Tag Archives: love

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Love and Peace Instead of War


Mother Teresa stated, ” Works of love are always works of peace.”

When and where there is God, there is peace. He/she pours their love for us and peace flows over us and within us. Divine love always pours joy and peace into our hearts. My prayer is to be led from despair to hope, from fear to trust, from hate to love, and from war to peace. Our world, our universe is Peace, Peace, Peace.

It cannot exist with war, hate and violence. Every day, we make choices about the world we create around us.

We all have the right to be at peace and happy. We were created to have this life of peace. We can each have peace in our world without causing pain or suffering to others. We each have a responsibility to use what we have been given to create peace. There is no other higher pleasure than to create peace and have that peace in your life create a ripple effect and flow out to touch others in positive ways.

We need to love one another as The One loves each of us. Accepting that love and using it to bring peace into your life will bring peace to those around you. As they feel covered and immersed in peace, it will flow out of their lives and will touch an ever larger group of people. It is a beautiful thing to see and experience.

Peace Plea

Please, protect my child.
Please, protect other mothers’ children.
Please, give me peace.
Please, give other mothers peace.
Please, give the world peace and justice.
This is the peace only you can give.”

————Karen Lavin

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My Favorite Seagull


My home town

My first seagull was Johnathan Livingston Seagull. He really is a book by Richard Bach and my copy is from 1970 and is barely holding together. So I have read it, over and over. Johnathan is a seagull who doesn’t always fit in with the flock. He also questions things and he thinks.

Here in America, we have been victims of a dumbing down of the masses. We are not supposed to think or question what the government or society is doing. We are to believe what we are told. This concept never sat well with me. I am the kind of person who, to this day, likes to question, contemplate and find out the ‘real” truth.

Johnathan was a part of his flock and sailed on the wind currents as he had been taught to do. He and his friends would soar and play and life was good, except that he wondered if there might not be something more to life. He made the decision to see is he could fly higher than what the flock usually flew. So he made the decision to start off as usual but to attempt to fly higher and higher. He had separated from the rest of the flock and decided to try to fly higher in the moonlight. He flew to a thousand feet at full power and went into a vertical dive straight down. It wasn’t perfect the first time and he had to put in a lot of hard work and use all of his strength. He would soar downward at seventy miles an hour and end up soaking wet in the ocean. He continued to climb higher and higher and to descend faster. Then he crashed and was unconsciousness.

He had hit the water at ninety miles an hour.  When he awoke he was floating on the surface of the ocean. As he floated he heard an inner voice that told him he was a limited seagull. If he had been meant to fly higher and faster, he wouldn’t be a mere seagull. He heard a voice telling him to go back to the flock and make himself fit in and stop trying to be better.

As he took off, he went to five thousand feet and he forgot his vow to himself to go back to the flock. He practiced non-stop until later in the day and he had developed his style and he was proud he had conquered his fear.

The Gull Council called for a meeting and Johnathan was called to the middle of the Council to face charges and he realized someone must have seen him practicing this morning. He was told to stand in the center for Shame. He was devastated and he was told that he was facing charges of irresponsibility and violating the dignity and tradition of the Gull family.

He improved himself and could teach the others, but his defense fell on deaf and judgmental ears. How often in life, does someone have a dream, and works, sacrifices and accomplishes his/her dream. They fight family and society and friends but make themselves and the world better.

Johnathan sadly accepted his punishment. He was Outcast. He went out a ways gliding just as a seagull is supposed to do. He was then joined by two gulls and he began to fly level and then to fly higher. They kept up with him and he asks them who they were.  He was told, ” You have learned. One school is finished, and the time has come for another to begin.”

Johnathan looked around and said, ” I’m ready.” Johnathan rose with the other two gulls and flew up into a dark sky. Johnathan found himself in heaven and his outward glowing with light just like his companions.

When he asked about Heaven they told him, “Heaven was not a place, or a time. It is being perfect.” “You will begin to touch heaven, Johnathan, in the moment that you touch perfect speed.” They further explained that flying at a certain speed was a limit. They told him that perfect speed was just being there. Being there.

What a wonderful thought for me. A woman who never was satisfied with what I was told to think and to feel. So many times my questions and realizations that events or considerations made no logical sense. There were times I thought that if I heard, ‘Just do as I say,” I would scream and I knew I would never stop. So I tried to live my life as fully as I could. I worked to make a better place and chose not to live my life according to “the rules.” I could do more and learn more and I , like Johnathan, could soar. Has it been easy? No, it hasn’t. But the inner voice of Divinity guided me every time and no, I didn’t always listen but as I grew in maturity and inner strength, I almost always do now.

