We all must follow what we feel is right. You may not agree with everything I believe in and vice versa, but we mustn’t shy away from talking it out open-mindedly and seeing what we come up with.
— Excerpted from The Truth as I See It: A Collection of Spiritual Writings by Adam Soto (p. 108)
“Instructors can impart only a fraction of the teaching. It is through your own devoted practice that the mysteries of the Art of Peace are brought to life.”
– Morihei Ueshiba, The Art of Peace
Source: https://omlc.org/aikido/talk/osensei/artofpeace/46.html
We must be willing to put the love of God and unity of all at the head of the table. I’m not saying that we need to throw people like Jesus, Moses, or Muhammad out of the banquet hall; on the contrary, there’s much to learn from all religious texts, but what’s important is to always test what we encounter through the filters of love and unity, and if they don’t pass the test, we must be willing to look for something that will.
— Excerpted from The Truth as I See It: A Collection of Spiritual Writings by Adam Soto (p. 108)
There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence.
The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.
Finally the day came when the boy didn’t lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper.
The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone.
The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, “You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won’t matter how many times you say I’m sorry, the wound is still there. A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one.”
Author Unknown
Source: http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewshortstory.asp?id=64882&AuthorID=191758
“Life is growth. If we stop growing, technically and spiritually, we are as good as dead. The Art of Peace is a celebration of the bonding of heaven, earth, and humankind. It is all that is true, good, and beautiful.”
– Morihei Ueshiba, The Art of Peace
Source: https://omlc.org/aikido/talk/osensei/artofpeace/08.html
There have been plenty of people since Jesus who have taken what Jesus or other religious figures have said and advanced or evolved what they taught to make it even better. As people, we’re constantly finding better words and ways to understand not only the truth about God, but the truth about us, our souls, and how everything fits in the grand scheme of things.
— Excerpted from The Truth as I See It: A Collection of Spiritual Writings by Adam Soto (p. 107)
Living the spiritual life is more than just following what a book says, it’s following what the spirit says. That’s the part of us that’s most capable of connecting with God. The spirit within is our true essence. As spiritual people, when something we learn or are told about God doesn’t feel right to us, we must have faith that God will lead us to the truth. We must believe that it’s possible and let God lead the way.
— Excerpted from The Truth as I See It: A Collection of Spiritual Writings by Adam Soto (p. 107)
“It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.”
– Epictetus
Question: Do you believe that the Bible has been tampered with? Is it wrong to “pick and choose” the parts we like and don’t like?
Answer: I don’t know that I look at the Bible as necessarily being tampered with. Some parts may have been, who knows? It’s certainly possible. But mostly I see the Bible as the reflections or thoughts of specific persons or communities, each of which had their own biases, agendas, and understandings of things. In the end, they were all people just like you and me; some things they may have been right about, others they have been wrong about.
It’s funny, a common criticism that people put out there is, “You can’t pick and choose what you like and don’t like from the Bible.” Says who? I think that’s exactly what a person should do. Nothing should ever just be accepted as truth. Everything should be questioned and evaluated. Some ideas should definitely be discarded as false when enough evidence suggests them to be so. So that’s all I’m saying about the Bible. Find what seems to be true and helpful, and as to the rest, if it isn’t helpful, who needs it?
Maybe I’m right, maybe I’m wrong, but that’s The Truth as I See It.
While there are many religions and beliefs in the world, it’s important that we always respect each other’s views, even if we disagree with them. That doesn’t mean we have to accept their views, but we need to accept that each person’s free to follow God (or not follow God) in whatever way they choose.
However, not all views are equal (as can be seen in this book). Just as Jesus was willing to question the beliefs of his day, we too must be willing to speak up when something doesn’t feel right to us—to challenge the status quo. It also means never being afraid to let others challenge our beliefs when the opportunity presents itself.
As I hope this book demonstrates, it’s essential to our spiritual health and progress to question our experiences and beliefs in light of any new information that may come our way. Otherwise, how can we grow?
— Excerpted from The Truth as I See It: A Collection of Spiritual Writings by Adam Soto (p. 84)
Mind / Purpose / Truth 