On this Easter, and with news of friends who have "lost" loved ones... I suggest that we do not "lose" them but are separated for a time. This is NOT wishful thinking for me. With my understanding of various sacred texts in all faiths, the message is clear. We exist beyond THIS life. This is not THE life.
Consider words on the soul from Baha'u'llah (www.bahaullah.com)... "Know thou of a truth that the soul, after its separation from the body, will continue to progress until it attaineth the presence of God, in a state and condition which neither the revolution of ages and centuries, nor the changes and chances of this world, can alter."
Here are some things I glean from these choice and beautiful words.
First, "After its separation from the body..." ... hmmmmm, so we are not our bodies. While I think that we should treat our bodies with the respect and love they deserve. They are gifts to us, each. Still, we are not our bodies. We are not defined by their attributes.
Second, we do not die. Wow, the scared texts speak of a time when death is no more. I do not believe that this refers to our bodies, but to the fact that once we realize THIS truth, we fully understand that there is no death. We transform. We do not die.
Third, we continue to progress. I love this. No clouds and harps. Progress. We continue to progress. I do so love this.
What this says to me is that our souls are truly impervious to the changes and chances of this world. When my father manifested Alzheimer Disease, a wise and dear friend said to me... "remember Barry that your father has a mind, a body and a soul... as his body and mind give way, his soul always knows and understands". In the closing hours of my father's time in this world, this became gloriously obvious to me. In his last few minutes, in particular, he clearly sent a message to me that all is OK... not one iota of doubt in his or my soul.
Love to all my friends of all faiths and none. May this Easter bring renewal.
Peace.
Barry G.
The Unity Guy
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Can Barry Come Out to Play?
My unity blog hUmaNITY has an entry this week which I call Child's Play?. Have a read at www.theunityguyblog.com. It might nudge some thoughts and ideas.
Essentially, I have been spending time on going deeper, and yet NOT. I have been seeking a level of simplicity over complexity... feeling a calling towards that.
These past 10 years, in particular, have been an interesting journey. Two marriages and a path of personal discovery that has proven scary, challenging and exhilerating. I probably will share more as I get even more clear on thoughts and ideas.
For now, I have come to an intuitive thought. While I have long felt that I was pretty much "me", I have felt that something at core has been missing. These past few days and weeks, I have been thinking back to when I thought much less and just was, acting upon my true self. We all have those times, our earliest childhood.
What did I discover? A child that dreamed about unity and diversity. A child that dreamed BIG, was an incurable idealist. Audacious. Unconstrained as the wind. I loved wholly. I was fierce with that. I loved thunder and lightning and nature and open skies and big places. I played games that centered around diversity and strength coming from working together. I loved the virtues of love and honour and vision. I was noble, and knew we all were at core.
As I write this, I smile. This is still ME.
So what does this mean?
My adult life has had glimpses and more of this, but it has been constrained too. Still, my adult life has brought skills, talents and abilities that can serve my core passions of the child that was Barry. The shyness is gone. The faith is both emotional and rational now. There is a return to an earned innocence... a belief that the idealism can be so very real.
What does this really mean?
Look out. Be warned. It is going to be an interesting rest of life. :-)
I challenge you to go back to your future. Listen to the early child. Partner the child with the adult and make your life YOURS.
See you on the coolest path. Happy Easter.
Barry G.
The Unity Guy
PS
Check out The Circle on Facebook at:
www.facebook.com/reqs.php#!/group.php?gid=345338239133&ref=mf
Essentially, I have been spending time on going deeper, and yet NOT. I have been seeking a level of simplicity over complexity... feeling a calling towards that.
These past 10 years, in particular, have been an interesting journey. Two marriages and a path of personal discovery that has proven scary, challenging and exhilerating. I probably will share more as I get even more clear on thoughts and ideas.
For now, I have come to an intuitive thought. While I have long felt that I was pretty much "me", I have felt that something at core has been missing. These past few days and weeks, I have been thinking back to when I thought much less and just was, acting upon my true self. We all have those times, our earliest childhood.
What did I discover? A child that dreamed about unity and diversity. A child that dreamed BIG, was an incurable idealist. Audacious. Unconstrained as the wind. I loved wholly. I was fierce with that. I loved thunder and lightning and nature and open skies and big places. I played games that centered around diversity and strength coming from working together. I loved the virtues of love and honour and vision. I was noble, and knew we all were at core.
As I write this, I smile. This is still ME.
So what does this mean?
My adult life has had glimpses and more of this, but it has been constrained too. Still, my adult life has brought skills, talents and abilities that can serve my core passions of the child that was Barry. The shyness is gone. The faith is both emotional and rational now. There is a return to an earned innocence... a belief that the idealism can be so very real.
