• Essay: Winning The Lottery of Love  by Steve Roberts
• News:  New Photos of Saints and Sages - Download For Free
• Selections: From Ernest Holmes (Contest Candidate)
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• Affirmations: From "The Game of Life" by Florence Scovel Shinn
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• Selections: From Florence Scovel Shinn (Contest Candidate)
• Poem: Shine
• Selections: From Kahlil Gibran (Contest Candidate)
• News: Discovering Spirit - Recorded Informal Talks and Guided Meditation
• Selections: From Rabindranath Tagore (Contest Candidate)

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Most poignant for me

Is the reminder that I am privileged to participate

In a marriage that is the equivalent of 

                              Winning The Lottery of Love

That my wife has offered her kidney to someone without asking me how I felt about it is among the more gratifying experiences of my life. 

The potential recipient is her cousin, a woman we both cherish and a Vermont physician whose fan club of patients and colleagues is longer than route 100, road-wise the spine of our lanky state.  Those lovely details aside, most poignant for me is the reminder that I am privileged to participate in a marriage that is the equivalent of winning the lottery of love.   

Not that we’ve avoided the madness common to many unions.  There was a period of nearly a year when we didn’t live together.  Our unwillingness to be real had led us to the ultimatum of change or die.  Yet, as painful as events were, not once were we acrimonious toward one another.  I consider it no small accomplishment.  We remembered how timeless our bond is despite all other considerations.

I’ve been entertaining the possibility of walking across the U.S.  When I asked my beloved her feelings, she quipped, “Follow your heart…and bring a cell phone.”  And that’s pretty much all she has to say on the matter.  Then again, “Follow your heart” is the first thing we say to one another about most things.

Over the past 30 years, my bride and I have exchanged marriage vows on three occasions, each succeeding ceremony more heart-in-the-throat than the last.  And why not?  That’s what happens when you become increasingly aware of the reality you’re leaping into.  No one gets married because they know what marriage is all about.  We get married to find out.  Same with having children, friends, business colleagues, hair dressers, tattoos, pet tarantulas and just about every other commitment we make. 

One big reason relationships of all kinds disintegrate is that we mistakenly feel we know what we’re doing when we enter into them.  We deny that we’re all a work in progress, never to stay the same, always new—no matter how many knuckles we turn white trying to make it otherwise. 

For most of the past 10 thousand mornings, I’ve woken up next to a woman I adore but who is different from the woman I kissed goodnight.  It took me a while to find this as thrilling as I do today.  Any time I see my wife, whoever she might be, my entire being smiles.

Standing on the sidelines, tossing rose petals of light, are the marriage vows she and I continue to discover the meaning of.  Here’s a sample:   

·        Body, mind, and soul we cast into the flame of love, to be purified into cosmic love for all mankind.

·        We will cooperate with each other, that we may harmonize with the laws of truth.

·        We will be loyal to each other, to demonstrate our capacity for divine loyalty.

·        Through our love, we will forgive each other always.

The license plate on my pickup is YESS.  It’s a reminder to myself that being open to any eventuality—meeting it with kindness, compassion and understanding—is the measure of health most useful in my quest to bring all the love I can to here and now.

That my wife didn’t talk to me before offering her kidney to her cousin brings to mind the wonderful remark of Henry David Thoreau: Speech is for the hard of hearing.  My beloved already knew my response.  She’s known it for years, in so many words.

“Follow you heart…and bring a cell phone.”

To find out more about Steve, see examples of his stone sculptures or read a chapter from his book, click Here.

 Steve Roberts is the author of Cool Mind Warm Heart, a collection of essays, stories, and photographs of stone sculptures he builds on his Vermont farm.  He can be found on the web at CoolMindWarmHeart.com and at TheHeartOfTheEarth.com.

