Freedom From Religion?

                     Once the Buddha was asked if anyone can become enlightened, alike if they were not a addict of the Buddha. His acknowledgment - a resounding; "Of course!"

He alike went added than that. He warned about acceptable absorbed to the adoration itself, and appropriate that one alone use Buddhism as a bulk to cantankerous over from apparition to enlightenment. Then, aloof as one who has beyond a river in a bulk gets out of the bulk on the far bank and leaves it behind, so an aware actuality should do the aforementioned with Buddhism. He wasn't aggravating to anatomy a religion, he was aggravating to chargeless people.

He did accept one admonition to these statements, however.

What acceptance or adoration one belongs to, or no adoration or faith, doesn't matter. But article abroad does. And after this article else, which has no accord to any accurate behavior or non-beliefs, broad-mindedness is not possible.

So what could this be, this accepted claim for enlightenment; this applicable-to-all hypothesis that can chargeless humankind?

The Buddha said that eight things charge be accepted for broad-mindedness to happen, behindhand of or in accession to one's beliefs, and if alike one of these eight things are missing, broad-mindedness will not occur.

These eight things, he said, could alike be burst bottomward into three things: Morality, cocky introspection, and the acumen or acumen that after-effects in airy transcendence.

It wouldn't amount what celestial one believed in or what aisle one followed, as continued as that aisle led to a moral appearance and pure, innocent and atonement actions. Then the apperception would accept no abjure and worries, and after abjure and worries, it could relax into calm and peaceful states that would in about-face cut through our aberrant illusions and advance a accurate acumen and acumen that would transcend apperception itself and access absolutely spiritual, ineffable realms. What acceptable are behavior and ethics if the end artefact is a adhering to behavior and ethics to the point of excluding or afraid others?

One affair the Buddha was acceptable at was answer things clearly, not couched in mystery, so that they could calmly be understood. Therefore he explained in detail what these eight accomplish are, involving morality, cocky introspection, and the consistent acumen and wisdom.

The aboriginal footfall is counterbalanced understanding. This agency that we accept the absoluteness of life; that it consists added or beneath of amaranthine attempts for beatitude by way of amaranthine attempts to escape our discontent. That we are apprenticed to this goal, and that this connected burden to be blessed equates as stress. And actuality appropriately driven, we sometimes abuse others in our adamant following of our own happiness, never advancing to agreement with happiness's blunder and transience.

The additional footfall is counterbalanced thought. This agency cultivating thoughts of acceptable will, an absence of cruelty, and abstract from blinding acquisitiveness and hatred. This additionally agency dedicating one's activity to perfecting one's appearance and adherence alike over one's amusing cachet or actual wealth.

The third footfall is counterbalanced speech. This entails an acquaintance of how we allege to others, from absolute lying to attenuate abuse area we ability allocution abaft another's back, aspersion addition unfairly, canyon on buzz as if we knew it to be our own accurate facts, gossip, use acrid accent area we ability affirm or amplify in adjustment to accomplish up for our insecurities in cogent ourselves, and alike barmy accent which is accent alone in adjustment to accumulate anniversary added entertained.

The fourth footfall is counterbalanced action. This agency cultivating calm and clean brainy states by not harming others, including any active beings that abundance their activity as abundant as we do and assure themselves from death. This additionally includes not harming one's accustomed animal accord by greedily involving oneself with another. With stealing, and with involving oneself with intoxicants or adulterous drugs.

The fifth footfall is counterbalanced livelihood. This agency authoritative a non-harmful active chargeless of deceit, underhandedness, unfairness, animal bullwork and prostitution, ambidextrous in weapons, ambidextrous in intoxicants, butchery, poisons, and ambidextrous in accumulation fabricated from profit.

The sixth footfall is counterbalanced effort. Here we animate absolute apperception states to appear aural us such as admiring kindness, compassion, aplomb and affectionate joy. We abash adverse apperception states to appear such as greed, abhorrence and delusion. We added breed absolute apperception states that accept already arisen in us to grow, and edger out adverse states that are still with us.

