Rejoice Now Heavenly Powers
From Ancient Echoes
By Alexander Sedov directs Chorovaya Akademia
RCA Victor Red Seal /MGM Music, 1995
Click here to listen. It will bring your soul to tears.
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
The Interplay of the WorldIn this figure is set forth the constitution of the Intermediate Sphere, by which the extremes of Spirit and Matter are reconciled and the harmony of the universe preserved. The ancients unite in the recognition of three worlds existing within one eternal and unlimited state. Philosophy is the science of relationships of these worlds.
Photo Credit: The Philosophical Research Society
One to challenge you...
"When does gold ore become gold? When it is put through a process of fire. So the human being during the training becomes as pure as gold through suffering. It is the burning away of the dross. Suffering has a great redeeming quality. As a drop of water failing on the desert sand is sucked up immediately, so we must become nothing and nowhere ... we must disappear."
~Bhai Sahib, from 'Travelling the Path of Love', Ed. Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
"When does gold ore become gold? When it is put through a process of fire. So the human being during the training becomes as pure as gold through suffering. It is the burning away of the dross. Suffering has a great redeeming quality. As a drop of water failing on the desert sand is sucked up immediately, so we must become nothing and nowhere ... we must disappear."
~Bhai Sahib, from 'Travelling the Path of Love', Ed. Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
In Praise of Craziness of a Certain Kind
By Mary Oliver
On cold evenings
my grandmother,
with ownership of half her mind —
the other half having flown back to Bohemia —
spread newspapers over the porch floor
so, she said, the garden ants could crawl beneath,
as under a blanket, and keep warm,
and what shall I wish for, for myself,
but, being so struck by the lightning of years,
to be like her with what is left, that loving.
From: New and Selected Poems: Volume Two
Mary Oliver
Beacon Press 10/05
Hardcover $24.95
By Mary Oliver
On cold evenings
my grandmother,
with ownership of half her mind —
the other half having flown back to Bohemia —
spread newspapers over the porch floor
so, she said, the garden ants could crawl beneath,
as under a blanket, and keep warm,
and what shall I wish for, for myself,
but, being so struck by the lightning of years,
to be like her with what is left, that loving.
From: New and Selected Poems: Volume Two
Mary Oliver
Beacon Press 10/05
Hardcover $24.95
Monday, November 28, 2005
Monday Thought: Our Words
One of the things that Kabbalah believes is that words not only reflect reality, but in a sense create it. God and the name of God are in this way the same thing.
To learn more, go see the Bee Season starring Richard Gere.
One of the things that Kabbalah believes is that words not only reflect reality, but in a sense create it. God and the name of God are in this way the same thing.
To learn more, go see the Bee Season starring Richard Gere.
Sunday, November 27, 2005
Saturday, November 26, 2005
Friday, November 25, 2005
Friday Thought: We Are All Guests
"The earth doesn't belong to anyone. It is the land upon which all of us are to live for many years, ploughing, reaping and destroying.You are always a guest on this earth and have the austerity of a guest. Austerity is far deeper than owning only a few things. The very word austerity has been spoilt by the monks, by the sannyasis, by the hermits. Sitting on that high hill alone in the solitude of many things, many rocks and little animals and ants, that word has no meaning."
--Jiddu Krishnamurti
"The earth doesn't belong to anyone. It is the land upon which all of us are to live for many years, ploughing, reaping and destroying.You are always a guest on this earth and have the austerity of a guest. Austerity is far deeper than owning only a few things. The very word austerity has been spoilt by the monks, by the sannyasis, by the hermits. Sitting on that high hill alone in the solitude of many things, many rocks and little animals and ants, that word has no meaning."
--Jiddu Krishnamurti
Anonymous Dharma...
Watch Dan Shimp's new blog, Anonymous Dharma, for insights and compassionate wisdom. Stop by and say hello to Dan.
Here is one from Dan's blog:
"It is the truth that liberates, not our effort to be free."
--J. Krishnamurti
Watch Dan Shimp's new blog, Anonymous Dharma, for insights and compassionate wisdom. Stop by and say hello to Dan.
