He is living whose sympathy is awake, and he is dead whose heart is asleep.

Life's light is love; and when the heart is empty of love, a man is living and yet not living; from a spiritual point of view he is dead. When the heart is asleep, he is as though dead in this life, for one can only love through the heart. But love does not mean give and take. That is only a trade; it's selfishness. To give sixpence and receive a shilling is not love. Love is when one loves for the sake of love, when one cannot help but love, cannot do anything but love.

Most people will say, 'The other does not understand me.' But why must there be this lack of understanding? What causes it? It is lack of sympathy. No words can ever make a person understand. It is the heart alone which can convey its full meaning to the other heart, for there are subtle waves of sympathy, there are delicate perceptions of feelings such as gratefulness, admiration, kindness, which cannot be put into words. Words are too inadequate to explain the finer feelings. It is the heart quality which can express itself fully, and again it is the heart quality which can understand fully. Would it therefore be an exaggeration to say that as long as the heart is not awakened a man is as though dead? It is after the awakening of the heart that a man begins to live.

Sympathy is an awakening of the love element, which comes on seeing another in the same situation in which one has been at some time in one's life. A person who has never experienced pain cannot sympathize with those suffering pain... Sympathy is something more than love and affection, for it is the knowledge of a certain suffering which moves the living heart to sympathy.

That person is living whose heart is living, and that heart is living which has wakened to sympathy. The heart void of sympathy is worse than a rock, for the rock is useful, but the heart void of sympathy produces antipathy. ... There are many attributes found in the human heart which are called divine, but among them there is no greater and better attribute than sympathy, by which man shows in human form God manifested.

Interesting notes, worthwile pondering -

"I have begun to note it is not just the "external" (earth changes) which is shifting,
but humans as well.

Remember: we too have magnetic fields which surround each of us. I think it is not
unrealistic to conjecture what is happening "externally" is also happening "internally".
I believe current science will acknowledge this notion, showing the Sun's "charged
particles" and its influence on Earth's magnetic field is the impetus of change.
In-like, this same causal effect occurs with human magnetic fields ushering in
a change or "transition". Perhaps this is what our Mayan elders are trying to tell us--

We are coming into "cycle 24" which was predicted "live" on ECM Radio Hour by NASA
stating cycle 24 will be up to 50 percent stronger than "Cycle 23" in which we witnessed
the largest solar flare ever recorded. This means larger earth changing events in
the way of earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, and various storms. But it also means
we (humans) will be bombarded with charged particles via severe geomagnetic storms
from the Sun." (Mitch Battros)


ARE YOU PREPARED FOR THE CHANGES AHEAD? CLICK
HERE [http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001eyl9ydgCTlp82yH-Pva2zsrEfI-i5Tk_u9ZCdkLbLXU5KNhF-hTHYWAMg_d5-d_OXUNR_JmYhT_yVCbf44mwnlsddksbjds8rh5-DLQewPeYk0yimZcVLG2MptR4hhV1AKFHx5VvywwwWZ0Ezqyor7Uk3Tp6u20PrxL9y-5vhSR7ht9y9r67Bg==]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Unselfishness is the flame that illuminates the path.

People call love blind, but love in reality is the light of the sight. The eye can only see the surface; love can see much deeper. All ignorance is the lack of love. As fire when not kindled gives only smoke, but when kindled, the illumination flame springs forth, so it is with love. It is blind when undeveloped, but, when its fire is kindled, the flame that lights the path of the traveler from mortality to everlasting life springs forth. The secrets of earth and heaven are revealed to the possessor of the loving heart, the lover has gained mastery over himself and others, and he not only communes with God but also unites with Him/Her.

Faith is the A B C of the realization of God. This faith begins by prayer.

Commentary by Hazrat Inayat Khan:

Someone once said to a Brahmin, 'O ignorant man, you have worshipped this idol for years. Do you think it can ever answer you?' 'Yes,' said the Brahmin, 'even from this idol of stone the answer will come if your faith is real. But if you have no real faith, you will get no answer even from the God in heaven.' ... The first necessity is the belief that there is such a Being as God, in whom goodness, beauty, and greatness are perfect. In the beginning it will seem nothing but a belief; but in time, if kept in sincerity and faith, that belief will become like the egg of the Phoenix, out of which the magic bird is born. The birth of God is the birth of the soul. Every soul seeks for happiness, and after pursuing all the objects which for the moment seem to give happiness, it finds out that nowhere is there perfect happiness except in God.

