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Traumeri - Schumann (1810-1856)
"None by his own knowledge, or by subtle consideration, will ever really understand these things. For all words and all that one can learn or understand in a creaturely way, are foreign to the truth that I mean and far below it." -- John Van Ruysbroeck (1293-1381)
"We have found much of heaven and have been rocketed into a fourth dimension of existence of which we had not even dreamed." -- BigBook Page 5
Religious doctrines, dogmas, ideologies, philosophies, world-models, value systems, ethics, moralities, and all the like, will stand or fall depending on the kinds of answers that are revealed to the collective mind of mankind. It all comes together in the mind of each individual, and becomes his reality, and to that extent only. Each is unique. - Barefoot (A few years ago)
Even as gnarled and windblown by life as we may be, within each there is LIFE...
When that is seen in all its simplicity, it is a Joy and a Beauty Forever. I have here collected some of the wisdom of the ancients and not so ancient that has the light of truth attached and which can be seen with a clear eye. Throughout this collection, arranged in no particular order, The Quest will be to discover how the human mind creates - and relieves - its self-inflicted sorrows and sufferings of the ego-self. This discovery is the beginning of the Elimination of the Ego-Self. Before you begin, here is Something To Ponder.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." - Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) Declaration of Independence - 1776
"We have met the enemy, and it is us." - Pogo
It is as impossible for peace to come by waging war as it is impossible for love to come by hating. The only fruit of war is war and any seeming peace is but a TRUCE OF FEAR BETWEEN WARS. So it is with our inner-self wars. – Barefoot, a few years ago.
A novice monk asked the master Chi-Ch'en, "What is the way upward?" The master replied, "You will hit it by descending lower." - as quoted by J. Wu
"Burn the idea into the consciousness of every man that he can get well regardless of anyone. The only condition is that he Trust in God and clean house." - Bill Wilson (1898-1971) - Page 98, BigBook
"On the other hand-and strange as this may seem to those who do not understand-once a psychic change has occurred, the very same person who seemed doomed, who had so many problems he despaired of ever solving them, suddenly finds himself easily able . . . , the only effort necessary being that required to follow a few simple rules." - William D. Silkworth, MD (1873-1951) - Page xxvii, BigBook
"The great fact is just this, and nothing less: That we have had deep and effective spiritual experiences which have revolutionized our whole attitude toward life, toward our fellows and toward God's universe. The central fact of our lives today is the absolute certainty that our Creator has entered into our hearts and lives in a way which is indeed miraculous." - Bill Wilson (1898-1971) - Page 25, BigBook
We are "rocketed" into a fourth dimension of existence, the spiritual, when the dimensions of the physical, the mental, and the emotional are in harmony and balance, each with the others, occasioned by our total surrender with complete abandon to the diligent disciplined practice of the 12 steps of A.A. - Barefoot
I have tried describing it, as did Bill, in totally inadequate words, in many ways.... "Seeing the white light and hearing the angel feathers" or "Knowing" that I was living and being in the presence of total and complete LOVE or "An electric moment, like moving out from behind a jet engine into a sound proof room, the silence is so deafening." - Barefoot
The Touch of the Master's Hand....... And he grabbed a Bigbook, opened it to page 59 and stuck it under my nose and said "This is how you will find "IT"." That page in the BigBook has the Steps of the Path Upward.
Grandfather says the Eagle taught him that,
"In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit." - Albert Schweitzer
"The flowering of man's spiritual nature is as natural and as strict a process of evolution as the opening of a rose or a morning glory. But there is this difference: While the plant must have a congenial environment . . . the human flowering often takes place amid the most adverse surroundings . . . " - John Burroughs (1837-1921)
"We find that no one need have difficulty with the spirituality . . . Willingness, honesty and open mindedness are the essentials . . . But these are indispensable." - Bill Wilson (1898-1971) - Page 570, BigBook
"We are told early on that the Serenity Prayer is a key to success. But most folks simply parrot the words without understanding its meaning, a mantra that gets them through their turmoil." - Barefoot {A Few Years Ago)
We have all heard the dictums "Turn It Over," and "Let Go And Let God." -- I have found, from bitter experience, that if you Turn It Over and Don't Let Go, you soon find yourself Up-side Down!! -- Barefoot {A Few Years Ago)
"Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." - Albert Einstein (1879-1955) But..... "With all your science can you tell how it is, and whence it is that light comes into the soul?" - Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) Yet, grace, if thou repent, thou canst not lack, but who shall give thee that grace to begin?" - John Donne (1572-1631) "What is all science then but pure religion seeking everywhere the true commandments" - Alfred Noyes (1880-1958) "Science prospers exactly in proportion as it is religious; and religion flourishes in exact proportion to the scientific depth and firmness of its bases." - Thomas H. Huxley (1825-1895) "The fact that there is a religious movement upon which many brilliant minds have worked over a period of many centuries is sufficient reason for at least venturing a serious attempt to bring such processes within the realm of scientific understanding." - Carl Jung (1875-1961) It helps to know about old theories. They are useful. They remind you that your own theories about life can be outgrown as soon as more facts become available. - James Austin, M.D.
