What If...

What if you went home tonight, a little buzzed, passed out and dreamt.

And what if in your dream you dreamt of a far more beautiful world than this, with far more beautiful spirits and far more beautiful feelings.

And what if in this dream you met a beautiful soulmate, far more beautiful than you could ever imagined.

And what if she gave you a rare, strange, exotic flower, and made your spirit dance and your heart sing.

And what if the next morning you eventually awoke with an awful hangover...but still had that beautiful flower resting lovingly atop your chest.

"The Other"

A man was in a bar with his group, when an old friend entered. He had lived his life trying to go down the right path, but to no avail. “I should give him some money”, he thought to himself.

But the friend was now rich, and came to the bar that night just to pay all the debts he had incurred over the years. In addition to repaying the loans given to him, he ordered a round of drinks for everyone.

When asked how he had become so successful, he replied, that until days ago he was living as the “Other”.

“What is the Other?” asked Pilar.

“The Other believes that the obligation of man is to spend a lifetime thinking about how to have security so not to die of hunger when getting old. Therefore, living as the Other you fail to discover that Life also has plans, and they may be different.”

“But there is danger. And there is suffering”, the people said in the bar, who had begun to listen.

“No one escapes the suffering. So it is better to lose a few battles in order to fight for your dreams, then to be defeated without even knowing what you are fighting for. When I discovered this, I woke up determined to be what I always really wanted to be.

The Other stood there in my room watching. Although it sought to scare me sometimes, I did not allow it to return. From the moment I pushed the Other out of my life, the divine energy worked its miracles."

- Paulo Coehlo ("By The River Piedra I Sat Down And Cried")

Seagulls and Sardines

It's early morning, and I see a seagull descend from a cloud and hover above the ocean surface.

In the calm tide, the fish must surely look above and wonder how these magnificent creatures, who occasionally plunge into their world then quickly exit, have learned to fly.

The birds, too, must look with amazement at the fish below. How can these magnificent creatures breathe under water, they surely must ask.

Birds and fish exist. That is a fact. But they live in different worlds, different universes. Their universes momentarily collide, but that is it.

Each have questions about the other. And there is an answer to each of their questions. But since they live in different universes, they will never understand the simple truth, the reason why.

That is a metaphor for each of us, in these days of our yearning, our searching, our growth. Our seeking answers to why we are here, what we are to do, what this thing called Life is all about.

There are reasons why things happen to us, those we love, as well as those we might be intimidated by and might not admire. There are always reasons why people come in and out of our lives. Reasons we may never know.

But trust that there is an answer.

You won't find that answer in your mind: it has been programmed, in recent times, like a computer.

You won't find that answer listening to the "advice" of others: they, too, speak only from their own, myopic thinking, their own limited universe.

But you may find it if you listen to your heart.

Your heart knows the truth and the way and the secrets. Your heart holds and embraces “the key”.

Your heart understands, in silence, the mysteries of the days and  nights.

True Friends

One morning, the mongol warrior, Genghis Khan, and his court went out hunting. His companions carried bows and arrows, but Genghis Khan carried on his arm his favorite falcon, which was better and surer than any arrow, because it could fly up into the skies and see everything that a human could not.


However, despite the group's enthusiastic efforts, they found nothing.

Disappointed, Genghis Khan returned to the encampment and in order not to take out his frustation on his companions, he left the rest of the party and rode on alone. They had stayed in the forest for longer than expected, and Khan was desperately tired and thirsty. In the summer heat, all the streams had dried up, and he could find nothing to drink. Then, to his amazement, he saw a thread of water flowing from a rock just in front of him.



He removed the falcon from his arm, and took out the silver cup which he always carried with him. It was very slow to fill and, just as he was about to raise it to his lips the falcon flew up, plucked the cup from his hand, and dashed it to the ground.


Genghis Khan was furious, but then the falcon was his favourite, and perhaps it, too, was thirsty. He picked up the cup, cleaned off the dirt, and filled it again. When the cup was only half-empty this time, the falcon again attacked it, spilling the water.


Genghis Khan adored this bird, but he knew that he could not, under any circumstances, allow such disrespect; someone might be watching this scene from afar and, later on, would tell his warriors that the great conqueror was incapable of taming a mere bird.


This time he drew his sword, pick up the cup and refilled it, keeping one eye on the stream and the other on the falcon. as soon as he had enough water in the cup and was ready to drink, the falcon again took flight and flew towards him. Khan, with one thrust, pierced the bird's breast.


The thread of water, however, had dried up; but Khan, determined now to find something to drink, climbed the rock in search of the spring. To his surprise, there really was a pool of water and, in the middle of it, dead, lay one of the most poisonous snakes in the region. If he had drunk the water, he, too, would have died.


