I am too old to listen to the bullshit of the young and too young to listen to the regrets of the old. I guess I am middle aged and too young to know it and too old to believe it. When you have less days in front of you than you have behind you, you begin to value the truth, validity and brevity of concise and factual thoughts, simple and uncomplicated feelings and well thought out actions.
What I no longer value and accept are those who insist on living in fear, who think and feel that they are ‘the be all and end all’ and those who simply throw their hands up in their air and either lie down and play dead to mediocrity or become enslaved to the whimperings of their twisted egos.
I want my life to be the expression of my Divine purpose in Divine order through the sharing of Divine love; not the be all and end all of having all of the answers. I don’t have all of the answers and most of the time I don’t even know the right questions.
One thing I do know for sure, however; I will NOT live in fear and allow my ego to determine ‘how’ to manifest my Divine purpose in Divine order. I will not live in mediocrity; I will challenge myself everyday to be the best I can be in sharing Divine love with all. I KNOW I am blessed and I feel that ongoing blessing every day of my life.
Why would anyone in their right mind want to live in fear and mediocrity when the very Creator of the entire omniverse has established your life to experience and grow in health, wealth, prosperity and abundance? Why? Just ask yourself; why? ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
Elizabeth and I would like to invite you all to our site ‘Service In Prayer’. For many months we have been led to offer a way for our online friends to have a forum to share our prayer needs with each other.
The purpose of this website is to connect with one another and share our needs for healing in whatever areas we feel we need. Please visit the website or go to the Facebook forum to post any public prayers on the Wall or PM us for private prayers.
We will pray for you or help you to find Prayer Partners to assist you in healing and realization of your Divine purpose and the unfolding of it in Divine order.
Thank you all for your support, kindness and for blessing us with your ongoing friendship. Peace and blessings to all of you and your families! ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
OUR PAST ISSUES
Did you miss any of the issues of The Spirituality Post Daily? If so, following are the links to each and every day for you to peruse. Please visit our advertisers and help us to keep going in our service to the spiritual community of souls who long for a greater spiritual perspective on life. God bless you and your families! ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
What is the Spirituality Guidance Channel? SGC is a video portal designed to introduce spiritually inclined individuals to be exposed to spiritual videos, radio, teachers, music, art, books, resources and links from a selected group of teachers and requests from viewers. Each featured coach/teacher will have their own page highlighting any videos, audios, websites or printed material they have produced. This portal will be regularly promoted on the Internet through social networking and targeted marketing channels. Please visit the website at the following address:
Please visit our websites and send them to anyone you think would need our services. If you are out of our area (Northern Delaware) and know someone in our area, please forward this flyer onto them. We are available for work over the next few months, so please let us know as soon as possible. ~Liz & Dean
Life is so full of many questions. Some are answered the moment we ask them while others are answered over time and the unfolding of our understanding of those questions and why we asked them in the first place. Most of the time we can answer who did or did not say or do something. We can identify what we think is happening and what circumstances are occurring. We can observe where things happen and use our measurement of time to determine when they have occurred. We can observe, collate, evaluate and discern how things have occurred. The only question that does not rely on our senses and perceptions from those senses is the question, “Why?”
Why things occur is ultimately an individual conclusion that we arrive at that depends on what we believe and hold as true. If we don’t believe in the Divine our 'why' becomes irrelevant because we simply exist as a physical being in our environments and we have no control over what occurs. If we do believe in the Divine our ‘why’ becomes a product of our past behaviors and subsequent consequences from the true intent of those behaviors. If our intent was not malicious we determine that the ‘why’ of our results were lessons that we needed to learn and behaviors we need to transcend or overcome. If our intent was malicious we determine that the ‘why’ of our results were severe consequences for our apparent aberrant behaviors. This is assuming that we have a grip on our social contract and our integration into our communities and society.
If we are chemically and mentally unstable, our reactions might be predicated by the interfering perceptions generated by the chemistry affecting our brains. 'Why' is the subjective question that depends on our perceptions and beliefs about the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual aspects of our existence in relation to our environment. All of the other questions (who, what, where, how, when) determine something other than the perception of our existence in our environment or simply are the by-products of our existence. Our experience is derived from these objective perceptions and we subjectively determine why they have occurred. Whether our ‘why’ is true or not is not the benchmark for our perception. It is whether it is valid or not to our belief system that ultimately affects our values.
What we value reveals who we truly are. By regularly questioning our accepted values and rigid beliefs we open the door to a greater understanding of our individual ‘why’s’ in life. We begin to see that everything is connected and that our perceptions are copies of reality and not reality itself. We learn to accept the things we perceive as wrong, but look for ways to make them right without ‘fighting’ them. We allow the presence of the Divine to work through us to affect positive and constructive change and progression into a mutual understanding and dedication toward peace in our world.
Our individual ‘why’ becomes a collective ‘why’. We all learn from each other every day when we learn that ‘why’ is exactly what motivates us to attain mutual understanding and peace. God be with all of you in attaining a complete understanding and sharing of ‘why’. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
GROWING UP IN THE SPIRIT
Are you grown up in the spirit? Are you operating from a level of emotional maturity where you understand your part in everything around you and that you affect your environment as it affects you? Or do you blame everyone and everything for your lot in life or that it is all God’s fault? If you blame God for all that has happened to you, you are acting like a child who has ‘perceived’ that they haven’t gotten their way. You ego HAS to be in command and validate its existence. Why? Because if it succumbs to the egos of others or loses itself in the Divine it ‘feels’ lost and worthless. It NEEDS to reassure itself it has a purpose and it continually needs to validate its existence to itself and YOU.
