first164 - morning readings - 2020 Q1-Q2

 

Readings for each day of the week

Alcoholics Anonymous, pages 86 to 88; Step Eleven, morning

Friday

On awakening let us think about the twenty-four hours ahead. We consider our plans for the day. Before we begin, we ask God to direct our thinking, especially asking that it be divorced from self-pity, dishonest or self-seeking motives. Under these conditions we can employ our mental faculties with assurance, for after all God gave us brains to use. Our thought-life will be placed on a much higher plane when our thinking is cleared of wrong motives.

Saturday

In thinking about our day we may face indecision. We may not be able to determine which course to take. Here we ask God for inspiration, an intuitive thought or a decision. We relax and take it easy. We don’t struggle. We are often surprised how the right answers come after we have tried this for a while. What used to be the hunch or the occasional inspiration gradually becomes a working part of the mind. Being still inexperienced and having just made conscious contact with God, it is not probable that we are going to be inspired at all times. We might pay for this presumption in all sorts of absurd actions and ideas. Nevertheless, we find that our thinking will, as time passes, be more and more on the plane of inspiration. We come to rely upon it.

Sunday

We usually conclude the period of meditation with a prayer that we be shown all through the day what our next step is to be, that we be given whatever we need to take care of such problems. We ask especially for freedom from self-will, and are careful to make no request for ourselves only. We may ask for ourselves, however, if others will be helped. We are careful never to pray for our own selfish ends. Many of us have wasted a lot of time doing that and it doesn’t work. You can easily see why.

Monday

If circumstances warrant, we ask our wives or friends to join us in morning meditation. If we belong to a religious denomination which requires a definite morning devotion, we attend to that also. If not members of religious bodies, we sometimes select and memorize a few set prayers which emphasize the principles we have been discussing.

Tuesday

There are many helpful books also. Suggestions about these may be obtained from one’s priest, minister, or rabbi. Be quick to see where religious people are right. Make use of what they offer.

Wednesday

As we go through the day we pause, when agitated or doubtful, and ask for the right thought or action. We constantly remind ourselves we are no longer running the show, humbly saying to ourselves many times each day “Thy will be done.” We are then in much less danger of excitement, fear, anger, worry, self-pity, or foolish decisions.

Thursday

We become much more efficient. We do not tire so easily, for we are not burning up energy foolishly as we did when we were trying to arrange life to suit ourselves.

It works—it really does.

We alcoholics are undisciplined. So we let God discipline us in the simple way we have just outlined.

Calendar readings

27 March 2020

Today’s “Pay Forward” gift is—I love doing what I do. “Let me be born again and again on the wheel of rebirth so again and again I may offer this body for the benefit of others” (Hindu myth). That may be a little heavy, but it touched my heart. Taking the time to help another may be inconvenient and demanding, but it enriches us. Serving others in Alcoholics Anonymous is one of the most important things we can do. No matter the difficulty we may be going through, work with another can save our day. Our Step Twelve is our Golden Key to happiness, healing and becoming usefully whole. When we stop thinking of ourselves and think of what we can do for someone else, that’s enlightened self-centeredness. With a little Twelve Stepping, what seemed like work to others turned into joyful play. For the first time in my life, I felt like my life made a good difference. A.A.s can make a good difference 24/7 if we choose to. Doing something we love we are contributing not only to the world but also to our own fulfilment. We learn while we are sharing our experience, and our sharing helps others cope with life, and then we are all being given a gift. Our A.A. way of life is not work, but love made visible. Let us give of ourselves now and not let not giving of ourselves the past we regret. Come let us love one another. Thy Love, Thy Will be done.

Al Kohallek (Jim W)

28 March 2020

Today’s “Pay Forward” gifts are outrageous acts of love. What if we extend an act of love to the most unlovable person in the entire world? What if we forgive the most unforgivable, in the most undeserving person in the entire world? What if we pray for the one who needs our prayers the least and for the one who needs our prayers the most in the whole world? What if we give a welcoming smile to the person that really turns us off? What if we ask some important personal advice from the person we least respect or that we resent? What if we give something we value to a rich person and to a poor person? What if we have faith in the unbelievable? What if we have trust in the untrustworthy? What if we have hope in the hopeless? What if we are merciful to the one person who shows no mercy? What if we start by offering these outrageous acts of love to ourselves? What if we give in one brief moment that which we have for a long time denied? After doing these “what ifs” the next question is: what’s it like being in Heaven in the Presence of our Father? Thy Love, Thy Will be done.

Al Kohallek (Jim W)

29 March 2020

Today’s “Pay Forward” gift is this: Love alone changes people. Of course, Love alone changes people, because our Father, our Creator is Love. The change is not adding something but chipping away all that is not Love. All of our father’s creatures bear His mark: Love. As long as we are alive, we can be changed by Love, because it is the Father within us doing the Loving correction. He is constantly trying to correct us with tender mercy, but never with vindictiveness. We are welcomed Home no matter what. No wonder the story of the Prodigal Son returning Home touches our hearts. Our ill-conceived effort will accomplish nothing. Love gives us room to change. Alcoholics Anonymous is a Spiritual programme, giving us rooms and tools to change us, to awaken us, to bring us Home. When we are changed, everyone around us changes is a way we can see with our new vision. Let us accept whomever we are trying to help just as they are. “Love is a fruit always in season,” said Mother Teresa. Love keeps inviting us to let go, and let our Father have His Way. We are loved for whom we are, not for our works, good or bad. How about paraphrasing a line from the movie, Something’s Gotta Give, by Jack Nicholson? “I know these loving things about you, and that make me feel good—about me.” Thy Love, Thy Will be done.

Al Kohallek (Jim W)

30 March 2020

Today’s “Pay forward” gift is—Peace. It can be difficult to be at peace when our whole world is in such turmoil. I don’t want to blame anyone or anything outside of me for my reactions. I must own my part, so I can surrender it to be healed and transformed. However, there are times when I need to hold others accountable. Forgiving myself and others is a useful path to peace, no matter who did or didn’t do whatever. The spiritual realities of peace and understanding are set in motion when we seek through prayer and meditation to increase our conscious contact with the Indwelling Presence within each of us. When we seek to do and to be the individual we were created to be, we are more likely to let go of personal ambitions and turn toward our Father’s Love and Will. Peaceful healing can happen when we go back to the root of the discord, own our part, which gives us the right to surrender it to our true Source. We need not stop to argue whether the cause was just or not, “Agree with thine adversary quickly.” We had to cease fighting, everyone and everything. In A.A., our Step Ten tells us, “Continue to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.” “Self-searching becomes a regular habit.” We find ourselves at peace; keeping our emotional balance by our Father’s Loving Grace. Thy Love, Thy Will be done.

