Friday, October 22, 2010

Persevere




Persevere with all your might
Persevere and put up a fight
Persevere and do what's right
Persevere through the night
Persevere through the pain
Persevere through the rain
Persevere and you will gain
Whatever is on your mind.

Taiwan Touch Your Heart

Taiwan Touch Your Heart

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRc0q9xQEQ4

Would you say that you need the power of God to endure whatever comes with a good temper?

Love is the key that unlocks forgiveness for you. To forgive an individual is to decide that their wrong won't affect the decision you have made to do what the Word says in responding to their actions. You decide that you will not retaliate, but will respond scripturally. And as far as you are concerned, you will maintain a good relationship with that person, because you walk in love. A love person lets love rule the relationship.

Would you say that you need the power of God to endure whatever comes with a good
temper? I certainly do. Well, God has given us all that is necessary to fulfill His
will in life. And the element He is given us to maintain a good temper in all things is forgiveness, which comes out of a heart of love.


Forgiveness covers our heart and other extremities. Why is it so important?
Unforgiveness does not hurt the other person; it hurts you. Also, God said that He will not forgive you unless you forgive others. Forgiveness helps you to maintain a good temper at all times.

God requires that you walk in love. That love will cause you to maintain a good temper because 1 Corinthians 13:4 says that love is patient. Love can endure anything and everything that comes your way. And when you have that kind of supernatural element working in your life, joy and peace is sure to follow.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Sufi Stories

A Matter of Judgment

One day a man came to the house of the Cogia and asked him to lend him his ass.

'He is not at home,' replied the Cogia. But it just so happened that the ass began to bray within.

'O Cogia Efendi,' said the man, 'you say that the ass is not at home, and there he is braying within.'

'What a strange fellow you are!' said the Cogia.
'You believe the ass, but will not believe a grey-bearded man like me.'

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The Splendid Pelisse

One day Cogia Efendi went to a bridal festival. The master of the feast observing his old and wretched garments, paid him no consideration whatsoever.

The Cogia saw that he had no chance of notice, so going out he hurried to his house, and putting on a splendid pelisse, returned to the place of festival.

No sooner did he enter the door than the master advanced to meet him, and saying, 'Welcome, Cogia Efendi,' with all imaginable honour and reverence placed him at the head of the table, and said, 'Please to eat, Lord Cogia.'

Forthwith the Cogia taking hold of one of the furs of his pelisse, said, 'Welcome, my pelisse, please to eat, my lord.'

The master looking at the Cogia with great surprise, said, 'What are you about?'

Whereupon the Cogia replied, 'It is quite evident that all the honour paid is paid to my pelisse, so let it have some food too.'

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Cauldron is Dead

One day the Cogia borrowed a cauldron of a brazier, and carrying it home, put a little saucepan into it, and then carrying it back, returned it to its owner.

The owner seeing a little saucepan in the cauldron, said, 'What is this?'

'Why,' cried the Cogia, 'the cauldron has borne a child', whereupon the owner took possession of the saucepan.

One day the Cogia asked again for the cauldron, and having obtained it, carried it home. The owner of the cauldron waited one day and even five days for his utensil, but no cauldron coming, he went to the house of the Cogia and knocked at the door.

The Cogia coming to the door, said, 'What do you want?'

'The cauldron,' said the man.

'Oh, set your heart at rest,' said the Cogia, 'the cauldron is dead.'

'O Cogia,' said the man, 'can a cauldron die?'

'Oh,' said the Cogia, 'as you believed it could bear a child, why should you not believe that it can die?'

http://www.deepspirits.com/

Sufism

Sufism

http://www.deepspirits.com/spirituality/sufism/

The word Sufi somes from Arabic and means pure, as in pure from differences and distinctions. In Persian sufi means wool, hence the supposition that Sufis were named by their woolen garments. Al-Rudhabari combined the two meanings defining the Sufi as 'one who wears wool on top of purity'. The Sufi path rises above the I, me, he or she, and as such it is also above gender issues.



"What is a Sufi?
One who does not separate himself
from others by opinion or dogma;
and who realizes the heart as the Shrine of God.
What does the Sufi desire?
To remove the false self and discover God within.
What does the Sufi teach?
Happiness.
What does the Sufi seek?
Illumination.
What does the Sufi see?
Harmony.


What does the Sufi give?
Love to all created things.
What does the Sufi get?
A greater power of love.
What does the Sufi find?
GOD.
And lose?
self"

Hazrat Inayat Khan

According to the traditional Sufi view, Sufism (or tasawwuf) and its teachings were passed on from teacher to student through the centuries, since Muhammad. Some call Sufism the inner mystical dimension of Islam. It aims to repair the heart and help it on its journey to the divine. Someone practitioning the tradition of Sufism is called a Sufi or Dervish.


Sufi Teachings & Beliefs
To overcome beliefs and disbeliefs by self realization;
Never to be enslaved to principles;
Best moral is love and praiseworthy is beauty;
To be pure from distinctions and differences by merging in the One;
Wisdom is the true religion;
Harmony is in justice, justice being in reciprocity;
Music is food of the soul and source of all perfection.


Sufi Practices
Common spiritual or mystical practices include Sufi Whirling (or Sema), Dhikr (Chanting), Muraqaba (Meditation) and Qawwali, a form of Sufi devotional music.

Gnosticism

Discovering Spirituality
Gnosticism

The term gnosticism derives from Latin gnosticus, which comes from Greek gnostikos (knowledge) and refers to gnosis which is a mystical and godlike knowledge of the heart and the soul. It is a journey of self-discovery and self-knowledge, which by experiencing the Truth within oneself awakes one's consciousness, hence bringing it into the state of pleroma (fullness or the totality of divine powers).