If you enjoy our inspirational stories and articles, be sure to visit our website for more:
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THE FORERUNNER
You are your own forerunner, and the towers you have builded are but the foundation of your giant-self. And that self too shall be a foundation. And I too am my own forerunner, for the long shadow stretching before me at sunrise shall gather under my feet at the noon hour. Yet another sunrise shall lay another shadow before me, and that also shall be gathered at another noon. Always have we been our own forerunners, and always shall we be. And all that we have gathered and shall gather shall be but seeds for fields yet unploughed. We are the fields and the ploughmen, the gatherers and the gathered. When you were a wandering desire in the mist, I too was therem a wandering desire. Then we sought one another, and out of our eagerness dreams were born. And dreams were time limitless, and dreams were space without measure. And when you were a silent word upon life's quivering lips, I too was there, another silent word. Then life uttered us and we came down the years throbbing with memories of yesterday and with longing for tomorrow, for yesterday was death conquered and tomorrow was birth pursued. And now we are in God's hands. You are a sun in His right hand and I an earth in His left hand. Yet you are not more, shining, than I, shone upon. And we, sun and earth, are but the beginning of a greater sun and a greater earth. And always shall we be the beginning.

LOVE
They say the jackal and the mole Drink from the selfsame stream Where the lion comes to drink.

And they say the eagle and the vulture Dig their beaks into the same carcass, And are at peace, one with the other, In the presence of the dead thing.

THE SAINT
In my youth I once visited a saint in his silent grove beyond the hills; and as we were conversing upon the nature of virtue a brigand came limping wearily up the ridge. When he reached the grove he knelt down before the saint and said, "O saint, I would be comforted! My sins are heavy upon me." And the saint replied, "My sins, too, are heavy upon me." And the brigand said, "But I am a thief and a plunderer." And the saint replied, "I too am a thief and a plunderer." And the brigand said, "But I am a murderer, and the blood of many men cries in my ears." And the saint replied, " I am a murderer, and in my ears cries the blood of many men." And the brigand said, "I have committed countless crimes." And the saint replied, "I too have committed crimes without number." Then the brigand stood up and gazed at the saint, and there was a strange look in his eyes. And when he left us he went skipping down the hill. And I turned to the saint and said, "Wherefore did you accuse yourself of uncommitted crimes? See you not this man went away no longer believing in you?" And the saint answered, "It is true he no longer believes in me. But he went away much comforted." At that moment we heard the brigand singing in the distance, and the echo of his song filled the valley with gladness.

THE GREATER SELF
This came to pass. After the coronation of Nufsibaal King of Byblus, he retired to his bed-chamber -- the very room which the three hermit-magicians of the mountains had built for him. He took off his crown and his royal raiment, and stood in the centre of the room thinking of himself, now the all-powerful ruler of Byblus. Suddenly he turned; and he saw stepping out of the silver mirror which his mother had given him, a naked man. The king was startled, and he cried out to the man, "What would you?" And the naked man answered, "Naught but this: Why have they crowned you king?" And the king answered, "Because I am the noblest man in the land." Then the naked man said, "If you were still more noble, you would not be king." And the king said, "Because I am the mightiest man in the land they crowned me." And the naked man said, "If you were mightier yet, you would not be king." Then the king said, "Because I am the wisest man they crowned me king." And the naked man said, "If you were still wiser you would not choose to be king." Then the king fell to the floor and wept bitterly. The naked man looked down upon him. Then he took up the crown and with tenderness replaced it upon the king's bent head. And the naked man, gazing lovingly upon the king, entered into the mirror. And the king roused, and straightway he looked into the mirror. And he saw there but himself crowned.

OUT OF MY DEEPER HEART
Out of my deeper heart a bird rose and flew skywards. Higher and higher did it rise, yet larger and larger did it grow. At first it was but like a swallow, then a lark, then an eagle, then as vast as a spring cloud, and then it filled the starry heavens. Out of my heart a bird flew skywards. And it waxed larger as it flew. Yet it left not my heart.

