The Chalice of Wisdom - Part 1

In each moment we have the potential to be present, or to miss it. If we miss the moment, we never get it back, and when it happened we were essentially dead. Along the journey of evolution, we seemed to picked up the habit of not living in the moment, spending time either in the past, as memories, or in the future, as planning.

Memories and planning are useful, they’re like reference books, allowing us to make sure the right words or details are contained. But we must move out from the books, and engage in the current moment. Regardless of what that moment may be, it is reality, and by living in reality, or the moment, we have access to unlimited choice, and unlimited learning potential.

If we are in the reference system, we live on auto pilot, making the same choice and mistakes, essentially our human nature is gone, and we become machines. We develop habits, that grow in strength, and take away our freedom of choice, creativity- two qualities that make humans so special. The reference system of memory and thought seem so real.

We have these mental conversations in our head with people, playing out scenarios about what he or she says. We feel the emotion and conviction of the conversation, but it’s all a hallucination, there’s no one there. How we are considered sane when doing this remains a mystery to me.

In the same place as the mental conversations, we store memories and pictures, linking emotions such as happiness and anger to the events. We replay our favourite stories to invoke certain emotion at will. We become trapped in a land of fantasy, requiring constant access to the stories to sustain our mood. And as this is taking place, we continue to miss reality, we miss the moments of our life, trading them in for memories that we manipulate and create to our liking.

When we let go of these mental stories and conversations we regain access to the world, we gain access to reality. Our lives become enriched, we experience more, hear more, see more, taste more, all our sense come alive, with friendships becoming alive. Life takes on a dynamic nature, we become empowered with and by Choice and Change. What comes up begins to matter less, regardless of the content we can weather any storm, knowing all will pass, leaving the sky unstained.

We begin to really do what we want to do, we begin to leap, knowing that the net will appear, that we will be safe, and will not only survive but learn and flourish from the experience, regardless. Wisdom is developed, our world understand grows, not from a book point of view but through our direct experience. We begin to breathe lighter and easier, the stories loose their grip, and as a result, we gain stability and ease in the world.

In each moment we have access to this life, we have access to live. This all hit home in the evening gatha that was sung as the last thing before going to bed each night in the monastery.

Author unknown


Love Always
mudra

Teaching empathy to children

://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TL76NhS77hs


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mudra

Simple Keys to a Fuller Life

What’s Best for All

http://www.wanttoknow.info/inspiration/express_my_gratitude

The Power of Choice. Every one of us makes countless choices every day. Every choice we make has an impact on our lives. Even insignificant choices can affect what we experience and how we feel. When hunger strikes, we can reach for a healthy, nutritious snack, or we can choose the sugar high of junk food. The more important the decision, the more profound its effect. For instance, how do I act towards that person who treated me badly? Do I generally choose to be passive, or do I actively set clear intentions and create what I want in my life? Every choice we make, however big or small, affects us in some way.

How Do You Make Choices? If you are interested in living a richer, fuller life, there is a foundation upon which you can base all of your decisions which can make life better not only for you, but also for those around you. This foundation is to choose based on what’s best for all. Imagine a world where every parent, spouse, friend, teacher, businessperson, and politician truly did their best to choose what’s best for all involved in every decision they made. We would certainly live in a more caring, supportive world.

It’s the Intention. “But how do I know what is really best?” you might ask. The answer is simple. It doesn’t matter. What matters is not the choice you make, but rather the intention behind your choice. What matters is that whatever decision you make, you are clear in your intention of choosing based on what’s best for all. If it later turns out that you made what appears to have been a bad choice, there’s no need for guilt. Knowing that you did your best to choose with a sincere desire for what’s best for all, your conscience stays clear and open. This then allows you to more easily learn from your mistakes, and to live with a clear heart and mind.

What’s Best for Me, Too! Choosing what’s best does not mean you have to always sacrifice yourself for others. An overly exhausted mother can lose her temper easily. Some time off for this mother might seem selfish, yet in the long run, it can help her to be a better mother to her children. So as we move through each day of our lives, let us remember to include ourselves as we do our best to choose what’s best for all.

Divine Guidance

Many Meanings for Divine. Guidance can come from many sources. Yet by opening to guidance from the divine, we open to the support of powerful forces greater than ourselves. The divine has different meanings for different people, whether it be God, Creator, Jehovah, Allah, or Great Spirit. Yet even if you don’t believe in any of these, consider the possibility that there is a very wise part of yourself—a higher self or a deeper self—which can provide you with guidance. What is important is that we open to this presence, however we choose to define the divine, and that we consciously invite this powerful guidance into our daily lives.

