On Dreaming, a search for knowledge of the self #1

Kone, Krusos, Kronos

“God sleeps in the rock, dreams in the plant, stirs in the animal, and awakens in man”

Ibn Arabi

I wouldn’t even know where to start, this business about dreaming it’s so extensive, let me just say for many years as far back as when I was a child maybe no more than five, or six years of age I was intrigued and interested on dreams, in my natal chart I have a very close conjunction Venus with Mars in Pisces, on the fourth  house, making a trine with Uranus in Cancer on the eight house.

Another thing that fascinated me at the time was snorkeling, and diving on the Ocean, did quite a lot of it until of course other prosaic but normal occupations took me away from it, like trying to make a living by working, now I realize that dreaming and diving were connected, you dive to…

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Discovering our narrative, a process we call Life

In the midst of the journey of our life we may find ouself in a dark forest, for the straight path was lost, and still there in that jungle, we may find so many tracks to follow that after so many years we still are not yet sure which path or which direction to take.

Step by step in our lives, we have to explore the world and experience things that may or may not appeal to us, bother us, or seem reprehensible to us. Even if we would like to turn back the clock, we are not allowed to do so and have to keep moving forward.

It looks like we are always in a learning process, but by reading “backwards” in our memory we will be able to gain a fuller understanding of what happened earlier and if we get to know the tricks of the trade, we shall be able to have some idea of what may happen next.

Kone, Krusos, Kronos

ON THINGS WE DISCOVER AS WE AGE

Life receives too many adjectives, but life it’s a verb, that it unfolds as we live, uncertainty a first, in childhood, and at our youth undecided, and shy, as we mature during our third decade we choose this, or that, hoping it will work out to reveal what we think we are, on the beginning of the fourth decade we tune, and correct course if in need of, asserting, and throwing out, what we believe of no use, friends, relationships, jobs, locations, and whatnot.

By the course when we arrive to the last years, we can see with clarity, the result from our work, and we can correct, and straighten certain things out, not all of them, since in life you cannot go back, only try again for new routes, different tactics to our general strategy, now hard to change into something else…

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Existence in the non-existent and non-existence in the existence

When wondering about the existence, the why and how, there is the darkness around us in which we look for the light. There we find ourselves in a world that has shifted from the here and now. We, looking at the age that has shifted all emphasis to the here, there, yesterday, today and tomorrow, and thus brought about a demonisation of man and his world.

The many things that bind us to each other and to this world we want to curse, but they keep us under their spell. Who plays the game? Who has the strings of our body and soul?

Who is the player of this puppet cabinet, where we are the puppets of who in what world? It was not that we ourselves presented ourselves to be a glove puppet. And who is that One Who plays with the hand puppets of this world?

In this world, we see many who want to seize power and even manage to make money out of their dictatorial traits.  Then they take pleasure in having flocks of dictators around them, until the people wake up, when it is too late and the phenomenon of dictators has already caused great misery. Then people will have to admit with shame that they have allowed such foolishness to take place and to cause so much damage. Then they will have the nerve to admit that mankind has been robbed of his transcendence by the short-sightedness of the super-intellectuals, but also of the foolish followers who turned a blind eye while the others warned.

Many have fallen a victim to unconsciousness.

But then, at last, they come to see, man’s task is the exact opposite: to become conscious of the contents that press upward from the unconscious.

Neither should he persist in his unconsciousness, nor remain identical with the unconscious elements of his being, thus evading his destiny, which is to create more and more consciousness.

What is the sole purpose of human existence? Is it to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being?

What affects us? What affects him or her who is standing next to us?

For sure

the increase in our consciousness affects the unconscious. {Carl Jung}

Learn something new

Dr Austin Ejaife inspirit

“The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.” ~ Christopher McCandless …

Life is filled with a plethora of wonderful things for us to learn. Yet in spite of this truth, there are even more things that we will never know–and this is a good thing, for so much what others try to impress upon us is really not of much use to us on a personal level, and often times completely useless to us as human beings. It is therefore to our benefit to seek out new adventures that inspire the individual within us, and broaden our horizons with new encounters and experiences.

Contrary to popular belief, broadening…

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The World standing on three things – according to Simeon the Just

The Jewish High Priest during the Second Temple period, Simeon the Just also termed “the Righteous” because of the piety of his life and his benevolence toward his compatriots, was deeply interested in the spiritual and material development of the nation.

