Category: Stories, Fables and Myths

 

Today I want you to fly with me as I share with you a fable called Jonathan Livingston Seagull – A Story, in novella form. You may have read it, so it’ll be a refresher for you. Chances are however that you are not aware of the Part Four that was rediscovered in 2014. And if you’ve never read the story- you’re in for a real treat.

By the Way – The book was made into a movie with a soundtrack by Neil Diamond. The music is good, but I don’t recommend the movie. There’s only so much you can do with a cast of seagulls.

Anyway, over the years, this novel became a classic and it is often considered one of the best inspirational or motivational books ever written. The author, Richard Bach, wrote 20 other books, is a former fighter pilot, a gypsy barnstormer, an airplane mechanic, and a seaplane flier.

Interestingly, this book was not written as one complete novel initially; Bach wrote it as a series of short stories which were published in a magazine called “Flying” in the latter half of the 1960s. Richard claimed that he was divinely directed to write it. Once he put it into book form Bach struggled to get it published because it was so ahead of its time. Eventually it became one of the best-selling books ever after it was finally printed in 1970. And then, as I mentioned earlier, the lost Part Four of Jonathan Livingston Seagull was added a half century after the original instalments were penned. Bach reported that a near-death experience inspired him to finish that fourth part. He dedicated the book to “the real Jonathan Seagull, who lives within us all”.

I first ran across the book way back in my early 20’s and then it found its way to me again a few months ago. It’s about a very special seagull. A story for someone who yearns to fly. It’s a story for those of us who realize that our true freedom is to love and to choose to live every day of our lives as we best can.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull is named after John H. Livingston. He was a friend of Richard’s, a Waco Aircraft Company test pilot who died of a heart attack in 1974 at age 76 just after test flying an acrobatic home-built Pitts Special. By the way, in case you are interested, Jonathan, or Jon for short, means “YHWH has given” in Hebrew.

Now, to be honest I should tell you that I have sort of a love-hate relationship with seagulls. They’re loud, greedy, invasive, polluting, and aggressive. They eat anything that moves and a lot of things that don’t. My wife and I live in Port Stanley where you will find lots of them. On the beach, soaring over the lake in the breeze, fighting over a dead fish on the sand, or trying to steal some of the French fries that I just purchased for my grand-kids.

I recall the one and only camping trip that my wife and I took together. She is not a camper. We were on our way up to the near north and were standing on the deck of the Chi-Cheemaun ferry, having left Tobermory on our way to Manitoulin Island. It was a gusty day, and there were seagulls soaring up ahead at the front of the ferry near the smokestack. We were looking up at them and admiring what must’ve been a very joyful experience for them when several of them just let the crap fly. Seagull poop. It splattered on our clothes, our faces, our hair. I spent pretty well the remainder of our ferry ride in one of the washrooms trying to get the foul faeces off my sweater.

Good old seagulls.

Seagulls aren’t mentioned in the traditional sacred texts: Bible, Quran, Talmud, The Vedas and Upanishads. But some consider Jonathan Livingston Seagull to be a sacred narrative, a gospel all on its own.

So, here’s a question that some have asked: “Is Jonathan Livingston Seagull about Jesus?”

Well, the story is replete with allegorical references to the biblical story of Jesus Christ. Allegory being a story within a story. A story that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning. Jonathan the seagull is ridiculed, punished, and banished for his gospel of truth, which is to believe in one’s own greatness. Jesus too was ridiculed and punished at the end of his life. But they both overcame death and returned to the earthly plane to teach others.

Eric Butterworth was one of the leading spokespersons on “practical mysticism.” He is considered a legend and spiritual icon in the Unity movement. He said this in his lecture called Dare to Dream:

“One of the things that has been very hopeful and enlightening in the last few years, was the little fiction story of Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Totally impractical story. Editors didn’t know what to do with it. They didn’t know whether it was a child’s story, a fantasy, or what. Defying everyone, it became one of the all-time best sellers.

You may recall in this story, Jonathan Livingston Seagull has a talk with Maynard Gull, who was the gull with the broken wing, who is symbolic of the pitiful state that so many people are in- with habits of self limitation, and physical afflictions, and race prejudice, and social injustice, and poverty, and so forth, living lives that go on without hope.”

