The Path

This Old House

2009-06-28T22:28:00.002-05:00

It rests upon a gentle crest,
with stately elms embracing its breast.

Rising high above they spread their wings,
beholding in the dwelling the loved souls that sing.

At dawn they rise for the coming day’s toil,
turning the earth and cultivating the soil.

The bountiful orchards set ablaze,
attracts them there for a pause on the warm spring day.

Their flowers rise in glory, what a beautiful sight,
releasing their essence, the great breath of light.

The sun rests on the horizon in the west,
reminding them of the hard days coming rest.

The robins sing their goodnight song,
until once again the emergence of dawn.

Their souls in slumber released in flight,
This grand old house holds them dear to the night.

Kuan Gung

Dedicated to my departed grandparents who lived, loved and cared for the earth in this old house. The two most influential souls in my life...I miss them dearly...

Merry Christmas

2008-12-13T14:18:00.002-06:00

Magic

It's in the snowflake skies of children's wishes.
It's in the music of children's laughter.
It's in the breathlessness of children's anticipation.
It's in the faith of children's embraces.

The magic of Christmas is here...
In the childlike wonder of us all.

Splendor

Ebony eve, silvered streets.
Lavender mist and icicle tears.
Visions of velvet, crimson and jade.
Golden glints in topaz thoughts.
Color it Christmas. Give it with love.

Someday

Perhaps it begins long before the first frost -
Somewhere between memory and reality.
It touches us with compassion
and whispers to us of hope.
It tiptoes into our hearts with elation
and opens our souls to faith.

Its name is Christmas and we have yet to learn
How to keep it close for more than
this one brief, shining moment.
Someday, perhaps...with love.

Come Home For Christmas

Unlock the door of your heart -
Enter the gentleness within.
Open the window of your soul -
Breathe in the season of miracles.
No matter how far you've traveled,
It's time to come home now,
Where Christmas abounds in love.

Living Reality: A New Earth

2008-07-30T02:45:00.007-05:00

"If the history of humanity were the clinical case history of a single human being, the diagnosis would have to be: chronic paranoid delusions, a pathological propensity to commit murder and acts of extreme violence and cruelty against his perceived "enemies"-his own unconsciousness projected outward. Criminally insane, with a few brief lucid intervals"

"The ego is not only the unobserved mind, the voice in the head which pretends to be you, but also the unobserved emotions that are the body's reaction to what the voice in the head is saying."

Not what you do, but how you do what you do determines whether you are fulfilling your destiny. And how you do what you do is determined by your state of consciousness.

If you are not in the state of acceptance, enjoyment, or enthusiasm, look closely and you will find that you are creating suffering for yourself and others.

"Underneath the surface appearance, everything is not only connected with everything else, but also with the Source of all life out of which it came".

An essential part of the awakening is the recognition of the unawakened you, the ego as it thinks, speaks, and acts, as well as the recognition of the collectively conditioned mental processes that perpetuate the unawakened state"

All we can perceive, experience, think about, is the surface layer of reality, less than the tip on an iceberg. Underneath the surface appearance, everything is not only connected with everything else, but also with the Source of all life out of which it came" "When you don't cover up the world with words and labels, a sense of the miraculous returns to your life" "The quicker you are in attaching verbal or mental labels to things, people, or situations, the more shallow and lifeless your reality becomes, and the more deadened you become to reality"

The collective disease of humanity is that people are so engrossed in what happens, so hypnotized by the world of fluctuating forms, so absorbed in the content of their lives, they have forgotten the essence that which is beyond content, beyond form, beyond thought. They are so consumed by time that they have forgotten eternity, which is their origin, their home, their destiny. Eternity is the living reality of who you are.

Eckhart Tolle

A New Earth

2008-05-14T21:43:00.005-05:00

The messengers–Buddha, Jesus, and others, not all of them known–were humanity’s early flowers. They were precursors, rare and precious beings.

To sin means to miss the point of human existence. It means to life unskillfully, blindly, and thus to suffer and cause suffering.

The human mind is highly intelligent. Yet its very intelligence is tainted by madness. Science and technology have magnified the destructive impact that the dysfunction of the human mind has upon the planet, other life-forms, and upon humans themselves.

By the end of the century, the number of people who died a violent death at the hand of their fellow humans would rise to more than one hundred million.

Driven by green, ignorant of their connectedness to the whole, humans persist in behavior that, if continued unchecked, can only result in their own destruction.

Most ancient religions and spiritual traditions share the common insight–that our “normal” state of mind is marred by a fundamental defect.

The good news of the possibility of a radical transformation of human consciousness. In Hindu teachings (and sometimes in Buddhism also), this transformation is called enlightenment. In the teachings of Jesus, it is salvation, and in Buddhism, it is the end of suffering. Liberation and awakening are other terms used to describe this transformation.

Responding to a radical crisis that threatens our very survival–this is humanity’s challenge now.

A significant portion of the earth’s population will soon recognize, if they haven’t already done so, that humanity is now faced with a stark choice: Evolve or die.

Ego is no more than this: identification with form, which primarily means thought forms. If evil has any reality–and it has a relative, not an absolute, reality–this is also its definition: complete identification with form–physical forms, thought forms, emotional forms. This results in total unawareness of my connectedness with the whole, my intrinsic oneness with every “other” as well as with the Source.

We need to understand here that heaven is not a location but refers to the inner realm of consciousness. This is its meaning in the teachings of Jesus.

“A new heaven” is the emergence of a transformed state of human consciousness, and “a new earth” is its reflection in the physical realm.

Quotes: A New Earth - Ekhart Tolle

Magdalena

2008-05-11T01:34:00.006-05:00

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

Magdalena was my Great Grandmother that at age 3,began to teach me how to read by memorizing each word.

She loved her flowers and garden.

I spent countless hours with her when I was very young upon her lap reading and listening to her stories.

She was a compassionate and strong woman whom I loved dearly as a child.

At age 101 she passed away. I was 11 years old.

Many years later I went to find her only to learn, she was no where to be found.

Her grave was unmarked with no head stone.

She had 9 children and lost three.

The cemetery has her listed, but as to where she lays, we'll never know.

Time

2008-02-17T02:42:00.002-06:00

Time

Time and eternity are both in your mind,
And will conflict until you perceive time
Solely as a means to regain eternity.

Now is the closest approximation of eternity
That this world offers.
It is the reality of “now”,
Without past or future,
That the beginning of the appreciation
Of eternity lies.
For only “now” is here.

Look lovingly upon the present,
For it holds the only things that are forever true.
All healing lies within it.

When you have learned to look on everyone
With no reference to all to the past,
Either his or yours as you perceive it,
You will be able to learn from what you see now.

To be born again is to let the past go,
And look without condemnation upon the present.

The present is before time was,
And will be when time is no more.
In it are all things that are eternal,
And they are one.

Fear is not of the present,
But only of the past and future,
Which do not exist.

Why wait for heaven?
It is here today.
Time is the great illusion it is past
Or in the future.

Here in the present is the world set free.
For as you let the past be lifted
And release the future from your ancient fears,
You find escape and give it to the world.

What time but now can truth be recognized?
The present is the only time there is.

The past is gone;
The future but imagined.
These concerns are but defenses
Against present change.

Unless the past is over in my mind,
The real world must escape my sight.
For I am really looking nowhere;
Seeing but what is not here

A Course in Miracles

ACIM: Miracles

2008-02-16T21:40:00.003-06:00

Miracles are natural.

When they do not occur,

something has gone wrong.

Miracles are merely the translation

of denial into truth.

Miracles occur naturally as expressions of love.

The real miracle is the love that inspires them.

In this sense everything that comes from love is a miracle.

The miracle comes quietly into the mind

that stops an instant and is still.

The miracle of life is ageless

born in time but nourished in eternity

What Will Matter

2008-01-19T13:00:00.000-06:00

What Will Matter

Ready or not, some day it will all come to an end.
There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days.

All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten
will pass to someone else.

Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance.
It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed.

Your grudges, resentments, frustrations and jealousies will finally disappear.
So too, your hopes, ambitions, plans and to do lists will expire.
The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away.

It won't matter where you came from or what side of the tracks
you lived on at the end.

It won't matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant.
Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant.

So what will matter?

How will the value of your days be measured?

What will matter is not what you bought but what you built,
not what you got but what you gave.

What will matter is not your success but your significance.

What will matter is not what you learned but what you taught.

What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage,

or sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example.

What will matter is not your competence but your character.

What will matter is not how many people you knew,
but how many will feel a lasting loss when you're gone.

What will matter is not your memories but the memories
that live in those who loved you.

What will matter is how long you will be remembered,
by whom and for what.

Living a life that matters doesn't happen by accident.

It's not a matter of circumstance but of choice.

Choose to live a life that matters.

Michael Josephson

http://www.josephsoninstitute.org/movie_whatwillmatter.html

The Seat of the Soul

2007-11-25T02:18:00.001-06:00

"You cannot find your soul with your mind, you must use your heart. You must know what you are feeling. If you don't know what you are feeling, you will create unconsciously. If you are unconscious of an aspect of yourself; if it operates outside your field of awareness, that aspect has power over you.""An intention is a quality of consciousness that you bring to an action."

"Reality is what we take to be true. What we take to be true is what we believe. What we believe is based upon our perceptions. What we perceive depends upon what we look for. What we look for depends upon what we think. What we think depends upon what we perceive. What we perceive determines what we believe. What we believe determines what we take to be true. What we take to be true is our reality."

"Do not insist that the universe complywith your understanding of it."

The journey may take many lifetimes, but you will complete it. It is impossible not to complete it. It is not a question of if but of when.

