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Thursday, October 31, 2013

You can’t improve anything if you don’t first know what needs to be improved.

Once you know what needs to be improved or fixed, you can then begin the process of finding out how to make the needed improvements. 
Making improvements in your life is like a mechanic working on a car. We first has to figure out what is wrong with our car before we can work on it and make it run better.

No mechanic would simply start replacing parts, rewiring the electrical system, etc. without first doing some investigating and finding out what is working and what is not working. 

The same principle goes for us in our quest to live the lifestyle we want. You have to find out what strengths you already have and what areas need some work. Then you can work to make your strengths even stronger, and to turn your weaknesses into strengths.

It takes quite a bit of introspection to really understand yourself and know what you believe in and what you truly stand for to understand your principles and to develop your own code of life. 

Carl Jung taught that, 
“We should know what our convictions are, and stand for them…Therefore it is wise to be as clear as possible about one’s subjective principles.” 

Socrates stated, 
“One of the most important precepts of wisdom is to know oneself.”

A thorough understanding of oneself is not optional for the true being. It is absolutely necessary. 
This should be a top priority for you throughout your journey. 
It is self-knowledge that allows you to live a life of excellence; without it, you cannot possibly develop your life to the fullest. 

Socrates even went as far as to say, 
“The unexamined life is not worth living.” 

This is a pretty strong endorsement of self-knowledge!

ps/smoh


Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Every action we take, everything we do, is either a victory or defeat in the struggle to become what we want to be.



Aristotle wisely stated, 
“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” 

I have to agree. Overall, excellence becomes a habit, just like everything else that you repeatedly do in your life. Each action merely reinforces your dedication to excellence or your lack of dedication to excellence. 

As Anne Byrhhe wrote, 
“Every action we take, everything we do, is either a victory or defeat in the struggle to become what we want to be.”

When you decide to do something halfway, that decision in and of itself is akin to taking a step away from being a man of excellence. 
On the other hand, every time you slow down and make the effort to do something the best you can, then you are re-enforcing excellence in your life. 
As Aristotle said, excellence becomes a habit. Habits are formed by continually being consistent at whatever you are doing. 
The experts tell us that you can form a new habit in about a month, that is, if you are consistent with your actions.

All it takes is a firm decision to start doing everything you do, the best that you can do it. 

Thomas J. Watson wrote, 
“If you want to achieve excellence, you can get there today. As of this second, quit doing less-than-excellent work.” 

This makes sense. 
If you quit doing “less-than-excellent work” everything you do will be done at a high level. 
Essentially, everything you do will be done at the level of excellence that you are shooting for.

note to AOH

ps/smoh



Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Courage is the complement of fear. One who is fearless cannot be courageous is also a fool.....

Having no fear indicates a total absence of the emotion of fear, which is a scary prospect in itself. If someone has a total absence of fear, one judgement will be faulty in many situations. 

A total absence of fear is not a virtue, but rather a mental deficiency. 

Fear is a necessary emotion, designed to warn us and protect us. It is only when fear becomes obsessive, and we allow fear to control us, that fear becomes a problem.

Mark Twain wrote that,
 “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absence of fear.” 

If one has absolutely no capability to feel fear, then one really has no capacity for courage. Courage is overcoming our fears to do what is right in the face of some danger, uncertainty, pain, or embarrassment. 

A being who has no fear or anxiety where danger, uncertainty, or pain is concerned, has some other mental issues going on which make him seem brave, when in actuality, what one actions are revealing are simply one mental deficiencies. 

To call a person who is incapable of feeling fear brave could be compared to giving a two year old boy a hand grenade to play with as a toy. 
Of course the young boy would have no fear of the hand grenade because he do not have the intelligence to understand what it is or that it could hurt him. 
He do not have the knowledge or wisdom to understand what the dangers of this “toy” truly are, so he has no fear of it. 
It would be wrong to classify this boy as courageous or brave for playing with the hand grenade, when in fact, he is not displaying courage, but merely his ignorance.

The same principle applies to the man who is incapable of feeling fear. If a man does not have the wisdom to know what should be feared and what shouldn’t be feared, his actions cannot be classified as courageous. 
He is not acting out of courage, but out of his ignorance or lack of understanding. 

Thucydides, the Greek historian who documented the courageous story of the Peloponnesian War, wrote, 

“The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and, notwithstanding, go out to face it.”

So if one does not understand what one is facing, one cannot be brave in that situation, only ignorant. 

The difference in a courageous person and a foolhardy person is that the courageous one understands what is up against. 
When one understands the possible consequences of standing up for one principles, or of engaging in some physical battle, but still acts according to principles despite one knowledge that one's actions could cost oneself. 

