In Memory

Keith Strace Wheeler
30th October 1927 - 12th December 2008

In Memory of a blessed 'GodsFather'. Will be missed - but get on yer way you old Trout!

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Everything

Everything which we think... can become a reality:

If we think strongly enough. Do we think strongly enough?

Distracted by fantasy masquerading as entertainment and education we stagger astray:

The Pearl of Great Price stands so staggeringly close we are blinded by our own physical presence. Like a burden to ourselves we stand; and wonder why.

Be all that there is: for we are that.

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The Rules of Warriors

The Rules of Warriors:

1st Rule - that everything that surrounds us is an unfathomable mystery.

2nd Rule - we must try to unravel these mysteries, but without ever hoping to accomplish this.

3rd Rule - that a warrior, aware of the unfathomable mystery that surrounds him and aware of his duty to try to unravel it, takes his rightful place among mysteries and regards himself as one. Consequently, for a warrior there is no end to the mystery of being, whether being means being a pebble, or an ant, or oneself. That is a warrior's humbleness. One is equal to everything.

Taken from The Eagles Gift

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Starving

"... People in this civilization are starving in the middle of plenty. This is a civilization that is going down, not because it hasn't got the knowledge that would save it, but because nobody will use the knowledge."

Idries Shah, 1975

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Our Actions

It was autumn, and the Indians of a remote reservation asked their new Chief if the next winter was going to be cold or mild. Now, he was Indian Chief in a modern society, so he had never learned the old secrets and as he watched the sky, he could not predict what would happen in the next future. Anyway, to be sure, he told his tribe that the winter was going to be cold and that the members of the village would have to collect firewood to be prepared. But, being also a practical leader, after a few days he had an idea: he went to the telephone cabin and called to the National Meteorology Service and asked:

- Is the next winter going to be very cold?
- It seems that the next winter will be cold enough - said the meteorologist in charge.
So, the Chief returned to his people and told them to collect more firewood, to be prepared.

A week later the Chief called again the National Meteorology Service and asked:

- Will it be a very cold winter?
- Yes - said the meteorologist in charge - it is going to be a very cold winter.
The Chief returned again to his people and ordered them to collect all the pieces of firewood they could find.

Two weeks later the Chief called the National Meteorology Service once again:

- Are you absolutely sure that the next winter will be so cold?
- Absolutely, without any doubt - the man answered - it will be one of the coldest winters ever.
- How can you be so sure? - asked the Chief.
And the meteorologist said:
- All you need is to watch the Indians collecting wood like mad!

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A Recent Journey

From the twin spires in Delft I looked out over the flat horizontal landscape like the coarse assemblage of some puzzle...a picturesque yet over-regularised scenery...


..the suburban sights morphed into a still potash of silent water against static bridges; a relic of some moment of activity that had been sucked dry into some decadent monograph...


...I pushed through the chimera of reflections, pulling the liquidity of my presence as if I were dream-walking... a state of presence-less... until,


piercing the fractal veil I slipped through the membrane that separated the seconds from each other, and revealed the sight of coloured rays... it was the sunlight...


...and it glared into me like a hungry coyote... we feasted together like carnivore lovers: I wore my shades...

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A change of mind

It begins with a change of mind...

All of humanity is feeling unloved, and so are the animals, the plants, and the rocks, as they have been exploited in the chase for the mythical utopia called 'economic expansion'. The dark energy forms that our aggression, anger, fear and resentment have created are the most destructive contribution we have made to the planet's decline. It follows that the best way we can help the Earth-spirit through this period is to replace the darkness with Light. Hence, love, peace and forgiveness must prevail.

David Icke - taken from Truth Vibrations

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Necessity for Change

'Everything we do, everything we are, rests on our personal power. If we have enough of it, one word uttered to us might be sufficient to change the course of our lives. But if we don't have enough personal power, the most magnificent piece of wisdom can be revealed to us and that revelation won't make a damn bit of difference.'

