My Deepest Gratitude

Here we are at the close of another year. Where did the time go? There have been tears, cheers, disappointment, laughter, loss, and gain.

Though there were times when we thought we would die, we didn’t. Through it all we survived. Our Souls are still intact.

What could have been a stressful year for me has been an interesting year to say the least.

From moving into a new house, only to have it flooded and a barrage of construction workers making more damage for new workers to fix; hotel hopping while the damage was repaired; and all in the middle of writing a screenplay, blogging and spending time with my Soul counterpart who I am not supposed to mention here, but what he doesn't know won't hurt him. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

If I knew what the year would consist of at the beginning of the year, I may have backed out before I started, but then I would have missed the lessons, not to mention the experience of going through them.

Through it all, I never once got sick, or harmed in any way, or was really put in dire straits. I didn’t come across anything I couldn’t handle.

Want to know why? Because I never lost gratitude for living. If we have gratitude for the pleasant and unpleasant situations, then we can handle anything. Anything.

Gratitude protects us from unnecessary fallout. It opens our heart to accept our fate.

So how was your year? Are you exhausted? What did you learn? What would you do differently? Any regrets? Anything you wish you could have done, but the opportunity didn’t arrive?

Isn’t it funny how we can look back on the year and say,”Did I really do that?” or “I can’t believe I made it through.”

While the desire to fulfill resolutions rarely pan out, they still make us want to refine our lives, to perfect them as much as possible, to perfect the way we feel about them, to perfect the fleeting moment.

Speaking of perfecting the moment, I want to thank you all for sharing a part of your lives with me in 2007. You have offered tremendous feedback, great conversation streams - a genuine part of your Soul that holds your deepest feelings.

I feel that we have shared things with each other that we don’t share with our closest friends, relatives, or priests.

I am privileged and grateful to know each and every one of you and to know your inner workings. You are all outstanding bloggers who can certainly spin a provocative post out of an idea - and make it so moving that it stands out.

Blogging is phenomenal. A catalyst for human consumption. We consume it by the page loads and it reaches us on a very profound level. It stays with us, it mutates our feelings, perception, outlook and insight.

Here’s to a healthy and happy New Year of dreams being fulfilled, rejuvenation of spirit, a renewal of vibrancy, peaceful blessings and most important, love.

Feel love, give love, be love, live love, spread love, love, love.

May your ‘To Do’ list being shortened and your ‘I Did’ list being so long that it’s never ending.

Happy 2008!

May it be terrifically memorable and awe-inspiring.

Like my favorite line from the musical Rent.

“Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
How do you measure, measure a year?

In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights
In cups of coffee
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife.

In five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
How do you measure
A year in the life?
How about love? Measure in love...”

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The Mysterious

“The most beautiful thing
we can experience
is the mysterious.
It is the source of all true art
and all science.
He to whom this emotion is a stranger,
who can no longer pause to wonder
and stand rapt in awe,
is as good as dead:
his eyes are closed.”

~Albert Einstein

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Seeking Alive

“People say that what we're all seeking
is a meaning for life.
I don't think that's what we're really seeking.
I think that what we're seeking
is an experience of being alive.”

~Joseph Campbell

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Season Of Life

Just like that, it’s over. Can you believe it? For the last two weeks, people were pleasant, giving good wishes and cheer, smiling, being kind, helpful and generally happy.

It was all so wonderful.

Then it happened.

The pendulum from the big grandfather clock struck midnight
and it was shuddering - like a big Mac truck through the Soul of goodness.

Suddenly everyone reverted back to Cinderella’s evil stepsisters.

Two women were fighting over a parking spot. Another woman was arguing at the return counter. One man cut another man off in traffic and a high speed chase ensued endangering other drivers. One couple was complaining about the gifts they received.

Cinderella’s gown turned back into rags, her coach turned back into a pumpkin, the horses turned back into mice, the coachman turned back into a rat, the footmen turned back into lizards and the fairy Godmother of the season left for good.

Christmas is not just for a day. It’s every minute of everyday. All day. All week. All month. All season. All year. It is the celebration of everyone to better ourselves. To be our true selves and tap into our goodness.

If we can’t be good to ourselves then we can’t be good to anyone else.

It’s not about who can spend the most on gifts or he who gets the most toys wins. It’s about something on a far grander scale.

A gift doesn’t come in a box wrapped in fancy paper with a pretty ribbon and bow on top of it.

A gift is what you give the world. A gift is your heart. Your passion. Your loyalty. Your word. Your integrity.

A gift is knowing how to treat another person. Making their darkest hour their brightest realization. Giving love even when you feel you need it.

A gift is closing your eyes and being able to open someone else’s eyes - and open their heart.

We can’t forget our virtues. When speaking of the Five Virtues, Confucius said,

“To be able under all circumstances to practice five things everywhere under heaven constitutes perfect virtue; these five things are gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness and kindness.

