Welcome to Spiritual Insights, a website containing insights on spirituality and inspiration from various sources.
Be contented with what you possess in life; be thankful for what does not belong to you, for it is so much care the less; but try to obtain what you need in life, and make the best of every moment of your life.
Hazrat Inayat Khan
Gayan
Word for the day from http://www.gratefulness.org
If you like to help, here are few respected international organizations that are active in the area:
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
P.O. Box 372CH-1211 Geneva 19
Switzerland
41-22-730-4222
http://www.ifrc.org/
US Fund for UNICEF
333 East 38th Street
New York, NY 10016
800-FOR-KIDS
http://www.unicefusa.org
Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres
P.O. Box 2247
New York, NY 10116-2247
888-392-0392
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org
Moses heard a shepherd on the road praying,
"God, Where are you?
I want to help you, to fix your shoes and comb your hair.
I want to wash your clothes and pick the lice off.
I want to bring you milk to kiss your little hands and feet when it's time for you to go to bed.
I want to sweep your room and keep it neat.
God, my sheep and goats are yours.
All I can say, remembering you, is ayyyy and ahhhhhhhh."
Moses could stand it no longer.
"Who are you talking to?"
"The one who made us, and made the earth and the sky."
"Don't talk about shoes and socks with God!
And what's this with your little hands and feet?
Such blasphemous familiarity sounds like you're chatting with your uncles.
Only something that grows needs milk.
Only someone with feet needs shoes.
NotGod! Even if you meant God's human representatives, as when God said,
'I was sick and you did not visit me,'even then this tone would be foolish and irreverent.
Use appropriate terms.
Fatima is a fine name for a woman, but if you call a man Fatima, it's an insult.
Body-and-birth language are right for us on this side of the river, but not for addressing the origin, not for Allah.
"The shepherd repented and tore his clothes and sighed and wandered into the desert.
A sudden revelation came then to Moses.
God's voice: You have separated me from one of my own.
Did you come as a Prophet to unite, or to sever?
I have given each being a separate and unique way of seeing and knowing and saying that knowledge.
What seems wrong for you is right for him.
What is poisonous to one is honey to someone else.
Purity and impurity, sloth and diligence in worship, these mean nothing to me.
I am apart from all that.
Ways of worshipping are not to be ranked as better or worse than one another.
Hindus do Hindu things. the Dravidian Muslims in India do what they do.
It's all praise, and it's all right.
It's not me that's glorified in acts of worship.
It's the worshipers! I don't hear the words they say.
I look inside at the humility.
That broken-open lowliness is the reality, not the language!
Forget phraseology.
I want burning, burning.
Be friends with your burning.
Burn up your thinking and your forms of expression!
Moses, those who pay attention to ways of behaving and speaking are one sort.
Lovers who burn are another.
Don't impose a property tax on a burned-out village.
Don't scold the Lover.
The "wrong" way his talks is better than a hundred"right" ways of others.
Inside the Kaaba it doesn't matter which direction you point your prayer rug!
The ocean diver doesn't need snowshoes!
The love-religion has not code or doctrine.
Only God.
So the ruby has nothing engraved on it! It doesn't need markings.
"God began speaking deeper mysteries to Moses.
Vision and words, which cannot be recorded here, poured into and through him.
He left himself and came back.
He went to eternity and came back here.
Many times this happened.
It's foolish of meto try and say this.
If I did say it, it would uproot human intelligences.
It would shatter all writing pens.
Moses ran after the shepherd.
He followed the bewildered footprints, in one place moving straight like a castle across a chessboard.
In another, sideways, like a bishop.
Now surging like a wave cresting, now sliding down like a fish,with always his feet making geomancy symbols in the sand, recording his wandering state.
Moses finally caught upwith him."I was wrong.
God has revealed to me that there are no rules for worship.
Say whatever and however your loving tells you to.
Your sweet blasphemyis the truest devotion.
Through you a whole world is freed.
Loosen your tongue and don't worry what comes out,
It's all the light of the spirit."The shepherd replied,
"Moses, Moses, I've gone beyond even that.
You applied the whip and my horse shied and jumped on itself.
The divine nature of my human nature came together.
Bless your scolding hand and your arm.
I can't say what has happened.
What I'm saying now is not my real condition.
It can't be said."The shepherd grew quiet.
