Celebrate the Season!!

And here we are - Day 3 of the Season of Christmas!! Continue to enjoy your holiday lights and decorations, immerse yourself in the melancholy of family and personal memories. Reflect on why Christmas is celebrated at all. Give thanks to God for the gifts you DO have, especially the gift of  Faith. Jesus draws us into the heart of Life, where Love is the rule of the day - and everything you ever thought of God or were taught about God melts away into a new and vibrant experience which embraces all, respects all, and forgives all.
For all of life is God's and is in God - you and me and all creation. There is only one Life - and it is Awesomely Perfect. Selah. Amen.

A Christmas Wish

Michele Obama is quoted: "I own my own happiness."
   How very appropriate --- in a world of fearing to not be politically correct, in a world where we are poised to blame someone else for our unhappy circumstances, in a world in which we are pummeled by advertising that THIS car or THAT electronic gadget will make us happy, in a world where we are so often fooled to believe another person will bring me the happiness I seek, in a world where we blame "God" for the joys and sufferings we experience, here is a contemporary statement which registers the power of faith and the fruit of responsibility. No one, no thing, no god outside of myself can make me consistently happy.
  True happiness comes from the heart, from the soul, where I meet the Source of All Being (the one, true God) in the center of my being. Only in God is my soul at rest -- Only in God can I know true happiness. Then, whatever comes into my life from the world, whether a joy or a trial, I will be able to deal with it with the strength of the Spirit Who lives in me.
Few are the Americans who have reached the promise of "the pursuit of happiness." But the more who do, the more will this great land be the true refuge for those seeking freedom of expression and the pursuit of happiness.
  This is my Christmas, Holiday wish for all of you --- That you will own your own happiness in 2012. Do not depend on others or on material things. Your happiness depends on your own attitude  - an attitude of gratefulness, an attitude of forgiveness, an attitude of wonder and of faith. Remember who you are: You live in God, and God lives in you - you are a child of the Most High - live as such.

Thank you, Mrs. Obama.

The Wedding Night

Everyday I meditate upon this, and every night I groan
     Why is my own existence to myself the least known?
Whence have I come, why this coming here?
     Where to must I go, when will my home to me be shown?
I am in desperate awe, why was I ever created?
     For this, my creation, whatsoever was the reason?   Rumi

Yet another wonderful event to celebrate! 

December 17 - More info: The Wedding Night

Wisdom

Wisdom is learned from every culture and every discipline:

"Heaven is like an egg, and the Earth is the yoke."
Chang Heng, Chinese scientist.

Perfect.

In the Moment

I cannot help but wonder about the meaning of Life.
At first, it might appear to be nothing but strife.
Cuts and bruises to body and soul
Are part and parcel of this journey's toll.

But if Life has meaning,
It's in the doing,
In the everyday decisions
and mental brewing
Which fuel the dreams
Which mold the Moment.

This is what it's all about, Alfie.

Are they kidding?!?

Hershey "Air Delights"?? Who are they kidding??!! More air, less chocolate -- same price -- pu-leez!!
It's a cool, windy November day. Three days out of surgery, I still can't tell if it has done the trick. I think it has helped. Time will tell. Life is a crap-shoot. Depending on the structure of your DNA, which controls your chemical makeup, body features, blood type, etc., we could experience a variety of debilitating breakdowns as we grow older. Such fun! Such mystery! Life is full of surprises! Yet, in all, Life is still a wonderful, delightful, amazing experience. Every moment is a pearl, and when we live in the pearl, all we can do is dance. TYG.

Look! I Am a Whale!

Here is a poem by Hafiz, a Persian poet whose prose can only lift your spirit and inflame your heart!


Look! I Am a Whale!


We live on the Sun's playground.
Here, everyone gets what they want.

Sometimes the body of a beautiful woman,
Sometimes the body of a beautiful man,
Sometimes the body of both in one.

We used to play that kind of tag
In the animal world, too.
Now a mouse, now a tiger,
Look! I am a whale -- I got tired of the land,
Went back to the ocean for a while.

What power is it in our sinew and mind
That will not die,
That keeps us shopping for the perfect dress?

We have all heard the Flute Player
And keep dancing toward Him.

Hafiz, you have seen the Flute Player
and cannot help but whirl.

Time Is On Your Side

What's the rush?  Why do you need to stress yourself over a few minutes?  Time is relative. When growing up, I always wanted time to go faster; time was just too slow for me. I wanted to grow up; I wanted to be of age to drive; I wanted to be of age to drink. We stress ourselves over those seemingly slow years. Then time seems to pick up speed, and the older I get, the more time speeds up!  My high school 12th grade English teacher told us two weeks before graduation: You may think that these next two weeks are an eternity, but enjoy them, stay in the moment, because as you get older, time slips through your fingers as find sand, and you cannot rewind to catch what you missed.