Here is one from Dan's blog:
"It is the truth that liberates, not our effort to be free."
--J. Krishnamurti
Thursday, November 24, 2005
Spiritual Study Options
If you were interested in formal education to advance your "transpersonal" journey, which programs would you consider?
These five caught my attention:
1. American Institute of Holistic Theology, MS/PhD, Metaphysics.
2. Atlantic University MA, Transpersonal Studies.
3. University of Philosophical Research, MA Transpersonal Studies or MA, Consciousness Studies.
4. Naropa University (NU), MA, Transpersonal Studies.
5. Institute for Transpersonal Psychology, MA, Transpersonal Studies or Transpersonal Psychology.
Anybody out there know anything about these institutions? Know of any others you would look into? Distance education format is a necessity. Thank you.
If you were interested in formal education to advance your "transpersonal" journey, which programs would you consider?
These five caught my attention:
1. American Institute of Holistic Theology, MS/PhD, Metaphysics.
2. Atlantic University MA, Transpersonal Studies.
3. University of Philosophical Research, MA Transpersonal Studies or MA, Consciousness Studies.
4. Naropa University (NU), MA, Transpersonal Studies.
5. Institute for Transpersonal Psychology, MA, Transpersonal Studies or Transpersonal Psychology.
Anybody out there know anything about these institutions? Know of any others you would look into? Distance education format is a necessity. Thank you.
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Just about the time you think the world is too heavy to carry on your shoulders, remind yourself that all you were ever supposed to do in life is to be who you are...who you really are. If everyone did just that, there would be no need for anyone to carry the world on their shoulders. Photo credit: PianoLady
Monday, November 21, 2005
Monday Thought: Be Thou a Flake of Snow
Snow-Flakes
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Out of the bosom of the Air,
Out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken,
Over the woodlands brown and bare,
Over the harvest-fields forsaken,
Silent, and soft, and slow
Descends the snow.
Even as our cloudy fancies take
Suddenly shape in some divine expression,
Even as the troubled heart doth make
In the white countenance confession,
The troubled sky reveals
The grief it feels.
This is the poem of the air,
Slowly in silent syllables recorded;
This is the secret of despair,
Long in its cloudy bosom hoarded,
Now whispered and revealed
To wood and field.
Snow-Flakes
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Out of the bosom of the Air,
Out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken,
Over the woodlands brown and bare,
Over the harvest-fields forsaken,
Silent, and soft, and slow
Descends the snow.
Even as our cloudy fancies take
Suddenly shape in some divine expression,
Even as the troubled heart doth make
In the white countenance confession,
The troubled sky reveals
The grief it feels.
This is the poem of the air,
Slowly in silent syllables recorded;
This is the secret of despair,
Long in its cloudy bosom hoarded,
Now whispered and revealed
To wood and field.
The First Winter Snow
By Richard Brautigan
Oh, pretty girl, you have trapped
yourself in the wrong body. Twenty
extra pounds hang like a lumpy
tapestry on your perfect mammal nature.
Three months ago you were like a
deer staring at the first winter snow.
Now Aphrodite thumbs her nose at you
and tells stories behind your back.
By Richard Brautigan
Oh, pretty girl, you have trapped
yourself in the wrong body. Twenty
extra pounds hang like a lumpy
tapestry on your perfect mammal nature.
Three months ago you were like a
deer staring at the first winter snow.
Now Aphrodite thumbs her nose at you
and tells stories behind your back.
Imagine it is mid-morning and you are standing at one end of the Grand Canyon looking across its vast expanse. You glimpse the fresh snow deposited earlier that morning on the top of a nearby pine tree. A lone hawk soars across the sky in the distance. The biting crisp air awakens the sleeping spirit inside you. Deep in your consciousness you realize "there really is a God."
Photo Credit: Birky Home Page
Sunday, November 20, 2005
Imagine a perfectly still Sunday morning sitting on this bench letting snowflakes dance like tip-toed ballerinas on your face. Feel the cold air shock pinkness into your cheeks. Listen as a clump of snow loses its balance in the tree overhead, triggering an avalanche of fluffy whiteness to pour onto a self-absorped squirrel digging for acorns beneath the snow. Imagine winter is coming--for it surely is.
