Oct. 2008
As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn't supposed to ever let you down probably will. You will have your heart broken probably more than once and it's harder every time. You'll break hearts too, so remember how it felt when yours was broken. You'll fight with your best friend. You'll blame a new love for things an old one did. You'll cry because time is passing too fast, and you'll eventually lose someone you
love. So take too many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you've never been hurt because every sixty seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you'll never get back. So send this to all of your friends.
Don't be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin.
~anonymous
Dr. W. David Hoisington, 2007
Obligations of the True Path Walkers
To bring back the natural harmony that humans once enjoyed.
To save the planet from the present practices of destruction.
To find and re-employ real truth.
To share and be less materialistic.
To become rid of predjudice.
To learn to be related.
To be kind to animals and take no more than we need.
To play with one's children and love each equally and fairly.
To be brave and courageous, enough so, to take a stand and make a commitment.
To understand what Generations Unborn really means.
To accept the Great Mystery in order to end the argument over religion.
Raising Compassionate Children
People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered.
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful you will win some false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you.
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someday could be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous.
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
You see, in the end, it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.
by Mother Teresa
— James Conlon in Earth Story, Sacred Story
Two people are lost in the desert. They are dying from hunger and thirst. Finally, they come to a high wall. On the other side they can hear the sound of a waterfall and birds singing. Above, they can see the branches of a lush tree extending over the top of the wall. Its fruit look delicious.
One of them manages to climb over the wall and disappears down the other side. The other, instead, returns to the desert to help other lost travelers find their way to the oasis.
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of the dot on scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner of the dot. How frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light.
Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity -- in all this vastness -- there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. It is up to us. It's been said that astronomy is a humbling, and I might add, a character-building experience. To my mind, there is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly and compassionately with one another and to preserve and cherish this pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known."
Carl Sagan 1934-1996
That Small Blue Dot - Our Home
By Iyanla Vanzant
I am one with all things.
I am one with all life.
I am one with all people.
I am one with the Divine.
In my oneness I am eternal and unlimited.
In my oneness, I give what I am.
In my oneness, I give freely, willingly, compassionately with love.
As I give to myself I am strengthened.
As I give of myself I am empowered.
As I give my all, the presence of eternal, unlimited divinity becomes the reality of my existence.
Let me remember;
Support + Comfort + Nourishment = COMPASSION
In my COMPASSION for you I am strengthening my self.
Heaven and Hell
A holy man was having a conversation
with the Lord one day and said,
"Lord, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like."
The Lord led the holy man to two doors. He opened one of the doors and the holy man looked in.
In the middle of the room was a large round table. In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew, which smelled delicious and made the holy man's mouth water.
The people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles that were strapped to their arms and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful. But because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths.
The holy man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering. The Lord said, "You have seen Hell.
They went to the next room and opened the door. It was exactly the same as the first one. There was the large round table with the large pot of stew which made the holy man's mouth water. The people were equipped with the same long-handled spoons, but here the people were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking.
The holy man said, "I don't understand."
"It is simple," said the Lord. "It requires but one skill. You see they have learned to feed each other, while the greedy think only of themselves."
Author Unknown
Difficult as it is really to listen to someone in affliction, it is just as difficult for him to know that compassion is listening to him.
by Simon Weil
If we have the energy of compassion and loving kindness in us, the people around us will be influenced by our way of being and living.
by Thich Nhat Hanh
