Are You a Jew, a New Ager or a Christian?  

I know you are, and you put it very succinctly. Thank-you so much for responding. I was raised the same way, and may we all be blessed accordingly. For, if our parents did the right thing, and I believe they did, then we will now receive the gift of eternal life.

I cannot applaud you enough for presenting that most excellent of scriptures, with the proper reference. That's all we know, and all we need to know.

I don't know if any of us understands the New Age religion. As I said, it was and is based in Eastern philosophy, and I had as much education in that as most. However, because it says we create evil, or negativity, it ends up denying that negativity even exists, as if it would make it go away. But did Hitler and his goons just go away when they were killing the Poles, the Armenians, the Jews, and the many millions of ordinary people in Europe and Russia? Did Stalin not kill over 40 million, or Mao his millions of Chinese? How about Pol Pot in Cambodia? Did faithful New Agers somehow fail to uncreate the evil that they had created in the first place? Who knows? I know that evil exists, regardless of my thoughts. I don't have to look to a messiah that will somehow end all of this butchery. My salvation is of the Lord.

Evil and bad things will always be here, much of it is the work of Satan, so it does exist, but we do have to fight it and try our best to make the world a better place.. I do at times like to stick my head in the sand and ignore a problem but I have lived long enough to know that you can't make a problem go away just by ignoring it.. I have dirty dishes, laundry, dirty floors that I wish would go away and have wished that for years but they don't, I have to wash the dishes, the clothes, and mop the floors to make them better for myself.. I know that is not a very serious thought, but how wouldn't it be great to ignore these household duties and then they would go away, then I could go on to ignoring bigger and better problems.. They don't go away, no matter how hard I try to ignore them, they are still there until I do something about them..

I will never give up trying to get my son back into his church.. He was the deacon in his church, very close friends with his pastor and knew what responsibilities were.. He is thinking so very differently since he married.. So far, from what I have heard or read about New Age Religion, I am not sure that I like it, at least not for my family nor my son..

Donna, I can definitely relate to the dirty dishes and laundry problem. I have a kind of partnership with my fiance, who I live with. Please don't condemn me for living with her before we're married - just so happened it was cheaper that way. I mean she invited me to come down for a few days, and had a place for me to stay (a separate bedroom), and has made it so that it's now difficult to leave. I found I really liked her, and her daughter, and the only decent thing to do was to set a date to get married. In July. A long ways off, and time to get to know them. I'm not so dumb as I seem.

Anyway, back to the house work: I do quite a bit of it, though not all of it. She is heavy into meds, whereas I do no drugs whatsoever. But, it all requires quite a bit of paperwork. Which keeps piling up. She is mentally ill - has a bi-polar thing, and therefore has to go to therapists and the like. More paperwork. And with the meds, she ends up sleeping a lot, so nothing gets done. When she is awake, she cooks for me, and that's a good thing, and occasionally takes care of the dishes. Of course, there is always the daughter. A 14 year old pest. But, one redeeming characteristic is that she has money, and I do need money to survive in this world. So, yeh, I'll be a house husband if I have to. I don't know exactly what I'll say when standing before the judgement seat of God, except that maybe "Lord, the woman wanted me, and so I just showed up." Don't know, we'll see. I expect mercy.

Back to the more important subject: Your son, and his new life and his new wife. Sorry, I'm a songwriter and I like rhymes. Where was I? Oh yes, so he's found the new age, where negativity is no longer a valid thought to think about. Hmmm... You know, I used to sit in my former brother-in-law's church, and listen for hours on end to the "self-expression" that he encouraged. Or I'd go out with my fellow musician nephew for a smoke (a habit), and come back in and they'd still be talking. Rokus, my former brother-in-law but still a brother in Christ, would constantly emphasize that there was no such thing as sin except in our minds. When things got really drab, he'd ask me to play a song, and my nephew and I would do something, anything to lift people's spirits. Well, that didn't exactly do the trick, and I was eventully kicked out for saying we ought to do less talking and more playing.

