Called into Life

12/30/2022

This body is not me.
I am not limited by this body.
I am life without boundaries.
I have never been born,
and I have never died.

Look at the ocean and the sky filled with stars,
manifestations from my wondrous true mind.

Since before time, I have been free.
Birth and death are only doors through which we pass,
sacred thresholds on our journey.
Birth and death are a game of hide- and seek.

So laugh with me,
hold my hand,
let us say good-bye,
say good-bye, to meet again soon.

We meet today.
We will meet again tomorrow.
We will meet at the source every moment.
We meet each other in all forms of life.

~Thich Nhat Hanh

12/22/2022

Get back to "you." One page a day for 80 days.

"Improve Your Life in 80 Days" by Doe Zantamata, in ebook and paperback: https://amzn.to/2Kr8P4x

Or as an e-course: https://bit.ly/2ICKlnl

Or as a downloadable pdf ebook: https://payhip.com/b/oRuQ

12/18/2022

Short, inviting and refreshing. We don’t all see of what he speaks but if we could, how would you be different ? I for one would be happier and I would laugh and play more

Shooting people – with a camera that is – in a foreign language that you don’t understand encourages an ability to listen beyond the words. This film might just be the epitome of joy.

11/26/2022

longing and belonging

Longing is the voice of your soul, it constantly calls you to be fully present in your life, to live to the full the one life given to you. Rilke said to the young poet, "Live everything." You are here on earth now, yet you forget so easily. You traveled a great distance to get here. The dream of your life has been dreamed from eternity. You belong within a great embrace that urges you to have the courage to honor the immensity that sleeps in your heart. When you learn to listen to and trust the wisdom of your soul's longing, you will awaken to the invitation of graced belonging that inhabits the generous depths of your destiny. You will become aware of the miracle of presence within and around you.

JOHN O'DONOHUE

Excerpt from the book, Eternal Echoes
Ordering Info: https://johnodonohue.com/store

County Clare, Ireland
Photo: © Ann Cahill

10/03/2022

09/30/2022

"A genuine smile glows from our deepest layer of self-love, radiating like sunlight through clouds and embracing everything as an extension of oneself. Starting as an inner hug it spreads to soften the whole body, melting malevolent energy to emerge from benevolent eyes and lips.

The smile says, “I accept and love you unconditionally.” Our being warms to this kindness, dissolving walls of psychic and physical isolation that prevent wholeness and health. Just as others respond to our loving smile, our cells soak up smiling rays, creating new cells from the inner love affair.

Taoist Master Mantak Chia has taught the inner smile for the past 40 years. He explained its significance to me on my recent visit to his Thailand retreat, “In ancient China, the Taoists taught that a constant inner smile to oneself, insured health, happiness and longevity. Why? Smiling to yourself is like basking in love: you become your own best friend. Living with an inner smile is to live in harmony with yourself.”

The smiling energy emanating from Mantak Chia was reminiscent of enlightened souls such as the Dalai Lama. He has an aura of contentment and kindness that put me at ease immediately. Mantak Chia also explained that as sickness starts from negative emotions settling in the organs, the inner smile breaks this cycle.

“By transforming destructive emotions into positive energy the inner smile removes the cause and symptoms of disharmony,” he said."

~Caroline Robertson

Story source: The Inner Smile, Caroline Robertson https://www.mantakchia.com/the-inner-smile/

09/29/2022

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

“True love is boundless like the ocean and, swelling within one, spreads itself out and, crossing all boundaries and frontiers, envelops the whole world.” ~Mahatma Gandhi

"People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don’t even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child — our own two eyes. All is a miracle." ~Thich Nhat Hanh

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is.” ~Albert Einstein

“As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn’t leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I’d still be in prison.” ~Nelson Mandela

“Not to mend one’s ways when one has erred is to err indeed.” ~Confucius

“The only true joy on earth is to escape from the prison of our own false self, and enter by love into union with the Life who dwells and sings within the essence of every creature and in the core of our own souls.” ~Thomas Merton

