Osama Bin Laden, that Anti-Christ of our times speaks again - and sounding more like the socialists and liberal extremists than ever before, he even mentions one of the worse socialists and America-haters of our time - and he promises us lower taxes if we BUT join in that ridiculous religion called Islam. Lower taxes? Is that the big selling point of your religion - nothing about loving God or serving your fellow man - oh, I forgot, in the Koran your boss promises booty and all the slave women and boys you can rape ! isn't that right - its O.K. to rape Christians and Jews! What kind of god says its O.K. to rape women, hmmmm - ? What kind of god encourages conquest - Mars? Ares? Allah? could they be one and the same?

(And go ahead and whine & call me racist (when my skin is just as dark as yours!) because I dare speak the truth about your religion - this has nothing what so ever to do with race - all Mediterranean peoples are related! Your whining only proves what weak men you are - people who believe in their religion do not fear criticism - only the weak fear another's opinion!)

When Christianity was in that violent state of mind we had to lie about our Lord's opinion. We knew we were wrong but you don't need to lie, do you, your lord encourages murder and conquest, doesn't he?

All your religion is an excuse for conquest and violent mayhem - it has nothing to do with goodness and mercy, charity and kindness. It teaches nothing that makes mankind good or great, nothing that makes us more than we were in the slime of the cave, nothing that encourages us to evolve into better people and a better civilization. It is not even a civilizing influence on the world, for it was, would not your lands, people and countries be wealthier, stronger, and more creative than ours? What has your religion given humanity since, oh, lets say, the 12th century? Your religion is an excuse for never moving beyond the dark ages of hatred, slavery and conquest - an excuse of weak & powerless men to seem great and powerful. Yours is the greatness of bullies and the power of the sword. Men of true power are not bullies.

If you do conquer the world you will send mankind back 1,300 years and the species will never again rise and create anything of any worth. Our species will enter the darkest of dark ages of ignorance and cruelty and we will never accomplish a single good thing, again.

Your lands and peoples stagnate not for decades or centuries - but for millennia - you wouldn't have any technology if it wasn't for the West. You build nothing, You create nothing. You don't even try to trade with the rest of the world except for your oil. You would still be riding camels if it wasn't for your oil and once your oil is gone you will have to go back to camels because you squander your wealth on hate and lust. Your libraries are empty because your priests rule with an iron fist and allow nothing new to be written. You are stuck in the seventh century and accomplish nothing.

I am glad to pay taxes so my army can defeat your warriors. I am and will always be a Christian. I will never abandon the great Lord I call my King and friend -NEVER , so take your religion of lies and deceit and ....
Can you see through this screen my one finger salute you evil, evil man ?

As a woman I abhor Islam and as far as I am concerned the real reason for this war is women's rights throughout the globe. We women must be freed from the bonds that tie us down and keep us silent. This is a religion that enslaves my sex, brainwashing girls from birth to be nothing more than slaves to their men-folk and wishes us to think ourselves less than men. It allows wife beatings, honor killings and punishes the victims of rapes, blaming women not their rapists.

I will never understand why modern liberal women shed one tear for the fundamentalist Muslims who are dying in this war, they make no sense. I am glad to see these terrorists off-planet for awhile. May they reincarnate next time with some little good sense in their heads ! (and may their 72 virgins all be harpies!)

I escaped one religion that claimed I was not worthy of God's love because I was a woman, as a daughter of Eve and I will not so easily enslave myself, once again. But your religion makes the Roman Catholic religion looks like a bunch of amateurs, doesn't it? Where Roman Catholicism has evolved and grown more understanding with time, you refuse to change, to grow or mature.

I will not so easily walk into a religion-prison, again - and that is all Islam is - a prison! A slavery to a book & a god full of lies and deceit. They control everything you think and do and say - Even what you wear & how you clean yourself in the bathroom.

These rules are not necessary, God - the real God who is the ONE who rules all does not require this of anyone. Religion should not be slavery, it should be a way to make us good, holy people who love and serve our fellow mortal creatures. It should transform us into orbs of pure light.

