Friday, April 13, 2012

Heaven and Hell

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.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

The juxtaposition of these two stories makes me shake my head ----

Homicides in Chicago soar; 120 dead in 2012, 500 wounded...
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-chicago-homicides-soar-20120412,0,1713215.story
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

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Talk about an acceleration of time. This almost never happens I have never seen it before. Red buds the dogwoods and crab apples all blooming at the same time. Even the silver bells are blooming at the same time. Very strange season.
· · · Sunday at 10:03am via mobile
HIS is a plus for Romney...IMHO
www.nytimes.com
The friendship between Mitt Romney and Benjamin Netanyahu, little known to outsiders, is now rich with political intrigue.
Because of the racist fuel fired by the Trayvon Martin shooting and the reaction of people to this we are now have a lit fuse on a powder keg. Look at the murders in Tulsa. http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/police-say-2-suspects-were-arrested-before-dawn-in-okla-shootings-to-be-charged-with-murder/2012/04/08/gIQAGThU3S_story.html?tid=pm_national_pop Look at the reaction of the New Black Panthers in the link below. YET national leaders white and black who should be speaking peace to people are instead fanning the flames. I for one will do all I can to continue to call for common sense, justice and reason in the face of this mess. Many wonder why I persist in posting and calling out these things. I don't have much influence, but the little bit I do, I will spend on trying to bring peace. Too many people on both sides are trying to pretend there is no problem or the problem is all with the other guy. It's like a man about to be hanged in the morning and the warden says "just don't think about it". We must bridge this divide. We must face this. We must talk about it. I have lived my whole life at one level or another to with intentionally do so. Now that is being lost to a demonic spirit lose in the land. I refuse to allow this to happen without speaking up; As a man and as a prophet.
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...
No Joke...actually looks good
nosilencehere.com
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!
This is weird. This is not good," says one climate scientist. Among the "weird" stats:

The average temperature in March was 51.1 degrees this year, when it's normally 42.5 degrees.
Records are usually broken by a tenth or two of a degree; 2012 busted the January-March record by 1.4 degrees.
At least 7,775 weather stations broke daily high records in March.
International Falls, Minn., (aka the "icebox of America") saw temperatures in the 70s for five days in March; there were only three days below zero all month.
The warmer-than-usual temperatures go all the way back to the summer of 2011.
Interestingly, however, this winter's strange warmth has been mostly limited to North America.
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
This is a peek into the dark soul of Mike Wallace
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