"Matthew said, "Lord, I wish to see that Place of Life, that place in which there is no evil but rather where there is only pure light."
The Lord said, "Brother Matthew, you cannot see it, as long as you wear the flesh."
Matthew said, "O Lord, even if I cannot see it, let me know it."
The Lord said, "Every one of you who has known himself has seen it"

"The Dialogue of the Savior"- Codex III of the Nag Hammadi codices

Uncovering this knowledge and the spiritual transformation that results from it is the goal of the gnostic seeker. Finding this individual inner peace enables one to help others achieve the same.
Gnostic Teachings & Beliefs
1. Self-knowledge leads to the state of pleroma, which is the center of divine life. In that world there are spiritual beings, like aeons (eternal beings), who are sent to help people recover lost knowledge about their divine origin. Jesus is such an aeon;
2. Tolerance of different religious beliefs within and outside of Gnosticism;
3. There is no dogma but personal mystical experiential knowledge of God;
4. Process of inner transformation liberates humans from compulsive imprisonment of dualities which are harmonized in pleroma.
The qualities of Pleroma are pairs of opposites:
The Effective and the Ineffective
Force and Matter
Fullness and Emptiness
Good and Evil
Light and Darkness
The Hot and the Cold
...
These opposites are balanced and void in pleroma. But, although being in us, they are not balanced. Being distinguished from them delivered us. Neutralizing them brings us again in one with Light.
C.G.Jung "Seven Sermons to the Dead", (1916)
5. Both genders are treated equally;
6. Matter and the human body are of earthly importance;
7. The goal is to reveal the spirit, which is divine by origin. It was hidden when brought by Sophia in the form of a seed to be understood and discovered;
8. Spiritual experience is individual and cannot be destroyed;
9. When the experience of gnosis is upon the person, one can do no other but love oneself, another, life, and God, as this is the state of no separation.


Gnostic Practices
Spiritual and mystical practices include working with life questions through meditation, silence, concentration, self-observation, out-of-body-experiences, dreams and other spiritual techniques that aid in achieving a transcendental knowledge about destiny and death while still being embodied on Earth.


http://www.deepspirits.com/

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

The Five Spiritual Powers

The Five Spiritual Powers ...Sarah Doering
IMS Dharma Talk / Three Month Retreat / October 1999
www.Dharma.org

[Sarah Doering has had a long association with the Insight Meditation Society and with the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies. On both boards for many years, she has been a devoted practitioner of insight meditation, and has been teaching at IMS for the past several years. Sarah is currently one of the resident teachers at the newly opened Forest Refuge.]


For forty-five years after his enlightenment, the Buddha wandered about northern India teaching. He spoke publicly as many as ten thousand times. But he was not teaching in order to argue philosophical theories. He was teaching for one purpose only: to bring to an end all the suffering which he saw around him.


The assumption underlying all his teaching is that we don’t have to be the way we are—that all the sorrow and pain and grief and fear that we all know is not necessary. It can be eliminated. New ways of being can be cultivated. He taught so that we may know not suffering, but happiness and peace. These teachings are trainings for a spiritual way of life. This means a way that is real and true, and beneficial for all beings, both now and in times to come.


Tonight I want to speak about five qualities of heart and mind which are known as the “five spiritual powers.” They’ve been called “five priceless jewels,” because when they’re well developed, the mind resists domination by the dark forces of greed and hate and delusion. When the mind is no longer bound by those energies, then understanding and love have no limits. These five powers are also called the “controlling faculties.” When they’re strong and balanced, they control the mind, and generate the power which leads to liberation. The five are faith, effort, mindfulness, concentration and wisdom.


When I first heard this list, I was puzzled. I come from a Christian background. Faith seemed, of course, exactly right to be there. Wisdom, too, belonged on the list. But the others—effort and mindfulness and concentration—sounded very clinical and psychological and dry. Where, I wondered, was love? I did not in any way understand then that the cultivation of these five factors leads directly to love. They’re all necessary. They all work together and interweave very closely.


Faith—which here means trust and confidence in the Dharma—inspires an outpouring of energy. When energy is strong, then the effort to be alert and pay attention is easy. Mindfulness prospers and becomes more and more continuous. The stronger the continuity of mindfulness, the more focused and steady the mind. Concentration grows. As concentration deepens, in the stillness of an attentive mind, wisdom emerges. It’s the wisdom of emptiness, whose only expression is love.


FAITH


The first of the five faculties, faith, actually is a rather suspect word today. The most conspicuous examples of faith are in the various extremes of religious fundamentalism, where faith is often a coercive force, a force which is used to control insiders so that they’ll stay within the confines of the faith. It’s also a force that’s sometimes imposed upon outsiders in order to encourage them to believe. But faith in the sense that I want to speak of tonight has nothing to do with force. It has nothing to do with conventional belief. It’s an innocence of conviction, an open heart that is not afraid to trust, and so can move beyond the known. It senses the possibility of transcendence—that what seems to be, isn’t all there is. It senses that there’s some profound human possibility to be realized, even though it’s not immediately apparent.


Such faith is born in experience. It can’t be given. It arises spontaneously, out of seeing and knowing for oneself. From it flow devotion and gratitude and commitment. It’s a natural self-giving. It stems from knowing the problematic nature of life, from realizing that human existence is very imperfect. Because of this one is sensitive to what else might be, to some other way of being. Faith may arise from hearing the Buddha’s words that say there’s a cause for suffering, a cause that can be removed so that suffering comes to an end. It may arise from seeing someone whose presence, whose manner or words, are so compelling, that they suggest possibilities not at all understood. It may come from reading something that suddenly reveals a meaning that speaks to the heart. It may dawn through music or art or, as happened to me, from a glimpse of something seen in nature.


Each of us has our own story, which brought us here tonight. No one here is without faith. You came in response to an attraction to some wordless possibility—some possibility of discovery, of change, that’s implicit in these long weeks of silence. Faith is critical for a spiritual journey, for it’s through faith that we move from the known to the unknown. Without faith, not much is possible in any endeavor. If there’s no end goal which we particularly value, or if we lack faith in our own strength and ability to get to it, we tend to stay in a rut. We don’t go much of anywhere.


