LOVE IS ....

Words of Spiritual Teachers:

A word used to describe a specialness of feeling, a demonstrable affection for a person or idea. Unfortunately, man rarely understands the pure, undiluted essence of “love as harmony” or “love as concern for the whole”.

(Meredith Young).

Love is not sentiment. To be sentimental, to be emotional, is not love, because sentimentality and emotions are mere sensations, a form of self-expansion. To be full of emotion is obviously not love, because a sentimental person can be cruel when his sentiments are not responded to, when his feelings have no outlet. An emotional person can be stirred to hatred, to war, to butchery.

(J. Krishnamurti).

You must learn to love everything and everyone without distinction or discrimination. The highest kind of love of all is the perfectly impartial love. Then you will be love itself and you can only act in love, you will only need to radiate yourself, to be yourself, and the whole universe will be able to draw from your warmth, from your light, and from your strength.

(Elizabeth Haich).

It is love alone that can solve our human problems. It is only when we know how to love each other that there can be cooperation, that there can be intelligent functioning, a coming together over any question. Where there is action of the self there is no love, it is a self-conscious activity of the “me” which hopes through loving to gain a result.

(J. Krishnamurti).

Love does not seek to hold, but to give.

(Dorothy McClean).

Love is pursuit of the whole.

(Rick Fields).

When you love someone, when you know they’re ready to learn and grow, you set them free. How could you learn, how could you feel your experiences if you knew I was there, a shield between you and your choices.

(Richard Bach).

A loving person lives in a loving world. A hostile person lives in a hostile world. Everyone you meet is your mirror.

(Ken Keyes Jr.)

Limitless love and truth is always transmitting to and through us, if we can awaken to it.

(David Spangler).

Only my sincere wish that you continue following what speaks within you, that you take your own time and your own way and that you never feel the need to even notice my blessing, because a blessing can have no price. Just my recognition that you are free, because that is what love is.

(Hugh Prather).

One cannot create love in a fragmentary way, though one can create desire. One can realize the oneness we all share, and this realization itself is the vision of love that will reflect itself though our actions.

(David Spangler).

Fear is the condition of mind that accompanies a deep disbelief in love.

(Hugh Prather).

The human emotional spectrum can be broken down into two basic elements: Love and Fear.

The highest frequency current, the highest energy current is love. It produces buoyancy, radiance, lightness and joy.

(Gary Zukav).

Intensities of joy and grief produce the same “heartbreak” feeling which is expressed in weeping. To fall deeply in love is to enter a state where delight and anguish are at times so interwoven as to be indistinguishable. But the context of the feeling changes its interpretation, depending on whether the circumstances which arouse it are for us or against us.

(Alan Watts).

To love is to free all you see from how you remember it. See it now. Now and love are the same.

(Hugh Prather).

Action guided by a sense of inadequacy will express the emptiness from which it springs rather than fullness, hunger rather than strength. Thus, when our love for others is based simply on mutual need it becomes strangling.

(Alan Watts).

Love is total absence of fear of love.

(Anthony de Mello).

People who are conscious on this planet do not possess anybody; they feel themselves one with the infinite all.

(Elizabeth Haich).

All actions are based on an idea or previous experience, shaping actions. An action without ideation is real love.

(J. Krishnamurti).

***

IN SEARCH OF HAPPINESS

Words of Spiritual Teachers

Happiness is a present attitude and not a future condition.

(Hugh Prather)

Happiness happens when your consciousness is not dominated by addictions and demands.

(Ken Keyes)

Happiness is appreciating, learning from, and working with whatever happens in everyday life. The natural result of this harmonious way of living is happiness.

(Benjamine Hoff)

  

The moment I ceased to rely so desperately on others for my happiness, I found it in myself.

(Liv Ulman)

Wisdom, happiness, and courage are not waiting somewhere out beyond sight at the end of a straight line; they are part of a continuous cycle that begins right here. They are not only the ending, but the beginning as well.

(Benjamine Hoff)

The state of creativeness by itself brings happiness.

(J. Krishnamurti)

Do you want to be happy? You can begin by being appreciative of who you are and what you’ve got.

(Benjamine Hoff)

Real happiness does not exist because each and everything is so unstable.

(Buddha)

The brain doesn’t care if its stimulation is happy or sad, and once it receives that stimulation, it is unwilling to give it up easily. Change your negative thoughts and open your mind and heart to the joy of day to day life.

(Paul Pearsall)

There is no separation between sadness and happiness in life and we should not prefer one to the other. We should be able to live fully with both and hold both in our heart to experience balance and completeness. This is what is behind rituals and life is a ritual of mindfulness.

(Pema Chodron)

Be present enough to recognize happiness!

(Bernard De Koven)

Acknowledging the preciousness of each day is a good way to live, a good way to reconnect with our basic joy.

(Pema Chodron)

  

What do the sad people have in common?

It seems they have all

built a shrine to the past.

What is the beginning of happiness?

It is to stop doing that.

