This is the first article I posted on My Way of Love Blog. I re-post it in order to supply a check list for you to use to evaluate your progress in spiritual growth and understanding. Have you moved beyond the lies and into a much more fulfilling spirituality based on Truth?
Originally posted on July 13, 2009
Nancy B. Detweiler, M.Ed., M.Div.
Before we can truly walk the Way of Love, we must awaken to the many lies we have been told by those in power positions. The most devastating of these lies relate to who we are as human beings living on Planet Earth. These lies include the following, but are by no means the extent of the matrix of illusions by which we live.
1. We are separate from God and all of creation. This lie leaves humankind in a very vulnerable position—at the mercy of a God we do not understand and whatever else life throws our way.
2. God rewards and punishes us according to our behavior.
3. We must obey the teachings of our chosen religion in order to gain salvation from a punishing God.
4. We have only one lifetime on Earth. When we leave, it is because God has removed us.
5. Death ends all opportunities to live on Earth and results in our soul being permanently assigned to one of two possible places: heaven or hell.
6. Life on Earth is naturally characterized by the “survival of the fittest.”
7. God creates some human beings with mental, physical, and emotional handicaps.
8. We are alone in the vast cosmos. Thus, by inference, life on Earth is the best God could do.
9. Each human being is the result of intercourse between his/her parents—the uniting of the human sperm and egg. Therefore, human beings can be killed.
10. Wars are necessary in order to protect ourselves from our nation’s enemies.
11. God takes sides in war. Of course, God always takes the side of those who are right and pray to Him.
12. God is male and resides high in the sky. He is the “man in the sky.”
13. God can do anything God chooses.
The above list of lies—only the tip of the iceberg—are among the major factors in the formation of humanity’s belief system and therefore, humanity’s behavior.
In order to truly walk the Path of Love, we must reconsider each lie and seek the Truth instead. As long as we subscribe to lies, our motives are skewed. A good example is our motivation for “good works.” Good works are among the criteria, taught by religions, that help us get into heaven. Therefore, the majority of “good works” are performed with a skewed motive: “I’ll be rewarded in heaven.” Love based on fulfilling requirements cannot be unconditional love.
I am creating this Path of Love Blog in order to look at the above lies, and more, with the prayer that we may all awaken to the Truth of who we really are … who God is … and our real place within the cosmos.
May we walk together on the Path of Love as we prepare for a glorious emergence into the next World Age, commencing in 2012. [2013] We have so little time in which to transform our world into one of Light and Unconditional Love!
