Haiti: Why Send Money?

What we have here is a letter I found at ByronKatie.com, it was written to Byron Katie, and includes her response.

Dear Katie,

You say that you are contributing money to help the earthquake victims in Haiti. But aren’t you supposed to love what is? Don’t you love earthquakes? Why send money? I wouldn’t. That would be saying you don’t agree with what is.

~B

Dearest B,

My goodness! The simple answer is, “I like them and wish to support them and I like me when I do that.” And no one is “supposed” to love what is, nor can they, until they are no longer fooled by their minds. I simply do love what is, because I have questioned my stressful thoughts thoroughly enough to know how the mind creates all the suffering in the world.

For example, if I were to believe that the earthquake shouldn’t have happened, or if I were to imagine their pain and project it onto myself as though it were mine, it would be borrowing pain that isn’t mine, as well as costing me this amazing state of grace to be one who is freed up and in a position to help. I don’t want to add my false suffering as an aftershock to the Haitians.

How would that help anyone? It certainly wouldn’t help them, and it wouldn’t help me be as someone compassionately available and aware enough to see myself and them clearly enough to send support. To send support when I know to do it allows me to join where I want to, and the affect is a guiltless state of mind, one that joins without fear. I realize that the earthquake should have happened, because it did happen (in this dream I call reality). What happened happened, and in my kindest world, what is the best-intentioned wanting? It is “How can I help you, add to you in your time of need when I have no need myself?” That’s it, and nothing in the world can change that truest reality of our most authentic and pure kind nature.

I don’t want earthquakes to happen before the fact; but once they happen, that’s what I want. I am a lover of reality. As I often say, when you argue with God, you lose—but only 100% of the time.

Stephen gashed his finger the other day and came in and asked me to drive him to the emergency room for stitches. The blood was really gushing out quite strongly. I didn’t say, “Oh, it’s good that it happened, now you can bleed all over your clothes and the rug.” Rather, we hopped into the car, I drove to the hospital, and he got five stitches in his left hand. Actually it was fun, really fun for both of us. The doctor turned out to be a neighbor whom we hadn’t met yet, and Stephen said that he learned something about blood that will be useful when he writes about the Iliad, which is quite bloody. (He is translating the Iliad from ancient Greek. He finds that great fun—which I find hilarious, and very dear.)

"Loving what is" doesn’t mean that you are passive. Love is action. It lives from the inside out. It is source. People who are suffering are me, they are my own old self being witnessed—that part of my old mind that hasn’t caught up yet, my mind being witnessed, or, in other words, my mind coming back at me to see what is love and what isn’t yet. My mind, your mind, all mind: the same.. I respond to them (people, mind) with the same kindness as I practice toward myself, when I get up and brush my teeth and feed and water this body of the woman people call Katie. Some believe it and some don’t.

When someone comes to me who is suffering, my internal mind’s response and experience is “How can I help?” I don’t think that they shouldn’t be suffering. They are suffering (in their experience, and that makes it real for them as it used to be for “me”). That’s their truth, for the moment and I have mine and theirs is the cause of their suffering until it isn’t. If they are angry or depressed or sad or resentful, I never think that they shouldn’t be feeling what they’re feeling, or that whatever happened to them (as they see it) shouldn’t have happened. I listen. I am available as a “humane” being and friend. I am there to help them question the mind that is creating their suffering. I love that they come to me with an open mind, if they do; and if their mind is not so open, I love that too. Everything is welcome here.

I sent money to Haiti because that seemed to me the kind, right-minded thing to do. I just knew to do it. It was a wholehearted response to an invitation to help. That asking is what is, just as the earthquake is what is. Now that the earthquake happened, I love that people asked me for help, and I love love in action and sending money is just one way. Are you metaphorically experiencing an earthquake within you? If so, let’s do The Work.

Love,
kt

Beggar Stories

While researching this project, I found an intriguing website called The Beggar Stories. It's definitely worth a look-see, I did enjoy some of the stories. I don't know if it's still an active blog or not. Here's what they have to say about their site:

TheBeggarStories is a compilation of the collaborative minds of different people who are helping beggars all over the world. Through sharing experiences and thoughts, this blog aims to enlighten us on the beauty of reaching out to less fortunate people. If you have a story to tell, a painting or just an idea then share it with us. you may email your work at rsandagon@gmail.com.

I don't have any interesting, entertaining, or heartwarming beggar stories to share, so I did a google search and came up with the following stories:

• The Tattooed Beggar and His Dog
• A Beggar's Story
• A Blind Beggar Child Story
• The Beggar Woman
• I Didn't Choose To Be A Beggar
• Early Christmas Charity Work

Which brings me the question of what would I do if beggars were as plentiful here in rural Missouri as they are in say... India for example. Would I do as some of these people did? Give out blankets, shoes, food, money, etc? I dunno! I do know that I was impressed by the universal kindness of strangers, and how powerful that is.

