ENLIGHTENING ONES

A friend is someone
Who can see right through you
And still enjoy the show!
<><>
It is the duty of the student
To have the wisdom to be prudent.
If smarter than the teacher, tact
Demands that he conceal the fact.
<><>
The hereafter is here now!
It's just a question of what we're here after.
<><>
The Zen master told me to do the opposite of what he
told me to, but I refused.
<><>
While one hesitates because he feels inferior,
Another is making mistakes
And becoming superior.
<><>
One evening in an excess of humility and grief I cried,
"Have mercy on me Lord, of sinners I am chief."
My Guardian Angel bent his head and whispered me behind;
"All vanity, my little man, you're nothing of the kind!"
<><>
Three great paradoxes:-
-The voice of silence.
-The companionship of solitude.
-The blessing of a curse.

"Sunrise, a new synthesis
Drawing together the strands of creation.
Converging under the banner of Christ..
It is happening, inevitable,
trickling like a rising tide; drawing many necessities.
Many are draped in life's trivia.
We will sail singing - with the storm of His coming -
Awakening - Humanity becoming alive.
The birth of living Earth.
William Blake.

STORMS

When the "storms of life"
Gather darkly ahead,
I think of these words
I awhile ago read.

And I say to myself
As "threatening clouds" hover,
Don't "fold up your wings"
And "run for cover."

But like the eagle,
"Spread wide your wings"
And "soar far above"
The troubles life brings.

For the eagle knows
That the higher he flies,
The more tranquil and brighter
Become the skies.

And there is nothing in life
God ever asks us to bear
That we can't soar above
"On the wings of prayer."

And in looking back over
The "storm we passed through,"
We'll find we gained strength
And new courage, too.

For in facing "life's storms"
With an eagle's wings,
We can fly far above
Earth's small, petty things.

If you can wake, and know that you’ve been dreaming,
And laugh and let the dream just disappear,
And so move on to all embracing visions,
And view them now without a hint of fear;

If you can see beyond the seeming sadness,
Of worldly sorrows and their grind of pain,
And happily know what seemed to happen is now over,
And what's forgiven cannot hurt again;

If you can listen to your inner music,
And hear earth’s jarring notes for what they are,
And dare to turn the volume up and really feel it,
And hear its echo from a distant star,

If you, when work has stopped and you feel lonely,
Can let yourself fall in the empty void
And then stop every hunt for wild distraction,
And so turn off the comfort habit to avoid;

Then when the total quiet absorbs you wholly,
And there is no place else for you to go,
Expand into its ever-present moment,
And standing still; become its endless glow!
Yours is that Light and everything it shines on,
And what is more, your silence says, “I know”!

HERMETIC WISDOM

Truth is always with us - there is nothing new!
In the movement to knowing.
As above, so below.
Logarithmic proportion is the key to the entire universe.

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.
He said, "My son, the battle is between two "wolves" inside us all.
One is evil.
It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance,
self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.
The other is good.
It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence,
empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."
The grandson thought about it for a minute, and then asked his grandfather:
"Which wolf wins?"
The old Cherokee replied,
"The one you feed."

A wise woman who was travelling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream.
The next day she met another traveller who was hungry,
and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food.
The hungry traveller saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him.
She did so without hesitation. The traveller left, rejoicing in his good fortune.
He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime.
But a few days later he came back to return the stone to the wise woman.
"I've been thinking," he said, "I know how valuable the stone is,
but I give it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious.
Please give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me the stone."

One joy dispels a hundred cares.
Thousands upon thousands of rivers flow into the sea,
But the sea is never full -
And if man could turn stone into gold,
Still would his heart never be contented.
Chinese wisdom

One moment of patience
May ward off great disaster,
One moment of impatience
May ruin a whole life.
Chinese wisdom

When you see a worthy person,
Endeavor to emulate him.
When you see an unworthy person,
Then examine your inner self!
Confucius

He who is really kind
Can never be unhappy;
He who is really wise
Can never be confused;
He who is really brave
Is never afraid.
Confucius

He who understands others is learned.
He who knows himself is wise.
He who subdues himself is strong.
He who is content is wealthy,
And he who does not lose his soul will endure.
Lao-Tse

Kindness is words creates confidence,
Kindness in thinking creates profoundness,
And kindness in giving creates love.
Lao-Tse.

