Sunday, 28 February 2010
Love is an act of faith...
"Love is an act of faith, amongst many other things. It is not necessarily about having all the answers in the moment. It may be that you may never have all the answers. The ones you allow in are by your faith...did we say that love is an act of faith....?" ~ Hemal Radia
Friday, 26 February 2010
Wise words from Ralph Marston ...
Dare to say what you truly think. Dare to express what you really feel. Preventing yourself from being yourself causes stress, anxiety, frustration and resentment. Give yourself permission to be uniquely beautiful and uninhibited in your living of life. Dare to attempt things you've never done before, every well-honed skill you have, was once a new experience. Dare to question your beliefs, for that is how you make them strong. Open yourself to the possibility of failure, the fact that success is never a sure thing is what makes it so worth having. Dare to imagine, and then to intently build that which you've imagined. Dare to dream, and to live that dream with passion and purpose in every moment! Go on, I dare you..
Thursday, 25 February 2010
Do Your Beliefs Empower You or Limit You?
One of the most liberating, empowering and cathartic things you can do as the author of your own life is to question your beliefs. Not for the sake of being different, difficult or rebellious, but for the sake of learning who you are, what you are and what you really believe beyond the social conditioning, the weight of expectation, the years of mental and emotional programming and beyond the pressure of group thinking...
Wise words from Dr. Mercola.
Wise words from Dr. Mercola.
Hope
I know I missed the boat called perfection but my errors are portals of discovery and there are times when a little madness sets me free. ~ Gael Bage
Wednesday, 24 February 2010
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
Monday, 22 February 2010
Sunday, 21 February 2010
Crystal Heart Paints its own picture..
In its own colors.. Love the way my little friends shine after a cleanse.. Never seen these colors here before though not surprised after asking the sunset to come home with me.. Now i see how it did..
At the core of it all ... Everything is as it should be... Everything is Perfect...
Namaste!
Thursday, 18 February 2010
Purple Magic...
Fluorite enhances the ability to meditate, increases psychic development, and brings spiritual peace.
All colors of fluorite are effective for clearing the aura and energy centers and can facilitate a deep state of meditation. Fluorite also encourages stability and the reaching of goals.
It is the stone of discernment and aptitude, bringing the energies of mental achievement to their apex.
Purple Fluorite can be used to open the third eye and increase psychic awareness as well as spiritual connection and growth. It is used to assist in effective meditation and is associated with spiritual wholeness. Purple fluorite enhances intuition and is also usefull in divination and dream work.
Fluorite cleanses and stabilises the aura. It absorbs and neutralises negative energy and stress. An excellent learning aid, Fluorite increases our powers of concentration, self-confidence and helps us in decision-making. It encourages positivity, balances the energies, and improves balance and coordination, both physically and mentally.
Fluorite boosts the immune system, stimulates the regeneration of cells, particularly in the skin and respiratory tract, and heals ulcers and wounds. Fluorite strengthens bone tissue, and alleviates rheumatism, arthritis and spinal injuries. It improves the discomfort of shingles and other nerve-related pain.
Fluorite crystals are remarkably powerful stones for healing. They have an overall dissolving and re-ordering effect, which can benefit the body in a number of ways. For respiratory infections, their energy encourages the repair of mucous membranes. For skin problems, minor wounds, and ulcers, fluorite is good for regenerating new skin cells. For arthritis, this crystal can help dissolve build-ups and improve joint movement. Wherever there is disorder, the properties of fluorite will work to create order.
In crystal healing, this mineral is also specifically known to reduce pain. Lay a stone on a problem area, or move it across the body, always in motion towards the heart. A gem elixir can also be made to utilize the healing energy of this stone. Set a cleansed fluorite crystal in a glass of purified water. Let sit in the sunlight for 12 hours. Remove the stone and either drink the water, or add it to a bath. Use fluorite crystal healing only in addition to regular medical care, not in place of.
Fluorite is a particularly beneficial healing crystal for the mind. It promotes the organization of information. It helps to link new information with what is already known, encouraging useful connections between ideas for deeper understanding. Beneficial for students and scholars alike, wearing fluorite earrings or keeping a sphere in the area for study, improves concentration and imparts a sharp mind. This stone brings the energy of clarity of truth and ordered, objective thoughts. It works to dispel a myopic viewpoint, preconceived notions, and illusions.
The metaphysical properties of fluorite make this crystal a wonderful tool for psychic healing and spiritual development. It acts to protect from outside influences, manipulation, and mental influence. It also has a purifying effect on the aura and chakras, removing negative energy. With its penchant for order, any stress, chaotic energy, or psychological disorder will be directed towards calm, clear structuring.
Read more at Suite101: Fluorite Crystal Healing: Metaphysical Properties of Fluorite Stones http://energyhealing.suite101.com/article.cfm/fluorite_crystal_healing#ixzz0fqXIILPc
A piece of Purple Magic...
