For years and years, it has been said that the art of the soul is being
sensitive enough to register subtle impressions and resilient enough
to survive the barrage of influences that distract us from our
purposes. I might take this idea one step further and say that when we
apply these same principles to health and healing, we need just the
right mix of stimulation and grounding, death and renewal, receptivity
and core identity, and so on and so forth. When any of these competing
forces is dominant, survival is jeopardized so it matters deeply
whether we are in harmony with both Heaven and Earth and thus I would
urge each of you to resolve to do your part in sustaining the delicate
balance between conservation of tradition and progress into the
future, between love of the Earth and devotion to Heaven.

"If you love the sacred and despise the ordinary, you are still bobbing in
the ocean of delusion." --Lin-Chi, *The Taoist Classics,* translated by
Thomas Cleary

A soul is as great as the circle of its influence.
Even today we can see in everyday life how people argue and dispute without coming to a conclusion. Then perhaps another comes and sets the whole thing right. The discord of thousands of people could be resolved, and thousands of people could be united into one harmony by the presence of one who unites them all. ... The influence of one soul may be felt in a village, of another in a country, of another in the whole country.
What is the sign of such souls? In the East it is believed that some people bring good luck, some child in the house, a guest, or a friend. The good luck may be brought to one person, or it may be brought to ten or fifty. This shows that there is some influence, and we can recognize it as something which is beneficial, good, harmonious, to five, ten, a hundred, or even more. The soul is as great as the circle of its influence.

Amma has possessed me; Hari has enchanted me! All my doubts have flown like migratory
birds in winter.
When I was mad with pride, the Beloved did not speak to me;
But when I put on the robe of humility, the Master opened my inner eye,
Dyeing every pore of my body in the color of love.
Drinking the elixir from the cup of my emptied heart, I slept on His bed in divine
ecstasy.
The devotee meets Hari as gold meets a gold-solvent-, the pure heart melts into
its Lord.

-Saint Kabir

There are many paths, and each man considers his own the best and wisest. Let each one choose that which belongs to his own temperament.

Commentary by Hazrat Inayat Khan:

The Sufi looks on all with tolerance, and knows that there is a path for everyone. The path of the lover is for him, the path of the one seeking for wealth is for him, the seeker after paradise is following his path, it is all a journey. It is simply that there are four different routes by which the journey is made. The Sufi sees the same goal at the end of each; the lover has to meet the seeker after wealth, and both have to meet the one who has done his duty. Therefore at the end of their journey there is a place where they can meet. What does it matter if one does not go by a certain path? Let each choose the way that belongs to his own temperament and tendency. Therefore the Sufi does not worry. He gives no preference to one or the other. He sees the journey of life being made along one or other of these roads. The saying of Buddha, 'Forgive all', comes true. Forgiveness does not come by learning, it comes by understanding that a person should be allowed to travel along that path which is suited to his temperament. As long as he is journeying with open eyes, let him journey.

Sondra Ray, International Best Selling Author, teacher,
seminar leader, presents her new book, "Rock your world with The
Divine Mother." Tapping into the Divine Mother in a balanced way
can produce regeneration, restoration, & renewal.

A BRIEF FOR THE DEFENSE
by Jack Gilbert

Sorrow everywhere. Slaughter everywhere. If babies
are not starving someplace, they are starving
somewhere else. With flies in their nostrils.
But we enjoy our lives because that's what God wants.
Otherwise the mornings before summer dawn would not
be made so fine. The Bengal tiger would not
be fashioned so miraculously well. The poor women
at the fountain are laughing together between
the suffering they have known and the awfulness
in their future, smiling and laughing while somebody
in the village is very sick. There is laughter
every day in the terrible streets of Calcutta,
and the women laugh in the cages of Bombay.
If we deny our happiness, resist our satisfaction,
we lessen the importance of their deprivation.
We must risk delight. We can do without pleasure,
but not delight. Not enjoyment. We must have
the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless
furnace of this world. To make injustice the only
measure of our attention is to praise the Devil.
If the locomotive of the Lord runs us down,
we should give thanks that the end had magnitude.
We must admit there will be music despite everything.
We stand at the prow again of a small ship
anchored late at night in the tiny port
looking over to the sleeping island: the waterfront
is three shuttered cafés and one naked light burning.
To hear the faint sound of oars in the silence as a rowboat
comes slowly out and then goes back is truly worth
all the years of sorrow that are to come.


