Hot Chocolate

A group of graduates, well established in their careers, were discussing their lives at a class reunion. They decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired, who was always an inspiration to them.

During their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress in their work, lives and relationships.

Offering his guests hot chocolate, the professor went into the kitchen and returned with a large pot of hot chocolate and an assortment of cups. 

There were porcelain, glass, and crystal cups; some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite. He invited each to help themselves to the hot chocolate.

When they all had a cup of hot chocolate in hand, the professor shared his thoughts.

“Notice that all the nice looking expensive cups were taken, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. The cup that you are drinking from adds nothing to the quality of the hot chocolate. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hide what we drink. What each of you really wanted was hot chocolate. You did not want the cup… but you consciously went for the best cups. And soon you began to eye one another’s cups.

"Now friends consider this…

"Life is the hot chocolate… Your job, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life. The cup you have does not define, nor does it change the quality of life you are living. Sometimes by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the hot chocolate. Always remember this, YOU are the one who choose the cup.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“The happiest people don’t have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything that they have.”

“Live simply…. Love generously… care deeply… speak kindly…”

“The richest person is not the one who had the most, but the one who needs the least.”

Enjoy your hot Chocolate !

Optical Illusions

CAN YOU SEE THE WORD OPTICAL ILLUSION?


CAN YOU SEE 10 FACES IN THE TREE?


CAN YOU SEE THE BABY?


CAN YOU SEE THE KISSING COUPLE?


CAN YOU SEE THE THREE WOMEN?


THERE'S A FACE IN HERE. CAN YOU SEE IT?

The Lotus Flower

The traditional Indian and Buddhist explanation of the glorious lotus flower is that it appears not to spring from the sordid earth but from the surface of the water and it is always unsullied and pure, no matter how impure the water. This symbolizes all first created objects arising from primordial chaos – confusion and darkness. In other words, from out the darkness came light, beauty, and form. No matter what one’s environment, the spiritual truth latent in one’s nature may blossom forth and remain uncontaminated if one turns toward the light.

- Source Unknown 

Singapore

A video clip of Singapore in the - I guess - late 1800s, early 1900s?

The Real Nature Of Life And The Universe

Who am I? 

Am I this Body of Flesh, Bone and Blood? Am I the Mind, Thoughts and the Feelings which distinguish me from the other persons?

Pursue the enquiry “Who am I”, relentlessly. Analyze your entire personality. Try to find out where the “I” thought begins. Go on with your meditations. Keep turning your attention within. One day the wheel of thought will slow down and an intuition will mysteriously arise. Follow that intuition, let your thinking stop, and it will eventually lead you to the goal.

The sense of “I” pertains to the “person”, the “body” and the “mind”. When a man knows his true self for the first time, something else arrives from the depths of his being and takes possession of him. That something is behind the mind. It is infinite, divine, eternal. It is believed that when a man dies, his character, desires, thoughts and will continues to exists until they enter a body of flesh once more and come among us in the form of a newborn baby. 

The good and evil actions committed in the former birth will be suitable rewarded or punished in the present or even in the future births. This is how we explained fate. The destiny of every person must be fulfilled. Man cannot escape from their self-earned fate. The ‘cause and effect’ returns to men the good or evil fruits of their thoughts and deeds in earlier bodies.

What is Soul?

Briefly stated, the soul is the abiding, separate, constantly existing and indestructible entity which is generally believed to be found in man from the moment of his birth up to the time of his death, and to exist after his death in some other place.

Nature of Life

Life is merely a phenomenon or rather, a series of phenomena, produced by the law of cause and effect. And individual existence is to be looked upon not as something permanent but as a succession of changes as something that is always passing away.

Continuity of Life

As long as the causes of life persist – the sense of separateness, the craving for existence – so long will life continue. Remove the cause of life and life is not continued. The continuity of life is like a flame of a lamp. The light appears to come from the lamp throughout the night; yet every instant oil and wick and lamp-holder and the air that feeds the flame are constantly changing. It is the same, yet not the same.

