Spiritual Art Blog - *Ed P

The Other Side

Here’s the latest development of the picture, The Other Side.

 

The Spiritual Side of Suicide

Thought for the Week

For most of us the end of our life is an unknown, possibly ending our existence altogether. The reality is that the death of our physical body releases us into our inner spiritual worlds. We drop our old worn out body and move on to focus on our inner worlds. Life is spiritual whether we realise it or not. We are Soul having a physical experience in a human body.

Why do we decide to commit suicide?
A core reason we decide to commit suicide is because we cannot face the problem which confronts us at this time. It seems like there is no way out. We feel alone, unloved, unwanted and useless. That may be the way those around us see us or more correctly how we think they see us. We are now at the lowest point we've ever been. The only solution that comes to mind is to end it all. Please remember that life goes in cycles. We have had lows and highs before, we have come through them and we can come through this too.

What happens at the point of death?
There are many accounts of near death experiences which tell of the person going through a long tunnel towards a bright light. They are met by a guide or relative who talks with them. They now get a choice of staying in this heavenly place or returning if they have unfinished business. This is likely to be the scene for someone who has ended their life prematurely. Depending on the damage done to their physical body they may have the option of returning.

Life is about love
Life is about love. We are learning how to love, how it works and how to use it. One of the first things we need to learn is to love ourselves. We need to become aware that we are a divine being. We are creative. We can find a way out of every situation but it does require some hard work. If we are thinking about suicide, it will require some effort to move our thinking from destroying ourselves to a place where we can love ourselves.

We have to take responsibility for ourselves, our life, our actions and our decisions. If we haven’t been doing this, we have to start. How can we make a decision to end our life by suicide if we haven’t been making decisions about living our lives up to now? From Soul’s perspective our physical life is such a valuable gift. Before we were born we were given a number of goals to achieve and tasks to learn in this current life. One of them was getting through the crisis which now tempts us to consider suicide. We have the ability to find our way through every challenge. We are creative beings. We just need to search within ourselves for any light of hope that we can see. Seek out that light, that possible solution, explore it and learn from it.

Elements which we use
The objective of life is to realise we are Soul, a divine being, a creative being. As Soul we have a number of elements which we help us to interact in these worlds of time and space. Below Soul is our intuition or subconscious, which Soul uses to communicate with our other elements with subtle hints and nudges. The next element is our mind which is an essential tool to help us understand and work within time and space. We then have our memories to help us keep track of events and experiences. Our emotions are next which give us a rainbow of feelings and sensations ranging from the darkest thunder storms of hatred and anger to the bright sunshine of happiness and love. Finally we have our physical body which we use to learn about ourselves, develop our creativity and use our free will.

Mind is a powerful tool
Our mind is a powerful tool but it can also be one of the factors leading us to destroy ourselves physically. The mind uses logic to come up with solutions to problems and ways of doing things. It also uses its logic to convince us that it has all the possible solutions to every problem. In doing this it blocks out our connection with Soul and its divine creativity, which can help us find solutions to even the worst possible situations. We need to learn ways of reconnecting with our happy creative selves, Soul.

Using our free will
Our free will is one of the powers we use to learn how to interact with other Souls. With our will we can decide to do whatever we wish. We can be kind or cruel, loving or hating, constructive or destructive, happy or sad. While using our free will we often encroach on other people’s space, property or feelings. We then suffer the consequences of those actions and learn not to do them again. However, this payback of karma, the undoing or correcting of our errors, often doesn’t happen in this lifetime but appears in later lives. This can help to explain why we have some serious challenges in this life. The errors we made previously have come back to be repaid. As we usually don’t have access to our past life memories we feel victimised by what seems like unjustified challenges and problems in our current life.

Discovering our past life memories
There are ways of discovering our past life memories and the reasons for the challenges we face in this life. We can use our dreams by asking to be shown why we are in our current situation. We just ask the question or ask a guide, angel or master we trust within ourselves. We could frame our questions like this –
“Why is my life in such a mess?”
“What is my connection with this person?”
“How come I’m in these circumstances?”
“Why do I feel suicide is the only solution?”
Another approach could be “Please show me a solution to the problems I have and lead me to finding a way to a better situation.”