The foolhardy person simply acts. One is rash and compulsive, and either do not take the time to reflect on what the dangers are, or do not have the intelligence to understand the dangers. 



ps/smoh
NB
"So ready, and willing for my demise, I won't go silently, into the evenings dark night. To have died for young, innocent lives. I won't go silently, into the evenings dark night."

Monday, October 28, 2013

Disable of nature of law.....

As is the tendency, so is the desire, 
as is the desire, so is the action, so is the birth into another being after death. 

The body is the seed the of tree a perpetual chain. 
The seed perishes in developing into a tree and
Tree again produces the seed. 

This cycle continues eternally. 

Even so, one's takes a body, does action,
Develops tendencies, dies and puts on a new body in accordance with its nature. 

This continue us till it get the knowledge of the Self by transcending tree ‘qualities’ 

Then ignorance, root cause of birth and death, is completely destroyed.

Faith is born of one’s individual nature that is, Of latent impressions of virtuous and vicious action performed in past births which manifest themselves at the time of death. 


In the subconscious 

Mind there is reservoir of past impression, which are revived through the operation of memory.


Faith is the main support of life It is not a mere intellectual belief. 


ps/smoh

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Trust in today’s friends as if they might be tomorrow’s enemies...

The wisest path to take is to never trust someone with enough information to hurt you. 
At least not unless there is a very good reason to do so, you have known them for years, and they have proven to be a true friend through the storms of life. 
Even then it is wise to be careful concerning what you share. 
It is always best to keep some things private.

Strive to make sure that your true friends are being of character, honour, and integrity. 
It is someone’s character that truly matters when it comes to friendship. 
Look at what is inside someone when you are thinking of befriending.

 “Ordinary people are friendly to those who are outwardly similar to them. The wise are friendly with those who are inwardly similar to them.” 
Think about this!

I have learned this the hard way recently. Putting too much trust and sharing too much with someone. 
In hindsight I realized she was nothing like me. 
When one must repeatedly talk about how loyal they are, they generally are the least loyal of them all. 
Actions do speak volumes louder than words.

ps/smoh

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Wisdom is not in words; it is in understanding. Rumi

 “A man without knowledge, a world in darkness.” 

Knowledge is the beginning of wisdom. 
Without some knowledge of how things work in this world, it is impossible to have any understanding of how the world works, and therefore impossible to develop wisdom.

The first step in developing wisdom is to become knowledgeable. 

Study and learn about many different subjects, but especially about the subjects that can affect your life and the lives of your loved ones. 
Developing a vast array of knowledge is crucial, especially knowledge that guides us on our journey through the warrior lifestyle. 
To be a superior man, you must acquire as much knowledge as you possibly can. 

Never stop learning.

“He alone is truly a man who is illuminated by the light of the true knowledge.” 

You must obtain true knowledge, not simply a bunch of facts which you file away in your memory bank. 

Being able to recite hundreds of facts and figures does you little good, unless you make a living on game shows. 

You have to be able to put the knowledge which you acquire to use for it to be valuable in your life.

Namaste
^__^


Friday, October 25, 2013

Time out • Tune in



Already am, always was, and I still have time to be.

If it's your only choice, then it's the best option.

It's the place where journey starts... Sometimes that self-love is hidden so deep down. There's so much noise.

If you realize that all things change, there is nothing you will try to hold on to.

Efficiency is overrated; adventure is better.

Run toward things that you're excited about without worrying about how much time they take up or how difficult they are.
Notice the stories going on around you, and within you.
If you try to accept this moment, you're already in resistance.
You're implying that this moment needs 'acceptance' added to it.
You're probably trying to change 'what is'. 
That's why you're trying to accept it.

Relax.

No extra acceptance is required.
Simply notice that this moment is already as it is, including any resistance or attempts to 'accept', including any story of 'you'.

Present sights, sounds, smells, thoughts and feelings are already here, already dancing in your unchanging, intimate presence.
This is what I call the deepest acceptance - not something that 'you' do, but what you already are, the capacity for experience itself, no matter what experience looks like.

There is a tendency, for those on a spiritual path, to want to tear open the rose bud to see the full bloom. There is a kind of greed in this and no one admires greed! 
There is wisdom in allowing the rose to open naturally in its own time.

Even when it all seems to be going wrong, stop and breathe and remember that nothing can go 'wrong' in the vast field of your undying presence.

