“Imagine all of you are hypnotized to believe there is a tiger in this room. In your fear you will try to escape it, to fight it, to protect yourselves from it, to placate it. But once the spell is broken, there is nothing to be done. And you are all radically changed. So understanding breaks the spell, the broken spell brings change..."

-by Rev. Anthony De Mello
http://www.demello.org

Power Over doesn't belong here.

Power With does.

Healing is Power With.  Reaching Out is Power With.

Some of you may recall my note to Rachel, my niece who turned 13 a couple years ago.  Here is my note to Nathaniel, my nephew, on the occasion of his 13th birthday next month.

-----------------------

Nathaniel,

In the book "The Brothers Karamazov" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, the relationship of three brothers is explored.  The first brother, Dmitri, is said to represent the body symbolically (he is a soldier).  Ivan, the second brother, a student at university, represents the mind of humanity.  The youngest brother, Alyosha, is a monk, so he represents the spirit or soul.  My words of wisdom to you are excerpts from the passage known as the Sermon by the Stone near the end of the book, where Alyosha speaks to his young charges on the occasion of the death of a classmate of theirs...

'...And whatever may befall us subsequently in life - even though we do not meet for twenty years hereafter - all the same let us remember how we buried the poor boy, the one at whom you formerly threw stones, do you remember, down there by the bridge? - but whom everyone came to love so later.  He was a wonderful boy, kind and brave boy, he had a sense of honour... Know then that there is nothing more lofty, nor more powerful, nor more healthy nor more useful later on in life than some good memory, and particularly one that has been borne from childhood, from one's parents' home.  Much is said to you about your education, but a beautiful sacred memory like that, one preserved from childhood, is possibly the very best education of all.'

'Let us, in the first place and above all, be kind, then honest, and then - let us never forget one another.  This I repeat again.  I give you my word, gentlemen, that I shall never forget a single one of you; each face that gazes on me now, this moment, I shall remember, even though it be for thirty years.  All of you, gentlemen, are dear to me from this day, all of you I shall enclose within my heart, as I ask you to enclose me within yours.'

Blessings, Nathaniel.  Live long and well.

With kindness, honesty, and memory,

Uncle Paul

You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees

For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body

love what it loves.

Tell me about your despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on.

Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain

are moving across the landscapes,

over the prairies and the deep trees,

the mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,

are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,

the world offers itself to your imagination,

calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --

over and over announcing your place

in the family of things.

This QaR was originally posted the day after my 46th birthday, my second out here in Arizona.

I asked my mom yesterday about this.  Here is the story.

My grandmother, whom we affectionately call Mimi, was attending dance class at a local school in Detroit, MI.  She was 20 years of age.  Her brother, my great uncle Gordon, was having a party on Saturday with some of his friends from the neighborhood.  As Mimi arrived home, she noticed the party was in progress.  So she went upstairs, changed out of her dance clothes, and joined the party.

A young man named Fred saw this pretty Irish girl and he started talking to her.  This conversation went on for quite a while.  Near the end of the party, he did something rather forward.  He asked her if he could drive her home, which was the custom of young men to demonstrate their interest in a young lady.  Mimi responded, "This is my home."  Fred was surprised since Gordon had never mentioned his sister to him.  They both started laughing.

Three years later, on a beautiful August afternoon, they became married.

To me, Enlightenment means 'oneness' with nothing left out or ignored/dismissed.

A couple One of my favorite Madonna videos.  Feelin' that way.  :-)




Darn YouTube police!  LOL

The Human Awareness Institute (HAI) empowers individuals to be potent, loving, contributing human beings. HAI promotes personal growth and social evolution by replacing ignorance and fear with awareness and love.

HAI aims to create a world where people live together in dignity, respect, understanding, trust, kindness, compassion, honesty and love. The Human Awareness Institute is committed to creating a world where everyone wins.

http://www.hai.org/mission_statement.php

PENITENCE

1

SINCE foolishness and sin
In my found origin
In all my lifetime, none
Through me to pleasure won.

I look for equity,
Which none obtains from me;
Against the world I cry,
The world's complaint am I.

2

Alas, alas! from em
Springs all inequity;
Ah woe! a thousand sighs
Through my injustice rise.

'For what thy hands have wrought:'
So have the Scriptures taught;
Then is my soul forlorn
Whereof all grief was born.

~The Rubaiyat of Jalal Al-Din Rumi
Select translations
into English Verse' by A.J. Arberry, 1949.

(April 18, 2009 note: I have removed a person's name from the title of this blog per that person's request)