The God Delusion – An open letter to Richard Dawkins

Dear Mr. Dawkins,

Apologies if I should have said Dr. Dawkins, but the book is way over there and I don’t want to move.

I have been reading “The God Delusion” and it is excellent.

Brilliantly argued.

Your logic is flawless.

The rationality is unbreakable.

Every point is excellently made.

But all of it is irrelevant.

Trying to prove that God doesn’t exist with rational arguments is just as pointless as trying to prove that God does exist with rational arguments.

You are arguing against people who’s arguments are as pointless as your own.

This book is primarily an attack on Faith. I think Faith is a beautiful thing and those that have a true pure faith are for want of a better word blessed. 

I agree with your motives on many points. I completely agree with you when you attack people’s misuse of faith. I think that the misuse and misrepresentation of faith has been the cause of many terrible acts through history.

But that is not the main motivation behind your book.

As I said it is primarily an attack on Faith.

The thing is you can’t attack faith with logic or rational arguments. 

There is no logic to faith. It just is. (I know people try to argue rationally in favor of, and against faith but really you can use logic to prove just about anything you want).

There is nothing wrong with faith. There can be problems with actions taken in the name of faith but that doesn’t make faith wrong.

The interesting thing about your book is that the most prominent illumination in it is the strength of your own faith. 

Your faith that there is no God!

It’s still faith.

Let’s all have a little more magic in our lives!

You are monumentally greater than you can ever imagine

This world is beautiful, I have no doubt of that.

All you have to do is look at it to see it.

It is beautiful everywhere.

Yet we fear to look at, and see it.

We fear to see the beauty in nature.

We fear to see the beauty in other people.

We fear to see the beauty in ourselves.

Do you know that you are monumentally far greater than you could ever imagine?

I’m not saying that in a feel good you’re so special kinda way.

I mean it.

It’s a fact.

Consider all the good that’s in every person in the world, in every person that ever lived,

I know we can see badness in people and at times its hard to see anything else,

But seriously you know there’s good in the world,

You know there’s good people,

And you have to admit there’s good (even a small amount) in what you might perceive to be the worst of people,

Now imagine if you gathered up all that good, all that beauty and could put it in one place, in one container,

It’s all in you.

You contain all that good.

I don’t mean that potentially you could be that good. You just are that good.

Consider a car that can go at 250 miles per hour, but the owner only drives it at 60 miles per hour. You don’t say the car can only go at 60 miles per hour. It’s a 250 mile per hour car no matter what.

So matter what you do. You are that good and even better. You are far better than you can imagine.

You are everything you see.

you are this entire universe.

You are God.

So stop hiding away in this little word referred to as the perpendicular pronoun in “Yes, Minister”,

Stop believing you are just “I”.

You are everything.

I don’t mean you are part of everything.

I don’t mean you are connected to everything.

I really mean you are everything.

Don’t try to understand this, It can’t be understood with a rational mind.

It can only be known.

Just know it.

Just be.

That body you’re driving around is just a shell.

Next time you consider your body don’t say “My body”, refer to it as “This body which I use” (It’s a very liberating thought).

Use the word “I” as little as possible

The word “I” tries to squeeze you down, make you small. Imagine trying to compress your entire essence into “I”. Try not to use language to know who you are, I wish I didn’t have to use language to write this.

You are so much more than “I”.

Don’t be the little mouse scurrying back into it’s hole,

Fly out and up into the light.

Be.

I didn’t want to use the word “you” so much in this blog, but due to my limitations with the language I knew of no other way to say it. (I didn’t want to use the word “I” either but there you go…)

Look out at the beauty of nature and know that it is you.

Don’t just think “This is me”.

Thoughts are too limiting.

Feel it.

Know it.

This body which you use is just a tool.

Thoughts are just tools.

Use them. Don’t be them.

You’re conscious mind cannot possibly conceive the amount of goodness and beauty which is you. Just know that it is. (You’re conscious mind is probably trying to refute this right now, tell it to shut up for a while).

