Once said

"I now see that all beings, without exception, have the wisdom and compassion of the Awakened Ones, yet because of delusion and attachments do not realize it."
Dogen Zenji

Pursuing profound questions

"Transformation comes more from pursuing profound questions than seeking practical answers"
-Peter Block

Five questions

1. Who is my neighbor? Community is the greatest untapped wealth we have available to us at this time. Do we know who lives nearby? What do we need to do to get to know each other better?
2. How can I cultivate curiosity rather than judgment? It's not our differences that divide us, but our judgments about each other. Are we willing to be curious to listen to the stories of those we've distanced ourselves from?
3. What is my role in creating change? We can no longer wait for leaders or laws to create the changes we need. It's up to us, and it's the only way the world ever changes--when a few friends start talking. Am I willing to assume the responsibility for creating the changes I want to see in the world?
4. Am I willing to reclaim time to think? As the world speeds up, we're forfeiting our most precious human capacities -- reflection, awareness, dreaming, relationship. The only way to restore these capabilities is to slow things down, to reengage in reflection, to pause and truly notice what's going on.
5. Can I be fearless? Fearlessness is not being free of fear. It means that we do not allow our fears to silence or stop us. What issues and people summon me to be fearless?
Margaret Wheatley

Conscious Technology

How can mystics and technocrats, poets and engineers, so long at odds in their vision of the universe, find a common path to the future? Mystics must give up their insistence on the empirical truth of their metaphysics., and technocrats must stop denying the truth of anything that cannot be proven empirically, for both the mystical experience and technology transcend religious and cultural differences. And it is the transcendent quality of each that will allow them to merge on the 'conscious' technology of the the future.
Jerome Glenn, author of future mind

Traditional thought philosophies

Respect: Wisdom; Generosity; Bravery; Fortitude; Compassion; Humility. We try to walk with these values in our everyday lives, setting examples for our children, and others. In so doing Tunkasila watches over us all. We choose accepting our selves, what we can and can't do, as essential to being Human Beings on this Earth. We are Earthmen on a spiritual journey; this way of life is very sacred. Walking with prayer and these values helps all of our relatives in many ways. So no matter who you are or where you come from, we are your relatives and are here waiting for you to come home.
Jack Burnette, Brule Lakota

Experimenting with the impossible

There is much unexplored potential in each human being. We are not just flesh and bone or an amalgamation of conditionings. If this were so, our future on this planet would not be very bright. But there is infinitely more to life, and each passionate being who dares to explore beyond the fragmentary and superficial into the mystery of totality helps all humanity perceive what it is to be fully human. Revolution, total revolution, implies experimenting with the impossible. And when an individual takes a step in the direction of the new, the impossible, the whole human race travels through that individual. The essence of religion is the personal discovery of the meaning of life, the meaning of truth. Religion is related to the unconditional, total freedom that truth confers on us. It is a revolution of the whole way of living. Religion moves us from the superficial layers of existence and encourages us to go deeper to the roots of life. It is an inward journey to the depths of our being. Nothing in life is trivial. Life is whole wherever and whenever we touch it, and one moment or event is not less sacred than another."
- Vimala Thakar, Indian Spiritual Teacher crossed to the other side 3/11/2009

... AS IF YOU WERE ALREADY DEAD.

My advice is to take advice with a grain of salt. When it comes to advice, whether it concerns money, travel, marriage, or the arts, generally people are wrong. Regardless, here’s some advice from the boondocks. (1) Laugh a lot, and avoid those who don’t. (2) Never do business with anyone who contacted you first. (3) Realize that it was always about the planet, never about you. (4) Practice philosophy or the arts, which are survival skills, but do not overrate them. (5) In the end, you will be judged by others and, crucially, by yourself, by what you do for others for free. The most comprehensive good advice I know is the Zen admonition to live as if you were already dead.
Marvin Bell

the One Thing

Confucius asked Tzu-kung, "Do you think I learn in order to increase my knowledge?"
Tzu-kung answered, "Well, don't you?"
Confucius said, "No, I seek the one thing that ties everything together."

The truth ...

"The truth is not simply what you think it is; it is also the circumstances in which it is said, and to whom, why, and how it is said."
Václav Havel, former president of the Czech Republic

If you want to be truly understood ...

"If you want to be truly understood, you need to say everything three times, in three different ways. Once for each ear... and once for the heart. The right ear represents the ability to apprehend the nature of the Whole, the wholeness of the circumstance, the forest. The left ear represents the ability to select a sequential path. And the heart represents a balance between the two."
- Paula Underwood Spencer, "A Native American Worldview,"

It is better .. where ..

It is better to know where I am going, and not why, than to know why I am going, and not where.

In our way of life ...

