Seasons of the Soul

Grateful Imperfections

Nothing brings the worlds of spirit and earth together more quickly than being grateful. To be grateful means giving thanks for more than just the things we want, but also for the things that surmount our pride and stubbornness. Sometimes, the things we've wanted and worked for, if actually received, would have crushed us.

Sometimes just giving thanks for the mystery of it all brings everything and everyone closer, the way suction pulls streams of water together. Giving thanks openly, even if we're not sure what for, will allow us to feel the abundance of all that is living brush up against our heart. True gratitude is the response to life itself. It emerges in places and circumstances where we believe that we are unreachable and irredeemable.

In the midst of imperfection, we can pray to be given a grateful heart. Grateful for the opportunities of this day to come closer to what is real and sustaining. Grateful that no matter how far we wander or how many times we stumble, grace will find us and we will be blessed.

~Charles “Tom” Brown

The New Economy - The Economics of Happiness

 

We see how the crumbling economy world wide is affecting all of us, but here is another look at what its impact may become at another level

http://www.dailygood.org/view.php?sid=119

No Thing

Once upon a time the Bodhisatta — the Enlightenment Being — was born into a high class family in northern India. When he grew up he gave up the ordinary desires of the everyday world and became a holy man. He went to the Himalayan Mountains where 500 other holy men became his followers.

He meditated throughout his long life. He gained supernatural powers — like flying through the air and understanding people's thoughts without their speaking. These special powers impressed his 500 followers greatly.

One rainy season, the chief follower took 250 of the holy men into the hill country villages to collect salt and other necessities. It just so happened that this was the time when the master was about to die. The 250 who were still by his side realized this. So they asked him, "Oh most holy one, in your long life practicing goodness and meditation, what was your greatest achievement?"

Having difficulty speaking as he was dying, the last words of the Enlightenment Being were, "No Thing." Then he was reborn in a heaven world.

Expecting to hear about some fantastic magical power, the 250 followers were disappointed. They said to each other. "After a long life practicing goodness and meditation, our poor master has achieved 'nothing'." Since they considered him a failure, they burned his body with no special ceremony, honors, or even respect.

When the chief follower returned he asked, "Where is the holy one?" "He has died," they told him. "Did you ask him about his greatest achievement?" "Of course we did," they answered. "And what did he say?" asked the chief follower. "He said he achieved 'nothing'," they replied, "so we didn't celebrate his funeral with any special honors."

Then the chief follower said, "You brothers did not understand the meaning of the teacher's words. He achieved the great knowledge of 'No Thing'. He realized that the names of things are not what they are. There is what there is, without being called 'this thing' or 'that thing'. There is no 'Thing'." In this way the chief follower explained the wonderful achievement of their great master, but they still did not understand.

Meanwhile, from his heaven world, the reborn Enlightenment Being saw that his former chief follower's words were not accepted. So he left the heaven world and appeared floating in the air above his former followers' monastery. In praise of the chief follower's wisdom he said, "The one who hears the Truth and understands automatically, is far better off than a hundred fools who spend a hundred years thinking and thinking and thinking."

By preaching in this way, the Great Being encouraged the 500 holy men to continue seeking Truth. After lives spent in serious meditation, all 500 died and were reborn in the same heaven world with their former master.

The moral is: When the wise speak, listen!

~Author unknown

Quotable Quotes

Tielhard de Chardin, the French Roman Catholic philosopher, said, “Some day, after we have mastered the wind, the waves, the tides, and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of Love. Then, for the second time in the history of the world, we will have discovered fire.”

If we can really understand the problem, the answer will come out of it, because the answer is not separate from the problem.              --J. Krishnamurti

Three Rules of Work: Out of clutter find simplicity; From discord find harmony; In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.                   --Albert Einstein

Dreams pass into the reality of action. From the actions stems the dream again; and this interdependence produces the highest form of living. --Anais Nin

I Am the Man

By Rev. Jill Honodel

There once was a man who was the Baker in town. Everyone loved his bread and he became very popular.  Eventually, he became the King’s Baker and spent his days waking up while everyone else was asleep and making the very best breads in the kingdom.  He was invited to all the houses in the village for dinner as people hoped he would bring along his bread to share.  He was very proud of his position in life and his success. He liked that everyone knew him and bought something from him all the time.  He liked that he was the King's Baker.  He ate samples from ALL the breads he made each day. The man was quite stout, and he was full of himself.

One day, he was walking home from a neighbor’s house and even though he had just eaten a very good meal, his stomach began to rumble, and he couldn’t wait to get back to his bakery to nibble on some of his own delicious bread. 

