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    The Path

    Fish & Whistle ©John Prine

    I been thinking lately about the people I meet
    The carwash on the corner and the hole in the street
    The way my ankles hurt with shoes on my feet
    And I'm wondering if I'm gonna see tomorrow.

    Father forgive us for what we must do
    You forgive us we'll forgive you
    We'll forgive each other till we both turn blue
    Then we'll whistle and go fishing in heaven.

    I was in the army but I never dug a trench
    I used to bust my knuckles on a monkey wrench
    Then I'd go to town and drink and give the girls a pinch
    But I don't think they ever even noticed me.

    Fish and whistle, whistle and fish
    Eat everything that they put on your dish
    And when we get through we'll make a big wish
    That we never have to do this again again? again?

    On my very first job I said thank you and please
    They made me scrub a parking lot down on my knees
    Then I got fired for being scared of bees
    And they only give me fifty cents an hour.

    Fish and Whistle notes: I was writing about exactly what was going on that day. There was this hole in the street right in front of my house. All these trucks would hit the hole, and the house would shake. And down the street, they built a car wash, which I liked because I always like to keep my cars clean. I took my car down there - there were no attendants, you just put your money in - and everything worked except the rinse cycle. So all the soap dried up in my car. That was the kind of day it was. I really did scrub a parking lot on my knees ("On my very first job/I said thank you and please/They make me scrub a parking lot/Down on my knees"). My first job, when I was 12 or 13, was at Skip's Fiesta Drive-In, which was the big place for the hot rods to hang out. I worked there during the daytime and helped this old Swedish janitor with his chores. The carhops wore hula skirts, and kids would buy the cheapest thing, a cup of custard, so they could watch the carhops and stuff. And then they'd take the custard and throw it on the ground. The next day, I'd be out there on my knees with hot boiling water with ammonia, trying to scrape this custard off. I thought, “This is what it's all about, all my jobs are going to be like this.”

    To a Mouse by Robert Burns

    Wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim'rous beastie,
    O, what a panic's in thy breastie!
    Thou need na start awa sae hasty,
    Wi' bickering brattle!
    I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee
    Wi' murd'ring pattle!

    I'm truly sorry man's dominion,
    Has broken nature's social union,
    An' justifies that ill opinion,
    What makes thee startle
    At me, thy poor, earth-born companion,
    An' fellow-mortal!

    I doubt na, whiles, but thou may thieve;
    What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!
    A daimen icker in a thrave
    'S a sma' request;
    I'll get a blessin wi' the lave,
    An' never miss't!

    Thy wee bit housie, too, in ruin!
    It's silly wa's the win's are strewin!
    An' naething, now, to big a new ane,
    O' foggage green!
    An' bleak December's winds ensuin,
    Baith snell an' keen!

    Thou saw the fields laid bare an' waste,
    An' weary winter comin fast,
    An' cozie here, beneath the blast,
    Thou thought to dwell -
    Till crash! the cruel coulter past
    Out thro' thy cell.

    That wee bit heap o' leaves an' stibble,
    Has cost thee mony a weary nibble!
    Now thou's turn'd out, for a' thy trouble,
    But house or hald,
    To thole the winter's sleety dribble,
    An' cranreuch cauld!

    But Mousie, thou art no thy lane,
    In proving foresight may be vain;
    The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men
    Gang aft agley,
    An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
    For promis'd joy!

    Still thou art blest, compar'd wi' me;
    The present only toucheth thee:
    But och! I backward cast my e'e,
    On prospects dreaer!
    An' forward, tho' I canna see,
    I guess an' fear!

    Manual for Climbing Mountains by Paulo Coelho

    1. Choose the mountain you want to climb: don’t pay attention to what other people say, such as “that one’s more beautiful” or “this one’s easier”. You’ll be spending lots of energy and enthusiasm to reach your objective, so you’re the only one responsible and you should be sure of what you’re doing.

    2. Know how to get close to it: mountains are often seen from far off – beautiful, interesting, full of challenges. But what happens when we try to draw closer? Roads run all around them, flowers grow between you and your objective, what seemed so clear on the map is tough in real life. So try all the paths and all the tracks until eventually one day you’re standing in front of the top that you yearn to reach.

    3. Learn from someone who has already been up there: no matter how unique you feel, there is always someone who has had the same dream before you and ended up leaving marks that can make your journey easier; places to hang the rope, trails, broken branches to make the walking easier. The climb is yours, so is the responsibility, but don’t forget that the experience of others can help a lot.

    4. When seen up close, dangers are controllable: when you begin to climb the mountain of your dreams, pay attention to the surroundings. There are cliffs, of course. There are almost imperceptible cracks in the mountain rock. There are stones so polished by storms that they have become as slippery as ice. But if you know where you are placing each footstep, you will notice the traps and how to get around them.

    5. The landscape changes, so enjoy it: of course, you have to have an objective in mind – to reach the top. But as you are going up, more things can be seen, and it’s no bother to stop now and again and enjoy the panorama around you. At every meter conquered, you can see a little further, so use this to discover things that you still had not noticed.

    6. Respect your body: you can only climb a mountain if you give your body the attention it deserves. You have all the time that life grants you, as long as you walk without demanding what can’t be granted. If you go too fast you will grow tired and give up half way there. If you go too slow, night will fall and you will be lost. Enjoy the scenery, take delight in the cool spring water and the fruit that nature generously offers you, but keep on walking.

    7. Respect your soul: don’t keep repeating “I’m going to make it”. Your soul already knows that, what it needs is to use the long journey to be able to grow, stretch along the horizon, touch the sky. An obsession does not help you at all to reach your objective, and even ends up taking the pleasure out of the climb. But pay attention: also, don’t keep saying “it’s harder than I thought”, because that will make you lose your inner strength.

    8. Be prepared to climb one kilometer more: the way up to the top of the mountain is always longer than you think. Don’t fool yourself, the moment will arrive when what seemed so near is still very far. But since you were prepared to go beyond, this is not really a problem.

    9. Be happy when you reach the top: cry, clap your hands, shout to the four winds that you did it, let the wind - the wind is always blowing up there - purify your mind, refresh your tired and sweaty feet, open your eyes, clean the dust from your heart. It feels so good, what was just a dream before, a distant vision, is now part of your life, you did it!

    10. Make a promise: now that you have discovered a force that you were not even aware of, tell yourself that from now on you will use this force for the rest of your days. Preferably, also promise to discover another mountain, and set off on another adventure.

    11. Tell your story: yes, tell your story! Give your example. Tell everyone that it’s possible, and other people will then have the courage to face their own mountains.

    A Fable by Thaddeus Golas "The Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment"; 1972© ISBN: 0553263587

    Once upon a time there dwelt an old King in a palace. In the center of a golden table in the main hall, there shone a large and magnificent jewel. Each day of the King's life the stone sparkled more resplendently.

    One day a thief stole the jewel and ran from the palace, hiding in a forest. As he stared with deep joy at the stone, to his amazement the image of the King appeared in it.

    "I have come to thank you," said the King. "You have released me from my attachment to Earth. I thought I was freed when I acquired the jewel, but then I learned that I would be released only when I passed it on, with a pure heart, to another.

    "Each day of my life I polished that stone, until finally this day arrived, when the jewel became so beautiful that you stole it, and I have passed it on, and am released.

    "The jewel you hold is Understanding. You cannot add to its beauty by hiding it and hinting that you have it, nor yet by wearing it with vanity. Its beauty comes of the consciousness that others have of it. Honor that which gives it beauty."

    Step Right Up lyrics by Tom Waits

    Step right up
    step right up
    step right up
    Everyone's a winner, bargains galore
    That's right, you too can be the proud owner
    Of the quality goes in before the name goes on
    One-tenth of a dollar
    one-tenth of a dollar
    we got service after sales
    You need perfume? we got perfume
    how 'bout an engagement ring?
    Something for the little lady
    something for the little lady
    Something for the little lady, hmm
    Three for a dollar
    We got a year-end clearance, we got a white sale
    And a smoke-damaged furniture
    you can drive it away today
    Act now, act now
    and receive as our gift, our gift to you
    They come in all colors, one size fits all
    No muss, no fuss, no spills
    you're tired of kitchen drudgery
    Everything must go
    going out of business
    going out of business
    Going out of business sale
    Fifty percent off original retail price
    skip the middle man
    Don't settle for less
    How do we do it?
    how do we do it?
    volume, volume, turn up the volume
    Now you've heard it advertised, don't hesitate
    Don't be caught with your drawers down
    Don't be caught with your drawers down
    You can step right up, step right up

    That's right, it filets, it chops
    It dices, slices, never stops
    lasts a lifetime, mows your lawn
    And it mows your lawn
    and it picks up the kids from school
    It gets rid of unwanted facial hair
    it gets rid of embarrassing age spots
    It delivers a pizza
    and it lengthens, and it strengthens
    And it finds that slipper that's been at large
    under the chaise longe for several weeks
    And it plays a mean Rhythm Master
    It makes excuses for unwanted lipstick on your collar
    And it's only a dollar, step right up
    it's only a dollar, step right up