Tuesday, 16 February 2010
How to do Mindfulness Meditation...
By Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche
“Mindfulness practice is simple and completely feasible. Just by sitting and doing nothing, we are doing a tremendous amount.”
In mindfulness, or shamatha, meditation, we are trying to achieve a mind that is stable and calm. What we begin to discover is that this calmness or harmony is a natural aspect of the mind. Through mindfulness practice we are just developing and strengthening it, and eventually we are able to remain peacefully in our mind without struggling. Our mind naturally feels content.
An important point is that when we are in a mindful state, there is still intelligence. It’s not as if we blank out. Sometimes people think that a person who is in deep meditation doesn’t know what’s going on—that it’s like being asleep. In fact, there are meditative states where you deny sense perceptions their function, but this is not the accomplishment of shamatha practice.
Creating a Favorable Environment
There are certain conditions that are helpful for the practice of mindfulness. When we create the right environment it’s easier to practice.
It is good if the place where you meditate, even if it’s only a small space in your apartment, has a feeling of upliftedness and sacredness. It is also said that you should meditate in a place that is not too noisy or disturbing, and you should not be in a situation where your mind is going to be easily provoked into anger or jealousy or other emotions. If you are disturbed or irritated, then your practice is going to be affected.
Beginning the Practice
I encourage people to meditate frequently but for short periods of time — ten, fifteen, or twenty minutes. If you force it too much the practice can take on too much of a personality, and training the mind should be very, very simple. So you could meditate for ten minutes in the morning and ten minutes in the evening, and during that time you are really working with the mind. Then you just stop, get up, and go.
Often we just plop ourselves down to meditate and just let the mind take us wherever it may. We have to create a personal sense of discipline. When we sit down, we can remind ourselves: “I’m here to work on my mind. I’m here to train my mind.” It’s okay to say that to yourself when you sit down, literally. We need that kind of inspiration as we begin to practice.
Posture
The Buddhist approach is that the mind and body are connected. The energy flows better when the body is erect, and when it’s bent, the flow is changed and that directly affects your thought process. So there is a yoga of how to work with this. We’re not sitting up straight because we’re trying to be good schoolchildren; our posture actually affects the mind.
People who need to use a chair for meditation should sit upright with their feet touching the ground. Those using a meditation cushion such as a zafu or gomden should find a comfortable position with legs crossed and hands resting palm-down on your thighs. The hips are neither rotated forward too much, which creates tension, nor tilted back so you start slouching. You should have a feeling of stability and strength.
When we sit down the first thing we need to do is to really inhabit our body—really have a sense of our body. Often we sort of prop ourselves up and pretend we’re practicing, but we can’t even feel our body; we can’t even feel where it is. Instead, we need to be right here. So when you begin a meditation session, you can spend some initial time settling into your posture. You can feel that your spine is being pulled up from the top of your head so your posture is elongated, and then settle.
The basic principle is to keep an upright, erect posture. You are in a solid situation: your shoulders are level, your hips are level, your spine is stacked up. You can visualize putting your bones in the right order and letting your flesh hang off that structure. We use this posture in order to remain relaxed and awake. The practice we’re doing is very precise: you should be very much awake even though you are calm. If you find yourself getting dull or hazy or falling asleep, you should check your posture.
Gaze
For strict mindfulness practice, the gaze should be downward focusing a couple of inches in front of your nose. The eyes are open but not staring; your gaze is soft. We are trying to reduce sensory input as much as we can. People say, “Shouldn’t we have a sense of the environment?” but that’s not our concern in this practice. We’re just trying to work with the mind and the more we raise our gaze, the more distracted we’re going to be. It’s as if you had an overhead light shining over the whole room, and all of a sudden you focus it down right in front of you. You are purposefully ignoring what is going on around you. You are putting the horse of mind in a smaller corral.
Breath
When we do shamatha practice, we become more and more familiar with our mind, and in particular we learn to recognize the movement of the mind, which we experience as thoughts. We do this by using an object of meditation to provide a contrast or counterpoint to what’s happening in our mind. As soon as we go off and start thinking about something, awareness of the object of meditation will bring us back. We could put a rock in front of us and use it to focus our mind, but using the breath as the object of meditation is particularly helpful because it relaxes us.
As you start the practice, you have a sense of your body and a sense of where you are, and then you begin to notice the breathing. The whole feeling of the breath is very important. The breath should not be forced, obviously; you are breathing naturally. The breath is going in and out, in and out. With each breath you become relaxed.
Thoughts
No matter what kind of thought comes up, you should say to yourself, “That may be a really important issue in my life, but right now is not the time to think about it. Now I’m practicing meditation.” It gets down to how honest we are, how true we can be to ourselves, during each session.
Everyone gets lost in thought sometimes. You might think, “I can’t believe I got so absorbed in something like that,” but try not to make it too personal. Just try to be as unbiased as possible. Mind will be wild and we have to recognize that. We can’t push ourselves. If we’re trying to be completely concept-free, with no discursiveness at all, it’s just not going to happen.