(Hafiz)

The secret of happiness is to observe and see all the marvels of the world, and never forget what is entrusted to you.

(Paulo Coelho)

There are five things we cannot change and we find happiness by embracing them:

·       Everything changes and ends

·       Things do not always go according to plan

·       Life is not always fair

·       Pain is part of life

·       People are not loving and loyal all the time

(David Richo)

Happiness is our natural state and it cannot be acquired. We don’t have to add anything in order to be happy but we’ve got to drop somethings which are the illusions, the cravings and the negative feelings that we have.

(Anthony De Mello)

INTENTIONAL LIFE

Every action in life is motivated by and begins with an intention. The important question is whether we are conscious of our intentions or life is just happening to us!

The facts are as follows:

Most people are simply unaware of their intentions behind what they think or what they do in day to day life, and as a result, they accumulate a collection of life experiences based on what happens to them without seeing the significance of their intentions.

When we think about doing something we are in fact following an intention which may be known or unknown to us but at the same time we should know that at that moment we are co-creating our own realities and we better be clear about our intentions.

To be able to live an intentional life we need to be aware of who we are, what do we really want and why we want that. If not, we will constantly find ourselves saying something but intending something else.

Any change begins with an intention because our intentions open us to new perceptions which consequently lead us to a new direction in life.

To live an intentional life means to be at peace within oneself and to lead a life which does not create animosity but it is full of kindness and generosity to all other beings. Our behaviors reflect our intentions which means “we say so”!

In an intentional life, there is no separation between us and other beings and we try to solve the problems of existence and not just our own personal problems. We choose the most positive thoughts and actions in each moment while remembering that we are the world and not just individuals.

Living an intentional life means that we listen to others without interpretation, we observe without judgment and we deal with what is at hand with compassion. The question to ask ourselves is – why am I thinking of doing this and what are my true intentions.

I would think that if the human beings were intentionally more careful in their lives we would not have caused all the atrocities in nature, in the environment and for many other beings on earth, the way that we have done so far.

Let us live an intentional life in 2017 and onward hoping to create better realities for ourselves and for all other beings.

YOU ARE NEVER ALONE

Words of Spiritual Teachers

Have you ever tried to be alone? When you do try, you will feel how extraordinary intelligent we must be to be alone, because the mind will not let us be alone. When you are willing to face what is - then that loneliness comes to an end because it is completely transformed. It is no longer loneliness.

(J. Krishnamurti).

You cease to be an exile when you discover that creation is your home.

(Anthony de Mello).

All suffering comes from a person’s inability to sit still and be alone.

(Hugh Prather).

There will be times when you will have to stand very much alone, and in that aloneness, you will have to be unshakable in your convictions. Remember this and stand firm.

(Eileen Caddy).

As long as I have no relationship to the thing outside me, the problem is not; the moment I establish a relation with it outside me the problem is.

(J. Krishnamurti).

Which is worth more,

a crowd of thousands,

or your own genuine solitude?

Freedom, or power over an entire nation?

A little while alone in your room

will prove more valuable

than anything else that could ever be given you.

(RUMI).

Loneliness is not only positively characterized by a certain degree of isolation, but is negatively characterized by a deficiency of participation.

(Stephen Batchelor).

We always find ourselves in the paradoxical situation of being simultaneously alone with others.

(Stephen Batchelor).

We allow that which is termed the trauma as called fear to allude into our being and to create in our being a lessening; the lessening creates that which is termed a fear called aloneness which creates in the ultimate of its being a state that is called madness.

Madness is created with the inability to cope with one’s self and all that it is creating. Knowing full well it can stop anytime it wishes to. It is an escape but only into another consciousness. You never escape from anything.

(Ramtha).

I was alone at birth; I must die alone; and, in a sense, I am always alone, for the gulf separating me from others can never satisfactorily be bridged.

I am alone and yet not alone, for I am together on this planet with trillions of living creatures, all as eager as myself for happiness, all as afraid of pain and sorrow as I am, all presumably with the same right to grasp happiness and feel pain and sorrow to the maximum possible extent. How ought I to relate to these fellow sentient beings in a positive, constructive way?

(John Blofeld).

Through the sustained contemplation of the equality of self and other we descend to a depth at which we suddenly touch that being – with – others is inevitably transformed into an existentially active being – for – others. It is like feeding oneself: there is no hope for anything in return.

(Stephen Batchelor).

Willingness to listen comes from the gentle recognition that you are never alone.

(Hugh Prather).

Optimum being alone is the actualization of meaningful being for oneself. One is thus constantly grounded in an awareness of the voidness of any self-sufficient existence inhering within the core of things. One is also deeply conscious of the dependent and relative nature of whatever is experienced. There is the immediate “mystical” experience of oneself and the world as they are. And instead of anxiety, joy becomes the underlying mood of one’s being in the world.

(Stephen Batchelor).

AN ENDING AND A NEW BEGINNING

The year 2016 is ending and we need to keep our heart open to the dynamic energy of the year which is going to begin. We need to be imaginative and think about an incredible new year which brings with it a great sense of freedom and satisfaction because, as we already know, every tomorrow is our today’s dream.