Once the game is over,
The king and pawn
Go in the same box.
Old Italian proverb

   “We have talked about the startle of daily life, how it is not the reality, but the dream life that you see. For when you are plunged into the sea of sensuous existence, your true life leaves you like smoke. It evaporates into the stuff of dreams; it is hard to hold yourself to yourself. Let us try to understand the deep meaning of atonement, at-one-ment.
   Your past experiences are past indeed; those strains and emotions of sensuous life are gone and what has remained is the temple of your own building, that edifice not built by hands.
   The reality of you is in the invisible, the intangible. In retrospect your spiritual milestones stand stronger to you in their fixed position than any outward experience. Having arrived at this understanding try now, quietly, gently, without too much effort of self-discipline, to keep in the invisible, train yourself to keep immaterial. Watching and praying are essential.
   When hard pressed by old habits and you are under the heavy blanketings of times and events, you, as it were, disappear. This is the moment to step back into the invisible, for then the invisible will enfold you and give you great power in the visible world.
   Acquire new habits; I cannot tell you how, I can only try to awaken your desire. If your desire is to be in the presence of the infinite omniscient Spirit it must mean that you lay down your sensuous material life that you may find strength and happiness, beauty and knowledge, by being in holy communion with the Spirit within.
   Do not misunderstand me in this; play is good, is necessary and normal; pleasures are important; the question is - what does your mind feed upon? What is your scale of values? To meet this Spirit within, which is invisible to the human life, you must acquire a quality and a technique in dwelling in the invisible while in the visible.
   You know, you sense, as does the race in spite of its trial and error existence, that there are forces beyond our understanding. As you become stronger in your realization of this immortality within you, the clearer will the way be revealed to you . . . how to keep yourself dissolved and refined in the betraying, impinging, benumbing, outer visible world that you may find yourself strong and serene while in the flesh.
   See your true self as a high mountain, calm and lofty, still and eternal. The daily task, the mean, the malicious, the challenging, the seeming meaninglessness of this little, measured existence - see through them all while you are in them, to the lofty pinnacle of your inner self.
   Nothing here has scale; limitless, infinite, transcendent. Now that you know, now that you begin to realize your godhood, take measures to keep invisible in a visible world, immortal in a mortal world, eternal in a changing world, continually reborn in a dying world.” M. Strong

1. “Whither are you carried, O Men, drunken with drinking strong Wine of Ignorance? Which seeing you cannot bear, why do you vomit it up again?
2. Stand, and be sober and look up again with the Eyes of your heart, and if you cannot all do so, yet do so many as you can.
3. For the malice of Ignorance surroundeth all the Earth, and corrupteth the Soul, shut up in the Body, not suffering it to arrive at the Havens of Salvation.
4. Suffer not yourselves to be carried with the Great Stream, but stem the tide you that can lay hold of the Haven of Safety, and make your full course towards it.
5. Seek one that may lead you by the hand, and conduct you to the door of Truth and Knowledge, where the clear Light is that is pure from Darkness, where there is not one drunken, but all are sober, and in their heart look up to him, whose pleasure it is to be seen.
6. For he cannot be heard with ears, nor seen with eyes, nor expressed in words; but only in mind and heart.
7. But first thou must tear to pieces, and break through the garment thou wearest, the web of Ignorance; the foundation of all Mischief; the bond of Corruption; the dark Coverture; the living Death; the sensible Carcass; the Sepulchre, carried about with us; the domestical Thief, which in what he loves us, hates us, envies us.
8. Such is the inebriated stupor of Apparel, wherewith thou are clothed, which draws and pulls thee downward by its own self, lest looking upward and seeing the beauty of Truth, and the Good that is reposed therein, thou shouldst hate the wickedness of this Garment and understand the traps and ambushes which it hath laid for thee.
9. Therefore doth it labour to make good those things that seem, and are by the senses, judged and determined; and the things that are truly, it hides, and envelopeth in much matter, filling what it presents unto thee, with hateful pleasure, that thou canst neither hear what thou shouldst hear, nor see what thou shouldst see.”

   A wise woman who was travelling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another traveller who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveller saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him.
    She did so without hesitation. The traveller left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime. But a few days later he came back to return the stone to the wise woman.
    "I've been thinking," he said, "I know how valuable the stone is, but I give it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious. Could you give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me the stone?"

