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kristin zambucka, the mana keepers

The world is a neutral place Kristin Zambucka wrote in her wonderful book The Mana Keepers. Neutral, I like that, I said to myself. Other writers have used different words to get the same message across to us, and since we mirror whatever’s going on within ourselves, a variety of writers are necessary for all the different ways we humans have of perceiving life.

The people who write in this fashion are trying to tell us that moment by moment, consciously or unconsciously, our thoughts are creating our life. And when we wrap our mind securely around this thought it’s an Aha! moment. And then what? -the mind asks, and it thinks of the responsibility associated with getting this thought into motion. Where to begin? -it wonders while all along wanting things to stay the same. Too late! There’s no pretending in this matter; it’s the right time and the seed is planted.

And so a new show is being created, and as it develops it gets more exciting. Although sometimes there’s a desire to close the show because it takes too much effort to keep it going. But the nagger within insists on continuing because it knows that eventually it’ll be a hit.

The time to be lazy and sloppy, well, alas, it’s over, because once this thought is deeply heard, the within becomes unrelenting in its desire to unfold, and the voice within haunts with the words: moment by moment, consciously or unconsciously, our thoughts are creating our life.

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“Our remedies in ourselves do lie which we ascribe to heaven.” – Shakespeare

“What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.” – Otto Rank

“Let a man radically alter his thoughts, and he will be astonished at the rapid transformation it will effect in the material conditions of his life. Men imagine that thought can be kept secret, but it cannot, it rapidly crystallizes into habit, and habit solidifies into circumstance.”
– As a Man Thinketh by James Allen

“We choose our joys and sorrows before we experience them.” – Kahlil Gibran

“. . . We have underestimated ourselves tragically. We are sadly mistaken when we see ourselves as merely temporary bodies instead of timeless spirit; as separate suffering selves instead of blissful Buddhas; as meaningless blobs of matter instead of blessed children of God.”
– Essential Spirituality by Roger Walsh

“All day long the thoughts that occupy your mind, your secret place as Jesus called it, are molding your destiny for good or evil, in fact, the truth is that the whole of our life’s experience is but the outer expression of inner thought.”
– From the Pen of Emmet Fox

“You may be surprised at what seclusion with God will do for your mind, body and soul. . . . Through the portals of silence the healing sun of wisdom and peace will shine upon you.”
– Paramahansa Yogananda

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florence scovel shinn

Every so often I think about Florence Scovel Shinn (1871 – 1940). She was an artist living in New York, who became a metaphysical teacher, lecturer, and writer. Her book The Game of Life and How To Play It has sold millions of copies worldwide. If that subject is calling to you, her book could be a wonderful beginning for exploring and building a foundation. Many exciting and excellent books abound on this topic, and we have to start somewhere. However, it’s easy to be confused in a bookshop when facing many books and finding that nothing is calling to you. That’s when The Game of Life and How to Play It could jump start the process.

A long time ago I read something by Florense SS that has remained close to my heart. The following words are not verbatim, but the message is the same: We can’t change anyone; we actually have no right to change anyone. We can change ourselves though, and when we change, everything around us changes.

Over and over again I read the words: “We’re all connected,” therefore, by raising our consciousness, we help raise the mass consciousness. Imagine that!

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“So many people are leading such complicated lives because they are trying to think things out instead of ‘intuiting’ the way out.” – Florence Scovel Shinn

“To live intuitively is to live fourth-dimensionally.” – Claude Bragdon

“I was full of a hot, powerful sadness and would have loved to burst into the comfort of tears, but tried hard not to, remembering something my guru once said – that you should never give yourself a chance to fall apart because, when you do, it becomes a tendency and it happens over and over again. You must practice staying strong, instead.” – Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat Pray Love, page 137

“We must always change, renew, rejuvenate ourselves, otherwise we harden.” – Johann W. Goethe

“When you sell a man a book you don’t just sell him paper, ink and glue, you sell him a whole new life! There’s heaven and earth in a real book. The real purpose of books is to inspire the mind to do its own thinking!” -Christopher Morely

“Often fear stands between man and his perfect self-expression. Stage-fright has hampered many a genius. This may be overcome by the spoken word, or treatment. The individual then loses all self-consciousness, and feels simply that s/he is a channel for Infinite Intelligence to express Itself through.”
– Florence Scovel Shinn

