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Does anyone recall the woman approaching Jesus from behind as he passed in the street with all the throngs of people pressing him?  Do you remember the woman believing ‘just a touch of his garment’ and she would be healed?  I’ve had a spiritual event occur in my life recently.  It would’ve been sooner had I been simply following the healing techniques for the mind that I’ve been espousing here on landcause.com.  It’s one you’ve already heard of.  Meditation.  Let’s look into its’ proper application and the undeniable results it brings when correctly performed.

Whether meditating on one word or a sentence the practices are similar.  First define the crucial words.  Write them down and read them aloud.  Order the words by their entry into your thoughts.  Knowing the meaning of the words focuses your understanding and leads to purpose.  Purpose tells us why we’re meditating on a word or a sentence or verse if you prefer.  My purpose for this meditation was a racing heart worrying about debt.  When I applied the blessing of meditation my issue of worry immediately stanched.  I will reveal the verse of scripture that stanched my issue of worry in a minute.

This is tragic.  Too often we bestow upon people the right to speak on the issues of the mind.  Mental health leadership can’t be given to someone because they’re wealthy.  Mental health leadership can’t be given to someone because they’re a minister.  Mental health leadership can’t be given to someone because an unlearned person said ‘He or she really helped me through my crisis’.  This sort of thinking does more harm to the professionals who’ve spent the time learning how to address and help the troubled solve their issues.  Some people received this gift by a calling and some through years of study.  Certainly the entertainment industry can’t bestow mental health leadership on anyone because they have the loudest platform that reaches the most people!

The Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible.  Isaiah Chapter 48 verse 10…Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.  Let’s break it down.  Refined means to take something raw or coarse and polish or reshape it for better use or something of value.  Silver means a precious metal.  Chosen means a selection was made because of potential to succeed and ability to obey.  Furnace, listen to me, furnace means engulfed or completely engaged by intense heat and pressure.  Lastly affliction means to bear a malady or suffer a burden that is disturbing your entire existence.

Do you know why a lot of people fail when their moment of truth arrives?  They’ve fought the pain from their assigned affliction for an undetermined amount of time.  When you’re questioning why for too long you’re not what?  Learning. When you’re not learning then the message will sadly vanish, evaporate, or untether from you and you’ll never receive that understanding you’ll need when faced with an issue of life.  The point?  Quit complaining and start meditating while the answers are still hovering around your presence!  Believe in why you are chosen to bear this constant pain and you’ll stop feeling sorry for yourself.  If you don’t remember why I revealed an incident in my life as a 11 or 12 year old standing over a cliff, and a voice was telling me to jump and I responded why?  That would hurt.  A thought is not real until you, you, act on it!

Now I hope those of you who’re not babes in the ways of the mind are following and understanding.  Those of you that aren’t pay attention.  I have to admonish everyone.  If you’re suffering an illness that you alone aren’t able to bear, seek professional help immediately.  This post just like all the rest is a recounting of what I’ve used to address the same issues of life everyone experiences.  My issue of worry which manifested itself into a racing heartbeat was keeping me up at night when I wanted to be sleeping.  I was spiritually given the above verse and I broke it down just like I’m retelling the process here in meditation.  My issue of worry stanched immediately because I believe in the effectual healing of meditation.

Meditation is the ability to focus your thoughts on the ones you call upon and silence the ones you want quieted.  When done correctly the process happens simultaneously.  Let me add something else to this post.  I hope everyone reading this post understands that discipline plays a huge role in channeling your life.  Discipline is a source of human power that deters you from making bad decisions if cultivated and internalized.  Bad things happen to you because fate is tired of your trifling and asinine stupidity.  Without discipline and a few other morals and virtues we tend to go with whatever thoughts pop in our mind and expect the world to excuse the bad ones.

Listen, I get so frustrated to hear the media and entertainment industry tell everyone who’ve undergone a psychic tear or a ‘rupture of the mind’ to pretend it never happened.  How destructive is that!  So the wound should be ignored?  Oh, this one is better.  ‘The entertainment industry and the media tell people to pretend that all the bad things people do to other people should be ignored if you work in those fields.  Like police officers, emergency medical personnel, doctors, members of clergy or even lawmakers confronted with the loved ones of victims crying out for justice.  Bearing the burden of humanity’s atrocities comes with the job.  Don’t behave as if it’s not real.  It will harm you.  Restore the balance with compassion and love for the sanctity of life.’  Working to strengthen your mind is probably your best chance at a spiritual life.  I know what you’re thinking and I’m not talking about religion, but human beings do achieve more when they know a higher authority could be disappointed by certain behavior.