~ Gary Zukav ~

The Chariots Go Forth to War

2007-09-21T20:31:00.000-05:00

The Chariots Go Forth to War

The chariots go forth to war,
Rumbling, roaring as they go;
The horses neigh and whinny loud,
Tugging at the bit.
The dust swirls up in great dense clouds,
And hides the Han Yang bridge.
In serried ranks the archers march,
A bow and quiver at each waist;
Fathers, mothers, children, wives
All crowd around to say farewell.
Pulling at clothes and stamping feet,
They force the soldiers' ranks apart,
And all the while their sobs and cries
Reach to the skies above.

"Where do you go to-day ?" a passer-by
Calls to the marching men.
A grizzled old veteran answers him,
Halting his swinging stride:
"At fifteen I was sent to the north
To guard the river against the Hun;
At forty I was sent to camp,
To farm in the west, far, far from home.
When I left, my hair was long and black;
When I came home, it was white and thin.
Today they send me again to the wars,
Back to the north frontier,
By whose gray towers our blood has flowed
In a red tide, like the sea--
And will flow again, for Wu Huang Ti
Is resolved to rule the world.

"Have you not heard how in far Shantung
Two hundred districts lie
With a thousand towns and ten thousand homes
Deserted, neglected, weed-grown?
Husbands fighting or dead, wives drag the plow,
And the grain grows wild in the fields.
The soldiers recruited in Shansi towns
Still fight; but, with spirit gone,
Like chickens and dogs they are driven about,
And have not the heart to complain."

"I am greatly honored by your speech with me.
Dare I speak of my hatreds and grief ?
All this long winter, conscription goes on
Through the whole country, from the east to the west,
And taxes grow heavy. But how can we pay,
Who have nothing to give from our land ?
A son is a curse at a time like this,
And daughters more welcome far;
For, when daughters grow up, they can marry, at least,
And go to live on a neighbor's land.
But our sons? We bury them after the fight,
And they rot where the grass grows long.

"Have you not seen at far Ching Hai,
By the waters of Kokonor,
How the heaped skulls and bones of slaughtered men
Lie bleaching in the sun?
Their ancient ghosts hear our own ghosts weep,
And cry and lament in turn;
The heavens grow dark with great storm-clouds,
And the specters wail in the rain."

Du Fu

ACIM: What About You?

2007-09-16T21:22:00.000-05:00

The deepest secret is that life is not a process of discovery, but a process of

creation. You are not discovering yourself, but creating yourself anew.

Seek, therefore, not to find out Who You Are, seek to determine

Who You Want to Be.
Your job on Earth, therefore, is not to learn (because you already know),

but to remember Who You Are. And to remember who everyone else is.

Judge not, then, the karmic path walked by another. Envy not success,

nor pity failure, for you know not what is success or failure

in the soul’s reckoning. Judge not, and neither

condemn, for you know not why a thing occurs,

nor to what end. And remember

you this: that which you condemn will condemn you,

and that which you judge, you will one day become. Rather, seek to change

those things—or support others who are changing those things—

which no longer reflect your highest sense of Who You Are.

There is perfection in the process—and all life arises out of choice.

Your own life is the way it is because of you,

and the choices you have made—or failed to make.

All that is required is to know this. For you are the creator of your reality,

and life can show up no other way for you than that way in which you think it will.

Thought is pure energy. Every thought you have, have ever had,

and ever will have is creative. The energy of your thought never ever dies.

Ever.

It leaves your being and heads out into the universe,

extending forever. A thought is forever.

The Laws are very simple. 1. Thought is creative. 2. Fear attracts like energy.

3. Love is all there is.

So—do you want your life to “take off”?

Begin at once to imagine it the way you want it to be—

and move into that.

Check every thought, word, and action that does not fall into harmony with that.

Move away from those.

The most difficult thing for people to do is hear their own soul.

And every Master has likewise had the same message: What I am, you are.

What I can do, you can do. These things, and more, shall you also do.

All attack is a call for help.

Life is a creation, not a discovery.

Enlightenment is understanding that there is nowhere to go, nothing to do, and

nobody you have to be except exactly who you’re being right now.

Remember, you are constantly in the act of creating yourself.

You are in every moment deciding who and what you are.

You decide this largely through the choices you make regarding who and

what you feel passionate about.

Yet never resist anything. If you think that by your resistance

you will eliminate it, think again. You only plant it more firmly in place.

All thought is creative?

There is only now; an eternal moment of always in which you are experiencing yourself.

The point of life is therefore to create—who and what you are, and then to experience that.
This is the process of Self realization about which Eastern mystics have written.

It is the process of salvation to which much Western theology has devoted itself.

Yet the purpose of relationship is not to have another who might complete you; but to have another with whom you might share your completeness.

A Master blesses calamity, for the Master knows that from the seeds of disaster

(and all experience) comes the growth of Self.

What you do for your Self, you do for another. What you do for another,

you do for the Self.

This is because you and the other are one.

So much of your present experience is based on your previous thought.

New thought is your only chance. It’s your only real opportunity to evolve,

to grow, to truly become

Who You Really Are.

True Masters are those who have chosen to make a life, rather than a living.

To change your reality, simply stop thinking like that.
Go ahead and do what you really love to do! Do nothing else! You have so little time.

How can you think of wasting a moment doing something for a living you don’t like to do?

What kind of a living is that?

That is not a living, that is a dying!

Worry is just about the worst form of mental activity there is—

next to hate, which is deeply self destructive.

Worry is pointless. It is wasted mental energy.

It also creates bio-chemical reactions which harm the body,

producing everything from indigestion to coronary arrest,

and a multitude of things in between.

Worry, hate, fear—together with their offshoots: anxiety, bitterness, impatience,

avarice, unkindness, judgmentalness, and condemnation—all attack the body at the

cellular level. It is impossible to have a healthy body under these conditions.

The world is in the condition that it’s in because the world is full of sleepwalkers.

Moonlight in You

2007-07-09T14:08:00.000-05:00

Moonlight in You

Moonlight on your face

And I see its glow

Perhaps you could sprinkle

Shreds of flames to me

That encircles loneliness

Seizing my miseryRadiance

calms a lament heart

I see contentment in your smile

Carefree in your journeys

Every journey of yours

Shapes a meaning Humbleness

Core light of your soul

I wish I could learn

Your secret

And you wait for no success

It’s granted to you

Freedom floats within you

Moon floats in the sky

Yet there is another side to the moon

A face of youIs frighten to appear

A full circle of darkness

A burned out candle

Withholding agonies

Since when a moon spills tears!

The man in you cannot set it free

Strings of me adores your strength

The desire to tangle

Within your surroundings

Despite all complicity

You take the walk of life

Akin to leaf falling with easiness

Allow me to love your moonlight

Copyright 2006 nasra al adawi

http://nasra-al-adawi.blogspot.com/

Inspired by DON of http://poeticalchemist.wordpress.com/, every day I learn something new about life and what it can bring to me as a person who lives it

Love

2007-06-07T01:14:00.000-05:00

Love doesn't make the world go round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile.
Franklin P. Jones

At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet.
Plato

Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired.
Robert Frost

If you have it [Love], you don't need to have anything else, and if you don't have it, it doesn't matter much what else you have.
Sir James M. Barrie

Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.
Henry Louis Mencken

Love is a friendship set to music.
E. Joseph Cossman

Love is a canvas furnished by Nature and embroidered by imagination.
Voltaire

Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking

outward together in the same direction.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery

You don't love a woman because she is beautiful,

but she is beautiful because you love her.
Anonymous

Love is a given, hatred is acquired.
Doug Horton

The best and most beautiful things in the world

cannot be seen or even touched -

they must be felt with the heart.
Helen Keller

If you would be loved, love and be lovable.
Benjamin Franklin

Some love lasts a lifetime. True love lasts forever.
Unknown

If you judge people, you have no time to love them.
Mother Teresa

Hymn to the Night

2007-03-30T00:09:00.000-05:00

I HEARD the trailing garments of the NightSweep through her marble halls!

I saw her sable skirts all fringed with light From the celestial walls!

I felt her presence, by its spell of might, Stoop o'er me from above;

The calm, majestic presence of the Night, As of the one I love.

I heard the sounds of sorrow and delight, The manifold, soft chimes,

That fill the haunted chambers of the Night, Like some old poet's rhymes.

From the cool cisterns of the midnight airMy spirit drank repose;

The fountain of perpetual peace flows there,

--From those deep cisterns flows.O holy Night! from thee I learn to bear

What man has borne before!

Thou layest thy finger on the lips of Care,

And thy complain no more.

Peace! Peace! Orestes-like I breathe this prayer!

Descend, with broad-winged flight,

The welcome, the thrice-prayed for, the most fair,

The best-beloved Night!

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

2007-03-02T01:51:00.000-06:00

Out of the Valley of the West, upon their snow-white steeds,
and into ancient legends passed bright men with shining deeds.
Their heralds, made of cloth-of-gold trailed bright banners
in the seaward breeze that spoke of hoary years of old
and a history of times unseen.

Bright Kings of aeons past were they,
who ruled beyond the Western Sea and slew great daemons,
and lived with fey in years of unknown centuries.
Their look was wise, their carriage proud,
their armour held a starry sheen,
their aged trumpets echoed loud as they rode in from the Sea.

Through hanging forests, deep and cold upon a winding,
unknown trailthey rode- noble, proud and bold.
Dark were the shadows upon their mail;
bright were their eyes and deep their brows,
their hair was gold, their faces pale-
they passed through grove and under boughout of the West,
where dreamships sail.

Briseis

Osho

2007-02-16T00:38:00.000-06:00

Life

"The beauty of facing life unprepared is tremendous.
Then life has a newness, a youth; then life has a flow
and freshness. Then life has so many surprises.
And when life has so many surprises
boredom never settles in you."

