Love
Remembering the Mirror of the Mind by Loving
The Most Dangerous Animal in the World
~ Ron’s Memoirs
“You are looking at the most dangerous animal in the world.
It alone of all the animals that ever lived
can exterminate (and has) entire species of animals.
Now it has the power to wipe out all life on earth.”
~ 1963 Bronx Zoo Mirror Exhibit
The Most Dangerous Animal in the World
Remembering the Mirror of the Mind
by Loving The Most Dangerous Animal in the World
~ Ron’s Memoirs
Introduction
Dear Friends,
My last memoirs postings explained with words and music the spiritual importance of remembering the Mirror of the Mind.
Today’s posting tells how we can Remember the Mirror of the Mind by pardoning and loving everyone everywhere.
It is based upon prior postings and inspired by a 1963 exhibit at the Bronx Zoo, New York City, that was boldly titled “The Most Dangerous Animal in the World”. It featured a mirror and text describing the dangers humans pose to life on earth. In 1968 the exhibit was duplicated at Brookfield Zoo in Chicago.
The original bold red text under the exhibit read: “You are looking at the most dangerous animal in the world. It alone of all the animals that ever lived can exterminate (and has) entire species of animals. Now it has the power to wipe out all life on earth.”
The Bronx Zoo curator of mammals when asked in 1963 about visitors’ reactions, said: “They take it the way we want them to. It gets them to stop and think.”
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Most_Dangerous_Animal_in_the_World
Prior postings
Prior postings have explained how we each create our earthly reality with our unique ego thoughts, and why our perceived “reality” is only a mental illusion, which we reflect like mirrors. And how by understanding the mirror of our mind we can we can inwardly control it to advance (and not deter) our spiritual evolution.
Those postings have shown why fearful self-identification as a separate mortal physical body is our greatest evolutionary deterrent, and how we can energetically overcome all such mortal fear. That to transcend such mortal fears we should mindfully control our thoughts, and behave with forgiveness, kindness and compassion; and no longer confuse non-dual projected pure awareness as a separate objective world.
Optimistic future
I optimistically foresee that because of post-pandemic global disruptions of our “normal” lives we’ve reached a critical turning point in human history, when our species is awakening to a prophesied new elevated and enlightened Earth age, beyond worldwide fears and sufferings from mentally imagined absence of innate and eternal God-given LOVE.
In 2023 we are experiencing unprecedented global deprivations of normal economic and physical needs, strange terminal illnesses, and insane threats of nuclear, ecological, radiological or biological wars which would catastrophically end earth-life as we’ve known it.
I foresee that Mother/Father/God will imminently honor Nature to preserve it, rather than allow human insanity to catastrophically end Earth-life. And that a “critical mass” of our species will soon remember our long-forgotten Divine identity to transcend such insanity.
I’m also optimistic because our 3D Earthly fears and sufferings were not chosen by Human free-will, nor Divinely planned. And because our perceived earth-life separation from Nature and Mother/Father/God never happened.
So we have nothing to fear – EVER.
And so may it ever be!
Invocation
May these memoirs
encourage and inspire us
to ever remember the mirror of our ego-mind.And so to behave lovingly,
unselfishly and compassionately,
beyond all fears, blame, or judgments,Toward everyone/everywhere
with whom we gratefully co-exist
on our precious blue planet Earth.And so to ever remember
and never forgetThat we are and forever will BE
Eternal Divine Souls whose
perceived earth-life separation
from Nature and Mother/Father/God never happened.So we have nothing to fear – EVER.
And so may it ever be!
Ron Rattner
Remembering the Mirror of the Mind
With Mystical Music ~ Ron’s Memoirs
“All appearances are verily one’s own concepts,
self-conceived in the mind,
like reflections seen in a mirror.
To know whether this be so or not,
look within thine own mind.”
~ Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche)
Remembering the Mirror of the Mind With Mystical Music
~ Ron’s Memoirs
Introduction
Dear Friends,
My last posting explained with words the spiritual importance of Remembering the Mirror of the Mind.
Today’s posting demonstrates how we can Remember the Mirror of the Mind by intuitively listening to mystical music which (beyond words) communicates that deep wisdom.
Embedded below is a ten minute performance of Spiegel im Spiegel (Mirror in the Mirror)
by eminent Estonian mystical composer Arvo Pärt. It is masterfully played by Lisa Batiashvili, violinist, and Hélène Grimaud, pianist just as scored by Arvo Pärt.
Please enjoy and reflect on it, to remember the mirror of the mind.
Spiegel im Spiegel (Mirror in the Mirror) by Arvo Pärt
Spiegel im Spiegel (Mirror in the Mirror) is one of the best known and most performed pieces by Arvo Pärt, and one of his last compositions before his departure from Estonia. In 1978, the renowned Russian violinist Vladimir Spivakov commissioned a piece from Pärt for violin and piano, and he premiered it at the Moscow Conservatory with the pianist Boris Bekhterev.
The composer and different musicians have created numerous versions of Spiegel im Spiegel for various instrument combinations. It has often been used in ballet and dance performances, films and documentaries and even in DJ remixes.
The musical material of Spiegel im Spiegel is presented with utmost clarity and strictness. It only consists of the melody of the violin solo instrument and the three-note piano accompaniment. The structure of the piece follows a strict formula, where no note is left to chance. The title directly reflects what is happening in the music: each ascending melodic line is followed by a descending mirror phrase.
Further musical analysis is detailed in the Source cited below.
(Source https://www.arvopart.ee/en/arvo-part/work/544/ )
Performance of Spiegel im Spiegel by Lisa Batiashvili, violinist, and Hélène Grimaud, pianist, as scored by the composer
Dedication
May this mystical music
help us intuitively experience and reflect upon
the deep and timeless spiritual importance of
Remembering the Mirror of the Mind.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Remembering the Mirror of the Mind
~ Ron’s Memoirs
“The identification of pure awareness
with the mind and its creations causes the [mistaken] apprehension of both an objective world and a perceiver of it.”
~ Patanjali – Yoga Sutras
“All appearances are verily one’s own concepts,
self-conceived in the mind,
like reflections seen in a mirror.
To know whether this be so or not,
look within thine own mind.”
~ Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche)
Perception is a mirror, not a fact.
And what I look on is my state of mind, reflected outward.”
~ A Course In Miracles
“When you look in the mirror, what do you see?”
Do you see the real you, or what you have been conditioned to believe is you?
The two are so, so different.
One is an infinite consciousness capable of being and creating whatever it chooses,
the other is an illusion imprisoned by its own perceived and programmed limitations.
~ David Icke
“The mind of the Sage being in repose
becomes the mirror of the universe,
the speculum of all creation.”
~ Chuang Tzŭ
“The Witness and the witnessed are ONE.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Saying
“Space and time are not conditions in which we live,
they are modes in which we think.”
“The distinction between past, present, and future
is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”
“Our separation of each other is an optical illusion of consciousness.”
~ Albert Einstein
“Concerning matter, we have been all wrong.
What we have called matter is energy,
whose vibration has been so lowered as to be perceptible to the senses.”
~ Albert Einstein
‘Time, space and causation
are like the glass through which the Absolute is seen…
In the Absolute there is neither time, space, nor causation.’
~ Swami Vivekananda [Jnana Yoga]
“Every particle of the world is a mirror.
In each atom lies the blazing light of a thousand suns.”
~ Mahmud Shabestari, Sufi Mystic, 15th century
“We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the world.”
