To Texas dave,

I do not beleive that the subject here is about abortion.The subject is about Wicca and Christianity.Please focus on the subject,and leave your comments about abortion at the door.
I am a Buddhist Monk ,so you must dislike me automatically without knowing what kind of compassionnate person and loving kindness ,I am. Blind faith blind judgement.Do you know what buddhist think of abortion.No you do not. Read a little,learn
about others belief,think ,man,do not just be a parakeet of a beleif system.Put Love in your life instead of hate and sin in all your 6 senses.

With compassion for you
_/\_
loong a buddhist Monk

With all due respect, Dave is not from Texas, and I do not see that he talked about abortion here.

I believe we are all here in peace to exchange our views and to have conversation that will benefit us all. Let's try to keep that in mind and not be quick to judge. There is good in all of us and all beliefs should be respected.

There is a texasdave way back on pages 1, 2 and 3 of this forum then he changed to texasdave7

He was pretty caustic

Dear Burt -

You are compassionate to say TexasDave was only caustic

Dear Loong -

you're looking at posts from 2007. TexasDave was banned long, long ago for his habitual non-compassionate posts. So there's no need to worry about the things he said back in 2007.

We strive very hard to maintain a supportive, compassionate atmosphere in our forums. It's what our forums are for. There are numerous other forums on the web that enjoy hostile discussion and "tough love" - but here we take a different attitude and that sets us apart from the rest.

So that being said, I would also ask that you give thought to how you phrase your responses, even to trolls.

Cassie is exactly right. We want to be gentle in judging others, and offer the benefit of the doubt. It could be that someone has come from forums where critical posts are normal, and they don't realize yet what our style is here.

If there's ever any doubt that someone might be a troll / spammer, use the "notify" button in the lower right of that post's box. A note will immediately go to the management team, and we will start contacting the poster privately to determine where they stand. If we determine that they are indeed a troll / spammer, or if they indicate to us that they are unwilling to follow our stated code of conduct, then we'll take the appropriate action to keep our forums' atmosphere intact.

Trolls come and go, but out community has existed for ten years - many thanks to all our loyal, compassionate, caring members!

Hello Loong, I think that Texas Dave was on here just before I joined Bella years ago. I think that he was banned so I never got a chance to post by him. If you are ever troubled by any of my posts please let me know. I may come across strong at times but I never wish any offense against anyone. If what I say causes problems I will retract the posts with an apology. I am glad that you are on the spirituality site!! _/\_ dave

Dear Lisa,

Thank You for your caring attention.

In reference to The Goddess, my esoteric studies point to the fact that this is just one epoch and in this particular era we are leaning toward the motherhood of god and in past the culture of the mother had risen to great heights and yet fell.

Can we make headway in a pluralistic society ?

Or, must we fall again ?

The sad thing is that most of our dogma has been tampered with by design and the spiritual edifices which were to help us are all distorted.

It all comes down to self-awareness and I have made the sad mistake that just because by god's grace I have striven to become self-aware that I had assumed that everyone else was self-aware.

However, do you think things will get better because we make them better or do you think they'll get better by osmosis ?

I like being here, because unfortunately few and far in-between have this inner compass.

Everyone can have it.

It seems that I did not establish my tribe during high school and being first-generation and not having the confidence to come up against 4th and 5th generation educated people, I fell back into a cultural wasteland because that is all I felt I could do.

So this arena gives me opportunity to express myself in my self-imposed island.

Thank You for setting this up.

Some of my language may be hackneyed and trite and disoriented, but in order to be by my family I compromised my normal private and studious disposition and entered a very harsh environment.

I feel very cowardly and that I buried my talents, but my former faith was shattered because of the corruption on the college campus and I got very confused and became somewhat of a post-industrial dharma bum.

Yet paradigms are collapsing all over.

Do you think this year will offer some progress.

Is this imaginary good / evil war actual ?

Forgive me for these sputterings.

-- Burt B.

I like your "sputterings" as you call them Burt. Your in-depth reasoning causes me to think deeply about some of mans realities or non-realities. You never need to apologize for expressing your doubts, fears, or most poignant truths as so many people today are tired of living the half-truths that our culture says that we must do to be happy. We will win this thing Burt!!! I know that what Dr M.L. King saw in his vision that inspired his "I have a dream" speech." He was talking about everybody and freedom. What a visionary and seer that he was!!!!!!! We will be alright and we need each other to help us along the way. Blessings to everyone on here!! dave

Dear ancientflaxman.,

Thank you for your welcome.What a lot of people do not understand is that I am french canadian.My phraseology might sound harsh sometimes.

Thank you
_/\_
a simple buddhist named
loong

I don't see so many clients these days as I used to. Maybe they are obtaining help from others which is a very good thing also. Maybe better for them!!! LOL From the few that I do see these days I am observing some very lonely people. Many of them have families, parents, kids, plus a group of friends but there is still a part of many people that seems to be "missing".

The puzzling thing for me is that some of them don't know that there is another way to live. Its like lonliness is just the way of life these days for them. Maybe they have never felt complete and whole within themselves. How then could they ever know that something was missing? One could say that if they don't know something is missing then they are probably O.K. That sound logical however not very spiritual. I guess it is normal for them to live with the "hole" inside and just cope with the pain of it as best as they can.

I am sorry but that is a CROCK! That was never the plan. Mankind has a side of him/her that is divisionary and self destructive by nature so how can we seek refuge from other people in finality. Friends along the way are essential but then solidity and strength must become a reality within the individual. I am going to harp for just a moment again about the importance of a belief system. It is most paramount for the individual to have first of all a belief in themselves. Without that foundation we have nothing to build upon.One of the greatest leaders in humanity told his people that their greatest realities were found within only. Then there are many that have a firm devout belief in a deity while others have no such connection which is essential for their progression in life at that point. This is all a part of perfection. Having said all of this we understand thet there is no divinity-deity that will usurp the inward stability and self esteem of each individual except it be created totally by that extremely subtle divisionary mind of man.

I believe that in order to be happy and content upon the earth one must tap into the real being that is inside. There is plenty of room there for deities but also plenty of room for that undiscovered and never ending grandeur of that being within that is us in completion.

This is my opinion only but I am a little bias as to my choice of deities which is two-fold. Allow me please to tell you how I see the Great Mother.

I remember years ago that my brothers and sister would bring other kids home for dinner. Mom never minded as that was just the way of some families years ago. We never knew many evenings who was going to show up at the table with us. Some were kids that came from other countries who were new to school and my siblings just wanted to welcome them to our culture and family. In the end we all had an excellent time discussing other cultures and religions and the differences in schools internationally.

We used to have exchange students come for holidays. One was from India, one from Columbia, but my favorite were the German or Dutch kids as we not only had a commonality of language but also of culture.

That is how I view the great Mother. Its like She has a giant dinner table and all are welcome. It seems like someone else had a similar plan but lets just stick with Her for a moment.

At the table no one has to speak part or even any of the language known by the others. All can be different in religion or culture of the other, but we will all find a way to communicate and no one will leave the table a stranger. Everyone is welcome. If two or more want to fight about differences then they are excused from the table but their place is always reserved for them upon their return. No-one will be left out. Most are greater than even they are aware. In time all will see that. This is how I see Her..

The "key" is to open the door to Her. Upon doing so we discover that She was there all the time!! Blessed Be