Be One With Me

Always I’m knocking
At the door of your heart
Even when you are flocking
To the world’s wares and marts
Always I’m calling
To find me within
And when your have found me
Our journey begins

O be one with me
I’m in your heart
There’s no need to run and hide
When you run with me
We’ll co-create
A new world where love abides
O be one on the inside
You’re not unworthy or small
Be one with Infinite
And be one with all

Always be searching
And open your mind
My words they are living
Leave the doctrines behind
I’ll help you surrender
The beam in your eye
So there’s no fear and no doubt
With new wings to fly

O be one with me
I’m in your heart
There’s no need to run and hide
When you run with me
We’ll co-create
A new world where love abides
O be one on the inside
You’re not unworthy or small
Be one with Infinite
And be one with all

No you’re not separate you’re part of the River Is
From the ocean the waves were sent forth
You think I am far away in heaven above the fray
I’m closer then ever before

For two thousand years and more
The Pharisees have locked the door
And thrown away the key
In hopes you’d never find me
But seasons come and seasons go
Now the Spirit wants to flow
The doors blown open wide
So my love can’t be denied

O be one with me
I’m in your heart
There’s no need to run and hide
When you run with me
We’ll co-create
A new world where love abides
O be one on the inside
You’re not unworthy or small
Be one with Infinite
And be one with all

Standing in the Sun

I heard in the wind that you’re running scared
Though you try, the past won’t get behind
Your head’s in a spin cause you wouldn’t dare
To feel the deeper longings you deny

But I love you more than yesterday
No matter what you’ve done
And even if you turn away
You’re always standing in the sun

The pavement you pound no it wouldn’t bend
The more you fight against it the more you fall
Then down on the ground you might look again
And see the cracks of light break through the wall

Cause I love you more than yesterday
No matter what you’ve done
And even if you turn away
You’re always standing in the sun

I know in your mind
You think you’re abandoned
Please understand I’ve been right here
All the time
And life isn’t random
Just open the door to your heart
And let it shine

So you wake with the thought is this all there is?
As you struggle to make everything seem right
Then you let down your armor that shields you in
When the morning comes to get you past the night

Cause I love you more than yesterday
No matter what you’ve done
And even if you turn away
You’re always standing in the sun

All About Eve - The Role of Women in Christianity

The fall of man supposedly began when Eve was tempted by the serpent and took a bite out of the forbidden fruit from the tree of life. There is truth to the idea that the feminine aspect was related to the fall as we see. However, if taken literally – as it has been for thousands of years – this idea essentially says that fall of mankind was due to Eve in particular and by association all women in general.

It is simply a fact that historically most societies, nations and religions have been dominated by males while women have played a subservient role to men. Why has this been so? Well, I submit that is largely due to the notion that women are to blame for the fall so many eons ago. Thus the idea was born that women are inherently inferior to men. After all, if woman are to blame for the fall, how can they be entrusted to lead others in spiritual, political, family or societal matters? There is also a hidden anger and contempt for women that further reinforces the idea of male superiority where men are somehow seen as the victims of the weaknesses of women who could not resist the temptations of the serpent in the garden. And of course women have historically not only seen as spiritual seductresses but sexual as well. It seems that the concept of original sin is an admixture of both of these concepts.

Due in no small measure to this supposed original sin; women have historically been viewed as unworthy of leadership or equal standing with men. Unfortunately, Christianity like the Jewish and others religions, has done much to cement women in this subservient role. The Catholic Church, for example, has never allowed women to hold ecclesiastical positions of authority in the church, be it priest, bishop, cardinal or pope. They claim this is because they say they can trace their lineage back to Peter as Jesus’ first disciple. And because Peter was a male, this somehow confers God’s exclusive preference for men as spiritual leaders.


Peter as the Foundation for Christianity
In some ways the Catholic Church is correct in saying the Peter was their foundational spiritual leader. Not necessarily because he was Jesus’ closest disciple – as he most likely was not as we will see shortly – but rather because Peter represents a state of consciousness that lies at the heart of institutionalized Christianity.

On the positive side, Jesus recognized Peter’s spiritual potential and that was one of the reasons he picked him to be one of his disciples. Peter had the discernment to recognize the Christ in Jesus and this is why he accepted Jesus offer to follow him. And as we know, Jesus once said to him Simon, thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build this church (Mathew 16:18). But what kind of rock was Jesus talking about here? Of course, it is not the rock of the ego, the rigid, solidified stone that is the beam in one’s own eye. Rather, Jesus was talking about the rock of the Christ consciousness, which does not turn this way with the shifting sands of the duality consciousness. Yet of course Jesus knew that the same potential to connect with the inner Christ that was in Peter is in all of humanity. Therefore, Jesus was not elevating Peter above the rest and saying that he was the sole torch bearer for Jesus teachings for all time. Instead, Jesus was saying that his teachings rest upon the foundation of the Christ that is in all people, not just in Peter. So the Christ within is the rock that Jesus would build on and not Peter’s outer person.

Though the statement about Peter being the rock of the church is often quoted to establish the authority of Catholic Church as well as the justification for the exclusively male clergy, less often quoted is Jesus stern rebukes of Peter. Did you ever wonder why Jesus said the Peter get thee behind me Satan! (Mathew 16:23) and then later prophesied to him: Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice (Mathew 26:75)?

The reason is that while Peter could recognize the Christ in others or least in Jesus, he wanted that Christ to conform to the expectations of his ego. He thought he knew better than Jesus and sought to control him. So, for example, when Jesus told his disciples that he would go to Jerusalem and in the three days would be crucified, Peter objected essentially telling Jesus he should not do this. When Jesus was washing the feet of his disciples, Peter initially objected though ultimately relented. In both these examples Jesus was not conforming to Peter’s expectations of the Christ should do in this world. You can see that he Peter wanted Jesus to conform to his own expectations which were typically on the side of displaying power and not acts of humility or surrender.

When the Romans came to arrest Jesus, Peter cut off the ear of one guards, essentially violating Jesus teachings of with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you (Mathew 1:11) Again, we see that Peter could not accept the fact that Jesus would surrender himself in humility and was willing to use violence to stop this from happening. In a final act of betrayal, Peter actually denied that he knew Jesus three times when questions by authorities during Jesus crucifixion.

Now, it is probably true that Peter denied Jesus in part to protect his own life, but I believe he also did this because he felt betrayed by Jesus. Peter denied he knew Jesus because he truly did not know the Jesus that failed to conform to his expectations. He was angry at Jesus because he couldn’t control him. And the reason that Peter could accept Jesus decisions is that he internalized the Christ in himself. He rejected the Christ within in favor of the false image of an outer savior who would crush his adversaries rather than surrender to them.

So you can see that if the Catholic Church began with Peter, then you can understand that the denial of Christ lies at the very heart of institutionalized Christianity. And this denial of Christ has continued for two thousand years where even today there is hardly a single Christian church, Catholic or Protestant that teaches that Christ is to be found within you. For Christ not internalized is Christ denied. You cannot truly know God if you deny God within yourself as you will always accept a false image of an outer God as a substitute. Yet it could have been different. There was a higher potential for the followers of Jesus than what eventually became institutionalized Christianity. Christianity could have followed the example of someone who did internalize the Christ consciousness to a far higher degree than Peter. And that would have been the example of Jesus closest disciple – Mary Magdalene.


Mary Magdalene and Jesus’ View of Women
Mary Magdalene is usually depicted as the penitent prostitute or the woman out of who was cast seven demons. Whether these stories are true or not misses the point. The point being that Jesus knew that God was no respecter of persons (Jude 1:11) and thus understood that women had the same spiritual potential as men to become the Christ. He also knew that women had been suppressed for thousands of years and therefore a part of God was being suppressed.

Earlier we discussed how God has two essential aspects, the Father, Alpha or masculine aspect and the Mother, Omega or the feminine aspect. Both aspects are essential for divine balance and wholeness and you really can’t have one without the other. So what you had in Jesus day as well as contemporary society is a religion that is out of balance in that it elevates the masculine aspect of God – although a highly distorted view at that – while almost completely denying the feminine aspect of God. This has had the effect that the perversions of the masculine qualities, such as fanaticism, intolerance and the abuse of power, have dominated religious life while the balancing effects of the feminine, such as nurturance, compassion and wisdom, have been actively suppressed.