KNOWLEDGE AND HALF KNOWLEDGE
Four frogs sat upon a log that lay floating on the edge of a river. Suddenly the log was caught by the current and swept slowly down the stream. The frogs were delighted and absorbed, for never before had they sailed. At length the first frog spoke, and said, "This is indeed a most marvelous log. It moves as if alive. No such log was ever known before." Then the second frog spoke, and said, "Nay, my friend, the log is like other logs, and does not move. It is the river that is walking to the sea, and carries us and the log with it." And the third frog spoke, and said, "It is neither the log nor the river that moves. The moving is in our thinking. For without thought nothing moves." And the three frogs began to wrangle about what was really moving. The quarrel grew hotter and louder, but they could not agree. Then they turned to the fourth frog, who up to this time had been listening attentively but holding his peace, and they asked his opinion. And the fourth frog said, "Each of you is right, and none of you is wrong. The moving is in the log and the water and our thinking also." And the three frogs became very angry, for none of them was willing to admit that his was not the whole truth, and that the other two were not wholly wrong. Then a strange thing happened. The three frogs got together and pushed the fourth frog off the log into the river.

THE LAST WATCH
At high tide of night, when the first breath of dawn came upon the wind, the forerunner, he who calls himself echo to a voice yet unheard, left his bed-chamber and ascended to the roof of his house. Long he stood and looked down upon the slumbering city. Then he raised his head, and even as if the sleepless spirits of all those asleep had gathered around him, he opened his lips and spoke, and he said: "My friends and neighbors and you who daily pass my gate, I would speak to you in your sleep, and in the valley of your dreams I would walk naked and unrestrained; for heedless are your waking hours and deaf are your sound-burdened ears. "Long did I love you and overmuch. "I love the one among you as though he were all, and all as if you were one. And in the spring of my heart I sang in your gardens, and in the summer of my heart I watched at your threshing-floors. "Yea, I loved you all, the giant and the pygmy, the leper and the anointed, and him who gropes in the dark even as him who dances his days upon the mountains. "You, the strong, have I loved, though the marks of your iron hoofs are yet upon my flesh; and you the weak, though you have drained my faith and wasted my patience.

"You the rich have I loved, while bitter was your honey to my mouth; and you the poor, though you knew my empty-handed shame. "You the poet with the bowed lute and blind fingers, you have I loved in self-indulgence; and you the scholar ever gathering rotted shrouds in potters' fields. "You the priest I have loved, who sit in the silences of yesterday questioning the fate of my tomorrow; and you the worshippers of gods the images of your own desires. "You the thirsting woman whose cup is ever full, I have loved in understanding; and you the woman of restless nights, you too I have loved in pity. "You the talkative have I loved, saying, 'Life hath much to say'; and you the dumb have I loved, whispering to myself, 'Says he not in silence that which I fain would hear in words?" "And you the judge and the critic, I have loved also; yet when you have seen me crucified, you said, 'He bleeds rhythmically, and the pattern his blood makes upon his white skin is beautiful to behold.' "Yea, I have loved you all, the young and the old, the trembling reed and the oak. "But, alas, it was the over-abundance of my heart that turned you from me. You would drink love from a cup, but not from a surging river. You would hear love's faint murmur, but when love shouts you would muffle your ears.

"And because I have loved you all you have said, 'Too soft and yielding is his heart, and too undiscerning is his path. It is the love of a needy one, who picks crumbs even as he sits at kingly feasts. And it is the love of a weakling, for the strong loves only the strong." "And because I have loved you overmuch you have said, 'It is but the love of a blind man who knows not the beauty of one nor the ugliness of another. And it is the love of the tasteless who drinks vinegar even as wine. And it is the love of the impertinent and the overweening, for what stranger could be our mother and father and sister and brother?' "This you have said, and more. For often in the market-place you pointed your fingers at me and said mockingly, 'There goes the ageless one, the man without seasons, who at the noon hour plays games with our children and at eventide sits with our elders and assumes wisdom and understanding.' "And I said, 'I will love them more. Aye, even more. I will hide my love with seeming to hate, and disguise my tenderness as bitterness. I will wear an iron mask, and only when armed and mailed shall I seek them.' "Then I laid a heavy hand upon your bruises, and like a tempest in the night I thundered in your ears. "From the housetop I proclaimed you hypocrites, Pharisees, tricksters, false and empty earth-bubbles. "The short-sighted among you I cursed for blind bats, and those too near the earth I likened to soulless moles.

