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For the year 1910 our world population was estimated by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2008) to be 1.75 billion people. After 100 years the world population is nearly 4 times that amount at approximately 6.8 billion people.

So I ask, why the sudden, massive increase in population?

I am not asking why but rather for what purpose has this happened.

The ancient traditions of the world suggest that all souls have the opportunity to take their birth in this time. But for what purpose? Are we expected to just live and die and exhaust the Earth’s resources?

I sincerely hope that people find out that there is more to life. Seeking is essential to achieve something greater.

Absolute Joy

When you have touched that state of absolute joy within and felt eternity enveloped into a single moment, you know you have found the Divine. Joy is the foremost quality of the Spirit. Joy is beyond all thought and beyond duality. It is the most complete emotion and it is our essence. We can pretend that we want something else, but all other states of consciousness will leave us unsatisfied. All roads lead back from whence they came. The Source of all things is infinite joy.

Joy encompasses all of the purest emotions and only gives energy. If you are in joy you want for nothing and thus you never loose energy. Humanity is evolving collectively to a state of endless joy. Why not join in that movement? All we need is the pure desire and to be a human being.

It is tragic what human beings have done to religion. They have tried to take the joy out of it without even meaning to. Religion is defined as “a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects.” How joyless is that? Religion as I see it ought to be about having a genuine experience that takes you into higher and higher states of joy. Ask yourself in complete honesty “have my beliefs or the lack there of given me more joy in my life?” If you have answered yes (and aren’t lying to yourself) I salute you and please tell me how you are achieving it. If you have answered no, then I can only suggest what I know works: pure, simple, complete, and effortless . . . free meditation.

Try Here Now:

http://www.freemeditation.ca/

The most difficult thing about meditation is making time for it.

In the history of writing and there have been more written words than anyone can fathom. So what makes us decide to read one thing or another? With so many options of what to read, one could go insane trying to decide. Perhaps solely our interests, our privilege, our language and the like determine our choices for what we read. However, I think there is something more to it.

When we want for something, the universe responds by trying to make it available to us. I will give an example of this phenomenon.

When I was growing up, my father was in a rock band. He wrote a song called “141” about the world being in tune. From the time when I first heard of that song, I began to see the numbers 141 wherever I looked. I saw the numbers on license plates, wall clocks, telephone polls, newspapers, everywhere. I used to think that it was some kind of a sign about me being in tune with the rhythm of life. Now I think a more practical reason is because I want to see it and therefore I see it.

Our desire plays a major role in everything that we do and influences the things about which we think. Our thoughts, whatever they are about, create a magnetic force that beckons things into our destiny. How often have you heard someone say, “That’s strange? I was just thinking about that.” Is it coincidence or is it the power of thought?

If a book or a blog crosses our path, there is a chance that it can support us in achieving whatever it is that we desire.


Nameless

The Sun hung dangerously low in the sky
Getting closer and closer without any effort
Each stone more vast than the next
Collectively they point out to a space beyond time

The many grains of brazen sand anticipate the soles of my feet
Each step welcomed by the next one
Out here there is no interference and the silence is complete
This is truly God’s place

Armies 100,000 plus vanish without a trace
As you embrace the soul of it you are entirely satisfied
Emptiness absolute freedom from everything
Nothing more to do just be at once

So effortless being in this place without need
Thought is the only thing that escapes
The stillness three and a half times beyond all reach
The ancient measureless bed of oceans has a name

Her name is Sahara

Lift the Spirit

I went to this performing arts high school called Idyllwild up the San Jacinto Mountains of Southern California. It was like a real live version of that movie “Fame,” except instead of being in the heart of NYC we were up in the woods. There was this amazing guy there, whose name escapes me, but he was something very unique.

He attended the arts department and his primary medium was spray paint. With a can of paint and a piece of anything to spray it at, this guy did some mind-blowing stuff. In his life outside of the arts school he was an “Urban Tag” artist. He and his buddies would find the most difficult things to tag (e.g. federal buildings, moving trains, etc.) with spray paint murals. Then, they would go out in the middle of the night hoping to get found by security so that they could enjoy the thrill of the chase. The next day they would go back and take photos of their masterpieces as to retain the memories before they were painted over.

This guy was crazy popular in the school, he had an attitude of pure confidence mixed with true artistic brilliance. And despite his great talent, his artwork and process didn’t exude arrogance; he just did it all from heart and soul. Though I was younger, and a nobody in terms of popularity, somehow he and I got to talking one day.

I’ll never forget it, what he said to me: “What do you think about? I see you thinking about things.” I honestly don’t remember how I replied. It didn’t matter what I had to say. But at that moment something hit me. It was as if two souls, with ancient ties, reconnected with acknowledgement of mutual love and respect. Just by watching me from a distance day after day, he knew that I was pondering life and asking myself questions with the answer: absolute truth.

This “Urban Tag” artist and his friends had this thing they would say to each other when they would part ways, “Lift the spirit.”

