Thanks to the information posted on Sadiq's blog , I went to see Dervishes' prayer-dance last night. It was my first time and it was absolutely mesmerizing. Dervishes were celebrating “Wedding Night” of the great mystic poet Mevlana Jalaluddin Muhammad Rumi’s, 13th century Sufi mystic, passing from the circle of time. I learned so much about this spiritual ritual. Here is a great quote explaining the dance:"We do not turn for ourselves. We turn around in the way we do so that the light of God may descend upon the earth. As you act as a conduit in the Turn, the light comes through the right hand, and the left hand brings it into this world."~Suleyman Hayati Dede
A piece of a Hafez poem, written on a wall in the Corcoran neighborhood of Minneapols, Minnesota. Here is the link as to how they did this project.
Sorry, I have not posted regularly lately. Thanks for all your emails asking me if everything is ok. Thank you, it's so nice to "hear" from you.Christmas is the celebration of imagination, with its power to warm our heart on snowy day and sprinkle glitter on a dark one, to give us the goodwill to wish a merry Christmas though there is not much to feel merry about, to give us the faith to believe that life is not humdrum existence, but is capable of unbelievable wonder, and in the stable that is the human heart God Himself may make His appearance. (excerpts from "once upon a Christmas")I love Christmas, it's true it has become too commercial. But it's up to us to make it as worldly or as holy...
I have often posted here about the negative oriented media and their interest in reporting more bad news than uplifting news. I do believe there are more good signs in horizon than bad and here is a book to proof it. A newly published book called, "What are you optimistic about?" by John Brokman, has recently asked more than 150 high-powered scientific thinkers to answer a vital question for our frequently pessimistic times: "What are you optimistic about?Steven Pinker(Psychologist, Harvard): The decline of violence
Haim Harari (Physicist): The evolutionary ability of humankind to do the right things.
Juan Enriquiz (CEO, Bitotechonomy): A Knowledge driven economy allows individuals to lead millions out of poverty in single generation.
John Gottman (Psychologist): When men are involved in the care o their own infants the cultures do not make war.
Stephen Kosslyn (Psychologist): Human intelligence can be increased, and can be increased dramatically.
Brian Goodwin (Biologist): Our ability as a species to respond to the challenge presented by peak Oil.
It's the Holiday season again and many of us will be thinking about gifts to buy. If you think about giving someone a gift with a charity component, here are some resources that will definitely Inspire, move and touch someone:
My favorite animal is chimpanzee, I wish I could have them as a pet...look how adorable this baby is in the picture! I love the fact they are capable of empathy, and altruism and they maybe the only animal that has these capabilities.
When man had become so evil and corrupt that the angles decided to hide all goodness and truth from him. Not knowing where to hide it,they discussed many ideas. One angel suggested that it be buried in the earth, but the other angels disagree saying that with everything that was known about man, he would min the earth for all its resources and find it there. No, the earth would not be a good place.
Another angel suggested the ocean as a good hiding place for goodness and truth. But again, that idea was ruled out. "Man has such an insatiable appetite," the angels said. " After he has mined the earth, he will go on the oceans and mine them for all their resources. Surely then he would find this treasure."
Another one suggested the sky. To put all goodness and truth in outer space might work. But alas, once man had conquered the earth and seas, he would move on to the sky.
Finally, after having been silent the entire time, a very wise angel said, "
We shall put goodness and truth inside of man. For all the we know of him, he will never look for it there." And, they all nodded in agreement.
I love this time of the year where awards are given to best innovators of the year. I find the innovators' passion, hard work and genius so inspiring. So here is the link, some of them will surely inspire, move and touch you also! Innovations of the year 2007. Tell me which is your favorite?
How delicate our homeland looks from far, far away.... how peaceful it looks, and how full it is.
The moon is always full
Our human eyes
See only its phases
Love is always here
Our human heart
Sees only its shadow
Joy is always present
Our human mind
Reasons it away
God is always near
Our human spirit
Knows this without words
.... Continue here
Excerpts from my dear teacher, Rev. Thomas Witherspoon's book called "The Peace That Passes All Misunderstanding".
Have a fullfilling weekend!
