Say No to Ego

HEAVEN #3707 Say No to Ego, January 18, 2011

God said:

Where do you get naughtiness from? From ego, I expect.



let-go-my-ego



Where do you get the idea that you need to set others straight? Or even put them down? Where do you get the idea that you have to be above all? What makes you think so? Ego, I expect.

Although love makes the world go around, ego has been known to overtake love, push love aside and insert itself. Ego sees need. Ego wants to triumph, and you lose. The world loses when ego struts its stuff. Ego makes a lot of noise.

Ego listens to its own drummer. It doesn’t listen to Me. Ego wants homage given to it. Ego makes you forget that you are to serve. Ego is very needy. It is a pickpocket. It is a marauder. Ego is short-sighted, and yet ego twirls its baton, and you follow it. Not thinking, you get caught up in ego. You march right behind it. There are the times, no matter what, when you surrender to ego.

True, you are sorry later. Beware of what ego tells you is necessary. Ego is necessary to itself. Ego is a strumpet who leads you astray. What do you think ego really gives you? It gives you betrayal.

You never did need ego. Do not adore ego’s false promises. All its promises are false. When ego wins, when you become on top of the world, what does it matter? You have a moment of glamour, and then you are left bereft because what ego gives you is nothing. Ego is such a culprit. Ego is the con-artist of the world. Ego does a good job at what ego does.

Ego is slick. Ego is glib. When ego beckons, you do not have to be under its spell. You do not have to follow. The next time ego taps you on your shoulder, promises you rewards, builds you up, tempts you, wants to pull you away from your path, smile and say: “Thanks but no thanks.”

The only thing ego has to give you is bluster and wrong turns. You can only in the end be embarrassed at your compliance with ego. You were taken in, and now you pay the piper. Ego waltzes off to find another sap to beguile. Ego purveys a false trail. Ego will trip you up every time.

To be egotistic is to be egotistic. All ego can give you is hot air. The bubble bursts. It has been said that pride goeth before a fall. Pride is the fall, beloveds. Pride is a fall from grace. In pride you sell yourself out. You accept dross for gold. A pox on ego. Stay away from it.

And yet here I do a bio of ego. I am making ego important by my very diatribe against it. I tell you to be beware of ego, and so I call your very attention to ego. I tell you to be egoless, and yet My topic is ego. I tell you to erase ego, and I make ego important -- important that you not have it.

And yet I will continue. Ego itself has no pride. It has no shame, no embarrassment. Ego is pretty sure you will come back to it. Ego is a drug dealer on the street corner. Ego gives you a little triumph, and then takes the false joy away and leaves you panting for more. Invariably, ego pulls the carpet out from under you. It wasn’t much of a carpet. Like ego, the carpet was flim-flam.

How many countless times will you be taken in before you wise up to ego? Say No to ego.

It's a process

A Butterfly's Complete Metamorphosis


Change & Wonder: A Butterfly Complete Metamorphosis from David Britton on Vimeo.


And now a fast forward version for your viewing pleasure.

Butterfly Effect: The Symbol of the Butterfly



By Linda-Ann Stewart Ct.H., Ct.H.A

When we talk about transformation, the image that comes to mind for most of us is the butterfly. A beautiful, filmy creature that glides about the sky, bringing joy to our hearts. But we tend to forget what the butterfly has gone through, how it has struggled to reach its place on the breeze and how it was effected.


Our path of transformation can be likened to that of the butterfly's. Generally, when we embrace transformation, we only want to think of the end result. We don't want to think about the work that goes into it, or the sacrifices we'll have to make to be able to soar. I know that when I went through a transformation some years ago, I thought "Wonderful. Things will be better." They were, but in the process there were attitudes and behaviors I had to surrender that were central to my life.


Transformation begins with the Universe pressing us forward into desiring something better for ourselves. We may not know what it is that we want, just that we have this impulsion for something more. Originally, the butterfly was once a caterpillar, inching across the grass to climb up the marigold to reach its daily meal. Its main drive was to eat, to fill its stomach.


The same could be said of us. Before we begin to transform, we have a compulsion to meander around; reading books, listening to tapes, attending lectures, digesting information. We're still in the old form, fattening our minds up to get ready to build a cocoon, where we'll use all that we've digested to transform our lives into a greater reflection of the Universal good.


