THE WORLDPEACE ADVOCACY

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THE PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE RESPONSE

by John WorldPeace

JohnWorldPeace.com
Email: JohnWorldPeace@gmail.com

Copyright 2010 John WorldPeace All Rights Reserved

THE PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE RESPONSE

INTRODUCTION

As part of my transformation in prison, I went through Dr. Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose Driven Life. It has forty chapters which are to be digested one each day. I am sure I will probably move faster because I have no obligations now except to work on this book.

I will chapter by chapter state my position on his premises in each chapter. From looking at his book, I see many areas of agreement and some agreement for different reason and something I simply disagree with. I know that my life long interaction with and seeking to understand God is equal to Dr. Warren’s. I have come over my sixty years to different conclusions about God and human relationship to him.

Dr. Warren is a fundamentalist Christian. I was raised as a Christian but I have studied all the major religions. In fact, for my own understanding I have reinterpreted all the major texts of the major religions. I did this by taking seven translations of each text and then line by line studying them and then rewriting them with my own personal glossary.

Being very simplistic, I have summed up each of the major religions as follows! Hindu, Bhagavad Gita, We each have destiny. We reincarnate. To refuse to follow our destiny disappoints others who come here to interact with our destiny. Brahma is the all inclusive God presence I refer to as the Infinite Oneness. From Brahma many avatars, prophets, saviors, saints have come to bring enlightenment to human beings.

Buddhism, Dhammapada, evolved from Hinduism and teaches an eight fold path to enlightenment. Reincarnation is accepted as true. The idea is to learn to detach from this earthly reality and then never have to reincarnate again. Life is considered hell. I disagree that life is hell. I believe that we incarnate to experience this reality intentionally not reincarnate in order to break our addiction to its pleasures and pains.

Taoism, Tao te Ching, is an abstract paradoxical text where denying something in the physical realm gains it in the spiritual. It teaches about abstractions and how they relate to the logical linear reality of the human society.

Zen Buddhist combines Buddhism and Taoism to present a totally esoteric belief system of understanding. In a nutshell, Zen teaches that you can’t be enlightened through your mind. It is an experience. It is a knowing that is not really possible to communicate. You cannot know God but only experience oneness with the Infinite Oneness. Buddhism and Taoism do not relate to God as an anthropomorphic super being but as an all inclusive essence.

Tibetan Buddhism is focused on what happens between lives; from death to rebirth. The Book of the Dead discusses the various experiences a spirit has after death.

Judaism, The Pentateuch, is the West’s movement from many God’s to One God. The all inclusive infinite immortal God is acknowledged but God is related to as an anthropomorphic super being.

Confucius, the Analects, is about social order and obligations. It is a way of life. It is a secular religion.

Christianity evolved from Judaism and sees Jesus as the only son of God. The New Testament is the sacred text. The core message is to love one another. But the real message for me is that we create our own reality; ask and receive, seek and find, knock and enter. Christians go to heaven by accepting Jesus as their savior.

Islam, the Koran, also evolved from Judaism. It was and is the most war oriented religion. It grew and flourished itself by conquest.

For me, to understand God and our purpose on earth and the why of life, one needs to consider the teachings of all religions. Together they give a balanced view of the whole concept of God and how God relates to life.

I believe in reincarnation because it makes sense to me. I draw from all religions because by so doing I have been able to make sense of who God is and who I am and all the why’s of life on earth. Dr. Warren’s book tries to explain the purpose of life through one religious teaching, that of Christianity.

At their core, all religions say the same thing but use different metaphors. I will respond to Dr. Warren’s forty steps to finding a purpose drive life from a global religious perspective as opposed to just a Christian one. In other words I will globalize his teachings.

Since I was eight years old, when I put away my toys, I have been on a quest for an understanding of what is the point of life. I believed that others had found partial answers to that question. I believed that the focal point of the major religions contained the answers. I have believed that the all inclusive goal of life and the answer to the “why life” questions was grounded in the issue of peace; both universal peace and WorldPeace and inner peace. I originally believed that religion was the sole vehicle to increase the level of peace in the world human society. But I have discovered that religions are bureaucratic and exclusive man made organizations that promote war right along with enlightening the human society. Some religions are more warring than are others.

Later I realized that there was a secular side of peace which the justice systems of each country are responsible to create a secular peace. I have found that justice is elusive.

When I changed my name in 1988 to John WorldPeace, I knew I had two possible paths to seek out peace. One was to become a monk or priest and live a life of service. The second was to go to where the conflict in society exists, to become involved in the law and in religion. It is a proactive path as opposed to a passive vicarious path. I have made enemies on my search for peace and I am sorry for that. But I have learned a few things about peace. This book is about that journey.

Therefore, as you read my response to Dr. Warren’s book, understand that I am speaking from a more inclusive religious spiritual philosophy. Non Christians can have a purpose driven life through a different religious metaphor. That being said I was raised a Christian and my first understanding of God was through the Christian metaphor.

John WorldPeace

WHAT AM I HERE FOR?

DAY 1: IT ALL STARTS WITH GOD

God is a manifestation of the Infinite Oneness from which all things manifest and back into which all things disintegrate. There is no place that God is not, all good all evil, all something all nothing, the infinite and the finite, the duality of all things, the oneness of all dualities is God. This is all inclusive, infinite immortal God is beyond description, beyond definition, beyond the most expansive human attempt to relate to it. It has no beginning or end, this is the great mystery. We are all one with this essence. We are a part of the whole to which there are no parts.

From this infinite Oneness (God), God the anthropomorphic super being has manifested in the west this anthropomorphic God is the God to which we pray because we can not relate to the Infinite oneness. The anthropomorphic God is within our understanding and our ability to conceive.

God is the focal point of our prayers. God is the focal point of the Jews and the Muslims but Jesus is the gate keeper to God and the kingdom of heaven for the Christians. The Hindus pray to avatars that are the same as Jesus but more numerous. There is no God between these avatars and the Infinite Oneness which is called Brahmin. Buddhism uses Buddha as the gate keeper to the Dammakaya (The Infinite Oneness). Buddha is the path to heaven as Jesus is the way.

God is my creator. God is my connection to the Infinite Oneness. It is God to whom I pray. I and God are one. My spirit is infinite and immortal and like God without beginning or end. Every soul (spirit) has always existed in God.

I acknowledge my oneness with God. I acknowledge that he is much more than me. My purpose, my destiny is what makes me happy and gives me pleasure. My pleasure is God’s happiness. My purpose is not to pray and worship God all day. My purpose is to find happiness and my happiness will transfer to others.

Jesus said “Ask and receive – seek and find – knock and enter.”

Through prayer and mediation God had promised that our specific life’s purpose will be revealed to us. By the grace of God we live. Being successful is being in harmony with your job, home and family. If you are successful in a way that does not prey upon your fellow human beings but help them in any number of ways, God is happy. You are happy and the human society is uplifted. If this is true you are achieving your purpose.

DAY 2: YOU ARE NOT AN ACCIDENT

I do not believe that God sat down and crafted people one by one. As I said earlier, there are about hundreds of thousands of new souls entering this reality everyday, and there are hundreds of thousands of souls leaving each day. About 75% do not accept the Jesus metaphor even after they have heard the good news about Jesus. I cannot see God moment to moment creating all these souls and bodies.

I believe that our spirit has always existed as has God’s. The concept of an infinite immortal being is hard for humans to conceive much less the concept that there was no beginning and will be no end to God. The Infinite Oneness always existed. Actually it is easier to think about the potential of all things having always existed; everything was always possible.

On a more basic level our spirits are not newly created. They have always excited with God. Some spirits are angels some are not, and some that are not incarnate into this reality.

The spirit attaches itself to a conceived human being. Exactly when is questionable but one day science with discover the answer. What is known is that the spirit attaches at the time of conception and begins to grow that new life to suit its need in this reality. It brings to the human body that information it needs to function in this life. And it comes in with a purpose and a destiny probably in almost all cases agreed to with God.

As the fetus grows the soul begins to forget or have amnesia about the reality of Heaven from which it came. The spirit could not live in this reality if it was constantly distracted with humanly things. In this reality we must focus on our purpose here and not be distracted with too much background noise from heaven. It is like hearing. We hear only a limited range of sound. We cannot hear what a dog hears. If one did, it may drive us mad. Our bodies had adapted to function in this reality.

We come into this reality to experience and learn. I like to think of life as a play and I and others have agreed to come together to put on the drama. Unlike a real play, life here is very dynamic and it is real. This play is connected to the rest of this reality. In a stage play, the actors have other lives outside the theater. In this reality the play is infinitely dynamic and you never leave the theater.

So a decision is made by the spirit to participate in this play. The body is irrelevant in most ways because it is disposable. I never understood why someone would want to resurrect an ugly body. The spirit is what gives life to the body. Without a spirit the body is dead. I do not believe that a body can survive without an incarnate soul (spirit).

God is our connection to our spiritual home. We also have guides and angels and all kinds of other attendants and God’s helpers assigned to help us in this reality. We also have kindred spirits who help and guide us as we try to navigate in this difficult reality.

This reality has evolved on its own and spirits (soul) and other beings become fascinated with it and helped mold and shape it into what it has become. God did not create an environment for human beings, the environment created the human form. As recently as 40,000 years ago there was a whole different lineage of human beings called Neanderthals and there were other human being lines but they died and as did the Neanderthals if in fact they were not exterminated by our ancestors.

There are infinite numbers if planets in the physical universe. The number of and kinds of intelligent life forms in God’s realm are infinite. We chose this reality, this universe, this galaxy, this solar system this planet to experience. In time, I suppose we will experience all realities but without an infinite essence of God, all is meaningless because it is another finite form that humans use. Infinite means there is never all. There is no all of the infinite. Right now each of us is experiencing this reality for whatever reason and God a loving attentive God and other beings are ever present to help us in our journey.

DAY 3: WHAT DRIVES YOUR LIFE?

The purpose of each life is to do God’s will. God’s will is what you and God agreed to before you came into this life. If you did not have a purpose in this reality, there would be no reason to reincarnate here. If you are fulfilling your purpose you will feel peace in your life. If you are not on your path, then you will find confusion and some degree of chaos. An underlying sense of peace assures you that you are on the right path. I am not talking about short lived joy. I am telling about your life generally overall feeling right and in harmony.

A person needs to understand first that they came here with a purpose that through thought, meditation and prayer one should seek out his or her purpose.

Within the word purpose is the overall destiny of one’s life and also the many short paths that support that purpose.

I feel that I have some destiny having to do with peace and WorldPeace in the human society. When I was very young, I thought that any destiny may mean becoming a minister. But that never felt right. In college, I began to think in terms of an advocacy for peace, even though I did not know how to follow that path. Yet deep inside I kept considering a life dedicated to peace. I also believed that was God’s purpose for me.

In the meantime, I went on with my day to day to day routine yet all the time considering and studying religious and spiritual matters as well as political and judicial systems, I was drawn to these areas of interest.

As time moved forward a few decades, I came to understand that an advocate for peace could choose one of two general paths. One, a life of service like a priest or monk where one is devoted to helping others find peace. This is a passive advocacy.

The other approach would be to go where the conflict exists. That place was very easy to identify; the judicial system. The judicial system is where arguments are settled. It is there where I expected to find the root causes of conflict. This path is active and it is the one I chose. I chose to be proactive and go to where the conflict, confusion and chaos reside to try to find some common denominators that could help increase the level of peace in the human society.

I also pursued activities to understand the political system and so I ran as a Democratic candidate for governor of Texas in 2002. The political arena can be defined and described as “money driven” and therefore peace becomes collateral damage.

I further got involved in several peace organizations. In order to understand why they were so ineffective, what I found is very simple. Each peace organization is exclusive and elitist. Together all the peace organizations could exert a powerful influence in global affairs. But individually they are marginalized.

At the beginning on the Iraq War, the peace organizations by way of cell phones and the internet could manifest an instant peace demonstration very quickly. But that is all they could do is show up. Then go home. They were totally ineffective. The reason is simply because they did not have an umbrella organization with an agreed agenda. And they lacked a spokesperson to advocate that common agenda. There was no individual who could go head to head with George Bush. Bush had the U.S. Government plus his political party supporting him. Bush laughed at the large peace marches because he understood that without a global platform all he was dealing with was a peace mob.

After 20 years as John WorldPeace, I have learned a few things about peace. I have also come to understand that it is my life’s purpose. And I have some to know that is the destiny that I agreed with God to live prior to being born.

At this point in time, everything has been cleared from my life. I have never devoted all of my energy to peace. I have learned a lot about promoting and marketing business services. I have found that I am an excellent salesman who has never had the ability to put together an effective operations department that could keep up with me. I have learned a lot in each business but in the end, each business was abandoned. The web design business came to an end due to forces and factors not under my control. It can be resurrected easily but the question is if that is what I am to do. The web design business can foster peace indirectly with an infusion of money in various peace promoting organizations. But to make a real core difference in increasing the peace in the world human society using money to overcome the effects of the lack of peace is only temporary. The bigger agenda is to change the core mindset that creates confusion, chaos, pain and suffering worldwide in the human society. And if that is to be my purpose, then there is a question of financing.

A history of the major religious movements seems to indicate that the founder must spend about forty years disseminating his message. In the case of Christianity there was a shared responsibility between John the Baptist who would announce the coming of Jesus, Jesus who lived the life, and Paul who built the church. Together their mission lasted 40 years.

Being such a mission at 60 is irrelevant. Moses was 80 when he led the Jews out of Egypt.

The question I must answer in this jail is will I commit to a life exclusive devoted to advocating peace. If it is my destiny, once begun, nothing will be able to stop me. If not, no amount of effort will create success. The real answer will not come except by making the commitment and going forward. That is where I am.

Once a person embarks on a destiny and that destiny is considered his purpose and there is a total commitment to it, then it is easy to make decisions on what to do. Each question is held up to the life purpose template. If the event or decision will promote peace is my case, then I embrace it; if not I ignore it.

We can never be sure of God-s will. We will not find out God’s will and purpose for us unless we move forward toward what we feel is that purpose. The path may not be easy but if one is moving forward that is the verification that one is on the right path. Great destinies can never manifest without God.

DAY 4: MADE TO LAST FOREVER

All religions preach some kind of after life for the soul (spirit). This short life is to eternity as one second is to all the seconds in our life times forever.

Actually eternity is less than the Infinite Oneness which is timeless. Eternity has a beginning, the Infinite Oneness does not. We do not gain external life after our short stay on earth. We return to eternity from where we come. We always existed with God and God, the Infinite Oneness, the Infinite Potential of all things and non things always existed without beginning or end. This abstract concept of no beginning or end cannot be comprehended by human beings who observe that everything in this reality has a beginning and an end.

Birth in this reality is a choice. We are not required to exit a higher existence, a more awakened existence, in God’s all inclusive infinite Immortal potential to come and live on this earth. We choose to do that. We came here with a purpose, a destiny, an agenda and at the end of our days on earth we review the life we have lived.

Many Christians do not believe in reincarnation but Jesus repeatedly in the gospels says that John the Baptist was Elijah returned. And when Jesus took the disciples up the mountain and was transfigured both Moses and Elijah were present with him. Moses was present because he gave Abraham’s children a new birth as he brought them out of Egypt. He was the first new connect between God and Israel after Abraham. Elijah was there as well because he was God last prophet at the time of Ahab. He was surely God’s most favored prophet because he was assigned to support, herald the coming of Jesus and another convent with the non Jews.

So Jesus defiantly accepted reincarnation as a reality. The problem with the Bible is that in the year 400 Jerome chose the 88 books of the current Bible. When Jesus died there was no consolidated Bible for all the Christians. There were too many stories of Jesus and to build the Catholic Church a consolidated coherent story needed to be told. After Jerome finished his work all the texts that were not included in the Bible were declared heresy and the Christians went on a book burning rampage which included the library at Alexandria which included virtually the history of man. For 1600 years scholars knew there were missing texts but until the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1945 and the Nag Hammed Library in 1947, none of those texts could be found.

What these texts showed was that there were storied similar to those of Jesus which predated Jesus by several hundred years. It is obvious that some stories about Jesus existed before him. This is especially true of the parallel religion Mithras which had a very similar storyline to that of Jesus and was flourishing at the time of Jesus’ birth. The center of Mithras religion was in Tarsus, the town where Paul was raised.

Because of the self serving interests of the Catholic bureaucracy to destroy everything that contradicted the official Jerome Bible, we are missing a lot of stories that would give us more information about Jesus. There is a serious question about what did Jesus do between age twelve and when he confronted the elders of the temple until thirty when he started his ministry.

It seems to me that there was a lot more early writing about Jesus that support reincarnation. Until more texts appear, and I am sure they will, we only have the references to John the Baptist as the reincarnation of Elijah. The problem that Jerome had was that we had so much material that he could not purge it all and so thee are many remnants in the scriptures that refer to larger issues. Elijah and reincarnation is just one.

The kingdom of God heaven that Jesus talked about is just as valid with a concept of reincarnation. The difference is that one continues to try to become more Christian through multiple lifetimes. This is the concept in Hinduism and Buddhism. You work through many lives to reach heaven when you no longer have to reincarnate back to this reality.

The goal of a Buddhist is to become perfect so as not to have to reincarnate in this very harsh world. But it is possible that this world is not that harsh and we reincarnate here deliberately. Our spiritual, religious guidance is here to make sure we do not get so conformed in the finite mortal life that we forget that this is just a temporary visit and not our true infinitely immortal home.

We must remember that we are just visiting here and that our lives here and after living here will be better or worse. When we try to hold on to the temporary nature of all things in this reality, we begin to travel a path of confusion in this reality. The truth is to remember moment to moment that this reality is not permanent and not our true home. When our bodies die, our spirits return to God.

For me it is like going to the movie theater. When you get there you have a choice of twenty or more movies (or realities) you can experience. When the movie is over you exit the theater back into the real world, at any time you go see another movie or the same one again. This movie that we are permanently experiencing is just a dream from which we will wake up back into eternity.

DAY 5: SEEING LIFE FROM GOD'S VIEW

Mr. Warren believes that God reviews human beings from these perspectives; as a test, a trust or a temporary assignment.

We are all immortal infinite spiritual beings who have, like God, always existed. The truth is that we have already done everything because we are connected to God (Infinite Potential) who is everywhere, in all times and spaces at once.

Before we are born, we choose our destiny. This is done with the assistance of our spiritual family. We choose what we want to experience and some of our spiritual family and friends agree to come into our lives with us to help us along the way.

Life is coming to earth to see it we can pass some test that we have set for ourselves. We come here to test ourselves. God has no reason to give us a test. We do not have to do anything to acquire his love, we are his children. He loves us all even those dark souls who are confused in the manifestation of this reality and have lost sight of heaven from where they come. We don’t have to pass a test to win God’s love. In fact, God helps us with our test. He is an active participant to the degree that we ask for help. But he is not the test giver, we are. We test ourselves.

God knows that our time, even the darkest souls will return to the light and some very bright lights will fall into darkness. There is no beginning or end. God has forever to wait for us to return to him. So tests by God of us would be useless. We want an experience with certain tests or challenges. So we set our destiny and then enter this reality.

The second metaphor that Dr. Warren speaks of is life as a trust. When we came into this life we define the kind of person we will be and we project and visualize how much wealth, education and so on i.e. race. No two humans are alike. We each choose assets to bring with us into this life that will help us have the life experience that we desire. The idea is to make the maximum use of those assets to achieve our destiny. And our destiny is always to enlighten ourselves and others.

