Another Tale of Mau'sean

Another Tale of Mau'sean
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Mau'sean was known throughout the region as a man of peace.   Many people sought his guidance in finding their own peace.  Most came away becoming masters of peace themselves....except for Drin.

Drin began his training in peace with Mau'sean when he was a small boy.   He was sent when his parents feared for the young boy's safety and the safety of the rest of the family. 

As all the villagers already knew, Drin was born with a scowl on his face and both fists raised against the world.  At age two he started a fight with a stray cat and won.   At four, he beat against the wall of his neighbor's house until he tore a hole into the wall.   At five, a wandering monk suddenly found himself pummled by Drin carrying a large tree branch.

Finally, Drin was dragged kicking and screaming to Mau'sean and begged the master to teach the boy about peace.

Many years went by and Drin got slightly better.   At twenty years of age, he no longer raged against the world all the time, and could even visit for short times in his village.   However, after a few hours among other people he would invariably loose his temper and then have to be dragged off by Mau'sean.

It was to the credit of Mau'sean that he continued working with Drin year after year.


At the time of Mau'sean's death, Drin was fourty-seven.   Just before he shut his eyes for the last time, Drin asked his master why he kept Drin those many years.

Mau'sean replied, "Drin, you are my best student that I have ever had because you continued to teach me, the master of peace, about how to practice peace.  The best student is one who teaches the teachers how to once again be students."

And with those words, Mau'sean closed his eyes for the last time.

Memories

This is the longest time I have spent not blogging.   In fact, I didn't do much emailing, chatting, or surfing this holiday season.   It was strange.   I did some, but not much.

I did not intent to take a break from technology.   However, I was never "in the mood" to email, chat and so forth.   The very connectedness to which I had become accustomed just didn't seem to matter.

There were memories of Christmas that kept me company.   Strangely, not one tender memory included a piece of modern technology.  

One Christmas, I spent under the tree, looking up into the branches and seeing the lights.   I spent a lng time there one morning.   Just being.

Another Christmas, I spent time with my then girlfriend.   We kissed under fake-mistletoe (or any hanging green thing that looked vaguely plant-like.) 

One time, there were so many family members, relatives, etc. that the living room was full of sleeping bags and bodies.   No way for a small child to get to the bottom of the tree Christmas morning without waking one of the "adults" up.

Many a Christmas was full of laughter.   A joke present, a funny card setting off someone into a titter of mirth, or a belly busting burst of guffaws.

So many memories. 

I wonder if these generations of children will have the same memories.   People with People, rather than Chat to Chat, or Text Message to Text Message.

100 Benefits of Meditation

I practice meditation.   There is not a day that goes by that I do not get some meditation time.   In fact, the days that I spend more than an hour in meditation, usually turn out to be the best days.

I thought that I would share with you 100 Benefits of Meditation that I found on the Internet.

Remember, meditation is not related to any one religion, belief, or faith.   In addition, there is no bad way to meditate.   Empty your mind in silence, or focus on a Biblical passage, repeat a phrase, use a primordial sound, touch a flower, stare at a flame.   There is no wrong way.
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Taken from http://www.ineedmotivation.com/blog/2008/05/100-benefits-of-meditation/
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There are so many advantages to meditation. When I first originally thought of this post, I indeed wanted to make it 100 benefits long (think big right!), however, I wasn’t sure I could find more than perhaps 20-25 benefits. Well, I made it happen! Meditation is as powerful as I thought it would be. Here is the definitive list of benefits that meditation can provide you with:


