Author: Bodhi Baba

FREED BY SELF-ACCEPTANCE SO OUR DREAMS CAN TAKE FLIGHT –  “We no longer have to be right all the time. When we give ourselves this freedom, we can allow others to be wrong. Freedom to change seems to come after acceptance of ourselves.”  (The Basic Text, p. 58)

“Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you do not know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a new love, a new country.”

– Anais Nin (1903 – 1977) U.S. novelist

 

Henry Miller & Anais Nin – Henry & June set in Paris (1:31) 

Self-Esteem Guided Meditation (9:39)

 

 How have you allowed others the freedom and the sense of self-acceptance to make choices you felt were wrong, lately?

 

GRATITUDE FUELS A LOVING HEART – “When brimming with gratitude, one’s heartbeat must surely result in out- going love … .” (As Bill Sees It, p. 37)

“An understanding heart is everything in a teacher … . One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feeling.” “… warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child.” – Carl Jung (1875 – 1961) Swiss Psychologist

 

The Gratitude Campaign (2:36) 

Carl Jung Brief Bio (1:57)

Dyer on Manifesting Your Dreams Guided Meditation LP (20:34)

 

How have you been able to respond with gratitude and love or not, lately?

 

 

Be Grateful :

A rich landowner named Carl often rode around his vast estate so he could congratulate himself on his great wealth. One day while riding around his estate on his favorite horse, he saw Hans, an old tenant farmer. Hans was sitting under a tree when Carl rode by.

Hans said, ‘I was just thanking God for my food.’

Carl protested, ‘If that is all I had to eat, I wouldn’t feel like giving thanks.’

Hans replied, ‘God has given me everything I need and I am thankful for it.’

The old farmer added, ‘It is strange you should come by today because I had a dream last night. In my dream a voice told me….The richest man in the valley will die tonight.’ I don’t know what it means, but I thought I ought to tell you.’

Carl snorted, ‘Dreams are nonsense,’ and galloped away, but he could not forget Hans’ words…The richest man in the valley will die tonight.

He was obviously the richest man in the valley, so he invited his doctor to his house that evening. Carl told the doctor what Hans had said. After a thorough examination, the doctor told the wealthy landowner, ‘Carl, you are as strong and healthy as a horse. There is no way you are going to die tonight.’

…

Nevertheless, for assurance, the doctor stayed with Carl, and they played cards through the night. The doctor left the next morning and Carl apologized for becoming so upset over the old man’s dream.

At about nine o’clock, a messenger arrived at Carl’s door.

‘What is it?’ Carl demanded.

The messenger explained, ‘It’s about old Hans. He died last night in his sleep.’

You don’t need money to be rich, be grateful for what you have in lire and you will feel happier.

Please share this message.

THANK YOU!

Story by Steven Aitchison

 

SELFLESSNESS AIDS THE NEEDS OF THE MANY –  ” … no society of men and women ever had a more urgent need for continuous effectiveness and permanent unity.  We … see that we must work together and hang together, else most of us will finally die alone.” (The Big Book, p. 561)

“He made us realize, we are our brother’s keeper and that our brothers come in all colors.”

U.S. Boxer Muhammad Ali on Nelson Mandela, 1st native African President of South Africa, who died 12/5/13 at the age of 95.

 

 

 

What acts of selflessness have you engaged in to support your own spiritual family, lately?

 

 

“VANITY, PRIDE & ARROGANCE” oh my –  “There were cases, too, where we had damaged others who were still happily unaware of being hurt.  Why, we cried, shouldn’t bygones be bygones? Why do we have to think of these people at all? These were some of the ways in which fear conspired with pride to hinder our making a list of all the people we had harmed.” (12 & 12, p. 79)

“The truest characters of ignorance are vanity, and pride and arrogance.”

– Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist

 

Sri Swami Vishwananda speaks on pride and ego

Pride (In the Name of Love ) – U2 (4:07)

Shikisokuzeku (All is Vanity) Zen Meditation (6:43)  

 

How has pride and vanity partially blinded you from seeing the truth, lately?

 

 

At the Gym

by Mark Doty, 1953

This salt-stain spot
marks the place where men
lay down their heads,
back to the bench,

and hoist nothing
that need be lifted
but some burden they’ve chosen
this time: more reps,

more weight, the upward shove
of it leaving, collectively,
this sign of where we’ve been:
shroud-stain, negative

flashed onto the vinyl
where we push something
unyielding skyward,
gaining some power

at least over flesh,
which goads with desire,
and terrifies with frailty.
Who could say who’s

added his heat to the nimbus
of our intent, here where
we make ourselves:
something difficult

lifted, pressed or curled,
Power over beauty,
power over power!
Though there’s something more

tender, beneath our vanity,
our will to become objects
of desire: we sweat the mark
of our presence onto the cloth.