Content features the whole show, including us in the moment 'trying to accept the moment.' 
The moment is filled with comedy in the absence of any doers to be 'the doer' of anything. 
There isn't even anyone to 'hate truth.'

ps/smoh

.. every good story, every compelling adventure, requires transformation, which itself requires a time of darkness, which really only means a time of profound unknowing.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

“Relationships aren't here to make us happy for true happiness lies within; they're here to make us profoundly conscious.”



The healthiest relationships are not necessarily the ones that look 'happiest' to the naked eye. They aren't necessarily the ones where two people are always seen holding hands, 
giggling, 
dancing and singing with the butterflies, 
where nothing ever 'goes wrong' and life is always perfect.

External perfection can easily mask internal devastation, disconnection and a quiet, unspoken desperation to be free, or at least alone.

The healthiest relationships are the honest ones, the ones that might not always look 'happy' or 'carefree' from the outside.

The ones that might not fit the image of what a relationship 'should' or 'must' look or feel like.

Where two people tell the truth about today, and continually let go of all their preconceived ideas about each other.
Where the relationship is forever renewed in the furnace of honesty. 
Where there may be ruptures, misunderstandings, even intense feelings of doubt and disconnection, BUT there is a mutual willingness to face this seeming mess head-on! 

To look - with open eyes - at the present rupture, and not turn away or cling to the past. 
To sit together in the midst of mutual shattered dreams and expectations, and work to find a place of reconnection, here, now, today. 

Where relationship is seen as the ultimate yoga - an ongoing and deepening adventure and rediscovery of each other, a constant meeting, not a future destination, fixed conclusion, point of arrival, or a convenient story to tell others during polite conversation.

Namaste

ps/smoh

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Nuff said...

Most of the world’s people worship the offspring, while one who is spiritually mature embraces the Source and never becomes the slave of any social or religious movement.

You have to think for yourself and spend quiet time in deep thought to determine what you really believe. 
Don’t take someone else’s word for it; you take the time to go directly to the Source yourself and listen to your spirit concerning what is true.

Most of the sages throughout the ages have believed that human beings have a soul or a spirit, and that this spirit is the true you and will live on even after the body dies. 

Socrates taught, 
“It is perfectly certain that the soul is immortal and imperishable, and our souls will actually exist in another world.” 
This belief is almost universal around the world, as are many of the basic religious beliefs.

If you study the beliefs of the world’s major religions, you will be shocked at how much they agree on, and how few points they truly find themselves at odds with in their doctrines. 

But those few points in which they disagree have caused major problems in the world, and heartbreak for thousands of people.  
“Truth is one; only It is called by different names.” 
You could add to that statement that, It is called by different names, argued about and fought over.

One has to only look at the many atrocities committed by religious people over the years to understand that arguing over religion is counter productive and is not something that the truly spiritual person wants to concern himself with. 


WE should concern ourselves more with true spirituality and being true to one's beliefs, instead of arguing and trying to convince others to believe as one does. 

Take care of your own spiritual life and allow others to believe as they will.

ps/smoh

...but power in wisdom is great in all of us my friend now and forever ^__^



How many of these apply to people in our country today? 

By my count, ALL of them. 

This is a sad statement, but I believe it is true. 

Think about it. 

Is there even one of these that you couldn't easily say about people in our country today?

Maybe it is time to make changes, not just in our political climate, but in our overall attitude towards life.


ps/smoh

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Everything is the same and at the same time, everything is different. How could that be?



Well, let's examine that a bit...

You have a body. 
Your body is one single body; it is not several bodies. Right? 

But, your body has many different parts, fingers, toes, organs, hair, etc. 

All of these parts are different, and yet, they are part of the same body. 
And, even if you look at one of these parts closer, through a microscope, you will see thousands of different parts that may not have realized were there. 
All of these are a part of the whole. They are the same... your body, but different.

The world works the same way. 


Everything in this world contains the same energy. 
We are all part of the Universal energy, and yet, at the same time, 
there are billions of different parts on this planet that share this energy, 
just like there are many different parts of your physical body sharing the same body. 

Reflect the deeper meaning of this thought and see where your thoughts go. 

ps/smoh

Monday, October 21, 2013

"Law of Attraction" and "The Secret"???

I think communication is the essential reality: 
thinking. 

What ever method I use to explain causality, the "evidence" must be found where I am. 
Since I am writing this on the fly, I don't know what evidence actually is. 
It appears contextual and not absolute. 
If it were absolute, this would be felt as a memory.

All the sounds are falling through holes. Whether they mean anything or not would take more sounds, taps, nods, pointing or offerings of "stuff" to verify.