What about you? Any stories to share? Do these stories inspire you to be generous? Do they bring to mind any insights and truths about poverty and need? How are these stories even remotely relevant to your own life and circumstances?

Self Realization is the post from the Praying For Prosperity project - for those of you who are following that one as well.

Begging As A Spiritual Path

I've done some research, and it looks like we are in good company. Turns out begging is an ancient spiritual practice, accepted and respected in many parts of the world. Not only that, but giving to begggars is also a good thing.

Here's what I found on wikipedia:

In many, perhaps most, traditional religions, it is considered that a person who gives alms to a worthy beggar, such as a spiritual seeker, gains religious merit.

Many religious orders adhere to a mendicant way of life, including the Catholic mendicant orders, Hindu ascetics, some dervishes of Sufi Islam, and the monastic orders of Buddhism. In the Catholic Church, followers of Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Dominic became known as mendicants, as they would beg for food while they preached to the villages.

In many Hindu traditions, spiritual seekers, known as sadhus, beg for food. This is because fruitive activity, such as farming or shopkeeping, is regarded as a materialistic distraction from the search for moksha, or spiritual liberation. Begging, on the other hand, promotes humility and gratitude, not only towards the individuals who are giving food, but towards the Universe in general. This helps the sadhu attain a state of bliss or samādhi.

In traditional Shaivite Hinduism, old men, having lived a full life as a householder in the world, frequently give up materialistic possessions and become wandering ascetic mendicants (sadhus), spending their last months or years seeking spiritual enlightenment. Villagers gain religious merit by giving food and other necessities to these ascetics.

In Buddhism, monks and nuns traditionally live by begging for alms, as did the historical Gautama Buddha himself. This is, among other reasons, so that lay people can gain religious merit by giving food, medicines, and other essential items to the monks. The monks seldom need to plead for food; in villages and towns throughout modern Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and other Buddhist countries, householders can often be found at dawn every morning streaming down the road to the local temple to give food to the monks.

For those of you who are also following our first project on prayer - Praying For Prosperity - here's a link to  A Work In Progress - the next post in that series.

Deliver!

Self-Made Millionaires are not smarter or better than you. They have just discovered these secrets and used them to become wealthy. You can do it too.

Here is secret #13:

DELIVER MORE THAN YOUR CUSTOMER EXPECTS. This builds loyalty and repeat business. It feels good too.

Here's where my mind goes with this one:

Have you noticed "more bang for your buck" doesn't happen much anymore? I open a box of cereal and it's already half empty... same with a can of coffee... or just about anything else that's prepackaged - I'm paying more and receiving less. A thousand years ago (well maybe not quite that long) when you pulled up in a gas station someone came out, pumped your gas, cleaned your windshield, and you didn't even have to get out of the car at all... Doctors made house calls, and the milkman delivered milk to your front door. Actual people answered the phone when you called a business.

Service used to be really important. Now? I'm not so sure. Maybe all you have to do is spend a bunch of money on marketing strategies and deliver as little as possible when it comes to actual products and services, and all the while money is being made, lots of it... so how does that fit into the above secret for making millions?

If I opened a gas station complete with gas station attendents who pumped your gas and cleaned your windshield, would I go broke? If I made cereal and actually filled the boxes all the way up with it, would my business fail? I wonder... is all this grasping greed a symptom of what's wrong with our economy? and what would happen if it stopped? And more importantly, how do I contribute to it? What do I do that is grasping and greedy? Where do I hold back when I could be generous and open handed?

That being said, I do like this concept,it resonates with me. And, in my experience, it does feel good to give more. We also talked about this when we did the Science of Getting Rich. here's a link to that post: How Riches Come To You.

Anyone else want to put their two cents in?

Being Helpful

Self-Made Millionaires are not smarter or better than you. They have just discovered these secrets and used them to become wealthy. You can do it too.

Here is secret #8:

SEE YOUR WORK AS SERVICE. Helping others will grow your business.

Here's what I think:

I think this is true up to a point. But doesn't it depend on what your dream actually is? If you are an artist, and your big dream is to create big art - I'm not sure how that translates into helping others.

(hmmm....)
This is me thinking that one through....

I suppose you could vision it as a way to help others see the world differently... and that would maybe fit. Mostly, I think my art helps me... does that count? I suppose you could think of art as service to the creative spirit that flows within...

I dunno. What do you think? Does your big dream involve any form of service? Is it enough to be serving your own greater good? Is it enough that you are serving your creator by fully utilizing your talents and abilities? Ideas anyone?

