Allegory of the Cave

I remember reading this piece of work from Plato as a "required" reading in High School and even back then it struck me as a tremendous lesson about life and how we SEE things from our own perspective and misunderstand illusions!

So much of our belief system is formed at such an early age and we are in fact "prisoners" of our surroundings - believing what people we "trust" tell us are Truths, Facts and Reality!

We rarely have a chance to challenge those "facts" and do not know anything different to compare them to anyway -even if we could.

Do not underestimate how powerful these early beliefs are and how ingrained the concepts of what we are and what our world means TO US become FACT as we become the people we actually become.

Whether they be the TRUTH or ILLUSION!!

Like the "prisoners" in the cave, we form a belief on what we "see" as we grow and rarely waver from those beliefs.

It is our responsibility however to escape those chains as we evolve and see that some of our old, ingrained beliefs may need adjusting-- or plain discarding altogether!

We need to open our minds to that fact!

So many of the problems, trials and challenges we face in our lives today are directly related to our "learned" belief system and once we have the strength and ability to realize that we create some of our own issues by believing what is not FACT, but merely illusions, we can change how we feel about our lives!!

Challenge what you were taught and learned -- open your heart and soul and mind to uncovering the TRUTH about what are lives are supposed to be! What our mission is on this earth for this short period of time! What we are supposed to be doing for each other and what MATTERS!!

Challenge your FEARS and realize that even if confronted with a situation that embodies ALL of your fears, worries, and anxieties - YOU WILL STILL SURVIVE IT!!!!

Think about that -- if EVERY FEAR you have and upon which you ruminate daily came to fruition --what would happen??

YOU would STILL survive - still go on with your life - and still have the Lord, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit there with you!!

That is worst case scenario!!!!!

Let the fear go -- nothing is your fault and even if it were something within our responsibility - it is no longer a REALITY!

Just because something occurred in the past, it does not mean we have to carry it with us the rest of our lives!!

We can DISCARD the item like an old tin can - IF we BELIEVE that we are worthy of it and if we summon the mental strength to say " It is NOT my fault. It is NOT who I am and I will NOT let it drive my life, my beliefs, my future and affect my God Given RIGHT to peace, Joy and happiness!"

We are ALL worthy of it - and if you feel you are not you must break those chains in your "cave" and understand that you are, in fact, not only Worthy - YOU ARE ENTITLED to and EXPECTED to open your eyes, turn away from the illusions, and accept your Joy, Peace and Happiness!!

It is God's Will - you can deny it and refuse to accept it -- but you CANNOT CHANGE THE FACT it has already been given to you and will ALWAYS be there for you to accept and recognize! No matter how hard or how often you refuse to embrace it!!

Will you accept it?

Keep fighting and Stay Strong!!

You are NEVER alone!

Be Not Afraid

While it is almost impossible to dissociate the beautiful song "Be Not Afraid" with death and funerals given the popular choice it has become - we should not overlook it as a guide and reminder of what God promises ALL of us each and every single day!

The tool to remove fear is in our very grasp today and it is fully apparent in the words that I believe embody exactly what Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit teach us about the topic of fear and Faith and Hope!

" You shall cross the barren desert, but you shall not die of thirst:

You shall wander far in safety though you do not know the way;

You shall speak your words in foreign lands and all will understand;

You shall see the Face of God and live;

Be Not Afraid,
I go before you always
Come follow me and I will give you rest.

If you pass through raging waters, in the sea you shall not drown;

If you walk amid the burning flames, you shall not be harmed;

If you stand before the power of Hell and Death is at your side,
Know that I am with you through it all

Be Not Afraid,
I go before you always
Come follow me and I will give you rest.

Blessed are your poor for the Kingdom shall be theirs;

Blessed are you that weep and mourn for one day you shall laugh;

And if wicked tongues insult and hate you all because of Me, Blessed-Blessed are you

Be Not Afraid,
I go before you always -
Come follow me and I will give you rest."

This is not merely a funeral dirge - it is a wonderful and constant reminder that NO MATTER what confronts you in this life -YOU are NEVER alone!

You do not need to fear anything, or worry about anything - God will ALWAYS have you in his grasp and will never let you go through hardship or battles on your own!!

