care and concern for others then you’ll get the right spirit coming to you. Smith points out that mediums do not call up the dead. “On the contrary, the spirit people attract the attention of the particular medium they feel attuned to in order to contact their loved one.”

He writes that he has spent most of his life through his medium-ship trying to convince people there is life after death. “Once we accept that our spirit will live on after death, then comes the question: what is it like in the afterlife? Where do we go? Is there a Heaven and Hell and what qualifies you to go to one or the other?”

The book has a chapter on this. He points out that many people fear that loved ones who have led less than perfect lives are held in some ‘dark Hell realm’. This applied to an occasion in 1966 during a private sitting with a well dressed but sad-looking woman. He heard the voice of a young man in the spirit world telling him that this was his mother. The information came through that Mike had been suffering from AIDS and knew he was going to soon die. One night he had simply decided to take some tablets from the bathroom and end it all rather than involve everyone around him in prolonged emotional suffering. His family had already died a social death with neighbours and so-called friends.

“He told his mother that he was free of his suffering now and that he wanted to stop her from hurting because of what he had done. Such was her state of mind that she had consulted a medium even though it was against her religious beliefs.”

Smith says that the real hell is a state experienced by people who are locked in personal torment. If they grow from the experience of awareness of the wrong they have done then no afterlife judgment is needed. Living with the emotional pain they feel from this is punishment enough.

There is much more in this book published by Hay House, Inc 2004. There for example is also material on mediums and psychics, poltergeists, hauntings, altered states etc. a lot of which I find helpful and credible.

It fits in well with the idea I favour that we are all part of a physical realm and a spirit realm at the same time, and that, as Smith says, the part of us that is the material world is the size of your thumbnail.

The Fortune 500 of the Future – A Book Review

admin — Sun, 19 May 2013 08:53:20 +0000

Things will be different in the future, especially in the business world they say. Well, interestingly enough, they have always said that, and yes, the business world continues to evolve to this day. If this is an interesting topic for you, then I’d sure like to recommend a very good book;

“The Future 500; Creating Tomorrow’s Organizations Today” by Craig R. Hickman and Michael A. Silva, 1987.

The book starts out asking the dubious question who will be on the Fortune 500 list in the next decade. Now mind you, this book was written in 1987 before the book “Built to Last” and it is now over 20 years later the authors picked 20 companies 15 were on top, five no longer exist and of their top ten picks, get this; five are doing okay, too are doing well and three are about had it. The author suggest that in the future General Electric would actually be more like global electric at the rate they’re going, good call.

The authors also cited problems with competition within the team and General Electric, and how that could lead to problematic circumstances in the future – it did, remember the executive shake out when Jack Welch left?

They also suggested there is a new breed of entrepreneurs coming up that they called the “ethical entrepreneurs” and they are accepting social responsibility and changing the companies they work in. And in doing so they are attracting excellent quality team members and employees.

Although these authors made many mistakes in guessing and predicting which companies would be on top in the future, because now is the future and we see that they aren’t, they did predict the global credit crunch, and the challenges with China.

They appeared to have blown it on Enron, and they were on the money with Microsoft etc. I believe it is good to look at what people have said when they made predictions in the past, because it makes us more careful on how we make predictions of the future. Indeed, hope you’ll please consider this.

Vampires and Twentieth Century Literature

admin — Sun, 19 May 2013 06:53:20 +0000

The idea for using vampires as characters in the literary works of the twentieth century was taken from the famous Dracula by Bram Stoker. The novel was then adapted into cinema which was an emerging medium during that time period. Stoker’s work, however, was not restricted to the horror and Gothic novels with the description of ghastly deaths and incidents dealing with the dark.

The twin works of Gustave Le Rogue, published in 1908 and 1909 gave an introduction to science fiction and idea of life on other planets. He depicted creatures with wings and blood sucking fangs living on Mars. This was the first time that the trait of wings was given to vampires and from this trait came the connection of vampires and bats.