At the last meeting I went to at the Episcopal church, the rector spoke of worshiping idols instead of God in our daily lives. In these times of crisis, I believe that traditional churches will step up to the plate, and do more of that. Imagine the bravery of this man, who called upon his rich parishoners to stop putting money in front of God. To stop partying and to focus on "works" instead of grace. You know, grace is a fine thing, and I'm glad we have it, but it put a fire under my butt. I needed to be corrected. I needed to hear that I was making an idol of money, of my habits, of my need for control. I've made a few changes, but I've a long way to go, for sure. But, the New Age churches won't have an answer for that. Why? Because they're not willing to admit that sin exists at all. Therefore, without an admission of error, the error won't be corrected.

I believe we'll see an explosion of new members to traditional churches, and the gradual decline of the New Age churches. As long as the preachers keep the whip out, and preach the hellfire and brimstone message, people will come and accept salvation as the only answer. Without it, without the correction of God through his ministers, there will not be repentence. And without repentence, there will not be salvation. People, like your son and his wife, need that salvation, once again, for I know he was already saved, but it has to be a day to day kind of thing. Of course, he is saved already in a spiritual sense, but what about today, and tomorrow, and every other day in his natural life? When does he recognize that the New Age is essentially making an idol of himself? For that is what it does, by refusing to recognize that sin exists, isn't it saying, in essence, that he is like God himself, or Jesus, and is without sin?

By putting away our idols, and recognizing that "none is good, except God", we come into a unity of faith with the great majority of the world - including Muslims, by the way. We learn discipline, and honor, and respect for the one God that is and always has been. We become brothers and sisters with the one great teaching that we must all learn - that while we are "captain of our own ship", we are also subject to a Higher Power. That He is both within, and without. And then we can get busy with whatever else we must do. Always, the servant of God must love the correction of those who truly speak and write from His word.

Keymandan, as long as you always keep trying and try to live up to what God expects os you, then you will do alright.. I don't think that we can really llive as good as we should but I don't think that we should ever quit trying.. God helps me to start anew each day, some days I am great and some days not so good, but I keep trying.. Good luck to you and your "new" family, I hope for the best for both of you..

I will also keep praying for my son to get back to his church as I think that it is the right thing for him to do.. He was not raised in the New Age religion, although I do not know what their beliefs are, he married into a New Age marriage, but he will be back, of this I am sure..

I'm glad that you have lived a lifetime of interest. This "dogma" is not at all useless, for it answered your interest, and there is nothing impersonal about this spirituality of which you write. It seems that way, and it was that way for me for a long time. I did not have a personal relationship with Christ, and so I simply saw God as this set of principles that always worked for my dilemmas - my problems. And then I began to realize that without Him to always be there, I had no hope of a future. Before it got to a point where I felt like there was no hope, miraculously, I began to grasp a way to live a better life. I began, and I'm still in the beginning stages, to see Him (or Her, if you like) as the most personal relationship I could ever want or need.

Impersonal seems cold but it is not. We are all part of this spirituality.
To think of an illogical individuality called god sets you apart from this spirituality.

Yeh, you make a lot of sense. I'm with you - you draw to you the things you most focus on, and if you focus on the negative all the time, then negative things happen. Funny thing, though, focusing on the positive can have the same effect, because opposites attract. And I considered myself a Buddhist for a long time, but then converted to Christianity because I found that it best answered a lot of questions I had about my own condition of imperfection. It literally kept me from thoughts of suicide after my divorce.

Somewhere along the way, God threw a breaker, and all of my thoughts changed. I became weepy around my new family, I got back into martial arts, I had to relearn all of my old songs, and started up businesses. It was all good, and it's been a wonderful life lately, but the whole effect was to bring me past that mid-life crisis that affects almost all men. I became thankful for the crisis which brought me so close to ending it all. I found, in other words, the Christ within that I had so long been seeking. I'm still finding Him - in music, in my little epistles (or posts), in the very Diety wherein He is Sovereign in my life. I'm finding Him in doing little things - like fixing the fence or washing the dishes. I'm kind of a house husband at times. And I'm a father-figure to this 14 year old girl. Teen-age girls are a trip. They are so smart! She knows more about politics than I do! She's for McCain, thankfully, because she goes to a Christian school, and believes Obama to be a Muslim. And she really likes Sarah Palin.

