This thread was started almost six years ago and has gained some very faithful followers. Although the title of the thread is 'The Goddess' I see that over time it has become much more in a very spiritual sense.

It is a place where all are welcome to come in peace, share their thoughts on spirituality, learn to accept that others have their own beliefs and respect that.

It is a place where friends gather and share, help each other, and care for each other with love and kindness. It has become a family of members who are able to discuss all different belief systems, share their own if they want to, and learn from each other. It is a place where new members are welcomed with love and acceptance into a family of spiritual members.

Over time, people have come here and stayed, some have come for just a short while and left us with thoughts to ponder on, some leave and return. It is an open house for those who wish to discuss many things about spirituality.

It is a place where I have learned much and found much peace and enlightenment. It is a place where I have found my total belief system and my journey of returning to the teachings and love of the Great Mother. And, very delightful for me, it is a place where I have met many friends who will always be in my heart.

These are my thoughts about this thread and what it means to me.

I would like very much to read what others think and what this thread means to each of you.

Thank you for your insight and your kind words Phyllis!!

The Great Mother has intervened several times in my life and prevented me from dying. It is fact that is plain and simple. I told Her that I owe Her my life. She took me up on that!! I cannot take the credit for it only but in part because there have been many pioneers before me that paved a way for Her arrival back into the mainstream of life. Jesus Christ has been my right arm and most profound inspiration also.

I have had people wonder if She or He are my total focus in life, kinda like I don't have a life which would be the total opposite of reality. First of all I have Me.

I have learned what it is to really live, to have fun with or without others around, to enjoy nature, travel, and to enjoy collecting bits of historical items and their history. I am working on my doctorate, not that it is going to do me much good at my age, its just a piece of paper. I live each day as if it were my last and love to be around others of a positive mindset. I have wanted all of my life for the Great Mother to be known again upon the earth and it is happening, I am humbled beyond comprehension and have a joy that is eternal.

I used to sing an old gospel song that I seldom hear anymore and it is ,"Joy unspeakable and full of glory." My hope is that the reason that people seldom sing it anymore is that the preferences simply have changed instead of a fact that maybe they don't have joy anymore. If we have hope, we have joy! Sometimes we need to dig deep inside for it yet it is an eternal overflowing wellspring once entered into. It is so needed today!! As always please forgive my poetic license and mistakes. dave

Forgive yourself as you have been forgiven, Dave. hahaha
Love you, Brother.

Love to you too Sis!! dave

To Jilly,

In your post # 757244,you mentionned:Has Loong joined us here yet? I keep thinking here are the discussions he's been craving.


Dear sister of the spiritual,I have learnt to live as per Bella on line's ways.Craving ,for me is a source of suffering ,so out with craving of debates.That is why you do not read me as often .
I just speak when spoken too,and if I can help someone with my
Loving kindness.Left a post just for you in Metta meditation ,but being an universal lover,what I left you, can be used by anyone .

With brotherly love
loong

Dave.....thank you so much for the last few posts you've written. You have indeed enlightened us with the words of the Great Mother, and you help us who want to learn and know more about what really matters. What you share is of great comfort to me personally, and I am sure to others as well. Since I have joined in the these discussions months ago I have learned a lot from you. Thank you for carrying the lantern.

dave, I think it's fantastic you are working on your doctorate! I love to learn for it's own sake. I wish everyone could experience that joy.

Loong, I guess I misused the word craving. As a buddhist, you are not supposed to crave, correct?

But my guess is you have read this thread? I hope you don't feel shut down.

There is some history in these fora about several kinds of buddists. One person in particular was so abrupt and forceful that I actually blocked her posts from my screen. I always felt diminished by her constant scolding. I wasn't the only one.

I only am interested with the loving kindness type, I fear. I have met some quite judgmental buddists - one was a buddhist nun in fact - which confused me. I thought the whole idea was not to judge? To accept that which is?

That is the part that appeals to me most.

