Discernment

In GOD we trust Is not a slogan But our confession of faith We keep the FAITH So The FAITH will keep us.

It's a very beautiful thing to behold When virtuous habits become Established involuntary human behavior.

He who fears he shall suffer already suffers what he fears - Michel de Montaigne

TEN COMMITMENTS: Guiding Principles for Teaching Values in America's Public Schools ~ Altruism ~ Caring for the World around Us ~ Critical Thinking ~ Empathy ~ Ethical Development ~ Global Awareness ~ Human Rights ~ Peace and Social Justice ~ Responsibility ~ Service and Participation "In a democratic and pluralist society, we believe that the values presented should be the moral foundation of education.

Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress.

Grey hair is a sign of age, not of wisdom.

There is a foolish corner in the brain of the wisest man.

Constantly observe and study the workings of the Ego. Understand it to control and use it. Failing which, the Ego takes over the control of our lives.

Fear is probably the greatest of emotions, like a nuclear reaction. It can be a savior or a killer. It all depends on how we decide to react when it strikes our heart.

Don't try to win over the haters. You're not the jackass whisperer.

I almost think we're all of us Ghosts. ... It's not only what we have invited from our father and mother that walks in us. It's all sorts of dead ideas, and lifeless old beliefs, and so forth. They have no vitality, but they cling to us all the same, and we can't get rid of them. Whenever I take up a newspaper, I seem to see Ghosts gliding between the lines. There must be Ghosts all the country over, as thick as the sand of the sea. And then we are, one and all, so pitifully afraid of the light.

Errors like straws upon the surface flow: Who would search for pearls must dive below.

Time heals all wounds?" Time *is* the wound.

The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool.

The truth that makes men free is for the most part the truth which men prefer not to hear.

It would be a contradiction in terms to assume that the attainment of transcendent meaning consists in comprehending a notion. Transcendence can never be an object of possession or of comprehension. Yet man can relate himself and be engaged to it... Ultimate meaning is not grasped in the form of a timeless idea, acquired once and for all, securely preserved in conviction. It is not simply given. It comes upon us as an intimation that comes and goes. What is left behind is a memory, and a commitment to that memory. Our words do not describe it, our tools do not wield it. But sometimes it seems as if our very being were its description, its secret tool.

Why seek a doctrine? As soon as you have a doctrine, you fall into dualistic thought.

The world is chock full of crazy ideas. A few of them can be cracked open to reveal revolutionary new truths, but most of them are sterile. We can’t know in advance which ones will reward our patient investigation and analysis. So it is vitally important that we not limit our attention to the known and solid and expected. And it is almost as important that we culture that judgment that will permit us to avoid spending all our time pursuing dead ends.

The best creative solutions don't come from finding good answers to the questions that are presented. They come from inventing new questions.

One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.

On a cloudy day, I might ask myself, "Why should I continue to 'extend an olive branch' to someone who is unwilling to 'step out on a limb'?" On a clear day, my answer is simply this, "Let not my withdrawal of an offer of friendship ever be the excuse for nonacceptance."...

My ego outstrips my competence.

The sick do not ask if the hand that smooths their pillow is pure, nor the dying care if the lips that touch their brow have known the kiss of sin.

Counselors are people who can utilize the traits of wisdom gained from their critical life experiences to help others. They are insightful, have the courage to recognize the suffering of the heart, and can relate to others through their own woundedness. They become a source of life and hope for others.

You cannot gauge for yourself the true quality of your understanding any more than you can test the accuracy of a ruler by holding it up to a mirror.

All lies and jests, still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.

Doctrines create idols, only wonder comprehends anything. People kill one another over idols; wonder makes us fall to our knees.

In the world of ideas it is the emotionally insecure who censure others while remaining prisoners of constricting ideologies and mindsets. Unable to handle too much knowledge, they find comfort in these narrow confines. It remains to the adventurous and unguarded that broad vistas open.

We ought at all times to wait for the enlightenment that comes from above before we speak; for there is nothing so destitute as a soul philosophising about God, when it is without Him.

Great teachers have small audiences while they are still alive.

Dogma is often the corruption of someone else's spiritual experience.  Belief systems are often the enemy of the very spiritual truths they supposedly uphold.  Most religious beliefs are not merely the foe of reason, of science.  They are the enemy of God;  not the man-made tyrant in the sky, but the very source of life, love, and truth. They are the enemy of spiritual understanding that would otherwise flow through us like the blood that circulates through our veins.   Dogmatic presuppositions, drummed into our heads from infancy are like security blankets that shroud us in relative ignorance, and chain us to our beast-like tendencies.  We are capable of much more.  So much more.

