Thought for the day Wednesday 31st of December 2008

"In a few hours it will be New Year, and tomorrow when you speak about today you will already be saying ‘last year’. Up until twenty-three hours, fifty-nine minutes and fifty-nine seconds, it will be ‘this year’, and as midnight strikes the new year will begin. One second, just one second, separates one year from the next! But there you are – you have to get to the last second. You have to pass through all the days of a year one after another to reach this last second.
Well, you should realize that this is how man’s spiritual transformation takes place. In an instant he is totally renewed, regenerated. But it will have taken centuries and centuries of effort to arrive at this final moment. As with the old year, you will say of the period preceding this moment of regeneration, ‘It was the old life’, and as with the new year you will say of the new period that’s dawning, ‘This is the new life’. How long will you have to wait before you reach this final second? Don’t worry about it; it will come for each and every person. So be patient; you have to know how to wait, but while you wait you must work.

Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov

WORD FOR THE DAY
Wednesday, Dec. 31

The future belongs to those

who believe in the beauty of

their dreams.

Eleanor Roosevelt

Thought for the day Tuesday 30th of December 2008

"Two people meet. ‘How are you doing?’ ‘Fine!’ And if they know each other reasonably well, they embrace mechanically, out of habit. Then, since they’re in a hurry, they leave each other, and they no longer even remember whether they embraced each other or not. They find nothing unusual about doing everything quickly, unconsciously, even embracing, and then they’re surprised they don’t receive much from their relationships with those they nevertheless call their friends.
You meet someone. Well, in the first place, you don’t really need to embrace. But if you do, and even if you don’t, put your thought and soul into this meeting for at least a few seconds, and its taste and perfume will linger and follow you for a long time to come."

Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov

WORD FOR THE DAY
Tuesday, Dec. 30

A hundred times a day I remind

myself that my inner and outer

life depend on the labors of other

people, living and dead, and that

I must exert myself in order to

give in the full measure I have

received and am still receiving.

Albert Einstein

WORD FOR THE DAY
Monday, Dec. 29

I don't want to get to the end

of my life and find that I lived 

just the length of it. I want to

have lived the width of it as well.

Diane Ackerman

Thought for the day Monday 29th of December 2008

"Each day, learn to create an ideal image of yourself, for this image will help you in your spiritual work. Of course, you must not imagine you are already perfect, and above all you mustn’t wish others to see you as such; otherwise, you will attract their mockery and hostility. They’ll say, ‘Who does he think he is? He’s going mad!’ And they won’t be far wrong.
So, whatever inner work you have undertaken, continue to behave simply and naturally with others. Imagine that you are wise, luminous and radiant, that you are fulfilling God’s will and that you’re able to see yourself as the perfect being you were in the distant past, in the innocence and splendour of Paradise, and must once again be in the future. But, at the same time, remember it hasn’t happened yet!"

Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov

Thought for the day 28th of December 2008

"Even if humans know very well what love is, they will never stop being interested in it. Why? Because, with love, it’s not the intellectual side that counts: even if they know everything about love, this knowledge will not be enough for them. The only thing that matters is feeling, which is why the need to experience love is endless. You can know everything about love without ever tiring of feeling it. You could end up finding all other subjects boring some day; love is the only exception.
Take any other subject in life: as soon as you know it well, that’s it, and you’re not going to spend time on it for ever; once you’ve studied it, you put it to one side. But love is another matter; you will continue to be interested in it for eternity, because it’s not an intellectual matter: whether you know it or not, you need to love and be loved. This is what makes love eternal."

Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov

WORD FOR THE DAY
Sunday, Dec. 28

Unending peace will come to

you only when you are a

dedicated person, ready to give.

You can never become poor by

giving; on the other hand, you

will become richer and richer….

For such a person, no advertising

is necessary. In such a soul you

see the light shining.

Sri Swami Satchidananda
Integral Yoga Magazine

Thought for the day the Saturday 27 of December 2008

"When we feel the need to merge with the universal soul, we contemplate the immensity of the sea or gaze at the multitude of stars in the boundless sky. But if we remained in this expanded, dispersed state, we would achieve nothing on earth; in order to act, we have to use the law of condensation, of concentration. We need vast spaces of sky or sea when we wish to expand, and then we need a very small space when we wish to concentrate and gather our forces.
Concentration and expansion correspond to the two astrological signs of Capricorn and Leo. Leo is a sign that externalizes: it projects and dispenses. Capricorn, on the other hand, is a sign that internalizes: it accumulates and condenses. Under its influence, between the months of December and January, the earth concentrates energies in the roots of trees in order to prepare for the explosion that takes place during the months of July and August, when an abundance of fruits appears under the influence of Leo."

Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov

WORD FOR THE DAY
Saturday, Dec. 27

One word can be more precious

than all the treasures on earth.