Looking back, there is no question to me that this guy was born enlightened, a true Zen Master of the modern age. I wish I could remember his name.

Writing for What

Writing is a fickle thing. You long to get a certain point across, but in the end you are a bit stuck because everyone is reading from a different perspective. It is as if we all wear a different shaped boxes on our heads, with lenses that speak to our minds in different magnifications and color schemes.

So what is it that makes a writer or the writings great? It is the ability to covey a point, to invoke an emotion, to entertain the reader? Maybe. I am convinced that writing is intended to inspire understanding. To give meaning to the author’s words is to create a connection between the reader and the written. For, words do not have meaning until they are interpreted by an observer. One could write for therapy I suppose, but that writing is not really intended for anyone but the author is it? In that case the purpose of the writing is to create a connection between the author and his experiences, emotions, ideas, evolution, etc. through the words. Again to create understanding.

Language is a powerful vessel. Nations have been moved and people have experienced inner transformation though words both spoken and written.

When a word becomes written or spoken I believe that the author’s inner state of balance or imbalance continues to affect the power of that word. Take the phrase “I love you.” Three little words that can alter the course of lives forever; or not. The state of the author or speaker gives the words meaning or the lack there of. It is the integrity of the source that gives the message its value.

Does the spoken work obtain more power than the written? I don’t know. Both mediums have value and the potential to influence and express. But the power of the words again is dependent on the quality of the instrument (human).

So how does somone judge whether or not they or others have a good instrument? It is not enough just to observe and say, “Well, he is a good speaker or she is a good writer or she’s better and blah, blah, blah?” With this kind of thinking our judgements are subjective. Thus we get back into the perspective game where everbody has a different shaped box (ego) on their heads.

There must be a way to discern the absolute truth about the quality of one’s instrument and about any and everything else. Well, there is.

I have heard the argument before about how there are many truths and “that may be true for you, but for me it is not.” Especially in this day an age that argument is meaningless. It only serves the purpose of creating division amongst human beings. Honestly what is the use of pretending that there are many different truths? So that we can fight about it?

We are one human race and all true knowledge originates from one source. Call it by which ever name suits you, truth is what it is.

The answer to the query about knowing the absolute truth cannot be found by reading, listening, or speaking; it must be experienced. Truth can be discovered in one place and one place only . . . in silence. The silence that I am writing about is not the absence of sound. Rather I am referring to the silence that is achieved when the mind is free from thoughts. When we are in meditation.

“Free from thoughts?” Does that mean mindlessness? No. It means mental silence and acute awareness. Because it is in the complete stillness of mental silence that our awareness expands and grows.
To Be Continued . . .

What does happiness mean to you?

Is it enough to get up and go to work every day for the rest of our lives? To make more money and buy more stuff? Does that give enough meaning in our lives so that we can be fully satisfied?

We Americans have so much weath outside and it has cost us so much. A top 10 issue that couples across America fight about is money. People are so concerned with money. Don’t get me wrong, I am as concerned as the next person about making the bills. But do we think about the importance of other types of value? Of higher values like inner satisfaction, peace, wisdom and forgiveness? And are we concerned with developing and achieving those values on a daily basis? I don’t know. But, from the way I see Americans living it doesn’t look like it.

So I ask, what is the point? We go to school for years and years with the idea of getting a good job and having a good career. What use is a life that exists on the basis of achieving a means to an end? You go to school, you get a good job, you buy a car and a house, you get married, you have kids . . . then what? Is that it? Is that enough to make you happy with this life? Or is there something more? Is there a desire within us that we can achieve something greater than just material weath? For the sake of our future generations (and the current ones) I certainly hope so. No amount of stuff is going to create lasting happiness in the American People.

Are we achieving happiness as a nation?

According to the National Institue of Mental Health “about 1 in 4 [American] adults suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year.” I am not convinced that the American people actually know what happiness is or how to achieve it. Sure, one could argue that happiness is different for every person, but I don’t buy it.

In order to achieve lasting happiness one has to have a state of inner balance. The world outside is ever changing and if your happiness is tied to the outside (material) world, your happiness will surely be short lived. However, with some effort, the world within each of us can be steadied; and a lasting happiness can be built on that framework. Imagine having the power to face the challenges of life without being robbed of your happiness. No need for anger, frustration, sorrow . . . just peace and the enjoyment of each moment. It is possible.

On Liberty

We are blessed in America that we can exercise freedom of choice without ridicule. But freedom is a mixed blessing. We can easily make choices that encourage happiness or self-destruction. America is just over 230 years old; in relative terms, our country is a baby. And thus we lack the moral traditions that prevent us from regularly making stupid decisions. In saying moral traditions I mean wisdom, innocence, humility, and discretion. I long for a day when the American people are empowered with the strength to know themselves and to experience the complete liberty of the Spirit.

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in Harmony.”
-Mohandas K. Gandhi

Anybody can think the thought, talk the talk, but can they walk the walk?

Meditation is the answer . . . happiness is the question.

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