From Tales of Power

Thus, the 'secret protects itself' as we are our own protectors. We must increase our necessity for change.

'Lack of Time' - Words of Don Juan

Perhaps these words will shed some meaning:

"For me the world is weird because it is stupendous, awesome, mysterious, unfathomable; my interest has been to convince you that you must assume responsibility for being here, in this marvelous world, in this marvelous desert, in this marvelous time. I wanted to convince you that you must learn to make every act count, since you are going to be here for only a short while; in fact, too short for witnessing all the marvels of it..."

..."You don't have time, my friend", he said. "That is the misfortune of human beings. None of us has sufficient time, and your continuity has no meaning in this awesome, mysterious world."

Taken from Journey to Ixtlan

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Hafiz speaks

Extracts from the pen of Hafiz, the Persian:

You're neither before my eye, nor hidden from view
You don't remember me, but you won't leave my memory.


The face of the Beloved wears neither a veil nor covering
To glimpse it for yourself, just let the dust of the road settle.


The men of reason may be the pointer of the compass of Existence,
But Love knows that in our circle, they are apt to lose their bearings.


Before time was, a ray of your Beauty was breathed into existence
Love woke up; and set the universe alight.


Why, in the tavern of the fire-worshippers, am I held in such esteem?
For what is in my heart: a flame that cannot be extinguished.


Begging at the door of the wine tavern is a marvellous elixir
If you perform this work, you may turn dust into gold.


Do not find fault with the language of the People of the Heart
You, my friend, are no linguist: and the fault lies there.


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A Kiss - The Absolute

"I'm not very strong on faith. I'm much more interested in experience than belief. My experience indicates without doubt that there is the embrace of the absolute. You've had it. When you embrace a woman and kiss her lips you forget your name. That's the experience of the absolute."

Leonard Cohen

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Making Agreements With Yourself

According to the Toltec wisdom of Mexican shaman Don Miguel Ruiz:

1. Be Impeccable With Your Words.

2. Don't Take Anything Personally.

3. Don't Make Assumptions.

4. Always Do Your Best.

1. Depending upon how it is used, the word can set you free, or it can enslave you even more than you know. All the magic you possess is based on your word. Your word is pure magic, and misuse of your word is black magic.
2. If someone is not treating you with love and respect, it is a gift if they walk away from you. If that person doesn't walk away, you will surely endure many years of suffering with him or her...You will only need to trust yourself to make responsible choices. You are never responsible for the actions of others; you are only responsible for you.
3. We make all sorts of assumptions because we do not have the courage to ask questions.
4. There is no time to miss anyone or anything because you are alive. Not enjoying what is happening right now is living in the past and only being half alive. This leads to self-pity, suffering, and tears.

This tells us we have a choice - a choice in how we perceive and dream our world. We all must make this choice to establish how our destiny will play out.

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The Dream of the Planet

What are we dreaming?

• In the dream of the planet it is normal for humans to suffer, to live in fear, and to create emotional dramas. The outside dream is not a pleasant dream...The personal dream of humans will vary, but globally it is mostly a nightmare...It may exist at different levels in different countries around the world, but fear is controlling the outside dream.

• That is why humans resist life. To be alive is the biggest fear humans have. Death is not the biggest fear we have; our biggest fear is taking the risk to be alive - the risk to be alive and express what we really are.

Extracts from The Four Agreements


What do you dream?