Physiological benefits:
1- It lowers oxygen consumption.
2- It decreases respiratory rate.
3- It increases blood flow and slows the heart rate.
4- Increases exercise tolerance.
5- Leads to a deeper level of physical relaxation.
6- Good for people with high blood pressure.
7- Reduces anxiety attacks by lowering the levels of blood lactate.
8- Decreases muscle tension
9- Helps in chronic diseases like allergies, arthritis etc.
10- Reduces Pre-menstrual Syndrome symptoms.
11- Helps in post-operative healing.
12- Enhances the immune system.
13- Reduces activity of viruses and emotional distress
14- Enhances energy, strength and vigour.
15- Helps with weight loss
16- Reduction of free radicals, less tissue damage
17- Higher skin resistance
18- Drop in cholesterol levels, lowers risk of cardiovascular disease.
19- Improved flow of air to the lungs resulting in easier breathing.
20- Decreases the aging process.
21- Higher levels of DHEAS (Dehydroepiandrosterone)
22- prevented, slowed or controlled pain of chronic diseases
23- Makes you sweat less
24- Cure headaches & migraines
25- Greater Orderliness of Brain Functioning
26- Reduced Need for Medical Care
27- Less energy wasted
28- More inclined to sports, activities
29- Significant relief from asthma
30- improved performance in athletic events
31- Normalizes to your ideal weight
32- harmonizes our endocrine system
33- relaxes our nervous system
34- produce lasting beneficial changes in brain electrical activity
35- Cure infertility (the stresses of infertility can interfere with the release of hormones that regulate ovulation).

Psychological benefits:
36- Builds self-confidence.
37- Increases serotonin level, influences mood and behaviour.
38- Resolve phobias & fears
39- Helps control own thoughts
40- Helps with focus & concentration
41- Increase creativity
42- Increased brain wave coherence.
43- Improved learning ability and memory.
44- Increased feelings of vitality and rejuvenation.
45- Increased emotional stability.
46- improved relationships
47- Mind ages at slower rate
48- Easier to remove bad habits
49- Develops intuition
50- Increased Productivity
51- Improved relations at home & at work
52- Able to see the larger picture in a given situation
53- Helps ignore petty issues
54- Increased ability to solve complex problems
55- Purifies your character
56- Develop will power
57- greater communication between the two brain hemispheres
58- react more quickly and more effectively to a stressful event.
59- increases one’s perceptual ability and motor performance
60- higher intelligence growth rate
61- Increased job satisfaction
62- increase in the capacity for intimate contact with loved ones
63- decrease in potential mental illness
64- Better, more sociable behaviour
65- Less aggressiveness
66- Helps in quitting smoking, alcohol addiction
67- Reduces need and dependency on drugs, pills & pharmaceuticals
68- Need less sleep to recover from sleep deprivation
69- Require less time to fall asleep, helps cure insomnia
70- Increases sense of responsibility
71- Reduces road rage
72- Decrease in restless thinking
73- Decreased tendency to worry
74- Increases listening skills and empathy
75- Helps make more accurate judgements
76- Greater tolerance
77- Gives composure to act in considered & constructive ways
78- Grows a stable, more balanced personality
79- Develops emotional maturity

Spiritual benefits:
80- Helps keep things in perspective
81- Provides peace of mind, happiness
82- Helps you discover your purpose
83- Increased self-actualization.
84- Increased compassion
85- Growing wisdom
86- Deeper understanding of yourself and others
87- Brings body, mind, spirit in harmony
88- Deeper Level of spiritual relaxation
89- Increased acceptance of oneself
90- helps learn forgiveness
91- Changes attitude toward life
92- Creates a deeper relationship with your God
93- Attain enlightenment
94- greater inner-directedness
95- Helps living in the present moment
96- Creates a widening, deepening capacity for love
97- Discovery of the power and consciousness beyond the ego
98- Experience an inner sense of “Assurance or Knowingness”
99- Experience a sense of “Oneness”
100- Increases the synchronicity in your life

Meditation is also completely FREE! It requires no special equipment, and is not complicated to learn. It can be practiced anywhere, at any given moment, and it is not time consuming (15-20 min. per day is good). Best of all, meditation has NO negative side effects. Bottom line, there is nothing but positive to be gained from it! With such a huge list of benefits, the question you should ask yourself is, “why am I not meditating yet?”

A Fable of Peace.

