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1 CREATING YOUR OWN MAGICAL SELF (Thanks to Wayne Dyer) Edited by Ted DeCorte

Creating Your Own Magical Self

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CREATING YOUR OWN MAGICAL SELF (Thanks to Wayne Dyer)

Edited by Ted DeCorte

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Wayne Dyer suggests the following as ways to create a prosperous and spiritual abundance consciousness.

Create a fantasy in your mind and imagine exactly how you would like most to be. Commit your own unique personality to your Thought Journal.

Visualize and commit to your journal the optimal talent that you would like to have.

Visualize your desired your optimal intellectual capacity.

Visualize your habits and customs. Which would you change? What would you add?

Imagine yourself slowing down or eliminating the aging process.

Remove all doubt about what kind of person you can become.

Remind yourself daily that you are a Purposeful person.

Totally trust your intuition for a day at a time.

Inventory the behaviors and characteristics that you exhibited as a child but that are no longer applicable to your adult life.

Develop your own personal excellence program, first in your mind, and then start putting it into practice in your daily life.

Use meditation regularly to create the inner harmony and peace that will allow you to become the personality that best suits your magnificent, divine purpose here on this planet at this time.

Use your meditation to see your-self free from labels that you have placed upon yourself and to become free of the big lies about your inability to change certain things about yourself.

Know that anything that has been accomplished by any other human being in the physical realm is within your field of possibility.

Recognize that there is an invisible life force within us.

Know that your thoughts originate with you.

Realize that there are no limits.

Know that your life has a purpose.

Overcome weakness by leaving it behind.

Examine what you believe to be impossible, and then change your beliefs.

Go beyond logic.

Substitute knowing and trusting for doubting and fearing.

Affirm that your intention to make yourself healthy creates your reality.

Reserve judgment and disbelief by practicing affirmations.

______________________________

Remember that a miracle is only a change of perception.

I know, feel and accept my oneness with God/the Universe/Spirit/the Power.

The time must come when we change our mind about our mind.

Don't try to do it all yourself. Let God and Let God. Pray for guidance and believe that direction is now being given you. Pray for and practice a calm attitude. Peaceful minds "peacefulize." Saturate your consciousness with faith, the creative faith that things wil turn out right. Remind yourself of one great truth: hard experiences will pass away, they will yield, they will be changed . . . with God's help. - - Paraphrased from Norman Vincent Peale

"Give and it will be given to you."

I Delight In Giving to Others.

I grow in relationships and help build community through love.

I accept now, without any reservation, that I am a manifestation of the Infinite Mind. I am good;I am wonderful; I see myselft as God sees me. And, now, I can see ALL as Good. - -Dr. Ruth Wilkerson

Whoever teaches truth is dealing with eternal issues.

Ask yourself: Would you marry you, hire you or go fishing with you?

Wayne Dyer suggests the following as ways to create a prosperous and spiritual abundance consciousness.

Create a fantasy in your mind and imagine exactly how you would like most to be. Commit your own unique personality to your Thought Journal.

Visualize and commit to your journal the optimal talent that you would like to have.

Visualize your desired your optimal intellectual capacity.

Visualize your habits and customs. Which would you change? What would you add?

Imagine yourself slowing down or eliminating the aging process.

Remove all doubt about what kind of person you can become.

Remind yourself daily that you are a Purposeful person.

Totally trust your intuition for a day at a time.

Inventory the behaviors and characteristics that you exhibited as a child but that are no longer applicable to your adult life.

Develop your own personal excellence program, first in your mind, and then start putting it into practice in your daily life.

Use meditation regularly to create the inner harmony and peace that will allow you to become the personality that best suits your magnificent, divine purpose here on this planet at this time.

Use your meditation to see your-self free from labels that you have placed upon yourself and to become free of the big lies about your inability to change certain things about yourself.

Know that anything that has been accomplished by any other human being in the physical realm is within your field of possibility.

Recognize that there is an invisible life force within us.

Know that your thoughts originate with you.

Realize that there are no limits.

Know that your life has a purpose.

Overcome weakness by leaving it behind.

Examine what you believe to be impossible, and then change your beliefs.

Go beyond logic.

Substitute knowing and trusting for doubting and fearing.

Affirm that your intention to make yourself healthy creates your reality.

Reserve judgment and disbelief by practicing affirmations.

______________________________

Remember that a miracle is only a change of perception.

I know, feel and accept my oneness with God/the Universe/Spirit/the Power.

The time must come when we change our mind about our mind.

Don't try to do it all yourself. Let God and Let God. Pray for guidance and believe that direction is now being given you. Pray for and practice a calm attitude. Peaceful minds "peacefulize." Saturate your consciousness with faith, the creative faith that things wil turn out right. Remind yourself of one great truth: hard experiences will pass away, they will yield, they will be changed . . . with God's help. - - Paraphrased from Norman Vincent Peale

"Give and it will be given to you."

I Delight In Giving to Others.

I grow in relationships and help build community through love.

I accept now, without any reservation, that I am a manifestation of the Infinite Mind. I am good;I am wonderful; I see myselft as God sees me. And, now, I can see ALL as Good. - -Dr. Ruth Wilkerson

Whoever teaches truth is dealing with eternal issues.

Ask yourself: Would you marry you, hire you or go fishing with you?

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THE WAY OF THE BUDDHACompiled by Ted DeCorte, M.A.

THE WAY OF THE BUDDHACompiled by Ted DeCorte, M.A.

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What Is Enlightenment Articles

Examples are better than oral teaching.

A good man does not extol himself.

A clever man never boasts.

A great man never brags.

Time unused is the longest time.

There is no saturating the fire with fuel.

No other foes are greater than birth and death.

No other friends are greater than merits.

The skilled man does not show off, but the

man without knowledge usually shows off.

The world is a ladder for some to go up and some down.

Poverty with dignity is better than wealth based on shame.

With the period of your life shortened, be careful

not to lengthen egoism and vanity.

Those with good eyes are inclined to fall into deep wells.

A person with sweet words will feast you with an empty spoon.

It is difficult to emerge from the world.

It is easy to be submerged in it.

A moral like of poverty is nobler than an immoral one in affluence.

In working, walk not only with your feet, but also with your head.

Do try to do good but not to be great, otherwise you will be in danger.

It is easier to chain an elephant with lotus fiber than to teach a crazy person.

Man is made by his five needs. The four fundamental needs keep his body.

The fifth Dhamma nourishes his heart and mind.

The thing that is the best is the cheapest.

A man who will be the public leader, must know how to be a public follower.

Everyone may be a fool but nobody is a fool for ever.

Education is a guide; knowledge is a key.

With Dhamma established in the mind, even bare rice is delicious enough.

Merit is to be accumulated; Evil is to be abandoned.

Ignorance is the real evil.

Merit making calculated to impress is not real merit.

Do not neglect recollection of death.

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Brave New Worldby Ernest Holmes

There was a time when a man was so convinced that the world was round that he was determined to prove it. Columbus felt that if the world was round it could be circumnavigated. Superstition, ignorance, and fear surrounded him, yet there were a few adventurous souls who dared to finance his expedition, for they had caught the vision from him because of his certainty. One man’s courage and persistency, backed by an interior vision, made it possible to discover a new world.

Long before Columbus, another man came to some far-reaching conclusions. By some inner awareness or spiritual conviction, Jesus had come to believe that every person is a spiritual being living in a spiritual universe. He had come to believe that there is a center in every person that is as perfect as that life that gave us birth.

It is no wonder he brought down the anathemas of his age, that he was labeled as one worse than a heretic—blasphemous. But so great was his conviction that he set sail on a voyage of self-discovery that changed the whole course of human experience. He opened up a new territory where few people had been—the discovery of our direct and intimate relationship with God, the Creator. Working alone with himself and the Cause of all things, Jesus brought forth the greatest spiritual philosophy the world has ever known.

The great example You and I are trying to follow in Jesus’ footsteps to make the great discovery for ourselves. Can we reach in and out and up to something beyond? Can we grasp the meaning and significance of a direct relationship to something that, while it is greater than we are, is at the same time what we are?

Researchers in the fields of science have unlocked many of the

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secrets of nature, and their inventions have brought great good to the human race—and yet, we are more confused than ever. This is a time to see if we cannot discover the missing link—something that can bind humanity together in one common good, while at the same time leaving freedom for all.

So we are embarked on the voyage of self-discovery. And fortunately, we have much to go by—the lives of the great, the good, and the wise of the ages. It is to these few great souls that we must look to for guidance. They have all been in accord in saying that there is a Spirit within us. 

Possibly the skeptic may say that this is but the dream of one who seeks escape from the realities of life, one who would find security in seclusion, in a meditative life withdrawn from the world—something entirely impractical, visionary, and mystical. Let us remind ourselves that this type of alleged practicality has brought the world almost to the verge of destruction. 

What we need now is the kind of people whom the over-practical have overlooked. For we are convinced that we are spiritual beings living in a spiritual universe governed by spiritual laws. We have gone far enough in our research to prove that there is something within us—in our physical bodies, our environments, and in nature itself—that responds to our belief in it. We know that anyone who has this solid conviction in mind can prove this claim.

We may not yet have reached the promised land, but we already can see it—a light in the darkness, a new continent to be explored, a new world to be gained. We are indeed on the pathway of a great adventure, the adventure that Jesus must have had in mind when he said: “Greater works than these will you do.” 

This achievement is not to be found in books, preachments, or proclamations. Fortunately, only the individual can make this discovery for himself or herself. This must be the starting point. The search must begin with the self. From this self-discovery we can then reach out to others and finally to the world. We need not be bound by the ignorance and superstition of others, nor by what they think or feel. We each have our own life to live, and as that life

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is without end, the progress we make along this eternal pathway is up to us. The cold fact is that such growth may only occur as a result of what we do to ourselves, not what something else does to us. We cannot, like a fairy godmother, wave a wand and have what we desire appear. Instead, we have to create a thought, a thought that is more powerful than any wand or any magic of mythology’s magicians. 

We need to face life in the light of a new truth, a new understanding, and a conviction that we are in partnership with the Infinite. Then we may receive direct divine guidance and know how to live as human beings, because we first have discovered that we are divine beings.

I am one with the infinite and perfect Spirit, the giver of all good and perfect gifts. I open my mind and my heart, and, indeed, my body, to the inflow of this divine Presence. I know that this living Presence is in every cell of my body and every function of my being. I accept it as my health of body, here and now. I accept it as that which releases me from all that is unlike the perfect expression of life. There is no doubt or fear in my mind that could reject in any way all that God is, right here and right now.

My conscious acceptance of the fullness of the presence of God flows out in joy and love to bless those whom I would help, those with whom I would share this inner joy. And I decree that the loved one I now bring into the scope of my thought is blessed and healed through the presence of good that is within. The radiance of joy in my own heart brings happiness into the lives of all those about me. The abundance that prospers me supplies everyone around me with the good things of life. The light that warms the center of my own being so shines forth that all may find guidance and warmth and comfort in its rays. This is the light that lighteth every person that cometh into the world. This is the fount from which spring the living waters. I drink, and shall not thirst again. And even as I drink, I hand the chalice of my faith to all.

Realizing that we are in the midst of an ever-present good, and believing that there is a law that brings everything of its nature into our lives, we should learn to think and act as though every wrong

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condition of yesterday were converted into something new and better today.

I believe that all the mistakes I have ever made are swallowed up in a love, a peace, and a life greater than I am. Therefore I surrender all past mistakes into the keeping of this ever-present and perfect life. I affirm that love is guiding me into a real and deep cooperation with life and a sincere affection for everyone.

Today is a fresh beginning, a new start, and a joyous adventure on the pathway of eternal progress. Today is bright with hope and happy with fulfillment. Therefore I affirm that this is the day that God has made, that it is good, and that I find fulfillment in it. 

The Spiritual Meaning of Freedomby Ernest HolmesFrom a talk given at the Wiltern Theatre, Sunday morning, July 4, 1937.

Ever since the dawn of civilization, ever since the first humans began to grasp the significant fact that they were individual beings in a universe that seemed to be more or less hostile to them, the entire search of the human mind, its whole endeavor, has been to get free from evil, from bondage and the shackles of lack, want, fear, superstition, uncertainty, pain, disease, poverty, and fear of the hereafter. And because of this, human systems exist—organized philosophies spring up, sciences develop, educational systems are conducted, collective security is sought after, and religions are formulated to allay the fear of humankind relative to the soul.

The great demand in the world today is for a sense of security, freedom, and liberty. But we must be very certain that we do not swap one image of bondage for another. I have read a large part of the religious and philosophic history of the world and I have

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noticed that almost invariably, when the world traded one kind of religion for another, it didn’t get a good deal. The Pilgrim Fathers who came to the shores of New England came to worship God in their own way, but the moment they got there, everybody in the colony worshiped God in the way that the strong-minded members of that colony decided was the way to worship God. That was not freedom.

Even in our newer religions of the last seventy-five or a hundred years, very frequently we meet people who say they have now found the truth, and then, unfortunately, a large majority of them disclose that they merely have found an idea they liked and called it the truth because they were egotistical, self-conscious, self-righteous people with an attitude of condemnation toward others. That is not the truth. In studying one system of thought after another that has transpired in the last seven thousand years of human history, I have noted how extremely difficult it is for the human mind to conceive liberty without license, without egotism; and we can only give birth to freedom when we have conceived liberty.

True freedom—true liberty—has something cosmic behind it. If the time has come that modern science has proved that we cannot move a piece of paper without changing the balance of the entire physical universe; if we have come to the place where we know that the stuff of which our physical bodies are made is the same stuff of which the planets are made; if we have come to the place where such a profound unity is maintained that physicists believe there is no such thing as disunity in the physical world; then we can easily see what the great spiritual leaders of the ages meant when they told us of that greater unity in which we all live and move and have our being, and that the idea of freedom itself is tied up with the true concept of the unity of good. If our nature is one, if God is one—and we know that God must be one, for the universe cannot be divided against itself—then we are all tied into an indivisible unity. We shall have to get back to this unity to find the meaning of freedom. Nothing in any part of this cosmic whole could be considered freedom that would destroy the liberty of some other part of it. That would be self-destruction, would it not? As Jesus pointed out two thousand years ago, that would be a

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kingdom divided against itself. The kingdom of God is one kingdom. So we know that true liberty must spring from true unity.

We are bound into a supreme unity, we are tied into an immutable law of irrevocable cause and effect—that is unity moving into action. Cause and effect is something that happens as a result of the use of unity. Consequently we are one even while we are many, and since each one of us is a part of the whole, if we seek to destroy each other we only ultimately hurt ourselves. That is the great lesson of life.

Freedom, then, will come only in such degree as we no longer do anything that hurts anyone, but that does not mean we have to become spiritual or intellectual doormats. I do not believe in that. Nothing in my belief causes me to feel that God or the Creative Principle wants me to suffer for myself or for anyone else. I do it, I have always done it, perhaps I always shall in this world—but I know that it is wrong. How can the Supreme Being desire my suffering without imposing that suffering, and what kind of a universe has a God who suffers and imposes suffering in a changeless reality? The whole theology and religious reaction of people who believe that arises out of morbidity and fear and superstition and nothing else. 

Well, it is not so—and still we suffer. Why? Because we do not understand. We might say that the world suffered darkness until somebody discovered electricity. It suffered crawling around on the face of the earth until technology was developed so we could fly and drive. It suffers limitation, not because the Infinite imposes limitation, but because the world does not understand its freedom. And when it begins to develop its freedom, seldom does it do it directly; it generally creates a new bondage. When we kill the old devil we are very likely to give birth to a new and more subtle one. War is more to be feared than ever before because we have more knowledge without more wisdom. And final freedom will come only as it is tied into divine wisdom.

What is divine wisdom? I am no prophet, but I would suggest that divine wisdom must be as simple and profound as this: Jesus said, “The kingdom of God cannot be divided against itself.” I think

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that is all there is to divine wisdom. The kingdom of God cannot and will not be divided; so long as I will seek to hurt, I will be hurt. 

We desire freedom. We do not like evil, we do not like pain, we do not like poverty, we do not like unhappiness. Why should we? None of us likes to go to bed and worry all night and get up tired out in the morning. God does not impose it on us. Why do we do it? Because we sense freedom, we sense liberty, we sense God, yet out here in the objective world we experience limitation; and the argument is between what we feel ought to take place and what we see and the world experiences. It seems as though we are two people, one that experiences evil and one that knows there should be no evil.

The evolution of freedom in the human mind is a slow process. Many movements in the world that claim to be seeking liberty only produce new kinds of bondage. We should beware of them. They are born out of the idea of depression; they are born out of the spirit of bondage. If we want freedom, we must understand that freedom can never come by the imposition of a will of the minority over the majority. It is born finally, and only in such degree as some system is devised whereby individuals are allowed complete freedom so long as they do not, in their freedom, impose bondage on someone else.

I believe that the true spirit of democracy is a spiritual conception where there is freedom, liberty without license, and a flexibility that makes evolution possible on the foundation of freedom. As we enter into the spirit of the meaning of Independence Day, the day when liberty, symbolically, was conceived, the day when freedom, objectively, in our country was announced, we should think of it not merely as a political system or form of government, but we should think of it as a spiritual conception, an idea in the Divine Mind Itself, taking form in human experience; we should learn to love that liberty, and in loving the idea we should learn to tenderly and prayerfully handle the embodiment of that idea and nourish it always to greater strength; we should really conceive again the great spiritual conception of that rugged man of God who said: “...that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

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Gateway to TomorrowErnest Holmes

One of the questions so frequently asked me is, "Do you believe in eternality, and do you believe that all people are eternal?" Personally, I consider that the eternality of the individual life has been conclusively proved; and I am convinced that you and I and everyone else are destined to live forever, because the life which we now experience is the life of God in us. It is this life of God in us that is eternal, not the external form of flesh.

In a certain sense each one of us is two persons. One is physical and the other is mental or spiritual. The mental or spiritual uses a physical body in this world because it needs it. But at the time of death the spirit within us, which is independent of this physical form, severs itself from it, or as the Bible says: "Or ever the silver cord be loosed... Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it."

To those who have inward vision, it is not at all uncommon to see the separation of the spirit from the body. And perhaps more frequently than we have realized, after this separation takes place we are able to communicate with those who have left this world. Personally, I haven't the slightest doubt of this because I have had too many experiences in this field to question its reality. And it has been my privilege to know a number of highly trained scientists who have spent years of very careful research into this subject only to come to the conclusion that there is an eternal side to our nature. There is something about the personality that does not die, that continues beyond the grave.

But someone might ask, "How can you believe this when you are dealing with such an intangible thing? How can you trust your feelings and sentiments alone? Perhaps the whole thing is but an idle daydream, an empty wish, a forlorn hope?"

You might as well ask an artist if their vision of beauty is a forlorn hope. They don't see the beauty but they do feel it. You might as well ask a mathematician whether or not the principle of mathematics is a reality. No one has ever weighed or measured it.

As a matter of fact, while biology is the study of the life principle in the physical body, no one has ever seen this life principle. And yet, at the very moment that it departs from the body, the body begins to disintegrate. Who can doubt that the integrating factor, the thing that held the body together, has actually left its earthly home?

Psychology is the science of the way the mind works in us; but no psychologist ever saw the mind, nor is there one who doubts its existence. It is an interesting fact, but a true one, that all we deal with in this physical world is the effect of invisible causes, of an invisible intelligence working through physical forms.

Jesus said: "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you." In other words, there are different planes of existence and we progress from one to the other, always more and never less ourselves. We can see how this principle works right here in this world. There is a certain form of intelligence even in a piece of steel.

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There is an atomic intelligence in every physical object. And we see another level or graduation of this intelligence in animal life. Then it broadens out and reaches the human being, and we find this same intelligence with conscious awareness.

Next, we find that occasionally some people have what is called a cosmic intelligence, which takes in a lot more territory. We speak of them as being illumined and spiritually aware. Jesus, of course, was the greatest of these, and he definitely said that he knew about this world and about the next one. He knew how people lived here and how they lived there.

Everything that Jesus did was done as an object lesson to teach us the relationship we have to this world, to each other, to the next world, and to God. He taught that there is no long period between sleeping to this world and waking to the next; for he said to the thief on the cross beside him: "Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise." It seems as though the whole life and teaching of Jesus was to give people the hope and the assurance that they are one with God, and therefore their personal lives continue to exist beyond the grave.

There is no doubt that Jesus had enough spiritual power at his command to resist any violence had he so wished. In order to teach the lesson that he

wanted us all to learn, it was necessary that he permit himself to be crucified, that his body be placed in a tomb, and that he become resurrected and appear as he did to hundreds of people who knew him personally so that there would no longer be any doubt in their minds.

The triumph of the cross was infinitely more than one man proving that he was eternal. It was a lesson, chosen for a definite purpose. The cross stands for the Tree of Life, whose roots are in the earth, whose arms or branches are stretched out in a protective manner, and whose head or top piece is pointed toward the sky. This really represents the threefold nature of humankind-spiritual, mental, and physical; or as the Bible says, spirit, soul, and body.

And so Jesus permitted that which was human about him to hang on this Tree of Life and to be taken down and placed in a tomb, which stands for everything that means an obstruction to life, everything that looks as though life were buried, inactive, and dead.

