The Creative and Controlling Force of the Universe
“Acting from the highest levels in his being, man is the creative and controlling force in the Universe;…. Hence Maeterlinck’s famous saying, ‘Let us always remember that nothing befalls us that is not of the nature of ourselves.’”
–Christmas Humphreys (English Judge, Author and Buddhist Philosopher, 1901-1983)
Deserving Love and Affection
“You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”
–Buddha (a.k.a. “The Awakened”, a.k.a. Siddhartha Gautama, Indian Religious Figure and Founder of Buddhism, c.563 B.C.- c.483 B.C.)
Solitude Good, Isolation Bad
We have talked before about the value of being comfortable with yourself: to find peace in solitude. But that is a very different from trying to live in total isolation.
Everything in the Universe lives in a relationship, and one of the keys to growth and healing is relationship. The establishment and maintenance of relationship is one of the crucial differences between treating and healing.
“The person who tries to live alone will not succeed as a human being. His heart withers if it does not answer another heart. His mind shrinks away if he hears only the echoes of his own thoughts and finds no other inspiration.”
–Pearl S. Buck (a.k.a. “John Sedges,” a.k.a. Sai Zhenzhu, American Missionary in China, Author and, in 1938, Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, 1892-1973)
States Determine Time
“When it is state that determines time, time is only an appearance. A pleasant state makes time seem brief, and an unpleasant one makes it seem long. We can therefore see that time in the spiritual world is simply an attribute of state.”
–Emanuel Swedenborg (Swedish Scientist, Mystic and Philosopher, 1688-1772)
Think Lightly of Yourself
“Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world.”
–Miyamoto Musashi (a.k.a. Shinmen Takezō, a.k.a. Miyamoto Bennosuke, a.k.a Niten Dōraku, Japanese Samurai, Swordsman and Founder of the Hyōhō Niten Ichi-ryū or Niten-ryū style of Swordsmanship and Author of The Book of Five Rings (五輪書 Go Rin No Sho), on Strategy, Tactics, and Philosophy, c.1584-1645)
“The Book of Five Rings (Shambhala Classics)” (Miyamoto Musashi)
Total Awareness
“Life is all one, and you should be conscious at every moment of what you are doing, for when you make a gesture it is never in isolation; whether inwardly or outwardly, everything has repercussions. This is why it is also important for you to learn how to greet each other. You spot someone you know, a friend… Even if all you do is hail them from a distance, do so consciously, so that you transmit life to them through your hand as currents of energy and rays of color.
The most powerful and beneficial exchanges are not necessarily the ones you make when you come physically close. You can put a lot of love and light into a hand gesture and the look in your eyes as you make it. So, let your soul take part in your greeting, and your spirit too, so that each person you greet can feel that what they receive is reaching within and improving them. It is so important to have harmonious psychic contact with one another before we meet on the physical level to talk or to work!”
–Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov (Bulgarian Spiritual Master, 1900-1986)
{There is a valuable service available from www.Prosveta.com. They send out daily meditations from the works of Master Aïvanhov. I recommend them highly}
To Learn Is To Change
“To learn is to change. Education is a process that changes the learner.”
–George B. Leonard (American Aikidoist, President Emeritus of the Esalen Institute and Writer, 1923-2010)
The Hidden Power of Kindness
“Have you noticed in your past experience that your kind interpretations have almost always been truer than your harsh ones”
–Lawrence G. Lovasik (American Roman Catholic Priest and Writer, 1913-1986)
Nobody Understands Quantum Mechanics!
Here another great physicist also says something that should be taken to heart by all authors and speakers who appeal to quantum mechanics to “explain” the finer points of their discourse!
“I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics.”
–Richard Phillips Feynman (American Theoretical Physicist and, in 1965, Winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics, 1918-1988)
“The Character of Physical Law (Messenger Lectures, 1964)” (Richard Feynman)
Shocked by Quantum Theory
For years now I have been worried about some of the absurd self-deception of a few writers and speakers who claim to understand quantum theory and use their version of it to bolster some argument or other.
In the past I have written a fair bit about some of the more preposterous claims that had been misleading enormous numbers of people.
I thought that most of those pieces had been lost after two of my older blogs were hacked – twice! – and needed to be re-built and transferred to a new server.
So I was delighted to find that one of them – Quantum Flapdoodle – has come across.
And this short quotation rather supports what I was saying:
“Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood it… Isolated material particles are abstractions, their properties being definable and observable only through their interaction with the other system… Independent reality in the ordinary sense can be ascribed neither to the phenomena nor to the agencies of observation.”
–Niels Bohr (Danish Physicist and, in 1922, Winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics, 1885-1962)