Do we need evil? I don't think so. I would just as soon it not be around, but if you need it, I can hardly deny you. With my wife-to-be being bi-polar, I don't exactly like it when she goes into that state of negativity. Yes, I'm negative at times too - I am a very driving, pushy, hard disciplinarian kind of boss. I want things done, I want them done right away, and I want them done right. And if they are not, I can be about as negative as any man out there. But that is not what I mean by "evil". Evil to me, at least, means being life-killing. With bi-polar people, when that side of them shows up, it doesn't stop at just being negative about themselves, but then wants to kill all the joy that I have. I rejoice in my life, and I want nothing but rejoicing from everyone else. So, no, I'm not sure we need it. Of course, I love her intensely, and that has been the only answer I needed. That other side has not showed up in a long time, and for that I'm thankful.

Thank-you Ravenlady, for your response. I am honored that you did so, and may you be blessed.

Dan

I forgot to talk about evil. As I'm not a Christian I don't believe in the Christian concept of hell or the devil. I believe that there are good and bad in everyone. We have choices as to whether we do good things or bad things in life, and how we live our lives is our choice and not influenced by any kind of evil power.

I think sometimes it seems that by talking about bad things we make them happen, and it appears that we create our own upwards or downwards spirals, but I think that it's really a matter of perception.

For example, if we're in a negative frame of mind and saying negative things, we often can't see the good things in our lives - we can't appreciate what we have. When good things happen we might not recognise them or we just take them for granted, whereas we do notice the bad things and we think how unlucky we are that only bad things happen to us.

Also, when we're being negative we don't enjoy life; we think everything will always be bad, so we lose hope in things and perhaps we're not motivated to do anything that will make our lives better.

I think that these are possible reasons why it might sometimes appear that we talk 'evil' (or
bad luck?) into existence. (I hope that kind of make sense outside of my head!)

Well, liqourice, you have to realize I started out as a Pentecostal preacher's son - devout. Front pew kid. So, religion or faith, has always been vitally important to me. But, I'm also a musician, and that meant getting involved with bars and the seedier side of life. Plus, my father was not exactly the epitamy of morality. By the church rejecting him, I naturally went along with him in leaving the church. It caused a lot of confusion. So then, based on some Buddhist classics, I found solace in understanding "Cleaning the Tile", where the purpose is continually clean it, not to make it clean. At least, I think so. Been a while since I read it.

I still remember the stories, or koans, of Zen. However, I went through a kind of spiritual death about the time that Katrina struck South Louisiana. So, I went down there, and slept in my van for 6 months. But, I found myself happier than I'd ever been - more in touch with nature. No, I didn't get involved with any churches, though I went to a few. One time, I went to the Episcopal church, in the middle of the day, and found all the doors locked. I wondered about that for a time, but then considered it to be a precaution based on the fear of the weirdos that, no doubt, were around there at the time. I always thought churches should keep their doors open for those who want to pray, meditate, or whatever. I like the Episcopals more than any other, but, because they cater to the rich, I suppose they are more security conscious than other churches. However, I've painted a United Methodist Church and they were the same way. Is it really fear that drives these churches to keep locks on their doors? If so, then that is not the spirit of love and compassion that Christ taught. For perfect love overcomes all fear.

Blessings, and may this day be a good one for you and yours,

Dan

Labels don't work. I'm not for calling myself anything, much less call anyone else anything. I can claim to be a Christian, but it is really in my actions that it will mean anything at all. There's a distinction between Christians and New Agers, and that is that we as Christians recognize the existence of sin and evil. As much as we might desire to be perfect, we are not, and as much as we might desire that evil does not exist, it does. Your example of the girl getting raped is very good. For, when boys and girls get raped, violated, or what have you, then that is plainly evil. It doesn't just go away because we are perceiving it wrong, and it certainly didn't happen because they did something wrong in their lives to cause it. It happened because some idiot couldn't find any other way of expressing himself, or herself, than to harm a child. Or a woman. Or a man.

Having spent a lot of time in the New Age movement, what I found was that there is much talking, much freedom of expressing, but little actual healing. I'm all about the healing that can take place by spiritual growth. The nurturing that can come from asking ourselves these incredibly important questions that Siddhartha and Jesus referred to: "Where am I going?", for instance. Jesus, by the way, had a very difficult time explaining the road to enlightenment. Much more so than Siddhartha, who found it, and then lived till he was 80 revealing the path. Jesus, on the other hand, immediately got into it with the ruling elite, and of course, they had him killed at the tender age of 33. The New Age movement claims to know this Jesus, but I really question that.