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Failure is a first stop to success

I’m reading a book now that I find really inspiring. It’s called “The Secret of Success is Not a Secret” by Darcy Andries. It is a brilliant volume of condensed biographies, about individuals in the world from different places who succeeded beyond a multitude of failures. Not one failure, or two, some people seemed to “fail” about ten times, thirty times, before even seeing a hint of accomplishment. These people had names like Issac Newton, Milton Hershey, Billy Crystal, Cole Porter, Barbara Walters, Nelson Mandela, Margaret Sanger, Jerry Seinfeld, Louis Pasteur, Steven Spielberg, Auguste Rodin, George Lucas — the list goes on. Most of them had failures that were more humiliating than devastating. Their companies folded, they were told they were talentless by countless agents, no one would accept them to their universities. Others had setbacks that left them disabled or incarcerated, but regardless the measure, they kept at it. Beyond their contributions to society, they are a good example of a saying I heard once, “The only time you are sure to lose is when you stop trying.”

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camino de santiago

I’M OFF THEN by Hape Kerkeling
Have you ever thought about hiking the Camino de Santiago? – If you have or haven’t, I’M OFF THEN is a delightful travel book; it’s very funny and very honest. The writer freely shares what he’s feeling and learning, and the thoughts that arise on his spiritual journey. Questions come to him from out of the blue, and answers come when least expected. He meets people of all persuasions, a few become good friends, others he’d rather not have met. And the differences of one little village after another where pilgrims stay the night to seek food and refuge are noted, as are thoughts about the day’s hike.

Experiences differ greatly because everyone has their own reasons for hiking the camino. I’ve read that the experiences a hiker encounters on the pilgrimage are the ones needed, and that includes the people one meets along the way. To go alone seems quite brave. If the hiker is on a personal quest, then alone time tends to soothe the soul – after awhile. And there are always companions who come and go. At the end of the journey Santiago’s magnificent cathedral is there to greet the pilgrim.

The good and the not so good all sound wonderful to me because, when all is said and done, the experiences seem worth the tremendous effort it takes to hike the Camino de Santiago. Are you ready?

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the extraordinary healing power of ordinary things, shantaram, salaam bombay!, (and germs)

Are we too concerned with germs? Is advertising on tv, and in magazines causing fear to creep into our minds? Are the products on the shelves that suck out every bit of moisture from our hands leaving them dried and cracked (so that we need more products to heal our hands) really necessary? If we’re not careful, we’ll begin to feel that germs are attacking us around every corner we turn. That feeling doesn’t feel good. Germs will always be with us. It’s the fear of them that holds the real power. If it’s fear that rules, there’s a book that flows beautifully in the direction of balance called THE EXTRAORDINARY HEALING POWER of ORDINARY THINGS by Larry Dossey, M.D. Can we use the word delicious here? Because it is. Go directly to the chapter on Dirt, and don’t stop there continue to the chapter on Bugs. Now that should help, if you let it. Then, of course, there’s the rest of the book.
www.dosseydossey.com

SHANTARAM by GREGORY DAVID ROBERTS – What a book! is all I have to say. If you have an unhealthy fear of germs, there’s no way you’ll NOT come away feeling very differently about them. Well, to be fair to the book, this is a small part of it, but it’s a thread throughout a lot of its story. You can only know what that means after you’ve read it. It’s wildly entertaining, inspiring, disturbing; it’s a big story about life. And know this, somewhere along the line we get quite comfortable with the way of germs.
www.shantaram.com

The movie, SALAAM BOMBAY! “Spectacular! Excellent!” is what’s been said of it, and it’s all true. The director had “street kids” acting, along with top-notch Indian actors. Watching the “special features” simply adds more to what is already an important, entertaining, inspiring, and, yes, delicious film.

The slums of Bombay are a part of SHANTARAM AND SALAAM BOMBAY. I can’t help wondering about our sterile, antiseptic, squeaky clean way of living compared to the slums of Bombay (and other parts of the world where people live in similar conditions). Questions arise after reading SHANTARAM and watching SALAAM BOMBAY One is: How is it that these people are still alive? The other is: How is it that the hospitals in our squeaky clean part of the world are packed with sick people? The answers are complex. Or maybe not.