If you are grave, you will not be treated with disrespect. If you are generous, you will win all. If you are sincere, people will repose trust in you. If you are earnest, you will accomplish much. If you are kind, this will enable you to employ the services of others."

When we are in good spirits, it behooves us to stay in that mindset for as long as possible. By practicing the Five Virtues, we are more than likely be able to maintain an upper consciousness.

It’s okay to keep the spirit going. Just because the calendar date changes doesn’t mean that we have to leave our spirit behind.

Remember, we don’t have to be at the ball to dance.

We can keep the feeling of being alive and being together.

Enjoy the season of life.

Enjoy it.

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Merry Christmas

“What is Christmas? It is tenderness for the past, courage for the present, hope for the future. It is a fervent wish that every cup may overflow with blessings rich and eternal, and that every path may lead to peace.”

~Agnes M. Pharo


“Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.”

~Norman Vincent Peale


“I am not alone at all, I thought. I was never alone at all. And that, of course, is the message of Christmas. We are never alone. Not when the night is darkest, the wind coldest, the world seemingly most indifferent. For this is still the time God chooses.”

~Taylor Caldwell


“What do you call people who are afraid of Santa Claus? Claustrophobic.”

~Unknown

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A Little Christmas History

Ah, Christmas is here once again. Even if you don’t celebrate Christmas, take time to celebrate the holiday season and the joy of your day.

While you do that, sip a little egg nog, apple cider, wine or drink of your choice and enjoy a little Christory (Christmas history/trivia.)

Drink to the season of togetherness, warmth and love. Remember if you feel you are alone, take my hand, I am with you. You are a blessing. You are never alone.

Christmas History/Trivia

The word Christmas is Old English, a contraction of Christ's Mass.

The first Christmas was celebrated on December 25, AD 336 in Rome.

The "Twelve Days of Christmas" was originally written to help Catholic children, in England, remember different articles of faith during the persecution by Protestant Monarchs.

The "true love" represented God, and the gifts all different ideas:

The "Partridge in a pear tree" was Christ.
2 Turtle Doves = The Old and New Testaments
3 French Hens = Faith, Hope and Charity--the Theological Virtues
4 Calling Birds = the Four Gospels and/or the Four Evangelists
5 Golden Rings = The first Five Books of the Old Testament, the "Pentateuch", which relays the history of man's fall from grace.
6 Geese A-laying = the six days of Creation
7 Swans A-swimming = the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit,
the seven sacraments
8 Maids A-milking = the eight beatitudes
9 Ladies Dancing = the nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit
10 Lords A-leaping = the ten commandments
11 Pipers Piping = the eleven faithful apostles
12 Drummers Drumming = the twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle's Creed.

Candy canes began as straight white sticks of sugar candy used to decorated the Christmas trees. A choirmaster at Cologne Cathedral decided to have the ends bent to depict a shepherd's crook and he would pass them out to the children to keep them quiet during the services. It wasn't until the 20th century that candy canes acquired their red stripes.

During the Christmas season, more than 1.76 billion candy canes will be made.

It's A Wonderful Life appears on TV more often than any other holiday movie.

Christmas Day in the Ukraine can be celebrated on either December 25, in faithful alliance with the Roman Catholic Gregorian calendar, or on January 7, which is the Orthodox or Eastern Rite (Julian calendar), the church holy day.

In 1752, 11 days were dropped from the year when the switch from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar was made. The December 25, date was effectively moved 11 days backwards. Some Christian church sects, called old calendarists, still celebrate Christmas on January 7 (previously December 25 of the Julian calendar.)

Christmas was once a moveable feast celebrated at many different times during the year. The choice of December 25, was made by Pope Julius I, in the 4th century A.D., because this coincided with the pagan rituals of Winter Solstice, or Return of the Sun. The intent was to replace the pagan celebration with the Christian one.

Christmas trees are edible. Many parts of pines, spruces, and firs can be eaten. The needles are a good source of vitamin C. Pine nuts, or pine cones, are also a good source of nutrition.

Christmas trees are known to have been popular in Germany as far back as the sixteenth century. In England, they became popular after Queen Victoria's husband Albert, who came from Germany, made a tree part of the celebrations at Windsor Castle.

In the United States, the earliest known mention of a Christmas tree is in the diary of a German who settled in Pennsylvania.

Greeks do not use Christmas trees or give presents at Christmas. A priest may throw a little cross into the village water to drive the kallikantzari (gremlin-like spirits) away. To keep them from hiding in dark, dusty corners, he goes from house to house sprinkling holy water.

Historians have traced some of the current traditions surrounding Father Christmas, or Santa Claus, back to ancient Celtic roots. Father Christmas's elves are the modernization of the "Nature folk" of the Pagan religions; his reindeer are associated with the "Horned God," which was one of the Pagan deities.