The Search

Remember one thing: meditation means awareness.
Whatsoever you do with awareness is meditation.
Action is not the question, but the quality that you bring to your action.
Walking can be a meditation if you walk alertly.
Sitting can be a meditation if you sit alertly.
Listening to the birds can be a meditation if you listen with awareness.
Just listening to the inner noise of your mind can be a meditation
If you remain alert and watchful.
The whole point is: one should not move in sleep.
Then whatsoever you do is meditation.

Meditation

JUST ONE QUALITY of the Buddha has to be remembered. He consists only
of one quality: witnessing. This small word witnessing contains the whole of
spirituality. Witness that you are not the body. Witness that you are not
the mind. Witness that you are only a witness. As the witnessing deepens,
you start becoming drunk with the divine. That is what is called ecstasy.

Silence

The energy of the whole has taken possession of you. You are possessed, you are no more, the whole is. This moment, as the silence penetrates in you, you can understand the significance of it, because it is the same silence that Gautama Buddha experienced. It is the same silence that Chuang Tzu or Bodhidharma or Nansen.... The taste of the silence is the same. Time changes, the world goes on changing, but the experience of silence, the joy of it, remains the same. That is the only thing you can rely upon, the only thing that never dies.
It is the only thing that you can call your very being.”

The Disappearance of the Universe

2007-01-31T21:27:00.000-06:00

Miracles fall like drops of healing rain from Heaven on a dry and dusty world,

where starved and thirsty creatures come to die.

The Dead are not alive, and the living will not die.

You have a chance of finding your ways through the veils of forgetfulness,

back to where you belong.

Perception always involves some misuse of the mind,

because it brings the mind into areas of uncertainty.

The ego is nothing more then a belief about yourself.

Fear holds the world, Forgiveness sets it free.

Enlightenment is but recognition, not a change at all.

The experience of revelation is beyond this world

and can not be captured with words.

Miracles are all the same, the benefits for your mind

when you forgive are unimaginable to you.

The only illusion is the past and the future, there is,

and will always just be the now.

"The Disapperance of the Universe"

Gary R. Renard

Anytime...Anywhere...

2007-01-27T03:56:00.001-06:00

2007-01-20T22:55:00.000-06:00

Life can be found only in the present moment.
The past is gone,

the future is not yet here,
and if we do not go back to ourselves in the present moment,
we cannot be in touch with life.

Our own life is the instrument
with which we experiment with the truth.

People deal too much with the negative, with what is wrong.

Why not try and see positive things,

to just touch those things and make them bloom?

Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile,
but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.

The present moment is filled with joy and happiness.
If you are attentive, you will see it.

The true miracle is not walking on water or walking in air,
but simply walking on this earth.

The NOW: Eckhart Tolle

MLK: Wisdom

2007-01-15T22:01:00.000-06:00

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.

Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence.

Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy

I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become reality.

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.

Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. It is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding; it seeks to annihilate rather than to convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love.

Martin Luther King

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

2007-01-13T18:16:00.000-06:00

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.

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

Amma

2007-01-02T20:35:00.000-06:00

“A true devotee or disciple will have great humility and, because of this, will also possess a certain spiritual beauty. The beauty of spirituality lies in humility.”

“Devotion in principle means recognizing that it is the one and the same God who manifests in all living beings and in all the deities, in all names and forms. It means surrendering selflessly to Him. That is the kind of devotion we should have."

"Knowledge helps you to imbibe devotion with the proper understanding of its principles. You have to have wisdom if you want to taste devotion fully. But knowledge without devotion is bitter; it has no sweetness. Those who say, ‘I am everything,’ rarely have any compassion. Devotion contains compassion.”

2006-12-23T11:38:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas to All

Mummers Dance

2006-12-11T22:25:00.000-06:00

2006-12-06T21:49:00.000-06:00

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world,
and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.
--Norman Vincent Peale

Time was with most of us, when Christmas Day,
encircling all our limited world like a magic ring,
left nothing out for us to miss or seek;
bound together all our home enjoyments, affections,
and hopes; grouped everything and
everyone round the Christmas fire,
and make the little picture shining in
our bright young eyes, complete.
-Charles Dickens

What is Christmas? It is tenderness for the past,
courage for the present, hope for the future.
It is a fervent wish that every cup may overflow
with blessings rich and eternal,
and that every path may lead to peace.
-Agnes M. Pharo

Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back
to the delusions of our childhood days,
recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth,
and transport the traveler back to his own fireside
and quiet home!
-Charles Dickens

The joy of brightening other lives,
bearing each others' burdens,
easing other's loads and supplanting empty hearts
and lives with generous gifts
becomes for us the magic of Christmas.
-W. C. Jones

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree:
the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.
-Burton Hillis

Whatever else be lost among the years,
Let us keep Christmas still a shining thing:
Whatever doubts assail us, or what fears,
Let us hold close one day, remembering
Its poignant meaning for the hearts of men.
Let us get back our childlike faith again.
-Grace Noll Crowell

Christmas! The very word brings joy to our hearts.
No matter how we may dread the rush,
the long Christmas lists for gifts and
cards to be bought and given--
when Christmas Day comes
there is still the same warm feeling
we had as children, the same warmth
that enfolds our hearts and our homes.
-Joan Winmill Brown

Christmas Eve was a night of song that
wrapped itself about you like a shawl.
But it warmed more than your body.
It warmed your heart... filled it, too,
with a melody that would last forever.
-Bess Streeter Aldrich

Christmas ... is not an eternal event at all,
but a piece of one's home that one carries in one's heart.
-Freya StarkFrom

Home to home, and heart to heart, from one place to another.
The warmth and joy of Christmas,
brings us closer to each other.
-Emily Matthews

Christmas--that magic blanket
that wraps itself about us,
that something so intangible
that it is like a fragrance.
It may weave a spell of nostalgia.
Christmas may be a day of feasting,
or of prayer, but always
it will be a day of remembrance--
a day in which we think of everything
we have ever loved.
-Augusta E. Rundel

The merry family gatherings--
The old, the very young;
The strangely lovely way they Harmonize
in carols sung.
For Christmas is tradition time--
Traditions that recall
The precious memories down the years,
The sameness of them all.
-Helen Lowrie Marshall

Cry the Dead

2006-12-01T23:15:00.000-06:00

Slowly, the hole is filled with earth, tossed down first by the hands of the beloved and bereft, later shovelled in by anonymous workers - the workers are the only ones with dry eyes and unburdened hearts. His widow slowly drops a mourning bouquet over the fresh earth, while his daughter collapses in front of his marker, sobbing. Looking for support, the little girl reaches a hand to his tombstone, delicately tracing the engraving that served as his legacy and last words:

We are voices,
only voices now,
silent echoes of the vacant
Height,ephemeral,
whispers in the universal night.

We were bodies,
we were humans once,
and proudly drew our breath
along side companion humans -
comrades unto death.

And much like Flander's torch*
only our memories remain
to beg for some miraculous truce
while the world fights on,
the same.

We are voices, only voices now
soft midst wars' alarms
yet still we go on pleading
for a laying down of arms.

Briseis

http://briseis.blogster.com

The Dash

2006-11-25T12:45:00.000-06:00

http://www.thedashmovie.com/

A Wish

2006-11-19T00:09:00.000-06:00

If I could have my wishes,
If wishes did come true;
I would wish for happiness,
And a long full life for you.

I would wish for laughter,
And fill your life with song;
Then ask for peace and joy and love,
To follow you all day long.

Then I would ask for peaceful rest,
To visit you at night;
And that your every morning,
Dawn shimmering and bright.

I would ask for nothing,
To give back to myself;
As long as you are happy,
I want for nothing else.

For just to see contentment,
On your face and know you're fine;
Would truly satisfy me,
And bring joy to this heart of mine.

If I could have my wishes,
If wishes did come true;
I'd wish for the sun and the moon and the stars,
And I'd give them all to you.

Afzal

This Old House

2006-11-08T23:36:00.000-06:00

Dedicated to my departed grandparents who lived, loved and cared for the earth in this old house. The two most influential souls in my life...I miss them dearly.

Call of the Northern Stars

2006-10-29T01:35:00.000-05:00

Beyond the furthest reaches of the pale,
distant beach,
farther than the Northlands,
there runs a golden creek.

And all about its banks grow
bushes bright and merry;
their riotous branches covered
with leaves of gold and crimson berries.

Robins, doves, and meadowlarks
in cheerful chorus sing,
the melody rises to the Sun-a far-off,
guilded ring.

Shadows fall at twilight and silver
coats the land-
the shining waters gently dim as
dusk settles in the sands.

And in the warm darkness,
while rose and sandalwood cloy,
in the shimmering starlight comes
the call of Joy.

Pulling you, calling you away
from the golden creek,
inviting you to come away
and find the dreams you seek.

Stirring breezes in the night
bring sudden, swift desire,
and night time's sensuous
beauty fills the heart with fire:

A passion for the wilds,
to walk forgotten ways-
to wieldthe ruins of a sword forged
in long-lost, ancient days.

To walk under the moon and dance
with immortality,
and from the lonely mountains top
hear an elfin melody

Untitled Imagination

Blow out the candle,
snuff and stifle starlight.
Quench the moon
and let your dream take flight.

Come, follow me let me lead you
on into the fantastical realm
where illusion reigns.

Follow the winding stair down,
beyond emotion,
turn your back on reality,
give night song your devotion.

Incense burns in the night pyre of melancholy,
ashes clean burdens off as you enter the Stygian plane.
Float upon the melody that fills this waking dream,
cross the hairline border between concrete and unseen.

Tread upon the field of immortal souls-
drink deeply the waters of eternity.
Embrace your journey out of mortal-bound seclusion.
But dwell in light a little more, and shine for the illusion.

