"I think 'prayer' is the moment you feel God is with you. That's what prayer is. It is 'recognition' and a 'connection'. You don't need to say words to have this 'connection'." Sr. Annunciata Yang

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Few of us ever do get it right, but the best among us keep trying.

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- A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks he becomes.

- I do not want to foresee the future. I am concerned with taking care of the present.

- What a great thing it would be if we in our busy lives, could retire into ourselves each day, for at least a couple of hours, and prepare our minds to listen to the voice of the great silence.      Mohandas Gandhi

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Nothing ever exists entirely alone; everything is in relation to everything else.  Buddha

The world is not to be put in order. The world is in order. It is for us to put ourselves in unison with this order. -  Henry Miller

When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete,everybody will respect you. -  Lao-tzu

You should withdraw inwardly and search for the ground upon which you stand; thereby you will find out what Truth is. -  Yun-men Wen-yen

This is the real secret of life: to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play. -  Alan Watts

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“With thee conversing I forget all time

                                      John Milton, Paradise Lost (bk. IV, I, 639),

    Three parts of this line tie into the discussions in class:

      “with thee…” God, the Divine, Adam, the divine in Adam…

“…conversing…” the connotation here is sexual but it could mean any type of interpersonal/interdivine communication/interaction, connection, awareness, etc..

      “…I forget all time:…” this is occuring in the "now" without regard to any other time.  

“If you are not where you are, you are nowhere. “ Sherman T. Potter, Col. US Army, 4077 MASH.

“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” Teilhard De Chardin as quoted in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen R. Covey, p.319

Here is a quote from a work of Tony Hillerman who was highly regarded by the Navajo people for his friendship and respect for their stories and culture.

“…the lessons of Changing Woman" - that the only goal for man was beauty, and that beauty was found only in harmony, and that this harmony of nature was a matter of dazzling complexity.

“When the dung beetle moves,” Hosteen Nashibitti had told him,”know that something has moved it. And know that its movement affects the flight of the sparrow, and that the raven deflects the eagle from the sky, and that the eagle’s stiff wing bends the will of the Wind People, and know that all of this affects you and me, and the flea on the prairie dog and the leaf on the cottonwood.”

That had always been the point of the lesson. Interdependency of nature. Every cause has its effect. Every action its reaction. A reason for everything. In all things a pattern, and in this pattern, the beauty of harmony. Thus one learned to live with evil, by understanding it, by reading its course. And thus one learned, gradually and methodically, if one was lucky, to always “go in beauty,” to always look for the pattern, and to find it.” Dance Hall of the Dead, Tony Hillerman, p. 77.

“Just remember, the universe is just the way it is supposed to be right now.”       Conversing with that awareness allows me to forget time and be in the 'now'.

God is, I am, We are!     (FR)         (emphasis GCS)

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"I can't understand why people are frightened by new ideas. I'm frightened of old ones."  John Cage

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"Stilness is the language God speaks, and everything else is bad translation".  [see next; also  www.gcsmorespace.com  'Heffner']

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The latest copy of NCR had as theme: 
"Experiencing the Divine in our lives".  One sample of these experiences was:  
"Walking leisurely in a light rain is a sensory experience that draws me both inward to an awareness of my 'being' in God and outward to my 'being' in oneness with all cration. Because I cannot stop the rain, I am reminded to accept in life  that which I cannot change. The result is peace - with God, with myself and with what the future may bring." 

One day I decided to quit.... I quit my job, my relationship, my spirituality.. I wanted to quit my life. I went to the woods to have one last talk with God.

"God", I said. "Can you give me one good reason not to quit?"

His answer surprised me..."Look around", He said. "Do you see the fern and the bamboo?"

"Yes", I replied.

"When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds, I took very good care of them. I gave them light. I gave them water. The fern quickly grew from the earth. Its brilliant green covered the floor. Yet nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo. In the second year the Fern grew more vibrant and plentiful. And again, nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo".He said. "In the third year, there was still nothing from the bamboo seed. But I would not quit. In the fourth year, again, there was nothing from the bamboo seed. But I would not quit. He said.

