Welcome to YouR-Cruise-ship--named "Meditation!" "Great expectations" and "A willingness" to attempt great things is your ticket to come on board. Come, join our great adventure into the conscious and unconscious realms of our being.
First, this bit of truth: "Humor and laughter are good medicine for both body and spirit." Thus try this out on-"Everything I need to know about life, I learned from Noah's Ark:
Now, let's go sailing on the ship--"Meditation." --*Meditation is designed to be "a life-transforming experience," not a boring, goofy suggestion. --*Meditation is not an attempt to escape life with all its suffering, pain and problems, but it's to equip us with a right spirit to live life to the full. --*Neither is Meditation an invitation to sit relaxed in a lotus position, with your eyes closed as in a trance, doing nothing. --*Mediation, as one master teacher suggests-"is an awakening to one's true self... to reality and an understanding of life and love that prepares you for re-entry into society, not a withdrawal from it"...  According to the dictionaries--the act or process of meditation is:
--to focus one's thoughts or attention on...to reflect, ponder, to project in the mind. --a "systematic technique for concentrating to the utmost degree our latent mental power...It trains the mind, our attention and our will". --"To consider, contemplate with continued attention." The "Power Principle" behind mediation is this simple, tremendous truth: --"All that we are is the result of what we have thought." –Buddha --"Whatever we drive deep into our consciousness, that we become." -Eknath --"Whatever a person sows, that will he or she reap." –Apostle Paul, Gal. 6:7 --"…know the truth and the truth will set you free." –Jesus of Nazareth Every day and every minute, whether awaken or asleep, we are molded and shaped by the words and thoughts that enter our minds and catch and capture our attention. Thus, if we allow garbage to invade our minds, we should not be surprised if our lives become a pile of garbage--one big mess! Many of us think best with the help of metaphors or figures of speech. Some of great teachers of mediation have used graphic images to describe what we are doing when we meditate. Here are some that have been helpul to me. 1. "Seeding the spirit" -Thomas Merton, the Christian mystic, said that in contemplation or mediation we are seeding the spirit with life-transforming thoughts. "Every moment and every event of our life, plants something in our soul. And it will spring up one day in a tremendous harvest. The mind that is a prisoner of its own pleasure, and the will that is captive of its own desire---cannot accept the seeds of a higher pleasure and a super-natural desire." 2. "A (daring) journey into the unconscious" -Eknath Easwaran from India, was the first professor in the U.S. to introduce “Meditation” as a college course. He described the act of mediation as "a journey into the unconscious or the spirit realm of our being. There to challenge the wild beasts that roam within --the selfish desires and negative feelings that stalk us...to search out the castle where old King Ego reigns in our stead, and claim our throne and the vast inner treasure that is righty ours--our true Self." Through mediation we can learn to tame these creatures that appear in our compulsions, cravings, and fits of emotion. 3. "Sculpturing one's life." -Eknath's illiterate, Hindu grandmother was his great spiritual teacher and spoke of mediation as "sculpturing one's life." She told him this ancient story: A king asked a sculptor of elephants to carve him a giant elephant out of stone. For days, after obtaining a large piece of marble, the sculptor did not touch his hammer. He walked around pondering the huge rock. When asked what he was doing, he replied I am looking for the beautiful elephant embedded in this stone. Finally he picked up his chisel and hammer and in deep concentration began "chipping away" all that was not part of the elephant. "In meditation, the inspirational passage is the chisel, our concentration is the hammer, and our resolute will delivers the blows." 4. "A putting off and a putting on" -The Apostle Paul spoke of "putting off" such things as anger, wrath, malice, slander, falsehoods and "putting on" compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, patience, …and above all love and peace." (Eph. 3) Meditation is a tool for bringing about this change of "putting off" the destructive, negative elements of one's spirit and "putting on" constructive, positive elements. Now a key question confronts us: "Do we really have any control over or any responsibility for what enters our minds?" The answer is - "Yes!" And as Martin Luther went on to clarify, "Though we may not be able to keep certain thoughts from popping into our heads, we can keep them from building nests in our hair." Thus "ouR" project of collecting some of the greatest thoughts of the ages upon which to think, ponder, and focus is vitally important to all of us! -Regardless of our age, sex, religion, nationality, rank, or vocation! This is why we are enlisting your help to make this "YouR Meditation Site ...Your & ouR = YouR. (It is our web site's unique trademark.) For more and more people in our day, meditation is becoming an amazing instrument for transforming one's life, for remaking one's