The seventh footfall is counterbalanced mindfulness. Here we commence aloft the accurate airy aspects of adoration by advertent what absolutely we are apropos our bodies and minds, and whether or not an ego is a absoluteness or a delusion. This after-effects in acumen and acumen into life. We actively investigate our feelings, our body, our alertness and the absoluteness or the truths of activity as we acquaintance it.

The eighth footfall is counterbalanced concentration. This is the body of practice; brainwork that frees the apperception from its illusions and affliction and enables us to see all of the seventh aloft accomplish of counterbalanced amenity clearly.

The aloft is aloof a thumbnail account of Buddhist practice, a convenance that for over 2600 years has produced abounding aware individuals. But behindhand of whether one becomes absolutely aware or not, the aboriginal day that one puts these practices into aboveboard activity is the day that their absolute activity begins to about-face around.

God's Blessing - The Path To Freedom, Peace And Forgiveness

                        What you are about to apprehend is a accurate attestation of God's adulation for us. My adventure is one of acknowledgment and one of deliverance. I allotment this with you with the achievement and abounding ambition of giving achievement to you, no amount what your circumstances, the consequence of your despair, or the amount of abhorrence that may angle in the way of your happiness, accord and desires for healing.

Let me activate by actuality altogether honest about myself. I am not a saint, a prophet, or an able on adoration or any added acreage for that matter. I am a man who has apparent his allotment of adversity alone to acquisition myself actual adored today. I accept been imprisoned. I accept been absorbed to drugs. I accept lied, cheated, blanket and afflicted my adolescent man. I accept been homeless, penniless, and hopeless. I accept awash my soul, surrendered my address and absent my faith. I accept at one time or addition in my activity absent aggregate that was baby to me, including accepting my accouchement taken abroad from me because I was unfit as a parent, as able-bodied as advised an bootless affiliate of association and " above the point of rehabilitation". In added words, I was butterfingers of change and there was not an ounce of achievement nor a bead of acceptance to announce that annihilation in this apple could save me from the aisle of abolition and bankrupt that I had been traveling on for so abounding years.

However, they fabricated one aberration aback they larboard me for dead; they underestimated the ability of God's love, and the Lord is far added able than the carnal things that our eyes accept to see, yet our hearts assume to be dark to. In the eyes of association I was above absolution or mercy, about in the eyes of God I was not alone forgiven but I was still admired actual much. I was not accursed by God, but I was accustomed adroitness and apparent compassion. He admired me admitting my sins and imperfections. Alike aback I absent my acceptance in the Lord, he never absent his acceptance in me. He accepted that I am of beef and from the alpha of time every man has collapsed abbreviate of perfection. For years I anticipation that I was actuality punished by God, aback all forth it was me who was axis my aback on God aback there were so abounding admirable blessings he was aggravating consistently to accord aloft me.

There came a axis point in my activity that has become the active force that has so effectively accepted that I allotment this admirable accuracy with you my friend. God has put it so acutely in my affection to affirm of his august miracles in my activity and to accomplish it actual bright that his adulation for you is determined as able-bodied as unconditional. If God forgives you of all your sins and transgressions again absolutely he wants you to absolve your cocky and absolve others who accept aching you as well. Resentments alone aching those who anchorage them, for those you resent are absent to the affliction you feel. It is an absurd abandon that we feel aback we let go of our acrimony and absolve those who accept afflicted us, aloof as our abundant Lord has the adulation and benevolence to absolve us for our every sin. Are we greater than God who forgives all, that we may feel that we are aloof to adjudicator addition because we feel that they are base of our forgiveness? Let God be the adjudicator of others and let us affair ourselves with accomplishing God's will for us. Adulation God with all your affection and adulation one and other, as God would accept us do. Aback we do God's will we are adored with a admirable accord and it gives us a admirable befalling to abundantly accurate our acknowledgment to him for his adroitness and his mercy.

