"The Greatest Inspiration on Earth"

A college professor asked his students, 'What, in your opinion,
is the greatest inspiration on earth?' The replies came:
'A pink sunset.'
'A sublime thought.'
'A happy person.'
'A colorful garden.'


The professor said, 'Yes, all of those are certainly inspiring.
Let me give you my reply to that question. The greatest inspiration
on earth is something that really works.'

In Reality there is nothing to be done, nothing to be achieved. If you can realize that, you've got it made.  Lester Levenson

Power of Intention

Have an Intention for everything you do.

Tip from Lester Levenson

We have a lot of convictions.  Many start out with the words, I can't..., I'm not..., I don't know..., I don't know how...
Make your list.
Here is Lester Levenson's tip.  To be able to say I can....let go of thinking I can't.  To be able to say, I am, let go of thinking I'm not. To be able to say I know or I know how, let go of thinking I don't know or I don't know how.
Let go of holding in mind what you don't want.
"Hold in mind what you want and that's what you'll be getting all the time." Lester Levenson

Practice Gratitude

...the more we practice being in a state of gratitude, 

the more loving we become. Try this and learn the truth of it.

You're happiest with no thoughts.

Now no one is an effect of the unconscious mind, the unconscious habits and tendencies, unless he chooses to be. You are cause over the unconscious mind; you set it up; you're choosing to follow it. The day you decide not to, that day you're through with it!
It's simple. When you don't look at what you are doing, it's a forever process of being miserable. You think miserable thoughts and you feel miserable, and you don't take responsibility for thinking these thoughts. So what chance have you got for getting out of it? Once you take responsibility for your thoughts, you've got control. You can turn them off, change them, put in good thoughts, until you overcome the bad thoughts. Then you'll drop thoughts. You'll see how stupid it is to think. All thoughts are things of limitation and you're happiest when there are absolutely no thoughts. And when there are absolutely no thoughts you are in the top state. So what’s difficult about that?

Thou Art That

The great Sufi mystic, Hallaj, is reported to have have compared the desire of the mystic to that of the moth for the flame. 

The moth sees the flame burning at night in a lantern and, filled with an irresistable desire to be united with that flame, plays about the lamp till dawn, then returns to his friends to tell them in sweetest terms the tale of his experience. "You don't look the better for it," they say, for his wings are pretty much banged up: that is the condition of the ascetic. But he returns the next night, and finding a way through the glass, is united entire with his beloved and becomes himself the flame.

We in our tradition do not recognize the possibility of such experience of identity with the ground of one's own being.

You Are

Therefore, understand always that you are the timeless, spaceless witness. And even if the mind tells you that you are the one who is acting,  don't believe the mind. Always keep your identity separate from that which is doing the working, thinking, and talking. That which has happened---that is, the apparatus which is functioning---has come upon your original essence, but you are not that apparatus. This is to be firmly kept in mind. 

Mindfulness is Basic

Be openly aware of everything all the time.

Driving Meditation

Before starting the car,

I know where I am going.

The car and I are one.

If the car goes fast, I go fast.

Sometimes we don't really need to use the car, but because we want to get away from ourselves, we go for a drive. We feel that there is a vacuum in us and we don't want to confront it. We don't like being so busy, but every time we have a spare moment, we are afraid of being alone with ourselves. We want to escape. Either we turn on the television, pick up the telephone, read a novel, go out with a friend, or take the car and go somewhere. 

Our civilization teaches us to act this way and provides us with many things we can use to lose touch with ourselves.   If we recite the little poem (above) as we are about to turn the ignition key of our car, it can be like a torch, and we may see we don't need to go anywhere. 

Wherever we go, our self, will be with us; we cannot escape.  So it may be better, and more pleasant, to leave the engine off and go out for a walking meditation...

The car and I are one. We have the impression that we are the boss, and the car is only an instrument, but that is not true. When we use any instrument or machine, we change. A violinist with the violin becomes very beautiful.  A man with a gun becomes very dangerous.  When we use a car, we are ourselves and the car.

