December 30, 2016

In The Hands of a Mere Human

A friend asked me to look at Christopher Hitchens' video The Fabrication of Jesus Christ as he wanted my take on it. I thought I would use the video as a point of discussion to relay some of my knowledge about Jesus Christ. I want to mention though that my take on Jesus was exactly as Hitchens proposed before I had my mystical union. So, I do have some sympathy for this atheist. Nevertheless, this video provides a good demonstration of what happens when documents meant for mystics are put in the hands of a nonenlightened human.

1. Hitchens begins with the idea that Socrates may not have existed but that there was someone in antiquity who advanced the method ascribed to him. He believes that the same phenomena may have been the case with Jesus. I doubt it. If we look at the history of the world's major religions and many of the minor sects we see that most have been founded by actual people who claimed that their religious message was in response to a mystical union with the Almighty. Those mystics, who successfully negotiated their awakening, then went on to become charismatic figures with insight into what could correct the wrong in their societies. Also, these enlightened ones had immense faith in their ability to bring their message to the masses around them. I believe Jesus was among this group of mystics.

Furthermore, I do not believe that the ancients would have taken time and resources to write about Jesus' mission if they were not convinced that He had something important to say for the generations to follow. Writing was not an ubiquitous activity as it is now.

However, I am disappointed in how these ancient scribes depicted Jesus in the New Testament. I found The Book of Thomas The Contender, in the Nag Hammadi Library, did a better job at relaying JC's message about the need for our humility and its relationship to the evolutionary task of the human animal.

2. Hitchens believes Jesus was a deluded religious fanatic. He thinks he was deluded because some of the New Testament books state that Jesus was born of a virgin. However, if you look at any red letter version you can see that Jesus himself never made that claim. Another point to consider is that the Gospel of Mark was actually the first book written and the other gospels came after. Mark makes no claim of virgin births. What scholars now believe is that the early followers of Jesus, in their attempt to lure so-called pagans into their fold, came up with stories they thought these pagans would fall for. And,these far-fetched tales of virgin births and resurrections did bedazzle many into becoming a part of JC"s flock. But, unfortunately these fantastical fabrications, alongside legitimate information, were passed down and ended up obscuring the really important stuff.

3. Another reason that Hitchens believes Jesus to be deluded is because he told his followers to abandon their families and follow him. All of us have heard about families who do not want their adult children pursuing a religious path different from the family tradition. Jesus had new insights that superseded the traditional understanding of the Jews of his time. He did not want his followers to let family tradition interfere in their ability to contribute to the promotion of his vital message about the evolution of the human primate.

4. Hitchens ends this short video with his analysis of the female followers of JC. He dismisses them as merely hysterical women awestruck by a charismatic figure. These ladies were mothers, grandmothers and maybe even great grandmothers who had a vested interest in what happens to the species. It is highly likely that these women knew Jesus' message best of all and realized that the evolution of our species hinges upon our willingness to acquire humility. In this sense then, one can't blame them for being fanatical about wanting Jesus' message to become common knowledge. Maybe if others with more influence had joined them at the time, our species would be in a better place right now.

Faithfully yours,

Sheila Banks

                                                      Pic:Sophiecourit/Dreamstime.com


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December 20, 2016

Merry Christmas Homo sapiens and Homo sapiens sapiens too

"Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted;
 the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered the most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph." 
                                                                                                                     Haile Selassie


Update as of March 3: I received a response from Health Canada informing me that vaccines are safe. It is obvious that this branch of the government hasn't read this very credible research paper that clearly indicates that vaccines are tainted with mycoplasma. 




Some of my followers know that I have been battling Lyme disease for over 14 years now. It took 10 years to get the diagnosis and that came about not through the medical establishment. It was a friend who helped me to remember the tic bite I had had while camping. I need not bore you with the details other than the fact that the resolution of my condition has been complicated by a mycoplasma.

This tiniest microscopic bugger got into my body by riding on the back of the Lyme spirochete when the tic injected it into my system. Now that I am feeling much better through the use of an alternative treatment (salt/c) I got into researching mycoplasmas.

