Awakening

Just as an ace of spade trumps the king of spades, knowing trumps knowledge.

An intelligent person does not care much about information and knowledge. An intelligent person cares much more for the capacity to know.

His or her interest is in knowing, not just knowledge. Knowing gives you understanding, where knowledge gives one a feeling of understanding, without giving you real understanding.

Every day you get up and you head to work. You drive the same way. You take the same roads, the same highways, you make the same turns. But perhaps you commute via train or subway. Five days a week, for the last five years, and it’ll be going on for the next ten years.

Say not, “I have found the truth,” but rather “I have found a truth.”

Say not, “I have found the path of the soul,” but say rather, “I have met the soul walking upon my path.”

For the soul walks upon all paths. The soul walks not upon a line. Neither does it grow like a reed.

The soul unfolds itself like a lotus of countless petals.

Your heart knows in silence, the secrets of the days and the nights.

But your ears thirst for the sounds of your heart’s knowledge.

You would know in words, that which you have always known in thought.

You talk when you cease to be at peace with your thoughts. And when you can no longer dwell in the solitude of your heart, you live in your lips. And sound is a diversion and a pastime.

And in much of your talking, thinking is half-murdered, for thought is a bird of space, that in a cage or words may indeed unfold its wings, but cannot fly.

When you think you are awake, you’re not. You go for a walk along a path in the woods, and you are fully awake, at least in your mind. But from a different perspective, are you awake? No you are not. You are sleeping. Why? Because your mind is full of thoughts, ideas, tasks to be done. All of these mental activities are moving at the speed of light. Your eyes are open. You look awake to the world. But you really are not.

You’re not really present. You’re far away. You’re unaware of your present world.

A frog can hop at your foot, and you won’t even see it.

If the stars are out there in the daylight, and we don’t see them, what else don’t we see?

Perhaps we need the contrast, the foil, the opposite to see what is hidden.

It really is a gift to appreciate what we have, and not take it for granted. There is a saying, that some dream of what we see as everyday normal, common place. I’m not saying this is bad, or that we are decadent.

Rather, it’s the difference between seeing objects and seeing essence. Being thankful for a spoon is just as important as being thankful for a smartphone.

Affirmations believing your spoken word
Affirming truth for you
I am going to give a few
And they are really powerful

What’s an invisible helper?

Some may call an invisible helper God.

Some may call an invisible helper an angel, a loved one who has passed over.

It really doesn’t matter.

It’s whether you think there is someone there to assist you.

I believe, I didn’t always, but I do believe now that there is a presence always there to help me.

So what I do in my life, is that I call upon that helper.

I think of that helper sitting beside me at work in a chair.

I think of that helper as someone with me in my car when I am driving somewhere.

Artwork by Steve Miller