CHAPTER 1

TRUTH

You do not have to prove anything. You do not have to provethat you are a man or prove your self worth. We are all worthy.Money does not prove your worth. Being born into a certain familydoes not prove your self worth. Being white, black, yellow or red, doesnot prove your self worth. Being Jewish, American, Irish etc. just tellswhat part of the world you came from or your ancestors came from. Itdoes not prove your self worth.

We are all on loan to each other from God. We are here to givelove, service and support to each other through out our journey in thislife. It is not by accident that we share our lives with family, friendsand acquaintances. All of these people are in our lives for a reason. It isimportant that we are there for those that need us but I must cautionyou. If you find yourself in a situation where you give and give and stillit is not enough, the truth is what you give is not what is needed. Donot give and give until you give yourself away. There are times when wemust put their problems into the hands of God and step away becausewe may be a part of their problem. Make them know they are lovedand valued by you. Also that you are there for mental support but thatis all that you can do.

This is a truth that is so important for everyone. Never allow anyoneto mistreat you mentally or physically. If they do not honor you, do notallow them in your space. No one can hurt you mentally or emotionallywithout your permission. Only you can give them the power to hurtyou and only you can take it away. Divorce yourself emotionally andphysically from people or incidents that cause harm to you. That is notwhat your life is about.

Are other people's choices being forced upon you? Everyone mustaccept responsibility for their own actions. After all it is their life, notyours. Why should you pay the price for their errors in judgment? Iftheir choice causes harm to them and intrudes into your life, do notaccept or allow this. Why should your life be unhappy because of theirwrong doing? If you want to help them, then make them see wherethey made their mistake and help them to understand they must takeresponsibility for their own actions. So long as it does not enter into yourlife and you stay strong and peaceful. Otherwise walk away. Your lifeand your choices are what is important and foremost. Sometimes youhelp others by helping yourself. How much help can you be to someoneif you allow your life to become troubled by other people? Ask God tocome into the situation to provide healing and bring peace. Don't youplay God. Believe me you could not do the part justice. Turn everythingover to God and get out of the way.

All people are the same. The difference is the degree of education andexperience. The more education, the higher the level of knowledge. If youseek to better yourself, you will use your intelligence and drive to furtheryour education, all the days of your life. Experience is also educational.Some people learn by doing instead of books and instruction. The bestis learning both ways but learn any way that you can. Seek knowledgeanywhere you happen to be. The place where you are vulnerable is yourlevel of understanding. Never be satisfied with what you already know.It is what you don't know that can hurt you.

I have never known one person that has not made mistakes. I don'tbelieve that perfect person exists. You must correct every mistake youmake as soon as you recognize the error. Because the longer you taketo correct your misjudgment, the harder it will be on you. One mistakeif not corrected will lead to another and another and another etc. Themore mistakes the more unhappiness and pain will be leveled on toyou. So you will know from whence I speak, what I call errors, mistakesin judgments, you call sins. If these mistakes are allowed to stand andmultiply you become more at risk to correct. Some people can't findtheir way out, they get into such a mess. They can't see clearly and don'tknow what to do. They think it cannot be set right. It is good to askfor forgiveness to make it known that you know where, how and whatyou did wrong. You must follow up with action that will make thingsright. Then and only then can you go forward in your life. There is noeasy way out. You cannot escape karma. You are held responsible foryour actions. You will make mistakes, we all do. Deal with mistakes,yours and others with love. Do the right thing.

What we believe is our own reality. If you believe something to betrue, then you make it real. Your internal reality is your truth and thatis what you are about. That is you.

You are the combination of all the choices and things that you havechosen to believe. It does not matter if you are wrong or that others donot believe, that is their reality and who they are. Anyway you are justas likely to be right as they are. Your truth is your truth, their truth istheirs. Weigh everything and look at it closely before you take it for yourown. One and one make two all around the earth.

If there is one message I would like to get across, that I feel willsave a lot of grief for many is this. What is, IS. What isn't, IS NOT. Weare inclined to see people and things as we wish they were, not as theyare. We would rather stick our heads in the sand and pretend. Playinglet's pretend is fine for children that know it isn't real but there is noplace on this planet for a grownup to hide from the truth. I don't carehow ugly the truth is look straight at it, call it what it is and spit in thedevil's eye.

