A MEDITATION on the NOW
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As I have already told readers of this forum: Years ago I stopped praying in the traditional way. I do not say this to tell you what to do. If you are comfortable with how you "pray" and you get good results, keep on doing it the way which works for you. Right now I am simply telling you what works for me and helps me to be present in the NOW.
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I begin by taking the time to become aware of my breathing pattern. Then, breathing in, to the count of four, and out, to the count of four, I use the following colour symbols--real and/or imagined:

RED--the symbol of physical energy and power--the soma, or body, factor.
YELLOW--the symbol of knowledge, wisdom, truth--the psyche, or mind, factor.
BLUE--the symbol of faith, hope and love--the pneuma, or spirit, factor.

Just beneath the skin of the earth is the bright red magma, without which there would be no life on earth, no energy and power.

In the sky, there is the golden yellow sun, again essential to life on earth.

When the sky is cloudless it appears to us as blue.
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RED, stands for the physical energy and power of GOD
YELLOW, stands for the knowledge and wisdom of GOD
AND BLUE, stands for the all-pervasive Love of GOD.

THEN I BECOME AWARE of my heart and lungs, working together, producing the rich, red blood cells which nourish, energize and heal the body.

Red stands for all that is physical.
Yellow stands for all that is mental.
Blue stands for all that is spiritual.
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I ask myself: WHO AM I, AND WHAT AM I DOING HERE AND NOW?
A meditation on being present, in the NOW.

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[Now using the plural form]
For the next few minutes, we take the opportunity to relax...physically (somatically), mentally (psychologically) and spiritually ( pneumatologically). NOW, we breathe deeply...and ask: Who are we ...and...What are we doing NOW?

In the NOW, we connect with, and are in tune with, the Oneness of all things, GOD. In Aramaic--the language which Jesus spoke--the word, 'slaha'--which we translate as, prayer--actually means "to connect with, or to be in tune with". This means that we do not need to ask for anything.

Because we live and move within GOD--all goodness, all order and all design--everything we need already is, NOW. We do not need to beg a reluctant god. All we need do is give thanks and accept what we need.

WE ARE NOT JUST OUR BODIES
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We acknowledge that, for now, we have physical bodies--the Greek for which is 'soma'. From it we get our word 'somatic'. When a doctor checks our blood pressure, our temperature and other vital signs, and ask us, "How do you feel?", we acknowledge that they are looking for somatic symptoms and the somatic diseases, or conditions, which may be causing them.

We acknowledge that, much like the hardware of computers, we have bodies--amazing instruments--for our use at this time. The same is true for our minds, or psyches--very amazing instruments. But we must not allow them to use us.

WE ARE NOT JUST OUR MINDS
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We acknowledge that, for now, we have minds, or psyches. But we are more than this.

Many wise teachers tell us that understanding the complexities of the human mind may make us good psychologists, but it will not take us beyond the mind. Neither will the study of madness be enough to cure the sick mind and create sanity. Unless we are aware of what is happening, our bodies and our minds, on their own, simply create the ego--the false sense of self, the root cause of all psychosomatic (a word created in the 1930's) pain and misery.

Let us be well aware that the ego loves to play the role of being a dependent, dysfunctional whining, problem-plagued child. Unconsciously, it wants us to be vulnerable beings, victims under the tyranny of space and time.

As a result--and here is the time factor again--our egos are constantly battered by negative emotions which are usually focused around our tearful regrets regarding the recent and distant past, and the fearful anxiety regarding the unknown future. This combination makes for a panic-filled now.


If we allow ourselves to be attached to the mind (psyche)--a storehouse of mostly-unconscious memories, many of them awful--we begin to anticipate and imagine that the future could be equally awful, or even more so. Thus we develop an endless preoccupation with the awful past and the fearful future. In short, we allow ourselves to be trapped in the delusion of time.

What we need to know, and we want to know, NOW, is this: We have the power to take loving action in the NOW and the Present.

THE REALLY GOOD NEWS IS THIS: WE ARE SPIRITUAL BEINGS (PNEUMAS)
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Therefore, NOW, we make a deliberate shift in consciousness; we shift from mind to being, from time to PRESENCE. the psyche--which we can compare to the software of a computer--like the soma, is not the true or real us. The truth is, we are pneuma beings, or spiritual beings. In the NOW, we are having a somatic and psychic--a body/mind--experience.

MORE GOOD NEWS
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No wonder Paul called Love, "The greatest of these..."; No wonder, John said GOD IS LOVE. And, no wonder Love, in its agape, or spiritual, form is at the core of the Golden Rule, which is found at the heart of all the great religions.
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PUT IN THE FORM OF A POEM
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We are one with mother earth;
With the land the skies and seas;
One with the source of human birth,
We're one...with GØD.
We are one with father sky;
With the sun, moon, planets, stars;
One with the galaxies on high,
We're one...in GØD.
With the Golden Rule in mind;
We work for justice and for peace;
And with all of human kind,
We work as one in GØD.
We feel at one with Christians, Jews;
Who want to build a better world.
With Buddhists, Muslims, and Hindus,
We live and move in GØD
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G~O~D--Now & ForeverIS:Nature, Nurture & PNEUMA-ture, Thanks to Warren Farr&ME AT www.unitheist.org