God does not hand out assets and good luck to each soul. God helps us with the destiny we have chosen. Passing tests and being a good steward of things entrusted to us is not a requirement for reentering heaven after our bodily death. God loves us and he helps is in this life because of how much we pray for his help. God is always with us. God loves us. And like our own children, whether they are good or bad we still love them. God is more of a parent than any human will ever be. If we know how to love children surely God loves us in a more dynamic way.

Life is a test we set for ourselves. The assets we bring into this life we chose to bring. At the end of our life we decide is we have passed the test and trust we set for ourselves. At the end of life God is full of joy or sadness right along with us. If we do not do well in our self scripted assignments, we can do it again. We can repeat the same test or modify it, the choice is ours. But judgment and the possibility of heaven and hell is not what happens at the end of life.

DAY 6: LIFE IS A TEMPORARY ASSIGNMENT

The source of all things is God. Jesus says in God’s house there are many mansions. God has created an infinite number of dimensions and realities. This is just one if them. The essence of All There Is (The Infinite Potential, God) is spiritual. It is our spirit that is immortal and infinite. Therefore, our real home is heaven because it is infinite while this earth is finite.

The earth had a beginning and will have an end. Our bodies, in which our spirits were born of the earth will one day die and return to the earth. Like everything else on this wonderful planet our bodies are created by a mysterious, mothers body from nothing. After conception the fertilized egg begins to grow. It begins to assimilate atoms from the mother’s body as the mother has drawn life from eating things from the earth.

In death, our bodies become recycled. The atoms that are now our bodies now could well contain atoms from any number of human bodies that have lived over the last millions of years. It also surely contains atoms of many different animals, fish, plants that once used them for their bodies. The human body is nothing but a vehicle for our soul. Without a soul, the body is nothing more than dead meat.

DAY 7: THE REASON FOR EVERYTHING

God is not an egocentric being. God is everything that exists and the potential of all things that do not yet exist. The whole purpose of creating is not to glorify God. The potential of everything has always existed as has God. Our purpose is not to moment to moment glorify God. Our purpose is to proceed with our chosen destiny. In this reality, we focus on living the reality that we came here to live.

One of the main things to learn here is how to participate in the reality without becoming conformed in it, without forgetting that we are infinite immortal beings and not finite flesh and bone that is deteriorating moment to moment. As we live, we wear out. As soon as we are born, we begin to die. And when our body dies our spirit body returns to the spirit world from where it came.

We as human beings have a choice as to how we live. God is always present and always available but to feel his presence we need to call upon him. God wants us to succeed. He wants us to make the right choices. He wants us to stay detached from the earth and its pleasures, even as we enjoy the pleasure of the flesh.

God as the infinite immortal all inclusive essence makes good and bad in equal proportions. At any moment, we can use this God energy for any purpose we desire. We can use it to prey upon our fellow human beings or we can use it to uplift the world human society. The choice is ours.

This reality is perfectly balanced and yet between darkness and light, God made the light dominant. A candle dominates the darkness and vanquishes it. Darkness, no matter how strong, no matter how evil cannot darken a candle flame. As long as the flame burns the light continues to dominate.

The purpose of your life should be to discover your destiny and then live it. Unless you and a priest or monk or other holy man or women you do not have time to use all your time glorifying God. Every act does not have to be one of prayer, meditation or service.

You please and glorify God when you remember your oneness with God. Remember this reality is finite and not the true reality and that at the end of it your body dies and your spirit returns to the spiritual reality where your spiritual consciousness is more awakened to a greater number of aspects of your reality.

In this life your senses are limited. This is to cut down the background noise and allows you to focus on your destiny. You have come here for a purpose but that purpose is not to waste time trying to experience the things of the spiritual world which is not possible while your spirit is attached to a human body. Always remember that if you truly wanted to be in the spirit reality, you would be there and not here. So as long as you are fully conscience of this reality know that you chose to be here and you have not fulfilled you destiny yet.

My experience in life in general and working at M.D. Anderson hospital in 1967 (a hospital dedicated to cancer research) makes me believe that no one dies or leaves this reality until they are ready. We are protected as long as we are pursuing our destiny and have not chosen to abandon it. It does not matter how you die, whether by disease or by accident at the hands of another person or even murdered. When we die our souls have decided it is time to leave. We each came into this reality alone with a destiny. Certainly our destiny interconnects with the destiny of others and we thereby help each other fulfill our destinies but when we leave we leave alone. We travel our path back to our spiritual home. As we have a support system when one enters this life we have the same thing when we return to the spiritual reality. We have someone there to help us adjust back into the spiritual reality.

It is very important to understand that this reality is not much different than out spiritual home. This world, this reality is modeled on our infinite eternal spiritual home. We live in that reality in a more awakened state then here because our bodies there are much lighter, more transparent.

In our spiritual home we can think ourselves from place to place but in this reality we have to transport by some means our body from one locally to another. Yet even then there are limitations as to the speed of travel.

PURPOSE #1: YOU WERE PLANNED FOR GOD'S PLEASURE

DAY 8: PLANNED FOR GOD'S PLEASURE

It is very difficult to come to terms with who or what God is because we don’t have the language to make a statement. Our logical linear language cannot effectively communicate abstractly. One basic consideration is that in the religion of the Western world Judaism, Christianity, Mormonism, Islam, Bahai, God is seen as masculine and there is definitely a male gender bias through out all the scriptures. The world society is moving toward rectifying its secular gender bias. The world is slowly moving toward a society in which women are equal citizens. In the Jewish book of Genesis ( Genesis 3:16) the male God of the Israelites condemns Eve (all women) for listening to the serpent. God in this verse makes woman second class citizens forever. And this test is incorporated with all the other religions of the West. I often wondered what it was like for a woman to sit and be programmed as a second class citizen from birth. And how does a woman challenge the “word” of God.

Prior to Christianity many of the sacred sites were dedicated to a female God. In the agrarian cultures God was female: The Mother Earth. When Christianity took over as the dominant religion those female Gods were demoted to Mary the mother of Jesus. So the female God was demoted to a Goddess.

The truth is that God is not biased toward gender. It is man who has for his own selfish purposes demoted women to second class citizenship. Now the world secular society is giving women an equal status and increased respect. In time, the secular reality of equality is going to impact on the sacred text and Genesis 3:16 is going to be edited out or ignored.

Because of bureaucratic religious teachings: women have been subordinated in the world human society for millennia. Now as human beings become more educated intellectually and more enlightened spiritually these pronouncements from bureaucratic religion that are not in line with the secular reality are going to be discarded. We as human beings need to understand that religion is always evolving to meet the secular reality. Religious texts are written by human beings to connect humans to their spiritual essence and to control the general population.

There is a lot in the doctrine and dogma of the sacred religious writings that are contrary to the words of the religious patriarch. The Catholic Church has accumulated an unprecedented wealth promoting Jesus who had nothing. Jesus was like thousands of Buddhist who traveled the earth teaching. They live a non materialistic life. There are billion dollar Jesus shows on TV now where preachers accumulate untold fortunes talking about Jesus who advocated and lived a non materialistic simple life. He even told the rich young man to sell everything if he wanted to follow Jesus. These tele-evangelist perform a service and do God’s work but they are all hypocrites because they can’t live the life of Jesus. They can only talk about it.

The prime directive of all bureaucrat religions is to preserve the bureaucracy and second to spread the message. It is the human influence on God’s word. Man built religious institutions with the argument that without the bureaucracy the word of God could not be disseminated. This is contrary to what Jesus taught. Jesus did not build the church Paul did. Jesus was essentially anti bureaucratic. He had little good to say about the Jewish religious bureaucracy. Paul copied the Jewish religious bureaucracy model and it became the Christian religious bureaucracy with all the same flaws.

Religion is good when it brings people who have become confused in the manifestation of the finite reality back to a consciousness of their infinite immortal nature. However, religious bureaucracies then put a heavy yoke of doctrine and dogma on the born again believers and enslave him or her. In the case of women, they are immediately told that God says they are second class citizens to all men.

In this third millennium these inconsistencies will be challenged and religion will evolve into something more just, less hypocritical and more oriented toward teaching this one on one relationship with God, without the requirement of a bureaucratic religious liaison. The Catholic Church moved in this direction when it began to have services in English and not Latin.

A masculine God will always be aggressive, judgmental and destructive. A female God will always be creative. For a sane world the secular and sectarian bureaucracies must be equalitarian.

What is interesting is how the Western religions have identified a masculine God as a creator and destroyer. On how a destructive God has been given female creator aspects without giving God a feminine name.

God did not create us. We and God always existed. God is our connection to the greater Infinite Potential. Over emphasizing the personal aspect of God creates confusion. I was raised with a personal God and I have lived with that reality all my life. For human beings in the West to relate to God it is necessary to personalize him. I would not know how to pray to a non specific Infinite Potential. As humans we are used to hierarchies. We are not used to a completely equalitarian society.

So I pray to God. I relate to God as a personally involved super being who guides me in my life in this reality. There is no time when I do not feel his presence. My relationship with God works. He has always been there for me. My God is a real God but I know if truth God is not a man.

I do not consider that God created me for the sole purpose of worshiping him. I believe I am in God’s charge but I do not consider myself to be his slave. I am an imperfect parent but I do love my children. God is more loving and tolerant then I am so he understands my every need he knows that I have always acknowledged him, that I have accepted his decisions for my life. My life is one focused on increasing the peace for peace in the world human society and I believe that was a mandate to me from God before my birth. I have worked everyday accepting God’s direction and believing that all that I have experienced is for a purpose. All that I have experienced was necessary. I have accepted my destiny, which I believe I had a part in scripting before I entered this reality. I believe I am on my path and everything is as it should be. I believe the radical words that I am using are inspired by God. I live each moment in all circumstances with the belief that God wants me to experience these things. I accept all things from God. I try to find the positive in every situation. And for over 60 years I have always found that what I was experiencing was in line and necessary for accomplishing my goals in this life.

God is a father to me. And as a father he did not make me for the sole purpose of worshiping him. What I experience is for my benefit and if my destiny is a worthy goal like increasing the peace in the world human society then I am doing his will as well as my will. It is a mutual working relationship and I want to do my part. My faith makes me believe that all I do is my part but the truth is that I will not be sure until my life is ended and in heaven I will have my renew and the simple reward of well done if I deserve it.

DAY 9: WHAT MAKES GOD SMILE

My God is not an ever present score keeper who smiles when I do good and knows when I do bad. He does not speak with me each day and tell me each day, moment to moment, if I am going to heaven or hell if I die in the next moment. Since God knows when I am going to die or can end my life at any time, why does he not kill me when I am on the heaven side of the score board? That would be fair to me. Why treat me like a performing rat who moment to moment not only holds life and death over me but also heaven and hell. God is the gate keeper. This kind of thinking creates a paranoid hopelessness among human beings.

I moment to moment ask God’s guidance to keep me in the right path. But I see him as helping me grow, experience and accomplish the goals we set for my life before I was born. When I make mistakes he helps me get back on track. What is important is that I am trying, not whether I always succeed.

I love God. How would I not. He takes care of me. He works with me. He is all powerful and all loving. Jesus said ask and receive, seek and find, knock and enter. Who would give his son a stone when he asked for food? All we have to do is ask. Why should I not love my father? I was never born as a spirit. My soul like God has always existed. God is much more than I am. He cares totally about me. Why should I not love him?

How could I not trust God? My success or failure is based in his direction and my willingness to follow his directions and do it my way. If I do it my way, I may fail but if I do I have earned from that failure, God knows I tried. I am not on some kind of moment to moment game board where one mistake and I am vaporized and God abandons me. God and I have a working relationship in this life. I trust him totally to guide me and I trust him to teach me when I make a mistake. I am doing the best I can.

The problem is that most human beings become confused in the manifestations of this reality and believe that they are in control of this life without aid, and they forget that death approaches always. No matter what you achieve or accomplish in life, there comes a time when you die and all that you accumulated us passed onto others or it just rots away. To ignore or not acknowledge God’s every moment’s presence causes one to live in fear of each moment. It causes one to believe that he or she can work harder and be smarter and dodge and negotiate all the obstacles in life successfully. A life without a personal God is a life of anxiety. A life without trust in God is one that saps one’s energy.

I don’t think of God in terms of obedience. I obey my earthly father as a child because if I do not there are consequences. But death and abandonment and an eternity of hellish torture were not the punishment. I trust God so I try to do what I feel he is telling me to do because I want to live in peace and accomplish my goals and fulfill me destiny. For me obeying means no freedom to experience. Obey is just too strong a word for me to apply to my relationship with God.

I acknowledge God’s all inclusive infinite immortal essence and I thank him but he does not need my praise if he has my love. I do thank God moment to moment. I thank him for my life and everything associated with it. I thank him for his presence. I acknowledge that without him I am nothing going nowhere.

God joys in me following my destiny. He is happy when I do not quit. He is happy when I trust him totally. He is happy when I do whatever it takes. When I use the skills I have to focus on and proceed on my chosen path. God is glad when I expand who I am and when I use all that I am as I move through this short life.

I had a client who referred to God as his partner. He had made a lot of money and then lost most of it and at one point like me found himself in jail for six months. But he never gave up on God. He said one time when he had a deadline when money was due within hours and he did not have it on hand he just turned the problem over to God. He simply reminded his partner that he had done all he could and now the partner had to solve the problem. He told me with five minutes to spare God came through. This was just one of his miraculous stories.

I view God as my loving father who is also my partner in all aspects of my life. And I always view a non response from my partner as a response and not abandonment. I can only do so much. God has the bigger picture on mind. He has all the answers. He knows what I need and what I don’t need. Kay, my second wife, says I have more faith than anyone she knows. It is true but it is easy to have faith when God is your partner.

DAY 10: THE HEART OF WORSHIP

Surrendering to God’s will is a difficult concept for me. If we believe that God has the total power to control and direct our lives we have no choice but to surrender. The question is what are we surrendering to God. Are we surrendering to God’s will for our life over which we have no control or are we surrendering to God’s help and guidance to allow us to achieve the destiny for which we were born?

I reject the idea that God has created me for one life and I have to be exactly what he has planned for me. That means that I am nothing but a robot made to perform some duty. God doesn’t need to create me to perform anything. By his thought whatever God wants, happens.

And worship of God does not have to come in complex games God plays to test our trust and our surrender. If God wants worship all he has to do is think it and infinite human beings will manifest for that purpose.

I am not a robot or a clone. I am a unique infinite spirit that has always excited along with God. I have free will. I can think. I can create, in a lesser capacity than God, but I can create. In fact, I believe that I created my role in this life.

This reality was molded by those who are committed to this reality, innumerable beings created this solar system and earth. By this community thought this earth has evolved from dust to a planet inhabited by human beings. We have made an ongoing movie if you will.

The rules and reality of this planet have been molded by trial and error for billions of years in earth time. Those who incarnate here have agreed to abide by the rules and support the beliefs about this earth; i.e., men cannot fly without aid of a mechanical device. We can’t walk through walls. We cannot think our way from place to place but must move by physical means.

This earth is one of the infinite realities in the mind of God. We come here to experience this reality. We define the role we want to play then come here by connecting with a human body in our mother womb. We are born and take many years to grow up to be adults fully trained in the mechanics of this reality.

We agree with God to follow a path we desire to experience and God commits to help us achieve out goals. It is a partnership.

So we do not get plucked out of nothingness and then forced by God to play an extremely short lived and limited role in the human society. We choose our own sole as we accept a predefined sole that we want to experience.

Surrendering then becomes nothing more than acknowledging that we are spiritual beings who are infinite and immortal. We remember that we have incarnated with a body whose senses are limited. They are limited so we can better focus on our life and destiny. If all senses were doubled then the background movie would significantly increase and worship here would be more difficult. There would be twice as many distractions.

I surrender to God’s help and guidance in my life. I acknowledge I need his help to accomplish my destiny. I am thankful for my life moment to moment and joy in my relationship with my God. That is my surrender. That is the nature of my worship of God. I am not God’s robot, clone or slave. I am Gods son. I was made in his image; but of a lesser knowing. If I am a robot, and I was made in his image, he would be a robot as well.

DAY 11: BECOMEING BEST FRIENDS WITH GOD

Responding and commenting and elaborating on Dr. Warren’s book, The Purpose Driven Life seems a bit strange to me in the sense that since I was 8 I have been moment to moment aware of God’s presence. When I was growing up we went to church every Sunday and I was schooled in the Old and New Testaments. As an adult I had taken my family to church but it never really fit into my life. I never considered church attendances that important. What I considered important was my direct connection to God. I never felt a need to go through Jesus to speak to God. The church has developed this metaphor of Father, Son and Holy Ghost which for me was nothing but a religious intellectual complex metaphor. All these are just God split into parts to help people connect to God. The church could never answer my questions as to why children die and bad people seem to be rewarded and why good people suffer (Job’s questions). I believed that by continuous study, prayer and meditation I could get those answers directly when God felt it was time for me to know. So why did I need the church?

I was baptized as an infant in the Presbyterian Church. Some religions don’t recognize baptism until a child reaches puberty. At sixteen I attended a Billy Graham crusade with my parents in the Astrodome in Houston. I had watched Billy Graham on TV for years and I liked his simple straightforward messages but I never related to God as a harsh judge. And I never believed that heaven was just reserved for Christians. Buddhist monks travel and teach and live like Jesus. And I know Muslims who are more Christian then Christians I know.

We had gone to a couple of Mr. Graham’s Crusades but on this particular night we sat about fifteen rows up from the arena. When the call came at the end of the service to some forward I felt that I had to go. I did not feel I needed to be saved. I felt I needed to go down and show that I acknowledged God in my life; again not Jesus but God. I was filled with emotions as I made my way up the stairs and then down into to arena. I did not ask my parents or tell my sister, I just got up and went. They did not go. I think they thought I went to the bathroom. Nothing mattered. I just felt I had to show the world that I acknowledged that I served, trusted and believed in God.

When I got down on the field I did not know what to expect; maybe an experience or some kind of revelation. What I saw was Mr. Crouch from my church who was working with the Crusade. I sat behind him in church most Sundays. I did not consider him as someone who had any spiritual knowledge on the level that I needed. Some other workers caught my arm and we said our prayer. My revelation was that getting up and going down into the field was all I needed to do. The information that was imparted to me was not that relevant I have no memory of what it was.

So when I read Dr. Warren’s book, I keep saying to myself that I know this and I do give regards to the section about a one on one personal relationship with God. I have never agreed with the actions of man’s bureaucratic religious organizations because they seemed too restrictive and most Christians I know are very judgmental and they believe their religion is THE religion. They all seem to me to be elitist in an exclusive religion. I never understood how any religion could look down on others religionists. God has created a diverse human society. I ask Christians often if they understand that 2/3 of the human beings on the planet do not accept the one Savior for all: Jesus. I can’t believe all those non believers are condemned to hell or banned from heaven. The God I know loves all his children.

I feel that God and I are very close friends but when I think about it intellectually I am not comfortable with the image of an old man with a long white beard. Yet I cannot conger up any other image. So I really don’t think of God as a form but as a person who I do not try to bring into visual focus. As the Tao Te Ching says, The God that can be described or defined is not the real God because any definition or description of God is limiting and God’s infinite and all inclusive.

That being said, it is easy for me to relate to God as a friend no matter what form he chooses to manifest in my mind. And I don’t intellectually or spiritually see God as male. I see God as both male and female in a form that I can’t really imagine. When all of creation is sexual, how does a human being in this reality relate to a non sexual, not male not female being? How do we consider that God has no beginning and will have no end? All things we know of are born and then die.

