Quote of the Week 291 - Distance

Distance is not always as far away as it appears to be.

--Steven J. Gold

Manifestation and Creation, East and West Audio Now Available

My talk at the Vedanta Center of Atlanta on Manifestation and Creation, East and West, is now available in the Audio Section on this blog, in the right hand column, and in the links below. I employed many flip-charts, but I believe the listener may still be able to follow along without the visual aids.

Manifestation and Creation, East and West

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http://vedanta-atlanta.org/manifestation-creation-east-west-steven-j-gold/

Quote of the Week 290 - Intrinsic Value

Beyond the sacred whole we recognize as the world in its totality, only life and its development have what philosophers call intrinsic value; all other things have merely instrumental value; value insofar as they add to or enhance intrinsic value. Material things in the world, and the energies and substances they harbor or generate, have value only if and insofar as they contribute to life and well-being in the web of life on the Earth.

--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

Quote of the Week 289 - It's Not the Answer

I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer.

--Jim Carrey

Presentation Announcement - Manifestation and Creation, East and West

I will be making the following presentation at the Vedanta Center of Atlanta on Sunday, January 26, 2014. The program begins with 30 minutes of meditation starting at 10:30 AM. My presentation will begin at 11 AM and last for one hour. There is a little meet and greet coffee session afterwards. The public is welcome, there is no charge (although donations are accepted) and no reservations are needed. The Vedanta Center of Atlanta is located at 2331 Brockett Road, Tucker, GA 30084; 770-938-6673. It is at the corner of Adrian and Brockett, one block from LaVista.

Manifestation and Creation, East and West

World Without End, Eternity, Infinity, Time, Space, Manifestation, Creation. This presentation will focus on correlations between Western spiritual traditions rooted in Hebrew Spirituality, which tend to focus on a dualistic notion distinguishing a Creator and Creation; and Eastern spiritual traditions rooted in Sanatan Dharma, which tend to focus on an illusory/partial reality Manifestation arising from, but ultimately not distinct from, a unified substratum/full reality. Perhaps in the mystical aspects to these traditions, these distinctions begin to blur. And perhaps conceptions/accounts of Creation/Manifestation are not just descriptions of the workings of the external universe, but also of the internal universe that exists within each of us.

Date: January 26, 2013

Time: 11 AM (preceded by 30 minutes of meditation starting at 10:30 AM)

Location: Vedanta Center of Atlanta; 2331 Brocket Road, Tucker, GA 30084; 770-938-6673. (Corner of Adrian and Brockett, one block from LaVista.)

Cost: Free. Donations accepted, no reservations needed. Open to the public.

 

About the Presenter

Steven J. Gold, BA Antioch College, Philosophy and Religion; JD Emory Law School, is the founder/director of the Yoga and Judaism Center in Atlanta, GA. He has been a student, practitioner and teacher of spiritual self-realization and its related philosophy and psychology for over forty years, including yoga, Vedanta, kabala and eastern and western mysticism. He is an initiate and practitioner in the Tradition of the Himalayan Masters, as propagated in the West by the late Sri Swami Rama of the Himalayas. He is the author of Yoga and Judaism, Explorations of a Jewish Yogi; IVRI, The Essence of Hebrew Spirituality, 21^st Century Perspectives on an Ancient Tradition; Torah Portion Summaries, With Insights from the Perspective of a Jewish Yogi; Basic Spiritual Principles, Writings of the Dawn, The Spiritual Journey of a Baby-Boomer, and The Book About Always Being At Home (spiritual children’s book).

Quote of the Week 288 - If It Were Not Possible, I Would Not Ask You To Do So

Abandon what is unskillful…One can abandon the unskillful. If it were not possible, I would not ask you to do so. If this abandoning of the unskillful would bring harm and suffering, I would not ask you to abandon it. But as the abandoning of the unskillful brings benefit and happiness, therefore, I say, “Abandon what is unskillful!”

Cultivate that which is skillful. One can cultivate the skillful. If it were not possible, I would not ask you to do it. If this cultivation of the skillful would bring harm and suffering, I would not ask you to cultivate it. But as the cultivation of the skillful brings benefit and happiness, therefore, I say, “Cultivate that which is skillful!”

--The Buddha, Kusala Sutta

The Charter for Compassion, International and Local Atlanta

I am honored to become affiliated as a partner with the Charter for Compassion, on the International and local Atlanta levels. Below are several links that explain this important movement. I welcome all to join and participate in any way they are so moved in this worthwhile and needed endeavor.

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www.charterforcompassion.org

www.compassionateaction.org

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxO-6SaNMvg)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wktlwCPDd94)

Compassionate Atlanta

http://charterforcompassion.org/node/6366

Quote of the Week 287 - The Pleasure of Giving

Every healthy person has pleasure in giving: It is a higher pleasure than having. I am healthy and whole when I value giving over having The true measure of my accomplishment and excellence is my readiness to give. The amount of what I give is not the measure of my accomplishment and excellence, but the relation between what I give and what my family and I need to live and thrive.

--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

Quote of the Week 286 - The Music of the Earth

The earth has music for those who listen.

--George Santayana

Quote of the Week 285 - Out-Winging Religion

Hammarskjöld’s friends, responsible for publishing his journal after his untimely death, were upset with the Anglo-American poet W. H. Auden, who had taken on the English translation of Markings. His draft introduction, circulated for comment before publication, struck them in part as offensive. To no avail, they did what they could to persuade Auden to revise it.

Auden had made the smug posthumous suggestion that Hammarskjöld would have been better off if he had attended church more regularly – like Auden. “Our views on DH’s religion differ from yours,” they wrote to him. “While keeping his roots in the Christian faith, we think that DH may hae ‘out-winged’ what is usually described as religion, reaching a point where it does not matter anymore what label you give it. That needs, we think, just as much, and perhaps even more, discipline than any ecclesiastical routine may be able to give.”

--from the article “Stillness in Action; Reflections on Dag Hammarskjöld” by Roger Lipsey in the November 2013 issue of Shambhala Sun magazine