By 30, I found balance through practicing the rites
By 40, I had rid myself of doubts
By 50, I knew what the heavens wanted me to do on Earth
By 60, I was attuned to what I heard and saw around me
By 70, I had attained my most intimate desire -inner peace
What a sublime description of the spiritual path! And I used to think Confucius was an externalist!
Openness and closedness
(being created)
A metaphor for the spiritual path
Noverber 7th
The spiritual path is a garden. The perseverance in the actual spiritual practices (often serious, hard work) represents the breaking of the ground (of the ego). The spiritual master (Sheikh or Guru) is the seed planted in the heart of the disciple. This seed comes from a long lineage of seeds. (the chain of masters). The regulations of the path (things forbidden and things that are obligatory) is represented by the fence of the garden, which protects the garden form destructive intruders. The water for the plant to grow comes from the Grace and Mercy of God.
Problems
November 14th
Most problems that we are confronted with in life have no robust solutions. This is very shocking to the modern mind-set ,so conditioned to problem-solving approaches. Often the best we can do is to manage the problem. If we go even deeper we will find that acceptance --profound acceptance- is the most satisfying answer.
Religion
December 8
There is a common misconception in the West that religion is bad but spirituality is good.In fact, the two are inextricably linked. Any of our spiritual super- heroes[Jellaluddin Rumi(Muslim), Ramakrishna(Hindu). the Dalai Lama(Buddhist) and St.Theresa d'Avila(Catholic) to name just a few]were fervent practitioners of their religions of origin.I suspect that the desire to eliminate religion is,in reality, the desire to eliminate self-control and discipline.
Coherency
One of the more commonly accepted myths of modern times is that coherency and consistency are the measures of truth. This is really a very deep-seated error. It assumes that our conceptual maps are equivalent to the reality on the ground. Nothing could be further from the truth and nothing could create so much chaos in our social, political and spiritual live
Achievement
December 11
Anything of a serious nature that we would like to accomplish in life will involve overcoming four obstacles
