5/20/07 Ron Paul on CNN

Ron Paul

My answer to the global warming concern posed by Bill Maher. Downsize the American Government as it is the largest polluter on the face of the Earth. We the people have to care about our world enough to save it. It will only be a force of human positive will, not orwellian handcuff force that will cause the type of response to the global warming problem we face.

Ron does not have the high speed internet wit of Bill Maher, BUT he does respond with honest forthright and amazing answers.

So far, He is the only (R) for which I would vote as he is not for the neo-can agenda of social intolerance and fiscal irresponsibility.

Go Ron Paul

www.cslseattle.org

Thanks Kathianne,

I have been on edge lately as a friend has been dealing recently with a stalker, and after the recent shooting at the UW and then the VT shootings we have all been concerned.

Though these events are uncommon they have the power to weigh heavy on our minds if we let them. The beauty is that we have the same amount of power to look at this with insight and enlightenment (more power if we open our hearts?). The power of perception is truly immense and often true north is neglected because it is outside of where we find comfort.

Deep down I know that we drop the ball. We fumble and people get hurt. But we would not be here if nations and generations before us hadn't, after many great hardships, stood up with aches and pains on the rain soaked field and yelled. . . "HIKE!!!".

Scott~


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Life is what you make me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.


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Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 5:39:01 PM
Subject: CSL: Let Us Be Broken Open

Dear Scott

When horrible tragedies happen such as the recent shooting at Virginia Tech. we can all feel the blow of disbelief, shock and outrage. These feelings can be followed by anger, pain, or deep sadness. These are all very normal reactions for what can seem like a world gone wild. My spiritual practice at this moment is to feel all the feelings and let those feelings fill me up to the place of overflow. I want my heart to break-to break open.

My wonderful Hindu friend, Bo Lozoff said, "Grief is only love with a bad reputation." I believe that the anger and sadness I feel when confronted with human beings seeming inhumanity is my huge disappointment in us as a species. I grieve because I know we are capable of such love and greatness. If we are all on the same team, our team just fumbled the ball.

Here's where the turning point is for me - I have to realize that the anger, sadness, and grief are the shadow side of the great Love I have for all human beings. As I acknowledge that I can embrace my feelings, I trust that Love will soon evidence itself. My Prayer becomes, "God open my heart wide open so the Power of Love can flow through me."

I share these thought with you because we aren't a church that tries to tell anyone what to think or how to act or who we can pin blame upon. (Ernest Holmes said, "We don't tell people what to think but how to think.") I hope by sharing my personal process that you may find a way and means to touch the deep reservoir of love and understanding within yourself and that you let love flow out from you to your family, friends and the people so tragically effected by this incident.

To have your heart broken open for love is a Glorious thing.

Blessings to you!

Dr. Rev. Kathianne Lewis
Senior Minister

Center for Spiritual Living
5801 Sand Point Way NE
Seattle, WA 98105
206-527-8801, ext 219
www.cslseattle.org

Floater - Apology

Be Kind to One Another

It is crucial that we de-esculate the mass tension and fighting we have going on in the world.

You may ask, what can I do to make things better, more peaceful, more harmonious?

Start by giving more of yourself to the community you live in. Follow up by giving more to the family who nurtured you into who you are. And if the ones that raised you did a bad job in your eyes. Be bold and courageous enough to forgive them and noble enough to not repeat the offense to your own children.

Meditate

Relax

Forgive

Allow people to be imperfect

Allow people to make mistakes and to grow

grow



peace,

Scott~

Louise Richardson' "What Terrorists Want"

2006-09-08b-forum.mp3 (audio/mpeg Object)

A very refreshing interview. Enjoy.

MyFox WGHP | War of Words Escalates at Guilford College

MyFox WGHP | War of Words Escalates at Guilford College: "ssibly a hate crime, it has been quite a week at Guilford College. Five"


Here is how FOX covered the story.

Two more N.C. football players charged

Two more N.C. football players charged

This is the other side of the story.

Thoughts?

Here is the new donor program for the LPWA!!!

Please, try it out.

Scott~

The True Church (reprint from late 90's- before blogs)

The True Church

The true church should be humble, not domineering.

The true church should teach, not insist or demand. It should appeal to the senses of a person, not to the law that binds him.

It should seek to influence mankind to do good instead of eliminate any form of imaginable sin.

When the laws of the state are so strict that it is illegal to choose and immoral to think individually, then it is definitely not a time when man is truly free.

The true church of Christ will not offer choice as one of the the greatest gifts while at the same time working to wield political powers as guidelines with human punishment for every conceivable offense.


No segment of a true church would seek to rule over a man's life. To do so would be the opposite of free agency. Which is not to say that there can not be laws to keep people form violating others, but to say that actions that do not harm others are up to the individual (this should not lead to the argument that alcohol; for example, leads to drunkenness and therefore should be illegal).

It is not the way of the divine to reach down and force a path of righteousness else the world would have been designed with guard rails around every turn and danger.

If life is a test then I feel as though too many church's are attempting to provide a skewed version of a cheat sheet. Religion for dummies. Crutches for the needy and, oh yeah, you are all sinners and needy. My way or the highway. Hence the countless variations of interpretations of the scriptures. Book of Mormon, Holy Bible, Koran, etc. and the factions thereof.

It is wrong for you to consider it your place to save your fellow man, kicking and screaming, from himself.

Wouldn't Jesus consider the laws of God being there as personal guideposts instead of a rule book in the hands of 'Holy Police Task Forces'? These guidelines were given to be followed by choice and not by force. How else would the real metal of a man be tested? If you are bound by men into compliance with spirit law, how can your true spiritual compass be tested, be read, be learned, and perfected?

The true Church of Christ would never, in my eyes, finds the words to inspire or advise a man of the direction he should seek. Furthermore it would never seek to arrest or fine him for making a mistake.

If you see no flaw with the idea of having spiritual laws being common and controlled by man (hence subject to each enforcers interpretation???) then you should make no claim that it is Gods place to judge the measure of a mans spirit and mans place to strive for good.


Have I prayed? Yes I have. Does your conviction give you authority over me?

Would Jesus have spoken of repentance if instead he wanted armed officials beating down the doors of the unholy? Perhaps his twelve apostles were inept at law enforcement?

It is believed that teaching by example is better than teaching by negative reinforcement. In the same sense, being a shepherd of men should not be guiding by gavel but rather by cautious eyes and thoughtful instruction.

So it is true, and has always been so, that the greatest offense to the spiritual growth of mankind, is the rule of man over other men. Again, reminding that it IS in the power of mankind to enforce just laws that involve the clear violations of unalienable rights.

Anyone with any political power should work to reduce the ever-growing list of laws that rule mankind over mankind, whether they be petty or complex and bizarre.

After some thought and realization it is clear that much of what the modern political structure does is to take turns enforcing rules to satisfy one groups wish to control another groups lives.

Separation of church and state should go both ways. We should not allow the government to sanction one church (or religious action) over another. Nor should anyone's right to choose religious practices be subject to popular consent, UNLESS the actions of a person/group harm others or their rights.

Secular laws govern our interactions, spiritual laws guide us one by one above the baseline set out by political protection of God given rights.