Put your trust in God for support and see His hidden hand working through all sources.

The one thing to rely upon is God's favor. Do not build either on your study or on your meditation, although they both help you. But you are dependent on God, not even on your teacher. Seek Him, trust Him. In Him lies your life's purpose, and in Him is hidden the rest of your soul.

"If you need to visualize the soul, think of it as a cross between a wolf
howl, a photon, and a dribble of dark molasses. But what it really is, as
near as I can tell, is a packet of information. It's a program, a piece of
hyperspatial software designed explicitly to interface with the Mystery.
Not a mystery, mind you, the Mystery. The one that can never be solved.

"To one degree or another, everybody is connected to the Mystery, and
everybody secretly yearns to expand the connection. That requires
expanding the soul. These things can enlarge the soul: laughter, danger,
imagination, meditation, wild nature, passion, compassion, psychedelics,
beauty, iconoclasm, and driving around in the rain with the top down.
These things can diminish it: fear, bitterness, blandness, trendiness,
egotism, violence, corruption, ignorance, grasping, shining, and eating
ketchup on cottage cheese.

"Data in our psychic program is often nonlinear, nonhierarchical, archaic,
alive, and teeming with paradox. Simply booting up is a challenge, if not
for no other reason than that most of us find acknowledging the
unknowable and monitoring its intrusions upon the familiar and mundane
more than a little embarrassing. More immediately, by waxing soulful you
will have granted yourself the possibility of ecstatic participation in what
the ancients considered a divinely animated universe. And on a day to day
basis, folks, it doesn't get any better than that."

- Tom Robbins, *Esquire* magazine, October 1993

To read Tom Robbins' whole passage about soul, go here:
http://tinyurl.com/5waydp

Posted in Longevity and Age Management, Aging, Longevity on Fri August
15, 2008

Scientists have stopped the aging process in an entire organ for the
first time, a study released today says.
Published in today's online edition of Nature Medicine, researchers at
the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University in New
York City also say the older organs function as well as they did when
the host animal was younger.
The researchers, led by Associate Professor Ana Maria Cuervo, blocked
the ageing process in mice livers by stopping the build-up of harmful
proteins inside the organ's cells.
As people age their cells become less efficient at getting rid of
damaged protein resulting in a build-up of toxic material that is
especially pronounced in Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other
neurodegenerative disorders.
The researchers say the findings suggest that therapies for boosting
protein clearance might help stave off some of the declines in
function that accompanies old age.
In experiments, livers in genetically modified mice 22 to 26 months
old, the equivalent of octogenarians in human years, cleaned blood as
efficiently as those in animals a quarter their age.
By contrast, the livers of normal mice in a control group began to fail.
The benefits of restoring the cleaning mechanisms found inside all
cells could extend far beyond a single organ, says Cuervo.
"Our findings are particularly relevant for neurodegenerative
disorders such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's," she says.
'Misbehaving proteins'
"Many of these diseases are due to 'misbehaving' or damaged proteins
that accumulate in neurons. By preventing this decline in protein
clearance, we may be able to keep these people free of symptoms for a
longer time."
If the body's ability to dispose of cell debris within the cell were
enhanced across a wider range of tissues, she says, it could extend
life as well.
In healthy organisms, a surveillance system inside cells called
chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA) locates, digests and destroys
damaged proteins.
Specialised molecules, the "chaperones", ferry the harmful material to
membrane-bound sacs of enzymes within the cells known as lysosomes.
Once the cargo has been "docked", a receptor molecule transfers the
protein into the sac, where it is rapidly digested.
With age, these receptors stop working as well, resulting in a
dangerous build-up of faulty proteins that has been linked, in the
liver, to insulin resistance as well as the inability to metabolise
sugar, fats or alcohol.
The same breakdown of the cell's cleaning machinery can also impair
the liver's ability to remove the toxic build-up of drugs at a stage
in life when medication is often part of daily diet.
In genetically modified mice, Cuervo compensated for the loss of the
receptors in the animals by adding extra copies.
"That was enough to maintain a clean liver and to prove that if you
keep your cells clean they work better," she says.
Settles debate.The study goes a long way towards settling a sharp debate in the field
of ageing research.
Leading Australian aging researcher David le Couteur, Professor of
Geriatric Medicine at the University of Sydney, says the paper is a
major breakthrough.
"She has single-handedly shown that lysosome function is a crucial
part of the ageing process," he says.
Cuervo has also shown, he says, the critical role the lysosomal
receptor molecules play in keeping the liver clean of damaged proteins.
While her paper does not show increased survival rates among the mice,
le Couteur, who has advised her recently on the research, says Cuervo
does have data on improved survival rates which she intends to publish.
He also says she is now working with pharmaceutical companies to
identify drugs that will turn the receptors on, or make them more
active. Cuervo believes maintaining efficient protein clearance may improve
longevity and function in all the body's tissues.
It is also possible that the same kind of "cellular clearance" can be
achieved through diet, she says.
Research over the past decade has shown that restricted calorie intake
in animals, including mammals, significantly enhances longevity.
"My ideal intervention in the future would be a better diet rather
than a pill," she says.

