Head-to-Head with Einstein’s Brain

I wouldn’t pit my brain against Albert Einstein’s, and I certainly wouldn’t bid against the guy who forked over $404,000 in an auction for one of Einstein’s letters. Just a guess, but I think he has a higher credit limit on his cards than I do.

Is this undisclosed bidder a show-off, a physics buff, a spend-thrift, or are the contents of this letter really worth that much money? It depends upon how much you value the genius quantum physicist’s thoughts about God–and religion (terms that, for some, are mutually exclusive). An article in today’s New York Times gives us a peek into this unique missive, at a price that will fit our budgets.

The Answer to Prayer

An article in today’s Chicago Tribune has once again stirred my curiosity about the power of prayer. I’m wondering what you think about it.
According to the Trib’s story, Artemia Torres, a single mother from Mexico, came to Chicago at the advice of relatives who assured her that she could earn more money to keep her two children in college. The relatives forgot to mention that they lived in a rough part of town. Oops.
When Ms. Torres discovered that she’d landed in a high street crime area, she did what any devout Catholic would do: Every morning before leaving home to sell corn-on-the-cob, mangoes and snow cones from her mobile cart, she prayed for God’s protection. For good measure, she traveled on her daily rounds with a rosary and two pictures of Catholic saints.
One day, after going a full morning without a sale, it looked as if her luck was about to change. A customer finally appeared. He asked for corn; what he really wanted was her money. When she didn’t have any, he did what any Chicago street thug worth his stripes would do: he shot her. He could have been more ruthless; he aimed for her thigh, not her heart.
Fascinating stuff. What does this incident say to you about the power of prayer?

Tour Begins, Freebies End

Friday, March 28, marks an important milestone: The launch of the most joyful work of my lifetime: The Bringing in the Light Tour and the release of my new book, Crossing an Unseen Bridge.

Last summer, four authors and speakers, Gaile Dry-Burton, Patrice Gaines and Trevy McDonald, and myself founded HIPP Books, LLC, deriving our name from our dedication to promote Health, Inspirational, Peace and Prosperity. When we decided to take our act on the road, it was best-selling author Patrice Gaines who offered another name: “Bringing in the Light.” It described our mission perfectly.
Since that fateful day, we have created an empowering series of workshops that are as insightful as they are fun. As the tour schedule develops, I will keep you posted. In most cases, the events are free. In each city, we’re featuring a local author in our genre. In New York, it’s best-selling author Terrie M. Williams. We’re very excited about that.
There will be two “Come, Bring Your Light” panel discussions on each side of the main event. Both are in Harlem. Friday evening at 6 o’clock, we’ll be at the National Black Theatre of Harlem and Sunday afternoon at 2 o’clock, we’ll wrap up at Hue-Man Books and Cafe.

Publicity surrounding the main event on Saturday, March 29 at The New School University in Greenwich Village has created quite a buzz. (Maybe it was the news that New York’s famed Dinosaur Bar-B-Q is catering the free lunch.) At any rate, it’s the hottest ticket in town. To make sure that they don’t have to turn you away, RSVP no later than today to: marciam@datewithabook.com. Warning: It might already be too late. Speaking of too late…
Free Downloads End Tonight!
The floodgates are about to close! If you’re one of the few who hasn’t read Crossing an Unseen Bridge (and hasn’t discovered the Law of Attraction secrets that no one wants to talk about), downloads are free until midnight. I’ve enjoyed sharing it with you.

Have you seen any of the Crossing an Unseen Bridge reviews? Readers are sending back a lot of love from the other side. Not since “Drama Queens” have I cried such happy tears! The feedback has touched me as deeply as you tell me that this book has touched you. Read a few reviews.

We’ve noticed an uptick in downloads and sales of EARTH Is the MOTHER of All Drama Queens–especially by those who have read Crossing an Unseen Bridge. Maybe it’s because the two are perfect companion books–or maybe it’s because this is the first time that the 320-page book has been offered free. If it’s the latter, here’s a news flash: Drama Queen freebies also end tonight.

