Taittiriya Upanishad

May God protect us,

grant us wisdom's fruit;

may we gain energy to know the Truth;

may our intellects grow clear and bright;

may we cherish no ill feelings toward anyone.

Om, peace, peace, peace be unto all.

Taittiriya Upanishad 2.1.1

Cocaine In Red Bull?

From Drug Counselor:

Cocaine in Red Bull?
http://abuseaddiction.com/?p=523

Looking For My Wallet & Keys . . .

A song about those senior moments that happen way to often some days

Coca Cola Ad for Seniors

Moving Violation

Now here's a hard core drinker and one tough Dodge truck.
The driver hit the left turn light and sheared off the light post at the base, and then kept driving on about 2 miles to Squires Four Pub, where he stopped for more beer!!

How impaired do you have to be to NOT notice that you are carrying a stop light? (I Wonder if the light was green?)

The truck was towed about 2.5 miles to the Vernon towing yard, with the light still pinched between the two tow hooks and the bumper bent around it.

It took several good hard pulls with a backhoe to get the pole free.

The Promise Of The Spirit

Stengthened by the promised Spirit of the Divine, let me surrender myself into my Father's hands, living in trust and in hope as I follow the way of discipleship toward the fullness of His Kingdom.

"Hold firm and take heart. Hope in the Lord!" (Ps 27:14)

Let me pray to the Lord who is the origin, companion, and goal of our life's journey.

You do not disappoint those who hope in your mercy: remember that I am slow to believe, and strengthen my faith.

You guide those who walk in darkness: teach your path to all those who seek the road of life.

O Father, your are my guide and guard along life's path. Lead me in the way of justice and love, righteousness and peace, by the guidance of the Spirit.

Stay with me Lord, through the gift of your Spirit.

There Are Really Two Journeys

Every man's desire is according to his evolution; that which he is ready for, is the desirable thing for him. -- Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan

There are really two journeys. There is the journey from the goal to the life in the world, and there is the journey from the life in the world to the goal. And both journeys are natural. As it is natural to go forth from the eternal goal, so it is natural to go from the changing life to the life which is unchangeable.

Which is the most desirable thing in life, to seek for the goal or to dwell in this changing life? The answer is that every person's desire is according to his evolution. That for which he is ready is desirable for him. Milk is a desirable food for the infant, other foods for the grown-up person. Every stage in life has its own appropriate and desirable things. The desire to attain to a goal must be there before reaching it; when he does not feel the desire, it is not necessary for a man to seek it.

Two of the principal sources of pleasure in the physical world are good food and bodily comfort, yet one single beautiful thought or one charming mental image may provide more pleasure and joy than all the beauty there is in the whole physical world. So we can see that when we raise the intelligence from the physical plane, and then even higher, we will come to a state of realization where we see that life is not really limited at all; that it too is unlimited. It is when our experience is confined to the lower phases of existence that we find that our life is limited. Herein lies the whole tragedy of life.

by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

A Path For Everyone

Tolerance does not come by learning, but by insight; by understanding that each one should be allowed to travel along the path which is suited to his temperament. -- Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan

The Sufi looks on all with tolerance, and knows that there is a path for everyone. The path of the lover is for him, the path of the one seeking for wealth is for him, the seeker after paradise is following his path, it is all a journey. It is simply that there are four different routes by which the journey is made. The Sufi sees the same goal at the end of each; the lover has to meet the seeker after wealth, and both have to meet the one who has done his duty. Therefore at the end of their journey there is a place where they can meet. What does it matter if one does not go by a certain path? Let each choose the way that belongs to his own temperament and tendency. Therefore the Sufi does not worry. He gives no preference to one or the other. He sees the journey of life being made along one or other of these roads. The saying of Buddha, 'Forgive all', comes true. Forgiveness does not come by learning, it comes by understanding that a person should be allowed to travel along that path which is suited to his temperament. As long as he is journeying with open eyes, let him journey.

The great thing is that one should journey with one single desire. There should be the single desire: whether to love a beloved, to collect wealth, or to do some good for the world of humanity, or to attain paradise. There should be the desire to journey to the goal. So many do not know which is the goal or what it is. One thinks wealth is the goal, another paradise, another the beloved. They do not see that there is still a further goal. They are naturally prompted by the desire to get to the goal, and yet they are not conscious of the further goal.

As it is said in the Bible: 'Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all things shall be added unto you.'

-- Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

More Than Just Word . . .

Today I heard, “hell has no bottom.” I remember that I am good at creating my own hell & wallow in it. Today I do not have to stay struck in the mud.
Let me spend my waking hours seeking an example, finding an example, being an example.

A person may rise to the highest degree of contemplation even when busily occupied. -- St. Mary Euphrasia Pelletier

Patience is the most important asset I bring to my activities - the willingness to allow each step its own time and proper place.

Peacefulness is a feeling everyone deserves.
Thank goodness it's attainable.
Perhaps I am beginning to realize that it always was available even though it didn't seem within my grasp.
The fault was never the result of external circumstances, even though that was where I laid the blame.
Finally, I am becoming willing to see that I will have all the peace and good fortune I want by simply taking charge of how I interpret the experiences that trouble me.
Peace can be enjoyed by me today, regardless of circumstances, if I shift my perception ever so slightly.

