Clifford Mikkelson's Blog, page 10

Question 120: Is the goal salvation or ascension?

Question 120: Is the goal of life salvation or ascension according to the Gospel of Oneness?

The soul’s ascension into the Light of God is the goal for people living on Earth. To ascend into the Light of God means to fully realize our oneness with God, and it means we gain the soul freedom to choose our co-creative work with God, and it also means the freedom from being forced by the impersonal karmic law to keep on embodying in physicality and other dimensions where we live in ignorance of our oneness with God, or we live in a state of consciousness that has not yet evolved into total soul freedom.

This view is in contrast with the mainstream doctrines of Christianity and Islam wherein they say that we have one lifetime to live and then we are judged by our Creator God as to whether we deserve heaven or hell forever. So their goal is to gain salvation to live in paradise or heaven. The Muslims think they have to earn their way into heaven, while Christians think they can gain heaven by accepting Jesus Christ into their hearts. Neither religion accepts the idea of reincarnation as a real possibility.

Buddhists, Hindus, Taoists and some other religions believe in reincarnation and know that the soul identity evolves over many lifetimes until it reaches the point that it qualifies for the ascension into the realm of Oneness.

To reach the ascended state of consciousness is the beginning of living in a fully conscious state of cooperation in co-creating with God. There are many levels, many avenues, many possibilities in the infinite works of God. There is a role for every unique soul, all full of love and joy.

The consciousness of God is everywhere, and our souls are expressions of God everywhere. Planets and stars are conscious beings. A galaxy is a conscious being. Many ascended souls work to help raise up the souls who are still lost in duality. We who are living on Earth are being helped by ascended beings, but they will not make our decisions for us. They honor free will because it is the only way for a soul to develop full responsibility for everything it does.

Salvation is already assured as we are eternally part of God. However, ascension after this lifetime on Earth may or may not happen. Some souls are just not ready or evolved enough to make that step. They are still tied down with desires for experiences in a physical environment, or they have too many loose ends to tie up, or they are holding on to grudges and resentments and cannot forgive others, or their egos are too self important. There are many reasons that hold people back from making their ascensions. In the Bhagavad Gita Krishna says that out of a thousand one seeks me, and out of the thousand that seek me, one finds me. Jesus said that the way is narrow and few can stick to the path.

So, as souls on Earth, we can try to reach a good and happy place after we pass from this life, but unless we qualify for our ascensions, we will be back in embodiment sooner or later.

“If you look for the truth outside yourself, it gets farther and farther away. Today, walking alone, I meet him everywhere I step. He is the same as me, yet I am not him. Only if you understand it in this way will you merge with the way things are. – Tung Shan, Zen Buddhist

question 119: About the Gospel of Oneness for young people

Question 119: How does the Gospel of Oneness benefit young people?

The Gospel of Oneness gives all young people a chance to break away from the old religious customs and doctrines that no longer make sense in our modern world that values free and rational thought and scientific inquiry. The ancient scriptures and religions that have influenced our cultures for hundreds and even thousands of years have many shortcomings when it comes to explaining our world and our universe. And the major religions seem to be in conflict with one another and thus are a source of tension between people of the same Creator God.

The ancient scriptures are not the only or the final words of God (if they ever were the true words of God in the first place). We are at a time in our development where everything is under questioning, even the so called truths of religion. Did Jesus really die for the sins of everyone, past, present and future and for conscious beings on other planets? Was Mohammed the last prophet? What is the truth about the many gods of Hinduism? Does any one religion have the exclusive truth?

Science keeps asking questions and sets up experiments to discover the facts, and even established facts can be questioned as new evidence is discovered. So we are growing in our awareness of how the world works, not only in the physical aspects, but also the mental and spiritual aspects. We are also learning more about consciousness itself.

The Gospel of Oneness frees people from sectarian religious views, idol worship, fear of a punishing God, fear of an everlasting hell, and many other superstitious beliefs. It sets people free to explore our real and eternal connection to our Creator God, who can be approached as a friend, mentor, parental figure, or as Divine Love, Truth, and Bliss, or whatever or however a person chooses to relate to the only Reality, of which, as spiritual identities, we are a part of.