“Each of us is in truth an idea of the Great Gull, and unlimited idea of freedom.”
This sentence made me realize that we are all meant to be free. We are to be free and soar to meet with Divinity and to become all that we were meant to be. With Divinity inside, nothing can stop us but ourselves. I am not talking about doing unethical or immoral things, but the things that help us to become more and live fuller than most people can even conceive of. Johnathan was told he was a thousand years ahead of his time. This is okay. We will bring the rest of humanity kicking and screaming behind us and the world will have a jump in consciousness. Perhaps, one day we can bring everyone to a life of freedom, forgiveness, joy, compassion and love for all of our fellow sentient beings.

So I share my favorite seagull whenever I can and now I share him with you. I hope you will find him as inspiring as I did.

Seagull at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina Photo by Barbara Mattio

Soaring seagull over Lake Erie Photo by Barbara Mattio

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Love, Harmony and Beauty


I am writing because despite the fact I am not 100%, the world is calling to me.
I am so sorry that this man made a video which disrespected Allah. This is a thoughtless, selfish and sad use of free speech. The ability to exercise free speech is a responsibility and this man ignored his responsibility.

It is of no comfort, I understand, but people have made fun of Jesus, Moses, Abraham, Buddha, and the Goddess religions.

What I have seen on the television is a situation where hatred and violence have erupted and lives have been lost. Not just Americans, but also many protesters.

People who have a love of the Divine need to remember that violence and hatred are not in harmony with sacred writings or sacred love.

I ask all of God’s people here on Mother Earth to reach out in love, harmony and beauty to heal the hearts of all who are in pain and grief. There is Unity in our beliefs and the love of The One who is everywhere and constantly within us even though you may not understand or believe .

Please stop the violence and hatred. We must all live here together. The only way to do that is to live in love, harmony and beauty; to grasp that all the illuminated souls are united within Divinity. It matters not what Divinity is called, there is One World, One love, and One life. We are all loved and we must begin to acknowledge our responsibility to live in a manner that will bring us closer to the One.

“Thy light has illuminated the dark chambers of my mind;
Thy love is rooted in the depths of my heart; Thine own are the light of my soul; Thy power worketh behind my action; Thy peace alone is my life’s repose; Thy will is behind my every impulse; Thy voice is audible in the words I speak;
Thine own image is my countenance. My body is but a cover over Thy soul; my life is Thy very breath, my Beloved, and my self is Thine own being.”

—Gayan

May we all forgive those who are unable to see the world through God’s loving eyes. May we embrace each other with harmony and may we see The One in every other person we meet. Blessings to all.

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Our Home Mother Earth


Well, yes I am writing again about our beloved trees and caring for Mother Earth. We have a responsibility to her and yet it is more than responsibility.
Mother Earth gives us our home and amazing beauty. If you love something, you need to care for it. Caring for our home is imperative or else she and we will die. There are a million things each of us can do, one simple thing is to plant a tree somewhere. The energy of trees is so tremendous and we need all of our growing things.

There is a very simple scientific principle which brings home the importance of our trees and flowers and gardens. When humans breathe we exhale carbon dioxide which plants and trees need. The trees and flowers and crops give off oxygen which we need to breath. It is a cycle that happens every second of every day. It takes no effort, except that we not cut down our rainforests and green areas. It is vital though to our existence.

“May our corner of the earth join us
in blessing the Lord
fruit-laden papayas, fig trees in bud
You, guavas, replete with promise,
bougainvillaeas of every color,
beans that twist and clamber,
tomatoes and all green vegetables
and you, fields of rice in the valleys,
O praise the marvels of the Lord!

And you, Bamboo, who own neither flower
nor fruits, sing a song of praise to the Lord,
for you are rich in other ways:
supple and lively, hold your head high,
yield before the storm, but do not break.
Your shoots, hugging to one another all close,
will confront the hurricane.
Then, when it’s passed,
lift up your head!
And if the typhoon sweeps you away,
let it carry you with it.
Someone will find you lying on the road
or maybe you will kindle a poor man’s fire
or be made into a balance pole
to ease Man’s burdens!

If need should arise, let yourself be split
into strips by the hand of a clever craftsman.
Thus you will become a mat or a basket,
a broom or a brush—-again, on demand,
let yourself be used whole, without hesitation,
to support the sail of a sturdy junk
or enable a fisherman to cast his net.

In you, Bamboo, some will seek inspiration
to guide their brush towards lines of beauty,
or make of you a flute or a pipe.
Let yourself be emptied of self that you may
sing a melody new.
Some may try to make of you a barrier
to separate people one from another
Then let your leafage vibrate with the rustle
or a call which will resound near and far
and invite them to live in unity and love!