When faith first dawns, the mind is filled with brightness and love and devotion. But faith that’s new is vulnerable. If it meets a skeptic who doubts, and has many views and opinions, faith wants to run away and hide. At least I did, in those years. Because the source of faith is outside ourselves, we’re very dependent on its not changing in any way at all. But gradually faith is internalized. We see for ourselves that the teaching works. We discover that we can sit with physical pain and not be overwhelmed. We begin to taste the happiness of a concentrated mind. Faith deepens, and gives the courage to go beyond our former limits. We begin to allow ourselves to feel more of what we’re feeling. So much of what we feel, we close off, because we fear the pain will be too much to bear. But faith that’s been tested in the crucible of experience comes to know that even in the midst of suffering, there is calm.


When we meet difficulties, faith gives the courage to go on. It’s important to note, however, that faith is very different from hope. Hope is for a specific outcome. Hope is associated with expectation and desire. If hope is disappointed, sadness and fear or anger are the result. Faith is different. It’s trust in the ongoing process. It’s confidence that we can handle whatever comes—for in faith, we can. It’s knowing that each step we take is an unfolding of our life’s journey, even if we don’t know at all where we’re going.


Faith in the truth of the Dharma, by its very nature, implies faith that we have the ability to realize that truth. The whole movement of deepening faith is inward, toward more and more trust in ourselves, more and more trust in the understanding and the love within our own hearts and our own minds. Faith has a very great influence upon consciousness. That’s why it’s the first of these spiritual powers. It removes the shadows of doubt that are so debilitating. It gives a clarity to the mind, which is energizing


EFFORT


Energy, or effort, is the second spiritual power. These two words are linked, but they’re not quite the same. Energy comes first, and effort channels it, and puts it to use. Nothing happens without effort in any kind of endeavor, but especially, perhaps, in spiritual practice. This practice isn’t easy. The instructions are simple, but carrying them out isn’t simple. To be with the breath, feeling it, knowing it, and not identifying with it; to be with an emotion, a mind-state, feeling it, knowing, not identifying; to be with sensations, thoughts, the whole spectrum of experience, seeing it clearly and dispassionately—such work is not child’s play. A lot of energy is expended here just to get out of the pull of habit, the kind of gravitational pull of the mind that would get us and keep us in the grooves of habit that have been worn over years of time. The mind is used to wandering, just erratically wandering from one thing to the next, keeping itself busy with planning and hoping and fantasizing, fearing, complaining, judging. It doesn’t even know that anything might lie outside of its own limited scope.


Right effort is the effort to be mindful, and to bring the mind back when it wanders, so it knows what is happening right now. To do this is really a very delicate balancing act. On the one hand, hard work is needed, in the attempt to keep paying attention. On the other hand, there’s nothing to do, because awareness is already present. It’s just that we’ve been distracted. Right effort is not striving. Striving leads to clinging. It reinforces the sense of self, and can be very painful. Right effort isn’t trying to get anything, for there’s nothing to get. It’s not trying to penetrate something and go deeper and deeper. Rather, it’s the effort to listen with greater sensitivity. It’s a soft receptivity. Just total surrender, receiving and welcoming whatever is here.


When effort is balanced, without any strain, there’s no sense of, “I should do this.” Rather, there’s just a willingness to do. Out of that willingness there comes a more and more constant flow of energy. This quality of energy is bold and courageous. A Pali word describes it as “the state of the heroic ones.” It gives patience and perseverance in the face of difficulty. If pain arises, the heat of the energy burns away fear, and makes it possible to do what ordinarily is very difficult to do—to go right to the center of the pain.


There are many levels of effort. Like the gears of a car, one level leads to the next. But the key to them all is being willing to start fresh, to start all over again. At the beginning of each day, at the beginning of each sitting, at the beginning of each breath—to bring back the wandering mind and start fresh. As we become more skilled, effort becomes smoother and steadier, and mindfulness grows.


MINDFULNESS


Mindfulness is the third of the spiritual powers. It’s the one factor of mind of which we can never have too much. Mindfulness is the observing power of the mind, the active aspect of awareness. Mindfulness means not forgetting to pay attention, not forgetting to be aware of whatever is happening within us, around us, from moment to moment to moment. It’s a very subtle process.


When first we notice something, there is a fleeting moment of pure awareness, before the thinking mind jumps in. It’s a moment that’s nonverbal, pre-verbal. It has in it no thought. It’s a moment of seeing with very great clarity and no thought. The thing noticed is not yet separated out, but is simply part of the whole flow of the process of life. Perception then fixates on the thing, puts boundaries around it and labels it. Then the thinking mind jumps in, and the mind is back in its everyday mode.


Under ordinary circumstances, that first pristine moment of awareness is very brief, and it goes unnoticed. What this practice of mindfulness does is to prolong the moments of pre-verbal knowing. The effect of doing that, over time, is profound. It’s a kind of deep knowing which changes the way that we understand the world.


When mindfulness is present, it’s like an empty mirror. It sees whatever appears before it with no distortion. Mindfulness has no likes and no dislikes. There is no passion or prejudice to color what is seen. It knows things in the round, as it were—in their totality, just as they are.


The question, of course, is, “How can we come to such clarity?” “Interest” is the answer. Get interested in what’s going on. Krishnamurti once said that the way to watch thoughts is the way that you would watch a lizard crawling on the ceiling of a room. This seemed to me a very odd recommendation when first I heard it. I had no connection with it at all, until a few years later. Then I found myself on the island of Antigua, in the Caribbean. I had just arrived. It was late at night and I was half-asleep, but too tired to go to bed. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed something moving on the wall. Attention woke up. It was galvanized. Now, what was moving was a lizard. It was a big one, maybe between nine and ten inches long from the tip of its tail to its nose. It was a dull, mottled brown. Nothing remarkable; it looked very ordinary. I sat, attention just riveted, as it climbed the wall, slowly crawled across the ceiling, down the other side, and then slithered out an open window.


The intensity of that brief little moment was so great that I can see every detail in my mind’s eye right now. Interest was amazingly total. Awareness was complete. There wasn’t a thought, an emotion, to disturb what was seen. All that was there was the seeing of each movement of this little creature from the moment it appeared to the moment it disappeared. Krishnamurti’s words came back into my mind then, and I knew exactly what he had meant. Interest makes the difference. When interest is there, awareness is total, and it’s effortless.


