“Having the courage to take the steps we always wanted to take is the only way of showing God that we trust him.”

“The greatest thing a human being can do is to accept the Mystery.”

“We don’t look for an answer, we accept, and then life becomes much more intense, much more brilliant,

because we understand that each minute, each step we take, has a meaning that goes far beyond us as individuals.”

“We plunge into the Dark Night with faith, we fulfill what the ancient alchemist used to call our Personal Legend,

and we surrender ourselves fully to each moment, knowing that there is always a hand to guide us,

and whether we accept it or not is entirely up to us.”

Paulo Coelho

Excerpts from the Novel “Brida”

pgs 138-139

Most of you live on the surface of your being, exposed to the touch of external influences.  You live almost projected, as it were, outside your own body, and when you meet some unpleasant being similarly projected you get upset.  The whole trouble arises out of your not being accustomed to stepping back.  You must always step back into yourself – learn to go deep within – step back and you will be safe.  Do not lend yourself to superficial forces which move in the outside world.  Even if you are in a hurry to do something, step back for awhile and you will discover to your surprise how much sooner and with greater success your work can be done.  If someone is angry with you, do not be caught in his vibrations but simply step back and his anger, finding no support or response, will vanish.  Always keep your peace, resist all temptation to lose it.  Never decide anything without stepping back, never speak a word without stepping back, never throw yourself into action, without stepping back.  All that belongs to the ordinary world is impermanent and fugitive, so there is nothing worth getting upset about.  What is lasting, eternal, immortal and infinite – that indeed is worth having, worth conquering, worth possessing.  It is Divine Light, Divine Love, Divine Life – it is also Supreme Peace, Perfect Joy and All-Mastery upon earth with the Complete Manifestation as the crowning.  When you get the sense of the relativity of things, then whatever happens you can step back and look; you can remain quiet and call on the Divine Force and wait for an answer.  Then you will know exactly what to do.  Remember, therefore, that you cannot receive the answer before you are very peaceful.  Practice that inner peace, make at least a small beginning and go on in your practice until it becomes a habit for you.

~ The Mother

From: Search for the Soul in Everyday Living

Compiled by Wayne Bloomquest

Chapter: Dis-Identify from Troubled Vibrations

pgs 61-62

Someday, emerging at last from the violent insight,

let me sing out jubilation and praise to assenting angels.

Let not even one of the clearly-struck hammers of my heart

fail to sound because of a slack, a doubtful,

or a broken string. Let my joyfully streaming face

make me more radiant; let my hidden weeping arise

and blossom. How dear you will be to me then, you nights

of anguish. Why didn't I kneel more deeply to accept you,

inconsolable sisters, and, surrendering, lose myself

in your loosened hair. How we squander our hours of pain.

How we gaze beyond them into the bitter duration

to see if they have an end. Though they are really

our winter-enduring foliage, our dark evergreen,

one season in our inner year-, not only a season

in time-, but are place and settlement, foundation and soil

and home.

From 'Ahead of All Parting:

The Selected Poetry and Prose of Rainer Maria Rilke'

Edited and Translated by Stephen Mitchell

“In times of crisis, people reach for meaning.

Meaning means strength.  Our survival may

Depend on our seeking and finding it.”

~ Victor Frankl

“Trials are medicines which our gracious and wise Physician prescribes because we need them; and he proportions the frequency and weight of them to what the case requires. Let us trust his skill and thank him for his prescription.”

~ Isaac Newton

"You can never stop the rain, you just learn to accept it and wait until it moves on.  

For some it brings life, for others it brings trouble or death.

This is the same for all things in life.

After the rain comes the sun, after the darkness, comes the light.

~ Rita Berrios (my mom)

One of the visitors that morning, a lady, was very much moved by Maharaj's condition and the way he was bearing his pain stoically. She thought that physical pain could be even worse than

death. She could not help telling Maharaj: Sir, I am not afraid of death, but I have a dreadful fear of

physical pain. Please tell me how I could get rid of this fear?

Maharaj laughed and said: I am afraid I cannot help you there, but I am sure there are many

others who know the methods of avoiding or lessening physical pain. All I can do is to explain to

you what suffering itself is and who suffers.

You must always go to the root of the problem. When did the experience of suffering first

start? Do you have any memory of any suffering, say, a hundred years ago? When did the

experience start? Think about it deeply so that the answers to these questions would arise within

yourself without any words. Is life — living itself — other than experiencing; experiencing in

duration, moment to moment stretched horizontally? And what is experiencing? Is it not reacting to

an outside stimulus which is interpreted through the senses as an experience — pleasant and

acceptable, or, unpleasant and not acceptable. One does not experience suffering — one suffers an

experience, pleasant or unpleasant.

Now, the basic question you should be concerned with is: Who (or, more appropriately what)

is it that suffers an experience? Let me tell you straightaway: 'I' do not (cannot) suffer any

experience, pleasant or unpleasant; it is only a 'you or a 'me' who suffers an experience. This is a

very important pronouncement and you should ponder over it deeply.