"From my experience, seeing into the nature of God does not lay in scholarship, philosophy, in doctrines, and not even in meditation . . . It lies in one thing alone, namely seeing into the God-nature that is in each person and thing. We learn to do this by following the discipline of a few simple rules. I suggest the 12 Steps." - Barefoot (A few years ago)
"To study the way of the Creator is to study your own self. To study your own self is to forget yourself. To forget yourself is to have the objective world prevail in you." - Master Dogen (1200-1253)
"Jesus said, If your leaders say to you, 'Look, the (Father's) kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the (Father's) kingdom is within you and it is outside you. When you know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will understand that you are children of the living Father. But if you do not know yourselves, then you live in poverty, and you are the poverty." - Gospel of Thomas 3
"One thing is everything, all things are One. If you know only this, then don't worry about attaining perfect knowledge." - Master Seng-ts'an'
"Jesus said, "Know what is in front of your face, and what is hidden from you will be disclosed to you. For there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed." - Gospel of Thomas 5
"Each of us literally chooses, by his way of attending to things, what sort of a universe he shall appear to himself to inhabit." - William James
Unwilling to disregard greed and anger, you trouble yourself in vain to read the teachings. You see the prescription, but don't take the medicine --- How then can you do away with your illness?" - Layman P'ang (740-808)
"The power of true center must be the most frequently mislaid artifact of human wisdom. It is as if the same message keeps washing ashore, and no one breaks the bottles, much less the code." - Marilyn Ferguson
"Jesus said, If you bring forth what is within you, what you have will save you. If you do not bring forth that from within you, what you do not bring forth [will] kill you." - Gospel of Thomas 70
"The mystical experience is a natural form of knowledge in the sense that one need postulate no special intervention of the deity to explain it. Nevertheless, in the mystic experience, the person makes contact with the Way Things Are." - Andrew Greeley
"All power of fancy over reason is a degree of insanity." - Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
"Human understanding is like an irregular mirror, which distorts and discolors the nature of things by mingling its own nature with it." - Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
On Meditation. . . . "It is like the pacification of turbulent waters by pouring oil over them; no waves are roaring, no foams are boiling, no splashes are spattering, but a smooth, glossy mirror of immense dimension, and it is in this perfect mirror of consciousness that myriads of reflections, as it were, come and go without ever disturbing its serenity." - Soyen Shaku "The faculty of voluntarily bringing back a wandering attention, over and over again, is the very root of judgement, character, and will." - William James "The whole point of meditation may be summed up as living in the present." - Dhiravamsa
"How can you even hope to approach the truth through words? . . . full understanding can come to you only through an inexpressible mystery. The approach to it is called the Gateway of the Stillness beyond all Activity. If you wish to understand, know that a sudden comprehension comes when the mind has been purged of all the clutter of conceptual and discriminatory thought-activity. Those who seek the truth by means of intellect and learning only get further and further away from it. Not until you abandon all thoughts of seeking for something, not until your mind is motionless as wood or stone, will you be on the right road to the Gate." - Master Huang-Po (died 850)
"Be Still and Know that I AM"
"The greater the doubt, the greater the awakening; the smaller the doubt, the smaller the awakening. No doubt, no awakening." - C.C. Chang
"My only fear is that a little gain will suffice you." - Master Hakulin (1685-1768)
If you would make a man happy, add not to his wants, but subtract from the sum of his desires." - Seneca (4 B.C.E.-65 A.C.E.)
