Sat, 3 January 2009  Spiritual Spice is designed to help you "wear the world like a loose robe." Spiritual Spice is not affiliated with any particular religion, so people from all faiths, or no faith, can feel at home. The truth is timeless and universal; these blogs and podcasts can be enjoyed over and over. As you change -- they change. Speaking of timeless, it is Spiritual Spice's pleasure to offer four spiritual classics for sale. Each of these books has stood the test of time, and are as relevant and inspirational today, as when they were first published. Each of these editions is a pocket-sized labor of love. They are not merely reprints, but the result of many hours of editing grammar, spelling, format, and content. These books were designed to ensure that "value over cost" was built into each one. Each book can be profitably read many times -- for a lifetime, in fact. You can find out more about them by clicking here: Spiritual Spice Books Namaste, Jim O'Neill
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Sat, 3 January 2009  God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. God is a verb. The word "God" is a verb. An "active" verb -- in the present tense. Verb: noun Expresses an act, occurrence, or mode of being. From the Latin verbum, meaning "word." In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1 (NKJV) Category: general -- posted at: 1:37 AM Comments[391] | ||||||||||||
Wed, 3 December 2008  The woodwind music is "Bhatiyali Dhun" by Shakthidhar. The piano music is from the hymn "Holy, Holy Holy." The words were written by Anglican clergyman R. Heber (1783-1826; This hymn, which Evelyn Underhill was certainly familiar with, was inspired by Isaiah 6:3 "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory."
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Thu, 20 November 2008 Comments[464] | ||||||||||||
Fri, 14 November 2008 The background music is Greensleeves by Blackmore's Night Comments[479] | ||||||||||||
Sun, 17 June 2007  His favorite occupation seemed to be strolling or sauntering about outdoors by himself, looking at the grass, the trees, the flowers, the vistas of light, the varying aspects of the sky, and listening to the birds, the crickets, the tree frogs, and all the hundreds of natural sounds. It was evident that these things gave him a pleasure far beyond what they give to ordinary people. Until I knew the man it had not occurred to me that anyone could derive so much absolute happiness from these things as he did. He was very fond of flowers, either wild or cultivated; liked all sorts. I think he admired lilacs and sunflowers just as much as roses. Perhaps, indeed, no man who ever lived liked so many things and disliked so few. All natural objects seemed to have a charm for him. All sights and sounds seemed to please him. He appeared to like (and I believe he did like) all the men, women, and children he saw...each who knew him felt that he liked him or her, and that he liked others too. I never knew him to argue or dispute, and he never spoke about money. He always justified, sometimes playfully, sometimes quite seriously, those who spoke harshly of himself or his writings. When I first knew [him], I used to think that he watched himself, and would not allow his tongue to give expression to fretfulness, antipathy, complaint, and remonstrance. It did not occur to me as possible that these mental states could be absent in him. After long observation, however, I satisfied myself that such absence or unconsciousness was entirely real. He never spoke deprecatingly of any nationality or class of men, or time in the world's history, or against any trades or occupations, -- against any animals, insects, or inanimate things, nor any of the laws of nature, nor any of the results of those laws, such as illness, deformity, and death. He never complained or grumbled either at the weather, pain, illness, or anything else. He never swore. He could not very well, since he never spoke in anger and apparently never was angry. He never exhibited fear, and I do not believe he ever felt it. Written by Dr. Richard Bucke regarding his friend and mentor, Walt Whitman. (Dr. Bucke coined the term "cosmic consciousness.") The above quote and a description of Dr. Bucke's spiritual awakening can be found in The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James
Miracles Why, who makes much of a miracle? As to me I know of nothing else but miracles, Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan, Or dart my sight over the roofs of houses towards the sky, Or wade with naked feet along the beach just in the edge of the water, Or stand under trees in the woods, Or talk by day with any one I love, or sleep in the bed at night with any one I love, Or sit at table at dinner with the rest, Or look at strangers opposite me in the car, Or watch honey-bees busy around the hive of a summer fore-noon, Or animals feeding in the fields, Or birds, or the wonderfulness of insects in the air, Or the wonderfulness of the sundown, or of stars shining so quiet and bright, Or the exquisite delicate thin curve of the new moon in spring; These with the rest, one and all, are to me miracles, The whole referring, yet each distinct and in its place.
To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle, Every cubic inch of space is a miracle, Every square yard of the surface of the earth is spread with the same,
To me the sea is a continual miracle, The fishes that swim -- the rocks -- the motion of the waves -- the ships with men in them, What stranger miracles are there?
