One day a man found a cocoon of a butterfly.
As the small opening appeared, he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through the little hole.
Then something happened
It suddenly seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and could go no further. Hence, then the man decided to help the butterfly.
He took a pair of scissors and cut the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily.
But something was strange.
The butterfly had a swollen body and shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.
However, neither happened.
As a matter of fact, the butterfly’s life consisted of spending the rest of its time creeping around with an enlarged, puffy body and deformed wings. In other words, it was never able to fly.
What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the small opening of the cocoon are nature’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.
Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life.
In Living a Life That Matters, Harold S. Kushner (the Massachusetts rabbi whose best selling books include When Bad Things Happen to Good People) suggests that the most successful lives are the ones that most effectively manage and resolve their problems.
If the lord allowed us to go through all our life without any obstacles, that would cripple us
Besides, we could never think of shredding our fears and flying.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Friday, October 3, 2008
The Secret of Shambhala - In Search of the Eleventh Insight
Plot summary - The story is set in the mountains of Tibet in search of the mythical place called Shambhala (also known as Shangri-La), accessible only by raising one's spiritual attunement to a high enough level. Among other things, the book touches on the concept of prayer energy and heaven and earth coming together.
In the remote snow-covered mountains near Tibet lies a community long thought to be a mere myth called Shambhala, or Shangri-La. Here, in this place, is knowledge that has been kept hidden for centuries - and an insight that can have profound impact on the way each of us lives our lives.
Your search for Shambhala begins with the words of a child and the vision of an old friend. Those slender clues and a powerful synchronicity will lead to Kathmandu, Nepal, and then to Lhasa, Tibet. Amid blowing snows and perilous mountains, you will meet the secret Tibetan sect that guards mysterious legends - the verbal instructions handed down for centuries that describe the inner changes one must undergo before entering Shambhala.
Finally, with Chinese agents in pursuit, you will pass through regions where anger and compassion struggle for ascendancy, and arrive at a place where the stunning reality about human prayer-energy - our underdeveloped ability to increase the synchronicity in our lives and influence what will happen to us in the future - is about to be revealed.
Like James Redfield's other books, The Secret of Shambhala has a parable effect. Open yourself to this adventure and the experience will stretch your worldview and leave you determined to channel your thoughts and wishes into a dynamic force that can help you liberate your life, enhance others, and actively change the world
Characters
John Woodson
The main character. John goes this time to Tibet, as his friends Wil and Natalie told him to do. Wil is gone when John arrives in Tibet.
Bill
Natalie's father. Has helped John with some gardering.
Natalie
Bill's daughter, who sets John out on his journey through Tibet.
Wilson James (Wil)
A steadfast character in The Celestine Prophecy, and in The Tenth Insight: Holding the Vision. Located in Shambhala.
Yin Doloe
Wil sent Yin to meet John as he goes to Tibet. Yin has a deep hate for the Military of the Republic of China. He is with John throughout most of his journey.
Jampa
A friend of Yin's. Jampa is a monk at the monastery where Lama Rigden lives, and has followed Lama Rigden for over 10 years.
Lama Rigden
The protagonists visit him for more information about the whereabouts of Wil. He understands the legends of Shambhala more than anyone else.
Hanh
He helps John concentrate on what he eats.
Colonel Chang
The one who wishes to destroy Shambhala.
Ani
The first human John meets after coming to Shambhala.
Pema
Initially about to give birth to a baby child; but the child is gone.
Tashi
Ani's son. He wants to enter John's world.
Dorjee
Pema's husband.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Metaphysics, Ayurveda And Jnana Yoga
Coming from the Greek, Metaphysics can be translated as "that which comes after physics, matter, or nature."
Thus Metaphysics is looking for the permanent Reality, the unchanged Beingness, and the stationary Existence as the Base for everything that shows constant change.
The "theorizing" mind gives this being the name God.
The "practical" seeker experiences this being as pure Awareness. The theoretical side of Metaphysics seems to belong now to the academics. And, to be quite fair, they have done an outstanding job and there are now many metaphysical systems and positions.
However, theorizing about pleasure or pain does not give us the actual experience.
That is where Yoga comes in: Yoga is the tool with which we can go all the way if this is our true desire.
With regard to finding balance, our Western approach to healing is still in its nursery stage as we still have a lot more to learn. Often without a chance of healing, pharmaceuticals are the remedies of choice.
