Posts Tagged ‘Deepak Chopra’
“Finding Freedom” as the Spiritual message of the Passover story
“Be empty of worrying,
Think of Who Created Thought!
Why do you stay in prison
when the door is so wide open?”
~ Rumi
“You will know the truth,
and the truth will set you free.”
~ John 8:32
“Go down, Moses, way down in Egypt land
Tell old Pharaoh to let my people go.”
~ Afro-American Spiritual Song
“Free at last, free at last.
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.”
~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
“We are shackled by illusory bonds of belief.
Freedom is beyond belief.”
~ Ron Rattner – Sutra Sayings
“There is only one central issue, crisis, or challenge for man,
which is, that he must be completely free.
As long as the mind is holding on to a structure, a method, a system, there is no freedom.”
~ J. Krishnamurti
“Freedom is not a reaction; freedom is not a choice.
Freedom is found in the choiceless awareness
of our daily existence and activity.”
~ J. Krishnamurti
“Bondage is of the mind; freedom too is of the mind.
If you say ‘I am a free soul.
I am a son of God who can bind me’
free you shall be.”
~ Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa
“The moment I have realized God sitting in the temple of every human body, the moment I stand in reverence before every human being and see God in him–
that moment I am free from bondage,
everything that binds vanishes, and I am free.”
~ Swami Vivekananda
All life is an effort to attain freedom from self-created entanglement;
it is a desperate struggle to undo what has been done under ignorance,
to throw away the accumulated burden of the past,
to find rescue from the debris left by a series of temporary achievements and failures.”
~ Meher Baba
“Freedom is of the nature of the soul, it is its birthright:
.. real freedom of the soul shines through veils of matter
in the form of the apparent freedom of man.”
~ Swami Vivekananda
“To acquire freedom we have to get beyond the limitations of this universe;
it cannot be found here. ….
The only way to come out of bondage
is to go beyond the limitations of [karmic] law,
to go beyond causation.”
~ Swami Vivekananda
“Liberation is our very nature. We are that.
The very fact that we wish for liberation
shows that freedom from all bondage is our real nature.”
~ Ramana Maharshi
“Spiritual freedom is freedom from all wanting. . .
When the soul breaks asunder the shackles of wanting,
it is emancipated from bondage to body, mind, and ego.
This freedom brings realization of the unity of all life
and puts an end to all doubts and worries.”
~ Meher Baba
“True freedom and the end of suffering
is living in such a way as if you had completely chosen
whatever you feel or experience at this moment.
This inner alignment with Now is the end of suffering.”
~ Eckhart Tolle
“The most fundamental message of Gautama the Buddha is not God, is not soul… it is freedom: freedom absolute, total, unconditional. He does not want to give you an ideology, because every ideology creates its own slavery. He does not want to give you a religion, because religion binds you.”
~ Osho
“We are shackled by illusory bonds of belief.
Freedom is beyond belief.”
~ Ron Rattner – Sutra Sayings
“You are truly free when you are not a person.”
~ Deepak Chopra – The Book of Secrets
When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every tenement and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old spiritual,
“Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.”
~ Martin Luther King, Jr. — “I Have a Dream” speech, August 28, 1963
“Finding Freedom”
Ron’s introduction to “Finding Freedom” as the spiritual message of the biblical Passover story
Dear Friends,
Happy Easter/Passover/Ramadan/Navratri/Nowruz etc. vernal holiday season!
As Passover begins today, this posting explains why metaphorically “Finding Freedom” as Eternal LOVE is the spiritual message of the biblical Passover story, and the transcendental inner goal of all non-dual religious, ethical and perennial wisdom paths.
Most people associate “freedom” with personal, political, and economic liberty. But spiritual freedom is an extraordinarily rare transcendental state which can be inwardly attained even by those who do not enjoy external freedoms, like slaves or prison inmates.
Only after my 1976 spiritual awakening, did I begin reflecting upon and discovering inner spiritual freedom.
My Background in “Finding Freedom”
I first deeply reflected on transcendental concepts of “freedom” during the 1950’s on learning of Abraham Maslow’s humanistic psychology theories concerning self-actuated people, and when I read “Escape From Freedom” by German-born psychotherapist Erich Fromm, who endorsed the fundamental importance of not submitting to outer-dictates from an authoritarian societal system that prescribes inauthentic beliefs and behaviors.
Though I’ve always been instinctively inner-directed, after becoming a lawyer I rarely reflected about inner “freedom” until I had a memorable face-to-face exchange with my beloved Guruji, Shri Dhyanyogi Madhusudandas, just prior to his 1980 return to India.
While then residing in my apartment, Guruji told me: “Rasik, a yogi’s body is like a baby’s body. Your body is like a prison. I am like a jailer with the prison key. I come and go as I please.”
Thereupon, I became intensely curious about Guruji’s surprising revelation that my body was “like a prison”. And I wondered how and why ‘I’ was ‘imprisoned’, and how ‘I’ could get out of ‘jail’ – free like Guruji. So I began deeply exploring inner spiritual freedom, as distinguished from personal, political, and economic freedoms.
Soon, I was reminded of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legendary “I Have a Dream” speech, and wondered why his words “Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last” were so deeply powerful.
Ultimately, I realized that those words were rooted in the biblical Exodus Passover story; and I intuited that spiritual “freedom” is the essential mythical message of that story. I concluded that the Passover story symbolically emphasizes escape from outer bondage to a Divinely ‘promised land’ within – viz. escape from enslavement by mistaken beliefs in false external idols, Gods or goals to an inner ‘promised land’ of ONE eternal Divinity imminent in each of us.
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is ONE!”
~ Deuteronomy 6:4
Later, I noted that Jesus powerfully alluded to spiritual freedom by prophesying:
“You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
~ John 8:32
So Jesus was teaching that we will find freedom (from psychologically self-imposed worldly slavery) only when we transcend entity identity, and commonly self-identify as ONE Divine spirit – the kingdom of heaven within – rather than as embodied personalities,
supposedly separate from each other and Nature.
Ultimately, I concluded that our limited and limiting ego ideas about separate self-identity and reality confine each of us within a kind of psychological prison in which suffering is inevitable, and which restricts realization of our infinite potentialities.
However, the masters teach and demonstrate that we can each mentally transcend that “prison” and emerge “free at last” from our self-woven karmic cocoons, no matter what our outer circumstances.
Thus, Rumi reminded us:
“Be empty of worrying,
Think of Who Created Thought!
Why do you stay in prison
when the door is so wide open?”
~ Rumi
The ultimate possibility of getting out of thought-jail FREE is explained in the foregoing quotations and following sutra-essay. May these writings encourage our evolution to precious inner freedom, our divine birthright.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Sutra-essay: How can we find “Freedom”?
Q. What is “freedom”, and how can we experience it?
A. “Freedom” is a word with different meanings.
Here we define “freedom” as ultimate spiritual Reality beyond thought or ego – beyond human comprehension, imagination, description or belief – which can only be known experientially, not rationally or mentally.
Ultimate “freedom” is our divine birthright, our nature and our destiny. Freedom is ever NOW, never then. Knowingly or unknowingly, all people – including atheists, non-theists, and agnostics – long for “freedom”.
After mystically experiencing “freedom”, great beings like Jesus, the Buddha and Krishna have encouraged us to aspire to this ultimate transcendent experience. Mystics say that as long we self-identify only with our thoughts in ever changing space/time/causality reality we are inescapably ‘imprisoned’ in a state of psychological bondage, with inevitable suffering; that we experience ultimate “freedom” only in the present moment – the NOW – as we choicelessly self-identify with timeless universal awareness or spirit immanent in each of us. And essential non-dualistic wisdom teachings of all enduring spiritual, mystical and mythic paths allude to spiritual “freedom”.
Thus, the most important Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita, is a teaching by Divine Avatar Krishna about the ultimate spiritual goal (“moksha”) of liberation or “freedom” from the cycle of death and rebirth (“samsara”).
Similarly, all of Gautama Buddha’s teachings were aimed at ending human suffering through attainment of “freedom” from mental fetters or chains (samyojana) of mistaken self-identification with samsara.
When Jesus said: “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32) he meant that we will experience “freedom” on realizing our true self-identity as eternal soul or spirit. And in declaring: “I and the Father are One” (John 10:30), Jesus showed that we can only find such freedom when we self-identify with ONE Divine spirit – the kingdom of heaven within – rather than as supposedly separate embodied personalities.
“Finding Freedom” is the spiritual message of the biblical Passover story.
Many Jews and Christians annually remember and ritually observe the biblical Exodus story about God miraculously rescuing Jews from bondage as slaves in Egypt, with Christians recalling that a Passover Seder dinner was Jesus’ last supper. Some Afro-American Christians celebrate by singing the popular spiritual song “Go Down Moses”
.
The Exodus story symbolizes humanity’s eternal quest for spiritual freedom – for societal escape from enslavement by mistaken beliefs in false external Gods or goals to an inner ‘promised land’ of ONE eternal Divinity universally imminent as LOVE within each of us, regardless of religious or spiritual beliefs. So Passover rituals of lighting outer candles, can symbolically remind us of humanity’s perpetual quest for the eternal inner light of universal freedom.
Conclusions
1) We find and experience ultimate freedom only in choiceless awareness that we are ONE Universal LOVE, beyond our apparent subject/object separateness; and beyond our beliefs, religions, ideologies or philosophies.
2) By recognizing and transcending illusory belief barriers which seem to imprison us, we are –
“Free at last, free at last!”
~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
3) The current era of worldwide turmoil and war, with global fear and suffering is paradoxically a time of both our species’ apparent catastrophic threat to all Earth-life, and an unprecedented opportunity for a wonderful new era of peace and prosperity.
4) This is impelling a “critical mass” of humankind to deeply reconsider our life purposes and priorities as sentient Earth beings instinctively seeking “freedom” as our Divine birthright.
5) Whatever our outer life circumstances, there always exists within us a God-given egoless state of “freedom” as LOVE, attainable by all humans.
Dedication
This “Finding Freedom” posting is deeply dedicated to inspiring our destined spiritual realization of that wonderful world, beyond fear and suffering, where we shall be “Free at last, free at last!”
Please enjoy and consider it’s key quotations, sutra-essay and comments, and embedded spiritual music explaining that ultimate “Freedom”, is spiritual freedom as Eternal LOVE, which is the transcendental goal of all perennial wisdom paths.
Invocation
May today’s writings and music
inspire our instinctive and destined realization
of a wonderful world of LOVE
where we are “Free at last, free at last.”
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
“Go Down Moses”
Afro-American spiritual about exodus story, sung by Louis Armstrong and chorus.