As An American free woman I abhor this man. I will never surrender, once again, to the dictates of any man or priest and certainly never belong to a religion, again ! And I will die before I am forced into a religion that denies my soul's beauty and my dignity as a human being.

Lower taxes ? could any thing be more absurd? Who does he think he is dealing with - fools and children?
Freedom, Freedom above all. Freedom is worth every life spent in its growth and keeping across our globe. Lives given to give mankind more freedom are lives well lived . I only wish I was young enough to fight in this war against this evil anti-Christ as a warrior.

I will die in a pool of my own blood before I accept the dictates of another male-owned religion or the rules of another priesthood ! So, Osama, may the God who really rules all - the God of love and mercy - find it in His heart to have mercy on you - because I can not. I loathe you, sir, I loathe you.
Another blogger's comments that I agree with whole-heartedly.

I have been working on, in starts and stops, for many years, a trilogy of novels, or, at least, what I suspect would be a trilogy of novels if I ever finished them. I am not sure how many of you have struggled with words and composition but it is a very great challenge to master language.

How to describe in words what your imagination sees clearly as images? It always seems to sound better in my own head than it does when it is poured out on pages. I am never quite pleased with my efforts. Also, a problem how to keep it internally coherent and consistent? Just keeping the time line and age of the many characters strait is difficult. How does one to create well written dialog that sounds right and engrosses your readers in your story?

I even entered a local community college for a short time back in my late 30's because I believed my skills would be polished by doing so. I didn't see that much improvement but perhaps I did not stay long enough; I did become more confident, which isn't a bad thing and may someday blossom into the finished work! One of the greatest challenges of my life has been the lack of a formal education and I have faced frustration many times because of it. I have struggled my entire life to educate myself and someday I may write about my methods for those of you, who, as I have, found themselves too busy living life to spend 6 plus years at a university.

My novels are about what I love best and are spiritually & intellectually autobiographical, though not physically reflective of my life. What I mean is that it is not literally true in the usual sense though I swear all of it happened! There is no allegory, either because I agree with Tolkien that allegory is always artificial, restrictive and a complete disappointment. A great deal has gone into my novels and I have been working on them for many years - since the very early 1980's -- I think I started with a short story in 1980 and the story grew and deepened over the years; names changed, and, as Tolkien said, the story grew in the telling. It is similar to the 'Lord of the Rings' in intent but not in style or content. It is more a science fiction novel than a fantasy. I think Tolkien's masterpiece showed many of us what could be done if we were brave enough to work hard at our craft : the creation of an entire world, philosophy filled with songs, myths, culture and characters who are both memorable and emotionally satisfying, yet also, challenges the imagination and intellect is a tremendous undertaking but if Tolkien did it perhaps I can too.
I am reading a book ' The Philosophy of Tolkien' - it covers the world view implied in his writings, and, mentioning it in passing I suggest you read it - I am finding it very satisfying and rather clarifying, even, at times, affirming my own views of Tolkien's world view and intentions in writing his entire magnum opus. I mention this in passing because it is why I writing about my own literary efforts - the book inspires me to return to my creation - The Tapestries of Leucadia.
The setting is important in my novel; a distant time and place, 25,000 years in the future, a new Earth, colonized by humans after a disastrous war on the first earth. The human settlers do not remember clearly their arrival on their new home, it has become a myth and one which leaves much unclear. They never returned to the advanced technologies that gave them a chance to escape their first home and time after time have evolved technologically only so far and then plague or environmental tragedy or even human error has caused them to return to kind of medievalism that is not quite similar to what we now call the Middle Ages. Also, souls are recycling through all the cycles of civilizations rising and falling and they have their Alexanders, Platos, Socrates, and Caesars. There is deeply buried in all their cultures a fear of high technology and human advancement that makes one of the main themes in the novels.

Science is always in the background of the story though there is a great deal of magic (Which I define as the ability to manipulate matter with the human will and mind.) and I have tried to keep the world coherent within its own borders so if something happens there are both good scientific and spiritual reasons for it. The Planet is a real planet, gravity still works, humans are born, live and die - well, sometimes die, just as they do here - but I suggest that we don't understand all of nature and all of natures laws and that there may be aspects of the universe that are natural while seeming beyond nature (super-natural). I try to insure that the universe within the novel works like I think the universe outside the universe works.
One of the major themes of the story is the search for the name of the Nameless ONE... who is said to be a great spiritual force in the universe.

