Tag Archives: spirituality

Tired of Toein’ the Line

Why is it so hard to make decisions? People analyze, agonize, question, and dwell on making many decisions in life. I’m not talking about what to have for dinner or what should I wear today. I am referring to questions like, what career path do I choose? Should I marry the person that I am dating?

We spend a lot of time teetering on decisions when time is an irreplaceable commodity. 

What if I make the wrong decision?

Is there a better option or something better for me?

How will people react to my choice? Will I be judged?

These little voices rattle around in our head, sowing both hesitation and doubt. It can be an exhausting dance with no clear finale, causing many restless nights. Confidence is a difficult state of mind to master for most of our finite lives.

This why prayer and mediation are so important. Answers can be found when we are quiet and focused without distraction. This clarity will help make decisions more confident .

As with being human, decisions we make can backfire and turn out to be the wrong choice. It will happen. Worry, strife, over analyzing, and agony will not yield clarity. It will only fog it up more, extending the cycle and steering us in the wrong direction.

Purposeful focus will lead us into a more confident decision. God has given us the ability to reason and has planted a seed in each individual that will grow if we tend to it. 

Prayer and meditation. 

Be still and know I am God.

It is time we stop “toein’ the line” and use our time in this life wisely. You will make wrong choices, but most can be corrected. Search for guidance the divine maker has crafted into your soul. It will not lead you astray.

Soapbox Ethics- Pride vs Humility

Most mornings, when I sit down and open my computer, I skim through the “news” headlines. I check to see what things I missed the previous day, but I also do it out of habit. These articles continue to become less and less “news” or information stories. Instead, the pages are bombarded with pride and arrogance with a strong intent to tell us how we should be thinking or believing.

So many people with money, power, and influence feel they need to force their ideals on others. All you need to do it watch an awards show for a prime example. What a display of arrogance! They are not encouraging people to think. Instead, they tell them how to think. Only their personal opinions matter and are correct. If you don’t agree, then you are an uneducated, hateful person. They defend their positions with “free speech” while intending to suppress “free thought.” They deflect their personal hate and unhappiness on others.  Fear and intimidation are the key tools of pride and arrogance. 

What they are missing is that humility is more influential than arrogance. If we approach with a humble heart and an open mind, we can begin to find stronger faith and purpose. Stubborn pride closes our mind and soul to truth, leaving the individual with hate and bitterness towards others.

Give your opinion, explain it, and let individuals decide for themselves. Most importantly, respect their opinion and belief if they do not meet the same conclusion.

This is my purpose, I want you, the reader, to not agree with me, but I desire you to evaluate and make your own decisions, opinions, and beliefs. I do not have the answers, but my articles are to make you think and question. Why do you believe it?

Truth is built on a strong foundation.

Stop blindly following those who use their platform to demand conformity. Instead, find the truth deep within that you’ve always had. We are born with it as it was given to us in our creation. A person’s life purpose is to seek truth by discovering who they are as an individual. Take a humble approach, realizing that no one person has it all right.

We are all on this journey to truth. Help others with encouragement and humility. Don’t drag them along like a hostage.

Proverbs 11:2  When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.

Just a Few Lingering Thoughts…

My apologies as it has been a long pause in writing my next blog. Life has this strange way of getting away from us while we try to chase it down. It definitely reminds me that time is one of our greatest enemies. It’s unbeatable, unstoppable, and inevitable. 

“You may delay, but time will not.” -Benjamin Franklin.

The world is constantly changing. Unfortunately, it’s more bad than good if you listen to the “experts” who flood all our senses every day. War, destruction, conspiracy, protests, and political conflicts bombard us from every angle, making it easy to lose hope. How many times do you watch the evening news and feel encouraged? Likely, very few times, if any.

Someone asked me the other day, “Why is the world such a cluster right now?”

My answer, “Because we allow mankind to control it.”

