On Sacrifice -Recontextualization of Life Challenges

 

"[An] awful situation can bring something [we need] to us. The fullest realization of this something-needed requires consciousness.  And to be CONSCIOUS, we will need the right attitude--mainly opening ourselves to God's purpose in allowing this situation to distress us.

/// HOW we will come to understand/profit from this situation: THROUGH WORK THAT GROWS SOMETHING in us.  This must be freely chosen work--just like [in Montessori] we allow children to freely choose work in the primary class.  And just like something unexpected happens with the children (normalization), something special will happen to us (becoming closer to God.)

In choosing the work, we follow Christ who freely chose his work on the cross.  The magic is not simply in the sacrifice, but also in the work we do once we commit to the work (just like the hell a criminal creates for himself is not simply in the selfishness that motivates him, but is also in the work--work we describe as COMMITTING the crime.)  Together committment and its work grows a substance, whether holy or hellish, and this substance becomes part of our being, enlightening or 'fleshifying' us.  

So maybe that says it all.  But let me say it again in a little different way.
 
The right attitude makes our life-challenge lifegiving. The understanding this will bring us is not merely something external in the world, nor is it something understood just by the mind.  It is understanding that, via work, takes root in our substance and permeates our being. (a 'mind-body' caught between heaven and earth and residing beside our brothers in the world.)  As the 'understanding/Holy-intent' of this event takes shape in the wake of time's flow (I'm alluding to a 'wake' of a boat that travels through the water) it is not simply something we see.  It isn't even simply something that takes form/substance.  It is something that GROWS inside us and changes us in a way that will tend to spread that change into the whole of (local) creation (i.e., you affect those around you differently because of a new quality inside you.)  For the purity and high quality of that, we need to approach this (awful) event with the right attitude.

I think the stark truth is that God is bringing a new way onto earth.  And we are among many conscious agents that He uses.  There may be some pain, but it is nothing compared with Jesus's sacrifice on the cross.  And the brighter future for man is bought at the price of the sacrifices of those who have gone before.

Each of us will sacrifice, each for his own reasons.  Indeed all the world of man will individually sacrifice--most driven unwillingly.  But some of the sacrifices will be CONSCIOUS ones.  These are the sacrifices born out of love.  Through these love will spread.  It will not come from the outside raining down on us.  It will ooze out from inside men, first from the conscious agents whose sacrifices create the situation where love CAN grow and with whose personal commitments to God, love DOES grow.  And later this spirit will spread.  Love is the yeast hidden in the dough which makes it grow until it is so big that everyone sees it (alluding to one of Jesus's parables.)" 
[C. Nichols; July 15th 2006; slightly reedited from an email]

"It is evident that in one life, we do not and cannot labour out and exhaust all the values & powers of that life..."

 [Sri Aurobindo - "Essays on Philosophy and Yoga"]

Everything Is Connected, but...

Our attempt to understand the world

posted  july 2011

Grace and Faith

Grace means very little other than to have an effortlessness about one. The picture that I have has us gifted by God, of course. But then Grace is not what He directly gave us; it is merely the quality that our life takes on (ease, outwardly visible ease in all we do) after he has led us to a certain point in our spiritual journey.

Similarly, Faith is simply a
knowing how things will turn out. It has levels. At a small level, faith may be knowing that books drop when you let go of them (because of gravity, perhaps) At a large level, faith is simply a knowing that because of God in our lives, everything is going to be easy.

Faith and Grace are related. Faith brings grace and grace brings more faith.

I think there is a great deal to this. But it is the long and short of how the world manifests itself in response to what is inside us. Faith brings that, too. It is what we believe in (have faith about) that does this, especially when the faith is not in wonderfulness of creation.

Trust (faith) in Jesus and His perfection allows us to take his hand and walk beside him on the water.