Birds and animals do not have jobs - responsibilities or the means to care for themselves -- so how is it they survive ???

God provides what we need - and it may not be exactly what we want but it is His Will we must Trust! Not our own agenda!

Stop Fearing - Stop worrying! Turn that over to Him and you will never need to Fear anything!

Ever!

Stay Strong!

A Reminder that ALL of our actions have consequences!

One of my favorite pieces of literature!

We should all read and remember this lesson daily.

Enjoy!

Father Forgets

by W. Livingston Larned

Listen, son; I am saying this as you lie asleep, one little paw crumpled under your cheek and the blond curls stickily wet on your damp forehead.

I have stolen into your room alone. Just a few minutes ago, as I sat reading my paper in the library, a stifling wave of remorse swept over me. Guiltily I came to your bedside.

There are things I was thinking, son:

I had been cross to you. I scolded you as you were dressing for school because you gave your face merely a dab with a towel. I took you to task for not cleaning your shoes. I called out angrily when you threw some of your things on the floor.

At breakfast I found fault, too. You spilled things. You gulped down your food. You put your elbows on the table. You spread butter too thick on your bread.

And as you started off to play and I made for my train, you turned and waved a hand and called, "Goodbye, Daddy!" and I frowned, and said in reply, "Hold your shoulders back!"

Then it began all over again in the late afternoon.

As I came Up the road, I spied you, down on your knees, playing marbles. There were holes in your stockings. I humiliated you before you boyfriends by marching you ahead of me to the house. Stockings were expensive - and if you had to buy them you would be more careful!

Imagine that, son, from a father!

Do you remember, later, when I was reading in the library, how you came in timidly, with a sort of hurt look in your eyes? When I glanced up over my paper, impatient at the interruption, you hesitated at the door. "What is it you want?" I snapped.

You said nothing, but ran across in one tempestuous plunge, and threw your arms around my neck and kissed me, and your small arms tightened with an affection that God had set blooming in your heart and which even neglect could not wither.

And then you were gone, pattering up the stairs.

Well, son, it was shortly afterwards that my paper slipped from my hands and a terrible sickening fear came over me.

What has habit been doing to me? The habit of finding fault, of reprimanding - this was my reward to you for being a boy.

It was not that I did not love you; it was that I expected too much of youth.

I was measuring you by the yardstick of my own years.

And there was so much that was good and fine and true in your character. The little heart of you was as big as the dawn itself overthe wide hills. This was shown by your spontaneous impulse to rush in and kiss me good night.

Nothing else matters tonight, son.

I have come to your bedside in the darkness, and I have knelt there, ashamed!

It is a feeble atonement; I know you would not understand these things if I told them to you during your waking hours.

But tomorrow I will be a real daddy! I will chum with you, and suffer when you suffer, and laugh when you laugh.

I will bite my tongue when impatient words come.

I will keep saying as if it were a ritual: "He is nothing but a boy - a little boy!"

I am afraid I have visualized you as a man.

Yet as I see you now, son, crumpled and weary in your cot, I see that you are still a baby.

Yesterday you were in your mother's arms, your head on her shoulder.

I have asked too much, too much.

Stay Strong!

Words of Wisdom from WILD20

For those in times of trial, remember what the Bible says.

The car broke down, you learned you have to take a pay cut, or even be laid off. Things are not going right. Sickness may have overtaken you, relatives died. Unemployment, disability, all the stresses of life.

You barely have ends meeting now and things will be even worse the next few months.This readers, is the ultimate test of faith, and some of the worst situations facing people.

The question is, can you make it through, and, does the Bible give you enough strength and scripture to do that?

The answer folks is yes! And the scriptures have plenty to say about it.

The Bible says we will go through tribulation. (Acts 14:22)

For some, this is instances of the death of someone close, financial problems, and stresses of life. We know that not all will be here on earth when Jesus comes again. But others will. There is an end time tribulation, but not all will go through it. For those that do, the times will be hard, with much suffering, but for those that don't, I am sure we all have little trials and tribulations that happen to us.

What does the Bible say? I studied this while I wrote this, and found it quite interesting.

You see, God gave us a great tool called the Bible. Some say it is a book of prophecy, other say it is a book of doom.

I call it a book of promises.