Synchronicity Story: Dr. King, Alice Walker, Mumia Abu-Jamal, and “If I Was President”
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality,
tied in a single garment of destiny.
Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
“We must learn to live together as brothers
or perish together as fools.”
“The choice is not between violence and nonviolence,
but between nonviolence and nonexistence.”
~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“If I was President
The first thing I would do
is call Mumia Abu-Jamal.”
~ Alice Walker
Dare to be a nonconformist.
Society rewards conformers.
But, posterity honors reformers.
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
Let us elevate our aspirations,
from the bottom line to the highest good.
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
In these critical times,
we need a critical mass
to solve our critical mess.
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. – January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968
Ron’s Introduction.
Dear Friends,
Today’s posting honors American hero and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on his 94th birthday anniversary.
Sixty years have passed since Dr. King’s 1963 “dream” speech, and his later assassination at age 39. Yet, as discussed in my following commentary, the US population still endures most of the flagrant societal injustices Dr. King addressed – and which were noted by Alice Walker in today’s synchronicity story about her poem “If I Was President”, including unjust imprisonment of countless political truth-tellers and societal reformers, like Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Nonetheless, I again share this amazing synchronicity story with the deepest faith that together we can and will awaken the world from its present fearful ‘nightmare’ to realize Dr. King’s prophetic ‘dream’:
That ‘free at last’, we will honor the equality and divinity of everyone everywhere, and thereby transcend exploitation and discrimination against the world’s most vulnerable people, using our common-wealth for our common-weal to end the iniquity of inequity in our society.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Synchronicity Story.
One January morning I received an email notice of an archived lecture about departed hero Dr.Martin Luther King, Jr. given by poet, author, and Buddhist peace activist Alice Walker, in Atlanta in 2006. The lecture was entitled “We Are The Ones We Have Been Waiting For.” [a YouTube video is linked below]
Because of my great respect for Dr. King as a national hero, and for Alice Walker’s wisdom, artistic genius and exemplary engagement in non-violent peace activism, I listened to the lecture. It was eloquent and moving.
At one point Alice Walker noted the posthumous persistence of social problems addressed by Dr. King before he was assassinated, and she cited as emblematic of our continuing societal injustices the political incarceration and threatened execution of brilliant truth teller journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal, following his eggregiously wrongful political conviction for a crime committed by someone else.
Mumia Abu-Jamal
Especially, because I regard Abu-Jamal as an unjustly imprisoned ‘great soul’ who was subjected to an extraordinarily unjust trial, I had been amongst the millions world-wide protesting his political incarceration and threatened execution.
Synchronistically, a couple of hours after I listened to the Alice Walker lecture mentioning Abu-Jamal, I received a rare phone call from Prison Radio, a charitable organization dedicated to recording and distributing worldwide weekly radio commentaries by Abu-Jamal then telephoned from death row. (If interested you can listen to those commentaries at the Prison Radio website http://www.prisonradio.org/.)
The caller, Sharyn, invited me to a house party at which Abu-Jamal’s current legal situation was to be be discussed in depth. I told Sharyn that I had just been thinking about Mumia because of Alice Walker’s reference to him in her eloquent Atlanta talk about Dr. King. In response, Sharyn told me that shortly before she called me, Prison Radio had that day just received a new poem written and sent by Alice Walker from Mexico about Mumia and other prominent political prisoners.
Entitled, “If I Was President”, the opening lines of the poem say:
“If I was President
The first thing I would do
is call Mumia Abu-Jamal.”
Alice Walker
Synchronicity Questions and Reflections.
So why did the universe decide to synchronistically communicate with me that day through Dr. King, Alice Walker and Prison Radio about Mumia Abu-Jamal? It is a mystery, and a reminder of how little we understand our miraculous world “reality”.
From space/time perspective, synchronicities are noteworthy or meaningful coincidences in time. But from a cosmic perspective serial time is just an illusory way we think. So Albert Einstein has said:
“People … who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”
Inspired by Einstein I have tentatively explained such synchroncities this way:
“Synchronicities are noteworthy “coincidences” in time,
which show us that in Nature,
there is no time and there are no “coincidences –
that everything that is, was, or will be is NOW;
that everything happens in harmony and synchrony
concurrently, not coincidentally.
Synchronicities are like Nature’s positive “bio-feedback’ or ‘radar’ signals showing when we are existing out of time and in the eternal NOW.”
And here is an interesting quote from Deepak Chopra:
“According to Vedanta, there are only two symptoms of enlightenment, just two indications that a transformation is taking place within you toward a higher consciousness. The first symptom is that you stop worrying. Things don’t bother you anymore. You become light hearted and full of joy. The second symptom is that you encounter more and more meaningful coincidences in your life, more and more synchronicities. And this accelerates to the point where you actually experience the miraculous.”
How do you explain synchronicities in your life?
Whether or not we can ever really explain mysterious synchronicities, may they ever infuse us with feelings of awe and gratitude for our interdependence with all miraculous and mysterious Life on this precious planet.
Alice Walker: “We Are The Ones We Have Been Waiting For.”
Ron’s Commentary Honoring Dr. King.
Dear Friends,
On the 94th birthday anniversary of departed hero Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., let us join countless others worldwide in honoring and ardently following his visionary legacy of nonviolently seeking world peace and social justice with forgiveness and Love.
Regrettably realization of Dr. King’s vision of world harmony still seems distant, as societal problems he addressed more than half a century ago perilously persist. Moreover, threats of nuclear and ecological holocaust appear more imminent than ever before, as the US empire continues to insanely squander more than than half its budget on wars and weapons, while neglecting the human rights of most of its own citizens, as well as countless other innocent victims worldwide.
Dr. King’s history.
Dr. King was a fourth generation Baptist preacher and non-violent peace and social justice activist especially inspired by Jesus and Mahatma Gandhi. He honored and followed Gandhi as “guiding light …. of nonviolent social change’’, and in 1959 journeyed to India to study Gandhian methods. On arrival there, King said:
“To other countries, I may go as a tourist,
but to India, I come as a pilgrim.”
Afterwards, inspired by Jesus and Gandhi, Dr. King ardently preached non-violence, saying
“We must learn to live together as brothers
or perish together as fools.”
“The choice is not between violence and nonviolence but between nonviolence and nonexistence.”
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
Ultimately, Dr. King’s life paralleled Gandhi’s life. Each began as an outspoken advocate of inter-racial equality and social justice in racially segregated societies: Gandhi as a South African civil rights lawyer; and King as a Southern-Baptist preacher. Gradually their missions expanded to encompass universal peace, freedom and social justice for everyone everywhere.
Gandhi ultimately inspired independence of the entire Indian subcontinent from almost a century of colonial domination and exploitation by the British raj.
Dr. King conscientiously and eloquently decried the fraudulent and immoral US war in Viet Nam, and the entire exploitive US corporate capitalist economic system which fostered perpetual war for perpetual profit of a privileged few, to the undemocratic detriment of an impoverished majority. He said:
“I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today: my own government.”
“Capitalism does not permit an even flow of economic resources. With this system, a small privileged few are rich beyond conscience, and almost all others are doomed to be poor at some level. That’s the way the system works. And since we know that the system will not change the rules, we are going to have to change the system.”
“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.”
“Don’t let anybody make you think God chose America as His divine messianic force to be a sort of policeman of the whole world.” .. “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”
“The choice is not between violence and nonviolence but between nonviolence and nonexistence.”
Like Jesus and Gandhi, Reverend King preached love and forgiveness, saying:
“At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love.”
“We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.”
“The time is always right to do what is right.”
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
1964 Nobel Peace Prize.
In 1964 Dr. King was awarded and humbly accepted the Nobel Peace Prize, as ‘trustee’ for countless unknown others. And he cited Mahatma Gandhi’s success in India as a key precedent encouraging nonviolent civil rights activism in the USA, saying:
“This [nonviolent] approach to the problem of racial injustice …. was used in a magnificent way by Mohandas K. Gandhi to challenge the might of the British Empire and free his people from the political domination and economic exploitation inflicted upon them for centuries.”
And Dr. King described how (because of technological advances which threaten global nuclear/ecological catastrophe) the survival of humanity depends upon our nonviolently solving
“the problems of racial injustice, poverty, and war” by “living in harmony” with “all-embracing and unconditional love for all men”.
Eloquently he explained unconditional love as
“that force which all of the great religions [Hindu-Moslem-Christian-Jewish-Buddhist] have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. . . . the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate Reality.”
Dr. King’s 1968 Martyrdom.
Like Jesus and Gandhi, Reverend King was martyred at the pinnacle of his powers. Dr. King (like President John F. Kennedy) was assassinated by the US military/industrial secret government when his expanding influence became an intolerable barrier to their psychopathic war plans for Viet Nam and beyond.
Concluding Dedication and Invocation.
To honor Dr. King’s lasting legacy as one of the greatest Americans who ever lived, I have shared this posting with deepest faith that together we can and will awaken the world from its present fearful ‘nightmare’ to realize Dr. King’s visionary ‘dream’ of worldwide peace and justice, with love and forgiveness.
That ‘free at last’, we will honor the equality and divinity of everyone everywhere, and thereby transcend immoral exploitation and discrimination against the world’s most vulnerable people, using our common-wealth for our common-weal to end the iniquity of inequity in our society.
So that as Abraham Lincoln envisioned:
“Under God, [we] shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
“Harmony”
~ Quotation Collection
“Love is the energizing elixir of the Universe,
the cause and effect of all Harmony.”
~ Rumi
“When there is harmony
between the mind, heart and resolution
then nothing is impossible.”
~ Rig Veda
“Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another . . And over all these virtues put on LOVE, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”
~ Colossians 3: 12-17
“Let us live in harmless harmony,
and stay in cosmic synchrony,
as we play in Nature’s symphony.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
Ron’s introduction to “Harmony” ~ Quotation Collection
Dear Friends,
Over thirty years ago I began deeply reflecting about the crucial importance of living harmoniously with each other and Nature. Since then I’ve accumulated the following treasury of inspiring quotations about “Harmony”, which express ever enduring ideas and ideals of fundamental spiritual significance.
May these quotations encourage and inspire our harmonious thoughts, emotions and behaviors to help heal the world, beyond illusory perceived separation from Nature and each other.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Quotations and Sayings about “Harmony”
“Harmony is the secret principle of life.”
~ Paramahansa Yogananda
“When there is harmony between the mind, heart and resolution
then nothing is impossible.”
~ Rig Veda
”Neither human wisdom nor divine inspiration
can confer upon man any greater blessing than
[to live a life of happiness and harmony here on earth].”
~ Plato
“Clothe yourselves with compassion,
kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
Bear with each other and forgive one another . .
