Posts Tagged ‘surrender’

“Amazing Grace”
~ Ron’s Memoirs

“Amazing grace!
how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind but now i see.”
~ John Newton
“Above all the grace and the gifts
that Christ gives to his beloved,
is that of overcoming self.”
~ St. Francis of Assisi
“Every breath we draw is a gift of [God’s] love,
every moment of existence is a grace,
for it brings with it immense graces from Him.”
~ Thomas Merton
“Give up to grace.
The ocean takes care of each wave ’til it gets to shore.
You need more help than you know.”
~ Rumi
“Love cannot be learned or taught.
Love comes as Grace.”
~ Rumi
“The winds of grace are always blowing,
but you have to raise the sail.”
~ Sri Ramakrishna
“Grace is ever present.
All that is necessary is that you surrender to it.”
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi
“Grace comes to forgive and then forgive again.”
~ Rumi
“I know, to banish anger altogether
from one’s breast is a difficult task.
It cannot be achieved through pure personal effort.
It can be done only by God’s grace.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
“As far as inner transformation is concerned,
there is nothing you can do about it.
You cannot transform yourself,
and you certainly cannot transform your partner or anybody else.
All you can do is create a space for transformation to happen,
for grace and love to enter.”
~ Eckhart Tolle
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith —
and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — 
not by works, so that no one can boast.”
~ Ephesians 2:8-9




“Amazing Grace” ~ Ron’s Memoirs

Ron’s Introduction to “Amazing Grace”

Dear Friends,

At age 90, I am again reflecting on my most important spiritual insights, learned so far.

Today’s memoirs posting refers both to the idea of Divine Grace in religion, philosophy, and perennial spiritual teachings, and to the phrase “Amazing Grace” which began in 1772 with John Newton’s well-known Christian hymn. (See footnote)

This posting hereafter includes my recited sutra poem titled “Amazing Grace” (composed almost thirty years ago}, together with apt quotations, explanations and invocations. It also includes powerful embedded a cappella performances of that hymn, by internationally famed vocalists Hayley Westenra and Andrea Bocelli, and sung by by the South African Soweto Gospel Choir.

Footnote
Amazing Grace” first became well known as the title of a powerful Christian hymn text, composed in 1772 by English poet, abolitionist, and Anglican  clergyman John Newton – who wholeheartedly wrote from his genuine ‘born-again’ Christian experience, after leading an extraordinarily miserable, difficult, and dissolute life as a slave trader.

Background

Long before consciously considering the blessings of Divine Grace in my life, I remember being moved by cantorial chants during Jewish High Holy Day services. And I recall thereafter being emotionally moved on hearing the wonderfully powerful “Amazing Grace” gospel hymn.

Then in 1976 I was spiritually awakened to self-identity as much more than my mortal physical body, its thoughts and its story. That awakening initiated an evolutionary process of inner transformation bringing previously unimagined blessings of peace and happiness.

Most importantly, in 1978 I received Shaktipat initiation by my beloved Guruji, Shri Dhyanyogi Madhusudandas. Whereupon I became a self-declared “born-again HIndu”. Thereafter I gratefully began reflecting upon, and sometimes describing as “amazing grace”, what was happening in my life.

During a post-retirement period of solitude, prayer and reflection, I composed (and later recited) the following visionary sutra-poem titled “Amazing Grace”.

Because Divine Grace applies to all human spiritual experience – that poem and all online quotations about “grace” can apply to everyone everywhere whether or not they are religious ‘believers’. So I’m blessed to share with you this Amazing Grace posting, with the deep aspiration that it may open our hearts to receiving and sharing gifts of Divine Grace, which are ever-potential blessings in all our lives.

“Amazing Grace” Sutra Poem ~ by Ron Rattner

Knowingly or unknowingly we seek
Wholeness, Happiness and Love.

Consciously or subliminally,
We intuit and long for a state of being
which transcends inevitable Earthly cares and suffering.

And there is a transcendent spiritual Force
which impels and rewards our longing.

Some call it Grace –
‘Amazing Grace’.

Grace is to mind as gravity is to matter:

Grace is an inescapable centripetal force
drawing mind to its Source –
To the Sacred Heart.

Knowingly or unknowingly,
we are all seekers, and

With ‘Amazing Grace’,
we shall all be finders, of –

Wholeness, Happiness and Love.


Ron’s recitation of “Amazing Grace”

Listen to


Recent Propitious Events

This 2023 post-pandemic winter solstice season is an especially auspicious time for our reflecting upon, and opening our hearts to, Amazing Grace. We are now extraordinarily privileged to witness an unprecedented turning point in modern human history, with marvelous opportunities for realizing blessings of Divine Grace.

Countless people worldwide are awakening from believing and fearing massive untruths long told by a tiny ruling class to control, divide and exploit humankind. And they are collectively and righteously refusing to continue following their purported leaders, any longer. And with Divine grace many are remembering our true eternal identity as Divine Love.


Ron’s Reflections on Divine Grace

Rumi reminds us that our loving behaviors, rather than our theological beliefs, are most crucial in opening us to gifts of Grace.

“Love cannot be learned or taught.
Love comes as Grace.”
~ Rumi

Thus Grace comes without warning to those who have opened their hearts to receive it.

“The winds of grace are always blowing,

but you have to raise the sail.”

