from JAH:An excellent article that needed only slight corrections, tweaks and explanatory links adding.
Please make sure to study the explanatory information at the inserted links.
Peace be upon you,
By Michael Goodspeed
Thunderbolts.info
12-14-4
Nothing is more painful than the loss of a loved one. The grief that comes from the inevitable deaths of our family, friends, and romantic partners often leaves us feeling as if the entire Universe has collapsed. It is an inescapable heartache that cannot be remedied by "happy thoughts" or affirmations or random "pleasures." Death is sometimes a mercy for the dying, but for those left behind, it is a thief to be hated.
We grieve the dead (for "Self"-ish reasons - JAH) because we miss their presence in our lives, and we mourn in empathy for the end of their hopes and dreams. But also, we grieve out of a sense of obligation and loyalty. To not grieve would be akin to betrayal, an insult to the dead and a desecration of the love and good times we've shared. We honor the dead with our tears, a testimony that they are remembered and will live on in our hearts and souls.
The physical death of loved ones is not the only cause of grief. We mourn the loss of anything that gives us a sense of who we are. We mourn our defeats and setbacks and blows to our self-esteem. We mourn the death of goals and ambitions that (you think - JAH) give us direction and purpose. We mourn the end of friendships and romantic relationships as though a part of ourselves has died.
This sense of loss is at the root of all human suffering. What could be more painful than the feeling that a necessary piece of oneself is LACKING? To not be whole and complete is our worst nightmare. (All you need is love - God - JAH). When we lose the things that we cherish most, we are left hollowed out like an empty canoe, adrift with no map or compass.
Unfortunately, loss is an intrinsic aspect of the human condition. Nothing on Earth is permanent, not even the earth itself. The world is in a perpetual state of transient flux. Everything that is born must die. Therefore, everything we value that is OF the world must eventually be abdicated. The only thing we can control is how we respond to this.
The first step is to identify the root cause of all sense of LACK. If we truly felt whole and complete (at one with God  JAH), we would never want for anything. Yet desire is the defining characteristic of Homo sapiens. Virtually all of our behavior stems from the "need" (in reality only a "want", not a "need" - as explained in "The Way home or face The Fire"* - JAH) to acquire something outside of ourselves. But what of the radical possibility that we were made perfect and complete, and hence, in need of no external acquisitions?
* http://jahtruth.net/wayad.htm
Many religions and spiritual thought system warn us against
ascribing value to anything impermanent, i.e. everything of the world.
The apostle John said, "Love not the world, neither the things that are
in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not
in him." Buddha taught that
the world is an illusion, and that the root of all suffering is desire.
This message of worldly abdication is profoundly compassionate. It is a
wake-up call to those sleeping not to be enchanted with the happy
dream, or tormented by the nightmare.
http://jahtruth.net/buddha.htm
Unless God is capable of making mistakes, the world as we see it cannot be real. Only a cruel or insane God would create a reality where his sons and daughters are forced into a state of perpetual SEEKING, always in need of obtaining things outside of themselves. But God is neither cruel, nor insane, so it can only mean that our perception of a world that requires external acquisitions is FALSE.
This fallacious belief is the root cause of self-destructive and
harmful behaviors. It is a tool that the ego uses to ensure its
survival, by convincing its owner that rewards do not exist in the
present moment, but must always be sought in the future. When one lives
in the present, the ego becomes irrelevant, as one realizes that
nothing external is needed.
http://jahtruth.net/envird.htm
The solution to this sense of lack is to re-discover our own
completeness. Until this is done, we experience life as a
rollercoaster, and ourselves as helpless victims being tossed about by
an indifferent Universe. Without completeness, our emotional wellness
is easily and consistently upset by circumstances beyond our control.
Life's little "victories" and "conquests" send us into euphoria, while
life's inevitable "tragedies" and "losses" leave us emotional cripples.
Without completeness, our goals and ambitions become a desperate and
unattainable quest for fulfillment through external rewards. Our
relationships are poisoned by possessiveness, and invariably degenerate
into games of manipulation and inflictions of guilt.
There is only one method to re-discover one's completeness. And that
is to lay down everything of this world (i.e., everything impermanent,
and hence, not real), and live unconditionally in the Divine presence
within. This act may seem difficult or even impossible, but it can be
as easy as breathing. The first thing that one must realize is that
nothing REAL is excluded from God. The notion of a God that demands (anything other than "Self"-sacrifice -JAH)
sacrifice of His children is the great blunder in the history of man.
He is all-inclusive, and bestows nothing but love on all His sons and
daughters.
This laying down of worldly "things" is less an act of literal abdication than a disposal of a destructive thought system. This thought system is a way of seeing the world, our selves, and others. Fundamentally, it is the idea that happiness can be obtained through things outside of our selves. When Jesus warned us against the making of "false idols," he was referring to everything that obscures our spiritual identity. All false idols are created by the notion of acquisition, which is a denial of the reality that everything one needs is already present. At the core of this denial is the false perception of separateness from God. Through the ages, God has been presented as a transcendent figure "up there," when in reality, He is inseparable from you, and you from Him.
King of kings's Bible -
Matthew 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the
one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise
the other. Ye cannot serve God and materialism.
http://jahtruth.net/kofkad.htm
When one recognizes his intrinsic connectedness with God, his focus
shifts from "getting" what is "out there" to extending what is inside
of himself (http://jahtruth.net/noti.htm).
External rewards are contracted, limited, and impermanent. But internal
rewards are infinite, all encompassing, and eternal. One does not
hesitate to share these rewards with others. The ego experiences this
as loss, because it cannot "win" unless it keeps its rewards for
itself. But any pleasure that is derived from the "triumphs" of the ego
pales in comparison to the joy of radiating all of one's internal gifts
outward.
http://jahtruth.net/natgra.htm
True devotion to God makes the experience of loss impossible,
because none of God's gifts can be threatened. He only offers what is
real and lasting and truly satisfying. In the presence of God, we
recognize our completeness as incorruptible and eternal. The nightmare
of loss finally comes to an end, and we awaken to the reality that
everything real is with us always.
http://jahtruth.net/godgovmt.htm
ADDENDUM
Michael Goodspeed (a.k.a. Stuart Andrew Talbott) is a 29 year-old writer and radio personality living in Portland, OR. He has been a student of A Course in Miracles and many of the books of its devotees since the age of 15. He may be contacted by email at goodspeed743 [at] aol [dot] com , but may NOT be reached through the Thunderbolts website.