Young people who take up the Gospel of Oneness are not tied down to believing that Jesus is the only way to heaven or that they need to convert others to their belief. And they don’t have to believe that Mohammed was the last prophet or that the Quran has the final say about life on Earth. These young people are not waiting for Jesus or the Madhi or any other external savior to come and make everything right.

The Gospel of Oneness says that we are and always have been one with God. What we need to do is raise our own consciousness through love, wisdom, meditation and service to others. Young people can take responsibility for their own lives and realize that we are all co-creators with God in developing our lives. We are free in our souls. Our religion is divine love and compassion. Justice and mercy and gratitude will follow our loving actions.

The Gospel of Oneness does not insist on any doctrinaire statements of belief. Instead, the Gospel of Oneness offers the invitation to explore life with an attitude of loving kindness balanced with wisdom and joy. Sure it believes in the oneness of all life, but that is something to be realized and it can’t be forced on anyone. Atheists and agnostics can explore the evidence for the interconnections between all life, all matter, just as we know our bodies and our Earth came from stardust.

Life is precious. Every life matters. Why is killing other life, human, animal, or plant so common on our Earth? The Gospel of Oneness asks people to consider the value of all life and to treat all with love and respect.

 

The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us.

–Black Elk

The Self is All and the All is Selfless

–Tyler Zabel

We are on a journey of becoming that which we already are. That is the impossible paradox of our lives.

–Leonard Jacobson

Question 118: About the liberation of women from religious and cultural oppression

Question 119: How does the Gospel of Oneness benefit women who have been so oppressed or cast into a subservient role in all the major religions?

All the major religions have treated women as inferior to men and have discriminated against them in various ways. The founders of the religions may have advocated equal treatment for women, but cultures and religions have combined to relegate women to second class citizenship.

The religions and cultures of the Middle East have been especially notorious in mistreating women. In Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan, Yemen, Syria, Iran, and just about every Middle Eastern and Northern African country women have been denied equal rights with men and have been subjected to much sexual harassment.

The Jews have a long history of patriarchy, but Jewish woman have fought for their rights over the years and are in better conditions than the surrounding Muslim countries.

Christianity has its roots in Judaism and, despite the efforts of Jesus to raise up the status of women, once the Roman Catholic Church came to dominate Christianity, it became a very male dominated religion which restricted the rights and status of women.

The Buddha’s teachings did not discriminate against women, but the patriarchal cultures of China, Japan, and Thailand relegated women to a subservient role in Buddhism. China’s other religions—Confucianism and Taoism, have also been influenced by China’s patriarchal culture.

So none of the major religions have taken a strong stand on behalf of women as the spiritual equals of men, at least not strong enough to overcome cultural barriers.

The Gospel of Oneness declares that all women and men are equal aspects of our Creator God. We are soul identities within the consciousness of God. And in our soul identities we have female and male energy. We have taken on incarnations in female and male bodies over our vast history of living in physical worlds. We may have been created as twin soul flames in a male/female polarity, but every soul is complete in itself and actually transcends gender roles.

The Gospel of Oneness is great news for women. They do not have to subject themselves to the patriarchal religions and cultures. And they do not have to be militant about it either. They can work on realizing their oneness with the Creator God of unconditional love. Women everywhere can give up the false ideas that have crept into their religions about them being subservient to men, or less than men. They can break the chains of old cultural and religious ideas on the roles of women.

Many men and some women will be against this change because they have internalized the cultural biases against women. Nevertheless, The Gospel of Oneness is the wave of the future. The old religions will fade away unless they are renewed by giving women full and equal rights and respect as souls equal to men in the consciousness of God.

The Gospel of Oneness isn’t a religion; it is a realization.

Here is the concept to realize in brief: Our Creator God is the only reality, existing timelessly beyond any created vibration or energy. God created the energy and vibrations which make up the created worlds. The personal intelligent consciousness of God is within all creation. This intelligence of God is sometimes called the “Christ Consciousness” and the “only begotten son of God” in religious talk. It is this loving intelligence that knows everything about creation. It is guiding and loving all creation in this universe of free will. Anyone, anywhere in this universe can tune into this personal, unconditionally loving expression of our Creator God. It can be called Father, Mother, Holy Spirit, Tao, or whatever as long as the name refers to the universal, intelligent Spirit of unconditional love and ever new joy.

