THE NINE BILLION NAMES OF GOD

THE NINE BILLION NAMES OF GOD

I sense you in each star and in every sunrise. I feel you in the grass and the cool breeze that flows through the trees. I feel your strength and power in your mountains and your ease which flows through each river and down every stream. I see you looking back at me in every living animal and every living being. I see you playing with us and hiding behind the infinity of the ten thousand things!

- Sharice Harris

While doing some research the other day, I came across a fictional story by an Author named Arthur C. Clarke. The story entitled: “The Nine Billion Names of God”, (published in 1953) was about a Tibetan monastery whose monks sought to list every imaginable name of God. They believed that the universe was solely created in order for us to name all of God’s names and they believed that once they had completed discovering all of God’s names that the stars would flicker out like lights being turned off and that universe as we know it would come to an end.

The monks set out to work using what was considered back then modern technology. They created a machine that could precisely calculate and encode every possible name of God imaginable. It was an arduous task which took some time but after they had finished naming every possible name of God, the stars did indeed began to flicker off and the world as they knew it, nostalgically began to come to an end.

As I heard about that story, I couldn’t help but feel that there was some truth in that fictional tale. I mean through the infinite throws in life, each and every one of us experiences day in and day out, at the end of it all, it’s all a cry or yearning to know even deeper depths of God or Love.

Whether we want to admit it or not, we don’t have it all figured out by a certain age because we don’t how God or Love is going to use us to complete our story in this lifetime.

Sure, we can use our five senses with the help of our heart, gut and soul to tell when something doesn’t feel right or if something is missing in our lives but very few of us can actually tell where our personal life story will lead us because we are all being used in a story that is for the greater good of all of us. Some of us live our whole lives playing a game of cat and mouse with our relationships and even with our lives, while some of us choose to project our image of God’s Love onto others even in the midst of our own searching.

We are all students in life, sharing what we know and sizing up what we think someone else does or does not know because we know on a deeper level that God comes in countless forms! God is often so undetectable to our five senses that we barely notice that we are immersed in God right now. 

Do you realize that most people don’t realize that God is not on the outside but that we are actually inside of God right now?

We are living in God right now. What we consider as discovering God, is only God’s unfolding and disseminating of information to us. Have you ever wondered why information that you really needed at a particular point in your life wasn’t revealed to you when you felt like you really needed it the most?

It’s because we are being created right now through every experience we have.

A while back while rummaging through some of Marc Allen’s videos on Youtube, I came across a newly published author and Buddhist monk named Shyalpa Tenzin Rinpoche. Shyalpa, had just published his new book entitled: ‘Living Fully, Finding Joy in Every Breath’, with New World Library and he wanted to share some of his ancient Eastern wisdom with Marc and us in that interview.

Out of everything Shyalpa said, and he said a lot of very truthful and factual information which many of us overlook when looking for guidance and wisdom. One thing in particular stood out to me.

Shyalpa said that Buddha was able to reach Nirvana because he was a born to a king and unlike many of us didn’t need to strive for money, since he was born into a wealthy family.

At that moment I was reminded of how even something as seemingly superficial as running in the rat race after money, is also a cry for God’s mercy and Grace. Tears came to my eyes as I reflected on how many of us spend countless numbers of hours each week sacrificing precious time we will never get back. 

Not because we Love money and are uber materialistic beings but because money if obtained in conjunction with our highest life expression, allows us to live a life which glorifies the Isness of life.

When I saw life through these lens, I realized instantly how incredibly and lovingly committed most people really are to this journey called life. We will do everything we can to reach a means to spend more time freely glorifying God.

                -We are all Love at the core of our creation-

We know that in the attainment of our goals lyes our ability to finally help ourselves and others!

At the end it’s all Love or God! No one person can ever claim that they and only they hold the truth or the way exclusively to God. In doing so, we limit God’s infinite intelligence and wreak havoc on our planet and it’s people by becoming closed off in rigid belief systems.

Muslims have always believed that God has 99 names and many of them, out of devotion and Love to a greater power that is, spend much time reciting and  affirming those 99 names of God.

Hindus’ believe in many God’s but at the only one at the end. Why? Because at the central point of it all, God is present in billions of forms and billions of ways! Is our search to label God and tie him/her down a true search for God?

                        Doesn’t God come to us in countless forms? 

And isn’t everything we see in nature and within humanity living proof of that? Wouldn’t it be easier to just wake-up and realize that we are living in a dream called creation?

What if we are not searching for God’s name but instead searching for God’s Love within each other?

                    What if we are the nine billion names of God?

So far we’ve got 7 billion answers inhabiting our planet, looks like we’ve only got another 2 billion to go!

Thanks for stopping by! What personal life experiences has God used you to teach a lesson or lessons through? How have you discovered that infinite inner peace and knowingness that simply is? I would Love to hear God's voice speak through your life!

 

More Great Sources to Reaffirm and Recharge Your Soul's Purpose!

