posted June 11, 2007 02:56 PM            

Those quotes are inspiring.

Thanks for the tip,
I've sent an email or two lately.
You know its casual and cool.
No worries, but thanx again.

Love and Bliss,
HSC

posted June 11, 2007 05:53 PM            

- Master Obi-Wan ("Old Ben") Kenobe

All our enemies are within.

- Unknown

posted June 11, 2007 10:00 PM            

“Use the Force, Luke.”

“Mos Eisley spaceport. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.”

“Boring conversation anyway. Luke, we’re gonna have company!”

“Into the garbage chute, flyboy!”

“You don’t need to see his identification … These aren’t the droids you’re looking for … He can go about his business … Move along.”

“The Force is strong with this one.”

“You’re all clear, kid! Now let’s blow this thing and go home!”

“May the Force be with you.”

Not as good as your quote (loved that one and there are some great ones in the new movies too), but it was fun to read them.

posted June 11, 2007 11:16 PM            

It is not what the world gives me
In honor, praise or gold;
It is what I do give the world,
So others do unfold.

If by my work through life I can
Another soul unfold,
Then I have done what cannot be
Made good, by praise or gold.

One tiny thought in tiny word
May give a great one birth,
And, if that thought was caused by me,
I lived a life of worth.

-Richard F. Wolfe

I couldnt find the exact quote, but this is something I remember from the Diamond Sutra (I'm paraphrasing like a b*stard), at least, I'm pretty sure it was the Diamond Sutra:

A man can live a great many lifetimes and never hear the words of a Buddha. So this is a precious gift the value of which it is hard to comprehend.

Whosoever should hear a single line of this Sutra, his rewards in good karma shall number more than the grains of sand on all the shores of all the oceans of this world.

And whosoever should repeat a single line of this Sutra in the hearing of another, his rewards shall number more than all the grains of sand on all the shores of all the oceans of all the created worlds in this universe.

And whosoever should practice to understand a single line of this Sutra, his rewards in good karma shall number more than all the grains of sand on all the shores of all the oceans of all the created worlds in this universe, past, present, and future.

And whosoever should practice to explain a single line of this Sutra to another, his rewards shall be far beyond numbering.

posted June 11, 2007 11:39 PM            

Already know you that which you need... Yoda

Many of the truths that we cling to depend on our point of view.
OB1-Wan Kenobi

Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.... Yoda

"Don't you call me a mindless philosopher you overweight glob of grease!"
C3PO--Star Wars: A New Hope

"Size matters not! Judge me by my size, do you?"
Yoda--The Empire Strikes Back

"Ohhh! Great warrior! [laughs and shakes his head]
Wars not make one great!"
Yoda--The Empire Strikes Back

"You must unlearn what you have learned." "Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will..."
Yoda-

"You will know (the good from the bad) when you are calm, at peace. Passive." A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack.
Yoda-

"A Jedi's strength flows from the Force."
Yoda-

posted June 11, 2007 11:40 PM            

"A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind."
Yoda-

"Adventure. Heh! Excitement. Heh! A Jedi craves not these things."
Yoda-

"Always in motion is the future."
Yoda-

And well you should not. For my ally in the Force. And a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. It's energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we...(Yoda pinches Luke's shoulder)...not this crude matter. (a sweeping gesture) You must feel the Force around you. (gesturing) Here, between you...me...the tree...the rock...everywhere! Yes, even between this land and that ship!
Yoda-

posted June 11, 2007 11:53 PM            

"Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts."
~Einstein

posted June 12, 2007 12:27 AM            

"ON THE SACRED ART"

Just as true lovers move on beyond the beauty perceived through the senses until they reach the Sole Cause of all beauty and all perception, so too, the experts in sacred matters, starting with the Sympathy connecting visible things, both to one another and to the Invisible Powers, and having understood that all things are to be found in all things, established the Sacred Science. They marvelled at seeing those things which come last in those which come first, and vice-versa; earthly things in the heavens in a causal and celestial manner, and heavenly things on the earth in a determined and terrestrial way.