When you look in a mirror, you see yourself, not the state of the mirror.
The flute player puts breath into the flute, and who makes the music?
Not the flute,The flute player!
Whenever you speak praise or thanksgiving to God, it's always like this dear shepherd's simplicity.
When you eventually see through the veils to how things really are,
you will keep saying again and again,
"This is certainly not like we thought it was!"
This poem of Rumi is translated by Coleman Barks and read with beautiful music in the background on this CD.
Everything we ever had and will have is a gift from the Source. What can we offer to him then? Is there anything that we have created? Yes, our ego is the only thing in the world that is not created by him, we shall offer our ego to him!
Labels: ego
A story posted on http://www.KindnessInc.org
I am a mother of three (ages 14, 12, 3) and have recently completed my college degree. The last class I had to take was Sociology. The teacher was absolutely inspiring with the qualities that I wish every human being had been graced with. Her last project of the term was called "Smile." The class was asked to go out and smile at three people and document their reaction. I am a very friendly person and always smile at everyone and say, hello anyway.....so, I thought, this would be a piece of cake literally.
Soon after we were assigned the project, my husband, youngest son, and I went out to McDonalds, one crisp March morning. It was just our way of sharing special play time with our son. We were standing in line, waiting to be served, when all of a suddeneveryone around us began to back away, and then even my husband did.
I did not move an inch...an overwhelming feeling of panic welled up inside of me as I turned to see why they had moved. As I turned around I smelled a horrible "dirty body" smell... and there standing behind me were two poor homeless men. As I looked down at the short gentleman, close to me, he was "smiling". His beautiful sky blue eyes were full of God's Light as he searched for acceptance. He said, "Good day" as he counted the few coins he had been clutching. The second man fumbled with his hands as he stood behind his friend. I realized the second man was mentally deficient and the blue eyed gentle man was his salvation. I held my tears....as I stood there with them. The young lady at the counter asked him what they wanted. He said, "Coffee is all Miss" because that was all they could afford. To sit in the restaurant and warm up, they had to buy something...they just wanted to be warm.
Then I really felt it...the compulsion was so great I almost reached out and embraced the little man with the blue eyes. That is when I noticed all eyes in the restaurant were set on me...judging my every action. I smiled and asked the young lady behind the counter to give me two more breakfast meals on a separate tray. I then walked around the corner to the table that the men had chosen as a resting spot. I put the tray on the table and laid my hand on the blue eyed gentleman's cold hand. He looked up at me, with tears in his eyes, and said, "Thank you." I leaned over, began to pat his hand and said,"I did not do this for you...God is here working through me to give you hope." I started to cry as I walked away to join my husband and son.
When I sat down my husband smiled at me and said, "That is why God gave you to me honey....to give me hope." We held hands for moment and at that time we knew that only because of the Grace that we had been given that we were able to give. We are not church goers but we are believers. That day showed me the pure Light of God's sweet love.
I returned to college, on the last evening of class, with this story in hand. I turned in "my project" and the instructor read it....then she looked up at me and said, "Can I share this?" I slowly nodded as she got the attention of the class. She began to read and that is when I knew that we, as human beings and being part of God, share this need to heal people and be healed. In my own way I had touched the people at McDonalds, my husband,son, instructor, and every soul that shared the classroom on the last night I spent as a college student. I graduated with one of the biggest lessons I would ever learn....UNCONDITIONAL ACCEPTANCE.
Much love and compassion is being sent to each and every person who may read this. Learn how to LOVE PEOPLE AND USE THINGS - NOT LOVE THINGS AND USE PEOPLE.
A man had an interview in a city where he had to travel by plane.
He arrived at the airport. Before departing, he visited the a small shop at the airport, he purchased couple of candies and a drink. To his surprise the total came out to be $20. He was determined to not pay that much for just couple of candies and a drink. He argued with the shopkeeper about it. Shopkeeper was kind enough to charge him $15 but that wasn't good enough for him. His argument started again. After a while, the shopkeeper agreed to charge him only $10 so he can get back to his business and serve other customers. The man proud of himself, happily walked towards his flight's gate. The flight had already gone.
....
Busy with activities of our life, happy with our successes in this world of forms and names, we will miss our flight, the flight of recognizing the purpose of this human life, the goal of becoming one with Almighty by surrendering our ego to him and living a life of love for all.
