Shems Abode

My old audio site 'Shems Abode' has now closed down - somehow,
without me knowing, it disappeared from the Web!

A new audio site has been set-up: this is the new 'Shems Abode'

Also, some of the audio posts can be accessed from the lists
of links here on BT on the right side of this page.

I hope in the future to be adding some new material... once I gain some time...

THE FIVE MONKEYS

Start with a cage containing five monkeys. Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it. Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana. As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all of the other monkeys with cold water.

After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result - all the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon, when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it.

Now, put away the cold water. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs. To his surprise and horror, all of the other monkeys attack him. After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted.

Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm! Likewise, replace a third original monkey with a new one, then a fourth, then the fifth. Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs, he is attacked. Most of the monkeys that are beating him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey.

After replacing all the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys have ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs to try for the banana. Why not?

Because as far as they know that's the way it's always been done around here.



Is that how things will always be done - without change!?

Be The Change

God decided to come down to Earth for a quick look at
how his creation was coming along.

He approached Earth and happened to look at a big tree
full of howling monkeys. As He looked down, one of the
monkeys happened to look up and saw him.

The monkey became excited and started to shout:

"I see God.....I see God!"

None of the other monkeys paid any attention. Some thought
the monkey was crazy or perhaps just a religious fanatic.
They went on about their daily lives of collecting food, taking
care of their young, fighting with each other, etc., etc. Not getting
any attention, our monkey decided to try to get attention from God, and said:

"God, Almighty, You are the Beneficent, the Merciful, please help me!"

In an instant, the monkey was transformed into a man living in
his own human community.

Everything changed, except for one thing: the monkey's mind.
The monkey immediately realized *that* could be a problem.

"Well, thank you God, but what about my mind?"
"That, said God, you will have to change yourself."

take this longing

take this longing from my tongue
all the lonely things my hands have done.
let me see your beauty broken down
like you would do for one you love.

The three old men

A woman left her house and saw three old men with long beards seated in front of her garden.
- I don't know you - she said - but you must be hungry. Please come into my house and eat something.
They asked:
- Is your husband at home?
- No - she said - he is not.
- Then we cannot enter - they said.
On late afternoon, when the husband arrived, she told him what happened.
- Well, tell them I arrived already and invite them to come in.
The woman went outside to invite the men to come into her house.
- The three of us cannot enter a house together - said the old men.
- Why? - she wanted to know.
One of the men pointed towards one of his friends and explained:
- His name is Wealth - he pointed towards the other - his name is Success and my name is Love.

Now go inside and decide with your husband which one of us three you wish to invite into your house.
The woman entered her house and she told her husband what they told her.
The man, very happy, said:
- That's good! If that's the way it is, let's invite Wealth, and have him fill our house with wealth.
His wife did not agree:
- My dear, why don't we invite Success?
Their daughter was listening from the other corner of the house and came running with an idea:
- Wouldn't it better to invite Love? Our home would be full of love then.
- Let's pay attention to our daughter's advice - said the husband to his wife, go outside and invite Love to be our guest.
The wife went outside and asked the three old men:
- Which one of you is Love? Please come and be our guest.
Love stood up and began to walk towards the house. The other two also rose and followed him. Surprised, the lady asked Wealth and Success:
- I only invited Love, why are you also coming?
The old men responded together:
- If you had invited Wealth or Success, the other two would have remained outside, but since you invited Love, wherever he goes, we go with him. Wherever there is love, there is also wealth.



If you truely follow your heart, the rest will arrive as well.

Beautiful Messages

Something I tell myself

Something I tell myself:

'When a person faces an uncertain future, it is best for them to view it as an opportunity for personal growth and not to be fearful of the unknown'

Ruth Montgomery

Always Be In Love

An old Persian tale:

Once upon a time, a fish that was a bird up to the waist fell in love with a bird that was a fish down to the waist. Therefore the fish-bird told the bird-fish:

'We have been created in a way we'll never be able to live together: you in the wind and I in the waves. What a pity for both of us!'

'No, how lucky we are', said the bird-fish, 'as we'll always be in love because we'll always be separated'

Time Net

Have you noticed how time appears - or 'seems' - to be accelerating these years?

The phenomena tries to be imperceptible, like a subtle field/net that has caught us all up in its sweep...

Days have less 'time', the end of the day quickens;
Years fall by more rapidly...

As if there is a hurry to be somewhere, to get somewhere...

Racing ahead for some great event, perhaps?

This is not a poem; it is a moment of reflection...

More Honey from the Turquoise Bee

More honey drops from the tantric-pen of Tsangyang Gyatso:

When I held the jewel in hand
I didn't know its worth.
When I lost it to another
The wind of loss howled in my chest.


Small black written letters
Can be destroyed by water or crossed out.
An unscribed figure in the mind may fade
But will never be forgotten.


Lover who was joy to me,
Married to another -
This sickness of mind
Though inside
Consumes the flesh of the body

The Turquoise Bee

The colour of turquoise has adorned the rulers of Ancient Egypt, the Aztecs, Persia, Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, and to some extent in ancient China since at least the Shang Dynasty: A common belief shared by many of these civilizations held that turquoise possessed certain prophylactic qualities; it was thought to change colour with the wearer's health and protect him or her from untoward forces.

The Turquoise Bee is a collection of Tantric lovesongs of Tibet's Sixth Dalai Lama (1683-1706)....

By drawing diagrams on the ground
The stars of space can be measured.
Though familiar with the soft flesh
Of my lover's body
I cannot measure her depths.


Your smile with white teeth flashing
Is meant to lead this young man on -
But if you really want me
Please, lady, swear it from the depths of
Your heart.

Bees produce the most beautiful honey...

In The Garden

A gardener must first cultivate and tend to their own garden before being useful to other gardens... this is because a garden can feel the knowledge and compassion of its gardener, and as 'like attracts like' responds to the energetic field of resonance that the gardener's Heart emits.

Yet until the gardener has shaped his own Heart, there is little use in wandering into another's garden.

Except

Except the intensive love, except love,
I haven't any other work.

Except the tender love, except the tender love,
I don't have another seed to sow.

Rumi

Approach to Reality - More of the New Design

I was aware of other, cosmical intelligences, far more evolved than my own. These Beings should not be confused with spacemen, or Supermen - they have evolved beyond all planetary form; and I was merely one pupil amongst many, all undergoing some manner of quickening and applied stimulus. Mankind is a cradle, or chrysalis, in which such potential exists as a possibility, or in an embryonic latency.

In this state I perceived a vast act of direct intervention in the life of mankind, like a realignment with the source of all manifestation, which necessitated the prior removal of an obstruction to its correct development. This occurrence coincided with the release of a fresh inflow of magnetic influences, also a stepping-up of vibrationary pressure, like entering a more powerful force-field, or submission to a forced process of growth - designed to produce an evolutionary 'leap'. But it all happened in the dimension of the higher Self, and has not yet externalised into our world of linear time, though its foreshadowings are already apparent.

From Approach to Reality