Tag: Religion and Spirituality

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It all could be gone within a tick of the clock.


65242 How easily we take those we love for granted, so quickly they can be taken away from us. We should cherish all our family and friends for no one knows when their last day may come. Leave no wrong undone, apologize and repent for the wrong you’ve done others and leave no love forgotten. Live each day as it may be your last and be sure to keep it where you will have no regretful things left behind when its time to go.Forgive those who have done you wrong so you do not carry any anger or hatred with you beyond the grave. Judge no one, but if you must judge them with great mercy for you will be judge in the same way in the end.

Life is way too short to carry grudges or hold on to the emotional scars of the past. Forgive and you shall be forgiven, love and you shall be loved and be compassionate and you will receive compassion. You get what you give in the end, it may not always seem so but it is true. I have found compassion from those I believed to be enemies and help from those who I thought didn’t care. Between all the negativity of this world you will receive that which you have given to others. Teach your children well, show them that mercy, kindness and compassion are greater than being popular or the biggest bully. Teach them to appreciate what they have both in possessions and in friendships. Too many times we run off the friends who would do anything for us because of something petty or a mistake made by one side or the other. Too many times families fall apart over differences of opinions and different view points. I find it quite sad when family members despise one another, families are supposed to love one another unconditionally.

Don’t take your family, friends or the day you are in for granted, it all could be gone within a tick of the clock.

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Have faith, Trust in god and live life Christ like as possible.


Being positive is not an easy task, but it is the most rewarding path to follow. Negativity is a path that usually leads to self-destruction and the harming of all those around you. Your attitude towards life effects everyone around you in one way or another. It may not be intentional but when your negative you bring others around you down and even cause them harm sometimes. Though there is a time for negativity but it is not something that is meant to occupy your life for any great amount of time. Positivity on the other hand rarely ever causes harm, it usually lifts up the spirits of those around you, heals the emotional scars within your self and it tends to attract positive people into your life. The hard part is realizing that happiness and/or positivity is generated within yourself and is not supplied from an outside source. God gave you the spirit of compassion, love, positivity, creativity, healing and much more. He did not give you the spirit of fear, anger, envy, lust, greed or any other negative emotion or action. The negative is something you created or accepted from the world around you. The lack of faith, low self-esteem and a poor self-image are spawned from the acceptance and embracing of the negativity in your life. If you face negativity with faith in god and with love within your heart then you can not fail.

God wants all his children to be happy, healthy and live a good life, he does not want us to suffer nor to be lost in the darkness of sin. He gives us all we need to face off any enemy and to stand in the face of any storm, he planted a seed within each of us that we must cultivate. We must plant it in good soil and feed it with that which is good or positive. The only external force that can bring you happiness and positivity is God. He can work from within you and through those around you as well. Even an enemy can be a messenger or a finger-pointing the way, God will approach you in every he can to get you to see truth and to feel his love. Jesus taught us to be non violent, to love one another, to forgive and to be compassionate. All positive emotions and actions, all part of the path of righteousness. To judge is not our part to play, and to turn any sinner away from god is a sin in its self. Be positive, Have faith, Trust in god and live life Christ like as possible.

 

Though no man or woman can be without sin, all sin can be washed by his blood except blasphemy of the spirit.

Raymond Barbier

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an invitation to be kind or to smile


p10328 To be true to yourself, to be who you are and be happy with yourself and to realize that what others think matter very little in the long run. That is one of the paths to self-assurance and a healthier self-image, a self-esteem built upon the real you not the reflection of you off of others. One of the hardest thing to quit or correct is ones tendency to rely on others for both our self-worth and our happiness. No one can add or remove either your worth or happiness besides your own self. The illusion someone else can make you happier or make you a better person is one most of us fall for. The truth is that you make yourself happier and a better person and the other person is either an inspiration or a guiding force towards both. Yes they can help fuel the happiness within you and help you find the better person within you through their guidance or just their kindness, but the choices to be happy or to improve yourself is solely yours and requires your effort alone to bring them about.