Khan returned to camp with the dead falcon in his arms. He ordered a gold figurine of the bird to be made and on one of the wings, he had engraved:




"Even when a friend does something you do not like, he continues to be your friend."


And on the other wing, he had these words engraved:




"Any action commited in anger is an action doomed to failure"

-PC

The Cracked Jar (by Paulo Coehlo)

An Indian legend tells the story of a man who carried water to his village every day, in two large jars tied to the ends of a wooden pole, which he balanced on his back.

One of the jars was older than the other, and had some small cracks. Every time the man covered the distance to his home, half the water was lost.

The younger jar was very proud of its performance, safe in the knowledge that it was up for the mission it had been made for, while the other jar was mortified with shame at fulfilling only half its allotted task.

It was so ashamed that one day, while the man got ready to fetch water from the well, it spoke to him.

“I want to apologize, but because of the many years of service, you are only able to deliver half my load, and quench half of the thirst that awaits at your home.”

The man smiled and said, “When we return, watch the path carefully.”

And so the jar did, and it noticed that, on its side, flowers and plants grew.

“See how nature is more lovely on your side?” the man commented. “I always knew you were cracked, and decided to make use of this fact.

“I planted flowers and vegetables, and you have always watered them.

“I have picked many roses to decorate my house with, and have fed my children, cabbage, onions and tomatoes.

“If you were not how you are, how could I have done that?”

All of us, at some time, grow old and start to acquire other qualities. We can always make use of these new qualities and obtain wonderful results.

Illusions: Chapter One

1.  There was a Master come unto the earth,
    born in the holy land of Indiana, raised 
    in the mystical hills east of Fort Wayne.

2.  The Master learned of this world in the 
    public schools of Indiana and he grew, 
    in his trade as a mechanic of automobiles.

3.  But the Master had learnings from other
    lands and other schools, from other lives 
    that he had lived.  He remembered these,
    and remembering became wise and strong, so
    that others saw his strength and came to him
    for counsel.

4.  He believed that he had power to help himself
    and all mankind, and as he believed so it was 
    for him, so that others saw his power and came
    to him to be healed of their troubles and their
    many diseases.

5.  The Master believed that it is well for any man 
    to think upon himself as a son of God, and as 
    he believed, so it was, and the shops and garages
    where he worked became crowded and jammed with 
    those who sought his learning and his touch, and
    the streets outside with those who longed only
    that the shadow of his passing might fall upon 
    them, and change their lives.

6.  It came to pass, because of the crowds, that the
    several foremen and shop managers bid the Master
    leave his tools and go his way, for so tightly was
    he thronged that neither he nor other mechanics
    had room to work upon the automobiles.

7.  So it was that he went into the countryside, and
    people following began to call him Messiah, and 
    worker of miracles; and as they believed, it was
    so.

8.  If a storm passed as he spoke, not a raindrop 
    touched a listener's head; the last of the multitude
    heard his words as clearly as the first, no matter
    lightening nor thunder in the sky about.  And always
    he spoke to them in parables.

9.  And he said unto them, "Within each of us lies the 
    power of our consent to health and to sickness, to
    riches and to poverty, to freedom and to slavery.  
    It is we who control these, and not another."

10. A mill-man spoke and said, "Easy words for you, 
    Master, for you are guided as we are not, and need
    not toil as we toil.  A man has to work for his 
    living in this world."

11. The Master answered and said, "Once there lived a 
    villiage along the bottom of a great crystal river.

12. "The current of the river swept silently over them
    all - young and old, rich and poor, good and evil,
    the current going its own way, knowing its own 
    crystal self.

13. "Each creature in its own manner clung tightly to
    the twigs and rocks of the river bottom, for clinging
    was their way of life, and resisting the current 
    what each had learned from birth.

14. "But one creature said at last, 'I am tired of 
    clinging.  Though I cannot see it with my eyes, I
    trust that the current knows where it is going.  I
    shall let go and let it take me where it will.
    Clinging, I shall die of boredom.'

15. "The other creatures laughed and said, 'Fool! Let 
    go, and that current that you worship will throw
    you tumbled and smashed across the rocks, and you
    will die quicker than boredom!'

16. "But the one heeded them not, and taking a breath
    did let go, and at once was tumbled and smashed by
    the current across the rocks.

17. "Yet in time, as the creature refused to cling again,
    the current lifted him free from the bottom, and he 
    was bruised and hurt no more.

18. "And the creatures downstream, to whom he was a 
    stranger, cried, 'See a miracle!  A creature like
    ourselves, yet he flies!  See the Messiah, come to
    save us all!'

19. "And the one carried in the current said, 'I am no 
    more Messiah than you.  The river delights to lift
    us free, if only we dare let go.  Our true work is
    this voyage, this adventure.'