Paraphrased from one of Amma's discourses
- http://www.ammachi.org
Labels: ego
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day in US. Here's a message of hope and gratitude.
Come from Gratitude, guidelines by Joanna Macy
Labels: gratefulness
When presented with opposing point of views or even facts, we tend to believe what makes us feel better. Our emotions play a large role in convincing our intellect to believe one or another point of view. Most of the real situations in life are too complicated and contain many shades of gray, but our emotions have the power of painting it black or white depending on which one feels better.
Your power is limited by your objective. If your objective is service, the power that comes through you is unlimited.
- Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan
Alchemical Wisdom
Suffering exists not for the purpose of hurting us, but to teach us where genuine good is to be found, and thus to make us stronger, more intelligent and more vibrant.
- Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov
http://www.prosveta.com
Gratitude is so close to the bone of life, pure and true, that it instantly stops the rational mind, and all its planning and plotting.
- Regina Sara Ryan
Praying Dangerously
Another name for God is surprise.
- David Steindl-Rast
Words of the Day from http://www.gratefulness.org
In the exit polls of this week's elections in US, the top issue for most people was moral values (more than Iraq war, terrorism, jobs and healthcare). Since moral values has such importance in these times for people, we can expect people to pay more attention and ask their leaders to do the same to moral issues such as morality of war and peace, love for mankind, value of human life without considering their nationality, compassion for less fortunte, honesty in corporations, and taking care of God's gifts to us such as environment !!!???
"This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your houseempty of it's furniture,still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent as a guide from beyond."
- A translation of a poem by Rumi, a 12th century Sufi poet.
(The Essential Rumi, 109)
Gratitude is the intention to count-your-blessings every day, every minute,while avoiding, whenever possible, the belief that you need or deserve different circumstances.
- Timothy Miller How To Want What You Have
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.
- Marcel Proust
The same pain that can blemish our personality can act as a creative force,burnishing it into an object of delight.
- Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan Alchemical Wisdom
Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder.
- E.B. White Charlotte's Web
Quotes are from Word For the Day from http://www.gratefulness.org
Dentist Sinks His Teeth Into Relief
Los Angeles Times10/31/2004By Steve Chawkins
Jim Rolfe has spent weeks and about $50,000 trying to fill a big void in Afghanistan. Now he is planning to set up his own clinic in Kabul
At 65, Jim Rolfe has been a dentist for a long time, but his practice in downtown Santa Barbara hardly prepared him for what he found in Afghanistan.
"There was a continuous flow of problems you couldn't imagine even existing in the U.S.," he said. "It's like coming onto an auto accident with bodies lying all over the street. That's how it is when a person opens his mouth to be treated."
Like numerous other medical professionals who pitch in at Third World clinics for brief periods, Rolfe wanted to spend a few weeks simply doing what he could. What he didn't count on was his spark of altruism turning into a full-fledged mission.
So far, Rolfe has spent more than $50,000 of his own money to provide dental care in Afghanistan. What he has in mind, though, is far grander in scope than simply writing a check.
Rolfe could be the only Santa Barbara dentist currently looking to buy land in Kabul. When he finds it, he will plunk down a used shipping container he purchased as the hub of his future clinic. He will rig it up with a generator and running water, outfit it with dental equipment, recruit U.S. professionals, train Afghan dental assistants, and, practically overnight, give Afghans in sore need of dental work an opportunity to get it.
Rolfe has a gray beard, rock-star-length hair, and a down-to-earth style. It's not hard to picture him as what he once was: the official dentist — as well as goat tender and truck driver — for a Santa Barbara commune called Brotherhood of the Sun.
Decades later, his office is as distinctive as his background. Conga drums and bongos sit in the waiting room for patients anxious to take the edge off their visit to the dentist. Patients recline to view TV sets mounted in the ceiling as a fountain cascades in the background. Designed and built by Rolfe, the treatment areas are cozy beige nooks with curved walls, a style Rolfe calls "Southwestern Eskimo."
Such comforts are a world away from the grim certainties of a country torn by war over the last 30 years. Sitting in his waiting room, Rolfe wearily reels off the statistics: The average male dies at 44. One in four children die by age 5. Ten percent of the population are orphans. Only one in seven people can read.
And the number of people in a land of 27 million who have ever seen a dentist is too small to measure.
