Can one worship the Source of Life in any other way than by daring to live fully? Can one worship the Source of Love in any other way than by daring to love wastefully and abundantly? Are there any categories that could be said to be more personal than those calling each of us into being, into living, and into loving? Would a life that reflected these qualities not be seen to reveal the image of God that is within that person? A God that is an integral part of who we are, the love force that knits us to our neighbors, and offers the only hope for human salvation. Why Christianity Must Change or Die, John Shelby Spong
When humans investigate and see through their layers of anthropocentric self-cherishing, a most profound change in consciousness begins to take place. Alienation subsides. The human is no longer an outsider, apart. Your humanness is then recognized as being merely the most recent stage of your existence, and as you stop identifying exclusively with this chapter, you start to get in touch with yourself as mammal, as vertebrate, as a species only recently emerged from the rainforest. As the fog of amnesia disperses, there is a transformation in your relationship to other species, and in your commitment to them.
What a relief then! The thousands of years of imagined separation are over and we begin to recall our true nature. That is, the change is a spiritual one, thinking like a mountain. As your memory improves, as the implications of evolution and ecology are internalized and replace the outmoded anthropocentric structures in your mind, there is an identification with all life. Then follows the realization that the distinction between "life" and "lifeless" is a human construct. Remember our childhood as minerals, as lava, as rocks? Rocks contain the potentiality to weave themselves into such stuff as this. We are the rocks dancing. Why do we look down on them with such a condescending air? It is they that are the immortal part of us. Beyond AnthropocentrismJohn Seed
We are the species with the capacity to select our preferred future. We can choose to act from our lower nature with a tremendous capacity for ruthless competition, brutality, and violence or we can choose to act from our higher nature with fantastic potential for goodness by living in right relationship with earth, ourselves and each other. We are creatures of great dignity, able to select our future, able to choose wisdom over foolishness, able to choose the path of justice and peace for all. To reap harvest of abundant life you've got to get below the surface of things and drop your nets into the interior depths of reality. In your body and in your consciousness you carry five billion years of life on earth yearning to manifest goodness, truth, and beauty. That's who you are, and when you forget that or shrink from it, you are not living in alignment with truth. Prayer, compassionate acts, radical gratitude, generosity, contemplation, and study - these are spiritual practices or focused commitment that function like a gravitational pull for the soul. It is a container for creativity, a crucible for all the creative impulses of the cosmos, so that they can be transformed by the alchemy of discipline. Putting Out Into The Deep, by Bruce Sanguin
The practice of Zen mind is beginner's mind. The innocence of the first inquiry - what am I? is needed throughout Zen practice. The mind of the beginner is empty, free of the habits of the expert, ready to accept, to doubt, and open to all the possibilities. ZEN MIND, BEGINNER'S MIND by Shunryu Suzuki-roshi
The practice of emptying the mind of preconceptions, presumptions, judgments and prejudices is when we come into every encounter, every relationship with humility, with the willingness to consciously suspend everything we believe that we know about the topic, or everything we believe about this person, in order to be open to new possibilities and to learn the new thing, setting our knowing within a much larger context of curiosity and wonder.
The mind that is not already made up lives to be surprised by the Spirit that like the wind blows where it will. You don't know where it comes from or where it's going, but you feel it when it brushes by you. There is a subtle, but always-present wind at our back, nudging us toward the next new thing it is about to do - in us, through us, and in all of our relationships.This is how you can endlessly be fascinated by how Spirit is blowing through your life.
How we show up with each other and for each other? How do we belong together? How do those who make the claim that they share a common spiritual tradition and identity treat each other? What are our shared norms? How do we treat each other? Listen to each other? Engage each other? How do we care for each other, support each other, and hold each other accountable?
The first principle of evolutionary culture is a wholehearted intention to transform and evolve. To be part of an evolutionary culture is, in the first place, not about "doing" anything. It's about "being" deeply in this intention to never stop growing until you take your last breath, by making and renewing our intention to grow - to grow in love, to grow in compassion, to grow as moral beings, and widen and deepen our circles of belonging, to grow in our capacity to listen to others, to grow in our capacity to learn from others, to grow in our capacity for curiosity and wonder, and to grow in our willingness to serve a higher purpose. Bruce Sanguin
We all live with patterns formed by the routines of our lives, patterns formed by pressures and demands of our workplace and our world. These patterns form out of how we live. They form out of how we react to the duties of everyday living. They often are not consciously examined but are just our routine. They are often helpful, for we can take care of the routine without a great deal of thought or planning. They become our comfort zones. They are not wrong or bad just the way we do things. But there is more. Your life work is just beginning to emerge. There is more! In the midst of our ordinary lives may we see the possibilities ahead of us and have the courage to go deeper. So "do not be afraid". Live fully into this new call to you - live without timidity and fear. And in that doing, you will find true fulfillment! What was mysterious becomes known, dreams become realities, and impossibilities become ordinary occurrences in our everyday lives. Sally Harris
Iranian National Anthem with various photos of Iran.