Al Kohallek (Jim W)

31 March 2020

Today’s “Pay Forward” gift is—back to the Basics. As an alcoholic, I cannot take a drink of alcohol no matter what, or the drink will take me. Back to the basics: “Lack of power, that was our dilemma. We had to find a Power by which we could live, and it had to be a Power greater than ourselves. Obviously. But where and how were we to find this Power? Well, that’s exactly what this book is about. Its main object is to enable you to find a Power greater than yourself which will solve your problem.” ( Alcoholics Anonymous, page 45) Our “Pay Forward” gifts each day give us another tool to live the basics. Working the first eleven Steps will assure us of having a personality change, a shift in our perception sufficient to cause a spiritual awakening, basics. Step Twelve offers us three Spiritual Gifts, vital for the quality of sobriety. 1. “Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps…” This spiritual awakening, an important basic. 2. “… we tried to carry this message.” This is sharing; this is Love, the most common basic human need. Share everything you want to keep. The messenger is the message. 3. “… and to practise these principles in all our affairs.” Every time we practise A.A.’s basics we discover more of whom we are and our Father’s Love and Will, our heart’s desire. We are given everything we need to practise the basics, as needed. Thy Love, Thy Will be done.

Al Kohallek (Jim W)

01 April 2020

Today’s “Pay Forward” gift is—I’m An Overcomer. The best teachers teach from the heart, not from a book. They have overcome their self-centredness long enough to help another overcome themselves. Emmet Fox’s suggestion, Meekness, is a combination of open-mindedness, faith in God, and the realisation that the Will of God for us is always something joyous and interesting and vital. This state of mind also includes a perfect willingness to allow this Will of God to come about in whatever way Divine wisdom considers to be best, rather than in some particular way that we have chosen for ourselves, in other words, being teachable. There are two useful things to have if we are going to overcome our present way of life. One is an abiding faith in our Father’s grace: the confidence in things unseen and a fundamental goodness and purpose in the universe. The other is obedience: living in accordance with our faith, one day at a time, and being willing to do and to be our created purpose. I have confidence in myself when I have confidence in our Father. Let’s stop looking outside ourselves for our worth. Let’s visit the infinite intelligence within us all, which is transforming what we eat into our physical body, for the wisdom we need. “There is no great and no small, to the Soul that makes all, and whence It cometh all things are, and It cometh everywhere.” Ralph Waldo Emerson. Thy Love, Thy Will be done.

Al Kohallek (Jim W)

02 April 2020

Today’s “Pay Forward” gift is—knowing happiness. “Giving is a miracle that can transform the heaviest hearts” (Kent Nerburn). I realised this truth not long after I became active in Alcoholics Anonymous. It was soon clear: those who were joyful, happy and free were active in A.A. service. “To watch people recover, to see them help others, to watch loneliness vanish, to see a fellowship grow up about you, to have a host of friends—this is an experience you must not miss,” Alcoholics Anonymous , page 89. A sure path to happiness: do something for somebody. Even when our life is in a terrible mess, let’s do something for somebody, AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. It works; it really does. I’ve found, when overwhelmed with problems, and I took time out to help another person, I would be out of myself long enough for our Father to take over. When focusing on helping another person, I feel much better than I do when I’m dwelling on my problems. Another great benefit from sharing: the next thing I know, other people are helping me. I just got an email from a person whose 29th A.A. Birthday it was. I am happy for that person, and I am happy for me, because I know I was part of their growing up in Alcoholics Anonymous. This is perfect timing for me; I needed to be reminded that my life has made a difference. Thy Love, Thy Will be done.

Al Kohallek (Jim W)

03 April 2020

Today’s “Pay Forward” gift is imagination. “What we now experience we may cease experiencing if we have the will and the imagination to set our vision in an opposite direction and hold it there. It is the office of the imagination to set the vision” (The Science of Mind, page 418). I imagine that I am taking full responsibility for my personality “reality.” I imagine that I no longer blame anyone or anything for my decisions and actions. I imagine that I am taking full ownership of my conscious and subconscious world view—in which I react and overreact—and this gives me the ability to surrender both the good and bad to our Father. I imagine His Love and His Will being done, 24/7. I imagine my love and will are in alignment with His. I imagine that I am accepting His changes out of an enlightened self-interest, a gift of grace. I imagine that I have no resistance to life, as it is. I imagine that I will smile a lot, and others will smile back today. I imagine that my service to others is wise, loving, and useful. I imagine that I will intuitively know how to give and receive the flow of divine Love. I imagine that I am in the right place, with the right person, doing the right thing, and that my timing is just right. I need to stop imagining right now and get ready to experience all that I have imagined. Thy Love, Thy Will be done.

Al Kohallek (Jim W)

04 April 2020

Today’s “Pay Forward” gift is—Sensitivity. As our sensitivity to the Spiritual dimension of Alcoholics Anonymous awakens and develops through our daily practice, our awareness of our Father’s Presence in ordinary activities increases. We are likely to feel called to turn within to our Father without knowing why. Through our practising the Presence daily, the quality of our Spiritual life develops and enables us to pick up the loving vibrations from the world we never believed possible. Perhaps we can understand the suggestion that we are to pray always, without deliberately setting ourselves apart: we find our Father’s Presence in the midst of our daily life. Living Alcoholic Anonymous on a daily basis, we can accept our Father’s grace at deeper and deeper levels. Negative sensitivity feeds our worst enemy, Fear. Our Father transforms our fear into an asset. As we awaken to our purpose, we realise we can make a good difference daily. We need only be willing to accept our Father’s grace. Believing in the omnipresence of our Father within has given us a purpose and opens the storehouse of His Holy Attributes, which we are free to use. The opportunities for Spiritual growth are present day by day in ordinary life. When the love of our Father and His Will is the principal motivation, ordinary actions transmit Divine Love. We have nothing to boast about, but a great deal to be grateful for. Thy Love, Thy Will be done.

Al Kohallek (Jim W)

05 April 2020

Detachment is neither kind nor unkind. It does not imply judgement or condemnation of the person or situation from which we are detaching. Separating ourselves from the adverse effects of another person’s alcoholism can be a means of detaching: this does not necessarily require physical separation. Detachment can help us look at our situations realistically and objectively.

Al-Anon, Detachment

06 April 2020

IN AL-ANON WE LEARN:

• Not to suffer because of the actions or reactions of other people

• Not to allow ourselves to be used or abused by others in the interest of another’s recovery

• Not to do for others what they can do for themselves

• Not to manipulate situations so others will eat, go to bed, get up, pay bills, not drink, or behave as we see fit

• Not to cover up for another’s mistakes or misdeeds

• Not to create a crisis

• Not to prevent a crisis if it is in the natural course of events

Al-Anon, Detachment

07 April 2020

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.

