have love as well as compassion towards one another.


017See that person next to you? they too have feelings, they also have struggles in life and they have as much importance as you do in the universe. Step outside your “Me, Myself and I” box and realize you are not alone nor are you the center of the universe anymore so than the guy or gal next to you.  Even those élite socialites and so-called alpha males and females that strut around as if they were superior, they too are your equals. They just live in a fantasy where they believe they are better in one fashion or another. The only difference between them and the rest of us is either good circumstances, random chance and of course probably some hard work or positive thinking and a lot of right choices.

Positive attitude plays a big part in both our self-image and self-esteem which in turn helps set the course of our life path.  How we perceive and how we treat others plays a big part in it all as well, if we know in the grand scheme of things we all have the same worth and that neither one or another is greater than the other, we then see people for who and what they truly are.  So the next time you see a beggar or a wealthy person see them as they are, just human beings trying to survive and trying to do so as best they can.  No malice should be aimed toward either and both should be subject to the same amount of love and basic respect that all living creatures deserve.

I have known both beggars and wealthy people in my life and they are pretty much the same far as wants, needs and basic desires. They both want to have their needs of food, lodging and the basic necessities, they both long to be accepted, loved and to be happy in their existence. The only real difference is what hand they were dealt in life and how they played the game.

The true riches of life are things like family, love,friendship and being happy with the blessings you have. To have peace within and finding contentment within ones life is the truest form or wealth. Possessions  tend to eventually possess the beholder and so it seems so does wealth. Greed and Envy drive the economies of the modern world more so than our needs.

So greet each other as equals and have love as well as compassion towards one another. For we are all part of the massive family we call human kind. Put greed and envy in the Trash Bin where it belongs and live life in the fullest. Be yourself and accept others for who they are.

Raymond Barbier

The Inner Realm, The Place In Between (continued) (2)


It has been a month since that odd dream Jeff had and it had become a distant memory. Jeff comes home from his long day at work feeling a bit more tired than usual. He starts a fire in his fireplace and sits down in his favorite worn out recliner beside the fire. Jeff Slowly drifts off into sleep as he watches the flames dance as he listens to the hypnotic and soothing cracking sounds from the fireplace.  As his eyes slowly shut and he drifts off he hears the laughter of that almost forgotten old man from that dream from a month before. He finds himself sitting on the ground in front of that same campfire across from that old man Verum Peto. The old man looks at Jeff and smiles then says” I see you finally woke up again”.

Jeff not knowing how to take that statement or how to reply sits quietly looking at the campfire trying to figure out how it got here again.  Verum sees that Jeff is still bewildered by it all so he explains to Jeff how that this is more than just a dream, that is the place between conscious and subconscious, the place between the physical and the spiritual  dimensions. “Jeff this is the place between all that you know and all that makes it all come into existence. This is the realm of thought, dreams and the border lands to both your physical dimension and the dimension of spiritual or the metaphysical plane. This place has been called many things but the Tibetans came closest with what they call the Bardo plane.

Of course I am referring to the Milam Bardo, the entrance to the in-between state or dimension when one enters the dream state. They hit it pretty much on the head with the Milam Bardo. Pretty much in a nut shell Jeff you are in the white space in-between heaven and earth.”

The old man Verum then hands Jeff a cup of hot cocoa and gently smiles at him. Jeff still trying to grasp and take in all that Verum said just sits silently sipping his cocoa. Just as Jeff takes his last sip of cocoa Verum turns to him and says “It isnt quite time for you to truly awaken yet” and with that said, Jeff sits up quickly and sees he has returned to his old battered recliner by the fireplace and wonders once again if it all was but a dream.

<to be Continued>

There is no guarantee we have tomorrow


jesus-christ-0206 Too many times we take those we love for granted, expect them to be there tomorrow and forget to show them how much we need, love and care about them. There is no guarantee we have tomorrow so we should show how much people mean to us today, we should never put off something as important as how we feel for one another till another day. God gave us the ability to love, care for and to help one another and we should use those gifts daily. We need to learn how to put our self and our ego’s behind us so that we can fully show our love and compassion for others.

We should live our lives, love others and be the best we can be for God and Jesus each day.

Raymond Barbier

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Give the battle to God and Begin serving God.


MP900321192 The Job, The Kids, your favorite TV show, even your battle with sin can be distractions from serving God. We allow ourselves to get consumed if not overwhelmed by every day life and the challenges we face each day and that makes it next to impossible to serve god. If we are devoting all of our energy, time and mental abilities to the world we leave very little to give to serving God. Of course we have to deal with everyday life and the challenges it brings, but there are a lot of things we could let go of or that we could hand off to others if not to god himself in order to make time to Serve God and help others.

jesus-christ-in-prayer_w725_h725 This world is stressful and can be quite exhausting, the enemy always tries to keep us occupied with what ever he can so we are to consumed by life to serve, worship or know God. Not only does the enemy use distraction he also tries to deceive you into believing there is no hope for you and that you can not be saved. He wants us to be lost and confused so we can not find our salvation and or serve our father and our savior. Through faith, prayer and serving God we strengthen ourselves and through reading the scripture we learn to focus on the will of God not our own.