All Requests Only if it’s Best. When seeking divine guidance with a specific result, be sure to end with “only if this is what’s best for all.” There are times when what’s best is not what’s easiest or most enjoyable. Sometimes unwanted or unexpected challenges, difficult situations, and even pain can teach us important lessons that in the long run help us to enjoy life more fully. When we choose to see all experiences as gifts from the divine and opportunities for growth and understanding, we open to a deeper level of divine guidance.

Acceptance and Understanding

Our Core Essence. Deep down we are all beautiful beings worthy of love and support. The sweet innocence of babies and young children is a clear example of this. Yet for most of us, the shining essence with which we came into this life became obscured over the years as our family and others were unable to give us the kind of unconditional love and support we so craved. As children, when we were repeatedly told that we were not good enough or were punished just for being who we are, thick layers of confusion and doubt developed, clouding our divine essence. Layers of fear and insecurity were woven into our personalities.

The Mask. By the time we are grown, most of us have developed a protective mask or persona to hide these layers of fear and insecurity from others, and at times even from ourselves. Outwardly we might appear happy or content, yet on the inside most of us to varying degrees feel unhappy with who we are. Yet beneath it all, that shining essence is still there. No matter how much we may have forgotten, no matter how thick those overshadowing layers may be, our beautiful core essence is and has always been there.

Accepting and Understanding Myself. By choosing to accept and understand all of who you are—both your deep shining essence and the layers of dark clouds within—you can invite that beautiful inner essence to shine through the clouds and to shine again in your life. When fears, dark thoughts, or difficult emotions arise, first choose to accept that they are there. Then work towards understanding these dark clouds and where they came from. Ask for divine guidance as you explore and transform these dark places.

Courage. It takes courage to accept and work to understand our fears and weaknesses. Yet by doing our best to be fully ourselves in all our strengths and weaknesses, our relationships can grow richer, deeper, and more meaningful. This may be challenging, as some people are unable or unwilling to accept certain parts of us. Yet as those around us see us becoming more real and honest with them, many will also be inspired to be more real and honest with us. Thus, instead of continually avoiding or denying those clouds or dark layers in both ourselves and others, we open to a deeper, more authentic way of living and of relating to others.

Accepting and Understanding Others. As you develop greater acceptance and understanding of yourself, you will notice that others, too, have lost touch with their shining core essence. As you work to accept and understand yourself, it is most important that you choose also to give this gift to those around you. Acceptance of what is, coupled with understanding of what we can change and what we cannot, allows us to find the courage to be all that we can be, and to empower others in doing the same.

Love and Empowerment

Let me start with myself. I will do my best to love and empower myself to be the best I can be every day of my life. By making this commitment to yourself, it becomes easier to love and empower those around you. But do you really want to give this gift to all other people? What if you really don’t like someone? In this case, you can remind yourself that it is usually a person's personality that you don’t like—the mask or dark clouds blocking their deeper essence. Remember that beneath the mask is a shining divine essence. While acknowledging those parts you don’t like, do your best to empower the shining being hidden beneath the mask or personality that you don’t like. You can choose to love and empower the divine spark within all.

Negative Judgment. Judging someone to be bad as a person does not empower or inspire anyone to be a better person. When you find yourself feeling negative judgment, first acknowledge the part of you that wants to judge—the part that wants to be right or better than others. Then do your best to learn from your judgment and let it go. Open to finding first acceptance, and then understanding and love both for you and for the person you judged. Choose to let your last thought always be that of love.

Stopping harm. What if someone does something that is clearly wrong or causes harm? In this case, be firm and take whatever action you feel is best to stop harm. Enforcing a serious consequence with someone who has acted out of extreme self-interest may be the most loving, empowering action you can take. Yet even as you take action, open to seeing the inner turmoil that causes people to do harm. You can act from a place of love and support, even while firmly stopping someone from doing wrong or causing harm. Through choosing to see beneath all of the pain, suffering, and hatred, and to recognize and connect with the divine essence within even those who would do us harm, not only do we heal the world, we heal ourselves.

Imagine… Imagine for a moment a world where all people truly did their best to love and empower each other. Imagine if a significant number of the people on this planet truly did their best to live by these simple keys. You can choose to become one of those people right now. You can choose to make your life and our world a better place. It is fully possible. There are people of all races, religions, and beliefs around the globe already committed to living by these or similar ideals. Let us then choose with an open mind and heart to add to their numbers. Let us choose every day of our lives to do what's best for all, to open to divine guidance, to accept and understand, and to love and empower ourselves and all around us to be the best that we can be.

Love Always
mudra

nice movie...




From a world swamped in problems, in a global civilization on its last march towards the edge of the cliff, how can we reconnect with a deeper, more meaningful way of life? How can we make a difference?

