Words of Wisdom from the Masters
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Posted:Jun 18, 2010 5:55 pm
Last Updated:Jun 21, 2010 10:48 am 3267 Views
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"The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, nor to worry about the future, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly." ~ Buddha"
"There is nothing that wastes the body like worry, and one who has any faith in God should be ashamed to worry about anything whatsoever" ~ Mahatma Gandhi
"Be careful what you water your dreams with. Water them with worry and fear and you will produce weeds that choke the life from your dream. Water them with optimism and solutions and you will cultivate success. Always be on the lookout for ways to turn a problem into an opportunity for success. Always be on the lookout... for ways to nurture your dream." ~ Lao Tzu
"Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment." ~ Buddha
Do Not Worry
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not ... See Moremuch more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. ~ Jesus (Matthew 6 : 25 - 34 )
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The Power of Prayer
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Posted:Jun 9, 2010 4:24 am
Last Updated:Jun 11, 2010 3:09 pm 3618 Views
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Prayer and it's still elusive benefits should be studied scientifically in order for modern humans to really appreciate it's worth.
Modern people must not underestimate the power of prayer.Modern scientists didn't still study extensively the subtle operation and mechanism of prayer...on how it affects the mind,body, emotion and bioenergy/lifeforce.The historical Jesus was a man of prayer.He always prayed alone and isolated before preaching and performing His miracles.Let's check out His disciple's (apostles) accounts in the Gospels :
And when day came, He departed to a lonely place; and the multitudes were searching for Him, and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from going away from them. ( Luke 4:42 )
But He Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray. ( Luke 5:16)
And it was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God. ( Luke 6:12 )
After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone. ( Matthew 14:23 )
One day Jesus left the crowds to pray alone. Only his disciples were with him, and he asked them, "Who do people say I am?" (Luke 9:18 )
And early in the morning, while it was still dark, He arose and went out and departed to a lonely place, and was praying there. ( Mark 1:35 )
And immediately He made His disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side to Bethsaida, while He Himself was sending the multitude away. And after bidding them farewell, he departed to the mountain to pray. ( Mark 6:45-46 )
And they came to a place called Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, "Sit here until I have prayed." And He took with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be very distressed and troubled. And He said to them, "My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch." And He went a little beyond them, and fell to the ground, and began praying. ( Mark 14:32-34 )
When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone. (John 6 : 15 )
And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray. (Luke 9:28 )
Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. (Luke 11:1 )
Jesus is quoted as saying, “And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.” (Matthew 6 : 7 )
Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.(Luke 18:1 )
Prayer Quotes :
In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart." ~ Gandhi
"Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays." ~ Soren Kierkegaard
"The fewer the words, the better the prayer." ~ Martin Luther
"The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays." ~ Soren Kierkegaard
"Prayer is not an old woman's idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action." ~ Gandhi
"Prayer is more than meditation. In meditation the source of strength is one's self. When one prays he goes to a source of strength greater than his own." ~ Chiang Kai-shek
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Words of Wisdom
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Posted:Jun 4, 2010 2:40 am
Last Updated:Jun 4, 2010 2:41 am 2450 Views
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"A single conversation with a wise man is better than ten years of study." ~ Chinese Proverb
"You cannot teach a man anything. You can only help him discover it within himself." ~ Galileo Galilei
'Morpheus: 'I'm trying to free your mind, Neo. But I can only show you the door. You're the one who must walk through it' ~ The Matrix (Film)
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I'm an internationalist
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Posted:Jun 1, 2010 12:53 am
Last Updated:Jun 4, 2010 2:30 am 3949 Views
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In my mind and heart,I'm an internationalist (not a nationalist).We are living in a "small" modern world indeed.We are all ONE despite the differences in our cultures,traditions,religions,status and color of our skin.PEACE & LOVE be upon to everyone 
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Words of Wisdom from the Masters
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Posted:May 21, 2010 5:06 pm
Last Updated:May 25, 2010 4:19 pm 2622 Views
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“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.”