Death 

Death comes about either by the lapse of his natural term of life or by the exhaustion of the karma that give him birth in this life or by both these causes or even by some strong extraneous karma, for there is such a thing as Akalalarama, untimely, sudden death. A lamp may go out with the exhaustion of oil or wick or both or by a sudden gust of wind.

If at death the craving for life has not been completely destroyed then this craving gathers fresh life, body and mind. The result is a new individual, new in a sense. There is nothing that passes from one life to another. It is the karma produced by us in our previous lives and in this life that brings about the new life. The new body and mind is merely the result of past lives so our next life is the product of that karma plus the karma of the present life.

Death Explains

It is essential that we fully understand DEATH, for by understanding this, we comprehend the mystery of life. By taking a closer look at life and death you will realize that both are ends of the same process and by understanding one, the depth of the other would be just as easily understood.

In fact, the most intensive contemplation of death will soften the hardest of hearts and pull down the barriers of caste, creed, race, pride and hatred for all of us are subject to the common destiny of death. Pride by birth, position, health and power, all must give way to inevitable death. This contemplation would destroy all love for sense-pleasure and gives balance and a healthy sense of proportion to misguided senses of values. Truly this reflection would give strength, steadiness and direction to the erratic human mind which is constantly wandering without an aim.

The average person would have no love to contemplate on this being distasteful. But, we should learn to value the necessity to face facts since safety lies in the truth. Thus, the sooner, we know where we are heading, the faster for us to take the necessary steps for our betterment.

Law of Impermanence

Nothing in this world is stable or static. Nothing in this world can arrest the ceaseless passage of time and nothing survives time. In fact, everything, mental or physical is transitory and changing.

It is because there is change, there is growth and growth leads to decay and therefore death. This is the law that makes the strength and freshness of youth give way to the decay and weakness of old age.

Think of anything and you will find it in a condition of change. The Law of Change can be made to operate to the highest benefit for any person. By analyzing the Law of Change in respect of one’s own body and mind one acquires also a familiarity with change that death will not appear fearful and unnatural. It will appear as one more example to the process of change to which one is subject to since birth.

In conclusion

Looking at ourselves in this manner, we soon realize that this is an illusion and that we are nothing but a bundle of various elements of matter and mind, that this will keep moving on and on ceaselessly. Look backwards through time and we see the darkness of illusion we have travelled through in the past and looking forward through time we see the uncertainty of illusion we have to travel through in the future. This is one of the ways to understand the real nature of life and the universe.

- Author Unknown 

Can Buddhism and Psychology Co-Exist

Meet a doctor who thinks you can better understand the self by destroying it.

Can Buddhism and Psychology Co-Exist?

(The video comes on after the advertisement)

Let Us Give – Not Condemn

It is only natural that we be concerned about the welfare of other people and want to help them, but it is a rule of wisdom for the mystical student to learn to mind his own business and not interfere in the lives of others. There is considerable difference in offering to help those who are in need, and in urging others to follow our advice. We must encourage others to look within and seek their own solutions, which will bring them a much greater sense of satisfaction. Service to others must be placed in a common sense perspective. We should try always to help those who want to help themselves, but we should not do for others that which they must learn to do for themselves.

The mystical life inclines each of us to desire to give some form of service to our fellow men, but unless we are discriminating, we might try to help those who must first learn to help themselves. In our attempts at humanitarian service, we make them all the more helpless. To give encouragement and advice when sought is the only sure way of being helpful; thus we must avoid the tendency to prevent others from standing upon their own.

It is often asked, “If the Cosmic is infinite in its knowledge and power, why doesn’t it do more to help humanity?” Quite simply, the cosmic powers to whom we look for guidance are fully aware of the needs of humanity. But they cannot and do not impose their will upon mankind. They need willing souls here on Earth who will become channels for service, so that the cosmic powers can be expressed and manifested here on this plane.

Our first task is to radiate peace and love at all times, to let the harmony of the Cosmic radiate from us. This radiation from our hearts will prove to be the best form of service we can render. Our influence upon others whom we will attract will be strong and helpful because they are seeking guidance and a way to a better and more useful life. Let it be our thought to radiate the knowledge we have acquired and the inner spiritual attainments we have reached. We will attract others to us in accordance with the vibrations which emanate from within each of us, and we will be able to assist those in need in a way we little realize. A word of comfort and encouragement, a smile or a thought, is often all that is needed to help those who seek greater understanding to bear the burden that life has place upon them.