Quite a few of these chemicals are known to mask only the symptoms of one disease while producing additional problems with more symptoms that have to be treated by more of these chemicals. This has lead to bizarre pictures of treatment where older people were sometimes digesting up to 50 different prescriptions a day for all kinds of health problems. As a result, some of these people had to be hospitalized while others have died as a result of unwanted side-effects. The constantly growing costs are no more than an observable sign of an imbalance in our health system.
To properly treat a disease it is important to know what is missing or what is out of balance.
Ayurveda, for example, tries to reestablish a balance of the three basic types of the human constitution which are called Kapha, Pitta, and Vata.
Traditional Chinese Medicine seeks to restore the flow of Qi by balancing the Yin and Yang.
Yogis know this supreme energy, called Qi, as Kundalini and Yin and Yang as Ida and Pingala.
Everything in the Universe exists because of the two opposite forces and the universal balancing act. Thus the mixture of positive and negative forces shape everything from the atom to our character and health.
If we desire a warm temperature we have to balance hot and cold. In order to feel healthy we might have to either add or subtract a vitamin, mineral or amino-acid.
Most important is the precise knowledge of what is missing or unbalanced.
In regards to the right vitamin or mineral level, we are now seeing more and more test kits made available which will make it a lot easier in the future to gain this precise knowledge.
In short, all it needs is the genuine interest and a certain amount of courage, even so the fear we encounter on the way is nothing but being afraid to look at our Self. Going back to the origins of the word metaphysics, it is said that it was first used to name untitled manuscripts of Aristotle. It is curious, that most philosophical text books cover an area starting with the Greeks Plato, Aristotle, etc., but leave out earlier philosophies from India.
However, there is enough evidence that the philosophy of the Greek and Iranians was heavily influenced from these earlier philosophies of India. At any rate, at least some of the Greek philosophers had a very clear understanding of Reality-as-such. They agreed with earlier Indian philosophies as well as with Scientists of our time that the world as we perceive it is of an illusionary nature. As Parmenides and Zeno pointed out, only what is Permanent and Unchanging is real. The rest is an illusion either experienced or created by our mind. Paramenides: "Being is, Non-Being is not."
We now know that all matter is energy.
But we also know the we are aware of matter. All we have to do is to find out what Awareness is in its clear state of Being and, believe it or not, all our questions are answered and all our fears are dissolved. To get to this state of Being is the ultimate goal of all genuine spiritual exercise including Yoga. So, intellectual understanding of Beingness, as a result from studying Metaphysics, can lead to intellectual enlightening, while the practice of Yoga can lead to direct knowledge.
A more modern interpretation of Metaphysics includes psychic phenomena in all its variations including parapsychology the scientific investigation of these phenomena.
Beingness, as the nature of God, is expressed when we hear American Natives refer to God as the "Great Spirit". "Jahwe" (JHVH \ Jehovah), the Jewish name for God, translates as "I am who I am".
Beingness, then, is the nature of God, in fact, Beingness is God.
Since God is self-reliant and the world is a manifestation of God's energy, we could call God.
Self-energetic Beingness. From the accounts of the many Saints, Sages, and Self-realized persons, who have encountered this condition of Being, we may add that this condition is a blissful state of Being.
In other words, Jnana Yoga is practical philosophy / metaphysics; it is both theory and practice.
Thus Metaphysics is looking for the permanent Reality, the unchanged Beingness, and the stationary Existence as the Base for everything that shows constant change.
The "theorizing" mind gives this being the name God.
The "practical" seeker experiences this being as pure Awareness. The theoretical side of Metaphysics seems to belong now to the academics. And, to be quite fair, they have done an outstanding job and there are now many metaphysical systems and positions.
However, theorizing about pleasure or pain does not give us the actual experience.
That is where Yoga comes in: Yoga is the tool with which we can go all the way if this is our true desire.
With regard to finding balance, our Western approach to healing is still in its nursery stage as we still have a lot more to learn. Often without a chance of healing, pharmaceuticals are the remedies of choice.