Photo Credit: kconners.com
Sunday Thought: Dealing with Hard Times
"You can't fly a kite unless you go against the wind and have a weight to keep it from turning a somersault. The same with man. No man will succeed unless he is ready to face and overcome difficulties and is prepared to assume responsibilities."
- William J.H. Boetcker
"You can't fly a kite unless you go against the wind and have a weight to keep it from turning a somersault. The same with man. No man will succeed unless he is ready to face and overcome difficulties and is prepared to assume responsibilities."
- William J.H. Boetcker
Saturday, November 19, 2005
Christmas Makes Us Believe in Life's Magic
Do you ever wish you could step back in time to a scene like this? As a young boy, no time of the year brought greater joy to my heart than Christmas. I loved the "getting ready" part of the Holiday. For some kids, making Christmas decorations in school was "dumb." To me, it was a joy. The Christmas plays at school and church were great fun, even when you forgot your lines. Singing carols at the "old folks home" was a special experience. Visiting relatives and friends to see their decorated trees, sipping egg nog, eating cookies, and sharing a joyful time was the most important thing in the whole world. Christmas taught me to believe in the magic in life. I still do. How about you?
Do you ever wish you could step back in time to a scene like this? As a young boy, no time of the year brought greater joy to my heart than Christmas. I loved the "getting ready" part of the Holiday. For some kids, making Christmas decorations in school was "dumb." To me, it was a joy. The Christmas plays at school and church were great fun, even when you forgot your lines. Singing carols at the "old folks home" was a special experience. Visiting relatives and friends to see their decorated trees, sipping egg nog, eating cookies, and sharing a joyful time was the most important thing in the whole world. Christmas taught me to believe in the magic in life. I still do. How about you? Friday, November 18, 2005
Thursday, November 17, 2005
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Break of Day
By John Donne
Tis true, 'tis day; what though it be?
O wilt thou therefore rise from me?
Why should we rise, because 'tis light?
Did we lie down, because 'twas night?
Love, which in spite of darkness brought us hither,
Should in despite of light keep us together.
Light hath no tongue, but is all eye;
If it could speak as well as spy,
This were the worst that it could say,
That being well, I fain would stay,
And that I loved my heart and honor so,
That I would not from him, that had them, go.
Must business thee from hence remove?
O, that's the worst disease of love.
The poor, the foul, the false, love can
Admit, but not the busied man.
He which hath business, and makes love, doth do
Such wrong, as when a married man doth woo.
Check out more about metaphysical poetry here.
By John Donne
Tis true, 'tis day; what though it be?
O wilt thou therefore rise from me?
Why should we rise, because 'tis light?
Did we lie down, because 'twas night?
Love, which in spite of darkness brought us hither,
Should in despite of light keep us together.
Light hath no tongue, but is all eye;
If it could speak as well as spy,
This were the worst that it could say,
That being well, I fain would stay,
And that I loved my heart and honor so,
That I would not from him, that had them, go.
Must business thee from hence remove?
O, that's the worst disease of love.
The poor, the foul, the false, love can
Admit, but not the busied man.
He which hath business, and makes love, doth do
Such wrong, as when a married man doth woo.
Check out more about metaphysical poetry here.
Miguel Llobet Soles was born on October 16, 1878 in Barcelona in Spain. He began his studies of guitar with Magin Alegre at the age of eleven. After the hearing Antonio Jimenez Manjón in the concert, he decides to undertake a career of guitarist. So Magin Alegre arranges an appointment with Francisco Tárrega, and after a hearing Miguel Llobet enters the municipal academy of music where he completes his studies.At the age of twenty he begins his first series of private concerts, and in 1903 he starts a grand tour, starting from Paris. Llobet is one of the first artists who circled intensively throughout the whole Europe and Americas (north, south and central), as well as on other continents. He died on February 22, 1938 in Barcelona. He composed more than 100 works for the guitar. Miguel Llobet is regarded as the Professor of Andres Segovia.