Yar Mara Performed by Shahram Nazeri Artwork by Edmund Dula
Aszure Barton - Choreographer - Busk Project Barton with an assist from her dancers, among the most magnetic and psychologically expressive performers onstage delivers a gallery for monumental kinetic art.
Space of Love: a documentary about people who have made real steps towards their dream to live in close connection with land. The Art of Soaring by Vladimir Dolokhov, ANASTASIA by Vladimir Megre
Maraja from The Story-Faced Man, Vinicio Capossela
Oh Iran, oh bejeweled land , Oh, your soil is the wellspring of the arts. Far from you may the thoughts of evil be. May you remain lasting and eternal... My thoughts are never far from you..May the land of our Iran be eternal. The stones of your mountains are jewels and pearls. When could I rid my heart of your affection? Tell me, what will I do without your affection? As long as the turning of the earth and the cycling of the sky lasts..The light of the Divine will always guide us..Your water, soil and love molded my clay. May the land of our Iran be eternal. ای ایران ای مرز پرگهر ای خاکت سرچشمه هنر دور از تو اندیشه بدان پاینده مانی تو جاودان ای دشمن ار تو سنگ خارهای من آهنم جان من فدای خاک پاک میهنم مهر تو چون شد پیشهام دور از تو نیست اندیشهام در راه تو کی ارزشی دارد این جان ما پاینده باد خاک ایران ما سنگ کوهت در و گوهر است خاک دشتت بهتر از زر است مهرت از دل کی برون کنم برگو بیمهر تو چون کنم تا گردش جهان و دور آسمان به پاست نور ایزدی همیشه رهنمای ماست مهر تو چون شد پیشهام دور از تو نیست اندیشهام در راه تو کی ارزشی دارد اين جان ما پاینده باد خاک ایران ما ایران ای خرم بهشت من روشن از تو سرنوشت من گر آتش بارد به پیکرم جز مهرت در دل نپرورم از آب و خاک و مهر تو سرشته شد گلم مهر اگر برون رود تهی شود دلم مهر تو چون شد پیشهام دور از تو نیست اندیشهام در راه تو کی ارزشی دارد این جان ما پاینده باد خاک ایران ما
What we can invoke and start living now, is a future that restores the ancient sense of unity between humanity and nature and establishes a community of mutual support based on a partnership and collaboration between the physical and non-physical worlds. It is the dynamic process of connectedness and interaction that not only makes me part of something larger but enables me to be a participant in its unfoldment and wellbeing.This is wholeness between spirit and matter, soul and personality, self and others, the individual and the world, being and sacredness. David Spangler
Erik Satie's Gymnopedie accompanied by beautiful scenes of Autumn. Satie referred to himself as a "phonometrograph" or "phonometrician" (meaning someone who measures and writes down sounds) preferring this designation to that of musician.
Images of morning accompanied by Edvard Grieg's "Morning"
In the solitary search into the vast, hidden world of one's own mind, around volcanoes of oozing ego,and through jungles of folly and delusion in a ceaseless struggle to gain that oneness of body and mind ultimately lead to the lightning-and-thunder discovery that the universe and oneself are not remote and apart but an intimate, palpitating Whole. Zen, tradition and transition By Kenneth Kraft
To be born a human being is not to be born into a fallen, flawed world of sin and illusion, cut off from the divine; it is to be born into a world lit by an invisible radiance, ensouled by Divine Presence, graced and sustained by incandescent light and love. Andrew Harvey and Anne Baring, The Divine Feminine.
The Journey. Come, seek, for search is the foundation of fortune: every success depends upon focusing the heart. Unconcerned with the business of the world, keep saying with all your soul, "Ku, ku," like the dove. When weakness is cleared from your heart, your prayer will reach the glorious Lord.
Even though you're not equipped, keep searching: equipment isn't necessary on the way to the Lord. Whoever you see engaged in search, become her friend and cast your head in front of her, for choosing to be a neighbor of seekers, you become one yourself;
O God, You who know all that is hidden, don't hide from us the errors of our wrong pursuits; nor reveal to us the lack within the good we try to do, lest we become disgusted and lose the heart to journey on this Path.
