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October 31st, 2007

God is above sex, and so therefore neither man nor woman as such can be said fully to understand, much less to represent, God. It is therefore incumbent on the male magician to cultivate those female virtues of which he is deficient, and this task he must of course accomplish without in any way impairing his virility.
Aleister Crowley

Stephen's Comment
Like him or loath him, Crowley often gets things spot on, and here once again he expresses an essential aspect of the Way found within all traditions - mystical, magical, devotional and practical.
We each contain opposite polarities within us. Wholeness is the end result of a process of separation, refinement and re-integration of these polarities.
As God, or the All, or enlightened consciousness, is the totality of all Wholeness so it follows that all things have their place in the consciousness of God or they could not be.
How then can God be a he or a she exclusively? He is a he and a she and yet neither a he nor a she. This is beyond the dualistic mind which thinks in terms of opposites, not wholenesses, but it is a more accurate way to view the Divine - and your own true Self.
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October 4th, 2007

Children, don't be disheartened if you are not getting any real concentration in the beginning. If you try constantly, you will definitely succeed...

Children, there are no obstacles on the path of a person who is constantly aware of the Goal. For him, all situations are regarded as favourable.
Ammachi
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September 13th, 2007

Life is the teacher of all teachers.
Paul Tisdell
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August 23rd, 2007

The unfortunate event can be a source of strength.
The Dalai Lama
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August 15th, 2007

Happiness is a butterfly, which, when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.
Nathaniel Hawthorne
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July 20th, 2007

I am the Self, seated in the hearts of all beings; I am the beginning and the life, and I am the end of them all.
Krishna, Bhagavad Gita

I am in them.
Jesus

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
Jesus

I am the way, the truth, and the life.
Jesus

Stephen's Comment
Would the real messiah please stand up? What's going on here? Both Krishna and Jesus claim the same thing in almost exactly the same words. Krishna's work was, however, published hundreds of years before Jesus birth, based on a far older oral tradition. Supposedly Krishna was kicking around over 3,000 years before Christ! So it can hardly be claimed that the Indian messiah was copying JC, quite possibly it's the other way round!
In reality, both these great beings demonstrated the ultimate state of enlightenment in which they were one with the unity of all things. Many other enlightened beings have repeated these same words.
Please understand this is a very different thing from the ego getting puffed up and thinking it's God. In the case of a truly enlightened being the individual self is surrendered to the Self of all.
So what I am saying is that the same God is speaking through both these beings, hence the consistancy of statements.
Of course if we put a hardcore Hare Krishna and a fundamentalist Christian in the same room they might not arrive at this perspective, but then hopefully we are able to see past the religious viewpoint and rejoice in the universal behind the diverse forms.
Glory be to the source of all revelation, wherever, whenever and however It expresses Itself.
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Silence is lovelier than Speech.
One ripple on the water mars
The magic mirror of the Stars.
Aleister Crowley, Aha

Stephen's Comment
The 'magic mirror' is, of course, the mind. How can it reflect the beauty of heaven is it is full of thoughts, attachments and chaos? The truth is known in stillness, when even the need to know is surrendered and the seer rests in his/her own nature.
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June 17th, 2007

Human endeavours never work out. It is what God ordains that is fulfilled. Be satisfied with what you possess, and what the gods grant will come naturally.
Ptah-hotep (circa 2,500 BC)

Not my will, but thine, be done.
Jesus

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.
Jesus

Not a leaf falls but with His knowledge.
The Koran

Stephen's Comment
Sometimes it's hard for those of us brought up in the West to hear the words of Jesus with the same open-mindedness as very similar words from a foreign culture. It is unfortunate that the works of Christianity have turned so many people off the works of Christ.
Anyway, the same truths can be found from other sources, because the truth is after all eternal and universal. The packaging is very much secondary.
So the kingdom of God is this place, our sacred natural mother Earth, and to seek it means to be present here and now and know it as the domain of the divine, to recognise the presence of the Absolute here is the world. His righteousness, well I suppose our righteousness is our dharma, or right action, meaning being true to yourself and true to God, ie. love is the key, love for self, love for others, love for nature, love for God. His righteousness would mean trying to live up to the example that He sets, ie. be as loving as Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, etc.
If you devote yourself to this then naturally you will come into harmony with life and your needs will be met.
We can ask, but to receive we must be humble and accept that all good things that come to us are a gift of grace from the source of all things.
Every spiritual tradition worth its salt speaks of this Way of relating to life.
The Ancient Egyptians were aware of this over 4,000 years ago, Jesus knew it 2,000 years ago, and there are spiritual teachers revealing the same thing today.
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May 22nd, 2007