Let us not forget that even in this experience the tomb was filled with a light—the light that the Bible says lightens every person's pathway, the eternal light of heaven. And it was this light, this life, that Jesus took into the tomb with him. It was the light that emerged from the tomb. The cross and the suffering and the anguish and the tomb were but preliminary incidents to the resurrection, to the triumph of the spirit; and the certainty that the cross cannot long crucify nor the tomb long contain that which is destined to live forever.

It is no wonder that the Psalmist long ago chanted: "'Wither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell

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in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me." And in another psalm of confidence, he says: "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." We might call these the songs of the boundless soul, hymns of praise to the eternal Creator; a glad and joyful recognition that that life which has been given to humankind is guided and guarded into eternal pathways of self-expansion.

But perhaps there is more than one cross from which we need to be delivered; more than one tomb that needs to be opened. Fear and lack, failure, disease, and unhappiness are crosses upon which we hang until the day of deliverance. And too often we lie in some tomb of uncertainty and deny our good. However, even here there is a light accompanying us. Even here there is a voice that still speaks, telling us that the tomb doesn't really represent life, that we can arise and walk forth free and whole.

What we need to do, then, is to rediscover the secret that Jesus knew, which carried him triumphantly through every experience of life and finally delivered him from the last enemy of humankind—death. He gave us the key when he said: "I and my Father are one... the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works...for my Father is greater than I."

It was this understanding that God is all there is that gave Jesus the power to do everything he did, whether it was the miracles of healing or the raising of himself from the dead. I believe the possibility of all these things rests on just one simple proposition: There is one life, that life is God, and that life is every person's life.

Of course, we are human beings and we do miss our friends. But when we understand that every person is eternal, that death is but the gateway to a larger life, we shall have a different viewpoint; and often, indeed, we shall recognize that our loss is their gain. It is necessary for us to realize that eternality is a principle in nature and comes alike to everyone. Sanity would forbid us to believe that some persons are eternal and others are not.

Jesus understood that and that is why he said that God causes the sun and rain to come alike on the just and the unjust. He knew that for the most part we do not live as though we were eternal beings; that we get caught up with our little problems and often get lost in the maze of our own confusion. But he saw through all this to the final end of humankind. He knew that every person has the same divine spark within them; that finally the Spirit will triumph in everyone's life; and that good comes to all.

But he also said that the good is here now could we but see it; that the kingdom of God is at hand and we need to realize it. And he told about a daily resurrection that we may experience. We already possess the power; and when we learn to let the old slip away and be replaced by the new, when we no longer carry the burdens of yesterday into our tomorrows, we shall find each day a day of resurrection and of rejoicing. Eternality is something to be experienced here and now. We can open our minds to that other side of ourselves, that part which seems never to have completely been caught in the flesh.

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"Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." You and I did not earn our eternality. It is a gift of God. But we do have to earn the ability to experience and enjoy it. This is a gift we shall have to make to ourselves. This world and the next are but two parts of one journey, which can, if we permit it, be filled with hope and joy.

Health is Normalby Ernest HolmesCertainly in the successful experience of living, health is a prime factor. And in all probability nothing is of more importance, nothing of more immediate concern, than the present state of one’s health. From a historical viewpoint, the idea of a connection between health and state of mind is anything but new. It was Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, who said: In order to cure the human body it is necessary to have knowledge of whole things. And Paracelsus wrote: True medicine only arises from the creative knowledge of the last and deepest powers of the whole universe; only he who grasps the innermost nature of man can cure him in earnest. 

The body

Everything in the physical world, animate and inanimate, is the result of some organizing factor, a purposeful activity, a formative element that indicates the involvement of an intelligence that functions in accord with law. This is what we encounter in the body. The body, in structure and function, is a mass of dynamic material held together by an intelligent organizing factor, which operates in accord with law.

That the body is a wonderful mechanism there is no doubt, but how many of us have realized just how amazing it is? Powerful muscles are instantly called into violent action by a minute amount of energy coursing along nerve pathways. Whether the outside temperature is very hot, even above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, or extremely cold, the body maintains its normal temperature of approximately 98.6 degrees. A foreign particle enters the skin and immediately internal materials needed to isolate foreign matter, fight infection, and heal the break in the skin are rushed to the area. The heat developed within the body by muscular effort would be damaging beyond repair if a built-in cooling system did not start to function. What maintains the dynamic material of

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the body in a state of stability? What determines the equilibrium that is evidenced? 

The curative power

The body’s ability to maintain its dynamic material at a level of equilibrium was described by physiologist Walter B. Cannon as homeostasis, which he termed the essential functioning of the autonomic nervous system maintaining a balance of activity in the body. There is something that seeks to regulate and control the body’s dynamic material at a normal level in the face of an almost infinite variety of conditions surrounding it and within it. 

Another factor is the ability of the body to cure itself of disease in order to maintain a stable and constant condition. This natural curative force has long been recognized, and was advanced by Hippocrates and termed vis medicatrix naturae. 

It is only through the existence of the factors of equilibrium, homeostasis, and vis medicatrix naturae that medicine can help to correct an undesirable bodily condition. Doctors can assist, supply aids, remove obstacles, and perform many other corrective measures, but after they have done all they can do, they must wait. They wait for the body to reestablish its equilibrium. They wait for the normal, natural curative forces of the body to take over and assert themselves. The physician cannot make a cut heal, cannot make new skin, and cannot make a new organ, but can only pave the way for the body’s corrective actions. These actions are accomplished through the manifestation of the invisible pattern or organizing factor in and through the dynamic material of which the body is composed. And this intelligent force would have to be consistent or life could never have maintained itself.

Your thinking and health

To what degree are we, as thinking entities capable of creative thought, able in any way to disrupt the flow of the organizing factor in and through us? Almost every shape and condition of illness has been in some way or other related to our pattern of thinking, a pattern of thinking that apparently is contradictory to the spiritual pattern of a perfect and healthy body. But is there not a larger implication—the extent and

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degree of our negative thought patterns that block the expression in us of the perfect spiritual pattern which created us to begin with and which seeks to maintain and sustain us?

With every pill we have prescribed for us we should also be given a creative prayer, a suggested way to correct our destructive patterns of thought. We must get ourselves and our limited human thinking out of the way so that the divine pattern of perfection can fully express itself in us. For who can make his or her own heart beat? What doctor can cause the blood to circulate? All we seem to be able to do through our own efforts is to confuse and confound the operation of Divine Life in us.

The source of health

We must turn from all our worries, anxieties, and fears about our body and know that there is a normal pattern of health, an organizing factor that knows what to do and how to do it, a perfect idea that exists and will express and manifest in us, as us, when we recognize it and accept it as doing so. The doctor can assist the body mechanically through surgery and medication; we can assist by the way we think and act. 

The foundation for any idea that health is a normal state for the body (this is a fact, or else the body would never make any attempt to cure itself) rests in the concept that we are living in a perfect universe, regardless of any appearances to the contrary. This is the teaching of all the great and wise. It is the conclusion and the teaching of those upon whom the hope of the world makes its greatest claim, and we would be wise to follow the pattern of their thought. 

Whether we fully understand it or not, our reality is oneness with God; anything and everything which appears to be attached to this reality that contradicts the divine nature, even though we must admit that it is an experience, cannot be the final truth of our being. Availing oneself of medical knowledge and wisdom, or the use of creative thought in the form of prayer for the attainment of health, are but different approaches to the same goal—health, which must exist as a spiritual reality. Both are often needed. The medical profession more and more recognizes the value and importance of prayer in the recovery of a patient.

Affirmative prayer for health

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We realize that health is our natural, normal state. In prayer we are not concerned with illness, sickness, and disease, but with their opposites—health, wholeness, and perfection. We are not concerned with skepticism, doubt, or agnosticism, but with faith, trust, and belief. We seek to turn entirely from all objective appearances and affirm, even in the midst of extreme bodily confusion, the right action of God in and through the body, the manifestation of the perfect pattern of health, the perfect functioning of the organizing factor.

As we turn in thought to infinite Spirit as the source, and the only source, of our lives, and know It is good and perfect and expresses Itself as goodness and perfection in us, we are turning our thought away from whatever the appearances may be. As we turn our thought away from appearances, there is nothing to support or sustain them. As we continuously affirm the positive and good, we are automatically eliminating the negative, the undesirable. There is no necessity for any negative condition to exist within our bodies other than the necessity we ourselves insist upon.

Law of Our LivesThe Impersonal Face of Godby Ernest HolmesWriting in the early years of the twentieth century, Ernest Holmes followed the conventions of the day in using masculine terms to represent both genders. Rather than attempt to rewrite a classic, we have retained his original language. —Editor

Spirit creates through law. The law is always mind in action. Mind cannot act unless intelligence sets it in motion. In the great universal mind, man is a center of intelligence, and every time he thinks he sets mind into action. What is the activity of this mind in relation to man’s thought? It has to be one of mental correspondence; that is, mind has to reflect whatever thought is cast into it. Wonderful as Universal Mind is, it has no choice but to create whatever thought is given it; if it could contradict that thought, it would not be a unit, since this would be recognizing something outside itself. This is a point in Truth which should not be overlooked. The One Mind knows only its own ability to

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make whatever is given It; It sees no other power and never analyzes or dissects; It simply knows, and the reason why people do not understand this is that they have not realized what mind is. The ordinary individual thinks of mind only from the limitation of his own environment. The concept he has of mind is the concept of his own thinking, which is very limited.

We are surrounded by an All-Seeing, All-Knowing Mind, which is One and runs through all. The belief in the dual mind has destroyed practically all philosophies and religions of the ages, and will continue to do so until the world comes to see that there is but One. Whatever name is given it there is but One. It is this One that creates for us, whatever we believe. Our thought operative through this One produces all our affairs. We are all centers in this Mind, centers of creative thought activity. There is nothing which appears in the manifest Universe other than an objectified thought, whether it be a bump on your head, a growth on your foot, or a planet. It could not be there were it not made out of Mind, for mind is all there is to make anything out of. Whatever is made is made out of it. Nothing exists or can exist without a source from which it springs.

We are not dealing with a negative as well as a positive Power—not two powers but one; a power that sees neither good nor evil as we see it. It knows only that it is all, and since it is all, it creates whatever is given it. From our limited standpoint we often think of good and evil; not realizing that, as yet, we do not know the one from the other. What we call good today, we may call evil tomorrow, and what we think to be evil today, we may tomorrow proclaim as the greatest good we have known. Not so with the Great Universal Power of Mind; It sees only Itself and Its infinite ability to create.

To the thinking person this will mean much; he will see that he is no longer living in a limited universe, a world of powers, but that he is immersed in an Infinite Creative Medium which, because of Its Nature, has to create for him whatever he believes. Jesus understood this, and in a few simple words, laid down the law of life: “It is done unto all people as they believe.” This is a great thing to keep in mind. It is done unto us; we do not have to do it, for it is done unto us of a power that knows itself to be all there is. Could we even believe that some material mountain would be moved, the power is there to do it. Without this belief

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there is no real impulse for the Creative Mind, and we do not get an affirmative answer. We must realize more clearly that this Great Power has to operate through us.

Creative Mind cannot force itself upon us, because we have the power of self-choice. It recognizes us when we recognize it. When we think that we are limited or have not been heard, it must take that thought and bring it into manifestation for us.

When we look about us and see nature so beautiful, so lavish, and so limitless, when we realize that something, some power, is behind all, and sees to it that plenty obtains everywhere, so that in all things manifest there is more than could be used; and when on the other hand we see man so limited, sick, sad and needy, we are disposed to ask this question: “Is God good after all? Does He really care for the people of His creation? Why am I sick? Why am I poor?” Little do we realize that the answer is in our own mouths, in the creative power of our own thought. The average person when told the Truth will still seek some other way.God has already done for us—in a mechanical way—all that He can do; and having been given the ability, we will have to do for ourselves the rest. Yet the Great Power is always near, ready at any time to help, but we must use it according to its own nature in harmony with its laws. Man should learn that he himself is the center of this Divine activity. Realizing this, he must seek more and more to utilize his own Divine nature, and by so doing he will come more fully under the protection of the great laws that govern all life, manifest and unmanifest. Whatever man is, he must find that because he is made out of God, he must be of the same nature. This Infinite One cannot know anything outside of itself, anything that would be a contradiction of its Divine nature; man’s ignorance of his real nature binds him with his own freedom, until he comes to see things as they really are, and not as they appear to be.

In the Infinity of mind, which is the principle of all metaphysics and of all life, there is nothing but mind, and that which mind does. That is all there is in the Universe. That is all there ever was or ever will be. This mind is acted upon by our thought, and so our thought becomes the law of our lives. It is just as much a law in our individual lives as God’s thought is in the larger life of the Universe.

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For the sake of clearness, think of yourself as in this Mind, think of yourself as a center in it. That is your principle. You think, and Mind produces the thing. One of the big points to remember is that we do not have to create; all that we have to do is to think. Mind, the only Mind that there is, creates.

Few people seem to understand the nature of the law and so think that they have got to do something, even if it is only holding a thought; thinking or knowing is what does the thing. It will make it much easier for us when we realize that we do not have to make anything, just to know; that there is something back of the knowing which does the work for us.

That person gets the best results who realizes that he can use this divine principle; he who can get the clearest concept of his idea, and who can rely on Mind to do for him, keeping everything out of his thought that would contradict the supremacy of Spirit or Mind.

By simply holding a thought we could not make anything, but by knowing in mind, what cannot we do?

The Light of Godby Ernest HolmesJesus told us not to judge according to appearances, because there is a perfection at the center of things. This is what he meant when he said: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” It seems to me that the only way we can translate the meaning of these words is to accept them in their simplicity and interpret them as though they actually meant what he said—for Jesus never wasted time in idle talk. The more we study the simplicity of his style, the more we discover that it reached to the very foundation of life itself. Jesus had reduced his spiritual philosophy to a few simple, fundamental facts that he taught and lived. 

The inner center of our being is what is meant by the word Christ, the “Anointed” or the “Illumined.” Christ means God-in-us. It means the Divine Son or Daughter at the center of every person’s life. If Jesus was right, there is a perfection forever established, a kingdom of God forever at hand, and a possibility of good that is available right now. 

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We should reread the words of Jesus as though we had never heard them before. Since the teachings of Jesus contain the key to right living, it would do us well to consider their meaning. 

Jesus said, in effect: “God has made you. The Divine Spirit is already within you. This is your Father in your heaven who desires only your good.” Spirit has already provided a law of mind, giving you the use of a power greater than you are. And if you will only learn to live in recognition of this presence and in harmony with this law, then the miracle of life and love will take place. He coupled the knowledge of spiritual truth with the thought that there is a law of mind which acts upon our belief and brings into our experience those things which we believe.

Choosing our path

We should realize that Jesus was not talking about any particular age. He was not talking about just himself. For over and over again he said that what he did, we could do also—that what he was, we may become.

But it is also as though he were proclaiming: “There is a presence within you that is already perfect. You need not worry over your previous mistakes, nor live in anxious anticipation of tomorrow. All of that is unnecessary. All you have to do is learn to live right today. And when you do, previous mistakes will be blotted out and your future will be taken care of.”

But before this can happen we must learn to live right today. It is in this moment of time that we are to make the great decision. It is in this day in which we now are living that we must choose what path we are to follow. Shall we live in fear or in faith? Shall we live in confusion, or in the peace that comes from a deep and abiding conviction that there is a power greater than we are, ready, willing, and able to work for us? I think the outstanding thing in the new spiritual outlook of today is that we are called on to invite this presence, to experiment with this power, and actually to live as though God were present with us right now.

Jesus seemed to have laid no restriction on the willingness of this power

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greater than we are to operate for us, other than to say that everything we think and say and do should be based in a consciousness of love—in a realization that we must become one with others, even as we already are one with God. This is why he prayed “that they may be one, even as we are one.”

Training the mind to think differently is simple enough, but I would not say that it is easy, for a thing can be simple without being easy. And again this is where faith must be used—faith in a power greater than we are, based on the firm conviction that we live in a Divine Presence that wishes only good for us.

The final surrender

Common sense should teach us that we did not create the universe, nor need we be responsible for the laws of nature. All we can do is to use them. Now we are called on to reform all our thinking—to make a complete and final surrender of all our littleness, fears, doubts, and uncertainties to that great something within us that is calm and certain and sure. That something has never really left its divine kingdom, even though our minds have become so confused, so unhappy, and so filled with fear.

This is the great challenge. It is also the great adventure—the adventure of faith in a power greater than we are, the challenge of a love that abides forever. Therefore, say to yourself, quietly, and with deep conviction:I realize that I am one with the eternal newness of life. All that Spirit is creates in and through me. My body is alive with the life of God. My body is illumined by the light of God. There is no darkness of discouragement, despair, or defeat. My mind is refreshed in that One Mind that eternally gives of itself to its creation.

All that God has is mine. I open my heart to accept the good gifts of joy, happiness, and enthusiasm, right now. I open my heart to know that that which is forever ageless is my source.

I decree that my body and my experiences shall reflect the image of life in all of its newness, and I shall move through the days of my years with gladness in my mind. I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever,

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knowing that my cup is full to overflowing with the only life there is—the life and the eternal youth of God. And so it is.

Looking Backby Ernest Holmes

Someone said we didn’t believe in Jesus; of course we believe in Jesus—and we believe in Buddha, in Socrates, and we believe in Abraham Lincoln! We believe in every Wayshower. And more than everything else, we believe in our own soul; the only immediate testimony you and I will ever have that we exist, or that God exists, or that Jesus showed us a way. Religious Science is not something I invented; I didn’t make it up. I added a few flourishes to it, but it is the outcome of the thought and the feeling of the ages and the great minds of many denominations and religions. It embraces all of them—Buddhism, Mohammedanism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Taoism, Confucianism, Judaism, and all of the different sects of the Christian faith. It embraces the affirmative part of all of them and comes up with the idea that the universe is filled with God. Each one of us is an outlet to God and an inlet to God. 

Creation

Now what is the reason for our being? I’m going to tell you what I think; I think it exists for the delight of God. What else can it exist for? Someone will say you are here to get saved—claptrap, jargon, nonsense, asininity, and confusion—the universe exists not for us to save our souls, they are not lost, and I know darned well if I am lost there isn’t anybody in the world that will know where to look for me. Nor has the devil got us: there isn’t any devil, there isn’t any hell. 

The universe must exist for the self-expression of God and the delight of God. You and I are born out of God, and we are born out

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of a divine urge that creates. God is the Spirit; the Spirit seeks; there is a pressure on everything to express life. The dog must bark, the cat must have kittens, the hen must lay eggs, the artist must paint (no matter how terrible it looks), the singer must sing, the dancer must dance—everything must express life. We are born to create, and we can’t help it. Why is that? Because God, the great Creator, is in us.

Suffering

There is nothing wrong with God. We may be wrong; we may suffer (we do); we may be impoverished (we are); we may be unhappy (we get that way). But we are born to be happy, to be abundantly supplied with every good thing, to have fun in living, to consciously unite with the Divine Power that is around us and within us, and to grow and expand forever. 

Would it seem possible that by an immutable law, we consciously invite people’s reaction to us, which is held there until we release it ourselves? This is the only obsession and the only devils there are. We are the obsessing entity, and we are the only devil we will ever meet. I don’t believe in a devil, but sometimes I believe in a lot of them. I say I don’t believe in any hell we are going to, but I am constrained sometimes to believe in the one we are getting out of. 

The most destructive force you and I have—and the most constructive—is our own unconscious emotional and thinking and feeling state. All so-called death is unnatural. So forget it. Walt Whitman, who was kind of lazy like I am—I find lazy people live longer and take it easier—said: I loaf and invite my soul. I wonder if you and I do enough loafing? There is a divine something inside us, of that I am sure. It would be terrific if we would say, “There is no law but my own soul shall set it under the one great Law of all life.” If I have lost the object of my love temporarily, yes, I’ll cry. Tears are made to be shed. I’m not afraid of tears, and I think it is a silly person who says he doesn’t have to shed them and never feels badly. It isn’t true. He is just lying to cover up a great truth, and that will never get him anywhere. This is not daydreaming or escaping from reality.

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We are the most realistic people who ever lived on earth; however, it is a transcendental realism. We believe in the transcendence. Now we want love, we want happiness. How, if I sit here unhappy, hating everybody, saying the world is against me—which all may be true in appearance—how am I going to draw anything but that? The mind unconsciously pictures things and projects them and says, “Nobody likes me, I am not attractive; nobody loves me, I haven’t got what it takes.” 

Spirit, soul, and body

We live on three planes: we are spirit, soul, and body. We meet people on all three planes: spiritual, mental, and physical. If there is in us a spiritual transcendence, if there is a universal concept, people will feel it. If there is in us a deep love for everyone, they will like it. If consciously or unconsciously we are embracing the world, they will know they are included. If we are hurt and sensitive, it will repel people from us.

If I am afraid that people won’t ever like me, they can’t. I have planted in them the dream about me that I am interpreting through them. I know the time is coming when even in psychiatry and psychology they will say there is only one universal subjectivity and we use it. There is no such thing as an individual mind at all; there is a mind principle, and we use it. There is a Spirit, and we live by it; there is a law that governs everything, and each one of us has our awareness in it, reacting back to us because the universe is one system. This I know.

