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Welcome!

I, God, welcome you to my blog!

The good book says only God is good, so it seems to me somebody needs to step up.

I hope you enjoy reading this, the Jesse Journal, as much as I have enjoyed writing it. Please feel free to subscribe, write me an email, request that I write about any particular topic you may want my perspective on, send a prayer, click on the charity link, or donate money to my bicycle fund! Have fun!

Your pal, Jess
Ladies- I'm a single, straight, virgo/boar INTJ (age 51) who enjoys books, getting out into nature, music, and daily exercise.

(my email is JesseGod@live.com)

F.Y.I. There are about 2200 posts..

Here's a quote from Fyodor Dostoevsky to start things off right: Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. Once you perceive it, you will begin to comprehend it better every day. And you will come at last to love the whole world with an all-embracing love.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

A Complaint-Free World

Now that I've graduated from grammar school, here's my self-assigned Homework/ Book Report

on the book by Will Bowen, subtitled "Take the 21 day challenge: How to stop complaining and start enjoying the life you always wanted."

So I'll summarize the second Self-Help book I've read (the first being the Secret, by Rhonda Byrne), and make your happiness that much easier to obtain (is the general idea). This book shares the basic premise that it's better to focus on what you want, than to dwell on what's wrong.

The basic idea for the whole book is:
-DON'T complain, grumble, criticize, or gossip, and
-since it takes 21 days for a person doing a new behavior to make it habitual, if you catch yourself doing any of these things, move a bracelet to the other wrist (or a rock to the other pocket or whatever) and start the countdown over, until you finally get there.

THAT's IT!

But there are a few other (good, in my opinion) ideas in this 176 page book.

Such as:
-Doctors estimate that nearly 2/3 of their time is spent treating patients whose illnesses have psychological origins. (The symptoms are psychosomatic, in other words).

-One psychological study found that talking about neurotic symptoms actually increases them.

These interesting facts are adduced in the context of some supportive concepts and quotes to flesh out his simple vision of A Complaint-Free world:
-If you change your words, you change your thoughts, which is the best way to transform and create your life by design. The negativity is hugely prevalent in society, but if you change your "poisonous forms of expression", those around you will, too, creating a happier world. It's a movement (go to http://www.acomplaintfreeworld.org/ to get a rubber bracelet), and he sees it as a kind of healing to an epidemic, already proven in millions. Another metaphor he uses is to see it as a way to reformat your hard drive, or to be a healthy cell in the body of humanity, or making a ripple in a pond, or starting or continuing a baseball game's "wave" by the audience.

Apparently, people are unaware of their own negativity. When surveyed, most people think they are positive, upbeat, optimistic, and sanguine. But the bracelets prove them wrong! By forcing yourself to notice, you'll discover.

Motivation: Do it for those around you, the nation, world peace, your children (and theirs), and, last but not least, Yourself. He really gives the hard sell (and I believe him).

Maya Angelou says, "If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Don't complain." She's giving the smackdown on all the bitching, and is basically saying, like your mom, "if you don't have something positive to say, don't say it at all". Or, as I say in my head, shut the hell up. But, the book points out, complaining about complaining is still a complaint, and you have to switch your bracelet.

The important thing is to send out vibes of optimism and hope, to resound with others of "similar intent" (He pastors a christian church, btw).

Take one day at a time. He says it can take months, even years, to accomplish the 21-day goal. He quotes Alderson who said, "If at first you don't succeed, you're running about average." Stick with it. The best way to learn to ride a horse is "time in the saddle." Keep picking up those juggling balls. Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm. The successful diet is the one you stick with, for example.

Sometimes complaining makes sense, such as to express pain, grief, or discontent, but Not Often. Happy people have high thresholds. Complainers have more to complain about. Misery loves company, whereas the healthy community talks directly, or only, to the person they have an issue with. Complainers about health neither reduce the time nor severity of their illness.