Down at the end of the street was a woman whose husband had just died and she had a little boy with her.  A man name Zachery had compassion on her and gave her the one loaf of bread he had. She gave it to the little boy to nibble on as they walked home.  As the Baker was daydreaming about his own bread, suddenly he began to smell a beautiful aroma getting stronger as he walked down the street, and then he saw the bread being carried by the boy.  He could not see that the boy was skinny and starving, he did not notice that the mother was wearing black mourning clothes, he only had his eyes on the bread.  And as they passed one another the little boy was trailing behind his mother, the Baker quickly took the bread out of the boy’s hands and walked around the corner, happily chewing on the bread, and feeling very happy with himself. 

The boy cried, and the mother and  child had nothing to eat.  But the Baker went back to his Bakery and finished the loaf, and sat there on his baker’s chair looking around at what a life he had made for himself, patting himself on the back for how successful and well known he was, and thought to himself, I am the Man!  While the Baker was gleefully reviewing his success, a man walked into his bakery named Zachery. 

Now Zachery had been fuming because he had seen the baker snatch the bread from the little boy, and he had all kinds of terrible thoughts about how to take vengeance on the Baker, but after he calmed himself down, Zachery decided to tell the Baker a story. 

He said that he knew of a woman whose husband had died and that she was starving as she now had no income and was left with a little son to care for. The two had only each other and no food except for a loaf of bread to eat, but even that was taken from them by a gluttonous old man who had everything a man could want, but wanted more because he was not satisfied with having everything.  Hearing the story, the Baker got angry and said to Zachery, That gluttonous old fool should be brought before the judge and thrown into jail.  And Zachery looked him straight in the eye and said, You are the man! 

And the Baker reflected upon the events of his day and remembered how much he had enjoyed eating even more bread than usual on his way home, and where he had gotten it.  He realized that he had everything given to him and now he was taking from a starving boy and his mother.

From that day on, whenever the Baker heard his stomach growl, he would pick up a loaf of bread and save it for the widowed woman and her son, and he had a new kind of satisfaction thinking to himself, I AM the Man.

Fences

Recently our neighbors decided to do a complete makeover of their landscape, and in the process asked if we could tear down our mutual fence because it was rotting. Even though I didn’t particularly want to have the expense of a new fence, I didn’t want to create an issue or make their project less enjoyable for them. So, the day came when the fence was torn down, and suddenly what had appeared as a very distinct space became just part of a larger piece of land. What had been isolated by a fence was no longer so. We had torn down the divider that defined yours and mine, and for a few days, it became we and ours. It was a very interesting experience. When I went out in the morning, they might also be out. Rather than not seeing them and not saying anything, we began to chat and exchange ideas on what was going to be planted on their side, and what was on ours. Boundaries had been eliminated, and it gave an entirely different perspective to the properties and the illusion of division.

The new fence went up, and is beautiful. I’m so glad we did it. But I’m also glad we experienced the shift in perspective by having the removal of a barrier to what is undivided from a different vantage point, and have forged a much more relaxed and mutually appreciative relationship with our neighbors, who are no longer them over there…but right here.

From Seasons of the Soul print edition, Autumn 2010

Amazing Grace

A riveting performance with the story behind the music!

http://www.karmatube.org/videos.php?id=1312

When Generosity Meets Venture Capital

Seeds of awakening are happening...we just have to look for them!

http://www.dailygood.org/view.php?sid=117

Seasons of Interest

When I was younger, I loved to dance. In my twenties and early thirties, if I was not dancing every weekend, I thought something was radically wrong. Parties were fun, and I loved decorating, cooking, and doing all the things that went into making beautiful and imaginative large gatherings.

As I got older, I was more interested in meeting with friends in smaller groups, having an opportunity to talk about things that were more meaningful and gave us time to truly interact with one another rather than just having small talk in a large party setting.

At another age, I found myself no longer interested in entertaining. I appreciated going for a cup of coffee, or to a meeting. But parties and get togethers just for the sake of seeing people was no longer something I cared to do.

As I am in my mid sixties now, I’ve found other changes in my interests and desires. My life is much less social and much more internally focused. Yet, as is my way, I note that just because this is how I am evolving, the rest of the world is doing its own thing in its own way, and all of it is good.

We tend to think that what we are doing is the thing everyone else ought to be doing or what they would enjoy, but it is decidedly not so. One man’s season of quiet is another’s passion for free form dancing or gliding or playing, or social unrest, or any other form of expression that life offers.

We have our seasons of interests, and they change. And there is nothings right or wrong in that…merely an indication that our focus is otherwise engaged. And as we accept shifting interests in ourselves and others, we participate in allowing each person to express according to their own season, respecting our differences, and appreciating the diversity that is everywhere present in this magical exploration we call life.

From Seasons of the Soul print edition, Autumn 2010

The Power of Circles

The Circle has been used for centuries as a way of providing people with a sense of inclusion and unity. Rather than the straight line where there is a first and last, top and bottom, the circle provides a sense of commonality and therefore empowers all participants. This fascinating article tells more:

http://www.dailygood.org/more.php?n=4789