Art By Tali Landsman

Today I deactivated my Facebook account. It felt heavy and light, at the same time. On one hand, it felt sad to say goodbye to all the friends I've made, remembering all the good times we shared... All the poetry, stories, laughter, support and celebrations we shared.... It was a wonderful opportunity and indeed a privilege, to connect with people from all around the world, whom I probably would have not met otherwise. But Facebook was becoming a burden to me. I was checking it five, six times per day, answering friends, posting and reading constantly. I recognized that it was taking a lot of my time, and that my days were no longer balanced. I love balance and enjoy being productive. I love a quiet mind that is guided by my own focus and choices,not just by what was presented in my Facebook newsfeed. While on FB, I found that my mind was becoming very unruly. Instead of being steadily focused on what I wanted to contemplate, it would chew on ideas that my frien...

What do you get when you cage together 8.3 million people on a small island? You get people who are lost in their own illusions, made so high in the sky, that they cannot see the ground any longer, nor remember the true meaning of a soulful life. I am talking about New York City. I once lived in Manhattan, and in just two weeks, I am planning to visit there again. While living there, I found that living in skyscraper buildings, made me lose touch with my core, as well as with the earth. I felt more imprisoned than happy most of the time, and I craved to be outdoors surrounded by Nature, most of the time. The city encapsulate you, and since it is a self supporting material and social systems, you comply, and quickly forget that there are other options to life. Instead, you go about your days fitting into the system. In Manhattan, I felt a strong sense of disconnect, that came from living unnaturally. I missed enjoying the sunshine and yearned to be in a remote place...

You usually "respect" others because you want respect yourself. The last thing you want, is for your children to point out your inconsistencies, and so you respect your own parents, even though you really wish to point out, that many of the things they are saying, are simply incorrect or can lead to much pain. So you continue the cycle of behaving in a way that does not promote growth or change...and even stifle your own free thinking mind. Respecting others, should be a GIVEN. Of course you honor and respect their place in the world and honor the core of their being. They are holy, as you are...... And as is everyone else. But you do have a responsibility to yourself to stop doing things out of "loyalty" to family, or to others, by not challenging their ideas, and start being loyal to yourself. What passes for "respect" in our societies, is NOT honoring the light in each one of us, but instead, it is patriotism, loyalty to your religio...

People like to talk about the truth, even to listen, contemplate and read about it... But not many actually follow through and live it. Years ago, I heard in a lecture by Helen Nearing, about her observation of people who search for meaning, of the good life and and of truth. She mentioned that people are MORE interested in attending lectures about the truth, than actually doing all the hard work that comes with it. Change requires much discipline and daily application. If you wish to be a compassionate person, you must not allow rage filled thoughts to nest in your mind... You may want to keep on seeking for clarity and inner calm, until anger and frustration, are NOT the first responses to things that you do not like, or that bothers you.... It is very possible, through meditation, self examination and inner contemplation, to cultivate a bliss- filled- mind, that is not easily shaken. It is possible to educate and calm your emotions, to a degree where it takes awh...

Recently in my studio, as I am painting daily, I took to listen to the poetry and essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Especially the old collection called "The Spiritual Light Of Emerson." Emerson was a deeply spiritual man, yet not at all with a tendency to take things for granted. He examined and checked everything before adapting it into his belief system. Born to a Unitarian family, Ralph Waldo Emerson had a very expanded view of God. He believed that one should seek for the answers of Life and God, ALONE, and not to subscribe or follow any religious creed. He spoke often about the need to rely ONLY on your own inner wisdom, and not to blindly follow leaders, teachers, any doctrine or any teaching, without putting it to the test and examining it on One's own. Born in the 1800's his writings have somewhat of a baroque prose style, which I find peaceful and charming. He spoke about the need for “Self-Reliance” (1841), for governing One's own mind a...

Saint Francis of Assisi is honored by the Catholic Church as the patron saint of animals and ECOLOGY.   It is said that his good nature, tamed wild animals that came into contact with him, and that no creature feared him. St. Francis was born at Assisi in Umbria (great wines and superb food) Now, this is an imaginary conversation God, The Creator of the Universe might have had with St. Francis on the subject of lawns: GOD: Francis, you know all about gardens and nature.  What in the world is going on down there in the suburbs of Auckland NZ?   What happened to the dandelions, violets, thistle and stuff I started eons ago?  I had a perfect, no-maintenance garden plan.  Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand drought and multiply with abandon.  The nectar from the long lasting blossoms attracts butterflies, honey bees and flocks of songbirds.  I expected to see a vast garden of colors by now.  But all I can see are these green rectangles..... ST. FRA...

