Happiness

"The fountain of content must spring up in the mind, and he who hath so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition, will waste his life in fruitless efforts and multiply the grief he proposes to remove. "

"It is common to overlook what is near, by keeping the eye fixed upon something remote. In the same manner, present opportunities are neglected, and attainable good is slighted, by minds busied in extensive ranges, and intent upon future advantages. Life, however short, is made still shorter by waste of time; and its progress towards happiness, though naturally slow, is yet retarded by unnecessary labour."

~ Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

Man & Woman

When woman recognizes the divine in men and inspires them to express it, she has
no difficulty living happily with man to who she has been drawn. When men understand women and adore the divine qualities in them they will be endowed with power from on high to live so that perfect harmony results.

Letters of Myrtle Fillmore (1845-1931)

Myrtile Fillmore was the co founder of Unity, an important nineteenth-century American religious movement, Myrtle Fillmore (with her husband, Charles) was seeking Christianity's essential oneness in its dozens of often conflicting denominations. The vision they shaped together of that oneness led to the Unity School of Christianity, which, a hundred years later, operates a vast global outreach.

Be at peace!

Rev. Thomas Witherspoon is my spiritual teacher and I owe my many break throughs in life to his teachings. In one of his books called, "the peace that passes all misunderstanding", he discusses and clarifies many issues that I see some of my dear friends have trouble with the idea of "sin" when it comes to religion. I hope the next paragraph from his book will help some to think deeply about the idea of "sin". I believe we are all born whole and perfect, and we are not born jealous, evil, corrupt, weak, etc. The idea of "sin" has been misrepresented in many religions.

This is what Rev. Tom says;

In order to come to terms with peace of mind concerning God and ourselves, the first consideration must be this: God does not punish us for our sins; we are punished by them. You are perfect, as God is perfect, at the spirit level, and our very reason for being is this incarnation is to bring the physical up to the spiritual level of being. With each thought, with each action, our every ideal should include the transformation from the human to the spiritual level.

By your thoughts and actions you create the world in which you live. If you think wisdom, there is wisdom, if you think misunderstanding, there is misunderstanding. The world, the true world, is a wold built on thought.

You are God's temple, and God's spirit dwells in you! Be at peace.

Rumi

Who are we then
in this complicated world-tangle,
that is really just the single, straight
line down at the begining of allah?

Nothing.
We are emptiness.

This is the last portion of Rumi's poem called EMPTINESS. Jelaluddin Rumi was born in the year 1207 and until the age of 37 was a brilliant scholar and popular teacher. But his life changed forever when he met the powerful wandering dervish, Shams of Tabriz, of whom Rumi said, "What I had thought of before as God, I met today in a human being." From this mysterious and esoteric friendship came a new bright of spiritual enlightenment. In this poem, I think Rumi says exactly what Landmark is teaching, that out of this nothingness that we can create something big for our lives. You can read more about him and his other poetry here:

God speaks Hebrew

A dear friend of mine, Sheema Kalbasi, has published her first English language poems called echoes in exile. Sheema is not only a talented and well-known Iranian poet but also a passionate human rights activist.

Here is her poem called:
God speaks Hebrew

Yesterday,
He sneezed within me,
God and his kissable mouth,
Smiling with a wide-open heart!

God never cheats,
Never rapes,
Never hates

Sings in Hindi,
Persian and Russian,
Latin, Swahili and Sindi!
Can be understood in Semitic languages,
Arabic and Hebrew!

God walks in kimonos,
Sophisticated and elegant
Smells like iris and talks like English
He is a little Chinese village-man,
Rejecting the ism

He reborn the angels,
As they sing the symphony of cotton fields,
A freedom's journey,
An escape from unformed yellow seeds

Crystal hands, crystal stars,
Crystal green gardens,
And my crystal laughter,

Essentializes the whole poem of life.

you can read her blog here: Zaneirani and can buy her book here. Good Luck Sheema jan!