“As a child, I understood how to give. I have forgotten that grace since I became civilized. I lived the natural life, whereas I now live the artificial. Any pretty pebble was valuable to me then, every growing tree an object of reverence.” ~Ohiyesa (American Indian)

“Love courses through everything. No, love is everything. How can you say, there is no love, when nothing but love exists? All that you see has appeared because of love. All shines from love, All pulses from love, All flows from love– No, once again, All is love!” ~Fakhruddin ‘Iraqi

“Hatred ever kills, love never dies. Such is the vast difference between the two… The duty of a human being is to diminish hatred and to promote love.” ~Mahatma Gandhi

“See simplicity in the complicated, seek greatness in small things. In the Universe, the difficult things are done ss if they were easy.” ~Lao Tsu

“To love another person is to see the face of God.” ~Victor Hugo

“When we see God in each other we will be able to live in peace.” ~Mother Teresa

“In this world, hate never dispelled hate. Only love dispels hate. This is the law, ancient and inexhaustible.” ~The Buddha

Peace in the World Begins with You https://creativesystemsthinking.wordpress.com/2014/07/31/peace-in-the-world-begins-with-you/

SPIRITUAL WISDOM: Recognizing the Sacred in Our World https://creativesystemsthinking.wordpress.com/2014/04/29/spiritual-wisdom-recognizing-the-sacred-in-our-world/

Perpetual Curse of the Warrior Mindset https://creativesystemsthinking.wordpress.com/2014/10/14/perpetual-curse-of-the-warrior-mindset/

09/15/2022

Shadow work explained in 10 minutes

Carl Gustav Jung (26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential ...

09/13/2022

“It is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.”

09/11/2022

“People ask: ‘Would you or would you not like to be young again?’ Of course, it is really one of those foolish questions that never should be asked, because they are impossible& #8…

09/11/2022

“Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darknesses of other people. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely. Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”
~Carl Jung~

09/05/2022

"As I began to love myself
I found that anguish and
emotional suffering are only
warning signs that I was living
against my own truth.
Today, I know, this is Authenticity.

As I began to love myself
I understood how much
it can offend somebody
if I try to force my desires on
this person, even though
I knew the time was not right
and the person was not ready
for it, and even though
this person was me.
Today I call this Respect.

As I began to love myself
I stopped craving for a
different life, and I could see
that everything that surrounded
me was inviting me to grow.
Today I call this Maturity.

As I began to love myself
I understood that at any
circumstance, I am in the
right place at the right time,
and everything happens at the
exactly right moment.
So I could be calm.
Today I call this Self-Confidence.

As I began to love myself
I quit stealing my own time,
and I stopped designing huge
projects for the future.
Today, I only do what brings me
joy and happiness,
things I love to do and that
make my heart cheer,
and I do them in my own way
and in my own rhythm.
Today I call this Simplicity.

As I began to love myself
I freed myself of anything
that is no good for my health;
food, people, things, situations,
and everything that drew me
down and away from myself.
At first I called this attitude
a healthy egoism.
Today I know it is Love of Oneself.

As I began to love myself
I quit trying to always be right,
and ever since,
I was wrong less of the time.
Today I discovered that is Modesty.

As I began to love myself
I refused to go on living in
the past and worrying about
the future.
Now, I only live for the moment,
where everything is happening.
Today I live each day,
day by day,
and I call it Fulfillment.

As I began to love myself
I recognized that my mind
can disturb me and it can
make me sick.
But as I connected it to my heart,
my mind became a valuable ally.
Today I call this connection
Wisdom of the Heart.

We no longer need to fear
arguments, confrontations or
any kind of problems
with ourselves or others.
✨
Even stars collide,
and out of their crashing,
new worlds are born.
Today I know, this is Life."

Kim and Alison McMillen,
2001, When I Loved Myself Enough

Artist: Unknown

09/05/2022

Get the "Course In Miracles" workbook for free 🙂
==> www.the-course-in-miracles.com/free

07/30/2022

03/11/2022

Our quote this week is from Pathways to Bliss.


https://www.jcf.org/works/titles/pathways-to-bliss/

01/25/2022

we have everything we need!

