When Mary Magdalene came to see Jesus, she brought a bottle of very costly perfume and she poured it on his feet.
Judas immediately said, ‘This is not right. You should have prohibited her from doing that. This is not good; this is wasting. This much money could have fed the poor of the whole town for many days.’
Of course, your intellect will also agree with Judas. His argument was absolutely socialistic; he was a communist. He was speaking rightly, and he knew more economics than Jesus. It is true; why waste so costly a perfume? The feet can be washed with water. There was no need to pour such a costly perfume on them. The perfume could have been sold and the money could have been used for the poor of the town to be fed — perfectly true. The argument was right, but what did Jesus say?
Jesus said, ‘The poor will always be with you, but I will not always be with you. You can feed the poor later on when I am gone, but I cannot stop her. You can see only the perfume, I see her heart. I cannot say no to her. In deep love, in deep overflowing, not finding a way to express, she has poured that perfume. I cannot say no to her.’ Hmm… but Jesus’ argument is not so strong as Judas’ argument. Marx would agree with Judas, Mao would also agree with Judas, and I don’t think that anybody will agree with Jesus.
Even Christians will feel a little embarrassed about the whole thing — it doesn’t fit, doesn’t look good. But I agree with Jesus. He understands the language of the heart.
Inner Voice
There is a tale that goes something like this:
An old Cherokee told his grandson, “My son, there is a battle between two wolves inside us all.
One is Evil. It is anger, jealousy, greed, resentment, inferiority, lies, and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, humility, kindness, empathy, and truth.”
The boy thought about it, and asked, “Grandfather, which wolf wins?”
The old man quietly replied, “The one you feed.”
In quiet moments, you may have felt it—that tugging feeling in the pit of your stomach or in your chest when something is not right. How many times have you known something about a person or situation, but ignored it only to have your suspicions confirmed? You may look outside yourself for answers, thinking that accessing your inner wisdom engenders mistrust, fear, and doubt, especially when there is no evidence to back it up.
But you were gifted with this inner “knowingness” and by building a relationship of trust with this voice, it can lead to an empowered life filled with desirous outcomes. Start to pay attention, and you will slowly begin to hear the different voices or “wolves” within you, and the choice will become yours as to which one you will feed.
What Is the “Inner Voice”?
All your life there has been an inner voice offering guidance, gently and sometimes urgently. Sometimes you listened and other times you brushed it aside and thought nothing of it. This voice goes by different names: inner voice, inner guide, spiritual guide, inner wisdom, or whatever you choose.
It’s not a voice you hear necessarily, but a sense or a feeling (though it can be a voice for some). It can be a hunch or fleeting feeling, image, or impression. “Listen to your gut” has legitimate basis as your gastrointestinal tract is sensitive to your true emotions, providing a powerful and trustworthy indication when determining the right course of action. After all, the body doesn’t lie.
You don’t have to be an intuitive person to experience this—you are constantly taking in impressions throughout the day with your finely tuned senses and processing them. The shift starts when you begin to pay attention to the impressions and your responses to them. With so many enticing stimuli drawing your attention outward, you may have lost touch with your ability to connect inward. Trust that you have this inner guidance, waiting patiently for you to notice—your personal compass to guide you through the tempestuous waters of life.
Learning from the story Love Or Service?: Feed The Joy
Experience Learning
Joy is a divine quality of our true self, which is inherently lighthearted, playful, and free. You can see the full expression of this joy in young children who haven’t learned to worry or take themselves too seriously. They play and laugh freely, finding wonder in the smallest things. They are infinitely creative because they haven’t yet built up the layers of conditioning that create limitations and restrictions. They are in touch with their intuition, which is a form of intelligence that goes beyond the rational mind. Far from being superficial or trivial, joy is an experience of our deepest spiritual nature.
The path to joy is a return to wholeness. It is about shifting our perspective from ego to spirit. Our ego’s fear and insecurity cause it to puff up with self-importance and attempt to control the uncontrollable, while our spirit, knowing it is eternal and infinite, simply allows life to unfold. This creates a natural state of ease, which predisposes you to lightheartedness, joy, and laughter.
If you want to cultivate more joy, creativity, and love in your life, the principles that follow will help you shift your internal reference point from the limitations of the ego-mind to the freedom of spirit.
Laughter Is the Healthiest Response to Life: In time, these moments of joy will begin to knit together. Instead of being the exception, the primordial state of joy will become the norm.
There Is Always a Reason to Be Grateful: The purpose of gratitude is to connect yourself to a higher vision of life. You have the power to choose where you focus your attention, and whatever you focus on will grow in your experience.
Your Soul Cherishes Every Aspect of Your Life: Your worth is absolute, and everything that happens to you—whether it feels good at the time or not—is part of a divine plan unfolding from the level of the soul. In the conventional view, self-worth comes down to having a strong ego.
Yet in reality, your worth is the value of a soul, which is infinite and never varies. Since every event in your life isn’t happening just to a person but to a soul, everything in life should be cherished.
Your Life Has a Purpose: Even when you feel lost or confused, your life has a purpose. You determine that purpose at the soul level, and then that purpose unfolds in daily life as part of the divine plan.
You Are Safe: Many people live in a state of chronic anxiety, feeling isolated and threatened by all the potential threats of modern life. While fear feels very real, our true self can never be hurt or threatened. That’s why the ancient sages said that all fear is born of duality. When we know ourselves to be one with the ground of all existence, then nothing is separate or foreign to our nature and therefore nothing can truly threaten us.
The fear is then only a disturbance within your larger field. This settled presence of your awareness will allow your fear to dissipate as you experience the joy and peace within.
Obstacles Are Opportunities in Disguise: Obstacles are signals our true self sends us to let us know that we need to change directions or take a new tack. If your mind is open, it will perceive the next opportunity to do so. The secret is to abandon rigidity and trust in spontaneity.
There Is a Creative Solution to Every Problem: Every question includes its own answer. The only reason a problem arises before its solution is that our minds are limited—we think in terms of sequences, of before and after.
When you’re living in a state of expanded awareness, you act without effort, you feel joy in what you do, and your actions bring results.
You Are a Co-Creator with the Universe: You are a co-creator with the universe and infinite energy is available to you.
On the path to joy, we proceed to subtler and subtler realms of the mind, and with each step, new levels of energy become available. At the highest levels of consciousness, all energy becomes available.