Human guidance is flawed, no matter how good the intention is. Mankind is a large group of individuals who all think individually. We are not a collective and can not be a collective. Independent thought prevents this mentality. Communism and strict Socialism have proven that collectivism is unable to succeed even with strong enforcement.

As many of you may know, I am a strong opponent of conformity. No true freedom can be experienced under the tent of conformity. It blocks us in, controls us, forces us, and in the end, we suffer.

When we accept society’s standards, we become endentured to it.

Disagree with mainstream society: be labeled and cast out. I’m okay with it. It is the first step of gaining freedom. Separate yourself from mankind and its required conformity. This allows us to find something greater than society’s standards.

Be in the world, but not of it.

Days Gone Down

How many times have you wished to go back and change the things you did in the past? If only you had turned left instead of right…

Unfortunately, the reality is that the past is gone, and we can only move forward. We can reflect and learn from our past, but we must press forward. Live in the present and strive to the future. Always remember that tomorrow’s decisions are always more important than the decisions of yesterday.

A person may still be impacted by the consequences of their past actions, but it is more important to make choices to respond to the consequences. Wishing we had chosen differently in that pas  only leads to regret, desperation, and hopelessness.

Keep your eye on the prize. Do not let the days gone down, drag you to their depths with them. Residing there will delay your race forward. The prize lays before us, not behind. As the Apostle Paul tells us, we need to keep our eyes on the prize.

“We still gotta long way, still a long way to go.”

Power in Freedom

To most people, the idea of power is equivalent to control. Power becomes synonymous with “power over” something. It could be a person, a group of people, an object, a behavior, or an idea.

Do not confuse power as control. True power comes from letting our souls free from forces that exert control over us. Power comes from a life of morality and resistance against immorality.

Real power comes from freedom in thought.

Compromising is the greatest enemy. It is important to remember that you can not control other people’s actions nor their moral compass. Each individual must make those choices though they will likely be influenced, coerced, or forced. In this we lose our power.

Our power is compromised, leaving us powerless and controlled. We become mindless drones.

Moral goodness is obtained within oneself by discovery. Take the knowledge and let your soul guide you. People are born with a conscience and the knowledge of good and evil. Do not do what is good because you are told to. It must be a desire- a passion!

Do not be a prisoner to this immoral world. Use your power to break free of its chains. Continue to pursue truth in all things every moment of your existence. There is no greater power!

Not a Typical War

Like it or not, we are in a war. People continue to say that another Civil War is coming due to the divide that continues to grow in this country. I totally disagree with that statement. The war has already begun, but it does not look like what people think. This country and this world are in an “ideological” war. The sides are not using guns and artillery nor are they capturing land, but rather they are using words, beliefs, and that have been “weaponized” to advance agendas to elevate themselves and those beliefs. It is not a conventional war, but it is warfare, plain and simple.


Morality has reached a crisis as immorality has successfully blurred the lines under the umbrella of total inclusion. No belief or behavior should be discouraged, but rather it is encouraged. Being “moral” has now become synonymous with hatred, racism, intolerance, and bigotry. It is an attack against what is good and right. What will we do?

Is there hope?


One option is to surrender and accept it, letting this immoral thinking win. Many have given up feeling it is hopeless to resist. The old adage states, “if you can’t beat them, join them.” People have surrendered too much as they feel defeated and shunned by society. This has become a life of misery, though deep in our souls, we know that this is not how we are to live. The conscience will continue to speak even when shoved down into the deepest recesses of our very being.

As I write this, violence is beginning to sweep through LA. I can see the hatred spread as both sides as they take measures to advance their agenda. There is nothing glamorous nor glorious about this “protest.”

I encourage you to hold fast to your faith, your morality, and to that which is good. Do not surrender your values to the enemy in this war of ideology. You do not have to pick up arms or hurl rocks to make a stand. Live a life of moral example and demonstrate compassion with love and without compromise.

We are at war. It’s time to fight back.