And over all these virtues put on LOVE,
which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”
~ Colossians 3: 12-17
“Love is the energizing elixir of the Universe,
the cause and effect of all Harmony.”
~ Rumi
“(A)ll problems of existence are essentially problems of harmony.”
~ Sri Aurobindo
“The heart and mind can find peace and harmony
by contemplating the transcendental nature
of the true Self as supreme effulgent life.”
~ Patanjali
“Where the heart is full of kindness which seeks no injury to another,
either in act or thought or wish, this full love creates an atmosphere of harmony,
whose benign power touches with healing all who come within its influence.
Peace in the heart radiates peace to other hearts,
even more surely than contention breeds contention.”
~ Patanjali, Yoga Sutra
“Affirm divine calmness and peace,
and send out only thoughts of love and goodwill
if you want to live in peace and harmony.
Never get angry, for anger poisons your system.”
~ Paramahansa Yogananda
“A harmonized mind produces harmony
in this world of seeming discord.”
~ Paramahansa Yogananda
“Go forth in every direction –
for the happiness, the harmony, the welfare of the many.
Offer your heart, the seeds of understanding,
like a lamp overturned and re-lit, illuminating the darkness.”
~ Buddha
“The life ahead can only be glorious
if you learn to live in total harmony with the Lord.”
~ Shirdi Sai Baba
“Happiness is when what you think,
what you say,
and what you do are in harmony.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
“Virtue is harmony.”
~ Pythagoras
“God reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists.”
~ Albert Einstein
“Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed.
Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
“The sage is one with the world,
and lives in harmony with it.”
~ Lao Tzu
”One who lives in accordance with nature
does not go against the way of things,
but moves in harmony with the present moment.”
~ Lao Tzu
“He who lives in harmony with himself
lives in harmony with the universe.”
~ Marcus Aurelius
“The essence of saintliness is total acceptance of the present moment, harmony with things as they happen.”
~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
“If only the whole world could feel the power of harmony.”
~ Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
”The superior person is in Harmony,
but does not follow the crowd.
The lesser person follows the crowd,
but is not in Harmony.”
~ Confucius
“Love opens all doors,
no matter how tightly closed they may be,
no matter how rusty from lack of use.
Your work is to bring unity and harmony,
to open all those doors which have been closed for a long time.
Have patience and tolerance. Open your heart all the time.”
~ Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
“The life of this world is nothing but the harmony of opposites”
~ Rumi
“Where there is discord,
let us sow Harmony.”
~ Peace Prayer attributed to St. Francis of Assisi
”Without law or compulsion,
men would dwell in harmony.”
~ Lao Tzu
As soon as laws are necessary for men,
they are no longer fit for freedom.
~ Pythagoras
”Happy the man whose lot it is to know
The secrets of the earth.
He hastens not
To work his fellows hurt by unjust deeds,
But with rapt admiration contemplates
Immortal Nature’s ageless harmony,
And how and when the order came to be.”
~ Euripides
”To have a positive religion is not necessary.
To be in harmony with yourself and the universe is what counts,
and this is possible without positive and specific formulation in words.”
~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“The unlike is joined together,
and from differences results the most beautiful harmony.”
~ Heraclitus
”Mutual respect and mutual listening
are the foundations of harmony within the family.”
~ Buddha
“Harmony can not thrive in a climate of
mistrust, cheating, bullying; mean-spirited competition.”
~ Dalai Lama
”Wherever I go meeting the public… spreading a message of human values … [and] harmony, is the most important thing.”
~ Dalai Lama
”If you want peace and harmony in the world,
you must have peace and harmony in your hearts and minds.”
~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
“Happiness is not a matter of intensity
but of balance and order and rhythm and harmony.”
~ Thomas Merton
”Harmony sinks deep into the recesses of the soul
and takes its strongest hold there,
bringing grace also to the body and mind as well.
Music is a moral law. It gives a soul to the universe,
wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, a charm to sadness,
and life to everything. It is the essence of order.”
~ Plato
”Music then is simply the result of the effects of Love on rhythm and harmony.”
~ Plato
”Music is an agreeable harmony for the honor of God
and the permissible delights of the soul.”
”Harmony is next to Godliness”
~ Johann Sebastian Bach
“If only the whole world could feel the power of harmony.”
~ Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
“Every element has a sound, an original sound from the order of God; all those sounds unite like the harmony from harps and zithers.”
~ Hildegard of Bingen
“A life in harmony with nature,
the love of truth and virtue,
will purge the eyes to understanding her text.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
“With an eye made quiet by the power of harmony,
and the deep power of joy,
we see into the life of things.”
~ William Wordsworth
“Life’s errors cry for the merciful beauty
that can modulate their isolation
into a harmony with the whole.”
~ Rabindranath Tagore
“The highest education is that
which does not merely give us information
but makes our life in harmony with all existence.”
~ Rabindranath Tagore
“Training the intellect does not result in intelligence.
Intelligence comes into being when one acts in perfect harmony,
both intellectually and emotionally.”
~ J. Krishnamurti
“As long as people will shed the blood of innocent creatures
there can be no peace, no liberty, no harmony between people.
Slaughter and justice cannot dwell together.”
~ Isaac Bashevis Singer
”I believe in Spinoza’s God, who reveals Himself in the lawful harmony of the world, not in a God who concerns Himself with the fate and the doings of mankind…”
~ Albert Einstein
”The harmony of natural law reveals an Intelligence of such superiority that, compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection.”
~ Albert Einstein
“In art, and in the higher ranges of science,
there is a feeling of harmony which underlies all endeavor.
There is no true greatness in art or science
without that sense of harmony.”
~ Albert Einstein
“My feeling is religious insofar as I am imbued
with the consciousness of the insufficiency of the human mind
to understand more deeply the harmony of the Universe
which we try to formulate as “laws of nature”
~ Albert Einstein
”Today wherever you go, carry the intention of peace, love, and harmony in your heart.”
“Just as light brightens darkness, discovering inner fulfillment can eliminate any disorder or discomfort. This is truly the key to creating balance and harmony in everything you do.”
~ Deepak Chopra
”There is great freedom in simplicity of living,
and after I began to feel this,
I found harmony in my life between inner and outer well-being.
There is a great deal to be said about such harmony,
not only for an individual life but also for the life of a society.
It’s because as a world we have gotten ourselves so far out of harmony,
so way off on the material side, that when we discover something like nuclear energy we are still capable of putting it into a bomb and using it to kill people!
This is because our inner well-being lags so far behind our outer well-being.”
~ Peace Pilgrim
”Everyone has the perfect gift to give the world- and if each of us is freed up to give our unique gift, the world will be in total harmony.”
~ R. Buckminster Fuller
“Beauty of style and harmony and grace and good rhythm depend on simplicity.”
~ Plato (The Republic)
“Out of clutter find simplicity.
From discord make harmony.
In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”
~ Albert Einstein
“The simplification of life is one of the steps to inner peace.
A persistent simplification will create an inner and outer well-being
that places harmony in one’s life.”
~ Peace Pilgrim
“Adversity draws men together and produces beauty and harmony in life’s relationships, just as the cold of winter produces ice-flowers on the window-panes, which vanish with the warmth.”
~ Soren Kierkegaard
“Harmony with land is like harmony with a friend;
you cannot cherish his right hand and chop off his left”
~ Aldo Leopold
“Live harmlessly in Harmony.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“How can there be harm in me,
when I’m in harmless Harmony?”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Let us live in harmless harmony,
and stay in cosmic synchrony,
as we play in Nature’s symphony.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Don’t disrupt and polarize,
but syncretize and harmonize.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Farewell Carol:
Tribute to an Unforgettable Friend
~ Ron’s Memoirs
“May the Lord give you peace.”
~ St. Francis of Assisi
“You are not a drop in the ocean.
You are the entire ocean in a drop.”
~ Rumi
Carol Schuldt, ‘Queen of the Beach’, (6/26/33–12/01/18)
Ron’s Introduction.
Dear Friends,
June 26, 2022 is the 89th birthday anniversary of my unforgettable departed friend Carol Schuldt. Carol was an extraordinarily intuitive free spirit, whose authentic and inner directed spiritual life was in inspiration for me and countless others.
Diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and heart failure, Carol painlessly left her body at age 85 on December 1st, 2018. A week later her body was interred in a wild nature place overlooking the Pacific Ocean, after spontaneous rituals and stories were shared by Carol’s friends on a beautiful sunny afternoon.
In tribute to Carol, this posting recounts my memoirs of our friendship, outlines Carol’s extraordinary spiritual history, tells a miraculous synchronicity story about how I tearfully bid her farewell through our shared synchronistic harmony with St. Francis of Assisi, and concludes with my eulogy to Carol.
Carol Schuldt & Ron Rattner, @ Ron’s 80th birthday party, 11/11/’12
Background
Carol was a a legendary San Franciscan, sometimes known as ‘Queen of the Beach’ or ‘Mother Teresa of the Sunset’. She lived as a life-long nature lover and natural born shaman, authentically, intuitively, generously and spontaneously. (See Carol’s SF Chronicle obituary)
Carol and I had innumerable synchronistic encounters, after we first met in the 1980’s. And we repeatedly shared our many ‘miraculous’ synchronicity stories (a few of which are posted here on SillySutras.com).
Before meeting Carol, I miraculously ‘discovered’ and became a lover of St. Francis of Assisi. And soon after meeting Carol, I regarded her as a ‘female St. Francis’ who constantly communed with Nature, even with the sun, the moon, and many nonhuman lifeforms.
So in tribute to Carol’s transition, I write now about her spiritual history, and how I tearfully bid her farewell through our shared synchronistic harmony with St. Francis of Assisi.
Summary of Carol’s spiritual history.
Carol and I first met long ago while sitting at Aquatic Beach on San Francisco Bay (across from Ghirardelli Square), where I walked and where she often came to escape ocean fog and swim in the sun (without a wet suit). Afterwards we exchanged many “miracle” stories about our lives stemming from our countless experiences of synchronicities, or meaningful ‘coincidences’.
I deeply appreciated Carol as an amazingly free spirit with great instinctive wisdom and generosity. Before we met, she’d already become a ‘living legend’ throughout and beyond her San Francisco ocean front neighborhood. And many stories were written or told about her. For example, an excellent story: “A Benevolent Queen of the Beach” appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle on September 25, 2000. And in 2005 Carol was interviewed on film by the SF Public Library, about her history and life in the ‘hippie’ 1960’s.
The Chronicle article told of Carol’s exceptional inner wisdom even from childhood, when at Catholic school she adamantly refused to worship a bloody Christ on a crucifix, and was the only child exempted therefrom by the nuns, who recognized her wisdom.