What does this really mean?
Look out. Be warned. It is going to be an interesting rest of life. :-)
I challenge you to go back to your future. Listen to the early child. Partner the child with the adult and make your life YOURS.
See you on the coolest path. Happy Easter.
Barry G.
The Unity Guy
PS
Check out The Circle on Facebook at:
www.facebook.com/reqs.php#!/group.php?gid=345338239133&ref=mf
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Choice!
We have an amazing power. Choice.
When Gandhi spoke of being the change we want to see in the world, there was a presumption of choice and the power in it.
Still, we often think of choice in large and grand ways. Every moment is a choice. Many of our choices are almost on auto pilot. Conscious living does not pre-suppose serious, dreary living. Our choice to be happy, our choice to live healthy, our choice to laugh and learn, and our choice to forgive... all can be liberating and deeply joyful. So many choices, and their collective power and result can be our destiny.
My choice today is to go inward. In my prayers and meditations today, I kept hearing that my path lies within... and I am hearing much is "under my nose". As a planning guy, it is interesting to hear this... challenging even. Yet, I am understanding that having goals does not run contrary to living daily. I am understanding that having authentic goals is cool, and living and learning and listening daily gets me not to where I want to go but where I need to go.
What does this all mean? I have my vision. But, I now choose to live one moment at a time... as best I can, observing, learning and acting upon. AND letting the rest unfold.
So, today I have. So be it. More to follow. ;-)
Barry L. Green
When Gandhi spoke of being the change we want to see in the world, there was a presumption of choice and the power in it.
Still, we often think of choice in large and grand ways. Every moment is a choice. Many of our choices are almost on auto pilot. Conscious living does not pre-suppose serious, dreary living. Our choice to be happy, our choice to live healthy, our choice to laugh and learn, and our choice to forgive... all can be liberating and deeply joyful. So many choices, and their collective power and result can be our destiny.
My choice today is to go inward. In my prayers and meditations today, I kept hearing that my path lies within... and I am hearing much is "under my nose". As a planning guy, it is interesting to hear this... challenging even. Yet, I am understanding that having goals does not run contrary to living daily. I am understanding that having authentic goals is cool, and living and learning and listening daily gets me not to where I want to go but where I need to go.
What does this all mean? I have my vision. But, I now choose to live one moment at a time... as best I can, observing, learning and acting upon. AND letting the rest unfold.
So, today I have. So be it. More to follow. ;-)
Barry L. Green
Friday, March 26, 2010
Choice?
Maybe it is me, but I am noticing a deep need around me... a deep need to insist on "choice". Which side are you on?
Some years back Rik Emmett, formerly of the band Triumph, wrote a song for his CD Absolutely. The song was called Middle Ground. I had forgotten that song for quite a while, but it was and is an athem for me. You should check it out.
I find that we are asked to choose between religion and science. We are asked to choose between creation and evolution. We are asked to choose between liberal and conservative, government and opposition. I choose not to choose between. I believe that authentic religion and science explain two sides of the one reality... and that they must agree. I believe that evolution is real but that so is creation... two reflections of physical and spiritual realities. I choose not to take sides as if I were part of one camp versus another. I have chosen to leave my political life years ago. No more.
I grow weary of this Cartesian-Newtonian view of the world. Choose. Black vs white. Right vs wrong.
Do I believe that some things have abosolute truths? Oh yes. Still, I believe that much of what we consider to be the "realities" we are expected to choose between are simply constructs forced upon us by the forces of extremism.
We are individuals, and we have paths... and we have experiences. Living our lives is not about one day waking up and knowing clarity in all things. Our faith, our perspective, is challenged by our experience.
Why do I say this?
I had an amazing couple of conversations last week, with 2 dear and wise friends. Since then, I have found myself living my life more as process, and authentic to my spirit. Tonight I MC'd an event for Skills Canada and then headed off to karaoke. In both, and during today, I found myself listening for my deeper voice and acting upon it.
We are created unique.
We are expected to be our best, OUR best and be respectful of others. I more deeply understand the golden rule this day. I more deeply understand that unity comes from us being who we are at our best and allowing others to be the same.
Do I have the answers? Not a chnace. But, I am not expected to have them. I am expected to LIVE and LOVE, truly.
I choose my faith. I choose to live. I choose to love.
As I prepare for sleep, I am left with the thought that I am here to love and shine...courageously and fiercely. I choose to answer that call.
How about you?
Barry
Some years back Rik Emmett, formerly of the band Triumph, wrote a song for his CD Absolutely. The song was called Middle Ground. I had forgotten that song for quite a while, but it was and is an athem for me. You should check it out.
