Real Magic: Strange Stories, Amazing Facts

If we live within centuries of a sea parting, or the whole world flooding, or someone being turned into salt by God, our inherent and inherited belief system is amazing in that we really believe stuff like that can happen. So when Jesus comes later and says believe and be healed, we know we already believe, and so we are healed.

Now, a couple of thousand years passes and we live in a world of science and technology, and magic is stuff like cloning sheep, and virtual reality, and seedless watermelon. But it’s also the world of near death experiences, past life regressions, and being able to heal yourself. Why do some of us have a hard time believing the natural magic over the tinkerings of science? 

If we limit our beliefs, don’t we only limit ourselves? Seems there is a large spectrum of believing, but only the upper limits have the “gold.” Man cloning sheep pales in comparison to God creating man and endowing him with the natural ability to heal himself.

Where else is the real magic happening today? And does it even matter, because if we experienced it, how many of us would immediately doubt it, ruining our very own surprise party (that the magic is real). The most recent “real” magic for many kids was Harry Potter. And if they didn't have anything else that they believed in to that degree, thank God they were at least instilled at a young, impressionable age, with the belief in powerful magic. Doesn’t matter that it’s fictional, it matters that the foundation of believing was laid. 

Do you have a magical foundation of belief? What is it for you? Did Raiders of the Lost Ark do it for anyone? Mine happened in a book of all things, because I never used to read. I was about 8 years old, out of school for the day because of another ear infection, and after the doctors my mom took me across the street to the Smithtown Public Library for a used book sale. She found me a Reader’s Digest special edition that looked interesting: Strange Stories, Amazing Facts. I think it cost a nickel. 

I dug pretty deep into this book, and on page 382 I read for the very first time about Padre Pio, The Miraculous Monk; never really leaving a small Italian town, yet appearing to people worldwide, comforting and healing them; I believed it ALL. And by God’s grace, I never let that level of believing go; it has made all the difference in my life. Would you like to be someone who just believes somewhere on a spectrum, or someone who climbs up out of the spectrum and knows? Seek to know! All God’s powerful magic…it’s real; and the more you believe in it, the more you can grow and heal from it.

How Faith Works

Ever wonder about that…how faith actually works? I’ve seen it work enough that I know it’s real, but I thought it would be fun—and hopefully informative—to explain exactly how faith works its magic.

So there’s you, sitting, reading this, and electric impulses are firing-off in your head and all over your body, and though you maybe can’t feel it yet, those impulses are emitting a biomagnetic field around you that is the average of what you are being right now. If you could feel it, it’d be like physically experiencing corresponding states of water.

If you read this with skepticism, your biomagnetic field is a lot like watery Jello that’s about to set. If you were totally closed-minded when you started reading this, and you just now reaffirmed that you’re not budging, your field is like a block of ice. If you’re curious, your field is like a light, dancing rain. And if you’re totally open, your field is like a pleasant, almost-imperceivable mist.

Now, to understand further, I need you to pretend you are telekinetic and can move any of those water-like forms with your mind. Which form do you imagine would be the easiest to influence? Jello’s so thick and likes to jiggle back to its original mold. Good luck trying to influence the ice block; you’d need an actual sledgehammer or chainsaw for that one. Rain is more easily swayed, but you’d still need a good, strong wind. Mist is so light and weightless, it would easily yield to your telekinetic mind or your natural breathe.

So having faith is most like being an open-minded, light, weightless mist that then has the greatest ability to yield to and be influenced by subtle Divine sways. Yielding your will through the openness of faith allows you to exist within life’s gentler breezes (diminishing the need for strong winds, sledgehammers or chainsaws); if you consciously or unconsciously choose a state that is less yielding, it will be that much harder to guide you to where you want to be. That's how faith works and pays off in every instance you have it, and how it’s blocked off in every instance you don’t. Choose faith!

Up in Arms!

