Author: Frances

People are looking at my present rental apartment at all hours of the day. I’m moving and I try to be in the apartment because, as strange as this seems, some realtors don’t always lock the door when they leave. I’m sure they’re not trying to be mischevious; simply put, they are, at times, preoccupied and feeling stressed.

I’m learning that those who ask the most questions and seem the most interested are not the ones who will eventually occupy the apartment. From my experiences in Manhattan, I understand that many people see viewing apartments as entertainment. I guess that’s okay as long as both sides are aware of this.

Some potential renters who ask a lot of questions seem also to be piecing their lives together and are in some sort of transition. You can always tell when this is so-they stray from questions about the apartment to questions about their work, or the town they want to live in, or where they’ve been.

When some people come into my apartment their eyes light up. Okay, let me explain-it’s not because it’s sumptuous in any way; it’s uncluttered-I’m a minimalist-they can breathe, there’s space to think and I try for things that soothe and are beautiful.

I have a feeling about people and places, and this feeling says that there’s a right person, for whatever reason, who is suppose to live in a certain place, and when that person shows up, no more waiting; it’s easily rented, smoothly sold. Done. Until that time, it’s a waiting game. See it as that.

“I don’t want to hurry it, that itself is a twentieth century attitude. When you want to hurry something, that means you no longer care about it and want to get on with other things.” -Robert M. Pirsing, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

“Dare yourself to play games with your day; watch, wait, listen; allow things to happen.” -Rolf Potts

“you succeed by harmonizing yourself with forces that are more powerful than you are, rather than by trying to force them to your will.” -Tom O’Reilly, Knowing When to Let Go

“In the universe there is an unmeasurable force which shamans call intent, and absolutely everything that exists in the entire cosmos is attached to intent by a connecting link.” -Carlos Castaneda

Once upon a time at Quest Bookstore in Manhattan, I discovered the writings of Manly P. Hall. In those days, Quest carried only his booklets and in them he wrote about specific topics. The booklets, writing style, and information were, well, I’ll just say, wonderful. Manly P. Hall was a searcher. He spent a lifetime in the libraries of the world.

I have his book, THE SECRET TEACHINGS OF ALL AGES, next to me. In the front of the book are these words, “This book is dedicated to the Rational Soul of the World.” The back of the book notes, “Manly P. Hall (1901-1990), widely regarded as a sage and teacher steeped in the wisdom of antiquity, was one of the leading esoteric scholars of the twentieth century.” He founded The Philosophical Research Library in Los Angeles, www.prs.org. It has the most extensive alchemical libraries.

In the Forward, Henry L. Drake writes, “This volume reveals that the lore and legendry of the world, the scriptures and sacred books and the great philosophical systems all tell the same story. Human ambition may produce the tyrant; divine aspiration will produce the adept.” And in the Preface, Manly P. Hall writes, “To avoid a future of war, crime, and bankruptcy, the individual must begin to plan his own destiny, and the best source of the necessary information comes down to us through the writings of the ancients.”

How does one describe a book that offers the reader so much? Maybe one shouldn’t even try-only say that learning about the ancient teachings is crucial to our “soul, mind, and body.” In my heart I’ve always felt that it is our inherent nature to soar, if we’d simply agree with ourselves to do so, and move forward in that direction.

People commit suicide believing that they haven’t the ability to continue on in this lifetime, and many people are affected. Family and friends of those who die under normal circumstances eventually heal. In death by suicide, the healing takes longer, there’s always a nagging suspicion that it could/should have been avoided if. . . . In years gone by, I felt sorry for everyone involved. However, in the ensuing years, I’ve learned that sorry is not the feeling to express, that Life is much bigger than anything we can imagine, that we all have our own path, and that there’s a thin veil between life and death. What’s interesting is that we tend to see suicide as being quick. When you think about it, however, there’s a slow form of suicide taking place every day and it’s not quick. The slow form of suicide is, “The destruction or ruin of one’s own interests”, as noted in dictionary.com, and it happens on a daily basis.

Many times we’re caught up in this “destruction or ruin of one’s own interests” taking place right where we are. For instance, when traveling we often spend time waiting at airports. There are people who find waiting extremely difficult and tend to make it diffcult for others sharing the same space. Someone gets terribly angry over a minor incident, and everyone around them is disturbed. Someone else says, “I’m going to drown my problems at the bar, and later returns sloshed. You see a child behaving badly, and the parents seem to not have a clue as to what to do, and so they do nothing. On it goes.

And then, in the midst of all this, and in sharp contrast, you see a man or woman sitting quietly, simply attending to the moment. Or you observe a teenager listening to music, tapping her/his feet to the beat. And there’s a well-dressed man reading a paper and pointing to an article for his wife to enjoy. And things feel calmer.

The books I read say that life can be wonderful, not a struggle. The longer I live the more I’m inclined to believe it, and to feel that if we would just spend enough quiet time alone, giving the same attention to the within as we do to the without, we would come to a bigger understanding about Life, and eventually come to understand and appreciate ourselves, others, and the world.