Words of Wisdom

[HeyDudesWassup]

"Thoughts are friends, not enemies. They're just "what is." They appear. They're innocent. We're not doing them. They're not personal. They're like the breeze or the leaves on the trees or the raindrops falling. Thoughts arise like that, and we can make friends with them. Would you argue with a raindrop? Raindrops aren't personal, and neither are thoughts. It's the meaning you attach to those thoughts that you think is personal. Inquire. Meet them with understanding. Once a painful concept is met with understanding, the next time it appears you may find it interesting. The next time it appears, you may find it funny. The next time you may not even notice it. There will be no attachment. I meet thoughts the way I would meet my children. I met them with love, gentleness, and a quiet understanding. I inquire."

Byron Katie

[Pheena]

when someone can say, without doubt or equivocation, that, "My life today is entirely the result of my prior decisions, focus and understandings," then, without doubt or equivocation, that it's only a matter of time before their every cup is overflowing.

[Pheena]

All things in worldly existence

That are colored by attachment and aversion

Are in reality devoid of any real existence.

When this is seen, everything is seen as golden.

When we meditate upon the illusion-like nature

Of all the illusion-like phenomena

We attain illusion-like enlightenment.

~ Dakini Niguma

instructions to Khyungpo Naljyor when asked for the essence of all her teachings

(trans. Glenn Mullin)

[HeyDudesWassup]

Seth Quotes collection:

The Nature of Personal Reality

"You are in physical existence to learn

and understand that your energy, translated into feelings, thoughts and

emotions, causes all experience. There is no exceptions."

"I told you that the self was not limited, yet surely you

think that your self stops where your skin meets space, that you are

inside your skin. Period. Yet your environment is an extension of your

self. It is the body of your experience coalesced in physical form. The

inner self forms the objects that you know as surely and automatically

as it forms your finger or your eye.

Your environment is the physical picture

of your thoughts emotions and beliefs made visible. Since your thoughts

emotions and beliefs move through space and time, you therefore affect

physical conditions separate from you."

You are confined only to the extent that

you have chosen physical reality, and so placed yourself within its

context of experience. While physical, you follow physical laws, or

assumptions. These form the framework for corporeal expression.

Within this framework you have full

freedom to create your experience, your personal life in all of its

aspects, the living picture of the world. Your personal life, and to

some extent your individual living experience, help create the world as

it is known in your time.

"Look about you. Your entire physical

environment is the materialization of your beliefs. Your sense of joy,

sorrow, health or illness - all of these are also caused by your

beliefs. "

"I would like you to recognize your own

beliefs in several areas. You must realize that any idea you accept as

truth is a belief that you hold. You must, then, take the next step and

say, "It is not necessarily true, even though I believe it." You will, I

hope, learn to disregard all beliefs that imply basic limitations.

"Physical data will always seem to

reinforce the beliefs, therefore, but the beliefs formed the reality. "

"....you must realize that no one can

change your beliefs for you, nor can they be forced upon you from

without. You can indeed change them for yourself, however, with

knowledge and application. "

" Within you is the ability to

change your ideas about reality and about yourself, to create a personal

living experience that is fulfilling to yourself and others. "

"The realization that you form your own

reality should be a liberating one. You are responsible for your

successes and your joys. You can change those areas of your life with

which you are less than pleased, but you must take the responsibility

for your being.

Your spirit joined itself with flesh, and

in flesh, to experience a world of incredible richness, to help create a

dimension of reality of colors and of form. Your spirit was born in

flesh to enrich a marvelous area of sense awareness to feel energy made

into corporeal form. You are here to use enjoy and express yourself

through the body. You are here to aid in the great expansion of

consciousness."

Remember, even false beliefs will seem to

be justified in terms of physical data, since your experience in the

outside world is the materialization of those beliefs. So, you must work

with the raw material of your ideas, even when your sense data may tell

you that a given belief is obviously a truth. To change your experience

or any portion of it, then, you must change your ideas. Since you have

been forming your own reality all along, the results will follow

naturally."

