STAY CLOSE, MY HEART

 "Stay close, my heart, to the One who knows your ways;
Come into the shade of the Tree that always has fresh flowers.
Don't stroll idly through the bazaar of the perfume-markers:
Stay in the shop of the sugar-seller.
If you don't find true balance, anyone can deceive you;
Anyone can trick out of a thing of straw,
And make you take it for gold
Don't squat with a bowl before every boiling pot;
In each pot on the fire you find very different things.
Not all sugar canes have sugar, not all abysses a peak;
Not all eyes possess vision, not every sea is full of pearls.
O nightingale, with your voice of dark honey! Go on lamenting!
Only your drunken ecstasy can pierce the rock's hard heart!
Surrender yourself, and if you cannot be welcomed by the Friend,
Know that you are rebelling inwardly like a thread
That doesn't want to go through the needle's eye!
The awakened heart is a lamp; protect it by the hem of your robe!
Hurry and get out of this wind, for the weather is bad.
And when you've left this storm, you will come to a fountain;
You'll find a Friend there who will always nourish your soul.
And with your soul always green, you'll grow into a tall tree
Flowering always with sweet light-fruit, whose growth is interior."   
~Jalaluddin Rumi

Rumi was one of the great spiritual masters and poetical geniuses of mankind; he founded the Mawlawi Sufi order, a leading mystical brotherhood still in existence today.
 
This poem is  warns us to not allow ordinary things to deter us from our spiritual sojourns from the ordinary and mundane to the miraculous. He exhorts us to stay on the path and to remain steadfast to find what  is highest in self - to find God, whom he calls the Friend.
 
Along with Tolle, I am  cautious about using the word "God" . It has been so misused and abused. Very few truly Know GOD, but those who do,  know that GOD is not a word or the ordinary concepts, myths and stories. God is not 'dead", meet GOD in the NOW.
 
Peace and Blessings, Peace and Blessings, May you find your Way.
 BE LOVE
BE PEACE
BE COMPASSION
 
BE

Drawing of King Snake sleeping by the oak tree where he is captured - from "Lalo the Snake Catcher" 

'However great the teacher be, she is helpless with the one whose heart is closed.' ~ Unknown


Open your Heart
BE LOVE
BE

What Is This Forgetting

What is this forgetting

Does true human kindness not exist
Its counterfeit employed only when
It fits the agenda of sleeping man

Kings on Queens, wry faces greet the news
Jacks wriggle in their seats.
As a liars “You lie!” lingers in the air
A last ditch accusation
When told you have to share

“Not fair, not fair!” come the cries
From greedy mouths filled with plenty
As those who are hungry stand by
Shocked, incredulous
Stomachs empty
You were heard, you were seen
The world knows what you are

All the trappings in the world
Are not the proof in your pudding

What is this forgetting

Lip service does not serve
In a dying world of broken hearts
Of starving children
The sick and elderly sleeping in the streets
As you play Monopoly with their lives

Do No Harm, Love Thy Neighbor, BE at Peace

Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother

~ from Transcripts: Meeting 23: Tuesday, 8 February 1944

" Giles: I have little knowledge of myself, especially of my essence. I never know how to be certain of myself. What means of investigation can I use to know if a thing comes from me or not?
Gurdjieff: Now you are philosophising. Necessary begin from something real. Now this is empty for me because you are empty. You did not start on the way of a real man. This is education. Seven factors are absent from your upbringing. I can tell you the first. You are not taught that for you your father is your God. For each man up to a certain age his father must be his God. God loves him who esteems his father. When the father dies, then there is a place where God can enter in. You have not this relationship with your father and your question springs from that. Now take as a task to put down all these factors in yourself which hinder you; establish a real relationship with your father.
Mme Dubeau: But if the father is unworthy - low?
Gurdjieff: Even if he is the worst criminal, if he is merde, the lowest among men, you must recognize your obligation. You don't know why he has become like that. Here is a law. He created you. You owe your existence to him. And he is answerable for your life in another world. If he is lowest of men in the eyes of everyone, let it be so - but inwardly you must feel your obligation. You have to pay him for your existence.
Gilles: But in order to establish a right relationship with someone, one has to be sure of what one is oneself.
Gurdjieff: You divide yourself in two parts. Inwardly you must not identify, outwardly you must play a role. Take all things as your guide. Your task now is to acquire inner freedom. This is the starting point for going further. And for that you have to do what I have told you. What does it mean to play a role? Try to understand it in a broader sense. Do everything that gives him pleasure. If he likes you to sit on his right, sit on his right. If at another moment he prefers the opposite, do it. Subjective role. With each person a different role. You accustom yourself to fulfill obligations. It is one of the aspects of a future free man. Not necessary to philosophise. After, yes. First prepare the ground. The ground has seven aspects. After that you can go as you like. In future, with each man you must play a role; for your egoism. [.....]"

