Thoughts

The Thinker, original sculpture by Rodin at the Musée Rodin in Paris.

THOUGHTS

When I look into a mirror and see my reflection frown, it is doing so because the actual me is frowning. If I want to change my reflected frown to a smile, the `actual me' simply has to smile. Similarly, if I want to get to know my inner self, I merely have to look at the world that surrounds me. It is a direct reflection of my inner self. Things, circumstances, situations and people are in my life because their essence, their idea is within me, and those that are not in my life are absent because their idea, their essence is not within me. They are within me as long as they get my attention!

Events are the workers which keep my outside world such, that it corresponds to my inner self. Events are impersonal and are caused and energized by my inner self and as such cannot be blamed for anything!!!. Nothing will change in my life until I change within. My life is always as it is because of ME! There is no one to thank or blame but ME!

---0---

And when a flower blooms

It opens up -

Not only to the sun,

But also to the winds and rains ---

And open up it must,

When love flows through its veins.

One does not get rid of weeds with a lawnmower.

Trusting is only difficult when you don't trust all the way.

Faith needs no proof.

Too much proof atrophies faith.

Musically speaking I used to consider myself a failure, because I could not reach the masses - Now I consider it a sign of success.

When the mouth works, the ear rests.

The hardest battles one fights are those one fights with one's self.

There are times when you help someone the most by not helping at all. But this takes inspired wisdom.

Love is only painful when you expect it to be returned.

Love is the sugar we take with the medicine.

When you have proven to life that you can lift 100 pounds, it will challenge you with 110. Such is the price of growth.

To be really happy we first have to be really unhappy.

You must stand still to look at yourself in the mirror.

I pity those who are always right,

For they will not know the truth,

And cannot bend.

I pity those who cannot bend,

For they cannot change, therefore

They cannot love.

I pity those who cannot love,

for they don't know the meaning of a sunny heart - And they cannot trust.

I pity those who cannot trust, for they are condemned to

A life of loneliness.

****

All along I have been a piece of a jigsaw puzzle,

Waiting to be put in its proper place.

Being loved is being in the sunshine.

Loving is being the sun.

Should I talk to the morning about dusk? - to the snow about Summer? - to the fish about grass? - to you about loving me?

When I feel down, I go out into nature.

I ask the tree to show me how to be strong,

The flower how to be modest,

The breeze how to be gentle,

The clouds how to keep moving,

The mountains how to endure,

The seasons how to be patient and have hope,

The rains how to cleanse,

The river how to flow with things,

The snowflake how to fall gently,

The sun how to give freely,

The night for peace -

And the morning for your love.

When you feel frustrated because your vision takes so long to come true -

Talk to the farmer, who patiently waits for his harvest;

To the architect, whose bridge took years to be built,

To God, whose universe is still unfolding.

Impatience is a disregard of nature's timing.

It's OK. to suffer - if we learn from it.

It is unimportant to me how you know me to be.

To me it is only important how I know myself to be.

To learn to stand on your own - get rid of the crutches.

Love makes everything so simple - if you let it.

It's impossible to embrace someone with your hands in your pockets.

Need is selfish.

When you are giving you are not needing.

One ought to tune the instrument before one plays it.

If you plant the wrong seed you're not going to get the right tree.

Change is the foundation of hope.

Love is unconditional.

Trees are witnesses to life striving toward its source.

Faith gives all the strength you need.

There are three kinds of waiting:

Waiting since (You’re stuck in the past)

Just waiting (You’re stuck in the present)

Waiting until (You’re stuck in the future)

The time is now, get going!

You can escape from everything, except yourself.

Don't trust a person who doesn't accept you for yourself.

A good tree will not grow from a bad seed.

If the entire universe were unchanging and motionless except for a tiny speck of dust, it would be moving and changing - because of the tiny moving speck of dust-you make a difference and you are important!

In the development of your character, when all fails - God simply makes you fall in love.

If you want to find out how special and unique you really are,

and see yourself from another perspective -

study astrology.

Earth by itself can form into mountains -

Water by itself can gather into oceans -

But, Water and Earth together can produce a flower.

When you change you'll see a different side of people.

Selfish people constipate nature.

A master needs not learn his trade.

A little bit of tooth must wear off when we chew food for our body.

It's better for you to love than to be loved.

The sunshine is always there ... it's just the clouds that get in the way.

You can't frown while you smile - and you can't hurt while you heal.

Some people are like distortion mirrors. When you see yourself through them, they make you appear all wrong.

You can think of change in two ways: Either `away from' or `into'. The first implies death, the second birth.

Death implies birth, since nothing ends.

Thanking YOU for the love I feel for you would be thanking a painting for the emotions it arouses within me. For the latter I thank the artist, - for the former ..... God.

In nature, as in people, you'll find what you look for .... ugliness or beauty. The choice is yours.

Meeting someone new is as if the lights have been turned on in another one of life's chambers.

A desire to change the world around you indicates a lack of desire to change yourself.

To sing about sadness, one must have been sad.

Only after you let her go will you find out whether she is holding on to you.

To ensure a good stick, both parts have to have glue on them.

Before life lets you teach, it will teach you.

Even though the queen takes the pawn, she is still just another figure in the chess game (of a superior mind).

It could have been a nice Spring, with two hearts that sing.

It could have been a good year, with love always near.

It could have been a great life, as husband and wife.

When doubt throws darkness, faith lights a candle.

The best answers come without questions being asked.

When you judge you place yourself above - but who is above God and his wisdom?

One can always find plenty of reasons why one should not change.

Falling in love brings us in touch with the divine within us. Wanting that love returned is only human.

If you want to live with me in the house I'm building, help me carry the bricks.

The figurines do not know the game called chess - though without them the game could not be played.

In retrospect, life is impossible to have happened the way it did.

The possibility of what might be versus the reality of what is - Could this be hope versus compromise?

The only way we can ever be assured of our own freedom is to assure it for everyone.

Many times, when two people meet, one has too much where the other is lacking, and it is hoped that through the encounter a better balance is achieved.

God is everything, therefore, everything is one.

In my imagination lies the potential reality of anything.

If I can think of it - I can make it real

Man is mankind in miniature.

Clothes, like a smile, should reveal the wearer's inner nature.

Life is like a car without power steering. Once you get moving the maneuvering becomes easier.

Without any worldly weights to lift our spiritual muscles would not develop.

Holding hands - a silent conversation.

Healthy growth is Spirit attached to matter striving to reunite with its source.

Young beauty is a gift. Aged beauty is earned with character.

Accept yourself as you are - only then can you discover yourself.

Maybe cancer can be cured by re-educating the malignant cells.