The first movie that featured vampires was the one that adapted Dracula into cinema. After that, vampires got more spotlight in horror movies that had gothic themes. Science fiction that included vampires was fairly used in cinema. In 2207, Richard Matheson’s movie, I am Legend was released and it showed nocturnal creatures surviving on the blood of live human beings. This movie also depicted that Vampirism is a result of the wrong doings of human beings and it also shows that developing a cure for it is possible.

There was a great amount of literary work on Vampires in the later half of the twentieth century. Between 1966 and 1971, Barnabas Collins Series, a work by Marilyn Ross was released which became the first to use vampires in literary works in the forms of sequels and series rather than singular novels. Another series called Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice followed it. Literary works in the form of series that had become common in this period continue to be written even to this date as mega series.

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Get it Together – Organize Your Records So Your Family Won’t Have to by Melanie Cullen – Shae Irving

admin — Sun, 19 May 2013 04:53:20 +0000

Unfortunately, I have had far too many phone calls with the spouse or child of a client who has passed away, and the surviving family members know nothing about the deceased’s business matters and so forth. Even those that do form wills or trusts forget to take care of other matters that can be so helpful after a person is gone.

I found the 3rd edition of “Get It Together: Organize Your Records So Your Family won’t Have To” by Melanie Cullen with Shae Irving, J.D. to be a very helpful and practical guide for gathering records and key documents and organizing them for future use. It clearly lays out a method to help you and more importantly, those you leave behind, organize and keep track of essential information and important documents.

The book comes with a CD-ROM that contains all of the forms found in the book in Word format so you can do everything on your computer. For those that don’t want to use a computer, you can copy the forms from the book and use them that way.

The book actually covers a lot of things that most people never think about. I know it contained elements that made me go, yeah, I should do that. The book starts out with a short chapter on the importance of planning and how to use the book and what the planner contains.

The book then contains twenty-eight chapters that relate to the sections of your planner. A person could do every section, or may chose not to do section that are not relevant to their situation. Appendix A shows how to use the CD-ROM. Appendix B provides a little information on finding lawyers or other experts you may need to assist you with your planning. After Appendix B, the following pages are title “My Planner” and consists of twenty-eight forms that you can fill in and once complete will be your planner and record of all your important information. All of these forms are found on the CD-ROM so you could do them on the computer, or print them out if you didn’t want to write in the book or make copies from the book. I noticed in the back of the book that NOLO also sells a binder that has tabbed sections that correspond with the worksheets in this book, so one could purchase that to house the plan once completed.

Now let’s look at the twenty-eight parts of the planner and what they consist of.
1. Letter to Loved Ones. A nice thing to leave to those you love.

2. Instructions. Good basic information about what those you care about should do.
3. Biographical Information.
4. Children. Arranging care, etc.
5. Others Who Depend on Me.
6. Pets and Livestock.
7. Employment. Benefits, etc.
8. Business Interests. Estate planning and other tips for business owners.

9. Memberships. Professional, educational, social, etc.
10. Service Providers. Medical, dental, personal, etc.
11. Health Care Directives.
12. Durable Power of Attorney for Finances.
13. Organ or Body Donation.
14. Burial or Cremation. These and related decisions.
15. Funeral and Memorial Services.
16. Obituary.

17. Will and Trust. Longer chapter with good basic information.
18. Insurance. Types needed, organizing what you have.
19. Bank and Brokerage Accounts.
20. Retirement Plans and Pensions.
21. Government Benefits.

22. Credit Cards and Debts.
23. Secured Places and Passwords.
24. Taxes.

25. Real Estate.

26. Vehicles.
27. Other Income and Personal Property. And finally

28. Other Information.

Each section of the book contains information to help you with that section, and also where to go for additional assistance. The chapters also let you know what should be in your planner. The accompanying forms are easy to fill out and keep that information organized.

Reading through this book made me realize some of the things I’ve neglected to do. If something were to happen to me tomorrow, my family would have difficulty with some of my things. Even though I “know” a lot of this, it is easy to not get to it and let things go. I can see how going through this book and actually making a planner with the included forms would greatly benefit those I leave behind. Just as I think it would benefit anyone. I’ve just added another goal for this year, to complete an important record and essential document planner for myself. I will use “Get It Together” as my guide to do this. I recommend you do the same, and this book is a good resource for doing it.