Why do bad things happen to good people? My answer is, becauseit can. Why did this truly wonderful person get cancer and die? Becausecancer is an equal opportunity for anyone and everyone. Some peopleask. for it by smoking, drinking and staying out in the sun, knowing allthese things can cause cancer. And then again, others do none of thesethings and still get cancer. They get it because they can.

Why do innocent God loving people meet such horrible murderousdeaths? Because they were at the wrong place at the wrong time or theright place at the right time to be killed. Because it could happen anddid. Any and all bad things happen because they can. I don't ask why.I ask how can we protect against the bad things. My common sensetells me by making a conscious choice to guard against things thatcould happen in any given situation, the best that we can. But eventhen we don't always have the foresight to cover all bases and it canstill happen.

Our hindsight tells us, if only but nothing can bring back life that islost or cure a disease that is incurable. Nor can we restore sight to eyesthat are blind or make paralyzed limbs to feel, walk and work again asthey did before an injury.

Bad things happen because they can. No-one gets a pass, it happensand all we can do is live or die with as much dignity and grace as wecan muster and accept the situation. It doesn't help to whale and screamat God asking why. God didn't do it. Again I will tell you, it happenedbecause it could.

You know life is about choices and we are where we are at this verymoment because of the choices we have made. Some people mightcall them opportunities. They also say, opportunity knocks only once.That is not true. Opportunity knocks many times on your door. It isup to us whichever we want, to open the door or keep it closed. Someopportunities we want to keep the door locked, slammed shut, withbolts on! Those choices are the ones that could cause harm to ourselvesor others. That includes physical, mental or emotional harm. Sometimesthe heart can be hurt worse than if it had a physical attack, Always stopand ask yourself if I do this, what could be the consequences to me orsomeone else. Don't just think of yourself because we are each connectedto one another. If we cause another harm, then we will not be happyand we could become disconnected from our higher power. At the veryleast cause a shortage. Think before you act. That is the difference inbeing mature or immature. I have known people that were mature atten and others who are in their latter years who act as if they were ten.Whatever you do, do it with love and you can't be far wrong.

There is another truth that I learned and that is you do not have tostruggle to succeed. No, when you cease to struggle and relax, that iswhen you start to succeed. If you must fight to accomplish anything,stop and think this might not be what you were meant to do. There arereasons for everything. Maybe all the problems that are being put inyour way are trying to tell you something. Think about it.

You don't have to speak a word to tell the world who you are. It isn'twhat you do not have, it is what you do have that talks. The things youown and have around you, the people you hold close, they all tell yourstory for you. The home you live in tells it's story about you. The car youdrive tells another story about you. The clothes you wear has a tale to tellalso. The husband or wife you chose tells their version too. Your friendstell who you are. The things you do that brings you pleasure speaks veryloudly about you. No one has to guess who you are, your story is toldeveryday. When any one of these things change, your story also changes.If you like your story keep it, if not change it. Create a new truth aboutyou. Our lives are just tiny pieces of time. Our lives can be counted orwasted. It is all in the choices we make that says who we are.

We portray many emotions in our lives and only we know whichones are real. We just have to guess and trust in our instincts aboutothers. They usually give good clues, all those things we discussed beforethat tell their story but they may be the bad guy disguised as the good.That is the role they play in this life. Sometimes we don't know who weare and we can be led on the right or wrong path. Your life is your storyand you tell it everyday. We are all actors and actresses. We play manyroles. Sometimes the good guy and sometimes the bad but we are onstage every waking hour. This life and who we are is our show and weare the star. We were made to shine.

You aren't your job, you aren't your education, you aren't even whoyou were yesterday. You are who you want to be. We are all just peoplewho happen to be here on earth, trying to do the best we can.

Why can't we love one another as brothers and sisters? Why can't wehelp each other to do and be? Nobody is better than the other, we areall made the same, flesh and blood. We all came here the same way andwe will all leave the same way. There are not different doors for anyone.Why can't we care, support and be a comfort to one another? Why dowe wage war on each other? What is wrong with the human race thatwe treat each other so badly? This is almost an unanswerable question.For the lack of an answer some have blamed it on the devil. God forbidthat we should put the blame where it belongs, on ourselves. If the devildid it, then we are the devil.