~ Sri Ramakrishna

So I’m blessed to share with you this Amazing Grace memoirs posting with the deep aspiration that it may help us open our hearts to receive and share gifts of Divine Grace, which are ever potential blessings in all our lives.

Ultimately, may we realize that

“Every breath we draw is a gift of love,
every moment of existence is a grace,
for it brings with it immense graces from [Mother/Father/God].”
~ Thomas Merton


Invocation

With unspeakable gratitude for our constant Divine blessings,
May we open our hearts with faith
to receive and share endless gifts of Divine Grace,
which are ever potential blessings in all our lives.


And so shall it be!

Ron Rattner


Amazing Grace vocal solo by Hayley Westenra



Andrea Bocelli: Amazing Grace – Music For Hope (Live From Duomo di Milano) – Easter Sunday April 12, 2020



“Amazing Grace” by John Newton ~ Sung By Soweto Gospel Choir


Sutras, Rhymes, and Quotes about “Nothing”

“When no one’s a “doer”
nothing’s undone.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes.  
Don’t resist them – that only creates sorrow.
Let reality be reality.
Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” 
~ Lao-Tzu
“Tao is now,
Tao is one,
Tao is doer,
Tao will be done.
Tao will be done,
So let Tao do it.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Tao and Zen
are NOW,
not then.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“What has been is what will be,
and what has been done
is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun.”
~ Ecclesiastes 1:9




Sutras, Rhymes, and Quotes about “Nothing”

Ron’s Introduction to Sutras, Rhymes, and Quotes about “Nothing”

Dear Friends,

I’m gratefully beginning my 90th New Year happier than ever before in this precious human lifetime, with something I’ve always wanted – “Nothing”.

So with this posting I’ve decided to share with you Sutras, Rhymes, and Quotes about “Nothing”, hoping they’ll help you to also enjoy such heart-felt happiness, and Divine peace of mind that passes understanding.

Before and since launching the SillySutras website I’ve often enjoyed, and sometimes composed epigrammatic and enigmatic sutras, rhymes and quotes about the idea of “nothing”, which leave their interpretation to the reader or listener.

For example, I’ve valued the pithy non-duality teachings of the Taoist and Zen Buddhist non-duality spiritual traditions. Those teachings inspired my composition of the following “Nothings” verses during my ten year post-retirement reclusive period.

For our heart-felt happiness, I’ve posted above and hereafter some of my favorite Sutras, Rhymes, and Quotes about “Nothing”. May they help us enjoy a supremely HAPPY NOTHINGS NEW YEAR!!


Nothings

Nothing is old,
if nothing is new.

Nothing is false,
if nothing is true.

Nothing’s undone,
if there’s nothing to do.




Ron’s audio recitation of “Nothings”

Listen to




Sutras, Rhymes, and Quotes about “Nothing”

THINKING MAKES IT SO

“There is nothing either good or bad,
but thinking makes it so.”
~ Shakespeare – Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2


Nothing is false
And nothing is true
Nothing is old
And nothing is new’
But thinking makes it so.

NOTHING IS NEW

“What has been is what will be,
and what has been done
is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun.”
~ Ecclesiastes 1:9


Everything’s NOW,
so nothing’s new.
Discovering is but uncovering
timeless Truth –
ever NOW!

MUCH ADO ABOUT “NOTHING”

Essence of everyone
is no-one.
Essence of everything
is nothing.
So when anyone’s disturbed
about anything,
it’s much ado about nothing.

REALITY IS NEVER NOTHING

In this world of permanent impermanence,
Nothing is really ‘real’.
Everything’s only ego-mind illusion;
It’s maya or samsara,
Like a mental mirage.

But for Buddhists, beyond maya or samsara
Ultimate Reality is never nothing
It’s only ever imminent EMPTINESS.

DOING

When no one’s a “doer”,
nothing’s undone.

UNDOING

There’s nothing to do
but undo,
until we’re through and undone.
Then, when nothing’s undone
there’s nothing to do,
but to BE –
free and
ONE!

THE WHOLE TRUTH

“Nothing exists except the Self. ….
I know that I am the Self, whose nature is eternal joy.
I see nothing, I hear nothing, I know nothing that is separate from me.”
~ Adi Shankara – Crest-Jewel of Discrimination


We’re whole,
we’re whole,
we’re whole!
Nothing ever
can dissever our soul.

SURRENDER, FORGIVE, LET GO

We have nothing to surrender
but the idea that
we’re someone,
with something
to surrender.

We have nothing to forgive
but the idea that
we’re someone,
with something
to forgive.

We have nothing to let go
but the idea that
we’re someone,
with something
to let go.

The more we know we’re no one,
the more we’re seen as someone.

THERE’S NOTHING TO SAY

There’s nothing to say,
but words point the way.
So, elevate your spiritual
“lexi-consciousness.”

WE’VE NOTHING TO FEAR

“The only thing we have to fear is…fear itself.”
~ Franklin D. Roosevelt


We’ve nothing to fear but fright;
fright which hides our light.

But just beyond our darkest fright
shines our brightest light –
the light of Eternal Life;
the light of of timeless LOVE.

NOTHING IS IMMUTABLE

In this ever-changing space/time world
nothing is immutable,
but much is ever inscrutable –
Divine Mystery.

WE’VE NOTHING MORE TO BE

In silence sweet
we shall meet
the thrill of ecstasy.
and thus we’ll learn in perfect peace
we’ve nothing more to be.