Comics & Graphic Novels

admin — Sun, 19 May 2013 02:53:20 +0000

You can choose from anime, manga, cartooning, genre, characters, children’s, cult graphic novels, history and of course there are many different series that you can start to read as well. What anime and manga books are out there to read? If you are new to this type of reading or you are just wondering what is available, you have a wide selection to choose from. There is Maison Ikkoku, Nausicaa, Pokemon, Ranma 1 and Sailor Moon. Some of these come in volumes or in a series such as the Pokemon books. This is one of those books that children of all ages seem to love.

Of course, there are volumes and series that not only are for teenagers but for adults alike. Comics such as Batman which includes the Joker and the Dark Knight, Watchmen and of course V for Vendetta seem to be for people of all ages. There are also comics such as V for Vendetta and Dark Entries as well.

What Authors Are Available?

There are many different authors that have written these books. These would include Alan Moore, John Byrne, Warren Ellis, Garth Ennis, Frank Miller, Neil Gaiman, Todd McFarlane, Grant Morrison, Art Spiegelman and Grant Morrison. These authors have published some of the comic books that have become very popular. These include League of Extraordinary Gentleman, The Complete Maus, Watchmen, Batman and V for Vendetta. Some of these comic books have been made into movies which of course has increased their popularity. For those that do not like to read as much, they can catch one of them in a movie.

Cult Graphic Novels

Cult graphic novels tend to be about super hero’s or comic hero’s. You may be wondering who you or what would classify as a cult graphic novel. If you are curious to read about them or know who they are, here are some examples of just what you can get. They include: Astro City, Batman, Hellblazer, Invisibles, Judge Dredd, Justice League of America, Maus, Preacher, Sandman, Sin City, Spawn, Starman, Superman, Swamp Thing, Transmetropolitan, Watchmen, X-Men and of course the classics. Maybe you have read one of these great comics or perhaps you have seen a movie. No matter which you have done, you will be hooked no matter what your age.

The General Population

Now that you have read about some of the more popular types of comics, you may be wondering what is left to read? There are actually quite a few comic books in the general category that are both single editions and volumes. Some of these to select from are The Animators Survival Kit, The Boys (Volumes), 100 Bullets: Wilt, Fables, From Hell, Nemi, Skeleton Key Graphic Novel (Alex Rider), Angel (Volumes) and Lost Girls.

There is something for everyone when it comes to comic books and graphic novels. As stated earlier, you may think that comics are just for the young but as you can see here, there are many different books that are available and at your disposal. But what if you are not sure what to read or how to get the books that are of interest to you?

You can actually join a book club or a discussion group and get the opportunity to talk about a book or books that you have read and that others have read as well. It gives you the opportunity to be able to ask questions about the stories you have read to get answers to parts of the book that may have confused you.

They also give you the chance to give your opinion on the books that you have read as well. It is also a healthy way to have a great debate about a particular section when you feel one way and someone else feels another way. Having the opportunity to be able to discuss your favorite comic books with others gives you the chance to be able to make friends and spend some time speaking with others that understand your passion for comic books.

The Genre

One last category that is very popular is genre. This category actually covers horror, crime, mystery, fantasy, science fiction, super-hero’s and magic. In this category you are going to find the stories that can provide you with the thrills, chills, excitement and guessing. Here you will find books such as Vampire Knight, Angel, Homecoming, Dark Tower, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Sandman, Bleach, 100 Ways to Create Fantasy Figures and Jack of Fables.

All of these books fall under the genre category plus many more. By joining in a group discussion you are going to find other people that are just as interested in this category as you are. This means that you will be able to find someone that you can share your thoughts with about Angel. It is not as though you can walk down the street and just talk to anyone about this.

If you are wondering about what other books are available in the comic and graphic section, just take a look around and you will be able to find many different ones that are available for you and your children to read. Who knows, maybe with a little bit of research and finding out what your kids like to read, you may be able to find something in common and have something that you can share and talk about.

