29 June, 2013

Beauty


When we approach with reverence,
great things decide to approach us.
Our real life comes to the surface
and its light awakens
the concealed beauty in things.
When we walk on the earth with reverence,
beauty will decide to trust us.
  
John O'Donohue

28 June, 2013

Tao Te Ching

Too many colours blind the eye.
Too many tones deafen the ear.
Too many flavours dull the taste.

Too many thoughts derange the mind.
Too many desires weaken the heart.

The Sage observes the world
but trusts his inner vision.
He allows things to come and go.
His heart is open as the sky.

Lao Tzu (Tao Te Ching )

27 June, 2013

On subduing negative emotions

“If you try to subdue your selfish motives—anger and so forth—and develop more kindness and compassion for others, ultimately you yourself will benefit more than you would otherwise. So sometimes I say that the wise selfish person should practice this way. Foolish selfish people are always thinking of themselves, and the result is negative. Wise selfish people think of others, help others as much as they can, and the result is that they too receive benefit.”

HH The Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso

24 June, 2013

Gandhi & Einstein

“You assist an evil system most effectively by obeying its orders and decrees. An evil system never deserves such allegiance. Allegiance to it means partaking of the evil. A good person will resist an evil system with his or her whole soul.” 
Mahatma Gandhi 
“I believe that Gandhi's views were the most enlightened of all the political men in our time. We should strive to do things in his spirit: not to use violence in fighting for our cause, but by non-participation in anything you believe is evil.” 
Albert Einstein  

23 June, 2013

Beautiful Rumi


I am the noon, I am the eve
Fire of love with my heart receive
I am the candle giving light, stay clear, stay clear
I am the prayer and the angel in flight
I am the fire, I am the light
I am the Promised Land, so dear, so dear.......
~Rumi

22 June, 2013

Zen

Do not just memorize sayings, recite words, 
and discuss Zen and the way based on books. 
The Zen way is not in books. Even if you can recite
the teachings of the whole canon 
and all the masters and philosophers, 
they are just useless words of no avail 
when you are facing death. 
-Chien ju

21 June, 2013

Explorer...


“You are an explorer, and you represent our species, and the greatest good you can do is to bring back a new idea, because our world is endangered by the absence of good ideas. Our world is in crisis because of the absence of consciousness.”
Terence McKenna

20 June, 2013

Silence...

Why are you so afraid of silence,
silence is the root of everything.
If you spiral into its void,
a hundred voices will thunder
messages you long to hear

Rumi

18 June, 2013

Make kindness go viral..by LiveVestInside

http://lifevestinside.com/index.php

Please visit their original web site and share their amazing "kindness boomerang" video. The best thing about this is: it is true. 
Throw the pebble in the pond.

17 June, 2013

Tribute to an Angel

I would like to bring to your attention a very inspiring, talented and courageous young French artist who gifted us with great musical performances selling over 1 million albums in France before passing away at the age of 23 from a genetic condition known as Cystic Fibrosis: his name Gregory Lemarchal. (13 May 1983 – 30 April 2007)
Not only does this disease result in a shortened life span of which he was aware, but it directly saps and affects the lungs as well as other vital organs. I have followed his efforts, performances (available on you tube) and challenges and was awed by his fortitude, his humility, gentleness and zest to live life to the fullest. This deadly disease did not stand in his way - he sang as if it did not exist, giving moving and soulful dynamic performances practically until his last months of life. This is a story of love defeating death!
His legacy is not only in the many images of a vibrant, handsome, loving and talented singer but also through the action of his loving parents and friends, the creation of a Foundation that promotes awareness, assistance and support for sufferers of this medical condition.
This is the story of a real man, a full man, a true unassuming being of Light. Warriors of Light come in many forms and always teach without teaching, they teach by Being.
While much of the world's press wastes its time on the frivolous activity of "celebrities" it is good to stop and celebrate those that really made a difference.