Wise Words 2

Some more sayings of Idries Shah:

KNOWLEDGE AND POWER: ‘Knowledge is power, they say. But if only power were knowledge, that would be something worth thinking about’

WORDS AND THOUGHT: ‘Words are an aspect of the attempted communication of thought. They are not thought. When we see words described as ‘thoughts’, we should make sure that we know this distinction’

SAYING A THING: ‘It is not important to have said a thing first, or best – or even most interestingly. What is important is to say it on the right occasion’

COMMUNICATION: ‘For a long time now people have been claiming that what is wrong with society is that there is a failure of communication. Many of these have had nothing to communicate other than the assertion that they cannot communicate. They have communicated this effectively enough’

DROWNING: ‘To drown in treacle is just as unpleasant as to drown in mud. People today are in danger of drowning in information; but, because they have been taught that information is useful, they are more willing to drown than they need be. If they could handle information, they would not have to drown at all’

Wise Words 1

Here are some sayings of Idries Shah:

TRUTH: ‘From time to time ponder whether you are unconsciously saying: ‘Truth is what I happen to be thinking at this moment’

COMMON KNOWLEDGE: ‘The more you look at ‘common knowledge’, the more you realise that it is more likely to be common than it is to be knowledge. No real knowledge is common’

SOCIETY: ‘You say that this society will come to an end, because societies always have done so. I wonder whether they have ended because they were not really societies at all’

BOOKS AND DONKEYS: ‘Anyone can see that an ass laden with books remains a donkey. A human being laden with the undigested results of a tussle with thoughts and books, however, still passes for wise’

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS: ‘One of the big differences between questions and answers is that, a question may be asked at almost any time and place, but its answer may come at a special time and place’

We are but dust, unless...

i) Above all, we may acknowledge, for once and for all, that we are but dust, unless we are living in Love. This helps one to deal with sorrows that inevitably visit our lives. We are not supposed to be in control, or perfect, or any particular thing, but just those who continue to love, through whatever confusion there is. Sheer persistence in faith, regardless of the illusion, is the key to many blessings.

ii) Patience cannot be overvalued in the spiritual journey.

Words of Carla L. Rueckert

Thoughts of These Times

'The evolution of man is the evolution of consciousness and 'consciousness' cannot evolce unconsciously' G.I. Gurdjieff

'Without change, something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken' Frank Herbert

These times give us the opportunity to learn and grow: to re-assess life priorities: life; love; goals; self-evolution. Nothing can be achieved while in a state of sleep. We are the drivers of our own change. From changing ourselves we change how we see and act in the world - and this changes how the world and people act towards us and themselves.

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The Water Rat

This is my Chinese sign - The Water Rat:

This intuitive, adventurous rat likes to travel, but once it finds a safe haven, it will settle and won’t be shifted. The water RAT is creative, enjoys literature and is a good diplomat

Is this me??

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Illumination

- Where should I seek the illumination?

- Here

- And when will it take place?

- It is taking place right now

- Then, why don't I feel it?

- Because you don't look

- And to what should I pay attention?

- To nothing. Simply watch

- Watch what?

- Anything on which your eyes settle

- And should I watch in a special manner?

- No. It's enough if you watch normally

- But don't I always watch normally?

- No

- What the devil?

- Because to watch you must be here, and you are very seldom here.


...

High Knowledge

ANIS was asked:

What is Sufism?

He said: 'Sufism is that which succeeds in bringing to man the High Knowledge'

But if I apply the traditional methods handed down by the Masters, is that not Sufism?

'It is not Sufism if it does not perform its function for you. A cloak is no longer a cloak if it does not keep a man warm.

So Sufism does change?

'People change and needs change. So what was Sufism once is Sufism no more. Sufism is the external face of internal knowledge, known as High Knowledge. The inner factor does not change. The whole work, therefore, is the High Knowledge, plus capacity, which produces method. What you are pleased to call Sufism is merely the record of past method.

Tis good the know the difference...

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Have the Courage...know what you truly want to become

We are where we are right now to self-realise:

Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

A brief excerpt from the Commencement address at Stanford University by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005 - go here for full speech.

Wisdom

SUFIAN said:

The wisdom which is invisible but which sustains is a hundred times better than the appearance of wisdom, for that has itself to be sustained

We are immersed in a matrix of signs, many of them invisible to us. And yet we expend so much energy investing in the appearances we sustain and are sustained by.

Rather than submitting to the stories that enforce our roles - should we not be dreaming into being our new stories, our inner goals?