RESOURCE/SOURCE: http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2008/08/11/2331197.htm?site=science
on Monday, AUgust 11, 2008

"All of God is right where you are now and nowhere else. I AM is one. There is no second I AM to stand in your light, to put up the feeblest opposition. All is as you would have it because you are Who you are. Here is no spark of that Fire, but the blazing Furnace itself."

~ Douglas Harding.

The only war that matters is the war against the imagination.
All other wars are subsumed by it."

Diane Di Prima, "Rant," from Pieces of a Song

This aliveness is nothing being everything. It's just life appearing. It's not happening to anyone. There's a whole set of experiences happening here and they are happening in emptiness.They're happening in freefall. They're just what is happening.
All there is is life. All there is is beingness. There isn't anyone that ever has or does not have it. There's nobody that has life and somebody else doesn't have life. There's just life being Life.

~MEHER BABA

Commentary by Hazrat Inayat Khan:

How few there are in this world who stop to think whether the actions of another are right for him! We are so ready to accuse another, and we are so ready to hide our own faults. Did we but look at right and wrong from his standpoint, we should find that the meaning of right and wrong would change. It is wrong for a little child to go out without asking its parents, because perhaps it will meet a motorcar from which it cannot protect itself. But would the same thing be wrong for a grown-up? It is only during the age of childhood that the act is wrong, later it is right. ...

Look not on life as a person would watch a play on the stage. Rather look upon it as a student who is learning at college. It is not a passing show; it is not a place of amusement in which to fool our life away. It is a place for study, in which every sorrow, every heartbreak brings a precious lesson. It is a place in which to learn by one's own suffering, by the study of the suffering of others; to learn from the people who have been kind to us as well as from the people who have been unkind. It is a place in which all experiences, be they disappointments, struggles, and pains, or joys, pleasures, and comforts, contribute to the understanding of what life is, and the realization what it is.

You are cordially invited to this years 19th Annual Fall Sufi Camp, November
7th-14th at Camp Keanae, Maui. Joining us will be Allaudin Ottinger, Lila
Flood and Leilah Be. Please come for a week of Dances of Universal Peace,
Zikr, Sacred Chant, Sufi Teachings and Practices and Meditation. Our camp
chef will be Cindi Nand, providing three gourmet vegetarian meals every day,
with some fish for those who wish that in their diet.
For information, or to register, please call Christina Coffman at (808)
270-3061, or via email at: register@mauisuficamps.com
For further details, please go to our website at:
http://www.mauisuficamps.com

# posted by Christina Richa Devi : Monday, August 18, 2008

Love = the currrent coin of all peoples in all periods.