 http://www.association-gregorylemarchal.org/

16 June, 2013

The Moonbeams Of A Transcendental Heart by Julian Colgan

Good Times, Bad Times, Transcendental Times



Just as every worker believes that everyone
should be a worker, and just as every merchant
or priest believes that everyone should be
a merchant or a priest, so a devotee
knows with spiritual certainty that
everyone is born to be so much more
than a worker, merchant, priest,
military man, judge, doctor, scientist, etc…
Upset when there are good times, angry
when there are bad times, and pacified
when there are transcendental times,
good times and bad times go into building
up a structure of consciousness that is
peacefully indifferent to the creation
and destruction of everything that is
judged as being good because of
pleasant sensations and everything
that is judged as being bad because of
excessive strain and worry.
Like that ant which is crushed by an
unassuming foot on the side walk,
the untiring foot of progress can turn anyone
into a dot on the sky of infinity; thus releasing
the soul from the matrix that is duality.
Unprepared for the worst and for the best,
this unassuming attitude is open to falling
down and then getting back up;
thus facing the helpless within and without
so that I may be helped in turn.
Frightened by intimacy and bewildered by distance,
transcendental times restores the soul’s health
back to its pristine and honest benevolence;
which is a sure sign of recovery from
the plague of fearfulness that is close to perdition.
Keeping the dream alive after having
it being trampled on by persons who lack
foreknowledge or foresight, the eternal dream
of God is the dream worth striving for.
That eternal dream being a stream for the
cream of devotees, processing the good
and the bad times with the transcendental times
is the purifier of infinite dread and infinite might.
Producing tidal waves of miracle upon miracle,
the unending ocean of good qualities
belonging to devotees are as
irresistible as they are deadly.
Deadly to an atheist’s sense of grandeur
and irresistible to those who have
humbled themselves, just as the Lord
beautifies His ornaments, the
devotees beautify the Lord.
Inaugurating a new age of love
of God for all, the energy of devotion
in the past is the same energy that
is coming in now through the opened window
of the open soul’s heart gate.
Finishing this elixir of illuminating truth
and illuminating courage, this warrior of God
takes off his helmet to free fall through the aeons.
Nothing to live for and nothing to die for,
the immortality of transcendental times
is felt by all who are receptive to
the Spirit of God as it comes crashing down
on timed eternity. There being no dire warning
from so called illuminated sources,
the illumination provided by serving God
is enough to enlighten ten thousand worlds,
so what to speak of a lone individual stuck
in the blissfully beating sun of God consciousness.
With this vision firmly planted in your heart,
there is nothing else to do but to be
a humble servant of God’s eternally
manifest and unmanifest pastime servants.
Taking a grain of courage to rise towards
the most supernal planes of consciousness,
the power is within you to take on the
darkness of this world. When most gain
strength in material power, the superior path
is to place all of your spiritual strength in God’s service.
With little left to say, do His divine bidding as
He has done your natural blissful bidding always and eternally.



By Julian Colgan (Copyright)
The Blue Cross And Shining Sunset Academy
http://julian-colgan.tumblr.com/post/53075025209/good-times-bad-times-transcendental-times

15 June, 2013

On Mindfulness

 

"Mindfulness has the power, has the capacity of helping us to recognize what is there in the present moment. When anger is there, we recognize the fact that anger is there. When fear is there, we recognize the fact that fear is there. And the practice is not to fight, to suppress, but to recognize and to embrace.
"Oh my little anger, I know you. You are my old friend. I will take good care of you. Oh my little fear, I know you are always there. I will take good care of you." That is the attitude of non-duality, the attitude of non-violence, because we know that mindfulness is us; love is us; but fear and anger are us, also.
Let us not fight. Let us only take care and transform. The organic gardener doesn't have to fight the garbage placed in (or created by) the garden. She knows exactly what to do in order to handle the garbage, in order to transform it back into cucumber, into tomatoes, et cetera.