Back to the Howling Dog Out in the Woods…

They say with age comes wisdom. While I believe this to be true, I feel more than wisdom is gained with age. We gain perspective. When we are young, we are adventurous to the point of wrecklessness. There is a sense of invulernabity that people approach life early on.

We strive for the exceptional life, traveling a “yellow brick road” to fame and glory. We constantly dream of being more than we are, no matter how successful our life has been. How many times have you imagined yourself as a music star or a great actor? I know all of us dreamed of fame and fortune.

With age comes perspective and the realization that the road we walk is endless and will never reach the great kingdom of Oz. No matter how much we achieve, the human soul craves more and will be unsatisfied.  It is human nature. There is a spark in each of us that strives to perfection even though we see clear as day that we are completely flawed.

We must come to a realization that perfection is impossible within the human framework. Perfection or success is not found on a road paved in gold or a penthouse in the highest building. We need to focus beyond the physical world of success.

It is the success of the soul.

Oh, I’ve finally decided my future lies beyond the yellow brick road.

Cultivation of one’s soul is where satisfaction in life comes from. It is clear there is moral right and wrong and a life focused and learned on the moral good will bring about our best life. You may or may not believe in God, but I do, and I believe that the key is to sow seeds of peace, love, and holiness while rooting out evil, hatred, and selfishness. These things will strangle one’s soul, causing misery and despair.

Now is the time…. change your perspective and let go of the unattainable. Go beyond the yellow brick road and find a fulfilled life cultivating your soul.

Big Brother Is Watching

Recently, I started re-reading the book 1984 by George Orwell, and it is hitting me quite differently from when I read it back in 1991. Thirty-five years ago, the concepts portrayed seemed unrealistic and far-fetched. It was truly a work of science fiction. Now today in 2025, I see it more like a prophecy of a world that we should fear. Authors in the late 40’s, 50’s and 60′ were able to see the danger and the “writing on the wall.” Authors like Phillip K. Dick seemed to have a premonition of the future. In his work, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, he tackles if Androids who look, act and think like humans have a soul. With the advancements in AI, we are starting to face the ethical issues Dick tackled in 1968.

We are in an age where we are surrounded with surveillance devices that can track all our moves, and we can be found no matter where we go. Police can track people from “pings” on cell phone towers, using credit or debit cards, and cameras placed all around. Privacy is becoming harder and harder to attain as we are surrounded by this expanding technology.

We are always being watched.

Not only are we watched, but we are influenced or, I prefer to call it, “conditioned.” People are spoon-fed a narrative that, over time, will cause them to indirectly think or feel a certain way. Our advancements in technology have made it easier for one group to assert its control over individuals and other groups. We are all under a large microscope with the eye of “Big Brother” looking through the lens. We are forced to play along and pretend even when it goes against the very fiber of our being.

This is not freedom.

This is conformity leading to control.

Humankind is wired to be independent, spontaneous, and free thinking (for good or bad). In 1776, the people of this nation rose up against a controlling force that they could no longer tolerate due to the stranglehold this empire had on them. Fortunately, without modern technology, the British were unable to quell this rebellion driven by desired freedom. Almost two-hundred and fifty years later, we find the weight of immoral oppression weighing down on us. The tools being used are more sophisticated and the narrative is better written, but we find our way of belief being threatened on a daily basis, just like before.

I hate the word “conformity ” with every fiber of my being. To me, it means that we obey even when we disagree and know that it is wrong. Yet, we must overcome this fear and fight the conformity and control that continues to grow within our society.

Morality and truth always stand above any government or institution. These man-made entities are not the ultimate authority in determining the way we live our life. Institutions are the engines of conformity and will lead to our moral destruction. Just as the story of Sodom and Gamora, we see ultimate abandonment of what is good and just into a hedonistic society will result in ultimate destruction.

Where do we go from here? How do we stop this society into becoming the world of 1984? You must resist and live the way you were intended to live. It is not a violent revolution that is needed, but rather, a mass ethical movement from us forcing the tide again those who wish to control us.

