Peace is the Way

Peace is the Way
Ten Steps to Peace Consciousness
(taken from Peace is the Way, by Deepak Chopra)

1. Change doesn't start on the surface. It's generated from consciousness. This has been true throughout history. If both Buddhism and Christianity could begin with one person, let us not think in terms of numbers and odds. It may sound grandiose to compare ourselves to great spiritual guides, but we act collectively, as an alliance. Our strength comes from critical mass.

2. We aren't here to make the world evolve. We are here to evolve as individuals and then to spread that influence. In the wisdom tradition of Vedanta, the stream of evolution is known in Sanskrit as Dharma, from a root verb that means 'to uphold.' This gives us a clue how to live: the easiest way for us to grow is to align ourselves with Dharma. We don't have to struggle to grow--that would be unproductive, in fact. The Dharma has always favored non-violence. If we can bring ourselves to a state of non-violence, and connect with others who are doing the same thing, we have done a huge thing to reinforce Dharma.

3. Societies get into the grip of their own self-created story. It's helpful to realize that we can choose not to participate in that story. Realize that national and tribal stories are limited, self-serving, based on the past, reinforced by orthodoxy, and therefore opposed to real change. Stories are incredibly persuasive. Wars are fueled by victimization that runs deep, for example. So let us not try to change anyone's story. Let us only notice and observe ourselves when we buy into it and then let us back away from participating in it.

4. Let us not demand of ourselves that we alone must be the agent of change. In a fire brigade everyone passes along a bucket, but only the last person puts out the fire. None of us know where we stand in line. We may be here simply to pass a bucket; we may be called on to play a major role. In either case, all we can do is think, act, and say. Let us direct our thoughts, words, and actions to peace. That is all we can do. Let the results be what they will be.

5. Let us realize that engagement and detachment aren't opposite—the more engaged we become, the more detached we will have to be. Otherwise, we will lose ourselves in conflict, obsessiveness, anxiety over the future, and feelings of guilt and inadequacy. Keep in mind that we are pioneers into the unknown, and uncertainty is our ally. When our minds want closure, certainty, and finality, let us remind ourselves that these are fictions. Our joyous moments will come from riding the wave, not asking to get off at the next station.

6. Since most misery is born of failed expectations let us learn to minimize expectations so
that we will feel far less guilt and disappointment.

7. We aren't here to be good or perfect. We are here as the antennas for signals from the future. We are here to be midwives to something that wants to be born. Good people have preceded us. They solved some problems and created others. As one wise teacher said, "You aren't here to be as good as possible. You are here to be as real as possible."

8. I know this sounds difficult, but let us try to be tolerant of intolerance. This is a hard one at times, but if you try the opposite—showing a hard heart against those with hard hearts of their own—all we've done is expand the problem. It's helpful (but often difficult) to remember that everyone is doing the best they can form their own level of consciousness. Trying to talk a terrorist out of his
beliefs is like trying to persuade a lion to be a vegetarian. All we can realistically do is seek openings for higher awareness.

9. Let us resist the lure of dualities. These include us versus them, civilized versus barbarians, good versus evil. The good, civilized people of Europe managed to kill millions of themselves, along with millions of "them." In reality we are all in the same boat of human conflict and confusion. Sometimes it helps to admit that the doctor is not far from being a patient.

10. Let's create an atmosphere of peace around ourselves. Imagine that we are like a mother whose children come home crying about fights at school. Would it be her job to soothe their wounds or to arm them for fighting back tomorrow? Simplistic as it may sound, the male principle of aggression can only be healed by the feminine principle of nurturing and love.

Love,
Deepak

Accept Yourself just the way you are

Dear one, in order to love another without reservation or conditions, it is necessary that you learn to truly love and accept yourself just the way you are.

Forgive yourself for all past mistakes, and for all present and future failings. Accept yourself as the God-given personality you are; hardly perfect, but knowing perfection is the ultimate destiny in eternal life.

In this earth life you are waking up and becoming more aware of the true purpose of life; to be the best you can be under all circumstances.

Life teaches you lessons through which to learn mastery over self; be it over greed, jealousy, gluttony, or addictions of any kind—anything that holds you from the greatest good and attainment, and this is to be achieved without using any dishonest means, or using another person to attain your goals in life, unless such help is freely given.

You are learning to travel with Me, your Guide within. This is what Jesus mastered when He walked the earth as a Man among men.

