WISDOM: ARROGANCE Vs CONFIDENCE

Vs
"David Brent" from the
BBC TV series "The Office"

Confidence is a matter of opening up to the world around. Arrogance believes in the sufficiency of an internal world.

"When does confidence become arrogance? Is your 'confidence' when viewed by someone else no more than arrogance?

The dividing line between confidence and arrogance is very fine but the difference is great. If you think that statement is contradictory, consider two cars going fast along a road in opposite directions. They are close together for a moment but very different in their performance. Arrogance is a shutting off of input. Arrogance is isolating. Arrogance means you do not want and do not need to listen to anyone else. Arrogance is the ultimate 'system' sin. The human system is thereby detached from the world around.

Confidence is just as decisive as arrogance in its performance. But confidence allows input and seeks out input. If you are truly confident, you do not mind listening to other opinions and considering alternatives. You are confident you will do the best. You may even be confident that your opinions will not change and therefore do not mind exposing them to discussion.

Arrogance is almost the direct opposite of wisdom.

Confidence is the basis of wisdom."


More from this source can be found here:

http://www.edwdebono.com/debono/wisdom.htm

"MERRY CHRISTMAS" from the Buddha!

Is it appropriate for non-Christians to participate in and celebrate the "Christmas experience" if they so desire - even if they don't share the same belief system as Christians?

If you open your mind wide enough.....you may discover a way of looking that embraces the possibility of inclusion, rather than exclusion, of all who wish to participate and celebrate with you.

The Buddha made a distinction between ultimate truth and conventional truth.

The idea of a self is merely a concept, a convention. To understand not-self, you have to meditate. If you only intellectualize, your head will explode. When you see beyond self, you no longer cling to happiness, and when you no longer cling to happiness, you can begin to be truly happy.The language of the Dhamma is the same for all people - the language of experience.

There is a great difference between concepts and direct experience.

Whosoever puts a finger into a glass of hot water will have the same experience of ‘hot’ but it is called by many words in different languages.

In the Christian religion, for example, one of the most important holidays is Christmas. If Christmas is an occasion where people make a particular effort to do what is good and kind and helpful to others in some way, that's important and wonderful, no matter what system you use to describe it.

I teach this way to enable people to let go of their attachments to various concepts and to see what is happening in a straightforward and natural way.

Anything that inspires us to see what is true and do what is good is proper practice.

You may call it anything you like.

Greed and hatred are the same in an Eastern or a Western mind. Suffering and the cessation of suffering are the same for all people.


Taken from the following source:

http://www.purifymind.com/DiscoursesChah.htm

MEDITATION - Zen Style!

This is an audio/video link....

http://www.do-not-zzz.com/

WORDS OF WISDOM

"Never look to another person to make you happy - happiness is an internal, personal attitude and responsibility. "

"If anyone tries to complicate your life - turn and walk away from them."


For more from Caroline Myss, please click on the following links:



http://www.myss.com/dailymsgarch.asp

http://www.myss.com/storyofweekarch.asp

http://www.myss.com/sitemap.asp

VIPASSANA MEDITATION

A few years ago, I did a 10 day, residential Vipassana meditation retreat.

It was to be the beginning of a long journey of exploration and investigation.

The thing I liked most about the retreat was that it was held in total silence.

The food was great, the accommodation comfortable....and best of all....the whole retreat was absolutely free!! (although most of us gave a donation out of gratitude!)

Here's the link:

http://www.dhamma.org/

For a video/audio introduction to Vipassana meditation, please click on one of the following links:
Video Discourse in English Language - Windows Media Video Format
Video Discourse in English Language - Real Video Format

ANGER MANAGEMENT

We all know what anger is, and we've all felt it: whether as a fleeting annoyance or as full-fledged rage.

Anger is a completely normal, usually healthy, human emotion. But when it gets out of control and turns destructive, it can lead to problems—problems at work, in your personal relationships, and in the overall quality of your life. And it can make you feel as though you're at the mercy of an unpredictable and powerful emotion.

This link is meant to help you understand and control anger.

http://www.apa.org/pubinfo/anger.html

FOOD FOR LIFE (aka Cheap Eats!)

What a great resource for good, cheap meals!

http://www.ffl.org/

Another directory:

http://www.iskcon.com/worldwide/centres/index.html

JOY

When the ‘urne’ is dropped,

yesterday’s ashes

scatter with the breeze...

and the Journey

becomes the Destination

SARK

Heather Blakey from The Soul Food Cafe writes:

"Years ago a friend introduced me to the work of SARK when she gave me one of Susan's early books as a present. I was enchanted by this woman who so clearly lived outside the square and encouraged women all over the world to be wild and succulent."

This is Susan's site:

http://www.planetsark.com

For her audio/visual introduction, click the following link, then click on the play button -

http://www.planetsark.com/studio_meet_sark.htm

INTELLECT Vs INTELLIGENCE

Training the intellect does not result in intelligence. Rather, intelligence comes into being when one acts in perfect harmony, both intellectually and emotionally. There is a vast distinction between intellect and intelligence. Intellect is merely thought functioning independently of emotion. When intellect, irrespective of emotion, is trained in any particular direction, one may have great intellect, but one does not have intelligence, because in intelligence there is the inherent capacity to feel as well as to reason; in intelligence both capacities are equally present, intensely and harmoniously.

... If you bring your emotions into business, you say, business cannot be well managed or be honest. So you divide your mind into compartments: in one compartment you keep your religious interest, in another your emotions, in a third your business interest which has nothing to do with your intellectual and emotional life. Your business mind treats life merely as a means of getting money in order to live. So this chaotic existence, this division of your life continues. If you really used your intelligence in business, that is, if your emotions and your thought were acting harmoniously, your business might fail. It probably would. And you will probably let it fail when you really feel the absurdity, the cruelty and the exploitation that is involved in this way of living.

Until you really approach all of life with your intelligence, instead of merely with your intellect, no system in the world will save man from the ceaseless toil for bread.


Here are some more links from this source.

WHY DOES THE MATERIAL SIDE OF MY LIFE SLIP AS I BECOME SPIRITUAL?

As I gain in spiritual understanding, the material side of my life slips. How can I balance the two?

The entirety of your life is spiritual. This Universe is a spiritual enterprise, not a material one. As your awareness of the wisdom and compassion of the Universe begins to unfold, it is natural that circumstances and activities that once held the highest priority for you are no longer as important.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, a great American observer of inner transformation, observed that most individuals are concerned that their neighbors might cheat them. However, there comes a time in the spiritual evolution of an individual when he becomes concerned that he does not cheat his neighbor. That is when his life become transformed from an experience of the ordinary into appreciation of the miraculous.

Relax and enjoy the process of your own spiritual unfolding. Experiment with new orientations and perceptions before you judge them.

Here is the link to Gary Zukav's site.

MEDITATION IS LIKE A PUPPY

...meditation is very much like training a puppy.

You put the puppy down and say, "Stay."

Does the puppy listen?

It gets up and it runs away.

You sit the puppy back down again. "Stay."

And the puppy runs away over and over again.

Sometimes the puppy jumps up, runs over, and pees in the corner or makes some other mess.

Our minds are much the same as the puppy, only they create even bigger messes.

In training the mind, or the puppy, we have to start over and over again.


For those who are drawn to the disciplined endeavours of formal meditation....this technique may be right up your alley.

http://www.geocities.com/~spiritwalk/kornfield.htm#artofmeditation

Jack Kornfield has also written some great books which are listed on this site:

http://www.geocities.com/~spiritwalk/kornfield.htm