Buddha - handling an insult while remaining compassionate!

One day Buddha was walking through a village. A very angry and rude young man came up to him, "You have no right teaching others," he shouted. "You are as stupid as everyone else. You are nothing but a fake."

Buddha was not upset by these insults. Instead he asked the young man, "Tell me, if you buy a gift for someone and that person does not accept it, to whom does the gift belong?" The man was surprised to be asked such a direct question, he answered, "It would belong to me, I bought the
gift."

The Buddha smiled and said, "That is correct. And it is exactly the same with your anger. If you become angry with me and I am not insulted, then the anger falls back on you. You are the one who becomes unhappy, not me. All you have done is hurt yourself! "If you want to stop hurting yourself, you must get rid of your anger and become loving instead. When you hate others, you yourself become unhappy. But when you love others, everyone is happy." The young man listened intently to these wise words."You are right, Enlightened One," he said. "Please teach me the path of love." The Buddha answered kindly, "Of course, I will teach anyone who truly wants to learn."

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable Soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my Soul.

The poem which inspired Nelson Mandela while he was a political prisoner.

It was written in 1875 by William Ernest Henley a seventeen year old youth who fell victim to tuberculosis of the bone. The disease progressed to his foot and physicians announced that the only way to save his life was to amputate directly below the knee. The Latin word "invictus translates to "unconquered" in English.

The difference between day and night?

An old rabbi once asked his disciples how they could tell when the night ended and the day was on its way back. "Could it be" asked one student, "when you see an animal in the distance and you know whether it's a sheep or a dog?"

"No", replied the Rabbi.

"Could it be",  asked another, "when you look at a tree in the distance and can tell whether it is a fig tree or a peach tree?"

"No", said the Rabbi."Well then, when is it?" his pupils wanted to know.

"It is when you can look at the face of any man or woman and see that he is your brother or she is your sister. Because if you cannot do this, no matter what time it is, it is still night."
From: Tales of the Hasidim.

A little light heartedness!

Blaise Pascal,  the french philosopher/mathematician/scientist,    argued that the possible prize of eternal happiness has an infinite value and that the probability of entering heaven by leading a virtuous life, no matter how small, is certainly finite.

Therefore, according to Pascal's definition, religion was a game of infinite excitement and one worth playing, because multiplying an infinite prize by a finite probability results in infinity!

Spirituality - the expansion of consciousness

Who or what are we?

We are that of which we are aware or conscious of.
A normal healthly person is conscious of their physical body as well as the physical locality in which they live.
This we experience through the five physical senses, namely sight, sound, taste, smell and touch. 

At a different level to our physical awareness, we are also aware or conscious of that part of our being which is not physical.
Our mental activities - or our thoughts. Included in this awareness are our emotions, namely joy and love, our anxieties as well as all our negative emotions. 

At a  higher level still and as we progress in our Spirituality we become aware or conscious of our connection to something greater than ourselves.

Spirituality is the expansion of consciousness - it is not rational knowledge, or experience. It is felt as intuitive knowledge, or a simple knowing. This is different to a belief!
Spirituality is not dependant upon how religious we are or which path we follow, it is dependant upon consciousness. The wider our conscious awareness expands, the greater is our vision! 
And, only when our consciousness expands to the point where it includes an awareness of the entire Universe do we reach Spiritual enlightenment or cosmic consciousness as it is sometimes called!

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

Quatrain XXXII

There was a Door to which I found no Key:
There was a Veil past which I could not see:
Some little Talk awhile of ME and THEE
There seem'd- and then no more of THEE and ME.

Spiritual interpretation - Paramahansa Yogananda

I stood at the door of Infinity
unable to find the key to its mysteries.
My soul, (me) reaching even this high state of attainment
could not penetrate the veil of the inner light,
beyond which lay the holy of holies,
the abode of the Unmanifested Beloved -
the Absolute. Spirit (Thee).
(At this point known only
to the seeker intuitively).
There was a conscious intuitional exchange
between soul (me) and Spirit (Thee).

In the progressive states of Spiritual awakening,
the first experience is superconsciousness,
the realization of the self as soul, individualized Spirit.
In deeper ecstasy, the consciousness enters
Universal consciousness, oneness with the
consciousness of God that is manifested in all creation.
Returning to everyday existence in the physical world
however, this state of union is difficult to maintian
and is sought through the practice of meditation.

The Superconscious Mind

Superconscious awareness constitutes a new state of existence. This shift in awareness begins with a single individual experiencing a singular focal point. Ultimately the transformation is cosmic, not just or merely for the benefit of the individual. It is the collective goal of All That Is.  The Divinization of matter.

It almost always takes an exceptional experience to bring about a glimpse into the Superconscious realm. This may take the form of a tragic loss, a physical illness, accident or near death experience. On occasion it happens spontaneously.   At some point during the experience the mind slips through a portal into the Superconscious realm leaving you with the impression that there is more to life than you originally thought. Once you have had a glimpse of this Superconscious realm you begin to yearn for answers of a different kind. There is a Spiritual hunger now that was not present before. This hunger drives you and seems never to be satisfied.

After years of existing subconsciously you are now aware of another reality - which even a tiny glimpse of is enough to bring about a "knowing" not a belief. This "knowing" is difficult to put into words, almost impossible to describe accurately and meaningless to the uninitiated.