Message of hope

A friend emailed this to me, and it is just what I would like to have written

The New Religion of the 21st Century
(From a myspace.com bulletin)

On the surface of the world right now there is war and violence

and things seem dark
But calmly and quietly, at the same time,

something else is happening underground

An inner revolution is taking place and certain individuals are being called to a higher light
It is a silent revolution
From the inside out
From the ground up

It is time for me to reveal myself
I am an embedded agent of an secret, undercover
Clandestine Global operation
A spiritual conspiracy
We have sleeper cells in every nation on the planet

You won't see us on the T.V.
You won't read about us in the newspaper
You won't hear about us on the radio

We don't seek any glory
We don't wear any uniform
We come in all shapes and sizes
Colors and styles

Most of us work anonymously
We are quietly working behind the scenes in every country and culture of the world
Cities big and small, mountains and valleys, in farms and villages, tribes and remote islands

You could pass by one of us on the street and not even notice
We go undercover
We remain behind the scenes
It is of no concern to us who takes the final credit
But simply that the work gets done

Occasionally we spot each other in the street
We give a quiet nod and continue on our way so no one will notice

During the day many of us pretend we have normal jobs
But behind the false storefront at night is where the real work takes a place

Some call us the 'Conscious Army'
We are slowly creating a new world with the power of our minds and hearts
We follow, with passion and joy
Our orders from the Central Command
The Spiritual Intelligence Agency

We are dropping soft, secret love bombs when no one’s is looking
Poems
Hugs
Music
Photography
Movies
Kind words
Smiles
Meditation and prayer
Dance
Social activism
Websites
Blogs
Random acts of kindness

We each express ourselves in our own unique ways with our own unique gifts and talents

'Be the change you want to see in the world'
That is the motto that fills our hearts
We know it is the only way real transformation takes place
We know that quietly and humbly we have the power of all the oceans combined

Our work is slow and meticulous
Like the formation of mountains
It is not even visible at first glance
And yet with it entire tectonic plates shall be moved in the centuries to come

Love is the new religion of the 21st century

You don't have to be a highly educated person
Or have any exceptional knowledge to understand it

It comes from the intelligence of the heart
Embedded in the timeless evolutionary pulse of all human beings

Be the change you want to see in the world
Nobody else can do it for you

We are now recruiting
Perhaps you will join us
Or already have....
All are welcome...
The door is open

-Brian Piergrossi
(From the book 'The Big Glow')

Symbolism of the Cross

I am not comfortable with the idea of an instrument of death as a symbol of Christianity, and I don't believe that is how the symbolism of the cross was intended. Based on my wide readings and my understanding of Christ's message, I think Jesus would have liked us to take the crucifixion in context, as a means of demonstrating the true message - the message of resurrection.

In fact, the focus of Easter in Eastern Orthodox Christianity is not the death of Jesus but His resurrection, with which He demonstrates that when we align ourselves with God, our souls live in His grace. This is symbolised in a lovely tradition where worshipers wait outside the church until midnight when the doors are thrown open, and the resurrection is celebrated with joy and kisses.

But there is more to the meaning of the cross than this, for it is a very rich symbol, and has a much longer history than Christianity.

First, the horizontal axis represents the separation of the spiritual and material realms which occurs in biblical terms in the fall from Eden.

The vertical axis represents the two realms, and the potential movement of the individual soul between them: downward into the material world and upward to spiritual being.

God desires that we seek to raise ourselves above the material, which is the means through which we can consciously experience our own spiritual evolution. Our spiritual task, therefore, is to come through materiality to an awareness of our spiritual selves as part of God. That can only be known in our hearts, represented by the heart of the cross.

The heart of the cross therefore represents the point at which the human being lives in the world as a spiritual being, aligned with and reaching upwards to God while still on earth. To reach this level of consciousness, the individual must sacrifice the the material self and commit to living as a spiritual being on earth.

It is important to understand that Jesus did not tell us to give ourselves to God after death ...He spoke of living waters and the God of the living. Rather, Jesus instructed us to die to our material selves while living, as He did, in order to be reborn as the spiritual self while living, as He was.

So death is not the door to a spiritual life, as some choose to believe: the spiritual life is the one we choose now, in life.

All of this and more is in the symbol of the cross.