Friday, September 30, 2011

"Even the Rich Need Love"

I read somewhere about a journalist who went to interview Mother Teresa at her orphanage in India. Arriving at the steps, the writer found a newborn wrapped in newspaper. She picked the baby up and carried it into the building. She was surprised when the nuns were so happy about her discovery. One gently took the infant from her and exclaimed joyously - "Look we have another sweetheart to nourish."As she had to wait awhile to see Mother, the writer helped with the babies, which she said was one of the most gratifying times of her life.
When Mother Teresa arrived, she graciously agreed to the interview.
And told the journalist, that "she was using her pen for loving service"
Soon after getting started, a very well dressed Indian couple with jewels,
rings adorning their expensive clothing, fingers and necks.
Interrupting and pushing aside the interviewer shoving their camera into her hands, the large wife stated loudly that they came from long away, and wanted
photos with the "Blessed Little Mother". Whereupon, she put her arms around Mother Teresa and roughly placed her between her and her turbaned husband.
The journalist was horrified, as the wife attempted to straightened the stooped shoulders of the Little Mother. "It had to hurt her", she thought, and was mystified as Mother Teresa went along with their request meekly and humbly.
After the wealthy rich couple left abruptly when a few photos were taken, the writer ask Mother Teresa - "How could you not be angry with their rude behaviour?"
Mother Teresa replied gently: "The rich need love too."
(I paraphrased this from memory, so if anyone knows the writer and more accurate quotes let me know, Merciful peace, Ron)

A Return to NowHere, the Heart

Meditation - a Return to NowHere
Mind always wandering
Gently turning back
To point of concentration
To the breath, to the feeling
To the mantra, to the Void
To the Present, To the Heart
Gently Returning All Ways!
To the ever-changing Illusion.
Turn back Gently, Lovingly!
Ra Divikar

Steve Farrell-Answering the Call by Peggy Black and the “team”:

“You are witnessing the chaos that accompanies the perfect alignment with the galaxy’s core and the anchoring of the gifts that are being offered. Let us say that your planet is moving energetically to what is being called the ‘zero point’ where everything is reset or rebooted so to speak, the beginning of enlightenment and the power of the intelligence of the heart. There is great potential here, however it remains only potential until it is willingly anchored within the heart and realized as truth.”

In your heart must well
that sympathy
which soothes away all pains from
the hearts of others.

Paramahansa Yogananda

Grief and gratitude are kindred souls,
each pointing to the beauty of what is
transient and given to us by grace.

Patricia Campbell Carlson
(Letter to a friend)(gratefulness.org)

Thursday, September 29, 2011

WELCOME MAT AT THE DOOR OF CREATIVITY


(confusion)

Confusion is the welcome mat at the door of creativity.
Michael J. Gelb(gratefulness.org)


I really appreciate this quote, as I have always hated "confusion" - always searching for clarity. Byron Katie used to tell us that "confusion is the basis of all suffering." I guess both are true, however, "hating" anything does not work, so to hear a positive spin on confusion is very helpful to me at this time. A recent business deal recently fell through throwing me into confusion which has historically led to depression to me. Great reframe - "WELCOME MAT TO CREATIVITY"! Go away depression YES!

Subodh Kumar Misra: Confusion is an effort to untie the knot. Thank you brother!
Angela Martin Diggs: The relief from the confusion is intoxicating my friend. I have fought through much confusion, not understanding if I allow it to play out the creativity will flow. Keep your mind and heart open because grander experiences await you.....Much Love and Light sent always.
Ron Alexandr: A few fly bites cannot stop a spirited horse.Mark Twain(gratefulness.org)

Monday, September 26, 2011

Simple in debt, Simple out of debt! End Wars!


HOW THESE FIGURES WERE DETERMINED

Current military” includes Dept. of Defense ($653 billion), the military portion from other departments ($150 billion), and an additional $162 billion to supplement the Budget’s misleading and vast underestimate of only $38 billion for the “war on terror.” “Past military” represents veterans’ benefits plus 80% of the interest on the debt.*
Total Outlays (Federal Funds): $2,650 billion
MILITARY: 54% and $1,449 billion
NON-MILITARY: 46% and $1,210 billion
I am a moderate vet. very proud of the military, and the support I get as a vet. However, even as a soldier, it was obvious to me and almost every other soldier I knew, that we were wasting much money and way too many soldier's lifes in Viet Nam. My dear Brother Barry, a medivac helicopter pilot, lost his life over there on Sept. 22, 1969. I am not anti-war, yet, now, like Viet Nam, we are making the same tragic mistake in Iraq and Afghanastan. There is where most of our money is going and that is the simple reason for our terrible debt crisis. Obviously, the way out of debt is to get out of those "wars", and with Prosperity Soldiers (see facebook page), we advocate taking care of our beleagured vets, by giving them similar jobs with same pay in a "peacetime" military. Especially locating homeless vets, and getting them to work or if need be medical treatment, and hopefully both! Peace & jobs! Plus, the great bonus of ending our debt. crisis.
Keenan W Robinson: Hmmmmmm Wow!
Ron Alexander: Absurd, isn't it Keenan - spending so much on war! Peace, ron



Simple - how we have gotten into such a terrible economic situation. Simple - how to get out of debt.
Today, this older affluent upper middle class gentleman made the comment: who would have thought that our country would be such a terrible economic state? I don't know how we can ever get out of it? I told him about our idea of Prosperity Soldiers - taking the soldiers out of war and putting them to work here on our infrastructure at same pay. I did not press it about ending the wars to do it, as it was obvious he was trying to blame Obama. However, thinking rationally, logically - remember that Clinton had us in black, and the bad debit started when Bush got us into two wars (borrowing much money from China). Most people do not want to hear how much we spend for the wars, but it is astronomical. Also most citizens do not want to hear that our country sends over 50% of our tax dollars to the Pentagon with only about 20% goes to the HEALTH, EDUCATION AND WELFARE of all our people. Think about what a sick situation this is - we spend more daily in the wars than we do on our Emergency situations like Hurricane Irene in TOTAL. How sick is that? By withdrawing from both wars, and reducing all the fat(plenty of it), then we could get back to the sane economics of the Clinton years. Of course, it would obviously be sane if the rich & corporations paid their fair share of taxes. By the way, I am not anti-war, I am not far left. I am pro-peace and rational practicality!
Carol Bell: Dear Ron: I read you great piece to Issac in which you mentioned that the military consumes over 50% of our budget. Hate to tell you, ole boy, it if far more than that. You see, the pie charts that show us the nation's expenses is NOT adjusted for revenue. In 2010, Social Security spent 20% but took in 24% so Social Security should not even be a piece of the pie. So let's remove Social Security and Medicare (both revenue producing programs). What happens? The remaining pieces of the pie each get bigger. I estimate that the military IN REALITY spends close to 80% of our budget.