   A Native American grandfather was talking to his grandson about ego and Great Spirit.
    He said, "It feels as if I have two wolves fighting in my mind. One wolf is the vengeful, angry, violent one. The other wolf is the loving, compassionate one."
    The grandson asked him, "Which wolf will win the fight in your mind?"
    The grandfather answered, "The one I feed."

I've learned.... That the best classroom in the world is at the feet of an elderly person.
I've learned.... That when you're in love, it shows.
I've learned.... That just one person saying to me, "You've made my day!" makes my day.
I've learned.... That having a child fall asleep in your arms is one of the most peaceful feelings in the world.
I've learned.... That being kind is more important than being right.
I've learned.... That you should never say no to a gift from a child.
I've learned.... That I can always pray for someone when I don't have the strength to help him in some other way.
I've learned.... That no matter how serious your life requires you to be, everyone needs a friend to act goofy with.
I've learned.... That sometimes all a person needs is a hand to hold and a heart to understand.
I've learned.... That simple walks with my father around the block on summer nights when I was a child did wonders for me as an adult.
I've learned.... That life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes.
I've learned.... That we should be glad God doesn't give us everything we ask for.
I've learned.... That money doesn't buy class.
I've learned.... That it's those small daily happenings that make life so spectacular.
I've learned... That under everyone's hard shell is someone who wants to be appreciated and loved.
I've learned.... That the Lord didn't do it all in one day. What makes me think I can?
I've learned.... That to ignore the facts does not change the facts.
I've learned.... That when you plan to get even with someone, you are only letting that person continue to hurt you.
I've learned.... That love, not time, heals all wounds.
I've learned.... That the easiest way for me to grow as a person is to surround myself with people smarter than I am.
I've learned.... That everyone you meet deserves to be greeted with a smile.
I've learned.... That there's nothing sweeter than sleeping with your babies and feeling their breath on your cheeks.
I've learned.... That no one is perfect until you fall in love with them.
I've learned.... That life is tough, but I'm tougher.
I've learned.... That opportunities are never lost; someone will take the ones you miss.
I've learned.... That when you harbour bitterness, happiness will dock elsewhere.
I've learned.... That I wish I could have told my Dad that I love him one more time before he passed away.
I've learned.... That one should keep his words both soft and tender, because tomorrow he may have to eat them.
I've learned.... That a smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks.
I've learned.... That I can't choose how I feel, but I can choose what I do about it.
I've learned.... That when your newly born grandchild holds your little finger in his little fist, that you're hooked for life.
I've learned.... That everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you're climbing it.
I've learned ... That it is best to give advice in only two circumstances; when it is requested and when it is a life threatening situation.
I've learned.... That the less time I have to work with, the more things I get done.

A man who had two sons who were habitually quarrelling,
left in his will to one son the task of dividing his estate into two equal halves,
and to the other the choice of which he'd have!

