We inhabit a tiny sliver of space, a mere moment in time.
Our lifespan is but a tiny island amid a great sea.
Yet upon our brief lifespan depends everything that we have, and everything that we are.
It is in this brief moment that we must confront the problems that beset us.
Some are small and of little importance.
Others are of enormous magnitude, profound in their depth, and eternal in their significance.
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For years I have discussed in online forums the issues we face. Religion, science and society among others, are the stuff of the mind. But they affect our outward lives as well.
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I have learned the most from those who disagree with me, and so I seek in this forum to find good friends who will challenge my beliefs.
All I ask is that our exchanges be thoughtful, respectful, and constructive.
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Some will describe me as a political conservative, a religious fundamentalist, and even a humorist.
Perhaps I am all of those.
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I am biased. My experiences of 62 years make me so. I've done the soul searching, followed the open road, and sought myself in Buddhist temples in the orient, in sweatshops at arduous labor, and in a military career.
I've been there, done that. Some say that I finally found myself. Perhaps so.
But I am still curious, still seeking, still fascinated by the sunrise, by a bee, by the vast reaches displayed in the night sky.
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We live in dangerous times.
War looms as an ominous possibilty. The threat of famine has not been extinguished. And plagues yet stalk the earth. A global economic crisis, a natural disaster, or a technological mishap, and our lives can change forever in the blink of an eye.
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Amid this present darkness, we remain each of us, sovereign individuals, free to make our own choices among limited alternatives. And we remain, each of us, solely responsible for our own deeds or misdeeds, as the case may be.
In the end, one thing will matter above all else.
How did we treat each other?

Message From a Celestial Spirit

It happened one day that a celestial being arrived with a message.
And he opened the message and read it to us.
And this is the message. It said:
Know that I am the Lord, your God, and there is no other God.
Know that I created all that there is.
I created your flesh, and I breathed into you the spirit of life.
And I gave you the freedom to think as you will.
I gave you freedom to love, and therefore, freedom also to hate.
I gave you freedom to bless, and therefore, freedom also to curse.
I gave you light. Do not then choose the darkness.
I give you truth. Seek not then falsehood.
I set before you a plan by which to prosper you.
Why then do you choose to squander the wealth I bestowed upon you?
Yet even despite all this, I remain at your side, loyal to you, though you betray me.
I am your father; you are my children.
To each other you are brothers and sisters in the spirit.
It matters not your earthly station.
The tall is as the short, the rich is as the pauper, the king is as the peasant.
Treat my children well.
For when you cause them pain, you cause pain to me.
When you die from this world, you shall come to my house to live forever in splendor beyond your dreams.
And there at the foot of my throne, shall you plead for mercy when none you have shown?
Have you no shame?
I will ask why you gave me no food when I was hungry, and you will answer that you never denied me food.
But I will show you the time when you denied food to a beggar, and that beggar was me. For indeed, to deny my child is to deny me.
And then what will you say?
Will you say that you did not know?
But that is why I teach you now, so that you will know indeed.
Be kind today, so that when judgment comes, you also, may be treated kindly.
Do you ask more knowledge than this?
But my answer to you is that you will never know more than this, for there is too much to tell you.
I will reveal to you enough, just enough so that you may live wisely.
But if I tell you more than enough, then you will be not the wiser, but all the more confused.
So I tell you only enough, and not more. And instead of seeking to know beyond what I teach you, seek instead to savor the mystery of divine truth. For there is beauty in beholding with awe that which exceeds your ability to ever understand.
Be patient. For life is short, and eternity is forever.
Love one another.