We stood in an empty white room, facing two doors. The Master explained to me that while the initial conditions behind the two doors were the same, it was the thinking, attitudes and actions of the people inside that made all the difference. The doors were labeled "Heaven" and "Hell."
Hell
The Master pushed open the door marked "Hell" and invited me to look. My first sight was one of abundance: There were tables piled high with fruits, vegetables and the finest meats. It was a feast of the finest delicacies of the world.
But then I saw the multitudes of miserable people, huddled in darkness. They were starving, gaunt, with permanent frowns of misery affixed to their ashen faces. In spite of the bounty that surrounded them, they were frustrated, angry and malnourished. I asked the Master why. He only pointed, instructing me silently to observe carefully. I saw that in spite of the abundance, the people had only seven-foot long chopsticks with which to eat their food. It was like a cruel joke. Try as they might, they could not manage to get the food from the plates into their own mouths. I saw them clumsily trying to guide morsels of food into their mouths, only to be frustrated by the impossible task, then lash out in anger at their fellow companions who pointed and snickered at their failures. In spite of the overflow wealth in the room, it was filled with shouting, anger, violence and tears.
When I had seen enough, the Master closed the door. I shuddered at the tragedy of it. Before I could ask a single question, The Master put his finger to his lips and directed me to look behind the second door.
Heaven
My first sight behind the door marked "Heaven" was the same as before: There were tables piled high with fruits, vegetables and the finest meats. It was a feast of the finest delicacies of the world.
But the population of people in this world were happy, filled with mirth and laughter. Young children ran and played among the tables, and adults were healthy with ruddy skin and strong, robust figures. The master had told me that the initial conditions behind each of the doors were the same. Sure enough, I saw the seven-foot long chopsticks that the people behind the first door had so clumsily tried to use to feed themselves.
When I spotted the difference between this world and the other, I immediately burst out laughing. The Master, satisfied with my insight, silently closed the door.
The Difference
Can you imagine what it is I saw? Instead of trying to manage everything on their own without thinking of others, the people behind the second door marked "Heaven" used the long chopsticks to feed one another.
They had learned perfectly the art of selflessness and cooperation, and came to see that the generosity they gave all came back to them in the end. It was then that I realized that Heaven is a place where people help one another, while Hell is a place where people think only of themselves - and get nothing from it in the end.
Afterword
When I relayed this story to a friend, my friend brushed it aside impatiently saying, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know that story. I've heard it before."
The Master was most impressed, for it was very rare to meet a person so knowledgeable in the art of selflessness and cooperation. "Yes," my friend reiterated. "I know it quite well."
"Do you practice the art of selflessness and cooperation in your own life?" the Master asked.
"Er. . . well, no. . .not always. . . "
"Then you do not know it," said the Master.
Friday, April 13, 2012
Thursday, April 12, 2012
news.yahoo.com
Mike Tyson thinks that George Zimmerman deserves violent retribution for the shooting of Trayvon Martin. In an interview with Yahoo News about his upcoming one-man show in Las Vegas, the former heavyweight champion sounded off on the polarizing case: "My personal feeling is that, as a young kid that...
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
SING
My New Mitt Romney Song
(Lexington Green, 2012)
(Sung to the Tune of “Give me that Old Time Religion”)
Chorus:
I’m votin’ for Mitt Romney
I’m votin’ for Mitt Romney
I’m votin’ for Mitt Romney
He’s good enough for me
Verses:
He’s not Barack Obama
He’s not Barack Obama
He’s not Barack Obama
That’s good enough for me
He can beat Barack Obama
He can beat Barack Obama
He can beat Barack Obama
That’s good enough for me
(Repeat until Tuesday, November 6, 2012)
Please feel free to make up as many additional verses as you want.
15 Things You Should Give Up To Be Happy
YOU HAVE TO READ THIS. I learned much of this too late, but I learned it.