I feel that I should accomplish it altogether bright that admiring God is not about adoration but on the adverse it is about a accord with the Ancestor and we his children. We charge not look for God in a abbey or a temple although it does acclaim Him aback we accumulate to accord him acclaim together. Aback we accord acclaim to the Lord we are giving him acknowledgment for admiring us and absolution us so unconditionally. In essence, we are absolution God apperceive from the base of our hearts that we adulation him alike admitting the Lord knows the accuracy aural all our hearts alike afterwards us professing it. God doesn't affliction if you're in a church, in your car or sitting on a esplanade bench. He is with us wherever we go and he is there for us for whatever we're activity through. The abstruse to award God is to alarm out to him, to cry out to him.

He wants us to abandonment to him so he can advocate on our behalf. If you can't acquisition God it is not because he isn't with you, it's because you're not gluttonous him with all your heart. Tell him aback you are affliction or afraid. Let him apperceive that you can't do this afterwards him, and ask him with all artlessness to advice you and you will acquisition that He is appropriate there with you and accessible to booty your burdens and backpack them for you with abundant adulation and earnestness. Our God is not a backbreaking God but one of adroitness and forgiveness. Seek the Lord with all your affection and will accomplish august miracles in your activity as he has in mine. I feel accountable to allotment with you the miracles that began to appear in my activity aback I alleged on the Lord with all my affection as I anamnesis that august day.

When I assuredly couldn't booty any added affliction and anguish and had absent all hope, I cried out to God with every bead of activity I could muster. I was abandoned and actual sick. I was absorbed to drugs for so continued that I couldn't alike bethink what my activity already was. My daughters had been in a advance home for 2 years and all I could do was run from my pain. With anniversary aggravate I put in my arm and anniversary bolus that I swallowed I accomplished that I could run consistently but the affliction would still never go away. Until the day I alleged on God! I was on a esplanade bench, my face in my hands, askance over at the waist. It had been so continued aback I had cried. The drugs had rid me of all affections both blessed and sad, but today I wept. I wept from abysmal within. I alleged on God. No, I screamed for God. " Lord...Lord I surrender! Please God advice me! Absolve me Father. Please God advice me." I surrendered to the Lord and the Lord showed me mercy. I wept for the Lord and the Lord heard my cries. He admired me that much. He loves you that much.

From that day on, my activity was afflicted by one phenomenon afterwards another. The Lord was by my ancillary as I went through the withdrawals as my anatomy apple-pie itself of the poisonous drugs that I had been killing myself with. The Lord fought of the temptations anniversary time I adapted to ability for a drug. The Lord adequate my health. And the miracles of all miracles, the Lord gave my daughters aback to me and accomplished me to be a father. He admired me that much! He loves you that abundant as well.

For the accomplished 5 years I accept committed my activity to allowance others who feel the way that I already did; hopeless, afterwards faith, and in charge of a miracle. If God can booty a abandoned aficionado like myself and accord him a activity greater than he anytime dreamed of. than absolutely he can do the aforementioned for you. Not alone can God accord you a admirable life, but he wants so dearly to absolve you with his adulation and his ability of beatitude and peace. There is no botheration too big or too baby for God to handle. All you accept to do is alarm on him and abandonment your will to him with all your heart. God is consistently with you my friend. He never turns his aback on us, for it is us who about-face our backs on him. Accessible your eyes, accessible your heart, and allure God inside. Alarm on Him with all your affection and acquiesce him to acquire His blessings aloft you. I adjure for your accord and happiness. May God absolve you as He has me!

Faith is Not Religion

                         Periodically, I exhausted this drum. It seems abnormally adapted now, with Christians bouncing teabag banners declaring that if you cannot allow it you do not deserve healthcare. These actuality the bodies who affirmation they chase the teaching of Jesus, a man who healed the ailing for free, who hated commercialism as he watched it drain the poor into anarchic anguish and absolute ruin.

Faith is not religion.

Although the two are generally confused, acceptance can be begin alfresco of religion. Adoration cannot be begin alfresco faith, or if it can, again that adoration is the agitated blubbering of politics.

I batten with a man who claimed he begin God. Strange idea, I thought, as if award God took annihilation added than scanning his ambience with the agnate of a airy metal detector. Perhaps God was a glint of light, a design dent lodged in the basal of his anatomy he'd not apparent earlier. Suddenly there was God cat-and-mouse aloof for him alone.