"You must be convinced that you can alter your beliefs. You must be

willing to try. "

" The inner self is embarked upon an

exciting endeavor, in which it learns how to translate its reality into

physical terms. The conscious mind is brilliantly attuned to physical

reality, then, and often so dazzled by what it perceives that it is

tempted to think physical phenomena is a cause, rather than a result.

Deeper portions of the self always serve to remind it that this is not

the case. When the conscious mind accepts too many false beliefs,

particularly if it sees that inner self as a danger, then it closes out

these constant reminders. When this situation arises the conscious mind

feels itself assailed by a reality that seems greater than itself, over

which it has no control. The deep feeling of security in which it should

be anchored is lost.

The false beliefs must be weeded out so

that the conscious mind can become aware of its source once again, and

open to the inner channels of splendor and power available to it."

"Realize that your physical experience and

environment is the materialization of your beliefs. If you find great

exuberance, health, effective work, abundance, smiles on the faces of

those you meet, then take it for granted that your beliefs are

beneficial. If you see a world that is good, people that like you, take

it for granted, again, that your beliefs are beneficial. But if you find

poor health a lack of meaningful work, a lack of abundance, a world of

sorrow and evil, then assume that your beliefs are faulty and begin

examining them."

Sessions 613 thru 616, pages 14 thru 34.

"You must learn to deal with your own

beliefs directly or you will be forced to deal with them indirectly."

"To act in an independent manner, you must

begin to initiate action that you want to occur physically

(emphatically) by creating it in your own being.

This is done by combining belief, emotion

and imagination, and forming them into a mental picture of the desired

physical result. "

Session 627, page 108

"Your beliefs about what is

desirable and what is not, what is good and what is evil, cannot be

divorced from the condition of your body. Your own ideas of values can

help you achieve good health or bring about disease, can bring into your

experience success or failure, happiness or sadness. Yet each of you

will interpret that last remark in line with your own value system. You

will have definite ideas about what success or failure means, or what

good or evil is.

Your own value system then is built up of

your beliefs about reality, and those beliefs form your experience. "

Session 633, page 140

"Normal aggressiveness flows with strong

patterns of energy, giving motive power to all of your thoughts whether

you consciously regard them as positive or negative, good or bad. (very

definitely:) The same thrusting creative surge brings them all forth.

When you consider a thought good you usually do not

question it. You allow it its life and follow through. Usually if you

regard a thought as bad or beneath you, or if you are ashamed of it,

then you try to deny it, stop this motion and hold it back. You cannot

restrain energy, although you may think you can. You simply collect it,

whereupon it grows, seeking its fulfillment. session 634

"As you examine the contents of your

conscious mind, it may seem to you that you hold so many different

beliefs at different times that you cannot correlate them. They will,

however, form into clear patterns. You will find a grouping of core

beliefs about which the others gather.

If you think of these as planets, then

your other ideas orbit about them. There may be some "invisible

beliefs," and there may be one or two invisible core beliefs. These,

following the analogy, would be hidden behind the other brighter, more

obvious "planets," and yet would show their presence through their

effects upon your relationships with all of the other visible core

beliefs in your "planetary system."

Questions you cannot seem to answer as you

study your own ideas, for example may lead you to suspect the existence

of such invisible core beliefs. Let me emphasize that they are

consciously available. You can find them through the approaches

mentioned earlier working from your feelings or by beginning with the

beliefs that become most readily available."

Session 645, pg. 227

"Ruburt also saw that he believed he had

to justify his existence through his writing. This because he did not

trust the basic right of his being as it existed, and does, in space and

time. These old beliefs had not caught up to his newer ones.

The same artificial need to vindicate

being is present in many of my readers, and various core beliefs may be

built up to hide this inner insecurity. You may "justify your life" by

biological creativity, and then latch onto your children and never want

to let them go. You may use your career instead. But in all cases you

must come to grips with such unnecessary ideas, face the reality of your

creaturehood, and see that you certainly have as much of a place in the

universe as a squirrel, an ant or a leaf. You do not question their

right to exist. Why question your own?"