Eric goes on to say: “Jonathan said to Maynard Gull, “You have the freedom to be yourself, your true self, here and now, and nothing can stand in your way.” Maynard said, “Are you saying that I can fly?” He’d been walking, dragging this wing around with him for a long time. Jonathan said, “I say you are free,” and Maynard Gull rose himself to the highest stature, raised his wings and flapped them, and he flew away, and he was totally healed. “

The helpless gull dropped his helplessness and rose and flew. Sounds a bit like healings performed by Jesus, does it not?

World renowned contemporary abstract artist and writer Gheorghe Virtosu said this about the book:

“The one book which has always stayed with me since early childhood is Richard Bach’s A Seagull Called Jonathan Livingston. This is a short story which talks about overcoming limits and getting to be the best version of yourself. The seagull Jonathan Livingston is an individual who gets set apart in a class of his own by his exceptional ability to fly fast and high. Even when his kind turns their back to him, he perseveres in following his true calling, and in doing so, he breaks the bonds of ignorance and fear and makes it his mission in life to guide others in finding their way to freedom. It is an impactful story on soul-searching and self-discovery, while always staying true to oneself, under all circumstances.”

So, let’s go deeper into this fascinating allegory, this story of Jonathan Livingston Seagull.

In PART 1 we learn that Jonathan Livingston is a young gull who is quite different from the other birds in his Flock. His fellow seagulls only care about food and eating and are suspicious of him because he loves flying and wants to fly faster and higher. Loves practising airborne acrobatics and testing the limits of his speed and form. Even his parents are dismayed that Jonathan spends whole days, all alone, experimenting with flight.

After a failed dive, Jonathan nearly gives up on his dream, but he rises to the challenge. He triumphs by giving up his fear of failure! He achieves terminal velocity in his dive and wild with joy he realises the reason for life! To lift himself out of ignorance, to find himself as a creature of excellence and intelligence and skill. To be free.

Excited about this new discovery, Jonathan returns to his flock eager to share what he learned with the members, but they declare him an Outcast for breaking their rules. He is shamed for his reckless irresponsibility and for violating the dignity and tradition of the Gull Family. He is cast out of gull society and banished to a solitary life.

Many years pass, and Jonathan has aged, having lived a fine, long, but solitary life while learning to perfect his flying. One evening he is flanked in flight by two gleaming gulls who invite him to ascend with them to a higher plane of existence. And he does so.

In PART 2 we are told that Jonathan believes that he is now in heaven. He finds that his outer form has changed. His new body glows brilliant white and flies more surely and easily, though it still does have some limits. He is met by a group of other gulls who communicate with him telepathically.

They think as he does, that the most important thing in living is to reach out and touch perfection in that which they most love to do; and that is to fly.

Jonathan then trains with an instructor named Sullivan Gull, who admires Jonathan’s abilities, and tells Jonathan he is the best pupil he’s ever had, that he is a gull in a million, having learned so much at one time on earth that, like most other gulls, he did not have to go through a thousand lifetimes to reach his present state of perfection.

In his conversations with Chiang, the Elder Gull of this new Flock, Jonathan learns that his true nature lives everywhere at once across space and time and that there are ways to transcend even the physical limits of his body. Eventually, Jonathan masters instantaneous teleportation, becoming Chiang’s special pupil. Before Chiang eventually leaves for another world, Jonathan learns from him that true heaven consists of being aware of oneself as infinite.

As Jonathan learns more and more, he cannot stop thinking about the world he left behind on earth—he longs to return and teach other gulls the truths he has learned in this new realm.

So, Jonathan comes back to earth and approaches a recently outcast gull from his own Flock named Fletcher Lynd Seagull. Admiring Fletcher’s flight, Jonathan offers to take Fletcher on as a pupil on the condition that he forgives the Flock and that one day they will both return to this Flock and share with it the things they have learned together. Fletcher agrees, and the two begin flying lessons.

In PART 3 we learn that after about three months, Jonathan has amassed a small group of six special pupils [Disciples], outcasts all, whom he trains in flight techniques and mental exercises to help them break the chains of their bodies.