Until the day Lord Pentland suggested the same task to me, I despised my father and my mother. I blamed them for everything that had gone wrong in my life. My father had already passed away and my mother was ill and bedridden. I began visiting my mother once a week after movements class. The class was held early in the morning in Manhattan at the Foundation. I would drive in from Sparkill at 7am, attend class, have breakfast at a diner across the street from Burger Heaven with some classmates and sometimes with Andre, our movements teacher, and then drive out to the Bronx where Mom was living with my older brother.

Mom and I'd had a terrible relationship almost from the time I began to talk. We were like oil and water. This one suggestion from Lord P. was the moving force behind a miraculous reconciliation between my parents and I. What I had not been able to do all my life came so easy through employing the ideas - using the tools given by the system. Mom and I soon became good friends. We were able to talk about those things that had come between us all those years and came to a place of forgiveness and love for each other. We reconciled the past before her death several years later. For this I am eternally grateful.

I also began thinking of my father in a different way. Every time I thought of him, I offered up little conversational prayers to him, and after all this time, I do still think of him almost every day. I thank him for being my dad and for being there for me as much as he could. I apologize for being such a difficult child. I focus on the good times we had - and feel compassion when I remember what he suffered here on earth. He had a very hard life. Both my parents did.

What is offered up to both of them now is a surge of love and gratitude straight from my heart. There is a nice clean light space in my heart now where there was once only darkness and poisonous hatred and resentment. This clean place is where Dad and Mom and others who have passed on live and where we visit from time to time. I write them long letters on the New Year and their birthdays and when I miss them more than usual. It is interesting that I do not remember so much the 'bad' things. It is the good things, the fun times that I remember now.

Be at Peace, Do no harm, Be Still, Be Happy, BE

Gossip

I have used this story before - Good stories serve well forever. The following is a story told by a priest to his congregation during a sermon. It comes from the film "Doubt".

"A woman was gossiping with a friend about a man she hardly knew." [I must remind you here that men gossip as much as women do and for all the same reasons. L] The priest looks up at the congregation and says: " I know none of you have ever done this." and then he continues. "That night she had a dream. A great hand appeared over her and pointed a finger down at her. She was immediately seized with an overwhelming sense of guilt. The next day she went to confession. She got the old parish priest and told him the whole thing.

"Is gossiping a sin?" she asked the old man. "Was that the hand of Almighty God pointing a finger at me? Should I be asking your absolution Father? Father, tell me, have I done something wrong?"

"Yes!", the priest answered. "Yes! You ignorantly badly brought up [person]! You've born false witness against your neighbor! You played fast and loose with his reputation and you should be heartily ashamed!"

The woman said she was sorry and asked forgiveness.

"Not so fast." said the priest. "I want you to go home, take a pillow off your bed, take it up to the roof, cut it open with a knife and return here to me."

So, the woman went home, took a pillow off her bed, got a knife from the kitchen, took them both up to the roof and stabbed and cut the pillow open. Then she went back to the priest and told him she'd done what he asked.

"Did you gut the pillow with a knife?" he asked.

"Yes, Father."

"And what was the result?" he asked.

"Feathers." she replied.

"Feathers." he repeated nodding his had up and down.

"Feathers everywhere, Father." she said, not yet getting the point.

