Case #782
Staff Reports from Heaven
Case 782
Last week we admitted a highly intelligent and creative thief, one who had never actually been captured. He confessed he was surprised that karma hadn’t caught up with him during his earthtime.
“Ah,” said the angels, “you do realize, don’t you, that everything you stole you stole from yourself?” The thief was silent. “Here,” continued the angels, “your task will be to secretly dispense gifts on those you stole from.”
“Agreed,” said the man. “But what is my punishment?”
The angels smiled. “Your punishment is discovering how joyful it feels to give, and to realize you spent your entire life living without joy.”
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
Future Tales: Case #781
Staff Reports from Heaven on Recent Arrivals.
Case #781:
A woman, famous for being giving and generous, discovered at one point that her giving came with a hidden motive. She wanted to be loved for her efforts.
The truth was, some loved her and some didn't. When she saw being loved was not an automatic return for generosity, she decided to be more honest. She began giving only when it felt good to do so. All the inauthentic caring flew away, and she felt a hundred pounds lighter. She thought: Apparently, giving for a payoff isn't really giving.
In Heaven, she said: "Oh! Oh! I see the one who didn't love me most was me." Then she sat down in a chair and let the angels braid her hair.
Case #781:
A woman, famous for being giving and generous, discovered at one point that her giving came with a hidden motive. She wanted to be loved for her efforts.
The truth was, some loved her and some didn't. When she saw being loved was not an automatic return for generosity, she decided to be more honest. She began giving only when it felt good to do so. All the inauthentic caring flew away, and she felt a hundred pounds lighter. She thought: Apparently, giving for a payoff isn't really giving.
In Heaven, she said: "Oh! Oh! I see the one who didn't love me most was me." Then she sat down in a chair and let the angels braid her hair.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Questions
When I succeed at worldly things,
but never look within,
do I not reject the fruit of life
and only eat the skin?
but never look within,
do I not reject the fruit of life
and only eat the skin?
Monday, June 8, 2009
The Twitter Metaphor
As one of many people who Twitter spiritual reminders, I have been struck by how much this experience reminds me of the practice of meditation.
In meditation, we start out with a focus –our breath, the word love, or I AM, and from there we go into the Place within where we find our True Self. Always, in the midst of this practice, the ego begins to tug at our attention: “nose itching”, “forgot to call dentist”, “boring”, “what time does this end?”, “knee hurts”.
And so on. Our practice, of course, is to brush these thoughts aside and keep returning our attention to the breath, to within, to now.
And so it is in Twitterland. We post a reminder “All is One” or read another’s reminder “Go Within” and in that moment our mind expands into the infinitely wider Self that underpins our local identity, our ego. Then! come the marketing tweets, the “Make $100,000 at home” tweets, the “Here’s what I have for sale” tweets.
There’s nothing wrong with these Tweets – they are the same flow of thoughts that stream endlessly through all of our minds. But if we happen to be thirsty for a drink of Peace, we have to temporarily brush our egotweets away, just as we do in meditation. Return to the breath, to the “I AM”, to the reminders of our True Self.
So at Twitter, just as in real life, we are offered a feast: idle thoughts, distracting thoughts, worry thoughts, exciting thoughts, silly thoughts, doubt thoughts, empowering thoughts, divine thoughts. And, just as in real life, we get to choose where we place our attention.
In meditation, we start out with a focus –our breath, the word love, or I AM, and from there we go into the Place within where we find our True Self. Always, in the midst of this practice, the ego begins to tug at our attention: “nose itching”, “forgot to call dentist”, “boring”, “what time does this end?”, “knee hurts”.
And so on. Our practice, of course, is to brush these thoughts aside and keep returning our attention to the breath, to within, to now.
And so it is in Twitterland. We post a reminder “All is One” or read another’s reminder “Go Within” and in that moment our mind expands into the infinitely wider Self that underpins our local identity, our ego. Then! come the marketing tweets, the “Make $100,000 at home” tweets, the “Here’s what I have for sale” tweets.
There’s nothing wrong with these Tweets – they are the same flow of thoughts that stream endlessly through all of our minds. But if we happen to be thirsty for a drink of Peace, we have to temporarily brush our egotweets away, just as we do in meditation. Return to the breath, to the “I AM”, to the reminders of our True Self.
So at Twitter, just as in real life, we are offered a feast: idle thoughts, distracting thoughts, worry thoughts, exciting thoughts, silly thoughts, doubt thoughts, empowering thoughts, divine thoughts. And, just as in real life, we get to choose where we place our attention.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Question
What happens when I exile blame
and let life be my friend?
Will the ground beneath me crumble,
or will all my bruises mend?
and let life be my friend?
Will the ground beneath me crumble,
or will all my bruises mend?
Friday, April 10, 2009
The Lesson
Once upon a time,
Jesus stopped by to give us
a life lesson.
And I got it.
to dance with each moment
without holding onto the past.
I want to be liquid and forgiving.
I want to put yielding into life
instead of judgment.
I want to curl around stones
instead of hurl them.
informed by oneness.
I want to be a living yes.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Beneficence
Today is a no-temperature day, the kind where there seems to be zero separation between one’s skin and the surrounding sea of oxygen. If heat and cold are mood-despoilers, then this amazing flow of neutrality must be called pure nurturance. People, animals, cars all move about unprotesting. Everything seems held together by kindness.
Of course, it won’t last. Tomorrow could easily toss out gusts of wind and wet. But the mere appearance of this strifeless day reminds me of the space within which is not subject to tides, seasons, quakes, storms. It is not now -not ever- subject to our temporal turmoils because it underlies them. It is the unseen bed of life which is still, formless, unrockable.
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