Some Famous Writers Thoughts on Freedom

TODAY'S QUOTES ~ WRITERS ON FREEDOM

“The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off.” ~ Gloria Steinem

“Lock up your libraries if you like, but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.” ~ Virginia Woolf, "A Room Of One's Own"

“The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are. You trade in your reality for a role. You trade in your sense for an act. You give up your ability to feel, and in exchange, put on a mask. There can't be any large-scale revolution until there's a personal revolution, on an individual level. It's got to happen inside first.”...“Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and when the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.” ~ Jim Morrison

"I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being, with an independent will; which I now exert to leave you.” ~ Charlotte Brontë, "Jane Eyre"

“Freedom lies in being bold.” ~ Robert Frost

“Now that she had nothing to lose, she was free.” ~ Paulo Coelho, "Eleven Minutes"

“I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.” ~ Robert A. Heinlein

“Some birds are not meant to be caged, that's all. Their feathers are too bright, their songs too sweet and wild. So you let them go, or when you open the cage to feed them they somehow fly out past you. And the part of you that knows it was wrong to imprison them in the first place rejoices, but still, the place where you live is that much more drab and empty for their departure.”
~ Stephen King, "Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons"

“Who is more to be pitied, a writer bound and gagged by policemen or one living in perfect freedom who has nothing more to say?” ~ Kurt Vonnegut

“For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” ~ Nelson Mandela

“The things you own end up owning you. It's only after you lose everything that you're free to do anything.” ~ Chuck Palahniuk, "Fight Club"

“Yes, my consuming desire is to mingle with road crews, sailors and soldiers, barroom regulars—to be a part of a scene, anonymous, listening, recording—all this is spoiled by the fact that I am a girl, a female always supposedly in danger of assault and battery. My consuming interest in men and their lives is often misconstrued as a desire to seduce them, or as an invitation to intimacy. Yes, God, I want to talk to everybody as deeply as I can. I want to be able to sleep in an open field, to travel west, to walk freely at night...” ~ Sylvia Plath

“Happy. Just in my swim shorts, barefooted, wild-haired, in the red fire dark, singing, swigging wine, spitting, jumping, running—that's the way to live. All alone and free in the soft sands of the beach by the sigh of the sea out there, with the Ma-Wink fallopian virgin warm stars reflecting on the outer channel fluid belly waters..” ~ Jack Kerouac, "The Dharma Bums"

“I tell my students, 'When you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else. This is not just a grab-bag candy game.” ~ Toni Morrison

“Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another.” ~ Toni Morrison, "Beloved"

“You wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down.”
~Toni Morrison, "Song of Solomon"

"The Kabbalah Code" by James Twyman

JIMMY TWYMAN HAS DONE IT ONCE AGAIN!!!!

I Just finished reading a book by James Twyman that has resonated with me so profoundly through every part of my being, and has brought so much clarity to the quandries I have been facing, that it has literally taken my breath away...

It spoke to me on such a personal level in so many ways that cannot even be explained or understood, among many validations

of my own experiences lately with the Divine Mother, St. Michael and the Knights Templar, right down to the mind blowing significance to me as a devotion I had to a particular saint when I was a child, St. Catherine Laboure', whose name I took at my confirmation...

This book has put all the myriad pieces of the puzzle together for me, as I am sure it will for many others, Workers in the Light whose purpose and vision is being reawakened...it is the Map we have been praying for...

And now I must exhale, and move joyously forward with purpose and conviction...

The book is called, "The Kabbalah Code: A True Adventure", please everyone, this little book is one of monumental significance...IF YOU ARE SO GUIDED, PLEASE CHECK THIS LITTLE GEM OUT RIGHT AWAY!!! Jimmy is truly one who walks in the Light, has been given the gift of great vision, and has a mighty mission here at this time...please join up and take part in one of the greatest shifts and transformations that our Beloved Planet and all its inhabitants have ever experienced...Together we Can and We Will!

The Kabbalah Code
A True Adventure
by JAMES F. TWYMAN, PHIL GRUBER
During the world premiere of The Moses Code movie, an angry audience member challenges James Twyman in a very unusual way. She says that his ideas surrounding the story of Moses and the name given to him by God, “I AM THAT, I AM,” are incomplete. It wasn’t a comma that unlocked the secrets of creation, but a Yud, the most sacred letter in the Hebrew alphabet (which looks very much like a comma).
Thus begins Twyman's quest to discover the true meaning of the Sacred Names of God, leading him to an adventure in Paris that changes his life forever.

Within its pages, James enters the world of the ancient Kabbalah, the mystical teachings of Judaism, and realizes that the rabbit hole goes far deeper than he thought. Join James and Phil Gruber—a friend and spiritual teacher who decides to initiate this incredible journey—as they travel to ten of the most sacred sites in Paris, unlocking the secrets found in the many Names of God and revealing lost teachings that may change the world. Written in the style of a high adventure such as The Da Vinci Code and The Celestine Prophecy, this is an unforgettable book that will draw you into a world of intrigue and Kabbalistic lore.

"The greatest lessons we learn usually come from the adventures that shape and change our lives. This adventure, the one I describe in this book, came upon me as a great surprise. I didn't set out to do any of the things that you're about to read, nor did I initially think that they would result in a book that others might find valuable. But the more I sat with it and reflected on the details of those two amazing days in April 2008, the I realized that this adventure wasn't meant for Phil and me alone. It was nice having a partner in the journey...someone to not only share the remarkable details with, but to also verify them latter. A witness is a good thing to have when recounting something so extraordinary.