-“Strive to bring back the god in yourselves to the Divine in the universe.” Last words of Plotinus 205-270 AD
-“While we are in sight of, we are not one with, what we see. While we notice anything we are not one with it. Where there is no more than one, no more than one is seen: God is not seen except in blindness, not known except by ignorance, not understood except by fools.” Meister Eckhart
-“Thou hast created us for Thyself, and our heart is restless till it rest in Thee.” Confessions; i. 1
-“Thou wert more inward to me than my most inward part, and higher than my highest.” Confessions; iii, 11
-“He truly is, because He is unchangeable.” St. Augustine AD 354-430
-“God who is the cause of them all is none of the things we can understand................. He is none of the things that have no being, none of the things that have being. None of the things that are known know him for what he is.” Dionysius the Areopagite Mystical Theologia ca. AD 5th Cent.
-"I will give you what no man has seen, what no ear has heard, what no hand has touched, what has not arisen in the human heart.” Jesus, Gospel of Thomas v. 17
-“Split a piece of wood, I am there. Lift up the stone and you will find me there.” Jesus, Gospel of Thomas v. 77
-“If a man wishes to be sure of the road he treads on, he must close his eyes and walk in the dark.” St. John of the Cross, The Dark Night of the Soul
- “The shallowest still water is unfathomable.” Thoreau
-“Courage also slays dizziness at the edge of abysses: and where does man not stand at the edge of abysses? Is not seeing always---seeing abysses?” Nietzsche Zarathustra 269
-“In the beginning of Heaven and Earth - there were no words.” Lao Tzu
-“If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. Moving, be like water. Still, be like a mirror. Respond like an echo.” Kuan Yin, from the Lieh Tzu
-“The constant principle of Heaven and Earth is that their mind is in all things yet they have no mind of their own. The constant principle of the sage is that his feelings are in accord with all creation, and yet he has no feelings of his own.” Ch'eng Hao 1032-1085.
-“Without stirring abroad one can know the whole world. Without looking out of the window one can see the way of heaven. The further one goes the less one knows. Therefore the sage knows without having to stir, identifies without having to see. Accomplishes without having to act.” Tao Te Ching XLVLlI
-“Great indeed is the sublimity of the Creative, to which all beings owe their beginning and which permeates Heaven. The clouds pass and the rain does its work, and all individual beings flow into their forms.” I Ching Ch'ien, The Creative
-“When the Way prevails in the Empire, it goes where one's person goes; when the Way is eclipsed, one's person goes where the Way has gone. I have never heard of making the Way go where other people are going." Mencius ca. 320 BC
-“None of us finds his mirror in flowing water - we find it in still water. Only the still can still whatever is stilled. When men do not lose sight of what is out of sight but do lose sight of what is in plain sight, we may speak off ‘the oversight which is seeing things as they are.’ How do I know that the doer I call ‘Heaven’ is not the man? How do I know that the doer I call ‘man’ is not Heaven? In what is neither speech nor silence, may discussion find its ultimate. Chuang Tzu
-“Though we do not preach the doctrine
   Unasked the flowers bloom in spring
   They fall and scatter
   They turn to dust.
   Ikkyo
-“Truth cannot be increased or decreased;
   An instantaneous thought lasts a myriad years
   There is no here, no there
   Infinity is before your eyes.”
   From the Hsinhsinming by Sengstan, ca. AD 6th Cent.
-“The religious person is one who dies every day and is reborn every day. His mind is young, innocent, fresh. To die to your sorrow, die to your pleasure, die to the things that you hold secretly in your heart--do it--thus you will see you will not waste your life.” Krishnamurti 131
-“Let me do nothing when I have nothing to do, become untroubled in its depth of peace like the evening in the seashore when the water is silent.” Tagore 415
-“The jewel is lost in the mud, and all are seeking for it;
   Some look for it in the east, and some in the west;
   Some in the water and some amongst stones.
   But the servant Kabir has appraised it at its true value,
   And has wrapped it with care in the end of the mantle of his heart.” Kabir 75
- “Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing. And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb. And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.” Kahlil Gibran
-“Be with those who mix with God as honey blends with milk, and say,
   ‘Anything that comes and goes, rises and sets, is not what I love.’
   Else you'll be like a caravan fire left to flare itself out beside the road.” Jaluludin Rumi
-“There is a light that shines beyond all things on earth, beyond us all, beyond the heavens, beyond the highest, the very highest heavens. This is the light that shines in our heart.” Chandogya Upanishad
-“In the ocean where no shore line appears, the swimmer strives in vain.” Sheik Muslih-udin Sa'di
-"Genius does what it must but talent does what it can." Edward Bulwer-Lytton
-"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education." Einstein

A POEM
FROM MY EARLY COURSE IN MIRACLE DAYS

Whatever we’ve learned is from what we’ve been taught.
The things that made sense fitted right in the slot,
For those that didn’t, we have just not bought.
There are things external and to them we allot
Power and ability to bring what we sought.
Our fears became greater, tying us up in a knot,
Fearing losing what we’ve made – what truth is not.
Building defenses and safeguards in fear we are fraught
Arresting Love’s flow, we became trapped like a clot.
Unused, immovable, it remains there to rot.
Somewhere on this journey, we’ve lost the plot,
Believing in death and taxes as our deserved lot.
If through inherited sin we appear to be caught,
Through understanding God’s creation perhaps we aught
To learn we’re not separate, but one melting pot.
We strove, needed and wanted, many battles we’ve fought
But in the end learn we’re perfect, not one tarnished spot.
By accepting our inheritance, we can give what we’ve got.