What happens when 60,000 Quechua Indians gather to give thanks to the vital life force that sustains them? What can we learn from those who put harmony and balance before gain? What is an Earth Pilgrim?

Every person has an image of a pilgrim. In Japan it is probably the image of the ohenrosan in Shikoku. This movie was conceived while the director was actually walking the roads of Shikoku on that pilgrimage. But this is not a movie about that kind of pilgrim. It is a message about the deeper meaning of being a pilgrim in the modern world. It is about the great dangers our planet is now facing and about how the pilgrim spirit can help us all.

The film follows director Echan Deravy as he travels in search of the meaning of Earth Pilgrim-a new kind of pilgrim, a pilgrim that we can all become in our hearts. The film was shot on location in Britain, Japan, Israel, the US and Peru as well as Hawaii. It is a documentary which includes the wise advice of several leading thinkers and an astonishing older woman. It is not about saving the world it is about how we change our way of being in the world. We do that by becoming a new kind of human that Echan calls Earth Pilgrims. It is an internationally released 90 min film available on DVD from 23 July, 2009 in English, and later in Spanish and other languages.


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Director's Message:
In my culture, the Celtic culture of Scotland and Ireland we have the story of King Arthur and his knights of the round table. They had to go on a quest to find the Holy Grail. The Holy Grail is a symbol of higher understanding. In this movie I go in search of a higher understanding by asking people as I travel on a world pilgrimage to give me advice. I meet people in very different fields such as anthropology, ecology, shamanism, physics and plant healing. I do two major pilgrimages. One in Shikoku was 1300km and the one in Peru was not long at all. It was high. We climbed to 5 thousand meters in the Andes with 60,000 native people to film the Qoyllur Rit'i pilgrimage. Rumi, my favourite poet speaks to us throughout the movie to remind us of our spiritual life as pilgrims. The film is a quest to answer the riddle of our times. Why is the Earth falling apart? The answer lies in the heart of each person.


The answer may be in our all becoming Earth Pilgrims..

http://www.earthpilgrims.com/

Thank You devakas .
That 's a great movie .
I found a longer excerpt of it here ( nearly 35 4) :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxNwRMmW6xk


Thanks for sharing and adding your light to this thread



Love from me
mudra

An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody will see it.

Mahatma Gandhi

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mudra

*

Nature as a Benevolent Teacher
By Heather Fraser

What many people in the so-called mainstream world are beginning to feel now is a longing for more time to simply breathe deeply, to enjoy a peaceful morning in silence, to take a stroll – unhurried, to have an entire unscheduled day with their kids, to have chunks of time to just “be” and listen for their own inner wisdom to rise up, to visit with a friend without having to rush off, to prepare a wholesome meal at a relaxed pace and to savour it for as long as it takes to feel satisfied to the core.

Why is it, that these are the very things a dying person would make priority? Is it only in knowing that our life is going to be cut short that we finally give ourselves permission to truly live? Or is it that an early death sentence brings about the ultimate surrender of the mind, and all the useless, meaningless, and frenetic fodder that usually occupies it suddenly dissolves into the silent peace of God?

read on: http://www.spiritofmaat.com/nov10/benevolent_teacher.html

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mudra

Once the realization is accepted that even between the closest human beings infinite distances continue, a wonderful living side by side can grow, if they succeed in loving the distance between them which makes it possible for each to see the other whole against the sky."

- Rainer Maria Rilke

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Not One not Two

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8gEpW7DraI&mode=related&search=


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What Matters: W Mitchell
This highly inspiring 15-minute clip shows that it's not what happens that matters.


http://www.personalgrowthcourses.net/video/what_matters_w_mitchell

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mudra

From "The Teaching of Buddha", by Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai


Buddha first taught himself to avoid the sin of killing any living creature, he wished that all people might know the blessedness of a long life.
Buddha trained himself to avoid the sin of stealing, he wished that all people might have everything they needed.
Buddha trained himself to avoid ever committing adultery, he wished that all people might know the blessedness of a pure spirit and not suffer from insatiable desires.
Buddha, aiming at his ideal, trained himself to remain free from all deception, he wished that all people might know the tranquility of mind that would follow in speaking the truth.
He trained himself to avoid double-talk, he wished that all people might know the joy of fellowship.
He trained himself to avoid abusing others, and then he wished that all might have the serene mind that would follow by living in peace with others.
He kept himself free from idle talk, and then wished that all might know the blessedness of sympathetic understanding.
Buddha, aiming at his ideal, trained himself to keep free from greed, and by this virtuous deed he wished that all people might know the peacefulness that would go with this freedom.
He trained himself to avoid anger, and he wished that all people might love one another.
He trained himself to avoid ignorance, and he wished that all people might understand and not disregard the law of causation.

