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The bullet or the bridge, which is it going to be?

 

I sat alone in the kitchen of my home in Stow, MA, contemplating which would be the most agreeable way to end my miserable excuse for a life. I could make an instantaneous transition to somewhere else by eating a bullet, but I did not own a gun, and I didn't know how to use one. The other choice was to begin drinking again, a choice that would most assuredly end in a very ugly death behind the wheel of my car. One way was relatively quick, easy and painless, while the other could take time, requiring some level of suffering and awareness, but at least I would be drinking again.

 

Each choice was perfectly agreeable to me. The only thing left was to make a decision as to which method I would employ.

This is where fear brought me.

 

Fortunately, a third option in the form of God's Voice was able to cut through the tsunami of noise that was shattering my interior, and send me off on a different path. How grateful I am.

Since then (about 20 years ago at the time of this writing) I have learned that there are only two emotions, love and fear. A Course In Miracles has taught me that everything is either an expression of love or a call for love. It took me a long time to wrap my brain around that one, and I looked at it from as many angles as humanly possible. If there is a loophole in something, I will find it. But today I know it as the absolute truth.

 

The Basic Problem

 
Every single misunderstanding, conflict, argument or war; every feeling of isolation, desperation, anger and frustration; and every single act of violence, hatred, vengeance or despotism has emanated from the exact same source. They are all aspects of the same vast misperception, the erroneous and unquestioned belief that we are separate from God. It is this mistaken assumption and belief that is the source of every "negative" aspect of human existence. It is the root of fear.

 

I know this may sound a good deal far fetched to you. But, if you read on, it may end up making sense, thereby adding something very special to your life. The fact is that we are as much a part of God as a drop of water is of the ocean. There is no place where one begins and one ends. There are no boundaries and there is no separation. We are magnificent creations of a loving God. The only problem we have, individually and collectively, is that we have forgotten this to be true. Therefore, the only real job we have is to remember our forever unbroken connection to our Loving Creator.

 

A creation is first and foremost an idea, and an idea leaves not its source. Each and every person on the face of the planet is as much a part of God as God is a part of God. This also means that we are also part of each other, inextricably connected, whether we know it or not, and whether we like it or not. There isn't anything any one of us can do to change this one incontrovertible fact. Therefore, the only thing we can do is accept it and live immeasurably better lives as a result.

 

The assumption that we are somehow separate from God lies at almost every level of our conscious existence. It is everywhere in our thought, language and culture. We pray to a God that is somewhere "out there". God is above us somewhere. Heaven is above us somewhere. Hell is below us, down there somewhere. And didn't God ban Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden? This was probably the first mythological manifestation of the concept of a punishing God. I believe it was Voltaire who said: "God made man in His image and likeness, then man returned the favor."

 

I went to a Catholic school from grade one to eight and was taught my catechism by the Sisters of Charity of Halifax. I do not recall once being taught that God is inside me and everyone else, that every human being on the planet is totally connected to everyone else, and that, therefore, everybody is entirely equal and innocent in the eyes of God.

 

The assumption of separation from God is something that we usually do not get around to questioning because there is no need to do so. We go through our lives, from one event to another, continuously adjusting our sails to take advantage of a favorable wind or to negate the impact of an inadvertent hurricane. We seek to maintain some semblance of normalcy, whatever that is, and to keep things inside a relatively small zone of comfort, because to venture outside this zone is just too stressful and full of danger. We could get hurt, or we could die. Think about it. What if..........

 

CONTINUED IN FULL ARTICLE

 

 *George Wallace is the President and CEO of The Discovery Communications Group, an award winning, fully integrated website design, marketing and advertising agency. He is also author of the book "How To Enjoy Peace In Your Life Everyday" 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 I have found my home
It is not here or there
But everywhere
Not with this person or that
With every man, woman, and child
With the living thing
That runs through all living things
Well-cozied in eternity
The universe my home
Wrapped in the arms of my Father
Warmed by Heaven's glow
Surrounded on every side
By love's gentle heart
Nothing but oneness
And never apart.

 Copyright 2009 J. Michaels

  

ARTICLE

*J. Michaels
Writer, Storyteller & Poet
Website: www.jmichaelsbooks.biz
Blog: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/theovernightpoet/