Introducing Snap Shots from Snap.com

I just installed a nifty little tool on this site called Snap Shots. I'm not sure if it's going to be helpful or annoying, and I would really appreciate your feedback. I'm not sure if it will clash with the amazon text links, and this is just an experiment - so please put your two cents in.

To activate it, hover your mouse over that little icon next to all the active links. A snapshot will pop up with visual previews of the destination site, interactive excerpts of Wikipedia articles, MySpace profiles, IMDb profiles and Amazon products, display inline videos, RSS, MP3s, photos, stock charts and more.

The benefits to Snap Shots is that it's supposed bring you the information you need, without your having to leave the site, while other times it lets you "look ahead," before deciding if you want to follow a link or not.

To disable it, you can click the Options icon in the upper right corner of the Snap Shot and opt-out.

If it is universally disliked, I'll pull it out. If it seems useful for the external links, I'll see if I can modify it so that it ignores the internal links and attaches only to the external ones. And if you guys like it how it is... we'll keep it.

Where are you stuck?

Here is an excerpt from the second of Five Questions for a Life of Fun, Inspiration & Action, and e course I signed up for the other day. I thought it might be worth sharing.

It's hard to have fun when you're feeling stuck.

Stuck shows up differently for each of us.

• For some it's having a dream but not knowing how to get it.
• For others, it's not having a dream and feeling empty.
• It can be waiting for your superhero to show (and they're taking their time)
• Or it can be feeling responsible for everyone - and feeling exhausted.

However you get stuck -- and we all get stuck from time to time, it's part of being human -- it has this as its essence: You only have one way to see the situation ... and you don't like what you see.

So where are you feeling stuck right now? Not sure? Here are some clues...

• Where do you feel in a rut?
• Where do you feel lots of "shoulds" and "musts"?
• Where do you feel there's no choice?
• What makes you grit your teeth in frustration?
• What are you tolerating?

So what can you do about it?
Funny enough, just articulating and acknowledging the situation where you're feeling stuck is often enough to get things moving. When you finally get what's hanging you up it often doesn't feel quite so big, quite so overwhelming, quite as daunting.

• So look at the situation head on.
• No more sideways glances or head in the sand.
• Get specific and detailed - go on, wade right into it.
• Write it down.
• Turn it from a "stuck-ness"... and into a challenge you're willing to take on and to change.

So... Where are you stuck?

from: Michael Bungay Stanier
Possibility Virus

Help from the Faeries!

One of my favorite gifts this year was Brian Froud's Faery Oracle Cards. I have really been enjoying them, and it occurred to me that it might be useful and helpful to ask the faeries if one of them would be willing to lend energy, support, and guidance to the Prosperity Project this coming year. The answer was yes, and this is the faery who stepped forward:

The Singer of Courage

This is the reading: Someone once said that courage is not the absence of fear but that which enables us to experience fear and not be stopped by it. It is also what enables us to do what we believe to be right even when there is pressure from others around us to do otherwise. It is what enables us to go ahead into the unknown or the perilous, where there are no guarantees of safety or security.

In our lives we are often, even constantly, confronted with a new world, a new way of being in the world, a new way of seeing and of being seen. Ordinary living takes courage, and to rise above the ordinary into the extraordinary takes even more courage. One of the keys to courage is to consider the fear and find a way to let the energy of the fear itself power the action. That is true courage.

Often people think of courage as being part of high heroism. It is, but it also has its quiet, hidden side as well - and that may require greater courage because we cannot expect the rewards of praise and approval for it. For example, no courage is needed to be unhappy and self-pitying. We do not need to be self-disciplined or wise for that. However, to open our hearts to the risks and vulnerability of joy and trust requires all of those things especially courage.

Within each of us, there is the terrified inner mouse, and there is the brave inner hero. Either part of us can take over from the other. We get to choose which is in charge. The mouse is a magician with only one trick. It can cast an illusion that it as big as an elephant. Then fear nearly overwhelms us - but we still have a choice. Learning to live with and manage the reactive animal within involves transforming emotions like rage and fear into courage through self-discipline and the help of the Singer of Courage.

And here is another interesting thing: Most people have decided by the age of three or four what they must do in order to survive. From this decision, this belief about how the world is, most of our fears and self-limitations grow. Have we the courage to discover and break through these limiting beliefs, awaken to greater possibilities and go for our objectives?

Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire - Project Overview

Here is an overview of our Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire project. This post provides links to pertinent aspects of this project, so that you won't have to sift through the archives.

To find out more about this project, you can take a look at why we chose this particular idea. Unlike most of our projects, we worked this one for 60 days. It was somewhat complex, with a number of different facets, if you look at the bottom of this post, you will see that I have grouped links to the daily posts in a way that I hope will make sense and be helpful for anyone who wishes to try working the project the same way we did.

This is an active blog, and if you post, we will notice and reply.. and give you the benefit of our own experience and our support if it seems pertinent or appropriate. You can find complete listing of the day by day links at the bottom of this post.

The basic summary of our results, individual comments and feedback can be read here: Wrapping Things Up.

We do have a recommended reading list if you are interested in expanding your understanding. I don't know how up to date it is, but there are a lot of really good books listed. There is also a collection of our favorite affirmations, prayers, poems, and etc. Or you can just go to Way Cool Quotes and find a bunch more.

The Basic Concept-

• Getting Started
• Daily Practice for The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire

Meditation-

• Meditation
• How to Meditate
• Mantras

Archetypes-

• Why Archetypes?
• Finding your Archetypes
• Our Archetypes

Daily Sutras-

• Sunday
• Monday
• Tuesday
• Wednesday
• Thursday
• Friday
• Saturday

Daily Principles-

• Sunday
• Monday
• Tuesday
• Wednesday
• Thursday
• Friday
• Saturday

Exercises to enhance your daily practice-

• Namaste
• Fire in your eyes
• Focusing Intention
• Nonviolent Communication
• Finding the Cosmos Within
• Putting it All Together
• Why Are You Here?
• Your Standards of Integrity
• Love
• A Thanksgiving Blessing
• The Heart Sutra
• Inner Cosmos Meditation
• I Am Pure Spirit
• Energy Contacting Others
• A Bonfire of Pure Love
• Intention for Today
• Conscious Breathing
• Food For Thought
• I Become A Part of It
• What is the next step?
• Are You a Door or a Wall?
• Something Different
• What Do You Want?