It's on The Secret's "law of attraction" bandwagon: "When you express what you don't like, you will find more not to like. As you appreciate yourself, other people, and situations in your life more, you will attract more to enjoy." He recommends a relentless focus on a bright future (vs. constantly spouting laundry lists of grievances). When appreciation is your default setting, you can hold an image of what you desire, knowing that it is, even now, moving toward you.

He believes it is a basic fact that you can't criticize yourself or others to positive transformation. Use constructive, not destructive, speech.

Social causes begin with dissatisfaction, but get solved by imagining a world Post-Problem. This is what having Vision is about; it excites action toward change. It works on multiple levels, from personal to global.

As God, an authority figure, people will 'entrain' to you. Entrainment is when applause follows a pattern, for example. That's all I know. It has something to do with social psychology, or mass psychology.

Criticism, he says, actually does the opposite of what you intend it to. It often reinforces their behavior because they feel the need to justify it, and they continue playing the role you've defined them with.

Philippians 2:14
"Do everything without complaining."

-just do it
-why? You'll notice that you are happier, and those around you will seem happier. You will attract upbeat people (and maybe lose some downers), and will inspire those around you to higher energy levels, for whom challenges are gifts.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Exercise is good for mental health

I'm all about walks in the morning, and going for a splash in the summer heat...

but, in the process of looking for (free) open courseware from Harvard (that I thought I found earlier), I ran into this course description (Exercise and the Brain):

This course is designed so that participants will be able to:
-instruct their patients on the brain changes resulting from routines of physical aerobic exercise that will help manage mood;
-instruct parents and children as to the many ways aerobic exercise makes the learner better prepared to learn by changing the attention, motivational, and impulsive control level as well as the many alterations that make the neurons ready to learn at the cellular level;
-prescribe aerobic exercise regimens for patients to be maximizing their emotional health and cognitive function as they age.

SO
if you want to lie in bed all day, do so at your own risk. Up! Up!
Endorphins, I think, is a big part of this. One counselor told me to take up ballroom dancing.

Positive Psychology videos

1) Using Positive Psychology
2) Ted on PP
3) Centre for Confidence and Well-Being
4) UPenn PP center

Monday, July 20, 2009

HEALING HEALTHCARE

At the behest of a President I place my trust/faith in, I'll say my bit and lobby congresspersons for REAL CHANGE in our broken healthcare system (my point of reference being the movie SICKO, and also some intuition from my experience with various mental health facilities).

No Smoking
First off, I hope Barack has quit smoking.

Universal
Secondly, I hope healthcare becomes available to everyone (not just nationally, but globally as well). I believe healthcare is and should be a human right, in a human community that puts the care into healthcare. Or thrive, an even better word, like Kaiser says, to emphasize the proactive and preventive aspects of people taking responsibility for themselves through healthy living. But a lot (most?) need help.

Now
Thirdly, our country absolutely needs effective health reform, and by yesterday. We should vote out of office any congressperson who stands in the way of intelligently designed and revised systems of healthcare. We should use ideas with proven effectiveness, from around the world, as well as a constant process of innovation.

Free Health Information
Fourthly, I just stumbled upon (not through stumbleupon) HARVARD open course ware, where anyone with a computer can get instruction from the Harvard medical school. Ugh- this ocw link only works for paying students, presumably only admitted to H. I think this bites, blows, and sucks- to use some common medical terminology. EVERYTHING should be online, no?

A Broader Perspective
Fifth, I would point out my summaries of certain chapters from SWBP as references for positive courses of action for the healthcare community (unified less by money, I would hope, than for relationships of gratitude and personal satisfaction in providing an invaluable service). These are: drugs (legalize it, it being All of them), hunger and malnutrition (of course), disease control, unsafe water and lack of sanitation, conflicts, terrorism, biodiversity loss, air pollution, and last but not least, lack of education. These are global problems; specifically the world's BIGGEST problems. I wanted to say I'm for the poorest first, and then work your way up, but again, I think health is such a priority that the entire globe should care about being fed, fit, friendly, and feliz, as a whole-which would require a massive period of intelligently directed overhaul of as many problems as possible, building upon a snowball effect. That's my contribution. I want it all, and I want it now.