I only wish I could get everyone I know to grasp this truth
Read the whole thing:
15 Things You Should Give Up To Be Happy
I only wish I could get everyone I know to grasp this truth
Read the whole thing:
15 Things You Should Give Up To Be Happy
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
www.nytimes.com
The friendship between Mitt Romney and Benjamin Netanyahu, little known to outsiders, is now rich with political intrigue.
www.theblaze.com
The New Black Panthers had a group phone call Friday to discuss the April 9 rally for Trayvon Martin. (Related: Malik Zulu Shabazz: New Black Panthers Planning April 9 ‘Day of Action’) Hosted primarily by Michelle Williams and Chawn Kweli, the New Black Panther’s chief of staff in Tampa and a nation...
The movie Cabaret was about early Nazi Germany as the gathering storm was brewing. Instead of standing up to the Nazis the people were entertained to keep quiet. They enjoyed going to the club, the Cabaret. There they would forget about the day's troubles. We are at that time again. We have some difficult issues to deal with but the silence in the Cabaret (the Church) is puzzling. It's more fun to party down, dance, sing, shout and love on each other while ignoring the thundering jackboots marching just outside. The lyrics to the well known song seem to speak to our day..even Elsie..
What good is sitting alone in your room?
Come hear the music play.
Life is a Cabaret, old chum,
Come to the Cabaret.
Put down the knitting,
The book and the broom.
Time for a holiday.
Life is Cabaret, old chum,
Come to the Cabaret.
Come taste the wine,
Come hear the band.
Come blow your horn,
Start celebrating;
Right this way,
Your table's waiting
No use permitting
some prophet of doom
To wipe every smile away.
Come hear the music play.
Life is a Cabaret, old chum,
Come to the Cabaret!
I used to have a girlfriend
known as Elsie
With whom I shared
Four sordid rooms in Chelsea
She wasn't what you'd call
A blushing flower...
As a matter of fact
She rented by the hour.
The day she died the neighbors
came to snicker:
"Well, thats what comes
from to much pills and liquor."
But when I saw her laid out like a Queen
She was the happiest...corpse...
I'd ever seen.
I think of Elsie to this very day.
I'd remember how'd she turn to me and say:
"What good is sitting alone in your room?
Come hear the music play.
Life is a Cabaret, old chum,
Come to the Cabaret."
And as for me,
I made up my mind back in Chelsea,
When I go, I'm going like Elsie.
Start by admitting
From cradle to tomb
Isn't that long a stay.
Life is a Cabaret, old chum,
Only a Cabaret, old chum,
And I love a Cabaret!
What good is sitting alone in your room?
Come hear the music play.
Life is a Cabaret, old chum,
Come to the Cabaret.
Put down the knitting,
The book and the broom.
Time for a holiday.
Life is Cabaret, old chum,
Come to the Cabaret.
Come taste the wine,
Come hear the band.
Come blow your horn,
Start celebrating;
Right this way,
Your table's waiting
No use permitting
some prophet of doom
To wipe every smile away.
Come hear the music play.
Life is a Cabaret, old chum,
Come to the Cabaret!
I used to have a girlfriend
known as Elsie
With whom I shared
Four sordid rooms in Chelsea
She wasn't what you'd call
A blushing flower...
As a matter of fact
She rented by the hour.
The day she died the neighbors
came to snicker:
"Well, thats what comes
from to much pills and liquor."
But when I saw her laid out like a Queen
She was the happiest...corpse...
I'd ever seen.
I think of Elsie to this very day.
I'd remember how'd she turn to me and say:
"What good is sitting alone in your room?
Come hear the music play.
Life is a Cabaret, old chum,
Come to the Cabaret."
And as for me,
I made up my mind back in Chelsea,
When I go, I'm going like Elsie.
Start by admitting
From cradle to tomb
Isn't that long a stay.
Life is a Cabaret, old chum,
Only a Cabaret, old chum,
And I love a Cabaret!
www.newser.com
If you found yourself thinking last month, "Wow, it's awfully hot for March," you weren't wrong. Temperatures were 8.6 degrees higher than normal last month in the contiguous US, and... Science News Summaries. | Newser
www.theatlantic.com
Why has the media establishment become so unpopular? Perhaps the public has good reason to think that the media's self-aggrandizement gets in the way of solving the country's real problems
Sunday, April 08, 2012
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