Reincarnation

Article taken from the site "Wake up World"

Compelling Evidence (and maybe even proof) of Reincarnation

by Makia Freeman

https://wakeup-world.com/2017/02/18/compelling-evidence-and-maybe-even-proof-of-reincarnation/

Twenty Stumbling Blocks on the Path to Enlightenment

It is hard for a poor man to be generous.
It is hard for a rich man to learn the way to enlightenment.
It is hard to seek enlightenment at the cost of self-sacrifice.
It is hard to see the Buddha-world in the present world.
It is hard to hear the Buddha’s teaching in the turmoil of this world.
It is hard to keep the mind pure against the instincts of the body.
It is hard for a strong man not to use his strength to gratify his desire.
It is hard not to get angry when one is insulted.
It is hard not to desire that which is beautiful and attractive.
It is hard to remain innocent when tempted by sudden circumstances.
It is hard to apply oneself to study.
It is hard not to look down on a beginner.
If successful, it is hard to keep humble.
It is hard to get a good friend.
It is hard to endure discipline to make oneself a faithful practicing Buddhist.
It is hard not to be disturbed and upset by the external conditions surrounding us.
It is hard to teach others by being mindful of nature.
It is hard to attain a peaceful mind.
It is hard not to get into arguments about religion.
It is hard to find and practice a good method.

Awakening to Awareness of Our Life Force

Click on the Link to read the article.

Awakening to Awareness of Our Life Force

Humorous Images/Meme

To assert that the Earth revolves around the Sun is as erroneous as to claim that Jesus was not born of a virgin. - Cardinal Bellarmine, 1633

Spiritual - Quotes

The ground we walk on, the plants and creatures, the clouds above constantly dissolving into new formations - each gift of nature possessing its own radiant energy, bound together by cosmic harmony. - Ruth Bernhard

The possibility of stepping into a higher plane is quite real for everyone. It requires no force or effort or sacrifice. It involves little more than changing our ideas about what is normal. - Deepak Chopra

The substance is One under different names, and everyone is seeking the same substance; only climate, temperament, and name create differences.  Let each man follow his own path. - Sri Ramakrishna

The essence of spiritual practice is your attitude toward others. When you have a pure, sincere motivation, then you have right attitude toward others based on kindness, compassion, love and respect. - Dali Lama

Walking a spiritual path without initiation is like going on a journey at night through a dense forest full of wild animals. It is wise to bring a lamp with you. The light of knowledge is this lamp. - Unknown

When we speak of Nature it is wrong to forget that we are ourselves a part of Nature. We ought to view ourselves with the same curiosity and openness with which we study a tree, the sky or a thought, because we too are linked to the entire Universe. - Henri Maisse

At any moment, you have a choice, that either leads you closer to your spirit or further away from it. Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness. If, in our heart, we still cling to anything – anger, anxiety, or possessions – we cannot be free. - Thich Nhat Hanh

Only as we begin to open to others in love can our isolated ego be transformed. An awareness of our interdependence with other human beings and with all of life provides the environment in which the seed of our souls can flourish. - Kabir Helminski

The only way you will ever awaken is through silence, not through analysation of facts. Not by sorting out good and bad, but through simple silence, letting go. Letting go of all thoughts, all the hurts, all the dogmas and concepts. Letting go of these things daily. - Robert Adam

Only by much searching and mining are gold and diamonds obtained, and man can find every truth connected with his being if he will dig deep into the mine of his soul. - James Allen

Religion - Quotes

Good people can do good and bad people can do evil. But for good people to do evil – that takes religion. - Steven Weinberg

An immoral character, glossed with religious pretension, is like a rotten egg with an Easter colouring. - Lewis F. Korns

Men will wrangle for religion; write for it; fight for it; die for it; anything but – live for it. - Charles Caleb Colton

No religion is better than an unnatural one. - William Penn

Religion is legalized madness. - Arthur Janov

Churches - Quotes

The church says the earth is flat, but I know that it is round, for I have seen the shadow on the moon, and I have more faith in a shadow than in the church. - Ferdinand Magellan

Why did men worship in churches, locking themselves away in the dark, when the world lay beyond its doors in all its real glory? - Charles de Lint

Some go to church to see and be seen, some go there to say they have been, some go there to sleep and nod, But, few go there to worship God. - Proverb

The Origin of the World

  An article from National Geographic 

The emergence of life on Earth is on a short list of the biggest unknowns in Science. Did life begin in a small, warm pond at the edge of a primordial sea, as Charles Darwin speculated? Or deep beneath that sea, around one of the burbling hydrothermal vents first seen in the 1970s? and never mind the where: What was it, this initial germ of life? Was it a cell? A replicating molecule? 