Our Gifts Go to the Gods

Offered...

our gifts go to the gods,

Growing...

the gods receive our love,

Listen...

the seer learns our fate,

Flowing...

the blessings come to us.


~Words and music by Anthony R. Thompson

It Matters What You Want

• The universe desires you to have everything you want to have.
• Nature is friendly to your plans.
• Everything is naturally for you.

Make up your mind that this is true.

It is essential, however, that your purpose should harmonize with the purpose that is in All.

You must want real life, not mere pleasure or sensual gratification. Life is the performance of function; and the individual really lives only when he performs every function, physical, mental, and spiritual, of which he is capable, without excess in any.

You do not want to get rich in order to live swinishly, for the gratification of animal desires; that is not life. But the performance of every physical function is a part of life, and no one lives completely who denies the impulses of the body to a normal and healthful expression.

You do not want to get rich solely to enjoy mental pleasures, to get knowledge, to gratify ambition, to outshine others, to be famous. All these are a legitimate part of life, but the man who lives for the pleasures of the intellect alone will only have a partial life, and he will never be satisfied with his lot.

You do not want to get rich solely for the good of others, to lose yourself for the salvation of mankind, to experience the joys of philanthropy and sacrifice. The joys of the soul are only a part of life; and they are no better or nobler than any other part.

You want to get rich in order that you may eat, drink, and be merry when it is time to do these things; in order that you may surround yourself with beautiful things, see distant lands, feed your mind, and develop your intellect; in order that you may love men and do kind things, and be able to play a good part in helping the world to find truth.

But remember that extreme altruism is no better and no nobler than extreme selfishness; both are mistakes.

Get rid of the idea that God wants you to sacrifice yourself for others, and that you can secure his favor by doing so; God requires nothing of the kind.

What he wants is that you should make the most of yourself only by getting rich; so it is right and praiseworthy that you should give your first and best thought to the work of acquiring wealth.

Remember, however, that the desire of Substance is for all, and its movements must be for more life to all; it cannot be made to work for less life to any, because it is equally in all, seeking riches and life.

From: The Science of Getting Rich, by Wallace D Wattles

(Click on the image to view fullsize and download as wallpaper.)

Are your desires well balanced?
Do you take equal care of body, your mind, your spirit?
Which of the three are you most likely to neglect?

More on Giving and Receiving

In order to get right with money, we must get right with ourselves; we must establish our sense of self-worth and enter fully into the wheel of giving and receiving. We need not be afraid to receive because we have given, and we are certainly more inspired to give when we feel we are not being taken.

One thing that appears time and again in career counseling is, "How am I going to get paid for it?" Many people, especially those in the public service and helping professions feel guilty about receiving payment. We tend to be uncomfortable with "taking money" from an individual and yet when it comes to "taking money" from insurance companies - for example - we are "OK" with it. In this way we give away our power because most of us are ashamed of the ways we give, and many of us confuse receiving with taking.

When we are willing to receive from another (notice I did not use the word take), others will want to give to us because their true need is to give, rather than to "be taken."

Money is round, keep it rolling.
~Swami Jnanananda Giri

To "keep it rolling" means to enter into the practice of giving and receiving. When we start doing this consciously we actually begin getting paid for our work because we value it, and others receive that which is of value. Our work itself becomes our way of giving back to life. It is an expression of our fullness rather than a need to extract bread from the earth.

~Rick Jarow

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

Thursday's Sutra

Sutra Statements
for the Fourth Principle

Imagine that the whole universe is a vast ocean of consciousness, and your intentions shoot out from within your heart and ripple across the vast ocean of consciousness.

san kalpa

*

Imagine that your intention is orchestrating the infinite activity of the universe, counterbalancing the whole ecosystem.

san kalpa

*

Imagine that your intention can heal those who are not well.

san kalpa

*

Imagine that your intention can bring joy and laughter to those who are in sorrow.

san kalpa

*

Imagine that you can bring success to those who are failing.

san kalpa

*

Imagine that you can bring strength to those who feel weak and fearful.

san kalpa

*

Imagine that you can bring hope to those who are feeling helpless.

san kalpa

*

Imagine that your thoughts affect the natural forces of the universe, that you can bring rain and sunshine, clouds and rainbows.

san kalpa

*

Imagine that every thought you have, every word you utter, every deed of yours brings some benefit to the world.

san kalpa

How to:
When you have an image of each statement in your mind, say san kalpa (sahn KAL-pah), continue with each image until you have visualized each one and repeated the sutra. You can print out these statements, and repeat the statement and the sutra any time during the day that you feel anxious or stressed.

Each one helps the other...