Ask the question just before we go sleep, then go to sleep as usual. When we wake in the morning we may have a feeling that something has happened. We may recall some part of a dream or we may have a vivid recall of a complete dream. We should write down any feelings or dream recalls. Over time we will build up a better picture of our dreams and what they mean. We may get a feeling from the dream about the next direction we should take.

HU Song
The HU Song is one of the easiest ways of reconnecting with Soul. HU is an ancient and sacred name for God. It helps us link up with Soul as the vibration of HU is similar to the vibrations of the heaven where Soul resides. Thus singing HU brings us into the heavenly world of Soul, when done on a regular basis. With the growing connection to Soul, the flow of wisdom, love and happiness begins to increase and our world becomes more creative, happy and loving. We begin to see solutions to our problems. We begin to access the creative, problem solving side of ourselves.

Life is about love and learning about it. Firstly we must find something to love in life, we must look for something in ourselves to love. When we see any sparkle of love in our life we will begin to see how valuable life is. We have been given an opportunity to learn some difficult lesson in this life. Our connection to our creative and loving selves, Soul, is key to our survival. Using our dreams and the HU Song can help us find solutions.

Life is a wonderful opportunity to overcome challenges and problems. We can get through any situation with the help of our creative and loving element within us, Soul. Let’s make the most of our lives and work hard to live it with love and happiness.

*Ed Parkinson

Arty Party – Thank You

News

A big THANK YOU to all who came along to the Arty Party over the weekend. It was great to see you all and thanks for your support. It was a great success and we’ll probably have another one in May next year when the weather should be a little less harsh. We had record low temperatures and about 4 inches or 10 cm of snow over the weekend. It was lovely but it messed up a lot of travel arrangements. We’re not used to snow on our emerald isle.

For those of you who couldn’t make it because of the weather, or your Star Trek Transporter machine wasn’t working or you haven’t yet figured out how to bi-locate, here’s a quick five minute tour of what was on show at the Arty Party.

 

Inspirational Suicide Quotes

“Anyone desperate enough for suicide...should be desperate enough to go to creative extremes to solve problems: elope at midnight, stow away on the boat to New Zealand and start over, do what they always wanted to do but were afraid to try.”
  Richard Bach


“The greatest crimes are to associate another with God, to vex your father and mother, to murder your own species, to commit suicide, and to swear to lie.”
  Muhammad

“As anyone who has been close to someone that has committed suicide knows, there is no other pain like that felt after the incident.”
  Peter Greene

“The real reason for not committing suicide is because you always know how swell life gets again after the hell is over.”
Ernest Hemingway

“Suicide sometimes proceeds from cowardice, but not always; for cowardice sometimes prevents it; since as many live because they are afraid to die, as die because they are afraid to live.”
   Charles Caleb Colton

“Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.”
  Phil Donahue

“To run away from trouble is a form of cowardice and, while it is true that the suicide braves death, he does it not for some noble object but to escape some ill.”
  Aristotle

“Nowadays not even a suicide kills himself in desperation. Before taking the step he deliberates so long and so carefully that he literally chokes with thought. It is even questionable whether he ought to be called a suicide, since it is really thought which takes his life. He does not die with deliberation but from deliberation.”
  Soren Kierkegaard 

"Suicide is man's way of telling God, "You can't fire me - I quit."”
  Bill Maher

“She was what we used to call a suicide blonde - dyed by her own hand.”
  Saul Bellow 

“I couldn't commit suicide if my life depended on it.”
  George Carlin

“When someone commits suicide, it’s due to ignorance or a wilful disobedience of spiritual law. That person has made a short sighted choice. The spiritual hierarchy will require that Soul to make amends in another human life, and another under much more trying conditions. Finally that Soul learns that suicide is no answer. Just another problem.”
  Harold Klemp

The Other Side

I’ve been working on the emotional side with its fiery red dress developing into a volcano in the distance. Our emotions, when they get out of control can be very destructive. We have to be careful of not letting our emotional flames get out of control.

