THOUGHT FOR TODAY

The inability of the materialistic mind to grasp the idea of the life eternal is no proof of the non-existence of that life...My prayer for you is that your spiritual faculties and aspirations may daily increase, and that you will never allow the material senses to veil from your eyes the glories of the heavenly illumination...Abdu'l-Baha'

FAMOUS QUOTES

Do what you feel in your heart to be right- for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't...
Eleanor Roosevelt

LIVING YOUR LIFE IN SPIRIT

"When you are inspired...dormant forces, faculties, and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be." --Patanjali

THE TEMPEST

"We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep," by William Shakespeare

MASQUE 2008

A LITTLE PRAYER

O God, help me to sing often and with much gusto!

Women As Peacemakers

March 28, 2009
Desert Rose Baha'i Institute will be hosting the workshop WOMEN AS PEACEMAKERS" to be presented by ruie Mullins.

This workshop offers a unique spiritual study of the role of women learning to walk the spiritual path with practical feet. Women As Peacemakers is an interactive journey through the writings of the Baha'i Faith together with other great teachers and philosophers to help discover the role of women as peacemakers in the 21st Century. The workshop is an all-day event from 9-5. Registration: $35 plus a delicious lunch $10.

Please visit our website for more information www.drbi.org or contact ruie Mullins at rumu@aol.com or you may call (520)466-7961.

You won't want to miss this exciting event!

Out of the mouths of babes

"we can not do it alone, the problem shared, is the problem solved. Tujantane let's hold hands together" ...an 8 year old African child with AIDS.

Thought for Today

"Take the time to let the whispers of the heavens hear your voice..." Quincy Jones

Famous Quotes

"We have this wonderful window, where we're past puberty and we're not dead yet...You have this great window to live and have a great time, and when you dull it with minutiae, that is meaningless. I think it's just so dumb."...Judge Judy

Funny Quotes

"Bessie Braddock: "Sir, you are drunk!"
Churchill: "Madam, you are ugly. In the morning, I shall be sober."

ATTENTION PHOTOGRAPHY LOVERS

Desert Rose Baha'i Institute will be hosting a 5-Day Photography Workshop by internatonally renowned Baha'i Photographer Paul Slaughter in the Spring of 2009, April 27-May 1.


The "On Assignment in Southern Arizona" Photography Workshop will include field trips in the outstanding nature and landscapes of the Sonoran Deert of Arizona, Indian Ruins, Sky Divers, and the Famous Old West Town of Tombstone. Please contact ruie Mullins at rumu@aol.com to register for this most rare and exciting workshop at the Desert Rose Campus.

to learn more about Paul Slaughter
please visit www.slaughterphoto.com

Music and the Civil Rights Movement

"In his autobigraphy An Easy Burden, the Reverend Andrew Young, a close associate of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., describes the powerful role that music played in the civil rights movement. "We could hear this unity in the singing voices and speaking voices of the people, it seemed we could even hear it in the earth itself like a soft rumbling, a rhythmic beating of drums from all over the South. It was a knowing, with undeniable and unshakable conviction, that our time had come. The South would never be the same again."

Depicting the struggle as "The Singing Movement," Young goes on to say that, through music, a great secret was discovered: "Black people, otherwise cowed, discouraged, and faced with innumerable and insuperable obstacles, could transcend all those difficulties and forge a new determination, a new faith and strength, when fortified with song."

As an example, Young tells the story of one freedom meeting at a church in rural Georgia that was interrupted by the arrival of the sheriff and his deputies. The people were terrified as the sheriff warned them not to talk about registering to vote, and vowed that there would be no Freedom Riders in his county. Then, slowly, the congregation began to hum. "We'll Never Turn Back." As the humming intensified, accompanied by singing and moaning, the sounds in the church entirely drowned out the officers. "The sheriff didn't know what to do." Young notes. "He seemed to be afraid to tell the people to shut up. Finally, he and his men just turned their backs and stomped out. Those beautiful people sang that sheriff right out of their church!"... from The Mozart Effect by Don Campbell

Evening Sunset at Desert Rose Baha'i Institute, Eloy, AZ

Bits of History - Do you remember when?

"War is not healthy for children and other living things"... from Another Mother For Peace founded in 1967; dedicated to the idea that 'war is obsolete' Its main campaign throughout its existence was to establish a Department and Secretary of Peace as part of the executive branch whose purpose would be "to examine and evaluate the range of non-military alternatives" to war. It's not too late.

"HUMAN OPTIONS"

In his book "HUMAN OPTIONS", Norman Cousins says "Two hundred years ago, a great nation was founded on the idea that the strength of a country begins with moral concepts, the truth of which is confirmed in the natural response of human beings and in the history of the race. If we want that nation to go on for another two hundred years, we will dispense with the nonsense that moral values are incidental and that the national interest can stand apart from the human interest".