The Eleven Insights-

1. The First Insight
2. The Second Insight
3. The Third Insight
4. The Fourth Insight
5. The Fifth Insight
6. The Sixth Insight
7. The Seventh Insight
8. The Eight Insight
9. The Ninth Insight
10. The Tenth Insight
11. The Eleventh Insight

Wrapping things up

Hi guys! Sorry to be so late to post. I have been living a fever dream the last 2 days... drifting around the house like a melted snowflake... really! I had an awesome Christmas this year. And then BANG! I got the flu. So, that's where I've been.

It's time to wrap up the Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire. It's been our longest project thus far, and I wonder if we can even remember the way things were when we started. The questions to answer are these:

1. Did you feel that this project "worked" for you?
2. In what way?
3. Did you participate fully in Chopra's program? Or was your participation more selective?
4. Would you recommend this particular project to someone else as a way to achieve prosperity? If so, why? If not, why not?
5. What did you learn?
6. Did you achieve any of your goals? Were any desires spontaneously fulfilled?
7. How has your life improved?
8. What was your favorite aspect of this project?
9. What was your least favorite aspect of this project?
10. Do you have any insights that you would like to share?
    

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!

What DO you want?

Here is an excerpt from the first of Five Questions for a Life of Fun, Inspiration & Action, and e course I signed up for yesterday. It doesn't really say anything new, and it isn't something that we haven't all heard before. But it is something that I have not actually sat down and really defined in quite a while. So, I'm sharing it here.

What DO you want?

It's one of the most powerful questions I know.
And it's a tough one to answer.

Pretty much just as soon as you get old enough to think... you have people telling you what THEY want. Parents, partners, spouses, children, friends, bosses, colleagues, customers and clients... they've all got opinions about what's best for you.

And sometimes their requests and demands can feel like a swarm of mosquitoes buzzing around you demanding attention. And if you're not clear on what you want, you have little protection against the blighters - what others want becomes very hard to resist.

So what can you do about it?

Here's an exercise to help get clear on what you want.

1. Find some time and space for yourself. It doesn't need to be much - five minutes in a room, ten minutes in a coffee shop, a 15 minute walk around the neighborhood.


2. Connect with your core values, those ways of being that are at the heart of you being at your best. If you're not quite sure what they are - and you'd be like most people if that's the case - then start to imagine what they might be now. If you think back to "peak moments" in your life, times you felt you were on top of the world, then you'll see some clues as to what they might be.


3. Get clear on the situation at hand. You need context before you can decide on what you want. Is this about work? A relationship? Your own self-care? Something else? What's the challenge or situation or struggle you might be facing?


4. Imagine outrageous success. Go on, amp it up. Or to put it another way: If you could not fail, what would total and fabulous success look like? Don't get caught up in the "how would I get there". Just let your imagination go on what outrageous success looks like.


5. Clarify your minimum level of success. This is the bottom line, the "if nothing else, then this at least." Don't sell yourself short. And equally, make sure the "bottom line" really is just that. This is where you draw the line in the sand.


6. Tap into your heart and find the sweet spot of what you want between those two end points. Sit with it for just a moment and get as clear as possible as to what it is you want,
   what it looks like, feels like, tastes like. The clearer you can make it, the easier it will be to start planning on how to get there.

So... What do you want?

brought to you by
Michael Bungay Stanier of The Possibility Virus

*

Something Different

If you want something to be different than it is, you might as well teach a cat to bark. You can try and try, and in the end the cat will look up at you and say, "Meow." Wanting something to be different than it is is hopeless.

~Byron Katie

-oOo-

So what do you think about her statement? Is it true? If it is true, how does it fit in with conscious intention and the Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire? Maybe you think it's not true at all. If that's the case, why not? What's false about her statement?

What about this picture? Is it a catfish? Or not? How are your goals, intentions and aspirations the same as this picture? How are they different? How does this picture relate to the Byron Katie quote? How do your goals and intentions relate to her quote? Who do you think is happier, the cat or the fish? The you that you are now? Or the you that you hope to be someday?

Are you a Door or a Wall?

“If you remain closed, you remain dead. It is as if when the whole sky was available, you were just looking from the keyhole. Of course you can see a little sky from the keyhole also, and sometimes a ray of sun passes by; sometimes you can see a flickering star. But this is unnecessarily hard and you remain poor unnecessarily."

~Osho

Just try one small experiment....

When: “Every night before you go to sleep.”

Duration: 20 minutes

Step 1: Walled Off: “Just stand in the middle of the room and look at the wall. Concentrate on the wall; not the door, the wall. Think of yourself as just a wall with no door in you; completely closed. Nobody can enter you and you cannot get out — imprisoned. Almost become a wall, psychologically. Let your whole energy become a wall, a china wall.

"For ten minutes become the wall and become tense, as tense as you can become. Drop all openings and become absolutely closed...what Leibnitz calls a monad, a windowless atom; completely closed within yourself. You will start perspiring, you will start trembling; anxiety will arise. You will feel as if you are dying, as if you are entering your grave. Don't be worried — enter it. Bring it to a climax — this tension, this contraction, this shrinking.

Step 2: Become A-Door-able! “Then turn, look at the door, keep the door open and become a door. Start feeling that you are becoming a door; you are not a wall. Anybody can come in you; there is no need even to knock. And you can go out; there is no barrier. Relax...relax the whole body and the whole feeling. Expand. Remain standing there but expand. Feel that you are filling the whole room. Feel that your energy is streaming out of the door into the garden. Just let the energy go out, and feel that the outer world is entering you.

"For ten minutes become a wall, and for twenty minutes become a door.

Step 3: Sleep “Then go to sleep.

"Continue this for at least three months. After the third week you will start feeling so open, but continue. I am giving you both so you can feel the contrast more easily.

