Wanted:
"The one whose walk is blameless,
who does what is righteous,
who speaks the truth
from their heart;
whose tongue utters no slander,
who does no wrong to a neighbor,
and casts no slur on others.
Psalm 15:2-3
It disturbs me to see what seems to be an increase in the willingness of people to lie in order to further their own ends. We see this happening in Washington with that governmental circus of professional prevaricators who have honed blatant dishonesty to the level of high art and use bald faced lies to cement control and wield power, but, to be fair, I find deception to be heavily represented throughout society in day-to-day life, even among people whose professions lead one to expect much different and better.
My original draft of this blog post had three paragraphs of stories about several different liars in my orbit and how they lied to, about, or near me over the years and this week, but I realized that this problem is so common that I needn't provide those stories. I am quite sure that you all have enough of your own tales of the mendacious.
I have watched all sorts of people lie over the years and I find myself having a spine-chilling visceral reaction to it. I can almost feel Satan brushing up against me. It is an ominous and unnerving sensation.
Most "modern" people do not believe in Satan, but I usually tell them not to worry about it because Satan believes in them. HE will keep the relationship going. I say this to them in a joking way. No one wants to be such a downer as to bring up hellfire and damnation in polite conversation!
But even I don't necessarily believe in the personification of evil that is the personality of a being named Satan. For me, "Satan" is shorthand for primal evil and its movement in our lives. And, while it is common for people to opine about whether or not God will assign them to Hell when we die, it is my understanding that it is with our own behavior that we demonstrate that resting place in which we are most comfortable and most familiar.
We walk around in our own personal acre of heaven or hell and carry it around with us as we move through life. If we establish our mind in the Heavenly place, Heaven is most real for us. The Kingdom of Heaven is among us!
The condition of our mind is determined by where we place our attention. It is as simple as that. Concentrate on Heaven, and Heaven is most real for us But please don't assume that, because I KNOW this, that I have a "lock" on the process. No. Not at all. I struggle like everyone else....and perhaps MORE than everyone else, due to the PTSD that assaults me daily. It takes work to continually redirect the mind to the feet of the Lord when it has become distracted.
Our prayers and meditations have a dual purpose: first, to establish ourselves in the Divine, and second to intercede for others who have wandered away into lies and other obstructions that stand in the way of their vision of God.
"Self realization" isn't enough. We need to include all beings in a unitary vision.
Jesus admonishes us to pray for our enemies. Satan is the biggest enemy of all, and all lies originate with him. He is the father of all lies, and we need to fight him by fighting dishonesty because dishonesty is his calling card, and when it appears, HE is lurking nearby.
This is exactly why a good percentage of us are somewhat exercised by current affairs. The presence of Satan upsets people who are possessed of refined sensibilities. We are like the canaries in the coal mine. When you see a bunch of us flapping our wings and chirping dispiritedly, then falling over in a dead faint, it is a cue to get out of the mine. Get out of whatever societal situation in which we are mired and seek out the fresh air and sunshine. Meditation and prayer are the fresh air and sunshine for the soul.
Our current situation has encouraged me to double down on my meditation and prayers and I encourage you to do the same. Think of this: all the blog posts on Facebook, the newspapers, the magazine, the videos that bring each falsehood to light are fine vehicles of information, but are unable, by themselves, to stem the tide of the very real damage that is caused by malicious disinformation.
As people of faith, we have to do this. The fetid material being belched into the environment from the professional liars has to be counteracted on the spiritual plane, as well as the material, and we must hold fast to our compassionate prayer for those who are seduced by the continual stream of disparagement, calumny and toxic fabrication in which we are awash.
But, even if you are on the other side of things, and you believe every word from the current rulers, you surely must also follow my advice since the Lord will only cooperate with good and would not do evil just because a bunch of people ASKED him to! You know He couldn't do that.
Our mutual faith in Him draws us together. Across the divide, we may hold hands in the common belief that God brings all things to the good and that the words of Jesus, to love our enemies and pray for them, can only bring good. To unite with one another and place ourselves at the feet of the Lord who is Truth personified, and to beg for Truth to prevail, can only result in Truth!
Please join me in my prayers for Truth and Justice. Whatever is True and Just will be strengthened thereby. Whoever is True and Just will be strengthened. We do not need to name them or decide who they are, in advance (although we all probably believe that we know the "who" of things!)
I send love to you all and ask you to join me under the common sheltering roof of the absolute.
Silver Parnell
Sannyasini Kaliprana
P.S. I also remind you that my Paypal button still works, just in case you'd like to help me purchase some eyeglasses or dental work, neither one of which are paid for by Medicare!
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