"I'd look into mouths and just see a disaster," he said. "Instead of teeth, I'd see abscessed roots. These people had never had their teeth cleaned; I'd pull out tartar in huge rocks."
In 2002, Rolfe read about an orphanage in a remote mountain province and volunteered there for three weeks. He worked from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., using the children he treated as his "assistants."
"When I saw how grateful they were, I cried," he said. "They couldn't wait to get treatment."
Two years later, he returned for another couple of weeks, this time setting up shop at a women's clinic in Kabul.
For this trip, Rolfe had made a portable wooden dental chair, pocked with a Swiss-cheese pattern of holes to reduce its weight.
He also had some help. A recent graduate of Kabul's medical university acted as translator for $20 a day. He was jobless, as were all of the other 314 graduates in his class. And one of Rolfe's Santa Barbara patients, yoga instructor Hayley Parlen, came along as well. She had hoped to teach yoga techniques to children in Kabul but wound up assisting Rolfe.
Parlen, 29, had learned about Rolfe's plans when she was getting her teeth cleaned. She had no idea that within months, she would be able to soothe frightened women by intoning, in the local dialect, standard dental bromides such as "Just breathe" and "It'll only hurt for a second."
"With one hand, I'd suction blood from their mouth and with the other, I'd squeeze their hands or massage their forehead," she said. "My calmness translated to them that they'd be OK."
Rolfe is looking for donations and volunteers to help him on his planned trip in April. Setting up a booth at a recent state dental conference in San Francisco, he already has recruited Ike Rahimi, an Afghanistan-born dentist who treats farm workers in the San Joaquin Valley.
"The need is enormous," said Rahimi, whose mother might accompany him on the trip to see sisters still in Afghanistan. "Life is not so forgiving there."
In January, the secondhand shipping container that Rolfe bought for $2,500 will be stuffed with equipment and placed on a freighter to Rotterdam. From there, it will travel by rail to southern Russia, and then by truck through Uzbekistan, and, finally, to Kabul.
When it's set up, it will house a lab and three dental chairs. Westerners now fly four hours to Qatar for dental treatment. With his new facility, Rolfe hopes to treat them for fees that will subsidize treatment of the poor.
He hopes to eventually add simple accommodations for visiting professionals and classrooms where Afghan hygienists and technicians can be trained.
His is not the first such plan in Afghanistan. Other dentists have volunteered as well, and the American military has worked on restoring the nation's only dental hospital. Still, Rolfe said he has to focus on not being overwhelmed.
"I feel like a drop of water in the desert," he said.
For more information, see Rolfe's Afghanistan Dental Relief Project website at http://www.adrpinc.org .
Labels: afghanistan, seva
Only those branches that are not connected to the Root die under the extreme weather conditions.
- Guru Granth Sahib
"Learn to be thankful to everyone, to the entire creation, even to your enemy, and to those who insult you and get angry with you, because they all help you to grow. They are mirrors, images of your own mind. If you know how to read and interpret the images properly, you can get rid of your mind and its weaknesses.”
-Amma - http://www.ammamich.org
Labels: amma, gratefulness
Listen to Ruth Pearl, Daniel's Mom about his son's musical life and how Music is being used today to remember him and spread hope for humanity.
NPR : Daniel Pearl, Remembered Through Music
Labels: music
"When you get up from a chair and stretch. You don't realize how lucky you are."
- Christopher Reeve (He died yesterday)
"Appreciation of life itself, becoming suddenly aware of the miracle of being alive, on this planet, can turn what we call ordinary life into a miracle. "
- Dan Wakefield
The winds of grace blow all the time. All we need to do is set our sails.
- Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa
Gospel of Ramakrishna
Deposit: naam-jap, meditation, bhakti, total surrender, accept God's will
Withdraw (cash): seva, selfless service to others
In our life's journey, we need cash; to withdraw cash from bank account, we need to first deposit some.
If we deposit money into an account but never withdraw any, is there any benefit in that money?
Let's deposit as much as we can and then withdraw regularly to put it in use.
