InnerNet Weekly: Inspirations From CharityFocus.org

InnerNet Weekly: Inspirations From CharityFocus.org http://tow.charityfocus.org/ iJourney passages are a weekly email service that delivers a little bit of wisdom to 8,613 people. It all started with couple folks getting together on 'Wednesdays' in the Silicon Valley. eng inspiration, wisdom, spiritual, service eng tow@charityfocus.org 2010-09-01 19:49:17 But It Is There, Kent Nerburn We are all born with a belief in God. It may not have a name or a face. We may not even see it as God. But it is there. It is the sense that comes over us as we stare into the starlit sky or watch the last fiery rays of an evening sunset. It is the morning shiver as we wake on a beautiful day and smell a richness in the air that we know and love from somewhere we can’t quite recall. It is the mystery behind the beginning of time and beyond the limits of space. It is a sense of otherness that brings alive something deep in our hearts. Some people will tell you that there is no God. They will claim that God is a crutch for people who can’t face reality, a fairy tale for people who need myths in their lives. They will argue for rational explanations of the origin of the universe and scientific explanations of the perfect movements of nature. They will point to evil and injustice in the world, and cite examples of religion being used to start wars or to hurt people of different beliefs. You cannot argue with these people, nor should you. These are the people the Chinese philosopher Chuang Tzu spoke about when he said, "A frog in a well cannot be talked to about the sea." If you have any sense of the mystery of the universe around you, you are hearing the murmur of the sea. Your task is to leave the well, to step out into the sun, and to set out for the sea. Leave the arguing to those who wish to discuss the size and shape of the walls that close them in. If you hear the call of the distant sea, do not be turned away by the naivetés and contradictions of the beliefs around you. There are many paths, and the sea looks different from each of them. Your task is not to judge the paths of others, but to find a path that will lead you ever closer to the murmurings that you hear in your heart. Begin by accepting where you are. --Kent Nerburn... http://tow.charityfocus.org/?tid=717 Mon, 30 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0700 We are the Ones We've Been Waiting For, Hopi Elders You have been telling people that this is the Eleventh Hour, now you must go back and tell the people that this is the Hour. And there are things to be considered… Where are you living? What are you doing? What are your relationships? Are you in right relation? Where is your water? Know your garden. It is time to speak your truth. Create your community. Be good to each other. And do not look outside yourself for your leader. Then he clasped his hands together, smiled, and said, “This could be a good time! There is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold on to the shore. They will feel they are being torn apart and will suffer greatly. Know the river has its destination. The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open, and our heads above the water. And I say, see who is in there with you and celebrate. At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally, least of all ourselves. For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey come to a halt. The time of the one wolf is over. Gather yourselves! Banish the word ’struggle’ from your attitude and your vocabulary. All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. --Hopi Elders' Prophecy, June 8, 2000... http://tow.charityfocus.org/?tid=702 Mon, 23 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0700 Growing in Spontaneity, Vimala Thakar Never argue with one's own understanding. The whisper of intelligence is always there, whatever you do. If you create a time lag between the whisper of intelligence and understanding in you and your action, then you are preventing the cerebral organ from growing into a new dimension.  When you argue with intelligence, when you postpone acting according to understanding then there is confusion, the brain gets confused. The voice of understanding, the voice of intelligence has an insecurity about it. How do you know that it is the right thing? So we tend to ignore it.  Instead we accept authority.  We conform. But the brain cannot be orderly, competent, accurate and precise if you do not listen to it, if you have no respect.  We are so busy with the outside world, and its compulsions, that the world that is inside us does not command that respect and reverence, that care and concern from us. So one has to be a disciple of one's own understanding, look upon that understanding as the master. Sometimes one may commit a mistake, it might be the whim of the ego and we might mistake the whim, the wish of the ego for the voice of silence and intelligence, but that we have to discover.    Unless you commit mistakes, how do you learn to discriminate between the false and the true?  In learning there is bound to be a little insecurity, a possibility of committing mistakes.  