Try to fathom the vastness of the universe…You’re goodness is immeasurably greater than that.

Consider it.

Know it.

Feel the lump in your throat.

Feel the warmth in your chest.

Feel the light in your heart.

Your conscious mind and ego tell you of all your “Must Do’s”, “Should Do’s”, and “Could Do’s”.

If you could just know your true nature you’d never entertain that for even a second.

You may have seen the movie “The matrix”. There’s a scene that goes something like this:

NEO: “You mean I’ll be able to dogdge bullets?”

MORPHEUS: “No, I mean when you’re ready you won’t have to…”

What Morpheus means is that when Neo’s aware of his true nature bullets won’t be able to harm him (It’s deeper than that but it serves for here).

What that example means to us is that if we’re aware of our true nature the “Must Do’s”, “Should Do’s”, “Could Do’s”, etc won’t be able to affect us,

For example, (and perhaps most importantedly) We won’t feel the need for money.

Look at a bird soaring…It never thinks, it just does. It doesn’t need to plan, it just is.

Look at a beautiful tree reaching for the stars…It’s so beautiful and it does that without the least effort. Just naturally.

Look at you and me out there trying to make enough to survive…Is that natural? Is that our natural state of being…I don’t believe that it is.

Everything that exists is you…If I ask you to appreciate that, what will you say? “When you have time!”

What I’m asking you to do is the hardest thing in the world and the easiest thing in the world.

• Easy because you already know all this. It’s your true nature to know.

“It’s like a splinter in your mind” (Matrix again).

• Hard because you feel so attached to everything else, to the “I”, that you don’t want to, don’t know how to, can’t remember how to look at who you really are…

Know your true nature.

Go to nature.

Nature knows.

Go to nature and you will know better.

Turn away from what you feel you should know, and turn toward what you know in the deepest recesses of your being to be true.

The greatest challenge to all of use here is to remember who we are.

Know your true nature.

You are more good than your conscious mind can ever fathom.

Just be.

A Simple Meditation to Quiet a busy Mind

Try using this for example if you’re having difficulty sleeping because of thoughts racing through your mind, or even during the day if you need to calm and destress.

It’s probably best to close your eyes as you imagine each setting.

Perhaps read through the whole thing a couple of times and then try to follow the path in your mind with your eyes closed.

What we say about people who have died

I was just reading an article about Heath Ledger (The class actor playing “The Joker” in the new Dark Knight movie) and it got me to thinking.

Initially when Heath was cast in the role of the Joker there was a lot of controversy about it. A lot of people thought he couldn’t do it or the part wasn’t him etc. (He wasn’t another Jack N… playing himself).

I, for one, was delighted with the choice and couldn’t wait to see what he’d do in the role.

Sadly, as most of us know Heath passed away some months ago not long after the movie was completed.

Since then, and especially recently there’s been a lot of praise for what he’s done in the movie, with several people suggesting he should be nominated for an Oscar.

Anyway, where am I going with all this!

I was chatting with my friend the other day and he asked the question

“But would Heath be getting all this praise, or be considered for an Oscar if he hadn’t died”.

Ok, the truth is that Heath has been getting this praise since the movie started filming, most people just didn’t hear it.

That’s not what I’m getting at though.

What my friend said didn’t surprise me, because it’s something you always hear in such circumstances.

Like if someone you know dies, people always praise, and compliment that person, and you hear people remarking what a lovely person he/she was.

There seems to be a common belief that this stuff is not sincere, and is only said because the person in question has passed away.

I think the opposite is true.

I think that it is in such situations that we only actually tend to speak a real truth about the person.

In situations such as this it’s more acceptable to be honest.

I think that many people fear to speak positively in such an emotional fashion about a person who is still living for a number of reasons, such as:

• The person is competition to them (specifically to their ego, I think unless you are very enlightened you’re ego tends to feel some sense of competition or threat from everyone).
• They will be seen to be biased in some way.
• They don’t want to be seen to have an emotional connection to that person.
• They withhold their praise, in case they’re wrong (don’t want to be seen to be backing the wrong horse).