One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.

Time is the greatest thief in life.

There is nothing worse than apathy.

There are two regrets in life : You get what you don't want. Or you don't get what you want.

The most fatality in human nature is greedy and selfish.

The earth is getting very sick day by day. But, the human minds are thousand times sicker than it ! You yourself are the only healer !!!

The dolt is not a hindrance. The greatest hindrance in life is dolt and sloth.

Having no religion does not mean having no religious beliefs, rather it means that you choose not to pick a specific religious sect to exclusively identify with.” ~ atypican

The country has no future without Freedom and Justice. Hope to see a better human nature on earth.

Not everyone has the title to love or be loved. If you can love and be loved, be sure to love with all your soul.

Need to be smart by existing. Need to be wise by living.

Life is faded away in the everlasting awaited.

Just for a persistence of faith, many people deplete their entire lives in the everlasting awaited.

If we take life so seriously, we will only live in pain.

Only the misfortune understands what fortune is, and knows how to treasure it.

The thought-provoking, anonymously-written note was circulating quickly in cyberspace. It read: Dear Optimist, Pessimist and Realist, While you were arguing about the glass of water, I drank it! Sincerely, The Opportunist. I could not resist posting my own particular brand of humor in response: Dear Opportunist, The Optimist hoped you would, the Pessimist knew you would, and the Realist was the one who drank the first half.

If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers.

Most people think that shadows follow, precede, or surround beings or objects. The truth is that they also surround words, ideas, desires, deeds, impulses and memories.

Divine justice and joy empowers unity and peace.

The new year begins in a snow-storm of white vows.

We couldn't enjoy the freedom of driving if there weren't rules of the road, or of eating, if there weren't food safety rules. Really, every sort of human activity - from bed-making to baseball-playing - involves rules. We can also celebrate that, unlike many human-made rules open to endless debate, nature offers us nonarbitrary, infallible guidelines. Could we see that certainty not as a restriction, but as a relief? And we can ask, what rules do people love? Those that make sense to us because we can see how they serve us, and those we feel respect us because the rule-makers are listening to us.

What we give our attention to – stays with us What we let go of – will let go of us

If You come from a place of Love Then You are Free and fear dispells itself into nothing If You live in the Moment – In the Present Then You don’t fear because You can let all the Good , The miracles in.

You are only as strong as your purpose, therefore let us choose reasons to act that are big, bold, righteous and eternal.

God, help me see myself as clearly as I see others.

You can't afford to buy cheap.

How rare it is to find a soul quiet enough to hear God speak. ( François Fénelon )

God is all and I am nothing.

Beware of overconcern for money, or position, or glory. Someday you will meet a man who cares for none of these things. Then you will know how poor you are.

The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either -- but right through every human heart -- and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained.

Misunderstandings and neglect occasion more mischief in the world than even malice and wickedness.

A problem well stated is a problem half solved.

A problem well stated is a problem half solved.

There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.

Style is time's fool. Form is time's student.

The secret to your freedom is found in what you tell yourself!

A Painter/ Artist is nothing more than a medium, a filter, through which 'the truth' strives to be delivered (materialized), to the collective consciousness. Art is certainly not about oneself, ones Ego and personal gratification; a true born artist is caught between understanding the responsibility of its task (its spiritual meaning), and the misconception of those who see it as just one another meaning to produce materialism.

From this hour I ordain myself loos'd of limits and imaginary lines. Going where I list, my own master, total and absolute. Listening to others, and considering well what they say. Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating. Gently but with undeniable will, divesting myself of the holds that would hold me.

I will not say, do not weep, for not all tears are an evil.

All that is gold does not glitter.

Darkness is the light that shows us the true horror of the world and light is the darkness that blocks the sorrow and makes it bearable.

Everywhere we look, ideology slouches along the freeways and autoroutes, sometimes carrying a cross, sometimes a sickle, sometimes a crescent, but always busy doing somebody in somewhere, somehow.

The victim of mind-manipulation does not know that he is a victim. To him, the walls of his prison are invisible, and he believes himself to be free

All thoughts vibrate eternally in the cosmos…Thoughts are universally and not individually rooted; a truth cannot be created, but only perceived. The erroneous thoughts of man result from imperfections in his discernment. The goal of yoga science is to calm the mind, that without distortion it may mirror the divine visions of the universe.

