The Jailhouse Just Got a new Warden

Everyday, somewhere, history is being made.  What may be important to some, has no meaning to another's reality. 500 years from now someone reading the accounts of this year, may look on what some people may consider a miracle and see it as no more significant than a bear taking a shit in the woods. It's all about perspective. 

Sacred Hoop teachings help us to understand that we are souls that have been transmigrating from the beginning of time through the universes of everything that is alive.  We've gone through the plant kingdom, the insect kingdom, the four-legged kingdom, the kingdom of flying ones and swimming ones. These material forms have held our souls here in this prison-house called "Life". We have been  part and parcel of "all that is", for all time. It is only in this human form that we have the ability to become self realized and God realized.  

The prison has been extremely uncomfortable and miserable for so many people, and for others they are what the mystics call, "Comfortably miserable". The real question remains for all those seeking truth; Is having a new Warden enough for you? Do you forget that you're away from your true home and rejoice in the possibility of having a few more creature comforts that the prison hasn't provided you in the past, or do you continue to work towards a pardon from the prison. The warden only has limited powers. How do you get the attention of the one who has the key to the prison, so you can be free forever?  Are you going to continue to be a repeat offender?  Have you been "Institutionalized" or are you trying to make sure that when the feather gets laid on the scale, all debts are paid and you get to experience.....Tranquility? 

TWISTED BLISS

i want to be

TWISTED IN BLISS

so entangled that 

everywhere i turn

i'm stuck in Bliss

I want to see Bliss

I want to smell Bliss

I want to taste Bliss

I want to feel Bliss

I want to be so full of Bliss

I SHIT BLISS

that's how unbelievably Blissful

i want to be

TWISTED IN BLISS

CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME AND SPREADS ABROAD

"To share one's hard-earned income with the helpless and the sick and to spend it on the poor, the down-trodden and orphans is called charity. Charity is very necessary for the good of the world.  Charity is a meritorious action.  By charity, fragrance and freshness increase while stinginess leads to stinking.  It is like well water which remains cool, fresh and sweet as long as the well is worked.  Charity is sharing wealth with the needy and spending it on good works.  He who does not spend in charity, wastes his wealth on unfruitful actions"  ...Huzur Maharaj Sawan Singh Ji

I am prompted to write this blog after receiving yet another e-mail asking for a donation to a political party. For me the issue is not whether I am going to vote for this person or not, it's an issue of where to best give my money.

I believe that people are convinced by acts, not by words. An old North American Indigenous proverb says "Walk your Talk". At this point in the game I need no more convincing about whether the "America" that I live in needs a change, and which candidate is best suited to attempt to make that change.  And I say ATTEMPT. We don't have to wait for a political election, we can each elect to do something today. Today, like everyday, YOU and I have the ability to ATTEMPT to make a change for the better.

  Giving in charity is one of those things, if we are able. 

The mystics ask what is the use in giving wealth to those who already have it? They say for people to perform charity without due consideration, is like sowing seed in barren land. They have always pointed out the heads of temples, mosques, churches, and other religious institutions that have grown rich. They say that the wealth of those institutions is being wasted, they forgot the Lord because of the riches.  They are often entangled in sensual pleasures. They say that we have, owing to our thoughtlessness, made them millionaires.  They find it difficult to manage their affairs and are full of valuables and jewels and idlers are enjoying the same. The real needy orphans and holy men and women find it difficult to make two ends meet.  They warn that by subscribing to institutions other than the needy, the seeker after spirituality is, in a way sowing seed in barren land. 

ASK YOURSELF, WHAT INSTITUTIONS ARE YOU PRESENTLY SUBSCRIBING TO THAT HAVE NO NEED? WHO DO YOU WANT TO PROFIT FROM YOUR HARD EARNED INCOME?

There is a story that says....An old man went on a pilgrimage to Mecca (Haj).  In his dream he saw two angels.  One asked, "How many persons have come for pilgrimage?" The other replied, "Six lakhs." (one hundred thousand)  The first one asked,"How many are accepted?" The other said, "None."  He, however, said that there was a cobbler in Damascus who did not come, but his Haj was accepted. On inquiry it was found that he collected the money for Haj but as his neighbors were hungry he spent the money on them. Spiritual masters say that formal worship is of no use. True spirituality consists in earning not only for our own subsistence, but in spending it on others and for spiritual good.

I have always been taught that "Charity begins at home, and spreads abroad."  The next time you are at the gas pump and have an extra $5 dollars, look around.  Maybe you can see a mother struggling alone with kids, an elder, even a school kid, anybody that you, with your own discretion, determine that you would like to put $5 on the pump for. When you go to church or wherever you go, look around in your congregation, ask around, find out who amongst you needs money to pay a bill of necessity. Get the account number, put 5 on it for them.  When you're in line paying your gas electric, or water, what about putting 5 on someone else, who may be in there trying to make a payment plan. You can better see with your eyes and feel with your heart those people who are right in front of you that are in need than leave it up to somebody else's discretion. Bring an extra sandwich to work, invite someone over to share a meal, even if it's rice and beans. It's  not even the amount that matters, its the action, the generosity of spirit that can make a person happy from the inside out.  Forsake one cup of java from Starbucks to be a star to someone else. A loaf of 100% whole wheat bread can make several sandwiches for a family. When you're in Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Target or wherever else, be nosey, look and see if you can buy the diapers for a parent in need, believe me, you will find someone who is willing to accept your kindness. Even though the institution (corporation, store) may make a profit, you are helping someone who "needs" the goods directly. Start your own food drive where you work, live, or go to school.  Don't wait for somebody else to ask you, buy something extra, make a sign "Free to whoever needs it." Put it in a place that people can access it without being embarrassed.  And if you happen to be the one to need it... Take it, without shame, and be thankful to the Creator for providing for your needs. If you can't give cash, give a smile, a hug, some attention to somebody that needs it, read a book to a child. However you choose to give, give from your heart.  