    'Cause it forges your signature.
    If not completely satisfied
    mail back unused portion of product
    For complete refund of price of purchase
    Step right up
    Please allow thirty days for delivery
    don't be fooled by cheap imitations
    You can live in it, live in it
    laugh in it, love in it
    Swim in it, sleep in it
    Live in it, swim in it
    laugh in it, love in it
    Removes embarrassing stains from contour sheets
    that's right
    And it entertains visiting relatives
    it turns a sandwich into a banquet
    Tired of being the life of the party?
    Change your shorts
    change your life
    change your life
    Change into a nine-year-old Hindu boy
    get rid of your wife
    And it walks your dog, and it doubles on sax
    Doubles on sax, you can jump back Jack
    see you later alligator
    See you later alligator
    And it steals your car
    It gets rid of your gambling debts, it quits smoking
    It's a friend, and it's a companion
    And it's the only product you will ever need
    Follow these easy assembly instructions
    it never needs ironing
    Well it takes weights off hips, bust
    thighs, chin, midriff
    Gives you dandruff, and it finds you a job
    it is a job
    And it strips the phone company free
    take ten for five exchange
    And it gives you denture breath
    And you know it's a friend, and it's a companion
    And it gets rid of your traveler's checks
    It's new, it's improved, it's old-fashioned
    Well it takes care of business
    never needs winding
    Never needs winding
    never needs reminding
    Gets rid of blackheads, the heartbreak of psoriasis
    Christ, you don't know the meaning of heartbreak, buddy
    C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon
    'Cause it's effective, it's defective
    it creates household odors
    It disinfects, it sanitizes for your protection
    It gives you an erection
    it wins the election
    Why put up with painful corns any longer?
    It's a redeemable coupon, no obligation
    no salesman will visit your home
    We got a jackpot, jackpot, jackpot
    prizes, prizes, prizes, all work guaranteed
    How do we do it
    how do we do it
    how do we do it
    how do we do it
    We need your business
    we're going out of business
    We'll give you the business
    Get on the business
    end of our going-out-of-business sale
    Receive our free brochure, free brochure
    Read the easy-to-follow assembly instructions
    batteries not included
    Send before midnight tomorrow, terms available
    Step right up
    step right up
    step right up
    You got it buddy: the large print giveth
    and the small print taketh away
    Step right up
    you can step right up
    you can step right up
    C'mon step right up
    (Get away from me kid, you bother me...)
    Step right up, step right up, step right up
    c'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon
    Step right up
    you can step right up
    c'mon and step right up
    C'mon and step right up

    Wandering far, going alone, bodiless, lying in a cave: the mind.
    Those who restrain it; from Mara's bonds they'll be freed.

    - Dhammapada, 3, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.

    The Allegory of the Cave from Plato's "The Republic" , Book VII

    Socrates:   And now, I said, let me show in a figure how far our nature is enlightened or unenlightened:, Behold! human beings living in an underground den, which has a mouth open towards the light and reaching all along the den; here they have been from their childhood, and have their legs and necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains from turning round their heads. Above and behind them a fire is blazing at a distance, and between the fire and the prisoners there is a raised way; and you will see, if you look, a low wall built along the way, like the screen which marionette players have in front of them, over which they show the puppets.

    Glaucon:   I see.

    Socrates:   And do you see, I said, men passing along the wall carrying all sorts of vessels, and statues and figures of animals made of wood and stone and various materials, which appear over the wall? Some of them are talking, others silent.

    Glaucon:   You have shown me a strange image, and they are strange prisoners.

    Socrates:   Like ourselves, I replied; and they see only their own shadows, or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave?

    Glaucon:   True, he said; how could they see anything but the shadows if they were never allowed to move their heads?

    Socrates:   And of the objects which are being carried in like manner they would only see the shadows?

    Glaucon:   Yes, he said.

    Socrates:   And if they were able to converse with one another, would they not suppose that they were naming what was actually before them?

       And suppose further that the prison had an echo which came from the other side, would they not be sure to fancy, when one of the passers-by spoke that the voice which they heard came from the passing shadow?

    Glaucon:   No question, he replied.

    Socrates:   To them, I said, the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images.

    Glaucon:   That is certain.

    Socrates:   And now look again, and see what will naturally follow if the prisoners are released and disabused of their error. At first, when any of them is liberated and compelled suddenly to stand up and turn his neck round and walk and look towards the light, he will suffer sharp pains; the glare will distress him, and he will be unable to see the realities of which in his former state he had seen the shadows; and then conceive some one saying to him, that what he saw before was an illusion, but that now, when he is approaching nearer to being and his eye is turned towards more real existence, he has a clearer vision,, what will be his reply? And you may further imagine that his instructor is pointing And when to the objects as they pass and requiring him to name them, will he not be perplexed? Will he not fancy that the shadows which he formerly saw are truer than the objects which are now shown to him?

    Glaucon:   Far truer.

    Socrates:   And if he is compelled to look straight at the light, will he not have a pain in his eyes which will make him turn away to take refuge in the objects of vision which he can see, and which he will conceive to be in reality clearer than the things which are now being shown to him?

    Glaucon:   True, he said.

    Socrates:   And suppose once more, that he is reluctantly dragged up a steep and rugged ascent, and held fast until he is forced into the presence of the sun himself, is he not likely to be pained and irritated? When he approaches the light his eyes will be dazzled, and he will not be able to see anything at all of what are now called realities?

    Glaucon:   Not all in a moment, he said.

    Socrates:   He will require to grow accustomed to the sight of the upper world. And first he will see the shadows best, next the reflections of men and other objects in the water, and then the objects themselves; then he will gaze upon the light of the moon and the stars and the spangled heaven; and he will see the sky and the stars by night better than the sun or the light of the sun by day?

    Glaucon:   Certainly.

    Socrates:   Last of all he will be able to see the sun, and not mere reflections of him in the water, but he will see him in his own proper place, and not in another; and he will contemplate him as he is.

    Glaucon:   Certainly.

    Socrates:   He will then proceed to argue that this is he who gives the season and the years, and is the guardian of all that is in the visible world, and in a certain way the cause of all things which he and his fellows have been accustomed to behold?

    Glaucon:   Clearly, he said, he would first see the sun and then reason about it.

    Socrates:   And when he remembered his old habitation, and the wisdom of the den and his fellow-prisoners, do you not suppose that he would felicitate himself on the change, and pity them?

    Glaucon:   Certainly, he would.

    Socrates:   And if they were in the habit of conferring honors among themselves on those who were quickest to observe the passing shadows and to remark which of them went before, and which followed after, and which were together; and who were therefore best able to draw conclusions as to the future, do you think that he would care for such honors and glories, or envy the possessors of them? Would he not say with Homer,

    "Better to be the poor servant of a poor master, and to endure anything, rather than think as they do and live after their manner?"
    Glaucon:   Yes, he said, I think that he would rather suffer anything than entertain these false notions and live in this miserable manner.

    Socrates:   Imagine once more, I said, such a one coming suddenly out of the sun to be replaced in his old situation; would he not be certain to have his eyes full of darkness?

    Glaucon:   To be sure, he said.

    Socrates:   And if there were a contest, and he had to compete in measuring the shadows with the prisoners who had never moved out of the den, while his sight was still weak, and before his eyes had become steady (and the time which would be needed to acquire this new habit of sight might be very considerable), would he not be ridiculous? Men would say of him that up he went and down he came without his eyes; and that it was better not even to think of ascending; and if any one tried to loose another and lead him up to the light, let them only catch the offender, and they would put him to death.

    Glaucon:   No question, he said.

    Socrates:   This entire allegory, I said, you may now append, dear Glaucon, to the previous argument; the prison-house is the world of sight, the light of the fire is the sun, and you will not misapprehend me if you interpret the journey upwards to be the ascent of the soul into the intellectual world according to my poor belief, which, at your desire, I have expressed, whether rightly or wrongly God knows. But, whether true or false, my opinion is that in the world of knowledge the idea of good appears last of all, and is seen only with an effort; and, when seen, is also inferred to be the universal author of all things beautiful and right, parent of light and of the lord of light in this visible world, and the immediate source of reason and truth in the intellectual; and that this is the power upon which he who would act rationally either in public or private life must have his eye fixed.

    Glaucon:   I agree, he said, as far as I am able to understand you.

    Socrates:   Moreover, I said, you must not wonder that those who attain to this beatific vision are unwilling to descend to human affairs; for their souls are ever hastening into the upper world where they desire to dwell; which desire of theirs is very natural, if our allegory may be trusted.

    Glaucon:   Yes, very natural.

    Socrates:   And is there anything surprising in one who passes from divine contemplations to the evil state of man, when they returned to the den they would see much worse than those who had never left it. himself in a ridiculous manner; if, while his eyes are blinking and before he has become accustomed to the surrounding darkness, he is compelled to fight in courts of law, or in other places, about the images or the shadows of images of justice, and is endeavoring to meet the conceptions of those who have never yet seen absolute justice?

    Glaucon:   Anything but surprising, he replied.

    Socrates:   Any one who has common sense will remember that the bewilderments of the eyes are of two kinds, and arise from two causes, either from coming out of the light or from going into the light, which is true of the mind's eye, quite as much as of the bodily eye; and he who remembers this when he sees any one whose vision is perplexed and weak, will not be too ready to laugh; he will first ask whether that soul of man has come out of the brighter life, and is unable to see because unaccustomed to the dark, or having turned from darkness to the day is dazzled by excess of light. And he will count the one happy in his condition and state of being, and he will pity the other; or, if he has a mind to laugh at the soul which comes from below into the light, there will be more reason in this than in the laugh which greets him who returns from above out of the light into the den.

    Glaucon:   That, he said, is a very just distinction.

    Socrates:   But then, if I am right, certain professors of education must be wrong when they say that they can put a knowledge into the soul which was not there before, like sight into blind eyes?

    Glaucon:   They undoubtedly say this, he replied.

    Socrates:   Whereas, our argument shows that the power and capacity of learning exists in the soul already; and that just as the eye was unable to turn from darkness to light without the whole body, so too the instrument of knowledge can only by the movement of the whole soul be turned from the world of becoming into that of being, and learn by degrees to endure the sight of being, and of the brightest and best of being, or in other words, of the good.

    Glaucon:   Very true.

    Socrates:   And must there not be some art which will effect conversion in the easiest and quickest manner; not implanting the faculty of sight, for that exists already, but has been turned in the wrong direction, and is looking away from the truth?

    Glaucon:   Yes, he said, such an art may be presumed.

    Socrates:   And whereas the other so-called virtues of the soul seem to be akin to bodily qualities, for even when they are not originally innate they can be implanted later by habit and exercise, the virtue of wisdom more than anything else contains a divine element which always remains, and by this conversion is rendered useful and profitable; or, on the other hand, hurtful and useless. Did you never observe the narrow intelligence flashing from the keen eye of a clever rogue, how eager he is, how clearly his paltry soul sees the way to his end; he is the reverse of blind, but his keen eye-sight is forced into the service of evil, and he is mischievous in proportion to his cleverness?