The article also told how Carol had dedicated her life to helping troubled souls – especially young people. But that paradoxically Carol experienced great family tragedy with all of her three children: her two daughters whose lives were lastingly impacted by drug addiction, and her son Pete who was permanently brain damaged in a childhood car accident. Because of her great generosity, especially toward needy young people, Carol was sometimes known as the “Mother Teresa of the Sunset District”. And as a daily swimmer/surfer she also became known as ‘Queen of the Beach’.
From childhood Carol was an extraordinarily intuitive free spirit. She never knowingly followed any prescribed Western or Eastern religious path, despite attempted childhood Catholic inculcation. Instead, she instinctively followed her own unique spiritual path of communing with Nature while surfing, swimming, sunning, hiking, biking, organic gardening, and helping troubled souls – especially young people.
Carol’s muraled house and organic garden.
Carol’s muraled house and aesthetic organic garden have symbolized her unique lifestyle as a ‘female St. Francis’. Especially noteworthy is an artistically beautiful St. Francis of Assisi “Peace & Joy” mural at her home’s entryway – a delightfully surprising tourist attraction for visitors to San Francisco’s ocean beach area. On Carol’s roof top (above the mural) is an artistic portrayal of ‘Brother sun’, her main deity, and unfurled above the roof is a red Tibetan prayer flag, symbolizing Carol’s respect for the Tibetan culture and Dalai Lama.
Thus Carol’s house has eloquently exemplified her simple inner-directed life of instinctively communing with Nature, often without concern for outer–directed societal standards.
Carol’s St. Francis mural
Ron’s Synchronicity Story: “Goodbye St. Francis”= Farewell Carol
During forty years of living in the same San Francisco high-rise hermitage, my apartment has been adorned with many pictures and portrayals of St. Francis, my favorite saint, and of the peace prayer which he inspired. And until four years ago St. Francis in a stone statue also presided over my outside deck garden.
But in July 2018, I was obliged to remove everything from my outdoor deck so it could be renovated and repainted. Thereafter, I realized that I could no longer physically maintain my deck-top garden. So I decided to give away the plants and planters blessed by my St. Francis statue. While I was looking for new homes for my plants, the St. Francis statue was kept in an inconspicuous corner of my bedroom which was temporarily filled with many deck plants.
On December 1, 2018, my long-time neighbor and community gardener friend, Jan Monaghan, came to take pictures of my plants and planters, to help me find a new home for them. While showing Jan the St. Francis statue, I suddenly and inexplicably started crying, thinking and saying “goodbye Saint Francis”. Thereafter for several hours I remained tearful.
The next day, Sunday December 2nd, I learned (via email) that Carol’s soul had departed her body Saturday evening, and I intuited that while Ron was tearfully saying goodbye to St. Francis Carol’s soul was astrally bidding Ron ‘adieu’.
On Monday morning, realizing that my St. Francis statue needed a proper and prominent new place to stand, I decided to move it to my my high-rise hermitage view living room, where I spend most indoor waking hours. So I telepathically told the saint in the statue that (on returning from a brief walk) I was moving him to a perfect place on my living room wool carpet, and that I would find an appropriate indoor pedestal for him there ASAP.
Soon thereafter, I took a brief walk on nearby Vallejo street. After walking for about fifteen minutes I beheld an amazing manifestation miracle. Amongst a curbside pile of discarded objects, I saw a perfect pedestal for St. Francis, which I carried home. On returning home, I moved St. Francis to a new perfect place on my living room carpet where he now resides on that miraculously manifested pedestal. And just as Carol’s St. Francis mural appears below a red Tibetan roof-top prayer flag, my St. Francis statue stands beneath a red Tibetan Kalachakra thangka mandala, symbolizing respect for the Tibetan culture, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
St. Francis statue on pedestal in Ron’s high-rise hermitage
Meaning of the farewell Carol synchronicity story?
“Miraculous synchronicities in time,
are meaningful reminders of eternal Reality
beyond time”.
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Synchronicity is choreographed by a great,
pervasive intelligence that lies at the heart of nature,
and is manifest in each of us through what we call the soul.”
~ Deepak Chopra
Eulogy to Carol Schuldt
After briefly blessing this world as a female St Francis,
the divine soul we’ve known as Carol Schuldt,
has returned to the Sun,
from where she’ll reappear eternally
for endless new lifetime adventures,
in endless new forms, of
LOVE.
And so it shall be!
Ron Rattner
Transcending Violence
“Violence is not merely killing another. It is violence when we use a sharp word, when we make a gesture to brush away a person, when we obey because there is fear. So violence isn’t merely organized butchery in the name of God, in the name of society or country. Violence is much more subtle, much deeper, and we are inquiring into the very depths of violence.”
“When you call yourself an Indian or a Muslim or a Christian or a European, or anything else, you are being violent. Do you see why it is violent?
Because you are separating yourself from the rest of mankind. When you separate yourself by belief, by nationality, by tradition, it breeds violence.
So a man who is seeking to understand violence does not belong to any country, to any religion, to any political party or partial system; he is concerned with the total understanding of mankind.”
~ J. Krishnamurti
“Prejudice of any kind implies that you are identified with the thinking mind. It means you don’t see the other human being anymore, but only your own concept of that human being. To reduce the aliveness of another human being to a concept is already a form of violence.”
“The moment you put a mental label on another human being,
you can no longer truly relate to that person. . .
It then becomes possible to perpetrate any act of violence.”
~ Eckhart Tolle
“If you and I are having a single thought of violence or hatred
against anyone in the world at this moment,
we are contributing to the wounding of the world.”
~ Deepak Chopra
J. Krishnamurti ~ May 11, 1895 – February 17, 1986
Introduction to “Transcending Violence”
Dear Friends,
The following Q and A essay about transcending violence was first composed and published almost four years ago. Since then we’ve begun experiencing an extraordinarily stressful, turbulent, and polarized “new normal” post-pandemic period with widespread global human violence and threats to life on Earth and innate human rights never before imagined by most of us, including me.
Accordingly I’ve felt intuitively impelled to amend and update the essay, (and to supplement it with a collection of important spiritual quotations), thereby explaining why to transcend violence it is crucial that humanity must now elevate our behavioral and emotional energies beyond those which have long-prevailed prior to this unprecedented “new normal” post-pandemic period.
These writings are deeply dedicated to transcendence of current unprecedented global violence by our loving, compassionate, fearless, and forgiving behaviors and emotions, beyond prevailing disharmonious levels of human consciousness.
May they encourage our conscious harmony with Nature, and unconditional Love and forgiveness for all Life everywhere.
May we thereby help bless the world as LOVE.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Quotation Collection concerning “Violence”
“I believe that Gandhi’s views were the most enlightened of all the political men in our time. We should strive to do things in his spirit: not to use violence in fighting for our cause, but by non-participation in anything you believe is evil.”
~ Albert Einstein
“The pursuit of truth does not permit violence on one’s opponent.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
“Violence is not only impractical but immoral.”
~ Martin Luther King Jr.
“Nothing good ever comes of violence.”
~ Martin Luther
“An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
“Non-violence, which is the quality of the heart,
cannot come by an appeal to the brain.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
“I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
“Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
“Poverty is the worst form of violence.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
“Intolerance is itself a form of violence
and an obstacle to the growth of a true democratic spirit.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
“ An unjust law is itself a species of violence.
Arrest for its breach is more so.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
“Violence and injury enclose in their net all that do such things,
and generally return upon him who began.”
~ Lucretius
“Every leaf that grows will tell you:
what you sow will bear fruit,
so if you have any sense my friend,
don’t plant anything but Love.”
~ Rumi
“If you succumb to the temptation of using violence in the struggle, unborn generations will be the recipients of a long and desolute night of bitterness, and your chief legacy to the future will be an endless reign of meaningless chaos.”
~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Violence, even well intentioned, always rebounds upon oneself.”
~ Lao Tzu
“Violence should not be responded to with violence.
The only way out of violence and conflict is for us to embrace the practice of peace, to think and act with compassion, love, and understanding.”
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
“To prepare for war, to give millions of men and women the opportunity to practice killing day and night in their hearts, is to plant millions of seeds of violence, anger, frustration, and fear that will be passed on for generations to come. ”
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
“Collective fear stimulates herd instinct,
and tends to produce ferocity toward those
who are not regarded as members of the herd.”
~ Bertrand Russell
“It may well be that we will have to repent in this generation.
Not merely for the vitriolic words and the violent actions of the bad people,
but for the appalling silence and indifference of the good people
who sit around and say, “Wait on time.”
~ Martin Luther King Jr.
“Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence
but also internal violence of spirit.
You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him.”
~ Martin Luther King Jr.
“Violence does not necessarily take people by the throat and strangle them.
Usually it demands no more than an ultimate allegiance from its subjects.
They are required merely to become accomplices in its lies.”
~ Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
“Violence can only be concealed by a lie,
and the lie can only be maintained by violence.”
~ Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
“If you and I are having a single thought of violence or hatred
against anyone in the world at this moment,
we are contributing to the wounding of the world.”
~ Deepak Chopra
Transcending Violence
Q. We live in stressful, turbulent and crazy times, with widespread violence. How can we transcend such violence?
A. “Violence” has different meanings for different people in different societies. So we must first define violence to address this question.
From a spiritual perspective “violence” includes much more than just overt physical or emotional acts of violence. As long as we egotistically view the world and others conceptually, and not conciously, there is violence.
Subtly, violence is unconscious human mental separation from others and Nature. So all such mental separation “breeds violence”.
Thus, spiritually this is a world of inevitable “violence”, which can never be totally eliminated, but can be appreciably alleviated by harmoniously loving behaviors. Yet even individually “enlightened” loving beings living in mentally sick societies overtly experience societal violence.
Hence Jesus endured violent crucifixion, mockery and humiliation from ignorant crowds, because ‘heretically’ he preached “love your neighbors” and even “your enemies”; repudiated socially condoned hypocrisy, brutality and thirst for worldly power and gains; and even audaciously proclaimed the ultimate non-duality ‘forbidden mystical Truth’ – that “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).
So as long as we abide in this space/time world, we can never totally transcend its inevitable violence and suffering. To transcend violence we must transcend this world of karmic cause and effect. We must BE choiceless Universal Awareness beyond all mental conceptualization, including the ‘transcendence’ concept.
“To acquire freedom we have to get beyond the limitations of this universe;
it cannot be found here. …. The only way to come out of bondage
is to go beyond the limitations of [natural] law,
to go beyond causation.”