Hello Clearwater :)
Thank you for your visit and the pearls you are leaving behind.


Love from me
mudra

There is a stage in the evolution of a man's life when every question is answered by the life around him. He may have a living being before him, or be surrounded by nature; he may be awake or asleep, but the answer to his question comes as an echo of the question itself. Just as certain things become an accommodation for the air, turning it into a sound, so everything becomes an accommodation for each thought of the sage, helping it to resound; and in this resonance there is an answer. In point of fact the answer is contained in the question itself. A question has not existence without an answer. It is man's limited vision that makes him see only the question without the answer.

While all things have their opposites, it is also true that in each the spirit of the opposite exists. In man the quality of woman exists; in woman the spirit of man. In the sun the form of the moon exists, in the moon the light of the sun. The closer one approaches reality, the nearer one comes to unity.

The evidence of this realization is that no sooner has a question arisen in the heart, than the answer comes as its echo either within or without. If we look in front of ourselves, the answer is before us; if we look behind the answer is behind; if we look up the answer awaits us in the sky; if we look down the answer is engraved on the earth; and if we close our eyes we will find the answer within us. It is like climbing a mountain, a mountain whose name is Why? When we have climbed it, then we are face to face with our ideal. It is not study which brings us to this realization; it is reached by rising above all that hinders our faith in truth.

Hazrat Inayat Khan

Love Always
mudra

mudra, Thank you! for sharing all you come across. It is very much appreciated.
I truly enjoyed watching and listening to the video of Thich Nhat Hanh.
The simplest key is often overlooked. This simple key is also often the most useful. Thank you for sharing this reminder.

Thich Nhat Han is such a peacefull soul .
Enjoy some more Clearwater

Thich Nhat Han -Mindfulness

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aubF7v-MlMM&feature=player_embedded#!


Love from me
mudra

J Reuben Silverbird at The Nobel Institute January 20th 2009

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuoa6huK3Ds&feature=related


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Native American ~ Words of Wisdom

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_kVNOlhPMM&feature=related


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Peter Ragnar / Erasing False Conditioning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aFtDICKGMM&NR=1


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mudra

THE WAVE AND THE OCEAN - Is Nonduality All About Getting Rid of the Separate 'Me' ?
par Jeff Foster

Many people believe that the ‘individual self’ is what they really are, and they ignore the space, the openness, the vast ocean of Being in which the ‘individual’ arises. They identify exclusively as a ‘separate person’ and never stop to ask if that is what they truly are.

You have taken yourself to be a separate wave in a vast ocean. You see yourself as a little person in a vast ocean full of other people. You see yourself as an individual in a world which is fundamentally separate from you.

But of course, the ‘separate wave’ in the ocean is not really ‘separate’ from the ocean at all. The ‘separate wave’ is really just the ocean appearing temporarily as a wave. The wave is actually one-hundred percent water, and so in essence, it’s the same as the ocean.

And so really there is no ‘separate wave’ at all. There only appears to be a separate wave. The wave is in appearance only. It is a temporary appearance of the ocean.

You – what you take yourself to be – the person, the character, the ‘me’, only has existence as an appearance, a story appearing now in boundless Being, a story which is ultimately not separate from Being.

read on : http://www.lifewithoutacentre.com/

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mudra

"He who maintains attentive mindfulness is like the great sage, the Buddha. Careful attention to mindfulness is an elixir and a blessing."

--Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche, Tibet, nineteenth century

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mudra

Thank you for your visit iysun and the jew you leave behind.

Love from me
mudra

The masterpiece called life

par Christine Wushke

What if there were no fixed answers, no absolute formulas or solutions at all?

What if there never was anything to be attained or solved?

What if all life, all people, and all beings everywhere were given permission to simply be exactly as they are and all that they are right now?

What if uncertainty wasn’t a problem, and there were no reasons to predict what is going to come in the next moment, let alone the next day, month or year?

What if each and every variation of life, even in its seeming imperfection is a whole and perfect miracle just as it is?

What if every pattern of color, shadow and light were like a single brushstroke on the masterpiece of life? When seen from the totality, would we really want to go in and remove all the shadows?

Love Always
mudra

What’s Your Dream?

Remember that scene in Pretty Woman, when the dude with the gigantic smile is yelling to Julia Roberts, “What’s your dream?” He’s the voice I hear in my head whenever I think about how I want to craft my life.

His question is such a vital one, and yet, when I ask my Change Catalyst coaching clients this question, way too many of them stare at me blankly. Often, they’re far from living the life of their dreams. Many have actually achieved the dream they had earlier in life, only to realize that it doesn’t make them happy. So now what?

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/whats-your-dream.html#ixzz1Av6N94rS

Love Always
mudra