Over the years I have come to ignore the concept of death, more especially since my heart attack. I do not associate with my body as anything more than a vehicle to which soul is attached to every atom. I live as a freeman joying in human pleasures but I know this body is fragile and could die at any moment. I am certain moment to moment that my soul sustains my body and God sustains.

I pray moment to moment with every breath. I find beauty in everything large and small including this cell that I presently inhabit. At night I have a prayer that I wrote and I read it. I modify it as things change. Reading a written prayer out loud dramatically increases its impact and prayers with an emotional booster are very effective.

I am in constant meditation with God. Some may say that I am completely spaced out. But I have done it for 60 years and so most don’t notice the difference between me being more or less grounded. Meditation takes place with every task; painting, mowing, raking, washing dishes, and bathing. Meditation does not just happen when you sit in a focused lotus position. I like to have my hands busy when I meditate. It is best in this place I love it when they turn out the lights and it gets quiet.

At every moment, I am conscience of what I am doing physically and how that physical act relates to my spiritual destiny and God. There is nothing that I do or experience that distracts me from my spiritual connection.

Kay likes to listen to the radio or have the TV on. I don’t. My mind is always processing something, always thinking. The internal chatter never stops. So the radios and TVs are distractive. But when I watch or listen, I am never fully engaged enough to experience the music or TV show. I am seldom really into it.

God is my friend, father, and creator. I trust that he has all the answers. I know he is always with me guiding me every second. I have total faith in him and because I have total faith I have no fear, even of death. Death is a ticket home but I am having too much pleasure in this life as in every life to want to leave. I pray in every moment in every breath in every place even in the jail. This jail cell is one of God’s many mansions.

DAY 12: DEVELOPING YOUR FRIENDSHIP WITH GOD

Having a conversation with God is like having a conversation with myself. God knows everything I know. I can hide nothing from him even though at times I can hide things from myself.

I believe that the spoken word is much more powerful than something written or silent prayer. There is something about the voice that resonates through the universe. Sound thoughts are more powerful that quiet thoughts. Also when you speak out loud you also hear yourself, so you get feed back. You hear how you sound. You can distinguish the emotions behind your words. In silent prayer you cannot feel the weight of your words. Talk to God as you listen in on the conversation. Praying out loud creates clarity for me.

In have no doubt that God is always present when I begin a conversation with him, even if that conversation lasts only one second. I also have no doubt that based on my past choices things are just the way they should be. God is always, always, always looking out for what is best for me.

I believe it is critical to a focused life to have faith that things in one’s life are unfolding just as they should. When we know and understand that we release worry and concern and just deal with the task at hand. I do not believe God responds as quickly with those who are doing something tangible to manifest this vision and destiny. After prayer and meditation there must be activity. You must do something physical to move forward. You cannot sit back with doubt and worry expecting a sign from God at every stop.

When you have doubt, know that God does not have doubt. If you don’t know how to move forward, take a small step in the direction your logic directs you. Don’t get stuck in the mud. Get moving and God magnifies your energy. When you are ready, God reveals what you need. Life would be a dull job if you knew at every moment what to do and what was about to happen.

I believe everyone has come to this reality to learn faith. Faith comes from moving forward trusting, believing and having no doubt that God is ever present, ever caring. My life is a testament to that.

I don’t like the word “obey” yet I find as independent and free minded as I am, I love to do God’s will. I love to please God. I want him in my life at every moment because I am joyful and blissful when I feel and I know his presence; when I know that things that are happening around me that would not be happening around me if God were not there in charge. God is love. I reject all the Biblical teachings about a vengeful, judgmental God. My God has infinite patience because we are all infinite immortal beings. In time, even the darkest soul will come to the light. What is the hurry? No one can take away an infinite immortal being. So how can anyone really harm us? Yes they cause grief in this reality but the truth is that seldom almost never is there a situation where we can’t track the negative things that happen to us to a choosing of bad decisions in the past.

I believe that God wants the human spirit to live in peace and each individual to have peace of mind. I care about doing something to increase the peace. I believe I am in sync with what God wants.

My life has been chaotic and confusing to others but not to me. I believe and have faith and no doubt that almost every act in my life was to help me be an advocate for peace. I have never complained about my circumstances but I have looked for why things were happening to me. I feel that I am to learn from things I don’t immediately understand.

I am willing to endure anything. I am willing to do whatever it takes to be an advocate for peace. Even in jail I found reason to celebrate and I feel God’s bliss as clearly as in any place I have ever been. That is because there is no place where God is not. I see God everywhere. I see his works always.

God is my friend and I am his. We are one. I cannot be harmed by enemies even in death. I do not passively accept my circumstances; I always evaluate what is happening to me and ask why. I never tire of this. I mediate and pray day and night no matter what else I am doing. I am always keeping an eye out to make sure that I am still on my chosen path.

God is love, trust, and faith. This has been my life experience to which this book as a testament.

DAY 13: WORSHIP THAT PLEASES GOD

Worship God is something that is associated with going to church because worship seems to be defined as the rites and rituals of a church service. For me every time I pray to God it is an act of worship. When I pray I am acknowledging that God is my maker and the source of my spiritual essence. We worship God every time we acknowledge him.

Going to church is a specific act of worship. We go to church in a large part to worship God by singing songs, reading the scriptures in unison and praying common prayers.

If you are a Christian then you want to worship as a Christian. That would mean to worship in the way that the Bible teaches. As a Christian you pray as Christians pray from the Bible and you do not get creative or bring in any prayer from other religions. You pray the exclusive Christian prayer.

There is a Christian method of worshiping God but that is not the only way to worship. The Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim all have their prayers and worship and songs of worship and songs of praise. I suppose a Muslim must according to his religious bureaucracy pray accurately from the Koran, as Buddhist must from the Dhammapada.

To suggest there is an accurate way to worship is to suggest there is an inaccurate way to pray and worship. This is a core problem with religious bureaucracies. It is an elitist mindset that distinguishes one religionist from another and tends to make a religionist judgmental not only toward other religions and its member but also judgmental toward members of ones own religion who are not praying accurately. There is no truly accurate way to worship God. But there is an accurate way to worship as a Christian, a Buddhist, a Hindu or a Muslim. Accuracy is about religion. Worship is really about spirituality and God. True worship transcends religious bureaucratic accuracy. In fact, accuracy even though it conforms the entire membership, it is an implement to the other issues regarding worship.

I believe Dr. Warren’s book is a wonderful book on how to connect with God as a Christian. But I disagree with Dr. Warren’s underlying message that being a Christian is the only acceptable religion on the planet.

All the other religions on the earth have a method of interacting with God, the Universe, the Infinite Oneness, All There Is, and Brahman and so on. One must always be on guard against becoming arrogant about other religions, or emphasizing an elitist mindset, or an exclusionary attitude about other religionist.

Job asks God why evil men prosper and why the good suffer. God never answered Job. He just asked Job who he was to question God. The same is true about why God allows other religions. I suppose that a true believer, a true Christian may believe that Satan is the God of all the non Christian religions. Except that I know Muslims and Buddhist who act more in line with Christianity but though their own religion then do some Christians I know. To even suggest that other religions are motivated by Satan nonsense. Any religion that connects human beings to God and acknowledges a positive God force in the universe is not Satanic. The worship of Satan is a religion that worships things of the earth and not of heaven. A Satanic religion is a religion of materialism. They are easy to distinguish. The building of large edifices and religious movements is magnificent and awesome but there is also an underlying message of materialism is good, our church is bigger and prettier and more magnificent than yours. This mindset is not what Jesus advocated. Being in awe of the building and the religion instead of the God it praises creates confusion in the mind if those seeking spirituality and God.

One must never forget that man made bureaucratic religions are not God and are not spiritual. Spirituality is outside religion and has to do with a one on one relationship with God. Spiritual worship has no _?_ except that all worship by human beings is individually _?__.

No major religion on earth is Satanic. All acknowledge a higher positive spiritual essence. Jesus said a divided house cannot stand, as there are many Christian documents. There are legitimate alternative religions that believe in a higher power and that power is also a God of love and compassion. These characteristics do not define evil they are light issues.

Worship must be authentic. This would seem to mean that you must be emotionally connected with your worship. If you are a long time member of a congregate you will have said the same prayers over and over for many decades. You may have said the words so often you don’t even have to think about what you are saying. It just comes out. Individual spiritual worship does not usually become a ritual and repetitive. Each moment one worships God by being truly thankful for his or her life. Individual worship is not likely to become stale and meaningless like just another repetitive exercise.

Thoughtless worship is meaningless worship. It would tend to be more prevalent in a repetitious environment, every Sunday morning 11 AM. Individual spiritual worship would probably not be thoughtless because then would not be anyone to lead a worship service. The thought of worship would come due to ones immediate experiences which would come due to ones immediate experiences which would remind me that all things come from God. Repetitive worship has its place but the participants should think about what is being said.

Practical worship seems to mean that you must get up and go to church and support the church in other ways. But one must remember that it is not necessary to go to church to worship. Worship is any act of kindness to another human being. Worship is the observing of something in life and simply saying praise God, this is practical worship. If you are going to church just to say you never missed or it is just another job to go to, maybe you should disengage for a while and determine why you go to church. It may well be worship and even a moronic repetition of the worship service is better then forgetting that God is daily blessing you with this magnificent life.

The point is that you don’t have to go to church to worship. But whether you die or not all that matters is that you be engraved in the act of worship. The more you are connected with speaking to God the more fulfilled your life will be.

DAY 14: WHEN GOD SEEMS DISTANT

Contrary to Dr. Warren’s position I feel close to God at every single moment. Yes there are certain times when I am in deep meditation or after he has blessed me with a miracle that I feel very close to him. But the vast majority of the time I just know that he is present, ready to listen to me and guide me. I never feel distant or separated. God is like my parents and my son John. I am glad when I am talking or visiting with them but they are always just a phone call away. I do not doubt their love when we are not interacting or communicating.

I find the thought that God is testing me when I feel separate (which I don’t) silly. I have gone through times when I am disappointed that I was not going to get what I had prayed for but that was simply God saying no for my benefit. I have been through so many difficult times in the last year that I know that I am about to enter a new and very different life style. This stay in this jail is a transforming experience. It is a real time metaphor.

God does promise he will always be there. If a person does not find his presence it is because he has not paid close attention to the different ways God feels. But in meditation, one will always find God. Always. God always has something he is ready to communicate when we are ready to listen. It may be that you have to get deeper into mediation than normal with meditation because God wants you undivided attention, but he is always there.

For me, the experience of God and the seeking of God is the same thing. They are different words with different meanings but Jesus said ask and receive, seek and find. To believe that God would not respond when we seek him would not be an experience I have had. How often will a good parent fail to respond to their child? The answer is never. Good parents are always attentive parents.

God does not have a presence for being felt as opposed to being trusted. These are just logical linear distinctions between words. When you feel God, you trust God and when you trust God you find him. Consider whether a good parent would hide from his child when the child was in need or seeking the parents for any number of reasons. Maybe a good parent may not immediately respond to his or her child but God is a better parenting example than humans are. He is always attentive because we are part of the body, mind and soul of God. He is us and we are him. Human beings are separated with physical bodies and the conscious physic spiritual connection is not that developed in humans. But God is spirit and his spiritual essence is always connected to our spiritual essence because our spiritual essence resides within him. God is all-inclusive.

I am always candid with God. I tell him exactly how I feel because he already knows. It helps me to voice my feelings out loud as if I were talking to him. It relieves my concerns, makes God feel more real, and makes me feel more connected. When I call, he answers or at the least I feel his presence. Always.

The nature of this reality is change. It is hard for us to conceive of an unchanging anything. God’s love is unchanging. Our situations change, life changes but Gods love is always there the same way a good parent always loves his or her child. The difference is that our spirits are never separate from Gods where as our bodies can be in different places than our children’s. However many parents have developed a sixth sense about their children and children about their parents. When either feels that something is wrong, they check on what is going on.

You either trust God or you don’t. God’s trust is like his love, it is unchanging. You can always trust God. He is not a bad parent who plays mind games. I think if God were to completely withdraw his presence from any human being, that person would immediately panic in the void and become suicidal. I can assure you that I can always trust God as can all God’s universe of beings.

At every moment I thank God for the blessing of life. I do not constantly verbally repeat thank you with every breath but almost everything I experience reminds me of God. When I stop to think, I can count my many blessings. Many blessings are nothing less than miraculous. For a year or so after my heart attack, I was paying very close attention to my heart rate. I found my heart to be miraculous. If it does not beat every moment, I will get faint and then if it does not begin to beat I will die. Each heartbeat is a blessing from God. When our hearts stop we return to God. That is a wonderful experience. It is one of heavenly indescribably blissful peace. I am here for a purpose. I will know that purpose has been accomplished when my heart stops. I should have died ten years ago and could have died on several other occasions. I didn’t because my purpose in this world had not been completed.

The eternal God is your resting place and underneath one the everlasting arms, Det: 27:33

Job and Jesus never gave up on God, never lost their faith, trust and love for him. The story of Jesus is an example for each of us.

PURPOSE #2: YOU WERE FORMED FOR GOD'S FAMILY

DAY 15: FORMED FOR GOD'S FAMILY

There is a family of believers in Jesus. There are about 2 billion Christians on the planet. They are a family by virtue of their belief in and faith in Jesus. They consider themselves the elite in Gods kingdom because of then faith in Jesus. The reality is that there are over 4 billion other human beings on the planet who do not believe in Jesus. They have their own God given religions. And they are elitist and exclusionary in their religious beliefs as well.

In this reality, we are born as human beings. All people on the earth are human beings first. All human beings on this planet are animated by an infinite immortal spirit (or soul which I use interchangeably). We have existed forever as part of God. In Gods realm there is no time. Past, present and future all merge into NOW. On each, the finite reality, time can be measured. It is part of this creation of God’s. We use the word creation but in truth there was no creation. Everything always existed as part is the Infinite Potential of God. Creation is a time related concept. It means to begin. It is only relevant in explaining a relationship to God in the reality. It would be more accurate to say that the drama began when we appeared in this reality, in this dimension and then only in respect to our finite and time limited bodies. Our incarnate infinite immortal souls have always existed. So creation is a word that relates to this physical reality and not to the upper levels of heaven.

We are brothers and sisters. Actually there is no gender distinction in heaven. This is another concept that applies to this reality where it takes two genders to reproduce but does not apply in heaven. We cannot conceive of a genderless, sexless reality. God is not male. But we refer in this world society, in the major religions to God as male. Thousands of years ago God was considered female. The higher religious concepts always saw God as having male and female attributes but in reality neither male nor female yet containing both attributes.

We really have no common word for a creator that is neither male nor female. An amoeba is such a creature. But it is a one-cell organism. All the higher life forms are either male or female. There is no higher life form that is sexless and reproduces as an amoeba reproduces.

It is time that we stopped referring to God as one or the other sexes. Refer to God as God and not he or she.

As to the reward of Christians is heaven 1) We have always been with God forever in heaven, 2) We are all Christ like in our being but not always in our earthly actions, 3) There is no pain and death in heavens lower levels and no suffering in the upper levels 4) We will become as we desire, not eternal slaves in heaven, 5) and we already share in Christ’s glory. There is nothing to work for in heaven. We are already what many believe is only in heaven. Our true being, our spiritual essence, our soul already lives in heaven but in these limited human bodies that knowing of heaven is clouded. In order to experience this reality we have to accept that we will function on a much lower level until our bodies die and our spirits are free to return to a more awakened state.

Baptism is a ritual that Christians use to signify that one is a member of the Christian family. It means that one has been born again into the Christian faith.

Every time I get caught in the rain I felt renewed. I feel baptized again. With rain we often see a rainbow if we are positioned just right between the sun and the rain. The rainbow is a symbol of God’s promise to Noah not to again destroy the world with water. It is the mark of God.

So I associate water, and this is essentially a water planet, with God through the rainbow and as a baptism of renewal. There are many rites and rituals in each and every religion. Baptism is one of the most significant rituals for Christians.

The family of God includes all human beings of all races, all religion all nationalities and both genders. All human beings are the children of God.

It is wonderful that human beings of like mind gather together as Christians, Jews, and Buddhist. It is not OK to have an elitist opinion of oneself and one’s family as being better than other human beings not of your particular religious family. There is no proof that God treats any human beings different than any other human being. The world is a hard place, and the good are punished and the evil are rewarded in every human society and in every religion. In heaven there is the same condition of equality.

Religion is good unless it causes one to harm other human beings in the human family simply because of their religious affiliation. At this moment, all over the world, human beings are being abused and even murdered simply based on their religious affiliation. This is undeniably wrong. If your religion instills you with an elitist mentality or condones the suffering of others human beings because they are excluded from your religious beliefs, then you have become confused on the reality of a loving God who is the God of all human beings and the God of all religions. There is one God, one heaven but many paths to God’s heaven. Let us not harm one another in the name of God. It is wrong.

If your religion causes you to consider yourself more loved by God because of your religion or your gender within that religion you are confused in your understanding of the true nature of God.

DAY 16: WHAT MATTERS MOST

Peace is about love. We do not have to love everyone but we do have to have respect for them as human beings. We have to acknowledge that no matter how much we disagree or dislike a person, they have as much right to be here as we do. So we must accept and respect this even if we cannot love them.

Love should apply to every human being regardless of politics, nationality, race or religion. We should not just love other Christians but all religionists. Love is important for a church’s community but when you reserve your love for only other Christians you have become elitist and exclusive. It is easy to love friends and family. Not so easy to love others globally. But respect requires nothing.

I am not talking about the lack of respect for someone who you personally know personally has done some harmful act. I am talking about a lack of respect for a race of people, or a religion, not of ones faith, or lack of respect because someone is a citizen of another country. These are generic matters not individual. Lack of respect and love needs a factual foundation on an individual per individual basis.

Love is a word that has many variations of meanings depending on who or what you are talking about. You love your parents, children and spouse differently. You love your friends on another level. So when we say we love someone we often have to identify our relationship to that person before others know what kind of love we are talking about.

It is hard for most of us to not dislike someone if not hate them. We have a whole range of feelings about people. Loving a stranger is very hard. For us to find more than apathy for people starving around the word is unusual. We have to care about a person or a people in order to begin to love them. If we have discounted them and their lives and their families then we cannot even begin to love them. For the most part we just tolerate people who do not belong to our race, religion, nation, company, neighborhood, organization, family and so on.

We do not have to love everyone to increase peace in the world human society. But we do have to raise them to the statues of human beings in our minds. We have to acknowledge that they are infinite immortal souls just like we are. The primal nature of human beings is to be loyal to and concerned about and supportive of one’s group or clan. This is about survival. We all want to survive and we have to rank other people by our own personal hierarchy because we believe it is necessary to survive. We also expect this from others and so we justify it.

The gospel presents a different story. Consider Jesus and the woman at the well. She was a Samaritan and asked Jesus to heal her child. Jesus said he was only sent to the Jews. So he did not immediately respond to this woman’s request but told her that she was not a part of his mission. Only after the woman told him that even dogs eat from their masters table did he heal her child. His lesson to his disciples was about the faith the woman had and not about love. And Jesus did not expand his mission after this encounter. Jesus healed the centurion’s servant but again the lesson was about faith and not about love.

Jesus did not expand his mission to non Jews until he called Paul to take the gospel to them after he was crucified. It seems when Jesus said love your enemies he was talking about Jewish enemies of Jews. He did not during his mission on earth mean to love the enemies of your nation.

I believe this is the reason that Americans had no problem with slavery. No matter how much someone might have said they loved their slave it was not enough love to free them from their bondage. In addition, Christian America had no problem committing genocide against Native Americans. To date there has been no apology by the US government for these hateful and unloving acts.