As a high priest of the Great Synagogue he used to say:

“The world exists through three things: the Law, Service (Temple sacrifice, and today prayer), and acts of loving kindness.”

We live in this world and do have to live with it. To guide us through life in this world, the divine Creator has given us His Word and His Law, or Torah.

Torah signifies divine revelation; either the fact of communion between God and man, or the wisdom so imparted. Though to Israel alone the Torah was given, yet Israel in this was representative of humanity. Intercourse between God and man is fundamental, and without it human life above the merely animal stage would be impossible.

The service; this is the service in the temple, regarded as the worship of God in the manner appointed by him. If one special element in the service be intended, that may be the sacrifices, as a symbol of obedience to the divine commands, or the priesthood as the appointed agency for performing the service.

Maimonides interprets the word in the former sense, and this lends itself better to generalisation. ‘Deeds of kindness’, denote unselfish beneficence in the fullest measure, to cover any good that one person can do to another.

The ‘three things’ which are declared to be fundamental in human life are thus found to be Revelation, obedience to God, and brotherly love. It is possible however that the second term ‘the service’ was intended to symbolise worship as a fundamental in human life, including in its meaning both obedience to divine precepts, and the functions of consecrated ministers. The saying is only true when thus generalised; but it would be hard to say how much of that more general meaning was present to the mind of Simeon when he uttered it.

~ Pirke Aboth, Sayings of the Fathers, 1:2 (Herford)

Life🌼

We should be aware that the religious life is a particular game or contest where we have to reach the goal or finish line.
Many people prefer to hold on the earthly life where an adulterousness and pride in them avoids them to come close to Allah, the Only One True God Who is One (and not two or three).

In that earthly life some leap in the hope Minimum life is nothing but the pleasures of vanity. Few people are willing to set aside the earthly pleasures to come to know the more important pleasures of God.

Let us belong to those who chose to follow Allah’s Guidance and be aware that Life is like a rainfall whose growth charms the unbelievers but then dries out while those who believe in the Most High and count on His forgiveness and well-being do not need those worldly things but prefer heavenly things as they praise Jehovah God and want to be submissive to Him.

 

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Preceding

Be it in May or September: Run the race

Race and Grace

The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong

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Additional reading

1. Words to inspire and to give wisdom
2. We are redeemed; we are “bought with a price”
3. Atonement and the race been bought
4. Matthew 20 Are you willing to work for Jesus?
5. Run for the Everlasting Cure
6. A race not to swift, nor a battle to the strong
7. Running the battle
8. Life is like a ten-speed bike.
9. The Month of May and Running the race
10. Today’s Thought “A Race in the Last Days” (May 27)
11. Today’s Thought “There is laid up for me the crown of righteousness” (May 27)

Try to get it!

Black yellow Or white
Each has a right
The right to be respected
The right to be protected
The right to live
And to peacefully survive
So.. Live
And Let live
Sohair
Allah says
Chapter 57 The Iron سورة الحديد – Al-Hadid: Verse 20
اعْلَمُوا أَنَّمَا الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا لَعِبٌ وَلَهْوٌ وَزِينَةٌ وَتَفَاخُرٌ بَيْنَكُمْ وَتَكَاثُرٌ فِي الْأَمْوَالِ وَالْأَوْلَادِ ۖ كَمَثَلِ غَيْثٍ أَعْجَبَ الْكُفَّارَ نَبَاتُهُ ثُمَّ يَهِيجُ فَتَرَاهُ مُصْفَرًّا ثُمَّ يَكُونُ حُطَامًا ۖ وَفِي الْآخِرَةِ عَذَابٌ شَدِيدٌ وَمَغْفِرَةٌ مِنَ اللَّهِ وَرِضْوَانٌ ۚ وَمَا الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا إِلَّا مَتَاعُ الْغُرُورِ
Know ye (all), that the life of this world is but play and amusement, pomp and mutual boasting and multiplying, (in rivalry) among yourselves, riches and children. Here is a similitude: How rain and the growth which it brings forth, delight (the hearts of) the tillers; soon it withers; thou wilt see it grow yellow; then it becomes dry and crumbles away. But in…

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Sometimes people are not sure if it is God calling

Often one can wonder

Is God calling me to do it or not.

This was also a question a blogger found.