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How Hungry Are You?

The Hungry Wolf

A skinny and hungry wolf, by chance met a well nourished dog. After the salutation, the wolf asked:

- You look so good, where do you come from? What do you eat to be of such a good spirit? I am stronger than you and I starve.

- You would have the same fortune - the dog responded simply - if you wanted to serve my master the way I do it.

- What services are these? - the wolf asked.

- To guard the door and at night defend the house against the thieves.

- Good! I'll do it. I bear rain and snow in the forests leading a miserable life. How much easier it would be to live under a roof and calmly satiate my hunger with abundant food!

- Allright - said the dog - come with me. While they walked, the wolf saw the bare neck of the dog, caused by the chain.

- Tell me, friend - it said - where does that come from?

- That's nothing.

- Please, please tell me.

- When I am too unquiet - the dog replied - they tie me during the day so that I sleep when there is light and I watch when the night arrives. When the twilight comes, I walk wherever I want. They bring the food to me without asking for it, the master gives me the bones from his own table, the servants give me the rests and the sauces which nobody wants anymore. This way, my belly fills up without having to work.

- But if you wish to leave and go wherever you want, do they allow you to do that?

- No, not at all - said the dog.

- Well then - said the wolf - enjoy your goods. I don't want to be king in exchange of my freedom.

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Breathing the Web

The Chinese Character for Love

Breathing the Web. Here is a simple, yet powerful way of connecting with the Earth Web through breath. Close your eyes for a minute and imagine a sparkling, energetic web connecting the deepest essence of all people in the world. Consider placing your hands over your heart or the center of your chest as you do this. Take a few deep breaths as you open to this image.

Now, while taking a slow, very deep inhale, say to yourself:
Your sacred love flows in to me.

Then slowly exhale fully while thinking and feeling:
My sacred love flows out to you.

Taken from 'Connecting with the Web of Love'

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Taking Responsibility for Our Lives

It's not what happens to you that matters, it's what you do with it.

W. Mitchell, Inspirational Speaker

Water Music

Like water that reflects the light, so too does the cosmos reflect our thoughts.

We are all shimmering, like notes that chime when a bell is struck.

In a symphony of souls, we search for the perfect pitch.

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Our Times

In 1948 Krishnamurti wrote that:

You, the individual, are the world problem...because all the other problems are created by your unwillingness to tackle yourself first...

Our minds and hearts must be simple, creative empty, and watchful. Only then can love come into being. Love alone can bring peace to the world, and then will the world know the bliss of the real.

Krishnamurti was talking about objective unconditional love, not mawkish love, as a way of raising the conscience of the individual. Our times require such individual and collective human conscience.

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Each Single Thing

Every thought; each action; every heartbeat has an effect upon the cosmos.

The universal field reverberates with each input and presence.

We do not exist alone - rather, we are all-one - this is the universal law: The Law of One.

There is no void: only throw-away words 'pour from the empty into the void'...

yet thoughts remain like markers...

This energetic field we find ourselves in is subtle yet powerful: music and scent; compassion and bewildering. It is and it becomes.

Through all and everything we begin to learn.

These are some thoughts this evening, as the heart beats...

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The Sweetest Fruit

A man crossing a field found himself in front of a tiger.
He started to run as the tiger chased after him.
As the man arrived at a cliff he stumbled and fell; yet managed to get a hold onto the roots of a wild vine as he hung over the abyss.
The tiger could smell the man from the cliff's edge, just above him.
Shaking, the man looked downwards where another tiger stood waiting to devour his body.

Two mice, a white one and a black one, began to nibble the vine slowly.
The man saw a bush of appetizing strawberries.
Holding onto the vine with one hand, he took some strawberries with the other.

How sweet was their flavour!

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A Walk Through Paris

I strolled through the terrace of Sacre Coeur, past the graffiti etched into the holy walls like desperate calling cards...

And gazed out over the rooftops to the miniature roofs that lay below as if placed by the fingertips of Angels...

