My religion is brother and sister hood of all beings
Our philosophy is unconditional love
Our goal is to bring peace within and around us through our actions each moment
We do not convert or force our views
We just keep our eyes on unconditional love
This is the philosophy of Jesus or Buddha without religious dogma or complex beliefs
We seek to build bridges instead of barriers to enter the Kingdom of God (unconditional love)
Anyone can join
Your brother,
Johnny Hoffman
May we all see each other through the eyes of compassion
May we love others
Especially those lost in hatred, greed and fear
They don’t understand the destructive nature of their ways
They need the healing power of love
So instead of fighting them or trying to prove that I’m right
Let me show them love through grace and compassion
With love,
Johnny
The money in my bank account is not my money
It’s God’s money
I’m just holding onto it temporarily
This revelation has liberated me from the destructive energy of greed
Because the money in my bank account was never
I can give it freely to those in need
I don’t need to cling to it out of fear
I can choose love by giving it away to the homeless and vulnerable
Thank you God for liberating me from selfishness and greed
With love,
Johnny
May all beings feel love
May all beings feel liberated
May all beings be at peace
Their lives are miracles of the cosmos
I vow to reduce suffering in the world
I will not support any violence in the world
In my words or actions
We all need friendship as human beings. Humans need some connection to other people to thrive. In today’s world of social media this can be challenging. I have struggled with finding real friendships the last 10 years of my life. I have even questioned who my real friends are in the past. Were we just drinking friends in college or was there a real connection? People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime. What causes us suffering is clinging to friendship when they do not serve us anymore. If one side of the friendship makes it difficult to hangout with and constantly makes excuses then it’s not a real friendship. Even if at one point you were real friends. I travelled the east coast of Australia 2 years ago and currently live in Byron Bay, Australia. I had a great time with a group of backpackers I met along the way. This friendship was fantastic for 3 months when we were traveling but as soon as we lived in the same area things became toxic.
I tried so hard to meet up with a few of these friends but for whatever reason they made it very difficult to hangout with them. They made it a chore to be friends with them, which is not true friendship. Real friends make time (even 10 minutes), acquaintances make excuses and gaslight you to think you’re in wrong.
I’m learning to let go of people who do not want to be in my life to make room for those who actually genuinely like the man I’m becoming through my day to day recovery from my gambling addiction. I’m not the same man I was 9 months ago when I entered gamblers anonymous and started my journey to heal childhood traumas. Letting go of material goods, jobs, and even relationships (friends, family, etc) that don’t serve you anymore is crucial for a happy healthy life. Setting boundaries is important before we completely cut off people. I still have deep compassion and love for those acquaintances I have let go of, knowing that they suffer too from something they aren’t ready to work through.
With love,
Johnny
Every decision we can make in this world is based on love or fear
Choose love based decisions and you will wake up to a life that you truly love
Choose fear based decisions and you will wake up to a life you fear
It’s as simple as that
Through a mindfulness practice we can become aware of what true love is
Love is not controlling
Love is not manipulative
Love is not attached
Love is liberating
Love deeply heals the parts of us consumed with greed, hatred and fear
Your brother,
Johnny
Some naively want to live in a world with no suffering
Only pure bliss
This is understandable but a dangerous idea
For without suffering there is no compassion
And with no compassion there is no true joy
Suffering and joy are two sides of the same coin
We don’t need to fear suffering
We can transform it into pure joy
When we embrace our suffering with pure compassion we can transform it into true joy
We must take Jesus’s message internally for this transformation to truly happen
Through mindfulness and compassion we can embrace the most hurt parts of ourselves with loving tenderness
We must accept that suffering is a natural part of life
But we don’t need to dwell in it and suffer unnecessarily
We can transform suffering into pure joy
By living like Jesus or the Buddha we can transform the darkness into light
Many look for miracles yet nothing is as profound as the healing nature of unconditional love
With love,
Johnny
The awakening of the Buddha was that he saw Buddha nature in everything
In Buddhist philosophy, Buddha-nature is the potential for all sentient beings to become a Buddha or the fact that all beings already have a pure buddha-essence within.
So the Buddha awakened to the ultimate reality of the universe
That every being is born with and has Buddha nature
Even if they are deeply lost in fear, greed, and hatred
Even if someone is violent
Even criminals, beggars, and addicts
All have the essence of Buddha nature
All are holy and are in the image of God
With this awakening we can help heal this world of much suffering
We can see every being as holy and our brother or sister
We can vow to reduce their suffering and look at them through the lens of compassion
With aloha,
Johnny
The baby sees life through the lens of love
They see everything as a miracle
Curious about everything and everyone
They touch the divine each day without resistance
They touch the deepest reality
Greed, hatred and fear haven’t harmed them yet
Their mind practices non discrimination
They have their Buddha nature intact
So for us to enter the Kingdom of God
For us to experience Nirvana
We must return to our original mind
The original mind is the infinitely compassionate mind
This original mind can touch reality deeply
Forgive instantly & love unconditionally
It can experience true joy out of the ordinary
But for us to preserve the original compassionate mind, we need a higher Self to guide the inner child and protect it from the greed, hatred and fear in the world
So we need someone like Jesus to preserve our Buddha nature
Our original mind is the mind of Jesus
The mind of a Buddha
My life’s purpose is to “Live Buddha, live Christ”.
With Aloha,
Johnny
Alcohol scarred my childhood
I have lost close friends to it
Alcohol has slowly consumed many of my family and friends
I even had close calls with alcohol overdose in my university years
Yet I will not judge or hate alcohol
I knew 7 years ago that one day I would walk away from alcohol and the destruction it cases
Today I will choose to walk away peacefully in the night
With aloha
Johnny
The Narrow Path 