Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet on religion:
And an old priest said, Speak to us of Religion.
And he said:
Have I spoken this day of aught else? Is not religion all deeds and all reflection,
And that which is neither deed nor reflection, but a wonder and a surprise ever springing in the soul, even while the hands hew the stone or tend the loom?
Who can separate his faith from his actions, or his belief from his occupations?
Who can spread his hours before him, saying, "This for God and this for myself; This for my soul, and this other for my body?"
All your hours are wings that beat through space from self to self.
He who wears his morality but as his best garment were better naked.
The wind and the sun will tear no holes in his skin.
And he who defines his conduct by ethics imprisons his song-bird in a cage. The freest song comes not through bars and wires.
And he to whom worshipping is a window, to open but also to shut, has not yet visited the house of his soul whose windows are from dawn to dawn.
Your daily life is your temple and your religion.
Whenever you enter into it take with you your all.
Take the plough and the forge and the mallet and the lute,
The things you have fashioned in necessity or for delight.
For in revery you cannot rise above your achievements nor fall lower than your failures.
And take with you all men:
For in adoration you cannot fly higher than their hopes nor humble yourself lower than their despair.
And if you would know God be not therefore a solver of riddles.
Rather look about you and you shall see him playing with your children.
And look into space; you shall see him walking in the cloud, outstretching his arms in the lightning and descending in rain.
You shall see him smiling in flowers and waving his arms in trees.
It makes a good point, that in a way the spiritual search is fruitless, for the answer is all around, and worshipping is done at all times. This is well suited to the natural way of spirituality, which does entreat us to see the divine in all things.
Jeroen
He makes some interesting observations
"Why Gaza May Be The End Of The West"
Lest we forget the evil which is now unfolding before our very eyes and many of our Western governments (including the government of NZ) are complicit in these atrocities ...
All that is happening in Gaza right now ...Can we really trust that our governments have our best interest at heart ?
Shoshin1
or perhaps that transcendent experience of oneness is actually an underlying constant in life that the human condition simply obfuscates with its own storyline. Perhaps no sentient being gets to escape from the occasional leakages through such delusionary coverings and our respective "practices" are just a spiritual preparatory triaging to face such experiences, no matter how subtle or transformative each bleed through may turn out to be.
how
Not that I wouldn't take the morphine myself for the pain, it can often make a patient more emotionally vulnerable than they would normally be, which can be difficult for the unprepared caregivers.
how
"How does it happen that despite waging a horrific war, causing massive suffering, and ignoring the wishes of the President of the United States and the world community, the US Congress is about to send another $10 billion of unrestricted military aid to Israel with no strings attached? It is beyond comprehension that Congress would reward Netanyahu, even as he ignores everything the President of the United States says. Netanyahu leads the most right-wing government in Israel's history, a man who has dedicated his political career to killing the prospects of a two-state solution. Yet, this bill will give him a blank check paid for by the American taxpayer."
Shoshin1
Well today I was selected as one of the 12 jurors, we were sworn in this morning and the trial is now underway....
Karma comes to mind....
Kinda like a Karma law enforcement agent...
Shoshin1
@Jeroen said:
I must admit, I just think all these world leaders are more than a little insane. You would have to be to want to be a world leader, and then to go to war. And who wants to listen to insane, very cunning people justify their actions… what use is it to know the news, to be up to date with these things? You can’t do anything about it, your indignation serves no purpose.
Question: How can you tell when a politician is lying ?
Answer : When their lips are moving!
Shoshin1
Sitting in the juror selection room in court waiting to see if my name is called, been here for just over three hours... To pass the time I'm exploring boredom, I'm finding this quite interesting....but I guess if I'm finding it interesting, then it can't really be boredom...
;)
Shoshin1
For myself, boredom seems to be a teacher saying that I am not looking closely enough at what is in front of me.
how