I know of no other system of thought that teaches it, not in our field or similar fields. Yet Jesus taught it, “Give, and it shall be given unto you.” Laugh, and people will laugh with you. 

Resolve

Now it is going to be a pretty tough thing. The truth is not always easy to follow. There is something in you and in me that transcends tragedy and sorrow and grief and loss. Power perennially springs from the innermost recesses of that unborn reality which is evermore being born in us today. This is the glory

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of our work; this is the power of what we do; this is the presence of the Living Spirit we adore: Beloved, you are that Thing you seek; you are that Thing you long for. The great and the good and the gracious God exists in you. God can make you happy and make me happy. And because we are happy, people around us will be happy; because we love, they will love us; because we embrace, they will embrace us. Surrender to the dignity of that law, to the love of that Presence, to the glory and joy of that Being, and no longer be afraid of the universe in which we live.

As we turn to the great heart of love in and around us and recognize the divine nature of our own being and consciously unify ourselves with the living Spirit, we thank God. And as we look at each other, we behold there the living Presence, love and friendship, and joy forever and forevermore.

Thoughts are Concepts which Develop into E X P E R I E N C E S

We believe in spiritual mind healing; it is part of our conviction and our practice. At the same time we do not disbelieve in any form of healing, whether it be medicine, surgery, psychiatry, diet, or exercise. Some people say to me they think that we should believe in only one. Every new discovery in medicine is just as much a revelation of God for a specific purpose as a new invention or a new interpretation of Life itself. There is only the One operating in all the channels. To deny this would be to rest our case on the basis of superstition, which is ignorance. And an ignorance that leads to a new form of dogmatism is built on a sense of fear and separation from the Universe.

In our field we are interested in spiritual mind healing. I do not consider this the most important thing we teach, but I think that it is important that we should be relieved from suffering. The person who is in pain or fear naturally wishes to be released from it rightly and as quickly as possible. I do not believe that God has imposed suffering upon anyone to punish them or to teach them a lesson. To me this is stupidity and ignorance. Human beings seem to have assumed the prerogative of determining that God inflicts the suffering. Actually, we appear to be responsible for our suffering through ignorance of our Divine nature. We believe that spiritual mind healing is a complement to medicine, to psychology, and to every system of therapeutics. Some day these fields will all come together now more than most people realize. I have not known one single physician who would not have been glad to have had a spiritual practitioner working with their patient. I have had hundreds of them tell me this.

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That is the way it ought to be, because one field does not interfere with the other. However, spiritual mind treatment, under right conditions, can and may transcend other methods. We shall have to recognize this if we believe that we are living in a spiritual system, because that is the way the Universe is organized and operates. it is a spiritual system of Intelligence acting as law. There is One Mind and we use it. Our word is operated upon an intelligent creativity superior to our own. Therefore, when it comes to the act or a spiritual treatment, it is a conscious declaration of our belief in a Presence whose wisdom moves through our ideas and whose action as Law manifests that treatment for definite purposes. There is nothing more specific than a definite spiritual mind treatment. The simplicity of it is this: A spiritual mind treatment is an atmosphere of feeling followed by words consciously and definitely formulated, with a supposition that these words acted upon by Law, are for the person with whom they are identified; and that what is implied in the treatment will transpire in the experience of the person being treated.We always find this is one of the most difficult things to explain because of its simplicity. The first point I want to make clear is that we do not send out anything to the person we are treating. We believe, along with the great thinkers throughout the ages, that God is everywhere; therefore, all of God is wherever God is - what God knows is known everywhere, so to speak, and everything is present at all times. Modern physic is beginning to take this position, too. It is no longer strange to think of an unbroken unity of the whole. Nor should treatment be thought of as a concentration of anything. No on ever concentrated the principle of harmony or of mathematics of or beauty - they only used it.Our treatment, then, begins with the recognition that there is One Life, that Life is God, that Life is Perfect, and is the life of the one we are treating, say John Smith. He is a Divine being now, not by-and-by. He didn't make himself a Divine being, nor did we - any more than we made the world round. That is the way he inherently is, regardless of any appearance to the contrary. Now, according to what you and I mean when we say the word "God" there will be in our world an essence - that which we call the spirit of the treatment which is different from the letter. Both are necessary; one is the conviction of awareness, the other is the form of wording of that awareness.What does it mean when you or I say that there is One Life, and that Life is God, and the life of John Smith now? It means that in reality there is nothing in this man's life different from God, other than God, separate or apart from God, and that there is nothing in the Universe that desires to harm or hurt this man.But we all know that this concept is not accepted everywhere. however, psychology and psychiatry have made a tremendous contribution to our field. Let me say right here that wherever you can get any truth to add to

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what truth you have, grab it. Learn once and for all that sugar is sweet, whether you find it in the sugar bowl or the dustpan. Truth is truth whoever announces it, from whatever source it comes. You and I will learn more by putting together all true knowledge for a still greater synthesis than by rejecting ideas because we may not like the source from which they come.Now, psychologists point out that a psychological repression, in conflict, is a group of highly emotionally charged thoughts, ideas, and feelings so deeply buried in the unconscious that it cannot be brought to the surface by an act of will or though the imagination. They tell us that seventy-five to eight-five percent of all illnesses and accidents is the result of an unconscious desire on the part of the people now have them to get away from the liability of living. At the core of a neurosis are always four constituent elements: rejection, guilt, insecurity and anxiety. it is believed that every person has a neurosis because there is no one who has not made mistakes or "sinned"; it is just a question of how active it is. this takes us right back to why Jesus forgave sins. he knew what he was doing; and what he did is as up to date as the very latest invention is today. His teachings are timely because he spoke from the Heart and Soul and Mind of the Universe. that was his mission.We believe it is scientific in our field to relieve people of their sense of guilt. A spiritual mind practitioner in talking to their patients and in treating them will relieve them of their neurotic liabilities. You may ask, "How will they do it?" Here is one of our basic principles: Thoughts are things; mental states in total become a mental impulsion to create and produce that which is like them. In a spiritual mind treatment we incorporate those ideas which relieve the sense of isolation, the burden of guilt, and the condemnation of rejection; it relieves the tension of insecurity and anxiety and heals the neurosis in such degree as it goes deeper than the thoughts that gave rise to the neurosis.For instance, most weariness we are now told is the result of a lack of enthusiastic joy in living. Therefore, spiritual mind treatment must realize joy. John Smith must be awakened from apathy that was first mental, then subjective, and finally physical.Someone might ask, "How are you going to get this over to John?"In our practice, what the practitioner silently realizes for John Smith is his or her own mind is known in the medium of the One Mind, which is also operating through the patient's mind and, theoretically at least, rises to the same level of realization in the patient's mind. therefore, the person treating or praying for John Smith must have a deep feeling about God.Let us continue our hypothetical treatment: "God is Love. There is only this One Love, and he is aware of it. He is aware that he is wanted, needed, and loved. he belongs to the Universe. God hasn't rejected him, and no one else can.

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He does not reject himself. there is no condemnation or judgment operating through him. Every plant that my heavenly Father hath not planted is rooted up and cast out. This word establishes perfect circulation, assimilation and elimination. Whatever there is that does not belong, is eliminated. he has a consciousness of belonging to life, of feeling the Divine Presence, and now accepts his good. He has a complete sense of being unburdened and enters into the joy of living, which is reflected in every aspect of his experience. He has faith in himself. The perfect action of God casts out all unlike god, and I give thanks that it is doing this right now for John Smith"Each person can speak out of their own consciousness of God and heal the discord within the lives of another. Have you more love than there is hate in them, more joy than there is grief, more beauty in your own soul than there is ugliness in theirs; is heaven more real to you than discord? Do you really love your fellow beings and in compassion wish them freedom as much as your own?Declare it and decree it, and as surely as the day follows night, shall it dawn upon you through experience, out of practice, that there is a silent Power, actual and dynamic, that heals. Like the blind man Jesus healed, you, too, will know that the people you prayed for have been befriended by the Infinite One, whose Compassion they felt, whose Love overpowered and restored their vision of life. And you, too will hear them say, " ... whereas I was blind, now I see.".

The Open Mindby Ernest Holmes

We know that things are not always what they seem. For instance, the earth and the sky do not meet—the horizon is simply the limitation of our vision, but not a thing of itself. We also discover that the hurt has largely disappeared from experiences we have had, which at the time we were having them seemed very trying. 

We know that a two-dimensional mind looking at a cube would not see the cube; to it, the cube would look flat. Similarly, at our stage of evolution our three-dimensional minds might well be looking at that which is four-dimensional or more. So if our gaze is focused only on the physical, we might be looking right at the spiritual, the mental, or the

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intellectual, and not see it. Science has proven that there are almost infinite variations of vibrations of color and sound that the human eye and ear do not detect because they are not perfected enough.

There have been people like Jesus, and a good many others, who have experienced what we call cosmic consciousness. They have looked through the material universe into a spiritual universe, and they have announced this spiritual universe. If we could for one moment break through this shell that we are looking with, we would see reality. We believe that there is a Spirit in humans. This Spirit is God. This same Spirit is in all people, and the Spirit that is in you is the Spirit that is in me. It is one Spirit, just one, always one. The Spirit that is in the dog is the same Spirit. The life principle in the tree is the same thing. There is one Spirit, but there are different manifestations of it.

This thing that we call the personality is the objective evidence of the use we are making of our invisible and subjective individuality, the projection of the power, presence, and intelligence in us, as us. In other words, consciousness itself is God—one indivisible, infinite, and eternal reality. Our conscious use of our individuality personifies it.

I have always held that ideas do not belong to anyone. All ideas derive from God, therefore no idea belongs to anyone, but we all have access to every idea in the divine providence. It is like the figure two. What intelligent mathematician would say, “The figure two belongs to me”? The mathematician knows that it is impersonal; the concept belongs to the universe. It can be used many times and there is just as much left.

We need to believe that reality is already delivered to us—reality as we see it, according to our awareness of it. This is the whole essence of spiritual mind treatment. How can we give an effective treatment if we are just mumbling a lot of words? A treatment must not be like that. We must believe in our own treatment if it is going to be effective. How can we believe in it unless we first believe that there is such a thing as Spirit, and that Spirit is right here responding to us and expressing as the experience or the condition we wish to enjoy? 

All life is One, and God is the One Life in which we all live. Even the power by which we measure out our limitation is God. One of the great fallacies of theology has been the inability to see that negation and

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affirmation are identical, and are not two separate things. This is the hardest thing we will ever have to understand. When we treat someone for spiritual healing, if our minds do not get any farther than the appearance, then the appearance will not be changed. It is only as the mind transcends the appearance that the appearance can be changed, because a mental concept is the original causative factor.

In a certain sense we dramatize life. We are thinking, feeling, desiring, warm, and colorful beings, and I am glad we are, and I do not think we have to change at all. The great souls like Jesus, Emerson, and Whitman who delivered real spiritual insight for the ages have been very spontaneous, very sweet, very simple souls, and most of them even had a good sense of humor.

Here is the thing that Jesus uncovered: We do not have to become immortal; we are immortal. We do not have to become spiritual; we are spiritual. We do not have to become geniuses; we are geniuses. We do not have to go anywhere—“Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” 

We wish to experiment with this reality to see what we can do with it. Every time we work for a spiritual healing we are experimenting to see what we can make the Mind do for us. The Mind is creative because it is God. 

Through spiritual mind treatment we endeavor to more specifically express reality in our objective life, thus becoming more successful in every legitimate undertaking. The idea that God is trying us is all wrong. God is not trying us; we are merely gradually waking up, and the awakening is what we call a process of evolution, our awakening to what already is. I do not mean that a building is an eternal thing, but the mind that built it is an eternal thing. I think that every temporal thing which is good should be enjoyed to the utmost, because we are dealing with an infinite Spirit which by its own divine imagination creates all that is out of itself.

We must think of ourselves as being the way we would like to be. We do not make the thought creative; it is God. There never was a human thought. All thought is divine, even though it is divine in a humanly circumscribed way. We need not look for some other power; we have

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power now. It is the only power we will ever know. Since it is invisible, the essence of reality, it transcends anything that is visible. The appearance is true and real but not self-creative. We should forget all the negative arguments, forget all the reasons why it is not so, and begin to think of a few reasons why it is so.

To live affirmatively is to live as God lives, so we must plunge beneath the appearance. Here is where the test comes. We are testing ourselves to see whether we can forget evil and conceive more good, let go of limitation and take hold of the limitless, let go of the appearance and embrace reality.

The Authority of the soulby Ernest Holmes

“The Word was with God and the Word was God.” “The word is nigh thee, even in thy own mouth that thou shouldst know it and do it.” What does this mean? It clearly states that whatever power there is in the Word (and it says it is All Power) is also in our own mouths. There is no avoiding the fact that the Bible claims for us the same power in our own life and our own world that it claims for God. In the lives of the majority, people do not realize that the Word is in their own mouths. What Word? Little do we realize that this Word that we are so earnestly seeking is every word we hear, think, or speak. Do we who are endeavoring to realize the greater truths of life always govern our words? If any word has power, it follows that all words have power. It is not in the few moments of spiritual meditation that we demonstrate, but we bring out the possibilities of the hidden word when we are allowing our thoughts to run in any direction; not in the short time spent in silence, but in the long hours stretching themselves into days, months, and years, we are always using the word. 

An hour a day spent in silent meditation will not save us from the confusion of life; the fifty-one percent of a person’s thinking is what counts. It is easy when we are alone to brave the storms of life—surrounded by our own exalted atmosphere we feel the strength of the Infinite; we rise in Spirit, we think we are experiencing the ultimate of

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truth, that all things are ours. These moments in a busy life are well spent, but must unavoidably be brief—but what of the rest of the day, what of the busy street, of the marketplace, and of all the daily contact with life? Do we then obtain? Do we keep on in the same even way? Or do we fall before the outer confusion of our surroundings? We are still creating the word and setting it afloat in the great ethers of life. Are these words creating for us? Yes!

We who wish to practice metaphysics must first, last, and all the time, realize that we are centers of the divine activity; we must know that whatever God is in the Universal, God is in the world in which we live. We must know that all things are made out of Spirit, which is First Cause; nothing comes before Spirit. Operating upon itself out of itself, it makes what it will out of its own perfect desire. We must think of Spirit as the Father/ Mother of our own life, eternally bound to us, eternally binding us to it.

We must know that Spirit not only can manifest through us, but that it wishes to do so; “The Father seeks such to worship Him.” The practitioner who understands the truth knows that as long as God exists, we will exist—that we could no more become nonexistent than God could. Walking, talking, moving in God, we must not only see the Divine Being as the great unknown Cause, but we must go a step further and see God as the great self-knowing, understanding power of Infinite Intelligence, thinking through our own thought and willing into our own lives all peace and all good. More than this, God must become within our own soul the greater self, the inner life, the inner light that is to light our path to the attainment of the greater ideals. God is to become the great friend of our life, understanding us and helping us at all times to understand all things.

Like produces like, attracts like, creates like. If we could see our thought and take a picture of it and of our conditions we would see no difference between the two, for they are really but the inside and the outside of the same thing. We cannot make affirmations for fifteen minutes a day and spend the rest of our time denying the thing which we have affirmed, and affirming the thing which we have denied, and obtain the results which we seek. We send out the word and it sets the power in motion; then we think the opposite thing that neutralizes the first word, and zero is the result.

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We cannot demonstrate one iota beyond our mental ability to conceive and steadfastly to embody. Infinite as Creative Power is, receptive and quick as it is, it can only become to us what we first think into it. God can do for us only what God can do through us.

Dare to say, “Great people have come and gone, and behold, a greater now stands here where I stand, and I am that one.” The world will laugh and perhaps scorn. The Christian world will hold up its hands in holy horror, lest you blaspheme; the unchristian world will smile knowingly. Neither the one nor the other will understand, but the understanding of either counts for nothing. You are now free, and your freedom will yet save the world from itself. The great soul finds within itself the divine companionship that we need. We find within ourselves the “Peace which passeth all understanding” and the power to do all things. All Power! We speak, our word is Law, and it is done unto us by all the power there is. Our word knows itself to be the law of life unto all for whom it is spoken and who receive it.

There is only one Power, but we use it in two ways, either to destroy or to save. The blessing and the curse are one and the same thing; the power of mind used either affirmatively or negatively, the word used in fear and doubt or in faith and assurance.

We trust our own word because first we “Know in whom we have believed.” The sooner we who are striving to attain realize that truth must become revealed through our own souls, and not that of another, the sooner we will attain. No more books, no more teachers, preachers, creeds, or candlesticks will we ever need. The old methods must vanish into their native nothingness, as the great realization that God is all in our life dawns upon our awakened thought.

We must then become immune from the collective belief in a hypnotic power that sets itself up as an authority. There is no other authority than your own soul, as “There is no law but that your soul has set.” Leave authorities to smaller minds and to those who need a leader because of this, their own self-confessed weakness, and be free. Dare to “Stand amidst the eternal way” and proclaim your own At-one-ment with all the power there is, was, or ever will be.

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Practically the whole human race is hypnotized, thinking whatever it is told to think. We get our concepts from our physical environment, we say, “See sin, sickness and death, misery, unhappiness, and calamity.” And this concept we are giving to the creative, impersonal Mind, and so we are making a law for ourselves that will produce what we believe in. 

Remember that in the divine plan no mistakes are made and that if God could have done it in a better way, God would have done it differently. No souls are lost, for all “live and move and have their being in Him” and “God is not a God of the dead but of the living, for in His sight all are alive.” Too long have we believed in the negative simply because we have allowed ourselves to become hypnotized by a few strong-minded people, and by those who have imposed upon the race a mass of false philosophy.

MAPPING YOUR LIFE'S JOURNEY

SEVEN STEPS TO GOAL SETTINGI. IDENTIFY YOUR GOAL

II. SET A DEADLINE TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOAL

III. LIST THE OBSTACLES TO OVERCOME

IV. IDENTIFY THE PERSONS WHOM MAY HELP

V. LIST THE SKILLS YOU HAVE

VI. DEVELOP A PLAN OF ACTION

VII. LIST THE BENEFITS OF ACHIEVING YOUR GOAL

Balance is a key to Happiness & Success. Evaluate on a 1 to 5 scale (5 being high) every aspect of your life to see what may need improvement. Then set goals for 2000

and beyond to improve those areas you wish to improve upon.

1. Physical/Health Score:_______

Improvements Needed:

2. Family Score:_______

Improvements Needed:

3. Financial/Money Score:_______

Improvements Needed:

4. Social/Friends Score:_______

Improvements Needed:

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5. Spiritual/Religion Score:_______

Improvements Needed:

6. Mental/Creative Score:_______

Improvements Needed:

7. Career/Satisfaction Score:_______

Improvements Needed:

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF HAVING GOALS?

1. Know, be, do and have more.

2. Use your mind and talents fully.

3. Have more purpose and direction in life.

4. Make better decisions.

5. Be more organized and effective.

6. Do more for yourself and others.

7. Have greater confidence and self-worth.

8. Feel more fulfilled.

9. Be more enthusiastic and motivated.

10. Accomplish uncommon projects.

AS YOU DEVELOP YOUR SHORT-TERM AND LONG-TERM GOALS, ASK YOUR SELF THESE QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR GOAL:

1. Is it really MY goal?

2. Is it morally right and fair?

3. Are my short-range goals consistent with my long-range goals?

4. Can I commit myself emotionally to complete the project?

5. Can I visualize reaching my goal?

Now write down in your Journal your Short Term Goals, twelve-months or less

Now write down your Long Term Goals, one-year or more

Now write down your "dream Goals".

REMEMBER: "IF YOU DO NOT MAP YOUR LIFE'S JOURNEY, ANY OLD ROAD WILL DO."

I HAVE LEARNED...I've learned that you cannot make someone love you. All you can do is be someone who can be loved. The rest is up to them.

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I've learned that no matter how much I care, some people just don't care back.

I've learned that it takes years to build up trust, and only seconds to destroy it.

I've learned that it's not what you have in your life but who you have in your life that counts.

I've learned that you can get by on charm for about fifteen minutes. After that, you'd better know something.

I've learned that you shouldn't compare yourself to the best others can do but to the best you can do.

I've learned that it's not what happens to people that's important. It's what they do about it.

I've learned that you can do something in an instant that will give you heartache for life.

I've learned that no matter how thin you slice it, there are always two sides.

I've learned that it's taking me a long time to become the person I want to be.

I've learned that it's a lot easier to react than it is to think.

I've learned that you should always leave loved ones with loving words. It may be the last time you see them.

I've learned that you can keep going long after you think you can't.

I've learned that we are responsible for what we do, no matter how we feel.

I've learned that either you control your attitude or it controls you.

I've learned that regardless of how hot and steamy a relationship is at first, the passion fades and there had better be something else to take its place.

I've learned that heroes are the people who do what has to be done when it needs to be done, regardless of the consequences.

I've learned that learning to forgive takes practice.

I've learned that there are people who love you dearly, but just don't know how to show it.

I've learned that money is a lousy way of keeping score.

I've learned that my best friend and I can do anything or nothing and have the best time.

I've learned that sometimes the people you expect to kick you when you're down will be the ones to help you get back up.