Emblems and signs I saw placed around me, signifying some holy and sacred past that now was forgotten or junked into sacrilege.



So I asked the thinking gargoyle of Notre-Dame for advice, as he had watched the denizens of our species for such a long time...He leaned to whisper to me...


And I leaned in close to hear.... and whilst his tongue licked my ear in truths, we laughed like heretics in ribaldry...

Within the Stones

I came upon the stone circle of Castlerigg, Cumbria, in the Lake District of the UK...



I said my helloos...

And paid my respects...


And moved on...

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Reality & Self

Words from 5 thousand years into our future - they inform the present:

"Sooner or later", she continued, "each of us learns that there are only two great tasks that confront us in each lifetime. There are many missions and life goals, of course, but not all of them can be combined into two primary objectives"...

..."As we pass through life", the kahuna said, "each of us creates the reality in which we live...And each of us is responsible for creating the self that lives in that reality"

From Medicinemaker
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New Attitude

How we move is down to how we think. The future is about having the right attitude to reply and respond to changing life conditions.

Attitude determines your Altitude

We cannot fly, no matter how high our heads are to the sky, if we fill our hearts with mud.

Those of you who make the choice to become part of the wholistic transformation of this planet and its inhabitants will lead the way through the transformation of yourselves. Mankind is inspired by example not by words...Your example will be one of living the life of purposeful focus. Each day your intent is to be human becoming for the purpose of mankind becoming and the planet becoming...Take your power and use it with intentional focus to bring balance -'Handbook for the New Paradigm'

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Right Choices - the difference we make

Stalking Wolf's vision relates that

If a man could make the right choices, then he could significantly alter the course of the possible future. No man, then, should feel insignificant, for it only takes one man to alter the consciousness of mankind through the Spirit-that-moves-in-all-things. In essence, one thought influences another, then another, until the thought is made manifest throughout all of Creation. It is the same thought, the same force, that causes an entire flock of birds to change course, as the flock then has one mind...

...So, then, do not ask what you can do to affect the life force in a positive way, for the same Spirit that moves within the birds also moves within you. One person, one idea, one thought can turn the flock of society away from the destructive path of modern times. It is not a question as to whether we make a difference, for we all make a difference, each of us in our own way. It is the difference we make that is important.

Differences can be made...
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Moon on the Water

Zen Master Dogen writes about the moon reflected upon the water:

Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water. The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken. Although its light is wide and great, the moon is reflected even in a puddle an inch wide. The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in dewdrops on the grass, or even in one drop of water.

Enlightenment does not divide you, just at the moon does not break the water. You cannot hinder enlightenment, just as a drop of water does not hinder the moon in the sky. The depth of the drop is the height of the moon. Each reflection, however long or short its duration, manifests the vastness of the dewdrop, and realizes the limitlessness of the moonlight in the sky.

May we also be reflections to others...

Some thoughts on Change...

I begin with some words on change... how I feel it is fast upon us...

The world is changed.
I feel it in the water.
I feel it in the earth.
I smell it in the air.
Much that once was, is lost,
for none now live who remember it

Galadriel, Lord of the Rings

And remember that balance and internal harmony is the best bet for great shifts:

Many of us worry about the situation of the world. We don't know when the bombs will explode. We feel that we are on the edge of time. As individuals, we feel helpless, despairing. The situation is so dangerous, injustice is so widespread, the danger is close. In this kind of situation, if we panic, things will only become worse. We need to remain calm, to see clearly. Meditation is to be aware, and to try to help.

Thich Nhat Hanh - Buddhist monk

And so it is for us to shine our own internal lamps...

2008

Beautiful-Traitor is happy to be entering 2008 - and expectant of many changes. As we ground our energies and salute our own spirits it is imperative we recognise our own worth.

We have a great future - if we are prepared to awaken towards it. In the words of Rumi:

Search the answer at the same place
where the question comes from.

Onwards...