Further he writes "Democracy is the only political philosophy that entitles and enables the individual to say "no" to government--and get away with it. Indeed, the one word most expressive of democracy is "no". Democracy says "no" to the government that would invade the natural rights of the individual or the group. It says "no" to the government that would push people around, even though this may mean that the people push the government around. The American Constitution is more specific concerning what shall not be apart of the structure of government than it is concerning what shall. The words "no" and "not" are conspicuous in every article and section. Nowhere are those two words more evidence than in the "Bill of Rights."

..."One of our difficulties is that people at the top of government spend so much time on strategy that almost no time is spent on history. There are so many movers and shakers that there is hardly any room for thinkers."

Norman Cousins was way ahead of his time. He was a man of many colors. It might not be a bad idea to consider what he has to say in "HUMAN OPTIONS." He is no longer of this realm but his wisdom and thoughtful concern for all of human kind is still with us.

TWO POETS ©

"TWO POETS as explained by Lois Evezich reporter for the Aliso Viejo News, Aliso Viejo, California, "is a unique poetry book about two people in a relationship and how they communicated with each other." The writers, ruie Mullins and Castadarrow Thompkins met when asked to join a Baha'i Choir in Los Angeles. Mullins and Thompkins shared their writing and decided to do a book together but life intervened. Castadarrow went to Africa and I went to China to do some teaching." said Mullins." "I taught English in a small private school. Premier Chou En Lai had as a goal for the Chinese to all be speaking English by the year 2000. We were only allowed to speak English (at the school) so I didn't learn Chinese..."

"While in China, Mullins started putting the work together. Thompkins is the idea guy and she is the one who made it happen." "But it took wings," said Mullins. "It almost put itself together."

"Thompkins is singer, writer and poet presently living in Las Vegas and Mullins recently of Aliso Viejo by way of Canada, is a poet, a jazz and blues singer, an artist in the broad sense of the word. This is the first book to be published by either Mullins or Thompkins. "The book was self-published and they are marketing it by word of mouth...said Evezich."

From "TWO POETS" The Chinese believe that an imaginary red thread connects
those people who are meant to be together and that nothing
can ever break that line...
not time...
nor distance...
nor circumstance...

See excerpts from the book below.

LIFE

So many solutions to my defects
Solutions that are easy to find
Alas I'm too busy with yours
To pay much attention to mine

There is so much
About life we just don't know
Because of that which our society
is afraid to show

So many faults
We desire to expose
Like mannequins in a window
Only our perfection we pose

So afraid of what others will see
So let's keep the finger pointed
At someone else, not at me

So it is with your faults
That I spend most of my time
Yes, I'm too busy with yours
To pay much attention to mine

I point my finger at you
To keep from pointing it at myself
Conveniently ignoring life's laws
By storing them on the back shelf

When I am causing you pain
I tend to forget my own
Not realizing that this reprieve of time
is just a loan

Every now and then
I think how unkind
But I'm too busy with yours
To pay much attention to mine

Somewhere it is said
Even as you have broken the least of
My commandments, you have broken them all
For this we are accused
Whether we are young, old, big or small

So self-righteous
That it is about your faults I whine
Too busy with yours
To pay much attention to mine

But if I could just redirect my gaze
Maybe just maybe, I could help others
By changing my ways

Alas, so many defects
So little time
Too busy with yours
To pay much attention to mine

...C
from "Two Poets" by Castadarrow Thompkins

Sunday

I love to lie in my bed on Sunday
To look out my window
At the peaceful green on the sloping hill
To feel the quiet as it surrounds
The early morning
And every now and then to hear
The cricket call the hummingbird to visit
At my window
Just below the limb of the tree that protects the
Jasmine
Safe in my queen Anne bed
Pillows plumped
Down blanket scrunched around my legs
Safe and secure from the world outside
My coffee cup steams sweet and savory
Among the scent of early morning dew
While music envelops my very soul
and caresses my mind
The sleepy world of my environment
Not yet awake to spoil the pleasure
Of the quiet, sweet morning of Sunday
...r
from "TWO POETS" by ruie Mullins

Living Backstreet

In 1933 my father was an entrepeneur of sorts and in his own way famous for being able to survive the depression by becoming Moon Mullins, Master of Ceremonies, band leader, writer of music and promoter of Marathons/Walkathons throughout the eastern and mid-western states. Just the year before, he married my mother and wrote a beautiful song entitled "Backstreet". There was a movie "Backstreet" about a woman who was the mistress of a wealthy doctor; she bore him a child and he and his society wife adopted the baby. The wife never knowing who was the real father. The mistress gave up the child in order to give it a chance in life and also so that she might remain a part of that life and while in immense sorrow, she remained the doctor's mistress until she died, alone and bereft upon her daughter's 21st birthday. In the song, she cries, "I'll be waiting backstreet for you...."

The song was ultimately recorded by Billie Holiday and has remained a force in my life ever since. Why? Because it speaks of love, a kind of unconditional love, an unrequited love, a love that lasts forever and I am a sucker for that kind of love.

Anyway, that explains the title of this Blog, in case you were wondering.

I am not sure how I will use this opportunity but hopefully it will be used in a good way; promoting kindness, peace and unity.