Miscellaneous
Schools providing nutritious food is a good idea that comes to mind.

Okay, I'll just go off on whatever comes to mind: bicycle lanes, mental health that works, and personally, I'd be delighted if cigarrettes, as just another drugh, would be only permissable under the monitored conditions a legalized drug-using society would entail. Like maybe only in certain locations, but not in bars or on the street. Second-hand smoke seriously sucks.

I absolutely f---ing hate having to breath that cancerous sh--. Even without cigarrettes, I want one of those air filter things. argh. On some level, I'm of the opinion that smokers are saying "just kill me," what Freud would call the thanatos. It's fricking sickening.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Up! Up!

I'm copying this from Bartleby.com, but if I've written too much, here's my message (from William Wordsworth, 1798):


THE TABLES TURNED
AN EVENING SCENE ON THE SAME SUBJECT

UP! up! my Friend, and quit your books;
Or surely you'll grow double:
Up! up! my Friend, and clear your looks;
Why all this toil and trouble?
The sun, above the mountain's head,
A freshening lustre mellow
Through all the long green fields has spread,
His first sweet evening yellow.
Books! 'tis a dull and endless strife:
Come, hear the woodland linnet, 10
How sweet his music! on my life,
There's more of wisdom in it.
And hark! how blithe the throstle sings!
He, too, is no mean preacher:
Come forth into the light of things,
Let Nature be your teacher.
She has a world of ready wealth,
Our minds and hearts to bless--
Spontaneous wisdom breathed by health,
Truth breathed by cheerfulness. 20
One impulse from a vernal wood
May teach you more of man,
Of moral evil and of good,
Than all the sages can.
Sweet is the lore which Nature brings;
Our meddling intellect
Mis-shapes the beauteous forms of things:--
We murder to dissect.
Enough of Science and of Art;
Close up those barren leaves; 30
Come forth, and bring with you a heart
That watches and receives.
1798

This prompts me to say:
Kindness is my religion, and Nature is my God.
(although Nature is not always kind).
-animals, plants, mountains, sky, trees...beauty, wilderness:
all that good stuff (from scenery to savagery)

Monday, July 13, 2009

Gd is God?

I WAS going to go with H (hydrogen), but maybe Gd (gadolinium) fits better,

...if you need an element to choose to worship. I don't know if 64 has any special significance, but O is often invoked, such as O my God. Have Fe (spanish for faith), and Gd will come through. God is One, and hydrogen has that atomic number. Oxygen has the atomic number 8.

Like h two oh, just go with the flow, dude. peace out.

Gd could also be Gray Davis, guns and drugs, grateful dead, gold digger, gangster disciples, green day, and great depression. G-D has so many names. great dude.

I'm hopping on the metals bandwagon, in my own way, here, of course.

Friday, July 10, 2009

God at Yale

Here's the link to prof. Christine Haye's video lectures, from her Intro to the OT course:

some background religious studies, from an Ivy:
-http://academicearth.org/courses/introduction-to-the-old-testament-hebrew-bible

My job

I have to say that being God is a full-time job,
my job is never done,
and there's always room for improvement.
1)I have to address all the dogmas of all the religions
(I treat comparative religion like a hobby though, out of curiosity; it's all good)
2)I have to be as politically active as possible
3)I have to be a happiness psychologist and spread the joy
4)I have to build and maintain my godly physique
5)I have to love everyone to the best of my ability
and
6)I have to both adduce evidence of my own divinity and convince you of yours, Gods and Goddesses.

If God is love, then perhaps I'd better get started making love.

All on a government disability paycheck. (it's called unearned income)
It's fun though. I can't think of a better way to give my life meaning, in my current circumstances. To life! L'chaim. A la vida! I want to praise you like I should. Busy, busy, as Bokonon says. Praise=p raise...