Another look at the Fed. Budget pie - notice the relatively small pieces of the pie that go to education, health & welfare - it's a shame! And why do people vote against their economic self-interest? Fear? Question for Eugene Robinson the brilliant Pulitzer Prize winning columnist, who will be speaking at Coastal Carolina Friday Night!
Carol Bell:
Ron: what is the source of the pie chart. I need to see it more clearly. Thanks.
Ron Alexander: Hi Carol, thanks again for your comment - I think it is even more accurate...google budget pie, and you will find it. I got a frisbie several years ago with similar pie on it. It was being passed out by an activist sponsored by Ben & Jerry (ice cream) at a Democratic campaign event. I first became dismayed at the great budget divide during the Viet Nam war when I saw so much more money going to that misguided war than to health, education and welfare of all people in our country. I thought it was insane then and it is even doubly more now that our country is going broke while two wars are going on. And then you have the fat cats, like Cheney & Halliburton getting rich off these wars! ABSURD!


Carol Bell: You have touched on why the rich like war. They get richer and the children of the poor get killed.


Ron Alexander: Oh, thanks for that gruesome truth - enough to make me vomit!


Lydia Porter: Ever watched a card shark? For how long have we been told that Social sercurity is out of cash? When in fact the only reason it is low on funds is the Gov taking money out of Social security for other projects.
Ron Alexander: Rignt on - now we are hearing the same thing about the post office, which uses no tax monies, but is taxed billions by the govt. almost being run out of business unless a new bill is passed that protects the P.O.

Ron Alexander:
Shame! Middle class disappearing, poor are getting poorer due to republican policies going back a few presidents, and they are still trying to do it despite the magnificent efforts of Warren Buffet.
Poverty affects 46 million Americans – USATODAY.com
www.usatoday.com
LEESBURG, Va. – Billy Schlegel plunged from middle class into poverty in the time it took his daughter to play a soccer season...

Friday, September 23, 2011

Be Your Own Kind of Beautiful



When you're different, sometimes you don't see the millions of people who accept... you for what you are. All you notice is the person who doesn't.

~ Jodi Picoult
By: Tonnia Newberry
.

Blooming Beautifully in Adversity

Daryl Grant:
“The flower that blooms in adversity is the rarest and most beautiful of all.”― Walt Disney Company, Mulan


The Bristlecone Pine is an example of this "blooming in adversity." Earth's oldest living inhabitant "Methuselah" at 4,767 years, has lived more than a millennium longer than any other tree. Discover how these trees were found and where they live. Learn of their unique strategies for survival. The focus will be on the White-Inyo mountain range of California. Nothing else can grow in this Northern face of the White mountains with acidic soil and artic Northern winds and snow at 7,000 to 9,000 ft. high - suggest you google... I have been there and been awesomely amazed!


"Ancient Sentinels"
"The capacity of these trees to live so fantastically long may, when we come to understand it fully, perhaps serve as a guidepost on
the road to the understanding of longevity in general."

-Edmund Schulman




"Colossal Bristlecone Ghost"

Bristlecones have the ability to remain standing for centuries after death. Invasions from bacteria, fungus or insects that prey upon most plants, are unknown to the bristlecone due to their dense, highly resinous wood. The dry air common in the subalpine region can kill by desiccation, but also helps preserve the trees from rotting. When the tree eventually falls it is because the supporting roots finally decay or are undermined by erosion. This ghost is located on the northwestern limit of Schulman Grove and overlooks the snow covered Sierra Nevada to the west.





"Timberline Traveler"
"It has been said that trees are imperfect men, and seem to bemoan their imprisonment rooted in the ground. But they never seem so to me. I never saw a discontented tree. They grip the ground as though they liked it, and though fast rooted they travel about as far as we do. They go wandering forth in all directions with every wind, going and coming like ourselves, traveling with us around the sun two million miles a day, and through space heaven knows how fast and far!"


-John Muir

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Healing Power of the Void


Healing Power of the Void (Emptiness)
"Name of band" aside, "Healing comes from touching this realm of nonseparation. We discover that our fears and desires, our attempts to enhance and defend ourselves, are based on delusion, on a sense of separateness that is fundamentally untrue.
In discovering the healing power of emptiness, we sense that everything is intertwined in a continuous movement, arising in certain forms that we call bodies or thoughts or feelings, and then dissolving or changing into new forms. With this wisdom we can open to one moment after another and live in the ever changing Tao. We discover that we can let go and trust, we can let the breath breathe itself and the natural movement of life carry us with ease."
Jack Kornfield A PATH WITH HEART

Anatoly Petrenko: Buddha once said to Bahya:
In the seeing let there be just the seen,
In the hearing let there be just the heard,
In the cognizing let there be just the cognized.

Why do Republicans Hate Social Security?

Ron -

Republicans hate Social Security because it has been an extraordinary success and has done exactly what it was designed to do. It is the most successful government program in our nation's history and is enormously popular.

When Social Security was developed, 50 percent of seniors lived in poverty. Today, that number is 10 percent -- still too high, but a testament to the success of Social Security.

Republicans have spent years demonizing Social Security and spreading lies about its sustainability. They want to scare Americans and build support for making drastic cuts to the program or privatizing it entirely. Their long-term goal is to end Social Security as we know it, and convert it into a private account system which will enable Wall Street to make hundreds of billions in profits.

The truth is that, today, according to the Social Security Administration, Social Security has a $2.7 trillion surplus and can pay out every benefit owed to every eligible American for the next 25 years.

Further, because it is funded by the payroll tax and not the U.S. Treasury, Social Security has not contributed one nickel to our deficit.

Now -- in a prolonged recession that has decimated the poor and middle class and pushed more Americans into poverty than at any point in modern history -- we need to strengthen Social Security. That's why I, along with nine co-sponsors, have introduced the "Keeping Our Social Security Promises Act." This legislation would lift the Social Security Payroll tax cap on all income over $250,000 a year, would require millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share into the Social Security Trust Fund, and would extend the program for the next 75 years.

Join me now as a citizen co-sponsor of the Keeping Our Social Security Promises Act.

For 76 years, through good times and bad, Social Security has paid out every benefit owed to every eligible American. The most effective way to strengthen Social Security for the next 76 years is to scrap the payroll tax cap for those earning $250,000 a year or more.