I do not see the road ahead of me.

I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.

And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.

I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.

And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore will I trust you always, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.

I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Thomas Merton

08 April 2020

Be still and lay aside all thoughts of what you are and what God is; all concepts you have learned about the world; all images you hold about yourself. Empty your mind of everything it thinks is either true or false, or good or bad, of every thought it judges worthy, and all the ideas of which it is ashamed. Hold onto nothing. Do not bring with you one thought the past has taught, nor one belief you ever learned before from anything. Forget this world and come with wholly empty hands unto God.

provided by Joe McF

09 April 2020

I must have decided wrongly, because I am not at peace. I made the decision myself, but I can also decide otherwise. I want to decide otherwise, because I want to be at peace. I do not feel guilty, because the Holy Spirit will undo all the consequences of my wrong decision if I will let Him. I choose to let Him, by allowing Him to decide for God for me.

ACIM

10 April 2020

Forgive us our illusions, Father, and help us to accept our true relationship with You, in which there are no illusions, and where none can ever enter. Our holiness is Yours. What can there be in us that needs forgiveness when Yours is perfect? The sleep of forgetfulness is only the unwillingness to remember Your forgiveness and Your Love. Let us not wander into temptation, for the temptation of the Son of God is not Your Will. And let us receive only what You have given, and accept but this into the minds which You created and which You love. Amen.

ACIM

11 April 2020

“Lord, please do not allow the noise of my intellect, engaged in its search for profound reflections, to intrude on my intimacy with You. Let me realise that a few straws of humility will kindle the fire of Divine love more effectually than any number of logs of learned argument. Let me be near to You and feel the warmth of Your grace.”

P. 107:1, The Life of St Teresa of Ávila by Herself

12 April 2020

Would you be tormented by jealousy and envy if, like the rose, you were content to be what you are and never aspired to be what you are not? But you are driven, are you not, to be like someone else who has more knowledge, better looks, more popularity or success than you. You want to become more virtuous, more loving, more meditative; you want to find God, to come closer to your ideals. Think of the sad history of your efforts at self-improvement, which either ended in disaster or succeeded only at the cost of struggle and pain. Now suppose you desisted from all efforts to change yourself, and from all self-dissatisfaction, would you then be doomed to go to sleep having passively accepted everything in you and around you? There is another way besides laborious self-pushing on the one hand and stagnant acceptance on the other. It is the way of self-understanding.

Anthony de Mello

13 April 2020

Take a look at the world and see the unhappiness around you and in you. Do you know what causes this unhappiness? You will probably say loneliness or oppression or war or hatred or atheism. And you will be wrong. There is only one cause of unhappiness: the false beliefs you have in your head, beliefs so widespread, so commonly held, that it never occurs to you to question them. Because of these false beliefs, you see the world and yourself in a distorted way. Your programming is so strong and the pressure of society so intense that you are literally trapped into perceiving the world in this distorted kind of way. There is no way out, because you do not even have a suspicion that your perception is distorted, your thinking is wrong, and your beliefs are false.

Anthony de Mello

14 April 2020

What are these false beliefs that block you from happiness? Here are some examples. First: you cannot be happy without the things that you are attached to and that you consider so precious. False. There is not a single moment in your life when you do not have everything that you need to be happy. Think of that for a minute. The reason why you are unhappy is because you are focusing on what you do not have rather than on what you have right now.

Anthony de Mello

15 April 2020

Another belief: happiness is in the future. Not true. Right here and now you are happy and do not know it because your false beliefs and your distorted perceptions have got you caught up in fears, anxieties, attachments, conflicts, guilt, and a host of games you are programmed to play. If you would see through this you would realise that you are happy and do not know it.

Anthony de Mello

16 April 2020

Yet another belief: happiness will come if you manage to change the situation you are in and the people around you. Not true. You stupidly squander so much energy trying to rearrange the world. If changing the world is your vocation in life, go right ahead and change it, but do not harbour the illusion that this is going to make you happy. What makes you happy or unhappy is not the world and the people around you, but the thinking in your head. As well search for an eagle’s nest on the bed of an ocean, as search for happiness in the world outside of you. So if it is happiness that you seek you can stop wasting your energy trying to cure your baldness or build up an attractive body or change your residence or job or community or lifestyle or even your personality. Do you realise that you could change every one of these things, you could have the finest looks and the most charming personality and the most pleasant of surroundings and still be unhappy? And deep down you know this is true but still you waste your effort and energy trying to get what you know cannot make you happy.

Anthony de Mello

17 April 2020

Another false belief: if all your desires are fulfilled you will be happy. Not true. In fact it is these very desires and attachments that make you tense, frustrated, nervous, insecure, and fearful. Make a list of all of your attachments and desires and to each of them say these words: “Deep down in my heart I know that even after I have got you I will not get happiness.” And ponder on the truth of those words. The fulfilment of desire can, at the most, bring flashes of pleasure and excitement. Don’t mistake that for happiness.

Anthony de Mello

18 April 2020

What then is happiness? Very few people know and no one can tell you, because happiness cannot be described. Can you describe light to people who have been sitting in darkness all their lives? Can you describe reality to someone in a dream? Understand your darkness and it will vanish; then you will know what light is. Understand your nightmare for what it is and it will stop; then you will wake up to reality. Understand your false beliefs and they will drop; then you will know the taste of happiness.

Anthony de Mello

19 April 2020

Reality is never ethically neutral. Kick at the universe, and it kicks back. If a man jumps out of a tenth-story window, he doesn’t break the law of gravity; he just proves that it exists. .... Guilt ... has created substantial difficulties on those too-frequent occasions when I’ve failed to live up to the requirements of my conscience. While it may be true that “morality is a matter of geography”, we’re bound by the ethic of our societies and will inevitably feel guilty unless we honestly observe that ethic. For me, the restoration to sanity described in Step Two is contingent on honesty; any time I’m dishonest, it’s a direct route to insanity and disintegration.

Paul M (Riverside, Chicago)

20 April 2020

Thus I think it can work out with emotional sobriety. If we examine every disturbance we have, great or small, we will find at the root of it some unhealthy dependency and its consequent unhealthy demand. Let us, with God’s help, continually surrender these hobbling demands. Then we can be set free to live and love; we may then be able to Twelfth Step ourselves and others into emotional sobriety.