Once our appetite has been appeased, we'll feel compelled to allow what we've learned to gestate. Letting it process is like the caterpillar inside its cocoon. This is the time to incubate. It may last for a few days or a few months. While it is happening, we're changing. We may not see the change, but there are parts of us that are being released, transformed and altered. At this point, our lives will sometimes become very uncomfortable for us. During my transformation, I had an intimate relationship that got progressively difficult.


When its transformation is complete, the butterfly emerges from its cocoon. Fighting its way out of the old form, through a tough silk shell, moving on, into a new world. Just as we must struggle to move through our barriers and outmoded attitudes. Behaviors that served us when we were caterpillars are no longer helpful. We can't live the way we used to. We're transcending the old patterns. But since they were familiar, and successful in our old form, we resist discarding them.

Eventually, the effect of the butterfly's journey allows it to climb free and rest. Spreading its wings for the first time, energy flows through them and they expand, finally ready to carry the butterfly on the breeze. Soon we feel confident with our new self, and like the butterfly, we fly free, a living jewel fluttering about the skies in the great expanse.

And finally the dress I will wear when I complete my transformation!

HAVE FUN

That's all.
Just have fun.
Isn't that enough?

New word of the day

As I was spell checking my last post, I was informed by word authorities via the internet that no such word as VERBAGE existed. Can you imagine that? The only option one has is VERBAGE which is meant to be used as an insulting reference to one's writing or speech that uses an excess of fluffy words to make a point. As it has been my experience, more than a time or two that the word VERBIAGE does not meet my verbal needs I have taken it upon myself to officially coin the word the world has been waiting for.
Ta da! I give the world a new word: VERBAGE.

verb·age - noun
       1.  wording

ver·bi·age - noun
       1.  wordiness

Random Acts of Culture

Imagine you went shopping on Saturday, October 30th of this year- to Macy's in Philadelphia - the once magnificent Wanamaker's Department Store with its vast pipe organ at the store's "center court."    You are a bit surprised to see decorations for Christmas and in the midst of your shopping you hear the music from the organ.  Then suddenly you get hit with this "random act of culture."  Catch the expressions and sense of spontaneous worship. last Saturday - to Macy's in Philadelphia - the once magnificent Wanamaker's Department Store with its vast pipe organ at the store's "center court."    You are a bit surprised to see decorations for Christmas and in the midst of your shopping you hear the music from the organ.  Then suddenly you get hit with this "random act of culture."  Catch the expressions and sense of spontaneous worship.

True to me

When something has been true of my experience and I find myself thinking about it and relating it to my present state and the future,
I stop and ask myself if this is what I want my new experience to be. If not, I stop again and pause. This time realizing that at that moment I hold immense power in my hands, within my being.

Just be cause something was, doesn't mean it is or has to be. I have the power within me to change my experience. I can rethink the situation by thinking what I want my experience to be. I AM, with the power of THE WORD, the point of power for my life.

What angels look like.

"IBUKU MALAIKATKU, (MY MOM MY ANGEL)"
   by Sashi Maritza Naya Prahita / CICI (age : 6),
   Crayon and Water Color on Paper, August 2010.
   Entered into the Japan International Children's Painting Competition 2010

Sashi, age 6, is a student of Daun Sanggarlukisanak's Children's Art School in Indonesia.

Goldie Hawn's dream

Awakening the world.
One kid at a time.


http://www.thehawnfoundation.org/

http://www.capemaycountyherald.com/article/49501-students+relax+become+aware+little+help+goldie+hawn

LIKE A SPONGE

Consider your mind a sponge. A dry thirsty sponge readily absorbing whatever you dip it into. Our minds are so. So easily waved by the power of suggestion. You are what you think. You think what you absorb from your surroundings. Guard your mind. Guard your thoughts. Be aware of what you are soaking up.

You have the power to choose your thoughts. You have the power to choose the messages your mind drinks in. Claim the best and throw out the rest.

The mystery's

Man is, in truth,
born in the sin
of ignorance,
but with a capacity
 for understanding.



Freemasonry is not a material thing:

it is a science of the soul;

it is not a creed or doctrine

but a universal expression

of the Divine Wisdom.


Manly P. Hall

The mystery's of freemasonry intrigue me. The little which I know has wet my appetite to learn more. This is the most interesting reading I have come upon to date. I have copied a paragraph below from the website indicated and highlighted certain phrases which ring especially true to my experience. This following is an excerpt from the foreword of  the book THE LOST KEYS OF FREEMASONRY or The Secret of Hiram Abiff by Manly P. Hall.