NOTHING IS CERTAIN

“There are only two ways to live your life.
One is as though nothing is a miracle.
The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
~ Albert Einstein


Nothing is certain but uncertainty.
Everything is possible
when nothing is inevitable.

THERE’S NOTHING TO DO

There’s nothing to do,
nothing to say,
or nothing to know;
but just to let go,
and ‘go with the flow’.

~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings


Invocation

May the above New Year’s “Nothings”
Rekindle our ever expanding realization
of THAT timeless Truth beyond words,
to which they point but cannot say –

That all that is, was, or ever can BE
is the Eternal Light of Divine Love – NOW!

‘Til then, may we enjoy a supremely
HAPPY NOTHINGS NEW YEAR!!



And so may it be!

Ron Rattner

Forever Ending Our Experiment With Time ~ Ron’s Memoirs


“The soul of man has been separated from its source,
wandering in exile in a strange land –
“I am stranger on earth” (Psalm 119:19-20) –
ever yearning to return to that from which it first sprang,
and cleave to the Soul of all souls.”
~ Ba’al Shem Tov, Hasidic master

“What is life?
It is the flash of a firefly in the night.
It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime.
It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.”
~ Crowfoot, 1890

“Thus shall ye think of all this fleeting world:
A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream;
A flash of lightning in a summer cloud,
A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream.”
~ Buddha

“In the end these things matter most:
How well did you love?
How fully did you love?
How deeply did you learn to let go?”
~ Buddha

“The way is not in the sky.
The way is in the heart.”
~ Buddha

“

Forever 
Ending Our Experiment With Time 
~ Ron’s Memoirs

Introduction

Dear Friends,

This memoirs chapter gratefully celebrates my ninetieth and most spiritually significant year. Because I’m still learning from ever-changing life experiences, as an elder seeker of Self-Realization I’m updating my memoirs (while still physically incarnate) to emphasize and explain my most crucial spiritual insights learned so far from this precious human lifetime.

Background

I was born in Chicago IL on election day November 8, 1932, when Franklin D Roosevelt was first elected 32nd US president, during a great economic depression era, when most Americans were suffering extremely hard times.

My parents were first cousins (both surnamed Rattner) from Ukrainian families living near Kiev. Their families had emigrated to the USA to escape hatred and persecution for their Jewish religious customs and beliefs. And I’m the last and longest surviving male from this unusual Rattner lineage.

We’re now living at an historically unprecedented time when survival of all humans – not just Jews – appears threatened by a Ukrainian war. After eons of territorial earth wars, technological advances now seemingly threaten us with planetary nuclear, biological, or ecological catastrophe, arising from worldwide hatred, exploitation, and insanity directed at people with differing appearances, customs, or beliefs.

Until now all my most auspicious spiritual experiences have happened since my spiritual awakening over forty five years ago from Newtonian reality, and previously presumed mortal self-identity as a physical body-form. Since then, I’ve been experiencing an ongoing inner evolutionary process that is opening my intuitive Heart to formerly unimagined loving realizations about our eternal Self-identity and Reality.

Optimistic Predictions

Thus I now optimistically foresee that we’ve reached an unprecedented turning point in human history, when our species is awakening to a prophesied enlightened Earth age with elevated energies, transcending eons of previous fears and sufferings as perceived energy thought-forms in time and space in which Humans have mistakenly believed ourselves separate from Eternal God-given Love.

For the first time in our recorded history we are now forced to realize that, because of advanced technologies, any more war could trigger an omnicidal nuclear, ecological, biological, or radiological catastrophe insanely ending earth-life as we’ve known it.

In my most recent memoirs chapters, I’ve optimistically predicted that our Earthly experiment in time will soon end, as a “critical mass” of human souls imminently awakens from eons of matrix thralldom by evil entities, which cannot survive in energies beyond illusionary fearful lower realm space/time separation. I foresee that Mother/Father/God will soon honor Nature to preserve it, rather than cataclysmically end Earth-life as we’ve known it.

I’m optimistic because our separate 3D Earth-world of fears and sufferings is not chosen by Human free-will, nor Divinely planned. And I’m especially optimistic because I’ve realized that Human souls have nothing to fear – EVER; that our perceived earth-life separation from ONE LOVE is a mental illusion that never happened.

Therefore, this memoirs chapter is intended and dedicated to encouraging us to live unselfishly and compassionately, beyond all fear, blame, or judgment as demonstrated by rare mystic masters and avatars, and especially by the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, who in this Christmas season inspires many souls as the paragon exemplar of Universal LOVE and forgiveness.

And so may it be!

Ron Rattner

My conclusions about forever ending our “experiment with time”

1) What Humans call “Life” is a mentally created concept in space and time.

“Space and time are not conditions in which we live,
they are modes in which we think.”
“The distinction between past, present, and future
is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”
“Our separation of each other is an optical illusion of consciousness.”
~ Albert Einstein

 

2) Time is a karmic illusion, of every incarnate human soul’s separation from its Source. Each human soul is an eternal being of LIGHT, which appears unique in time as a polarized and mentally created energy-entity:

The soul of man has been separated from its source,
wandering in exile in a strange land –
“I am stranger on earth” (Psalm 119:19-20) –
ever yearning to return to that from which it first sprang,
and cleave to the Soul of all souls.”
~ Ba’al Shem Tov, Hasidic master

 

3) The human soul’s future in space and time is always subject to free-will karmic cause and effect.

