Control the horse and guide it
If you guide it
the horse of the breath* will obey you.
then you can reach the place
In which the Almighty One dwells.

The Dhikr is the essential spiritual exercise in which the in breath consists of :
“Nothing exists but You,Oh God” as the out breath.
And,”Only You exist,Oh God,as the in breath.

     On the right side we have a soul. Most of us believe that, and even the skeptics acknowledge that it probably exists. All of history ,all spiritual traditions,all the wise beings we respect,love and admire have told us this over the milleniums,and have lived their lives accordingly.

     On the left side we have the body – the 5 elements (earth,fire,water,air,and ether).And out of these arise mind and desire.Everything in the physical world relates to these elements and we struggle to keep them in balance and to take from them what give us sustenance and  pleasure.

    The ego,which belongs to the left side, dictates,consciously or unconsciously, our behaviour.Yet even with both sections operating, one factor always emerges as the essence of our lives – Peace. With it we need nothing and without it we may have everything the left side offers but we will still lack peace and hence be unhappy . 

   Back to the beginning – the soul is made up of the qualities of God -patience,tolerance,forgiveness,compassion,wisdom,understanding, faith,certitude,determination,love,forbearance,peacefulness,justice,truthfulness,generosity,fair play,love for all beings,duty,conscience,and unity. 

    When we act with these ,we have peace – our lives have fulfillment and we are then in the state ,we are able to bring peace to others. . Goodness brings peace. It is simple but it is true and it is a wonder,this soul,this life,this kingdom of God ; right here and now.

Once in New York

Something strange

happened.

The filter of

Image

Vanished.

My life had been

in black and white

And ,suddenly

It became

Color.

I do not know

to this day

what happened.

I only know that

my old companion,

Worry, went on vacation.

My strength doubled,

my understanding deepened,

Each day was an

Awakening.

I dared not tell

a soul for I knew the telling would

scare my new friend away.

I just embraced him.

Now he is gone,my friend.

How can I find

him again?

Each spring I carefully take tomato seeds gathered from the previous year and germinate them in little pots.I water them lovingly and by early May they are beautiful,vibrant 5″plants ready to be planted outside.This year,several weeks after the aforementionned process the little plants were outside beginning to shoot up.I was happy.To aid their growth, at this time, I spray an enzyme solution which strengthens the plants.I use a backpack sprayer for this. I mixed the solution ,sprayed it on the tomatoes and waited. The next day I knew something was seriously wrong- the plants were drooping and sickly and it only got worse on the following days.It dawned on me what I had inadvertently done. I had, several weeks before, used the sprayer to spray a Chlorox solution to remove algae on a fence to be painted.I had washed out the sprayer when finished.Before using the enzyme solution I had again washed the sprayer.I remembered (with dread)an article saying – never fill the sprayer with any toxic substance as it will stay in the plastic even after washing.The article went on to say that if you use a certain kind of soap and wash3-4 times you should be fine. I had disregarded this advice and voila – the disaster. I find in looking back over this accident several important truths we must not forget in our dealings with others.The point here is to do things correctly,right down to the dotted i and the crossed t.When we do what is correct we avoid the accident or interpersonally,the misunderstandings,hurt,and pain we may unwittingly cause.Failure to return a phone call,leaving an important  conversation unfinished with the conclusion hanging,neglecting to thank someone for a kind act they have done,impatience demonstrated by the manner in which we listen to another’s problems.There are many others we can think of but the point is the same just like the toxic element in the sprayer.Remember we ARE the sprayers and we should be very careful about what comes out or down the line it can hurt or damage someone.By the way,with a number of corrective measures, the tomatoes survived and now are doing well.