You may be just as surprised as I was to find out that this strange bacteria/fungus-like critter is at the root of many of our chronic diseases and some childhood ones too. What I found really interesting is the fact that mycoplasma is now known as the cause of  Guillain- Barre syndrome. I found this to be so fascinating because when I worked in healthcare it was an established fact that there was a greater incidence of this life-threatening condition since the flu shot came out. I guess the doctors had read about it in the Lancet.

Anyway with my curiosity in full drive, I thought I would see if the experts had determined if mycoplasma could ride on the back of a vaccine microorganism and then result in chronic health problems other than Guillain- Barre. And, much to my shock and horror this proposal had in fact been presented to the Scottish parliament. Gee, I did not hear about any of this in the media. Did you?

Not finding any newspaper articles on line about Bill Welsh's presentation to the Scots I turned my attention to seeking out the other experts. I was hoping to find out what our scientists could tell me about the impact of these mycoplasmas on our blood supply and about  the effect our pesticide-laden food could have on these critters floating around in our primate bodies.

Surprisingly, that google search brought up a Globe and Mail article about dead microbiologists. So I thought I would dig deeper to see what had been said about the fate of these deceased. Low and behold, there exists a long list of these highly credentialed experts in vaccines and mycoplasma. who departed from us earlier in the millennium. Intriguingly enough, many of these died in a manner deemed suspicious by family and colleagues.

It was at this point in my exploration of mycoplasma that I had to end my love affair with Mr. Google as I had  to make time to post the following poem. As planned I have posted it on my blog as Venus and Jupiter align once again in the night sky to bless this Christmas season of 2016. Have a conscious one my peeps.

Faithfully yours,

Sheila Banks


EROS BEGETTING THE COSMIC CHRIST

Venus and Jupiter are aligned in the night sky.
Surely a heavenly signal informing that
God's all-powerful love has not died.

Tonight the celestial realms buzz with passionate ecstasy
as the goddess of love seduces her king of gods
under the expansive and starry canopy.


These planetary bodies are dancing around the golden sun,
shifting their positions in the milky way
to bring good tidings of a holy kingdom soon to come.

Reminiscent of those cosmic occurrences in antiquity
when the star of Bethlehem graced the night sky,
a divine love was bestowed upon humanity,
with the Son of God’s delivery.



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December 19, 2016

Bringing Down Babylon

This poem came to me when I saw a Facebook post of Michele Obama declaring that we are entering into a time of hopelessness.

Faithfully yours,

Sheila Banks



When you realize how much evil is in the world these days
it is enough to take your breath away.
But do not lose hopeno matter what they say.

One by one the corrupt will fall.
It is God's will that 
this madness end once and for all.

                                          Pic: Badhoo/Dreamstime.com

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September 17, 2016

Natty Dread Rise Again

See my more comprehensive retake of this blogpost at 
                                                Natty Dread Rise Again Ver. 2.0

My 20th anniversary is coming up in February 2017. Twenty years will have passed since my meeting with the Almighty. Wow! I say "wow" not only because of the amount of time that has lapsed but also because of what I have learned along this mystic path.

I have learned that humans are primates, and that most humans aren't consciously aware of the impact of this fact. Once pointed out though, the reasonable ones will accept the evidence. However, it is not enough to know that humans are animals. Knowledge of that must be followed up with an analysis of the implications for one's own behavior. Without a recognition of our bestial nature, our species will never be graced with peace on Earth.

I also have observed that Homo sapiens' dependency needs have many of us fantasying about salvation. This idea that a messiah will come to save us all from our own folly just doesn't square up with the science. What science does tell us though is that we are animals in an ecological context. Therefore, it seems reasonable that evolutionary catalysts would spring up as a corrective measure if our ecology's balance was being thrown off. I believe that Jesus understood he was serving in such a capacity. "The Father is living in me.... doing His work through me" said Jesus.

Certainly Buddha, Mohammed, Guru Nanek, Lao Tzu and many others throughout human history made their valuable contributions. However, Jesus stands apart for a number of reasons. Firstly, why would one take seriously the teachings of the above mentioned spiritual masters if you do not know you are an animal in need of taming.  Knowledge of the Law is not enough; there must be a great motivation to apply it. There must be the insight into one's own lowly status as a primate.