To view Marc Allen's interview with Buddhist monk Shyalpa Tenzin Rinpoche please visit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M57AHQ1CCAw

Or to Learn More About Shyalpa Tenzin Rinpoche and/or 'Living Fully, Finding Joy in Every Breath' visit him at:

http://www.buddhafield.info/

Finding The Love Of Your Life By Ben Ormonde

Ben Ormonde - Personal Transformation Coach


Originally Published on : Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Finding The Love Of Your Life


by Ben Ormonde
Personal Transformation Coach


How to attract and keep The Love Of Your Life.

St Valentines Day is approaching, love is in the air for many and others are wondering when, if ever, their Prince Charming or Princess Perfection is going to arrive.

If you’ve been longing to connect with “The Love Of Your Life” or “Soulmate” and he or she has been elusive I’m going to explain what’s happening and what to do about it from a Law of Attraction perspective. The word “soulmate” has now become part of popular language. It really does sound so absolutely wonderful and romantic because what you’re asking for is a mate for your soul.

If you are looking for your soul mate, what you are indicating is that you are aware that you have a soul and that there is a part of you that you may call spiritual or divine and that you would really like to share your human journey with someone who’s a match to that deeper part of you.
Many people never get to know or get in touch with that deeper part of themselves, so they’re likely to just attract partners, not soulmates. The romantic notion of a soulmate is one of a perfectly matched other half who makes us feel balanced, loved, wanted, safe and complete.


Soulmate is not necessarily defined as a romantic, sexual or marriage relationship. Soulmates show up in many different forms. You can have friends, business associates or family members who are soulmates and even pets who you would call soulmates.

What we’re really here to talk about is the romantic soulmate, meeting the one, finding the love of your life, to share our lives with, the one who is going to enhance this human experience and who we may possibly even marry and spend the rest of our lives with.

Why then is finding the love of our life so illusive for so many? This is where the rubber meets the road. The answer is that you need to first fall in love with yourself. I don’t mean that in a conceited or narcissistic way. What I’m saying is that you need to already have a life in which you feel valuable, contented, and you are living a life that is on purpose and full regardless of whether you have a partner or not. This is an inside job.


Before you can know your soul mate, you have to know your own soul. If you don’t know yourself and like yourself, you really don’t stand much chance of meeting someone who will want to know you and like you.

You literally have to fall in love with yourself before anyone else is likely to. This may not be what you want to hear because you’d rather have someone just love you than you loving yourself, but it just doesn’t work that way. It works from the inside out.


The feeling of euphoria early in a new relationship has absolutely nothing to do with real genuine love. It has everything to do with a rush of all the feel good hormones rushing to our brain in the same way as addictive drugs do. It feels absolutely fantastic. We’ve all been there, we meet this new person and we have such a great time and I just love being around you, time flies, I’ve got butterflies in my stomach, I feel weak at the knees, I feel like I’m in love with you and I want to marry you and live with you forever and have children with you! Sound familiar? This is why people get so addicted to getting that feeling of “being in love”. It’s all hormones. Real long term love relationships need to be built on very solid foundations. In human terms, this means a relationship built by two grounded, contented people who are already living their lives on purpose.


Being dependent on the behaviour of another person to make you happy and to give you a feeling of wellbeing is profoundly unhealthy. It puts you in a prison of dependency and sows the seeds of co-dependency. In co-dependencies, people end up blaming each other.
Healthy long term romantic, soulmate relationships are grounded in unconditional love, meaning that you live your lives as self actualized people who choose to get together in a spirit of sharing rather than neediness. This means living independent of the opinions or behaviour or the other person.


Anyone who says, I have so much love to give and nobody to give it to, is really saying, I’m the emotional black hole and I will suck every bit of life from you that you allow me to. What this means is that somebody who ‘needs’ a soul mate is coming from a sense of desperation and if you’re desperate, desperation repels. The more desperate you feel, the more you push away what you want. That’s just the way the Law of Attraction works. We’ve all met people who are very desperate and it’s really very hard for them to find a mate because they don’t like themselves.


If however you’re a person who has a real sense that you’re a valuable, good person and that there’s love in you and beauty in you, and that you would like to share your love instead of needing someone to fill in a black hole, then you are in the perfect position to attract someone who will enhance your earthly experience.


The Law of Attraction says that Like attracts Like. You may have noticed that desperate people attract other desperate people. Have you also noticed what happens when you feel really good about yourself, when you’re relaxed, joyful, creative and playful, you feel like you could just be alone and have some fun on your own if you want to? When you get to that blissful inner feeling of contentedness regardless of having a partner, that’s when the right people seem to magically show up. The reason is because whole people are attracted to whole people. So before you can attract a whole person, you have to become whole person. You have to become the person you want to attract.


The worst line I have ever heard used in a movie was in Jerry McGuire. The line was “You complete me”! What that line means is that if you are somehow empty, broken, lost, screwed up or messed up and if you just found that right one person to fill the void and be everything to you that you are not to yourself, well, you’ll then be ok. Does that mean that two broken halves will make one perfect whole couple? I don’t think so.