The first function of mindfulness is to recognize what is there, positive or negative. The second function of mindfulness is to embrace it and to get deeply in touch with it.
If it is a positive thing like a blue sky or the beautiful face of a child, that becomes something very nourishing, very healing for us. And if it is something negative, like hatred or fear, we should be able to embrace it and bring relief to it.
The third function of mindfulness is to help us look deeply into the nature of what is there; in this case, fear or anger. The nature of something means the root of that something: how this fear has been created; how this anger has manifested.

Look deeply into the nature of our fear and our anger in order to see their true nature. When we understand, when we have insight into the nature of our fear and our anger, that insight will help transform our fear, our anger into positive energies. Looking deeply helps us to recognize, to realize things that we have not realized before.."

Thich Nhat Hanh

14 June, 2013

On Discovering Truth

Because of our wisdom, we will travel
Far for love.
All movement is a sign of
Thirst.
Most speaking really says
"I am hungry to know you."
Every desire of your body is holy;
Every desire of your body is
Holy.
Dear one,
Why wait until you are dying
To discover that divine
Truth?” 

HAFIZ

13 June, 2013

On Love...

When you plant a tree
every leaf that grows will tell you,
what you sow will bear fruit.
So if you have any sense, my friend
don't plant anything but love,
you show your worth by what you seek. 

Rumi

12 June, 2013

Chuang Tzu - The Completion Of Virtue by Julian Colgan

Having as large a following as Confucius,
the sage with one leg makes the most ordinary
into enlightened practitioners of the Formless Way.

Never uttering a word and never hearing anything
besides the primordial sound of emptiness,
this one legged sage outruns the quickest of intellects
and transforms any mind into its deathless state.
Confucius, wanting to highlight the level of attainment
of this sage, said the following about the subtle state of his mind.
Though heaven and earth may cease to turn altogether,
his compassion towards such a sequence of events
will never dry away.

Clearly seeing the source of temporality
and the source of emptiness,
he is the humble director of this cosmic
churning ocean of mindfulness.
As a guardian of the source of being,
all of the Tao moves with him.
Startled by those remarks,
Confucius' companion asked of him
to explain the depth of the statements
that he has just uttered.
Preferring the unity of all things,
he disregards the events of the day
and of the state in order to completely harmonize
with the equality of unity.

Enlightened by the emptiness of his own mind,
the normality of being is his once again.
Just as everyone uses water to perceive
their own reflection, everyone, including the masses,
uses the stillness of his mind to perceive their own innate stillness.
Living out a straight and narrow life,
others are automatically straightened out.
Having control over the day he dies
though having perfect control over his subtle mind,
the deathless state is attractive to everyone's innate ability
to sense and feel the transcendence of the Tao.
As a student of the Antiquity and Obscurity of Nothingness,
I, the one legged sage, am humble enough to say
that I am the virtue of the nation
and of all the intellectual circles.
Governing no one and nothing,
my mindfulness extends to all four corners of this earth.

At ease with what can and cannot be done,
death cheats no one who is virtuous like me.
Receiving the laughter of many for having just one leg,
my master taught me the purity of floating in realms
that are the interiorization of invisibility itself.
Re-visiting Confucius day after day,
the one legged sage announced that he
had something greater and more valuable
than a running and functioning physical body.
Surpassing the need for fame and immortality,
I consider life and death to be one seamless thread
tying all of life together in a bond of eternal friendship.
Though I have nothing that I can call my own
and no position of authority in civil society,

I am nonetheless still capable of harmonizing 
the presence of the Tao for everyone
 who is receptive to following the Way of ways.
Once handed over a vast territory to govern,
I refused the king's offer for something
that shall not immediately slip out of my softened hands.
Admired for nothing in particular
and congratulated for spending my time on being empty,
my virtue is the reward of a well-balanced life.