    Glaucon:   Very true, he said.

    Socrates:   But what if there had been a circumcision of such natures in the days of their youth; and they had been severed from those sensual pleasures, such as eating and drinking, which, like leaden weights, were attached to them at their birth, and which drag them down and turn the vision of their souls upon the things that are below, if, I say, they had been released from these impediments and turned in the opposite direction, the very same faculty in them would have seen the truth as keenly as they see what their eyes are turned to now.

    Glaucon:   Very likely.

    Socrates:   Yes, I said; and there is another thing which is likely, or Neither rather a necessary inference from what has preceded, that neither the uneducated and uninformed of the truth, nor yet those who never make an end of their education, will be able educated ministers of State; not the former, because they have no single aim of duty which is the rule of all their actions, private as well as public; nor the latter, because they will not act at all except upon compulsion, fancying that they are already dwelling apart in the islands of the blest.

    Glaucon:   Very true, he replied.

    Socrates:   Then, I said, the business of us who are the founders of the State will be to compel the best minds to attain that knowledge which we have already shown to be the greatest of all, they must continue to ascend until they arrive at the good; but when they have ascended and seen enough we must not allow them to do as they do now.

    Glaucon:   What do you mean?

    Socrates:   I mean that they remain in the upper world: but this must not be allowed; they must be made to descend again among the prisoners in the den, and partake of their labors and honors, whether they are worth having or not.

    Glaucon:   But is not this unjust? he said; ought we to give them a worse life, when they might have a better?

    Socrates:   You have again forgotten, my friend, I said, the intention of the legislator, who did not aim at making any one class in the State happy above the rest; the happiness was to be in the whole State, and he held the citizens together by persuasion and necessity, making them benefactors of the State, and therefore benefactors of one another; to this end he created them, not to please themselves, but to be his instruments in binding up the State.

    Glaucon:   True, he said, I had forgotten.

    Socrates:   Observe, Glaucon, that there will be no injustice in compelling our philosophers to have a care and providence of others; we shall explain to them that in other States, men of their class are not obliged to share in the toils of politics: and this is reasonable, for they grow up at their own sweet will, and the government would rather not have them. Being self-taught, they cannot be expected to show any gratitude for a culture which they have never received. But we have brought you into the world to be rulers of the hive, kings of yourselves and of the other citizens, and have educated you far better and more perfectly than they have been educated, and you are better able to share in the double duty. That is why each of you, when his turn comes, must go down to the general underground abode, and get the habit of seeing in the dark. When you have acquired the habit, you will see ten thousand times better than the inhabitants of the den, and you will know what the several images are, and what they represent, because you have seen the beautiful and just and good in their truth. And thus our State, which is also yours will be a reality, and not a dream only, and will be administered in a spirit unlike that of other States, in which men fight with one another about shadows only and are distracted in the struggle for power, which in their eyes is a great good. Whereas the truth is that the State in which the rulers are most reluctant to govern is always the best and most quietly governed, and the State in which they are most eager, the worst.

    Glaucon:   Quite true, he replied.

    Socrates:   And will our pupils, when they hear this, refuse to take their turn at the toils of State, when they are allowed to spend the greater part of their time with one another in the heavenly light?

    Glaucon:   Impossible, he answered; for they are just men, and the commands which we impose upon them are just; there can be no doubt that every one of them will take office as a stern necessity, and not after the fashion of our present rulers of State.

    Socrates:   Yes, my friend, I said; and there lies the point. You must contrive for your future rulers another and a better life than that of a ruler, and then you may have a well-ordered State; for only in the State which offers this, will they rule who are truly rich, not in silver and gold, but in virtue and wisdom, which are the true blessings of life. Whereas if they go to the administration of public affairs, poor and hungering after their own private advantage, thinking that hence they are to snatch the chief good, order there can never be; for they will be fighting about office, and the civil and domestic broils which thus arise will be the ruin of the rulers themselves and of the whole State.

    Glaucon:   Most true, he replied.

    Socrates:   And the only life which looks down upon the life of political ambition is that of true philosophy. Do you know of any other?

    Glaucon:   Indeed, I do not, he said.

    Socrates:   And those who govern ought not to be lovers of the task? For, if they are, there will be rival lovers, and they will fight.

    Glaucon:   No question.

    Socrates:   Who then are those whom we shall compel to be guardians? Surely they will be the men who are wisest about affairs of the state.

    End Notes for Plato's "Allegory of the Cave"by Richard Hooker©1996

    1. If you understand this first distinction, the much more difficult division of the intelligible world will make more sense. Think over this carefully: the visible world, that is, the world you see, has two kinds of visible objects in it. The first kind are shadows and reflections, that is, objects you see but aren't really there but derive from the second type of visible objects, that is, those that you see and are really there. The relation of the visible world to the intelligible world is identical to the relation of the world of reflections to the world of visible things that are real.

    2. The lower region of the intelligible world corresponds to the upper region in the same way the lower region of the visible world corresponds to the upper region. Think of it this way: the lower region deals only with objects of thought (that are, in part, derived from visible objects), which is why it is part of the intelligible world. There have to be certain first principles (such as the existence of numbers or other mathematical postulates) that are just simply taken without question: these are hypotheses. These first principles, however, derive from other first principles; the higher region of the intelligible world encompasses these first principles. So you can see that the lower region derives from the higher region in that the thinking in the lower region derives from the first principles that make up the higher region, just as the mirror reflects a solid object. When one begins to think about first principles (such as, how can you prove that numbers exist at all?) and derives more first principles from them until you reach the one master, first principle upon which all thought is based, you are operating in this higher sphere of intellection. Plato's line is also a hierarchy: the things at the top (first principles) have more truth and more existence; the things at the bottom (the reflections) have almost no truth and barely exist at all.

    Commentary for Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" by S. Marc Cohen©2K2

    1. Plato realizes that the general run of humankind can think, and speak, etc., without (so far as they acknowledge) any awareness of his realm of Forms.

    2. The allegory of the cave is supposed to explain this.

    3. In the allegory, Plato likens people untutored in the Theory of Forms to prisoners chained in a cave, unable to turn their heads. All they can see is the wall of the cave.  Behind them burns a fire.  Between the fire and the prisoners there is a parapet, along which puppeteers can walk. The puppeteers, who are behind the prisoners, hold up puppets that cast shadows on the wall of the cave.  The prisoners are unable to see these puppets, the real objects, that pass behind them. What the prisoners see and hear are shadows and echoes cast by objects that they do not see.  Here is an illustration of Plato's Cave:

    4. Such prisoners would mistake appearance for reality. They would think the things they see on the wall (the shadows) were real; they would know nothing of the real causes of the shadows.

    5. So when the prisoners talk, what are they talking about? If an object (a book, let us say) is carried past behind them, and it casts a shadow on the wall, and a prisoner says "I see a book," what is he talking about?

      He thinks he is talking about a book, but he is really talking about a shadow. But he uses the word "book." What does that refer to?

    6. Plato gives his answer at line (515b2). The text here has puzzled many editors, and it has been frequently amended. The translation in Grube/Reeve gets the point correctly:
      "And if they could talk to one another, don't you think they'd suppose that the names they used applied to the things they see passing before them?"

    7. Plato's point is that the prisoners would be mistaken. For they would be taking the terms in their language to refer to the shadows that pass before their eyes, rather than (as is correct, in Plato's view) to the real things that cast the shadows.

      If a prisoner says "That's a book" he thinks that the word "book" refers to the very thing he is looking at. But he would be wrong. He's only looking at a shadow. The real referent of the word "book" he cannot see. To see it, he would have to turn his head around.

    8. Plato's point: the general terms of our language are not "names" of the physical objects that we can see. They are actually names of things that we cannot see, things that we can only grasp with the mind.

    9. When the prisoners are released, they can turn their heads and see the real objects. Then they realize their error. What can we do that is analogous to turning our heads and seeing the causes of the shadows? We can come to grasp the Forms with our minds.

    10. Plato's aim in the Republic is to describe what is necessary for us to achieve this reflective understanding. But even without it, it remains true that our very ability to think and to speak depends on the Forms. For the terms of the language we use get their meaning by "naming" the Forms that the objects we perceive participate in.

    11. The prisoners may learn what a book is by their experience with shadows of books. But they would be mistaken if they thought that the word "book" refers to something that any of them has ever seen.

      Likewise, we may acquire concepts by our perceptual experience of physical objects. But we would be mistaken if we thought that the concepts that we grasp were on the same level as the things we perceive.

      Japanese Sun Goddess Myth by Paul H. Ray, Ph.D. and Sherry Ruth Anderson, Ph.D. of Cultural Creatives, based on eighth century Japanese Shinto and Buddhist texts.

      No one today can remember the time when Amaterasu Omikami, the Great Mother Sun, hid herself deep in the Cave of Heaven and refused to come out. But to those who know the story, every mirror is a reminder that there once was a time when all the spirits of living things had to join together to bring life back to the Earth.

      In those very early times, the spirit of every living thing was called its kami. The kami of the mountain was lavender and long. The kami of trees was great and green. Animals' kami was smooth as silk. The kami of rocks and rivers was silent as the moon. All the strength of these kami poured forth from Amaterasu Omikami, and in her honor the great pattern of the seasons of planting and harvest was woven.

      One day it happened that Amaterasu Omikami fell into despair because of the actions of her jealous brother Susanowo. Some say he betrayed the Great Goddess by tearing through the rice paddies in a drunken fit of rage, until every plant in every field was broken and dying. Others remember Susanowo heaving a calf through the windows of the celestial weaving house, smashing the looms and breaking the sacred threads of connection between every living thing. But though some say this and some say that, everyone agrees on what happened next.

