 Beyond
Diving: |
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT: |
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I leave this world, seek not my resting
place on earth, but in the hearts
of men.
These are the words of the great Sufi
Mystic Mevlana, Galal Al Din Rumi,
going back some 800 hundred years.
In other words, it is not how much
of a fortune one has amassed in his
life, nor how high an office and power
one can yield that will remain after
we are gone. But it is what good deeds,
what kind words were uttered, it is
the love that touches all those around
us that matters.
This is what makes a man’s legacy. |
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| Book
of choice JONATHAN
LIVINGSTON SEAGULL |
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by:
Richard Bach |
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There
are a few unique books that belong
in a magical, mystical world of
their own, and they remain there
throughout decades inspiring people
from different times, different
cultures and faiths and of different
ages such as ‘The Little
Prince’ (published in 1943
by Antoine De Saint- Expurey)
and ‘The Alchemist’
by Pablo Coelho.
These are multilayered heart lifting
fables with esoteric messages
embedded throughout, this is why
they capture the imagination of
all from a young child reading
or listening with wide, mesmerized
eyes to older men and women seeking
what we all seek.
Jonathan
Livingston is, guess what …..
a Seagull. But unlike other seagulls
he is not content nor convinced
that the life of a seagull is
all about learning to fly so it
can catch fish and eat.
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To
the shock and horror of his flock
and in particular the elders, he
decides to teach himself to fly
beyond the limits and scope of all
average seagulls. And so, off he
goes, every day training by himself
- soaring higher and higher to heights
he never dreamed existed, looping,
diving, looping that he was eventually
called by the elders of his flock
and was banished for life from his
community.
Undaunted, Jonathan kept on searching
his limits at great pain and hard
work, evolving and seeing the world
with different eyes, knowing more
about himself than he ever did before
till he reached a stage of ascension
that took him up from his life as
he knew it towards a higher level
of light.
Jonathan kept on ascending towards
the ultimate life, till ultimately
he was perfect enough to come face
to face with the great light - The
Great Gull himself. To his amazement
when he was before him, he realized
that he was looking at a mirror
image of himself!!!
Basking in this eternal light, Jonathan
was nevertheless not content. He
kept thinking of all the seagulls
he left behind, all of whom could
be just like himself, if only they
had someone to show them the way.
He then decided with the blessing
of The Great Gull to return. To
become an instructor to help other
gulls realize that they did not
need to be confined to boundaries
and limitations imposed by the majority
of those around them and who went
before, but that each one of them
is an image of The Great Gull if
only he lets his spirit and his
heart free.
This
wonderful fable was written by an
American pilot in 1970. Yet it bears
some uncanny and subtle esoteric
parallels with one of the greatest
Sufi poems written some 800 years
earlier, ‘The Conference of
the Birds’ (‘Mantiq
Uttiar’) by the Persian Sufi
Master, Farid Din Attar; Thousands
of birds led by the hoopoe, embark
on a long and arduous journey seeking
to unite with the Lord of the Creation.
Only thirty of them make it to the
end. When those who made it finally
become one with the creator, they
stood there looking at a mirror
image of themselves!!!
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Film
of choice THE MOTORCYCLE
DIARIES
A
film by: Walter Salles |
 In
the tradition of Spanish movie making
with its real life stranger than
fiction, comes this brilliant film
that chronicles the early life of
revolutionary icon, Che Guevara.
The
film doesn’t follow El Che’s
exploits in Cuba with Fidel Castro
and later in Africa and Central
America until his death. Instead
it cleverly focuses on his early
life as a young medical student,
with his friend he embarks on
an amazing journey they take on
a beat-up old motorcycle.The film
follows this breathtaking and
exciting road trip across Latin
America, we get to see how El
Che’s personality develops,
how his ideals start to take shape
and manifest themselves in his
actions as a youth, clearly pointing
the way to what would become his
destiny in the later part of his
young and inspiring life.
The
acting was nothing short of superb
by Gael Garcia Benal.
Let
the world change you……
and you can change the world.
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