To further illustrate this point, I'll tell the parable of the Good Samaritan, except in modern day terms: A man is hit by a car on a lonely country road, and he is laying there by the ditch. A Baptist deacon stops by, and says, "Well, have you been baptized, and accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal savior?" The man can hardly reply, but simply says, "No." So the Baptist deacon says, "No wonder you are in such terrible circumstances!" And he gets back in his car and drives on. Then a Jew, a faithful Jew, stops by and says, "Have you observed all the laws of Moses since your birth?". The man can hardly reply, but says, "No." So the good Jew says, "No wonder you got hit by a car.", and he drives off. Finally, an atheist, with no belief in God whatsoever, stops by, and immediately sees to it that his bleeding is stopped, and gets on the cell phone and calls 911. The cell phone, being so far out in the country, doesn't get reception, so he tells the man, "Look, I'll be right back. I've got to go get help." Knowing he has little time, he rushes to the nearest town, and gets the ambulance out there, whereby the injured man's life is saved.

The atheist was the true Christian. The good Jew. The real Baptist. Why? Because he did what Christ taught us to do. Too many times, New Agers will not show the compassion of Christ because they are too intent on making the world as they would have it to be by their thinking. Fact is, the world is not so. But, this is a fault of Christians as well. Because they believe that Jesus is going to just make them disappear when times get rough, they won't involve themselves in the suffering of the world. I don't know that much about Jews, but I've met some good ones. I've also met some good Muslims - men and women who would do anything to help their neighbor, or even a complete stranger. In our actions, we portray our hearts - do we desire to do evil or good? And, by no means, am I saying that my example of the Baptist deacon or the Jew is in anyway typical. For my experience with them has been that they would have been the first to help. All I'm saying is that when we put doctrine over our "works", as the Apostle James put it, we will not achieve either enlightenment or salvation. In fact, we'll be doomed to live a life of continual unhappiness.

Thanks again for responding. I've had several good ones - yours comes close to the best.

I am so close, James, to marking yours as the best response. I don't get a whole lot of responses to my posts, and that's a good thing, because I stay pretty busy with other things. And I want to respond to each one, especially this most essential of subjects. I simply don't need the money I'd get from mylot, and it takes a lot of time to respond. And yet, I feel the ones who've responded to this post are the best of the best. So, now, I'll work on yours:

I'm going to tell a story I've told before on another post that may help you to understand where I'm at on all of this:

I was CEO of million dollar business, a shopper paper in Longview, Texas, when I was in my early 20's. My wife at the time decided to start hanging out with the guy that sold me the Macintosh computer system - the first desktop publishing in the system of franchises I was in. I was also a Mason, and was a confirmed member of the Episcopal church there, St. Micheal's. My rector, Scottie, and I were fairly good friends. He had retired from the school system, by the way, and continually preached about not being "legalistic". Anyway, when I went to him for counseling about my wife being with this best friend of mine, which Gary had become, he said, "Tell her to not see him any more. Women and men cannot be friends." Being a faithful parishoner, that is exactly what I did, to which she said, "I need some space. I want a separation.", which led to a divorce, eventually. For, you see, she was actually sleeping with him, and Scottie was exactly right. She married him, eventually, on the day of our final divorce, and has been with him ever since. I actually sent him flowers on the following Valentine's day, because I was so thankful to be rid of her.

I'm thankful I'm not of a nature to take feelings of anger to a point where I actually hurt someone. Then again, I have in the past, not women or children, but grown men that really had it coming. The New Age movement, to me, is too much concerned with self-expression than opposing the real evil that exists. We did not "create" the violence that exists in this world by thinking about it too much. We created it by a lack of vigilance, of honor, of ethics. At the heart of that is our own lack of personal inspection - "Have I done enough for my family?", "Did I do the right thing in losing my temper?". The Catholics have a system for that - "confession". But so do the Anglicans - the prayers for forgiveness.

