Inspiring Stories of Love, Healing, & Empowerment
Inspirations
March 2006
Issue Number
32
Welcome to Inspirations! Global Community For All sends out this e-zine filled with short, inspiring stories of love, healing, and empowerment once every three months. We share these wonderfully inspiring stories to encourage and inspire each other to be the best we can be each day of our lives. Thanks for joining us, and may these words inspire us to ever deepen our commitment to love, heal, and empower; to open to divine guidance; and to choose what's best for all.
The four inspiring stories for this issue are:
A Little Boy's Last Wish
– Jack Canfield and Mark V. Hansen
Principles of Spiritual Activism
– Satyana Institute
With That Moon Language – Hafiz
Toward Divine Wisdom and Understanding
– Translated by Fred Burks
A Little Boy's Last Wish
– Jack Canfield and Mark V. Hansen
Taken from the highly inspiring book Chicken Soup for the Soul
The 26-year-old mother stared down at her son who was dying of terminal leukemia. Although her heart was filled with sadness, she also had a strong feeling of determination. Like any parent she wanted her son to grow up and fulfill all his dreams. Now that was no longer possible. The leukemia would see to that.
But she still wanted her son's dreams to come true. She took her son's hand and asked, "Bopsy, did you ever think about what you wanted to be once you grew up? Did you ever dream and wish what you would do with your life?"
"Mommy, I always wanted to be a fireman when I grew up." Mom smiled back and said, "Let's see if we can make your wish come true."
Later that day she went to her local fire department in Phoenix, Arizona, where she met Fireman Bob, who had a heart as big as Phoenix. She explained her son's final wish and asked if it might be possible to give her six year old son a ride around the block on a fire engine. Fireman Bob said, "Look, we can do better than that. If you'll have your son ready at seven o'clock Wednesday morning, we'll make him an honorary fireman for the whole day. He can come down to the fire station, eat with us, go out on all the fire calls, the whole nine yards! "And if you'll give us his sizes, we'll get a real fire uniform for him, with a real fire hat -- not a toy one -- with the emblem of the Phoenix Fire Department on it, a yellow slicker like we wear and rubber boots. They're all manufactured right here in Phoenix, so we can get them fast."
Three days later Fireman Bob picked up Bopsy, dressed him in his fire uniform and escorted him from his hospital bed to the waiting hook and ladder truck. Bopsy got to sit on the back of the truck and help steer it back to the fire station. He was in heaven. There were three fire calls in Phoenix that day and Bopsy got to go out on all three calls. He rode in the different fire engines, the paramedic's van, and even the fire chief's car. He was also videotaped for the local news program. Having his dream come true, with all the love and attention that was lavished upon him, so deeply touched Bopsy that he lived three months longer than any doctor thought possible.
One night all of his vital signs began to drop dramatically and the head nurse, who believed in the hospice concept that no one should die alone, began to call the family members to the hospital. Then she remembered the day Bopsy had spent as a fireman, so she called the Fire Chief and asked if it would be possible to send a fireman in uniform to the hospital to be with Bopsy as he made his transition. The chief replied, "We can do better than that. We'll be there in five minutes. Will you please do me a favor? When you hear the sirens screaming and see the lights flashing, will you announce over the PA system that there is not a fire? It's just the fire department coming to see one of its finest members one more time. And will you open the window to his room?
About five minutes later a hook and ladder truck arrived at the hospital, extended its ladder up to Bopsy's third floor open window and five firefighters climbed up the ladder into Bopsy's room. With his mother's permission, they hugged him and held him and told him how much they loved him. With his dying breath, Bopsy looked up at the fire chief and said, "Chief, am I really a fireman now?" "Yes, Bopsy, you are a fireman now," the chief said. With those words, Bopsy smiled and closed his eyes one last time. He passed away later that evening.