How else could it be that the sunflower moves in accordance with the sun and the moonflower with the moon, each according to its ability, turning around with the luminaries of the world? For all things pray according to the rank they occupy and hymn the gods who preside over the whole of their ‘chains’, either spiritually, rationally, naturally, or in a sensory manner. So the sunflower moves with what makes it open as much as it can, and if one could hear how it makes the air vibrate as it turns around, one would realise from the sound that it is making a hymn to its King, of the kind that a plant can sing.

Thus there are to be seen on the earth suns and moons in a terrestrial form, and in the heavens all the plants, stones and animals after a celestial manner, alive in a spiritual way.

Having contemplated these things, the wise men of old brought together various things down here with their heavenly counterparts, and brought down Divine Powers into this mortal place, having drawn them down through Similarity: for Similarity is powerful enough to attach beings to one another.

For instance, if a wick which has been heated beforehand is placed under a lamp, not far from the flame, you will see it light up even though it has not touched the flame, for the transmission of the flame takes place downwards. By analogy, you may consider the heat already there in the wick to correspond to the Sympathy between things, and its being brought and placed below the flame to correspond to the Sacred Art, making use of material things at the right time and in the right way. The transmission of the flame is like the presence of the Divine Light with those who are able to partake of it, and the lighting up of the wick is analogous to both the deification of mortals and to the illumination of material substances. Each thing then moves towards that which remains on high (i.e. its divine counterpart), according to its share of the Divine Seed, like the light of the wick once it has been lit.

The lotus also demonstrates the workings of Sympathy. Its petals are closed before the appearance of the sun’s rays, but it gradually opens them as the sun begins to rise, unfolding them as it reaches its zenith and curling them up again as it descends. What then is the difference between the human manner of hymning the sun, by opening and closing the mouth and lips, and that of the lotus by opening and closing its petals? For those are its lips and that is its natural hymn.

But why should we talk of plants where some trace of generative life still exists? For stones as well can be seen to be infused with the emanations of the luminaries, thus we see the rays of the sun reproduced in the golden rays of the sunstone. The stone called the Eye of Belos, which in form resembles the pupil of the eye, emits from the centre of its pupil a gleaming light which leads one to think that it ought to be called the Eye of the Sun. Moonstone changes both its markings and their motions along with the moon. And Sunmoonstone is just like an image of the conjunction of these two luminaries, portraying the conjunctions and separations which take place in the heavens.

Thus all things are full of Gods. The earth is full of celestial Gods and the heavens are full of supercelestial Gods.

Each ‘chain’ multiplies in number as it proceeds to its final terms, and the same qualities which are present in all the members of a ‘chain’ are there in the Unity preceding their manifestation. Thus we get the arrangement of human souls, some grouped around one God, others around another.

For instance, there happen to be a large number of solar animals, like the lion and the rooster, who partake of the solar God, each according to their rank. The remarkable thing is that in this particular case, the bigger and stronger fears the lesser and weaker, for it is said that the lion shrinks back in fear at the sight of the rooster. The reason for this is not be found in their physical qualities, but in spiritual considerations: that is, the differences lie in the Causes themselves. At any rate, the presence of solar symbols is more effective in the rooster. It clearly show this by its sensitivity to the course of the sun, for it crows a hymn at sunrise and at the rest of the sun’s turning points.

For the same reason, certain solar Angels are seen in forms of this kind (i.e. like a rooster), for whilst these Angels are formless in reality, they appear by concealing themselves in form to us who have been endowed with form. Thus it is said that certain solar Daemons who appear with lion-faces, disappear at once when shown the image of a rooster, retreating in fear from the superior Sigils (or Divine Signs). In the same way, many people are held back from doing something wrong, simply just by seeing the images of divine men.

To put it all plainly, some things move in accordance with the course of a luminary, like those plants we have spoken of. Others imitate the form of its rays, like the palm tree. Some again have an empyrean (or fiery) essence, like the laurel; and others imitate some other quality.