God's promise, all amounting to one thing, Jesus' return. The trials we go through are a small speck and scope of the greater picture. The suffering we go through, will all be nothing more then a moment. The Bible says we are here for just a moment in time. (2 Corinthians 4:17)

So what happens when we go through these trials? We do what Job did, we worship God, praise his name, and trust Him.

I have a great text. It is Philippians 4:6. It states that we would be anxious for nothing, but that in everything, through prayer, we should bring our requests to God. (paraphrased)

This text is of great comfort to a lot of people. It is a sugggestion, no,.. more than that, a command --on what to do in a time of trial, and when you ask something of God.

This text alone, if used as a rule in life, and trusted as a promise that God will hear you, would keep our stress down. The ulcers that plague the world today would disappear.

I know a lot of people will be thinking on these words and saying, so are you saying to not worry about our furture? Our children, our livelihood?

No I am not saying that. But there is no reason to obsess about it.

One needs to only trust in God, and then He does the rest.

Yes, figure out what your budget is; Yes make sure your finances are secure, but when troubling times come, pray that God will guide you, and according to His will, that He will answer you.

Remember what Jesus said in the Garden? Not my will, but your own. Some would call this crazy.

I suggest a book. It is called "Ten P's in a Pod" and tells the life story of a family, that went around spreading the gospel. Sometimes they would have no money and no place to stay, but in the end God always supplied their needs. Which I always think is amazing. The father never worried. Crazy? Yes. I call it crazy for God.

We should all be like that. It is a matter of putting something in God's hands, and not worrying about it.God has the bigger picture.

It says in Matthew 6:27 that no one can help themselves or make anything better by worrying. I firmly believe that. God has the bigger picture. And although some of us think they feel better worrying about tomorrow, it just adds more stress.

It says in Matthew 10:31 that we are more precious than the sparrows. And God says that not one sparrow will fall to the ground without God not noticing. (Matthew 10:29)

So, we have nothing to worry about. God is our guide, and he is always with us. There is no reason for us to fear anything.

Trust in God, and we have nothing else to lose.

...Posted by WILD20

How to Stay Strong! ..Daniel Belcher

In this life we face many challenges everyday that test our character and souls. It is at these times we need to stay strong. How do handle the everyday things that happen? Our love ones may have wake up in a bad mood. The boss maybe upset about something. Someone at work maybe irritated and upset. How do we handle these challenges? If we develop some good practices, we can remain strong during these times.

If we work on constantly maintaining a positive attitude, we will weather some of these daily challenges quite well. For example, we come into work and the boss gives us a hard stare. Immediately, we think we have done something wrong. We should not assume we have done something wrong. Maybe the boss was sick or maybe he had a fight with spouse or another love one. We should put in our minds that we are going to stay strong. We must not assume that it is our fault.

Perhaps, one of the ways best of staying strong is to develop good habits of discipline. One the best disciplines to develop is the habit of prayer. We can find inner strength by praying for the power to stay strong. It is a simple principle but a powerful one. Many of us can remember the times when pray has enable many to weather the challenges of life. So, we must keep prayer in mind as key way of staying strong.

Another way of staying strong is simply to develop the mind set of endurance and perseverance. We should develop the ability to stay in the struggle and not give up. Some times if we just hang in there long enough things will change. Staying strong means we must be patience, things sometime have there owe timetable for working out. Think of the long distance runner who continues to run even though he is tired, thirsty and hurting. He continues to run.


A good way to stay strong is to develop a practice of playing games that challenge and exercise the mind. For Example, one the best games for this is chess. Chess is a game that helps us because it requires a great deal to concentration and it adds flexibility to our minds. This will help our minds to stay strong and powerful when facing the challenges of daily life.


Finally, we can be strong by just having the will power to stay strong. What helps us is to say to ourselves that we will be strong. It is a well know principal, that words are powerful. So as we face our daily challenges let us say to ourselves, "I will always stay strong."


