A person in Cuba has asked me to share some thoughts about the Sabian perspective about opportunities.  Marc Edmund Jones, founder of the Sabian Assembly, expressed that everything we experience becomes an opportunity or a challenge and never a calamity or a test or payment of ripe karma and the like.  Every limitation in life is an opportunity for the clarification of one’s direction in a wider perspective, never a set-back or an obstacle.

My correspondent replied that what he could take from my comments was the importance of having positive thinking, understanding that rather than a punishment we are talking about an opportunity to change.

“That which we focus on we strengthen”, a dear friend used to say, and her words of wisdom resonate through my life experiences and process to kindle the inner light while confronting and managing life challenges.

More about this approach in life in following blogs.

Elizabeth McAlister, professor of religion at Wesleyan University, recently wrote an article for CNN talking about the pain people are experiencing in Haiti.  She pointed out that how we make meaning of this suffering will be crucial to how we respond, in the long term, as a global community.

To see her blog, Why does Haiti suffer so much please click here.

I could feel her pain and compassion as she expressed her ideas and appreciated her efforts to express a wide variety of potential explanations as to what truly is a very complex situation.  The suffering Haitians are enduring is in my heart and soul as well.  In light of such devastation I would like to offer some thoughts about the meaning of pain and suffering in managing life challenges.  From my perspective, the goal that is sought and achieved through pain is a transcendence of baffling difficulties by the free and somewhat paradoxical choice or acceptance of greater difficulties.  How does this work?  (1) Pain gives way to the finer intensity of faith and aspiration; (2) Human dissatisfaction may result in restlessness that transforms into creativity and constructive acts for the well-being of our fellows, one of the areas where we see this now is in the creative ways around the world that are being developed to speed up the adoption of orphans; (3) Suffering of soul brings the opportunity for sacrificial dedication in ameliorating the lot of humankind, so clearly seen in the efforts to rescue survivors and to provide medical care even with very scarce resources.

In Haiti we are now witnessing the manifestation of all three scenarios with the participation of people from all over the world which offers us all the opportunity to experience the functioning of the global community in co-operation for the good of all.  My prayers and love are with all Haitians.

In a message of hope and inner peace, it is a privilege to post my friend’s Jonas Mather’s Poem as he shares his inner light with the readers of my blog this day, also published on his book, “Shards”.  Oneness is eternal.

Rebirth

In the instant always

Sunrise, sunset.

Eternal cycle bound to continue

Until sun’s end

And anew

When the universe resumes its course

In continuing rebirth.

To end is to begin.

During a trip to Glastonbury, England, I had the privilege to meet author Anthea Mitchell, from the Heart Centre, and through time we have had most inspiring conversations.  I am joyful to share with you this day what her friend John O’Donohue wrote:

“Behind each face and voice lies the silence of the heart.  This silence is as old as the universe.  It holds within it a time before vegetation clothed the earth, or animals walked, or sound echoed.  This silence waits quietly under thoughts, beneath actions, relationships, behind days, nights and names.  … it is in this sanctuary that experience is sifted and transfigured.  It is where our vanished day secretly gathers.  This silence is the home of memory and identity.  It houses the spirit which coheres, articulates and shapes each human life.”

Experiencing a sense of community contributes to a feeling of wholeness in living.  I love this website which invites us to Light a Candle for Peace!

More than eight million people have lit candles in our global virtual community.  In this embrace of a common ideal we are all One.

Blessings and Love to You in the joy of inner peace.

Joseph Bernard wrote on his ‘Come Explore’ blog about his passion about inner peace and the spread of consciousness.

Here are some extracts of what Joseph says:

“We need a major paradigm shift or at least really new models of thinking and feeling. Does it seem to you the world in run by an ever-increasing sense of fear?  What is all this fear about? . . .  These times are about stepping past the past, seeking solutions for the now, and long term planning for the good of all of humanity.  This planning has to include educating people… toward being a conscious human being in touch with our own inner peace and higher knowing.

“Inner Peace, hope, compassion, kindness and gratitude are all more powerful human states than fear, blame and distrust.  Yes lately fear, blame and distrust are dominating the news headlines as if they are the only voices.  How often are the voices of hope, compassion and positive solutions even given a chance to be heard?”

I wish to share with you my recent response to Joseph:

I enjoyed your blog and wish to make a couple of comments: There is always HOPE! : ) And speaking about compassion, this beautiful feeling allows us to enter into the pain of others, their happiness, their own frames of reference, their own values and ideals.  To feel it, requires a willingness to open our hearts to life and to all that is and to listen attentively – profound listening – being receptive and letting go of expectations, to the call of all hearts.