Meditation is meant to be practiced in order to be mastered.  Life implies that it is continuous, so incorporate the discipline of meditation into your life and reap its benefits.  Don’t worry about mastering it right away.  The key is to keep doing it and time will notify you of the results.  To be clear I’ll give you more of my secrets.  “Thoughts alter other thoughts just as if you’re reading drug interaction warnings.  Chemicals alter other chemicals.  More importantly, thoughts can destroy other thoughts.  Thoughts can conquer other thoughts.  Let the thoughts you want present to be present, or replace them.”  Take care and repair those ‘ruptures’.

Forgive my absence.  It was necessary to observe how others of my kind could advance the argument toward that ultimate aspiration.  Alas, returning to the task at hand.  I would ask all who would attempt to advance the great family of humankind to know this.  All families first hesitate to call out the wrongs of their relatives, but you know what happens when you cover a fault?  It relates to the third form of matter.  Gas.  You can’t contain the stench of an unjust act.  It smells and you know what, sooner or later the smell gets into everything.  I’ll let you figure out how to get the smell out.

Athletes, politicians, civil rights front liners, Leaders of Industry, and all who face jeopardy for the cause of what’s right.  I want to address specifically the ones who’ve been given the guardianship of Arena Combat.  Yes, I’m talking to the owners of the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, SOCCER and all organizations as such.  These games are not to be challenged, questioned, or diminished by no man or woman!  These games were ordained to give humankind relief, pleasure, exhilaration, in order to keep us from madness.  Do not attempt to mess with that for no man.  Yes, do not mess with forces you don’t understand if you are an owner wavering in your commitment to your duty to us all.

Now, back to the topic at hand.  Beware of message integrity and the way your enemy (hatred and evil in all its’ forms) seeks to distort its’ clarity.  Learn to prepare your message beforehand and be ready to give an answer devoid of all negative emotions.  Use metaphors and don’t shy away from them.  Practice them, shape them, bend them to your cause.  Being lucid helps your audience understand why this act is being undertaken.  Why you believe this protest will bring about the movement you desire to question all loss of life because we just can’t take your word that he or she “needed killin.”

Lastly, never believe your argument should be taken at face value and it should not be disputed.  Know what is signal jamming and know how to filter out the noise to return the sharpness to your transmission.  Yes, I said that.  You are in a battle and in battle communication is paramount.  You better know how to clear the signal and continue delivery of your message.  Don’t wait until the noise clears!  If you are serious about the cause, then you better find a way.  The signal jammers are not going to stop switching the frequency or turn down their counter-messaging mechanisms.

Look, don’t try to reinvent the wheel.  Look at the historical record.  How did a great man, a human man, MLK, move the “ARC of the Moral Universe” closer to the surface to affect humankind righteously?  Could you kneel, as the greatest man converted into flesh, blindfolded and buffeted, beaten, spat upon, and then crucified.  All this and he didn’t commit a crime!  Remember, we all will never attain to the revered position of “resisted until blood” to make humankind realize the error of their ways.

My understanding of brevity is not why I will endeavor to achieve my points in as few paragraphs as possible, but my mission has always been and remains is to offer informed solutions to the issues of life. Granted, I require of my audience to engage the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of their understanding. As I was fond of telling my soldiers this phrase all the time, “Sergeant Moseley can’t do everything, you are going to have to do your part too.”

One.

I will start with religion, which I must warn you may be insulting and amusing, but I will make a point. As an assignment in one of my classes I had to watch a PBS video called ‘Armed in America’. A panel of ministers sat on stage talking about how they now had to carry concealed weapons (guns) into church in order to protect them if someone wanted to come in and harm them. Pause. A younger white minister who looked like he was auditioning for Pearl Jam was the only voice of reason (surprising to me) on the entire panel. He touched on my revelation I will reveal in a minute about these so-called Christians. Guards armed with weapons were needed to protect the House of God. Pause.

Imagine with me if you will. God, upon hearing this development asks the minister of that church for an audience. The minister agrees and appears before God to answer this affront. The minister tells God that there are people out there looking to murder, sow discord, and strike fear in his children to keep them away from worshiping him. God, upon hearing this looks to his right at Jesus. God looks at the Holy Ghost, Gabriel, and Michael. God looks out across heaven and summons a Bible to his hand and reads it to be certain he did say something about persecution and featured it prominently within the pages.