~ Buddha
“Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves” ~ Jesus (Matthew 10:16)
"The strong man is not the good wrestler; the strong man is only the one who controls himself when he is angry." ~ Prophet Muhammad
“He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still”
~ Lao Tzu
'The Art Of Fighting Without Fighting" ~ Bruce Lee (founder of Jeet Kune Do Martial Art)
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Self- Control
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Posted:May 20, 2010 5:36 pm
Last Updated:May 25, 2010 4:17 pm 2954 Views
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Last night,a tall (about 5'11'' to 6 feet tall ) muscular body builder Kuwaiti customer hit me hard on my face just because I've told him kindly that please he fall in line.He shouted and insisted to weighed his items without falling in line which would violate our store's policy of fairness in dealing with all our customers.
Most of us employees will automatically hit back or retaliate when confronted with a violent...physically harming customer.I control myself not to hit back,not because of fear of losing my job (which some employees of our company hit back and consequently terminated from our company) but because of my principle of "non-violence".Of course,I've used my arm to block and deflect his other punches for self-defence.Self- control is a must when dealing with these kind of people.
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We are all sons and daughters of God
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Posted:May 18, 2010 5:25 pm
Last Updated:May 20, 2010 5:31 pm 3092 Views
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"I said, 'You are "gods"; you are all sons of the Most High.' ~ Psalm 82:6
Jesus,in defense of being accused of blasphemy of saying "I and the Father are one " quoted Psalm 82:6 and said to the Jews "
"Is it not written in your Law, 'I have said you are gods'? If he called them 'gods,' to whom the word of God came–and the Scripture cannot be broken– what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, 'I am God's '? ~ John 10:34-36
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In The Bible: Vegetarian Food Prove Superior Than Any Other Food
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Posted:May 18, 2010 3:46 pm
Last Updated:May 18, 2010 5:20 pm 2517 Views
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In the Bible,vegetarian food prove superior than other food.
In Daniel 1: 7-21
But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way.Now God had caused the official to show favor and compassion to Daniel, 10 but the official told Daniel, "I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you."
Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah,"Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink.Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see." So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.
At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food.So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.
To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.
At the end of the time set by the king to bring them into his service, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar.The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king's service.In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.And Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus.
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Vegetables and fruits are foods meant to be eaten by humans and animals too.Genesis 1:29-30
Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move on the ground–everything that has the breath of life in it–I give every green plant for food." And it was so.
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After the great flood,God permitted humans (Noah and his sons) to eat animal meat.
Genesis 9:1-7
Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands.Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.
"But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it.And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each human being, too,I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being.
"Whoever sheds human blood,
by human beings shall their blood be shed;
for in the image of God
has God made humankind.
As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it."
God knows that in order for humans to survive on that devastating great flood (which wipe out trees and plants),humans were allowed to eat meat from lambs,fishes,etc.This commandment to Noah and his sons by God were not meant forever.It is a special case of "emergency"...of "survival".People who eat meat have to understand this special case.People should not rationalize that because it was written in Genesis 9:1-7,they could eat meat forever.The time...the devastating event when this commandment were made should be considered my brothers and sisters.We should not forget that vegetables and fruits are for us humans and animals to eat.God bless!
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Alumbrado (Spanish: "Enlightened") Italian: Illuminato; plural: Illuminati
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Posted:May 17, 2010 6:20 pm
Last Updated:May 17, 2010 6:23 pm 2859 Views
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Alumbrado (Spanish: "Enlightened") Italian: Illuminato; plural: Illuminati
A follower of a mystical movement in Spain during the 16th and 17th centuries. Its adherents claimed that the human soul, having attained a certain degree of perfection, was permitted a vision of the divine and entered into direct communication with the Holy Spirit. From this state the soul could neither advance nor retrogress. Consequently, participation in the liturgy, good works, and observance of the exterior forms of religious life were unnecessary for those who had received the “light.” The Alumbrados came primarily from among the reformed Franciscans and the Jesuits, but their doctrines seem to have influenced all classes of people. The extravagant claims made for their visions and revelations caused them to be relentlessly persecuted. The Inquisition issued edicts against them on three occasions (1568, 1574, and 1623).
Source: Encyclopædia Britannica Online
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The Alumbrados (Illuminated) was a term used to loosely describe practitioners of a mystical form of Christianity in Spain during the 15th-16th centuries. In spite of their lack of organization and their peaceful forms of expression through the Catholic Church in the late 15th century, they were severely repressed and became some of the early victims of the Spanish Inquisition.