In three words, I can sum up everything I've learned about life: It goes on. -- Robert Frost

Life doesn't stop for me to lick wounds or add fuel to grievances.
Hours pass, I grow older, nature continues.
Every event is part of life's cycle.
I can't run away from anything.
I must meet life head-on and adjust to its ebb and flow.
I can look at an unplanned event in my life as part of life's cycle.
I need to trust that life will go on.

Genuine contemplation involves no tension.
There is no reason why it should affect anyone's nerves: on the contrary, it relaxes them.
It leaves you rested and refreshed in your whole being.
There is no strain in real contemplation, because when the gift is real, you do not depend on it, you are not enslaved by the "need" to experience anything.
The contemplative does not seek reassurance in himself, in his virtue, in his state, in his "prayer".
His trust is in God, not in himself.
The peace and "rest" of contemplation is the fruit of a living faith in the action of divine grace.
The contemplative is able to let go of himself and everything else, knowing that everything that matters in his life is in God's hands, and that he does not have to "take thought for the morrow."
He fully realizes the meaning of the Gospel message of salvation by the grace of God and not by dependence on human ingenuity. -- Thomas Merton. The Inner Experience: Notes on Contemplation.

Ever let mercy outweigh all else in you. Let our compassion be a mirror where we may see in ourselves that likeness and that true image which belong to the Divine nature and Divine essence. -- St. Isaac of Syria

Be yourself. Who else is better qualified? --Frank J. Giblin, II
Life is not made up of people who are good & bad, happy & sad, rich & poor, beautiful & ugly.
Life is made up of people being themselves.

A Rainy Sunday In SC

Another lazy and rainy Sunday in South Carolina. Started the day off with my brothers and sisters at the Dark Side. It is also a great way to start a Sunday of pray and the week ahead – with the Force.

Hear two things that I will add to my tool bag for life as I trudge the spiritual path before me.

(1) When God close one door in my life, he opens a new one for me to walk through. It is the hallways of life that suck.

(2) Choosing who is forgiven and who is not is above my pay grade. I can only ask for the willingness to forgive all in my life on a daily basis.

I found the following on the pains of life in my daily readings.

Grief and crisis . . . accept it as a wise teacher. Life brings trial
& defeat as part of its package. . . . Out of defeat is born new strength. . . . The false comforts of self-pity and blame may tempt us in our pain, but they take much more from us than they give back.

It has been an awesome day and it is not my fault. Keep adjusting your sails and may the good of the day be with you.

P.S.

It is blackberry picking time in SC and GA. Read about it: http://blogs.augusta.com/node/2865

DOCTOR'S PROGNOSIS

"We have a steamroller of socialism being driven by Nancy Pelosi and by Harry Reid, and it's being fueled by the administration and Barack Obama. The American people need to put a stop sign and speed bumps in the path of this steamroller." -- Congressman and medical doctor Paul Broun, Georgia Republican, speaking to the nation from the House floor this week.

Love and Need

Our philosophy of life is not something we create all by ourselves out of nothing. Our ways of thinking, even our attitudes toward ourselves, are more and more determined from the outside. Even our love tends to fit ready-made forms. We consciously or unconsciously tailor our notions of love according to patterns we are exposed to day after day....
Love [Merton begins to examine one of these patterns] is regarded as a deal. The deal presupposes that we all have needs which have to be fulfilled by means of exchange. In order to make a deal you have to appear in the market with a worthwhile product, or if the product is worthless, you can get by if you dress it up in a good-looking package. We unconsciously think of ourselves as objects for sale on the market. We want to be wanted. We want to attract customers. We want to look like the kind of product that makes money. ...In doing this we come to consider ourselves and others not as persons but as products, as "goods," or in other words, as packages. We appraise one another commercially. We size each other up and make deals with a view to our own profit. We do not give ourselves in love, we make a deal that will enhance our own product, and therefore no deal is final. Our eye is already on the next deal, and this next deal need not necessarily be with the same customer. Life is more interesting when you make a lot of deals with a lot of new customers. -- Thomas Merton, "Love and Need: Is Love a Package or a Message?"

The trouble with this commercialized idea of love is that it diverts your attention more and more from the essentials to the accessories of love. You are no longer able to really love the other person, for you become obsessed with the effectiveness of your own package, your own product, your own market value. -- Thomas Merton, "Love and Need: Is Love a Package or a Message?"

The Ghost Deer of Wisconsin

Video of a herd of albino deer in northern Wisconsin:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/video/flv/generic.html?s=inwi10s22a3q81f

What A Wonderful World

Veiled Truth

The truth need not be veiled,
for it veils itself from the eyes of the ignorant.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan

Excerpts from commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

It is the deaf ears of the heart and the closed eyes of the soul which prevent man from seeing and hearing it. There is a verse of a Hindustani poet which says:

0' self, it is not the fault of the divine Beloved
that you do not see Him, that you do not hear Him.
He is continually before you and He is continually speaking to you.
If you do not hear it and if you do not see it, it is your own fault.

It is for this purpose that every soul has been created and it is in the fulfillment of this that man fulfills the object of God.

Man is the most egoistic being in creation. He keeps himself veiled from God, the perfect Self within, by the veil of his imperfect self, which has formed his false ego. ... and when the ego is absolutely crushed, then God remains within and without, in both planes, and none exists save He.