MarMelodian

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I hope you hear the Voice For God all around you.

One difficulty is confusing the Voice For God with the voice for separation, or ego. Right now the voice for ego is strong; just turn on your TV news or talk radio. Many times, if you want to actually hear the Voice For God, you have to go out of your way. Even on the internet.

Martha Maria - "MarMelodian"

There are now a number of musicians who write down and perform the music the voice shares with them. One is Resta Burnham, whom I will share with you very soon. Another is Martha Maria, who records under the name Marmelodian. She has recently put together a CD entitled, “Spirit Songs”, several of which are specifically related to the Course In Miracles. It is hard to categorize Marmelodian, but the music is reminiscent of medieval music, country, and new age.

One of my favorites on this CD is this one, “Let Me Know This Brother”:

“Let me know this brother as I know myself.

Let me know this brother as I know myself.

Let me know this brother as I know myself.

Let me know this brother as I know myself.

Let me know this brother as I know myself.

Let me love this brother as I love myself…”

This next song takes one of our favorite phrases from the Course and sets it to music:

“I am here just to be truly helpful.

I am here just to be truly helpful.

I am here just to be,

I am here just to be,

I am here just to be truly helpful.

I am here to represent him who sent me.

I am here to represent him who sent me.

I am here to represent,

I am here to represent,

I am here to represent him who sent me…”

Perhaps one of the best and most original songs on the CD is this one entitled:

“Canticle To The Sun (St. Francis)

“O Lord, we praise Thee for our Brother Sun,

Who brings us day, who brings us golden light.

He tells us of Thy Beauty, Holy One.

We praise Thee, too, when falls the quiet night,

“For Sister Moon, and every silver star

That Thou hast set in Heaven, clear and far.

“For our brave Brother Wind we give Thee praise;

For clouds and stormy skies, for gentle air;

And for our Sister Water, cool and fair,

Who does service in sweet, humble ways;

“But, when the winter darkens, bitter cold,

We praise Thee every night and all day long

“For our good friend, so merry and so bold,

Dear Brother Fire, beautiful and strong.

For our good Mother Earth, we praise Thee, Lord;

For the bright flowers she scatters everywhere;

For all the fruit and grain her fields afford;

For her great beauty, and her tireless care.”

The Voice For God speaks through old music, popular music, and brand new music. Marmelodian’s songs are brand new, just out. She is a mother of two and makes her music at her studio in the East Tennessee foothills of the Cumberland Mountains. If you hear ‘the voice’ and want more, you can visit Martha Maria at www.marmelodian.com to listen more or even buy your own copy.

Laurent Elie Levy - A Voice For God

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Not long ago, I met a wonderful gentleman from France. We have much in common, especially since he often hears the Voice For God in song. The cool thing is that he is also an excellent singer himself!

His name is Laurent Levy and is a popular singer in France. He is a student of A Course In Miracles as well as the recently published “The Holy Spirit’s Interpretation of the New Testament”. In this recent recording made in Wimberley, TX, imagine the Holy Spirit asking you to take “All Of Me”

(audio recording)

Laurent was accompanied on guitar by another noted Course In Miracles Teachers, Larry Seyer of Austin. Larry has earned eight or nine Grammy Awards over the years and is a fantastic musician. Check the links listed here if you are interested in these singers who give lend their voice to God! The song was written by Seymour Simons and Gerald Marks and has been recorded by many singers for 80 years.

For more information about Laurent, you can start out at forholyspirit.org/laurent.htm or in French at laurentelielevy.wordpress.com

For more of Larry’s music, you can go to: www.larryseyer.com or http://cdbaby.com/cd/larryseyer

For more on NTI or “The Holy Spirit’s Interpretation of the New Testament” you can go to Amazon.com or http://www.reginadawnakers.com

Love Will Find A Way

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When we look at the future right now we project what we are feeling right now. Some people are feeling love and joy and expect that to continue forever. Are you one of them?

If so, you are listening to the Voice For God, because “Love Will Find a Way”! I was reminded of this reality in this song from Pablo Cruise. Listen to see if you can hear the voice speaking to you in whatever turmoil surrounds your life:

“Someone, someone’s got me wrong

You thought that your love was strong

Now you’re feelin’ like such a fool

Poor you

You’re thinkin’ maybe if you said goodbye

You’ll understand the reason why

The love you had felt so cruel, um-hm

Oh, but it’s all right

Once you get past the pain

You’ll learn to find your love again

So keep your heart open

‘Cause love will find a way.”

The politicians and economists feel that they have the answers to Peace and Prosperity. In a land where it appears that there isn’t enough for everybody, where it appears that we are destroying our environment, where people appear to get sick and die, where people appear to hurt and kill each other, it would also appear that Peace and Prosperity is a tall order, particularly on a ‘long term’ basis.