The country is Dun More. ( I found out after name it that Dun More actually exists and is a castle in Ireland!) The government is a monarchy that has lasted several thousand years. The era is more or less feudal, with only a few differences because it is not the first medieval period on the old earth, but a medieval- feudal era looking back to a mythical era of greater technological achievements. They have, for instance all the foods that we have now, including corn and sweet potatoes . They build good roads and have advanced methods to handle sewage.
The chief Character is Mellisa Mennorey, a young princess, who at the beginning of the novel, becomes a lady knight. She has a large extended family. The novel concentrates almost entirely on the patterns of her life. It is her decisions, loves, pains, losses, her growing maturity & self-knowledge that gives the novel its energy and motivation. Her intellect and search for Truth, Beauty and Reality are the reasons why the story is told - the story is always a spiritual adventure but unlike Lord of the Rings and Star Wars it is told by a woman in a woman's voice.

Reincarnation plays an important role in the story because the religion/world view/philosophy of the realm is gnostic-mystical. There are both magicians and witches, both male and female in Dun More. Religion, as we mean the word now, plays only as a distant,even dangerous influence, it is often an EVIL influence, which threatens the peace of Dun More and her people. I have never had much luck & absolutely no home of any kind in religion and my experiences color my description of religion in my novel. Religion, for me, is any organized human institution with dogmas & laws to keep their adherents within certain moral and cultural borders. I do not hate or despise religion as many do but I see its faults, clearly I love the religion of my youth (Roman Catholicism) but I no longer trust the priesthood or the dogma of that religion.
I am considering working on my notes to organize and draw the story together. I do not know if I will ever try to publish, indeed, I do not know if it is publishable material but I thought I would write about it some if only to inspire all of you to try your hand - writing is harder work than anything else I do. Washing dishes & clothes, cleaning cat boxes, mowing the lawn are all rather easy and somewhat tedious but writing is both a very great challenge and an interesting hobby - if nothing else, we can share our efforts with our friends.

Prana and the Kundalini fire exist. Prana is the life force that flows through all and is shared by all living things – the entire body is vitalized by it and it passes through the body the way acupuncturists describe. Kundalini is the unifying fire that shoots up the backbone and unifies all the centers or Chakras into a whole and makes union with the divine, possible.

Eastern cultures have a clear understanding of the mechanisms of soul/spirit, life-force and evolution - nothing needed to be hidden by myth and language, card and book because they never had the tendency to persecute mystics and some of their greatest thinkers and leaders, including Lord Buddha, were mystics who were quite honest about their experiences. Taoist philosophy, also, is quite frank and Indian mysticism; the Yoga of Wisdom (Raja Yoga) and the Kundalini Yoga are nothing if not road maps to enlightenment. So, in the East, there is a long history of mystics being totally open about their experiences and the religions allowing, even encouraging, mystical paths and the people who walk them.

But it isn't that way here in the West. There are many reasons for this. Part of it is that we are mightily influenced by the religious attitudes of the Middle East - both before and after Jesus Christ.

The Jews (and this is not meant to insult them! they are one of the few cultures that have a mystical tradition that is helpful and I respect the Jewish people, greatly!) had a long tradition of persecuting people who claimed to have experiences of the Divine - both prophet and mystic didn't always fare well in their culture, though, after death, they were usually respected. Read the lives of Christian mystics and saints and you see the same trends.

The Ancient Greeks, Romans and Egyptians had a tendency to make any personal religious expression, esoteric, i.e. secret and hidden. They had public worship, in the service of the king or state, with various gods, priesthood and temples - and, then, in private, for the few, they had mystical expression through what is now called the mystery religions. There is some hint that the native, northern Europeans may have had some mystical aspects to their religions but those did not survive the Middle Ages. We have only shades and ghosts of the European pre-Christian religions, now.