In other words, the lower ‘self’ (’you’) needs to value ‘self’ over the higher ‘SELF’ (‘YOU’) or why would it even exist to begin with? A child moves from its selfish ego needs into the maturity of adult ‘interactive’ needs when it comes to realize that the world is not ‘just’ itself and what it perceives it wants. It is called ‘growing up’ into a level of ‘maturity’ that understands and reflects peace, understanding, joy and Divine love to all and no longer stands on the soapbox proclaiming, “Me, me, me!” It understands and converts ‘me’ into ‘we’.
Those who blame God or anyone’s belief in God generally consider themselves as being ‘mature’ when in fact they are the child! If you claim to be mature, it loudly reveals that you aren’t. It is like Kerry Livgren of Kansas once said in his song “Carry On My Wayward Son”, “If I claim to be a wise man, that surely means that I don’t know.” Maturity comes from praying in your closet and not at the Wailing Wall. It comes from not viewing the world from the eyes of a child and looking for recognition of being dedicated and pious. That is all EGO!
Maturity is an ongoing state where we accept things as they are, we allow others to be whom and what they are and we don’t try to deny the experiences of others. We allow life to be what it is and we take the responsibility for it by not blaming God or others for our shortcomings and inabilities to effectively handle life ‘AS IT IS!” A child reacts to its environment by lashing out at what it perceives is causing its problems when in fact it is the child that is causing its own problems. An adult sees and understands that we ultimately have the responsibility, not only for us, but for all of life to live life as it is and to effect progressive changes that grow and expand our civilization as a whole.
Anyone who denies your experience and treats you like a child because of your beliefs and understandings is in fact acting like a child. They haven’t matured into a respectful and understanding adult enough to take their ‘beliefs’ out of the equation. Their egos reign supreme in their lives and you are nothing more than a means to their selfish ends.
Pray for their maturity and don’t allow it to affect yours. Stay focused on the blessings that the Divine has given you and know that as the Divine has developed maturity in your life, it will be developed in theirs in a different manner. Don’t allow the childishness of others hinder your maturity of purpose and the development of your divine character. Be ye therefore perfect! ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
HOW OLD IS THE EARTH
The age of the Earth has been debated ad infinitum between scientists and theologians for centuries. Scientists have used various ways to determine the Earth’s age. First, dating the surface rocks on the Earth known as metamorphic rocks. They are the oldest rocks that help determine the minimum age. The second approach is to date extraterrestrial objects such as meteorites and Moon rocks; these rocks can help determine when the planets were formed. The third method is to test lead isotopes which reveal when the planetary bodies were self-sufficient chemical systems. It is inferred by these tests that the age of the Earth (and all planetary bodies) as being between 4.5 and 4.6 billion years old.
Theologians primarily use what I call Literary Authoritarianism, or the word of a written record as an authority. Books of religions speak of the ‘creation’ of the Earth. In the Bible it says, “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” ~Genesis 1:2. The words form and void are from the Aramaic ‘tohu’ and ‘bohu’ which means a vast chaotic wasteland. How can the earth be a wasteland unless there was peace and value there to begin with? The earth was ‘recreated’ by God into what we know now over 6000 years ago NOT originally created 6000 years ago.
The earth has been here over 4.54 billion years! It was recreated over 6000 years ago after the peace and prosperity of the earth was converted into a ‘vast chaotic wasteland’. How did this happen? Some say it was after the battle between Lucifer and God’s angels that left the earth in poor condition. Others say that it was from a catastrophic event such as a meteor, small asteroid or small comet hitting the earth. Whatever it may be the interpretation of what was said in the King James Bible when compared to the original Aramaic words and their meanings it totally WRONG!
Always go back to the source of the word before you engage your belief system and send it into overdrive. Know what you are saying and believing before you represent to others what you ‘believe’ is the truth. Go within and KNOW the truth instead of believing what some preacher interprets as the truth. Peace. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
Currently Bobby Hinkle, Elizabeth
May Sutor and Dean A. Banks, D.D. have uploaded podcasts. Robert Yarbrough will be added soon. Just click on the podcasters placards below and click on the Podcast title. Currently there are five podcasts on Bobby Hinkle's page, one on Elizabeth Sutor's page and nine on Dean A. Banks, D.D.'s page. Stay tuned for more! Thank you for choosing us!
What is the Spirituality Guidance Channel? SGC is a video portal designed to introduce spiritually inclined individuals to be exposed to spiritual videos, radio, teachers, music, art, books, resources and links from a selected group of teachers and requests from viewers. Each featured coach/teacher will have their own page highlighting any videos, audios, websites or printed material they have produced. This portal will be regularly promoted on the Internet through social networking and targeted marketing channels. Please visit the website at the following address:
http://www.spiritualityguidance.com and email me at webproducer@hotmail.com with any suggestions, links or materials. Thank you for your most courteous participation in this project. I welcome your input. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
Welcome to our new Sunday Morning Service by Dr. Dean A. Banks, D.D.