Bill W

21 April 2020

“Great are You, O Lord, and greatly to be praised; great is Your power, and of Your wisdom there is no end. And man, being a part of Your creation, desires to praise You — man, who bears about with him his mortality, the witness of his sin, even the witness that You resist the proud, — yet man, this part of Your creation, desires to praise You. You move us to delight in praising You; for You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You. [cor nostrum inquietum est donec requiescat in Te]”

Confessions , St Augustine

22 April 2020

When AA members first began to talk to me about “God as we understood Him”, the bewilderment and antagonisms of years started to melt, thawed by their sincere and obviously real faith. This was faith that was different, however. It included a specific, potent programme to follow for personal change. If I’m drowning, I want a life preserver, not a serving of cotton-candy philosophy, theology, or positive thinking. These AAs gave me a life preserver in the Twelve Steps.

Paul M (Riverside, Chicago)

23 April 2020

My sponsor gave me an exercise to do. I was to make a list of all the people I had harmed. This list would start with the names from my inventory. It was suggested that there were many others I had harmed that also must go on the list, even though there was no resentment or fear connected with them. I was to be as clear as possible as to the harm I had done. But—my sponsor pointed out—even though I knew what I had done to each person, I was so insensitive that I probably did not know the consequences of my actions. He gave me the key to freedom; I was to close my eyes and picture each person separately in front of me. I was to look each straight in the eye and see if I could feel a willingness to say: “I have been wrong and have caused you harm. Will you please tell me what I must do so that we can get the books to balance?” As I sat in the cell that night going over my list, I had the experience I had been looking for all my life: I was lifted and set free.

Don P

24 April 2020

They taught me that being of service, an ally to the lonely and suffering, a big-girl helper to underdogs, was my best shot at happiness. They taught me that most of my good ideas were not helpful, and that all of my ideas after ten p.m. were especially unhelpful. They taught me to pay attention, but not so much attention to my tiny princess mind.

Stitches , Anne Lamott

25 April 2020

I know God enjoys hearing my take on how best we should all proceed, as I’m always full of useful advice. I’m sure God says either, “Oh, I so love Annie’s selfless and evolved thoughts,” or else “Jeez. What a head case.”

Stitches , Anne Lamott

26 April 2020

The one truth that would help us begin to solve our ethical and political problems [is] that we are all more or less wrong, that we are all at fault, all limited and obstructed by our mixed motives, our self-deception, our greed, our self-righteousness and our tendency to aggression and hypocrisy.

Thomas Merton

27 April 2020

My young preacher friend Anni pointed out to me that God could do anything God wanted, heal and create through weather or visions or the ever popular tongues of fire, but instead chooses us to be the way, to help, to share, to draw close.

Stitches , Anne Lamott

28 April 2020

For example, my impression that my house has just burned down is simply that—an impression or report conveyed to me by my senses about an event in the outside world. By contrast, my perception that my house has burned down and I have thereby suffered a terrible tragedy includes not only an impression, but also an interpretation imposed upon that initial impression by my powers of hypolepsis. It is by no means the only possible interpretation, and I am not obliged to accept it. I may be a good deal better off if I decline to do so. It is, in other words, not objects and events but the interpretations we place on them that are the problem. Our duty is therefore to exercise stringent control over the faculty of perception, with the aim of protecting our mind from error.

Meditations , Marcus Aurelius (translated by Gregory Hays)

29 April 2020

The onus is upon us all to work to improve the human condition. Perform good deeds, for that is truly the way to battle the forces of entropy that are at work in our world. The composite of all our efforts can have an effect. Good done anywhere is good done everywhere.

Rainbow in the Cloud , Maya Angelou

30 April 2020

When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly. They are like this because they can’t tell good from evil. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own—not of the same blood or birth, but the same mind, and possessing a share of the divine. And so none of them can hurt me. No one can implicate me in ugliness. Nor can I feel angry at my relative, or hate him. We were born to work together like feet, hands, and eyes, like the two rows of teeth, upper and lower. To obstruct each other is unnatural. To feel anger at someone, to turn your back on him: these are obstructions.

Meditations , Marcus Aurelius (translated by Gregory Hays)

01 May 2020

If waters are placid, the moon will be mirrored perfectly. If we still ourselves, we can mirror the divine perfectly. But if we engage solely in the frenetic activities of our daily involvements, if we seek to impose our own schemes on the natural order, and if we allow ourselves to become absorbed in self-centered views, the surface of our waters becomes turbulent. Then we cannot be receptive to Tao.

365 Tao

02 May 2020

To live a good life: We have the potential for it. If we can learn to be indifferent to what makes no difference. This is how we learn: by looking at each thing, both the parts and the whole. Keeping in mind that none of them can dictate how we perceive it. They don’t impose themselves on us. They hover before us, unmoving. It is we who generate the judgments—inscribing them on ourselves. And we don’t have to. We could leave the page blank—and if a mark slips through, erase it instantly.

Meditations , Marcus Aurelius (translated by Gregory Hays)

03 May 2020

The narrator is visiting a monk in a mountain monastery:

‘Here, it’s an oasis,’ I said, for want of a less trite image.

‘No, it’s the opposite,’ said my friend, correcting me firmly, as if he had already reflected on this comparison. ‘The world is an oasis, and here, we are in the immense expanse that surrounds it. In the oasis, you spend your time loading and unloading caravans. Seen from here, the caravans are just silhouettes on the horizon. Nothing is more beautiful than a caravan when you see it from afar. But, when you get closer, it’s noisy, it’s dirty, the camel drivers are quarrelling, and the animals are mistreated.’

Amin Maalouf, Les désorientés

04 May 2020

‘Only it is so VERY lonely here!’ Alice said in a melancholy voice; and at the thought of her loneliness two large tears came rolling down her cheeks.

‘Oh, don’t go on like that!’ cried the poor Queen, wringing her hands in despair. ‘Consider what a great girl you are. Consider what a long way you’ve come to-day. Consider what o’clock it is. Consider anything, only don’t cry!’

Alice could not help laughing at this, even in the midst of her tears. ‘Can YOU keep from crying by considering things?’ she asked.

‘That’s the way it’s done,’ the Queen said with great decision: ‘nobody can do two things at once, you know.’

Lewis Carroll, Alice Through the Looking-Glass

05 May 2020

‘Let’s consider your age to begin with—how old are you?’

‘I’m seven and a half exactly.’

‘You needn’t say “exactually,”‘ the Queen remarked: ‘I can believe it without that. Now I’ll give YOU something to believe. I’m just one hundred and one, five months and a day.’

‘I can’t believe THAT!’ said Alice.

‘Can’t you?’ the Queen said in a pitying tone. ‘Try again: draw a long breath, and shut your eyes.’

Alice laughed. ‘There’s no use trying,’ she said: ‘one CAN’T believe impossible things.’

‘I daresay you haven’t had much practice,’ said the Queen. ‘When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.’