There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
A Persian Lesson For his overarching and last lesson the greybeard sufi, In the fresh scent of the morning in the open air, On the slope of a teeming Persian rose-garden, Under an ancient chestnut-tree wide spreading its branches, Spoke to the young priests and students. "Finally my children, to envelop each word, each part of the rest, Allah is all, all, all -- is immanent in every life and object, May-be at many and many-a-more removes -- yet Allah, Allah, Allah is there."
Walt Whitman (1819-1892) Category: general -- posted at: 3:09 PM Comments[501] | ||||||||||||
Wed, 12 April 2006  Background music is Sextant by Brannon Lane & Ashera.
Energy is eternal delight. William Blake (1757-1827) In the Beginning there was nothing, which exploded. Terry Pratchett Black holes are where God divided by zero. Steven Wright Comments[559] | ||||||||||||
Fri, 3 March 2006  Home Again -- Naturally In a little while from Now It seems to me the heartaches of this world Felicity n. Great happiness; blessedness; blissfulness; great joy. Flower in the crannied wall, Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) [You have] become hypnotized into implicitly believing that when you have attached a word to something, you know what it is. The fact is: You don't know what it is. You have only covered up the mystery with a label. Even a stone, and more easily a flower or a bird, could show you the way back to God, to the Source, to yourself. When you look at it or hold it and let it be without imposing a word or mental label on it.... The quicker you are in attaching verbal or mental labels to things, people, or situations, the more shallow and lifeless your reality becomes, and the more deadened you become to reality, the miracle of life that continuously unfolds within and around you. In this way, cleverness may be gained, but wisdom is lost, and so are joy, love, creativity, and aliveness. Of course we need to use words and thoughts. They have their own beauty -- but do we need to become imprisoned in them? Eckhart Tolle Let the soul banish all that disturbs. Plotinus (205-270 CE) Nothing is there to come, and nothing past. Abraham Cowley (1618-1667) Category: general -- posted at: 2:14 PM Comments[444] | ||||||||||||
Wed, 8 February 2006  Gary Snyder the poet...later emerged in history as Japhy Ryder -- the Buddhist-beatnik hero of Kerouac's Dharma Bums -- in a characterization which hardly begins to do him justice. I am not Gary's teacher...but when I am dead I would like to be able to say that he is carrying on everything I hold most dear, though in a different style. To put it another way, my only regret is that I cannot formally claim him as my spiritual successor. He did it all on his own, but nevertheless he is just exactly what I have been trying to say. For Gary is tougher, more disciplined, and more physically competent than I, but he embodies these virtues without rubbing them in, and I can only say that a universe which has manifested Gary Snyder could never be called a failure. from In My Own Way by Alan Watts (1915-1973)
Once in the Jurassic about 150 million years ago, the Great Sun Buddha in this corner of the Infinite Void gave a great Discourse to all the assembled elements and energies: to the standing beings, the walking beings, the flying beings, and the sitting beings--even the grasses, to the number of thirteen billion, each one born from a seed--assembled there: a Discourse concerning Enlightenment on the planet Earth. "In some future time, there will be a continent called America. The human race in that era will get into troubles all over its head, and practically wreck everything in spite of its own strong intelligent Buddha-nature. In that future American Era I shall enter a new form, to cure the world of loveless knowledge that seeks with blind hunger, and mindless rage eating food that will not fill it." And he showed himself in his true form of
A handsome smokey-colored brown bear standing on his hind legs, showing that he is aroused and watchful. Bearing in his right paw the Shovel that digs to the truth beneath appearances, cuts the roots of useless attachments, and flings damp sand on the fires of greed and war; His left paw in the Mudra of Comradely Display--indicating that all creatures have the full right to live to their limits and that deer, rabbits, chipmunks, snakes, dandelions, and lizards all grow in the realm of the Dharma; With a halo of smoke and flame behind, the forest fires of the kali yuga, fires caused by the stupidity of those who think things can be gained and lost whereas in truth all is contained vast and free in the Blue Sky and Green Earth of One Mind; Round-bellied to show his kind nature and that the great Earth has food enough for everyone who loves her and trusts her; Wrathful but Calm, Austere but Comic, Smokey the Bear will Illuminate those who would help him; but for those who would hinder or slander him,
And SMOKEY THE BEAR will surely appear to put the enemy out with his vajra shovel. Now those who recite this Sutra and then try to put it in practice will accumulate merit as countless as the sands of Arizona and Nevada.
