The Journey of a 1000 Miles

All Theologies are Straws

2010-10-09T07:33:00.000-07:00

All theologies are straws His sun burns to dust;
Knowing takes you to the Threshold, but not through the Door.
Nothing can teach you if you don’t unlearn everything.
How learned I was, before Revelation made me dumb?

- Rumi

Einstein on God

2010-05-26T06:44:00.000-07:00

I cannot imagine a God
who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation
and whose purposes are modeled after our own --
a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty.

-Albert Einstein, physicist, Nobel laureate (1879-1955)

Truth and Love

2010-05-16T09:37:00.000-07:00

The world is too dangerous for anything but truth and
too small for anything but love.
~ William Sloane Coffin

Dogma vs Morality

2010-05-14T07:08:00.001-07:00

The death of dogma is the birth of morality.
-Immanuel Kant, philosopher (1724-1804)

Live a Good Life - Marcus Aurelius

2010-03-18T06:46:00.000-07:00

"Live a good life.

If there are gods and they are just,
then they will not care how devout you have been,
but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by.

If there are gods, but unjust,
then you should not want to worship them.

If there are no gods, then you will be gone,
but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones."

- Marcus Aurelius

Life is not lost by dying

2010-01-20T19:45:00.000-08:00

“Life is not lost by dying; life is lost minute by minute, day by dragging day, in all the small uncaring ways.” - Stephen Vincent Benet

The Purpose of Life

2008-12-15T07:43:00.000-08:00

I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible,
to be honorable, to be compassionate.
It is, after all, to matter: to count, to stand for something,
to have made some difference that you lived at all.
Leo C. Rosten (1908-1977) American Writer

Ecclesiastic Tyranny

2008-10-30T05:22:00.000-07:00

Of all plagues with which mankind is cursed,
ecclesiastic tyranny's the worst.
-Daniel Defoe,
novelist and journalist (1659?-1731)

The fundamental delusion of humanity

2008-10-24T06:07:00.000-07:00

The fundamental delusion of humanity is to suppose
that I am here and you are out there.
-Yasutani Roshi, Zen master (1885-1973)

Morality and Religion

2008-09-10T05:08:00.001-07:00

The greatest tragedy in mankind's entire history may be the hijacking of morality by religion.
-Arthur C. Clarke, science fiction writer (1917-2008)

Making Allowances

2008-08-16T04:49:00.001-07:00

It is a severe Rebuke upon us,
that God makes us so many Allowances,
and we make so few to our Neighbor:
As if Charity had nothing to do with Religion;
Or Love with Faith, that ought to work by it.
~ William Penn

A Way of Life - Not a Declaration

2008-08-08T13:20:00.000-07:00

It is in our lives and not our words that our religion must be read.
~ Thomas Jefferson

God is Good

2008-07-30T04:35:00.000-07:00

If you're killing someone in the name of God —
you're missing the message.

~ Nick Annis in the preface to God is Good.

All Faith is false, all Faith is true:

2008-07-18T13:08:00.000-07:00

All Faith is false, all Faith is true:
Truth is the shattered mirror strewen
In myriad bits; while each believes
his little bit the whole to own.
~ Richard Francis Burton

Where God Dwells

2008-07-09T09:01:00.001-07:00

"Nirvana is something within you.
It is not an external reality.
No god thunders down from the mountaintop.

Just as the great mystics in the Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths all discovered,
God is within the self.
God is virtually inseparable from ourselves."

Just Enough Religion

2008-06-01T22:02:00.000-07:00

We have just enough religion to make us hate,
but not enough to make us love one another.
~ Jonathan Swift

To Worship is to Love

2008-05-27T06:28:00.001-07:00

I never knew how to worship until i knew how to love.
~ Henry Ward Beeche

If God loves me only half as much as my mother does

2008-04-27T16:51:00.000-07:00

All I know is that if God loves me only half as much as my mother does,
he will not send me to Hell.
That is a final fact of my inner consciousness,
and for no religion could I deny its truth.
~ Lin Yutang

Man is a religious animal

2008-04-18T12:31:00.000-07:00

Man is the religious animal.
He is the only religious animal.
He is the only animal that has the True Religion -— several of them.
He is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself
and then cuts his neighbor's throat, if his theology isn't straight.
He has made a graveyard of the globe
while trying his honest best to smooth his brother's path to happiness and heaven.
~ Mark Twain

WHEN YOU TOUCH ONE THING

2008-04-11T21:02:00.000-07:00

WHEN YOU TOUCH ONE THING
with deep awareness,
you touch everything.

-- Thich Nhat Hanh,
from "Touching Peace"

A Person Will Worship Something

2007-12-31T14:34:00.000-08:00

“A Person Will Worship Something”
by Ralph Waldo Emerson

A person will worship something-have no doubt about that.
We may think our tribute is paid in secret
in the dark recesses of our hearts-
but it will out.

That which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts
will determine our lives, and character.
Therefore, it behoves us to be careful what we worship,
for what we are worshipping we are becoming.

The Power of Mind belongs to Spirit

2007-10-12T07:16:00.000-07:00

"The power of the mind when it remembers and desires, when it thinks again and again, belongs to Spirit. Therefore let Mind meditate on Spirit. Spirit is the Good in all.

It should be worshipped as the Good. He that knows it as the Good is esteemed by all.

You asked me about spiritual knowledge, I have explained it."

Kena Upanishad 4.1, 5, 9

* * *

The essence of the individual self is of the same nature as "Brahman." That our spiritual being is divine constitutes the absolute basis of human dignity.

"The Self (capital letter-divine, Brahman) knows all, is not born, does not die, is not the effect of any cause; is eternal, self-existent, imperishable, ancient." -Katha Upanishad
(How can killing of the body kill Him? His spiritual essence and ours is the same. - T. Churton)

"This is myself [atmantar] within the heart, smaller than a grain of rice, than a barley corn, than a mustard seed, than a grain of millet or than a kernel of a grain of millet. This is myself within the heart, greater than the earth, greater than the atmosphere, greater than the sky, greater than these worlds. Containing all works, containing all desires, containing all odors, containing all tastes, encompassing this whole world, without speed, without concern, this is the self of mine within the heart; this is 'Brahman'. And into him I shall enter upon departing hence."
-Chandogya Upanishad

Walk out of your house like a shepherd

2007-09-28T06:57:00.000-07:00

Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder.
Help someone's soul heal.
Walk out of your house like a shepherd.
-Jalaluddin Rumi, poet and mystic
(1207-1273)

Ancient Wisdom

2007-09-12T07:09:00.001-07:00

To use bitter words, when kind words are at hand
is like picking unripe fruit when the ripe fruit is there.
-Thiruvalluvar, poet (c. 1st century BCE or 6th century CE)

I tried to find Him

2007-09-06T09:06:00.000-07:00

I tried to find Him on the Christian cross,
but He was not there;

I went to the temple of the Hindus and to the old pagodas,
but I could not find a trace of Him anywhere.

I searched on the mountains and in the valleys,
but neither in the heights nor in the depths was I able to find Him.

I went to the Kaaba in Mecca, but He was not there either.

I questioned the scholars and philosophers,
but He was beyond their understanding.

I then looked into my heart,
and it was there where He dwelled that I saw Him;
He was nowhere else to be found.

-Jalaluddin Rumi, poet and mystic (1207-1273)

Do it Anyway

2007-05-14T06:17:00.000-07:00

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;
...Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
...Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
...Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
...Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
...Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
...Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
...Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
...Give the world the best you"ve got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.