As stated on the front cover this is a true story, but for some may be hard to believe. I'm lucky to have traveled around the world as a Peace Troubadour and to have had many such adventures, but there still may be those who read these words and think, "Come on, did this really happen?" This answer is yes...A number of the experiences you are about to read will seem amazing and perhaps even unbelievable, but the truth behind them all is the same: we currently have the opportunity to use this universal wisdom to change the world and inspire a lasting peace. The only question remains is, Will we accept the challenge?"
(From the introduction of "The Kabbalah Code: A True Adventure" by James Twyman)

The Wisdom of Henry David Thoreau

I did not wish to take a cabin passage, but rather to go before the mast and on the deck of the world, for there I could best see the moonlight amid the mountains. I do not wish to go below now.

In wilderness is the preservation of the world.

As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.

Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.

Do what you love. Know your own bone; gnaw at it, bury it, unearth it, and gnaw it still.

If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.

If a man walks in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer. But if he spends his days as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making the earth bald before her time, he is deemed an industrious and enterprising citizen.

Ignorance and bungling with love are better than wisdom and skill without.

It is better to have your head in the clouds, and know where you are... than to breathe the clearer atmosphere below them, and think that you are in paradise.

It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.

Live your beliefs and you can turn the world around.

Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.

Money is not required to buy one necessity of the soul.

Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.

Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind.

Nature is full of genius, full of the divinity; so that not a snowflake escapes its fashioning hand.

Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain.

Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.

Our life is frittered away by detail... simplify, simplify.

Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake.

Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence.

Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.

That man is rich whose pleasures are the cheapest.

The light which puts out our eyes is darkness to us.
Only that day dawns to which we are awake.
There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star.

The universe is wider than our views of it.

There is no value in life except what you choose to place upon it and no happiness in any place except what you bring to it yourself.

Things do not change; we change.

We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aid, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn.

What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us.

You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment.

I have learned, that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined,
he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.

 

 

I AM the CREATIVE Power by Iyanla Vanzant

Today is fellow Writer and Spiritual Mentor Iyanla Vanzant 's Birthday...therefore today's Sacred Action posting of one of my favorite pieces of her's, is in honor of this auspicious occasion...
Blessed Day of Celebration to you, Beautiful Iyanla

"I am the CREATIVE Power of the Divine at work.
I choose to be an expression of good, of peace, of joy and abundance.
The Divine thinks by means of me.
My Thoughts are clear.
The Divine expresses itself in my Heart.
My Heart is open to the goodness of Life.
The Divine CREATES, heals, restores and builds through every action I take.
My eyes, ears, hands and feet are instruments of the Divine.
Today, I rejoice in advance for all the good I Am CREATING, through right thinking, an Open Loving Heart and Divine Right Action.
For all of this and more, I Am so grateful.
And So It Is!" ~
~ Iyanla VanZandt ("One Day My Soul Just Opened Up")

 

The Hundredth Monkey Phenomenon...

There is much talk in metaphysical and spiritual circles, about the concept of "reaching critical mass" which will produce a major shift in consciousness on our beloved planet, which in kind, will also effect the raising up of our entire Universe...

In speaking to a fairly large group of enlightened individuals a couple of weeks ago, I was surprised that many o

f them had not heard of the idea of reaching critical mass or the concept of Ken Keyes' classic, "The Hundredth Monkey", it was this scientific breakthrough that led up to this awareness...

I am sharing it here, so that those who have not heard of this phenomenon, will be likewise enlightened and encouraged...literally the future in our hands, minds and hearts...

In the book The 100th Monkey Ken Keyes, Jr. tells the story of a scientific research study on monkeys that supports the notion that quantum shifts can occur when a population reaches a “critical mass.” This phenomenon is often referred to when one is in need of evidence to support the belief that an optimistic future is possible for humankind. The 100th Monkey empowers us to have faith that if enough people will just think the right loving and compassionate thoughts —

When we reach the 100th human—or whatever number is the tipping point—then suddenly, almost magically, our world will shift.

The Hundredth Monkey
by Ken Keyes, jr.

The Japanese monkey, Macaca fuscata, had been observed in the wild for a period of over 30 years.

In 1952, on the island of Koshima, scientists were providing monkeys with sweet potatoes dropped in the sand. The monkeys liked the taste of the raw sweet potatoes, but they found the dirt unpleasant.

An 18-month-old female named Imo found she could solve the problem by washing the potatoes in a nearby stream. She taught this trick to her mother. Her playmates also learned this new way and they taught their mothers too.

This cultural innovation was gradually picked up by various monkeys before the eyes of the scientists.

Between 1952 and 1958 all the young monkeys learned to wash the sandy sweet potatoes to make them more palatable.

Only the adults who imitated their children learned this social improvement. Other adults kept eating the dirty sweet potatoes.

Then something startling took place. In the autumn of 1958, a certain number of Koshima monkeys were washing sweet potatoes -- the exact number is not known.

Let us suppose that when the sun rose one morning there were 99 monkeys on Koshima Island who had learned to wash their sweet potatoes.

Let's further suppose that later that morning, the hundredth monkey learned to wash potatoes.

THEN IT HAPPENED!

By that evening almost everyone in the tribe was washing sweet potatoes before eating them.

The added energy of this hundredth monkey somehow created an ideological breakthrough!

But notice.

A most surprising thing observed by these scientists was that the habit of washing sweet potatoes then jumped over the sea --

Colonies of monkeys on other islands and the mainland troop of monkeys at Takasakiyama began washing their sweet potatoes.

Thus, when a certain critical number achieves an awareness, this new awareness may be communicated from mind to mind.

Although the exact number may vary, this Hundredth Monkey Phenomenon means that when only a limited number of people know of a new way, it may remain the conscious property of these people.