A child’s smile can knock on the door of your kindness and then you can open the door in return. The child’s smile was an invitation to be kind or to smile you have to choose to comply or not. The choices of who and what you are and can become are yours as well as the power to make the changes.  The only time an outside force can change you and your life is if you give it the power to do so.  So be true to yourself and be who you are as well as love who you are. Do not let the negativity of others affect you or damage your self-worth. For in Gods eyes we all are precious and he loves all of us equally. And no man can take away the gifts God has given and has promised to us all. Besides our own will and choices Only God’s will can directly change us into a better person and bring us happiness.  Let God’s love and kindness flow through you and seek out his will and the path he set out before you. Try and surrender to his will as well as put aside your own.

God Bless

Raymond Barbier

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Love each moment you get in life


65242 Life is a road that will eventually come to an end when our time is up, the length of the journey  is not as important as the experiences we have along the way. We can choose to spend the whole journey looking backwards at where we have been, looking forward to what yet may come or just keep focused on the place we are at. Getting fixed on the past or on what come in the future only distracts us from the importance of the present. Seize the moment, live for today, live in the now and live each day like its your last are words of wisdom passed to us from the sages of the past. There is no other time as important as now, we must remember the past and its lessons as well as plan for the future but if we ignore the present then we miss out on life itself. Waste little energy or time on the negative emotions and focus on the positive ones so that your experiences of the now are positive for you and those around you. Forgive those whom have done you harm and seek forgiveness for your own mistakes and wrong doings. Love each moment you get in life for we have such a short time to live here in this interesting world.

Try to be a positive influence on this world and avoid feeding the ego, for the ego is self-centered and cares only for itself. Selfishness is like an infinite void that can never be filled while Selflessness is like a renewable fuel source for when you give you receive and therefore there is never a void to fill. The bible teaches us it is better to give than to receive and it also teaches us to be humble. It also teaches us to be swift to hear, slow to speak and  be slow to anger. Listen and you will learn many things, be low to speak and you may hear more as well as avoid saying things out of haste. It is always wise to be slow to become angry for many misunderstandings and quick tempers have started feuds and great wars. Life is short so live it happily and with as much compassion as you can muster. For we all have faults and none of us are without sin. It is much harder to point your finger in accusation of another when yourself are guilty of a sin that is equal in stature. For all sin is the same except for blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. So none of are greater or lesser than the other in life and non is without blemish.

 

May God will be your guide through life and his love be the foundation you build upon.

Raymond Barbier

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Choices, Consequences, free will and Indecision.


IMG_1078fbIn this life we can either be a force for good or a force for evil. Most of us walk a thin line between the two, but eventually one side or the other we shall fall to. It is better to choose your path and stick with it than to waver between two, this is an easy way to become lost as well as confused. Though we all have to go through the middle of the road syndrome in order to make a choice of which path to follow, but to stay in the middle of a road for too long one may be ran over. Even in the bible there is a reference to  this idea .

“Revelation 3:15-16: ‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. “

Of course being lukewarm in this verse is referring to being a part-time Christian or one does not love god and worship him full heartedly. The bible teaches this and the fact one can only serve one master as well as a house divided upon itself shall fall. One should be one minded and walk one path as well as choose which side he will be a force for. Doubt, Fear, Indecisiveness are the enemies of us all, for they only confuse and distract one from truly living life and serving the forces they choose. For I am a firm believer in free will and believe the spiritual / religious path one walks is solely a personal decision and they have the right to believe in the way they desire. But with free will comes both a price to pay and the responsibility of who and what may have been influenced or effected by the choices made.  So always think and ponder on both  the choices before you and the consequences that surely will follow. Choose your path wisely and walk in faith, if you choose wisely then in the end you can pass away thinking or speaking the verse “2 Timothy 4:7 – I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. “ .

Until that day comes I pray that we all can walk in faith.