—Translated from the French by Mary Rogers

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Life and the Tree


Costa Rican Rainforest, Cleveland Botanical Gardens.
Photo by Barbara Mattio

A while ago, I wrote a blog called “For She is the Tree of Life” and it was dedicated to my grandmothers and all of the grandmas, nanas, bubes and the gifts they gave us as we shared their wisdom while at play with them, or while finishing a chore or just talking together. Their stories were magical and took some of us to other countries, for some the stories were pictures of love and loss. Other stories showed us how much strength and courage we could find inside of ourselves if we looked for it. They made us feel important and unique and cherished.

Well, now we are the grandparents. We are the ones who have lived long enough to be wise crones. We have watched wars and famine. We have seen oppression and tyranny. It is our turn to share our visions, stories and to encouraged them to be deeply rooted in our Mother Earth.

Our grandchildren will face many storms and will know fear as well as joy. They will sob with grief and they will cheer with jubilation. We need to make sure all of them — I have nine — will know how to draw strength and wisdom and courage up from the earth when it is needed. They will need to know it is the love we share, the compassion we show, the forgiveness we give to others that really counts. Not which job we have, or where the kids go to school. As grandparents, we can teach them to care, to vote, to accept responsibility for their actions. We can help expose them to the events in life that will sculpt their own lives. We need to teach them to stop injustice, help to feed the poor, work to help the world’s refugees, for among them, there could be the next Mozart, or John Lennon, or Bob Marley or Monet. We need to teach them never to settle, to reach for the stars and grasp a hold on their favorite and never let go!

I celebrate my opportunity to be a tree of life for the little ones. I celebrate your opportunity whether it is now or later on. It is a gift.

Marblehead Lighthouse, Ohio, Photo by Barbara Mattio

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The Magic of this Lifetime


Flowers and Photography by Barbara Mattio

” Full of life now, compact, visible,
I, forty years old the eighty-third year of the States,
To one a century hence or any number of centuries hence,
To you yet unborn these, seeking you.
When you read these I that was visible am become invisible,
Now it is you, compact, visible, realizing my poems, seeking me,
Fancying how happy you were if I could be with you and become your comrade;
Be it as if I were with you. ( Be not too certain but I am now with you.)

 

—–Walt Whitman
Laws of Creation

Humanity under a magnifying glass, an experience of telescoping time, sensual and direct. These describe Whitman’s writings.  His vision of people was democratic, nonjudgmental and filled with the width and breadth of human existence.
During Whitman’s lifetime, he looked at America as an idea and a nation.
He lived during great revolution, poverty and war.

Whitman was one of the American poets who saw the reality of the past and the allure of the future. He was a man capable of introspection and contemplation which fueled his poetry. His poetry has a flow and a music which starts slowly and builds to a crescendo of joy, ecstasy, and love.

Myrtle Beach, SC, Photo by Barbara Mattio

Whitman had an uncanny way to perceive the truth in life, our nation and the people he met in his many travels. His love and clear seeing and thinking led him to say:  ” I sing the body electric.”

I think we could do much worse in 2012, than to read and/or meditate upon his words and what they could mean in our lives.

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The Life of Love


“I have loved in life, and been loved.
My heart has been rent and joined again.
My heart has been broken and again made whole.
A thousand deaths my heart has died, and thanks be to love.
It lives yet.
I went to hell and saw there love’s raging fire, and I
entered heaven illuminated with the light of love.
The whole world sank in the flood caused by my one tear
I bowed my head low in humility, and on my knees I begged of love,
‘Disclose to me, I pray thee, O love, thy secret’.
She took me gently by my arms and lifted me above the earth, and spoke softly in my ear,
‘My dear one, thou thyself art love, art lover,and thyself art the beloved whom thou hast adored'”.

—Hazrat Inayat Khan

The fragrance of love, Photo by Barbara Mattio

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The Flow of Love


Moody Gardens, Tx.,  Photo by Barbara Mattio

” All the creatures of this cosmos are sustained by love,
and in the end they emerge into the same cosmic Being.
That is why love is so essential.”
—Swami Muktananda

In the Universe, galaxy, planet, country, state, city, home that I reside in; I am part of Divinity. The beautiful part is that this fact is not just truth for me. It is truth for you. All of you. No matter what gender, race, religion, language you are, we are all loved the same in the eyes of the One.

All the sacred writings teach us to live in harmony and devotion and love with all other sentient beings. Love is not judging, nor is it unforgiving. Yet Love never includes violence. Your act of violence to another or their’s to you.

Freedom is a necessary state of being for sentient beings. Freedom is a requirement of real love. Helping someone to find freedom is a blessing. A blessing for both of you. It is also the reason that people will finally stand up to dictators and tyrants and say, “This is enough”

Love is an aspect of Divinity that does not diminish with distance. Cherishing those we love and letting go of them is what we are required to do. You still have the memories you have created together and hold close to your heart.These memories will never leave your heart and mind.