The Prophet said, "I am like an Ark in the Flood of Time. I and my companions are as the Ship of Noah: whoever clings to us will gain spiritual graces." don't rely on your own skill and footsteps. Lion though you are, to go on the way without a guide is arrogant, foolish, and contemptible. Step aboard the ship and set sail, like the soul going towards the soul's Beloved. by Jallaulddin Rumi
Rumi: Say I Am You I am dust particles in sunlight. I am the round sun. To the bits of dust I say, Stay. To the sun, Keep moving. I am morning mist, and the breathing of evening. I am wind in the top of a grove, and surf on the cliff. Mast, rudder, helmsman, and keel, I am also the coral reef they founder on. I am a tree with a trained parrot in its branches. Silence, thought, and voice. The musical air coming through a flute, a spark of stone, a flickering in metal. Both candle and the moth crazy around it. Rose, and the nightingale lost in the fragrance. I am all orders of being, the circling galaxy, the evolutionary intelligence, the lift, and the falling away. What is, and what isn't. You who know, Jelaluddin, You the one in all, say who I am. Say I am you.
How can we build shelters for people in the world who have no money?" Nader Khalili shares some of his insights about how to empower others to create change; he says, "To have a quest is the key to all of your desires." Design with Nature & RumiDome Gallery
Don't go away, come near. Don't be faithless, be faithful. Find the antidote in the venom. Come to the root of the root of yourself. Molded of clay, yet kneaded from the substance of certainty,a guard at the Treasury of Holy Light, come, return to the root of the root of your Self. Once you get hold of selflessness, You'll be dragged from your ego and freed from many traps. Come, return to the root of the root of your Self. You are born from the children of God's creation, but you have fixed your sight too low. How can you be happy? Come, return to the root of the root of your Self. You were born from a ray of God's majesty, and have the blessings of a good star. Why suffer at the hands of things that don't exist? Come, return to the root of the root of your Self. The Root of the Root of Your Self, Rumi
All day I think about it, then at night I say it. Where did I come from, and what am I supposed to be doing? I have no idea. My soul is from elsewhere, I'm sure of that, and I intend to end up there... I'm like a bird from another continent, sitting in this aviary. The day is coming when I fly off, but who is it now in my ear. Who hears my voice? Who says words with my mouth? Who looks out with my eyes? What is the soul? I cannot stop asking. If I could taste one sip of an answer, I could break out of this prison for drunks. I didn't come here of my own accord, and I can't leave that way. Whoever brought me here will have to take me home. I never know what I'm going to say. I don't plan it. When I'm outside the saying of it, I get very quiet and rarely speak at all. From The Essential Rumi, Translated by Coleman Barks.
what i'm here for, i wonder, what am i in this world to do, what i'm here for, is one thing, one thing i know is true, i live for the spirit, i am, oh oh, i am i am
looking in the mirror, i'm asking , am i the change i long to see, u know the world, is just a picture of what's inside'a you and me, i live for the spirit, i am, oh oh, i am i am
the wonder of life, and the air on the land and the sea, is a precious gift to me, in a world that's torn by war and strife, all we can do is claim love, as our reality, i'll tell you, if you ask me, what i'm in this world to do, i live for the spirit, i am, walking with the spirit, talking with the spirit, moving with the spirit, all around the world, healing with the spirit, healing with the spirit. Spirit I Am by Eric Bibb
The day is not far off when the economic problem will take the back seat where it belongs, and the arena of the heart and the head will be occupied or reoccupied, by our real problems: the problems of life and of human relations, of creation and behaviour and religion. John Maynard Keynes
What we are faced with, therefore, is a real opportunity to meet the needs of those who espouse new personal as well as social values and to enhance the quality of life of all. A New Wealth of Nations
If economic thinking cannot cannot go beyond its vast abstractions, the national income, the rate of growth, capital/output ratio, input-output analysis, labour mobility, capital acuumulation; if it cannot get beyond all this and make contact with the human realities of poverty, frustration, alienation, despair, breakdown, crime, escapism, stress, congestion, ugliness, and spiritual death, then let us scrap economics and start afresh. Are there not indeed enough "signs of the times" to indicate that a new start is needed? E.F. Schumacker "Small is Beautiful"
The meaning of the word compassion as derived from Greek, is literally, to suffer with. In the new testament, we see the word compassion a dozen or so times in relation to Christ's compassion on others; and in each case it prompts him to action. This suffering we experience for our brothers is supposed to compel us on to action; be loving to those without love, be open handed to the poor, correct injustices where we see them, carry the light to the lost. When one suffers we all suffer...