But there is a point at which if only one more person tunes-in to a new awareness, a field is strengthened so that this awareness is picked up by almost everyone!

(from the book "The Hundredth Monkey" by Ken Keyes, jr. The book is not copyrighted and the material may be reproduced in whole or in part. You can look at the whole book also.)

 

"The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs" (by A.Wolf) as told to Jon Scieszka...

Found this delightful little gem of a book at work in the "Reading Adventureland Exhibit"... it really appealed to my sense of humor, so I just had to share it here...:)

"The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs" (by A.Wolf) as told to Jon Scieszka...
(or probably more aptly titled, "The Big Bad Media Strikes Again"...LOL)

"Everybody knows the story of the Three Little Pigs.
Or at least they think they do.
But I'll let you in on a little secret.
Nobody knows the real story, because nobody has ever heard my side of the story.

I'm the wolf.
Alexander T. Wolf.
You can call me Al.
I don't know how this whole Big Bad Wolf thing at started, but it's all wrong.
Maybe it's because of our diet.
Hey, it's not my fault wolves eat cute little animals like bunnies and sheep and pigs. That's just the way we are.
If cheeseburgers were cute, folks would probably think you were Big and Bad, too.

But like I was saying, the whole Big Bad Wolf thing is all wrong.
The real story is about a sneeze and a cup of sugar.

THIS IS THE REAL STORY...

Way back in Once Upon a Time time, I was making a birthday cake for my dear old granny.
I had a terrible sneezing cold, and I ran out of sugar.

So I walk down the street to ask my neighbor for a cup of sugar.
Now this neighbor was a pig.
And he wasn't too bright, either.
He had built his whole house out of straw.
Can you believe it? I mean who in his right mind would build a house of straw?
So of course, the minute I knocked on the door, it fell right in.
I didn't want to just walk into someone else's house. So I called, "Little Pig. Little Pig, are you in?" No answer.
I was just about to go home without the cup of sugar for my dear old granny's birthday cake.
That's when my nose started to itch.
I felt a sneeze coming on.
Well I huffed. And I snuffed. And I sneezed a great sneeze.
And you know what? That whole darn straw house fell down.
And right in the middle of the pile of straw was that First Little Pig...dead as a doornail.
He had been home the whole time.
It seemed like a shame to leave a perfectly good ham dinner lying there in the straw. So I ate it up.
Think of it as a big cheeseburger laying there.

I was feeling a little better. But i still didn't have my cup of sugar.
So I went to the next neighbor's house.
This neighbor was the First Little Pig's brother.
He was a little smarter, but not much.
He had built his house of sticks.
I rang the bell on the stick house. Nobody answered.
I called, "Mr. Pig, Mr. Pig, are you in?"
He yelled back, "Go away wolf. You can't come in. I'm shaving the hairs on my chinny chin chin."
I had just grabbed the doorknob when I felt another sneeze coming on.
I huffed. And I snuffed. And I tried to cover my mouth, but I sneezed a great sneeze.
And you're not going to believe it, but this guy's house fell down just like his brother's.
When the dust cleared, there was the Second Little Pig...dead as a doornail.
Wolf's honor.

Now you know food will spoil if you just leave it out in the open.
So I did the only thing there was to do.
I had dinner again.
Think of it as a second helping.
I was getting awfully full.
But my cold was feeling a little better.
And I still didn't have that cup of sugar for my dear old granny's birthday cake.

So I went to the next house.
This guy was the First and Second Little Pigs' brother.
He must have been the brains of the family.
He had built his house of bricks.
I knocked on the brick house...No answer.
I called, "Mr. Pig, Mr. Pig, are you in?"
And do you know what that rude little porker answered?
"Get out of here, Wolf. Don't bother me again."
Talk about impolite!
He probably had a whole sack full of sugar.
And he wouldn't give me even one little cup for my dear sweet old granny's birthday cake.
What a pig!
I was just about to go home and maybe make a nice birthday card instead of a cake, when I felt my cold coming on again.
I huffed. And I snuffed. And I sneezed once again.
And then the Third Little Pig yelled, "And your old granny can sit on a pin!"

Now I'm usually a pretty calm fellow.
But when somebody talks about my granny like that, I go a little crazy.
When the cops drove up, of course I was trying to break down this Pig's door.
And the whole time I was huffing and puffing and sneezing and making a real scene.

The rest...as they say...is history.

The news reporters found out about the two pigs I had for dinner.
They figured a sick guy going to borrow a cup of sugar didn't sound very exciting.
So they jazzed up the story with all of that "huff and puff and blow your house down."
And they made me into the "Big Bad Wolf."

That's it...The real story...I was framed!"

"The Starseed Transmissions" by Ken Carey

A sharing from my morning reading (or re-reading, as I am currently revisiting an old classic friend:)

"Yours is not a tame God to be confined in the reverent concepts, but a vibrant, playful energy, the very soul and Spirit of Life! He comes to Earth not to be somber and devout, but to dance, sing and enjoy all the He has created.

Do not allow the gravity of your planet to weigh upon your cons

ciousness...Matter still co-exists with the rising Life energies, do not conceive of your world with such gravity.

Lighten up with the merriment of Christ. Even now the awakening Child is showing Himself to your scientists and mathematicians through playful impossibilities that thwart all their rational explanations. He is laughingly holding up the stage props of contemporary contentions, running to and fro, catching them as they fall, seeing how long He can keep His presence a surprise...

Come play with us in the wonderland of Matter. It is long years that you have dreamed of your entry into these realms. Your dream has come True! Wake up and see where you Are!