Some get greedy and take advantage of other people, while others take from the ‘haves and give to the ‘have-nots’ until nobody wants to work anymore and we’re all poor and depressed. Jealousy and a host of other feelings join the others to reinforce the turmoil, both within our individual lives and that of society in general. As long as we look to organized politics, the economy, or even organized religion, we are missing the point: God is our Source.

In fact, not only is God our Source, but we are part of God, a very extension of God. Now if that is so, then we are Love because God is Love. When we look at each other, Al-Qaeda, the Chinese, North Koreans, the poor, the rich, the corporate CEO’s, the oil companies, the environmentalists and see ONLY LOVE, only the reflection of our selves, then we are seeing truly.

The Voice For God says that when we can see and act on the belief that our interests are not separate from “all others’, we are seeing through eyes of love and “Love Will find A Way”!

“So now don’t, don’t be afraid of yourself

Just move on to something else

And let your love shine through

Again yes ’cause it’s all right

Once you get past the pain

You’ll learn to find your love again

So keep your heart open

‘Cause love will find a way

Oh, but it’s all right

Once you get past the pain

You’ll learn to find your love again

So keep your heart open

‘Cause love will find a way.”

Thank you David Jenkins and Cory Lerios of the soft rock group, Pablo Cruise, for speaking the words for God, even though it appeared to be 1978. Remember, Miracles do happen if you see only through the eyes of Love!

Review of “Love Will Find A Way”, by David Jenkins and Cory Lerios, recorded by Pablo Cruise.

The Land of Make-Believe

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Watching the news right now is truly a nightmare during the daytime. It all seems so real – I mean watching my life savings decline in big jumps. Almost a third of it is gone at this writing. The fear seems so real, I can almost touch it.

The Holy Spirit tells me that I live in a world of illusion, as a chance listen to this Moody Blues tune reminds me:

“We’re living in a land of make believe

And trying no to let it show.

Maybe in that land of make believe,

Heartaches can turn into joy.

We’re breathing in the smoke of high and low,

We’re taking up a lot of room.

Somewhere in the dark and silent night

Our prayer will be heard,

Make it soon!”

I can remember the stock market highs not too long ago. Now I am seeing the lows and I am not the only one praying for a change in this situation. Not just any change, as continued downward would be change, too. Worse is also change.

We are looking for a messiah, a savior. But I also remember the words of Jesus that looking for safety in an insane world is itself insane. At this writing we are one month away from electing a new president. Who is it that will bring us peace and prosperity? That is my prayer…

“So fly little bird,

Up into the clear blue sky

And carry the word:

Love’s the only reason why.

Open all the shutters on your windows,

Unlock all the locks upon your doors,

Brush away the cobwebs from your day-dreams.

No secrets come between us anymore:

Oh, say it’s true!

Only love can see you through,

You know what love can do to you.”

As I listen I am reminded that in a nightmare and when making choices, nothing is as it seems, except Love. Yes, I know what Love can do. In a world ruled by lack, by separateness, by greed, by jealousy it is easy to see the lack of sanity in everything in this physical world. Where is Love when you need it? The music of the Troggs came to mind.. (Troggs?)

“I feel it in my fingers,

I feel it in my toes.

Love is all around me

And so the feeling grows

It is written on the wind,

That’s everywhere I go.”

There is nowhere where Love is not, including my dream of the stock market, my dream of who is leading this country… or even who is winning the football game!

It’s as if the Holy Spirit is whispering in my ear…

“You know I love you,

I always will.

My mind’s maid up

By the way that I feel.

There’s no beginning,

There’ll be no end,

Cause on my love

You can depend.”

Thank you for reminding me that all I really need to do is, as Jesus said, is nothing. After all, we all are part of God and God is Love. We are Love. And that is something we can depend on, no matter what appears to be going on in the outside world!

The songs that The Holy Spirit used to speak to me are: “The Land of Make-Believe” by the Moody Blues and “Love Is All Around” by the Troggs. You can purchase your own copy, as I did, from iTunes or your favorite paid website.

Review: “The Land of Make-Believe” by Justin Hayward (Moody Blues) and “Love Is All Around” by Reg Presley (the Troggs)

One World - One Dream

With the 2008 Beijing Olympic becoming history, I do not recall the fantastic theme of the Olympics getting much play. One World - One Dream. Isn’t that pretty much the way it really is? Maybe that is why it was ignored.