-Jack Gilbert

Gilbert has several books.
One is *Refusing Heaven,* available here:
http://tinyurl.com/o8kwn
Another is *The Great Fires,* available here: http://tinyurl.com/38az42

"The lesson that life constantly enforces is 'Look underfoot.' You are
always nearer to the true sources of your power than you think. The lure
of the distant and the difficult is deceptive. The great opportunity is
where you are. Don't despise your own place and hour. Every place is the
center of the world." --Naturalist John Burroughs

*

"We want to be God in all the ways that are not the ways of God, in what
we hope is indestructible or unmoving. But God is fragile, a bare smear of
pollen, that scatter of yellow dust from the tree that tumbled over in a
storm of grief and planted itself again." --Deena Metzger, *Prayers for a
Thousand Years,* edited by Elizabeth Roberts and Elias Amidon

Swami Sivananda on Jesus

Swami Sivananda was a great saint of the twentieth century who founded the Divine
Life Society on the banks of the Ganges in Rishikesh. He wrote over two hundred
books and performed many great works.

"Jesus welcomed and embraced the sinners, the despised and the harlots and purified
them. He comforted them and gave them solace and peace. He raised the fallen. He
brought relief and rest to the broken-hearted.

Jesus said: "Unless you become as little children, you shall in no wise enter the
Kingdom of God". To Jesus, God was a loving Father. Jesus' watchword was love for
God and fellowmen.

"Have faith in God. The Lord is our God. Thou shalt love the Lord with all thy heart
and all thy soul, and all thy mind, and all thy strength. Thou shalt love thy neighbour
as thyself. The love of God manifests in the love of man." This is the central teaching
of Jesus.

Jesus was a world teacher, a prophet and Messiah. His Sermon on the Mount is nothing
but the practice of Sadachara or right conduct. It corresponds to the practice of
Yama-Niyama of Raja-Yoga, the Eightfold Path of Lord Buddha. It is marvellous, inspiring
and soul-stirring.

Jesus washed the feet of his disciples at the Last Supper. How humble he was! He
said, "Blessed are the meek, for they shalt inherit the earth".

Lord Krishna washed the feet of the guests in the Rajasuya yagna performed by King
Yudhishthira. Avataras or mighty souls perform such actions. Should you not learn
lessons from those great persons ? Lord Krishna, the mighty Lord of the three worlds,
took delight in washing the feet of the guests. Should you not learn to be humble
? How haughty and proud you have become ! You are puffed with vanity and intoxicated
with pride when you possess a little money, a small car and a small estate. You
think you are a mighty emperor and walk with arrogant steps and treat others with
contempt. You think too much of yourself and your position in life. In reality,
your officeship has created in you a slave mentality and a fear of losing your position.

Christ's message has always been: "Love thy neighbour as thyself". He said: "The
Kingdom of Heaven is within thee. His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Be not anxious. Seek ye first His Kingdom. Everything will be added unto thee".
He was the way, the truth and the light, for all men to follow.

Jesus Christ laid stress on love of God and love of fellowmen, and the need for
repentance or a change of heart, for entry into the Kingdom of God. He instructed
people to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. He said that a contrite heart was
necessary in order to receive God's forgiveness.

"The Kingdom of God is within thee. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and the door shall
be opened unto thee." This is the foundation upon which the ethics of Jesus has
been built. "

During this Season of Light, may we be illuminated with the
wisdom to love without judgment as did Jesus, to celebrate
liberty and the freedom of worship, to honor the benvolence of
Mother Earth's renewal with the returning sunlight of Winter
Solstice. Let us set the Yule log ablaze! May we share in the
recognition of our common humanity. May we thank the rain, the sun
the moon and the stars. Let us keep the fires of love burning to prepare
us for new energy. Let us thrust open the windows and light the oil
lamps to welcome the Goddess Lakshmi!