If the world sees the happy exuberance of the awakening Creator shining in your eyes and thinks that it is irresponsible in the light of this or that growing crisis, patiently explain to them what is happening. Tell them something of the new perspective. In the moment of your presence, in the moment of your being, tell them what you are experiencing and they might experience too.

Let them see that your happiness, your peace, and your serenity are not yours alone, but the reflection in your Life of a Being who will always be at His greatest ease."

~ Ken Carey (excerpted from "The Starseed Transmissions")

 

 

"Cross Creek" by Marjorie Kinnans Rawlings

 

A sharing of a favorite piece of writing of mine on the Nature of Our Great and Beloved Mother...

"If there can be such a thing as instinctual memory, the consciousness of land and water lie deeper in the core of us than any knowledge of our fellow beings.

We were bred of earth before we were born of our mothers. Once born, we can live without mother or father, or any other kin, or any friend,

or any human love. We cannot live without the earth or apart from it, and something is shriveled in a man's heart when he turns away from it and concerns himself only with the affairs of men...

I had become a part of Cross Creek. I was more than a writer...I was a part of the earth. Who owns Cross Creek? The red-birds, I think, more than I, for they will have their nests even in the face of delinquent mortgages..It seems to me that the earth may be borrowed, but not bought. It may be used, but not owned. It gives itself in response to love and tending, offers its seasonal flowering and fruiting. But we are tenants and not possessors, lovers, and not masters. Cross Creek belongs to the wind and the rain, to the sun and the seasons, to the cosmic secrecy of seed, and beyond all, to time..."

~ Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, "Cross Creek"

"Return of the Bird Tribes" by Ken Carey

"There is a movement of Spirit that proceeds from within your heart to greet the world with the clarity of perfect action. That movement is intuitive. It is your direct link with the source of all life. In the instant you know what to do, and in the same instant, you flow into the perfect action required. Trust your intuition. It is an arrow whose shaft has been carved straight and smooth;

unerring and true it flies to its mark. Can the ponderous tread of the rational mind be compared to the swift, sure flight of an arrow? Reason is designed to support, not to lead your action. It is meant to help you implement the purposes of your heart; it is not meant to determine them.

Trust in God by honoring and trusting your intuitive sense. No God would create a creature without the wisdom to chart its course! Trust the nature of your design. God's actions appear within your awareness as the most natural thing for you to do. Following them will reconnect you with the awesome powers of the universe, for all your actions will then be in harmony with the underlying intent of the life force itself.

The incarnational process is a process of relaxation. It is a process of relaxing all thinking that is born from straining and holding on. It is a process of choosing not to struggle against the current of what comes to you through the natural movement of your heart. This does not mean that you close your eyes to the world around you and try to "think only good thoughts." No, you can look at the hunger in Africa and do something about it. You can look at the need for greater communications between nations and do something about it. You can perceive needs in any area and take action, motivated by love, to alleviate the suffering in that area. But though they may encounter problem areas, when your thoughts spring from intuition, they are not sustained through tension, anxiety or fear. They are characterized by God's Love, flowing like powerful energy through your understanding, Happy, knowing that you are there; grateful, because you know you can make a difference."...

 

"Why create yourself in the image of imperfection...
When the Great Spirit, source of all life,
Holds out to you an image of unspeakable beauty?
Can you feel it now...
Fluttering into the atmosphere of your consciousness?

It is defining you as a projection of all that is...
As a steward, a caretaker...
Bearing special gifts of love for the earth and for all her creatures...
For the fishes of the sea...
For the four-footed, the winged, and for all that you perceive. This world lives inside you;
Her creatures are the organs of your body;
They are a part of you...
They are you.

You are this world's organ of consciousness awakening.

You are eternity's love for time...embodied in human form.

Your Being and God's Being are One..."

 

 

The Eternal Wisdom of "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert

"I'm here.
I love you.
I don't care if you need to stay up crying all night long.
I will stay with you.
If you need the medication again, go ahead and take it...
I will love you through that, as well.
If you don't need the medication, I will love you , too.
There's nothing you can ever do to lose my love.
I will protect you until you die...
And after your death I will still protect you.
I Am stronger than Depression and I Am braver than Loneliness.
And nothing will ever exhaust Me."

"People think a soul mate is your perfect fit, and that's what everyone wants. But a true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that is holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life.
A true soul mate is probably the most important person you'll ever meet, because they tear down your walls and smack you awake. But to live with a soul mate forever? Nah. Too painful. Soul mates, they come into your life just to reveal another layer of yourself to you, and then leave.
A soul mates purpose is to shake you up, tear apart your ego a little bit, show you your obstacles and addictions, break your heart open so new light can get in, make you so desperate and out of control that you have to transform your life, then introduce you to your spiritual master..."

"I have a history of making decisions very quickly about men. I have always fallen in love fast and without measuring risks. I have a tendency not only to see the best in everyone, but to assume that everyone is emotionally capable of reaching his highest potential. I have fallen in love more times than I care to count with the highest potential of a man, rather than with the man himself, and I have hung on to the relationship for a long time (sometimes far too long) waiting for the man to ascend to his own greatness. Many times in romance I have been a victim of my own optimism."

"This is a good sign, having a broken heart. It means we have tried for something."

"Stop wearing your wishbone where your backbone ought to be."

"Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it. You must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it."

"When I get lonely these days, I think: So BE lonely, Liz. Learn your way around loneliness. Make a map of it. Sit with it, for once in your life. Welcome to the human experience. But never again use another person's body or emotions as a scratching post for your own unfulfilled yearnings."

"To lose balance sometimes for love is part of living a balanced life."

"Tis' better to live your own life imperfectly than to imitate someone else's perfectly."

"I think I deserve something beautiful."