Part of Jesus’ mission, therefore, was to help restore this balance in the Jewish religion so that women could play their rightful role in helping to raise the consciousness of humanity. Doing so, moreover, would ultimately help all souls obtain the necessary balance between the masculine and feminine aspects of their own beings. Jesus was never bashful about bucking societal norms so that the Christ in himself and in all might be expressed. In fact, Jesus went out of his way to encourage women to fulfill their spiritual potential. It’s clear from certain passages in the canonical gospels and the so called Gnostic writings that women played a major role in Jesus life and teachings. Consider the following passage from Luke:

And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God; and the twelve were with him, and certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom was cast seven devils, and Joanna the wife of Chuzra Herod’s steward, and Suzanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance (Luke 8:1-2)

Here we get the picture of Jesus, his twelve disciples and a number of women all traveling together from city to city throughout the holy land preaching the gospel that the kingdom of God was at hand and within them. Think about how radical of approach that was. It must have been a great shock to see women teaching and preaching along side of Jesus and other men in a society where women were treated as second class citizens.

Yet Jesus was not concerned about shocking people who are stuck in their egos. In fact, it probably served to his advantage that people were forced to deal with their rigid mental boxes about women when confronted with this scene. He was more concerned with raising up the divine feminine in both women and in men then he was for respecting the established social mores of the day. And as a part of Jesus plan to assist women in realizing their spiritual potential one woman in particular played a unique role in this drama. That of course being Mary Magdalene.

Even in the canonical gospels there is plenty of evidence to suggest that Mary Magdalene played a special role in Jesus life and mission as the following examples suggest:

• Mary witnessed the procession of Christ as he was carrying the cross and collapsed under its weight (Mark 15:40)
• Mary Magdalene was present at the foot of the cross with Jesus' mother Mary and the apostle John. Mary was mentioned first among women at the crucifixion in the gospels. (Matthew 27:56, Mark 15:40, John 19:25)
• Mary was present at Jesus burial at the tomb, and witnessed the stone being rolled to seal its entrance. (Matthew 27:61)
• Mary was first to appear at the tomb the next morning to witness the stone had rolled away. (Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:1, Luke 24:10, John 20:1)
• Mary Magdalene was the first to witness the risen Christ, in fact, the first to preach the resurrection, to the apostles themselves. (Mark 16:9, Luke 24:10, John 20:18) – citations courtesy of marymagdalene.net

I believe the fact that Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene after his resurrection is especially telling regarding the importance of her role. Why didn’t he appear to Peter first or to one of the other disciples? To me, it says that Jesus appeared to the one he was closest to just as most of us would tell our closest friends – our spouses or otherwise – when something wonderful has happened.

There is no doubt that Jesus and Mary had a very special relationship. Many believed they were married and even had children. In fact this was the central premise for enormously popular novel The Da Vinci Code. So the idea resonates with people, especially today when many Christians are beginning to awaken to higher truths and are searching for something more than what they have been given through institutionalized Christianity. Personally, because of the intensity and condensed nature of Jesus mission, I doubt that they were married during his Galilean embodiment, though I would not rule out the possibility that they were married sometime after his resurrection as some scholars have suggested.

I do believe, however, that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were soul mates or twin flames as some have called it. The concept here is that when God created our souls, we were always created in pairs – one primarily holding the masculine polarity of God and the other the feminine polarity. Note that both have masculine and feminine aspects, but each has slightly more of the quality that there are destined to manifest. The idea is that each of has a twin flame out there somewhere and when working in harmony whether in or out of embodiment then accomplish more together than apart.

So this is the type of relationship that Jesus and Mary Magdalene had. And it was the love of the twin flame relationship that helped sustain and uplift each other through the trying times of Jesus’ final incarnation. Though they have great love for each other born from this eternal tie, I think they both used that love in a working relationship with the goal of bringing the teachings of the inner kingdom to the people.

The following passage taken from the fragments remaining to what is referred to as the Gospel of Mary suggests just such a post resurrection role for Mary and she describes a vision she received from Jesus:

When Mary had said this, she fell silent, since it was to this point that the Savior had spoken with her. But Andrew answered and said to the brethren, Say what you wish to say about what she has said. I at least do not believe that the Savior said this. For certainly these teachings are strange ideas. Peter answered and spoke concerning these same things. He questioned them about the Savior: Did He really speak privately with a woman and not openly to us? Are we to turn about and all listen to her? Did He prefer her to us? Then Mary wept and said to Peter, My brother Peter, what do you think? Do you think that I have thought this up myself in my heart, or that I am lying about the Savior? Levi answered and said to Peter, Peter you have always been hot tempered. Now I see you contending against the woman like the adversaries. But if the Savior made her worthy, who are you indeed to reject her? Surely the Savior knows her very well. That is why He loved her more than us. Rather let us be ashamed and put on the perfect Man, and separate as He commanded us and preach the gospel, not laying down any other rule or other law beyond what the Savior said. And when they heard this they began to go forth to proclaim and to preach.

Take note that the very same apostle who Catholic Church uses to justify their discrimination against women turns about to be the most vocal critic of Mary’s proposed leadership role. Again we see here the denial of Christ but this time it is the denial of the Christ within Mary Magdalene as there was definite opposition to her leadership almost exclusively based upon the fact that she was a woman. I don’t want to be too hard on Peter here as he and the other disciples were definitely products of their cultures which placed women in a subservient role. Nevertheless the opposition to women even at that time was not inevitable as Levi’s comments suggests. Levi recognized that Jesus had picked Mary for a very good reason. He understood that Jesus was no respecter of outer personalities, even when it came to his twin flame. Therefore it must have been Mary’s spiritual attainment – her own connection with her higher self – that earned her the right to lead the apostles.

In the end, however, history tells us that the leadership role of Mary Magdalene in particular and women in general did not last as it was actively resisted and suppressed by the male dominated culture. And it was this same male dominated and ego based culture that ultimately destroyed the early Christian movements with its more Gnostic, Being based approach advocated by Jesus.
In its place, through the efforts of Emperor Constantine and others, Christianity became institutionalized with much of it derived from the traditions and customs of the Roman Empire. The idea, for example, that the Roman emperor was the only divine being on earth was replaced by the idea that Jesus is the only Son of God elevated above the rest of us.

The Role of Mary, the Mother of Jesus
Jesus’ mother Mary – referred to here as Mother Mary – is somewhat of an exception in how women have been regarded in the Christian church. Clearly a special role and honor is afforded her for having given birth to and raising Jesus. She has also been venerated for centuries by Catholics, and in more recent history she has been said to appear to certain of the faithful providing special messages and dispensations. The upside of this is that at least there has been some veneration of and raising up of the Mother energy through dedication to her heart.

Despite this special status, there are certain ideas about her that are problematic from a spiritual perspective. First, as everyone knows, it is said that Mary conceived Jesus in the womb by the agency of the Holy Spirit without having any marital relations with her husband Joseph. This is the so called virgin birth story. One of the unfortunate side effects of this story is that it sends the message that the Christ cannot be conceived by the normal reproductive process. In essence, this means that normal human sexuality is not pure enough to produce the likes of Jesus, and more importantly we are not good enough, we are not worthy to bring forth the Christ. It is another way to separate us from Jesus - another way of putting Jesus on a pedestal and making an idol out of him. The story also separates us from Mother Mary, as she too is put on a pedestal. It essentially says to other women that unless they are specially singled out by God they cannot be like her and give birth to the Christ.

In short, the story is just another way of keeping the Christ out of this world – which truth be told, has been the desire of the forces of antichrist since the time of the fall and beyond. I would like to go on record here stating that the virgin birth is a myth and that Jesus was conceived in the normal way like any one of us. Therefore you don’t have to born in a special way to reach your spiritual potential. And in the end, it’s not so much how our body was born but that the Christ is born in each of us through the decisions we make on a daily basis.

Although the story does elevate Mary above most of us, it doesn’t elevate her as high as Jesus. You can see that in accounts of Jesus and Mary assent into heaven. Both presumably made it to heaven. Yet when we look at the scriptures we see that while Jesus was said to have ascended Luke (1:11) into heaven, Mary was merely assumed (Luke 1:11) into heaven. To me, the term “ascended” sounds active and superior, while the term “assumed” sounds passive and inferior, somehow less deserving. At any rate “assumed” is not the same as “ascended” and since Jesus is the highest being in the Christian hierarchy, one can only assume that “ascended” is better. The concept sends a dual message that Jesus is higher than even the best of us and that a woman could not be treated by God the same way as a man.