 

Happy Accidents and Everyday Miracles

Thought for the Week

Is there such a thing as a happy accident?
Can an accident be happy?
Miracles, do they really happen?
Can they happen everyday?

Our answers to these questions will depend on our level of awareness of and our connection with the Life-force or the Holy Spirit. If we recognise that there are forces operating in our lives other than our mind and our will, we will be open to the idea of happy accidents and miracles.

Happy accidents come in a variety of strengths. From very subtle to really dramatic. They can have a minor effect on us or be the cause of a major change in our life. There are miracles happening around us all the time but most of us are blind to them. We occasionally see a miracle when we experience a near miss in traffic.

The minor event becomes a life changing event
For example, we could be walking along the street, we bump into somebody. We apologise to each other. This person looks familiar, so we ask them “Where have I seen you before?” They are not sure, they smile and rush off to continue with their day. We then go to cross the street but see that someone has just been hit by a car. The injured person was walking beside us a few moments ago but because we bumped into someone else we were delayed.

The happy accident of bumping into the person saved us from being caught up in the traffic collision. This could be viewed as a minor event in our life. 

The following day we see the person who we bumped into again. We smile at each other. Over the week we develop a nodding acquaintance which eventually leads to a date, then to a long term relationship. The minor event has now become a life changing event.

Can we turn our accidents into happy accidents?
If we become an observer of our accident it can help us to find the happiness in it. This is usually not possible when we are in the middle of the event. We have to deal with the issue, inconvenience, or pain at the moment. Later when we get a quiet time by ourselves we should contemplate on the event to see if we can gain insights in to the accident.

How to contemplate on the event
We should take time to relax and rest ourselves. Close our eyes, sing the HU song on the outgoing breath. We can sing it in our mind, in a whisper, softly or in our normal voice. It depends on the situation and circumstances we are in. Bring to mind something that warms our heart. Something that brings love into our lives. Now with this loving feeling still with us, let’s try and observe the accident or event. Let it float into our mind and observe it from different angles. If there were other people involved, can we view it from their perspective? What would they have experienced? How would they have been affected? If we let these observations and questions float around in our mind we may get a new insight into the event. We may see a different side to the accident. We may see how it benefits us and/or the people around us. We may see how it was really a happy accident or even a miracle.

Life is perfect
There are many who consider that life is perfect, that everything is exactly the way it should be. If we can view our accident with this in mind we open ourselves to the possibilities of what is right about the situation.

The reason we are in this life is to learn about ourselves, about life and about love. Unfortunately we seem to learn best when difficulties and pain are involved. The pain teaches us not to make the same mistake again. If things are comfortable and easy we tend to let them be. Only when they become uncomfortable do we begin to learn how to change them. Sometimes if we get too comfortable with a situation it takes an ‘accident’ to move us on. If we can see the accident from the perspective of a learning experience we can turn it into a happy accident or even a miracle.

It is really our attitude and perspective on life which determines the level of happiness in our lives. If we can try to see how the Life-force or Holy Spirit has organised the difficulties and accidents in our lives for our long term benefit, we can turn our accidents into happy accidents and even into miracles.

Wishing you a life of happy accidents and miracles.

*Ed Parkinson

Arty Party

News

Below is a Google Map so you can see where the house is.

See the blue marker in the centre? that’s the house.

You can zoom in or out so you can find your way.

Looking forward to seeing you over the weekend.