On the path to finding peace, novice Ke'ri decided that she would go into the sacred forest and look for Mau'sean, the reputed master of peace.   She had heard that no other enlightened being had ever reached the level of peace that Mau'sean had achieved.

The following day, she packed her things and took off for the sacred forest.   On the main road going from her village she noticed a middle aged woman bending over trying to give a bone to one of the mongrel dogs of the village.   It growled and bared its teeth, but the woman kept slowly moving the bone closer and closer to the dog.   Finally, the dog took it and began gnawing on it.   The woman smiled and sat down to watch the dog, playing with his bone.

She continued on her way.

After a while, Ke'ri came to a crossroads.   There were several vendors stalls setup selling vegetables and fruits of all kinds.  Immediately, Ke'ri heard a commotion near one of the stalls.   When she rounded the corner, she saw a large, red-faced man yelling at a small, older vendor.   He was holding a bunch of bananas in his hand, screaming at the man that they were too ripe, that the old man was pulling a fast one, and that he would sooner pay for these bananas that he would leap off a cliff.   The old man answered each of the questions and statements of red-faced man in a soft and assuring voice.   The old man said over and over that the other man could take the bananas at no cost since he was dissatisfied with them, or he could leave them and choose another from the stall.   Every time the vendor said this in the soft and reassuring voice, the red-faced man found another thing to complain about, and started yelling all over again.   Finally, the red-faced man threw down the bananas and stalked off in a huff.  The vendor bend down, dusted off the bananas and put them aside, greeting the next customer with a smile on his face and his calm, reassuring voice.

Ke'ri continued on her way down the road.  

There was an overturned wagon up ahead.   A large, burly man was trying to set one of the wheels back on the axle.  He put it on, gave it a spin, and the wheel did not turn.  Suddenly, the man laughed out loud, took the wheel off the axle, picked up a can of grease and greased the axle.  Then he picked the wheel back up, put it on the axle and gave it a spin.  He then righted the wagon, and wiping off the sweat from his forehead, smeared the grease over his face.  He looked at his palm, felt his face with his other hand, and when it came away greasy, he bellowed out another laugh.   Still chuckling, he took a rag from his pocket and cleaned off his face and hands.  Then he packed up the wagon and started on down the road.

It was getting late, but finally Ke'ri made it to the outskirts of the sacred forest.

To her surprise, sitting on a rock, seemingly waiting for her was Mau'sean, the master of peace.  She began begging him to show her the way to peace.   He looked at her for a while and then asked about her journey to the forest.

Ke'ri told him about the three incidents that she came across.  The woman and the dog, the vendor and the red-faced man, and the burly man and the wagon.

"You have asked to be taught the way of peace, but you have already seen the way."

Ke'ri, astonished said "I do not understand Mau'sean.  What way of peace did I see?"

"You saw the way of peace with the world with the woman and the dog.  You saw the way of peace with people in the vendor and the red-faced man.   You saw the way of peace with yourself in the burly man and the wagon."

"But I still do not understand."

"In each encounter, you saw a person making the choice to be at peace.  The woman chose to be loving to the dog, sharing in it's joy and it shared in her joy."

"The vendor chose to respond with peace and understanding to the red-faced man, even though he could have chosen to argue or even fight back with the man.   It was his choice of peace he made."

"Finally, the man and the wagon chose to be at peace with himself.   Even though he had problems, he chose to see the humor of the situation, and to laugh at himself.   Thus he chose to be at peace with himself."

"You do not need my help my friend.   You have now seen that the way of peace is the choices we make to be at peace with ourselves, others, and the world.   Go and continue to make that choice daily."

Have Your Thoughts Brought You Inner Peace?

There is a criterion by which you can judge whether the thoughts you are thinking and the things you are doing are right for you. That criterion is, Have they brought you inner peace? If they have not, there is something wrong with them - so keep trying. - Peace Pilgrim

Peace Pilgrim was a woman dedicated to spreading peace throughout the U.S.   You can learn a lot more about her on the Internet.   She was an example of what a truly peaceful person can bring to the world.   So what she has said in the past, is something to which I pay attention.