As stated above, the Catholic Church has maintained some connection to the Divine Feminine by keeping a tie to Mother Mary, since the Reformation, the Protestant church has severed this tie altogether as they rejected the Catholic tradition of the veneration of the saints. It’s understandable that the Protestants sought to remove themselves from all ecclesiastical roadblocks to their relationship with Jesus – as they may have seen the saints as just another extension of the oppressive Catholic hierarchy. However, their decision to reject Mother Mary is like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. In the process of rejecting unwanted spiritual authority, they also discarded whatever tenuous tie to the Feminine aspect of God that remained in the Catholic Church. Even today, my own experience growing up Lutheran is that many Protestants are almost suspicious of Mary as one who somehow competes with the special status of Jesus. Many see the Catholic Church as cult like due in no small measure to their veneration of Mary.

This is most unfortunate as she is a being who could render them tremendous assistance on the path of personal Christhood. You see, Mother Mary ascended into heaven just like Jesus did because she united with God in the own being as Jesus did. Today, Mother Mary is an ascended being like Jesus and like him remains with the earth to assist all in reaching their spiritual potential. She is not Catholic, she is not Protestant, and she is not even Christian. Like Jesus and all ascended beings, she cannot be fit into the narrow box defined by any of the world’s religions as she is constantly transcending herself while flowing with the River of Life. She has on occasion delivered messages through certain Catholic visionaries because they were the only traditional Christians open to her message. However, she cannot deliver an unedited message regarding the inner kingdom to these emissaries because it is outside their understanding of God so they would therefore reject it.

Understand that Mother Mary can help all who are seeking God to find that God within themselves. She is very involved with helping raise the light of the Divine Mother in each of us and the planet as a whole. In fact, she represents the Divine Mother to the people of earth. If you meditate on her immaculate heart she will show you how raise the light up in yourself and manifest the abundant life which as the scriptures say is the Father’s good pleasure to give us. She should not, however, be idolized because when you idolize someone you can never internalize and become what they have become. Therefore, I highly suggest you avail yourself of her assistance and see how she can help you surrender every beam in your eye that is preventing you from being here below all that you are above.

The Feminine and the Fall
Returning to our discussion of Eve, was it really Eve or women that caused the fall? Well, we have discussed earlier in the book that the fall was not the fall of only one or two people, but it was really was an event or perhaps we should say process that happened to untold number of souls throughout history. So it cannot be said that one person caused the fall, be it a woman or a man. What did happen however, and the reason the story persists that Eve caused the fall, is that feminine aspect of our beings that fell into the duality consciousness – which is what we really mean by the term “the fall of man.”

So how did the feminine cause the fall? This can be seen from different perspectives. From one perspective, our relationship with God can be viewed a polarity between ourselves and Spirit. God or the I AM Presence can be seen as the masculine or directing aspect of our beings while our Conscious Self or souls can be seen as the receiving or feminine aspect of our beings. From this perspective, it is undoubtedly the feminine side of us that fell. The masculine aspect, the I AM Presence could never fall into duality as it beyond the dimensions of form and time and space where duality can exist.

From another perspective, even in the lower aspect of our beings below there is both a masculine and feminine side to each of us. Ideally these aspects of our being need to be in balance to maintain proper spiritual growth and awareness. The masculine aspect is more active side of beings multiplying our talents and energy in the world of form while the feminine side is more passive receiving side open to the suggestions of higher self. What happened during the fall is that the feminine aspects of our natures became open to suggestions outside of our spiritual teachers and our higher identity. The feminine part of our beings became open to the suggestions of the Serpent – which, as explained before, is the conglomerate consciousness of those beings who embodied the mind of antichrist. The Serpent projected thoughts and feelings of doubt into our minds which our feminine side, normally open to receiving the vibrations of the mind of Christ – internalized. This caused our consciousness to gradually fall into the consciousness of duality – a condition from which few on this planet have escaped since that time.

So we see here that is the feminine aspect of our beings in both women and men that fell and not women in particular. Therefore there is no need to blame Eve or all women for the condition that we found ourselves in after the fall as we are all responsible for allowing this to happen. I don’t say this to condemn or blame anyone but is simply a fact that each of us lowered our consciousness to the point where we lost direct contact with our higher selves. Therefore it is up to each us individually and to some extent collectively to once again rise above the ego and duality consciousness and reconnect with the higher aspect of ourselves.


Restoring the Divine Feminine
So how do get back to the garden, as it were? Of course, we have already discussed a number of ways which we make our way back to the Infinite by walking the inner path of oneness. Yet, when we realize that we fell by lowering the feminine in ourselves, it’s logical that the way back to oneness is in part the path of restoring the feminine – both individually and in society as a whole. We need to both resurrect that feminine and bring it into balance with the masculine aspects of our beings. Only when doing so can we really be whole.

Therefore, we need to take the beam out of our eye of those conditions that suppress the feminine qualities, such as purity, abundance, nurturance, wisdom, compassion, understanding and intuition. These conditions can be both cultural and psychological but ultimately they can be traced back to the ego. Therefore, we need to actively seek to heal the parts of ourselves, such as pride and anger that prevent the divine feminine from manifesting in ourselves and in society.

From a societal level, one thing that would help provide perspective is the fact that all have reincarnated in both feminine and masculine embodiments. So to say that the same soul is somehow superior to women when embodied as a man but inferior to men when embodied as women just doesn’t make any sense. We need to recognize that both genders are equal in value but have different roles to play. We also need to recognize the all us have both masculine and feminine characteristics so it is not meaningful to place a higher value on one gender than the other.

For humanity to reach its God given potential, the divine feminine must be raised up in all aspects of life but especially in religion. As discussed, Christianity has historically suppressed the divine feminine, both theologically and organizationally as it has not allowed women to be placed in leadership roles. Even today, when the women’s movement has permeated almost every aspect of Western society, Christian churches have been relatively slow to allow women equal opportunities to lead. It’s unfortunate fact that even the churches that make it a point to reach out to young people and try to be culturally relevant and trendy often are dominated by male clergy.

This needs to change. But it probably won’t change until Christians understand that the very nature of God is both masculine and feminine. Remember, we were all created in the image and likeness of God and that both male and female created he them (Gen. 1:26-27). Thus, God must be both masculine and feminine if we are created in God’s image and likeness. Sometimes the problem is in the language is most of our terms describing God are male oriented. It becomes somewhat difficult to overcome this male bias with these limitations but not impossible. It is possible, however, as our God language evolves, so too will our image and understanding of God.

But until that day there’s much room for improvement and growth in how women are treated in Christianity. In fact, I submit that women should be allowed into any and all leadership roles available in our churches today. Not just in Christian churches, however, but I would advocate for this change in all religions, especially the Muslim religion where we see the most severe repression of women of any organized religion.

So I would hurl this challenge to all of Christendom: Raise up the Divine Feminine in within all and raise it up in all the organizational hierarchies and structures. Tear down the wall of separation that lies between women and their true spiritual destiny and potential! After all, if Jesus treated women as equals, can modern day Christians do any less? Jesus had great reverence for the Divine Feminine, which he also referred to as the Mother of the world. Meditate on these words attributed to Jesus (respectfully referred to as St. Issa) as was reportedly told to travelers in India some years after his crucifixion:

At this time, an old woman approached the crowd, but was pushed back. Then Issa said, "Reverence Woman, mother of the universe,' in her lies the truth of creation. She is the foundation of all that is good and beautiful. She is the source of life and death. Upon her depends the existence of man, because she is the sustenance of his labors. She gives birth to you in travail, she watches over your growth. Bless her. Honor her. Defend her. Love your wives and honor them, because tomorrow they shall be mothers, and later-progenitors of a whole race. Their love ennobles man, soothes the embittered heart and tames the beast. Wife and mother-they are the adornments of the universe."

It this is accomplished, if we revere and upraise the Divine Mother in each us and in Christianity as well, I believe we could experience a veritable renaissance in spirituality in all Christian churches. When we unleash the power the Divine Mother balanced by the Divine Father, there is literally no end to the growth and rejuvenation that can take place. All it takes is a few enlightened souls to get this movement started. When you elevate the Divine Feminine in yourself, perhaps you will be one of them.