As fresh as spring lilies, my subtle mind
outwardly reflects the moods of each changing season.
Still in chaos and in emptiness, 
the ruffles and tides of this emotional world
cannot bring me out of my sun stained contemplations.
Complete by virtue's selfless demands,
I never have to scheme my way out of life or into life.
Being one legged has made me one legged.
Being empty has made me empty.
Being the Tao, I am the Tao.
Bowing, Confucius left this master totally bewildered,
afraid that he may be highly realized or greatly insane
 due to the wild workings of the Tao.

11 June, 2013

Living With Eyes Wide Awake by Julian Colgan




Living with eyes wide awake,
lifetimes of memories
flashes by
with the twinkling of an eye.
Hoping for a moment of relief
from samsara's incessant turnings,
everything is as it was
when one first took birth
in the wheels of time.
Having the eyes to see
the dire situation
of all those who are heading towards
the gates of death,
re-fortify one's resolve
to liberate all sentient beings
from the nescience of mindlessness.




Living with eyes wide awake,
stomach one's need to be needy
of external forms of happiness.
If one's own Buddha Nature
cannot give one what one is
searching for,
then nothing in this world of suffering
will relieve one of that perpetual itch.
Taking what is real
to be an imagined fantasy
of the mind,
look for what is unreal within oneself.

By thoroughly investigating
the plethora of images
that one takes to be oneself,
drain out the drops of reality
that are left over
by the residue of impermanence.




Living with eyes wide awake,
live as the Accomplished live.
Being overwhelmed by no one
but oneself,
suffering is seen as the consequence
of allowing oneself
to be a poorly examined subject of inquiry.
Samsara is who one is when one is not who one is.
Nirvana is who one is when one is as the Accomplished are.
Ridding oneself of one's faulty selves,
be careful not to mistake samsara for nirvana
and nirvana for samsara.

Thinking as a Buddha would,
think no more.




Living with eyes wide awake,
the Originating Source
of one's successive re-births
lies in the perception of being re-born.
If there is no self,
then who or what
goes through the repetitive motions
of birth and decay?
Mistaking the twelve causal chains
of dependent origination
as entities in themselves,
close one's eyes
and find what can never be found.



Living with eyes wide awake,
spend each moment
of one's time
spending no time.
The clock ticks
because one thinks it has to tick.
In like manner,
one's mind revolves around
the phenomena of this world
only because one thinks that one is bound to suffering.
Taking no for an answer
to samsara's blinding influences,
bind oneself to one's Buddha Nature
as one passes by and interacts with
the fleeting events of the world's terror-stricken mind.
Equipped with the keys of the Dharma,
lawfully pronounce
one's freedom from who one has imagined
oneself to be throughout the cycles of samsara's existence.
As Empty as Infinite Space Itself,
live with Eyes Wide Awake.

by Julian Colgan (Copyright)
Awake to Buddhahood
emptinessofmind.blogspot.ca/

10 June, 2013

Nirvana Is Right Perception by Julian Colgan

Nirvana is right perception when perception
is all that counts in the tug and pull
of well rounded out pains and pleasures.

Nirvana is right perception when perception
is what decides whether one will be
happy or sad in each and every
exchange of karmically timed actions.

Nirvana is right perception when perception
is the crucial propeller of growth
in situations that are less than welcoming
to the beatitude of the no self.

Nirvana is right perception when perception
is a handy tool for manifesting what
is nirvanic and for slowing down
the concept of ageing, growth, decay
and perpetual turbulence.

Nirvana is right perception when perception
is the be all and end all of enlightenment
and is the cure to a sour life
that smells no roses
and feels no movements of eternity.

Nirvana is right perception when perception
kindly discriminates between
samsaric thoughts and deeds
and nirvanic thoughts and deeds
for the kindling of motivating healing power.

Nirvana is right perception when perception
is the infinite aspect of the mind
when the mind turns inside and outside,
seeing everything as the lightning bolt of an empty reality.

Nirvana is right perception when perception
is the bread which sustains the arhat
during his monthly vigils
which features the mind fasting from irreality.