Just the word "mystical" - an English word that describes the highest spiritual experience should give you a hint exactly how much a MYSTERY the experience of the Divine ONE has always been here in the West. Some claim this is a Christian phenomena but I would mention that Socrates, the great mystic philosopher of Greece, was executed, in part, because he did not seem religious enough for the exoteric religious of his day. The Romans persecuted the Druid leaders because they seemed to practice an almost magical and mystical hold on that culture

And, then, Christ came to Earth - he was a Jew - and a mystic - and a prophet - and something more ... but he, too, fell afoul of the outward expressions of religion & the priesthood.

The Romans were a practical, worldly people and were never fond of mystics or mysticism. They persecuted Gnostic, both Christian and Pagan and enforced their state religion throughout their history. They were suspicious of what is done in private by small groups of people and their fears often became paranoid persecution. They considered religion the glue of their society and used it as such. The greatest wrong they did was adopting Christianity as their state religion and persecuting those who beliefs deviated from the state sponsored norms. Until that time, there was enough room in the religion for the mystic and the gnostic and the religion enjoyed great diversity.

Special note: I am no fan of Islam. It mistreats women (encouraging beatings, executions, honor killings and rapes), dogs, children and men and not always in that order. It insists on exterior expressions of religion and a profound hardness of heart, even cruelty, in the name of God, it doesn't even speak about loving your neighbor, God and everyone else, as you love yourself. It has more rules than medieval Christianity and concentrates on doing right things instead of being right inside. It is a harsh religion in every sense of the word. And most of all, It does not treat mystics very well, often persecuting them for their statements of unity with the Divine. Many Sufi mystics have suffered terribly.

I put the blame for a lot of the West's problems on our tradition of priesthood and a religion that is meant to unite the entire society. Mystics are lone wolves of West, the grail knights that enter the forest, alone and mystical experience is the ultimate rebellion against our communal religions. Mystics stray from the safe road of communal action and theology that organized religions build for their adherents. There is an inbuilt tragedy at the center of every Western mystic's life. It can't be helped. To explore the nature of the God - to love Him and give yourself to Him you must reject what ever loyalties held you in the past. Some times the loyalties are handed back to you, but often the surrender was very real.

The dichotomy between exterior forms of religion and interior forms of religious expression has existed for a very long time, indeed, I suspect I may be missing some of the subtleties in Eastern religions simply because I do not live in those cultures. I only know what I read in books and what I read, I like very much. It is hard to believe they do not suffer from dichotomy, though, simply because it is so profound, here in the West!

And, just to shock you terribly, this hasn't been all bad for the West - If you look at our culture, its vitality, which some call immaturity, willingness to experiment, its love of exploration of all kinds and the rise of technology in modern times, something becomes obvious --- if we tended to have open mystical religions like the East I don't think philosophy and its chief beloved daughter, science, would have dominated our thinking the way they have since 1600. Both were born centuries before, in Ancient Greece, but they never caught on in the near or far East. They were still- born in the Far East and they perished in Islam in the Middle Ages. I think there are good reasons that it was the West that reached the moon first!

So what is the mystical path here in the West? Sometimes it is very hard to pin down... like I said, hidden, very mysterious to the point that most people concentrate on only the exoteric aspects of religion and never consider the personal search for God as important, or, even, necessary. Again, let's first say something about the East - in the East, as I understand it, if a person has a spiritual awaking, that is, they have the arousal of the Kundalini, they search for a teacher and leave normal life behind them - they meditate for decades and practice spiritual disciplines such as abstaining from meat and fasting. Here in the West, for a long time, things were not that different. Mystics in the Middle Ages went to live in monastery or Nunnery and practiced spiritual disciplines, there, for a lifetime. Sometimes they were praised for their holiness and made saints, others were persecuted and still others, executed, for their interpretation of their experiences into a working theology.
But, slowly, here, in the West a new kind of mysticism is rising - the monks and nuns of the past stayed within the confines of their religion and did their best to stay within the walls of their communities. I would suggest reading the biographies of Theresa of Avila and John of the Cross for understanding. Many of them had a difficult time doing so and many were persecuted. There are some who explore the ancient religions and wish to return to the earlier eras of religion thought.