Despite my tweet…

Since God is the foundation of everything, 

it's going to be so much fun the day science finally proves
and thereby gets to meet its Creator.

                            …I really do like science and scientific explanations for things. In the days of Trivial Pursuit--if my memory is correct--the green questions were my faves. (Green was science, right?)

I've already blogged in Good Vibrations about the science behind the reality of the biomagnetic field or aura. And I don't need science to prove my relationship with Divine Intelligence because science is, in all its genius, still missing the forest for the tress. But since I already know God personally and scientifically as the Quantum Field of Intelligence, I can still appreciate science for keeping me in check when I do explore new ideas; theoretically.

So, when I heard about the idea of spiritual arms (which I guess also have spirit fingers), I wanted a rational explanation to encourage what I was about to undertake. Let me start by saying that it came to my understanding that to experience the subtler fields of energy that are Divine, you had to develop spiritual arms to connect (in a more physical way) with the spiritual flow. In other words, you had to consciously form your biomagnetic field from its current state of unconscious blobyness with imbalances, into a balanced form that has arms, hands (and, hey, why not add wings?!). I'll always admit when I see how something can sound crazy to most, but if you're curious, please indulge yourself further:

To feel the biomagnetic fields of others, it is tremendously helpful to have arms and hands; they allow me to move through and experience such fields with ease and precision. I've been practicing Reiki for about 15 years, and I find it requires a lot more concentration to experience someone else's field with just my body, arms at my side; and then, even when I can feel their field in this way, it's nearly impossible to then feel the differences within their field without lifting my arms. But that wouldn't be a problem if I had spirit arms! But, is such a thing possible? Well, logically speaking, yes.

We all can have certain, real protrusions in our fields that directly follow our personas. If you are a super creative type that doesn’t care too much for the logical world, there is no doubt your biomagnetic field on the right side of your brain is protruding out, such that if it suddenly became solid matter, you'd tip over to that side. If you're a teenager that's hyper-focused on finding a mate, you might have a biomagnetic protrusion of another kind. (Your heart!) And so on. So if we can subconsciously create our protrusions, why not consciously then? I was willing to test my hypothesis, and I didn't hold back; I believed it was possible!

I started by imagining my spirit arms while I was driving; they would start at my sides--seats, doors, and other car parts didn't get in the way--and I would raise them up slowly over my head into what I know as a sun salutation. I'd then lower my imaginary spirit hands into prayer position over my heart, then let my spirit arms fall back down to my sides again. I'm in my car for hours every day, and after a few weeks of practicing this, I begin to feel my spirit arms! For those of you who remember learning Reiki, it's like your first time feeling the biomagnetic field, ever so subtle, but you know it's real and that you aren't imagining things. (For those of you who don't know Reiki, it's like your first time experiencing the feeling of falling in love, and how powerful, different and real that is.)

I can only feel my spiritual arms at about 3% of the strength that I feel my physical arms, but it's enough and encourages me to continue practicing. Since they are spirit arms and therefore limitless in range (as are all magnetic fields), I start expanding my arms--with newly upgraded wings--higher and higher into the sky. Until the day I reach up and feel another set of arms reach down--5% strength--and grab mine, merging with them, the loving energy flowing into my heart, and all of my being disappearing into God's Bliss. (Totally new meaning of driving under the influence.) 

I got to the point where I could feel the physical presence of God in my heart any time I was energetically balanced (physical + mental + emotional + spiritual balance = energetical balance), anytime my mind was clear and still, and anytime I could move my consciousness into my heart. And soon after, I was able to experience Jesus in the same way, but even stronger. And I didn't even have to do a sun salutation with my spirit arms anymore for my connections to happen, so I stopped practicing with them. Then weeks went by and I was no longer able to connect at will. And it wasn't until just recently I realized that I needed to practice with my spirit arms again, for I could no longer feel them either.