My revelation is: Are you kidding me! Oh, by the way, God threw a few bolts of lightning. God shook Earth and brought the whirlwind to be sure he still had a little power left in him to behold such doubt from his followers. Maybe God felt he was loosing it and check himself there for a minute to be sure. Try Matthew 5 vs. 10. That panel discussion blew my mind as I was attempting to comprehend the cascading flood of arrogant beliefs impacting against my mind displayed by their lack of faith in God. A Christian should be enthusiastic about the chance to die in the name of God if it is God’s will that he do so! Ministers should be calling this blasphemy of weapons in the house of God as a lie, a confusion, a contradiction of the word that God has given us. I am talking to all these so-called Christians. If you believe that you can protect God’s Kingdom with a ‘firearm’, I don’t ever want to be in church with you period.

Two.

Beautiful people. Don’t think I’m picking on you. It is just that a lot of the trouble in this world stems from the fact that beautiful people neglect the development of their interpersonal skills. Take for instance a scenario where upon a beautiful woman leaves her home and goes to work. Many doors are opened for her because humankind loves to have something pleasant to view when conducting day-to-day transactions.

Remember some times in your life where you couldn’t avoid conflict. Did you count on your looks to pacify the situations? No? Why not? What did you use to mediate the issue and come to a solution? Something involving that gray matter encased in your skull perhaps. Right. Most disagreements are fairly minor and can be solved easily by giving up on a point of view, or allowing the greater good to be served by deferring to the other person’s position.

What if the issue can’t be solved so easily? Facial or body features will not get you out of sticky situations. I’m sorry to inform you in case you thought they always would. Sometimes the intensity of a conflict burrows two or more parties into a matter so deep that all issues surrounding the matter are all that matter. What use would your looks serve you then?

My point here is to ‘burst that bubble’, that fallacy for all those who thought that looks would render you the victor 100% of the time. Male and female alike. In public. On the job. In every setting within a society. No one has to bow down to you because your man or your woman told you that you were pretty. You walk on water, or your crap doesn’t stink! All that’s good, but that is for you to share it with whoever tells you that. The rest of the world doesn’t have to acknowledge that you look good in that dress, or that three-piece suit.

Now what’re you going to do? An argument has to have two or more participants willing to argue for their point of view. If one of the participants developed their interpersonal skills to fight for their position and the other party, with the opposing point of view, relies on looks to win the argument. I believe the more prepared person will win that battle.

Look people, I’ve seen it happen. I’ve seen people fall apart. I’ve seen people get shredded to pieces (their position) because they relied on their looks to persuade their opponent to give them the day. What’s worse is that time (years of your life) is still passing. All the time people could be working on those interpersonal skills wasted because they were told they were pretty or handsome. It made them neglect a critical part of their character. Their mental toughness. Their comfort with not being the center of attention. The demanding nature of business where if you can’t articulate your desires (intelligence); then what good are you to a company?

My revelation is: Then you are just another pretty face that ‘hangs on the wall like a painting in a museum people come to view, but they know they can’t take it home because it’s too expensive.’ Who needs to stare at something everyday that doesn’t give them much more than a pleasant thought.

Three:

A decision. One decision could have monumental ramifications! For this I’m going to stay positive because it is one decision I will share with you. Back in 2002, I was in the Alabama National Guard. I was newly single (you know what that means) and making a career for myself at a grocery store. The President at the time started one war and was about to start the Iraq war. I prayed to God and asked him if this is my destiny; then I will stay on duty in the U.S. Army.

That decision lead to an opportunity to come back on active duty in the Army in 2007 nearly five years later after serving in Germany and Iraq. I ended my active time in 2014 and joined the Army Reserves which has lead me to the process of adding all my time to qualify for a 20-year letter of retirement from the Reserves. None of this was easy. After Iraq, I served two 12-month tours of duty in Afghanistan. I also survived a lot of ribbing from younger colleagues serving with the ‘old man’ in many of my units.

When I say I wouldn’t change it (my decision, my life) for anything I am being reflective and thankful. I am a full-time student and I work about 32 hours a week. Oh, and don’t forget my website www.landcause.com. My income is higher than when I was on active duty while my expenses have certainly dropped. All for one decisions that now looks like an octopus as it spreads it’s tentacles throughout my life.

My revelation is: Do not think lightly of the decisions that you make. A decision could serve you with good nourishment for years, heck even decades to come if made wisely!

The earliest time in my life when I remember hearing that word being said to me and my first thought was perplexity. I heard it in my parents’ house and couldn’t decipher what it meant. I believe I used it myself around the age of 14 toward a girl I was sweet on and noticed a reaction from her. Her reaction upon hearing me say ‘I love you’ was of teenage glee and closeness. Needless to say I, at that time, didn’t possess the knowledge or the depth of understanding about love to reconcile the word into appropriate interaction with her.

