The Bible

I grew up reading the Bible. In fact, I had my own children’s version of it with pictures and all, which I opened up quite frequently as a kid. Later, as a young adult, I would attend a number of Bible studies where I became engrossed in all of its language and principles. I’d also expand the number of versions of it in my own library of books to more than just a few as time went on. But somewhere along the line, I stopped reading and studying it as much and instead began expanding my exploration of religion and spirituality. Looking back, especially with what’s going on in the world nowadays, I think that’s because I started seeing the Bible being used as a weapon of discrimination and judgment rather one of unconditional love and light.

Now, all around the world, including even right here in the United States, there’s a constant war raging on with the Bible at the center of it. Churches are throwing this book at one group of people after another citing passage after passage to justify their arguments and build their defense. Meanwhile on the other side of this war are all those classes of people being persecuted and feeling less and less of a desire to follow a God that supposedly doesn’t love them for who they are.

Because of all this, what I feel most these days in regards to this war going on is sadness for both sides. This isn’t the God I’ve come to know and believe in by any means. This isn’t what I learned to do through any of my years and years of studying and learning the good that’s within the Bible.

It seems like every week now I experience one persecution-based incident after another. Just the other day in fact I had a conversation with a Christian woman at a local business who looked at me and said “You know homosexuality is totally a sin and against God. It’s right there in the Bible.” What I found most ironic in her statement was how cold and unloving it was. Because she like so many other Christian people I’ve met continue to maintain the belief they are all welcoming as they try to lead others to the warmth and acceptance of Jesus Christ, yet they practice the exact opposite by saying things just like this.

A sad reality is that if I had a dollar for every time I’ve been on the receiving end of someone using the Bible’s words against me, I’d probably have enough money to go buy a brand new home. It just breaks my heart why so many people continue to believe this is exactly what the Bible teaches them to do.

The main thing I try to take away from the Bible today is what Christ believed in. And that is to love everyone unconditionally. My only goal in life these days is to become a beacon of light that guides others to the God of their understanding, regardless of whoever or whatever they’re makeup is. What it’s not is a quest to throw a book that was written thousands of years ago at someone and say they are doing wrong or are being sinful.

Everyone says the Bible is the exact word of God, yet none of us were there when it was written. None of us have seen the exact scrolls it came from. None of us truly understand the context of what was going on back in those days either. So how do we know it’s the EXACT word of God? When we watch the news, is what we are seeing on the news or reading in a paper the EXACT truth of what actually happened? Most likely not. I honestly believe the same holds true for the Bible.

I must say though that there really is a wonderful spiritual language present throughout the Bible with some truly beautiful principles to practice in life. But in the book I know, the one I studied, and the one I’m still living by today, none of those principles include discriminating, persecuting, or segregating anyone.

So hopefully one day the Bible won’t be used as the weapon of choice anymore for a religious war that will never have any real victor, and instead people will come to see it as just one way, along side plenty of others, to connect with the Source. Because it’s then and only then when people will see the Bible as a whole is about one thing and one thing only, and that’s unconditional love.

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

April’s Questions For You To Ponder

I wanted to make sure I didn’t wait until the final day of April to post my monthly spiritual questions for everyone to ponder. So here they are and it’s my ongoing hope you will take the time to mull them over and maybe even share a few of your responses when you’re done. And as always, my own answers are listed below as well.

  1. What was the hardest lesson you’ve learned in life so far?
  2. What hobby brings you great joy and do you still make time for it nowadays?
  3. What is challenging you most in life right now and causing you the greatest stress?
  4. What is the first thing you turn to when you’re having a really difficult day?
  5. Of everyone currently a part of your life, whom do you relate to the most?
  6. What is the number one thing you want to do (or see) before you die?
  7. What was your most favorite childhood activity?
  8. What was your favorite thing to do with your father growing up?
  9. What was your favorite thing to do with your mother growing up?
  10. What is your dream job?

