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Random Chance

     “The Universe was a damned silly place at best… but the least likely explanation for its existence was the no-explanation of random chance, the conceit that some abstract somethings “just happened” to be some atoms that “just happened” to get together in configurations which “just happened” to look like consistent laws and then some of these configurations “just happened” to possess self-awareness and that two such “just happened” to be the Man from Mars and the other a bald-headed old coot with Jubal himself inside.

     “No, Jubal would not buy the “just happened” theory, popular as it was with men who called themselves scientists. Random chance was not a sufficient explanation of the Universe — in fact, random chance was not sufficient to explain random chance; the pot could not hold itself.”

– Robert Heinlein – Stranger in a Strange Land

 

Source: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/503978-the-universe-was-a-damned-silly-place-at-best

It All Fits Into Place

     “Life is like a puzzle.  We might not always know what we’re putting together, but eventually it all fits into place.”

— Excerpted from The Truth as I See It: A Collection of Spiritual Writings by Adam Soto (p. 59)

 

Copyright 2018 Golden Rule Independent Publications

Content of Character

When will we start to be relate to each other “not by the color of our skin, but by the content of our character,” as MLK Jr. dreamed?  The term “white privilege” has the word “white” in it!  It literally lumps a group of people together and judges them primarily by the color of their skin, and not by the content of their character.

For the love of God, don’t get sucked into this trap!  We are letting all of our “labels” divide and define us.  “Black,” “White,” “Democrat,” “Republican,” “Male,” “Female,” “Rich,” “Poor.”  The list goes on and on…

Our society seems to be increasingly obsessed with labeling everyone and everything, whether it’s by the color of our skin, our sexuality, our beliefs, or in whatever other way in which people like to “identify” themselves or those around them.  The thing is, what do any of these labels have to do with the content of someone’s character?  The most important thing to me is if someone is a good person or not; that, in my opinion, should be what our “identity” is based around.

As Gandhi said, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”  Be a unifier, not a divider!  Refuse to get baited into seeing the world through the “labels” that “society” has thrust upon you.  Treat all people equally.  Build the content of your own character and live by the principles of love.  Let this be how you’re known to the world and those around you…  And let it be how you know the world.

 

The Study of the Finger

     “A Religious belief,” said the Master, “is not a statement of Reality, but a hint, a clue about something that is a mystery, beyond the grasp of human thought.  In short, a religious belief is only a finger pointing to the moon.

     “Some religious people never get beyond the study of the finger.

     “Others are engaged in sucking it.

     “Others yet use the finger to gouge their eyes out.  These are the bigots whom religion has made blind.

     “Rare indeed is the religionist who is sufficiently detached from the finger to see what it is indicating–these are those who, having gone beyond belief, are taken for blasphemers.”

– Anthony de Mello, One Minute Nonsense

 

Source: https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anthony_de_Mello

The Rules for Being Human

The Rules for Being Human

1. You will receive a body.

You may like it or hate it, but it will be yours for the entire period of this time around.

2. You will learn lessons.

You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called Life.  Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons.  You may like the lessons or think them irrelevant or stupid.

3. There are no mistakes, only lessons.

Growth is a process of trial and error.  Experimentation.  The “Failed” experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiment that ultimately “works.”

4. A lesson is repeated until learned.

A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it.  When you have learned it, you can then go on to the next lesson.

5. Learning lessons does not end.

There is no part of life that does not contain its lessons.  If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned.

6. “There” is no better than “here.”

When your “there” has become a “here,” you will simply obtain another “there” that will again look better than “here.”

7. Others are merely mirrors of you.

You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects something you love or hate about yourself.

8. What you make of your life is up to you.

You have all the tools and resources you need.  What you do with them is up to you.  The choice is yours.

9. Your answers lie inside you.

The answers to Life’s questions lie inside you.  All you need to do is look, listen and trust.

10. You will forget all this.

Cherie Carter-Scott

Source: https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1958046-chicken-soup-for-the-soul

Because Somebody’s Counting On You

     “When you say you’re going to do something, try your best to do it.  Not only to maintain a good reputation, but because somebody’s counting on you.”

— Excerpted from The Truth as I See It: A Collection of Spiritual Writings by Adam Soto (p. 59)

 

Copyright 2018 Golden Rule Independent Publications