Every week Dr. Dean will be engaging subjects that are pertinent to your growth and expansion into recognition of; respect to; and communication with your inner spirit.
Please feel free to comment or suggest topics for review. May the Divine always bless you and your families! ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
Why do we worry about things, people or circumstances? Is it because we are unsure of ourselves and our possible actions in relation to them? Or is it because we doubt our ability to know what IS going to happen in favor of what MIGHT happen?
In order for worry to get a foothold on our consciousness we first have to doubt something; its validity or its ultimate purpose in our lives. This is the point where the ego says, “This might threaten our survival.” This doubt can either be dismissed by a healthy mindset or it can be embraced and elevated to a state of worrying.
Worrying occurs when we choose to NOT listen to Divine guidance and choose to listen to the agenda of self-survival being presented by our egos. The Divine knows EVERYTHING! When we accept that truth and listen to the still small voice of God why would we even worry about anything at all? When we operate from a mindset that we are children of the Most High and that we have the ability to co-create our realities, we KNOW that worrying is the gateway to inaction. It, in effect, stops us from proceeding in the manifestation of our Divine purpose in Divine order!
Worrying is the ego’s tool for us to be overly cautious and to stop forward progress. When we listen to what the ego says over what the Divine says our reality BECOMES a vibrational match to what we EXPECT will happen. Conversely, when we listen to what the Divine says our reality becomes a vibrational match to what we KNOW will happen; however, it might not unfold HOW we think it should and we must learn to accept this.
Surrendering to Divine will humbles our spirit and aligns us with the Divine. Allowing the Divine to work THROUGH us is a more healthy action than worrying about what MIGHT happen! It immerses us in the ‘flow’ of Divine order and takes the heat off of our egos. In effect, it is the more responsible choice than worrying and NOT taking the appropriate action when it needs to be taken.
Let go of the reins and trust completely in the Divine to steer the carriage. The alternative is that consistent and practiced worrying manifests itself as accepted false fears which prevent us from proacting in the unfolding of our Divine purposes. We end up living a life of dissatisfaction and regret instead of joy and fulfillment.
Choose the latter and move toward the unfolding of your Divine purpose in Divine order without worrying about what might happen. It is all in God’s hands. Trust the Divine to care for, guide and love all of the Divine’s children. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
SPIRITUAL BOOKS
CONSULTATION
WORSHIPPING IMPERFECTION
Why would anyone in their right mind worship a God that isn’t perfect? A God that ‘HATES’, destroys and kills His children? That isn’t love…it is FEAR!!! I RESPECT the Divine Infinite Spirit for creating me and I do NOT fear Him.
He loved me enough to create me for His purpose and I will NOT mock Him by anthropomorphizing Him into being a bully.
The Divine is beautiful, loving and kind; the Divine IS LOVE. Any other description mocks the Divine Creator and the Divine Creation.
Be thankful, grateful and loving to the Divine and you will be blessed with health, wealth, prosperity and abundance; for that is the Divine’s natural expression into the omniverse! ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
YOUR INNER SONG
Every night when you go to bed another page has closed on your life. Like a book, your life is made up of (on the average) about 25,000 pages. Each and every page has its own significance to you. Some pages are exciting and memorable, some are dull and uneventful and some are totally forgettable.
The pages come together to form chapters that represent phases of your growth and expansion into who you are today. How will your book end? Will it be fulfilling and significant? Or will it be a life just lived in mediocrity.
Don’t come to the end your life without sharing your book, or inner song. You are here to integrate that song into the symphony of life. That’s why you are here; to manifest and express your Divine purpose in Divine order perfectly.
Don’t allow anyone to stifle the expression of your song. Sing it with passion and harmonize it with the songs of others. Live a fulfilled life right now! ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
YOUR THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS
Are you having difficulty in being who you know you are? Do you think in your mind almost every moment of your inner passion? Do you feel your juices running when you envision your dream in your mind and feel the joy of it in your heart? Every thought that you think creates a correspondent energy expression that projects into your environment. It creates a polarization that literally focuses your attention on ‘like’ or similar things.
Have you ever bought a car and then noticed how many you see now that you own one? The same amount of cars have always been there and now that you own one your attention is fine tuned to recognize that type of car. This is the basis for the Law of Attraction. You ‘attract’, or should we say recognize, that which your attention is focused upon.
The amount of energy that our brains generate is very weak, however, the thoughts that it maintains are like an electrical relay on the ‘unseen’ dark matter and dark energies ever-present in the omniverse. An electrical relay is a device that uses a smaller and ‘safer’ voltage to switch a higher and more dangerous voltage. But how do these smaller biologically generated ‘voltages’ actually ‘flip’ these virtual relays?
A voltage is describes as an ‘electromotive force’. An EMF (Electromotive Force) is defined as “the energy available for conversion from nonelectric to electric form, or vice versa, per unit of charge passing through the source of the energy; the potential difference between the terminals of a source of electrical energy: expressed in volts” [dictionary.com].
Now, our brains are defined as organs; organs are biological groupings of tissues that aggregate to perform specific bodily functions. In essence, the non-electric tissues generate electrical signals that communicate throughout our bodies. These functions are a result of a ‘difference in potential’ between positive and less positive opposites. The discharge of energy occurs ‘through’ the source of the energy which initiates the thoughts in our brains.