“Once you can understand your own energy — that it becomes a wall, it becomes a door — then you will become aware of a very beautiful dimension. Then you can feel others' energies. You pass a man on the street; you can feel whether this man is a wall or a door. Now you have an inner understanding about it. Then if you want to relate with this man, don’t relate when you feel he is a wall, because then nothing will succeed. Only relate when you feel that he is a door.

“In the morning somebody may be a door; by the evening he may become a wall — because the whole day has been of struggle, fight, tension, anxiety, and one tends to close. So approach a person when he is a door, and the same person will be totally different.

“Approach your child when he is a door. Then he will listen, then he is ready to absorb what you say. Otherwise you go on shouting. He is deaf; he is a wall. Talk to your wife when she is a door. Make love to her when she is a door. When she is a wall, it is better not to disturb her. But once you know it as your inner feeling, then you can feel it everywhere.”

Found at Osho.com under Meditations for Busy People
Click here to discover another Osho Meditation

What is the next step?

I happened onto a little blog the other day, and found a post that revolved around the following question. It occured to me that this is completely in sync with our current project. The question is this:

What is the next step for me in becoming a vibrational match to my goal?

The system that Chopra has set forth in the Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire, what with the sutras, the meditations, etc... are all focused on this very thing. But they seem (at least to me) to be somewhat weighty. Not hard, but not simple and easy either. And I wondered what would happen if we asked this little question every day. Would it have a huge effect on what it is that we choose to do in any given moment? Would it have a huge effect on how quickly we reach our goals?

Short Term Goals

We have recently covered quite a lot of deep metaphysical concepts. I think it's time to take a breather. Soon it will be a brand new year. I know that we all have long term goals... but what about our short term goals? I thought it might be helpful to list them here. I'll get us started with this list of my short term goals for the Prosperity Project.

Before the end of the year, I would like to:

1. Rework the sidebar widgets so that annoying error message will go away.
2. Find a more interesting and/or more colorful template for our blog. I'm getting tired of this one, and the lines across the top are starting to annoy me.
3. Go back through all our previous projects and make sure that each one has a "summary" page with links to all the posts, and that every project has a link to it under "completed posts."
4. Add to the "internet resources" page.
5. Write a tutorial for "how to comment and participate on the prosperity project", something really easy for blogging newbies.
6. Buy a domain name for the Project and put up a small website for us so that this blog is easier to find.
7. Install a paypal button just in case anyone wants to contribute to the domain name purchase. It won't cost much, maybe $10 by the time it's all said and done. I think I can get free webhosting pretty easily since it'll just be a small site created mostly as a channel to this blog.

What lies deepest within us

What lies deepest within us is a state of love and soul consciousness which extends beyond time and space and reveals itself in its universal urge to unite. It gently holds us , as if in two giant hands, and asks only that we play our part in a universal loving plan.

~Allen L Roland

Here are links to the Principle and Sutra Exercise for today (Friday).

The first tenet of the Unified Field Theory is this :

The basic underlying and uniting force of the universe is a psychic energy field of universal love, within which gravitational and electromagnetic fields, the strong and weak forces in the atom , and all other forces of nature, including time and space, are merely conditions of state.

Within this psychic energy field of love, paranormal events such as clairvoyance, telepathy, precognition and near-death experiences are also conditions of state.

The principle property of this field of love and soul consciousness is its propensity to unite, complete and fulfill all living beings within a constantly evolving loving plan. This field of love is the absolute constant of the universe in that within it , time and space do not exist. Thus , we are instantly joined with the past, present and future of a universe which is in the process of uniting, completing and fulfilling itself.

Longfellow called it " the thread of all sustaining beauty that runs through all and doth all unite."

Dr John Hagelin, one of the world's leading pioneers of theoretical physics also believes that the long sought for Unified Field is a state of consciousness. He says " If you scratch below the surface and get to the molecular atomic and sub-atomic worlds, you find that these worlds are not material worlds. They are worlds of intelligence and ultimately worlds of consciousness."

British physicist Steven Hawking , like his predecessor Einstein, also sought a simple explanation for the Unified Field : " What is it that breathes fire into the equations and makes a universe for them to govern?" Hawking writes, " Is the ultimate Unified Field so compelling that it brings about its own existence? "

Source:
Conscious Talk Radio with Brenda Michaels & Rob Spears
http://www.conscioustalk.net/

The Eleventh Insight

The eleventh insight says that the inner nature of every being, no matter how evil it may seem to be, is love, and that this essential quality can always be revealed by unmasking our own love.

Love, therefore, is not a mere sentiment; it is the ultimate truth at the heart of all creation. It is unconditional and unbounded, and it radiates from us when we are in touch with our nonlocal self.

-oOo-

Here are links the Principle and Sutra Exercise for today (Thursday). Also, here is the link to Hermetic Axioms I have uploaded to Way Cool Quotes.

The Tenth Insight

The tenth insight states that we can achieve harmony through those forces and elements in the cosmos that we call masculine and feminine. A hermetic philosophy called the principles of gender proposes that true passion can only occur if there's a balance between the masculine and feminine forces in your own being.

Masculine energy drives qualities such as aggression, decisiveness, action, and courage, whereas feminine energy can be seen in an appreciation for beauty, intuition, nurturing, affection, and tenderness. Great works of art always contain the harmonious interactions of masculine and feminine, yin and yang. The sutra shiva shakti is meant to activate the harmonious interaction of the masculine and feminine archetypal energies of your nonlocal self.

-oOo-

Here are links to the Principle and Sutra Exercise for today (Wednesday). Also, here is a direct link to Hermetic Axioms that I have uploaded to Way Cool Quotes

The Ninth Insight

The ninth insight says that we can direct primal energy through the power of attention and intention. As we've seen, whatever we put our attention on (and thereby make the focus of this energy) blossoms. Whatever we withdraw our attention from starts to wither away. Attention and intention are the keys to transformation, whether it is of a situation, circumstance, person, or thing. The sutras are codes for triggering and activating intention and attention.

