YOUR mantra for the week: “No matter what, I keep smiling and keep going.”

 

Many have asked whether IAMISM, which I teach, is a religion. No, it’s not a religion, since it does not have any dogma—which is defined as “an authoritative principle, belief or statement of opinion especially one considered to be absolutely true regardless of evidence, or without evidence to support it.”

 

It is, however, a spiritual path that inspires one to experience God—instead of having a person, supposedly with God-given authority, to intervene between a believer and what it identifies as God. Let me use the Christian religion as an example.

 

Jesus of Nazareth did not teach Christianity. In truth, he was given the title of Christ, the Anointed One—in those times, anointing meant “the ritual act of pouring aromatic oil over a person’s head or entire body,” and oil was also used to light the lamps of the day and, therefore, was another way of pronouncing one as enlightened.

 

Jesus of Nazareth became the Christ when he taught that the Kingdom of Heaven was within—where, therefore, would God be, except in Its kingdom within each person. Moreover, he also said, in John 14:12, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me shall also do the works that I do; and even greater works than these shall he do,” which proves that he never claimed he was the God—but simply a child of God, like every human being and every created thing.

 

In the original Aramaic, the Lord’s Prayer, which was the only prayer Jesus taught, reads: “O Cosmic Birther of all radiance and vibration.” This is a perfect example of what could get lost after many translations. Imagine a Cosmic Birther becoming “Our Father,” making it seem like God were a super human being. This shows that Jesus was totally aware that God was energy itself when he used the words radiance and vibration. It proves how enlightened he was. Every scientist in the world today would agree with him and, therefore, religion and science would have been in agreement.

 

A course on happiness

 

IAMISM is a spiritual path that teaches a course on happiness and life management. But, most of all, it directs one to recognize and experience the God within. I would like to point out that religion tends to separate people and drive them apart. Not to mention that it was the start, and still is today, the cause of major wars in the world—all in the name of God.

 

Spirituality, on the other hand, recognizes the oneness of all people and brings them together on the basis of the God within each person.

 

Religion propagates fear by instilling in one’s consciousness the existence of a vengeful and punishing God. There are religions alleging that their system is the only way to save one’s soul.

 

Spirituality has no such claim because it advocates a God of love, and is actually Love itself. Therefore, what is referred to as “punishment” in this case is simply an effect of our choices—as you sow in your mind and heart, so shall you reap in experience. When the experience is negative, this can easily be countered by the biblical adage, “Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

 

Religion also focuses on human agony and suggests that, as Jesus suffered, we, too, must suffer. On the contrary, spirituality does not consider suffering a necessity, for everything can be resolved through righteous thinking.

 

IAMISM believes in reincarnation—that whatever so-called “mistakes” you have made, you will put in order when you come back to the Earth plane. Your soul also chooses the people you will share your next life with— those that you would pleasure in, and those who would be difficult and could be euphemistically referred to as learning experiences. It is not an accident that your family is your family. They are your original karma as you come back once more to the third dimension.

 

P-Noy is too kind

 

President Aquino recently said that “the family of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos should apologize for the atrocities committed against Filipinos during Martial Law.”

 

For once, I do not agree with P-Noy. An apology is not enough. There must be some form of retribution based on the atrocities committed and the slump in the economy due to unbridled graft and corruption through cronyism in the period of Marcos; “reign.”

Also, I have seen a list of all the monies and gold that were stashed away in many international banks which the Presidential Commission on Good Government, unfortunately, failed to trace and get back because of the use of fictitious names like Melba Aganon and the like. They were hidden so well, our chances of recovering them are almost nil. That is not only the karma of the Marcoses, but also of the Filipino people.

 

After all, we did choose our leaders and one of them declared martial law, and his son, even now, thinks that there is nothing wrong with that.

 

I recall how a former Romanian ambassador said to me when Imelda Marcos ran for president in 1992: “Your country is so different from ours. When we executed our dictator Nicolae Ceausescu with his wife Elena on Christmas Day in 1989, we never allowed any of their relatives to the third degree of consanguinity and affinity to run for public office.”

 

The other day, Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta resigned after some 20,000 people took to the streets as a protest over a nightclub fire that killed 32 people.

 

In his resignation, Ponta said, “I’m handing in my mandate, I’m resigning, and implicitly my government, too.”

 

In contrast, we have a son of a former dictator running for the second highest government position, and if you ask him why he is running with Miriam Santiago and he tells you the truth, even your toenails will get goose bumps.

 

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