Quote of the Week 270 - Spiritual Work

I used to imagine that spiritual work was undertaken alone in a cave somewhere with prayer beads and a leather-bound religious tome, the holy one enwrapped in a mist of grace, mystique, and body odor. Nowadays, that sounds to me more like a vacation from spiritual work. Group monastic living has taught me that the people in your life don’t get in the way of your spiritual practice; these people are your spiritual practice.

--Shozan Jack Haubner, from an article in Spirituality and Health Magazine, May/June 2013 issue, which is an excerpt from the book, Zen Confidential

Quote of the Week 269 - Perpetual Revelation

I have made a great discovery. I no longer believe in anything. Objects don’t exist for me except insofar as a rapport exists between them or between them and myself. When one attains this harmony one reaches a sort of intellectual nonexistence – what I can only describe as a sense of peace – which makes everything possible and right. Life then becomes perpetual revelation.

--Georges Braque

Quote of the Week 268 - A Community That Values Giving

A community that values giving over having is a community of healthy people, oriented toward thriving through empathy, solidarity and love among its members. Sharing enhances the community of life while possessing and accumulating creates demarcation, invites competition and fuels envy. The share-society is the norm for all the communities of life on the planet; the have-society is typical only of modern-day humanity, and it is an aberration.

--One of the Sixteen Hallmarks of the New Consciousness comprising The Oneness Declaration by Ervin Laszlo, as contained in The Intelligent Optimist magazine (formerly Ode) January/February 2013 edition

New Book - THE BOOK ABOUT ALWAYS BEING AT HOME

Announcing the publication of my latest book, probably my one and only children’s book. It is available only at the publisher’s site, Lulu: http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/the-book-about-always-being-at-home/13831123

or www.lulu.com/spotlight/yajc. See the entire book at the preview available at the Lulu site. (Please note: because this book is available only from Lulu and will not be sold at any other online retailers, the normal Lulu discount I have set up for the other books sold at online retailers does not apply for this book, as the discount-level pricing is already built into the list price).

THE BOOK ABOUT ALWAYS BEING AT HOME

By Steve Gold

Illustrated by Elaine Sklar Gold

This is a children's book about being, not doing. It contains a simple, yet important message about how children can connect with and cultivate an inner sense of love and security, of always being at home, no matter where they are or what they are doing. This message will delight children of all ages (adults too!) as they connect with their innate sense of inner joy and happiness. The text is enhanced by beautiful color illustrations which manage to capture and convey the abstract inner feelings being conveyed. See the entire book at the preview at the Lulu site. (Primary targeted audience: children ages 4-7).

The Truth is absolute, transcendent, and unmanifest. One single, non-dual Reality manifests in the external world in countless names and forms. From the very beginning of our childhood we were taught about the multiplicity of external objects, we were taught to believe in the reality of names and forms. Consequently, the more we grow, the more we lose awareness of the non-dual absolute reality. We fail to comprehend the existence of non-dual Truth. If we change our educational  system and inspire our children to contemplate the Truth at an early age, they can recognize the source of their inner potential. They will be able to recognize the Truth much more easily than those who have gone through a learning process that emphasizes duality and the multiplicity of external objects.

Sri Swami Rama of the Himalayas

Quote of the Week 267 - Losing Happiness

For every minute you are angry, you lose 60 seconds of happiness.

--Ralph Waldo Emerson

Quote of the Week 266 - Shamanic Cure

In many shamanic societies, if you came to a medicine person complaining of being disheartened, dispirited, or depressed, they would ask one of four questions. When did you stop dancing? When did you stop singing? When did you stop being enchanted by stories? When did you stop finding comfort in the sweet territory of silence?

--Gabrielle Roth