Now, the breath may not have the same compelling quality as seeing a lizard crawling on the ceiling, but the more careful attention we pay to it, the more we get into the habit of paying attention. Interest grows. Careful attention in itself creates interest, for it brings us close to experience—increasingly close, so that we see the texture, the detail, the remarkable wonder of experience. In the doing there comes a brightness and a vividness to things.


Emily Dickinson knew this quality well. She lived a very quiet life, saw few people, and spent most of her time alone in her room. Yet she was so attentive, and saw with such sensitivity and precision, that she could only sum up her experience in this way: “To live is so startling, there’s little time for anything else.”


Close attention opens the heart. When there is interest, real interest, there’s no judgment. Whatever appears is welcome. Acceptance is unconditional. Awareness has a benevolent quality, a friendly quality, about it, which leads to bodhicitta. This welcoming acceptance allows whatever comes to reveal itself in its fullness. Ultimately, mindfulness opens into the realm of the sacred. To speak of knowing things as they are, as they really are—what is that but spiritual talk?


CONCENTRATION


Faith… effort…mindfulness…The fourth spiritual faculty is concentration. Concentration arises naturally out of the effort to be mindful. It gives the power which makes mindfulness so effective. Concentration is often defined as “one-pointed attention.” In the context of insight meditation, it is steady, one-pointed attention upon a succession of changing objects. Concentration keeps attention pinned down upon whatever object mindfulness is noticing. As mindfulness moves from, say, the breath to a sound, concentration moves with it, and again keeps attention focused and steady. In each case it lasts for just a moment, because the mind moves so quickly. But it begins again in the next moment, with the same intensity. This so-called “momentary concentration” provides the power for the work of our practice.


The key to developing concentration is one word: effort. It’s the effort to pay close attention, to keep coming back. Usually the energies of the mind are scattered in a thousand different directions. The mind is all over the place, and its energy is simply frittered away in random thoughts and desires, hopes, fears, feelings. All the huge potential power that it has is wasted. But as the effort to be mindful becomes more consistent, these scattered energies come together and converge around a single point, and the mind becomes focused, like a lens. If parallel rays of light fall upon a piece of paper, they won’t do much more than warm the paper. But if the same amount of light is focused through a lens, the paper will burst into flame. In the same way, concentration focuses the energy of the mind, and gives it the power to cut through surface appearance.


As concentration deepens, the mind becomes calm and centered. It’s less reactive. It comes into greater emotional balance. We can more easily let go and let things be. The mind has a spaciousness which gives room for pain and anger and fear all to arise and pass, without our being broken by them, or needing to act them out.


Concentration is very powerful, but it’s only a tool. Despite its astonishing power, it cannot of itself lead to wisdom. When it’s balanced with mindfulness, the two together cut through conventional reality, and understanding unfolds by itself.


WISDOM


Wisdom is the last of the spiritual qualities. It is ongoing inspiration for the work of the other four, and also their fulfillment. Wisdom is not knowledge. It cannot be learned from books, for it is intuitive understanding that arises from close observation of experience. It is insight into reality, into the nature of things as they are.


One aspect of wisdom is seeing the omnipresence of anicca—impermanence. Wisdom knows that nothing in this conditioned realm will last. It knows that everything that arises passes away. It knows that change occurs at every level from the cosmic to the microscopic. A star, a civilization, a tree, a thought—each arises, evolves through time, disintegrates and disappears. Timetables differ of course, for every phenomenon and event. And change can be so rapid—or so slow—that it is not ordinarily seen at all. But the trajectory is always the same. Whatever is, will be was.


We may think we know this truth, and perhaps we do. But is it living wisdom? For each of us, the mark of impermanence reveals itself most intimately in our inescapable mortality. We all are going to die. However unwelcome that thought may be, death is at the end of every life. You and I are no exception. Everything that is born will die. But because we do not live our lives from this place of understanding, we suffer.


There is a constant clash between the nature of existence and our desires. In a world of radical change, we want permanence and security and enduring happiness, and they cannot be found. We live in an imaginary world, and grasp and cling to the way things used to be, or how we want them to be, and find it hard to accept the way they actually are. The result is dukkha—suffering, all the dissatisfactions and sorrows of the human heart. Dukkha is the second truth, which wisdom more and more deeply comes to know.


But the deepest lesson that wisdom has to teach is the fact of anattà—the fact that nothing is inherently substantial and real. We think that we are separate, solid entities, and struggle to protect and satisfy and gratify our precious sense of self, not understanding that at the closest level of examination, no permanent, unchanging self is ever to be found. The constituents of mind and body are, in fact, in constant flux. Body, sensations, thoughts, emotions, arise and disappear, arise and disappear, moment by moment by moment. Keen observation reveals that mind and body are an ever changing process, a moving energy field. There is no permanent being behind phenomena to whom it all is happening. There is no one here to suffer. A Sri Lankan monk summed this fact up very simply: “No self. No problem.” Yet this truth is baffling, and eludes us until the mind is purified.


The doors of perception are gradually cleansed as the spiritual powers gather strength. Mindfulness sees ever more deeply, and greed, hate and delusion diminish. Our endless likes and dislikes thin out and fall away. The confusion that clouds perception begins to dissolve. We glimpse the interweaving laws of impermanence, suffering and selflessness, and the knowledge is transforming. The way that we understand ourselves and live our lives begins to change.


We don’t hold on so much, and make fewer demands upon existence. We begin to relax, and ease more into the flow of things. We can delight in the good things of life when they are present, and accept change without protest when they end. The heart opens wider as it learns there is nothing to lose…


The sense of self lessens. We become less selfish, less self centered. As mindfulness reveals our dukkha and we experience its pain, we begin to feel the suffering of others. Boundaries disappear, and we turn to the needs of others as if they were our own. Gradually the delicate art of loving without possessing becomes apparent—the art of how to care, yet not to care. There is a growing sense of similarity, of oneness, of communion with all—which more and more means that the only possible response is concern and care for all.