All around the world, a multitude of Festivals of Light
and Renewal are being celebrated.


I will revel in my celebration of the birth of a Holy Child,
affirming the vision that all children be held Sacred
and nurtured in ways that honor their inherent Divinity. The
time has come for us to wear the mantel of our Spiritual Mastery
- moment by moment taking responsibility and choosing love over
fear. May we see in each other the image and likeness of the
Divine. May our love wash over all those in fear and raise the
Human Family to co-create Heaven on Earth.


Let us dive with blissful abandon into the holiday traditions
that bring us joy and a generous spirit, that bond us to family
and friends, that delight our senses and make us glad to be
alive!


Happy Holidays to you and yours, may your Love and Holy
Light ripple outward in endless waves of Joy!

Peace on Earth.

Good will to All.

Marry Christ-Mass

And enjoy your year-ending contemplation
on
What you want, truly, in 2008!

==============================================

The Christ-Mass season is really a time of inward resting and
contemplation; the time of year that is the darkest, and thus- holds
the promise of the greatest Light.

Beyond the parties, obligatory shopping and spending to support the
Gross National Profits of all Christianized nations, this time of year
has forever been a time of inward turning, a time to contemplate and
feel into gratitude for all the ways the Divine Conspiracy has worked
so intimately in your own unique journey of increasing depth in
awareness of God: to see all that has arisen as Good, for we see in the
jewels in our growth; to see all as Holy, for we see it emanating from
the Grace of Divine Benevolence ceaselessly devoted to our own awakening;
to see all as Beautiful, for where Goodness and Holiness are embraced,
Beauty shimmers and shines through all created forms.

On December 25th, I invite you to light a candle and ;make your Home
in the breathing; for a full ten minutes. Then, ask what one thing is
from this past year for which you can feel gratitude. Do that, and
dare to let it increase. When it is established fully, so that you are
resting and reveling in it, do the following:

** pray that the deep internal sufferings of all beings truly be
healed Now.

**ask for whatsoever ye shall need;, and fully receive your deepest
hearts desire for 2008, what you, truly, want.

Then, take a full deep breath, sigh as you exhale, simply saying thank
you, entrusting your prayer to the Ground of your Being, knowing that,
of course, the universe is already conspiring to answer your genuine
prayer.

OM OM

The asteroid, known as 2007 WD5, was discovered in late November and is similar in size to an object that hit remote central Siberia in 1908 wiping out 60 million trees!


http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071220.wmarsrock1220/EmailBNStory/Science/home

So the shortest day came,
and the year died.
And everywhere down the centuries
of the snow white world
Came people singing, dancing,
to drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
to keep the year alive.
And when the new year's sunshine blazed awoke,
They shouted, revelling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing, behind us--listen!
All the long echoes sing the same delight,
this shortest day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land.
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends, and hope for peace.
And so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.


~ Susan Cooper
The Christmas Revels

****************************

welcome the Joy of the light!

Asato Ma Sad Gamaya

Tamaso Ma Jyotir Gamaya
Mrtyor Ma Amrtam Gamaya
Aum Shanti Shanti Shantihi

Lead us from ignorance to Truth,
Darkness to Light,
Death to Immortality.
Aum Peace Peace Peace

Brhadaranyaka Upanishad I.iii.28

I received this link from Genevieve Vaughan (the Gift Economy) and I think
it's the most lucid and succinct analysis of the American dilemma I've seen
yet. (Of course it's a global issue, but America plays such an inordinate
role in the consumption and waste scenario, making it disproportionately our
problem.) Please click on the link and watch "The Story of Stuff with Annie
Leonard." I highly recommend it!

http://www.storyofstuff.com/index.html

Dust in the Quasar Wind

Dusty grains - including tiny specks of the minerals found in the gemstones peridot, sapphires and rubies - can be seen blowing in the winds of a quasar, or active black hole, in this artist's concept. The quasar is at the center of a distant galaxy.

Astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope found evidence that such quasar winds might have forged these dusty particles in the very early universe. The findings are another clue in an ongoing cosmic mystery: where did all the dust in our young universe come from?

Dust is crucial for efficient star formation as it allows the giant clouds where stars are born to cool quickly and collapse into new stars. Once a star has formed, dust is also needed to make planets and living creatures. Dust has been seen as far back as when the universe was less than a tenth of its current age, but how did it get there? Most dust in our current epoch forms in the winds of evolved stars that did not exist when the universe was young.

Theorists had predicted that winds from quasars growing in the centers of distant galaxies might be a source of this dust. While the environment close to a quasar is too hot for large molecules like dust grains to survive, dust has been found in the cooler, outer regions. Astronomers now have evidence that dust is created in these outer winds.

Using Spitzer's infrared spectrograph instrument, scientists found a wealth of dust grains in a quasar called PG2112+059 located at the center of a galaxy 8 billion light-years away. The grains – including corundum (sapphires and rubies); forsterite (peridot); and periclase (naturally occurring in marble) – are not typically found in galaxies without quasars, suggesting they might have been freshly formed in the quasar's winds.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

OM AGNIMILE PUROHITAM
YAGYASYA DEVAM
RITUAJAM ROTAHRAM
RATNA DAHTAMAN OM

Internet Proves a Tool for Greener, Cleaner Commerce Analysis:

For adherents to The Compact, online swap sites and and
links to reusable goods make their anticonsumerism easier.
by Grant Gross
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,140452-page,1/article.html

Want local? Go Internet!

The sea of life is in constant motion, no one can stop its ever-moving waves. The Master walks over the waves, the wise man swims in the water, but the ignorant man is drowned in his effort to cross.

It makes no difference to me if I am so praised that I am raised from earth to heaven, nor if I am so blamed that I am thrown from the greatest heights to the depths of the earth. Life to me is an ever-moving sea in which the waves of favor and disfavor constantly rise and fall.
To attain peace, what one has to do is to seek that rhythm which is in the depth of our being. It is just like the sea: the surface of the sea is ever moving; the depth of the sea is still. And so it is with our life. If our life is thrown into the sea of activity, it is on the surface. We still live in the profound depths, in that peace. But the thing is to become conscious of that peace which can be found within ourselves. It is this which can bring us the answer to all our problems. If not, when we want to solve one problem, there is another difficult problem coming. There is no end to our problems. There is no end to the difficulties of the outer life. And if we get excited over them, we shall never be able to solve them. Some think, 'We might wait. Perhaps the conditions will become better. We shall see then what to do.' But when will the conditions become better? They will become still worse! Whether the conditions become better or worse, the first thing is to seek the
kingdom of God within ourselves, in which there is our peace. As soon as we have found that, we have found our support, we have found our self. And in spite of all the activity and movement on the surface, we shall be able to keep that peace undisturbed if only we hold it fast by becoming conscious of it.

Right now, a major UN summit in Bali has just a few days left to hammer out an agreement on stopping catastrophic climate change. But instead of helping out, Canada is actually sabotaging the talks! On Saturday, experts gave us the global "fossil" award for being the worst country in the world on climate change.

There's still a few days left to save Canada's reputation -- and the climate -- but we need a massive democratic roar to remind our Prime Minister what Canada is all about, and stop him from blocking the world at Bali. Click below to sign the petition, which will be advertized with the number of signatures in an ad campaign across Canada this week. The goal is to get 25,000 people to sign in the next 3 days -- before the ads run. After you sign, forward this email to all your friends and family right away:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/another_canadian_climate_crime/98.php?cl_tf_sign=1

Prime Minister Harper's short-sighted, undemocratic and big oil-driven policy on climate change is damaging the world and destroying our image as a good country. We're supposed to be the nice guys, who try to do the right thing in the world.