Session 645, pg. 233

"Numbers of you are looking for a state of "peace" in which there is a

static sort of bliss, with all question forever answered and all

problems solved. Some of you think that this will somehow be

miraculously accomplished for you. If you recognized the power of your

own being, you would know that it ever seeks greater realms of

creativity and experience, in which new challenges are inherent - for

all problems are challenges."

Session 666, pg. 380.

"Because you now distrust the imagination so, you do not understand the

great clues it give you, both in terms of problem solving and of

creative expression. ..... A good percentage of your problems can be

worked out rather easily through the use of your imagination." Session

669, pg 396

"No matter what your current situation,

the answers lie within your own aspirations and abilities."

Session 669, pg. 397

"The ordinary sense of communication given

you through your creaturehood, if spontaneously and honestly followed,

would solve many of your problems. Only repressed communication leads to

violence. The natural force of love is everywhere within you, and the

normal methods of communication are always meant to bring you in greater

contact with your fellow creatures."

Session 674, pg. 427

c c c

The Early Sessions, Book 9,

"In your system of reality you are

learning what mental energy is, and how to use it. You do this by

constantly transforming your thoughts and emotions into physical form.

You are supposed to get a clear picture of your inner development by

perceiving the exterior environment. What seems to be a perception, an

objective concrete event, independent and apart from you the perceiver,

is instead the physical materialization of the perceiver's own inner

emotions, energy and mental environment." Session 469, Page 268

c c c

The Early Sessions, Book 4

"His (an individual's) perceptions of

basic reality in one way does not change the nature of that reality or

of that action, as it exists independently of his field of reference.

However, the very distortions that occur in his attempt to perceive this

reality results in a new reality."

Session 157, Page 43

c c c

The Early Sessions, Book 8

"If you want to know what you think of

yourself, then ask yourself what you think of others, and you will find

your answer."

"For example: if others seem deceitful to

you it is because you deceive yourself and then project this outward

onto others."

Session 340, Page 25

"Thoughts however are connected with language

and with highly organized ego development. They are translations and

symbols for inner activity. As a rule they are highly physically

oriented, their function being to acquaint the physically adapted ego

with some inner data. The thoughts may rather faithfully, though never

completely, translate such data, or they may considerably distort it.

Behind thoughts are images, which are more basic but still physically

oriented. Because they are more basic they have a stronger effect. They

are more emotionally charged, more concise than thoughts, and they are

directly connected with the mechanics involved in translating inner data

to physical reality. Behind these, so to speak, exist what you may term

temperature pictures, in which delicate gradations of heat form

ever-shifting emotional patterns that so have a semi-physical outline.

From these, you see, normal images are built up, and from the images

thoughts are formed...Thus thought becomes an inner image which is

translated into a thermal image, and then into intuitional form, into

highly condensed and codified data, and then into a pure and direct sort

of experience which you cannot understand as physical creatures."

Session 341, Page 27

"There must be an open-minded, and

openhearted attitude here. You must not try to use what you have learned

in a narrow, limiting way. This hampers your own development. It closes

your eyes to many possibilities that will be important to you. It is

natural, perhaps, to want to use what you have learned, this

information, as a technique to achieve what you at any particular time

think desirable, a particular person, a particular thing. But what is

important is the inner development. If this is taken care of, it will

automatically lead you to the person that is best for you and to the

circumstances that will help you develop. To insist that a specific

individual or a specific goal be attained through these methods is

limiting. There must always be the acknowledgment that you do not

consciously as yet realize the depths of yourself, the goals you have

set and the challenges, and this material should be used to open up your

inner horizons and to lead you in those directions toward which your

inner self has already set you. If you then egotistically, say - No

- this particular situation is what I want, then you may be blocking the

inner direction which has been meant for you." Session 403, Page 233

c c c

The Early Sessions, Book 9

"You cannot separate creative and psychic

ability." Session 444, Page 126

"Now when anything is wrong with your

body, it is trying to tell you something. And when you understand what

it is trying to say, and if you make an effort to do what is needed, the

symptoms are no longer needed as a method of communication. The body is

trying to tell you that you have a problem, and because you did not cope

with it, and denied it mentally, it is physically materialized in

symbolic body language." Session 502, Page 401

c c c

The Nature of Personal Reality

"Your emotions and your imagination both follow

your belief. When the belief vanishes then the same emotional context is

no longer entertained, and your imagination turns in other directions.

Beliefs automatically mobilize your emotional and imaginative powers.

Few beliefs are intellectual alone. When

you are examining the contents of your conscious mind, you must learn,

or recognize, the emotional and imaginative connotations that are

connected with a given idea."

Session 619, page 65

c c c

The Nature of the Psyche

"The [human] species has built into it all

of the knowledge, information, and data that it can possibly need under

any and all conditions. This heritage must be triggered psychically,

however, as a physical mechanism such as a music is triggered through

desire or intent."

Session 762, Page 36

"A tree does not have to ask for

nourishment from the ground or the sun, and so everything that you need

is available to you in your practical experience."

Session 800, Page 220

c c c

The Nature of Personal Reality

"And so it is from your larger identity

that you form the reality that you know. It is up to you to do this with

joy and vigor, clearing your conscious mind so that the deeper knowledge

of your greater identity can form joyous expressions in the world of

flesh." Session 613, Page 14

c c c

The Early Sessions, Book 4

"It goes without saying that you must bring to

all your experiences more than a mere wish to be different, more than a

mere curiosity. In order for you to operate effectively in any area

there must be in your makeup a strong, positive and definite desire to

benefit the race of man."

Session 185, Page 244

c c c

The Early Sessions, Book 6

"The one main test to be applied to these

sessions, to my advice and to the material is this: The sessions, the

material and your new knowledge must transform your psychic and physical

environment, your health and all aspects of your inner and outer life

for the better." Session 245, Page 56

[HeyDudesWassup]

"How can you be more understanding of all that is? Simply KNOW that

you are. For how you think and speak determines how much you allow

yourself to know. Do not say, I HOPE to know more' for then you

never will. And do not say, 'I wil TRY to know more' for trying has

never accomplished. And do not say, 'I SEEK to know more' for

seeking

never finds. Say, 'From the lord-god of my being I now KNOW all

there

is to know in this moment. So be it! and await the answers. Whether

or not you realize at that moment what you desire to know, saying 'I

know' opens the door for that realization to occur. That is all you

have to say, and the knowledge that you are desiring will come forth.

How you limit your creativity and your life is by saying you do not

know - or by doubting the knowingness that comes to you. The worst

abomination is the phrase, 'I don't know'....If you say, 'I don't

know', you won't...

No, knowingness is not belief. Belief is conjectural; knowingnes is

absolute...When you believe in something, your soul understands the

word 'believe' to really mean that someone, or even your own self,

is

assailing you to convince you of a truth that you have no awareness

or

certainty of, for that truth has not become an experienced reality

within your being.

I do not want you to believe in anything. I want you to know! To

be

enlightened is to know - without doubt, belief, faith or hope. All

of

those things are conjectural. Knowing makes it absolute, which

brings

what is known into manifestation. Through the manifestation of that

thought into an experience, the understanding will be realized; then

it will be a part of your being and not something you must convince

yourself of."

Ramtha

[HeyDudesWassup]

"In order to return to a state of unlimitedness, to experience joy

and the freedom of being, you must once again become that which

holds you together. And the only way to become that, since you are

encumbered with a body, is to fully activate your seventh seal

pituitary so that your brain can receive the unlimited thoughts that

lie just beyond social consciousness. That is how you expand your

knowingness into the unlimited understanding of God: that which

allows, and loves, and is the totality of itself, which is the

totality of thought.

So how do you get this wonderful little gland to awaken the dormant

portions of your brain through its hormone flow? Simply through

desire. To become a christ is to desire to know the Father and

become the likeness of God. It is the deisre to allow all thought

to become the reality of self. It is the deisre to LOVE in every

moment all that you have become. It is the desire to BE the isness

of all that you are.

Why is it important to love the totality of what you are? When you

do, you immediately transcend social consciousness. Then you rise

above acceptance. You transcend judgment. Yu go beyond the

illusion of time. Then you live only for the fulfillment of self.

You listen only to the voice within. You follow only the path of

joy; and on that path lies the knowingness of All That Is.

Now, you say to me, 'But Ramtha, that is being wholly selfish'.

Indeed it is! But selfish is Godish. Every moment you live for the

love of this God within you, every illusion you embrace and give up,

every thing you do to find your joy and light, emanates from your

being into consciousness flow to feed the WHOLE of mankind. When

you live wholly for the love of self- which IS the love of God -

then yu exude God into the density of social consciousness. Then

you light the way for your beloved brothers on their own paths back

into self - the only path that will take them home to their beloved

Father.

When you love yourself enough to feel worthy to receive all that God

is, and you desire to know that you are one with the Father, then

your pituitary beings to open like wondrous flower. That is how

you expand the capacity of your brain to receive all thought values

in the Mind of God - by wanting to know, by desiring to feel all the

emotion of that knowingness."

Ramtha

[Pheena]

There is the dual nature of self: The incomplete self and the complete self... As humans, we are seeing from the perspective of the incomplete self. This incomplete self is undoubtedly very important. But if we attach to this incomplete self, although this incomplete self is important, then we'll never be able to experience the complete self. We Zen people say, if you believe in God, this complete self means the same thing as God. That is, it shares the same standpoint as God.

~ Joshu Sasaki Roshi

[HeyDudesWassup]

"Grace is within you. Grace is the Self."

"Grace is not something to be acquired from others. If it is external it is useless. All that is necessary is to know its existence in you. You are never out of its operation."

"Grace is always present."

"You imagine it is something somewhere high in the sky, far away that has to descend. It is really inside you, in your Heart, and the moment you affect subsidence or merger of the mind into its Source, Grace rushes forth, sprouting as from a spring within you."

From The Essential Teachings of Ramana Maharshi

[Pheena]

The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant.

We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.

~ Albert Einstein

[HeyDudesWassup]

Tell the impeccable truth about your feelings in every situation. When

someone asks you which restaurant you would like to go to, be honest

about the choice that would make you happiest. When someone asks you

for

a date and the thought of going doesn't feel attractive, say no. (If

thinking about something doesn't feel good, doing it won't feel

better!)

When you feel drawn to a movie in the video store, take it home. If

you're watching a video that feels emotionally debilitating, turn it

off. Trust the messages your feelings are giving you as feedback on how

well your current choice matches your well-being. Living from joy is

like building a muscle; the more you trust and act on your intuition,

the louder, stronger, and more real it becomes. If you don't live from

your truth, your ability to access it will atrophy, and you will not

know who you are, what you want, or what you are doing here. Live from

the truth and you will be set free.

~ Alan Cohen

-------------------------

Since you alone are responsible for your thoughts, only you can change

them.. You will want to change them when you realize that each thought

creates according to its own nature. Remember that the law works at all

times and that you are always demonstrating according to the kind of

thoughts you habitually entertain. Therefore, start now to think only

those thoughts that will bring you health and happiness.

~Paramahansa Yogananda

[Pheena]

Unify your attention. Do not listen with your ears but with your mind; do not listen with your mind but with your essence. The ears can't do more than to listen, the mind cannot do more than to recognize. As for the essence, it is a void completely unengaged. The Way gathers only in the void.

~ Confucius

[HeyDudesWassup]

Sri Ramana Maharshi

Excerpts from his Spiritual Teachings

• Question. How can I control the mind?

• M. There is no mind to control if the Self is realized. The Self shines forth when the mind vanishes. In the realized man the mind may be active or inactive, the Self alone exists. For, the mind, body and world are not separate from the Self; and they cannot remain apart from the Self. Can they be other than the Self? When aware of the Self why should one worry about these shadows? How do they affect the Self?

---------

• Question. If the mind is merely a shadow how then is one to know

the Self?

• M. The Self is the Heart, self-luminous. Illumination arises from the Heart and reaches the brain, which is the seat of the mind. The world is seen with the mind; so you see the world by the reflected light of the Self; The world is perceived by an act of the mind. When the mind is illumined it is aware of the world; when it is not so illumined, it is not aware of the world.