In 1647, the English parliament passed a law that made Christmas illegal. Festivities were banned by Puritan leader, Oliver Cromwell, who considered feasting and revelry, on what was supposed to be a holy day, to be immoral. The ban was lifted only when the Puritans lost power in 1660.

In an effort to solicit cash to pay for a charity Christmas dinner in 1891, a large crab pot was set down on a San Francisco street, becoming the first Salvation Army collection kettle.

In America, the weeks leading up to Christmas are the biggest shopping weeks of the year. Many retailers make up to 70% of their annual revenue in the month preceding Christmas. Although many believe the Friday after Thanksgiving is the busiest shopping day of the year, it is not. The Friday and Saturday before Christmas are the two busiest shopping days of the year.

During the Christmas buying season, Visa cards alone are used an average of 5,340 times every minute in the United States.

In Britain, eating mince pies at Christmas dates back to the 16th century. It is still believed that to eat a mince pie on each of the Twelve Days of Christmas will bring 12 happy months in the year to follow.

In Finland and Sweden, an old tradition prevails, where the twelve days of Christmas are declared to be time of civil peace by law. It used to be that a person committing crimes during this time would be liable to a stiffer sentence than normal.

In Norway on Christmas Eve, visitors should know that after the family's big dinner and the opening of presents, all the brooms in the house are hidden. The Norwegians long ago believed that witches and mischievous spirits came out on Christmas Eve and would steal their brooms for riding.

In southern France, some people burn a log in their homes from Christmas Eve until New Year's Day. This stems from an ancient tradition in which farmers would use part of the log to ensure a plentiful harvest the following year.

It is a British Christmas tradition that a wish made while mixing the Christmas pudding will come true only if the ingredients are stirred in a clockwise direction.

Mistletoe has been considered to have magic powers by Celtic and Teutonic peoples. It was said to have the ability to heal wounds and increase fertility. Celts hung mistletoe in their homes in order to bring themselves good luck and ward off evil spirits.

More than three billion Christmas cards are sent annually in the United States.

One notable medieval English Christmas celebration featured a giant 165-pound pie. The giant pie was nine feet in diameter. Its ingredients included 2 bushels of flour, 20 pounds of butter, 4 geese, 2 rabbits, 4 wild ducks, 2 woodcocks, 6 snipes, 4 partridges, 2 newt's tongues, 2 curlews, 6 pigeons, and 7 blackbirds.

The actual gift bearers are different in various countries:
England: Father Christmas
France: Pere Noel (Father Christmas)
Germany: Christkind (angelic messenger from Jesus) She is a beautiful fair haired girl with a shining crown of candles.
Holland: St. Nicholas.
Italy: La Befana (a kindly old witch)
Spain and South America: The Three Kings
Russia: In some parts - Babushka (a grandmotherly figure) in other parts it is Grandfather Frost.
Scandinavia: a variety of Christmas gnomes. One is called Julenisse.

The best selling Christmas trees are Scotch pine, Douglas fir, Noble fir, Fraser fir, Virginia pine, Balsam fir and white pine.

Artificial Christmas trees have outsold real ones since 1991.

The Christmas season begins at sundown on 24th December and lasts through sundown on 5th January. For that reason, this season is also known as the Twelve Days of Christmas.

The modern Christmas custom of displaying a wreath on the front door of one's house, is borrowed from ancient Rome's New Year's celebrations. Romans wished each other "good health" by exchanging branches of evergreens. They called these gifts strenae after Strenia, the goddess of health. It became the custom to bend these branches into a ring and display them on doorways.

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Center Of Gravity

Christmas shopping makes me feel like I am walking on a high wire. I have to know what I want and the best way to get it in the shortest amount of time.

Ideally, I like to get all of my shopping done in just under 30 minutes. Okay, 60 minutes max.

Time becomes a balancing act. Have you ever looked at people’s faces when they are shopping? It’s a combination of delirium, exhaustion and tension. High tension.

We may as well be walking on high-wires. High-wire's roots are as old as ancient Egypt and first century China, where the art of "rope dancing" was performed over knives.

Sometime during the 1850s, Jean Francois Gravelet received world acclaim for cooking and eating an omelette (complete with stove and neatly set table) on a high-wire stretched over Niagara Falls. Talk about tension.

So how do we enjoy life without tension? How do we get everything that has to be done yesterday done today without falling off of our high-wire?

Acrobats train for years and use mechanics to safely develop routines. Instead of developing a routine of rushing, we can develop a routine of balance.

We have to balance. Don’t let tasks pile up to the point of them being overwhelming. Don’t wait until the last minute to shop. Do it a little at a time - before December.