One of the most intriguing theories says that the answer to the mystery is right inside us. Biologist Harold Morowitz of George Mason University argues that our metabolism – the chemical reactions that allow cells to turn energy and atoms into biologically useful molecules – provides a long fossil record of Earth life. Morowitz and collaborator Eric Smith of the Santa Fe Institute believe that a central set of chemical reactions has been in place since life’s earliest moments about four billion years ago. These reactions involve just 11 small carbon molecules, such as citric and acetic acids - very ordinary stuff that would have been abundant on the young Earth. 

Those 11 molecules could have played a role in other chemical reactions that led to the development of such biomolecules as amino acids lipids, sugars, and eventually some kind of genetic molecule such as RNA. In other words, metabolism came first – before cells, before replication, before life as we commonly think of it. 

This is probably not what opponents of the teaching of evolution want to hear, but it seems that a kind of molecular natural selection applies event to the world of geochemistry. Some types of molecular chains outcompeted other molecular chains for the plant’s resources, and gradually they led to the kind of molecules that life depends upon – all this before the first living thing oozed forth. Many scientists say life wasn’t a freak accident at all, but the likely outcome of the interaction of the molecules and minerals of the Earth. “Life is an elaboration of something very simple.” Says Smith, “it looks easy and inevitable.’ 

Earth scientist Robert Hazen’s new book, Ge*ne*sis, says that many theories about the origin of life involve the principle of “emergence.” From simple beginnings, complexity can emerge. A classic example of emergence is in your brain. Individual neurons don’t think, but collectively they produce the emergent phenomenon we call consciousness. Says Morowitz, “the unfolding of life involves many emergences.” 

All this is sure to be a matter of contentious debate for a long time. But ours would not be so interesting a world if its ultimate secrets were easily discovered. It took us four billion years to evolve to a point where we could even begin the search. 

- Article by Joel Achenbach 

Who Am I?

Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle. - Lewis Carroll

Am I this Body of Flesh, Bone and Blood? Am I the Mind, Thoughts and the Feelings which distinguish me from the other persons?

Pursue the enquiry “Who am I”, relentlessly. Analyse your entire personality. Try to find out where the “I” thought begins. Go on with your meditations. Keep turning your attention within. One day, the wheel of thought will slow down and an intuition will mysteriously arise. Follow that intuition, let your thinking stop, and it will eventually lead you to the goal.

The sense of “I” pertains to the “person”, the “body” and the “mind”. When a man knows his true self for the first time, something else arrives from the depths of his being and takes possession of him. That something is behind the mind. It is infinite, divine, eternal. It is believed that when a man dies, his character, desires, thoughts and will continue to exist until they enter a body of flesh once more and come among us in the form of a newborn baby. The good and evil actions committed in the former birth will be suitable rewarded or punished in the present or even in the future births. This is how we explained fate. The destiny of every person must be fulfilled. Man cannot escape from their self-earned fate. The ‘cause and effect returns to men the good or evil fruits of their thoughts and deeds in earlier bodies.

Thoughts are real things on their own plane and they attach themselves, for shorter or longer periods, to whatever we consistently use. Man possesses a subtler body than the physical, and in this subtler body there exist centers of activity. Through these centers he own discern, invisible force, for whom, when they are energized; they bestow physic and spiritual right.

What is Soul?

Briefly stated, the soul is the abiding, separate, constantly existing and indestructible entity which is generally believed to be found in man from the moment of his birth up to the time of his death, and to exist after his death in some other place.

Nature of Life

Life is merely a phenomenon or rather, a series of phenomena, produced by the law of cause and effect. And individual existence is to be looked upon not as something permanent but as a succession of changes as something that is always passing away.

Continuity of Life

As long as the causes of life persist – the sense of separateness, the craving for existence – so long will life continue. Remove the cause of life, and life is not continued. The continuity of life is like a flame of a lamp. The light appears to come from the lamp throughout the night; yet every instant oil and wick and lamp-holder and the air that feeds the flame are constantly changing. It is the same, yet not the same.

Death

Death comes about either by the lapse of his natural term of life or by the exhaustion of the karma that give him birth in this life or by both these causes or even by some strong extraneous karma, for there is such a thing as Akalalarama, untimely, sudden death. A lamp may go out with the exhaustion of oil or wick or both or by a sudden gust of wind.

If at death the craving for life has not been completely destroyed then this craving gathers fresh life, body and mind. The result is a new individual, new in a sense. There is nothing that passes from one life to another. It is the karma produced by us in our previous lives and in this life that brings about the new life. The new body and mind is merely the result of past lives so our next life is the product of that karma plus the karma of the present life.

Death Explains

It is essential that we fully understand DEATH, for by understanding this, we comprehend the mystery of life. By taking a closer look at life and death you will realize that both are ends of the same process and by understanding one, the depth of the other would be just as easily understood.

