(no subject)
-Wisdom of Dan Millman-
A Message from Dan:
Green Lights and Red Lights
A few days ago, as I was bicycling home from the local Farmer's Market, I noticed that every light turned green as I approached. I started to feel lucky, powerful, blessed, virtuous - life was going my way. I noticed thoughts arising about how "it must be my positive energy" or "goodness" or "rightness" of my decision to ride my bike that day.
And when I seem to encounter only red lights, I doubts may arise. Either way, traffic lights become messages from a higher order of reality.
Many people cling to this kind of thinking-the belief that when we're on the right track, everything magically or mysteriously falls into place. Lights change, doors open, people appear, and God or the universe clears the way. Synchronicity. Infinite quantum possibility.
But if a hurricane hits, or acts of human violence, we make up stories about God punishing us. We seek messages and create stories to explain what it all means… and we have the capacity to make meanings (positive or negative) out of any event.
We may also believe that if only we could only get our thoughts and intentions aligned, then our lives will unfold in line with our desires and make manifest all our dreams. Effortlessly.
Such magical beliefs have tremendous appeal. They represent the inner solution-that positive thoughts lead to abundance and love and all good things. (If only we could follow all the directions in the positive-thinking books.)
Within every adult is a child who makes magic out of the mundane, and meaning out of mystery.
Quantum physics, we are told, proves (in a way we don't quite understand) that our thoughts and intentions can somehow create our reality and that synchronicity will guide us to make the "right" decision if we only pay attention. All good things come from positive thoughts and feelings. (If we could only control our mind and emotions!)
I love magic as much as the next person. My childhood was filled with fantasy books.I was inspired by Peter Pan, and Superman, and wanted so much to be able to fly that it hurt.
But here is what life has taught me:
Life on Earth can be difficult. It takes effort over time to progress toward our chosen goals.
We can control our efforts, but not the outcomes (but by making an effort, we increase the odds of achieving those outcomes).
Thoughts and feelings create tendencies to behave a certain way - yet we are here to overcome tendencies as we submit to a higher will.
Action counts more than words or thoughts (the smallest good deed surpasses the grandest good intention).
We should not act without thinking, or think without acting.
Thoughts and intentions form a map; we must still make the journey.
Here's an excerpt from Soc's journal in my new bookThe Journeys of Socrates:
When I was young, I believed that life
might unfold in an orderly way, according to my hopes and expectations.
But now I understand that the Way winds like a river,
always changing, ever onward, following God’s gravity
toward the Great Sea of Being.
My journeys revealed that
the Way itself creates the warrior;
that every path leads to peace,
every choice to wisdom.
And that life has always been,
and will always be,
arising in Mystery.
Life arises out of Mystery.
Moments unfold, things happen.
Our mind then creates meanings,
positive or negative,
about what happens.
Mistaking our meanings for truth,
we see things not as they are,
but as we are.
Viewing the world through windows
of interpretations and expectations,
our mind creates a drama, a comedy,
a tragedy, a romance, or a soap opera
out of what simply arises.
Thus, our expectations create our reality;
our mind creates our dreams and dramas;
and stress appears as the mind resists what is.
To attain freedom,
make peace with Mystery,
Lose your mind and come to your senses.
To reinvent your world,
shift your expectations,
then act without assumptions.
Reality is not what we think.
Our world contains both beauty and ugliness, kindness and cruelty. The question is, where shall we fix our attention? As an anonymous poet once wrote, “Two men looked out of prison bars; one saw mud and the other saw stars.” Even as you empathize with humanity’s growing pains, let the beauty, hope, and humor in this world soothe the wounds of your sensitive heart.
If we view the world through the filter of our ideals, it will never measure up. Consider the influence of expectations on perception in the following anecdote: “A farmer was missing an ax from his tool shed. He suspected his neighbor’s young son. The boy looked like a thief, acted like a thief, and spoke like a thief. When the man eventually found his misplaced ax, his neighbor’s son looked, acted, and spoke like any other young boy.”
The fact that shadows exist, in the world and in ourselves, should not blind us to the light. So find hope in this understanding: It wasn't easy for us to grow through adolescence into adulthood; neither is it easy for humanity to mature. As much as we might wish it otherwise, the world unfolds as it will. All we can do is raise our vision to find purpose in our growing pains. Meanwhile, take heart from what heroism and compassion you may find, and let these examples sustain you amidst the news of atrocities, war, and human folly. The trouble and pain we inflict and suffer are perfect not in the sense of being “okay,” but as an erupting volcano or exploding star is perfect-because such things happen in God’s universe. Are we so arrogant to think we know how the world should or will evolve?
There’s a story about a cancer-ridden football player who lay in a hospital bed, managing a smile as his coach entered the room and asked how he was doing. “Okay, I guess,” the player replied. But his sunken eyes told a different story.
After a long pause, the coach leaned close to the player’s face. “Listen, Mike. I need you at training camp in July, on the field, ready to go. We’re going all the way this year.”
Mike Westhoff, now recovered from bone cancer, is the special teams coach for the Miami Dolphins. He says of Coach Don Shula: “He treated me the way I could be, not the way I was. It made a difference.”
Hardship is part of life-but whether we view it as tragic or heroic, grotesque or purposeful, depends on our perspective. Our mind can make meaning or madness, light a candle or curse the darkness. The choice is ours. We can’t heal the world’s suffering-only our own. Accept life on its own terms. If we want a kinder world, then let us behave with kindness; if we want a peaceful world, let us make peace within. Our suffering serves no one. By letting go of our expectations, we liberate our lives.