      Amaterasu Omikami fled to the Cave of Heaven and locked herself inside. Without her light, all the realms of heaven and earth were plunged into darkness,. The kami of the rice withered. The kami of the birds and animals and mountains and trees and fishes turned into frail gray ghosts. The Earth and all that was of it began to die.

      Eventually, and none too soon, the kami gathered together to discuss what to do. "We must moan and weep outside her cave," some said. "That will never work," said others. "Who wants to join a crowd that's moaning and weeping?" Finally someone said, "Let's have a celebration with songs that make us laugh and music that sets our feet tapping. And let's have dances with lots of stomping and whirling. Surely that will bring the Great Sun out of her cave."

      Everyone agreed, but they decided that one more thing was needed: a huge mirror. "If we reflect Amaterasu's radiance back to her," they said to each other, "maybe she'll take heart and remember us. Maybe she'll return to the Round of Life."

      But as soon as they thought of the need for a great mirror, their courage failed. Because not one of them had the strength to lift such a mirror. Then someone whispered, in a voice so feeble everyone had to strain to hear, "Let's each bring a tiny piece of mirror and hide it in our clothes. As soon as Amaterasu Omikami peeks out of her cave, we'll all hold up our shards at the same time – and our tens of thousands will make a single mirror."

      An that's precisely what they did. The very next day, all the kami in the world collected outside the Cave of Heaven and slowly, almost inaudibly, started to sing. In time their voices rose high and rich into the night. But even while the kamis' drums beat their irresistible rhythms and even while the kamis' feet stomped and tapped in splendid whirling dances, no one forgot to watch the door of the Cave of Heaven. Finally, very late in the evening, the cave door cracked open, and a single beam of light slipped out. Instantly, the kami lifted their slivers of mirror to Amaterasu's radiance.

      The goddess gasped in amazement. Fascinated, she took a step forward. And another. Soon she had stepped all the way out of her cave. Laughing and clapping her hands to see herself reflected in so many thousands upon thousands of forms, the Great Mother Sun danced all the way out of her hiding place and all the way into the wide blue sky.

      Once again the kami of the mountains grew lavender and long. The kami of trees was great and green. Animals again had kami as smooth as silk. The kami of rocks and rivers and fish and flowers once more poured forth from the Great Mother Sun. And in her honor the pattern of the seasons of planting and harvest was again woven. And so it is to this very day.

      A Conversation of Waves

      There was once a small wave who was unhappy. "I'm so miserable," it moaned. "The other waves are big and powerful, while I'm so little and weak. Why is life so unfair?"

      Another wave passing by heard the small wave and decided to stop by. "You only think so because you haven't seen your own 'original nature' clearly. You think you're a wave and you think you're suffering. In reality you are neither."

      "What?" The small wave was surprised. "I'm not a wave? But it's obvious I'm a wave! I've got my crest, see? And there's my wake, little as it is. What do you mean I'm not a wave?"

      "This thing you call 'wave' is merely a temporary form you assume for a short time. You're really just water! When you understand completely that this is your fundamental nature, you will no longer be confused about being a wave, and you will be free of your misery."

      "If I'm water, what about you?"

      "I'm water too. I'm temporarily assuming the form of a wave somewhat larger than you, but that doesn't change my fundamental essence - water! I'm you and you're me. We're part of a greater self."

      Most people, mired in the illusion known as the material world, mistakenly assume they belong only to themselves. Therefore they compare themselves to other people. When they perceive some sort of lack or inequity, they become totally miserable. They would feel quite differently if they see clearly that all of us are part of nature. Everyone of us is connected to one another in a fundamental way beyond the explanation of science. We're part of a greater whole - the Oversoul, the Universal Sentience, God....

      A Fable About Matter and Form by George Santayana from "Reason in Science"

      In order to live - if such a myth may be allowed - the Titan Matter was eager to disguise his incorrigible vagueness and pretend to be something. He accordingly addressed himself to the beautiful company of Forms, sisters whom he thought all equally beautiful, though their number was endless, and equally fit to satisfy his heart.

      He wooed them hypocritically, with no intention of wedding them; yet he uttered their names in such seductive accents (called by mortals intelligence and toil) that the virgin goddesses offered no resistance - at least such of them as happened to be near or of a facile disposition.

      They were presently deserted by their unworthy lover; yet they, too, in that moment's union, had tasted the sweetness of life. The heaven to which they returned was no longer an infinite mathematical paradise. It was crossed by memories of earth, and a warmer breath lingered in some of its lanes and grottoes.

      Henceforth its nymphs could not forget that they had awakened a passion and that - unmoved themselves - they had moved a strange indomitable giant to art and love.

      It is easier to make a saint out of a libertine than out of a prig.
      - George Santayana

      An Honorable Tale by George Santayana from "Dialogues in Limbo"

      All living souls welcome whatsoever they are ready to cope with; all else they ignore, or pronounce to be monstrous and wrong, or deny to be possible.

      So: the mother of the first tailless child - for men formerly had tails - wept bitterly and consulted the soothsayers, elders conspicuous for their long and honorable tails, who gave out oracles from the hollow of ancient trees; and she asked what unwitting impiety she or her husband could have committed, that the just gods should condemn their innocent child to such eternal disgrace.

      When, however, other tailless births began to occur, at first the legislators had the little monsters put rigorously to death; but soon, as the parents began to offer resistance, they suffered a scapegoat to be sacrificed instead; and persons with­out a tail were merely condemned to pass their lives in slavery, or at least without the rights of citizenship; because the philosophers, who all belonged to the elder generation with ample tails, declared that without a tail no man was really human or could be admitted after death into the company of the gods.

      Yet later, when that hinder ornament had become rare, opinion was reversed, until the priests, legislators, and sages gathered in council and decreed, by a majority vote, that a tail in man was unnatural, and that the tradition that such things had existed was an invention of ignorant poets, and absurd.

      When, however, by a casual reversion and sport of nature, a child with a tail was born here and there, not only was the infant instantly dispatched, but the mother was burned alive for having had commerce with a devil.

      The Beatitudes, what some feel to be the core of the Sermon of the Mount as told by Matthew
      (also available in shockwave from Interview with God dot com).

      Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

      Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

      Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

      Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

      Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

      Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

      Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called sons of God.

      Blessed are they that have been persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

      Blessed are ye when [men] shall reproach you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

      Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven.

      Matthew, Chapter Five, Verses Three through Twelve - American Standard Version Bible

      The Beatitudes, what some feel to be the core of the Sermon of the Mount as told by Luke this time, unlike Matthew's more famous record, the "woe" section is unique to Luke.

      “Blessed are you who are poor for yours is the kingdom of God.

      “But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.

      Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.

      Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry.

      Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.

      Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.

      Blessed are you when men hate you when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.

      Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.

      Luke, Chapter Six, Verses Twenty-one through Twenty-five from bible.org: Defining Discipleship.

      The Apocryphal Beatitudes by Jorge Luis Borges from "Fragmentos de un Evangelio Apocrifoby"

      • Blessed is he who insisteth not on being in the right, for no man is wholly in the right.

      • Blessed is he who forgiveth others, and he who forgiveth himself.

      • Blessed are they which hunger not after righteousness: for they see that our lot, whether kindly or cruel, is an act of chance and unknowable.

      • There is no commandment which may not be broken: neither those I say unto you, nor those laid down by the prophets.

      • The deeds of men are worthy neither of heaven nor hell.

      • And if thy right hand offend thee, forgive it: for thou art thy whole body and thy whole soul, and it is not profitable for thee to divide them.

      • Thou shalt not magnify the worship of truth: for at the day's end there is no man who hath not lied many times with good reason.

      • To bless thine enemy may be righteous and is not difficult: but to love him is a task for angels, not for men.

      • Give that which is holy unto the dogs, cast thy pearls before swine: for the thing that mattereth is giving.

      • Nothing is built upon rock: for all is built upon sand: but let each man build as if sand were rock.

      Autobiography in Five Chapters

      Chapter 1)   

      I walk down the street.

      There is a deep hole in the sidewalk

      I fall in.

      I am lost . . . I am hopeless.

      It isn't my fault.

      It takes forever to find a way out.

      Chapter 2)   

      I walk down the same street.

      There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

      I pretend I don't see it.

      I fall in again.

      I can't believe I’m in the same place.

      But it isn't my fault.

      It still takes a long time to get out.

      Chapter 3)   

      I walk down the same street.

      There is a deep hole in the sidewalk

      I see it is there.

      I still fall in . . . it's a habit

      My eyes are open

      I know where I am

      It is my fault. I get out immediately.

      Chapter 4)   

      I walk down the same street.

      There is a deep hole in the sidewalk

      I walk around it.

      Chapter 5)   

      I walk down another street.

      Carrying Baggage by Joan Borysenko

      In working through repetitive conflicts, we begin to see our shadows and old baggage more clearly. There's an old Zen story that makes this point very well:

      It concerns an interesting "couple," two monks who were walking in silence by a river at sunrise, early in the spring. Swollen with the melting snows, the river had overflowed its banks and swamped the small footbridge that was the only point of crossing for many miles.

      A young woman, in much distress, stood forlornly by the swiftly running river, pleading with her eyes for the monks' help. Sweeping her into his arms, the older monk bore her aloft through the swirling current and put her down safely on the other side. The two monks walked in silence until sunset, when the vows of their order allowed them to talk.

      The younger monk then turned on his brother with unbridled fury. "How could you have picked that woman up!" he accused. His face grew red as he shook his fists at the older monk. "You, of all people, know the vows of our Order. It is forbidden even to think of a woman, let alone to touch one! You have defiled yourself. Indeed, you have shamed the entire Order!"

      The elder monk turned to him complacently. "My brother," he said. His eyes were soft with the wisdom of forgiveness. "I put that woman down on the other side of the river this morning. It is you who have been carrying her around all day."