Just because someone doesn't look like us, think like us or live likeus, this does not mean that they are wrong and it does not mean thatwe are wrong. God made us all different and unique so that we wouldlearn from each other. Can you imagine a world with everyone lookingthe same, thinking, feeling and doing the same things? What could youpossibly learn from this and how boring the world would be. Speakingthe same language, knowing only the same things the next person does,no more no less. Looking in the mirror and seeing the same face. Doingthe same things, having the same house, same car, same furniture, sameclothes. No self expression. I think that is as close to madness that Icare to come. I want no part of a crazy world like that. We would all beclones of each other. The world needs diversity, we need diversity. Whowants a world filled with ourselves? None of us can stand sameness forlong. Then we become prisoners of our own minds.

Have you noticed that all races have their own beauty, their ownuniqueness, their own sweetness? We are all beautiful just as Godcreated us. If God had meant for us to be the same he would havecreated one race and no more. All races come from different parts ofthe earth. We have different roots, experiences, different identities andstrengths. We have so much to share and give to one another.

Our whole lives are lived within our minds. Our lives are connectedto each other through our minds. Everything that we have learnedas far as education, has come from someone's mind. Every book everwritten came from someone's mind and this includes the Bible. If youhave a question the answer is somewhere within a book that came fromanother mind. How educated you are depends on how many books youhave read and how much information your mind has retained, howmuch you have learned. All of the world's truths comes from someone'smind. Where did these truths come from in the beginning? There is astream of information that runs through the universe and some are ableto connect with this intelligence to pass on to the rest of us. We eachcome to this earth with our own gifts, our own pieces of the puzzle oflife, our own personalities and family roots. The more our minds joinwith others, the more we share our gifts, our talents, our love with eachother, the richer our lives are and the higher our level of consciousnessbecomes.

We will never know or understand all there is to know. Our livesare too short to experience everything and learn. If we could pool all theknowledge in the world from each life that has been lived and gather allthe information on the experiences of those living today, we would stillnot be anywhere close. Do you know why? Because you won't have theinformation from all the lives that are to come. There is just so muchknowledge out there that we are unable to grasp.

Our minds are like computers, if it isn't programmed with certaininformation then it does not exist. Each of us has specific informationthat the other hasn't. This is because we have lived that experience orhave seen, sometimes heard and believed. Therefore we must teach thisinformation which is our truth to others. The more informed we are,the better teachers we make. Learn everything you can from others andpass it along. Knowledge is something that has to be shared. If you keepit to yourself then it is worthless and has no value to others. It is becausefor them it does not exist and it cannot help you unless you share. Themore information that is given, the more you shall receive. "Ask andit shall be given. Seek and it shall be found. Knock and it shall all beopened up unto you." So says the Bible.

We everyone of us has our own truths. You see each of our mindsperceives the world and everything around, according to our mentalability to reason, to understand and apply our knowledge. We can alsohave varied degrees of beliefs, in some truths. I mean you wouldn't betyour life on some of these truths. You need a sound basis to take anybelief as your own truth into your own reality.

Everything you do bears fruit as to the quality of results from yourbehavior. You are creating and bringing into existence your own heavenor hell on this earth. If it is heaven, you will establish happiness, joy andsecurity in your life. If it is hell, you will constitute situations in yourlife that will be difficult and uncertain as to the outcome and as youalready know a state of physical and mental suffering. This is a truthlearned through experience.

Sometimes we have to learn through anguish and grief but learnwe will. No matter how many times we have to go over the same lessonto master it. This is a very important lesson because this is our levelof understanding and it means the quality of life you are living rightnow and in the future. Every problem you created will haunt you untilcorrected. Our truths are learned through life lessons. When you areliving in your own mess it is time you cleaned it up. If you are living insomeone else's mess, get out. If we learn our truths from our mistakesthen we will come from a higher level of intellectual thinking in thislife we have to use our best judgment.

All of the truths that I have learned has been experiences of life thatare a part of my history. There are many things that I have learned thehard way because I wouldn't listen and learn from others. It is alwaysour choice whichever way we learn, the easy way or the hard way.