A HEAVY TOMB

I once saw the son of a rich man, sitting
on the magnificent tomb of his father. He
was quarrelling with another boy, the son
of a dervish, and saying:

'Look at the splendour of my father's tomb.
See the marble pavements, the turquoise
bricks! And inside, the stone coffin is covered
with an elegant epitaph. Compare your father's
grave- a couple of bricks sprinkled with dust!'

The dervish boy listen and said:

'By the time your father has been able to get out
from under there, mine will long have been in
paradise.'

                                                     SAA'DI

THE KING AND THE PEASANT

A king and his courtiers were enjoying a winter
hunt but, as dusk fell, they realised they were far
from any suitable place to spend the night. As it
grew darker, all they could find was a peasant's
cottage.
"Let us see if we can stay there," suggested the
king, "for it is certainly very cold."

His vizier protested. "You can't spend the night in
the hut of a miserable peasant, my lord! It would
lower your royal diginty. Let us pitch our tents, light
many fires, and make the best of it."

Inside his cottage the peasant had heard all this. He
quickly came out and kissed the ground before the
king.

"I am sure that your royal dignity would not be lowered
if you stayed in my hut," he said, "I suspect that your
vizier is more worried that my peasant dignity might
be raised a little."

The king laughed at this. He dismounted, accepted the
peasant's invitation, and ate and slept in his home. In
morning the king gave him a robe of honour and other
presents.

When the king had mounted his horse and resumed his
journey, the peasant caught hold of the stirrup and ran
 a few paces with him.

"You see," he called out, "you have lost nothing of your
glory and power.But as for me,O, I feel as if my hat touched
the sun itself because of your visit!"

                                                                     SAA'DI
REF:THE DISCONTENTED DERVISHES

THANK YOU GOD

                  Giving thanks for abundance
               is sweeter than the abundance itself:
Should one who is absorbed with the Generous One
                  be distracted by the gift?
          Thankfulness is the soul of beneficence;
                      abundance is but the husk,
for thankfulness brings you to the place where the Beloved lives.
                   Abundance yields heedlessness;
                          thankfulness, alertness:
  hunt for bounty with the snare of gratitude to the King.

                                                              RUMI

REF:JEWELS OF REMEMBRANCE

'OH, WOULD THAT MY PEOPLE KNEW'

The divine Mercy repaired the tattered cloak of my piety
   and bestowed upon me a repentance as sweet as life.
                   Whatever ill deeds I had done,
                It took them as not having been done;
                    and my undone acts of obedience
                     It took as having been performed.
  It made me glad of heart as good fortune and felicity.
     It inscribed my name in the book of the righteous:
                       I was on e doomed to Hell;
                            it gave me Paradise.
        When I cried "Alas," my "Alas" became a rope,
           I clutched that rope and climbed out:
I became glad and strong, sturdy, yet fragrant as a rose.
             I had been lying at the bottom of a well:
             now the whole world cannot contain me.
                   Praises be to You, O God!
            You suddenly placed me far from sorrow.
Though the tip of every hair of mine should gain a tongue,
     still, the thanks due to You could not be expressed.
Amid these gardens and fountains I am crying out to the people,
                "Oh, would that my people knew!"

                                                                                RUMI
REF:JEWELS OF REMEMBRANCE

10 SECRETS FOR SUCCESS AND INNER PEACE

1. Have a Mind That Is Open to
    Everything and Attached to Nothing.....

2. Don't Die with Your Music Still in You....

3. You Can't Give Away What You Don't Have....

4. Embrace Silence....

5. Give Up Your Personal History....

6. You Can't Solve a Problem with the Same Mind
     That Created It.....

7. There Are No Justified Resentments.....

8. Treat Yourself As If You Already Are
     What You'd Like to Be.....

9. Treasure Your Divinity.....

10. Wisdom Is Avoiding All Thoughts
       That Weakens You.....

                DR. WAYNE DYER

IMMATURITY

              This world is like a tree,
   and we are the half-ripe fruit upon  it.
   Unripe fruit clings tight to the branch
because, immature, it's not ready for the palace.
   When fruit become ripe, sweet and juicy,
 then biting their lips, they loosen their hold.
When the mouth has been sweetened by felicity,
    the kingdom of the world loses its appeal.
To be tightly attached to the world signifies immaturity;
            as long as you are an embryo,
        blood-drinking is your business.