      And in an alternate give from Dick Sutphen in "The Oracle Within"

      “Two Zen monks were once traveling together when they came to a stream widened by recent rainfall. By the bank stood a beautiful young woman dressed in fine clothes. She obviously wanted to cross the water but was distressed at the prospect of ruining her finery. Without hesitation one of the monks offered to carry the young woman across the stream on his back. She gratefully accepted his kind offer. The monk helped to hoist her up on his back and without more ado carried her across and put her down on the dry ground. The two monks then continued on their way, but the other monk started complaining. "It is not right to touch a woman, especially one so young and lovely. It is against our commandments to experience close contact. How could you go against the rules for monks?" The monk who had carried the woman walked along silently for a few minutes before replying. Finally he said, "I set her down by the river, but you are still carrying her." ”

      “Simplicity is making the journey of this life with just baggage enough.”
      - Charles Dudley Warner, editor and author (1829-1900)

      Circle of Life

      Where there is life
      There is suffering

      Where there is suffering
      There are always lessons

      Where there is lesson
      There is always growth

      Where there is growth
      There is always hope

      Where there is hope
      There is always strength

      Where there is strength
      There is always Love

      Where There is Love
      There are always miracles

      Where there are miracles
      There is always God

      Where there is God
      There is always life anew

      Never lose hope!
      Many beautiful things await

      Finding Time

      I knelt to pray but not for long,
      I had too much to do.
      I had to hurry and get to work
      For bills would soon be due.

      So I knelt and said a hurried prayer,
      And jumped up off my knees.
      My religious duty was now done
      My soul could rest at ease.

      All day long I had no time
      To spread a word of cheer.
      No time to speak of God to friends,
      They'd laugh at me I'd fear.

      No time, no time, too much to do,
      That was my constant cry,
      No time to give to souls in need
      But at last the time, the time to die.

      I went before the Lord,
      I came, I stood with downcast eyes.
      For in his hands God held a book;
      It was the book of life.

      God looked into his book and said
      ”Your name I cannot find.
      I once was going to write it down...
      But never found the time..."

      An Apache Wedding Prayer

      Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be shelter for the other.
      Now you will feel no cold, for each of you will be warmth for the other.
      Now there is no more loneliness, for each of you will be companion to the other.
      Now you are two persons, but there is only one life before you.
      Go now to your dwelling to enter into the days of your life together.
      And may your days be good, and long upon the earth.

      Related:
      American Indian Wisdom
      Indian Funeral Prayer

      Indian Funeral Prayer

      Do not stand at my grave and weep,
      I am not there. I do not sleep.
      I am a thousand winds that blow,
      I am the diamond glint on snow.
      I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
      I am the gentle autumn rain.
      When you wake in the morning hush,
      I am the swift uplifting rush
      Of quiet birds in circling flight.
      I am the soft starlight at night.
      Do not stand at my grave and cry,
      I am not there. I did not die.

      Related:
      American Indian Wisdom
      Apache Wedding Ceremony

      The Wise Woman's Stone

      A Wise woman who was traveling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him. She did so without hesitation. The traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime. But a few days later, he came back to return the stone to the wise woman. “I've been thinking,” he said,
      “I know how valuable the stone is, but I give it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious.” “Please give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me the stone.”

      Magical People

      The cosmos recognizes people in whom Spirit flowers

      There is a sensuousness a centeredness a fluid grace to their movement.

      There is a relaxed gentility of power flowing quietly within and beneath their action.

      There is a humble assuredness about them, a reverence, a sense of humor and an awe of the sacred entwined.

      These are the magical people for whom the cosmos has longed.

      Psalm of Life by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

      Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
      Life is but an empty dream!
      For the soul is dead that slumbers,
      And things are not what they seem
      Life is real! Life is earnest!
      And the grave is not its goal;
      Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
      Was not spoken of the soul.
      Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
      Is our destined end or way;
      But to act, that each tomorrow
      Find us farther than today.
      Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
      And our hearts, though stout and brave,
      Still, like muffled drums, are beating
      Funeral marches to the grave.
      In the world's broad field of battle,
      In the bivouac of Life,
      Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
      Be a hero in the strife!
      Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant!
      Let the dead Past bury its dead!
      Act,—act in the living Present!
      Heart within, and God o'erhead!
      Lives of great men all remind us
      We can make our lives sublime,
      And, departing, leave behind us
      Footprints on the sands of time;
      Footprints, that perhaps another,
      Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
      A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
      Seeing, shall take heart again.
      Let us, then, be up and doing,
      With a heart for any fate;
      Still achieving, still pursuing,
      Learn to labor and to wait.

      End Note for "Psalm of Life"

      Three years after Longfellow's young wife died, he still yearned for her. Life is not an empty dream, he told himself. He must be up and doing! The poem above is the result.

      Rancher/Farmer's Guide to Life

      • Don't squat with your spurs on.
      • Your fences need to be horse-high, pig tight and bull-strong.
      • Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.
      • Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier 'n puttin' it back in.
      • Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.
      • If you're ridin' ahead of the herd, take a look back every now and then to make sure it's still there.
      • A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor.
      • If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin' somebody else's dog around.
      • When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.
      • After eating an entire bull, a mountain lion felt so good he started roaring. He kept it up until a hunter came along and shot him. The moral: When you're full of bull, keep your mouth shut.
      • Never kick a cow chip on a hot day.
      • There's two theories to arguin' with a woman. Neither one works.
      • If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin'.
      • It don't take a genius to spot a goat in a flock of sheep.
      • Never ask a barber if you need a haircut.
      • Never slap a man who's chewin' tobacco.
      • Keep skunks and bankers and lawyers at a distance.
      • Always drink upstream from the herd.
      • You cannot unsay a cruel word.
      • When you give a lesson in meanness to a critter or a person, don't be surprised if they learn their lesson.

        “When will we learn that ‘teaching someone a lesson’ never teaches anything but resentment
        --that it only inspires the recipient to greater acts of defiance.”
        - Harry Browne

      • Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you.
      • The quickest way to double your money is to fold it over and put it back in your pocket.
      • Words that soak into your ears are whispered...not yelled.
      • Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
      • Never miss a good chance to shut up.
      • The best sermons are lived, not preached.
      • There are three kinds of men. The ones that learns by reading. The few that learns by observation. The rest of them have to pee on that electric fence.
      • It don't take a very big person to carry a grudge.
      • Every path has a few puddles.
      • Most of the stuff people worry about ain't never gonna happen anyway.
      • Don't judge folks by their relatives.
      • Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll enjoy it a second time.
      • Don't interfere with somethin' that ain't botherin' you none.
      • Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.
      • Sometimes you get, and sometimes you get got.
      • The biggest troublemaker you'll probably ever have to deal with watches you from the mirror every mornin'.
      • Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God.

      The Lone Ranger Creed By Fran Striker (circa 1933)

      I believe that to have a friend, a man must be one.

      That all men are created equal and that everyone has within himself the power to make this a better world.

      That God put the firewood there but that every man must gather and light it himself.

      In being prepared physically, mentally, and morally to fight when necessary for that which is right.

      That a man should make the most of what equipment he has.

      That 'This government, of the people, by the people and for the people' shall live always.

      That men should live by the rule of what is best for the greatest number.

      That sooner or later... somewhere...somehow... we must settle with the world and make payment for what we have taken.

      That all things change but truth, and that truth alone, lives on forever. In my Creator, my country, my fellow man.

      A Ritual to Read to Each Other by William Stafford

      If you don't know the kind of person I am and I don't know the kind of person you are a pattern that others made may prevail in the world and following the wrong god home we may miss our star.

      For there is many a small betrayal in the mind, a shrug that lets the fragile sequence break sending with shouts the horrible errors of childhood storming out to play through the broken dyke.

      And as elephants parade holding each elephant's tail, but if one wanders the circus won't find the park, I call it cruel and maybe the root of all cruelty to know what occurs but not recognize the fact.

      And so I appeal to a voice, to something shadowy, a remote important region in all who talk: though we could fool each other, we should consider - lest the parade of our mutual life get lost in the dark.

      For it is important that awake people be awake, or a breaking line may discourage them back to sleep; the signals we give - yes, no, or maybe - should be clear: the darkness around us is deep.

      READ THIS WHOLE THING. IT'S SO DANG TRUE

      • You are unique.

      • You are loved.

      • A smile from you can bring happiness to anyone, even if they don't like you.

      • The only reason anyone would ever hate you is because they want to be just like you.

      • At least 2 people in this world love you so much they would die for you.

      • At least 15 people in this world love you in some way.

      • Every night, SOMEONE thinks about you before they go to sleep.

      • If not for you, someone may not be living.

      • You mean the world to someone.

      • Someone that you don't even know exists loves you.

         

      • When you make the biggest mistake ever, something good comes from it.

      • When you think the world has turned its back on you, take a look: you most likely turned your back on the world.

      • When you think you have no chance of getting what you want, you probably won't get it, but if you believe in yourself, probably, sooner or later, you will get it.

      • Always remember the compliments you received. Forget about any rude remarks.

      • Always tell someone how you feel about them; you will feel much better when they know.

      All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum

      All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile at school.

      These are the things I learned:

      • Share everything.
      • Play fair.
      • Don't hit people.
      • Put things back where you found them.
      • Clean up your own mess.
      • Don't take things that aren't yours.
      • Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
      • Wash your hands before you eat.
      • Flush.
      • Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
      • Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
      • Take a nap every afternoon.
      • When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
      • Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
      • Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
      • And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.

      Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.

      Take any one of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm. Think what a better world it would be if we all - the whole world - had cookies and milk at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments had as a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess.

      And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out in the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

      The Eleven Commandments by Willis Barnstone, from Harper's, March 2K2.
      His translation of the New Testament, "The New Covenant" is published by Riverhead Books.

      1. I am the Lord and I brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. There are other gods. But you have one God. I am I.

      2. Make no idols. I am the maker. Those who create art will compete with me. You may wor­ship them and lose me. If you make idols I shall punish your children for three and four genera­tions. If you love me, since I am a lonely God I will care for you for a thousand generations. Love me, obey me. No statues.

