Falling Gently

 

I've been listening to Alan Watts quite a bit recently. Here's some sage advice from him -- and a photo of him and his cat :)

"When a cat falls out of a tree, it lets go of itself. The cat becomes completely relaxed, and lands lightly on the ground. But if a cat were about to fall out of a tree and suddenly make up its mind that it didn’t want to fall, it would become tense and rigid, and would be just a bag of broken bones upon landing.

In the same way, it is the philosophy of the Tao that we are all falling off a tree, at every moment of our lives. As a matter of fact, the moment we were born, we were kicked off a precipice, and we are falling, and there is nothing that can stop it.

So instead of living in a state of chronic tension, and clinging to all sorts of things that are actually falling with us because the whole world is impermanent, be like a cat." ~ Alan Watts

Invest in Bonds

 

Framework for Longevity — By: Michael J. Castori

“What is the secret of Longevity


Invest in bonds

Bond with love


Parental marital filial people spiritual


Love thy neighbor as thyself


No greater love hath man
Than he give up his life for another

Bond with nature


With its broad range of animal plant and mineral life


With its sun moon stars land sea and air


And all the creatures thereon and therein


With its solitude music challenge reverence

Bond with a positive mindset


Aim high and you won’t hit low


If things go your way don’t get too high


If things go against you don’t get too low

Bond with an upbeat lifestyle


Engage in spiritual intellectual social recreational pursuits


That guarantee health strength and daily bread


Woo the positive spurn the negative

Bond with existence


An existence that you deem worthy of your worship


Daily lift up some thought word and deed


To Him to Her to It

On each future birthday


Check your investments
If you can look at each bond and say


“Been there Done that”


You will end up dancing on the top rung


Of Longevity’s ladder”

By: Michael J. Castori

Hearing Thoughts

"Grounded in Peace"

by Teresa Pellicio DeVito

We humans believe we can hide our emotions and thoughts from others, simply by not saying anything. Where did we ever get that idea? I guess it's because we have spent so many years not listening inwardly. In an episode of the "Dog Whisperer" there was a dog fixated on attacking its own image in a mirror. This was not its only aggressive behavior, and the dog's person was afraid that it would attack someone, or another animal, any time it was outside. How did Cesar Milan stop this dog's aberrant behavior? By calming its owner. This woman was constantly in a state of fear and worry. The dog was mirroring her tense behavior. At first she had to pretend she was calm because she didn't know how to be that way! But as she watched the changes in her dog, she began to understand that her feelings and thoughts were being passed on to not only her dog, but to everyone around her. Every thought is important, especially now, when harsh words are bandied about with abandon. Let’s be the change we hope to see …

"The spiritual reality is the scientific fact in all things. The spiritual fact, repeated in the action of man and the whole universe, is harmonious and is the ideal of Truth. Spiritual facts are not inverted; the opposite discord, which bears no resemblance to spirituality, is not real. The only evidence of this inversion is obtained from suppositional error, which affords no proof of God, Spirit, or of the spiritual creation. Material sense defines all things materially, and has a finite sense of the infinite." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 207:27-4

Letting Go Of Self-Justification

 

photo credit: Aaron Springston

Reading an article entitled, "Letting Go Of Self-Justification", brought back memories of times I was positive someone else had caused me to behave badly. Even saying that brings a feeling of embarrassment. No one can "make" me behave in any way. But a sense of self-righteous certainty can turn any situation around and allow us to justify, in our own mind, almost anything we do or say. We see a lot of this occurring around us in the world, brought into our living rooms via media of various sorts, justified by newscasters and others. I feel certain every person who stormed the Capital on January 6 feels they did so for a righteous cause and would be happy to tell you how they were justified in their actions. This is but one example, and I use this one because it is so glaring, so in-our-faces, so undeniably awful. The events I recalled from my own life are actions toward another person; things for which I have apologized, but perhaps am still feeling justified in saying or doing. So I'm going to ponder them deeply and perhaps I will make a few phone calls and deliver sincere, deep apologies. I love the Holy-Days!!

"Sorry for wrong-doing is but one step towards reform and the very easiest step. The next and great step required by wisdom is the test of our sincerity, -- namely, reformation." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 5

Learning What is Good For the World

 

Waldemar Finke - Shepherdess with Herd at the Alps During Sunrise,1908.

"We have lived our lives by the assumption that what was good for us would be good for the world. We have been wrong. We must change our lives so that it will be possible to live by the contrary assumption, that what is good for the world will be good for us. And that requires that we make the effort to know the world and learn what is good for it.” 

Wendell Berry

Cause For Fear?

 

Newton County, Arkansas

photo by Tim Ernst

Visiting with an old friend today brought many new thoughts into my head. This kind, gentle woman feels the need to have a gun in her house, a sign on her front door stating that fact, and a sophisticated security system which gives her the ability to shout warnings at people walking onto “her property”. I put this in quotations because she used the phrase numerous times. Of course, the logic cannot be refuted when analyzed from a material, logical standpoint. Statistics show senseless shootings, robberies, and other heinous crimes are happening all the time. Other than a few questions asked of her for my own clarification, I remained silent during her recounting of strangers coming to her door and her subsequent actions. Perhaps the almost-two-years I’ve spent in semi-seclusion have narrowed my field of vision, keeping me from understanding this fear. I was raised by parents who had lived through two world wars and a devastating economic depression. They had many reasons to live in fear, and were extremely cautious and conservative in their thinking. Because of this, I understand people’s concerns about violence and lack. This is something I’m going to seriously ponder, because I don’t even know where my house key is and my front door doesn’t shut all the way. Namaste…

“The Apostle John says: 'There is no fear in Love, but perfect Love casteth out fear. . . . He that feareth is not made perfect in Love.' Here is a definite and inspired proclamation of Christian Science." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 410:17-21

“No one attacks without intent to hurt. This can have no exception. When you think that you attack in self-defense, you mean that to be cruel is protection; you are safe because of cruelty. You mean that you believe to hurt another brings you freedom. And you mean that to attack is to exchange the state in which you are for something better, safer, more secure from dangerous invasion and from fear.” A Course in Miracles W-170.1.

Why Is It So Difficult?

 

photo credit: Heather Peters

There are literally hundreds of translations of the Bible upon which most Christians base their faith. Individual understanding of these words seem to be facilitated by preachers and other religious teachers. Most people never read the Bible, but rely on what they are told by these learned folks. One sect thinks blood transfusions are against the laws of God. That idea is based on the same chapter of the Old Testament wherein others find scripture which forbid them from eating shellfish and associating with homosexuals. The god represented in the early chapters of this Bible is a rather harsh entity. The crass laws Moses brought down from the mountain are full of warnings and threats. Jesus brought us simpler rules, much easier to understand and apply. Love everybody; love God. It seems pretty simple, but we humans like to complicate things. I've spent half a century trying to understand why we make life so difficult. I like the way A Course in Miracles explains all this mess. It's just ego. Not Ego, as in the way Mary Baker Eddy describes it, but ego, as in yours and mine fighting to be right about everything. But I keep coming back to the same question: Why is it so difficult to love everybody? 

"Our goal is but to follow in the way that leads to You. We have no goal but this. What could we want but to remember You? What could we seek but our Identity?" A Course in Miracles

"Prayer cannot change the unalterable Truth, nor can prayer alone give us an understanding of Truth; but prayer, coupled with a fervent habitual desire to know and do the will of God, will bring us into all Truth. Such a desire has little need of audible expression. It is best expressed in thought and in life." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 11:28-32