A Message from Dan:
Green Lights and Red Lights
A few days ago, as I was bicycling home from the local Farmer's Market, I noticed that every light turned green as I approached. I started to feel lucky, powerful, blessed, virtuous - life was going my way. I noticed thoughts arising about how "it must be my positive energy" or "goodness" or "rightness" of my decision to ride my bike that day.
And when I seem to encounter only red lights, I doubts may arise. Either way, traffic lights become messages from a higher order of reality.
Many people cling to this kind of thinking-the belief that when we're on the right track, everything magically or mysteriously falls into place. Lights change, doors open, people appear, and God or the universe clears the way. Synchronicity. Infinite quantum possibility.
But if a hurricane hits, or acts of human violence, we make up stories about God punishing us. We seek messages and create stories to explain what it all means… and we have the capacity to make meanings (positive or negative) out of any event.
We may also believe that if only we could only get our thoughts and intentions aligned, then our lives will unfold in line with our desires and make manifest all our dreams. Effortlessly.
Such magical beliefs have tremendous appeal. They represent the inner solution-that positive thoughts lead to abundance and love and all good things. (If only we could follow all the directions in the positive-thinking books.)
Within every adult is a child who makes magic out of the mundane, and meaning out of mystery.
Quantum physics, we are told, proves (in a way we don't quite understand) that our thoughts and intentions can somehow create our reality and that synchronicity will guide us to make the "right" decision if we only pay attention. All good things come from positive thoughts and feelings. (If we could only control our mind and emotions!)
I love magic as much as the next person. My childhood was filled with fantasy books.I was inspired by Peter Pan, and Superman, and wanted so much to be able to fly that it hurt.
But here is what life has taught me:
Life on Earth can be difficult. It takes effort over time to progress toward our chosen goals.
We can control our efforts, but not the outcomes (but by making an effort, we increase the odds of achieving those outcomes).
Thoughts and feelings create tendencies to behave a certain way - yet we are here to overcome tendencies as we submit to a higher will.
Action counts more than words or thoughts (the smallest good deed surpasses the grandest good intention).
We should not act without thinking, or think without acting.
Thoughts and intentions form a map; we must still make the journey.
Here's an excerpt from Soc's journal in my new bookThe Journeys of Socrates:
When I was young, I believed that life
might unfold in an orderly way, according to my hopes and expectations.
But now I understand that the Way winds like a river,
always changing, ever onward, following God’s gravity
toward the Great Sea of Being.
My journeys revealed that
the Way itself creates the warrior;
that every path leads to peace,
every choice to wisdom.
And that life has always been,
and will always be,
arising in Mystery.
Life arises out of Mystery.
Moments unfold, things happen.
Our mind then creates meanings,
positive or negative,
about what happens.
Mistaking our meanings for truth,
we see things not as they are,
but as we are.
Viewing the world through windows
of interpretations and expectations,
our mind creates a drama, a comedy,
a tragedy, a romance, or a soap opera
out of what simply arises.
Thus, our expectations create our reality;
our mind creates our dreams and dramas;
and stress appears as the mind resists what is.
To attain freedom,
make peace with Mystery,
Lose your mind and come to your senses.
To reinvent your world,
shift your expectations,
then act without assumptions.
Reality is not what we think.
Our world contains both beauty and ugliness, kindness and cruelty. The question is, where shall we fix our attention? As an anonymous poet once wrote, “Two men looked out of prison bars; one saw mud and the other saw stars.” Even as you empathize with humanity’s growing pains, let the beauty, hope, and humor in this world soothe the wounds of your sensitive heart.
If we view the world through the filter of our ideals, it will never measure up. Consider the influence of expectations on perception in the following anecdote: “A farmer was missing an ax from his tool shed. He suspected his neighbor’s young son. The boy looked like a thief, acted like a thief, and spoke like a thief. When the man eventually found his misplaced ax, his neighbor’s son looked, acted, and spoke like any other young boy.”
The fact that shadows exist, in the world and in ourselves, should not blind us to the light. So find hope in this understanding: It wasn't easy for us to grow through adolescence into adulthood; neither is it easy for humanity to mature. As much as we might wish it otherwise, the world unfolds as it will. All we can do is raise our vision to find purpose in our growing pains. Meanwhile, take heart from what heroism and compassion you may find, and let these examples sustain you amidst the news of atrocities, war, and human folly. The trouble and pain we inflict and suffer are perfect not in the sense of being “okay,” but as an erupting volcano or exploding star is perfect-because such things happen in God’s universe. Are we so arrogant to think we know how the world should or will evolve?
There’s a story about a cancer-ridden football player who lay in a hospital bed, managing a smile as his coach entered the room and asked how he was doing. “Okay, I guess,” the player replied. But his sunken eyes told a different story.
After a long pause, the coach leaned close to the player’s face. “Listen, Mike. I need you at training camp in July, on the field, ready to go. We’re going all the way this year.”
Mike Westhoff, now recovered from bone cancer, is the special teams coach for the Miami Dolphins. He says of Coach Don Shula: “He treated me the way I could be, not the way I was. It made a difference.”
Hardship is part of life-but whether we view it as tragic or heroic, grotesque or purposeful, depends on our perspective. Our mind can make meaning or madness, light a candle or curse the darkness. The choice is ours. We can’t heal the world’s suffering-only our own. Accept life on its own terms. If we want a kinder world, then let us behave with kindness; if we want a peaceful world, let us make peace within. Our suffering serves no one. By letting go of our expectations, we liberate our lives.