Not that it is easy to live from moment to moment without doubt claiming us. It is as if we walk a mountain range, touching only the peaks of each mountain. Surly we cannot remain always at the peak. Yet I do think it is possible someday. Faith creates the grace that we are looking for. God, meanwhile, grows faith within us.
[september 2007]

This is like the problem of learning; [meanwhile there is work to be done. If the work is not done], the lesson--a thing of short-term memory--vanishes and must be reexperienced. This is because the lesson is spiritual, and spiritual things lack much physical substance. The brain cannot really store it in a memory.

The trick is to live so much in the "now" that spiritual experiences become a flow. Then one does not feel so tempted to try to hang onto the past spiritual experiences. I think it is like the story of Manna in Exodus. God gives us our daily bread and we use what we can and the rest rots away if we try to keep it for another day.
The point is the fleetingness of spiritual contact — [therefore the need of work]. I have struggled with this fleetingness as I try to hang onto gifts God has graced me with. There may be a good feeling that comes with the experience and I may want to hang on to it. But if I try to do so, I cannot. In this sense, anything we do in a state of grace probably “obtains” us some fruit. The point though, is that we don’t—indeed can’t—retain this quality.

We CAN, though, get more of it simply by coming back to the present (in humility and all that, of course.)        
    
posted 4-1-2009 / published 2-28-2011

von guten Mächten wunderbar geborgen / today's prayer

Von guten Mächten wunderbar geborgen,
erwarten wir getrost, was kommen mag.
Gott ist bei uns am Abend und am Morgen
und ganz gewiss an jedem neuen Tag.

By gracious powers so wonderfully sheltered,
and confidently waiting come what may,
we know that God is with us night and morning
and so is each and every day.

[Dietrich Bonhoeffer]

[posted 1-10-2011]

Patience [Louis Capart]

It tastes good, this ripe fruit,
of which we take a bite,
and which, by all its wounds,
at present is melting in our mouth
We needed time,
we needed years,
before seeing one day in our field,
blooming the branches of this tree.

Life had said: patience!
If you want to see paradise,
You have to wait until tomorrow.
Maybe, you wait in vain.
Tomorrow is eternity.
I don't dare thinking of this,
We're living such a short time
That there is no instant to be wasted.

It's a beautiful innocence
which makes man watch
the rain giving birth to the seed
and nature surprising him.
Since so many years,
in the same rhythm obstinately,
earth, which has given so much of herself,
learns to live slowly.

Without any reward,
it's possible that we feel cheated,
that we regret our prudence
at the end of a fulfilled life.
We know, time will be needed
When we begin again
Will we then choose to be as slow
like we are now in a hurry?

This would be a sad old age,
when man like a wound
discovers that his tree leaves him only
an ill fruit merely ripe
When we know the price of time
We are never afraid of the years
And the very last evening, in his field,
Man plants other trees.

But lets get back to that ripe fruit,
of which we take a bite,
and which, by all its wounds,
at present is melting in our mouth
We would not have had the crazy idea
seeming impatient
as to pick from this tree
a blooming branch in spring time.

It tasts good, this love,
of which we take a bite,
Even though it had not always been
as deep as it is now,
Time has been needed,
Years have been needed,
To see one day in our field,
blooming love as deep as this one.

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

Patience [Louis Capart]   [click on the song's title to listen to it on YouTube] 

Il a bon goût le fruit mûr
Que nous croquons a pleines dents
Et qui par toutes ses blessures
Fond dans notre bouche à présent
Il nous a fallu du temps
Il nous a fallu des années
Pour voir un jour dans notre champ
Fleurir les branches du pommier.
Refrain
Patience avait dit la vie
Si tu veux le paradis
Tu dois attendre demain
Peut-être attends-tu pour rien
Demain c'est l'éternité
Je n'ose pas y penser
Nous vivons si peu de temps
Qu'il ne faut pas perdre un Instant.
C'est une belle innocence
Qui pousse l'homme à regarder
La pluie enfanter la semence
Et la nature l'étonner.
Depuis tant et tant d'années
Au même rythme obstinément
La terre qui a tant donné
Apprend à vivre lentement.
Sans la moindre récompense
Il se peut que l'on soit trahi
Que l'on regrette sa prudence
Au terme d'une vie remplie
On sait qu'il faudra du temps
Au moment de recommencer
Choisirons-nous d'être aussi lents
Qu'aujourd'hui nous sommes pressés.
C'est une triste vieillesse
Quand l'homme comme une blessure
Découvre que l'arbre lui laisse
Un fruit malade à peine mûr
Quand on sait le prix du temps
On n'a jamais peur des années
Et le dernier soir dans son champ
L'homme plante d'autres pommiers.
Revenons à ce fruit mûr
Que nous croquons à pleines dents
Et qui par toutes ses blessures
Fond dans notre bouche a présent.
Nous n'aurions pas eu l'idée
Folle de paraître impatients
D'aller cueillir sur le pommier
La branche fleurie au printemps.
Il a bon goût cet amour
Que nous croquons a pleines dents
Même s'il ne fut pas toujours
Aussi fort qu'il est maintenant
Il en a fallu du temps
Il en a fallu des années
Pour voir un jour dans notre champ
Fleurir un amour aussi grand.