The amount of energy being discharged is measured in volts; the higher the voltage, the more ‘potential’ of energy being discharged. The electrical ‘current’ is the actual energy that traverses the nerves in our bodies and carries the information that is repeatedly sent from our brains to our bodies and vice versa. As our brains develop, new neural pathways are generated due to repeated firings that create pleasurable experiences for us. Also, we come to recognize ‘unpleasurable’ experiences and subconsciously forge new neural pathways to ‘avoid’ any perception of pain.
We, in essence, by our harboring repeated thoughts that become beliefs, rewire our brains to ‘broadcast’ what we ‘believe’ we are. But, if the voltage is too low, how does it trip the virtual omniversal relay? By our emotions! The way we ‘feel’ about our experiences indicates whether we are either resisting our experiences or allowing them. If we feel bad about something, we are initializing the thoughts that we are experiencing to project them onto the omniversal stage which in turn reflects them right back to us. We then experience what is sometimes termed a ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’.
If we feel good about something, we are in turn, doing the same thing. Knowing this, why would anyone in their right mind undo their own progress in life? Why would you focus on doubting, worrying and fearing when you KNOW that is what you are creating in your life? Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? We were created with a natural state of well-being. Our thoughts about that natural state and the subsequent feelings we have underlying those thoughts are what ‘rearrange’ the energies of well-being to create that which we hold as true. We are a product of our own ‘re-creation’ based on our thoughts and feelings.
“And what of illness”, you may say? If your thoughts and feelings disallow the normal and natural flow of well-being then the result is infirmity. “What about my financial situation”, you may ask as well. If your thoughts and feelings disallow the normal and natural flow of omniversal abundance then the result is poverty. Sound too simple? Well, perhaps it does but life goes where energy flows, not where energy is restricted, bottlenecked or damned up!
The amazing thing about ‘how things work’ is that at any given moment in time you can ‘change’ the flow of energy from your thoughts and feelings to ‘allow’ what you have heretofore ‘resisted’! You are in command of what you think when you recognize how you are feeling and adjust your thoughts to create feelings of fulfillment instead of disappointment. This simple recognition and respondent ‘altering’ of harboring negative non-productive thoughts move you toward an alignment with your natural state of well-being and move you away from the unnatural states of infirmity, poverty and disappointment. This state of ‘vibrational’ harmony polarizes you with positive energy that ‘attracts’ like states to occur. Why? Because like the car you just bought you now begin to recognize it everywhere in your environment, whereas when it wasn’t predominantly in your consciousness you did not recognize it before.
There is only energy and matter present in the omniverse that springs forth from the Divine state of stillness, silence and total peace. How we observe, think and feel about these energies and matter determines our experiences with them; whether we perceive them as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ to our beings. Accepting things as they are and appreciating them ‘as they are’ is the beginning to being truthful with yourself AND others. This, in turn, creates a state of ‘allowance’ within you that promotes correspondent states of peace, understanding, joy and Divine love. This becomes your attractive ‘like’ factor that brings similar experiences into your existence.
Rejecting things as they are and being too critical about their existence is NOT living in reality. This, in turn, creates a state of ‘resistance’ within you that promotes correspondent states of disharmony, intolerance, unhappiness and the state of not knowing Divine love. This becomes your attractive ‘like’ factor that brings similar experiences into your existence.
We are ALWAYS connected to our Divine source and NOTHING can ever separate us from that connection except when we think and feel that we are separated! Our thoughts and feelings are our direct indicators of whether we are allowing or resisting our natural connection to our source to experience health, wealth, prosperity and abundance or conversely, infirmity, poverty, ongoing loss and dearth.
Control your thoughts and feelings by allowing the natural states of health, wealth, prosperity and abundance to flow through you unfettered by your observations and conclusions in what you have experienced in your life. As with the television, if you don’t like what you are watching, just change the channel! ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
CAST OFF THE CHAINS
Never let the sheer and utter ignorance of another dull your edge. They are where they are because of their level of understanding and what they do or say about your level of understanding doesn’t amount to a hill of beans. If their understanding of anything contradicts with the lessons you have learned from observing your experiences, then toss it aside as only being of value to them where they are right now in their lives.
Keep your edge sharp and refined by listening to the still small voice of the Divine only and not the whimperings of those who only half-understand the truth. Know deep within your heart that what you understand is based on your observations of the experiences you have encountered in your life. They are the whetstone for sharpening the edge of your Divine purpose.
Reject what you know is not true to you and don’t resist what they claim is the truth; in reality it is their truth and NOT yours. Accept what you know is true and allow that truth to guide you to complete and utter fulfillment each and every day of your life. As always, it is your choice to believe what others say or go within and know what the Divine is revealing to you. Instead of listening to your ego’s selfish yearnings listen to Divine guidance and be exactly whom and what you were created to be.
When you know what you know, feel what you feel, believe what you believe, say what you say and do what you do you are aligned with whom and what you are. When you think you know what you know, feel uncomfortable with yourself as you are, believe something you don’t completely believe, say what pleases others or do what pleases them and not yourself, you are not in alignment with your Divine purpose. You are living up to what others expect of you and not what you were created to be.