Right now, someone who earns $106,800 pays the same amount of money into Social Security as billionaires like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. That is because today, all income above $106,800 is exempt from the Social Security tax. As a result, 94% of Americans pay Social Security tax on all of their income, but the wealthiest 6% do not.

That makes no sense.

The "Keeping Our Social Security Promises Act" will ensure the long-term solvency of Social Security without cutting benefits, raising the retirement age or raising taxes on the middle class.

Join me and Democracy for America in fighting to strengthen Social Security -- Sign on as a citizen co-sponsor of the Keeping Our Social Security Promises Act.

Social Security is keeping tens of millions of seniors out of poverty today. I can think of no more important issue facing our country today than making sure that Social Security remains strong for generations to come.

Thank you.

-Bernie

Senator Bernie Sanders
U.S. Senator from Vermont

Searching for God

I searched for God and found only myself. I searched for myself and found only God. (Sufi Proverb)..

Sad Anniversary

Vietnam Memorial --- Panel 18W - - Line 124 [8]



42 years ago today, 9/22/1969, Barry Kenneth Alexander died in Quang Tin Province, South Vietnam. He was born on 9/11/1947 in Clemson, South Carolina and had just celebrated his 22nd birthday. Barry served our nation as a helicopter pilot and died by hostile fire. A few weeks later his body was returned for burial. Seeing his coffin, draped with the United States flag, was forever etched into my memory as I started my senior year in high school.

Thanks Cuz, yes Barry was a terrific guy. He was killed in his Medivac helicopter with only 2 weeks left. The Medivacs were the most dangerous, and he volunteered to pilot them as very few percentage wanted to pilot them. He was training another pilot to take his place that day, who was the only survivor, and lived to tell the story of the booby-trapped injured soldiers, they were trying to save. I was in the army at the same time, and suffered for many years with grief and survival guilt.
Frank Howard, through his son Jimmy, gave me and two of my brothers sideline tickets for a game with Ga. Tech. at Grant Field in Atlanta. Thanks for posting this, how is your wonderful dad and daughter? I have been off Tigernet for awhile, suffering with health problems, but thanks to the underrated VA system, I think I have overcome them




Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Cosmic Cartoons





Now my meditation students have no excuse!

Now Be Here Now
‎"Every moment is made glorious by the light of LOVE." ~Rumi

Stop Beating Yourself Up - Let Go of Guilt - Laugh - Life is a Cosmic Joke

☀`*.¸.*.♥.✿´´¯`•.¸⁀°♡
Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted. ☀`*.¸.*.♥.✿´´¯`•.¸⁀°♡☀`*.¸.*.♥.✿´´¯`•.¸⁀°♡

John Lennon☀`*.¸.*.♥.✿´´¯`•.¸⁀°♡(thanks Trista Chen)




I love that quote, I can let go of alot of guilt (workalohic upbringing) when that absorbs into my psyche, thanks, ron

Forgive myself: Don't use errors as an excuse to beat yourself up. Use them as an opportunity to lift yourself up. Forgiveness is the great healer. -- Alan Cohen
(thanks Prudence-Prajna Oneness)



The economy is so bad -

I got a pre-declined credit card in the mail.
I bought a toaster, and the free gift was a bank.
Motel 6 wont leave the light on anymore.
Exxon laid off 25 congressmen.
A picture is now worth 200 words.
They renamed Wall St. WalMart St.


Nobody lives,nobody dies. Nothingness lives, nothingness dies. You are not. Have a good laugh at this situation. You are not and you exist. You are not and you are. This is the cosmic joke. Osho

Obama raised taxes on the rich and O'Reilly leaves the country! Limbaugh finally follows him, as he threatened to do if the Health Care Bill was passed.

Rebecca Moser: Laughter is good medicine...this gave me a chuckle!



Bobby Hinkle Wisdom - "Thief of Peace - notion of rewards & punishments:
You can be at peace with the passing of your body only in the "knowing" that death is merely a passageway into a higher and sweeter form of life. Something very important to grasp. And above all, abandon the notion of rewards and punishments, which, above all other religious tyrannies, is the thief of peace.


True wealth is not measured in money or status or power. It is measured in the legacy we leave behind for those we love and those we inspire.Cesar Chavez
Eulogy for Rufino Contreras, Calexico, CA, Feb. 14, 1979

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Less or More? - So Much More ...!



I am aware that I am less than some people would
prefer me to be but most people are unaware
that I am so much more than what they see.




Monday, September 19, 2011

The Perfect Poem - Progress of our Soul

The progress of our soul is like a perfect poem. It has an infinite idea which once realised makes all movements full of meaning and joy.
Rabindranath Tagore



Photo is of Einstein & Tagore - two Noble Peace Prize winners in early part of last century - they inspired each other...

‎"A person starts to live when he can live outside himself."
Albert Einstein

Anatoly Petrenko ‎Ra, I enjoy how you're connecting a trajectory of "what it means being alive?" theme here — knowing yourself as authentic being, without having to labor manufacturing two or more persona depending on the relationship or situation.
Full exposure of true nature of each: oneness, buddhanature — "living outside himself" in Einstein's words.

Ra Divakar: Thanks so much again Anatoly! Feeling the "scintillating flow of aliveness" when synapses occur between neurons contemplating loving kindness to all beings

Beautiful Flower & Love Neurons - Desire To Change Mad to Glad!



‎"Neurons that fire together wire together. You can rewire your brain for higher consciousness by focusing on love." Deepak Chopra
|stacey|
By: Inspirology..

Pamela Brown: I once had a book on diiabetes that had micro pics of stagnant pong water that was prayed over and it became fresh and clear...was amazing!!! The other jar of same water wasnt and it didnt....

Rock Ridgeway: and you can feel this happening...scintillating energy flowing through you like a wild tide...

Speaking of changing "Mad to Glad", Ron Artest, former basketball badboy, has gone so far as to change his name to Metta World Peace. Metta is a traditional Buddhist word that means loving kindness to all. "The most ballyhooed name change of the year became official Friday morning when a Los Angeles County Superior Court commissioner approved the former Ron Artest's request to become Metta World Peace."






