I love Rumi's Little Book of Life: The Garden of the Soul, the Heart, and the Spirit. It's wonderful and here is one of my favorite poems. "There are two intellects! One is acquired from teachers and books, from repetition and sciences, granting a sense of superiority yet the effort to sustain it becomes a great burden. It ends just as the water supply coming from outside a house stops once the source has dried up. The other intellect is God's gift. With a fountainhead in the heart of Spirit the water of knowledge bubbling from within can never become stagnant or old. Seek that fountain within yourself!" (pg. 32, Rumi's Little Book of Life: The Garden of the Soul, the Heart, and the Spirit) I have this little book, 365 Tao: Daily Meditations, by Deng Ming-Dao. A wonderful little book of insight and inspiration. The other day I came across this one, "Modest," and had to share it. "Modesty Have you ever had a knot in your shoelace? You have to bend down to untie it. Difficulties in life confront us all; people respond in their own way to adversity. Some succumb, some grow boisterous. Some marshal their determination, some respond with trickery. All too often hardship will mow a person down. When confronted with difficulty, those who follow Tao respond with modesty: They conform to the situation. They bow before it, and they concentrate upon it until they find a solution. They do not apply undue force; neither do they acquiesce meekly to fate. They examine the situation and carefully undo it. In the same way you bend down to untie a knot in your shoelace, they bend down to find guidance. Even modesty can become an error if we become meek and insecure. Some people become so humble that they become self-defeating. They are talented but their personalities are so split that they cannot achieve their potential. Therefore, there must be limits even on modesty. It works. Like anything else, it must be applied in the right manner." (pg. 269, 365 Tao, Daily Meditations, Deng Ming-Dao) Long time ago on a TV series about angel encounters, I saw an episode I never forgot. I tried to find that series and, particularly that episode, for a long time and somehow, finally, "stumbled" upon it on YouTube. It's an amazing story, as all the others were in that TV series. Watch.
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