Nirvana is right perception when perception
is the brilliance of emptiness
that is as a lotus petal when undisturbed
and is as a dharma lion when provoked.

Nirvana is right perception when perception
is as crisp and electrifying as the rain
and is as refreshing as the rising sun
which is as of yet unobscured 
by the madness of material civilization.

Nirvana is right perception when perception
flows as fluidly as the rushing 
of the cosmic waves of eternal mindfulness.

Nirvana is right perception when perception
and perceiving is as a friend to the distressed
and is as a friend to the relieved.

Comfortable as emptiness is comfortable
in you, perception and perceiving
is what gives life to the life of a Buddha. 

by Julian Colgan (Copyright)
Awake to Buddhahood

On Mistakes...

“Mistakes are, after all, the foundations of truth, and if a man does not know what a thing is, it is at least an increase in knowledge if he knows what it is not. ”
C.G Jung

09 June, 2013

Taoist Insight

Hide what you know.
Conceal talent.
Shield your light.
Bide your time.

Privately accumulate
extraordinary knowledge and skill,
but keep
a plain appearance."

Deng Ming-Dao

08 June, 2013

More Rumi...


Thou art the shadow of divine Light.
We are thy shadow in this world.
Who has seen a shadow
separated from the Light?
Sometimes the shadow stays next to the Light.
Sometimes it disappears into the Light.
If it is next to the Light,
Light and shadow are equal to each other.
When it disappears,
it merges and unites with the Light.
~Rumi

07 June, 2013

Shadows...

 Never fear shadows....
 that always means there is a light shining somewhere.
Jonathan Santos

06 June, 2013

The war is won but the peace is not: Einstein speech

This speech was broadcast on the day of the presentation of the annual Nobel Prize in Physics, awarded in 1945 to Wolfgang Pauli for his work on the development of atomic theory. 


05 June, 2013

Rumi

In generosity and helping others be like a river.
In compassion and grace be like the sun.
In concealing others’ faults be like the night.
In anger and fury be like the dead.
In modesty and humility be like the earth.
In tolerance be like the sea
Either appear as you are or be as you look

-Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi

04 June, 2013

The Poison Tree

"I was angry with my friend:
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe;
I told it not, my wrath did grow.
And I water'd it in fears,
Night & morning with my tears;
And I sunned it with my smiles
And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night,
Till it bore an apple bright;
And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine,

And into my garden stole
When the night had veil'd the pole:
In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretch'd beneath the tree.”
  
William Blake

03 June, 2013

Samsara's Wheel by Julian Colgan

Never was there a time 
when any type of sentient being 
was exempt from suffering or from thinking about suffering. 

Suffering being the foundation of a stuck, 
stagnant and sullen mind, 
and mindfulness being the antidote 
of the Buddha nature, 
eradicating everyone's suffering is what 
a Buddha does and is what we should all be striving for. 

Never was there a time when there was 
not a Buddha present on the planet. 
That being the case, 
all of the veneration that is offered to the past 
and present masters is automatically transferred 
over to your own Buddha nature; 
for potential and aspiration is what cleanses 
the open wound of suffering 
that is samsara's wheel of a mind. 

Real life incidents turning from 
momentary troubles to memories to faint 
impressions of the imagination 
to non existence, living life as if all of 
your complexities have been solved 
is the inevitable outcome of seeing all moments 
of existence as empty of results and as empty of direct experience. 

To fulfill your potential is to put an end to suffering; 
be it the combined net result of thousands of years 
of being attached to having everything seemingly under control 
or being too lazy to take the first and last step on the path to enlightenment. 

Every undertaking being a direct experience of a desire 
or an initial thought to improve on what is empty 
from beginning to end, master your life 
through knowing who you are and are not. 

A Buddha and only a Buddha, 
desires which detracts from the happiness 
of other sentient beings is only a distraction 
of samsara's wheel; for reality or the real mind 
is completely ready to work on behalf of the 
greater good of the vast assembly of 
embodied and disembodied masters. 