Love is the glue of society. It connects from one human being to another so that by looking at those who our loved ones love, this means that we indirectly do love everyone. If we all loved those who loved our loved ones and refused to hate the ones our loved one’s hate, (easy because we often don’t know them) then just consider how this mindset will change our attitude about the world human society. How can we truly not love those who love our loved ones? We have a common bond with those other human beings because we and they both love the same person.

What I am proposing is a more radical love between human beings than even Jesus advocated. To not love or care for or respect every human being is the core reason we send our children off to war to terminate the lives of our perceived enemies. It is a global tragedy.

God did not create different races and religions and nations and then intend for them to murder anyone who was not a member of one’s race religion or nation. This would suggest a God who did not love all the world human society but only part of it. It would mean that all those who do not belong to our elitist exclusive reality were made by God simply for our abuse and subjugation; which is exactly how early Americans treated Africans and Native Americans.

I do not worship and love an unloving sadistic God. My God’s love is all-inclusive and without exception. Every human being is incarnate with an infinite immortal soul. My God requires the acknowledgement of this one truth as the minimum acceptable love of one another.

This is a very very hard reality for virtually all human beings and generally rejected by them.

How can Jesus come and create a perfect society of Christians when we are all told in the Bible that there was a war between angels who served God and those who served Satan. How will Jesus manifest on earth what according to the Bible does not exist in heaven? Give this careful consideration.

If you want to know abut the relationships between beings in heaven, then look at what goes on in the human society. The Bible said God made man in his own image. We are told that we don’t look like God exactly so the word image must also include temperament as well.

As in heaven, you either worship the God of love, the only God, or you worship darkness. As above, so below. Human beings are attracted to living a good life, a life in the light because it feels better than living in darkness. Not just on earth but universally we need to learn to love one another.

If you think about it in human terms, the only way Jesus will return and create a perfect peace is if he raises the dead and then turns them all into stones that by their nature cannot interact with each other but only live in silent peace until the physical universe collapses upon itself and all tangible evidence is compacted until it again explodes in a rebirth as God and beings watch and prepare to again influence and eventually populate the new heaven and new earth.

What I am suggesting about the nature of love and the mandate of Jesus to love one another is considered impossible by human beings and I am considered a radical heretic. And maybe that is true until you hold your baby, kiss your wife, or say goodbye to a loved one called by death. Then love announces its presence. And if you take just a second you realize that EVERY human being regardless of race, nationality or gender finds that same love as they interact with those they love.

We can increase the level of peace on earth. We can embrace our higher nature and that is all that I am suggesting that by single acts of love we increase the level of peace on the earth. This care message is what I have dedicated my imperfect life to achieving. No more, no less. I am just one man with one simple message: WorldPeace. But at the heart of that message, at the most basic level is an advocacy of love one another. With love everything else works out. It is my desire to leave a legacy of peace no matter how imperfect.

DAY 17: A PLACE TO BELONG

Membership in a church is not one of God’s requirements. The church is not God. Religion is not God. You can be spiritual without being religious. The most important thing is the individual’s direct relationship with God, his or her spirituality.

The church body serves many functions. Though regular services it allows a person each week to reconnect with God and remember his or her infinite immortal spirit. It renews ones faith. It reduces the chance that one will become confused in the manifestation of this reality. It is good for people of like minds to associate with each other to help each other and to spread the word to others in the global community.

It is a legitimate life to be a monk or priest or nun and isolate one’s self to become closer to God, to pray for others and the world. It is wrong to discount those lifestyles. Everyone is not socially oriented. It does not mean a lack of care, it just means that each of us worship and connect with God in his or her own way. Some need the church and its social agenda and some do not.

Some believers want to attend a church service to pray and meditate but they don’t want to be members. They don’t want to be interrogated when they do not attend church one Sunday. There are all kinds of legitimate reasons not to go to church. A family trip on Sunday can be more spiritual than attending church.

I do not believe that it was Jesus’ intention to begin another religion. He never mentioned that. He said his mission was to the Jews.

The word Christian first became used at Antioch. Paul was initially preaching to the Jews but the gospel of Jesus found a responsive chord among non-Jews. It was Paul who established the church through his great energy and determination. Paul helped build the church because he saw no other way to effectively spread the gospel. At that time, people were illiterate and they learned things by attending church services and sharing information.

Today we have a literate world and we have the Internet. There are millions of web sites that discuss religious matters and spirituality of God. Information is readily available. There are prayer sites. The church community and membership is not the only vehicle for worshipping God and learning about Christianity.

Another important thing to remember is that Jesus continually attacked the hypocrisy and evil of religious bureaucrats. It was undeniably the Jewish establishment that caused the crucifixion of Jesus. There is a dark side to religion like every other organization on the planet. Dr. Warren ignores this reality in his book.

The church is there to satisfy many different needs. The determination to make ever member conform has the effect of pushing some away from the church. If you are trying to build an organization to spread the gospel, in the beginning you have to have more structure and control until that organization is established. However, all those rules and regulations offend some individuals.

A church needs to be flexible. The work of churches in their internal support system and external outreach programs are wonderful. But the enslavement of the memberships is wrong. In some churches the need to control is so great that those who do no attend are considered sinners. The church bureaucracy often uses guilt and fear to control the congregation. This is where the saintly work the church does to remind and reconnect human beings to God is great. But the work it does to control and create tension for the purpose of control with individual members is wrong.

Another problem is when there is a lot of control the group becomes a closed system. There is little from the outside that can impact on the group so they begin to drift off into elitist and even more exclusive mindsets that are impediments to true spiritually. The core group tends to become more and more judgmental and intolerant. The group then tends to lose touch with the greater society and in the long run implodes.

God is all-inclusive and tolerant. Any religion and church that claims to do God’s will, need to be more tolerant, less egotistical, less judgmental and more loving. Each religionist must understand that God is love. That whatever religion a person is called to is legitimate for that person. A one size fits all religious mentality is unloving and intolerant.

What I am suggesting is a global spiritual mind set. I say spiritual because I want to emphasize that it is an independent mindset that is inclusive of all human beings. It is not a super religion to which all traditional religions subordinate themselves. It is the individual spirituality, a one on one relationship with God that supersedes one’s traditional religious doctrine and dogma. Each person should adopt one or more religious vehicles to help them stay connected with God and to enjoy the community of believers. But when the community turns to discussions of other religions, the spiritual connection should supersede the elitist exclusionary discussion. Jesus repeated over and over again to not judge others. God is no fool. There is a reason for all the various religions on the planet. I am careful not to second guess God or tell him how to run his creations.

When Job asked God questions about good and evil and why things are the way they are on earth, God did not answer Job. He just asked Job who Job was to question God. We must look at all human beings as spiritual beings first and religionist second.

Religion has its place. But religion is not God. It is a community of believers who come together for many legitimate reasons. I go to church but I don’t consider the name on the door. I just want to be together with others who are seeking God. The particular form or shape of religion does not matter to me.

In my studies of the world’s major religions, I have found that to acquire a complete understanding of God, one need’s to look at all the major religions as one. Christianity is about creating your own reality through faith. Ask and receive, seek and find. If you have the faith of a mustard seed it is enough. You can say to the mountain move and it will move.

The Analects of Confucius are about getting along with society. Buddhism is about the psychology of religion and enlightenment. Tibetan Buddhism is about the life between death and rebirth. Taoism and Zen Buddhism are about the abstraction of enlightenment. Hinduism is about destiny and reincarnation. Christianity is about loving one another.

The major dilemma is that major religious bureaucracies are changed with spreading the message of its patriarch. Yet when there is a question where the elders have to decide between spreading the message or perceiving the bureaucracy, they will chose to presence the bureaucracy. This is why there is an unresolved issue of the Catholic Church accumulating priceless art while advocating Jesus a man who like Buddha owned nothing! How do you in good conscience convince the poor to give what they have to the church and take that money and build huge expensive edifices as opposed o redistributing the money to the many people who are starving in the world. And how do you ignore people who starve because they have not embraced Christianity. And this is the reality that there are only so many believers on the planet so it is necessary to demonize other religions in the attempt to increase the number of members in your religion.

This exclusive mindset is why a Christian peace will never manifest world peace. World peace is all inclusive so it must stand above religion and focus on individual spiritually. WorldPeace will require a spiritual orientation and it will require a secular aspect which on the local level has to do with the justice system and a national level has to do with politics.

I am sure that my ideas seem strange. To all religions I am a heretic, pariah, and anarchist because I acknowledge and to a degree support religion but my priority is spirituality not religiosity. It is easier to find God in prayer and meditation without having religious metaphors. In the Book of Hebrew it says after Jesus, God wrote his love in every heart and there is no need for one person to teach another. If you will listen, God will speak. In a religion you depend on and abdicate your spirituality to some elder. This may not be necessary for some but it is viewed as attempted enslavement to others.

One truth is absolute. None of the world’s religions over the thousands of years since their founding has manifested peace on earth. In fact, religious wars have been some of the bloodiest in history. A religion has to be careful not to become caught up in earthly corporate business at the expense of spreading the message of its patriarch and if possible living his example

DAY 18: EXPERIENCING LIFE TOGETHER

In a functional church the members care for each other. The most successful churches are the ones where the membership stays in touch with each other without over stepping into a person’s private space. If someone has a loved one who is sick, it is important to inquire about how that person is doing but not into the details of the sickness unless it is offered. The same things apply to marital problems, parent and children problems, work problems and so on.

There are so many levels of interacting within a congregation. People should find a church that matches the level of desire to interact with other members that is in harmony with their personality. There are plenty of church’s and by visiting different churches people can find one that fits into their expectations with regards to involvement. It would be wonderful to find a group of members who make you feel like a part of their religious family that you look forward to visiting with them each Sunday.

Life is hectic and we all need a support system. When a congregation fulfills that factor, then God smiles and the level of peace in the world human society increases. There are many people whose ministry is within the church congregations. They are not ministers or a part of the bureaucracy. They are just members who want to make others feel welcome and want to let others know they are available for whatever needs someone may have.

Every group had problems with members who create chaos and tension in a group and sometimes even destroy the group due to their presence. This is life. I feel that everyone should be engaged as a peacemaker in the group in a sincere effort to preserve the positive nature of the group. But no matter how dynamic and loving any group is over time, the integrity of the group will become stronger or weaker. One should joy in a fellowship and help maintain the positive loving nature of the group. But often time erodes even the best of fellowships due to changes in the lives of the member.

If the group you are attending shifts such that it is no longer in harmony with your objectives then it is time to find another group. To promote the common goals of the fellowship one cannot feel animosity or other negative feelings while involved in the group. If things become too out of sync it is time to move to another group in the church or to find another church.

A church family ideally should be just an extension of a traditional family. As a forgiven family members and really close friends that some tolerance should extend to church fellowship. There are few groups that are uplifting as one based on spiritual fellowships. But such a fellowship is what the members make it.

Peace and WorldPeace in the human society should begin at the core units of a spiritual religious fellowship. Religion is mandated by God to manifest peace and harmony. One does not have to become a politician to bring about peace. Peace begins in the family and extended family and then into fellowships within the church which has a stated mandate and agenda to spread and live the gospel (good news) of a spiritual life. There is no better place to find peace than in God’s house, temple, sanctuary, and mosque.

The key is to take this Christian fellowship to every group, organization, work place that one attends. To globalize the Christian movement in the world human society so that it becomes common as opposed to elitist, and exclusionary as opposed to exclusionary

DAY 19: CULTIVATING COMMUNITY

One of the greatest problems and for me the core flaw in Dr. Warren’s book is the underlying elitist attack. As a Christian minister he sees the world through Christianity and yet only one third of the world is Christian. The rest of the world is something else. All the evidence he uses to discuss Christianity applies to all other religions and the world human society as a whole. What I have tried to accomplish in my comments about his book is to globalize his positions.

Except for the part which relate to Jesus as the only son of God and Christianity as the only way into heaven everything else applies in one way or an other to every religion. The purpose driven life is secular not just religious. It is both and both the secular and religious wisdom in his book applies globally. He is a minister and so he has a religious bias. I am spiritual and secular and so I view his evidence as both. Consider how the world would change if we apply these pearls of wisdom to the world human population undistinguished by race, religion, nationality or gender.

The world is full of lies and evil thrives in dark lies and untruth. The whole world would transform overnight if those in power or those with agendas to subordinate others would just not deal in lies. What is great wealth worth if accumulated based on lies. Truth ranks right up there with love as a promoter of peace in the world human society. All lies and untruth spread and spewed out in to the human population are nothing more than time bombs that will detonate sooner or later. Lies are rotten. And anything that is established based on lies at its core will eventually collapse and implode on itself. The deceitful will reap what they have sowed in this life or the next. You cannot run from lies and deceit. They stay with you. They are you negative treasure. Whether in a family, or in a religious or other community or organization or in the world human society they are a beacon of darkness constantly eroding justice and peace and harmony. No liar ever finds bliss. What pleasure these lies bring are short lived and fragile. Jesus said, “What is hidden will come to light.”

To be great one must be honorable. To be first one must be last. These are some of the great paradoxes of the world. The most humbled substance on earth is water. It goes to the lowest places and it gives to all that live, not judging good or bad. To be a servant of the global human community is the best way to be recognized as a great soul. Mother Theresa was one of the greatest examples of humility. She lived it each day and she was very uneffected by her notoriety. She just went around doing good.

Blessed ___ traits like humility go a long way in family, religion, politics and the world human society. The trick is to learn how to balance ones life. You have to be able to deal with evil while remaining centered in your goodness. Being humble does not mean a lack of confrontation. I can assure you that being humble subjects one to all kinds of abuse because of the darkness in the world. The key is to side step darkness and hold fast to positive uplifting character traits like humanity.

In all of our human interaction we should always be courteous. Even with loud and aggressive persons. At the foundation of courteously is respect. One of the most important requirements of survival in prison is respect. If you disrespect someone in any way you are potentially taking your life in your hands. Even the most innocent comment can be taken as an affront and disrespect in jail and prison. Most of these men who I am housed with are repeat offenders and as such have had to fight at one time or another or have witnessed many fights. In some ways this is a pit of angry tigers.

Last night Danny, a 22 year old who I get along with very well, came to my room complaining of Eric. Danny is strangely drawn to marijuana and sells a little dope to make money. Eric is an ex cop who allegedly used his status as a cop to have sex with a 16 year old girl. At the domino table he jokingly said Danny was a narc to his face. Who knows why he would say that. The comment was disrespectful and more important it put Danny’s life in jeopardy. Someone could take that innocent comment and pass it on in a more dangerous tank and Danny could be harmed, all over a stupid attempt to make conversation. I will talk to Eric. But he is on Danny’s list of people never to talk to again. Eric has made an enemy because he violated the respect protocol in this environment. Eric has to quit acting like a cop and start acting like a convict in jail, which he is.

That is another thing. These inmates make a big distinction between jail and prison. I am often told that this is not prison but jail and if you have not gone to prison you are not a convict.

There are all kinds of rules about respect in here. If you bump into someone you say excuse me or it may be taken as a provoking attack, an invitation to fight. In all walks of life and in all situations it is best to be respectful and courteous. It creates an atmosphere of peace and harmony even in a tank of angry tigers. Courtesy and respect are foundations of peace and WorldPeace in the world human society.

To get along with people, you should not talk about them to others unless it is to help them and they expect you to do so. Sometimes we are called to be intermediaries. One should not deal in gossip. We really know very few people well enough to gossip about them; to make assumptions about who they really are. Many men in this tank have lived respectful lived before they made a mistake that put them in here. To gossip about someone’s mistakes or really about anything about that person creates negative ripples in the community. Also and more importantly, when you gossip about others you lose your personal power because the person you are talking to knows that you cannot be trusted to keep their confidences. As trust binds people together, gossip pushes them apart. To be a valid and significant part of any group, you should never gossip. It reduces you status in any gathering.

In order to be an asset to the world you need to be engaged in some social endeavor. A church community is always available to allow you to do good and increase the peace in the world. To be most effective you need to be a frequent participant in the group. Your presence not only allows you to uplift others but it also allows others to bolster you. Each of us makes choices about the level of commitment we have to any group with a focus. To be effective we should identify with a group we feel in harmony with and then be a frequent engaged participant. The greater our participation, the greater the impact of the groups objective, and the more cohesive the group. The more frequent you participate, the more you become a light in the darkness that pervades the world human society. Every positive act increases the peace in the world human society and every negative act decreases it.

The Analects of Confucius are about protocols. Confucianism is not really a religion but a secular approach to society. These character traits and acts that bring community to Christians work in all walks of our lives.

DAY 20: RESTORING BROKEN FELLOWSHIP

There are many ways to restore peace in life and there are many proven processes to achieve a goal of resorting harmony in individual relationship all the way up to national conflicts. There has to be a true desire by the opposing parties to reach a resolution. Conflict creates a ripple effect through the whole human society. The incremental level of total peace in the world human society is the sum of all the relationships on all levels in the world human society. There will never be a perfect peace but we each and every day have the ability through our interpersonal relationships and interactions to increase the overall peace in the world human society. Increasing the peace is a worthy and achievable goal.

Everyone says they endorse peace and that peace is a good thing and a achievable goal. But when is comes down to specific incidents of tension and conflict, people want to control and have things their way. The reality is that everyone wants peace but their actions all to often reflect a hatred for peace and that hatred focuses on advocates for peace like myself.

I have been John WorldPeace for twenty years as of April 5th when I changed my name legally on Good Friday; the day I made the commitment. I am the only person in the world whose level of commitment extended to giving up my family identity by changing my name to John WorldPeace.

In doing so, I have become a target and sounding board for peace and world peace related issues. I have become neutral in all claims between the legitimacy of one religion or organization or government unit and another. The lawyer business has taught me that each opposing side in any argument has legitimate concerns that support their position.

The majority of people I meet and who identify me as John WorldPeace or really hear my name are simply apathetic to it. They are so busy with their lives that WorldPeace is just a name. A significant number think I am a Native American. Most of the time, in business matters, I wear a suit and look like a banker. And there is the fact that America is a melting pot of the world human society and old world names are very common and often hard to pronounce or understand.

There is a small percentage of people who act favorably and even make genuinely sincere positive comments when they see or hear my name. And there are an equal number who are immediately irritated to have to even consider the word WorldPeace. In any gathering where my name is called out people do turn their heads if they clearly hear my name. When I ran for governor I joked that I was sure that I would win because who was going to vote against WorldPeace. I did get 20,000 votes and that is just remarkable because people had to consciously choose to vote for someone with a name like WorldPeace.

One of the many reasons we do not have a greater level of peace is because most people understand that the world is a dark and treacherous place. They understand that there are many people who given the chance of doing good or bad with absolutely no repercussions to themselves, will choose to do the wrong thing.

Peace takes effort. It requires a desire to be peaceful. And truthfully I have found that peace is not a priority but with a very small percentage of the world human society.

One of the main ingredients to peace is the tendency of all human beings to identify with one group or another. The biggest classifications have to do with race, religion, nationality and gender. Race has further sub categories of red, yellow, black, white. Religions all have various factions. Nations are divided in to states, counties and cities. Gender is set at two.

There are all kinds if life style choices like sexual preferences and careers (priests and soldiers) and a gigantic number of organizations. Being associated with any group carries with it the status if that group and also indirect contact with those in power. The majority of people feel they have no individual power in this complex world society and so they need a big brother, if you will, who they can call on in times of trouble. Everyone in the world understands how important it is to know important people in times of trouble.

Therefore, people, to protect themselves, do not want to embrace an all inclusive philosophy because that would mean a loss of power, a loss of the edge that belonging to one group or another brings.