I should really let you solve this problem for yourself, or rather, let the problem work itself out!

But let us proceed. 'I' cannot suffer any experience, because 'I' am pure subjectivity without the

slightest trace of objectivity, and only an object can suffer. A 'me' or a 'you' is an object and,

therefore, suffers experience. Also, like any other object, a 'me' or a 'you' can have no substance

and, therefore, can exist only as a concept in consciousness. Further, never forget that it is only

consciousness which can suffer because any reaction to a stimulus, which is what experiencing is,

can only take place through consciousness. Indeed, therefore, consciousness and suffering are

identical, and not in any way different. Ponder over this very significant point.

What I say you will find rather difficult to grasp because you have identified yourself with the

body, the psychosomatic apparatus through which an experience is suffered, the instrument in

which the suffered experience is registered. You have lost your identity with 'pure subjectivity, the

Absolute that you truly are, and have mistakenly identified yourself with the objective 'me';

therefore you say 'I suffer', and therefore you are 'bound'.

Do you understand what I have been saying? I am aware of my true identity as intemporality,

infinity, subjectivity — therefore I do not and can not suffer. I am aware that it is consciousness that

apparently suffers an experience through the sensorial apparatus. You, on the other hand, believe

that you are the sensorial apparatus and it is this mistaken identity of yours that is the cause of your

suffering and your bondage.

So long as there is consciousness functioning, keeping the sensorial apparatus working, there

will also be living, experiencing, suffering — positive or negative.  But you, as 'I', are only the

witnessing of it all.  All functioning is the objective expression of what-I-am subjectively, and every

sentient being can say this: What-I-am cannot suffer any experience, only an objective 'you' or 'me'

can suffer an experience.

Translation by Ramesh S. Balsekar

Copyright © 1982 by Ramesh S. Balsekar.

Your center of consciousness is always stronger than the energy that is pulling on it.  You just have to be willing to exercise your will.  But it’s not a fight or a struggle.  It’s not that you are trying to stop the energies from coming up inside.  There is nothing wrong with feeling the energies of fear, jealousy, or attraction.  It’s not your fault that such energies exist.  All the attractions, repulsions, thoughts, and feelings don’t make any difference.  They don’t make you pure of impure.  They are not you.  You are the one who’s watching, and that one is pure consciousness.  Don’t think you’d be free if you just didn’t have these kinds of feelings.  It’s not true.  If you can be free even though you’re having these kinds of feelings, then you’re really free – because there will always be something.

If you can learn to remain centered with the smaller things, you will see that you can also remain centered with bigger things.  Over time, you will find that you can even remain centered with the really big things.  The types of events that would have destroyed you in the past can come and go, leaving you perfectly centered and peaceful.  You can be fine, deep inside, even in the face of a deep sense of loss.  There’s nothing wrong with being peaceful and centered as long as you are releasing the energy, not suppressing it.  Ultimately, even if terrible things happen, you should be able to live without emotional scars and impressions.  If you don’t hold these issues inside, you can go about your life without getting psychologically damaged.  No matter what events take place in life, it is always better to let go rather than to close.

There’s a place deep inside of you where the consciousness touches the energy, and the energy touches the consciousness.  That’s where your work is.  From that place, you let go.  Once you’ve let go, every minute of every day, year after year, then that’s where you’ll live.  Nothing will be able to take your seat of consciousness from you.  You’ll learn to stay there.  After you’ve put years and years into this process, and learned to let go no matter how deep the pain, you will achieve a great state.  You will then be free to explore the nature and source of your true being -  Pure Consciousness.

Michael A. Singer

From:  The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself

It’s amazing to see what we end up doing with our will.  We actually assert our will in opposition to the flow of life.  What we’re really resisting is the experience of the event passing through us.    When you resist, the energy has no place to go.  It gets stuck in your psyche and seriously affects you.  It blocks your heart’s energy flow and causes you to feel closed and less vibrant.

Be willing to examine the process of resistance.  Carefully watch the mental voice that tells you to resist something.  Let your spiritual path become the willingness to let whatever happens make it through you, rather than carrying it into the next moment.  That doesn’t mean you don’t deal with what happens.  You’re welcome to deal with it, but first let the energy make it through you.  If you don’t, you will not actually be dealing with the current event, you will be dealing with your own blocked energies from the past.  You will not be coming from a place of clarity, but from a place of inner resistance and tension.  

Michael A. Singer

Excerpts from: The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself

If you think you have a really BIG problem but have no immediate solution for it, take a couple of deep breaths and consider how some of the great men and women of our species would tackle it--people like Jesus of Nazareth, Gautama the Buddha, Mahatma Gandhi, Peace Pilgrim, and Thomas Merton. If you still don't find an answer, this could mean that you might profit greatly from reading up about these people and studying their life's wisdom more closely. At any rate, to solve a problem typically calls for a shift in one's perspective. In other words, we must be willing to make an adjustment within ourselves--to change--for the solution to pop into our head.