In our way of life, in our government, with every decision we make, we always keep in mind the seventh generation yet to come. It's our job to see that the people coming ahead, the generations still not born have a world no worse than ours - and hopefully better. When we walk upon Mother Earth we always plant our feet carefully because we know the faces of our future generations are looking up at us from beneath the ground. We never forget them
(Oren Lyons, Faith Keeper of the Six Nations)

Kindling

“As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle warmth and light in the darkness of mere being.”
Carl Jung

Never give up.

"Never give up no matter what is going on. Never give up. Develop the heart. Too much energy in your country is spent developing the mind instead of the heart. Develop the heart. Be compassionate. not just to your friends, but to everyone.
Be compassionate. Work for peace in your heart and in the world. Work for peace, and I say again, never give up, no matter what is happening. No matter what is going on around you. Never give up!"

- An inspiring reminder from Nobel Laureate and leader, the Dalai Lama, who for 50 years now has ceaselessly and compassionately worked to support his people and preserve his culture amidst the on-going holocaust of the Chinese invasion of Tibet.

The phase change ...

The human being is that space in which the comprehensive compassion that pervades the universe from the very beginning now begins to surface --within consciousness. (As compared with the natural displays of compassion by other creatures that is not necessarily 'within consciousness.') That's the only difference. We didn't create compassion, but it's flowing through us - or it could. The phase change that we're in seems, to me, to depend upon that comprehensive compassion unfurling in the human species.
Brian Swimme, coauthor with Thomas Berry of The Universe Story

What is needed and evolving ...

What is needed and evolving is a metamorphosis in basic cultural premises and all aspects of social roles and institutions. What is needed is a new consciousness in which competition will be balanced with cooperation and individualism will be balanced with love. It will be a ‘cosmic consciousness,’ a ‘higher consciousness,’ which relates self-interest to the interests of fellow man and of future generations. And it will entail nothing short of a fundamental transformation of truly awesome magnitude.
Willis Harmon, Director of Futurist Studies, Stanford University

...the universally recognized need ...

"One cannot but feel that…there is an evident relevance to the universally recognized need in our time for a general transformation of consciousness. The message here is of an actual age of harmony and peace in accord with the creative energies of nature which for a spell of some four thousand prehistoric years anteceded the five thousand of what James Joyce has termed the ‘nightmare’ (of contending tribal and national interests) from which it is now certainly time for this planet to wake."
Joseph Campbell

The Axial Sages ...

"The axial sages were not interested in providing their disciples with a little edifying uplift after which they could return with renewed vigor to their self-centered lives. Their objective was to create an entirely different kind of human being. Sages insisted that people abandon their egotism and greed, their violence and unkindness. Not only was it wrong to kill another human being, we must not even speak a hostile word about or towards that person, not even make an irritable gesture. Further, we cannot confine our benevolence to our own people. Our concern must somehow extend to the entire world. If people behave with kindness and generosity to others we could save the world."
Karen Armstrong

Jesus' Teacher

"That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn."
Rabbi Hillel

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love; Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light; Where there is sadness, joy.
Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand, To be loved as to to love.
For it's in giving that we receive, and it's in pardoning that we are pardoned. And it is in dying that we are born into eternal life."
- St. Francis of Assisi

It's here.

It has been said by many that we cannot save the planet unless there's a widespread spiritual or religious awakening. When I've heard that in the past I have sort of buckled and stiffened-not because I didn't think it'd be a good idea, but because I thought, well, yeah, but we have work to do. Things are going so fast that we can't depend on such a thing arising. But in my research for the book, I have come to think about this in a different way. My question for you is this: Would we recognize a spiritual awakening in this world if we saw one? Let me put the question to another way: What if an awakening was already deeply in place and we don't see it? In other words, it's here.
Paul Hawkins

Never Forget

In prayer, never forget to use the petition, “They Will Be Done.”
Stonewall Jackson, on his deathbed

... the self element that exhausts ...

Very important is the work of preparation for the next higher sphere, but nothing equals the importance of the work of the world in which we are actually living. When we feel important, we lose energy to the wear and tear of ego dignity so that there is little energy left to do the work. Self-importance, not work-importance, exhausts immature creatures; it is the self element that exhausts, not the effort to achieve.
Urantia Scipture Text

... a great man

He who attends to his greater self becomes a great man, and he who attends to his smaller self becomes a small man.
Mencius

The Red Wheelbarrow

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.

-- William Carlos Williams

Beyond the Realms of the Bringer of Death ...