Do not let Big Brother control your life. Remember to never take all information as “truth” no matter what the source is. Hold up your moral level and see what the bubble tells you. Don’t be afraid to tell the world that the bubble is off.

The bubble doesn’t lie.

More to This Life

Recently, I have been pondering over some of the certainties that this existence can bring. One thing that is guaranteed in this life is conflict. As humans, we are constantly pitted against each other. It could be over religion, politics, relationships, or even where to go to eat. Humankind, in its current state, will never be without conflict which plagues daily life.

Another certainty that we face is finite human existence. Death will come to everyone no matter how careful or healthy we live our lives. As we get older, we have more and more people pass on from this life and no matter how many times it happens, it never gets easier. This can be one of the harshest realities that a person can be faced with. As George Harrison wrote on his first solo album:

“All things must pass away.”

This includes the good and the bad. If everything passes away and nothing is infinite, is there hope? Why do we push to live and overcome if things appear hopeless?

People have a drive within their core that strives to achieve more no matter how much they attain. And I am not talking about materials, wealth or success. What I am referring to is our deep-rooted desire to be a “better” person, that is, to achieve a better character than we are at this moment; the deep seeded desire to become more.

There is this little spark within us that constantly searches for truth. At times one may think they find truth but can turn out to be a falsehood. The soul will constantly question everything, even when there is no other explanation. It is human nature. This is what sets humans apart from all other living things. We don’t just work to survive. We want to know why we work to survive.

Humans value their lives and, therefore, should put a higher moral standard on preserving lives- both their own and others. It is “good” to do all we can to preserve life as much as possible. We can be faced with dilemmas such as self-defense or capital punishment, but it is important to remember that death is final. It cannot be taken back.

This is what can make funerals and celebrations of life so difficult. A person can’t be repaired or replaced. It is total finality. It becomes a reminder to us of our limited, fragile existence, and one day we too will be gone. It is easy to lose hope in this darkness.

Now the darkness only stays the nighttime
In the morning it will fade away
Daylight is good at arriving at the right time
It’s not always gonna be this grey

 Everyone desires to believe that there is something beyond this life. Many believe it to be a cycle, and we will continue living many lives while others believe we have only one life and rewards or punishment await us depending on how we live our lives. Who is right? Who is wrong?

One thing most beliefs share is that there is more beyond this life. There is more to this life than living and dying; that there is some continuation after death. All humans are striving for the same goal since we know that this life on earth is finite, we just can’t agree on what is beyond. I argue that this rooted belief and desire in most individuals to know what is beyond proves that there is something beyond. For me it is an eternal existence with God in a place called Heaven. You may not agree, but that is ok. All I ask is that you open your mind and explore the possibilities, and don’t shut it out because being “Christian” is a hypocritical way of life. People are flawed. We have free will and can choose to do whatever actions we desire to do, whether morally good or bad.

The atheist can be just as hypocritical as the God-fearing man.

I challenge you to think of death as a new beginning, not an end. The people we lose can continue to live on in our memories as we let their actions from their finite existence impact how we live. Good and bad. Moral and evil. We must learn lessons from the failures and successes of those who have walked before us.

When you are remembered, what impact did you have on the people you loved? How will they remember you?

All things must pass
None of life’s strings can last
So, I must be on my way
And face another day

The Wealth of Knowledge

This weekend, I was mulling over my next article, but I wanted to reach out to those reading my blog. Topics come to me from listening to news, reading books and articles, and many times, music ignites a thought. This time, I would like the audience to ignite a thought or two.

What about you? Is there a topic or thought that you would like me to write about? I would like to pursue topics that my audience is interested it.

Please share in the comments any topics you would like to hear about. The pursuit of truth always continues, and we must persevere, persisting in the hunt.

I was bold in the pursuit of knowledge, never fearing to follow truth and reason to whatever results they led. -Thomas Jefferson

I look forward to your responses!

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