Humility

'Humility comes first. The hardest task we face in sadhana is to let go of our pride, the ego, because no matter how much we think others are manipulating us, it is always just our own ego. Everything that we say or do is to please our ego. We are constantly trying to make it feel good, we are completely at its mercy. You cannot serve two masters in one house (ie. ego and God). The greatness of humility is that a humble person does not even know he has it. True humility takes no account of itself. He knows that everything happens by the grace of God, the Guru, and the inner Self. When you are truly humble at all times, you see whatever happens as a great lesson' - A sage.

Smoking

I started reading the Bible in 1995 when I received a copy upon request from the Gideons.  For some time I had tried to stop smoking but was unable to.  In the end I was only able to with the power of prayer, and fellowship and encouragement with non-smoking Christians.  Mind you, I started eating biscuits instead.  I thought it was the lesser of two evils. 

I was baptised in 2001 and saved by my heavenly Father.  A sin is something we do that lacks love.  Smoking is a sin because it lacks love towards our body, which is a temple of the Holy Spirit.

Quakers 3

https://throughtheflamingsword.wordpress.com/2011/06/30/quakerism-capitalism-%e2%80%94-transition-1895-1920-the-limited-liability-corporation/

Happiness

According to Aristotle, what is happiness?

⦁ Happiness is the ultimate end and purpose of human existence
⦁ Happiness is not pleasure, nor is it virtue. It is the exercise of virtue.

Source:
http://www.pursuit-of-happiness.org/history-of-happiness/aristotle/


The great Buddhist master Shantideva said:

“All the suffering in the world comes from wanting happiness for oneself. All the happiness in the world comes from wanting happiness for others.”

Source:
http://www.thedailymind.com/happiness/how-to-make-every-minute-of-your-life-meaningful/



For Kazuo Inamori, the goal of management is to make all it’s staff happy, that is the first goal, not to maximize shareholder value:

Source:
http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2012/07/30/mikoshi-management-how-kazuo-inamori-lifted-japan-airlines/

The mirror of relationships

We are all mirrors for others.

'The good you find in others is in you too,
The faults you find in others are your faults as well,
After all, to recognize something, you must know it,
The beauty you see around you is your beauty,
See the best in others and you will be your best,
Give to others and you give to yourself,
Appreciate beauty and you will be beautiful,
Admire creativity and you will be creative,
Love and you will be loved,
Seek to understand and you will be understood,
Listen and your voice will be heard'


Unknown quote

Mental Health 2

'If you were to take the sum total of all authoritative articles ever written by the most qualified of psychologists and psychiatrists on the subject of mental hygiene - if you were to combine them and refine them and cleave out the excess verbiage - if you were to take the whole of the meat and none of the parsley, and if you were to have these unadulterated bits of pure scientific knowledge concisely expressed by the most capable of living poets, you would have an awkward and incomplete summation of the Sermon on the Mount.  And it would suffer immeasurably in comparison.  For nearly two thousand years the Christian world has been holding in its hands the complete answer to its restless and fruitless yearnings.  Here... rests the blueprint for successful human life with optimism, mental health and contentment.'
                                                                        - Psychiatrist J. T. Fisher

Source:
'More than a Carpenter', Josh McDowell



'Psyche' it the ancient Greek goddess of the soul. 

'The Great Sin'

'The Great Sin'

Excerpt from Chapter 8 of 'Mere Christianity' by CS Lewis.


'According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride.  Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete ant-God state of mind.'


'To love and admire anything outside of yourself  is to take one step away from utter spiritual ruin, though we shall not be well so long as we love and admire anything more than we love and admire God'


http://www.fellowshipofthemartyrs.com/articles/60-spiritual-tuneup/191-mere-christianity-chapter-8-qthe-great-sinq-cs-lewis-













https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GN_LoWGtdWg




Isaiah 14: 12-17





'How you have fallen from heaven,
 O morning star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth,
 You who once laid low the nations!

You said in your heart,
  "I will ascend to heaven,
I will raise my throne,
  above the stars of God,
I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,
  on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain.
I will ascend above the tops of the clouds,
  I will make myself like the Most High"
But you are brought down to the grave,
  to the depths of the pit.

Those who see you stare at you,
  they ponder your fate:
"Is this the man who shook the earth,
  and made kingdoms tremble,
the man who made the world a desert,
  who overthrew its cities,
and would not let his captives go home?"