He also teaches them about their true spiritual nature and how they can reconnect with the flock. The students are confused at first but slowly begin to understand what he is talking about. When one gull with a bad wing manages to fly after speaking to Jonathan, rumors begin to spread that Jon is divine.

One day, Jonathan tells his students that the time has come to return to their Flock and share their knowledge. His students are doubtful but agree nonetheless to follow him back to their old shore. Not unexpectedly, the Flock shuns Jonathan and his pupils as they demonstrate their feats of flight, but slowly, some curious gulls begin approaching Jonathan and his group, asking to learn to become better fliers.  

Soon hundreds and hundreds of gulls gather every day to listen to Jonathan’s messages. Messages about the glory of freedom and about the rituals, superstitions, and limitations that stand in the way of true freedom. Jonathan is rumored to be the Son of the Great Gull himself, though Jonathan frequently laments the fact that the others cannot simply see him – as one of them.

After Fletcher crashes into a cliff and has a near-death experience, the other gulls begin to hail Fletcher, too, as a Divine gull. Jonathan tells Fletcher that it is time for him to ascend, and leaves Fletcher behind to continue his legacy. Fletcher, distraught but determined to carry on Jonathan’s teachings, assumes his new role as instructor of Jonathan’s pupils.

In the rediscovered PART 4 we read about Fletcher and his new Flock of pupils, [who like St. Paul of the New Testament] travel up and down the coastline on their missionary journeys, spreading their messages to new Flocks. As more and more gulls take up Jonathan’s message, a golden age of flight and innovation commences. Fletcher becomes an icon in his own right.

As Jonathan’s adherents grow in numbers, they begin ignoring his original teachings and focus on idealising and idolising Jonathan and his original pupils. As these first students pass on, their graves become shrines where devotees, in ritual, drop pebbles on their tombs. Groups of gulls gather weekly, on Tuesdays rather than Sundays, to obsessively recount the miracles of Jonathan’s making, and after a few centuries, hardly any flying is done any more. Jonathan’s teachings are only discussed in the abstract. Sound familiar?

Some gulls, however, begin to resist the rituals and sermons, the ceremonies and rites. They practice better flying and end up circling back to Jonathan’s original desire for his Flock. That of expanding the self through pushing one’s physical limitations in flight and becoming the best possible version of oneself. One of the disenchanted, a young gull called Anthony Seagull, feels he is surrounded by hypocrisy and empty ritual, and seeks to end his life by dive-bombing out of the sky. On the way down to the water, though, he is approached by a gleaming gull who compliments him on his style and form. When Anthony asks the gull his name, the gull introduces himself as “Jon.”  And so, ends the story.

Richard Bach, the author, was asked about the one insight that he would want to give his readers. He said this:

“I think the source of our sorrow and the source of our joy are intimately entwined. Our sorrow is that we have forgotten who we are, we have forgotten we are one with that source of all life–absolutely indestructible, perfect, joyful. The source of our joy is when we remember that. So, if I could say one word, in the deepest sense, without any explanation, to myself, I would say “remember.”

So, say to yourself: Anytime I need a reminder of my spiritual strength and capacities, I recall the seagull and I remember that I am one with that source of all life. And that I too soar on the wings of divinity.

Keep manifesting only good things  
Tony

If interested in getting a free copy of my mini e-book and subscribing to my e-mailing list click here

 

During a time of great drought, a Taoist master was asked by members of a village if he could help bring rain to their dry fields. They confessed trying many other approaches before reaching out to him, but with no success.

The master agreed to come and asked for a small hut with a garden that he could tend. For three days, he tended the garden, performing no special rituals or asking anything further from the villagers. On the fourth day, rain began to fall on the parched earth.

When asked how he had achieved such a miracle, the master answered that he was not responsible for the rain. However, he explained, when he came to the village, he had sensed disharmony within himself. Each day, as he tended the garden, he returned a little more to himself. When he returned to balance, the rain came naturally.

Apparently, this was one of psychologist Carl Jung’s favorite stories, told to him by Richard Wilhelm, translator of the Chinese divination text, I Ching: Book of Changes.