MP900427741 (1) If you are in a battle with sin in your life stop fighting it on your own, Give the battle to God to fight. Begin serving God by helping others and being kind to others. The more you focus on doing things that are good the less you think of the things that are sinful or that you lust for. The more you dedicate yourself to serving God and doing his will the less hold on you the sinful nature will have. It is a life long battle that we must wage against our sinful natures but the war was already won upon the cross and by the blood.

 If serving God is your first and last thought of the day, then Serving God you will do throughout the day.

Ray Barbier

Writing, The Gift of Freewill and our path in life.


006 Ever since I was a kid I loved to write songs, poetry and even some philosophy. I do not know what drove my mind to be so contemplative but it has been that way all my life. Some of it was probably my low self-esteem  or poor self-image I have had to battle throughout my life. Some of it was from my disappointment in how our world works, the unfairness and the lack of balance this world has. A lot of it was the hopefulness within my inner self. I have always sought out the silver lining in every situation and for the most part I still do. With age comes wisdom but also age brings cynicism and doubtfulness. Don’t understand why but the older I get the harder it is to keep the positive attitude and hopefulness within me alive. it could be the fact as we grow older we face our own mortality and therefore we become bitter or jaded because we think we have been cheated in life somehow. This of course isn’t true, we were the ones who chose the path we have been on and how and what life brought to us up to this day. There are some things that we didn’t have any choice on in life but for the most part we are what we made ourselves to be. So being bitter or feeling jaded in the end is nothing but self-pity and useless. We can always change our path, our minds and our life if we put our heart and soul into it. We can’t undo the past but we can make us a new destination and path to walk as well. This is the gift of freewill God has given humanity, we have the freedom to choose and the option to allow his will to guide our choices as well.

Writing is the expression of my heart, soul and mind. It is the sum of what I feel, think and believe. It is like a map to my future that changes and grows with each word I type and eventually it will become the signposts I had left behind for others to follow and/or view. It is my freewill being expressed through my thoughts and emotions.

We only have a short time on earth to experience all its wonders and to find our true path in life. We should be kind to others and seek out harmony with all life and walk our path we have chosen in peace.

Ray Barbier

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God’s love is limitless and unstoppable


MP900426559 God gave all of us some pretty good gifts, Love being one of the better ones, the ability to care about one another and to put someone else above your own self. The happiness of your mate will become your first priority and your own happiness will seem less important. When the love is shared then there is never a worry about happiness because both partners are striving to make each other happy. Sometimes love requires some work to keep and maintain, both sides have to compromise at times and work with each other. Love shouldn’t always be a chore to keep, for the most part it should be pretty simple to maintain but there will be rough patches to keep you busy from time to time.

Compassion, an expression of a brotherly/sisterly love for others, a love that is unconditional and unlimited. This is a more of a spiritual love that God blessed us with and should be one of the loves we should share freely and abundantly. We should strive to show compassion on people and all other living things. Forgiveness is also an expression of a spiritual type of love, to forgive yourself or others is to express that you love them enough to overlook their shortcomings and mistakes.  This kind of love is one of the kind of loves that God through Jesus showed us upon the cross. He loved us so much he gave his only begotten son as a sacrifice for our sins so we could be forgiven and be able to enter the kingdom of heaven.

God’s love is limitless and unstoppable, from his love is where all love springs forth from. God is the source for all the love we feel, express and give to one another. We always should remember where all of our blessings, gifts and help comes from, God is the source of all that is good. We should remember to give thanks for all that he has blessed us with and that which he will bless us with in the future.

We can choose to accept his gifts and blessings or we can choose to stand alone in this world of darkness. The choice is ours and ours alone, what we reap will be that which we have chosen to sow. Choose wisely my friends and may God bless you and guide you through the darkness of our world.

Ray Barbier

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I must be cautious of my thoughts, actions and how I interact with the world


IMG_1077 I am who I am and I should embrace that which I am. I am who I am for a reason and I am who I am supposed to be. I am ever-changing and evolving within myself and slowly becoming who I am truly meant to be. The mistakes of my past were there to teach me and help me change into a better me as well as the wrongs done to me are to help shape me into the person I will become. Nothing happens without a reason and all things create change within and around me for better or for worse. The actions that I take now will ripple through my lifetime to create reactions and change in my future. My choices don’t only affect me but they affect the world around me. My thoughts become action and a part of the reality I live within. So I must be cautious of my thoughts, actions and how I interact with the world for everything I do, think and say can affect the world around me.

Christianity, my faith / belief teaches compassion, forgiveness and to be compassionate and that is what I try to follow. Though I do stray from the path at times I still strive to be a force of good as much as I can. I am wrong often and right occasionally, but the more I experience the more I learn where I had gone wrong. I try to live my life in a peaceful and non judgmental way thought I fail at times. I am but who I am, a ever-changing and constantly evolving person who longs for happiness and peace. May God’s will be done and may he lend me the wisdom to make the right choices in life.