personality in the image of one's highest ideals. It enables us to see the outline of our true "Self" and to chip away the stubbornly selfish tendencies that keep it locked within, quite forgotten. Yet, as Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk, reminds us “practicing mediation is very difficult because of the society in which we live. Everything seems to work in concert to try to take away our true self. We have thousands of things, like video tapes and music, which help us be away from ourselves.” Have you ever stopped to think where our thoughts come from? Regardless of whether they come from others, books, TV, our computer, radio, telephone, or out of the blue—they will mold our lives for good or ill. Thus an ancient writer suggested: “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious. If there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise-- THINK on THESE THINGS. (Phil. 4:8) This verse of Scripture is a good one to sometimes begin your meditation. Repeat it slowly and meditate on it. It is our conviction that the words that come at the end of this web site, if we meditate on them, have the power to transform your spirit and mine into all that we are designed to be. When we spend 30 minutes in the morning, in a quiet place, meditating on these passages and/or others like them, we will be molded by the most noble and elevating truths that have ever been expressed on this planet. We will be setting our sights on the highest goals of which human are capable. And "our petty selfishness, our vain illusions, simply must and will give way under the power of these universal principles of life, as sand castles erode before the surge of the sea.” Its power can be proved by anyone! Let's do it!  The following is a collection of passages for our meditation. Remember, we are urging you to send in any thoughts and passages that are inspiring to you which are not included here. And also, if you have other images describing what we are doing when we meditate, send them along too. [Wesley Arms at warms2@juno.com]
--"Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. When there is hatred, may I sow love, Where there is injury, may I bring pardon. May I bring unity in place of discord, Truth instead of falsehood; Faith where once there was doubt. Hope for despair, Light where there's darkness, Joy replacing sadness. May I not so much crave to be loved as to love, -To be understood as to understand, -To be consoled as to console. Teach me that it is in giving that I receive, That it is in dying to self, that I find eternal life."– St. Francis of Assisi *** “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside still waters; He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness of His name sake. Yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me, Thy rod and staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” – Psalm 23 *** "Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His Holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits, Who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from the Pit, Who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, Who satisfies you with good as long as you live So that your youth is renewed like the eagle's." Psalm 103:1-5 *** Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the lands! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into His Presence with singing. Know that the Lord is God. It is He who has made us, and we are His; We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise! Give thanks to God; bless His holy name! For the Lord is good; His steadfast love endures forever, And His faithfulness to all generations. -Psalm 100 *** Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father, There is no shadow of turning with Thee; Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not; As Thou hast been Thou forever will be. Refrain: Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness! Morning by morning new mercies I see; All I have needed Thy hand hath provided; Great Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me! Summer and winter and springtime and harvest, Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above Join with all nature in manifold witness To Thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love. Refrain: Pardon of sin and a peaces that endureth, Thine own dear Presence to cheer and to guide, Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside! Refrain - Thomas O. Chisholm, 1923 *** For the beauty of the earth, for the glory of the skies, For the love which from our birth over and around us lies; Refrain: *Lord of all, to Thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise. For the beauty of each hour of the day and of the night, Hill vale, and tree and flower, sun and moon and stars of light; *Lord of all, to Thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise. For the joy of ear and eye, for the heart and mind's delight, For the mystic harmony linking sense to sound and sight; *Lord of all, to Thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise. For the joy of human love, brother, sister, parent, child, Friends on earth and friends above, for all gentle thoughts and mild, *Lord of all, to Thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise. For the church that ever-more lifteth holy hands