-Mother Theresa

No Religion without LOVE

2007-05-10T05:54:00.000-07:00

There is no religion without love.
People may talk as much as they like about their religion,
but if it does not teach them to be good and kind
to other animals as well as humans, it is all a sham.
-Anna Sewell, writer
(1820-1878)

Every Night Holy, Every Day Sacred

2007-04-16T21:54:00.000-07:00

And so the children come.
And so they have been coming.
Always in the same way they come --
Born of the seed of man and woman.
No angels herald their beginnings,
No prophets predict their future courses,
No wise men see a star to point their way
To find a babe that may save humankind.
Yet each night a child is born is a holy night.
Fathers and Mothers --
Sitting beside their children's cribs --
Feel glory in the wond'rous sight of life beginning.
They ask: "When or how will this new life end?
Or will it ever end?"
Each night a child is born is a holy night.

Sophia Lyon Fahs

Peace

2007-04-08T07:55:00.000-07:00

"I think we would be able to live in this world more peaceably
if our spirituality were to come from looking,
not just into future infinity,
but very closely at the world around us
-- and appreciating its depth and divinity."

-- Thomas Moore

Tao Te Ching

2007-04-05T06:14:00.000-07:00

In dwelling, be close to the land.
In meditation, go deep in the heart.
In dealing with others, be gentle and kind.
In speech, be true.
In ruling, be just.
In business, be competent.
In action, watch the timing.

Tao Te Ching ~

A Part of the Whole

2007-03-31T06:53:00.000-07:00

A human being is a part of the whole, called by us “Universe,”
a part limited in time and space.

Man experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings,
As something separated from the rest –
a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.

This delusion is a kind of prison for us,
Restricting us to our personal desires
and to affection for a few persons nearest to us.

Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison
By widening our circle of compassion to embrace
all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.

Nobody is able to achieve this completely,
but striving for such achievement is in itself
a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security.

--Albert Einstein

No man is an island, entire of itself;
every man is a piece of the continent,
a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less...
any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind...

--John Donne

One Light

2007-02-04T06:48:00.000-08:00

"All religions,
All this singing,
Is one song.

The differences are just
Illusion and vanity.

The sun's light looks a little different
On this wall than it does on that wall...
But it's still one light."
~ Rumi

Embrace the Day

2007-01-05T09:41:00.001-08:00

Some will fall in love with life and drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche coming down the mountain.
- From the song Pepper by the Butthole Surfers

In the Beginning

2006-12-22T08:55:00.000-08:00

In the Beginning

Sometimes simplicity rises
like a blossom of fire
from the white silk of your own skin.
You were there in the beginning
you heard the story, you heard the merciless
and tender words telling you where you had to go.
Exile is never easy and the journey
itself leaves a bitter taste. But then,
when you heard that voice, you had to go.
You couldn't sit by the fire, you couldn't live
so close to the live flame of that compassion
you had to go out in the world and make it your own
so you could come back with
that flame in your voice, saying listen...
this warmth, this unbearable light, this fearful love...
It is all here, it is all here.

~ David Whyte ~
(Fire in the Earth)

There is religion in everything around us

2006-11-22T22:35:00.000-08:00

There is religion in everything around us,
A calm and holy religion
In the unbreathing things in Nature.
It is a meek and blessed influence,
Stealing in, as it were, unaware upon the heart;
It comes quickly, and without excitement;
It has no terror, no gloom;
It does not rouse up the passions;
It is untrammeled by creeds…
It is written on the arched sky;
It looks out from every star;
It is on the sailing cloud and in the invisible wind;
It is among the hills and valleys of the earth
where the shrubless mountain-top pierces the thin atmosphere of eternal winter,
Or where the mighty forest fluctuates before the strong wind
With its dark waves of green foliage.
It is spread out like a legible language upon the broad face of an unsleeping ocean;
It is the poetry of Nature;
It is that which uplifts the spirit within …
And which opens to our imagination of world of spiritual beauty and holiness.
- John Ruskin

The Art of Being Kind

2006-11-11T12:36:00.000-08:00

So many gods, so many creeds,
So many paths that wind and wind,
While just the art of being kind
Is all the sad world needs.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Litany - Sarah Lammert

2006-10-31T20:31:00.000-08:00

We create a web of life.
This is finally the time to let go of that crazy notion that we can live separate and aloof from one another

We create a web of life.
This is the time at last that we can come home to each other, to our mutual belonging.

We create a web of life.
And we create a web of life out of which every single one of us can use everything our stories have given us.

We create a web of life.
Every part of our lives... even the cruelty, even the abuse, even the addictions, even the loneliness, even the failures...

We create a web of life.
A web of life is created within which you can rest in that knowing. Because out of that you can act. Out of that, all power is yours. Out of that, you travel light. Out of that, you can step forward.

We create a web of life.
Let every encounter be a homecoming as we step forward now for the healing of our world. The world is not going to be saved by good people or noble people. The world is going to be healed by ordinary people, like you and me, who are not afraid of pain and who are not afraid of loving each other.

Destiny

2006-10-07T20:53:00.000-07:00

During a momentous battle, a Japanese general decided to attack even though his army was greatly outnumbered. He was confident they would win, but his men were filled with doubt. On the way to the battle, they stopped at a religious shrine. After praying with the men, the general took out a coin and said, "I shall now toss this coin. If it is heads, we shall win. If tails, we shall lose. Destiny will now reveal itself."

He threw the coin into the air and all watched intently as it landed. It was heads. The soldiers were so overjoyed and filled with confidence that they vigorously attacked the enemy and were victorious. After the battle, a lieutenant remarked to the general, "No one can change destiny.""

Quite right," the general replied as he showed the lieutenant the coin, which had heads on both sides.

The Importance of a Moment

2006-10-01T22:13:00.000-07:00

Life is made of millions of moments,
but we live only one of these moments at a time.

As we begin to change this moment,
we begin to change our lives.

"The Oversoul" Ralph Waldo Emerson

2006-09-23T08:09:00.000-07:00

Let us learn the revelation of all nature and thought;
that the Highest dwells within us,
that the sources of nature are in our own minds.
As there is no screen or ceiling between our heads and the infinite heavens,
so there is no bar or wall in the soul where we, the effect, cease, and God, the cause, begins.

I am constrained every moment to acknowledge a higher origin for events than the will I call mine. There is deep power in which we exist and whose beatitude is accessible to us. Every moment when the individual feels invaded by it is memorable.

It comes to the lowly and simple;
it comes to whosoever will put off what is foreign and proud;
it comes as insight;
it comes as serenity and grandeur.
The soul’s health consists in the fullness of its reception.

Forever and ever the influx of this better and more universal self is new and unsearchable. Within us is the soul of the whole;
the wise silence, the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally related;
the eternal One.

When it breaks through our intellect, it is genius;
when it breathes through our will, it is virtue;
when it flows through our affections, it is love.

One With It

2006-09-09T12:34:00.000-07:00

Long seeking it through others,
I was far from reaching it.
Now I go by myself;
I meet it everywhere.
It is just I myself,
And I am not itself.
Understanding this way,
I can be as I am.

Ch'an master Tung-shan Ling-chia
(洞山良价 Tősan Ryőkai, 807-869) (Two Zen Classics 267)

Thoughts on Love

2006-08-11T06:21:00.000-07:00

Anon: "Amor gignit amorem" translated as: "Love begats love."

Frances David: "In order to love alike, we need not think alike."

Erich Fromm: "Immature love says: 'I love you because I need you.' Mature love says 'I need you because I love you"."

Robert Funk: "Love your enemies is probably the most radical thing Jesus ever said. Unless, of course, one considers the parable of the Samaritan. There the admonition is to let your enemies love you." From his book "The Once and future Jesus."

Vincent Van Gogh: "Love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is done well."