Even if I put my religious beliefs aside I still am a caring, peaceful person by nature and still would seek out a path that would be beneficial to all those around me. For I find I am happiest when those around me are happy and at peace.

A lifetime is but a drop of  water compared to the infinite stream of time, we should enjoy life and seek to make other people’s lives enjoyable for the short time we are here.

Ray Barbier

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Compassion, love , kindheartedness and fellowship are the keys


012Sometimes words flow like a waterfall from mind to fingertips and other times  they trickle or even stop flowing. Sometimes I know what to write other times I just wing it as I type out the words. I do not get any monetary gain from my writing but I get great satisfaction when someone reads my posts and/ or likes them. Writing is therapeutic and is a path to self discovery and has proven to help reduce stress. I am happy just to write a post from my heart for free . So if my post is incorrect or if you disagree with it I welcome your comments, criticisms and compliments as well. For it is all a learning process to me and one I pray will never end.

I am a Christian but I support the right for everyone to choose their own spiritual path in life. For we all must make our own choices when it comes to religion and I believe we all have the right to follow the religion and/or doctrine of our choice. I do not let the differences in beliefs sway me from making friends and sharing ideas. I support change but I do not support violence as a catalyst to change. I understand sometimes there is no other choice other than violence but I believe it should always be the very last option on the table. I believe we are here to learn how to live together in peace and also to learn how to love one another unconditionally. Compassion, love , kindheartedness and fellowship are the keys to a brighter and better world.

Sometimes Random thoughts contain facets of truth and wisdom if one can read between the lines.

Ray Barbier

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A helping hand or encouraging word


Compassion

You are good, you did good, you are going to be okay and everything will be all right. Words we all have longed to hear at one point or another in life. We need encouragement from others and we always need assurance that everything will be all right. We should always be messengers of hope, encouragement and builders of self-esteem. We are all in this life together and each of us has both strengths and weaknesses. We all need a helping hand or encouraging word or two from time to time to help us keep the faith and so we can carry on.  We need to walk through life being compassionate towards one another, we should help carry the load of our brothers and sisters. Smile at one another, speak good words about and to each other and help each other with the burdens of life.

We need to put our selfish side of our nature aside and embrace the side of love and fellowship. We can love one another without condition and we can easily learn to be as one big family on earth. Religion, political views, nationality, race, sex or any other differences we have can easily be put aside for the good of humanity as a whole. We are all humans after all, we all share a distant but common ancestry. We all are in this together and we should be wise enough to be at peace and be compassionate with one another. There is plenty of food and wealth to go around if we learn to be as one big family. What good is wealth or abundance of food if you are not sharing those blessings with others? What good is love if it is conditional or only shared with a select few?

We are capable of such greatness but unfortunately we seem to limit our own abilities. Sad but true but I still hold hope for humanity to one day grow enough spiritually  / emotionally to become the great species we are capable of being. If we are every to grow into such a species we have to start with being compassionate with each other and with our own selves. We still have a long way to go before we become the great species of humanity.

Be compassionate, smile at one another, love one another as brothers and sisters and be charitable and generous with all.

Ray Barbier

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It is what you do in-between that makes all the difference.


KIDS0043If I would have had a child of my own, I would try to teach him or her everything I could about the realities of this world. To prepare the child for the challenges of this modern and chaotic world we live in. What would I teach my child would be honesty, faith, hope and compassion for all living things. I would explain how it is okay not to have everything you want and that not everyone is going to like them or be their friend. Forgiveness is one thing I would push hard for my child to learn for to forgive others and yourself is to love unconditionally. To carry guilt beyond a week is unhealthy so forgive yourself for your mistakes. Mistakes are the way we learn how to and how not to live our life. I would teach my child how to love themselves as they are and to see the beauty they have within. I would try hard to teach them to love they way they look and not to be bothered by the opinions of others.

I would try to teach my child not to judge and to remember that they too are imperfect. No one is without sin or fault and that is a part of being a human. I would want them to understand that material possessions and wealth are just temporary means of happiness. That true happiness comes from within and no one can stop them from being happy unless they give that other person to do so. It is far better to tell the truth and face the consequences of your actions than to lie and face the consequences of the lie as well. Be true to yourself and be yourself regardless if others approve or not. For it is better to be who you really are than to live a lie of a life that makes you unhappy. Accept everyone for who and what they are for they are who they are and will only change when they decide to. Do not take any head to the differences of ones color, sex, religion, nationality or even their philosophy for they have the right to freewill. Love everyone and embrace the differences between each of us without judgment.

We are born as equals and we all die as equals so it is what you do in-between that makes all the difference. No man or woman is above or below one another for we are all the same in the end.  Speak kindly of others or say nothing of them at all for what you say can come back to haunt you. Think positive and act with compassion for how you live in your life is what defines who you are in the end. And last but not least that I would always love them no matter how they choose to live their life.

Teach your children how to be and how to live or someone else may teach them for you, and it may not be what you want them to learn.

Ray Barbier

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