~ Georg Feuerstein

“How do we reignite our passion after immense loss and grief?  I’m coming to understand that this isn’t something we achieve or learn or even earn.  The realization that the source is inside leaves me knowing that it is within our sphere of influence to recover, reclaim and rekindle it.  Crisis can force us deep enough to find that source in whatever we truly love.  The deeper the channel that pain carves into our souls, the greater the capacity we have to allow the river of joy to run through us.”

~ Dawna Markova

From:  “I Will Not Die and Unlived Life.

I Dreamt I Could Douse The Fire Of Concern

If I can keep the wound of my intentions open,

life floods in because light rushes every crack

no matter how small and truth irrigates

the stubborn castle in my mind.

So the task, the job, the hardest thing,

when every pain you’ve ever felt

is shutting you right down

the only thing

is to dream

the hurt place open.

It’s true that sharp things cut

and blunt things bruise

and desperate beings try to

rummage through and take

whatever shines or looks like gold

but this can be endured.

It is the loss of eternity

that kills without removing one

from the earth.

So let me love without a net

beyond the fear of death

until the speck of peace

I guard so well

becomes the world.

~ Mark Nepo

“The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value.  I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress and grow.”

~Thomas Paine

“It is inevitable that some defeat will enter even the most victorious life. The human spirit is never finished when it is defeated...it is finished when it surrenders.”

~ Ben Stein

“Everyone who enjoys thinks that the principal thing to the tree is the fruit, but in point of fact the principal thing to it is the seed. -- Herein lies the difference between them that create and them that enjoy.”

~ Friedrich Nietzsche

“When life gives you a hundred reasons to cry, show life that you have a thousand reasons to smile”

~ Author Unknown

“Anyone can give up, it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength.”

“It takes more courage to reveal insecurities than to hide them, more strength to relate to people than to dominate them, more 'manhood' to abide by thought-out principles rather than blind reflex. Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles and an immature mind.”

~Alex Karras

“Forget about the consequences of failure. Failure is only a temporary change in direction to set you straight for your next success.”

~ Denis Waitley (American motivational Speaker and Author of self-help

books. b.1933)

"Sometimes when our life falls apart it is because it is not held together with consciousness, it is held together by illusion, and so it crumbles, and what is left is actually a clearer vision of what is real and of value.  So many have found their life path only after what they had formerly perceived as their life crumbles to dust.  In other words, it is the illusion of our life which crumbles, leaving reality in its place."

~ Max Strom

“Problems bring suffering, and suffering makes us reach out to become more aware.”

~ Manorama

“Through humor, you can soften some of the worst blows that life delivers. And once you find laughter, no matter how painful your situation might be, you can survive it.”

~ Bill Cosby

“Forget about the consequences of failure. Failure is only a temporary change in direction to set you straight for your next success.”

~ Denis Waitley

(American motivational Speaker and Author of self-help books. b.1933)

"When you look at yourself from a universal standpoint, something inside always reminds or informs you that there are bigger and better things to worry about."

~ Albert Einstein

Most people have come to prefer certain of life’s experiences and deny and reject others, unaware of the value of the hidden things that may come wrapped in plain and even ugly paper. In avoiding all pain and seeking comfort at all costs, we may be left without intimacy or compassion; in rejecting change and risk we often cheat ourselves of the quest; in denying our suffering we may never know our strength or our greatness.”

~ Rachel Naomi Remen

“To seek approval is to have no resting place, no sanctuary. Like all judgment, approval encourages a constant striving. It makes us uncertain of who we are and of our true value. Approval cannot be trusted. It can be withdrawn at any time no matter what our track record has been. It is as nourishing of real growth as cotton candy. Yet many of us spend our lives pursuing it.”

~ Rachel Naomi Remen

“Forget about the consequences of failure. Failure is only a temporary change in direction to set you straight for your next

success.”

~ Denis Waitley

(American motivational Speaker and Author of self-help books. b.1933)

"Each time you receive a blow from life, tell yourself immediately, “Ah, I have to make a progress”; then the blow becomes a blessing.  Instead of tucking your head between your shoulders, you lift it up with joy and you say, “What is it I have to learn?  I want to know.  What is it I have to change?  I want to know.”  This is what you should do."

The Mother – (1878-1973)

The Mother was born in Paris as Mira Alfassa.  She was a devote of Sri Aurobindo

The above was an excerpt from one of her collected works  “Search for the Soul in Everyday Living”

Compiled by Wayne Bloomquist

All life is a simply dream-like dance of appearance and disappearance of all phenomena. But unless you know this directly, from your own experience, it can seem like pretty cold comfort -- especially when times are hard!

As Buddhist wisdom for hard times, my Zen teacher Kobun Chino Roshi used to say, "Falling apart, falling apart, all together falling apart , it can't be helped".What a relief to know that this isn't a bad dream, it's the nature of everything and everyone -- coming together and falling apart, like the elements of a dream. So -- if life is all a dream, let's make it a good dream!

~Trudy Goodman

From: L. A. Insight Meditation Center

"Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves."