Remember the most important lessons He taught, and lived, were to love God first, and to learn to love and accept yourself as God loves and accepts you, to love your neighbor as yourself, and to forgive each and everyone who wrongs you.

You all live in a love and mercy-oriented Universe, as your Ruler, Michael, so lovingly and eloquently displayed in His life here as Yoshua ben Joseph, Jesus of Nazareth.

His life was, and still is, a triumph that all humans can aspire to in their short but intense lives in the flesh as they are lived here on this planet.

Jesus, even as a young boy, often sought the Still Small Voice within when He chose to be away from others to better commune with His Father in Heaven.

So, too, can you follow His example and practice this as often as needed, for I am always with you.

© The 11:11 Progress Group.

A New Dream

The Problem with Society

WMS HOME PAGE | LIBRARY TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Major Problems With Society

1) Egotism-

The assumption among the older generation(s), (40-60+ years) is that by virtue of age, some implicit respect and special consideration is due. This attitude seems to be a leftover from a long-faded age of human history, one that originated the phrase, “respect your elders”. In times past, our “elders” were in fact those people in the tribe or community which held the most wisdom. “Elders” were usually composed of the elderly, and the elderly were a repository for a lifestyle that reflected the practical and profound wisdom of nature, (right living). In today’s world there is no such thing as an “elder” for the most part. There is only a great deal of “do as I say, but not as I do”. Instead of growing wiser, the majority of today’s elderly simply grow weaker, embittered and more deluded. In evaluating the current condition of the world, and the mental and physical state of this generation, no such respect or special consideration is due. Respect is not automatic it is earned, and the youth of today give all the respect to the older generations which they have earned, (which is for the most part, none whatsoever). A destroyed world that is the inheritance of the youth of today is not respectable. Neither is the hypocrisy and arrogance of those currently in charge of the status quo, who have destroyed it. Greed and arrogance are the legacy left today by the older generations. It is they who, in their ignorance and a “selling out” of what the soul knows to be correct, have worked for the obtaining of material wealth over all other things, including health, happiness, wisdom and right living.

2) Examining the cause of the world problem-

The cause of crime, is not the supposed lack of disciplinary measures inflicted by the legal system upon criminals and youth. Crime does not occur because society has a supposed lack of police officers, prisons, “boot camps”, judges and youth, (slave) labor facilities. The cause of crime is society itself, as provoked by the corruption and insanity of government, the court system, politics, the educational system, the medical, (AMA) paradigm and the primitive egotism of a primitive humanity. It is not youth that is at fault, nor is it minorities or other specific classes of persons who are responsible for rising violent crime. Rising violent crime is a symptom of the disease of decadent materialism, with which humanity is terminally infected. It is a symptom of the decay of society, in the inner and outer destruction of what is wholesome and natural.

What we witness at the turning of the millennium, are the beginning days of the extinction of mankind, with the possible exception of those few who recognize, that the human species has gone mad en masse, and who have the dedication to truth that is evidenced above all other priorities.

3) The changing of the system-

Our corrupt society cannot and will not be changed through political reform or social reformation. An insane public will always generate an insane governing body, regardless of the economic philosophy used, or the name of the political party which organizes it. Our crisis is a matter of inner strife, unnaturalness and division, which is reflected by the outer world. Our malady is found in the diseased state of individual and world consciousness, and it cannot be cured through the institution of outer forms. To do so is comparable to placing a bandage over a wound that comes from within. At best this is only a temporary and misguided measure, one that does not address the cause of the injury. Only an inner revolution can sustain an outer transformation of society. Corruption cannot cure corruption. Only the face of corruption changes, not its essential intention. Political or social reform is only a matter of agenda change, and such change, so long as materialism exists, can only be had in terms defined by lies and deceptions. Hypocrisy is rampant in the modern world, because the values of society are either lies or based upon lies. The greatest lie ever told by our age, is the assertion by the average person that they are doing good, spiritual works for the sake of Earth and humanity, while still worshipping the egotistical dollar and all the facades it can buy. Lifestyle is the surest and most honest testimony to the reality behind public action.

