Special Thoughts

From Alan...

“Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there thy hand leads me, and thy right hand holds me.” — Psalm 139:7-10

“It is never a question of belief; the only scientific attitude one can take on any subject is whether it is true. The law of gravitation worked as efficiently before Newton as after him. The cosmos would be fairly chaotic if its laws could not operate without the sanction of human belief.” — Sri Yukteswar

If... ??

If the world was perfect, it wouldn't be.

- Yogi Berra

thinking...

A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.

-William James

anti-gravitational vital force

When the anti-gravitational vital force that has an ascending flow is directly understood there follow powers of levitation, and passage over water, mud, thorny bush, etc., without coming into contact with them.

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali,
III. 39.

We are as the flute

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

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

Who are we, O Thou soul of our souls,
that we should remain in being beside thee?

We and our existences are really non-existence;
thou art the absolute Being which manifests the perishable.

We all are lions, but lions on a banner:
because of the wind they are rushing onward from moment to moment.

Their onward rush is visible, and the wind is unseen:
may that which is unseen not fail from us!

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

- Rumi

'I Am Wind, You are Fire'

O you who've gone on pilgrimage -
where are you, where, oh where?
Here, here is the Beloved!
Oh come now, come, oh come!
Your friend, he is your neighbor,
he is next to your wall -
You, erring in the desert -
what air of love is this?
If you'd see the Beloved's
form without any form -
You are the house, the master,
You are the Kaaba, you! . . .
Where is a bunch of roses,
if you would be this garden?
Where, one soul's pearly essence
when you're the Sea of God?
That's true - and yet your troubles
may turn to treasures rich -
How sad that you yourself veil
the treasure that is yours!

- Rumi 'I Am Wind, You are Fire'
Translation by Annemarie Schimmel

Remember God

Remember God so much that you are forgotten.
Let the caller and the called disappear;
Be lost in the Call.


- Rumi

What kind of tree are you?

“What is the difference? ...Truth... is of the One source. Are there not trees of oak, of ash, of pine? There are the needs of these for meeting this or that experience... Then, all will fill their place. Find not fault with any, but rather show forth as to just how good a pine, or ash, or oak, or vine thou art!”

— Edgar Cayce (reading 254-87)

Freedom is ...

Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you.

-Sartre

What is life?

"What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset."

- Crowfoot, Blackfoot Warrior and Orator

A story about a man, a bull, and a new age, by Agnes Sanford

[The following is taken from Agnes Sanford’s book “The Healing Light,” first released in 1947 and still available today in paperback (see below for purchasing options).]

A certain engineer was once surveying in a field when a bull charged his party with lowered head and thundering hoofs. There was no tree to climb. There was no fence to jump. So the engineer stood his ground, filled his mind with the love of God and projected it to the bull.

“I am God’s man and you are God’s bull,” he thought in silence. “God made both of us, and in the name of Jesus Christ I say that there is nothing but loving-kindness between us.”

The bull stopped abruptly. For a moment he looked about uncertainly, as if confused. Then he wandered off and lay down peacefully under a bush. And all that day as the men prospected in the field he grazed quietly behind them, as if he enjoyed their presence.

“Will you tell me what you did to that bull!” asked a farm boy who was holding the rod for the surveyor. “That was a mad bull if I ever saw one. Will you tell me what you did to him?” (“I can believe every story in [your] book except the one about the bull,” a lady once said to me. But the engineer was my brother, and the story is true.)

The farm boy had seen, for the first time, the working of that force that will eventually take the place of bombs and shells upon this earth. For as soon as enough people are able to use the power of love in such a way as to create thereby a perfect self-defense, wars will be outmoded. When one can obtain justice and right and friendly cooperation without money and without price, without bloodshed and without pain, it will no longer be sensible to fight for them.

“If an armed burglar broke into your house with intent to kill,” the old question goes, “what would you do? Fight him, or lie still and let him kill your wife or child?”

Silly old question. One would do neither. One would project into the burglar’s mind the love of God, by seeing him as a child of God and asking God to bless him. And if one were strong enough in faith and love, the burglar’s mind would change. He would leave the family unharmed and go away.

“But hardly anyone can do that!” the answer comes.

Obviously. For if we could, we would not need to resort to war in order to defend ourselves. And we had best learn to do it, for until we do, we must suffer. Until we know the method of love and brotherhood, our choice of weak non-resistance or self-defense is only a choice of evils.

A new age is being born. The day has come when love-power, at the command of ministers and surveyors and children and everyone, is sufficient to change hearts here and there in the world about them.

This is the beginning of a new order. It is the dawning of a new day!

Abundance

Abundance is not something we acquire. It is something we tune into.


- Wayne Dyer

I confused things with their names...

I confused things with their names: that is belief.

-Sartre

In the final analysis

• People are often unreasonable, irrational, 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 unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.
• If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.
• What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.
• If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
• The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.
• Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

---

- Written on the wall in Mother Teresa's home for children in Calcutta

It is never a question of belief

"It is never a question of belief; the only scientific attitude one can take on any subject is whether it is true. The law of gravitation worked as efficiently before Newton as after him. The cosmos would be fairly chaotic if its laws could not operate without the sanction of human belief. - Sri Yukteswar

I should starve to death.

"Swamiji, I am puzzled. Following your instruction, suppose I never asked for food, and nobody gives me any. I should starve to death."

"Die then!" This alarming counsel split the air. "Die if you must Mukunda! Never admit that you live by the power of food and not by the power of God! He who has created every form of nourishment, He who has bestowed appetite, will certainly see that His devotee is sustained! Do not imagine that rice maintains you, or that money or men support you! Could they aid if the Lord withdraws your life-breath? They are His indirect instruments merely. Is it by any skill of yours that food digests in your stomach? Use the sword of your discrimination, Mukunda! Cut through the chains of agency and perceive the Single Cause!"

Autobiography of a Yogi

The moment of death is a tremendous opportunity

The moment of death is a tremendous opportunity, if we understand clearly what is happening and have prepared well for it in life. For at the actual moment of death, the thinking ego-mind dies into the essence, and in this truth, enlightenment takes place. If we familiarize ourselves with the true nature of mind through practice while we are alive, we become more prepared for when it reveals itself spontaneously at the moment of death. Recognition then follows as naturally as a child running into its mother’s lap. Remaining in that state, we are liberated.

- Sogyal Rinpoche

Ecstatic song of finding God

Mirabai was a medieval Rujputani Indian princess who abandoned court life to seek the saints.

If by bathing daily God could be realized
Sooner would I be a whale in the deep;
If by eating roots and fruits He could be known
Gladly would I choose the form of a goat;
If the counting of rosaries uncovered Him
I would say my prayers on mammoth beads;
If bowing before stone images unveiled Hime
A flinty mountain I would humbly worship;
If by drinking milk the Lord could be imbibed
Many calves and children would know Him;
If abandoning one’s wife could summon God
Would not thousands be eunuchs?
Mirabai knows that to find the Divine One
The only indispensable is Love.

—Translated by Paramahansa Yogananda
Autobiography of a Yogi
1945

...still unprepared...

Patrul Rinpoche was a great master whose life was full of eccentric episodes that would bring the teachings to life. Instead of celebrating New Year’s Day and wishing people a “Happy New Year” like everyone else, Patrul Rinpoche used to weep. When asked why, he said that another year had gone by, and so many people had come one year closer to death, still unprepared.

... thou art there ...

“Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there thy hand leads me, and thy right hand holds me.”

Psalm 139:7-10