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Sri Anandamayi Ma (1896-1982) was one of the most influential spiritual luminaries of the Twentieth Century. Her devotees ranged from Prime Ministers and great Saints down to the simplest villagers, and people came from all over the world to simply see Her and sit in Her presence. Though virtually uneducated, She spoke with the authority of direct experience and captivated all with Her sweetness and power. To this day, Her presence and guidance is felt by those who turn to Her in prayer, and Her life is an inspiration to all who feel drawn to the spiritual Path.

Many times in the history of the world, Divinity has manifested to bring light, guidance and inspiration to the human race. Anandamayi Ma was an embodiment of Divinity and spiritual power in our own times, and Her message and guidance is eternally relevant and uplifting. She often stressed that Her appearance and birth was not the result of karma or compulsion, but that She was the visible manifestation of the pure aspiration of the spiritual longing of mankind. During Her eighty-six years on this earth, in Her own unassuming and spontaneous way, She exerted a profound influence on an entire generation.

John Holmes (January 6, 1904 �� June 22, 1962), was a poet and critic.He was born in Somerville, Massachusetts, and both attended and taught at Tufts University where he was a professor of literature and modern poetry for 28 years. He wrote several volumes of poetry and the lyrics to several Unitarian Universalist hymns, including "The People's Peace".

Agreement can be a form of hypnosis.  Conversely, anyone who disagrees with being hypnotized cannot be hypnotized.  Human beings have been very heavily and repeatedly indoctrinated and coerced into believing that they ARE A BODY.  Every priest of every organized religion in the history of humankind has preached this message:  "YOU ARE A BODY".   Every medical doctor, every banker, every politician, every artist, every writer and screen play writer in the history of Western Civilization has reinforced the false idea that you ARE A BODY.

When was the last time you read a book or saw a film about a DISEMBODIED SPIRITUAL BEING?  Can you remember ANY?   The simple fact is that YOU, as yourself, are a Spiritual Being.  You are NOT a body.  Anyone who is trying to convince you otherwise is attempting to trap and enslave YOU inside a fragile chunk of flesh so you can be controlled and enslaved.   One simple way you can begin to recover your Spiritual Freedom is to simply DISAGREE with the lies that "You Are a Body".

BE FREE!  DISAGREE!!

Rabindranath Thakur, anglicised to Tagore ( 7 May 1861 �� 7 August 1941), was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music.  Author of and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913.  In translation his poetry was viewed as spiritual and mercurial; his seemingly mesmeric personality, flowing hair, and otherworldly dress earned him a prophet-like reputation in the West. His "elegant prose and magical poetry" remain largely unknown outside Bengal. Tagore introduced new prose and verse forms and the use of colloquial language into Bengali literature, thereby freeing it from traditional models based on classical Sanskrit. He was highly influential in introducing the best of Indian culture to the West and vice versa, and he is generally regarded as the outstanding creative artist of modern India.

(Image by Cornelia Kopp)

"There is another dimension which is our home. In truth we are not here but there.

This is our shadow."

Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhī (Persian, also known as Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī and more popularly in the English-speaking world simply as Rumi.

(30 September 1207 �� 17 December 1273), was a 13th-century Persianpoet, jurist, theologian, and Sufi mystic.Iranians, Turks, Afghans, Tajiks, and other Central Asian Muslims as well as the Muslims of the Indian subcontinent have greatly appreciated his spiritual legacy in the past seven centuries. Rumi's importance is considered to transcend national and ethnic borders. His poems have been widely translated into many of the world's languages and transposed into various formats. In 2007, he was described as the "most popular poet in America."

The lotus is an ancient symbol in Asian culture. Often used as an example of divine beauty and purity.  Its unfolding petals suggest the expansion of the soul. The growth of its pure beauty from the mud of its origin holds a benign spiritual promise.  In Buddhist symbolism the lotus is symbolic of purity of the body, speech, and mind as while rooted in the mud, its flowers blossom on long stalks as if floating above the muddy waters of attachment and desire. It is also symbolic of detachment as drops of water easily slide off its petals.