Book to read

Just finished reading "the birth of Venus" by Sarah Dunant. It is a wonderful novel about a woman's life during Medici's reign in Florence ( around 1480's), and its about her passion for art, her relationship with God and his rebelion toward the menaing of being a Christian at that time. Alessandra Cecchi is a young woman born into the Renaissance world of Florentine, Italy. The plot is full of twists... here are some exerpts:

"Everyone had somthing to sell, and those who had nothing sold their
nothingness"

He shrugged." Man must rules his slaves like a tyrandt, his children like a
king, and his wife like a politician"

Love is bigening of all God's creation together, Plato and Christianity in Joyous union. So the physical act of love of man and woman was the frist rung on a ladder that might lead that might lead to a final estati union with the Godhead

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Thanksgiving Day!

If I hear the Ocean roar
If I see the eagle soar
If I sense what flowers say
Then this is my Thanksgiving day!

If I catch the rain drop's kiss
If I feel the sunset's bliss
If I blend with natures way
Then, this is my Thanksgiving day!

If I hear you talk to me
If I see what you can be
If I love you on your way
Then, this is my Thanksgiving Day!

Every day is time to give
Every day is time to live
Everyday is time to say
That this is my Thanksgiving Day!

Man is his own star

"Man is his own star; and the soul that can

Render an honest and a perfect man,

Commands all light, all influence, all fate;

Nothing to him falls early or too late.

Our acts our angels are, or good or ill,

Our fatal shadows that walk by us still."

Epilogue to Beaumont and Fletcher's Honest Man's Fortune

Happiness!

One of my all time favorite author/philosopher is Ayn Rand. Right after finishing Landmark education forum, I picked up her book, Atlas Shrugged, as I sometimes do to reread some portions that I had underlined before. Here is what I found:

"no one's happiness but my own is in my power to achieve or to destroy"

Inspiring one card at a time

What an interesting way to inspire people, by words only! check out this site

Self Reliance!

Ayn Rand's and Emeson's ideas are similar to what LandMark Education tries to teach. In a nutshell; the path to happiness is self reliance! Here is what they had to say:

Every man builds his world in this own image,; he has the power to choose, but no power to escape the necessity of choice. If he abdicates his power, he abdicates the status of man, and the grinding chaos of the irrational is what he achieves as his sphere of existence-by his own choice.

What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and in intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness. It is the harder, because you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it. It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.

Importance of the WORD

What I learned in the landmark Fourm, was the importance of the word spoken. We create something the moment we talk about it. It just hit me that it is the same what Bible has said 2000 years ago.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made through him. Without him was not anything made that has been made.
JOHN 1:1

Happy 46th birthday Jean!

Happy birthday to my best friend and my awesome husband,

May your life be as serene and peaceful as the lighthouse we saw in Maine. Remember the feeling you had when you visited there? Remember:

life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but
by the number of moments that take our breath
away

My son's contribution to this blog

My older son loves poetry, so he was reading the following poem from "shel silverstein"and said, "mom, I think Solverstien has been to that forum too!"

God says to me with a kind of smile,
"Hey how would you like to be God awhile
And steer the world?"
"Okay," says I, "I'll give it a try.
Where do I set?
How much do I get?
What time is lunch?
When can I quit?"
"Gimme back that wheel," says God."I don't think you're quite ready yet."

DANCE, LOVE, SING, WORK & LIVE

DANCE, as though no one is watching
LOVE, as though you've never been hurt before
SING, as though no one can hear you
WORK, as though you don't need the money
LIVE, as though heaven is on earth

~Rumi

My Decleration of my new being!

The possibility that I am inventing for myself and my life is the possibility of being a loving, generous and authentic mom, wife, daughter, sister, friend, daughter-law, colleague & boss.

Some of you may ask, "What is this jargon?!!"... Well, it's a new “being” and you will only understand if you participate in the Landmark Education Forum.

November 12th, was my new beginning. I will never forget the day. Thanks to Jeff and Hari for inspiring me for which beyond these words cannot describe.

They helped me finish my spiritual journey and get in touch with my "God" within me.