Servant: Of that period.. I prefer the Geneva version. So did the Pilgrim Fathers.

Mousetrap: I agree, it verily has changed in such that we have now many charity shops that give the opportunity to give and get at the same time. Also I like it that most shops now offer the means to give through simple giving of change in the prominent charity boxes and like they keep on the counters next to the tills.

There are so many ways to give these days it's rather wonderful.

... That the Burmese government sees sense and lets all the aid in.

alanback: Heaven's a place of billions upon billions of spirits singing together as one. God in, and around them all.

Bubbles Pbarb2: Health comes first always. See you soon.

Burma.

alanback: Don't they say the whole is greater then it's parts.

In this life we cannot do great things.
We can only do small things with great love.

Mother Teresa

Pbarb2: Good decision!!

srnity: Hopefully there will be improvement soon. Thankyou

Mousetrap: Who knows. It's one of the great BK mysteries.

Mousetrap: Nobody knows.

May the whole world enjoy
good health,
long life,
prosperity,
happiness and peace.
Om, shanti, shanti, shanti.

kundalini yoga master - vethathiri maharishi

God grant that the light of unity
may envelop the whole earth,
and that the seal,"The Kingdom is God's",
may be stamped upon the brow of all its peoples.

baha'i prayers - bahá'u'lláh

Isaiah 45 (King James Version)

5I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:

6That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.

7I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

8Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the LORD have created it.

Human Nature
http://www.jewfaq.org/human.htm

*edited due to copyrighted material

Sidney and Suzanne Simon:

"Forgiveness is freeing up and putting to better use the energy once consumed by holding grudges, harboring resentments, and nursing unhealed wounds. It is rediscovering the strengths we always had and relocating our limitless capacity to understand and accept other people and ourselves."

http://www.wisdomquotes.com/

Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.

Carl Jung

Ephesians 5 (New International Version)
8For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10and find out what pleases the Lord. 11Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said:
"Wake up, O sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you."

3) Jesus said: If those who lead you say to you: See, the kingdom is in heaven, then the birds of the heaven will go before you; if they say to you: It is in the sea, then the fish will go before you. But the kingdom is within you, and it is outside of you. When you know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will know that you are the sons of the living Father. But if you do not know yourselves, then you are in poverty, and you are poverty.

The master of Kennin temple was Mokurai, Silent Thunder. He had a little protégé named Toyo who was only twelve years old. Toyo saw the older disciples visit the master's room each morning and evening to receive instruction in sanzen or personal guidence in which they were given koans to stop mind-wandering.

Toyo wished to do sanzen also.

"Wait a while," said Mokurai. "You are too young."

But the child insisted, so the teacher finally consented.

In the evening little Toyo went at the proper time to the threshold of Mokurai's sanzen room. He struck the gong to announce his presence, bowed respectfully three times outside the door, and went to sit before the master in respectful silence.

"You can hear the sound of two hands when they clap together," said Mokurai. "Now show me the sound of one hand."

Toyo bowed and went to his room to consider this problem. From his window he could hear the music of the geishas. "Ah, I have it!" he proclaimed.

The next evening, when his teacher asked him to illustrate the sound of one hand, Toyo began to play the music of the geishas.

"No, no," said Mokurai. "That will never do. That is not the sound of one hand. You've not got it at all."

Thinking that such music might interrupt, Toyo moved his abode to a quiet place. He meditated again. "What can the sound of one hand be?" He happened to hear some water dripping. "I have it," imagined Toyo.

When he next appeared before his teacher, he imitated dripping water.

"What is that?" asked Mokurai. "That is the sound of dripping water, but not the sound of one hand. Try again."

In vain Toyo meditated to hear the sound of one hand. He heard the sighing of the wind. But the sound was rejected.

He heard the cry of an owl. This was also refused.

The sound of one hand was not the locusts.

For more than ten times Toyo visited Mokurai with different sounds. All were wrong. For almost a year he pondered what the sound of one hand might be.

At last Toyo entered true meditation and transcended all sounds. "I could collect no more," he explained later, "so I reached the soundless sound."

Toyo had realized the sound of one hand.

A soldier named Nobushige came to Hakuin, and asked: "Is there really a paradise and a hell?"

"Who are you?" inquired Hakuin.