And one more for good measure:

  1. If you could invent one thing by just thinking it right now, what would it be and why?

My answers:

  1. Pursuing someone else’s dream that wasn’t part of my own. (Losing $650,000 of cash investments to a Bed & Breakfast I bought for an ex-partner)
  2. Writing or doing jigsaw puzzles and yes to both.
  3. My health issues.
  4. When I’m in good headspace – Prayer, meditation, and my hobbies. But when I’m in bad headspace – dark chocolate (lots of it).
  5. My spiritual teacher – Manin.
  6. Visit Bodhgaya in India, the place where the original Buddha became enlightened under the Bodhi tree after intense meditation.
  7. Playing on those metal merry-go-rounds at the playground where people pushed each other on it super fast.
  8. Go hiking up a mountain, having lunch at the top, and then getting a dessert treat after coming down.
  9. Playing card games like Gin Rummy, Crazy 8’s, and Kings In the Corner.
  10. Becoming both a paid motivational speaker and professional writer.
  11. A teleportation device so that I could travel anywhere in the world whenever I wanted.

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

Have You Ever Had To Face Your Biggest Fear?

What is your biggest fear in life? That’s a question I find very easy to answer lately, solely because it’s been the same one I’ve been facing ever since my health began a sharp decline one evening almost five years ago now.

That evening was on April 27th, 2010, a mere few weeks after I had muttered a prayer to God asking to go through whatever I needed to become free of all my addictions and toxic behaviors in life. At the time I said it, I was deeply engrossed in an extremely toxic intimate relationship and saw no way of ever breaking free from it. What I didn’t know when I said that prayer out of sheer hopelessness though was how it would soon put me on a path where I’d face my deepest fear in life, which was to have severe physical health issues that grossly limited my day-to-day functioning. And since this day five years ago, when the first of many aches, pains, and ailments kicked off within me, I’ve been doing everything I can to not let this fear rule my life, but sometimes it has and still does like today, much to my dismay.

As I sit here and type this, I’m struggling to get comfortable and have honestly spent the entire day in the same way. At various times throughout today, as well as many prior days in recent months, I’ve thought that death or going back to addictions would be a far better path than the one I’m currently on. Frankly, I don’t understand the path I’m on anymore, probably because of how long these health issues have lasted.

The good news though is that all these health issues led me to explore avenues I probably never would have given how preoccupied I was with my addictions. The not so good news though is the price that came along with discovering those avenues, which was to become riddled with myofascial pain. My muscles feel constantly tight and sore these days and I hurt in more places than not. I’ve totally done what I can to treat this condition both medicinally and holistically over the years and am now at a stage where neither brings me any relief. Trust me, I exhausted ridiculous amounts of time, energy, and money exploring every avenue of healing until I realized that the rest of this process was going to be in God’s hands. Now I do my best to remain healthy on every level, mind, body, and soul, but on days like today, when I can’t think straight because of the pain I’m feeling, I question my sanity and occasionally allow my fear of having chronic health issues plague me.

I so long for the days when I could walk for miles, hike up huge mountains, play exceedingly aggressive sports, and was an all around overly active individual. Nowadays, I’m lucky if I even have enough stamina to stand for a few minutes without aching and it often feels like I’m 80 years old. I even use a bench in the shower because it hurts to stand when I take one.

Frankly, I’m really not sure what God has in store for me, but I’ve definitely been facing my ultimate fear in life for almost five years now since I prayed for that great change to happen. Well that change definitely happened, just not in the way I thought it would. But I continue to tell myself over and over again that God isn’t going to leave me in this state. And people remind me quite often that God wouldn’t bring me down this path this far only to leave me feeling like this. I’m doing my very best to believe that to be true, but I know that I feel like I’m hanging on for dear life lately and am constantly trying to prevent my brain from convincing me to follow in either of my parents’ tragic footsteps.

So I’m not sure how much longer this is going to last, but I know I’m doing my absolute best to keep the faith, to stay positive, and to not give up. I’m also doing my absolute best to trust in God and remain as healthy as humanly possible. I do hope all of you who end up reading this will pray for me. Pray for me to make it to the other side of this. Because I do believe I’m going to witness the return of my good health soon and when I do, you can be sure I’ll be writing an uplifting post expressing my gratitude to God, to all of you, and to myself, for finally overcoming the biggest fear I’ve ever had in my entire life…

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson