Meditation

To come directly into harmony
with this reality
Just simply say when doubts arise,
"Not Two"
In this "not two"
nothing is separate,
nothing is excluded.
No matter when or where,
Enlightenment means
entering this truth.
And this truth is beyond
extension or diminution
In time and space;
in it a single thought
is ten thousand years.

Share the Dream

To Love is to share,
the same soft Dream

Life

All things are only transitory.

An unused life is an early death.

Life is the childhood of our immortality.

Live dangerously and you live right.

Love and desire are the spirit's wings to great deeds.

Love does not dominate; it cultivates.

Magic is believing in yourself, if you can do that, you can make anything happen.

Talents are best nurtured in solitude. Character is best formed in the stormy billows of the world.

The soul that sees beauty may sometimes walk alone.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The Art of Peace

The Art of Peace begins with you. Work on yourself and your appointed task in the Art of Peace. Everyone has a spirit that can be refined, a body that can be trained in some manner, a suitable path to follow. You are here for no other purpose than to realize your inner divinity and manifest your innate enlightenment. Foster peace in your own life and then apply the Art to all that you encounter


One does not need buildings, money, power, or status to practice the Art of Peace. Heaven is right where you are standing, and that is the place to train.

All things, material and spiritual, originate from one source and are related as if they were one family. The past, present, and future are all contained in the life force. The universe emerged and developed from one source, and we evolved through the optimal process of unification and harmonization.

The Art of Peace is medicine for a sick world. There is evil and disorder in the world because people have forgotten that all things emanate from one source. Return to that source and leave behind all self-centered thoughts, petty desires, and anger. Those who are possessed by nothing possess everything.

The Art of Peace does not rely on weapons or brute force to succeed; instead we put ourselves in tune with the universe, maintain peace in our own realms, nurture life, and prevent death and destruction. The true meaning of the term samurai is one who serves and adheres to the power of love.

Foster and polish The warior spirit While serving in the world; Illuminate the path According to your inner light.

The Path of Peace is exceedingly vast, reflecting the grand design of the hidden and manifest worlds. A warrior is a living shrine of the divine, one who serves that grand purpose.

Your mind should be in harmony with the functioning of the universe; your body should be in tune with the movement of the universe; body and mind should be bound as one, unified with the activity of the universe.

From ancient times, Deep learning and valor Have been the two pillars of the Path:
Through the virtue of training, Enlighten both body and soul.

Morihei Ueshiba
Aikido Founder

Wisdom

Only in the oasis of silence can we drink
deeply from our inner cup of wisdom.

Sue Patton Thoele

Tides

There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the flood,
leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound
in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves, Or lose our ventures.

William Shakespeare

Listen

Listen to the gentle winds,
of an angel's wings in flight.
Look, into the star lit sky
see the trailing shimmering light.

A Cradle Song

The angels are stooping
Above your bed;
They weary of trooping
With the whimpering dead.
God's laughing in Heaven
To see you so good;
The Sailing Seven
Are gay with His mood.
I sigh that kiss you,
For I must own
That I shall miss you
When you have grown.

Yeats

Above the clouds, below the stars...dream

I've dreamt in my life dreams that have stayed with me ever after.
Emily Bronte




It is difficult to say what is truly impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow.
Robert H. Goddard

Only in their dreams can we truly be free. Twas always thus, and always thus will be.
Dead Poets Society

The best thing about dreams is that fleeting moment, when you are between asleep and awake, when you don't know the difference between reality and fantasy, when for just that one moment you feel with your entire soul that the dream is reality, and it really happened.
unknown

...when sleepers wake and yet still dream...
Yeats

You know that place between asleep and awake where you still remember dreaming? That's where I'll always think of you.
Tinkerbell

We grow great by dreams. We see things in the soft haze of a spring day, or in the red fire of a long winter's evening. Some of us let these great dreams die, but others nourish and protect them; nurse them through the bad days till they bring them to the sunshine and light which comes always to those who sincerely hope that their dreams will come true.
Woodrow Wilson

I think we dream so we don't have to be apart so long. If we're in each other's dreams, we can be together all the time.
Calvin and Hobbes

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
Eleanor Roosevelt

Dreams are like stars, you may never touch them, but if you follow them they will lead you to your destiny.
unknown

Happiness is in Your Keep

Evil does not naturally dwell in the world, in events, or in people. Evil is a by-product of forgetfulness, laziness, or distraction: it arises when we lose sight of our true aim in life.

Don't surrender your mind.

Why then do you feel no shame in giving your precious mind over to any person who might wish to influence you? Think twice before you give up your own mind to someone who may revile you, leaving you confused and upset.

In trying to please other people, we find ourselves misdirected toward what lies outside our sphere of influence. In doing so we lose our hold on our life's purpose.

Content yourself with being a lover of wisdom, a seeker of the truth. Return and return again to what is essential and worthy.

Do not try to seem wise to others.

Attach yourself to what is spiritually superior, regardless of what other people think or do. Hold to your true aspirations no matter what is going on around you.

Avoid miserable, envious thoughts.

Other people's views and troubles can be contagious. Don't sabotage yourself by unwittingly adopting negative, unproductive attitudes through your associations with others.

Nothing truly stops you. Nothing truly holds you back. For your own will is always within your control.

Your will needn't be affected by an incident unless you let it. Remember this with everything that happens to you.

Every difficulty in life presents us with an opportunity to turn inward and to invoke our own submerged inner resources. The trials we endure can and should introduce us to our strengths.

Prudent people look beyond the incident itself and seek to form the habit of putting it to good use.

Never depend on the admiration of others. There is no strength in it. Personal merit cannot be derived from an external source. It is not to be found in your personal associations, nor can it be found in the regard of other people, even people who love you, will not necessarily agree with your ideas, understand you, or share your enthusiasms. Grow up! Who cares what other people think about you!

Epictetus

3 Stooges

I'd rather go to Tunis, then we can have tunis sandwiches for lunch

Hey, I got an uncle in Cairo... he's a chiropractor

I don't snore! I stayed up all night last night to see if I did, and I didn't

Why don't you get a toupee with some brains in it.

Every time you think you weaken the nation.

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.

Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up

if thou wilt always look there.

Remember this-that there is a proper dignity and proportion to be observed in

the performance of every act of life.

The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts, therefore guard accordingly;

and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue, and reasonable nature.

Waste no more time talking about great souls and how they should be. Become one yourself!

How much time he gains who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks,

but only at what he does himself,

Never esteem anything as of advantage to you that will make you break your word

or lose your self-respect.

The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.

Very little is needed to make a happy life.

You will find rest from vain fancies if you perform every act in life as though it were your last.

Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason

which today arm you against the present.

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

Explore, Dream, Discover.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

Mark Twain

On Time

You would measure time the measureless and the immeasurable.
You would adjust your conduct and even direct the course of your
spirit according to hours and seasons.

Of time you would make a stream upon whose bank you would sit
and watch its flowing. Yet the timeless in you is aware of life's timelessness,
And knows that yesterday is but today's memory and tomorrow is today's dream.

And that that which sings and contemplates in you is still dwelling within the
bounds of that first moment which scattered the stars into space.
Who among you does not feel that his power to love is boundless?
And yet who does not feel that very love, though boundless,
encompassed within the centre of his being, and moving not from love
thought to love thought, nor from love deeds to other love deeds?

And is not time even as love is, undivided and spaceless? But if in your
thought you must measure time into seasons, let each season encircle
all the other seasons, And let today embrace the past with remembrance
and the future with longing.

Kahil Gibran

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Mary Magdalen

"What is matter? Will it last forever?

"The Teacher answered:"All that is born, all that is created, all the elements of nature are interwoven and united with each other. All that is composed shall be decomposed; everything returns to its roots; matter returns to the origins of matter. Those who have ears, let them hear."

Peter said to him: "Since you have become the interpreter of the elements and the events of the world, tell us: What is the sin of the world?

"The Teacher answered:" There is no sin. It is you who make sin exist, when you act according to the habits of your corrupted nature; this is where sin lies. This is why the Good has come into your midst. It acts together with the elements of your nature so as to reunite it with its roots." Then he continued: "This is why you become sick, and why you die: it is the result of your actions; what you do takes you further away. Those who have ears, let them hear."

The lost gospels of Mary Magdalen on Jesus of Nazerene

Understanding

In the glance of the speechless animal there is a discourse
that only the soul of the wise man can really understand.

Indian Poet

The Heart

The heart like the mind hath its memories,
and in it are enshrined, its most precious keepsakes.

Longfellow

Magdelena

Echoing down through the corridors of time,
Upon the lap I hear the sweet songs and rhymes,

Hands gathered in the stroll to the glorious bed,
Her passions emerge upon sight of her stead.

They wave and shimmer in the whispering breeze,
She nurtures the colors and fragrance of tease.

Gathering their seeds as the blooms slowly fade.
She dreams of spring when rebirth is gently made.

One hundred one seasons had drifted away,
She rests now beyond time in the eternal sway.

The flowers she loved do not cling to the grave,
I wondered about and found not where she lay,

Lost to the earth but not to the heart,
I hear her sweet whispers a love that never parts.

Kuan Gung

Rumi

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don't go back to sleep.You must ask for what you really want.
Don't go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the doorsillwhere the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.Don't go back to sleep.

If your guidance is your ego, don't rely on luck for help. you sleep during the day and the nights are short. By the time you wake up your life may be over.

Let the beauty we love be what we do.

Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you really love.

Become the light. Only from the heart Can you touch the sky.

People of the world don't look at themselves, and so they blame one another.

Since in order to speak, one must first listen, learn to speak by listening.

That which is false troubles the heart, but truth brings joyous tranquility.

The middle path is the way to wisdom.

The only lasting beauty is the beauty of the heart.

Thirst drove me down to the water where I drank the moon's reflection.

We come spinning out of nothingness, scattering stars like dust.

We rarely hear the inward music, but we're all dancing to it nevertheless.

You think the shadow is the substance.

When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.

If you are irritated by every rub, how will you be polished?

Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment.

O, happy the soul that saw its own faults.

We are as the flute, and the music in us is from thee;
we are as the mountain and the echo in us is from thee.

We are as pieces of chess engaged in victory and defeat:
our victory and defeat is from thee, O thou whose qualities are comely!

Who are we, O Thou soul of our souls, that we should remain in being beside thee?
We and our existences are really non-existence; thou art the absolute
Being which manifests the perishable.

We all are lions, but lions on a banner: because of the wind they are rushing onward from moment to moment.
Their onward rush is visible, and the wind is unseen: may that which is unseen not fail from us!

Our wind whereby we are moved and our being are of thy gift; our whole existence is from thy bringing into being.

The fragrance my friend,
that floats to you this moment,
streams from the tent,
of the secrets of God.

Rumi

Temporal

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth,

where moth and rust consume and where thieves

break in and steal..."

Jesus of Nazarene

Timeless

Like the timeless movement of the Tides,
Love flows Forever.

Kuan Gung

The Immortal Friend

I sat dreaming in a room of great silence.
The early morning was still and breathless,
The great blue mountains stood against the dark skies,
cold and clear, Round the dark log house
The black and yellow birds were welcoming the sun.

I sat on the floor, with legs crossed, meditating, Forgetting the sunlit mountains,
The birds, The immense silence, And the golden sun.
I lost the feel of my body, My limbs were motionless, Relaxed and at peace.
A great joy of unfathomable depth filled my heart.
Eager and keen was my mind, concentrated.
Lost to the transient world, I was full of strength.

As the Eastern breeze That suddenly springs into being
And calms the weary world,
There in front of me Seated cross-legged, As the world knows
Him In His yellow robes,
simple and magnificent, Was the Teacher of Teachers.

Looking at me, Motionless the Mighty Being sat. I looked and bowed my head.
My body bent forward of itself. That one look Showed the progress of the world,
Showed the immense distance between the world And the greatest of it's Teachers.
How little it understood, And how much He gave. How joyously He soared,
Escaping from birth and death, From it's tyranny and entangling wheel.

Enlightenment attained, He gave to the world, as the flower gives It's scent, The Truth.
As I looked At the sacred feet that once trod the happy Dust of India, My heart poured
forth its devotion, Limitless and unfathomable, Without restraint and without effort.

J Krishnamurti

The Four Agreements

1. Be impeccable with your words.
Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using words to speak against yourself or to gossip. Use the power of your words for truth and love.

2. Don’t take anything personally.
Nothing others do is because of you. What they say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own vision. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.

3. Don’t make assumptions.
Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others or, as clearly as you can, to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

4. Always do your best.
Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are health as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret.

Don Miguel Ruiz

JFK

Now the trumpet summons us again -- not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need -- not as a call to battle, though embattled we are -- but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle year in and year out, "rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation" -- a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty and war itself.

The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty, and all forms of human life.

People have not been horrified by war to a sufficient extent ... War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige as the warrior does today.

Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education.

In the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding on the back of the tiger ended up inside.

Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures. And however undramatic the pursuit of peace, the pursuit must go on.

Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind.

History is a relentless master. It has no present, only the past rushing into the future. To try to hold fast is to be swept aside.

I'm an idealist without illusions.

Liberty without learning is always in peril; learning without liberty is always in vain.

The American, by nature, is optimistic. He is experimental, an inventor and a builder who builds best when called upon to build greatly.

The ancient Greek definition of happiness was the full use of your powers along lines of excellence.

The great French Marshall Lyautey once asked his gardener to plant a tree. The gardener objected that the tree was slow growing and would not reach maturity for 100 years. The Marshall replied, 'In that case, there is no time to lose; plant it this afternoon!'

We stand for freedom. That is our conviction for ourselves; that is our only commitment to others.

John F. Kennedy

Celtic Wisdom

Do not stand at my grave and weep, I am not there...
I do not sleep. I am the thousand winds that blow...
I am the diamond glints on snow...I am the sunlight on ripened grain...
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you waken in the morning's hush, I am the swift uplifting rush Of gentle birds in circling flight...
I am the soft star that shines at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry—I am not there...
I did not die...

Take the world nice and easy, and the world will take you the same

May love and laughter light your days,and warm your heart and home.
May good and faithful friends be yours,wherever you may roam.
May peace and plenty bless your worldwith joy that long endures.
May all life's passing seasons bring the best to you and yours!

Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, Love leaves a memory no one can steal.

Do not take the thatch from your own roof to buy slates for another man's house.

Dance as if no one's watching, sing as if no one's listening, and live everyday as if it were your last.

A little fire that warms is better than a big fire that burns.

The magic of Christmas lingers onThough childhood days have passed
Upon the common round of life A Holy Spell is cast

Wisdom is the comb given to a man after he has lost his hair.

Three best to have in plenty - sunshine, wisdom and generosity.

You'll never plough a field by turning it over in your mind.

Though wisdom is good in the beginning, it is better at the end.

Men are like bagpipes - no sound comes from them until they are full.

Plato

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.

Ignorance, the root and the stem of every evil.

Man...is a tame or civilized animal; never the less, he requires proper instruction and a fortunate nature, and then of all animals he becomes the most divine and most civilized; but if he be insufficiently or ill- educated he is the most savage of earthly creatures.

The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.

They certainly give very strange names to diseases.

Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something.

You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.

False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.

The partisan, when he is engaged in a dispute, cares nothing about the rights of the question, but is anxious only to convince his hearers of his own assertions.

You are young, my son, and, as the years go by, time will change and even reverse many of your present opinions. Refrain therefore awhile from setting yourself up as a judge of the highest matters.

Everything that deceives may be said to enchant.

He who is of calm and happy nature will hardly feel the pressure of age, but to him who is of an opposite disposition youth and age are equally a burden.

I have hardly ever known a mathematician who was capable of reasoning.

Mankind censure injustice fearing that they may be the victims of it, and not because they shrink from committing it.

Necessity, who is the mother of invention.

The beginning is the most important part of the work.

Dalai Lama

This we can all bear witness to, living as we do plagued by unremitting anxiety … It becomes more and more imperative that the life of the spirit be avowed as the only firm basis upon which to establish happiness and peace.


This new concept ought to be elaborated alongside the religions, in such a way that all people of good will could adhere to it. We ought to promote this concept with the help of scientists. It could lead us to what we are looking for.

Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful: a meaningful friend – or a meaningful day. In the practice of tolerance, one’s enemy is the best teacher.

Nowadays the world is becoming increasingly materialistic, and mankind is reaching toward the very zenith of external progress, driven by an insatiable desire for power and vast possessions. Yet by this vain striving for perfection in a world where everything is relative, they wander even further away from inward peace and happiness of the mind.

My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.

I believe deeply that we must find, all of us together, a new spirituality.

My message is the practice of compassion, love and kindness. Compassion can be put into practice if one recognizes the fact that every human being is a member of humanity and the human family regardless of differences in religion, culture, color and creed. Deep down there is no difference.

Where ignorance is our master, there is no possibility of real peace.

In Buddhism we have relative truth and absolute truth.

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.

Free

No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.


I greet you all in the name of peace, democracy and freedom for all! I stand here before you not as a prophet but as a humble servant of you, the people. Your tireless and heroic sacrifices have made it possible for me to be here today. I therefore place the remaining years of my life in your hands.

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.

Extremists on all sides thrive, fed by the blood lust of centuries gone by.

For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.

Nelson Mandela

A Return to Love

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness,that most frightens us.





We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.

Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We were born to make manifestthe glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Marianne Williamson

Dogs

http://www.marycy.org/walk.html

Caged Birds Sing

History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, however, if faced with
courage, need not be lived again.

How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!

I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.

I want all my senses engaged. Let me absorb the world's variety and uniqueness.

If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude.
Don't complain.

Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.

The need for change bulldozed a road down the center of my mind.

I know why the caged bird sings.

Troubles are a blessing that force you to change, to believe.

Maya Angelou

Fallen Flowers

There on a misty morning, the sun slowly rises,
After the battle of Halidon Hill.
There lies her youngest son,
tears in his eyes
Wounded and dying,
she hears him still.

Mom, if I could live my life again
If I could call the world my friend
If I could write the story's end...I would
I would give all these things in vain
just to hold you once again.

A smile comes to his face, an uneasy calm
In front of him, his life flashes by
Amidst his boyish charm,
In that pointless moment, he hears her say;

Son, if I could roll back the years,
If I could see through these tears,
If I could face all my fears,
I would
I would give all these things in vain
Just to hold you once again.

Remember me forever
( I'll be here forever)
Please forget me never
( I'll be here forever)

If I could roll back the years,
If I could see through these tears,
If I could face all my fears,
If I could live my life again,
If I could call the world my friend,
If I could write the story's end,

I would

I'd live a thousand years of pain,
Just to hold you once again.

Hollie Smith
"Light From a Distant Shore"

Dare

I do not ask for any crown But that which all may win;
Nor try to conquer any world Except the one within.
Be Thou my guide until I find Led by a tender hand,
The happy kingdom in myself And dare to take command.

Louisia May Alcott

IF

If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you But make allowance for their doubting too,

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,

If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and DisasterAnd treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breath a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;

If all men count with you, but none too much,

If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

Rudyard Kipling

Celtic Wisdom

Some nights stay up 'til dawn as the moon sometimes does for the sun.



Be a full bucket, pulled up the dark way of a well then lifted out into the light.
Something opens our wings, something makes boredom and hurt disappear.
Someone fills the cup in front of us, we taste only sacredness.

Gibran

You were born together, and together you shall be for evermore. You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days. Aye, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.

Way of Zen

The Three Attitudes:
Great Faith,
Great Courage
and Great Questioning.

On Life

Dreams are the touchstones of our character.

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.

Goodness is the only investment that never fails

Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.

I have learned, that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.

I have never found a companion that was so companionable as solitude. We are for the most part more lonely when we go abroad among men than when we stay in our chambers. A man thinking or working is always alone, let him be where he will.

love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.

I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.

Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.

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.

None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.

Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake.

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.

We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aid, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn.

Henry David Thoreau

Violence

"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it.



"Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish truth.

"Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate.

"Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.

"Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

Martin Luther King

Emmanuel

While the small mind, in its fear, is rigid and controlling, the deeper part of you will begin to whisper the truth of your eternal safety and your oneness with God.

So listen to your heart, This is where your Light is and your truth.

Human Kindness

Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.

If civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships - the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together, in the same world at peace.

It is an unfortunate human failing that a full pocketbook often groans more loudly than an empty stomach.

Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.

Selfishness is the only real atheism; aspiration, unselfishness, the only real religion.

The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it comes strong than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism - ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or any controlling private power.

Self-interest is the enemy of all true affection.

Rules are not necessarily sacred, principles are.

Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort.

Confidence... thrives on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection and on unselfish performance. Without them it cannot live.

The Village Blacksmith

Under a spreading chestnut tree The village smithy stands; The smith, a mighty man is he, With large and sinewy hands; And the muscles of his brawny arms Are strong as iron bands.

His hair is crisp, and black, and long, His face is like the tan: His brow is wet with honest sweat, He earns whate'er he can, And looks the whole world in the face, For he owes not any man.

Week in, week out, from morn till night, You can hear his bellows blow; You can hear him swing his heavy sledge, With measured beat and slow, Like a sexton ringing the village bell,

When the evening sun is low. And children coming home from school Look in at the open door; They love to see the flaming forge, And hear the bellows roar, And catch the burning sparks that fly Like chaff from a threshing floor.

He goes on Sunday to the church, And sits among his boys; He hears the parson pray and preach, He hears his daughter's voice, Singing in the village choir, And it makes his heart rejoice.

It sounds to him like her mother's voice, Singing in Paradise! He needs must think of her once more, How in the grave she lies; And with his hard, rough hand he wipes A tear out of his eyes.

Toiling,--rejoicing,--sorrowing, Onwards through life he goes; Each morning sees some task begin, Each evening sees it close; Something attempted, something done, Has earned a night's repose.

Thanks, thanks to thee, my worthy friend, For the lesson thou hast taught! Thus at the flaming forge of life Our fortunes must be wrought; Thus on its sounding anvil shaped Each burning deed and thought!

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The Journey

The Spiritual Journey is a true Hero's Journey.

It is a quest filled with Hope and Beauty and Luck and Love.

It is a journey to one's own Destiny.

It is a journey to the very source of the Human Soul.

Aristotle

"All by nature desire knowledge.""

What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies."

"Dignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in deserving them."

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit."

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."

"Count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self. "

"The beauty of the soul shines out when a man bears with composure one heavy mischance after another, not because he does not feel them, but because he is a man of high and heroic temper."