As long as there is cancerous behavior in mankind, there will be cancer in individual human beings.

When you pull a weed, don't save its seeds for future planting.

The pickier we get the slimmer the pickings.

I wonder whether, upon eating a carrot, its `soul' or intelligence will blend with mine and contribute its experience and `knowledge', thereby enhancing my intelligence and well-being along the specific line of its education, training and experience, in the same way the experience of an accountant, when hired by a company, will contribute to its benefit and, possibly, reverse a slide into bankruptcy into a climb to profitability. Suppose then that a person suffering from a skin disease would eat bananas, oranges and apples that have a beautiful skin; would he or she, by eating these fruits, acquire from them the know-how of producing a healthy skin?

LOVE

Love is a second exploded into eternity.

Before love everything is primary,

When love has made itself known - everything is secondary.

Love ties everything together.

Loving another person is the key to understanding God.

Before love you think you are in a mansion in which there is one little room whose entrance you are denied. When love has come, the door to that room opens and you enter the room, only to find out that where you have been is the little room whose exit you had been denied.

Love is a glimpse of what always has been and what always will be.

When you finally fall in love you wonder how you ever did without it.

When love has come, your soul perceives the way up.

Love is unconditional.

When you love, God flows through you freely.

Love comes when it is good and ready - not when you are.

When love makes its entrance --- forget the program!

Love rules. Absolutely!

Love knows no dark corners.

Love! Either you know it or you don't. There is no in-between.

Love eludes description, because infinity cannot be described in finite terms.

Love makes you wish that you had one thousand hands and a voice that can be heard across the ocean.

Love produces its own sunshine. Sunshine sees no shadow.

When love has come, morning has broken for the eternal day.

Love answers a lot of questions that were never asked.

When love has arrived you realize how your soul has been starving.

Love cannot see itself until is sees itself reflected in `the one'.

Love lives in silence until it hears its echo from `the one'.

Love is lonely until it can touch `the one'.

Love cannot be demanded. It can only be given.

If you say to a person: "I'll love you, when....."

or: "I'll love you, if....."

Then you don't love that person!

-0-

The final Message

(Pondering the Starr Procedures and Report)

I have served jury duty and witnessed fist hand how a good show, put on by some sleek and mediocre defense lawyers, coupled with some great legal double talk, left the jury totally bewildered, - not so much with respect to guilt and innocence, but rather as to whether the judge's initial admonition, which included phrases such as ' beyond a reasonable shadow of a doubt' had been given due consideration. The defendant was apprehended while selling drugs on a street corner, but ended up free because of some technicality.

Reading and hearing views, opposing views and subsequent rebuttals with respect to the Starr Report I feel that I'm back on jury duty all over again, with one big difference: This time the jury is made up of all the citizens of the United States.

When it comes down to the bitter end, all those involved in this matter, especially the legal teams on both sides, should do some serious soul searching, forget their egos, and consider how the fallout of their final message (whatever it will be), will affect us, the people, the building blocks and fiber of this great country, our children, who are our future, and, no less, the world!

Will the message be that the better lawyers win, or will it be that justice has been served impartially? Will it be that our traditional moral guidelines, as taught by our parents, churches and schools are to be respected or will it be that anything goes? Will it be that we are responsible for, and should accept the consequences of our actions, or will it be that we merely have to apologize to be absolved from our transgressions? (In which case, who do we need a judiciary branch?)

I feel that this case is so universal and momentous that its outcome will have a profound influence on, and shape the moral makeup of this country for generations to come.

-0-

For every disease within man there is a corresponding disease within mankind. Eradicate the disease within mankind and no individual will get it. E.g. Suppose cancer within man would correspond to the idea of war (after all, a war, like cancer, keeps itself alive by destroying the host body, i.e.. a part, or all of the human race). Eliminate the idea of war and no human being would get cancer. We could also study how man stops a war and thereby find a corresponding way how to stop a cancer.

-0-

Material possessions are like a comfortable pair of shoes; after a while you get so used to them that you don't even notice them any more. A relationship is like the weather, either warm or cold. What good are a comfortable pair of shoes if you're out in freezing weather? Now, if you can have the comfortable shoes and great, warm weather to take a stroll in, then you have the best if both worlds! But, if I had to choose ---- I'd prefer the good weather!

A few years back I drove through a small town and when I came to the center there was a statue of somebody important right in the middle of the street surrounded by a narrow flower bed and a wrought iron fence. Naturally all traffic curved around the statue. This minute experience illustrated to me an important principle of human behavior. Some people are like the traffic, constantly adjusting themselves to whatever gets in their way. Others are like the statue, immovable and rigid and thus more or less forcing people (and events) to adjust to them. Neither is better than the other. A well adjusted person will display a bit of both.

A few year back I was awakened one night by bright lights coming through my bedroom windows. It didn't take me long to realize that there were flames shooting up outside my house. Thinking the neighbors' house was on fire I opened the bedroom door to rush next door. Upon opening my doors I was met by intense heat and smoke - it was MY house that was on fire! To make a long story short: I got the family out in time; my house burned out completely.

Some time later I attended a lecture. The lecturer warned: Watch the little things you say habitually. They are like little prayers and, given enough time, will become real. It hit me like a sledge hammer! All my life, whenever I became angry or upset, I had been saying: "That burns me up!"

Need I say more? Don't let somebody be a pain in the (whatever)! Don't let something drive you crazy or make you sick! Don't say: It kills me ........! Don't say: I can't see why..........! etc.

When shooting an arrow from a bow one first has to pull the arrow back as far as possible, thereby building up tension (energy) in the bow. Then the arrow has to be released, let go, in order for the stored energy to perform its work, which is to propel the arrow toward its goal. Similarly, to produce a desired event, thought energy has to be built up by constantly thinking about what one wishes to accomplish. Then comes a time when the thoughts have to be released (stop thinking about it) so that the stored up mental energy can proceed to accomplish what it was created for - the desired event.

Invincible youth falls prey to invincible habits!

Motives disguised by `reasons'.

Whenever one defines anything one limits it to that definition, which is very restrictive, exclusive and final, as nothing really is what it appears to be, and appearance is that which has succeeded to pass through our various psychological, religious, ethnic and other filters.