Try online shopping. No parking. No lines. No pushing. No shoving. No bad attitudes. No fighting against time.

Although a high-wire performance may seem like a combination of courage and magic, there's a lot of work and physics thrown into the balance as well.

If the center of mass is not directly above the wire, gravity will cause the performer to begin to rotate about the wire. If this is not corrected, the performer will fall.

The artist often carries a balancing pole that may be as long as 12 meters (39 feet) and weighs up to 14 kilograms (31 pounds). This pole increases the rotational inertia of the artist, which allows more time to move his or her center of mass back to the desired position directly over the wire.

The key is that we have to allow more time to balance. More time to prepare. More time to breathe. More time to move our bodies. Since we don’t have the luxury of physically carrying a pole with us, we have to do it mentally - spiritually.

The pole helps balance by lowering the center of gravity. That’s what we have to do when we feel rushed - lower our center of gravity, thus our tension.

Shopping shouldn’t be a nightmare, when it could be a joy and joy is something you should never fight.

Happy shopping and a joyous weekend everybody.

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Spilled Milk

I saw this quote on Surjit’s invigorating blog last week and he graciously gave me permission to reproduce it here.

“We make them cry who care for us.
We cry for those who never care for us.
And we care for those who
will never cry for us.
This is the truth of life.
It is strange, but true.
Once you realise this, it is never
too late to change.”

I really think this speaks volumes. How much time and energy do we put into dead relationships or in the pursuit of a relationship that is not meant to be?

If it is meant to be, nothing will stop it. If it is not meant to be, nothing will bring it together.

Why cry over spilled milk? The origin of this saying most likely sprang from fairy lore. In order to attract fairies to a house, or appease the resident sprites, laying out food and cold creamy milk was common.

Whenever milk was spilled, it was considered an offering to the fairies. Because of the difficulty in feeding a family, normally wasting food was frowned upon, but the wastage of milk was always overlooked as an offering.

If the person spilling the milk was reprimanded, the scolder was seen as unwilling to give this gift, and let it be given only grudgingly. This was thought to anger the fairies and bring bad luck upon the house.

Today, the saying is updated to when you spill milk, no amount of tears will bring it back into the glass, so why waste time thinking about the loss?

The time we put into thinking about the milk that was spilled could be time we spend cultivating how to hold the glass and keep the milk in it, which really represents us, our ideals, goals and purpose.

Putting time into yourself and others who appreciate your gifts is far more important than crying over the past.

Move on gracefully, the glass you save may be your own.

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Should I Tell Her?

My brother and sister-in-law-to-be, Leah are excitedly planning their wedding. There is just so much to do. She wants a wedding planner, he wants them to do it themselves.

There are the invitations and ‘Thank You’ notes, the venue, the food, the flowers, the photographer, the videographer, the wedding party, not to forget the tux and dress.

There is a lot of planning involved, lots of organization, lots of nerves on edge and besides that Leah has to be merged into the family gently.

There may be things about the family that she doesn’t understand. There may be things that she doesn’t want to know. Things that may unsettle her. Things that may scare her. Things. Things. Things.

Though none of the things will hurt her, she still has to be prepared.

For instance, I don’t know if I should tell her that my father doesn’t really like to talk much and she shouldn’t take it personally or that my mother thinks she is psychic and scares people off by saying things they are not ready to hear.

I don’t want to tell Leah that she will be subjected to a string of birthday and holiday parties, lots of cake, lots of birthday card readings, lots of candles blown out where she will inhale secondhand smoke, lots of pictures that will turn out wrong, lots of noise and lots of potluck gatherings where she will be served experimental food; new recipes made by my mother from her Psychic Cookbook.

The book doesn’t really have recipes, my mother just cooks what she thinks people will like based on her “feelings” about them. (See what I had to put up with as a young genius - and have the memory to prove it.)

Should I tell my sister-in-law-to-be that no one ever eats what my mother cooks from the Psychic Cookbook, but some kind of way it mysteriously disappears from the table and winds up in the garbage disposal where there won’t be any evidence.

Should I tell her that she will hear the same old stories over and over again until she's blue in the face and then she’ll end up playing the game, Scattergories until she has memorized all of the possible answers.

Should I tell her that before she gets too comfortable in the family that my mother will initiate her by beckoning her into the den, dimly illuminated by candle light.

The smell of Sandalwood incense will fill her nostrils. The digital sound of the ocean will tickle her eardrums.

My mother will be sitting at a table with a colorful scarf wrapped around her head. I have dubbed her, “Madam Ant.” (She quit drinking and smoking and it’s a reference to Adam Ant’s song, “Goody Two Shoes.”)

She will motion for Leah to sit down across from her. A deck of Tarot cards will be on the table, she will say, “Cut the cards with your left hand.” Nervously Leah will cut. Madam Ant will then proceed to tell the future of her new daughter-in-law-to-be.

