The Childish | The Adolescent | The Liberal | The Awakening |
Take refuge below | Take refuge above | Take refuge on all sides | Take refuge not in position but in Being |
Excuse their parents | Blame their parents | Parent their parents | Understand their parents |
Sit under | Sit on | Sit between | Sit with |
Want someone else to be in charge | Want no one else to be in charge | Are not sure who they want to be in charge | Recognize and cooperate with what actually is in charge |
Confuse love with romance | Confuse love with freedom | Confuse love with sympathy | Are not confused about love |
Erect pedestals | Mount pedestals | Level all pedestals save those of liberalism | Need no pedestals |
Look up to | Look down upon | Look horizontally | Look inside their looking |
Are busy being nobody | Are busy being somebody | Are busy being everybody | Simply Are |
Turn shame into guilt | Turn shame into aggression | Turn shame into Impotence | Turn shame into freedom |
Indulge in self-blame | Other-blame | Cultural blame | Do not blame |
Crave parenting | Fight parenting | Legislate parenting | Self-parented |
Are at the mercy of others’ opinions | Are at the mercy of their own opinions | Make moral real estate out of honoring all opinions | Don’t take opinions (including their own) seriously |
Idolize the Sage | Discredit the Sage | Avoid the Sage | Make an opportunity out of the Sage |
Act helpless | Non-helpless | Helpful | Are help |
Swallow it | Reject it | Trivialize it | Respond to it until it’s no longer an it |
Personify false innocence | Personify false maturity | Personify false friendship | Personify Being |
Open indiscriminately | Open suspiciously | Open bureaucratically | Open until there is only openness |
Fear hardness | Fear softness | Fear solidity | Don’t make a problem out of fear |
Indulge in judging themselves | Indulge in judging others | Indulge in judging conditions | Do not judge |
Look after they leap | Look before they leap | Look without leaping | Look as they leap |
Assume someone else has It | Assume they have It | Assume no one has It | Are It |
Monday, June 20, 2011
The Childish, the Adolescent, the Liberal & the Awakening
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Opportunity & Opportunists
How can we use an opportunity without becoming an opportunist?
First, let us look at what opportunity is.
First, let us look at what opportunity is.
Opportunity is:
1.The opening of a new task
World health
World prosperity
World happiness
Global peace
Global brotherhood
Global enlightenment
An opportunist uses his opportunity to:
Satisfy separative interests
Create cleavages
Take revenge
Make others fail
Create hatred between people
Disappear
Grab a position
An opportunist works only for his own interest and at the expense of others. A person who is alert and ready to recognize his opportunity uses it not only for himself but for others.
Opportunity is a moment of time in which a previously closed door opens.
There are opportunities to do the following:
Make money
Increase our possessions
Achieve or be more
Sacrifice
Be a hero
Have a great revelation or enlightenment
Transcend oneself
Come in contact with Higher Forces
During these moments, certain energy currents become available cyclically or for the first time. Because of the presence of such energies, the opportunity presents itself.
Opportunity is composed of three factors:
1.New energies
2.Readiness
3.Need or demand
Let us take each of these factors and consider them individually.
1.New energies are the result of new stellar configurations and their relationships to the solar system and earth.
2.Readiness is the degree of an individual’s physical, mental, and spiritual development and sensitivity.
3.Need or demand pertains to people, the environment, or to celestial centers.
Higher centers need to transfer new energies. They demand that people and globes be prepared to receive these energies. Opportunity is a moment when such energies are available.
As one needs energy, higher centers need to release that energy, establish equilibrium, and then receive more energy from higher sources. Reception and delivery of energy is the process which keeps higher centers advancing.
When a person needs something, there should be a time in which his need is met. This is the moment of opportunity. If he is not prepared to meet the moment of opportunity, many moments of opportunity come and go, as if they never existed, because he was not ready to see the opportunity in them.
Those who use an opportunity to expand their field of service or share their treasures with as many people as possible develop a psychic mechanism which informs them of approaching opportunity. Thus they always have a huge wave upon which to surf.