The Taoist master did not cause the rain to fall. But the “synchronicity” of events made it appear so. Synchronicity could be understood as coincidences threaded together by meaning. And the meaning in this case was that an outer event mirrored the inner balance achieved by the master.

Have you ever wondered about the coincidences in your life? The “synchronicity” of events? Could it be The Law of Attraction? Are your thoughts creating things? People, events and circumstances?

I think so 🙂

Keep manifesting only good things 🙂 
Tony

If interested in getting a free copy of my mini e-book and subscribing to my e-mailing list click here

 

A long time ago I read a fable about an old Cherokee chief who told his grandson a story about how we all have two wolves that live inside of us. They are constantly battling one another, fighting to the death.

I compiled this version of that neat fable from a variety of sources, so it will likely read a bit different from the one you might have heard or read before.

Here goes:

One evening, long ago, around a crackling fire, an old Chief sat his little grandson down and explained to him that there was a great battle going on between two wolves, inside everyone, including in the young boy.

“One is evil”, he said. “It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, Inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. This wolf is malicious, and has a scarcity mindset. To that wolf, everything in the world is wrong and unpleasant.

It believes that people are mostly bad, things are no good, and that the world is a cold place.” “As you can imagine grandson”, he said, “Not much good ever happens for that wolf because it is a negative, pessimistic animal, always seeing things as a glass-half-empty.”

Then the grandfather said to his grandson, “You also have a different, powerful wolf that lives inside of you. This other one is good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.

This wolf has positivity, and knows it can accomplish anything it puts its heart and soul into. This wolf sees the bright side of everything and constantly sees things as a glass-half-full.” “And grandson”, the chief said, “This wolf, this wonderful wolf, can take you to so many amazing places”.

With wide-eyed curiosity the grandson looked at his grandfather, thought about it for a minute, and then asked, “Well then, which wolf wins the battle, grandpa? Which one?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed, grandson. The one you feed.”

Neat huh?

So which one are you feeding?

Are you wasting your time reading, listening to, and watching the negative news, paying attention to the latest conspiracy theories, spreading gossip, complaining, whining, and judging? Perhaps you are looking for the worst and neglecting your spiritual life. 

Or are you going inward, focusing on the positive, meditating, expressing gratitude, forgiving, visioning, loving, reading inspiring literature, listening to or watching motivational audios and videos? Are you seeing the best in every situation and recognising the divine in everyone you meet?

It’s your choice.

And may the best wolf win!

Keep manifesting only good things 🙂 
Tony

If interested in getting a free copy of my mini e-book and subscribing to my e-mailing list click here

 

There’s an old story about three masons who are laying bricks. Joan Borysenko reminded me of the story in her inspirational little book called  “Pocketful of Miracles”. I read her daily lesson each morning.

A man walks up to the three masons as they are working and asks each one the same question: “What are you doing?”

The first Mason spits on the ground , looks at the man and says “I am laying bricks. What in hell does it look like I’m doing?”

The second mason groans and mops his brow. ” I’m earning a living ” he exclaims.

The third mason looks up with light shining in his eyes and says “I am building a cathedral”.

Which of them do you think felt better, more fulfilled, at the end of the day? Which one are you?

It’s all about attitude isn’t it? Whether it’s getting up in the morning, doing dishes, talking to your partner, working at your job, running your business, raising your family. It’s how you look at things, your perception. It’s focusing on the end result – the positive outcome.

Mind you, it’s easy to get bogged down. To get caught up in the detail, the BS, the small pain in the butt stuff. Isn’t it? Happens to me all the time. And then I have to take a deep breath, refocus, and remember what it’s all about and why.

So, which of the three masons are you?  

Keep manifesting only good things 🙂 
Tony

If interested in getting a free copy of my mini e-book and subscribing to my e-mailing list click here

Rev. Sandra Campbell recently wrote an interesting article on loving your neighbor. I have taken the liberty of quoting from her piece and using some of her ideas.