I find that we are asked to choose between religion and science. We are asked to choose between creation and evolution. We are asked to choose between liberal and conservative, government and opposition. I choose not to choose between. I believe that authentic religion and science explain two sides of the one reality... and that they must agree. I believe that evolution is real but that so is creation... two reflections of physical and spiritual realities. I choose not to take sides as if I were part of one camp versus another. I have chosen to leave my political life years ago. No more.
I grow weary of this Cartesian-Newtonian view of the world. Choose. Black vs white. Right vs wrong.
Do I believe that some things have abosolute truths? Oh yes. Still, I believe that much of what we consider to be the "realities" we are expected to choose between are simply constructs forced upon us by the forces of extremism.
We are individuals, and we have paths... and we have experiences. Living our lives is not about one day waking up and knowing clarity in all things. Our faith, our perspective, is challenged by our experience.
Why do I say this?
I had an amazing couple of conversations last week, with 2 dear and wise friends. Since then, I have found myself living my life more as process, and authentic to my spirit. Tonight I MC'd an event for Skills Canada and then headed off to karaoke. In both, and during today, I found myself listening for my deeper voice and acting upon it.
We are created unique.
We are expected to be our best, OUR best and be respectful of others. I more deeply understand the golden rule this day. I more deeply understand that unity comes from us being who we are at our best and allowing others to be the same.
Do I have the answers? Not a chnace. But, I am not expected to have them. I am expected to LIVE and LOVE, truly.
I choose my faith. I choose to live. I choose to love.
As I prepare for sleep, I am left with the thought that I am here to love and shine...courageously and fiercely. I choose to answer that call.
How about you?
Barry
Monday, March 22, 2010
Naw Ruz.... and Letting Go :-)
Friends, here begins the next leg of my personal journey and journal.
It is a New Year for me. Having just completed the 19-Day Fast of my Baha'i Faith, I found myself on a journey inward unlike anything I have encountered thus far in my life. I do not try to be dramatic. The questions I posed to myself in prayer and fasting were difficult and deep... and, at times, scary. They were not scary in terms of horrible or horrific. They were scary because they challenged my attachments.
In my praying and fasting and reading the work of Martha Beck, I kept coming back to this notion of attachment. Then I had a dream last night that was clearly all about the "letting go". CLEARLY.
In Revenge of the Sith, Yoda says to Anakin "fear of loss is the path to the dark side". I believe that he is talking of attachment; the kind of attachment that is born of comfort... and not the comfort that is heavenly... but the one based on avoidance of fear and uncertainty.
I had not realized how insidious that fear could be.. how subtle. For all intents and purposes, I have been striving and working towards new goals and dreams. I have been moving on a path of "success". Still, I was not realizing that I was somehow not letting go of old attachments.
During this past Fast and into Naw Ruz (my new year), I prayed and meditated. I had cool conversations with great honest and audacious and loving friends. I allowed myself to just experience... the way a child experiences, without preconceptions. I opened mt heart and head to observance, pure. At times it was daunting. At other times, mesmerizing.
Without belaboring, here is what I found myself writing this evening... and upon completion, I smiled... the kind of smile unforced and deep.
Barry Lewis Green
I am a Baha'i... living, praying and reaching, devoted to Baha'u'llah... a pilgrim literally and figuratively. I find my joy in Salsa and singing... in football, cartooning, writing, creating, archery and improv. I find my joy in peaceful mornings and starry evenings, in ocean views and on drives... and with my dog companion Panda. I am a virtues student. I am a man of house and home, and the open road by car and cycle. I serve the world in founding Lhu Global and Lhu Local, and in my work as an educator at College of the North Atlantic. This is me, now. This is who I am.
My suggestion?
Spend time with you. Meditate. Pray. Listen. Experience. Then, articulate you and your true joys... those things where you "remember" who you are. When I engage in these activities I have noted, I lose myself in time. They are moments of bliss for me.
What are yours? Who are you?
In my passion for unity, I contend that the truest unity starts with us each finding ourselves and knowing that we all count... we all bring something cool to the table.
What will you bring?
Love, honour and unity folks.
Peace.
Barry G.
PS
Check out my hUmaNITY blog at www.theunityguyblog.com.
It is a New Year for me. Having just completed the 19-Day Fast of my Baha'i Faith, I found myself on a journey inward unlike anything I have encountered thus far in my life. I do not try to be dramatic. The questions I posed to myself in prayer and fasting were difficult and deep... and, at times, scary. They were not scary in terms of horrible or horrific. They were scary because they challenged my attachments.