Wisdom is very hard won. It comes from facing our own suffering and learning the profound lessons that suffering has to teach. The lessons are all about letting go. Not holding on to desire, but letting it go. Wherever we hold, the sense of self is present together with suffering. When we let go, self vanishes and suffering dissolves into lightness, ease and peace.


It is in the deep understanding of suffering that compassion comes to full bloom. For when the heart/mind no longer holds to anything, it is fully open. There is no self-centeredness and so, no separation. No I, no you. Love then is boundless, and ceaselessly responsive.

What is an ion bracelet?

What is an ion bracelet?

The ion bracelet is a balance bracelet that contains mineral ionizers. The Tourmaline Bracelet, for example, is a processed combination of silicone rubber, titanium, tourmaline (a silicate mineral http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourmaline), and ceramic. The Tourmaline Bracelet closely resembles the Rayma bracelet. The only difference between the two is that the Rayma bracelet simply contains “special metals” which contain alternate types of mineral alloys. However, despite their differences in composition, these bracelets, along with almost all other ion bracelets, work on the exact same principles. These bracelets (along with necklaces, rice cookers, washing machines…) are primarily a product of Japan and are one of the numerous products associated with using “minus-ions.”


What does an ion bracelet do?

The purpose of the ion bracelet is to reduce pain and restore bodily energy. Golfers, for example, may use a bracelet to help relieve stresses in their wrists, which enables improvement of their golf swing.

How is the ion bracelet supposed to work?

The bracelet uses yin-yang therapy and what is known as the “autoinduction principle.” According to bracelet advertisers, the yin-yang ideal works by giving off specific alternating electrical currents (like your wrist). The currents are composed through different interactions between positive and negative ions.

Positive and negative ions are found everywhere—from the air, to the ground, and in our bodies. In salts, such as common table salt, sodium chloride (NaCl), the molecules are connected with ionic bonds. Once the bond is broken, (may it be through water, wind, or some other outside force) the salt forms a cation and anion. Cations are positively charged and anions are negatively charged ions. These different types of ions circulate all throughout our bodies and serve as everything from the constituents of our pH level, to chemical signals for proteins. (Tocci & Viehland, 1996)

According to advertisers, through the autoinduction principle, the bracelet absorbs the static electricity given off by the body in order to seek balance between these ions. Pain is caused by an imbalance when organs or tissues lose some of their energy. As energy is given off, it may fall within the bracelet’s range of frequency; then bracelet will give off an opposite form of energy. This process returns the organ’s or tissue’s energy to its original state, thus negating the pain.
http://healthpsych.psy.vanderbilt.edu/TourmalineResearch.htm

Monday, October 18, 2010

Miracle in Lebanon





These are the pictures of Guilda Ayoub, a 16-year-old girl from 'Imar' village situated near Zgharta, North Lebanon .

Guilda watched the film of 'Passion of the Christ ' on Good Friday on 06/04/2007, and before she went to sleep she was telling her mum that she doesn't believe that Jesus has passed through all that pain.

That night she dreamt of having a cross on her hand but the next day she woke up, did not have anything on her hand.
She went to school and as she was telling her friend about it, she felt something pulling her hand backwards and putting it on the wall behind her.

Her hand was stuck on the wall and no one could take it off.. After a while when she took off her hand,
a cross was printed on her hand with a wound in the middle as if there was a nail taken out of her.

Blood tests were done for her and the blood that was coming out of her hand has no blood group.
Also there was oil on her hand..

Saint Charbel has talked to her many times and he was giving her messages.
One of the messages was about Lebanon but he asked her not to say it until he tells her..
She still has pain in her hand and it is still bleeding from time to time.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Monday, October 11, 2010

CHARM BRACELETS


CHARM BRACELETS


Beginning in the early years of the 20th century and extending until around 1960, it was a mark of middle-class properity that young girls be given a charm bracelet before they reached puberty and that at every holiday or anniversay, a new charm be added to the assemblage, often by the doting relative who had supplied the original bracelet. One suspects that jewelers were behind the craze, but in fact, the demand for charms is ancient; only this method of marketing them is relatively recent. Not all the charms on these bracelets were lucky emblems -- equally common were hobby-related and school-related charms. In fact, the multiplicity of charms available, and the mundanity of many of them -- a telephone, a car, a cheerleader's megaphone, a windmill -- served to devalue the word "charm" in the English language, so that today one may be misunderstood if one refers to "charms" when one means "amulets."

The 20th century American charm bracelet at left features a variety of lucky charms in a bright mix of brass, copper, sterling silver, and gold-plated metal.

This bracelet is typical of the kind of jewelry worn by adolescent girls in the 1950s and 1960s, collected charm by charm while travelling through the tourist traps, flea markets, jewelry stores, and yard sales of the heartland. It is, in fact, my very own charm bracelet! There are 13 charms on it, demonstating the use of "unlucky" 13 as reversed bad luck. Clockwise from the top, they are:

a silver heart engraved with initials: love for the named individual
a brass heart pierced by an arrow: smitten romantic love
a silver horseshoe: attraction or "drawing" luck
a gold wishbone set with a pearl: wishes come true
a silver horseshoe on which is placed a wishbone, a four-leaf clover, a horseshoe and the words "Good Luck": good luck
a gold and green enamelled four-leaf clover: luck
a silver money bag with a $ sign: wealth
a copper horseshoe on which is placed a four-leaf clover: good luck
a brass heart padlock: faithful love
a silver spread of playing cards: gambling luck
a gold double horseshoe set with an artificial diamond: money luck
a brass money bag marked 1000: wealth
a silver horseshoe: attraction or "drawing" luck
Other popular 20th century charms not depicted on this page but often found on European and American charm bracelets include:

a swastika: luck (pre-Hitlerian, of course)
twin hearts pierced by a single arrow: reciprocated love
an Amanita muscaria mushroom: luck
a chimney sweep or his ladder and brush: luck
a so-called "Lucky Buddha": luck
a black cat: gambling luck
Unrelated to European and American charm bracelets -- but probably made to meet Occidental rather than Oriental tastes -- are the so-called Chinese charm bracelets made with glass beads, jade carvings, and metal amulets strung on black cord and tied around the wrist.