Learn more at http://www.delcamp.net
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Good read... Compliments of Santa Fe Dan
Crossing into Medicine Country
A Journey in Native American Healing
By David Carson
From the co-author of the million-copy, best-selling Medicine Cards comes this riveting account of initiation into ancient wisdom and the healing power of a Native American shaman.
Of Choctaw descent, David Carson has absorbed and sought out Native American spiritual knowledge since growing up in Oklahoma Indian country. He distilled some of that knowledge in Medicine Cards, the hugely successful divination system based on traditional animal medicine that became a New Age bestseller in the 1990s.
Now, in CROSSING INTO MEDICINE COUNTRY, he tells the story of his initiation as a conjure man—a ceremonial healer—with the Choctaw medicine woman Mary Gardener. For three years, he studied the arts of power plants and medicine animals, how to manipulate the layers of energy surrounding human beings, and how to use sacred tobacco in ritual, curing, and divination. Through Mary’s teachings, often conveyed in folk tales of the primordial healer Yellow Tobacco Boy, and through his own, sometimes mind-bending experiences, he gives us a glimpse into an alternate reality, in which health and illness express the balance between man and nature, and Western notions of physics do not always apply. A fascinating personal narrative, here is a work rich in spirit and Native American lore that will appeal to anyone interested in alternative beliefs.
Visit the author's Web site at:
http://www.crossingintomedicinecountry.com
Crossing into Medicine Country
A Journey in Native American Healing
By David Carson
From the co-author of the million-copy, best-selling Medicine Cards comes this riveting account of initiation into ancient wisdom and the healing power of a Native American shaman.
Of Choctaw descent, David Carson has absorbed and sought out Native American spiritual knowledge since growing up in Oklahoma Indian country. He distilled some of that knowledge in Medicine Cards, the hugely successful divination system based on traditional animal medicine that became a New Age bestseller in the 1990s.
Now, in CROSSING INTO MEDICINE COUNTRY, he tells the story of his initiation as a conjure man—a ceremonial healer—with the Choctaw medicine woman Mary Gardener. For three years, he studied the arts of power plants and medicine animals, how to manipulate the layers of energy surrounding human beings, and how to use sacred tobacco in ritual, curing, and divination. Through Mary’s teachings, often conveyed in folk tales of the primordial healer Yellow Tobacco Boy, and through his own, sometimes mind-bending experiences, he gives us a glimpse into an alternate reality, in which health and illness express the balance between man and nature, and Western notions of physics do not always apply. A fascinating personal narrative, here is a work rich in spirit and Native American lore that will appeal to anyone interested in alternative beliefs.
Visit the author's Web site at:
http://www.crossingintomedicinecountry.com
Monday, November 14, 2005
With the eyes of a child see the world...
Never cease to amaze or be amazed.
It doesn't matter how busy you are today. Take ten minutes today and pretend you are a five year old pretending to be a fifty year old. Is your life today what you imagined it to be when you were five? What's different and why?
It's not too late. Go back and re-imagine your life through the eyes of the child within you. Maybe you will find what has been tugging at your heart for many years. Reach down and take the hand of that child, and never let go.
Never cease to amaze or be amazed.
It doesn't matter how busy you are today. Take ten minutes today and pretend you are a five year old pretending to be a fifty year old. Is your life today what you imagined it to be when you were five? What's different and why?
It's not too late. Go back and re-imagine your life through the eyes of the child within you. Maybe you will find what has been tugging at your heart for many years. Reach down and take the hand of that child, and never let go.
Sunday, November 13, 2005
Saturday, November 12, 2005
Friday, November 11, 2005
Radical Honesty...
Radical Honesty is not a kinder, gentler self-help book. Brad Blanton, a psychotherapist and expert on stress management, explodes the myths, superstitions, and lies by which we live. He shows us how stress comes not from the environment, but from the self-built jail of the mind. What keeps us in our self-built jails is lying. "We all lie like hell," Blanton says. "It wears us out...it is the major source of all human stress. It kills us." Not telling our friends, lovers, spouses, or bosses about what we do, feel, or think keeps us locked in that jail. The way out is to get good at telling the truth. Blanton provides the tools we can use to escape the jail of the mind.
