The Christian criteria for service often infers that we should love others more than we love ourselves. This is superfluous and makes it easy to pass right over the intention of this great commandment given by Jesus.

It might be another matter if we considered loving others as much as we love ourselves. Once our cup of self-love is running over, a vibrant, healthy love flows effortlessly to others.

Loving my neighbor as myself is a big assignment. To know God's love is absolute, I can love myself. I can love others unconditionally as creations of God. I do not always agree with their actions but, as a friend reminds me, "that is none of my business - it is God's business."

If I love them, by allowing God's love to shine through me, I am taking care of my responsibility. It is not a matter of self-discipline to love someone. It is a matter of obedience to the Lord and allowing Him to love them through me. When I allow Him to take charge, my part becomes effortless.

(`~`*`~`)`~`*`~`(`~`*`~`)`~`*`~`(`~`*`~`)`~`*``~` (`~`*`~`)

God's Love
- by Dusty

Growing in God's Love
is a different world
than what surrounds me.
All of life is effortless
if I'm following His light,
Growing in His love.

Fellowship with God
the Creator, as my Creator
Creating my thoughts,
Creating my feelings,
Creating my understanding,
Creating my being,
Creating my surroundings
is prosperity.
God loves me.

(`~`*`~`)`~`*`~`(`~`*`~`)`~`*`~`(`~`*`~`)`~`*``~` (`~`*`~`)

Ambitions
by Dusty Reed

Action accomplishes our ambitions.

Enjoying life now can become a part of one's personality, sometimes without the understanding of how much it has developed within. Dropping all worries of the past and future allows personality to reflect a relaxed and enjoyable attitude toward life. Relationships with others become more dynamic, magnetic and sincere. Having something worthwhile to share helps us feel satisfaction with ourselves. Others sense this and enjoy being with us.

Improvement within grows through communication with others. It provides a clearer and more tangible path of life. Personality continues to find fulfillment. What are we doing with life now to develop a fulfilling personality?

What can we do for society? More important, what can we do for our loved ones and acquaintances to help them enjoy life more fully? We can develop activities that will allow us to put our mark on society. What effect do we want to have? Whom do we want to help? What can we do to show another person we care?

A quiet time set aside for personal thoughts, communicating with others and establishing activities can provide fulfillment.

There is an inner glow of joy when we do our part for humankind. We can begin right now to accomplish our satisfying ambitions.

(`~`*`~`)`~`*`~`(`~`*`~`)`~`*`~`(`~`*`~`)`~`*``~` (`~`*`~`)

Our guest author this month is John Baumann: Stones & the Inner Being
by John Baumann
Topaz

Most people think of topaz as a golden amber stone, but it also comes in yellow, blue, and clear. It is composed of an igneous mineral that forms in an orthorhombic crystalline structure in pegmatites and high temperature quartz veins, and it is mined mainly in Brazil, Sri Lanka, Burma, and Russia. The name "topaz" comes from Topazos, an old name for the island of Zebirget in the Red Sea. The ancient Greeks called topaz "The Stone of Strength" and used it widely in healing.

Topaz acts on the Inner Being to strengthen NON-INTERFERENCE. Non-interference comes from understanding at a deep level that it is a basic human right to exert control over the use of your own energy. It means you have the right to choose what to do with the energy you have at your disposal, how to use it, when to use it, and what to use it for. Non-interference includes freedom from being pushed, coerced, forced or otherwise intimidated into doing anything that is against your will.

The main idea of the principle of non-interference is that no one has the right to force another person to do anything that is against his will. There are a couple of exceptions to this. One is when a person is not responsible for his actions, such as in the case of a child or someone with Alzheimer's. For example, if your child wants to play in the traffic, you have the right to protect him from a danger he does not understand, even if it is against his will. Another exception is that you have the right to forcefully stand up for your rights when someone tries to take them away from you. For example, if someone tries to force you to do something against your will, you have every right to stand up for yourself and forcefully take control of deciding how to use your own energy.

Non-interference is a basic human right, and every human right has two sides to it, namely the right as it applies to you, and the right as you must let it apply to everyone else. And to be fair, the right must be the same for both. The consequence of this is that you have the right to decide how to use your energy without interference from others, and others have the right to decide how to use their energy without interference from you. The more you recognize this as a basic human right, the easier it will become for you to let people exert control over the use of their own energy, and the less interfering you will become.

You allow people this right because you realize you don't have the right to control how others use their energy, and you understand you have the obligation to let go when someone decides to use his energy in a way that does not particularly please you. Conversely, to fully claim this right for yourself, you must not be afraid to stand up to people who try to coerce or push you into using your energy to do things you don't want to do. You must also be strong enough, either alone or with help, to deal with any conflict that results from standing up for your rights.

If you don't believe that everyone has the right to choose how to use his own energy, you tend to be pushy, demanding and hard to get along with. You also tend to be afraid of the power of others because you believe to some extent that might is right, and that those who are strong enough to have power over you, for some reason have the right to push you around. Because you don't understand the non-interference principle, this can make you feel helpless and defenseless in the company of strong people.

BECOMING LESS INTERFERING: To practice non-interference, become more aware of what the people around you really want to do. Make yourself aware of how they wish to operate their lives, and be careful that you don't try to control how they prefer to use their own energy. Part of being good at this is learning to never pressure people into things. If there is something you would like your friend to do, suggest it by all means, but make sure you give him an easy way out if it is not something he really wants to do.

One of the more difficult things about practicing non-interference is allowing those you care about to go ahead and make foolish mistakes when they don't want to listen to the voice of reason. When you see that your friend is about to make an unwise investment or jump into a relationship you know is bad for him, you talk to him to try to keep him from making a mistake. That is about all you can do because there is a long way between suggestion and force, and you know you don't have the right to help someone if it is against his will. And when he comes back with his "tail between his legs", you don't say "I told you so", but instead you console him because you are his friend, and you hope he has learned something.

Carrying a small piece of topaz in your pocket or purse will help you stand up to pushy or demanding people who try to interfere in your life, and it will also help you know when to back off in order to keep from interfering in the lives of others. – copyright John Baumann, 1999

Another interesting article by John can be found at Crystals

John’s home page

(`~`*`~`)`~`*`~`(`~`*`~`)`~`*`~`(`~`*`~`)`~`*``~` (`~`*`~`)

Some sites I recommend:

Dream Zone

Phenomenal Women on the Web

Enneagram Institute

Association of Unity Churches

United Church of Religious Science (Science of Mind)

Think Deeply

(`~`*`~`)`~`*`~`(`~`*`~`)`~`*`~`(`~`*`~`)`~`*``~` (`~`*`~`)

And, for anyone who enjoys playing at ebay, I recently opened a Store at eBay so lots of goodies are available at Dusty's eBay



(`~`*`~`)`~`*`~`(`~`*`~`)`~`*`~`(`~`*`~`)`~`*``~` (`~`*`~`)

You are welcome to forward this newsletter to friends who might be interested! If they would like to subscribe (at no cost), they can write to me at Dusty Thanx muchly!

Working toward consideration and to better humanity, we want to encourage free enterprise, free speech. We are Life Now, a spiritual happening on and off the Internet.

(`~`*`~`)`~`*`~`(`~`*`~`)`~`*`~`(`~`*`~`)`~`*``~` (`~`*`~`)

Back to Expansion Encounters Archives

PATHWAY
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

LIFE NOW
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~