Love has its time at every stage of life. As a child, as a youth, as an adult, whatever stage of life one has reached, love is always asked for and love always has its part to perform. Whatever situation we are placed in, amongst friends or foes, amongst those who understand us or amongst those who do not, in ease or in difficulty, in all places at all times, it has its part to perform. The one who thinks, 'I must not let the principle of love have its way, I must harden myself against it', imprisons his soul. There is only one thing in the world that shows the sign of heaven, that gives the proof of God, and that is pure, unselfish love. For all the noble qualities which are hidden in the soul will spring forth and blossom when love helps them and nurtures them. Man may have a great deal of good in him and he may be very intelligent; but as long as his heart is closed, he cannot show that nobleness, that goodness which is hidden in his heart. The psychology of the heart is such that once one begins to know it, one realizes that life is a continual phenomenon. Then every moment of life becomes a miracle; a searchlight is thrown upon human nature and all things become so clear that one does not ask for any greater phenomenon or miracle; it is a miracle in and of itself. What one calls telepathy, thought reading, or clairvoyance, and all such things, come by themselves when the heart is open. If a person is cold and rigid, he feels within himself as if he were in a grave. He is not living, he cannot enjoy this life for he cannot express himself and he cannot see the light and life outside. What keeps man from developing the heart quality? His exacting attitude. He wants to make a business of love. He says, 'If you will love me, I will love you.' As soon as a man measures and weighs his favors and his services and all that he does for one whom he loves, he ceases to know what love is. Love sees the beloved and nothing else.

It is the lover of God whose heart is filled with devotion who can commune with God, not he who makes an effort with his intellect to analyze God.

Science is learned by analysis and esotericism by synthesis. If a person who wants to obtain esoteric knowledge breaks things up into bits, he is analyzing them; and as long as he does this he will never come to understand esotericism. In psychology two things are needed: analysis and synthesis; and when through a better understanding of psychology one has accustomed oneself to synthesize as well as to analyze, then one prepares oneself to synthesize only, which leads to a fuller understanding of esotericism. Therefore, the acquisition of esoteric knowledge is quite different from the study of science.

It is the lover of God whose heart is filled with devotion, who can commune with God; not the one who makes an effort with his intellect to analyze God. In other words, it is the lover of God who can commune with Him, not the student of His nature. It is the 'I' and 'you', which divide, and yet it is 'I' and 'you', which are the necessary conditions of love. Although 'I' and 'you' divide the one life into two, it is love that connects them by the current which is established between them; and it is this current which is called communion, which runs between man and God.

WE OURSELVES FEEL THAT WHAT WE ARE DOING IS JUST A DROP IN THE OCEAN.
BUT IF THE DROP WAS NOT IN THE OCEAN, I THINK THE OCEAN WOULD BE
LESS BECAUSE OF THAT MISSING DROP.

- Mother Theresa

In the country you see the glory of God; in the city you glorify His name.

Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan

You may think it matters what happens. But what if the only
thing that matters is where you are experiencing from, where
you are looking from? What if you could experience all of life
from a spacious, open perspective where anything can happen
and there is room for all of it, where there is no need to
pick and choose, to put up barriers or resist any of it, where
nothing is a problem and everything just adds to the richness
of life? What if this open, spacious perspective was the most
natural and easy thing to do?

It may sound too good to be true, but we all have a natural
capacity to experience life in this way. The only requirement
is to look from the Heart instead of from the eyes and the
head-and not just to look, but to listen and feel and sense
from the Heart.

In some spiritual traditions you are encouraged to look in
your Heart, and yet what does that mean exactly? Often we are
so used to looking and sensing through the head and the mind
that when we are asked to look in the Heart, we look through
the head into the Heart to see what is there. Usually we end
up just thinking about the Heart. But what if you could drop
into the Heart and look from there? How would your life look
right now? Is it possible that there is another world right in
front of you that you can only see with the Heart and not with
the mind?"