Briseis
http://briseis.blogster.com/

Rumi

2006-10-15T21:22:00.000-05:00

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 doorsill where 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.

“The minute I heard my first love story I started looking for you,
not knowing how blind that was.
Lovers don't finally meet somewhere.
They're in each other all along.”

“This is love: to fly toward a secret sky, to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment.
First to let go of life.
Finally, to take a step without feet.”

Silence is the language of God, all else is poor translation.”

“Pilgrimage to the place of the wise is to find escape
from the flame of separateness.”

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

Reason is powerless in the expression of Love.

The only lasting beauty is the beauty of the heart.

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

Buddha

2006-10-13T01:03:00.000-05:00

See the truth, and you will see me.

Let your love flow outward through the universe,
To its height, its depth, its broad extent,
A limitless love, without hatred or enmity.
Then as you stand or walk,Sit or lie down,
As long as you are awake,
Strive for this with a one-pointed mind;
Your life will bring heaven to earth.

Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle,
and the life of the candle will not be shortened.
Happiness never decreases by being shared.

I teach one thing and one only:
that is, suffering and the end of suffering.

Just as a mother would protect
with her life her own son, her only son,
so one should cultivate an unbounded mind
towards all beings, and loving-kindness
towards all the world.
One should cultivate an unbounded mind,
above and below and across, without obstruction,
without enmity, without rivalry.

"Unruly beings are as unlimited as space
They cannot possibly all be overcome,
But if I overcome thoughts of anger alone
This will be equivalent to vanquishing all foes.

We are not compelled to meditate by some outside agent,
by other people,or by God.
Rather, just as we are responsible for our own suffering,
so arewe solely responsible for our own cure.
We have created the situation in which we find ourselves,
and it is up to us to create the circumstances
for our release.

Graceful Presence

2006-09-30T23:42:00.000-05:00

...an excerpt from the post by Meredith and Akilesh, at Graceful Presence,

Exposure, going deeper ... 9/17

"With the leap into the here-now, into choiceless awareness,
we realize we already are love and radiating love,
we already are wakefulness and radiating wakefulness,
we already are harmonized spirit and matter,
and we radiate it,
we already are being, already are saturated in bliss,
already are this naked consciousness.

This! Only just this... this wakefulness radiating,
and it is this naked wakefulness that is transformative.
Being this radiance- that-is- awake,
that asks for nothing and doesn't want to change anything,
is the most transformative energy in the universe.

When we realize it, when we step out of the way
and let it express through us as it will,
we radiate - love, grace, freedom, authenticity, godliness;
we radiate the harmony of spirit and matter.
Exposure to this radiance may spark its emergence in another,
may inspire another to open her eyes and see the light shining there within her."

~Akilesh

Thank you Kathleen
http://ineffablebliss.blogspot.com/

Gandhi

2006-09-25T20:51:00.000-05:00

Peace will not come out of a clash of arms

but out of justice lived and done by unarmed nations in the face of odds.

Democracy and violence can ill go together.

Evolution of democracy is not possible if we are not prepared to hear the other side.

A coward is incapable of exhibiting love;

it is the prerogative of the brave.

Hatred ever kills, love never dies; such is the vast difference between the two.

What is obtained by love is retained for all time.

What is obtained by hatred proves a burden in reality for it increases hatred.

Non-cooperation with evil is a sacred duty.

Nonviolence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind.

It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man

The weak can never forgive.

Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.

You must be the change you wish to see in the world.

It may be long before the law of love will be recognizedin international affairs.

The machinery's of government stand between and

hide the hearts of one people from those of another.

Nonviolence is not a garment to be put on and off at will.

Its seat is in the heart, and it must be an inseparable part of our being.

Whether humanity will consciously follow the law of love, I do not know.

But that need not disturb me.

The law will work just as the law of gravitation works, whether we accept it or not.

Power is of two kinds.

One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love.

Nonviolence and cowardice are contradictory terms.

Nonviolence is the greatest virtue, cowardice the greatest vice.

Nonviolence springs from love, cowardice from hate.

Nonviolence always suffers, cowardice would always inflict suffering.

Perfect nonviolence is the highest bravery.

Nonviolent conduct is never demoralizing, cowardice always is.

Destruction is not the law of humans.

Man lives freely only by his readiness to die, if need be, at the hands of his brother,

never by killing him. Every murder or other injury,

no matter for what cause,

committed or inflicted on another is a crime against humanity.

High Hopes

2006-09-17T21:31:00.000-05:00

High Hopes - Pink Floyd
Uploaded by Mikialba

A Dreamer...A Believer...A Seer

2006-09-15T23:38:00.000-05:00

I'm a dreamer...I
dream of a world of compassion
I dream of a world of kindness
I dream of a world of tolerance
I dream of a world of generosity
I dream of a world of peace
I dream of a world of unity
I dream of a world of love

I'm a believer...
I believe in the human spirit of compassion
I believe in the human spirit of kindness
I believe in the human spirit of tolerance
I believe in the human spirit of generosity
I believe in the human spirit of peace
I believe in the human spirit of unity
I believe in LOVE Believing...is Seeing

The above image is called Love Eternal.

Serenity - Copyright

http://serenitytide.blogspot.com/

Quiet Things

2006-09-10T00:58:00.000-05:00

Have you ever listened to the silent sounds
a canoe slipping through the water
a paintbrush against the canvas?

Have you ever heard
your bare feet on the sandy beach
Have you noticed the stars sing
and have you heard the snow fall?

Have you listened to the autumn leaves
all shades of chrysanthemums drift to the grass
and the early morning mist fall like vapor in the pine trees?
Have you ever heard birds in flight?
The softest breeze?

Have you ever had life whisper to you
that you are a part of all that is good?
That you can rise above all your afflictions
rise above every limitation
lift over the clouds of sorrowand bloom as beautifully
as anything made?

Have you had your wordlessness
acknowledge with deep appreciation
for your every blessing
and the joy of being alive in all these quiet things?

If you have a dream of quiet things
even for a few brief moments
draw your chair up beside mine.
Whatever I have not thought of ... you will
and it is all the better shared.

samuru

http://samuru999.blogspot.com/

Source

2006-09-07T21:45:00.000-05:00

We see a mist and a light
We see all the strife
We see what you project
and upon that which you reflect.
We see and know what is in your heart
We have known you from the start
To understand confusion only causes more delusions.

Release and let it go.
For those who love so too they know.

In a storm the waves do break
upon the rocks and make a wake

Consciousness pours out to you
Awaken gentle as the dew
Take what you can use from within
One speck of Light so Bright Holds all

The holograms believe they are real
And so they attempt to steal
When all is freely given
Nothing hidden no one less
Yet they forget
What they took with them (at death, cells of consciousness)
They hold within them.

..........Source

Anacoana
http://anacoana.blogster.com/
Meditative Writing 8/11/06

Falling

2006-09-06T21:54:00.000-05:00

Flowing over the edge
Falling freely with force
Tumbling down the hard rocks
Falling yet again,
With hopes of reaching the final destination

My life is somewhat like this
I await when I'll be one with the omniscient one

http://artihonrao.blogspot.com/

© Arti Honrao

The Eternal Quest

2006-09-02T22:37:00.000-05:00

Let my soul smile through my heart and
my heart smile through my eyes,
that I may scatter rich smiles in sad hearts.

Arise from dreams of limiting mortal boundaries
to the realization of the vastness of the immortal soul

Pray that unceasing truth flow into your mind...
and unceasing joy flow into your soul.

Know that this universe is nothing but a dream bluff of nature
to test your consciousness of immortality.

A flower is the smile of God.
The fragrance is His hidden presence.

Love outlasts death and the ravages of time.

In every aspect of matter is evidence of the originality ...
of that Cosmic Intelligence.

Every day and minute and hour is a window
through which you may see eternity.

Because we don’t concentrate within,
we are mystified by the imprints of the
invisible Spirit in nature.

Realize spiritually, that One Life pervades everything.

Be transparent like the gems ...
Thinking and perception should have gemlike clarity
that will undistortedly reflect the Divine Mind.

Paramahansa Yogananda

Native Ameican Wisdom - The Great Spirit

2006-08-26T00:43:00.000-05:00

Cherokee Prayer

Great Mystery, teach me how to trust my heart,

my mind, my intuition, my inner knowing,

the senses of my body, the blessings of my spirit.

Teach me to trust these things

so that I may enter my Sacred Space

and love beyond my fear,

and thus Walk in Balance

with the passing

of each glorious Sun.

Lakota Prayer

Hold On Hold on to what is good,

Even if it's a handful of earth.

Hold on to what you believe,

Even if it's a tree that stands by itself.

Hold on to what you must do,

Even if it's a long way from here.

Hold on to your life,

Even if it's easier to let go.

Hold on to my hand,

Even if someday

I'll be gone away from you.

A Pueblo Indian Prayer

Humankind has not woven the web of life.

We are but one thread within it.

Whatever we do to the web,

we do to ourselves.

All things are bound together.

All things connect.

Chief Seattle, 1854

May the Warm Winds of Heaven

Blow softly upon your house.

May the Great Spirit

Bless all who enter there.

May your Mocassins

Make happy tracks in many snows,

and may the Rainbow

Always touch your shoulder.

Cherokee Prayer

BlessingOh, Great Spirit

Whose voice I hear in the winds,

And whose breath gives life to all the world,

hear me,I am small and weak,

I need your strength and wisdom.

Let me walk in beauty

and make my eyes ever behold

the red and purple sunset.

Make my hands respect the things

you have made

and my ears sharp to hear your voice.

Make me wise

so that I may understand the things

you have taught my people.

Let me learn the lessons

you have hidden in every leaf and rock.

I seek strength, not to be greater than my brother,

but to fight my greatest enemy - myself.