The spiritual teachers of every culture advise us to live in the moment, in the present, in the mind of God, in the heart of the Eternal, in the Now, in the Sacred Presence. It's easy to forget! Especially in our day and age. We fill our days with so much activity, that we often do not even pay attention to what we are doing. And then we complicate the daily experience by transposing, overlapping experiences. I'm watching TV AND reading a book. I'm on the computer AND listening to the radio. I am studying AND listening to music. Hardly the wise thing to do. One thing at a time. Keep it simple. Enjoy what you are doing, what you are thinking, seeing, hearing - then move on to the next experience. We cannot know God in the moment, if we cover the Sacred with multi-dimensional experiences. The voice of God gets muffled in the confusion, and we lose touch with reality, which is right in front of us.

Do yourself a favor, and take the time to simplify your life. Take the time to just sit and think God. Be still, and let God untie the knots.

One instant is eternity;

Eternity is in the now.

When you see through this one instant,

You see through the One who sees.

                                                          -Wu-men

More about Wu-men -  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu-Men

Snow on the pumpkin!

Listen ---- drip, drip, drip ---

First snow before Haunting Day --

Melting already.

Kiss me!

Like a pair of mismatched newlyweds,
one of whom still feels very insecure,
I keep turning to God saying,
"Kiss me."  ----- Hafiz

Happy Birthday!

Today, I cannot write anything more beautiful, more telling, more revealing, more profound, than this, written by Hafiz, the great Sufi master:

There are so many gifts still unopened from your birthday.

There are so many hand-crafted presents that have been

sent to you by God.

The Beloved doesn't mind repeating,

"Everything I have is yours."

Please forgive Hafiz and the Friend

If we break into a sweet laughter

When your heart complains of being thirsty

When ages ago

Every cell in your soul capsized forever

Into this Infinite golden sea.

Indeed,

A lover's pain is like holding one's breath too long

in the middle of a vital performance.

Indeed,

A Lover's pain is this sleeping, this sleeping,

When God just rolled over and gave you

Such a big good-morning kiss!

There are so many gifts, my dear,  still unopened from your birthday.

There are so many hand-crafted presents that have been

sent to your life by God.

An Attitude Toward Death

Thanatology is defined: 

Definition of THANATOLOGY

: the description or study of the phenomena of death and of psychological mechanisms for coping with them.

The modern thanatologist is concerned with the needs of an actively dying individual, offering palliative care which can be manifested through a variety of therapies. These therapies have only one effect - to distract the mind from its physical pain and/or mental concerns. Not everyone responds to the same kind of therapies, so, for one, pain med. would be the best therapy, for another, music, or song, or a movie, or being in a pastoral setting, or just having human contact during the process of dying. In the end, we die alone, of course. But the moment of death is painless, the release from the physical body detaches the soul from the bundles of nerves and chemical processes which may have caused the physical pain or even the mental anguish, etc. 

Afterlife: Science is probing into the reality of other dimensions and universes. These are only modern terms for what religionists for millennia have called "heavens" or the "afterlife." To me, they are one and the same. Once the individual soul leaves this particular life experience, it is reunited with the memories of all its lives. It continues to live in another dimension, although we are still at a loss to properly define that experience. Religionists have many terms for it, but to my thinking, they are fraught with conjectures which are still vague and hardly understood. And I believe we are designed that way - to not spend so much time and thought on what MIGHT have been, or on what MAY be, or on what WILL be, and to focus on the work at hand, now, in this moment. The sou's life in other dimensions is as full as any life can be, but different from the earthly, densely material experience.

There is always the possibility of returning to live another earthly life, but without the memories of past experiences (for most). Before entering back into an earthly life, past life experiences are archived in order not to to not muddle the new experience. Each life is unique. Each life needs to focus on its present purpose, and live in the present moment.

Yes, death is inevitable, but Life cannot die.

Compassion is the attitude,

    and a smile is the key

To unlock a life imprisoned.

Only when the last tree has been cut down,
Only when the last river has been poisoned,
Only when the last fish has been caught,
Only then will you find that money cannot be eaten.
American Indian proverb- Cree Indian Prophecy

Summer Delights

SUMMER'S DELIGHTS

The eye peruses in search of beauty

  the flank of umber timbers

    embracing the land.

Blue, starry Cornflowers

  amid white galaxies of Queen Anne's Lace.

Orange Tiger Lilies

  cannot hide their crowns

    while lavender Thistle are the protecting northern guard.

All life is in its glory now,

  puffing up to the warm sun.

But soon the light will cool,

  and beauty will seek shelter

    in the mother's womb.

                                                   agdec