~ Buddha
“The world, indeed, is like a dream
and the treasures of the world are an alluring mirage!”
“A wise man, recognizing that the world is but an illusion,
does not act as if it is real, so he escapes the suffering.”
~ Buddha
“This separation between man and man, between nation and nation,
between earth and moon, between moon and sun.
Out of this idea of separation between atom and atom comes all misery.
But the Vedanta says that this separation does not exist, it is not real.”
~ Swami Vivekananda [Jnana Yoga]
“We are like the spider.
We weave our life and then move along in it.
We are like the dreamer
who dreams and then lives in the dream.
This is true for the entire universe.”
~ Aitareya Upanishad
“Our mentality is our reality.
Our “reality” is what we think it to be.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Whatever we think, do, or say,
changes this world in some way.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Thought divides Universal Awareness,
as a prism divides light.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Human consciousness is conditioned consciousness;
it is pure Awareness conditioned by ego conceptions.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Ego” = “Mind”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
One must elevate — and not degrade — oneself with
one’s own mind, which is one’s friend as
well as one’s enemy. The mind is the friend of those
who have control over it, and the mind acts like an
enemy for those who do not control it. (6.05-06)
~ Bhagavad Gita 6.5-6
Remembering the Mirror of the Mind ~ Ron’s Memoirs
Introduction
Dear Friends,
At age ninety I’m again updating memoirs to emphasize my most important spiritual insights learned since spiritually awakening over forty years ago.
I’ve learned that our space/time duality “reality” is an energetic mental illusion which we create with our unique “free choice” thoughts, beliefs and behaviors. And that by understanding and intuitively using and controlling our “mind” we can inwardly advance our happiness and spiritual evolution, despite challenging outer life circumstances, with inevitable fears and sufferings.
For millennia mystics, seers and sages have revealed that space/time/duality reality is an unreal mental illusion, that they’ve often called maya or samsara. And these inner discoveries have been scientifically confirmed by Albert Einstein’s revolutionary relativity discoveries that everything everywhere is endless energy – E=mc2.
As an elder seeker of Self-Realization, I’m sharing this memoirs posting to help us understand and use our minds to transform and transcend them. Therefore the posting explains how the mind functions like a mirror, which only perceives and projects reflections. These perceived reflections are mistakenly interpreted by our minds as physical or material objects, which are only optical energy illusions.
Like mirrors the clearer the mind, the clearer and more accurate are its displayed images. And minds like mirrors can identify as “reality” only via perceived light wave images. Since most humans discern only a tiny part of a vast and ever expanding electromagnetic energy spectrum, what we visually and mentally reify is only a persistent “optical illusion of consciousness.”
Yet while incarnate we cannot escape viewing our space/time duality world through the ‘mirror of the mind’. But more and more we can remember that it reflects the unseen light of Eternal Awareness onto the screen of our human consciousness its Source. And thereby we can gradually transform and transcend the mind’s persistent “optical illusion of consciousness.” by inwardly remembering and Self-identifying with that Eternal Light of Consciousness..
So by learning how human minds perceive, reflect, and project like mirrors we can better understand why our perceived reality is only a mental illusion, which we can inwardly control to advance (and not deter) our spiritual evolution.
(See What is the human “mind”? Is it best friend or worst enemy?)
(See Transcending Ego-Suffering)
Therefore, I’ve posted the above and following quotations and explanations about how human minds appear and function like mirrors, to further our spiritual evolution.
Quotations about mental unreality of time on Earth
“The world, indeed, is like a dream
and the treasures of the world are an alluring mirage!”
“A wise man, recognizing that the world is but an illusion,
does not act as if it is real, so he escapes the suffering.”
~ Buddha
“Space and time are not conditions in which we live,
they are modes in which we think.”
“The distinction between past, present, and future
is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”
“Our separation of each other is an optical illusion of consciousness.”
~ Albert Einstein
“Ego is the biggest enemy of humans. ”
~ Rig Veda
“The foundation of the Buddha’s teachings lies in compassion,
and the reason for practicing the teachings is to wipe out the persistence of ego,
the number-one enemy of compassion.” ~ Dalai Lama
“The mind is a bundle of thoughts.
The thoughts arise because there is the thinker.
The thinker is the ego.
The ego, if sought, will automatically vanish.
The ego and the mind are the same.
The ego is the root-thought from which all other thoughts arise.”
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi
“All bad qualities center round the ego. ..
There are neither good nor bad qualities in the Self.
The Self is free from all qualities. Qualities pertain to the mind only.”
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi
“The mind is only a bundle of thoughts [with] their root in the I-thought.
Whoever investigates the True “I” enjoys the stillness of bliss.”
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi
“All unhappiness is due to the ego. With it comes all your trouble.
If you would deny the ego and scorch it by ignoring it you would be free.”
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi
One must elevate — and not degrade — oneself with
one’s own mind, which is one’s friend as
well as one’s enemy. The mind is the friend of those
who have control over it, and the mind acts like an
enemy for those who do not control it. (6.05-06)
~ Bhagavad Gita 6.5-6
“Every Cause has its Effect;
Every Effect has its Cause;
Everything happens according to Law;
Chance is but a name for Law not recognized;
There are many planes of causation,
But nothing escapes the Law.”
~ The Kybalion
Conclusions about the Mirror of the Mind as a controllable ego-mind illusion
The foregoing quotations from scriptures and seers and information on related SillySutras postings enable us to conclude that:
1) The ego = the mind; they are the same. The ego is the root I-thought from which all other thoughts arise. The mind is only a bundle of thoughts [with] their root in the I-thought.
2) Ego is what we think we are when we mistakenly self-identify as an individual mortal physical body separate from eternal non-duality Reality,
and as perceiver of a supposedly material space/time world. And our body is our ego incarnate.
3) Our Ego identification as separate forms permits our free choice. But it subjects us to the karmic cause and effect law at every energy plane of illusory separate existence. And at lower energy planes karmic suffering is inevitable. So ego can become like a psychological prison in which earthly karmic suffering or reward is unavoidable.
4) Uncontrolled ego invariably attempts to perpetuate its unreal existence. But such attempted ego self-preservation is always futile. What never existed can not be preserved.
5) Until the ego-mind is psychologically cleared, it can be controlled to gradually advance spiritual evolution. We can use it to lose it. Like using a thorn to remove another thorn’s sliver, we can use ego-mind to clear ego-mind.
6) To hasten our spiritual evolution we should mindfully control our thoughts, and behave with forgiveness, kindness and compassion; and no longer confuse non-dual projected pure awareness as a separate objective world.
7) We should remember that our perceived Earth-life separation from eternal Mother/Father/God and Nature is a mental illusion that never happened.
So we have nothing to fear – EVER.
Invocation
May we ever remember and never forget
That our true identity is immortal LOVE;
That all that is, was, or ever can be
is the Eternal Light of Divine Love – NOW!
That as embodied Human Souls
we’ve fleetingly appeared through the
Mirror of the Mind
As illusionary space/time energy forms,
to always follow our Heart
Until we’re formlessly dissolved as ONE LOVE
within Mother/Father/God and Nature –
our Eternal Source.
May we ever remember and never forget
That our separation from Source never happened.
So we’ve nothing to fear – EVER.
That all that is, was, or ever can be
is the Eternal Light of Divine Love – NOW!
And so may it ever be!