Just as the seed rises from the darkness to seek the light, our desire is what pushes us there to become the beautiful flower we already are. It is the mechanism that perpetuates the illusion of separation and becoming. Being is nothing without becoming. Without resistance to becoming, being would not be fully understood. So is the cycle of life being expressed by the Divine into the realm of becoming One with being; something we already are. Dean Banks

Expressing negative energy blocks your channel to the manifestation of the Divine perfect order of your purpose in your life. Clear your channel of expression by cleaning out the reactive negative emotions and by learning and developing positive pro-actions. One such pro-action would be turning frustration into being thankful for the blessings others are having, even though you might not currently perceive any blessings in your life. This frees you from creating more of the same ‘lack of blessings’ experience you may perceive. Develop the habit of turning things around by remembering that God allows U-turns; we are the only ones who sometimes don’t. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Follow your Heart, However...

Real life isn't always going to be perfect
or go our way, but the recurring
acknowledgement of what is working
in our lives can help us not only to
survive but surmount our difficulties.

Sara Ban Breathnach

Ra Divakar: Reality or reality?

Ron Alexander: Yes, Ra, I see where you and Bent are coming from - what we call "reality" is not "Real". It is an illusion!





Rajeev Bhatia: So true Ron.... I agree with you 100%..... But there are times when you have to listen to your heart and disregard what your brain says....


Very succinct Truth, Rajeev! thank you!

Keenan W Robinson: You the this toi be the best advice to us all...peace Ron we got ya!
Ron Alexander: Yes, thanks Keenan and I love it that Rajeev Bhatia is from Saudi Arabia - isn't it fab. to have all this world-wide diversity as fb friends?

Lydia Porter: "Your heart knows the way , your brain keeps you alive long enough to get there."

Friday, September 16, 2011

Meditating on Emptiness, No thingness - The Void


"This room is rather bare", I said. (Andrew Harvey is talking to Drukchen Rinpoche, a Tibetan Buddhist Monk, about his room in a monastery in A JOURNEY IN LADAKH)

"I like it that way. There are many tankas and paintings in the monastery, and I suppose I could have some of them placed up here if I wanted them - but I prefer bare walls. It is good to meditate before a bare wall. You can do many different meditations. You can meditate on Emptiness...Or you can meditate on the small patches of different color in the walls, the seas and the faces in the plaster, and then you would be meditating on the variety of phenomenona that arise from the Void. You can also meditate on seeing the wall as transparent, on imagining it as having no substance - this is very hard, but it is useful because it teaches you not to believe your senses, not to trust your materialist understanding of things. Once you have learned how to discipline your perception you can change reality, your experience of reality."
The Rinpoche continues:
..."Listen to the Law. Listen to the Law that says all things are transient, all things are the moving, and dissolving figures of a dream."
I always thoughts that "no - thing - ness, the Void, Emptiness" was a nihilistic belief, however now meditating Buddhas' Vipassana way, I realize that this is the same as "Stillness" as depicted by Eckhart Tolle. It is a place of vibrantly alive blissful peace (beyond understanding) and the realization of Oneness, peace&Happiness, ron
Loving Unity: It is the FULLNESS...contains all of reality in marvelous forms of light, but not of matter, of Spirit I AM.
Anatoly Petrenko: A wonderful pointer to practice of being aware in the moment. Being aware without constructing reality and "self" that arises in relationship to an artifact of "reality".
There's an opportunity to release this grasping and abide in the ground nature of mind — Dzogchen rigpa, going about everyday life and being an illusory type of person. Not deluded but free from attachment to illusory, non-existent idea of self — ego, void of conceptual limits yet guided by wisdom of ethics.
The outcome of such breakthrough is a profound happiness independent from any external object, an experience of transformative vipassana insight.
I think Ron used the term Oneness here very skillfully.
Ah, Ah, Ah!
Ra Divakar: Loving Unity (Yes I do), I really like "Light, but not of matter". The Dalia Lama (he loves science) in THE UNIVERSE IN A SINGLE ATOM calls it Space/Spirit & that a single atom contains as much Space as the Universe in terms of relativity. That means we are made up of 99.9% Light Peace Spirit! Isn't it WONDER FULL!? Thanks again for your WISDOM, Anatoly.
Ron Alexander !
‎"Light, Spirit, Source, Stillness, Peace, Love" are all great words for the Space that Buddha called "Emptiness"! thanks
.Jeanne Porter Ashley: ‎"We are made of star stuff" Dan Dexter, from Cosmic Spirituality

Awesome = "star stuff in Space" - scientifcally proven I am surel..thanksl!

Bold or in-between plus When impossible to be Silent!

The future has many names.
For the weak it is unattainable.
For the fearful it is the unknown.
For the bold it is opportunity.
Victor Hugo
Mine is somewhere between the unknown(love mystery) & opportunity (joyous expectations), peace&happiness, ron

Another profound Victor Hugo quote thanks to Jeanee Bourque : "Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent." ~ Victor Hugo

Arlo Guthrie/Alice's Restaurant


A friend of mine, Ken, used to belong to a big commune near there, so I asked him if he had ever run into Arlo Guthrie. He told me that not only that, but that he had also been arrested on a trivial charge by Officer Obie, and that the Restaurant has reverted back to a church subtitled "Bring your own God!" peace&happiness, ron

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

by Samuel Taylor Coleridge


In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree :
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round :
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree ;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.

But oh ! that deep romantic chasm which slanted
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover !
A savage place ! as holy and enchanted
As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted
By woman wailing for her demon-lover !
And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
A mighty fountain momently was forced :
Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail :
And 'mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
It flung up momently the sacred river.
Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean :
And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
Ancestral voices prophesying war !
The shadow of the dome of pleasure
Floated midway on the waves ;
Where was heard the mingled measure
From the fountain and the caves.
It was a miracle of rare device,
A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice !

A damsel with a dulcimer
In a vision once I saw :
It was an Abyssinian maid,
And on her dulcimer she played,
Singing of Mount Abora.
Could I revive within me
Her symphony and song,
To such a deep delight 'twould win me,
That with music loud and long,
I would build that dome in air,
That sunny dome ! those caves of ice !
And all who heard should see them there,
And all should cry, Beware ! Beware !
His flashing eyes, his floating hair !
Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on honey-dew hath fed,
And drunk the milk of Paradise.


Wednesday, September 14, 2011

True Love is Eternal

The new female and the new male
are partners on a journey of spiritual growth.
They want to make the journey.
Their love and trust keep them together.
Their intuition guides them. They consult with each other.
They are friends. They laugh a lot. They are equals.

That is what a spiritual partnership is:
a partnership between equals
for the purpose of spiritual growth.”

― Gary Zukav, Soul Stories
Eventually, you will come to understand
that love heals everything,
and love is all there is.


“It is impossible to fall out of love. Love is such a powerful emotion, that once it envelops you it does not depart. True love is eternal. If you think that you were once in love, but fell out of it, then it wasn't love you were in. There are no 'exit' signs in love, there is only an 'on' ramp.