The Politician and His Pastor

In my role as the spirituality editor of The Daily Voice online news source, I was asked to weigh in on the controversy surrounding Barack Obama’s pastor’s resignation from his presidential campaign from a spiritual rather than political point of view. If you’re interested in what the Loud Mouth saw from the balcony of that drama, read it here.

Why Do We Believe It?

I’m always in awe of people who can quote scripture. I’m equally intrigued when they insist that it is the Word of God. My latest book delves into our beliefs a bit. I am convinced that many of us haven’t the slightest idea what we believe, what our beliefs really mean or why we believe them.

Is it important to understand what you believe? Well, since our beliefs motivate our actions, I think so–and so does retired Episcopalian Bishop John Shelby Spong*, renowned expert on the Bible, best-selling author and former fundamentalist from the Bible belt.

A minister at my church, who knows I am a big fan of Bishop Spong’s, sent me this illuminating speech. I thought I’d share. When you have 83 minutes to spare, it will be time well-spent: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZM3FXlLMug

Enjoy the enlightenment!

*Disclaimer: Bishop Spong endorsed my first book.

In Violent Dramas, What’s God’s Role?

A few days ago, I theorized in this space that violent behavior stems from our beliefs about what God is and what God does. If we believe ancient stories that tell us that God solves problems by killing people, we’re more likely to view violence as a logical and acceptable way to solve our problems.
Within 24 hours of posting that essay, a Kirkwood, Missouri man left home saying, “To God be the glory!” Moments later, he shot six and killed five people that, he believed, were causing him a problem.
These horrific murders caused me to examine my theory more closely. What I found was scientific evidence that I might be on the right track. I posted those findings in today’s edition of The Daily Voice, where I serve as the spirituality editor.

Time for a “Shift”?

I stopped watching the evening news and switched to online newspapers. Not only was I was burned out, after 20 years in TV news, I typically felt emotionally drained at the end of the newscast, a bit overwhelmed by man’s inhumanity to man.

Now that watching is no longer a job requirement, I choose not. If a headline is screaming bad news, I can instantly dash to another part of the page; I don’t have to sit through the bloody details or watch the crime scene video.

I swear, if one more anchor reported a “senseless” murder, I was going to scream. Are there any murders that make sense? Let’s see: Five women slain in a clothing store, man opens fire in a shopping mall, a Boy Scout kills his parents, women suicide bombers wreak havoc. Which of these made sense?

The acts are becoming more and more bizarre, more and more inhumane. I could be wrong, but I’ve theorized that the way we solve problems is directly related to our beliefs about God.

We can be as punitive and unforgiving as the God who kicked Adam and Eve to kingdom come. We can be as outraged and brutal as the God who commits filicide or genocide. We believe that Our Father solves problems by killing His own, torturing His own, threatening His own. He favors some over others. Human life is expendable.

We were taught this as children. It’s deeply seeded in our psyches: this is the way to solve problems. This is the way we treat others.

In that context, murders make perfect sense, and they will continue until we shift our perceptions about what God is and what God does, until we decide to believe that God behaves more divinely.

It’s an option. I’m not sure if we can do it; we are so attached to the sadistic model of God. In fact, we believe that God will torture us eternally, if we believe otherwise. Fascinating stuff.

At times, it seems hopeless to think that we can grasp how heinous we believe God is. Only a Pollyanna would believe that we can challenge these reports of Godly misconduct by asking, “Would LOVE do that?”

There is hope. Today, I am filled with it, after receiving an email today from the Rev. Shaheerah Stephens, a New Thought minister in Detroit. Maybe you’d like some hope, too: The Shift Movie

Honk if You’re a Non-Believer!

It happened again. I received a wonderfully inspiring e-mail–lengthy, but inspiring–and just as I neared the end, there it was: the threat, preceded by a command to say “The Lord’s Prayer” for the person who sent the e-mail. I was OK with that, but the writer wanted more:

“Next, send this message to everyone you know. In a while, more people will have
prayed for you and you would have obtained a lot of people praying for others!”

In principle, it sounded reasonable and mathematically sound; but I have hundreds of friends in my address book, including many who do not say “The Lord’s Prayer”. Plus, I have no doubt that many who do wouldn’t know what to say, in response to the writer’s next command. I was a bit speechless myself:

“Next, stop and think and appreciate God’s power in your life, for doing what
you know is pleasing to Him.”