Here is some halo
the living made together.

 

 

OUR SPIRITUAL MYSTERY – “It may be possible to find explanations of spiritual experience such as ours, but I have often tried to explain my own … .” “I know the feeling it gave me and the results it has brought, but I realize I may never fully understand its deeper why and how.” (As Bill Sees It, p. 323)

“Remember that you don’t choose love; love chooses you. All you really can do is accept it for all its mystery when it comes to your life. Feel the way it fills you to overflowing then reach out and give it away.”

– Kent Nerburn (1946 – ) U.S. spiritual author

 

Find Your Love – Drake (5:58)

Kent Nerburn reading “Benediction”, from Native Echoes (6:42)

 

In what way has the “spiritual mystery” of love chosen you, lately?

 

 

The Mystery of The Sphinx :

A long long time ago, the city of Thebes was guarded by a sphinx, a creature with the head of a woman, the body of a lion and the wings of an eagle.

She asked the same riddle to every passer-by and when they could not answer, she consumed them.

‘What being,’ the sphinx asked Oedipus, when he came upon her, ‘has four legs in the morning, two at midday and three in the evening?’

‘Man,’ answered Oedipus. ‘As a child he crawls on all fours, in his prime he walks on two legs and when he is old he leans on a stick.’ (http://www.english-for-students.com/The-Mystery-of-The-Sphinx.html)

 

 

THE ENEMY WE BATTLE NEVER SLEEPS – “In our disease, we are dealing with a destructive, violent power greater than ourselves that can lead to relapse.”  “We can never fully recover, no matter how long we stay clean. Complacency is the enemy … .” (The Basic Text, pp. 84-85)

ON THE BATTLE FIELD –

“When World War II broke out, our A.A. dependence on a Higher Power had its first major test. A.A.’s entered the services and were scattered all over the world. Would they be able to take the discipline, stand up under fire, and endure … ?” (As Bill Sees It, p. 200)

“If you know the enemy and know yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles.”  – Sun Tzu (c. 403-221 BC) Chinese philosopher/ war tactician

 

What battle have you waged to tame your own “demons”, lately?

THE TYPE OF “SELF SERVICE” THAT WILL BRING GREAT RELIEF – “Relieve me of the bondage of self; that I may better do Thy will [i.e., the will one’s of Higher Power] .” (The Big Book, p. 63)

THE BOND OF SELFLESSNESS –  “Make us servants of Your will and grant us a bond of selflessness, that this may truly be Your work, not ours – in order that no addict, anywhere, need to die from the horrors of addiction.”  (The Basic Text,p. xi )

“Do some selfless service for people who are in need. Consider the  whole picture, not just our little selves.”  – Nina Hagen (1955 – ) German musician/lead vocalist

 

Cosma Shiva – Nina Hagen (2:59)

 Selflessness in Action (7:26) 

Soothing Third Eye Meditation (15:11)

 

What role has selflessness played in your life, lately?

 

 

Be Lost In The Call

by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi

Lord, said David, since you do not need us,
why did you create these two worlds?

Reality replied: O prisoner of time,
I was a secret treasure of kindness and generosity,
and I wished this treasure to be known,
so I created a mirror: its shining face, the heart;
its darkened back, the world;
The back would please you if you’ve never seen the face.

Has anyone ever produced a mirror out of mud and straw?
Yet clean away the mud and straw,
and a mirror might be revealed.

Until the juice ferments a while in the cask,
it isn’t wine.
If you wish your heart to be bright,
you must do a little work.

My King addressed the soul of my flesh:
You return just as you left.

Where are the traces of my gifts?

We know that alchemy transforms copper into gold.

This Sun doesn’t want a crown or robe from God’s grace.

He is a hat to a hundred bald men,
a covering for ten who were naked.

Jesus sat humbly on the back of an ass, my child!
How could a zephyr ride an ass?
Spirit, find your way, in seeking lowness like a stream.

Reason, tread the path of selflessness into eternity.

Then remember God so much that you are forgotten.

Let the caller and the called disappear;
[B]e lost in the Call.

