Sunday I purchased a new book for my new iPod Touch. It’s “Excuses be Gone,” by Wayne Dyer. Like Dyer’s other books its chocked full of good insights many of which I’ve heard elsewhere b, ut he has such a great delivery it’s better to listen to the book than read it for me. In the past couple of years I’ve listened to more books than I’ve read thank to Apple’s i-Tunes Store. I actually wish that more books came this way. Reading is fun, but with an audible book I can take it anywhere. I can listen in the car, while I’m walking, even when I’m laying down for a nap. I really like my new i-Pod Touch which I got for buying my son a new MacBook. I got a rebate for the entire price of the i-Pod just for buying the Mac. I’m still a Ubuntu user and probably will be, but each of our children now own MacBooks. I highly recommend Dr. Dyer’s book and I recommend you listen to it. I’ve found that listening to books is helpful and I can listen again and again. Listening to Dr. Dyer’s positive affirmations help to program my computer for success.
The great way
As I traveled this weekend I listened again to Wayne Dyer’s, “Change Your Thoughts, Change Your LIfe.” The chapter of the Tao Te Ching which Dr. Dyer spoke of that really caught my attention was the 30th.
Of all things, soldiers are instruments of evil, Hated by men.
Therefore the religious man (possessed of Tao) avoids them.
The gentleman favors the left in civilian life,
But on military occasions favors the right.Soldiers are weapons of evil.
They are not the weapons of the gentleman.
When the use of soldiers cannot be helped,
The best policy is calm restraint.Even in victory, there is no beauty,
And who calls it beautiful
Is one who delights in slaughter.
He who delights in slaughter
Will not succeed in his ambition to rule the world.
Contrast this ancient wisdom with our war on terror. This weekend at our Franciscan meeting I spoke with a friend I made last year and we spoke of the culture of death that pervades our country and how in ancient times knights returning from the crusades were required to spend time on retreat to atone for the sin of killing other men. Maybe post-traumatic stress is a natural reaction to this ungodly act. There is no way that killing a brother can be made right. We are all created by the same force, by the same creator and no one has the right much less the duty to kill another. It is unnatural and unholy.
The light of the world
Today was a beautiful, sunny day as I drove toward Mt. Irenaeus. Today’s Gospel was about the young man born blind who regains his sight as a result of a miracle that Jesus performs. Blindness is always assumed to be a physical defect and nowadays no one even assumes that the victim got his disease through his sin or the sin of a parent. In the time of Jesus such was not the case. We’ve made some progress since then. We understand that blindness is caused my many conditions, but that sin is not one of them.
Non being
I’ve been thinking as I listen to Wayne Dyer’s commentary on the Tao Te Ching. So much of my life is spent in being and doing and what is really important in me and in my life is really non-being. I’m grateful for this book and these moments of insight that have come from it. Until now, the concept of non-being has been elusive. What were they speaking of? Continue reading “Non being”
The way
Recently when working in a client’s home I began to speak of Rumi and my client spoke of Rumi and Wayne Dyer. This discussion was joined again last Friday night at half time of a basketball game as I met my client again. He offered to give me some CDs that contained some talks by Dr. Wayne Dyer. Continue reading “The way”