In the very early days of man it must have been so terrifying to be around then. We did not as of yet have a common language to be able to communicate our thoughts, ideas, fears. We had to contend with others in our group, clan or tribe as part of this community. We had to deal with predatory animals that would kill us for food, or other humans looking to take what we just caught for food.

WE had Mother Nature to look forward to, with the climate changes, weather patterns, earth upheavals, seasons that changed. It must have been a real scary place to live and no way to tell anyone except in grunts or perhaps whistles. Then when we did develop a language, from where is also a good question, we then developed religion, or a form of it. We needed a way to describe what we could not understand, such as the moon rising at night, or the sun rising creating daylight, or the winds, rains, etc. So in our own limited ways, we created myths, legends, mysteries, worship of idols, priests to interpret the dogmas and rituals of the faith/religion of the day.

Which made the old a good source of carrying the past lessons learned from this cult or that worship of what ever God they were currently praying to for good tidings. Since the old we now too feeble to carry a weapon for combat or in the hunt for food, they could carry the word of that clan, tribe etc. It also occurred to me the writings, teachings, ministries of past prophets, and messengers, go back a very long time in human history. We don’t all agree on the place of origin for which the teachings began to emerge nor where it went from this place. It seems that though (in my viewpoint), that in the story of Adam and Eve where they ate of the tree of knowledge, that it would not be wise to keep all knowledge in one place. It would be much better to spread it around the world as to not have it kept by one person or group for exploitation by any such organization.

There-fore to be available to any or all, it was scattered over the world to be found by the seekers after truth or knowledge of the universe. There-fore we must seek the truth in all places, in all things, all peoples. Here is where the rubber meets the road, so to speak, as it is up to the individuals to gather and use the messages we get from God for our benefit. For example: When I was a boy and we were taken to Sunday school every week, my most memorable part was the stories. The parables of the children, and the stories of such characters as Androcles and the Lion, or Daniel in the den of lions, or the prophets Shadrack, Meshach, and Abednego (I think I got that right) who went into the furnace only to be met by angels whereby they did not get burned up. These stories not only were entertaining for a boy, but also came with a life lesson as well, if one looked that is. In the instance of Androcles and the Lion, the man came across a lion with a nasty thorn in its paw. The man being a carpenter by trade, got out a pair of pliers and removed the thorn, then the lion went away.

Later in the story the man was captured by the Romans and thrown to the lions within the coliseum for the crowds entertainment, a practice in those days especially when it came to the early Christians of the times. This lion whom the man had helped with the thorn was one of the lions and in seeing the man, protected him from the others. Many messages can be attributed to this story, and this is an example of life teaching us lessons our “father” puts before us. And speaking of sacrifice of a people in those days of early Christianity, their faith/belief was huge to be a martyr to the cause of their convictions. To stand bravely by, (they had no choice really) and go silently to slaughter by what ever method the Romans chose to employ at that time. This kind of faith/belief does not really exist in large batches as it appeared to be in the bible. It seems that nowadays we want proof of a God before we lay down anything to it for our benefit. There are those who try to debunk the existence of a so called higher power (God) and use Science as a way to show that if you can not be tangible in proof, feel it, see it, reproduce it, then it does not exist.

But all agree to a so called “big bang” but can not say for certain, when it happened (exactly), what caused it, from where it happened, and what was it that blew up in the first place. Yet there is order in the universe and we are supposed to believe that all of this order is a random occurrence. Our very planet is in what has been dubbed the “Cinderella” spot in relevance to our sun. And that life here is also a random occurrence, with all the seeming order of seasons, wave lengths, sound currents, and on and on. We will search out this, try to debunk it, try to prove it, try to understand it, but in the end we will fail as we just need to accept it is what it is, no more than that.

Some may call that faith/belief; it sure takes the headache out of trying to find answers that are beyond the human mind to hold. Our consciousness is constantly expanding as our knowledge increases and we take in more. How much it will grow is unknowable as trying to describe a sunset to a person who was born blind, or to explain a classical symphony to a person who was born deaf.

We do get to find out who we are though, and the relationship we have with this higher power (God, if you will, by what ever name you choose to call this being). This is where I feel that God (our “father”) sends us the “road map” for us to follow home to the “kingdom of heaven”. After all as humans, what parent would not want the best for their children (a loving family that is), and to provide them with all the tools necessary to succeed in life. The prophets, messengers all have brought us this way/message of the direction we need to go, but we look instead of the accomplishments of that so called “Holy” person via his deeds or miracles. How great was the faith/belief that our ancestors must have had to go gently into that great beyond at the hands of the oppressors the Romans. How wimpy we must seem that anyone could have this much faith/belief as we as a race today are nowhere near this devotion.

And the Romans exploited even this devotion if you just look at its history. The Romans adopted the Christian creed as part of their “new” society for the empire, with the leader being now the spokesperson for God as emperor later Pope. In doing so created an army that was virtually invincible to attack or defending Rome. Imagine an army of Christian soldiers, who by faith/belief, were not afraid to die (especially in battle for their God), to protect the empire or Emperor (Pope) who was spokesperson for God. It probably brought fear into any opposition to this empire as they would not retreat nor were they afraid, which was not mutual within their ranks.

A military arm for the Church also brought us the Spanish Inquisition brought on by power hungry, wealth gathering clergy. It took nearly 2000 years for an acknowledgment of this action and an apology for the atrocities committed in the name of this institution. This also goes to the “road map” as being in many places and not kept by one person, group, institution, cult, etc. Given our history of taking what we want with weapons or wars because ours was bigger or badder than the other guy, it would make sense not to put ones eggs all into one basket. God, as our “father’, would ensure that its children (all of God’s children) would have access to the road map home to heaven. This kingdom is not for anyone in particular, in other words, it is for all of God’s children (creations) discounting none. This is not a religious statement but one that reflects how we as humans conduct our affairs here with regards to our own children. Here we have prisons to punish the so called “wicked” or criminals; God has his place of reformations for soul. Parents will love their children in spite of what they have done in life to society or others.

We also pardon or parole for offenders after a punitive amount of time has passed, God has “karma” as a parole and chance of that soul to do it over again the right way. The old saying “as above, so below” has many meanings if we are open to learning. So where would these road maps be in life so we can make use of them for our benefit? Well we need to be open to learning and being it is for all souls and not just some. Then life itself must be part of the solution for understanding the road map to heaven. This can come with life lessons, dreams (actual dreams as in sleeping pictures), experiences of life, and much more. It is a kind of living school of education for soul that we attend on a daily basis. This is where religion, science, work, play, life all comes together as our: University of Soul, where all are equal and time is not an issue. We will learn at our own pace, our own way, by our own means, by our own determination. We are indeed fortunate that our “heavenly father” has granted us also the gift of “free will and choice:” by which we can discern what we will do or how we do it. All God has done is provide us with the chance to understand who we are and our relation to all that we are. We need as humans to understand, live, learn, work as humans, we as soul, need to learn to be souls and all that the responsibilities that go with being this creation within God’s kingdom. We need to understand all the talents, gifts, responsibility that comes with this exalted position as inheritors of this kingdom. Not to take over, but co-exist, create; exist within paradise for eternity with immeasurable joy. But each must find out this for them-selves, they say, nothing of great value comes easy.

Our “heavenly father” has provided the ways, means and place to find out for ourselves our own truths. For if we obtain this truth by our own efforts, determination, vigilance, and then this can not be taken from us. We then draw upon our own “road map” to match up with the directions being provides daily by our “father” or within this life.