"Then in the fifth year a tiny sprout emerged from the earth. Compared to the fern it was seemingly small and insignificant. But just 6 months later the bamboo rose to over 100 feet tall. It had spent the five years growing roots. Those roots made it strong and gave it what it needed to survive. I would not give any of my creations a challenge it could not handle."

He said to me. "Did you know, my child, that all this time you have been struggling, you have actually been growing roots. I would not quit on the bamboo. I will never quit on you. Don't compare yourself to others."

He said. "The bamboo had a different purpose than the fern, yet, they both make the forest beautiful."

"Your time will come," God said to me. " You will rise high!"

"How high should I rise?" I asked.

"How high will the bamboo rise?" He asked in return.

"As high as it can?" I questioned.

"Yes." He said, "Give me glory by rising as high as you can."

I left the forest and brought back this story.

I hope these words can help you see that God will never give up on you........Never regret a day in your life. Good days give you Happiness. Bad days give you Experiences. Both are essential to life.

Keep going... Happiness keeps you Sweet, Trials keep you Strong, Sorrows keep you Human, Failures keep you Humble, Success keeps You Glowing, But Only God keeps You Going!

Have a great day! The Son is shining!! God is so big He can cover the whole world with his Love and so small He can curl up inside your heart.   (Thanks Helen S)

About 'sinfulness'

After 2 years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house."

The old woman smiled, "Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side?" "That's because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house."

Each of us has our own unique flaw. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. You've just got to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them. [Thanks Michele Gordon!]

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"Pass on your values, not just your assets."

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"It is not a curse to be rich, it s a curse to die rich." Rick Warren

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"All great spirituality is about what we do with our pain."           Fr. Richard Rohr

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"The proof of what we believe is in our living."

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"The hurt is very great, but they don't balance the hurt with hate." (Gertrude Huntington's reflection)

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"Justice, if you like, is the public face of compassion. You cannot have religion without justice." (Karen Armstrong)

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What mattered was not what you believed but how you behaved. (Jesus! GCS) Religion was about doing things that changed you at a profound level.

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         "Go out on a limb. 
   That's where the fruit is."  Sr.Joan Chittister

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We can be grateful that, - however slowly, - our insights into what it means to be human and to be Christian do develop and change over time.  (Tom Fox NCR)

* * *
The Whale -  a female humpback who had become entangled in a spider web of crab traps and lines. She was weighted down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat. She also had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped around her body, her tail, her torso, a line tugging in her mouth. A fisherman spotted her just east of the Farralone Islands (outside the Golden Gate ) and radioed an environmental group for help. Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and determined that she was so bad off, the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle her, a very dangerous proposition. One slap of the tail could kill a rescuer. 
They worked for hours with curved knives and eventually freed her. 
When she was free, the divers say she swam in what seemed like joyous circles. She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, and nudged them, pushed them gently around - she thanked them. Some said it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives.
The guy who cut the rope out of her mouth says her eye was following him the whole time, and he will never be the same. 

* * * * 
Give me a teacher who gives a damn, 
needs to know more than my name, 
strains for the song I have not sung, 
follows me in my ennui 
to find my fishing hole. 
Give me a teacher who gives a damn 
seduces and surprises 
spades the soil of me, 
fertilizes feelings for what is fair, 
with anger at what is not, 
hope for solutions, 
appetite for application. 
Give me a teacher who gives a damn 
who tenders truth and trust 
more than rules and roles, 
favors sticky freedoms over cool controls 
who risks career and cares to take a stand for students, 
is not unknown to laugh. 

I can build you a future in what I am 
if you give me a teacher who gives a damn.
-- Tom Keene San Antonio   [thanks DM & SB]
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The whole universe is affected by your awakening. You are the space where love pours back into the world." - Gangaji (MG)