Love is the merchandise which all the world demands; if you store it in your heart, every soul will become your customer.

Opinion is really the lowest form of human knowledge. It requires no accountability, no understanding. The highest form of knowledge . . . is empathy, for it requires us to suspend our egos and live in another's world. It requires profound, purpose larger than the self kind of understanding.

-- Bill Bullard, Educator

'Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.' — Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Help your neighbor's boat across, and lo! your own has reached the shore.

-- Hindu proverb

He who thinks against his own desire is his own enemy.

Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan

How beautiful are the words of the Prophet: 'The shrine of God is the heart of man.' How true that is! ... He who understands this can worship God even in man. For when he abides by this philosophy he will always be aware that in every aspect and at every moment he may be injuring or hurting the feelings of God, that he is in danger of breaking the shrine of God in breaking the heart of his fellow man. ... What does all this teach us? It is all a lesson in sympathy for one's fellow man, to teach us to share in his troubles, in his despair. For whoever really experiences this joy of life, finds that it becomes so great that it fills his heart and his soul. It does not matter if he has fewer comforts or an inferior position than many in this world, because the light of his kindness, of his sympathy, of the love that is growing, the virtue that is springing up in his heart, all fill the soul with light. There is nothing now that he lacks in life, for he has become the king of it.

Love is unlimited, but it needs scope to expand and rise; without that scope, life is unhappy.

Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan

When it is morning, it is morning. When it is evening, it is evening. There is no question of choice. Drop the choice and you are free everywhere--freedom can be only in choicelessness. So when you are young, it is beautiful; when you are a child, it is beautiful; when you are old, it is beautiful; when you are dying, it is beautiful--because you are never separate from the total, you are just a wave in the ocean. The wave in the ocean can start thinking of itself as an individual--then there will be trouble. The wave in the ocean never thinks of itself as separate, so wherever the ocean is taking her, she is willingly, joyously, dancingly moving in that direction.

We can choose to reside in the middle, the center of the Wheel of Life -- to be simultaneously connected to and detached from the whirling world. This is how we can be in this world but not of it. We can choose to move our attention away from residing on the rim of the wheel of life, running continuously through changing terrains, to its center where we experience stability and calm.
We intuitively know that in challenging times we need to "get centered", to gather ourselves back from the superficial borders of life and connect again to our 'soul' -- the essence of our Being.
The Wheel of Life is always in motion, going through different fields -- gravel and grass, cowpats and daisies. If we identify solely with the edges of the wheel, always interfacing variously with happiness or sadness, always anxiously reaching and racing towards the next thing, how can we be at peace? At the surface of the wheel, ups and downs with accompanying insecurities are experienced, but at the center we find stability. So let us choose to reside at the center of the Wheel of Life, watching life's events spin around us, embracing it all -- supporting, loving, accepting, connected yet detached from the "drama", creative yet not controlling. It is in the center of our being that we meet the One Self. It is here we see we are not different, not separate from each other. It takes all of us: it takes the One Self to form the center. The center is where we, as infinite "spokes" of the One Consciousness, find community.

~ From: Living As God by P. Raymond Stewart

As mind is naturally impressionable, that means that man is naturally impressionable too. Most often his illness, health, prosperity, failure, all depends upon the impressions on his mind. They say 'Lines of fate and death are on the head and palm,' but I would say that it is the impressions man has on his mind which decide his destiny.

He who sincerely seeks his real purpose in life is himself sought by that purpose. As he concentrates on that search a light begins to clear his confusion, call it revelation, call it inspiration, call it what you will. It is mistrust that misleads. Sincerity leads straight to the goal.

The Purpose of Life:

All beings are spiritual beings. We use these physical bodies to focus consciousness in space and time, in the material world. Losing track of our Self, forgetting who and what we are is a common experience. The purpose of living is to develop the character needed for conscious wholeness - true integrity. In this state, every impulse of creativity finds an outlet for effective self-expression. This is the formula for joy and fulfillment - happiness. Happiness is a symptom that Life's purpose is being fulfilled.

The discrimination between good and evil is in man's soul. Every man can judge that for himself, because in every man is the sense of admiration of beauty. ... Happiness only lies in thinking or doing that which one considers beautiful. Such an act becomes a virtue or goodness.