~ Carl Jung

"The path to happiness and a sense of well-being in this very life lies not in avoiding suffering but in using the conscious, embodied, direct experience of it as a vehicle to gain deep insight into the true nature of life and your own existence. Instead of being a reactionary slave to the inevitable pain, frustration, stress, and sorrow in your life, which the Buddha called 'dukkha', you can free your mind such that you have a sense of well-being even when dukkha is present, and you create the possibility of finding compete freedom. Why not dance with the constant vicissitudes of life in a manner that is joyful and liberated, rather than feeling like a victim or being flooded with fear and stress?"

~ Phillip Moffit

from "Dancing With Life"

"People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar."

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

"Adversity is a natural part of being human. It is the height of arrogance to prescribe a moral code or health regime or spiritual practice as an amulet to keep things from falling apart. Things do fall apart. It is in their nature to do so. When we try to protect ourselves from the inevitability of change, we are not listening to the soul. We are listening to our fear of life and death, our lack of faith, our smaller ego's will to prevail. To listen to your soul is to stop fighting with life--to stop fighting when things fall apart; when they don't go our away, when we get sick, when we are betrayed or mistreated or misunderstood. To listen to the soul is to slow down, to feel deeply, to see ourselves clearly, to surrender to discomfort and uncertainty and to wait."

~ Elizabeth Lesser

“There are as many nights as days, and the one is just as long as the other in the year's course. Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word 'happy' would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.”

~ Carl Jung

Going Beyond Fear

Going beyond fear begins when we examine our fear: our anxiety, nervousness, concern, and restlessness.  If we look into our fear, if we look beneath the veneer, the first thing we find is sadness, beneath the nervousness.  Nervousness is cranking up, vibrating all the time.  When we slow down, when we relax with our fear, we find sadness, which is calm and gentle.  Sadness hits you in your heart, and your body produces a tear.  Before you cry, there is a feeling in your chest and then, after that you produce tears in your eyes.  You are about to produce rain or waterfall in your eyes and you feel sad and lonely and perhaps romantic at the same time.  That is the first tip of fearlessness, and the first sign of real warriorship.  You might think that, when you experience fearlessness, you will hear the opening of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony or see a great explosion in the sky, but it doesn’t happen that way.  Discovering fearlessness comes from working the softness of the human heart.  

~ Chogyam Trungpa

Extracted from Elizabeth Lessers’s  Book - “Broken Open”

How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow – pg 37

"Some of us think holding on makes us strong; but sometimes it is letting go."

~ Hermann Hesse

Many Blows are Needed

Mother, even when one tries to think that one is powerless, There is something which believes one is powerful. So?

Ah, yes, ah, yes!  Ah, it is very difficult to be sincere.  That is why the blows multiply and sometimes become terrible, because that’s the only thing which breaks your stupidity.  This is the justification of calamities.  Only when you are in an acutely painful situation and indeed before something that affects you deeply, then that makes the stupidity melt away a little.  But as you say, even when there is something that melts, there is still a little something which remains inside. And that is why it lasts so long…

How many blows are needed in life for one to know to the very depths that one is nothing, that one can do nothing, that one does not exists, that one is nothing,  that there is no entity without the Divine, Consciousness and the Grace. From the moment one knows it, it is over; all difficulties have gone.  When one knows it integrally and there is nothing which resists… but till that moment.. and it takes very long.

~ The Mother

“Do not wish for death just because your life is hard.  All the burdens on your shoulder will help you fulfill your destiny.  The only way to get rid of your burdens is to live your life in such a way that you fulfill your destiny.”

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

I am your friend

and my love for you goes deep.

There is nothing I can give you

which you have not got,

but there is much, very much

that while I cannot give it,

you can take.

No heaven can come to us

unless our hearts find rest in today.

Take heaven!

No peace lies in the future

which is not hidden

in this present little instant.

Take peace!

The gloom of the world

is but a shadow.

Behind it,

yet within our reach

is joy.

There is radiance and glory

in the darkness

could we but see -

and to see we have only to look.

I beseech you to look!

Life is so generous a giver,

but we, judging its gifts

by the covering,

cast them away as ugly,

or heavy or hard.

Remove the covering

and you will find beneath it

a living splendor,

woven of love,

by wisdom, with power.

Welcome it, grasp it,

touch the angel's hand

that brings it to you.

Everything we call a trial,

a sorrow, or a duty, believe me,

that angel's hand

is there,

the gift is there, and the wonder

of an overshadowing presence.

Our joys, too, be not

content with them as joys.

They, too, conceal diviner gifts.

Life is so full

of meaning and purpose,

so full of beauty

- beneath its covering -

that you will find earth

but cloaks your heaven.

Courage, then, to claim it,

that is all.

But courage you have,

and the knowledge that

we are all pilgrims together,

wending through

unknown country, home.

And so, at this time,

I greet you.

Not quite as the world

sends greetings,

but with profound esteem

and with the prayer

that for you

now and forever,

the day breaks,

and the shadows flee away.