Witchcraft and Druid religions are now growing here and in some parts of Europe but I am not going to speak of their spirituality because I know little of it and have chosen another. There are also those who speak of the 'New Age', but, again, I know only a little about their world view & spirituality.

I am a Christian and Love Him very much. I am not a member of a church. My world view, religion and philosophy tends towards eclecticism and open-ended curiosity. I distrust organizations and priesthoods, who, by their very nature demand a loyalty I can not to them. I am a grown woman, even a matron and I do not fear God or man. My soul is immortal. The safe road was not for me.

My spiritual awaking - the arousal of the Kundalini - began in the late 1970's. It happened in private and though I searched for teachers, my search was in vain. I did have help through the rough times but it was not a Master who had gone through the same things I had, it was a fellow Christian who just cared as a friend cares even when she found me very strange, and, sometimes, scary.
My conversion experience happened April 22, 1983, in the late evening as I sat before my wood stove. My spiritual/mystical path is as the lone wolf or the Grail knight seeking the Holy Grail. I entered the forest alone. I do not expect help from a community. I have chosen exile and isolation because I could not give up my autonomy to anyone but God.

I have been paying attention to environmental subjects since I was a teenager. I've known about global issues since the 1967 or so, therefore. Suddenly, everyone is talking about it. There are at least 10 environmental magazines at the local bookstore. The politicians are threating all of us with draconian measures to ease US Co2 emissions. Also, kids are coming home crying about the end times for the human race and the death of the polar bears. They will be as traumatized as my generation was about the possibility of nuclear war. This saddens me because I remember the nightmares I had for many years of a Russian Nuke attack. This generation will suffer from fears instilled by Al Gore's film and this social phenomenon event for many years, even into adulthood.
As I grew into a mature woman I bought a home with my husband and could make decisions for my home that would effect our own little postage stamp sized piece of earth. I think I make wise decisions: recycling, turning lights off, washing clothes during the late evening, rejecting vacation travel... the list is rather long.
I am also a republican, an individualist and a conservative.
I am surprised by the furor of the last few weeks. I didn't expect it to get this crazy and hysterical...The Media, the politicians and the Internet are all in a uproar that surprises me. Human nature is such that when everyone starts screaming the same words there is usually a riot - either figuratively or literally. But I am surprised that people are getting so emotional, is it just an freak event? It is the kind of emotional passion that breeds irrationality, panic and violence --- and its not healthy!
It reminds me of the emotionalism and hysteria I have read about during the Black Plague. It is the kind of religious fervor that terror causes.
-And, if any of their claims are true - we need rationality more NOW than ever before. We must find ways to keep our technological civilization and keep our climate under control and that is going to take a lot of little sacrifices and some big ones, but, which are which and which will actually have the intended effects? Which will harm or even kill our fellow human beings?
We need to have a long and very rational conversation about these subjects!

What has worried me is that some of the people speaking out (in the media, particularly) seem to mistaken science and rationality ( IE thinking about how to solve a set of problems )... with religion : the irrational belief in what can not be felt or measured. Panic and hysteria are the predominate emotions of the Media, right now.

Science is no replacement for religion and religion should not be a replacement for science. You can not believe in scientists and science. You must try to comprehend or understand the underlying facts and measurements (and their descriptions of their findings) so you can make wise decisions in your life but science will not give your life meaning.

In human society science is for the facts and the details, explaining the physical realms so we can control and enhance natural, physical events. Everything we take for granted today in technology is because of the observations of scientists in the last 400 years.
Religion gives us meaning and understanding. It gives us something to love and care for, something to live for. It is by its very nature, beyond facts and rationality.

The reasons I am not going nuts right now : (as so many are doing)
1. This isn't a big surprise and I am totally convinced that It is just the price we pay for a technological civilization. I refuse to go back to the Middle Ages! So I will just live with global warming.
2. I am keeping my emotions at bay and asking questions.
3. I know how to solve problems and how to change my habits when I need to so I am not afraid of the future.
4. I trust the human race. We will change, invent new technologies, find ways to live with the changes.
5. I think this is just another warm phase (called an optimum) before things go towards the next ice age. After reading a lot about the climate I still believe the sun's activity has a lot more to do with our weather than anything we do.
So this is my challenge to you : examine the facts. If you are convinced that we are facing some sort of tragic event really change your habits in every possible way. Don't get emotional or scared. Move towards changing things for the better.

