...

Those of us who have come to make regular use of prayer would no more do without it than we would refuse air, food, or sunshine. And for the same reason. When we refuse air, light, or food, the body suffers. And when we turn away from meditation and prayer, we likewise deprive our minds, our emotions, and our intuitions of vitally needed support.
— TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 97
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Step Eleven doesn't have to overwhelm me. Conscious contact with God can be as simple, and as profound, as conscious contact with another human being. I can smile. I can listen. I can forgive. Every encounter with another is an opportunity for prayer, for acknowledging God's presence within me.

Today I can bring myself a little closer to my Higher Power. The more I choose to seek the beauty of God's work in other people, the more certain of His presence I will become.

From the book Daily Reflections
Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NEW DAY
God bless everyone
no exceptions

I have a medicine called elixir of mind;
For years it’s been refined in the oven of afflictions,
Till I recognized its unchanging color in the matrix
Shining with radiance illuminating the universe.
It opens the eye of reality
To see with minute precision;
It can change the ordinary mortal
Into a sage instantly.

- T'ung-hsuan (807-869)

Before God we are all equally wise - and equally foolish.

~ Albert Einstein
US (German-born) physicist (1879 - 1955)

“If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself, tell yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches; for to the creator there is no poverty and no poor indifferent place.”
― Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

For many years
I have dug in the ground,
seeking the blue skies.
Time after time,
gaining only obstructions
in my heart.
One night
in the midst of the darkness
I kicked up a piece of tile
Just letting go
I realized the already empty bones
are struck into bits.

- Muso Soseki (1275-1351)

The message of God is like a spring of water: it rises and falls, and makes its way by itself.
Bowl of Saki, November 16, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:

The key to the secret of the messenger is given in the Bible, but very few will ponder upon it and reason it out for themselves. The key is in the words, 'I am Alpha and Omega', 'I am the first and the last.' Can that mean, 'I came only for a time, and then I was called Jesus, and only then did I give a message: I spoke neither before nor after that time'? Alpha and Omega means First and Last; always, continually present; never absent from the beginning of creation to the end. ... God is seen in the one who glorifies Him. But if our hearts are closed, even if we wait for a thousand years for the messenger to show himself, we shall never find him. ... the message is like a spring of water: it rises and falls and makes its way by itself, so that no one can make an imitation of it. If the message is true, it will always make its way to the end of the world. It is always so with the message of God.

But those who wait, may wait. It is their destiny to wait, and one cannot help them. They waited while Jesus Christ came and went, and they still wait and will wait for ever. And yet he has always come; to the individual, to the multitude, to the nation, to the race. He came, and spoke to the whole world; but did he come with drums and trumpets? No, he came in the humblest guise, in the most unassuming manner; as our brother, our servant, our friend, our equal. Man, because of his devotion, has called him Lord; but he said, 'Call me not good. I am like unto you.' It is not his absence that keeps man in ignorance; it is man's own closed eyes. The Master has always been present, but man knew him not.

If this doctrine is not understood thoroughly,
The conception of an I prevails,
Hence come virtuous and non-virtuous actions
Which give rise to good and bad rebirths.
Therefore, as long as the doctrine of removing
The conception of I is not known
Take heed of the practices
Of giving, ethics, and patience.

- Nagarjuna: Precious Garland

This dharma is such that
It cannot be attained by groping
Or searching about.
In the realm of seeing,
Knowledge perishes.
At the moment of attaining,
Mind is surpassed.

- Dogen

@rookie54 said
The message of God is like a spring of water: it rises and falls, and makes its way by itself.
Bowl of Saki, November 16, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:

The key to the secret of the messenger is given in the Bible, but very few will ponder upon it and reason it out for themselves. The key is in the words, 'I ...[text shortened]... in ignorance; it is man's own closed eyes. The Master has always been present, but man knew him not.

Inayat Khan set forth ten principles that formed the foundational principles of his Universal Sufism:

1. There is one God (Allah); the Eternal, the Only Being; None exists save He.

Allah is not the God of the Bible.

The only thing I found interesting about Inayat Khan was what I read about his daughter Noor.

Red is the color of the blood that flowed
Down the face of someone who loved us so
He's the perfect man, he's the Lord's own son
He's the lamb of God, he's the only one
That can give us life, that can make us grow
That can make the love between us grow

Blue is the color of a heart so cold
That will not pinpoint the stories told
Of the love of God for a sinful race
Of the blood that flowed down Jesus' face
That can give us life, that can make us grow
That can keep our hearts from growing cold

Gold is the color of the morning sun
That shines so freely on everyone
It's the sun of love that leaves us warm
It's the sun of love, that calms the storm
That can give us life, that can make us grow
That can turn our mornings into gold

Brown is the color of the Autumn leaves
When the winter comes to the barren trees
There is birth, there is death, there is a plan
There is just one God and there's just one man
That can give us life, that can make us grow
That can make our sins as white as snow
That can give us life, that can make us grow
That can turn our mornings into gold
That can give us life, that can make us grow
That can keep our hearts from growing cold
That can give us life, that can make us grow
That can make the love between us flow

Petra

“To err in human”

Alexander Pope

So don't be in a hurry and try to push or rush your practice.
Do your meditation gently and gradually step by step.
In regard to peacefulness, if you become peaceful, then accept it;
if you don't become peaceful, then accept that also.
That's the nature of the mind.
We must find our own practice and persistently keep at it.

- Ajahn Chah: Bodhinyana

To study the Buddha way is to study oneself.
To study oneself is to forget oneself.
To forget oneself is to be enlightened by the myriad dharmas.
To be enlightened by the myriad dharmas is to bring about the dropping away of body and mind of both oneself and others.
The traces of enlightenment come to an end and this traceless enlightenment is continued endlessly.

- Dogen

The higher you rise, the wider becomes the margin of your view.
Bowl of Saki, December 1, by Hazrat Inayat Khan

Now you will ask: When the difficulties come from ourselves, where do they come from? We do not like struggle in life, we do not like strife, we only want harmony, we only want peace. It must be understood, however, that before making peace, war is necessary, and that war must be made with our self. Our worst enemy is our self: our faults, our weaknesses, our limitations. And our mind is such a traitor! What does it? It covers our faults even from our own eyes, and points out to us the reason for all our difficulties: others! So it constantly deludes us, keeping us unaware of the real enemy, and pushes us towards those others to fight them, showing them to us as our enemies.

Student: "What is Zen?"
Nan-ch'uan: "Ordinary mind is Zen."
Student: "Should we try to get it?"
Nan-ch'uan: "As soon as you try you miss it."