~ Fra Giovanni

Letter Written in 1513

The Guest House

This being human is a guesthouse.

Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,

some momentary awareness comes

as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!

Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,

who violently sweep your house

empty of its furniture,

still, treat each guest honorably.

He may be clearing you out

for some new delight.

THE GUEST HOUSE

Be grateful for whoever comes,

because each has been sent

as a guide from beyond.

~ Rumi

"Your dharma is to tread the winding path that leads to Sita. Don't abandon your courage.  Fate is leading you down a strange road. Rama, you are the Kshatriya (warrior) who gave up his Kingdom for the sake of dharma; you don't need me to tell you that there is no resisting fate. Why you are led along this painful way is mysterious. But there it is, and you must negotiate all its twists and turns bravely. Don't give in to grief; remember this path leads all the way back to Ayodhya".

Commentary:  In this excerpt Lord Rama is given to grief when his precious Sita was taken away.  His brother Lakshmana consoles Rama and reminds him that he chose the path of "dharma" which requires full surrender and leads to Ayodhya which is the metaphor for "Self Reliazation".  This is our metaphor as well.  We can never predict where or why life takes us down a difficult path.  All we can do is to surrender and to continue to hold steady to our yogic practices.    

Ramesh Menon  Excerpt from The Ramayana as retold by Ramesh Menon  (Pg 224)

Commentary by Nirmala

Breathe

Some mornings seem harder than others.

Each new day that I wake up to greet the sun,

brings me closer to death’s door.

I find myself rushing to get somewhere,

Only to find out, there’s nowhere to go.

The wise advise me to cultivate contentment with what I have.

But what does that really mean to me,

when I get trapped in the ramblings and longings of my own mind.

Some days seem harder than others.

“Seems like life”, I’ve been told.

This suffering strikes a universal tone -

where even the hopeful, can become cynical.

I use to think I had the answers.

But now I see that I am just a fool

playing a fools game.

Nowhere to turn, nothing to do but watch and wait

for the cycle to move.

Another day will come where I will forget -

this long and odious day.  

Breath connects me with the moment -

It is the only tangible reminder of the ever present.

~ Nirmala

"Our rational minds can never understand what has happened, but our hearts.. if we can keep them open to God, will find their own intuitive way."

~ Ram Daas

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Excerpt from "I AM That" Chapter 55

There is trouble only when you cling to something. When you hold on to nothing, no trouble arises. The relinquishing of the lesser is the gaining of the greater. Give up all and you gain all. Then life becomes what it was meant to be: pure radiation from an inexhaustible source. In that light the world appears dimly like a dream.

Copyright 1973 Nisargadatta Maharaj

"Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible be found in us."

- Pema Chodron

From:  When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times - Pg 7.

"Rather than letting our negativity get the better of us, we could acknowledge that right now we feel like a piece of shit and not be squeamish about taking a good look."

"Most of us do not take these situations as teachings. We automatically hate them. We run like crazy. We use all kinds of ways to escape -- all addictions stem from this moment when we meet our edge and we just can't stand it. We feel we have to soften it, pad it with something, and we become addicted to whatever it is that seems to ease the pain."

"When things are shaky and nothing is working, we might realize that we are on the verge of something. We might realize that this is a very vulnerable and tender place, and that tenderness can go either way. We can shut down and feel resentful or we can touch in on that throbbing quality. (9)"

Excerpts from "When Things Fall Apart"

~ Pema Chodron

If You Keep Asking God Why

Grief is an emotion that drives itself deep into your heart.

Like a knife, it cuts into you with such force and intensity,

you barely have room for breathe.

But when you sit quietly with grief, observing it

with equal intensity -

you may notice that behind its unwelcomed force

is a calling to dive deeper into its presence in your life.

Grief can teach you many things, if you stop struggling against its grip.

But if you keep asking God "why", then you are missing the point.

~ Nirmala

"Gloriousness and wretchedness need each other.  One inspires us, the other softens us."

~ Pema Chodron

"Eh," Ajahn Chah would peer at me when I was

having a hard time, "caught in some state again?"

In the forest monastery we were constantly being

directed both to look at consciousness itself and

to precisely name the states that rose to fill it

throughout the day: frightened, bored, relaxed,

confused, resentful, calm, frustrated, and so forth.

Ajahn Chah would sometimes ask us out loud about

our states so that we could acknowledge them more

clearly. To a recently divorced monk from Bangkok

he chided, "Is there sadness? Anger? Self-pity?

Hey, these are natural. Look at them all." And to

a confused English monk he laughed, "Can you see

what is happening? There is distraction, confusion,

being in a muddle. They're only mind states, you

know. Come on. Do you believe your mind states?

Are you trapped by them?You'll suffer for sure."

Once we became more skilled at noticing, he would

up the ante. He would deliberately make things

difficult and watch what happened. In the hottest

season, he would send us out barefoot to collect

alms food on a ten-mile round trip, and smile at

us when we came back to see if we were frustrated

or discouraged. He'd have us sit up all night

long for endless teachings, without any break,

and check in on us cheerfully at four in the

morning. When we got annoyed, he'd ask, "Are you

angry?Whose fault is that?"