Hi, my name is Kurt, and it's been a five days since I started practicing with my spirit arms (with wings) again…

Connecting with Jesus – Into the Great Wide Open

I was fortunate enough to be born mostly open-minded, because if I hadn’t been, or if I’d been born to fearful parents, or into a fearful community, perhaps I never would have experienced any of the following in my search as a Christian seeking a closer, real connection with the Divine:

When, early on, I was just trying to think about God more, I made a point to think about Him whenever I saw a digital time with all the same numbers, like 3:33 or 11:11; it was usually once a day, though could sometimes be more. Then I saw an awesome picture of thousands of Muslims bowing and praying to Allah (God), and learned they did that 5 times a day, religiously. This made me reflect on how many times a day I was turning to God, and made me want to “bow” to Him a lot more, which I then started practicing and continue to practice to this day, with the goal of following Him 100% of the time.

When I first learned Reiki and 30-days later had practiced enough to feel biomagnetic fields (as real as I feel anything else), I thought a lot about what it takes for us to heal and for others to heal us, and admired and appreciated Jesus even more for becoming and being the perfect master of healing on all fronts. I was born knowing of Jesus, but this marked the beginning of me wanting to get to know him more personally; though, for all my desire and faith, he was elusive for me for some time, all-the-while giving me signs that I fully appreciated and that led me onward in my seeking.

When I met my first Buddhist hospice patient and she taught me that her practice had always included nightly meditations on her own death—being at peace with it so that when her actual time came, she could be likewise—I started doing the same, and any and all fear of death quickly disappeared, my faith filling-out, filling-in the newly open spaces.

When I felt my spiritual growth was not moving forward enough, I came upon the book Autobiography of a Yogi, and the fairly-recent stories about the possibilities of the spirit and methods to know God personally reinvigorated my seeking. From there I was led to a spiritual talk about Tao (God), Te, Huang Di and Lao Tse, and learned that the way to mergence with the Creator is by quieting the mind and developing oneself as a spiritual heart; I practiced that until I was able to feel Divine peace. And when they said finding spiritual places of power were helpful in developing further, I opened myself to finding one.

When I was walking through my friends’ new house, I trusted the constant tingling down my spine as we were being shown a favorite room, and when I revisited the room on my own later, I discovered a divine, loving energy flowing through it that over the course of three months tuned and raised my vibration enough to feel God’s presence in my heart.

And when my spiritual group invited a psychic to receive Reiki from the three of us to clear some of the blocks she felt she had, and after the session she informed me that Jesus was there with me, I decided to try and feel him the way I feel God. About a week later, Jesus came in through my heart and filled my entire spirit with a peace and a love that eclipsed everything worldly. And since then, he visits with me whenever I invite him, and I am in the right space, and I can clear my mind and open my heart.

All these things and more because I am fortunate enough to be open-minded, open-hearted, ever seeking The Connection.

Connecting with Jesus – Living Water

My spiritual group was now up-to-speed on all my latest Jesus happenings, so we set a conscious intention to connect with him during our meditation. Soon as the meditation began, my thoughts turned off and I entered my heart where I could feel his presence with me, throughout me, subtle and peaceful.

Then about half-way into the 22 minute meditation, it was as if somebody had suddenly turned the sun on right behind me, and I felt as if I was one with this intense but calming light. Had I opened my eyes to find myself floating a little above my chair, I wouldn’t have been surprised, because that’s how light and free I felt. I was wondering what had caused the shift from subtle to intense. I didn’t have to wait long for a possible answer to present itself.

I know it takes the other two people I meditate with a certain amount of time for their minds to settle down. And, in my experience, thinking is a primary block to experiencing the spiritual. I know Jesus himself was not big on thinking; when he said things like, “Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God,” and, “I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me,” he was essentially saying, “It’s not my thoughts that matter or that make me good, but being with God and doing His will.”