Are my thoughts right for me?


Do you know that if I apply this question to my thoughts, most of them are not peace-filled nor peace bringing.   I am being honest.   This is really a sobering experience.

My mind is not training to have peaceful thoughts.   Some thoughts are very self-destructive, in that I concentrate on the things that I do not have, but that I want.   You may say there is nothing wrong with that.   Everyone does it.   But when is it too much?   When I focus on what I do not have, nor have power over, I get frustrated.   I am either sad that I do not have something in my life which I desire, or I get angry because I see other people have those things.   This is not peace.   I know that whatever I focus on, expands.   My feelings of frustration just grow as I focus on things that are frustrating.

Some other thoughts do nothing but preoccupy the silence in my mind.   They do not bring peace, but rather take a concept or thought and run with it, delineating it to the nth degree.   Again you might say what is wrong with that?   It is a matter of what the outcome of this kind of thinking turns our to be.   According to the quote above, if it does not add to the overall peace, I need to change my thoughts.   Try again.

If I see a way in which my Church can minister to those in need, I can think about it, reformulate it, look at it from different angles, posture, theorize, marshal resources in my mind, make plans, and at the end, decide that the way the church is doing something could definitely be improved.  How does this bring peace?   Have I told anyone.   Have a made a true contribution to making the church's ministry better.   Or was it just the mental gymnastics that I enjoy more than actually doing anything that would help to spread peace.  

Now I love to think.   I have said this several times in these blogs.   It has just struck me that even if my thoughts bring me frustration, sadness, anger, despair, depression, angst, conflict, that I still spend time thinking about them, that I must still love thinking these things, or love thinking period.  

When I think about the peaceful, loving experiences in my life, how I may bring peace, healing, love to others, or how others have brought those things to me, I am brought to a place, a thought, a mental construct of peace.   In this place of thought, I can most effectively share peace with others.  

Have your thoughts brought you inner peace?

When Artists Inspire Me.

I visited a fellow artist today.   His art is a combination of the musings, ramblings, serious reflection, and humor of his faith, mixed in with disturbing and though-provoking images.  

I marvel at his work.   There are some paintings that capture the attention; that draw in the eye into a complete story being unveiled in each scene.   When I look at it, I immediate have a feeling like I have entered another world, a complete story which has just started to unfold in front of me.

This is an artist who humbles my own meager efforts to create art.  

What this visit really revealed to me is that all great artists (which I consider this artist to be) have a passion for sharing their view of the world not only of the seen, but of the unseen.   In many ways, I find them to be more connected to the spiritual world than other people.

For example, one of his painting shows a scene from the Old Testament, but is done in the dress and background of the Incan empire.  The king and his subjects are actually skeletons, and the motif of the piece seems to be one of having an empire of death.   Yet, this is just the surface meaning.   Hidden within the painting are little anti-Roman cryptograms, trappings of the priesthood of not only the Jews but of the Incan High Priests, carrying out their religious and (implied sacrificial) offerings.   It is packed with questions, insight, juxtaposing normal everyday activities with high-religious images, amidst a background of a civilization that was based on death, celebrated death and in many ways worshiped death.

These are the artists that inspire me, because the are not afraid to be controversial.   They have a willingness to put their expressions out into the world for all to see (and to comment either for or against.)

Rose Colored Glasses - How could you Believe That!!!!

You may notice that I have talked about this topic before.   However, some topics shout out for more attention.
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I have been called unrealistic.   Yes.   Even me! (I say this with tongue in cheek!)

Some acquaintances of mine have asked me why I choose to see what I see in some people.   "Dude, the world is not what you see through your Rose Colored Glasses.   People are sometimes cruel and selfish.   Grow up!"