“Every Cause has its Effect;
Every Effect has its Cause;
Everything happens according to Law;
Chance is but a name for Law not recognized;
There are many planes of causation,
But nothing escapes the Law.”
~ The Kybalion

 

4) In space and time, the soul persists Forever in form as an infinitely expanding energy entity, until dissolved as formless into the Source Light of the Whole – of Mother/Father/God.

5) Psychological fear is the greatest impediment and deterrent to each soul’s evolution to ever ascending energy planes. Such inner fear subjects souls to thralldom by evil entities, which cannot survive in energies beyond illusionary fearful lower realm space/time separation from Source.

“Love is what we were born with.
Fear is what we learned here.
The spiritual journey is the relinquishment – or unlearning – of fear and the acceptance of love back into our hearts.”
~ Marianne Williamson

“The world is a prison and we are the prisoners:
Dig a hole in the prison and let yourself out!”
~ Rumi

“You have been a prisoner of a little pond,
I am the ocean and its turbulent flood.
Come merge with me, leave this world of ignorance.
Be with me, I will open the gate to your love.”
~ Rumi

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear,
. . . .
and the one who fears is not perfected in love.”
~ 1 John 4:18

“[D]eep down, at our cores, there are only two emotions:
love and fear.
All positive emotions come from love,
all negative emotions from fear.
From love flows happiness, contentment, peace, and joy.
From fear comes anger, hate, anxiety and guilt.”
~ Elisabeth Kubler-Ross & David Kessler

 

6) The unique key for each soul’s transcendence of fear is found only Within each One’s Heart – within the One Creator.

“The way is not in the sky.
The way is in the heart.”
~ Buddha

“

You have to keep breaking your heart until it opens.”
“The wound is the place where the Light enters you.”
~ Rumi

“There is a light that shines beyond all things on Earth,
…
beyond the highest, the very highest heavens.
This is the light that shines in your Heart.”
~ Chandogya Upanishad 3.13.7

 

7) Until dissolved as formless ONENESS, each soul is a multi-dimensional fractal hologram, appearing infinitely in form.

“There is an endless net of threads throughout the universe.
The horizontal threads are in space.
The vertical threads are in time.
At every crossing of the threads, there is an individual.
And every individual is a crystal bead.
And every crystal bead reflects not only the light 
from every other crystal in the net,
but also every other reflection throughout the entire universe.”
~ Indra’s Net – from the Vedas of Ancient India, 7000 years old

“Objective reality does not exist” ….
“the universe is fundamentally a gigantic … hologram”
~ David Bohm

“Every particle of the world is a mirror.
In each atom lies the blazing light of a thousand suns.”
~ Mahmud Shabestari, Sufi Mystic, 15th century

 

8) Ultimately, Humanity’s illusionary perceived earth-life separation from ONE LOVE never happened. So we’ve nothing to fear – EVER.


“Nothing Real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.”
~ A Course In Miracles

“Perception is a mirror not a fact.
And what I look on is my state of mind, reflected outward.”
~ A Course In Miracles

“Time, space and causation are like the glass through which the Absolute is seen.
In the Absolute there is neither time, space nor causation.”
~ Swami Vivekananda

 

Dedication

These memoirs are dedicated to
encouraging and inspiring us
to more and more behave lovingly,
on our precious blue planet Earth.

May we increasingly live lovingly,
unselfishly and compassionately,
beyond all fears, blame, or judgments
as demonstrated by the life and teachings of Jesus Christ,
who especially in this holiday season
we remember as the paragon exemplar of
Universal LOVE and forgiveness.

Therefore may we ever remember that

“The way is not in the sky.
The way is in the heart.”
~ Buddha

“

 

And so may it FOREVER be!

Ron Rattner

“Sunrise, Sunset”
~ a Modern Melody With Ancient Meaning


“The soul of man has been separated from its source,
wandering in exile in a strange land –
“I am stranger on earth” (Psalm 119:19-20) –
ever yearning to return to that from which it first sprang,
and cleave to the Soul of all souls.”

~ Ba’al Shem Tov, Hasidic master

“Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly fly the years
One season following another
Laden with happiness and tears”
~ Sheldon Harnick, Jerry Bock – “Fiddler on the Roof”

“What is life?
It is the flash of a firefly in the night.
It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime.
It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.”
~ Crowfoot, 1890

“Thus shall ye think of all this fleeting world:
A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream;
A flash of lightning in a summer cloud,
A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream.”
~ Buddha: Diamond Sutra

“In the end these things matter most:
How well did you love?
How fully did you love?
How deeply did you learn to let go?”

~ Buddha

Fiddler on the Roof



“Sunrise, Sunset” ~ a Modern Melody With Ancient Meaning

Introduction

Dear Friends,

In recent postings I’ve explained verbally and demonstrated with recorded musical performances how the hauntingly beautiful melody of the ancient Kol Nidré prayer which begins Yom Kippur, the highest of Jewish High Holy Days, communicates deep feelings of instinctive perennial wisdom beyond words.

Spiritually, Kol Nidré melodies have for centuries communicated innate human awareness of our unavoidable fallibility and inability to live without inevitable life-long ‘ups and downs’ and mistakes, from which we learn Love on the Earth branch of an infinitely expanding Cosmic University.