Love is Calling Out Your Name

Used to be

Part of me went to sleep

Dreaming of better days

Charging at windmills

So unfulfilled

Gazing into the haze

The bottom rocks cut me

I cried out “who touched me”

Into the rays

Like Lazarus trembling

The dove is descending

And then it says

Love is calling out your name

When you hear it you can rise

In the Spirit everything can change

Come up higher then the mire

Of the muck and mar

Feel the fire’s desire to be who you are

Let the sun in and come in

From the rain

As love is calling out your name

Listen to me

You can be, I can be

One with infinity

It’s no desecration

To claim it

Our native divinity

Turn a deaf ear to the fears

That tell you

What cannot be

It’s all an illusion

So pierce the sword through them

And then you’ll see


(chorus)

No disguising the sun is rising

The new day is on its way

You can find it, be reminded

The path is clearing

The voice your hearing


(chorus)

KOG: Be There of Be Square

Jesus was not a religious man. Nor did he come to start a new religion. He did not come to uphold the status quo of priests and prelates who lorded over the people, interjecting themselves between the people and their relationship to God. Those who believe that Jesus was a pious Jew who followed all their rules are simply in denial of what Jesus said and did in this regard.

Jesus was, in fact, in constant conflict with the religious authorities of his day. He healed on the Sabbath. He overturned the tables in the temple. He rebuked the Scribes and Pharisees. These actions flowed from Jesus’ inner connection with God - all for a purpose.

He came to shake things up. In doing so, Jesus desired to awaken and liberate the people from their dependence on the fixed ideas of the outer authorities, as well as an attempt to reform the Jewish religion. For much like the Christian religion that followed it, Judaism had become ossified by demanding a rigid adherence to outer rules, customs, and mores. In Jesus day, following these rules to the letter was presented as the only means to salvation while the priests were setup as the judge and jury over it.

Yet Jesus knew that God – a God of unconditional love – accepted no outer rules or conditions to enter his Kingdom. In other words, Jesus understood that no amount of prayers, rituals, fasting, sacrifices, pilgrimages or position of authority could guarantee entrée into God’s kingdom. Nor can not doing these things necessarily keep you from it.

So where then is this kingdom, how does one find it? Well, in perhaps the most profound of all Jesus’ statements recorded in the gospels, listen to what he says to the Pharisees as they question him on this subject:

"And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, 'the kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! For, behold, the kingdom of God is within you!"(Luke 17:20-21)

Clearly, Jesus is saying that the kingdom of God does not come from observing outer rules and rituals alone; but rather it comes from your own inner connection to God. For the kingdom of God is not outside of you. It is not in some remote place in the sky. Rather, its right where you are – right within you!

This is not to setup a false dichotomy between following outer religious customs and seeking an inner connection with God. Obviously, outer rituals can be highly beneficial to spiritual progress. But such practices were never meant as a replacement for one’s own direct inner experience of God. Instead, outer practices are meant to be a stepping stone or tool to help us achieve the inner connection.

By declaring in no uncertain terms that the kingdom of God is within us, Jesus is telling us that we can and are meant to have a direct experience of God - that we have the capacity for such spiritual experiences right within our hearts and minds. Further, this inner experience requires no outer authority to achieve, be it from a minister, scripture or ceremony.

This is because the kingdom of God that’s within you is not a physical place. It is rather, a state of mind, a state of consciousness. Consciousness is something that is a natural part of us. It doesn’t require outer authorities or churches, nor can it be controlled by these authorities or institutions if we don’t let them. So the kingdom of God is really something that can be reached by anyone. Anyone, that is, who is willing to give up a state of mind that keeps them out of the kingdom; anyone, who is willing to have a direct experience of God within themselves.

The Pharisees, however, were not looking for God within themselves. For them – and indeed for most religions throughout recorded history – their man made descriptions of an outer God served as a substitute for the reality of the inner experience of God. It’s important to see here that a great gap can exist between a description of something and the actual experience of something. For example, if someone had never tasted an apple and only had the taste described to them, this experience would not be the same as actually tasting the apple itself. In other words, you really don’t know what and apple tastes like unless you take a bite out of it.

This is especially true of spiritual matters. You have to experience God to know God. Many spiritual concepts, however, are primarily derived from mental images of God and not from a direct experience of God. These mental images in turn are usually established by religious leaders who may or may not have had any direct connection with God.

Furthermore, principles derived from these mental images that are not tied to the reality of God and can easily be manipulated by spiritual leaders to fit their own agenda. This often causes spiritual blindness, both in the leaders themselves and their followers. In the case of the Pharisees, since their concepts of God were based entirely on descriptions of God and not actual experience, they kept both themselves and their followers squarely inside a mental box of what was right and wrong as defined by their own relative outer standards.

The Key of Knowledge
The Pharisees were unwilling to apply what Jesus called the "key of knowledge." The key of knowledge – the thing that Jesus said the Pharisees were hindering the people from finding - simply is the ability to discover spiritual truth within ourselves independent of some outer authority. In the Old Testament, it is said that I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts (Jeremiah 31:33).

This helps us understand that God has written truth within each of us – we just need the ability and the confidence to find it. The key of knowledge is the inner confirmation of what we already know to be true. It is the remembrance of what we once knew at deeper levels of our being. Note that this concept in no way excludes information coming from sources outside of ourselves; it only requires that the information resonates with the Spirit of Truth within us.

The importance of using the key of knowledge cannot be underestimated. Think of all the suffering that has been wrought in this world because people have been led to believe that truth can only be found only within a particular religion, church, clergy, doctrine, custom, creed or political philosophy. This is because these various institutions, dogmas and philosophies where not fashioned out the Spirit of Truth within but rather out of spiritual blindness – out of the “fleshly” mindset. When you use the key of knowledge to find truth, however, you can never be enslaved or controlled by any outer authority as the only authority you can accept is the authority of God within you.

Can you see now how Jesus message of the inner kingdom was such a threat to the Pharisees authority? They hated him because they could not control him. They couldn’t control Jesus because he used the key of knowledge and found the kingdom of God within him. And because of this Jesus turned their whole world upside down simply by being who he already was - true to his real identity.

He refused to be imprisoned inside their rigid mental boxes. He could not be controlled by their fixed ideas – their graven images - of whom and what God had to be. Jesus did not need their authority or their validation because both were derived from his oneness with God within. He also knew that his followers could do the same and he encouraged them to do so.

Can you imagine what would have happened if hundreds, thousands or millions of people starting doing the same as Jesus did? Can you see how the earth would be dramatically different today if that had taken place then or now? If you really contemplate Jesus’ statement "the works that I do shall ye do also; and greater works than these shall ye do; because I go unto my Father" (John14:12) can you see that this is precisely what Jesus wants for his followers?

Far from setting himself up as an idol to be worshiped, from the very beginning Jesus has always wanted us to follow in his footsteps, awaken to our true identity, enter the inner kingdom and walk the earth as sons and daughters of God who can say with him, "I and my Father are one" (John 10:30). He has wanted us to know the same oneness with the Father that he had. And thus he prayed: "Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are" (John 17:11).

As it was then so today, I believe Jesus wants us to Be in the kingdom in the here and now and not wait for the hereafter. You will only wait for the kingdom of God when you feel it is outside of yourself, beyond your ability to enter on your own. Yet truly the kingdom of God is at hand (Mark 1:14) because it’s always inside of us – waiting for us to enter.

So what’s preventing us from Be-ing there? Well, if the kingdom of God is inside our own hearts and minds, is it not logical to assume that something inside our hearts and minds keeps us from finding and entering it? But if that’s true, what is that something? What’s keeping us squarely inside the mental prisons, immobilized on a cross of our own making, right where the Pharisees, lawyersand their latter day descendants want us?

To answer that, we need to go back to the beginning. Back to the Garden and beyond. If you have the courage, I invite you to come along.

Human Causes of the Economic Crisis and Spiritual Solutions

In recent months, we have seen unprecedented upheavals the US as well as the global economy. Big banks have fallen, as have insurance companies and brokerage companies followed by huge losses in the stock market. It is estimated US citizens have lost over a trillion dollars in their pensions and 401K plans. As matter of fact, I know a number of families, including our own, whose 401K funds were diminished by 20% or more in a matter of a few short days.

The government’s response, which was supported by both presidential candidates, is notable in that it chose not to address the underlying causes of the crisis, but rather to prop up a failing system with its 700 plus billion dollar bailout. Yet it could have chosen another route and that is to take a serious look at what really is wrong with our economic system and what can be done to fix it.

The fact that the government did not do this, however, really is not surprising as the public at large is generally unwilling to face these problems themselves. Of course, those who have the most to lose in all this – the big banks, brokerage companies, insurance companies and various conglomerate institutions who comprise what might be called the financial or power elite in America certainly don’t want to address the causes as they have a vested interest in keeping the system running just the way it has been – with the deck stacked decidedly in their favor.