View Arty Party in a larger map

Inspirational Miracle Quotes

"The real miracle is a man who can walk with God every day ... When a person walks with God, he finds joy in the everyday things he does. Gradually his life begins to expand.”
Harold Klemp

“We must not allow the clock and the calendar to blind us to the fact that each moment of life is a miracle and mystery.”
H. G. Wells

“A strong positive mental attitude will create more miracles than any wonder drug.”
Patricia Neal

“We don't make mistakes, we only have happy accidents.”
Anon

“Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be the miracle.”
Phillips Brooks

“Miracles: You do not have to look for them. They are there, 24-7, beaming like radio waves all around you. Put up the antenna, turn up the volume - snap... crackle... this just in, every person you talk to is a chance to change the world.”
 Hugh Elliott  

“When we do the best that we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life, or in the life of another.”
Helen Keller

“The most astonishing thing about miracles is that they happen.”
G. K. Chesterton

“Miracles don't just happen, people make them happen.“
Misato Katsuragi,

“What Every Computer Consultant Needs to Know:
1) In case of doubt, make it sound convincing.
2) Do not believe in miracles. Rely on them.”
Murphy's Computer Laws

“This is the miracle that happens every time to those who really love; the more they give, the more they possess.”
Rainer Maria Rilke

“Out of difficulties grow miracles.”
Jean de la Bruyere

“Impossible situations can become possible miracles.”
Robert H. Schuller

“Hope is the companion of power, and mother of success; for who so hopes strongly has within him the gift of miracles.”
Samuel Smiles

“Miracles are not contrary to nature, but only contrary to what we know about nature.”
Saint Augustine

“Where there is great love, there are always miracles.”
Willa Sibert Cather

“Miracles occur naturally as expressions of love. The real miracle is the love that inspires them. In this sense everything that comes from love is a miracle.”
Marie Lloyd

“We will only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen.”
Paulo Coelho

The Other Side

Picture

This shows some of the work I’ve done on the physical side of the picture, The Other Side. This side of life we are very familiar with, it’s what most people consider real. The physical side is real but we also have other sides to life which are unseen by most but are just as real. They are our emotions, our memories, our mind, our intuition and the happy creative part of us, Soul.

 

Acts of kindness

Thought for the Week

Why would we do an act of kindness? Sometimes we do an act of kindness as an automatic reaction. Such as picking up something a person has dropped, or holding a door open for someone coming behind us or letting a car go ahead of us in traffic. We have a certain level of giving in to our personality. It varies from person to person.

If we are observant of the giving people in our lives, we’ll see that they are generally of a happy disposition. They smile a lot and have a lighter air about them. They are attractive and usually nice to be around. Some people will do small insignificant deeds while others will do grandiose acts which are hard to miss.

The Benefits
For the giver, the subtle quite acts of kindness are probably the most worthwhile, for a number of reasons:
Our vanity or ego is not inflated.
We begin to discover the flow of love within us.
We become more at peace with the world.
We realise that all Souls are struggling to be happier in life.
We recognise that we all need love.
We build up our belief in ourselves.
We begin to like ourselves more.
We see ourselves as making a positive contribution to our world.

There are also benefits for the recipient:
They will be grateful.
Their lives will be a little better.
Their gratitude may motivate them to do something similar.
They see that there is kindness in the world.

The Rules
There are some rules to doing acts of kindness. In their book, Acts of kindness: how to create a kindness revolution by Meladee McCarty, Hanoch McCarty, they give the ethics and responsibilities for acts of kindness.
“1. The act must be safe for you and the recipient.
2. Consider your personal boundaries of appropriateness and those of the recipient before you choose an act of kindness.
3. Remember if it is too self-sacrificing, it may lead to resentment. Make sure it doesn’t create obligations, dependency, or other negative feelings.
4. Ask yourself “Could this act of kindness go against the receiver’s will?” Sometimes an attempt to be kind may impose our needs on the receiver. Try to do for the receiver what she or he would really want.
5. Might the act embarrass the recipient? Can it be done to eliminate or diminish that embarrassment?
6. Prepare by asking your self:
What is it that I want to do?
What do I want to get from doing it?
How do I have to be in order to make it work?
7. If your act of kindness is directed at a particular group (the homeless, a culture group, persons with disabilities, etc.) be sure you’re not just projecting your understanding, based on your own life, onto others who may be in very different situations. Try to learn about the group’s special experiences and unique point of view. Talk to those people for whom you’re planning your act of kindness and learn their feelings about the challenges they face. By tuning up your sensitivity you can be more productive. Never let an act of kindness be patronising.”