CAN WE CAUSE HARM IN LITTLE WAYS –  “We might next ask ourselves what we mean when we say that we have  “harmed” other people. What kinds of “harm” do people do to one another, anyway? To define the word “harm” in a practical way, we might call it the result of instincts in collision, which cause physical, mental, emotional or spiritual damage to people.” (12 & 12, p. 80)

“He who has loved and who betrays love does harm not only to the image of the past, but to the past itself.”- Theodor Adorno (1903 – 1969) German philosopher

 

Hurt – Johnny Cash (3:52) 

 

Be it, “people, places or things”, in what ways have your own actions caused harm?

 

 

Angry Snake :

A carpenter went home after shutting down his workshop. When he was gone, a poisonous snake entered his workshop. The snake was hungry and hoped to find its supper lurking somewhere within. It slithered from one end to another. Finally, it bumped into an ax and got very slightly injured. In angry and revenge, the snake bit the snake with full force. What could a snake’s bite do to the metallic ax?

Instead, the snake’s mouth started bleeding.

Out of fury and arrogance, the snake tried its best to strangle and kill the metallic ax – The object that was causing it the pain by wrapping itself around the ax. The next day the carpenter opened the workshop. He found the dead snake wrapped around the blades of the ax. Here the snake did not die because of someone’s fault. But it faced these consequences merely because of its own anger and wrath. Sometimes when angry, we try to cause harm to others. But as time passes by, we realize that we caused more harm to ourselves. It is not necessary that we react to everything. Step back and ask ourselves if the matter is really worth responding to.  (http://www.english-for-students.com/angry-snake.html)

 

THE SPIRITUAL GROWTH MEASURING CUP –  “Many of us use spiritual principles as a power greater than ourselves.” “This makes sense to us.  Because we have tried many times to think ourselves into a better way of life.  Trying it the other way.   Practicing a better way of life by living according to spiritual principles, will eventually have an effect on our thinking.” (It Works, How & Why, p. 15)  “The real spiritual progress of the aspirant is measured by the extent to which he achieves inner tranquility.”  – Swami Sivananda (1887 – 1963) Hindu spiritual teacher

 

Out of Our Heads  – Sheryl Crow(4:26)

Swami Sivananda quotes (3:47)

Celtic Tranquility Meditation on (8:30)

 

In what ways have you determined that you’re making spiritual progress, lately?

 

 

 

Outer Calm = Inner Tranquility

By Rivka Caroline

“You shall dwell in sukkot seven days, every citizen in Israel shall dwell in sukkot, so that your descendants shall know that in sukkot I caused the Children of Israel to dwell when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. (Leviticus 23:42–43)

For eight days we camp out in a sukkah. We eat there, we drink there, and we hang out there.

Here’s the funny part: The comforts of home are left inside the house, while we live life outside in a very basic, über-simple structure.

There are plenty of spiritual reasons as to why we make and dwell in a sukkah. I also think we might be onto something for those of us still living in cluttered homes (with its counterpart of cluttered thinking).

What is in a sukkah, exactly? Table, chairs, shared meals, guests, and great The comforts of home are left inside the house conversation. There is something very liberating about having a really bare-bones setup. No ornate lamps, no china closet, no piles of unopened mail. It’s the quintessential example of how the best things in life aren’t things.

The sukkah serves as a reminder of how temporal stuff really is. When we dwell outside in the simple, bare-walled sukkah, we look up at the star-filled sky through the sechach above and have a deeper realization of our dependence on G‑d. What a fabulous wake-up call to reprioritize our lives and make time and space for what really counts.”  (https://www.chabad.org/theJewishWoman/article_cdo/aid/2306039/jewish/Outer-Calm-Inner-Tranquility.htm)

MAKING PEACE AND HARMONY –  “In the previous steps, we began to make peace with our Higher Power and with ourselves. In the Eighth Step, we begin the process
of making peace with others.” (It Works,  & Why, p. 54)

“Shall I not inform you of a better act than fasting, alms, and prayers? Making peace between one another: enmity and malice tear up heavenly rewards by the roots.” The Prophet Muhammad (570 – 632) founder of Islam

 

Teachings of Prophet Muhammad (3:44)

 

 

How have you lived in peace and harmony with others, lately?

 

 

The Flowers from The Moon :

High in the mountains lived a prince whose great wish was to journey to the moon, because he loved its gentle glow. His dream finally came true. When he reached the moon, he discovered its light comes from the moon king’s beautiful daughter.

The two young people soon fell in love, but the worlds they came from were very different and soon they had to part. As a sign of her great love, the moon king’s daughter gave the prince one of the smooth and lovely flowers that covered the moon like snow and this was how the first alpine flower was brought to earth.