The vast majority of Canadians are hopping mad on this issue -- we can win this. We just need to show Harper how serious we are that he change course. Sign up now and forward this email to everyone you know - we've got just 3 days to hit 25,000 signatures!

David Suzuki (the Nature of Things) calls the government's spin on climate change "humiliating" and "ludicrous"
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/283829

The former editor-in-chief of CBC news discusses the damage done by Canada's climate policy to our international reputation:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_burman/2007/12/canada_flounders_on_issue_of_c.html

In order to relieve the hunger of others, we must forget our own hunger.

Commentary by Hazrat Inayat Khan:

Riches and power may vanish because they are outside of us, but only that which is within can we call our own. In order to awaken love and sympathy in our hearts, sacrifices must be made. We must forget our own troubles in order to sympathize with the troubles of others.

To relieve the hunger of others we must forget our own hunger. Everybody is working for selfish ends, not caring about others, and this alone has brought about the misery in the world today. When the world is evolving from imperfection towards perfection, it needs all love and sympathy. Great tenderness and watchfulness is required of each one of us. The heart of every man, both good and bad, is the abode of God, and care should be taken never to wound anybody by word or act. We are only here in this world for a short time; many have been here before, and have passed on, and it is for us to see that we leave behind an impression of good.

There are however blessed souls, souls who are really satisfied and whose hunger is stilled by seeing another person eating or who are happy seeing another person adorned with beautiful clothes. It might seem to us a great renunciation or self-denial; but they have been given a cross to bear and have risen above it. Sacrifice gives no pain; it only gives pleasure.

Love another and do not depend upon his love; and: Do good to another and do not depend upon receiving good from him; serve another and do not look for service from him. All you do for another out of your love and kindness, you should think that you do, not to that person, but to God. And if the person returns love for love, goodness for goodness, service for service, so much the better. If he does not return it, then pity him for what he loses; for his gain is much less than his loss.

George Monbiot | The Real Answer to Climate Change Is to Leave Fossil Fuels in the Ground
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/12/11/5771/

"The world cannot end unless it runs out of stories; for more
than a literal planet, the world is an eternal drama, a story
told from beginning to end, and end to beginning, again and
again.

"When 'The End' seems near, it's the mythic sense, the eternal
roots, and creative imagination that are missing. Behind the
'ecological crisis' and the 'war of terror,' there lies a crisis
of meaning and a loss of the sense of the sacred in the immediate
pulse of the world. The blind exploitation of the earth follows
upon lost connections to the realm of nature, as if humanity has
broken a secret bond with Great Nature and become estranged from
'inner nature' as well.

"The problem isn't that the world might end completely; rather,
the issue is how to act when it seems that way. What's missing is
the imagination necessary to hold end and beginning together.

"In critical times, how people imagine the world becomes more
important; how people imagine humanity becomes of the utmost
importance. Increasingly the issue becomes living an authentic
life and lending one's true nature to the drama of existence --
to become a wick burning with the flame of one's life-long
story."



The books and workshops of Michael Meade
www.mosaicvoices.org

There are two stages of workers. The first stage is that of the one who works for himself; the higher stage of working is to work for others. The one who rises above the stage of working for himself comes to the stage of working for others, bringing in their lives the blessing which is the need of their lives. To what does the love of God lead? It leads to that peace and stillness which can be seen in the life of the tree which flowers and bears fruit for others and expects no return. Peace will not come to the lover's heart so long as he will not become love itself.

Donating food to the hungry will help ameliorate our negative karmas and increase
joy in the world.

Donating food directly is better than writing a check to the food bank, as you know
the money will not go to "administrative overhead".

Whereever you are, find the local food bank or homeless shelter, and donate regularly.

"O God, O Sai Baba
Let all be happy,
Let none suffer
May all rejoice everywhere!"

Om Shanti Shanti Shanti