Further, if I want something and I don't do anything at all but think about it and then I wait for it to appear in reality and it works then I would be able to make things appear in reality that do not exist. 
I can do this as communication only. 
I cannot manifest an actual dinosaur in reality. 
I can "manifest' the one I can build, though. 
If I build one from the original materials (DNA and friends) then I am still building, functioning as an interface.

If the law of attraction were true, it would apply to everything I could think of without discrimination. 

What I think is happening is probability narratives for causality. 
From my view, I am alive in the one place I have no memory of. 
Communication is what I am.

I can't answer your question due to the impossibility of isolating the causation/correlation puzzle. 

I cannot know if getting what I wanted was caused by wanting it. I could also have been falling towards it the whole time, regardless of thoughts and wanting.

If I try to say it, it comes out poetry: 

pulsating marbles; mobius strip teasing.

Sunday, October 20, 2013

It is completely crazy when you realise this. There is no one here...

Where does suffering go when we are not thinking about it? 
For that matter, where does our sense of self go when we are not thinking about that? 
Who would you be without that thought of "lingering dissatisfaction"?

This thought of lingering dissatisfaction will come and go, but you, the nameless consciousness, will always be same and constant. 
Eternal.

I was thinking to today about animals and they manage just fine without symbols and concepts. And they don't seem to get that hung up on pain either.

They are not there. 
This is not a trick or an example of denial. 
It's a clue. 
Aside from thought, there is no self and no suffering. 
What we are is beyond or prior to thought. 
We are that in which thought arises and passes away with its fantasies of self and suffering.

The only knowing of self is actually "nothingness". 
All that you may think you are but really aren't...keeps you reeling under all kinds of effects, and sufferings!!! Neither this....nor that!! or..... Not this! Not that!!..... 
Neti! Neti! Neti!!

Knowledge is the mindful impetus of a suffering being. 
The movement of be to being, present and future, and space and time; all arise in the thought that we can creatively or conceptually know the unknown. 
Thought is not truth because it changes, but it becomes the subjective reality upon which we place our sense of value.

No, knowledge is not knowing. 
They are polar opposites. 
While knowledge limits, knowing frees. Knowledge is the end of knowing...because you already know! 
Now there is no scope of knowing further! 
There is nothing more to know!!! 
"Knowing" is experiencing, simply....without the bias of predicting the next moment on the basis of last one!!

Gratitude is eternal, not occasional-- if you have really experienced it. 
For now, my gratitude is to help me remember who I am and live in the full power of my spirit.

I live only in now. 
And NOW is total and absolute, leaving no residues behind. 
That is the only real time we have...both the past and future are non-existent and imaginary! 
My life is divided into health and growth.

ps/smoh

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Not all who wander are lost. J.R.R. Tolkien



Not everyone follows the same path in life. 

Everyone's journey is different. 
Don't feel the need to try to make others conform to what is right for you. 
We have all been given the freedom of choose our own paths and follow our own hearts. 

Some of us wander and explore, while others enjoy more of a comfortable routine. 

There is nothing wrong with either of these choices, as long as you are truly following your heart. 

Follow your heart wherever it may lead you. 


Find what excites your heart and follow that path to the end. 

ps/smoh

 I have followed my own path, even in doubt have always believed that my heart and spirit is my guide. I have wondered a lot but I keep finding myself. 

Friday, October 18, 2013

De-escalation - the peaceful weapon of true being...

Never have I looking for a fight. I am a true being of peace and honour, not a brawler. 

In fact, I finds it a more interesting victory if we can defeat our 'enemies', without fighting at all, through de-escalation - the art of the invisible victory.

The more you perfect the art of de-escalation, the more you enjoy using it to get out of tight spots. 

It is a powerful weapon, and one which poses very little risk if used correctly. 

Many times your enemy will walk away feeling that she has defeated you, while only you know that you completely achieved your goal in the situation. 

You have thoroughly defeated your enemy, and without him/her even knowing what happened. 

That is the greatest kind of victory. 

Choose what is right with invincible resolution.

It should not matter to the one of character what others think, say, or do. Focus is always on what is right according to the principles has decided to make our own. 

It is these inner principles which determine the true character, and the dedication to these principles will be exhibited through thoughts, words and actions.

Professing to live by a set of principles, no matter how lofty those principles may be, is worthless if they do not manifest themselves through your thoughts, words and actions. 


It is not enough to be a person of character in your own mind; you have to be the person of character in every aspect of your life, starting with your underlying principles. 

Even if your actions appear upstanding to those around you, if the underlying motivations and principles are skewed, your actions are questionable at best. 



Namaste
ps/smoh

p/s  
 life is an active battle we fight every second, between Good and Evil and we fight with:
Good Thoughts
Good Speech

Good Actions

Or Chaos wins.