Secondly, Jesus knew that humans are meant to be more than domesticated animals.What is being required is a radical psychological transformation of the human primate. The next phase in our species' evolution is going to require even greater cooperation between us.This means our thought patterns or behaviors have to be driven even less by our animal imperatives or conditioned responses. However, for us to claim more of our freewill Jesus knew that we will have to learn to look deep within.

Now then, some of you by now might be asking where does Natty Dread fit in. Well, it has to do with the Rastafarian proclamation that Hallie Selassie is the returned messiah. According to the founder of this messianic cult, Leonard Howell, Ethiopia's Emperor Selassie had been prophesied about in the Bible. He even picked out certain verses that he thought pointed to it. Howell also believed that Selassie was Christ-consciousness for the era that they were in.

One might be tempted to ignore Howell's fantastic claims. However, much to my surprise I have been able to find evidence of a more concrete nature that supports Howell's proclamation about Selassie's divine status. Like Jesus, Selassie clearly understood the evolutionary task at hand for the human animal. See my blog post A Mystical Meeting.

We are primates prone to delusion. Our brain chemistry is not always a steady state. Until these facts about our lowly status are made known among all nations, our species will not be able to obtain the humility necessary for humankind's ascent. Jesus came to point out this paradox. And, Selassie was to disseminate a similar message in his speech to the United Nations in 1963.

The Rastafarian take on the second-coming of Christ is one I can buy into. Christ-consciousness arises when needed and it appears to have arose in Selassie. The return of Christ is not about Jesus flying down from the heavens to save us all. It is about The Almighty's evolutionary impulse moving through a human being to achieve a radical restructuring of humanity's world view. (In other words, a paradigm shift.)

In Dread:The Rastafarians of Jamaica, Joseph Owens presented the conversations he had in the 1970's with the pioneers of the Rastafarian religion. Owens noted that the Rastas, at that time, were convinced they had received a special form of revelation. They believed that Rastafarians were to play a prophetic role of world-wide importance.Well, if I have any say in it, Natty Dread will rise again to fulfill their mission once and for all. Time will tell.

Faithfully yours,

Sheila Banks


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July 28, 2016

Bend Down Low - Let Me Tell You What I Know




With so much delusion in our species revving up across the planet we can see that the paradigm shift being fleshed out in this blog is needed more than ever. While I am working on my next book I wanted to offer something to my loyal audience.The following essay can be found in my book Thoughts From A Contemplative Beast: The Paradigm Shift For The New Millennium.

Faithfully yours,

Sheila Banks


Humility 

At this stage in our species’ evolution, we humans are still tethered to our animal origins. Consequently, we spend much of our psychic energy dealing with worries about our own physical and psychological safety. With self-preservation dominating our thoughts, we obviously are not concerned about living as humble creatures in God’s garden. Rather, our preoccupation with security actually encourages our self-centeredness.

Because we peer out from behind our own eyes, each one of us is immersed in a subjective viewpoint. We have little if any awareness of how the dominating fears and desires of our animal mind work to distort our perceptions. We tend to believe that our own inner kingdom of thought and feeling reflects reality. We then go about acting as if the world out there should conform to our beliefs. On many occasions, we waste precious time and energy trying to make the universe correspond to our own opinions.

Due to our bestial self-centeredness, we seldom think about our lowly status within the universe. We rarely, if ever, step outside of our own subjective frame of reference. As a result, we do not perceive ourselves as animals. Our egocentricity actually discourages us from considering our human predicament from a more transcendent perspective. And, unfortunately, these limitations in our ability to take in the big picture lead us astray.

We tend to feel separate or isolated from the rest of creation; and, then we carry on as if the laws of cause and effect do not apply to our own set of circumstances. Governed by these delusions of omnipotence, we conduct ourselves as if our Creator’s designs need not concern us. We like to pretend that we can mistreat our bodies, our children, and our rivers with no ill effects. Unaware of the implications of our humble status, we humans are flawed with a maladaptive trait.