      3. In argument or court or the market, do not use my name for influence. I am a private God. I intervene when I wish, but you are not me. Do not stand in the pulpit babbling as if you are God. If you pass for me, I will erase you like an idol.

      4. Shabbat is mine. I labored to form letters and place them on cloth of black fire in order to read those letters as words and speak cre­ation. I created twice. Once in six days. And then all in one day when I created a garden with Adam and Eve. Two cosmic efforts. Re­member what I did. It was for you. Remember that you were a slave in Egypt and I delivered you. Now pause, enjoy, even meditate. I com­mand you to loaf. If you are not lazy and joyful on your day of rest, I will tumble stones on your heads and then you may remember our labors. I have blessed Shabbat.

      5. Honor your father and mother who, like me, are your makers. Dishonor to them is abuse of me. If you honor your father and mother, they will like you and forget honor and walk with you in gardens.

      6. Do not kill. I kill. Time kills. Disease dis­members and kills. Do not add to that misery. If someone tries to kill you, whisper some­thing quickly to me. Unfortunately, I may be absent. I tend to many and tend to be online elsewhere. But all my work does not give you license to own guns or kill. Burn the weapons, big and small, of killing. Have a good life.

      7. Do not sleep with the spouse of another. There are many to sleep with, including your solitude, which may delight you with never imagined feasts. The world has a mountain of partners. Why look for trouble. If your heart is beating with desire, remember me, your Lord, who has everyone and no one. I stand alone in the sky.

      8. Do not steal the shirt of your kin or even your enemy. And worry about it, since even I who know all do not distinguish between stealing and enterprise. Even your prosperity may help or steal from your neighbor, and your poverty may help or steal from your cousin. Look into the mirror. If you see only two figures, you and your heart, if your hand does not shiver, forget this commandment. If you steal and your hand does not shiver, you are des­tined for great power.

      9. Do not rat. A silent face is diamond. If you rat on friend or enemy, a circle of smoke will turn you into a rodent. Not a hare but a rat. Better to be a siren, a singing Josephine who comforts her fellow mousefolk who live in shadows and pipes, than to rat.

      10. I am the jealous God. You must not be like me. I possess the world, and its people die, and wives and husbands, slaves and oxen and neighbors, all become dust, and I possess nothing of them. You will have nothing if you do not learn from death, from the dust maker - for your soul, if you covet the things of others, will turn deadly. You will not look in yourself where you are a sky infinitely deep and with unending aromas. Do not be jealous like me.

      11. I am a weary God, who has not been lis­tened to. That may be just, since I have taken to long absences. My plate is empty. Do not quibble whether I have been good or bad, whether my commandments are good or bad, whether I am or am not. If you want a good life, I tell you to listen to my commandments. Or do not listen. And if you cannot listen, hear your soul. It is there, asking you to loaf. And when you have truly seen your soul and believed, and are comforted by its vastly inti­mate rain forest, enter her and forget me.

      The Kybalion - Seven Hermetic Principles attributed to Hermes Trismegistus – a pre-historic Egyptian Seer.

      PRINCIPLE OF MENTALISM: The ALL is MIND: The Universe is Mental.

      PRINCIPLE OF CORRESPONDENCE: As above, so below; As below, so above.

      PRINCIPLE OF VIBRATION: Nothing rests; everything moves; everything vibrates.

      PRINCIPLE OF POLARITY: Everything is dual; everything has poles; everything has its pairs of opposites: like and unlike are the same; opposites are identical in nature, but different in degree; extremes meet; All truths are but half-truths; all paradoxes may be reconciled.

      PRINCIPLE OF RHYTHM: Everything flows, out and in; Everything has its tides; all things rise and fall; the pendulum swing manifests in everything – the measure of the swing to the right is the measure of the swing to the left; Rhythm compensates.

      PRINCIPLE OF CAUSE AND EFFECT:Every Cause has its Effect; every Effect has its Cause; Everything happens according to Law; Chance is but a name for Law not recognized; There are many planes of causation, but nothing escapes the Law.

      PRINCIPLE OF GENDER: Gender is in everything; everything has its Masculine and Feminine Principles; Gender manifests on all planes.

      Hermetic Axioms

      1. The possession of Knowledge, unless accompanied by a manifestation and expression in Action, is like the hoarding of precious metals – a vain and foolish thing. Knowledge, like Wealth, is intended for Use. The Law of Use is Universal, and he who violates it suffers by reason of his conflict with natural forces.

      2. To change your mood or mental state – change your vibration.

      3. To destroy an unfavorable rate of mental vibration, put into operation the Principle of Polarity and concentrate upon the opposite pole to that which you desire to oppress. Kill out the undesirable by changing its polarity.

      4. Mind may be transmuted from state to state; degree to degree; condition to condition; pole to pole; vibration to vibration.

      5. Rhythm may be neutralized by an application of the Art of Polarization.

      6. Nothing escapes the Principle of Cause and Effect, but there are many planes of Causation, and one may use the laws of the higher to overcome the laws of the lower.

      7. The wise ones serve on the higher, but rule on the lower. They obey the laws coming from above them, but on their own plane – and those below them – they rule and give orders. And yet, in so doing, they form a part of the Principle, instead of opposing it. The wise man falls in with the Law, and by understanding its movements he operates it instead of being its blind slave. Just as does the skilled swimmer turn this way and that way, going and coming as he will, instead of being the log which is carried here and there – so is the wise man as compared to the ordinary man – and yet both swimmer and log, wise man and fool, are subject to Law. He who understands this is well on the road to mastery.

      8. True Hermetic Transmutation is a Mental Art; The ALL is MIND.

      The Looking Glass, A Fable exerpt from "The Snow Queen," by Hans Christian Andersen (1845)

      YOU must attend to the commencement of this story, for when we get to the end we shall know more than we do now about a very wicked hobgoblin; he was one of the very worst, for he was a real demon.

      One day, when he was in a merry mood, he made a looking-glass which had the power of making everything good or beautiful that was reflected in it almost shrink to nothing, while everything that was worthless and bad looked increased in size and worse than ever. The most lovely landscapes appeared like boiled spinach, and the people became hideous, and looked as if they stood on their heads and had no bodies. Their countenances were so distorted that no one could recognize them, and even one freckle on the face appeared to spread over the whole of the nose and mouth. The demon said this was very amusing. When a good or pious thought passed through the mind of any one it was misrepresented in the glass; and then how the demon laughed at his cunning invention.

      All who went to the demon’s school—for he kept a school—talked everywhere of the wonders they had seen, and declared that people could now, for the first time, see what the world and mankind were really like. They carried the glass about everywhere, till at last there was not a land nor a people who had not been looked at through this distorted mirror. They wanted even to fly with it up to heaven to see the angels, but the higher they flew the more slippery the glass became, and they could scarcely hold it, till at last it slipped from their hands, fell to the earth, and was broken into millions of pieces.

      But now the looking-glass caused more unhappiness than ever, for some of the fragments were not so large as a grain of sand, and they flew about the world into every country. When one of these tiny atoms flew into a person’s eye, it stuck there unknown to him, and from that moment he saw everything through a distorted medium, or could see only the worst side of what he looked at, for even the smallest fragment retained the same power which had belonged to the whole mirror. Some few persons even got a fragment of the looking-glass in their hearts, and this was very terrible, for their hearts became cold like a lump of ice. A few of the pieces were so large that they could be used as window-panes; it would have been a sad thing to look at our friends through them. Other pieces were made into spectacles; this was dreadful for those who wore them, for they could see nothing either rightly or justly.

      At all this the wicked demon laughed till his sides shook—it tickled him so to see the mischief he had done. There were still a number of these little fragments of glass floating about in the air, and now you shall hear what happened with one of them.

      The Man, The Snake and The Stone by Indries Shah

      One day a man who had not a care in the world was walking along a road. An unusual object to one side of him caught his eye. “I must find out what this is,” he said to himself.

      As he came up to it, he saw that it was a large, very flat stone.

      “I must find out what is underneath this,” he told himself. And he lifted the stone. No sooner had he done so than he heard a loud, hissing sound, and a huge snake came gliding out from a hole under the stone. The man dropped the stone in alarm. The snake wound itself into a coil, and said to him: “Now I am going to kill you, for I am a venomous snake.”

      “But I have released you,” said the man, “how can you repay good with evil? Such an action would not accord with reasonable behaviour.”

      “In the first place,” said the snake, “you lifted the stone from curiosity and in ignorance of the possible consequences. How can this now suddenly become "I have released you"?”

      “We must always try to return to reasonable behaviour, when we stop to think,” murmured the man.

      “Return to it when you think invoking it might suit your interests,” said the snake.

      “Yes,” said the man, “I was a fool to expect reasonable behaviour from a snake.”

      “From a snake, expect snake-behaviour,” said the snake ”To a snake, snake-behaviour is what can be regarded as reasonable.”

      “Now I am going to kill you,” it continued.

      “Please do not kill me,” said the man, “give me another chance. You have taught me about curiosity, reasonable behaviour and snake-behaviour. Now you would kill me before I can put this knowledge into action.”

      “Very well,” said the snake, “I shall give you another chance. I shall come along with you on your journey. We will ask the next creature whom we meet who shall be neither a man nor a snake, to adjudicate between us.”

      The man agreed, and they started on their way.

      Before long they came to a flock of sheep in a field. The snake stopped, and the man cried to the sheep;

      “Sheep, sheep, please save me! This snake intends to kill me. If you tell him not to do so he will spare me. Give a verdict in my favour, for I am a man, the friend of sheep.”

      One of the sheep answered; ”We have been put out into this field after serving a man for many years. We have given him wool year after year, and now that we are old, tomorrow he will kill us for mutton. That is the measure of the generosity of men. Snake, Kill that man!”

      The snake reared up and his green eyes glittered as he said to the man; “If this is how your friends see you. I shudder to think what your enemies are like!”

      “Give me one more chance,” cried the man in desperation. “Please let us find someone else to give an opinion, so that my life may be spared.”