Intimacy to me is that which makes two people special to each other. Special to the exclusion of anything or anybody else. It blends the two together without each losing their own. When yellow and red become orange, that to me is not intimacy. However, when I see a design made of yellow and red, where the design is whole but each of the two colors are still recognizable, that to me is intimacy. Intimacy is realizing that the other person is a tulip, has always been a tulip and will always be a tulip; that a tulip cannot be changed into a rose or any other kind of flower. Intimacy finds joy in experiencing the other and gladly does everything to help that tulip become the most beautiful tulip. Intimacy radiates a shield of well meaning over the other person. It creates a language familiar only to those two. This language is in part non-verbal. Intimacy trusts and therefor drops all guards. Intimacy does not see a tulip as `not quite a rose', but as the most beautiful tulip there is. Intimacy is not sustained by only one of the two persons. It is like a bridge and needs to be anchored on both sides of the river, and like a bridge that arches upward in its center, it allows both to reach heights none of the two could have achieved individually. Intimacy respects the other's individuality, idiosyncrasies, likes and dislikes. It never ridicules the other. It never locks its door to the other, but always knocks at the other's door before entering. Intimacy occurs on the personal as well as professional and even higher level. I am intimate with my city, something I realized after returning from another city. Two years ago I visited France and Italy. The trip was wonderful, but upon my return to the States I realized that the main missing ingredient overseas was national, patriotic intimacy. It was good to be home and see and do all those things that helped me form a close bond with this wonderful country.

There are bonds of metal, bonds of flowers and bonds of intimacy. The first are tied to the body and the material world, the second to the mind and the third are created by the heart. Your heart knows and tells you and wants to be where true and lasting happiness lies.

The universe appears infinite to us because we perceive it with our finite nature.

It's sooooo easy to give up.

When power magnifies, so does character.

I believe that intelligence is a result of subdivision.

Reward and punishment, better yet, consequences, should be swift. Nature works that way: When you touch a flame, the pain follows immediately; when you drink, the discomfort of thirst disappears right away.

Over the years I have come to realize that there are people and places that serve as links or bridges. Their main purpose for appearing in our life is to establish a connection to a new venture or situation. They remain in the foreground until the connection is established, after that they either become a regular part of our milieu, retreat into the background, or disappear altogether.

Thanksgiving came and went, - and left a few pounds.

Find your center of gravity, then be true to yourself and everything around you will fall in its place like a jigsaw puzzle assembling itself, - and you will end up feeling that all is right with you and the world.

The secret of creating for yourself good or bad or anything in between is attention. Quiet, persistent attention.

The number 1 obstacle to success of the above: Impatience and doubt.

The wisdom lies in what to want.

There are two orientations: Incident orientation and goal (final result) orientation. If you choose the incident route then `you' decide in advance what will make you happy, and if, by the time results manifest, you have changed, you will not be happy. The majority of people choose that route. They say: I would be happy if... I will be happy when.... - How many happy people do you know? If you choose the goal route, then all you ask for is to `end up' happy and in doing so you give life free reign to bring that to you any way it can. Have you ever wanted to be `just happy'? You deserve to be lastingly happy. It is your birth right. Go for it!

You don't have to try to be unique, because you already are. I have come to realize that one thing nature cannot do is to make duplicates, exact duplicates. A pair of cloned sheep may look alike, but from the moment they are born they will have different experiences, they will be in different places (it's impossible for anything to share the same exact space with something else, at the same time), and because of this, their souls will be shaped differently and develop in their own unique way.

I have thought a lot about dimensions. This is what I learned in school: The first dimension is a line (length), the second an area (length and width), the third a body (length, width and depth). I never learned about any additional dimensions, but here is my idea on them:

The fourth dimension would have to be duration, because if something three dimensional doesn't have any duration, time (no matter how short) it cannot claim to exist. The fifth dimension is motion. The sixth change. The seventh dimension is variety. I have to think about the 8th one for a while. But it seems to me that all dimensions are interdependent. If one would disappear, the rest could not exist.

Control: The flip side of the coin of subsidy!

Do it, not to succeed, but because you love to do it. Persevere and success will come as surely as day follows night.

What is success anyway?

Life is simple when we have no choice.

When we realize our own imperfection, we ought to become more tolerant of others'.

Wake up World!

Nothing will change your life more dramatically than finding out that you have cancer. The number one objective now is to kill the cancer, because if you don't, it will surely kill you. Money, worldly success, honor, fame, family conflicts, etc. have all moved way down the ladder of your priorities. How important are they to you when you're dead? Wake up world, you've got cancer!

And the hand or the foot or shoulder must not say to the infected lung:

That's your problem and it doesn't affect me. Ultimately it will, because all are a part of the whole, and when the whole dies, so do the individual parts. All the countries (people) on this world are a part of the whole called mankind. If one country is infected with this great evil, all must do all they can to eradicate it. Cancer is relentless and has only one objective: To sustain it's growth even if it kills the body in which it `lives'. Cancer has no motive. It creates and thrives on fear and uncertainty. It cannot be reasoned with. It simply is, lives and grows and takes over and destroys all in its way.

Wake up mankind and unite!

We've got cancer! - and its name is

TERRORISM!

-0-

Man within the scheme of things.

Everything and everybody contributes to a larger whole, of which they are a part, and is to a certain extent supported by that whole and also fulfills an at times obvious and at times not so obvious function within that whole.

Our organs are a part of our body. They have a limited individual `intelligence' which will cause them to continue functioning even though they may be separated from the body, provided they are properly sustained. E.g., a donated heart being kept alive until a new recipient is found. These organs evolved because their special functions are needed by the host body. Because the host body needs them it ideally provides them with all they need to stay `alive' and well. The organs themselves are not aware of their function within, and contribution to, the host body.

Let's consider our Earth as a whole. She is a sentient and superior being. After all, everything and everyone on her was directly or indirectly created by her and is also directly or indirectly sustained by her. If she were to cease to exist, so would we - but if we stopped existing it would have no effect on her. Mankind as a whole is an `organ' of the earth. It has evolved to its present stage because the Earth has a need for its function and we have no idea what that function is. In our minuscule, megalomaniac self aggrandization we think that we are the sole purpose of our existence; that we are the masters and the rest of nature has been put here to be used by us as we deem appropriate. Lilliputian fools!

I have a theory as to why we have been brought into existence and are evolving on this Earth. It may be totally off the wall but it will serve as an illustration of what I'm trying to present here.

If you are threatened by something which could be dangerous or harmful to you, you have two choices. You can avoid it (run away from it) or you can fight it and, if necessary, destroy it before it destroys you.

Let's for a moment not only consider the Earth as a sentient being, but also the Solar System. If it were to become aware of an approaching danger, what would its choices of action be? It couldn't try to avoid the danger, because it is confined within its galactic orbit. It would have only one choice: Fight (and possibly) destroy!