Each one helps the other, saying to one another, "Take courage."
Isaiah 41:6

At work last night, I read a book about Mother Teresa, and by the end of the evening I was ready to sell everything, go to India, and start washing clothes by hand while taking care of lepers and dying children. Not only that, it was sounding good to me, like something I wanted to do just as much as, and maybe even more than, I want to hang out at the beach and drink margaritas.

As a matter of fact, I had a really great post written about it, but I got so sleepy I went to bed and forgot to save it and when I got up this morning, I discovered that my computer had updated herself and restarted herself all by herself, and that really good post is now floating in cyberspace someplace else.

What I was thinking was that it would really feel good to be doing something that basic and that compassionate and that desperately needed. Initially I wondered if I could extend myself in that way to myself.. putting in long hours of hard work pulling my own pathetic self up off the sidewalk, washing my own dirty laundry, bathing my own imperfect body, and basically committing to taking much better care of me. And doing it in that same compassionate caring way that Mother Teresa did it.

But then I realized that the reason the Mother Teresa work is so rewarding is that it is externalized and it's real. You have a real person in front of you, someone who is destitute and helpless and suffering. Plus you have a rather formidable albeit compassionate group of nuns standing behind you and telling you what to do.

Interestingly, I am not a real person to me. I live inside of me. I can't really see me. Even when I look in the mirror, I'm only seeing the mirror image of me, and truth be told, I haven't really looked at myself at all for a very long time. I glance quickly at that aging face in the mirror, focus on just the hair - is it too messed up? take a quick look at the teeth - do they look clean? And that's about it. And so how can I actually get in there and do compassionate healing work with myself? It might be a lot like trying to paint the outside of my house, and fix the roof, and mow the lawn, all without going out the door.

So, I was mulling this over when I came across this nifty little website. Kiva. I was so impressed with their concept that I put an ad over in the left side bar, right above "go shopping". The concept is to help entrepreneurs in third world countries by lending them money for their businesses and their business ideas. What's really neat about it is that you can lend as little as $25, you pick who you lend it to, and they do pay the money back.

Right now I don't even have $25, so I thought how cool it would be to make a commitment to make a loan of the first $25 that Lady Luck sends me, and to continue to make loans by investing 10% of my winnings. What's even more cool about this is that I will be able to, for a mere $25, make the transition from "flat broke" and "pathetic" and "pretty much a financial disaster" to "lender" and "venture capitalist" and "philanthropist".

Not only that, but it will feel good to my heart, and might even bring me more luck and lots of good karma. Plus, I can put off and maybe even give up the idea of selling everything, and going to India.

Spread the love.

There is nothing worse than being a "fifth wheel" at a party or get together - so look for items that you have too many of, or that don't quite fit in. Things you like but never use. That Christmas gift that didn't quite hit the mark, those cute little doodads that well meaning friends gave you for Christmas, or birthday....

... I am so sorry to do this to you, but this post has been moved to my new website, The Prosperity Project, hosted at shirleytwofeathers.com, and can be found in its entirety here: Spread The Love

27 things find a new home

Declutter activity for today:
The 27-Fling Boogie for items that need to find a new home

Grab a trash bag or a box and run through the house as fast as you can and grab 27 items that you do not love, need, or use. These items are clutter and they need to find a new home. Once you’ve filled the bag with 27 items to give away, either immediately take it to a charity drop-off location, or put it in your car to drop off THIS WEEK.

Or, if you think the items are saleable, our Prosperity Group will hold a garage sale when the weather gets a little warmer. If you do not have room for the bag or if you think you will nostalgically look through the bag at a later date and gradually re-clutter your home, email Shirley or Melissa and we will make arrangements to store the items elsewhere for you until the garage sale. The money from the garage sale will be used to do something fun for our group!

One other option is to sign up for Freecycle at Yahoo Groups. Freecycle allows you to list items you want to give away so someone who needs them can come get them from you for free.



Again, move through today’s decluttering as quickly as possible so we can get to the fun stuff!

From Sink Reflections

by Marla Cilley

Here's a concept

I picked up "The Art of Spiritual Healing" by Joel Goldsmith this morning, and the book flipped open to the chapter on "A New Concept of Supply". Here are a few selected quotes to give us all something to think about.

"... All the supply that exists in heaven or on earth exists within you at this moment, and, therefore, all attempts to demonstrate supply must result in failure. There is no supply outside of your being. If you want to enjoy the abundance of supply, you must open out a way for that supply to escape."

 So sorry to do this, but this project has been moved and can be found in its new home Praying For Prosperity at the new and improved Prosperity Project hosted at shirleytwofeathers.com. And can be found in its entirety here: Here's a Concept

Bright blessings. I hope to see you there!