The lotus in both Egypt and India symbolizes the union of the four elements; earth, air, fire, and water. The roots are in the earth, it grows in and by means of water, its leaves are nourished by air, and it blooms through the power of the sun's fire. The lotus is therefore the perfection of the fourfold order of the natural world. The growth of a new flower directly from the earth-bound original may be interpreted as a symbol of transcendence as found in Indian philosophy: a spiritual emergence of a higher world directly from our physical manifestation.

Literature, art, dance music and other aesthetic forms of communication, are created solely and only about the life and death of a human being:  an immortal spiritual being inhabiting a body made of fragile flesh.

On Earth, the interest of spiritual beings is directed by artists toward bodies, bodies, bodies.  Bodies are born, endure a brief lifetime of pain, false ambition, despair and quiet desperation.  Humans gasp in short bursts of physical sensation.  They walk to the store, plodding step by tedious step.  They do not cross half a planet in the instant of a thought! Such Divine Flight and Freedom is the privilege of a god! Yet, All Sentient Spiritual Beings are Immortal.

What is a god?  An Immortal Spiritual Being.  This is not a notion of ‘THE GOD��, Creator of All Things in The Physical Universe.  No.  This is simply the reality that each one of us, as individual Immortal Souls, have infinite potential to cause and create and control our Own Personal Universe!

History has clearly demonstrated that anyone can Be Who They Decide To Be.  Realization of any Dream is as simple as being, doing and having who and what one decides To Be.

What prevents Immortal Spiritual Beings who animate and inhabit physical bodies from realizing the essential Freedom and Ability of an invisible, powerful, all-knowing, divinity;  a “no-thing�� of unlimited age, creative potential and god-like ability to Be divine?

Priests who insist that only they can communicate with “god��, and, the “god�� is out there somewhere.  And, foremost, writers who create the illusion that the ONLY GAME that can be played by any being, anywhere and anytime, are the games of The Body.  They use the most powerful tool of all: aesthetics!  Beautiful words, masterful pictures, magical sounds and symmetrical physical forms entice and entrap you.  The most precious, most desirable quality for a Spiritual Being is that Quality in the physical universe that is most similar to themselves:  Aesthetics!  Indeed, only a Spiritual Being can create beauty!  The source and essence of art and beauty IS that “no-thing�� we call the Spirit.

How often have you read a book and seen a film that is dedicated to the life, loves, games, activities, dreams and aspirations of a disembodied Spiritual Being?  Ever?  Can you think of any?

Only YOU can create beauty.  Only YOU can create your personal universe.  Only YOU, as the god-like, immortal spiritual being that you are, can animate, inhabit, create and transcend the physical forms of flesh.  This ability begins with imagination…the Decision to BE!

You are NOT a tiny physical body, trapped on a distant planet, impotent, frail and pathetic dust.  You ARE the Eternal Potential Power of Creation!  A god.  Creator and Destroyer of Universes!

However, you have been sold out.  Sold into Eternal Slavery by every artist with pen and brush who used Aesthetics to tell you that you have NO IDENTITY unless you inhabit a body.  You and I should regard such treasonous fellow beings as Enemies of Our Immortal Selves!  They destroy your Personal Divinity with lies carried through art.  You must HAVE a Body.  Only the Body can have an identity.  Only the body can live, love, play, create and feel sensation.  These are lies.  In Truth, only an Immortal Spiritual Being can cause or create anything at all…including bodies, planets, stars, universes and beauty.

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Lawrence R. Spencer. 2013.

This is Part 1 of the 11 part complete on-line movie, "Don Juan De Marco", starring Johnny Depp and Marlon Brando. To see the complete film, watch all 11 parts.

This is arguably the best Johnny Depp film ever! Essentially the story demonstrates, eloquently, that fantasy and illusion are more true, valuable and "real" than "reality". Romantics and Realitists will all enjoy this marvelously aesthetic story.

In the film, Don Juan asks the questions:

“What is sacred?

Of what is the spirit made?

What is worth living for,

and what is worth dying for?

The answer to each is the same: only love. ��

This is a wonderful music video.  For me it speaks of  Spiritual Relationships that transcend the physical universe!  It speaks of the ability and responsibility for ourselves and others that are necessary to carry us beyond our mortal existence.