Reflections: Living every day with passion

by Jane Smith

Relatively few Homo sapiens understand the depth of the meaning of "passion", although many long for passion on occasion.

Twenty years ago, convinced that I understood "passion", I was living my dreams, day by day. Eighteen when the women marched upon Washington, I, too, abandoned all archaic societal notions and, boldly, traveled a maverick course. Later, along with the noble intention of establishing an appropriate example for my children, I left my husband, because I believed that "one must never settle for less than the best for oneself".  As intelligent human beings, I knew that my sons would have sensed the hypocrisy had I remained within a marriage to a man with whom I was not, genuinely, "in" love.

By the time I was thirty-five, I was all that I had been taught that a young lady ought to be, and an experienced executive and news anchor for the number one station within one of the largest media markets in the world.  I had it "all", metaphorically ...resting quite gracefully in the palm of my hand.

While researching and reporting national and international news, I learned that, more often than not, people are wailing in mourning, rather than luxuriating in life as I was.  I began hearing the unanswered tears of the world's children, within the darkness of my room, wondering why our government officials were not hearing their pleas as clearly.  And wondering to myself, "If God exists, why are ANY children in pain?  Is He not omnipotent?  Does He not hear their cries.  Surely, He does not hold them responsible for the errors of their parents(?)!"  Finally, I kneeled upon my floor and prayed The Lord's Prayer, asking God for understanding.  "Do You even exist?", I wondered for the first time.  This was the beginning, rather than the end, of a life lived with passion.

No longer, at all, certain that God had ever existed, I began silently praying The Lord's Prayer continually, focusing on God the while;  seeing and hearing everyone and everything else solely within the periphery of my focus on God.  I figured that, if I continued objectively observing (including listening, carefully, for the sound of His voice), without anticipating if, how, and/or when He would respond, IF God existed, He would, eventually, "get through to me".  I prayed during every waking moment ...while reading the newspaper, eating breakfast, cleaning, working, et alii.

I began to consider that forty days and forty nights was a logical length of time to pray continually, given Jesus' famous forty days of prayer within the desert. Yet, on the forty-first morning, I felt compelled to continue praying because I had, neither, heard, seen, nor felt God, though I was learning a great deal about the exquisiteness of the garden (God's Kingdom) within the literal depths of our beautiful Lord's Prayer.

Within my prayers, I once asked God about the nature of the dove descending from Heaven upon Jesus, when he was baptized, because I was having difficulty understanding it in terms of physical law.

One lovely day, while I was at the church rectory, to my extreme surprise, I suddenly saw, approximately five feet before me, a man in the spirit;  real and three dimensional, yet, clear enough that I could see the wall beyond him.  "His name is Edward. He is a King", I heard upon my ear, although no hominid in the flesh was near me, at the time.  I did not recall mention of any such man within The Holy Bible.  Yet, here before me, was this lovely, loving, dark-haired, bearded King in striped robe, dove in hand. Although I could see the wall beyond him, I could see him and his perfect dove as clearly.  The dove appeared to be large, soft, healthy, three dimensional, and as clear as smooth, solid, lead crystal.  While I, mesmerized, watched the dove, King Edward held out his hand and, in slow motion, the dove took wing and flew toward me.  Having raised birds within our household when I was a child, I raised my dutiful finger as a perch ...near my eyes, so that I could, more closely, examine this miracle made manifest before me.  As the dove was landing upon my finger, he slowly dissipated into thin air.  Yet, King Edward remained with me.

During the eighth month of my prayerful journey, during one beautiful spring morning, much to my surprise, I saw a Holy Angel.  Such an event had never occurred to me.  I was a relative "nobody" who had believed that, IF God existed and IF I was deemed worthy, someday, MAYBE I would be in Heaven and there would, PROBABLY, be Holy Angels, therein.  Yet, here? On Earth?  Within my own room?  I looked long and fervently, should he disappear as the dove had, attempting to remember every long, pale golden-white hair and feather, his glow, and every fold of his soft, flowing garment.  "God IS real", I thought.  "Thank you, God", I uttered in awe.  David was the Angel's name, I was told.  And he did not disappear.  Rather he abided with me.

All within a span of the following three days, I saw another Angel, then, several, then, I saw and heard, much to my surprise and enchantment, an entire choir of Holy Angels singing hymns to me  ...Ave Maria, The Lord's Prayer, Handel's Allelujiah Chorus, and America The Beautiful.  Soon, thereafter, the Holy Angels touched me, cradled me, spoke to me, and began gently educating me.

Today, I am, still, living The Lord's Prayer, grateful to be able to report to you that I have learned that GOD is, in fact, alive, conscious, sentient, elegant, and extremely intelligent;  that we are all inherently pure, rather than inherently, both, good and evil;  that GOD, Angels, Saints, goats, coral, fish, hominids, bacteria, and trees are all people and, therefore, inherently equally intelligent and sentient, given that mind does not equal (=) brain and that consciousness IS;  and that, because of the mathematical precision (=) with which the inviolable Law of Cause and Effect functions, we, each, need to strictly adhere to The Golden Rule, in depth, given that, within each and every perfect circumstance, The Golden Rule IS the literal Ten Commandments, id est:  you do not want anyone to steal from you, therefore, do not steal, et caetera.

Nevertheless, despite man's good intentions with respect to creating (with Divine guidance) The Holy Bible, GOD is, neither, omniscient nor omnipotent. Rather, GOD needs our help, for GOD is peace, itself, evolved to life, and life, itself, evolved to consciousness, by the power of the infinite, inviolable, physical Law of Cause and Effect, and He, too, is, therefore, subject to all universal physical laws, otherwise He would not be able to see (Genesis:  He "saw" that it was good.).  The center of His conscious intellect, thus, His mind's eye, was at the center of everywhere at the moment of His birth into consciousness as an infinitely large newborn baby, a very long time ago.

GOD is not "jealous"; rather the word was supposed to have been translated to state "worthy".  And GOD did not cause Jesus to be crucified;  rather, Jesus was crucified as a result of the aggregate sins of mankind to that point, by the power of the inviolable Law of Cause and Effect, which functions solely in relation to non-friction (peace) and friction:  positively in every direction from each point of peace (the outer parameters of which are The Ten Commandments), generating miracles;  negatively in every direction from each point of friction (accurately defined as each violation of The Ten Commandments), damaging life itself, which is fragile, creating death in it's wake.

I learned, also, the following:  eat fresh fruit, rather than meat, if possible;  gently cull the cotton from the mature plant, for clothing and toiletries;  do not cut the grass, rather, plant eco-grass and maintenance-free gardens;  do not eat seeds, given that fetuses and sperm are, each, conscious and sentient;  condemn NO one.

Moreover, we are asked to feed the children - of all forms. Quench their thirst. Save their lives. Cradle them, lovingly, in your gentle arms, for they are, all, the children of GOD.  THIS is living "with passion".

Peace.