I have now and then admitted to others my personal belief in reincarnation. Sometimes, the results are very good, other times, well, not so good. Christians (not all!) tell me I cannot be a Christian and believe in reincarnation. They quote church fathers, declarations 1500 years old and the bible to prove to me I can not Love Christ and be a Christian. Sometimes, I argue, but lately --- it doesn't seem worth the effort. I sometimes end up telling them to mind their own sorry business and allow me to Love whom I love in the way I LOVE Him! And, no, that doesn't make me the most popular person among my fellow Christians. Most of the time I just don't tell, which gives a new twist to the phrase "don't ask, don't tell" doesn't it ?? But they totally miss the point of why I am a Christian... for me, Christianity isn't about me, at all - being saved isn't even important to me, at least, saved, in their sense of the word. For me all of life is a search for understanding and meaning. Why do the good die end while the evil ones prosper? Why do the powerful ones always seem to have the last laugh over my decaying bones? Why is it so very hard to understand the universe and its laws? Why am I here? What is the meaning of life - is a punishment, a reward or something more? If there is a God - a source of being - does he love us or hate us? I could not rest without the answers. I was seeking the meaning of life not salvation. Ironically,I think I found both in Christ's kingdom of Love.

Scientific, rational and atheist types tell me I am mad to think there is anything more than what I perceive with my senses. I tell them that they live in a very limited universe within encasing walls of stone made of their own thoughts. In a lot of ways, they are just as bad as the Christians who think I am going to hell because of what I believe. We all know the types I am talking about. What is funny is some of them are very poorly educated, actually. Not scientists, at all, but just young men and women who think they have all the answers. The last time I thought I knew everything was at the age of 16! (I didn't!) I truly pity them because they don't have the imagination to see that the universe is both a lot stranger and a lot bigger than what they can sense and weight. Science is not a religion to believe, it is a way to explore the universe of matter & energy.
I think scientific components will be discovered in much of what we mystical types testify to in some future time and place, there are aspects of consciousness that may be understood better in the future. Scientists and believers in science, today, are almost as arrogant as the priests who told Bruno,and, later, Galileo that the earth could not orbit the sun because in the Bible it says the sun orbits the earth. I find myself wishing that we would discover Atlantis, Bigfoot or Aliens just so scientists would need to say "We're sorry, we thought we knew everything - we don't!" I think a great many people forget that science isn't as much about what you know already but what there is left to be discovered! Science is about theories and measuring and weighing until you prove those theories. The Beloved theory of today can end up in the trashcan, tomorrow, if new facts or measurements come into focus. Science was created by man so he could better understand the nature of the physical universe - not so he could limit himself, in new way, even worse than the limits religion imposed on us at the end of the Renaissance!

I will debate with others if they seem up to effort but I do not want to convert others to my point of view... I want others to take what I say seriously but then to work on their own world view and philosophy, even their spirituality. Only the weak and insecure must convert others, the wise ones know better. Present what you know and believe and then forget about its effect on others.

It is wiser to say "I don't know yet, but I respect your point of view!" than "What I know is all there can be in the universe!" For me first hand experience within myself is proof enough. I base my life on my inner truth because that is all I can ever really know for sure. I do not trust experts of the religious kind or the scientific kind to tell me what to believe or what not to believe. I will consult them, but my philosophy and world view are my own creations, not the creation of some philosophy teacher, theologian or scientist.

Only children and puppy dogs worry about others think of them. A mature person, and, yes, it takes a lot of maturity, does what she or he thinks is right and necessary to be a good person and damns the consequences and the good opinion of others. This is one of the major lessons of my life and lives. I would rather be hated and thought a fool and be true to myself and my soul than loved by everyone and a betrayer of my True Self & Jesus Christ. When I get frustrated with the current concerns over what the world thinks of us, I mutter something to the effect that "I rise every morning and pray I can offend one other person before I dress!" If you want to think further about such independence of mind I suggest you read or watch the play "Cyrano De Bergerac" by Edmund Rostand.