      “I do not want to be as unreasonable as you think I am,” said the snake, “and I will therefore continue in accordance with your pattern, and not with mine. Let us ask the next individual whom we may meet - being neither a man nor a snake - what your fate is to be.”

      The man thanked the snake and they continued on their journey.

      Presently they came upon a lone horse, standing hobbled in a field.The snake addressed him; “Horse, horse, why are you hobbled like that?”

      The horse said; “For many years I served a man. He gave me food, for which I had not asked, and he taught me to serve him. He said that this was in exchange for the food and stable. Now that I am too infirm to work, he has decided to sell me soon for horsemeat. I am hobbled because the man thinks that if I roam over this field I will eat too much of his grass.”

      “Do not make this horse my judge, for God's sake!” exclaimed the man.

      “According to our compact,” said the snake inexorably, “this man and I have agreed to have our case judged by you.”

      He outlined the matter, and the horse said; “Snake, it is beyond my capabilities and not in my nature to kill a man. But I feel that you, as a snake, have no alternative but to do so if a man is in your power.”

      “If you will give me just one more chance,” begged the man, “I am sure that something will come to my aid. I have been unlucky on this journey so far, and have only come across creatures who have a grudge. Let us therefore choose some animal which has no such knowledge and hence no generalised animosity towards my kind.”

      “People do not know snakes,” said the snake, “and yet they seem to have a generalised animosity towards them. But I am willing to give you just one more chance.”

      They continued on their journey. Soon they saw a fox, lying asleep under a bush beside the road. The man woke the fox gently, and said; “Fear nothing, brother fox. My case is such-and-such, and my future depends upon your decision. The snake will give me no further chance, so only your generosity or altruism can help me.”

      The fox thought for a moment, and then he said; “I am not sure that only generosity or altruism can operate here. But I will engage myself in this matter. In order to come to a decision I must rely upon something more than hearsay. We must demonstrate as well. Come, let us return to the beginning of your journey, and examine the facts on the spot.”

      They returned to where the first encounter had taken place.

      “Now we will reconstruct the situation,” said the fox; “snake, be so good as to take your place once more, in your hole under that flat stone.”

      The man lifted the stone, and the snake coiled itself up in the hollow beneath it. The man let the stone fall. The snake was now trapped again, and the fox turning to the man, said; “We have returned to the beginning. The snake cannot get out unless you release him. He leaves our story at this point.”

      “Thank you, thank you,” said the man, his eyes full of tears.

      “Thanks are not enough, brother,” said the fox; “In addition to generosity and altruism there is the matter of my payment.”

      “How can you enforce payment?” asked the man.

      “Anyone who can solve the problem which I have just concluded,” said the fox, “is well able to take care of such a detail as that. I again invite you to recompense me, from fear if not from any sense of justice. Shall we call it, in your words, being "reasonable?" ”

      The man said, “Very well, come to my house and I will give you a chicken.”

      They went to the man's house. The man went into his chicken-coop, and came back in a moment with a bulging sack. The fox seized it and was about to open it when the man said, “Friend fox, do not open the sack here. I have human neighbours and they should not know that I am co-operating with a fox. They might kill you, as well as censuring me.”

      “That is a reasonable thought,” said the fox; “what do you suggest I do?”

      “Do you see that clump of trees yonder?” said the man, pointing.

      “Yes,” said the fox.

      “You run with the sack into that cover, and you will be able to enjoy your meal unmolested.”

      The fox ran off.

      As soon as he reached the trees a party of hunters, whom the man knew would be there, caught him. He leaves our story here.

      And the man? His future is yet to come.

      The Parable of “CARE” as quoted by Rollo May in "Love & Will" also quoted in Heidegger's "Being & Time", and Goethe's "Faust"

      Once when 'Care' was crossing a river, she saw some clay; she thoughtfully took up a piece and began to shape it. While she was meditating on what she had made, Jupiter (Zeus) came by. 'Care' asked Jupiter to give the shaped clay spirit, and this he gladly granted. But when she wanted her name to be bestowed upon it, he forbade this, and demanded that it be given his name instead. While 'Care' and Jupiter were disputing, Earth arose and desired that her own name be conferred on the creature, since she had furnished it with part of her body.

      They asked Saturn (Time) to be their arbiter, and he made the following decision, which seemed a just one:
      “Since you, Jupiter, have given its spirit, you shall receive that spirit at its death; and since you, Earth, have given its body, you shall receive its body. But since ‘Care’ first shaped this creature, she shall possess it as long as it lives. And because there is now a dispute among you as to its name, let it be called "homo," for it is made out of humus (earth).”

      [This fascinating parable illustrates the important point brought out by the arbiter Saturn, (Time) that though Man is named "Homo" after the earth, he is still constituted in his human attitudes by Care. She is given charge of him in the parable during his temporal sojourn in this world. This also shows the realization of the three aspects of time: past, future, and present. Earth gets man in the past; Jupiter in the future; but since “Care first shaped this creature, she shall possess it as long as it lives,” i.e, in the ongoing present. Rollo May observes that Care is a state in which something does matter: 'Care' is the opposite of apathy (the gradual letting go of involvement until one finds that life itself has gone by) - Life comes from physical survival; but the good life comes from what we care about.]

      The Path by William Cozzolino; 1997, Raissa Publishing, ISBN: 0965816303

      Dream Time

      Student: “How did this reality begin?”

      Master: “Reality has no beginning, and no ending. What you call reality is and always has been a potential of The One, and there are many realities. For you, this reality began when your mind began giving attention to a possibility of The One that was the focus of your desire and intent. What you call your reality was but one of many experiences available to you. Realities are nothing more than experiences isolated within limited awareness. Experiences become limited when you lose awareness of the potential of The One within them. When many agree on the same limited experience, and when the many lose awareness, reality becomes a shared illusion. The illusion is not in the experience. The illusion is in the conflict, in the separation.”

      The Movie Experience

      Student: “Why is it that we remember most of what happens during the day but little of what happens when we dream at night?”

      Master: “Are you sure that you are dreaming while you are sleeping, or is it possible that you are awake in your dreams, and dreaming while you think you are awake?”

      Student: “This is not a dream. This is reality. I'm sitting here talking to you, and you're not a dream. I'm quite sure that I know the difference between being awake and being asleep. Things happen in dreams that aren't real. You can do things in your dreams that you could never do while you're awake.”

      Master: “What is it that you can do in a dream that you cannot do while you are awake?”

      Student: “Well, lot's of things happen in dreams that can't be real, I mean, you can even fly through the air in your dreams.”

      Master: “And this is not possible while you are, ah, what you call, awake?”

      Student: “You mean levitation. I suppose it is, but when it happens it's an exception.”

      Master: “There can be no exceptions in an absolute reality. Exceptions only happen in dreams. Perhaps you have not yet awakened from your dream.”

      Holographic

      Master: “All that is, is of The One. There is no separation, no time as you know it, and no limitation in The One. All that is, is of The One.”

      The Paradigm

      Student: “Is there a time when the secrets of the universe will be revealed?”

      Master: “There are no secrets in the universe. The One is not hidden. The One is obvious anywhere you choose to look. You need only look with the Heart.”

      Student: “We are looking. We're trying to learn and understand all we can about the world we live in.”

      Master: “You are looking with your mind. Your mind does not allow you to see clearly. Your mind decides, before you look, what you will see. You must learn to look with your Heart.”

      The mind and Mind

      Master: “All that you experience is a product of your senses and is a result of your mind in action. It is your mind that makes this thing you call reality seem so real. Your mind is very limited. It gives you awareness of only those things that meet your expectations. You must learn to listen to your Heart.”

      The mind and the Computer

      Student: “It's our mind that allows us to understand our world and ourselves. How can our mind be the cause of our limitations?”

      Master: “Your mind is not the cause. Your attention is the cause. You are now giving your attention to this conversation. In doing so, your mind is limiting your awareness.”

      Student: “But I can't talk to you without thinking about it.”

      Master: “Are you aware of what is going on around you while we talk?”

      Student: “Not just then, but I can be just by thinking about it.”

      Master: “And you can still speak with me?”

      Student: “Yes, of course.”

      Master: “Are you aware of what is happening outside while we talk?”

      Student: “If I don't pay attention to our conversation, I won't be able to interact with you.”

      Master: “Perhaps if you gave less attention to what is going on in your mind as a result of our conversation, you would become more aware of what is being said.”

      Student: “You mean don't think about it?”

      Master: “You may think about it, but do not limit your thoughts so much. Allow your mind to drift, to expand. Listen to the answers being given without words by those around you, by the growing of the trees, by the flowing of the water, by the wind.”

      The mind is a Powerhouse

      Student: “If I just allow my mind to wander, I won't even have any questions.”

      Master: “You will have questions, but you will also have answers.”

      Student: “I'll have the answers to all my questions?”

      Master: “Answers arrive with the question. All that is, is of The One. The One is Balance. It is not possible to ask a question without the answer appearing. There is the Balance. But while your Heart already knows the answers, the attention of your mind is on the question. Here the limitations begin.”

      Student: “So the answers to every question are always with the question?”

      Master: “It must be so. Balance is. The answers are in the very energy of the question you voice.”

      Student: “So if I asked, "What's my son doing right now?" The answer would automatically be here?”

      Master: “That is correct. This is because of the Balance of The One.”

      Student: “And this is true of any question I ask?”

      Master: “Any thought you hold in your Heart contains the whole of that thought. Nothing is hidden in The One. Consider this carefully, and hold it in your Heart. Nothing is hidden in The One.”

      Paradigm Limits

      Student: “Then the purpose of the mind is to limit all that information, all those answers?”

      Master: “This is not the purpose of the mind. Your mind allows you to experience your thoughts. Your thoughts, and your mind, are also of The One.”

      Student: “Is every single thought I have of The One?”

      Master: “All that is, is of The One. Every thought you have has its origin in The One. You are of The One. There is only The One.”