Will enter the age of harmony of man and nature. Will win the tender love and caresses of men, women, and beasts. Will always have ripe blackberries to eat and a sunny spot under a pine tree to sit at. AND IN THE END WILL WIN HIGHEST PERFECT ENLIGHTENMENT Thus we have heard. (may be reproduced free forever) The above is an abridged version of the Smokey the Bear Sutra. To read the full text click here -->Smokey the Bear Sutra
Vajra - thunderbolt, or diamond. Strong determination or willpower -- adamantine hardness. Mudra - A symbolic hand gesture -- paw gesture in this case. Dharma - Broadly defined as the way of righteousness or "that which holds one's true nature." The fulfillment of an inherent nature or destiny.
Kali Yuga - An era or age of the world of which there are four: Satya Yuga, (the golden age); Treta Yuga, Dwapara Yuga, and finally Kali Yuga, (the dark age -- which we are currently muddling our way through). The Yuga's repeat themselves in an endless cycle. Some people believe that the Kali Yuga will continue for many more years; others believe we are in the process of leaving the Kali Yuga, and entering the Dwapara Yuga (a much more benign era or age).
Gary Snyder's book Turtle Island won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. Pine Tree Tops
In the blue night
Everybody Lying on Their Stomachs, Head Toward the Candle,
The corrugated roof
million darted rain outside lightning
Photographs in the brain
The plank shutter Half-open on eternity Regarding Wave
The voice of the Dharma
A shimmering bell
Every hill, still
Dark hollows; peaks of light.
The Voice him still ______________ om ah aum To find out more about Gary Snyder click Wikpedia.org/wiki/Gary_Snyder Comments[566] | ||||||||||||
Sat, 4 February 2006  Truth is within ourselves; it takes no rise From outward things, whate'er you may believe. There is an inmost center in us all, Where truth abides in fullness; and around, Wall upon wall, the gross flesh hems it in, This perfect, clear perception which is truth. A baffling and perverting carnal mesh Binds it, and makes all error: and, to KNOW, Rather consists in opening out a way Whence the imprisoned splendor may escape, Than in effecting an entry for a light Supposed to be without. Robert Browning (1812-1889) from Paracelsus I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of Being and ideal Grace. I love thee to the level of everyday's Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. I love thee freely, as men strive for Right; I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise. I love thee with a passion put to use In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints, --- I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life! --- and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) Robert Browning's pet name for his wife Elizabeth was "My Portuguese." This was due to her "mediterranean" complexion, which was darker than usually seen in England in those days. Hence the title of her most famous book -- Sonnets From the Portuguese. The above poem is from that book. Category: general -- posted at: 10:27 PM Comments[441] | ||||||||||||
Mon, 19 December 2005  The background music Naughty Hula Eyes was recorded in the 1930s by "Andy Iona and his Islanders." "What," you might ask, "does Naughty Hula Eyes have to do with James Allen?" The answer is -- nothing. It's just a fun tune that helps to "lighten up," or "enlighten" the podcast. The ego takes itself very seriously, and humor is often an effective spiritual tool. The oak sleeps in the acorn;
The root of a bulb which shall produce a white lily is an unsightly thing; one might look upon it with disgust. But how foolish we should be to condemn the bulb for its appearance when we know the lily is within it.
To download a free copy of Naughty Hula Eyes and other songs, go to -->PublicDomain4U.com Comments[312] | ||||||||||||
Mon, 19 December 2005 
Background music is Salve Festa Dies performed by Benedictine monks Practicing the Presence is... The pure loving gaze that finds God everywhere.
Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection (1605-1691)
Finding God in all things.
Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556)
Seeing through exterior things, and seeing God in them.
Thomas Merton (1916-1968)
Looking deeply at life
Thich Nhat Hanh
Awareness
Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)
Seeing God in everything and everything in God
Marie of the Incarnation (1599-1672)
Be still.
Eckhart Tolle
Audio
The eyes of my soul were opened, and I discerned the fullness of God, in which I understood the whole world, here and beyond the sea...everything.
Angela of Foligno (1248-1309)
Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the Lord is in this place,
Genesis 28:16,17
What do we learn from Jacob's experience? Our material lives...are linear, chronological, sensible. But there exists another level, a level in which there is no before and after, only the eternal present...Now. And we are able to experience an indelible moment. God was in this place and we did not know it!