People have little faith in God to take care of them. They are more trusting of their boss to get things done. In God they trust but this faith is in who they know to get help in times of need. Actually, faith is who they know or faith that their assets will allow them to hire professional help.

In order to maintain power, people have to demonize others who do not belong to their various sub societies in the world human population. This is very dangerous position in the world society. On a national level it does seem to be important to have an army because all nations do. The temptation to take over others nations is too great for a nation with superior power. Certainly the Romans, Greeks, English and Americans have imposed their power and will on lesser developed countries mainly for economic objectives. On an individual level people own guns for protection, the majority of people would not use them offensively.

We need to embrace and faster a mindset of peace. But to be functional it has to be a cautious embrace of peace. Peace will come incrementally, radical peace is too dangerous. But we can move forward slowly and cautiously. One of the ways is to refuse to disparage and talk negatively about others who do not belong to our particular group or organization. It is good for people of like needs to organize and socialize together. Competition between apposing groups is a healthy thing and conflicts are resolved and a new covenant is embraced and endorsed by both paths.

The method of resolving internal conflicts chaos and confusion in groups to maintain this integrity applies to all groups and not just religious organizations. If a person feels inordinately in conflict with the group, then he or she should consider withdrawing and associate with a group more in harmony with his values and attitudes and even personal preferences and prejudices.

Conflict resolution principles apply between groups because all groups are represented by human beings. To increase the peace in the world human society, one must always take the higher ground and emphasize commonalities and not differences.

The thing that makes all this even more interesting is that people sometime belong to two different groups that have conflicting objectives. Often a corporation has objectives that are contrary to ones political party preferences and even to ones religious belief. We can make decisions on how to make all our affiliations coherent, but the truth us that our jobs and careers will take priority over all other affiliations. A person may work for a major defense contractor making military hardware. That high paying job takes a priority over any anti war pacifism. Working for a nuclear power plant may conflict with one ecological principal.

Peace and WorldPeace are tricky problems but peace is a good thing and attempts to increase the peace are a worthy goal. Jesus said “Blessed are the peace makers.”

DAY 21: PROTECTING YOUR CHURCH

The church is a bureaucracy whose purpose is to remind human beings of their infinite immortal spiritual nature. The human being is more important than the church. The church exists to help human beings awaken to God. The human being does not exist to support the church above his relationship with God and his mission for God.

This is one of the great curiosities of the church. When the church reaches out to awaken a human being to his spiritual nature, that is wonderful. It is positive and will uplift that individual.

However and unfortunately, after being a human being to God, after awakening to him to his or her spiritual nature and oneness with God, then the church hands the new member a book of doctrine and dogma and informs the new member what he or she must do and what he or she must believe to stay in God’s grace.

Jesus said nothing positive about the Jewish religious bureaucracy. Nothing. Jesus was critical of almost all the rules and regulations that the Jewish doctrine and dogma imposed on their race. Jesus again and again ignored those rules and over and over again accused the Jewish bureaucracy of placing form over substance. That it was more important to adhere to the rules of worship that the purpose of that worship. To pray to God or to listen to God through meditation requires nothing more than to stop what you are doing and focus on God. There is nothing wrong or bad about rites or rituals. The truth is that they are inspiring. But to say that God requires absolutely strict obedience to the rules of a man made religious bureaucracy is nonsense.

To maintain and support any community is always better for conflicting and combative parties; to look first at the things they have in common. And the number one thing they have in common is a belief in God. From this all problems should be easy to resolve. This principle of conflict resolution applies not only to the church body but also to all religionists of all stripes. All religions believe in a higher power. They just differ in how to connect and serve and worship with the higher power.

If religionists would focus on their common belief in a higher power they would not foster wars in the name of God.

All human societies, religious or secular, are imperfect because they are comprised of human beings who are each unique. No human sub society is perfect and never will be. It is best for a person to find a group of religionists who are kindred spirits and of a like mind rather than staying in a group where your presence creates conflict. In America, there is a church on every corner and no one should have any trouble finding a religious community where they can worship in peace and harmony and not be fighting other members over things that do not have life and death consequences.

This is what I was talking about earlier. I will go to worship and not to do battle with fellow members over what will in time seems like nonsense. If I am drawn into a conflict, I will find another place to worship. That combative church has survived for years before I appeared for worship and so they don’t need my input and they will not miss me when I am gone.

Most people are not interested in being criticized when they are paying a psychologist to do it. If you don’t have something nice to say to someone, don’t say anything more than hello.

As above, gossip serves no purpose but to create conflict. Refusing to gossip or even to listen to gossip and refraining for criticizing others creates peace in any group. This is not unique to religious organization. It applies to humans everywhere. To increase the peace don’t criticize and don’t gossip and definitely don’t judge.

With regards to resolving a conflict with another person in a group it is good to first speak with the other person to see it you can resolve the conflict. If it is important to resolve the conflict and the group is not large enough for you to avoid that person, it is good to find some mutual friends in the group and take them with you and try to resolve the conflict. If that does not work, than you can ask the leader of the group to talk with that person. If it is a situation where both you and the person are important to the group, it may be necessary to take it before the entire group.

If the matter still can’t be resolved one of you would probably be better served by leaving. Sometimes these matters are so divisive that one of the two parties plus his or her supporters breaks away from the group and forms a independent sister group.

If the majority of the group determines that the one party is to blame, then that party can be asked to leave for the benefit of the group. The possibilities of conflict resolutions are numerous.

What should not happen is that a person who cannot get along with the group be treated like a sub human. If that person is removed from the group, he or she should not be isolated or shunned by members who know him or her outside the group.

There are some religionists who when they are unable to control a member, who is acting against the groups purpose, expel the member and then no one speaks to the member in any capacity. When a group completely shuts off a person in all situations, especially if the problem was over some religious doctrine or dogma, then the group has become elitist and exclusively and more than likely one that is intolerant of anyone outside the group. This kind of attitude is judgmental and unacceptable.

Every person has his good and bad traits. No one is perfect. So to judge someone as worthless because they do not believe religiously the same way you do is surely against God’s will. When groups become so closed minded as to think they are better than the rest of human society it is time for the group to disband.

Supporting the leader of the group is important for unity. But sometimes the leader is a crook or a thief or someone whose behaviors is out of line with the nature of the group; i.e., a minister who has sex with a member of the congregation, or steals money or gossips, must be removed as leader. A minister leads by consent but when he fails to live the life that is harmony with the group’s beliefs, he must be removed. Certainly a minister must live in harmony with his sermons. Sometimes a dark soul will become a minister and when that happened he must be removed because he will seriously destroy the integrity of the group and undermine the greater society’s confidence in the group.

PURPOSE 3: YOU WERE CREATED TO BECOME LIKE CHRIST

DAY 22: CREATED TO BECOME LIKE CHRIST

I believe we are all infinite immortal beings who have always existed. I believe God is a more awaked being than I am. I believe I have access over time to all of God’s creations; those we know about and those we do not.

It makes no since to me that God would create a little planet in an obscure solar system in a gigantic universe. Even if the stars we think we see are actually galaxies of billions of stars. Why would God make all that space and create the whole universe for an experiment with human beings? If God can make a universe, why make such a simple human being?

What makes more sense is that everything has always existed and we have incarnated into the reality by choice. We will leave by choice. And who knows where we will go after death. Our spirits may go to heaven and they may incarnate back on the earth or some other planet as some other higher or lower life form. If my spirit can inhabit a human body, why not any body? Jesus sent spirits into the body of pigs. And it does seem from the Bible that more than one spirit can inhabit and control a body.

We exist to expand our awareness of God’s creation in this reality, all of them of which this is just one. About 2 billion human beings have been chosen not only to reincarnate in human form but also to reincarnate with a desire to be a Christian. Others on this planet in the world human society have chosen to experience other religious experiences. I do not believe that all the other religions on the earth are evil because they teach a need to become in harmony with God and to have respect and love for all human beings and especially those who are a part of their own race, religion and nation just like Christians.

I refuse to believe that all the human beings who were born before Jesus died and all the human beings who have lived since Jesus died and who were never introduced to the gospel of Jesus or did not become baptized are just so much garbage, whose spirits are destroyed by God after death. Or is there a ministry in Heaven to minister to spirits who did not embrace Jesus when he walked the earth of after he died. And what about those who followed Jesus but were not baptized by the disciples? Jesus apparently did not baptize anyone.

Christianity is a path to God and according to Christians, the only path. But Buddhists have a path to God as well as Nirvana, a blissful merging of the spirit back into the Dhammakaya, their concept of Heaven.

For me it does not matter what religious vehicle that human beings use to connect to God as long as they acknowledge, and are awakened to their infinite immortal spirit and their higher spiritual nature. And that understanding promotes a desire to increase the peace in the human society. I know Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist who pray for the same things that Christians pray for, and they witness that God answers their prayers. There are almost 7 billion human beings presently residing on the planet and the majority of them believe in God for help in their daily lives. I do not discount those people or question their witness. I see the miracles of their faith and the peace of their religion.

All the prayer and all the rites and rituals must be accompanied by action if change of any kind is expected. Whether you want to change your life or the world or achieve a goal or accomplish an objective or live a destiny, there must be a visualization followed by action.

This is a tricky reality. It is full if fears and hesitation due to a lack of faith. But Jesus said to ask and receive, seek and find, knock and enter, and all that is required is the faith of a mustard seed and then mountains can be moved.

We are responsible for our lives. What we are and what we accomplished is totally within our control. This deceptive world that attempts to hide everything in darkness is at the same time a power house of miracles and controllable change and transformation. To accomplish anything we must adjust our habits, strengthen our faith, and harmonize our thoughts with our goals and objectives. We are miracles with the power to create our own miracles within and without.

The life of spiritual isolation alone in community is a legitimate and transforming endeavor. The faith of each human being bolsters the faith of the world human society. As I grow the culminations light to the world human society grows. A life of prayer in a cell or moving through society is absolutely validated. The judgment of a chosen spiritual path is based on ignorance of what that life is about. Until you have been scholled as a monk, or lived as a monk, do not make comments about the validity or that form of worship.

The absolute and magnificent beauty of the human society is its dynamic individual components. Through the seven billion individuals in the world human community we have an extremely dynamic complex and uplifting community worship of God. It is multifaceted. It represents the never-ending desire of human beings to live a spiritual life, to connect with the spirit that each feels inside his or her body. If there were no religions they would be created. Human beings cannot ignore their spiritual nature. It must have a tangible physical display of what it feels and experiences when the mind becomes quiet and the world disengaged.

We are all asleep to some degree. When our spirits incarnate into our body, they lose their expanded consciousness of God and heaven. Spirits attach to the fertilized human eggs at various times between conception and birth. The sooner the spirit attaches, the more it can customize the body. But this customizing or form fitting body to spirit goes on after birth as the child develops.

In life, we awaken to the spiritual reality and expand our view of reality. We learn things from every incarnation but we are developing as souls and not as bodies. The body dies and along with the mind, disintegrates back into the earth. The soul has always existed with God and does not come into existence at conception like the body. The soul is infinite and immortal and beings to the earth reality all those experiences. Mostly those experiences are hidden talents.

As the human being grows older and takes his or her place in society these past life experienced and talents manifest for use in the present life if they are needed to fulfill one’s destiny. All artist and talented gifted people are drawing upon the soul’s experience and those experiences are expanded as the human beings awareness increases and becomes more awakened.

The purpose in life is to wake up to an expanded consciousness, awaken to our destiny, and then to love that destiny as we learn and experience and continue to expand our knowing. Each human being has a mission in this life. And sometimes that mission is totally self serving.

The most important thing to remember is that this reality is transient and finite. This reality is not the true reality, not the true heaven or hell. If we do not remember that we become confused in the manifestations of this reality such that we ignore and take advantaged of those who are also lost in this reality.

Our objective is to remember that we are infinite immortal beings who have incarnated into this limited reality for a divine purpose. If we remember this then we do not get confused in the manifestation of this reality and lose our way.

Through the physical body, the spirits experiences the intensity the senses of the body experiences; sight, tough, smell, taste, and hearing. The spiritual reality is not this intense. It is important to understand this so as not to become too grounded in this reality. There are those who never become fully grounded in this reality and can never really feel whole. There are others who become so grounded in the intensity they cannot easily release the pleasures of this reality. Some people overdose with substance abuse. From saints who never became confused in the manifestation of this reality and do not become attached to it, to dark souls who cannot detach from these intense pleasures, the earth is populated with every possibility from total detachment to total addiction.

Life on earth is hard, intense, and pleasurable. This is why each soul had so many guardians and other spiritual helpers for the purpose of navigating this reality.

DAY 23: HOW WE GROW

The most important thing in life is to become awakened to the fact that within your body there is an infinite immortal spirit. That spirit of part is what human beings consider an intangible reality of heaven. In heaven the spirit exists as a form of energy that is not perceivable with human senses. Yet there is a substance to the spirit. That substance is a kind of energy that creates a very thin body that projects itself in whatever form is necessary. We tend to think of spiritual bodies as looking like ghosts of the physical human body. The truth is that those spiritual bodies have no real form but they do have a presence. Time and space are merged in heaven so everything occupies all of the Infinite Potential.

On earth, in this reality, once we become awaked to our spiritual immortality and our true relationship to God, then we need a template for our destiny by which we can easily determine what course of action that we should take in any circumstances.

Jesus said to store up treasure in heaven that cannot be eroded. On earth all treasure is subject to decay and disintegration. All things in this physical reality manifest from the non physical Infinite Potential. This is another great mystery as to how an all inclusive infinite non physical God can manifest the tangible physical universe in which we live. We as humans cannot conceive of something being created out of nothing.

We must always be vigilant and not become confused in the manifestations of this reality that will in time disintegrate back into the Infinite Potential. With a template we can determine whether or not our actions are going to increase our treasure in heaven or increase our treasure on earth where they will rot and decay.

Our life purpose template must be one that is made is heaven not on earth. In other words, our templates of our destiny will consist of the things we desire to accomplish in this life in order to increase our awareness of heaven as we live out our life on earth.

If we contemplate some action that has to do with other human beings, we need to check our template to see if that action will increase our earthly power, wealth and status or our good deeds stored up in heaven. If our actions will increase our earthly power and wealth but decrease our heavenly treasure because we are taking advantage of or praying upon other human beings we can then choose not to do that act because it is harming our spirit.

In every act we conceive, we need to remain vigilant, check our template, and make sure we are not downwardly spiraling into the confusion that there is no heaven and it is best to live as well as possible while in this reality. The beauty of this reality provides much to be desired but all if it is fleeting and will last but a second as compared to the everlasting reality of heaven.

Your template can destroy you or enhance your memory and knowing of God and heaven. True rewards are spiritual. Human rewards are fleeting.

In developing and constantly monitoring your template, you ask for spiritual guidance. There are parts of your template like, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” that are global and never change. Yet there are other parts of the template that change with time as we move from children to parents to senior citizen. Our primary purpose on earth will remain the same but those sub purposes will change over time. In other words how we support our primary destiny over time will change as we grow older.

Our subconscious acts on what we tell it. It assures that what is told to it through the mind is real and it therefore interacts with the spirit to manifest in the tangible the things that have been programmed in. We will bring to us what we program into our template. Jesus said “ask and receive”. So what we want as defined by our template is what we are going to get.

If you want to store up treasures in heaven it is very simple. You must program yourself to stay vigilant and never forget that heaven is the true reality and that God’s primary realm is heaven. Through heaven, the earth and this reality are manifested and maintained. First love God. Second love your neighbor. The more that you act in life for the benefit of others, the greater your rewards in heaven. The more you act in your own self interest the more your heavenly treasure decreases. If you want to get into heaven be a servant on earth.

So a life of service to the world human society is the best course in life and a life template devoted to materialism and self gratification is in one that decreases one’s rewards in heaven and begins to cause confusion in this reality. Confusion as to which reality, heaven or earth, is the underlying everlasting reality.

Jesus had nothing but the clothes on his back and he preached a message of love and heaven. He lived a non materialistic life. He told several people that it was hard to live in wealth and store up treasures in heaven.

The temptations of earth are great. If you are not vigilant and keep an eye on and a commitment to your template, a life on earth will demean as opposed to uplift your spirit. In heaven as on earth there is status, and to gain status there you have to serve here as well. Heaven is a place of servants not masters.

DAY 24: TRANSFORMING BY TRUTH

The word of God comes in many forms. The diversity of God’s word is truly overwhelming. Billions of human beings embrace the words of Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, Muhammad and others each day. These sacred words speak to their hearts.

No sacred text that glorifies God can be discounted. God in embedded in every human heart and the truth of the sacred texts are a comfort and assurance in a world as hard and difficult as this one. Those souls who came to this place, incarnate in this dimension find a sacred book of comfort in a language they can understand.

Great souls bring revelations from our heavenly home as guiding lights to give us peace in a chaotic place where all things are intense and continually changing. There is a peace that comes from experiencing hell on earth and finding in the depths of that hell the peace of God waiting to impact eternal love.

“The eternal God is your resting place and underneath are the everlasting arms.” Det:__

God’s truths are the human peace. God’s truth is God’s love. God’s truth is our salvation. In our darkest hours, we always find God’s light.

Assimilating God’s truths by daily reading and meditating on his various sacred texts creates a foundation of faith which over the years allows no pain to shake our lives. To assimilate God’s word into a foundation of faith which can be drawn on at any moment is the only dependable source of comfort in times of trouble.

In the depths of despair, God’s sacred words part the dark clouds and sends magnificent rays of light to our hearts and souls. When we assimilate God’s truth into the foundation of our philosophy then it can be easily applied to life’s every moment. In the best of times, God’s truth reminds us of his love and in the worst of times God’s truth reminds us of his love.

The purpose driven life requires a foundation of spiritual truth to which has been attached memories of past times when that truth was the only unchanging light in our life. When that truth gave us comfort and hope. When that truth reminded us that God is always present in every moment.

Jail is a reservoir of long term despair. The death of a loved one is a short lived event. But serving a jail term is long lasting. It is day to day moment to moment until the sentence is fully executed. In jail the prayers are constant and the ministry of one inmate to another is on going.

Ministers come and go in here. But there are many ministers in this place who never go home. They stand ready at every moment to reach out to those in need. To guide those who are lost. In this place the need of God’s truth is persistent.

In every life, other humans come and go; friends and family, teachers of all kinds. But God’s truth never leaves. God’s sacred words mature us as children and as adults and as senior citizens. It is passed on from generation to generation. It is always there uplifting, loving, teaching. God’s truth is redeeming.

DAY 25: TRANSFORMED BY TROUBLE

When we are in distress we tend to pray to God. The more stressed we are, the harder we pray. Silent prayer is the least effective. Written prayer is more effective. Written prayer read aloud over and over is very effective. If you add emotion to your written prayer and read it out loud you will have your most effective prayer.

When we emotionally charge our prayer they have the greatest impact. It is sort of like a child crying. When a child cries, adults pay attention and try to comfort the child. Certainly God hears our silent prayers as well as the loudest most emotional prayers. And God is concerned about every one of our needs. But when God cares more about your problems than you do, it may not be time for God to act.

Jesus said ask and receive. But a half hearted prayer does not have a lot of impact. We have power to make things happen. We have the power to ease pain on our own. We are spiritual beings and as such we can use our spiritual power in any way we want. We can pray for a new car or we can put the same energy into prayer for a sick relative. There is nothing wrong with praying for a new car, but if you want to awaken your spiritual awareness then the car is not going to achieve that goal.