I've learned that sometimes when I'm angry I have the right to be angry, but that doesn't give me the right to be cruel.

I've learned that true friendship continues to grow, even over the longest distance. Same goes for true love.

I've learned that just because someone doesn't love you the way you want them to doesn't mean they don't love you with all they have.

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I've learned that maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you've had and what you've learned from them and less to do with how many birthdays you've celebrated.

I've learned that you should never tell a child their dreams are unlikely or outlandish. Few things are more humiliating, and what a tragedy it would be if they believed it.

I've learned that your family won't always be there for you. It may seem funny, but people you aren't related to can take care of you and love you and teach you to trust people again. Families aren't biological.

I've learned that no matter how good a friend is, they're going to hurt you every once in a while and you must forgive them for that.

I've learned that it isn't always enough to be forgiven by others. Sometimes you have to learn to forgive yourself.

I've learned that no matter how bad your heart is broken the world doesn't stop for your grief.

I've learned that our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are, but we are responsible for who we become.

I've learned that sometimes when my friends fight, I'm forced to choose sides even when I don't want to.

I've learned that just because two people argue, it doesn't mean they don't love each other. And just because they don't argue, it doesn't mean they do.

I've learned that sometimes you have to put the individual ahead of their actions.

I've learned that we don't have to change friends if we understand that friends change.

I've learned that you shouldn't be so eager to find out a secret. It could change your life forever.

I've learned that two people can look at the exact same thing and see something totally different.

I've learned that no matter how you try to protect your children, they will eventually get hurt and you will hurt in the process.

I've learned that there are many ways of falling and staying in love.

I've learned that no matter the consequences, those who are honest with themselves get farther in life.

I've learned that no matter how many friends you have, if you are their pillar you will feel lonely and lost at the times you need them most.

I've learned that your life can be changed in a matter of hours by people who don't even know you.

I've learned that even when you think you have no more to give, when a friend cries out to you, you will find the strength to help.

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I've learned that writing, as well as talking, can ease emotional pains.

I've learned that the paradigm we live in is not all that is offered to us.

I've learned that credentials on the wall do not make you a decent human being.

I've learned that the people you care most about in life are taken from you too soon.

I've learned that although the word "love" can have many different meaning, it loses value when overly used.

I've learned that it's hard to determine where to draw the line between being nice and not hurting people's feelings and standing up for what you believe.

author unknown

This Thing Called LoveHe who is not impatient is not in love. – Pietro Aretino, "La Talanta" (1492-1556)

And if we wish to know the order of all the passions in the way of generation, love and hatred are first; desire and aversion; hope and despair third; fear and daring fourth; anger, fifth; sixth and last, joy and sadness, which follow from all the passions . . . yet so that love precedes hatred, desire precedes aversion, hope precedes despair, fear precedes daring, and joy precedes sadness. – Thomas Aquinas, "Summa Theologica" (1225-1274)

For a crowd is not company; and faces are but a gallery of pictures; and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love. - - Francis Bacon, "Of Friendship" (1561-1626)

Nuptial love maketh mankind; friendly love perfecteth it; but wanton love corrupteth and embaseth it. - - Francis Bacon, "Of Judicature" (1561-1626)

Love has been assigned to woman as her supreme vocation, and when she directs it toward a man, she is seeking God in him; but if human love is denied her by circumstance, if she is disappointed or overparticular she may choose to adore divinity in the person of God Himself. - - Simon De Beauvoir, "The Second Sex" (1949)

Love seeketh not Itself to please,Nor for itself hath any care,But for another gives its ease,And builds a Heaven in Hell’s despair. - - -William Blake, Songs of Experience, "The Clod & the Pebble" (1794)

When the coin is tossed either Love or Lust will fall uppermost. But if the metal is right, under the one will always be the other. –Gerald Brenan, "Thoughts in a Dry Season" (1899)

Lover indeed (I may not deny) first united provinces, built cities, and by a perpetual generation makes and preserves mankind; but if it rage it has no more love, but burning lust, a disease, frenzy, madness, hell . . .

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It subverts kingdoms, overthrows cities, towns, families; mars, corrupts and makes a massacre of men; thunder and lightning, wars, fires, plagues, have not done the mischief as this burning lust, this brutish passion. –Robert Burton, "The Anatomy of Melancholy" (1621)

In her first passion woman loves her lover,In all the others all she loves is love. ---Lord Byron, "Don Juan" (1821)

Love is ever the beginning of Knowledge as fire is of light. – Thomas Carlyle, "Goethe" (1828)

I hate and love. You may ask why I do so. I do not know, but I feel it and am in torment. – Cais Valerius Catullus, "Carmina" (87-54 B.C.)

Love in young men: for the most part is not love but sexual desire, and it accomplishment is the end. - - Miguel De Cervantes Saavedra, attributed (1547-1615)

"Do not forget, Sancho," replied Don Quixote, "that there are two kinds of beauty, one being of the soul and the other of the body. That of the soul is revealed through intelligence, modesty, right conduct, generosity, and good breeding, all of which qualities may exist in an ugly man; and when one’s gaze is fixed upon beauty of this sort and not upon that of the body, love is usually born suddenly and violently." - - - Miguel De Cervantes Saavedra, "Don Quixote" (1605-1615)

Ten Keys to Active MasteryDeepak Chopra -- Ageless Body, Timeless Mind

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1. Listen to your body's wisdom, which expresses itself through signalsof comfort and discomfort. When choosing a certain behavior, ask your body,"How do you feel about this?" If your body sends a signal of physical oremotional distress, watch out. If your body sends a signal of comfort oreagerness, proceed.

2. Live in the present, for it is the only moment you have. Keep yourattention on what is here and now; look for the fullness in every moment.Accept what comes to you totally and com-pletely so that you can appreciate it, learn from it, and then let it go. The present is as it should be. It reflects infinite laws of Nature that have brought you this exact thought, this exact physical response. This moment is as it is because the universe is as it is. Don't struggle against the infinite scheme of things; instead, be at one with it.

3. Take time to be silent, to meditate, to quiet the internal dialogue. In moments of silence, realize that you are recontacting your source of pure awareness. Pay attention to your inner life so that you can be guided by intuition rather than externally imposed interpretations of what is or isn't good for you.

4. Relinquish your need for external approval. You alone are the judgeof your worth, and your goal is to discover infinite worth in yourself, nomatter what anyone else thinks. There is great freedom in this realization.

5. When you find yourself reacting with anger or opposition to any personor circumstance, realize that you are only struggling with yourself. Putting up resistance is the response of defenses created by old hurts. When you relinquish this anger, you will be healing yourself and cooperating with the flow of the universe.

6. Know that the world "out there" reflects your reality "in here." Thepeople you react to most strongly, whether with love or hate, are projections of your inner world. What you most hate is what you most deny in yourself. What you most love is what you most wish for in yourself. Use the mirror of relationships to guide your evolution. The goal is total self-knowledge. When you achieve that, what you most want will automatically be there, and what you most dislike will disappear.

7. Shed the burden of judgment --you will feel much lighter. Judgmentimposes right and wrong on situations that just are. Everything can be understood and forgiven, but when you judge, you cut off understanding and shut down the process of learning to love. In judging others, you reflect your lack of self-acceptance. Remember that every person you forgive adds to your self-love.

8. Don't contaminate your body with toxins, either through food, drink, or toxic emotions. Your body is more than a life-support system. It is the vehicle that will carry you on the journey of your evolution. The health of every cell directly contributes to your state of well-being, because every cell is a point of awareness within the field of awareness that is you.

9. Replace fear-motivated behavior with love-motivated behavior. Fear is the product of memory, which dwells in the past. Remembering what hurt us before, we direct our energies toward making certain that an old hurt will not repeat itself. But trying to impose the past on the present will never wipe out the threat of being hurt. That happens only when you find the security of your own being, which is love. Motivated by the truth inside you, you can face any threat because your inner strength is invulnerable to fear.

10. Understand that the physical world is just a mirror of a deeper intelligence. Intelligence is the invisible organizer of all matter and energy, and since a portion of this intelligence resides in you, you share in the organizing power of the cosmos. Because you are inseparably linked to everything, you cannot afford to foul the planet's air and water. But at a deeper level, you cannot afford to live with a toxic mind, because every thought makes an impression on the whole field of intelligence. Living in balance and purity is the highest good for you and the Earth.

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THE "ROAD LESS TRAVELED" DIALOGUE

TRIVIA FOR A LIFE'S JOURNEY

There is one mental law in the Universe, and where we use it, it becomes our law because we have individualized it. Behind the individual mind is the Universal, which has no limits.

It is done unto you as you believe.

It can become power to us ONLY when we recognize it as power.

We cannot recognize that IT is, while we are believing that IT is not.

Our belief sets the limit. Itself is without limit. It is ready to fill everything, because IT is infinite. So, it is not a question of IT's willingness, nor of its ability. It is entirely a question of our own receptivity.

As much as we can believe will be done to us.

If we can conceive only a little good, that is as much as we can experience.

Good is without bounds. Only good and loving kindness shall follow me all the days of my life.

We experience good and evil because we perceive a presence of duality rather than unity.

Let us accept today more good than we experienced yesterday.

The Universe is impersonal. It gives alike to all. It values each alike. Its nature is to impart, ours to receive.

Every person stands in the shadow of a mighty Mind, a pure Intelligence, and a Divine givingness. We look to far away for Reality.

To return to a sane simplicity is one of the first and most important things to do.

It is the nature of the Universe to give us what we are able to take. It cannot give us more. It has given all, we have not yet accepted the greater gift.

We cannot fight the Universe. It refuses to be budged from Its course. We can only go with it. But there is ample latitude for personal expression. Every person knows right from wrong.

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We are surrounded by an Infinite Possibility. It is Goodness, Life, Law and Reason. In expressing Itself through us, It becomes more fully conscious of Its own being. Therefore, It wishes to express through us. As It passes into our being, It automatically becomes the law of our lives. It can pass into expression through us only as we consciously allow It to do so. Therefore we should have faith in It, and Its desires and Its ability to do for us all that we shall ever need to have done. Since It must pass through our consciousness to operate for us, we must be conscious that IT is doing so.

The one who wishes to demonstrate some particular good must become conscious of this particular good, if he wishes to experience it. Therefore, he must make his mind receptive to it and he must do this consciously. There is no hocus-pocus in a mental treatment. It is always definite, conscious, concrete and explicit. We are dealing with Intelligence, and should deal with IT intelligently.

If we wish a certain good, we must instill into our own minds a realization of this specific good and then -- as this idea is the mold we place in mind -- it will be filled by the substance necessary for the complete manifestation of this good in our lives.

I know that the faith within me now neutralizes ALL doubt.

How much of this Infinite Good is ours? ALL OF IT! And how much of It may we have to use? AS MUCH OF IT AS WE CAN EMBODY.

There is one mind common to all individual persons.

We are surrounded by a Universal Mind.

Reality is not in a mountain, nor afar off, but within us.

God reveals Himself to us by revealing Himself through us.

As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.

What we expect, that we find. What we wish, that we believe.

He can who thinks he can.

It is done unto you as you believe.

What we outwardly are, and what we are to become depends upon what we are thinking.

When we understand the Law, we learn to consciously embody what we wish, and think of this only, and then we are drawn

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silently toward it. Let us, then, enlarge our thought processes, and dare to think in Universal terms.

We cannot live a choiceless life. We have the right to choose what we wish to experience.

We must become actively constructive and happy in our thinking -- not merely passively so.

All mind activity inevitably tends to create its physical correspondent. An unhealthy and morbid mental state projects itself into the physical body. Thoughts of sickness can make a man sick; thoughts of health and perfection can heal him. A realization of the Presence of God is the most powerful healing agency known to the mind of man.

We are one in nature with God. Our own word has the power of life.

We could accomplish whatever it is possible for us to conceive. Life externalizes at the level of our thought.

Daily we must control all thought that denies that real; affirm the divine presence within us.

Act as though I am and I will be.

There is no limitation outside our own ignorance.

We shall never triumph over them (previous experiences) while we persist in going through the old mental reactions.

Thought is creative.

Prayer is recognition of Spirit's Omniscience, Omnipotence, and Omnipresence.

Nothing could bring greater discouragement than to labor under the delusion that God is a Being of moods, who might answer some prayers and not others.

If God ever answered prayer, HE always answers prayer.

If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask ye will and it shall be done unto you.

Whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do.

When we become conscious of our Oneness with Universal Good, beliefs in evil, sin, sickness, limitation, and death tend to disappear.

The time is now; the place is where we are, and it is done unto us as we believe.

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Prayer is not an act of overcoming God's reluctance, but an active acceptance of HIS highest willingness.

Prayer is constructive.

Before they call will I answer. Our prayer is answered before it is uttered.

Prayer is a mental approach to Reality. It is not a symbol but the idea symbolized that makes prayer effective.

Always the man who has faith in his own ability accomplishes far more than the one who has no confidence in himself. Those who have great faith, have great power.

Faith is an affirmative mental approach to Reality. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Ask and it shall be given to you.

If the good were not already ours in the invisible supply, it would be impossible for us to procure it in any manner.

It is done unto you as you believe.

In order to have faith, we must have a conviction that all is well. In order to keep faith, we must allow nothing to enter our thought that will weaken this conviction. Faith is built up from belief, acceptance and trust.

We must not be lukewarm in our conviction. We must know that we know.

Have a conscious recognition that health has always been yours, abundance has always been yours, happiness and peace have always been yours; they are yours now, for they are the very essence and Truth of your being.

You cannot Will things to happen, but provide an avenue through which they may happen. We live in a Perfect Universe, but IT needs to be seen mentally before IT can become part of our experience.

There must be recognition that the power of the word, operating as the truth and reality of being, can do all things.

Prayer is essential to happiness, for righteous prayer sets the law of the Spirit of life in motion for our good. Prayer is essential to the conscious well being of the soul. Prayer is its own answer.

Never Limit Your View of Life

The Universe Never Plays Favorites

All thought is Creative. There is no limit to thought.

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Divine Nature is in every man

Look Only at What You Want

Place No Limit On Principle

God Never Compromises

We are allowed to choose

Believe that it has already happened

Mind has substance.

There is no limitation when we realize that the whole kingdom of God is locked up within us.

Some have thought of God as something separate and apart from themselves and they, therefore, have gone out searching for Him where He cannot be found.

 

ROADMAP TO PROSPERITY

Be ye transformed by the renewal of your mind.

Give me a place to stand, and I will move the earth.

Move from limitation to ABUNDANCE.

Move from scarceness to PLENTY.

Move from need to RICHES.

It is my God given birthright to have a full and prosperous life.

"I came that you might have life and have it abundantly."

My prosperity depends on my state of mind. "All things are possible for him that believe."

The Law of Equivalent Exchange creates a harmonious circulation of Good in my life. "Give, and it shall be given to you, heaped up, pressed down and running over."

Praise and thanksgiving are thresholds to the limitless good of God. "As a man thinketh in his heart so is he."

The Universal Supply to me is in direct relationship with my ability to release the past and receive my good. "This one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind. I press toward the mark for the prize."

Total trust in God alone as the Source opens the gates of plenty in my life. "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want."

I am a channel of good that flows through me. "It is the Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom."

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By giving a tithe of my resources to spiritual causes I establish a flood of properity in my life. "Honor God with thy substance and with the first fruits of all they increases, so that thy barns shall be filled with plenty."

Money is a Divine Creation and is good and I freely accept it as such. "God generously giveth us richly all things to enjoy."

My prosperity is a dynamic process and is never a fixed attainment. "Goodness, truth and mercy will follow me all the days of my life."

Mental imagery and visualization of good pours forth riches in my life. "Thou shall decree a thing and it shall be established unto thee."

My desire of prosperity creates a mental consciousness field which expresses in abundance. "Before they call, I will answer and while they are yet thinking I will hear."

A prosperous person is one who is at ease, in harmony with the world, whole and free to do what he wants when he wants to do it.

You are prosperous to the degree that you are experiencing peace, health and plenty in your world.

 

It has been said that a prosperous person is one who is at ease, in harmony with her world, whole and free to do what she wants when she wants to do it. Prosperity is more than a material experience, it is having close, trusting relationships. It is having friends in your life with whom you enjoy sharing your experiences. It means having a successful family life and living in harmony with those people whom you love and who love you. Prosperity means having a healthy body, strong and full of energy, and vibrant peace of mind that allows you to sleep well at night. (Paraphrased from Stuart Grayson & Mark Victor Hansen)

Prosperity and abundance are produced by first recognizing that they are "thought." Thought produces fact. A "thought" of poverty produces the fact of poverty. A "thought" of abundance would create abundance and prosperity. As we sow, so shall we reap. As we so think, so shall we reap.

Namaste', an ancient Hindu bow of sacred greeting made by placing the palms together, thumbs against the chest and nodding the head slightly. Namaste' acknowledges that the "God (or Christ) in me honors the God (or Christ) in

you." Namaste'

ABUNDANCE AFFIRMATIONS:

I wish above all things that you may be prosperous and be in good health, even as your soul prospers.

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Prosperity is not mere material for vainglory, but an opportunity for achievement. Poverty is no disgrace to acknowledge, but a real degradation to make no effort to overcome. (Paraphrased from 3 John 1:2)

"You are what your deep, driving desire is. As your desire is, so is your will. As your will is, so is your deed. As your deed, so is your destiny." Brihadaranyaka Upanishad IV.4.5

More simply put: Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve. (Paraphrased from Napoleon Hill)

You must labor each day as if your life hung in the balance. You must learn that with patience you can control your destiny. You must chart a course or you will drift. You must prepare for darkness while traveling in the sunlight. You must smile in the face of adversity until it surrenders. You must realize that plans are only dreams without action. You must sweep cobwebs from your mind before they imprison you. You must lighten your load if you wish to reach your destination. You must never forget that it is always later than you think. You must never strive to be anything but yourself. Og Mandino

I live in an abundant universe. I always have everything I need. Sanaya Roman & Duane Packer

I absolutely love God and all God's creation - - including myself.

The source of all creation is pure consciousness and pure potentiality. The universe operates through giving and receiving, the flow of energy. Every action generates a reaction, a force of energy. When we choose actions that bring happiness and success to others, then the fruit is happiness and success. When we harness the forces of harmony, joy and love, we create success and good fortune with effortless ease. Intention and desire have infinite organizing power. Detachment produces the wisdom of uncertainty; he wisdom of uncertainty lies the freedom from our past, from the known, which is the prison of past conditioning. Stepping into the unknown, the field of all possibilities surrenders us to the creative mind that orchestrates the dance of the universe. Everyone has a purpose in life, a unique gift or special talent to give to others. The ecstasy and exultation of our own spirit is the ultimate goal of all goals. (Paraphrased from Deepak Chopra)

Fix in your mind exactly what you desire. Determine exactly what you intend to give in return for what you desire (no pain, no gain; no some-thing for nothing). Establish a definite date when you plan carrying out your desire, and put your plan into action. Write out a clear, concise statement of your desire, your timeframe, what you intend to give in return, and describe clearly the plan through which you will accomplish it. Read your written statement aloud, twice daily, once before bedtime and once after waking. As you read, see, feel and believe that you have already accomplished your goal. (Paraphrased from Napoleon Hill)

"Every noble work is at first impossible." Thomas Carlyle

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"To be what we are and to become what we are capable of becoming is the only creed of life." Robert Louis Stevenson

Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened. For everyone who asks receives, she who seeks finds, and to her who knocks, the door will be opened.

Thank you for the blessings in my life and in the lives of those near and dear to me. I greet this day with a loving attitude of gratitude. I know that wherever I may be, so too is God, and therefore know that all is well and that I am truly

blessed.

This is my prayer; Unite out hearts taht all may learn to live as one. A world united in its love of freedom, proclaiming peace.

Open your heart and your mind to create an Abundance Consciousness and Prosperity. Maintaining an attitude of openness, belief and expectancy. Affirm your commitment to Noble Truths as they can change your life for the good - forever.

I have created you in my image and likeness and, YOU ARE GOOD!

Go into the darkness unafraid.

I am here to LOVE. I am here to KNOW TRUTH, and to TEACH TRUTH. I am a God-centered AFFIRMATIVE THINKER.

I release my own creative ingenuity, my own strength and wisdom which can handle any problem successfully.

"Be ye transformed by the renewal of your mind."

All that life is, is mine to use. Harmony, health, wealth, joy, success, love peace, wisdom, and happiness. The Law of Circulation is active in my life now. I give generously. I receive abundantly!

I know that within myself, there is that Life which is Perfect, Complete, Divine. It was never born, and it cannot die; for it lives and is God. Within myself is the

Wholeness, Peace, Poise, and Power of Life. This Life is Health. It is Abundance. It is Love. There is only One Life, and It is the Life of God, and this Life is my life

now.

Responsibility for our lives lies not in our stars, but in ourselves. (Paraphrased from Bill Shakespeare)

"The manifest universe is the body of God; it is the logical and necessary outcome of the infinite self-knowingness of God." Dr. Ernest Holmes

Today, I enter into the limitless variations of self-expression which the Divine Source projects into my experience. Knowing that all experience is a play of Life upon Itself, I enter into the game of living with joyful anticipation and enthusiasm. I play the game of life well and enjoy it!