-oOo-

These are the links to the Principle and Sutra Exercise for today (Tuesday). Also, here is a direct link to Hermetic Axioms that I have uploaded to Way Cool Quotes

The Eighth Insight

The eighth insight posits that the creative energy of the universe is also reflected as sexual energy. All things that exist are born from this primal energy. A child is born out of it. A flower blossoms through that energy, as does a fruit. Nothing in creation is exempt from this principle. In human beings this primal energy manifests as passion, excitement, and arousal. When we are in touch with our source we spontaneously experience enthusiasm and inspiration.

The word enthusiasm contains two roots: "en" and "theos." This means to be one with God. The word inspiration similarly means "to be one with spirit." Inspiration, enthusiasm, passion, and excitement give energy to our intentions and thus accelerate the spontaneous fulfillment of our desires.

-oOo-

Here are links to the Principle and Sutra Exercise for today (Monday). Also, here is a direct link to Hermetic Axioms that I have uploaded to Way Cool Quotes

The Seventh Insight

The seventh insight states that every event has infinite causes that lead to an infinity of efects. The so-called "cause/effect/relationship" is not linear. This is the phenomenon that allows us to see underlying patterns behind every event. It has also been documented scientifically as "The Butterfly Effect."

Here is a more indepth explanation as found in The Kybalion (one of the books of the Hermetica):

Just as a man has two parents, and four grandparents, and eight great-grandparents, and sixteen great-great-grandparents, and so on until when, say, forty generations are calculated the numbers of ancestors run into many millions--so it is with the number of causes behind even the most trifling event or phenomena, such as the passage of a tiny speck of soot before your eye.

It is not an easy matter to trace the bit of soot hack to the early period of the world's history when it formed a part of a massive tree-trunk, which was afterward converted into coal, and so on, until as the speck of soot it now passes before your vision on its way to other adventures. And a mighty chain of events, causes and effects, brought it to its present condition, and the later is but one of the chain of events which will go to produce other events hundreds of years from now.

One of the series of events arising from the tiny bit of soot was the writing of these lines, which caused the typesetter to perform certain work; the proofreader to do likewise; and which will arouse certain thoughts in your mind, and that of others, which in turn will affect others, and so on, and on, and on, beyond the ability of man to think further-and all from the passage of a tiny bit of soot, all of which shows the relativity and association of things, and the further fact that "there is no great; there is no small, in the mind that causeth all."

-oOo-

Here are links to the Principle and Sutra Exercise for today (Sunday).

Also, here is a direct link to Hermetic Axioms that I have uploaded to Way Cool Quotes.

The Sixth Insight

The sixth insight states that there is a rhythm to everything. The life cycle provides a classic example: Conception is followed by gestation, birth growth, maturity, death, and renewal. All things happen in cycles. Sychronicity involves appreciating that the cycles and seasons of life are coordinated with the cycles and seasons of the cosmos. According to a Chinese expression:

"Spring flowers, summer breeze,
autumn leaves, and winter snow:
If you are totally tuned in
this is the best season of your life."

When you are grounded in life-centered, present-moment awareness, you are in touch with the Creative Intelligence that orchestrates the dance of the universe. When your rhythms are in harmony with the rhythms of the universe, synchrodestiny works its magic.

-oOo-

Here are links to the Principle and Sutra Exercise for today (Saturday). Also, here is the link to Hermetic Axioms I have uploaded to Way Cool Quotes

The Fifth Insight

the difference engine, originally uploaded by zachstern.

The fifth insight is that everything, whether it is an experience or an attitude or an object, contains it's opposite. In fact, whatever you have right now, good or bad, contains its counterpart. No matter how deep you may be in the depths of depression, for example, if you identify its opposite - joy or gratitude - and pay attention to it, you'll see that it starts to grow in your awareness.

Removing your attention from despair and placing it on happiness actually makes the new feeling blossom. Similarly, if you're at the heights of ecstasy, be aware that its opposite walks by its side. By being mindful of this principle - that all creation is based on the co-creation and co-existence of opposites - you can use the quality of your attention to bring out whatever aspect of experience you desire.

-oOo-

Here are links to the Principle and Sutra Exercise for today (Friday). Also, here is the link to Hermetic Axioms I have uploaded to Way Cool Quotes

The Fourth Insight

The fourth insight is that change is the only constant. Everything is impermanent. Holding on to anything is like holding on to your breath; if you hold on long enough, you'll suffocate. Ultimately the only way to acquire anything in the physical universe is to let go of it and not hold on.

This is a very delicate point. It means that the best results are achieved when we focus on the process rather than on outcome. Focusing on the outcome creates anxiety and stress, which interferes with the spontaneous flow of intelligence as it moves from Spirit to the material world. The fact that change is the only constant means that we are always living in the unknown.

Everything that we call the known is past, and the only thing we can say about it with certainty is that it is no longer here. The known is the prison of past conditioning. The unknown is always fresh, which is a quality of the field of infinite possibilities. Zen masters, martial artists, and great spiritual teachers have always advised that we must go with the flow. The flow is the field of change. what doesn't change decays and dies. Change is the dance and rhythm of the universe. To have one-pointed intention, to flow with the change, and to be detached from the outcome at the same time: These are the mechanics of the fulfillment of desire.

-oOo-

Here are links the Principle and Sutra Exercise for today (Thursday). Also, here is the link to Hermetic Axioms I have uploaded to Way Cool Quotes.

The Third Insight

The third insight states that everything is vibration, that consciousness consists of vibrations in various frequencies, resulting in all the forms and phenomena of the universe. Human beings are conscious energy fields, along with the rest of the universe.

If you want to change the world around you, you need only change the quality of your own vibration; as you change that, the quality of what is around you changes. Incidentally, this is the reason why sutras work. They provide one particular way to create a certain vibration of spirit, or a particular flavor of the nonlocal self.

The situations, circumstances, events, and relationships that you encounter in your life are a reflection of the state of consciousness you are in. The world is a mirror. If you are anchored in your nonlocal self the whole world is available to you.