      Student: “Then everything that I can imagine is a possibility?”

      Master: “All that you can imagine is possible. What you can imagine is only that which has the potential to be, and that potential is of The One. A thought is a thing. If a thought were not possible, it would not have the potential to become a thing.”

      The Magic of Agreeing

      Master: “When many agree on the same experience, and when the many lose awareness, the experience of reality becomes a shared illusion.”

      Student: “You mean that this whole world is an illusion?”

      Master: “Your reality is not an illusion. It is your creation, and it is very real. The illusion is in the limitation, in the conflict. Your reality is not the illusion. The illusion is that your reality is all that is.”

      Consensus Reality

      Student: “If all this is an illusion, why does everybody experience the same thing?”

      Master: “Do all experience the same thing?”

      Student: “Well, we have different opinions about the little things, but the laws of physics are the same for all of us.”

      Master: “The laws of physics are the same for all?”

      Student: “Okay, some people seem to be able to overcome them sometimes, but they are pretty consistent.”

      Master: “When you are having what you call an illusion, you are experiencing something that others in your reality believe should not be. This is your personal illusion. It appears real only to you. It does not agree with the expectations of others. When many agree on an illusion, it does not appear as an illusion to them because it meets the expectations of the many. The laws you speak of are agreed upon by many. This only means that many have agreed upon the illusion. This does not mean that it is not an illusion.”

      Out There

      Master: “All that is, is of The One. There is only The One.”

      Maya

      Student: “It's easy to think of reality as an illusion, but treating it as an illusion is very difficult for most of us. When we experience something in our reality, it seems very real. How do we treat experience as an illusion?”

      Master: “Limited experience is something that you have created, and what you have created is indeed very real. You may participate fully in your reality without losing yourself in it. The illusion is in the conflict, the struggle. There is no conflict. Everything is as it should be. Everything is in balance. All that is, is of The One. Your reality is not the illusion. The illusion is that you are separate from your creation. This sense of separation causes the conflict.”

      The Path in the mind

      Student: “Do we choose the life we will have before we are born.”

      Master: “Choices are not made before. Choices are made now. There is only the now.”

      Student: “I know that's true, but it seems that sometimes we have no control over what happens to us. Do we choose those experiences before are were born?”

      Master: “You did not choose. You choose. Every moment holds the fullness of The One. This is not something that goes away simply because you are not aware of it.”

      The One

      Master: “All that is, is of The One.”

      Balance

      Student: “What can we do to make this Knowledge a part of our daily lives?”

      Master: “There is nothing to do. Doing only causes the mind to create more expectations. You cannot have expectations without having limi­tations. There is only to be. Be in the moment. When you consider the past, give it only a thought, and then let it go. When you plan for the future, give it the same reflective thought, and let it go. There is no effort involved in being. You are, at this very moment, at the very center of The One. This has always been true, but you have not known it. Now you can know it. Now you can be.”

      Student: “I know that's true, but it seems like we're always struggling to remain aware of it in our daily lives. There seems to be a continual struggle.”

      Master: “Your struggle is internal. It is because you have not learned that there is Balance in The One. Your mind thinks that you are not in Balance.”

      Student: “Then should we just accept everything that comes our way and not do anything?”

      Master: “To do, as you say, is to attempt to correct something that your mind tells you is not in Balance. All is in Balance. All is in The One. All you do must be in this Balance, and your being is the learning to recognize this Balance.”

      Student: “It still sounds like just accepting everything that comes along.”

      Master: “Balance in doing is like taking a step. In order to move, you must leave where you are. In this motion, there is the appearance of not having Balance. But it is just the appearance, the Balance is in the motion. In all things that appear in conflict, in all that is presented by your mind as opposites, observe both, but choose neither. In doing so, you remain in Balance, in motion. The moment you chose, you have stopped the motion. The positive and negative aspects of your reality are a product of your mind. All is as it should be. All that is, is of The One. There is only Balance, and this Balance is in motion.”

      Falling

      Student: “What about when things really seem bad, I mean, when there are major changes in our lives that we seem to have no control over? I know that there is Balance in that, too, but what are we to do?”

      Master: “All of these things are the result of your choices, and are of your creation. In all of these things there is Balance. It is your mind telling you that you are not in Balance. All that is, is of The One. How can Balance not be?”

      Student: “Knowing that is one thing, but applying it in those situations is another.”

      Master: “And yet the Master does just that.”

      Meditation

      Student: “How should I meditate?”

      Master: “Meditate on the center.”

      Student: “But shouldn't I practice a certain kind of meditation?”

      Master: “Meditation is the focus of attention, nothing more. Meditate in your center, and allow your Balance to be.”

      Student: “Should I choose something that reminds me of The One?”

      Master: “Is your body pleasing to you?”

      Student: “No, not really. I mean it is, but not for meditation.”

      Master: “Your body is a reflection of your mind and is of The One. It will do you no good to focus your attention on something outside yourself unless you are pleased with yourself. Meditate with your body. Begin with your breath, and become aware of the Balance within yourself.”

      Karma

      Student: “Do I have any Karma as a result of my past lives?”

      Master: “The only Karma you have is the Karma you choose to keep.”

      Reincarnation

      Student: “Is reincarnation a fact? Have people here lived past lives?”

      Master: “Yes. Many here have lived in experience before.”

      Student: “Is it a part of some plan so that we can learn and grow?”

      Master: “A plan?”

      Student: “Yes, a plan so we can learn that we don't have to come back.”

      Master: “No one must come back. Many choose to, but that is their choice.”

      Student: “Then why come back?”

      Master: “It is a choice, but many make the choice not knowing. Most do not leave this experience with the Knowledge they require in order to return to The One.”

      Student: “Why would anyone choose to come here in the first place?”

      Master: “Reason is not required for a choice to be made.”

      Student: “But once we make the choice, we're stuck with it?”

      Master: “No one is stuck anywhere. You are free to leave now. You are also free to have any life you wish, any illusion you wish, in any time you wish. This includes all the past lives you speak of. They are all there, in The One.”

      The Script

      Student: “I know we have a limited perspective of the world around us. Do children have a broader perspective?”

      Master: “Have you not heard the Masters tell you to become like little children? Very small children are aware of much more than most adults. A child must learn to respond to the illusion around them. This takes much time, and many lessons.”

      Worthiness

      Student: “I've done so much in the past that I feel I have to go through some kind of cleansing or something. You tell me that I'm worthy now, that all are worthy now. I believe it, but how can I convince my mind that it's true? I still have these feelings.”

      Master: “This idea of unworthiness-this is a result of your mind, your ego. When you consider the past, you should know that it is neither good nor bad. The potential for your past, for everyone's past, always has been. That potential still is. It has not gone away. It is in Balance. You must see it in Balance. It can be no other way.”

      Student: “But what if what I've done has caused something bad to happen.”

      Master: “Good and bad exist only in your illusion. Even as you experience the illusion, there is only Balance. Your mind chooses to remember the imbalance you have been taught to see. Your mind will not allow you to see what Balance there is in the bad that you say you have done. All is in Balance. All is as it should be. It can be no other way. You must know that.”

      Student: “How would you define evil?”

      Master: “There is no definition, for the concept of evil is not with us; but for you to understand, evil is that which is limiting.”

      The Movie Will End

      Master: “The reality that you know is in constant motion. This is because there is constant motion in The One. To become still is to become one with the motion of The One. This is the first and the natural state of the human spirit. To become still is to exist in this flow of motion.”

      Student: “Isn't the motion in our reality the same as the motion of The One? I've heard the saying, "As above, so below." Isn't it true that all we experience has its motion in The One?”

      Master: “It is true, but the truth of the saying in your reality is limited to your concept of experience. The One holds all potential always. All experience is available always, and with just a thought. One can enjoy experience without the need to sacrifice awareness. Your experience involves a process of limiting awareness. This is the process we call death. You think of it as the death of the body, but it is the death of awareness.”

      Student: “Then, if we were aware, our body would live longer?”

      Master: “That would be your choice. The body is but a reflection of your awareness. Your body begins to grow old when your awareness becomes more limited. This happens as you grow from a child to what you call an adult.”

      Transition

      Student: “What happens to us when we die?”

      Master: “When you die?”

      Student: “When our physical life ends?”

      Master: “What happens to you depends on you. What you call death is not an ending, but a beginning. It is a birth, and you must decide now if it is to be a birth of experience or a birth of awareness.”

      The Transpersonal Realm

      Student: “What happens when we no longer desire experience and become fully aware of The One?”

      Master: “It begins again.”

      Student:But if we are already perfect, if we're already of The One, it seems that all this isn't necessary, that it's all a mistake.”

      Master: “Mistake? A child is born perfect, with all the abilities of an adult, yet the child must grow. This is because the child has chosen the experience. This is not a mistake. It is a choice.”

      Student: “But is it necessary?”

      Master: “It is not necessary. It is the choice of the child. Your experience is not necessary, but you have chosen it.”

      Student: “Then there is no purpose in it, no reason for it?”

      Master: “There is only the purpose that you have chosen, only the reason that you give.”

      Student:I once asked you what happens when we become fully aware of The One. You said that it begins again. How does it begin again?”

      Master: “I do not recall that question.”

      Student: “We were talking about experience being unnecessary. You said that experience is not necessary, that it is a choice.”

      Master: “The choice of either experience or awareness is the choice of Spirit. Balance is in the Heart. The desire for experience is the nature of Spirit. The desire for awareness is the nature of Spirit. The Heart is the center. It is without beginning and without end.”

      Student: “Then why did you say that it would begin again? ”

      Master: “Your question asked what happens when you no longer desire experience. When you no longer desire experience, you are no longer in Balance. The desire for experience is the nature of the creative Spirit. The desire for awareness is the nature of the creative Spirit. The Heart is the center. The One is all. You are in The One always, but you experience The One only when you are in Balance. When you do not recognize your desire for experience, you have left the Heart, where there is no beginning or end, and created a beginning for