Waiting for the miracle (Leonard Cohen - song)

"Baby, I've been waiting,
I've been waiting night and day.
I didn't see the time,
I waited half my life away.

There were lots of invitations
and I know you sent me some,
but I was waiting for the miracle,
for the miracle to come.

I know you really loved me.
but, you see, my hands were tied.
I know it must have hurt you,
it must have hurt your pride
to have to stand beneath my window
with your bugle and your drum,
and me I'm up there waiting
for the miracle, for the miracle to come.

Ah I don't believe you'd like it,
You wouldn't like it here.
There ain't no entertainment
and the judgements are severe.
The Maestro says it's Mozart
but it sounds like bubble gum
when you're waiting
for the miracle, for the miracle to come.
Waiting for the miracle
There's nothing left to do.

I haven't been this happy
since ?? ? ???.

Nothing left to do
when you know that you've been taken.
Nothing left to do
when you're begging for a crumb
Nothing left to do
when you've got to go on waiting
waiting for the miracle to come.

I dreamed about you, baby.
It was just the other night.
Most of you was naked
Ah but some of you was light.
The sands of time were falling
from your fingers and your thumb,
and you were waiting
for the miracle, for the miracle to come

Ah baby, let's get married,
we've been alone too long.
Let's be alone together.
Let's see if we're that strong.
Yeah let's do something crazy,
something absolutely wrong
while we're waiting
for the miracle, for the miracle to come.
Nothing left to do
when you know that you've been taken. ...
When they ask you how you're doing
of course you'll say you can't complain
-- If you're squeezed for information,
that's when you've got to play it dumb:
You just say you're out there waiting
for the miracle, for the miracle to come."[Leonard Cohen; co-written by Sharon Robinson]
(mouse click on the title above leads to song on youtube)

posted june 2010

No indifference [pas l'indifférence]

No Indifference --- [Jean-Jacques Goldman 1981]

I'll accept the pain,
I'll accept the fear,
I know the consequences,
and bear the tears.

I accept whatever the cost
all the worst of the best
I'll take the tears and the doubts,
and risk all harm.

[chorus] All, but no indifference
all, but no elapsing time
with days all alike
colorless days without zest.

And I'll learn the pain
And I'll learn the hurt
For the pleasure of a presence,
For a whispering.

I'll learn the meaning of phrases
The warmth of words,
I swear I won't be a "good child" anymore,
I promise to be foolish.

[chorus]

I'll give ten years for a look
I'll give castles and palaces for a rail track
A piece of life for all comfort,
A lot of certainties for still being able to desire.

I'll trade dead years for a bit of life,
I'll be searching for the key to any freakiness
I'll take all tickets to all possible journeys,
Go anywhere changing environment.

Erasing all absent hours,
Painting all in new colors
All those lying souls
And who are smiling with tears in their eyes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8ER1olb0_s

The Secret and Universal Teacher seated in the hearts

Sri Aurobindo on the "Inner Teacher" and the "word within"

Nothing can be taught to the mind which is not already concealed as potential knowledge in the unfolding soul of the creature. So also all perfection of which the outer man is capable, is only a realising of the eternal perfection of the Spirit within him. We know the Divine and become the Divine, because we are That already in our secret nature. All teaching is a revealing, all becoming is an unfolding. Self-attainment is the secret; self-knowledge and an increasing consciousness are the means and the process.