The symbiotic relationship between the haves and the have-nots
This unwillingness to look at systemic problems of this nature is essentially a spiritual problem. Jesus talked about the necessity of taking the beam out of our eye as an essential part of our spiritual growth. This means being willing to fearlessly examine any and all conditions that prevent us from seeing the truth about ourselves, society and all its institutions, customs and mores. And then do what’s necessary to replace our incomplete and/or distorted ideas with a higher understanding.

And regarding the current crisis, while there certainly has been outrage at the government’s actions and actions of the financial elite, it wasn’t enough to carry the day to prevent the bailout from happening. And so far, it hasn’t been enough for most people to seriously question the modus operandi of the economic system itself. For many, the current system cannot be challenged as it is seen as unpatriotic and un-American. They equate the current economic system - which as we will see has been designed by and for the elite - as equivalent with free enterprise. Thus for many the system is a sacred cow that cannot be examined for fear that it might be undermined or compromised and with it the American way of life.

Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results. If our economic system has failed so miserably this time and in years past (think the Great Depression as well as the never ending cycles of inflation and recession) why then do people insist on doing the insane thing of not questioning what is clearly not working? I submit it’s because they have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo and therefore dare not question the beam in their own eye which prevents them from seeing the futility of their actions. And in regards to the economy, what is the nature of the beam that blinds us?

Before addressing this, we need to establish the fact that economically and spiritually speaking, there are two general groups of people. There is the 2 percent of the population that controls 98 percent of the wealth in this country – whom I call the power elite – and then there is the rest of us. Please note that when I discuss the concept of the power elite, my purpose is not to emphasize individuals who comprise the elite, but rather my focus is on the mindset or consciousness behind it.

By and large the power elite are untroubled by the fact that they hoard the wealth. It doesn’t bother them that two thirds of the world’s population lives in poverty while they have great wealth. Why? It’s because they need this disparity to maintain the illusion that they are better or superior to the normal people. This desire stems from the free will choices that many have made to cut themselves off from God – as they think they know better than God - and with it the abundant life that is given freely to all. And to maintain the illusion that they know better than God, they do all they can to keep God from acting in the earth.

Nevertheless, without this connection to God, they feel incomplete. Thus, they obtain a temporary reprieve from the gnawing sense of unwholeness by gaining a relative advantage over the people by acquiring more power, money, privilege, prestige, wealth, etc. compared to the masses. They also maintain the sense that they know better than God because they can demonstrate how powerful they are without God’s help. But their gain over us is always relative. And when it comes to money, they feel superior when they can reduce the amount of abundance we have compared to them. When we are lowered in economic stature they are raised in stature – relative to us. They do this even at the expense of lowering the total amount of wealth on this planet. For by keeping the people down, the built-in natural flow towards greater abundance is thwarted.

Yet the power elite can not maintain this sense of superiority in a vacuum. They need the regular people to play along with their illusion of superiority in order to sustain it. The regular people, however, generally do not have a desire to feel superior to others but rather they have the polar opposite need to feel inferior to the power elite. They have a subconscious belief that the power elite will take care of them. The regular people are happy that they don’t have to worry about running the economy because after all it’s too complicated and so they are grateful that the people whom they perceive to be higher than them will mange the economy so they don’t have to think about it.

Unfortunately, the people have entered into a mindset of an idolatry of the elite and so they believe that we must not let the elite fail. And so the government bailout of huge financial institutions and more recently the push for the bailout of the auto industry are acceptable to many due to the blindness of idolatry.

The central dynamic here causing this sense of idolatry is that the regular people on earth have also – to greater or lesser degrees - cut themselves off from God’s natural abundance. Not because they don’t believe in God or that they feel superior to others but rather because they don’t want to be responsible for making core decisions in life. They refuse to take dominion over their part of the earth and therefore the power elite are all too willing to do that for them.

So in the end, the people do not want to open the Pandora’s box of the money system as they are afraid that ultimately this will mean they have to make crucial decisions about it and thus be responsible for it. And this is something they have avoided for much of their sojourn here on earth. Instead, many people have been running more or less in an unquestioning automatic pilot mode. So you can see here that ignorance really is bliss - our ignorance (ig-nor-ance) is the power elite’s bliss.

To sum up, the power elite need the regular people to be in lower economic state so they can feel superior to them. The regular people have a need to feel inferior to the elite so they don’t have to take responsibility for themselves and the economy. Both groups have an interest in maintaining the status quo to prop up their unholy alliance. The power elite are the blind leaders. The regular people are the blind followers. The result is a symbiotic relationship between the blind leaders and blind followers that has lead to the fact that both groups have now fallen into the ditch of the current economic crisis.

So how do we break this gridlock between the two groups? I believe that like many things, knowledge is the key. As it says in Proverbs, “with all thy getting, get understanding.” I believe people will be far less fearful of challenging the elite if they are armed with correct information. Because when they truly understand what is going on, they will see that the elite only have as much power over people as we are willing to give them. Truly the elite are like the emperor without any clothes where the illusion of clothes was only maintained by those who wanted to see it that way.

Why am I suggesting that it is the people that must change and not the elite? Two reasons: First, the people have far more to gain (at least in the short term) from constructive change in the economy than the elite do. Second, the elite are typically too selfish, rebellious and proud to be open to positive changes that benefit everyone and not just themselves. This doesn’t mean the elite cannot change, but being a realist I think the probability of them changing in the near future is in fact very small.

Multiplying our talents to produce economic growth
One thing we need to understand about God’s design of the matter universe is that there are built in natural forces that move things forward even without our intervention. For example, there are built in evolutionary forces that drive species towards diversity and greater complexity. There are also built in economic forces that lead to greater and greater abundance in the earth. The main factor is that mankind simply needs to understand the principles behind this increase in abundance in order to flow with its tide rather against it by blocking its flow.

I could see how this could very well be a bit of a surprising statement to many. This is because most of us been programmed to believe that lack is the natural order of things and that there simply isn’t enough for everyone. As we’ll see later, this is a belief that has been perpetrated by the elite to block the flow of our abundance so they can maintain their relative superiority over us.

Of course right now it’s not so easy to see this natural economic force at work. However, if you look at two thousand years ago as compared to today, there is no doubt we experience a far greater amount of material abundance and a higher standard of living today then for example when Jesus walked the earth. So we must be doing something at least partially right, so what is that something?

Jesus’ parable of the talents eloquently expresses the main dynamic here. In this parable three servants are given varying amount of talents by a king and are told to go out and use those talents to the king’s benefit. Two of the three servants increased the talents which were then multiplied by the king saying to them “well done thou good and profitable servant, thou has been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many.” However, the third servant was fearful of the king and instead hid his talent in napkin whereupon the king promptly dismissed him as “unprofitable.”

The lesson here is that God has designed the universe in such a way as to increase our abundance. The principle is that when we put forth the effort to increase our own talents God multiplies all our talents accordingly. This is how individuals, society and economies grow and prosper.

Regarding economics, there are essentially three types of efforts that produce this multiplication effect:

1. Putting forth labor to produce goods or services.
2. Introducing new ideas, inventions and systems
3. Investing time, energy or money in endeavors that stimulate the first two. In other words taking some risk to promote economic projects even though you can’t be a certain of a return.

Any one of these three separately or in combination can have the effect of more abundance being created on earth. The fact that there is a greater material wealth on earth today than centuries ago proves the point that there is not a fixed amount of abundance on this planet and that God has multiplied it in accordance to the efforts we’ve put forth.

Yet even though the standard of living is higher today than ages past, many people are still living paycheck to paycheck, struggling to get by, and many others are still living in abject poverty. If there is a built in force in nature to increase abundance, why are so many people not experiencing this increase?

The answer lies in understanding how money works and how the money system can be turned on its head to benefit the few and not the many.

Money as an instrument
It has been said that money is the root of all evil. But if you also look at the good that has been accomplished through the use of many we can see that this is not a balanced statement. A more nuanced approach sees that money can be used for both good and evil and therefore is a tool for either and not the cause of it. I would say, however, that the love of money for its own sake is evil as we see shortly.

Money can be seen as a tool for economic transactions. As such, it has two primary functions:

1. As medium of exchange for goods and services
2. As a short term storage of value

In the ideal economy, the purpose of money is seen as a tool and not and end in itself. For money to flow properly, the amount of money in circulation should be roughly equal to the amount of goods and services currently produced in the nation or economic system. Also, money is meant to keep flowing and should not be hoarded. It serves as a temporary storage of value because it is meant to circulate through the people somewhat like blood in our veins.