So through the labeling process, we simply see our discursiveness. We notice that we have been lost in thought, we mentally label it “thinking”—gently and without judgment—and we come back to the breath. When we have a thought—no matter how wild or bizarre it may be—we just let it go and come back to the breath, come back to the situation here.
Each meditation session is a journey of discovery to understand the basic truth of who we are. In the beginning the most important lesson of meditation is seeing the speed of the mind. But the meditation tradition says that mind doesn’t have to be this way: it just hasn’t been worked with.
What we are talking about is very practical. Mindfulness practice is simple and completely feasible. And because we are working with the mind that experiences life directly, just by sitting and doing nothing, we are doing a tremendous amount.
Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche is holder of the Buddhist and Shambhala lineages of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. He has received teachings from many of the great Buddhist masters of this century, including Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Penor Rinpoche and his father Trungpa Rinpoche. In 1995 he was recognized as the incarnation of the great nineteenth-century Buddhist teacher Mipham Rinpoche.
This article was originally published in the January 2000 issue of the Shambahala Sun, and is excerpted in our 30th-anniversary collection of the finest meditation teachings from the magazine, as printed in our January 2010 issue.
“Mindfulness practice is simple and completely feasible. Just by sitting and doing nothing, we are doing a tremendous amount.”
In mindfulness, or shamatha, meditation, we are trying to achieve a mind that is stable and calm. What we begin to discover is that this calmness or harmony is a natural aspect of the mind. Through mindfulness practice we are just developing and strengthening it, and eventually we are able to remain peacefully in our mind without struggling. Our mind naturally feels content.
An important point is that when we are in a mindful state, there is still intelligence. It’s not as if we blank out. Sometimes people think that a person who is in deep meditation doesn’t know what’s going on—that it’s like being asleep. In fact, there are meditative states where you deny sense perceptions their function, but this is not the accomplishment of shamatha practice.
Creating a Favorable Environment
There are certain conditions that are helpful for the practice of mindfulness. When we create the right environment it’s easier to practice.
It is good if the place where you meditate, even if it’s only a small space in your apartment, has a feeling of upliftedness and sacredness. It is also said that you should meditate in a place that is not too noisy or disturbing, and you should not be in a situation where your mind is going to be easily provoked into anger or jealousy or other emotions. If you are disturbed or irritated, then your practice is going to be affected.
Beginning the Practice
I encourage people to meditate frequently but for short periods of time — ten, fifteen, or twenty minutes. If you force it too much the practice can take on too much of a personality, and training the mind should be very, very simple. So you could meditate for ten minutes in the morning and ten minutes in the evening, and during that time you are really working with the mind. Then you just stop, get up, and go.
Often we just plop ourselves down to meditate and just let the mind take us wherever it may. We have to create a personal sense of discipline. When we sit down, we can remind ourselves: “I’m here to work on my mind. I’m here to train my mind.” It’s okay to say that to yourself when you sit down, literally. We need that kind of inspiration as we begin to practice.
Posture
The Buddhist approach is that the mind and body are connected. The energy flows better when the body is erect, and when it’s bent, the flow is changed and that directly affects your thought process. So there is a yoga of how to work with this. We’re not sitting up straight because we’re trying to be good schoolchildren; our posture actually affects the mind.
People who need to use a chair for meditation should sit upright with their feet touching the ground. Those using a meditation cushion such as a zafu or gomden should find a comfortable position with legs crossed and hands resting palm-down on your thighs. The hips are neither rotated forward too much, which creates tension, nor tilted back so you start slouching. You should have a feeling of stability and strength.
When we sit down the first thing we need to do is to really inhabit our body—really have a sense of our body. Often we sort of prop ourselves up and pretend we’re practicing, but we can’t even feel our body; we can’t even feel where it is. Instead, we need to be right here. So when you begin a meditation session, you can spend some initial time settling into your posture. You can feel that your spine is being pulled up from the top of your head so your posture is elongated, and then settle.
The basic principle is to keep an upright, erect posture. You are in a solid situation: your shoulders are level, your hips are level, your spine is stacked up. You can visualize putting your bones in the right order and letting your flesh hang off that structure. We use this posture in order to remain relaxed and awake. The practice we’re doing is very precise: you should be very much awake even though you are calm. If you find yourself getting dull or hazy or falling asleep, you should check your posture.
Gaze
For strict mindfulness practice, the gaze should be downward focusing a couple of inches in front of your nose. The eyes are open but not staring; your gaze is soft. We are trying to reduce sensory input as much as we can. People say, “Shouldn’t we have a sense of the environment?” but that’s not our concern in this practice. We’re just trying to work with the mind and the more we raise our gaze, the more distracted we’re going to be. It’s as if you had an overhead light shining over the whole room, and all of a sudden you focus it down right in front of you. You are purposefully ignoring what is going on around you. You are putting the horse of mind in a smaller corral.