“The worst thing you can do for love is deny it; so when you find that special someone, don't let anyone or anything to get in your way."

“Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.”

Keenan W Robinson:
The Art of living Love..... a course for all humanity.....♥

Love Ego - It has a Job to Do!

Love your ego for what it is and for the great job it has done to keep you alive and bring to this point. Don't fight it; embrace it and love it. Teach it that your spirit is in command and that it must back down when instructed by the guidance from God. Utilize checks and balances to keep it in its place. It has a job to do; your survival. When you deny that, it will retaliate at the most inappropriate moment to teach you a lesson. Love it for what it's worth. ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.

Buffy Per Sempre: I like this a lot Dean. Ego has kinda been given a bad rap - since we all have one. I've tried everything to deal with my ego and LOVE works best. ღ
Ron Alexander: Thanks Dr. Dean, it is better to have a healthy balanced ego than to have a weak one (feeling less than, guilt, shame, fear, etc.) and to be aware of our "earth guide" (Gary Zukav) is the key!

.Manoj Kumar ‎:-). thanks dean. it is only with ego that egoless state can manifest. kind regards.
Pankaj Saini: Lovely sharing...When Love comes in beween :) God is there in Between....thanks Dean for sharing....
Carlos Ortas: Embrace everything with Love, even ego. Then it feels protected, safe, and expands...until it is...Love. ♥
Ron Alexander: Anything or anyone we consider separate, including our ego or manmade artifacts, is placing us squarely in duality. There is no evil, satan or hell, unless manmade by dualistic thinking. "God did not make any junk." and God (Love) is omniscient, omnipresent &nd omnipotent. Thanks for the enlightening dialogue Richard & Rita!
► Reply by Rita O'Gorman 10 hours ago
Ron, yes and yes...and here is the contradiction I was brought up with. That while God was omnipresent, it was possible for him to not be within me, or that he might leave me, or that I could lose him. Where could he go? Where is this place that he is not? And, this teaching of the separation from God is anti-Christ in as much as it opposite unity. When I consider how all encompassing love is, I can feel his embrace and I have to shed some tears of joy.

I have a friend who is going through a hell all her own. Her family is being torn apart, she is laden with guilt and battling breast cancer. She ask me if I thought she had given up on God. I told her, with all confidence, that God has not given her up and wasn't leaving her. He has no where to go cause there is nothing outside of him.

The thing is, we must avoid attachments if we are to fully avoid duality. Attachments come when we do something for an anticipated future benefit, rather than for its own sake. Why? Because we're attached to the outcome and fruits of our labor (which is karmic) instead of remaining focused on what we are doing in the present moment (where Paradise lies, hidden from all but the innocent and pure). Now, I'm not saying that everything we do or make in ordinary reality is done for future benefit, but the main thing that separates the man-made and natural worlds is that so many of our activities in civilization focus on future benefits - and even worse, punishment and guilt over past deeds - whereas in Nature (which is Divine creation), our true being and spirit can manifest, enabling us to transcend the realm of dependency and karma, because we don't need anything beyond what already exists.
Ron Alexander:"The thing is, we must avoid attachments if we are to fully avoid duality." Good point Richard!
Excellent in fact, how do we avoid "attachments" ? The only way I can think of is doing alot of meditation and observing the negative (& positive) attachments and keeping the middle road.
Not fighting them or trying to transform the negative to the positive - just being aware and watching them pass. Nothing is permanent, everything passes, and knowing that all is illusion can we heal from the feeling of separateness that is the basis of all of our troubles. Be as One! Meditate and live in aware Mindfulness! Thanks for the dialogue, dear Richard
!


Gary Zukav quotes:


“Eventually, you will come to understand that love heals everything, and love is all there is.”
― Gary Zukav
“Nonsense is that which does not fit into the prearranged patterns which we have superimposed on reality...Nonsense is nonsense only when we have not yet found that point of view from which it makes sense.”
― Gary Zukav “Reality is what we take to be true.
What we take to be true is what we believe.
What we believe is based upon our perceptions.
What we perceive depends upon what we look for.
What we look for depends upon what we think.
What we think depends upon what we perceive.
What we perceive determines what we believe.
What we believe determines what we take to be true.
What we take to be true is our reality.”
― Gary Zukav, Dancing Wu Li Masters: An Overview of the New Physics
“If you want to have the kind of relationship that your heart yearns for, you have to create it. You can't depend on somebody else creating it for you.”
― Gary Zukav
“For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. You receive from the world what you give to the world.”
― Gary Zukav, The Seat of the Soul
“Humbleness, forgiveness, clarity and love are the dynamics of freedom. They are the foundations of authentic power.”
― Gary Zukav
“Trust allows you to give. Giving is abundant. As you give so it shall be given to you. If you give with judgment, limitation and stinginess, that is what you will create in your life - judgment, limitation, and stinginess.”
― Gary Zukav
“An authentically powered person lives in love. Love is the energy of the soul. Love is what heals the personality. There is nothing that cannot be healed by love. There is nothing but love.”
― Gary Zukav “When the deepest part of you becomes engaged in what you are doing, when your activities and actions become gratifying and purposeful, when what you do serves both yourself and others, when you do not tire within but seek the sweet satisfaction of your life and your work, you are doing what you were meant to be doing.”
“Spiritual Partnership
... The new female and the new male
are partners on a journey of spiritual growth.
They want to make the journey.
Their love and trust keep them together.
Their intuition guides them. They consult with each other.
They are friends. They laugh a lot. They are equals.

That is what a spiritual partnership is:
a partnership between equals
for the purpose of spiritual growth.”
― Gary Zukav, Soul Stories “Eventually, you will come to understand
that love heals everything,
and love is all there is.

The journey may take many lifetimes,
but you will complete it.
It is impossible not to complete it.
It is not a question of if but of when.

Every situation you create
serves this purpose.