Inspired by:Commentary on Barah-Mah (a section of Guru Granth Sahib) by Professor Darshan Singh. http://www.ggsacademy.com
"To be compassionate towards the poor, one does not need a lot of wealth or a very high position. A loving word, a compassionate look, a simple good deed—all these can bring light to their lives, as well as to our own. It is not what we gain, but what we are able to give, that determines the value of our life. If we have been able to give happiness to a soul—even for a minute—it makes our life blessed." - Amma http://www.ammamich.org
Labels: amma, compassion
If we accept God's will and if we truely have trust in him then we know whatever happens will be good. It may not seem good in short-term depending on our understanding but only God knows the whole picture. Depending on our opinion of Kerry and Bush and our understanding of current global conflict we may hope for victory of one or the other; we may even pray for the victory of our favoriate. What we really need to pray for is for God to give us the wisdom and courage to accept his will.
This does not mean we don't have to do anything, let's listen to our conscience and act upon it. Let's vote and do everything we can to help our chosen one to win. Whoever wins in November, let's raise our voice if we think the new administration is not going in right direction.
Accepting God's will is not about shutting our conscience but about accepting whatever is happening around us and doing and promoting righteousness at all times with a cool mind.
Labels: hukum
"There is a difference between buying medicines for a wound on one's own hand, and going out to get medicine for someone else's pain. The latter shows that one has a loving heart. This is what a spiritual seeker needs; it is what his spiritual practices are for.
Sadhana shouldn't be done for one's own liberation, but for the sake of becoming loving, compassionate and understanding enough to remove the suffering of the world. There's no benefit to be derived from just sitting somewhere with our eyes closed and doing nothing else. We have to become so large-hearted that we experience the suffering of others as our own, and work to alleviate their suffering.”– Amma http://www.ammamich.org
Labels: amma, compassion
Imagine someone has created a perfect product, a product that does not require any redesigns ever, it does not require any upgrades. The only thing he is asking in return is a "thank you". What a deal ! Would you go for it?
Actually someone has created countless such gifts (our body, water, air, food, ...) and given to us already, each one a mark of perfection and we have acquired all those gifts but we don't pay him back with that simple "thank you".
Inspired by:Commentary on Sukhmani Sahib (a section of Guru Granth Sahib) by Professor Darshan Singh. http://www.ggsacademy.com
Labels: Sikhism
Grace and Gratefulness
God's grace is always available but to synchronize ourselves to it, we need to accept his order and be grateful. Gratefulness is our way of giving back to the Source; this starts a cycle or a cosmic dance between us and him.
Choice and Choicelessness
We don't have a choice of where we are born, how people treat us, what happens to us everyday but we have the choice of how we react to all those. Accpeting the choicelessness of our lives and making the choices to keep us in harmony with the Source is the key.
Udam and Ardaas (self effort and prayer)
Prayer requires humility and acceptance of divine's greatness. Without prayer, self effort increases our ego and take us further away from the source even if we are doing the right things. Prayer without the self effort makes us lazy and passive.
Inspired by:
Commentary on Sukhmani Sahib (a section of Guru Granth Sahib) by Professor Darshan Singh. http://www.ggsacademy.com
Choice and Choicelessness by Satish Kumar in Shift magazine (institute of noetic sciences). http://www.noetic.org
Gratefulness by Brother David Steindl-Rast - http://www.gratefulness.org
Don't meditate. Just relax and be yourself. When you follow a formal meditation, you condition your mind that there's something you're looking for. Your heart is already awakened you just need to relax and connect to your own heart.
Creativity as a Path to Enlightenment with Nina Wise Program #3040. http://www.newdimensions.org
Author of "A Big New Free Happy Unusual Life: Self Expression and Spiritual Practice for Those Who Have Time for Neither".
George Carlin's wife recently passed away. He wrote the following piece. Typically sharp; and some good advice.
The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less.
We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.
We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.
We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years.
We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space.
We've done larger things, but not better things. We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice.
We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.
These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes.
These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill.
It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you and a time when you can choose either to share this insight; or to just hit delete.
Remember; spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever. Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.
Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent. Remember, to say, "I love you" to your partner andyour loved ones, but most of all, mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.
Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.Give time to love, give time to speak, and give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.
AND ALWAYS REMEMBER: Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
-- "What surprises you most about mankind?"
-- "That they lose their health to make money and then lose their money to restore their health. That by thinking anxiously about the future, they forget the present, such that they live neither for the present nor the future. That they live as if they will never die, and they die as if they had never lived..."