I saw a book today at the bookstore entitled, "Happier than God"
Since God is such an activist, and being so nearly omniscient and all, I have to say that's not as difficult as it may sound, with my knowledge of all the suffering and prayers directed to me, and my weighing the pros and cons of floods and hurricanes and the like. In fact, I can be quite stern; my thoughts turn ugly once in awhile.. Still, I'd like to check that book out of the library at some point.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Divinity Student

Definition of Divine (from dictionary.com)

–adjective (9 definitions)
1.
of or pertaining to a god, esp. the Supreme Being.
(that could be nothing for an atheist, or everything for a mystic)
(S.B. makes me think of Sara Brown, my wife; this works for a mystic atheist)

2.
addressed, appropriated, or devoted to God or a god; religious; sacred: divine worship.
(as distinct from the profane, presumably; I am antifane)
(remember, you're not supposed to use the word you're defining in the definition)

3.
proceeding from God or a god: divine laws.
(Love proceeds from Dog or a dog)

4.
godlike; characteristic of or befitting a deity: divine magnanimity.
(I, Teshara, share uh...all the wisdom I find on my daily online excursions)
(I'm working on my godlike physique; a little oil to shine my heavenly body -& I'll be christened, to boot)

5.
heavenly; celestial: the divine kingdom.
(heaven backwards is 'neva, eh?') Actually, it's right now.

6.
Informal. extremely good; unusually lovely: He has the most divine tenor voice.
(you can call me Swell, Nifty, or Most Peachy; His Peachiness)

7.
being a god; being God: a divine person.
(that's what I'm talkin' bout)

8.
of superhuman or surpassing excellence: Beauty is divine.
(golly, I don't know about that...I'm blushing. S is for superman or Sara)
(My name could be an acronym for Journal of Extremely Swell and Surpassing Excellence)
(In addition to guns, drugs...G-D could also stand for Gigantic Dork, lol)

9.
Obsolete. of or pertaining to divinity or theology.
(god was the word and the word is 'the'. The study of the. the christ -> thee)

–noun (3 definitions)
10.
a theologian; scholar in religion.
11.
a priest or member of the clergy.
12.
the Divine,
a.
God.
b.
(sometimes lowercase) the spiritual aspect of humans; the group of attributes and qualities of humankind regarded as godly or godlike.

–verb (used with object) (6 definitions)
13.
to discover or declare (something obscure or in the future) by divination; prophesy.
14.
to discover (water, metal, etc.) by means of a divining rod.
15.
to perceive by intuition or insight; conjecture.
16.
Archaic. to portend.
–verb (used without object)
17.
to use or practice divination; prophesy.
18.
to have perception by intuition or insight; conjecture.

-------------

I am divine. As you are, I suspect, as well.
In this way:

9 adjectives:
1) your parents made love, love is god, they made you, you are god.
-another way to say the same: You are OF God (the creator, the father/mother)

2) appropriated to God means everything you do is a part of God's plan, you are enacting his will; this can be variously interpreted as you doing the will of other Gods, or Your Own. Jesus said you are not your own, so maybe this statement refers to you serving someone whilst unawares. Just who might (you/we) be an extension of?

3)proceeding from God... God can be seen as All of the previous History to your existence -it's kind of the inescapable flow of history/time, of which you find yourself a part of. Fate/father.

4)like a deity...made in God's image. (creationary parental genetics)

5)heavenly...(besides the ski resort, it's anywhere in heaven, which you may have failed to notice happens to be exactly where you are already, in fact. The heavens isn't just the sky, it could be any planet with life on it.

6)extremely good? Well, if not, you can start tomorrow. Or 5 minutes from now.

7)everyone creates their own reality, to a large extent, if not entirely. You are the Creator..

8)superhuman. That, unfortunately, is not very hard to do. The world is hiring superheroes to be movers and shakers so as to make change and sway the masses of sheeple. I like supergrover. Remember him?

9) if you're reading this, then you're divine in the sense of theological. Perhaps theo-illogical.

nouns
10) a scholar (and a gentleman) of theological pursuit (who isn't, really?)