Sutra 5-1: Pain, Pleasure. Many minds. How many minds do we have, well, only one, but with many modifications, some thoughts bring us pain and some thoughts bring us pleasure. But, watch out, sometimes a moment of pleasure can end up been the pain of a life time, or the other way around, some experiences are seem to be painful at the beginning but leave us with long lasting peace. The mind has five distinctive modifications of thoughts which we can simplify in to two: Selfish thought and Selfless thoughts. Selfish thought will cause you pain and all Selfless thoughts will bring you peace and pleasure. We all agreed that loving somebody or something it is a pleasurable feeling, but what if that very same love brought you lots of unhappiness, hatred and jealousy; The answer is very simple, that type of love is not pure, that type of love is base on expectations in return, if financial, physical, or emotional gratification is expected, then it is Selfish love, that?s way it is causing you pain. Love is an energy without condition, in other words love is unconditional. Any Selfless thought is born out of love, any selfish thought is born out of fear. Now, we all agreed that a thought of anger is not very pleasant, it is painful, but, what if for example a teacher get very angry with one of his/her students for not studying and applying his/her self. Although that type of anger may cause somebody to fell bad at the beginning, ultimately it help that person to correct his/her self and lead a better life, the anger of a selfless person have no personal motives behind it. Whatever the thought is if the thought is selfless it can never bring pain to nobody, specially not to you. So the key here is to cultivate selfless thoughts by analyzing all our motives, be completely selfless in what you think, be completely selfless in what you say and be completely selfless in what you do. Practice this technique daily and it will not only bring you pleasure, but it will bring you eternal peace.

