Attainment

[Golden Rees]

Hi All -
I just joined the group. In gratitude, I wanted to share one of my favorite poems.

by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Attainment

Use all of your hidden forces
Do not miss the importance of this life.
And do not wait for circumstance
To mould or change your fate
In your Self lies destiny
Let this vast truth cast out
All fear, all prejudice, all hesitation.
Know that you are great.
Great in divinity.
So dominate circumstance
And enter into bliss.
Love largely and hate nothing.
Hold no aim that does not chord with universal good.
Hear what the voices of the silence say.
All joys are yours if you put forth your claim.
Once the spiritual laws are understood,
Material things must answer and obey.

[Jeanne]

Thank-you Golden, for sharing this wonderful prose and to Ella for writing it. The last line really hits home for me. I have been amazed when I accept that everything is exactly as it should be... and put my energies into meditation and being more fully immersed in the reality of this moment... obstacles disappear and doors open... leaving me free to serve self and others with greater equanimity. Metta, Jeanne

[Ron Alexander]

I have been thinking about "If I had to live my life over again" on the Vegan site. I am grateful for Ella's profound thinking and for your answer, Jeane.
"I have been amazed when I accept that everything is exactly as it should be... and put my energies into meditation and being more fully immersed in the reality of this moment... obstacles disappear and doors open... leaving me free to serve self and others with greater equanimity."

"If I had to live my live over again", I would have started meditating at a much earlier time in my life, yet possibly I would not have been ready for the joy I have in the present moment. Byron Katie, whose main thrust of "The Work" is inquiring to find the "reality of the moment", would probably tell me "that I must have not been ready because I wasn't". Or something like that.