If we really thought that there is only One World, we would have to think about the world different. Right now most of us acknowledge that there is one world - made up up hundreds of countries. These countries are made up of many, if not dozens of smaller political subdivisions, not to mention cities, neighborhoods, blocks, homes, individual persons, etc. all of which are also ‘worlds’. There are many ‘worlds’ that make up the One World.

If one starts to think that he or she is a body, it goes on to the cellular, molecular, atomic, sub-atomic, and beyond levels. We did not even mention the solar system, galaxy, or universe. By my count, there are more than a dozen ‘worlds’ we live in. To say ‘One World’ by this way of reckoning is pretty much “a dream”, not much connected to ‘reality’.

But we are not bodies, according to most religions… and the Course in Miracles. ACIM goes even further to say that there is only God and His extension, whom we call “The Son”. The Son began a dream of what it would be like to be separate from the Father. However, there is only One World, the world of God and his Son, inextricable. There is only One Dream - the Son’s dream, the dream of separation. Like all dreams, it is ephemeral, an illusion that changes all the time.

In this dream, we use bodies to block out God and concentrate only on what we choose, not unlike living in a cave and ignoring the rest of Reality. Our bodies perpetuate the unreal dream of separation, with all of our senses quite limited in the light, sound, and other frequencies that we perceive. To think that what our bodies perceive is all there is, really is like the person in a cave. Just because one does not perceive the hundreds and thousands of radio, tv, microwave, cellular, and other signals around her body does not mean they do not exist. Most of us are aware of The One World, even if we cannot “prove” it by the physical means that are meant to prevent us from proving it.

In remembering the 2008 Beijing Olympics, we may be tempted to remember the games as all about Michael Phelps, the wonderful high tech pageantry, and mistakes some athletes and countries made. After all, it is all about bodies, who is fastest, most skilled, most graceful, and most persistent. But “I am not a body, for I am still as God created me.” Isn’t that like ego to promote an event to keep us focused on bodies and specialness while at the same time reminding us of the One World - One Dream?

I am grateful for the Olympics, not for the reverential awe accorded the athletes, but for the mostly ignored theme plastered all over the City of Beijing, all over the photographs and TV broadcasts in High Definition all over the world: the reminder that there is only One World (God’s World) and One Dream (the dream of separation that is being transmuted to the return to Oneness, that is our birth right).

The Voice for God is always present, mostly right in front of us, in the music, on the signs, in our intuition. If we would only pay attention to it.

Obama and The Summer of Love

Music Review: "San Francisco"

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Do you want to know why Barrack Obama has been so popular with many Americans?

It shouldn't be a real mystery. There is some similarity between 2008 and 1967. There are many "Boomer Generation" folks who are beginning to retire who remember the war that wouldn't stop, a war that was unpopular and a protest movement that brought down President Johnson, who declined to run for re-election in the face of all of the demonstrations. Enough similarity to motivate many old and now younger folks who want to see war wiped off the face of our planet.

What was going to be a promotion for a Monterrey, CA music festival tapped into the consciousness of those who were seeking change, a different way of looking at life, more like what religion and spirituality promise. Life would be so much better if we would just love one another. That is the promise of the song "San Francisco", sung by Scott McKenzie:

"All across the nation,

Such a strange vibration.

People in motion

There's a whole generation

With a new explanation.

People in motion, people in motion.

For those who come to San Francisco,

Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair.

If you come to San Francisco,

Summertime will be a Love-in there."

Who in their right mind would not want a thousand years of peace to begin right now? Wouldn't that be the kind of change a person would vote for?

Musically, that Music Festival was a seismic event, what with Jefferson Airplane, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Otis Redding, The Byrds, the Grateful Dead, The Who, and Big Brother and the Holding Company with Janis Joplin, and The Doors providing the entertainment. The song "San Francisco" was number four on the pop charts at its peak. When many people hear music from these musicians, it brings back the longing for the Love that is missing from their lives, from their world.

One thing is clear: we do desire change. Another thing is also clear: we fear change. A third thing is also clear, things will change and we cannot control that. A fourth thing is also clear: we have no idea, for sure, what kind of change will result in a more loving and respectful world.

Sometimes the best and most lasting change is one that is hidden from most people. Many of us boomers might look at the world today and think that nothing has changed: we are still involved in wars, and fights, and trying to force people to do the right thing in the outer world. Many are changing from the inside. It was in 1965 that Jesus began channeling the "A Course In Miracles", a book about Love and how to achieve Love consciousness: forgiveness.

How interesting to look back and realize that "God-who-is-Love" was already answering, in detail, the massive calls for love. That answer is still available today as millions have read and studied 'the course' and even more are studying materials inspired by 'the course'. There truly is a better way.