                                                      RUMI

REF:JEWELS OF REMEMBRANCE

SEARCH

Whether one moves slowly or with speed,
the one who is a seeker will be a finder.
      Always seek with your whole self,
for the search is an excellent guide on the way.
      Though you are lame and limping,
    though your figure is bent and clumsy,
always creep toward the One. Make that One your quest.
       By speech and by silence and by fragrance,
        catch the scent of the King everywhere.
                                                 
                                                      RUMI
REF: JEWEL OF REMEMBRANCE

FROM CRUTCHES TO A WORLD-CLASS RUNNER

A number of years ago in Elkhart, Kansas, two brothers
had a job at the local school. Early each morning their job
 was to start a fire in the potbellied stove in the classroom.
       One cold morning, the brothers cleaned out the stove
and loaded it with firewood. Grabbing a can of kerosene,
one of them doused the wood and lit the fire. The explosion
rock the old building. the fire killed the older brother and
badly burned the legs of the other brother. It was later
discovered that the kerosene can had accidentally been
filled with gasoline.
        The doctor attending the injured boy recommended
amputating the young boy's legs. The parents were devastated.
They had already lost one son, and now their other son was
to lose his legs.But they did not lose their faith. They asked
the doctor for a postponement of the amputation. The doctor
consented. Each day they asked the doctor for a delay, praying
that their son's legs would somehow heal and that he would
become well again. For two months, the parents and the doctor
debated on whether to amputate. They used this time to instill
in the boy the belief that he would walk again someday.
   They never amputated the boy's legs, but when the bandages
were finally removed, it was discovered that the right leg
was almost three inches shorter than the other. The toes of
his left foot were almost completely burned off. Ye the boy
was fiercely determined. Though in excruciating pain, he
forced himself to exercise daily and finally took a few painful
steps. Slowly recovering, this young man finally threw away
his crutches and began to walk almost normally. Soon he was
running.
          This determined young man kept running and running
and running- and those legs that came so close to being amputated
carried him to a  world record in the mile run. His name?
Glenn Cunningham, who was known as the "World's Fastest
Human Being." and was named athlete of the century at Madison
Square Garden.....

REF:THE SPEAKER'S SOURCEBOOK BY GLENN VAN EKEREN
   

QUOTES FROM 10 SECRETS FOR SUCCESS AND INNER PEACE (CONT)

-Florence Farr once said to me, "If we could
  say to ourselves, with sincerity, 'The passing
  moment is as good as any I shall ever know,'
  we could die upon the instant and be united
  with God."

                   WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS

-Here lies my past Goodbye I have kissed it;
 Thank you kids, I wouldn't have missed it.

                  OGDEN NASH

-Any path is only a path, and there is no
  affront to one self or to others, in dropping
  it if that is what your heart tells you.

               CARLOS CASTANEDA

-Any man can make mistakes, but only an
  idiot persists in his error.

                CICERO

-The happiness of your life depends upon
  the quality of your thoughts......
  take care that you entertain no notion
  unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.

                 MARCUS AURELIUS

-God does not command that we do great things,
  only little things with great love.

                MOTHER TERESA

-It is necessary to the happiness of man that
  he be mentally faithful to himself.

               THOMAS PAINE

-First say to yourself what would be,
 and then do what you have to do.

                EPICTETUS

-There is only two ways to live your life.
  One is as though nothing is a miracle.
  The other is as though everything is a
  miracle.

               ALBERT EINSTEIN

-In the faces of men and women, I see God.

               WALT WHITMAN

-Believe that life is worth living, and
 your belief will create that fact.

             WILLIAM JAMES

-Nothing is, unless our thinking makes it so.

            WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

-

-

QUOTES FROM 10 SECRETS FOR SUCCESS AND INNER PEACE

-Take sips of this pure wine being poured.
  Don't mind that you've been given in dirty
  cup.
                 RUMI

-Arrange whatever pieces come you way.

