Friday, 18 February 2011

a Moment for Wisdom…

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DAILY WISDOM:

I acknowledge the beauty in you.

I acknowledge the love in you.

I acknowledge the greatness in you.

Sharif Abdullah

Personal Wisdom:

Look into a mirror and say this quote out loud to yourself. How do you feel when you hear it?

Get a sheet of paper and make 3 columns and two rows.

• In the first column, top row, make a
  list of people you know personally to whom you could say these three
  things to, out loud, with ease (or without much difficulty).
• In the second column, top row, make a list of people you know personally to whom you would find it more difficult to say these three things to, out loud.
• In the third column, top row, make a list of people you know personally to whom you could not say these things to. (Note whether or not you feel that the block is in you or in them.)
• On the bottom row, make the same three lists… this time, for people you do not know, or know only superficially. This would include political leaders, celebrities, etc.

Societal Wisdom:

America as a society is great about saying these things… about itself! The only time we acknowledge greatness or beauty in another society, its only because we are being polite.

Do you think our societal narcissism is appropriate? Healthy?

What can cure our excessive inward focus?

a Moment with Sharif…

Greetings;

I recently had the honor and privilege of contributing to a book with the straightforward title, “How Do You Pray?” In my interview with author/compiler Celeste Yacoboni, I had a chance to reflect out loud on my own interior processes.  What indeed is prayer?  And, how do we pray?  (For more info on Celeste’s project, click here.)

The above quote is a form of prayer. Prayer is an acknowledgment of “what is”.

A person may ask, “To whom are you referring when you make the above statement? Are you talking about another person? Are you looking in the mirror and talking to yourself?
Are you talking to a Being without a body? Are you talking to a tree?”

To which I respond: YES! And a whole lot more!

All beings, all of LIFE, are One.  And our acknowledgement of that, our noticing, our attention, our reverence, our devotion… all that strengthens and completes the
field of Oneness.

But… look at the words that I just used: notice, attention, reverence, devotion… where do they appear in our society?  Where do they appear in your own life?

Look at what gets our attention: screens of various kinds, flashing colored lights.
Superficiality.  Trivia.  As individuals and as a society, we are starving for acknowledgment. To both give and receive attention and notice.

Remember: it is ALWAYS YOUR CHOICE what you pay attention to.  (As TV screens become more ubiquitous, that choice becomes harder, but not impossible.)  Are you
devoted to a football team?  Or gardening? That’s okay.  Are you devoted to the Transcendent?  Really?  Which do you spend more time talking about?

Peace,

Sharif

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Acknowledgments:

Sharif Abdullah photo: Lisa Norton

All other photos by Sharif Abdullah, unless otherwise noted.

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