Heinrich Hein: "I care little in the existence of a heaven or hell; self respect does not allow me to guide my acts with an eye toward heavenly salvation or hellish punishment. I pursue the good in life because it is beautiful and attracts me; and shun the bad because it is ugly and repulsive. All our acts should originate from the spring of unselfish love, whether there be a continuation after death or not."

Rainer Maria Rilke: "For one human being to love another: that is perhaps the most difficult of our tasks; the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation."

St. Augustine: "Cum dilectione hominum et odio vitiorum" Translated as: "With love for mankind and hatred of sins." It is often loosely translated as: "Love the sinner and hate the sin," a saying often incorrectly attributed to Jesus. 1,2

St. Paul: Paraphrase of the Christian scriptures: 1 Corinthians 13:1-8:

"If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.
If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing."

"If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love."

"Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn't want what it doesn't have. Love doesn't strut, Doesn't have a swelled head, Doesn't force itself on others, Isn't always, 'me first,' Doesn't fly off the handle, Doesn't keep score of the sins of others, Doesn't revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps on going to the end. Love never dies."
From "The Message" translation by Eugene Peterson.

Lao Tzu: "To love someone deeply gives you strength. Being loved by someone deeply gives you courage."
Oscar Wilde: "Who, being loved, is poor?"

Marianne Williamson: From A Return to Love: "Love is what we are born with. Fear is what we learn. The spiritual journey is the unlearning of fear and prejudices and the acceptance of love back in our hearts. Love is the essential reality and our purpose on earth. To be consciously aware of it, to experience love in ourselves and others, is the meaning of life. Meaning does not lie in things. Meaning lies in us."

"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."

Where the Mind is Without Fear

2006-08-01T07:55:00.000-07:00

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action--
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
--Rabindranath Tagore

Random Thoughts from Independent Minds

2006-07-21T12:08:00.000-07:00

Karen Armstrong: "Nirvana is something within you. It is not an external reality. No god thunders down from the mountaintop. Just as the great mystics in the Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths all discovered, God is within the self. God is virtually inseparable from ourselves."

Bart Ehrman: "Sometimes Christian apologists say there are only three options to who Jesus was: a liar, a lunatic or the Lord. But there could be a fourth option -- legend."

Albert Einstein: "Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of truth and knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods."

George A. Staffa: "Beware of 'God of the Gaps', the Incredible Shrinking Deity who fills the gaps in our understanding until understanding shrinks both gaps and God down to nothing."

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi: "God has no religion."

Sam Harris: "Words like 'God' and 'Allah' must go the way of 'Apollo' and 'Baal' or they will unmake our world." Sam Harris is author of The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason.

Anne Lamott: "You can safely assume that you've created God in your own image, when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do."

John Spong, retired Episcopal bishop: "I don't want a God that would go around sacrifically killing people's little girls. Neither do I want a God who would kill his own son."

UCADIA web site: "...the image of a deity capable of intervening to stop evil but choosing not to act is probably a worse concept than an impotent God that can do nothing."

Charles Fort: "If there is a universal mind, must it necessarily be sane?"

Anne Provoost: "If your God is going to drown the world; if your God is going to bring a flood to purposefully kill people, then why don't you pick a different God?"

"Counting God" by Patrick Murfin

2006-07-13T21:48:00.000-07:00

Counting God
“God said to Moses, ‘I Am What Am’” -- Exodus 3:14

The assured voice on NPR spoke of the man
who made his lifework to count and name
all the gods of India --
every deity of tribe or clan or village,
each rock and dunghill spirit,
all of the many names for every apparition.
After many years he had to swear defeat,
no one can count and name them all --
there are more gods than Hindus.

Jews and Muslims are appalled
and vow there is but one God
to die or kill for.
Christians quite concur,
but opt to slice Him into Three,
then bind Him back together.
Some Amerinds know each tree and rock,
each crawling thing
is and has the Spirit.
And there are Buddhists who do not care
if God be one or man
or even if he be at all.

This quibble over name and number
engages a murderous passion,
a lethal zeal and worse --
stands between Is What Is,
and us, restless and lonesome.

Shingebiss and the North Wind

2006-07-01T15:13:00.000-07:00

Shingebiss and the North Wind
From a 19th century literary tale attributed to Chippewa sources
retold by Fran Stallings

Long ago, the People could not stay in their northern homes all year round. It was pleasant in the summer, cool and breezy. But in the fall they knew they would have to go south like the birds, like the buffalo. Because of Old Man North Wind.

Old Man North Wind's headdress was not made of feathers, but of icicles. His clothes were made of ice and snow. And the features of his face were fierce, twisted with hate for other living things.

When he came down from the far north country and blew his frosty breath -- Pah! -- everything froze. There was no more food. The animals who could not sleep through the winter had to go south. The People went, too.

But one year a young woman of the tribe, whose name was Shingebiss, said "It's not fair that we have to leave our homes because of Old Man North Wind! He's just a creature like the rest of us. I'm not afraid of him." And she sang,

(North Wind, North Wind, fierce of feature,
you are still my fellow creature.
Blow your worst. You can't scare me.
I'm not afraid, and so I'm free.)
Click to play the Shingebiss Chant (188kb MP3 format)

The other People said, "No, Shingebiss, you must not stay. You will freeze. You will starve! Come south with us."

But Shingebiss refused. "I have ideas for ways to stay warm and find food. I want to try them. I'm not afraid." And she sang,

(North Wind, North Wind, fierce of feature,
you are still my fellow creature.
Blow your worst. You can't scare me.
I'm not afraid, and so I'm free.)
Click to play the Shingebiss Chant (188kb MP3 format)

The other people pleaded with her, but she was stubborn. So they said goodbye. They were sure that they would never see her alive again.

When they had gone south, Shingebiss began to work. She built a new kind of lodge, not open and breezy like the summer lodges of the People, but with double walls -- which she stuffed with dry grass and moss, to keep out the cold and wind. Then she collected great piles of dry wood, so that she could keep her fire going at all times.

She waited. And she sang:
(North Wind, North Wind, fierce of feature,
you are still my fellow creature.
Blow your worst. You can't scare me.
I'm not afraid, and so I'm free.)
Click to play the Shingebiss Chant (188kb MP3 format)

Then Old Man North Wind came down from the far north country. He blew his frosty breath -- Pah! -- and everything died. Everything was still... except for the smoke rising from Shingebiss' lodge.

"What is this?" he asked. "Who is this, who dares to defy me? They can't live without food." He blew his frosty breath -- Pah! -- on the lakes and streams. Thick ice covered them.

But Shingebiss just walked out onto the ice and chopped holes. She went ice fishing! She took her fish home to her lodge, cooked them and ate them. She was warm and comfortable, and she sang:

(North Wind, North Wind, fierce of feature,
you are still my fellow creature.
Blow your worst. You can't scare me.
I'm not afraid, and so I'm free.)
Click to play the Shingebiss Chant (188kb MP3 format)

Old Man North Wind blew around and around Shingebiss' lodge, but she just built up her fire and was warm and comfortable.

"So," said Old Man North Wind, "I will come inside." And he stepped in the door.

Shingebiss was sitting by her fire, with her back to the door, but she felt the chill when Old Man North Wind came in. She added more wood to the fire and sang:

(North Wind, North Wind, fierce of feature,
you are still my fellow creature.
Blow your worst. You can't scare me.
I'm not afraid, and so I'm free.)
Click to play the Shingebiss Chant (188kb MP3 format)

Old Man North Wind came closer. He sat down next to her!
But she just added more wood.

The flames rose higher, and higher ...

Old Man North Wind began to notice that his headdress of icicles was drooping ...

His clothes of ice and snow were becoming soggy, and full of holes ...

Drops of water ran down his face.

"What is this? It can't be tears, because I never cry. This can only mean that I'm -- melting!!!"

