In Yoke

Existence is a strange bargain. Life owes us little; we owe it everything. The only true happiness comes from squandering ourselves for a purpose. -William Cowper We often think that if we go after what we want, we will probably get it; then we will be happy and secure. The mass media have latched onto this line of thinking and intone it like a litany: grab, grab, grab! Yet sooner or later the whole smorgasbord of things begins to lose its luster. Then the sensitive person asks, "If I go on grabbing and grabbing, at what point do I become secure and feel no more need to grab?" This question can lead to some far-reaching changes in our lives. Our needs are much too big to be satisfied with things, no matter how many we can manage to acquire. The more we try to get, the more acutely we feel those bigger, undeniable needs. Our deepest need is for the joy that comes with loving and being loved, with knowing we are of genuine use to others. The more we give of ourselves to others,...

"God expects but one thing of you, and that is that you should come out of yourself insofar as you are a created being and let God be God in you." -Meister Eckhart In those moments when we forget ourselves - not thinking, "Am I happy?" but completely oblivious to our little ego -we spend a brief but beautiful holiday in heaven. The joy we experience in these moments of self-forgetting is our true nature, our native state. To regain it, we have simply to empty ourselves of what hides this joy: that is, to stop dwelling on ourselves . To the extent that we are not full of ourselves, God can fill us. "If you go out of yourself,"says Johannes Tauler, "without doubt he shall go in, and there will be much or little of his entering in according to how much or little you go out." ...

"Whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child, he shall in no wise enter therein"... or, in the NIV : "I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." Luke 18:17 Truly, everything about living our lives as followers of Christ, is a function of the grace he gives us through His Spirit, to live in His Kingdom. In addition, I have found great benefit from learning the values of self study and self observation in order to become more and more transformed into His image, from a renowned British Psychiatrist, Dr. Maurice Nicoll . He is the foremost translator of "The Work" of self transformation, as espoused by Gurdjieff and Ouspensky , in the context of the tradition of Christ followership . Following is a sequence of thoughts about self observation that he gave in a talk and was subsequently transcribed, in 1944. --to begin self observation, and self study, it is necessary to d...

The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up. -Mark Twain From Easwaran: Often, when a low mood is coming on, sometimes it is because the mind has started to brood upon itself. The things that formerly seemed exciting now elicit no response. In a sense,we have closed down. A friend can talk to us and we will not hear; we can go to a movie and may not even follow the plot.We are utterly absorbed in a hall of mirrors inside, in which we and everyone around us are pushed, pulled, and twisted into fantastic shapes. There are a number of effective ways of treating these dark moods where they start, within the mind. What helps is to do what your mind is crying out not to do: be with other people, work with them, make yourself take an active interest in what they are doing and saying. This turns attention away from yourself by directing it outward. Once you are more concerned with others, your melancholy is gone; you are alive again. Leslie and I have for the 30+ ...

It is no little wisdom for you to keep yourself in silence and in good peace when evil words are spoken to you, and to turn your heart to God and not to be troubled with the judgment of others. -Thomas a Kempis Most of us appreciate praise, but it is disastrous to become dependent on it. If we are going to allow our security to be bolstered up by the praise, appreciation, and applause of others, we are done for. I have heard about a well-known movie star who goes to sleep at night with a tape of recorded applause playing. This is going to make him more and more insecure.  Why should we get agitated if someone ignores us? There are, after all, advantages to being ignored. We can go anywhere in freedom. Nobody recognizes us - how good it is! In life, there are occasions when we are ignored and sometimes forgotten. That is the time for us to remind ourselves, "Why do I need anybody's attention?" This attitude can be cultivated skillfully.  Even those of us who are the most s...

I tell you one thing - if you want peace of mind, do not find  fault with others. Rather learn to see your own faults.  Learn to make the whole world your own. No one is a stranger, my child; this whole world is your own. -Sri Sarada Devi When we get even the slightest glimpse of the unity of life, we realize that in tearing others down we are tearing ourselves down too. When you sit in judgment on other people and countries and races, you're training your mind to sit in judgment on yourself. As we forgive others, we are teaching the mind to respond with forgiveness everywhere, even to the misdeeds and mistakes of our own past. ~Sri Easwaran Why is being judgmental so easy and not being judgmental so difficult for us?  Why do we persist in finding so much fault with others, but seldom "get the plank out of own eye?"  Does it make us feel more worthy or more on top of the world, if we are putting others down? Yes. Lots of people are critical...and it is easier being a...