Aptiva

There is, dear reader an amazing ability for humans to fool themselves. We put forward this reason and that reason about why we do not believe in a creator. We argue about evolution, or veracity of sourcebooks, which pertain to such deities. Each argument we put forward seeks to make God looks silly, and less than divine. Then we sit from high vantage point of supposedly intellectual superiority mocking those foolish enough to believe in such a being. Yet, I propose, dear reader that many of such arguments are merely a smokescreen. You see, dear reader what keeps many people from faith is the fear of the consequences. To place one's faith is in a creator understandably implies a change in what we have come to term their moral state. This change many do not want to make. To be blunt, many want to continue their lives unexamined. Their doubts about a created being have little to do with theology and everything to do with morality. So my question today, dear reader is simply this ar

Dear Reader, we may often have experienced the friend or relative, who has recently returned from distant shores. Upon this return they start to regale you with this story or that, and soon what was infections enthusiasm can reveal a different side. For in their travels they have altered. Their eyes have open to a new world, one for sure, which existed before, and was just as real, but until then, went unseen and unnoticed by our friend. Yet as technology progresses we may have photo's, recordings of film, even web cams of the area, it still cannot compete with the sense of presence that actually being in the country brings. The sights and sounds, the smells and language. The interaction with locals. This is reserved for those who visit. So our friend finally comes to the old adage, "you really should go sometime". There the evening end's, with all happy and with all friends. However imagine if you will a differing scenario, where the friends insistence that this

There is Dear Reader, funny ways that people approach a life of faith. Some unthinking few, consider the many blessings that a community of faith offers, but accept it like a box of toys, to be played with when it amuses them and discarded when it does not. If activities to their liking are happening, then they are first to arrive and last to leave. Yet these self same people would never appear when spiritual work is to be done. Yet learning and praying, in essence relating to the deity is a business best carried out by others. These people are best deemed as shallow, afraid to move into the deeper life that can be attained, once the free offer is understood and accepted. Preferring the shoreline than the deeper waters This is Dear Reader, not the end of the story, for some unthinking few, spend so much time in the deep water, they forget life moves on the shallow. The eating and socialising, the raising of families and the celebrating of the necessity's of life. Yet this group s

There is dear reader a wonderful illustration about a man who has a cat sat on his lap and his wife sat 20 feet away from him. The man is nearer to his wife than the cat, because the cat is so unlike the man. They have so little in common. In truth, the cat is only closer in proximity, but in no other quality. The same can be true for many who claim to follow a divine being. While they are close in proximity to people within the world, they are nearer to God. They have taken stock of the situation and assessed the reality, concluding that relationship with a divine being is worth more and of higher value than all other relationships within the world combined. The difficulty comes, not for them, but when in effect, the cat realises it is just a cat. Nobody held by the world appreciates been told that they are less important than some intangible unseen deity. So my question, dear reader is simple today, to whom are you near to, and to whom are you just in proximity?

There is Dear Reader an old profession of long ago, which seems in modern day to once again have succumbed like the proverbial dodo, I refer in this case to the Tinker. This person would arrive at one's house and offer and provide all sorts of opportunities to fix pots and pans and the like. The main service, however, was to sharpen one's knives. For in this field this person specialised, carrying the correct tools for the job. Yet throughout history, as people have tried to maintain a sharp blade through either specific whetstones or something even harder, many have fallen back to the basic principle that iron sharpens iron. The simplest thing to keep a sharp blade is another sharp blade. One cleaning away the rust and dullness of the other while having the same service offered to them. The only requirement being contact. In the same way, humans sharpen one another, keeping each other keen and bright. Yet today, as so many knives are bought and used until they are dull and the

There is Dear Reader, a collection of material that leads to suggest wherever you consider your wealth to be, there your heart and interest will be also. This proposition if true I believe works like the seasons. Just as spring blooms, poke and prod their way through heralding the coming and onset of a glorious summer which in turn yields its way to the sharper winds of autumn and the browning of the selfsame leaves that brought life, such short time ago, finally, to a winter hue and a stark landscape indeed. So our understanding of our investment tends to follow a similar pattern. The young full of hope, and with time, firmly planted on their side sow much, in many differing fields and see this first growth come through. Then with their earlier years behind them the true harvest becomes apparent and time and effort is placed on a more focused basis. To yield the maximum from the time allotted within life. Sadly, even as the harvest is being reaped, without any warning autumn arrives.