“It’s the story  told of a farmer whose corn each year earned the winning prize at the state fair. One year, a reporter interviewed him and learned something interesting about how he grew his corn. The farmer told the reporter that he shared his prize-winning seed corn with his neighbors.

When asked why, the farmer explained: “The wind picks up the pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If the neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn.”

The same is true for the way we live our lives. If we wish to live in peace and harmony, we must help our neighbors do the same.

If we choose to be happy, we must help others find happiness. If we desire to be loved, we must spread that love around.”

A famous avatar, mystic and master called Yeshua of Nazareth  demonstrated love’s power to bless and heal ourselves and all those around us. He said one of the greatest commandments is to “Love your neighbor as yourself”  He further commanded his disciples to “Love one another as I have loved you” 

Other ancient and modern-day saints and prophets alike have spoken about this concept of unconditional love for others. Gautama Buddha said “Radiate boundless love towards the entire world — above, below, and across — unhindered, without ill will, without enmity.” The Prophet Muhammad noted that “You will never enter paradise until you have faith and you will not complete your faith until you love one another”. 

St. Francis of Assisi prayed: “Where there is hatred, let me sow love.” In his book, Strength to Love, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spelled out a formula for loving your enemies: “Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

Yeah, I know – there are some people who may be really hard to love. But if you believe that we are all one, that we are each a part of the Source,  and that the light shines in everyone [but just really hard to see sometimes], then send them positive vibes. Send them love. And maybe, just maybe- it’ll make a bit of difference, and make this world a better place for all.

Sending you LOVE.

Keep manifesting only good things 🙂 
Tony

If interested in getting a free copy of my mini e-book and subscribing to my e-mailing list click here

 

A few weeks ago I listened to a friend of mine deliver a message to a local spiritual community. She included a fascinating story about an eagle who thought it was a chicken. You may have heard it or maybe not. I had not, so I thought I’d share this version with you.

There’s an old, quite well known story of a farmer who found an eagle’s egg.
When he got home he put the egg in with the few chickens he kept in his yard. Immediately one of the hens wandered over and sat down over the magnificent egg; and she couldn’t have been prouder.
Sure enough, some weeks later the egg hatched, and from the egg emerged a fine, healthy egret. And as is in the gentle nature of chickens, they didn’t balk at the stranger in their midst and raised the majestic bird as one of their own.

The young eagle grew up with his brother and sister chicks and whatever they did, the eagle did too. It learned to do all the things chickens do: it clucked and cackled, scratching in the dirt for grits and worms, flapping its wings furiously, flying just a foot or two in the air before crashing down to earth in a pile of dust and feathers.
You see, he believed resolutely and absolutely that he was a chicken, and that was what he was supposed to do.  As a consequence, that was all he was able to do.

One day the eagle-who-thought-he-was-a-chicken happened to look up at the sky. High overhead, soaring majestically and effortlessly on the thermals, with scarcely a single beat of its powerful golden wings, was an eagle!
“What’s that?”  the eagle cried in awe. “It’s magnificent! So much power and grace! It’s beautiful!” He was very impressed. 
“That’s the eagle, the king of the birds,” the hens told him. “He belongs to the sky. We belong to the earth, we are just chickens.”
With that, they all looked back down once more and continued digging in the dirt.

And so it was that the eagle lived and died a chicken… because that’s all he believed himself to be. He listened to those chickens who told him that’s all that he was.

Well, I want to tell you today that you are an eagle, not a mere chicken [no offence to chickens of course].
You may have been brought up with a limited understanding of your potential, but it’s time now to let go of the past and release its hold on you.

Stop listening to those around you who are trying to put you down and keep you in your place. The naysayers, with their limiting beliefs and false paradigms, and negative energies.

Don’t die thinking you’re a chicken. Soar high, just as you were meant to.
Be all that you are meant to be!

Hope you enjoyed the little story.

Keep manifesting only good things 🙂
Tony

If interested in getting a free copy of my mini e-book and subscribing to my e-mailing list click here. 

 

 

 

The following is a guided imagery, first developed by Dr. Carol Woman and then adapted by John Babbs, author of The Divine Hotline. I first learned about it in the wonderful book : The I Of The Storm.