"There’s a crack (or cracks) in everyone…that’s how the light of God gets in."

"There is so much about my fate that I cannot control, but other things do fall under the jurisdiction. I can decide how I spend my time, whom I interact with, whom I share my body and life and money and energy with. I can select what I can read and eat and study. I can choose how I'm going to regard unfortunate circumstances in my life-whether I will see them as curses or opportunities. I can choose my words and the tone of voice in which I speak to others. And most of all, I can choose my thoughts."

"Never forget that once upon a time, in an unguarded moment, you recognized yourself as a friend."

"You were given life; it is your duty (and also your entitlement as a human being) to find something beautiful within life, no matter how slight."

"We search for happiness everywhere, but we are like Tolstoy's fabled beggar who spent his life sitting on a pot of gold, under him the whole time. Your treasure--your perfection--is within you already. But to claim it, you must leave the busy commotion of the mind and abandon the desires of the ego and enter into the silence of the heart."

"In the end, though, maybe we must all give up trying to pay back the people in this world who sustain our lives. In the end, maybe it's wiser to surrender before the miraculous scope of human generosity and to just keep saying thank you, forever and sincerely, for as long as we have voices."

"Do not apologize for crying. Without this emotion, we are only robots."

"Someday you're gonna look back on this moment of your life as such a sweet time of grieving. You'll see that you were in mourning and your heart was broken, but your life was changing..."

"Faith is walking face-first and full-speed into the dark. If we truly knew all the answers in advance as to the meaning of life and the nature of God and the destiny of our souls, our belief would not be a leap of faith and it would not be a courageous act of humanity; it would just be... a prudent insurance policy."

"I am a better person when I have less on my plate."

"Never forget that once upon a time, in an unguarded moment, you recognized yourself as a FRIEND… "

"There is a reason they call God a presence - because God is right here, right now. In the present is the only place to find Him, and now is the only time."

"When the karma of a relationship is done, only love remains. It's safe. Let go."

~ Elizabeth Gilbert ("Eat, Pray, Love")

Today's Featured Writer ~ Jack London

Jack London 

(1876-1916) American writer. Jack London (John Griffith) lived a life that was full of adventure, some of which he dramatized in his most famous works,is known for "Call of the Wild" and "White Fang." His best novel, "The Sea-Wolf," was based on his experiences at sea. 

Gerald Haslam writes, "Jack London has been more widely read and translated than any other American author in history." This book offers selections from many of London's best-known works, many of which depict adventure in all of its various forms.

Life Merging Into Fiction

London was able to write with a fresh and vital perspective because he lived many of the adventures he wrote about in his tales. From an early age, he was able to survive by various legal and illegal means. He was an oyster pirate, paperboy, salmon fisherman, fish patrolman, and sailor. He worked in a canning factory, a jute mill, and a laundromat.

Then, in 1897, London took part in the Klondike gold rush. He would later write that he found himself in the Klondike. He said, "There nobody talks. Everyone thinks. You get your true perceptive. I got mine."

Publishing the Tale

Jack London's first book was published in 1900. In the years to follow, London's stories, novels and other works covered a wide spectrum of human experience. He wrote about the dehumanization of a human being in "The Apostate": "There had never been a time when [Johnny] had not been in an intimate relationship with machines. Machinery had almost been bred into him, and at any rate he had been brought up on it." But, London is able to tap into something far deeper than the surface horrors, injustices and dehumanizations in human nature.

 

He takes us with him on these journeys to discovery, thrilling us with the adventure. His works remain fresh and accessible, because, as Haslam explains, London "helped invent what we think of as modern American prose."

JACK LONDON QUOTATIONS

• "I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time."
  - Jack London
  
• "Pictures! Pictures! Pictures! Often, before I learned, did I wonder whence came the multitudes of pictures that thronged my dreams; for they were pictures the like of which I had never seen in real wake-a-day life. They tormented my childhood, making of my dreams a procession of nightmares and a little later convincing me that I was different from my kind, a creature unnatural and accursed."
  - Jack London, Before Adam
  
• "The soft summer wind stirs the redwoods, and Wild-Water ripples sweet cadences over its mossy stones. There are butterflies in the sunshine, and from everywhere arises the drowsy hum of bees. It is so quiet and peaceful, and I sit here, and ponder, and am restless. It is the quiet that makes me restless. It seems unreal. All the world is quiet, but it is the quiet before the storm. I strain my ears, and all my senses, for some betrayal of that impending storm. Oh, that it may not be premature! That it may not be premature!"
  - Jack London, Iron Heel
  
• "The one opened the door with a latch-key and went in, followed by a young fellow who awkwardly removed his cap. He wore rough clothes that smacked of the sea, and he was manifestly out of place in the spacious hall in which he found himself. He did not know what to do with his cap, and was stuffing it into his coat pocket when the other took it from him. The act was done quietly and naturally, and the awkward young fellow appreciated it. 'He understands,' was his thought. 'He'll see me through all right.'"
  - Jack London, Martin Eden
  
• "Buck did not read the newspapers, or he would have known that trouble was brewing, not alone for himself, but for every tidewater dog, strong of muscle and with warm, long hair, from Puget Sound to San Diego. Because men, groping in the Arctic darkness, had found a yellow metal, and because steamship and transportation companies were booming the find, thousands of men were rushing into the Northland. These men wanted dogs, and the dogs they wanted were heavy dogs, with strong muscles by which to toil, and furry coats to protect them from the frost."
  - Jack London, The Call of the Wild
  