The public lifestyle we witness is a matter of sheer self-indulgence, mental and physical disease, and a progressively deadened environment for the sake of so-called, “conveniences” and “luxuries”. This is not the information age, it is the Age of Denial, the darkest period of human history ever known. We are not evolving or “progressing”, we are devolving into a state of entropy and stupidity so profound, that it will eventually wipe out all advanced life on Earth, if it continues unchecked. Public action is hypocritical because it is based upon the secreted guilt of a deceitful, artificialized, spoiled-rotted child known as Homo Sapiens. Conveniences and luxuries are the emotional mainstay of a plastic coated, indulgent public, and their social contribution to the world is motivated primarily for the sake of alleviating that nagging guilt within, while in reality ensuring that indulgence and comforts are maintained at all costs. Our citizens placate their own deep-seated feelings of wrongdoing in the name of “success”, through various trite and ultimately inconsequential acts. This they call “doing their part”. The $50 contribution to the Audubon Society, the recycling of a few glass containers and newspapers, and a few letters written to the editor of a local newspaper, and all daily sins are thereby absolved, or at least so the story goes. Yet lifestyle continues to destroy all. Public speeches are given, and individuals assert to themselves that good is being done, when in fact they are not truly interested in what is actually good and worthwhile. They are not willing to spend the time or energy in gaining self-knowledge, nor knowledge of the natural laws which they break every day. The public cares only for what is personally pleasurable and comfortable, as defined by a society which considers the dollar God. For the majority of people today, their wrong-doings and greed will only cease when environmental conditions force them to reevaluate their style of living.

4) Very low expectations;

It is commonly expected and assumed, that the human condition is miserable by nature. It is thought that there is ultimately nothing that can be done about this, other than following governmental or institutional orders. The concept that daily life is not and can never be perfect, or even truly happy, is the norm to which we are expected to apply in every life decision. We are told that “you can’t change the world overnight”, (“overnight” is a term that can mean either 24 hours or 24 decades interchangeably) or that “the system, (ignorance) can’t be changed, except through ‘due process’”, or “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” etc. Such thinking is the intent through which society justifies its own lack of responsibility, for itself, today. As a world community we have therefore set our sights on a very low mark, calling this “realism”, while our efforts for global reform reflect nothing but pessimism, contained within placating political speeches. These low standards are to a very large extent what is directly responsible for continuing global destruction. The “business as usual”, “I was only doing what I was told”, and “We’re doing it this way because that’s the way it has always been done”, are the politically correct excuses made by persons who really don’t care after all. Our species no longer has the luxury of spending another 100-500 years in debating the inadequacies of the human condition, because our planet has almost been destroyed, now, this day. We will be lucky in fact, to last another 50 years, without major upheavals and mass death, spread like an apocalyptic plague upon every continent and city of the world.

We the people, must take every measure necessary to empower ourselves, starting from within and working outwards. If this ultimately includes armed revolution and well-coordinated anarchy, to throw down the machine of death and the governments and corporations which support it, then so be it. We must insist upon the reestablishment of just self government. Regardless of what we are told by the corporate owned media, the people do not need, nor do they truly desire to be programmed by an insane educational system. Nor can the public continue to afford to live by the false concept of “success”, that has brought us to the brink of extinction. Modern life does not reflect success, it reflects agony and death on a mass scale. Anyone who says otherwise is either a coward or a naïve fool. Those who willingly continue to participate in the materialistic death machine, while knowing full well of the consequences, are a cancer and plague upon all that is natural and naturally good.

5) Responsibility for our monuments to greed-

Our lavish, and for the most part physically unnecessary homes, businesses, amusement parks, supermarkets, new automobiles, yachts, jetliners, weapons of war, armies and governments, are but monuments to greed and insanity. We do not build so much for the sake of need or practical value, but for the sake of unquenchable, unreasoning, egotistical, murdering greed. In our madness we like to “show off”, personally and collectively. We murder each other and the Earth to build such monuments, calling this, “protecting our interests”. Through these structures and institutions we demonstrate our unsatisfactory lack of wisdom, and thus our lack of fitness for continued survival. In essence, we have not understood the spiritual purpose of life. We have lived by materialism and we shall die by materialism, as a payment for our crimes against God and Nature. Taking personal responsibility for these facts, implies the unavoidable need for the outright and total rejection, of the values and norms of society. It also implies the outright and total acceptance of spiritual purposes and natural laws as demonstrated in daily affairs. Only by returning to God and Nature, can any person realistically expect true redemption from the extremely negative karma, accumulated thus far by humanity. This is true regardless of professed beliefs or organized religious practices. Truth alone must remain our highest focus, seven days a week, throughout every facet of life.