In my praying and fasting and reading the work of Martha Beck, I kept coming back to this notion of attachment. Then I had a dream last night that was clearly all about the "letting go". CLEARLY.
In Revenge of the Sith, Yoda says to Anakin "fear of loss is the path to the dark side". I believe that he is talking of attachment; the kind of attachment that is born of comfort... and not the comfort that is heavenly... but the one based on avoidance of fear and uncertainty.
I had not realized how insidious that fear could be.. how subtle. For all intents and purposes, I have been striving and working towards new goals and dreams. I have been moving on a path of "success". Still, I was not realizing that I was somehow not letting go of old attachments.
During this past Fast and into Naw Ruz (my new year), I prayed and meditated. I had cool conversations with great honest and audacious and loving friends. I allowed myself to just experience... the way a child experiences, without preconceptions. I opened mt heart and head to observance, pure. At times it was daunting. At other times, mesmerizing.
Without belaboring, here is what I found myself writing this evening... and upon completion, I smiled... the kind of smile unforced and deep.
Barry Lewis Green
I am a Baha'i... living, praying and reaching, devoted to Baha'u'llah... a pilgrim literally and figuratively. I find my joy in Salsa and singing... in football, cartooning, writing, creating, archery and improv. I find my joy in peaceful mornings and starry evenings, in ocean views and on drives... and with my dog companion Panda. I am a virtues student. I am a man of house and home, and the open road by car and cycle. I serve the world in founding Lhu Global and Lhu Local, and in my work as an educator at College of the North Atlantic. This is me, now. This is who I am.
My suggestion?
Spend time with you. Meditate. Pray. Listen. Experience. Then, articulate you and your true joys... those things where you "remember" who you are. When I engage in these activities I have noted, I lose myself in time. They are moments of bliss for me.
What are yours? Who are you?
In my passion for unity, I contend that the truest unity starts with us each finding ourselves and knowing that we all count... we all bring something cool to the table.
What will you bring?
Love, honour and unity folks.
Peace.
Barry G.
PS
Check out my hUmaNITY blog at www.theunityguyblog.com.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
So Close.....
Days away...
The new Lhu Global site is up at www.theunityguy.com and the new Lhu Global blog (hUmaNITY)is up at www.theunityguyblog.com.
We are officially launching this Saturday, March 20... and I am thrilled.
It's all about unity.
With Day 13 of my Baha'i Fast, my reflection and focus are sharper. I have had a look at my goals and tweaked for greater authenticity... more to follow... for now, I encourage you to check out the site and blog, and even subscribe (dare I say).
This Saturday is Spring to Life! Speaker Showcase and I am MC... come out to the Sheraton, St. John's and enjoy a day of greatness.
Go to www.nlaps.ca to register. Going to be cool. ;-)
Barry
The new Lhu Global site is up at www.theunityguy.com and the new Lhu Global blog (hUmaNITY)is up at www.theunityguyblog.com.
We are officially launching this Saturday, March 20... and I am thrilled.
It's all about unity.
With Day 13 of my Baha'i Fast, my reflection and focus are sharper. I have had a look at my goals and tweaked for greater authenticity... more to follow... for now, I encourage you to check out the site and blog, and even subscribe (dare I say).
This Saturday is Spring to Life! Speaker Showcase and I am MC... come out to the Sheraton, St. John's and enjoy a day of greatness.
Go to www.nlaps.ca to register. Going to be cool. ;-)
Barry
Sunday, March 7, 2010
A Unity Guy's Prerogative
I'm baaaaaaaack!
Well, the new Lhu Global site is up at www.theunityguy.com and the new Lhu Global blog (hUmaNITY)is up at www.theunityguyblog.com.
Due to delays with the sites, Lhu Global is now officially launching on March 20, 2010... and I am excited. The work ahead on fostering the coolest, deepest unity, is my passion.
That being said, I thought it wise and appropriate to maintain a personal blog here at Wholiness, filled with thoughts and ideas along my personal journey. I hope you stay tuned and sign up for hUmaNITY as well.
That is it for now... it's going to be cool though.
Peace.
Barry
Well, the new Lhu Global site is up at www.theunityguy.com and the new Lhu Global blog (hUmaNITY)is up at www.theunityguyblog.com.
Due to delays with the sites, Lhu Global is now officially launching on March 20, 2010... and I am excited. The work ahead on fostering the coolest, deepest unity, is my passion.
That being said, I thought it wise and appropriate to maintain a personal blog here at Wholiness, filled with thoughts and ideas along my personal journey. I hope you stay tuned and sign up for hUmaNITY as well.
That is it for now... it's going to be cool though.
Peace.
Barry
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