A List of Kindness Acts
Now that we know the rules, what can we do? Here’s a list of fifty possible acts of kindness we could do:

1. Make a donation to a charity
2. Volunteer to give your services freely.
3. Take dangerous debris off the road or footpath.
4. Leave a book, magazine or paper for others to read.
5. Say hello or smile at someone.
6. Clean up a local public area.
7. Send someone a hand written note of thanks.
8. Make a card at home and send it to a friend.
9. Buy a lottery ticket for a stranger.
10. Pay a parking ticket for someone else’s car.
11. Buy a coffee for the person on the street selling The Big Issue magazine.
12. Cut your neighbour’s grass.
13. Walk your friend’s dog.
14. Give a compliment about your waiter / waitress to his / her manager.
15. Send someone a small gift anonymously.
16. Pick up fallen items in a shop.
17. Stop and help someone replace their flat tyre.
18. Let someone jump the queue at the shop or bank.
19. Treat a friend to the movies for no reason.
20. Give a huge tip to someone when they least expect it.
21. Hold the door open for someone.
22. Give up your seat for someone, not just an elderly person.
23. Write notes of appreciation at least once a week.
24. Talk to a homeless person and have a “normal” conversation.
25. Pick up some rubbish and put it in a bin.
26. Compliment a work colleague for their excellence.
27. Recommend a competitor to a potential client.
28. Give another driver your parking spot.
29. Help an elderly neighbour carry the rubbish out.
30. Tell all your family members how much your appreciate them.
31. Buy an inspirational book for a friend.
32. Pay a toll for the car behind you.
33. Clean someone’s house.
34. Leave a place better than you found it.
35. Take time to listen to someone.
36. Do the best we can as a friend, a relative, an employee, an employer, a citizen.
37. Tell your child / friend/ relative how much you love them.
38. Tell your spouse or partner their qualities you most admire.
39. Thank your family for the routine chores they do.
40. Surprise your family by doing one of their chores.
41. Plan a family fun activity every week.
42. Have a good laugh with your family after dinner with an appropriate story or joke.
43. Smile and be tolerant of morning commuters in a hurry.
44. Leave an inspirational quotation on your bus or train seat when you exit.
45. Leave a positive comment on a website that you enjoy.
46. Pack an extra lunch and give it to a homeless person.
47. Spend a full day without complaining.
48. Forgive yourself for something you regret.
49. Forgive someone's unkindness to you.
50. Be kind to yourself.

Try dong one or two this week. Next week try a few more. If we get into the habit of doing these acts of kindness we’ll become happier within ourselves. Doing these acts of kindness will help bring more love into our lives and the lives of others.

Have fun with life, do a few acts of kindness and watch your life grow happier and more fulfilled.

*Ed Parkinson

Comedy Night with Ardal O'Hanlon

News
 
This coming Wednesday, 17 Nov 2010, doors open at 7.00pm.
The Laughter Lounge, Dublin 1.

Everybody loves a good laugh and on Wednesday 17th November we would like to invite you to laugh with us at Dublin's Laughter Lounge because the IMNDA (Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association) are taking over the venue for one very special night!

The hilarious Ardal O'Hanlon of Father Ted fame has kindly agreed to headline a comedy night with all proceeds coming to the IMNDA.

There will be a raffle for some great prizes, including:
a picture by Ed Parkinson,
a fourstar hotel break in a Killarney hotel,
a dinner in the White Gables, Moycullen, Co. Galway,
a and lots more goodies.

This is a not to be missed evening of entertainment with four comedians performing - all for only €25 a ticket!
Get yours now from our online shop or www.tickets.ie

You can also make a donation towards this event at http://www.mycharity.ie/event/juliemccoysevent/

Or visit http://www.facebook.com/imnda?v=wall

This event has been organised by Julie McCoy.