The usual agency of this revealing is the Word, the thing heard (śruta). The Word may come to us from within; it may come to us from without. But in either case, it is only an agency for setting the hidden knowledge to work. The word within may be the utterance of the inmost soul in us which is always open to the Divine; or it may be the word of the secret and universal Teacher who is seated in the hearts of all. There are rare cases in which none other is needed, for all the rest of the Yoga is an unfolding under that constant touch and guidance; the lotus of the knowledge discloses itself from within by the power of irradiating effulgence which proceeds from the Dweller in the lotus of the heart. Great indeed, but few are those to whom self-knowledge from within is thus sufficient and who do not need to pass under the dominant influence of a written book or a living teacher. (The Synthesis of Yoga, Page: 54)

Our Inner Teacher

-Getting things right-

All human beings are drawn to reexperience spiritual mistakes so that they might correct the error and become spiritually perfect. This is why conversations replay in our head, sometimes. We have the opportunity to look at ourselves, most often to the hatred we participated in. Too often though, we look at the others and then find ourselves physically repeating the experience as well. We are driven to get things right.

Listening to oneself is a very healing thing. Something enters us from the spiritual realm - often experienced as "aha!" This is the basic agent of personal transformation. It is said, "You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free."

It is really a voluntary process. A person gets to choose. We either respond to truth or to lies (or, for a while, to a mix.) Response to truth loosens us from compulsions. Response to lies tightens our bondage. Truth will deliver us simply by the love (and love of truth itself) it instills.

Man is intended to be a natural being, and ultimately, God is in control, not us. We need to work with that and not work around it. Patience is merely a divine tool to refine ourselves (and by example to hold up a light for those around to follow, if they will.)

* * * *

Our Inner teacher

We have an internal guide and there is no inherent barrier to character improvement after adulthood. So obtain a little internal quietness in some chance moment of solitude and observe what lies within. Images and concepts (not words - forget the words if they are present, they are byproducts of memories of interactions with mankind and not the stuff of spirit) will present themselves. This is your Internal Teacher at work. It coordinates the experiences of a lifetime and presents them in the best order to peel back the onion of your life's wrong growth. What will be left will be golden. It will be you in your purest form, with the pollution of past trauma securely removed.

Do you know how to be still? This may also help. It is both a source of better observation as well as a wellspring of patience/love. Perhaps I should also mention that while in an inner state of stillness, Revelation happens. Observe in a state of inner stillness.

How do we approach problems?

Let me use my experience as a computer trouble-shooter to illustrate. Many will look at a cursor that no longer moves on the screen and they will say, "The mouse no longer works." But this is a subtle lack of objectivity. Really, what we see is, "The cursor no longer moves." To jump from this observation to the conclusion that it is the mouse is to mix up observational discernment with judgment -- something that crosses a fine line we should not cross. And when we jump to this conclusion, we act as if we could know (like God knows) just by seeing. But we cannot. And when we overreach like this, we create a little dream world where reality does not touch. It really might not be a mouse problem. But we are focused on the mouse and completely helpless to solve the problem because of our fixation.

All problems that we cannot solve are like this. We know too much (much that we don't really know at all.) It makes us lack humility. It separates us from the possibility of really knowing. We lack inner stillness as we are moved to fiddle with the computer mouse.

Instead, we need to come empty to the problem. Empty is the truth. We do not know. We may see partial truths - it could be the mouse, or the bios, mouse drive, the OS or the application program. But we do not jump on possibilities without testing it. In this way, we test truth.

So we come back to the need to observe from a state of inner stillness. In this state, you might also gain direct divine insight into how to resolve this problem. -- you go directly to The Source of all Understanding, instead.