I admit it that sometimes I see people very differently.   Their cruelty and selfishness, fears and ambitions are there.   I do not dismiss them.  I see them.   There are situations that bring out the worst in human behavior.  At times it is difficult to see those people as anything other than what they did that offended or hurt me.   My knee-jerk reaction is to put up my defenses, and to see them as "bad people" (I can use stronger words than this...but not in a blog.)  I still do that from time to time, but fewer times now.

Since really spending time in the morning and night meditating, it becomes easier to look at people's actions first through a filter of understanding.   When I understand what and why they are acting like they do, they become more human, more like me, and therefore I feel the need to "label" or denigrate them in my own thoughts lessen.  Second, I am beginning to see that most actions of others are motivated by fear.   I was just like this (and to a great degree I still am) not too long ago.   The outwardly selfish or cruel actions are usually coming from a place of fear of not having something, loosing something, or being hurt by others.  Last, I see people as having the same desires that I have.  They seek after peace, they want love, understanding and acceptance.   We all do.  

Fear as a Motivator

I have written about when fear should be overcome with love, cancelled out by the opposite emotion, and not have decisions based on fear in your life.

I have to backtrack just a little.

There are times that fear as a motivator does work very well indeed.   In fact, there are some moments that it is indeed the exact way to react.

I have a friend that had her daughter accosted by an adult because of a comment she made to her son.   The woman called the girl over and proceeded to berate and harass her.   The mother, acting on that protective instinct, put herself between the woman and my friend's daughter.   Any parent would probably do the same.   A threat of any type directed toward a person's child does require an immediate response.

Other time there may be a child playing in the street, a person who might get burned on a stove, or an elderly or disabled person being bullied or even abused by another.   All these situations require fast action.  They may indeed require fear.

If there were time, and the level of threat, or perceived injustice were smaller, then a loving response could indeed change things.   With split second actions required, fear is perfectly fine as a motivator.

After the threat has been addressed, then a loving and fair approach to the situation may be employed.

If you can, overcome fear with love.   If not, respond to fear, up until the point where fear either disappears because there is no longer any threat or chance of injury,  or where fear is still present even after the immediate threat is addressed, let time and patience  be employed to once again overcome fear with love.

Talent - Everyone has some.

Each of us really is talented.

I have heard so many people say that they have no talent, no gifts, no strengths.   It is amazing how many people are firmly convinced that they have no talent at all.

I sometimes teach pottery classes.   There have been students that were so negative, that they almost talked them out of even trying to throw the first piece.   Yet, I do not teach the mind of the students.   I teach the body.   It is the fingers and wrists, arms and palms, body position and posture that really determine how well one can throw.   Once they can center the clay once, if allowed, the body remembers and can do it again.

That is the problem with people who think they have no talent.  They are limiting themselves by THINKING that they have no talent.  Yet, their spirit knows different.

If we are like what we came from, and we came from God, then we have to have the following somewhere within us:

1.  The ability to create something, to bring together unrelated pieces and form something new.
2.  Imagination that can conceive of whatever we believe we can conceive.
3.  The urge, the motivation and the satisfaction in the process of creation.
4.  A strong desire to show others how to create for themselves.

If this is true (and I wholeheartedly agree with it) then anyone has the talent to create.   Anyone.

If you can make people laugh, you have talent.
Baking bread (because I cannot to save my life) means that you have talent.
Raising children means that you really have talent.
Finding the most economic way to get to and from work means you have talent.
Blogging means that you have talent.
Twittering means that you have talent.
Being a good sister or brother, son or daughter, mother or father means that you have talent.
Being a football referee (especially in Texas) means that you have talent.  (And a lot of courage).
Cleaning a house really well means that you have a ton of talent.

But in addition to these examples, anything that you have done, even once, to add to the world something new, then you have the talent to do it again.

No one has no talent at all.   In fact, if you find such a person, then they are perfectly talented at being the absolute best general student for all those others that wish to teach their talents.   A most talented student indeed.

"You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of.

"You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. 
You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life." - Albert Camus


If anything would convict me of what I am doing wrong, it is the above quote from Albert Camus.