From Living from the Heart by Nirmala ~
____________________________________________________________

a great tool/toy for your personal health:
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if you live near me call to set up a private session at n/c

"Mad! One must become mad with love in order to realize God. When a
person attains ecstatic love of God, all the pores of the skin, even the
roots of the hair, become like so many sex organs, and in every pore the
aspirant enjoys the happiness of communion with the Supreme Universal
Self." -- Ramakrishna

Eclipses are the most intensely spiritual moments of the sun moon cycle.
Deep feelings surface and try to block out or eclipse the light of our
inner being. If you move out into darkness, greater darkness will result. If
you surround yourself with weaker people or those who are up to no
good, then no goodness will come out of it. You will be challenged to
listen to your inner voice rather than the call of your senses or thoughts.
If you can silence your thoughts at the moment of an eclipse,
profound repercussions will result. If you do not, less than profound
repercussions will result. It is your choice. Can you affirm the will to
goodness and light when the darkness is strongest. Within this
darkness lies great sensitivity. It could be said that one who is blind is
blessed because they are one sense closer to God and will not be
distracted by visions.

===============================================

"May I become at all times, both now and forever
A protector for those without protection
A guide for those who have lost their way
A ship for those with oceans to cross
A bridge for those with rivers to cross
A sanctuary for those in danger
A lamp for those without light
A place of refuge for those who lack shelter
And a servant to all in need."

~ Prayer of His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Therapist James Hillman echoes the theme: "Psychology regards all
symptoms to be expressing the right thing in the wrong way." A
preoccupation with porn or romance novels, for instance, may come to
dominate a passionate person whose quest for love has degenerated into
an obsession with images of love. "Follow the lead of your symptoms,"
Hillman suggests, "for there's usually a myth in the mess, and a mess is
an expression of soul."

"Develop largeness of heart. The heart is not a physical organ. It derives its name
"Hridaya" (in many Indian languages) from the fact that it is a seat of daya (compassion).
Develop compassion for all. Go forward from the narrow feelings of "I" and "mine"
to "We" and "Ours". It is not easy to comprehend the formless, attributeless, infinite
Divine. The truth of the Divine has to be discovered and experienced by each one.
The Divine is Omnipresent. You must lead a life of truth and godliness based on
this conviction."- Sathya Sai Baba
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is a change in vibration, some relief from the seriousness of
survival, but I am so excited about a new film that has premiered and
is showing various places already but will be officially released in a
few months.

If you liked Seven Years in Tibet or Kundun, you are going to love
Milarepa. From the trailers, it looks like they might have achieved
the cinematographic excellence of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but
judge for yourself:

http://milarepamovie.com/

You can also hear a very fine introduction by the Venerable Khandro
Rinpoche:

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=t_36UK2p89U&NR=1

Now for some politics. Many of you know this and some do not, but
Tibet was once upon a time a reclusive Tibetan Buddhist country ruled
by a succession of Dalai Lamas who were believed to be the
reincarnations of each other. When the reborn Dalai Lamas were
discovered as children, the country was ruled by regents, and like
all political systems, there was always intrigue despite the high
mindedness of religion and the keen sense of karma underlying
Buddhism in general but Tibetan Buddhism in particular.

The present Dalai Lama is the 14th and ancient prophecies had
predicted that he would be the last.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The outer manifestations of life are so rigid and dense that the secret of their nature and character is buried underneath. Why is the world called an illusion by the mystics? Because the nature of manifestation is such that it envelops its own secret within itself, and appears in such a rigid form that the fineness, beauty and mystery of its character are hidden. Therefore the seekers after the truth of life, the students of life, are of two opposite kinds. The one wishes to learn from outward appearance. The other wishes to find out the secret that is hidden behind it. The one who learns from the external gets the knowledge from the external, which we call science. The one who finds out from the within, from what is hidden in this manifestation, is the mystic. The knowledge he gains is mysticism. ... Every activity of the outer world is a kind of reaction; in other words a shadow of the activity which is behind it and which we do not see.

The individual soul is a shoot that springs from the all-pervading Spirit, its goal being its origin; and every attachment it has on its way is, no doubt, a detaining on the journey. The soul is never fully satisfied so long as it has not reached its destination. The love of the external world is a rehearsal before the performance, which is the love of God, the Inner Being.