Suppose, e.g., our solar system has become aware of a huge intergalactic meteor heading toward it, which, by colliding with one of its planets, could offset our solar system's entire balance and possibly destroy it. What would it do? It would develop a weapon that would intercept and destroy that meteor. How could the solar system develop such a weapon? It would create an `organ' which could produce and emit an explosive strong enough to blow the meteor out of existence.

Since evolution proceeds from the simple and small to the complicated and large, that particular organ would be given an environment where first of all it could live, develop and `evolve', and subsequently `invent' and perfect that weapon. It would also provide an environment and circumstances, where the weapon could be tested and refined.

We, the human race, could be that organ and our increasingly powerful weapons and the wars that come about to give us an `excuse' to use them are really necessary steps and testing opportunities along the way. You may say that this is an insensitive and cruel theory. Insensitive and cruel as considered from the human perspective? Yes!. But, is the solar system really concerned about human emotions?

Compare this situation to a large corporation which closes down a division in order to stay fiscally sound and `survive' as a whole. From the division's employees' perspective the move was cruel and insensitive - everybody lost their job. But the corporation as a whole benefited.

The point of this essay it not to propound a theory of an extra solar threat (though it could be a reality), but rather to place mankind in proper context within the overall scheme of things.

On one side we are a self contained unit and live and have our being within our own framework and are provided with an environment that allows us to grow and evolve. But, we are also part of a bigger unit which has its own well being in mind and will only sustain us as long as we fulfill a vital and BENEFICIAL function for it; i.e. as long as our efforts are in line with what it is trying to achieve.

One way to judge whether something we do is in line with respect to some `bigger' scheme is to see if an idea is allowed to prosper and develop. Another way to determine whether something we come up with is something needed by the larger whole is to see if its misapplication could be harmful to mankind on a large scale.

Consider atomic weapons. It is imaginable that our weapons become more and more powerful, to the point where they could destroy us, the human race. Why would mother Earth allow us to live and grow and evolve to the point where we can develop such powerful weapons which, in the wrong hands, could eradicate most of us from this planet? It is my believe, that these weapons, and the more powerful ones of the future, are wanted and needed by either the Earth or our Solar System.

Not only are our weapons needed but also many of the other `things' we invent, develop and produce. We think that those are for us, when in reality they are for a larger cause, totally unknown to us.

-0-

A prayer said now was there a billion years ago and will be there a billion years from now. It, and therefor it's power, has always been there and will always be there. It simply found verbal expression in the present.

-0-

I just read somewhere (January 2006) that it has been discovered that cancer, before it settles into a certain area of the body, sends out scouts to find a suitable environment. Well, what's so new about this idea? We sent scouts into the wild west before the majority of us decided to go west and explore this new country called America. If we humans behave like cancer, perhaps we can learn about cancer by studying ourselves. Perhaps we can fool the cancer scouts into believing that there is no suitable environment available.Or, perhaps, we can create pathways for the cancer and spike them with mines, so when the cancer puts on a move it will be blown to smithereens.

Taking it one step further: How do WE take care of cancer? We use either or all of three methods. Surgery, Chemotherapy and Radiation. If mother Earth ever thought of us a cancer she would prepare those three antidotes, just in case. Surgery would be hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, sinking of land masses, etc. Chemotherapy would be chemical weapons.... Radiation would be a bunch of atomic bombs.... Me thinks the Earth is prepared and we had

better behave!

-0-

The easy life is nice

I can take it once or twice.

It has a strange condition:

You must rescind ambition!

It atrophies the drive

That helps us to survive

And creates its own reality

That dignifies banality

Our stride slows to a creep

As our talents go to sleep

What can we do today

To kill the time away?

Nothing's as sublime

As wasting time by wasting time.

We fiddle and we faddle

We tiddle and we taddle

The easy life is nice? -

A meal devoid of spice

A room without a door?

A worker without chore.

A life without true purity

It lulls us with SECURITY

And others play that game

With title and great name

They act their part with might

So, it must be quite alright

The price for me is much too steep

I will not compromise!

I will not spend my life asleep!

Therein my conflict lies ----

Alas! I found the door!

Good bye!

The conflict is no more.

-0-

I say a daily affirmation which, over the years has grown as I've added to it. One of the sentences is:

God constantly shows me better ways of doing the things I have done, the things I have been doing and the things I will be doing.

It works in the most amazing ways!

The other day I was trying to make my hardwood floors look nicer so I got on my knees and coated them with floor wax, using an old T-shirt. The floor turned out very nice after I gave it a good buffing, but my right knee has been hurting ever since.

This morning I sat on the edge of my bed and it occurred to me to give my knee a healing treatment. I massaged it with both hands as I affirmed that God's healing force was flowing through my hands into my knee. I did this for a bout a minute and got up knowing that God would do His job. I walked into my recording studio and noticed that on one of the book shelves a few books had tilted sideways, so I went to straighten them out. As I was doing this I noticed a book for which I had been looking: THE EDGAR CAYCE HANDBOOK FOR HEALTH THROUGH DRUGLESS THERAPY. I thought 'what a coincidence' and looked in the index under knees. There was no reference to knees. As I glanced up and down the index a noticed a section called 'packs' and within that section 'potato page 242' jumped out at me. I opened to that page and - voila! - the entire page is devoted to treating knee problems. What made this even more poignant was that the end of the first line read: Many years ago, I had and automobile accident.....

Just before I had woken up I had a dream that I was crossing an intersection when a huge truck was coming toward me. Too late to avoid it I quickly laid flat on the ground and it ran right over me, never touching me.

I realize now that when I asked for GOD's healing force it doesn't necessarily have to be some magic energy flowing through my hands (though at times it could be just that), but that I could also be activating a guidance process leading me to a source of knowledge which would provide a healing.

I am going to get what Edgar Cayce prescribes in his book: Pure apple vinegar and iodized (kosher) table salt and make and apply a pack as directed for my knee. I will let you know if it works.

....a week later: It worked!

-0-

My formula for a lasting relationship: 4x4

4-give

4-get

You 4 me

Me 4 you.

-0-

If there are laws on the books which are ignored and broken by most people and hardly enforced - remove them. Otherwise they teach that laws mean nothing, that there are no consequences to breaking them and that law enforcement need not be respected.

-0-

You are a plant in God's garden.

Be sure you are not a weed.

If you don't know whether you are a weed, find out what a weed is and does,

You know what happens to a weed when the gardener finds it!

You are a cell in God's body.

Be sure you are not a cancerous cell.

If you don't know whether you are a cancerous cell, find out what a cancerous cell is and does.

You know what happens to a cancerous cell when the doctor finds it!

You are a player in God's game of cards.

Don't cheat.