Breath
When we do shamatha practice, we become more and more familiar with our mind, and in particular we learn to recognize the movement of the mind, which we experience as thoughts. We do this by using an object of meditation to provide a contrast or counterpoint to what’s happening in our mind. As soon as we go off and start thinking about something, awareness of the object of meditation will bring us back. We could put a rock in front of us and use it to focus our mind, but using the breath as the object of meditation is particularly helpful because it relaxes us.
As you start the practice, you have a sense of your body and a sense of where you are, and then you begin to notice the breathing. The whole feeling of the breath is very important. The breath should not be forced, obviously; you are breathing naturally. The breath is going in and out, in and out. With each breath you become relaxed.
Thoughts
No matter what kind of thought comes up, you should say to yourself, “That may be a really important issue in my life, but right now is not the time to think about it. Now I’m practicing meditation.” It gets down to how honest we are, how true we can be to ourselves, during each session.
Everyone gets lost in thought sometimes. You might think, “I can’t believe I got so absorbed in something like that,” but try not to make it too personal. Just try to be as unbiased as possible. Mind will be wild and we have to recognize that. We can’t push ourselves. If we’re trying to be completely concept-free, with no discursiveness at all, it’s just not going to happen.
So through the labeling process, we simply see our discursiveness. We notice that we have been lost in thought, we mentally label it “thinking”—gently and without judgment—and we come back to the breath. When we have a thought—no matter how wild or bizarre it may be—we just let it go and come back to the breath, come back to the situation here.
Each meditation session is a journey of discovery to understand the basic truth of who we are. In the beginning the most important lesson of meditation is seeing the speed of the mind. But the meditation tradition says that mind doesn’t have to be this way: it just hasn’t been worked with.
What we are talking about is very practical. Mindfulness practice is simple and completely feasible. And because we are working with the mind that experiences life directly, just by sitting and doing nothing, we are doing a tremendous amount.
Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche is holder of the Buddhist and Shambhala lineages of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. He has received teachings from many of the great Buddhist masters of this century, including Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Penor Rinpoche and his father Trungpa Rinpoche. In 1995 he was recognized as the incarnation of the great nineteenth-century Buddhist teacher Mipham Rinpoche.
This article was originally published in the January 2000 issue of the Shambahala Sun, and is excerpted in our 30th-anniversary collection of the finest meditation teachings from the magazine, as printed in our January 2010 issue.
May you experience the Joy you seek...
Namaste!!!
Monday, 15 February 2010
Sunday, 14 February 2010
Forget the possibility of regret.
Choose a new adventure ahead.
Release yourself from comfortable.
Embrace a New Wonderful.
~ MoonbeaM
Choose a new adventure ahead.
Release yourself from comfortable.
Embrace a New Wonderful.
~ MoonbeaM
Look at Love, how it tangles with the one fallen in Love.
Look at Spirit, how it fuses with Earth giving it new life.
Why are you so busy with this or that or good or bad?
Pay attention to how things blend.
Why talk of the unknown or known?
See how Unknown merges into Known..
Why think seperately of this Life and the Next,
When One is born from the Last.
Look at Water and Fire, Earth and Wind.
Look at the Unity the Season's bring.
You too must mingle my friends,
Since the Earth and Sky are mingled just for
You and I...
You and I...
My Beloved grows right out of my own Heart,
How much more union can there be?
~ Rumi
Saturday, 13 February 2010
Friday, 12 February 2010
Learn gratitude for each moment; Each sunrise brings new gifts...
Don't go through life, grow through life. Express your love openly. Spirit does not exist in just one location; rather it is all encompassing, living within and amongst us in each moment, thought and action... We are all One, One Energy, from One Light. Let us band together as Humans, with love for all of humanity, living each day in harmony as we explore our spirit...
Wednesday, 10 February 2010
You deserve it..
"Inevitably,
when we stay open to ourselves for any period of time,
we begin to feel anxious,
intuiting that something uncomfortable may arise.
This happens because we are "pushing the envelope" of our personality.
We can take heart because experiencing some degree of anxiety during transformational work is A GOOD SIGN."
When we move beyond our old defences, we also start to experience the very feelings that we have been defending ourselves from all our lives.
This explains why we can have fulfilling spiritual experiences and then quickly find ourselves in a fearful,
reactive,
or negative state again.
The process of growth entails an ongoing cycling among letting go of old blockages,
opening up to new possibilities in ourselves and then encountering deeper levels of blockage.
Although we might wish that spiritual growth would be more linear and that it could be accomplished in one or two major breakthroughs, the reality is that it is a process that we must go through many times on many different fronts until our whole psyche is reorganized.
Spirtual growth is also a process that requires us to be gentle and patient with ourselves.
Frustration,
specific expectations about our growth,
timetable for spiritual progress,
and disparaging ourselves when we fall short of our expectations are all common reactions, but they do not help.