Today, I am more aware that the Kingdom of Heaven is Within. And in this new awareness, I focus only on the Good. God is my life, therefore my life is Good.

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Today I practice the Love, the Peace, the Christ-like forgiveness in my everyday activities, knowing that God is all the Presence there is. I feel and accept this

Presence in everyone. I permit God's Love to envelop everything and everyone as I am lovingly guided in all my ways. I meet every situation in joy, calmness,

happiness and love. As I commit to life unto this Presence - - this Power - - I know all is in Divine Order right now. And we simply say Amen. - Ida Baker

"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This the principal difference between a person and a dog." Benjamin Disraeli

Two roads diverged in a yellow road, and I was sorry that I could not travel both and yet remain one traveler. Long I stood and looked down one road as far as I could, to where it bent in the undergrowth. Then, I took the other, much the same, because it was grassy and needed wear, yet, both roads that morning equally lay in leaves, no step trodden black. I decided I’d keep the first road for another day. Yet knowing full well how the road leads on its way, I doubted if I would ever come back. I shall be telling this story someday, with a sigh: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. I pray that we all discover the road less traveled in our lives, and take it. (With liberties, from Robert Frost)

Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, and if I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my toys to break. So none of the other kids can us ‘em . . . Amen.

"I can live for two months on a good compliment." Mark Twain

Oneness with God/Spirit/the Source/the Power is the joy of my life! My affairs are in the keeping of Infinite Wisdom. I am guided by Divine Intelligence. The activity of Spirit inspires my mind and flows through my actions. Life lies open to me – rich, full and abundant!

Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved. William Jennings Bryan

The only time one is totally free is between trapezes.

There is a Divine Plan behind everything, and if we allow ourselves to be used by that unseen Force . . . many things can happen in a mysterious, miraculous way. If we interfere with that Plan by introducing our own plan, the egocentric

plan, tension will be created. - Satchidananda

All of the great mystics have taught the same thing . . . that the soul is on the pathway of experience . . . on its way back to its Father's House. - Ernest Holmes

If you would know the meaning of destiny, understand that it is not a map of where you are going to go. Rather, it is where you will go if you will flow with

existence without a struggle. - Ormand McGill

Today I Choose to be Free.

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NAMASTE'Exercises to Expand Abundance Consciousness

Edited by Ted DeCorte

Back to The Beginning

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#1: Know that prosperity follows Abundance Consciousness. Start an Abundance journal. Set aside enough time to enrich your life through "journaling." Choose a note-book that’s comfortable to you. Be sure to keep a wide left margin – this will be helpful for future entries when you review your experiences.

Begin to record your thoughts on abundant living. You will find this a very rewarding practice. Journaling helps to keep your focus, captures your thoughts, clarifies your goals and shows your progress in conscious growth toward prosperity and abundance.

#2: Make a list of the abundance of good in your life right now and in the past. A hundred entries are a minimum place to start. This will support the fact that you already have lived abundantly. A smile from a child, a letter of appreciation from a friend, an unexpected good, your friends, your vibrant health, can all make it on your list.

#3: For the garden of plenty to produce, weeds of "lack thinking" have to be removed. Change negative "lack" statements to positive "have" statements. Change "I can’t afford" to "I choose to", "I never have enough" to "I attract what I need whenever I need it." "Nothing good ever happens to me" to "I am open to receive good." Sharpen your consciousness and eliminate your negative thoughts and words.

______________________________

PROSPERITY AFFIRMATIONS (choose one or two for each day):

I live in the midst of Infinite Abundance.

The abundance of God is my infinite Source.

The river of life, prosperity and abundance never stops flowing. It flows through me into lavish expression.

Good comes to me through unexpected avenues.

I now open my mind to receive my good.

Nothing is too good to be true. Nothing is too wonderful to happen.

With God as my Source, nothing amazes me.

I give freely and fearlessly to life and life gives back to me with fabulous increase.

I am truly a part of all things. With the God Force through me, I feel secure.

The Universe is abundant, therefore naturally I feel abundant. All my needs are met.

Blessings come in expected and unexpected ways.

God provides for me in wondrous ways and I am grateful.

I enjoy the rich gifts I receive each day.

I always have my needs abundantly and prosperously supplied.

I feel good therefore my life is good.

I dedicate my life to the Source within me. Through dedication I unfold naturally to the highest potential of my being.

I accept that I have the right opportunities to use my creative talents.

I have all the resources, time, energy and wealth to do what I want in my life.

I’m always in the right place at the right time doing what I’m meant to do.

I joyfully and thankfully give and receive abundance.

All answers are within me. I follow my inner wisdom.

I allow myself to think and dream in unlimited ways.

I find my life’s purpose by looking within rather than without.

I am linked with the unlimited abundance of the Universe.

I trust that everything comes at the perfect time and in the perfect way.

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GIVE YOURSELF AWAY.

Making someone else’s life better is one of our "purposes" in this lifetime. Decide to find new ways to give a portion of yourself or your possessions every day to someone. Examples may be a letter to someone who deserves or needs it, a rose to an elderly person, fixing breakfast in bed for a mate, a smile to a stranger, creating beauty, or picking up trash on a morning walk. Give Creatively!

ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVE

Often we fix negative attitudes about money, wealth, prosperity or abundance, and never consider changing them. The main source of these attitudes is "negative money or abundance messages" from multiple authority figures in our past, especially our childhood. The maxim "change your thinking, change your life" works miracles.

Here are examples of "negative money/abundance messages." Before reading them, take a moment to pray or meditate and open to this experience of rethinking your own "negative money/abundance attitudes." Remember that you can grow to a new level of acceptance of your healthy relationship with prosperity & abundance.

Money = Love

Money = Power

Be anxious about money.

Be afraid to spend money.

Spending money is dangerous - something terrible will happen, maybe destitution or poverty.

Money is scarce – there isn’t enough to go around – hang onto every penny.

No matter how hard we work, we’ll always be poor.

Money is hard to get.

Don’t spend money frivolously.

Only I am allowed to spend money frivolously.

You can’t manage money.

Handling money is a very serious business.

Only men/women handle money.

Be dependent on me for money.

Let me buy your love.

Money is everything.

Money is the only thing that counts.

Life is not worth living without money.

Without money you are nothing.

Without money you will perish.

Be in awe of people who have money.

People who have money are better that us.

Hate people who have money. They are selfish/immoral/unethical/ depraved/dishonest.

Money is not spiritual.

Feel guilty for having more than someone else.

We have money so we’re superior to people who don’t have.

Limit yourself only to the barest necessities.

You have to work hard for every-thing you get.

Feel guilty about getting anything for nothing.

Always try to get something for nothing.

Always give more than the other person.

Demand a return on everything you give.

Control and manipulate others with money.

Be tight. Be frugal. Be wealthy. Be poor. Buy cheap. Be grateful. Don’t expect more.

People are only interested in your money.

There’s never any money left over.

Don’t get anything for yourself.

Don’t expect what other have.

If you get what you want, someone else will be deprived.

If I can’t have the "best" I won’t have anything.

GO BACK AND IDENTIFY THE NEGATIVE MESSAGES YOU HAVE "BOUGHT INTO." Aim high! This exercise has

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THE GOLDEN KEYEdited by Ted DeCorte

Back to Expanding Abundance Consciousness

Emmett Fox had what he called "the golden key" which was "don’t talk about the problem, think about the solution,

which is God." This is a marvelous prosperity consciousness lifting exercise. "Don’t think about lack, think about the

Source, which is your supply."

MORE ABUNDANCE AFFIRMATIONS The power of God within me draws to me my highest good.

My financial income is unlimited and it flows to me now.

I attract what ever I need, whenever I need it.

I am rich, well and happy.

The abundance of the Universe frees me from all financial limitations.

I open mind to prosperity and abundance, and I accept my divine unlimited supply right now.

I deserve God’s kingdom of abundance and prosperity, and I accept it now.

I let go of worn out things, conditions and relationships and allow the unlimited, dependable prosperity and spiritual abundance consciousness of God to flow into my experience now.

I now experience the total success that I am.

The more I joyfully give, the more I gratefully receive.

I bless all channels of my unlimited supply of wealth, prosperity, abundance, happiness and good health.

I deserve wealth, prosperity, abundance; I deserve health; I deserve love.

I am what I think about. I am what I do.

I am at peace. I am happy.

I take my first step into a new life today.

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Life is like floating down the river on a raft - - it will get you there if you hang on.

I Let Go and Let God/Spirit/the Source/the Power/the Force Direct My Life.

Blessed is the person who trusts in God/the Source, whose trust is God/the Universe. He/she is like a tree planted by the water, which sends out its roots to the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green. (Liberties with Jeremiah 17:7-8)

I Travel Light and Thus Am In Divine Light.

If you do not know where you are going, any road will do.

I Stay Focused On My Life Purpose.

A PRAYER FOR BALANCE, . . . . FOR PEACE AND HARMONY IN YOUR LIFE

Courtesy of Dr. Carlo Di Giovanna, Senior Minister, First Church of Religious Science, Las Vegas, NV

It is from a peaceful Mind that all right decisions and actions take place. My God is Peace. My Peace is God. To experience God then, is to experience Peace.I accept my God. There is now no separateness from God as Peace; as there is no separateness from God as me. For that which God is in whole, I am in Part.I let my whole being now, my thoughts and feelings, my consciousness, be open to the influx of God as Peace - as harmony. I realize that in opening myself up to this experience all that is unlike Good (God) is released from my experience. I do not hang on to - or make claim to the possession of any thoughts about any person, place or thing which disturbs, agitates, or conflicts with my True nature.There is no condemnation in me now of any past, present, or future experience. I know that the things in the past were a necessary part of my experience. For, they were leading me into a greater understanding of Truth about myself. And so, I bless the past and release it.

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I know that there is no other moment but the eternal now, which is providing me with every opportunity to know and experience only Good (God). I give myself completely to this moment and use it with wisdom, in love and in truth. And, I place faith in It.I know that my future is but the continuation of my present. It is Love. It is Peace. It is Harmony. From moment to moment I look forward only to an increase of that Good that I am now aware of. An increase of the Good which I am now feeling.Having experienced God as Love and Peace, Love and Peace are reflected in my surroundings. My home which includes those that I love radiates this peace and harmony. And, daily I bless my home and It blesses me. And all those who live in it.My home emanates from Love. It is Love, and it attracts Love. Truth is its foundation. Harmony its structure,and peace its atmosphere. There is no fear, no competition, and no intrusion that can enter into my dwelling place. The door is open to those who recognize the happiness in my home! They are welcomed, loved and accepted. The door is closed to confusion and difficulty. My home is where I AM. It is God's desire to give me this peaceful dwelling place and share it with those who find contentment in it.It is to the Divine, which is the Source of my Good that I RELEASE THIS PRAYER. I have expressed my choice and accept it now as my GOOD! I know that it is by Divine Law that this is being made manifest. So I put my faith in God as Love and God as Law.Because I believe that this prayer is being made manifest and can be already accepted in Mind, I give my sincere thanks. I live in eternal gratitude for all that is Good in my experience and comes from God.AND SO IT IS.

TRIVIA FOR A LIFE'S JOURNEY There is one mental law in the Universe, and where

we use it, it becomes our law because we have

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individualized it. Behind the individual mind is the Universal, which has no limits.

It is done unto you as you believe.It can become power to us ONLY when we recognize

it as power. We cannot recognize that IT is, while we are

believing that IT is not. Our belief sets the limit. Itself is without limit. It is ready to fill everything, because IT is infinite. So, it

is not a question of IT's willingness, nor of its ability. It is entirely a question of our own receptivity. As much as we can believe will be done to us.

If we can conceive only a little good, that is as much as we can experience.

Good is without bounds. Only good and loving kindness shall follow me all the days of my life.

We experience good and evil because we perceive a presence of duality rather than unity.

Let us accept today more good than we experienced yesterday.

The Universe is impersonal. It gives alike to all. It values each alike. Its nature is to impart, ours to

receive. Every person stands in the shadow of a mighty Mind, a pure Intelligence, and a Divine givingness. We look

to far away for Reality. To return to a sane simplicity is one of the first and

most important things to do. It is the nature of the Universe to give us what we

are able to take. It cannot give us more. It has given all, we have not yet accepted the greater gift. We cannot fight the Universe. It refuses to be

budged from Its course. We can only go with it. But there is ample latitude for personal expression.

Every person knows right from wrong. We are surrounded by an Infinite Possibility. It is

Goodness, Life, Law and Reason. In expressing Itself through us, It becomes more fully conscious of Its

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own being. Therefore, It wishes to express through us. As It passes into our being, It automatically becomes the law of our lives. It can pass into

expression through us only as we consciously allow It to do so. Therefore we should have faith in It, and

Its desires and Its ability to do for us all that we shall ever need to have done. Since It must pass through our consciousness to operate for us, we

must be conscious that IT is doing so. The one who wishes to demonstrate some particular good must become conscious of this particular good,

if he wishes to experience it. Therefore, he must make his mind receptive to it and he must do this consciously. There is no hocus-pocus in a mental

treatment. It is always definite, conscious, concrete and explicit. We are dealing with Intelligence, and

should deal with IT intelligently. If we wish a certain good, we must instill into our own minds a realization of this specific good and

then -- as this idea is the mold we place in mind -- it will be filled by the substance necessary for the complete manifestation of this good in our lives.

I know that the faith within me now neutralizes ALL doubt.

How much of this Infinite Good is ours? ALL OF IT! And how much of It may we have to use? AS MUCH

OF IT AS WE CAN EMBODY. There is one mind common to all individual persons.

We are surrounded by a Universal Mind. Reality is not in a mountain, nor afar off, but within

us. God reveals Himself to us by revealing Himself

through us. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.

What we expect, that we find. What we wish, that we believe. He can who thinks he can.

It is done unto you as you believe. What we outwardly are, and what we are to become

depends upon what we are thinking.

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When we understand the Law, we learn to consciously embody what we wish, and think of this only, and then we are drawn silently toward it. Let

us, then, enlarge our thought processes, and dare to think in Universal terms.

We cannot live a choiceless life. We have the right to choose what we wish to experience.

We must become actively constructive and happy in our thinking -- not merely passively so.

All mind activity inevitably tends to create its physical correspondent. An unhealthy and morbid mental state projects itself into the physical body.

Thoughts of sickness can make a man sick; thoughts of health and perfection can heal him. A realization of the Presence of God is the most powerful healing

agency known to the mind of man. We are one in nature with God. Our own word has

the power of life. We could accomplish whatever it is possible for us to

conceive. Life externalizes at the level of our thought.

Daily we must control all thought that denies that real; affirm the divine presence within us.

Act as though I am and I will be. There is no limitation outside our own ignorance.

We shall never triumph over them (previous experiences) while we persist in going through the

old mental reactions. Thought is creative.

Prayer is recognition of Spirit's Omniscience, Omnipotence, and Omnipresence.

Nothing could bring greater discouragement than to labor under the delusion that God is a Being of

moods, who might answer some prayers and not others.

If God ever answered prayer, HE always answers prayer.

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If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask ye will and it shall be done unto you.

Whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do. When we become conscious of our Oneness with

Universal Good, beliefs in evil, sin, sickness, limitation, and death tend to disappear.

The time is now; the place is where we are, and it is done unto us as we believe.

Prayer is not an act of overcoming God's reluctance, but an active acceptance of HIS highest willingness.

Prayer is constructive. Before they call will I answer. Our prayer is

answered before it is uttered. Prayer is a mental approach to Reality. It is not a

symbol but the idea symbolized that makes prayer effective.

Always the man who has faith in his own ability accomplishes far more than the one who has no

confidence in himself. Those who have great faith, have great power.

Faith is an affirmative mental approach to Reality. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the

evidence of things not seen. Ask and it shall be given to you.

If the good were not already ours in the invisible supply, it would be impossible for us to procure it in

any manner. It is done unto you as you believe.

In order to have faith, we must have a conviction that all is well. In order to keep faith, we must allow nothing to enter our thought which will weaken this conviction. Faith is built up from belief, acceptance

and trust. We must not be lukewarm in our conviction. We

must know that we know. Have a conscious recognition that health has always

been yours, abundance has always been yours, happiness and peace have always been yours; they

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are yours now, for they are the very essence and Truth of your being.

You cannot Will things to happen, but provide an avenue through which they may happen. We live in a Perfect Universe, but IT needs to be seen mentally

before IT can become part of our experience. There must be a recognition that the power of the

word, operating as the truth and reality of being, can do all things.

Prayer is essential to happiness, for righteous prayer sets the law of the Spirit of life in motion for our

good. Prayer is essential to the conscious well being of the soul. Prayer is its own answer.

Never Limit Your View of Life The Universe Never Plays Favorites

All thought is Creative. There is no limit to thought. Divine Nature is in every man Look Only at What You Want Place No Limit On Principle

God Never Compromises We are allowed to choose

Believe that it has already happened Mind has substance.

There is no limitation when we realize that the whole kingdom of God is locked up within us.

Some have thought of God as something separate and apart from themselves and they, therefore, have

gone out searching for Him where He cannot be found.

Be ye tranformed by the renewal of your mind. Give me a place to stand, and I will move the earth.

Move from limitation to ABUNDANCE. Move from scarceness to PLENTY. Move from need to RICHES.

It is my God given birthright to have a full and prosperous life. "I came that you might have life and

have it abundantly."

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My prosperity depends on my state of mind. "All things are possible for him that believe." The Law of Equivalent Exchange creates a

harmonious circulation of Good in my life. "Give, and it shall be given to you, heaped up, pressed down

and running over." Praise and thanksgiving are thresholds to the

limitless good of God. "As a man thinketh in his heart so is he."

The Universal Supply to me is in direct relationship with my ability to release the past and receive my good. "This one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind. I press toward the mark for the

prize." Total trust in God alone as the Source opens the

gates of plenty in my life. "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want."

I am a channel of good that flows through me. "It is the Father's good pleasure to give you the

Kingdom." By giving a tithe of my resources to spiritual causes

I establish a flood of properity in my life. "Honor God with thy substance and with the first fruits of all

they increases, so that thy barns shall be filled with plenty."

Money is a Divine Creation and is good and I freely accept it as such. "God generously giveth us richly

all things to enjoy." My prosperity is a dynamic process and is never a fixed attainment. "Goodness, truth and mercy will

follow me all the days of my life." Mental imagery and visualization of good pours forth

riches in my life. "Thou shall decree a thing and it shall be estalished unto thee."

My desire of prosperity creates a mental consciousness field which expresses in abundance. "Before they call, I will answer and while they are

yet thinking I will hear."

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A prosperous person is one who is at ease, in harmony with the world, whole and free to do what

he wants when he wants to do it. You are prosperous to the degree that you are

experiencing peace, health and plenty in your world.

"What We Believe" by Ernest Holmes

o We believe in God, the Living Spirit Almighty; one, indestructible, absolute and self-existent

Cause. This One manifests itself in and through all creation but is not absorbed by its creation. The manifest universe is the body of God; it is

the logical and necessary outcome of the infinite self-knowingness of God.

o We believe in the incarnation of the Spirit in everyone and that all people are incarnations of

the One Spirit. o We believe in the eternality, the immortality,

and the continuity of the individual soul, forever and ever expanding.

o We believe that Heaven is within us and that we experience it to the degree that we become

conscious of it. o We believe the ultimate goal of life to be a

complete emancipation from all discord of every nature, and that this goal is sure to be attained

by all. o We believe in the unity of all life, and that the

highest God and the innermost God is one God. o We believe that God is personal to all who feel

this Indwelling Presence. o We believe in the direct revelation of Truth

through the intuitive and spiritual nature of the individual, and that any person may become a

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revealer of Truth who lives in close contact with the indwelling God.

o We believe that the Universal Spirit, which is God, operates through a Universal Mind, which is the Law of God; and that we are surrounded by

this Creative Mind which receives the direct impress of our thought and acts upon it.

o We believe in the healing of the sick through the power of this Mind.

o We believe in the control of conditions through the power of this Mind.

o We believe in the eternal Goodness, the eternal Loving-kindness, and the eternal Givingness of

Life to all. o We believe in our own soul, our own spirit, and

our own destiny; for we understand that the life of all is God.

What We Believe, by Ernest Holmes, was published in the first issue of Science of Mind magazine, October, 1927. This edited version uses

gender-inclusive language.

AFFIRMATIONS FOR KIDSCompiled by Ted DeCorte, M.A.

I am connected to all living things.

My needs are important.

I can try new things with a friend.

I will take it easy on me today.

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I will use my curiosity to explore wisely.

I am loveable and capable.

I am responsible for my own behavior.

I can express myself in different ways.

I can learn at my own pace.

I can find ways to express my anger without hurting myself or others.

I am a worthwhile person, even if I can’t do something well.

I will listen to my body. I will exercise, eat right and get some good sleep.

I can be excited about everything.

I can find fun things to do all by myself.

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I can learn to cooperate and still stand up for myself.

I can begin to make a new friend today.

I can find someone to talk to about things that are happening with my body.

I can find the love I need.

I can keep our home, our neighborhood and our world clean and beautiful.

I can say what I believe.

I will accept some things as they are.

I can do some things very well.

I am responsible for my own feelings.

I can learn some rules.