God lets us make our own choices in life. As these human bodied can perform many physical functions our spirit can perform many functions as well. Jesus said if you have the faith of a mustard seed you can move mountains. I think Jesus was using mountains to mean a mountain of trouble or create a mountain of good; but maybe not. Who knows how much potential power the spirit has to manipulate physical objects through the human vehicle?

When we are stressed, we tend to focus more intently. The problems that most affect us get our greatest attention. All things are possible through God. On this planet in this reality our human bodies have to move slowly and crudely; like we are moving through molasses. In heaven things happen almost immediately because the physical resistance is slight. So we have to work a little harder to make things happen in this reality. We have to repeat a prayer more often and we have to meditate more to make sure we are praying in the most effective manner to accomplish our objective.

When our stress is due to the illness or disease or just advanced age of the ones we love, we have to show some restraint. Every person has a destiny and sometimes a sickness is necessary for their spiritual growth. If that is the case, then we should not impose our will through prayer on others. I am also convinced that no one leaves this life except at the time of their choosing. No one dies until they agree to leave this reality. And it does not matter if they die in their sleep or in an accident. God has the ultimate global universal plan and we have to have faith that things are the way they should be.

Everyone has a destiny. But that path is seldom straight. If we look back on our life it will be seen that there was a different direction and purpose but there was many detours and side traps some of our doing and some of God’s interventions. Life is very complex because we are all helping to fulfill each others destiny. God is efficient. All actions ripple through the entire universe and everyone affected is effected in the way they need to be. The murderer and the victim are both benefits or God would not have allowed it.

Murder is a heinous act and must be punished and prevented. But the truth is that it is the body that is discarded and not the spirit. Yes we are sad, yes we are enraged and distraught but no one dies the spirit does not die. We are deprived of the human manifestation of our loved ones but in an instance in God’s time we will be reunited with our loved ones. Christians believe in eternal heaven and hell. Whichever one you choose the Bible indicated that the soul is immortal.

So, hard times focus our attention on God. We are the most intense in our spiritual connection when we are the most emotionally on edge. The goal is to walk more in the light than we do. That goal is to be more spiritually aware even when things are going ok. There is no moment when I am not paying attention to my human needs as I simultaneously listen to my spirit and see the hand of God in everything. I have little fear and much faith and it is because I believe that all things as they should be. Most of our problems are a result of a series of our own choices. Some go back to birth. Through a lifetime of choice we are exactly where we should be based on these choices. Nothing is coincidental or by chance. In every path of every kind, God is there. We should spend a little more time in meditation considering why things are happening to us, why we are experiencing certain things. It is then that we will see the pattern.

As we age we naturally become more aware of how things work. But the more we focus, the more we keep an eye on the global issues the faster we learn, the faster our awareness expands. I like the Buddhist word awakened. The more awake we are, the more we understand. The one thing we will come to understand is that at every moment, with every breath, God is always with us and has charged angels and other spiritual beings to watch over us; not to mention other human beings. The support system for each human being is infinite because God is infinite.

DAY 26: GROWING THROUGH TEMPTATION

I do not like the word sin. Sin is some act contrary to religious doctrine and dogma. Sin is to religion what crime is to secular society. Instead of sin which sounds very judgmental, I like to use the word confusion in the manifestations of this reality. We are infinite immortal souls experiencing a journey through this earthly reality. We cannot die in spirit. So sin is too harsh and unforgiving a word.

As we live life every day, we are tempted in many things that give pleasure. I am not talking about pleasure that comes from another person. I am mostly talking about pleasure that is related to self serving interests and materialism for the sake of self satisfaction and often coming at the expense of others.

It is fine to own things as long as you realize all materialistic pleasures are short lived. We will tire of our toy, it will wear out, or we will die and not have access to it. If you truly love a materialistic pleasure and you die, you will have a craving for it that according to Eastern religions philosophies causes you to reincarnate until you lose your attachment to that pleasure. Smoking and drinking and drug use are some examples. Giving into temptation is not a bad thing unless it degenerates into an addiction.

Everything in this reality, as in everything, is transient, fleeting and temporary. To try and hold on to anything in this reality is an attempt to freeze the entire universe in a moment of time. All things that manifest from the Infinite Potential eventually disintegrate back into it.

As we live in this reality and fulfill our destinies, we need to be aware of the fact that we are not going to live forever. We come here to experience, learn and grow. The trick is to not get lost in the manifestations in this realty and forget that we are spiritual beings. We should be mindful of the temptations that lead to confusion.

The test is very simple. As we are given a choice about anything we need to bring out our templates and ask ourselves whether we are going to become attached to one of our choices. Will our choice addict us to something that does not exist in heaven but only on earth. Temptations are like food. Food exists to nourish and fuel our bodies. We have to eat to live. But when we begin to live to eat, we are addicted. It is good to enjoy a piece of cake once and a while; it is a warning sign when we have to have cake at every meal.

Everything on this earth, in this reality is here for our pleasure and enjoyment. But every materialistic pleasure has a potential of attachment to it. If we want to stay on our path in this reality and if we want to return to heaven with ease, we need to be careful not to become confused in earthly pleasure.

The worst case of confusion exist when a person is so addicted and attached to this reality that they can no longer relate to God. I sometimes think this is why our lives are so short. Death is an escape valve. Before we can become truly confused and enveloped in darkness, we get a wake up call, death. Death ends all, our ability to experience earth until we reincarnate. We may choose to come back and proceed into deeper states of attachment but death gives an opportunity to evaluate where we stand and consider what we are doing.

I love to play chess and I have the opportunity to play it all day, every day here in jail. But in ninety days at the outside, I will leave this tank and re-enter the real, free world. At that time, I will not be able to play chess, because unlike here I have to pay rent, buy groceries and go to work to support myself. I don’t want to get attached to playing chess.

My other choice is to play chess in moderation, enjoy it and spend the majority of my time on this book which is first and foremost a vehicle of self understanding. And it is possible that it may have value to others. The better choice is to spend my time to learn and grow and understand because that I get to take with me back to heaven. Great skill at chess which can be only be played on earth is useless in heaven. I am sure there are things you can learn from chess that will apply to life. The way you attack or defend is a lot like life. But generally chess is just a pleasurable game and a way to pass the time. I want to play better but I do not want to become a grand master.

There are some people in this reality who given a choice of doing the right or wrong thing with no consequence to themselves will do the wrong thing. These people are the ones who are so confused in this reality that they do not remember God. They aretotally lost.

The more we allow ourselves to become attached to this reality the harder it is going to be to return to our natural state of non attachment. There is always the chance that in our choice to reincarnate here we will become stuck and confused. This is why it is important to stay awake and aware of God’s ever presence. As long as we focus on God, consider our purpose template before each decision, we may not avoid temptation but we will not be confused by it.

The truth is that life in this reality is hard even under the best of circumstances and it is hard because it is always changing. Every change brings with it temptation becauseevery change required a decision to reestablished our environment. We lose our job, our children grow up, accidents happen, loved one’s die. A firm belief in and faith in God, supported by a life template and a habit of daily prayer and meditation is a plan for success in navigating life on planet earth. It is a beautiful world that God allows us to experience but for those who do not remain vigilant it can turn into a nightmare.

DAY 27: DEFEATING TEMPTATION

There are two things we get in life; what we really really want and what we really really don’t want. The more intensely and emotionally we focus on things the quicker they happen whether they are positive or negative.

I have spent a lot of years fighting evil and wrongdoing. I see now that I wasted a tremendous amount of time doing so. The more I focused on the evil the more energy I put into it, the bigger the evil grew. The power of negativity on earth is great.

I have come to view darkness, negativity and evil as a tar baby. The more you hit it, the more it gets on you. In the end, it can drain your energy and defeat you. Even if it does not defeat you it has taken its toll on your body, mind and soul and leaves you in a weakened condition.

I have decided to put all my energy into doing good. All that energy I wasted confronting evil did nothing but draw me into a world of darkness, When I see something that angers me I will in the future determine if I have a chance of really doing anything about it or if it is just going to feed off of my energy.

There is a lot of evil in the world because there are so many people who are confused in the manifestation of this reality. The main problem is a dark focus on material things. The more the craving for material things the more confused the person is and the more likely that they will pray on others in order to posses what they desire.

When I was a very young man, I knew that I would never work in a liquor store. I drink on occasion and I do not advocate total abstinence but I know what alcohol can do to a person and I know what a drunk can do when driving a car. I did not want to get paid to increase the suffering caused by alcohol.

Selling drugs is probably the worst thing a person can do to make money. Personally I believe that drugs should be legalized to cut down on crime and to make it easy to monitor. I think it should be sold in liquor stores and controlled by the government. This a practical approach to the fact that human beings are going to seek out the pleasure of alcohol and illegal drugs no matter how legally restricted they become. Some people will pay anything and do anything to be able to feed these addictions.

A drug dealer is feeding the addictions of others for the sole purpose if increasing his wealth. He has totally abandoned any sense of morals and ethics and he’s perused a career that does nothing but harm the end users. Alcohol and drugs kill at their worst and create pain and suffering for the user and those around the user at the least.

We all know our weaknesses. Some may crave food, others alcohol or drugs and others sex, along with an entire list of crimes of robbery, burglary and so on. Some of us have a genetic make up that craves alcohol and drugs and these people have a burden they must carry all their lives. They live with the craving all the time on some level. To succumb to those cravings creates chaos and increases the desire. Almost all of us have food cravings that put unhealthy weight on us.

We all must live the life we have and so we must learn to ignore those cravings and desires that are going to harm us or cause us to harm others in order to satisfy our cravings. To succumb to our materialistic desires and pleasures is to be on a slippery slope that can lead to hell or a near hell on earth and beyond.

To confront evil and temptation you must turn away from it. The mind cannot hold two thoughts at once. So if these confusing thoughts enter the mind, the best thing to do is to immediately think of something else or do something else. If I get hungry, I often take a walk or do something to occupy my mind. We have to play games with our mind to be successful in getting lost in the manifestation of this reality.

Prayer or meditation helps as do support groups. I gave up a lot of socializing to achieve my business, education and family goals. I had a template for my life and it required sacrifice. This is like dealing with addiction but it is the positive side. I focused on a big goal that took away my need of many pleasures. I had a long range perspective and I was able to ignore short team pleasures.

Evil, confusion and darkness can overwhelm you. Just like over eating. People gain weight over decades not over night. The same way with darkness; a little over a long time takes us down a path that when we wake up wish we had not followed.

You have to use your logic to program your mind and write on your template that certain things are bad in small doses because they lead to bigger cravings. A life template is critical to a full and happy life and on that template the list of negative influenced need to be listed and burned into your mind. After my heart attack I went on a strict diet. I refused the bypass. I knew if I ate foods with cholesterol I would die. It would kill me. It was real. The diet was bland but death was the alternative. I chose to stick with my diet. I am alive now because I stayed away from food that I loved but which was like poison to me. I had to program my mind to see things like ice cream as poison. It was not easy but death easy the alternative.

The short term pleasures of addiction in this world are not worth the long steep climb out of the hole which confusion in the manifestations of this reality creates. And if we find ourselves deep in that hole of confusion, we need to reach out to God in prayer and mediation for help as well as others to support us.

Focus on good and not evil. Be vigilant. Heaven is nicer than hell. Be careful, strive to be happy and at peace. Follow your template. Avoid tar babies.

DAY 28: IT TAKES TIME

There is no end to the wonders of God. No matter how much we experience and learn and grow there is an infinite amount more to experience. The process of learning to be in harmony with God and to live in peace with other human beings without judging them or taking advantage of them is never ending.

Life is made up of one destiny and many lesser goals and objectives. Every time we finish one, then there is something else waiting for us. Life is therefore not a destiny but a journey. It is a journey of an infinite immortal soul without beginning or end.

When this life ends another one begins in the spirit world or back in this reality or somewhere else. It is a wonderful universe and we are just travelers in its infinite vastness.

Who knows why we are alive and experiencing this earth, this heaven, human and spiritual beings. Through prayer and meditation we will learn more about our journey. We will learn how to control our lives. We will learn about joy and sorrow. Everyday has the potential to experience something knew.

Sometimes I feel like I get so caught up in contemplating God and what it means to be human, I think I am losing my mind and it is all just a dream. Then I think about the miracle of my birth and the fact that I do exist because I can see myself in my mirror and then I remember that death is real and one day my body will exhaust itself.

When I consider these things then I realize there must be a purpose and I go back into prayer and meditation looking for answers and guidance.

It seems to be important not to do wrong or harm to other people. It seems important to know there is a God and there is a spirit and reality that is integrated with the earthly reality. It seems that we would not be here unless we had a purpose.

All we can really do is to continue our journey here until it ends and then return to our heavenly home to be welcomed and comforted by our spiritual clan and rest and review what we did in this life and decide what is next.

If we acknowledge that there is a God who answers prayers and looks out for us and if we learn to not get caught up in the manifestations of this reality and began to believe that this is the only reality and if we love and respect our fellow human, then that is about all we can do.

In each day of each life we learn something. That is all there is to it. The purpose of life is to live. The second is to find our destiny and then to stay on its path. The object is to do the best we can and that a loving God knows when we have done our best.

The more we awaken to God, the more alive we feel. The more we come to know and feel God, the more deeply we will experience this reality. The more we expand our awareness of God and remember our heavenly love, the more we will relax into the peace of God’s love as we live out our destiny.

PURPOSE #4: YOU WERE SHAPED FOR SERVING GOD

DAY 29: ACCEPTING YOUR ASSIGNMENT

Every person who came to this reality has a purpose. It may be a small purpose or a global purpose. There are very few careers or destinies that do not involve other human beings. Every child requires someone to raise it until they can fend of themselves.

Since you must interact with others, you are performing a destiny of interacting with these other people. Some people need to give and so even if you have a role as a taker you are fulfilling a role necessary for a soul who needs to give, nurture someone just like you. Even the homeless fill that role; allowing others to experience giving and reaching out to others. I do understand that that is a valid destiny in this global play that we are all participating in.

Everyone who comes to this reality has a purpose. It is decided before a soul incarnates. It is not forced labor; it is labor of love and one that is voluntary. Each of us agree with God and the many spiritual workers that will help us and those who are to interact with us. It is a community decision and when you don’t do what you agreed to do then others cannot fulfill their destiny and purpose.

We all have free will to abandon our destinies. We do not sign a contract in heaven before coming here but we understand that we are expected to do certain things and play a certain role here. A purpose or destiny is a general thing, every moment of our lives here are not pre scripted. Things happen and when one person does not honor his obligations it ripples through the world human society. If we do not perform a task, then many times others will step into that role. The whole process is very flexible but somehow we each tend to gravitate to and then fulfill our role. We may think we are total failures on earth but when we return to heaven we realize we did a great job.

The question comes up as to whether someone is playing a role of a bad person or whether they are truly bad. Who knows? All I know is that we are all infinite immortal beings and we therefore have infinite time to work it out. So much of heaven is just too complex for us to figure out and we have a limited understanding of the spiritual reality. We just need to stay focused on God and know that everything is the way it should be.

When I was about eight years old, I wanted to know what death was about. I wanted to understand why people died and I wanted to know what happened to a person after death. I believed that in the writings of people in the world both past and present and especially sacred texts, that the answers to those questions were recorded. I believed that it would be in the religious texts where I would find the answers. I felt that because every Sunday either my Sunday school teacher or the preacher would say something about Jesus dying for our sins so we could live.

So my destiny began to be revealed as I pursued the questions of what is the why of death, and though these questions I would find out what was the meaning of life, and with the answers to that question I would come to understand my destiny.

I believe that our destiny is reveled to us in this way. As we go looking for answers we find out who we are. I believe we find our destiny by not really looking for it but God speaks to each person differently about destiny. Some people never ask about their purpose here but after a lifetime they realize that they in fact were in their path all the time.

In the 1970’s I read a lot about Edgar Cayce the sleeping prophet and after that I read a lot of self help books about being all you could be, about knowing yourself and self actualization. In those self help books they all discussed goals in life not so much as a destiny but about how to define a life goal and then pursue it. I also bolstered my mind with reading about a positive mental attitude and faith and believing in God as well as about miraculous stories. Then in the 1980’s I began to read books about near death experiences. All this searching and researching eventually led me to a decision to interpret all the major religious sacred texts for my personal understanding.

On April 1, 1988, I made my commitment to WorldPeace and my covenant with God was sealed when I changed my name. After I changed my name to John WorldPeace, the specifics of my destiny began to reveal themselves. This book is sort of a landmark in understanding my destiny because it is a review of my history and closure on my past. From writing, praying and meditation on those past events, I have begun to understand who I am and more clearly see what I am to do with my future.

I will be biologically sixty years old in a month. Sixty to me is a passage from being an adult to being a senior citizen. I looked at forty as being the passage from young adult to full blown adult. I looked at twenty-one as a passage out of childhood into a young adult. Those years have had special significance to me and I can see clear themes for the first, second and third twenty year periods of my life. And I feel there will be another change when I reach eighty.

Our destinies are ever revealing. The general direction becomes obvious by forty, I think, or maybe fifty. After that we know our life’s path and we begin to refine that definition. Once we are awakened to our infinite immortal spiritual essence and our connection to God, then we begin to understand our destiny and hopefully we pursue that path because that path will give one’s life the greatest sense of satisfaction and the greatest reward in heaven. I did not say it would be the easiest path but whatever pain and suffering is there will be put in perspective. All life is full of pain and suffering along with wonderful positive uplifting miracles because life is about constant change.

DAY 30: SHAPED FOR SERVING GOD

Each of us has a unique destiny. Destiny is a word associated with big events and moments but it is really a word that applies to every human being. Our lives are unique and our destiny is unique. On the most basic relationship level of family, a destiny to raise children is a huge mission. Raising children is never easy. The most important thing to remember is that children are children for life. Few young couples think about this when they decide to have children. Children will always be younger than their living parents and so in this sense they are lifetime responsibility.

I laughed at my mother’s mother who lived to be 91. In her last years she lived alone and was fiercely independent. Her attitude about my mother and aunt was “What does anyone in their 70’s know?” That is true. The percentage differences between adults and a parent’s age reduces over time but the actual year’s difference stays the same. When a person is a year old their parents may be 25 times older than they are. But as the parents live to be 100 they will only be 33% older than their children. Children are children for life. And the same goes for parents. They are parents for life. A destiny of just supporting children as parents is significant.

The difference between a person who achieves his or her goal and those who just accomplish them is the degree of passion. A person with passion loves his destiny, loves his destiny. In the best cases scenario the passionate person can’t wait to get up in the morning to work on this love and hates to go to bed at night. People who are so integrated and enthused about what they are doing that they don’t want to stop to eat or sleep or rest, their life is their passion and their passion is their immortality.

When you have passion and enthusiasm you became __ but more important you infect others with your energy and your zeal about your work and sometimes they join with you. Once you connect to your passion all sorts of miraculous things begin to happen. Money and assets applies, people show up unannounced and doors open for you that will not open for others less committed.

You have a body and mind that has been custom built by your soul with God’s guidance to provide you with everything you need to accomplish your mission, your destiny to be fulfilled in life it is important to pray and meditate about your destiny. Remember Jesus said ask and receive, seek and find, knock and enter. Through prayer and mediation your destiny will become obvious and once it becomes obvious the continued from all it will attract all the things necessary to make it happen.

When you discover and integrate with your destiny, you partner up with God for the achievement of your mission. There can be no time fulfillment unless you are on your designated path. You will know if you are on the right path if miracles begin to happen around you to help you in your work. You can recognize a miracle. On the other hand, if you are not on your path, then things will be hard and you will feel defeated.