Comments on this article should be directed to;

Matthew Webb visionquest@eoni.com

The World Mind Society http://www.eoni.com/~visionquest

Does this Path have heart?

Before you embark on any path ask the question: Does this path have a heart? If the answer is no, you will know it, and then you must choose another path. The trouble is nobody asks the question; and when a man finally realizes that he has taken a path without a heart, the path is ready to kill him. At that point very few men can stop to deliberate, and leave the path. A path without a heart is never enjoyable. You have to work hard even to take it. On the other hand, a path with heart is easy; it does not make you work at liking it.
I have told you that to choose a path you must be free from fear and ambition. The desire to learn is not ambition. It is our lot as men to want to know.
The path without a heart will turn against men and destroy them. It does not take much to die, and to seek death is to seek nothing.

For me there is only the traveling on the paths that have a heart, on any path that may have a heart. There I travel, and the only worthwhile challenge for me is to traverse its full length. And there I travel--looking, looking, breathlessly.

The teachings of don Juan

You are the Master

The greatest Scam

The greatest scam was the love that you denied yourself when you forgot who you are. You travelled through your life believing you were alone. You prayed for deliverance from your own persecution. You attached worth and meaning to that which is transitory. You mistreated the Earth when the Earth didn’t mistreat you. Your powers were depleted because your awareness was stuck in limbo. You thought you had to work hard for your money when your money didn’t work hard for you.
You were lost....and now your found?
Now you take due care of where and who you give your energy to. Now you know your last name is Love and your first name is One. Now you realise your true possibilities. Now you reunite with old friends and will remember the memories. Your timing is to perfection. Your judgment resides in your heart, your heart connects you to creator, creator connects you to all. You shine because you are free, you are free because you shined. You followed the master down to the shore he told you... “YOU are the master!” and to follow no more. Now that you have your wings, do you still find yourself in a flap? or maybe you defied science and left the 3D trap. Many gifts now descend and have arrived at your feet. Your need will be to ground them, then you may taste their treats. Unified in consciousness as we always were. Unified in Love is how we’ll change the world. Your true hand is about to show. The world will know you for the good you do, not the good you could/would or should do. So this ‘scam’ it was a good one....it caused us all to think, it told us we were separate as a way to make us link. Now I see that you remember as you love yourself to death, the scam is now but over....congratulations, you passed the test.

Chant of Metta

Metta is a Pali word meaning loving-kindness. Metta chanting is the radiation of loving-kindness towards all beings: May they all be happy and peaceful. Imee Ooi chants the Pali beautifully. Metta chanting is soothing, uplifting, joyful and a great healing for the world - pervading it with waves of love. Truly, may all beings be happy. May they live always in peace and harmony. You can find this chant sung by imee ooi at www.buddhanet.com

The Chant of Metta Text

Aham avero homi
May I be free from enmity and danger

abyapajjho homi
May I be free from mental suffering

anigha homi
May I be free from physical suffering

sukhi - attanam pariharami
May I take care of myself happily

Mama matapitu
May my parents

acariya ca natimitta ca
teacher relatives and friends

sabrahma - carino ca
fellow Dhamma farers

avera hontu
be free from enmity and danger

abyapajjha hontu
be free from mental suffering

anigha hontu
be free from physical suffering

sukhi - attanam pariharantu
may they take care of themselves happily

Imasmim arame sabbe yogino
May all meditators in this compound

avera hontu
be free from enmity and danger

abyapajjha hontu
be free from mental suffering

anigha hontu
be free from physical suffering

sukhi - attanam pariharantu
May they take care of themselves happily

Imasmim arame sabbe bhikkhu
May all monks in this compound

samanera ca
novice monks

upasaka - upasikaya ca
laymen and laywomen disciples

avera hontu
be free from enmity and danger

abyapajjha hontu
be free from mental suffering

anigha hontu
be free from physical suffering

sukhi - attanam pariharantu
May they take care of themselves happily

Amhakam catupaccaya - dayaka
May our donors of the four supports: clothing, food, medicine and lodging