"The eloquent I pronounced fork-tongued, the silent, stone-lipped, and the simple and artless I called the dead never weary of death. "The seekers after world knowledge I condemned as offenders of the holy spirit and those who would naught but the spirit I branded as hunters of shadows who cast their nets in flat waters and catch but their own images. "Thus with my lips have I denounced you, while my heart, bleeding within me, called you tender names. "It was love lashed by its own self that spoke. It was pride half slain that fluttered in the dust. It was my hunger for your love that raged from the housetop, while my own love, kneeling in silence, prayed your forgiveness. "But behold a miracle! "It was my disguise that opened your eyes, and my seeming to hate that woke your hearts. "And now you love me.

"You love the swords that stroke you and the arrows that crave your breast. For it comforts you to be wounded and only when you drink of your own blood can you be intoxicated. "Like moths that seek destruction in the flame you gather daily in my garden; and with faces uplifted and eyes enchanted you watch me tear the fabric of your days. And in whispers you say the one to the other, 'He sees with the light of God. He speaks like the prophets of old. He unveils our souls and unlocks our hearts, and like the eagle that knows the way of foxes he knows our ways.' "Aye, in truth, I know your ways, but only as an eagle knows the ways of his fledglings. And I fain would disclose my secret. Yet in my need for your nearness I feign remoteness, and in fear of the ebb tide of your love I guard the floodgates of my love." After saying these things the forerunner covered his face with his hands and wept bitterly. For he knew in his heart that love humiliated in its nakedness is greater than love that seeks triumph in disguise; and he was ashamed. But suddenly he raised his head, and like one waking from sleep he outstretched his arms and said, "Night is over, and we children of night must die when dawn comes leaping upon the hills; and out of our ashes a mightier love shall rise. And it shall laugh in the sun, and it shall be deathless."

One of the most popular sections of our website is our gallery of saints, sages and gurus of all religions.  In addition, we are also adding photographs of holy sites and shrines. 

We are continually adding new images, so don't forget to take a look and see what's new  - just click Here!  

Affirmations (From "The Game of Life"):                 by Florence Scovel Shinn  

In addition, we continue to offer a wide variety of other recordings including "The Science of Getting Rich", "Practicing The Presence of God" by Brother Lawrence, "The Imitation of Christ" by Thomas a Kempis, Buddhist Insight Meditation Instructions, Loving Kindness Meditation Instructions, lectures by Krishnamurti and an interview with the Dalai Lama along with many other recordings.  Just click Here to download your new audio books for free.

Free Video -
Along with our audio recordings, large collection of still pictures and music recordings, we also offer an increasing number of inspiring and informative video selections.  Our new additions include a collection of meditation instruction videos:  "Imagination Meditation, "laughter Meditation", Music For Meditation and Healing" and "Relaxation, Deep Breathing and Meditation".  We've also added two new televised reports on the health benefits of meditation and "A Man of God - An Interview With Leonard Ravenhill". 

We also continue to offer a variety of short videos of Paramahansa Yogananda, a collection of talks by Krishnamurti, a biography of Mary Baker Eddy and several other video titles of interest.  Just click Here.

New Delicious Vegetarian Recipes:

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News: New Pictorial Book "India Unveiled" by Robert Arnett
 

India Unveiled has been internationally acclaimed as one of the most revealing compendiums ever written about the country. The stunning photography and engaging text with an insightful portrait of its people, landscape, and diverse culture, truly captures the essence of India, one of the oldest continuously surviving civilizations on earth. - Independent Publisher Book Awards: Best Travel Book of the Year  - Benjamin Franklin Award: Best Travel Essay of the Year - Mid-American Publishers Association (MAPA): Best Armchair Travel Book of the Year - MAPA's Best Color Photography Book of the Year First Runner-up - British Book-of-the-Month Travel Club Selection To find out more about India Unveiled and Robert Arnett, click Here.