"The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook." - William James (1842-1910)
"Patience was the hardest of the virtues for me to attain, and the more successful I became in life, the more I needed it. It can take forever, especially when I knew what the idiots around me were going to do or say. No man controls his fate, a knowledge that comes late in life. All you can do is muddle from one situation to another, making as few mistakes as possible." - Barefoot (A Few Years Ago)
"The wise man knows that success in life is achieved by simply putting a whole lot of mistakes together in a way that works." - Barefoot (A Few Years Ago)
"A wise man's education toward understanding his own universe and reality (and to some extent yours) will embrace as much folly as he can afford. It is only to the degree that he can afford it that he will be able to laugh at himself. If he embraces more folly than he can afford, he will cry." - Barefoot (A Few Years Ago)
"Seeing is deceiving. It is eating that is believing." - James Thurber (1864-1961)
"Not in the shouts and plaudits of the throng, but in ourselves, are triumph and defeat." - Henry Longfellow (1807-1882)
"Let not the sun go down on your wrath" - Paul, Ephesians 4:26 (Remember Steps 10 and 11?)
"A pearl is produced only through the pearl-oyster's enduring the pain of having a grain of sand bore into its flesh, fighting against it, and protecting itself from it. We, also, by fighting all kinds of difficulties and overcoming them, strive to develop the jewel of spiritual cultivation." - Isshu-roshi
"The things that we see are only the mind's best bet as to what is out in front." - Adelbert Ames (1835-1933)
"We are as much as we see. Faith is sight and knowledge. The hands only serve the eyes." - Henry Thoreau (1817-1862)
"While with an eye made quiet by the power of harmony, and the deep power of joy, we see into the life of things." - William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
"It is not that something different is seen, but that one sees differently. It is as though the spatial act of seeing were changed by a new dimension." - Carl Jung (1875-1961)
You observe a lot by watching! - Yogi Berra
"Do not craze yourself with thinking, but go about your business anywhere. Life is not intellectual and critical, but sturdy." - Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
"A genuine spiritual life is not one consisting of a series of disconnected and undefined experiences occurring at random; it is a constant, dynamic process incorporating every element of our being." - Steven Batchelor
"In our worldly . . . view, we were severely limited in what we could do. By ourselves, we could do little or nothing except drown out the bleakness and frustration of life. A man without power, as I was, is nothing. With POWER, however, ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE. That POWER is, of course, SPIRITUAL POWER . . . man needs power, lots of it, to survive. This means getting in touch with the SOURCE of power . . . so that every act becomes a spiritual act, every day a spiritual day. It is thus that we come to live a COMPLETELY SPIRITUAL LIFE. . . . we come to the full realization that the visible world is but a part of a greater spiritual world, and that the spiritual world and the visible world are one reality." - Barefoot (a few years ago)
"Experience is never limited . . . it is an immense sensibility, a kind of huge spider-web of the finest silken thread suspended in the chamber of consciousness, and catching every air-borne particle in its tissue." - Henry James (1843-1916)
"Time flies like an arrow, so be careful not to waste energy on trivial matters. Be Attentive! Be Attentive!" - Master Daito Kokushi (1283-1337)
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said . . . "It means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." "The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things." "The question is," said Humpthy Dumpty, "which is to be the master - that's all." - Lewis Carrol (1832-1898)
Shall we be the slave of our mind or its master?
"The roots of humanity's troubles run very deep. There are no simple prescriptions to overcome them . . . What is needed are changes in consciousness, in relations between people, between nations, and in their attitudes toward nature." - Mikhail Gorbachev
"Had the teachings of the messengers of Allah, such as Jesus Christ and Moses among the Jews and the Holy Prophet of Islam among the Muslims been realized the way they wished, the present, existing problems of human beings would have never existed." - Ayatullah Khomeini (December 23, 1979)
"Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: And with all thy getting, get understanding." - Proverbs 4:7
"To understand is hard. Once one understands, action is easy." - Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925)
"Knowledge is a process of piling up facts; Wisdom lies in their simplification." - Martin Fischer (1879-1962)
"In the pursuit of knowledge, everyday something is added. In the practice of the Tao, everyday something is dropped." - Tao Te Ching
"When you entertain evil thoughts like hostility and hatred, there is no joy in your heart and you are a nuisance to others. On the other hand, if you develop kindness, patience and understanding, then the whole atmosphere changes." - The Dalai Lama
"True, at birth, we were still essentially unconditioned. But gradually, life's events conditioned us. [Our mind's] circuitry soon learned to make us blush with shame, flush with anger, glow with pride, blanch with fear, and clutch with desire. Are these the conditionings which [the 12 Steps and meditation] would have us shed? Yes, indeed. This is what is implied in getting back to our unconditioned self." "The word may sound scary, but "unconditioned" remains an excellent term. . . . [When we speak metaphorically about being "reborn" let us not misunderstand] . . . It bears re-emphasis that enlightenment, {the rebirth] does not return a person's mind literally to the primitive state. Rather does the word point to the ways in which a mature [mind] enters into the direct, comprehensive experience of the world as it now is. Now, rinsed free of inappropriate conditioning, the mature mind responds creatively, drawing on its adult resources. The keyword is inappropriate. For it is out of this ripened state that fresh responses again flow in an unqualified fashion." - James H. Austin, M.D.