Cast off the chains of self-restraint you use in order to please anyone or everyone; be whom and what you were created to be by letting go of everything that challenges you from fulfilling your Divine purpose in Divine order. Only you can do this. Only you can allow what is your greater good to express itself through you! Do it NOW! May God be with you every step of your way. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
In the event that today you decide to wake up and be yourself, take heart and be progressively stepwise. In statistics, “stepwise regression includes regression models in which the choice of predictive variables is carried out by an automatic procedure” [Wikipedia.com]. Let’s flip this around and see what a ‘stepwise progression’ would be. Accordingly, it would be ‘progressive’ models in which the choice of predictive variables is NOT carried out by an automatic procedure or where the choice of constants is carried out by an automatic procedure. Which is more likely to be a stepwise progression? According to stepwise regression, there are 3 main approaches to analysis:
“Forward selection, which involves starting with no variables in the model, testing the addition of each variable using a chosen model comparison criterion, adding the variable (if any) that improves the model the most, and repeating this process until none improves the model.
Backward elimination, which involves starting with all candidate variables, testing the deletion of each variable using a chosen model comparison criterion, deleting the variable (if any) that improves the model the most by being deleted, and repeating this process until no further improvement is possible.
Bidirectional elimination, a combination of the above, testing at each step for variables to be included or excluded” [Wikipedia.com].
In forward selection, we simply add variables and test them against our model, or baseline of where we are right now. For example, signing up for a course to be certified in something that interests you. Will that ‘add to’ your life and improve it? Will it make you a better person? Whether you benefitted from the course or not in your mind and heart you have ‘expanded’ out of your comfort zone and have improved your condition. In backward elimination, you start where you are and you remove habits and conditions that you already experience and see what improves your life. For example, have you stopped yelling at your loved ones or being grumpy most of the time? In bidirectional elimination, we combine moving toward what we desire actively eliminating what doesn’t work and keeping what does work by eliminating (or moving away from) the variables in our lives that don’t serve us, add to our feelings of fulfillment and edify our overall beings.
According to the model of stepwise regression, the true opposite of it would be where the choice of constants is carried out by an automatic procedure. What constants would that be? Are there actually things in our lives that are constants? Most definitely! The one and only constant is the Spirit of God within all of us. That is our ongoing constant and it automatically shares Divine love with us in every breath we take and every breath we give. We are blessed with a center that provides individual growth and expansion when we ‘recognize’ its existence, live from its Divine love and share that Divine love with all! Operating from this center we automatically delete what doesn’t serve our growth and expansion when we ‘add to’ or ‘take away from’ our thoughts, feelings, words, actions and behaviors.
Being progressively stepwise in essence means that we completely trust in the Spirit of God to automatically hit our delete buttons when events, occurrences, situations, circumstances and the behaviors of ourselves and others are not favorable to our growth and expansion into complete fulfillment of our Divine purposes in Divine order. We operate from the constant of the Spirit of God by having faith in the process of growth and expansion, having complete trust in the Divine Infinite Spirit and living our lives sharing Divine love with all of life. Be progressive. Be forthright. Be diligent. Be whom and what you were created to be by centering yourself in Divine love and living your life by sharing it every day. Be ye therefore perfect! ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
WELCOME TO TSP DAILY!
We are so pleased with the success of The Spirituality Post Weekly Online Magazine, The Spirituality Post Daily and The Spirituality Guidance Sunday Morning Service that we have now combined them into a daily online magazine for those involved in Spirituality. Every weekday and weekend we will be featuring the writings and sayings of Dr. Dean A. Banks, D.D. Please come and visit us every day to receive inspiration, guidance and opinion on spiritual and political matters. We would like to thank you all for your support and dedication to the writings and sayings that we feature. May God bless all of you and your families now and evermore! ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
Prayer is asking the Divine to intercede in the natural order and development of our perceived problems and to bring about favorable results in Divine order. It is the release of our limited perceptions of events, occurrences, situations, circumstances and people that appear as problems to our inner need for the growth and expansion of our Divine purpose. It is based on the recognition of the Divine as the source of everything, our desire to communicate with the Divine and our expectation that we will be given an answer.
Meditation is the process of us stepping out of the apparent chaos and unsurety and entering a place of peace where we relax enough to experience the inner peace of the Divine. From this peace we feel the love of the Divine by immersing ourselves in the presence regularly. Our inner perceptions hear the still small voice of God guiding and directing us to the answers we seek. We then begin to understand those answers and feel the joy of the Divine communicating with us.
We have now asked the Divine for answers and intervention and have sought and listened to the guidance in how to proceed. What do we do next? We knock on the door that now opens to affect the solutions by sharing our talents and abilities in loving service.
Service to others is what defines us. It is putting the love of the Divine into action. Love without sharing is not love at all! Clean and organize your home, neighborhood and community by sharing what you have been blessed with and you will perpetuate a chain of love that will ripple throughout our world collectively.
Successful living requires that we take what we have been graciously given and share it with others. It is participating in life and not watching it go by passively. It is being active in your edification; active in your relaxation; and active in your integration with all of life. We are NOT islands unto ourselves! We are the ocean expressed through each one of us. We share our humanity and we share Divine love.