Arty Party

News

Inspirational Kindness Quotes

“One word of love is worth more than a thousand clever speeches.”
  Harold Klemp

“I noticed something very colourful on my car’s windshield. As I got closer I saw it was a beautiful yellow rose touched with dew. … This act of kindness is one that ranks high for me. The giver couldn’t have known what a boost it gave me and couldn’t have predicted how may times I would place an anonymous rose on the windshield for unsuspecting receivers.”
  Meladee McCarthy and Hanoch McCarthy

“What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?”
  Jean Jacques Rousseau

“Blessed is he who speaks a kindness. Thrice blessed is hew repeats it.”
  Arabian proverb

“Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are endless”
  Mother Teresa 

"Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible."
  Dalai Lama

"Perhaps we're too embarrassed to change or too frightened of the consequences of showing that we actually care. But why not risk it anyway? “BEGIN TODAY! “Carry out an act of kindness, with no expectation of reward or punishment. Safe in the knowledge that one day, someone somewhere might do the same for you."
  Princess Diana

“Practice random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty.”
  Anne Herbert

“Remember there's no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end.”
  Scott Adams

“The level of our success is limited only by our imagination and no act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted.”
  Aesop

“The best portion of a good man's life is his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love.”
  William Wordsworth

“The everyday kindness of the back roads more than makes up for the acts of greed in the headlines.”
  Charles Kuralt

“When you carry out acts of kindness you get a wonderful feeling inside. It is as though something inside your body responds and says, yes, this is how I ought to feel.”
  Harold Kushner

“No kind action ever stops with itself. One kind action leads to another. Good example is followed. A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees. The greatest work that kindness does to others is that it makes them kind themselves.”
  Amelia Earhart

“To say that on a daily basis you can make a difference, well, you can. One act of kindness a day can do it.”
  Betty Williams

“An act of Kindness is better than a thousand heads bowed in prayer.”
  Mahatma Gandhi

“Act with kindness, but do not expect gratitude.”
  Confucius

The Other Side

Picture

This detail, which I’ve been working on recently, shows the memory side, of the Other Side picture. Our memories help us make judgements about situations we find ourselves in. They can remind us what happened in the past and with our mind they can help us work out what may happen in the future. We do need to be aware that not all our memories are accurate. Sometimes we can only see an event from one side, we don’t get the overall picture, so our judgement of a situation may be wrong. It’s just something we need to keep in mind when using the memory.

 

 

Is life one big conspiracy theory?

Thought for the Week

There are a lot of conspiracy theories out there about what happened at various events in recent history. Are these conspiracy theories just another way of diverting our attention from what life is really about? Could the conspiracy theories be part of a bigger conspiracy to keep our attention on what seems important rather than what is really important?

There are theories about most aspects of life. Here’s Wikipedia’s definition of a conspiracy theory:
“Conspiracy theory was originally a neutral descriptor for any claim of civil, criminal, or political conspiracy. However, it has become largely pejorative and used almost exclusively to refer to any fringe theory which explains a historical or current event as the result of a secret plot by conspirators of almost superhuman power and cunning.”

Conspiracy theories
The lists of theories regarding conspiracies include:
New World Order
False flag operations - where a group disguises themselves under a different flag
Wars
Coups d'état
Assassinations
Suppression of technologies
Development of weapons technology
Weapons testing
Surveillance, espionage and intelligence agencies
Media
Medicine
Drug legalization
Chemtrails
Diet and Health
Creation of diseases
Water fluoridation
Traditional, Natural and Alternative medicines
Peak Oil, - being fed false info that the supply of oil has peaked.
Ethnicity and race world domination
Paranormal activity
Evil aliens
Extraterrestrials
Religion, veiled continuation of paganism
Apocalyptic prophecies - the year 2000, 2012, etc.


We could spend our lives researching any one of these theories. There may be some truth in them but do we want to spend our lives trying to sort out what someone else considers a problem? Life’s events go their own course. The various people involved in these events, reap the rewards or suffer the consequences.