You know what happens to a player who gets caught cheating!

You are a musician in God's orchestra.

Don't play sour notes.

They make the whole symphony sound bad no matter how well all the other players are playing.

You can imagine what happens to a player who plays sour notes, once the conductor finds him or her.

-0-

Develop your talent and potential to the fullest without hurting anyone else and Life will find the perfect place for you and your talent.

-0-

I observed a severely handicapped person today, and I heard an inner voice whispering to me: You are one lucky and blessed son of a gun!

-0-

Being alone is one thing. But, being sick and alone gives 'alone' a whole new meaning.

-0-

Certain events happen and lift the veil that people have thrown over their character. Because of their reaction or lack of action, you get to see them for who they really are. That is a true blessing!

-0-

A perfect relationship?

Hollywood!

A REAL relationship is an environment for working things out.

And when you're working things out, you're not really working out the relationship,

but rather a kink in YOUR character.

If you don't work that kink out in THIS marriage,

You'll have to do it in the next one.

There is no escape!

Now, if you're perfect, then there is no need for an environment for working things out -

there is no need for a relationship.

-0-

To my children, Mark and Elizabeth:

My love for you is your birth right.

My respect - you have to earn!

Dad

-0-

I've come to realize that most of our problems are created because we compare:

Today to a gone yesterday or a not yet existing tomorrow

Ourselves to others

Others close to us to others

Life is now!

Live it now to the best of YOUR ability.

Stop comparing!

Everything will fall in place and your life will become just right!

-0-

There are some people whom I'd like to get to know better -

But their busy life covers and hides their true identity like a glittery mask.

-0-

We're all the same water coming out of different faucets.

-0-

What is NOW?

If you were to answer me by saying: "Right now", it would already be over. The moment you try to establish NOW, it has already passed. This made me realize that it is really impossible to determine NOW. It seems that we've created such a thing called TIME, which is really an illusion, because we try to understand it by dividing it into three ideas:

The FUTURE, which is a theoretical point somewhere in TIME (it hasn't happened yet),

The PRESENT (NOW), which is impossible to determine, to pin down,

The PAST, which is no more, ergo is also a theoretical point in TIME.

However, we did have certain experiences, which constitute our PAST, and we are continuously having experiences, which to us seem to be occurring 'right NOW' in what we call the PRESENT, and we will (possibly) have certain experiences in our FUTURE.

In all three circumstances there is an EXPERIENCER, without whom there would be no time.

That experiencer (you, I, someone else) was present in the past (a contradiction!), is present right now (even as you are reading this) and will be there in the future. That experiencer is always there, and will be there even after his or her TIME is over.

That experiencer is the true you. It is timeless, eternal, immortal.

Since NOW cannot be determined, because the moment it is, it has already become the past, there are only two possibilities:

1 - There is no such thing as NOW. Then, if there is no NOW and the past is gone and the future is not yet, none of them are real.

2 - NOW is eternal, and the temporal experiences we have in the NOW (good or bad), are being kept 'alive' by being moved into a storage area called the PAST, from where they can be retrieved and revived (brought to life again!) by being remembered - - - - - - - - - - - - - in the only possible 'place', - - - the NOW.

I'll go for the second option. Because it gives us a choice:

Good experiences: Remembered, revived, re-lived, enjoyed again!

Bad experiences: Remembered, revived, re-lived, suffered again!

-0-

Let's take three hypothetical walks on three different days along the same street in a downtown city.

On the first day you are quite hungry and are looking for a fast food place to grab a quick bite to eat. You notice a Chinese restaurant (takes too long), then a coffee shop (not the kind of food you want), and then a Burger King. You choose the Burger King, go in and have a quick lunch.

The next day you want to buy yourself a few new shirts. You notice a men's clothing store, walk in and buy three shirts.

On the third day you want to buy some pencils. You notice a stationary store, walk in and get the pencils.

This illustrates that you notice in your environment that, which corresponds to your inner state of mind. If food is on your mind, you notice restaurants. If you are thinking about shirts, you see clothing stores. If your mind is occupied with 'buying pencils', you become aware of places that sell them.

Observing your actions on the first day, I could conclude that 'you are hungry', on the second day 'that you are looking for something having to do with clothing", etc.

On the first day, when you were hungry, you may have noticed the clothing store and the stationary store, but they did not strike a resonance with your inner state of mind. They did not 'connect' with you, and thus did not cause you to act in such a way as to bring you into their reality. You remained detached from them. Once you noticed the Burger King though, the external world suddenly corresponded closely to your internal world. Something clicked, a connection was made and caused you to take action - i.e. 'enter the world' of that Burger King and give it your business.

This principle not only applies to material objects, such as food, shirts and pencils, but also to emotions, concepts, attitudes, etc. You notice, connect with and are stirred into action by that in the external world, which closely corresponds to your inner makeup at that time. What a great way to get to get to know yourself, and conduct yourself in an objective way:

Be it happiness, anger, aggressiveness, control, manipulation, or whatever - if they strike a resonance within you and cause you to act along their way (get angry, aggressive, controlling, etc.), you must have these qualities within. So, when you notice someone getting angry at you, see that person as the clothing store on the day you were looking for food. You notice the anger but don't allow it to strike a resonance within you. You don't allow yourself to get involved in that emotion.

You have mastered the situation! Not only have you mastered the situation, but by not getting angry (not reflecting the anger back at the person who is angry), you have let the anger 'pass through you' and have taken all power away from it. To put it another way: Instead of playing Tennis with the angry person and hitting the ball back to him or her (responding with anger), thereby continuing and escalating the game (of anger), you have let the ball go by you (did not respond to the anger) and the game (interchange) is over. Furthermore, congratulations!, not only have you mastered the situation, but you have also learned to

separate I YOUR TRUE BEING I from an external situation!

-0-

THE WHISPERER

It takes great wisdom and self control to know when a piece of art or music or life is good enough and had best be left alone. There have been times when I finished a painting or musical composition to my satisfaction, got away from it for a few days and, upon getting back to it, said to myself: 'I think it needs a little more here and a little more there'. I would add the little more here and there and - - - puff! the magic was gone!

There is something within us (I call it the whisperer) that always wants a little more. We have to learn to ignore it, because, it will never be satisfied. It seems to live and thrive on the principle of more. It tells us to eat more than we need, acquire more than we need, work more than we need, put something else in that empty space on the wall, surpass our previous efforts and simply do more than we need to. In its cunning way it makes us believe that those whispers are our own ideas, thoughts, desires and urges. They are not! When things are right, leave them alone! Flowers don't get fat. They simply stop growing when they have reached their proper size. I guess they are more in tune with nature.