The power of it is integral if it is turned into the earth.
Hermes Trismegistus, Emerald Tablet

Stephen's Comment
This line from Hermes' fabulous foundation text on Alchemy may at first viewing be rather difficult to make sense of, possibly due to the translation and the passage of time.
But I recently read a different translation of the Tablet which gave me great insight into this wisdom.
One way of viewing it would be this: If you express your creative potential in a practical application then wholeness and completion is at hand.
To do this is 'prosperity', while to neglect to do this is 'poverty, according to The Zohar.
There is far more to this wisdom than meets the eye. I will leave it to you to contemplate how you can apply this most magical of divine powers in your own life.
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May 15th, 2007

Spiritual progress depends primarily on the qualities within the spiritual seeker; time, place and other such means are but auxiliaries in this regard.
after Shankara, Viveka Chamunda

Stephen's Comment
We often feel we have to wait until certain conditions prevail before we feel able to take advantage of meditation, prayer or other spiritual disciplines.
No! Rather it is when we feel most stressed, most time pressured, most disconnected that we must practice most fervently. If we only meditate when it's easy, well it never will get easy, because ease of practice comes from having a regular discipline.
It would be like saying I'll only run when I'm fit and I'm not fit so I'm going to wait until I feel like it. Even if you do not seem to be making progress in your initial efforts, persist with your spiritual practices. If, after practicing regularly for weeks or months, you still do not appear to be making progress, then seek guidance from an experienced teacher.
If you have this attitude, then you can turn adversity into triumph, weakness into strength, flaws into virtues.
It is for people with this attitude that the heights of spiritual awakening await.
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April 23rd, 2007

In connecting to a sense of gentleness within ourselves, practising living in self-love, and starting to re-create harmony within, we are truly doing the best anyone can do to bring the world into balance.
Chris James
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April 6th, 2007

The Spirit is willing, but the ice cream is really good.
Samuel Sagan
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March 8th, 2007

The fruits of prosperity are held within the seeds of your will.
The soil of the mind must be receptive to the seed.
Believe you deserve to receive, tend your seed with the water of right action, eliminate the weeds of negativity and your fruits will be plentiful.
Paul Tisdell, The Power of Prosperity
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February 27th, 2007

"Man finds the meaning of his human existence in his capacity for decision, in his freedom of choice. It is a dreadful freedom, for it also means responsibility, but without it man would be as nothing."
Will Herberg

Stephen's Comment
Rights and responsibilities go hand in hand.
If you want more power, more freedom of choice, then take more responsibility.
Conversely, there is no use feeling responsible for anything which is beyond your control. If you are not given able to have any rights or power over it then it is not your cross to bear.
The trick is to realise what our true extent of our power really is, to acknowledge the true depth and breadth of our power to choose.
Gradually we go through a process of liberating our Will from the sleep of habit and ignorance, and start to realise who we truly are. This is the path to true power.

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February 14th, 2007

"Then said Almitra, "Speak to us of Love."

And he raised his head and looked upon the people, and there fell a stillness upon them. And with a great voice he said:

When love beckons to you follow him,

Though his ways are hard and steep.

And when his wings enfold you yield to him,

Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.

And when he speaks to you believe in him,

Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.

For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.

Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,

So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.

Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.

He threshes you to make you naked.

He sifts you to free you from your husks.

He grinds you to whiteness.

He kneads you until you are pliant;

And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.

All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.

But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,

Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,

Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.

Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.

Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;

For love is sufficient unto love.

When you love you should not say, "God is in my heart," but rather, "I am in the heart of God."

And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.

Love has no other desire but to fulfil itself.

But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:

To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.

To know the pain of too much tenderness.

To be wounded by your own understanding of love;

And to bleed willingly and joyfully.

To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;

To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;

To return home at eventide with gratitude;

And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips."
Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
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January 29th, 2007

"Never interrupt a good distraction."
Paul Tisdell, The River of Life

"Oversharpen a blade and the edge will weaken."
Lao-Tzu, Tao Te Ching

"In the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed."
Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
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January 15th, 2007

"Don't fret about bad thoughts. The mind is just a collection of thoughts. Think that the bad thoughts come up because it is time for them to disappear. But be careful not to identify with them. Try to develop the ability to stand back as a witness, as thoughts pass through your mind. That will make your mind strong."
Amma
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January 7th, 2007

Noone outside ourselves can rule us inwardly.
When we know this, we become free.
Buddha
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