Old Man North Wind ran out of Shingebiss' lodge and rolled in the snow until he was cold again.

"This Shingebiss," he said, " she is too strong for me."

In the spring, when the People returned, they were amazed to find Shingebiss alive and well. "We thought you would freeze and starve! We thought we would find nothing but your bones!"

Shingebiss said, "I have learned ways to keep warm, and ways to find food. I can teach them to you. But you can't stay here if you're afraid."

So she also taught them her song:

(North Wind, North Wind, fierce of feature,
you are still my fellow creature.
Blow your worst. You can't scare me.
I'm not afraid, and so I'm free.)
Click to play the Shingebiss Chant (188kb MP3 format)

Kindness - Enlightenment - Dharma

2006-06-23T08:37:00.000-07:00

Kindness in words creates confidence.
Kindness in thinking creates profoundness.
Kindness in giving creates love.
Lao Tzu

Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water.
The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken.
Although its light is wide and great,
The moon is reflected even in a puddle an inch wide.
The whole moon and the entire sky
Are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass.
Dogen

Those who see worldly life as an obstacle to Dharma
see no Dharma in everyday actions.
They have not yet discovered that
there are no everyday actions outside of Dharma.
Dogen

Poem

2006-06-19T22:33:00.000-07:00

Loving Being

There are only two choices.
We are either fearing being
or we are loving being.

If you aren't loving being,
it's really quite easy to fix: become a loving being.
If you don't know how to become a loving being,
hang out with loving beings who are loving being.
You'll catch on!

© 1998 Bob Boyle

Mystery and Wonder

2006-06-18T11:22:00.000-07:00

The most beautiful thing we can experience

is the mysterious.

It is the source of all true art and all science.

He to whom this emotion is a stranger,

who can no longer pause to wonder

and stand rapt in awe,

is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.

To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists...

this knowledge, this feeling,

is the centre of true religiousness.

Albert Einstein

Stubborn Ounces

2006-06-16T04:10:00.000-07:00

“Stubborn Ounces”
(To One Who Doubts the Worth of
Doing Anything If You Can’t Do Everything)
By Bonaro W. Overstreet

You say the Little efforts that I make
will do no good: they never will prevail
to tip the hovering scale
where Justice hangs in balance.

I don’t thinkI ever thought they would.
But I am prejudiced beyond debate
in favor of my right to choose which side
shall feel the stubborn ounces of my weight.

True Nature

2006-05-29T11:51:00.000-07:00

“ A student asked master Bankei “ How can I cure my terrible temper?”

“Show it to me,” demanded Bankei,

“ I can’t just show it to you like that because it comes on unexpectedly.” Explained the student.

Bankei replied “It is not your true nature, then. If it were it would be with you at all time.”

The Highest Good

2006-05-26T06:23:00.000-07:00

The highest good is not to seek to do good,
but to allow yourself to become it.
The ordinary person seeks to do good things,
and finds that they can not do them continually.

The Master does not force virtue on others,
thus she is able to accomplish her task.
The ordinary person who uses force,
will find that they accomplish nothing.

The kind person acts from the heart,
and accomplishes a multitude of things.
The righteous person acts out of pity,
yet leaves many things undone.
The moral person will act out of duty,
and when no one will respond
will roll up his sleeves and uses force.

When the Tao is forgotten, there is righteousness.
When righteousness is forgotten, there is morality.
When morality is forgotten, there is the law.
The law is the husk of faith, and trust is the beginning of chaos.
Tao Te Ching 38

2006-05-20T16:33:00.000-07:00

"Before Enlightenment - chop wood, carry water;
after Enlightenment - chop wood, carry water."
--- Old Zen saying

Is work part of your spiritual practice? It should be...
Practice mindfulness in work. It does little good to attain clarity of mind on your meditation cushion if you lose it as soon as you become active. Start with simple activities like brushing your teeth, ironing clothes, or washing dishes. Be fully alert as you move. Notice the position of your body in space. Notice the feelings in your body as you move. Feel the water run through your fingers. Pay attention to the thoughts that enter your mind when you do the task. See if you can let them go and just focus on the work itself.

When we open awareness to the tasks in our lives they become lighter. When we are able to be in the moment, we no longer feel compelled to watch the clock. Whatever your work might be, bring all of yourself to it. When you are fully present, you may find that your labor is no longer a burden.

Wood is chopped.
Water is carried.
Life happens.

Breadth of Life

2006-05-14T13:44:00.000-07:00

"The universe and its inhabitants are as ephemeral as the clouds in the sky;
Beings being born and dying are like a spectacular dance or drama show.
The duration of our lives is like a flash of lightning or a firefly's brief twinkle;
Everything passes like the flowing waters of a steep waterfall."
-Lalitavistara Sutra

The Swan

2006-05-05T08:09:00.000-07:00

Did you too see it, drifting, all night, on the black river?
Did you see it in the morning, rising into the silvery air -
An armful of white blossoms,
A perfect commotion of silk and linen as it leaned
into the bondage of its wings; a snowbank, a bank of lilies,
Biting the air with its black beak?
Did you hear it, fluting and whistling
A shrill dark music - like the rain pelting the trees - like a waterfall
Knifing down the black ledges?
And did you see it, finally, just under the clouds -A white cross
Streaming across the sky, its feet
Like black leaves, its wings Like the stretching light of the river?
And did you feel it, in your heart, how it pertained to everything?
And have you too finally figured out what beauty is for?
And have you changed your life?

© Mary Oliver. From The Paris Review # 124, Fall, 1992.

God has no Religion

2006-05-01T06:25:00.000-07:00

God has no religion.....Mahatma Gandhi.

I cannot tell if what the world considers 'happiness' is happiness or not. All I know is that when I consider the way they go about attaining it, I see them carried away headlong, grim and obsessed, in the general onrush of the human herd, unable to stop themselves or to change their direction. All the while they claim to be just on the point of attaining happiness....Chuang-tzu.

We are all Buddha. To be a human being is to be a Buddha. Buddha nature is just another name for human nature–true human nature. This means that being Buddha is intrinsic or essential to being human. If we were not Buddha, we could not be human. The word "Buddha" means "an awakened one," one who is awake to things as they really are, without the coloring and attachments of our individual conditioning. So another meaning of Buddha is our unconditioned nature. It does not mean that beings possess a Buddha nature, or that beings are containers in which a seed form of Buddha can be found, as if there were two realities, beings and Buddha. It means that beings are Buddha, but they are blind, stupid Buddhas who are ignorant of their true nature.- Taitaku Pat Phelan

The following are from Anasazi018

"Eternity is not something that begins after you are dead. It is going on all the time." -- Charlotte Perkins Gilman

"Man is an animal suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun." -- Clifford Geertz

Carrying Things

2006-04-28T07:43:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, there were two monks who went on a pilgrimage across the country together. One day, they came to a river bank and saw a beautiful girl who was unable to cross the river.

Seeing her difficulty, the elder monk volunteered to carry her across the river on his back while the younger one looked on in consternation.

When the sun went down, the monks came upon a dilapidated shack and decided to stay there for a night. The elder monk quickly fell asleep while the younger one twisted around, unable to calm his mind. Finally, he woke up the elder monk and reprimanded him for what happened during the day. "As monks, we are supposed to keep away from women. I am really ashamed and troubled by what you did today!"

The elder monk looked at his friend and a smile broke up on his face. "Oh, so that has been what has been making you twist around. That is what is bothering you! Brother, I have left the girl behind by the river bank, why are you still carrying her around?"

In our struggle to define this notion of self, we often hold onto feelings that create in us suffering. In our definition of ourselves, we have created systems of how things "ought" to be. "I love X, so she should love me." "Y shouldn't behave this way." "Z should do what I requested."