Understanding is Under Standing, where we find our proper relationship of nothingness in relation to God's All. (Remembering the truth that we do not know.) There we Stand Under His influence - His will being our goal, trusting in His Goodness that our problem has a solution within His Will. In seeking the stillness within us, we connect with the Infinite Axle around which all things turn. We approach Him who sits at the still center of everything. And He will bless this approach with an influx of wisdom. We literally feel energy flowing within us (and by this hallmark, we know for certain that we have found inner stillness - a tree of life no longer denied us and a Source that makes a tree of knowledge unnecessary because we become inspired. We connect with the fallacy of Adam's choice of knowledge instead of insight and we experience why knowledge can never substitute for Him in our lives.)

No doubt this sounds deep. But it is a simple, personal thing that may easily be found in humility. It is the natural state of man. It releases you from worldly authorities. Less and less do you look outside. More and more will you look inwardly. We become childlike--for surly children are not looking outside!!

* * * * *

- Do you think we lose the Inner Teacher we had as children? I think of Inner Teacher as being a sort of intuitive process, not something based on education. In fact, I think education may encourage us to not listen to our Inner Teacher. We spend too much time reasoning about things instead of trusting the Inner Voice that guides us. ++

- Yes, I definitely think we may lose touch with our inner teacher (but we never actually lose the Inner Teacher.) The Inner Teacher has many names. It can be called knowing, as in when we know something, not in words, and with great confidence. It can take the form of what immediately precedes an "aha" experience. The confidence, with which we know, is key to understanding various spiritual words describing this same phenomena. "Confidence" comes from Latin prefix "con" meaning with and the Latin root fidelias meaning faith. So confidence is a thing with (inner) faith. Some refer to this inner knowing as conscience or the holy spirit. If you are Christian, you know that it is said that Christ sent a teacher in the form of the Holy Spirit at the Pentecost. And it is further said that in His children, God writes His laws in their (our) hearts. The faith that accompanies the confidence in our inner knowing is spiritual faith of the sort spoken of when people say we must have faith.

As children, we become exposed to stress and stress alone gives us post traumatic responses to stress. These make us externally motivated (instead of our natural, inner motivated) creatures. This also tends to insert into our inner being a component that is foreign in nature to us. We perceive this as an identity. If we are very lost, we may think this identity is us. Instead, we simply have lost touch with our real being. It happens to everyone in a stronger or milder form. All must find their way on this narrow path.

But because of the Inner Teacher, it is also an easy path. So easy, sometimes, that it is hard. We look everywhere for answers and fail to notice them right under our noses (in our heart.) It is a beautiful thing.

And as we regain some contact with this Inner Teacher, now with some consciousness, we become the culmination of little children that we still are.

[C.N., May and June 2006 + February 2007 / ++ anonymous]
Posted: April 15, 2009

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

"dust"

[anonymous]
posted: Feb 24, 2009

Love

[anonymous, posted 02/10/2009]

"Lord, I want to know..."

       "Lord, I wanna know...
if I put my trust in you, Lord,
would you tell me which way to go, Lord,
would you show me which way to go.

Lord, I wanna believe...
if I give my soul to you, Lord,
would you tell me how to believe, Lord,
would you show me how to believe.

Lord, I never could see...
but if I look up to you, Lord,
would you open my eyes for me, Lord,
would you open my eyes for me."

[In order to listen to that song, recorded on an audio-cassette from a radio-program in a very bad quality way back in the year 1972 .. click on the title above.]

"To observe his uninhibited play
In stillness total and quiet stay
Utter no word nor breathe a sound
For he hides himself with you around"

anonymous
Posted on: 2009/1/26 4:48 EST
[January 27, 2009]

Truth

"- Truth is hard to find because of apparent contradictions, so you have to search for it."

"- Thank God, truth is not hard to find! It swirls around us and is in everything, there for us to connect with. Contradictions are illusions that result from flawed paradigms and from non-truths which we have grasped as true - usually because of some pressure to do so.

