Compassion Group Notes - August 2022
A rule of Love is: “It’s okay to see…” ~Charisse Lyons
In contrast to this read the book: “Thou Shalt not be Aware".” ~Alice Miller
The Current Cultural Milieu and stage of development
Am I Self-Entitled?
“Those that much covet are with gain so fond,
For what they have not, that which they possess
They scatter and unloose it from their bond,
And so, by hoping more, they have but less;
Or, gaining more, the profit of excess
Is but to surfeit, and such griefs sustain,
That they prove bankrupt in this poor-rich gain.”
― William Shakespeare, The Rape of Lucrece
For a self-assessment inventory - Read here
Tao Te Ching Verse 29
Whoever wishes to take over the world will not succeed. The world is a sacred vessel and nothing should be done to it.
Whoever tries to tamper with i, will mar it.
Whoever tries to grab it, will lose it.
Hence, there is a time to go ahead, and a time to stay behind.
There is a time to breathe easy, and a time to breathe hard.
There is a time to be vigorous, and a time to be gentle.
There is a time to gather, and a time to release.
Therefore, the True Person avoids extremes, self-indulgence, and extravagance.
~Tolbert McCarroll translation
Life itself is a privilege and a gift - not a right ~L. Johnson
Failing to Live with Dignity
Remember if you “deserve” all the rewards of life, you also “deserve” all the hardships of life. ~L.Johnson
Give up all your wants - and live in joy! Make it your prayer to your Highest Inner Self
I sometimes forget
that I was created for Joy.
My mind is too busy.
My Heart is too heavy
for me to remember
that I have been
called to dance
the Sacred dance of life.
I was created to smile
To Love
To be lifted up
And to lift others up.
O’ Sacred One
Untangle my feet
from all that ensnares.
Free my soul.
That we might
Dance
and that our dancing
might be contagious.
~Hafiz
Recommended Ted Talk
https://www.ted.com/talks/olivia_porat_redefining_entitlement_for_our_generation
Recommended book
Brandon, Nathaniel. Taking Responsibility. Self Reliance and the Accountable Life
LIFE IS A PRIVILEGE
Life is a privilege. Its youthful days
Shine with the radiance of continuous Mays.
To live, to breathe, to wonder and desire,
To feed with dreams the heart's perpetual fire;
To thrill with virtuous passions and to glow
With great ambitions--in one hour to know
The depths and heights of feeling--God! in truth
How beautiful, how beautiful is youth!
Life is a privilege. Like some rare rose
The mysteries of the human mind unclose.
What marvels lie in earth and air and sea,
What stores of knowledge wait our opening key,
What sunny roads of happiness lead out
Beyond the realms of indolence and doubt,
And what large pleasures smile upon and bless
The busy avenues of usefulness.
Life is a privilege. Though noontide fades
And shadows fall along the winding glades;
Though joy-blooms wither in the autumn air,
Yet the sweet scent of sympathy is there.
Pale sorrow leads us closer to our kind,
And in the serious hours of life we find
Depths in the soul of men which lend new worth
And majesty to this brief span of earth.
Life is a privilege. If some sad fate
Sends us alone to seek the exit gate;
If men forsake us as the shadows fall,
Still does the supreme privilege of all
Come in that reaching upward of the soul
To find the welcoming presence at the goal,
And in the knowledge that our feet have trod
Paths that lead from and must lead back to God.
Poems of Progress and New Thought Pastels by Ella Wheeler Wilcox.
London: Gay & Hancock, 1911.