This will usually scare the life out of the new in-law-to-be. All four of my brothers have lost girlfriends this way.

When Leah emerges from Madam Ant’s den, she will have a sick look on her face, like she has seen a ghost. She will want to go home. She will want to lay down. She will reexamine if she wants to marry my brother at all.

Then those in on it will reveal that it was just a joke. Madam Ant is not a real psychic. This is just a humorous test to see if she would be able to withstand the pressure of this quirky family.

I can’t tell her that I have opened up a character file on her and now she is fair game. I will be recording what she does, says, thinks, her gestures, fears and emotions and then I will transfer them to one of my fictional characters.

Although she won’t know it, my mind will take notes of everything - - what she says, what she doesn’t say and what that says about her.

If I tell her, she would probably call off the engagement. A spiritual rule of thumb whether to tell a person what you think they should know is to ask yourself: Is it kind, necessary and true?

If it is not all of those, some things are left better unsaid.

On second thought, I should tell her something. Run Leah. Run fast. Run far. Run as fast as your little legs can carry you. Just get away before it’s too late. Go now. Go.

I hear that the weather is good in Bermuda. Brilliant blue skies, pink sand beaches. The natives are friendly. They speak English and some Portuguese, but you’ve always wanted to learn a new language.

They have some hurricanes, but nothing for you to worry about. Besides, none of us will find you in that mysterious triangle, but you will certainly find yourself.

In fact, Bermuda consists of about 150 islands, but only 20 have people living on them. You could live on one. Make it your own.

And all that stuff about Bermuda being haunted, people vanishing without a trace; don’t even think about that.

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The Machine

“Without self knowledge,
without understanding
the working and functions
of his machine,
man cannot be free,
he cannot govern himself
and he will always
remain a slave.”

~G.I. Gurdjieff

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Authenticity

The authentic self
is the soul made visible.

~Sarah Ban Breathnach

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Roses Of Life

Today’s post compliments of the amazing Anonymous. Have a stupendous weekend everyone. Be good to each other.

I've dreamed many dreams
that never came true,
I've seen them vanish at dawn.
But I've realized enough of my dreams,
thank God,
To make me want to dream on.

I've prayed many prayers,
when no answers came,
Though I waited so patient and long,
But answers came to enough of my prayers
To make me keep praying on.

I've trusted many a friend who failed
And left me to weak alone,
But I've found enough of my friends to be true
To make me keep trusting on.

I've sown many seeds that fell by the way
For the birds to feed upon,
But I've held enough
golden sheaves in my hands
To make me keep sowing on.

I've drained the cup of
disappointment and pain
And gone many days without song,
But I've sipped enough nectar
from the roses of life
To make me want to live on.

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The Atom Of Soul

Have you ever wondered how you came into being? How you think what you think? How you act like you act? Why you love who you love? Why you walk the path you walk?

We are all walking mysteries at various stages of development. Human beings are astounding. We can do so many things, more than we think are imaginable.

We can be ground down to almost nothing, get up and regenerate. When we have completed a learning cycle, we get to start another one. Our Soul knows where to go and knows what to do. It has built-in knowledge of our inner workings.

At each cycle, a part of our mystery is resolved, but sometimes we miss the answers and we have to go through the lessons again. When we get to those defining instances, we have to know how to stay there and that’s when life gets tough.

It’s a balancing act to end all balancing acts and definitely not for the acrobatically challenged. The tightrope is only 1/2 inch wide and 20 meters (66 feet) above ground on a platform.

So how do we learn to balance ourselves? In ancient times, people attended Mystery schools. A Mystery school is a university of the Soul; a school for the study of the mysteries of the inner nature of man and of surrounding nature.

By understanding these mysteries, the student perceives his intimate relationship with divinity, and strives through self-discipline and devotion to become at one with his/her inner god.

Mystery schools are a mystery because no one knows where they are located. Sort of like a rave party of today. You know one’s going to happen, you just don’t know where it will happen until it happens.

Historians of the Greek mystery centers marvel at how well the rule of secrecy was kept. This does not pertain to the public aspect, such as the fourteen mile procession along the Sacred Way from Athens to Eleusis in which men, women, and children participated.

The pageantry of the Mystery schools made any student proud to explore and practice ancient wisdom. Some of the best know Greek philosophers where once students of the same Mystery schools, they later oversaw.

What was taught in Mystery schools could be likened to our knowledge of the atom. Who has ever seen the real atom? What microscope has penetrated the secret of its existence?

Today we know more about the atom with its electrons than has been revealed for centuries. Unless we have bionic vision, the atom is invisible to both eye and lens.

Scientists have detected the flash of its track; its "way of light,” through painstaking labor. They have studied this way of light through inference and evidence and it appears that the atom and its components is almost of spiritual origin because no one can put their finger on it.