Ron Rattner
Remembering Sri Rama as Timeless Truth
~ Ron’s Memoirs
“When I identify myself with the body, O Lord,
I am Thy creature, eternally separate from Thee.
When I identify myself with the soul,
I am a spark of that Divine Fire which Thou art.
But when I identify myself with the Atman,
I and Thou art one.”
~ Sri Hanuman as devotee of Râma – source: Swami Vivekananda, in discourse on Jnana Yoga
Therefore the Jnani strives to realize the Self and nothing else.”
~ Swami Vivekananda, Jnana Yoga discourse
“Hanuman is the breath of Rama, the breath of God.
God is not far away from us but as close as our breath.
Symbolically Hanuman represents the breath, our constant companion and aid along the spiritual path.”
~ Tulsidas
God reveals Himself in the form which His devotees love most.
His love for devotees knows no bounds.
Puranas say that God assumed the form of Rama for His heroic devotee, Hanuman.
~ Sri Ramakrishna Paramhamsa
“You must have heard about the tremendous power of faith.
It is said . . that Rama, who was God Himself . . . had to build a bridge to cross the sea to Ceylon.
But Hanuman, trusting in Rama’s name, cleared the sea in one jump and reached the other side.
He had no need of a bridge.”
~ Sri Ramakrishna Paramhamsa
“Rama was not only on the lips of Hanuman.
He was enthroned in his heart.
He gave Hanuman exhaustless strength.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
“Every line of the Hanuman Chalisa is a Mahamantra.”
~ Neem Karoli Baba
“The Witness and the witnessed are ONE.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
Like Hanumanji remembering Sri Rama,
may we ever leap beyond belief as LOVE
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
Dhyanyga Centers dyc.org
Remembering Sri Rama as Timeless Truth ~ Ron’s Memoirs
Introduction
Dear Friends,
As I’ve explained in recent postings, at age ninety I’m updating memoirs as an elder seeker of Self-Realization, to emphasize my most crucial spiritual insights learned since spiritually awakening over forty years ago.
Today’s memoirs posting supplements my last posting about Remembering Timeless Truth in which I explained how I realized from my “Born-Again Hindu” devotional prayers and practices that we are now re-experiencing prehistoric life cycles (recounted in the ancient Mahābhārata and Ramayana Vedic epics} wherein non-dual Divine justice always prevails over egoic immoral iniquity.
Upon that realization, many years ago I spontaneously composed and recorded a poetic sutra-song titled “Remember!”. In Remembering Timeless Truth I recently re-recorded and emotionally sang that sutra-song. Also I told about the legendary monkey-god Hanuman, who is venerated in the famous Hanuman Chalisa (which recounts some of Hanuman’s brave and miraculous feats) as ‘the protector of saints and sages’.
Today’s memoirs chapter “Remembering Sri Rama as Timeless Truth” emphasizes Hanuman’s importance to Guruji’s Rama devotees and Rama lineage led by Sri Anandi Ma. And I’ve recorded and included another sutra-poem titled “Who Are We?” which was especially inspired by my harmonious affinity with Hanumanji as a devotee of Lord Rama.
With the above quotations and my following comments, today’s memoirs are dedicated to furthering our common remembrance that we are all Rama as timeless “LOVE”
Hanuman
Who Are We?
We are Rama,
not the drama.
We are the Glory,
not the story.
We are the Whole,
not our role.
We are the screen,
not the movie.
We are That,
We are That,
We are That!
We are LOVE!
Aum Ram Sovayam,
Aum Ram Sovayam,
Aum Ram Sovayam!
Ron’s audio recitation of “Who Are We?”
Who-Are-We.mp3
Ron’s Comments on Hanumanji’s Importance in Remembering Sri Rama as Timeless Truth
As revealed in the above quotations, Hanumanji’s constant unconditional Faith in God as Sita/Rama metaphorically epitomizes the boundless power of such Faith for devotees of Lord Rama to realize God as LOVE.
May Hanumanji inspire our transcendence of all fearful karmic belief in any ego-mind separation, with a leap of Faith to our true Reality as immortal LOVE.
Conclusion
Like Hanumanji remembering Sri Rama
May we ever remember and never forget
That our true identity is immortal LOVE;
That as embodied Human Souls
we’ve appeared as illusionary space/time energy forms,
to always follow our Heart
Until we’re formlessly dissolved as ONE LOVE
within Mother/Father/God – as Sita/Rama –
our Eternal Source.
May we ever remember and never forget
That our separation from Sita/Rama never happened.
So we’ve nothing to fear – EVER.
And so may it FOREVER be!
Ron Rattner
Remembering Timeless Truth
~ Ron’s Memoirs
Remember God, forget the rest.
Forget who you think you are,
to know what you really are.
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“When you meet anyone, remember it is a holy encounter.
As you see him, you will see yourself.
As you treat him, you will treat yourself.
As you think of him, you will think of yourself.
Never forget this, for in him you will find yourself
or lose sight of yourself.”
~ A Course in Miracles (ACIM)
Ramayana
Remembering Timeless Truth ~ Ron’s Memoirs
Introduction
Dear Friends,
As I explained in recent postings, at age ninety I’m updating memoirs as an elder seeker of Self-Realization, to emphasize my most crucial spiritual insights learned so far, beginning with a spiritual awakening over forty years ago. Until then I was completely unaware of any spiritual reality or evolutionary goal, and I self-identified only with my mortal physical body, its labels, thoughts and story.
Then, after two decades of instinctively pursuing social justice causes as a secular litigation attorney, I was blessed with a spontaneous awakening from Newtonian reality, and previously presumed mortal self-identity as a physical body-form. Soon thereafter on the luckiest day of my life I synchronistically met a 100 year old Hindu Holy Man, Shri Dhyanyogi Madhusudandas (Guruji).* who initiated me with a Rama mantra, and a spritual name meaning “one engrossed in devotion”.
Whereupon I became a self-declared “Born-Again Hindu” and for the first time in this precious human lifetime I meditated regularly, and recited devotional Sanskrit prayers to attain a spiritual goal of of Self-Realization or Moksha. Since then, I’ve been experiencing an ongoing inner evolutionary process that is opening my intuitive Heart to formerly unimagined realizations about our eternal Self-identity and Reality as Divine LOVE.
Forty four years have now passed since I received Guruji’s spiritual initiation in April, 1978. But the kundalini evolutionary process which he initiated still continues. Thanks to Guruji’s subtle guidance, it appears to be removing my ego-mind limitations, so that there is today (self-identified with this life-form) much less “Ron” and much more “Ram”. Like ‘magical’ spiritual alchemy, the Rama kundalini energy is transmuting and transforming Ron’s humanity to Divinity.
At age one hundred sixteen Guruji consciously and intentionally left his physical body in India. But from subtle planes he continues to help humanity. So since then, with frequent tears of deep devotion and gratitude, I’ve continued to experience (at subtle levels of awareness) his profoundly transformative shakti energy.
* Footnote
See Facebook page Shri Dhyanyogi Madhusudandas for a brief biography of Guruji, and many photos.
Remembering Timeless Truth
This memoirs chapter gratefully explains how as a devotional “Born-Again Hindu” I’ve realized that during our current karmic experiment in 3D Earthly space/time and duality, we are remembering and recycling prehistoric patterns of Divine Truth which (as recounted in ancient Hindu Vedas) can be considered as allegories for human life, helping humans attain greater understanding of God, Spiritual truth, purpose and Moksha liberation.