I retired from United States Navy in 2003, after serving over 21 years of enlisted active duty onboard several different ships and a few shore assignments. I am married. My wife and i have two daughters. We have two dogs, Chow Chow's, to be exact. I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Liberal Arts (Focus area Psychology) from Excelsior College class 2004.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Daniel_Belcher

Stay Strong Quotes for All Occasions

The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won't. ~Henry Ward Beecher

The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking places. ~Author Unknown

When the world says, "Give up,"Hope whispers, "Try it one more time."~Author Unknown

Don't be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves. ~Dale Carnegie

Nobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble. Pass all the pebbles in your path and you will find you have crossed the mountain. ~Author Unknown

When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on. ~Franklin D. Roosevelt

Consider the postage stamp: its usefulness consists in the ability to stick to one thing till it gets there. ~Josh Billings

The greatest oak was once a little nut who held its ground. ~Author Unknown

Fall seven times, stand up eight. ~Japanese Proverb


Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did. ~Newt Gingrich


If one dream should fall and break into a thousand pieces, never be afraid to pick one of those pieces up and begin again. ~Flavia Weedn, Flavia and the Dream Maker, © Flavia.com

He conquers who endures. ~Persius

Stubbornly persist, and you will find that the limits of your stubbornness go well beyond the stubbornness of your limits. ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com


You can't go through life quitting everything. If you're going to achieve anything, you've got to stick with something. ~From the television show Family Matters

The race is not always to the swift, but to those who keep on running. ~Author unknown, in reference to Ecclesiastes 9:11, "I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.

"It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer. ~Albert Einstein

Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another. ~Walter Elliott, The Spiritual Life

People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them. ~G.B. Shaw, Mrs. Warren's Profession, 1893

There is no telling how many miles you will have to run while chasing a dream. ~Author Unknown

Perseverance... keeps honor bright: to have done, is to hang quite out of fashion, like a rusty nail in monumental mockery. ~William Shakespeare

The drops of rain make a hole in the stone not by violence but by oft falling. ~Lucretius

But the moment you turn a corner you see another straight stretch ahead and there comes some further challenge to your ambition. ~Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Don't be discouraged. It's often the last key in the bunch that opens the lock. ~Author Unknown

The great majority of men are bundles of beginnings. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Saints are sinners who kept on going. ~Robert Louis Stevenson

If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking. ~Buddhist Saying

I may not be there yet, but I'm closer than I was yesterday. ~Author Unknown

Keep on going, and the chances are that you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it. I never heard of anyone ever stumbling on something sitting down. ~Charles F. Kettering

One may go a long way after one is tired. ~French Proverb

Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines. ~Robert Schuller

Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over. ~F. Scott Fitzgerald

With ordinary talent and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable. ~Thomas Foxwell Buxton

As a means to success, determination has this advantage over talent - that it does not have to be recognized by others. ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com

When your dreams turn to dust, vacuum. ~Author Unknown

Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they've got a second. ~William James...

I want to know if you can live with failure yours and mine and still stand at the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon,"Yes."...~© Oriah Mountain Dreamer, The Invitation, www.oriahmountaindreamer.com

Difficult things take a long time, impossible things a little longer. ~Author Unknown

Don't let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use. ~Earl Nightingale

A door opens to me. I go in and am faced with a hundred closed doors. ~Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin

Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go. ~William Feather

Big shots are only little shots who keep shooting. ~Christopher Morley

Look at a stone cutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred-and-first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not the last blow that did it, but all that had gone before. ~Jacob A. Riis

Today's Word from Joel and Victoria

We serve a faithful God! He’s a God of more than enough. Not only does He promise to meet your needs, He promises to give you enough to meet the needs of others, too. When you are a sower—when you give of your resources, your time, talent, and finances—God promises to multiply those resources so that you can continue to be a blessing to the people around you. You might look at what you have in your hand today and think, “This doesn’t look like much,” but understand that when you give God what you have, He’ll turn it into more than enough! The bible tells us that Jesus fed a crowd of over 5,000 people by multiplying the lunch of a small boy, and He can multiply whatever you have in your hand, too. Dedicate what you have to the Lord by faith today. Ask Him where you should sow your seed so that you can be a blessing to others. As you do, He’ll continue to pour out His blessing and abundance on you, and you will live fulfilled and satisfied all the days of your life.

A Prayer for Today

Father in Heaven, I dedicate everything that I have to You. Show me how I can be a blessing to others today. Thank You for your abundant provision in every area of my life. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Stay Strong!