It took years to build up our ego defences, so we cannot expect to dismantle them overnight.
Our soul has its own wisdom and it will not allow us to see anything about oursleves (much less realise it) until we are truely ready to do so."
from "The wisdom of the Enneagram - The complete guide to psychological and spiritual growth for the nine personality types"
...Another reason I love facebook, just got the above confirmation via a friend and thought i'd pay it forward ... You deserve it..
when we stay open to ourselves for any period of time,
we begin to feel anxious,
intuiting that something uncomfortable may arise.
This happens because we are "pushing the envelope" of our personality.
We can take heart because experiencing some degree of anxiety during transformational work is A GOOD SIGN."
When we move beyond our old defences, we also start to experience the very feelings that we have been defending ourselves from all our lives.
This explains why we can have fulfilling spiritual experiences and then quickly find ourselves in a fearful,
reactive,
or negative state again.
The process of growth entails an ongoing cycling among letting go of old blockages,
opening up to new possibilities in ourselves and then encountering deeper levels of blockage.
Although we might wish that spiritual growth would be more linear and that it could be accomplished in one or two major breakthroughs, the reality is that it is a process that we must go through many times on many different fronts until our whole psyche is reorganized.
Spirtual growth is also a process that requires us to be gentle and patient with ourselves.
Frustration,
specific expectations about our growth,
timetable for spiritual progress,
and disparaging ourselves when we fall short of our expectations are all common reactions, but they do not help.
It took years to build up our ego defences, so we cannot expect to dismantle them overnight.
Our soul has its own wisdom and it will not allow us to see anything about oursleves (much less realise it) until we are truely ready to do so."
from "The wisdom of the Enneagram - The complete guide to psychological and spiritual growth for the nine personality types"
by Don Riso & Russ Hudson
...Another reason I love facebook, just got the above confirmation via a friend and thought i'd pay it forward ... You deserve it..
Three Goals for today...
Goal: Revel in surrendering to the Universe; Rejoice in true inner peace
My spiritual path is revealed
The Universe fulfils my every desire
I am at one with the inner child in me
I have come well prepared for this life
I am led exactly to where I need to be
As I listen to the Universe within,
I am led, I am always in harmony with the Universe,
The Universe assists me as I move forward
I am responsible for my own Spiritual Growth
I give myself permission to be at one with the Universe.
Goal: Experience and appreciate Life. Enjoy gratitude for each moment.
I am right here
Each moment shines on me
I am kissed by each moment
I stand in complete satisfaction
I embrace life in its absolute fullness
At this moment, I have all that I need
Each moment is a precious gift in beingness
This moment exists only if I reach out and take hold of it
Today I choose to do what I can.... and I can do anything
On the day of my death I will know that I laughed lovingly, fully and well...
Goal: Give out love, reap it back in!
All is right in the world
I like what I see all around me
The world is filled with wonder
I am a caring and sharing person
Lives are made better by our efforts
I am at peace with all those around me
I choose to connect with humanity today
I am enjoying co-creating a world of equality
As I prosper, everyone around me prospers
Sunday, 7 February 2010
I deserve what I Desire ..
Love doesn't sit there like a stone, it has to be made, like bread: remade all the time, made new. ~ Og Mandino
Saturday, 6 February 2010
What I read today as Confirmation...
Humility
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. (KJV, Matthew 5:5-9)
Humility or humbleness is a quality of being courteously respectful of others. It is the opposite of aggressiveness, arrogance, boastfulness, and vanity. Rather than, "Me first," humility allows us to say, "No, you first, my friend." Humility is the quality that lets us go more than halfway to meet the needs and demands of others.
Friendships and marriages are dissolved over angry words. Resentments divide families and co-workers. Prejudice separates race from race and religion from religion. Reputations are destroyed by malicious gossip. Greed puts enmity between rich and poor. Wars are fought over arrogant assertions.
A demeanor of humility is exactly what is needed to live in peace and harmony with all persons.
Humility dissipates anger and heals old wounds. Humility allows us to see the dignity and worth of all people. Humility distinguishes the wise leader from the arrogant power-seeker.
Acting with humility does not in any way deny our own self worth. Rather, it affirms the inherent worth of all persons. Some would consider humility to be a psychological malady that interferes with "success." However, wealth, power or status gained at the expense of others brings only anxiety -- never peace and love.
Better is a dish of vegetables where love is, than a fattened ox and hatred with it. (NAS, Proverbs 15:17)
Better a little with righteousness than much gain with injustice. (NIV, Proverbs 16:8)
Do to others as you would have them do to you. "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. (NIV, Luke 6:31-35)
World Scripture
HUMILITY
Humility is an essential attitude for success in the spiritual life. Any self-conceit, whether nurtured by superior intelligence, wealth, a high position, or the praise of others, is an obstacle on the path. Genuine humility is not posturing. It requires a constant willingness to deny oneself, to be critical of oneself, and to be open to Heaven's guidance even when it differs from one's own preconceived concepts.