Like the young monk we twist and turn and often stay up at night carrying these thoughts and feelings around with us. These thoughts and feelings can lead to intense suffering. They can cause us to feel depressed or anxious.

What are you carrying that you should have left at the riverbank?

"This is MINE" or is it?

2006-04-13T17:33:00.000-07:00

We human beings can send ourselves to the moon, but we still cannot eliminate the horrors of a concentration camp or the need of prisons.

We spend billions and billions of dollars to eliminate the disease that kill us, but we pay little attention to routing out the motivations that cause us to kill each other.

For thousands of years we human beings have been unable to liberate ourselves from fear!

Why?

Because we cannot rid ourselves of hatred, discrimination, selfishness, and desire.

But why can we not eliminate these evils that almost everyone knows are destructive?

The answer is that we human beings have such a great desire to possess.

The Forest of Fear

2006-04-09T06:47:00.000-07:00

The forest howled an unearthly howl as the pilgrim sat with the girl around an open camp fire. Staring into the dancing flames the pilgrim reflected the eyes of a man miles away. The girl glanced back and forth from the traveler and the screeching wood. Already she was beginning to wonder whether or not accompanying the pilgrim had been a wise choice. Minutes seemed to drag on for hours and finally she could bear it no more, in a timid voice that strived for strength she spoke, "Where are you originally from?" Her words seemed to rise only to be engulfed by the towering trees. The pilgrim answered without averting his eyes, "I herald from the land of Newark." Again silence. The girl had heard tales of the pilgrims before they were supposed to be searchers of Truth, Beauty, or Goodness. She decided to see what he would say, "They call this the Forest of Fear. What makes it so frightening?" The pilgrim looked up and answered "People fear what they do not understand. They fear because they do not know." "I don't know about that." the girl answered after much thought. "You don't know?" the pilgrim asked "are you afraid?" "No." the girl answered. "Oh but you should be." and with that the pilgrim returned his gaze back to the camp fire and all around the Forest of Fear howled strange unearthly noises.

"Are you afraid?" the girl asked.
"Sometimes." the pilgrim answered.
"What are you afraid of?"
"Many things," the pilgrim replied.
"Name one" she persisted.
Without hesitation the pilgrim replied "Man's soul. I fear that most never desire true Truth. I fear that since I am a man I too will fail."
"There are other forces in this world besides Truth."
"Like what?"
"Like beauty!"
"As Keats put it", the pilgrim answered "Truth and Beauty are one and the same."

Suddenly a cold howl sounded and the girl turned to look."What was that?"
"A nightmare." The pilgrim replied."
It was so close," the girl whispered "why can I not see it?"
"Because like all nightmares it lives on the edge of your imagination."
And all around them the Forest of Fear continued to howl.

-Wes Bishop

Tao Te Ching 21

2006-04-07T18:14:00.000-07:00

The greatest virtue you can have comes from following only the Tao;
which takes a form that is intangible and evasive.
Even though the Tao is intangible and evasive,
we are able to know it exists.

Intangible and evasive, yet it has a manifestation.
Secluded and dark, yet there is a vitality within it.
It's vitality is very genuine.
Within it we can find order.

Since the beginning of time, the Tao has always existed.
It is beyond existing and not existing .
How do I know where creation comes from?
I look inside myself and see it.

Rain Music Meditation

2006-04-06T13:29:00.000-07:00

This is a very nice music play thing for a short meditation: Rain

Play around with your mouse ... and click ...

Eight Earthly Winds

2006-03-30T15:45:00.000-08:00

Eight Earthly Winds

There was a well-known scholar who practiced Buddhism and befriended a chan master. Thinking that he had made great stride in his cultivation, he wrote a poem and asked his attendant to deliver it to the master who lived across the river. The master opened the letter and read the short poem aloud:

"Unmoved by the eight worldly winds, [1]
Serenely I sit on the purplish gold terrace."

A smile broke up on the lips of the master. Picking up an ink brush, he scribbled the word "fart" across the letter and asked that it be delivered back to the scholar.

The scholar was upset and went across the river right away to reprimand the master for being rude.

The master laughed as he said, "You said you are no longer moved by the eight worldly winds and yet with just one 'fart', you ran across the river like a rat!"

[1] Eight worldly winds/concerns: Gain and loss, honor and disgrace, praise and blame, happiness and pain.

Old Turtle and the Broken Truth

2006-03-26T20:51:00.000-08:00

The torrid sun melts the mountain snows. When anger comes, then wisdom goes. (Chinese proverb)

The question "Who is my neighbor?" is at the heart of all authentic religious traditions.

Douglas Wood’s children’s story, Old Turtle and the Broken Truth, begins:

“Once, long ago, in a far away land—a land where every stone was a teacher and every breeze a language, where every lake was a mirror and every tree a ladder to the stars—into this far and lovely land there fell a truth. It streaked down from the stars, trailing a tail as long as the sky. But as it fell, it broke.”

Eventually, some people find a broken piece in the woods, upon which is written “You are loved.” The people form a religion based on that statement, interpreting it to mean that only they are loved since, after all, they were the finders and are now the keepers of that piece sent down from the heavens.

Soon, they become targets of repeated attacks by others trying to take it from them, forcing them to defend their sacred icon while hiding it so that just a special few know its location. Later, their leaders determine that the best way to continue keeping it was not to wait for attacks but to initiate pre-emptive strikes against all who would want that truth for themselves.

Then, one day, some people find another broken piece that fits together perfectly with that piece which fell to earth so very long ago and, at last, the people learn the whole truth: “You are loved…and so are they.”

Life is not easy—we struggle either to maintain an illusion of superiority or to stay stuck in our indifference. We suppress our urge to wholeness and unity when we insist on “either-or”—when we deny the second part of that basic truth: “You are loved—and so are they.”

“The first step in making religion more a cure than a curse— Let us pray, “God bless the whole world, no exceptions!

The Free Mind

2006-03-24T08:52:00.003-08:00

The Free Mind
William Ellery Channing

I call that mind free which masters the senses, and which recognizes its own reality and greatness: Which passes life not in asking what it shall eat or drink, but in hungering, thirsting and seeking after righteousness.

I call that mind free which jealously guards its intellectual rights and powers, which does not content itself to a passive or hereditary faith: Which opens itself to light whence-so-ever it may come; which receives new truth as an angel from heaven.

I call that mind free which is not passively framed by outward circumstances, and is not the creature of accidental impulse: Which discovers everywhere the radiant signatures of the infinite spirit, and in them finds help to its own spiritual enlargement.

I call that mind free which protects itself against the usurpations of society, and which does not cower to human opinion: Which refuses to be the slave or tool of the many or of the few, and guards its empire over itself as nobler than the empire of the world.

I call that mind free which resists the bondage of habit, which does not mechanically copy the past, nor live on in its old virtues: But which listens for new and higher monitions of conscience, and rejoices to pour itself forth in fresh and higher exertions.

I call that mind free which sets not bounds to its love, which, wherever they are seen delights in virtue and sympathizes with suffering: Which recognizes in all human beings the image of God and the rights of God's children, and offers itself up a willing sacrifice to the cause of humankind.

I call that mind free which has cast off all fear but that of wrongdoing, and which no menace or peril can enthrall: Which is calm in the midst of tumults and possesses itself though all else be lost.

The Servant of Truth

2006-03-20T20:26:00.000-08:00

Cherish your doubts, for doubt is the servant of truth.

Question your convictions, for beliefs too tightly held strangle the mind and its natural wisdom.

Suspect all certitudes, for the world whirls on -- nothing abides.

Yet in our inner rooms full of doubt, inquiry and suspicion, let a corner be reserved for trust.