Politicians who tap into the desire for this kind of change will have the power of the universe behind them when they become guided by that power! We 'individuals' cannot know who in the end will bring us closer to Love and Peace, but we can bring Love and Peace into our own lives right now and that will radiate into what we experience as the world.

It's the Power of One.

Thanks to Scott McKenzie for being the Voice For God!

Mamma Mia

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Gee, I wish hearing the Voice for God were easy. However, if you are listening just a little bit, you can hear the voice that calls us toward our real home in heaven, just about anywhere. It could be my voice – or yours – or the music we listen to. If we listen carefully inside ourselves or even apparently outside of ourselves, in the world, we can hear the guidance that we need.

Take the recent movie “Mamma Mia”. It lights up my life in a number of ways.

1. First of all, fun danceable music from one of my favorite groups.
2. There are songs that touch universal themes, such as: seeking love, finding love, uncertainty about the future, uncertainty about what future to choose, a desire to re-live the past and make different choices, making new, not necessarily popular choices, or just trying to who we are. Not everybody got that, at least yet.
3. It was also a spectacular marriage of three different formats into one: the original ABBA music, the musical, and a feature film. That was not easy and the music and video are very tightly and expertly crafted. The music comes from the ABBA Gold album, mostly, and an engaging story was found to bring it into ONE.
4. Using the actors to sing the songs is a stroke of genius in my estimation because it freshens the songs and gives them a feel of authenticity that is not possible with totally polished versions – something ABBA is famous for!
5. And last, but not least, I hear the voice for God calling me home:

(Excerpt from “I have a Dream”)

“I have a dream, a fantasy

To help me through reality.

And my destination makes it worth the while,

Pushing through the darkness still another mile.

I believe in angels,

Something good in everything I see.

I believe in angels.

When I know the time is right for me,

I’ll cross the stream - I have a dream.

I’ll cross the stream - I have a dream."

The voice reminds us that this world is a dream, a fantasy, that is to say, not permanent. I believe Reality, with the big R, is whatever is permanent. Our lives, our bodies are definitely temporary and they don’t last very long.

Abba reminds us that we are on the journey to heaven, a destination worth the while. Heaven exists right here, right now, inside of us, but we choose not to see it: we appear to be in darkness much of the time. Yes, there are moments of joy, times when we catch a glimpse of what is our birthright. But we also experience disappointment, anger, bitterness, sadness, and yes, regret:

(Excerpt from “When All Is Said And Done”:

“Here's to us, one more toast and then we'll pay the bill

Deep inside, both of us can feel the autumn chill

Birds of passage, you and me, we fly instinctively

When the summer's over and the dark clouds hide the sun

Neither you nor I'm to blame when all is said and done.”

What I hear is the Voice reminding me that time is passing and when it’s all over, and we face ‘eternal darkness,’ we are not to blame. The Voice even says we are truly innocent because that is the way we were created. We can choose what we want to believe, what we want to see.

“It's been there in my dreams, this scene I see unfold.

True at last, flesh and blood, to cherish and to hold.

Careless fools will suffer, yes, I know and I confess

Once I lost my way when something good had just begun.

Lesson learned, it's history when all is said and done.”

I hear the Voice reminding us that we can make new choices, experience Love that never truly is lost. In the ‘end’ all of our mistakes are history and are truly “gone”! I have been careless and I have suffered. I, too, have lost my way from time to time. That is why I cherish the Voice that speaks inside of me to remind me that God is with me at all times, to learn the needed lesson.

“In our lives, we have walked some strange and lonely treks.

Slightly worn but dignified and not too old for sex,

Clear-headed and open-eyed with nothing left untried.

Standing calmly at the crossroads, no desire to run:

There’s no hurry any more when all is said and done.

Standing calmly at the crossroads, no desire to run:

There’s no hurry any more when all is said and done.”

When you think about it, isn’t this life truly strange? Have you ever felt lonely? I know I have tried just about everything I can think of… and yet I am not satisfied. The Voice reminds me that at every moment I am at the crossroad of choice: For God or For Being Separate from Him. I have run from the Voice for God before, preferring this world to heaven. I have truly preferred to be an independent, separate person. But I also felt empty. I have come to realize that I am who I am only when I am united with All That Is – not separate!

When the movie is said and done, I experienced much more than the surface story of young girl looking for her father. With the beautiful ocean scenes of Greece, the music touched my heart in such a way that tears of joy were all I was left with. I cannot say that I truly understand why, but only that I could hear the Voice For God in such a way that I was totally joyous and also homesick for what I have chosen against for so long.

I intend to make better choices.

Thank you, songwriters Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus and thank you singers Pierce Brosnan, Meryl Streep, and Amanda Seyfried for the beautiful renditions. You are truly the Voice for God!