"I am a samurai," the warrior replied.

"You, a soldier!" exclaimed Hakuin. "What kind of ruler would have you as his guard? Your face looks like that of a beggar."

Nobushige became so angry that he began to draw his sword, but Hakuin continued: "So you have a sword! Your weapon is probably much too dull to cut off my head."

As Nobushige drew his sword Hakuin remarked: "Here open the gates of hell!"

At these words the samurai, perceiving the master's discipline, sheathed his sword and bowed.

"Here open the gates of paradise," said Hakuin.

by Rabbi Shimon Leiberman

The last sefirah is the most important because God uses it to act through His creation.
The tenth and final sefirah is called "malchut" ("kingdom"), and in many ways this is the most important of the sefirot.

In order to understand what malchut is, we must refer back to the original verse that contains the ten sefirot: "To You, God, is greatness, strength, modesty, victory, awe, for all that is in heavens and earth; to You, God, is the kingdom." (1 Chronicles 29:11) We note that the description of malchut is an almost separate sentence and it restarts with the phrase, "to You, God, is..." Why this distinction?

Let us explain this by defining what malchut is.

When we think of a king or a kingdom, we imagine a dictator imposing his will on a helpless populace, draining them of their resources to be used for his own personal aggrandizement. Even if we picture him as a benevolent despot, he is at best an efficient bureaucrat.

But when we speak of God and the concept of kingdom, we refer to a completely different model.

The model we have in mind is of a king who has a picture of good and bad, an ideology of right and wrong, and teaches the society around him those ideas and values. That society is then awakened to what is really right and structures itself and its institutions accordingly. When society has finished this process, it thereby amplifies and proclaims those values that the king had in his heart and mind.

That society is thereby not only expressing the king's norms and values, but showing that these norms and values are really the inner norms and values of the people in the country.

While we do not live with kings and it might be difficult for us to picture this, we can definitely use the illustration of a good teacher. A teacher who allows the students to "do as they wish" is not a teacher at all. The students have not received anything from him.

On the other hand, a teacher who forces his students to do as he says has merely imposed external shackles on them. He has not really affected them in any way, and he is not a teacher. The real teacher is the one who inspires his students, so that they realize that their own real feelings and values are those espoused by their teacher.

This is malchut in the true sense. It is God's actions and attributes - not as expressed by God, but rather as human beings express them. It is as if God's actions have struck a resonant chord in us, and we thereby act in a similar manner.

This requires that we do God's will, and not sin, and that we do so with free will. For if we do not do God's will, then we are not a reflection of the Divine process in the world. But if we do God's will out of fear then we are responding like the students who are forced by their teacher to do the teacher's bidding, and not from an inner sense of connection with God.

KING VS. DICTATOR

The way we respond to God is often expressed by commentators as the contrast of two synonyms:

Malchut meaning monarchial reign, and
Mamlacha meaning dictatorial rule.
Thus we say in our prayers, "...and they accepted (God's) malchut [monarchial reign] willingly." Whereas the verse speaking about the relationship between God and the nations who have not yet accepted Him states, "For onto God is mamlacha [dictatorial rule] and He is ruler over the gentile nations." This means that God really wishes to evoke malchut in the world, but as far as those nations are concerned, He rules over them in a dictatorial way but does not bring about malchut in them.

But, if we are to define the sefirah of malchut correctly, we need to be clear that (unlike the other nine) it is an attribute of God which does not emanate from God directly. Rather it emanates from God's creation -- when that creation reflects and evinces God's glory from within itself.

This is the reason why it is stated separately in the verse -- "To You, God, is greatness, strength, modesty, victory, awe, for all that is in heavens and earth; to You, God, is the kingdom" -- for there is a great gap between the first nine sefirot and the last one. The first nine are a continuous stream of God's actions which strike humanity and affect us. When we then absorb these influences of God, find them in ourselves, change and thereby reflect God's glory - then we evince malchut.

It is in this sense that this is the most important sefirah. In malchut, God does not act merely by Himself, but rather God acts through us.

Malchut is the goal that God had in mind when He created the world. All of the other sefirot are only the means to see malchut emerge.