For without trust there is no space for communities to gather or for friendships to be forged.

Indeed, this is the small corner where we connect -- and reconnect -- with each other.

Source: 1997 UUMA Worship Materials Collection

"There was once a rabbi who was revered by the people as a man of God. Not a day went by when a crowd of people was not standing at his door seeking advice or healing or the holy man’s blessing. And each time the rabbi spoke, the people would hang on his every word, accepting everything he said as the truth.

There was, however, in the audience a fellow who frequently questioned the master. He would question the Rabbi’s word or his opinions often doubting the truth of the Rabbi’s word. The disciples who hung on his every word as the truth were embarrassed for this questioning fellow.

One day this doubter took ill and died. Everyone heaved a sigh of relief. Outwardly they looked appropriately solemn but in their hearts they were glad for no longer would the master’s inspiring talks be questioned or doubted.

So the people were surprised to see the master plunged in genuine grief at the funeral. When asked by a disciple later if he was mourning over the eternal fate of the dead man, he said, “No, no. Why should I mourn over our friend who is now in heaven? It was for myself I was grieving. That man was the only friend I had. Here I am surrounded by people who revere me and always nod “yes” to my every word.. He was the only one who challenged me. I fear that with him gone, I shall stop growing.”

Discernment

2006-03-18T18:45:00.000-08:00

The Great Fool
Ryokan

In all ten directions of the universe,
there is only one truth.
When we see clearly, the great teachings are the same.
What can ever be lost? What can be attained?
If we attain something, it was there from the beginning of time.
If we lose something, it is hiding somewhere near us.
Look: this ball in my pocket:
can you see how priceless it is?

The Zen master confuses and compels us with his words.
That is his method.
Mine is to offer a simple blessing:
May our eyes be clear enough to recognize truth when it presents itself,
even though the source surprises us.
May our ears be true enough to know falsehood when we hear it,
even when disguised by beautifully crafted words and turns of phrase.
May our hearts be compassionate enough and our spirits brave enough
to speak the truth in love, if we are to speak at all.
May we find and embrace the truth that dwells in metaphor, mystery, and silence.
So may it be.
Amen

õõõõõõõõõõõõõõõõõõõõõõõõõõõõõõõõõõõõõõõõõõõõõõõõõõõõõõ

When people see things as beautiful, ugliness is created.
When people see things as good, evil is created.

Being and non-being produce each other.
Difficult and easy complement each other.
Long and short define each other.
High and low oppose each other.
Fore and aft follow each other.

Therefore the Master can act without doing anything
and teach without saying a word.
Things come her way and she does not stop them;
things leave and she lets them go.
She has without possessing, and acts without any expectations.
When her work is done, she take no credit.
That is why it will last forever.

Tao Te Ching 2

TARA - The Great Mother

2006-03-16T13:41:00.000-08:00

Shrouded in mystery, revealed in wonder, the Great Goddess has been adored for millennia. Sculptural evidence discovered in prehistoric caves of 30,000 years ago finds Her worship to be more ancient than humankind has memory.

Legends and myths of every culture praise She Who Brings Forth Life, She Who Is The Embodiment Of Wisdom, The Great Compassionate Mother, The Star Of Heaven. She has been called by many names, she has been revealed in many forms. Her worship continues to this day in ancient cultures of Asia, and in the 20th century search for the lost feminine.

To the Tibetans, She is their Mother, closer than their heartbeat. She is known as Tara, a Sanskrit word meaning Star. We hear the echoes of Her name in the Latin Terra, Mother Earth. The Druids called their MotherGoddess Tara. An ancient saga of Finland said to be 5 million years old speaks of Tar, the woman of wisdom. An ancient tribe of indigenous peoples in the South American jungles, the Tarahumara, worship the Goddess. The Cheyenne people tell of Star Woman who fell from the heavens to the earth, and that out of Her body all essential food grew. She sent Her people to mate with the more primitive inhabitants of earth, thereby giving them the capacity for wisdom. This legend is echoed in the more modern research of Z. Sitchin who tells of IshTar who came to earth from another planetary system and instructed her people to intermarry with earthlings, making them capable of many things.

To the Tibetans, even higher than a god or goddess is a Buddha, a being who has gone beyond the rounds of birth and death. Such an enlightened one has attained the highest wisdom, compassion and capability. Tara is so highly thought of that she is said to be the Mother of all the Buddhas. Buddhas integrate all aspects and possibilities. They are one with all that exists. They can manifest bodies of light and radiance and they can emanate bodies of form into the world in order to bring benefit to this world of challenges and confusion. Tara is known to the Tibetans as The Faithful One, The Fierce Protectoress, and to this day there are stories carried out of Tibet by refugees, fleeing from the horrors of Chinese occupation, that tell of Her intervention and assistance in their lives. In the system of mind-training practices offered by the great masters of Tibetan wisdom, Tara is an archetype of our own inner wisdom. They speak of a transformation of consciousness, a journey to freedom. They teach many simple and direct means for each person to discover within themselves the wisdom, compassion and glory that is Tara.

21 Taras

Tara is Swift Protection
Tara is Creative Wisdom
Tara is Impeccable Virtue
Tara is All Victorious
Tara is Sublime Intelligence
Tara is Worthy of Honor
Tara is Invincible Courage
Tara Destroys Negativity
Tara is True Refuge
Tara is Joy and Laughter
Tara is the Distributor of Wealth
Tara is Auspicious Beauty
Tara is Irresistible Truth
Tara is Ferocious Compassion
Tara is Serene Peace
Tara Destroys Attachment
Tara is Triumphant Joy
Tara is Transformer of Poison
Tara is Remover of Sorrow
Tara is Radient Health
Tara is Complete Enlightenment

On Growing Good Corn

2006-03-14T18:04:00.000-08:00

There was a farmer who grew award-winning corn.

Each year he entered his corn in the state fair where it won a blue ribbon.

One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learned something interesting about how he grew it. The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbors.

"How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?" the reporter asked.

"Why sir," said the farmer, "didn't you know? The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn."

He is very much aware of the correctness of life. His corn cannot improve unless his neighbor's corn also improves.

So it is in other dimensions. Those who choose to be at peace must help their neighbors to be at peace. Those who choose to live well must help others to live well, for the value of a life is measured by the lives it touches. And those who choose to be happy must help others to find happiness, for the welfare of each is bound up with the welfare of all.

The lesson for each of us is this: if we are to grow good corn, we must help our neighbors grow good corn.

"Each man takes care that his neighbor shall not cheat him.
But a day comes when he begins to care that he does not cheat his neighbor.
Then all goes well. He has changed his market-cart into a chariot of the sun."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Man is now able to soar into outer space and reach up to the moon;
but he is not moral enough to live at peace with his neighbor!”
Sri Sathya Sai Baba (Indian Spiritual leader, b.1929)

Integration of Spiritual & Physical Realities

2006-03-13T15:35:00.000-08:00

I get up every morning determined to both change the world

and have one hell of a good time.

Sometimes this makes planning my day difficult. -E.B.White

Our participation in life extends to the whole.
We are not encapsulated, self-enclosed entities,
but rather fields of energy integrated with our environment.
Everything we do transforms and reshapes the world.
If our actions can destroy, so can they heal.
There is no difference between prayer and work,
no distinction between physical activity and work of the spirit.
Precisely in the restoration of this balance between body and spirit
lies the path for healing the greater whole.

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves...

-Mary Oliver

It Matters What We Believe

2006-03-12T06:03:00.000-08:00

It Matters What We Believe
By Sophia Lyon Fahs

Some beliefs are like pleasant gardens with high walls around them. They encourage exclusiveness, and the feeling of being especially privileged. Other beliefs are expansive and lead the way into wider and deeper sympathies.