Women and men have realized their oneness with Christ consciousness. Jesus is one powerful example of someone who realized his oneness with God. Many other men and women have realized their oneness with God. You can too. Don’t let cultural and religious ideas keep you in a box of limitations on your consciousness. No one can stop you from realizing your oneness with God, and in that oneness work for the liberation of all women and men from the shackles of religious and cultural biases against women.

The truth is that male religious leaders have had—and still have—an option to interpret holy teachings to exalt or subjugate women. They have, for their own selfish ends, overwhelmingly chosen the latter. Their continuing choice provides the foundation or justification for much of the pervasive persecution and abuse of women throughout the world.—Jimmy Carter

Question 117: About controversial flags

Question 117: What is the gospel of oneness view on the confederate flag and other controversial flags?

Symbols have been very important to people, organizations, countries, and religions. Flags have been one of the most important symbols, especially national and religious flags. A flag can represent a country and all that it stands for. To disrespect a flag or desecrate it is taken for an insult, even as a personal insult because people have died for their countries and their ideals.

So there is a lot of emotional baggage that comes with flags. But where do the emotions come from? Almost all of them come from our sense of separation from the wholeness of creation. The ego is in the forefront of the defense of flags. You can see this in the recent episodes with the confederate flag. People who want to keep flying the flag are defiant. It has a personal meaning for them that they want to hang onto it. Other people are glad to see the flag taken down and retired to museums or wherever because it represents something negative to them. Since the flag is a visible symbol it is a flashpoint of feelings, negative or positive or somewhere in between.

An interesting case of religion and flags dates back to the Viet Nam war. A Buddhist monk set himself on fire to protest the treatment of the South Vietnamese government against Buddhists. Other monks assisted this ritual suicide, and one of the monks who watched him burn said that he died for the Buddhist flag and I guess he meant for religious freedom. Did he die for a reason that promoted feelings of separation or did he die for the cause of unity and love for all creation?

For the Gospel of Oneness, all symbols and flags that serve to enhance or promote our separation from each other and from Nature are harmful in some way. There is actually a flag that promotes oneness. Look up http://www.universalflag.com. It is a symbol of our interconnections and interdependence. It celebrates love and joy and harmony between all nations and people groups. The nice thing about this symbolic flag is that you don’t have to fight for it, even if someone desecrates it. You just live for oneness and love and don’t get attached to symbols such as flags.

“Sure I wave the American flag. Do you know a better flag to wave? Sure I love my country with all her faults. I’m not ashamed of that, never have been, never will be.”—John Wayne

The flag that was the symbol of slavery on the high seas for a long time was not the Confederate battle flag, it was sadly the Stars and Stripes. –Alan Keyes.

Patriotism consists not in waving the flag, but in striving that our country shall be righteous as well as strong.—James Bryce

Question 116: About blaming natural disasters on people.

Question 116: Some hikers were accused of causing an earthquake on Mt. Kinabalu in the Sabah state of East Malaysia because they took pictures of themselves while briefly going naked on the summit. They said the hikers showed disrespect and thus the earthquake. What is the Gospel of Oneness perception of this?

Severe weather events and Earth activities such as earthquakes and volcanic activity have long been regarded as having something to do with human behavior. The superstitious view is that the gods of Nature or God Himself is angry and is punishing people for their misbehavior. The scientific view is that all the actions of Nature are impersonal. They have nothing to do with the sins of people. Earthquakes are caused by the movement of subterranean tectonic plates. Volcanic action is hot magma coming out of the earth, sometimes under great pressure. Weather patterns are caused by air and water currents and the seasonal changes of the Earth. You could say that we have committed ecological sins such as overbuilding in flood plains or near active volcanoes or cutting down forests or overgrazing animals in certain areas. Ignorant human actions have added to the danger of severe weather and seismic activity, but they are not the cause of it.

The mystical teaching is that Nature has consciousness. The Earth has consciousness. The elemental builders of form have consciousness. The Elohim (The master Spirits of physical creation) have consciousness. We all interact in the oneness of all life. Humans have a collective consciousness that influences natural events on Earth. When we have wars, violence, hatred, abuse of all kinds, then Nature reacts to bring us back to a harmonious balance. Humanity has not learned to live in universal peace and love, so we are always in need of course correction.