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One of the best multicultural books for children. Timeless and universal values for children are emphasized in this absorbing book set in India.   The book is based on a charming true story about a boy who found the author’s lost wallet and could not understand why he should be rewarded for doing the right thing! - Winner of 2005 Mom's Choice Award - Winner of IPPY Ten Outstanding Books of the Year - Winner of IPPY Most Inspirational to Youth Book - Winner of Benjamin Franklin Silver Award — Multicultural - Winner of The National Parenting Center Seal of Approval "Gorgeous illustrations and global message…a wonderful book…teaches multicultural respect, character education skills, self-esteem, tolerance, and cultural awareness…[students] wanted me to read it again immediately after I finished." - Teachers' Choice Awards Panel

To read more about Smita and her wonderful book, click Here.

A Poem by William Simpson -

Let's share the gifts for which we are most grateful:
 joy, wisdom, love and the means to increase them in our lives. 
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News:  New Audio CD - Byways To Blessedness by James Allen (4 CD Set)

Many of our members and visitors are familiar with the James Allen's classic book "As A Man Thinketh".  This is Mr. Allen's most popular book and is a wonderful introduction to his view of the power of thoughts, words and actions.  For those who have not read it, "As A Man Thinketh" is available in the "E-Books" section of our website at no charge.  We also offer an audio version of the book Here.

However, the most complete expression of his approach to living is contained in his masterwork "Byways To Blessedness".  This book is the most complete, detailed and in-depth expression of James Allen’s inspirational vision of the path to conscious evolution.  As "As A Man Thinketh" was the introductory course to his thoughts and wisdom, "Byways To Blessedness" is James Allen's Master's thesis.  Ours is the only complete audio version of this work available anywhere.

This four CD unabridged recording contains the keys to personal happiness, prosperity, health and spiritual growth. 

To hear sample selections from this new recording, click Here.

When nothing else will work, taking a brief walk outside, sitting in the park, or just admiring beautiful flowers can often reduce stress and give us a break from our routine.  However, sometimes, we don't have the opportunity to go out and get back to nature.

CLF wants to give you the alternative of bringing nature into your workplace, computer room or home.  We have recently added over 350 new photographs of nature, including a collection of wonderful photographs taken with the Hubble Space Telescope.

So don't miss this opportunity to see the wonders of the earth and the universe, at absolutely no charge - just click Here!

News:  New Audio CD - Discovering Spirit - Informal Talks and Guided Meditation (2 CD Set)

Discovering Spirit is an inspirational collection of informal talks and a relaxing guided meditation with the Director of The Conscious Living Foundation, William Simpson. Topics include: "God Is Within", "What Do We Do When We're Not Meditating?", "Perspective On The Path", "God's Forgiveness and Non-Judgment", "Sitting In The Stillness", "How To Practice Affirmations" and "The Nature of God". "If we can free ourselves from this conception that God has a measuring tape with him all the time... it limits our understanding of the true nature of God as sweetness, as comfort, as compassion, as love.  God knows every single act we have ever undertaken... every thought we've ever had - every feeling, every emotion.  And yet, with all that awareness, with all that knowledge, God's only response is love.  Because God knows our true nature... And all these mistakes we make, are merely superficial coverings that will be washed away.  Our essence has been, is, and will be, ever unchanging light, love, joy, awareness and bliss." To hear some sample selections from this new recording, click Here.

Thou hast made me endless, such is thy pleasure. This frail vessel thou emptiest again and again, and fillest it ever with fresh life.

This little flute of a reed thou hast carried over hills and dales, and hast breathed through it melodies eternally new.

At the immortal touch of thy hands my little heart loses its limits in joy and gives birth to utterance ineffable.

When thou commandest me to sing it seems that my heart would break with pride; and I look to thy face, and tears come to my eyes.

All that is harsh and dissonant in my life melts into one sweet harmony--and my adoration spreads wings like a glad bird on its flight across the sea.

I know thou takest pleasure in my singing. I know that only as a singer I come before thy presence.

I touch by the edge of the far-spreading wing of my song thy feet which I could never aspire to reach.

I know not how thou singest, my master! I ever listen in silent amazement.

The light of thy music illumines the world. The life breath of thy music runs from sky to sky. The holy stream of thy music breaks through all stony obstacles and rushes on.