To become a channel for service to the Cosmic Powers, we must learn to radiate a spiritual consciousness in our daily life, and by our willingness to help in the smallest way, we will be prepared to assist the Cosmic in its greater endeavours.

It is through service that we truly express the soul consciousness within. As we develop and unfold the beauty of the Divine Light from within, and allow it to radiate from us, so do we express the Divine Will. The spiritual life is one of service, express the Will, the Intellect, and the Love of God in action. Whenever we devote ourselves to useful endeavours, the Divine Spirit will seek to express itself through us and use us as a channel in its plan of service to man.

Only as we devote ourselves to the interests of others will the higher forces and intelligences illuminate and inspire us in direct proportion to our unselfish services. We can do so much for others in need, with only a little effort. We do not ask that you put aside your own interests and activities; quite the contrary, we would urge you to enlarge your field of interests and activities and allow your influence to grow in these fields. All that is asked is that you radiate the Love of the Cosmic and express the desire to help and serve others.

Others will be attracted to you; and often your friendship and your helpful and encouraging advice will be all you will need to give. Your progress on the path to the highest illumination will be assured through this path of service. It will not always be straight and rewarding. Success and failure will be yours. However, only in giving do we truly receive, and to receive the things of the spiritual life, we must give the spiritual part of ourselves.

- Robert E. Daniels, F. R.C. 

Body And Soul

There is nothing immortal or permanent about man’s physical body. Not only is it true that the man or woman of adulthood no longer has the same physical cells and elements of the body possessed when a child, but it is also true that every few weeks the various cells and parts of the body are renewed.

After transition this physical body will break down into the primary elements and lose its form, its nature, its worldly character; it will have no heritage to carry on into the future.

The soul within, however, will remain the same. It has been the same for eons of time. It is immortal and unchangeable except that it evolves in personality and individual expression or character. After transition it will still function as a personality, an individuality, despite the fact that it has thrown off a temporary robe in which it had little or no interest. We can understand, therefore, that God’s interest in us is an interest in the evolving self within and not in the human part of human constitution.

As for trials and experiences of life and any divine intervention, it must be reasonable for all students of mysticism to understand that God could unquestionably intervene in our human affairs if two principles were true; first, that God had an interest in us as human beings and in our human affairs, experiences, and sensations; and second, if the purpose of the soul within us and our spiritual existence here on earth were not for the purpose of benefiting by the experiences, lessons, trials, and tribulations of life.

If God’s intervention and interest in us were constant and in any way related to the human side of our existence, we would all lead ideal lives not only in a spiritual sense but in a mental and physical sense as well. We would never commit any errors of any kind and therefore, never suffer any sorrows or pains, spiritually, mentally, or physically. We would never become diseased and we would never strive to overcome temptations in life for there would be no temptations that could successfully tempt us. We would never seek to attain anything higher for there could be nothing higher than such an ideal life under God’s intervention and direction, and we would find that the divine intervention was defeating the purpose for which the soul was incarnated on earth.

- Author Unknown 

Our Daily Crises

Today we seem to face more crises than ever before. Not only are we assaulted by crisis on the international scene, but with national and community crises also. Our own personal crises also press in upon us from time to time and give us pause to wonder why life should be so difficult for many, and what the causes are for these daily crises.

The cycles of cosmic influence have been accelerating for several years, bringing many changes in every aspect of life. Quite frequently the changes take the form of one crisis or another. However, if we look back over the years we will realize that we have passed through many crises of various types, and inwardly we are little the worse for them. We are perhaps even better prepared for the future and often much the wiser for the experience.