In Buddhism the word translated as 'demon' is the Sanskrit , which means 'bringer of death'. There are Four Kinds of Demons: 1) demons which are afflictions, 2) demons which are illnesses, 3) the demon of death, and 4) heavenly demons. The first three can be said to be internal demons and the fourth, external demons. The head of the heavenly demons is Mara the Evil One, who rules over the Sixth Desire Heaven. The demons of that heaven derive their bliss from preying on the energies of other beings. They are particularly threatened by those who practice on the spiritual pathways that reach beyond their realms and finally lead to genuine enlightenment.

When one's inner fire departs ...

When one's inner fire departs, a demon takes possession. Demons come to polish the Way. Those on the True Way have to endure demons. The more you get polished, the brighter you get; you'll be polished until you're like the autumn moon, which illumines all the demon hordes in empty space. When the demon hordes are scattered, then the original Buddha manifests. (Chinese sayings)

Meeting Need

How few of us understand what love really is, and how it arises in the human heart. It is so frequently equated with good feelings toward others, with benevolence or nonviolence or service. But these things in themselves are not love. Love springs from awareness. It is only inasmuch as we see someone as he or she really is, here and now, and not as they are in our memory or our desire or in our imagination or projection that we can truly love them, otherwise it is not the person that we love but the idea that we have formed of this person, or this person as the object of our desire, and not as he or she is in themselves. The first act of love is to see this person or this object, this reality as it truly is. And this involves the enormous discipline of dropping our desires, prejudices, memories, projections, selective way of looking ... a discipline so great that most people would rather plunge headlong into good actions and service than submit to the burning fire of this asceticism. When we set out to serve someone whom we have not taken the trouble to see, are we meeting that person's need or our own need?"
--- Father Anthony de Mello

Not an Occidental view

The idea of living creatures is that trees, buffalo and man are temporary energy swirls, turbulent patterns. You find that perception registered so many ways in archaic and primitive lore. I say that it is probably the most basic insight into the nature of things, and that our more common, recent Occidental view of the universe as consisting of fixed things is out of the main stream, a deviation from basic human perception."
Gary Snyder

Wood to the Fire ...

So, to deal with anger, we avoid letting our mind jump again and again to the trigger for our anger. Then we look at anger itself and keep our attention upon it. If we stop adding wood to a fire and just watch, the fire will die out. Likewise, anger will vanish away, without being forcibly repressed or allowed to explode.
Mathieu Ricard - Yes magazine

... the more I realize ...

The more I think about it, the more I realize there is nothing more artistic than to love others.
Vincent Van Gogh

Quarrel not ...

"Quarrel not at all. No man resolved to make the most of himself can spare time for personal contention. Still less can he afford to take all the consequences, including the vitiating of hs temper and loss of self-control."
Abraham Lincoln

SOMEDAY

Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of Love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, humans will have discovered Fire.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Nature's Best Beings

Giving Birth.
Nourishing Life.
Shaping Things without them possessing them.
Serving Life without expectation of reward,
Leading without dominating:
These are the profound virtues of nature,
And of Nature's Best Beings.
(Lao Tse)

Consider the philosopher ...

David Foster Wallace was especially concerned that certain theoretical paradigms - the cerebral asceticism of modernism, the clever trickery of post modernism - too casually dispensed what he called the "very old traditional human truths that have to do with spirituality and and emotion and community." He called for a more forthright, engaged treatment of these basic truths, yet he himself attended to them with his own fractured and esoteric methods. For instance ... "Let a physical possibility structure be a set of distinct but intersecting paths, each of which is a set of functions on ordered pairs of time world situations, such that for any set of functions in some intersecting paths there is a primary accessibility relationship corresponding to physical possibility understood in terms of diachronic physical compatibility."

... without your permission

Nobody can make you feel inferior without your permission.
Eleanor Roosevelt

The Paradoxical Lesson ...

The paradoxical lesson is that we can change the world only by changing ourselves. This is not just a cute abstraction; it is an elusive key to effective performance in all aspects of life." -- Robert Quinn in Deep Change

The One that can Never be Solved ...

If you need to visualize the Soul, think of it as a cross between a wolf howl, a photon, and a dribble of dark molasses. But what it really is, as near as I can tell, is a packet of information. It's a program, a piece of hyper-spatial software designed explicitly to interface with the Mystery. Not 'a' mystery, mind you - but "The Mystery." The One that can never be solved.
American novelist Tom Robbins in Esquire Magazine, 1993

It is Not I ...

"It is not I who create myself, but rather I happen to myself."
C.G. Jung

Winds of Grace

To know the will of God is the greatest knowledge, to find the will of God is the greatest discovery, and to do the will of God is the greatest achievement. W.A. Criswell

"The man who is born with a talent that he was meant to use finds his greatest happiness in using it." Will. I. Am.

Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. I Cor. 4:2

"The winds of grace are always blowing, but it is up to us to raise our sails." Rabindinath Tagor