The reason she started blogging, she explains:

When a conversation started with someone asking for opinions on a hypothetical situation, it soon became clear that all views were welcome except for Christian. {To Blog Or Not To Blog?…}

This is something a Christian often encounters on social media. We notice lots of aversions as soon as some person reacts from a Christian point of view. A blog writer who learned about how the Dutch watchmaker, Christian writer and public speaker Corrie ten Boom and her family worked with other underground workers in the Resistance, helping many Jewish people during WW II, felt she could be a mentor for her. When she had a  shocking experience at the level of hostility toward the few of them who answered from a Christian viewpoint, while taking part in a Facebook group, as a result of that event, a few people left the group, but she prayed about it and believed that God wanted her to stay and be a light in the group.

Often we do not see such interference from God straight ahead, but it is such, at first, unnoticeable or not seeming so important occasion, that makes an important difference. She writes:

Partly due to the unpleasant experience, I came to the realization that today’s public forum is online and as a follower of Jesus I need to be there. {To Blog Or Not To Blog?…}

Next step on the journey was starting the Facebook page Every day with the King.

Though, her blog and Facebook page may at certain moments be very confusing, she lots of times refers to God, Who is the eternal Elohim Hashem Jehovah, and at other places gives the impression she considers her king Jesus, the son of God. It is a common but non acceptable fault.

It had taken some time and hesitation before she started her website/blog. She confesses

When I first started blogging, I wasn’t completely sure if it was God calling me to do it or not. I had some pretty strong indications that I was on the right track early on but plenty of doubts at the same time. I know that is very typical and to be expected when stepping out to go where God is leading. {To Blog Or Not To Blog?…}

Sometimes it will take some time before people really shall see the full Truth. Everybody has to grow in the faith. Often it is not easy, certainly not when brought up in a certain Trinitarian faith. It is difficult to let lose those non-biblical teachings of Trinitarian churches, when has been brought up in such a system that clinches to the Trinity.

But, there is always hope, because it is God Who calls and pulls. It is also God Who gives the talents to people, and when we look at her site, we can see she has received a marvellous talent for creating beautiful inspirational designs or devotion cards.

At one of her first blog articles, she wrote:

Next, there seemed to be a converging of events that opened my eyes and heart to what the Lord had been whispering to me for a while. I became solidly convinced that this is God’s will for me at this time. It has been a process moving from asking to blog or not to blog, to declaring I’m willing to serve in whatever way God chooses to work through me. {To Blog Or Not To Blog?…}

That is the right attitude a true Christian should take. Having become under Christ, one has to give oneself totally to the heavenly Father. By giving oneself to Christ and his heavenly Father, the Only One True God, one shall be able to grow in faith, get more wisdom, and come closer to God.

Looking at some of her writings we notice she still has to learn to see the difference between God and Christ and getting the difference between giving glory to Christ (=son of God) and giving glory to God.

The blogwriter might have a secret determination to concentrate entirely on Jesus Christ (the Messiah), but still has come to see that Jesus is the send one from God, who by God was declared to be His beloved son, authorised to speak and act in His Name.

When as a Christian blogger, we want to preach on the net, it is important that we do that work in the Name of God, trying to persuade men to search and find God, not by seeking to please men, but for giving honour to the right person and to please God.

She and all those who want to proclaim on the net should always remember for when we still want to please men by keeping to their traditions, instead of pointing the finger at the wounds of mankind and wrong ideas, we would not be a bondservant of Christ.

“For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I had till now pleased men, I should not have been a servant of the Messiah. — ” (Ga 1:10 Murdock)

How to Start (and Keep) Good Habits

The Divine Creator has given His divine Word to mankind. He demanded some ‘holy men’ to write down those words so that nobody would have an excuse and would say

I did not know.

He also took care that in a certain way everybody would have the opportunity in life to come in contact with either people or with the words declaring Him. All people are created in the image of God and in a certain way have the connection with the Creator inplanted in the self. God wants all creatures to come close to Him. He also would like that they all would become partakers of a marvellous peaceful world. But all people should take the steps toward God of their free will.

To get to know Him and what He wants, God gave us the Book of books to help and guide us.

When we want to go on a big trip, we also prepare ourselves. We take care that we have the right roadmaps and have everything with us that we need for the trip. Going for a better life, we need to undertake some serious matters. It is fine when we have bought some roadmaps to start our trip, but when we do not use those maps, we are nothing with them. It is the same with the bible; When we have a Bible or Holy Scriptures but do not read it, we are nothing with it.