A Success Guidebook for HR Professionals

admin — Sun, 19 May 2013 00:53:20 +0000

Human Resource professionals have long been the butt of workplace jokes and cartoons. It’s difficult to rise above that sort of typecasting, but there is a new book out that might help. From Gatekeeper to Trusted Advisor: Success Strategies for Today’s HR Professional, written by Andria L. Corso, may be just what HR professionals need to learn how to develop trust and communication skills with employees.

From Gatekeeper to Trusted Advisor is a blueprint for success if you’re a human resource professional who wants to become more than a negative force to employees. Rather than dreading a meeting with you, you want employees to enjoy and even pursue advisory time and be unafraid to express their opinions.

Part of the path to become a trusted advisor to employees concerns behavior and another part is about policies that you put into place. Corso is the principal owner of a successful consulting firm – C3 – Corso Coaching & Consulting and developed the strategies for her new book after she read an article about why employees hated HR people.

She realized that despite all of the efforts to turn around the opinions about HR professionals, the goal had yet to be reached. All the books about HR skills, competencies and management styles haven’t worked to change the reputation and negative feedback of employees in the workforce.

Corso has written a comprehensive guideline that includes templates, checklists, forms and tip sheets that readers can use to develop their own methods or follow the yellow brick road of Corso’s methods. You’ll be able to download each of these forms from Corso’s online website after purchasing the book. Whether you’re an HR professional or a business leader, you’ll want to keep it handy on your desk and refer to it periodically.

Find out how to build credibility and how to blend HR departments with other departments in the business so that you all have the same goals and objectives. You’ll also learn behavior patterns and practices that will change the way employees view your profession and transform you into a trusted advisor rather than a negative gatekeeper.

You’ll learn how to stop being perceived as a roadblock and to begin the steps that will turn you into a trusted advisor who is appreciated and respected for the leadership they bring to the business.

From Gatekeeper to Trusted Advisor: Success Strategies for Today’s HR Professional, should be a must-read for HR professionals and business owners or leaders who have an HR team. Corso skillfully leads you through samples of a variety of industries and explains how HR professionals are being viewed – and why employees have developed these viewpoints – whether negative or positive.

Darrin McMahon’s "Happiness" – A History That Ended Too Soon

admin — Sat, 18 May 2013 22:53:20 +0000

Darrin McMahon is an immensely skilled historian and writer. His book, “Happiness… a History” is captivating. Yet, it may have been a single chapter short of being a philosophical landmark. McMahon’s history of happiness reaches back as far as Socrates, takes us through the middle ages, the Enlightenment, and the Post-Enlightenment. He includes an impressive number of protagonists, including (but by no means limited to) Locke, Jefferson, Hume, Marx, Darwin, Nietzsche, and unfortunately, ends his history with Sigmund Freud. How much more replete and uplifting his book would have been if McMahon had elected to include the man who discovered the most happy and productive people in the world, Abraham Maslow.

Maslow did not contest Freudian psychology or the behaviorist ideas of Watson and Skinner. He rather viewed them as too limited to adequately explain human behavior. Maslow inspired what is called the Third Force in psychology, the science of self-actualizing. His ideas about self-fulfillment, creativity, and well-being still influence not only psychology, but also modern health care, education, managerial theory, organizational development, and even theology. Postmodernists tend to relegate Maslow to his psychology 101 pyramid of needs. But his greatest discovery was that of a new kind of persons, the Self-Actualizers, those fortunate few who inhabit the top one percent of humankind. Although there is no perfect, sustained, blissful happiness, Self-Actualizers come close with their remarkable lives of meaning and purpose.

Abraham Maslow was a lifelong atheist who began his career as a behaviorist and a Freudian psychologist. In time he began to doubt the comprehensiveness of the theories of Freud and Skinner. Those theories explained much about the large number of grievously defective, immature mortals who inflict turmoil upon themselves and others. But what about the rare, healthy, industrious specimens of humankind? Maslow wondered if we could learn more about how to become better, happier persons if we studied healthy human specimens. So he began his search for exceptional human beings. He found them. Not in great numbers, but enough to evidence higher ceilings for possible human development.