Quite a few of these chemicals are known to mask only the symptoms of one disease while producing additional problems with more symptoms that have to be treated by more of these chemicals. This has lead to bizarre pictures of treatment where older people were sometimes digesting up to 50 different prescriptions a day for all kinds of health problems. As a result, some of these people had to be hospitalized while others have died as a result of unwanted side-effects. The constantly growing costs are no more than an observable sign of an imbalance in our health system.
To properly treat a disease it is important to know what is missing or what is out of balance.
Ayurveda, for example, tries to reestablish a balance of the three basic types of the human constitution which are called Kapha, Pitta, and Vata.
Traditional Chinese Medicine seeks to restore the flow of Qi by balancing the Yin and Yang.
Yogis know this supreme energy, called Qi, as Kundalini and Yin and Yang as Ida and Pingala.
Everything in the Universe exists because of the two opposite forces and the universal balancing act. Thus the mixture of positive and negative forces shape everything from the atom to our character and health.
If we desire a warm temperature we have to balance hot and cold. In order to feel healthy we might have to either add or subtract a vitamin, mineral or amino-acid.
Most important is the precise knowledge of what is missing or unbalanced.
In regards to the right vitamin or mineral level, we are now seeing more and more test kits made available which will make it a lot easier in the future to gain this precise knowledge.
In short, all it needs is the genuine interest and a certain amount of courage, even so the fear we encounter on the way is nothing but being afraid to look at our Self. Going back to the origins of the word metaphysics, it is said that it was first used to name untitled manuscripts of Aristotle. It is curious, that most philosophical text books cover an area starting with the Greeks Plato, Aristotle, etc., but leave out earlier philosophies from India.
However, there is enough evidence that the philosophy of the Greek and Iranians was heavily influenced from these earlier philosophies of India. At any rate, at least some of the Greek philosophers had a very clear understanding of Reality-as-such. They agreed with earlier Indian philosophies as well as with Scientists of our time that the world as we perceive it is of an illusionary nature. As Parmenides and Zeno pointed out, only what is Permanent and Unchanging is real. The rest is an illusion either experienced or created by our mind. Paramenides: "Being is, Non-Being is not."
We now know that all matter is energy.
But we also know the we are aware of matter. All we have to do is to find out what Awareness is in its clear state of Being and, believe it or not, all our questions are answered and all our fears are dissolved. To get to this state of Being is the ultimate goal of all genuine spiritual exercise including Yoga. So, intellectual understanding of Beingness, as a result from studying Metaphysics, can lead to intellectual enlightening, while the practice of Yoga can lead to direct knowledge.
A more modern interpretation of Metaphysics includes psychic phenomena in all its variations including parapsychology the scientific investigation of these phenomena.
Beingness, as the nature of God, is expressed when we hear American Natives refer to God as the "Great Spirit". "Jahwe" (JHVH \ Jehovah), the Jewish name for God, translates as "I am who I am".
Beingness, then, is the nature of God, in fact, Beingness is God.
Since God is self-reliant and the world is a manifestation of God's energy, we could call God.
Self-energetic Beingness. From the accounts of the many Saints, Sages, and Self-realized persons, who have encountered this condition of Being, we may add that this condition is a blissful state of Being.
In other words, Jnana Yoga is practical philosophy / metaphysics; it is both theory and practice.
Monday, August 18, 2008
The Mother Earth As A Teacher
When I think about all the great teachers, material and otherwise, that I have met in my life up to now (and recognizing one’s schools is a great asset), one stands apart.
She surpasses all others in her way. She is the kind of teacher who does not do the work for me. She does not give me all the answers immediately. She waits for them to resonate within, after the living process of comprehension has taken its time, unfolded and bloomed. She reveals only what I am ready to integrate.
She has boundless imagination. Her creativity never ceases to amaze me. She is the artist we all wish to emulate. She is always changing, so free, and yet so consistent. She is deeply moral. She is considerate and compassionate. She comforts me yet she knows how to reflect undeniably my weaknesses back to me. She is extremely generous and I can tell you that she will take on as many students as would choose her as a teacher. She teaches without judgment, in an all-inclusive vision of oneness. No one is too young, too impetuous, too slow or too old.
She has never been unfair, untrue, ungiving to me or to any of her pupils. She deeply respects her own teachers and shares their wisdom with me. Oh! And her classes can be held anywhere, anytime, and she is always willing, always there, ready to lead me to better understanding. She knows enough to teach me for many lifetimes, yet is very humble. Her intention is truly respectful of my deepest mission and my rhythm.