We all have a relationship with this world because this is where we learned how to stay hopeful and unbroken, how to let go and bear the weight of yesterday, and how to be in harmony with life itself. We have learned that life does not change based on our reaction of like and dislike, instead, we should use the reservoir of our courage within and help to create what benefits us and all other beings.

Today, life on our planet Earth has become a question of profound concern because, as we all know, human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and environment for a long time and with negative impacts. Some of the impacts are mentioned as follows:

    

Occupation of significant part of earth by humans

Greenhouse gas effects due to CO2 liberation

Increase in surface temperature

Raising of sea level due to melting of glaciers

Overpopulation of humans

Extinction of 7% of animal species

Massive destruction of forests

Effects of litter and debris on biodiversity in coastal areas

Presence of high concentration of radionuclides

Effects of contamination of soil by different chemicals

Etc.

At the same time, we also know that a lot has been done and continue to be achieved through the creative use of science and technology hoping that one day the human species can move beyond all the existing limitations. As we leave this year behind I am reminded by Kahlil Gibran the poet and philosopher who says:

“Let us embrace the past with remembrance and the future with longing!”

THE EVER-CHANGING LIFE

WORDS OF SPIRITUAL TEACHERS

Change is synonymous with life.

(Buddha's Philosophy)

Just when I think I have learned the way to live, life changes and I am left the same as I began. 

(Hugh Prather)

You humans cling to the known. You even expect one another to always be the same, instead of realizing that you are creatures different from what you were in the last second of time, and that you have infinite possibilities to be still more different.

(Dorothy McClean)

There is a contradiction in us, there is in us a constant state of denial and assertion – what we want to be and what we are. There is a lack of peace in us and therefore outside us. There is constant denial of one desire by another desire. If we regard life not as a permanent desire but as a series of temporary desires which are constantly changing, then there is no contradiction. When the mind does not regard all desires as moving, transient, but seizes upon one desire and makes that into a permanency – only then, when other desires arise, is there a contradiction.

(J. Krishnamurti)

There is nothing stable in worlds of the one who forever expresses life and love in an outgoing manner. How then can anything stay as it was.

(Dorothy McClean)

Existence is beyond the power of words. To define terms may be used but are none of them absolute.

(Lao Tzu)

We crave to find permanent security in something distinct from and unrelated to ourselves. But no lasting security can be found however much we manipulate the external elements of the world.

(Stephen Batchelor)

In all Chinese art, there’s not symmetry. There’s not complete balance between two sides of the painting, because the moment you have symmetry you have something static.

(Alan Watts)

The clouds above us join and separate

The breeze in the courtyard leaves and returns

Life is like that, so why not relax

Who can stop us from celebrating?

(Benjamin Hoff)

There is only a moment, an instant of flame. There is only this moment. And actually, you, who come in at the door are not the same people who are sitting here. Just as in the whirlpool of water – there is no constant water. There is only going on a continuous behavior, whirling in the water – but no water stays in it. So, in exactly the same way you who came into the door a few minutes ago, and are now sitting here, are entirely different, only you are clinging to the idea of your continuity.

(Alan Watts)

DID WE PERMANENTLY CHANGE THE PLANET?

The term “Anthropocene” is composed of anthropo (humankind), and cene (new), in Greek language. It is viewed as the period during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment. Experts believe that the new epoch has started 66 years ago with the start of industrial revolution in early 19^th century. Main indicators in relation to human influence are summarized as follows:

- Humans occupied a significant part of the Earth as hunter gatherers, communities and farmers.

- Burning carbon rich fossil fuel liberated CO2 (referred to as greenhouse gas) which allows the     sunlight in, but traps the heat radiation that the earth and its oceans emit in return.

-The liberated CO2 does not escape the earth and the level has increased from 280 ppm to 413         ppm at present.

-The average surface temperature over the past two centuries has gone up by 1.5 degrees  centigrade. This has led to global warming, and consequently, melting of glaciers and raising of    the sea level by 3.2 mm every year.

-Increase in human population from 1.2 billion in 1850 to the current 7 billion.

-Massive destruction of forests, animals and the Earth’s sixth major extinction proves that the  biodiversity crisis is real, and that 7% of all species on Earth may have disappeared already.

-Plastics, litter and debris carried by rivers and creeks accumulate in the marine environment    particularly, in coastal areas, affecting biodiversity.

-The bones of domestic chicken, the world’s most common bird through human breeding and  consumption, with over 60 billion consumed a year become fossilized in landfill sites.

-The atomic weapon testing programs, coal plants, nuclear fallout and tests of thermonuclear  devices have left a clear and global signal of high concentration of radionuclides.

-Human activity has affected the soil through repeated ploughing, addition of fertilizers,  contamination, sealing, and much more.

An indication of unawareness and a depiction of total neglect of wholeness of life!

Sources

m.thehindu.com

Earthsky.org

Wikipedia