Inspired by Swami Chinmayananda's Commentry of 24th shaloka of Aadi Sankaracharya's Bhaja Govindam:
Even-mindedness for both desirable and undesirable circumstances can be achieved by:
1. dedicated action (karam-yoga, dedicating every action to God, not being attached to the fruit of our action, no expectations)
2. devotion to the Lord (bhakti, total surrender, constant rememerance and longing for God, keertan)
3. service of mankind (seva, selfless actions for others)
4. contemplation upon the highest (meditation, naam-jap, simran)
5. constant study and reflection (listening and reading of scriptures, contemplationg on them and applying them in our daily lives)
Labels: seva
Interesting piece... Footprints...
A man dreamt that he was walking on clouds with God..... His entire life's journey was flashing back at him... He noted two set of footprints during some aspects of his life..... One set of footprints were God's and the other set were his, walking through the journey of life...Other times when he flashed back, there were only one set of footprints...
He noticed that during those time where there were one set of footprints, he had very tough times, he was very unhappy and in misery...... He asked God, that why this was the case, why there were only one set of footprints during the rough times... He asked God, "you are the father, shouldn't the father be there all the time and not only during the good times".
God responded, "Son, you only see one set of footprints because during those times, I was carrying you".
Cheers!
I was reading a commentary online where I came across the above saying - "Facts are the enemy of Truth".
Fact is defined as "a piece of information about circumstances that exist or events that have occurred".
Fact is always limited; it's a piece of information about something. Fact is a small division of Truth as interpreted by the experiencer. Facts makes us form opinions. Our opinions are a major piece of our ego. Ego is what keeps us away from the Truth. To live in this world we need to act, to act we need to make decisions, to decide we need facts. We have to use facts to make decisions of what we think is right. But we have to keep in mind that truth is the combination of our side and the other side. Truth is the big picture, the whole picture, it includes all sides, our side and the other side. We have the right to make decisions with our facts but we should not judge the other side since we don't know the whole picture. Judgments bring negative emotions such as anger and fear. We have to stand against injustice but with love not with hatred. There's a reason for everything, with our very limited intellect, we are seeing a small piece of it -- like an ant who is walking on Mona Lisa painting and cannot understand or appreciate it. The other side is playing its part in the world, we have to focus on what we are doing and are we generating love or hatred in the world?
The Dalai Lama's Instructions for Life
1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
2. When you lose, don't lose the lesson.
3. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
4. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
5. Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
6. When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
7. Spend some time alone every day.
8. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
9. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll be able to enjoy it a second time.
10. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
11. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation.
12. Don't bring up the past.
13. Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality.
14. Be gentle with the earth.
15. Once a year, go someplace you've never been before.
16. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
17. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
18. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.
19. Follow the three R's:
- Respect for self.
- Respect for others.
- Responsibility for all of your actions.
20. Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values.
A life lived with no hope is a peaceful, joyous and compassionate life. As long as we identify with this mind and body -- and we all do -- we hope for things that we think will take care of them. We hope for success, we hope for health, and we hope for enlightenment. All hope is, of course, about sizing up the past and projecting it into the future.
Everyday Zen
by Charlotte Joko Beck
(We really need to pay attention to what our hopes are about)
When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stone cutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet, at the hundred and first blow, it will split in two; and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before.
by Jacob Ris
(Perhaps our prayers work the same way)
I have observed the power of the watermelon seed. It has the power of drawing from the ground and through itself 200,000 times its weight. When you can tell me how it takes this material and out of it colors an outside surface beyond the imitation of art, and then forms inside of it a white rind and within that again a red heart, thickly inlaid with black seeds, each of which in turn is capable of drawing through itself 200,000 times its weight-- when you can explain to me the mystery of a watermelon, you can ask me to explain the mystery of GOD. by William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925)
Do we really love God?
God is formless and beyond our intellect, do we really know how to love him?
If we can't love the unmanifested God then let's love his manifestations - his creation. Let's see God in every living being and love them.
When we love your close family members such as our siblings, we don't think about negative aspects of their personlaity. If we truely consider other people as our sisters and brohters than we won't be judging them by concentrating on their negative aspects. We might be able to learn to love everyone and be compassionate towards them - another way of loving the creator.
During your day you might learn something or an insight may comes to you from nowhere which may feel like another forward step in your spiritual journey. Put that insight in words and post it on this blog. Let others learn from it and share their experience on the same with the group.