I see a lot of talk in spiritual communities about how important it is to spend time alone, about how healing it is and how great it is for our Soul. While in many cases that's true, always wanting to be alone can hamper our growth as well. There's moments to be alone, and then there's moments to be together...

I won't beat around the bush, I don't like big cities. From a mental perspective, they're great, the mind can stay very busy in the city. There's all sorts of entertainment, non-stop things to do, and great food to eat. Movies, music, and dancing are never far away, people are everywhere. There's only one thing missing: peace.

To me, visiting a city is like wading through thick psychic mud. All the chaos is people's mind, all their fears & desires, create this kind of discordant psychic noise. It's very draining to be in that energy, and people become very numb, very disconnected from each other. It seems like a contradiction, but you can be surrounded by thousands of people, while also being incredibly alone. There's even a term for it, “urban solitude”.

Having lived in this environment myself, I can understand the desire to want to be alone in your own personal space. Being alone in my room was one of the few opportunities I had to really experience a calm and peaceful environment, with the exception of being out in Nature. Everywhere else in the city was stressful, and the longer I stayed, the more stress built up. I always had to do a deep auric cleansing afterward.

You know what joy is, you know what happiness feels like. Look within yourself, that feeling of happiness is already there. It may be a bit buried under all the thoughts and emotions you've been focusing upon lately, but happiness is there within everyone. Why not focus upon that feeling? You deserve it, everyone does, why not make it that simple?

If you're like most people, you've got a hundred reasons to be anxious, and you think these are all perfectly valid reasons too. If you didn't think they were valid, you wouldn't be anxious about the future, about money, health and relationships. “I don't have time to be happy, I've got bills and work and chores to do!” You bind your happiness to situations, events, things and desires, but the good news is, you don't have to. Happiness doesn't really work that way.

By your own choice, you put happiness into the future, and by your own choice, you can have happiness in the present moment. You don't have to let this all happen unconsciously, you don't have to let happiness depend upon situations that appear to be out of your control. Even if you're struggling to make ends meet, you have the power over how you react to that. Some of the happiest people have next to nothing, while some of the most miserable people have everything they could ever want. It's a choice, and it has very little to do with external situations.

The religious world was rocked recently when it was revealed that God himself filed a suit against the Catholic church accusing them of defamation of character. Other religions have expressed grave concerns over what this could mean for them, and what kind of precedent this will set. The Galactic Free Press has secured an inclusive interview with God on the subject:

Galactic Free Press (GFP): Thanks for joining us, and I guess our first question is, why? What's the motivation behind bringing this suit up against the Catholic church?

GOD: FOR FAR TOO LONG RELIGION HAS USED ME AS AN EXCUSE FOR VIOLENCE, HATRED, AND AS A TOOL FOR CONTROL. ALL SORTS OF THINGS THAT HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH GOD AT ALL. EVERYONE KNOWS THIS, BUT MOST PEOPLE ONLY SEE IT IN OTHER RELIGIONS AND REFUSE TO SEE IT IN THEIR OWN RELIGION.

GFP: Yes, we've noticed how quick people are to blame their problems on everyone but themselves. What would you say to people who think the need religion?

GOD: I AM ALIVE WITHIN THE HEART OF EACH AND EVERY HUMAN BEING ON PLANET EARTH. VERY FEW TRULY UNDERSTAND THIS THOUGH, AND BECAUSE OF THAT IT'S BEEN VERY EASY FOR RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS TO INSERT THEMSELVES BETWEEN MAN AND GOD. THEY CLAIM TO BE THE BRIDGE BETWEEN MAN AND GOD, BUT THEY DO FAR MORE TO SEPARATE HUMANS FROM GOD.

GFP: So why have religions?

We hear about the Divine Realms, where Everything Is One, where God Is All, and where your Being exists in joyful perfection. Then there's the world most people live in, where pain, suffering, separation, and conflict seem very real. Creating true balance in our lives means that we must bring the Divine Oneness into our "normal" world, but more often than not this seems like an impossibility. How can we be One when we appear to be separate?

One thing to understand is that our minds revolve around the paradigm of separation, and the whole perception of ourselves as separate entities is created by the mind. The separate mind cannot bridge the gap between Oneness and the illusion of separation, and all you're going to do is create cognitive dissonance trying to hold on to those two contradictory thoughts at the same time. Consciousness however, can embrace a paradox. Consciousness can exist peacefully with the Divine Mystery, which creates a sense of child-like wonder for all Life.

The Oneness That God Is cannot be understood logically. Thinking about Oneness is only a pale reflection of the Living Experience of Oneness. Oneness is not a concept because concepts come from a place of separation, the All is divided up to create individual concepts. Oneness, God, Love, the All, Source, those are all different labels for the Unknowable, and I don't think I need to explain the problems that arise with trying to know the Unknowable. Lucky for you, you don't have to know the Unknowable, you already ARE the Unknowable. You Are God, existing in divine perfection and Oneness with All That Is. You Are The One, You Are The All, and there exists no separation between the One and the All save for the illusions that you yourself put there in your unconsciousness.

Think of the stereotypical spoiled child, what happens when they don't get what they want? They scream and cry and generally make things very difficult for their parents until their parents cave in. It's a form of manipulation, they hold peace and quiet hostage until they get their way. If their desires aren't fulfilled, they're going to make everyone else miserable too. Of course, you can't blame the child too much, because in most cases the parents were foolish enough to start rewarding this type of behavior.

Your mind is that spoiled child, even if you don't behave that way outwardly. Your mind holds your happiness hostage and demands that its desires be fulfilled if you want any of that happiness. Your mind throws hissy fits just as obnoxious as any child when it doesn't get what it wants, but for the most part these stay hidden within so you can at least keep up the appearance of maturity.

When you fail to get what you desire, you suffer for it. Even though Peace is inherent to your Being, your mind screams and rants and repeats and repeats and repeats and repeats and repeats... Every time you cave in to the demands of the mind, you strengthen these patterns too. Your Perfect Consciousness is still there, it just becomes obscured by all the mind's chaos. Surrounded by illusion, Peace seems like something far away, while confusion, anxiety and suffering almost seem normal.

It's usually in early childhood that the desires of the mind eclipse the Joy of Being. Your life is no longer about Living, you become consumed by desire.  Your happiness becomes a carrot on a stick that's controlled by the mind, and even though every once in a while you get a little nibble, your mind can create new desires a thousand times faster than you can fulfill them.