~ Swami Vivekananda
However, as human consciousness inevitably evolves we will gradually reduce violence and suffering, individually and societally. Most earthly violence arises from human ignorance of our spiritual Oneness with Nature. So as human spiritual ignorance ends, violence will be appreciably alleviated as disharmonious behaviors and emotions are dispelled and supplanted with love and compassion.
And so it shall be!
Ron Rattner
From co-dependent exploitation,
to co-creative realization
~ A rare turning point in Human history
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won.
There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible,
but in the end they always fall — think of it. Always.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
“Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood,
and I — I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
~ Robert Frost – The Road Not Taken
Dear Friends,
We have reached a rare turning point in modern human history. Confronted by apparent dire threats to survival of life on Earth as we’ve known it, our species is awakening to a prophesied new enlightened Earth age. After eons of imagined darkness, we are now realizing our infinite potential as timeless wholeness and Oneness with Source – as LOVE beyond comprehension, imagination or description.
Thus a “critical mass” of Humankind will soon be energetically (not spatially) uplifted to a compassionate new world, dynamically harmonious with Nature and all life everywhere – a “new reality” foreseen for millennia by non-materialist mystic seers.
Accordingly this essay is dedicated to inspiring our awakened inclusion in that uplifted “critical mass”.
Historic Background
Throughout recorded history, in order to evolve, human societies have been compelled to abandon previously cherished inflexible beliefs about “reality” (our cosmology, religion, science, philosophy etc.) which limited learning, impeded progress, and facilitated evil and harmful behaviors.
How could we have advanced believing that the earth was flat, or that it was the center of our solar system? And now, because of unprecedented anthropogenic threats to survival of Earth life as we’ve known it, we are again urgently compelled to transcend cherished beliefs about our perceived (three dimensional) illusionary “reality”.
Refusing Ruling Class Exploitation
Human societies have mostly been undemocratically governed by self-proclaimed elite rulers. But for eons our earthly human societies have been secretly dominated and energetically exploited by psychopathic “leaders” representing a few unimaginably malevolent and unknown astral “rulers”.
Thus, until now we’ve lived unaware of our existence in addictive codependent relationships with our “leaders” and “rulers”, which relationships are parasitically exploitive and dysfunctional. And so far this tiny ruling class has cleverly and selfishly used their understanding of our subliminal Oneness with Source (and all other perceived energy forms) to successfully exploit us.
Currently, using controlled mainstream media of mass deception, they have subliminally “brainwashed”, indoctrinated, and inculcated most of humanity into erroneously and fearfully accepting parasitic servitude to them. Such subliminal servitude has precluded us from realizing our infinite power to fearlessly co-create elevated energetic realities, beyond all domination or exploitation, and thereby to fulfill our deepest evolutionary aspirations.
But in recent “new normal” times our ruling “leaders” have enacted immoral laws, orders and edicts which are so flagrantly outrageous that they are painfully awakening many people to our innate human rights and freedoms. Accordingly, those people are resisting and refusing to follow such insanely immoral and unlawful decrees, rather than degenerate into a locked-down Malthusian global 3D society of unprecedented and insidious human control and enslavement by a few malignant psychopaths.
Thus by their civil disobedience and adamant moral refusal to bear such insanity, a critical mass of humankind are about to be energetically uplifted to co-create a wonderful new era in human history.
Though we appear separate, we are all One with Source
“Human beings are made of body, mind and spirit.
Of these, spirit is primary, for it connects us to the source of everything,
the eternal field of consciousness.”
~ Deepak Chopra
All is a play in consciousness. All divisions are illusory.
You can know the false only. The true you must yourself be.”
~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
“You are awareness, disguised as a person.”
~ Eckhart Tolle, Stillness Speaks
Although each human is unique in apparent physical form, (like hexagonal crystalline snowflakes) we all subliminally share the same mysterious spiritual Source, which is inconceivable and indescribable. Because we are so subliminally connected we are all affected by a lack of harmony or morality anywhere in our perceived 3D “reality”. Therefore, we are awakening globally to resist immoral edicts which wickedly violate our innate human rights and freedoms.
Until now our subconscious oneness with all Earth life has permitted subliminal matrix control over our species. But growing human awareness of such Oneness with Source is paradoxically enabling us to irreversibly escape from our current codependent bondage in an imperceptible matrix “prison”.
The following quotations and explanations are about how and why we can soon escape:
Escaping from co-dependent exploitation, to co-creative realization.
“When fear becomes collective, when anger becomes collective,
it’s extremely dangerous. It is overwhelming…
The mass media and the military-industrial complex create a prison for us,
so we continue to think, see, and act in the same way…
We need the courage to express ourselves even when the majority is going in the opposite direction…
because a change of direction can happen only when there is a collective awakening…
Therefore, it is very important to say, ‘I am here!’ to those who share the same kind of insight.”
~ Thich Nhat Hanh, The Art of Power
“The choice that frees or imprisons us is the choice of love or fear.
Love liberates. Fear imprisons.”
~ Gary Zukav
“Deep 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 – When You Don’t Choose Love You Choose Fear
“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear” . . .
~ 1 John 4:18
Discussion: Until now parasitic lower realm entities have been able to subliminally exploit third dimension humans, only by cleverly fomenting widespread divisive beliefs, fears, anger and other negative emotions. Without such fears and emotions these evil entities can not exploit us. They cannot function in energetically loving dimensions. Fear and Love can’t coexist. And love is “contagious”.
So provoked by outrageously immoral orders and edicts, and aided by unprecedentedly propitious Earth energy cycles, we are now remembering and choosing our true Self identity as Divine LOVE, beyond comprehension, imagination or description.
And as we realize that as eternal LOVE we have nothing to fear, but fear itself, we will inevitably irreversibly escape from captured codependence to fearlessly co-create a wonderful new era in human history.
Methods which are hastening our escape from matrix imprisonment:
1) Living lovingly and gratefully
“Love Is The Law Of Life:
All love is expansion, all selfishness is contraction.
Love is therefore the only law of life.
He who loves lives, he who is selfish is dying.
Therefore, love for love’s sake,
because it is law of life, just as you breathe to live.”
~ Swami Vivekananda
“It is not joy that makes us grateful;
it is gratitude that makes us joyful.”
~ Brother David Steindl-Rast
“Thankfulness is the soul of beneficence …
For thankfulness brings you to the place where the Beloved lives.”
~ Rumi
2) Becoming mindfully conscious of eternal LOVE
“By the definite science of meditation known for millenniums to the yogis and sages of India, and to Jesus,
any seeker of God can enlarge the caliber of his consciousness to omniscience to receive within himself the Universal Intelligence of God.”
~ Paramahansa Yogananda
“Meditation is one of the most direct and powerful ways to awaken to who we really are and to experience happiness as a state of consciousness that already exists within us.”
~ Deepak Chopra
A focused or stilled mind is crucial to spiritual evolution. With stilled minds we access intuition and imagination, and are uplifted beyond darkness of negative emotions.
With stilled minds we telepathically ‘hear’ and follow our Sacred Heart’s message of Love.
With stilled minds we follow our heart – not our ego.
With stilled minds we instinctively reject dark “leaders” who’ve betrayed and ‘imprisoned’ us.
“The heart has its reasons that reason does not know.”
~ Blaise Pascal
“Faith is a knowledge within the heart,
beyond the reach of proof.”
~ Kahlil Gibran
“The way is not in the sky.
The way is in the heart.”
~ Buddha
“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift,
and the rational mind is a faithful servant.
We have created a society that honors the servant
and has forgotten the gift.”
~ Albert Einstein
3) Practicing nonviolent Gandhian civil disobedience.
“Satyagraha means resisting untruth by truthful means”
“It is a religious duty to fight untruth.
If one remains steadfast in it in a spirit of dedication,
it always brings success.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
Those of us who already realize how humans are being psychopathically dominated and immorally imprisoned in an invisible ‘matrix’, must now morally and truthfully act to preserve inherent human rights and protect our planet and progeny. With righteous courage, we must speak out and nonviolently disobey unlawful and immoral edicts.
4) Being the change we wish to see.
“[T]he world will not change if we don’t change.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
“If we are to make progress,
we must not repeat history but make new history.
We must add to inheritance left by our ancestors.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
“We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts, we make the world.”
~ Buddha
“The world is a projection of our collective consciousness.
If our collective consciousness reaches that place of peace, harmony, laughter and love,
it will be a different world.”
~ Deepak Chopra
Energetically we live in a labyrinth of thoughts, intentions, feelings and behaviors which create our “reality”. “Whatever we think, do, or say, is changing this world in some way.”
Accordingly, as we prioritize our intention to mindfully radiate loving and forgiving thoughts, behaviors, and emotions we are inevitably and irreversibly elevating and enlightening our earthly “reality” beyond malevolent darkness.
5) Turning off mainstream media.
“Propaganda is the executive arm of the invisible government.”
~ Edward Bernays
“Propaganda works best when those who are being manipulated
are confident they are acting on their own free will.”
~ Joseph Goebbels
“The propagandist’s purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human.”
~ Aldous Huxley
“All propaganda is lies, even when one is telling the truth.”
“The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.”
~ George Orwell
All mainstream information media have become propagandist instruments dishonestly dominated and controlled by our “leaders”. Whenever possible we must turn them off, even if they seem to publish information with which we agree. We must not be diverted or confused by information or speculation, which is published with insidious motives.
If we seek information (not speculation) about purported current events or history, we need to investigate non-mainstream sources, especially those which are ridiculed, slandered or censored by mainstream media – like Robert F. Kennedy’s Children’s Health Foundation. However, in reviewing such alternative information outlets we must carefully consider their facts and sources, and not assume their accuracy or credibility.
6) Mindfully recognizing that this world is a mere mental illusion
“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.”
“Your own will is all that answers prayer,
only it appears under the guise of different religious conceptions to each mind.
We may call it Buddha, Jesus, Krishna, but it is only the Self, the ‘I’.”
~ Swami Vivekananda – Jnana Yoga
“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”
“Our separation of each other is an optical illusion of consciousness.”
~ Albert Einstein
“What appears to be a stable, tangible, visible, audible world, is an illusion.”
“Objective reality does not exist” …. “the universe is fundamentally a gigantic … hologram.”
~ David Bohm, Quantum Physicist
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won.
There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible,
but in the end they always fall — think of it. Always.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
We now exist in a perceived relative “reality” where everything is energy (e=Mc2), and suffering is omnipresent. But enlightened mystics and scientists remind us that our “reality” and its seeming separation of perceived thought forms is merely “an optical illusion of consciousness” and that we avert suffering by “recognizing that the world is but an illusion.”
