in memoriam: rory james andrew young

Rory James Andrew Young

21 May 1972 Lusaka, Zambia
26 April 2021 Fada N’gourma, Burkina Faso

🐆

As good a man

as I have ever known or am likely to

was killed on this date five years ago. Please

read about his monumental life,

and please send him

your love.

Man is as poor as he is, as limited as he is, as troubled as he is; yet there is nothing in this world which could not be accomplished by man if he only knew what thought can do. It is ignorance which keeps a person from what they ought to accomplish. One should know how to operate his thought, how to accomplish certain things, how to focus the mind on the object that should be accomplished. If one does not know, then he has not made use of his mind but has lived like a machine.

If people knew the power of feeling, and realized that the power of feeling can reach anywhere and penetrate anything, they could achieve whatever they might wish…Every person is a captive in some form or other; one’s life is limited in some form or other; but one could get above this limitation by realizing the latent power and inspiration of the soul.

Hazrat Inayat Khan

Prayers for the dead

are on the same footing as gifts for the living.

The angel goes in to the dead with a tray of light, bearing a cloth of light,

and says, ‘This is a gift for you from your brother so-and-so,

from your relative so-and-so.” And he delights in

it just as a living man rejoices

in a gift.

Ibn al -Ghazali

🕊

cling to the power of higher truth

here comes the sun

It is in the nature of being human that we are dependent in many ways: dependent on water, air, and food for nourishment; dependent on shelter for warmth and protection; dependent on each other for family life and friendship. We are also spiritually dependent: when challenges arise, each of us must have some place to turn for guidance and support.

The image of the hexagram Li is that of a fire clinging to the wood that it burns. Without a supply of fuel, there can be no fire. Likewise, a person without a source of spiritual sustenance cannot give off light in dark and challenging times.

Difficult situations tempt us to doubt the power of humility, acceptance, and correct behavior. We long to abandon our inner balance and lash out. It is just at such moments that it is most important to cling to what we know to be good and true and correct—like fire clings to the log it burns. By doing this we obtain the aid of the Higher Power.

You are advised to cling to proper principles now. Quietly, willfully, joyfully cling to what is superior in yourself; cling to the possibility of a positive outcome in the situation that faces you, no matter how unlikely it may seem; cling to the good in others, even when it is obscured by inferior influences; and cling to the power of the Deity to deliver truth where it is needed.

Trying times bring us the gift of showing where our devotion to proper principles ends. Deepen that devotion now, cling to truth and acceptance and independence, and you will meet with success.

The I Ching, or Book of Changes

Hexagram 30, Li / The Clinging (Fire)

wei wu wei ching 30:

the present moment is the

source of everything

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