Spiritual Understanding & Learning

This, I think, is the best thing I've ever known. Andrew Jackson Davis received a cane in a vision from Galen in 1844, along with this message: "Behold! Here is they Magic Staff: Under all circumstances keep an even mind. Take it, Try it, Walk with it. Talk with it, Lean on it, Believe on it, Forever." It's very difficult to keep an even mind these days. Radical stuff is thrown at us continuously through the media - negativity, cynicism, suspicion, rumor... all promoting fear, worry and unrest. Much commentary on the internet, both good and bad, more information than those in our pasts ever had access to in their lifetimes. Things to distract and pull from our happiness. Walk through these things with your Magic Staff, rise above them, keep moving forward on YOUR path in this life. Keep an even mind.

I stumbled upon this quote after receiving information from JamBase for a new film about the Doors... People Are Strange. The song itself is telling - listen carefully to the lyrics. We close ourselves off to so much, afraid to open the door to the blessings of the Universe and all it can teach us, and so we spend time in loneliness and despair, afraid to hope. Steeped in formal education and society's rules, we forget where we really came from. We're boxed in and very little of what we really want in life is allowed to flow. Open the curtains and let in the light... don't settle for little chinks. Make your own choices based on what's right for you, don't allow society to make them for you. We have the promise... there is a rainbow.

"If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is: infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern." William Blake (1757-1827)

We hear so much of the need to be "strong" when what really we need to have is "strength."  There is a world of difference between the two.

I found this earlier today on a social networking site where I meet with friends.  It was shared by a lovely woman in California.  I'm glad she posted it for all of us to see.  I don't know the origin of it, but I'm sure it's meant to be passed on and so I share it with you here.

A Woman of Strength

A strong woman works out every day to keep in shape...
but a woman of strength kneels in prayer to keep her soul in shape...

A strong woman isn't afraid of anything...
but a woman of strength shows courage in the midst of her fear...

A strong woman won't let anyone get the best of her...
but a woman of strength gives the best of her to everyone

A strong woman walks sure footedly...
but a woman of strength knows God will catch her when she falls...

A strong woman wears the look of confidence on her face...
but a woman of strength wears grace...

A strong woman has faith that she is strong enough for the journey...
but a woman of strength has faith that it is in the journey that she will become strong.

 

Love & Light to All... Mary  :-)