-oOo-

Here are links to the Principle and Sutra Exercise for today (Wednesday. Also, here is a direct link to Hermetic Axioms that I have uploaded to Way Cool Quotes

The Second Insight

The second insight is that as spirit becomes manifest, it does so in such a way that the whole is contained in every part. As atoms reflect the universe, so too does the human body reflect the cosmic body and the human mind the cosmic mind. What does this mean? It proposes that in any one thing you behold, indeed in every conceivable thing you can imagine, there also exists the latent potentiality for all things - for absolutely everything. The whole universe is contained in every point just as the whole ocean is reflected in every drop within it's depths.

This principle means that you don't have to go in search of anything to find the truth. The truth is always right there, staring at you in the face. Just as exploring the molecule is like exploring the galaxy. Everything is contained in the ground of your own being.

Our educational system is based on accumulating more and more information, but actually the more information we gather, the more confused we become and the more we lose sight of the wisdom that is already inherent within us. So learn to ask the truth of yourself. Learn to knock on the door of your own being. This is what is known as intuition,creativity, vision.. This is why a sage is focused on the seer and not the scenery.

-oOo-

These are the links to the Principle and Sutra Exercise for today (Tuesday). Also, here is a direct link to Hermetic Axioms that I have uploaded to Way Cool Quotes

The First Insight

The first insight is that everything is a manifestation of spirit. Spirit is the state of being that gives rise to space, time, causation, matter, and energy. Infinite and unbounded, spirit contains the entire universe that we experience. Nothing exists outside it.

Spirit is the source of the whole chain of being, the whole of existence. The universe arises from spirit, is contained in it and ultimately disappears back into it.

-oOo-

Here are links to the Principle and Sutra Exercise for today (Monday). Also, here is a direct link to Hermetic Axioms that I have uploaded to Way Cool Quotes

The Eleven Insights

For the next ten days, we will be learning about the eleven insights as proposed in the Hermetica. The origin of hermetic knowledge traces back to Hermes Trismagistus, about whom not much is known, including the date or place of his birth. Scholars suppose that he lived around 2,000 BC. Many think he was an Egyptian priest, the inventor of both art and science as we know them in the western world. The mystery of Hermes magistus was addressed by both Greek and Roman mystics in various ancient documents. mythology has elevated him to the rank of a god, perhaps the ibis-headed moon god Thoth, the Egyptian god of healing, intelligence, and letters.

These insights are included in Deepack Chopra's book "The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire", which is our current project. Our project still includes doing the sutra practice and the reading for each individual day. I just thought this would make a nice change of pace.

Also, here is a direct link to Hermetic Axioms that I have uploaded to Way Cool Quotes

I Become a Part of It

This small meditation may help you find a deeper understanding of and better experience with the Principle and Sutra Exercise for today (Sunday).

The mountains, I become part of it.
The herbs, the fir tree, I become part of it.
The morning mists, the clouds, the gathering waters,
I become part of it.
The wilderness, the dew drops, the pollen...
I become part of it.

~Navaho Chant

Food for thought

Do you know what the Principle or Sutra Exercise is for today? Do you remember what it was yesterday? When was the last time you thought about your archetypes? Or used that archetypal energy to help you make a decision or move through a problem? Are you meditating every day? Which meditation are you using? Have you tried any of the meditations that have been recently posted? Are coincidences showing up in your life? Would you notice them if they were? What is your intention for this particular project? What are your intentions for today? Do you know? Are you moving consciously through each day? Or unconsciously reacting to stuff that happens? What one thing do you consistently do every day to bring prosperity and peace into your life? Are you engaging in the cosmic dance of life? Or just passively watching it unfold around you? What can you share with the people who might be reading this post today?

Conscious Breathing

Exploring Breath Work may help you find a deeper understanding of and better experience with the Principle and Sutra Exercise for today (Friday).

There will always be situations and circumstances in your life when someone will cross some personal boundary, triggering a emotional response. You can use Breath Work to help release that tension and diffuse those initial feelings of anger and fear.

Here is an idea for using Prayer Beads as "Breath Beads":

Begin by creating a quiet or sacred time each day to do your deep breathing. Hold your beads in your hand while sitting in a chair with both feet on the floor. Scan your body for any areas of tension or holding. Once you have identified these areas, take in a big breath of air and release it with a sigh. As you take this 'cleansing breath', see the tension and the thoughts about your day leaving your body. Your breathing practice will take you through a series of deep breaths.

Begin each breath by inhaling slowly through your nose and exhaling through your mouth, as if you are blowing out a candle. Take a moment to pause at the top of every breath and after every exhale. Use your thumb and forefinger to slide past a bead after you have completed a breath. Allow the beads to keep track of how many breaths you have taken so that all of your focus is on the way in which the breath feels as it moves through your body.

At any time during the day, when you need a meditative moment, or feel a need to step back from a situation or a person, run your fingers over each bead as you take a slow, deep, rhythmic breath. Inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth as if you are blowing out a candle. Relax your body with each breath.

You can wear your beads, and be use them as a reminder throughout the day to stop, take a moment to regroup, and let go of anything you are holding on to (whether it be stress, emotion or physical pain).

Conscious breathing can also be used as a tool that helps us to return to our center. Use the quiet intervals throughout your day to retrieve any scattered energy you have released. With each breath that you take, practice saying the following: on the inhale say, "Receive", and on the exhale say, "Release". Use your breath to bring in Peace and on the exhale release anything you no longer need (i.e. fear, anger, judgment, etc.).

If you are experiencing physical pain, picture the breath going directly into the affected area. Pain is a result of blocked energy. See the breath dissipating the congested energy and bringing light into that part of your body.

Using breath work can assist you in being more present and grounded. If used consciously, breathing can help us to release old patterns and behaviors. It allows us to pause and make choices from a calmer place instead of being at the effect of the circumstances in our life.

If you don't have prayer beads, or if you don't want to use your rosary or mala for anything other than prayer, any necklace or bracelet made with beads of a manageable size can be used, or you could create your own "breath beads."

Intention for Today

The intention for today's exercise is to help you find a deeper understanding of and better experience with the Principle and Sutra Exercise for today (Thursday).

A working definition for intention is: “to have in mind a purpose or plan, to direct the mind, to aim.” Lacking intention, we sometimes stray without meaning or direction. But with it, all the forces of the universe can align to make even the most impossible, possible.