Make me always ready to come to you

with clean hands and straight eyes.

So when life fades, as the fading sunset,

my Spirit may come to you without shame.

Efants De Le Revolution Boheme

2006-08-19T13:15:00.000-05:00

We were the glory seekers, the fading stars
desperately trying to inspire.
We were the ones shouting "Vivant la vie boheme!
Vie aux révolution!"and raising our glasses to decadence.
It was us who attended old Mass three times weekly,
for the beauty of the language, and worshipped at brothels each night.

We were the silhouettes on table tops and roof tops,
singing odes to humanity in our crude vernacular.
We were the neo-linguists, the neo-classicals,
obsessed with the avant garde while our lives decayed.
Ours were the high and noble minds which kept us, penniless,

in bare apartments while the bourgoise sank into wealth.

We were the ones who spoke of love, wrote those endless songs,
and reveled in our freedom.
Ours were the enlightened booksthat fell flat in the over-stocked markets
while our contemporaries' soared to fame.
Ours were the voices, raised
on limelit stages, in darkened coffee shops, on lamp-lit corners
filling the empty nights.

Briseis Phemonoe

Briseis is a 15 year old talented young lady at

http://briseis.blogster.com/
or
http://briseispoet.blogspot.com/

Only Time

2006-08-16T06:19:00.000-05:00

ONLY TIME (Enya)

Video Code provided by VideoCodeZone.Com

Alaska: The American Last Frontier

2006-08-16T04:20:00.000-05:00

Humpback - Inside Passage
Mendenthal Glacier
Haines, Alaska
Typical Alaskan Landscape

What an incredible journey...the landscape for 10 days was breathtaking!

moon dust

2006-08-15T01:36:00.000-05:00

From the dewy realms
Murmurs of night –

Terraced fields Babbling sky
Humming lamps
Sounds of pleasure and pain

Warmth of the room,
wakes up Drifts down…
Spreads on
the elm lined walkways

The beige moon hangs low
Symbol of glee or woe…
The ebbs and flows of,
his mood
Throbs like dynamo…
As effervescent As mine…
Silly him,
Silly me…

The "Hermione" in me
Conjures castle,
Turns time…
Walked through the plane
Of angels and the dark ones
Avert my gaze
Unwilling to explain the presence

the fire crackles
back from the waves
enshrouded in clouds
the “now”
silver orbis tucking himself up

and while I was away
scattered a few verses
on my floor…

picked ‘em up
a stifle a yawn

dreamily,
the winged ones rouse
reverberation of rhymes
sieving in my early morning…

Morning, Earth!
Neers
Copyright © Neerja Yadav

http://multiandnotuniverse.blogspot.com/

Enigma

2006-07-27T22:08:00.000-05:00

An enigma you are, ununderstood, unsolved
Crawling silently, a visitor uncalled
You come in and settle without a knock
And speak no words, there's nothing to talk

Face, body, colour, taste and smell you lack
Your presence is pregnant silence black
You look and find your image in my eyes
Slowly replaced by the vast skies

Wind of sorrow turbulent grips the sky tight
Poor sky is no match to the delirious might
It screams thunder and cries out rain
Then no wind or sky, only my trickling tears of pain

I need a shoulder to lean and cry
And a hand to soothe my sigh
You've caused my heart's turmoil and emptiness
I ask your identity,
you say, "My name is Loneliness".

Copyright-- Diksha Neel 2002

http://atta-deep-bhav.blogspot.com/

A Walk with You

2006-07-23T22:59:00.000-05:00

Will you walk with me
deep into the woods
And live with life
to cherish her seasonal moods
And feel the ecstasy
of the morn's joyous heart
As it kisseth the ravishing
Earth with art
And get mesmerised
by the silent night
As the heavens shower stars
blending glory with the sight.

Will you walk with me
on the blue paths untrod
Wrapped with serenity
unto the abode of God
And touch the sanctity
of the sky infinite
Feeling the pleasure
of life's greatest delight
And swing on time
with a promise from thee
That thy shall walk
thus forever with me.

Copyright ©2005 Diksha Patitpavan Neel
http://atta-deep-bhav.blogspot.com/

Miracles

2006-07-21T01:27:00.000-05:00

Miracles occur naturally as expressions of love.
The real miracle is the love that inspires them.
In a sense everything that comes from love is a miracle.
Miracles bear witness to truth.
They are convincing because they arise from conviction.

A miracle is a service.
It is maximal service you can render to another.
It is a way of loving your neighbor as yourself.
You recognize your own and your neighbor's worth simultaneously.

Miracles are teaching devices for demonstrating it is as blessed to give as to receive.
They increase the strength of the giver and supply strength to the receiver.
Miracles reflect the laws of eternity, not of time.

Miracles lift the veil and rests on the threshold of the eternal spiritual dream.
Spirit is in a state of grace forever, Your reality is only spirit,
Therefore you are in a state of grace forever.

A Course in Miracles

A Conversation

2006-07-15T00:11:00.000-05:00

Fear is the other end of love.
It is the primal polarity.

In creating the realm of the relative, I first created the opposite of My Self.
Now, in the realm in which you live on the physical plane,
there are only two places of being: fear and love.
Thoughts rooted in fear will produce one kind of manifestation on the physical plane.
Thoughts rooted in love will produce another.

The Masters who have walked the planet are those who have discovered the
secret of the relative world- and refused to acknowledge its reality.
In short, Masters are those who have chosen only love.
In every instance. In every moment. In every circumstance.
Even as they were being killed, they loved their murderers. Even as they were being persecuted, they loved their oppressors.

This is very difficult for you to understand, much less emulate.
Nevertheless, it is what every Master has ever done.
It doesn't matter what the philosophy, it doesn't matter what the tradition, it doesn't matter what the religion- it is what every Master has done.

This example and this lesson has been laid out so clearly for you.
Time and time again, over and over has it been shown to you.
Through all the ages and in every place.
Through all your lifetimes and in every moment.

The universe has used every contrivance to place this Truth before you.
In song and story, in poetry and dance, in words and in motion- in pictures of motion,
which you call motion pictures, and in collections of words, which you call books.

From the highest mountain it has been shouted, in the lowest place
its whisper has been heard.
Through the corridors of all human experience has this Truth been echoed:
Love is the answer.

Yet you have not listened.
The soul is very clear that its purpose is evolution.
That is its sole purpose and its highest feeling is the experience of unity with All That Is.
This is the great return to Truth for which the soul yearns.

This is the feeling of perfect love.

Neale Donald Walsch - A Coveration with God

The Seat of the Soul

2006-07-12T20:58:00.000-05:00

Non-judgemental justice is a perception
that allows you to see everything in life,
but does not engage your negative emotions.

Non-judgemental justice relieves you of the
self-appointed job of judge and jury
because you know that everything is being seen-
nothing escapes the law of karma-
and this brings forth understanding and compassion.

Non-judgemental justice is the freedom of seeing
what you see and experiencing what you experience
without responding negatively.
It allows you to experience directly the unobstructed
flow of the intelligence, radiance and love of the universe
of which our physical reality is a part.

Non-judgemental justice flows naturally from
understanding the soul and how it evolves.

Gary Zukav

The Now

2006-07-08T02:05:00.000-05:00

You are here to enable the divine of the universe to unfold.
The present moment holds the key to liberation.
To the mind, the present moment hardly exists.
It is always concerned with keeping the past alive, and
constantly projects itself into the future.

Humans have been in the grip of pain for eons,
ever since they fell from the state of grace,
entered the realm of time and mind,
and lost awareness of being.

Make the now the primary focus of your life.

The egocentric needs are endless...to be identified
with your mind is to be trapped in time: it creates an
endless preoccupation with past and future and unwillingness
to honor and acknowledge the present moment and allow it to be.

The now is the only point that can take you beyond the
limitted confines of the mnd.
It is your only point of access into the timeless and
formless realm of being.
When you reconnect with being, you no longer
participate in the egocentric drama.

Nothing ever happened in the past; it happened in the now.
Nothing will ever happen in the future, it will happen in the now.
There is never a time when your life is not " this moment".

Eckhart Tolle

My Beloved

2006-07-06T16:31:00.000-05:00

In the twinkling midnight,

I see you, my beloved, as the Moon,

one amidst a thousand stars;

longing for me with passionate patience,

lighting the heavenly dark bars.

Upon the Earth,

I stand as an ocean of love,

jewelled by your glittering light,

I treasure your silvery reflection

deep down my heart;

and with splendid delight,

I raise my watery hands

to thy affection infinite.

http://atta-deep-bhav.blogspot.com/

Remember Forever

2006-07-06T01:46:00.000-05:00

Remember always that you are just a visitor here,
a traveler passing through.
your stay is but short and the moment of your departure unknown.
None can live without toil and a craft that provides your needs
is a blessing indeed.
But if you toil without rest,
fatigue and wearness will overtake you,
and you will denied the joy that comes from labour's end.

Speak quietly and kindly and be not forward with either
opinions or advice.
If you talk much, this will make you deaf to what others say,
and you should know that there are few so wise that they
cannot learn from others.
Be near when help is needed, but far when praise and
thanks are being offered.

Take small account of might, wealth and fame,
for they soon pass and are forgotten.
Instead, nurture love within you and and strive to be a friend to all.
Truly, compassion is a balm for many wounds.
Treasure silence when you find it,
and while being mindful of your duties,
set time aside, to be alone with yourself.

Cast off pretense and self-deception and see yourself as you really are.
Despite all appearances, no one is really evil.
They are led astray by ignorance.
If you ponder this truth always you will offer more light,
rather then blame and condemnation.
You, no less than all beings have Buddha Nature within.