O pure Goddess, who silver these sacred ancient plants, Turn thy beautiful semblance on us,Unclouded and unveiled... Temper, o Goddess, the brave zeal Of the ardent spirits, Scatter on the earth the peace, Thou make reign in the sky..Casta Diva from Vincenzo Bellini's Norma
Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind Henry David Thoreau
For every decision we make, we must consider the needs of others, and the needs of people seven generations into the future - The Great Law
"A culture that does not grasp the vital interplay between morality and power, which mistakes management techniques for wisdom, which fails to understand that the measure of a civilization is its compassion, not its speed or ability to consume, condemns itself to death. Morality is the product of civilization, but the elites know little of these traditions." from Chris Hedges's latest book Empire of Illusion the End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle.
corporations and the capitalist system see everything as a commodity, including life. They would privatize the sun and charge for sunshine if it were possible. Gary Sudborough
As I was walkin, I saw a sign there. And that sign said: no tress passin. But on the other side, it didn't say nothin! Now that side was made for you and me! In the squares of the city, In the shadow of the steeple, Near the relief office, I see my people. And some are grumblin and some are wonderin, If this land's still made for you and me. This Land is Your Land by Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
Reflections from an Aging Mirror, Rev. Arthur G. Severance The Story of My life, as interconnected with you, whoever you are that hear or read this- The story of my life as connected with family, I am a motherless child now yet still exist,though somehow diminished. I have been a fatherless child for the last 25 years,and somewhat diminished. And on this great and world transforming eve,I will leap into tomorrow, into the arms of love and life itself, into a trust in tomorrow, a love for today,and a blessed memory of yesterday. Would I change my life if I had it to live over? A stupid question, really; as if we could be hypothetical about our past. It is as useless a question as, do you believe in God? And I always, it all depends, doesn't it? What are you hoping to find out about me by that awful question. Come, let us hold hands, close our eyes,hope for the best, pray for the rest,and then leap boldly into the great time chasm of tomorrow,next year, next century, next millennium, next life.
I was born one mornin', The rain a-pourin' down, Heard my mammy say to my pappy,"Let's call him John Henry Brown." Walk on, boy; walk on down the road; Ain't nobody in this whole wide world A-gonna help you carry your load.
I left my mammy and pappy Just about the age of ten; Lord, I got me a job a-workin' on the levee Totin' water for the hard workin' men. One day my pappy told me,"Some advice I wanna give to you --Son, find a good woman, be good to her, An' she's gonna be good to you."
If anyone should ever ask you, "Just who is that fella Brown?" You can tell him I'm the boy Who left his hammer smokin'Where he beat that steam drill down. Walk On Boy - Chris Sharp
Thanks to life, which has given me so much. It gave me two beams of light, that when opened, Can perfectly distinguish black from white.And in the sky above, her starry backdrop, And from within the multitude The one that I love. Thanks to life, which has given me so much.It gave me an ear that, in all of its width Records- night and day-crickets and canaries, Hammers and turbines and bricks and storms, And the tender voice of my beloved. Thanks to life, which has given me so much. It gave me sound and the alphabet.With them the words that I think and declare: "Mother," "Friend," "Brother" and the light shining. The route of the soul from which comes love. Thanks to life, which has given me so much. It gave me the ability to walk with my tired feet. With them I have traversed cities and puddles Valleys and deserts, mountains and plains. And your house, your street and your patio. Thanks to life, which has given me so much. It gave me a heart, that causes my frame to shudder, When I see the fruit of the human brain, When I see good so far from bad, When I see within the clarity of your eyes... Thanks to life, which has given me so much. It gave me laughter and it gave me longing. With them I distinguish happiness and pain-The two materials from which my songs are formed, And your song, as well, which is the same song. And everyone's song, which is my very song. Thanks to life
Tribution for the great L.Pavaroti by Angello Vullo. Angelo Vullo Since his childhood loved to draw. He's been influenced by some Holy Art works at the boarding school where he studied. He started studying painting at the age of 40. Being a self-taught man, he learned watching the great masterpieces of art, visiting Museums and from Nature.