Without our dreams all we have is our present reality. Reality is not a bad thing. We have to know where we are so we can design the appropriate strategy for getting to where we want to be. The challenge is our attitude around “reality” and being “realistic” and what being realistic has cost us. Often that’s our passion and joy, our hopes and dreams. Given the unknowns and sometimes craziness of life, there’s never been a more important time to dream and setting your intention is the first step.

When should you set an intention? You could set an intention every day. Your intention could be to work less and make more, or to find a new career that you are passionate about. It could be to get healthy and physically fit, or to spend more quality time with loved ones or alone. It can be specific and about something in particular or more like a quality, such as to be more relaxed or involved with life.

A Success Story: At seventy, Bessie set an intention to become a world famous photographer. Although many thought she was too old, she didn’t. She entered a photo contest where she won the first prize of $10,000. Her prize-winning photo toured around the world with a Kodak exhibit. She said, “We’re never too old to make a dream come true.”

Some Basic Steps:

1. Get clear about something you want and write it down.
2. Share your intention with someone in a way that will supportively hold you accountable to taking action.
3. Do something today to demonstrate your commitment to your intention.
4. Acknowledge that you did what you said you would, feel love and gratitude to yourself, and then, take the next appropriate step.

Questions to help define an intention:

1. What would I like to feel, experience or gain from today?
2. What stands in the way of me creating what I want to experience?
3. What resistance might I encounter along the way?
4. What am I willing to give up, compromise or surrender to have my intention be true for me?
5. What am I willing to commit to doing?

At the end of the day, take time to reflect in writing on your day’s experience. Think back over your activities and review your intentions to identify situations that match your list.

1. When did you feel love?
2. When did you have the experience you were looking for?
3. How did you manage the resistance factor?
4. Make a note of each instance where you were successful at creating your intention.
5. Practice develops awareness and with awareness, you can create the life you truly desire.

A Bonfire of Pure Love

Here are the links to the the Principle and Sutra Exercise for today (Wednesday).

Today, instead of posting anything new, I worked long and hard on my inner dialogue. Here are some of the things that I did:

I started out the day using this as my mantra: "I am a bonfire of pure love."

When I did my 20 minute meditation, I alternated between the bonfire of pure love mantra, and imagining and visualizing pure love consuming every cell of my body, transmuting all the "junk" into warmth and light, and then, every now and then I remembered to stick in the sutra for today "sat chit ananda".

For the rest of the day, every time I noticed myself having a negative thought, a stressful thought, or a painful thought, I went back to the "I am a bonfire of pure love." and used that mantra to totally consume and transform the thought and the perception that caused it.

So my day went something like this:

• Oh my god! You are getting so fat! What the hell is wrong with you? Why do you eat so much junk?
• But it doesn't matter now, because I am a bonfire of pure love and any excess is being burned away right now, transforming into pure energy, warmth and love. And as a veritable bonfire of love this all consuming fire turns everything I eat into energy and light, there is no excess that isn't fuel for the fire of love that I am.


• How the hell am I going to pay for that? What if it costs more than I have? What if my car breaks down totally? What if the transmission is next? How will I be able to afford christmas presents this year? Where is the money going to come from?
• Hey, it doesn't matter because there is no lack. I am a veritable bonfire of pure love. I can have what I need because what I need is drawn to me like a moth to a flame. I am warmth I am love.


• Those assholes! They are cutting down even more trees! Why can't they just leave the trees alone! We need trees. What about the birds that lived in those trees? What about the squirrels and the little beings that depend on the cover and the safety of the branches of those trees. How would how would those redneck mother f--krs like it if somebody came and chopped their house down and burned it? Huh? huh? huh?
• I am a bonfire of pure love! I consume them in my love. They are - the men, the trees, the machinery - they are consumed by the flame of pure love that I am. I see only love. There is only love.

And how did it work for me?

I took my car in to get the windshield wipers repaired. When I had called earlier, they told me that if the wipers had popped off the rocker arm it would be $89 minimum to repair; and that if the motor itself had to be replaced, then I was looking at upwards of $275 to $300. (That's where the whole "how the hell am I going to pay for that" dialogue came from.)

So, I had my oil changed, and all my fluid levels checked... a routine maintenance, and asked them to fix the windshield wipers. I figured that if it cost me a total of $120, my check wouldn't bounce, and if it was more than that, my check still wouldn't bounce, but my electric bill, my house payment, and my telephone would all be overdue and possibly shut off. So, as I sat in the waiting room, I concentrated on remembering that I was a bonfire of pure love and that any hinderances to my safety and comfort were being consumed, transmuted, transformed... etc etc.

After an hour or two, the mechanic came out to tell me the car was done, and that a string had gotten tangled around the windshield wiper motor and popped the rocker arm off, and that it was now fixed. What a relief! I loved him intensely! And then, I went to pay for it and I loved him even more, because the bill was only $30. Yes. $30! They fixed the windshield wipers for free! Now, how cool is that? This love thing works!

Energy Contacting Others

Today's essay is targeted for a deeper understanding of and better experience with the Principle and Sutra Exercise for today (Tuesday).



Energy is continually created and exchanged through contact. Beings who are open, interact, intersect, interfuse, interlace, interchange, interest more than people who are closed - tight - isolated.

Healthy relationship is an inter-relationship, verbal or non verbal commun-i-cation. Vitality in a flow, to and fro, an invisible, feelable, connecting intercourse between energy beings, in various ways, on a multitude of levels.

Or for that matter, openness can become direct contact with any external-internal source, thoughts, feelings, food, flowers, work, play, anyway, it all depends on the degree of separation and unity.

At the opposite extreme, contracted, subject - object relationships are unconscious, automatic, and defensive, closed off. Not really alive or real because the current, the ongoing, ingoing, outgoing experience - energy - feeling is blocked off.

The excessively defensive individual is buying safety and security at the expense of minimizing vitality and life; only letting experience be partially or hardly at all, continuous contraction, supression, and inhibition, a trickling expenditure of energy with little or no return.