• "All my life I have had an awareness of other times and places. I have been aware of other persons in me. Oh, and trust me, so have you, my reader that is to be. Read back into your childhood, and this sense of awareness I speak of will be remembered as an experience of childhood. You were then not fixed, not crystallized. You were plastic, a soul in flux, a consciousness and an identity in the process of forming--ay, of forming and forgetting."
  - Jack London, The Star Rover
  
• "Dark spruce forest frowned on either side the frozen waterway. The trees had been stripped by a recent wind of their white covering of frost, and they seemed to lean toward each other, black and ominous, in the fading light. A vast silence reigned over the land."
  - Jack London, White Fang

Secrets and Mysteries : The Glory and Pleasure of Being a Woman ~ Denise Linn

Secrets and Mysteries: The Glory and Pleasure of Being a Woman by Denise Linn

Secrets and Mysteries will give you a profound understanding of what it means to be a woman. Full of passion, mysticism, and practical information, it will tap in to the source of your power at the depths of your soul. Through her own extraordinary life experience and her knowledge of native cultures round the world, Denise Linn reveals how you can activate ancient wisdom to become a magnificent woman of strength and grace—in other words, how you can become a Glorious Woman!
This unusual and indispensable book will show you:
•the invisible patterns that shape a woman’s life;
•how to nurture and replenish your body and soul;
•how to discover the mysteries of the Goddess;
•how to activate a radiant confidence and self-esteem;
•the pleasure of outrageous orgasms;
•how to awaken you inner warrior woman;
•the art of sacred sexuality;
•how to initiate and celebrate your ecstatic life force; and
•the secrets of a shamaness’s power

Each chapter offers a rich tapestry of information, ritual, story, and meditations: a combination of timeless lore and the majesty of the feminine experience. With a strong voice and powerful images relevant to women of all ages and backgrounds, Denise Linn has compiled a remarkable handbook for any Goddess-in-the-Making.
About the Author
Denise Linn has been called "America's best-kept secret." For the last three and a half decades she has traveled to the far corners of the world speaking to standing-room only audiences of thousands. Her spiritual journey began as a teenager when she had a near-death experience after being shot by an unknown gunman. The revelations she received on the "other side" and her subsequent quest to heal her body from the damage caused by the gunman's bullet, lead Denise to eventually become an internationally acclaimed healer, writer, and lecturer,

Denise has taught seminars in 19 countries and has written 14 books, including the best-selling Sacred Space and the award-winning Sacred Legacies. Her books have been translated into 26 languages, and she has been featured on Oprah, Lifetime, Discovery Channel, BBC TV, NBC and CBS. In addition to being the founder of the International Institute of Soul Coaching, Denise is also a world-acclaimed expert in feng shui and space clearing. She has distilled the information and wisdom she has gained from indigenous cultures around the planet, as well as from her own Native American roots, into her teaching.

Denise lives on the Central Coast of California with her husband David, two dogs, eight chickens, and innumerable frogs.

The Necklace by Cheryl Jarvis

The Necklace: Thirteen Women and the Experiment That Transformed Their Lives by Cheryl Jarvis

The true story of thirteen women who took a risk on an expensive diamond necklace and, in the process, changed not only themselves but a community.

Four years ago, in Ventura, California, Jonell McLain saw a diamond necklace in a local jewelry store display window. The necklace aroused desire first, then a provocative question: Why are personal luxuries so plentiful yet accessible to so few? What if we shared what we desired? Several weeks, dozens of phone calls, and a leap of faith later, Jonell bought the necklace with twelve other women, with the goal of sharing it.

Part charm, part metaphor, part mirror, the necklace weaves in and out of each woman’s life, reflecting her past, defining her present, making promises for her future. Lending sparkle in surprising and unexpected ways, the necklace comes to mean something dramatically different to each of the thirteen women.
With vastly dissimilar histories and lives, the women show us how they transcended their individual personalities and politics to join together in an uncommon journey. What started as a quirky social experiment became something far richer and deeper, as the women transformed a symbol of exclusivity into a symbol of inclusiveness. They discovered that sharing the necklace among themselves was only the beginning; The more they shared with others, the more profound this experience–and experiment–became.

Original, resonant, and beautifully told, this book is an inspiring story about a necklace that became greater than the sum of its links, and about thirteen ordinary women who understood the power of possibility, who touched the lives of a community, and who together created one extraordinary experience.

Featured Writer ~ Denise Levertov

Today's Featured Writer: Denise Levertov ~ 

The poet Denise Levertov, raised in Britain, worked and lived in America through most of her career. Her poetry is notable for its social content, particularly feminism and themes of peace. In her later poems, she turned to religious themes.

Denise Levertov served in the 1960s as poetry editor of The Nation and in 1975-78 as poetry editor for Mother Jones magazine. Denise Levertov taught at Stanford University from 1982-1993.

Quotes by Denise

"Peace as a positive condition of society, not merely as an interim between wars, is something so unknown that it casts no images on the mind's screen."

" Know the ship you sail on. Know its timbers. Deep the fjord waters where you sail, steep the cliffs, deep into the unknown coast goes the winding fjord."

"The poem has a social effect of some kind whether or not the poet wills it to have. It has kinetic force, it sets in motion . . . elements in the reader that would otherwise be stagnant."

"One of the obligations of the writer is to say or sing all that he or she can, to deal with as much of the world as becomes possible to him or her in language."

"In city, in suburb, in forest, no way to stretch out the arms -- so if you would grow, go straight up or deep down."

"But for us the road unfurls itself, we don't stop walking, we know there is far to go."

"You can live for years next door to a big pine tree, honored to have so venerable a neighbor, even when it sheds needles all over your flowers or wakes you, dropping big cones onto your deck at still of night."

"Every day, every day I hear enough to fill a year of nights with wondering."