Background
The historian Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo found the name as early as 1492 (in the form aluminados, 1498 ), and traced the group to a Gnostic origin. He thought their views were promoted in Spain through influences from Italy. One of their earliest leaders, born in Salamanca, was a labourer's known as La Beata de Piedrahita. She came to the notice of the Inquisition in 1511, by claiming to hold colloquies with Jesus and the Virgin Mary; some high patronage saved her from a rigorous denunciation.
Historical Cases
Tomás de Torquemada, who had been an assistant inquisitor since 11 February 1482, was appointed in 1483 by Pope Sixtus IV, Grand Inquisitor of Castile for the Spanish Inquisition. Most of those persecuted as Alumbrados were Conversos (Jewish converts to Christianity) or Moriscos (Moorish converts)
Ignatius of Loyola, while studying at Salamanca in 1527, was brought before an ecclesiastical commission on a charge of sympathy with the alumbrados, but escaped with an admonition. Miguel de Molinos was also accused of connection due to his publication of The Spiritual Guide and its similarity with the early Alumbrados publications from Pedro Ruiz de Alcaraz and Isabella de la Cruz.
Persecution
Their persecution was typically based on supposed reversion to original religious practices, but the proof of such conspiring against Ferdinand and Isabella was minimal, usually hearsay. As many of the remaining Jewish and Moorish families in Spain after its Catholic conversion were wealthy, and the mere accusation of heresy warranted confiscation of all wealth and property, the local Catholic Bishops were believed to wrongfully accuse Conversos and Moriscos to acquire their wealth and strengthen their Bishopric. The few accused and tried that actually engaged in the mystical practices and heresy of the Alumbrados were not executed, few endured long term sentences, and most were tried only after they managed to acquire large congregations in Toledo or Salamanca.
Others were not so fortunate. In 1529 a congregation of naïve adherents at Toledo was subjected to whippings and imprisonment. Greater rigors followed, and for about a century alleged connection with the alumbrados sent many to the Inquisition, especially at Córdoba.
Controversy
Later Alumbrados followed several forms in different places. Their connection to the original Alumbrados, Pedro Ruiz del Alcaraz and Isabella de la Cruz, is debatable, but since early Alumbrados literature was still available the influence is probable. In Llerena and Seville, for example, Teresa of Ávila openly confessed to her meditative practices being directed towards 'the Devil.' Although this allegation could remain open to historical debate regarding the saint herself, it is certain that some of her friends; Francisco de Salcedo and Gaspar Daza, considered her favors to be of infernal origin.[4] Another Beata claimed her copulation with her three male priests released souls from purgatory.
Illuminés of France
The movement (under the name of Illuminés) seems to have reached France from Seville in 1623, and attained some following in Picardy when joined (1634) by Pierce Guerin, curé of Saint-Georges de Roye, whose followers, known as Gurinets, were suppressed in 1635.
A century later, another, more obscure body of Illuminés came to light in the south of France in 1722, and appears to have lingered till 1794, having affinities with those known contemporaneously in the United Kingdom as 'French Prophets', an offshoot of the Camisards.
Categories: Christian mysticism | Spanish Inquisition | Christianity in Spain | Christianity in France
Source: Wikipedia
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"Meat is Murder"
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Posted:May 13, 2010 11:46 pm
Last Updated:May 29, 2010 2:20 am 2710 Views
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"Meat is Murder" ~ Morrissey (The Smiths)
"Truely man is the king of beasts, for his brutality exceeds theirs. We live by the death of others: we are burial places! I have from an early age abjured the use of meat, and the time will come when men such as I will look on the murder of animals as they now look on the murder of men."
~Leonardo da Vinci
"As long as Man continues to be the ruthless destroyer of lower living beings he will never know health or peace. For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seed of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love."
~ Pythagoras
"Thou shalt not kill" does not apply to murder of one's own kind only, but to all living beings; and this Commandment was inscribed in the human breast long before it was proclaimed from Sinai." ~
Leo Tolstoy
"Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet." ~
Albert Einstein
"To become vegetarian is to step into the stream which leads to Nirvana." ~ Buddha
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