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happy new year to all of us

What a lovely day it is; the sun is shining brightly, the snow is melting, and 2011 is here. Are we ready for a new wonderful way to live so that we’ll find ourselves in a good place? It seems our intelligent universe is asking individuals to come forth and shine mentally, spiritually, and physically so that together we can all thrive in the world.

Happily there have always been people who have understood their connection with everything that exists, and their responsibility to look upon the universe with kind and generous eyes, and to hold compassion, love, harmony, joy, beauty in their hearts for all that exists. That’s impossible, you say. if you tell that to those who know life differently they’ll say that everyone can come from a place that’s nurturing and loving – that it’s a choice. They’ll also say it’s time in the evolution of humanity for every one of us to change the way we see the world. We need a new understanding of our fascinating world, our place in it, and the way in which our thoughts and actions affect it for better or worse. Before a new year arrives we begin thinking of things we can do to improve – once again the opportunity is ours to get away from worse forever. When that happens all that exists will benefit big time. That’s not too shabby a thought.

“. . .Every atom of your body is connected to every other atom in the universe. . .”
-taken from an essay by Nassim Haramein in the book: Transforming Through 2012
Leading Perspectives on the New Global Paradigm
Featuring 33 Authors – Scientists, Researchers, Futurists, Mystics, Astrologers, Indigenous Elders and Luminaries. . .

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF US.

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charles eisenstein

A friend of mine and I exchange books. Last month when she offered a book to me; I looked at it and thought to myself, “I don’t think so.” I accepted it though and after reading a few pages, happily continued. Soon I realized that the author is a world-class thinker. The 565 -page book is titled The Ascent of Humanity The Age of Separation, the Age of Reunion, and the Convergence of Crises that is birthing the transition. At first glance it looks like the kind of book many of us would pick up and put right down, -as in I don’t think so. True, it’s as serious as the title suggests, and It could have been boring and dry. But it isn’t. There’s a wanting to read more because it becomes obvious to the reader that Charles Eisenstein is a person who is compassionate and dedicated to understanding all that brought the world to its present condition. On page after page his easy style of writing connects the reader to the world and all that it’s been through, and all that it can become. And we begin to know and to understand how it’s accumulated the many, many problems facing it today. Don’t worry, it doesn’t leave the reader “down in the dumps.” On the contrary, reading it opens the mind, and the reader is able to see the world’s problems with clarity, and also its solutions with an equal dose of clarity. Now I’ll stop attempting to explain a book that covers a vast number of important topics that touch our every day lives.

If you click on to Charles Eisenstein’s website, I think you’ll be pleased that you did:
www.ascentofhumanity.com

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jesus


It’s the month of December and I’d like to write about Jesus because, since watching Paul Davids documentary film, JESUS IN INDIA, my thoughts about the life of Jesus have expanded. Once in a while, a movie, a book, a person, an experience comes along, and, after that encounter, things are not quite the same again. That’s the way it was for me and the film. I watch the film every so often now, and am always inspired by the spectacular scenery, the music, the people, the words, and I let it all sink into my heart and mind.

Pete Hammond, Hollywood.com, wrote: “JESUS IN INDIA” IS A FASCINATING AND PROFOUND FILM, A DEEPLY SPIRITUAL JOURNEY CERTAIN TO MAKE YOU THINK AND QUESTION IN WAYS YOU NEVER HAVE BEFORE. And that it does. www.jesus-in-india-the-movie.com


Edward T. Martin was involved in the making of the film, and so I looked for his book, KING OF TRAVELERS, and wasn’t able to find it in Philadelphia. However, I checked at the information counter at Strand Book Store in Manhattan, and was told “One book with that title came in this afternoon.” I looked for it, and there it was. The price was $2.00; I bought it. It’s fascinating that sometimes it’s just that easy.www.strandbooks.com

The film also mentions Elizabeth Clare Prophet’s book, THE LOST YEARS OF JESUS. And in the CRITICAL ACCLAIM FOR THE LOST YEARS OF JESUS section, there are a host of seemingly knowledgeable people who’ve written highly about it. I’ll give it a thumbs up too.