In fact, the most intensive contemplation of death will soften the hardest of hearts and pull down the barriers of caste, creed, race, pride and hatred for all of us are subject to the common destiny of death. Pride by birth, position, health and power, all must give way to inevitable death. This contemplation would destroy all love for sense-pleasure and gives balance and a healthy sense of proportion to misguided senses of values. Truly this reflection would give strength, steadiness and direction to the erratic human mind which is constantly wandering without an aim.

The average person would have no love to contemplate on this being distasteful. But, we should learn to value the necessity to face facts since safety lies in the truth. Thus, the sooner, we know where we are heading, the faster for us to take the necessary steps for our betterment.

Law of Impermanence

Nothing in this world is stable or static. Nothing in this world can arrest the ceaseless passage of time and nothing survives time. In fact, everything, mental or physical is transitory and changing.

It is because there is change, there is growth and growth leads to decay and therefore death. This is the law that makes the strength and freshness of youth give way to the decay and weakness of old age.

Think of anything and you will find it in a condition of change. The Law of Change can be made to operate to the highest benefit for any person. By analyzing the Law of Change in respect of one’s own body and mind one acquires also a familiarity with change that death will not appear fearful and unnatural. It will appear as one more example to the process of change to which one is subject to since birth.

In conclusion

Looking at ourselves in this manner, we soon realize that this is an illusion and that we are nothing but a bundle of various elements of matter and mind, that this will keep moving on and on ceaselessly. Look backwards through time and we see the darkness of illusion we have travelled through in the past and looking forward through time we see the uncertainty of illusion we have to travel through in the future. This is one of the ways to understand the real nature of life and the universe.

- Source Unknown

"Who am I?" is not really a question because it has no answer to it; it is unanswerable.  It is a device, not a question. - Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh

God

I do not pretend to be able to prove that there is no God. I equally cannot prove that Satan is a fiction. The Christian god may exist; so may the gods of Olympus, or of ancient Egypt, or of Babylon. But not one of these hypotheses is more probable than any other; they lie outside the region of even probable knowledge, and therefore there is no reason to consider any of them. The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible. - Bertrand Russell

 

Hard to Say - A Parable

The metaphor is probably the most fertile power possessed by man. - José Ortega Y Gasset

Once upon a time, there was a king. The king liked one of his followers very much because he was very wise and always gave very useful advice. Therefore, the king took him along wherever he went.

One day, a dog bit the king. The finger was injured and the wound was getting worse. He asked the follower if that was a bad sign. The follower said, “Good or bad, hard to say”. In the end, the finger of the king was so bad that it had to be cut. The king asked the follower again if that was a bad sign. Again, the follower gave the same answer, “Good or bad, hard to say.” The king became very angry and sent the follower to prison.

One day, the king went hunting in the jungle. He got excited when he was on the chase of a deer. Deeper and deeper he went inside the jungle. In the end he found himself lost in the jungle. To make things worse, the native people who lived inside the jungle captured him. They wanted to sacrifice him to their god. But when they noticed that the king had one finger short, they released him immediately as he was not a perfect man anymore and not suitable for sacrifice.

The king managed to get back to his palace after all. And he finally understood the follower's wise quote, “Good or bad, hard to say”. If he hadn’t lost one finger, the native people could have killed him. He ordered the follower to be released, and apologized to him. But to the king’s amazement, the follower was not mad at him at all. Instead, the follower said, “It wasn’t a bad thing that you locked me up.”

Why? Because if the king hadn’t locked the follower up, he would have brought the follower along to the jungle. If the native found that the king was not suitable, they would have used the follower. Again, the quote ‘Good or bad, hard to say’ stands.

The moral of the story is that everything that happens in this world, there is no absolute good or bad. Sometimes good things turned out to be bad things eventually, while bad things become a gain.

Whatever good things that happen to you, enjoy it, but don’t have to hold too tight to it, treat it as a surprise in your life. Whatever bad things that happen to you, don’t have to feel too sad or despair, in the end, it might not be a total bad thing after all.

If one can understand this, he or she will find life much easier.

Want to read more inspirational, motivational and educational parables? Get a copy of Parables on Amazon or join Kindle Unlimited on Amazon, and read it for free.

