A Yin Yang life: Being vs. Doing

Hello from beautiful Fintry, Scotland...

Bloom where you're planted
- and enjoy your journey today!

"There seem to be two realities operating (for people): a transcendent reality and a conventional reality. Some of us concentrate more on the conventional and get tunnel vision: What do I need to do to reach my career goals? To take care of my family? We get wrapped up in the material realm as though that's all there is.  Others of us who are transcendentally inclined, who focus on inner work and higher spiritual aspirations, subtle realms and all of that, fundamentally want to escape from the demands of the everyday world. As I point out in the third gateway (chapter), 'Energize Your Body,' some of us want to travel out of our bodies before we've even gotten into them.



"We were born into physical bodies, into the material realm, and given challenges, for a reason: not to escape physical life, this reality, but to experience it fully and to learn the lessons it offers. For those of us who ask, ‘Shall I leave everything to God, or shall I take personal responsibility for my life and choices?’ the answer is, 'both.' As a Sufi sage once said, ‘Trust in God but tie your camel.’ In other words, keep your head in the clouds but your feet on the ground."


Except from an article about Dan's book: “Everyday Enlightement”

our lovely pictures from this week

let it shine!

from Pinterest ... with love

Who you are, in your heart of hearts

" I can't remember how I was getting through life, then... I have the impression of a state of existential patience.  I know I didn't dream actively, that was something I('d) let go of...

When I say I followed a dream coming here, I mean the sort of vision that burns dimly in your mind, the little votive light to the Person you know you are at heart, which sputters feebly in the huge dark cathedral of Who You Have To Be To Get By.  I cherished that flame but did not pursue it; (if not for the chance encounter with the man on the bus) I would have kept that flame for nothing; it would have died when I died and no one would have known it ever existed."

-Celia Brayfield's "Sunset"

Life and it's demands will fill your dark cathedral this time of year with sweet things to keep busy and offer fleeting joy and worries.  Spiritual beings can feel excited at the new possibilities to beautify their surroundings and connect hearts with others, then after the excitement, feel a bit empty and lost as the high energy of others fades away in the face of another ordinary year.  We must remember to keep the votive flame of vision burning, together with our hope of growing it, using this time to bring our true dreams into fruition. 

Remember to day by day light another small candle to join the first!  We can do this symbolically by
Picturing your vision as clear as you can
Cheering yourself up with it when you feel down moments, and
Reminding yourself of it when trivialities threaten to overwhelm you

In doing so, you'll find in the not too distant future, that the whole of your cathedral (ie. your seemingly going-through-the-motions-life) is lit by tiny, warm sparks.  And this is when the person you know you are at heart finally has the power to capture the castle and fill the dream.