Hindu Vedic epics about Divine Non-duality
The two most accessed ancient epics in world literature are the Vedic Mahābhārata and Ramayana. They tell stories about Divine Avatars Krishna and Rama, who are both incarnations and icons of the same highest non-duality God.
1) Mahābhārata
In the Bhagavad Gita, which is the most influential extant Vedic spiritual scripture, Lord Krishna is charioteer for warrior Prince Arjuna in the Mahābhārata battle. On realizing that there are mutual friends and family members on both sides of the battle, Prince Arjuna refuses to fight. Whereupon Lord Krishna expounds on what constitutes right action, the meaning of life and the nature of the Divine. Thereby, with timeless and profound philosophic guidance, Lord Krishna persuades Arjuna to fulfill his moral duty or dharma. This happens even though Krishna and Arjuna have long been close cousins and friends.
2) Ramayana
This epic, narrates the life of Princess Sita, of Janakpur, and Prince Rama, of Ayodhya. It recounts Rama’s fourteen-year exile urged by Rama’s stepmother Kaikeyi upon his father King Dasharatha, and his journeys in Indian forests with his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana. They soon encounter Monkey-God Hanuman who quickly becomes the faithful servant and protector of Princess Sita and Lord Rama.
Thereafter upon kidnapping of Sita by evil Ravana – King of Lanka (Ceylon) and resulting war, Monkey-God Hanuman is pivotal to Princess Sita’s rescue. He slays demons, burns down Lanka, and rescues Sita. This enables Rama’s jubilant return to Ayodhya to be crowned king.
Thus Hanuman is key to the inevitable ultimate victory of Divine justice over immoral iniquity, and reunification of innate Divine male and female aspects of ONE Mother-Father God.
Hanuman Chalisa
For many years one of my daily Hindu practices from Guruji was recitation of the Hanuman Chalisa – a poetic ode to the legendary monkey-god Hanuman by poet-saint and philosopher Tulsidas. The Chalisa venerates Hanumanji as ‘the protector of saints and sages’ and recounts some of his brave and miraculous feats. And after many years of recitations, I assimilated some of that social justice energy.
Though I ended daily recitation of the Hanuman Chalisa decades ago, like Hanuman I’ve continued to devotionally venerate Lord Rama. Frequently I spontaneously call and tearfully cry to Ram, even during nighttime sleep periods, and I’m often repeating my Ram mantra. Also I still often devotionally sing “Shri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram”
The Sanskrit word “Shri” means auspicious, and is only used as an honorific title. The words jai or jaya mean “Victory to!” In current English vernacular they exclaim “Hooray God!”
Remembering our eternal Self-identity and Reality as Divine LOVE
After retiring from legal practice at age sixty, with Guruji’s encouragement I instinctively spent many years reclusively reflecting about God.
And I soon realized from my “Born-Again Hindu” devotional prayers and practices to Lord Rama that we are experiencing the inevitable and destined victory of Divine justice over immoral iniquity as recounted in the Ramayana. That we are again remembering and recycling prehistoric Divine Truth about our only true SELF identity beyond our common space/time ego-mind illusion of being separate forms.
As embodied Human Souls we karmically appear as illusionary separate space/time energy forms, until we’re formlessly dissolved as ONE LOVE within Mother/Father/God – the Eternal Source from which we’ve never separated.
So upon remembering this timeless Truth I realized that Sri Ram, Jai Ram had again been victorious and that Divine justice had again prevailed over egoic immoral iniquity.
Whereupon I spontaneously composed and recorded a poetic sutra-song titled “Remember!”.
Today, I’ve written and recorded it again in timeless devotional homage to Sri Ram’s victory and Guruji’s Rama lineage.
Remember!
Don’t forget what you knew
before you withdrew,
from dwelling in Heaven’s domain.
Recall your affinity,
with dazzling Divinity,
and in that Presence remain.
Remember with gratitude,
life is beatitude,
even its sorrows and pain;
For we’re all in God’s Grace,
every time, every place,
and Forever (S)HE will reign!
Ron’s audio singing of “Remember!”
Conclusion
May we ever remember and never forget
That our true identity is immortal LOVE;
That as embodied Human Souls
we’ve appeared as illusionary space/time energy forms,
to always follow our Heart
Until we’re formlessly dissolved as ONE LOVE
within Mother/Father/God –
our Eternal Source.
May we ever remember and never forget
That our separation from Mother/Father/God never happened.
So we’ve nothing to fear – EVER.
And so may it FOREVER be!
Ron Rattner
Forever Ending Our Experiment With Time ~ Ron’s Memoirs
“The soul of man has been separated from its source,
wandering in exile in a strange land –
“I am stranger on earth” (Psalm 119:19-20) –
ever yearning to return to that from which it first sprang,
and cleave to the Soul of all souls.”
~ Ba’al Shem Tov, Hasidic master“What is life?
It is the flash of a firefly in the night.
It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime.
It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.”
~ Crowfoot, 1890“Thus shall ye think of all this fleeting world:
A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream;
A flash of lightning in a summer cloud,
A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream.”
~ Buddha“In the end these things matter most:
How well did you love?
How fully did you love?
How deeply did you learn to let go?”
~ Buddha“The way is not in the sky.
The way is in the heart.”
~ Buddha “
Forever Ending Our Experiment With Time ~ Ron’s Memoirs
Introduction
Dear Friends,
This memoirs chapter gratefully celebrates my ninetieth and most spiritually significant year. Because I’m still learning from ever-changing life experiences, as an elder seeker of Self-Realization I’m updating my memoirs (while still physically incarnate) to emphasize and explain my most crucial spiritual insights learned so far from this precious human lifetime.
Background
I was born in Chicago IL on election day November 8, 1932, when Franklin D Roosevelt was first elected 32nd US president, during a great economic depression era, when most Americans were suffering extremely hard times.
My parents were first cousins (both surnamed Rattner) from Ukrainian families living near Kiev. Their families had emigrated to the USA to escape hatred and persecution for their Jewish religious customs and beliefs. And I’m the last and longest surviving male from this unusual Rattner lineage.
We’re now living at an historically unprecedented time when survival of all humans – not just Jews – appears threatened by a Ukrainian war. After eons of territorial earth wars, technological advances now seemingly threaten us with planetary nuclear, biological, or ecological catastrophe, arising from worldwide hatred, exploitation, and insanity directed at people with differing appearances, customs, or beliefs.
Until now all my most auspicious spiritual experiences have happened since my spiritual awakening over forty five years ago from Newtonian reality, and previously presumed mortal self-identity as a physical body-form. Since then, I’ve been experiencing an ongoing inner evolutionary process that is opening my intuitive Heart to formerly unimagined loving realizations about our eternal Self-identity and Reality.
Optimistic Predictions
Thus I now optimistically foresee that we’ve reached an unprecedented turning point in human history, when our species is awakening to a prophesied enlightened Earth age with elevated energies, transcending eons of previous fears and sufferings as perceived energy thought-forms in time and space in which Humans have mistakenly believed ourselves separate from Eternal God-given Love.
For the first time in our recorded history we are now forced to realize that, because of advanced technologies, any more war could trigger an omnicidal nuclear, ecological, biological, or radiological catastrophe insanely ending earth-life as we’ve known it.