Taking the first and last step by 
unleashing the ultimate nature of a mindful reality 
that is as humorous as it is sad, 
your direct experience of samsara is complete 
when you listen to the guru from afar 
who is as vivid and surreal as the appearance 
of a Buddha in this world of suffering. 

Closing your eyes and hearing the sound of emptiness, 
the guru is there as the heart is there 
for all of your sentient existence. 

by Julian Colgan (Copyright)
Awake to Buddhahood
http://emptinessofmind.blogspot.ca/

Khairo Dero’s Compassion Revolution

I was profoundly moved by this article published by Charter for Compassion, a very noble organization whose values we share. Please do visit them at: http://charterforcompassion.org/news-and-events/article/203

Khairo Dero’s Compassion Revolution



By Naween A. Mangi

My grandfather was compulsively compassionate. As a child, I remember this quiet and gentle soul, offering love, understanding and a helping hand, to whomever he came across. Thieves and con men were no exception. When his family objected, he smiled and offered compassion anyway. Compassion was a trait at the center of his being.

When I started the Ali Hasan Mangi Memorial Trust in his memory in 2008, the aim was to create a model village in his ancestral hometown of Khairo Dero, a village in southern Pakistan. A model that could be replicated elsewhere in turning poverty-stricken and forgotten rural hamlets into habitable places; complete with access to clean water, a sanitation network, housing for all, education, income-generating opportunities, and health-care services.

As we began the process of engaging the community of 3,700 people in their own development, something felt sorely amiss. While projects were doing well and impact was visible, the work seemed somehow to be standing in isolation. Then, I came across the Charter for Compassion, became a signatory, and started thinking about how we could bring compassion into village life, creating a binding force that would weave our work and our community together.

When we opened a community center and park in 2011, we documented our symbolic commitment to practicing compassion by displaying the Charter in our Community Hall. We then started by teaching our trust’s employees and volunteers about compassion and seeking their views on how we can implement this approach in our daily lives.

Since we wanted to make compassion real, a part of village life, and a practice rather than a notion, we began holding regular activities exploring how to live compassionately. Some of the events we routinely host are:

-Readings from the Charter for Compassion and group discussions.
-Readings from Karen Armstrong’s Letter to Pakistan and Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life.



-Short plays developed and performed by village children on the theme of compassion.



-Drawing competitions about compassion.

-Compassion Counter: We maintain a journal at the Community Center where adults and children can come and record their acts of compassion. We’ve crossed 700 acts and are aiming to hit 1,000 by the summer. Two examples: a schoolboy took a few extra moments to clear away stones from the road so passengers wouldn’t be hurt and on a chilly January morning, and a teacher brought in one of her favorite sweaters for a maid who didn’t have any warm clothes.

-Compassionate Living Day: We celebrate this without schedule and as often as our community feels we need to center ourselves and come back to the mindful practice of compassion. The day is marked by cultural performances, plays and speeches on how we can treat fellow villagers as we would ourselves would like to be treated.

As we began taking these small, practical steps, we started noticing a change in the way villagers interacted with each other.

“People always used to bully me and make fun of my speech and gait, and in turn, I also used to misbehave with them,” says Rashid Gachal, a 12-year-old diagnosed with cerebral palsy. “Seeing the love and compassion I got from the staff since the program began, villagers also started treating me with love and in turn I also behave very well with them.”

We were so heartened by these countless individual stories that we added Compassion Campaign to the list of projects on our website and continued to spread the word, inviting more people to participate. We went for the easiest, most visible targets first.

“Earlier, children were constantly complaining about each other and picking fights in the park,” says Zoya Parveen, a trainer at the trust’s Community Center. “Since we began our compassion campaign, we notice how these kids offer each other a turn on the swings and slides without our intervention.”