As we consciously identify our comparative “reality” as merely an illusion, we will transcend suffering from negative intentions, actions, thoughts and emotions. And thereby we’ll live with ever growing kindness, and with compassion for others who are still suffering.
Inevitably our kindness will quicken and elevate our subtle energy emanations, until we irreversibly experience our lives from higher dimensions where there is no suffering, just oneness with Source – as LOVE.
Like Gandhi and other great souls we’ll then perceive this world like a metaphoric good versus evil “movie” in which Divine Truth and Love always prevail.
7) Laughter and humor are always uplifting
“When you realize how perfect everything is
you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky.”
~ Buddha
“Sing because this is a food our starving world needs.
Laugh because that is the purest sound.”
~ Hafiz
“What is soap to the body, laughter is to the soul.”
~ Yiddish Proverb
“Time spent laughing is time spent with the Gods.”
~ Japanese proverb
“I laugh when I think how I once sought paradise as a realm outside of the world of birth.
It is right in the world of birth and death that the miraculous truth is revealed.
But this is not the laughter of someone who suddenly acquires a great fortune;
neither is it the laughter of one who has won a victory.
It is, rather, the laughter of one who; after having painfully searched for something for a long time,
finds it one morning in the pocket of his coat.”
~Thich Nhat Hanh
“If a person can laugh totally, wholeheartedly, not holding anything back at all,
in that very moment something tremendous can happen
because laughter, when it is total, is absolutely egoless,
and that is the only condition in which to know God, to be egoless.”
~ Osho
“If honesty were suddenly introduced into American life, the whole system would collapse.”
“That’s why they call it the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it.”
~ George Carlin
Invocation
At this unprecedented turning point in modern human history,
may we mindfully recognize and intentionally radiate
truth of our common Self-identity as LOVE.
May we thereby be part of an irreversibly uplifted “critical mass” of Humankind,
which will co-create a prophesied compassionate new world,
dynamically harmonious with Nature and all life everywhere.
And so shall it be!
Namasté!
Ron Rattner
Surrender and Let Go of Ego
~ Quotations and Sutra Sayings
“Ego is the biggest enemy of humans.”
~ Rig Veda
“Free of ego, living naturally, working virtuously,
you become filled with inexhaustible vitality
and are liberated forever from the cycle of death and rebirth.”
~ Lao Tzu
“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?”
~ The Buddha
By letting it go it all gets done.
The world is won by those who let it go.
But when you try and try,
the world is beyond the winning.
~ Lao Tzu
“They are the chosen ones who have surrendered.”
~ Rumi
“Surrender is faith
that the power of Love can accomplish anything,
even when you cannot foresee the outcome.”
~ Deepak Chopra
Love is the sacrifice of will.
If you cannot leave will behind
You have no will at all.
~ Rumi
Q. How much “ego” do you need?
A. Just enough so that you don’t step in front of a bus.
~ Shunryu Suzuki Roshi
We have nothing to surrender
But the idea
That we’re someone,
With something
To surrender.
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
Introduction
Dear Friends,
In many prior postings I’ve explained that the greatest obstacle to our spiritual evolution is ego-mind, our “phantom self” misidentification with thoughts and labels, rather than with infinite Cosmic consciousness, our true immortal SELF. Ancient Rig Veda scripture says that “Ego is the biggest enemy of humans”. And (as suggested by Eckhart Tolle) I believe that transcending ego is the fundamental message of all spiritual teachings.
Therefore, as we are now experiencing exceptionally advantageous Aquarian age cosmic energies and auspicious astrological planetary alignments favorable to spiritual evolution, I am updating and republishing postings which can most help us benefit from that evolutionary energy.
Recently in “Words About Wishes” I’ve explained ego-mind’s futile pursuit of illusory and impermanent external pleasures and desires that can never give lasting happiness. So this posting discusses the most effective ‘antidotes’ to such futile pursuit of external pleasures and desires – viz. the letting go, surrender and thought-free acceptance of those egoic desires.
Surrender and Let Go of Ego writings include the above key quotations and the following large collection of recited sutra sayings, and my explanations about the critical importance of surrendering transcending ego.
May these writings help us, individually and as a global family, let go of ego to reveal and heal all sufferings from unfulfilled and futile ego-mind ideas and desires.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Ron’s Sutra Sayings on Surrendering Ego.
We have nothing to surrender
but the idea that
we’re someone,
with something
to surrender.
Let’s let go
and
let life live us,
as Love.
Let’s leave it to the
Lone Arranger.
Let’s let go, and “go with the flow”.**Being “in the flow” is thought-free, effortless, and focused
merging of intention, action, and awareness
as consciousness – consciously letting Life happen through you.
Tao is Now,
Tao is One,
Tao is Doer,
Tao will be done.
Tao will be done.
So let Tao do it.
Give your spiritual
‘power of attorney’
to God.
“Let go, and let God.”**Unity Church maxim
Leave it to the Lone Arranger.
Ego Antidote:
The root of all problems is
I/me/mine.
End it with antidote,
Thy/Thee/Thine.
Ego: Use it to lose it!
Immolate ego
in the fire of faith.
As ego goes
consciousness grows
until it Knows –
Itself.
Ego is free to choose,
but is never free.
Self does not choose,
but is ever free.
Our only choice
is to accept
or reject
“what is”.
Acceptance is pleasure;
rejection is suffering.
Acceptance is freedom;
rejection is bondage.
Acceptance is NOW;
rejection is then.
So, if choose you must,
then with faith and trust,
say “yes” to Life.
With radical trust
we do as we must.
The more we trust
the less we try.
Enter a state of enlightened amnesia:
Be now;
forget then.
Remember God;
forget the rest.
Forget who you think you are,
to remember what you really are.
Ron’s audio recitation of Sutra Sayings- Surrender and Let Go of Ego
Ron’s explanation of sutra sayings about Surrender and Let Go of Ego
Dear Friends,
I consider of critical importance to our spiritual evolution the surrendering and transcending of our false separate self/identity with our thoughts – our ego.
In “The Power of Now” Eckhart Tolle explains and defines “ego” as a “phantom self” and teaches that transcending ego is of universally pre-eminent importance, because as long as we are identified with our mind the ego runs our life. Therefore he suggests that transcending ego is the fundamental message of all spiritual teachings. He says that:
“In essence there is and always has been only one spiritual teaching, although it comes in many forms. . . .
~ Eckhart Tolle – The Power of Now
I agree with Tolle and have composed many silly sutras about surrendering ego, including those published above. They are respectfully offered to remind us to follow our eternal inner guidance and always “go with the flow” for the benefit of others.
This message is particularly important in these extraordinarily turbulent times, which have disrupted and jeopardized earth-life as we’ve known it for billions of people worldwide. As many people are feeling inundated with threatening tidal waves in an endless ocean of samsara, it’s especially crucial for all of us to ‘surf’ those waves by ‘going with the flow’ rather than futilely emanating and emotionally ‘drowning’ with anger, anxiety, or fear.
By so letting life live us as Love, we can discover these challenging times to be an immense evolutionary opportunity for us to co-create not just a better “new normal” world, but a radically transformed world – with constant kindness and compassion for all life everywhere.
And so shall it be!
Ron Rattner
Faith-Based Surrender
~ Quotations and Sayings
“Setting aside all noble deeds,
just surrender completely to the will of God.
I shall liberate you from all sins.
Do not grieve.”
~ Bhagavad Gita 18:66
Introduction
Dear Friends,
As explained in my recent Faith-Based Surrender posting, I’ve become dedicated to inspiring a newly elevated societal view of spiritual concepts (previously separated) as interconnected appearances of Divine Grace, Faith, Humility, and Love, which are beyond all ego illusions. We need to see, from a “New Earth” perspective, that: “What is the root of all these words? One thing: LOVE.” (Hafiz)
So I’ve gathered and offer for our edification, upliftment, and enjoyment the following collection of profound and interrelated quotations on these spiritual subjects.
To help illuminate their meaning, repeated quotations from the same spiritual teachers, poets or authors are included. I apologize for these redundancies, but deem it very important that we now realize why we must let go of and transcend past ego illusions that have precluded our elevated understanding of these key concepts.
Thereby may we be inspired by unconditional and irreversible intuitive Faith, to completely surrender to the will of God – to the infinite power of LOVE.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Faith-Based Surrender ~ Quotes and Sayings
“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?”
~ The Buddha
“Love conquers all; let us surrender to Love.”
~ Virgil
“Surrender is faith that the power of Love
can accomplish anything,
even when you cannot foresee the outcome.”
~ Deepak Chopra
“Love is simply creation’s greatest joy.”
“We have not come here to take prisoners
But to surrender ever more deeply
To freedom and joy.”
~ Hafiz
“Join me in the pure atmosphere of gratitude for life.”
~ Hafiz
“What is the root of all these words? One thing: Love.
But a love so deep and sweet it needed to express itself with scents, sounds, colors that never before existed.”
~ Hafiz
“Even after all this time, the sun never says to the earth, ‘you owe me.’
Look what happens with a love like that!
It lights up the whole sky.”
~ Hafiz
“Looking at my life
I see that only Love
Has been my soul’s companion
From deep inside
My soul cries out:
Do not wait, surrender
For the sake of Love.”
~ Rumi
“How did you get here?
Close your eyes and surrender.”
“The hurt that we embrace becomes joy.”
“There is no reality but God,
says the completely surrendered sheik,
who is an ocean for all beings.”
~ Rumi
“They are the chosen ones who have surrendered.”
~ Rumi
“Love is the sacrifice of will.
If you cannot leave will behind
You have no will at all.”
~ Rumi
“Be crumbled.
So wild flowers will come up where you are.
You have been stony for too many years.
Try something different.
Surrender.”
~ Rumi
“Faith is different from proof;
the latter is human,
the former is a Gift from God.”
“Faith embraces many truths
which seem to contradict each other.”
~ Blaise Pascal
“Faith is a knowledge within the heart,
beyond the reach of proof.”
“Faith is an oasis in the heart
which can never be reached by the caravan of thinking.”
~ Khalil Gibran
“Steady faith is stronger than destiny.
Destiny is the result of causes, mostly accidental,
and is therefore loosely woven.
Confidence and good hope will overcome it easily.”
~ Nisargadatta Maharaj
Grace is ever present. All that is necessary is that you surrender to it.”
“Surrender is to give oneself up to the original cause of one’s being.”
“Abide in the heart and surrender your acts to the Divine.”
“Self surrender is synonymous with eternal happiness.”
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi
“Place your burden at the feet of the Lord of the universe
who is ever victorious and accomplishes everything.
Remain all the time steadfast in the heart,
in the Transcendental Absolute.
God knows the past, present and future.