In this I am not contradicting the above, - I see what (truth) is said here. And this is one of the most beautiful truths - that the yardstick by which we recognize truth lies within us and is an integral part of us, guiding us. Truth is easy to find because we have only to allow this guide to direct our attention. This is true observation. Realization results. Anyone who looks for Truth and writes (about) truths, would be very displeased when his words are used to pressure others into accepting something which - though perhaps "true" - yet is not the complete truth which we are only capable of grasping through our own inquiry. To use words this way is to fail to understand the depth of real truths.
The truth is that truths do not express well in words - truth being the food on which our souls feast. Words are too thin and pasty to sustain our soul. Truths cannot be confined within the bounds of mere words. So my words (and everyone else's who is searching for Truth) merely contain hints of the truth. That is all that words can do. For myself, I find little difficulty discovering truths even among words designed to deceive (as for example in most political speech.) But my delight with truth is often so direct and great that I am not motivated to wonder at the moment of realization whether some speaker of words, himself understands the truths that I have just discovered.
What is the point?
Am I going to revere the messenger more than the message?
Or do I imagine that I have some divine mission to speak against lies when truth is so easy to find for those who will sincerely look for it?
-- Ah, there is a difficulty! For if I succeed, how will I fend off all those who will begin to look on me with the reverence more properly reserved for truth (and that within us that is the true revealer of truth.)

Let us then enjoy truth."

[C.N., December 2008]
----------------------------
"A strong one-sided truth, when set forth as the whole truth, creates a strong light but also a strong confusion; for the very strength of its element of truth increases the strength of its element of error."
[Sri Aurobindo]

---------------------------
posted: December 22, 2008

Patience

Patience is
- to endure which is on the way
- to be able to (a)wait
- to be able to love.

-

"Love is long-suffering and kind;
it rejoices in the truth
bears all things,
hopes all things,
endures all things.
Love never fails; but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail;
whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part.
But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is imperfect shall come to an end.
For now we see through a mirror, darkly; but then face to face.
Now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."
[the Bible, 1Corinthians - Chapter 13]

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

October 31, 2008

Time

Time in the abstract may cloud the issue. In a sense, everything we are is here, now. Time is a stage upon which the drama of what we are plays out. In a sense, we don't fully know what/who we are until the play ends. But whatever reveals itself in the end is what was there in the beginning.
...the Perfect Father will be found in the Present rather than in memories or dreams... [C.N.]

As we look into the past, ‘time’ hides the details that can only be found in this moment. [N.G.]

"But do not forget this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." [the Bible, 2 Peter Chapter 3.8]

The disciples say to Jesus: "Tell us what our end will be." Jesus says: "Have you then deciphered the beginning, that you ask about the end? For where the beginning is, there shall be the end. Blessed is the man who reaches the beginning; he will know the end, and will not taste death!" [Gospel of Thomas]

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

October 28, 2008

Knowledge, Uncertainty, Humility & Doubt

"There are two spiritual basis for belief systems. One is natural and grows out of who a person is -- from the inside. The other is unnatural and has been plastered over the original nature and held there through pressure. In the unnatural system, simple truths threaten to unstick what is held in by pressure. Truths, then, are an enemy.

As I see it, it is very black and white. There is reality, and everything else is dreamy to one degree or another. There is knowing within reality, and there is the unknown to us (because of our lack of intimacy with it or because it was only a dream.) It is important to understand precisely where the dividing line is.

Sometimes we may be tempted to "go beyond ourselves" to embrace what we don't really know. This may seem necessary because of some ambition that we have. But this moment of choice is our test of humility. Will we be content with the knowing that the Holy Spirit (that is, the inner teacher) has brought to us -- which is sufficient for us -- or will we judge God's sufficiency to be insufficient and cross that "line of humility" to embrace the unknown as if it were a known. This is the trying of our spirit -- a moment where we deepen our commitment to what is good and right or where we abandon it out of some negative emotion (like fear or greed, etc.)

Now nothing I've said above should be taken as a rejection of science. We may have "an inkling" that something works a particular way, and our inner inspiration makes us cognizant of the opportunity to test the idea in the arena of reality through some experiment. But embarking on such science does not have to be done by embracing the truth of the yet-unproved conclusion. I am patient, I wait for the clarity that can arise out of such experiments (which could also be called intimacy with reality.) I do not know until I know by the light of Truth shining from inside out onto the experience. The ring of truth seals it.