More important, Dr. Maslow formed a theory about how the self-actualizing person got that way. Two important ingredients are present. One is no surprise. All Self-Actualizers are devoted to a worthy cause or purpose that they believe to be more important than their own personal welfare. The second component is not anything like what you might imagine. What Maslow was to call his “greatest finding” was that every Self-Actualizer, without exception, was dedicated to wholeheartedly embracing the classic triad of metavalues: truth, beauty, and goodness. Near the end of his life he stated in a lecture:

“… what constituted the big difference for self-actualizing people was that their activity became a channel or medium for expressing the eternal, ultimate values-the true, the good, the beautiful, the just-in everyday life… This realization astounded me. I remember rereading Plato’s Republic, in which he stated that the ultimate good involves the contemplation of the ultimate values. What was so amazing was that I had found men and women in everyday life who were embracing, actually living, these ultimate values… They could be attorneys, educators, scientists, or grocery store owners, but in a real sense, they were sages and saints.”

Unfortunately, theintellectuals of Maslow’s day sniffed at such Pollyanna talk. Values such as truth, beauty and goodness have been brutally ridiculed by elite intellectuals and cynical philosophers since the 19th century. The secular humanist movement held, and still holds, the idea than a human being is simply a complex animal. This situation is not news to Professor McMahon. He wrote an insightful review to the elegant book: “The Nobility of Spirit… a Forgotten Ideal” by Bob Riemen. In it he quotes Riemen:

“There can be no civilization without the realization that human beings have a double nature. They have a physical, earthly existence but are distinguished from other animals by also having a spiritual being and by knowing the world of ideas.” McMahonadds his own comments:”It is the role of thinkers and writers, [Riemen] believes, to serve as guardians of our spiritual nature and as custodians of timeless values, cultivating ‘truth, goodness, and beauty’ as well as’freedom and justice, love and charity.’ Therein lies the essence of human dignity and human freedom – the source of the spirit’s nobility.”

Professor McMahon states thisenlightened humanist view with power and precision.

In my judgment, before we can understand happiness we must answer the most urgent question of our time. The issue that must be joined is this: What is a human being? And McMahon expressed the urgency of this issue in his review of “A Nobility of Spirit.” He wrote:

“Over time, various forms of relativism and nihilism took hold in elite circles, as Mr. Riemen shows, especially in the wake of Nietzsche’s savage attack on the West’s moral underpinnings. The would-be guardians of culture became its destroyers… It is a depressing story – from the intellectual justifications of fascism and communist totalitarianism to the perverted idea that the mass murder of 9/11 was a ‘courageous’ act of the ‘oppressed.’”

There are those who may find these words too harsh. Do the intellectual justifications of fascism and communist totalitarianism really have anything to do with whether we define a human being as simply a complicated animal or as a being endowed with a spiritual nature? I believe they are directly related. Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl survived Nazi death camps, and lived on to write about them. In the same manner as most materialistic humanists, the Nazis viewed human beings as complex animals, different only in degree, not different in kind. Frankl saw this conviction as the foundation for their macabre barbarism. He wrote in his book “The Doctor and the Soul”:

“If we present a man with a concept of man which is not true, we may well corrupt him. When we present man as an automaton of reflexes, as a mind-machine, as a bundle of instincts, as a pawn of drives and reactions, as a mere product of instinct, heredity, and environment, we feed the nihilism which modern man is, in any case, prone.

“I became acquainted with the last stage of that corruption in my second concentration camp, Auschwitz. The gas chambers of Auschwitz were the ultimate consequence of the theory than man is nothing but the product of heredity and environment-or, as the Nazis like to say, of ‘Blood and Soil.’ I am absolutely convinced that the gas chambers of Auschwitz, Treblinka, and Maidanek were ultimately prepared not in some Ministry or other in Berlin, but rather at the desks and in the lecture halls of nihilistic scientists and philosophers.”