How do we know when enough is enough?

Simple!

Put the whisperer out of business and then pay more attention to the one who has been listening to those whispers, because that is the true and real you, and it knows what's best for you and it will bring into your life that which is right and good for you, and it knows when enough is enough.

How does one stop the whisperer? Here is the trick: As long as the whisperer thinks that you are not watching it (that you believe that you are whispering to yourself) it whispers to you. It's like a little child acting silly, thinking nobody is watching it. Once it realizes that it is being watched, it immediately stops. Yes! The moment the whisperer gets your attention (you become aware of it and its messages as being something that's a part of you, BUT NOT YOU, like the clothes you are wearing) it stops. So, you have to become vigilant to its intrusions and self serving messages! Doing this will change your life!

-0-

A DREAM

Many years ago I had a dream I have not forgotten:

I was in a vast, almost completely empty place. I became aware of a huge slab of stone, about 20 feet high and equally as wide. Carved into the stone was the figure of a human being. As I looked at the figure a very old man, wearing a white toga, smiled at me and then walked to the left edge of the stone slab. Once there, he touched it lightly with his left hand and immediately the gigantic rock began to rotate clockwise (reminiscent of those secret entrances you see in some of the older mystery movies). As the back side became visible I saw another human figure embedded in it, however this one had a luminous glow to it and its head was radiating like a miniature sun. The old man smiled at me as he pointed with one arm toward the shining figure - and I woke up.

This dream inspired me to write the following song:

A NEW MAN

The air is hard to breathe and painful to the eye.

The peace we know needs weapons standing by.

Look at the river! It once was blue

I blame myself, and I blame you.

We want it easy. We want it nice.

Let the river pay the price -

Let the river pay the price.

Someone's looking down

He knows what's going on

He knows the day

Before we see the dawn

He showed me a new man

And it makes me sing!

'Cause I know what he will bring.

No more greed, a lot of love instead.

The man had sunshine 'round his head

The man had sunshine 'round his head.

We have no time, we rush from day to day

To build a world, where no one wants to stay

Think of the children, what will they do?

Will they blame me? Will they blame you?

We want it easy, we want it nice -

Let the children pay the price.

Someone's looking down

He knows what's going on

He knows the day

Before we see the dawn

He showed me a new man

And it makes me sing!

'Cause I know what he will bring.

No more greed, a lot of love instead.

The man had sunshine 'round his head

The man had sunshine 'round his head.

We live for now and take more than our share.

And where that leads, no one seems to care.

Think of tomorrow! How will it be?

Will they blame you? Will they blame me?

We want it easy, we want it nice

Let tomorrow pay the price -

Let tomorrow pay the price.

PS When I say a new 'Man', I'm not talking gender! I'm referring to mankind and it's mental and spiritual outlook as a whole:)

Click HERE to hear the song

-0-

Understanding the Genie.

I'm sure most of you have heard about Aladdin and the magic genie. There is a very profound message in that story.

Aladdin (an adaptation of the Arabic name Alaa ed-Din, Arabic:literally "nobility of faith")

Synopsis

The story concerns an impoverished young ne'er-do-well named Aladdin, in a Chinese city, who is recruited by a sorcerer from the Maghreb (In some versions Marocco) in the far west, who passes himself off as the brother of Aladdin's late father; to retrieve a wonderful oil lamp from a booby-trapped magic cave. After the sorcerer attempts to double-cross him, Aladdin finds himself trapped in the cave. Fortunately, Aladdin retains a magic ring loaned to him by the sorcerer. When he rubs his hands in despair, he inadvertently rubs the ring, and a djinni (genie) appears, who takes him home to his mother. Aladdin is still carrying the lamp, and when his mother tries to clean it, a second, far more powerful djinni appears, who is bound to do the bidding of the person holding the lamp. With the aid of the djinni of the lamp, Aladdin becomes rich and powerful and marries princess Badroulbadour, the Emperor's daughter. The djinni builds Aladdin a wonderful palace - far more magnificent than that of the Emperor himself.

The sorcerer returns and is able to get his hands on the lamp by tricking Aladdin's wife, who is unaware of the lamp's importance. He orders the djinni of the lamp to take the palace to his home in the Maghreb. Fortunately, Aladdin retains the magic ring and is able to summon the lesser djinni. Although the djinni of the ring cannot directly undo any of the magic of the djinni of the lamp - he is able to transport Aladdin to Maghreb, and help him recover his wife and the lamp and defeat the sorcerer.

My interpretation:

You are both, the lamp (your physical body) and the genie (infinite being/intelligence, which ceaselessly expresses through you and all of creation in a non-discriminating way). That genie is all powerful (after all, it has created, takes care of and holds together everything from the micro-microscopic to the entire, infinitely large universe). It is always active, always creating. However, though it has created you, and your marvelous body (I read in 'The Power of Now* that one cell of our body holds enough DNA information to fill 600 1000-page books), its creative process is bound by certain limitations. Fortunately! Otherwise our bodies would keep growing and growing ad infinitum.

The genie's impersonal creative energy is available to us - anytime, just like the genie in the lamp. And how do we activate it: Simple! Let's have another look at the process mentioned in our story, and the name Aladdin, which in Arabic means nobility of FAITH.

First, the lamp has to be given attention and rubbed.

The lamp is your physical body. Giving it attention means, becoming aware of it. Start with the physical body, then turn inward and become aware of that creative energy within your body, which gives it its existence and which is connected to, and one with, all the energy in all of creation. Be still and think inward. Feel your body's energy and aliveness. It's there!

By doing so, you awaken (summon) the genie, i.e. the universal creative energy. Once this energy is activated, it needs directions and instructions as to how to apply itself. This constitutes the WISH, which gives the energy direction and also sets limitations. Aladdin wants to be back with his mother, - his wish is fulfilled, i.e. the energy has done its job, ceases to operate until it receives further instructions (another wish). Care must be taken at this point, because the genie (creative energy) doesn't care if the wish is good or bad. It neither judges the wish nor the wisher, but simply executes what it is ordered to do. It works equally diligently for Aladdin as for the evil sorcerer!

Now to faith. Aladdin might not have believed in the genie's powers if it had been the size of his little finger. So, in the story it is made into a huge, towering being. The hugeness made it easy for Aladdin to have faith in its ability. For the same token, you may equate the creative energy with the size of your body and say to yourself: 'No way I could do all that!'

But you have to have confidence that this energy within your body is connected with and one with an energy that is infinitely large and powerful and can do anything for you.