" Learning how to discipline your speech is a way of preventing your energies from spilling out of your through the rupture of your mouth, exhausting you and filling the world with words, words, words instead of serenity, peace and bliss. Swamji, my Guru's master, was a stickler about silence in the Ashram, heavily enforcing it as a devotional practice. He called silence the only true religion. It's ridiculous how much I've been talking at this Ashram, the one place in the world where silence should-and can-reign."Here is another one I liked:
"Prayer is a relationship; half the job is mine. If I want transformation, but can't even be bothered to articulate what, exactly, I am aiming for, how will it ever occur? Half the benefit of prayer is the asking itself, in the offering of a clearly posed and well-considered intention. If you don't have this, all your pleas and desires are boneless, floppy, inert; they swirl at your feet in a clod fog and never lift."Update: Just found out that Paramount Picture will be making the movie of "Eat, Pray, Love", starring Julia Roberts.
I wrote about Vedanta philosophy/religion last week, I was intrigued by what I read about their belief system. So this last Sunday, I decided to attend their Sunday services(after attending my own Church) and check it out in person. The temple was nestled in a woodsy area surrounded by oak tress, it had an intimate building. The inside of the temple was surrounded by many pictures of spiritual leaders from different religions. When I entered in, the smell of incense was calming and the teacher's voice was so soothing, so I fell right into his comforting sermon. The thought of the Day was;"One who wants nothing gets everything"
It was about giving up self-limitation; and no longer yielding to a lower order of things. He said; "so many people want happiness with a passionate longing, but the fever of self keeps them from attaining it. Change your outlook and all the narrowness of the little self and you will shine."
With the following prayer they ended their Sunday service:
May God, The Absolute, One without a second, the One in Whom we live and move and have our being...the One God who is called by many names.........
Christ of the Christians,
Hashem of the Jewish People,
Ahura Mazda of the Zoroastrians,
Allah of the Muslims,
Buddha of the Buddhists,
Shang Di of the Chinese,
The Great Spirit of the Native Americans,
Shaki, Ishwara, Brahman, The Divine Mother....
the Infinite and All-Abiding spirit of the Hindus.......
May You Who are Mother, Father, Friend, Companion, Beloved and Guide.....
Grant unto us all peace and blessing.
Peace! Peace! Be unto us and Unto all living beings!
Paulo Coelho has been an inspirational writer and many regard him as the alchemist of words. His writings are very simply written but provokes many social and cultural debates. If you have not read any of his book, pick any of them and you won't be disappointed. Here is a portion of his acceptance speech delivered to the Brazilian Academy of Letters:
"What is this force that drives us far form the comfort of the familiar and makes us take up challenges instead, even though we know that the glory of this world is only transitory? I believe this impulse is called the search for the meaning of life. Over many years of seeking a definitive answer to this question in books, art and science, and in both the dangerous and easy paths I have followed, I have found many answers. I am convinced now that a definitive answer will never be given to us in this life, but that, at the last, at the moment when we stand once more before the Creator, we will understand each opportunity that was offered to us. "
For my Persian and Arab readers you can also check his site in Farsi, Arabic, and many other languages. And do also check his blog, it's great!
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is
that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
Most of the time we remain unaware of the mind's erratic movements because we are habituated to giving our minds free reign: we've never seriously attempted to observe , let alone train the mind. Like parents whose indiscipline has created children that everyone dreads, our lack of mental discipline has created the turbulent, ill-behaved minds that have given us endless difficulty. Without psychological discipline, the mind becomes the mental equivalent of the house ape. And all of us, sadly enough, have suffered mental agony because of it.
While we may have grown accustomed to living with an uncontrolled min, we should never assume that it's an acceptable, if not inevitable, state of affairs. Vedanta says that we can master the mind and, through repeated practice, we can make the mind our servant rather than being its victim. The mind, when trained, is our truest friend, when left untrained and reckless, it is an enemy that won't leave the premises."
An inspirationl parent at my sons' school is an active member of the Machao Orphanage Foundtaion. The Machao Orphanage Foundation is dedicated to assisting the orphaned and impoverished children of Makueni, Kenya by providing shelter, food, clothing and an education through the support of well wishers all over the world.