Matthew 7:7 – “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

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The great school we call life – Part of The Lesson Plan


In life we must face the fact we will make mistakes and sometimes choose unwisely. This is all a part of the lesson plan in the great school we call life. The sad part is sometimes we are doomed to repeat a mistake or poor choice many times until we finally get the message or learn the lesson we needed too. I believe up to our last breath and thought we are learning something new. It’s all apart of our spiritual evolution or education. Question is do we come back to live here again in this world until we learn all the lessons that can be taught here? Or do we simply move on to another place, dimension or even heaven or a hell. Those questions are really the kind that you can not answer for you will not ever know until its time to move on from this life. Personally I hope there is a heaven and a very forgiving god waiting on the other side. What I was brought up to believe is the Christian faith and I still hold on to that belief as I try to keep an open mind to other religions and philosophies. Each philosophy and religion carries with it some form of lessons both in morality and discipline. For the most part they seem to teach humility and selflessness along with compassion and self dignity, They try and inspire us to strive towards a more civilized and compassionate world, a world were greed and lust are no longer as well as a world where no one wants nor needs due to the lack of selfishness. Unfortunately too many of us overlook the lessons in both the philosophies and religions. This leaves us in a world where the select few who have the power and the money are in control as the masses who barely make a living or are starving to struggle just to survive.

So far we have come in the short time we have inhabited this world but we still are so far away from our true potential spiritually and as a species in whole. We have had the stone age, bronze age, iron age, steel age, industrial age and now the technological or information age. We still need to reach our spiritual age before we become our own executioner. For we have technologies that could destroy all life on our planet and yet we are still children spiritually and this leaves us in harm’s way. Without spiritual growth and wisdom we are likely to cause our own extinction before we ever reach our full potential as a species.

Just my two cents worth,

Raymond Barbier

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Start looking at the world not only through our own eyes


006 Living in a society where there is no value to anything, where we want everything and want it yesterday. Sensations both old and new are the fuel and the faster we can get them the more we want them. Addicted to our senses and a slave to our need for stimuli we race forward without taking the time to truly enjoy the world around us. We leave friendships and loves behind us in search of the perfect life, we fall to the deception that is such a thing as a perfect life or a perfect relationship. Too much too fast and we are approaching either an overload or the tragic end to our fast past world. So quick to judge others but slow to see the imperfections in our own lives. We live our lives so quickly and so unaware of the happiness we could obtain as well as the beauty all around us.

Even the children are loosing their innocence way too early, imagination is becoming an extinct quality as well as the ability to see the world in its true majestic form. We allow politics, religions and philosophies to divide our world and keep us from reaching our true potential as a species. It is not our differences that makes us unstable or weak, it is our inability to use those differences as the strength they really are. Our ability to change, adapt and to exchange ideas makes us a very unique and wondrous species. Our lack of tolerance and our inability to truly see each other in a compassionate light leaves us in constant turmoil. We need to start looking at the world not only through our own eyes but through the eyes of others, we must start being more selfless in the way we think and live. Individuality is a good thing but not seeing the whole picture due to only perceiving things though our own eyes  is a path to eventual destruction. We must realize that our personal perception of the world around us is not the only true perception. Reality is the sum of every living creature’s perception of the physical universe.

We need to slow down and smell the flowers, behold the beauty of nature and enjoy the company we are blessed to keep. For if we keep on forging into the future like a speeding bullet we will eventually burn out. Stand as many but as one, seek out the truth of all things and live each day as it may be our last. Loving ourselves and all that is around us, fearing nothing but our own deception. Do right upon others and forgive those who are not wise enough to see the error in their ways. We also should remember to forgive our own short comings for we are all but human. But being human is a grand thing for we are children of the great creator. God gave us life and that in itself makes us special and unique. Each of us were given gifts and abilities, each different from the other but the same in their purpose. We mustn’t waste those gifts not take them for granted. We should use them for the good of mankind and share them with all life.