Remember that the Creator is the Source of all that is, all that was, and all that will ever be.

WHY BUILD YOUR HOUSE ON A BRIDGE??

Bridge: Noun

1.	a structure spanning and providing passage over a river, chasm, road, or the like.

2.	a connecting, transitional, or intermediate route or phase between two adjacent elements, activities, conditions, or the like: Working at the hospital was a bridge between medical school and private practice.

This is a question that many mystics pose to seekers....why build your house on a bridge.  The world that we live in is a bridge between life and death. Once you've entered it, the only certainty is that you must exit.  Therefore why expend so much time decorating it?  You are simply a traveler passing through.  Depending on your destiny the toll on the bridge may seem easy or hard to pay.  The road may seem rough and bumpy, or smooth and solid. The bridge may sway in the wind and move you harshly from side to side, or you and the wind may be in harmony and flow in the same direction. The bridge can be narrow and eerie, or wide and delightful. The bridge may be covered in areas so no rain can penetrate or it can be so open that the rain will saturate you. It can be so high as to make you feel like a part of the sky, or make you shake because you're afraid of what's beneath you. 

 In any event it is a bridge.......not a good place to build a house. 

This life is transient. It is a strange world and we are strangers in it, constantly looking to define it and define ourselves.  When we are fully conscious and cognizant of who we are and where we are we will realize the truth of our existence...we are spiritual beings.  

 All day I think about it, then at night I say it.

Where did I come from, and what am I supposed to be doing?
I have no idea.
My soul is from elsewhere, I'm sure of that,
and I intend to end up there.

This drunkenness began in some other tavern.
When I get back around to that place,
I'll be completely sober. Meanwhile,
I'm like a bird from another continent, sitting in this aviary.
The day is coming when I fly off,
but who is it now in my ear who hears my voice?
Who says words with my mouth?

Who looks out with my eyes? What is the soul?
I cannot stop asking.
If I could taste one sip of an answer,
I could break out of this prison for drunks.
I didn't come here of my own accord, and I can't leave that way.
Whoever brought me here, will have to take me home.          RUMI

Where is our true home and how do we get to it?  Only by going within ourselves.

By clearing all of the clutter (thoughts) and listening.

"Be still, and know that I am God"

TRANQUILITY a place of BLISS

 Mystics say that beyond this state of duality that we are presently dwelling in, there is a place of Bliss.  The ancient Khemites (Egyptians) used the word Het-te-Pu, meaning Tranquility to speak of a state of existence that was beyond War/Peace, a place that had no opposite, a place of rest.

"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.  He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.  He restoreth my soul."

This world is often called an illusion, also called "Maya" in some eastern cultures, many indigenous Americans call it "the smoking mirror",it's often referred to as "the Matrix" in pop-culture.  If we believe this to be true and are seeking an escape route we need to learn how to look for and to read road signs.

In looking for the state of Tranquility we cannot hold on to the belief that it lies in the fulfillment of what we don't have on a material level.  It's a state of contentment wrapped in joy that is not conditioned to change.

It's a state that exists beyond the waning and waxing of the moon, or the rising and setting of the sun.  It is the "right" that stands alone,not opposing wrong, or left. 

It's where the Good Red Road dead ends, and the universe (UNI-VERSE/one-verse) begins.

In the beginning was the word..... 

My Father Raised Me to be the Man that I am

As human beings our soul- masks (bodies) come with mainly two gender options. (That is as of this time and date in history.) These options purportedly have emotions that go with them that help us project our ego's as either being masculine or feminine.

My father raised me to be the man that I am, just as my mother raised me to be the woman I am.

My father made it clear that one was to lead a virtuous life, never giving into the negative.  It was of great importance to control ones emotions and behavior.  The avoidance of such emotions and the demonstration of them, such as anger, left me unprepared in some ways, to deal with them effectively. I don't think many families talk about the anger and the violence which is a real part of life for so many people.  I was very much sheltered from some of the brutalities in life that happen within the confines of a home. My father decided not to carry certain behavior from his childhood into his newly created family, and the same with my mother.  It was only when I set off to "Play house" did I have close encounters, and sorry to say they were not of the third kind.  

My husband and father of my first born child, did not pass the "Man test" (the one that I formulated in my head based on my experiences of being raised by a real man)and I decided that I was not going to die or become injured repeatedly while he was attempting to grow up.  

Consequently I was given the sole and primary responsibility of raising a man, my son.  

It seems that karmic-ly a lot of women have been given that responsibility.  Is it for the purpose of restoring men to their manhood, in it's truest sense?  Some men have lost the ability to govern with love and kindness, to use strength to enable others, to know where true power lies and to make that their goal.  

But inevitably who we are, or who we are becoming, becomes challenged.  What I have instilled in my son, about being a man, has definitely been challenging.  Just as it was challenging to me.  It's harder when one doesn't have an example like so many don't.  I am glad for the man that was my father and the man that he taught me to be, so that I could teach that to my son, and grandson.