These are just a few, but I’m sure there are many other reasons.

When a person has passed away, you have nothing to lose in speaking positively about them in an emotional manner. The person is not a threat, and society allows you to be that way about the deceased. A lot of your inhibitions are lifted.

What’s my point?

Well, simply, my point is that when a person speaks positively like this of someone that has passed away, it is in most cases real, and nice, and positive.

It should be respected for what it is and not judged.

The world would be a better place if we all tried to feel, and speak like that about the living more often.

Although, we all know some BS’ers too!

Enjoy it all!

Why you shouldn’t give up smoking!

Ok, most people agree that smoking is bad for you. A lot of people think that smoking is bad for the people around you.

A lot of smokers would like to give up for these reasons.

Then, there are some smokers who just don’t care one way or the other and just like to smoke anyway.

And there are smokers who convince themselves there’s nothing wrong with smoking even though they believe deep down that there is.

And there are smokers that believe there’s nothing wrong with smoking at all (or do all of these fall into the last category???)

For the record, I don’t smoke.

I have friends who smoke. I’ve went out with girls who smoked. Most of these tried to give up at some point or another. They usually did give up for a while, but then went back. Anyway…

I’m not really here to talk about smoking at all, I’m more interested in the whole concept of giving things up.

I think that you shouldn’t give things up…or possibly even that you can’t give up, unless you have tremendous willpower of course!

Now before I start I want to make it clear I’m not talking about serious drug addictions here.

I’m talking about habits, or little comforts in life (drinking, smoking, watching too much tv, coffee, etc…) that maybe you think you do too much of, and you would like to give up.

Everybody knows somebody who’s trying to give something up. And, we all know how it ends up for most people.

I myself had a particular thing (I’d rather not name it) that was a sort of a comfort zone for me. I tried several times in my life to give it up and was consistently drawn back to it. I consulted friends, and read about it and all my conclusions led me to believe that for one reason or another I needed it. I think a lot of us feel like that about something (especially drink, or cigarettes in my experience).

I think this is true.

You do actually need your vice. (I’m not sure if vice is the right word here because I don’t think that all “bad” habits are necessarily bad, but your life would be better without it, or at least with less of it)

But you do need it.

Why?

Ok, Let’s say you smoke…

Smoking gives you something. it does something for you. Does it relax you? Does it make you feel better? Does it make social situations easier? The trick is that it does something for you. It provides some positive support for you in your life.

There are two problems here.

1. A lot of these “habits” are at the very least unhealthy.

2. As long as you use your “habit” as a crutch, as long as you run back and hide in it when you need this particular support, you are not developing as a person. You don’t have to.

Say for example, you smoke for stress relief. Obviously, there is something in how you think, or lead your life that is causing you stress. Smoking provides you with comfort. As long as you smoke to deal with your stress then you will always have stress to deal with because you are not learning how to change your life to deal with it. So, you need to smoke.

Forget about giving up smoking!

Don’t even think about it at all.

I do strongly suggest though that you look at smoking (or whatever “habit” you have that you feel maybe you overindulge in, or is bad for you) and ask yourself:

• What is it giving to you?
• What positive things does it bring to your life?
• Why do you keep doing it?
• Why do you need it?
• What do you get from it?

Make a list. Write those questions at the top of a page and list every answer you can possibly think of. The list should be long. I had about a hundred entries in mine. You’ll be surprised what you come up with!

Keep going for as exhaustive a list as you can think of. Try to do it all in one sitting, but come back to it with a fresh mind if you need to.

Next, re-examine your list and yourself, where else in life can I get all these things? What can I do to have all these things in my life? Again make a list of answers and ideas, as many as you can come up with.

The answers should be things that excite you, things you would love to do or be (I expect that a lot of them are things you always wanted to do but never got around to doing).

Now, go and do those things!

Develop new habits!

But while you are developing these habits you shouldn’t smoke.