In popular Western culture we are taught that the

way to achieve happiness is to change our external

environment to fit our wishes. But this strategy

doesn't work. In every life, pleasure and pain,

gain and loss, praise and blame keep showing up,

no matter how hard we struggle to have only pleasure,

gain, and praise. Buddhist psychology offers a

different approach to happiness, teaching that

states of consciousness are far more crucial than

outer circumstances.

~ Jack Kornfield

Excerpt from 'The Wise Heart'

God in the form of Play

i heard You calling me that night -

in the mist of my pain,

as i laid there wondering

if You were mocking me,

or just playing the same 'ole game.

Everything was there

a newborn child -

wiggling in my arms - the smell of his hair

so sweet and alluring to my senses;

a young marriage - with promises of happily ever after;

another one dissolving - showing that happiness cannot be found in the other.

the joy of a birthday celebration - the markings of time,

a half century that has gone by;

the smell of defecation - and the fear of an old man

as death awaits him - just around the bend.

The beginning, the middle and the end,

all present for me to witness,

again and again and again.

Sometimes i feel

like the guy in "One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest"

with toothpicks in his eyes -

being forced to watch

the same movie over and over again.

These constant reminders

of what is real and what is not real,

until i cannot bare to see it

or feel it once again.

i've learned all the words,

studied all the lessons,

seen with my own eyes,

felt with my own heart,

but today

I am tired -

fatigued beyond belief.

What would You have me do?

Quit?

i'm not a quitter.

If it's the game You want to play

then let's play.

If suffering is a friend of the Beloved.

then You and i must be the best of friends.

Oh - i know tomorrow

i will be laughing;

don't think for one minute

that i've forgotten how this game is played.

i am not mocking You -

just merely calling You out -

"God in the form of Play."

In truth -

i wouldn't have it

any other

way.

~ Nirmala

A HUNDRED OBJECTS CLOSE BY

I know a cure for sadness:

Let your hands touch something that

makes your eyes smile.

I bet there are a hundred objects close by

that can do that.

Look at

beauty's gift to us -

the earth, the sky, our

soul.

~ Mirabia (Poet Saint of India - c. 1498-1550)

The core of masculinity does not derive

from being male,

nor friendliness from those who console.

Your old grandmother says, "Maybe you shouldn't

go to school. You look a little pale."

Run when you hear that.

A father's stern slaps are better.

Your bodily soul wants comforting.

The severe father wants spiritual clarity.

He scolds but eventually

leads you into the open.

Pray for a tough instructor

to hear and act and stay within you.

We have been busy accumulating solace.

Make us afraid of what we were.

~ Rumi

'The Essential Rumi' Coleman Barks/John Moyne

"Suffering is the sandpaper of our life. It does its work of shaping us. Suffering is part of our training program for becoming wise."

~ Ram Dass

“Regret is an appalling waste of energy; you can't build on it; it's only good for wallowing in.”

~ Katherine Mansfield

Rainer Maria Rilke

The Sonnets To Orpheus: IV

O you tender ones, walk now and then

into the breath that blows coldly past,

Upon your cheeks let it tremble and part;

behind you it will tremble together again.

O you blessed ones, you who are whole,

you who seem the beginning of hearts,

bows for the arrows and arrows' targets--

tear-bright, your lips more eternally smile.

Don't be afraid to suffer; return

that heaviness to the earth's own weight;

heavy are the mountains, heavy the seas.

Even the small trees you planted as children

have long since become too heavy; you could not

carry them now. But the winds...But the spaces....

Translated by Stephen Mitchell

"Freedom from the desire for an answer is essential to the solving of a problem."

~ Krishnamurti

“The only time we suffer is when we believe a thought that argues with what is. When the mind is perfectly clear, what is is what we want.”

~ Byron Katie

What is to give light must endure burning.

~Viktor Frankl

Thich Nhat Hanh

Begin with Yourself

This is from: 'Anger - Buddhist Wisdom for Cooling the Flames'

Without communication, no real understanding can be possible. But be sure that you can communicate with yourself first. If you cannot communicate with yourself, how do you expect to communicate with another person? Love is the same. If you don't love yourself, you cannot love someone else. If you cannot accept yourself, if you cannot treat yourself with kindness, you cannot do this for another person.

Very often you behave exactly like your father, but you don't realize it. And though you behave like him, you feel you are total opposites. You do not accept him, you hate him. When you do not accept your father, you do not accept yourself. Your father is in you; you are the continuation of your father. So if you can communicate with yourself, then you can

communicate with your father.

The self is made of non-self elements; therefore, understanding ourselves is our practice. Our father is a non-self element. We say our father is not us, but without our father, we cannot exist. So, he is fully present in our body and in our mind. He is us. Thus, if you understand yourself, your whole self, you understand that you are your father, he is not outside of you.

