Month: October 2005

Reading and writing is not always a simple matter. There’s so much information “out there” that the mind tends to change beliefs more often than one is willing to admit. You read an opinion about something or someone sheds light on a topic in a way that you’ve not heard before, and you think, “That makes perfect sense.” And away you go with that bit of information until the next article or person comes along. Maybe it’s that kind of a world. There’s simply a lot of ways to think about everything. AND maybe all those ways contain their own truth.

Someone showed a book to me recently. It’s written by “The Messenger” and it’s about enlightenment and energy. The writer proclaims that upon reading it you’ll never ever view life in the same way again. Admittedly, I’m a sucker for this kind of stuff because I think, “Okay, shake up my world. Bring it on. What do you know that I don’t?” I don’t remember the name of the book, but when turning the pages of this one in particular I felt there are books on shelves far more outlandish, and those writers had the respect for their written words to use their names. Why does someone write a book, have it published, get it into book stores and go by the name “The Messenger”? Particularly when proclaiming a discovery that “. . .will forever change the life of the reader.” And even though I wasn’t interested in reading the book, I saw enough and had to walk off the ideas in that book. After looking at the book though I did think about the many beliefs there are regarding how people react to life. Maybe that which created the universe just wanted to give us choices, and one way is not necessarily better than another. I’ll keep that thought in mind.

Have you noticed that when thoughts of the November and December holidays begin to take form a good portion of our life revolves around those months. If not, physically then certainly mentally and emotionally, and then physically as we fall into the the commercial part in the form of buying which has become, or shall we say, taken over, the holidays. Of course, preparation can mean anything – depending on your lifestyle.

With all that’s happening in the world lately I think the joy of the holidays will have a special meaning. I’ve often read that underneath the chaos there’s order. If we can get pass all the tragedies, we can see the beauty that’s also unfolding. The love that goes out to those who need it in the form of money, food, housing, compassion and prayers is wonderfully alive.

I read Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda www.yogananda-srf.org quite a few years ago. There was food for thought in that book. I’m thinking of one paragraph now. It said that all the violence, negativity, greed, etc. affects the universe. Whatever is in the consciousness of all of us is felt by the intelligent universe. If we want order we need to stop the craziness because only a loving world will produce a loving environment. We’re producing chaos when we contaminate our world. I think about that book often and wonder about those words. He’s not the first or the last to write about this cause and effect applying to the mass consciousness.

“The deeper the self-realization of a man, the more he influences the whole universe by his subtle spiritual vibrations, and the less he himself is affected by the phenomenal flux.” – Swami Sri Yukteswar

“We are reborn each day-indeed each moment-and we begin afresh with the possibility of new perfection in every breath we draw.” -Rabbi David A. Cooper

“The modern world is desacrilized, that is why it is in a crisis. The modern person must rediscover a deeper source of his own spiritual life.” -C. G. Jung

“The more materialistic science becomes, the more angels shall I paint.” -Edward Burne-Jones

“There are very few human beings who receive the truth, complete and staggering, by instant illumination. Most of them acquire it fragment by fragment.” -Anais Nin