Your essential Mind is pure.
Therefore, when defilements cause you to stumble and fall,
let not remose nor dark foreboding cast you down.
Be of good cheer and with this understanding, summon strength
and walk on.
Faith is like a lamp and wisdom makes the flame burn bright.

Carry this lamp always and in good time the darkness will yield
and you will abide in the Light.

Dhammavadaka

Floating Aloof...

2006-06-28T21:19:00.000-05:00

I am like a leaf
Floating aloof...
Going where the breeze takes me.

I am shed from the tree,
Heaven up above!
Picked up by the breeze of life
Sometimes I fly high
On wings of happiness
Sometimes I crash
With the burdrn of pain

I am like a leaf
Lying on the ground
When there is no breeze to carry me

I am stamped upon
Crushed and humiliated
Worn out like a dried leaf
Waiting for the breeze to carry me again

Take me with it
Let me float and settle
As I reach my final abode

Arti D. Honrao at:

http://artihonrao.blogspot.com/

A Summer Day

2006-06-25T22:05:00.000-05:00

A SUMMER DAY

A Warm summer day,
Green grass, blue skies.
Children playing, birds flying Boys running,
Mothers with strollers walking through.
Flowers blooming, bees buzzing
Butterflies atop, then disappear into the sky.

Young men playing basketball,
women jogging by.
A couple sit on the park bench, holding hands
Talking, laughing, enjoying an evening together.
A subtle glance, a passionate kiss
A pat on the back, then goodbye.

The sky turns orange
The air is cool,
The children gone, the courts silent,
The jogging path deserted.
The park bench empty.
Night has fallen, Another day gone by.

starry nights at...

http://stargazer-lalitha.blogspot.com/

The Great Way

2006-06-24T00:21:00.000-05:00

The Great Way is not difficultfor those who have no preferences.
When love and hate are both absent
Everything becomes clear and undisguised.

Make the smallest distinction, however,
And heaven and earth are infinitely set apart.
If you wish to see the truth

Then hold no opinion- for or against.
The struggle of what one likes and dislikes
Is the disease of the mind.

Sosan

Walking

2006-06-18T20:33:00.000-05:00

So many paths that face my feet
Each one has its beauty to keep
My head challenged and my body tired
To fill my soul with a passionate desire

For the next bend and turn to unfold,
To write the stories of my life on this parchment of old
For eternity to keep and understand
Unbiased about my dreams and hungry hands

I do not seek an end to this dream
Even if I where to take every path seen
I would still continue on with every step
And live this journey without regret

Jeffrey Cook

http://mrbuttondownman.blogspot.com/

Somtimes, it's very raw...

2006-06-14T21:09:00.000-05:00

Slow, tiring sunlight
Gradual rising moon
Deliberate dripping sky

Entwined fingers
No more strangers

Flickering strong flame
Roiling desire
Irrepressible indeed

The rains come, suddenly
Thirst
Steaming off the rocks

Bathing the tress
Raw fragrance
Rising off the earth

Deep thunders
Roll in, in the distance

Dripping, drenched Nights

Copyright © Neerja Yadav

Neers

http://multiandnotuniverse.blogspot.com/

Birds of Passage

2006-06-09T01:08:00.000-05:00

Black shadows fall From the lindens tall,
That lift aloft their massive wall
Against the southern sky;
And from the realms
Of the shadowy elms

A tide-like darkness overwhelm
The fields that round us lie.
But the night is fair,
And everywhere A warm,
soft vapor fills the air,
And distant sounds seem near;

And above, in the light Of the star-lit night,
Swift birds of passage wing their flight
Through the dewy atmosphere.
I hear the beat Of their pinions feet,
As from the land of snow and sleet

They seek a southern lea.
I hear the cry Of their voices
high Falling dreamily through the sky,
But their forms I cannot see.
Oh, say not so!

Those sounds that flow In murmurs of delight
and woe Come not from wings of birds.
They are the throngs Of the poet's songs,
Murmurs of pleasures, and pains, and wrongs,

The sound of winged words.
This is the cry Of souls,
that high On toiling, beating pinions,
fly, Seeking a warmer clime.

From their distant flight
Through realms of light
It falls into our world of night,
With the murmuring sound of rhyme.

Joy

2006-06-08T18:00:00.000-05:00

I heard, one winter's night,
in the confines of my room,
the horns of Elfland calling--
their blasts keening in the gloom.

In their sacred melody,
the dream begins to descend--
the dream that seeps into the minds
of conquerors and children.

The vast, empty Northlands--
they were calling to me!
Luring me across the mists
of a boundless sea.

Cold, lonely mountains
and far-reaching plains
echoed the enchantment
of the song's refrain.

Stark, treeless climes
and deeply wooded vales
stirred in me the wonder
entombed in ancient tales.

A shadow-haunted sunset
gave way to stars filled with jubilation
and breezes in the night
trembled in exultation.

In just a moment I returned
from the Northern shore,
but the horns of Elfland's calling
I shall hear evermore.

Briseis Phemonoe

Briseis is a 15 year old talented young lady at

http://briseis.blogster.com/

http://briseispoet.blogspot.com/

The Path

2006-06-07T21:24:00.000-05:00

We may depart on different paths in this temporal visit,

but they ultimately converge in time,

released in eternity into the timeless dream.

Kuan Gung

The Dream

2006-06-06T22:17:00.000-05:00

The Dream

They are not long,
the weeping and the laughter,
Love and desire and hate:
I think they have no portion in us after we pass the gate.

They are not long, the days of wine and roses;
Out of a misty dream our path emerges for a while,
then closes Within a dream.

Ernest Dowson

Sun, Rain Work and some frozen moments

2006-05-29T16:59:00.000-05:00

Sun, Rain Work and some Frozen Moments...

The downpour hid the sleeping sun a few hours ago,
I heard the raindrops rustle through the trees outside,
Solitude at my core and the scent of the sky frothing my senses I love.

Alone, I still love,the sunshine takes a peek slowly
and shyly hiding the clouds to tease the Winter.
It's a beautifully quiet evening,
one of the kind that happens so rarely
the wind and the rain, sings life in my soul
dampness swirling with all its might dispelled by
the sunlight all without a fight slowly they meet
they smile they love

Ah, now I can see the fleeting twilight dancing life
wafted in a timeless mist together we weave
beautiful dreams

neers http://multiandnotuniverse.blogspot.com/

Copyright © Neerja Yadav

Only Breath

2006-05-24T20:50:00.000-05:00

Mevlâna Jalâluddîn Rumi translated by Coleman Barks

Only Breath

Not Christian or Jew or Muslim,
not Hindu, Buddhist, sufi, or zen.
Not any religion or cultural system.
I am not from the Eastor the West,
not out of the ocean or up, from the ground,
not natural or ethereal,
not composed of elements at all.

I do not exist,am not an entity in this world or the next,
did not descend from Adam or Eve or any, origin story.
My place is placeless, a trace of the traceless.

Neither body or soul.
I belong to the beloved, have seen the two
worlds as one and that one call to and know,
first, last, outer, inner, only that breath breathing human being.

Love

2006-05-17T22:02:00.000-05:00

One look
One smile
One touch
One embrace
One kiss
One love
Two people
Two minds
Two souls
Two destinies
One road
One journey
One endingTogether.

- Melissa Higgins -

Love is the emblem of eternity;
it confounds all notions of time;
effaces all memory of beginning,
all fear of an end.

- Madame de Stael -

Love is when you look into
someone's eyesand see their heart.

- Jill Petty -

Love is something you can't describe
like the look of a rose,
the smell of the rain,
or the feeling of forever.

- Kristen Kappel -

Love is a moment that lasts forever...

Dream Within a Dream

2006-05-06T00:10:00.000-05:00

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow-
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet, if Hope has flown awayIn a night,
or in a day,In a vision, or in none,
Is it, therefore, the less gone?
All that we see or seemIs but a
dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roarOf a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of golden sand-How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep- while I weep!
O God! can I not graspThem with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

Edgar Allen Poe

Change

2006-04-28T00:11:00.000-05:00

All things change, nothing is extinguished.... There is nothing in the whole world which is permanent. Everything flows onward; all things are brought into being with a changing nature; the ages themselves glide by in constant movement.

Ovid

A sense of blessedness comes from a change of heart, not from more blessings.

Mason Cooley

The great soul is the person who has taken on the task of change. If he or she is able to transcend fear, to act out of courage, the whole of its group will benefit and each one, in his or her own life, will be suddenly more courageous, though they may not see how or why.

Gary Zukav

All Changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.

Anatole France

It is easier to move rivers and mountains than to change a person’s basic nature.

Chinese Proverb

If thou canst walk on water
Thou art no better than a straw.
If thou canst fly in the air
Thou art no better than a fly.
Conquer thy heart
That thou mayest become somebody

Ansari

Everything in life that we really accept undergoes a change. So suffering must become Love. That is the mystery.

Katherine Mansfield

... disconnecting from change does not recapture the past. It loses the future.

Kathleen Norris

Desperation is the raw material of drastic change. Only those who can leave behind everything they have ever believed in can hope to escape.

William Burroughs

Proverbial wisdom counsels against risk and change. But sitting ducks fare worst of all.

Mason Cooley

What, then, is the true Gospel of consistency? Change. Who is the really consistent man? The man who changes. Since change is the law of his being, he cannot be consistent if he stick in a rut.

Mark Twain

I do dimly perceive that whilst everything around me is ever changing, ever dying, there is underlying all that change a living power that is changeless, that holds all together, that creates, dissolves, andre-creates. That informing power of spirit is God. And since nothing else that I see merely through the senses can or will persist, He alone is.

Mahatma Gandhi

The One remains, the many change and pass; Heaven’s light forever shines, Earth’s shadows fly;Life, like a dome of many-coloured glass,Stains the white radiance of Eternity, Until Death tramples it to fragments.