(About her mother) "She was a pointer-outer. She pointed out clouds, and she pointed out flowers. She started one off looking at things...Very few people really see things unless they've had someone in early life who made them look at things. And name them too. But the looking is primary, the focus."

Procrastination is a Miracle...some thoughts on writing by SARK

Dear Miracle Writer - 

 

All of my 25 procrastinating years with my writing were the perfect way to create my writing dreams that I'm living today. And I believe this is true for you too. 

Mainly because procrastination gives us time. Time to avoid, delay, ruminate, wonder, read, go on long walks. This time was crucial to my development as a writer. And even if you don't procrastinate, whatever has happened to you, has nourished your writing life.

 

I simply wasn't ready to begin living as a writer, and making a living as a writer any sooner. I needed to claim my writing life and myself as a writer AND life living soul. I now know that with the right guidance, I could have claimed it sooner.

Now I've been creating a living, a business and all the books I've ever dreamed of for the past 22 years, I'm here to tell you that procrastination is fun, and writing and publishing is even more fun!

All of my 16 bestselling books have been created with the miracles of procrastination.

Perfectionism is a little more tricky - but I've graduated to part-time perfectionism, which I never believed was possible!

So if you write poetry, non-fiction, fiction, children's books or screenplays, or keep journals and diaries, or any other type of writing, be inspired. Shy or introverted people especially welcome. I specialize also in people who resist, avoid, or claim to be too busy to write, or would rather just write while sleeping but can't figure out how to do it!

 

Happily writing and living,

Susan

aka SARK

p.s. The photograph above was taken by my friend Leslie in a bookstore in Australia. I think they like SARK;-)

The Wisdom of Paulo Coelho ~ A Compilation

 

 

Your Journey

There is one great truth on this planet:
whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do,
when you really want something,
it's because that desire originated in the soul of the universe.
It's your mission on earth.

The Alchemist

Seeking Love

The moment we begin to seek love,
love begins to seek us.
And to save us.

By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

The Best Teacher

What is a teacher? I'll tell you:
it isn't someone who teaches something,
but someone who inspires the student to give of her best
in order to discover what she already knows.

The Witch of Portobello

Befriending the Heart

The boy and his heart had become friends,
and neither was capable now of betraying the other.

The Alchemist

The Only Thing

Only one thing makes a dream impossible:
the fear of failure.

The Alchemist

This Precious Moment

We are travelers on a cosmic journey, stardust,
swirling and dancing in the eddies and whirlpools of infinity.
Life is eternal.
We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other,
to meet, to love, to share.
This is a precious moment.
It is a little parenthesis in eternity.

The Alchemist

The Secret of Life

The secret of life, though,
is to fall seven times
and to get up eight times.

The Alchemist

The Good Fight

Often, during combat, the warrior of light receives blows that he was not expecting.
And he realizes that, during a war, his enemy is bound to win some of the battles.
When this happens, the warrior of light weeps bitter tears and rests
in order to recover his energies a little.
But he immediately resumes the battle for his dreams.

Manual of the Warrior of Light

What is Intuition?

Intuition is really a sudden immersion
of the soul into the universal current of life,
where the histories of all people are connected,
and we are able to know everything,
because it's all written there.

The Alchemist

The Mixing Bowl by Gunilla Norris excerpted from the book, "Becoming Bread"

The Mixing Bowl by Gunilla Norris

The Mixing Bowl by Gunilla Norris
excerpted from the book, "Becoming Bread"

Here on the table
is the mixing bowl.
Brown and ordinary,
turned on the potters wheel,
it has an umber rim
and glazed cinnamon-speckled sides.

Its task is to be open,
a simple space.
This bowl is clay, earth, matter.
Particular.
We are like it.
Clay, earth, matter.
Particular and vast when we are empty...

When life can fill us
to the rim, brimming.

We are the mixing place,
where terror and hate,
where love and hope,
the way we move,
our smiles and uncertainties,
our courage and stupidities
are all embraced.

We are the body bowl...
the forming space,
the home of possiblity.

Standing by Gunilla Norris (Excerpt from her book, "Being Home"

Standing

by Gunilla Norris

This morning as I put my feet on the floor
Let me remember how many thousands of years
it took for this act to be possible--
The slow and painstaking development
so that a human creature could rise,
could stand on two feet, and then walk.

From the very beginning, from the very first explosion
Your precise and patient love has been creating us.

The wonder is that now my hands are free
even as I walk or run or stand or dance.
The wonder is that now that I am upright,
my eyes can gaze at the ground,
along the ground, and beyond to the horizon.

I know You have made me
and all creatures for Freedom...
an ever-increasing, evolving freedom.
I am filled with awe by this.

It requires that we face the unknown,
that we rise to it.
You are still exploding in us,
and I am scared.
My trust is so small.

But You are near. You are here
even as you have been from the very first.
You are the vast time and space
in which life is happening. You are Life itself
providing us with centuries to become
Your conscious image.

With wonder at what You have entrusted to us,
help me to know that You are both
the ground and the being
apart from which there is nothing.

Help me to stand up
in Your Freedom.

Today is Dr. Suess Day! (LLJL)

Today is Dr. Suess Day!

by Linda Living Joy Lorenzo on Monday, March 2, 2009 at 9:17am

Today is the 106th Anniversary of the Birthday of Dr. Suess.

This is dedicated to my children, William, Christian and Ashley and my granddaughter Angelina Starr...
And to the child in us all!

Is there anyone out there who hasnt read and relished a Dr.Suess book with the delight and enjoyment of a child? If so, then today is the day to start! And for those who have, today is the day of sweet remembering.