In relating to the first nine sefirot, we are outside observers - admiring God's handiwork objectively. We may be impressed but somehow it never quite becomes an overwhelming experience. It is only when we hear the voice of God echoing from within us - which is malchut - that we are truly transformed.

Published Sunday, June 03, 2001

Pray for all, believers and non believers.

31. Holy art Thou, O God, the universals' Father.

Holy art Thou, O God, whose Will perfects itself by means of its own Powers.

Holy art Thou, O God, who willeth to be known and art known by Thine own.

Holy art Thou,who didst by Word (Logos) make to consist the things that are.

Holy art Thou, of whom All-nature hath been made an image.

Holy art Thou, whose Form Nature hath never made.

Holy art Thou, more powerful than all power.

Holy art Thou, transcending all pre-eminence.

Holy Thou art, Thou better than all praise.

Accept my reason's offerings pure, from soul and heart for aye stretched up to Thee, O Thou unutterable, unspeakable, Whose Name naught but the Silence can express.

The Corpus Hermeticum
I. Poemandres, the Shepherd of Men
translated by G.R.S. Mead

http://www.brynosaurus.com/funny/SelfConfidence.jpg

Two traveling monks reached a river where they met a young woman. Wary of the current, she asked if they could carry her across. One of the monks hesitated, but the other quickly picked her up onto his shoulders, transported her across the water, and put her down on the other bank. She thanked him and departed.

As the monks continued on their way, the one was brooding and preoccupied. Unable to hold his silence, he spoke out. "Brother, our spiritual training teaches us to avoid any contact with women, but you picked that one up on your shoulders and carried her!"

"Brother," the second monk replied, "I set her down on the other side, while you are still carrying her."

CONTAINING THE DISCOURSE OF THE SOUL WITH THE BODY AND SELF-LOVE; AND ALSO OF THE SPIRIT WITH HUMANITY
CHAPTER I
The soul and the body propose to travel in company, and to take self-love for a third party.

I saw, said the saint, a Soul and a Body conversing with one another; and first, the Soul said: My Body, God has created me to love, and to enjoy myself; I wish, therefore, to go where I can best accomplish this design, and to have you accompany me in a friendly way, since it will be to your advantage also. We will go through the world; if I find anything which pleases me, I will enjoy it; you can do the same when you find anything which pleases you; and let him do better that can.
The Body answered: Though I may be obliged to do whatever pleases you, yet I see that you cannot accomplish all that you wish without me. Therefore, if we are to set forth together let us come to a perfect understanding before we start, in order that we may not fall out by the way. For my own part, I agree to your proposal, but let each of us be satisfied with the success of the other when he meets with anything that pleases him, for such forbearance, will keep us in peace. I advise this beforehand, because I do not wish that you should deceive me, and say whenever I find something that I like: "I do not wish you to linger here, for I am going elsewhere to attend to my own concerns," and thus I might find myself obliged to abandon my own plans in order to follow yours. In that case, I assure you I should die, and our design would be frustrated. To prevent this, I think it would be well to take with us a third companion, some just person who has no share in our partnership, and to whom all our differences could be referred.
Soul. I am well-pleased with this proposal; but who shall this third person be?
Body. Let it be Self-Love, who lives with us both; he will see that I have what belongs to me, and I shall enjoy with him. He will do the same for you, and thus, both will be satisfied, each in his own way.
Soul. What shall we do if we find food equally gratifying to both?
Body. Let him eat who may. If there is enough for both there will be no disagreement. If there is not enough, Self-Love will give to each his share. But since our tastes are so different, it will be most extraordinary if we should find food equally pleasing to both, unless one or the other should change; which is contrary to the nature of things.
Soul. By nature I am more powerful than you, and therefore I have no fear of your converting me to your tastes.
Body. But this is my home, where I have so many delightful things to enjoy, that although you may be more powerful than I, you could not possibly awaken in me the desire to be converted to yours. But I, being, as I have said, at home, might more easily convert you to my tastes, doing it from love and from a wish to please you, for you are seeking things which you neither see, taste, nor understand,--nor do you even know where your home is.
Soul. Let us try the experiment; but, in the first place, we must make some agreement by which we may secure harmony. Let us take alternate weeks. When it is my turn you must do whatever is pleasing to me; and, in like manner, when yours comes, I will do whatever you wish, always excepting, so long as I live, whatever would offend our Creator. If I die, that is, if you induce me to offend him, I shall then be your servant to do your bidding, for in that case I shall be wholly converted to your wishes, and shall take pleasure in whatever pleases you. Being thus united, no one but God can ever interrupt our union,for it will always be protected by free-will; and both in this world and the next we shall receive together the reward of all the good and evil that we do. A like fate will be yours, if I succeed in conquering you.
But here comes Self-Love. You have heard the whole. Will you be our third party, our judge, and the companion of our journey?
Self-Love. I consent, and shall find it greatly to my advantage. I shall give each of you what belongs to him, for this will not injure me; and thus I shall live on equal terms with both. But if either of you should wrong me, and deprive me of my support, I shall immediately have recourse to the other, for on no account would I be deprived of my own subsistence.
Body. I am not one who would ever abandon you.
Soul. Nor would I ever do so, especially as we all agree and understand that, above all things, we are to avoid offending God. Therefore, if either of us sins, the others will check the offender. Now, in God's name, let us go, and I, being the most worthy, will take the first week.
Body. I am contented; guide me, and do with me whatever reason directs. Self-Love and I yield to you.