Wisdom can be divided into two: the original wisdom, and the wisdom gained after satori. Original wisdom is the great wisdom of equality, and is inborn; but the wisdom gained after satori is the wonderful wisdom of differentiation.

There is no such thing as good and bad in an absolute sense. There is only the good and bad- the harm in terms of happiness and suffering- that our thoughts and our actions do to ourselves and others.

Every natural fact is a symbol of some spiritual fact.

There is no object so foul that intense light will not make beautiful.

Comparison is the most dangerous acquaintance love can make.

The most dangerous man, to any government, is the man who is able to think things out for himself.

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.

The individual is handicapped by coming face to face with a conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe that it exists.

Only if we grant power to something can it have power over us. It becomes a serving and sustaining potency when we again are able to place it into the realm where it belongs, instead of submitting to it.

Synchronicities, epiphanies, peak, and mystical experiences are all cases in which creativity breaks through the barriers of the self and allows awareness to flood through the whole domain of consciousness. It is the human mind operating, for a moment, in its true order and moving through orders of increasing subtlety, reaching past the source of mind and matter into creativity itself.

What is happening to our world is almost too colossal for human comprehension to contain…To contemplate its girth and its circumference, to attempt to define it, to try and fight it all at once, is impossible. The only way to combat it is by fighting specific wars in specific ways.

…reality only exists where pure light and pure dark merge to form an image.

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

If we can simply distinguish between the different successive stages of evolution, it is possible to see primeval events within the earthly events of the present.

The only difference between reality and fiction is that fiction must be credible.

Fear is never a good counselor and victory over fear is the first spiritual duty of man.

In the long run, it is far more dangerous to adhere to illusion than to face what the actual fact is.

Philosophy is the science of estimating values. The superiority of any state or substance over another is determined by philosophy. By assigning a position of primary importance to what remains when all that is secondary has been removed, philosophy thus becomes the true index of priority or emphasis in the realm of speculative thought. The mission of philosophy a priori is to establish the relation of manifested things to their invisible ultimate cause or nature.

Only puny secrets need protection. Big discoveries are protected by public incredulity.

The practice of discernment is part of higher consciousness. Discernment is not just a step up from judgment. In life’s curriculum, it is the opposite of judgment. Through judgment a man reveals what he needs to confront and learn. Through discernment, one reveals what he has mastered.

The cosmic spirit is given to us in order that we may analyze, weigh, and clarify things in us which nettle us, or which we are outgrowing. Or trying to reshape.

We depend on our words…Our task is to communicate experience and ideas to others. We must strive continually to extend the scope of our description, but in such a way that our messages do not thereby lose their objective or unambiguous character…We are suspended in language in such a way that we cannot say what is up and what is down. The word ‘reality’ is also a word, a word which we must learn to use correctly.

Whenever one tries to suppress doubt, there is tyranny.

Moderation, the Golden Mean, the Aristonmetron, is the secret of wisdom and of happiness. But it does not mean embracing an unadventurous mediocrity; rather it is an elaborate balancing act, a feat of intellectual skill demanding constant vigilance. Its aim is a reconciliation of opposites.

Yet you must not cling to the words of the old sages either; they, too, may not be right. Even if you believe them, you should be alert so that, in the event that something superior comes along, you may follow that.

Life is a tragedy for those who feel, and a comedy for those who think.

It is no measure of health to be well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society.

Everything the same; everything distinct.

The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.

Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.

The Net is a dangerous place to send naive students. You may as well send them to the nearest laundromat to learn about quantum mechanics. They might get lucky, but they're more likely to return as members of a new church.

Where facts are few, experts are many.

Unfortunately, the media have trouble distinguishing between real science and propaganda cross-dressed as science.

Life is too short to have negative friends.

As a rule we disbelieve all the facts and theories for which we have no use. A great many people think they are thinking when they are really rearranging their prejudices.

It is more often from pride than from ignorance that we are so obstinately opposed to current opinions; we find the first places taken, and we do not want to be the last.

Leadership is about empathy. It is about having the ability to relate and to connect with people for the purpose of inspiring and empowering their lives.

What we think, or what we know, or what we believe, is in the end, of little consequence. The only thing of consequence is what we do.

Inquiry is fatal to certainty.

Light comes to us unexpectedly and obliquely. Perhaps it amuses the gods to try us. They want to see whether we are asleep.

You can't shame or humiliate modern celebrities. What used to be called shame and humiliation is now called publicity.

