-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask]
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Avraham Tzvi
Schwartz
Sent: Sunday, November 07, 2004 11:19
To: Keep Smiling Readers
Subject: Keep Smiling #168
BS"D --
---- KEEP SMILING --------
Does a handicapped person pride himself on his wheelchair. Does he say
to other people: "You poor folks must stand, walk -- while I sit and
travel on wheels"?
In this same way, we can ask, should we take pride in today's
technological advances, its scientific progress? Are we unable to
maintain a quality of life without them?
We're not saying that the progress isn't marvelous. Certainly, we now
enjoy glorious gifts we never dreamt of before. A pauper in our times
lives in greater comfort and luxury than kings of old. Still, the
question remains doesn't this "extra help" reflect a weakness on our
part, an inability to live happily without crutches?
The philosophy of this question we can leave to the philosophers. What
we must realize though, is -- now that we have it all -- at the very
least, let us be happy with our lot. Let us enjoy our lives.
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FIRE DESIRE
Your desire is your fire. A small desire is a small fire -- it fires
small engines. A great desire is a great desire -- it fires large
engines.
Your desire is a fire. There are two aspects here: (1) what you desire,
(2) how much you desire it.
(1) What you desire: Obviously, we must want the right things. The wrong
desires hurt us, break us, burn us. We must know what we want -- and see
it as clearly as possible. We need to learn what we should want -- from
outside, as well as from the knowledge buried within us. We need to find
it, extract it, hold it up to the light.
(2) How much you desire it: The more we focus on our desire, the greater
it grows. If the desire is a negative one, we should talk less about it
-- think less about it -- for our own good. But if the desire is a good
one, a positive one, we should think and think. For the more we focus on
it, see it -- the more we realize it, and breathe life into it.
For this reason, petty thoughts, jealousies, bearing grudges, hating,
are all so stupid. They rob us of "mind-time", the energy we could give
to our desires -- and building our world.
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SKIPPING
"The call of my lover comes closer; it skips on the mountains ... "*
Hashem is my lover. The moments of my life are His gift. I must take
hold of them, as they come, one after another. Moreover, I must run with
them, keep up with them -- that not even one should get lost.
While material objects surround me -- I work with them, eat them, give
them away, buy them -- they are not the real content of my world.
Instead, they are vaulting poles. I grasp them, run with them, jam them
into the ground, and hurl myself into the skies. Through living fully,
richly, with energy, I move with Hashem from one learning experience to
another -- from one heavenly level to the next.
* Shir haShirim 2.8
---- Have an awesome day --------
---- There are two Keep Smiling books out to date, both hard-cover. The
first "Keep Smiling", the second, "Be Happy and Succeed". Both are
available from me at US$10 each. The second should also be available at
your local Jewish bookshop.
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