So, I’m going to tell everybody what I’ve learned about love, but I must warn you it is not going to be without concrete behavioral mandates that symbolizes each party to it knows the seriousness of that powerful human covenant.

Let’s get the mistakes out of the way first. ‘I love you’ is often spoken after two people have engaged in sexual activity. Although sex may be cast as the villain of love when it is deployed in this manner, I beg to differ with this description and any resulting negativity attached to it. In this instance, it’s like putting love in an oven at 400 degrees and taking a nap, but you awaken to a smoky room and a fire alarm.

The reciprocal nature of love embodies symmetry. Now, requirements range from courtesy and respect to being disciplined about expending human capital which means time, commitment and denying all others who may want your love as well, in a spousal accord that is. Family love is different, as it should be, because authority and responsibility to nurture, protect, and teach are critical to raising a child that understands when and how to use love to strengthen his or her life.

The destroyers of love are deceptive and cunning with their true objective unbeknownst to their target. Their target is confusion. Many women and men are incapable of finding love because they’ve spent valuable time and energy with people who’ve muddied the waters concerning the true nature of love. These people have polluted their minds while in these relationships so bad that even when actual love should appear right in front of them; they are rendered incapable of recognizing it.

Yes people, you bear the traits and attitudes of the people you chose to love. If you are with a person that steps out (cheats with other people) on an agreed upon commitment, your ideas about love start to change and mimic the behaviors of the person you’re with. This is the moment when love starts being redefined in your mind. Oh, don’t let this relationship linger for years. It is dam near impossible except for a determined person to realize the error of their ways and get away from such a person.

Now to the concrete characteristics of love which are critical in the application of love in the real world. When one partner or both partners in a relationship share responsibility financially, then love is tangible because bills and needs are being met. A spouse coming home to their loved one shows commitment and loyalty. If there are children in the relationship, then they are going to need things as well to live and thrive in the home and at school. Food, clothing, shelter, medicine and various other things that are natural for life on this Earth.

I know this may sound harsh, but if a person cannot take ownership of the mistakes they’ve made concerning the power of love; then I suggest that that person is not worthy enough for anybody to waste their precious time on. If you are treating a person the way they are supposed to be treated and they still are unruly and rebellious to you as if you were the person that hurt them. I say you should think about cutting your loses and moving on because your own mind is susceptible to being warped about love also.

Love demonstrates itself everyday. Love gets out of bed and goes to work even though you are hurt and aching all over. Love divides up the remaining food in the house so everyone gets a share. Love says no when the finances are out of whack. Love teaches children and guides them to a strong, wise and independent life because that is a parent’s job. Love makes no excuses when a wrong is committed.

Love has the foresight to make a judgment call on where resources are needed to improve the family’s quality of life. Love tells someone when they are headed down the wrong path. Love doesn’t overlook the deeds of a child whether they are pure and right or whether they are wrong which subject them to correction.

Love comes home and brings his or her resources in tow. Love saves money for ‘a rainy day’. Love doesn’t blame politicians for all the ills in their life because Americans do whatever they want; they just don’t like the consequences. Love stands up to family and friends and tells them they are wrong when they promote hatred and evil at home, at work, or in church.

Look, I don’t blame my parents for not teaching me what love is and means to the people who share it and possess it. I remain a soul in search of answers, which I must confess is my accepted lot in life. My conclusion. Love is multi-faceted. It attaches itself to us with multiple tentacles that behave symmetry, which in this way powers us and powers love at the source.

If you are experiencing love down a one-way path, you probably want to stop depriving yourself of the true thing.

“First I wish to thank all of my people. Everyone that has signed up on LandCause.com. I appreciate your confidence in me and the knowledge, wisdom and experience I’ve acquired and willingly share with each of you. As you continue reading this post, I must caution you (as I’ve stated in prior posts) that this edition will be intense.”

I will only briefly review 7 of the vast number of emotions and state of being (many sources of power are contained in groups) that have kept me charged up throughout my life. Defiance, Compassion, Integrity, Affirmation, Family, Spirituality, and Love. Let’s begin.

The power source that has carried me and even now courses through my veins is Defiance! Defy everything. Many things in your life (yours only) are inappropriate uses of your time and energy. Defy the way things are going for you right now if they are producing negative consequences. Just because someone says a woman can be President of the United States doesn’t make it happen. A woman, Secretary Clinton, a candidate probably more qualified than 30 of the last 44 President of the U.S., has to stand up and take the heat! I will come back to Defiance before I end this post.