avera hontu
be free from enmity and danger

abyapajjha hontu
be free from mental suffering

anigha hontu
be free from physical suffering

sukhi - attanam pariharantu
May they take care of themselves happily

Amhakam arakkha devata
May our guardian devas

Ismasmim vihare
in this monastery

Ismasmim avase
in this dwelling

Ismasmim arame
in this compound

arakkha devata
May the guardian devas

avera hontu
be free from enmity and danger

abyapajjha hontu
be free from mental suffering

anigha hontu
be free from physical suffering

sukhi - attanam pariharantu
may they take care of themselves happily

Sabbe satta
May all beings

sabbe pana
all breathing things

sabbe bhutta
all creatures

sabbe puggala
all individuals (all beings)

sabbe attabhava - pariyapanna
all personalities (all beings with mind and body)

sabbe itthoyo
may all females

sabbe purisa
all males

sabbe ariya
all noble ones (saints)

sabbe anariya
all worldlings (those yet to attain sainthood)

sabbe deva
all devas (deities)

sabbe manussa
all humans

sabbe vinipatika
all those in the four woeful planes

avera hontu
be free from enmity and dangers

abyapajjha hontu
be free from mental suffering

anigha hontu
be free from physical suffering
sukhi - attanam pariharantu
may they take care of themselves happily

Dukkha muccantu
May all being be free from suffering

Yattha-laddha-sampattito mavigacchantu
May whatever they have gained not be lost

Kammassaka
All beings are owners of their own Kamma

Purathimaya disaya
in the eastern direction

pacchimaya disaya
in the western direction

uttara disaya
in the northern direction

dakkhinaya disaya
in the southern direction

purathimaya anudisaya
in the southeast direction

pacchimaya anudisaya
in the northwest direction

uttara anudisaya
in the northeast direction

dakkhinaya anudisaya
in the southwest direction

hetthimaya disaya
in the direction below

uparimaya disaya
in the direction above

Sabbe satta
May all beings

sabbe pana
all breathing things

sabbe bhutta
all creatures

sabbe puggala
all individuals (all beings)

sabbe attabhava - pariyapanna
all personalities (all beings with mind and body)

sabbe itthoyo
may all females

sabbe purisa
all males

sabbe ariya
all noble ones (saints)

sabbe anariya
(those yet to attain sainthood)

sabbe deva
all devas (deities)

sabbe manussa
all humans

sabbe vinipatika
all those in the 4 woeful planes

avera hontu
be free from enmity and dangers

abyapajjha hontu
be free from mental suffering

anigha hontu
be free from physical suffering

sukhi - attanam pariharantu
may they take care of themselves happily

Dukkha muccantu
May all beings be free from suffering

Yattha-laddha-sampattito mavigacchantu
May whatever they have gained not be lost

Kammassaka
All beings are owners of their own kamma

Uddham yava bhavagga ca
As far as the highest plane of existence

adho yava aviccito
to as far down as the lowest plane

samanta cakkavalesu
in the entire universe

ye satta pathavicara
whatever beings that move on earth

abyapajjha nivera ca
may they are free of mental suffering and enmity

nidukkha ca nupaddava
and from physical suffering and danger

Uddham yava bhavagga ca
As far as the highest plane of existence

adho yava aviccito
to as far down as the lowest plane

samanta cakkavalesu
in the entire universe

ye satta udakecara
whatever beings that move on water

abyapajjha nivera ca
may they are free of mental suffering and enmity

nidukkha ca nupaddava
and from physical suffering and danger

Uddham yava bhavagga ca
As far as the highest plane of existence

adho yava aviccito
to as far down as the lowest plane

samanta cakkavalesu
in the entire universe

ye satta akasecara
whatever beings that move in air

abyapajjha nivera ca
may they are free of mental suffering and enmity

nidukkha ca nupaddava
and from physical suffering and danger.

Pearls of Perfection

Moments, miniscule moments, can be and often are, pearls of perfection.

These secret, joyful, worshiping moments of the joy of eternal life are the wonders that are unfolding. The moments of deep peace and contentment are all building-blocks to perfection.

The ‘being’ perfect is the secret, not the ‘doing’ of perfect things. The outer always is the reflection of the inner.

God speaks in the inner silence. Allow Him to speak more often, and your heart will start to sing, and then the throat will open. It is a wonderful journey. Take time to commune with the Father.

Stilling the mind in meditation allows the mind to be prepared, so the Father may be heard. So often when He wishes to speak, there is no one at home, or the mind is cluttered with other thoughts so there is no room left.