Why should one be terribly afraid of committing mistakes? So instead of accepting the authority of habits and conditionings, while one is moving one watches, and when there is a suggestion, a whisper from within, from one's own intelligence, one does not neglect, ignore, or insult that. To eliminate the time lag between understanding and action is the way to grow into spontaneity. --Vimala Thakar... http://tow.charityfocus.org/?tid=690 Mon, 16 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0700 Humor is a Magical Interface, Steve Bhaerman <meta content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv="Content-Type"> <meta content="Word.Document" name="ProgId"> <meta content="Microsoft Word 12" name="Generator"> <meta content="Microsoft Word 12" name="Originator"> <link href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CPavi%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml" rel="File-List" /> <title></title>  <link href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CPavi%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx" rel="themeData" /> <link href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CPavi%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_colorschememapping.xml" rel="colorSchemeMapping" /><style type="text/css">  </style> Humor is a magical interface between the logical and intuitive minds. Consequently, it has the power to bypass the left-brain’s linear gatekeepers and allow outside-the-box ideas to come in under the radar. Which is not to say that all comedy awakens. We’ve all experienced brutality thinly disguised as "humor," usually with the unfunny disclaimer, "What’s the matter? Can't take a joke?"<o:p></o:p></meta> </meta> </meta> </meta> Some kinds of humor perpetuate prejudice, misunderstanding, denial, separation. They are merely reflecting the prejudice, misunderstanding, denial and separation that now exist. The best kind of humor is a vehicle for love that not only leaves ‘em laughing, it leaves ‘em smiling. By understanding, embracing and practicing humor at its best, we can add to the "laugh force" on the planet, and allow enlightening humor to strike more frequently.<o:p></o:p><o:p></o:p> "Laughter is medicine." We’ve heard it so often, it’s almost a cliché. To go a bit deeper, laughter is "medicine" in the Native American sense ... a form of magic that can transmute suffering into insight, rigidity into flexibility, separation into connection. As an alchemical (or we might say, all-comical) tool, humor has the power to heal the heart and free the mind. Wholehearted hearty laughter naturally kindles joy.  […]<o:p></o:p><o:p> </o:p> On rare occasions, a joke fires on all cylinders. One such story, purported to be true, is something that happened during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962. As you may or may not remember, this is the closest we as a world have come to nuclear holocaust. […] Fortunately, wiser heads and hearts prevailed on both sides.<o:p></o:p><o:p></o:p> However, in the midst of the crisis there were some American and Soviet delegates meeting to discuss possible trade between the two countries. When news of the missile crisis hit, there was tremendous tension and the room fell silent. Finally, one of the Soviet delegates stood up and proposed that they take turns telling jokes. He volunteered to start. “What’s the difference between capitalism and communism?”“In capitalism, man exploits man. In communism, it’s the other way around.” The room erupted in laughter, the kind of explosion that heals. When the laughter died down, they were able to continue their business in peace and equanimity. <o:p></o:p><o:p></o:p> Ever since I heard this story many, many years ago I have held it as the highest octave of humor -- a joke that offered physical and emotional release, and mental and spiritual insight. Instantly, the room was transformed as each individual recognized him or herself -- as well as everyone else -- as humans, united at the heart. --Steve Bhaerman, aka Swami Beyondananda<o:p></o:p>... http://tow.charityfocus.org/?tid=676 Mon, 09 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0700 Space in the Crowded Workplace, Ashvin Iyengar The more I live, the more I am realizing the importance of space. Space between thoughts and actions. Space which has room for possibilities despite being crowded with opinions. Space which makes choice possible. Space that allows me to respond instead of having a knee-jerk reaction. The list goes on and on. Someone opposes what I am trying to do and I want to brush him aside out of fear that my assignment may not get done otherwise. If I have the internal space in the moment, then I can choose to flow around the obstacle instead of trying to overcome it. Or maybe I realize that flowing around is not working and I need to confront the issue. Space is what allows me to have the confrontation with the right amount of force and without making it into a ‘me against him/her’ issue. Space is what lets me win a point without making the other into a loser. Space is what lets me concede a point and change my stance without feeling like a loser. And sometimes, holding a free and open internal space, or presence if you will, can result in a transformation of the environment around you. The environment around me, and I suspect for most if not all people, is mind-blowingly complex and full of divisive groups at odds with each other and competing with each other fairly as well as unfairly. And even within a group, often people have their own agendas that run counter to the goals of the group. No surprise here. This is a fractal pattern that repeats almost at every level of society. But if I hold an internal space that does not project this and allows people to come together towards a common objective, I find that sometimes it results in almost magical co-operation. Where meditation comes into this equation is that it allows you to open up to all your opinions, pre-conceived notions, irritations and reactions on the cushion and have equanimity with this so that when they surface in the middle of a meeting or any work-interaction, they have a lessened chance of making you react blindly. --Ashvin Iyengar... http://tow.charityfocus.org/?tid=709 Mon, 02 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0700 Courage to Risk Telling the Truth, Angeles Arrien Something definitely changes when we finally summon the courage to risk telling the truth about who we are and are not. The primary questions become: how and why do we avoid being who we truly are? What gets in the way of trusting our self