For the background of this amazing, true story: http://www.snopes.com/glurge/fireman.htm
Principles of Spiritual Activism–Satyana Institute
http://www.satyana.org
The following principles emerged from several years' work with social change leaders. They are offered not as definitive truths, but rather as key learnings and guidelines that, taken together, comprise a useful framework for spiritual activism.
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Move from anger to compassion, from fear to love, and from despair to purpose. This is a vital challenge for today's social change movement. This is not to deny the noble emotion of appropriate anger or outrage in the face of social injustice. Rather, this entails a crucial shift from fighting against evil to instead working for love. A positive future cannot emerge from the mind of anger and despair. The long-term results are very different, even if the outer activities appear virtually identical.
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Let go of attachment to outcome. This can be difficult to put into practice. Yet to the extent that we are attached to the results of our work, we rise and fall with our successes and failures. Attachment to results is the path to burnout. Hold a clear intention, and let go of the outcome—recognizing that a larger wisdom is always operating. As Gandhi said, "the victory is in the doing," not the results. Also, remain flexible in the face of changing circumstances. In Eisenhower's words, "plans are useless, but planning is indispensable."
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Choose integrity as your protection. If your work has integrity, this will tend to protect you from negative energy and circumstances. You can often sidestep negative energy from others by becoming "transparent" to it, allowing it to pass right through you with no adverse effect upon you. This is a consciousness practice that might be called "psychic aikido." A noble goal cannot be achieved utilizing ignoble means. Integrity in both means and ends cultivates integrity in the fruit of one's work.
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Have compassion for your adversaries. Don't demonize those you see as opposed to you. It only makes them more defensive and less receptive to your views. People tend to respond to arrogance with their own arrogance, creating rigid polarization. Be a perpetual learner, always working to understand those who are different from you and to challenge your own views.
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Remember that you are unique. Find and fulfill your true calling. It is better to tread your own path, however humbly, than that of another, however successfully.
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Love thy enemy. Or at least, have compassion for them. This means moving from "us vs. them" thinking to "we" consciousness, from separation to cooperation, recognizing that we human beings are ultimately far more alike than we are different. This may be challenging in situations with people whose views are radically opposed to yours. Yet you can be hard on the issues and soft on the people.
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Let your work be both for yourself and others. The full harvest of your work may not take place in your lifetime, yet your efforts now are making possible a better life for future generations. Let your fulfillment come in gratitude for being called to do this work, and from doing it with as much compassion, authenticity, and fortitude as you can muster.
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Know that selfless service is a myth. In serving others, we serve our true selves. "It is in giving that we receive." We are sustained by those we serve, just as we are blessed when we forgive others. Service work is enlightened self-interest, because it cultivates an expanded sense of self that includes all others.
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Do not insulate yourself from the pain of the world. Shielding yourself from heartbreak prevents transformation. Let your heart break open, and learn to move in the world with a broken heart. Your pain is the medicine by which the physician within heals. When we open ourselves to the pain of the world, we become the medicine that heals the world. A broken heart becomes an open heart, allowing genuine transformation to unfold.
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Live with clear intentions, as you become that upon which you focus. You reap what you sow, so choose your actions carefully. Your essence is pliable, and ultimately you become that upon which you most deeply focus your attention. If you constantly engage in battles, you become embattled yourself. If you constantly give love, you become love itself.
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Let love create form. Quoting Martin Luther King, don't get trapped by "pessimism concerning human nature that is not balanced by an optimism concerning divine nature," lest you overlook the cure of grace. Let your heart's love infuse your work and you cannot fail, though your dreams may manifest in ways different from what you imagine.
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Rely on faith, and let go of having to figure it all out. There are larger 'divine' forces at work that we can trust completely without knowing their precise workings or agendas. Faith means trusting the unknown, and offering yourself as a vehicle for the intrinsic benevolence of the cosmos. The first step to wisdom is silence. The second is listening. If you genuinely ask inwardly and listen for guidance, and then follow it carefully, you are working in accord with these greater forces. This then transforms you into an instrument for their music.