There are so many other non-self elements that you can touch and recognize within yourself- your ancestors, the earth, the sun, water, air, all the food you eat, and much more. It may seem like these things are separate from you, but without them, you could not live.

Suppose two warring parties want to negotiate, and both sides do not know enough about themselves. You have to really know yourself, your country, your party, your situation, in order to understand the others party, the other's nation, the other's people. Self and others are not two separate things, because the suffering, hope, and anger of both sides is very much the same.

When we get angry, we suffer. If you really understand that, you also will be able to understand that when the other person is angry, it means that she is suffering. When someone insults you or behaves violently towards you, you have to be intelligent enough to see that the person suffers from his own violence and anger. But we tend to forget. We think that we are the only one that suffers, and the other person is our oppressor. This is enough to make anger arise, and to strengthen our desire to punish. We want to punish the other person because we suffer. Then, we have anger in us; we have violence in us, just as they do. When we see that our suffering and anger are no different from their suffering and anger, we will behave more compassionately. So understanding the other is understanding yourself and understanding yourself is understanding the other person. Everything must begin with you.

To understand ourselves, we must learn and practice the way of non-duality. We should not fight our anger, because anger is our self a part of our self Anger is of an organic nature, like love. We have to take good care of anger. And because it is an organic entity, an organic phenomenon, it is possible to transform it into another organic entity. The garbage can be transformed back into compost, into lettuce, and into cucumber. So don't despise your anger. Don't fight your anger, and don't suppress your anger. Learn the tender way of taking care of your anger, and transform it into the energy of

understanding and compassion.

BEING A GRAIN OF SAND

The real experience, beyond the dream world, is the beauty and color and excitement of the real experience of now in everyday life. When we face things as they are, we give up the hope of something better. Depression and ignorance, the emotions, whatever we experience, are all real and contain tremendous truth. If we really want to experience the truth, we have to be where we are. It is just a matter of being a grain of sand.

~ Chogyam Trungpa

From “Self-Deception,” page 81 in Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, the Shambhala Library Edition.

Misery and it's Cure

If we examine our own lives, we find that the greatest cause of sorrow is this: we take up something, and put our whole energy on it-perhaps it is a failure and yet we cannot give it up. We know that it is hurting us, that any further clinging to it is simply bringing misery on us; still, we cannot tear ourselves away from it. The bee came to sip the honey, but its feet stuck to the honey-pot and it could not get away.

Again and again, we are finding ourselves in that state. That is the whole secret of existence. Why are we here? We came

here to sip the honey, and we find our hands and feet sticking to it. We are caught, though we came to catch. We came to

enjoy; we are being enjoyed. We came to rule; we are being ruled. We came to work; we are being worked. All the time,

we find that. And this comes into every detail of our life. We are being worked upon by other minds, and we are always

struggling to work on other minds. We want to enjoy the pleasures of life; and they eat into our vitals. We want to get everything from nature, but we find in the long run that nature takes everything from us-depletes us, and casts us

aside.

Had it not been for this, life would have been all sunshine. Never mind! With all its failures and successes, with all its

joys and sorrows, it can be one succession of sunshine, if only we are not caught.

That is the one cause of misery: we are attached, we are being caught. Therefore says the Gita: Work constantly; work,

but be not attached; be not caught. Reserve unto yourself the power of detaching yourself from everything, however beloved, however much the soul might yearn for it, however great the pangs of misery you feel if you were going to leave it; still, reserve the power of leaving it whenever you want. The weak have no place here, in this life or in any other life. Weakness leads to slavery. Weakness leads to all kinds of misery, physical and mental. Weakness is death. There are hundreds of thousands of microbes surrounding us, but they cannot harm us unless we become weak, until the body is ready and predisposed to receive them. There may be a million microbes of misery, floating about us. Never mind! They dare not approach us, they have no power to get a hold on us, until the mind is weakened. This is the great fact: strength is life, weakness is death. Strength is felicity, life eternal, immortal; weakness is constant strain and misery: weakness is death.

Attachment is the source of all our pleasures now. We are attached to our friends, to our relatives; we are attached to our intellectual and spiritual works; we are attached to external objects, so that we get pleasure from them. What, again, brings

misery but this very attachment? We have to detach ourselves to learn joy. If only we had power to detach ourselves at will, there would not be any misery. That man alone will be able to get the best of nature, who, having the power of attaching himself to a thing with all his energy, has also the power to detach himself when he should do so. The difficulty is that there must be as much power of attachment as that of detachment. There are men who are never attracted by anything. They can never love, they are hard-hearted and apathetic; they escape most of the miseries of life. But the wall never feels misery, the wall never loves, is never hurt; but it is the wall, after all. Surely it is better to be attached and caught, than to be a wall. Therefore the man who never loves who is hard and stony, escaping most of the miseries of life, escapes also its joys. We do not want that. That is weakness, that is death. That soul has not been awakened that never feels weakness, never feels misery. That is a callous state. We do not want that.