Very random thoughts that I feel needed to be shared. Right or Wrong they are here for you to read.
Raymond Barbier

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Open your eyes to see the light, open your ears to the truth


LP_product_c A man can go through his whole life feeling as is he has been walking alone. He never sees or hears the one that walks beside him. Never questioning the times he fell and he felt some one catching him and helping him up. Unaware of the many miles that he has been carried and blind to the truth before his own eyes. Looking for signs everywhere only to look past the sign right before him. Such blindness mankind suffers at times, always looking for the complicated answers when it’s the simple truth that he needs.  All his life Jesus walked beside him, many words have been spoken but not heard by him and he has been saved along with carried by Christ but unaware it was so.  Christ walks with us all and god is always with his children, it is our choice to ignore him or to embrace him. Freewill is a gift God gave us and with it we must make our own choices.

Open your eyes to see the light, open your ears to the truth and your heart to his love.

God Bless
Raymond Barbier

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We dig a pit in which we feel there is no escape.


003 I see the emptiness in the eyes of others, they endlessly try to fill it with material goods and through pharmaceuticals. Unfortunately these are only temporary distractions from the emptiness they feel. The lack of meaning in their life and the absence of self-worth makes the empty feeling in them harder to overcome. What exactly is that emptiness or what causes it could be something as simple as low self-esteem or depression. It also could be the lack of spiritual fulfillment as well as not being accepted by their peers. It seems quite apparent that humans as a species require some sort of community and to be accepted in some sort of social group. We tend to be a very social species and we thrive on being  a part of such a group as well as being loved.

Sometimes we tend to create a false image of ourselves within and can not see the real person we are. We deceive ourselves into believing such negative things that we dig a pit in which we feel there is no escape. The hardest part is coming to the realization that we are not as bad off as we believe. It’s so easy to fall in to the pit but it is very hard to climb our way out. It is one of things that it probably took you many years to create such a negative self-image and it will take some time to teach yourself to have a more positive image. There are many methods of building self-confidence as well as improving your self-image such as attending religious meetings, meditation, exercise and even writing poetry or a journal.

Every day is but one more step in your personal journey through life and each step leads you forward in your self discovery.  If you search within to find out who you really are you may just find that you are far better person than you once believed. For we seem to be a far stricter judge upon ourselves as well as or actions than we are on others. We have to look at ourselves like we look at friends and family. Judge ourselves with compassion like we do those we love and care about, knowing no one is perfect and to expect perfection from ourselves or others is just plain illogical to say the least. To remember your past mistakes is wise but to punish yourself over them is foolish. We paid the price for the mistakes shortly after we committed them and guilt shouldn’t last beyond a few day to a week. Forgiving ourselves and others seems to be one of the hardest things to do., but it is a necessary part of our life.

Well enough of my Psycho-babble Nonsense.
Peace and Love to All
Raymond Barbier

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The physical life as a classroom for the soul


Rembrandt's Philosopher in Meditation (detail). I always had the question of why am I here and what is the purpose of my life? Many years I pondered on that question, sought out the question through self-examination and discovery. Always coming up short and lacking the definite answer. Now in my mid 40’s I think it finally hit me, I am here to be the best me I can be, to live my life to the fullest for both myself and god. The meaning of life is life itself, the purpose of life is to be the best person you can be.

For I see the physical life as a classroom for the soul, a place for us to learn to be compassionate and to learn to overcome the great obstacle of the Ego. The ego is the part of oneself that is selfish and seeks out its own gratification. It is the presence of the flesh and thus it wishes to satisfy the flesh’s lusts and desires. The true self is the living spirit god gave us, it’s the part that feels compassion, love and is always  selfless in its actions and in its intentions. It longs for peace, happiness and for harmony in life. Life is the battlefield between these two parts of our consciousness and the purpose of life is to learn from the battle and from the mistakes and or correct choices we make.

 

Well enough about that, Blessings to you all

Raymond Barbier

” I am more than the sum of all my experiences” ~ Raymond Barbier

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