With That Moon Language – Hafiz
From the book of poetry The Gift
Try this:
Everyone you see, say to them,
"Love with me."
Of course you do not do this out loud;
Otherwise,
Someone would call the cops.
Still, though, think about this,
This great pull in us
To connect.
Why not become the one
Who lives with a full moon in each eye,
The one that is always saying,
With that sweet moon language,
What every other eye in this world
Is dying to
Hear?
Toward Divine Wisdom and Understanding –Translated by Fred Burks
https://www.weboflove.org/consciousnessparadigms - Full text
The wisdom and understanding of our own inner essence is a beacon that draws us inward toward ever deeper connection with the Divine. Yet rather than look for divine wisdom within, most people have long preferred to look outward, thus maintaining a dependence upon a vast hierarchy that stretches between the individual and the Divine. In all our wanderings away from the Divine, humankind has obscured its most compelling features through a persistent belief in limitations defined by this vast external hierarchy.
The Divine dances outside of the confines of any hierarchical structures. It is complete within itself, and has a singular purpose of demonstrating the collective potential of all life within the universe. It is the archetype of perfection. It is the standard bearer of each soul's innate design and ultimate destiny. The essence of the Divine is so far beyond mental conception that humanity's tendency is to resort to the limiting language of hierarchical belief systems to define it.
The Hierarchical Paradigm: Searching for Connection and Wholeness
When people are unaware of their inner wisdom and wholeness, they search for order and security outside themselves. Uncertain of their place within the hierarchical order of the world, they tend to define themselves based upon their insecurities. Individuals thus become only pieces of their wholeness and like shards of glass from a beautiful vase, they bear little resemblance to their aggregate beauty. Within the hierarchy, many in high positions of power have taken advantage of our collective insecurities in attempting to guide the development of all humankind. They have obscured the direct connection between the individual and the Divine through a variety of means designed to intercede between our inner essence and our divine source.
Each individual can come to know themselves to be free of all forms of hierarchical control. This is not to imply that we should not trust others or join together in bonds of friendship and community. It is simply a reminder that relative truth is constantly shifting in the hands of those who desire to control. And even when the motive for their controlling behaviors may be of good will, it is still a form of control. When the revealers of "truth" within the hierarchy withhold and suppress information, they are usually positioned to acquire and maintain power rather than disseminating empowerment to all.
The desire for connection and wholeness is a fuel that drives us to seek out and explore the hierarchical paradigm. This inner longing provides us with the motivation to seek help and guidance from a specific group within the hierarchy, and in so doing, cultivate a sense of belonging and connection. Furthermore, the hierarchical paradigm is a stage whereby we develop a sense of connection to some grand, encompassing vision. This is why the hierarchy nurtures prophets who point toward a greater vision.
Spiritual leaders are able to peer deeply beneath the surface reality of life and experience how intricately connected every life form is, and how the composite of all life is intelligent far beyond measure. These visionary leaders can thus interpret reality through their personal abilities to perceive and express life's dimensional depth and limitless intelligence. Yet no one is able to articulate life's full dimensional depth and breadth with the tools of language. They can only, at best, describe their interpretation or their impressions.
In actuality, all of us are able to peer beneath the surface reality of life and perceive a unique vision of the universe. We require only time and intention to develop our own interpretations. And this is precisely what many great spiritual leaders have taught. Life's deeper essence is not an absolute to be experienced by the chosen few, but an evolving, dynamic intelligence that wears as many faces as there are life forms. No group or people has the exclusive portal into the universe by which the Divine expresses itself in all its majesty. The portal is open and available to all, because the Divine is within all things.