He will determine the future for you and accomplish the work.
What is to be done will be done at the proper time.
Don’t worry. Abide in the heart and surrender your acts to the Divine.”
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi
“Willpower should be understood to be the strength of the mind, which makes it capable of meeting success or failure with equanimity. It is not synonymous with certain success. Why should one’s attempts always be attended by success? Success breeds arrogance and man’s spiritual progress is thus arrested. Failure, on the other hand, is beneficial, inasmuch as it opens his eyes to his limitations and prepares him to surrender himself. Self surrender is synonymous with eternal happiness.”
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi
“By whatever path you go,
you will have to lose yourself in the one.
Surrender is complete only when you reach the stage
`Thou art all’ and `Thy will be done’.”
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi
“Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me;
nevertheless not My will, but Thy will, be done.”
~ Luke 22:42.
“Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done
in earth, as it is in heaven”
~ Matthew 6:10
“And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you,
If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.”
~ Matthew 17:20
“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;
and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him,
and he shall direct thy paths.”
~ Proverbs 3:5-6
“Surrender your self-interest.
Love others as much as you love yourself.
Then you can be entrusted with all things under heaven.”
~ Lao Tzu
“When I let go of what I [think] I am,
I become what I might be.”
~ Lao Tzu
“By letting it go it all gets done.
The world is won by those who let it go.
But when you try and try,
the world is beyond the winning.”
~ Lao Tzu
“Accept disgrace willingly… Accept being unimportant…
Surrender yourself humbly;
then you can be trusted to care for all things.
Love the world as your own self;
then you can truly care for all things.”
~ Lao Tzu
“Fame or integrity: which is more important?
Money or happiness: which is more valuable?
Success or failure: which is more destructive?
If you look to others for fulfillment,
you will never truly be fulfilled.
If your happiness depends on money,
you will never be happy with yourself.
Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are.
When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.”
~ Lao Tzu
“In the pursuit of learning every day something is gained.
In the pursuit of Tao, every day something is dropped.”
~ Lao Tzu
“The words of truth are always paradoxical.
To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.”
~ Lao Tzu
“Knowledge is learning something every day.
Wisdom is letting go of something every day.”
~ Zen Proverb
We have nothing to surrender
But the idea
That we’re someone,
With something
To surrender.
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
Q. How much “ego” do you need?
A. Just enough so that you don’t step in front of a bus.
~ Shunryu Suzuki Roshi
“Absolute surrender to God is the criterion of faith. This surrender is not laziness, expecting God to do everything for you – your utmost effort to bring about the desired result is also necessary – rather, it is a surrender through love for God and veneration of His supremacy.”
~ Paramahansa Yogananda
“Faith is intuitive conviction,
a knowing from the soul,
that cannot be shaken even by contradictions.”
~ Paramahansa Yogananda
“It is so wonderful to be good and to be humble.
Egotism repulses, humility attracts. When man behaves in a humble way, he strikes a beautiful chord in the hearts of others. A man of humility easily exercises a spiritual influence on others. Such a one has the satisfaction that he has done his best on this- earth.
The more humble you are, the stronger you will be in Spirit.
~ Paramahansa Yogananda
“Blessed are the meek,
for they shall inherit the earth.”
~ Matthew 5.5
“Spirituality automatically leads to humility. When a flower develops into a fruit, the petals drop off on its own. When one becomes spiritual, the ego vanishes gradually on its own. A tree laden with fruits always bends low. Humility is a sign of greatness.”
~ Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa
“[The Master’s] constant practice is humility.”;
“Humility means trusting the Tao,
thus never needing to be defensive.”
~ Lao Tzu
“Humility is the solid foundation of all the virtues.”
~ Confucius
“Two things are necessary for the realization of God;
faith and self-surrender.”
~ Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa
“Have faith. Depend on God. Then you
will not have to do anything yourself.
Mother Kali will do everything for you.”
~ Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa
“God has put you in the world. What can you do about it?
Resign everything to Him. Surrender yourself at His feet.
Then there will be no more confusion.
Then you will realize that it is God who does everything.”
~ Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa
“Surrender everything at the feet of God.
What else can you do?
Give Him the power of attorney.
Let Him do whatever He thinks best.”
~ Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa
“Truth will never come into our minds
so long as there will remain
the faintest shadow of Ahamkâra (egotism).
All of you should try to root out this devil from your heart.
Complete self-surrender is the only way to spiritual illumination.”
~ Swami Vivekananda
“The greatest religion is to be true to your own nature.
Have faith in yourselves!”
~ Swami Vivekananda
“Without an unreserved surrender to His grace,
complete mastery over thoughts is impossible.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
“Don’t seek God in temples.
He is close to you. He is within you.
Only you should surrender to Him,
and you will rise above happiness and unhappiness.”
~ Leo Tolstoy
“When you surrender to what is and so become fully present, the past ceases to have any power. You do not need it anymore. Presence is the key. Now is the key.”
~ Eckhart Tolle
“To some people, surrender may have negative connotations, implying defeat, giving up, failing to rise to the challenges of life, becoming lethargic, and so on. True surrender, however, is something entirely different.
It does not mean to passively put up with whatever situation you find yourself in and to do nothing about it.
Nor does it mean to cease making plans or initiating positive action. Surrender is the simple but profound wisdom of yielding to, rather than opposing, the flow of life.”
~ Eckhart Tolle
“Sometimes surrender means giving up trying to understand
and becoming comfortable with not knowing.”
~ Eckhart Tolle
“Always say “yes” to the present moment.
What could be more futile, more insane, than to create inner resistance to what already is?
What could be more insane than to oppose life itself, which is now and always now?
Surrender to what is. Say “yes” to life —
and see how life suddenly starts working for you, rather than against you.”
~ Eckhart Tolle
“Not until you surrender does the spiritual dimension become a living reality in your life.
When you do, the energy you emanate and that then runs your life is of a much higher vibrational frequency than the mind energy that still runs the world.”
~ Eckhart Tolle
“Surrender is surrender to this moment,
not to a story through which you interpret this moment
and then try to resign yourself to it.”
~ Eckhart Tolle
“Surrender comes when you no longer ask, ‘
Why is this happening to me?'”
~ Eckhart Tolle
“Always say ‘yes’ to the present moment…
Surrender to what is. Say ‘yes’ to life –
and see how life starts suddenly to start working for you,
rather than against you.”
~ Eckhart Tolle
“The moment of surrender is not when life is over.
It’s when it begins”
~ Marianne Williamson
“Something very beautiful happens to people when their world has fallen apart: a humility, a nobility, a higher intelligence emerges at just the point when our knees hit the floor. Perhaps, in a way, that’s where humanity is now: about to discover we’re not as smart as we thought we were, will be forced by life to surrender our attacks and defenses which avail us of nothing, and finally break through into the collective beauty of who we really are.”
~ Marianne Williamson
“Spiritual Work is not easy. It means the willingness to surrender feelings that seem, while we’re in them, like our defense against a greater pain. It means that we surrender to God our perceptions of all things.”
~ Marianne Williamson
“Spiritually, no action is more important than surrender.
Surrender is the tenderest impulse of the heart, acting out of love to give whatever the beloved wants. Surrender is being alert to exactly what is happening now, not imposing expectations from the past. Surrender is faith that the power of love can accomplish anything, even when you cannot foresee the outcome of a situation.”
~ Deepak Chopra
“At the level of spirit, everything is always unfolding perfectly, and you don’t have to struggle or force situations to go your way. It is only your ego mind that is fearful. When you surrender to spirit and listen to the voice of your deeper intelligence, you free yourself from fear and release the obstacles your ego has created.”
~ Deepak Chopra
“In detachment lies the wisdom of uncertainty…
in the wisdom of uncertainty lies the freedom from our past,
from the known, which is the prison of past conditioning.
And in our willingness to step into the unknown, the field of all possibilities, we surrender ourselves to the creative mind that orchestrates the dance of the universe.”
~ Deepak Chopra
“The deeper you surrender to existence, life, nature,
the more loving, more understanding, more insightful you become.”
~ Rajneesh
“I surrender my anxiety and my sense of urgency. I allow God to guide me in the pacing of my life. I open my heart to God’s timing. I release my deadlines, agendas, and stridency to the gentle yet often swift pacing of God. As I open my heart to God’s unfoldings, my heart attains peace. As I relax into God’s timing, my heart contains comfort. As I allow God to set the tone and schedule of my days, I find myself in the right time and place, open and available to God’s opportunities.”
~ Julia Cameron
“Every genuine expression of love grows out of a consistent and total surrender to God.”
“In a real sense faith is total surrender to God .”
~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
“The more you struggle to live, the less you live.
Give up the notion that you must be sure of what you are doing. Instead, surrender to what is real within you, for that alone is sure….you are above everything distressing.”
~ Baruch Spinoza
“This above all, to thy own Self be true.”
~ William Shakespeare
“Our real journey in life is interior;
It is a matter of growth, deepening, and of an ever greater surrender to the creative action of love and grace in our hearts. Never was it more necessary to respond to that action.”
~ Thomas Merton
“Faith is a light of such supreme brilliance that it dazzles the mind and darkens all its visions of other realities, but in the end when we become used to the new light, we gain a new view of all reality transfigured and elevated in the light itself.”
~ Thomas Merton
“The person who surrenders absolutely to God,
with no reservations, is absolutely safe.
From this safe hiding-place he can see the devil,
but the devil cannot see him.”
~ Soren Kierkegaard
“Surrender means accepting this moment, this body, and this life with open arms.
Surrender involves getting out of your own way and living in accord with a higher will,
expressed as the wisdom of the heart.
Far more than passive acceptance, surrender uses every challenge as a means of spiritual growth and expanded awareness.”
~ Dan Millman
“May you find grace as you surrender to life. May you find happiness, as you stop seeking it. May you come to trust these laws and inherit the wisdom of the Earth. May you reconnect with the heart of nature and feel the blessings of Spirit.”
~ Dan Millman
Invocation
May we be inspired by unconditional and irreversible intuitive Faith, to completely surrender to the will of God – to the infinite power of LOVE.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Faith-Based Surrender
“Setting aside all noble deeds,
just surrender completely to the will of God.
I shall liberate you from all sins. Do not grieve.”
~ Bhagavad Gita 18:66
“They are the chosen ones who have surrendered.”
~ Rumi
Grace is ever present.
All that is necessary is that you surrender to it.”
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi
“By letting it go it all gets done.
The world is won by those who let it go.
But when you try and try,
the world is beyond the winning.”
~ Lao Tzu
“Two things are necessary for the realization of God;
faith and self-surrender.”
“Surrender everything at the feet of God. …
Give Him the power of attorney.