Compassion is underrated. It is not wrong to still have compassion for those who have done wrong. It doesn’t mean you agree with the behavior. It only means you demand more from them and by demanding they do better the person usually becomes a better person. It means you will not dismiss or excuse someone doing wrong to others under shield of law or title. Authority is kept in check by looking at something and calling it what it is!

Integrity is power that should be applied when it is suitable to the event that demands it. This power requires a certain knowledge about humanity and what is judged to be right and wrong without projecting false piety. Understanding that fault lies within all of us should help you strive to avoid questionable situations, which would eventually bring you to a state of being that shady circumstances will give you a wide berth as they pass you by.

Affirmation is a power source that gives you an instant boost of energy. Good job or I am fortunate to have you as a friend is very powerful stuff arriving on the ears of its’ intended listener. Man can you see their eyes light up metaphorically it looks like the sparks from a blown transformer. Affirmation is also knowing that you are consistently doing the things necessary to have a better life by seeing the results of your actions. Whether from others or simple self-awareness, affirmation is a boost of energy that has long lasting effects for your life.

Family. When family is going right it is a powerful energy source. When family is going wrong it is a powerful energy source. Sometimes people get caught up in the environment where they’ve found themselves and it confounds them to their destruction. I grew up in a dirt-poor family, but I never allowed the reality of those circumstances to falsely feed my future. I didn’t know how to succeed in life because I did make many errors along the way, but I set my compass to success and struck out on that path after I left my parents home. Family, if you view everyone through clear spectacles, then knowing what you are going to get from them or not is still a powerful source of energy.

Spirituality is mesmerizing sometimes when it is used improperly for and against people. Spirituality is based on servitude. It calms and quiets us when we are fearful. It steadies our hand when we have to accept the things we do wrong and the punishment that comes after. If you find yourself using spirituality by thinking you aren’t caught in a fault that is consuming someone else, let me assure you that your eye is not clear of debris either. Spirituality is to be shared in the meekness of learning with similar persons. Spirituality is natural. Spirituality is not an audition for a part in a movie. Spirituality is not an act so stop it! Spirituality flows naturally and never believe otherwise.

Love is not only physical. Love is showing up everyday for yourself (got to love yourself first) and for anyone you are responsible for as well. Love is manifested in listening to that voice that tells you you’re messing up. Love is understanding when you say you will care for a spouse it is unconditional, but love is not singular in marriage (both must love) because two people have to pull in the same direction. Love in freely lifting the heavy load of a relationship. Love is being present for everything (as much as you can be) like a foundation is the structure that steadies your footing. Love is when you are needed; you change everything to be there. Love is mature and not mischievous. Love is forgiving, but not foolish. Love takes on many properties and variations. Alas, I will come back to love in a later post.

Let’s end this post by discussing more about the power of defiance. Growing up in Alabama I was told I had to watch out or be careful of a lot of dangers in the world. The police were not all serving and protecting so be wary of some of them. You know what. I learned the limitations of their authority as well as what I should do when I encountered them.

I washed my clothes all the time at the Laundromat in my neighborhood years ago. One day the Laundromat didn’t set their alarm and when I opened the door there it sounded. I stayed until the police came and answered their questions, which of course were worded like I was there to rob the place. I showed them my dirty clothes, which didn’t fully convince them, but I guess they relented and moved on.

I defied the notion that I should have left and let the police figure it out. No one is above the law and I knew how to handle a couple of junior detectives anyway. There were two cops that showed up and we all were the same race, which we’re not in the majority. The dial of defiance for me is turned all the way up at all times.

Listen to me carefully. I am not advocating being a reckless idiot fighting against every structure of society because you can. I am defiant against bigotry, hatred, and discrimination, low wages which is a form of oppression actually. I defy anything that hurts my fellow human being.
Let me address the persecution of gays, lesbians and transgender people. History is awash with examples of those in power demonizing or labeling people who don’t act, look and behave like those in power demand. They turn the minds of people to believing their discrimination or hatred against these people is authorized or okay.

If you have to be the only one standing in defiance of this blatant hatred, do the right thing because no one has the right to make you hate anyone. Reject this hatred by the Republican Party! They are not better than anyone else and neither are any of us to include myself.

Defy defy defy this foolishness and let people live their life the way they want. Everyone knows what he or she can and can’t do under legitimate laws.

Don’t expend your power on endeavors that will never make your life better. I will return to this topic in upcoming posts. Thanks for your time.