I can work with her, play with her, pray with her, be silent and rejoice in her. She knows me very well and I am starting to know her a little. Sometimes as grace embraces us, we complete each other’s thoughts. She gives me the opportunity to explore life: thinking and marveling, doing and being, giving and receiving.
She has access to dimensions of my mystery that fascinate me and allow me to live what Goethe expressed so well when he wrote: “The greatest happiness for the person who thinks is to have explored the conceivable and to revere in peace the unknowable.”
Would you like the name of that marvelous teacher? Her phone number, maybe? No need. She is close at hand. Our own Earth Mother, Gaia, Mother Nature, is a teacher ever so wise, unveiling the answers in front of our eyes.
Become conscious now that you are one with this planet. You talk about it. You say, "I have my two feet firmly planted on the ground and yet you don’t seem to understand".
You have disguised her. You have rejected her. You have hidden her under tons of cement, asphalt and plastic. You have forgotten her in favor of gadgets, things often useless that can never bring happiness, peace or love.
And she loves us so much. So, children please make an effort to help her.
Simply become your Self.
Realize that what makes you special is the respect and tender loving care which you bring to all life. Nothing else really counts
Together we must create the present that prepares the future.
She surpasses all others in her way. She is the kind of teacher who does not do the work for me. She does not give me all the answers immediately. She waits for them to resonate within, after the living process of comprehension has taken its time, unfolded and bloomed. She reveals only what I am ready to integrate.
She has boundless imagination. Her creativity never ceases to amaze me. She is the artist we all wish to emulate. She is always changing, so free, and yet so consistent. She is deeply moral. She is considerate and compassionate. She comforts me yet she knows how to reflect undeniably my weaknesses back to me. She is extremely generous and I can tell you that she will take on as many students as would choose her as a teacher. She teaches without judgment, in an all-inclusive vision of oneness. No one is too young, too impetuous, too slow or too old.
She has never been unfair, untrue, ungiving to me or to any of her pupils. She deeply respects her own teachers and shares their wisdom with me. Oh! And her classes can be held anywhere, anytime, and she is always willing, always there, ready to lead me to better understanding. She knows enough to teach me for many lifetimes, yet is very humble. Her intention is truly respectful of my deepest mission and my rhythm.
I can work with her, play with her, pray with her, be silent and rejoice in her. She knows me very well and I am starting to know her a little. Sometimes as grace embraces us, we complete each other’s thoughts. She gives me the opportunity to explore life: thinking and marveling, doing and being, giving and receiving.
She has access to dimensions of my mystery that fascinate me and allow me to live what Goethe expressed so well when he wrote: “The greatest happiness for the person who thinks is to have explored the conceivable and to revere in peace the unknowable.”
Would you like the name of that marvelous teacher? Her phone number, maybe? No need. She is close at hand. Our own Earth Mother, Gaia, Mother Nature, is a teacher ever so wise, unveiling the answers in front of our eyes.
Become conscious now that you are one with this planet. You talk about it. You say, "I have my two feet firmly planted on the ground and yet you don’t seem to understand".
You have disguised her. You have rejected her. You have hidden her under tons of cement, asphalt and plastic. You have forgotten her in favor of gadgets, things often useless that can never bring happiness, peace or love.
And she loves us so much. So, children please make an effort to help her.
Simply become your Self.
Realize that what makes you special is the respect and tender loving care which you bring to all life. Nothing else really counts
Together we must create the present that prepares the future.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Current Programs, Problems and Pursuits
Take one of these questions per day or per week and reflect upon them. Remember, don't try to work with all of them at one time.
Write out a couple of sentences or paragraphs answering the questions that speaks to where you are right now..
These questions may also be used as a foundation for a discussion group.
Checking In
After defining and writing down the question, define the outcome that underlies this question. In other words, if your question was "Should you marry John Doe", your underlying desire for this question would be a happy marriage with the perfect partner [whether or not it is John Doe]. Therefore rewrite your question as a positive statement of the outcome you desire. That is to say that you are happily married to the perfect person for you
Next week, we could explore this a lot deeper
Write out a couple of sentences or paragraphs answering the questions that speaks to where you are right now..
These questions may also be used as a foundation for a discussion group.
Checking In
- Is there any situation or relationship in which you feel unresolved or anxious ?