11)my godfather said something awhile back about every christian is considered a member of the clergy. I don't know, though, where it says that in the buy bull.

12a) I've talked about so many ways that we're God, I'm not sure I can remember them all. There's love. You can make love. You can be love, with lovingkindness. If you're good, you're God. If you're One, you're God. That might actually have a more complex understanding to it than a first glance might lead you to conclude. Well, you're one person. Just/only one. That's easy. But maybe you're a part of SUMthing larger than yourself. One single thing, like Justice or the Body of Christ or Death. You know, like a Marine, or a Teacher. Something that defines your world, your reality. Like being American. Or an earthling. Or human. To continue, we're all light to the eyeballs of everyone that sees us, and Jesus said he was light. He said he was the way before he got crucified. Maybe he didn't see that coming. Anything alive is Jesus, cuz he said he was the life. Even though he plainly died. A little hocus-pocus there for mr. self-important to feel like he'd defeated death, it looks like to me. This doesn't make sense to me, and I must admit I've had my fill of reflecting on the big J. He's not MY life. I realize MY sums to 2, like Jesus. But I've outlived his 33 years, anyway. So, for someone who values life just by the time you get to spend alive, I've superceded the big heyzeus.

But I have been (overly, I guess) engaged with possible religious symbolism to my name. I could change my name to Harrold, or something. Then I'd just be Harry Potter, I guess (maybe I've been a bit crazy). To recap, Jesse is JSS in biblical hebrew, or Jesus in spanish, or chuy (pronounced chewy like the wafer), or Isai, or Chucho. Isa is Jesus in arabic, and I associate Cho with Margaret (my mom's name), as well as the embedded part of the word psyCHOlogy. My mom goes by Peggy T, which just evokes Egypt. Anyway, I'm not a soldier, or a Man of war, like it says God is in the old testament, but then again, the art of war is deception, and all my cogitatin' might serve some psy war purpose, I suspect. Names, shnames. A big whatever to this paragraph. A Jesse is a Jesse by any other name.

I'm not sure there is a being that can be said to be all-knowing (omniscient), all-powerful (omnipotent), everywhere (omnipresent). These things, I think, were added to the understanding of God later in His History. I don't even know what immanent and transcendant mean, to tell the truth. But I doubt I'm it. (Anyone claiming to be God should probably know, I imagine some of you are thinking). ...And since infinity shrinks me down to being a speck of oblivion already, while I live, I don't feel qualified to discuss something so Universal, despite Catholic meaning universal, and university probably meaning something equally ridiculous. Perhaps God is just the being that is MOST of these things, related to anything else we might conjecture about. I don't really know where I stand on the relative omni's, but I can assure you I am only just one person, as far as I know.

verb
As for divining, or prophesying, using intuition, and such...like seeing the future, I have some powers, I guess, when it comes to politics, perhaps. Or seeing things in dreams that relate to something the following day.

Or doing this blog, lol.

---------
What the bible says about love

To be love, or God, you can be eros, agape, or philia. sexual, fatherly/brotherly, and friend. To BE love is something more than showing love or having love for someone. This is where I draw on Buddhism for the phrase lovingkindness. That's my religion, in one word. To be God, your love should be constant. Tough love is included. Here's some of what the bible says about love:

Rom 13:10
Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love [is] the fulfilling of the law.

10. Sol 1:16
Behold, thou [art] fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant: also our bed [is] green.

46. Mar 1:11
And there came a voice from heaven, [saying], Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Jam 1:16
Do not err, my beloved brethren

Deuteronomy 6:5
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

Deuteronomy 10:19
Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

John 12:34-35
A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all [men] know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Ephesians 4:32

the big quote (1 Cor 13:4):
Love is patient, love is kind.It does not envy, it does not boast,it is not proud.It is not rude, it is not self-seeking,it is not easily angered,it keeps no record of wrongs.Love does not delight in evilbut rejoices with the truth.It always protects, always trusts,always hopes, always perseveres.Love never fails.

