Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Right Action Law #9


'...Right Action is grounded in soul knowledge, not the man-made world's aims or values. Very few have the patience for the 'waiting and becoming' that precedes Right Action...'

                       Cynthia F. Davidson from Wisdom Wheel Right Action card
(To order cards, stones or a poster visit www.thewisdomwheel.com)



Right Action isn't about goading yourself into doing more and more. We are human beings, not human doings, after all. Sometimes no action is the Right Action. Too quick to seek approval, curry favor, or make money, we do things we have not thought all the way through to their final consequences. 
In your heart you know what Right Action is, though if you refuse to listen to your heart, that wisdom is harder to access. Right Action is not about self-righteousness, dogma, or following arbitrary rules others made either. It's about your personal code of ethics and whether you use it to guide all your actions.

Love was our last Law, and it's worth remembering that Right Action becomes easier to see when Love directs us. And yes, even moving your money from a big bank into your local community credit union, is an example of Right Action, unless you find big faceless banks easier to Love. Social justice is one area of Right Action that takes others into account as well as ourselves.  

For the next ten days, make Right Action your watch word. See what happens when you practice asking yourself before making your decisions, 'Is this the Right Action for me?' Listen for internal and external voices, old tapes, and excuses. Bring up the subject of Right Action every chance you get; with friends, co-workers and family members. See who else has wisdom to share about this Universal Law. Right Action comes from right thoughts, right 
feelings, right health and being right with spirit.
       
Here are some nuggets of wisdom about Right Action from others. 

Now this Law or Rule about Right and Wrong used to be called the Law of Nature.  Nowadays, when we talk of the 'laws of nature' we usually mean things like gravitation, or heredity, or the laws of chemistry.  But when the older thinkers called the Law of Right and Wrong the 'Law of Nature', they really meant the Law of Human Nature. The idea was that, just as all bodies are governed by the law of gravitation, and organisms by biological laws, so the creature called man also had his law--with this great difference, that a body could not choose whether it obeyed the law of gravitation or not, but a man could choose either to obey the Law of Human Nature or to disobey it.
C. S. Lewis

So act that your principle of action might safely be made law for the whole world
Immanuel Kant

However a man works to right his world, it will never be righted until he has put himself right.
James Allen

Imagine if all the energy that goes into trying to prove the other side wrong were channeled into actually thinking about what was best for whatever the dispute is about. Having to be right becomes a barrier to learning and understanding. It keeps you away from growing, for there is no growth without changing, correcting, and questioning yourself. … once you experience the power of not having to be right, you will feel like you are walking across open fields, the perspective wide and your feet free to take any turn.
John Naisbitt

 The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between political parties either, but right through every human heart
Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Sometimes you can fight evil and beat it, and sometimes you can only keep it in check. I learned never to feed evil with evil, nor hatred with hatred, nor to fight fear with fear. I learned to fight with love for even those things that I despised.
Tom Brown, Jr.

It is a feeling that no matter what the ideas or conduct of others, there is a unique rightness and beauty to life which can be shared in openness, in wind and sunlight, with a fellow human being who believes in the same basic principles.
Sylvia Plath

Hate is an unfaithful weapon. Be neither brave nor afraid, but at peace.
Master Kan

There is no easy formula for determining right and wrong livelihood, but it is essential to keep the question alive. To return the sense of dignity and honor to manhood, we have to stop pretending that we can make a living at something that is trivial or destructive and still have sense of legitimate self-worth. A society in which vocation and job are separated for most people gradually creates an economy that is often devoid of spirit, one that frequently fills our pocketbooks at the cost of emptying our souls.
 Sam Keen

Any economic system that does not benefit the natural communities on which it is based is unsustainable, immoral and really stupid.
Derrick Jensen

I have found some of the best reasons I ever had for remaining at the bottom simply by looking at the men at the top. 
Frank Moore Colby

Like our indigenous ancestors, we can be willing to engage in the struggle to liberate our bodies and souls from external and internal colonization and discover more fully our own deeper story and what it is that we came here to do.
Carolyn Baker

Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive. 
Howard Thurman

One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul. … It's not the failure that holds us back but the reluctance to begin over again that causes us to stagnate.
Clarissa Pinkola Estés

For thirty years I used to say, ‘Do this’ and ‘Give that; but when I reached the first stage of wisdom, I said, ‘O God, be mine and do whatever You want.’ 
Abu Yazid Al Bistami, Muslim mystic 

How is one to live a moral and compassionate existence when one finds darkness not only in one's culture but within oneself?  There are simply no answers to some of the great pressing questions.  You continue to live them out, making your life a worthy expression of leaning into the light.  
Barry Lopez

There is a crisis point in activism, and because of the complexities, our efforts may seem to fail. We need to expect this and be ready to cope with it in a spiritual context…The solution to our discouragement is to become more communal in focus…trusting others enough to submit our cause to a larger purpose. We cannot do it alone, when we are ego-bound, we have the least hope…You are in charge of your level of openness to the Universe. Take in and transmit only the amount of energy you are comfortable with and is appropriate to your situation.
Christina Baldwin

There are really only two things to do:
-Be still and listen
-Take spiritually based action.
Everything else is bogus activity which only gets in the way of our real understanding.
Joy Houghton

 In another ten days, we'll take up the Trust Law #10. Stay tuned & experiment with do only what is right. 