Homo sapiens has acquired considerable free will. We are a species that is compelled to step outside of our ego-centered fantasies in order to discover the natural order. In our quest for adaptation then, we are called to suitably adjust our behaviour. Consequently our goals should be to learn about the designs of our Maker and, to then improve upon our ability to defer to this logic of our Lord.

Certainly, our current level of technological advancement is indicative of Homo sapiens’ amazing ability to capitalize on information. Our knowledge about the cosmic law governing this material realm has given us plenty. However, we seem to have great difficulty taking the same proactive approach to our conduct in human relations. Our self-centered mindset fools us. We like to pretend that, somehow, we can do without the moral laws that are there to regulate human interdependence.

We think we can treat others as merely objects to be manipulated according to our transient whims. Parents belittling their children, individuals back-stabbing in the workplace as well as the meat-market mentality of the dating scene are all-too familiar scenarios that speak to our lack of insight. We do not stop our impulses long enough to determine whether we are acting in ways that promote healthy human relationships. We like to believe that our own infractions of God’s law do not matter, nor make much difference within the scheme of things.

Undeniably many humans are baffled about the best use of their free will. We still view our behaviour as something driven by factors outside the domain of our personal responsibility. And, we often make excuses for our nasty goings-on. We have little if any awareness of the impact that our past conditioning and our animal drives has upon our thinking and inevitably upon our actions. We have not yet learned how to scrutinize our own thoughts and guide our own behaviours. Therefore, we do not recognize that we have choices. Accordingly we can end up maladaptive without ever recognizing it. Without self-awareness, we get to remain at ease with our shortfalls.

By virtue of our animal nature then, we humans suffer from distortions in our thinking of which we are not always aware. Moreover, to make matters worse, we are inclined to defend our misperceptions. After all, we are creatures wired up to protect ourselves. And, because we mistakenly identify our sense of self with the contents of our minds, we regularly seek protection and comfort in self-righteous justifications. In turn, these rationalizations often allow us to remain self-satisfied despite the effects of our dysfunction.

Fortunately, with truth as our guide, we can gain helpful insights. While holding up a looking glass for honest self-inspection, we glimpse at an amazing creature who struggles to deal with fluctuating brain chemistry. If we are honest with ourselves, we can see how our cognitive apparatus triggers all sorts of moods and impulses that when acted upon, cause us to disregard our responsibility for fostering peaceful human relations.

When we stop coveting illusions about our own virtue and perfection--just long enough to face the truth about our humble position--we discover that we, for the most part, lack a conscious awareness of our own psychic processes. We often allow our egocentric delusion to culminate in self-imposed misery and much suffering for others. We are not yet the evolved and logical creatures that we fancy ourselves to be. Therefore, we are not as God-centered as we like to pretend.

Nevertheless, our human predicament of interdependency really does demand that we love one another. For this reason, we need to be mindful about the choices we are making. We must learn to prevent the “snarliness” of our animal nature from steering our reactions. We simply cannot afford to wander aimlessly along life’s journey. Only by consciously cultivating such virtues as mercy, patience, and kindness, can we free ourselves from the tendency to operate according to our bestial imperatives.

If we are to prod Homo sapiens up an evolutionary notch into the realm of the loving human being, we have to be clear about the indispensable role that humility plays in our psychological growth. We cannot let our defensive reactions puff us up with a false pride and self-righteousness. By protecting ourselves in this manner, we simply allow the remnants of our bestial origins to thwart our efforts at self-improvement. 

It is only when we are humble that we can become familiar with our self-centered delusions. It is only when we have humility that we are willing to change and do what is necessary in order to adapt to our Creator’s designs. In this sense, then, it really will be the meek who shall inherit the Earth. It will come to pass just as Jesus Christ proclaimed two millennia ago.

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April 1, 2016

Bonobos and Born Agains

In The Bonobo And The Atheist Frans De Waal puts forth the idea that morality antedates religion. Observations of chimpanzees and bonobos have led him to some very plausible conclusions about the origins of human morality.  He believes that the social hierarchy of these primates, with its system of behavioral inhibitions, speaks to what paved the way for human morality.

