Remembering Who We Are

Where did I come from? And the answer to that is: I did not come from anywhere, because I was always here. The body comes and goes, but "I" am always here. Where I come from is a place that has no beginning in time and no ending. Where I go is the same place. As we have seen, there are no particular locations in space or time. In a non-local universe, there is nowhere to go!

And what happens to me when I die? The answer: Nothing happens, because I do not die. Pure consciousness cannot be destroyed; it can only be expressed. Knowing this frees us from the fear of death because nothing in the universe is ever lost; it is only transformed. If you and I are speaking on the phone, and somebody cuts off the phone lines, what happens to us? Where do we go? Nothing happens to us, and we don't go anywhere. So, too, when physical death occurs, nothing happens to us. Certain lines of communication that use a certain nervous system have temporarily been disrupted. But we are still here. The soul doesn't go anywhere; it's the body that dissolves and returns to the earth.

Then where is the soul? One of the biggest misconceptions is that the soul resides in the body. People may say, "This person died, and the soul has left," but it's not true. The soul is not inside the body. The soul projects itself as the body and the mind. It finds a location in space-time, and broadcasts or telecasts itself through the body. But just as the characteristics in a movie are not inside my television set when I'm watching it, and Beethoven is not inside my radio when I'm listening to it, my soul is not inside by body. My soul is merely localizing or expressing itself through my body.

Adapted from Power, Freedom, and Grace
by Deepak Chopra (Amber Allen, 2006)

Fairtrade Fortnight Now!

http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/get_involved/fairtrade_fortnight/fairtrade_fortnight_2008/default.aspx

Cymru Am Byth!

Cardiff: Before Wales V Italy
Six Nations 23.02.08
Juliette Llewellyn Sony Ericsson Mobile

The Great Trafalgar Square Freeze

I'm looking for the face I had
Before the world was made.
Yeats

As You Sow, So Shall You Reap

With these words, “As you sow, so shall you reap,” Jesus is teaching his listeners that their actions have moral consequences. Good actions lead to good results, bad actions to bad results: That is the most common understanding of Karma. But in a broader sense Jesus is making a point about life on the spiritual path. The world is a mirror of the self. The reason that good actions lead to good results isn’t that God listens in, makes a judgement, and then rewards you with a god result. Instead, action and result occur simultaneously.

There is a constant, instantaneous calculus taking place with your every thought, word, and action. Most people don't notice good or bad results unless these are dramatic, but the world functions as a mirror down to the minutest detail. The mechanics of consciousness are set up so that inner and outer dimensions match perfectly. Why does it take Jesus or another enlightened master to point this out? Because the mind is so complex and human nature so multilayered that we are easily conditioned to overlook the links between inner and outer. Separation is based on our own willingness to ignore certain images, some of them upsetting and disturbing, that the world reflects back to us. On the spiritual path, you become more willing to see what is right before your eyes—if not the eyes of the body, then the eyes of the soul.

Exercise
This is an exercise to teach you how to look into the mirror. You are going to see yourself in two people, someone you greatly admire and someone you intensely dislike. Begin with the person you admire. Make a list of his or her most admirable traits. Try to be as personal as possible. There are many strong, courageous role models, for example, so why did you chose Nehru in particular, or Mother Teresa, or Martin Luther King Jr.?

The answer is that your own aspirations match your hero's achievement. Some quality in you seeks to emerge. It may be the seed of compassion that is drawn upward by Mother Teresa or the seed of altruism drawn upward by Albert Schweitzer. If you pick Jesus, a figure so immense that he belongs to the whole world, look at your own desire to expand in all dimensions; perhaps the seed of freedom wants to grow.

Now reverse the exercise and pick someone you intensely dislike. Write down that person's worst qualities (this part usually isn't very hard) and then consider how you also embody those qualities without being able to see them in yourself. We project onto others what we cannot face in ourselves. Try to avoid picking someone universally hated like Adolf Hitler, because the enormity of his actions may drive you further from seeing yourself. It's better to choose someone closer to your own life.

This exercise becomes truly valuable when you carry out both parts. The world is not just a mirror but a teaching mirror. Learning to look into the world as a mirror helps to heal separation, as you see that you are included in creation, not living in some private exile outside of it.

Adapted from The Third Jesus by Deepak Chopra (Harmony Books, 2008)

Failure is only the opportunity to more
intelligently begin again Henry Ford

Chris Abani: Learning the stories of Africa

About this talk: In this deeply personal talk, novelist and poet Chris Abani searches for the heart of Africa through poetry and narrative -- including his own story of artistic and political awakening, which began with an inventive teacher who taught him the forbidden history of his own people. How, he asks, can we reconcile stories of terror, war and corruption with one's enduring sense of pure wonder?

About Chris Abani: Imprisoned three times by the Nigerian government, Chris Abani turned his experience into poems that Harold Pinter called "the most naked, harrowing expression of prison life and political torture imaginable." His novels include GraceLand (2004) and The Virgin of Flames (2007)

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/155

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Ethical Valentine

Snowdrop (off internet)
http://thenag.net/valentines
To my friends, have a beautiful day! Thanks for being in my life XX

Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly. Unknown

Ballake Sissoko at the Musical Workshop Labyrinth

My Daemon: Tiger

From every human being there rises a light that reaches straight to heaven. And when two souls that are destined to be together find each other, their streams of light flow together, and a single brighter light goes forth from their united being. Unknown Author

Massive Attack - Live With Me (Terry Version)

Baba Maal Chante Tara

The Soul's Journey

Terry Callier - TimePeace

A truly angelic message leaves us confident, not anxious. No matter whether the message is a joyous one or a sobering insight, we feel an inner sense of confidence that the content is appropriate for us and that it harmonizes with what our deepest spirit knows to be right and true.

Eileen Elias Freeman
Touched by Angels