Friday, June 15, 2012

Love Law #8


'If we could only love enough, we could be the most powerful people in the world,' said Emmett Fox... If Love is not present, go no further until you bring it in.
                               Cynthia F. Davidson from Wisdom Wheel Love card 
(To order cards, stones or a poster visit www.thewisdomwheel.com)

Are you feeling the Love these days, or not? Are you able to offer your Love unconditionally? I struggle with feelings of powerlessness when loving no matter whatIt helps to have the Faith (of the last Law) when facing the massive needs for Love in this world where punishment, condemnation, violence and war are so popular. 

Some days you can feel like a real fool for believing that Love cures all, yet when I'm in Balance, with enough Awareness, of Higher Self (in others too), within the framework of Right Relationship, with Cause & Effect and Process in mind and heart (those preceding seven Laws), things certainly look different and more lovely. 


So for the next ten days, I'm going to make Love my watch word and see what happens. Join me, and bring up the subject of Love with friends, co-workers and family members. See whether the belief in it, as a Law of the Universe, outweighs the cynicism. Explore Love of the mind, of the emotional type, the physical and spiritual sorts as well.


Write Love in a few places where you'll see the word often enough to put it into practice, despite your resistance, for that's when it most needs to be offered. Let your understanding of Love evolve, especially your ability to accept it. Share your discoveries in this blog.  Here's some of what others have experienced about thLaw of Love in action. 

Whether humanity will consciously follow the law of love, I do not know. But that need not disturb me. The law will work just as the law of gravitation works, whether we accept it or not. The person who discovered the law of love was a far greater scientist than any of our modern scientists. Only our explorations have not gone far enough and so it is not possible for everyone to see all its workings.
Mahatma Gandhi

The Greeks defined four kinds of Love:
FILIA is the love within the family
EROS is romantic, sexual and sensual love
STORGE is the love of faithfulness, for ‘better or worse’
AGAPE is love without prejudice or boundary, unearned & freely given.
Kathleen Hurley & Theodore Dobson in My Best Self

Love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence.
Erich Fromm

Infantile love follows the principle: "I love because I am loved."
Mature love follows the principle: "I am loved because I love."
Immature love says: "I love you because I need you."
Mature love says: "I need you because I love you."
Erich Fromm

To love is to admire with the heart; to admire is to love with the mind.
Theophile Gautier

Free love? As if love is anything but free! Man has bought brains, but all the millions in the world have failed to buy love. Man has subdued bodies, but all the power on earth has been unable to subdue love. Man has conquered whole nations, but all his armies could not conquer love. Man has chained and fettered the spirit, but he has been utterly helpless before love. High on a throne, with all the splendor and pomp his gold can command, man is yet poor and desolate, if love passes him by. And if it stays, the poorest hovel is radiant with warmth, with life and color. Thus love has the magic power to make of a beggar a king. Yes, love is free; it can dwell in no other atmosphere.
Emma Goldman

Why love if losing hurts so much? We love to know that we are not alone.
C.S. Lewis

Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don't know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of witherings, of tarnishings.
Anais Nin

Some people mistake being loving for being a sap. Quite the contrary, the most loving people are often the most fierce and the most acutely armed for battle… for they care about preserving and protecting poetry, symphonic song, ideas, the elements, creatures, inventions, hopes and dreams, dances and holiness… those goodly endeavors that cannot be allowed to perish from this earth, else humanity itself would perish…
Clarissa Pinkola Estes in The Dangerous Old Woman

The wise want love; and those who love want wisdom.
Percy Bysshe Shelley English romantic poet

If you have love in your life it can make up for a great many things you lack. If you don't have it, no matter what else there is, it's not enough.
Ann Landers

Who would give a law to lovers?  Love is unto itself a higher law. 
Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy, A.D. 524

There is a law that man should love his neighbor as himself. In a few hundred years it should be as natural to mankind as breathing or the upright gait, but if he does not learn it, he must perish.
Alfred Adler

If there is love, there is hope, to have real families, real brotherhood, real equanimity, real peace. If the love within your mind is lost, if you continue to see other beings as enemies, then no matter how much knowledge or education you have, no matter how much material progress is made, only suffering and confusion will ensue…
to abuse or mistreat each other is futile. The foundation of all spiritual practice is love.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama

The law of Love is one of the seven laws…  it is the home of our desires, and the origin of the feelings which we call personal love. In its lowest form, Love shows itself as animal passion. In the highest form it manifests as pure Love. We are unfailingly responsible to act with Love in every thought, word, deed, intent, motive and action.
Margo Kirtikar PhD., in Flowing with Universal Laws

         In ten days I'll post the 9th Law, of Right Action, so stay tuned.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Faith Law #7

To have Faith and to be faithful come from the same place...If we remember who we really are Faith will fill us again.
                          Cynthia F. Davidson from Wisdom Wheel Faith card 
(For a set of cards, stones or a poster visit our website www.thewisdomwheel.com)

How's your Faith doing these days? Mine's been taking a beating lately, as I question the capabilities of our political, legal, economic, educational, health and social systems
I no longer have Faith in corrupt, cannibalistic capitalism, divisive organized religions or pseudo-democratic institutions, as they devolve into bitter partisanship battles and gridlock, instead of doing their jobs. The basic needs of so many are not being met and things are getting worse, not better. So, what can we still believe in?

Everything boils down to our belief system, for that's what we've really put our Faith in. And obviously our beliefs have created our systems, and to fix one we have to address the other. 
For the next ten days make Faith your watch word and see what happens when you talk about Faith with family, friends & co-workers. Do you squirm when thinking about bringing up this word? Why? Does Faith seem naive these days when cynics and hecklers get all the attention that hasn't already been hijacked by fundamentalists of all stripes? Don't limit your discussions about Faith and beliefs to one Faith system or religion. Ask about emotional, intuitive, intellectual and spiritual beliefs and forms of Faith. And their outcomes.

Write the word Faith where you'll see it often; on Post It note, in your journal or on a rock. Let your relationship to the meaning of Faith evolve during the next 10 days. Ask for the gifts and blessings of Faith each morning, and evening. 
Look for news about all kinds of Faith in the world. Share what you find in the blog. Your comments and questions are welcome. Here are some words of wisdom about the Law of Faith
Faith is a more practical way to deal with everyday life than cynicism, toughness, or defensiveness. Faith can be sensible and savvy, and practicing it daily increases its usefulness and reliability. Yet faith is also tinged with mystery, for it is the connection to our unknown potential and the power of creation itself. Faith is the way out of misery, the way into self-knowledge, and the way toward a more fulfilling and effective life...
D. Patrick Miller in The Book of Practical Faith

It is necessary to the happiness of man that he be mentally faithful to himself.
Thomas Paine

An emotionally healthy person is committed to a principle higher than himself: he has faith.
Sue Wahlroos

Belief is truth held in the mind; faith is a fire in the heart.
Joseph Fort Newton

Faith is an oasis in the heart which will never be reached by the caravan of thinking.
Khalil Gibran

Faith is a function of the heart. It must be enforced by reason. The two are not antagonistic as some think. The more intense one’s faith is, the more it whets one’s reason. When faith becomes blind it dies.
Mohandas K. Gandhi

A faith that hasn't been tested can't be trusted.
Adrian Rogers

I respect faith, but doubt is what gets you an education.
Wilson Mizner

Faith is, at one and the same time, absolutely necessary and altogether impossible.
Stanislaw Lem

Scientists were rated as great heretics by the church, but they were truly religious men because of their faith in the orderliness of the universe. 
Albert Einstein

Faith is the feeling of light...the presentiment of knowledge. Like a motive force, faith intensifies the energy. Despair is the death of faith.
Margo Kirtikar, Ph.D

The religion that is afraid of science dishonors God and commits suicide.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.
Martin Luther King Jr.

Imagination is the …very eye of faith.
Henry Ward Beecher

In Buddhism, faith is defined as: a positive attitude to virtue and objects worthy of respect. It is the doorway for all positive qualities. Different types of faith include:
a. Uncritical faith, motivated for no apparent reason
b. Longing faith, motivated by an emotionally unstable mind
c. Conviction, motivated by sound reasoning

Faith comes with practice. Live by faith until it becomes rocklike, and unshakable, find the true freedom of the Spirit.
Eileen Caddy

Faith is to believe what you do not see;
the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.
Saint Augustine

The word Faith is used, but it is really a feeling. What they say in church every Sunday can't be proved, but the feeling that people have can, because they have it.
 William Trevor, Irish novelist

Faith is trust in what the spirit learned eons ago.
B. H. Roberts

Faith is not something we acquire once and for all. Faith is an insight that must be acquired at every single moment.
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

Not truth, but faith, keeps the world alive.
Edna St. Vincent Millay


(In 10 days, I'll post #8 The Law of Love in this sequence of 36. Stay tuned.)