At the same time, we not only want this mighty power of love, this mighty power of attachment, the power of throwing our

whole soul upon a single object, losing ourselves and letting ourselves be annihilated, as it were, for other souls-which

is the power of the gods-but we want to be higher even than the gods. The perfect man can put his whole soul upon that

one point of love, yet he is unattached. How comes this? There is another secret to learn.

The beggar is never happy. The beggar only gets a dole with pity and scorn behind it, at least with the thought behind

that the beggar is a low object. He never really enjoys what he gets.

We are all beggars. Whatever we do, we want a return. We are all traders. We are traders in life, we are traders in virtue,

we are traders in religion. And alas! we are also traders in love.

If you come to trade, if it is a question of give-and-take, if it is a question of buy-and-sell, abide by the laws of buying and

selling. There is a bad time and there is a good time; there is a rise and a fall in prices: always you expect the blow to come.

It is like looking at the mirror. Your face is reflected: you make a grimace-there is one in the mirror; if you laugh, the mirror

laughs. This is buying and selling, giving and taking.

We get caught. How? Not by what we give, but by what we expect. We get misery in return for our love; not from the fact

that we love, but from the fact that we want love in return.  There is no misery where there is no want. Desire, want, is

the father of all misery. Desires are bound by the laws of success and failure. Desires must bring misery.

From Vedanta - Voice of Freedom

~ Swami Vivekananda

"Know and watch your heart. It's pure but emotions come to colour it. So let your mind be like a tightly woven net to catch

emotions and feelings that come, and investigate them before you react."

~Ajahn Chah.

There Is A Brokenness

There is a brokenness

out of which comes the unbroken,

A shatteredness out of which blooms the unshatterable.

There is a sorrow

Beyond all grief which leads to joy

And a fragility

Out of which depth emerges strength.

There is a hollow space

Too vast for words

Through which we pass with each loss,

Out of whose darkness we are sanctified into being.

There is a cry deeper than all sound

Whose serrated edges cut the heart

As we break open

To the place inside which is unbreakable

And whole.

~  Rashani

LETTING THERE BE ROOM

Things falling apart is a kind of testing and also a kind of healing. We think that the point is to pass the test or to overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don’t really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It’s just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.

~ Pema Chodron

LIGHTEN UP

Have you ever been caught in the heavy-duty scenario of feeling defeated and hurt, and then somehow, for no particular reason, you just drop it? It just goes, and you wonder why you made much ado about nothing.” What was that all about?

I’d like to encourage us all to lighten up, to practice with a lot of gentleness. This compassion, this clarity, this openness are like something we have forgotten. Sitting here being gentle with ourselves, we’re rediscovering something. It’s like a mother reuniting with her child; having been lost to each other for a long, long time, they reunite. The way to reunite with bodhichitta (awakened heart) is to lighten up in your practice and in your life.

~ Pema Chodron

NATURAL WARMTH

The natural warmth that emerges when we experience pain includes all the heart qualities: love, compassion, gratitude, tenderness in any form. It also includes loneliness, sorrow, and the shakiness of fear. Before these vulnerable feelings harden, before the storylines kick in, these generally unwanted feelings are pregnant with kindness, with openness and caring. These feelings that we’ve become so accomplished at avoiding can soften us, can transform us. The openheartedness of natural warmth is sometimes pleasant, sometimes unpleasant. The practice is to train in not automatically fleeing from uncomfortable tenderness when it arises.

~ Pema Chodron

"That which separates you from the Whole is called ego."  

~ Swami Rama

"When you learn to be alone but always with the ONE, then you are not lonely.  You are lonely when you isolate yourself from the Whole by constantly identifying with the objects of the mind."

~ Swami Rama

‎

"God sent you here for a purpose. The mere fact that you are not getting something means that God thinks you dont need it. How nice life would be if we could just remember this."

~  Sri Swami Satchidananda

‎

"Growth only comes with friction."

~Manorama

Your Triumphant Song

On that final day

When my casket moves along

Do not think my soul

  will stay in this world.

Do not weep for me, crying, Tragedy, tragedy
You will only fall into the snares of delusion -
  Now that's a tragedy!

When you see my lifeless body go by
Do not cry out, Gone, gone.
It is my moment of union.
It is when I come upon
  the eternal embrace of my Beloved.

As I am lowered into the ground
Do not say, Farewell, farewell.
For the grave is but a veil
  covering the splender of Paradise.

  Having seen the fall
  Consider the rise.
  What harm ever came to the setting Sun or Moon?

What appears to you as a setting
  is for me a rising.
What appears to you as a prison
  is for my soul an endless garden.

Every seed that enters the earth will grow.
Should it be any differenet with a human seed?
Every bucket that is lowered into a well comes up full.
Should I complain when instead of water
  I pull up Joseph himself?

Do not look for words here,

  look for them over there.
Sing to me in the silence of your heart.
  and I will rise up
  to hear your triumphant song.

~ Rumi

"It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are."

~ e.e. cummings

"Re-examine all you have been told..

Dismiss what insults your Soul."

~ Walt Whitman