De Waal speculates that humans were plenty moral when roaming in small bands. However, as populations grew, religion came along to ensure that the enlarged numbers remained true to the established moral code. This larger scale of society needed a moralizing God to keep the people in line so one was fabricated by the most imaginative of the bunch. I am on board with most of what this author has to say. However,  De Waal's understanding of the origins of God is where I jump ship.

 It is possible that Moses saw what behaviors were helpful for his social group so he came up with the ten commandments. His insights into human behavior may have prompted him to serve as that voice of a moralizing God. However, Moses like all the other charismatic figures in human history who have founded the world's major religions and many of the minor sects, claimed that his message was in response to a mystical union with the Almighty. As if infused with a view from above, Moses had gained insight into what could correct the wrong in his society.

Typically the fruit of these mystical unions, like the one Moses had, is the emergence of a charismatic leader who feels qualified to speak about God's will for the people. This leader is able to stir up a religious impulse in the hearts of the people; he inspires followers and sometimes lots of them. I refuse to believe that religions arise merely out of  some kind of brain fart in the human primate. Having had a mystical union myself, I believe something else is going on here.

I, like Gopi Krishna who also had one and wrote extensively, believe that it has something more to do with the unleashing of a dormant evolutionary mechanism in the brain. Through a process of  moral perfection the human primate can trigger an actual rearrangement of  his neurology at the quantum level. If this transfiguration is negotiated successfully, one can actually encounter within the transformative energy that powers our very universe.

If we view the human as a creature in an organic predicament, it is not far-fetched to think of a mystical union as nature's way of correcting a maladaptive characteristic in the human population. A legitimate mystical encounter certainly has an impact on a person's neurology and can lead to powerful cognitive changes. So much so that we get an upgraded primate who is not only more aware of his responsibility to others but more conscious of his connection to the very quantum ground of his being. We get a hominid who has ascended the evolutionary ladder and thereby feels qualified to take on the voice of a moralizing God.

Faithfully yours

Sheila Banks

                                       Pic:Badhoo/Dreamstime.com


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February 25, 2016

The Sobering Facts

Heart-wrenching is a suitable descriptor for the case of drunk driving currently being covered by the major news outlets in Toronto. Three young children and their grandfather were killed by an impaired driver in 2015.  Needless to say, the parents are grief-stricken beyond belief.

The court proceedings for this case are winding down now. The lawyer in defense of his client summed him up to be a very good person who simply made a terrible choice.  But, he is not alone in his bad decision to drive under the influence. The latest figures crunched by the police tell us the number of impaired driving violations are on the increase.

In spite of public education campaigns and police spot checks there persists those who drink then drive. And, on top of that, there are those who insist on texting, shaving and make-up application while behind the wheel. These people, and there are lots of them, just don't get it. They act as if they are immune from reality. They, in fact, haven't recognized the truth about the human's humble position as a primate.

We know that distraction of or giving alcohol to a chimpanzee will impair the animal's ability to perform complex tasks. Why then would we think this principle does not apply to our own human case? We just have to look at the carnage and anguish brought about by impaired and distracted drivers to know that it certainly does.

Faithfully yours,

Sheila Banks

                                                            Pic:Localist/Dreamstime.com

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February 3, 2016

Happy Birthday Bob

The picture of me below is at The Bob Marley Museum in Kingston, Jamaica last February. I gave them a framed copy of the poem below.   I penned this tribute to Bob Marley a few years ago.

For The Love of Bob
 We heard him sing songs of freedom
as he fueled the fire of a roots revival.
Marley was the Jamaican messenger
who was guided by the wisdom of the Bible.

We know he was a creative genius.
Through music, he proclaimed God's word.
Bob Marley was the musical prophet
and creator of the sweetest vibes on earth.

We listened as he spoke out for justice.
Yet, he encouraged only peaceful means.
Just thank Jah he walked among us
and healed many with his soulful beat.

Amazed at how his reggae moved all the people,
as he swayed both black and the white.
Bob Marley was the musical prophet,
a human conduit for divine love,
and Jah's light.

There's a lot more to it. 
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