When you feel like smoking, say “Why do I need to smoke now, What can I do to satisfy my need?”

Then do that.

You see, if you smoke now then you won’t need to do the new more positive thing.

So what you’re doing is replacing smoking with something more positive.

If after you’ve developed all these new habits and you’re life is now more exciting and you’ve grown in yourself and you still feel like a smoke now and again, then do! But try and be more healthy about it.

If you feel sad, or you miss smoking, or you feel sad about giving it up, remind yourself that you’re not actually giving it up.

“I’m not giving up anything, I’m just doing wonderful exciting new things with my life, and I just won’t smoke while I’m developing these new habits and ideas, but if after all this I still feel like a smoke, then I will!”

By the way, When I’ve talked about smoking what I’m really talking about any such habit. I know that in relation to smoking and most of these things there is a chemical, and psycological craving, but my plan still holds true. Find something else more positive and healthier to fill the gap. The new habits should greatly increase the quality of your life. Even, trying to come up with new habits and ideas alone should increase your life quality!

If you’re having difficulty ask a friend or loved one to help you. I’m sure loads of people would love to support you. Think of it as a project, but the best project you’ll ever do. The project is you!

A better happier you!

Enjoy it all!

Fear’s Trap

I want

to get out

of this dirty old skin.

I’m sure

there’s a heart

nestled within.

Fear will

no longer

fence in the truth.

Fear

is a barrier

to thoughts

running smooth.

Sum it all up

with

one single word,

Fear

makes living

an empty

world.

I

will not fornicate

with fear anymore.

Fear

we are over

I’ll see you no more.

But

when fear

is gone,

inside there’s a  gap

fill it up

quickly

or fall back in fear’s trap.

I am?

I am feeling like a lost,

Like a lonely lonely lost.

I am hoping for a truth,

An easy, clear, and shattering truth.

I am told I want a chair,

But when I look there’s nothing there.

My mind is just not me,

I know there’s more but I can’t see.

I want to open up the door,

Release all this and numb no more.

Let it flow till I run dry,

Is all I need to do to cry?

I created life, or life created me?

So, I’ve been practising the law of attraction

My thought processes tend to be naturally negative. This I believe is mainly due to nurture

I grew up in an environment where you were encouraged to worry, encouraged to think the worst, encouraged to prepare for it

I’ve been working on changing that…working on changing my thought processes

My income for the past number of years has been at the level of barely surviving and I’ve been living in fear of the day it’ll all blow up in my face and I’ll end up in jail or something

Recently (about the last few weeks mostly) I’ve created an intention to make enough money to pay all my bills etc, and have a little more for myself to survive on

I’ve worked very hard on manifesting this intention

• I keep it on my desk and beside my bed
• I think about it when I wake up, and before I go to sleep
• I recite it when I’m driving and in the shower

I’ve seen little signals from the universe that it’s working. Little winks from the universe as I’ve seen someone say

Wednesday of this week I decided to destroy a part of my life that I use to hide in

Habits I use when I’m scared or upset. Places in my psyche that I run and hide. I’m sure we all have them. For some people it’s probably drugs or drink, for others sex. They’re just easy to illustrate examples. Mine was none of those but I realised that as long as I have this place to hide I will never go forward so I destroyed it. As I told some of my friends I’ve “burned all my ships”. In other words there’s no going back

It was not just a place I hid, but also a very special part of my life, and something that’s been with me since I’ve been a child

So I was excited.

There’s no going back

I’m heading out into a new world

Things are going to change

What happens today?

I get a letter from Taxman that I have overdue taxes and I have 7 days to pay it off or other wise there will be action taken against me

I have nothing like the money that I need to pay it off

When was the letter sent? …14 days ago!!!

What time do I receive the letter? …6pm on Friday evening!!!

So now I can do nothing about this all weekend

Just when I make a decision to move on with my life!