As with Mystery schools, no one can find the schools themselves, but they know they existed. Through study and devotion, we may glimpse the flash of their track, their way of light.

We can trace the pageantry of the light-bearers from spiritual testimony as they have transmutated the imposing religions and philosophies of the human race.

A physicist can’t touch the physical atom, yet he knows it exists as the foundation of all matter and the student of theosophy can’t show us a Mystery school, yet they knows it exists as the heart or atomic center of the spiritual and intellectual life of the planet.

Today the equivalent of Mystery schools are anywhere you can find knowledge. Real knowledge is no longer a mystery.

While life is a mystery, knowledge has come out of hiding and taken its place on center stage. We are really fortunate to have years of knowledge at our fingertips. We no longer have to tiptoe in the dark to find light.

Knowledge is here in front of us, all around us. We can simply tap a few computer keys and find out anything - and I mean anything. We can improve our lives, our scope of understanding, push the wide screen and reveal our reason for being through technology, especially Google.

Yes, Google, that six-letter word with the funny sound is the new Mystery school. Google's mission statement is, "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful."

Everything we want to know is in our hands. We have more easily accessible information today than we have ever had and the largess just keeps growing.

We are an information society, pumping information into our mental hard drives desperately looking for more memory.

When megabytes are not enough, we crave gigabytes. When gigabytes are not enough and crave terabytes. When terabytes are not enough, we crave infinabytes (my own word for infinite bytes.)

Some of us can have knowledge without knowingness; pumping words meanings, facts and figures like blood into a lifeless corpse with no Soul. And that’s just it, if we have knowledge but no knowledge of Soul, we have no knowledge.

The ethos of Mystery schools was to demystify life. In order to gain knowledge of Soul, we have to seek it. We have to peel the atom to find its contents. First we have to behold the atom. Grasp it in our hands by reaching for the real knowledge.

Though we have access to knowledge, very few of us are accessing it. We still don’t seem advanced as a human race. We still can’t shake our animal nature. We prey on people and devour them in an instant. We fight each other. Kill others in cold blood.

I think the reason we kill others is because we feel dead inside. First we fight ourselves and kill our own Souls, then strangle any life that anyone else shows because we can’t get our own life back.

Such practice has caused a chasm in our development as spiritual beings. It’s never too late to find knowledge. It’s never too late to find your Soul.

If our physical bodies are rooted in invisible fiery lives, why shouldn’t our human, spiritual, intellectual, and moral bodies have their origin in the spiritual and intellectual fire-mist of the planet?

Seek the atom of your Soul today - - Google it!

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Attention Deficient

I am becoming an expert at multitasking and it’s scary. I used to do one thing at a time, but now I can do several.

I just watched three films while downloading music, paying bills, writing notes, researching, blogging, uploading photos from my camera, and holding a conversation with the person sitting next to me.

What’s scary is that I can do them all at once with equal proficiency, but something about being able to do it still doesn’t seem right.

The one thing I won’t do is multitask when I read blogs. I give you all my undivided attention.

There used to be a time when I did one thing at a time, I even blogged about it last year and bet my friend Tristan that I would never become a multitasker.

The definition of the word ‘never,’ means from the time you say it until the time you do it. So I try never to say never.

Multitasking has taken on a life of its own. Even when I do one thing, there is always something in the back of my head that begs to be done. I multitask in algorithm.

Algorithm is a finite sequence of well-defined steps for solving a problem. Named after al Khwarizmi, a nickname of the 9th century Persian astronomer and mathematician Abu Jafar Muhammand ibn Musa, who authored many texts on arithmetic and algebra.

What worries me is that I’m not the only multitasker. There are thousands of mulitaskers, in fact, millions. Millions of us trimming the fat of the moment, trying to stuff so much life into a millisecond. It’s a vicious cycle, the more we do, the more we lose.

Multitasking is making us pay less attention to the things we should pay attention to more. It is splitting our attention so much that we’re making ourselves attention deficient?

We are not giving enough attention to detail. The quality of time is becoming scarce. There is nothing wrong with doing your best, focusing your attention on the task at hand, taking your time and doing a magnificent job instead of just getting by. God is in the details.

What if our accountant, dentist, or doctor split their attention while they attended our affairs? We wouldn’t like it would we? Multitasking is fine for certain situations, but not when we are doing more and spending less time with the people we love.

Some drivers really have the multitasking bug. I see drivers talking on cellphones, emailing, shaving, reading the newspaper, watching TV, applying make-up, cooking a meal in the glove compartment microwave and stuffing food in their mouth. Accidents waiting to happen.

Instead of making multitasking a priority, make paying attention to your life your main priority. Pay attention to each other. Unravel each other. Talk to each other. Break ground. Go deep. Listen to each other. Have a conversation without the TV, radio, or any other distraction.