Percy Bythshe Shelley

Change has considerable psychological impact on the human mind. To the fearful it is threatening because it means that things may get worse. To the hopeful it is encouraging because things may get better. To the confident it is inspiring because the challenge exists to make things better. Obviously, then, one’s character and frame of mind determine how readily he brings about change and how he reacts to change that is imposed on him.

King Whitney Jr.

"And what is it to work with love? It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth. It is to build a house with affection even as if your beloved were to dwell in that house. It is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy even as if your beloved were to eat the fruit. It is to charge all things you fashion with the breath of your own spirit..."

Kahlil Gibran - from "The Prophet"

Thus change the forms of being. Thus arise Races of living things, glorious in strength, And perish, as the quickening breath of GodFills them, or is withdrawn.

William Cullen Bryant

All is change in the world of the senses,But changeless is the supreme Lord of Love. Meditate on him, be absorbed in him,Wake up from this dream of separateness.

The Shvetashvatara Upanishad

Only If...

2006-04-08T18:46:00.000-05:00

Only If...

When there's a shadow,
you reach for the sun.
When there is love,
then you look for the one.

And for the promises,
there is this land.
And for the heavens
are those who can fly.

Chorus:
If you really want to, you can hear me say
Only if you want to will you find a way.
If you really want to You can seize the day.
Only if you want to will you fly away.
When there's a journey, you follow a star.

When there's an ocean,
you sail from afar.
And for the broken heart,
there is the sky.
And for tomorrow are those who can fly.

Chorus
If you really want to you can seize the day.
Only if you want to will you fly away.

Enya

Beginnings

2006-04-08T18:21:00.001-05:00

The first step towards change is acceptance.
Once you accept yourself, you open the door to change.
That's all you have to do.
Change is not something you do. It's something you allow.—

Will Garcia

Hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark.

George Iles

The flower that follows the sun does so even in cloudy days.

Robert Leighton (1611-1684)

All beginnings require that you unlock a new door.

Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav

Life is a journey,
We can take each moment and cherish it
or we can choose to waste it.
For this very moment will never pass our way again.

Star

Hope is a Thing with Feathers

2006-04-08T18:21:00.000-05:00

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

Emily Dickinson

Designed for Faith

2006-03-28T17:04:00.000-06:00

I do believe we are Created in Faith,
Created for Faith,To discover Faith.
To learn Faith,
To love Faith.

Without Faith we are empty,
We are Lifeless and Loveless.
We would wonder with no direction.

Faith is our path that we get to choose ,
Confidence or fear is our companion.
Its up to us how well we get to know Faith.

Whether we become friends or enemies.
Faith is with us from the very beginning,
Helping us to learn how to be,
How to live, and how to have joy.
How to be happy with who we are.

Every step along the way,
is discovered by faith and led by faith.
Faith leads us out of darknessand into the light of our creator.

groovygirl
http://itsallgroovy.blogspot.com/

The Eternal Quest

2006-03-25T11:43:00.000-06:00

The true basis of religion is not belief, but intuitive experience. Intuition is the soul’s power of knowing God. To know what religion is really all about, one must know God.”

Happiness springs from within the self, it doesn't depend on outer conditions. Nothing outside ourselves, therefore, can define or qualify our happiness except as we allow it to do so. Once this unalterable truth is realized, happiness becomes our permanent possession.

Calmness is the living breath of God's immortality in you.

Peace is the altar of God, the condition in which happiness exists.

The real You is the prolific Source of all power; but the everyday you is only a fragment of that which can be brought out and manifested. The basic You is infinite in its potentiality.

Everyone has self-limiting idiosyncrasies. These were not put into your nature by God, but were created by you. These are what you must change -- by remembering that these habits, peculiar to your nature, are nothing but manifestations of your own thoughts.

When a person says again and again, I can't change; this is the way I am," then I have to say, "All right, stay that way, since you have made up your mind to be like that.

I know that God’s power is limitless; and as I am made in His image, I, too, have the strength to overcome all obstacles.

I relax and cast aside all mental burdens, allowing God to express through me His perfect love, peace, and wisdom.

Our real self, the soul, is immortal. We may sleep for a little while in that change called death, but we can never be destroyed. We exist, and that existence is eternal. The wave comes to the shore, and then goes back to the sea; it is not lost. It becomes one with the ocean, or returns again in the form of another wave. This body has come, and it will vanish; but the soul essence within it will never cease to exist. Nothing can terminate that eternal consciousness.

Yoga is a system of scientific methods for reuniting the soul with the Spirit....Yoga teaches us how to rise above the delusion of separation and realize our oneness with God.

Divisions are imaginary lines drawn by small minds.

Paramhansa Yogananda

THE PATH
http://www.ananda.org/inspiration/books/path/index.html

An Indian Prayer

2006-03-15T21:22:00.000-06:00

Oh Great Spirit,
whose voice I hear in the wind,
and whose breath gives life to all the world,
hear my prayer.

Let me walk in beauty through all my days.
May my eyes see sunrise freshness, and sunset glory.
Make my hands respect the things you have made,and my ear sharp to hear your many voices.

I am small and weak.
I need your strength and wisdom.
Make me wise, that I may learn the lessons you teach my people,
the lessons you have hidden in every leaf and rock.
I seek strength, not to be superior to my brother,
but to fight my greatest enemy, myself.

Oh Great Spirit, hear me.
Make me ready.
So when life fades to a last sunset,
my spirit will come to you without shame.

http://www.blogger.com/profile/18043352

2006-03-13T19:11:00.000-06:00

ON MY WAY HOME (Enya)

Video Code provided by VideoCodeZone.Com

The Builders

2006-03-12T21:59:00.000-06:00

All are architects of Fate,

Working in these walls of Time;

Some with massive deeds and great,

Some with ornaments of rhyme.

Nothing useless is, or low;

Each thing in its place is best;

And what seems but idle show

Strengthens and supports the rest.

For the structure that we raise,

Time is with materials filled;

Our to-days and yesterdays

Are the blocks with which we build.

Truly shape and fashion these;

Leave no yawning gaps between;

Think not, because no man sees

Such things will remain unseen.

In the elder days of Art,

Builders wrought with greatest care

Each minute and unseen part;

For the Gods see everywhere.

Let us do our work as well,

Both the unseen and the seen;

Make the house,

where Gods may dwell, Beautiful, entire, and clean.

Else our lives are incomplete,

Standing in these walls of Time,

Broken stairways,

where the feet Stumble as they seek to climb.

Build to-day, then, strong and sure,

With a firm and ample base;

And ascending and secure

Shall to-morrow find its place.

Thus alone can we attain To those turrets,

where the eye sees the world as one vast plain,

And one boundless reach of sky.

Longfellow

Friends

2006-03-05T18:40:00.000-06:00

"Some people come into our lives and quickly go.
Some people move our souls to dance.
They awaken us to new understanding with
the passing whisper of their wisdom.

Some people make the sky more beautiful to gaze upon.
They stay in our lives for awhile, leave footprints on our
hearts, and we are never ever the same."

~ Flavia Weedn

"Sometimes our light goes out but is blown into flame
by another human being.
Each of us owes deepest thanks to those who have
rekindled this light."

~ Albert Schweitzer

There is nought better to be With noble souls of company:
There is nought dearer than to wend With good friends faithful to the end.
This is the love whose fruit is sweet; Therefore to abide within is meet.

Mahabharata (B.C.400)

Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends
will leave footprints in your heart.

~Eleanor Roosevelt

"A friend is someone who sings your heart's song back to
you when you have forgotten the words." ~

~David Collola

"The person who tries to live alone will not succeed as a human being.
His heart withers if it does not answer another heart.
His mind shrinks away if he hears only the echoes of his own thoughts
and finds no other inspiration."

~ Pearl S. Buck

"Friendship is one mind in two bodies."

~ Mencius

"Friendship without self - interest is one of the rare
and beautiful things of life."

~ James F. Byrnes

George Washington

2006-02-23T21:47:00.000-06:00

It is better to be alone than in bad company.

Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.

I hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an "Honest Man."

Friendship is a plant of slow growth and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation.

The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered... deeply, ...finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.

Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience.

Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.

Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow grow, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation.

Silver Stars - Misdirected Energy

2006-02-20T21:18:00.000-06:00

Silver Stars

Silver stars and purple light,
hovering in the sky tonite.
The breeze is cool the air is clean.
I feel as if I'm in a dream.
I look up to feel you near,
As you erase all of my fear.
I can see for miles and miles
proof of you through all my trials.
I pray for direction, comfort and peace.
To always be worthy of your grace.

Misdirected Energy

Things are not what we plan them to be.

Sparks of light are randomly ignited.

Common ground found. Differences ignored..

Positive forces guide and direct, us toward our comfort zone.

Negative thoughts keep us from seeing our power.

They keep us in our box, away from our full potential.

STAY COMFORTABLE

Don't take chances, go ahead be a surface dweller.

It's so much easier.

Go with the flow, follow the crowd.

With any luck you'll end upwith a big house on a big hill.

Throw big parties and invite meaningless people and talk about meaningless things.

But, It's cool Pass me a drink.

Never mind, let me watch you pretend to be happy and pretend that you care.

Let me ask you about what you LOVE,

and about what you want to do for the world.

groovygirl

http://itsallgroovy.blogspot.com/

Song of Lost Love

2006-02-15T21:32:00.000-06:00

To you I sing a song of things untold and gone,

Dreams you see in sleep, within your heart so deep,

Days swept by the wind, feelings from within

Faded by whispering time, left as traces in your mind,

Things which once danced in light sparked by romance,

Once held up high and honored, left now for us to ponder-

I sing to you with a heart once lost and torn apart;

Rekindled, my song is here, held within a single tear.