In my most recent memoirs chapters, I’ve optimistically predicted that our Earthly experiment in time will soon end, as a “critical mass” of human souls imminently awakens from eons of matrix thralldom by evil entities, which cannot survive in energies beyond illusionary fearful lower realm space/time separation. I foresee that Mother/Father/God will soon honor Nature to preserve it, rather than cataclysmically end Earth-life as we’ve known it.
I’m optimistic because our separate 3D Earth-world of fears and sufferings is not chosen by Human free-will, nor Divinely planned. And I’m especially optimistic because I’ve realized that Human souls have nothing to fear – EVER; that our perceived earth-life separation from ONE LOVE is a mental illusion that never happened.
Therefore, this memoirs chapter is intended and dedicated to encouraging us to live unselfishly and compassionately, beyond all fear, blame, or judgment as demonstrated by rare mystic masters and avatars, and especially by the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, who in this Christmas season inspires many souls as the paragon exemplar of Universal LOVE and forgiveness.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
My conclusions about forever ending our “experiment with time”
1) What Humans call “Life” is a mentally created concept in space and time.
“Space and time are not conditions in which we live,
they are modes in which we think.”
“The distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”
“Our separation of each other is an optical illusion of consciousness.”
~ Albert Einstein
2) Time is a karmic illusion, of every incarnate human soul’s separation from its Source. Each human soul is an eternal being of LIGHT, which appears unique in time as a polarized and mentally created energy-entity:
The soul of man has been separated from its source,
wandering in exile in a strange land – “I am stranger on earth” (Psalm 119:19-20) –
ever yearning to return to that from which it first sprang,
and cleave to the Soul of all souls.”
~ Ba’al Shem Tov, Hasidic master
3) The human soul’s future in space and time is always subject to free-will karmic cause and effect.
“Every Cause has its Effect;
Every Effect has its Cause;
Everything happens according to Law;
Chance is but a name for Law not recognized;
There are many planes of causation,
But nothing escapes the Law.”
~ The Kybalion
4) In space and time, the soul persists Forever in form as an infinitely expanding energy entity, until dissolved as formless into the Source Light of the Whole – of Mother/Father/God.
5) Psychological fear is the greatest impediment and deterrent to each soul’s evolution to ever ascending energy planes. Such inner fear subjects souls to thralldom by evil entities, which cannot survive in energies beyond illusionary fearful lower realm space/time separation from Source.
“Love is what we were born with.
Fear is what we learned here.
The spiritual journey is the relinquishment – or unlearning – of fear and the acceptance of love back into our hearts.”
~ Marianne Williamson“The world is a prison and we are the prisoners:
Dig a hole in the prison and let yourself out!”
~ Rumi“You have been a prisoner of a little pond,
I am the ocean and its turbulent flood.
Come merge with me, leave this world of ignorance.
Be with me, I will open the gate to your love.”
~ Rumi“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, . . . .
and the one who fears is not perfected in love.”
~ 1 John 4:18“[D]eep down, at our cores, there are only two emotions:
love and fear.
All positive emotions come from love,
all negative emotions from fear.
From love flows happiness, contentment, peace, and joy.
From fear comes anger, hate, anxiety and guilt.”
~ Elisabeth Kubler-Ross & David Kessler
6) The unique key for each soul’s transcendence of fear is found only Within each One’s Heart – within the One Creator.
“The way is not in the sky.
The way is in the heart.”
~ Buddha “You have to keep breaking your heart until it opens.”
“The wound is the place where the Light enters you.”
~ Rumi“There is a light that shines beyond all things on Earth,
… beyond the highest, the very highest heavens.
This is the light that shines in your Heart.”
~ Chandogya Upanishad 3.13.7
7) Until dissolved as formless ONENESS, each soul is a multi-dimensional fractal hologram, appearing infinitely in form.
“There is an endless net of threads throughout the universe.
The horizontal threads are in space.
The vertical threads are in time.
At every crossing of the threads, there is an individual.
And every individual is a crystal bead.
And every crystal bead reflects not only the light from every other crystal in the net,
but also every other reflection throughout the entire universe.”
~ Indra’s Net – from the Vedas of Ancient India, 7000 years old“Objective reality does not exist” ….
“the universe is fundamentally a gigantic … hologram”
~ David Bohm“Every particle of the world is a mirror.
In each atom lies the blazing light of a thousand suns.”
~ Mahmud Shabestari, Sufi Mystic, 15th century
8) Ultimately, Humanity’s illusionary perceived earth-life separation from ONE LOVE never happened. So we’ve nothing to fear – EVER.
“Nothing Real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.”
~ A Course In Miracles“Perception is a mirror not a fact.
And what I look on is my state of mind, reflected outward.”
~ A Course In Miracles“Time, space and causation are like the glass through which the Absolute is seen.
In the Absolute there is neither time, space nor causation.”
~ Swami Vivekananda
Dedication
These memoirs are dedicated to
encouraging and inspiring us
to more and more behave lovingly,
on our precious blue planet Earth.May we increasingly live lovingly,
unselfishly and compassionately,
beyond all fears, blame, or judgments
as demonstrated by the life and teachings of Jesus Christ,
who especially in this holiday season
we remember as the paragon exemplar of
Universal LOVE and forgiveness.Therefore may we ever remember that
“The way is not in the sky.
The way is in the heart.”
~ Buddha “
And so may it FOREVER be!
Ron Rattner
The best things in Life are Forever FREE!
~ Ron’s Memoirs
The soul of man has been separated from its source,
wandering in exile in a strange land –
“I am stranger on earth” (Psalm 119:19-20) –
ever yearning to return to that from which it first sprang,
and cleave to the Soul of all souls.”
~ Ba’al Shem Tov, Hasidic master
The soul of man has been separated from its source,
wandering in exile in a strange land –
“I am stranger on earth” (Psalm 119:19-20) –
ever yearning to return to that from which it first sprang,
and cleave to the Soul of all souls.”
~ Ba’al Shem Tov, Hasidic master
The best things in Life are Forever FREE!
~ Ron’s Memoirs
Dear Friends,
At age ninety, I’m still learning from ever-changing life experiences as an elder seeker of Self-Realization. So (while still physically incarnate) I’m updating my memoirs to emphasize and explain my following most crucial spiritual life perspectives and insights learned so far from this precious human lifetime:
Never forget that our true human identity is immortal Cosmic Consciousness; that as embodied Human Souls we appear as illusionary space/time energy forms, until we’re formlessly dissolved as ONE LOVE within Mother/Father/God – the Eternal Source from which we’ve never separated. So never fear or psychologically accept as “real” any perceived Earth-life threats to our immortality. Always follow your Heart, remembering that our separation from ONE LOVE never happened. So we’ve nothing to fear – EVER.
Background
Over forty five years ago, I began seeing Earth-life as an experiment in dense 3D space/time, with each human soul on a unique inner pathless path to solving that energy experiment by forever following their Heart.
Today and in my most recent memoirs posting, I’m optimistically predicting that our Earthly experiment in time will soon end, as a “critical mass” of human souls imminently awakens from eons of matrix thralldom by evil entities, which cannot survive in energies beyond illusionary fearful lower realm space/time separation. I foresee that Mother/Father/God will soon honor Nature to preserve it, rather than cataclysmically end Earth-life as we’ve known it.
I’m optimistic because our separate 3D Earth-world of mental fears and sufferings is not chosen by Human free-will, nor Divinely planned. And, especially since miraculously surviving deadly taxicab rundown injuries at age eighty one, I’ve realized that Human souls have nothing to fear – EVER, because our illusionary perceived earth-life separation from ONE LOVE never happened.