Let Him do whatever He thinks best.”
~ Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa
“Surrender is faith
that the power of Love
can accomplish anything,
even when you cannot foresee the outcome.”
~ Deepak Chopra
We have nothing to surrender
But the idea
That we’re someone,
With something
To surrender.
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
Faith-Based Surrender
Dear Friends,
Because we are living in an illusory ‘reality’ of space/time separation and duality, most SillySutras postings have separately considered fundamental spiritual principles such as God, Love, Faith, Surrender, Ego, Devotion, Humility, Karma, Evolution and Transformation.
However, as a faith-based optimist I now foresee our imminent transcendence and quantum-leap ascension to a new reality beyond the ego illusion of duality separation. So today’s posting is dedicated to inspiring a new elevated view of seemingly separate spiritual concepts as mutually inseparable or interdependent appearances of Divine Grace, Faith, and Love, beyond all ego illusions; thereby encouraging us to instinctively and irreversibly let go of and surrender such ego illusions with supreme faith in God as Source and SELF.
Until now, spiritual stories or parables have often metaphorically likened each of us to travelers on a spiritual journey with a unique path and perspective. In truth we are ONE non-dual Divinity which has incarnated into unique human body/minds to explore infinite possibilities of such existence in ’space/time soul-suits’. But forgetting our true immortality and Divinity, we have egoically self-identified as separate and fallible mortal beings. And while mistakenly believing ourselves mortal, we have feared death, acted selfishly and suffered karmically.
But, after countless reincarnations with countless trials and tribulations we are now remembering and realizing our Divinity, and are in process of returning to existence as ONE Infinite LOVE. To heroically hasten our return process, many of us are skillfully and fearlessly using our thoughts as servants to our souls, instead of ignorantly suffering from ego-mind psychic domination.
And as we approach our return ‘destination’ we are realizing that everything and everyone is equally Divine, though in differing stages of returning to ONENESS. We are remembering that “In the beginning was the word and the word was God” ( John 1:1 ) And that “With our [human] thoughts, we make the world.” ( Buddha )
Thus, as a global team of empathetic humans we are about to achieve a “hundredth monkey” societal “critical mass” enabling us to resolve the current critical mess threatening all Earth-life as we’ve known it. Thereby we will follow our Sacred Heart’s innate empathy, compassion and LOVE for all people and all Life everywhere.
And with unconditional and irreversible intuitive faith, we shall let go of ego, and completely surrender to the will of God – to the infinite power of LOVE.
And so it shall be!
Ron Rattner
Awakening to Ever Present Synchronicity
~ Ron’s Memoirs
“Synchronicity is an ever present reality for those who have eyes to see.”
~ Carl Jung
“According to Vedanta, there are seven states of consciousness.
Each of the seven states of consciousness represents an increase in our experience of synchronicity, and each progressive state moves us closer to the ideal of enlightenment.”
~ Deepak Chopra, SynchroDestiny
“As I look back upon my own life, I see how many events – which at the time appeared horribly painful or unnecessary – contained remarkable lessons which I sometimes did not understand until many years later. Now life appears to me – more and more – as a gorgeous Persian rug. Seen from underneath (that is, from the ordinary human viewpoint), it may be a mess of loose strands, knots, pieces of wool hanging in a disorderly manner; but seen from above – from another level of perspective – what perfect order, harmony and beauty!”
~ Pierre Pradervand
Marc Chagall – The Praying Jew
Introduction.
Dear Friends,
Many people experience and wonder about amazing coincidences that can’t be explained rationally or statistically. Those “coincidences” have opened some of us to reflect upon their possible spiritual or psychical causes. And such reflection and investigation has advanced our spiritual evolution.
The following memoirs stories tell about an amazing “coincidence” (almost forty years ago) which awakened me to the immense spiritual importance of synchronicity and helped me find unimagined happiness through spiritual evolution.
The stories were originally published soon after the SillySutras website was launched, when the second noteworthy synchronicity reminded me of the original one. As explained in 2021 epilogue comments below, both the original and later synchronicity memoirs stories are again recounted to further our appreciation of the spiritual importance of synchronicities, and to help us find happiness through spiritual evolution.
Therefore, I hope you’ll enjoy and find inspiration from the stories.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Awakening to Ever Present Synchronicity
In “Channeling” for Joseph Campbell I recounted how in October, 1983 I began realizing that at times I was receiving ideas from higher dimensions when – as Board Chairman of CIIS, an academic institution – I bestowed on Dr. Joseph Campbell an honorary PhD. degree.
Four months after the Campbell investiture ceremony, in January, 1984, I participated in two more important investiture ceremonies involving an amazing “coincidence” which proved especially significant for me because it sparked my initial awareness of and curiosity about synchronicities. Before that pivotal “coincidence”, I had been largely unaware of synchronicities or their evolutionary importance. Since then synchronicities have become ever more meaningful in my spiritual life.
I originally wrote about that 1984 “coincidence” experience because twenty nine years later I was reminded of it by another noteworthy synchronicity at the identical place where the first one happened.
In January 2013, my daughter Jessica, a professional photographer, asked me – and I agreed – to accompany her to Temple Emanu-El, San Francisco’s largest Jewish synagogue. She had been engaged to do a photo shoot there of a Bar Mitzvah “coming of age” ceremony, and asked me to act as a focal point so she could check out lighting and lens requirements at various places where photos might be appropriate.
So, at the synagogue I stood for Jessica at various places, including the raised platform or ‘bimah’ at the front of the vast synagogue sanctuary, so she could focus on the place where the Bar Mitzvah honoree would be standing. Thereupon, I nostalgically recalled how twenty nine years ago I stood at that very place at the Bar Mitzvah of my then thirteen year old son Joshua.
That Bar Mitzvah ceremony on Saturday morning, January 28th, 1984, began an extraordinarily synchronistic day for me, which was preceded by the following circumstances.
Joshua was then living with his mother, Naomi, who had remarried after our divorce. She and her husband Bruce were observant Jews and had arranged for Josh’s Jewish education and Bar Mitzvah at Temple Emanu-El. As Josh’s father, I was asked and happy to participate in the Bar Mitzvah ceremony.
To learn my ceremonial role I met with one of the Emanu-El rabbis. He informed me that I was to accompany Joshua to the raised platform or ‘bimah’ at the front of the sanctuary, where I would introduce him to the congregation and place on his shoulders a prayer shawl or tallit, as a ‘coming of age’ mantle. Whereupon he would recite a portion of the Torah (Jewish bible) and give a talk. Then the rabbi gave me mimeographed templates of suggested introductory remarks, but encouraged me to offer my own.
Soon thereafter, an ‘inner voice’ dictated and I quickly wrote the following words:
“Lord God, Divine Master, we remember Thee with deepest devotion and reverence;
with unshakable faith in Thee and the perfection of Thy Way;
and, with unspeakable gratitude for Thy blessings
which are beyond comprehension or imagination.“On this blessed day, we affirm to Thee our devotion, faith and gratitude
by presenting for initiation into the congregation of Israel
our beloved son Joshua David Rattner.We pray that his life may be a Divine blessing
in the ancient and holy tradition of Israel
of service to all people and to all of Thy creation.”*
A few days later, on Saturday morning I recited those words at the Bar Mitzvah, with a prescribed opening prayer and then placed a prayer shawl (or tallit) on Josh’s shoulders.
That very evening, I was “coincidentally” scheduled (by The Lone Arranger) to make another investiture presentation at the San Francisco Unitarian Church, also one of city’s largest religious sanctuaries.
CIIS was publicly inaugurating there a new President, Dr. John Broomfield. And as CIIS Board Chairman I was to officially welcome him.
Upon arriving early Saturday evening at the Unitarian Church, I was informed for the first time that I was to place a shawl around Dr. Broomfield’s shoulders as a symbolic mantle of authority. Thereupon, I quickly “channeled” and wrote down the following words:
“Dr. Broomfield I invest in you, with this mantle,
the authority of President and the position of Professor of History and Comparative Studies of the California Institute of Integral Studies.
The entire CIIS community welcomes you with support and love.
We look forward to many fruitful and auspicious years under your leadership.”
Soon thereafter I addressed those words to Dr. Broomfield and placed the mantle on his shoulders as we stood at the Church pulpit.
Dr. John Broomfield and Ron Rattner, 1/28/84
Courtesy of California Institute of Integral Studies archives
Then, Dr. Broomfield gave his evening acceptance address while wearing the mantle of authority I’d placed on his shoulders, just as Josh had recited a Torah bible portion and given a talk while wearing the prayer shawl ‘coming of age’ mantle I placed on his shoulders.
Never before and never yet again, have I placed a shawl or mantle of symbolic authority on anyone’s shoulders. Why did it happen twice on January 28, 1984? Why in January 2013 was I asked by my daughter to stand at the same sanctuary place where I stood twenty nine years earlier?
*Postscript.
A few days after the Bar Mitzvah ceremony one of the Congregation Emanu–El rabbis, called to ask, and received from me, permission for the synagogue to print my “channeled” words to Josh as a template for other parents’ use. I don’t know if others have used those words in other Bar Mitzvah ceremonies. But upon awakening from sleep every morning I continue to greet each day by gratefully remembering the Divine with the opening words given to me for Josh, while always remembering that the universal Divinity addressed with these words is my own Self – Infinite Potentiality spiritually immanent in – and as – all manifestation.
Ron’s 2021 epilogue comments
Dear Friends,
As my 89th birthday approaches, I am gratefully enjoying much greater happiness than ever before imagined, with continuing harmonious earth-life synchronicities. But this life-stage came only after many years of spiritual evolution.
Prior to my midlife spiritual awakening, I was unfamiliar with the word “synchronicity” (coined by C.G. Jung in the 1950’s) However, like many others I occasionally noted unusual “coincidences” in linear time which could not be explained rationally or statistically. Then, following a 1977 miraculous week of pre-cognitive events in New York City, I began questioning the reality of “coincidences” in linear time.
But it was not until the foregoing amazing 1984 “coincidence” events that I was first awakened to the immense spiritual significance of synchronicities, suggesting that “There are no mistakes, no coincidences, that “all events are blessings given to us to learn from.” [Elisabeth Kubler-Ross]
Since the SillySutras website was later launched, I’ve considered Synchronicity one of its most important spiritual categories. (So there has always been a tab-highlighted “Synchronicity” category link at the top of every website page.)
Thus I published both the above original 1984 “coincidence” story the second noteworthy synchronicity story which reminded me of the first story because it happened at the same place where the first one happened.
Because of their spiritual significance both stories have again been told today, to further our awareness and appreciation of synchronicities, and thereby to help us find happiness through spiritual evolution.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