Abolish al manner of negative thinking. Dwell upon the goodness, the truth and beauty of life. Focus and intent will discipline your thoughts.

Continue on your path with renewed inspiration.

Swimming in an ocean of energy

You have now begun to sharpen your ‘instrument’ in service to the Master. He has imparted to you that you have always been preparing for the work you have been doing, are doing now, and will continue doing -- helping others the way you know how, and according to your light. Now you are realizing a greater light. Actually, you realize that this light extends to the throne of God; the Eternal Presence, the First Source and Center, from which everything goes forth, and to which everything returns.

You are becoming conscious of the fact that you are ‘swimming’ in an ocean of energy, that you are a part of this energy, and that everything is connected in oneness. It only appears fragmented because of all the different belief systems. Energy is just that – energy – and although it takes on different shapes and forms, it still retains its connection to Source. Even now you are becoming more aware of its flow.

Study it, realize it, work with it, understand it, cooperate with it, and so use it to the greater benefit, first for yourself, and then for the highest good of all others. Clear your perceived blocks, and in doing so you are helping others, which truly represents the upliftment of the planet. Just a word of caution here, everyone is on their personal path, and each and everyone can only clear within themselves to the degree they are ready. The watchword here is unconditionally.

It is the free will of the human that decides if and when he or she is ready to let go of their core beliefs.

Your function will be to be the doorway through which they can glimpse a greater reality of themselves, just like you have been shown by others, whom the Master has placed upon your path, as He continues to place way-showers upon your path. Your responsibility lies in sharpening your instrument of understanding through practice and gathering knowledge in your chosen field of energy application.

So play and hear Heaven’s music in the Master’s orchestra, and focus with intend upon His baton.

© 11:11 Progress Group.

Message to the Free World

The silence around the globe about Russia invading Georgia is deafening.I think this action needs to be defined,and discussed here as I feel it has worldwide ramafacations.Those on the left (liberal democrate)will say its no big deal and Georgia provoked this.I feel different.After watching countless news programs for the last week and reading everything I can find from every source over there,I think the world is about to be tested again.And I hope we dont fail..If we,the United States and all of our allies will not stand up and help this beginning democrocy,when will we stand up?I watched as Glen beck interviewed the president of Georgia for an hour,and the man would not shut up praising freedom and the west(he was schooled at Colombia University)and the host diddnt interupt him once..He just let him talk..And the man tried to explain how we got to this point,and what he felt we as their friend and ally needed to do.As his people were being crushed,and their freedom denied,we,the rest of the world are worried if Michael phelps wins his 8th gold medal.This is wrong,and I apoligze to the Georgians for this.I personally havent watched 1 olympic even as my own protest against China's brutality.Now we have the second regime pushing thir weight around,testing the west again,looking for any weaknesses.DID anyone else see that as the Russians invaded on land,they cyber attacked the Georgian presidents online sites and their ability to access them?First time in history that these attacks were co-ordinated.They were just practicing.As China has been practicing attacking our pentagon online daily.We cannot ignore these warnings anymore..The wars with the islamic extreamists have just been distractions all along to get our military out of position.The real war will be with China and Russia I fear,cause they still are our enemy and always have been out for our demise.You see,as we are winning the war on terror (yes,I still think this way orlee,no matter how much you cant admit it)the bad guys are running out of places to hide and fuck with us..And our enemies have thought ahead and decided they need to strike now before we get any more powerful than we already are.And that includes taking any and all assests that they feel will help them.Poland and the United states just signed a pact to put a missile defence shield in Poland,and Russia is gonna play its hand and see if we will stop them.The only thing Condolesa Rice didnt say in her speech yesterday to the russians was "please".I almost puked as she was all talk,and no action.I wonder how John McCain will act when he takes office.I hope like reagon and face down Russia.Cause the time for talk is over..ask the Georgians..They need our help to remain free.If we wont do this,whats the point of aligning themselves with us??????

Keep on trimming

Havent posted in a month..sorry if anybody missed me..I doubt it..I'm just in a funk from this economy I think.Been painting the trim on my house .In fact,I should go paint some more.My dad used to purr when he painted his houses.I dont seem to have that ability.Course he cant sing or play 10 instruments badly either!But it makes my best friend smile so I will keep on singing silly songs.

ok its July

Thats a hot month here in Seattle.I mean 2 weeks.Scurry around and get the yards all cut,and bushes trimmed..It was hotter in New Mexico last month.I missed the real heat.Hit 105 the weekend after I left.It was 85 while I was there and balmy.Check out the short tease of the Maid of Honor backing up when the vows blew over the wall,and me performing the Wedding.