Driving is a daily task in this society. I am not suggesting you stop driving, just that you do it consciously.  While we are driving, we think only about arriving. Therefore, every time we see a red light, we are not very happy. The red light is a kind of enemy that prevents us from attaining our goal.  But we can also see the red light as a bell of mindfulness, reminding us to return to the present moment.  The next time you see a red light, please smile at it, and go back to your breathing.  "Breathing in, I calm my body. Breathing out I smile." It is very easy to transform a feeling of irritation into a pleasant feeling. Although it is the same red light, it becomes different. It becomes a friend, helping us remember that it is only in the present moment that we can live our lives...

The next time you are caught in a traffic jam, don't fight. It's useless to fight.  Sit back and smile to yourself, a smile of compassion and loving kindness. Enjoy the present moment, breathing and smiling, and make the other people in your car happy.  Happiness is there if you know how to breathe and smile, because happiness can always be found in the present moment.  Practicing meditation is to go back to the present moment to encounter the flower, the blue sky, the child. Happiness is available.

The Way Out

To the world everything seems hopeless. They feel helpless.
We know the way out. No matter how much the world hurts, we know there's a way out. We have hope and a direction.
And what is the way out? Not looking to the world for happiness, but looking to the place where happiness is, -and that place is right within us, within our consciousness.
Unlimited joy is our natural, inherent state which we have, through ignorance, undone by imposing concepts of limitations: I need this, I need him, I need her, and if I don't get these I am hurt, I have trouble.
Growth is only letting go of these concepts of lack and limitation or, on the positive side, going within and seeing this unlimited Being that we are and choosing to remain as such.
Anytime we have trouble, anytime we have a problem, we're being the limited ego. We’re trying to express the Self through the limited ego, and it's too small, we get squeezed and it hurts.
So, if there is a problem, the thing to do is to ask yourself, “What am I doing? Wherein am I demanding, seeking with ego motivation?” If the answer comes, if you see how, egowise, you're causing this so- called problem, you'll automatically pull the cause up from the subconscious into the conscious, and once it's conscious you'll naturally let go of it.
The reason why one doesn't let go is because the cause, the thought that initiated the difficulty is subconscious. So, either we make the thought conscious and let go of it, or, and this is the higher and better way, we know strongly enough that we are the Self, that we are not this body, this mind, this world. And when you feel the Self, the feel of the Self is nothing but unlimited joy, and all problems immediately resolve!

Questions to ask..

Who would I be without ( your name) ?
What would I be without ( your name) ?
Who would I be without me?
What would I be without me?

Ending Fear of Freedom

Are you aware of your ability to make decisions in favor of yourself?


Decide to end inner conflict, then give no thought to the consequences
of the decision. It is strange how a turn towards trueness arouses
uncertainty. We insist upon fearing our own freedom! What we fear is
the humiliation of all that has given us name and position, but it is
the very crumbling of name and position that sets us free, for they
were unconscious chains. Humiliation can be compared to an actor sud-
denly caught by the audience without his costume. It hurts for a
moment, but then he remembers the man under the costume. By permit-
ting total humiliation, we permit it to destroy the fantasy, leaving
only the liberating fact

Have a Great Day Today!

Ask yourself these questions all day long...

How would I feel without this thought or this feeling?

What or who would I be without this thought?
What/who would I be without this feeling?

A perfect body...

…the thing that will affect a perfect body is a very strong conviction "My body is perfect."  Saying it another way, it is a concentrated thought, which is thought undisturbed by other thoughts at the time.  And the feeling is a feeling of let go. You just let go and let the perfection be.

Lack and Joy

We artificially create a lack and then a desire to relieve that lack, which, when that lack is undone, we feel better. It's like sticking a pin into you. It hurts and you take it out and say, "Gee that feels good." That is exactly what enjoying things and people is.  We hurt ourselves by creating a lack and then remove the lack, the pain, and say, "Gee that feels good. That makes me happy."