Life is dynamic. It keeps changing, and regardless of how you may feel from week to week, you undergo transformation as well. With the changes in life, comes the necessity to update your personal goals, examine your dreams and ambitions. Goals and dreams do get dated... And what seemed so important to you, may not be so suited any more... It is a good idea, to dig deeper inside yourself, to find new depths and heights of what would really suite you, and who you are becoming. For example, there was a time in my life, in which becoming an artist and being able to make a good living at it, was a major goal for me. Sure, I had many other goals, like growing as a person, healing my life, developing deeper understanding of the Truth and of Life... I also wanted to be fit, healthy and athletic. I wanted to travel, find a good partner... Enjoy financial security... And more... Later in life, I wanted a home that will feel like a sanctuary, and will fit my ideas of health...

Yesterday I watched a documentary, which followed the lives of numerous people living in New York City, who suffered greatly at the hand of the recent recession. The set for the movie, was a neighborhood hair salon, which belonged to the producer's friend. While getting their hair trimmed, colored or blow dried, they spoke about how badly they were doing, about getting laid off, struggling to make ends meet, and aimlessly looking for new jobs... I noticed that as I was watching this, extreme sadness had settled over me. I was laying on my sofa, after a good shower, covered with a soft comfortable blanket. Through the open window, a calm evening breeze blew in, rustling the trees by the creek outside... It was a perfectly calm evening in the mountains, yet I felt the sadness of these people, as they spoke about losing their homes, being evicted, their huge credit cards debts... I usually use fear and pain, as an indicator to check what am I thinking, feeling or doin...

I wish to share with you my thoughts about understanding the principles of manifestation and making deep changes in your life. Within you, there is a power greater than you may suspect.... If I were drawing a cartoon, it would seem as if within you, there is a sleeping 'Genie'.... But this would not be truly accurate. Within you, are the powers of God. The GOD WITHIN YOU. The more you are aware of your Divinity, and of your God given powers, the more you will be able to step out of the world's victim mode, and to realize your powers to change the things you do not like, but most of all, to change YOURSELF.... You will be able to align yourself more and more with the attributes of the all powerful force of LIFE... the God that created you. Your Faith can move mountains. Jesus, our elder brother, who walked on this earth before us and became an enlightened master, had many instances in which he tried to explain the power of faith. He said: "Yo...

Forgiveness is The key to happiness. In order to create and live the life you truly want, a life filled with happiness and joy, you MUST forgive your past and EVERYONE in it. All the 'players' in the dramas of your life, all the wrongs they did or all the damage you think you did to your life, your loved ones or was done by others To you....... it all has to be forgiven by YOU and truly left behind, so you can move on into the present moment and finally live fully free of the burden. Most of us do not understand what forgiveness truly means. Some think it means that you approve of the wrong done, and accept it for the sake of loving the person anyway. It is never about letting other people get away with murder.... It is about recognizing that the ONLY one who you imprison by your anger, resentment and grief, is YOU.... It is about releasing YOUR own soul... (And later, if you reach soul level awareness, you will understand that you have set all this in motion...

I wish to share this story. I HIGHLY recommend you buy and read the book by Jack Kornfield "After the Enlightenment, the laundry" I bought it many years ago, and now I am re- reading it, and it makes sense on many new levels: Jack Kornfield writes: “Spirituality is not about…mountaintops. It is seeing the sacred, right here.... Even our enemies show us how to awaken, if we recognize the truth.” In the book "After the enlightenment the laundry," by Jack Kornfield, he tells of psychiatrist Stanislav Grof who was working in the field of consciousness research at Johns Hopkins Medical School when a Native American colleague invited him and several other white doctors to his peyote circle on the plains of Kansas. Although the Chief and elders who leads the rituals in the Patawatame church, had agreed to include the white visitors, many of the Indians were unhappy. They felt that it is hard to forgive and include the white men, who were part of the genoc...