"Force" of and in itself is an innovative power, a supreme entity, that can force to create great wonders, to achieve formidable things. This force exists within every molecule in the universe. But what is this force? Where does it really come from? This Force is basically an unknown entity, as vast and wide as the universe.This force drives us to attempt to reach the original forceful source out of which we had been fashioned. So what is the ultimate quest of this Force? The process of searching itself, the quest itself, is part of that Force too. In my case this Force is the world of Sound. Alan Kushan
The "sarveshaam mantra" is one of the peace or shanti mantras which may be used to invoke harmony and tranquility in the environment in which puja or prayers are performed. The mantra may perhaps be used as a closing prayer to bless all those in attendance. Om Sarveshaam Svastir Bhavatu Sarveshaam Shaantir Bhavatu Sarveshaam Purnam Bhavatu Sarveshaam Mangalam Bhavatu. Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah Sarve Santu Niramayaah. Sarve Bhadrani Pashyantu. Maa Kashchit Duhkhabhahg Bhavetll. May good befall all, May there be peace for all, May all be fit for perfection, and May all experience that which is auspicious. May all be happy. May all be healthy. May all experience what is good and let no one suffer. May it so happen (bhavantu) that everyone (sarve) receives happiness (sukhinah); let them all be saint-like (santu) and be without disease and in good health (niraamayaah). Let them see with their own eyes (pashyantu) the goodness of life (bhadaraani); And let them not (maa) contemplate in their conscious mind (kashchidh) any sorrow inducing (dukh) thoughts while they remain beneficiaries (bhavet) of good fortune (bhaag)
Auspiciousness (swasti), peace (shanti), fullness (poornam), prosperity (mangalam) be unto all May all be happy(sukhinah), free from disabilities (niraamayaah); May all look (pashyantu)to the good of others, May none suffer from sorrow (duhkha)
May there be peace in the heavens, peace in the atmosphere, peace on the earth. Let there be coolness in the water, healing in the herbs and peace radiating from the trees. Let there be harmony in the planets and in the stars, and perfection in eternal knowledge. May everything in the universe be at peace. Let peace pervade everywhere, at all times. May I experience that peace within my own heart. Yajur Veda 36.17
In the Persian tradition, whenever one faces a difficulty or a fork in the road, Or even if one has a general question in mind, one would hold that question in mind, and then ask the Oracle of Shiraz Hafiz for guidance. More often than not, Hafiz, in his own enigmatic way would sing to the questioner and through the song, would get the questioner to look in the mirror of his/her soul. Upon reflection in the mirror of Hafiz's Ghazal one would be inspired with an answer, a guidance or a direction. Traditionally, the first line upon which the eyes of the reader fall, would give the answer to the direct question, and the rest of the Ghazal would give further clarification.
It is never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
Human conduct is ever unreliable until anchored in the Divine. Everything in future will improve if you are making a spiritual effort now.Swami Sri Yukteswar quoted in Autobiography
In waking, eating, working, dreaming, sleeping, Serving, meditating, chanting, divinely loving, My soul constantly hums, unheard by any;God, God, God! Paramahansa Yogananda
During the early '70s while reading of the writings of Paramahansa Yogananda, I came across a poem called God! God! God!. One of the lines in the poem referred to the idea of the mind weaving dreams and the thought immediately occurred to me, weaver of dreams... Dream Weaver. The lyrics and music seemed to have flowed out of me as if written by an unseen source. It was about a kind of fantasy experience... a Dream Weaver train taking you through the cosmos. Dream Weaver, I believe you can get me through the night...' was a song about someone with infinite compassion and love carrying us through the night of our trials and suffering. None other than God Himself. Gary Wright
I shall pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.
The best way to find yourself, is to lose yourself in the service of others.
Anger and intolerance are the twin enemies of correct understanding. Once one assumes an attitude of intolerance, there is no knowing where it will take one. Intolerance is violence to the intellect and hatred is violence to the heart. Gandhi
WHEN I HEARD THE LEARN'D ASTRONOMER. When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me; When I was shown the charts and the diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them; When I, sitting, heard the astronomer, where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick; Till rising and gliding out, I wander'd off by myself, In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time, Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.