The priest then told her: " Now, I want you to go back and gather up every last feather that flew out on the wind."

Well," said the woman, "it can't be done, I don't know where they went. They flew all over"

"And that," said the priest, "is Gossip!"

If you take this story in on an organic level, either as the one who is gossiping or the one who is "innocently" listening, and live with it for awhile you will really understand what it means on a universal level. I heard, when I was very young, that gossip kills. As the years passed by, I discovered it was really true. Gossip kills everything.

Be At Peace, Do No Harm, BE

Be Close to God

"If you are seeking closeness to the Beloved,
love everyone.
Whether in their presence or absence,
see only their good.
If you want to be as clear and refreshing as
the breath of the morning breeze,
like the sun, have nothing but warmth and light
for everyone."

~ Shaikh Abu-Said Abil-Khair


Be Peaceful, Do No Harm

Note On Prayer - Cause and Effect

"In the paper that was read last time about the idea of Prayer as given in the Gospels (which is not included in this volume [1]) it was said that the Universe can be taken as response to request. Man requests, and the Universe in all it's full and total reality, outer and inner, responds according to the request. In regard to what I said last time, I wish to draw your attention to this fact: many people are getting responses to requests which they do not understand they are making. If the Universe, visible and invisible, material and psychological, gross and fine, as apprehended externally by the senses and internally by the mind and heart, is response to request, then you will see how important it is to realize what kind of requests you are making in order to understand why you get the response, from any side of life, that you are actually getting. The Work says: "Your being attracts your life". Do you see the connection? Without knowing it, a man or a woman may be making request[s] and so getting a response from the total Universe that he or she does not like. They see the response but do not see what excites the response, what it is in themselves that attracts it. People, in other words, may be asking for trouble without being aware that they are. They only see the result - that is, the response. They only see effects, not causes. To think only from effects is one thing. It is how mechanical people think. To think from causes is another thing. IT belongs to more conscious thinking. Now the level of your being enters into request as much or more than your knowledge. You may ask intellectually for happiness but do not see how factors that govern your being,as love of your negative states, your grievances, your secret jealousies, your laziness, your dislikes and so on, are asking for something quite different, and that the Universe is responding to these factors in yourbeing that you are secretly affirming without seeing that you are. Understand that full request must contain both thought and will - formulation and emotional desire. The side of knowledge is the side of thought and a man can only think from his knowledge. The side of being wills, and a man only wills what he desires. If you love negative states, then your will is of this quality. Your love is your will; it will attract the response belonging to it. Only self knowledge will make you aware of your state of being and this begins with self observation. Enough has been said here on this subject - namely that a person may be getting responses does not expect or desire, without seeing that he is attracting them because he is making requests for them that he is not aware of."

~ from Volume I of "Commentaries" by Maurice Nicoll
Chapter: Birdlip, June 19, 1942
Note on Prayer
Response and Request - Paragraph 1

Awaken, Be Good, Be Well, Be Happy, Be at Peace - BE

Do You Want To Be Happy or Do You Want To Be Right?

Are you the jailer or are you the prisoner? When we hold anger and resentments against others, we are both. On a psychic level, we imprison them (and ourselves) by holding on to and indulging these negative feelings.

The next time you are angry with someone, just notice how your body is in tension - notice where the tensions are. Notice how these tensions are clamping down on and restricting the free flow of blood in your veins and arteries, and restricting your breathing. Vital nutrients and oxygen are not being distributed properly to your organs. You may find yourself breathing shallowly or heavily or hyperventilating; you might even be holding your breath. The tension may be in the stomach muscles resulting in nausea, indigestion, sour stomach, acid reflux, constipation or diarrhea. You could be tensing the sphincter and genital muscles and the muscles surrounding the organs in the lower part of the body. Your neck could be so stiff that you become dizzy or confused; vision can become blurred, and hearing can be effected by tension in the head and neck area. Heart problems, high and low blood pressure, strokes, and even hardening of the arteries could occur. There can be severe tension in the lower, middle and upper back, wrists, hands, and fingers. Chronic tension in these areas could result in serious, debilitating and life threatening illness. Tensions can appear anywhere in the body. It is interesting to see them as they move around. The more familiar you become with where you hold tensions the more easily you can, with practice, locate and relax tensions that are causing problems in your body.

