SOUL
COMMUNITY

Art

Books

Enneagram

Poetry

Paths

Spirit at Work

Services

Tapes

Tools

Videos

Poetry

Corkscrew Swamp

Direction

Kabir

Love is

Only the Empty can be Full

Quiet

Rumi

Satchitanadaji

Tagore

Let Go and Live!

"A man's wealth," says Thoreau," is gauged by what he doesn't need.." not what he has. The more I own the less I have. The more I share the richer I become. So I will spend each day in sharing. Any resentment, and remorse, are like huge sandbags that hold down my mind, my lighter than air balloon, from flying to the highest planes, grounding my dreams. So I'll release the sandbags, cut them free, drop them away and soar higher and higher, lighter and lighter, until, at last, I can behold the music of the spheres. I am alone, without emotion, without need, with only one companion, love, and we two form a multitude. I assume full responsibility for me. Each thing I do, I choose to do. No one else can take the credit or the blame. Each action that I undertake is my decision. Every emotion that I show is mine, nobody else's. I alone decide. No other soul, regardless of his attitude can cause me to do anything. If I behave a certain way, it is according to my own desire. No one else can force behavior on me. I assume full responsibility for me.

No longer are my parents burdened with my blame. Whatever they have done, or still may do, I accept or not. Influences that they had on me I recognize. Some I enjoy and still use, some I perceive that I no longer need and so I cast aside. They are not now responsible for every fact and fairy tale they introduced to me. I must decide. They are absolved of all of their misconcepts, done most times under the name of love. I too in guiding children may one day need absolution. No matter how I program everything to meet their needs, I may miss something. And one day they will say to me "

For all you've done and sought to do I thank you and forgive you, for you've done your best." I assume full responsibility for me. I do not blame society. I see room for improvement, and do what I can to help effect a change. However, if the change is not forthcoming at the rate I want it to arrive, I will not give up or desist because society did not concede immediately. Society's my progeny. I am not its child. So I'll not fault the child. There's never been a group in history that could hold down man or woman on their way to progress. True, a group may cause delays but it will never stop one with a purpose. It is not society that causes me to lose faith in my purpose.

I assume full responsibility for me. My friends are not in charge. Regardless of the love I bear for them, they can not cause me to do other than my heart dictates. True friendship is built upon equality, sharing of bonds. If I must do something to maintain friendship I no longer have a friend, merely a salaried companion. I assume full responsibility for me. Circumstances never make the man, they just reveal him to himself. They don't rule. They're but a scape goat, an immense recipient for all the blame I want to pass to someone else. Each circumstance is of my asking.

If I believe otherwise I'm powerless, caught in a web, performing endlessly the same unaltered chore throughout eternity. But I can change my circumstance, for I can change my mind. I assume full responsibility for me. I'm not God's fault. He doesn't suddenly decide "Aha! She will have pain, or he will suffer."

I am created in His image. He'd not inflict great pain and suffering upon himself. Furthermore, each time something goes awry I'll not claim that it's God's fault. My work is mine. I am aware there is no fault, no blame but only learning. If I suffer, it is because I caused the suffering, and I can change that any time, by learning from it. If I am joyful it is because I caused the joy. And I rejoice and I am grateful. And then both of us can look upon our work and both of us can say, "It is good."

Each morning I awake and reaffirm my love. For true love is the key that unlocks all life's mysteries. The only road to happiness and joy starts with the first step, love. It guides me through the day and lightens every task. It illuminates the night, sweetens my dreams refreshes my deep sleep. when I am lost it shows me the way. When I am tired it transports me effortlessly. when I am discouraged it unveils all kinds of secret passages. Each morning I awake and reaffirm my love. I love the spring for its rebirth. I love the summer for its growth. I love the autumn for its harvest. I love the winter for its resurrecting rest before the spring. I love the mountains for they teach me of endurance. I love the seashore for it teaches me of constant change. I love the dawn, because its light shows me the difference in everything. I love the dusk, because its darkness shows me that all things are one.

Each day I reaffirm my love. I treat each stranger as a friend, and they become my friends. My friends become as members of my family. I am surrounded by the people that I love. Often they love me in return, but if they don't I don't withhold my love. Love can't be bought, it can only be shared. Each night, as I retire, I reaffirm my love. As I reflect, I see love as the flower of freedom. God and nature's only sun (son). It's recognizing genius in another, seeing oneself within another. The very essence of our being. The strongest magic spell of all. There is no problem, no matter how complex love cannot solve. There is no pain, no matter how severe that love cannot put right. There's no misunderstanding, no matter how diverse that love cannot transcend. There is no shame or guilt, no matter how deeply entrenched, that love cannot erase.

Each night as I drift off to sleep I reaffirm my love. And most of all I reaffirm my love for self. For loving my own self I'm free to love another and be worthy of their love in turn. And in this way I start a flow of all-abiding love, unconditional and indiscriminate. And if I have no other staff in life, I have enough. For only love can bind, embrace, and spread until, indeed one day it will unite the world.

From a pamphlet called "Let Go and Live!" by June Graham and Jim Spencer