If the mind is turned in, towards the Source of illumination, objective knowledge ceases, and the Self alone shines as the Heart.

The moon shines by reflecting the light of the sun. When the sun has set, the moon is useful for displaying objects. When the sun has risen no one needs the moon, though its disc is visible in the sky. So it is with the mind and the Heart. The mind is made useful by its reflected light. It is used for seeing objects. When turned inwards, it merges into the Source of illumination which shines by Itself and the mind is then like the moon in the day-time. When it is dark, a lamp is necessary to give light. But when the sun has arisen, there is no need for the lamp; the objects are visible. And to see the sun no lamp is necessary, it is enough if you turn your eyes towards the -self-luminous sun. Similarly with the mind, to see the objects the light reflected from the mind is necessary. To see the Heart it is enough that the mind is turned towards it. Then the mind does not count and the Heart is self-effulgent.

-------------

• Question. Is a set meditation necessary for strengthening the mind?

• M. Not, if you keep the idea always before you, that it is not your work. At first, effort is needed to remind yourself of it, but later on it becomes natural and continuous. The work will go on of its own accord, and your peace will remain undisturbed.

Meditation is your true nature. You call it meditation now, because there are other thoughts distracting you. When these thoughts are dispelled, you remain alone—

that is, in the state of meditation free from thoughts; and that is your real nature, which you are now trying to gain by keeping away other thoughts. Such keeping away of other thoughts is now called meditation. But when the practice becomes firm, the real nature shows itself as true meditation.

[HeyDudesWassup]

You may be suffering because your own beliefs in those areas need to be worked through and Essence will supply you with any opportunity you wish to explore whatever ramifications of your beliefs you desire and aim for. But you are NOT, you NEVER were, and you NEVER will be marionette to Essence. Essence has its own sense of goals and desires which at those layers of existence may even be foreign to you but they still exist. It is not that Essence is a vast field of impersonal energy, devoid of any feeling. Though some we know of interpret that state of existence in exactly those terms. And then they think that if they emulate such assumptions they themselves feel more elevated while in reality they denigrate their own humanity and therefore will denigrate anyone else’s humanity.

The more human you are, the more spiritual you also are, because when you are authentically human you will shed tears, you will love, you will rejoice in orgasms, you will enjoy digging into a garden, and not seeing that such activities are beneath you because you are on a spiritual path. When individuals enter that realm of negative spirituality, they forget their most basic empathic humanity, the ability to love others and as a reflection of that inability become unable to love themselves. And that indeed is the saddest thing of all.

~Kris

[HeyDudesWassup]

"When you feel awful - angry, resentful, stressful, envious, depressed,

worried, guilty, frustrated, etc - at the root of it is FEAR. But what

happens to your body, on a molecular level, when you experience fear?

Something quite destructive, actually.

You see, the basis of fear is SEPARATION. That means that, at a

molecular level, there is less communication between the cells of your

body - you're separating yourself from your healing power. Whereas, when

you're happy - feeling joyful, playful, eager, enthusiastic, excited,

generous, etc., you are experiencing LOVE. And here's why love is so

powerful: the basis of love is CONNECTION.

At a molecular level, your cells "talk" to each other more freely.

There's an open flow of energy and communication from one part of your

body to another - from the life-giving energy in the universe directly

into and through your body. LOVE sustains life, while FEAR destroys it."

~ Deepak Chopra

[HeyDudesWassup]

Ganging Up On Desire

I knew there was a long tradition in many religions condemning desire, but I had no idea it was still so virulent.

In response to a recent post, "The Mystery of Desire," a majority of respondents seem to believe that desire was their personal enemy. Even though the post made an argument for desire being the driving force in life, commenters were disturbed about having desires. They cited Buddha, among others, as their authority for condemning desire outright. Generations of seekers have exhausted themselves trying to force a state of "detachment" from food, sex, anger, fear, and every other aspect of life as it actually is.