Politicians who gain power and use it unwisely are just flawed men and women who do not know that they are flawed. Before you criticize them, try not to make general statements. They are not all lunatics and psychopaths. Many are doing the best they can to serve their respective townships, counties, and districts. I don't know what the system in Britain is all about, but here in the U.S., we have many different forms of government: municipalities, counties, school boards, state and federal districts for both the senate and representatives. Defense, or policing, is a necessary role that they must all play who are involved in making sure that we are safe as the great nations that the U.S. and Britain are. No one can give the final word on what that entails, but at least there are many who are concerned. The role of religion, however, is vital to them who are on the job. It takes a coordinated effort, and religion brings together all of the elements - the reason why we must defend ourselves, the people who should be involved, and the methods we choose to do so. I say that the best religion is Christianity, and even more so, the Anglican Community. But, I would only breed more evil if I suggested that the Anglicans are the only true church. There are many fine places for people to worship, but, believe me, the answer to our current political and economic crisies lies with the churches throughout Europe, the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and other countries.

Hi Dan. Touche. Firstly my name's not James but why not call me that? It's as good as any other. Secondly I certainly do know of what I generalise, at least in respect of the UK. I have worked very closely with UK national politicians and some from other countries as well. I mean national politicians not local ones as they do not send troops to fight. I have yet to meet a single one, male or female, principled or not, whose ego doesn't stretch from here to eternity and back. The reason that Britain went to war in Iraq is vanity. Our Prime Minister was so flattered that your President whispered sweet nothings to him and reminded him about the "Special Relationship" between our two nations, a relationship that personally I do not believe ever has existed, and I'll evidence that for you if you wish, (this is very different to a personal liking for many things American that I have).

The christian religion is the only one that I have any practical experience of. But confrontation has been a by product of christianity pretty much from the beginning. Funny how when we are at war we both say "God is with us and will bring us victory." So how does that work? One of us is going to lose eventually.

I am so pleased that you've joined myLot. I suspect that we aren't going to always see eye to eye. But how refreshing to have someone that isn't always saying "How much money do you make?" and who is happy to debate! Take care.

Whatever your name is, I'm pleased to make your acquaintance. I just assumed the baby on your profile was you. And thank-you for your fine comments regarding me joining mylot. I did it a number of months ago, and only got back into it here recently.

Now, as to the "special relationship" that our President spoke of, and reminded Tony Blair of: he was not entirely wrong to do so. Historically, Britain and the U.S. have stood together, and fought together against evil, be it Hitler or the Kaiser. Perhaps these wars (World Wars I and II) were, in fact, wars for the sole purpose of gaining a country for the Zionists, as Iraq is for their greater security, but the UK is the mother country of our great nation. Now there are other great nations as well - Germany, France, and Spain, primarily. My fiance is from a French family that first established New Orleans, and traces their geneology all the way back to those who served as the royalty of France. My mother's family came on the Mayflower. I'm surrounded by the Hispanics, of course, but those who are almost pure Spanish, and there are a few, are nothing if not proud. But, it was the British who established the government, in the form of the 13 original colonies, of the eventual States.

Over here, the States have more to do with world affairs than the smaller divisions do in Britain. (They're called provinces in Canada - forgive my ignorance. I could look it up, I suppose.) And we are in danger of getting "off-topic", but no matter. Well, not exactly. Can you imagine the discomfort of being an Episcopalian, when my future father-in-law is a blue-blooded Frenchman? Furthermore, she goes with me, and while the services are somewhat formal, and the people somewhat stiff, I find it gives me satisfaction that, at least, someone is paying attention to the scriptures and the Book of Common Prayer. Anyway, the States of Texas and California, primarily, are very much involved in decisions of the U.S. We remain a Union of States, not a centralized government as Britain is. Iraq may have been a mistake, but it is one in which we must continue to protect our young men and women. I believe we must bring them home, in order to defend ourselves from the next great opponent, who now declares itself a "Christian" nation: Russia.

Truth is, we haven't had any great opponents in a long while. We've been enjoying our brew, our food, our energy, our conveniences, whatever. But, now we have to face up to a real world power, that is going to zealously pursue a foreign policy, and a hot war, with the belief that they are doing so for Christ. Maybe you're right - it's religion that causes all of this, but that won't make the fighting any easier. I personally would not have our troops go out with any less than a sincere relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, for there is life after death, and much death comes from war. Bush really messed up by getting involved with Georgia - he did it to help the Isrealis secure a better position in the oil markets - but, neither Obama or McCain is in any way going to change all that. They'll faithfully do as Israel wants them to do. Unfortunately, for whoever is President, Russia has converted back to Christianity, and they are not happy with us. And, oh, by the way, they are not exactly playing marbles with Canada either.

Thank-you for your excellent comments, and we'll get back to you later.