While honoring all art and artists until we gratefully Awaken as ONE LOVE beyond time, I’ve shown how all musical art communicates deep feelings of instinctive perennial wisdom beyond words, by cantorially singing edited lyrics from “Till the End of Time”, a song composed in 1945 for the timeless music of Frederic Chopin’s Polonaise No.6, in A Flat-Major, Op. 53.
Similarly in today’s memoirs chapter I hereafter cantorially sing edited lyrics from “The Best Things In Life Are Free”, an often vocally or instrumentally performed 1927 “hit parade” song, which also communicates deep feelings of instinctive perennial wisdom beyond words. Please enjoy and listen below with an open heart.
And as you listen, consider the following perennial reasons why
“The Best Things In Life Are Forever FREE!”.
Ron’s Explanation of The Best Things In Life Are Forever FREE!
1) What Humans call “Life” is a mentally created concept in space and time.
“Space and time are not conditions in which we live,
they are modes in which we think.”
“The distinction between past, present, and future
is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”
“Our separation of each other is an optical illusion of consciousness.”
~ Albert Einstein
“Space and time are not conditions in which we live,
they are modes in which we think.”
“The distinction between past, present, and future
is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”
“Our separation of each other is an optical illusion of consciousness.”
~ Albert Einstein
2) Time is a karmic illusion, of every incarnate human soul’s separation from its Source. Each human soul is an eternal being of LIGHT, which appears unique in time as a polarized and mentally created energy-entity:
The soul of man has been separated from its source,
wandering in exile in a strange land –
“I am stranger on earth” (Psalm 119:19-20) –
ever yearning to return to that from which it first sprang,
and cleave to the Soul of all souls.”
~ Ba’al Shem Tov, Hasidic master
The soul of man has been separated from its source,
wandering in exile in a strange land –
“I am stranger on earth” (Psalm 119:19-20) –
ever yearning to return to that from which it first sprang,
and cleave to the Soul of all souls.”
~ Ba’al Shem Tov, Hasidic master
3) The human soul’s future in space and time is always subject to free-will karmic cause and effect.
“Every Cause has its Effect;
Every Effect has its Cause;
Everything happens according to Law;
Chance is but a name for Law not recognized;
There are many planes of causation,
But nothing escapes the Law.”
~ The Kybalion
“Every Cause has its Effect;
Every Effect has its Cause;
Everything happens according to Law;
Chance is but a name for Law not recognized;
There are many planes of causation,
But nothing escapes the Law.”
~ The Kybalion
4) In space and time, the soul persists Forever in form as a potentially infinitely expanding energy entity, until dissolved as formless into the Source Light of the Whole – of Mother/Father/God.
5) Psychological fear is the greatest impediment and deterrent to each soul’s evolution to ever ascending energy planes. Such inner fear subjects souls to thralldom by evil entities, which cannot survive in energies beyond illusionary fearful lower realm space/time separation from Source.
“Love is what we were born with.
Fear is what we learned here.
The spiritual journey is the relinquishment – or unlearning – of fear and the acceptance of love back into our hearts.”
~ Marianne Williamson
“The world is a prison and we are the prisoners:
Dig a hole in the prison and let yourself out!”
~ Rumi
“You have been a prisoner of a little pond,
I am the ocean and its turbulent flood.
Come merge with me, leave this world of ignorance.
Be with me, I will open the gate to your love.”
~ Rumi
“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear,
. . . .
and the one who fears is not perfected in love.”
~ 1 John 4:18
“[D]eep down, at our cores, there are only two emotions:
love and fear.
All positive emotions come from love,
all negative emotions from fear.
From love flows happiness, contentment, peace, and joy.
From fear comes anger, hate, anxiety and guilt.”
~ Elisabeth Kubler-Ross & David Kessler
“Love is what we were born with.
Fear is what we learned here.
The spiritual journey is the relinquishment – or unlearning – of fear and the acceptance of love back into our hearts.”
~ Marianne Williamson
“The world is a prison and we are the prisoners:
Dig a hole in the prison and let yourself out!”
~ Rumi
“You have been a prisoner of a little pond,
I am the ocean and its turbulent flood.
Come merge with me, leave this world of ignorance.
Be with me, I will open the gate to your love.”
~ Rumi
“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear,
. . . .
and the one who fears is not perfected in love.”
~ 1 John 4:18
“[D]eep down, at our cores, there are only two emotions:
love and fear.
All positive emotions come from love,
all negative emotions from fear.
From love flows happiness, contentment, peace, and joy.
From fear comes anger, hate, anxiety and guilt.”
~ Elisabeth Kubler-Ross & David Kessler
6) The unique key for each soul’s transcendence of fear is found only Within each One’s Heart – within the One Creator.
“The way is not in the sky.
The way is in the heart.”
~ Buddha
“
You have to keep breaking your heart until it opens.”
“The wound is the place where the Light enters you.”
~ Rumi
“There is a light that shines beyond all things on Earth,
…
beyond the highest, the very highest heavens.
This is the light that shines in your Heart.”
~ Chandogya Upanishad 3.13.7
“The way is not in the sky.
The way is in the heart.”
~ Buddha
“
You have to keep breaking your heart until it opens.”
“The wound is the place where the Light enters you.”
~ Rumi
“There is a light that shines beyond all things on Earth,
…
beyond the highest, the very highest heavens.
This is the light that shines in your Heart.”
~ Chandogya Upanishad 3.13.7
7) Until dissolved as formless ONENESS, each soul is a multi-dimensional fractal hologram, appearing infinitely in form.
“There is an endless net of threads throughout the universe.
The horizontal threads are in space.
The vertical threads are in time.
At every crossing of the threads, there is an individual.
And every individual is a crystal bead.
And every crystal bead reflects not only the light
from every other crystal in the net,
but also every other reflection throughout the entire universe.”
~ Indra’s Net – from the Vedas of Ancient India, 7000 years old
Objective reality does not exist” ….
“the universe is fundamentally a gigantic … hologram”
~ David Bohm
“Every particle of the world is a mirror.
In each atom lies the blazing light of a thousand suns.”
~ Mahmud Shabestari, Sufi Mystic, 15th century
“There is an endless net of threads throughout the universe.
The horizontal threads are in space.
The vertical threads are in time.
At every crossing of the threads, there is an individual.
And every individual is a crystal bead.
And every crystal bead reflects not only the light
from every other crystal in the net,
but also every other reflection throughout the entire universe.”
~ Indra’s Net – from the Vedas of Ancient India, 7000 years old
Objective reality does not exist” ….
“the universe is fundamentally a gigantic … hologram”
~ David Bohm
“Every particle of the world is a mirror.
In each atom lies the blazing light of a thousand suns.”
~ Mahmud Shabestari, Sufi Mystic, 15th century
8) Ultimately, Humanity’s illusionary perceived earth-life separation from ONE LOVE never happened. So we’ve nothing to fear – EVER.
“Nothing Real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.”
~ A Course In Miracles
“Perception is a mirror not a fact.
And what I look on is my state of mind, reflected outward.”
~ A Course In Miracles
“Time, space and causation are like the glass through which the Absolute is seen.
In the Absolute there is neither time, space nor causation.”
~ Swami Vivekananda
“Nothing Real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.”
~ A Course In Miracles
“Perception is a mirror not a fact.