Every experience you encounter
serves this purpose.”
― Gary Zukav “What is nonsense, and what is not, then, may be merely a matter of perspective.”
― Gary Zukav
“There is no difference between acute schizophrenia and a world at war.”
― Gary Zukav “Acceptance without proof is the fundamental characteristic of Western religion, rejection without proof is the fundamental characteristic of Western science. ”
― Gary Zukav
“When you have an emotional reaction to what you see, you are judging. That is your signal that you have an issue inside of yourself - with yourself - not with the other person. If you react to evil, look inside yourself for the very thing that so agitates you, and you will find it. If it were not there, you will simply discern, act appropriately, and move on.”
― Gary Zukav, Soul to Soul: Communications from the Heart
“The first man to see an illusion by which men have flourished for centuries surely stands in a lonely place.”
― Gary Zukav

Vipassana as taught by Michelle

Michele McDonald, who has been teaching vipassana meditation for thirty years, co-founded Vipassana Hawai’i and was the first woman to teach a formal retreat in Burma (with Sayadaw U Lakkhana, Abbot of Kyaswa Monastery). Although she’s been busy lately holding retreats for both her novice and more experienced students, Tricycle had the chance to chat with her via email about prac...tice, teaching, and her CD “Awake at the Wheel: Mindful Driving,” which presents vipassana meditation instructions for drivers. Tricycle’s very own Web Editor, Philip Ryan, tried it out a few months ago while on a trip to visit the Venerable Bhikku Bodhi, which you can read about here. Personally I’ve never been in the oh-so-perfect circumstance of listening to a mindfulness CD while on my way to a monastery, but I did almost hit a jogger yesterday while driving to my town’s train station, which seems like just as good of a reason to give it a listen. It’s available for purchase here.

After thirty years of teaching vipassana meditation, what inspires you to keep doing it? Mostly I’m inspired by my own love of, and deep faith in, the liberating power of vipassana practice. It doesn't feel like a career that I'll ever retire from. More like a deep calling, it feels like what I've always done. It feels timeless.

Even if all the same people were all to return year after year to the same retreat, it could never, ever be the same. We never experience the same moment twice. All of us are ever unfolding from our depth, and the newness and beauty of it make it an entirely new and awesome experience for us each and every time. Every moment that passes we are different because we are alive. This true teaching is timeless. It's a student's depth and goodness that continuously draws me into being present for them. And in turn it calls up my own depth and goodness, experienced as if for the first time. It's just the way it is.

I think the ability to access the timelessness of this wisdom develops the more we understand on the deeper level there is "no-me", "no-you", "no-bodies", "no-thoughts." It's not "my" greed or "your" greed—it's simply greed. Greed is the mind that's attached. It is the mind that believes it can control so much of what we actually can’t control. It doesn't matter if the greed feels like it's yours or mine. When you start to get it, how this impersonal but self-centered and so often destructive kind of greed overpowers us—we understand that we don't have to act upon it. The growing need to understand this is very powerful and liberating. It's sweet to have a healthy desire to not get caught up in this stuff in order to have a better world.

It's pretty simple. Mindfulness is like offering people pure spring water in the desert. When mindfulness is present, when greed, hatred and delusion are absent, there is true non-violence. There is peace. And helping to end greed, hatred, and delusion inside oneself or for others turns out to be the same process. To know that the source of this peace is available at any time for us is deeply inspiring and joyful.

Also what's fun for me is it doesn't depend on age at all. I recently came from teaching a teen retreat on our land in Hawai’i. At the end of the retreat, one teen said to me, "Thanks for making me feel like I have the right to know the truth." We do have the right to understand what non-violence really means, beyond just being a good idea. And to actually go through a process of undertaking that discipline—the joy and hardship of it—to stick it out five, ten, forty years is the art of life and this is why I teach.

What’s a piece of advice that you could give to beginner vipassana practitioners? Any worthy endeavor in life takes a lot of dedication, good training, patience, and humor! Do the best you can to hold yourself capable for being in your life fully—with as much kindness and care as you can. Mindfulness gives us courage. You can move through deeply buried layers of fear, anger, or greed to find a more refined awareness infused with beauty and peace.

Investigate with true interest why you are looking into your own experience in this very moment, and in each unfurling moment, with a meditative presence. How does it make you feel? Is it a helpful use of your attention and interest? If you find anything at all beneficial about being in the present moment, feeling and hanging out with your own experience rather than just thinking about it, with patience—that interest and investigation will be present more and more. A wonderful kind of commitment comes from being able to be genuinely interested. It's like a genuine interest in a friend or in someone difficult, or an interest in being angry rather than getting overwhelmed in the thoughts about the anger and acting it out, or in sexual attraction. It takes this kind of committed attention to be with your experience rather than be oppressed by it. It's such a wonderful shift in being alive when you start getting that taste of liberation—when you start being with your whole body, mind, and heart, rather than simply believing your thoughts about experiences.

For example, say you work all day and you come home and your partner doesn't cook dinner like you expected. Your expectations have not been met. It's much easier to get caught up in what we wanted to have happen rather than be interested in what is happening. If we get over just believing the thought about the experience and we have an interest in our own expectation and don't buy into it, then we can be interested in the other person, and have a genuine connection in that moment. Only then can you work out whatever is needed in that connection, rather than being disconnected, believing in your expectations, shutting down, and not getting anything done. When you can actually stop the knee-jerk reaction and get interested in what's really going on, then you can connect. It's the cause for true connection—there's no real relationship without it. Otherwise it's just a projection of our fantasies, of how we want it to be. We all know this, but it's important to have a practice to help us figure out how to actually shift and to develop a discerning wisdom from your own experience, not just from what we've been told.

Why did you decide to teach vipassana meditation through driving—and not another activity—in your CD “Awake at the Wheel: Mindful Driving”? There were three reasons: I meet a lot of stressed out taxi drivers in city traffic jams while traveling to teach. One taxi driver asked me a lot of questions about meditation and he didn’t think it was possible to be aware in the present moment while driving. Most people have no training or practice in what mindfulness actually is. He not only learned how to be mindful while driving, he was profoundly grateful that he could access this ease of well being in such a difficult work environment and that he could keep practicing this while working. I learned from him that it is fun and challenging to train people to be mindful while driving. I felt so inspired by his willingness to learn.

I see so many people on their phones in the car, Bluetooth or not, or texting, eating, or putting make-up on—never mind whatever else might be going on in their heads! Most of us act out the urge to get more and more done in the car, instead of attending to what is really happening as we drive. I realized that mindfulness while driving is a training that we all can learn and practice. We spend so much time in our cars. It is such a rich time to learn and practice mindfulness! Because so many of us drive everyday, it can be a habitual, automatic, half-attended endeavor or it can be an opportunity to be really present and engaged with what's happening. Besides, driving is NOT something you do between times of being awake. It's actually a very good time to be awake. Yet we need encouragement and tools. That is what the CD is about.

I also was in a car accident some years ago in Honolulu, hit by someone who admitted that he was talking with his girlfriend and wasn't paying attention to driving. The speed we travel can dramatically heighten the consequences of inattention. These intense karmic consequences of the responsibility that goes with driving, the stress on each other's lives of car accidents, or even the stress of driving without the tools that come with mindfulness training, also motivated making Awake at the Wheel.