Phyllis......since joining in the discussions on this thread some time ago I have learned much about myself and a better way to live. I have learned to look within for my answers, and I have learned to heal myself and to find inner peace. My mind has been opened to the existence of the Great Mother, and that has been of great comfort to me especially during troubled times.

Here I have made dear friends who understand me and do not think I am strange because I have sensitivity, intensity, and a sense of knowing that many others do not have. I have found acceptance, support, and caring, and because of it I have finally accepted myself for who I am. I have learned a great deal from all of you, and because of it I am a better and healthier person. I have grown much since I discovered this forum.

To me, life is like the flow of a river. It goes where it wants to, it has no uniform depth, width, or length as it can constantly change. It breaks down barriers. It gives life to vegetation, animals, and humans but it also can flood and cause much heartache and damage. I don't think that it is either good or bad, it is just what it is. Its like the things that go on in life. Some are really positive and some not so much yet we are continually taught about goods and bads, right and wrongs, evil and holy, and every other duality known to modern times.

My other half says that I look at things too deeply, too seriously, and analyse things to death at times and she is correct. She is my heaven at times but also my earth when I need grounding. Beyond that I still believe that we as humans are fettered to dualities instead of accepting this thing called life as a whole experience.

I know that the Dalai Llama is retiring and there is concern for what is coming after He is gone. I don't always understand change but maybe He himself would want us to go on just as if He was always with us whatever the case may be. He is an incredible leader. His imprint is within us. Maybe its our responsibility to take what He taught us and just keep going.

There is also another consideration and even though discomforting for me I still must face inevitable change. The way that I view things is just my viewpoint alone. On a daily basis I see that my viewpoint is rapidly being challenged by new thought processes all around me. I came from a great family and some phenomenal people but they are now all gone except for me. I am glad about that because in maybe just a few years my opinions will have little affect upon humanity just by the natural course of change. I can fully accept that.

My family knew that the process of "going away" started when we were born. That is not as revolutionary or complicated as it might sound. It just means that every day we face the fact that five minutes ago is just that. It is in the past.

The future can come with or without our permission and bring with it whatever it will. There may be peace or disharmony but it is still just what it is.

Our country is still just a baby. We're still like a toddler taking first steps. Look at nations that are many hundreds and even thousands of years old. They have experienced things that we might have never yet seen whether good or evil. I believe that preparation within the mind and psyche for whatever comes up is paramount for survival. We can have everything one day and maybe nothing the next but why would that move the "real" being inside us from our foundation, whatever that may be??

If nobody ever gave one consideration to the source of anything spoken on this site after today, yet humanity was affected in a positive manner because of it, I would say that we have done our job!!

The individual is nothing more than an extension of the whole. It is as glorious as we all can be or it is as ugly as we all can be. I know that none of us choose the "ugly" direction so we strive to push past it and benefit the whole.

I don't blame people for wanting to bale from the whole especially when it appears as though the whole is going in a twisted direction yet there are those who refuse to let go of the mass perspective in an attempt to steer its course to a better situation for everybody.

This is the 100 year anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. My Grandparents remembered the event very well when they were young. They said the the entire world was absolutely stunned. Commerce just came to a standstill for a time until the people could even grasp the full impact of such horror.

It did teach many lessons in its passing. It taught us that nothing is permanent and no situation is without the possibility of removal. In reading accounts of the event there was a circumstance where a lady cried, "Save Me!!!" as the ship was sinking. A man then yelled, "Save yourself".

Maybe what they both should have focused on was," how are we all going to make it?" In finality everybody must face their own perils and yet maybe it is possible for us to plant some seeds or "life boats" within others along the way that can help maintain stability when everything else falls apart.

I can be Chicken Chow Mein at times when confronted with some scary situations but when backed far enough into a corner I am fearless and come out swinging. I think that this is built into all of us as we will defend ourselves, those that we love, and even the rest of humanity and the other creatures on the earth if necessary and if it comes to that. I like that bumper sticker that says,"Think globally, not locally." We are not an island. Blessed Be