In the ideal, spiritual economy, there is essentially a one-on-one relationship between the amount of money and the amount of something that has real actual value, be it goods or services. Or even, in the case of gold money, that the gold itself has a certain value. So the point here is there should always be a direct relationship between money and something that has real value.

And when people actually multiply their talents, they can, as a result of that multiplication, accumulate a certain amount of money which they can then choose to store for times when they may not be able to make the money. Even this is legitimate, as long as the money was created as a result of providing a real service to life, be it an invention, taking the initiative, or performing physical labor. There is nothing wrong with storing that money. Even so, it is only when it is put to use in investing will it will help the economy grow. And thus, savings should really only be a temporary thing and should not mean that the money is permanently taken out of circulation.

For money is indeed meant to flow and thereby help the entire economy grow.But you see when there is a direct correspondence between money and something of real value, it is not possible to create money out of nothing, money that has no real value associated with it. And that means that even though the money supply can grow, the value of money is not degraded, for you still only have the money needed to buy goods and services.

And therefore, in a spiritual economy, you can actually have a society that has a steadily growing economy and a steady increase in the money supply without actually having an increase in the prices of goods and services. For why would we need an increase, when you do not have excess money that has no correspondence to real value? You still only have the amount of money needed to exchange goods and services, which means that the value of the money – what you can buy for that money – will remain constant.

For an example of a correct use of the money system, we need to look no further than the colonial economy prior to the revolutionary war. During this time, Ben Franklin gave a speech before British Parliament where he outlined the remarkable prosperity of the American colonies. He attributed this economic success primarily to the fact that there was only enough money printed to make the transfer of goods and services possible.

Franklin remarked: “In the Colonies we issue our own money…in proper proportion to make the products pass easily from the producers to the consumers. In this manner, creating ourselves our own paper money, we control its purchasing power, and we have no interest to pay to no one.”

During his speech, he maintained that there was very little unemployment, the public was well educated and the people were happy. The British were stunned and even outraged upon hearing this news and in response, quickly imposed their dysfunctional economic system (run by a Central bank) upon the colonies. The predictable result was that in a very short time the colonies experienced an inevitable economic decline. Franklin himself cited the imposition of the British money system as among the primary causes of the revolutionary war.

Although the success was short lived, it did demonstrate that an economy could prosper based on principles mentioned above. Certainly the Americans were industrious and ingenious and thus their efforts were multiplied accordingly. Secondly, they only printed enough money – called Colonial script – to grease the wheels of the economy – and no more. Thus there were no cycles of inflation and recession because there was not the intervention of the elite to create the conditions for such aberrations of the natural economic order to occur. Here we had the makings of an economy that was of the people, by the people, and for the people as opposed to of the elite, by the elite and for the elite. So how did the elite manage to create the economic conditions that benefit them to the total disregard of others?

Undermining the money system
Although the power elite have had their influence and grip on society throughout all recorded history, it is helpful to begin this discussion of the modern economic system during the middle ages and the feudal society.

In those days, the power elite were able to suppress and control the people through physical coercion. Anyone who rebelled against the system found themselves against the strong arm of unjust laws. Here, instead of multiplying their own talents, the people were basically slaves who worked so the nobility could maintain their privileged status. The power elite designed the system in such a way to reap the rewards of other people’s labor – basically reaping without sowing and thus stealing from the people. They were also in the mindset of getting something for nothing. Both of these conditions – reaping the reward of other people’s labor and wanting something for nothing – are two primary perversions of the natural economy and the money system that continues to this day. Essentially the power elite in that day as in the present see the people as worker bees whose main purpose is to provide them with lifestyle, shall we say, of the rich and famous.

Creating money out of nothing
Although this unjust system was in place for centuries, from the power elite’s perspective, there was a fundamental flaw in its design. Namely, when people are physically forced into a type of slavery they can’t help noticing that they are in fact enslaved. This will inevitably lead to rebellion and eventually did lead to the undoing of the system. The elite eventually recognized that it was far better for them to enslave people in such a way that they don’t notice that they are enslaved. And so this is what they did.

Centuries ago when the European kings began to go to war against each other, they realized they didn’t have the financial means to do it. So where did they get the money? Well around the same time, a concurrent but related development evolved which served the kings purposes. This development came from the fact that gold smiths (merchants who stored gold for a fee) in that day began lending out the gold in their reserves. They soon discovered that it was highly unlikely that all the gold in their reserves would ever be lent out at the same time – so they began to secretly lend out more gold than they actually had in their reserves and charging interest on it as well. This eventually led to writing promissory paper notes against these reserves which became the forerunners of the modern economic system known as fractional reserve banking.

Knowing that the kings needed money to finance their wars, these financiers convinced the kings to solve their financial problem and finance their wars by taking out loans from them. The loans themselves consisted of money that these financiers created out of nothing. What’s more, on the advice of these money changers, the king declared that this new money created out of nothing – or fiat money or money by decree – needed to be accepted by the king’s subjects as legal tender.

The result was that there was now more money in circulation than was needed to facilitate the transfer of goods and services. There was no longer a one to one correspondence between money and something of real value. The effect of this is that prices invariably go up - for three primary reasons:

1. There is now more money chasing after the same amount of things of value.
2. The first to receive the newly printed money - the power elite - bid up the prices of commodities as they compete for them while prices are still relatively lower.
3. The money changers charge interest on money created out nothing which can be viewed as an added tax on all commodities purchased through the loans.

The devaluation of the people’s labor
The problem with this back then which has continued to this day is that the effect that too much money in circulation disassociated from something of real value is that the value of the people’s labor is degraded. This is because when the price of goods and services goes up, people still only work x number of hours for x amount of dollars. So at the end of the day, their money simply doesn’t buy what it did before there was the influx of money into the system. This is why people have to work harder and harder just to make ends meet. They don’t understand why this is happening, they only know that their money doesn’t stretch like it used to and so they have to roll up their sleeves and work harder just to stay afloat.

So this is how the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. The rich are the first to get the newly printed money before prices increase and before these increases filter through the economy and effects the prices of all goods and services. This gives the power elite the advantage of purchasing commodities at lower prices than the rest of us enabling them to acquire more and more while the people struggle for a smaller and smaller portion of the pie. So essentially what what has been going on for centuries is a hidden but nonetheless massive redistribution of wealth from the poor and middle class to the weathiest of the wealthy. Americans tend to get up in arms, and rightly so I might add, when socialists attempt to forcibly redistribute the wealth from rich to the poor. However, few protest when it is the other way around, as it has been for hundreds if not thousands of years on this planet.

War and hidden taxes
So this increase in prices and the degradation of the value of the people’s labor was and remains to this day a hidden tax on the people to accomplish the objectives of the power elite. This is how most of the wars for the last several hundred years have been financed. If the leaders went to the people and told them they would have to be taxed to finance their wars, the people would likely revolt and the taxes would not be levied and wars would not be fought. Yet because the tax is disguised as inflation, the people don’t notice they are being taxed because it doesn’t appear on their tax bill or paycheck. They only notice they have to work harder and harder for less and less – then the power elite have a far better chance of getting them to not only finance their wars, but to fight in them as well.

For example, do you think in 2003 if George Bush would have went to the people and told them that everyone in the United States would be taxed, say, $2,000 to finance the war in Iraq – a war that many people were unsure about – that the people would have approved this? Not likely. So instead of taxing the people, the power elite (in the form of the US government) simply fired up the money machine and created money out of nothing to finance the Iraq war as they have done for hundreds of years.

In fact, if you want to look for the driving engine behind wars, follow the money trail. If you do, you’ll see that in most cases wars are funded by banks are other financiers who often times fund both sides of any given conflict. For example, although there was supposed to be a great ideological divide between capitalism and communism, it is a not so well known fact that the Bolshevik revolution and the subsequent build up of the Soviet army (as well as the US military build up in response) was funded in part by Wall Street and other powerful interests in the West.

And when it comes to war, the power elite are able to convince the people to fight them because of some supposed differences over ideology, race, religion, land, politics, resources etc, but it is always the people who fight the wars and not the elite. Most wars are in fact, the result of infighting among the power elite where a dominant elite is being challenged by one or more aspiring elite groups or when any of them want to expand their power over the people. The power elite use the age old strategy of divide and conquer to get the people to fight their wars for them. Once again, the people suffer at the expense of the elite’s gain. And the people doubly suffer because ultimately war cannot produce something of value it only destroys something of value, e.g., the destruction of people lives, their livelihoods, their land, property, means of production, culture and entire way of life.