Every time you feel happiness, you feel only your real Self, more or less. The happier, the more you feel your real Self.  And you wrongly attribute it to things and people outside of yourself.


The mechanism is this: When you create the lack, you start up thoughts of I need this person, I need this thing to make me happy.  That causes a bit of pain, a need a lack, which, when you are relieved of that thought of lack, you return to your Self and this is what we call happiness. 


This is something very great to be achieved: to see that happiness is inherent.  That which you have been calling happiness is doing away with happiness and then restoring it and wrongly attributing it to external things and people.


If you want more joy...just be joy, which you naturally are.  That's the natural state. It't not necessary to need things. When you see that you are the All, there's nothing lacking. So take your joy directly, be your Self.  That's being infinite Joy.

How to have more Joy

If you want more joy...be joy! Happiness is our natural state. We are the All.

Hola from children in Peru

click here from our friends Sossena and Guido in Peru

The egoless state.

All efforts at precise definition of the State of Liberation are bound to fail, because words are instruments of the ego (only), and this State is egoless.

Have energy and never get tired.

When you're in tune and in harmony, you never get tired. Fatigue is only due to mental conflict. When all mental conflict is gone, you never, ever tire. All the energy in the universe is available to you when you're in tune.  Should you want to use it, it's there for your use.

Take full responsibility.

Get to the place where no one and no thing can disturb you.
Take full responsibility for what's happening to you.
Get in the habit of bringing the unconscious causative thought up into consciousness so you can drop it and be free of it.

Choose the real.

"Like an actor who enjoys playing the role of a battling soldier,
the world is in love with its destructive drama. However, any
individual who ceases to love his dramatic conflicts and pains
will soon see them vanish. Everything depends upon whether we
choose the role or the real. Be wise. Choose the real."

Start being Unlimited

We are here and now, fully a Realized Being telling ourselves that we are not by saying, " I need this, I need that." "I am limited by this, I am limited by that."  All we need to do is to stop feeling that we are limited and start being the unlimited being that we really are.

How to have Bright Sun

Thoughts can actually dim the sun to those whose thoughts are dim.

Happiness and Giving

Happiness is in the spirit of giving; not in the gift.

Demonstration

Whether we are aware of it or not, everyone is controlling matter all the time. Whether one wants to be a demonstrator or not, he is. It is impossible to not be a creator all the time. Everyone is creating every day. We're not aware of it because we just don't look at it. Every thought, every single thought, materializes in the physical world. It's impossible to have a thought that will not materialize, except that we reverse it. If we say the opposite right after we have a thought, with equal strength, we just neutralize it. But any thought not reversed or neutralized will materialize in the future, if not immediately. So this thing of demonstration that we're all trying so hard to do, we're doing all the time - unaware of the fact that we're doing it. All we need to do is to consciously direct it, and that we call demonstration.
Everything that everyone has in life is a demonstration. It could not come into your experience had you not had a thought of it at some time prior. If you want to know what you sum total thinkingness is, it's exactly determined by what's around you, what you have. That's your demonstration. If you like it, you may hold it. If you don't, start changing your thinking. Concentrate it in the direction that you really want, until those thoughts become predominant—and whatever those thoughts are will materialize in the world. Andwhenyoubegintodemonstrateconsciously—smallthings—youmaythen realize that the only reason why they're small is because you don't dare to think big. That the exact same rule or principle applies to demonstrating a penny that applies to demonstrating a billion dollars. The mind sets the size. Anyone who can demonstrate a dollar can demonstrate a million dollars. Become aware of the way you're demonstrating theone-dollarbill,andjustputsixzeroesafteritnexttime. Takeontheconsciousness of the million, rather than the one-dollar bill.
This relates to what I have been saying - that there's not difference between the spiritual and the material when you see it, the material being just an out-projecting of our minds into what we call the universe and the world, and many bodies. And when we see that it is just an out-projecting of our mind, it's just a picture out there we have created, we can very easily change it - instantly.
So to repeat - everyone is demonstrating, creating, every moment that he or she is thinking. You have no choice. You are a creator so long as you have a mind and think. To get beyond creation, we must go beyond the mind—and just behind the mind is the realm of all Knowingness, where there's no need for creation. There's a higher state than creation: It's a state of is-ness, of being-ness, sometimes calledAwareness, Beingness, Consciousness. That's just behind the mind. That's beyond creation. The mind finds it very difficult to imagine what it's like beyond creation, because the mind is involved primarily in creation, in creating. It's the creating instrument of the universe and everything that happens in the world, in the universe. So, if you take this thing called mind, which is only a creator, and try to imagine what it is like beyond creation, it's
impossible. The mind will never know peace (quiet) because you have to go just above the mind to know peace (quiet), to know the Infinite Being that we are—to know what it's like beyond creation. The final state is beyond creation. The ultimate state is the changeless state. In creation, everything is constantly changing. Therefore, in creation, the Ultimate Truth is not there. So, to demonstrate what one wants, one needs to become aware of the fact that all we need to do is to think only of the things we want, and that is all that we would get, if we would do just that. Only think of the things you want, and that's what you'll be getting all the time. Because the mind is only creative. Nice and easy, isn't it? Also, take credit for all the things you create that you don't like. Just say, "Oh, look what I did," because when you become aware that you've created things you don't like, you're still in a position of creator. If you don't like it, all you have to do is turn it upside down and you'll like it.

