Materialism Versus Spiritualism

We all have a choice - whether or not we want to acknowledge that choice: choose to believe or not to believe.. By not believing we automatically subscribe to the modern and most predominant religion on our world: Materialism. And yes, unfortunately it's the most populous religion of the world at this time..

Whether you're Korean Christian, Thai Baptist, American Christian, or other form of 'Christian', you're most definitely a Materialist. i'm not saying every single one of them is false - just most of them.. You tell me how an American 'Christian' can advocate war. That is against Christian values: the core Christian value being - love your enemy. i hate to say this but my observations of Korean 'Christians' are not much better: they use their religion to augment their Western values so that they can become more successful - they're 'Christians' because they want to be more materialistically successful. The same can be said for Thai Baptists but from a different angle - most of them become 'Christian' out of abject poverty. If you ask them why they're 'Christian', they give you a materialistic reason. i will get labeled a 'hatemonger' after this essay but i must call a spade a spade: most 'Christians' are NOT Christians. They don't have the slightest idea IN THEIR HEARTS what true Christianity is.

As an example, if you're proud of your 'Christianity', you're not really a Christian. Above all else, Christ was a HUMBLE man - it is the train of writers who have glorified and glamorized him. He never claimed himself to be God - only those weak followers of him have done that. Again, Jesus never claimed to be God - only his weak followers do that! So if you glorify or glamorize Jesus, you are no better than the 'heathen' you try so hard to 'save'! You really want to know the mechanics of 'salvation'? It's your ego dominating those less fortunate: you're forcing a religion down poor people's throats to satisfy your own insecurities. Your 'salvation' is really an ego-fest to salve 'Christian' insecurity. You cloak your weakness in 'good deeds' but the best deeds DON'T HAVE AUTHORS - the best deeds are done by people who refuse to be recognized by their deeds. That is why many True Christians refuse to author their good deeds - they do them anonymously.

Thai Buddhists are no better.. In a religion who's core premise is: all we see is illusion - they most certainly are the most rabid Materialists on the planet! When will people understand: owning something makes you owned by what you own! (If you own something - that thing eventually owns you - not the other way around!) For instance, if i own a Lexus, i must clean it and wax it and adore it and show it off - so everyone can see my affluence. It's pathetic.. Materialism is insidious - it creeps into every crevice of our lives and ends up dominating us.

Monks here own things - it's a contradiction in values! How can a monk, who supposedly follows Buddha, own anything! IT'S WRONG! i've held back in my comments so far but after seeing the same thing in every country i visit, i can no longer remain silent .. Look, this is what i tell my ex: everyone wants comfort - that's natural. But to obsess with Materialism is just as bad as letting Satan ____ you from behind. (Not that i believe in that persona - most of Satan is simply the evil in our hearts.) i'm not asking you to give up your possessions - i'm asking you to recognize they own you - your possessions own you. When possessions become obsessions, they own you. It's very simple and easy to understand.

Money is not the root of all evil - the LOVE of money is the root of all evil. Selfishness and ego gratification is the root of all evil. Think about the next time you 'save' someone by convincing them to come to church with you.. Is it really your sincere desire to introduce Christ to them? Or something else? i'm beginning to think the horse-and-buggy Amish have it right all along.. When you limit your materialism - you limit its ownership of your life.

i'm not saying you must become a Better Wayist to become Spiritual - i'm saying: recognize your materialism and religious insecurities. What is the first premise of AA? Recognizing you have a problem. Materialism is not just an unrecognized religion - it's an addiction just like anything else: sex, alcohol, drugs,.. We simply don't realize it's a problem until it's too late (when it's taken over our lives).

i'm also saying most of our ideas about Christ are WRONG:
 Jesus never said himself he was God
 Jesus believed in humility above all else
 Jesus never said "the only way to the Father is through me"
 what he meant was: you must DESTROY YOUR EGO to find God

How can i claim to know what Jesus intended to say?
Because in these moments, God is speaking to you through me.
i cannot claim every minute to be possessed by the Holy Spirit, but there are moments..
And this moment is one of those.

So at this moment in your reading, many of you are saying "Sam is obviously insane." Why do you say that? Because your ego's afraid of dying .. Last night, i could hear some farang across the street talking about me.. i can only guess they're friends of the prostitute i befriended in Chiangmai. i can only guess she was frightened by my emails and texts.. This is what i get for opening my heart to a prostitute. 8|

What she does not realize is that she's climbing a garbage mountain with her vagina - one penis at a time. She believes after 'so many penises', she'll be financially secure.. But what will she have after that many penises? A stone vagina? 8|

Another thing she does not realize is that her fear is rooted in her fear of her father beating her to a pulp after he finds out what her occupation is. i have no intention of telling him - that's her responsibility.. Her fear of me is actually her fear of her father finding out she's a prostitute.