From these things one can see that the properties which are contained in the sun in a concentrated form are to be found in a diluted state amongst those entities who partake of the sun’s qualities: Angels, Daemons, human souls, animals, plants and stones.

From these facts, the masters of the Sacred Art found the way to pay divine honours (or service) to the Higher Powers, by following what lay in front of their eyes, and by mixing together some things and removing others, as appropriate.

And when they made use of a mixture of things it was because they had observed that, unmixed, each thing has some quality of the God, but taken alone was not sufficient to invoke them. So by mixing together many different things they unified the emanations referred to previously, and by the production of one thing from many, they made a likeness of that Whole which exists before every thing else comes into being.

And so they often constructed images and incenses from these mixtures, mingling into one the divided Divine Sigils, and making by art that which a God contains essentially. Thus they unified the multiplicity of powers which when dispersed are weakened, but when combined lead back up to the essential Form of its Archetype.

Sometimes it happens that just a single herb or stone is sufficient in a ritual operation. So flax-leaved daphne or spurge-flax is sufficient for a manifestation. For protection, laurel or a thorny shrub, or the squill, or coral, or diamond or jasper. For knowledge of the future, the heart of a mole, and for purification, sulphur and seawater.

Working in this way, the masters of the Sacred Art attracted some things through Sympathy and repelled others through Antipathy. For instance, as an example of antipathy, sulphur and bitumen purify through the sharpness of their smell, and one sprinkles seawater because it partakes of the empyrean (or fiery) power. And so in their Initiations, Consecrations, and other Divine Ceremonies, they would choose the appropriate animals and other materials.

Longing to go beyond these mundane things, they came to know the Daemonic Powers which are essentially linked to the activities of nature and physical bodies, and by this means they drew down these Powers in order to communicate with them.

posted June 13, 2007 10:46 AM            

- Valerian

posted June 14, 2007 02:11 PM            

"If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?"

"Where the world ceases to be the scene of our personal hopes and wishes, where we face it as free beings admiring, asking and observing, there we enter the realm of Art and Science"

posted June 14, 2007 04:03 PM            

Enlightenment is the knowledge & experience of a constant state not based on time or space.

The ultimate divine gift lies in the knowledge of the moment; veiled between the memory of the past and anticipation of the future.

Our real contact with divine truth is the present moment.

Success is short lived and is relative unless it is to do with the discovery of the overwhelming power of Divine presence and control.

The ultimate truth lies within you and your present state is a modification and distortion of this truth. The stronger the action of the self, the greater is the distortion.

There is only one truth working and energizing infinite varieties of realities. Every experience or state has it’s reality, emanating and founded upon the one truth – the noor.

Stillness is where tranquility and peace is found , movement is where agitation and turmoil is found.

If only you can listen to absolute silence; it’s thunderous sound is deafening.

If you wish to have access to the subtle knowledge and illuminations then you need to understand appropriate and worthy actions.

If you are seeking the sacred, look deeply into the secular and if you wish to understand the secret of the secular meditate upon the sacred. The two facts are ONE.

Sufi thoughts.

------------------
~
What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world is immortal"~

posted June 14, 2007 08:08 PM            

- Elbert Hubbard

posted June 14, 2007 11:01 PM            

- Sri Chinmoy

O my friend,
Let us claim each other first.
Then let us walk together
Towards our destined goal.

- Sri Chinmoy

Love, true love, is that which can give the most
without asking or demanding anything in return.

~ Mazie Hammond

"But friendship is precious, not only in the shade,
but in the sunshine of life; and thanks to a benevolent arrangement of things,
the greater part of life is sunshine."

-Thomas Jefferson

"The only way to have a friend is to be one."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Friendship is peace...
I shall not speak ill of you or try to ruin you; you will not speak ill of me or try to ruin me.
On the contrary, I shall give you what I have:
my love, my sympathy, my concern, my compassion, my total support of your cause,
and you will do the same for me.

- Sri Chinmoy

"It is a sweet thing, friendship, a dear balm, A happy and auspicious bird of calm..."

- Shelley