Just when I’ve made the biggest personal sacrifice of my life in order to grow and move on I’m hit with this huge and horrible challenge

This reminds me of the end of “The Alchemist” by Paolo Coelho. (If you haven’t read it, it’s well worth it)

I believe the answers to most of, if not all of, life’s questions are hidden in that book

It’s about a boy who abandons all to follow his dreams

Anyway, at the end of the book, just when the boy reaches the place he’s been searching for something bad happens to him. Something very bad

But he’s been told that just before you achieve your dreams the universe will challenge you greatly to see how badly you want it

So in the end he…well I won’t spoil it for you

Is that’s what’s happening to me

Am I being challenged by the universe just because I cut all my ties and destroyed all my safe places so I could head out on the road to my dreams?

I know that to some people what happened to me is small, but it’s all perspective. To me it’s big…huge

So maybe I just gotta work true this to prove how badly I want it

Prove to who though? God? …The Universe? …Myself?

Only one way to find out…

So what do I do next…

Be True

I am of the moment that burns in us all,

I am of the finite behind the great wall.

I see through this vest to the ocean below,

The infinite burning is where i will go.

Dissolve this great nothing, destroy this foul fear,

Let us out in the open release all our tears.

This love trapped in me, this passion, this soul,

To be one with that is my ultimate goal.

My heart burns brightly to escape its great jail,

Cut away this void anchor and let us set sail.

We’ll light up this world with our love and our heart,

This small spark of passion is only the start.

Why are you alive

I am 34 years old and I spent most of my life aiming toward…”something”. I don’t know what. I worked really hard at it too. Read lots of personal development books. Talked to counsellors, life coaches, etc.

I wrote, and I thought a lot about this stuff but for what???

Nothing! That’s what! Life went nowhere and I mostly hated it and as time went on it got worse, I got really pissed off in the past year or so.

Only in the past few days have I realised the problem. I didn’t know what I was aiming at.

Yes, I learned a lot. An awful lot and I probably have grown more, or at least I understand personal development better than a lot of people I come across, but inside I felt the same.

You see, as a child I felt something wasn’t right. I didn’t agree with the life that was being presented to me, the life that I was being (strongly) encouraged to create/aim for/live. so I set about learning and creating my own life that would suit me. What did i do…

First I gathered as much facts as I could.

…and that’s about it.

Here I am about 25 years later no further on. I still feel the same as I did but I’m no further on really. I look at some of my family and friends who took the accepted/suggested/society recommended path and they’re making money, and living a life and here I am splasing around getting nowhere.

I’ve gotten very frustrated and fed up with this.

…extremely so.

The other night I was in the car with my beautiful beautiful girlfriend discussing this and I was really depressed. The chat made me even more depressed…which was a good thing…because I was starting to feel something.

So that night I sat up in bed and thought about this for ages.

Actually that statement is inaccurate. To say that I thought suggests that I made the action happen, really what I did was sit there and do nothing and allow thoughts to come to me.

I realised I was frustrated because I feel that despite everything I’ve done in life I feel no sense of success.

That begged the question…What is success? or at least what is it for me

All these years what was I aiming for? I had no definite aim so I could never reach it. I could never be successful.

I now knew that I needed an aim in life. A general overall guiding light for my life. Something that would guide all aspects of my life.

I read a few very interesting blogs, and articles about this on www.stevepavlina.com, and found some interesting ideas and thoughts on finding purpose in your life. He has a blog called How to find your life purpose in about 20 minutes which I read and followed the instructions for about 2 days…

I’m close I think.

I can see the light off in the distance.

I don’t have a definite statement of purpose yet but I now have an idea what it is. Now I have something definite to aim for, and it feels good. Really good.

I am going to know my true purpose…my best path for me.

I’m going to work toward that.

By the way I mentioned above how I didn’t feel successful in life.

One of the things I realised was that if you’re successful in life then I expect you’d being enjoying it. So now I’m going to work really hard to enjoy life and to live life as a person who enjoys it.

You might be thinking aren’t they both the same thing…maybe, maybe not. Think about it. I think there’s a very subtle difference

Enjoy!