I do not know which makes a man more conservative—to know nothing but the present, or nothing but the past.

By all means let's be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out.

Whatever separates man from man is not of God, but of ego.

Some people become so expert at reading between the lines they don't read the lines.

Elitism is the slur directed at merit by mediocrity.

Wisdom is knowing I am nothing, Love is knowing I am everything, and between the two my life moves.

We think caged birds sing, when indeed they cry.

To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness.

The free man cannot be long the ignorant man.

Intent and result are two allies whom rarely meet.

An observant person sees things overlooked by others. A scientist sees things going on and then asks how these goings-on array themselves into patterns, patterns that are reliable and predictable. A really good scientist--or a really good artist for that matter, anyone whose mind and soul are capable of some extension--sees what is going on, sees the patterns, and asks, 'Why?' What underlying forces are at work? How are those forces exerting themselves? How may we understand? Once pried from the universe by a great mind or a discerning heart, the hard-won understanding may then be conveyed and conferred upon humanity at large.

Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.

Don't cry because it ended. Smile because it happened.

The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.

A bigot is a person who makes an idol of his commitments.

Awe, the virtue of love..no law against it neither can there be because of the nature thereof.

Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them.

We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it -- and stop there -- lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again, and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one any more.

Excellence is the attitude we achieve as we keep believing we are uniquely created and loved by our Creator for a purpose which makes the human experience best for the least of us. Our Creator is the STAR of His universe and we are created in His image to shine for Him. Never stop loving,laughing and living like His star you are. (C) Copyright 2010 Lawrence E. Tucker

The best way I know to prepare for our future is through our fervent faithfilled prayers today

9Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. 10Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him[a] to make him stumble. 11But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him. 1 John 2:9-11 (New International Version)

Oh, threats of hell and hopes of paradise! / One thing at least is certain -- this life flies; / One thing is certain, and the rest is lies; / The flower that once has blown forever dies.

Truth, in matters of religion, is simply the opinion that has survived.

We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring, Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time.

Gold in its native state is but dull, unornamental stuff, and only lowborn metals excite the admiration of the ignorant with an ostentatious glitter. However, like the rest of the world, I still go on underrating men of gold and glorifying men of mica.

When you think of the long and gloomy history of man, you will find more hideous crimes have been committed in the name of obedience than have ever been committed in the name of rebellion.

A society that presumes a norm of violence and celebrates aggression, whether in the subway, on the football field, or in the conduct of its business, cannot help making celebrities of the people who would destroy it.

Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.

Even in abundance, human beings create willful scarcity; even in life, human beings create mindless death.

History may not repeat itself, but it does rhyme alot.

To profess to be doing God's will is a form of megalomania.

Government is too big and too important to be left to the politicians.

The greatest mystery is not that we have been flung at random between the profusion of matter and of the stars, but that within this prison we can draw from ourselves images powerful enough to deny our nothingness.

Where you stumble, there your treasure lies.

I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own -- a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty.

That's a fine line that's a big deal.

Our choicest plans have fallen through, our airiest castles tumbled over, because of lines we neatly drew and later neatly stumbled over.

The death of dogma is the birth of morality.

One ounce of patience is greater than a ton of pure gold; because patience is divine+

The only way human beings can win a war is to prevent it.

If you simply try to "do unto other as you would like them to do unto you" then you could wind up doing things to others they might not enjoy as much as you do. . . . An even more "finely tuned" rule might be what some call "The Platinum Rule," namely, "Do Unto Others as They Would Have You Do Unto Them." In other words, take time to learn about your neighbor's tastes, their mood, their nature, and their temperment, before you start "doing" things "unto them." Treat others the way they want to be treated.

A peculiar side of credulity is that it is often joined with a proneness to imposture. The association of believing and lying is not characteristic solely of children. They inability or unwillingness to see things as they are promotes both gullibility and charlatanism.

What Stresemann said of the Germans is true of the frustrated in general: '[They] pray not only for [their] daily bread, but also for [their] daily illusion'. The rule seems to be that those who find no difficulty in deceiving themselves are easily deceived by others. They are easily persuaded and led.

A man is likely to mind his own business when it is worth minding. When it is not, he takes his mind off his own meaningless affairs by minding other people's business.

I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.

When others asked the truth of me, I was convinced it was not the truth they wanted, but an illusion they could bear to live with.

One of the primary tests of the mood of a society at any given time is whether its comfortable people tend to identify, psychologically, with the power and achievements of the very successful or with the needs and sufferings of the underprivileged.