a nice quote from Vernon Howard-

"A man doesn't live his particular kind of life because he likes it.

He lives as he does because he thinks there is nothing better.

Pause and consider this idea. A tremendous clue to lofty living is hidden within."

This concurs with the entry on the main blog - gaiawriter - about goals. Unless the goals propose a definite and particular kind of life that is better than the present one, then they WILL NOT WORK.

Likewise, the project of Enlightenment involves a chick of willingness to entertain the possibility that a better life than this is possible. Then the anabolic (life- and growth-enabling influences of higher lives become present and possible out of potentiality and into increasingly levels of actuality, concluding in the actuality of Enlightenment itself.

Prayer by Thomas Merton:

Dear God, I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think that I am following Your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please You does in fact please You.
And I hope I have that desire in all I am doing.
I hope that I never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this You will lead me by the right road,
though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore, I will trust You always though I may seem to be lost in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for You are ever with me,
and You will never leave me to face my perils alone.

How to reach enlightenment, by David Hawkins

People wonder, "How does one reach this state of awareness?" I can only share my own experience, and note that few follow the steps because they are so simple.

First, my desire to reach that state was intense.

Then began the discipline to act with constant and universal forgiveness and gentleness, without exception. One has to be compassionate towards everything, including one's own self and thoughts.

Next came a willingness to hold desires in abeyance and surrender personal will at every moment. As each thought, feeling, desire or deed was surrendered to God, the mind became increasingly silent. At first, I turned over whole stories and paragraphs, then ideas and concepts. As one lets go of wanting to own these thoughts, they no longer reach such elaboration, and begin to fragment while only half formed. Finally, I could turn over the energy behind thought itself, before it even became thought.

The task of constant and unrelenting fixity of focus, allowing not even a moment of distraction from meditation, continued while doing ordinary activities. At first this seemed very difficult, but as time went on, it became habitual, automatic, requiring less and less effort, and finally effortless.

The process is like a rocket leaving earth. At first, it requires enormous power, then less and less as it leaves the earth's gravitational field, and finally it moves through space under its own momentum.

David R. Hawkins' recommended prayer:

Dear God, On this day I ask to be a servant of the Lord, a vehicle of divine love and a channel of God's will. I ask for direction and divine assistance and I surrender all personal will through my devotion. I dedicate my life to the service of God. I choose love and peace above all other options. I commit to the goal of unconditional love and compassion for all of life in all its expression and I surrender all judgment to God. Amen

Pith prayers

Certain spiritual traditions utilize a word or phrase to encourage one's disposition in prayer. My favorites are the ones that intuitively activate the heart and soothe the mind, generating mind-body receptivity without requiring but the slightest effort.

One of Phil's serves that well:

"Relax in the awareness of God's love for you."

Some of mine are:

"Go to the place in awareness where you wait for Jesus."

"Jesus, please come and be with me in this pain. Help me keep it company with your company."

*** **** *** ****

"Boot me up, Lord, into Christ OS."

- - -

"Holy Spirit, take my breath and breathe me to life in You."

- - -

- Inhale: "God of light and love"

- Exhale: silently, or whatever comes to mind.

### #### ### ####

"Lord, Jesus, drop kick me through the goal-post of life! --Footballer's Prayer

Saint Michael, Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil; may God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do you, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits, who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. -- Prayer to Michael the Archangel


O Lord, when shall I once and for all grasp this, this law of your life and so of my life? The law that death is life; losing oneself is finding oneself, poverty is riches and suffering is grace,
that to reach the end in truth is fulfillment.
--- Fulfillment Prayer, Karl Rahner

VIRGIN, a poem to the youthful goddesss

VIRGIN
Virgin,
- warrior of the spirit,
urging me on
calling forth my green shoots
singing them out of the darkness.
in love with this new life
no-one can distract you.
Yet you do not curse the darkness
you know it and trust it.


After the storm, the tempest, the destruction,
in the compost,
Is there a will to live?
something to grow?
From whence will come the mighty forest?
Where does it begin?


Artemis, great Virgin Goddess
of the hibernating bear who wakes in the Spring
of the deer whose antlers regrow so fast


Protect our spirits, our will to life
tend the Flame within us.

© Glenys Livingstone February 1995

No Frontiers

If life is a river, and your heart is a boat
And just like a water baby, baby, born to float
And if life is a wild wind that blows way on high
And your heart is Amelia dying to fly

Heaven knows no frontiers
And I've seen heaven in your eyes

And if life is a barroom in which we must wait
'Round the man with his fingers on the ivory gates
Where we sing until dawn of our fears and our fates
And we stack all the dead men in self-addressed crates

In your eyes, faint as the singing of a lark
That somehow this black night
Feels warmer for the spark
Warmer for the spark
To hold us 'til the day
When fear will lose it's grip
And heaven has its way
Heaven knows no frontiers
And I've seen heaven in your eyes

If your life is a rough bed of brambles and nails
And your spirit's a slave to man's whips and man's jails
Where you thirst and you hunger for justice and right
And your heart is a pure flame of man's constant night

In your eyes faint as the singing of a lark
That somehow this black night
Feels warmer for the spark
Warmer for the spark
To hold us 'til the day
When fear will lose it's grip
And heaven has its way
And heaven has its way
When all will harmonize
And know what's in our hearts
The dream will realize
Heaven knows no frontiers
And I've seen heaven in your eyes
Heaven knows no frontiers
And I've seen heaven in your eyes

The Serenity Prayer

The Full Version of the Serenity Prayer.

God, grant me the Serenity
To accept the things I cannot change...
Courage to change the things I can,
And Wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as the pathway to peace.
Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it.
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His will.
That I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with Him forever in the next.
Amen.

Attributed to Reinhold Neibuhr