"True illumination, like all real and vital experience, consists rather in the breathing of a certain atmosphere, the living at certain levels of consciousness, than in the acquirement of specific information." - Evelyn Underhill
"Bob, you cannot think your way into better living, but you can live your way into better thinking." - "Tex" Robertson - (1908-1992)
"No strain, no pain. No pain, no gain." - Old Saying
"Abominating Hell, longing for Heaven, you make yourself suffer in a joyful world." - Master Bankei (1622-1693)
"The light shined in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not." - John 1:5 "Wisdom excels folly, as far as light excels darkness." - Ecclesiastes 2:13
"Believe in the simple "magic" of life, in service in the universe, and the meaning of that waiting, that alertness, that "craning of the neck" in creatures, will dawn upon you." - Martin Buber (1878-1965)
"That the birds of worry and care fly over your head, this you cannot change. But that they build nests in your hair, this you can prevent." - Chinese Proverb
"The vast flood [of life] rolls onward, but yield yourself, and it floats you upon it." - Ikkuyi (1393-1481)
"Within a wall a clay bowl is molded, but the use of the bowl will depend on the part of the bowl that is void . . . so advantage is had from whatever is there, but usefulness rises from whatever is not." - Lao Tzu (604-531 B.C.E.)
"The true meaning of the process of LIVING the Steps is to see things as they are, to observe things as they are, and to let everything go as it goes. We have ceased fighting anything and everything." - Barefoot (A few years ago)
"One truth is clear, whatever is, is right. Know then thyself, presume not God to scan, the proper study of mankind is man." - Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
"Jesus said, "Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. When they find, they will be disturbed. When they are disturbed, they will marvel, and will reign over all. And after they have reigned they will rest." - Gospel of Thomas 2
"The greatest fruit of justice is serenity." - Epicurus (341 B.C.E - 270 B.C.E)
"Look within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig." - Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121 A.C.E - 180 A.C.E)
"Every day go into the calm quiet where you really belong, face the other way and turn your gaze back; if you do this over the long years, that which is not illusion will of itself reveal itself to you." - Master Daikaku (1203-1268)
"Both abundance and lack exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend... when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that's present -- love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature and personal pursuits that bring us pleasure -- the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience Heaven on earth." - Sarah Ban Breathnach
Remember this – and tend your garden well.
"All final spiritual reference is to the silence beyond sound . . . it can be spoken of as the great silence, or as the void, or as the transcendent absolute." - Joseph Campbell (1904-1987)
"An electric moment, like moving out from behind a jet engine into a sound proof room, the silence is so deafening." - Barefoot (1974)
"I know not who you are, but that your Father and Mine are ONE." - Barefoot (1974)
"Nothing hinders the soul's knowledge of God as much as time and space, for time and space are fragments, whereas God is One. Therefore, if the soul were to know God, it must know Him above time and outside space." - Meister Eckhart (1260-1327)
"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance -
"It isn't what we don't know that gives us trouble. It's what we know that ain't so." – Will Rogers
And in all our searching and meditating and learning and floundering and flailing around in life, it appears to me that Mankind is the missing link between anthropoid apes and fully evolved human beings. - Be STILL and KNOW
 A big *GRIN* and {{HUGS}} Love and Peace, Barefoot (Here and Now)
When you are Enlightened the 'world of illusion' is gone... ...and the TRUTH will set you FREE."
KEEP COMING BACK!
 Created Feb 14, 2000 in the Spirit of Cooperation Three mighty important things, Pardn'r, LOVE And PEACE and WISDOM
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