Chronically angry and resentful people can and do become quite ill because the organs, including the brain, are not receiving the proper oxygen and nutrients they need to function properly. Imagine what that does over your lifetime. Where do you hold the most tension? Breathe through the nose into that area a few times to relax the muscles there. Notice the difference in how you feel.

Many medical and alternative healing modalities teach that where illness occurs in the body is directly related to habitual negative thinking where tension from long held negative beliefs and resentments exist.

Regularly practicing forgiveness and the relaxation of tensions in the body can help to free you from debilitating habitual negativity. Practice forgiveness daily - learn to forgive others and to forgive yourself. When you find yourself thinking angry, resentful thoughts about people, stop to take a few minutes to look at what is going on inside your body and in your thoughts. Notice who you are angry with - who are you resenting? Do you want to be happy or do you want to be right? If you want to be happy, forgive. Close your eyes and visualize the person you are angry with say the Forgiveness Prayer (affirmation)below. As you say it you may notice varying degrees of resistance to forgiving them and letting go of the tensions. Don't worry about this or fight with it - just listen to all the reasons or excuses for not forgiving them - allow it to be and to give you all the information it has about the issues you have with this person. After a few minutes, if you are not able to release the tension and forgive them, just say, "I forgive myself." and stop the session. Leave it there and go do something else. During the coming hours you will notice a shift in the way you are thinking and feeling about the anger at that person. The issues may not seem so important now. Perhaps you would rather be free of the restricting tension? Come back to the prayer/affirmation for this particular person when you feel ready to try again. Each time you try, you will notice a positive shift in your thinking about the person and the situation and yourself.

Just keep practicing the prayer/affirmation, eventually it will become easier and you will be able to let go sooner. In the beginning you may just get more information about why you are angry, over time you will be able to forgive them and yourself for your own part in the issue. Do not try to force anything. If you try this for a few minutes and find you are not able to release the tension and negativity, don't worry, try again another time. Adding this to your daily practice of sitting meditation, walking meditation, journaling and relaxation exercises enhances the ability to forgive tremendously. With patient practice, you will be able to release others and yourself from your prison of anger, resentment and fear. Your life, health and relationships will improve in ways you can't possibly imagine.

If there are people in your life who intentionally or unintentionally continue to cause you pain and suffering regardless of how many adjustments you've made to accommodate them or how often you practice the affirmation, it may be time to alter the nature of the relationship. In some cases you may actually have to terminate those relationships for your sanity and well being. Continue to use the affirmation as you disengage. There is no need to hold on to that which makes you ill or kills your spirit or negates your Being. Forgive them and and yourself and set yourself free.

In some instances I have discovered that even when I believe it's best to end a relationship and have accepted that this will happen, practicing this prayer/affirmation has actually opened up new paths to healing for us rather than ending. The relationships change and grow in unexpected and more positive directions.

Profound changes can occur in relationships, individuals and entire communities we are connected with when we practice intentional forgiveness.

Affirmation/Prayer (adapted from Louis Hay's:How to Heal Your Life:

"I forgive you (say person's name) for not being as I wanted you to be. I forgive you and set you free; and I forgive myself."

"Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do." Jesus Christ

Be at Peace,
Lalo

Prayer Mantra Affirmation

Affirmations, prayers and mantras, what do they have in common?

Everything - they are the same thing.

We attract what we think into our lives. All religions and spiritual schools, all "new age" philosophies use prayer, mantras, and affirmations as tools to help one move toward higher states of consciousness from which one can live with a greater degree of clarity and freedom from limiting thought patterns, beliefs and behaviors.

Automatic thoughts whirrr on and on in our head brains. What are they saying? Do you have any idea what yours is saying all day long? What are these unmonitored thoughts attracting into your life? When you begin to listen to them, you will notice habitual patterns of thinking and you will notice that most of that habitual thinking is negative, and you will come to realize that habitual thinking is not real. You will see how these habitual negative thoughts keep you from having, being and doing the things you wish to have, be, do most in your life today.