Spiritual - Quotes

When an illness is a part of your spiritual journey, no medical intervention can heal you until your spirit has begun to make the changes the illness was designed to inspire. - Caroline Myss

Yes, I am a Spiritual being. But I am also a human being. Sometimes I get frustrated, annoyed, angry or sad, but this is all part of my lessons, and my journey always leads me back to the light! - Unknown

In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty, nor weakness weakness. - Henry David Thoreau

In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order. Every civilized human being, whatever his conscious development, is still an archaic man at the deeper levels of his psyche. - Carl Jung

Breath is the bridge which connects life to consciousness, which unites your body to your thoughts. Whenever your mind becomes scattered, use your breath as the means to take hold of your mind again. - Thich Nhat Hanh

All things are linked with one another, and this Oneness is sacred; there is nothing that is not interconnected with everything else. For things are interdependent, and they combine to form this Universal Order. - Marcus Aurelius

Property is unstable, and youth perishes in a moment. Life itself is held in the grinning fangs of Death, Yet, men delay to obtain release from the world. Alas, the conduct of mankind is surprising. - Titus Maccius Plautus

Spend your brief moment according to nature's law, and serenely greet the journey's end as an olive falls when it is ripe, blessing the branch that bare it, and giving thanks to the tree that gave it life. - Marcus Aurelius

Spiritual awakening is the most essential thing in man's life, and it is the sole purpose of being. Is not civilization, in all its tragic forms, a supreme motive for spiritual awakening? - Kahlil Gibran

The fact that I can plant a seed and it becomes a flower, share a bit of knowledge and it becomes another's, smile at someone and receive a smile in return, are to me continual spiritual exercises. - Leo Buscaglia

Christianity

Images / Memes

Reincarnation

Kids who remember their past

http://www.collective-evolution.com/2016/05/05/6-extraordinary-cases-of-kids-who-remember-their-past-lives/

Is there any truth in these stories or are they fake news? Do you believe there is reincarnation.

http://www.collective-evolution.com/2017/04/28/3-year-old-boy-recalls-past-life-locates-his-body-identifies-the-man-who-murdered-him/

Buddhist Quotes

You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection. - The Buddha

As I am, so are others; as others are, so am I. Having thus identified self and others, harm no one nor have them harmed. - The Buddha

The stillness of the body, the silence of speech, and the spacious awareness of mind are the three doors to enlightenment. - Adyashanti

The Four Reliance

First, rely on the spirit and meaning of the teachings, not on the words; Second, rely on the teachings, not on the personality of the teacher; Third, rely on real wisdom, not superficial interpretation; And fourth, rely on the essence of your pure Wisdom Mind, not on judgmental perceptions. - Traditional Buddhist teaching

Bible

Mindfulness

What is mindfulness?

Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.

The Basics of Mindfulness Practice

Mindfulness helps us put some space between ourselves and our reactions, breaking down our conditioned responses. Here’s how to tune into mindfulness throughout the day:

• You don’t need a meditation cushion or bench, or any sort of special equipment to access your mindfulness skills – but you do need to set aside some time and space.

• Observe the present moment as it is. The aim of mindfulness is not quieting the mind, or attempting to achieve a state of eternal calm.

• The goal is simple: we’re aiming to pay attention to the present moment, without judgement. Easier said than done, we know.

Let your judgments roll by. When we notice judgements arise during our practice, we can make a mental note of them, and let them pass.

• Return to observing the present moment as it is. Our minds often get carried away in thought. That’s why mindfulness is the practice of returning, again and again, to the present moment.

• Be kind to your wandering mind. Don’t judge yourself for whatever thoughts crop up, just practice recognizing when your mind has wandered off, and gently bring it back.

That’s the practice. It’s often been said that it’s very simple, but it’s not necessarily easy. The work is to just keep doing it. Results will accrue.

- source unknown

Spirutual - Quotes

It does not matter how long you are spending on the earth, how much money you have gathered or how much attention you have received. It is the amount of positive vibration you have radiated in life that matters. - Amit Ray

Just as the rising sun dissolves the dark shadows so are all forms of evil put to flight by the rays of positive and constructive thoughts which shine forth from a heart fortified by confidence in oneself. - K. Sri Dhammananda

Learning is the beginning of wealth. Learning is the beginning of health. Learning is the beginning of spirituality. Searching and learning is where the miracle process all begins. - Jim Rohn

Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness. If, in our heart, we still cling to anything - anger, anxiety, or possessions - we cannot be free. - Thich Nhat Hanh

Life is short. Time is fleeting. Realise the Self. Purity of the heart is the gateway to God. Aspire. Renounce. Meditate. Be good; do good. Be kind; be compassionate. Inquire, know Thyself. - William Hazlitt

Love is how it feels to recognize our essential unity. Awakening to oneness is the experience of Big Love. Knowing you are one with all, you find yourself in love with all. - Timothy Freke

Men seek out retreats for themselves in the country, by the seaside, on the moutains … but all this is unphilosophical to the last degree … when thou canst at a moment's notice retire into thyself. - Marcus Aurelius

Maybe the journey isn’t so much about becoming anything. Maybe it’s about un-becoming everything that isn’t really you so you can be who you were meant to be in the first place. - Unknown

Religion