We open with passages which set forth the value of humility, meekness, and modesty. Humility requires sincerity and honesty; thus some passages liken the humble person to a little child, whose natural spontaneity and acceptance of life is the antithesis of the often complicated
personality of the adult with its many masks, hidden resentments, and prejudices. Here is also the wisdom of the paradox (see Reversal, pp. 544-50) that the person who is humble and self-effacing ultimately prospers and wins more respect from others than the person who is proud
and powerful.
Next come passages enjoining humility before God and the recognition that the success of all our endeavors ultimately depends on God's favor. This is the attitude expressed by the common Muslim saying insha'llah, "God willing." The humble person does not regard his possessions or accomplishments as his own, but as a gift of God, to whom is due all thanks.
A third group of passages meditate on the insignificance, transience, and lowness of the human being, who is nothing but a puff of wind, a bag of excrement, food for worms. Finally, we conclude with passages which warn against letting the praise of others or great learning or high position go to the head and cause self-conceit. Indeed, it is those who are most favored with talent, intelligence, and worldly success who most often succumb to pride and thus lose their way.
It is humility that exalts one and favors him against his friends.
African Traditional Religions. Kipsigis Proverb
(Kenya).
Successful indeed are the believers,
Who are humble in their prayers,
and who shun vain conversation,
and who are payers of the poor-due,
and who guard their modesty.
Islam. Qur'an 23.1-5
The Lamenter [who is seeking a vision] cries, for he is humbling himself, remembering his nothingness in the presence of the Great Spirit.
Native American Religions. Black Elk, Sioux Tradition
Harithah ibn Wahb al-Khuza`i tells how he heard the Prophet say, "Have I not taught you how the inhabitants of Paradise will be all the humble and the weak, whose oaths God will accept when they swear to be faithful? Have I not taught you how the inhabitants of hell will be all the cruel beings, strong of body and arrogant?"
Islam. Hadith of Bukhari
Within the world the palace pillar is broad,
but the human heart should be modest.
Shinto. Moritake Arakida, One Hundred Poems about the World
Be humble, be harmless,
Have no pretension,
Be upright, forbearing;
Serve your teacher in true obedience,
Keeping the mind and body in cleanness,
Tranquil, steadfast, master of ego,
Standing apart from the things of the senses,
Free from self;
Aware of the weakness in mortal nature.
Hinduism. Bhagavad Gita 13.7-8
Matthew 5.5: Cf. Matthew 23.12, p. 545; Philippians 2.6-11, p. 616. Qur'an 23.1-5: Cf. Qur'an 31.18-19, p. 409; 7.55, p. 828. On the Prophet's humility, see Hadith, pp. 658f. Bhagavad Gita 13.7-8: Cf. Gauri Sukhmani 18, M.5, p. 818. Subdue pride by modesty, overcome hypocrisy by simplicity, and dissolve greed by contentment. Jainism. Samanasuttam 136
Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.
Christianity. Bible, Luke 18.16-17
He who knows the masculine but keeps to the feminine,
Becomes the ravine of the world.
Being the ravine of the world,
He dwells in constant virtue,
He returns to the state of the babe.
He who knows the white but keeps to the black,
Becomes the model of the world.
Being the model of the world,
He rests in constant virtue,
He returns to the infinite.
He who knows glory but keeps to disgrace,
Becomes the valley of the world.
Being the valley of the world,
He finds contentment in constant virtue,
He returns to the Uncarved Block.
Taoism. Tao Te Ching 28
Do not say about anything, "I am going to do that tomorrow," without adding, "If God will." Remember your Lord whenever you forget, and say, "Perhaps my Lord will guide me even closer than this to proper conduct."
Islam. Qur'an 18.23-24
Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and get gain;" whereas you do not know about tomorrow. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and we shall do this or that." As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
Christianity. James 4.13-16
All men are children of Adam, and Adam was created from soil.
Islam. Hadith of Tirmidhi
Be of an exceedingly humble spirit, for the end of man is the worm.
Judaism. Mishnah, Abot 4.4
Reflect upon three things, and you will not come within the power of sin:
know from where you came, to where you are going, and before whom you will in future have to give account and reckoning. From where you came~from a fetid drop; to where are you going~to a place of dust, worms, and maggots; and before whom you will in future have to give account and reckoning before the Supreme King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He.
Judaism. Mishnah, Abot 3.1
Confucius said, "A gentleman does not grieve that people do not recognize his merits; he grieves at his own incapacities."
Confucianism. Analects 14.32
To know when one does not know is best.
To think one knows when one does not know is a dire disease.
Taoism. Tao Te Ching 71
The fool who knows that he is a fool is for that very reason a wise man; the fool who thinks he is wise is called a fool indeed.
Buddhism. Dhammapada 63
Tao Te Ching 28: The 'Uncarved Block' is the state of primitive simplicity
without any pretense or artificiality. It can also mean the purity of
one's original nature.