You see now why i say "everything is illusion"? Our image of Jesus is wrong, our view of ourselves is twisted, our way of looking at others is typically incorrect,.. Everything we see is twisted/distorted.

My ex sees me as a 'pussy obsessed asshole'. i admit i have a weakness for the fairer sex - mostly just in the fact i like to admire a cute woman. i must learn to control myself in front of 'my lady' if she graces my path again. But that is the bulk of my 'sins' - admiring cute women. Is that such a great sin?

i lay out my personal life to such extent in these essays because i cannot 'preach' without exposing the truth of myself.. i admit my weaknesses and try to overcome them. If my woman can put me first in her life, such as my ex could not, generally speaking - i don't even need to look at other women..

But see my error in speech? i said above "my woman".. What i really mean to say is: "the woman who chooses me as her soul-mate" .. "my woman" is an abbreviation of that. Please forgive that expression - i cannot own ANYONE. Get this ;) i try to own myself by destroying my own ego - so by destroying my ego - i Liberate myself allowing me to become One with the Creator. In the end, i cannot even own myself..

The best i can do is Love; forget myself (meaning - destroy my ego); focus on Love.. What else can i Do? 8)

...

The grandest deception in the history of humankind is Christ the Messiah. Nobody can save us but ourselves. The sooner we recognize that in our souls, the sooner we can rectify the situation. Jesus is not coming back unless we make him from restored DNA and that technology does not yet exist on Earth. Perhaps the next greatest tragedy for humankind is the deception of 'Mohammed is God's Prophet'. Muslims truly believe their religion is the perfect human system for living a Godly life. But how can they wage war against the 'demonically controlled USA'? The only way they can wage war against them is by demonizing them. In actuality, it is 'demons' that are controlling the whole insane situation. By polarizing major populations with religious fervor, these 'demons' feed off our hate and mutual destruction.

You see again why i say "everything is illusion"? The sooner we give up our delusions, accept responsibility for Earth and ourselves OURSELVES, the sooner we can acquire true Salvation. My name is Salvatore for good reason. i'm here to show the Better Way to Salvation.

No one is going to Save us but ourselves: not Jesus, not Mohammed, not Yahweh, not Kalki, not Siddhartha,.. No one can Save us but Ourselves.

Ourselves = our divine Self .. First, we must obliterate our egos, next, we must shuck the monkey of Materialism off our backs,.. Only after we are truly Liberated, can we See with clear eyes/mind. To me, the simplest most direct path to this is by keeping respect and love in your heart. Selfishness and egoism cannot live side-by-side with respect and love. Please try your best to force-out the former with the latter.

At this point, i must sound like the proverbial parrot SKWAAK! "Keep love and respect in your heart." SKWAAK! ;) See, even i can laugh at myself. ;) ..My mother thinks "I'm too serious" but how else can i be when discussing our eternal souls??? 8|

All i can reasonably do is ask you to try your best.. Please try your best to kill your egos. Please try to love truly. Please respect your Self by respecting others.. Attach yourself to Self not things.

...

i'm going to tell you the story about how i learned respect and humility at eight years old so you will understand and hopefully appreciate some things about me.. First let me say i was basically a middle-class kid growing up in a 'rich' neighborhood. Not one day passed that the other kids didn't remind me of this fact. There was a pecking order in our town and i was near the bottom of it. The only one below me was a kid everyone made fun of because .. well, because there had to be someone at the bottom. His father was the only one who defended him. He observed me teasing him one day and took me aside.. The fact he did not spank me or threaten me impressed me no end. The fact he gave me the respect to speak with me politely impressed me. He treated me like the adult i yearned to be. How could i NOT listen to him? He made it very simple for me: even his son deserved respect. i asked "What about my enemies - people who don't respect me?" He could only reply from the Christian vantage but i believe he personally believed they did not deserve respect. So you see he not only taught me about respect and humility, he also taught me about the Golden Rule. For forty years i have tried to keep those three principles in my heart .. My hatred of Materialism should be clarified by this story. Thank God i never had things when i craved them. Thank God i didn't at the critical moments in my life .. There was only one possession i truly craved over the years and my father eventually satisfied that desire: a telescope. i learned to clean and take care of it so that it would last years.. i tried my best to 'eek out' the most i could learn from the heavens with that simple instrument before passing it on to another.. So i learned 'respect for things' which may not be as important as 'respect for others' - but still very important. People think of their possessions as 'extensions of themselves' so even though i don't subscribe to Materialism, i must respect others' property as they see it .. Eventually, i outgrew the Golden Rule (in the sense i realized the overriding importance of respect and other spiritual principles) .. Not that i'm 'perfect' (i'm still a work in progress) .. i still apply the Golden Rule in my personal life as appropriately as i can.. For instance, if i let my nephew control the family atmosphere with his 'rambunctiousness', this computer would be destroyed and i would have no way to communicate with you. My son would not get the guidance and love he needs from me so.. i use my personal (Spiritual?) judgment as required.. i HATE Materialism but without this computer, i could not communicate with my readers.. So there are some things i must protect out of necessity.. My nephew's father is in prison so he obviously needs a father figure in his life.. But my son takes precedence as he obviously must .. i try to balance my responsibilities to my son with my responsibilities to the human race .. This computer is also used by my ex to communicate with our son .. Every day, i ask for her forgiveness (from my heart), but she contends this is impossible.. "Find her" (find your 'dream girl') she says.. i say "i already have".. i believe the most important Christian principle is forgiveness but most of us find it extremely difficult to apply in our personal lives.. if i was a stronger man when she met me, there would be less resentment on her side for me presently.