The website of Vipassana Hawai'i mentions that you like to help individuals “find entry points into stillness.” How can driving, where one is constantly moving, be one of those entry points? An "entry point into stillness" is simply a moment of knowing experience in the ever-changing stream of experience, in which mindfulness of present-time activity becomes framed, or a focus of attention. We all discover which kinds of knowings are easiest for us to be mindful of. That is different and unique for everyone. When driving, for example, we can train our attention with moments of knowing we are hearing, with knowing the body sensations happening with our hands touching the steering wheel, or the body sensations of sitting in the car. We find a sense-door that is easiest to be with in the present moment, and then apply that ease to all of our present moments.

What I mean by stillness is Samadhi: body/mind unification, or collectedness. The mind not distracted is present with things as they are. Sensations, sights, sounds, thoughts, mental moods, all of these phenomena are happening in the present, continually arising and disappearing. An entry point into stillness is a moment where the mind is not drifting or distracted with the constantly changing nature all around. It doesn't matter if you're driving on the freeway or sitting in a cave. This is a Samadhi that is alive and not fixed. The awareness is settled back and with the stream of life as it is changing, not absorbed in or lost in what is happening.

Often we are told in vipassana meditation not to “conceptualize” our experience—is it possible to do that while we are driving? Non-conceptual awareness means you're not engaging the meaning as the primary reality. You notice seeing and notice red, but wouldn't necessarily conceptualize the meaning that you should stop. But mindfulness is designed to give you options, freedom whether in conceptual or non-conceptual reality. So when you're driving you want to be fully in the conceptual world, of course. There are two aspects of mindfulness called ‘clear comprehension of purpose,’ and ‘clear comprehension of suitability’—in this case you need both of these to be operating really well. They help us to be mindful and clear in what we are doing (purpose) and to respond skillfully and be flexible to change (suitability). Mindfulness is able to adapt to both the conceptual and non-conceptual world. Say you're driving and you see a red light, the mindfulness will help you notice seeing, see the red light more quickly, and to brake. Your response times are going to be quicker and will allow you to assess any dangers on the road and respond more intelligently and spaciously. The wisdom-intelligence ends up being applied, no matter what's happening.

And say you're in a traffic jam…you'll be able to slow down and enjoy where you are instead of worrying you need to get somewhere. Mindfulness allows you to live on many different dimensions of reality, but when, through clear comprehension of purpose and suitability, you know you need to be on the conceptual level, it will give you much more capacity to be so, because you are able to attend to the moment clearly without being so affected by it.

Does Awake at the Wheel include any tips for city-dwellers who more often take public transport than drive? Yes, it is a matter of simply shifting from being in the driver's seat to being a passenger. It will be easier as one is less responsible for the safety of everyone on the road. It will be the same engaged mindfulness interacting more with externally changing conditions to more internalized attention, sensations, thoughts, feelings, sounds and visual sights arising from the experience of being transported. You get to just enjoy the ride.

This interview was originally published on the Tricycle blog.

she sounds like a wonderful teacher of mindfulness, however I do not see her as teaching the depth of Vipassana as we learn from Goenka (Buddha). Thanks, though, I will keep a copy of her bio. in my documents.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Morgan 30 on Charlotte Harbor



Sailing look scary?

Nothing in life is to be feared,
it is only to be understood.
Now is the time to understand more,
so that we may fear less.

Madame Marie Curie
(gratefulness.org)

Reflecting on Sailing Again (A Different Attitude)

An ad - "1968 30ft. Morgan Sloop - Best Offer"
Hmm, one of my favorite boats was a 46 ft. Morgan
Called the number - a deeply resonate Australian accent
"Thinking about going on a walk-about,
Leave me your number, chap!"
Arranged a time to go see his boat.
Asked if he ever did radio with his voice.
"I used to be the voice for Outback Restaurants, Mate.
Gotta get rid of this boat, I am getting too old
And wifey is doing well in Conway, where we are
expanding her business."
I had left a message
for him not to call me back unless the Morgan
had an inboard diesel engine and that both
were in good shape. They both were - his Universal
Motor (from a tractor manufacture, now probably defunct)
was shiny and had that pleasing clickety diesel sound.
The boat was worn, needed some work, but basically in
good shape. It had the shapely sea-worthy looking lines
that were in my 46 foot "Beaudacious". A easy to handle
easy rig, however he admits that he is weary of a tiller
to steer by than a wheel. Admittedly, that gives me
some reservations, as all three of my boats had a steering
wheel also. Ah well, if the price is right, possibly I can
convert the steering mechanism?
Inside the main salon, galley, refrig, and foc'sle were
comfortably appointed with a small air conditioner in
forward hatch. Worn, needing some repairs like my body,
this sail boat was servicable.
That was a few days ago, and I have not called the thin
silver haired walrus mustachoied owner back yet.
However, I am seriously thinking of calling him today.
I don't see this sailing vessel as a "chick-magnet" like
my other boats, but as a meditator's cave for retreat, for
silence, simplicity and solitude. Like a cave, there I will
be closer to nature with expansive views.
I will not be cruising as much, and when sailing, it will be
shorter distances and longer stays.
However, the most important feeling I revisit when I think
of purchasing this sloop, is one of Freedom!

Monday, September 12, 2011

Bow Before Children

Keep me away from
the wisdom which does not cry,
the philosophy which does not laugh
and the greatness which does
not bow before children.

Kahlil Gibran


Peace & Healing in Memory of 9-11! - A Magnificent Interfaith Gathering


Nation pays tribute: Lowcountry honors fallen

A sign at the parking booth at Patriots Point on Sunday morning said "Never Forget."

That was the watchword around the Lowcountry, as it was across America. Hundreds in the Charleston area gathered to remember those who died on Sept. 11, 2001, or in the wars that followed.

At Patriots Point in Mount

Pleasant, more than 500 people boarded the aircraft carrier Yorktown for a ceremony that included the reading of 9,168 names, including nearly 3,000 who died on 9/11 and more than 6,000 killed in Iraq and Afghanistan since then.

In downtown Charleston, an Interfaith Gathering for Peace filled the Sottile Theatre.