http://www.luckymojo.com/charmbracelets.html

Make-Believe, Play-Acting and the Law of Attraction

Make-Believe, Play-Acting and the Law of Attraction
By Frederick Dodson

Reality Creation is the Art of matching your energy-field (your thoughts, emotions and actions) with the energy-field of the Reality you wish to Create. You thereby attract what focus on, into your life. So if you wanted to attract money, you'd assume the energy-field of already being rich. If you wanted to attract health you'd practice already seeing yourself as healthy. If you wanted to find your ideal partner, you'd practice feeling like you are already in a relationship. You can only attract experiences into your life that you radiate. You cannot experience anything you don't believe or feel. When you have a certain "feeling", that means energy is radiating out of your body, mind and being, attracting whatever matches that feeling. Every reality you wish to have, has a certain "feeling". Find out what it feels like to already have what you want, and it's yours!

Creating Reality takes some effort and practice because its the opposite of what the world teaches...namely that experiences create what you believe and feel. In Reality Creation you learn that what you feel and believe creates what you experience. So learning this skill requires plenty of reading books on it, plenty of visualizing, plenty of mental releasing of negative programming and plenty of prioritization. You prioritize what is important to you and you disregard what is not. Energy flows where your attention goes. To practice Reality Creation you train your will - or you get a coach who will support you with pointers and reminders.

Nowadays there is a lot of sneaky marketing going on, telling you you can "have it all" within only a few hours if ONLY you buy a certain product IMMEDIATELY. Such marketers will make up fake Testimonials about someone becoming a Millionaire within 10 Minutes of buying the product or curing cancer within one day of signing up for a subscription. While miracles do happen and it is exciting, fun and even sometimes effective to believe in rapid results, such marketing in the new-age, law-of-attraction, "the secret", "manifesting" and "goal-achievement" market does more damage than good. Why? Because secretly and inwardly most people don't actually believe they can achieve those results that quickly. And the best advertisement or hard-selling propaganda can't change that - only YOU can. So all of this "get rich quick!!!! Sign up now!!!!" hype is mostly to get people to give the seller money. Someone using those kind of tactics is often not truly interested in the well-being of the Customer (there are exceptions though - I've met some goodhearted people who use these strategies).

Reality Creation is not something for an instant and quick-fix but a lifestyle, a philosophy of a lifetime, something you can cultivate and get better at over years. The "quick fix" crowd is usually the crowd driven by a needy Ego that will most likely not achieve, not create, not reach. Why? Because neediness attracts more neediness. Feeling non-needy and at peace attracts prosperity.

Most readers of this will be familiar with "Visualization" as widely taught as a method of Reality Creation and commercialized in movies such as "What the Bleep" and "The Secret". Interestingly, despite Millions of people now being familiar with the Art of Visualizing ones preferred realities many don't use it consistently. Why? Because they haven't practiced their will. They were promised a quick fix. And maybe that quick fix happened and then they rested on their laurels or that quick fix didn't happen and they gave up. In any case, as of the year 2010 you still don't have very many people actually training their Imagination.

And yet, in this article I'd like to go one step further than Visualization I'd like to introduce a new word:

Physicalization!

This is the same thing as Visualization except that you actually act out and demonstrate what you would normally only be imagining. This intensified act quickens the manifestation of your goals and dreams. Other words for Physicalization are.

Acting-it-Out
Acting-As-If
Make-Believe-Acting
Pretend-Acting
Charades
Pantomime
Acting-with-Expectation (of something coming true)
Preparing for something (in the trust it will come true)

So in applying Reality Creation to get Rich would you...

a) Read a Book on how to get Rich
b) Read a Book by someone who is Rich
c) Read a Book on how to Invest your Money
d) Read a Book unrelated to Money...?

This is a Reality Creation Quiz. Answer it before reading on.

Answer a) is the most incorrect of all answers. If you were already rich and play-acting being a Millionaire, you would not read a book on how to get Rich. You already are! Answer b) is a little better than a because you can learn more from someone who is rich than from someone just writing about being rich. Answer c) is even better because if you already are rich you might be reading books on what to do with all your money! And answer d) is the best because if you were really rich above and beyond your wildest Imagination you may not care about money itself anymore but delve into other subjects (that subject already being taken care of). Of course some love money for moneys sake, but that's rare.

If you want to Physicalize a Partner for yourself, you would perhaps lay the table, put on candlelight and prepare for your love to join you every evening. And one day he or she will be sitting there. Sometimes it takes only a few days, sometimes it takes many years. But it does eventually come true...always!

If you want to Physicalize become a movie-actor, you'd have to hang around where movie actors hang-around. Where do they hang-around. You don't know? Then find out! I love it when people state a certain goal but don't actually want to enter the energy-field that contains the fulfillment of that goal. Being in New York, London or Los Angeles may be a good idea if you want to be an actor in Movie Productions.

If you want to Physicalize good health because you are having issues with, let's say, your back and you are saying "I did not sign up for Yoga because I have issues with my back", then maybe you should sign up for Yoga - thereby demonstrating your belief in betterment.

I am not recommending you take risks with your health though - never overwhelm your threshold of believability. But you get the point.

If you want to Physicalize that you can afford to go on vacation although today it does not look as if you could go on vacation, then start preparing for it. Get out your vacation clothes and pack them. Look for flights in the Internet. Look at pictures from your Destination. Tell people you are going to travel (unless these are people that will say "But you don't have the money to travel" - in that case, keep your goal a secret). Behaving in this way, the means to travel will come to you. It's metaphysical law. If you were looking for something to rely on in life, you can always rely on attractor-fields bringing back the precise overall result of the energy you put out!