Shortly after my 1976 spiritual awakening I experienced a melody from the play and movie Fiddler on the Roof – “Sunrise, Sunset” – as a modern analogue to Kol Nidré which to me communicated similar ancient instinctive wisdom beyond words.

During an amazing February 1977 week in New York (a time for me of great spiritual sensitivity and curiosity) after I was scheduled to return home I attended a Broadway revival performance of the play.

I was extremely interested in the fictional story because all my maternal and paternal Rattner surname ancestors over a century ago had emigrated to the USA from Western Ukraine near Kiev to escape hatred and persecution for their Jewish religious customs, and my father and his extended family had fled an actual village just like the fictional village portrayed in Fiddler on the Roof.

Now, at an historically unprecedented time, when survival of all humans – not just Jews – appears threatened globally by war and hatred in Ukraine “Sunrise, Sunset” is for me more important than ever before. So I’ve decided to explain and demonstrate it with this posting.

Although “Sunrise, Sunset” was composed to be sung by different fictional characters and a chorus i’m hereafter singing it as a cantor, for all humans at this unprecedented time of Ukrainian war world jeopardy. Also to demonstrate the power of the melody alone I will cantorially hum it in the mystical Jewish wordless song tradition of the nigun.

Please listen, enjoy and open your heart to the contemporary importance of these timeless melodies.

And so may it be!

Ron Rattner

“Sunrise, Sunset” Lyrics [*excerpted]

Sunrise, sunset

Sunrise, sunset

Swiftly fly the years

One season following another

Laden with happiness and tears.

Is this the little girl I carried?

Is this the little boy at play?

I don’t remember growing older

When did they?

When did she get to be a beauty?

When did he grow to be so tall?

Wasn’t it yesterday

When they were small?

Sunrise, sunset

Sunrise, sunset

Swiftly flow the days

Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers

Blossoming even as we gaze.

Sunrise, sunset

Sunrise, sunset

Swiftly fly the years

One season following another

Laden with happiness and tears.

*Lyrics excerpted from Fiddler On The Roof – Broadway Musical 1964
Melody composed By Jerry Bock, Lyrics By Sheldon Harnick


“Sunrise, Sunset” ~ Lyric Excerpts and Melody Cantorially sung by Ron Rattner

Dear Friends,

Although “Sunrise, Sunset” was composed to be sung by different fictional characters and a chorus I’m hereafter singing lyric excerpts as a cantor, for all humans at this unprecedented time of Ukrainian war world jeopardy.

Also to demonstrate the power of the melody alone I will cantorially hum it in the mystical Jewish wordless song tradition of the nigun.

Please listen, enjoy and open your heart to the contemporary importance of these timeless melodies.

May they invoke Divine Grace, and soon fulfill our soul’s deepest aspirations!

Listen to



And so may it be!

Ron Rattner



Fiddler On The Roof – “Sunrise sunset” Scene from film



Becoming a Faith-Based Optimist
~ Ron’s Memoirs

“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

“Faith is intuitive conviction, a knowing from the soul,
that cannot be shaken even by contradictions.”
~ Paramahansa Yogananda

“I’m only a cockeyed optimist . . .
stuck like a dope
With a thing called hope,
And I can’t get it out of my heart!”
~ Oscar Hammerstein II, South Pacific, lyrics

“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement.
Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.”
“Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light.”
~ Helen Keller

“The highest thinkers of the ages,
the seers of the tribes and the nations,
have been optimists.”
~ Helen Keller

“An optimist is a person who sees a green light everywhere, while a pessimist sees only the red stoplight… the truly wise person is colorblind.”
~ Albert Schweitzer

“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

“Even faith in God is only a stage on the way.
Ultimately you abandon all, for you come to something so simple that there are no words to express it.”
~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Optimism optimizes opportunity.
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings


Hanuman


Becoming a Faith-Based Optimist ~ Ron’s Memoirs

Introduction to “Becoming a Faith-Based Optimist”

Dear Friends,

In prior postings I’ve told how “I’ve Found A Faith-Based Life”, and defined faith as distinguished from belief. And I’ve explained that inner faith in the Divine, is the same as faith in one’s Self, and that such inner faith can bring us previously unimagined happiness.

Today I’ll tell how I found faith in Divine Self in a midlife transition from self-reliant secular litigation lawyer to devotional “born-again Hindu”; and how that faith became an optimistically unshakable conviction that everything happens for the best, until we transcend the ego illusion of existing separately in space/time.

And because these memoirs are published on commencement of important Equinox religious holy days, I’m including a 2022 Equinox Epilogue.

Memoirs of “Becoming a Faith-Based Optimist”

Soon after receiving 1978 shaktipat initiation from my beloved Guruji, I began daily Sanskrit recitations of a Ram mantra and the Hanuman Chalisa – a rhymed poetic ode to the mythological Vedic ‘monkey-god’ Hanuman (pictured above). The Hanuman Chalisa (composed by poet-saint and philosopher Tulsidas) metaphorically venerates Hanuman, who faithfully served Hindu avatar Rama, as the epitome of faith in God.