The Crocheted Tablecloth

The brand new pastor and his wife, newly assigned

to their first ministry, to reopen a church

in suburban Brooklyn , arrived in early October

excited about their opportunities When they saw

their church, it was very run down and needed

much work. They set a goal to have everything

done in time to have their first service

on Christmas Eve.

T hey worked hard, repairing pews, plastering walls,

painting, etc, and on December 18

were ahead of schedule and just about finished.

On December 19 a terrible tempest - a driving

rainstorm hit the area and lasted for two days.


O n the 21st, the pastor went over to the church.

His heart sank when he saw that the roof had

leaked, causing a large area of plaster about

20 feet by 8 feet to fall off the front wall of the

sanctuary just behind the pulpit, beginning about

head high.


T he pastor cleaned up the mess on the floor,

and not knowing what else to do but postpone

the Christmas Eve service, headed home.

On the way he noticed that a local business was

having a flea market type sale for charity so he

stopped in. One of the items was a beautiful,

handmade, ivory colored, crocheted tablecloth

with exquisite work, fine colors and a Cross

embroidered right in the center. It was just

the right size to cover up the hole in the front

wall. He bought it and headed back to the church.


By this time it had started to snow. An older

woman running from the opposite direction was

trying to catch the bus.. She missed it. The pastor

invited her to wait in the warm church for

the next bus 45 minutes later.



She sat in a pew and paid no attention to the pastor

while he got a ladder, hangers, etc., to put

up the tablecloth as a wall tapestry. The pastor

could hardly believe how beautiful it looked and

it covered up the entire problem area.


T hen he noticed the woman walking down the center

aisle. Her face was like a sheet.. 'Pastor,'

she asked, 'where did you get that tablecloth?'

The pastor explained. The woman asked him to check

the lower right corner to see if the initials, EBG were crocheted into

it there. They were. These were the initials of the woman, and she had

made this tablecloth 35 years before, in Austria


The woman could hardly believe it as the pastor

told how he had just gotten the Tablecloth. The

woman explained that before the war she and

her husband were well-to-do people in Austria


When the Nazis came, she was forced to leave.

Her husband was going to follow her the next week.

He was captured, sent to prison and never saw her

husband or her home again.


T he pastor wanted to give her the tablecloth;

but she made the pastor keep it for the church.

The pastor insisted on driving her home, that

was the least he could do.. She lived on the other

side of Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn


for the day for a housecleaning job.


What a wonderful service they had on Christmas

Eve. The church was almost full. The music and the

spirit were great. At the end of the service, the

pastor and his wife greeted everyone at the door

and many said that they would return.

One older man, whom the pastor recognized

from the neighborhood continued to sit in one of the

pews and stare, and the pastor wondered why he

wasn't leaving.


The man asked him where he got the tablecloth on

the front wall because it was identical to one

that his wife had made years ago when

they lived in Austria before the war and how


could there be two tablecloths so much alike.


H e told the pastor how the Nazis came, how he

forced his wife to flee for her safety and he was

supposed to follow her, but he was arrested and

put in a prison.. He never saw his wife or his home

again all the 35 years in between.


The pastor asked him if he would allow him to

take him for a little ride. They drove to Staten

Island and to the same house where the pastor

had taken the woman three days earlier.


H e helped the man climb the three flights of

stairs to the woman's apartment, knocked on

the door and he saw the greatest Christmas

reunion he could ever imagine.


True Story - submitted by Pastor Rob Reid

Ship of Mindfulness

Our Path is a Waterway

Water is an element that we are all quite familiar with. Especially for us in the hot climate, it brings a thrill even when we touch it. When it comes in a pure form in nature, it’s even more exciting. This element has a strong similar­ity to the universal processes in Nature, in that it ‘flows’. In Nature, it flows from the future to the present and into the past. Each event is like a wave, and these waves can be strong. Whether we sink or swim will depend very much on a number of things. Beings who are infatuated and intoxi­cated by sensual pleasures are described as those swept away by floods. They may think how blissful it is at first but the wise, with far-sightedness, will think otherwise.