It starts when you wake up in the morning.... You start filling your energy field with messages. You may sense a heaviness in your chest, and you may think: "I must be getting a cold, there is a flu going around....." You follow it up with thoughts about your diet... And how it is not going so well... And you start to fill your day with dissatisfaction. It all settles into your energy field, which is a collection of your ideas, beliefs, thoughts, feelings and inner notions. You go into the city, and people and events mirror to you, the same energy that you already know and feels... Surprise... Surprise... But you do not want your first thoughts in the morning to be about illness, nor dissatisfaction with your body, nor about any kind of limiting situation... You WANT to be happy and positive....all these thoughts and feeling, they seem to come to you without your control...seemingly automatically... Changing your feelings, beliefs and daily operating hab...

Do you want to know why your poetry does not get published or your book is not getting snatched by agents and publishers? It is likely to be because you are trying to be clever, witty, wise, poetic, edgy or what have you, and not actually being true to your authentic self. Each one of us has a special story to tell. From a mother who just gave birth to a baby, to a factory worker walking routinely to work with his lunch box. The story and the poetry, is in HOW you observe things, in your own unique way. But the reason it is not getting sought after, is because many people write,....... but they do not touch the core of their being, nor find their authentic selves... So without it, what are you trying to say?...... What is it that the world NEEDS to hear from you, that is worthy of people putting a financial fortune behind you to publish your book? That you bleed when you cut?.......everyone does. That you are unhappy when you experience misfortune?...... Daah....

One of my wise and witty Facebook friend, posted: "Sometimes I feel that we are living in the middle ages... Only with suites and IPhones." I have to agree with her, with a grin on my face... We are. We do live in the dark ages, and only are slowly awakening to see the light... As a society, we are still locked into dark, unenlightened thinking, where those who contemplate the true nature of reality, are considered "fringe"..... while those who pursue business, political and consumer oriented activities and goals, are considered level-headed and down to earth. We got it all backwards. It takes no genius to look at our societies and to see why people are rioting, looting and rebelling. People are unhappy... They live lives of quiet desperation, until given an opportunity NOT to be so quiet...and then they make their discontent heard. We live in societies where those who are happy, keep it to themselves, because they do not with to be bragging.....

Many people wonder, how is it that India, which is home to such lofty and humanitarian philosophies such as Buddhism and Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism and more, a country so full of people who achieve enlightenment and has a history of so many enlightened masters, teacher and gurus, parallel only to the Tibetan culture of the past, is still unable to solve its deep poverty issues. I will share here some of my observations about what is the cause of this. India is a land of many seeming contradictions. You can see almost anything there...prove or disprove anything you wish to, by myths, tales, beliefs and observations. An old story, tells of a conversation that happens over dinner, attended by both Indians and their British friends about 70 years ago. Englishman :"I'd love to visit far away India, but I do not dare because of the tigers. Mr. Ajay: "What tigers? I lived in India all my life and never, not once, did I see a tiger." Mr. Suresh: "We...

You cannot imagine something, unless you also have the power to accomplish it. If you take only one sentence out of this essay, take this into heart:  You CAN make all of your dreams come true!  In fact you are doing so now, but unconsciously, you are bringing about not just your aspirations but also what you imagine to be “practical” for you. You are experiencing  many unrefined concepts that you do not really want as well. How do you do it? First you need to imagine what it is you want and what qualities it will bring into your life and how it will enrich you. This will be your own spiritual “treasure map.” Do not exclude anything physical that you think can add joy to your life. You do not have to focus on specifics of how to get it, at this point, just lay down the outline of what it is you want. Say you want a new car- not for vanity, but because the old one brings frustrations, fear of accidents or getting stranded on the highway, the old one serves as...

I would like to tell you a true story. I heard it many years before, where and by whom, escape my mind now. But it a good story and it is worth re-telling it. It was an early morning day and a man was walking on the wide beach on the sandy white beaches of the west coast of Florida. He loved walking in the early mornings on the beach, before all the sunbathers came flooding in, filling the beaches with fun and games. It was his quiet time to walk with his thoughts.... Every morning the beach was different somehow... He loved observing what the wide ocean washed into the shores... He noticed that on that specific morning, the shores were littered with tens of thousands of newly born little hermit crabs. The high tide carried them all the way up the shore, and now, unable to make their way. back into the ocean, they were dying by the heat of the morning sun. He stood there...thinking how sad this world is... These little creatures will not even get to live a single day... As he went f...