It is important to understand that nothing is easy. No great task is easy. Even the best of destinies and the most focused human beings run into obstacles. No matter how worthy and needed your services, there will be those who want to stop you. That is the nature of this world. When you hit an obstacle you need to push on it to see how strong it is. Don’t assume you can’t do anything. Give a little push and shove. If it does appear that the obstacle is not going to move, then you have to realize that you should try another way to accomplish your ends. Again, God is your partner and through prayer and requests it will become obvious to you what you need to do. Work with God and all your guardian spirits and angels. This is your ever present team. The bigger your destiny, the greater the number of spirits and humans will be drawn to your mission to help you. But so will those who want to stop you.

You should always remember that over time good always prevails. The light always vanquishes darkness.

At the end of life, all your money and assets will pass on to other human beings. But your spiritual growth and understanding and accomplishments go with you. Act is sync with your unique destiny and you life will have meaning and in death you will joy in you earthly accomplishments.

All God’s projects are uplifting. So when you return to heaven, your bliss will be to know that you have been an instrument of God peace.

This book is about my destiny. It is about how I accomplish what I have accomplished. Lectures and talk mean nothing. My life is my teaching. The stories in this book are true. No one is more committed to peace and world peace than me. Yet it is obvious that this destiny has been tough.

You are reading the story of a man who would not quit, a man whose life is dedicated to his vision, his destiny. I pray others will not have the hell in this life that I have. But that hell is what is perceived by others. For me the hell is not distinguished. It is just a little rough patch on the path of life. No problem is beyond God’s solution. Each difficulty is necessary. I have done all that I can do. I have done the best I could. I question things through prayer and I listen for guidance through meditation. Time will tell how much I accomplish in my advocacy for peace. For me all that matters is that I tried. I kept the faith, I believed. I took the road less traveled and that has made all the difference.

DAY 31: UNDERSTANDING YOUR SHAPE

Every one of us has a need for guidance and mentoring. More than money we all need the help of others who have been where we are going or where we find ourselves in the present. Everything a person does in life can benefit others who are about to enter a path we have already traveled.

When I was very young I realized that life was short and that I did not have time to gain the experiences I would need in my life. So I tried to listen to people talk about their experiences. No matter how mundane, every human being has personal knowledge and a personal perspective on common human problems. We all have to deal with family.

In this cell block there are a lot of men who are the black sheep of their families. They have families whose members are effective and valuable members of society but for some reason those here could not fit into a conventional role. So in here they share with each other because they are black sheep in common. They learn from each other and if nothing else they realize that they are not alone in their experiences. They learn that there are others with whom they can discuss their problems and gain some incite. Some young guys look at older guys who never got a hold on their lives. The young guys can see their future.

Some of these men were abused when they were children. Bill N. told me that he was sitting on a bench with a friend of his on his baseball team. The kid’s father brought him some food and the kid was disrespectful of his father and complained and griped. Bill said is made him so nervous that he had to get up and walk away. The reason is that his father beat him often. He felt sure this kid’s father was going to physically beat the kid up and he wanted to move away. Then he saw the kid a few days later and he was amazed that the kid had no bruises or cuts on him. He asked the kid if his father had beat him up. The kid said no and wondered why Bill would ask such a ridiculous question. It was then that Bill began to realize that he was not having a normal relationship with his father.

Every time we talk to others, no matter what the subject regarding our family life, we are imparting knowledge. People listen and hear things they need to hear. We are always ministering when we communicate with others even when we do not consciously intend to teach.
My mission purpose is more global. All I am trying to do is make people aware that we can increase the peace in the world human society. I am not trying to force any particular mind set on others that is judgmental. I believe each person knows when they are being unpleasant and harming others. If each human being just refrained from one such act a day the whole world would be uplifted. In addition, we can do the same by just making a positive remark to another person.

There are so many ways in which we can increase the peace in the world. I have put my life on display. Some people will judge me by what I have done or not done. Others will gain some insight into their own lives. I do not want anyone to follow me. I just want to show people what I have done and what did and did not work for me.

I want to show people that no matter how lofty one’s goals there are others who will criticize if not deliberately try to thwart us in our objectives. Life is not easy. If it was easy anyone could do it. By reading my life someone could determine that the set backs they experience on pursuing their destiny is just business as usual. We have to be realistic in our ministry.

For me my purpose, ministry is global. I am a white Christian male and I will always have that influence, perspective on everything I do. But I try not to speak about things from any of these perspectives. By identifying myself in those forms, I appear to have an exclusive mind set when I in fact have an all inclusive philosophy and deal with people first as simply human beings. This is not typical. Most people want others to be like themselves.

The truth is, in many ways, I don’t know what I am doing. I have no other person to look to who has had my same global world peace objective. I have read the biographies of great people and have tried to adopt some of their traits but when someone who wants to become President of the USA has many role models, I have none. I pray and meditate and contemplate what I am doing and then use my logic and intuition to move forward. I cannot accomplish much without God, and with God as my partner I can do anything.

I have started several businesses from scratch and so I have some knowledge of what it takes to create something from nothing. And all those businesses had thousands of others who had done the same. But a world peace all inclusive mission is unique. I am the only person who has the name WorldPeace and WorldPeace is the only name that can be translated into every language.

Originally I thought that by changing my name that when other people heard, read, and spoke my name they would have to think about WorldPeace for a moment. I thought if that was all I did at least that would be something. That was such a small agenda for such a large destiny.

We all have a destiny and one way or another that destiny is our ministry. No matter how little we think we can contribute, there is always someone who needs to hear what we have to say or write. With the internet we can speak our truths and experiences worldwide. I believe that if we communicate our message, God will lead those who need to hear it to that message. We should never discount our ability to do good; to do God’s work.

I only caution people not to be so exclusive and elitist as to discount or worse, demean others who are not of the same race, religion, nationality, or gender. A Christian, Hindu, Buddhist peace will never manifest WorldPeace because they are exclusive philosophies and WorldPeace is an inclusive view of the world as being made up of human beings first.

The fact that you are incarnated on this earth is undeniable evidence that you have a mission. In truth, all missions from God are uplifting no matter how great or small.

DAY 32: USING WHAT GOD GAVE YOU

We all have natural talents and things that we like to do. They go hand in hand. We do things we do because we like to do them because we are good at them. Many people do not take enough time to do what they enjoy.

In high school I read a poem by Robert Frost about making your job and your hobby into one endeavor. In other words, make your business your hobby. I believe from my experiences with thousands of business owners that money can be made at almost work. Some things have great monetary potential and others are too labor intensive and don’t. But I think that just about any pleasurable act can be turned into income producing work.

In your ministry destiny you will be most effective doing what you enjoy. I think it is not good to force yourself to take on a ministry that does not bring you joy, pleasure or a sense of accomplishment. In any group objective there are always people who have the skills to do the various tasks. If you are good at selling, then sell, and if you are good at organization then do that, and if you are good at making things then do that.

In life, we have so many choices it creates confusion. I enjoy so many things that it is hard for me sometimes to be effective because of what I choose to do with my time. If you want to serve, simply ask yourself what you like to do and then find a ministry that needs your help. If you are not an entrepreneur then there are plenty of organizations who need your talents.

In all cases it is better to just go to work. Don’t stand around or sit and contemplate, just get busy. As you get busy your mind engages and thoughts automatically come to you about how to do things better or more efficiently or how to expand your ministry. If nothing else, you may find that you do not enjoy doing a certain project as you thought. This will lead you to looking around at other things you like to do. Overtime you will find your ministry. You will know you have found it when it brings you joy.

One of my primary goals in writing this book is to decide how best to use my talents for the rest of my life. Jail is a retreat for my mind more than punishment. I don’t feel punished. I feel alive and cleansed. I am glad I came here where I could sort out my life and determine who I could and could not depend on. I have had to let go of controlling things outside this jail.

I have had a major life review but that is because I am 60 and I have a lot of years to review. Also, I have done a lot of things that most people would not have done. So there is a lot of experience over a lot of years to review.

I have narrowed down the future to my art, my poems and my web design business all of which I enjoy. In addition I need to find a female companion and create a social agenda which I have never really had. And I have to determine how much I want to travel and to what countries I may want to live. And my WorldPeace advocacy could take me all over the world. At 60 I have an agenda of a 21 year old. All of the above have the potential of uplifting others and increasing the peace in the world society but I have to cut down on something. There is not enough time in the day to do it all. It is time fore me to decide what I want to be when I grow up. And God has blessed me with the time and peace to figure it all out.

I cannot help but look at the fact that in the last few weeks God has reduced the tension in my life my removing Ms. Williams, has increased the warmth and eliminated the noise of the TV. I feel like maybe I am about to get out of here and I need the peace to hurry up and finish this book, who knows. As I keep saying, I always watch what is going on around me and consider where I am being led.

In this unique life we should not concern ourselves with what others are doing. What they are doing does not matter in our unique mission and we should not try to copy missions of others unless we really feel we could do better. It is best to pray and meditate and focus on God to help define and complete our mission. Other human beings can and will help us but our main partner in our mission is God, not other human beings. Even in a human partnership we have one God given role.

Also, it is very depressing to compare yourself on your mission with others. There will always be greater and lesser persons than ourselves and there will always be greater and lesser missions. Every mission, destiny is important in the world human society. If we are happy doing small common things then that is what we should do because that is where God and you have placed your bliss. A dog will never find bliss living as a cat.

I am coming to feel more and more like I am a duck in a chicken house. I am an ultra liberal person living in a very conservative part of society. I need to go to Paris where the radical artist unite and ex patriots live. That is where I think I will find my bliss. When I exit this jail, I will begin to make my way to Paris. If that is where God is leading me then the things will be easy. If not I will never go there. But for now I feel an urge to move in that direction.

DAY 33: HOW REAL SERVANTS ACT

Christianity provides some interesting contradictions. Jesus was a non materialistic person. He only had the clothes on his back, he trusted God to provide what he needed and to send him where he needed to go. In this respect, he was like Buddhist monks who today only have the clothes on their backs and a begging bowl.

This being the case, there are many preachers and a significant number of televangelist who control millions of dollars in their ministries. I refer to these as billon dollar Jesus shows. These men and women no doubt provide good work but I have never been able to reconcile Jesus’ non materialism to the extravagant life style of these televangelists. They have all the trappings of commercial corporate success. They come on TV in $2500 suits not $40 blue jeans. America expects their preachers to smell of money because money is the measure of a man in the USA; even men serving Jesus.

Something else about Jesus was his willingness to be a servant. This was best demonstrated by his washing his disciple’s feet. He made a very clear statement that they were to be servants not demigods. A servant is like water; water always seeks the lowest places and offers itself to everyone without judgment. I have always been bothered by the fact that Jesus said he came only to the Jews while he was alive yet through Paul’s conversion he expanded his ministry to the non Jews in the world.

As I am writing this, one of the several ministers arrived in the cell block for the purpose of teaching Bible lessons. He has attracted about seven men, the rest are sleeping even though it is 10 am. This man does not have a big TV Jesus business. He is a true servant. Regardless of what kind of ministry he has outside this prison, he is none-the-less here speaking to many who are interested in worshiping.

I don’t know many ministers who service more than paying members of their congregation. He just finished his lesson which lasted ten minutes but there are 9800 inmates in this jail and I am sure he has a lot of stops to make. The fact that he made one impresses he won’t get any news attention. Other then the men he just spoke to and myself, no one will make note of his presence. Yet God knows he has come where there is great need but few workers.

I do not discount any ministry. I am just pointing out that I question these televangelists who no doubt reach millions of people but who live like kings. The paradox of America is that most people would probably not tune in to see someone like Jesus who only had one set of clothes. The Bible says that Jesus had a seamless robe which was no doubt unique. But I feel it was a gift. It had enough value for the soldiers who were crucifying him to gamble for it. But this robe was no $2500 suit.

The Buddhists emphasize that the way to heaven, Nirvana is to eliminate your attachment to worldly things, and this is what Jesus advocated. He told one rich man to give away his wealth. The man could not do it. Jesus said it was very hard for the rich to get into heaven and that is because of their attachment to the world. So we again ask what about the televangelists who are worth millions. This accumulation of wealth was rejected by Jesus however the spreading of Christianity is a good thing as long as it is not done from an elitist exclusionary mindset.

Jesus is clear. The path to heaven is that of a servant. He’s life suggested a non materialistic servant.

Real servants fill many needs. Even if they are not experts at something they will step in if no one else volunteers. They will pick up garbage; they will drive out of their way to bring someone to worship service. I always wonder why it is necessary for a church to hire someone to maintain the lawn. Is there no one in the membership who will do that for free? Or paint the church? Or fix the roof? Are there no servants to do these jobs within the membership?

If you are performing as a servant without any consideration for the rewards you will get because of it, then you are in sync with what Jesus was teaching. If you are performing a servant’s task so you can be recognized and applauded for it you are going to be disappointed and angered because most people don’t care. You do the task that need to be done because no one else is doing them.

You are a servant if you simply do your best to do the things that no one else wants to do. If you see a menial task that needs to be done, do it.

The world needs more servants. The foundation of peace and WorldPeace is based on refusing to distinguish yourself as one of a certain race or religion or nationality and using that as a excuse not to help another human being. Spiritual servants do not select who they are willing to help. They help those in need because it needs to be done. See people as human beings, someone’s parents, child or brother or sister first and help them. Don’t let your prejudice against other races, religions or nations stop you from doing a worthy act. Don’t ask is a hungry person if he is a member of your religion as a condition of helping him.

There is much that needs to be done in the world. There is pain and suffering everywhere. Simply roll up your sleeves and pitch in no matter what the job. This is the core mandate of servitude and the highway to heaven.

DAY 34: THINKING LIKE A SERVANT

My goal from the age of eight was to find a way to uplift the world human society. I had no idea how to do it. I was always more concerned about increasing the equality and opportunity in the world than about how much money I would make. I did not have the vocabulary or the experience to really understand what I could do to fulfill my destiny. As time went by that mission became more clear and defined. So I talk about it now with a greater more dynamic, tested glossary of terms and concepts.

Over fifty-seven years, I finally realize that the best way to create peace is to increase the money people have. All the lectures and teachings will not give as much peace as a $100 bill.

I do not really believe in giving money away because that creates a permanent financial dependence. The thing that is needed is a source of money that would be endless. The only thing that makes sense here is to create jobs as a way to increase the peace. If I, through my efforts, create millions of jobs, I will have done a lot to increase the peace in the world human society.

I also know that peace does not really sell because it is an intangible. In other words the money that I would make and the jobs I would create by traveling the world talking about peace is nothing compared to what a very successful business would create.

As it turns out, the internet in the perfect business to accomplish my goals. The concept is simple. I would create a web design business which would focus on upgrading web pages. I would have the web site produced in the third world. I would sell the web site up grade in the wealthier nations. So it would be a transfer of wealth from the rich to the poor.

Everyone wins, the poor get money to support their families and the rich get a competitive priced web site. That is what I have done. I started a web design business in 2004. All was going well and my projected employee base was 4000 by December 2007. The problem was I trusted my youngest son to handle the production end of the business. In January 2007, he tried to destroy the business and succeeded in that the business no longer exists as it was. But the concept is valid and I will begin it again after I exit from jail.

My goal was to take all the profits from the company and use them to increase the number of employees. I did not care about accumulating personal wealth; I cared about moving money from the rich nations to the poor. I was focused on creating a wealth transfer that was not based on charitable donations. I was interested in a for profit business not a non profit one.

This is my servitude, to use my education and experience to create jobs and to help increase the level of peace in the world human society. A side benefit to me is that the more the world is integrated economically the less chance of war. People will not make war on their supplies or their customers.

In addition, some of the profits could be used to build public works projects all over the world in order to uplift communities even as individual human beings were uplifted by being able to make a living to support their families. Money could also be allocated to create WorldPeace murals, shrines, and sculptures, to remind people constantly to consider peace and WorldPeace; also money to educate children as doctors and other social servants. The wealth to be gleaned as the world connects to the internet is unlimited.

So my interactions have been and continue to be to use the skills and experiences and education I have to create as many jobs in a ongoing for-profits company as possible. Every one wins.

Jesus and Buddha tried to uplift people spiritually. They were the ultimate servants. But in their day a global economy was not integrated. Now that we have a global economy, all we have to do is increase the number of people who are part of it and the level of peace will increase in the world human society.

There can be nothing more rewarding than to help others uplift themselves, to give the poor hope and self dignity. The lack of peace in the world society fluctuates moment to moment. The idea is to uplift individual and together they will uplift the world society.

This is what it means to me to live as a servant. This is how I intend to fulfill my WorldPeace agenda. This is how I will further my WorldPeace advocacy.

DAY 35: GOD'S POWER IN YOUR WEAKNESS

Every one of us is a role model to some degree for others. Some of us are strong in some ways and some are weak. Weakness can be associated with character flaws. I’m a very strong and focused person but I have had a hard time staying focused on a project that degenerates into routine. I hate boredom. But the good thing is that there are people who do well with routine. A team is a group of people who work together. Every one can’t lead and all leaders are not always good followers. There are people who can easily make decisions and those who are indecisive.

Another weakness I have is my anger at lies and injustice. My tendency is to challenge it. Bit the problem is that I waste energy on insignificant matters.

Every one of us has flaws and weaknesses. There are many strong leaders who do not have the ability to keep their sex drive in check. They allow their personal sexual nature to override their knowledge that extra marital affairs are destructive to a marriage and for the most part cause a reduction in respect and trust.

More people see themselves as weak rather than strong. In fact, most people focus more time on their weaknesses then on their strengths. Regardless of whether we feel week or strong or in between, we have a following of people, some we know and some we don’t know. These are people who are like us and do not know how to cope due to their character. We are role models for those like us and it is good if we leave something in writing as a guide for those who are on the same path.

Sometimes I feel that I have to write for another generation. I know that I have had a lot of experiences and I feel everyone who reads this book will be able to relate to one or more of my experiences. I don’t have all the answers and in many cases I have chosen a path that had increased the chaos in my life.

I have had two nineteen year marriages. Sandra, my first wife, I consider an evil person and Kay I feel is about as angelic as any person I know. Yet the reality is that both left me. I am the common denominator. Why have two wives with two completely different personalities left me? I don’t know. Part of the reason for writing this book is to try and figure that out.

I am a very open person and some tell me that is a weakness. I see it as positive and negative. For a person to pay attention to anything I say requires a trust and trust comes with candor. The more open I am, the more trustworthy I appear to be. There are others who will try to take my weakness and capitalize on it; use it against me. I don’t pay enough attention to this reality. In this book, I have related major areas of my life and how I dealt with them. The fact that I experienced these things also should show that I am human.

In reality, I have no idea how people will evaluate at my life. Many will look at it to verify their opinions of me. Some will use it against me. Come will draw strength and faith from it. Some will not read more than a few pages before they discard it. None if this really matters. I have a WorldPeace agenda. This is the foundational core of my purpose driven life. I am relating as much as I can about me in an attempt to further my WorldPeace advocacy. I am enigmatic and full of paradoxes many would say. The only thing that matters is that my life has become an open book.

Somewhere out there is a person who will want to try to be an advocate for peace and for that person he will have my book. He or she will be able to see where I could have done better. He or she will find a kinship with someone who was as committed as they, even if their path to peace was different. We are in harmony in purpose if not in focus.

Every human being is unique and yet these are gross categories of personality types such that we are each a role model to millions of others now living and billions to follow. How great it would be if I had a biography or auto biography of a regular person like me trying to advocate peace and WorldPeace. It would give me a lot of comfort. I would not feel so isolated and alone. I would not have so many unanswered questions about my past.