Buy the book at Amazon.com.
Radical Honesty is not a kinder, gentler self-help book. Brad Blanton, a psychotherapist and expert on stress management, explodes the myths, superstitions, and lies by which we live. He shows us how stress comes not from the environment, but from the self-built jail of the mind. What keeps us in our self-built jails is lying. "We all lie like hell," Blanton says. "It wears us out...it is the major source of all human stress. It kills us." Not telling our friends, lovers, spouses, or bosses about what we do, feel, or think keeps us locked in that jail. The way out is to get good at telling the truth. Blanton provides the tools we can use to escape the jail of the mind.
Buy the book at Amazon.com.
Friday Thought: The Dark Nights of Our Soul
In his book, Dark Nights of the Soul, Thomas Moore observes that the sadness, confusion, frustration, pain, suffering, loneliness, and loss that many people experience during a dark night of the soul can be catalysts to personal transformation. Or putting this in more creative and metaphoric terms, Moore suggests that we surrender to these trials and tribulations and open to them as we would to a mystery that enchants us. Always practical as well, he challenges us: "Imagine a black sun at your core, a dark luminosity that is less innocent and more interesting than naïve sunshine. This is one of the gifts a dark night has to offer you."
Buy the book at Amazon.com.
In his book, Dark Nights of the Soul, Thomas Moore observes that the sadness, confusion, frustration, pain, suffering, loneliness, and loss that many people experience during a dark night of the soul can be catalysts to personal transformation. Or putting this in more creative and metaphoric terms, Moore suggests that we surrender to these trials and tribulations and open to them as we would to a mystery that enchants us. Always practical as well, he challenges us: "Imagine a black sun at your core, a dark luminosity that is less innocent and more interesting than naïve sunshine. This is one of the gifts a dark night has to offer you."
Buy the book at Amazon.com.
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Thursday Thought: How We Relate
"What is our relationship to a flower, to a bird that passes by? And what is our relationship with each other - not with the speaker but with each other - with your wife, with your husband, with your children, with the environment, with your neighbor, your community, the government, and so on? What is our relationship to all this? Or are we just isolated, self-concerned, intensely interested in our own way of life?"
--Jiddu Krishnamurti
"What is our relationship to a flower, to a bird that passes by? And what is our relationship with each other - not with the speaker but with each other - with your wife, with your husband, with your children, with the environment, with your neighbor, your community, the government, and so on? What is our relationship to all this? Or are we just isolated, self-concerned, intensely interested in our own way of life?"
--Jiddu Krishnamurti
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Freedom From Self-Sabotage
The Intelligent Reader's Guide to Success and Self-Fulfillment
By Peter Michaelson
Publisher: Quality Paperback
"Freedom From Self-Sabotage is a powerful book that exposes the shocking evidence of our compulsion to experience unresolved negative emotions. It shows how we resist and reject the positive and how we collude in creating our problems.
Core questions are addressed: Why is the negative there in the first place? Why is it so difficult to do what is in our best interest? Why don't we exercise more, eat better, stay focused, worry less, remain positive, keep friends, save money, hold on to love, and achieve more with our creativity and skills?
Through our emotional nature, we live in large measure as beggars, slaves, and orphans, entangled in unresolved feelings of being deprived, controlled, and rejected.
We also live in opposition to ourselves and others because of unconscious inner aggression. This subversive, covert aggression takes the form of self-doubt, self-criticism, and self-condemnation. We project this aggression outward, creating an external replica of the alienation, hostility, and opposition that we contend with in ourself.
Our inner tyranny puts us on the defensive and leaves us feeling flawed, defective, and unworthy. Consequently, much of our energy is invested in trying to prove our value to others and to ourselves. Reading this book, we become a detective in our own psyche, able to corner our elusive self-sabotage and ensure that it is locked away for good."
Author: Peter Michaelson is a psychotherapist in Santa Fe, NM.
Source: Quest for Self
The Intelligent Reader's Guide to Success and Self-Fulfillment
By Peter Michaelson
Publisher: Quality Paperback
"Freedom From Self-Sabotage is a powerful book that exposes the shocking evidence of our compulsion to experience unresolved negative emotions. It shows how we resist and reject the positive and how we collude in creating our problems.