My music website is www.soundclick.com/danmatheny and my gmail is dan.delrioboy@gmail.com

Most certainly. And you are right. The intent of the goodness is as important as the act. Also, the intent of doing evil is as important as the act - probably more so. For when one does evil with the intent of doing so, then it becomes not merely negligent, but a crime.

There is a higher power, and His name is not so important as His office. In fact, there are many higher powers, and the ultimate Higher Power is called, in English, "I am that I am", or an even better translation, "I am that which is able to become".

You are so right to point out the necessary qualities of goodness, and reverence to the Lord. To help others, to be kind, and to be patient. That should be our focus. Whatsoever is of good report, I would add. Whatsoever is true. The only problem with all of that is, it requires an education. And ignorance is as common as dirt right now. But, I'm working on it.

Thank-you for your comments, and may God bless you and yours,

Dan

Nice try, but I'm not going to introduce my teenage step-daughter to psychodelics or any other form of drug use. And if I wouldn't do it with her, why would I do it myself? That is not what Jesus taught, and it was not what the prophets before him taught. I've done psilocybin mushrooms, about 20 years ago, and you know what I discovered? That I never needed to do them again. These are powerful medicine, and they need to be done as part of a religious ceremony, not as a habit. Too many have done them as a habit, rather than as the medicine that they were meant to be. It's not spiritual growth to partake of any substance on a continual basis. Be it food, tobacco, or alcohol. I'm not kidding myself, and you should not either.

You have given a very good response, but your suggestion that we use what are in effect self-medication moots your point. There has been more than enough of that, and it has not worked to improve people's lives. By learning to "do all things in moderation", we can come to a greater self. By learning that "all things are lawful, but not all things are expedient", we can grow in God. That's my experience, my testimony. What is yours? I mean, can you really testify as to how these herbal remedies have improved and increased your life?

Well of course Psychedelics must be done as part of a religious ceremony, or regular practice, that's exactly what I was saying.

Let's go back about 20 years to your mushrooms experience. How was that ? Would you agree that a proper religious ceremony with mushrooms would help a person MUCH more than one with bread, water and wine ?

I would not recommend psychedelics for teenagers either, for the simple fact that their brain is not yet fully grown, until they're in their early twenties. But from that point on, I would definitely recommend spiritual use of psychedelics to everyone. I guarantee that any city doing that on a large scale would indeed have much lower crime rates, and people would be much more likely to help each other with everything. Not to mention, they'd be more mellow and relaxed about life in general :D

Also I do agree with your idea of using everything in moderation. Balance in everythnig is the key. But balance and moderation do NOT mean never using. Psychedelics are a form of raising the consciousness that should be taken a few times a year, just like fasting. It promotes better living and thinking in general, on the long run. It's like spiritual 'vitamins' - yes you can live without them, you won't necessarily die or get sick, but they are good, and have no side-effects. Why say no to a good thing ?

Jesus or the saints in any faith may not have used psychedelics or other substances that alter the mind, but what you must remember that they followed a very strict nutritional discipline, sometimes with fasting for very long periods, and also praying and meditating for many hours every day. That in itself will put a person in an altered state. You and I, having jobs and not being monks or meditation masters, do NOT have that opportunity, nor is everyone living in our huge cities ever likely to invest 50.000 hours in learning how to naturally change their brain patterns and spiritual energy.

That is when these plants help us. When we really want to progress, to leave behind our limited self, and move on, to the next level, in THIS lifetime. THIS week. THIS Sunday.

IMHO people aren't doing these things for the reason that they WOULD work, very fast even. After seeing and feeling heavens and parts of God and Paradise, on a regular basis, they would have to actually CHANGE their belief systems, and leave the old ones behind, FAST. Anyway a decision for each one to make for themselves.

In my life, Salvia has opened very nice doors to creativiy, I've actually seen parts of myself I never knew I had, seen what all of us have above us, in the other planes, above this material world, and also I've started getting clear instructions on how to work with my brain and body, so it opens up for much more spiritual energy from above. I may have problems in following these instructions, I'm pretty new at this, but I will tell you, I put a thousand times more faith in what I've seen and felt myself, than ALL the things I've ever read in books and scriptures.

That's what these are about. Experiencing for yourself, rather than reading what someone else experienced, as a second-hand source. Peace :)