Several similar stories have been in the news lately (2015). A Muslim cleric said that women who wear tight jeans are causing natural catastrophes. A politician has blamed the California drought on abortions. And several years ago when Pakistan suffered through earthquakes and floods, the Taliban clerics blamed it on women who didn’t wear proper clothing. In the United States Pat Robertson and other fundamentalist have blamed natural catastrophes on homosexuality and perverted sexuality of all sorts.

Since every thing in life is connected our human actions do have consequences in Nature. The strange thing is that some people can blame catastrophes on relatively minor sins and ignore the major sins such as torture of all kinds, cruelty and human rights abuses, war atrocities such as the killing of civilians, war itself, violence of all kinds and general hatred. These are the sins that really affect Nature and all other life on this planet. The study of water crystals has shown the effects of our thoughts on water and thus by extension to everything that has water in it. Our actions have an even more profound effect. How our actions actually translate into natural events is still a mystery. Mass karma as well as personal karma is involved. Natural catastrophes cannot be blamed on the actions of a few people.

To blame the earthquake near Mt. Kinabalu on the rather tame offenses of a few people is quite ridiculous. They were just the obvious scapegoats because their pictures were on the internet. Violence and hatred among people are much more likely to cause earthquakes, but I guess they couldn’t find any egregious events that coincided with the earthquakes. Also, to blame floods and earthquakes on Muslims who don’t follow the proper dress codes or follow the strict teachings of Sharia law is quite ridiculous. Especially coming from the Taliban who have killed many people, blown up schools, even killed school children. They have committed some of the worst atrocities and, yet their clerics don’t blame the catastrophes on their own behavior.

The ones who blame natural catastrophes on abortion may have the strongest case because that is the violent taking of life, and it is very widespread. Yet it is not done out of hatred. However, there is money involved and also a prejudice against women as in some cultures where female babies are much more likely to be aborted. So the karma for abortion would be a mass karma as individual women are unlikely to kill their own children if it weren’t for the pressures of society.

As for blaming other people for natural catastrophes, let the person without sin cast the first stone. We won’t have ideal conditions until the level of love and kindness has risen much higher on Earth.

Question 115: About why there is still war and violence

Question 115: After all these years, why do we still have wars and violence among the people of Earth?

The illusion of separation is still very strong among us. We have widespread education but we are not taught in most secular schools that we are all of one Spirit. Even in religious schools we are seldom taught in an emphatic way that we are all one. So education in oneness is lacking in our schools.

Economic factors also play a huge role in the illusion of separateness. Almost everyone has to work for a daily income so they can buy what they need and want. Nations try to secure the resources they need for a thriving economy and this leads to possible conflict with other nations that may have a scarcity of natural resources. The leaders of this world have not solved the problem of world wide poverty because not enough people see us as all one. In some countries there is much corruption and lack of vision on how best to raise up the standard of living.

So when you say “after all these years” you have to realize that the collective will of mankind is very slow in making progress. It takes centuries to accomplish things we know ought to be done. Take slavery for example. Look how long it took the United States, an educated country with a bill of rights, to abolish slavery, and it took a frightful civil war to do it. And even after the war, there was still a struggle for equal rights for the ex-slaves and their descendents.

The hope for rapid progress is in reaching a critical mass of people realizing the oneness of all life. Once a certain amount of people realize a profound truth, then progress comes more quickly. The best service we can do for this world is to become Self-realized. Generations will come and go on this Earth, and we are on an upward spiral toward enlightenment, so our contribution is important to ending wars and violence on this Earth no matter how long it takes.

Question 114: About jumping into oneness consciousness

Question 114: How can you expect people to jump from separation consciousness to oneness consciousness in one day?