Doing my best is important.

It is OK to change the way I think.

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What I do is not the same as who I am.

I can make decisions that will work for me.

I can find ways to be valuable to a group.

I always have a choice of how to think about something.

I am an individual.

I can accept that it is OK to be different and know I am special.

I will listen to what I say about others and see if it really about me.

I accept new feelings that come with change.

I will accept that something may be hard for me and ask for help.

I can develop my own interests, ideas and friendships.

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Everyday something unexpected may happen.

I will take time to rest.

I will choose words that are kind.

I am, I do, I will I do.

I will do my best to reach my full potential.

It is OK to disagree if I have really listened to the other side.

It is OK for me to know all that I know.

I am different from my parents.

I will look at rules and know how they fit in my life.

It is OK to explore who I am and find out who other people are too.

I know what I need and can ask for help.

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I love myself when I am active and when I am quiet.

I can finish the things that I start.

Even if it is hard, I can do things on my own.

I will act respectfully because I deserve respect.

I can get friends by listening.

I can learn from my mistakes.

I can change my feelings by changing what I do.

I can choose when to keep a secret and when to say, "No I won’t."

I can think for myself.

I will honor my friendships.

I can find a safe, secure place in my own self.

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All my senses help me learn about the world around me.

What I can change, I will work on, What I cannot change, I will not worry about.

I can use other thoughts to help me to more patient.

Each day is a new beginning.

It is OK to be imperfect. Making mistakes is human.

I can ask for help.

I can do a job one step at a time.

I will forgive myself and others today.

We each have a right to our own point-of-view.

I can learn the limits.

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I can tell the truth about myself and others will still like me.

I can do things as many times as necessary to learn them.

I can practice being polite and caring and it will get easier.

I can learn to balance what I need with what other need.

I will be light-hearted and laugh today.

It’s OK for me to get angry.

I can accept and experience all of my feelings.

I can breathe to get calm.

Light shines through me when I feel great!

By changing my thinking I can handle my fear.

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I am responsible for my own work, good or bad.

I can relax and think peacefully about my goals.

Today I love and accept my special self just as I am.

Peace starts with me.

I can learn to use old skills in new ways.

I choose to eat healthy foods.

My imagination can be a powerful tool for my life.

I can learn when and how to disagree.

I can think for myself and act on my own decisions.

I can always find a place to start.

I can do my best no matter what others say.

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I can excel in my own way.

I can handle the low feelings until they change.

I can wait patiently while I am growing.

There is something I can learn in every "tough time".

I can help with world peace.

I will accept the changes that come into my life.

I will use my special abilities today.

I will look at the opposites in life and appreciate them.

I can relax and let myself just be me with my friends.

I choose to look at the good side and be happy and truly enjoy life.

I can help when I am asked.

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I will be thankful today.

I can say goodbye to a friend.

I am different and I am OK the way I am.

I can solve problems in my life.

Today I imagine and expect good things to happen.

There is goodness and wisdom in me.

I can trust the wise self in me.

I can trust the wisdom within me.

I am an understanding and kind person.

I take responsibility for how I feel.

I am a radiating center of love and energy.

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Good thoughts come when I listen with my heart.

All feelings are necessary.

Daydreaming is important at times.

I will have courage today.

I can reach my full potential.

I will say no when I mean no and yes when I mean yes.

I always try to do my best.

I can work, earn and save some money, and spend it wisely.

I will forgive myself and others.

I can do one thing today to make the world a better place to live.

I can find a quiet spot to listen to nothing.

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I find gladness in the simple things right now.

I can admit my mistakes.

I can admit that sometimes I need to change.

It helps my friend if I listen.

I know the difference between pretend and things that really happen.

I know that change will come.

The Spiritual DozenEdited by Ted DeCorte

Back to Seizing the Magic

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Wayne Dyer presents twelve beliefs and practices for you to cultivate as you develop your innate abilities to manifest miracles, magic, prosperity, and abundance consciousness in your life. Remember to stop along the way to write in your Thought Journal.

Multidimensional Thinking: Non-spiritual beings live exclusively within the five senses, believing that if they cannot see, touch, smell, hear or taste something, then that something simply does not exist. Spiritual beings know that there are other senses we use to experience the world of form.

Stop and write in your Thought Journal the things that you experience within yourself that are beyond your sense of taste, sight, hearing, smell or touch. Record the insights of your inner world, your intuitive hunches. You will gain insight that your physical actions are coming from something that isn’t physical at all.

Belief in Loving Guidance: Non-spiritual beings believe we are alone in the universe. Spiritual beings know they are never alone.

Question the pure physical evidence reported by your five senses. Get acquainted with the reality of your invisible world. Ask yourself why you put so much faith in your senses alone.

Just for a day suspend your skepticism and make contact with divine or spiritual guidance. Give yourself a gift of a quiet place, a quiet hour all to yourself. Create an image of receiving help from your guide.

Stop and write in your Thought Journal what you felt and what hunches or assistance you received during your quiet time.

Focus on Authentic Personal Empowerment: Non-spiritual beings are focused on external power. Spiritual beings are focused on personal empowerment.

Connect with the invisible dimension we call death by keeping track of your dreams, particularly ones that include someone in your life that has passed on. Be aware of the guidance that person gives in your dreams. Ask questions.

Extend the sense of loving guidance in your life outside your dreams. Silently listen and be willing to hear inner guidance. Focus on assisting others and staying Purposeful.

Practice a life without a focus on control. Replace the need for external power with the ability to empower others to take control in their own lives.

Find models and companions for your Journey. Read about the personal experiences of people you admire. Virtually all inspired leaders in their fields reached a point in their lives where they felt they were being spiritually guided.

Feeling Connected to All of Humanity: Non-spiritual beings feel separated and distinct from all others, beings unto themselves. Spiritual beings know that they are connected to all others and live their lives as if each person they meet shares being human with them.

"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if clod be washed away by sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man’s death diminishes, because I am involved in mankind; and there-fore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." John Donne

Demonstrate to yourself that you are not alone. Picture yourself connected by invisible strings to everyone you encounter. As you move, they move. As you push, they go tumbling. With this connection, you will have a tendency to extend love and help rather than feel enmity or competition.

Examine your behavior toward those people in your life whom you feel a need to dominate or control.

Knowledge of a Dimension Beyond Cause & Effect: Non-spiritual beings believe exclusively in a cause/effect interpretation of life. Spiritual beings know that there is a Higher Power working in the universe beyond mere cause and effect.

Keep your focus on Purpose rather than outcome by keeping your mind, body and soul totally in the moment of your activity.

Rid yourself of a preoccupation of valueless things by rethinking your attitude about your possessions.

Motivated By Ethics, Serenity and Quality of Life: Non-spiritual beings are motivated by achievement, performance and acquisitions. Spiritual beings are motivated by ethics, serenity and quality of life.

"The fruit of love is service, which is compassion in action. Religion has nothing to do with compassion, it is our love for God

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Love & BeautyEverything ought to be beautiful in a human being:

---Anton Chekhov"Beauty of whatever kind, in its supreme development,

invariably excites the sensitive soul to tears. "--- Edgar Allan Poe

Autumn is over the long leaves that love us, And over the mice in the barley sheaves; Yellow the leaves of the rowan above us,

And yellow the wet wild-strawberry leaves.

The hour of the waning of love has beset us, And weary and worn are our sad souls now;

Let us part, ere the season of passion forget us, With a kiss and a tear on thy drooping brow.

.....The Falling of the Leaves by William Butler Yeats It is not enough to conquer; one must know how to seduce.....Voltaire

We fly to beauty as an asylum from the terrors of finite nature. - -Emerson, Journals, 1836.

Beauty is a primeval phenomenon, which itself never makes its appearance,but the reflection of which is visible in a thousand different utterances

of the creative mind, and is as various as nature herself. - -Goethe, quoted in Johann Peter Eckermann'sConversations with Goethe, April 18, 1827.

"For I conclude that the enemy is not lipstick, but guilt itself;that we deserve lipstick, if we want it, and free speech;

we deserve to be sexual and serious--or whatever we please;we are entitled to wear cowboy boots to our own revolution."

-Naomi Wolf, The Beauty Myth"People see you as an object, not a person,

and they project a set of expectations onto you. People who don't have it think beauty is a blessing,

but actually it sets you apart." -Candace Bergen"The Rubicans which women must cross,the sex barriers which they must breach,

are ultimately those that exist in their own minds."-Freda Adler

"Obesity in a woman violates conventional sexualitynot only through association with self-absorption

and auto-eroticism but also because largeness [is equated with]

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masculinity."-Marcia Millman, Such a Pretty Face

"Let me listen to me and not to them." -Gertrude Stein

"Its hard to fight an enemy who has outposts in your head." -Sally Kempton

" It is not easy to become beautiful. It requires hard work, patience, and attention to detail. It also takes a certain firmness of purpose. Beautyis in the eye of the beholder, and it may be necessary from time to time to

give a stupid or misinformed beholder a black eye." -Miss Piggy"Yesterday I dared to struggle. Today I dare to win." -Bernadette Devlin

To love is to suffer. To avoid suffering one must not love. But then one suffers from not loving. Therefore, to love is to suffer; not to love is to suffer; to suffer is to suffer. To be happy is to love.To be happy, then, is to suffer, but suffering makes one unhappy.

Therefore, to be happy one must love or love to suffer or suffer from too much happiness. - Woody Allen

Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator,but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh. - W. H.

AudenNothing takes the taste out of peanut butter quite like unrequited love. -

Charlie BrownYou have to walk carefully in the beginning of love;

the running across fields into your lover's arms can only come later when you're sure they won't laugh if you trip.

- Jonathan Carroll, "Outside the Dog Museum"

Absence is to love what wind is to fire; it extinguishes the small, it enkindles the great.

– Comte DeBussy-Rabutin

Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love.- Albert Einstein

No, this trick won't work...How on earth are you ever going to explain in terms of chemistryand physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love?

- Albert Einstein

There are very few people who are not ashamed of having been in lovewhen they no longer love each other.-Francois, Duc de La Rouchefoucald

Love is the only way to grasp another human being in theinnermost core of his personality - Victor Frankel

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Love is an irresistable desire to be irresistably desired. -Robert Frost

A man in love is incomplete until he is married. Then he's finished.- Zsa Zsa Gabor

Love is not blind -- it sees more, not less.But because it sees more, it is willing to see less.

- Rabbi Julins Gordon

Love is a hole in the heart. - Ben Hecht

Love is like pi -- natural, irrational, and important. - Lisa Hoffman

People think love is an emotion. Love is good sense. - Ken Kesey

Love is only the dirty trick played on us to achieve continuation of the species.

W. Somerset Maugham, "A Writer's Notebook" 1949In the arithmetic of love, one plus one equals everything,

and two minus one equals nothing. -Mignon McLaughlin

Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.- - H. L. Mencken

Love is like racing across the frozen tundra on a snowmobile which flips over,

trapping you underneath. At night, the ice-weasels come. -Nietchze

Love is but the discovery of ourselves in others, and the delight in the recognition.

- Alexander SmithLove in its essence is spiritual fire.

-SwedenborgInfatuation is when you think he's as sexy as Robert Redford, as smart as

Henry Kissinger,as noble as Ralph Nader, as funny as Woody Allen, and as athletic as Jimmy

Conners.Love is when you realize that he's as sexy as Woody Allen, as smart as

Jimmy Connors,as funny as Ralph Nader, as athletic as Henry Kissinger

and nothing like Robert Redford - but you'll take him anyway. - Judith Viorst

Love is a canvas furnished by Nature and embroidered by imagination. - Voltaire

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Men always want to be a womans first love – women like to be a mans last romance.

- Oscar WildeMany a young lady does not realize just how strong her love

for a young man is until he fails to pass the approval test with her parents.There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear.Of all forms of caution, caution in love is the most fatal.

Beauty is excrescence,superabundance, random ebulience,and sheer delightful waste to be enjoyed in its own right.

-Donald Culross Peattie, "An Almanac for Moderns"Remember that the most beautiful things in the world are the most useless; peacocks and lilies, for example.

-John Ruskin, "The Stones of Venice, I""Love sees with the heart and not the mind; therefore, winged cupid is

painted blind." --William ShakespeareIt is impossible to love and to be wise. -Francis Bacon

One hour of right-down loveIs worth an age of dully living on. --Aphra Behn

Love ceases to be a pleasure, when it ceases to be a secret. --Aphra BehnThere is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear. --The Bible

Set me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death. --The Bible

Love seeketh not Itself to please,Nor for itself hath any care,But for another gives it ease,

And builds a Heaven in Hell's despair.-William Blake

To fall in love is to create a religion that has a fallible god. --Jorge Luis

Borges

O what a heaven is love! O what a hell! --Thomas Dekker

I am two fools, I know,For loving, and for saying so

in Whining poetry.-John Donne

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All mankind love a lover. --Ralph Waldo Emerson

For you see, each day I ove you more,

Today more than yesterday and less than tomorrow.-Rosemonde Gerard

A lover without indescretion is no lover at all. -Thomas Hardy

Love and a cough cannot be hid. -George Herbert

At the beginning and at the end of love, the two lovers are embarrassed

to find themselves alone. -La Bruyere

If we judge of love by its usual effects, it resembles hatred more thanfriendship. -La Rochefoucauld

It is with true love as it is with ghosts;

everyone talks about it, but few have seen it.-La Rochefoucauld

It is love, not reason, that is stronger than death. -Thomas Mann

Who ever loved that loved not at first sight? -Christopher Marlowe>

Love is a kind of warfare. -OVID

At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet. --Plato

Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other but

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in looking outward together in the same direction. -Antoine de Saint-Exupery

There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved. -George Sand

The course of true love never did run smooth. -Shakespeare

All's fair in love and war. -Francis Edward Smedley

One word frees us of all the weight and pain in life.

That word is love. -Sophocles

Love is the child of illusion and the parent of disillusion. -Miguel de Unamuno

I recently read that love is entirely a matter of chemistry. That must

be why my wife treats me like toxic waste. - David Bissonette

I've sometimes thought of marrying, and then I've thought again. –Noel Coward, 1956

When a man steals your wife, there is no better revenge than to let him

keep her. - Sacha Guitry

Eighty percent of married men cheat in America. The rest cheat inEurope -Jackie Mason

Marriage is like a cage; one sees the birds outside desperate to get

in, and those inside desperate to get out. - Montaigne

After marriage, husband and wife become two sides of a coin; they just

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can't face each other, but still they stay together. -- Hemant Joshi

Marriage is a three ring circus: engagement ring, wedding ring, andsuffering.

Marriage is not a word; it is a sentence.

Marriage is the triumph of imagination over intelligence. Second

marriage is the triumph of hope over experience.

Marriage is when a man and woman become as one; the trouble starts when

they try to decide which one.

Before marriage, a man yearns for the woman he loves. After marriage,the 'Y' becomes silent.

If you want your spouse to listen and pay strict attention to every

word you say, talk in your sleep.

Beauty is its own excuse for being.

You are but the loveliest thing of beauty God ever has shown to me,Your voice, your hair, your eyes, the soft and gentle ways you are.

Beauty is a form of Genius--is higher indeed, than genius as it needs no explanation.

What's female beauty, but an air divine.Thro' which the mind's all gentle graces shine?

They, like the sun, irradiates all between;The body charms becausse the soul is seen.

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Beautiful in form and feature,Lovely as the day,

Can there be so fair a creature,Formed of common ways?

"I mean, I like being attractive and popular, it's, like, me okay? So if Dr.

Shar makes everybody else attractive and popular, then I'll have to be even more attractive just to keep up, and then if they, like, go back to her to catch up to me, then I'll have to go back and pretty soon it'll be, like, one of those vicious things! Where will it end, Daria? Where will it

end?" -Quinn Morgendorfer in Daria

"Character contributes to beauty...A mode of conduct, a standard of courage, discipline, fortitude and integrity can do a great deal to make a

woman beautiful."-Jacqueline Bisset

"There's a beauty on the inside of you / And it shows on the outside too."

-Michael W. Smith

"Tis beauty that doth oft make women proud; / 'Tis virtue that doth make them most admired; / 'Tis modesty, that makes them seem

divine." -Shakespeare

"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched, but must be felt with the heart." -Helen Keller

"Sometimes it seems like we're all living in some kind of prison and the crime is how much we hate ourselves....when you really look closely

people are so strange and so complicated that they're actually beautiful." -"Angela Chase" My So-Callled Life

"Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it." -Confucius

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"Love is like an hourglass, with the heart filling up as the brain empties." - Jules Renard.

"If love is the answer, could you rephrase the question?" - Lily Tomlin.

"Is sex dirty? Only when it's being done right." - Woody Allen,

Everything you Always Wanted to Know about Sex, but were Afraid to Ask, 1972.

"Continental people have sex-lives; the English have hot-water bottles."

- George Mikes, How to be an Alien, 1946.

"Sex appeal is 50 per cent what you've got, and 50 per cent what people think you've got." - Sophia Loren.

"Sex between a man and a woman can be wonderful, provided you can

get between the right man and the right woman." - Woody Allen.

"When you're away, I'm restless, lonely, Wretched, bored, dejected; only here's the rub, my darling dear, I feel the same when you're near."

- Samuel Hoffenstein.

"Bigamy is having one spouse two many. Monogamy is just the same." -Anonymous.

"When two divorced people marry, four people get into bed." - Jewish

proverb.

"Mummy, mummy, what's an orgasm? I dunno. Ask your father." -Anonymous.

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Barbara Walters: "You've been married 42 years. What makes your marriage work?" Robert Mitchum: "Lack of imagination, I suppose."

"Marriage is the alliance of two people, one of whom never remembers

birthdays and the other who never forgets." - Ogden Nash.

"Men are creatures with two legs and eight hands." - Jayne Mansfield.

"Bachelors have consciences, married men have wives." - H. L. Mencken.

"Male sexual response is far brisker and more automatic: it is triggered

easily by thing, like putting a quarter in a vending machine." - Alex Comfort.

"When a man steals your wife, there is no better revenge than to let him

keep her." – Sacha Guitry.

"Bachelors know more about women than married men do. If they didn't, they'd be married too." - H. L. Mencken.

"God made man, and then said "I can do better than that" and made

woman." – Adela Rogers St. John.

"It's the good girls who keep the diaries; the bad girls never have the time." – Tallulah Bankhead.

"When a woman behaves like a man, why can't she behave like a nice

man?" - Dame Edith Evans.

"There are a number of mechanical devices which increase sexual arousal, particularly in women. Chief among these is the Mercedes-Benz

380SL convertible." - P. J. O'Rouke.

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"If you are ever in doubt as to whether to kiss a pretty girl, always give her the benefit of the doubt." - Thomas Carlyle.

"I'll come up and make love to you at five o'clock. If I'm late, start

without me." – Tallulah Bankhead.

"I'm always looking for meaningful one-night stands." - Dudley Moore.

'Oh, love is real enough, you will find it someday, but it has one archenemy-and that is life.' ~Jean Anouilh

'Tis time this heart should be unmoved, Since others it hath ceased to move. Yet though I cannot be beloved, still let me love!' ~Lord Byron

'Within you, I lose myself; Without you, I find myself; Searching to be lost again.'

~Unknown

'And all that did attend and follow were silent with love, as you now..' ~Percy Bysshe Shelley

'So deep in luve am I: And I will luve thee still, my dear, 'till a' the seas

gang dry..' ~Robert Burns

'I arise from dreams of thee in the first sweet sleep of night, when the

winds are breathing low and the stars are shining bright..let thy love in kisses rain on my lips and eyelids pale..' ~Percy Bysshe Shelley

'And so thy thoughts, when thou art gone, love itself shall slumber on.'

~Percy Bysshe Shelley

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'She walks in beauty, like the night, of cloudless climes and starry skies; and all that's best of dark and bright meet in her aspect and her eyes..'

~Lord Byron

'Love is much like a wild rose, beautiful and calm, but willing to draw blood in its defense.' ~Mark Overby

'When the autumn wind scatters peonies, a few petals fall in pairs.'

~Buson

'Waking alone at the hour when we are trembling with tenderness, Lips that would kiss form prayers to broken stone.' ~T.S. Eliot

'There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is

love, the only survival, the only meaning.' ~Thorton Wilder

'The planet of Love is on high..' ~Alfred, Lord Tennyson

'Love remains a secret even when spoken, for only a lover truly knows he is loved.'

~Rabindranath Tagore

'For you see, each day I love you more..' ~Rosemonde Gerard

'At the touch of love, everyone becomes a poet.' ~Plato

'At last I know what love is really like.' ~Virgil

'Love is best.' ~Robert Browning

'Whoso loves, believes the impossible.' ~Elizabeth Barrett Browning

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'A kiss, when all is said, 'tis a secret told to the mouth instead of the ear.' ~Cyrano de Bergerac

' Love is as much of an object as an obsession, everybody wants it,

everybody seeks it, but few ever achieve it; those who do will cherish it, be lost in it, and among all, never..never forget it.' ~Curtis Judalet

'For 'twas not into my ear you whispered but into my heart; 'twas not

my lips you kissed but my soul..' ~Judy Garland

'It is the passion that is in a kiss that gives to it its sweetness; it is the affection in a kiss that sanctifies it.' ~Christian Nestell Bovee

'For in the end, we will conserve only what we love.' ~Baba Dioum

'The wise want love and those who love want wisdom.' ~Percy Bysshe

Shelley

'Love doesn't make the world go 'round. Love makes the ride worthwhile.'