To remain afloat we must have mindfulness. It keeps our head above the waters and, with energy, works towards safer shores. If mindfulness is well developed, we are as if on a boat, riding along the waves to Nibbana, which is described as the Safe Island.

Insight Meditation is itself a process of processes. At first we try to keep ourselves afloat with strong continuous mindfulness. After that, the practice becomes a journey of discoveries. Every experience we come across undergoes minute scrutiny. Our mind is like a microscope of ever-increasing powers of magnification; we discover the secrets of existence which we have misunderstood for so long. With each realization we move closer and closer to where the waves break and cease altogether – that is, absolute reality, the utter end of all Suffering. Is that not the noblest aim for which man may live? Wonderful knowledge like this should not be postponed. Hop on board the Ship of Mindfulness!

Loren Eiseley

The nature of literacy, the history of reading, the process by which books become sacred texts -- these are areas which we'll visit today. It is my hope that this will deepen our understanding of the need to expand the context within which we study the book if we are going to maximize our harvest of meanings and values.

It is the scorched shoulder blade of a hare

or a beaver;

the cracks made by the fire are like palm prints

over the surface of the bone

pointing the way to tomorrow's hunting;

a charred cluster of lines

marks a rockfall up country and a herd of caribou,

--things to be seen on the morrow

inscribed here by the fire.

This cosmos of a little band of hunting Indians

has meaning.

Every rock, every stream, every animal

is accounted for

and the deep underlying

rhythm of things

can inscribe the message of the forest

on the cracked bone of a hare.

It is true that instructions for getting one's food,

for hunting,

might seem the sole issue here;

but the shaman's reading

extrapolated

becomes mathematics and systems analysis

in the modern state.

I envy this man sitting by his fire.

His magic is not small, he is reading

something permanently bound into his universe

that he can decipher,

a code that can be read by the informed seer,

a voice from the universe reassuring for man,

hungry, enfeebled,

but knowing

there is a message to be read and one can find it

any time in the fire.

The world is held together

and man has his place:

that is the message; the food comes after and is acceptable.

Passing beyond the asteroids toward Saturn,

watched by radio telescopes and directed by the earth's great computers,

doomed to leave the solar system

and wander the far void of the galaxy,

our latest space probe whispers its messages among the stars.

A great triumph of the intellect, surely, but the whispers are only of our own devising.

They are lost

in infinitude and vanish

leaving us no equivalent of what the shaman

quietly accepts by the fire,

aiding himself, perhaps, in understanding

by a small song and the tapping of a skin drum.

He knows about the daily renewing of a pact with man;

we hear nothing

except the electrons beamed back to us

by our fragile probe.

Quite frankly, I do not know how to judge this matter,

sitting here in my study with my books and my computer,

but I believe I envy him,

the wrinkled old shaman

summoning his inner one for guidance,

with a little offering of tobacco leaves.

Keeping the motor idling

__________

KEEPING THE MOTOR IDLING

I relate well to the comment made by Barbara Johnson: "Patience
is the ability to idle your motor when you feel like stripping
your gears." I know that if I can keep the motor idling, it will
be ready to go when I need it.

A kindergarten teacher practiced keeping her motor idling. A
story has it that she was helping one of her students put his
snow boots on. He asked for help and she could see why. With her
pulling and him pushing, they finally succeeded and she had by
now worked up a sweat. She almost whimpered when the little boy
said, "They're on the wrong feet."

She looked and, sure enough, they were. It wasn't any easier
pulling the boots off, and then she had to wrestle the stubborn
boots on again.

Just as she finished lacing them he announced, "These aren't my
boots." She bit her tongue to keep from screaming, "Why didn't
you say so?"

Once again she struggled to pull off the ill-fitting boots. He
then calmly added, "They're my brother's boots. My mom made me
wear them." She began to realize how close she was to stripping
her gears as she struggled with the boots yet again.

When they were finally laced, she said, "Now, where are your
mittens?"

"I stuffed them in the toes of my boots," he said.

She may have been the same teacher who once commented about a
particularly difficult child in her class, "Not only is he my
worst behaved child this year, but he also has a perfect
attendance record.

A Dutch proverb observes, "A handful of patience is worth more
than a bushel of brains." I may never have to worry about having
a bushel of brains, but I can sometimes muster a handful of
patience. And that should be enough.

-- Steve Goodier

Fractal Art