How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, some afternoon that's so deeply a part of your being that you can't even conceive of your life without it? How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? And yet it all seems limitless. Paul Bowles, The Sheltering Sky
Ch meaning cutting is the contemplative system of Tibetan Buddhism. It involves the yogi or yogini mentally offering his or her own body as a means of severing attachment, literally cutting through ego-clinging and the traditional four demons (greed, anger,evil influences and delusion). The training is based on the tradition of transcendent knowledge in which the practitioner sees through the illusion of a solid reality by recognizing the insubstantial nature of all things. The religious songs that accompany this tradition and the depth of their meaning are capable of enhancing understanding and transforming ordinary experience. Namo Ratna Traya is a mantra of compassion Buddha blessing us with an ability to develop our own compassionate quality through which we will not only be able to heal ourselves but be able to heal others too. Ani Choying Drolma
Look to this day For it is life, the very life of life. For yesterday is but a dream And tomorrow.is only a vision But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness And tomorrow.a vision of hope. Look well, therefore, to this day Such is the salutation of the dawn. KALIDASA
WHAT is this life if, full of care,We have no time to stand and stare? No time to stand beneath the boughs,And stare as long as sheep and cows. No time to see, when woods we pass, Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass. No time to see, in broad daylight,Streams full of stars, like skies at night. No time to turn at Beauty's glance,And watch her feet, how they can dance. No time to wait till her mouth can Enrich that smile her eyes began? A poor life this if, full of care,We have no time to stand and stare. Leisure by W. H. Davies
I read Saint-Exupery The Little Prince whenever I start thinking of life and human nature, when I am distressed by the people who take advantage or betray on those who are innocent and imagination and purity is judged and the importance of the experiences that really matter are just shunned or excluded how people live by lying or fabricating kist to please others in their fake facade lives. The Little Prince makes several profound and idealistic points about life and human nature. The essence of the book is contained in the famous lines uttered by the fox to the Little Prince: You can see clearly only with your heart. What is truly important is invisible to the eyes.
I can't help but to think that every part of our life has something to offer us for our growth, particularly if we give ourselves to attentiveness. I hear connection with my deeper life in correspondence I receive, in the people I meet, in what I read and touch and taste, and in the insights and emotions that arise within me. We are at best when we are supported, loved and in a stress free frame of mind. Taking care of ourselves and finding multiple outlets for our personal expression and remembering to give when we can.
To actually replenish the well and restore our life-force we must return to the child at play. We must go back to the non-success, the not knowing, and the stumbling. We must live again in the insecurity and lostness that we knew in childhood when we had more questions than answers. Our essential dream of life lives in this place. It is a part of that great wilderness. It can't conform. It is not competent and confident. To replenish the well we must move into where we are uncertain and unformed, to where we are not yet whole and known to ourselves. This is the place where the dream of the child becomes the restoration of the adult. This is a place where we don't know what we are doing, but we do it anyway because it feeds the well. We step into the darkness and touch the root of life, of hope, and of our dreams. When we are willing to leave the comfort of rest and to step with vulnerability and humility into that darkness The Source is able to fill the reservoir of us and the well of well-being is restored. Christina Pratt
And, then, what is meant by love of one's country? what is meant by patriotic deeds? If the poet has employed a life in battling with pernicious prejudices, in setting aside narrow views, in enlightening minds, purifying tastes, ennobling the feelings and thoughts of his countrymen, what better could he have done? How could he have acted more patriotically?Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
A hunger for integrity: People are wary of leaders who lack personal integrity. Example, not words, influence.
A yearning for spirituality: There is a strong desire for meaning in life-they might find it in the Gospel or in all kinds of movements.
Gender equality: Gender equality, with its roots particularly in the expressive revolution, is seen more and more as a basic human right; people are increasingly angry with the attempts to revitalize patriarchal values under "pro-order" post modernity.
Desire for community: People yearn for supportive, small-group communities in the midst of an alienating world.
Growing dissatisfaction with neo-capitalism: Life means more than profit-seeking.
Personal storytelling and multiculturalism: There is an unwillingness to depend uncritically on another's story to define meaning in life. People want to able to tell of their own experiences, of their search for personal meaning in a turbulent world, and to share this with others. Paramodernists, therefore, recognize the rights and importance of other cultures and the urgency to develop cross-cultural communication so that different stories can be freely told.
Participative-decision making: Instead of a machinelike universe so popular in modernity, scientists understand the world in terms of relationships between living organisms that are essentially cooperative and characterized by co-existence, relational interdependence, and symbiosis. Touch one relationship and all are affected to some degree. This has lead to seeing organizations as systems in which all aspects are interrelated in a complex network. Consequently, there is a growing recognition of the importance of participative-decision making and our interconnected with the universe. Hence, the growing concern or the environment.
Deconstructionism: This process assumes, for example, that words can hide oppressive forms of power. They need to analyzed and freed of their oppressive connotations.
Some time when the river is ice ask me mistakes I have made. Ask me whether what I have done is my life. Others have come in their slow way into my thought, and some have tried to help or to hurt: ask me what difference their strongest love or hate has made.
I will listen to what you say. You and I can turn and look at the silent river and wait. We know the current is there, hidden; and there are comings and goings from miles away that hold the stillness exactly before us. What the river says, that is what I say.