Contact on the other hand, for example, between two or more sensitive, aware, interconnecting beings is stimulating, recharging, regenerating. A perpetual, perpetuating glow, a flow that moves back and forth, that recycles, that nourishes. When this exchange becomess more fully open, there is less and less sense of separation. In stillness, activity, or conversation, the other ultimately becomes the self, and the self becomes the other, and what is, is.

Meditative love is only one of many ways, openings, to ultimately join with any - every - no - thing to become, to be, unity, consciousness, energy, fully with one's self.

In an I - thou flowing union, boundaries dissolve, and you - it are one. Whether it is contact with the sun, the ground, the sea, breathing, touching, people, emotions, contemplation, or action, it is all energy.

Contact is some degree of totality, and ultimately it can be at-one-ment, communion. You become the flow. This point is meditation, the experience, essence is tantra, realization that you are love, wisdom, all. The perfection that is, always was and always will be.

~from Energy Ecstasy
by Bernard Gunther

I Am Pure Spirit

The Pure Spirit meditation is an exercise specially formulated to help you find a deeper understanding of and better experience with the Principle and Sutra Exercise for today (Monday).

I know that I am pure spirit, that I always have been, and that I always will be. There is inside me a place of confidence and quietness and security where all things are known and understood. This is the Universal Mind, God, of which I am part and which responds to me as I ask of it.

This universal mind knows the answer to all of my problems, and even now the answers are speeding their way to me. I needn't struggle for them; I needn't wory or strive for them. When the time comes, the answers will be there. I give my problems to the great mind of God; I let go of them, confident that the correct answers will return to me when they are needed.

Through the great law of attraction, everything in life that I need for my work and fulfillment will come to me. It is not necessary that I strain about this, only believe. For in the strength of my belief, my faith will make it so. I see the hand of divine intelligence all about me, in the flower, the tree, the brook, the meadow. I know that the intelligence that created all these things is in me and around me and that I can call upon it for my slightest need.

I know that my body is a manifestation of pure spirit and that spirit is perfect; therefore my body is perfect also. I enjoy life, for each day brings a constant demonstration of the power and wonder of the universe and myself. I am confident. I am serene. I am sure. No matter what obstacle or undesirable circumstance crosses my path, I refuse to accept it, for it is nothing but illusion. There can be no obstacle or undesirable circumstance to the mind of God, which is in me, and all around me, and serves me now.

~from Three Magic Words
by U S Andersen

Inner Cosmos Meditation

This meditation on attaining a space of stillness within will help you find a deeper understanding of and better experience with the Principle and Sutra Exercise for today (Saturday).

From the space of stillness, something beautiful can flower.
Life can be a song, a dance.. from that space of stillness...
Where you become magnet of abundance at all levels.

How to attain that stillpoint? Concentrate the energy on the Hara, the point two inches below the navel.

That is the center from where one enters life and that is the center from where one dies and goes out of life. So that is the contact center between the body and the soul. If you feel a sort of wavering left and right and you don’t know where your center is, that simply shows that you are no longer in contact with your Hara, so you have to create that contact.

When: In the night, when you go to sleep and first thing in the morning.

Duration: 10 - 15 minutes.

Step 1: Locate the Hara
Lie down on the bed and put both your hands two inches below the navel and press a little.

Step 2: Take a Deep Breath!
Start breathing, deep breathing. You will feel that center coming up and down with the breathing. Feel your whole energy there as if you are shrinking and shrinking and shrinking and you are just existing there as a small center, very concentrated energy.

Step 3: Center While U Sleep!
Fall asleep doing it — that will be helpful. Then the whole night that centering persists. Again and again the unconscious goes and center is there. So the whole night without your knowing, you will be coming in many ways in deep contact with the center.

Step 4: Reconnect with the Hara
In the morning, the moment that you feel that sleep has gone, don’t open your eyes first. Again put your hands there, push a little, start breathing; again feel the Hara. Do this for 10 - 15 minutes and then get up.

Do this every night, every morning.
Within three months you will start feeling centered.

It is very essential to have a centering otherwise one feels fragmentary; then one is not together. One is just like a jigsaw — all fragments and not a whole. It is a bad shape, because without a center a man can drag but cannot love.
Without a center you can go on doing routine things in your life, but you can never be creative. You will live the minimum. The maximum will not be possible for you. Only by centering does one live at the maximum, at the zenith, at the peak, at the climax, and that is the only living, a real life. For example, there will be less thinking because energy will not move to the head, it will go to the Hara.

The more you think of the Hara, the more you concentrate there, the more you will find a discipline arising in you. That comes naturally, it has not to be forced. The more you are aware of the Hara, the less you will become afraid of life and death because that is the center of life and death.Once you become attuned to the Hara center, you can live courageously. Courage arises out of it: less thinking, more silence, less uncontrolled moments,natural discipline, courage and rootedness, a groundedness.

found at Inner Cosmos Meditation

The Heart Sutra

This is a meditation exercise that demonstrates the power of intention. but it is more than a mere demonstration. Do this regularly so that this ritual can focus your attention and your intention.

Go to a quiet place where you are not likely to be disturbed for fifteen minutes. Close your eyes, practice the primordial sound mantra "so hum" for five minutes, placing your awareness on your breath.


After five minutes put your mental awareness in the area of your heart, in the middle of your chest. With your attention on your heart, you may begin to feel your heart beating more strongly This is normal. As you experience the beating of your heart, begin to also experience gratitude. The way to experience gratitude is to think of all the things, events, and relationships in your life for which you have reason to be grateful. Allow those images to surface in your consciousness while you keep your attention on your heart. Take a moment to think of all the people whom you love and all the people who share their love with you.

Then say to yourself: "Every decision I make is a choice between a grievance and a miracle. I let go of grievances and choose miracles." Certain resentments and grievances - and the people associated with those resentments and grievances - may surface in your awareness. If they do, just say, "I let go of the grievances. I choose the miracles."

Then become aware of your heart again, and consciously start to breathe into your heart. As you do, say to yourself, "Love . . . knowingness . . . bliss . . . love," and then breathe out for the same count of four. Between each inhalation and exhalation pause for several seconds. Do this for three or four minutes.