Lewis Carroll, Alice Through the Looking-Glass

06 May 2020

Semyon Semyonovich puts on his glasses, looks up at a pine tree, and sees a bloke sitting there, shaking his fist at him. Semyon Semyonovich takes off his glasses, looks up at the pine tree, and sees no one sitting there. Semyon Semyonovich puts on his glasses, looks up at the pine tree, and once more sees a bloke sitting there, shaking his fist at him. Semyon Semyonovich takes off his glasses, and once more sees no one sitting up there in the pine tree. Semyon Semyonovich once more puts on his glasses, looks up at the pine tree, and once more sees a bloke sitting there, shaking his fist at him. Semyon Semyonovich is disinclined to believe in this phenomenon and considers it an optical illusion.

Daniil Kharms

07 May 2020

Working up courage, I entered the cave and proceeded toward the voice. The ascetic was curled up on the ground. He had raised his head, and I was able in the half-light to make out his face as it gleamed in the depths of unutterable beatitude… I did not know what to say, where to begin… Finally I gathered up the courage.

“Do you still wrestle with the devil, Father Makarios?” I asked him.

“Not any longer, my child. I have grown old now, and he has grown old with me. He doesn’t have the strength…I wrestle with God.”

“With God!” I exclaimed in astonishment. “And you hope to win?”

“I hope to lose, my child. My bones remain with me still, and they continue to resist.”

“Yours is a hard life, Father. I too want to be saved. Is there no other way?”

“More agreeable?” asked the ascetic, smiling compassionately.

“More human, Father.”

“One, only one.”

“What is it?”

“Ascent. To climb a series of steps. From the full stomach to hunger, from the slaked throat to thirst, from joy to suffering. God sits at the summit of hunger, thirst, and suffering; the devil sits at the summit of a comfortable life. Choose.”

“I am still young. The world is nice. I have time to choose.”

Reaching out with the five bones of his hand, the ascetic touched my knee and pushed me. “Wake up, my child. Wake up before death wakes you up.”

Nikos Kazantkazis

08 May 2020

There is no use in merely saying everything will be all right. Thinking rightly, of course, means putting God into all your affairs and expecting him to change them. For example, if you are living in a shack it is not any good pretending that it is a palace. Cheap optimism is never spiritual. Realize that you are living in a shack, but claim the Presence of God to guide you to something better.

“Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path” Psalm 27:11

Emmet Fox

09 May 2020

Our only problem is our illusion we have of power, when in fact the only true power we have is our choice to turn to and over to the One who has the Power, God.

Al Kohallek

10 May 2020

Decisions based on emotion aren’t decisions, at all. They’re instincts. Which can be of value. The rational and the irrational complement each other. Individually they’re far less powerful.

Raymond Tusk

Keep being valuable. That’s the best way of showing your gratitude.

Francis Underwood

11 May 2020

You don’t love God? That’s natural. Because it’s not in the nature of man to love God; it’s in the nature of man to love seven-layer cake. You need to build a ladder from earth to heaven, and each of the rungs is a prayer. Climb the ladder, and then you’ll love God.

Rabbi Yehoshua Gordon

12 May 2020

There are two or three things that flashed into my mind on which it would be fitting to lay a little emphasis. One is the simplicity of our program. Let’s not louse it all up with Freudian complexes and things that are interesting to the scientific mind, but have very little to do with our actual AA work. Our Twelve Steps, when simmered down to the last, resolve themselves into the words ‘love’ and ‘service’. We understand what love is, and we understand what service is. So let’s bear those two things in mind.

Dr Bob

13 May 2020

A Prayer for all Conditions of Men (extract)

O GOD, the Creator and Preserver of all mankind, we humbly beseech thee for all sorts and conditions of men; that thou wouldest be pleased to make thy ways known unto them, thy saving health unto all nations. ... Finally, we commend to thy fatherly goodness all those who are any ways afflicted, or distressed, in mind, body, or estate; that it may please thee to comfort and relieve them, according to their several necessities; giving them patience under their sufferings, and a happy issue out of all their afflictions. ... Amen.

1928 Book of Common Prayer

14 May 2020

A horse walks down the middle of the road. A human being, on the other hand, sticks to one extreme or the other.

People tend to look upwards, contemplating the mysteries of the heavens. They would do well to look inward and examine what’s happening within themselves.

When people ask me what not to do, I can tell them. But to know what they should do, that’s something they need to ask themselves.

Menachem Mendel of Kotzk

15 May 2020

I went to see this old man, and I would tell him: ‘The sky is falling; the bogeyman is real.’ He would sigh and say: ‘Everything is already alright.’ So listen to everything, step back, watch the river flow, tap the top of that little boy’s head and say: ‘Everything is already alright.’ That’s how you respond to having an alcoholic head.

Anonymous

16 May 2020

M-10.1. Judgment, like other devices by which the world of illusions is maintained, is totally misunderstood by the world. 2 It is actually confused with wisdom, and substitutes for truth. 3 As the world uses the term, an individual is capable of “good” and “bad” judgment, and his education aims at strengthening the former and minimizing the latter. 4 There is, however, considerable confusion about what these categories mean. 5 What is “good” judgment to one is “bad” judgment to another. 6 Further, even the same person classifies the same action as showing “good” judgment at one time and “bad” judgment at another time. 7 Nor can any consistent criteria for determining what these categories are be really taught. 8 At any time the student may disagree with what his would-be teacher says about them, and the teacher himself may well be inconsistent in what he believes. 9 “Good” judgment, in these terms, does not mean anything. 10 No more does “bad.”

A Course In Miracles

17 May 2020

What you think of as the world—the rabbits, the dragons, the clowns, the doves, the hawks, and the stories they play out—are shadows cast on a wall by hands held in the light of your own perception. If the light were snuffed out, if the shadows were to disappear, nothing real would be destroyed. The hands and their master, the source of all light, will remain intact and capable of infinite creativity, and of so much more than shadows cast on a wall.

Anonymous

18 May 2020

Where is G‑d? Wherever He is allowed in.

“I” is a thief, which must be banished from the heart.

Serving yourself is a form of idolatry.

If you say something you don’t truly believe, even if you emit a sigh that does not come from the depth of your heart, any motion that is not entirely true—you are guilty of perjury.

Menachem Mendel of Kotzk

19 May 2020

Years ago many devoted preachers and Sunday School teachers were fond of telling people to “pray hard.” Well-meaning as this advice was, it was mistaken. I often tell people to pray “soft,” which, of course, means gently.

I do this because I know that the more quietly and gently we pray, the better results we get. In prayer, as in many other activities, effort defeats itself. More than once I have said to my congregation, “Pray with a feather-not with a pickax.”

Always pray gently, and especially if you have a good deal of fear, or if your difficulty seems to be a very important one.