There is Dear Reader, a shift in the way of thinking in this present age. That despite our technological advances, and amassed wizardry of science, that we have in many ways become paupers. We can seem at times, emotionally stunted, unwilling or unable to give of ourselves selflessly. Many I admit do acts which used to be considered altruistic.Yet now these acts are tinged with self focus. "Forty hour famines"- become an excuse for a party. " Movember " results in many growing facial hair, but little in true change in character. Please understand, Dear Reader, these acts in themselves appear innocent enough, but which is greater for the soul, people who will give money to charity willingly, or those who will only if a raffle is involved? You see the very acts which are meant to enhance the human race have become a barrier, for they feed our sense of compassion, without actually allowing us to comprehend what the word entails. A person completes an act of quasi-compa

It is Dear Reader, in my experience an interesting realisation that people do not like to accept perceived charity. We as humans, would far rather reject help, which could alter the course of our life, and struggle on in dire circumstances than accept. For to accept would mean admitting one thing, at least in our minds, failure. This is the problem, failure is not denoted by charity. However like the old crossed connection of a telephone exchange, we carry on, the person helping saying one thing, the person being helped hearing another. "I love you", becomes, "I'm better than you", "Would this be of use", becomes "Watch me, I've achieved where you have failed" "Let me pay for that" becomes "Your so incapable". So this crazy exchange keeps ringing, becoming louder and louder, stretching further and further, until in some mad crescendo the original message dies and all communication ceases. This then is where we live. I

"If Only", Dear Reader, are two of the most powerful words in human history. They have, when studied carefully, the power to hurt or heal. The first "If only" is pride. We look upon actions of our predecessors , with false wisdom, examining their historical actions, and then we judge, as if sages ourselves. "If only they had done, this or that", options which may never have been clear or easy at the time. So in this term we imply that had we been at the juncture we are examining, we in our magnificence , would have achieved better. If only we would realise that this mostly isn't true. The second "If only", stems from our lack of courage to admit our own character. This example Dear Reader, is shown by those who would choose to change their circumstances, "if only, this item X or Y would change first", and because it does not, instead of change as best we can, we procrastinate and change not at all. Therefore we let our circumstance

There is Dear Reader a basic but little thought of logical deduction about a supreme being. Namely that a supreme being must be all knowing. This is logical, for if dear reader this being, which called itself supreme, was not all knowing, how could it know that it was supreme! To continue, and press the point, only something which knew everything could claim divine right and the associated response which goes with this. Why you may ask is this important, two reason I will leave you with. The first is to show the mockery of the so called pantheons of God's which many in past times claim to exist, and sadly many today continue to worship. For in this very set up of Greek Zeus, Viking Odin, or Hindu Vishnu, they same flaw applies. None of these so called deities meets the requirement to prove it so. Let me Dear Reader use another example to illustrate my point. In a strange and quirky country called England, lies a county called Yorkshire, long history and odd it is. However to offici

We are Dear Reader, far more connected than we realise, our lives, like some giant game of ' jenga ', seem to have such affect on things we thought immune, as our human reason perceives it. This lack of knowledge is further intensified, when sinful nature is added to the equation. For in this situation we deny even obvious connections, or possibly choose to believe the lies sallied forth by the world. Follow my example below: Divorce is seems, according to worldly sources, does not affect children, they are built to withstand it, therefore go right ahead.- If you have accepted this falsehood, then you walk on shaky ground. Dear Reader, look to the many broken souls which wander dream like, through life, unable to function in maturity because of broken marriages when they were a child. Now Dear Reader, please keep with my trail, i acknowledge divorce can and will happen, and many who have gone through it feel all sort of emotion, deep emotions, which may need release on a frie

Muscles must be used, Dear Reader, or face the ignominy of withering and slipping away. Indeed, we are by our very creation doomed to see this effect on all our lives, as time's triumphant and unstoppable march, walks through our own personal exsistence. To acknowledge a final end is one thing, to give hasten to it, by failure of use is quite another. The opposite is also true however, that those who continue in their exercise find strength where once was none and see the onset of physical deterioration delayed. I propose, Dear Reader, that the spiritual realm is no different, except for it's demographic. For in the physical world, we have many bronzed and firm bodies to gaze upon, and many of strength and vitality in older years. The spiritual landscape is very different however, filled with weak and insipid figures, who if they move, stumble slowly as if guided by memories of younger days when their perception of spiritual things were clearer for them to see. Most however

They say that we are a sum of our parts, but more apt would be to say we are a sum of our memories and experiences, for they are the placeholder in our life through which, for good or ill, we view the options in the present to make decisions for our future.Therefore Dear Reader, there can be fewer diseases worse than losing one's memories, for it loses the quintessential self. We start to act in many ways on automatic, like some strange robot off a science fiction novel. The spark of life however seems more dimmed, and as time progresses, is seen less and less, until only a shell remains, where once a person had been. The body in sad regalia continues, but it's owner has long since rendered control to sickness. The effect of this slow death, this long goodbye, is devastating on friend and family alike and once watched would never be wished upon another soul. For the lack of memories, and it's accompany means it effect a lack of choice, the free will has simply..... gone.