Summer's End Summer, it's a time of abundance, to enjoy the summer sun, flowers and fruits ... but, summer, like everything else, doesn't last forever. If summer was forever, all the energy and potential would reach its limits and inertia would set in. And so slowly but surely, the cycle turns; everything moves on. Everything has it's own time; it's own season. Remember, the end of something good, means the start of something also good. All you have to do is be connected and in tune with the natural flow of nature's energies. Change When you are aware and accept that everything around you is constantly changing, and that you have no control over 99.99% of it, you are able to embrace change like a close friend! Change is a like a river, constantly flowing and moving things around. The river of life is constantly bringing you ideas, people, situations - each one is an opportunity to be enriched or to enrich others, and to learn. Change is the play of the universe as it entertains us in the biggest light and sound show of all time. Why not sit back and enjoy the show! The Journey Of Time There are two laws governing the journey of time in this world. * Firstly, the movement of time is cyclic i.e. without a beginning or an end. It is not linear i.e. a straight line with a beginning and an end, and * Secondly, everything new undergoes degradation and becomes old at some point of time. These two laws help us to understand the journey of time and why the world is in its present state. We use time to attempt to measure change. One day is measured by the time taken by the earth to rotate around its axis. One day is our basic unit of measurement of time. One year is measured by the time taken by the earth to revolve around the sun. So the movement of time in our physical world is always cyclical. The cycle of the day, from dawn to daylight to dusk to night, is a movement that repeats with absolute constancy. A larger cycle is that of the seasons - from spring to summer to autumn to winter - which also repeat in the same way. When we become a detached observer and look at the 'big picture' of human history, we see an even larger cycle, the eternal world cycle of time - a cycle that moves from the day of humanity (where everything is positive on a physical as well as spiritual level) to the night of humanity and then back to the day of humanity to repeat again. But to believe and understand that picture completely, we first need to understand the second law of time and also connect it with the first law. Tomorrow we shall explain the second law of time. Soul Sustenance Going Back To My Original Nature (Personality) Our present personalities are basically the combined habits of this lifetime (birth), built on the combined habits of previous lifetimes (births), all of which have left their mark (sometimes deep and sometimes not so deep) on our consciousness. It may well be that habits such as becoming angry, upset, anxious, stressed, sorrowful or scared, have been with us for so long that, they feel a natural part of our inner world, so natural that when someone says our true nature is not anger but peace, not fear but love, not aggression but acceptance, not anxiety but calm, it does not feel right. And even if it did feel right for a moment, we have become so attached to our old habitual moods, emotions and behaviors that we do not really want to change. It may even be the case that we have become so weak that we need help to change. It seems much easier to stay the way we are. As we begin to meditate and develop our spiritual practice, our views on the above subject will fluctuate. When that does happen, imagine you are having a conversation with yourself and teaching yourself. Give yourself permission to be peaceful by nature, full of love and joy by nature, naturally content by nature, wherever you are and in whatever you do. After a while, you won't need to give yourself permission and you will find these states of being are there within you quite naturally at every moment. They are our original and eternal nature. Everything else is acquired or learned. In so many ways introduction to spirituality, like many other approaches to inner awakening, is as much aboutunlearning (the acquired beliefs) as it is about learning (new beliefs). Message for the day To contribute specialities is to have the power to cooperate. Expression: Each individual is unique with his own unique set of capabilities. The one who is aware of his specialities and contributes them to any task is the one who is able to cooperate under all circumstances and with all people. There are no conditions attached to contribute these resources. Experience: When I contribute to every task with my own specialities I have double satisfaction. I have the satisfaction of having contributed something and I am also free from expectations from others. I also find that because I am able to give unconditionally, others too are able to cooperate with me.