Ponder this...

What we think about all the time expands.

We are...

We are what we repeatedly do.

When the Love is complete...

When the Love is complete, the problem resolves.

Let it Go!

"TOSS OUT  Don't argue with problems. That just gives them more
life. Learn to toss them out. The only thing to do with a quarrel
with someone is to get rid of the quarrel. The only sensible act
toward your explosive emotions is to learn to dismiss them. The
only right thing to do with loneliness is to toss it out. What
if you don't know how to toss out? Ask how long enough and you
will know, just as you know how to toss out the contents of a
trash box."

How to get your dream job.

LOWELL, Mass. (AP) - Roger Goodell sent 40 letters to the NFL office in New York City looking for a job in 1981. Forty rejections came back.
But more letters to NFL headquarters followed, until one day a weary league executive invited him to "stop by when you're in the neighborhood."
"I told him I was in the neighborhood," recalled Goodell, who then drove all night from Pittsburgh to New York City to apply for what was supposed to be a three-month internship.
Twenty-five years later, Goodell was appointed to his dream job: commissioner of the National Football League.

Golfer Example of Being Hootless

Golfer Zach Johnson recently won a PGA tournament.
He was in the lead at the beginning of the final round.
It was reported that he said to himself, I don't care if I win
this golf tournament and I don't care if I lose this tournament.
I'm going to play aggressively and do the best I can.
The lesson is that he took all the pressure off of himself
when he let go of all the pressure about the outcome.
It allowed him to go out and play his best.
That is what Lester Levenson referred to as being
hootless.

Mastership

"When anyone says he is not a master, he is lying."

The Ego Can Take You Off the Path

"The ego is very tricky. It often talks us out of the path for shorter or longer periods of time. But once we've gotten on the path for shorter or longer periods of time. But once we've gotten onto the path, we usually come back to it. So be careful of the trickery of the ego-part of us. it takes us away from the path. So no matter how far we have advanced on the path, the ego is always a tempting companion who can take us off the path, sometimes for an entire lifetime.

It is necessary to persevere with correct thinking until it becomes the habit by overriding the subconscious habit of wrong thinking.

Stormland

"Once upon a time there was a place called Stormland.
And Stormland lived up to its name. And you have already,
hopefully, made a connection with your own inner nature.
That is Stormland. The flashes of anger, the thunder of
self-righteous indignation. The strain and pain of trying
to prove that you are right. How many times have I told you
to stop trying to prove you're right? The very attempt to
prove it means you're wrong."