Those who are recognized as great prophets each produced a vision of the universe beyond what was currently defined by the hierarchy. Because their interpretations were articulated with authority and depth of insight, they became a target of debate among various groups in the hierarchy. This debate then created a polarity of belief. A sympathetic constituency emerged to defend and embellish their leader's interpretation, while established groups held it in contempt of previously held beliefs. Invariably, the leader's vision became confined and shaped into rigid dogma by followers who desired to create a religion or sect. Thus, this infusion of fresh insight quietly receded into the hands of the hierarchy, where its deeper meaning was obscured by the very fact that it was incorporated into a massive structure that both protected and promoted it.
The Transformation Paradigm: Inner Wisdom and Understanding
A new paradigm is emerging that promotes a clear connection of individual consciousness to the compelling features of the Divine without the intervention of a hierarchy. This is when the fables and myths of history step into the light and become known as they were originally intended. This is the time when language will be transformed into a new form of communication that breaks down all barriers of control. Personal transformation, through the awakening of inner wisdom and understanding, is the pathway into wholeness.
The transformation paradigm is initiated simply by the recognition that rather than the dependency-inducing ways of the hierarchical paradigm, there are accelerated, independent pathways that bypass the hierarchy and lead to self-mastery. These new pathways lead to the divine wisdom and understanding that is present within all of us. This wisdom can be accessed through the practice of three principles of transformation: seeing the Divine in all, nurturance of life, and gratitude. The application of these life principles disengages individuals from the controlling elements of the hierarchy, thus initiating the transformation experience.
As there are relative truths, there are relative freedoms. As individuals evolve through the hierarchical process, an ever-increasing sense of freedom is gained, yet external forces continue to exert control through limiting language and confining belief systems. These controlling influences lead to continued reliance upon the hierarchy as it unceasingly attempts to impose a sense of inequality between us. The underlying equation of the hierarchical paradigm is: individual + hierarchy = God connection. In the case of personal transformation it is: individual + inner wisdom and understanding = divine equality with all.
The Synthesis Paradigm: Integration
For those who feel called, the time has come to integrate the dominant paradigm of the hierarchy with the liberating transformation paradigm. This integration occurs naturally once we have fully explored the two paradigms and develop a synthesis paradigm whereby transformation is attained by searching for connection and wholeness through our own inner wisdom and understanding. It is this combination of release from dependency on the hierarchy and transformation from within that initiates the synthesis paradigm.
Once we take responsibility for our own transformation and integration, it does not mean that the hierarchy is to be shunned or avoided. The hierarchy is quite benign as a manipulative force and merely represents one important stage in the journey toward wholeness. What is being set in motion now is the initial preparation for these paradigm shifts. More specifically, these paradigms will be simultaneously played out over the coming years. As always, it will be the choice of each one of us as to which paradigm we embrace in our journey.
All of the highest imaginings of humanity are yet unaware of our deepest foundation. We have sought the upper reaches of the building, yet remain unaware of the foundation's design. It is here, at the very core of existence that the Divine is bursting forth with its creative energy while simultaneously reintegrating with its invitation to wholeness. It is here that equality is realized, not in the lofty places of relative truth lodged in the hierarchy, but rather in the deepest part of the foundational plan of life's original source and ultimate destiny. The origin and destiny of existence is the tone of equality in life. Listen for this tone—this frequency of vibration—and follow it back into the very foundation from whence all things arise and return.
Consider these words as symbols only. Feel the truth that stands behind these words, and tap into this empowering energy force that reaches out for you. Know it as a tone or vibration—a resonance that waits for you around every corner in which your life will turn. It is a beacon of the Divine gathering itself into the form of language in order to usher you to a place from which you can experience the formless tone of equality—the bypass of limitation. It is the primal language of our divine source that bestows to you the freedom to generate your own deepest beauty in the expression of your highest truth.
For the full ten-page text of this empowering essay, click here
For a two-page summary on principles of transformation, click here
All the darkness of the world cannot put out the light of a single candle.
Thanks for sharing in these inspiring stories with us. We wish you lots
of love, inspiration, and all the very best in the months ahead.
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