20. "But they cried the more, 'Savior!' all the while
    clinging to the rocks, and when they looked again
    he was gone, and they were left alone making legends
    of a Savior."

21. And it came to pass when he saw that the multitude
    thronged him the more day on day, tighter and closer
    and fiercer than ever they had, when he saw that they 
    pressed him to heal them without rest, and feed them
    always with his miracles, to learn for them, to live
    their lives, he went alone that day unto a hilltop
    apart, and there he prayed.

22. And he said in his heart, Infinite Radiant Is, if it
    be thy will, let this cup pass from me, let me lay
    aside this impossible task.  I cannot live the life
    of one other soul, yet ten thousand cry to me for 
    life.  I'm sorry I allowed it all to happen.  If it 
    be thy will, let me go back to my engines and my 
    tools and let me live as other men.

23. And a voice spoke to him on the hilltop, a voice 
    neither male or female, loud nor soft, a voice
    infinitely kind.  And the voice said unto him, "Not
    my will, but thine be done.  For what is thy will 
    is mine for thee.  Go thy way as other men, and be
    thou happy on the earth."

24. And hearing, the Master was glad, and gave thanks
    and came down from the hilltop humming a little
    mechanic's song.  And when the throng pressed him
    with its woes, beseeching him to heal for it and
    learn for it and feed it nonstop from his understanding
    and to entertain it with his wonders, he smiled upon 
    the multitude and said pleasantly unto them, "I quit."

25. For a moment the multitude was stricken dumb with
    astonishment.

26. And he said unto them, "If a man told God that he
    wanted most of all to help the suffering world, no
    matter the price to himself, and God answered and 
    told him what he must do, should the man do as he
    is told?"

27. "Of course, Master!" cried the many.  "It should
    be pleasure for him to suffer the tortures of hell
    itself, should God ask it!"

28. "No matter what those tortures, nor how difficult
    the task?"

29. "Honor to be hanged, glory to be nailed to a tree
    and burned, if so be that God has asked," said they.

30. "And what would you do," the Master said unto the 
    multitude, "if God spoke directly to your face and
    said, 'I command that you be happy in the world, as
    long as you live.' what would you do then?"

31. And the multitude was silent, not a voice, not a 
    sound was heard upon the hillsides, across the 
    valleys where they stood.

32. And the Master said unto the silence, "In the path
    of our happiness shall we find the learning for 
    which we have chosen this lifetime.  So it is that
    I have learned this day, and choose to leave you 
    now to walk your own path, as you please."

33. And he went his way through the crowds and left
    them, and he returned to the everyday world of
    men and machines.

Jesus Christ For President?!

With Chris Christie (my personal favorite) and Sarah Palin opting not to run for President in 2012 it seems the only way a Republican candidate could appease the wing nuts on the far right, he would have to be Jesus of Nazareth.

“And even Jesus would be toast after a few news cycles,” quips comedian Bill Maher,

“’Feed the hungry’? Sounds suspiciously like welfare.

“’Heal the sick’? For free?! That’s definitely ‘Obamacare’.

“”And ‘turn the other cheek’? Maybe you didn’t hear, Jesus, but the Republicans are the party that cheers executions.

“So here now is short campaign life of Jesus Christ, Republican candidate:

“Three days after Jesus announces he’s in, a Gingrich spokesman reports that he “read” Jesus’ book”…and finds some aspects of it troubling.

“Mitt Romney says Jesus’ previous statements make him appear anti-business.

“And Rick Perry asks if America is ready for a Jewish president. And then Rick eats a paint chip.

“Day Seven: At the Republican debate, the other candidates pile on the new frontrunner. Michele Bachman calls the “meek inheriting the earth” a “colossal expansion of the estate tax.”

“And Newt Gingrich scores the big zinger when he says, “Mr. Christ, America can’t afford another cheek!”

“Day Nine: “Teabaggers” start getting emails from their idiot brother-in-law about how Jesus is not even from this country. And was born alongside a bunch of animals in a manger and…not to harp on it, but where’s the birth certificate?

“And if he’s a carpenter, is he too pro-union?

Day Ten: Jesus is now polling fourth behind Perry, Romney and the pizza guy.

“And in a desperate attempt to gain credibility, he goes to New York and has coffee with Donald Trump. Who pronounces him “a decent guy but a little effeminate.”

Very funny Bill. Thanks for the laugh. But sadly, there is truth in comedy.

Truth is our political system is currently broken.

Truth is our political climate has never been more polarized, more divisive, more toxic.

Truth is I’m disgusted with the actions and rhetoric of both parties in a time when all Americans need a little help, hope and healing.

“God bless America?” God, please help America first…