Prayer is directive thinking towards an end that we desire. Meditation is directive listening to receive inner guidance. Service is directive action that takes what we have desired and what we have learned in how to proceed and puts it into reality. When prayer, meditation and service are all practiced effectively, we establish and maintain direct communication with the Divine. We have accessed the source of all creation and the result is an inner peace, a complete understanding of reality and the joy of living. They are truly the keys to successful living! ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
DO YOU FIT IN?
Sometimes it seems as if the chaos of the world is what is driving our every movement. We react to the eddys and currents and flow along with the trends in order to ‘fit in’. But how do you fit a square peg into a round hole? Do you simply chop off your corners in order to round off your edges enough to fit in? Or do you mold and shape your square form and shrink down to fit into the circle? There is another option, however. It comes from the realization that the round hole is only round because it appears to be round and you accept it as such.
The expressed reality always reveals the structure and form of the creative principles involved in its manifestation; however, since we are co-creators in this vast omniverse, we can ‘imagine’ the manifestation as fulfilling a different purpose than what most people accept to be as ‘the way it is’. This, in essence, is not ‘reacting’ to the round hole but ‘proacting’ from it. It is taking what ‘is’ and making it into what ‘could be’ in order to co-create another ‘reality’.
But do we really have the power to do this? Are we endowed with such creative energy that we can actually move mountains? Yes and no. In electrical application there is a device called a relay. Its function is to applying the switching of high voltage circuits by using low voltage triggers. In other words, our concentrated thoughts that ‘imagine’ other realities affect the larger and more powerful energies surrounding us when we consistently and effectively focus on their manifestation. This IS the process of co-creation. It is one of our Divine ‘gifts’; the expression of Divine love into the omniverse. This requires complete trust in the Divine to take the images in your mind (your de- (of the) sires (the Father)) which have been planted in the seat of Divine love (your heart) and ‘convert’ them into reality.
Just thinking about your desires is NOT enough to manifest them. You must passionately ‘feel’ them in order to flip the relay and move the energies of the cosmos into complete and utter fulfillment of your ‘desires’. The apparent chaos in the outer world can be ‘affected’ by your committed passion to the end result by your ‘feeling’ the joy of accomplishing what you desire. Feeling this joy allows you the experience of complete Divine trust. When you trust enough to not attempt to control ‘how’ things will manifest, you align your Divine purpose with Divine order.
Consistent and dedicated imagination DOES create reality. You must use your imagination and practice its implementation in order to co-create what you desire. It’s a simple as that and only as complicated as you make it. Stop stressing over ‘how’ things come about and have the faith in the Divine to move the dynamic energies of the cosmos to actualize your desires to fit the square peg into a new square hole; one that is meant for you to fit in and one that will completely fulfill your desires.
It all begins when you imagine something other than ‘the way it is’, or should we say, ‘the way it ‘appears’ to be’. Be diligent in your pursuit of your dreams and desires. They are the seeds of greatness that the Divine planted in your heart of hearts. Germinate them with imagination and water them with passion. They are yours and yours alone to commit to the growth and expansion of YOUR reality.
It doesn’t matter how much chaos exists outside of you as long as you maintain your inner peace and conviction to manifest your Divine purpose in Divine order. Use the gifts you have been blessed with to ‘fit in’ the way you were created to ‘fit in’ and not the way you ‘believe’ the world wants you to ‘fit in’. You are unique and there has never been a mold that cannot be broken by the imagination and passion of the human spirit. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
WHY DO WE HAVE CHOICES?
If we are being led by the Spirit of God and nurture this relationship daily, then why would we need to choose anything at all? Is it because of our ‘free will’ or is it because our egos need to believe that we have ‘some’ control over our lives. Every decision we make is a choice between alternatives that are either more or less favorable to our individual growth and expansion or stifling and regression.
But why do these ‘choices’ even exist? Is God playing a game with us to determine our loyalty and love for Him or is God simply just allowing us to mature in our understanding of just whom and what He is? Is God confined to a gender relationship with us or are we looking for a man with a white beard living in the clouds and dispensing lightning bolts to all of the ‘sinners’ in the world?
When we make the choice to attribute humankind characteristics to the Divine we are allowing our egos to command our perspectives and NOT the Spirit of God. We are desperately trying to ‘humanize’ the Divine in order to make ‘Him’ more relatable. We are trying to understand the Divine by our limited perspectives and not the spirit of truth.
Choosing between alternatives is the normal behavior when we live outside of ourselves in the perceived dualistic reality. Knowing and feeling the guidance from the Divine Infinite Creator still requires us to choose whether or not we take action on that guidance.
If we completely trust, believe and have faith in the Divine operating in our best interests we will proceed in our actions and behaviors from that guidance without ANY hesitation. When we don’t completely trust in the Divine we shift that responsibility to our limited egos for in fear for we are unsure of the outcome.
Moving from the sureness of spirit to the unsurety of the ego is a downward spiral toward inactivity and depression. We cannot and sometimes will not make the necessary choices to get us out of our self-imposed pit of despair.
Choose the guidance of the Spirit of God over the control, domination and manipulation of the ego and all else that is ‘good’ for you will be added unto you. Seek ye first the kingdom says it all! ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
There are two types of analysis in regard to ferreting out the truth and standing on firm ground; objective and subjective.
