There is no feeling safe because there is no fear only a carnal perception of harm(emotional or physical) that leads us to act irrationally. In order to obtain enlightenment we must put such thoughts out of our minds and push past the snap emotions of the crude beings that we are. We must realize that we are luminous beings whose ultimate purpose is to become one in the warm light of YHWH through the salvation of Y'shua.

    One thing that I often hear said is that Yahshua was a member of the Essene community and I'm not saying that these views are any less valid than any others about Yahshua because we simply do not know foreshore but I do want to take a quick look at these claims from the stand point of what we do know from scripture and historical accounts of the Essene beliefs.

    I must agree that the teachings of Isa are very similar to those of the Essenes, I refere you to the Essene Gospel of Peace, books one through four supposedly discovered and translated by Edmond Bordeaux Szekely in the Archieves of the Vatican and the Royal Library of the Habsburg (I'm not so sure I buy the whole story). 
    
    It is necessary to note though that while the teachings of Yahshua are similar to those of the Essenes they would have rejected his teachings of the Parousia. The Essenes were convinced that there would be a physical battle between the good (Sons of Light) and evil to establish a righteous kingdom of YHWH on Earth while Yahshua clearly teaches that the true battle is within ones heart/soul and the kingdom will not be of this world but rather that of Heaven.

    It is also important to mention that the Essenes also were very legalistic and seperated themselves from the general population both things that Yahshua had despised in the Sadducees. Just to play Devils advocate we'll say that the Essenes were forced to flee Jerusalem with their "Teacher of Rightousness" after a schism amongst the Temple theologians, we can automatically rule out Yesu as a fully accepted member of the Essene communities from Epiphanius' description of both the sects of Essenes where he says "They acknowledged Moses and believed that he had received laws - not this law, however, but some other." this is clearly in contradiction with Yesu's teachings in Matthew 5:17 where he says "Do not think I have come to get rid of what is written in the Law or in the Prophets. I have not come to do that. Instead, I have come to give full meaning to what is written. What I'm about to tell you is true. Heaven and earth will disappear before one kot of one yod will disappear from the Law until everything is completed. "

    Do I think that Isa was a memeber of the Essene community? No, but I do think that he must have spent time with them and learned certain things from them and adopted some of their practices. I must say that I have an interesting theory on the Essene and Book of Enoch connection but I will save this for another time. Toda.

Shalom, salaam and may your path be well lit.
                                                                    -Benyamin

My upbringing was interesting, I wasn't ever sat down and told "You believe this and anything else is wrong." My Great Grandma took me to church from about the age 4-6 (at about the age of 4 I remember asking my mom what religion we were she said Methodist and I said "That's not the one that doesn't believe in God is it, I don't want to be that one") and in sunday school I would listen and ask questions and that would be that. Then my friends parents would take me with them from like 10-15 and thats when I first began to think about religion and what I believe.

Originally at about age 12 I was a dedicated Christian and that was fine because I was never exposed to anything else but then when I was about 13 or 14 I was exposed to a multitude of different beliefs one day when I was walking through the Library. In eighth grade I read the Egyptian Book of the Dead and was intoxicated by exotic flavor of the cults of Ra, Amon, Aten, and Horus, I immediately began trying with fervor to convert my friends from their beliefs to this Egyptian Polytheism with a few cases of success but that was not to last. I soon realised the frivolity of such beliefs (for me). I then came into contact with Buddhism (Zen in particular) and with a little more commitment and in depth searching decided that it was indeed the path for me (in addition to my christianity).

September 11 2001 kicked off a very interesting phase for me, out of nowhere the media bombarded me with these images of Islam and words like Allah, Jihad, Qur'an, Ramadan, and Hajj. This struck up intrigue within my soul, I had read about Islam but I had never really paid it much attention. I read about a third to a half of the English Translation of the Qur'an and was captivated. This time I didn't adopt the beliefs but I was much more empathetic and rejected the media portrayal of Islam, I held Ramadan and asked many questions of my Muslim friend. By the summer of 2002 I had become totally enthralled by politics and had substituted religion with my enthusiasm for Communism, it remaind as such until the beginning of 2006. 

In 2006 I just felt called back to religion, I started reading my Bible and my pocket Buddha reader. I took a world religions class at the community college and visited a Synagauge and Islamic center. Then I purchased a copy of "The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ". I read so many different texts in the following months it was enough to confuse anybody but I came to the realization that all faiths have truth at there core and that each faith is just a different river to the same ocean (God).

I would absolutely recommend someone to try my job, especially if they enjoy physical labor, being out in the elements, and one of the funniest group of guys I've ever had the pleasure of working with.

I install fence and it has been so interesting, I've fenced in a baby buffalo, an airport, bike paths, an African tortois, and more backyards, dogs, and kids than I could shake a stick at. We once fenced in a ladys backyard to keep the squirels out, that was funny. I've met some of the nicest people and some of the worst.

I've been soaked by rain, frozen in snow, and burned in the sun (not all in the same day of course). I've spent days just working on the Lake shore, I've felt the nicest breezes in the most gorgeous scenery, I've done charity work repairing baseball diamonds for under privledged kids in the inner city and fenced in personal baseball diamonds on multi-million dollar mansions. I'm in a new place everyday or two meeting new people helping keep them safe and secure, I love my job and as of tomorrow I will be an ordained religious teacher and I believe that will be just as fulfilling if not more.