Now to speed! Once Aladdin made his wish to be back with his mother, he was not with her instantaneously. He rode on the genie's back, which took some time. Commands given to the infinite creative energy have to be worked out in the real word, and that takes a little time. So, don't be impatient, and worse yet, don't start doubting, because by doing so, you are telling the genie: Maybe not!

So, here is the technique:

Become aware of the energy within your physical body (you are contacting the genie).

Think of something you would like that energy to accomplish (that's the wish)

Relax and let the genie do its work

Have Faith (be Aladdin)

PS Prayer works the same way :)

And here is the really exciting news: Once you get used to getting in touch and using this creative energy, it will work for you more and more, and slowly but steadily things just work out better and better.

*Eckhart Tolle, Publishers: Namaste Publishing & New World Library

-0-

I've been reading Eckhart Tolle's 'The Power of Now'. Quite a book - if you're ready for it, i.e. if you have the capacity (mental attitude) to appreciate it. By this I mean:

Music means nothing to a deaf person, no matter how much music there is playing.

Art means nothing to someone who is blind, no matter how much art there is all around, and

An 'unconscious' person is unaware of 'reality', no matter how much you explain it to that person.

Tolle's books mean nothing to you, if you're not ready for a little enlightenment :)

Here is a song I wrote, inspired by 'The Power of Now'.

The Time is Now

I let go of all the baggage filled with yesterday,

My worried thoughts, my doubts and fears are through!

I'm ready now for lasting love to come my way -

And when it does, my heart knows what to do.

I freed myself from all those heavy memories,

What good are they, except to ruin my fate!

The time is now, and now is good

Tomorrow - - - - - - - let it wait.

I tried so hard to live my life as best I could,

Made some mistakes and drifted off the road.

Some times you win, sometimes you lose, I'm back on track,

Life was kind and eased the heavy load.

Then came a time when everything became so clear,

I found the secret of a happy fate:

The time is now, and now is good

Tomorrow - - - - - - - let it wait.

Life is now, this very moment -

Live it now, as best you know.

Go within and feel the Love -

And when you do, then let it glow.

Forgive yourself and those who might have done you wrong,

Let the river carry everything away.

No need to hear that sad song for a second time,

It told you everything it had to say.

Stand back and put some space between YOUR LIFE and YOU,

Don't close your heart, but open up its gate.

The time is now, and now is good!

Tomorrow - - - - - - - let it wait.

To hear the song, click HEAR :)

-0-

Check out '5 minutes to spiritual enlightenment'. Click HERE.

-0-

Here is some simple math:

If you give your heart to two persons -

they will each only get one half of it!

That makes it impossible for any of the parties involved to have a whole relationship.

-0-

The longer we thought that we were right, the harder it is to admit that we were wrong.

-0-

Today is Thursday, July 12, 2007

The rocks ,the plants ,the animals and the Earth don't know that :)

-0-

Why am I here?

Who is asking this question?

The 'I' that's reflected in the mirror -

Which itself is a reflection of the true 'I' -

which doesn't understand the word 'why' :)

-0-

CREATIVITY

Take credit for building the house -

but don't take credit for making the wood.

-0-

I look at my watch and when the hour hand points at 8 and it is morning, many, many people are going to work. 4 hours later, when the hour hand points at 12, most of those people take a break from work and have lunch. 4 hours later, when the hour hand points at 4, most of those people are getting ready to go home.

I could say: `Gee, that hour hand on my watch has tremendous power, to make all those people do all those things'. Or I can realize that the hour hand is merely part of an instrument, which is synchronized to the apparent daily motion of our Sun*, and all those people are neither being controlled by the hour hand nor by the Sun, but are synchronizing their behavior with the position of the Sun.

It follows that, since human behavior and the watch are both synchronized to the same phenomena (the Sun's apparent motion), they are also in sync with each other. I feel that it is erroneous to say that the Sun 'controls' human behavior. After all, I played professional music in night clubs for decades. Thus I worked at night and slept part of the day. The Sun is as it is and appears to move as it does, thereby creating day and night. Life on earth, including humans, simply do or choose not to adjust to this cycle.

What is interesting here is that we have three aspects:

1. Reactive (adjusted) life form behavior. We get up in the morning, etc.

2. The Sun, which, because of its apparent motion, generates day and night.

3. The watch, which is synchronized to the Sun's motion and therefore also synchronized to Sun-motion generated life form behavior. We take a lunch break when the hour hand points at noon, etc.

1 (getting up in the morning) and 2 (the Sun rising) are the actively interacting factors. 3 (the clock showing 6 A.M.) is merely a synchronized tool.

The Sun is the most obvious factor influencing living behavior. Its most noticeable gifts are light and heat. When he rises, darkness vanishes and we can see and it also gets warmer. The flowers open up their petals, the birds start chirping, nature comes to life. When he sinks below the horizon, the light decreases, darkness reappears, the temperature lowers and nature goes to sleep. We humans had most probably also attuned ourselves to this cycle until the appearance of the candle and other gadgets, which gave us, in initially small amounts, what the sun gives in great abundance: Light and heat.

As these smaller sources of light and heat developed into more sophisticated instruments, light bulbs and heaters, we were able to more and more disassociate from the sun's cycle. Many of us work at night in well lit and comfortably heated places. Within the gambling palaces of Las Vegas, the concept of night has totally disappeared until you retreat into your room.

But all the other planets have cycles too. Less obvious, but nevertheless real. They rise and set and, by doing so, give us (whatever they give) after they rise, and stop their giving after they disappear below the horizon. Since we are not aware of the planets' rising and setting cycles (unless we are astronomers or star gazers), we are not attuned to them and thus have never noticed what they `give', i.e. there are no obvious phenomena that we associate with them (such as day and night), and there is no obvious cyclical behavior by humans and nature that we can relate to them. (When I say `we', I'm referring to the average human being). We do not have a `watch' which shows the motion and positions of the individual planets at any given moment by means of an hour hand We do, however, have an `instrument', a `clock', which shows their positions and is synchronized to their movements ------ The Horoscope.

Like the watch, it has no power of its own, but merely shows the positions of the planets.

We astrologers have been using this `watch' for quite some time and some of us have discerned what the planets `give', and how nature and, more importantly, human behavior has adjusted to those gifts and their active periods

It has been a tedious process of recording, double checking, modifying and re-recording. With the advent of modern technology, progress has been quicker and data has been studied and shared in increasingly large quantities. Because of this, the planets' `gifts' are becoming more obvious and better understood.

Once we really understand what each planet has to give and when it can do so, we will probably create planet specific `light bulbs and heaters', which will duplicate a planet's gifts, as the light bulb and heater duplicate the sun's gift of light and heat.. We will know when to turn these on and off, thereby extending the planet's benefic influence into periods when it is in its `night' phase and therefore unable to `give'.