There's one final story i need to tell situated in the American Southwest. There i met two wonderfully brilliant and inspired educators. They introduced me to their vibrant daughter who, in the process of observing their community play practice, introduced me to E, an incredibly talented and effervescent young woman. E liked me from first meeting but in most circles, our age difference would prohibit any romantic entanglement.. (My ex is about the same age as she is now.) But it so happens her grandfather is retired military and is quite influential in town so the family used their local influence to basically force me out. The break of trust and respect between me and the educators shook my world and it took me years to overcome it. Their 'bottom line' with respect to the whole mess was that i showed "lack of good judgment". i was simply curious who the heck was on the other side of the emails.. Again, my naiveness and 'trust in the good of others' allowed the situation to escalate. If the family in question had approached me directly.. "i don't go where i'm unwelcome" was one of my mottos at the time.. Chalk it up to a Learning experience - like the Chiangmai prostitute.. i suppose E's family labeled me at that time as a 'sexual predator'. Quite honestly, i was simply enchanted by E. i cannot know if the feeling was mutual.. i ask for forgiveness from E's family - for 'threatening' them (as they saw it).. i suppose they'd rather forget the whole thing .. For American girls/ladies, my 'problem' has always been 'mismatch' (i always liked ladies who rarely looked sideways at me). Most of the girls i'd establish lasting relationships with were good friends, but .. that's as much as they should have been. One young woman, who taught me a Lot, was Tricia - a Michigan girl with a delicate past.. i loved Trish .. beyond words. But i could be nothing more than 'Mr. Right Now' (temporary) to her. It was heartbreaking and again - took me several years to overcome.. As i confessed to the prostitute, i typically open my heart too easily/quickly to ladies i admire.. No matter how much it hurts (like when they don't return your love), i still contend it's never wrong to open your heart to someone.. When Trish and i made love the first time (okay, perhaps the second time), i had this, which could only be described as, mystical vision - of souls as flames dancing around each other .. It shook me into Awareness as it was both terrifying and wonderful. So you can understand why i'd pursue Tricia so fervently.. Many years later, a similar experience happened with the prostitute. Again, you should be able to understand why i'd open my heart further to her. In both cases, i tried to discover if either lady had a similar experience without being invasive, but .. it seems both only had a glimmer of the Union i experienced.

i still contend it was not fantasy - my perceptions during those experiences. With my 'Trish vision', i had no expectations, no preconceptions, no ideas about what to expect with her. i simply was her loving man at that time. God showed me the rest - as a gift i presume. True, i prayed prior to making love with the prostitute - i prayed for true love.. But i did not expect her to respond to my love as she did. No matter how 'gay' it sounds, a kind of blooming in my heart occurred. i had no expectations about her responsiveness. Her return of my love allowed my love to fully blossom.

The reason i've been so personal and open about my past should be obvious for several reasons: i cannot preach what i don't practice, if i only preach without giving some kind of personal justification - it's meaningless, i need you to understand how the values i preach are 'built into my character' from various experiences, these words come directly from my heart and mind to yours,.. Of course, i have many other stories about love and friendship which i could relate on these pages but.. none are as salient as those i've already told. It's up to you now to accept or reject my teachings/values - as pertinent to a thriving enduring human civilization. i cannot lead you; i can only point the Way.

May God Bless those who Read these words; may God Guide those who do not.

sam iam