                  VIRGINIA WOOLF

-I wish to say what I think and feel today,
  with the proviso that tomorrow perhaps
  I shall contradict it all.

             RALPH WALDO EMERSON

-I always intertain great hopes.

      ROBERT FROST

-There is just one life for each of us: our own.

        EURIPDES

-A musician must make music, an artist must
  paint, a poet must write, if he be at peace with
  himself. What a man can be, he must be.

                 ABRAHAM MASLOW

-No man who is occupied in doing a very difficult
  thing and doing it very well, ever loses his self
  respect.

                  GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

-As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how
  to live.

        JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE

-Solitude, in the sense of being often alone, is essential
 to any depth of meditation or of character; and solitude
 in the presence of natural beauty and grandeur is the
 cradle of thought and aspiration which are not only good
 for the individual, but which society could ill do without.

                JOHN S. MILL

-Perhaps one of the greatest rewards of meditation and
prayer is the sense of belonging that comes to us.

              BILL W.

     
                 

TEACHING AN ASS

    "IDIOT! DOLT! BLUNDER HEAD!"
shouted the owner of an ass as he kicked
it on its way. "What use are you to me? What
use are you to anyone? On your way, you have
lived your life in vain!" He kept up the tirade,
kicking and cudgelling the ass, which quietly
continued, as best it could, on the journey.

They passed a wise man. "What is the point of
this abuse?" he asked. "The beast cannot learn
much from you. It is not made that way. Stop
the noise, therefore, and you learn from the
beast instead."

"Learn from this creature?" spluttered the man.
"What can this brute possibly teach me?"

"For a start: patience and silence in the presence
of an ass."

                                                       SAA'DI

FOR A SINGLE TEAR

                              I
                Know of beauty
            That no one has ever
                        Known.

          How could that be possible
               When I may seem
             So new in infinite time?

    It is because God belong to only you!

               Did you hear that?
     Did you hear what Hafiz just said?

          God belong to only you!

      It is the only reasonable payment
                   For a single
                      Tear.


                                               HAFIZ

THE TWO POEMS

Many centuries ago, on the road of Athens, two poets
met, and they were glad to see one another.
And one poet asked another saying, "what have you
composed of late, and how goes it with your lyre?"
   And the other poet answered and said with pride,
"I have but now finished the greatest of my poems,
perchance the greatest poem yet written in Greek. It
is invocation to Zeus the Supreme."
    Then he took from beneath his cloak a parchment,
sating, "Here, behold, I have it with me, and I would fain
read it to you. Come, let us set in the shade of that white
cypress."
     And the pot read his poem. And it was long poem.
     And the other poet said in kindness, "This is a great
poem. It will live through the ages, and in it you shall
be glorified.
    And the first poet said calmly, "And what have you
been writing these late days?"
      And the other answered, "I have written but little.
Only eight lines in remembrance of a child playing in
garden." And he recited the lines.
       The first poet said, "Not so bad; not so bad."
        And they parted.
        And now after two thousand years the eight lines of
the one poet are read in every tongue, and are loved and
cherished.
        And though the other poem has indeed come down
through the ages in libraries and in the cells of scholars,
and though it is remembered, it is neither loved nor read.

                                                        KAHLIL GIBRAN

THE WORLD COMPARED TO A WAX TOY

Once someone asked a dervish to portray
The nature of this world in which we stay.
He said: "This various world is like a toy-
A coloured palm-tree given to a boy,
But made of wax-now knead it in your fist,
And there's the wax of which its shape consist;
The lovely forms and colours are undone,
And what seemed many things is only one.
All things are one-there isn't any two;
It isn't me who speaks; it isn't you."

                                             ATTAR

BISMILLAH

It's a habit of yours to walk slowly.
You hold a grudge for years.
With such heaviness, how can you be modest?
With such attachments, do you expect to arrive anywhere?

Be wide as the air to learn a secret.
Right now you're equal portions clay
and water, thick mud.

Abraham learned how the sun and moon and the star all set.
He said, "No longer will I try to assign partners for God."

You are so weak. Give up to grace.
The ocean takes care of each wave
till it gets to shore.
You need more help than you know.
You're trying to live your life in open scaffolding.
Say Bismillah, "In the name of God,"
as the priest does with a knife when he offers an animal.

Bismillah your old self
to find your real name.

                               RUMI

THE SEED MARKET

Can you find another market like this?
Where,
with your one rose
you can buy hundreds of rose gardens?

Where,
for one seed
you get a whole wilderness?

For one weak breath,
the divine wind?

You've been fearful
of being absorbed in the ground,
or drawn up by the air.

Now, your water bead lets go
and drop into the ocean,
where it came from.

It no longer has the form it had,
but it's still water.
The essence is the same.

This giving up is not a repenting.
It's a deep honoring of yourself.
When the ocean comes to you as a lover,
marry, at once, quickly,
for God's sake!

Don't postpone it!
Existence has no better gift.

No amount of searching
will find this.

A perfect falcon, for no reason,
has landed on your shoulder,
and become yours.

                                            RUMI

ARE WE LOST IN PERCEPTIONS AND THE INTERPRETATIONS?

When we don't cover up the world with words and
labels, a sense of the miraculous returns to your life
that was lost a long time ago when humanity, instead
of using thought,  became possessed by thought. A
depth return to your life. Things regain their newness,
their freshness. And the greatest miracle is the experiencing
of your essential self as prior to any words, thoughts,
mental labels, and images. For this to happen, you need to
disentangle your sense of I, of Beingness, from all the things
it has become mixed up with, that is to say, identified with....
        The quicker you are in attaching verbal or mental labels
to things, people, or situations, the more shallow and lifeless
your reality becomes, and the more deadened you become to
reality,the miracle of life that continuously unfolds within and
around you. In this way, cleverness may be gained, but wisdom
is lost, and so are joy, love, creativity, and aliveness. They are
concealed in the still gap between the perception and the
interpretation. Of course we have to use words and thoughts.
They have their own beauty- but do we need to become
imprisoned in them?
       Words reduce reality to something the human mind can grasp,
which isn't very much. Language consist of five basic sounds
produced by vocal cords. They are the vowels a, e, i, o, u. The
other sounds are consonants produced by air pressure s, f, g, and
so forth. Do you believe some combination of such basic sounds
could ever explain who you are, or the ultimate purpose of the
universe, or even what a tree or stone is in its depth?  

REF:A NEW EARTH BY ECKHART TOLLE

MAHMOUD OFFERS AYAZ THE COMMAND OF HIS ARMIES

One day Mahmoud's unconquered armies made
A splendid pageant drawn up on parade;
And on a mountain-side to watch the show
Of elephants and soldiers spread below,
The king and his two favourite courtiers stood,
Hassan, the slave Ayaz, and Shah Mahmoud.
The serried soldiers, jostling elephants,
Seemed like a plague of locusts or of ants;
More armies at that moment filled the plain
That all the world has seen or will again,
And Mahmoud said: "Ayaz, my child, look down-
All this is yours, dear boy; accept the crown."
The great king spoke-Ayaz seemed quite unmoved,
Lost in his private thoughts; Hassan reproved
The youth and said: "Where are your manners, slave?
Think of the honour that our king just gave!
And yet you stand there like an imbecile,
And do not even murmur thanks or kneel-
How can you justify such gross neglect?
Is this the way you show your king respect?"
Ayaz was silent till this sermon's end,
Then said: "Two answers came to me, my friend.
First then, a slave could grovel on the ground
Or gabble thanks and have the heavens resound
With some self-advertising, long address-
And climb above the king or say far less;
But who am I to interpose my voice
Between the king and his asserted choice?
The slave is his, and regal dignity
Demands that he decide and act, not me.
If in his praise I see both worlds unite,
It is no more than such a monarch's right,
Can I-unworthy to be called his slave-
Comment on how he chooses to behave?"
And when Hassan had heard him speak he said:
"Ayaz a thousand blessings on your head;
Your words convince me and I now believe
That you deserve the favour you receive-
But what's the second of your answers, pray?"
Ayaz replied: "Hassan, I cannot say
Whilst you are here-you do not share the throne.
This mystery is for king alone."
The king dismissed Hassan. "There's no one here,"
He said; "now make your hidden secret clear."
Ayaz replied: "When generosity
Persuades my sovereign lord to glance at me,
My being vanishes in that bright light
Which radiates from his refulgent sight;
His splendour shines, and purified I rise,
Dispersed to nothing by his sun-like eyes.
Existence has deserted me, so how
Could I prostrate myself before you now?
If you see anyone or anything,
It is not me you see-it is the king!
The honour you continually renew
Are offered, given and receive by you;
And from a shadow lost within the sun
What kind of service could you hope for? None!
That shadow called Ayaz must disappear-
Do what you wish; you know he is not here."

                                                        ATTAR

EXPERIMENT BY MASARU EMOTO TO SEE THE EFFECT OF WORDS ON GROWTH

"---- In my previous book, I explained how to put
cooked rice in three glass jars, and to one of the jars
we said "FOOL!" To another we said "THANK YOU."
And we simply ignored the rice in the third bottle.
The rice that was told "THANK YOU" fermented and
had quite a nice fragrance. The rice that was told "FOOL!"
darkened and rotted. The rice that was ignored turned black
and emitted a highly repugnant smell.
      However, that's not the end of the story. I took these same
 jars of rice to an elementary school, and the student said
"THANK YOU" to the rice in all three containers. It wasn't
long before the rice in all three containers fermented and
started to emit a pleasant smell- even the rice that had spoiled.
     This indicates that even that which is dying and decaying
can be brought back to life by caring attention, kind words,
and positive thoughts......"


REF: THE SECRET LIFE OF WATER

ANY EXCUSE WILL DO

   Someone has said, "Where the heart is willing, it will find
a thousand ways, but where the heart is weak, it will find a
thousand excuses."
    It's like the man who asked his farming neighbour if he could
borrow his rope.
    "I'm sorry," said the farmer. "I'm using it right now to tie up
my milk."
     "You can't use a rope to tie up milk," laughed the neighbor.
      "I know that," replied the farmer, "but when you don't want
to do something, one excuse is as good as another."

Benjamin Franklin said, "I never knew a man who was good at
making excuses who was good at anything else."

REF:THE SPEAKER'S SOURCEBOOK BY GLENN VAN EKEREN

WHOM ARE YOU DECEIVING

 I love the story of the man who was promoted into a
management position. He felt very insecure being ushered
into his new office. Nevertheless, he looked proudly at his
new surroundings as he settled into his overstuffed office
chair. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. The new
manager, wanting to look busy, picked up the receiver of
his phone. Then he asked the visitor in. When the young man
 entered, the new manager nodded toward him saying, "just a
minute. I have to finish this call." Positioning the receiver, he
continued into the phone, "Yes sir, I can handle that account.
I know it's the largest this company has ever had. You can count
on me. You're welcome sir. Good-bye." The manager put the
 phone down and turned to his visitor. He smiled and asked,
"Now, what can I do for you?" The young man smiled and
answered, "Well I just came in to connect your telephone."

REF: THE SPEAKER'S SOURCEBOOK BY GLENN VAN EKEREN

COOPERATION

There is a story about four men named Everybody, Somebody,
Anybody, and Nobody. There was an important job to be done,
and Everybody was asked to do it. Everybody was sure that
 Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody
did it. Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody's
job. Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, and Nobody
 realized that Everybody wouldn't do it. It ended up that Everybody
blamed Somebody, when actually Nobody did what Anybody could
 have done.


REF:THE SPEAKER'S SOURCEBOOK BY GLENN VAN EKEREN

ARE YOU A TY COBB OR A MAX CAREY?

     Every baseball fan knows that Ty Cobb was one of
 baseball's greatest players.His record for stealing bases
stood for years. Cobb stole 96 bases the year he set the
record.
     Ask baseball fans if they know Max Carey, and most
 of them will shake their heads and ask, "Who was Max Carey?"
Carey, too, had baseball talent. In fact, one season he attempted
53 stolen bases and succeeded 51 times- an unbelievable 96%.
Ty Cobb stole 96 bases the year he set the record, but he tried
134 times. That is only 71%. Cobb was willing to chance failure,
and because of it, he became legendary in the baseball Hall of
Fame. Max Carey, who played it safe time after time, is not
 remembered today.