Frederick Dodson is the author of books, audios and videos on success, spirituality and metaphysics. He is the creator of Reality Creation Coaching at http://www.oceanofsilence.com and the creator of free and buyable Audio-Coachings and Audio-Meditations at http://www.realitycreation.org

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Frederick_Dodson

Thursday, October 07, 2010

Power of Thought: Growing Energy Balls

Power of Thought: Growing Energy Balls
By Julia Melges-Jablonski




Most of the time, we take a longer and more involved "route" to fulfillment than we need to, because we tend to focus on working toward our goals through physical action rather than manifesting them through inner vision. When we employ the law of attraction and focus our full attention on what we desire, we fuel the creation of what we want in our lives. The more we focus on a particular goal, the stronger its potential becomes. Through repeated thought or focus, we actually create a thought form that becomes self-sustaining.



When I first began an Internet-based spiritual counseling practice, I created an "energy ball" to draw traffic and business. I had discovered this idea in a small old metaphysical pamphlet. I no longer recall the author or even the title, but I do remember that it worked!



First, define your goal. I had a very clear goal of a certain number in terms of daily traffic to my site, and a certain number of readings ordered. Of course, your goal can be "true love," more free time, achieving astral projection, etc.; just define it in as much detail as possible. It's also essential that you believe your dream is possible. If you don't, aim a little lower until that higher goal no longer feels out of your reach.



Once you have a clear goal, set aside about a half an hour for the exercise. You'll want to be able to sit quietly, uninterrupted. Make sure you're comfortable and in a positive state of mind. If you're having a bad day or have been through emotional upset, wait until another day. The more confident and positive your state of mind, the more effective you'll be. You might even read self-help books or success stories just prior to beginning the exercise to get into the ideal state of mind.



When you're ready, sit quietly with your eyes closed and your palms face up in your lap. Visualize the infinite creative energy of the Universe swirling around you, like a gentle whirlpool moving all around your body. This energy is everywhere at all times, you're simply going to channel it toward your aim. Imagine tendrils of energy forming that begin to swirl into a ball just above your upturned hands.



Watch and feel the energy growing stronger. It's vibrant, radiant colors, like brilliant gems. Red, blue, and green swirl together, forming a beautiful sphere of moving energy. Imagine this energy growing stronger, more powerful and more cohesive. Try to feel the energy pulsing just above your palms.



This ball of energy is going to fuel the manifestation of your desire. It will remain alive and powerful and growing, just like a plant will grow naturally whether you're there to visualize it doing so or not. Just as the sun and earth fuel the growth of a plant, so will the Universe fuel the growth of this ball of energy, which will be channeling creative power to the fulfillment of your aim no matter where you are or what you're doing.



As you hold your ball of energy, clearly visualize your goal coming true. Hold a mental image of success, and also imagine as deeply as possible how it will feel to attain it. Imagine what you might say or hear, what you might do or where you might be. Try to make this visualization as "real" as possible. The more powerfully you can imagine success, the better.



Visualize a chord of energy moving from your ball of energy into this thought form of success. The ball of energy is never depleted, for it is fueled by an infinite supply, much as the energy in a wall socket is never depleted. Your ball of energy is plugged in and will continue to fuel your vision.



Now choose a "home" for your energy ball. Again, it's a bit like choosing a spot for a plant. You want an out of the way corner where it can grow in peace, where it won't get in your way, and you won't disturb it in your daily life. A corner of the ceiling works nicely. Stand up and "pick up" your ball of energy, and "put it" in its home.



Affirm to yourself that what you desire is already in the process of manifesting, and "thank" your ball of energy for bringing you what you desire. Assume that this will work, and visualize yourself in wonder and pleasure over how such a simple exercise could create such great results, and how a half an hour spent in conscious manifesting can change your whole life.



Walk away with faith that your energy ball will keep "growing" and fueling your success.

Astral Journey and the Astral Body

Astral Journey: Astral Journey and the Astral Body
By www.indiadivine.org

Astral Journey and the Astral Body

You first separate yourself from the body; then you identify yourself with the mind, and then you function on the mental plane, with this fine body just as you do on this physical plane. Through concentration, you rise above the body-consciousness; through meditation, you rise above mind; and finally through Samadhi, you realize your spiritual nature. These are three important exercises of Antaranga Sadhana in the achievements of Kaivalya, the final beautitude.



You can, by mere willing alone, travel to any place you like with the astral body and there materialize by drawing the necessary elements either from Ahankara or the universal storehouse, the ocean of Tanmatras. The process is very, very simple to occultists and Yogis who know the rationale, the detailed technique of the various operations.



Thought reading and thought-transference too can be quite easily performed by those who can function with the astral body. Concentrated mental rays can penetrate opaque walls, just as X-rays pass through the opaque body. This is one of the Siddhis (mystical perfections). Siddhis are not the goal of life. Do not entangle yourself in these Siddhis which mar your further spiritual progress. Shun them entirely. Continue your Sadhana and stop not till you reach the goal.

Courtesy India Divine, for more articles, please visit www.indiadivine.org

Tuesday, October 05, 2010

Characteristics of a Liberated Soul

Characteristics of a Liberated Soul

Humility

A liberated soul knows that he is not the doer. He knows and feels that he is a mere instrument for the higher power. It is this awareness that enables him to be a channel for divine light. A liberated soul does not deal with his own individual will and individual freedom; he seeks only to be a channel for the Divine Will.


This humility is only possible when a person has subdued his ego. When our ego is predominant we feel that we are the doer. But, if we transcend the dominance of the ego, we learn true humility. This state of consciousness gives does not give us a sense of superiority, but oneness with others. Because of his sense of identification with others a liberated soul will never feel better than others.

Equanimity

A liberated soul has made a permanent connection with his inner reality, the Universal Source. He sees through the ephemeral nature of the outer world; he knows that what happens in the outer world does not affect the real in us - our soul. Thus, whatever may befall a liberated soul on the outer plane, nothing affects his inner poise and inner peace. At the same time, a liberated soul is not bound by any outer rules; some spiritual Master's may display outer emotions for various reasons. Yet, even if they display anger outwardly, inwardly they retain a perfect inner peace. Their show of anger may merely be an outer emotion necessary for the well being of others.