And what I look on is my state of mind, reflected outward.”
~ A Course In Miracles
“Time, space and causation are like the glass through which the Absolute is seen.
In the Absolute there is neither time, space nor causation.”
~ Swami Vivekananda
Ron’s Recitation of The Best Things In Life Are FREE!*
The Best Things In Life Are FREE!*
The moon belongs to everyone
The best things in life are free
The stars belong to everyone
They gleam there for you and for me
The flowers in spring, the robins that sing
The moonbeams that shine
They’re yours, they’re mine
And LOVE can come to everyone
The best things in life are free . . .
The best things in life are FREE!
And so may it FOREVER be!
Ron Rattner
*Footnote From the 1927 play “Good News”, with music by Ray Henderson and lyrics by Buddy DeSylva and Lew Brown.
Awakening as LOVE, Till the end of time
~ Ron’s Memoirs
“Be thankful for everything at all times.
Realize that all power to think,
and speak, and act comes from God.
And that S/He is with you now, guiding and inspiring you.”
~ Paramahansa Yogananda
“Be thankful for everything at all times.
Realize that all power to think,
and speak, and act comes from God.
And that S/He is with you now, guiding and inspiring you.”
~ Paramahansa Yogananda
Awakening as LOVE, Till the end of time
~ Ron’s Memoirs
Dear Friends,
At age ninety, on November 8th, 2022, I became the longest lived male member of my Rattner surname Ukrainian Jewish lineage. All other Rattner men died in their 70’s, except for my father and maternal grandfather who lived until 89.
But my family’s Ukrainian Rattner women, have lived much longer than the men. And I’ve discovered that Mother/Father/God always controls our 3D experiment in time. That our illusionary perceived earth-life separation from ONE LOVE never happened. So we’ve nothing to fear – EVER.
Also, I’ve optimistically learned that our earthly experiment in time is soon ending, as a “critical mass” of human souls imminently awakens from eons of matrix thralldom by evil entities, which cannot survive in energy realms beyond illusionary fearful lower realm space/time separation.
Family History
In the mid-1950’s, at age 41, my dear Mother Sue had two serious heart attacks, and a cardiologist then predicted she’d soon die. She didn’t die as predicted, but with God’s Grace she lived until Thanksgiving day 2007, a few weeks before her 100th birthday in January, 2008. This helped me realize that God’s in charge of our lives, not expert doctors.
And despite a very difficult life history, my Mother’s youngest sister Florence is still living gratefully and independently with sharp mental acuity at age 106, in a Los Angeles senior care facility where the majority of other elderly residents are senile.
My life experience helps explain why I NOW optimistically anticipate that our thought-formed separate 3D Earth-world of fears and sufferings is neither appropriately chosen by Humankind, nor Divinely planned. That Mother/Father/God will soon honor Nature to preserve it, rather than cataclysmically end Earth-life as we’ve known it.
Previous Memoirs
In recent memoirs, I’ve demonstrated how music communicates deep feelings of instinctive perennial wisdom beyond words. Until now I’ve focussed on traditional Jewish musical themes, of Kol Nidré and Sunrise Sunset.
But historically societies which honor all their artists, whether musical, visual, literary, theatrical, photographic, or other arts, enjoy loving energies beyond separate fearful evil-entity lower realms.
So in this memoirs chapter, I’m optimistically demonstrating the importance of honoring all art and artists until we gratefully Awaken as ONE LOVE beyond time.
In 1945 the timeless music of Frederic Chopin’s Polonaise No.6, in A Flat-Major, Op. 53, was set to words titled “TILL THE END OF TIME”, by lyricist Buddy Kaye.
To show how all musical art communicates deep feelings of instinctive perennial wisdom beyond words, I’m hereafter cantorially singing edited lyrics from “Till the End of Time”. Please enjoy and listen with an open heart.
Ron’s recitation of “Till the end of time”
Till the end of time
Till the end of time,
Long as stars are in the blue,
Long as there’s a spring, a bird to sing,
I’ll go on loving you.
Till the end of time,
Long as roses bloom in May,
My love for you will grow deeper,
With every passing day.
Till the wells run dry,
And each mountain disappears,
I’ll be there for you, to care for you,
Through laughter and through tears.
So, with your Heart in sweet surrender,
Tenderly Know that I’m,
The ONE LOVE you’ve lived for,
Till the end of time . .
Till the end of time.
Dedication
May these memoirs ever honor
ONE DIVINE LOVE
“Till the end of time”;
While we remember through all artists
that until then, nothing else is possible;
So there’s nothing to fear – EVER.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Everyday Thoughts For Thanksgiving
“To be a presence of perpetual thanksgiving may be the ultimate goal of life.
The thankful person is the one for whom life is simply one long exercise in the sacred.”
~ Sr. Joan Chittister, OSB from The Psalms: Meditations for Every Day of the Year
“Thankfulness is the soul of beneficence …
For thankfulness brings you to the place where the Beloved lives.”
~ Rumi
“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues,
but the parent of all others.”
~ Cicero
Introduction to “Everyday Thoughts For Thanksgiving”
Dear Friends,
For everyone’s Thanksgiving happiness every day, I’m again publishing the following perennial wisdom quotations about thankfulness.
Thanksgiving became my favorite holiday long ago, when I realized that thankfulness is a universal blessing uplifting everyone everywhere, regardless of their cultural, spiritual, secular or religious attitudes or beliefs.
Now at age ninety, I’m unspeakably grateful for still being alive, aware, ambulatory and interdependently-independent – especially since miraculously surviving a deadly taxi rundown eight years ago. Thus, I’ve learned that continual thankfulness is a state of Divine Grace – that every day’s a bonus, and every breath a blessing, not just during Thanksgiving holidays, but always!
May every day be a day of Thanksgiving, for everyone everywhere.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Everyday Thoughts For Thanksgiving
“Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.”
~ Rumi
“Join me in the pure atmosphere of gratitude for life.
Join my eyes and soul in their divine applause.”
~ Hafiz
“You have no cause for anything but gratitude and joy.”
~ Buddha
“It is not joy that makes us grateful;
it is gratitude that makes us joyful.”
~ Brother David Steindl-Rast
“If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you,
it will be enough.”
~ Meister Eckhart
“I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends,
the old and the new.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
“At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.”
~ Albert Schweitzer
“Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so, let us all be thankful.”
~ Buddha
“I thank God for my handicaps for, through them, I have found myself, my work, and my God.”
~ Helen Keller
“O Lord, who lends me life, lend me a heart replete with thankfulness.”
~ William Shakespeare
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
~ Albert Einstein
”A grateful mind is a great mind,
which eventually attracts to itself great things.”
~ Plato
“The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude.”
~ Friedrich Nietzsche
“Gratitude is the sign of noble souls.”
~ Aesop
”Gratitude bestows reverence,
allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies,
those transcendent moments of awe
that change forever how we experience life and the world.”
~ John Milton
“I am grateful for what I am and have.
My thanksgiving is perpetual.
It is surprising how contented one can be
with – only a sense of existence.”
~ Henry David Thoreau
“Gratitude is heaven itself.”
~ William Blake
“No longer forward nor behind
I look in hope or fear;
But, grateful, take the good I find,
The best of now and here.”
~ John Greenleaf Whittier
“Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.”