Jeanne Porter Ashley:
Interfaith gathering for Peace in Charleston was beyond belief. Well done, all.
Ron Alexander: The 9-11Memorial interfaith service at the Sottille was magnificent - many different religions including Paganism & Secular Humanists. My fav. messages were from B'ahia & Unitarian Universalists. Two great drumming groups - Buddhist & African Americans (with dancers), great singers - groups and solists - Unity of Charleston & Coastal Interfaith did an awesome job of putting this all together!
Jeanne Porter Ashley: It was almost a full house, too....Charleston turned out to apply the balm called PEACE to the wound that is 9/11. Much metta!..it was beautiful and engaging from the start. My eyes were wet the entire time from the emotions -- and we were clapping and dancing at our seats with the musical acts. The theatre is amazing, too. Must have had about 1000 people in attendance. It was all about Peace, Peace, Peace! ♥
Ron Alexander Charleston Post & Courier may have some photos! Great Chief Tecumsi(?) speech read by Native Americans also plus inspiring talks by the Sikh's, Islam, Hindus, Buddhists, etc. I saw a Rabbi there, but don't remember him speaking? Interesting... facts Unitarian Universalists have one of the oldest most historic churches in Charleston and both them and Muslims have been in Charleston since the 1700s' The Unitarian speaker read from a "Charter on Compassion" which contained a plea to religions to rid all of their Holy Books of violent passages.

Jeanne Porter Ashley: The Judaism speaker was a lovely young woman -- maybe a high schooler -- who is a champion public speaker..she read a piece by Issac Bashevis Singer. Holli S. Emore , a Pagan Priestess, and, my good friend, read a marvelous piece that cele...brated America:

The New Colossus......
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Emma Lazarus, 1883





A 9/11 Ceremony was held on the Yorktown at Patriots Point
Photo Gallery
Fallen Heroes From The Lowcountry
In Summerville, about 250 gathered at Pinewood Preparatory School for a 9/11 Tribute Concert centered on the theme of "Resilience," the ability to recover from adversity. Then they went out into the school's Liberty Garden to touch a medallion forged from metal salvaged from the twisted ruins of the World Trade Center.


Alexander Appropriately & profoundly, led by an outstanding large choral group,
Ron Alexander: We ended up singing together The Peace Song (Unitys' "Let there be Peace on Earth. This group led off the ceremony with "America The Beautiful".
Let there be peace on earth,
And let it begin with me. Let there be peace on earth, the peace that was meant to be. With God as our creator, united all are we. Let us walk with each other, in perfect harmony.
Let peace begin with me, let this be the moment now. With every step I take, let this be my solemn vow:
To take each moment, and live each moment
in peace eternally.


Thanks Unity of Charleston - Rev. Ed Kosak and crew - especially Cookie Washington!
4

Sunday, September 11, 2011

We are all Sentient Universes Onto Ourselves - We Are All Buddhas!

We are responsible for our own salvation - "It has been revealed through the teachings for many years that you are an sentient universe onto yourself. You do not need anyone to save you or improve you in any way. As your Buddha said, you alone must walk the path and there you will find untold blessings." ~ The Keepers from 2.25.11 -


Tibetan Buddhist Wisdom: "The Rinpoche said, 'be sad but not too sad; grieve but do not become absorbed by your grief. You cannot change what you have done; but you can change what you will become. Remember that somewhere you are free already. Remember that you are already Buddha. Draw hope from that; live in that hope.'"
Ra Divakar: Anatoly, that quote is by Thuksey Rinpoche in Andrew Harvey's book about traveling in Ladach!

Friday, September 9, 2011

Be Love Now

“The purpose of life is to recreate yourself anew in the next grandest version of the greatest vision ever you held about Who You Are.” – Neale Donald Walsch



Bent Kim Lundberg:
LOVE is unconditional or it is not LOVE at all. LOVE cannot judge or condemn, but only support and uplift you. LOVE is the strongest power in universe, and the only power that can heal a world. LOVE is FREE, eternal, unlimited and all inclusive, always supportive, and it is the opposition to fear. LOVE is all that is, so fear is also LOVE, LOVE of self. You are a beautiful being of LOVE.

The LOVE... I speak of here is the LOVE that god feels for you, divine LOVE, LOVE without any conditions as that would violate your FREE will and thus make god a liar. This LOVE is not of your mind, but of your heart. God is LOVE and so the fabric of universe and of you is LOVE, so this LOVE is in your every cell. You are created by LOVE. You are LOVE.

You are always worthy of LOVE. LOVE is unconditional and do not judge, so you cannot be deemed unworthy. If LOVE is not unconditional it is not LOVE, but only a pale shadow of LOVE. There is nothing in existence exactly like you, so you are totally unique in universe, and you are LOVE, for that is the fabric of LIFE. Enjoy and LOVE the ONEdrous miracle of you.

Thank you gods and goddesses of LIGHT for blessing me with the amazing LOVE that is your unique version of me.

I LOVE you
Namaste
Bent Kim Lundberg

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Mesmerized Meditating on the Magic of the Moonlight on the Waves


Gorgeous clear (high pressure system) night, perfect temperature, & nice breeze blowing off water. The moonlight dances, surfs off the front of the waves creating a magnificent lightshow that cannot be matched by artificial means. Lily enjoyed my enthusiastic petting of her during the show.

Pamela Pollard Arrington: Beautiful! Nice way to end the day isn't it?
Ron Alexander: Very refreshing, thanks Pamela - this collage is from last month, actually even brighter tonight!. "As I get older, life becomes more beautiful." Frank Lloyd Wright

Pure Peace Equals Being Fully Alive & in Oneness


The Glory of God is a human being fully alive.
St. Irenaeus

Ron Alexander: As a youth, I thought peace was boring. As an elder, I realize that "peace that passeth all understanding" is bliss, nirvana - Being Fully Alive!
Ra Divakar: Agree whole-heartedly Ron. Pure Peace is Nirvana!
Ultimately, we have just one moral duty: to reclaim large areas of peace in ourselves, more and more peace, and to reflect it towards others. And the more peace there is in us, the more peace there will also be in our troubled world.Etty Hillesum
An Interrupted Life

>"Throw everything away, forget about it all!
You are learning too much, remembering too much, trying to hard…
relax a little bit, give life a chance to flow its own way,
unassisted by your mind and effort.
Stop directing the river’s flow!"
- Mooji -

This reminder is necessary for peace - Aum Shant!

Need do nothing." ACIM ("Be a Human Being not a human doing.")


Buddha taught to achieve enlightenment, one must develop a pure mind. And I think in Christianity, the "pure mind" is the "Great I AM", achieving the "same mind as Christ".

Loving Unity: Great Spirit/ Brahman/ Divine Mind/ God. Christ/ Son/ Buddha/Creation live and move and have their being in the ONE Great Spirit/ Brahman/ Divine Mind/ God, and all are ONE together..... ~♥~