HAPPY EASTER 2008!

"Verily, verily, I say unto you:
Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die,
it abides alone:
but if it dies, it brings forth much fruit." ~ John 12,24.

Click on here to read "Glorious Shoot" - Poetry.

My “Black Chili” is burnt!

I like gardening. Not only for refreshing, gardening has become a therapy for me. It’s a therapy to release stress. I have entertained by the growing plants from their shoots to their lovely flowers. At some point it also gives me inspirations of living a value. I have many spiritual insights from the activities of gardening and have shared some of them with you in this blog. Yes, it has accompanied me in the adventure with infra-human beings, and above all in the journey of living faith. The activities involve not only my physical interventions but also my personality: mind, heart, emotions, passions and empathy. There are spots of experience that will resonate within my soul in a way of analogical thought. In such of way, the experiences will become extrapolated so that they will stimulate many ideas for life.

It is a gift when I get some insight to deal with my life. As I believe that infra-human beings accompany me, there could be kind of coincidental events between them and me. They stand alike mirrors before my eyes. Sometimes they seem to be speakers on behalf of The Ultimate Person. They tell me warnings, supports or words of consolation. As results, they could lead me to have new or better attitudes in my life. Maybe, they couldn’t give me solutions. Otherwise, they could reflect what the matter with me is. The process of objectification is helpful enough for me to re-evaluate my passing life. That is what I want to share with you below; it’s an experience with my black-chili – one of special plants that I have.

So far it grew well
About two months ago my youngest brother gave me a plant of “black chili”. It is a kind of vegetables, but it is just for decoration not for eaten. The entire body of this plant is black. Weird, isn’t it? I did not see such of plant ever before. So I love it, and I should have to be careful of it.

I always watered the plant every morning and evening. I placed it in my veranda, sometimes in the yard where it could get enough sunlight. It grew well after I replaced the pot and the medium. Periodically I gave it (and the others) organic fertilizers. Everything was going normal, until something happened to my black-chili.

It was over-dosed!
A week ago my beloved black-chili started to bear fruits. They looked so tiny but cute. Wonderful! I felt happy, and couldn’t help waiting for the mature fruits to come. What would they be like? I hoped for a fast growing black-chili! So, there was an idea to give it more fertilizer. Instead of organic one, I bought a pack of NPK (a composition of chemical fertilizers) in a nursery house. Then I gave it some before watering it at morning. I didn’t know what dosage for the plant was. I just gave it. It was ridiculous and stupid actually, I think.

How shocked I was two days ago when my wife told me that the black-chili was getting dry! I checked it out, and it was! Oh, My… What a stupid thing I did with the poor black-chili! The reason was clear: it was over-dosed! As seeing it burnt, and the leaves were withered and getting down one by one, and the branches were faint, I felt sad badly. I was so sorry… As a treat, I poured it with a pail of water in order to neutralize the concentrated substances which made the plant burnt.

Why did it distract me out?
I was in a bad situation when I found that fact. I felt bored and tired of my work. I had dreams with many expectations. Some of my efforts to get more income seemed going for nothing. I had tried to focus on something prospective, but it seemed to consume so much of my energy that I felt exhausted. The worst thing was I had neglected some of my responsibilities. All was going in an unorganized way. I felt guilty of it. I was also sorry of being unable to help my youngest brother out of his problem. Again, I got a bad news from him about my mother who was ill.

By those thoughts and emotions I was “burnt out”!

There are still green shoots
Now my entertaining black-chili was dying! Analogically, it was imaging my recent life. It was not hard to me if the black-chili drew my attention as there was a kind of similarities between the plant and me! The dying black-chili was articulating my life while I was looking for some enlightenment.

When I realized the lesson from my poor black-chili, I was so impressed and so stupefied by what had happened. My wife gave me an advice last night, “When you feel tired, please take a rest and refreshing! Do your routine schedules, and don’t forget to come back home earlier than ever! Remember, you still have a wife!” (Hehehe…I was always late for home!) I think she is right, and by her advice I get enlightened. Thanks, Honey!

Do you know what? There is always hope in the end of passion. It is hope which makes everyone survived and optimistic. This morning I found my black-chili having green shoots at one of its tips. It was an invitation for me to smile. Yes, it wasn’t an end of world, and the future is coming… ***

It is no little wisdom for you...

This morning I got an email from from Eknath Easwaran's Words to Live By as I've subscribed to The Thought for the Day, by The Blue Mountain Center of Meditation. I like to share the email to you:

"It is no little wisdom for you to keep yourself in silence and in good peace when evil words are spoken to you, and to turn your heart to God and not to be troubled with the judgment of others."

~ Thomas a Kempis

Most of us appreciate praise, but it is disastrous to become dependent on it. If we are going to allow our security to be bolstered up by the praise, appreciation, and applause of others, we are done for. I have heard about a well-known movie star who goes to sleep at night with a tape of recorded applause playing. This is going to make him more and more insecure.

Why should we get agitated if someone ignores us? There are, after all, advantages to being ignored. We can go anywhere in freedom. Nobody recognizes us - how good it is! In life, there are occasions when we are ignored and sometimes forgotten. That is the time for us to remind ourselves, "Why do I need anybody's attention?" This attitude can be cultivated skillfully.

Even those of us who are the most sensitive to praise and appreciation can learn to be so secure within ourselves that the word rejected can be expelled from our dictionary. The one person who will never reject us is the divine Self within, and that is enough to make up for all the rejections we may have to undergo at the hands of everyone else. ***