~ Psalm 100
“When you allow your heart to open to the universe’s flow of love, gratitude comes with that flow. Gratitude for the people that you love, and for those who share your life. Gratitude for the Creation of the beautiful Earth as our home in this great cosmos. Gratitude for the Sun that gives us life. Gratitude for being alive, for just existing, for being in the flow of the wonder of life.”
~ Owen Waters
“Gratitude flows unimpeded from an open heart. When you allow it, gratitude will flow as freely as the sunshine, unobstructed by judgments or conditions.”
~ Owen Waters
“Every day should be a day of Thanksgiving for all the gifts of Life — sunshine, water, the luscious fruits and greens,
which we receive as indirect gifts from the Great Giver.”
~ Paramahansa Yogananda
“To be grateful is to recognize the Love of God in everything He has given us – and He has given us everything.
Every breath we draw is a gift of His love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense graces from Him. Gratitude therefore takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to new wonder and to praise of the goodness of God.
For the grateful person knows that God is good, not by hearsay but by experience. And that is what makes all the difference.”
~ Thomas Merton
“The worst moment for the atheist is when he is really thankful
and has nobody to thank.”
~ Dante Gabriel Rossetti
I thank you God for most this amazing day
for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky,
and for everything which is natural
which is infinite
which is yes….
I who have died am alive again today
and this is the sun’s birthday;
this is the birth day of life and of love and wings…
~ e. e. cummings
“When we develop a right attitude of compassion and gratitude,
we take a giant step towards solving our personal and international problems.”
~ H.H. Dalai Lama
It’s not our longitude
Or our latitude,
But the elevation of our attitude,
That brings beatitude.
***
So an attitude of gratitude
Brings beatitude.
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
Remember with gratitude,
Life is beatitude –
Even its sorrows and pain;
For we’re all in God’s Grace,
Every time, every place, and
Forever (S)HE will reign!
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
Dedication
The foregoing quotations and thoughts For Thanksgiving are dedicated to encouraging, inspiring and guiding us to enjoy ever growing gratitude, on Thanksgiving holidays and every day.
May every day be a Thanksgiving day for everyone everywhere.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Happy Thanksgiving Day – Every Day!
Enjoy! – Beautiful Gratitude Video
Narrated by Brother David Steindl-Rast
Awakening to a New Day, in a New Way
~ Ron’s Memoirs
“Nothing Real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.”
~ A Course In Miracles
“Perception is a mirror not a fact.
And what I look on is my state of mind, reflected outward.”
~ A Course In Miracles
“Time, space and causation are like the glass through which the Absolute is seen.
In the Absolute there is neither time, space nor causation.”
~ Swami Vivekananda
“Forgiveness is the demonstration that you are the light of the world. Through your forgiveness does the truth about your Self return to your memory. Therefore, in your forgiveness lies your salvation.”
~ A Course in Miracles
When you meet anyone, remember it is a holy encounter.
As you see him, you will see yourself. As you treat him, you will treat yourself.
As you think of him, you will think of yourself.
Never forget this, for in him you will find yourself or lose sight of yourself.”
~ A Course in Miracles (ACIM)
“Miracles occur naturally as expressions of love.
The real miracle is the love that inspires them.
In this sense everything that comes from love is a miracle.”
~ A Course in Miracles
“The spiritual journey is the unlearning of fear
and the acceptance of love.”
~ Marianne Williamson
“The spiritual path –
is simply the journey of living our lives.
Everyone is on a spiritual path;
most people just don’t know it.”
~ Marianne Williamson
“I can elect to change all thoughts that hurt.”
~ A Course In Miracles
“The only thing we have to fear is…fear itself
— nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”
~ Franklin D. Roosevelt
“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear,
. . . . and the one who fears is not perfected in love.”
~ 1 John 4:18
“[D]eep down, at our cores, there are only two emotions: love and fear. All positive emotions come from love, all negative emotions from fear. From love flows happiness, contentment, peace, and joy. From fear comes anger, hate, anxiety and guilt.”
~ Elisabeth Kubler-Ross; David Kessler
“Love blesses the world; fear afflicts it. ”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“The more you are motivated by Love,
The more fearless and free your action will be.”
~ Dalai Lama
“Fear arises through identification with form, whether it be a material possession, a physical body, a social role, a self-image, a thought, or an emotion. It arises through unawareness of the formless inner dimension of consciousness or spirit, which is the essence of who you are. You are trapped in object consciousness, unaware of the dimension of inner space which alone is true freedom.”
~ Eckhart Tolle
“If you have fear of some pain or suffering, you should examine whether there is anything you can do about it. If you can, there is no need to worry about it; if you cannot do anything, then there is also no need to worry.”
~ Dalai Lama
“Those who fear suffering, suffer from fear.”
~ French Proverb
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life.
A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
~ Mark Twain
“To be afraid of dying
is like being afraid of discarding an old worn-out garment.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
“Fear of death is fear of life; so
face death to live life.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“You are not a mortal; you are immortal.
So never fear being a non-being.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Our deepest fears
hide our highest potentials.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“As we lose our fear of leaving life,
we gain the art of living life.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“There is a light that shines beyond all things on Earth,
… beyond the highest, the very highest heavens.
This is the light that shines in your Heart.”
~ Chandogya Upanishad 3.13.7
Dear Friends,
I awakened today to a new day, in an new way – fearlessly remembering and BEING my eternal identity as infinitely powerful Divine LOVE.
Over a century ago both my maternal and paternal ancestors fled Ukraine to escape from Tsarist persecutions for their Jewish religious practices. My parents were Rattner surname first cousins, whose families all lived near Kiev. And my father and his extended family fled for their lives from a Ukrainian village similar to the fictional village portrayed in Fiddler on the Roof, the popular Broadway play and film.
Into that unusual Rattner surname Ukrainian lineage, I was born on election day November 8th, 1932, when Franklin D. Roosevelt was first elected 32nd President of the USA, during a great global depression, when many were unemployed hungry and suffering from intense fear and exploitation. In his first inaugural address FDR wisely observed that
“The only thing we have to fear is…fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”
~ Franklin D. Roosevelt
On midterm election day November 8th, 2022, I survived to be 90 years old, the longest lived Rattner surname male. All the rest of the Rattner men died in their 70’s except my father and maternal grandfather who lived until age 89.
At age ninety, I’ve miraculously survived at an extraordinary time in world history when war in Ukraine and worldwide insanity threatens the lives of all humans, not just Jews.
Based on eons of human experience of dealing with inevitable ups and downs of earth life and with our inability to live without making mistakes, I awakened today in a new way.
I remembered that our thoughts create our reality, which is a persistent illusion, and that it is possible for each of us to live lovingly without fear and suffering.
That life on Earth is an experiment in time, in which most humans have forgotten our only true identity and eternal Reality, which is eternal LOVE beyond fear and suffering.
That we are infinitely potential divine souls created and enveloped as Mother/Father/God beyond time. And with complete faith in Divine Grace I have given my irrevocable power of attorney to Mother/Father/God to non-judgmentally karmically forgive and bless all life as LOVE.
And I’ve determined to freely offer love and forgiveness to every one of those with whom I interact in my daily life, no matter how it appears that they’re behaving. We’re all divine and beloved children of Mother/Father/God, and to be so loved and appreciated is our God-given right. Any other state of being is impossible. So there is nothing to fear – EVER.
Therefore, I’ve decided with the Grace of God to live lovingly and fearlessly beyond Earth time, beyond Hereness/Thereness -
As just Awareness –
NOW!
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
