In Yoke

It is permissible to take life's blessings with both hands provided thou dost know thyself prepared in the opposite event to take them just as gladly. This applies to food and friends and kindred, to anything God gives and takes away. -Meister Eckhart In order to live in freedom, we must learn to accept a temporary disappointment, if necessary, when it is for our permanent well-being. Sometimes, when we want to eat something that appeals to us, or when we want to eat a little more than is necessary, we can't help feeling disappointment as we push away from the table. We cannot help thinking that we could as well have stayed on for five more minutes of pleasure, forgetting that it would probably be followed by five hours of stomachache at night. The right time to get up from the meal is when we want just a little more. This is real artistry, real gourmet judgment: when we find that everything is so good that we would like to have one more helping, we get up and walk away. ~Easwa...

"You are what you believe." -Anton Chekhov You are what the deep faith of your heart is. If you believe that money is going to make you happy, then you will go after money. If you believe that pleasure will make you happy, you will go after pleasure. Because, "as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he," not as he thinketh  in his head.  There is a vast distance from the head to the heart.  In the Greek and Russian Orthodox traditions, they say that whatever  spiritual knowledge you have in your head must be brought down into your heart.  This takes many, many years. ~ Easwaran Do you know this? For such a long time, from the age of say 14 to the age of 48, I placed my true faith in money to give me joy...to cause me to be happy. I am just now spiritually knowing this fact. When I decided on a career, at age 17, I set a goal to become a banker. My heart was focused on that goal. Nothing else took precedence. I was a Christian, sure, because that is what my surround...