Those who use an opportunity to satisfy their malice or hatred and for their own selfish interests gradually become increasingly insensitive to moments of opportunity. They lose the possibility of surpassing their former level of beingness and fall into the path of retrogression.
An opportunist is like a thief who waits for the moment to steal, cheat and harm. The laws of the Universe are impersonal. One can transform himself with available energy currents, or he can destroy himself with them. This means that though the laws of the Universe are impersonal, they tend toward the greater good, the Common Good, more toward universal interests than individual interests.
There are many moments which are opportunities for enlightenment.
1. Sunrise
2. Sunset
3. The full moon
4. The equinox
5. The solstice
6. A lunar or solar eclipse
7. Certain configurations of planets and stars
Sensitivity to opportunity can be developed through the spirit of:
Gratitude
Service to the Common Good
Forgiveness
Joy
Harmlessness
These five virtues make one’s consciousness sensitive to incoming opportunities, and the individual eventually lives in a steady current of opportunity.
1.The opening of a new task
2.The availability of a Teacher or a learning institution
3.New discoveries which save time and energy
4.New revelations which may clear up doubt
5.New lines of communication
6.New systems of teaching which can help people meet new demands
7.A release of energy by which greater labor may be undertaken
These seven opportunities are open to those who are ready for them. A person who is ready is one who did not waste time and who used all the opportunities to prepare himself to become sensitive to future opportunities.
The difference between one who is ready and one who is an opportunist is that the one who is ready uses his opportunity to promote:
3.New discoveries which save time and energy
4.New revelations which may clear up doubt
5.New lines of communication
6.New systems of teaching which can help people meet new demands
7.A release of energy by which greater labor may be undertaken
These seven opportunities are open to those who are ready for them. A person who is ready is one who did not waste time and who used all the opportunities to prepare himself to become sensitive to future opportunities.
The difference between one who is ready and one who is an opportunist is that the one who is ready uses his opportunity to promote:
World health
World prosperity
World happiness
Global peace
Global brotherhood
Global enlightenment
An opportunist uses his opportunity to:
Satisfy separative interests
Create cleavages
Take revenge
Make others fail
Create hatred between people
Disappear
Grab a position
An opportunist works only for his own interest and at the expense of others. A person who is alert and ready to recognize his opportunity uses it not only for himself but for others.
Opportunity is a moment of time in which a previously closed door opens.
There are opportunities to do the following:
Make money
Increase our possessions
Achieve or be more
Sacrifice
Be a hero
Have a great revelation or enlightenment
Transcend oneself
Come in contact with Higher Forces
During these moments, certain energy currents become available cyclically or for the first time. Because of the presence of such energies, the opportunity presents itself.
Opportunity is composed of three factors:
1.New energies
2.Readiness
3.Need or demand
Let us take each of these factors and consider them individually.
1.New energies are the result of new stellar configurations and their relationships to the solar system and earth.
2.Readiness is the degree of an individual’s physical, mental, and spiritual development and sensitivity.
3.Need or demand pertains to people, the environment, or to celestial centers.
Higher centers need to transfer new energies. They demand that people and globes be prepared to receive these energies. Opportunity is a moment when such energies are available.
As one needs energy, higher centers need to release that energy, establish equilibrium, and then receive more energy from higher sources. Reception and delivery of energy is the process which keeps higher centers advancing.
When a person needs something, there should be a time in which his need is met. This is the moment of opportunity. If he is not prepared to meet the moment of opportunity, many moments of opportunity come and go, as if they never existed, because he was not ready to see the opportunity in them.
Those who use an opportunity to expand their field of service or share their treasures with as many people as possible develop a psychic mechanism which informs them of approaching opportunity. Thus they always have a huge wave upon which to surf.
Those who use an opportunity to satisfy their malice or hatred and for their own selfish interests gradually become increasingly insensitive to moments of opportunity. They lose the possibility of surpassing their former level of beingness and fall into the path of retrogression.