Another advantage for the elite is that when they fund wars, they know that governments are willing to spend far more to achieve their ends then when not at war. Once again, when war is on the horizon, follow the money trail and you’ll often find the true cause behind most military conflicts.

And of course there are many occasions where the elite create money of nothing to fund government programs that are not war related. In that case the dynamic is the same; the people pay a hidden tax when the government does not want to tax us directly thereby stealing from the people the value of their labor. For example, where do you think the money came from for the recent stimulus package, or for that matter the financial bailout of Wall Street? It of course came in the usual manner of rolling the printing presses and then charging interest on the money created out of nothing which has the inevitable inflationary effect of devaluing the people’s labor and purchasing power.

Underwriting the dysfunctional economy
One would think that if the power elite consistently created money out of nothing that the resulting inflation would eventually make all money virtually worthless. This has in fact happened in the last century in pre-Nazi German and later in Argentina where it took a wheelbarrow full of money to buy goods. The money wasn’t worth the paper on which it was printed proved by the fact that some even burned it for fuel. Incidentally, during the 1800’s and for 100 years thereafter Argentina relied on a gold standard to back their money supply and never had these problems. It was only when they switched to a fiat based money system that they did experience the severe inflation and the devaluation of people’s labor.

Yet for the most part, the western economies have managed to avoid this calamity (though with far less abundance then there could be) essentially because it is the hard working people who have, so to speak, underwritten the money system of the power elite. What has happened is that regular people, those who do not believe in getting something for nothing, have actually multiplied their talents and have thereby have managed to keep the power elite’s economy limping along to a greater or lesser degree.

So through the multiplication of our talents, we have all been underwriting or you might say enabling the power elite’s economy and thus it hasn’t totally collapsed. And if it weren’t for this fact, this economy would have done so centuries ago. This is because the greed of the elite who control the money supply and policy will not stop until they have killed the goose that laid the golden egg – which is the industry, creativity and ingenuity of the people.

The Federal Reserve – of the elite, by the elite and for the elite
In one sense, the history of the United States is the story of who controls the money supply – the people or the elite. Although America had the historical example of unrivaled success of the colonial economy, with the influence of Alexander Hamilton and financier Robert Morris, they chose to implement a system that incorporated a strong central bank as the backbone of the economy. This despite the fact that the Constitution stipulates that only Congress should have the power to print money. To me this was an effort by the framers of our constitution to ensure accountability to the people inasmuch as they are represented by Congress. Yet the United States nevertheless sided with the banking interests in forming their monetary policy. This virtually ensured that at least to the degree that banks and special interests were unaccountable; they would most assuredly manipulate the supply of money for their own selfish purposes.

Prior to 1913 however, there wasn’t a Central bank quite like the Federal Reserve. In fact, the control of the money supply went back and forth eight times between the bankers and the government before to this date. There was in fact the first National Bank of America founded in 1790, the same year that the European monopolist banker Mayer Amschel Roschild boldly declared: “Give me control of a nation’s money and I care not who makes the laws.” This system had the predictable effect of causing cycles of inflation and recession.

The Central bank was in power up until the time of Andrew Jackson who after great political battles in the 1830’s was able to root out of the Central bank and return the power of creating money to the government. During this fight for the money supply, the gold standard was put in place to a certain degree and did have some positive effect on balancing the economy. Even so, the fiat system was still the primary method used to create money as the Central banks still had significant reigns on the economy even if they weren’t officially sanctioned by the US government. This of course resulted in a number of economic downturns and debacles, including but not limited to the following:

Panic of 1797-1800
Depression of 1807-1804
Panic of 1837-1843
Panic of 1857-1860
Panic of 1873-1879
Panic of 1893 -1896
Panic of 1907-1908

Supposedly, the Federal Reserve was created to prevent these economic meltdowns. Yet since it’s inception in 1913, we have seen the following:

Recession of 1920 -1921
Great Depression of 1929 -1939
Recession of 1953
Recession of 1973 -1975 during the oil crisis
And of course the crash of 2008

It’s obvious that the Fed has failed to live up to its goal of preventing such calamities. So what is the Federal Reserve and what are its real purposes?

First off, we need to understand that the Federal Reserve is not Federal and it really has no reserves. From its inception the Fed has been and still is a consortium of unelected private bankers – whose identities are largely unknown - who are therefore unanswerable to the people. I’m sure you’ve noticed, for example that no one cast a vote to make Alan Greenspan or Barnard Bernanke chairmen of the Federal Reserve as this is an appointed position.

There are no reserves in that there is no backing for the money that the Fed creates out of nothing. The only backing is the implicit promissory note of American people to keep multiplying their efforts to keep the money machine afloat. The only backing is the perpetual burden of taxation placed on the American people to fill its coffers with money. For without their effort and these taxes, the Fed and the entire economic system would surely collapse under its own corruption.

It was brought into being by a secret meeting of private bankers and politicians on Jekyll Island in Georgia and later stealthily slipped through legislature on December 23rd 1913 when most representatives had gone home for the holidays. In fact there wasn’t even a quorum present when it passed the Senate.

So the entire enterprise was based on a deception of the American people. And as I said, it really is not a branch of the government. In reality, the Federal Reserve is an instrument of the power elite that serves three main purposes:

1. To enforce the fiat money system where money is created out of nothing, lent to the Federal Government, the interest of which is then placed on the backs of the American taxpayers.
2. To control the money supply and thereby control the people.
3. To prop up the major banks and protect them from risky investments.

All of these purposes have the effect of keeping the power elite in a superior status and keeping the people toiling for their bread. It is important to note that all money currently in circulation is created by the Federal Reserve. And the Fed – which is again a consortium of private bankers – makes enormous profits off of the interest they charge for printing our money. The money the US taxpayers owe to the Fed is the national debt that we keep hearing about. The Fed does not care if we ever pay off the debt they just want the magic money machine to keep rolling so they can keep making off the interest they charge us for creating money out of nothing.

The Fed controls the money supply by tightening and loosening lines of credit to business and the public. In times when money is more freely available, people multiply their talents, the economy expands and businesses thrive for a time. When the reigns of credit are tightened however, businesses fold and people lose their jobs. The Fed and the elite profit in either scenario. In good times they make money off the interest paid to the money machine. Yet in hard times, the elite are right there to buy up the lost businesses at bottom bargain prices and thereby expand their control over the people and the economy.

Relatively few people today are aware of the Fed’s negative influence as the power elite now controls much of the major media where people get there information. Yet this has not always been the case. The following are quotes from prominent citizens regarding the role of Central banks in the economy.

If the American People allow private banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the People of all their Property until their Children will wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered.
- Thomas Jefferson

"I sincerely believe, with you, that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies; and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale."
- Thomas Jefferson.

You are a den of vipers and thieves. I intend to rout you out, and by the Eternal God, I will rout you out... If people only understood the rank injustice of the money and banking system, there would be a revolution by morning.
- Andrew Jackson

"The money power preys upon the nation in times of peace & conspires against it in times of war. It is more despotic than monarchy, more insolent than autocracy, more selfish than bureaucracy. It denounces, as public enemies, all who even question its methods or throw light upon its crimes. I have two great enemies, the Southern Army in front of me & the financial institutions at the rear; the latter is my greatest foe.
- President Abraham Lincoln

"It is well that the people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning."
- Henry Ford

"We have, in this country, one of the most corrupt institutions the world has ever known. I refer to the Federal Reserve Board. This evil institution has impoverished the people of the United States and has practically bankrupted our government. It has done this through the corrupt practices of the moneyed vultures that control it." - Congressman Louis T. McFadden in 1932 (Rep. Pa)

"By this means government may secretly and unobserved, confiscate the wealth of the people and not one man in a million will detect the theft."
- British Lord John Maynard Keynes

"The financial system has been turned over to the Federal Reserve Board. That Board administers the finance system by authority of a purely profiteering group. The system is Private, conducted for the sole purpose of obtaining the greatest possible profits from the use of other people's money"
-Charles A. Lindbergh Sr., 1923

"All the perplexities, confusion and distresses in America arise not from defects in the constitution or confederation, nor from want of honor or virtue, as much from downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit, and circulation - John Adams

"Whoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of all industry and commerce."-James A. Garfield

I cannot emphasize enough how important it is for the American people to understand how our economy works and how the Federal Reserve and the power elite are stealing the wealth of the people. Even as I’m writing this, the headlines read that the Fed has recently spent over 4 trillion dollars in bailing out the financial elite in this country. This will have the predictable inflationary effect of putting too much money into circulation that has no correspondence to something of value. Unless something is done quickly, the Fed, out of their greed and their need to keep the elite in a position of superiority, will bankrupt America.