above, Offering up on every shore her pure sacrifice of love; *Lord of all, to Thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise. For Thyself, best Gift Divine, to the world so freely given, For that great, great love of Thine, peace on earth, and joy in heaven; *Lord of all, to Thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise. -F.S.Pierpoint *** "I lift up my eyes to the hills. From whence does my help come" My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved, he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps his People will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your Keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not smite you by day, nor the noon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and for evermore." --Psalm 121 *** "O the sheer joy of it -Living with Thee, God of the Universe, Lord of a tree, Maker of mountains, Lover of me. O the sheer joy of it - Breathing your air, Morning is dawning, Gone every care. The whole worlds singing: "God's everywhere." O the sheer joy o it, Walking with God, Out on the hilltop, Down by the sea, Life is so wonderful! Life is so free! O the sheer joy of it - Working with God, Running His errands, Waiting His nod. Building His kingdom On common sod. O the sheer joy of it, Every to be: Living in glory, Living with Thee. Lord of tomorrow, Lover of me (& all who come into this world). -R.S.Cushman *** "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and Knows God. Anyone who does not love, does not know God for God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only son into the world that we might live through him IN this is love, not that we love God but that God loved us And sent His Son to be the expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also out to love one another. No one has ever seen God, if we love one another, God abides in us And God's love is perfected in us." I John 4:7-12 *** "If I speak in the tongue of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong and a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all that I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind: love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endured all things. Love never ends. As for prophecy, it will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For our knowledge it imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass a way. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. So faith, hope, love abide; these three; but the greatest of these is love." --I Corinthians 13 *** "O Love that will not let me go, I rest my weary soul in Thee, I give Thee back the life I owe that in Thine ocean's depths, It's flow may richer, fuller be. O Light what followest all my wary, I yield my flickering torch to Thee, My heat restores its borrowed ray that in Thy sunshine's blaze It's day may brighter fairer be. O Joy that seekest me through pain, I cannot close my heart to Thee, I trace the rainbow through the rain and feel Thy promise in not vain, That morn shall tearless be! O cross that liftest up my head, I dare not ask to fly from Thee, In death I lay life's glory dead; and from the ground there blossoms red, Life that shall endless be." - George Matheson, 1882 *** --"I met God in the morning, When the day was at its best, And His presence came like sunrise, Like glory in my breast. All day long His Presence lingered, All day long He stayed with me, And we sailed in perfect calmness, O'er a very troubled sea. Other ships were blown and battered; Other ships were sore distressed, But the wind that drove them, Brought to us a peace and rest. Then I thought of other mornings With a keen remorse on mind, When I too had loosed the moorings With His Presence left behind So I think I know the secret, Learned from many a troubled way. You must meet God in the morning if you want Him through the day." - Ralph S. Cushman *** "Fear not, for I am with you, be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you the my right hand." -Isa. 41:10 --"The fruit of the Spirit is: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithless, gentleness, and self-control." -Apostle Paul O how happy, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons & daughters of God. Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you, and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. -Matthew 5:3-16 *** Trust in the Lord with all thine heart And lean not unto thine own understanding, In all thy ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct thy paths,." Proverbs 4:6-7 (KJVP) Dwayne Knight, FL *** "Don't worry over anything whatever: tell God every detail of your needs in earnest and thankful prayer, and the peace of God which transcends human understanding, will keep constant guard over your hearts and minds as they rest in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 4:6-7 (J.B.Phillips trans.) Dwayne Knight *** "Jesu, Jesu, fill us with your love. Teach us how to serve the neighbors we have from you. Neighbors are rich and poor, neighbors are black and white, Neighbors are near and far away. Jesu, Jesu, fill us with your love. Teach us how to serve The neighbors we have from you…. *** "Teacher, which is the great commandment? And Jesus said: 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself…Do this, and you will live." -- Luke 10:25f |