Shri Ramakrishna Paramahansa (with whom I feel deep devotional affinity) often cited an epic Ramayana story about Hanuman heroically leaping over the sea between South India and Shri Lanka (Ceylon) to serve Rama, as illustrating the epitome of divine faith. In the Gospel of Ramakrishna, he taught:

“You must have heard about the tremendous power of faith. It is said . . that Rama, who was God Himself – the embodiment of Absolute Brahman – had to build a bridge to cross the sea to Ceylon. But Hanuman, trusting in Rama’s name, cleared the sea in one jump and reached the other side. He had no need of a bridge.” . . . . “Once a person has faith he has achieved everything. There is nothing greater than faith.”


While repeatedly reciting Ram mantras and the Hanuman Chalisa, I felt their devotional energy while unconcerned about their precise Sanskrit meaning. And I became instinctively harmonious with Ram, as Divinity. Even today (at almost age ninety), I still often instinctively call out to Rama in devotionally honoring the Divine. And Hanuman energy became and remains for me symbolic of both enduring Faith and immutable optimism.

After I became an instinctive Rama devotee, I realized that my initial secular self-confidence and optimism had gradually grown to heartfelt Faith in God; that I’d evolved from being a pragmatic secular optimist into living a devotional faith-based life, with both conviction and optimism.

Also, I realized that with Faith it’s always best follow one’s conscience in all behaviors, and to surrender outcomes of such conscientious behaviors to Divine Source (or Tao) – to let go and go with the flow; because karmically whatever happens could not be otherwise. So, to clear our karma, we must non-judgmentally and forgivingly accept and bless everything and everyone NOW, as ephemeral and illusory appearances in ever impermanent space and time of our sole Divine Source – ineffable, immutable, and Eternal LOVE.

My insights revealed that our earthly sufferings arise from fearful and illusory ego-mind thoughts because we forget our true Divinity and immortality.
But that as omnipotent immortal spirit we have nothing to fear from anything that seems to happen in always illusory ego-mind space, time, and duality. Moreover, that our transcendence of ego-mind is inevitable, and always advanced by our loving behaviors.

2022 Equinox Epilogue

These memoirs are published concurrent with commencement of the Jewish High Holy Days, and the Hindu Navaratri shraddha period. In prior times I participated in both Jewish and Hindu religious ritual observances of these important holidays.

But in recent years, I’ve stopped attending all scheduled religious ritual services. As an innately faith-based optimist, I now continuously honor God every day and everywhere with Divine intentions, behaviors, and prayers, and with the SillySutras spiritual poetry and philosophy website.

Yet, I’ve instinctively realized that beyond ego-mind’s persistent “optical illusion” of a space, time, and duality worldly “reality”, all that is, was, or will be is NOW. Thus, that being a worldly faith-based optimist (with hope for the future) is like aspiring to an “impossible dream” of a never-attainable mental mirage – a time-based dreamlike fantasy “reality” that can never exist.

Optimists instinctively hope for the best. But “hope” is always “then” while Life is only NOW, ever NOW, never then.

However, since inception of the current historically unprecedented post-pandemic “new normal” era, I’ve become optimistically convinced, and foresee, that a “critical mass” of energetically elevated humans will soon co-create (as a cooperative global family) an infinitely more compassionate world, without fearful ego-mind deprivations and sufferings.

And these faith-based equinox memoirs are deeply dedicated to inspiring and hastening our imminent fulfillment of that optimistic prediction.

Conclusions

I’ve become and irreversibly remain a faith-based optimist, despite apparent cataclysmic threats against survival of human life as we’ve known it.  And I equate my instinctive optimism with inner Faith in our sole Divine Source – ineffable, immutable, and Eternal LOVE.

Therefore I’m especially grateful to be able to now share these memoirs with you to help us realize and enjoy supreme fulfillment and happiness from ever optimistic faith in Divine LOVE, until we ascend and transcend all ego-mind perception-deception illusion.

Invocation

“May we ever ascend –
as LOVE and Light,

Beyond-all suffering,
from ego-mind fright.”


And so may it be!

Ron Rattner


“Cockeyed optimist” video

To further encourage our heartfelt faith-based optimism, I’ve embedded below a YouTube video performance of the Rodgers and Hammerstein ‘cockeyed optimist’ song from “South Pacific”.

Please optimistically enjoy it as we energetically ascend as Love and Light,
beyond all suffering from ego-mind fright.



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

Listen to


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

Asking Is The Answer


“We never cease to stand like curious children
before the great Mystery into which we were born.”
“The important thing is not to stop questioning.
Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”
~ Albert Einstein
“What I see in Nature is a magnificent structure
that we can comprehend only very imperfectly,
and that must fill a thinking person with a feeling of humility.
This is a genuinely religious feeling that has nothing to do with mysticism.”
~ Albert Einstein
“Ask, and it will be given to you

For every one who asks receives.”

~ Matthew 7:7-8; Luke 11:9-10
The quest is in the question.
The question is the answer.
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“I claim to be a simple individual
liable to err like any other fellow mortal. 

I own, however, that I have humility enough

to confess my errors and to retrace my steps.”

~ Mahatma Gandhi



praying


Asking Is The Answer

In asking, we are curious.
In asking, we don’t know.
In asking, we are humble.
In asking, we are ever open to inspiration.

Ever asking,
ever curious,
ever open,
ever humble,
ever unknowing:

This is the answer
to the enigma of the Unknowable,
to the mystery of Divinity –

The sacred secret of Life.