Our own personal crises of a more intimate nature are of greatest concern to us. Each crisis must be faced and dealt with to the best of our abilities. These crises do not confront us because we are mystical students who do not run with the masses, but because our increasing inner aspirations draw circumstances and conditions to us which act as a kind of test to all we hold dear. They test our resolve and determination to proceed on the upward path of life. These personal crises, which we all have to face periodically, are in many ways quite different from the usual worldly crises which constantly repeat themselves. Our own crises are always new and challenging; they reveal and often startle, but cannot be avoided because we have evoked them. By critical analysis, we can gain much insight from those personal crises which in the main involve our relationship with others.

Karma 

Various people cross our path in life. Some have a great influence upon us, while others, we influence ourselves, but there is usually one person who will have a major effect upon our lives – the result of karmic conditions established in our past. Many times our hopes and wishes are thwarted, and we feel we cannot always achieve our aims and are held back from our attainments. In such instances, our karmic relationships are of great value to us, and we should not seek to separate ourselves from them, but try to realize the great value of these association by viewing them with an inner perspective. Such persons are given to us in order that we may work out and fulfil our destiny in this life.

Quite often a student of mysticism will meet with some opposition and criticism because of his new-found interest in the mystical life. Relatives or good friend show an indifference and opposition to his desire for personal advancement and improvement, and the student feels reluctant to be the cause of disharmony to those closest to him. But surely he must exercise his need for freedom of thought. His friends have every right to follow what they believe, and he must sooner or later take a stand to pursue those interest and that knowledge which will free him from the bondage of the past.

Once we develop that temper of mind which accepts any challenge with a sense of determination to succeed in any goals or desire for achievement, we can be assured of the highest attunement in the mystical life. The same determined attitude will also enable us to face our daily crises with a sense of confidence that we can deal with any difficulty with greater understanding and purpose.

Our lives revolve around the lives of others, and we who are sometimes stronger because of our mystical insights must share our strength and the comfort of a loving heart with those around us – particularly family friends, who often do not have the advantage of such mystical insight. We must learn to share the best of ourselves with others, because we share in their individual karma and their lives are part of our own. We must stand firm in our beliefs, for the influence of a loving and determined heart will prove to be a great blessing to others and enable us to see more clearly the way to resolve our individual crises and to understand their value to our onward progress.

- By Robert E Daniels 

Cosmic Patterns

Our role in life is to become a part in the new patterns, ones not experienced previously. The old habits we have formed, that have been pushed back in the drawers of time, can’t be made to fit in with the colours and style of the times to come. The drawers we have used in our lives hold just so much. We can’t cram in more until we remove something – although that act can be painful. Many customs dear to our hearts, that we have long cherished, have to be thrown out. That is the often painful lesson we fret about today.

Most of us are born with the weakness of looking backward too much, and not enough forward. Notice a mother walking with her small child, while holding him by the hand. The youngster stumble because his head is turned to see what he has passed instead of what lies ahead. We all are God’s children – we look to the past, and it is God’s hand that leads us into the unknown. We stumble into new field of learning.

Knowledge is that something we absorb from the outside of ourselves, a mental development. The seed of knowledge form an inner growth we call wisdom. With the wisdom we can channel knowledge into productive use.

In life there are many levels, or treads of understanding. We have no way of knowing how long a time we will spend on one tread – there is no set time. Some people are content to take matters as they come and have to be led into the future. Others are curious about what lies ahead and there is no holding back. We learn by our interest and progressiveness the privilege of stepping up to the next tread.

Under no circumstances should those people on other levels be looked down upon. They are learning the lessons presented to them. They may be on the pathway that leads to the stairway. Even so, somewhere they will be attracted to a bright object that reflects a light from above. A new consciousness enters in when they see the light. Isn’t that the purpose of life on Earth? These souls are not lost and never have been, as each and every one is a part of God.

We may be like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle; regardless of age. When we fit in, we fulfil a purpose. All forms of life are the organs of God, cells serving in different kingdoms but in one body. Wars and terrorism are the result of diseased cells living out of harmony. But they will be eventually cast out, forced to live some of their former life cycles over again so as to learn a better way of life. And in the discarding of the imperfect, we become part of anew pattern that is more beautiful and in harmony with the Cosmic.

- by Everett E Bishop 

The higher the hill we climb, the broader view we get of what life is all about. - by Everett E Bishop