We create our own worlds
We can only control our own lives, we cannot control the lives of others no matter how hard we try. We are responsible for how we run our lives, where we put our attention and what we do in life. Wherever we put our attention will become important to us. If we focus on love and goodness in our lives, we will see a lot of love and goodness in life. If we focus on fear, conspiracies and doubt, we will have all that in our life.

We are creative beings. We create our own worlds. Our attention and where we focus it is key to the worlds we create for ourselves. As Oscar Wilde the Irish playwright, poet and author said “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” The choice is ours, do we stare at the gutter or look to the stars in heaven? It would seem to be a more pleasant view if we have stars in our eyes.

Diverting our attention
The true goal of our lives is to realise that we are a creative being, that we have the power to create and control our lives. All these conspiracies are great for diverting our attention away from our true goal and they are not the only thing diverting our attention. We have the news, television, drink, drugs, money, sex and lots of other attention grabbing things in life.

A lot of these things are important and we need to pay some attention to them so that we can live a reasonably comfortable and happy life but we shouldn’t allow them to consume all our attention. We need to be aware that life is our training ground. We’re not just here to learn things in school or learn a skill so we can make our way in life. This type of learning is part of becoming self sufficient and self responsible. There is a higher purpose to it all.

The very basic goal of life
There is a higher purpose to life and that purpose is to realise that we are a happy loving part of God, we are Soul. We are Soul with a physical body which we use to explore our abilities, experiment with our free will and develop our relationships with other Souls.

The very basic goal of life, the whole reason we have a physical body, is to teach us how to love. How to love in a non detached way. We learn by doing the things we love to do. We then discover that doing some of these things impacts in a negative way on other people/Souls. We adjust our behaviour so that what we do in life has a positive effect on those around us. As we live our lives we learn to love more. With love flowing through our lives we become happier and more fulfilled.

We need to be careful of the conspiracy of the physical life to divert our attention from our goal of realising ourselves as Soul and discovering love and its blessings. The conspiracy theories are all part of the physical worlds conspiracy to keep our attention on the physical and away from our spiritual world.

Let’s keep our attention on the love and stars in heaven.


*Ed Parkinson

Arty Party

News

Plans for the Arty Party are developing nicely. It will take place over the last weekend of November, Friday 26th to Sunday 28th. On Friday we’ll open the Arty Party around 6pm so you can drop in on your way home from work, or call in later for some wine and foody bits.

On Saturday and Sunday we’ll be open from 2pm until 6pm. It’ll be something nice to do in the afternoon.

At the Party we’ll have videos explaining the thinking and ideas behind some of the pictures. There will also be a demonstration where Ed hopes to answer the question he gets asked the most “How do you create the pictures?”

Ed will be around to answer questions and give insights into the pictures.
If you'd like an invitation, please email ed @ edp-art.com or send a note via the Your Comments page on the website, www.EdP-SpiritualArt.Com.

Inspirational Conspiracy Quotes

“Every issue of life is determined not by external conditions and things, but by one’s consciousness.”
  Harold Klemp

“Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love.” 
  Hamilton Wright Mabie

“A conspiracy is nothing but a secret agreement of a number of men for the pursuance of policies which they dare not admit in public.”
  Mark Twain

“The popularity of conspiracy theories is explained by people's desire to believe that there is - some group of folks who know what they're doing.”
  Damon Knight 

“Lewis Morris: "It is a conspiracy of silence against me - a conspiracy of silence! What should I do?" Oscar Wilde: "Join it”.
  Oscar Wilde

“Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members. The virtue in most request is conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion. It loves not realities and creators, but names and customs.”
  Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Civilization is a conspiracy. Modern life is the silent compact of comfortable folk to keep up pretences.”
  John Buchan

“The world is in a constant conspiracy against the brave. It's the age-old struggle: the roar of the crowd on the one side, and the voice of your conscience on the other.”
 Douglas MacArthur

“Let nothing disturb you. Let nothing frighten you. Everything passes away except God.”
  St. Teresa of Avila

The Other Side

Here’s the latest development of the picture, The Other Side.