Eva and her family live an isolated life on the remote island of Stóra Dímun, in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean. While they are geographically isola...

01/20/2022

Once you find yourself it lasts forever

From A Joseph Campbell Companion: Reflections on the Art of Living
​
​Photography by Tyler Lapkin Photography
​
https://www.jcf.org/works/titles/a-joseph-campbell-companion/

12/26/2021

From Joseph Campbell and The Power of Myth with Bill Moyers

​Photography by Tyler Lapkin Photography

https://www.jcf.org/works/titles/joseph-campbell-and-the-power-of-myth-with-bill-moyers-book/

12/21/2021

“This Christmas, if you buy and bring home a Christmas tree to decorate, remember that your ‘true home’ is not found outside yourself, but it is right in your own heart. We do not need to bring home anything for us to feel fulfilled. We have everything we need right in our heart. We do not need to practice for many years or to travel far to arrive at our true home. If we know how to generate the energy of mindfulness and concentration, then with each breath, with each step, we arrive at our true home. Our true home is not a place far removed from us in space and time. It is not something that we can buy. Our true home is present right in the here and now; if only we know how to return and to be truly present to it.

The other day, Thay was reflecting on what message to send to his friends and students abroad so that they can practice, so that they can be like Jesus or be like the Buddha. Thay then wrote this calligraphy: ‘There is no way home, Home is the way.’

The means and the ends are not two separate things. There is no way to return to our home. Our home is the way. Once we take a step on that path home, we are home right in that moment. This is true to the practice of Plum Village. There is no way to happiness, Happiness is the way. Recently, Thay also shared in his Dharma talk that, ‘There is no way to nirvana, Nirvana is the way.’ Every breath and every step has the capacity to bring us right back to our true home, right in the here and now. This is the fundamental practice of Plum Village. This is the message that Thay wants to send to his friends and students during this Christmas season. If you want to send a holiday greeting to your friends and loved ones, you can also send this message. If you can practice it truly, then sending it will have a deep meaning; but if you do not practice it, then the message will have little substance.

Let us all enjoy our practice of coming home this holiday season. Let us truly be at home within, and so become a home for our loved ones and all our friends.”

Thich Nhat Hanh, Christmas 2012

Read the full message: https://www.mindfulnessbell.org/archive/2012/12/home-is-the-way-a-christmas-message-from-thay

11/27/2021

From Thou Art That: Transforming Religious Metaphor
​
​Photography by Tyler Lapkin Photography

https://www.jcf.org/works/titles/thou-art-that/

11/27/2021

"We are the children of this beautiful planet that we have lately seen photographed from the moon. We were not delivered into it by some god, but have come forth from it.

We may think of ourselves, then, as the functioning ears and eyes and minds of this earth, exactly as our own ears and eyes and minds are of our bodies. Our bodies are one with this earth, this wonderful ‘oasis in the desert of infinite space’; and the mathematics of that infinite space, which are the same as of Newton’s mind - our mind, the earth’s mind, the mind of the universe - come to flower and fruit in this beautiful oasis through ourselves.

‘The world,’ wrote the poet Rilke, ‘is large, but in us it is deep as the sea.’ We carry the laws within us by which it is held in order. And we ourselves are no less mysterious. In searching out is wonders, we are learning simultaneously the wonder of ourselves."
​-Joseph Campbell
​
​From Myths to Live By

https://www.jcf.org/works/titles/myths-to-live-by/

11/03/2021

I am finishing my next book called the "The Eternal Moment" There is only one eternal moment that shows up in different times in different places to different people. therefore it is eternally reappearing for us all.

“Owning up: to recollect, to regret, to be responsible, ultimately to forgive and love.”

11/03/2021

short and interesting -demon is not what we think it is and it sure isn't outside of us

04/02/2019

Emily Levine did this short Ted talk on death where she not only makes friends with reality but falls in love with reality.

With her signature wit and wisdom, Emily Levine meets her ultimate challenge as a comedian/philosopher: she makes dying funny. In this personal talk, she tak...

04/06/2018

Why is it that death is the place of eternal peace? Why can't life hold eternal peace?