“For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee” Psalm 86:5

Emmet Fox

20 May 2020

Astronomers know that it is not the stars that are moving as they look up at the sky, but the earth under their feet in their observatories, yet nevertheless they record the movement of the stars rather than of the earth. This is how it has to be. It is just the same with prayer. God is not a person. But I am a person, and I cannot express my relationship to God in any way other than to an individual person, although I know that it cannot be the case.

Tolstoy

21 May 2020

I’ve never wanted to serve a God whose ways would be understandable to mere mortals.

He who doesn’t see God everywhere isn’t capable of seeing Him anywhere.

The body finds it easier to accept all kinds of suffering than to accept the yoke of Heaven.

Menachem Mendel of Kotzk

22 May 2020

[T-18.VIII.2. The body cannot know. 2 And while you limit your awareness to its tiny senses, you will not see the grandeur that surrounds you. 3 God cannot come into a body, nor can you join Him there. 4 Limits on love will always seem to shut Him out, and keep you apart from Him.] 5 The body is a tiny fence around a little part of a glorious and complete idea. 6 It draws a circle, infinitely small, around a very little segment of Heaven, splintered from the whole, proclaiming that within it is your kingdom, where God can enter not.

T-18.VIII.3. Within this kingdom the ego rules, and cruelly. 2 And to defend this little speck of dust it bids you fight against the universe. 3 This fragment of your mind is such a tiny part of it that, could you but appreciate the whole, you would see instantly that it is like the smallest sunbeam to the sun, or like the faintest ripple on the surface of the ocean. 4 In its amazing arrogance, this tiny sunbeam has decided it is the sun; this almost imperceptible ripple hails itself as the ocean. 5 Think how alone and frightened is this little thought, this infinitesimal illusion, holding itself apart against the universe. 6 The sun becomes the sunbeam’s “enemy” that would devour it, and the ocean terrifies the little ripple and wants to swallow it.

A Course in Miracles

23 May 2020

Be led by intuition and love.

Pray for past and future selves.

Do not be driven by lack, limitation, or fear.

Treat the problem as though God has already healed it.

What we want for others is what we are attracting to ourselves.

Anonymous

24 May 2020

If you need to hide something—something is wrong.

If a person maintains his faith when he is in trouble and sees no solution, is his faith true? What choice did he have? But if a person has all that he needs and still chooses to place his trust in God—that’s true faith.

I never regretted telling the truth.

Menachem Mendel of Kotzk

25 May 2020

Start here: Open yourself to receive all that heaven wants to give you.

How will you receive it? By being empty.

Full of self-concern, of “what will become of me?” of “where life is taking me?”—there’s no room for life to enter.

But a simple, open spirit is filled with joy from heaven.

Tzvi Freeman

26 May 2020

God made the human upright, unlike the animal who walks on all fours. While the beast sees only the earth, man can also look up toward the heavens.

Even a wagon driver is a leader. And woe is to the wagoner whose horses take control.

Not every thought should be said. Not every speech should be written down. And not all writings are fit for print.

Menachem Mendel of Kotzk

27 May 2020

Today’s ‘Pay Forward’ gift is—A Mission Statement. As I awaken this morning, I turn my consciousness toward Three Spiritual Gifts: Your Holy Presence Father, The Love That I Am, And The Individual I Was Created As. I am filled with gratitude for what You have in mind for me today. I now visualise, and realise I am in conscious union with All Three Spiritual Gifts. These are my Heart’s Desire, which I believe are Your Will for me, Father. I begin this day with a short review of yesterday and a willingness to forgive all. I now choose to be non-judgmental. I am awakened in Your Divine Light, in that Spiritual Flow, in Your Holy Consciousness, Presence and the darkness disappears. I know Your Holy Voice is directing me very specifically, telling me what to do, say, think, and feel in a way I can currently hear, understand, and follow. I am given all I need to experience consciously Your Loving Will for me, Father. I am, we all are, created in Your Image and Likeness. I consciously practise these characteristics from a study of the most successful leaders throughout history as part of my AA mission: higher purpose, focus, preparedness, conviction, faith, trust, perseverance, creativity, risk-taking, curiosity, resilience, independence, commitment, and courage. Thy Love, Thy Will be done.

Al Kohallek

28 May 2020

If I am I because I am I, and you are you because you are you—then I am I and you are you. But if I am I because you are you, and you are you because I am I—then I am not I and you are not you.

There are not enough sacks in the world to contain the wily arguments of the evil inclination.

I want people to refrain from wrongdoing, not because they fear sin, but because they don’t have the time.

Menachem Mendel of Kotzk

29 May 2020

A simple way to pray (part 1)

1. Set aside a few minutes every day. Do not say anything. Simply practice thinking about God. This will make your mind spiritually receptive.

2. Then pray orally, using simple, natural words. Tell God anything that is on your mind. Do not think you must use stereotyped pious phrases. Talk to God in your own language. He understands it.

3. Pray as you go about the business of the day, on the subway or bus or at your desk. Utilize minute prayers by closing your eyes to shut out the world and concentrating briefly on God’s presence. The more you do this every day the nearer you will feel God’s presence.

Norman Vincent Peale

30 May 2020

A simple way to pray (part 2)

4. Do not always ask when you pray, but instead affirm that God’s blessings are being given, and spend most of your prayers giving thanks.

5. Pray with the belief that sincere prayers can reach out and surround your loved ones with God’s love and protection.

6. Never use a negative thought in prayer. Only positive thoughts get results.

Norman Vincent Peale

31 May 2020

A simple way to pray (part 3)

7. Always express willingness to accept God’s will. Ask for what you want, but be willing to take what God gives you. It may be better than what you ask for.

8. Practice the attitude of putting everything in God’s hands. Ask for the ability to do your best and to leave the results confidently to God.

9. Pray for people you do not like or who have mistreated you. Resentment is blockade number one of spiritual power.

10. Make a list of people for whom to pray. The more you pray for other people, especially those not connected with you, the more prayer results will come back to you.

Norman Vincent Peale

01 June 2020

T-29.V.1. There is a place in you where this whole world has been forgotten; where no memory of sin and of illusion lingers still. 2 There is a place in you which time has left, and echoes of eternity are heard. 3 There is a resting place so still no sound except a hymn to Heaven rises up to gladden God the Father and the Son. 4 Where Both abide are They remembered, Both. 5 And where They are is Heaven and is peace.

T-29.V.2. Think not that you can change Their dwelling place. 2 For your Identity abides in Them, and where They are, forever must you be. 3 The changelessness of Heaven is in you, so deep within that nothing in this world but passes by, unnoticed and unseen. 4 The still infinity of endless peace surrounds you gently in its soft embrace, so strong and quiet, tranquil in the might of its Creator, nothing can intrude upon the sacred Son of God within.