Hazrat Inayat Khan
The Bowl of Saki

Thought for the day Friday 26th of December 2008

"During the nine months spent in its mother’s womb, a child is attached to its mother by the umbilical cord, and it therefore leads a life of dependency; it is the mother who breathes and eats for it. In the same way, until we have been born on the spiritual plane – what the Christian tradition calls the second birth – other beings eat and drink in our place and think in our place.
Humans leave their mother’s womb, but they still live in another mother’s womb: nature’s. One day they will have to cut this umbilical cord, too, in order to become independent. In fact, even then they won’t have completely gained their independence; there will be other cords to cut until the day they become as free as God. But that day is still far off, and, in the meantime, they must remain linked to their mother nature. Even if they reach higher regions, these are still nature, and they will still have cords to cut."

Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov

WORD FOR THE DAY
Friday, Dec. 26th

If the eye of the heart is open,

 in each atom there will be one

hundred secrets.

Attar

Thought for the day Thursday 25th of December 2008

"Time, like space, has four cardinal points, which are the two equinoxes and two solstices of the year.
The winter solstice takes place on 21 December and is presided over by the Archangel Gabriel. And on 25 December, the feast of Christmas celebrates a birth, in other words a concretization, a descent into matter. The Archangel Gabriel directs forces whose specific task is the condensing of matter. This is why, on the sephirotic tree, Gabriel is the Archangel of Iesod, the region of the Moon. Unlike the Sun, which dilates, disperses and distributes, the Moon compresses, contracts and condenses. If it were not checked by other influences, it would petrify all life in plants, animals and humans.
Initiates, who are instructed in this science, try to use the period of the winter solstice to make their ideas and plans concrete, for this is the time when a birth takes place on earth. The other cardinal feasts correspond to other processes: Easter, to resurrection; St. John’s day, to the kindling of fire; Michaelmas, to a stripping away. The feast of Christmas is linked to an incarnation, and this is why the birth of Christ, in the person of Jesus, has traditionally taken place in winter."

Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov

WORD FOR THE DAY
Thursday, Dec. 25

One can live magnificently in

this world if one knows how

to work and how to love.

Leo Tolstoy

Thought for the day Wednesday 24th of December 2008

"True evolution is a continuous ascent. But during the course of this ascent, each person will inevitably pass through highs and lows, and ups and downs; it’s important to know this so that you persevere and don’t lose courage. One day, there will be more ups than downs, and, as a loving father, God pardons those of his children who recognize their mistakes and decide to correct them.
It is impossible to reach the top without experiencing failure. The most important thing, though, is that you are on the path to the heights, the path of love and wisdom, which leads to truth. If you happen to take a few steps back on this path, it’s not so serious. The main thing is that you keep going in the same direction, that you keep the same goal and the same ideal inside you and always fix your sight on reaching the summit. "

Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov

WORD FOR THE DAY
Wednesday, Dec. 24

Today the planet is the only

proper "in group." Participate

joyfully in the sorrows of the

world. We cannot cure the

world of sorrows, but we can

choose to live in joy.

Joseph Campbell

Thought for the day Tuesday 23rd of December 2008

"The human soul has a need for the magical, and the ‘unreal’ is in fact more real than what we usually consider to be reality. Many people must recognize, if they’re truthful, that fairytales send them into raptures, for a brief time at least. Why? Because everything in the tales is not only alive but animate and endowed with speech: rocks, flowers, trees, animals… And the forces of nature act in them with intelligence. But above all, behind the apparent naivety of these tales are portrayed the realities of our inner life.
When, in certain very particular circumstances, something subtle, unreal and magical irrupts into our life, we feel like a tree that was once torn from the ground and transplanted somewhere in a hostile environment that now suddenly rediscovers its native forest, where it can once more take root and live again."

Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov

WORD FOR THE DAY
Tuesday, Dec. 23

A sacred illness is one that

educates us and alters us from

 the inside out, provides

experiences and therefore

knowledge that we could not

possibly achieve in any other way.

Deena Metzger

Thought for the day Monday 22nd of December 2008

"Initiation is a victory over the four elements: earth, water, air and fire. But, these days, initiation takes place not in temples but in everyday life, for the four elements are all present in daily life, and that’s where you have to confront them and show that you’ve conquered fear, greed, egotism, sensuality and so on. Often, you fail over next to nothing, because you were expecting great trials: you didn’t notice when a little problem arose, and you stumbled.
When you are forewarned that you will have to confront great difficulties, you are better armed and more resilient, because you know what to expect. But when you are caught unawares, you can fall at the first hurdle. So it’s up to you to be constantly alert and vigilant, knowing that any of life’s circumstances can become an initiatic test. "

Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov

WORD FOR THE DAY
Monday, Dec. 22

Gratitude takes nothing for

granted, is never unresponsive,

is constantly awakening to new

wonder and to praise of the

goodness of God.

Thomas Merton
Thoughts in Solitude