 

Different but Equal

Thought for the Week

We are all struggling equally to progress along our path through life. Each Soul is trying to get to the next level of happiness or achievement. For one Soul it could be getting food for the next meal. For another Soul it could be taking control of a new area, business or project. For another it could be finding love, through a friend, animal, job or a mission.

As we look around at our life and the lives of other Souls we can see that we are all different. We are all at different stages in our lives. We have achieved a range of things and have some work to do yet. We may be envious of some Souls and some we are happy not to be in their position.

Different but equal
But are we really all that different? Haven't we been in similar positions at some point in our lives? We have all had successes and failures on a small and large scale. When we are at the height of these events it is either wonderful or terrible. In between the highs and lows we are moving on to the next goal or achievement or trying to maintain our current position. One way or another we are making an effort to survive or get on in our lives. Whether we are an animal or a saint we are all trying to move on to the next level. So we are not all that different after all. We are different but equal. 

If we look at life from a higher point of view, from the viewpoint that we are all learning about ourselves and how life works, we are really all the same. We are all striving to get to the next point. We are equal in the fact that we are attempting to grow, survive or get to our next goal. Within ourselves we are all trying to progress, get through the day, get to the next step, get the next bill paid, or get the next meal. No matter what experiences we have behind us, we are still struggling to find happiness. If we are in this world we still have something to learn.

We can be happier
We know within ourselves that we can be happier. We have this feeling that there is happiness to be found somewhere and we spend our lives trying to find it. Where does this feeling come from? It comes from the happy, loving part of us which is always joyful. As we go through life we occasionally get a glimpse of this part of ourselves, Soul. We might see it when the world within us and around us is in harmony and flows together. We could see this at a moment of achievement or during a quiet reflective time.

When we take time to slow down, take our attention away from our outer world and contemplate on the higher aspects of life and love, we begin to reach for our happiness in Soul. We take time to recognise the flow of love, Holy Spirit or the Life-force, through our lives. At times like these we may touch the higher aspect of ourselves, Soul. We may see the blissful state that is within us, which is part of us and available to us.

A connection with Soul
This is where we get the idea that we can be happier. We’ve caught this glimpse of it and we know it exists. We now have to find our way back to it. How can we grasp and hold on to this elusive state of happiness? Once we realise that this state is within us and not outside of us, in the physical world, we have taken a major step forward in our understanding. We realise our happiness depends on how we are within.

It has to do with our attitude, our understanding and our connection with our happy part, Soul. If we can reconnect with Soul we will begin to develop a better attitude and get a better understanding of life. A connection with Soul will open up streams of wisdom, insights and understanding which will lead us to discover ways of allowing more happiness and love into our lives.

Path of life
We are all on our path of life. We struggle alongside others as we head for our destination. We are different but equal. We are different in that we have our own unique experiences. We are equal in that we are aiming for the same goal of happiness. We are in this world to learn how to be happy, how to connect with our true selves, Soul and how to love more.

One of the easiest ways of connecting with Soul is to use the HU Song. It opens up a link between our lower selves in the physical world and our higher selves, Soul, in the inner worlds. We are all unique and different but equal in our struggle for happiness. This page explains the HU Song and will help us reconnect with Soul and bring us closer to the happiness.

Wishing you love and happiness as you discover that we are different but equal as Soul.

*Ed Parkinson

Arty Party

We'll be having an Arty Party on the last weekend of November. There will be some food and drinks along with some insightful and interesting happenings and of course there will be lots of inspirational art on display. We are working on a number of events over the weekend. There will also be a Free gift for everyone who comes along. If you'd like an invitation, please email ed @ edp-art.com or send a note via the Your Comments page on the website, www.EdP-SpiritualArt.Com.

I’ll put more info here on the Spiritual Art Blog as it becomes available. If you’d like to be there let me know, and we’ll put you on the Guest List.