There is a door to man's heart; it is either closed or open. When he holds a thing and says, 'This is mine,' he closes the door to his heart; but when he shares his goods with others and says, 'This is yours as well as mine,' this opens his heart. We must learn consideration for others; it does not matter whether they are rich or poor. We may have only one slice of bread, but when there is another sitting by our side we share that slice with him. By doing this, even if our bodily appetite remains unsatisfied, our heart is filled with joy to think that we shared our happiness with another. It is this spirit which is necessary just now to change the condition of the world, not political and commercial disputes. We must be awakened to the main truth, that the happiness and peace of each can only be the happiness and peace of all.

Think, before envying the position of your fellow man, with what difficulty he has arrived at it.
There are experiences such as failure in business, or misfortune, or illness, or a certain blow in one's life, whether an affair of the heart or of money or a social affair, whatever it may be there are blows which fall upon a person and a shell breaks, a new consciousness is produced. Very few will see it is an unfoldment, very few will interpret it as such, but it is so. Have you not seen among your acquaintances how a person with a disagreeable nature, a most uninteresting man to whom you were never attracted, perhaps after a blow, a deep sorrow, after some experience, awakened to a new consciousness and suddenly attracted you, because he had gone through this process? As we unfold at every step in our life, so we do with every experience. The deeper the experience touches us, the greater the unfoldment.

The same herb planted in various atmospheric conditions will vary in form accordingly, but will retain its characteristics.
Commentary by Hazrat Inayat Khan:
Wisdom is the ultimate power. In wisdom is rooted religion, which connotes law and inspiration. But the point of view of the wise differs from that of the simple followers of a religious faith. Whatever their faith, the wise have always been able to meet each other beyond those boundaries of external forms and conventions, which are natural and necessary to human life, but which none the less separate humanity.
People of the same thought and point of view are drawn to each other with a tendency to form an exclusive circle. A minority is apt to fence itself off from the majority, from the crowd. So it has been with the mystics. Mystical ideas are un-intelligible to the many. The mystics have therefore usually imparted their ideas to a chosen few only, to a picked band whom they could trust and who were ready for initiation and discipleship. Thus, great Sufis have appeared at different times, and founded schools of thought. Their expression of wisdom has differed to suit their environments; but their understanding of life has been one and the same. The same herb planted in various atmospheric conditions, will vary in form accordingly, but retain its characteristics.
Everything one sees, hears, or perceives through any sense or experience has a distinct and definite effect upon one's soul, upon one's spirit. What one eats, what one drinks, what one sees, what one touches, the atmosphere in which one lives, the circumstances one faces, the conditions one goes through, all these have a certain effect upon one's spirit. Whether a person eats grosser food or finer and purer food is manifested outwardly. Even if one does not heed it, it is manifested outwardly. The body shows the nature it has inherited from the earth to which it belongs. For the nature of this earth is such that when it receives the seed of a flowering plant it produces flowers, and when the seed of a fruit-tree, it produces fruits.

The exact new moon occurs on Friday, August 1, at 6:13 am EDT in
Toronto, and in Gujarat, India it will be on August 1 at 3:43 pm, IST.
MEDITATION IS ADVOCATED. One is encouraged to clear a path through
the debris. The same is true in meditation. Chanting is the fresh air that
can remove old negative attitudes, doubts, and thoughts. By chanting
God's name we can even remove the greatest fears within ourselves.
The challenge here is to clear yourself before you try to help others. A
need for patience is suggested rather than rushing right ahead. Work on
the inner peace and love that has been spoiled within yourself. Repair
the inner light before you proceed.

Eclipses are the most intensely spiritual moments of the sun moon cycle.
Deep feelings surface and try to block out or eclipse the light of our
inner being. If you move out into darkness, greater darkness will result. If
you surround yourself with weaker people or those who are up to no
good, then no goodness will come out of it. You will be challenged to
listen to your inner voice rather than the call of your senses or thoughts.
If you can silence your thoughts at the moment of an eclipse,
profound repercussions will result. If you do not, less than profound
repercussions will result. It is your choice. Can you affirm the will to
goodness and light when the darkness is strongest. Within this
darkness lies great sensitivity. It could be said that one who is blind is
blessed because they are one sense closer to God and will not be
distracted by visions.

=============================================