An opportunist is like a thief who waits for the moment to steal, cheat and harm. The laws of the Universe are impersonal. One can transform himself with available energy currents, or he can destroy himself with them. This means that though the laws of the Universe are impersonal, they tend toward the greater good, the Common Good, more toward universal interests than individual interests.
There are many moments which are opportunities for enlightenment.
1. Sunrise
2. Sunset
3. The full moon
4. The equinox
5. The solstice
6. A lunar or solar eclipse
7. Certain configurations of planets and stars
Sensitivity to opportunity can be developed through the spirit of:
Gratitude
Service to the Common Good
Forgiveness
Joy
Harmlessness
These five virtues make one’s consciousness sensitive to incoming opportunities, and the individual eventually lives in a steady current of opportunity.
- Torkom Saraydarian (Leadership Series)
Sunday, May 15, 2011
SMILE
What is the significance of a smile?
We are directed to take a positive attitude whenever we start doing something – to smile.
When we are trying to make a decision, or we are entering into an agreement with someone, the first thing to do is to smile. A smile will bring positive energies out of us and evoke the higher nature of the people who are talking and relating with us. Instead of stimulating the beast in others, we can evoke the angel, the beauty in them through a sincere and clear smile.
A smile is a way to harmonize ourselves with the creative forces of the Universe. When people are not smiling, they are very sad, grieved, or angry and sometimes they show various feelings in their faces. A smile is the sign, the signal of a contented, happy consciousness. This consciousness draws the attention of the creative forces of the Universe.
Smiling is very important, but it must be a smile that is a true expression of our happy, harmonious consciousness, a consciousness that is in harmony with life. This triggers the great forces in the Universe which help us improve our relationships.
We are going to use the smile consciously, not to deceive people, but to put ourselves in happy, joyful conditions and relate with people through our joy.
The presence of a smile on our faces reveals that we are courageous and fearless.
If a person is in fear, and is not courageous, he cannot smile. But if he smiles, really smiles, it means he is receiving courage and becoming fearless even when facing dangers. When people are attacking with malice, slander and treason – smile. A smile will really crush them. Even if you are in grave danger, smile first and see what happens.
A smile is the symbol – like the icons found in certain computer programs. When you click the smile symbol, the mechanism of the whole computer works to bring positivity into expression. In another verse, Master Morya directs us to smile when we are confronting danger. A smile will suddenly give us courage so that we can destroy the obstacles.
A smile reveals that we have hope.
If something is going wrong and you lose your smile, it means that you are in the process of defeat. Even if people betray you, and come to you, smile at them. Do not show grief. But if you keep smiling, the energy of positive forces will be circulating through you.
A smile looks to the future.
If , when everything is going wrong, joy suddenly comes to you and you smile, you uplift and transcend yourself from the present condition and for one second, enter the domain of infinity, into the future and say “so what?”. This is a very great relief. All of us have had these experiences, but most of us have not consciously registered them yet.
In the movie “Zorba – The Greek”, when everything went wrong, Zorba gathered 10 or 15 friends and started dancing. That was a smile, because he showed that nothing can conquer the human spirit. This is where the smile stands. It is a very practical understanding which may save your life. Instead of wailing and moaning about life, give a nice smile.
Smile and the Joy of Resignation:
When we were reading Rabindranath Tagore, a very great poet in one of his books “Gitanjali”, he writes, “the greatest power and joy of man is the power and joy of resignation.” Resignation means conscious detachment from things with which we are identified. If we resign from our hatred, it is so beautiful. Our hatred makes us slaves. We are going to resign and leave it behind and search for something greater. How great it will be if we learn resignation.
Thinking & States of Mind
"Thinking passes through many states due to the various states of mind".
Undeveloped State of Mind
In this state neither the brain nor the mind is developed, and there is no synchronization between them. There are centers in the brain and the etheric brain which must be developed before a person is capable of clear thinking.
As we assemble various parts of our machinery to use, in the same sense an integration and synchronization must be established in the brain and between the brain and etheric and mental centers.
