Tag Archives: Maya

How to Avoid Suffering . by Alice B. Clagett

Written and published on 22 March 2015; revised

Dear Ones,

As it says in the Sikh holy book “Siri Guru Granth Sahib” (1) (to paraphrase): The reason there is suffering in the world is that it causes us to long for God. Thus, according to the Sikhs, suffering is like medicine to the disease of intoxication with worldly pleasure.

Lifetime after lifetime it is our own ego, our own seeking after pleasure, our own desire to avoid pain, that create our suffering… How then may we overcome suffering?

If when suffering is inflicted, we inflict injury in turn, then the suffering of the world increases. Our own suffering increases.

If when suffering is inflicted, we instead say to ourselves, ‘Ah! Here is a chance to feel compassion for the one who does not know compassion,’ then what happens? Then suffering in the world decreases. Our own suffering decreases.

To turn to compassion is to rise above ego, into that realm where grace pours down like a river of Light onto this dreaming world, this world that waking walks in the depths of sorrow, in the depths of separateness, in the depths of fear or pride, vengeance or despair.

To turn to compassion is to rise to our Highest Self, to that sacred space where our own hearts meet all that is. Where our own hearts meet the Divine in sweetest longing, in perfect understanding, in purest love.

To all my fellow travelers in this world of illusion …
May God’s grace and love illumine your every thought, every action, every dream.

In love, light and joy,
I Am of the Stars

………………………….
FOOTNOTE

(1) See Link: “Siri Guru Granth Sahib, page 469,” the section beginning “Shalok, First Mehl” … http://www.srigurugranth.org/0469.html ..

…………………..

Creative Commons License
Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

…………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………….

astral planes, dimensions, heart clearing, neutral mind, Sikhism, Asa di Vaar, Asa di Var, compassion, illusion, Maya, pleasure, suffering, Siri Guru Granth Sahib, desire, grace,

"Are You the New Person Drawn Toward Me?" . a poem by Walt Whitman . read by Alice B. Clagett

Filmed on 4 October 2014; published on 11 October 2014; republished on 21 June 2017
Location: Bayfield, Colorado, on the trail that starts between 411 and 421 W. North Street, near the  Bayfield Town Hall, and runs north to Route 160.

  • VIDEO BY ALICE
  • SUMMARY OF THE VIDEO

Dear Ones,

Here is my reading of Walt Whitman’s poem “Are You the New Person Drawn to Me?” There is a Summary after the video …

VIDEO BY ALICE

SUMMARY OF THE VIDEO

Hello, Dear Ones, It’s Alice.

I thought I would read you just a portion of a poem by Walt Whitman. He was one of the favorite poets of my youth. He wrote on and on, so it is hard to get a short poem out of Walt Whitman. But people do divide up his poems on their own. And here is, I think probably a ‘divided out’ poem called “Are You the New Person Drawn toward Me?” …

“Are You the New Person Drawn Toward Me?”
by Walt Whitman

“Are you the new person drawn toward me?
“To begin with take warning, I am surely far different from what you suppose;
“Do you suppose you will find in me your ideal?
“Do you think it so easy to have me become your lover?
“Do you think the friendship of me would be unalloy’d satisfaction?
“Do you think I am trusty and faithful?
“Do you see no further than this facade, this smooth and tolerant manner of me?
“Do you suppose yourself advancing on real ground toward a real heroic man?
“Have you no thought O dreamer that it may be all maya, illusion?” –from “Leaves of Grass” by Walt Whitman … public domain

In love, light and joy,
I Am of the Stars

Note: This is a public domain poem … See Link: “Walt Whitman, May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892,” in Public Domain Poetry … http://www.public-domain-poetry.com/walt-whitman ..

…………………..

Creative Commons License
Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

…………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………….

poems, Walt Whitman, ascension, poems, Walt Whitman, societal expectations, social contracts, Are You the New Person Drawn to Me?, romantic love, sacred sexuality, poetry, illusion, maya, duality, Wild West,