Imagine for a moment the time before your birth when you were wandering the heavens as a disincarnate soul. You were immersed in the beauty and peaceful harmony of paradise when the call went out for volunteers to  incarnate in bodily, human form. A small blue planet in the far reaches of the Milky Way galaxy was experiencing a crisis and was in need of souls who were willing to incarnate in a human body to help out in Earth’s time of need.

You made the decision to volunteer. You next to met with the Incarnation Committee to discuss with its members the part you wanted to play and the work you wanted to do. You made a covenant at that time to do the work you agreed to do. But there was a catch: Not only were you to serve, you were also required to grow. It was your job to increase the intensity of your light and to grow in wisdom and in stature as well as to serve. You next had to make a series of decisions that would perfectly situate you to be of a maximum service and to develop a custom- designed learning curriculum for your soul to assure its maximum learning potential.

You had to decide what particular set of gifts, talents, and abilities you wished to bring with you to contribute to life on Earth and to the human family; the dreams and aspirations that would lead you to your destiny
to fulfill your earthly covenant; a date of birth determining an astrological configuration that would give you clues to your soul’s earthly purpose and destiny; a place on Earth, a climatic zone, a region in which to reside; a racial and ethnic form that would enable you to best express yourself; a socioeconomic class that would provide you with the challenges and benefits you need in order to learn and serve; a spiritual tradition with its particular set of rituals and practices that would support you; a gender with it its attendant opportunities and challenges; parents that would provide you with your particular strengths, with qualities that you could draw upon and with a designated set of difficulties that you would experience with them in order to learn, grow, and to prepare you for the service that you are to perform; your siblings and your relationship to them in age, plus the companionship in the conflicts with them that would provide you with important lessons and resources; and, finally, a name for yourself.

Once these decisions were made, you were free to incarnate and begin your earthly mission, forgetting all that went on before, but with time, you would slowly but surely begin to rediscover why you are here and how wisely you chose because every factor in your life has perfectly positioned you for the service you are to perform and has maximized your potential for learning and growing.

Hope you enjoyed the imagery.

Keep manifesting only good things 🙂 
Tony

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Hoʻoponopono
Maybe you’ve heard about it, or a version of the story about it?
If not, keep reading. If you have, maybe you could use a refresher.
Anyway, here’s the legendary story that I was told a number of years ago about this Hoʻoponopono.

It’s about a psychotherapist in Hawaii who was hired to help at the Hawaiian State Hospital for the insane. It seems that the patients in a certain section of the hospital were totally out of control.

You see, the ward where they kept the criminally insane patients was a very dangerous place. Psychologists and psychiatrists would quit on a regular basis and the other staff would frequently and consistently call in sick or simply resign. Visitors and employees would walk through the ward with their backs against the wall because they were afraid of being attacked by the patients.
It was not a safe place to either work, or live.

A few months after the new psychotherapist came to the ward, patients who had previously been restrained started being allowed to walk about freely. Others, who had been heavily medicated, had their medications reduced since they no longer needed them. 
Disgruntled staff began to enjoy coming to work. Absenteeism rates plummeted and employee turnover all but disappeared.

The new psychotherapist worked in that ward for some three years and by the end of his term the ward for the criminally insane was closed down because almost all of the patients had healed. Hopeless cases were eventually released back into society or transferred to less secure accommodations.

So, what happened to change things so dramatically?
Well, the strange thing is that this psychotherapist never saw any of the patients professionally, nor did he counsel them at all. He merely review their files.
And as he regularly studied each individual patient file, he would repeat a mantra over and over: “I’m sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you.”

The psychotherapist’s name was Dr Ihaleakala Hew Len. He was an expert in the spiritual practice called Ho’oponopono.
Hoʻoponopono is a Hawaiian ritual of reconciliation and forgiveness. The Hawaiian word translates into English simply as “correction”. Correction of self.

Dr Hew Len said this about what he did: “I was simply cleaning the part of me that I shared with them.” He further explained that, “…total responsibility for your life, means that everything in your life, simply because it is in your life, is your responsibility. In a literal sense, the entire world is your creation.”