Lazy Mind
In this state the brain is developed, but it is lazy. There is no energy in it but only inertia and apathy. Such a state of mind can be naturally or artificially produced. Your mind can be lazy because of drugs, marijuana, too much sex, too much work, alcohol or tobacco. All these affect the brain and make you mentally lazy.
Damaged Brain or Damaged Mind
As our brains can be damaged by accidents, hallucinogenic drugs, or excessive sex, so also can the mental body be damaged by various kinds of psychological pressures, psychic attacks, hypnotism, etc. The brain or mind can also be damaged by electric currents, radiation, or poisons.
Confused Mind
This is a state in which your mind has no goal, no direction, and no discernment. Confusion is also a state of mind in which things appear to you differently than what they exactly are. Your chaotic thoughtforms obscure your vision. A confused mind does not have certainty, a center of control, principles or standards.
Conflicting Mind
Such a mind is always split. It fights against itself. A person with a conflicting mind decides something, and the next moment he changes his decision or promise; he never fulfills his promise. He believes something, then denies it. This is a mind that assembles and disassembles. His personality is split, or his personality and soul are fighting against each other. In this stage, the awakening soul is trying to bring the personality in line and is creating conflict on the mental field.
Slave Mind
When the mind is controlled by the blind urges and drives of the physical body, by the glamors and desires of the emotional body, and by the illusions, vanity, separatism, and ego of the mental body, the mind turns into a slave and exists only to satisfy the wishes of the body, emotions, and lower mind. For example, your body wants sex, drugs, and alcohol. The slave mind says, “Yes, sir, I will try to find a way to serve your wishes.”
When your mind is a slave, even its knowledge does not help you reject the impositions of the lower bodies. This is why we say that it is not knowledge that helps your spiritual progress but your transformation and beingness.
When you discipline your personality and gain control of your lower bodies, you can experience true freedom. After gaining freedom, your lower vehicles serve your spiritual goals. Only a free mind can develop control over itself.
Preconditioned or Prejudiced Mind
Some minds act under the influence of posthypnotic suggestions. They are preconditioned. A prejudiced mind is a mind that cannot open, unfold, and expand. There are limiting walls around it. This causes the mind not to see important and essential facts and to lose opportunities for cooperation and expansion.
It is interesting to know that the human mind can be preconditioned in the fields of politics, education, philosophy, arts, sciences, religion, and economics. Preconditioned minds are always hindrances in their own field because they do not let their particular field expand and grow. Anytime a mind is prejudiced, it becomes a dangerous mind and stands against human welfare.
Fanatical Mind
This is a state which continues for many years, or sometimes – if it is connected to religion – for many lives, until the accumulating shocks of disappointments crack the walls of fanaticism and shed light into the mind. Sometimes, when a fanatic’s mind is opened, it goes to extremes, and the fanatic denies all that he had worshipped and becomes the slave of his pleasures. If a fanatic is caught at the right time by a wise person, he can be led gradually out of his shell and into new values.
Striving Mind
A striving mind tries to find new ways to solve his own problems and expand his horizons. He tries to make his existence beautiful, intelligent, healthy, prosperous, and creative. A striving mind is an awakening mind. He tries to eliminate all that was built in the past as hindrances on that path of perfection. The patterns of various habits are attacked and the vision is seen. A call is heard, and action is taken to meet the call.
As we assemble various parts of our machinery to use, in the same sense an integration and synchronization must be established in the brain and between the brain and etheric and mental centers.
Lazy Mind
In this state the brain is developed, but it is lazy. There is no energy in it but only inertia and apathy. Such a state of mind can be naturally or artificially produced. Your mind can be lazy because of drugs, marijuana, too much sex, too much work, alcohol or tobacco. All these affect the brain and make you mentally lazy.
Damaged Brain or Damaged Mind
As our brains can be damaged by accidents, hallucinogenic drugs, or excessive sex, so also can the mental body be damaged by various kinds of psychological pressures, psychic attacks, hypnotism, etc. The brain or mind can also be damaged by electric currents, radiation, or poisons.