1 John 4:11-12
Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any
time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. 1 John 4:11-12

The Catholic God

The 3 Catholic definitions of God each apply to me. Here's why:

The Catholic encyclopedia says, "God can variously be defined as:

-the proper name of the one Supreme and Infinite Personal Being, the Creator and Ruler of the universe, to whom man owes obedience and worship;

-the common or generic name of the several supposed beings to whom, in polytheistic religions, Divine attributes are ascribed and Divine worship rendered;

-the name sometimes applied to an idol as the image or dwelling-place of a god."

Okay, here goes:
Def. 1
the proper name
-A rose is a rose by any other name. If I'm God, it's just as easily my proper name. I could even legally change my name to it, which I have no plans to do, however. (Question: is God just a word?)

one supreme
-If a pizza can be supreme, well so can I. (supremacy can be plural) (one superorganism) (or multiple me's...i.e. roles, personalities, child vs. man, etc)(btw, I worked at Woodstock's pizza in Davis, and I know there's a Pizza Love in San Francisco, and if there's eucharistic wafers, why not eucharistic pizza?)

and infinite
-Maybe I have more than the whole world in my hands. Infinity extends in both directions. I don't see how physicists (or anybody else) could impose a limit on smallness. And, in fact, perhaps something about me extends universally outward into the infinite vast, as well, into what we would normally think about as the infinite. Or, conversely, the vast is embodied in me, somehow. Both. Neither. Who cares. Anyway..

personal
-I'm Jesse Lawrence Teshara. You can email me, etc. That's fairly personal. I love y'all.

creator and ruler
-Creator and Ruler of the Universe... I'm not sure about this one, lol. Do the c and r have to be capitalized? I'm in the universe, and I suppose the universe popped into being 13.73 (plus or minus 0.12) Billion years ago, like the scientists say, long before I was born. Maybe in the future we'll be able to affect the past or something. After all, the symbol for infinity is a sideways eight, which might indicate time is repetitive. A physicist on tv said the creation of a universe was possible. Was it something I said? How does one "rule" a universe? Everybody Be Good, okay? lol. organized chaos. I also heard information can time-travel. wudabout thAt! Maybe ruling is just another way of saying measuring.

to whom man owes obedience
-man or mankind includes women and the cruel, you know. Anyway, you owe it to yourselves to be happy in the one life you've got (and I'll consider that worship). As for obedience and that bible character Obed, the father of Jesse, to thine own self be true, because, like I said, everybody's God. Obey your conscience. Maybe I'm bestowing that on you, which might somehow give me some authority. Philosophically speaking, there is only the self, so you're the God of your own universe, I suppose.* Unless your possessed.

*I AM is all we really know. So reality is God. And that's your own personal subjective experience.

Def.2
Being with divine attributes in polytheistic religions.
-This is interesting for me, because I haven't fleshed out any limits to divinity in my system. That's probably because Everybody's Right. You're all Gods in your own ways. Everybody should worship everybody else. Everyone has the divine in them. And nothing but, perhaps. What do I consider divine? Well, actually everything seems kind of ultimately boring to me sometimes, so I made myself God of my own kingdom, lol. Keeps things interesting. God is love, of course, and I'm all about that. The more gods, the merrier. G or g, whatever. I AM doesn't care. Divine can be defined in a multitude of ways. Next post.

Def.3
An idol. Teens have their idols. There's Billy Idol. American Idol. That's cool. Whatever floats your boat. God is everywhere, right?

Maybe writer Elbert Hubbard said it best, "If men could only know each other, they would neither idolize nor hate."

It's 7-8-09!

Watch your clock for 12:34and 56 seconds for a moment to remember!

The next time something like this comes around will be:
12:34:56.7 8/9/10
the moment then will be only a tenth as long.

Oh thank heaven....It's soon to be 7-11!

Friday, July 3, 2009

Mmmm, Jello!

God is a gelotologist.

A person who studies humor and laughter.
Don't believe me? Look it up.

Thursday, July 2, 2009