If you define yourself as a broken or half person and you think that if I could just get with another broken or half person, maybe we could fill in each others blanks and somehow end up with a whole one. What you end up with is less than what you started with. This is all about self love and the moment you can genuinely fall in love with yourself, you become extremely attractive to other people. I know, it’s a bit of a paradox. The way it works is this; before you can really have somebody else, you have to not need somebody else. In other words, when you are totally willing to go it alone, if you have to, then almost magically, the chemistry happens for you and you end up going with someone else. That someone else may well be “The Love Of Your Life”.

I hope that you find the idea of falling in love with yourself and your life regardless of having a partner as exciting as I do. When you get yourself to that point of contentment, you will be radiantly attractive and your soul mate will be drawn to you like a magnet.


What do you think? I would love to hear your comments below and answer your questions.
Please also feel free to share this post with our friends on Twitter or Facebook.


I look forward to your comments and questions.


Ben Ormonde
Personal Transformation Coach
Contagious Enthusiasm Self Development and Wellness Centre.

A Call For Grace

The Call for Grace

“Give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others." -Thomas Jefferson

Has anyone noticed that negatively directed criticism seems to be the number one divider worldwide? How many hearts actually keep their dreams a secret because they are aware that the environment they live in doesn't support cheerful optimism? Mother Teresa once said "If you judge people, you have no time to love them”. It is so easy in a second to speak hateful or hurtful words but it’s takes careful time and consideration to actually understand what someone else might be going through in their own life. It requires that we dig deeper and do the hard inner work.

The Greek word (kritikós) or critic is a person who offers reasoned judgement or analysis, valued judgement, interpretation, or observation. However, many times the people who are criticizing our dreams or beliefs on our personal self discovery journey are not in fact expert judges or even experienced connoisseurs, most times they are people just like you and me having a human experience as well. They are usually people who live within our immediate social circles, our spouses, parents and many times even friends. Yet they can be the harshest critics many of us will ever cross. Ideally, these same people are suppose to positively want our success, right? So what happened? Why is it when you joyously leap through the air and announce your brilliantly self inspired plan to arrive at a successful destination in your life, the people closest to you seem less than enthusiastic? Are they all out to get you?

Hasn’t negative criticism been forewarned to us in almost every great text from the bible to Judaism and even in Buddhist practices? So why are we still throwing stones directed at hurting others chances of personal success? Shouldn’t everyone be allowed to harness their innate power to create the life that they want? I mean we are not the ultimate decision makers in their lives and we have enough challenges living our own lives to our highest success. So why do we send out these hopeful failures upon others, when we could just as gracefully send them loving supporting thoughts that could help them help themselves and maybe someone else on this journey through life? Are we crabs in a bucket desperately doing our best to pull the next crab down so they won’t succeed? If we are, we must now ask deeper questions, such as: Am I a negative person? What happened to me? When did I stop smiling? When did I stop enjoying and loving life? Why did I start hating people? and what can I do now to change?

Negative criticism is almost always the shadow of some success looming, rather it be spiritual or emotional growth. And yes, everyone from Jesus to Gandhi was criticized even although their entire life’s work was to expose the power of virtues such as love, tolerance, dignity, grace and compassion. Compassion, discernment and understanding are all wise tools of grace. We can practice using our tools of grace in combination with our power of positive focus during times of any prolonged negative critical attack. Whether it is verbal or nonverbally aimed at bringing down our psyche.

Another loss for negative criticism is that it comes from an insecure state of mind. That is why it lashes out on others it considers ‘weak’. In the moment of negatively criticizing another, the person who is criticizing doesn’t have to focus on the non- incessant and regular negative self talk they hear going on in their own mind. In those moments of negatively criticizing another person, the negative criticizer is able to escape working on themselves by redirecting their negative energy on you. That is why there seems to be so many negatively pessimistic people. It’s a lot easier to criticize someone else than it is to look inside of ourselves and start cleaning up our own mess.

Nevertheless, this ignorant closed hearted state of mind has the capability to cut down your dreams if you are unconscious about when you will arrive. Fool-proofing your success is always a sure way to counteract such negative critical attacks.

What’s more is when we witness negativity, we learn that the giver is many times unknowingly shining light on their insecurities, they are shining light on their lack of faith in life, their lack of optimism and lastly their belief in their incapacity to love unconditionally. So basically, all of their negative criticism is in fact a sign of their own inner suffering.

Keeping light on negative criticism we can also notice that nine times out of ten people who subconsciously throw these hate directed daggers of failure, usually feel threatened by even the slightest possibility of your success. That’s right, that means if you are reading this and experiencing a negative critical event in your life, you are most likely harnessing your power to positively change not only your life but also, positively affect those around you! This use of your personal power will immediately make the critical attacker aware that you are using something they feel they don’t know how to use.

So why all the ruckus over your success in life?

Well, when you achieve the success that others swore you would never be able to do, and we have all heard the word ‘never’. People in your immediate circle are forced to ask deeper questions and possible face change. That’s a lot of inner work! Your success is a critical factor in determining how far other people within your circle of life feel they can go in their own lives.

Seeing someone on T.V. who is already successful in their personal or financial life makes many people feel comfortable with complacency. That person is far away or at least on a screen which doesn’t look back at them. But your successes are so tangible and so close to home that you are literally shaking up their whole perception about what they thought was possible.