Simply see that you are a center of the universe,
and accept all things and all beings as part of your infinite body.
When you perceive that an act done to another is done to yourself,
you have understood the great truth.
~from the Hua Hu Ching
The first two-line context (“you are a center”) makes all the difference for perceiving the great truth. ~jpc
[T]he Absolute never hears the ego's pleas. Its constant demand is always, "Now!" and the ego insists, yet again, "No, I'm not ready." . . . This is what the spiritual drama is all about—the dynamic tension between the ego's endless excuses and the call for unconditional submission from the Absolute. ~Andrew Cohen
Junuh [Arjuna, from the Bhagavad-Gita] (Matt Damon, actor): I can't. Bagger: Yes, you can. But you ain't alone. I'm right here with ya. I been here all along. Now, play the game. ~from movie "The Legend of Bagger Vance" And Junuh took his stance, seemingly at one with being, zoning in and swinging his swing and really hitting his shots. What spirit journey dynamics would you list from this dialogue? ~jpc
Bagger Vance [Bhagavan, from the Hindu Bhagavad-Gita] (Will Smith, actor): Time for you to come on out the shadows, Junuh. Time for you to choose.
This is a dark time. . . . don't be afraid of the anguish you feel, or the anger or fear, for these responses arise from the depth of your caring and the truth of your interconnectedness with all beings. . . . Dare to vision. Out of this darkness a new world can arise, not to be constructed by our minds so much as to emerge from our dreams. ~Joanna Macy via Jann McGuire
A familiar slogan: All the world belongs to all the people. I like something like "The world belongs to its people (and birds and dogs and cats and elephants and wildflowers and microbes)." Slogans are important, but they best touch society's contradictions and the spirit. ~Doris Hahn
Holy words need stewardship as surely as do gardens, orchards or ecosystems. When lovingly tended, such words surround us with spaciousness and mystery the way a sacred grove surrounds us with peace and oxygenated air. But when we abandon our holy words and fail to replace them, we end up living in a spiritual clearcut. ~David James Duncan
In five, 10, 15, 20 years, we'll see what the legacy is. But I think we did come along and revolutionize the cycling part, the training part, the equipment part. We're fanatics. ~Lance Armstrong, yesterday
A winner’s spirit is manifest in fanatical prep. ~jpc
The intent of "to serve" is to provide the opportunity for that which is being served to become fully itself, and eventually a servant in its own right and on its own terms. ~Randy Williams
The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity . . . to add [to find] a deeper meaning to his life. ~Viktor Frankl
Many folks I know come to mind, persons who are demonstrating the meaning of the whole journey, including through the valley of suffering. I especially lift up Ruthe, George, and Brian. ~jpc
________ is my candidate for the title "ordinary saint," and "ordinary hero." . . . Perhaps if each of us could touch the world we inhabit the way ________ has touched her world, . . . God might become visible in the tiny and humble human acts of graciousness, kindness, caring and love. ~Spong via Dick Kroeger
In the movie "Mr. Holland’s Opus," Mr. Holland has lost his music teaching job, after thirty-five years, along with the other fine arts teachers in the high school. Gertrude Lang, once his student and now Governor of the State, makes a speech at Mr. Holland’s surprise high school gathering:
Mr. Holland isn't rich and he isn't famous, at least not outside of our little town. So it might be easy for him to think himself a failure. But he would be wrong, because I think that he's achieved a success far beyond riches and fame. Look around you. There is not a life in this room [packed auditorium] that you have not touched, and each of us is a better person because of you. We are your symphony, Mr. Holland. We are the melodies and the notes of your opus. We are the music of your life.
The MA [Millennium Ecosystem Assessment – "google" it] finds that Planet Earth has now entered the Anthropocene Era, a new geological era in which humans are the dominant force affecting radical changes in ecosystems. . . . We are belatedly coming to realize that humans are deeply embedded in the natural world, and the health of natural systems has a profound effect on our quality of life. ~Harry Petrequin via Harry Wainwright
Christopher Schlosser (now "Slusher") came to Floyd County, VA, about 1795. Summer reunions have been going on since. Nearly a hundred were present at our branch of the Slusher reunion Sunday. George Slusher – four generations removed from Christopher – with his wife, Clementine, had fourteen children, who had forty-three children – the cousins. None of the fourteen are alive. I am one of twenty-five living cousins. I drove back to Carolina thinking about where I came from and where I’m headed. ~jpc
Don't say that I will depart tomorrow –
even today I am still arriving.
Look deeply: every second I am arriving. . . .
~Thich Nhat Hanh
When it's over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.
