posted July 10, 2004 03:57 PM         

"Blessed is he who preferreth his brother before himself."
...Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah,71...

Buddhism

"Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful."
...Udana-Varga,5:18...

Christianity

"All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them."
...Matthew7:12...

Confucianism

"Do not unto others what you would not have them do unto you"
...Analects 15:23...

Hinduism

"This is the sum of duty: do naught unto others which would cause you pain if done to you."
...Mahabharata 5:1517...

Islam

"No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself".
...Sunnah...

Jainism

"In happiness and suffering, in joy and grief, we should regard all creatures as we regard our own self"
...Lord Mahavira, 24th Tirthankara...

Judaism

"What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man. That is the law: all the rest is commentary"
...Talmud, Shabbat 31a

Native American

"Respect for all life is the foundation."

Sikhism

"Don't create enmity with anyone as God is within everyone."
...Guru Arjan Devji 259, Guru Granth Sahib...

Zoroastrianism

posted July 12, 2004 05:16 PM           

Love,

daf

See also:

The path that defines the way.

posted July 12, 2004 10:04 PM         

Thank you so much for those links. We are kindred spirits, and I so much enjoy reading your wise words.

In my 26 years on this planet, I feel sometimes like I am thousands of years old. Days seem like years, lately. But really its as if everything is speeding up. It's funny because you can look at it as: a day feeling like a year? That would feel like a really long day. But in that one day you can learn so much, somehow, that it seems like time just sped up - jumped - you lived one year in a day. Warp speed ahead!

What you wrote in "The Path that Defines the Way", struck me and resonated deep within me at this point on my path:

quote:

---

Those, I believe are the main milemarkers along the Path and the best indicators that one has found a Path that heads toward the Way. There may be more, this Seeker has yet to reach the destination himself, however there is one final bit of advice that should be left here with this. It is probably the single easiest thing one might do to begin one's search for the Way:

Begin finding the similarities in EVERYTHING. Even things that seem completely unrelated. Get into this habit and it will be a handy Teacher that you take with you wherever you go.

---

Yes, Yes, yes! I HAVE been getting into this habit unknowingly, in a way. I have always looked for messages and sychronicities in my life. But lately I don't even have to look because they are EVERYWHERE! When I'm awake I feel like I'm dreaming. I feel like I have made some sort of "shift". The veil is thinning - quickly.....easily. I havent been pushing for this anymore and it has suddenly happened. I am in total awe of the Universe, God, and the KNOWING of this *oneness* I have always felt was there, but I now KNOW - somewhere deep within.

I couldnt even begin to tell you all of the amazing things that have been happening to me lately. It makes me beam inside when I ask for a sign from God, the Universe, and within hours I recieve one or two! It's like I'm being told, "See, I'm here. Youve finally "gotten" it, now I'm going to have a little fun and show you some PROOF, that EVERYTHING is connected."

It's like now that I've gotten past the part of wondering HOW things work - and have come to the knowing that they just DO, and all I need is TRUST in this "higher power" - now that I've gotten past FEAR (not totally, but Ive come a long way), I am being rewarded.

I no longer worry how the bills will be paid, if I will make enough money, what people think of me. I just KNOW that I will ALWAYS be taken care of. I AM a child of God and all He is and I am - is LOVE. We are ONE. It has really hit me recently. I thought I knew and understood this before, but I wasnt totally "there" yet. Not that I am completely "there" now - but something has shifted.

For example, lately I have been reading up more on the power of manifestation. For years I read every book I could get my hands on on the power of ones own thoughts - the power within - and it worked once in awhile, but now it seems I have grasped the whole concept more. It's not all mystical, new age, hooplah either. It's actually physics.

I learned as much as I could, and put it to work. The next day I made $201 dollars in tips on a Tuesday night, where I waitress. I do work at a nice restaurant - but this is alot of money to make on a TUES night and only waiting on FIVE tables the whole night!! Later on my boss gave me my check. I was expecting it to be around $50 dollars (waitresses only get around 3$ per hour here) and it was $200 dollars. I guess there was some retro pay that came to me from my training period, that I didnt even know about.

It gets better. The day after that I won $115 dollars in Powerball! That's over $500's in two days. I was getting messages left and right, and I listened to them. And I think you know alot about astrology - right now in my chart Jupter and Uranus are making all kinds of aspects to each other and my part of fortune natally and by transit, in my 2nd, 8th, 6th, and 10th houses.

One of the best parts is, that I got a sign as to what the powerball number would be, by asking for it, and keeping my eyes, ears, mind and heart open for the answer. And sure enough that WAS the number. Lucky 13! I wont go into that long story, but it is absolutly AMAZING, in the way this all played out. I didnt hit the jackpot, but that wasnt the point, I got my sign and proof of how this all really works. And at the same time its not amazing - I have to keep telling myself. Because we are put here on this earth with all of the tools we need to live happily and abundantly. There is always ENOUGH for EVERYONE of God's children. He does not want us to live a life of struggle. This is not His way. But he has left this choice of free-will up to us. Everything we want or need is here in front of our eyes waiting to be acknowledged and brought into our own reality. Everything is energy. We are energy. Vibrating at different speeds. So why can we not attract ANYTHING we want to us? The "things" we want ARE us. Anyway I'm rambling here and could go on and on and deeper and deeper into this, but I won't.

I guess the point is that lately, Ive been getting many "milemarkers along the way". Proving to me I am headed forward on my Path.

You also wrote this powerful question:

quote:

---

Will you be sucked into the illusion..or will you fight the reflection, becoming within the confines of the illusion what you are in reality?