Our present watch is synchronized only with the Sun. I visualize a watch that allows us to switch between the `Sun' dial, i.e. our present dial, and a `Moon' dial, all the way to a Pluto dial. Once this watch is available, we will be able to see the daily planetary movements, which in turn will enable us to detect and pinpoint synchronicity between their movements, their positions in the sky and actual occurrences. We will be able to see where Mars is at 2:45 P.M. and Venus at 8:15 A.M. We can keep the watch set to the Mars dial for a week or two, and then Venus for the next two weeks, etc.

I feel that it is erroneous to say that the planets 'control' human behavior. They are as they are and move as they do, thereby creating more subtle and less obvious fluctuations/cycles (similar to the Sun-created day and night), and life on earth, including humans, simply adjust to these cycles. The clock works fine with the Sun. Most people will get up when the hour hand is between 6 and 8 in the morning, will have lunch around noon and go home between 4 and 6 in the evening.

At present our other clock is the horoscope. We astrologers know when the planets are where. We also know their `gifts'.

Because of that ---- Astrology works!

-0-

Nature constantly creates. Look around. New flowers, new trees, new grass, new cloud shapes, etc . It's a constant and never ending process. Creativity is synonymous with life.

I feel, that we humans are as much a part of this creative process as everything else. No more and no less, simply a part of it. Nature doesn't think we are special, - WE think so :)

Many of us set ourselves apart from nature, and when we do, we are cutting ourselves off from it and its creative process. One way to separate ourselves from this tremendous creative force is to claim or think that WE are the ones who are doing the creating. In other words, the creative process starts with us. Curiously enough, that's when the creative flow stops. When you say: 'I'm creating' you are building a concrete dam in the middle of the river of creativity, which blocks its flow, and then you wonder why beyond the dam (you) there is no more water (creativity). The only way then to start the flow again is to punch a hole into the dam (you), which essentially boils down to 'removing' part of yourself, in order to let some of the creative flow make it through the dam. And here is the clincher, the more of yourself (the dam) you remove, the stronger the creative flow becomes.

If you were about to play a song on your instrument and the instrument said to you: 'I'm going to play a song on my own', what would you do? You would sit back in amusement and think: 'Go ahead'. And what would happen then? Nothing. That's exactly what we do when we say 'we' are going to write a song.

Once you realize that you are only a channel for the creative process and take your ego out of the equation, creativity will flow ceaselessly.

Sure, you can sit down and write a song, but if the music starts with you, my bet is that it's going to be only a song. For it to be more, to have soul, to resonate within other listeners, it has to come from a deeper source, which uses you (if you let it) to find expression, be it in music, art, dancing, acting, or whatever.

So, if you have writer's block, relax, attune yourself to nature and let it happen, - it will, not when you want it to, but when the time is right.

-0-

How to be happy.

There is infinite intelligence, God, whatever you want to call it, with infinite wisdom and power. And then there are we, with very limited intelligence and very limited power (if you even want to call it that) comparatively speaking.

Considering this, who do you think can achieve more, infinite intelligence or we individually? The answer is obvious.

Infinite intelligence knows what you need to be well. It takes the food you eat and converts it in the most amazing way into whatever your body needs. It doesn't even ask you, it just knows what to do. That's a miracle right there. The key phrase here is IT KNOWS WHAT YOU NEED TO BE WELL. You, on the other hand, have free will to starve yourself and then infinite intelligence cannot help you - it needs your cooperation.

It also knows what you need to be happy. But you have free will to decide on your own what will make you happy and in that case infinite intelligence will step back and let you pursue your own course. I am telling you all this, because most of us do not give infinite intelligence, God, free reign to make us happy. WE decide what will make us happy, and that usually doesn't work, otherwise everybody would be happy. So here is the secret to happiness: Ask God to make you happy, but do not ask God HOW to make you happy. This little shift in attitude is a powerful way to get your life straightened out. Be warned: Once you take this course of action, and give infinite intelligence free reign to make you happy, profound things will start to happen in your life. People, situations and circumstances in your life will change. Some will go, new ones will come in. At first it may seem that everything you have known is falling apart. That's when you have to have confidence that the greater intelligence is at work and is making things right, setting a new stage so to speak. One by one you will come to see that everything is changing for the better. Don't interfere and have confidence. That's all there is to it.

Lasting happiness to you!

-0-

Coincidence?

I had to get twenty of my paintings ready for an exhibit. They only needed hooks through which I could feed the hanging wire. I had purchased twenty sets and, as it was a sunny but very windy day, I decided to do the work on the heavy, marble top table gracing my back deck. To make sure that each set of hooks was spaced the same distance from the top of the paintings, I marked a piece of paper and used it as a stencil. When I reached the 15th painting I noticed that I has only one more set of hooks laying on the table. 'I probably left some hooks in one the plastic shopping bags from the art store' I thought, but when I looked on the floor there was only the bag from the hardware store which contained two rolls of thin but strong steel wire. I picked up the hammer holding down my stencil paper, thinking that the hooks might be hiding underneath it...., no hooks, but the moment the paper was freed of the hammer, the wind tossed it into the air and whipped it past my face. I tried to catch it, but to no avail; it butterflied right past me. I spun around and saw that it was caught at the bottom of the deck railing. I rushed over before the wind could continue its game, and when I picked it up, guess what was lying right underneath it on the deck floor?...... the second shopping back with the remaining hooks. I thanked the wind for taking me there and gratefully savored the special moment of being in tune with nature.

-0-

I play many private affairs and at times I make my last song ‘God bless America’. I have noticed that older people, late 30’s and up will join me enthusiastically in singing the song after they form a circle. What really disturbs me is that most of the younger people, especially those in their teens, do not join in. They just stand there and observe the others. They don’t even sing it! Either they don’t know the words or they simply don’t want to sing the song. I find this sad and PATHETIC!

-0-

The other day, as I was leaving a huge department store, I felt really great: Soooo many things I don’t need :)

-0-

Equivalence. There is Suzanne who is financially well off to the point where she gets all of her income from interests and dividend checks. To her, earning $ 200.00 equates to walking to the mail box in order to retrieve an envelope that contains a dividend check. Good for her! Then there is Jack who works hard, perhaps all day, to earn that amount of money. When Jack and Suzanne exchange a holiday gift for each other and each spends $ 100.00 on their gift, the monetary value of each gift is the same, however, the intrinsic value is not.

-0-

Whatever we see, it is GOD seeing an aspect of Himself.

-0-