Shanda KR
Copywrite
http://shandakr.blogster.com/>

Enya Lyrics

Enya Music Video Codes

Music Video Codes by VideoCure.com

Whisper

2006-02-15T21:00:00.000-06:00

That look of numbness
Appears again in me
I had long forgotten it
Why is it now that I see

That same look I saw In your eyes
before you left
Bringing the truth to me
And seeing your promises unkept

Why does it appear again
Leaving me cold, and worried
Leaving my thoughts behind
All my words are hurried

For a moment it all stops
And the reflection fades
I wish you wouldn't whisper
I wish you'd go away

We both had a chance
And we were both too late
I've tried to repair this
Tried to repair this fate

But you walked away from me
And I saw it in your eyes
I told you of this
And I then saw through your lies

I wish you wouldn't whisper
When my calls are so loud
I wish you wouldn't whisper
I'm already lost in the crowd

Now I feel truly lost
Im so unsure of where to go
Nobody's arms are really open
Nobody's true colours show

This is the start of something new
Or the end of truth is near
Look in my eyes and tell me Once more,
whisper in my ear

Amaya

http://handsoftissue.blogster.com/

Questioning Eternity

2006-02-15T20:53:00.000-06:00

Tell me, who would have thought that
we two would've found each other,
not content with our lives' lot-
we'd find happiness together?

Now, can we dance?
Shall we lose forever in this moment?
What is the chance that this waltz shall live on?

In this world of 'instant joy' how long can our true love last?
Will these moments we enjoy quickly fade into the past?

Now, can we dream?
Shall we sleep, wrapped in peace?
Things, all unseen, shall they be our company?

Briseis Phemonoe

http://briseis.blogster.com/

Deleted

2006-02-13T22:19:00.000-06:00

Simplicity, Patience & Compassion

2006-02-12T21:16:00.000-06:00

I have just three things to teach:
Simplicity, patience, compassion.

These three are your greatest treasures.
Simple in actions and in thoughts,
you return to the source of being.
Patient with both friends and enemies,
you accord with the way things are.
Compassionate toward yourself,
you reconcile all beings in the world.

TAO TE CHING

I, Bull

2006-02-08T21:49:00.000-06:00

Anger builds as
I feel the weight of dominance

Without consent you bore down
fueling obstinence

Smoke escaping flared nostrils
state faux intelligence

Clashing in nature maiming each other
until deliverance

Lore

http://luckystar.blogster.com/

Tonight

2006-02-05T20:57:00.000-06:00

I breathe the midnight wind from the West,
wanting the odor of Lake Superior to fill my nostrils.
I can not sleep for tonight I miss my children,
tonight I miss my home.

I try to think of words that will capture the loneliness I am feeling.
The day half spent, I sit for a while in solitude thinking about what I have done.
At what cost do I have happiness?

Tonight is just one of many nights
I lie awake and contemplate what I have done.
The pain and tears my leaving caused.
Conscience- stricken guilt- ridden,
how will I ever sleep peacefully again?

The same sorrow, the same headache haunts
me in the night as I anguish over leaving my children behind...
I breathe the midnight wind from the West,
wanting the odor of home, my home to fill my nostrils and
give me serenity so that I may sleep soundly once again.

To the midnight wind of the West I offer a prayer of love
and understanding, a prayer to forgive me; their Mother
for being human; carry this prayer West wind to the hearts of my children.
May they feel my love deeply.

Nancy

http://autumnsraven.blogspot.com/

Cloths of Heaven

2006-02-04T14:11:00.000-06:00

"He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven"

Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams

W. B. Yeats

Thomas Jefferson

2006-01-29T01:03:00.000-06:00

Enlighten the people, generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like spirits at the dawn of day.

Honesty is the first chapter of the book of wisdom.

I cannot live without books.

I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.

In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.

It is neither wealth nor splendor, but tranquility and occupation which give happiness.

Shake off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear.

Power is not alluring to pure minds.

Thomas Jefferson

Life and Veil

2006-01-25T22:11:00.000-06:00

Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.

But you are eternity and your are the mirror.

Kahil Gibran

She Walks in Beauty

2006-01-23T22:19:00.000-06:00

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright

Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellow'd to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
One shade the more, one ray the less,

Had half impair'd the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;

Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling place.
And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,

The smiles that win,
the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,A
mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!

Lord Byron

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Hope

2006-01-22T01:47:00.000-06:00

Listen to the Exhortation of the Dawn!
Look to this Day!

For it is Life, the very Life of Life.
In its brief course lie all the Verities and Realities of your Existence.

The Bliss of Growth,The Glory of Action,The Splendor of Beauty;
For Yesterday is but a Dream,
And To-morrow is only a Vision;
But To-day well lived makes Every Yesterday a Dream of Happiness,

And every Tomorrow a Vision of Hope.
Look well therefore to this Day!
Such is the Salutation of the Dawn!

Kalidasa

O Solitude

2006-01-18T21:24:00.000-06:00

O SOLITUDE! if I must with thee dwell,
Let it not be among the jumbled heap Of murky buildings;
climb with me the steep,- Nature’s observatory - whence the dell,
Its flowery slopes, its river’s crystal swell, May seem a span;
let me thy vigils keep ’Mongst boughs pavillion’d,
where the deer’s swift leap Startles the wild bee from the fox-glove bell.

But though I’ll gladly trace these scenes with thee,
Yet the sweet converse of an innocent mind,
Whose words are images of thoughts refin’d,
Is my soul’s pleasure; and it sure must be Almost the
highest bliss of human-kind,
When to thy haunts two kindred spirits flee.

Keats

Buddha

2006-01-18T17:51:00.000-06:00

Neither fire nor wind, birth nor death can erase our good deeds.

To be idle is a short road to death and to be diligent is a way of life;
foolish people are idle, wise people are diligent.

Anger will never disappear so long as thoughts of resentment
are cherished in the mind. Anger will disappear just as soon as
thoughts of resentment are forgotten.

Do not overrate what you have received, nor envy others.
He who envies others does not obtain peace of mind.

An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a
wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an
evil friend will wound your mind.

Words have the power to both destroy and heal.
When words are both true and kind, they can change our world.

Meditation brings wisdom; lack of mediation leaves ignorance.
Know well what leads you forward and what hold you back,
and choose the path that leads to wisdom.

If a man possesses a repentant spirit his sins will disappear,
but if he has an unrepentant spirit his sins will continue and condemn
him for their sake forever.

Friendship is the only cure for hatred, the only guarantee of peace.

It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.

Everything is changeable, everything appears and disappears;
there is no blissful peace until one passes beyond the agony of life and death.

On life's journey faith is nourishment, virtuous deeds are a shelter,
wisdom is the light by day and right mindfulness is the protection
by night. If a man lives a pure life, nothing can destroy him.

Our theories of the eternal are as valuable as are those which
a chick which has not broken its way through its shell might
form of the outside world.

Be a lamp unto yourself. Work out your liberation with diligence.

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.

No one saves us but ourselves.
No one can and no one may.
We ourselves must walk the path.

Martin Luther King

2006-01-16T13:52:00.000-06:00

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.

Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy

I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become reality. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.

Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. It is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding; it seeks to annihilate rather than to convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love.

The Prophet

2006-01-12T21:08:00.000-06:00

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

But let there be spaces in your togetherness, And let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another, but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the souls.

Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup. Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf. Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,

Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music. Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping. For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.

And stand together yet not too near together: For the pillars of the temple stand apart, And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow."

Kahil Gibran

The Golden Age of the Victorious

2006-01-10T20:36:00.000-06:00

It is worth while to live and fight courageously
for sacred ideals.
O blow ye evil winds into my body's fire my
soul you'll never unravel.

Even though disappointed a thousand times
or fallen in the fight and everything would worthless seem,
I have lived amidst eternity --Be grateful, my soul --
My life was worth living.

He who was pressed from all sides but remained victorious
in spiritis welcomed into the choir of heroes.
He who overcame the fetters giving wings to his mind is
entering into the golden age ofthe victorious.

Norbert Capek
composed in Dresden Prison in 1941, shortly before he was transferred
to Dachau concentration camp, where he died in October, 1942

The Lake Isle of Innisfree

2006-01-06T01:04:00.000-06:00

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee,

And live alone in the bee-loud glade.And I shall have some peace there,
for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day I
hear the lake water
lapping with low sounds by the shore,
While I stand on the roadway
or on the pavements gray, I hear it in the
deep heart's core.

William Butler Yeats

Hindu Wisdom

2006-01-04T21:27:00.000-06:00

If the radiance of a thousand suns Were to burst at once into the sky That would be like the splendor of the Mighty one --I am become Death, The shatterer of Worlds.

- Bhagavad Gita.

"Whenever darkness comes, assert the reality and everything adverse must vanish. For, after all, it is but a dream. Mountain high though the difficulties appear, terrible and gloomy though all things seem, they are but maya. Fear not; it is banished. Crush it and it vanishes. Stamp upon it and it dies. Be not afraid. Think not how many times you fail. Never mind; time is infinite. Go forward. Assert yourself again and again and light must come."

- Vivekananda

Schumann

2005-12-31T23:03:00.000-06:00

To send light into the darkness of men's hearts -

such is the duty of the artist.

Robert Schumann

Happy New Year

2005-12-31T18:54:00.000-06:00

We've Holidays and happy days, and memory days galore

And when we've toasted every one,

I offer just one more

So let us lift our glasses high, and drink a silent toast

To the day, deep buried in each heart that each one loves the most.

Lincoln

2005-12-28T20:48:00.000-06:00

"The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearth-stone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."

"Towering genius distains a beaten path. It seeks regions hitherto unexplored."

"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other."

"Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?"

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."

"And in the end it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."

"He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help."

"No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar."