A GOLDEN COMPASS

Forget every idea of right and wrong
     Any classroom ever taught you

                       Because
An empty heart, a tormented mind,
    Unkindness, jealousy and fear

    Are always the testimony
You have been completely fooled!

     Turn your back on those
Who would imprison your wondrous spirit
      With deceit and lies.

     Come, join the honest company
          Of the King's beggars-
Those gamblers, scoundrels and divine clowns
     And those astonishing fair courtesans
       Who need Divine Love every night.

        Come join the courageous
             Who have no choice
     But to bet their entire world
                  That indeed,
              Indeed, God is Real.

   I will lead you into the Circle
Of the Beloved's cunning thieves,
         Those playful royal rogues-
Those ones you can trust for true guidance-
              Who can aid you
      In this Blessed Calamity of life.

                      Hafiz,
      Look at the Perfect One
        At the Circle's Center:

He Spins and Whirls like a Golden Compass,
            Beyond all that is Rational,

             To show this dear world

               That Everything,
             Everything in Existence
                Does point to God.

                                         HAFIZ

IF YOU THINK

 If you think you are beaten, you are.
 If you think you dare not, you don't!
If you want to win, but think you can't,
       It's almost a cinch you won't

 If you think you'll lose, you're lost;
      For out in the world we find
 Success begins with a fellow's will;
       It's all in the state of the mind.

   Life's battles don't always go
 To the stronger and faster man,
But sooner or later the man who wins
   Is the man who thinks he can.

                                         WALKER D. WINTLE

TEMPORARY SETBACK- NOT PERMANENT DEFEAT

Someone once challenged Thomas Alva Edison by reminding him
that he failed twenty-five thousand times while experimenting with the
storage battery. "No, I didn't fail," the brilliant inventor replied. "I
 discovered 24,999 ways that the storage battery does not work." In his
lifetime Edison received 1,093 patents for inventing devices such as the
phonograph, motion pictures, the electric pen, waxed paper, and, of course,
the incandescent lamp.

                  Failure was no stranger to Edison. Yet he refused to accept it as a
permanent defeat. His long, remarkable career was inspired by the desire to
make things work. At the time of his death, Edison left some 2,900 notebooks
crammed with notes of his work ideas.

REF:THE SPEAKER'S SOURCEBOOK BY GLENN VAN EKEREN

DON'T QUIT

Ignace Jan Paderewski, the famous composer-pianist, was scheduled
to perform at a great concert hall in America. It was an evening to
remember-black tuxedos and long evening dresses, a high-society
extravaganza. Present in the audience that evening were a mother with
her fidgety nine-year-old son. Weary of waiting, he squirmed constantly
in his seat. His mother hoped her boy would be encouraged to practice
the piano if he could just hear the immortal Paderewski at the keyboard.
So-against his wishes- he had come.
                As she turned to talk with her friends, her son could stay
seated no longer. He slipped away from her side, strangely drawn to the
 ebony concert grand Steinway and its leather tufted stool on the huge stage
flooded with blinding lights. Without much notice from the sophisticated
audience, the boy sat down at the stool, staring wide-eyed at the black-and-white
 keys. He placed his small, trembling fingers in the right location and began to play
"Chopstick." The roar of the crowd was hushed as hundreds of frowning faces
turned in his direction. Irritated and embarrassed, they began to shout:
                 "Get that boy away from there!"
                  "Who'd bring a kid that young in here?"
                    "Where's his mother?"
                    "Somebody stop him!"

           Backstage, the master overheard the sounds out front and quickly put
together in his mind what was happening. Hurriedly, he grabbed his coat and
rushed toward the stage. Without one word of announcement, he stooped over
behind the boy, reached around both sides, and began to improvise a counter-melody
to harmonize with and enhance "Chopsticks." As the two of them played together,
Paderewski kept whispering in the boy's ear, "Keep going. Don't quit, son. Keep on
playing. Don't stop. Don't quit."

                   And so it is with us. We hammer away on our project, which seems about
as significant as "Chopsticks." in a concert hall. And about the time we are ready to give
 it up, along comes the master, who leans over and whispers, "Now keep going. Don't quit.
Keep on. Don't stop. Don't quit" as He improvises on our behalf, providing just the right
touch at just the right moment.

                                                                CHARLES SWINDOLL

THE DRUNK AND THE CONSTABLE

A man whose job it was to keep the peace
Beat up a drunk, who fought for his release
And cried: "It's you who's tippled too much wine;
Your rowdiness is ten times worse than mine-
Who's causing this disturbance, you or me?
But yours is drunkenness that men can't see;
Leave me alone! Let justice do its worst-
Enforce the law and beat yourself up first!"'

                                                   ATTAR

THE PUPIL WHO ASKED FOR ADVICE

There was a pupil once who begged his sheikh:
"Give me some good advice, for pity's sake!"
The sheikh cried: "Leave me- go on, get away,
And if you itch for what I've got to say,
First wash your face- musk can't drive out a stink;
Words are no good to someone sick with drink!"

                                                                   ATTAR

THE KING WHO STOPPED AT THE PRISON GATES

A king returned once to his capital.
His subjects had prepared a festival,
And each to show his homage to the crown
Had help to decorate the glittering town.
The prisoners has no wealth but iron gyves,
Chains, severed heads, racked limbs and ruined lives-
With such horrific ornaments they made
A sight to greet their monarch's cavalcade.
The king rode through the town and saw the way
His subjects solemnized the happy day,
But nothing stopped the progress of his train
Till he approached the prison and drew rein.
There he dismounted and had each man told
That he was free and would be paid in gold.
A courtier asked the king: "what does this mean?
To think of all the pageantry you've seen-
Brocade ans satin shinning everywhere,
Musk and sweet ambergris to scent the air,
Jewels scattered by the handful on the ground-
And not so much as once did you look round;
Yet here you stop-before the prison gate!
Are severed heads a way to celebrate?
What is there here to give you such delight?
Torn limbs and carcasses? A grisly sight!
And why did you dismount? Should you sit down
With all the thieves and murderers in town?"
The king replied: "The others make a noise
Like rowdy children playing with new toys;
Each takes part in some festivity,
Careful to please himself as much as me-
They do their duty and are quite content,
But here in prison more than duty's meant.
My words is a law here, and they've plainly shown
This spectacle was made for me alone.
I see obedience here; need I explain
Why it is here I'm happy to draw rein?
The others celebrate in pompous pride,
Conceited, giddy and self -satisfied,
But these poor captives sacrifice their will
And bow to my commands through good and ill-
They have no business but to spend each breath
In expectation of the noose and death,
Yet they submit- and to my grateful eyes
Their prison is a flower-strewn paradise."
Wisdom accepts authority and waits;
The king paused only at the prison gates.

                                                            ATTAR