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HIGHLIGHTS #1280 - December 6, 2002 - Edited by Gloria
Solar Eclipse of December 4, 2002
"The mind must learn that beyond the moving mind
there is a
background of awareness which does not change. The mind must come
to know the true self and respect it and cease covering it up,
like
the moon which obscures the sun during a solar eclipse."
Gems from Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj's Conversations Manuel
Hernandez
on A Net ofJewels
____________________
Mark Otter
NDSN
http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/barbour/barbour_index.html
In a profile in The Sunday Times (October,
1998), Steve Farrar wrote:
"Barbour argues that we live in a universe which has neither
past nor
future. A strange new world in which we are alive and dead in the
same
instant. In this eternal present, our sense of the passage of
time is
nothing more than a giant cosmic illusion. 'There is nothing
modest
about my aspirations,' he said. 'This could herald a revolution
in the
way we perceive the world.'" Cosmologist Lee Smolin notes
that Barbour
has presented "the most interesting and provocative new idea
about
time to be proposed in many years. If true, it will change the
way we
see reality. Barbour is one of the few people who is truly both
a scientist and a philosopher."
MJ Gilbert
Along the Way
Break the old pattern of present-moment denial
and present-moment resistance. Make it your
practice to withdraw attention from past and
future whenever they are not needed. Step out
of the time dimension as much as possible in
everyday life.
- Eckhart Tolle
Jerry Katz
NDSN
Man who claimed responsibility for "Bigfoot" legend in
America dies at 84
Thu Dec 5,10:18 PM ET
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20021206/ap_wo_en_po/na_gen_us_obit_wallace_1
SEATTLE - The man who used 16-inch
(40-centimeter) feet-shaped carvings to create
tracks that ignited the "Bigfoot" legend has died. He
was 84.
Ray L. Wallace's family admitted his role in the creature myth
after his death Nov. 26
from heart failure.
Freya
NDS
Who's laughing "at" who anyway? We laugh "in"
delight and joy or at the absurdity of
pain, not 'at' misfortune. It's not about laughing and feeling
pleasure at another's
misfortune. We're all in this together, and i mean, all.
I do not enjoy seeing someone's joy squashed at every turn, no
matter where it is
perceived to another that joy comes from. I believe in the
displaying of joy as a gift to
the world, without being resented for it. There are those that
like to judge this joy,
search for ulterior motives, etc. and for some reason they have
to hurt this expression
of joy...the kind of joy coming from a benevolent sense of
life....resting in the
innocence of all....but, what do they know? They cant see it
themselves, so that
expression becomes suspect.
It's not like i don't see how this squashing could also
facilitate the return to
innocence....by sacrifice. Is that how we want to do things? I
don't.
But, you see, ultimately, i and everyone else was born innocent
and that is how "I" will
remain forever.
People punish each other, they negate, they degrade, they
ridicule, they insult, they
point out--unable to conceive that it is that person's best,
their best in that moment.
Perhaps the people who degrade....i suppose this is their best in
the moment as well.
People do things because of themselves, it has nothing to do with
another. It does no
good to resent them they way they resent others.....it just
perpetuates the cycle. But, if
there is an evil, then that is it.
Ayn Rand wrote:
"The evil of a cultural atmosphere is made by all those who
share it. Anyone who has
ever felt resentment against the good being the good, and has
given voice to it, is the
murderer of innocence."
Wildlife Crossing
A protester holds a dead oil-covered bird crucified on a cross in
Santiago de
Compostela, northwestern Spain, on Dec. 1 during a demonstration
to demand the
resignation of Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar and Galicia
Province President
Manuel Fraga. The protesters accused the government of failing to
handle the crisis
caused by the sinking of an oil tanker and the leaking of its
cargo.
Amrita Osborne
Daily Dharma
"When you think of the Buddha, his life and deeds, what
comes to your
mind? Which among his many qualities do you find most inspiring
and
worthy of respect? I asked this question recently to a group of
Polytechnic students who I have been teaching in Singapore, and
nearly
every one of them answered, 'Compassion.' They were inspired by
the way
the Buddha treated everyone with gentle, kind-hearted compassion;
even
his rivals and detractors; even his cousin Devadatta who was
fiercely
jealous of the Buddha and tried on several occasions to kill him.
Moreover, the Buddha's compassion extended beyond the human realm
to
include animals and all other beings, and he taught his followers
to
practice likewise. The first and most important precept in
Buddhism is
to try as much as possible to refrain from killing or harming any
living
being, even the tiniest of insects.
Compassion is a quality desperately needed in the world today. If
there
could be more compassion in people's hearts and lives, if more
people
could develop the awareness that: 'Just as I do not like being
hurt,
others also do not like being hurt, so we should stop hurting
each
other,' then there would be far fewer stories in the news about
war,
terrorism and violent crimes. All the cruel things human beings
do to
one another are due to a lack of compassion. It is compassion
that keeps
us from harming others. My teacher, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, has
pointed out
that if we can develop compassion for all beings, then all beings
are
safe from being harmed by us. All beings, especially those around
us,
have nothing to fear from us, so indirectly our development of
compassion brings peace to everyone. Imagine what the world would
be
like if we were all to develop such compassion!" ~Ven.
Sangye Khadro
-----------------------------
From the explanations on the "Eight Verses of Thought
Transformation,"
from the web site, "The Amitabha Center,"
http://www.singnet.com.sg/~fmptsing/d-8v.html
------------------------------
Blessings to all. May peace and peace and peace be everywhere.
Joyce
NDS
Joyce
HarshaSatsangh
In the Zen garden at Three Wheels, London.
............is a hanging inscription on the viewing platform
wall:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here in the garden
do not ask who made it,
or why, or when.
The garden is
and you are
Be.
Things are
what they seem
and are not
what they seem
and neither is true
or untrue.
There are islands
and forests
and mountains
and vast
grey seas,
if you see it so.
There are peaks
above rolling blankets
or grey cloud,
Mount Sumeru
and Mount Hiei,
if you see it so.
And there is yourself.
If you see it so,
there are twelve small rocks
of no consequence
from Cumbria
and Aberdeenshire,
from screeds
and spoil heaps
and river beds.
You can make of the garden
what you will.
But it may, perhaps,
make something of you
which you were not,
if you wait
and are still:
if you become one
with the garden
and move beyond thought
or imagination.
and are,
as the garden
is.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.amidatrust.com/ph_whampton.html