What I learned from my experimentation with visualization

[jennifer_bloom]

A few days ago, I discovered an incredible Christian philosopher and motivational teacher named Alan Watts. While originally, I wanted to write my own book, I concluded that Alan Watts had said everything I had meant to say and had said it better than I meant to say it myself. Reading his books, brought me into a deeper level of worship and meditation and enabled me to experience God’s love in a more profound and consistent way.

But a problem arose when I began to visualize materialistic goals for myself, like a big house, a nice sun room where I exercise, a fancy bath room for bathing, and an epic garden for courting guests, I realized, that worship had begun to feel uncomfortable and unnatural and forced.

This is just like what Jesus said that you cannot serve both money and God because your pursuit of God will drive out your love for money and your pursuit of money will drive out your love for God. It’s just like the principle we all understand, that you cannot serve both honour and beauty and gluttony and comfort.

There was a guy in my university who was very religious, he went on missionary trips to India using money he raised himself while an engineering student in university. However as his career advanced and his income began to grow, he found it increasingly difficult for him to feel and experience God.

The fact is, if you want to experience spiritual pleasure, you must forfeit physical pleasure, and if you want to experience religious glory, you must forfeit spiritual glory. Seek love and not power, compassion and not praise, use money to serve spiritual goals by tithing or donating or sharing and do not use your spirit to serve financial goals by judging and condemning and seducing, than you can enter into the kingdom of Gods

[Jjpayne]

I completely agree! You need to find a proper balance! And part of that balance is acknowledging that any place we work, any place, is a place we can share our faith and what we beileve

[Jjpayne]

Any social place is a missionary field

[Arivor]

Interesting... Please forgive me for using your comment to say a few things. I so want to put down what I think of this entire thing... and yet, I need time to gather my thoughts. One of my main responsibilities within my company is as a designated Devil's Advocate. It is one that I highly enjoy and am used for mitigating groupthink. It does require that I remain unbiased and thus must not align myself with any group...

That is where the problem resides, I have strong feelings and views on what is being discussed at the moment, and I'm having a hard time justifying how much I want to jump into this and go off on a rant.

Hopefully, I can come to terms with just how I want to approach this topic with tact and logic. I just want to avoid ending up looking like a biased jerk and not being able to get my point across. I just have so much to say about this... I can imagine that what I write would become so convoluted it would not even make sense.

Again, sorry about this... and Thanks!