Shalom, salaam may your path be well lit.

In a few past blogs I have been critical of certain beliefs that I have found no truth in but I mannaged to overlook one of my favorite and most fundamental teachings of Buddhism. I will show you, it comes from the Sutta Nipata:

    "The one who thinks himself equal or inferior or superior to others is, by that very reason, involved in argument. But such thoughts as equal, inferior, and superior are not there in the one who is not moved by such measurements.
    Why should a wise person argue with another, saying "this is a truth" and "This is a lie"? If such a one never entertains a thought about equal, inferior, or superior, with whom is he going to argue?
     The sage who has freed himself from dependece on others and from dependence on words and is no longer attached to knowledge does not risk the smothering of truth by engaging in disputes with people."

I suppose in my pursuit of truth it has back-fired but in a way I feel as though I ran across this passage today by the intervention of Elohim, to remind me that I have not come as far as I sometimes think I have. Baruch haShem for Gods guidance through the holy scriptures of all religions. Maybe before my end I shall make it to the mindset of a bodhisattva.
                     Shalom, Salaam may your path be well lit.

"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." Tehilim (Psalm) 119:105

I was sitting here at home drinking a lovely cup of Echinacea Tea and reading over some websites and blogs, something I tend to do everynight since my accident, when I ran across a website that made a claim that I had heard before but never with such zeal and insistence, that claim being that there was no historical Yahshua (Jesus) that the whole thing was simply a compilation of stories about the lives of Krishna (incarnation of the Hindu God Vishnu), Siddhartha Gautama (the historical Buddha), Mithras (a Roman Solar diety), Dionysus (a Greek God of wine) and other Savior types.
I have always been open to any religious view that a person can hold, I believe there is truth and love at the core of every religion but this attack was just something like a thorn in my paw. I think the reason it irritates me is that I find it utterly devoid of truth and an ugly attack on the faith of others.
Yes, I accept that there are some similarities between the sayings of Yahshua and those perported to have been spoken by Krishna and Dionysus.
Yes, I do admit that there are similarities in virgin birth stories.
Yes, I do admit that the lives and teachings of these other "saviors" are similar.
The thing is, these are common characteristics of saviors in many prophecies in many different religions, just because they are similar to another tradition that predates the one under scrutany is not a credible way to reach the conclusion that one must have been taken from the other.

Most credible scholars will argue that there is no validity to the claims that are made by revisionist theologians. There was almost undoubtedly a historical Yahshua, his supposed teachings are open to scrutany as to whether or not they were truly his words or just teachings of another that were attributed to him for credibility reasons. They will contend that it is possible, maybe even probable that a couple of stories that were associated with one of the other savior types were introduced into the tradition of the early church upon the conversion of adherents to these other mystery cults.

The fact that any religious tradition outside Christianity (let alone the other big four) holds Yahshua as a historical figure as well as Josephus' mentioning of a historical Yahshua solidifies, for me, that there had to, at the very least, be a first century radical Rabbi who rejected the overly liturgical formal tradition of the day in favor of a more personal relationship with the Creator whom he felt close enough to, to call "Abba"  or in english, Father.

The fact that Yahshua is revered to some extent in all of the big five World Religions, the South Pacific Tales of Wakea, and Native and South American tales of the fair-skinned prophet all lead me to believe that either before his death or after his resurrection he appeared to all the peoples of the world in one form or another.

"I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pin. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd."  -John 10:16

I believe that above all religion offers adherents a sense of hope and belonging in a world that is very much so a negative place where individuals are nothing more than a bank account and another number. I think all religions in general lay a strong set of moral values. I personally think it's possible to find beauty and truth in almost all religions except for that institution that exisits solely to mock and snub religion (The church of Satan) and I don't know they might even have some morality in their teachings. Shalom and salaam my friends, may your path be well lit.

So, I was watching the third movie, Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (I think, I'm not very much into that kind of movie but hey if thats your thing, right on!) and I became very distraught when I was watching the battle scene. I became very distraught because even though I know the Horses and Elephant things are computer generated and no actual animals were hurt during the filming of the movies, it got me thinking about the war throughout the ages and how many millions of animals have died as a result of the wars of men. I mean it wasn't until WWI that automobiles of anykind were used as insturments of war and even then horses were still in use.
I mean its just so lame that we've taken our conflict and made combatants out of creatures that have no idea whats being fought for and has no problem with the "enemy" (whosoever that is).
It was ruthless(in the movie and in real life).
I did, however, find it very cool in the begining of the first movie that place where the little hobbits(?) lived, that looked like a very cool place to be.

In todays world if I was forced to enter into a convent I would want to join the brothers of the Taize eccumenical community. The men of Taize don't care about denomination whether your Protestant, Catholic, or Orthodox christian it doesn't matter all that matters is your devotion to Yahshua and his work. If I had to pick a monastery in the ancient world to live with it would have either been one of the original Buddhist monasteries or with the Essene community of Qumran, that would be very intense. Living in the caves around the Dead Sea, working to survive in order to live in accordance with the Lord of Hosts and the lords regulations and creations.

The most sacred place that I've ever been? That's a relativly easy thing for me to answer. I would have to say that the most sacred place that I've ever been was the Chapel of the Holy Cross in Sedona, Arizona. It was such an amazing place to be. The view out of the front of the chapel is incredible and just being in that building inspires such piousness and repentence. The Greater Islamic Center of Cleveland is also amazing and awe inspiring.