Love is a beautiful gift that only grows more as we give it away. In a relationship, you open your hand and release the ropes that bind someone to you. You will find often, that the bond of love will sustain distance, destiny and bad timing . A deep appreciation for that bond will grow and comfort you.

Love requires generosity and expansion. Love requires loyalty, forgiveness and acceptance. You never loose the love you give away. It returns to you three-fold.

“Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder.
Help someone’s soul heal,
Walk out of your house like a shepherd.”

Rumi

Written by Jim Morrison of The Doors

 

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What Really is Right


The political season is upon us and there is much mud slinging going on. Everyone is forming opinions and hopefully will vote. I have been thinking about “What is Right?”

We have the standard laws given to Moses by G-d. The Ten Commandments are certainly a good foundation for human behavior. The problem is that you can obey the Commandments and still not live an ethical life.

Even if you live according to the ethical standards for your faith, there are areas we don’t think of as being ethical or not ethical.

Let me explain. you go to your church, temple, or mosque at the prescribed times. You tithe as you are supposed to. You give to the charity food drive and buy Girl Scout cookies when the girls come to your door. You are a good friend and you get along pretty well with your in-laws. So you have it all sewn up. Right? The after-life awaits you.

There are other things that matter but we usually gloss over them. For instance, hating someone who is a different color. We are angered and share mean-spirited jokes about those whose sexual preference is different.
We look at people who are not as well dressed as we are and smugly turn away. We are capable of walking by a homeless person on the street with averted eyes and a closed heart. Grace is said at our tables at night for the bounty of our food but we do not worry about the elderly person down the street who gets by with Meals on Wheels.

My point is just to show us that we don’t always do all we could do in our lives to live in the spirit of any of the sacred writings.

Today, across the world, there are starving children, children who will never live to be 10. There are women who can’t nurse their babies because they don’t make enough milk because they are literally starving.

People are living in refugee camps and wearing rags to cover their bodies. Here in America, more people own guns than ever and we are killing each other with abandon. Children are killing themselves because of bullying. They are being picked on supposedly because they are ‘different’, but really because it gives the bully the feeling of power and control and makes them feel superior.

I think if each of us look at the way we treat all other people, and respond to them the way any of the prophets, teachers, and gurus would, we could begin to heal our lives and our world with love. Love is the great equalizer because you begin to see others as Divinity does. Connected and part of each other.

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The Path to The One


Creation Picture from The Gathas of Zarathushtra

The Zorathushtra is the Prophet of the Zoroastrian religion. Zarathushtra is believed to be the first in human history to have founded a religion based on the ethical values of Truth and Justice. He taught that there was one God and his name was Ahura Mazda, Lord of Life and Wisdom. It is considered to be the most ancient of the revealed religions.

It is not known exactly when Zarathushtra lived or when the Gathas were composed. The Greeks considered him a very ancient prophet and placed him around 6000 BC.

The language the Gathas were written in is called Gathic or Old Avestan to distinguish them from the later tests, such as the Rig-Vida.

Zarathusthra describes himself as a Zaotar. He identified with oppressed peoples, the poor and downtrodden. His disciples defended the herders and the marginalized.

Even though many declare that there are many differences between religions or spiritual paths; there really are so many similarities. It is as if we could take all the similarities of God/Goddess/Divine Energy and put them all together as if it were a puzzle. I think if we put them together we would have a truer and more accurate picture of The One. I do want to stress that Zarthushtra was the first prophet to proclaim that there is one God. And God demands humans to choose The Truth and live by it. Mankind must also take responsibility for their actions.

In his position as prophet he prayed for himself because he knew that he would suffer much in his efforts to do what was best for mankind. He chose to live in truth and to teach how Ahura Mazda reaches out to all mankind with his blessings.

This is from the Gathas. It is Yasna 43. I think it is very beautiful.

“May that man of innate nobility
progress from good to greater good.
May he instruct us
concerning the straight paths of salvation in this
bodily life and that of the mind.
There are the paths
where Ahura Mazda Himself dwells.
And so your ardent devotee
becomes one like you, O Mazda,
resplendent in Wisdom.”

” Ahura Mazda’s First Thought
blazed into myriads of sparks of light
and filled the entire heavens.
He Himself, in His Wisdom,
is the Creator of Truth which
upholds His Supreme Mind.

When I held You in my mind’s eye,
then I realized You, O Mazda,
as the First and the Last for all of Eternity,
as the Father of Good Mind,
the true Creator of Truth,
and Lord over the actions of life.”

These translations are by Piloo Nanavutty.

I am so amazed and moved at how the different paths take us to The One and that ultimately we have hated without reason, fought wars for no reason, and failed to love others because they were different from us. This is not what humans are supposed to be doing. We are supposed to be living with compassion and love and caring for others. We can choose to change this. It will work to change one person at a time. If each of us live with compassion, love and caring we can make progress on the path to living the way The Eternal wants us to.