In life we are all students and teachers. We should all aspire to peace. One way to increase the peace is to teach, to be a role model. This will give peace to others who are looking for an assurance that they are OK and their path is unique but who know civilization advances on the experiences of those who have gone before.

Even if our ministry is not directly spiritual or religious it is non-the-less capable to increasing the peace for those like souls who follow us. No one is liked or endorsed by everyone. That is why we need to find our like souls and find comfort and peace in the association. Even if it is an intangible association with someone who is no longer incarnate we can acknowledge the ministry of peace that comes by relating one’s life experiences for others.

As Emily Dickinson says, “If I can stop one heart from breaking, I should not live in vain.” A ministry to one is a valid purpose driven life.

PURPOSE #5 MADE FOR A MISSION

DAY 36: YOU WERE MADE FOR A MISSION1

We each have a ministry and some of us have a mission. A ministry is simply going around doing good, do not distinguish people by their religion or anything else, see all people as human beings. If someone is grieving the loss of a loved one, there is no need to question their religious preference. Why would you do that? If you can help someone, do it. That is your ministry to every human being on the planet. There are an infinite number of ways you can do a little good for someone each day. There is no need for me to make a list. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, this is an active ministry.

We also each have a passive ministry. That is to refrain from causing pain and suffering, chaos and confusion in the world human society. There is no need to belittle others. If you can’t say something good about or to someone, don’t say anything. Silence and inaction are good things if your actions are going to hurt someone’s feelings or cause them stress which is going to ripple through the world human society.

Even when we feel a need to teach someone we can do it in a kind and loving non abusive way. But like Jesus says take the log out of your eye before you try to take the spec out of someone else’s eye. Do not criticize someone for doing something that you do yourself. Clean up your own act first.

The best way to be a light to the world is through the example of your own life. Be an example. People will follow you. Don’t tell your children not to smoke with a cigarette in your hand. Don’t use foul language as you tell your children not to curse. Read the Bible. Worship, pray, meditate. Help others. What you do is a much more powerful teacher than a lecture.

These are all examples of ministry. For me a mission is something more dynamic and complex. We have had a ministry but we all do not have a mission. A mission is a conscience effort through some endeavor to uplift others, to increase the peace in the world human society. If our work is to uplift and increase the peace, then we have a mission. Unfortunately the military uses the word mission to describe an action in war. That is not always a mission of peace even indirectly.

So a mission is a mission with intent to bring about a positive result. No peace mission can bring peace through force or violence or if it causes pain and suffering. To create pain and suffering to end pain and suffering happens sometime but it is outside my definition. Forget associating war like acts of violence and threats of violence in my definition of a worthy mission.

I have a mission to advocate peace. I thought at one time I could bring peace by working as a lawyer. That is nonsense. All lawsuits are un peaceful. You cannot be a peace soldier. You cannot be a peace lawyer by participating in the prosecution or defense of a lawsuit. The judges and attorneys and prosecutors in a lawsuit are warriors and warriors do not manifest peace. They try to create chaos to win. They create hell to win. They create hell to make money. Justice is virtually impossible to come by in the courts. Mediation is best when both parties gain something. But mediation is an aggressive act in itself.

I tried to bring peace in the courts. It is not possible. All the participants in a lawsuit have an agenda and they are all human beings. Justice is a subjective illusion. If you want peace turn the other cheek or get out of the way of evil. Evil is a tar baby that cannot be defeated without creating chaos and confusion. And sometimes that is necessary. But a mission to overcome evil with death and destruction is not the kind of mission I am talking about.

People ask me how I could be named WorldPeace and act so viciously in a lawsuit. The answer to that was that I could not employ peace in the prosecutions or defense of a lawsuit. There are no peace missions related to a lawsuit.

In addition, my mission is to create jobs in a peaceful vocation like building web pages. These jobs, mostly in the Third World will uplift the lower status of the human society. My vocation is a vocation of peace and the money from this vocation will finance the WorldPeace beacons as well as my travels to talk about WorldPeace.

I have been searching for my specific mission my whole life. It took me over fifty years to really see and understand and create a mission that was in line with my destiny. Again Jesus said ask and receive, seek and find, knock and enter. When we are ready for our mission, if we choose one, the mission specifics will be revealed to us and once we embark on our mission through prayer and meditation we will stay on track.

DAY 37: SHARING YOUR LIFE MESSAGE - MY TESTIMONY

One absolute fact is that I have absolute and unwavering faith in God to guide me in my life. All my life I have felt the presence of God, especially since I was eight. As a child, I did not have the vocabulary, experience, or education to really understand what God means to me but over the years my understanding grew.

My understanding grew not just from an intellectual perspective that comes from attending church and reading religious and spiritual material but also from having a working relationship with God. God works in mysterious ways but God is always working directly in my life. He has not spoken to me in a way that my physical ears can here. I have not known God directly through any of my physical senses.

I have known God through the thoughts be has placed in my mind. Through dreams and visions, God has spoken to me also through miracles, coincidences and other signs which are to numerous to relate. He sent me to Europe when I should have gone to Vietnam. He has saved me from drowning and other perils. He has held back my enemies. He has provided money when I needed it by simply telling me where to find it. He has shown me how to evade and win over my enemies. He has healed me after my heart attack. He removed the cancer from my body. He has provided a house for my children when I needed it and paid of the IRS with that same house when I didn’t. He sent me Kay to teach me love and to firmly stand by me for nineteen years. He thwarted the evil acts of the snake, my first wife. He has allowed my parents to live long to support me in the worst of times. He has given my life meaning. His blessings are without number.

Through every test that I was destined to endure, God was always there. My life has been hard because I needed those lessons in order to accomplish my mission in life. I have never once complained about the difficulties in my life. I have never turned my back on God. My whole life has been founded on my faith that God is always present. I do not fear death because it is the doorway back to God’s presence. This is my partial testimony about God in my life. Without God, I would be nothing.

-My Lessons-

In this book, I have tried to relate the many life experiences that I have had that were necessary for me to fulfill and achieve my mission to promote peace. The lessons from some of these experiences are obvious. When they have not been obvious, I have tried to explain the lessons I learned. In truth, every moment is a lesson. Right now I feel a serge of energy and a clarity about what I am writing. Last night I was unsure. I have asked God to let me be an instrument of his peace.

There are many lessons I have learned, some specific to my mission, some global in its application to every human being on the planet. The one thing I know is that there is a God and I know that I have faith in God because God has never abandoned me or allowed one second to pass where I have not felt his presence.

I was raised a Christian and so I visualize God as an old man, the ancient of days. This is how I relate to God but I am not so ignorant as to think anyone can fathom what God looks like. God intellectually for me is everything but as a human I find it hard to pray and communicate to everything. So I continue to pray and meditate on the image of God that Christianity gave me as a child. That image is one manifestation of God. I see God as an old man because that is the image I best relate to. That image is a facade which binds me to the real God who I feel no need to see in his true form. God appears in many forms spiritually and every form always. This is why I find a fascination with every physical manifestation I experience as a human being. I can meditate on a roach or a cracked cup or a sunset or a mountain or the miracle of a bumble bee or even my image in a mirror.

My lesson is to keep the faith. My experience is to expect miracles because I have seen so many. My belief is that we are all children of one God no matter how you define God. There is one source of everything. My reality is that we create our own earth experience through choices. My lesson is that when God speaks, I listen. Through prayer and meditation, I have established a relationship with God that gives me hope in the darkest hour. That causes me to believe that everything is exactly as it should be. I am humble because I can never in any form embrace all that is God. And my lesson is that God is perfect love and love binds all the universe bothseen and unseen together. There is no place God is not.

-My Passion-

My passion is the advocacy of peace and WorldPeace. Everything I do is subordinated to this mission. For me this is a worthy mission that can never be fully accomplished. There will never be a perfect place but we can increase the current level of peace in the world human society. Increasing the peace is doable.

Peace is a global mission and there are infinite possibilities for increasing this peace. The world is becoming more and more interconnected and through the internet all kinds of opportunities to increase the peace are possible. I believe that the world human society is about to transcend to a higher level as people all over the world began to have a new understanding of each others religion, race, nationality, culture and so on. One of the foundations of peace is understanding.

I am excited about living in this historic time and I am passionate about being involved in the coming transition to a more sane world. There is nothing that I enjoy more than discussing the potential for peace and interacting with others who are as committed and as passionate about peace as I am.

To be effective in my endeavor, passion is a requirement. Nothing much gets done without passion and enthusiasm. Who knows where my WorldPeace journey will take me. I may accomplish very little, it does not matter really. What matters to me is that at the end of my life, as I take my last breath, I am can at least say I tried.

-Selling Christianity-

My mission does not allow me to sell Christianity because to do so would be contrary to the inclusive nature of a WorldPeace Advocacy. To advocate Christianity which is elitist and exclusive of other religions would be to deny the nature of WorldPeace to include all religions. World peace is in harmony with spirituality which has to do with an individual’s one on one relationship with God and does not require a religious affiliation.

I cannot advocate the Christian religious doctrine and dogma and belief system as being superior to the other world religions without also advocating that the only hope for WorldPeace is if the entire world converts to Christianity. Christianity can never manifest WorldPeace because a Christian peace requires all human beings to be Christian. There is intolerance in a Christian heaven for any other religion but Christianity. Christians advocate that the only way into heaven is through Jesus. So Christians believe that there can be no hope for WorldPeace until the entire world population converts to Christianity. Many Christians feel there is no hope for WorldPeace until Jesus returns. When Jesus returns he will send everyone to hell who did not believe in him so all that will be left on earth are Christians.

I do not advocate any religion being superior to any other religion. I am saying is that there can be no WorldPeace until there is religious tolerance between religions. This is going to be hard to sell to religionist of every stripe, yet I cannot imagine that it is God’s desire that all the religions of the world will not advocate world peace.

I have no solution to this problem. So I simply advocate that until there is religious tolerance there can be no WorldPeace. In the meantime, we can increase the peace in the world human society by refusing to kill and harm each other in the name of any religion. We can become more tolerant of other religions and accept them in a secular society that disallows discrimination based on a religious belief.

I am an advocate of increasing the peace. I am not an advocate of a perfect peace.

DAY 38: BECOMING A WORLD CLASS CHRISTIAN

I act like a Christian in the sense that I try to follow the words of Jesus. For me the red letter Bible that has what Jesus said in red is preferred. I try to live by what Jesus said but much of what Jesus said is also said by all the other religious patriarchs.

For me this means to do unto others as I want them to do unto me. I want to be treated with dignity and respect and I don’t want to be taken advantage of. I want to try to live a life of peace and harmony and be an inspiration to others. I want to reach out and help others in need to the best of my abilities. I want to try to uplift others. I want to pray for others in need of the help that only God can give.

I do not have to be a card carrying member of a Christian church to do these things. If I follow the lessons of Jesus I am a Christian by my acts. Some people would argue that you must be baptized and accept Jesus as your savior. I did that forty-five years ago as part of my religious training imposed on me by my parents. To be a world class Christian all I have to do is follow Jesus’ example.

Even as I try to help others who I come into personal contact with each day, I have to focus to increase the peace in the world society. That is a result of becoming more Christ like even though Jesus did not command others to go out and make peace. But he did say in his sermon on the mountain that the peacemakers are blessed.

I will always encourage people to act more like Jesus but I will not try to sell others Christianity. That is the mission of others. It is not my mission. My mission is to embrace all those who love God and try to do God’s will. Killing others is not God’s will. If I identify myself as a Christian, the other religions will determine that I have nothing to say to them. If I don’t identify myself as a religionist of any shape and encourage others to follow the lessons of Jesus without referencing that the lessons are Christian lessons, then people of other religious affiliations will try them.

My reality is that I see very few Christians who can live up to the Christian standard. But I have seen non Christian religionist who do God’s will even though they are not Christian. I am not interested in discussing what is necessary to become a card carrying Christian. I am interested in encouraging people to act like the Christian ideal.

My mission is to teach others as human beings first. My mission is to not distinguish people by there religions, their race or nationality or gender. My mission is all inclusive and democratic. I will not request people to become a part of something which encourages them to feel better than others solely because they are Christians. In fact, I will never encourage anyone to compare themselves to others or judge others.

If my mission was to increase the number of card carrying Christians on the planet, I would have become a Christian minister.

My name is WorldPeace and my advocacy is WorldPeace.

DAY 39: BALANCING YOUR LIFE

One of the most important things in life is balance. We as human beings need to keep all the areas of our life in balance with each other. We eat a balanced diet to remain healthy. We don’t eat all meat or all cereal or all juice or all sweets. Our body needs the nourishment that different kinds of foods provide.

In life, we must have a certain amount of time for sleep and certain amount of time for work and a certain amount of time for family and a certain amount of time for pleasure and socializing and meditation and prayer. If we do not balance our lives with rest we start becoming less effective because we are so tired that we can not think straight. And if we do not exercise we lose our mobility and the quality of life disintegrates. It is depressing to realize that you can’t do the things that you used to do. Not because you are old but because you have become inactive. These are physical needs, sleep, rest, and exercise.

We also need mental stimulation. We need to keep our brains active or we forget how to think. Most important we need to keep our spiritual connection with God. We need to talk with God each day. We need to be constantly reminded that God is always present and everything is the way it should be. If we don’t stay in touch with God, then we sort of forget God and we become more and more upset because our lives are not going the way we want and we don’t know why we are in the position we are in and we forget how to get out of trouble.

Every moment of everyday I think of God. I see God in every aspect of my life. Maybe I have taken on too much in this life and so I have to always be aware of God because I always seem to need help and guidance. The bigger our agenda, the more dynamic and complex our mission, the more we need God’s help to manage our affairs.

I asked a judge one time how he dealt with stress as a judge. He said he always asked one question when he met life’s obstacles. “Will this matter be considered important ten years from now?” In other words, will this decision impact my life ten years from now? If yes, pay attention. If no, move on. This is a great template for sorting out what is important in life and what is not.

For me I have a greater template, actually two. First, will what I am doing now further my mission to increase the peace in the world society. If yes I move forward, if no I abandon the action. The second is whether this act has eternal consequences or not. Will I be able to take this experience or not. Will I be able to take this experience with me to heaven or is it just an earthly event with no heavenly consequences. Mowing my grass is an earthly matter. Helping someone in distress has heavenly eternal consequences and rewards. I generally do not think about rewards in heaven. What I think about is peace. I think about whether I will have regrets about some act I did or not on earth. I don’t care so much about material rewards just living a good life.

In looking back, I see that I allowed me life to get totally out of balance. I tried to raise a large family, acquire a greater education and to run my own business. I placed the business at the top of the list because that paid the bills. Then I emphasized education because that would allow me to increase my income in the long run. And third I emphasized my family. Jesus says you can’t serve two masters. Well, I tried to serve three. I had the stamina and energy but not enough time and my family suffered. I was not a good and present father prior to my first divorce. I thought I had family covered by abdicating that to my wife. Well I was wrong. Sandra could play the mother but not the father. In the end, when the business and educational goals were established, my family disintegrated. The family that I worked hard to support, right when everything was set in place, disintegrated from lack of attention. So the most important thing in my life got the least attention and come apart.

Secondly, I put so much time in my business, my education suffered. I made low grades because I was just trying to graduate from law school. In later years, I could have avoided some pit falls if I had gone a bit slower; put more emphasize on studying and less on working.

Also, the business suffered because I was spread too thin and lost sight of the big picture. I could easily have been a multi millionaire in the field of insurance, accounting, taxes, law and web design services, but I did not pay enough attention to the production aspects of those businesses but instead focused solely on the sales because money from sales solves a lot of problems. So even with my businesses I was out of balance.

I started this book not knowing exactly what I was trying to accomplish. But I did know that I needed to review my life. I needed to look back at all the major events over the last 60 years and see what went wrong and what went right.

I have found that in writing things down, I am much more effective in reviewing them than just thinking about them. When I write, I have found I must focus more intently and that means the peripheral and collateral issues that were in play around every event gave me a greater understanding of what was going on. I have released so much over the last forty eight days. I have remembered so many things in my life that I find a great weight has been lifted from me. I have seen the error of some of my ways. I know where some of the pit falls are for the rest of my life. And more importantly, I have come to better know who I am and what I need to find peace as I pursue my mission of advocating peace and WorldPeace. I have affirmed how important God is in my life.

I am going to make this book available to the public. I may have to self publish it. I may publish some of it on the internet. But I think it is important to allow others to learn something from my mistakes if they are so inclined. I am not anything but an ordinary person. There are plenty of books out there about great people. This is a book about an ordinary person. I started to sub title this book, the WorldPeace Advocacy, an autobiography of nobody.

I don’t want to peach or teach really. I have written this book for me first. I was candid with myself. One thing I thought about a lot yesterday was that this is a true story. No fiction here. Nothing was made up. I think people may drift into the stories and think it is fiction until they take a moment and understand it is not. My life may read like a soap opera but it is real life.

Part of my mission I see now is to make my life an open book. Sure there are some very private and intimate areas about which I have not written. I have a right to keep some things to myself. I also don’t have a right to be so self serving to set others up for criticism and judgment. I have written enough for others to know who I am. And that can be dangerous when people know too much about how you think and deal with things. But I have always been foolish and others tell me too open. It is the fearless side of me but with God in my life what am I to fear.

DAY 40: LIVING WITH PURPOSE

I made the journey day for day through Dr. Warren’s book and it gave me comfort and direction. Both he and I are very much in sync with God but our lives have different purposes. His life is devoted to the Christian philosophy of life. Mine is to a global Advocacy for WorldPeace.

I cannot believe that God’s plan was that every human being converts to Christianity. God has allowed many legitimate and valid religions to permeate and integrate with various human societies all over the world for millennia. Five billion people on the planet reject Christianity for there own religious traditions.

I do not believe that we can discount entire nations and cultures because they embrace an older religious philosophy than Christianity. Buddhism predates Christianity by five hundred years and Hinduism more than a thousand years. These by a standard of time have a more legitimate foundation. Judaism from which Christianity evolved is sill a viable religion. And how can a child declare itself greater than a living parent.

I am cautious of religious bureaucracies because Jesus had little good to say about the Jewish religious bureaucracy. The Christian bureaucracy has all the same flaws as the Jewish religious bureaucracy and every other major religion on the planet.

The problem to be solved is to create a method of spirituality that supersedes corporate religion; one where human beings feel comfortable connecting directly with God. Religion provides the rites and rituals to forget ones spirituality when too deeply focused in a particular religion.

All religious bureaucracies are elitist and exclusionary. They all claim to have the only valid path to heaven or Nirvana. They tend to skew spiritualism in favor of corporate religion. This confuses people and traps them in rites and rituals mindlessly repeated. Spirituality can have no bureaucracy or it denigrate into religion. There are enough religions on this earth. People can select the religion in which they feel the most in sync. But spirituality is unique and cannot exist within structure. Spirituality is prayer and meditation with God. There is nothing to join or serve allegiance to. No doctrine or dogma. It is a oneness with God. No more, no less. It is a worship of God without rules and corporate religious restrictions and filters.

The WorldPeace Advocacy embraces spirituality but rejects religion because to embrace one religion requires one to reject all other religions. To embrace one religion is to judge all other religionist as inferior or confused.

For me, to better understand God, one needs to explore and study all religions. Each is part of the whole of worshiping God. You cannot discount a religion that has lasted 1000 years or more. It has validity and a proven track record otherwise people would not be drawn to it and it would die out in the population.

I thank Dr. Warren for clarifying a valid path to a purpose driven life no matter what the mission. If you take out his personal mission of seeking Christianity to the whole community and insert my WorldPeace Advocacy or any similar mission then the book seems valid and is classical. I advocate his methods but not his purpose. He has his audience and I have mine.