posted December 30, 2004 06:53 PM         

I am fine.
How are you?
I hope your life is well.

I lost all my e-mail addresses (including yours) because of a virus.
But I am always here... silent, however observing...

I admit that this tragedy in Asia saddened me a lot... I know that there is a purpose for everything in this planet, but even so, a "part" of me cannot rationalize... I think these feelings are the contradictions that all of us have...
If I had possibility, I would be in Asia helping - somehow - those that suffer, mainly the children...
But I cannot...and that gives me a terrible sensation of impotence...

Why am I going against my own faith?
Why am I challenging my own dogmas?
Why is so difficult to accept?

Jackie

posted December 30, 2004 06:55 PM         

quote:

---

Faiths Ask of Quake: 'Why Did You Do This, God?'

By Peter Graff

LONDON (Reuters) - It is one of the oldest, most profound questions, posed by some of the most learned minds of every faith throughout the course of human history.
It was put eloquently this week by an old woman in a devastated village in southern India's Tamil Nadu state. "Why did you do this to us, God?" she wailed. "What did we do to upset you?"

Perhaps no event in living memory has confronted so many of the world's great religions with such a basic test of faith as this week's tsunami, which indiscriminately slaughtered Indonesian Muslims, Indian Hindus, Thai and Sri Lankan Buddhists and tourists who were Christians and Jews.

In temples, mosques, churches and synagogues across the globe, clerics are being called upon to explain: How could a benevolent god visit such horror on ordinary people?

Traditionalists of diverse faiths described the destruction as part of god's plan, proof of his power and punishment for human sins.

"This is an expression of God's great ire with the world," Israeli chief rabbi Shlomo Amar told Reuters. "The world is being punished for wrongdoing -- be it people's needless hatred of each other, lack of charity, moral turpitude."

Pandit Harikrishna Shastri, a priest of New Delhi's huge marble and sandstone Birla Hindu temple, told Reuters the disaster was caused by a "huge amount of pent-up man-made evil on earth" and driven by the positions of the planets.

Azizan Abdul Razak, a Muslim cleric and vice president of Malaysia's Islamic opposition party, Parti Islam se-Malaysia, said the disaster was a reminder from god that "he created the world and can destroy the world."

Sheikh Ibrahim Mogra, a leading British Muslim cleric from Leicester in England said: "We believe that God has ultimate controlling power over his entire creation. We have a responsibility to try and attract god's kindness and mercy and not do anything that would attract his anger."

END OF TIME?

Many faiths believe that disasters foretell the end of time or the coming of a Messiah. Some Christians expect chaos and destruction as foretold in the Bible's final book, Revelation.

Maria, a 32-year-old Jehovah's Witness in Cyprus who believes that the apocalypse is coming said people who once slammed the door in her face were stopping to listen.
"It is a sign of the last days," she said.

But for others, such calamities can prompt a repudiation of faith. Secularist Martin Kettle wrote in Britain's Guardian newspaper that the tsunamis should force people to "ask if the God can exist that can do such things?" -- or if there is no God, just nature.

"This poses no problem for the scientific belief system. Here, it says, was a mindless natural event which destroyed Muslim and Hindu alike," he wrote. "A non-scientific belief system, especially one that is based on any kind of notion of a divine order, has some explaining to do, however."

It is a question that clergy have to deal with nearly every day, not just at times of great catastrophe but when providing consolation for the daily sorrows of life, said U.S. Rabbi Daniel Isaak, of Congregation Neveh Shalom, in Portland, Oregon.

"It is really difficult to believe in a God that not only creates a tsunami that kills 50 or 60 thousand people, but that puts birth defects in children," he said.

"Often the first question people ask on an individual basis is that question that that Indian woman asked. Why is God doing this to me?"

In one modern view, he said, God does not interfere in the affairs of his creation. Disasters like the tsunami occur for the natural reasons scientists say they do.

"This is not something that God has done. God hasn't picked out a certain group of people in a certain area of the world and said: 'I am going to punish them,"' he said.

"The world has certain imperfections built into the natural order, and we have to live with them. The issue isn't 'Why or if did God do this to us?' but 'How do we human beings care for one another?"'

Greek Orthodox Theologian Costas Kyriakides in Cyprus expressed a similar view.
"I personally don't attach any theological significance to this -- I listen to what the scientists say," he said. "God is always the fall guy. We incriminate Him completely unjustly."

---

posted January 02, 2005 12:13 AM         

Dear Jaqueline, I am well thank you for asking. Life has taken some interesting twists and turns since we last spoke, but overall, I am enjoying the ride.

The cataclysm in Southeast Asia saddens me as well, but I do NOT believe that it is a sign of God's ire.

We have thrown our world sorely out of balance, and I believe this disaster was merely Nature's way of restoring that balance. As The Kybalion states:

The Principle of Rhythm
"Everything flows, out and in; everything has its tides; all things rise and fall; the pendulum-swing manifests in everything; the measure of the swing to the right is the measure of the swing to the left; rhythm compensates."

I think if we substitute Nature for Rhythm, my point will be very clear.

With every fiber of my being I believe that we are all aspects of God, co-creators with our Heavenly Parents, as it were. In that case, we may have pushed Nature too far by our disregard for her rules and our fellow man, but that God is meting out punishment is unthinkable to me.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of this disaster, and I send scores of Angels to guard and protect the survivors. However, I cannot blame God for this tragedy. The Law is the Law.