Life of my life, I shall ever try to keep my body pure, knowing that thy living touch is upon all my limbs.

I shall ever try to keep all untruths out from my thoughts, knowing that thou art that truth which has kindled the light of reason in my mind.

I shall ever try to drive all evils away from my heart and keep my love in flower, knowing that thou hast thy seat in the inmost shrine of my heart.

And it shall be my endeavour to reveal thee in my actions, knowing it is thy power gives me strength to act.

Pluck this little flower and take it, delay not! I fear lest it droop and drop into the dust.

I may not find a place in thy garland, but honour it with a touch of pain from thy hand and pluck it. I fear lest the day end before I am aware, and the time of offering go by.

Though its colour be not deep and its smell be faint, use this flower in thy service and pluck it while there is time.

The child who is decked with prince's robes and who has jewelled chains round his neck loses all pleasure in his play; his dress hampers him at every step.

In fear that it may be frayed, or stained with dust he keeps himself from the world, and is afraid even to move.

Mother, it is no gain, thy bondage of finery, if it keep one shut off from the healthful dust of the earth, if it rob one of the right of entrance to the great fair of common human life.

Here is thy footstool and there rest thy feet where live the poorest, and lowliest, and lost.

When I try to bow to thee, my obeisance cannot reach down to the depth where thy feet rest among the poorest, and lowliest, and lost.

Pride can never approach to where thou walkest in the clothes of the humble among the poorest, and lowliest, and lost.

Leave this chanting and singing and telling of beads! Whom dost thou worship in this lonely dark corner of a temple with doors all shut? Open thine eyes and see thy God is not before thee!

He is there where the tiller is tilling the hard ground and where the pathmaker is breaking stones. He is with them in sun and in shower, and his garment is covered with dust. Put of thy holy mantle and even like him come down on the dusty soil!

Deliverance? Where is this deliverance to be found? Our master himself has joyfully taken upon him the bonds of creation; he is bound with us all for ever.

The time that my journey takes is long and the way of it long.

I came out on the chariot of the first gleam of light, and pursued my voyage through the wildernesses of worlds leaving my track on many a star and planet.

It is the most distant course that comes nearest to thyself, and that training is the most intricate which leads to the utter simplicity of a tune.

The traveller has to knock at every alien door to come to his own, and one has to wander through all the outer worlds to reach the innermost shrine at the end.

My eyes strayed far and wide before I shut them and said 'Here art thou!'

The question and the cry 'Oh, where?' melt into tears of a thousand streams and deluge the world with the flood of the assurance 'I am!'

'Prisoner, tell me, who was it that bound you?'

'It was my master,' said the prisoner. 'I thought I could outdo everybody in the world in wealth and power, and I amassed in my own treasure-house the money due to my king. When sleep overcame me I lay upon the bed that was for my lord, and on waking up I found I was a prisoner in my own treasure-house.'

'Prisoner, tell me, who was it that wrought this unbreakable chain?'

'It was I,' said the prisoner, 'who forged this chain very carefully. I thought my invincible power would hold the world captive leaving me in a freedom undisturbed. Thus night and day I worked at the chain with huge fires and cruel hard strokes. When at last the work was done and the links were complete and unbreakable, I found that it held me in its grip.'

When the creation was new and all the stars shone in their first splendour, the gods held their assembly in the sky and sang 'Oh, the picture of perfection! the joy unalloyed!'

But one cried of a sudden--'It seems that somewhere there is a break in the chain of light and one of the stars has been lost.'

The golden string of their harp snapped, their song stopped, and they cried in dismay--'Yes, that lost star was the best, she was the glory of all heavens!'

From that day the search is unceasing for her, and the cry goes on from one to the other that in her the world has lost its one joy!

Only in the deepest silence of night the stars smile and whisper among themselves--'Vain is this seeking! unbroken perfection is over all!'

If you enjoy our inspirational stories and articles, be sure to visit our website for more:

Articles on Personal Growth, Health and Positive Change - Click Here.
Inspiring Stories - Click Here.