Some beliefs are like shadows, darkening children's days with fears of unknown calamities. Other beliefs are like the sunshine, blessing children with the warmth of happiness.

Some beliefs are divisive, separating the saved from the unsaved, friends from enemies. Other beliefs are bonds in a universal brotherhood, where sincere differences beautify the pattern.

Some beliefs are like blinders, shutting off the power to choose one's own direction. Other beliefs are like gateways opening up wide vistas for exploration.

Some beliefs weaken a child's selfhood. They blight the growth of resourcefulness. Other beliefs nurture self-confidence and enrich the feeling of personal worth.

Some beliefs are rigid, like the body of death, impotent in a changing world. Other beliefs are pliable, like the young sapling, ever growing with the upward thrust of life.

It is indeed important what (humanity) has believed. It is important what we believe.

(From Today's Children and Yesterday's Heritage)

<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<> *<>*<>*<>*<>*<>

"On countless occasions when someone asks you what your church “believes,” it is appropriate to reply that “Churches don’t believe things. People do.” You see, it is so important “What” and “How” you believe that were I to hand you a scripted set of beliefs and expect adherence without rewrite, refinement, restatement and even outright rejection, then I would sin against the truest notion of the holy that I hold. Belief is for the believer. Belief is for the believer to discern and affirm and test." Rev. Mark Christian

This day is a gift. A gift of Love. A gift from God. A gift from Life itself. Let us then rejoice in it and be glad. For this is the day we have been given: to live in; to love in; and, in time to die in. Let us rejoice in the promise and possibility of this day. May all our beliefs start and end there. AMEN

Wisdom of Buddha - Pt. 3

2006-03-10T19:07:00.000-08:00

In a controversy the instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for the truth, and have begun striving for ourselves.

In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true.

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

It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you.

It is better to travel well than to arrive.

Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.

Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful.

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.

Teach this triple truth to all: A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are the things which renew humanity.

The foot feels the foot when it feels the ground.

The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows.

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, nor to worry about the future, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.

The wise ones fashioned speech with their thought, sifting it as grain is sifted through a sieve.

The world, indeed, is like a dream and the treasures of the world are an alluring mirage! Like the apparent distances in a picture, things have no reality in themselves, but they are like heat haze.

There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.

Those who are free of resentful thoughts surely find peace.

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

Unity can only be manifested by the Binary. Unity itself and the idea of Unity are already two.

What we think, we become.

We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.

What is the appropriate behavior for a man or a woman in the midst of this world, where each person is clinging to his piece of debris? What's the proper salutation between people as they pass each other in this flood?

Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others.

You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.

Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.

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.

Wisdom of Buddha - Pt. 2

2006-03-09T06:21:00.000-08:00

A dog is not considered a good dog because he is a good barker. A man is not considered a good man because he is a good talker.

All that we are is the result of what we have thought. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him.

All things appear and disappear because of the concurrence of causes and conditions. Nothing ever exists entirely alone; everything is in relation to everything else.

All wrong-doing arises because of mind. If mind is transformed can wrong-doing remain?

Ambition is like love, impatient both of delays and rivals.

An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea.

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.

Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.

Every human being is the author of his own health or disease.

He is able who thinks he is able.

He who experiences the unity of life sees his own Self in all beings, and all beings in his own Self, and looks on everything with an impartial eye.

However many holy words you read, However many you speak, What good will they do you if you do not act on upon them?

I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act.

Wisdom of Buddha - Pt. 1

2006-03-08T19:53:00.000-08:00

Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.

There is no fire like passion, there is no shark like hatred, there is no snare like folly, there is no torrent like greed.

Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule.

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

Through zeal, knowledge is gotten, through lack of zeal, knowledge is lost; let a man who knows the double path of gain and loss thus place himself that knowledge may grow.

The thought manifests as the word. The word manifests as the deed. The deed develops into habit. And the habit hardens into character. So watch the thought and its ways with care. And let it spring from love, born out of concern for all beings.

As the fletcher whittles and makes straight his arrows, so the master directs his straying thoughts.

Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill.

Let yourself be open and life will be easier. A spoon of salt in a glass of water makes the water undrinkable. A spoon of salt in a lake is almost unnoticed.

What you are is what you have been, and what you will be is what you do now.

Sufi Wisdom

2006-03-04T10:52:00.000-08:00

A donkey with a load of holy books is still a donkey. -Traditional (Essential Sufism)

"I searched for God and found only myself. I searched for myself and found only God". -Sufi Proverb

Enlightenment must come little by little-otherwise it would overwhelm. -Idries Shah

Whatever we perceive in the world around us tends to reflect who we are and what we care about most deeply, as in the old saying, "When a thief sees a saint, all he sees are his pockets." -Robert Frager, Heart, Self & Soul, The Sufi Psychology of Growth, Balance and Harmony

"When we are dead, seek not our tomb in the earth, but find it in the hearts of men." On the tomb of Jalaludin Rumi

Cherish Your Doubts

2006-03-02T09:15:00.000-08:00

Cherish Your Doubts
By Robert T. Weston

Cherish your doubts, for doubt is the attendant of truth.
Doubt is the key to the door of knowledge; it is the servant of discovery.

A belief which may not be questioned binds us to error, for there is incompleteness and imperfection in every belief.

Doubt is the touchstone of truth; it is an acid which eats away the false. Let no one fear for the truth, that doubt may consume it; for doubt is a testing of belief. The truth stands boldly and unafraid; it is not shaken by the testing: For truth, if it be truth, arises from each testing stronger, more secure.

Those that would silence doubt are filled with fear; their houses are built on shifting sands. But those who fear not doubt, and know its use, are founded on rock. They shall walk in the light of growing knowledge; the work of their hands shall endure.

Therefore let us not fear doubt, but let us rejoice in its help: It is to the wise as a staff to the blind; doubt is the attendant of truth.

"Pax" by D.H. Lawrence

2006-03-01T07:49:00.000-08:00

“Pax,” by D. H. Lawrence

All that matters is to be at one with the living God
To be a creature in the house of the God of Life.

Like a cat asleep on a chair
At peace, in peace
And at one with the master of the house, with the mistress,
At home, at home in the house of the living,
Sleeping on the hearth, and yawning before the fire.

Sleeping on the hearth of the living world
Yawning at home before the fire of life
Feeling the presence of the living God
Like a great assurance
A deep calm in the heart
A presence
As of the master sitting at the board
In his own and greater being
In the house of life.

Sacred Home

2006-02-20T19:18:00.000-08:00

Wherever you are is home
And the earth is paradise.
Wherever you set your feet is holy land...

You live in the land, and it in you,
Or you don't survive.
And that is the only worship of God there is.

-Unknown

"Just to be is a blessing.
Just to live is holy."

-Unknown

In All Things

2006-02-18T15:44:00.000-08:00

Apprehend God in all things,
for God is in all things.

Every single creature is full of God
and is a book about God.

Every creature is a word of God.

If I spent enough time with the tiniest creature--
even a caterpillar--
I would never have to harken to another sermon.
So full of God is every creature.

The Center of the Universe

2006-02-15T16:48:00.000-08:00

The center of the universe is in this small room
where our souls touch the infinite,
and grace surpasses all our understanding.

And the center of the universe is in the nest outside the window
where the tiny speckled eggs are about to hatch
under the watch of attentive parents.

And the center of the universe is held
by the young mother in the bus going past
as she cradles her newborn in her arms and wonders where her future lies.

But the center of the universe is also in the heart of the bomb crater
where bits of bone, and chair, and cup are all that remain.

and the center of the universe is also in the jug of water
carried by the small boy walking past the garbage heap
where his brothers search for their day’s sustenance.