This led us to our next step and we started asking ourselves how we can make all our projects in the village more compassionate. We pondered how we could make the process of documenting which candidates most urgently needed a hand pump to access water, or materials to build a home or a micro-loan to set up a small business more infused with empathy. And again, we thought the smallest steps are the best place to start.

“As volunteers for the Ali Hasan Mangi Memorial Trust, we are taught to practice compassion in everything we do,” says Tariq Kango, a 15-year-old student. “So we are not supposed to just take patients to the hospital but accompany them with an understanding for their suffering. And in this process, I’ve learned that the practice of compassion brings me so much happiness and great joy.”

Soon, we also started noting changes in the way people interact with our organization that is now at the center of village development. Individual demands of “more for me” started to slowly give way to the idea of sharing.

“I was a beneficiary in the first group of women who received micro-loans to start small businesses in 2011,” says Mashkoora Mirbahar, a 35-year-old woman, who spent years begging in the fields for food to feed her children in the absence of an income. “I also became part of the group that discusses compassion. When a meeting of past and potential loan candidates was called, I attended. But when asked whether old candidates should get loans again and whether I would like a new loan, I said no. I already received that benefit and now the opportunity should be given to other needy women. This is how I chose to practice the concept of compassion I learned here.”

Most recently, we lost our sweet Waheeda, a heart patient in her twenties who died on April 2 after post-surgery complications. We came back, in our grief, to compassion. In our condolence and prayer meeting the next morning, we decided on a new compassion theme to make constant practice easy: Each Person Matters.

In a letter to our trust’s employees that day, my heart deep in mourning, I offered these words:

Service without love, without warmth, without truly giving of your deepest self, is no service at all. As we set out each day in service of our community, let us always ask ourselves if we are showing each person we serve that they truly matter.

The same day, Waheeda’s husband, Javed Depar, came to us with this consolation:

“I could never have arranged my wife’s surgery if the Ali Hasan Mangi Memorial Trust had not made all the arrangements and provided funds,” he said. “But what truly moved me was the courage, support and deep compassion they provided me. This created a warm, family-like feeling that will always stay with me even though I lost my wife.”

In today’s Pakistan, there is often talk of revolution; when it will finally happen, how it can be brought about, what forces will be involved. No one can deny revolution is what our people so desperately need. But can a true revolution be brought about by grit, force and power? That may cause change, yes. But isn’t revolution ultimately meant to improve the lives of a people weighed down by an endless struggle to survive? What good, otherwise, is a revolution to those helpless against a system that provides them no skills, no jobs, no access to healthcare? In our little village, peoples’ lives are changing. Street children are drawing flowers and forming letters, once-starving women are making a living and casting off dependence, those suffering in sickness are finding a place to turn to and the community is pulling itself out of a centuries-old mire.

As I watch, in amazement, I have learned that a real revolution is small, silent and deeply empowering. In our little corner of the world, an uprising is underway and our commitment to compassion is the thread tying it all together.

Naween A. Mangi has been working as a financial journalist for 18 years. She is currently the Pakistan Bureau Chief for New York-based Bloomberg News. Naween started the Ali Hasan Mangi Memorial Trust in 2008 in memory of her late grandfather. The non-profit aims to create a model village in Khairo Dero, district Larkana, Pakistan, that can be replicated elsewhere.

Naween holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the London School of Economics and a master’s degree in business and economic journalism from New York University. She lives in Karachi.

02 June, 2013

Tolkien...

 "All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king."
  
J.R.R. Tolkien (The Fellowship of the Ring)
 (The Lord of the Rings, #1))

01 June, 2013

Make The Homeless Smile

I thought this should make front page...there are so many beautiful people out there! It is all of us that can make a huge difference with at times little.

Make The Homeless Smile 

With sincere admiration to these Rainbow Makers:  
Abdullah Ghuman
SheikhAkbar
AdamSaleh

More Jung...

Great talents are the most lovely and often the most dangerous fruits on the tree of humanity. They hang upon the most slender twigs that are easily snapped off.
         Carl Gustav Jung