~Franklin P. Jones

'I love you, not for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you.'

~Ray Croft

'Soul meets soul on lovers' lips..' ~Percy Bysshe Shelley

'Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind.' ~Shakespeare

'Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.' ~Emily Bronte

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'To love one who also loves you..is exceeding the limit of human joy, it is stealing fire from heaven.' ~Madame de Gerardio

'The way to love anything is to realize..it might be lost.' ~G.K.

Chesterton

'Better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all.' ~Alfred, Lord Tennyson

'But true love is a durable fire, In the mind ever burning, Never sick, never old, never dead, From itself never turning.' ~Sir Walter Raleigh

'Accept the things to which fate binds you and love the people with

whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart.' ~Marcus Aurelius

'Love is the offspring of spiritual affinity, and unless that affinity is

created in a moment, it will not be created for years or even generations.' ~Khalil Gibran

'The story of love is not important~what is important is that one is capable of love. It is perhaps the only glimpse we are permitted of

eternity.' ~Helen Hayes

'One word frees us of all the weight and pain in the world. That word is love.'

~Sophocles

'Why love if losing hurts so much?' ~C.S. Lewis

'One of the oldest human needs is having someone to wonder where you are when you don't come home at night.' ~Margaret Mead

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'You are the secret song of birds, The thing that words can never name~ The fire within the flame, the throb within the pulse~The spirit that

exults~Joy that no grief can tame..' ~Louis Untermeyer

'My only love sprung from my only hate.'

~Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet'True love doesn't hurt others..' ~Unknown

'Love demands infinitely less than friendship.' ~George Jean Nathan

'When we can't have what we love, we must love what we have.'

~Roger de Bussy-Rabutin

'Never get married in the morning, 'cause you never know who you'll meet that night.' ~Paul Hornung

'Platonic friendship: the interval between the introduction and the first

kiss.' ~Sophie Irene Loeb

'I'm a practicing heterosexual, but bisexuality immediately doubles

your chances for a date on Saturday night.' ~Woody Allen

'How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach, when feeling out of sight..'

~Elizabeth Barrett Browning

"Chastity is it's own punishment." -- A poster in Greenwich Village, psychedelic store in 1967

"Relationships are hard. It's like a full-time job, and we should treat it like one. If your boyfriend or girlfriend wants to leave you, they should give you two weeks' notice. There

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should be severance pay and before they leave you, they should have to find you a temp." Bob Ettinger

The best way to hold a man is in your arms. -Mae West"Love arrives on tiptoe but bangs the door when it leaves."

-Lembkewhen i say you sucked my brain out the english translation

is i am in love with you - Ani Difranco"You're right, disappointment doesn't kill. Rejection kills. Disappointment only maims." Abby Barnes in reference to

dating,_The Truth about Cats and Dogs"I don't handle alcohol very well. One drink and I have to go to my bed. Two drinks and I have to go to your bed." --

Singer Chrissie Hynde"People ask me, 'What's the most dangerous thing you've

ever done?' I say, 'Dating.'" --Sandra BullockTo laugh is to risk appearing the fool.o risk being called sentimental.

To reach out to another is to risk involvement.To expose feelings is to risk showing your true self.

To place your ideas and your dreams before the crowd is to risk being called naive.

To love is to risk not being loved in return.To live is to risk dying.

To hope is to risk despair, and to try is to risk failure.But risks must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk

nothing. The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, and becomes nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply

cannot learn and feel and change and grow and love and live.Chained only by his certitudes, he is a slave, he's forfeited his freedom.

Only the person who risks is truly free.-- Leo Buscaglia

> " Love is as much of an object as an obsession, everybody wants it, everybody seeks it, but few ever achieve it, those

who do will cherish it, be lost in it, and amoung all, never...never forget it. " -- Curtis Judalet

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Marriage is a permanent contract based upon temporary feelings, Casual sex is a temporary contract based upon

permanent feelings. -UnknownThe magic of first love is our ignorance that it can ever

end.-- Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) English prime minister

First love is only a little foolishness and a lot of curiosity. --George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Anglo-Irish playwright,

critic Broadbent, John Bull's Other IslandYou say to me-wards your affection's strong; Pray love me

little, so you love me long. --Robert Herrick 1591-1674 Hesperides [1648].

Love Me Little, Love Me LongIt is best to love wisely, no doubt; but to love foolishly is

better than not to be able to love at all. --William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863) English author

That's the nature of women not to love when we love them, and to love when we love them not. --Don Quixote de la

" Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence. " -- H.L. Mencken

" A romance novel is where you have the best sex of your life and live happily ever after. " -- John Short

Dancing: The vertical expression of a horizontal

desire legalized by music

" Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you

must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all

entanglements. Lock it up save in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket--safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be

vulnerable. " --C. S. Lewis.

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" Sex without love is a empty and meaningless experience, but as empty experiences go, it's one of the best. " - Woody

Allen" When it comes to sex I plead insanity, I'm just crazy about

it! " . . . AnonymousLOVE: That blissful intermission between meeting someone

and realizing how much you hate them. -Unknown" From now on I'm going to wear all of the colors of the

rainbow, and fall in love with someone who fancies me for a change. " - Fiona, _Four Weddings and a Funeral_

" Tis better to have loved and lost a short person than never to have loved a tall. " --Mary

" The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of. " - Pascal

" Love is a perky elf dancing a merry little jig and then suddenly he turns on you with a minature machine gun. " -

from a cartoon by Matt Groening" Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then

suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come. " - Matt Groening

" Love just makes you so damn optimistic. " - soap opera plot summary

" It's a special feeling I get when a friend falls in love.. I feel so.. so.. " " Bitter. " " That's it exactly. " - Doctor, Doctor

" Never judge someone by who he's in love with; judge him by his friends. People fall in love with the most appalling

people. Take a cool, appraising glance at his pals. " -- Cynthia Heimel

This will be no help at all, but I was immediately reminded of a country western song title-- Now That You're Gone, I Miss You Almost As Much

As If You Were Still Here, which was rapidly followed by How Can I Miss You If You Won't Go Away?

" The heart is the most resilient muscle. It is also the stupidest." Nike's "Six Acts of Love: A Passion Play"

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"For twas not into my ear you whispered but into my heart. Twas not my lips you kissed, but my soul." Judy Garland

"It is the passion that is in a kiss that gives to it its sweetness; it is the affection in a kiss that sanctifies it." --

Christian Nestell Bovee"A man snatches the first kiss, pleads for the second,

demands the third, takes the fourth, accepts the fifth--and endures all the rest." -- Helen Rowland

" Soul meets soul on lovers' lips. " Shelley (Prometheus Bound)

" Absence diminishes little passions and increases great ones, as wind extinguishes candles and fans a fire. " -

Francois de La Rochefoucauld" Absence is to love what wind is to fire; it extinguishes the

small, it enkindles the great. " -Comte DeBussy Rabutin" Making love with a woman and sleeping with a woman

are two seperate passions, not merely different but opposite. Love does not make itself felt in the desire for copulation (a desire that extends to an infinite number of women) but in the desire for shared sleep (a desire limited to one woman). " --Milan Kundera in The Unbearable Lightness of Being

" All love that has not friendship for its base, Is like a mansion built upon the sand. " --Ella Wheeler Wilcox

" Love is not just looking at each other, it's looking in the same direction. " -- Antoine de Saint-Exupery, 'Wind, SAnd

and Stars',

Daisaku IkedaWith love and patience, nothing is impossible.

Alexander SmithLove is but the discovery of ourselves in others, and the delight in the

recognition.

Henry Wadsworth LongfellowTalk not of wasted affection; affection never was wasted.

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Unknown What most people need to learn in life is how to love people and use things instead of using people and loving things.

UnknownInformation is not knowledge, knowledge is not wisdom, wisdom is not

truth, truth is not beauty, beauty is not love.

UnknownLove has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get, it's what you

are expected to give -- which is everything

Rainer Maria RilkeFor one human being to love another: that is perhaps the most difficult of our tasks; the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all

other work is but preparation.

M. Scott Peck, M.DNirvana or lasting enlightenment or true spiritual growth can be

achieved only through persistent exercise of real love..

W. H. AudenAmong those whom I like or admire, I can find no common

denominator, but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh.

Confucius Can there be a love which does not make demands on its object?

Albert EinsteinGravitation is not responsible for people falling in love.

Douglas YatesPeople who are sensible about love are incapable of it.

Mother TeresaWe can do no great things; only small things with great love.

P. L. BergerIn science as in love, too much concentration on technique can often

lead to impotence.

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No matter what, no matter where, it's always home, if love is there.

UnknownIf we deny love that is given to us, if we refuse to give love because we

fear pain or loss, then our lives will be empty, our loss greater.

Bessie StanleyHe has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often, and loved

much.

Unknown Love is not blind, it sees more not less;

But because it sees more it chooses to see less.

He who is not impatient is not in love. – Pietro Aretino, "La Talanta" (1492-1556)

And if we wish to know the order of all the passions in the way of

generation, love and hatred are first; desire and aversion; hope and despair third; fear and daring fourth; anger, fifth; sixth and last, joy and sadness, which follow from all the passions . . . yet so that love

precedes hatred, desire precedes aversion, hope precedes despair, fear precedes daring, and joy precedes sadness. – Thomas Aquinas, "Summa

Theologica" (1225-1274)

For a crowd is not company; and faces are but a gallery of pictures; and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love. - - Francis Bacon, "Of

Friendship" (1561-1626)

Nuptial love maketh mankind; friendly love perfecteth it; but wanton love corrupteth and embaseth it. - - Francis Bacon, "Of

Judicature" (1561-1626)

Love has been assigned to woman as her supreme vocation, and when she directs it toward a man, she is seeking God in him; but if human

love is denied her by circumstance, if she is disappointed or

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overparticular she may choose to adore divinity in the person of God Himself. - - Simon De Beauvoir, "The Second Sex" (1949)

Love seeketh not Itself to please,

Nor for itself hath any care,But for another gives its ease,

And builds a Heaven in Hell’s despair. - - -William Blake, Songs of Experience, "The Clod & the Pebble" (1794)

When the coin is tossed either Love or Lust will fall uppermost. But if

the metal is right, under the one will always be the other. –Gerald Brenan, "Thoughts in a Dry Season" (1899)

Lover indeed (I may not deny) first united provinces, built cities, and by

a perpetual generation makes and preserves mankind; but if it rage it has no more love, but burning lust, a disease, frenzy, madness, hell . . .

It subverts kingdoms, overthrows cities, towns, families; mars, corrupts and makes a massacre of men; thunder and lightning, wars, fires,

plagues, have not done the mischief as this burning lust, this brutish passion. –Robert Burton, "The Anatomy of Melancholy" (1621)

In her first passion woman loves her lover,

In all the others all she loves is love. ---Lord Byron, "Don Juan" (1821)

Love is ever the beginning of Knowledge as fire is of light. – Thomas Carlyle, "Goethe" (1828)

I hate and love. You may ask why I do so. I do not know, but I feel it and

am in torment. – Cais Valerius Catullus, "Carmina" (87-54 B.C.)

Love in young men: for the most part is not love but sexual desire, and it accomplishment is the end. - - Miguel De Cervantes Saavedra,

attributed (1547-1615)

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"Do not forget, Sancho," replied Don Quixote, "that there are two kinds of beauty, one being of the soul and the other of the body. That of the

soul is revealed through intelligence, modesty, right conduct, generosity, and good breeding, all of which qualities may exist in an ugly man; and when one’s gaze is fixed upon beauty of this sort and not upon that of the body, love is usually born suddenly and violently." - - - Miguel De

Cervantes Saavedra, "Don Quixote" (1605-1615)

If we do not know what port we’re steering for, no wind is favorable. . – Seneca

Around the corner there may wait a new road or a secret gate. – J.R.R.

Tolkien

We meet ourselves time and again in a thousand disguises on the paths of life. – Carl Jung

Each of us is meant to have a character all our own, to be what no other

can exactly be, and do what no other can exactly do. -–William Ellery Channing

What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality. – Otto Rank

Talents are common; everyone has them. But rare is the courage to

follow our talents where they lead. – Anonymous

That which we do not confront in ourselves we will meet as fate. – Carl Jung

If I were to begin life again, I should want it just as it was; only I would

open my eyes a little more. – Jules Renard

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Before we can forgive one another, we have to understand one another. – Emma Goldman

Creative energy, flowing in waves-

The nourishing sun, the flash of lighting.Breathe it in; feel its force.

It can create, nourish, or destroy.How do you channel creative energy in your life?

Is it blocked or flowing?How does it manifest in positive ways?How does it manifest in negative ways?

What would life be like if you confidentlyUnleashed the creativity within you? – Dan Millman

Some people say they haven’t yet found themselves. But the self is not

something one finds; it is something one creates. – Thomas Szasz

The task we must set for ourselves is not to feel secure, but to be able to tolerate insecurity. – Erich Fromm

Before we can make friends with anyone else, we must first make

friends with ourselves. – Eleanor Roosevelt

Imagine two hands, one open and offering, the other clenched in a fist of resistance. Which hand do you put forward most?

Do you hold out both hands in equal measure?Do you allow yourself to receive as much as you give?

Do you overhelp, then resent it?Where does your responsibility end and that of others begin?

Have you found a balance in your life? – Dan Millman

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All great discoveries are made by those whose feelings run ahead of their thinking.

– C. H. Parkhurst

Imagine a rosebud with its petals closed over a glowing heart, filled with passionate feelings, but not showing itself in its full beauty, not until the blossom opens. It remains closed by doubt. How does self-doubt affect your life? Do you express your feelings openly, or do you hide, like the

heart in the rosebud? – Dan Millman

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost. Now put foundations under them. – Osa Johnson

Imagine a house under construction, the foundation poured and set, the

structure and framework rising, one step at a time. How is this house like your life? What does it reveal to you about reaching your goal?

Have you strengthened your foundation? Do you build your life step-by-step? – Dan Millman

Adventure is not outside; it is within. – David Grayson

The time has come for us to stop tuning separate instruments and,

together, to create a symphony. – Anonymous

What we can’t express runs our life. – Anonymous

Life is a dance if you take the steps: one step, then another. – Anonymous

As far as your self-control goes, as far goes your freedom. – Maria

Ebner Von Eschenbach

It doesn’t matter what we do until we accept ourselves. Once we accept ourselves, it doesn’t matter what we do. – Charly Heavenrich

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As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live. – Goethe

To do more for the world than the world does for you – that is success. –

Henry Ford

Eventually, everyone sits down to a banquet of consequences. – Robert Louis Stevenson

The world is not to be put in order; the world is order, incarnate. It is

for us to harmonize with this order. – Henry Miller

You must give folks a key and they can open their own locks. – Robert R. McCammon

Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow. Don't walk behind me, I

may not lead. Walk beside me and be my friend. - Albert Camus.

NAMASTE’

Francis Quarles (1592-1644) English Poet

The breath of divine knowledge is the bellows

of divine love, and the flame of divine love is the

perfection of divine knowledge.Sir Walter Walter Raleigh

(1552-1618) English Statesman and Man of

Letters

Divine is love, and scorneth worldly pelf, And can be bought with nothing but with

self.

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Sri Ramakrishna (1836-1886) Hindu Mystic

There are three kinds of love, - unselfish, mutual, and selfish. The unselfish love is of the highest kind. The lover only minds the welfare of the beloved and does not

care for his own sufferings. In mutual love the lover not only wants the happiness of

his beloved but has an eye towards his own happiness also. It is middling. The selfish love is the lowest. It only looks towards its own happiness, no matter

whether the beloved suffers weal or woe.Jean Paul F. Richter (1763-1825) German

Novelist

Paradise is always where love dwells.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900-1945)French Author

Love does not consist in gazing at each other

but in looking together in the same direction.

Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) English Novelist and Poet

Love rules the court, the camp, the grove, And men below, and saints above:

For love is heaven, and heaven is love.Lucius Annaeus Seneca (B.C. 3-65 A.D.) Roman

Philosopher, Dramatist, and Statesman

True love hates and will not bear delay.

If you wished to be loved, love.

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William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English Dramatist and Poet

Were beauty under twenty locks kept fast, Yet love breaks through and picks them all

at last.

Doubt thou the stars are fire! Doubt that the sun doth move;

Doubt truth to be a liar; But never doubt I love.

They are but beggars that can count their worth,

But my true love is grown to such excess, I cannot sum up half my sum of wealth.

Where love is great, the littlest doubts are fear;

When little fears grow great, great love grows there.

My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as deep; the more I give to thee

The more I have, for both are infinite.

For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings

That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

William Simms (1806-1870) American Author

Love is but another name for that inscrutable presence by which the soul is

connected with humanity.Sri Swami Sivananda (born 1887) Indian Physician and

Sage

Love expects no reward. Love knows no fear.

Love Divine gives - does not demand. Love thinks no evil; imputes no motive.

To Love is to share and serve.

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Germaine De Stael (1766-1817) French-Swiss

Novelist

Love is the emblem of eternity: it confounds all notion of time: effaces all

memory of a beginning, all fear of an end.

Love is the history of a woman's life; it is an episode in man's.

Henri B. Stendhal (1783-1842) French Writer

Love is like what is called the Milky Way in heaven, a brilliant mass formed by

thousands of little stars, of which each perhaps is nebulous.

Laurence Sterne (1713-1768) English Author

Courtship consists in a number of quiet attentions, not so pointed as to alarm, nor

so vague as not to be understood.Robert Louis Stevenson

(1850-1895) Scottish Essayist, Poet, and Novelist

And my heart springs up anew, Bright and confident and true,

And the old loves comes to meet me in the dawning and the dew.

Emanuel Swedenborg(1688-1772)

Swedish Scientist, Religious Teacher and Mystic

Love in its essence is spiritual fire.

Anne Swetchine (1782-1857) Russian Author

To love deeply in one direction makes us more loving in all others.

Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) English Author

So weak thou art that fools thy power despise;

And yet so strong, thou triumph'st o'er the wise.

Algernon Swinburne (1837-1909) English Poet

Laurel is green for a season, and love is sweet for a day;

But love grows bitter with treason, and laurel outlives not May.

Bayard Taylor (1825-1878) American Journalist, Traveler, and Author

I love thee, I love but thee, With a love that shall not die

Till the sun grows cold, And the stars are old.

And the leaves of the Judgement Book unfold!

William Temple (1628-1699) English Statesman and

Author

The greatest pleasure of life is love.

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Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892) English Poet

Who are wise in love, love most, say least.

'Tis better to have loved and lost than never

to have loved at all.

And on her lover's arm she leant, And round her waist she felt it fold, And far across the hills they went

In that new world which is the old.Terence (B.C. 185-159)

Roman Writer of ComediesLovers' quarrels are the renewal of love.

William M. Thackeray (1811-1863) English

Novelist

It is best to love wisely, no doubt; but to love foolishly is better than not to be able

to love at all.Albius Tibullus (B.C. 49-19)

Roman Elegiac PoetFear not to swear; the winds carry the

perjuries of lovers without effect over land and sea, thanks to Jupiter. The father of the

gods himself has denied effect to what foolish lovers in their eagerness have

sworn.Upanishads (c. B.C. 800)

Hindu Poetic Dialogues on Metaphysics

The little space within the heart is as great as this vast universe. The heavens and the earth are there,and the sun, and the moon, and the stars; fire and lightning and winds are there; and all that now is and all that is not: for the whole universe is in Him and

He dwells within our heart.Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) Dutch

Postimpressionist Painter

Love is eternal - the aspect may change, but not the essence. There is the same

difference in a person before and after he is in love as there is in an unlighted lamp

and one that is burning. The lamp was there and was a good lamp, but now it is

shedding light too, and that is its real function. And love makes one calmer

about many things, and that way, one is more fit for one's work.

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George Villiers (1628-1687) English Wit, Poet, and

Statesman

For all true love is grounded on esteem.

Voltaire (1694-1778) French Historian and Writer

Love is a canvas furnished by Nature and embroidered by imagination.

Oscar Wilde (1856-1900) British Author and Wit

Men always want to be a woman's first love -

Women like to be a man's last romance.

When a man has once loved a woman he will do

anything for her except continue to love her.

When one is in love one begins by deceiving oneself,

one ends by deceiving others. That is what the world

calls romance.

Yet each man kills the thing he loves, By each let this be heard,

Some do it with a bitter look, Some with a flattering word.

The coward does it with a kiss, The brave man with a sword!

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) Irish Poet and

Playwright

Wine come in at the mouth And love comes in at the eye;

That's all we shall know for truth Before we grow old and die.

Jesus(B.C. 6?-30? A.D.) Founder of Christianity

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Ben Jonson (1572-1637) English Poet and

Dramatist

Follow a shadow, it still flies you,Seem to fly, it will pursue:

So court a mistress, she denies you: Let her alone, she will court you. Say are not women truly, then,

Styled but the shadows of men?

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Jean Baptiste Alphonse Karr (1808-1890)

French Author

Life is the flower of which love is the honey.