Rabbi Mark H. Levin
To find out more about the monks of Abbe En Calcat and other Gregorian chanters Comments[242] | ||||||||||||
Mon, 19 December 2005  Background music is As the Sun Goes Down by Mark Preston VOCATUS ATQUE NON VOCATUS DEUS ADERIT Bidden or Unbidden God is Present
Dr. Jung had the above Latin engraved over the front door of his house in Zurich, Switzerland.
Where love rules, there is no will to power, and where power predominates, love is lacking. The one is the shadow of the other.
Dr. Carl Jung (1875-1961)
Question: Why did the chicken cross the road?
Carl Jung:
"A confluence of events in the global gestalt necessitated the traversing of a thoroughfare by a domestic fowl; ergo synchronous inclinations of the collective unconscious manifested the desired archetypal reality.
To find out more about Mark Preston click
here -->MarkPreston.net
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Sun, 28 August 2005 
by Emmet Fox
What do you think of the nature of God? What do you think God is like? That is the most important question in the whole world because your idea of God will determine your whole life. From the very marrow of your bones right down to the farthest place your influence goes, all is determined ultimately by your real belief about the nature of God.
If you say, The truth is that it is so hazy I don't know what I think about God -- and that is true of many people -- then it will leave your life hazy, drifting, and undetermined. It is your conception of God that makes your whole life. It makes you what you are. It makes your health, your appearance, your home, your business. It makes the kind of friends and enemies you have and the kind of people you meet. Of all the important things that should be taken care of, the one thing that really matters is your idea of God, because that determines everything.
Change your thoughts and you change your world.
Norman Vincent Peale (1898-1993)
Your idea of God is not the name you give to God. It does not matter what you call God. These are only names. The real name of God for you is your idea of God; not mine, not the one your father or mother taught you, not the local minister's idea, but your own honest and real idea of God. That will govern your whole life. That is the name of God for you, and you cannot have it in vain.
The question is sometimes asked, "Do you believe in God?" But that question and its answer can have no meaning until you say what kind of God you believe in. Then it has a meaning. The only intelligent question is what kind of God do you believe in, because everybody believes in some God, even those who do not like the word. And you cannot believe in any kind of God without getting the result of that.
Everyone thinks of changing the world but no one thinks of changing himself.
Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)
If you believe that God is good; God is love; God has all power; God is intelligence; all the conditions of your life will steadily improve. Some conditions will clear up much sooner than others. Some people will demonstrate harmony and well-being sooner than others. These things are only a matter of degree. But when you really believe that God is all these things, as unquestioningly, as unemotionally as you believe in the soundness of the George Washington Bridge when you cross it in a car, then everything will begin to come right.
You cannot take the name of God in vain. You cannot do it. Whatever your idea of God is, whatever idea you really believe in, that will be expressed in your life. A limited God will be limited, a cruel God will react to you cruelly and without love. You will suffer the results of that. If you believe in a weak God, you will suffer the consequences of weakness. If you believe in a human God, you will have all the trouble you would have if a human being really could run this universe.
However, if you believe that God is spirit, and think what spirit means, and if you believe that God is love, and intelligence, and life, and wisdom, and think what these things mean, and really believe it, you will get the results of that kind of God. Your conditions will improve as the days and weeks go by. You will go from strength to strength. Your health, your surroundings, and your understanding will increase and multiply -- "Until the day breaks and the shadows flee away" -- because you cannot take the name of God in vain.
Emmet Fox (1886-1951)
Remember that words do not become true because you affirm them. That is the common confusion about the practice of affirmative prayer, that if you speak words of Truth over and over, you impress them on the subconscious mind and thus they become true for you. They do not become true because you affirm them. You affirm them because they are true. You are synchronizing your consciousness with the reality of the Truth.
Eric Butterworth
Do not be afraid; only believe.
Mark 5:36
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Sun, 28 August 2005  Paramahansa (Supreme swan) Excerpts from a talk given on October 26, 1939 Silently and surely, as you walk on the path of life, you must come to the realization that God is the only object, the only goal that will satisfy you; for in God lies the answer to every desire of the heart.
Carry within you a portable heaven, and in life or in death, in heaven or in hades, that inner heaven will be with you. Paramahansa Yogananda While you are learning to swim in the sea of life, you can help others learn to swim. Paramahansa Yogananda
Category: general -- posted at: 12:17 AM Comments[191] | ||||||||||||
Sun, 28 August 2005  This podcast features Mexican Dawn, Spirit Rising, and Fantastic World written and performed by Graham Trimbrell.