No Fear of Death.

Sri Sarada Devi said that we can always tell the difference between a spiritual person and an ordinary person.

"The difference between a spiritual man and an ordinary man is very simple. Easily you can know the difference between the two. An ordinary man cries and sheds bitter tears when death approaches him; whereas a spiritual man, if he is really spiritual, he will laugh and laugh when death approaches him, for to him death is fun, nothing else" [3]

Purity

A liberated soul is the embodiment of his own inner realization. If we have a little receptivity, we will feel in the spiritual Master a sense of peace, purity and inner joy. Outwardly the liberated soul may be ugly. But, if we look into their eyes, we will definitely see that they have attained a consciousness far beyond the ordinary. The liberated soul may say or do nothing; but, just being in their presence may give an inexplicable and unexpected sense of inner peace and well being.



By: Tejvan Pettinger,

Inner Peace is a Choice.

Inner Peace is a Choice.

It is our own thoughts that will either bring us peace or restlessness. If our mind is clear of useless, undivine thoughts, we can experience inner peace in abundance. When we lose our inner peace it is because of our own thoughts. It is tempting to blame our problems on the world and other people. However, a man of inner peace will not allow the outer world to disturb his inner mind. If we maintain equanimity and detachment to events of the world, inner peace will remain a permanent feature of our mind.


Inner Peace is to be experienced Here and Now.

It is a mistake to feel inner peace will be achieved in the future, when circumstances are more favourable. Inner peace can only be felt in the present moment. If we live only in the here and now, we will not worry about the future, or speculate on the past. If we live only for the present moment we can learn to understand the immediacy of inner peace.

Inner peace and Oneness are inseparable.

If we live in the critical mind and are constantly judging others, we will never experience real inner peace. When we judge others we try to assert our superiority over others, but this can never bring inner peace. When we are flooded with inner peace, we feel others are an extended part of our reality; the imperfection of others actually seem our own imperfections, just in another body.

Inner Peace is in the heart not the Mind.

To find inner peace in the mind, is difficult. The nature of the mind is to think, analyse and create problems. The nature of the heart is oneness, love and joy. If we can bring to the fore the qualities of the heart, we will find peace. It is also in the heart, that our Soul resides. The Soul is the divine part of our being, and is inundated with peace.

Inner Peace is to be experienced Here and Now.

It is a mistake to feel inner peace will be achieved in the future, when circumstances are more favourable. Inner peace can only be felt in the present moment. If we live only in the here and now, we will not worry about the future, or speculate on the past. If we live only for the present moment we can learn to understand the immediacy of inner peace.


Inner peace and Oneness are inseparable.

If we live in the critical mind and are constantly judging others, we will never experience real inner peace. When we judge others we try to assert our superiority over others, but this can never bring inner peace. When we are flooded with inner peace, we feel others are an extended part of our reality; the imperfection of others actually seem our own imperfections, just in another body.


Inner Peace is in the heart not the Mind.

To find inner peace in the mind, is difficult. The nature of the mind is to think, analyse and create problems. The nature of the heart is oneness, love and joy. If we can bring to the fore the qualities of the heart, we will find peace. It is also in the heart, that our Soul resides. The Soul is the divine part of our being, and is inundated with peace.

Peace does not Require an Escape from the world.

Inner peace does not require us to live in an himalayan cave. Inner peace can be experienced in the hustle and bustle of the world. What is important is the state of our mind, not the outer circumstances.

Do not think of what you do not have;




Do not think of what you do not have;
Instead, appreciate what you have and can still have.

Do not think of things lost;
Instead, value what you still have and may yet find.

Do not cry over spilled milk;
Instead, rejoice in what was left.

Do not think of what you are not;
Instead, be humble with what you are and can still become.

Do not think of what others say you are;
Instead, concern yourself with what you affirm to be.

Do not think of the hours and days past;
Instead, look eagerly to times that are yet to come.

Do not think of what you failed to do;
Instead, think of those that you were able to do and can still best do.

Do not think of mistakes committed;
Instead, count the things you did right.

Do not think much of the pain you have caused;
Instead, plan for ways to make amends.

Do not think of the sufferings you now bear;
Instead, look to the comfort when relief draws near.

Do not consume yourself with thoughts of what could have been;
Instead, marvel at what has become and will become.

Do not be anxious to attain greater happiness;
Instead, content yourself with the little things which bring you bliss.

Do not aspire to fill your cup at once;
Instead, have the patience to do it little by little.

And if by chance you fail, do not fret over the empty part on top;
Instead, celebrate the space filled up.

Do not condemn nature when it is at its worst;
Instead, think of the times when it was at its best.

Do not blame luck for things you miss;
Instead, learn from things in which you have been remiss.

Nor should you curse luck or others for life's misfortunes;
Instead, accept them as part of life

ugly doll peace ...


ugly doll peace

POSITIVESayings

POSITIVE SAYINGS

At the center of your being you have the answer; You know who you are and you know what you want. - Lao Tzu

Believe it is possible to solve your problem. Tremendous things happen to the believer. So believe the answer will come. It will. - Norman Vincent Peale

There is no such thing as no chance - Henry Ford

Every day may not be good, but there's something good in every day. - Author Unknown

Whatever the mind of man can conceive, it can achieve. - Author Unknown

If you don't like something change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about it. - Mary Engelbreit

Just because you're miserable doesn't mean you can't enjoy your life. - Annette Goodheart

Make your optimism come true. - Author Unknown

The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes. - William James

The Titanic was sinking

The Titanic was sinking, and there weren't enough lifeboats.
So the captain had to persuade male passengers to jump into the icy waters to make room for women and children.
To the British he said. "You must act like gentlemen." They jumped.
To the Americans he said, "You can be heroes." They complied.
To the Germans he said, "It's the rule." They obeyed.
To the Japanese he said," It's the consensus." They obliged.
Then came the Singaporean and they just weren't budging until he came up with the appeal: "Free life jackets for those who jumped."