Creative & Creating One, By Kari Neufeld With mindfulness, we breathe into Your Presence. We pause to reflect and give thanks for the myriad of expressions of Spirit among us. Open us through the beauty Of the constantly changing colors of autumn . . . Of shifting shadows as light plays among trees, illuminating shape and grain of fallen chestnuts . . . Of the free-spirited giggling of a baby being swung on a park swing, by a care-giver fully present to the moment, enthralled with the tiny miracle before him . . . Of relationships that nurture us . . . Open us. Open us . . . and hold us in awe and joy. Through the diverse community that surrounds us, open us to your Creating Spirit that longs within us for strong, compassionate justice, As we who have homes exchange stories with those who for whatever reason have no home, As we who follow a Universal wisdom path exchange stories with those who follow other traditions, As we who are not threatened by the immediacy of war or torture exchange stories with those who are traumatized by the constant threat of violence, As we who harbor resentment dare to exchange stories with those whom we harbor resentment against, As we who are human exchange stories with earth, sky and sea . . . with creatures winged and furry . . . scaled and slimy, As we who struggle for justice dare to exchange stories with those who inflict injustice and with our own shadow side, as we recognize that we also inflict injustice on others. Open us to creatively weave the "we" and the "they" into the "us". Open us. Open us to our interconnected wholeness that extends the thanksgiving table and finds expression through justice that leads to peace. In this we hope, through You. In this hope, we truly give thanks.
The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World. Wade Davis.
Do you remember me, I sat upon your knee, I wrote to you,With childhood fantasies Well, I'm all grown up now,Can you still help somehow I'm not a child, But my heart still can dream So here's my lifelong wish,My grown-up Christmas list Not for myself,But for a world in need No more lives torn apart,That wars would never start And time would heal all hearts,Every man would have a friend That right would always win,And love would never end This is my grown-up Christmas list What is this illusion called,The innocence of youth Maybe only in their blind belief,Can we ever find the truth There'd be no more lives torn apart,And wars would never start And time would heal all hearts,Every man would have a friend And right would always win,And love would never end This is my grown-up Christmas list,This is my only lifelong wish This is my grown-up Christmas list
In my dream I call on God to do that before my death that God saves us from misfortune and brings peace to Rwanda, Burundi and Casamance Mbignona. ISMAEL LO-JAMMU AFRICA
Typically when a man honestly believed in something, and fought and dies for his faith, it would really be too unjust if he had only been inspired by an error. In all great deceivers one thing is noteworthy, it is the actual act of deception, with all their preparations, the dreadful voice, expression, and mien, in the midst of their effective scenery they are overcome by their belief in themselves. There must be self-deception in order that this may produce great effects. For men believe in the truth of everything that is visibly, strongly believed in. Human All to Human
Solomon, the legend goes, had a magic ring which enabled him to speak to the animals in their own language. Konrad Lorenz was gifted with a similar power of understanding the animal world. Lorenz found that animals have instinctive behavior patterns, or fixed-action patterns, that remain dormant until a specific event triggers the animal to exhibit this behavior for the first time. The fixed-action pattern is a specific, ordered series of behaviors, such as the fighting and surrender postures used by many animals. He emphasized that these fixed-action patterns are not learned but are genetically programmed.
"Without supernatural assistance, our fellow creatures can tell us the most beautiful stories and that means true stories, because the truth about nature is always far more beautiful even than what our great poets sing of it, and they are the only real magicians that exist." King Solomon's Ring
In the transitional time between seasons, especially in the 'cooling' transition between summer and fall, there is a tendency to close ourselves off from the world. We may be back in a routine, juggling family, relationships, errands, jobs, the holidays and the like...We have so much to do, and so many roles to play, that all of our energy is focused towards simply getting the job done. And as we settle into this routine, we begin to IDENTIFY with our roles and the adjectives that describe our lives (mom, busy, hectic, hard working, self sacrificing, etc.). Even if these aren't terms we would consciously choose to describe the person we want to be, our ego still clings to having something with which to identify. It is our ego that craves an identity, no matter what it is.
Turning you awareness inward is fine, and so is seeking an identity for who you are, but when we identify with that which is TRANSIENT (like our roles, relationships, jobs and emotions), which will ultimately change, we set ourselves up for disappointment and despair. This is what we are talking about in yoga when we speak of 'non-attachment' (aparigraha) and of 'suffering' (dukha). An attachment to anything that is impermanent will ultimately lead to dukha. Furthermore, our attachment is based on fear - more specifically, the ego's fear of no longer having an identification - and fear is simply an unconscious protective mechanism to keep us from getting hurt. Fear, on the other hand, will also keep us from opening to change, love, abundance and prosperity. How do we get there? By opening our heart centers.