It’s probably not possible unless a person has an epiphany, or a cosmic moment of clearness. The Gospel of Oneness keeps reminding us that we are all one in Spirit. If a person believes that truth in an intellectual way, then her consciousness will gradually come to actually realize the oneness of all life. This realization will come at different rates, usually according to how much thought, contemplation, and meditation one is willing to do. And you never know when that realization will come. For Zen Buddhists, it may come after years of sitting in silence, or it may come while chopping wood or carrying water. For Brother Lawrence, a famous Christian monk who lived in France during the 1600’s, it came to him convincingly one day while looking at a tree. A profound spiritual experience will convince a person of the oneness of life.

If a child is taught during her earliest years on into adulthood that all of life is one, then it will be a lot easier for that person to have that realization. But alas, most people have not been taught that all life is one. Christians and Muslims do not even stress the oneness of life. They mostly have a dualistic outlook of “us against them.” Buddhists, Taoists, and Hindus have a better sense of oneness, but they don’t live it as well as they could. They have their prejudices. So we have a world full of people whose habit is to see the world from a dualistic perspective, and habits are sometimes hard to change.

The changeover to the oneness perspective isn’t going to happen overnight. The Gospel of Oneness is spreading though. Its time is coming and when the number of people with oneness consciousness reaches a critical mass, its influence will grow swiftly.

“Technology is destructive only in the hands of people who do not realize that they are one and the same process as the universe. ” –Alan Watts

All differences in this world are of degree, and not of kind, because oneness is the secret of everything.”

–Swami Vivekananda

A spiritual journey is becoming what one has always meant to become and always was. One with God and Spirit.”—G.K. Griswold

Question 113: About preaching to the world

Question 113: According to the Gospel of Oneness, what did Jesus mean when he said to go and preach this gospel to the whole world?

Jesus wanted everyone to have the frame of reference of the Christ consciousness so that we can feel our oneness with all people, all life. He did not mean for people to go and convert people to a particular church. Jesus didn’t even have a church. His message was to spread the unconditional love of God and the oneness of God with people everywhere, and all of life.

The many divisions within Christian doctrines that have kept Christians at odds with each other could be dissolved by the acknowledgement of Jesus’s message of Oneness. Even all other religions are included in the consciousness of Christ, because we are not talking about Jesus the man, but rather the consciousness of God that has created the universe. Jesus identified with that consciousness. It doesn’t have to be called “Christ consciousness.” It could be called by other words as long as it means the same thing. Hindus may call it “Krishna consciousness.”

The verses in the Bible that say or imply that Jesus is the very God who created the universe were the beginning of making Jesus into an idol that no one could emulate exactly. Jesus wants people to realize their oneness with him and with God and not be stuck in worshiping an external god. The kingdom of God can be realized within our own consciousness. This is the message that Jesus wanted his followers to proclaim, and not an exclusive outer path of salvation.

So Christians don’t need to convert Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and others to the Christian church as it is today with its many quirks. They will never be able to convert the billions of non-Christians to Christianity. However, Christians can contribute mightily to filling the world with unconditional love and forgiveness as many already have done. They can use Jesus as a great example in many ways without insisting on Christian doctrines of sin, salvation, heaven, hell, and the second coming.

For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. —I Corinthians 12:13

Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Mark 12:29

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own. – I Corinthians 6:19

Question 112: About a famous CS Lewis quote

Question 112: What is the Gospel of Oneness response to this famous quote by CS Lewis:

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

C.S. Lewis – Mere Christianity

This quote by C.S. Lewis has been used by many Christian apologetics teachers. It seems to make an either or case for the divinity of Jesus. However, let’s take a closer look at it. First of all we can agree that Jesus was not a madman or a raving lunatic out of touch with reality. All the stories about him show that he was firmly in control of his mind and was very lucid in all this teachings and parables. We could definitely not regard him as a demon or the Devil himself. The religious authorities at the time did not accept him as God, but rather as someone who was a threat to their own power and influence over the common people.

Jesus came to raise the consciousness of all people, but he did not come to establish himself as an idol to be worshiped as God. The Biblical quotes that people use to show that Jesus was God incarnate are offset by other quotes that show he was a man, albeit a highly advanced man. There are no direct quotes where Jesus said I am indeed the very God who created the universe, no doubt about it.