Sri Sutrananda

What is man to judge the doings of God from his limited standard of good and bad? He knows not beyond what he knows. He says he knows if he knows one cause, but there is cause after cause, hidden one behind another; and when once the soul perceives the Cause of all causes, he then realizes that all other causes are as illusions. There is one single Cause behind all things.

~~~ "Sangatha II, Tasawwuf ", by Hazrat Inayat Khan (unpublished)

"So, bear in mind, the speech of the Saints - study every word that is heard. Do not cast them aside, disbelieving them and considering them to be only casual. However stupid they may sound in the beginning or appear doubtful, as time passes, the meaning becomes clear, even if they were difficult to understand initially.

"Enlightenment is the realization, the lived experience, that we are made of pure consciousness; that pure consciousness is our fundamental nature and our ultimate reality; and that everything else in the universe is also made of pure consciousness, so that our own being is fundamentally unified with all of nature. As one fourth-century Chinese sage put it, "Everything in the universe is one and the same root as my own self."
In enlightenment, we experience life from the vantage point of that root. We experience our own self as unbroken consciousness, pervading our body and our environment. This means that there is a continuity between our inner and outer perception. We have a sense of vast space, as if all our perceptions were one single tapestry of reflections in a single mirror.
We feel that we are made of clear, empty space, finer than air, unbounded and motionless. Within this vast space moves the changing progression of our thoughts, feelings, sensations, and perceptions. I call this unbroken, pervasive dimension fundamental consciousness.
Before we realize fundamental consciousness, we identify ourselves as our sensations, feelings, perceptions, ideas, memories. But when we realize fundamental consciousness, we recognize that these discrete, transitory experiences come and go within the fundamental ground that is our true identity."

~ by Judith Blackstone.

For The Buddha, the ending of mind-made suffering came about when he 'entered' into an inner state of Consciousness he called 'Nirvana.' Jesus attained Nirvana when he 'entered' what he called the 'kingdom of heaven.'

The path to enlightenment, Nirvana, or the Kingdom of Heaven spoken of in ancient times is nothing more, nor anything less than the realization of Truth, Love, and true Being. And, as Jesus. Buddha and others so often pointed out, this realm of Truth and Love is found within, which is to say, within you and within me.

Enlightened Masters of old used dissimilar languages, parables and metaphors to express the same cosmic reality. And without exception, they discovered this 'new' reality, which is true reality. by means of a radlical transformation in conscious awareness.

The Kingdom of Love and Peace is beyond thought and beyond time. When one with the One, we are transformed in Awareness into the cosmic realm from whence we came. This is the Truth of Zen. This is Nirvana. This is the Tao. This is Brahmic Splendor. This is Eternal Bliss. This is the Kingdom of Heaven -- the Pearl of great price. This is the Promised Land. This is Paradise.

~ From the book: The Christ is Not a Person: The Evolution of Consciousness and the Destiny of Man by J.C. Tefft

One must always say every word with consideration, and should not say what one does not wish to happen. Those who do not understand the value of suggestion walk after their own fate with a whip in their hand, and those who understand its value and control their word and use it rightly, they are a bliss to themselves and a source of happiness to other

“I See You” from Avatar http://www.youtube.com/user/NewEarthStar#p/f/6/O4jYr4502M0

The real inclination of every life is to attain to something which can not be touched or comprehended or understood. The hidden blessing of this knowledge is the first step to perfection. Once awake to this fact, man sees there is something in life that will make him really happy and give him his heart's desire. He can say, 'Though there are many things in life which I need for the moment, and for which I shall certainly work, yet there is only that one thing, around which life centers, that will satisfy me: the spiritual attainment, the religious attainment, or, as one may even call it, the attainment of God.'

What is pointed to here is neither revolutionary nor new. It is the same reality that has been pointed to by uncounted spiritual guides for more than three thousand years. The ending of mind-made suffering does not come about through adherence to any system, method, ritual, or belief; nor is there an exclusive path to enlightenment. Self-created suffering ends at the moment there is a clear seeing or realization of Truth, a clear realization of what is -- within you. To realize Truth, the mind must be free of any and all systems of belief, which is to be, as the Buddha put it, in the 'highest state.' This requires that no interpretation, no opinion, no idea, no belief, no ritual, and no judgment be in the way. It requires a mind that is free of all that. In that state of mind -- the highest state -- suffering ends.

~ From the book: The Christ is NOT a Person: The Evolution of Consciousness and the Destiny of Man by J.C. Tefft pp xiv

Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to be always part of unanimity.

Sutra 1- 1: Exposition of life.
In life without practice nothing can be achieved, practice joy, a daily practice of joy it is the solution, mere philosophy will not satisfied you, by words alone you cannot reach any goals, so, practice life, practice joy. The practice of joy it is very easy, I am sure that at list ones in your life you have experience joy, so, just remember that moment, remember the feeling, do not pay attention to the cause of the joy, just remember the feeling of joy and your heart will be open, your heart is the corridor to bring the inner joy to the outer, do this often and in no time you will be pure joy, it can not be other way because the essence of your soul is joy.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will direct your paths.

Proverbs 3, 5-6

"We are pain and what cures pain, both. We are the sweet cold water and
the jar that pours. I want to hold you close like a lute, so that we can cry
out with loving. Would you rather throw stones at a mirror? I am your
mirror and here are the stones."

- Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks

The God of each is the God of all, but in order to comprehend that God we each have to make our own God. Some of us seek justice, we can seek for God Who is just. Some of us look for beauty, we must find it in the God of beauty. Some of us seek for love, we must find it in the God of mercy and compassion. Some of us wish for strength and power, we must find it in the God Almighty. The seeking of every soul in this world is different, distinct and peculiar to himself, and he can best attain to it by finding the object of his search in God.

In an evolutionary context, the goal of the spiritual life is not peace; it's perpetual development. It's about the ecstasy that compels us to create the future. And it's not a future that's going to unfold by itself, it's a future that we must create through direct, conscious, intentional engagement with the life-process itself.

- Andrew Cohen

"Great Spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds." ~ Albert Einstein

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The Four Pillars of Retreat

SILENCE
Silence frees us from the engagement of the mind
SOLITUDE
Solitude frees us from the engagement of the world
FASTING/ABSTINENCE
Abstinence frees us from the engagement of addictions
WAKEFULNESS
Wakefulness frees us from the engagement of sleep

- Najat Roberts

May prism light-beams illuminate
dark corners of our minds, and actions
May the veil of illusion crumble
in the wake of resonant waves
of rhythmic balanced interchanges
in all who are thinking beings
May new forms of truth, beauty, and goodness replace
old forms of untruth, ugliness, and mercilessness
and may we dwell in harmony with All-That-IS, forever

What do I mean by love? It is such a word that one cannot give one meaning. All attributes like kindness, gentleness, goodness, humbleness, mildness, fineness, are names of one and the same thing. Love therefore is that stream which when it rises falls in the form of a fountain, and each stream coming down is a virtue. All virtues taught by books or by a religious person have no strength or life because they have been learned; a virtue that is learned has no power, no life. The virtue that naturally springs from the depth of the heart, the virtue that rises from the love-spring and then falls as many different attributes, that virtue is real. There is a Hindustani saying, 'No matter how much wealth you have, if you do not have the treasure of virtue, it is of no use'. The true riches is the ever increasing spring of love from which all virtues come.

With thoughts of all that is good

May this time of year

Bring you inspiration and wishing prayers

that all beings will be at peace.

May you help the thought of Bodhicitta to increase

and virtue to spread throughout countless universes.

Know the worth of your precious human life

and rest in continuous stability of mind

Preparing benefit for all lifetimes to come.

Dismiss all fears of this life,

Death and the bardo

Dismiss all fears.



The Venerable Lama Tenzin