It seems to be that when we zero in on something, after a while information about it begins to fall in our lap, so to speak, and the book JESUS LIVED IN INDIA by Holger Kersten was mentioned. I couldn’t find the book until one day I walked by Garland of Letters on South Street in Philadelphia. I backtracked and went inside, and there on a long table displaying an interesting selection of books was one by Holger Kersten, the one I’d been looking for. Where were you a few months ago when I was here? I inquired of the book. At the register the cashier looked at the book, and looked at me, and said, “This book is great. My friends are reading it.” And so it goes. www.yogaunveiled.com

It was at Garland of Letters on South Street in Philadelphia that I picked up Volume 8 – Number 2 of EVOLVE magazine where it’s placed to the left of the entrance door, and read about Paul Davids, and how the seeds of the film, JESUS IN INDIA, were planted in a course he took in Mahayana Buddhism when he was a student at Princeton University.

Always there seems to be controversy with the mention of Jesus. We all have beliefs, some are written in stone, others not, — good to keep an open mind. In the end, our own diligent research and tapping into what the heart tells us, might serve us well.

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on death

Last month I watched the movie “How to Know God” by Deepak Chopra. Actually, I watched it twice, or perhaps it was three times. And I picked up another movie “Experiencing the Soul” Before Life, During Life, and After Death, in which those who are devoting their lives to understanding other aspects of life are interviewed.

At Border’s I found a book titled “The Open Road THE GLOBAL JOURNEY OF THE FOURTEENTH DALAI LAMA” by Pico Iyer. On its cover is written: “An intimate portrait. . . . Without ever losing compassion or respect for his subject, Iyer peels away layer after layer of illusion, revealing critical truths about this man at every possible level.” -Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love. The Dalai Lama was a friend of the writer’s father. I think I’ll read it more than once, not because it’s complicated, but because I want to experience reading the words again. The Dalai Lama wakes at 3am every morning to meditate for four hours. I’ve read a few times that he’s preparing himself for death. He’s also living a very full life.

Every so often I read the words “preparing for death” and it seems a very good way to live life. We prepare for many things, and since death goes hand-in-hand with us while we’re alive, it makes sense for us to get into the habit of preparing for it. Should we die tomorrow, or not for many decades, we’ll be comfortable with the thought of death. I’ve been at the bedside of people who’ve died peacefully, and with one who fought it tooth and nail. Peaceful looked right.

Michael Jackson’s death was a surprise to his family and his fans. I hope it wasn’t a surprise to him, and that his spirit is now peacefully of its journey. It’s quite obvious that his talent touched many lives in an extraordinary way.

* * * * * * *
“When I die I will soar with the angels, and, when I die to the angels, what I shall become you cannot imagine.” – Rumi

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osho, st. francis of assisi, and. . .

I have a DVD called Love And Hate Two Sides of the Same Coin, in which Osho talks about awareness, and of “Never judging anybody by his act.” and to, “Try to find out his awareness. Otherwise, don’t judge at all.” During the entire time of the DVD the camera rests on Osho’s calm face, his steady, clear eyes, and his hands which move slowly and gracefully when he speaks. The DVD was inside of a book I’d bought a few years ago, and read with mild interest. Now with the rereading of it, along with watching and listening to the DVD, I see flashes of The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle in Osho’s words. The power of now, awareness, consciousness – what would the world be like were we all to put them to use?

I didn’t know until this week that the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi was written in his honor during World War I. Did you? The movie, Reluctant Saint – Francis of Assisi, is based on the biography by Donald Spoto, and makes all other movies about St. Francis look like fiction. In an interview, Donald Spoto said that “He’s one of the most misunderstood people in the history of organized religion.” I think he knows what he’s talking about since he says, “I’m a theologian by training. I did a Doctorate in theology with a concentration in New Testament studies, and the primary work as a teacher that I did for many years was as a professor of religious studies of scripture, of Biblical literature and languages, and Christian mysticism.” With this background, it would seem that if anyone can tell the true story of St. Francis it’s Donald Spoto. He’s also written seventeen other books on “the lives of enormously creative and important artists, such as, Alfred Hitchcock, and Tennessee Williams, and great actors like Laurence Olivier and Ingrid Bergman, and a great American woman, Jacqueline Kennedy Onasis.”

Maybe you’re looking for some great books for summer reading? Maybe you’ve found some?

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www.osho.com
www.hitchcock.tv
www.laurenceolivier.com
www.ingridbergman.com
www.tennesseewilliams.net