Listen to what takes place between you and the person in which you are speaking. Their is a spark in their eye. A knowingness. An appreciation. A smile in their heart. They feel you focusing on them and it makes them feel loved.

You will find that when you are not distracted, you are giving your best to the moment, to the other person, to yourself - - and that in itself is peaceful. You then translate that peace and genuine interest in everything you do.

At times, I hate being a mulitasker. At other times, I love it. Being a multitasker is not who I am or who I want to be. It causes more harm than good, more distraction than attention, more mediocrity than perfection.

Multitasking is not really me, but sometimes it can’t be avoided. Those times when I do slip into it, I wind up wondering if I could have done something, more, better or different. It causes me to think about quality.

We all deserve to cultivate quality, there is a quality of giving yourself, a quality of living, a quality of being - - a quality of now.

What’s going to happen if we keep throwing quality away? We will wind up a bunch of over stressed, over stretched, over tired, nostril-flaring, fist-pounding, teeth-grinding, half dead robot workaholics with one foot in an early grave, who have done a million things at once and still have a million things left to do.

What are you giving up to multitask? Is it really worth it?

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Abundantly Rich

“Living is not this tawdry,
mediocre, disciplined thing
which we call our existence.
Living is something
entirely different;
it is abundantly rich,
timelessly changing,
and as long as we don't
understand that eternal
movement,
our lives are bound
to have very little meaning.”

~Jiddu Krishnamurti

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Goodness Of The Whole

“Each person comes into this world
with a specific destiny--
he has something to fulfill,
some message has to be delivered,
some work has to be completed.
You are not here accidentally--
you are here meaningfully.
There is a purpose behind you.
The whole intends to
do something through you.”

~Osho

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Where There's Smoke

Another story written by the infamous Anonymous. Enjoy your weekend everyone.

The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island.

He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him, and every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming.

Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him from the elements, and to store his few possessions.

Then one day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, the smoke rolling up to the sky.

The worst had happened; everything was lost. He was stunned with grief and anger.

"God, how could you do this to me!" he cried.

Early the next day, however, he was awakened by the sound of a ship that was approaching the island. It had come to rescue him.

"How did you know I was here?," asked the weary man of his rescuers.

"We saw your smoke signal," they replied.

It is easy to get discouraged when things are going bad. But we shouldn't lose heart, because God is at work in our lives, even in the midst of pain and suffering.

Remember, next time your little hut is burning to the ground, it just may be a smoke signal that summons the grace of God.

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Blogger Problems

It seems that some of us are having problems with Blogger comments.

If you have left a comment and I haven't responded in a day or so, then it is somewhere in Blogger hell.

Just know that I respond to everyone. So bear with me. I still have comments to answer and I will get to you all.

Arrrgh. Technology.

If you too are having trouble, you can complain here.

Thanks for the link Max.

Hope you are all having a good day despite this technology glitch.

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The Bat Lady's Light

I can’t believe it. Yesterday after my walk, I witnessed a miracle. The kind of miracle not many people witness.

Angels sang, lightning flashed, the earth may have even moved.

A light was shining in the darkness. A light that I had never seen before. A light that had never shone before.

A light that had awakened blackness out of a deep sleep. A light from the the bat lady’s window.

After seven months of living in the dark, she actually turned her lights on. Seven months of pitch blackness.

Seven months of fumbling in the dark through scotopia. Seven months of stagnation had finally come to an end.

I don’t know what event took place to cause her to turn the lights on, but it was a miracle.

After last week’s post on how she lived in the dark,
a metamorphosis must have taken place.

She must have somehow heard my thoughts through the ethers or heard about the post through her incredible hearing facility.

I am still in shock. The reason she has turned on the lights is because she got curtains. Well sort of.

She got curtains that oddly enough only block the middle of her windows.

So if people look in, they will see her with the middle part of her body pixled out, like it is censored. In other words, you can see her head and her legs as strange as that sounds.

Maybe the second phase of her epiphany will be to get full length curtains. The wise and wonderful Max thought that perhaps my neighbor (the bat lady) was depressed.

I hadn’t thought of that. She could have very well been depressed, although she didn’t display any outward signs.

Max’s thought had me intrigued so I waited for the opportunity to “run into” the bat lady.

I saw her car pulling in the driveway and I “pretended” to get something from the car when I just “happened” to see her.

“Hello neighbor,” I say. “Hi Alexys,” she smiles. Before I could get another word out, she enthuses, “Did you see my new curtains?”

“You finally got curtains,” I say, acting surprised. She points to her window and says, “Look.” She was so excited that she couldn’t contain herself.

Then out of the blue she says, “I don’t have any motivation. I just don’t like to do anything I don’t have to do. My mother is coming to help me decorate my house."