Ron’s audio recitation of “Asking is the Answer”

Listen to



Ron’s explanation and dedication of “Asking is the Answer”.

Dear Friends,

The above “Asking Is The Answer” sutra poem summarizes one of the most important lessons I’ve learned so far from living a long and blessed lifetime: viz. to always keep curious and open minded, just as when we begin our lives as unacculturated children.

Since my midlife spiritual awakening, I’ve learned that open-minded curiosity and humility are crucial for life-long learning and spiritual advancement.

One of my greatest joys has been to continuously learn from life, while realizing that we live as part of Nature, in a world of infinite mystery with infinite possibility.

In his wonderful poem “Certainty” Sant Tukaram reminded us that nothing is “certain” in this world of permanent impermanence; that inflexible certainty – even about God – “can become an illness that creates hate and greed”.

And similar perennial wisdom was expressed and demonstrated by Albert Einstein, a scientific genius who was always intrigued by the eternal mysteries of Nature. Einstein, who described himself as a deeply religious man awed by the mystery of the eternity of life, and the … marvelous structure of reality, observed that:

“We never cease to stand like curious children
before the great Mystery into which we were born.”

“The important thing is not to stop questioning.
Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”

~ Albert Einstein


Especially in these extraordinarily turbulent and divisive times of worldwide interpersonal and international challenges arising from our “leaders’ and our species’ harmful and unsustainable behaviors, we can best address life’s challenges by heeding and following perennial wisdom demonstrated and counseled by our wise ancestors like Einstein and Sant Tukaram.

So let us learn, individually and societally, to get along with all others, especially our supposed adversaries or enemies.

Let us remain open-minded, humble and curious, always remembering and compassionately honoring the spiritual essence and divine equality of everyone everywhere, without mistaken certainty or hostility about them.

Invocation

With stilled minds and opened hearts, may we resolve current crises and compassionately live with peace and justice everywhere, without immoral exploitation and discrimination against the world’s most vulnerable sentient beings, and the iniquity of inequity in our societies.

And so shall it be!

Ron Rattner

Pursuit of Happiness
~ Quotations

“Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life,
the whole aim and end of human existence”
~ Aristotle
“Happiness is the absence of the striving for happiness.”

~ Chuang-Tzu
“All happiness comes from the desire for others to be happy.”
~ Shantideva
“Seek first the kingdom of heaven,

which is within.”

~ Matthew 6:33; Luke 17:20-21





Introduction.

Dear Friends,

Everyone wants lasting happiness; no-one wants to suffer. For millennia great mystics have revealed that ever abiding Happiness is our true inner nature – our Self. So how do we discover and experience such Happiness?

This posting is a carefully selected collection of wisdom quotations about the Pursuit of Happiness which reveal perennial insights to the fundamental happiness goal of every human being – whether or not they knowingly follow an enduring religious, spiritual, or ethical path or principle.

These Pursuit of Happiness quotations follow my recent posting about why everyone wants happiness, which suggested that incarnation is limitation and that lasting happiness can only be found in transcendence of ego and merger with Source, after eons of inner evolution with ever elevated heart levels of awareness.

Today’s quotations provide pragmatic insights into ways which can help everyone experience increasing happiness as we evolve beyond ego to Self-identification as Eternal spirit, rather than as mere mortal bodies and their stories. They can help each of us from our unique perspectives find our most suitable path to lasting happiness.

Because we’re each unique with ever fluctuating enegies and unique evolutionary perspectives, different ‘pursuit of happiness’ quotations may apply to different people, concurrently or at different times. Therefore, as you carefully consider these quotations, please follow your heart to determine which ones and when they may apply to your unique perspectives.

Namasté!

Ron Rattner


Pursuit of Happiness ~ Quotations


We hold these truths to be self evident:

that all men are created equal:

that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights;

that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

~ Thomas Jefferson, U.S. Declaration of Independence


“I believe that the very purpose of our life is to seek happiness. That is clear. Whether one believes in religion or not, whether one believes in this religion or that religion, we all are seeking something better in life. So, I think, the very motion of our life is towards happiness…”

~ Dalai Lama


“From the moment of birth every human being wants happiness and does not want suffering. Neither social conditioning nor education nor ideology affects this. From the very core of our being, we simply desire contentment. Therefore, it is important to discover what will bring about the greatest degree of happiness.”

~ Dalai Lama

“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.
If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”
“Only the development of compassion and understanding for others can bring us the tranquility and happiness we all seek.”
~ Dalai Lama

“Material progress and a higher standard of living bring us greater comfort and health, but do not lead to a transformation of the mind, which is the only thing capable of providing lasting peace. Profound happiness, unlike fleeting pleasures, is spiritual in nature. It depends on the happiness of others and it is based on love and affection.”
~ Dalai Lama

“Those who are not looking for happiness
are the most likely to find it,
because those who are searching forget that
the surest way to be happy
is to seek happiness for others.”
~ Martin Luther King,Jr.