Subhuti, what do you think? Does a holy one say within himself, "I have
obtained Perfective Enlightenment"? Subhuti replied, "No, World-honored
One... If a holy one of Perfective Enlightenment said to himself, Such am
I, he would necessarily partake of the idea of an ego-identity, a personality, a being, a separated individuality."
Buddhism. Diamond Sutra 9
In the barren north, there is a sea, the Celestial Lake. In it there is a fish, several thousand li in width, and no one knows how many li in length. It is called the leviathan (kun). There is also a bird, called the roc (p'eng), with a back like Mount T'ai and wings like clouds across the sky. Upon a whirlwind it soars up to a height of ninety thousand li. Beyond the clouds and atmosphere, with only the blue sky above it, it then turns south to the southern ocean.
A quail laughs at it, saying, "Where is that bird trying to go? I spurt up with a bound, and I drop after rising a few yards. I just flutter about among the brushwood and the bushes. This is also the perfection of flying. Where is that bird trying to go?" This is the difference between the great and the small. Similarly, there are some men whose knowledge is sufficient for the duties of some office. There are some men whose conduct will benefit some district. There are some men whose virtue befits him for a ruler. There are some men whose ability wins credit in the country. In their opinion of themselves, they are just like what is mentioned above.
Taoism. Chuang Tzu 1
Chuang Tzu 1: Cf. Analects 7.25, p. 413.
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. (KJV, Matthew 5:5-9)
Humility or humbleness is a quality of being courteously respectful of others. It is the opposite of aggressiveness, arrogance, boastfulness, and vanity. Rather than, "Me first," humility allows us to say, "No, you first, my friend." Humility is the quality that lets us go more than halfway to meet the needs and demands of others.
Friendships and marriages are dissolved over angry words. Resentments divide families and co-workers. Prejudice separates race from race and religion from religion. Reputations are destroyed by malicious gossip. Greed puts enmity between rich and poor. Wars are fought over arrogant assertions.
A demeanor of humility is exactly what is needed to live in peace and harmony with all persons.
Humility dissipates anger and heals old wounds. Humility allows us to see the dignity and worth of all people. Humility distinguishes the wise leader from the arrogant power-seeker.
Acting with humility does not in any way deny our own self worth. Rather, it affirms the inherent worth of all persons. Some would consider humility to be a psychological malady that interferes with "success." However, wealth, power or status gained at the expense of others brings only anxiety -- never peace and love.
Better is a dish of vegetables where love is, than a fattened ox and hatred with it. (NAS, Proverbs 15:17)
Better a little with righteousness than much gain with injustice. (NIV, Proverbs 16:8)
Do to others as you would have them do to you. "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. (NIV, Luke 6:31-35)
World Scripture
HUMILITY
Humility is an essential attitude for success in the spiritual life. Any self-conceit, whether nurtured by superior intelligence, wealth, a high position, or the praise of others, is an obstacle on the path. Genuine humility is not posturing. It requires a constant willingness to deny oneself, to be critical of oneself, and to be open to Heaven's guidance even when it differs from one's own preconceived concepts.
We open with passages which set forth the value of humility, meekness, and modesty. Humility requires sincerity and honesty; thus some passages liken the humble person to a little child, whose natural spontaneity and acceptance of life is the antithesis of the often complicated
personality of the adult with its many masks, hidden resentments, and prejudices. Here is also the wisdom of the paradox (see Reversal, pp. 544-50) that the person who is humble and self-effacing ultimately prospers and wins more respect from others than the person who is proud
and powerful.
Next come passages enjoining humility before God and the recognition that the success of all our endeavors ultimately depends on God's favor. This is the attitude expressed by the common Muslim saying insha'llah, "God willing." The humble person does not regard his possessions or accomplishments as his own, but as a gift of God, to whom is due all thanks.
A third group of passages meditate on the insignificance, transience, and lowness of the human being, who is nothing but a puff of wind, a bag of excrement, food for worms. Finally, we conclude with passages which warn against letting the praise of others or great learning or high position go to the head and cause self-conceit. Indeed, it is those who are most favored with talent, intelligence, and worldly success who most often succumb to pride and thus lose their way.
It is humility that exalts one and favors him against his friends.
African Traditional Religions. Kipsigis Proverb
(Kenya).
Successful indeed are the believers,
Who are humble in their prayers,
and who shun vain conversation,
and who are payers of the poor-due,
and who guard their modesty.
Islam. Qur'an 23.1-5
The Lamenter [who is seeking a vision] cries, for he is humbling himself, remembering his nothingness in the presence of the Great Spirit.
Native American Religions. Black Elk, Sioux Tradition
Harithah ibn Wahb al-Khuza`i tells how he heard the Prophet say, "Have I not taught you how the inhabitants of Paradise will be all the humble and the weak, whose oaths God will accept when they swear to be faithful? Have I not taught you how the inhabitants of hell will be all the cruel beings, strong of body and arrogant?"
