I’ve Lived and Died So Many Times

I’ve died many times … so many times. I’ve lived so many lives, too many lives. I am tired of this existence. I remember one life, many eons ago. Men feared me. Men paid tribute to my magnificence. I existed as a small deity. Then, in my fiftieth year, I took sick and died. I soon found that all I held dear in that life was as nothing. My life had been a dream … a sham.

I remember my life as a serf, indentured to the land. I never did have a full belly in that life. My loved ones died of disease and hunger. But it did not matter. We were not harmed. We could not be harmed. We were not our bodies. We were … and are … so much more.

We returned in new bodies, in new lands. We fought for property. We fought for riches. We fought and killed for nothing. We yearned for the tangible. We yearned for immortality in the physical. We wanted it all without knowing that we already possessed everything there was to possess. We were immortal and did not know it.

In time, I incarnated as a cripple, a poor wretch. In that life I was closer to the godhead than I had ever been. I learned of love in that life, I came to realize that I had lived so many lives in fear. That was the first life in which I started on the path of love, forsaking the path of fear.

Now, here I am … now, here I am. I am not of this body. I am a part of the entity we call god. I have only to remember my birthright. I have only to love.

I have many more roads to travel before I may rest. I have many more lives to live before I become pure love.

I have lived many lives working to become Love personified. I’ve died many times, so many, many times as I crawl back to our Father.

One day, I shall rest. The day will come when I’ll never be born … or die … again. On that day, I shall shine as pure Love. On that day, I shall stand with God, my Father.

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Marion On My Mind – Guest Post by, Emily Gmitter…

A wonderful tribute to a loved one.

Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

“Sing it out … sing it out!” My sister Marion would encourage me as I practiced a song I’d hoped to perform at karaoke some night. “That was beautiful! You should absolutely sing that one!” she continued, scrunching up her face and pumping her arm in the air with earnest enthusiasm.

Then came the day when I realized she was tone deaf. How did I learn that? Well, we had another sister, Lena, who, age-wise, fell between Marion, the oldest of eight children, and me, the middle child. Lena encouraged me just as Marion did, but Lena loved to sing, too, although we’d never heard her do so.

One day, Lena decided she would take singing lessons. Marion and I were then routinely treated to Lena’s practice sessions which consisted of repeated—and memorable—renditions of You Light Up My Life.“Sing it out … sing it out! That’s beautiful!” Marion…

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What is This?

It’s a real thing and it resides in my house.

 

Introducing – ELLIS: One Man’s Remarkable Life – Guest Post by Andrew Joyce…

Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

My name is Andrew Joyce. Some of you may know me … most of you, probably not. But I’m sure you all know of my ex-dog, Danny the Dog. He left me for greener pastures a few months ago (like six months ago) and I was kinda sad. Still am, but that’s another story.

What I’m trying to say is that without Danny around, I got bored. He used to keep me entertained (and on my toes). Anyway, about then I got to know an interesting character. I had seen him around the marina for years, but I had never said more than a few words to him.

For a long time now, some of my friends have been coming up to me and telling me I should write a book about him. They told me he had led a remarkable life and I could sell a lot of books…

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Signs you’re in #India #travel #humor

Barb Taub

Signs, signs, everywhere the signs…

Some were scary.

We were never actually approached by monkeys offering to guide us, but they might have been more helpful than the human guides, who tended to race past the features of the site while gabbling a handful of facts (almost always duplicated in signs posted around the site, and definitely available in our DK Eyewitness Travel Guide To India) before steering us firmly to a shop where everything was “made by my family, Madam, all very original…”[This and all photos unless otherwise noted are ©2018 Jayalakshmy Ayyer & Janine Smith]

Dear Tourist, before entering Hampi, please register with the police, wear clothes, and watch out for robbers, thieves, and rapists. Have a nice day and don’t forget to leave a good review on TripAdvisor.

“Vault of the doom…” Amen.

“Please do not get in to the water because of whirlpools and crocodiles.” Posted…

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Book Review of a Very Funny Book

Where to start? I actually laughed out loud while reading this enjoyable book. I bought it because the title caught my eye. As usual, I put it on my kindle and promptly forgot about it. Then, a few nights ago, I thought maybe I should check it out. Well, that was it! I’m not saying I read it in one reading because I didn’t. But over the next few days, I pulled out my kindle every spare moment that presented itself.

The top 10 lists and the wonderful stories about her family while she was growing up were among my favorites—the stories about her father in particular.

However, I have one question. Why is she allowed in the attic to watch television while her poor deprived children have to make do with books? Another question: Ms. Taub, how were you able to bring Joseph Kony in to your very, very funny narrative? I doff my hat to your genius.

I was impressed that she wrote for the Wall Street Journal (pre- Rupert Murdoch).

I’d recommend this book to anyone without hesitation.

Eau d’baby puke indeed!

A Tale of Romance – Guest Post by Zoe The Fabulous Feline…

Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

A Tale of Romance

Greetings, my friends. It’s Zoe the Fabulous Feline here. It’s February, the day before Valentine’s Day, and I have for you a romantic tale to warm your cockles. I’m not sure what “cockles” are—I’m a cat, after all—but I’ve heard the word and it tickles my fancy.

Just as an aside, my human, Emily, was looking over my shoulder and read the above. She is good at giving unsolicited advice, and so she promptly advised me that I should not use words I do not understand. She went on to say that the correct expression is “warms the cockles of my/your heart.” She then further explained (much to my chagrin) that cockles are the ventricles of the heart.

“Well, not actually the ventricles,” says she. “It is more precise to say that the word cockles is a bastardized version of the Latin name for the…

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