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")