Wishing you Light, Love, Magic and Miracles...

A

posted January 03, 2005 09:01 PM         

Thank you!

I speak from my heart, which is both a blessing and sometimes a cross to bear!

In the Light of the Angels...

A

posted January 04, 2005 03:32 PM         

I believe that I didn't made myself clear.

I do not blame Him either as I don't believe in fury of God, I think God doesn't have a feeling that is so human as fury.

I believe that the world is going by a recycling and these events full of suffering that we are facing in the last few years, are happening to let us be aware of something larger.

So many people checking out at the same time, leaving behind so much suffering, in my opinion, has the objective of taking us to a larger conscience...
I don't believe that it is just a manifestation of nature.

When I talk about these last events I refer to 9/11, the earthquakes of Turkey and Iran, the wars without sense that has been happening, to the terrorist actions that we witnessed everyday and so much other catastrophes that for being so constants are becoming habitual.
It is as if we were losing the capacity to be shocked with these facts.

Everything that happens has a purpose, nothing is by chance, but unhappily I don't see people asking why...
I see people looking for "the responsible", as if "the responsible" aren't ourselves...
The cause comes before the effect but it seems that we are forgetting that.

We are destroying this planet, we are abandoning the persons in need...that's why I believe that we are receiving an alert that the things in this planet are not how they should be and that our evolution is committed.

In my opinion, any attempt of a peaceful coexistence - with other people or/and with this planet- could not be efficient if we continue arrested to the ignorance of ourselves.

When I said that "I'm going against/ losing" my own faith, I don't refer to God, but to The Man.

However, for being a person that has a lot of faith, I hope to be totally wrong.

Someone told me that to "be confused" was a sign of growth, since only the very youths are absolutly sure of everything... I hope it is true, since lately I am full of questions.

Having a full 8 house I know exactly what twists and turns means.
I am so happy to know that you are fine and enjoying dancing according the music...

Whishing you Love,Love and Love

Jackie
___________________________________________________________________________________

posted January 04, 2005 04:17 PM         

You raise many valid points!

Yes, I agree, the general populace, (not ALL, but many) would prefer to find someone else to blame for the troubles of our world. It hurts sometimes to feel that we must sign our names to the nastiness and horrors that we create, and inaction is in effect creating misery, isn't it?

You ask some very challenging questions, but I think that is a good thing. How else are we to define and refine Who We Are, without questioning what we believe?

I am so glad you have stopped in to visit us, and always enjoy your thoughtful posts.

I wish you Light and Love...

A

posted January 05, 2005 10:50 PM         

You're always so kind...
I wish I could spend much more time here to learn from you.

I'm going to bed now, it's 1:39 am here, I just wanted to say a few words...

You are so right about the misery and the horros that we are creating in our world...

We must realize that we are guests of this planet for a certain time and we have to respect our house with their rules of conduct, as well as all of its inhabitants, from all the kingdoms and elements.

I believe that this tragic event has been an important warning...

Things are collapsing and they will continue like this, even with a larger intensity if we don’t start a deep reflection...

I'll continue tomorow

Good Night and Good Day!

Jackie

posted January 06, 2005 11:27 PM         

Thank you. I always learn something from you!

I have a tendency to sit in my "ivory tower" and read and study spiritual topics without actually looking at the conditions of the world around us. I avoid reading newspapers, watching news programs and things of that nature, feeling that there is enough trauma in day to day life without having to spend more time dwelling on the negativity.

But you my dear, seem like a crusader of sorts. I find you very well read and up to date on many of the topics that are current in our world, where I am not generally so well informed. And your passion and thoughtfulness for the world at large shows in your posts.

As the Buddha would say, all things in moderation... and so it would seem that I should take my head out of my books, and spend a bit more time in observation and contemplation of the world around me. But I always appreciate your point of view, and your observations... and I love your English phrasing, I can almost imagine what you sound like by the way you write your posts! And it makes me smile! I feel that you are indeed what might be called an Earth Angel!

Wishing you wonderful dreams and magical days...

A

posted January 10, 2005 07:43 PM         

I'm sorry to have disappeared... but I was at the hospital.

A terrible abdominal pain took me to the hospital on Thursday. It was not the first time that I felt it but it was the worst.
After being from 9pm to 4am making exams they discovered that I was with a small sprain in my intestine.
The doctor decided that I should stay in the hospital for 24 hours(without any food) to verify the surgery need. After 24 hours the sprain disappeared, but as the pain was still light I had to be at the hospital with a liquid diet in the first day and a pasty diet in the second, conclusion, the pain disappeared but I had to stay there until yesterday.

I am still tired of the nights badly slept, so I'll rest these days at home.

See you soon.

posted January 11, 2005 01:28 AM         

I'm sorry to hear that you had pain, and that you were in the hospital... but I am very glad that you are feeling better.

I will send you some healing light, and prayers for your swift and complete recovery.

No such thing as sleeping in a hospital.. I'm a nurse, and we don't usually give the poor patients a chance to rest. If I know that someone is very stable, I let them sleep thru the night and don't bother them til the morning... but that's not really what the bosses want.

In my opinion sleep time is healing time, so if it doesn't compromise the patient, and they are able to notify me if they need anything or are feeling badly, I let them sleep.

Be well...

Love and magic...

A