SYMPATHY
"We lack affection and perception alike
And therefore invariably fail to learn
From the experience of another.
What colossal waste of time and energy
Results from our having to undergo
Each and every experience personally!
The more widely sympathetic we become,
The quicker shall be our release from sorrow.
Therefore,
Love all and learn from them." -G. P. Seth.
LIGHT
"A sunrise of a thousand suns
In sudden, awful blaze
Upris'n in yonder sky ...
Might shadow forth
The splendor of that Master Soul.
The light that,
Streaming from the sun,
Lights up the solar world entire,
What shines in the moon, and what in fire,
That light
Is of My light, know thou."
-Bhagavad Gita.
"The very best prayer a man can pray
Has no
'Give me this virtue or that want',
Or
'Give me, Lord, Thyself', or 'life eternal',
But
'Give me nothing, Lord, but what Thou wilt,
And do, 0 Lord,
Just what and as Thou wilt'."
-Eckhart.
Great peace have they
Which love Thy law;
And nothing shall offend them.
-Ps. 119:165.
BROTHERHOOD
By Rose Noller
I see so many people, none alike;
Each one a vast domain for exploration:
If we could understand,
Not one would strike,
And harmony for notes
Of every nation found,
To make a song of life, of being.
But we must look much farther than the clay,
The eye be focused to a broader seeing,
If we would usher in
A warless day.
I see so many people --God peers through
So frequently forgotten, yet they recall,
If I remember clearly
Who they are,
Reopening to the inner way!
Oh, heaven above is not more grandly sweet
Than when we look for heaven
On the street!
"Whatever ye do in word or deed,
Do all in the name of the Lord,
Giving thanks to God and the Father."
-Col. 3:17.
HUMILITY
"Man has been flying for forty years. The birds and bees and butterflies have been flying for hundreds of thousands of years. I have taken carrier pigeons and homing pigeons many times from Springfield and Dayton when I was going to Detroit and before I got to Detroit I let them loose. There was no way they could see which route they had come, but the ones that came from Springfield went to Springfield, and the ones that came from Dayton went to Dayton.
"The bat is a very old creature. He has the navigating business down fine. If you take two wheels revolving in opposite directions, and blindfold the bat, he will fly through the wheels without even hitting a spoke. He has been able to do that for centuries.
"Man needs humility. We sometimes do a little chest-hammering and think of the great things we have accomplished in science and engineering and so forth, without recognizing that the world was all here before we came. The plants and the animals and everything else were growing here, and there was not much trouble in the world. Only the human beings are having trouble. The so-called civilized nations of the world are the only ones in dire straits." -Charles F. Kettering of General Motors, in a recent talk at Purdue University.
CONFORMITY
In the ancient days Shun inquired of Yao: "In what way does your Majesty exercise your faculties? "
Yao replied: "I am not arrogant towards the defenseless; I do not forsake the poor; I grieve for those who die; I love their orphan children, and I am compassionate to their widows."
"This is indeed good," exclaimed Shun, "but it is not great!"
"How do you mean?" rejoined Yao.
"It is by inaction, the manifestation of Heavenly Virtue, that serenity is attained," Shun replied. "The sun and moon shine, the four seasons revolve, day and night alternate, clouds sail across the sky and rain is everywhere diffused."
"Alas!" cried Yao, "what confusion and turmoil I have been making for myself. You are in conformity with Heaven: I am only in conformity with man."- Chwang Tsze's The Tao Of Heaven (from The Shrine of Wisdom) .
"The sage is awake
To things over which the ordinary man sleeps,
And vice versa;
The eyes of the saint are open to truths
Shut out from the common vision,
While that which is real for the masses
Is illusion for the sage. -Gita, 11: 69.
A TRIBUTE TO LAWRENCE OF ARABIA
Written by Winston Churchill:
"Part of the secret of this stimulating ascendancy lay, of course, in his disdain for most of the prizes, the pleasures and comforts of life. The world naturally looks with some awe upon a man who appears unconcernedly indifferent to home, money, comfort, rank or even power and fame. The world feels, not without a certain apprehension, that here is someone outside its jurisdiction; someone before whom its allurements may be spread in vain; someone strangely enfranchised, untrammeled by convention, moving independently of the ordinary currents of human action; a being readily capable of violent revolt or supreme sacrifice; a man, solitary, austere, to whom existence is no more than a duty, yet a duty to be faithfully discharged. He was indeed a dweller upon the mountain tops where the air is cold, crisp and rarefied, and where the view on clear days commands all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of men."
"The desires
Are like the suckers which grow on a tree;
They sap strength and destroy fertility."
-St. John of the Cross.
"Do not tell me of holy waters or sacred images-
They may cleanse, if at all, only after a long period;
But a saint purifies us at sight-" -Hindu Scriptures
WIDENING
"A friend once remarked to me that astronomy is an uncomfortable science; it makes us seem so small. That is because we identify ourselves with a body, instead of the soul, which is at home in the universe. If we consider ourselves to be our knowledge of the cosmos, we would feel not petty, but large." _H . Warren.
"Unto you that fear My name
Shall the sun of righteousness arise
With healing in his wings."-Malacbi 4:2.