---

Awesome.

I am trying to MAKE and LIVE in my own reality everyday. We each define our own realities. Write our own story. With every thought, action, and word.

You are a true seeker. A wise and old soul. I have learned alot through your words, and want you to know I appreciate it. It is deeply comforting to know there are other people out there like yourS-elf. Walking their talk....or at least doing their best.

Much LOVE and Light to you on your path - in return for the light you have shed to me on mine. It all circles and spirals around. As we send out - we recieve.....multiplied.

26

posted July 14, 2004 08:22 AM         

Most of us would like to experience peace and serenity within ourselves, to be in harmony with others and the world in which we live. Although some of us may have been introduced to such ideals at an early age and accepted them as something to be desired and pursued, few of us have been educated or trained so as to realize these as fully as we would like to in our everyday lives. Instead, many of us grow up all too conscious of discord within ourselves, with others and the world at large.

Our competitive society, mass media and popular culture do little, if anything, to help us find our way out of the spiritual wasteland we may have become bogged down in. As the English poet Wordsworth said long before our time “Coming and going, we lay waste our powers, little we know in nature that is ours. We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon.” We may accept such a situation as normal and struggle on, constantly effected by increasing levels of stress and discontent. Consequently we become dis-eased in certain ways and disconnected from the healing currents and regenerative wellspring of life itself. We may eventually doubt that we can ever know anything different. Yet the deep-seated desire to feel a sense of serenity within ourselves and peaceful communion with others, even on a transitory basis, persists. It prompts some to seek respite through drugs or other unhealthy means, sometimes with tragic results.

Fortunately this does not have to be the case if we are willing to do some personal growth work, to learn who we really are. Essentially it involves making some improvements to our attitudes, emotions and to our lifestyle. Once the problem of internal discord is recognized and the need for change acknowledged and acted on, inner peace and serenity become relatively possible, depending on the individual desire and effort made.

Many paths and processes hold out the hope of acquiring this Holy Grail. Courses drawn from ancient Eastern mystical teachings to modern Western methods of personal transformation are available today to anyone serious about spiritual development and personal growth. At the core of all the authentic modalities, whether taught within a psychological or religious framework, is the recognition of both our need and innate ability to achieve the harmonious union of Spirit, Mind and Body, to know and be one’s true Self.

Having grown up in Ireland in a social and cultural environment that I found heavily authoritarian and repressive, like many others of my age I was struggling to find and express my own identity. At the same time I was hoping to find resolutions and answers to the conflicts and confusions that were the baggage of my upbringing. Interested in spirituality, my quest led me to explore Eastern religions, meditation and the work of the famous American seer Edgar Cayce, who had much to say about spiritual, mental and physical health and the relationship between all three. A lecture series had attracted me to the Centre for Living Research, a metaphysical centre that existed at the time in Dublin. It was there that I undertook to learn a psychological integration process that was compatible with my own beliefs and aspirations. Although not specifically seeking personal peace and serenity when I enrolled in the course, the work involved certainly enabled me to achieve a state of inner tranquility that I might never have known otherwise.

On a functional level the process taught me how to consciously harness and direct the creative, imaginative level of mind so that I gradually improved the way I saw myself and how I related to the world around me. Combined with daily meditation practice, it helped me tap into and express those qualities that are essential to personal growth and transformation; positive attitudes and emotions and functioning in present time, which in turn helped foster a more loving consciousness.

Although aspects of Christianity had appealed to me, I had found church dogma and ritual mostly unfulfilling. I was therefore pleasantly surprised to discover that the psychological/spiritual work I was doing enabled me to experience something of that “ peace that passes understanding.” Of course this was inevitable since in reality I was learning how to attune to and give expression to my own Christ Self.

The process also helped me look objectively at and deal more harmoniously with internal and external issues and problems in my life. The net result was a strengthened sense of who I was and what I could accomplish and a personal contentment that I had not known before.

Personally and professionally I felt motivated to study the Edgar Cayce material in depth. Famous for his trance-state ability to correctly diagnose and suggest natural and effective remedies for many illnesses, Cayce also gave psychic discourses, called ‘readings’, on matters related to personal growth and spiritual development. Time and again he pointed to the need for individuals to attune themselves through meditation to the spiritual source of their own being and to work at manifesting their spiritual nature in the physical world day by day. The Cayce source provided a study course for those interested in working with these directives. This material also fed and nourished my own growth, especially after I joined a study group. Numerous such study groups now exist all over the world.

Although Cayce himself was a practicing Christian and his psychic discourses and directions were phrased in Christian terminology, I found the material that came through him in trance to be universal in concept and application. It crosses all religious lines and goes right to the heart of the spiritual seeker’s quest for insight and understanding. In a nutshell, what Cayce had to say was that we are all on a journey into wholeness. He pointed to the need to go within by way of creative thought, reflection and meditation and to adjust our everyday lives in ways that would enable us to experience and express increased health and happiness. He advocated balance between spirit, mind and body and loving service to others as the way to achieve lasting peace and serenity.

Solane Star

posted July 14, 2004 08:50 AM         

You have such a gift with the way you write, and you always seem to post at the right time

You truly believe in yourself, which I admire.

I hope to be reading your published work, or attending your spoken word gatherings in the future!

Sheaa

posted July 14, 2004 09:45 AM         

Good good - is there any news I missed with you / you guys in general? Everything good I hope? That goes for all the Knowflakes too!

Lemme know in my Woo-hoo! post

Love Sheaa