I stopped and thought. I’m still not sure whether this writer was saying that God would have power in my life if I pleased “Him”, and no power if I didn’t–i.e. a conditionally powerful quid pro quo God? Alrighty now!

And then came the Big Threat, the one that has found its way to the Loud Mouth’s mailbox once too often:

“If you are not ashamed to do this, follow the instructions! Jesus said, ‘If you are ashamed of me, I will be ashamed of you before My Father.’
“If you are not ashamed, send this message… only if you believe.”

Believe what, exactly? Does this writer want us to believe that Jesus was a hypocrite? That’s what we’d have to believe, to accept anyone’s claim that he made such a manipulative, vindictive threat. This proclamation defies the spirit, intent and teachings of Jesus.

Believe what, exactly? Does this writer want us to believe that Jesus was a hypocrite? That’s what we’d have to believe, to accept anyone’s claim that he made such a manipulative, vindictive threat. This proclamation defies the spirit, intent and teachings of Jesus.

Bible scholars tell us that this alleged direct quote was written 70-85 years after Jesus’ crucifixion–and not by one of his disciples. In fact, they say, none of the gospels was written by someone who personally knew Jesus. Why do we repeat second-hand information that maligns his character and makes him appear duplicitous?

What we know, for sure, is that Matthew wrote this quote–and he clearly couldn’t have been paying attention to anything else Jesus reportedly said, or he would have written something that was more accurately aligned with his character and teachings.

Maybe Matthew was being overly zealous in his attempt to attract converts to Judaism’s Christian sect. I don’t know. And I don’t know what motivates those who keep breathing life into such a damning characterization of Jesus by tacking this threat to the end of their e-mails, either.
This one stood out from the rest because, like Matthew, the scribe wasn’t thinking clearly. In the same e-mail, the writer wrote every word of “The Lord’s Prayer,” but apparently didn’t read them–and expected us to say them and not read them, either. Curious stuff.

The writer obviously believes that Jesus prayed, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive others’,” before the crowd gathered on the Mount, but would not be forgiving of others, when in his Father’s presence.

Makes you wonder: Who’s really the non-believer here?

Heard behind the Curtain

By now, most of us are a bit weary of presidential politics–and the year is young. But, while most of us are turning a deaf ear, some are tuning in to hear the words more closely, as I discovered when reading June Michael’s Spiritualdiva blog a minute ago.

She relates that she heard Barack Obama offer us three simple steps to lasting freedom! Did you?

What is Mid-Life?

Upon returning to the lovely gateway of the Beliefnet Community today, I spotted a question asked by one of my neighbors: “Is it a mid-life crisis?” he wondered.
He made me wonder, too: When’s mid-life? I mean, if we are spiritual creatures, made in the image of God, if there is no beginning or end to us, where is that point that we can designate as the “middle” of our lifetime?
Now that I’ve become aware of what a theater Earth is–and have become totally convinced of its departure from reality–the word “life” hits my eyes and ears differently. Words such as “life-saving” and “life-threatening”, and yes, “mid-life” are curious to me. In fact, one of the questions in the Drama Queen Workshop “reality check” exercise is: It’s possible for medical professionals to save a life. True or False?
The answer, at least in that venue, is “false”. You can save a body, but you can’t save a life. We’ve confused the two, with obvious and frightening results.
We’ve been taught that reality is only what we can see: the slow moving molecules that constitute physical life. We’ve been taught that we have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Consequently, we tend to be fearful and defensive. We’re spooked more easily. After all, there’s so much to lose; no one is guaranteed tomorrow. Gotta get it now, gotta keep it, gotta keep others from trying to take it. Control whatever and whomever you can in this finite world.

What if Paul was correct when he told the Corinthians in his second letter: “What is seen is temporary, what is unseen is eternal?” Is reality temporary or eternal?

Wouldn’t it be great in 2008, if we could more consistently “keep it real?” Who knows? Maybe the Loud Mouth wouldn’t feel so compelled to rant!