It is so simple! But not always easy... when we open our heart center, we release ourselves from the bind of identification with the impermanent. This means our JOBS, or RELATIONSHIPS, and all those other things we identify with so deeply. This doesn't mean you should quit your job or stop calling your friends; it simply means to learn to be at peace with the changes that occur within these areas of your life. Our EMOTIONS and our THOUGHTS are even more transient, and yoga is a way to access the space inside of you where it is quiet and still and unchanging. That which is YOU. When we realize our true identity, we will no longer cling so tightly to our roles, because we can see their impermanence.
When we hold onto things from a place of fear, we send the message that we don't need to receive. When we open our arms and release that which no longer serves us (the fears we store in our heart center; a release which is not necessarily a pleasant one), we send the message that we are part of the flow of life, that we deserve prosperity and joy just as much as the next person, and that we are open to new opportunities and change. Energy, like water, must flow. Rivers do not flow into still ponds. Open your flood gates and give way to the abundance of the universe!
Working Out New Combinations, by Swami Sukhabodhananda A young boy left his home in search of truth. He met many people; he became richer in awareness of his ignorance.
Since people went to forests to meditate, he too went to a thick forest. He did not know how to meditate. So he screamed at the forest to give him knowledge. For years his only mantra was screaming at the forest to give him knowledge. He believed that if you are committed, existence will help you.
One day, a monk came to him. He asked: "What do you want, my son?" "I want to know what the meaning of life is," he replied. "Go to the town. The first three persons that you meet will give you the meaning of life," the monk replied.
The boy went to the town. The first man he met was doing carpentry work. The next man he met was doing sheet metal work. The third man he met was making strings. Disappointed, he sat on the bank of a river. Suddenly, he heard the sweet strains of violin music. Something mysterious touched him. He suddenly got the answer he was looking for and he started dancing.
The carpenter was preparing the wood for the violin. The sheet metal worker was preparing metal for the strings and the strings were meant for the violin. Life has everything; all you need is to be able to connect the dots. You need to work out new combinations. And for that you need creative perception.
Life has all the ingredients. Be creative. Don't let yourself feel victimised. You might think that what is easy is beautiful, that what is easy is joy. You are a victim of such illusions. Difficulty has such a joy. Discovery has such a joy. Seeking out has such a joy.
You have to change the notion that difficulty is pain. In exercise, there is difficulty but also joy. In sports, there is difficulty but there is joy. In your relationships, when there is difficulty, treat it as joy. Just reprogramme your mind.
In prayer you don't have to do anything; just be available to God's grace. Prayer is a deep readiness to receive God's flow. It is passive alertness. Go deep and you discover your original mind... it is deep passiveness. A greedy mind is richer than a Buddha, but rich with desires and greed; so a Buddha is 'poorer' than you are. The Bible says: "Blessed are the poor for theirs is the kingdom of God."
When someone asked Buddha what he attained through his enlightenment, he said: "I did not gain but I lost. I lost my ignorance, my dreams, my dogmas, my likes and dislikes, my ambitions."
You can live in two ways mechanical or meditative. The meditative way involves you being more aware; that awareness is passive alertness. When you are passively alert, you will realise that you are born free; you are not condemned to be not free. You have choices and that is your freedom. When there is no freedom there are no choices.
Be more meditative and you will make the right choices that will make you grow rather than feel trapped. Substance abuse is a bad choice. This is a mechanical way of living. But the choice is before you.
If you choose wisely you are in paradise. When you are eating, meditatively eat. Then eating will be a paradise. Totally be in your eating. When you take a bath, be total in taking your bath and a different paradise opens up. Next, bring in love energy into whatever you do... feel your inner being.
With the energy of silence, be total. You realise that you will be a moving heaven rather than a moving hell.
Imagine there's no Heaven;It's easy if you try; No hell below us; Above us only sky; Imagine all the people,Living for today Imagine there's no countries;It isn't hard to do; Nothing to kill or die for; And no religion too; Imagine all the people,Living life in peace Imagine no possessions; I wonder if you can; No need for greed or hunger; A brotherhood of man; Imagine all the people; Sharing all the world. You may say that I'm a dreamer;But I'm not the only one; I hope someday you'll join us, And the world will be as one. Imagine by John Lenon
If freckles were lovely, and day was night,And measles were nice and a lie warn't a lie, Life would be delight,- But things couldn't go right, For in such a sad plight I wouldn't be I. If earth was heaven, and now was hence,And past was present, and false was true.There might be some sense But I'd be in suspense.For on such a pretense You wouldn't be you. If fear was plucky, and globes were square,And dirt was cleanly and tears were glee.Things would seem fair,- Yet they'd all despair, For if here was there, We wouldn't be we. If by E. E. Cummings