Now, let us return to the discussion of “Happiness… a History.” Granting me that we should include Abraham Maslow and his theory of metavalues in a history of happiness, there remains one question. Why is happiness so elusive? Even allowing that Self -Actualizers are happier than most people, and even if they have more peak experiences, surely they do not live in a state of continual bliss. Why is the state of happiness so fragile and ephemeral?

Perhaps because life is motion. We were advised by Alfred Adler to “Trust only movement.” From the moment we left the comfort and pleasure of our mother’s womb, we have been harassed, challenged, and made uncomfortable. For those of us who believe in an afterlife, it could be reasonably postulated that the entire life experience is a sort of extended birth. Perhaps material life is a bridge to another dimension. True, our life journey is uncomfortable and challenging, with only fleeting moments of happiness. Perhaps we are prodded with annoyances to compel us to keep moving.

In my judgment there is a nobler strategy than to be pushed and nudged unwillingly toward our destinies. Better to yield to the allure of things true, beautiful and good, and to allow these metavalues to pull us along in the manner of Self-Actualizers. According to Abraham Maslow this would foster “A new image of man, a new image of society, a new image of nature, a new philosophy of science, a new economics, a new everything.”

For my part, I am happy that we are blessed with great minds such as McMahon, Maslow, Riemen, Frankl, and countless others.

Discover the World of Angels

admin — Sat, 18 May 2013 20:53:20 +0000

World of Angels (ISBN # 0533055199), was one of the first books to truly explore the topic of Angels with a combination of intellectual, historical, religious and archeological research all the while entertaining the reader with brilliant words nothing short of a mystic experience. Oprah once had a show dedicated to the study of Angels and one of her guests held up the book to the audience and recommended that those with questions seek out the book for their answers.

World of Angels is not a theological work. Neither is it an occultist treatise nor an exercise in the psychic sciences. As a result it can be said to be none of the above. But in another regard, it actually encompasses all of the above and beyond.

From the beginning of time or since man first cast his eyes unto the heavens, the knowledge of celestial beings has been of questionable content and impact. Much like a thrown stone skipping across the waters, man’s contact with, or knowledge of and interest in, Angels has skittered across his consciousness for a brief moment only to bounce off for another century or two in return for another brief contact, only to skitter off again for more countless years. Thousands of years have expired, and today in the beginning decades of the twentieth-first century we find sophisticated Western man no more knowledgeable about Angels than were the common folk in biblical times. In fact it might even be said that knowledge of Angels to the Jews and Gentiles of that era was greater than it is, to the well-read thinking man of today. Just as God created mankind, man also, in his stead, has created God. Our Heavenly Creator has been given to the world in all shapes, sizes, colors, and prices, like all other common merchandise. And particularly in these times we find God being discarded by some like so much used and worn merchandise. We even read that God is dead, a hypothesis advanced more boldly with each day. Others of us have pathetically or stoically concluded that, indeed, God never existed.

A tragedy now confronts us in these times, for the confusion and immeasurable gulf between man and God has stretched to such an inestimable degree that man cannot reach his Maker anymore. Either man is lost to his God, or, more tragically, God is lost to man. The resulting breach is too wide for mankind to reach out to his Maker. What a fitting climax to this most illustrious of the world’s ages and centuries. And as modern man sits bewildered amid his plastic creations, chromium-plated toys, and epoxy-enameled weapons, in spite of his intelligence, technology, power and will, the void remains.

Yet, from the eons of creation, the very foundation of the world, indeed another world has existed. The world of spirits, or Angels, has been with us, and coexisting all around use. Their very existence has been ordained, from the onset, by the divine plan to fill this void between man and his God. Yet man, in all his vanity, concentrates on the quick easy grasp to eternity and, having failed, retreats dejected into pathos. Man seeks “instant salvation” much like his morning coffee. He tarries not to contemplate his awesome world of Angels, these lesser beings. He does not realize the great avenues presented by them on his quest to his Maker.

