Scaring yourself to disbelief is easy these days.

On a forum I am on, someone wrote in saying they are becoming increasingly athiestic. And then listed about ten horrible things going on today ... Hurricanes, riots, war, threats of disease (I've laid off the avian flu panic on the Blog, but I have my theories about vaccines ..)

So I felt compelled to write him this ..
Dear _______,

I have been at the extreme end of the social/political nightmare. I live in Canada in exile, having done nothing wrong. I know what it is like to have your faith tested.

It's easy to list out all the horrors going on around us, but a close look at history will reveal that one could have made a horror list at ANY time in history. It's true enough to me that we are in the End Times, but I don't expect if we work at it the world is over. It may be over as we know it. I care about the world and I don't expect The Rapture to come along and let me irresponsible to my fellow human pods until then.

What makes our times different is that the incredible leaps in public literacy, the impact of the mass media and communications, photography, the overwhelming numbers of people living in the 20th and 21st century made possible by medical science and hygiene, even advancements in psychology ... have made us much more aware of what's going on and given us the ability to understand it.

It seems like in the past year, we barely have time to recover from what is going on before the next big thing to cause us real grief occurs. We are overwhelmed. We know that we aren't being told the truth -- what we think is happening, what we are told is happening and what is really happening is all at variance. This is called cognitive dissonance and leads to ... more overwhelm.

This is the time to get involved with a power greater than yourself, and find the infinity within you, MORE THAN EVER.

As the planet seems to be spinning out of control, and perhaps it is, it is more important than ever to reach inside yourself where faith, love, understanding and peace live. It's a time to live day by day and do the best we can. The whole planet is Waking Up! It's actually a GREAT time to be alive, despite how weary we may grow. It's like we've volunteered to be here to help out just be living in these times. That's how I see it.

B_________, your very vulnerability is such a strength. Rather than stoning yourself and numbing out, you are alive and thinking. Descartes had it ALL wrong. I AM, therefore I think, not the other way around. What you are thinking is logical. But thinking isn't all of it.

It's the experience of being human that takes us into NEEDING a God. Unfortunately, we have been fed so much garbage about God and tend to think of Him as like our fathers, or mothers, or other authority figures. But I am walking proof -- miracles exist.

Tune in (meditate on Bill S.'s -- www.mysticalprinciples@yahoogroups.com -- excellent meditations or read some inspirational literature), TURN ON (appreciate all the great things in your life today -- light a candle at www.gratefulness.org), but don't drop out like the hippies. All the wonderful knowledge you have can be given away to help others. When we leave this planet we only take with us that which we have given away! Be loving and brave. It feels really good.

My prayers are with you. I think as you decide which path best suits your ability to help others, you will find your belief in God renewed and strengthened. Your honesty is SO refreshing ... and I AM

Grateful,
Lady Broakoak