Core questions are addressed: Why is the negative there in the first place? Why is it so difficult to do what is in our best interest? Why don't we exercise more, eat better, stay focused, worry less, remain positive, keep friends, save money, hold on to love, and achieve more with our creativity and skills?
Through our emotional nature, we live in large measure as beggars, slaves, and orphans, entangled in unresolved feelings of being deprived, controlled, and rejected.
We also live in opposition to ourselves and others because of unconscious inner aggression. This subversive, covert aggression takes the form of self-doubt, self-criticism, and self-condemnation. We project this aggression outward, creating an external replica of the alienation, hostility, and opposition that we contend with in ourself.
Our inner tyranny puts us on the defensive and leaves us feeling flawed, defective, and unworthy. Consequently, much of our energy is invested in trying to prove our value to others and to ourselves. Reading this book, we become a detective in our own psyche, able to corner our elusive self-sabotage and ensure that it is locked away for good."
Author: Peter Michaelson is a psychotherapist in Santa Fe, NM.
Source: Quest for Self
Wednesday Thought: Outsiders Trying to Understand Their Unique Place in the World
Clinging to each other in their loneliness and alienation, George and his simple-minded friend Lennie dream, as drifters will, of a place to call their own. But after they come to work on a ranch in the Salinas Valley their hopes, like "the best laid schemes o' mice an' men," begin to go awry.
Drawn from: Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
Clinging to each other in their loneliness and alienation, George and his simple-minded friend Lennie dream, as drifters will, of a place to call their own. But after they come to work on a ranch in the Salinas Valley their hopes, like "the best laid schemes o' mice an' men," begin to go awry.
Drawn from: Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
One to ponder...
"Hypocritical, proud, and arrogant, living in delusion and clinging to deluded ideas, insatiable in their desires, they pursue their unclean ends. Although burdened with fears that end only with death, they still maintain with complete assurance, "Gratification of lust is the highest that life can offer."
-Bhagavad Gita
"Hypocritical, proud, and arrogant, living in delusion and clinging to deluded ideas, insatiable in their desires, they pursue their unclean ends. Although burdened with fears that end only with death, they still maintain with complete assurance, "Gratification of lust is the highest that life can offer."
-Bhagavad Gita
Tuesday Thought: Our Wounded Sides
Everyone has one. The issue is whether we are aware of it, and then can heal it properly. Many of the emotional and spiritual wounds that cause us to suffer in life are inflicted early in life. Some come much later.
If we don't detect our wounded side early, it grows larger and makes us vulnerable throughout of lives. Rather than embracing life in a trusting and engaging way, we learn to fear the world and our first instinct is to protect what hurts deeply inside us.
Know that you are not alone in your suffering. Know also that through insight and good soul work, you can heal the source of your suffering.
Meditation can help produce the environment for proper healing. As noted psychic Edgar Cayce once said about meditation: "It is not musing, not daydreaming; but as ye find your bodies made up of the physical, mental and spiritual, it is the attuning of the mental body and the physical body to its spiritual source." In this attunement, real healing occurs.
Everyone has one. The issue is whether we are aware of it, and then can heal it properly. Many of the emotional and spiritual wounds that cause us to suffer in life are inflicted early in life. Some come much later.
If we don't detect our wounded side early, it grows larger and makes us vulnerable throughout of lives. Rather than embracing life in a trusting and engaging way, we learn to fear the world and our first instinct is to protect what hurts deeply inside us.
Know that you are not alone in your suffering. Know also that through insight and good soul work, you can heal the source of your suffering.
Meditation can help produce the environment for proper healing. As noted psychic Edgar Cayce once said about meditation: "It is not musing, not daydreaming; but as ye find your bodies made up of the physical, mental and spiritual, it is the attuning of the mental body and the physical body to its spiritual source." In this attunement, real healing occurs.
Monday, November 07, 2005
Sunday, November 06, 2005
Saturday, November 05, 2005
Friday, November 04, 2005
Thursday, November 03, 2005
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
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