So, it would seem that we are all part of one consciousness, and therefore everything that is in our experience is affected by our actions. By everything we think, say and do. We are all responsible for everything that we experience! It’s a shared consciousness where as one person’s consciousness changes, it affects the whole.

Now you have likely heard the following quote attributed to Mahatma Gandhi: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Actually, what he really said was this:
“We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. This is the divine mystery supreme. A wonderful thing it is and the source of our happiness. We need not wait to see what others do.”

Very similar to Ho’oponopono – no?
Quite interesting isn’t it?
Do you believe it?
Or do you find it pretty hard to swallow?
Let’s see –maybe there really is something to it? 
Instead of blaming a god, devil, circumstances, or other people for what happens in your life– perhaps you just need to accept responsibility for all of it?
Wow! That’s certainly way beyond anything I have been taught or that the “world accepts as true”.
So, it’s gotta be pure bullpoop right?
Or is it?
I’ll leave it for you to decide.

Repentance – I’M SORRY.
Forgiveness – PLEASE FORGIVE ME.
Gratitude – THANK YOU.
Love – I LOVE YOU.

Keep manifesting only good things :)
Tony

If interested in getting a free copy of my mini e-book and subscribing to my e-mailing list click here.

 

Does your pet have a soul?

Well, in Conversations with God, Book 3, by Neale Donald Walsch, “God,” says: “Anyone who has ever stared into the eyes of an animal already knows the answer to that”.

After our last dog passed, our vet sent us a card with a poem.  Here it is:

RAINBOW BRIDGE

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.
When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here on earth, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge.

There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends there, so they can run and play together.
There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our animal friends are warm and comfortable.
All the pets who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.

The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind. They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. Its bright eyes are intent. Its eager body quivers.

Suddenly it begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, its legs carrying it faster and faster.
You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again.

The happy kisses rain upon your face. Your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life, but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together….

Author unknown… Inspired by a Norse Legend.

I’m looking forward to our cat Lilly and dogs Bullet, Daisy, Parker, and most recently Sid, greeting me at the Rainbow Bridge. So that we can cross it together.

Keep manifesting 🙂
Tony

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This little story applies to all of us – you and me..
Regardless of the stage of our evolvement or spiritual development there is always something more.
The transformation of ACORN to OAK TREE, as a metaphor, speaks of the need to change, and it never stops.
We grow and mature, and then move to the next stage of enlightenment.
Like all good stories, you have to use your imagination and put yourself into it.

ONCE UPON A TIME,
In A Not-So-Faraway Land,

There was a kingdom of acorns – a myriad of acorns nestled at the foot of a grand old oak tree.
Since the citizens of this kingdom were modern, and fully Westernized acorns, they went about their business with purposeful energy; and since they were midlife, baby boomer acorns, they engaged in a lot of self-help courses.
There were seminars called “Getting All You Can out of Your Shell.”
There were woundedness and recovery groups for acorns who had been bruised in their original fall from the tree.
There were retreats and spas for oiling and polishing those shells and various acornopathic therapies to enhance longevity and well-being.
One day in the midst of this kingdom there suddenly appeared a knotty little stranger, who was apparently dropped “out of the blue” by a passing bird.
He was odd: capless and dirty, making an immediate negative impression on his fellow acorns.
And crouched beneath the oak tree, he stammered out a strange and wild tale.

Pointing upward at the tree, he spoke to all that would listen to him, and said, “We…are…that!”
Delusional thinking, obviously, the other acorns concluded.
But, one or two of them continued to engage him in conversation: “So tell us, how would we become that tree?”
“Well,” said he, pointing downward, “it has something to do with going into the ground…and cracking open the shell.”
“Insane,” they responded.
“Totally morbid! Why, then we wouldn’t be acorns anymore!”

So, do you want to be an acorn all of your life?
Or do you want to grow into a great oak?

This little story apparently originated with Maurice Nicoll in the 1950s.
Jacob Needleman popularised this metaphor in Lost Christianity and named it “acornology”.
It was retold by Cynthia Bourgeault in her book, The Wisdom Way of Knowing.
I read it in a little booklet called Courage to Imagine.

Keep manifesting 🙂
Tony

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