- What is your most important question for the moment
We know that if we owe someone an explanation, phone-call, letter or an apology, we feel sapped until that is resolved. The same thing is true when you have made a decision to do something but it doesn't feel right. Burying your feelings and delaying with issues only increases the pressure of this energy drain. Bringing these circumstances in to conscious or cosmic awareness will help you resolve it. Follow through on your intuitions and it will help you to the next level.
After defining and writing down the question, define the outcome that underlies this question. In other words, if your question was "Should you marry John Doe", your underlying desire for this question would be a happy marriage with the perfect partner [whether or not it is John Doe]. Therefore rewrite your question as a positive statement of the outcome you desire. That is to say that you are happily married to the perfect person for you
Next week, we could explore this a lot deeper
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Thought For The Day
Intuition gives us that idea of something behind and beyond all that we know.
The path towards creativity is to enlarge the mind and let it grow and encompass the higher layers and spheres above the mind. In fact, this is the start to a spiritual seeking.
The journey is long and tough.
It will need a great deal of sincerity, tenacity and relentless pursuit; to keep the mind silent and passive.
One will need to curb one's ego and to acknowledge that what we know is far less than what we can know.
One needs to leave behind all that one knows; the courage to travel towards the unknown by breaking all the shackles.....
The path towards creativity is to enlarge the mind and let it grow and encompass the higher layers and spheres above the mind. In fact, this is the start to a spiritual seeking.
The journey is long and tough.
It will need a great deal of sincerity, tenacity and relentless pursuit; to keep the mind silent and passive.
One will need to curb one's ego and to acknowledge that what we know is far less than what we can know.
One needs to leave behind all that one knows; the courage to travel towards the unknown by breaking all the shackles.....
The Celestine Prophecy - A Review By Aurodas
There are some striking similarities in the author’s work and the vision of The Mother who founded Sri Aurobindo Ashram and Auroville in Southern India. She had undertaken body transformation by inner means and made, according to her own reports, great progress. Self evolution by opening to the new consciousness - which she said had descended in 1956 and had been growing on earth - was the method she advocated. Receiving universal energy, in similar lines to what the book has described, by contacting nature, was described by her as a preliminary step in the transformation of one of the parts of human being, the vital part – the other parts being the mental and the physical.
She had visualized an economy without money circulation for Auroville and the community was to meet every one’s basic material needs. According to her, the ultimate aim of evolution is transformation of the physical. It is an extremely painful and difficult work that would require prolongation of life and might take centuries to realise. But there is also a theory advanced by at least one notable author that she conquered death and crossed over to the invisible subtle body leaving behind her physical which was a un- transformable residue.
Though The Celestine Prophecy is too simplistic and fantastic in details to her own experiences in the path of transformation, the Mother would have been happy to note the popularity of a book published in the U.S with the idea of self evolution as its chief thrust. For, she had said, in 1971, at the instance of publishing in the U.S. of On the Way to Supermanhood a book written by her confidante that described the essence and contours of the future world: “I personally have the feeling there is a close and invisible connection between America’s aspiration, as it is now, and the book. I have the feeling that’s where the center of transformation will be.” Cleary The Celestine Prophecy is a significant book.
She had visualized an economy without money circulation for Auroville and the community was to meet every one’s basic material needs. According to her, the ultimate aim of evolution is transformation of the physical. It is an extremely painful and difficult work that would require prolongation of life and might take centuries to realise. But there is also a theory advanced by at least one notable author that she conquered death and crossed over to the invisible subtle body leaving behind her physical which was a un- transformable residue.
Though The Celestine Prophecy is too simplistic and fantastic in details to her own experiences in the path of transformation, the Mother would have been happy to note the popularity of a book published in the U.S with the idea of self evolution as its chief thrust. For, she had said, in 1971, at the instance of publishing in the U.S. of On the Way to Supermanhood a book written by her confidante that described the essence and contours of the future world: “I personally have the feeling there is a close and invisible connection between America’s aspiration, as it is now, and the book. I have the feeling that’s where the center of transformation will be.” Cleary The Celestine Prophecy is a significant book.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Any questions ?
Anybody who could turn Lot's wife into a pillar of salt, incinerate Sodom and Gomorrah and make it rain for forty days and forty nights has got to be a fun guy.
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