~Mary Oliver
The resurrection, wrote Schleiermacher, was what happened to the followers of Jesus when their faltering faith was revived. ~Davidson Loehr via David Zollars
True evangelism, based on the example of Jesus, does not suggest the "missionary zeal" of self-righteous proselytizers. It implies, on the contrary, the kind of all-embracing universality evident in Mother Teresa's prayer: "May God break my heart so completely that the whole world falls in." Not just fellow nuns, Catholics, Calcuttans, Indians. The whole world. It gives me pause to realize that, were such a prayer said by me and answered by God, I would afterward possess a heart so open that even hate-driven zealots would fall inside. . . . I have seen the whole world fall into a few hearts, and nothing has ever struck me as more beautiful. The whole world, for example, seemed to fall into the heart of Mahatma Gandhi, not only on the day he said, "I am a Christian, I am a Hindu, I am a Muslim, I am a Jew," but on the day he proved the depth of his declaration when, after receiving two fatal bullets from a fundamentalist zealot, he blessed that zealot with a namasté before dying. ~David James Duncan
This old rock planet gets the present for a present on its birthday every day. ~Annie Dillard
[O]nce upon a time there was a man, an average man without any special attributes. He was, like everyone, the conduit for the spirit. And by virtue of that, like everyone else, he was part of the spirit. . . . But he didn’t know it. The world kept him so busy that he had neither the time nor the inclination really to examine the matter.
The spirit tried, uselessly, to reveal the connection. Using an inner voice, the spirit disclosed its secrets, but the man was incapable of understand-ing the revelations. Naturally, he heard the inner voice, but he believed it to be his own feelings he was feeling and his own thoughts he was thinking. ~Don Juan via Carlos Castaneda
Sorcerers [spirit persons] are vitally concerned with their past. . . . But I don’t mean their personal past. . . . Their past is what other [spirit persons] in bygone days have done . . . battling to understand the spirit. ~Don Juan via Carlos Castaneda
Let everyone understand that the real love of God . . . [consists] in serving God by serving those around us in justice, fortitude of soul, and humility. ~Teresa of Avila
One secret of life is that the reason life works at all is that not everyone in your tribe is nuts on the same day. Another secret is that laughter is carbonated holiness. ~Anne Lamott via David Rebstock
All good religion is merely a method for helping us make this journey back to our true essence, to come home again after having been away in the far countries of delusion, malice, and bondage. ~Gene Marshall via Roger Alexander
Though formless and intangible
It gives rise to form
Though vague and elusive
It gives rise to shapes
Though dark and obscure
It is the spirit, the essence,
the life-breath of all things
"But is it real?" you ask --
I say its evidence is all of creation!
~from Tao Te Ching
You pick up a sea shell not just because it is pretty, but because its twirled perfection and the way the light comes through its walls remind you of the most important thing you have ever forgotten. ~Alan Watts via Andrew B.
To be impeccable means to put your life on the line in order to back up your decisions. . . . When you are not deciding anything, you are merely playing roulette with your life. ~Carlos Castaneda via Beret Griffith
Note: Out of town over the 4th. The following reflections go through Tuesday the 5th. Happy celebrations. ~jpc
7/1 Fri -- To Mourn and To Celebrate
To mourn is to sing with the dying
and to be healed by the song
and by the death.
(To mourn is to move forward and to look back.
To mourn is to say ‘Yes!’)
~Macrina Wiederkehr, added to by Patrick Del Zoppo, via Marshall Jones
Let us remember Jay Zahrt as his family and colleagues gather in Carson City, NV today. ~jpc
7/2 Sat -- Freedom Demanded
Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. ~Martin Luther King Jr.
Where is freedom demanded today and freedom from what oppression or oppressor? ~jpc
7/3 Sun -- Democracy Is a Conversation
Democracy is a conversation, and how we talk to one another is as important as what we talk about and what conclusions we reach. ~Bill Moyers via Beret Griffith
7/4 Mon -- Happy Fact (July 4th)
Ray Charles changed the Fourth of July with his "America the Beautiful," he also changed the song. "God done shed His grace on thee! He crowned thy good, yes he did, in a brotherhood." The shift isn't merely from Katharine Lee Bates's elegant lyric to the black vernacular; it is a shift in meaning. As Kenneth Moynihan noted . . . , Bates penned a prayer: "[May] God shed his grace on thee and crown thy good with brotherhood." Ray made it a fait accompli. As Moynihan put it, "A fervent hope for the future has been turned into a happy fact of the present." ~Wm. Raspberry
I don't think Charles was nationalistic in his playing with the words, but sensed the truth Tillich articulated: grace is the all-determining fact of everything’s existence. ~jpc
7/5 Tues -- Accepting Our Independence
If we are deadly serious, we take responsibility for our own liberation. That doesn't mean that we don't receive all the help that the universe has to give, but a big part of authentically receiving the help that the universe has to give is accepting our independence. We say, "Yes, now I am willing, I will do this." Too often, we are given all the help we could ever need, but because we are not serious, we drop it. ~Andrew Cohen