Born as Theodor Seuss Geisel (1904 - 1991), Dr. Seuss was best-known for his classic children's books under his pen name. Among his most popular books includes "The Cat in the Hat", "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", "Green Eggs and Ham" and "One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish".

I read a few of his books as a child, but I guess I was too young then to comprehend the wonder of his rhyming text. But... when I became a parent his books were a staple in our house. They were the very first books that I read to my children and 30 years later they are still our favorites.

As a teacher, they were a necessary part of my curriculum.

And as writer...reading his words fills me with awe at the simplicity in the profound, wise, witty and socially relevant observations.

So on this special day, I urge you to curl up with your favorite child, or your favorite beverage and your favorite Dr. Suess story and revisit those wonderful memories...and if you have never read Dr.Suess...visit your favorite book store or local library...and settle in for a treat!
I personally recommend "The Lorax", "Horton Hears a Who" and "Green Eggs and Ham!"

Not time for any of the above...then please, enjoy these wonderful Dr Seuss quotes!


A person's a person, no matter how small.
-- Dr. Seuss

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.
-- Dr. Seuss

And when they played they really played. And when they worked they really worked.
-- Dr. Seuss

And will you succeed? Yes indeed, yes indeed! Ninety-eight and three-quarters percent guaranteed.
-- Dr. Seuss

Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
-- Dr. Seuss

Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.
-- Dr. Seuss

From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere.
-- Dr. Seuss

I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from ahead and some come from behind. But I've bought a big bat. I'm all ready you see. Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!
-- Dr. Seuss

I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, It's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, And that enables you to laugh at life's realities.
-- Dr. Seuss

I meant what I said and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful, one hundred percent.
-- Dr. Seuss

I'm sorry to say so but, sadly it's true that bang-ups and hang-upscan happen to you.
-- Dr. Seuss

If you never did you should. These things are fun and fun is good.
-- Dr. Seuss

So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads.
-- Dr. Seuss

Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.
-- Dr. Seuss

The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.
-- Dr. Seuss

Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the things you can think up if only you try!
-- Dr. Seuss

Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So... get on your way.
-- Dr. Seuss

Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.
-- Dr. Seuss

Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.
-- Dr. Seuss

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.
-- Dr. Seuss

You are you. Now, isn't that pleasant?
-- Dr. Seuss

You can get help from teachers, but you are going to have to learn a lot by yourself, sitting alone in a room.
-- Dr. Seuss

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. You are the guy who'll decide where to go.
-- Dr. Seuss

You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.
-- Dr. Seuss

Young cat, if you keep your eyes open enough, oh, the stuff you would learn! The most wonderful stuff!
-- Dr. Seuss

"Earth's Glorious Future" (Excerpts from the book "Messages from Hollow Earth" by Dianne Robbins

"Earth's Glorious Future" 

by Linda Living Joy Lorenzo on Wednesday, April 29, 2009 at 1:31pm

 

My Beloved Brothers and Sisters, Fellow Travelers,

The following is an excerpt from Channeled Material,
From the book by Dianne Robbins, "Messages from Hollow Earth"
It is almost identical to a channeled message I received almost 10 years ago...

The Time is Now...for the Glorious Celebration of this Undeniable Truth...

"Earth's Glorious Future channeled through Eric Karagounis
from Master Mikos of the Hollow Earth...

STICK AROUND

"We are meant to live in Joy, and learn only from Joy.
Many of you on planet Earth at this moment are Starseeds,
and not originally from Earth.
You have volunteered to incarnate as "Earthlings" many times
so you can be prepared for this final time.

You are members of the "Family of Light".
Your are here to firmly anchor Light into the planet.
Your work is honored by so many Beings in the Universe,
that you will wear the colors of gratitude for eons to come.
The colors of your Auric Field will say "I Was There".
No matter where you travel in the Universe,
you will be flocked by Entities wanting to find out how it was done.
How did you lift the Earth out of the darkness
and turn her into a Star.

For the next 2,000 years...she will be the brightest Star in the Milky Way.
Her Goddess Essence will illuminate our part of the Universe.
Her rays of Light will carry the language of Love...
The one true emotion of Creation.
She will become the main hub for our Galaxy.
She will become a Living Library that will attract Beings
from the outer reaches of the Universe who are seeking knowledge
in order to enhance their evolution...
knowledge that can only be accessed by the Human experience.

Every experience is unique...
but the Human experience holds the keys to ancient information
of many Star Nations that worked together to seed the Earth,
with the best their civilizations had to offer.
Hence the saying 'every Human is perfect'.

In the past many Galactic civilizations had given up on her.
But not the Family of Light.
They knew deep within their souls that Earth was a gem,
they could not afford to lose.
So they swung into action,
and devised a plan that was so brilliant,
it even caught the attention of the Divine Creator.
You are on Universal Television.
And the ratings have become so high,
that millions of civilizations have put their own evolution on hold
to see the final episode.

So stick around,
because after the final episode we are throwing a party
of Galactic proportions.
Every Being that has ever walked on planet Earth will be there.
And if you think that we from the Hollow Earth look different...
just wait till you see what's coming...

WE BID YOU ADIEU,
OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS ON EARTH,
AND HOPE YOU WILL HASTEN TO OUR CALL,
FOR OUR CALL IS ALSO YOUR CALL FROM WITHIN.
IT IS ALL THE SAME CALL
IT IS THE ONE CALL FROM THE MIGHTY CREATOR
CALLING US ALL HOME...

ALL PLANETS,
IN ALL UNIVERSES,
WILL EVOLVE NOW...
FOREVER ETERNALLY EVOLVE.."

AND SO MAY IT BE...BLESSINGS OF JOY FROM MY HEARTLIGHT TO YOURS...

Linda