Lying in bed that night I contemplated all of this in Jesus’ presence. Then knowing the answers and what matters, I stopped thinking so I could be fully present with him in my heart and let him influence all of me without any mental distractions. I soon noticed a strong, wide current of loving energy flowing from behind and through my heart. My first experience of what I would describe as living water; I fell asleep wishing to practice feeling this as often as possible…

Connecting with Jesus – Heart to Heart

Had another Jesus connection today and just noticed a pattern with most of my connections to date; they happen when I am facing another person who has a relationship with Jesus. (The distance has ranged from 4-6 feet, but I’m sure it would happen—maybe with an even stronger sensation—if closer.) Here’s what happened today:

I was in a restaurant waiting room with an acquaintance and we were told it was going to be about 15 minutes. We were initially shoulder-to-shoulder in the crowded room, and since we both seemed content to wait silently, I decided to clear my thoughts and go into my heart to look for Jesus. Being in the peace and calm of my silent heart was very enjoyable, but I wasn’t feeling Jesus just yet.

Two sets of people were called and some seats opened up. Soon as I sat down and went into my little “Where’s Jesus?” trance, I felt him! Then I also noticed that I was now sitting directly across the room from my acquaintance. Interesting. I sat very happily with Jesus in silence until we were called for lunch, looking forward to the conversation I was going to start.

“Mind if I ask you some personal questions of a religious nature?”

     “Sure”

“I’m guessing you’re a Christian right?”

“Yes.”

“Now which would you say is more true for you? You believe in Jesus, or you walk around with him in your heart.”

“Oh! I definitely have a personal relationship with Jesus.”

“Thought so.”

So that now makes three experiences I’ve had with three Jesus lovers where I’ve been facing them and them me, and we were about 4-6 feet away from each other at the time. Shoulder-to-shoulder, no feeling; heart-to-heart, I can feel Jesus is with us. Curious what my next Jesus encounter will be and what else I will learn. I seem to be seeking and finding. Thank you Jesus! Thank you God!

Connecting with Jesus – Feeling is Knowing

I vividly remember the first time I actually, clearly felt Jesus’ presence, while awake. I’d been in his presence many times in visions within dreams, but that’s a whole other post. But because I had met him before, I knew what it felt like to be in his presence.

To help you understand, imagine what your heart feels like when you’re in the presence of someone you are in love with. You could be having a rotten day, walking down the street with your head down, feeling depressed, but if you happened to suddenly bump into that special someone, the swelling of love in your heart would instantly brighten your entire being, like magic.

Well, a few years ago I was having one of those rotten days. I think I was even muttering to myself a little as I grabbed an overpriced container of half-and-half and walked, head down, toward the convenience store counter. Then I suddenly felt Jesus in my heart, uplifting me, lightning my mood. I was totally surprised until I looked up at the cashier—now in front of me—and saw him wearing a big smile and a “Jesus Loves You!” lanyard around his neck.

Then and since then I have learned that Jesus’ instruction, “where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them,” does not require people to make an announcement, but can also easily and spontaneously happen when those who know Jesus in their hearts simply cross paths.

Just the other day I was having dinner with my wife and close friends. The night started with us arriving with take-out food and us all eagerly sitting down to eat. As I listened to the conversations (non-religious/spiritual), I noticed Jesus in my heart and throughout my entire being, and a lot stronger than I had ever felt him while awake before. My body was vibrating in a pleasant way and I had a huge smile on my face. I was still processing and enjoying what was happening, so I didn’t say anything at the time, but watched as the conversation switched to my friend and I being inspired by a series of great ideas for our beginning spiritual practice (yet another post). We were thrilled!

And I was thrilled because that was when Jesus inspired me to write about our connection that was clearly real and clearly happening on a more frequent basis. The next day I thought about what happened, remembered my “Jesus Loves You!” experience, and considered who else at the dinner table had Jesus in their heart. It was clearly my friend who has a whole display cabinet dedicated to Jesus. This was getting very interesting.

At this point, I’m only one post away before I catch up to my present-day Jesus connections. Excited to see where this all leads…