Islam. Hadith of Bukhari
Within the world the palace pillar is broad,
but the human heart should be modest.
Shinto. Moritake Arakida, One Hundred Poems about the World
Be humble, be harmless,
Have no pretension,
Be upright, forbearing;
Serve your teacher in true obedience,
Keeping the mind and body in cleanness,
Tranquil, steadfast, master of ego,
Standing apart from the things of the senses,
Free from self;
Aware of the weakness in mortal nature.
Hinduism. Bhagavad Gita 13.7-8
Matthew 5.5: Cf. Matthew 23.12, p. 545; Philippians 2.6-11, p. 616. Qur'an 23.1-5: Cf. Qur'an 31.18-19, p. 409; 7.55, p. 828. On the Prophet's humility, see Hadith, pp. 658f. Bhagavad Gita 13.7-8: Cf. Gauri Sukhmani 18, M.5, p. 818. Subdue pride by modesty, overcome hypocrisy by simplicity, and dissolve greed by contentment. Jainism. Samanasuttam 136
Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.
Christianity. Bible, Luke 18.16-17
He who knows the masculine but keeps to the feminine,
Becomes the ravine of the world.
Being the ravine of the world,
He dwells in constant virtue,
He returns to the state of the babe.
He who knows the white but keeps to the black,
Becomes the model of the world.
Being the model of the world,
He rests in constant virtue,
He returns to the infinite.
He who knows glory but keeps to disgrace,
Becomes the valley of the world.
Being the valley of the world,
He finds contentment in constant virtue,
He returns to the Uncarved Block.
Taoism. Tao Te Ching 28
Do not say about anything, "I am going to do that tomorrow," without adding, "If God will." Remember your Lord whenever you forget, and say, "Perhaps my Lord will guide me even closer than this to proper conduct."
Islam. Qur'an 18.23-24
Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and get gain;" whereas you do not know about tomorrow. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and we shall do this or that." As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
Christianity. James 4.13-16
All men are children of Adam, and Adam was created from soil.
Islam. Hadith of Tirmidhi
Be of an exceedingly humble spirit, for the end of man is the worm.
Judaism. Mishnah, Abot 4.4
Reflect upon three things, and you will not come within the power of sin:
know from where you came, to where you are going, and before whom you will in future have to give account and reckoning. From where you came~from a fetid drop; to where are you going~to a place of dust, worms, and maggots; and before whom you will in future have to give account and reckoning before the Supreme King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He.
Judaism. Mishnah, Abot 3.1
Confucius said, "A gentleman does not grieve that people do not recognize his merits; he grieves at his own incapacities."
Confucianism. Analects 14.32
To know when one does not know is best.
To think one knows when one does not know is a dire disease.
Taoism. Tao Te Ching 71
The fool who knows that he is a fool is for that very reason a wise man; the fool who thinks he is wise is called a fool indeed.
Buddhism. Dhammapada 63
Tao Te Ching 28: The 'Uncarved Block' is the state of primitive simplicity
without any pretense or artificiality. It can also mean the purity of
one's original nature.
Subhuti, what do you think? Does a holy one say within himself, "I have
obtained Perfective Enlightenment"? Subhuti replied, "No, World-honored
One... If a holy one of Perfective Enlightenment said to himself, Such am
I, he would necessarily partake of the idea of an ego-identity, a personality, a being, a separated individuality."
Buddhism. Diamond Sutra 9
In the barren north, there is a sea, the Celestial Lake. In it there is a fish, several thousand li in width, and no one knows how many li in length. It is called the leviathan (kun). There is also a bird, called the roc (p'eng), with a back like Mount T'ai and wings like clouds across the sky. Upon a whirlwind it soars up to a height of ninety thousand li. Beyond the clouds and atmosphere, with only the blue sky above it, it then turns south to the southern ocean.
A quail laughs at it, saying, "Where is that bird trying to go? I spurt up with a bound, and I drop after rising a few yards. I just flutter about among the brushwood and the bushes. This is also the perfection of flying. Where is that bird trying to go?" This is the difference between the great and the small. Similarly, there are some men whose knowledge is sufficient for the duties of some office. There are some men whose conduct will benefit some district. There are some men whose virtue befits him for a ruler. There are some men whose ability wins credit in the country. In their opinion of themselves, they are just like what is mentioned above.
Taoism. Chuang Tzu 1
Chuang Tzu 1: Cf. Analects 7.25, p. 413.
World Scripture can be found @
http://www.unification.net/ws/
Thursday, 4 February 2010
How it started ...
Just past dawn 04.02.2010 Melb, Australia. Golden Morning to you
Golden Evening if that be
Golden In-Between for those not here...
Golden In-Between for those not here...
Came across this silent wonder walking into the new day,
I thank that it warms you..
Kiss your third eye in mind
Let's keep it kind.
Namaste!
I celebrate the light in you!
1814 Morning Star
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