It was explained to me this way: 

When I pray, I’m asking.

When I meditate, I’m listening.

Why is asking so easy but listening is so difficult?

The experience I wrote about in my book A Forever Place suggests this one Universe we commonly perceive as “ours” and “the only one” may, instead, be one of an infinite number of universes. While my experience was an isolated event, the concept seems to have an energy of its own, now being explored in depth by the scientific community. Here is a small portion of an article in a recent issue of Discover magazine that suggests my experience has other enthusiasts.

“There was a time when the word universe meant ‘all there is.’ Everything. The whole shebang. The notion of more than one universe, more than one everything, would seemingly be a contradiction in terms. Yet a range of theoretical developments has gradually qualified the interpretation of universe. The word’s meaning now depends on context. Sometimes universe still connotes absolutely everything. Sometimes it refers only to those parts of everything that someone such as you or I could, in principle, have access to. Sometimes it’s applied to separate realms, ones that are partly or fully, temporarily or permanently, inaccessible to us; in this sense, the word relegates our universe to membership in a large, perhaps infinitely large, collection.

With its hegemony diminished, universe has given way to other terms that capture the wider canvas on which the total of reality may be painted. Parallel worlds or parallel universes or multiple universes or alternate universes or the metaverse, megaverse, or multiverse – they’re all synonymous, and they’re all among the words used to embrace not just our universe but a spectrum of others that may be out there.”

From The Hidden Reality by Brian Greene

Word o’ the Day: Hegemony – predominance, authority

Dad and Mom say grace before every meal. When I was young they ingrained this consuetude by teaching me a simple rhyme:

God is good,
God is great,
Thank you for our food.
Amen

But at that age I was  very energetic and active so I wasn’t really paying attention. I didn’t connect the words and their meaning until much later in life. At age 6, I thought we were saying:

Godice good,
Godice great,
thankyouforourfoodamen.

It could easily have been…

Godiss good,
Godiss great,
thankyouforourfoodamen.

At age 6 the meaning didn’t much matter to me; I figured Mom knew; that was good enough… “Let’s eat!”

Today I search for a more meaningful grace. I believe blessing the food (and water) actually improves my health. For now it goes something like this:

Today bless the food I eat and water I drink with love, light and good health; carry these energies to every part of my body. Thank you.

What works for you?

Word o’ the Day:  Consuetude - ritual or routine

When I was a child I was told, “God is omniscient. He knows everything.”

I wondered, “If He knows everything then there must be nothing left for Him to learn.”

I enjoy learning new things; I confess — it is what I enjoy most. As matter of fact, my ego is quite impressed with the many things I have learned in this short lifetime but yet, there are so many things still remaining for me to learn. Fortunately, it seems there is no limit to the things I don’t know.

But … if I project my mind into infinity … and allow myself to learn everything … absolutely everything there is to know … to become omniscient …

… then … I think …

… I think I will be bored.

Is God bored?

A word for today: Pullulate.

To exist abundantly.

A few weeks ago I posted a blog titled “WWJD” where Zac proposed a different focus of importance: “What would Zac do, or WWZD?”

Then, when I saw this bumper sticker last week

I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ. —Ghandhi

And now, even more, I think Zac made a good point.

In the book A Forever Place, I discuss two connected experiences where I found myself in a place of infinity —

I was in a place with no boundaries.
No walls.
No floor.
No ceiling.
Nothing gives me a point of reference to measure distance.
It seems to have no ending.
I stare at infinity.
Infinity stares back at me.
    A Forever Place, pp. 1-2

What if we removed the points of reference from our daily lives?

As humans, we have established various methods for measuring things. We don’t think of them as measurements because they are commonplace and routine. These points of reference include things like a house, a car, a city, a mountain, a river, an ocean…. We define all of these things in our minds as if they have “size” but they have “size” defined only by finite, human perspective that we, as physical beings, have established.

What if we remove ourselves from the physical role and consider “size” from a different perspective? The movie plot for Men In Black is based on a few humans in New York City attempting to find a galaxy. It takes them awhile, but eventually they discover the galaxy is contained in a marble-size globe hanging on the collar of a cat. At the end of the movie, the camera pans away from the city into space. As the camera moves away from earth, it reveals our solar system, then a nebula and eventually our entire Milky Way Galaxy. Then the camera moves further away and reveals the Milky Way is contained inside a marble-size globe.

MIB I ending:

“Size” is an interesting concept; so is “time.” If we remove our limiting, human perspective, “size” becomes something that is relative — relative only to the concept of association we have created in our finite human brains.

Inquisitively,
David

My son sent this to me. I couldn’t resist…

The light turned yellow, just in front of him. He did the right thing, stopping at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection.

The tailgating woman was furious and honked her horn, screaming in frustration, as she missed her chance to get through the intersection, dropping her cell phone and makeup.

As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer. The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up.

He took her to the police station where she was searched, fingerprinted, photographed, and placed in a holding cell.

After a couple of hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the door. She was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects.

He said, ”I’m very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping off the guy in front of you and cussing a blue streak at him. I noticed the ‘What Would Jesus Do’ bumper sticker, the ‘Choose Life’ license plate holder, the ‘Follow Me to Sunday-School’ bumper sticker, and the chrome-plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk, so naturally…I assumed you had stolen the car.”

When I was growing up, my family would always pause before a meal to offer thanks and ask for blessings on the food. Our bodies are 70% water, so isn’t it interesting that we don’t follow a similar routine with water? I wonder how much healing we would bring to ourselves if we simply offered “love and gratitude,” or asked for blessings on every glass of water we drink.

…the energy of emotion–when it’s felt and generated from within–creates a coherent resonant electromagnetic field between the heart and the brain that’s much greater than that generated by the brain itself. Feeling may, therefore, be one of the major keys to manifesting prayer.

The Seven Secrets of Sound Healing by Johathan Goldman.