It has never occurred to man to realize the purpose, and therefore, meaning for the existence of this world of Angels-that all things from the vast universe itself to the lowliest atom are under the direction, control, and order of these mighty Angels and that if they were to resign their charge all existence including man would instantly cease. All things attributable to God are achieved through this wonderful world of Angels. All intelligence, energy, order, and purpose are the sole charge of these Angels, by divine decree. Angels thus are the manifestation of God’s intelligence and power, the “God presence” in every material and mortal being.

Were man to realize this, he would willingly and eagerly seek out all knowledge and wisdom of these diving messengers. Through his comprehension of this select and august company the gulf between heaven and earth can be bridged.

To his surprise man would find that Angels, much like himself, were created; they have a history replete with momentous successes, as well as colossal failures. They have their heroes and villains, the energetic and wasteful, the dutiful and obedient, and the rebellious. And much like man, they have their spiritual progression and strive earnestly toward that celestial goal. The big difference is that Angels, unlike man, abide in and thus have access to Heaven and the Supreme Being. The veil to the understanding of the divine purpose that enshrouds all mankind does not envelop the Angels. In their celestial realm they work at their assignments more exhaustingly than we. Their labors never cease, and they do not rest. Having no graphic scale, they could overshadow the solar system yet stand ten thousand on the head of a pin. Yet man’s knowledge of the Angels could likewise be imprinted on this same pin. His ignorance regarding these beings is equally as colossal as the cosmos.

If only man would heed the Angels, learn of them and from them, for that is their purpose. If only each one of us, men and women, realized that every second of our lives is being observed and recorded and we are being aided. Not one event of our individual lives was without the support, guidance, or sometimes intervention of these Angels. All mortals therefore have a purpose, a time, and a future in Eternity. Our individual lives were no accidents, and in like manner, our mortal existence while on this earth, indeed is meaningful-to you, to the entities above you, all the way to the Lord Himself.

To this purpose were the Angels created and charged. World of Angels is a commitment to this story.

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The Parent’s Tao Te Ching – Ancient Advice For Modern Parents by William Martin

admin — Sat, 18 May 2013 18:53:20 +0000

I have always enjoyed reading various editions of “The Tao Te Ching.” I find the words calming and stimulating at the same time. Calming in the peaceful nature of the lessons. Stimulating in that the passages cause me to reflect on my own life and actions and how they relate to the world around me. When I saw “The Parent’s Tao Te Ching: Ancient Advice for Modern Parents” by William Martin, I was intrigued. As a parent now, I was interested, where before becoming a father, this edition wouldn’t have caused me a second glance. (To be expected, right?) However, what sold me on the book was seeing it had a forward by Dan Millman. Millman’s “Way of the Peaceful Warrior” is one of my favorite books, and I’ve enjoyed all of his books and audio programs. So I bought it, and am very glad I did. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but what I found was an enjoyable, peaceful read, with a lot of practical wisdom for raising children, regardless of time, place, or beliefs.

Martin has written a book that captures the essence of the original “Tao Te Ching,” but speaks directly toward parenting. The advice advocates patience, compassion, simplicity, and parental awareness, but what I found most prevalent in the passages was a message of first seeing you are living in accordance with the sound principles, and your children will then follow along. Basically, lead by example, and the book provides examples based on the ancient wisdom contained in the original text.

Because of this, I found myself thinking and pondering about my own actions, and how what I do influences my daughter, more, most likely, than some of what I say. In this aspect, reading this version was similar to reading other versions, in that it caused me to reflect upon my actions and their impact on the world around me. However, the world around me focused more on my daughter. So on one hand, the reflecting was similar, but on the other, it took on a whole new look when placed in the context of being a father.

I again agree with Millman when he says that few things in this world are as important as raising children. I also agree that this book contains universal wisdom that can remind us of who we can become as we artfully help our children grow and become adults themselves.

If you are a parent and have ever enjoyed reading “The Tao Te Ching,” I’m sure you’ll enjoy this book, just as I did. If you are looking for parenting advice of a different kind than most of the books out there, this may be just what you are looking for. I know I enjoyed it, and now it’s time to implement the wisdom into my daily life to be a better person, in order to be a better parent.

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