When having such a Sacred Writings and Bestseller, we best make very good use of them. For reading the Bible we also better prepare ourselves and make some arrangements to read it regularly. We should make it a good habit to regularly go through that Word of God and think about it.

Imagine it’s late and you’ve had a long day. You were planning to exercise, fix yourself a healthy meal, then spend some time in God’s Word. Instead, you grab some pizza and binge TV shows. Without realising it, you just reinforced a habit. Research suggests we all have “keystone habits,”† acquired patterns of behaviour that form the basis of our daily routines. Change those, and you can change your life. Here are 5 Ways to Develop Healthy Habits: Remember whose you are. You are called by God and made in His image. Because of His great love for you, you have the ability to become more like the person God created you to be. Identify the “why” behind your behaviour. Do you eat junk food because you like the taste? Or because you’re tired or bored? Once you know why you behave the way you do, it’s easier to replace unhealthy habits with better ones. Draw close to God. When you prioritize time with God, you’re allowing Him to renew your mind (Rom. 12:2). Eventually, this will help you change the way you live. Focus on one key habit. Consistently doing one thing well will yield results over time and make it easier to master other habits later. Give yourself grace. You won’t always get it right… And that’s okay. When you stumble, “fall forward”: learn from your mistakes and keep going. God will still be right beside you, cheering you on. It only takes a moment to start a healthy habit. Plan everything to come to a regular Bible reading, and let God use that choice to begin transforming your daily routines.

Be convinced that the Bible in itself contains enough to fully inform and educate us to go to God and to find the right path of life to enter the kingdom of God. We must fully trust in it.

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Preceding

“I want to draw closer to God, but…”

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Find also to read

1. To create a great journey
2. Approachers of ideas around gods, philosophers and theologians
3. A Book to trust #26 Roadmap for life out of darkness
4. Bible
5. Gospel or Good News – Evangelie of Goede Nieuws
6. Word of God
7. The Word itself should be enough reason to believe
8. Absolute Basics to Reading the Bible
9. Daily portion of heavenly food
10. Torah hanging on two commandments and focussing on a Mashiach
11. Expectations for kashrut to meet individual and contemporary norms
12. Back to back or Face to face
13. Importance of Tikkun olam
14. Creator and Blogger God 12 Old and New Blog 2 Blog for every day
15. Born of the Father
16. Back from gone #2 Aim of godly people
17. Imperfect ones to learn from the One Who wants to be our Father
18. Confidence in times of trial
19. Today’s thought “God has come to test you …” (February 10)
20. Today’s thought “Everyone whom the Lord calls to himself” (April 26)
21. Today’s thought “You stiff necked people” (April 30)
22. Today’s Thought “Jesus Greater than Moses” (May 31)
23. Today’s thought “Draw near to God …” (June 9)
24. Today’s thought “On the eternity of God” (December 17)
25. A Worldwide Vision for Theological Education

Messages from a distance not belonging to the past

Slowly we can see that the world is returning back to “normal”, though some Corona restrictions are still going, but gradually we can come together again with more people. Last Memorial Service it was still limited to baptised members only, but in the coming weeks our ecclesiae shall open their doors again to non-baptised and people from other denominations as well.

Having people again meeting us in our prayer and Biblestudy places, does not have to mean we shall reduce our writings on the net. We are convinced the internet is a very important medium to reach people.

It is important to us that we attract and retain exceptional teaching, support and operational staff and are keen to employ team members who hold the same faith and values we hold.

We always welcome writers for several of our website, in particular “From Guestwriters” and “Some View on the World“, but also for the Ecclesia site and the Brethren site “Broeders in Christus – Brethren in Christ“.

We always welcome applications from enthusiastic, innovative, expert Christadelphians who are committed to the values and ethos of our community and who understand the importance of making the Name of God to be known as well as the importance of telling the people about the Good News of the Coming Kingdom of God.

Knowledge That Matters

We live in a world of knowledge.
This knowledge is so varied and our understanding so limited that we can never grasp more than a very small part of it all. So how do we choose the knowledge that matters? What is the knowledge that grows my usefulness, my hope and peace, my love and care for others and that is always available?
I believe the core knowledge is the fact that we are loved.
Loved freely, deeply, unreservedly and eternally.
Knowing this I am able to live, share and find peace in all situations.
We can also return the love.

Thank you Lord. I love you too.

 ~ Alan Hermann