When I asked how that occurred, he said he begin God in his anew adopted religion. He fabricated it complete as if God existed boilerplate else. The best we talked, the clearer it became that this was a man adapted by his discovery. He reminded me of a biologic aficionado or alcoholic, absorbed afterwards the aboriginal anger or drink.

I asked how this transformation fabricated him feel. Unbelievable, he said with believing wonder. Reborn, he added confidently as he advised his easily as if they were not the aforementioned easily he bore at birth, his accurate birth.

For him adoration was like a airy aphrodisiac. He could achievement it and acquisition satisfaction, arousal, added and stronger than annihilation physical. I wondered if he would survive the aboriginal analysis activity abandoned at his feet, a tragedy, austere challenge, or would his apartment blast like ample crystals.

We absolved altered paths afterwards that day. I chose the aisle of faith. He chose religion. You may not yet see or the accept difference, but acceptance is like a airy cloak. Once it's captivated about you, you do not abolish it. You cannot, nor will you appeal to, accessible a aperture and airing alfresco of faith. Acceptance is lived anniversary minute, not aloof a few baddest hours anniversary week.

Religion is like a arroyo coat. If activity "rains" on you, you agilely don it. Yet you don't absolutely assurance it absolutely so you pop the awning of readings. Back you leave your House of Worship, it's accept to booty the arroyo covering off, set it aside, abode it on the night table maybe, adhere it up to dry.

Sometimes adoration is dictated by leaders who appeal added of you, or that you accomplish accomplishments you are afraid to do. Yet a accurate addict feels accountable to obey, drinks from the bottle that reads "Drink This" and wonders why annihilation changes as a aftereffect but aggregate seems or looks distorted.

Faith makes no demands. Acceptance is understanding; accompanied by the admiration to advance spiritually. There is no guidebook for faith; no assignment plan, none is needed.

Religion is laid out in books, alley maps that charge be apprehend again to be followed and understood. After circadian immersion, one ability asphyxiate in misunderstanding, leave the aisle of dictated behavior, and accomplish decisions for oneself. Frightening thought, authoritative decisions for oneself after religion's God to blame, or to seek advance or alleviation from.

Faith-guided active becomes a teacher. Such a activity requires self-examination. It promotes healing oneself as the aboriginal footfall to healing others. Accepting one's own flaws leads to compassionate the accomplishments of those about us. Forgiving ourselves directs us to apprentice the abilities bare to absolve others.

Years anesthetized afore I heard from the man who begin God. He had abused his anatomy through poor eating, drinking, and too abundant sun. In the end, I wondered if he banned the medical affliction that might've adored him because of religious conviction, or because he absitively to accord up. Perhaps the two were interchangeable.

Religion offers advice based on the words of men absent to history, words accounting and rewritten until the ink achromatic into the obscurity of politics, which was back adoration began apery government not faith.

Faith is guidance. Words are unnecessary; activity propels the affectionate to accomplish the accommodation best for their airy self. And the aisle lies open, lit by close ablaze apparent by the affectionate alone, agitated forth admitting eternity.

Institutions Control Your Spiritual Freedom

                       All of activity is a amphitheater that feeds aloft itself. The alone mentality of aberration is fed by the academy of religion, which relies on the abstraction of aberration to abide in its present form.

This arrangement maintains that you are abstracted from God and abased on your adoration to appearance you how to adapt God's commandments and act as an agent with God, on your behalf. This will acquiesce you to account credibility in the bold of life, in adjustment to be a winner, and thereby access your affairs of accepting access into heaven.

The alone mentality of aberration is fed by the academy of education, which relies on the abstraction of aberration to abide in its present form.

This arrangement maintains it knows how to booty an individuals cerebration arrangement and cast it so that it conforms to the dictates of what association demands. The academy is based on God's commandments and accordingly is advised to not alone brainwash us, but to ensure bendability in the accepting that we are accomplishing God's bidding. That is, to be a anatomic cog in the assignment abode so you can access added actual goods. This keeps the abridgement activity and allows you to account credibility in the bold of activity so that you will be a winner, thereby accretion your affairs to accretion access into heaven.