There is a suggestion in many books that there are groups of souls - almost families that all reincarnate together time after time. Some think it is about time, itself, and time, when we enter it, takes us to the people and places we knew before, as perhaps, a river flowing. Others say it is just how karma works. This should be almost obvious, shouldn't it? ... who best to teach you not to murder than the person you murdered, or, on the positive side who should you marry but the beloved friend of many lives? These groups may have a joint karma of some sort, also, and time after time we meet, live and die ... serving, loving, hating, working, striving with one another as a group -oh, I want to clarify - these groups are bigger than just families.

One image that really helps me think about my past lives is a vision I had a long time ago. I saw a rug, handwoven, it was a tapestry of all my past lives and at the end, still on the loom, was this life as Kathy ... there were patterns in the rug, some lives were made with brilliant colors, some, less, but there were patterns kept repeating themselves, time after time. There were also gold and silver threads woven in times when I was working particularly hard to serve the race or I suffered for what I believed. Will there be a time when the rug is finished and I tie the ends and carry it to my Father in heaven and present it to Him as a gift? Maybe, don't know that one for sure, yet. I find that there are many mysteries and much, still to learn. Christ helps me weave my life, he throws the shuttle sometimes, and, sometimes, I throw it... still, it is my rug.

Believing in reincarnation makes me very appreciative of the time I have on earth, of the people around me, my mind, creativity... of all the chances I have this life to evolve a bit more fully. I know things are never quite the same from life to life and the beauty and challenges of life are the spice that makes the hard work of evolving bearable. I started this life asking is life a punishment or a reward, both or neither. It can be both but our decisions and choices can make it a pleasure and a reward of the first order. We make our own heaven and our own hell here on earth. We carry our hell inside of us like old Marley carried his chains. We carry our heaven like wings upon the back of an angel. We sow, we reap... and the cycles continue. We are literally our choices... So choose the light !

I have learned that appreciation and gratitude are two very big lessons that we must all learn to be happy - happiness comes when you learn to practice both, even the hard times should be appreciated (another chance to learn a lesson and get past the darn thing!) and gratitude that we are given endless chances to change, grow and mature into conscious souls of worth and beauty. Christ is always there, for us, when the lessons are painful, but, the choices are always ours. And, yes, sometimes we are own worse enemies!

Pain is part of the class room. Pain teaches us a lot. It is necessary. Learn to bear pain and understand it. Don't run away from it. Sometimes the only way past pain to go through it.

Keep faith with God & Karma. The universe isn't random atoms flying about - it has patterns and an ultimate fate. Don't be afraid. Be Courageous. Be Strong. Don't worry.
Right now , everyone has suddenly discovered global warming. The universe will teach us what we need to learn and so will the Earth. I have hope that we will learn in good time how to maintain an advanced civilization and care for the Earth. There may be hard knocks ahead but don't be afraid. I think global warming may be just another natural cycle unfolding itself, but I still live and have been living for a very long time trying to love and respect the Earth. I want her to be here for all my lives to come. I love the Earth. God is my Father/mother of my soul but the earth is the mother of my flesh. One will exist for all eternity, the other is a temporary but beloved, home. For me, loving the earth isn't about politics. It is an extension of What Christ said we must do ...' love ourselves, love God and love each other... In this is all the laws and prophets.'
So do what you feel you need to do for the earth, yes, but don't force others to do it (its not loving to do so!) . Do all you do because you LOVE.
Reincarnation should also teach you never to be afraid of death. Death is just another doorway. It isn't that your mind and flesh won't be terrorized when that last breath is taken, the flesh fears death, must fear it because it is the end for IT .. but your deepest self should not. The soul just sighs at the end of a life. "Well, another life done!" The soul fears not death - nor life. They are one and the same. Learn, therefore, to listen to the soul's wisdom. Be ready to work hard and play hard. Enjoy it all.