Man is Parsifal searching for the Sacred Cup; Sir Launfal adventuring for the Holy Grail. Life is a divine adventure, a splendid quest Language falls. Words are mere cyphers, and who can read the riddle? These words we use, what are they but vain shadows of form and sense? We strive to clothe our highest thought with verbal trappings that our brother may see and understand; and when we would describe a saint he sees a demon; and when we would present a wise man he beholds a fool. "Fie upon you," he cries; "thou, too, art a fool." So wisdom drapes her truth with symbolism, and covers her insight with allegory. Creeds, rituals, poems are parables and symbols. The ignorant take them literally and build for themselves prison houses of words and with bitter speech and bitterer taunt denounce those who will not join them in the dungeon. Before the rapt vision of the seer, dogma and ceremony, legend and trope dissolve and fade, and he sees behind the fact the truth, behind the symbol the Reality. Through the shadow shines ever the Perfect Light. What is a Mason? He is a man who in his heart has been duly and truly prepared, has been found worthy and well qualified, has been admitted to the fraternity of builders, been invested with certain passwords and signs by which he may be enabled to work and receive wages as a Master Mason, and travel in foreign lands in search of that which was lost - The Word. Down through the misty vistas of the ages rings a clarion declaration and although the very heavens echo to the reverberations, but few hear and fewer understand: "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God." Here then is the eternal paradox. The Word is lost yet it is ever with us. The light that illumines the distant horizon shines in our hearts. "Thou wouldist not seek me hadst thou not found me." We travel afar only to find that which we hunger for at home. And as Victor Hugo says: "The thirst for the Infinite proves infinity." That which we seek lives in our souls. This, the unspeakable truth, the unutterable perfection, the author has set before us in these pages. Not a Mason himself, he has read the deeper meaning of the ritual. Not having assumed the formal obligations, he calls upon all mankind to enter into the holy of holies. Not initiated into the physical craft, he declares the secret doctrine that all may hear. With vivid allegory and profound philosophical disquisition he expounds the sublime teachings of Freemasonry, older than all religions, as universal as human aspiration. It is well. Blessed are the eyes that see, and the ears that hear, and the heart that understands.

http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/the_lost_key_of_freemasonry.htm

FOREWORD By REYNOLD E. BLIGHT, 33 degree, K. T.

Never put your dreams on hold.
- Debra Clemente, intuitive visionary artist

What the doctor ordered.

Today was good.

Today was fun.

Tomorrow is another one.

Dr. Seuss

Open a book, open your eyes, open your mind, open your heart.

Open your eyes to the panorama of life. The world has so much more to offer than anyone can see from their own perspective. God created each of us with the gift of choice and reason so we can each be individual expressions of our Creator's glory. As individuals we each have a separate body that experiences and perceives life uniquely. What a joy, but we weren't intended to experience or be able to understand or appreciate the fullness of life alone. Life viewed from any individuals limited perspective is limited.

Open a book, open your eyes, open your mind, open your heart. - Debra Clemente

To read is to fly: it is to soar to a point of vantage which gives a view over wide terrains of history, human variety, ideas, shared experience and the fruits of many inquiries. - A C Grayling

The things I want to know are in books. My best friend is the man who'll get me a book I [haven't] read. - Abraham Lincoln

The ability to read awoke inside me some long dormant craving to be mentally alive. - The Autobiography of Malcolm X, 1964


It is better to read a little and ponder a lot than to read a lot and ponder a little.” - Denis Parsons Burkitt

A book is the most effective weapon against intolerance and ignorance. - Lyndon Baines Johns

A man is known by the books he reads. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Once you learn to read, you will be forever free. - Frederick Douglass

The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go. - Dr. Seuss

What is reading but silent conversation? - Walter Savage Landor

The Greatest Gift of ALL - DIVINE LOVE

NOW, IT HAD BETTER BE UNDERSTOOD HERE WHAT THIS DIVINE LOVE WAS AND IS, FOR IT IS THE SAME TODAY THAT IT WAS WHEN MAN WAS CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD. THIS LOVE DIFFERS FROM THE NATURAL LOVE OF MAN WITH WHICH HE WAS ENDOWED WHEN CREATED, WHICH BELONGS TO ALL MEN, AND WHICH THEY ALL POSSESS IN A MORE OR LESS PERFECT CONDITION, IN THIS: THAT THE DIVINE LOVE IS THAT LOVE WHICH BELONGS TO OR IS A PART OF GOD, POSSESSING HIS NATURE AND COMPOSED OF HIS SUBSTANCE, AND WHICH, WHEN POSSESSED BY MAN TO A SUFFICIENT DEGREE, MAKES HIM DIVINE AND OF THE NATURE OF GOD. AND GOD INTENDED THAT THIS GREAT LOVE SHOULD BE RECEIVED AND POSSESSED BY ALL MEN WHO SHOULD DESIRE TO RECEIVE IT, AND WHO WOULD MAKE THE EFFORT TO OBTAIN IT.