We are luminous beings.
Carlos Castaneda (1925?-1998)
Light expresses itself in billions of different forms to create the material universe. Light is a living being that contains all of the wisdom of the universe and occupies every space. There is no empty space between the stars, just as there is no empty space between the atoms in my body. The space between the stars is filled with light; it only appears empty when there is no object to reflect the light...like a mirror.
don Miguel Ruiz
Toltec theory holds that light is everywhere in the universe and is aware. We are made of light that has crystalized into what we can call matter.
Sheri Rosenthal
Then God said, "Let there be light;" and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good.
Genesis 1:3,4
In the beginning there was nothing. God said, 'Let there be light!' And there was light. There was still nothing, but you could see it a whole lot better.
Ellen DeGeneres
God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
John 1:5
I see you everywhere, your form is infinite...a mass of light, shining everywhere, with incomparable radiance as of the sun and blazing fire.
Gita XI:16,17
From within or from behind, a light shines through us upon things, and makes us aware that we are nothing, but the light is all.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1802-1883)
Light was an important reality to Jesus. Perhaps we do not fully appreciate His teachings or the great experiences of His life until we see the light. So, what is light? Perhaps light is an every-where present reality which sometimes, as a result of certain conditions, becomes visible to the eyes. Light may well be the one great reality of things, beyond appearances.
Eric Butterworth
All these fifty years of conscious brooding have brought me no nearer to the answer to the question, 'What are light quanta?' Nowadays every Tom, Dick and Harry thinks he knows it, but he is mistaken.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Deep within the self is the light of God. It radiates throughout the expanse of his creation. The heart lotus flower blossoms forth and eternal peace is obtained, as one's light merges into the Supreme light.
Sikh Guru Amar Das (1479-1574)
All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.
St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226)
Walk as children of light.
Ephesians 5:8
To find out more about Sheri's teachings; her guided trips to Mexico, and more, click SheriRosenthal.com
Another website you might enjoy is MiguelRuiz.com
To find out more about Graham Trimbrell click
here -->Graham Trimbrell Comments[191] | ||||||||||||
Sun, 28 August 2005  SALUTATION TO THE DAWN
Look to this day!
Such is the salutation of the dawn. by Kalidasa, Indian dramatist (Circa 450) PHOTO
Stop acting as if life is a rehearsal. Live this day as if it were your last. The past is over and gone. The future is not guaranteed.
Wayne Dyer
There exists only the present instant... a Now which always and without end is new. There is no yesterday nor any tomorrow, but only Now, as it was a thousand years ago and as it will be a thousand years hence.
Meister Eckhart (1260-1326)
There is no such thing in anyone's life as an unimportant day.
Alexander Woollcott (1887-1943)
Do you feel that you have a future moment to get to that is more important than living Now? Since the future never arrives, except as the present, it is a dysfunctional way to live.
Eckhart Tolle
It is your day. You are alive in it. It is an unfolding opportunity to express and to grow. Of all persons in all ages, no one has more reason for thanksgiving than you.
Eric Butterworth
The world is new to us every morning - this is God's gift; and every man should believe he is reborn each day.
the Baal Shem Tov -- Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer (1698-1760)
Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year. He is rich who owns the day, and no one owns the day who allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1802-1883)
Believe that each day that shines on you is your last. Seize the day. (Carpe Diem!)
Horace (65-8 BC)
For a great collection of inspirational quotes click BornToMotivate.com
Category: general -- posted at: 12:15 AM Comments[194] | ||||||||||||
Sun, 28 August 2005  For a long time we have been accustomed to the compartmentalization of religion and science as if they were two quite different and basically unrelated ways of seeing the world. I do not believe that this state of doublethink can last. It must eventually be replaced by a view of the world which is neither religious nor scientific but simply our view of the world. More exactly, it must become a view of the world in which the reports of science and religion are as concordant as those of the eyes and ears. The Joyous Cosmology 1962 (from the introduction by Timothy Leary) "Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind." Albert Einstein (1879-1955) The point is to know, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that "I" and all other "things" now present will vanish, until this knowledge compels you to release them -- to know it now as surely as if you had just fallen off the rim of the Grand Canyon. Indeed, you were kicked off the edge of a precipice when you were born, and it's no help clinging to the rocks falling with you. And then comes the hitherto unbelievable suprise: you don't die because you were never born. You had just forgotten who you are. The Book Alan Watts (1915-1973) AUDIO AUDIO AUDIO Allan Watts Blues by Van Morrison
Well I'm taking some time with my quiet friend. I have promised myself that if and when I reach the age of seventy, I shall retire to a mountain slope near the ocean and raise a small garden of herbs...and if the world presses too much in on me, my wife will respond to unwelcome visitors in the words of Chia Tao's poem Searching for the Hermit in Vain:
The masters gone alone Alan Watts (from Does It Matter?) To bottom
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Sun, 28 August 2005  The fish trap exists because of the fish; once you've gotten the fish, you can forget the trap. The rabbit snare exists because of the rabbit; once you've gotten the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words exist because of meaning; once you've gotten the meaning, you can forget the words. Where can I find a man who has forgotten words so I can have a word with him?