In an objective analysis, you primarily use your physical observations of events, occurrences, situations, circumstances and the behavior of yourself and others to evaluate them with the mental processes of logic and reason. You effectively observe things ‘as they are’ without allowing your emotional perceptions to color them with personal agenda manifestation. In other words, you describe what you have observed without attaching any emotion to it whatsoever.
In a subjective analysis, you either emotionally color what you have observed by using the benchmark of whether or not it affects your survival; or you spiritually color your observations as to whether or not they beneficially or detrimentally affect the growth and expansion of yourself AND others.
Objective Analysis – Physical Observation and Mental Evaluation
Objective analysis is based on observation of the facts and subjective analysis is filtered through your belief system to determine its relevance to ability to function effectively in your world and develop ‘opinions’ about it. In order to understand the truth and how it pertains to your ongoing existence, you need to subject the apparent truth to a verification of its veracity and a testing of its validity. Logic affords you the tools to do so. In logic there are primarily two forms of arriving at ‘logical’ conclusions; deductive logic and inductive logic.
Generally speaking, deductive logic is performed by stating general premises and arriving at specific conclusions. Premises are “propositions supporting or helping to support a conclusion [dictionary.com].” Conclusions are “propositions concluded or inferred from the premises of an argument [dictionary.com].” In other words the premises are the observed facts and the conclusions are the result of the objective interaction of the observed facts WITHOUT any coloring of the conclusions by any type of subjective analysis.
In inductive logic, generally speaking, specific premises are stated in order to arrive at general conclusions. These two forms are generally sufficient to verify the veracity of any event, occurrence, situation, circumstance or the behaviors of objects and people. However, if something occurs only once under certain conditions, it might not occur again under different conditions. This is why it is necessary to continually test its validity under varying conditions.
Science utilizes these techniques in what is called the hypothetico-inductive method where an experimenter designs an experiment under specified conditions; states what they hypothesize ‘will’ happen; conducts the experiment several times; evaluates the results of the experiment into conclusions; develops a theory based on the conditions of the experiment.
Logicians formulate premises to derive conclusions in what is called a syllogism. A syllogism is “an argument the conclusion of which is supported by two premises, of which one (major premise) contains the term (major term) that is the predicate of the conclusion, and the other (minor premise) contains the term (minor term) that is the subject of the conclusion; common to both premises is a term (middle term) that is excluded from the conclusion. A typical form is “All A is C; all B is A; therefore all B is C [dictionary.com].” For example, a deductive logic syllogism would state the following:
Premises:
1. The Sun is shining.
2. It is warm.
Conclusion: It is warm because the Sun is shining.
“Valid deductive arguments are where the premises logically entail the conclusion and where such entailment means that the truth of the premises provides a guarantee of the truth of the conclusion (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).”
The most recognizable figure to utilize deductive logic was Sherlock Holmes. Holmes would discover a burning cigarette with lipstick on it when he arrived at the crime scene. He would deduce that the killer left within minutes before he arrived and was a woman. Pretty good deduction based on the facts. But was it valid? Most of the time it was. But what if the killer was a man who put on lipstick to trick the authorities? The first part of the conclusion was correct but the second part could be called faulty reasoning. Most of the time it wouldn’t be, but in this particular case it was.
Our egos are like the man who was wearing lipstick. It often tricks us into believing that our course of action is correct. It is to the ego, because it is concerned with self-preservation and survival. But in reality, it swayed the facts in order to convince others that it was real. The ego is the main reason people fool themselves every day.
Deductive Logic in its simplest form results in a set of general facts (premises) being deduced to a specific conclusion. A scientist can deduce (derive a conclusion based on the observed facts and logical assumptions) a conclusion from multiple premises:
The scientist walks out of the house and feels warmer when he walks into the yard. He goes back into the house and feels cooler. He deduces that when he walks out into the yard where the Sun is shining directly on him, that the warm feeling he gets is coming from the Sun. This is a logical deductive argument where the conclusion is assumed based on the facts.
Until the scientist measures the temperature inside the house and outside the house, the argument is true but not completely valid. If the measurement reveals that the inside temperature is 70 degrees and the outside temperature is 90 degrees, then the conclusion is more valid because it has been physically proven.
But what happens if the measuring device is inaccurate or the scientist has a fever and cannot rely on his senses to be accurate? Variables are always present when it comes to perception of the facts. Be aware of these variables when conducting any experiment!
Truth is a verified or indisputable fact that is observed by many to be an accurate analysis. Validity is the state where an experiment has been conducted with a significant sample, its premises are jointly asserted and the conclusion cannot be denied without contradiction. Contradiction is minimized only by the size and congruity of the sample data. For example, a scientist can induce (assert or establish based on a significant number of facts) a conclusion from multiple premises:
Premises:
1. Giraffe #1 is silent.
2. Giraffe #2 is silent.
3. Giraffe #3 is silent.
Conclusion: All giraffes are silent.
The scientist went into the field and observed the giraffes. This is his conclusion. Is his conclusion true? Yes it is; based on his data. Is it valid? No. Why? Because he only sampled 3 giraffes! If he had sampled 100 giraffes his conclusion would be true and more valid. If the entire world population of giraffes was 50,000 and the scientist sampled all of them and drew the same conclusion, then his results are completely valid. How many times does something have to happen to us before we not only accept it as true, but we accept it as being valid? Three times? Eight times? Once?