In the joy of inner peace I greet you this day.

– Excerpt of an interview by Charito Calvachi for Radio Centro WLCH, 91.3 FM, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in the United States

What do you recommend today, Mayte, to facilitate our process of living in harmony and peace?

I consider it valuable to dedicate several minutes a day to meditation, to a voluntary retreat that permits us to center ourselves in a reordering to fulfill our potential.  The Mantra of Good Luck of Nepal suggests, “Spend some time alone.”  Marc Edmund Jones said it is necessary to maintain a balance between the requirements of the external life and the simple calm that resides within the being, in solitude or in company.

We are speaking about spending a few minutes in silence, every day.  I do it every morning.  People have used various reasons to practice meditation through time.  In some traditions meditation is used as a method of praying.  In other traditions it is used as a method to discover self-knowledge of ourselves.  In modern psychology, meditation is used more and more as a therapeutic practice.  It is easy to do.  It is as natural for humans as it is to eat, sleep, drink or breathe!

A general axiom to keep in mind is that methods may differ but the goal is the same.  Meditation is simply the discipline to look inwardly.  When we manage to relax and suspend our attention to the distractions and complexities of the outer world and go inward, we open the potential to know ourselves more deeply and to act in a way that better reflects our higher ideals.

Sometimes, when I meditate I like to reflect on:

• How can I fulfill my purpose in life today?
• What is my social responsibility in the activities I’ve planned for this day?
• How can I expand my service to others?
• What can I change to live more in harmony with the universe?  … to live in consonance with my higher understanding?  … to live according with my core values?
• In other occasions I simply focus in the Now and experience the Divine Presence.

Mayte, what is the best method to meditate?

Any method we have developed which touches the fiber of our being or is more successful in giving us an experience of reality is the best for the individual.  We can add a great principle as a test, if our usual approach to meditation has served to bring us closer to life, giving us a deeper understanding or empathy in our daily relations with people, in spirit and in truth we have discovered true meditation.  This practice is conducive to an expansion of self, in compassion and understanding of others.

I have a dear friend in Holland who is a talented artist and through her poems expresses her understanding about the experience of oneness.

“In my air, my face, my eyes,

In my voice and actions

One can find the finest Light

Of my inner being.

So your inner being

Will shine in my awareness

And in all this clarity

You and I are One.”

Poem and Music © Maria Talis

- sheet-music and audio: www.angelaprodeo.org/en_peace.html

- sung by Angela Andáy, zither played by Maria Talis.

- composer: www.angelaprodeo.org/en_maria_talis.html

- email: maria.talis(a)angelaprodeo.org

Listen to “You And I Are One”

Reflecting every once in a while on the cycles of life can bring new light and understanding about our inner processes and mission.  This exercise can also facilitate a focus on our core ideals as guide posts for action.

I invite you to take a moment to consider the cycles in your life.  Think about the various stages through the years and see the patterns that have emerged through experience and expanded consciousness.  Cycles evolve in a spiral, each cycle being wider in realization and in potential for manifestation.

Dianne Dreher in “The Tao of Inner Peace” suggests the following reflections:

“Which are the short cycles?

Which are the longer ones?

What areas do you need to cultivate more actively?

Where do you need to be more patient and respectful of the process?

Remind yourself of these patterns by contemplating the beauty of natural wood.  With its knots, swirls, and tiny lines, each piece is as distinctive as a fingerprint.”

The Buddha was the most awakened man of his time.  Nobody like him understood human suffering and developed benevolence and compassion.

One of his cousins, Devadatta, was always jealous of the teacher, and interested in discrediting him, even ready to kill him.

One day as the Buddha was quietly strolling, Devadatta saw him and threw a heavy rock from the top of a hill with the intention of killing him.  The rock landed by the Buddha’s side and Devadatta did not attain his objective.  The Buddha noticed what happened and remained unmoved, keeping a smile on his lips.

A few days later the Buddha found his cousin on the road and greeted him affectionately.  Greatly surprised Devadatta asked:

˜  Aren’t you angry, sir?

˜  Of course not.

Greatly astonished, he asked:

˜  Why?

And the Buddha said:

˜  Because you are no longer the one who threw the rock, nor am I the one who was there when it was thrown.

The Teacher says: For the one who knows how to see, everything is transitory; for the one who knows how to love, everything is forgivable.