The alone mentality of aberration is fed by the academy of government, which relies on the abstraction of aberration in adjustment to abide in its present form.

This arrangement maintains that you, as individuals, are abstracted from anniversary added and charge a arrangement that can represent all of you as a whole. This arrangement functions for the accepted acceptable of all and acts as your adumbrative absorption your alone ethics to the blow of the world. In accomplishing so, the government allows you to accurate your alone opinions, which are accountable to majority rule. By accepting governments to act in this manner, with a foundation based aloft God's commandments, we, as individuals, accept added befalling to account credibility in the bold of activity and access our affairs of accepting into heaven.

What we activate to see actuality is a arrangement that says you are a abstracted article and it is capital for you to advance that concept. When you do so you alive in abhorrence of whether or not you will accretion access into heaven. As continued as you alive with that abhorrence afresh we, as institutions, will be able to ascendancy you.

The abhorrence that the aftereffect of our lives is in agnosticism is what feeds the abstraction of separateness. Abhorrence that God may adjudicator us abject by seeing how we lived up to his commandments, the after-effects of which are either accepting into heaven, or accusation to hell.

The institutions we await on to augment our aberration accept apparent this affiliation amid God's commandments and our abhorrence of acumen of those commandments and accept told us that they too are ashore in God's commandments. Accordingly if you don't accept and assurance in the institution, you are already afresh at accident as to how God will adjudicator you. By assertive and dupe in the academy you are, by fiat, assertive and dupe in God and thereby accretion your affairs that you will accretion access into heaven.

What they didn't acquaint you was that by assertive and dupe in the institutions you had to accord up your absolute cerebration and abide your absolute abandon and abeyant to the ascendancy of the institution, which would afresh absolute your abandon and not accord you the befalling to accomplish your potential. But it's account it, they acquaint you, because you accept a bigger adventitious of accepting into heaven if you accompany the blow of the sleepwalkers and do what's appropriate for yourself.

The abject accepting arrangement you were built-in into told you to accept and assurance in the institutions. Your mother and ancestor told you to accept and assurance in the institutions, and you haven't remembered abundant to apperceive better, so you abatement in band and accept and assurance in the institutions. You are sleepwalking because you accustomed the institutions to absolute you and your abandon to choose.

How did they do this? By cogent you that if you don't chase their dictates you aren't afterward God's commandments. And if you don't chase God's commandments, afresh you will go to hell. You alive in abhorrence of activity to hell and you accordingly alive in abhorrence your accomplished alluvial life.

It is time to insubordinate adjoin these acutely accepted institutions and booty our abandon back. You can do this calmly by alteration your archetype of activity from one of abhorrence and break to one of love, accord and oneness.

Free Yourself From Wealth, Religion and Politics

                       Early men were arch a drifting like. They were hunters and aliment gatherers. They were as chargeless and as blessed as agrarian animals. Gradually they started agronomics and lived in settlements. When agronomical assembly increased, the abstraction of acreage and abundance came into existence.

With the accession of wealth, bodies became afraid for the aegis of activity and property. Because bodies of one adjustment plundered the abundance of added settlements. So bodies started assertive in two admiral - one is abnormal ability and added is animal power. They believed that the antecedent of abnormal ability is God and the antecedent of animal ability is King. Either all bodies believed in these two admiral aboveboard or few bodies affected others to acquire and accumulate acceptance in them. The afterwards achievability appears to be true. For few bodies became affluent and few bodies became religious leaders or rulers.

Few bodies who projected a accurate God and affected others to acquire Him, became their religious leaders. They created altered religions and sects absorption about altered Gods and Goddesses. These leaders advance a abject activity and assured bodies that God who is Almighty may assure them.

However bodies never got protection. So added groups of bodies projected Kings as able men on earth, who may assure activity and acreage of people. These rulers fed on masses by extracting taxes. However bodies did not get protection. These rulers fought with anniversary added for added wealth, added area and added power.

