{"id":15,"date":"2011-01-24T14:53:57","date_gmt":"2011-01-24T14:53:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/prophetormadman\/2011\/01\/working-through-the-struggle.html"},"modified":"2011-01-24T14:53:57","modified_gmt":"2011-01-24T14:53:57","slug":"working-through-the-struggle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prophetormadman\/2011\/01\/working-through-the-struggle.html","title":{"rendered":"Working Through the Struggle"},"content":{"rendered":"

  Working Through the Struggle<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

(Editor’s note:  <\/span>Last Monday Bruce wrote an article
\ncalled “The Struggle.”  <\/span>Today he
\ntakes up where he left off.  <\/span>You
\ndidn’t think he’d leave you hanging, did you?)<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Last week I wrote that after
\nbeing told to write about and teach what God had shown me, I was filled with a
\nmixture of thoughts and emotions. Although I had been gifted with an overview
\nof Creation and had a memory of an image, I did not possess a detailed plan to
\nput what was in my head to words. As I began to write, I quickly realized my
\nego mind and the spiritual view presented very different images.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

From my ego or human
\nperspective I found that I had many fear-based thoughts. My thoughts ranged
\n“What if everyone thinks I am crazy?” to “Who will protect my family if I
\nbecome a target for those who feel offended or threatened by what I write?” I
\nrepeatedly asked for (and received) signs that indeed what I had been shown and
\ntold came from God.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Day after day I tried to find
\na way of bridging my old life and my new view. I started off meditating and
\nexamining the events I had previously experienced. It came to me that before I
\ncould write a spiritual book that accurately represented Creation, I had to see
\npast my own previously limited view. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

By seeing past, I don’t mean
\nto just intellectually understand the difference between our human and
\nspiritual lives. I mean to examine through experience my belief system
\ncomprehensively, from top to bottom. Throughout the process of examination, I
\nfound elements of both Love and Fear. 
\n<\/span>What I found is that Love is real and the only constant. Fear is nothing
\nmore than a belief about something based on a collection of judgments arising
\nfrom my past. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

In Prophet or Madman I wrote
\nthat in every given moment we have a choice to react or interact with that
\nmoment. Reacting always come from an ego thought and is fear based. Interacting
\non the other hand, does not come from a past memory. It is the state of being
\nconsciously one with Love\/God.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

I once read a book by David
\nHawkins. In it he wrote, “Love is not an emotion but rather a level of
\nawareness.” <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

From the spiritual view of
\ncreation that I have seen, I would say Hawkins was right. Love is ever present
\nand never changing but it is not recognizable to those who have not opened
\ntheir eyes to see.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

For those who are brave
\nenough to choose the road less traveled that leads to enlightenment you most
\nlikely will find there are many twists and turns to the road.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Through much tribulation we
\nmust enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22)<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

The Buddha said, “Those who
\npractice the Way might well follow the example of an ox that marches through
\nthe deep mire carrying a heavy load. He is tired, but his steady gaze, looking
\nforward, will never relax until he comes out of the mire, and it is only then
\nthat he takes a respite. O monks, remember that passions and sins are more than
\nthe filthy mire, and that you can escape misery only by earnestly and steadily
\nthinking of the Way.” <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Ecclesiastes 1:13 (New King
\nJames Version): “And I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning
\nall that is done under heaven; this burdensome task God has given to the sons
\nof man, by which they may be exercised.”<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

My hope and wish for all of
\nhumanity is that someday we can move past our petty differences and help our
\nfellow man wake up to Love. Not small capital love where me and mine must come
\nbefore you and yours, but Unconditional Love where we are all one.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Regardless of your path or
\nwhat religion you practice, if you wish to awaken yourself and live awakened in
\nthis world you will have to struggle. More to come…<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Love and Light,<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Brother Bruce<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Prophet or Madman<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Working Through the Struggle   (Editor’s note:  Last Monday Bruce wrote an article called “The Struggle.”  Today he takes up where he left off.  You didn’t think he’d leave you hanging, did you?)   Last week I wrote that after being told to write about and teach what God had shown me, I was…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":234,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[72,17,73,65,10,43],"class_list":["post-15","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-higher-consciousness","tag-crazy","tag-creation","tag-fear","tag-love","tag-prophet-or-madman","tag-struggle"],"yoast_head":"\nWorking Through the Struggle - Prophet or Madman<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prophetormadman\/2011\/01\/working-through-the-struggle.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Working Through the Struggle - 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He says, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153So you'd think I'd know a thing or two about these spiritual matters. On the contrary, the deepest profundity I've been able to manage is to try to live my life in accordance with the Golden Rule. So that's what I do and have advised others to do through my social work as a founder of the National Optimists Party. Yet on a personal level, the fact of the matter is that while, over time, I've found myself with an increasing sense of awe and reverence for the magnificence of creation, I've experienced a receding sense of understanding and familiarity with the Creator. Imagine my good fortune to run into Bruce Adams, a fine soul whose ears are directly attuned to the Creator's frequency. I'm looking forward to learning a lot and enjoying myself immensely as I join Bruce and my good friend Steve on our lighthearted spiritual journey all across this great land looking for and ministering to the souls of America.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prophetormadman\/author\/cjohnson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prophetormadman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prophetormadman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prophetormadman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prophetormadman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/234"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prophetormadman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prophetormadman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prophetormadman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prophetormadman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prophetormadman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}