JESUS

Date: May 15, 1917

Author: Jesus of Nazareth
Medium: James E. Padgett
Publication: Angelic Revelations of Divine Truth, Vol I, p. 171
http://www.fcdt.org/Publications/ARDTI/1_9_1_171.htm

Talk to the animals

"Talk to the Animals" is a song written by British composer Leslie Bricusse. Written for the film Doctor Dolittle, it won the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 40th Academy Awards.

Chattin' with a chimp in chimpanzee, Imagine talking to a tiger, chatting with a cheetah, What a neat achievement it would be! If we could talk to the animals, learn their languages, Maybe Take an animal degree, I'd study elephant and eagle, buffalo and beagle, Alligator, guinea pig, and flea! I would converse in polar bear and python, And I would curse in fluent kangaroo, If people ask me "can you speak rhinoceros?" I'd say "of courserous! Can't you?" If I conferred with our furry friends, man to animal, Think of the amazing repartee If I could walk with the animals, talk with the animals, Grunt and squeak and squawk with the animals, And they could squeak and skwawk and speak and talk to us! If I consult with the quadrupeds Think what fun we’d have, asking for the crocodiles for tea! Or maybe lunch with three lions, walruses and sea lions What a lovely place the world would be! If I spoke slang to orangutans The advantages any fool on earth could plainly see! Discussing Eastern art and dramas With intellectual llamas That’s a big step forward you’ll agree! I’d learn to speak in antelope and turtle And my Pekinese would be extremely good If I were asked to sing in hippopotamus I’d say “whynotamous?” and I would! If I could parlay with pachyderms It’s a fairy tale worthy of Hans Anderson and Grimm A man who walks with the animals and talks with the animals Grunts and squeaks and squawks with the animals and they could talk to *me*! I’d study every *living* creature’s language So I could speak to all of them on site If friends said “can he talk in crab or pelican?” You’d say “*like hell he can” and you'll be right! And if you just stop to think of it there's no doubt of it I would win a place in history If I could walk with the animals Talk with the animals Grunt no word here squeak and squawk with the animals And they could squeak and squawk and speak and talk to me!

Feeling Good

  LISTEN HERE   I mean REALY LISTEN.

"Feeling Good" (aka Feelin' Good) is a song written by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse for the 1964 musical The Roar of the Greasepaint—the Smell of the Crowd

Birds flying high You know how I feel Sun in the sky You know how I feel Breeze driftin' on by You know how I feel It's a new dawn It's a new day It's a new life For me And I'm feeling good Fish in the sea You know how I feel River running free You know how I feel Blossom on a tree You know how I feel It's a new dawn It's a new day It's a new life For me And I'm feeling good Dragonfly out in the sun you know what I mean, don't you know Butterflies all havin' fun you know what I mean Sleep in peace when day is done That's what I mean And this old world is a new world And a bold world For me Stars when you shine You know how I feel Scent of the pine You know how I feel Oh freedom is mine And I know how I feel It's a new dawn It's a new day It's a new life For me And I'm feeling good

Pure Imagination

"Pure Imagination" is a song from the 1971 movie Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. It was written by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley specifically for the movie.

Willy Wonka: [Spoken] Hold your breath Make a wish Count to three [Sung] Come with me And you'll be In a world of Pure imagination Take a look And you'll see Into your imagination We'll begin With a spin Traveling in The world of my creation What we'll see Will defy Explanation If you want to view paradise Simply look around and view it Anything you want to, do it Wanta change the world? There's nothing To it There is no Life I know To compare with Pure imagination Living there You'll be free If you truly wish to be If you want to view paradise Simply look around and view it Anything you want to, do it Wanta change the world? There's nothing To it There is no Life I know To compare with Pure imagination Living there You'll be free If you truly Wish to be