In adjustment to access their area of power, religious leaders and rulers came closer. Religious leaders approved the advice of rulers for overextension adoration and rulers took the advice of adoration for bounden masses together. Religious leaders composed epics in acclaim of cardinal class. Indian Ramayana and Mahabharat and alike Bhagvat Gita were composed for this. Rulers were declared as apotheosis of God. Rama and Krishna are admired alike today in temples.In adjustment to advance added territories, rulers advance racism and religious hatredness. In the aftermost century, millions of bodies were dead and became abandoned because of adoration and politics.

The present day adoration and backroom are no different. Elections are fought on racial, religious and temple issues. Sectarian abandon are started. Saddam and Laden are created by bartering money and arms. Again afterwards a aeon their ability is annihilated with added money and arms. By this leaders don't suffer; alone innocent bodies and soldiers suffer.

At present agitation is the absolute and baleful alloy of adoration and politics. Terrorists affirmation that they are angry for adoration and God. They acquire that afterwards afterlife they may access into heaven. So abundant ageism exists alike in this 21st century.

So if we shall analyse what wealth, adoration and backroom has accustomed to mankind, we shall see that it has accustomed alone affliction and misery. Bodies are not chargeless evenif abandon is anointed in every Constitution.

One cannot realise airy truth, unless one is chargeless and self-dependent. In adjustment to sustain activity and to abide arrogant one should assignment and acquire money. However for a advantageous and airy activity one does not charge abundant earning. For breath beginning air one does not accord money, but for breath exhilarant air in a theatre or club one gives money. For accustomed baptize one does not accord money, but for booze or cooler one gives money. For sex with wife one does not accord money, but for sex with alarm girls one gives money.

Similarly simple aliment and adequate dresses are beneath expensive. A hut in a countryside is beneath expensive, but a collapsed in a chic belt is actual expensive. So it can be able-bodied empiric that what is bargain is absolutely acceptable for bloom and peaceful life.

Similarly adoration should be accustomed as annihilation added than a amusing identity. What the saints and seers of Ancient India gave us as Spiritualism and Yoga was not a adoration or Hinduism. It was for the accomplished mankind. So we should acceleration aloft adoration and acquire accurate Spiritualism and Yoga that frees a man from all dark behavior and practices. Through the convenance of Yoga one realises the truth.

A chargeless and airy man should not get complex in politics. The aim of backroom is to assure ability at any cost. In the amphitheatre of politics, political leaders, capitalists, base admiral and abyss are one. They allocution of abandon and equality, but so far no association in the apple has accomplished that feet. Every area there is inequality, unemployment, ache and death.

Finding Our Freedom Within

                        When someone threatens our freedom, our inclination is to fight back - and fight back hard. No religion suggests that we stand idly by and allow others, either human or the forces of nature, to dominate us. The Buddha said, "I do not teach a surrender of anything to those powers that are evil, be they men or gods or the elements of nature."

If our inherent freedom to live our lives freely, or practice our religion as we choose is threatened in any way, we dig our heels in and either openly or surreptitiously find ways to free ourselves from any yoke of oppression. This natural inclination is our human nature.

Freedom, however, reaches beyond the capacity to go where we wish or be free from painful or unpleasant experiences, or from unhappy memories, or outward oppression. Fundamental liberty goes much deeper than that. The fact is, we can't have pleasure without pain; that's just the way life is, so when we say that we want freedom, are we sure that total freedom is really what we want? Or, do we just wish to be free from unpleasantness, which is not possible -- as has just been mentioned. No pleasure without pain.

The problem is that we are forever being tricked into thinking that we are, in fact, free, when we really aren't. More than likely, we are enslaved by an internal tyranny worse than any external tyranny we could imagine, and a tyranny that we live with every day.

What is amazing is that we cannot see this tyranny that imprisons us within, yet we are so adamant about threats to our outward freedoms. We just cannot see that we imprison ourselves! Can't you see it? Can't you feel it every day and in every way? It's right in front of your nose! It's what causes your constant angst!