Things sometime appear to be true, but until we sample enough data and then draw conclusions, we cannot consider the results to be completely valid. The above process is known as Inductive Logic. Inductive Logic is a system of reasoning that extends deductive logic to less-than-certain inferences. In its simplest form it is the results in a set of specific facts (premises) being induced to a general conclusion.
Science requires multiple procedures to be performed with a critical eye in order for its findings to be valid. It requires critical thinking in order to relay valuable information. Accurate reasoning is utilizing the principles of Logic and The Law of Parsimony to draw accurate conclusions. Reasoning is the process of forming inferences and conclusions from observed facts and logical premises. Logic is the science that investigates the principles governing correct or reliable inference based on observed facts.
The Law of Parsimony states that the explanation of a thing or event is made with the fewest possible assumptions and reduced to the simplest explanation. In other words, cut out the bull, remove the rose colored glasses and view the reality; no matter how harsh you might feel it is. There are no emotions involved in thinking critically.
Science seeks to discover the truth about all things. In order to arrive there many experiments must be conducted to get closer to the truth. The results of these experiments can yield conditional truths, but also have to be tested for validity. By removing the influences of the variables of affected sensory perception, inaccurate measuring devices, ego infiltration and data fudging, you can arrive at accurate conclusions. The more accurate your conclusions are, the more accurate you can be in developing a plan to remove any apparent detriments and maximize your abilities to understand and validate the truth.
Subjective Analysis – Emotional Reaction and Spiritual Proaction
Once you have established the truth of something based on the observable facts repeatedly yielding the same or similar results (validation), these conclusions are now filtered through your belief system and you arrive at your ‘perception’ of reality. Your belief system colors what you have observed by using the benchmark of whether or not it affects your survival. Now the ego comes into play to define and ‘judge’ what is occurring and whether or not it ensures or threatens your individual survival.
The ego is a construct of the chemical processes of your reptilian brain. It is associated with ‘fight or flight’; a survival instinct programmed into your brain from ‘reactions’ to your environment. Mostly, it becomes an automatic response to what you ‘believe’ is happening more that what is actually happening.
When your survival is threatened, the ego generates feelings of fear to prevent you from doing things that threaten your ongoing survival. Your subjective analysis is based on what you need to do in order to continue to survive. When the ego is more in command than your spirit, it looks to itself as the source of its survival and the ability to thrive at the expense of others.
Outlining and implementing self-serving goals like taking advantage of others, withholding the truth to your advantage and greed become the accepted states of thriving based on one’s perceptions of their own self-survival. At this point, the truth is colored to the advantage of the ego and it will do whatever it can to manifest its self-serving agenda; including prevarication, control, domination and manipulation of the facts and others to support its selfish position.
On the flip side of the ego is the ability to ‘get out of your own head’ and understand the greater picture. By utilizing the spiritual techniques of prayer, meditation, service and the allowance of fulfillment, you can learn to rise above the din of the perceived dualistic reality by learning to go within to validate what ‘appears’ to be true. There is a collective consciousness that has arisen from all of the years of human development and it has created ongoing vibrations of thoughts and feelings that are only mitigated by the beliefs of the observers.
We have the power to choose what we believe and to act on any and all beliefs. Our awareness and practice of Spirituality ‘colors’ our observations as to whether or not they beneficially or detrimentally affect the growth and expansion of ourselves AND others. Now the spirit within comes into play to define and ‘discern’ what is occurring and whether or not it ensures or threatens our collective ability to thrive together.
The true acid test is that if something occurs that is only beneficial to you and separates you from helping others, then it is selfishly motivated and is in the realm of emotional reactions to what you ‘perceive’ is occurring. However, it something occurs that is beneficial to you AND others and unites you with helping others, then it is universally motivated and is in the realm of spiritual proactions.
The spirit guides you to plan out what you will do and it becomes an automatic response to what you ‘know’ is happening more that what your perceive is happening. When your ability to thrive is forefront, your spirit generates feelings of faith to allow you to do things that make you strive toward thriving so you can help others AND yourself concurrently.
Your subjective analysis is based on what you need to do in order to help others AND yourself to thrive and not just survive. When the spirit is more in command than your ego, it looks to the Divine within as the source of its survival and the ability to thrive with the cooperation of others.
Outlining and implementing spiritual goals like helping others in Divine service, speaking the truth for everyone’s advantage and benevolence become the accepted states of thriving based on one’s perceptions of everyone’s ability to thrive. At this point, the truth is colored to the advantage of the spirit within and it will do whatever it can to manifest its all inclusive agenda of sharing Divine love with all; including honesty, freedom, surrender and allowance of the facts and others to support its caring and supportive position.
When we utilize our objective analysis of the physical observations and mental evaluations we are using logic and reason to establish an accurate perception of the truth. When we utilize our subjective analysis we color our beliefs of what we observe more with an intuitive proaction than with an emotional reaction, we can establish an accurate validation of the truth.
Emotions color what we perceive based on our selfish yearnings where intuitions color what we perceive based on the Divine desires of our heart. The desires to live in peace; understand one another; express joy; and share Divine love everlasting! Be that which has given you life and not that which takes it away. Be ye therefore PERFECT! ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.
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