Like Ty Cobb you're going to make mistakes. But keep trying
win often enough, people will forget the times you failed. To
succeed you need to take risks. Don't always play safe.

 REF: THE SPEAKER'S SOURCEBOOK BY GLENN EKEREN

GOD ON LINE

It was raining hard in TX. All the phone connections seems
like crawling child. Internet was like a bleak, weak old man;
and my handsome bald husband was coming from Houston.
He is a bad driver at night because he has a record of sleeping
on wheel, if it is dark and quiet; even most romantic or upbeat
song cannot keep his eyes open so thought of C.D. player aid
was also no help. Anxiety and fear was giving me a pounding
heartbeat and his safe coming home seems like a distance thought.
I was worried and didn't know what to do? Right then a sweet voice
from inside whispered, "try God on line this connection is always
strong. Never get effected even in bad weather, does not need
any external device never out of charge. In fact always InCharge,
PowerFull, and connected. This thought was a strong thought
"THE WORD" (what ever name you use to address divine) came
in my heart sweeping all the fears and wiping all the tears replacing
it with trust and smiley face. Right then the bell rang and my hubby was
 on the door.
    Instantly my heart said: "THANK YOU GOD ON LINE."

TWO KINDS OF INTELLIGENCE

There are two kinds of intelligence: one acquired,
as a child in school memorizes facts and concepts
from books and from what the teacher says,
collecting information from the traditional sciences
as well as from the new sciences.

With such intelligence you rise in the world.
You get ranked ahead or behind others
in regards to your competence in retaining
information. Your stroll with this intelligence
in and out of field of knowledge, getting always more
marks on your preserving tablets.

There is another kind of tablet, one
already completed and preserved inside you.
A spring overflowing its spring box. A freshness
in the center of the chest. This other intelligence
does not turn yellow or stagnate. It's fluid,
and it doesn't move from outside to inside
through the conduits of plumbing-learning.

This second knowing is a fountainhead
from within you, moving out.

                                                    RUMI

A SLAVE'S FREEDOM

Loghman of Sarrakhs cried: "Dear God, behold
Your faithful servant, poor, bewildered, old-
An old slave is permitted to go free;
I've spent my life in patient loyalty,
I'm bent with grief, my black hair's turned to snow;
Grant manumission, Lord, and let me go."
A voice replied: "When you have gained release
From mind and thought, your slavery will cease;
You will be free when these two disappear."
He said: "Lord, it is You whom I revere;
What are the mind and all its ways to me?"
And left them there and then- in ecstasy
He danced and clapped his hand and boldly cried:
"Who am I now? The slave I was has died;
What's freedom, servitude, and where are they?
Both happiness and grief have fled away;
I neither own nor lack all qualities;
My blindness looks on secret mysteries-
I know not whether You are I, I You;
I lose myself in You; there is no two."

                                                          ATTAR

SOAP THAT FLOATS

In 1879, Procter and Gamble's best seller was candles.
But the company was in trouble. Thomas Edison had
invented the light bulb, and it looked as if candles would
become obsolete. Their fears become reality when the
market for candles plummeted since they were now sold
only for special occasions.
                               The outlook appeared to be bleak for
Procter and Gamble. However, at this time, it seemed that
destiny played a dramatic part in pulling the struggling
company from the clutches of  bankruptcy. A forgetful
employee at a small factory in Cincinnati forgot to turn off
 his machine when he went to lunch. The result? A frothing
mass of lather filled with air bubbles. He almost threw the
stuff away but instead decided to make it into soap. The soap
floated. Thus, Ivory soap was born and become the mainstay
of the Proctor and Gamble company.
                        Why was soap that float such a hot item at that
 time? In Cincinnati, during that period, some people bathed in
the Ohio River. Floating soap would never sink and consequently
never got lost. So, Ivory soap became a best seller in Ohio and
eventually across the country also.

                  Like Proctor and Gamble never give up when things
go wrong or when seemingly unsurmountable problems arise.
Creativity put to work can change a problems and turn it into
a gold mine.

REF:THE SPEAKER'S SOURCEBOOK BY GLENN VAN EKEREN

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