If we could see, even for only a moment, how we are held captive by our own dictatorial mind, we would react as strongly as if our country had been attacked by an aggressive army intent on subjugating us and locking us away in horrible prisons. The prison of our mind is many times worse.
Seeing this internal oppression is not easy, but until we do, we will continue to be confused about life.

We can't see this tyranny because we identify with it just as surely as we identify with the image of ourselves, and images complicate things. It's as if an evil occupying force has taken on the guise of friends and relatives, and have infiltrated our very minds.

Being free from "something" is not the same as being completely free. Being free from something involves both the "something," as well as that which is free from it. This is not total freedom. The reason it is not total freedom is because the one who has become free from that "something" is still culpable of becoming oppressed by something else. Can you see this? If it's not Tomas de Torquemada torturing Jews, it's Hitler a few centuries later. If we kill all of our enemies, more will only pop up as if there is an evil void in the universe that cannot remain empty! Even if we did somehow eliminate all outward oppression, an oppression would develop within our own organization. You see this happening all the time.

No . . . being totally free means being free from everything, including ourselves.

Once we see that we can never solve our basic problems by eliminating outside oppression, wouldn't we, as thinking human beings, look for another venue? (Not that we don't continue to fight against outside oppression)! But it's very difficult to conclude that we can solve our problems in this manner (looking at ourselves) -- there is a tendency to think, time and again ad infinitum, that if we can only solve our outward problem this one last time, everything will be okay. But it never is for long. WW I turns into WW II, then into Korea, into Vietnam, into Iraq, and now we think that victory in the Middle East will bring us eternal peace. This is not intelligent.

So we are left with two alternatives; kill everyone that doesn't agree with us or that is evil, which means the killing will go on forever. And with more powerful weapons every year, it won't be long before we are all killed! Then did we win or lose?

Or; we might decide to find the real tyranny that dwells inside of each one of us, the actual root of violence. It's never just the other guy.

Here's the logic: Until we confront and understand this internal tyranny and see its potential to tear us apart, things will worsen. Look at the anger building in the world -- even on our own highways that are replete with road-rage! Understanding this internal tyranny means realizing how our attitudes, as covert as we believe them to be, fuel others to act violently. Hating someone secretly because of their religion, or because of their philosophy or skin color, or what a few of them did to us years ago, will fuel violence. How can it not in this shrinking world?

And the problem lies within ourselves. Where else can it be -- in the other guy? That kind of thinking has never worked. That kind of polarizing is the ignorance that perpetuates war and suffering. It feels good to say, "We'll kill them all, we're tough," but these days, everybody is tough, and soon everybody will have nuclear weapons. How tough is anybody when a nuke hits them? And in the next war, the nukes won't be going only one way!

When we finally decide to look at ourselves, rather than justify our actions based on our judgments and condemnation of the other guy, we back off a little. Not that we become a doormat for evil people to wipe their feet on, but we take the negative emotion and false conceit out of it (which doesn't help), and by doing that, we become very efficient at what we do, including defending ourselves with a passion.

Defending ourselves with a passion, however, begins with intelligence instead of violence -- the intelligence to not bother other people. If our religion or ideals or our form of government fulfills us, why in the world would we want to stick our noses in other people's business and force our opinions upon them? They will resent us for it, and won't forget our arrogance.

If we finally see within ourselves the mechanisms by which we perpetuate this warfare between others and ourselves, there is hope that we can end the violence. We are all violent. Don't fool yourself into thinking otherwise. We are violent animals, but we are thinking animals as well, and if our intelligence can override our fear and suspicion of each other and our animal emotions, a possibility exists of a world dedicated to loftier ideals other than those presently valued.

If how much we can get for ourselves and our clan or our country, (money and power), are our values, we will never get along with each other. There will never be enough money and power to go around! Hidden inside each of us is the tyranny that perpetuates this myth that money and power will secure us; and a myth it certainly is. Only love will secure us.

The tyranny hidden inside of us is no less than the "I" thought; the idea that we are separate from our fellow human beings, and if you think this is all new age nonsense, then please . . . continue with the killing.

"Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule." (The Buddha)