There is little room for (or use for) doubt in this way. There is knowing, then there is unknowing. Both are matters of certainty. I know that I know, and for the unknown, I know that I don't know. Doubt plays no role. This leaves no room for confusion.

Uncertainty, of course, is just unknowing -- but for most they will experience it with an added tension which comes from adding the judgment that "they ought to know" or "need to know" to the unknowing. The tension comes from the separation from God that is inherent in such judgment. There is a discipline of humility that eases this tension, reducing uncertainty to mere unknowing and repairing the "polarity" problem which moved one away from God, causing the unbearable tension often associated with uncertainty.

I think we learn by finding the line between knowing and unknowing, then yearning in the soul to understand. The yearning somehow speaks directly to God, who fills us. Words will not do the same thing.

So, you see, all the old truisms come together here.
- Seek and you will find
- You shall know (be intimate with) the Truth and the truth will set you free
- I will send the Holy Spirit to write the doctrine in your hearts
- Those who preserve their (selfish way of) life will lose it, but those who will give up their (selfish way of) life will find the life everlasting.

Add your own favorite to the list. The mark of the Creator is all around you. Love is the answer - but love that transmits, originating with God, through the clear lens of human, purified heart.

We must act on the truths that we see, not those that we don't see.
This is fundamental and paramount. We must also develop the humility of inaction in the face of our unknowing. Practicing this in everyday circumstances brings one to understand that both represent a commitment to the guiding inner spirit.

Neither of us has any superiority over any others on the journey. Indeed, the superiority we sometimes have over those not on the journey only happens because of how they themselves put themselves down. Human dignity of all and basic humility reign supreme. The only Superior is the Inner Spirit--sometimes called the Holy Spirit - which is our teacher."

[C.N., in June and August 2002]
----------------------------
October 12, 2008

Under Time and Conditions

"In Brahman there is no effort.
He wills and His Will spontaneously produces its effect. But it produces it in time, space and causality. To demand a result now here and under given conditions is Ajnanam = ignorance by will to do it by oneself.
Care not about time, space or conditions; but will, and leave the result to God. Nothing but God exists.



Adopt the attitude I have described here and apply it to every individual act or attitude.
You have nothing else to do.
Be not troubled,
be not anxious,
be not in haste,
you have all eternity before you, ...................why be in haste?
Only do not be apathetic or dull, neither idly waste your time."
[adapted from: "automatic writings" in: "records of Yoga", Sri Aurobindo]

October 08, 2008

"Mon ami - mon maître" [Serge Lama]

J'ai essayé à cent reprises.............. I tried so many times
De vous parler de mon ami.................to tell you about my friend

Mais comment parler d'une église...but how could I tell about a church
Dont l'accès vous est interdit..........where you have no access

Mais ce soir je sens sous ma plume....But this evening I sense beneath my feather
Un fourmillement familier..................a familiar prickling.
Quand le soleil du coeur s'allume.........When the heart's sun rises
L'éteindre serait un péché..................it would be a sin to switch it off

C'est mon ami et c'est mon maître.......This is my friend, this is my master
C'est mon maître et c'est mon ami.......This is my master and my friend
Dès que je l'ai vu apparaître...................as soon as I had heard his words
J'ai tout d'suit' su que c'était lui..........I knew it would be the one
Lui qui allait m'apprendre à être.............who would teach me to be
Ce que modestement je suis......................what I humbly am.
[...]
Et même s'il a de la peine.......................And even when having sorrows
Il ne vous parle que de vous....................he only would talk to you about you

Il conserve de son bel âge......................At his age
Un sourire au fond de ses yeux.............he still retains a warm smile in his eyes
Et je me dis que c'est dommage...........and I say to myself it is a pity
De vous le décrire sans cheveux...........to describe him as bald