Abu Ali Katib (fl. c. 940) Iraqi Sufi Leader

Pleasant fragrances of the breezes of love blow from the lovers even thought they might conceal it. The effects of these breezes bear witness to them even if they disguise it and

are apparent even if they hide it.Charles Kingsley

(1819-1875) English Author and Clergyman

As the rays come from the sun, and yet are not the sun, even so our love and pity, though they

are not God, but merely a poor, weak image and reflection of him, yet from him alone they

come.Rudyard Kipling

(1865-1936) English Author of Prose and

Verse

The heart of a man to the heart of a maid - Light of my tents, be fleet -

Morning awaits at the end of the world,And the world is all at our feet.

Sing, for faith and hope are high- None so true as you and I- Sing the Lover's Litany:

"Love like ours can never die!"Jean de La Bruyere (1645-1696) French

Classical Writer

Love begins with love.

Jean de La Fontaine (1621-1695) French Poet

O tyrant love, when held by you, We may to prudence bid adieu.

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Francois de La Rochefoucauld

(1613-1680) French Classical Writer

It is with true love as it is with ghosts; everyone talks of it, but few have seen it.

As love increases, prudence diminishes.

The more we love the nearer we are to hate.

When the heart is still agitated by the remains of a passion, we are more ready to receive a new one than when we are entirely cured.

The pleasure of love is in loving.

We are happier in the passion we feel than in that which we excite.

The reason why lovers are never weary of one another is this - they are always talking of

themselves.

If we judge of love by most of its results, it resembles hatred more than friendship.

Letitia E. Landon (1802-1838) English

Poet and Novelist

Love is a pearl of purest hue, But stormy waves are round it; And dearly may a woman rue,

The hour that she found it.Lao-Tzu (fl. B.C. 600) Chinese Philosopher -

Founder of Taoism

If one has love in battle one is victorious. If one has it in defense one is invincible.

Whom Heaven wants to save him he protects through love.

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Henry W. Longfellow (1819-1892) American

Poet

Ah, how skillful grows the hand That obeyeth Love's command! It is the heart and not the brain That to the highest doth attain,

And he who followeth Love's behest Far excelleth all the rest.

There is nothing in this world so sweet as love,

and next to love, the sweetest thing is hate.

It is difficult to know at what moment love begins;

it is less difficult to know that it has begun.Samuel Lover

(1797-1868) Irish Novelist and Song Writer

Come live in my heart, and pay no rent.

Sir John Lubbock (1834-1913) English

Statesman, Banker, and Naturalist

Do not be afraid of showing your affection. Be warm and tender, thoughtful and

affectionate. Men are more helped by sympathy, than by service; love is more than

money, and a kind word will give more pleasure than a present.

Martin Luther (1483-1546) German

Leader of the Protestant Reformation

Love is an image of God, and not a lifeless image, but the living essence of the divine nature which beams full of all goodness.

John Lyly (1554-1606) English Dramatist and

Prose Writer

A heat full of coldness, a sweet full of bitterness, a pain full of pleasantness, which maketh thoughts have eyes, and hearts, and

ears; bred by desire, nursed by delight, weaned by jealousy, killed by dissembling,

buried by ingratitude; and this is love.Margaret of Valois

(1553-1615) French Author - Wife of Henry

IV

In love, as in war, a fortress that parleys is half taken.

Wm. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) English

Novelist and Playwright

The great tragedy of life is not that men perish,

but that they cease to love.

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Edna Millay (1892-1950) American

Poet

And if I loved you Wednesday, Well, what is that to you?

I do not love you Thursday - So much is true.

Henry Miller (1891-1980) American

Author

The one thing we can never get enough of is love.

And the one thing we never give enough is love.

Richard Milnes (1809-1885) English Politician, Poet, and

Writer

He who for love hath undergone. The worst that can befall,

Is happier thousandfold than one Who never loved at all.

John Milton (1608-1674) English Poet

Mutual love, the crown of all our bliss. So dear I love him, that with him all deaths I

could endure, that without him live no life

Thomas Moore (1779-1852) Irish Poet

There is nothing half so sweet in life as love's young dreams.

Yes, loving is a painful thrill And not to love more painful still;

But oh, it is the worst of pain, To love and not be lov'd again.

Alfred de Musset (1810-1857) French Poet, Dramatist, and

Fiction Writer

Life is a sleep, love is a dream; and you have lived if you have loved.

Napoleon (1769-1821) French Emperor

Love is the idler's occupation, the warrior's relaxation,

and the sovereign's ruination.Ovid (B.C. 43-18 A.D.)

Latin PoetLove is a thing full of anxious fears.

Love and dignity cannot share the same abode.

If thou wishest to put an end to love, attend to business

(love yields to employment); then thou wilt be safe.

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Blaise Pascal (1623-62)French Philosopher

The heart has reasons which reason knows nothing of.

Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374) Italian Poet

and Humanist

Love is the crowning grace of humanity, the holiest right of the soul, the golden link which

binds us to duty and truth, the redeeming principle that chiefly reconciles the heart to

life, and is prophetic of eternal good.Plato (B.C. 427?-347?)

Greek PhilosopherHe whom love touches not walks in darkness.

Love will make men dare to die for their beloved - love alone; and women as well as

men.Plautus (B.C. 254-184)

Roman Comic PoetHe who falls in love meets a worse fate than

he who leaps from a rock.Alexander Pope

(1688-1744) English Poet, Critic, and

Translator

Love, free as air, at sight of human ties, Spreads his light wings, and in a moment

flies.

Sextus Propertius (B.C. 50-16) Roman Elegiac

Poet

Everybody in love is blind.

Marcel Proust (1871-1922) French

Novelist

Love is space and time measured by the heart.

Joseph Addison

(1672-1719) English Essayist, Poet, and

Statesman

Mysterious love, uncertain treasure, Hast thou more of pain or pleasure!Endless torments dwell about thee:

Yet who would live, and live without thee!

Mysterious love, uncertain treasure, Hast thou more of pain or pleasure!Endless torments dwell about thee:

Yet who would live, and live without thee!Akhenaton? (c. B.C. 1375)

Egyptian King and Monotheist

In the spring of thy youth, in the morning of thy days, when the eyes of man gaze on thee with delight, and nature whispereth in thine

ear the meaning of their looks; Ah! hear with caution their seducing words, guard well thy

heart, nor listen to their soft persuasions.

In the spring of thy youth, in the morning of thy days, when the eyes of man gaze on thee with delight, and nature whispereth in thine

ear the meaning of their looks; Ah! hear with caution their seducing words, guard well thy

heart, nor listen to their soft persuasions.Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

English Philosopher, Essayist, and Statesman

Nuptial love maketh mankind; friendly love perfecteth it; but

wanton love corrupteth and embaseth it.

Nuptial love maketh mankind; friendly love perfecteth it; but

wanton love corrupteth and embaseth it.

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Philip James Bailey (1816-1902)English Poet

I cannot love as I have loved, And yet I know not why;

It is the one great woe of life To feel all feeling die.

The sweetest joy, the wildest woe is love.

I cannot love as I have loved, And yet I know not why;

It is the one great woe of life To feel all feeling die.

The sweetest joy, the wildest woe is love.Honore de Balzac

(1799-1850)French Novelist

There are no little events with the heart. It magnifies everything; it places in the same scales

the fall of an empire of fourteen years and the dropping of a

woman's glove, and almost always the glove weighs more

than the empire.

The motto of chivalry is also the motto of wisdom;

to serve all, but love only one.

True love is eternal, infinite, and always like itself. It is equal and pure, without violent

demonstrations: it is seen with white hairs and is always young in the heart.

There are no little events with the heart. It magnifies everything; it places in the same scales

the fall of an empire of fourteen years and the dropping of a

woman's glove, and almost always the glove weighs more

than the empire.

The motto of chivalry is also the motto of wisdom;

to serve all, but love only one.

True love is eternal, infinite, and always like itself. It is equal and pure, without violent

demonstrations: it is seen with white hairs and is always young in the heart.

Francis W. Bourdillon (1852-1921) English Poet

The night has a thousand eyes, And the day but one;

Yet the light of the bright world dies, With the dying sun.

The mind has a thousand eyes, And the heart but one;

Yet the light of a whole life dies, When love is done.

The night has a thousand eyes, And the day but one;

Yet the light of the bright world dies, With the dying sun.

The mind has a thousand eyes, And the heart but one;

Yet the light of a whole life dies, When love is done.

Christian N. Bovee (1820-1904) American

Author and Editor

It is ever the invisible that is the object of our profoundest worship. With the lover it is not the

seen but the unseen that he muses upon.

It is ever the invisible that is the object of our profoundest worship. With the lover it is not the

seen but the unseen that he muses upon.

Antoine Bret (1717-1792) French Writer and Poet

The first sigh of love is the last of wisdom.The first sigh of love is the last of wisdom.

Robert Browning (1812-1889) English Poet

Love is energy of life.Love is energy of life.

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Robert Burns (1759-1796) Scottish Poet

What is life, when wanting love?Night without a morning;

Love's the cloudless summer sun,Nature gay adorning.

What is life, when wanting love?Night without a morning;

Love's the cloudless summer sun,Nature gay adorning.

George Gordon N Byron (1788-1824)English Poet

In her first passion woman loves her lover; In all others, all she loves is love.

Yes, Love indeed is light from heaven; A spark of that immortal fire

With angels shared, by Allah givenTo lift from earth our low desire.

Let none think to fly the dangerFor soon or late love is his own avenger.

Do proper homage to thine idol's eyes;But not too humbly, or she will despise

Thee and thy suit, though told in moving tropes;Disguise even tenderness, if thou art wise.

In her first passion woman loves her lover; In all others, all she loves is love.

Yes, Love indeed is light from heaven; A spark of that immortal fire

With angels shared, by Allah givenTo lift from earth our low desire.

Let none think to fly the dangerFor soon or late love is his own avenger.

Do proper homage to thine idol's eyes;But not too humbly, or she will despise

Thee and thy suit, though told in moving tropes;Disguise even tenderness, if thou art wise.

Pedro Calderon (1600-1681)

Spanish Dramatist

Love that is not madness is not love.Love that is not madness is not love.

Thomas Carew (1595?-1639)English Poet

A smooth and steadfast mind, Gentle thoughts and calm desires, Hearts with equal love combined,

Kindle never-dying fires.

A smooth and steadfast mind, Gentle thoughts and calm desires, Hearts with equal love combined,

Kindle never-dying fires.Thomas Carlyle

(1795-1881)Scottish Author and

Philosopher

Love is not altogether a delirium, yet it has many points in common therewith. I call it rather a

discerning of the infinite in the finite-of the ideal made real.

Love is not altogether a delirium, yet it has many points in common therewith. I call it rather a

discerning of the infinite in the finite-of the ideal made real.

Samuel Coleridge (1772-1834)

English Poet, Critic, and Philosopher

All thoughts, all passions, all delights,Whatever stirs this mortal frame,

All are but ministers of Love, And feed his sacred flame.

All thoughts, all passions, all delights,Whatever stirs this mortal frame,

All are but ministers of Love, And feed his sacred flame.

William Congreve (1670-1729)

English Dramatist

Courtship is to marriage, as a very witty prologue to a very dull play.

Courtship is to marriage, as a very witty prologue to a very dull play.

Thomas Dekker (1577-1632)

English Dramatist

O what a heaven is love! O what a hell!O what a heaven is love! O what a hell!

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Thomas Dewar (1864-1930)

British Distiller, Writer, and Wit

Love is an ocean of emotions, entirely surrounded by expenses.

Love is an ocean of emotions, entirely surrounded by expenses.

Charles Dickens (1812-1870)

English Novelist

A loving heart is the truest wisdom.A loving heart is the truest wisdom.

John Dryden (1631-1700)English Poet, Dramatist,

and Critic

Pains of love be sweeter far Than all other pleasures are.

Love is a passion Which kindles honor into noble acts.

Love reckons hours for months,and days for years;

and every little absence is an age.

Pains of love be sweeter far Than all other pleasures are.

Love is a passion Which kindles honor into noble acts.

Love reckons hours for months,and days for years;

and every little absence is an age.Alexandre Dumas

(1802-1870)French Novelist and

Dramatist

Pure love and suspicion cannot dwell together:at the door where the latter enters,

the former makes its exit.

Pure love and suspicion cannot dwell together:at the door where the latter enters,

the former makes its exit.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

American Poet and Essayist

The reason why all men honor love is because it looks up, and not down;

aspires and not despairs.

Love is like a hunter, who cares not for the game when once caught, which he may have pursued with the most intense and breathless eagerness.

Love is strongest in pursuit; friendship in possession.

Never self-possessed, or prudent, love is all abandonment.

A ruddy drop of manly blood The surging sea outweighs;

The world uncertain comes and goes, The lover rooted stays.

Love is the essence of God.

The reason why all men honor love is because it looks up, and not down;

aspires and not despairs.

Love is like a hunter, who cares not for the game when once caught, which he may have pursued with the most intense and breathless eagerness.

Love is strongest in pursuit; friendship in possession.

Never self-possessed, or prudent, love is all abandonment.

A ruddy drop of manly blood The surging sea outweighs;

The world uncertain comes and goes, The lover rooted stays.

Love is the essence of God.

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Euripides(B.C. 480-406) Greek Tragic Poet

He is not a lover who does not love forever.He is not a lover who does not love forever.

John Ford (1586-1640) English Dramatist

Love is the tyrant of the heart; it darkens Reason, confounds discretion; deaf to CounselIt runs a headlong course to desperate madness.

Love is the tyrant of the heart; it darkens Reason, confounds discretion; deaf to CounselIt runs a headlong course to desperate madness.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American

Statesman, Printer, Scientist, and Writer

If you would be loved, love and be lovable.If you would be loved, love and be lovable.

Erich Fromm (1900-1980) German Born American

Psychoanalyst

In love the paradox occurs that two things become one

and yet remain two.

In love the paradox occurs that two things become one

and yet remain two.John Gay (1688-1732) English Playwright and

Poet

Love, then, hath every bliss in store; 'Tis friendship, and 'tis something more.

Each other every wish they give;Not to know love is not to live.

Love, then, hath every bliss in store; 'Tis friendship, and 'tis something more.

Each other every wish they give;Not to know love is not to live.

Johann W. von Goethe (1749-1832) German Poet,

Dramatist, Novelist, and scientist

Love and desire are the spirit's wings to great deeds.

Love has power to give in a moment what toil can

scarcely reach in an age.

He who cannot love must learn to flatter.

Love and desire are the spirit's wings to great deeds.

Love has power to give in a moment what toil can

scarcely reach in an age.

He who cannot love must learn to flatter.Remy de Gourmont

(1858-1915) French Critic and Novelist

Man begins by loving love and ends by loving a woman.

Woman begins by loving a man and ends by loving love.

Man begins by loving love and ends by loving a woman.

Woman begins by loving a man and ends by loving love.

Manly P. Hall (born 1901) American - Founder

Philosophical Research Society

The way of heaven can be known and experienced through the heart.

The way of heaven can be known and experienced through the heart.

Heinrich Heine (1797-1856) German Poet

It is an ancient story Yet is it ever new.It is an ancient story Yet is it ever new.

Arthur Helps (1813-1875) English Historian and

Author

No man, or woman, was ever cured of love by discovering the falseness of his or her lover. The living together for three long, rainy days in the

country has done more to dispel love than all the perfidies in love that have ever been committed.

No man, or woman, was ever cured of love by discovering the falseness of his or her lover. The living together for three long, rainy days in the

country has done more to dispel love than all the perfidies in love that have ever been committed.

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John Heywood (1497?-1580?) English Dramatist and Proverb

Collector

They do not love that do not show their love.They do not love that do not show their love.

Josiah Holland (1819-1881) American

Author

The heart is wiser than the intellect.The heart is wiser than the intellect.

SEIZING THE MAGIC IN YOUR LIFE

(Thanks to Wayne Dyer - Read his books. They are spiritually "powerful.")

Edited by Ted DeCorte

Back to The Seasons of Life

"What if you slept? And what if in your sleep you dreamed. And what if, in your dream, you went to heaven and plucked a strange and beautiful flower? And what if, when you awoke, you had the flower in your hand." Samuel Taylor Coleridge

SEIZING THE MAGIC IN YOUR LIFE

(Thanks to Wayne Dyer - Read his books. They are spiritually "powerful.")

Edited by Ted DeCorte

Back to The Seasons of Life

"What if you slept? And what if in your sleep you dreamed. And what if, in your dream, you went to heaven and plucked a strange and beautiful flower? And what if, when you awoke, you had the flower in your hand." Samuel Taylor Coleridge

THREE PATHS TO ENLIGHTMENT

#1: Enlightenment through Suffering

#2: Enlightenment through Outcome

#3: Enlightenment through Purpose

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Most people spend their entire life on the first two paths, never discovering their true calling or purpose. Getting to our purpose in life dramatically alters one’s view of the world and of our relationships. Purpose is about loving unconditionally and serving, and making contact with the "what" of who we are always. Finding purpose eliminates the need for judgment, for anger, for bitterness, for hostility, for remorse. Enlightenment through Purpose promotes within us a quiet acceptance of what "Is" and a willingness to go with "It" rather than to fight It.

"The great and glorious masterpiece of man is how to live with purpose." Michel de Montaigne

When the student is ready, a teacher will come. When you are ready and open, a "teacher" will appear.

TAPPING THE SOURCE: The Real Magic

There is an invisible but knowable life force with and within us.

Our thoughts are something that we control and they originate with and within us. Every action is an ancestor of a thought.

There are no limits.

Our lives have a Purpose.

We overcome weakness by leaving them behind.

When we examine what we believe to be impossible, we can change our beliefs.

We can go beyond logic.

"We are born into the world of nature; our second birth is into the world of spirit." Bhagavad Gita

"God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him" Christianity

"He that loveth not, knoweth not God. For God is love." Buddhism

"Love is the beginning and end of the Torah." Judiasm

"Love belongs to the high nobility of Heaven, and is the quiet home where man should dwell." Confucianism

"Sane and insane, all are searching lovelorn for Him, in mosque, temple, church alike. For only God is the One God of

Love, and Love calls from all these, each one His home." Sufism

I cannot be restricted nor bound, for I am Free Spirit, and the Power of my Life is from High. There is no bondage nor limitation. God's Law is complete freedom to me, and to all for whom it shall be spoken. I speak the Word of freedom to all, and all shall receive it. I am now completely free.

"What I Believe" - Excerpts from Ernest Holmes

I believe in God, the Living Spirit Almighty; One, Indestructible, Absolute, and Self-Existent Cause. This One manifests itself in and through all creation. The manifest universe is the body of God; it is the logical and necessary outcome of the infinite self-knowingness of God. I believe in the incarnation of the Spirit in everyone and that all people are incarnations of the One Spirit. I believe in the eternality, the immortality, and the continuity of the individual soul, forever expanding. I believe that we are surrounded by a Creative Mind which receives the direct impress of our thought and acts upon it. I believe in the Eternal Goodness, the Eternal Loving-Kindness, and the Eternal Givingness of Life to all; for I understand that the life of all is God.

It is not that I think or believe in spirtuality, but that I know. - - - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

It's the most unhappy people who most fear change. --- Mignon McLaughlin

Treat the other man's faith gently; it is all he has to believe with. --- Henry Hoskins

You cannot build a reputation on things you are going to do. ---Mabel Newcomer

One person with belief is equal to a force of ninety-nine who have only interest. --- John Stuart Mills

Too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity; they seem more afraid of life than death.---James

Byrnes

Success is a journey, not a destination. We work to become, not acquire.

Great works are performed, not by strength, but perseverance.

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The Qualities of LeadershipFederal Express uses these criteria to identify potential leaders: According to Federal Express, its best leaders share nine personal attributes - which the company defines with remarkable specificity. FedEx also has a system for rating aspiring leaders on whether they possess these attributes. How do you rate? Judge yourself against these edited descriptions of the nine faces of leadership at Federal Express. CHARISMA Instills faith, respect, and trust. Has a special gift of seeing what others need to consider. Conveys a strong sense of mission. INDIVIDUAL CONSIDERATION Coaches, advises, and teaches people who need it. Actively listens and gives indications of listening. Gives newcomers a lot of help. INTELLECTUAL STIMULATION Gets others to use reasoning and evidence, rather than unsupported opinion. Enables others to think about old problems in new ways. Communicates in a way that forces others to rethink ideas that they had never questioned before. COURAGE Willing to stand up for ideas even if they are unpopular. Does not give in to pressure or to others' opinions in order to avoid confrontation. Will do what's right for the company and for employees even if it causes personal hardship. DEPENDABILITY Follows through and keeps commitments. Takes responsibility for actions and accepts responsibility for mistakes. Works well independently of the boss. FLEXIBILITY Functions effectively in changing environments. When a lot of issues hit at once, handles more than one problem at a time. Changes course when the situation warrants it. INTEGRITY Does what is morally and ethically right. Does not abuse management

privileges. Is a consistent role model. JUDGMENT

Reaches sound and objective evaluations of alternative courses of action through logic, analysis, and comparison. Puts facts together rationally and realistically. Uses past experience and information to

bring perspective to present decisions. RESPECT FOR OTHERS Honors and does not belittle the opinions or work of other people, regardless of their status or position.

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