I thought to myself, how sad it is not to have any motivation or reason to get up in the morning. We need motivation to make us move.

Motivation helps us face the day with a positive attitude. It keeps our head upright. Elevates our consciousness.

Then I remembered some prior conversations with her. She broke up with her boyfriend a year ago and she is having a hard time getting over it.

He told her that she had no motivation. When he moved back to Germany, it really hit her hard.

She is already a nurse, but now she want to become a nurse practitioner (almost like a doctor.) All she talks about is how she would like to move to Germany one day and show him how she’s changed. They say, “Success is the best revenge.”

In essence he did her a favor by telling her what seemed to be negative at the time, but was really positive.

I guess the lesson here is not to judge a bat by its cover. What I saw as being a bat was really an adjustment period. She had shut her heart down and left all the lights off.

When I spoke to her, I saw how the light shone in her eyes when she spoke of the imminent arrival of her mother.

I saw how living alone probably caused her loneliness. I sensed how she must have felt in the dark. How she must have craved light. How her own internal light was flickering, almost going out. I wanted to help her realize her light and to re-light it.

I told her that ironically her curtains made her place look brighter. They reflected her internal light. She smiles and says, “I never thought of it like that.”

She went on to say, “When my mother gets here, we’re going to paint, get paintings, and just have fun decorating together.”

Your house reflects who you are. It reflects your light. I believe that if we ignite the light in someone else, they in turn will ignite it in someone else. Maybe we really can make a difference?

I think she (or her ex) may have misdiagnosed herself as having no motivation, when all she had was temporary motivation; which just has to be re-channeled into motivation.

Motivation comes from being happy, feeling good about your life and having hope for your future.

It doesn’t hurt us to be good neighbors, good friends, companions, coworkers, good people.

Each year millions of people die of loneliness. When we feel lonely, we inadvertently shut down own body, which in turn shuts down our immune system and makes us susceptible to diseases.

We have to watch out for each other, talk to each other, touch each other, be the light for each other; especially during the holiday season.

Light gets through the smallest openings; through doors, blinds, fog, darkness, and hearts.

Thanks Max for helping me see another dimension to the story. Thanks for being the eyes in the dark. And thank you all for being my light.

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Tying The Knot

My brother just got engaged. He has been dating his fiancée for about six years and decided that it was time throw bachelorhood to the wind and do it.

I can hear the male readers thinking, “Why,” and the female readers thinking, “Good for him.”

Some men and women are still far apart on the issue of marriage. It’s just our wiring and the way we look at things.

Women see it as Cinderella finally going to the ball and men see it as finally settling down and trading their freedom for the woman he loves. (Okay maybe that’s what I think men see.)

While tying the “not,” we say “I do.” One thing is for sure, it’s better not to be forced into a marriage than to do it for the wrong reasons.

Ideally we marry the person who reflects our Soul, but it doesn’t always happen like that. Sometimes that has nothing to do with it.

Some marry for companionship, to start a family, because marriage is an integral part of their cultural or religious beliefs and an essential part of their core value system, to share their lives together and travail through the good and bad times, or to fulfill each other as a couple.

According to statistics, married people live longer, have more stability and a greater sense of themselves. When a couple forms a partnership in marriage, each half combines to create a much stronger whole and they experience the shifting and changing experience of love within the bounds of commitment over time.

I always thought that if every man treated his wife like his girlfriend there would be more happy marriages. If women treated their husbands like their boyfriends, their husbands wouldn’t need girlfriends.

Men don’t usually show that they are happy to tie the knot, but my brother seems really happy about it. Maybe he’s just in a daze because there is so much to do for planning for a life together.

I wonder if men fantasize about the wedding or just the stag party? After all, tying the knot is a big commitment. Though it may vary, it is believed that “Tying the knot,” first started as a long standing Celtic tradition called hand fasting.

After the vows, the bride and groom's wrists are bound together with five colored ribbons, each symbolizing an aspect of marriage and their shared commitment.

It is also believed that illiterate sailors and soldiers of the past would send a piece of rope to their sweethearts when they wanted to get married.

If the rope came back with a knot in it, that meant the woman said, "yes" to the marriage proposal. He demonstrated this by tying two ornate knots in a length of rope. When the ends were pulled, the knots came together in the middle.

So what’s your view on marriage? Do you think it works or is it an antiquated institution?

I once heard that, “Marriage is not a word, it’s a sentence.” He seems really happy about it and I am happy for them both. As their engagement progresses, I will be covering different aspects of it.

Even if people choose not to get married, we always have the ability to work on the union of our Soul with the greater life force - - now that’s a match made in heaven.

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Hilltop

"The marvelous richness of human experience would lose something of rewarding joy if there were no limitations to overcome. The hilltop hour would not be half so wonderful if there were no dark valleys to traverse."

~Helen Keller

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