Minding the Mind

In a recent experiment, psychologists at Yale altered people’s judgments of a stranger by handing them a cup of coffee. ...That was all it took: The students who held a cup of iced coffee rated a hypothetical person they later read about as being much colder, less social and more selfish than did their fellow students, who had momentarily held a cup of hot java.

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Universe

The wicked see this universe as a hell, and the partially good see it as heaven, while the perfect beings realize it as God Himself. Only when a man sees this universe as God does the veil fall from his eyes; then that man, purified and cleansed, finds his whole vision changed.

-Vivekananda

Islamic koan?

"Trust in God is negation of trust in God," said Baba Tahir. That is to say that the one who truly trusts in God denies himself any attachment to it, in the sense that he has neither confidence in, nor attention to, his own trust.

-Baba Tahir

Life

The same stream of life
that runs through my veins
runs throughout the world
and dances in rhythmic measure.

It is the same life
that shoots in joy
through the dust of the earth
into numberless blades of grass
and breaks into tumultuous waves
of leaves and flowers.

It is the same life
that is rocked in the ocean cradle
of birth and death in ebb and in flow.

My limbs are made glorious
by the touch of this world of life,
and my pride is from
the life throb of ages
dancing in my blood this moment.

....Tagore

The Eye of Seeing

If your eyes follow the movement of the rotating pink dot, the dots will remain only one color, pink.   However if you stare at the black "+" in the center, the moving dot turns to green. Now, concentrate on the black "+" in the center of the picture. After a short period, all the pink dots will slowly disappear, and you will only see only a single green dot rotating. The truth is there really is no green dot, and the pink ones don't really disappear. Proof enough, perhaps, that we do not see always what we think we see.

Luke 17:20-21 in Aramaic

I have just finished reading a fascinating book by Neil Douglas-Klotz, "The Hidden Gospel" in which he translates parts of the New Testament from the Peshitta, which dates to the fourth century CE and is written in Aramaic, the spoken language of Jesus. "Looking at Jesus' words in Aramaic reveals the spirituality of his teachings in light of the Middle Eastern tradition as a whole." The "flavor" and multiple possible meanings of the Aramaic words as translated lends further credibility to the teachings as revealed in Thomas and other writings discovered at Nag Hammadi. For example, Luke 17: 20-21 which is presented in the King James version as:

"And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the Kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo Here! or, lo there! for, behold the kingdom of God is within you."

translates from the Aramaic (according to Douglas-Klotz) as:

"The reign of empowerment you look for
does not come from watching outside,
from waiting for it to happen,
from guarding property, status, or wealth.
It will not come by pointing to something
or someone outside yourself.
The "I Can" of Oneness that will free you
come from inside out,
from an agreement deep in the belly.
Then your inner community
expresses itself as the face of
powerful and overwhelming unity."

Other mysterious or non-sensible sayings of Jesus as translated in English versions of the Bible make sense with the Aramaic translations and point to Jesus as being first and foremost a teacher of the mystical wisdom tradition.

God kindles the fire of love in the hearts of the chosen, so that their carnal selves are consumed. Once ignited the fire of longing never dies. That is the flame about which the Prophet said, "When God wills the good of his servant, He kindles a light of faith in his heart."

When they asked him what were the signs of that fire, he replied, "Deviation from the abode of vanity; progression toward the Eternal."

-Abu Sa'id, "Rabi'a the Mystic"

The one I love, who is incapable of ill will, who is friendly and compassionate, living beyond the reach of I and mine and of pleasure and pain; patient, contented, self-controlled, firm in faith with all his heart given to me--with such a one I am in love. Not agitating the world or by it agitated, he stands above the sway of elation, competition and fear. He is my beloved. He is detached, pure, efficient and impartial; never anxious, self-less in all his undertakings; he is my devotee and very dear to me. He is dear to me who runs not after the pleasant or away from the painful; who grieves not, lusts not, but lets things come and go as they happen. That devotee who looks upon friend and foe with equal regard, who is not buoyed up by praise nor cast down by blame, alike in heat and cold, pleasure and pain, free from selfish attachments, the same in honor and dishonor, quiet, ever full, in harmony everywhere, firm in faith--such a one is dear to me.

Those who meditate upon this immortal destiney (dharma) as I have declared it, full of faith and seeking me as life's supreme goal are truly by devotees and my love for them is very great.

...from the 12th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita

The Hidden Self

Brahman is the Self hidden in everyone. He is only obvious to those who, minds focused one-pointedly on the Lord of Love, nurture intuitive knowledge. Meditation leads them deeper into consciousness, passing from the world to thoughts, and beyond thoughts to the wisdom of the Self.

-Katha Upanishad

True ecstasy is passive: it overwhelms the heart without any intention or deliberate effort. It is the fruit of spiritual devotion and worship. The deeper is your devotion to God, and the more intense is your worship, the more likely you are to receive ecstasy from God. In a state of ecstasy the heart is lost to God.

-Qushayri, "Risalah"

From the Heart

The Heart is like a compass on a large boat on a stormy sea. It will always bring you safely home if you trust it.

The Mind: nice to open and close doors, cook your food if you watch it closely and to dress you and walk you around and to do chores.

The Heart must lead in life, not the mind. The mind is many roads down the track, all dead ends. The mind jerks you around like a wild stallion with the bit in it's mouth.

For most people, the mind is in charge and is the poorest driver in the world and will wreck you car soon after it takes over. Then the heart fixes the damage and drives you safely home: IF YOU LET IT.

The following is a nice reminder to stay in your heart, if you wish peace. We all are fighting wars "out there". But the great war is within us all, whether to flow in the Heart or the mind.

Great is the general who conquors countries; greater yet he who conquors his own country; greater yet his own town and greatest of all He who conquors self. To me that is when we surrender to the Heart love energies within us all.

Yes! It is free and always there. Like life, let it unfold; it always does. No use to push, pull, plead and beg. Surrender is the best way to be at peace within.

Loving acceptance of everyone and everything exactly as they are in this NOW moment is the key. You won't ever change anyone but yourself and that takes a surrendering to the Heart within us all.

Bottom Line: We are all ONE right here and now. you never meet a stranger, you only meet yourself in disguise.

Have a happy day, week, month and life.

Love,
Jim MacKimmie

Article: The Final Days

Last Sunday's New York Times Magazine featured a lengthy piece entitled The Final Days. Writer Benjamin Anastas examines the science, history and traditions surrounding the Mayan calendar end date in 2012 as well as the "culture of apocalypticism" that has grown up around it.

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Cumulative Effect

Cynthia Bourgeault mention it in the second week of our Wisdom School Academy in Elwood, Texas--spiritual energy has a cumulative effect. What she noticed is that the spiritual energy created in one gathering of contemporary sages seems to gain strength and then carry over into the next gathering. I noticed it very strongly in the third such gathering in Washington State this past week. Some twenty folk gathered there for intense intentional practice, study and community within the wisdom gathering at St. Andrews Episcopal Retreat Center. It was palpable almost from the moment we first sat down together. It was as though we had not left the year before, or that the weeks here in Texas had flowed naturally over into this third academy. We simply started where we had left off. There was no lag time, and the spiritual energy was strong, clear and high. I grateful to be a part of it. The topic was "The Mysteries and the Poetic Visionaries" using Love Poems from God by Daniel Ladinsky as text. I am grateful too for all of you who upheld this gathering in your thoughts and prayers.