Through the heart sutra meditation, the fire of your soul - which is love, knowingness, and bliss - will start to broadcast itself through the heart. This is where the third principle of synchrodestiny meets the fourth principle. The fire in your soul now begins to create your intention.

After having said "I let go of grievances and chose miracles" a few times, start to repeat mentally the phrase "They will be done." This prepares your mind to receive the intention of the nonlocal intelligence, and to understand that it is, simultaneously, your intention.

After about a minute, let go of all thoughts and bring your awareness fully to your heart. Experience your heartbeat, either as a sound or as a sensation. Feel it throbbing. Once you can sense your heart, transfer your awareness into your hands, and feel the throbbing of your heart in your hands. Introduce the intention to increase the blood flow to your hands. Just have the intention. As the blood flow to your hands increases, either the throbbing will increase or you'll feel warmth, tingling, or some other sensation. Introduce the intention of increasing warmth so that your hands become warmer and warmer. Feel the warmth in your hands as your intention alone increases the blood flow.

When your hands have become warm, move your awareness into your face, the upper part of your face around the eyeballs, and have the same intention. Increase the blood flow to your face so your face starts to flush and get warm. Just the intention. You may feel a pulsing or tingling sensation around your eyes as the blood flow increases and your face becomes warm.

Finally, bring your awareness back into your heart. Imagine that there is a pinpoint of light pulsating in your heart, matching your heartbeat. This pinpoint of light pulsating in your heart is the light of your soul as it pulsates with the three qualities of the soul: love, knowingness, and bliss, or sat chit ananda, which is also the sutra for the third principle. As it pulsates, experience the pinpoint of love, knowingness, bliss. It is sending radiant light to the rest of your body. Slowly let that pinpoint of light fade away from your awareness, and tune in to your whole body. Feel the sensations. Then open your eyes. The meditation is over.

A Thanksgiving Blessing

Looking at Your Empty Plate
My plate, empty now
will soon be filled
with precious food.

Looking at Your Full Plate
in this food
I see clearly the presence
of the entire universe
supporting my existence.

Contemplating Your Food
This plate of food,
so fragrant and appetizing,
also contains much suffering.

Beginning to Eat
With the first taste, I promise to offer joy.
With the second, I promise to help relieve the suffering of others.
With the third, I promise to see others' joy as my own.
With the fourth, I promise to learn the way of non-attachment and equanimity.

Finishing your Meal
The plate is empty
My hunger is satisfied
I vow to live
for the benefit of all beings.

Washing the Dishes
Washing the dishes is
like bathing a baby Buddha
The profane is the sacred.
Everyday mind is Buddha's mind.

~Thich Nhat Hanh

Love

Today, (Wednesday) we are working with the Principle and Sutra Exercise for mastering our inner dialogue.

You will not exhaust the love in the universe
if you were to absorb it from now until the end of time.

Love is all that exists.

Love is the universal communication.
It is the energy that has created the universe and is keeping it going.
God is love.
All matter is formed by love.
There is an organic love that speaks to everyone if they could but hear.
A leaf holds together for love.

Love can turn the world around and it does.
What did you think was spinning your planet if it wasn't love
and what do you think the fires of your sun consist of
and the cells of your body
and the stars in your sky
and the consciousness in your heart?
It is all love.

There is nothing but love.
Don't let the masks and postures fool you.
Love is the glue that holds the Universe together.

The greatest need in a soul is to achieve that loving of self which will bring about the unity wherein the judgements that have caused such pain are eliminated.

True self-love is not ego.
True love is great humility.
Love and compassion for others cannot exist until there is a goodly supply for self.
How can you feel the love of God if you do not love yourself?
Are they not one and the same thing?

Until you can accept yourself, you lock the doorway to the expansion of all that you yearn for.
This expansion comes through your heart.
Be kind to yourselves.

~Emmanuel's Book

Your Standards of Integrity

Today's post expands our understanding of and experience with the Principle and Sutra Exercise for today (Tuesday).

Your heart recognizes and is drawn to people who possess qualities you admire. You cherish or delight in these attributes because you know what they are. They reflect your own potential. When you see these qualities in others, you experience joy, inspiration, and gratitude. That's the signal that your heart is responding to them.

Take a moment and think about someone whom you admire. What qualities do you prize in them? Below the surface of physical attributes or possessions, which traits reflect their basic goodness? Do you admire their courage, loyalty, or creativity? Do you honor their love, compassion, or truthfulness? Even as you are thinking about the person, do you notice a certain warmth in your heart?

Your heart warms in response to these qualities because they are inside you. You can't appreciate a trait unless you've experienced it - whether or not you are currently experiencing it. In order to value loyalty, for example, you must know what loyalty is. You must sense what it means to be dependable, steady, faithful, and dedicated - and you must also know the pain of disloyalty. This is true for any other attribute to which your heart responds.

To use a physiological metaphor, if you respond to the trait you must have a receptor site for it, a location in your heart that recognizes and reacts to the quality when you see it in others. To be moved by a trait in another person, you must have that quality inside yourself as a possibility.

Remember the old saying that you don't like certain people because they have some traits that you dislike in yourself? What if the opposite were true as well?

Why are you here?

This is an exercise specially formulated to help you find a deeper understanding of and better experience with the Principle and Sutra Exercise for today (Monday).

For this exercise you will need paper and pen, and ten minutes of uninterrupted time. Ask yourself, Why am I here? Write down the first thing that comes to mind. This question is open to many interpretations, so jot down whatever thoughts it triggers. Don't worry about the writing itself. You don't even have to use complete sentences.


Then pose the question again: Why am I here? Write down a new response. Do this twenty times. Keep looking for different ways to interpret the question so that each answer is unique and speaks to a different facet of the question.

Now look over your responses. What do they tell you? Do you see any pattern or progression in the answers? What does this tell you about how you see your life?

You can see your life as a series of external and internal events, but you can also learn to see those events as connected with each other and with something more spiritual. When you do that, you will begin to see your life as an opportunity to share the special gift you alone can bestow upon the world. That's one answer to the question of why you are here. Having this kind of clarity of purpose will help you focus your intentions.