I have sought long and hard to discover what happiness is and what it is not.  I have looked everywhere for the meaning of life.   Yet, it is not in the search for these things that I find them.   In fact, happiness and meaning occur when I am not trying, not doing anything.  When I am just being.


I have written other blogs about being vs. doing, but this one is a little different.   I want to talk about how I am persuaded to do something to get results, rather than choose to be happy, to have meaning.


Why am I always doing something to find or discover or build something else?


I was taught throughout my life to "go out and get it!"  "Anything is possible with hard work."  "Nothing gets done by sitting on your butt."   These all are true.   They really are.   You cannot get a job if you sit on top of a mountain somewhere and commune with the universe.   Those jobs are already taken.  It is also impossible to fulfill your goals by doing nothing.   I agree wholeheartedly.   I think that this misses the point a little though.


When I act on something, a feeling, a motivation, a thought, I almost always include my ego with this decision.  This is not a good thing.   The ego wants to see results.  When that happens, the ego makes it difficult not to tie feelings of self-worth into whatever activity I am doing.


If I try for a job and don't get it, my ego is hurt.   I am unhappy.   Why?  Logically, the more interviews I go on, the closer to a job I get.   Why not celebrate the fact that I am one job closer to narrowing the field down to the job I will eventually find.    


If I try to be happy and I fail, then I not be happy.  This sounds simple, but anything I go for, anything I do to accomplish something means that I take the risk of not accomplishing it.   When that happens it affects my feelings of self-worth.   

On the other hand, when I am happy, or feel like I am living a meaningful life, the ego it not attached to that.   Why, because I am not doing anything.   How can the ego judge what works and what doesn't work; how can it get frustrated when there are no overriding goals, when there is no doing involved.

I read a little about something called the Law of Assumption.   It basically says that if you act as if you already have or are what you wish to be, that you will be that.   If you act from a place of peace, regardless of what you do, you bring peace with you to that activity.  


So I tell myself to go and make plans;  sketch out the future and do those things that need to be done.   In the process, I tell myself to act from a place of peace, out of a sense of abundance, with an assumption that I am a loving and caring being.   It makes the doing of things so much easier.   My ego is not tied as closely to the outcomes of doing things then.  My self-worth is not dependent on what I get or do not get accomplished.


The meaning of life happens in knowing.   The happiness of life is a choice to be happy.   Neither of them is a goal, a race or a contest to get them.   They are a choice, an act of will, a state of being.




 

Gratitude - The Flip Side of Love

Gratitude doesn't get quite the face time that Love does, does it?  

There are songs, poems, books, movies, etc. about love.   It has been described every way that you can describe it.   Yet, because of love, we have gratitude, and without gratitude, love would be something far less than it is.

Gratitude is the flip-side of love.  The Ying to the Yang of love.  One motivates the other.  This is true in the microcosm of a relationship and in the macrocosm of what we have been given in this world by God.

Within a relationship, be it romantic, platonic, with relatives or even strangers, love provides the motivation for the giving to another and gratitude is the response to that giving.   Imagine that love is the sun that gives warmth and light to a flower.    Gratitude is the flower's response by growing into what it was meant to be.  
Just like us, when we realize the love we receive from another, we grow into appreciation and gratitude as we realize the power and wonder of that love.   It may be said that those expressions of love would not last very long if we were never grateful for them.

Within the world, sometimes we come to a place where we realize the true depth and grandeur of what we have right now.   Again, everything we have right now was given to us by God.   For some of these, we received it through God working within our friends, family, community, etc.   Just like in relationships, we respond with the realization that these are gifts of grace, expressions of the love of the universe (God) for us.   Gratitude we feel for these gifts completes the other side of love, and moves us and motivates us out of that gratitude to once again send out love.

Therefore, gratitude and love are two parts of an endless cycle.   Love creates gratitude that promotes another act of love that creates gratitude and so on.  It is true that we love because we have been loved.   The missing and often forgotten component between those two expressions of love is gratitude.

Be grateful.