And the center of the universe is also in the quivering salmon
just caught and eaten by the grizzly bear in the cold Alaskan stream.

And the true center of the universe is millions of light years distant
from an insignificant solar system
in an average galaxy that some call the Milky Way.
-Jean Olson

How to Love the World: Save it or Savor it?

2006-02-13T21:21:00.000-08:00

I rise in the morning torn between the desire
to save the world or to savor it. - to serve life or to enjoy it;
To savor the sweet taste of my own joy
Or to share the bitter cup of my neighbor;
To celebrate life with exuberant step
Or to struggle for the life of the heavy laden.
What am I to do when the guilt at my bounty
Clouds the sky of my vision;
When the glow which lights my every day
Illumines the hurting world around me?
To savor the world or to save it?
-Richard Gilbert

Save the world or savor it? Both.
-Jonalu Johnstone

2006-02-11T21:57:00.000-08:00

Let the beauty we love be what we do.

There are a thousand ways

to kneel

and kiss the ground.

Rumi, Sufi mystic

The Covenant

2006-02-09T06:15:00.000-08:00

Love is the doctrine of the soul,

The quest of truth is its sacrament,

And service is its prayer.

To dwell together in peace,

To seek knowledge in freedom,

To serve life in fellowship,

To the end that all souls shall grow in harmony:

This is the covenant with each and with all.

Opinions on Happiness

2006-02-05T18:55:00.000-08:00

Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. – Albert Schweitzer

The Grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for. – Allen K. Chalmers

Happiness belongs to the self-sufficient. – Aristotle

Happiness comes when your work and words are of benefit to yourself and others. – Buddha

If only we'd stop trying to be happy we'd have a pretty good time. – Edith Wharton

The true way to render ourselves happy is to love our work and find in it our pleasure. – Francoise de Motteville

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion; If you want to be happy, practice compassion. – HH the Dalai Lama

Happiness cannot come from without. It must come from within. It is not what we see and touch or that which others do for us which makes us happy; it is that which we think and feel and do, first for the other fellow and then for ourselves. – Helen Keller

All seasons are beautiful for the person who carries happiness within. – Horace Friess

The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet. – James Oppenheim

The mind is its own place, and in itself, can make heaven of Hell, and a hell of Heaven. – John Milton

It is only possible to live happily ever after on a day to day basis. - Margaret Bonnano

The greatest part of our happiness depends on our dispositions, not our circumstances. – Martha Washington

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. – Mohandas K. Gandhi

People spend a lifetime searching for happiness; looking for peace. They chase idle dreams, addictions, religions, even other people, hoping to fill the emptiness that plagues them. The irony is the only place they ever needed to search was within. – Ramona Anderson

30 Spokes - Tao Te Ching 11

2006-02-01T20:25:00.000-08:00

Thirty spokes are joined together in a wheel,

but it is the center hole

that allows the wheel to function.

We mold clay into a pot,

but it is the emptiness inside

that makes the vessel useful.

We fashion wood for a house,

but it is the emptiness inside

that makes it livable.

We work with the substantial,

but the emptiness

is what we use.

Tao Te Ching 11

Buddha - Mind and Thought

2006-01-27T08:16:00.000-08:00

All wrong-doing arises because of mind. If mind is transformed can wrong-doing remain? Buddha

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

We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world. Buddha

All that we are is the result of what we have thought. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him. Buddha

Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others. Buddha

What we think, we become. Buddha

Tao Te Ching

2006-01-23T18:03:00.000-08:00

Love the whole world as if it were your self;

then you will truly care for all things.

Tao Te Ching 13

Embrace simplicity.

Put others first.

Desire little.

Tao Te Ching 19

The Ethic of Reciprocity

2006-01-16T08:09:00.001-08:00

"Every religion emphasizes human improvement, love, respect for others, sharing other people's suffering. On these lines every religion had more or less the same viewpoint and the same goal." The Dalai Lama

There is near unanimity of opinion among almost all religions, ethical systems and philosophies that each person should treat others in a decent manner. Almost all of these groups have passages in their holy texts, or writings of their leaders, which promote this Ethic of Reciprocity. This is the concept that we should treat others as we would wish them to treat us.

The greatest failure of organized religion is its historical inability to convince their followers that the Ethic of Reciprocity applies to all humans, not merely to fellow believers.

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Taoism: "The sage has no interest of his own, but takes the interests of the people as his own. He is kind to the kind; he is also kind to the unkind: for Virtue is kind. He is faithful to the faithful; he is also faithful to the unfaithful: for Virtue is faithful." Tao Teh Ching, Chapter 49

Ancient Egyptian: "Do for one who may do for you, that you may cause him thus to do." The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant, 109 - 110 Translated by R.B. Parkinson. The original dates to 1970 to 1640 BCE and may be the earliest version ever written.

Roman Pagan Religion: "The law imprinted on the hearts of all men is to love the members of society as themselves."

Christianity: "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” Matthew 5:43-45

Islam: "For the white to lord it over the black, the Arab over the non-Arab, the rich over the poor, the strong over the weak or men over women is out of place and wrong." Hadith of Ibn Majah

Epictetus: "What you would avoid suffering yourself, seek not to impose on others." (circa 100 CE)

Plato: "May I do to others as I would that they should do unto me." (Greece; 4th century BCE)

Socrates: "Do not do to others that which would anger you if others did it to you." (Greece; 5th century BCE)

Albert Schweitzer: "Compassion, in which all ethics must take root, can only attain its full breadth and depth if it embraces all living creatures and does not limit itself to mankind."

[excerpted from religioustolerance.org]

Are we all one family of faith?

2005-12-31T09:04:00.000-08:00

This year there has been much battling over which religion owns the Month of December for its celebrations. Stores that didn’t use the right “words” were boycotted. People on both sides were offended and hurt. Each felt that their particular brand of faith was not being properly acknowledged.

Religions worldwide observe many seasonal days of celebration during the month of December. Most are religious holy days. Many are established in some way on or around the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere.

Are we all so different that there is no hope for common ground at all?
Or, is there a shared wisdom or value that we can glean from each form of faith?

Disagreements, violence and wars survive on the fringes of faith, where the focus is on a particular group’s marginal religious constructs. These have grown to encompass each form of faith over time. The “Thou Shalt Nots” that eventually, and mistakenly, come to take the place of what the heart of the faith and the core teachings were to begin with.

In looking at the list below, I have come to believe that peace lies in each of us getting back to the basics. The need is for all of us to break free of the web of religious doctrines that have divided us. It is a dangerous diversion and has turned our focus away from the heart and soul of our spiritual obligations to our creator, our selves and each other.

Brahmanism: This is the sum of duty: Do naught unto others which would cause you pain if done to you. Mahabharata 5:1517

Christianity: All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them. Matthew 7:12

Islam: No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself. Sunnah

Buddhism: Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful. Udana Varga 5:18

Judaism: What is hateful to you, do not to your fellowmen. That is the entire Law; all the rest is commentary. Talmud, Shabbat 31:a

Confucianism: Surely it is the maxim of loving-kindness: Do not unto others that you would not have them do unto you. Analects 15:23

Pagan/Wicca: Do as you will, but harm none.

Taoism: Regard your neighbor's gain as your own gain, and your neighbor's loss as your own loss. T'ai Shag Kan Ying P'ien

Zoroastrianism: That nature alone is good which refrains from doing unto another whatsoever is not good: for itself. : Dadistan-i-dinik 94:5

"I see that sensible men and conscientious men all over the world were ofone religion." -Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882)

All is sacred, holy and divine

2005-12-31T08:19:00.000-08:00

"To the poet,
to the philosopher,
to the saint,
all things are friendly and sacred,
all events profitable,
all days holy,
all men divine." -

Ralph Waldo Emerson