C'est mon ami et c'est mon maître........It's my friend, it's my master
J'le vouvoie encore aujourd'hui..............I still respect him as such
Et quand j'ai mal dedans mon être.........and when I do not feel well
Je passe une heure ou deux chez lui.... I tell him, I ask him and
L'air qu'on respire à sa fenêtre..............he refreshes my soul
C'est l'air le plus pur de Paris
[...]
C'est lui qui a fortifié mon âme..........It's been he who fortified my soul
Et si je suis encore en vie.....................and if I'm still alive and well as I am
Je n'le dois pas à cette femme............I do not owe it to those I live with but...
Qui me rend heureux aujourd'hui

Mais à mon ami à mon maître.............to my friend, to my master
Et dans la chanson que voici..............And I know that in these words
Je sais qu'il va se reconnaître................he would recognize himself
Mais puisque nous somm's entre amis...but as we are here as friends

Ce soir je peux bien me permettre.........I think I can dare to
De vous le présenter aussi...............................present him to you.

.......................................As he is the author of many words* here. But this is another C.N.  than any author with that same name you might find information about on the internet.

[Serge Lama --- adapted by ~estrella~ ]

[*Thank you, Curtis, for having given permission to post your words, which, as you told me, aren't really yours", but coming from another place.]

August 18, 2008
To listen to the song, click on the title above to get to the "songs" page and click on the respective song to listen to it.

"solitude enfin"

Solitude enfin.....................................Finally, Aloneness,
bonjour les jardins du Palais Royal.....good morning, green spaces of the "Palais Royal"
J'arrive attends-moi,...........................I'm coming, please wait for me,
pourvu que je ne te perds pas............I don't want to lose you
je t'aime, viens,..................................I love you (Aloneness), come to me,
tu es là,..............................................here you are!

Solitude enfin.......................................Finally, Aloneness
bonjour les jardins du Palais Royal
j'esquive..............................................I'm avoiding, but,
mais parfois je ne veux que toi...........sometimes I want to see only you.
je t'aime viens, ....................................I love you, come to me,
solitude enfin .....................................Finally, Aloneness.

Solitude enfin......................................Finally, Aloneness
bonjour les jardins du Palais Royal
je t'ouvre grands les bras.....................I welcome you with wide-open arms
j'avais tellement besoin de toi...............I needed you so much,
j'étais pas bien.....................................I didn't feel well.

Solitude enfin........................................Finally, Aloneness
j'en pouvais plus....................................I couldn't go on anylonger,
j'avais plus le moral...............................I lost courage
la rage, les orages,...............................inmidst anger, storms.....
c'est bon l'silence.................................how soothing, the silence!
repos huis clos.....................................resting behind closed doors
et plus besoin de rien dire...................no need to speak anymore,
plus besoin de fournir,.........................no need to provide anymore,
c'est ça le vrai plaisir............................this is real pleasure!

Solitude enfin........................................Finally, Aloneness,
bonjour les jardins du Palais Royal
je t'aime viens ......................................I love you, come to me,
t'as un visage........................................you have a face:
il est bleu nuit, ......................................it is blue as the night,
ou mauve, ou gris.................................or violet, or grey,
ce n'est pas triste..................................There is nothing sad
les insomnies........................................in sleeplessness,
les p'tits matins.....................................early in the morning
à se retrouver seule................................and alone.

Solitude enfin........................................Finally, Aloneness
bonjour les jardins du Palais Royal
Après le déluge:....................................then the flood of:
la foule qui roule..................................rolling crowds:
le défilé des mal-aimés, .......................the train of the disliked,
des compliqués,.................................. the complicated,
des dépriments,....................................the depressing...
..............................................................

Solitude enfin.......................................Finally, Aloneness,
bonjour les jardins du Palais Royal
je me protège .......................................I protect myself,
je me défends,......................................I defend myself,
referme-toi sur moi...............................clasp me - surround me
Solitude enfin:......................................finally, Aloneness:
te voilà..................................................here you are.

(Alexandra Pandev; author: F. Bernheim)

[(right)click (and "new tab") on the title above in order to listen to the song on YouTube]

July 30, 2008