I just found that they have a program that is called popular Circle of Friends program that assists groups and individuals in holding fundraising or informational events to support the work of the Machao Orphanage Foundation. So, why not throw a party and make a difference. Call them up if you like!
" Such decisive moments are tuning points- every time you select a fork in the road knowing you won't be able to backtrack. WE live for these moments and in turn they define our lives. We learn who we are and what truly matters to us. The "secret" then is to actively, consciously pursue these challenges instead of avoiding them. This is the only way to discover and to exploit all your gifts. Developing your personal blueprint allows you to make better decisions, to have the confidence to trust your instincts, and to know that no matter the result, you will come out stronger. There, inside each of us, is our unique secret success"
UNESCO has declared 2007 to be the year of Rumi. This year was 800th anniversary of the birth of Mawlana Jalal-ud-Din Balkhi-Rumi (1207-1273), one of the greatest poets, philosophers and scholars of the Islamic civilization. .jpg)
I just ordered a book written by Gary Kasprov, greatest chess player of all time , called How Life Imitates Chess: Making the Right Moves, from the Board to the Boardroom.Usually when you are under stress there is a good reason for it. Learning not to get anxious about things beyond your control is a separate issue. So don’t fight stress, use it! Channel that nervous energy into solving the problems. Sitting around worrying isn't going to achieve anything and the loss of time will often make the problem worse. Even in the worst case, mistakes of action teach you much more than inaction.
I guess this poem is a good reminder that we all have a role to play in this life and lets not complain about our perceived luck. If the symphony of life has given you a violin to play, play it well and play it fully. Don't complain why you have not been given the harp to play.
Infancy's the tender fountain,
Power may with beauty flow,
Mother's first to guide streamlet,
From them souls unresting grow-
Grow on for the good and evil,
Sunshine streamed or evil hurled
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the Hand that rules the world.
Hmmm.... "properly lived life"...why do we try so hard to look younger?
He is a heavy smoker and drinker, so this is what he had to say about exercise:
"The trouble with bad habits is that they are mutuallyRead the whole article herereinforcing. And, just as a bank won't lend you money unless you are too rich to need it, exercise is a pastime only for those who are already slender and physically fit. It just isn't so much fun when you have a marked tendency to wheeze and throw up, and a cannonball of a belly sloshing around inside the baggy garments. In my case, most of my bad habits are connected with the only way I know to make a living. In order to keep reading and writing, I need the junky energy that scotch can provide, and the intense shortterm concentration that nicotine can help supply."
"Trying to resist, change, or avoid the enormous influence of the past keeps us foolishly focused on it. Yet we’re reluctant to leave it behind, reluctant to transform the pervasive hold it has on our present-time lives. Not doing so, however, results in an endless continuum of living a “now” that is littered with the detritus of the past. There’s no better arena to watch this play out than in our relationships."
New York Time had a great article on Ayn Rand (1905-1982)this last weekend. 25 years after her death, she still has influence on people and inspires many in the business world. I usually give her book, Atlas Shrugged, to new graduates. This book is about the power of human will and it is celebration of life and true happiness. I have blogged about her before, Ayn Rand was one of the smartest women in America and is one of my favorite writers. Here is an excerpts from NYTimes article: "It (Atlas shrugged story)begins in a time of recession. To save the economy, the hero, John Galt, calls for a strike against government interference. Factories, farms and shops shut down. Riots break out as food becomes scarce.
"The room looks brighter to her. The faces, the big, circular lights overhead, the ceiling—they all seem clearer. Malone asks her how she feels. "I'm really happy," she replies, clearly surprised. "I feel like I could get up and do all sorts of things." But even more telling than her words is the look on her face. For the first time in 20 years, with a halo bolted to her head and two freshly drilled holes in her skull, Hire smiles."
Now, do you think you will hear this on your local news channel? There are some bad news in the report but overall it was an inspiring report and makes you hopeful for the future of our mother earth.
"A true desire is not to Have but to Be. We are whole creatures in potential, and the true purpose of desire is to unfold that wholeness, to become what we can be. As Goethe says,'Desire is our presentiment of our inner abilities, and the forerunner of our ultimate accomplishments'