A Course in Miracles

02 June 2020

But if nothing presents itself that’s superior to the spirit that lives within—the one that has subordinated individual desires to itself, that discriminates among impressions, that has broken free of physical temptations (as Socrates used to say), and subordinated itself to the gods, and looks out for human beings’ welfare—if you find that there’s nothing more important or valuable than that … … then don’t make room for anything but it—for anything that might lead you astray, tempt you off the road, and leave you unable to devote yourself completely to achieving the goodness that is uniquely yours. It would be wrong for anything to stand between you and attaining goodness—as a rational being and a citizen. Anything at all: the applause of the crowd, high office, wealth, or self-indulgence. All of them might seem to be compatible with it—for a while. But suddenly they control us and sweep us away.

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations (Modern Library) (pp. 30-31)

03 June 2020

Another great dividend we may expect from confiding our defects to another human being is humility, a word often misunderstood. To those who have made progress in A.A., it amounts to a clear recognition of what and who we really are, followed by a sincere attempt to become what we could be.

Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

04 June 2020

Pride is putting self in the place of God as the centre and objective of our life, or of some department thereof. It is the refusal to recognize our status as creatures, dependent on God for our existence, and placed by him in a specific relationship to the rest of his creation.

Humility is putting God in the place of self as the centre and objective of our life, or of some department thereof. It is the recognition of our status as creatures, dependent on God for our existence, and placed by him in a specific relationship to the rest of his creation.

St Augustine Prayer Book (plus adaptation)

05 June 2020

When an occasion of practicing some virtue was offered, he addressed himself to God saying, “Lord, I cannot do this unless Thou enablest me”. And then he received strength more than sufficient. When he had failed in his duty, he only confessed his fault saying to God, “I shall never do otherwise, if You leave me to myself. It is You who must hinder my falling and mend what is amiss.” Then, after this, he gave himself no further uneasiness about it.

Practising the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence

06 June 2020

People who are excited by posthumous fame forget that the people who remember them will soon die too. And those after them in turn. Until their memory, passed from one to another like a candle flame, gutters and goes out. But suppose that those who remembered you were immortal and your memory undying. What good would it do you? And I don’t just mean when you’re dead, but in your own lifetime. What use is praise, except to make your lifestyle a little more comfortable?

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations (Modern Library) (p. 41)

07 June 2020

T-4.IV.2. I have said that you cannot change your mind by changing your behavior, but I have also said, and many times, that you can change your mind. 2 When your mood tells you that you have chosen wrongly, and this is so whenever you are not joyous, then know this need not be. 3 In every case you have thought wrongly about some brother God created, and are perceiving images your ego makes in a darkened glass. 4 Think honestly what you have thought that God would not have thought, and what you have not thought that God would have you think. 5 Search sincerely for what you have done and left undone accordingly, and then change your mind to think with God’s. 6 This may seem hard to do, but it is much easier than trying to think against it. 7 Your mind is one with God’s. 8 Denying this and thinking otherwise has held your ego together, but has literally split your mind.

A Course in Miracles

08 June 2020

7. Choose not to be harmed—and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed—and you haven’t been.

8. It can ruin your life only if it ruins your character. Otherwise it cannot harm you—inside or out.

9. It was for the best. So Nature had no choice but to do it.

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations (Modern Library) (p. 39)

09 June 2020

T-4.IV.3. When you are sad, know this need not be 2 Depression comes from a sense of being deprived of something you want and do not have. 3 Remember that you are deprived of nothing except by your own decisions, and then decide otherwise.

A Course in Miracles

10 June 2020

People try to get away from it all—to the country, to the beach, to the mountains. You always wish that you could too. Which is idiotic: you can get away from it anytime you like. By going within. Nowhere you can go is more peaceful—more free of interruptions—than your own soul. Especially if you have other things to rely on. An instant’s recollection and there it is: complete tranquillity. And by tranquillity I mean a kind of harmony. So keep getting away from it all—like that. Renew yourself. But keep it brief and basic. A quick visit should be enough to ward off all <…> and send you back ready to face what awaits you. What’s there to complain about? People’s misbehavior? But take into consideration: that rational beings exist for one another; that doing what’s right sometimes requires patience; that no one does the wrong thing deliberately; and the number of people who have feuded and envied and hated and fought and died and been buried. … and keep your mouth shut.

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations (Modern Library) (pp. 37-38)

11 June 2020

There’s only one way to escape this closed loop and to see ourselves clearly: we have to step outside of the little mind and observe it. That which observes is not thinking, because the observer can observe thinking. We have to observe the mind and notice what it’s doing. We have to notice how the mind produces these swarms of self-centered thoughts, thus creating tension in the body. The process of stepping back is not complicated, but if we’re not used to it, it seems new and strange, and perhaps scary. With persistence, it becomes easier.

Charlotte Joko Beck, Nothing Special (p. 26)

12 June 2020

You can lead an untroubled life provided you can grow, can think and act systematically. Two characteristics shared by gods and men (and every rational creature): i. Not to let others hold you back. ii. To locate goodness in thinking and doing the right thing, and to limit your desires to that.

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations (Modern Library) (p. 64)

13 June 2020

Once the electrical baseboard [that jolts us whenever we encounter what feels like a problem] is established, whenever something unpleasant happens to us—even if somebody looks at us a little crossly—we plug into our baseboard. The baseboard we have constructed can take an indefinite number of plugs, and during the day we may plug into it a thousand times. As a result, we develop a very strange view of our life. For example, suppose that Gloria has said something snippy to me. The bare facts are simply that she’s said something. She and I may have a little issue to discuss, but the truth of the matter is, she has simply said something. Immediately, however, I feel separated from Gloria. As far as I’m concerned, there is something wrong with her. “After all, look at what she did! She’s really a most unpleasant person.” Now I have it in for Gloria. The truth is, however, that my issue is not with Gloria; she has nothing to do with it. While it’s true that she has said something, my upset comes not from her but from plugging into my baseboard. I experience my baseboard as a type of tension, which is unpleasant. I don’t want to have anything to do with such a feeling, so I go to war with Gloria. But it’s my baseboard that is causing me distress.

Charlotte Joko Beck,. Nothing Special (pp. 31-32)

14 June 2020

Just that you do the right thing. The rest doesn’t matter. Cold or warm. Tired or well-rested. Despised or honored. Dying … or busy with other assignments.

Because dying, too, is one of our assignments in life. There as well: “to do what needs doing.”