Confused Mind
This is a state in which your mind has no goal, no direction, and no discernment. Confusion is also a state of mind in which things appear to you differently than what they exactly are. Your chaotic thoughtforms obscure your vision. A confused mind does not have certainty, a center of control, principles or standards.
Conflicting Mind
Such a mind is always split. It fights against itself. A person with a conflicting mind decides something, and the next moment he changes his decision or promise; he never fulfills his promise. He believes something, then denies it. This is a mind that assembles and disassembles. His personality is split, or his personality and soul are fighting against each other. In this stage, the awakening soul is trying to bring the personality in line and is creating conflict on the mental field.
Slave Mind
When the mind is controlled by the blind urges and drives of the physical body, by the glamors and desires of the emotional body, and by the illusions, vanity, separatism, and ego of the mental body, the mind turns into a slave and exists only to satisfy the wishes of the body, emotions, and lower mind. For example, your body wants sex, drugs, and alcohol. The slave mind says, “Yes, sir, I will try to find a way to serve your wishes.”
When your mind is a slave, even its knowledge does not help you reject the impositions of the lower bodies. This is why we say that it is not knowledge that helps your spiritual progress but your transformation and beingness.
When you discipline your personality and gain control of your lower bodies, you can experience true freedom. After gaining freedom, your lower vehicles serve your spiritual goals. Only a free mind can develop control over itself.
Preconditioned or Prejudiced Mind
Some minds act under the influence of posthypnotic suggestions. They are preconditioned. A prejudiced mind is a mind that cannot open, unfold, and expand. There are limiting walls around it. This causes the mind not to see important and essential facts and to lose opportunities for cooperation and expansion.
It is interesting to know that the human mind can be preconditioned in the fields of politics, education, philosophy, arts, sciences, religion, and economics. Preconditioned minds are always hindrances in their own field because they do not let their particular field expand and grow. Anytime a mind is prejudiced, it becomes a dangerous mind and stands against human welfare.
Fanatical Mind
This is a state which continues for many years, or sometimes – if it is connected to religion – for many lives, until the accumulating shocks of disappointments crack the walls of fanaticism and shed light into the mind. Sometimes, when a fanatic’s mind is opened, it goes to extremes, and the fanatic denies all that he had worshipped and becomes the slave of his pleasures. If a fanatic is caught at the right time by a wise person, he can be led gradually out of his shell and into new values.
Striving Mind
A striving mind tries to find new ways to solve his own problems and expand his horizons. He tries to make his existence beautiful, intelligent, healthy, prosperous, and creative. A striving mind is an awakening mind. He tries to eliminate all that was built in the past as hindrances on that path of perfection. The patterns of various habits are attacked and the vision is seen. A call is heard, and action is taken to meet the call.
These are the first signs of striving:
a)The person begins to search and ask. He tries to discover the causes of his limitations.
b)He searches for wisdom.
c)He tries to discipline his nature.
d)He tries to cultivate virtues.
e)He tries to come in contact with centers of light.
The Clear Mind
After striving comes clarity, but this is a gradual process. It takes sometimes a long time – years or lives – to achieve clarity of mind, but once it is achieved, you are almost one with the “mind which is in Christ,” the clear mind that sees things exactly as they are. A clear mind has direction, a clear goal, and a clear plan to reach that goal.
Creative Mind
After your mind achieves a state of clarity, it becomes a creative force in the Universe. You create all those artforms that make people healthier, more beautiful, more successful, more righteous, and freer.
The real artist does not entertain you and please your animal instincts by presenting violence and crimes, but through his art he evokes the divine and creative forces from you and challenges you to transcend your level of beingness.
Enlightened Mind
The enlightened mind is a mind that cooperates with the creative forces in Nature, having a deep understanding about the Purpose and the Plan of the One Who created all that exists. A person who has an enlightened mind can clearly see himself as he is and what he is going to be.
- Torkom Saraydarian.
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