completely? Under what circumstances do we deceive or delude ourselves? When we are phony, pretentious, or cynical in order to achieve interpersonal or material gain, we diminish ourselves and disrespect others. The extent to which we have positive regard and respect for ourselves and others determines how successfully we achieve congruity among all aspects of our character. It becomes necessary in this process of congruity, to demonstrate the self-regard that is true to who we are, and as we do this, we are unwilling to compromise our integrity in order to satisfy the expectations of others or win their approval. We know our behavior is authentic when we can consistently say what we mean, do what we say, and say what is so when it is so. We can check ourselves by asking whether our motivation, speech, appearance, and actions match our true character in all the varied aspects of our lives -- relationships, work, and community. When our words, actions, and behaviors are in harmony, wisdom and authenticity emerge. Authenticity is the expression of what is genuine and natural. It commands great respect because, unfortunately, it is so rare. The desire to be accepted, or to engage in competition and comparison, drives us to limit our behavior to what falls within narrowly prescribed, predictable norms. Ridding ourselves of old patterns and accessing the authentic self are entry ways to freedom and the domain of wisdom. In fact, as we discover how to befriend these processes, ageing and renewing our character can be what Carl Jung called, “A winter grace.” Jung believed that if we do not develop inner strength as we age, we will become defensive, dogmatic, depressed, resentful, and cynical. Our homeland of authenticity is within, and there we are sovereign. Until we rediscover this ancient truth in a way that is unique for each of us, we are condemned to wander, seeking solace in the outer world where it cannot be found. --Angeles Arrien, from "The Second Half of Life"... http://tow.charityfocus.org/?tid=699 Mon, 26 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0700 Visionmaking Should be a Daily Activity, Patrick O'Neill <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> <meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"> <meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 12"> <meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 12"> <link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:\DOCUME~1\pavim\LOCALS~1\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_filelist.xml" /> <link rel="themeData" href="file:///C:\DOCUME~1\pavim\LOCALS~1\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_themedata.thmx" /> <link rel="colorSchemeMapping" href="file:///C:\DOCUME~1\pavim\LOCALS~1\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_colorschememapping.xml" /><style type="text/css">  </style> </meta> </meta> </meta> </meta> One of the most important responsibilities of every leader is to envision the future. Visionmaking should be a daily activity ... and deal with practices of inventing the future, a future that frees us from the quagmire of the status quo and allows us to enter a “field of possibility.” Possibility is the geography that supports individual and collective growth, development and achievement. Every leader has an enemy … and that enemy is the status quo. The status quo is defined as “a state of stasis where there is neither motion or development and where there is no hope of change.” It is common knowledge that in business, as in life, we either advance or decline and there is nothing in between. The status quo disguises decline. We are seduced into the false sense that things remain exactly the same, when we’re actually heading downhill but so slowly that it is virtually imperceptible until free-fall occurs. By the time we recognize we’re falling, it’s too late. Wise leaders see that the status quo is the breeding ground for organizational inertia, the inability or unwillingness to move or act. Once this condition arrests an organization, team or individual, the result is lethargy, apathy and disinterest. These are the signposts of decline…and an announcement that leadership has been abandoned. Sir William Ostler, the father of modern medicine, suggests that such conditions can be formidable in their ability to undermine our energies and jeopardize our preferred future: “By far the most dangerous foe we have to fight is apathy -- indifference from whatever cause, not from a lack of knowledge, but from carelessness, from absorption in other pursuits, from a contempt bred of satisfaction.” Carelessness, distraction and narcissistic pre-occupation undermine a chief resource in leadership -- the practice of reflection. Reflection is the act of turning the eyes from the outer world to the inner landscape of our aspirations, dreams, and possibilities and opportunities. This is the domain of the future and vision is fashioned in the silence of careful contemplation.<o:p></o:p> -- <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> <meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"> <meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 12"> <meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 12"> <link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:\DOCUME~1\pavim\LOCALS~1\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_filelist.xml" /> <link rel="themeData" href="file:///C:\DOCUME~1\pavim\LOCALS~1\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_themedata.thmx" /> <link rel="colorSchemeMapping" href="file:///C:\DOCUME~1\pavim\LOCALS~1\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_colorschememapping.xml" /><style type="text/css">  </style>Patrick O’Neill, from “Envisioning a Preferred Future”</meta> </meta> </meta> </meta>  ... http://tow.charityfocus.org/?tid=700 Mon, 19 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0700