What Do You Believe?
In the series that Oprah produced this is the question that is asked. Yet for many of us including the person I lived with for years, do not believe in anything and are driven just by their ego and the belief that they are their own savior and even the savior of others. In fact some of us have such large egos that we miss the very simple aspect of life that is based on our deepest self, our spirit. But without the basic understanding that we are spiritual human beings living a spiritual experience and life we will not find the level of faith that is needed for us to feel healed, connected and truly whole. We will continue to experience a sense of incompleteness that will not change until we believe.
We have repeatedly heard stories of people who believe they have been healed because of their belief, their faith in something bigger and more powerful than themselves. These stories have included people who have experienced death and returned and others who were healed from serious terminal illnesses like cancer or a heart attack. Thousands of men and women have shared their stories of miracles that have happened and even doctors who were once non-believers will admit that only a miracle could have cured their patient. Miracles happen on a daily basis but we don't place much importance on them and we rarely hear of them on the local news. We are a society that is focused more on crisis and darkness than miracles and light.
Although my situation is not new I understand that I have experienced a miracle. I was diagnosed with what I call a health opportunity, been operated on, received chemo and radiation treatments and yet two years later I am alive. I think that most of the reason for my life is that I request to focus on illness and am more driven to picture my body as a healed body. I do not focus on the illness but rather I am focused on believing that there is a force greater than me: Goddess, God< Spirit, that has already taken care of me and I am whole as I am. I also live in gratitude and do everything I can to live as fully as I can.
There are times in my life when I interact with people who are non-believers and the one thing that stands out for me is how arrogant they can be. People who don't believe do not feel as though they have any higher power to respond to or to be held accountable to. In fact some of them feel as though they are the only power and that others actually are gullable to believe in Spirit, God, Goddess, Angels or for that matter Buddha. They will go so far as to make jokes about people who believe and laugh at others thinking they are silly and ill informed. The tendency just like religious fanatics is to be judgemental of others and have an attitude of superiority. These non-believers in my opinion are the ones we must watch out for as they are the people who bring us down and hinder our own journey and path to the divine. They are also the ones we must forgive and send light to daily. They are the reason we have wars. Still they are our brothers and sisters and we must not judge them in the same way they judge us.
We are seeing more and more Americans adopt other cultures and religions. Many are traveling to India and some living in India adopting all the customs and even wearing the grab. I know of one such couple who visited India many years ago and never left. Now they spend most of their life there emerged in that culture because they obviously had something missing in their lives. My observation as a man of color is that Caucasians seem to be looking for a culture and that the ones that are not busy making fun of other cultures are yearning for an identity that is deeper than the one they were raised in. I believe that in between the acts of negative attacks on other's cultures Anglos are the most in need of finding meaning in their life. I believe it is because unlike other cultures of color they are not raised with this special feeling of belonging and believing in something outside themselves but rather are raised to believe that they are the answer and they are the power. That there is nothing bigger than them. In the end it is not our place as people of color, many of us who are believers, to push our beliefs on anyone outside our culture. We must also remember that not all people are the same and that we must not judge them in the similar manner that they judge us.
I struggle with believing. I am human. I believe that we all struggle with believing at one time or another and time and time again. Yet not believing is harder to me than not having faith. I find out each time that I am not in control and that my irrational thoughts are what make me think that I am so powerful when in fact I am not powerful at all. Yet when I believe I transform into a person who is empowered. Becoming empowered only happens when I have faith. I believe because I know that I am alive because of a source that is powerful. I believe because every time I have an emotional breakdown I return to living and I find meaning once again. I believe with Oprah because she is a woman of color who has brought spiritual communication to all of us, making it accessible to all. I believe because Harriet Tubman believed and Rosa Parked believed. I believe because like Martin Luther King I am a child of God.
Elliott Maximo Collazo
We have repeatedly heard stories of people who believe they have been healed because of their belief, their faith in something bigger and more powerful than themselves. These stories have included people who have experienced death and returned and others who were healed from serious terminal illnesses like cancer or a heart attack. Thousands of men and women have shared their stories of miracles that have happened and even doctors who were once non-believers will admit that only a miracle could have cured their patient. Miracles happen on a daily basis but we don't place much importance on them and we rarely hear of them on the local news. We are a society that is focused more on crisis and darkness than miracles and light.
Although my situation is not new I understand that I have experienced a miracle. I was diagnosed with what I call a health opportunity, been operated on, received chemo and radiation treatments and yet two years later I am alive. I think that most of the reason for my life is that I request to focus on illness and am more driven to picture my body as a healed body. I do not focus on the illness but rather I am focused on believing that there is a force greater than me: Goddess, God< Spirit, that has already taken care of me and I am whole as I am. I also live in gratitude and do everything I can to live as fully as I can.
There are times in my life when I interact with people who are non-believers and the one thing that stands out for me is how arrogant they can be. People who don't believe do not feel as though they have any higher power to respond to or to be held accountable to. In fact some of them feel as though they are the only power and that others actually are gullable to believe in Spirit, God, Goddess, Angels or for that matter Buddha. They will go so far as to make jokes about people who believe and laugh at others thinking they are silly and ill informed. The tendency just like religious fanatics is to be judgemental of others and have an attitude of superiority. These non-believers in my opinion are the ones we must watch out for as they are the people who bring us down and hinder our own journey and path to the divine. They are also the ones we must forgive and send light to daily. They are the reason we have wars. Still they are our brothers and sisters and we must not judge them in the same way they judge us.
We are seeing more and more Americans adopt other cultures and religions. Many are traveling to India and some living in India adopting all the customs and even wearing the grab. I know of one such couple who visited India many years ago and never left. Now they spend most of their life there emerged in that culture because they obviously had something missing in their lives. My observation as a man of color is that Caucasians seem to be looking for a culture and that the ones that are not busy making fun of other cultures are yearning for an identity that is deeper than the one they were raised in. I believe that in between the acts of negative attacks on other's cultures Anglos are the most in need of finding meaning in their life. I believe it is because unlike other cultures of color they are not raised with this special feeling of belonging and believing in something outside themselves but rather are raised to believe that they are the answer and they are the power. That there is nothing bigger than them. In the end it is not our place as people of color, many of us who are believers, to push our beliefs on anyone outside our culture. We must also remember that not all people are the same and that we must not judge them in the similar manner that they judge us.
I struggle with believing. I am human. I believe that we all struggle with believing at one time or another and time and time again. Yet not believing is harder to me than not having faith. I find out each time that I am not in control and that my irrational thoughts are what make me think that I am so powerful when in fact I am not powerful at all. Yet when I believe I transform into a person who is empowered. Becoming empowered only happens when I have faith. I believe because I know that I am alive because of a source that is powerful. I believe because every time I have an emotional breakdown I return to living and I find meaning once again. I believe with Oprah because she is a woman of color who has brought spiritual communication to all of us, making it accessible to all. I believe because Harriet Tubman believed and Rosa Parked believed. I believe because like Martin Luther King I am a child of God.
Elliott Maximo Collazo
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