Christian doctrine hinges on the belief that Jesus died for the sins of all mankind who accept him as the savior and that he rose again, ascended to heaven, and sits at the right hand of God, co-equal to God, and will come again to judge the quick and the dead and rule over an everlasting kingdom of believers. All who love God and Jesus can be there. Those who don’t choose this will go to the other place of darkness. This makes salvation a matter of belief in the correct doctrine according to human understanding.

This is a very limited understanding of God and the nature of creation. This universe contains so many stars and planets and possibilities for intelligent life that it staggers the imagination. The consciousness of God that created and sustains this universe is called the Christ Consciousness. The Creator God Himself or Itself is beyond any vibratory manifestation. It is God as the Christ consciousness in creation who is our spiritual Father and Mother. We are one with the Christ consciousness, but we may not have realized that yet. Jesus did realize it. Other saints have realized it.

Jesus did come to play a special role in the history of this particular planet. There is no doubt about the influence of his life on this planet. He was not just another moral teacher or saintly person. He has a huge role to play in uplifting the consciousness of the people who incarnate on this planet Earth. He is with us today and is available for personal counseling and training. He loves everyone with the unconditional love of God. He wants to raise people up to his level and beyond. He does not want us to set him up on a pedestal and say we could never be like him because after all he is God and we are not. He wants us to affirm and realize our own divinity. If Jesus is God then so are we, but it is actually the other way around. God is us because God is the only reality. We are one in the consciousness of God.

As for the proofs that Jesus was God such as his miracles, his resurrection, and his ascension, there are other people who have done the same things. There have been plenty of miracle workers, there have been resurrections (such as Swami Sri Yukteswars’s as mentioned in “The Autobiography of a Yogi” by Paramahansa Yogananda, and there have been ascensions into the higher realms. And all the teachings of Jesus were not recorded. He gave private teachings to his disciples, and he also said that he could not give all his teachings yet because people could not receive it.

Here is where our real self-hood is rooted, in the divine spark or seed, in the Image of God imprinted on the human soul. The True Self is not our creation, but God’s. It is the self we are in our depths. It is our capacity for divinity and transcendence. –Sue Monk Kidd

Everyone has a spirit that can be refined, a body that can be trained in some manner, a suitable path to follow. You are here to realize your inner divinity and manifest your innate enlightenment. –Morehei Ueshiba.

Quetion 111: About passive-aggressive behavior

Question 111: Can the Gospel of Oneness help me overcome passive-aggressive behavior?

First of all, let’s think about what passive aggressive behavior is. It is one of the subtle sins of the religious and spiritual people who think they are living a holy life, but underneath their shining veneer they may hold onto resentments that get acted out in various hurtful ways. Resentment can come out by withholding love and attention. It can come out with sharp words and subtle put-downs. It can come out by refusing to forgive or even to smile at someone. It can come out by giving the cold shoulder to someone. So you don’t actually try to physically hurt someone, but you want to punish them in small ways. Sometimes it is real anger that gets suppressed, and that can come out in more intense ways, but still short of physical violence.

How can the Gospel of Oneness help overcome this kind of behavior? One of the important practices is to always look first at our own behavior to see where we need to reform ourselves. Since we have our own individual identity in the one Spirit, it is the only place we can purify. The more we truly learn to love everyone and express the joy of Spirit, the less we will resent anyone else for anything. Passive-aggressive behavior comes from a lack of love and joy. On a radio program, one person confessed that he resented people who were having too much fun, and he wanted them to tone it down. And he secretly wished that he was having that much fun.

Sometimes the passive-aggressive behavior comes from many years of troubled relationships where people never sit down and talk about their subconscious resentments. People become afraid of expressing emotions that may get a negative reaction from others. If we don’t clear away our resentments we will be attached to them, thus making it harder for us to ascend into the realm of oneness where Jesus and the other true saints live in paradise. Resentments may be easier to give up when we have a larger perspective on life and thus can see how petty some resentful behaviors can be.

So the Gospel of Oneness can help by reminding us that resentments mostly hurt ourselves. And it can remind us that true love and joy can be found in embracing the oneness of all life. We need to have an action plan to clear away our resentments. This may involve professional therapy for some people.

 

To let friendship die away by negligence and silence is certainly not wise. It is voluntarily to throw away one of the greatest comforts of this weary pilgrimage.” ~Samuel Johnson”