Words, as is well known, are the great foes of reality.
Joseph Conrad (1857-1924)
No word is ever anything more than a metaphor.
Aldous Huxley (1894-1963)
Cease from practice based on intellectual understanding, pursuing words, and following after speech, and learn the backward step that turns your light inward to illuminate your self. Body and mind of themselves will drop away, and your original face will be manifest.
Eihei Dogen (1200-1253)
Know that words are words and nothing else. When Zen wants you to taste the sweetness of sugar, it will put the required article right into your mouth and no further words are said.
Dr. D.T. Suzuki (1870-1966)
All the problems vanish when you are in the
nonverbal dimension of consciousness. You see the answers to all the questions that theologians and metaphysicians ask and you see why their questions are absurd. Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be
silent.
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889)-1951) Category: general -- posted at: 12:13 AM Comments[177] | ||||||||||||
Sun, 28 August 2005 
Spiritual Spice also recommends The Book of Strangers by Ian Dallas; available through www.SUNYPRESS.edu For more about Glen Vellez go to GlenVelez.com If you wish to know more about the sufis a good place to start is The Sufi Wind A SUFI PRAYER:
Beloved Lord; Almighty God!
Hazrat Inayat Khan (1882-1927) revivify v. To give new life to. To bottomComments[166] | ||||||||||||
Sun, 28 August 2005 
To bottom Category: general -- posted at: 12:11 AM Comments[134] | ||||||||||||
Sun, 28 August 2005  Spiritual Spice is designed to help you to open your eyes; sit up, and enjoy the view. This Podcast's background music is Gymnopedie #1 by Satie. For more on Emmet Fox please go to emmetfox.net
(rejoice v. To feel joyful or be delighted).
"Without being happy you will not even be able to find Him."
Paramahansa Yogananda Also check out emmetfox.wwwhubs.com/ To bottom
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Sun, 28 August 2005 
Treat yourself everyday for sheer good humor. This alone will solve a surprising number of your problems and is tremendously effective in self-healing. Emmet Fox (1886-1951) Besides being an author, Florence was also an accomplished illustrator. Above is a drawing she did for the January, 1900 edition of a magazine named The Century. This drawing and others by Florence Scovel Shinn made be seen at www .ellisparkerbutler.info To bottom Category: general -- posted at: 12:09 AM Comments[180] | ||||||||||||
Sun, 28 August 2005  Background music is from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite;
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Sun, 28 August 2005  The Bhagavad-Gita is a true scripture of the human race; a living creation rather than a book, with a new message for every age, and a new meaning for every civilization. -- Aurobindo The Bhagavad-Gita is a Hindu holy book that has been around for over 2,000 years. The title is commonly translated as the "Divine Song,"
On the surface, the Bhagavad-Gita tells the story of an Indian prince named Arjuna engaged in an epic battle against a great opposing army. Arjuna's only hope for victory is to follow advice given to him by his mentor Krishna, (the image shown depicts Krishna playing the flute).
The esoteric or hidden meaning of the Bhagavad-Gita is that the battle represents Arjuna's inner struggle as he encounters various obstacles on the spiritual path.
Arjuna represents everyone on a spiritual journey. Arjuna is us. At the beginning of the Bhagavad-Gita, Arjuna looks at the formidable army he faces and loses all hope of emerging victorious. He loses his nerve; drops his weapon, and collapses in despair.
At this point his advisor -- Krishna -- tells Arjuna that this sort of attitude just won't do. "Stand up Arjuna!" he tells him.
Stand up indeed.
When I read the Bhagavad-Gita and reflect about how God created this universe everything else seems so superfluous.