“Joy comes not through possession or ownership
but through a wise and loving heart.”
“If one speaks or acts with a pure mind,
happiness follows like a shadow.”
~ Buddha

“Happiness resides not in possessions, and not in gold,
happiness dwells in the soul.”
~ Democritus

“The secret of happiness is not found in seeking more,
but in developing the capacity to enjoy less.”
~ Socrates

“Happiness belongs to the self sufficient.”
~ Aristotle

“The essence of philosophy is that a man should so live
that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things.”
~ Epictetus

“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not;
remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.”
~ Epicurus

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi

“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.”
“Very little is needed to make a happy life;
it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.”
~ Marcus Aurelius

“Be empty of worrying.
Think of who created thought!”
~ Rumi

“There is only one way to happiness
and that is to cease worrying about things
which are beyond the power of our will.”
~ Epictetus

“A happy life consists in tranquility of mind.”
~ Marcus Tullius Cicero

“If you want to be sad, no one in the world can make you happy.
But if you make up your mind to be happy,
no one and nothing on earth can take that happiness from you.”
~ Paramahansa Yogananda

“I do not think of all the misery, but of the glory that remains.

Go outside into the fields, nature and the sun,

go out and seek happiness in yourself and in God.

Think of the beauty that again and again 
discharges itself within and without you,

and be happy.”

~ Anne Frank

“Since you alone are responsible for your thoughts, only you can change them.
You will want to change them when you realize that each thought creates according to its own nature.
Remember that the law works at all times and that you are always demonstrating according to the kind of thoughts you habitually entertain.
Therefore, start now to think only those thoughts that will bring you health and happiness.”
~ Paramahansa Yogananda

“The pursuit of happiness is a most ridiculous phrase;

if you pursue happiness you’ll never find it.”

~ C. P. Snow



“Don’t seek happiness.  If you seek it, you won’t find it, because seeking is the antithesis of happiness.  Happiness is ever elusive, but freedom from unhappiness is attainable now, by facing what is, rather than making up stories about it. Unhappiness covers up your natural state of well­being  and inner peace, the source of true happiness.”

~ Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth

“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

“I am a happy camper so I guess I’m doing something right.
Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it, the more it will elude you,
but if you turn your attention to other things,
it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.”
~ Henry David Thoreau

“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


“What is the worth of a happiness for which you must strive and work?

Real happiness is spontaneous and effortless.”

~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj


“True happiness cannot be found in things that change and pass away.
Pleasure and pain alternate inexorably.
Happiness comes from the Self and can be found in the Self only.
Find your real Self and all else will come with it.”

~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj


Happiness is your nature. It is not wrong to desire it.

What is wrong is seeking it outside when it is inside.

~ Sri Ramana Maharshi



“I am happy even before I have a reason.”

~ Hafiz


The word “happiness” would lose its meaning

if it were not balanced by sadness.

~ Carl Jung



“The root of joy is gratefulness…

We hold the key to lasting happiness in our own hands.

For it is not joy that makes us grateful;

it is gratitude that makes us joyful.”

~ Brother David Steindl-Rast



Knowing The Unknowable

“Since no one really knows anything about God,
those who think they do are just 
troublemakers.”
~ Rabia of Basra (first female Sufi saint)
“When the mind is completely empty –
only then is it capable of receiving the unknown.”
“Only when the mind is wholly silent,
completely inactive, not projecting,
when it is not seeking and is utterly still –
only then that which is eternal and timeless comes into being.”
~ J. Krishnamurti
“The world is so unhappy because it is ignorant of the true Self.
Man’s real nature is happiness.
Happiness is inborn in the true Self.
Man’s search for happiness is an unconscious search for his true Self.
The true Self is imperishable; therefore, when a man finds it,
he finds a happiness which does not come to an end.”
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi
The less we think we know,
the more we really Know.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings






Introduction to “Knowing The Unknowable”

Dear Friends,

The following “Knowing The Unknowable” verses paradoxically point to our ever mysterious shared purpose as Earthly incarnates, which can only be known experientially, but not mentally.

They are explained in the foregoing quotations and in comments following the verses.

Please reflect on these writings. And enjoy!

Ron Rattner

Knowing The Unknowable

Knowing is bliss;
ignorance isn’t bliss
– it’s suffering.

Knowing’s not mental,
– it’s existential.

If we think we Know,
we don’t.

Knowing’s not thought,
and knowing’s not taught.

Knowing’s never then or how;
Knowing’s always here and now.

So, Knowing is this:

It’s Being —
Bliss —

NOW!


Ron’s audio recitation of “Knowing The Unknowable”

Listen to





Ron’s explanation of “Knowing The Unknowable”

Dear Friends,

In space/time duality reality we can’t express Ultimate Truth, which is ineffable – beyond conception, comprehension, imagination, or belief; but (like the Buddha legendarily pointing to the moon), we can only indicate it.

The forgoing “Knowing The Unknowable” poem paradoxically points to our ever mysterious shared purpose as Earthly incarnates.

We’ve appeared on the ‘Earth branch of the great Cosmic university’ as spiritual students, to learn our true Self-identity as eternal Love.

Knowingly or unknowingly we all long for LOVE – which is our common spiritual essence and Source. And we’re here to find it, by compassionately and lovingly living our lives.

As learning incentives, many of us suffer painful experiences. Inevitably we thereby learn that knowing Divinity comes not from fearful or divisive ego-mind efforts or judgmental hostility, but from opened hearts and stilled minds – lovingly letting go of all ideas of being separate from or exploiting each other or Nature. Thus

Dedication

Today’s quotations, comments and poetic verses
are deeply dedicated to inspiring timeless realization
of our universal aspiration –
to experientially “Know the Unknowable” by
Being –
Bliss –

NOW!

And so may it be!

Ron Rattner