I fully agree with responder Scott Masterton when he says, "Without desire there can be no change, only stagnation." It's a fantasy to believe that desire can be eradicated. The greatest renunciates may have given up the world, but they still desired God or enlightenment or bliss. To every person who cites Buddha or some favorite guru , I would say, You can't become a saint by imitating one. You must follow your own nature. We have examples of great spiritual figures who attained complete detachment from their desires, but consider this analogy. Mozart could hear fully scored symphonies in his head. If you or I insisted that we would only learn music the same way, we would get nowhere. Our musical abilities--and our spiritual ones--begin where they begin, not in an imagined land of Christs, Buddhas, and gurus. Guides are guides, not surrogates for life here and now.

Scott goes on to make a metaphysical point: "Desire is the universe's evolutionary tool. Suffering only accompanies desire when it is accompanied by attachment and that includes the attachment to "no desires". " This is a clear-eyed statement, reflecting what we all experience. The self unfolds over a life span through growing desires, moving from infancy to adulthood. Detachment occurs naturally as childish things no longer possess any charm and the desires of childhood, adolescence, and adulthood make new claims. Finally one arrives at the mature adult who can formulate a vision of life and aspire to spiritual understanding.

We can talk about how detachment is a natural progression, and on metaphysical points we can argue all we like. But to pretend that one is reaching for a desireless state makes no practical sense and can only distort healthy processes of growth, leading to immense frustration.

Love,

Deepak Chopra

[HeyDudesWassup]

From the God/ Goddess of my being I give forth thanks

for the love that I am.

For the love in my life and the love that surrounds me,

thank you.

Thank you for the miracle of life that I am and

thank you for the miracle of life I see reflected all about me.

Thank you for the gift of life that I am.

Thank you for this perfect body, my health and well-being,

thank you.

Thank you for the abundance that I am and

thank you for the abundance I see reflected all about me.

Thank you for the riches and the richness of my life and

thank you for the river of money which flows to me and through me,

thank you.

Thank you for the excitement and adventure of the millions of wondrous

possibilities and wondrous probabilities,

thank you.

Thank you for the wonderment and thank you for the joy.

Thank you for the beauty and harmony.

Thank you for the peace and tranquility.

Thank you for the laughter and thank you for the play.

And thank you for the privilege of serving and sharing the gift that I am.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

~ Morning song by P'taah

[HeyDudesWassup]

[Pheena]

Enlightenment is not about becoming something or someone else. It is the recognition of our intrinsic human nature, which is absolute truth. This absolute true nature is called "Buddha nature." The term Buddha, from the Sanskrit tatha, or tathagata, means "gone beyond," going beyond an ignorant state to become completely inseparable from absolute truth, which is our genuine ground. This is the essence of Buddhism and the main focus of our understanding and practice.

~ Mindroling Khandro Rinpoche

[Pheena]

The important point of spiritual practice is not to try to escape your life,

but to face it -- exactly and completely.

~ Dainin Katagiri Roshi

[HeyDudesWassup]

"the Kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living Father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty."

~Jesus, The Complete Jesus

[Pheena]

... Suddenly I realize,

That if I stepped out of my body I would break

Into blossom.

~ End of James Wright's famous poem A Blessing

[HeyDudesWassup]

If you want to awaken all of humanity, then awaken all of yourself. Truly, the greatest gift you have to give is that of your own self-transformation.

—Hua Hu Ching

---------------------------------------------

“Turn your vision inward and the whole world will be full of supreme spirit.â€

—Ramana Maharshi

[Pheena]

It is through not understanding, not penetrating four things that we have run so erratically, wandered on so long in this round of existence, both you and I. What are the four? Goodness, concentration, wisdom, and liberation. When these four things are understood and penetrated, craving for superficial existence is rooted out and that which leads to continued return to the same conditions is ended.

~ The Buddha, Digha Nikaya

From Buddha Speaks, edited by Anne Bancroft, 2000

[Pheena]

1Cr 13:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity [Greek: agape 'LOVE'], I am become [as] sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal

1Cr 13:2 And though I have [the gift of] prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity [Greek: agape 'LOVE'], I am nothing.

1Cr 13:3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed [the poor], and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity [Greek: agape 'LOVE'], it profiteth me nothing.

[Pheena]

This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain,

our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.

Dalai Lama