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations (Modern Library) (p. 69)

15 June 2020

Many schools of therapy encourage the client to express hostility. When we express our hostility, however, our attention goes outward, toward another person or thing, and not on the real problem. Expressing our feelings is natural, and not a terrible thing in itself. But it often creates problems for us. When truly experienced, anger is very quiet. It has a certain dignity. There’s no display, no acting out. It’s just being with that fundamental contraction that I have called the baseboard. When we truly stay with anger, then the personal and self-centered thoughts separate out and we’re left with pure energy, which can be used in a compassionate way.

Charlotte Joko Beck,. Nothing Special (p. 37)

16 June 2020

To move from one unselfish action to another with God in mind. Only there, delight and stillness.

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations (Modern Library) (p. 70)

17 June 2020

A truly enlightened person is one who can transform the energy nearly all of the time. It’s not that the energy no longer arises; the question is, what do we do with it? If somebody bashes into the side of our car without paying attention, we’re not just going to smile sweetly. We’ll have a reaction: “Damn it!” But then what? How long do we stay with that reaction? Most of us prolong the reaction and enlarge upon it. An example is our propensity for lawsuits. I’m not saying that a suit is never justified; it may sometimes be necessary to resolve an issue. But many lawsuits are about something else and are counterproductive. If I express my anger at Gloria, Gloria in some way will direct it back at me.

Charlotte Joko Beck, Nothing Special (p. 37)

18 June 2020

Like seeing roasted meat and other dishes in front of you and suddenly realizing: This is a dead fish. A dead bird. A dead pig. Or that this noble vintage is grape juice, and the purple robes are sheep wool dyed with shellfish blood. ... Perceptions like that—latching onto things and piercing through them, so we see what they really are. That’s what we need to do all the time—all through our lives when things lay claim to our trust—to lay them bare and see how pointless they are, to strip away the legend that encrusts them. Pride is a master of deception: when you think you’re occupied in the weightiest business, that’s when he has you in his spell.

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations (Modern Library) (pp. 70-71)

19 June 2020

A phrase from a Bach chorale comes back to me: “In Thine arms I rest me.” That means resting in who I truly am. “Those who would molest me cannot find me here.” Why can’t they find me here? Because there is no one home. There is no one here. When I am pure energy, I am no longer me. I am a functioning for good. That transformation is why we’re sitting. It’s not easy. And it doesn’t happen overnight. But if we sit well, over time we become less and less engaged in interpersonal mischief, harming ourselves and others. Sitting burns up the self-centered element and leaves us with the energy of our emotions, without the destructiveness.

Charlotte Joko Beck,. Nothing Special (p. 38)

20 June 2020

What is it in ourselves that we should prize? Not just transpiration (even plants do that). Or respiration (even beasts and wild animals breathe). Or being struck by passing thoughts. Or jerked like a puppet by your own impulses. Or moving in herds. Or eating, and relieving yourself afterwards. Then what is to be prized? An audience clapping? No. No more than the clacking of their tongues. Which is all that public praise amounts to—a clacking of tongues. So we throw out other people’s recognition. What’s left for us to prize? I think it’s this: to do (and not do) what we were designed for. That’s the goal of all trades, all arts, and what each of them aims at: that the thing they create should do what it was designed to do. The nurseryman who cares for the vines, the horse trainer, the dog breeder—this is what they aim at. And teaching and education—what else are they trying to accomplish? So that’s what we should prize. Hold on to that, and you won’t be tempted to aim at anything else.

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations (Modern Library) (p. 72)

21 June 2020

Go slowly, rest in God often, claim the power to work miracles in the lives of people, do everything in order, go slowly from task to task, rest and pray between duties.

Don P.

22 June 2020

The suffering of the hour is enough for that hour.

Jewish Proverb

Why dread the future? Dread one day at a time.

Tom W.

23 June 2020

W-pI.189.7. Simply do this: Be still, and lay aside all thoughts of what you are and what God is; all concepts you have learned about the world; all images you hold about yourself. 2 Empty your mind of everything it thinks is either true or false, or good or bad, of every thought it judges worthy, and all the ideas of which it is ashamed. 3 Hold onto nothing. 4 Do not bring with you one thought the past has taught, nor one belief you ever learned before from anything. 5 Forget this world, forget this course, and come with wholly empty hands unto your God.

A Course In Miracles

24 June 2020

Once, while travelling on a train, the Alter of Novardok (R’ Yosef Yoizel Horowitz) found himself in the company of freethinkers. Taking note of the Alter’s rabbinic garb, they attempted to draw him into philosophical debate. The Alter told them, “You people call yourselves ‘free’, for you have liberated yourselves from the restrictions of religious belief. In fact, you are slaves. I have disciplined myself to the extent that I am prepared to do whatever my Creator asks of me. You, on the other hand, are ruled by your passions and desires. That is real slavery.”

25 June 2020

We are being changed, kicking and screaming, without a single clue about who will lead us, how things will look and be when the dust and virus settle. I hate this. It would be so much skin off God’s nose to give us a map? Well, I would tell my kids, God actually does, and I would have one of the big kids read Psalm 61 from the Hebrew Bible: “When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than me.” Any rock is higher than the pinball machine arcade of my mind. I’d look at them with my stern teacherly eyes and ask them, Where is that rock? They’ll hedge, haw, and answer that it is God, faith, etc. I’d nod, and add that God is Good Orderly Direction, i.e. the next right thing. And It is right here, I’d say, in our love for each other. This is going to save the world.

Anne Lamott

26 June 2020

Have you ever thought that, when a giraffe drinks a cup of coffee, by the time it reaches its stomach, it’s already cold? Of course not. You only ever think of yourself.

27 June 2020

Giving is what makes us happiest, makes us feel richest, most fills our hearts. If you want to have loving feelings—even today!—do loving things. We think we are starved for what we are not getting, which is the great palace lie, but we are actually hungry for what we are not giving.

Anne Lamott

28 June 2020

Your problem is how you are going to spend this one odd and precious life you have been issued. Whether you’re going to spend it trying to look good and creating the illusion that you have power over people and circumstances, or whether you are going to taste it, enjoy it and find out the truth about who you are.

Anne Lamott

29 June 2020

“Cause me to have all the honesty, willingness, and open-mindedness I may need here and now. I ask for the guidance, love, and wisdom that I need to work through this process and gain the most I can at this time. I am as willing as I can be to set aside everything I even think I know about this area, this way of life, so that my chances for an open mind and to be teachable are better, so that I may realise Your Three Spiritual Gifts: awakening to You, to be the love I am, and to be the individual You created me as. Thank You.”

Al Kohallek (Jim W)

30 June 2020

I got a lot of things that society had promised would make me whole and fulfilled—all the things that the culture tells you from preschool on will quiet the throbbing anxiety inside you—stature, the respect of colleagues, maybe even a kind of low-grade fame. The culture says these things will save you, as long as you also manage to keep your weight down. But the culture lies.

Anne Lamott