(superfluous adj. Beyond what is required. The Bhagavad-Gita...is one of the most clear and comprehensive summaries of perennial philosophy ever revealed; hence its enduring value is subject not only to India but to all of humanity. The marvel of the Bhagavad-Gita is its truly beautiful revelation of life's wisdom which enables philosophy to blossom into religion.
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Sun, 28 August 2005  In Tune With the Infinite by Ralph Waldo Trine has sold over 2,000,000 copies. It has been in print for over a century.
Thoughts are forces.
If you would find the highest, the fullest and the richest life...then do away with the sense of separateness of your life from the life of God.
Indeed and in truth, then, in Him we live and move and have our being. he is the life of our life, our very life itself. We have received, we are continually receiving our life from Him.
There is nothing worthy of the name truth that is not universal.
Ralph Waldo Trine
Truth that is experiential does not have to be defended. It is merely a matter of fact.
Knowledge based on faith and true experience is calm. It invites rather than tries to convince. It attracts by virtue of its intrinsic merit and the innate power of the truth itself. Truth does not rely on persuasion by force or argument; it explains but does not try to convince.
Dr. David R. Hawkins, M.D., Ph. D.
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Sun, 28 August 2005 
"For it is perfectly certain -- and you will not misunderstand me -- that to enter Heaven a man must take it with him." Dr. Henry Drummond (1851-1897) The deleted sentence occurs in the "analysis of love" section under Good Temper. Spiritual Spice has no opinion regarding Dr. Drummond's statement, but we do believe he would have wished it to be included in any edition of his book. An edition of the book, with the sentence, can be found at the Spiritual Spice Storefront . An online edition of The Greatest Thing in the World as Dr. Drummond wrote it may be found at henrydrummond.wwwhubs.com/
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Sun, 28 August 2005 
Transcendence restores humor. Spirit restores humor. Suddenly smiling returns. Too many representatives of too many movements -- even many very good movements, such as feminism, environmentalism, meditation, spiritual studies -- seem to lack humor altogether. In other words, they lack lightness, they lack a distance from themselves, a distance from the ego and its grim game of forcing others to conform to its contours. There is self-transcending humor, or there is the game of egoic power. ...We have chosen egoic power and politically correct thought police; grim Victorian reformers pretending to protect civil rights; messianic new paradigm thinkers who are going to save the planet and heal the world. They should all trade two pounds of ego for one ounce of laughter.
One Taste
Everything in the dream is basically fun, at some deep level, except for this: when you see your friends suffering...you want to relieve their suffering, you want them to wake up too. Watching them suffer is not fun. And so a deep and powerful compassion arises in the heart of the awakened ones, and they seek, above all else, to awaken others....
One Taste
Ken Wilber BOOK BOOK BOOK AUDIO AUDIO
All of my life I wanted to be somebody. Now, I am finally somebody...but it isn't me.
Wayne Dyer
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Sun, 28 August 2005  SpiritualSpice.com
I Stand by the Door I stand by the door. I neither go too far in, nor stay too far out. The door is the most important door in the world -- it is the door through which men walk when they find God. There is no use my going way inside and staying there, when so many are still outside and they, as much as I, crave to know where the door is. Men die outside the door, as starving beggars die on cold winter nights in cruel cities in the dead of winter. Die for want of what is within their grasp. I admire the people who go way in. But I wish they would not forget how it was before they got in. ...You can go in too deeply and stay in too long and forget the people outside the door. As for me, I shall take my old accustomed place, near enough to God to hear Him and know He is there, but not so far from men as to not hear them, and remember they are there too. ...so I stand by the door. Rev. Sam Shoemaker (1893-1963) To see I Stand at the Door in its entirety go to TheJaywalker.com Comments[183] | ||||||||||||
Sun, 28 August 2005  William James and Dr. Richard Bucke -- awesome. As always, hope you enjoy!
Our normal waking consciousness...is but one of several types of consciousness, whilst all about it, parted from it by the filmiest of screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different.
Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense -- dancing.
The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes.
I believe there is no source of deception in the investigation of nature which can compare with a fixed belief that certain kinds of phenomena are impossible.
We and God have business with each other, and in opening ourselves to God's influence our deepest destiny is fulfilled. William James (1842-1910)
When I was a youngster...I used to collect insects. Central to this endeavor was the killing jar. You take an empty mayonnaise jar, put lethal carbon tetrachloride on cotton balls, and place them in the bottom of the jar. You then drop the insect -- moth, butterfly, whatnot -- into the jar, and it quickly dies, but without being outwardly disfigured. You then mount it, study it, display it.
Academic religion is the killing jar of Spirit.