The Life and Doctrine of Saint Catherine of Genoa
Typed by: Kathy Sewell ksewell@gate.net
August 28, 1997
This book is in the public domain.
http://www.ccel.org/c/catherine_g/life/life.htm

Two traveling monks reached a river where they met a young woman. Wary of the current, she asked if they could carry her across. One of the monks hesitated, but the other quickly picked her up onto his shoulders, transported her across the water, and put her down on the other bank. She thanked him and departed.

As the monks continued on their way, the one was brooding and preoccupied. Unable to hold his silence, he spoke out. "Brother, our spiritual training teaches us to avoid any contact with women, but you picked that one up on your shoulders and carried her!"

"Brother," the second monk replied, "I set her down on the other side, while you are still carrying her."

http://www.rider.edu/~suler/zenstory/zenstory.html

http://www.ccel.org/index/classics.html
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/
http://www.sacred-texts.com/index.htm

http://www.religion-online.org/


It's a Christian site.

One day Chuang Tzu and a friend were walking by a river. "Look at the fish swimming about," said Chuang Tzu, "They are really enjoying themselves."
"You are not a fish," replied the friend, "So you can't truly know that they are enjoying themselves."

"You are not me," said Chuang Tzu. "So how do you know that I do not know that the fish are enjoying themselves?"




(A western version of this story describes two philosophers on a walk while discussing phenomenology. One of them kicks a dog and says, "See! This dog is experiencing pain".... etc.)

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall
--Confucius

Ecclesiastes 7 (New International Version)
20 There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins.

God to enfold me,
God to surround me,
God in my speaking,
God in my thinking.

God in my sleeping,
God in my waking,
God in my watching,
God in my hoping.

God in my life,
God in my lips,
God in my soul,
God in my heart.

God in my sufficing,
God in my slumber,
God in mine ever-living soul,
God in mine eternity.

ancient celtic oral traditions - carmina gadelica

O Krishna, it is right that the world delights
and rejoices in your praise,
that all the saints and sages bow down to you
and all evil flees before you to the far corners of the universe.

How could they not worship you, O Lord?
You are the eternal spirit,
who existed before Brahma the creator
and who will never cease to be,
the Lord of the gods,
you are the abode of the universe.
Changeless, you are what is and what is not,
and beyond the duality of existence and nonexistence.

You are the first among gods,
the timeless spirit, the resting place of all beings.
You are the knower and the thing which is known.
You are the final home;
within your infinite form you pervade the cosmos.

You are Vayu, god of wind;
Yama, god of death;
Agni, god of fire;
Varuna, god of water.
You are the moon and the creator Prajapati,
and the great-grandfather of all creatures.
I bow before you and salute you again and again.

You are behind me and in front of me;
I bow to you on every side.
Your power is immeasurable.
You pervade everything;
you are everything.

the bhagavad gita - 11:36-40 - arjuna

It is said that when Buddha was first Enlightened he was asked,
"Are you a God?"
"No," he replied.
"Are you a saint?"
"No."
"Then what are you?"

And he answered, "I am awake."

