I have so many criticisms against my church but I can’t believe Neale Donald Walsch would so openly identify the Catholic Church as the religion that “had God all wrong.” He stated that, “… readiness for a new paradigm, a new understanding, a larger view, a grander idea “is the purpose of his books Conversations with God.

Rabbi Darfour has a milder statement: “We need to fuse the disciplines of critical thinking and the results of historical knowledge and scientific truth with our desire to believe in and relate to that which is part of as yet apart from us.”

“The tools of biblical criticism, archaeology, and modern-day cosmology were not yet available to biblical scholars, theologians, and religious historians. Now they are, and because they are, science and religion no longer need to repudiate each other to justify themselves. Instead, they can complement each other. The science of the cosmos can indeed strengthen if not confound, the faith of the believer.”

For a couple of days I spent quiet time mourning the loss of my Cecile B. DeMille’s parting of the Red Sea; according to Rabbi Darfour”s research, The Red Sea was too shallow a body of water to cause the pursuing soldiers to drown. The point of the story was to show how our powerful God saved His people. Many biblical stories used literary exaggerations
to effectively bring across a point.

I don’t have enough knowledge of biblical criticism , nor do I know enough of archaeology. I have read much about cosmology but I don’t think it is enough. My Theology of 24 college units is so ancient. But I can’t stop wishing that before I die I may hear from our pope new statements, new interpretations of the nature of man and of sin.

According to Ronald Mann:…”the spiritually wise and awakened being knows that subtle spiritual forces control and direct all of creation.”

The above has inspired me not to rush and fix circumstances. It has given me a certain peace; after all I was reminded by a very good friend when I was still teaching at SJDDios College: “Be still and know that I am God.” Though my faith is not as strong as hers I have learned to trust that God is in control..

I interpret subtle spiritual forces as the energy that springs from my prayers. Together with the Law of Attraction, these subtle forces draw to me the circumstances that match the energy of my thoughts and emotions. It helps that foryears I have tried to tame my negative emotions of fear and guilt. It also helps when I pray joyfully. I have learned o believe a childhood, pious statement from a nun that joyful prayers are carried faster by the wings of angels. It doesn’t bother me that several books have debunked the belief that angels have wings.That’s God’s problem ,not mine.

Recently, from “Zen Limits” by Joe Vitale I learned the Ho’oponopono prayer which has helped me to surrender cases clearly beyond me. When my brother-in-law died inspite of our prayers I immediately shifted my prayers for his loved ones especially my youngest sister. We were extremely saddened but deep down we experienced peace.

It takes Faith to entrust to God circumstances which otherwise would have left me frustrated or depressed. Somebody posted on Facebook: “Faith is having peace when you don’t have the answer.”
Another posted: “I will open my mind and my heat to believe that God is loving and trust my loving higher power to do for me what I can’t do.”

According to Ronald Mann:…”the spiritually wise and awakened being knows that subtle spiritual forces control and direct all of creation.”

The above has inspired me not to rush and fix circumstances. It has given me a certain peace; after all I was reminded by a very good friend when I was still teaching at SJDDios College: “Be still and know that I am God.” Though my faith is not as strong as hers I have learned to trust that God is in control..

I interpret subtle spiritual forces as the energy that springs from my prayers. Together with the Law of Attraction, these subtle forces draw to me the circumstances that match the energy of my thoughts and emotions. It helps that foryears I have tried to tame my negative emotions of fear and guilt. It also helps when I pray joyfully. I have learned o believe a childhood, pious statement from a nun that joyful prayers are carried faster by the wings of angels. It doesn’t bother me that several books have debunked the belief that angels have wings.That’s God’s problem ,not mine.

Recently, from “Zen Limits” by Joe Vitale I learned the Ho’oponopono prayer which has helped me to surrender cases clearly beyond me. When my brother-in-law died inspite of our prayers I immediately shifted my prayers for his loved ones especially my youngest sister. We were extremely saddened but deep down we experienced peace.

It takes Faith to entrust to God circumstances which otherwise would have left me frustrated or depressed. Somebody posted on Facebook: “Faith is having peace when you don’t have the answer.”
Another posted: “I will open my mind and my heat to believe that God is loving and trust my loving higher power to do for me what I can’t do.”

From “Natural Wakefulness”:  “Communities of celebration evoke and then bask in the joy of human togetherness.”

This we experienced las November 10 and again last December 15 at our favorite eatery, Chickboy at Harrison Plaza. We enjoyed togetherness with what has emerged as a kind of core group for the drumming session facilitated by Francis Gspar. Friends of kindred spirit but certainly of diverse personalities celebrated the transformational joy of community. Personalities like the happy sisters Oding and Beng; the couple from China Banking Marivic and Rois; Val from SJDDios; Emil and myself and our adopted son Marc Co. Not to be forgotten is Bernice,the wife of Francis.

Gaylon Ferguson continued:  We share a common ground with our sisters and brothers, and the ground is a space for music and dance, for festivals and ritual gatherings. Communal feasts are the practice of great joy, looking up toward the space of heaven, down to the practicalities of earth, and the horizontally at the family of basic goodness . Through this practice of meditative awareness in action, natural wakefulness blossoms as enlightened society.

It is in our self-interest as individuals and as people in a community to review our reading skills. At age 70 I find it necessary to engage with social media if only to survive by learning new coping skills.

It is not only the new vocabulary. I have to familiarize myself with more often than not with the nuances of the ideas. Notwithstanding my many years of analyzing print media and teaching literary appreciation I know I have yet to learn so much.

Take for example one Facebook post about a shampoo.

Many people use shampoo in the shower. However, when doing so the shampoo runs down

the body. Printed clearly on the shampoo label

“For extra body and volume”

No wonder people gain weight

I must confess, that for just a second I was fooled. I had gotten used to reading posts about important alerts about dangerous taxi drivers, the dangers of drinking thawed cold mineral water from the plastic bottles, immigration officers tearing pages from passports etc I intently paid attention to that shampoo post.

The lesson for me is to follow a standard Buddhist warning not to believe everything that one is told but to test things for one’s self.