Ken Wilber Comments[256] | ||||||||||||
Sun, 28 August 2005 
The grateful mind is a great mind, and attracts to it great things. Plato (427-348 BCE) When a person doesn't have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity. A person can almost be defined by his or her attitude towards gratitude. Elie Wiesel (concentration camp survivor) Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life...It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast; a house into a home; a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past; brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. Melody Beattie Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of them all. Cicero (106-43 BCE) If the only prayer you say in your life is "Thank You," that would suffice. Meister Eckhart (1260-1327) Gratitude is heaven itself. William Blake (1757-1827) [Some people] have a wonderful capacity to appreciate again and again, freshly and naively, the basic goods of life, with awe, pleasure, wonder, and even ecstasy. A. H. Maslow (1908-1970) Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted. Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing and grace before I dip the pen in ink. G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936) Thanksgiving is not just a reactive emotion; it is a causative energy. Eric Butterworth An attitude of gratitude is most salutary, and bespeaks the realization that we are now in heaven. Ernest Holmes (1887-1960) Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has many--not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some. Charles Dickens (1812-1870) I feel a very unusual sensation -- if it is not indigestion, I think it must be gratitude. Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881)
Spiritual growth is in direct proportion to our ability to accept the good fortune that life can provide. During the past fifty years, during which I have met many thousands of people, I have never known of anyone with a habitual poverty consciousness who experienced an obvious degree of spiritual growth. I have known many such people who were pleasant, kind, and well-intentioned, and some who were able to generate a pleasant mood when praying or meditating. But real spiritual growth? No. Learn to be affluent: to always be in a continuous flow of resources and supportive events, circumstances and wholesome relationships for the highest good of yourself, others, the planet, and the universe. Roy Eugene Davis You are the child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. Marianne Williamson Winter Mornings and other CDs are available at ShirleyCason.com You can download a free ebook of Wallace Wattle's The Science of Getting Rich here at --> ScienceofGetting Rich.NET Spiritual Spice is affiliated with their website via this link -- (seemed appropriate, as this entry includes prosperity consciousness).
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Sun, 28 August 2005  Dr. David R. Hawkins, M.D., Ph. D., served on a minesweeper during WWII. He has over 50 years of clinical and research experience in psychiatry. He has been Knighted into the Danish Sovereign Order of St. John of Jerusalem (est. 1070). He co-authored the book Orthomolecular Psychiatry with Nobelist, Linus Pauling. South Korea has bestowed upon him the honorific of Tae Ryoung Sun Kak Tosa (Foremost Teacher of the Way to Enlightenment) He is the Director of The Institute for Advanced Theoretical Research in Arizona. As Love becomes more and more unconditional, it begins to be experienced as inner Joy. This isn't the sudden joy of a pleasurable turn of events; it's a constant accompaniment to all activities. Joy arises from within each moment of existence, rather than from any other source. from Power vs Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior Science had decided that unless something was definable and measurable it was unreal and imaginary. Thus, science invalidated any serious study or inquiry into the human values of love, compassion, beauty, forgiveness, inspiration, faith, companionship, loyalty, gratitude, hope, and happiness -- in other words, all that constitutes the actual core and reality of human existence and motivation. Science...is, however, the best tool man has had thus far for evaluating and manipulating the physical world. That it has limits is not a defect but merely defines its range of usefulness. from The Eye of the I: From Which Nothing is Hidden "Physics, beware of metaphysics." Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) Turn only to love and to God as the source of life and joy. This choice is available in every instant. When finally chosen the reward is great. from I: Reality and Subjectivity Contextualizing earthly phenomena as evidence of the "wrath of God" is primitive, naive, and an anthropomorphic distortion of the Reality of Divinity. God is not emotionally imbalanced, or needful of psychological help, spiritual counseling, or anger-management classes. from Discovery of the Presence of God: Devotional Nonduality Dr. David R. Hawkins, M.D., Ph. D. For more on Dr. Hawkins please go to veritaspub.com BottomIf you enjoy Spiritual Spice
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Spiritual Spice has a 5 star rating at Podspider.com Category: general -- posted at: 12:00 AM Comments[279] | ||||||||||||
Fri, 1 April 2005  "Dziekuje - Szczesc Boze." That's Polish for "Thank you - God bless you."
"Be not afraid.
We are the Easter people and Hallelujah is our song."
Karol Jozef Wojtyla Category: general -- posted at: 12:06 AM Comments[452] | ||||||||||||
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