A master of the tea ceremony in old Japan once accidentally slighted a soldier. He quickly apologized, but the rather impetuous soldier demanded that the matter be settled in a sword duel. The tea master, who had no experience with swords, asked the advice of a fellow Zen master who did possess such skill. As he was served by his friend, the Zen swordsman could not help but notice how the tea master performed his art with perfect concentration and tranquility. "Tomorrow," the Zen swordsman said, "when you duel the soldier, hold your weapon above your head, as if ready to strike, and face him with the same concentration and tranquility with which you perform the tea ceremony." The next day, at the appointed time and place for the duel, the tea master followed this advice. The soldier, readying himself to strike, stared for a long time into the fully attentive but calm face of the tea master. Finally, the soldier lowered his sword, apologized for his arrogance, and left without a blow being struck.

Faith and love which are gifts of the Holy Spirit are such great
and powerful means that a person who has them can easily, and with
joy and consolation, go the way Jesus Christ went. Besides this,
the Holy Spirit gives man the power to resist the delusions of the
world so that although he makes use of earthly good, yet he uses
them as a temporary visitor, without attaching his heart to them.
But a man who has not got the Holy Spirit, despite all his
learning and prudence, is always more or less a slave and
worshipper of the world.

St. Innocent of Irkutsk, Indication of the Way into the Kingdom of
Heaven.

This is the mark of Christianity--however much a man toils, and
however many righteousnesses he performs, to feel that he has done
nothing, and in fasting to say, "This is not fasting," and in
praying, "This is not prayer," and in perseverance at prayer, "I
have shown no perseverance; I am only just beginning to practice
and to take pains"; and even if he is righteous before God, he
should say, "I am not righteous, not I; I do not take pains, but
only make a beginning every day."

St. Macarius the Great

The Lord's Day is a mystery of the knowledge of the truth that is
not received by flesh and blood, and it transcends speculations.
In this age there is no eighth day, nor is there a true Sabbath.
For he who said that `God rested on the seventh day,' signified
the rest [of our nature] from the course of this life, since the
grave is also of a bodily nature and belongs to this world. Six
days are accomplished in the husbandry of life by means of keeping
the commandments; the seventh is spent entirely in the grave; and
the eighth is the departure from it.

St. Isaac of Syria, The Ascetical Homilies.I

Mark 10 (New International Version)

13People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” 16And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.

Let nothing upset you,
let nothing startle you.
All things pass;
God does not change.
Patience wins
all it seeks.
Whoever has God
lacks nothing:
God alone is enough.

-St Teresa Avila

Luk 17:20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Luk 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

NKJV

Ok, ask away.. there that is :)

Usurper: Ok, but that wasn't part of what I was refering to.

Plus why indefinite? Is it that the person can control the flesh like Christ did, whereas Death, disease has no effect on their body and they can choose the moment they cross over?

Radiant Aunt: NIV

Grampa AD: Afetr all, is says quite plainly in Genesis that only through knowing good and evil could we become like God. ;)

"21 The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.""

It was said of Abba Helladius that he spent twenty years in the Cells, without
ever raising his eyes to see the roof of the church.

(Abba Epiphanius) added, 'A man who receives something from another because of
his poverty or his need has therein his reward, and because he is ashamed,
when he repays it he does so in secret. But it is the opposite for the Lord
God; he receives in secret, but he repays in the presence of the angels, the
archangels and the righteous.'

It was said concerning Abba Agathon that some monks came to find him having
heard tell of his great discernment. Wanting to see if he would lose his
temper they said to him 'Aren't you that Agathon who is said to be a
fornicator and a proud man?' 'Yes, it is very true,' he answered. They
resumed, 'Arn't you that Agothon who is always talking nonsense?' 'I am."
Again they said 'Aren't you Agothon the heretic?' But at that he replied 'I am
not a heretic.' So they asked him, 'Tell us why you accepted everything we
cast you, but repudiated this last insult.' He replied 'The first accusations
I take to myself for that is good for my soul. But heresy is separation from
God. Now I have no with to be separated from God.' At this saying they were
astonished at his discernment and returned, edified.

(Abba Evagrius) said; 'Take away temptations and no one will be saved.'

From the Sayings of the Desert Fathers

Grampa AD: Gotta love those desert fathers.

;)