We need to take back the money supply from the elite and give it to the people where it belongs. We need to overcome our idolatry of the elite and recognize the power of God in each of us. God can and will turn around the economy but it won’t be by a blinding flash of a miracle from the sky but through multiplying our illumined efforts in creating a balanced and sustainable economy by utilizing right principles.

For these interested in a far more detailed and thorough analysis of the Federal Reserve then provided here, I would highly encourage you to watch the following video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7757684583209015812&hl=en

The causes of current economic crisis
While the fiat money system is the major instrument for the manipulation of money supply and can therefore be considered a meta-cause of our economic ills, I would say that the current crisis was precipitated by more local factors consisting of a combination of greed, arrogance and fear.

The problem basically is that many of the elite (and also many of the people in general) want to get something for nothing. They are all hoping that a minimal investment will produce a large return. This is essentially the gambling consciousness where everyone wants to win the big prize by investing relatively small sums of money compared to the sum of the prize. The trouble is, of course that in gambling only a few can win the big prize because if everyone won it the gambling industries would all go under.

So investors were essentially gambling on their investments – and these investments were largely held in debt based products derived from the mortgage industry. A few years ago, a number of new financial products hit the market that went almost entirely unregulated by the government (due to intense lobbying in Congress by many large financial institutions). The products, termed “derivatives” because they were derived from the reselling of debt (primarily mortgage based) leveraged across a variety of complex financial instruments.

The trouble is, as recently corroborated by the G-20 economic summit, the risks on these debts were hidden and while large profits were taken on them, these debts eventually came home to roost because the risk could not be adequately assessed, even by the elite. So what essentially drove the investors was greed and the idea that they could get something for virtually nothing. And that nothing really consisted of the mortgage debts which essentially came from money created out of nothing. Arrogance played a role as these financial institutions thought they had the sophistication to adequately assess the risk when they obviously did not.

So what inevitably happens when greed goes too far and things begin to collapse is that the polar opposite of fear rears its’ head. Fear then drives the investors and stakeholders to begin pulling out their investments when the financial industries start to go south. What we need to realize, however, is that all these psychological conditions of greed, arrogance and fear and the concept of lack itself are all illusions which only exist as a result of mankind believing in the ultimate illusion that we are in fact separate from God.

It is only when we realize as Jesus said long ago that the kingdom of God is within us that we can remove the beam of separation and all the psychological baggage that comes with it from our individual and collective psyches and begin to heal ourselves of all illusions including the illusion that only the elite can run the economy. For surely God can and will inspire the economy but it is only when each of us makes ourselves the open doors through which divine light and ideas can flow that this will occur. Again, we must not passively wait for a miracle to occur as each of us needs to become the miracle and then the economic ship of this nation as well as the world will be righted.

Monopolies and the proper role of government in the economy
The power elite not only control our economy through monopolizing the money supply but through acquiring vast monopolies in the business sector as well. We need to realize that we cannot have a truly free economy when other businesses are not free to compete against large corporations. If one or a handful of corporations control 90% or more of the market share in any sector of the economy, how can any smaller company effectively compete against that? And if there is not competition, what incentive is there for corporations to reduce prices? And so we see that not only is the value of our labor and spending power being degraded through the fiat money system of the elite, but our pocketbooks are further emptied through the high prices that many monopolist industries charge for their products and services.

Now before I continue, it should be noted that in last 15 years or so, there has been enormous influx of relatively cheap goods coming into America from China and as well as various third world countries. This has given Americans and other Western nations the illusion of prosperity where no real prosperity exists. This has the effect of lulling the West to sleep believing that all is well in the economy, which as the dramatic events of the past few months have shown, nothing could be further from the truth.

There is also the added problem that these cheap goods are being bought for a price. And the price is the welfare of the workers who produce these goods. For as everyone knows, most of the workers are paid sub standard, near poverty level if not slave wages and therefore when the West purchases these goods we end up subsidizing the injustices done to these workers by the power elite in those countries. This is clearly not a sustainable system. We must know that the universe acts like a mirror and so it will inevitably return the effects of the unjust conditions of our brother and sisters to our doorstep - some of the effects of which we may be witnessing today.

Returning to monopolies, the history of United States is unfortunately replete with them. From the railroads, to the steel mills, to the auto industry, to the energy companies and now technology companies (ever wonder, for example, why one software company has their operating system installed on 99% of the world’s computers?), gigantic corporations have been allowed through certain government regulations, to gain an unjust hold on market shares and after that no regulation is needed as these companies can effectively undercut all other potential competitors through the control of the market share and all the subsidiary industries and suppliers that feed it.

Again, free competition is the enemy of monopolies so the latter will do all they can to stomp it out. Therefore, the government can play a legitimate role in regulating industry and trade in such a way that no single company is allowed to obtain more than a certain amount of the share of a particular market. Now, there are some anti-trust laws on the books but these are typically either ignored or circumvented altogether by the large corporations. We need to tighten these rules and enforce them in such a way as to create a level playing field where all can compete. And when we do, not only will consumers get better products, but they will get them at better prices due to the competition among businesses who are given a fair chance to compete.

Look what happened in the 1970’s when the Bell telephone monopoly was broken up by the Supreme Court. Many new companies emerged and phone rates were by and large dramatically reduced. However, this safeguard against this particular industry was not sustained as today we are also faced with virtual monopolies by the likes of AT&T and a few others.

This means we need to be vigilant for as we know, perpetual vigilance is the price of freedom. This also means that the media needs to reform and start playing a far greater role in all of this again, as today they are basically the lapdog of the elite and not the watch dog that will sound the cry of alarm when such shenanigans and crimes in high places occur. If you don’t believe me, when have you ever heard any of what I have discussed in this article in the popular dominant media? My guess is almost never. When have you ever heard a criticism of the Federal Reserve by any major newspaper or major media outlet? Of course you haven’t because these outlets are controlled by the elite. Government can play an important role here by regulating what percent of any medial outlet can be owned by a single or corporate conglomerate.

The government needs to also play a role in regulating financial products. New products that enter the market need to be vetted for viability and risk and if the risk is too high or they threaten the stability of the entire economy then they should not be allowed on the market. The present crisis that stemmed from the derivatives based on housing market debt could have been averted if these products would have first been assessed using the above criteria.

So in a modern economy it is clear that government must play a major role to prevent the system from collapsing as well as helping the entire economy grow by it’s insistence on sound economic practices. This means that we need men and women of wisdom, honor and intelligence to step up into roles in the government. I believe there are indeed people with these qualities that God has prepared and are so to speak, waiting in the wings. And so part of our job as citizens is to help find these individuals and raise them up and then put pressure on the government to involve such people in the day to day governmental operations and decision making regarding affairs of the economy.

But ultimately, a government can rise no higher than the people who elect it. And, inasmuch as the government is a reflection of the people – and we get the government we deserve – we need to rise higher to deserve better. Therefore it behooves us all to raise our consciousness regarding spiritual matters and from this knowledge about economic matters as well.

And while on the subject of control, it must be recognized that very few people in this country are learning about the history of money and it’s manipulation in our nation’s schools. If we are to be and remain a free people, we must be an enlightened people. This will only come about when parents demand that children stop being programmed in the mediocrity of the mass consciousness which encourages students to blindly accept every lie spoon fed them by the powers that be. Parents must insist that children be properly educated about the economy and government in the schools or remove them from these schools altogether as many Americans have already done.

Conclusions
For surely it is the Father’s good pleasure to give us the abundant life – but we need to reach for it and multiply our understanding and love that the Father may multiply our own efforts to produce the abundant life here on earth. Clearly, God is infinite and so is God’s abundance. There is more than enough for all, we just need to bring it into manifestation by making ourselves aware of spiritual principles and how the abrogation of these principles have produced an economic slavery in modern society that far surpasses that of the Israelites who toiled in the land of Egypt.

Let us all demand that our government follow sound economic principles, many of which are outlined here. Let us rise above the consciousness that we need an elite group to run our economy when we know that the power of God can run the economy through us. You can't solve a problem in the same state of consciousness that created the problem. Therefore, we must entirely rethink how our economy is run and tear down the towers of Babel erected by the elite and replace it with the rock of Christ principles. When we do so, we will once again have an economy and a government that fulfills Lincoln’s vision so eloquently expressed over a century ago - that is truly of the people, by the people and for the people.