Do you wish for change? If you do wish for something new in your life, you have to dump the old thought patterns that keep you marching in the same place year after year, in relationship after relationship. You have to refresh your head brain with new thoughts - affirmations/ prayers/ mantras... I will write more about this in the coming weeks.

Last year, I kept coming across a a quote on a post-it I found somewhere years ago. It said: "“When you are feeling depreciated, angry or deceived, it is a sign that others are not open to your energy.”

Today, I would change this to say: “When you are feeling depreciated, upset, unloved or deceived, it is a sign that others may not be open to your energy - (or a sign that you are asleep immersed in habitual negative thinking, or that you are having a bad hair day, or are having a negative reaction to your breakfast, lunch or dinner; or are put off by others looks, manifestations, etc.)” The list could go on but why waste the time. I'm sure you get the picture.

This is not to say that there are not some unfortunate miserable people out there who are habitually negative, grudge carrying, "account keeping" (as Maurice Nicoll said), meanies who enjoy slopping their negativity onto the nearest target on a regular basis - nevertheless - whatever the reason we feel depreciated, angry, unloved, disrespected, baited or deceived, we must act and disengage from the situation internally as soon as we become aware of what is going on. We must come back to center in ourselves, process the information quickly and return to a more positive state so that we can handle those situations and people in less reactive way. How do we do this? It takes practice, but it can be done. All that you need to know can't be taught in a blog post but little bits that you can try on your own can be posted that might help.

In any case, I kept the quote on my desk when I worked in a call center in customer service. I used it as a reminder that I did not have to be affected by other people’s manifestations. Keeping this concept in front of me helped a lot in that business. Whatever pushed my buttons when I was less connected to my wish to live in peace and set me off into a downward spiral of negative emotional thinking would vanish almost instantly whenever I looked at the note. I would stop for a moment or two, take a deep breath and return to the weight of my body sitting in the chair. I would remember who I was and what I wanted. I made it a habit to look at the quote several times a day - especially when a customer was very upset and taking it out on me.

The note kept surfacing from my piles of paper a few months ago, so I taped it to my computer monitor.Recently, when I was sitting and focused on helping my body to work through a physical pain that settled in my solar plexus after spending some time with someone who was intent on deliberately hurting me, I noticed the sensation of what seemed like a large cylinder about 5" in diameter and which reached horizontally about 3 - 4 " into the center of my body. The mouth of the cylinder was open, black, and jagged edged; it was literally throbbing. I looked at my thoughts and had an immediate image of what happened the day before and the image of the "frenemy" who was involved. As I viewed the images, the nausea increased as did the pain. I began to repeat an affirmation until the images, pain and nausea were gone.

This kind of self healing work is is best done sitting alone quietly in a chair in a quiet place where you will not be disturbed for at least half an hour. Repeat the words as many times as it takes to release the negativity involving others, and to stop any psychic pain. At first using this method to resolve real or perceived hurts may seem fake but I promise, continued use of this particular affirmation can bring instant results once you really understand how it works and you can only understand it by practicing it. It clears the way for better, more positive experiences with others. As long as we hold these negative thoughts and feelings about others we will never be free. There are other supporting lessons to help you get good at this, but more about that in another post, I am sure or contact me for more information.

I've adapted this prayer/mantra/affirmation from Louise Hay's affirmation for forgiveness :

“I Forgive you __(say the name of the person)__ for not Being as I hoped you would Be. I Forgive you and set you free.” (Wait a moment or two, then affirm) “And, I Forgive myself.”

We forgive ourselves because we somehow attracted this behavior from others. I will address how we do this in detail at another time.

I then stated the following affirmation: "Today I wish to be impervious to all slights: imagined and intended, perceptible and imperceptible. I deserve a, peaceful and happy life filled with the Love and respect of family, friends, and neighbors in a loving community, in a loving world. I send respectful, peaceful and loving thoughts and energy to everyone. I am Loved and I am loving."

Practice makes perfect, just remember what you really want is peace for yourself and for everyone else.

Peace