Two rabbis are trying everything possible to provide spiritual comfort to the Jews in Nazi Germany.  For two years, frightened unbearably, they are able to evade their persecutors and perform their religious functions in various communities.

They are finally taken prisoner.  One of the rabbis, terrified at what might happen to him, prays constantly.  The other, however, spends the entire day sleeping.

"Why are you behaving like this?" asks the frightened rabbi.

"In order to conserve my strength.  I know that I'll be needing it later on," said the other.

"But aren't you afraid?  We don't know what's going to happen to us."

"I was afraid up until the time we were captured.  Now that I'm a prisoner, what good would it do to fear what might happen to me.  The time for fear has ended; now is the time for hope."

The master says:

"Volition.  This something about which people have been suspicious for a long time.

"How many are the things we fail to do because we lack the volition, and how many because they are risky?

An example of what we misperceive as a "lack of volition:"  Speaking to strangers.  Be it a conversation, a simple contact or a release, rarely do we speak to strangers. 

"And we always say that it's better that way.

"So we wind up not being of help and not being helped by Life.

"Our distance makes us appear to be important and sure of ourselves.  But actually, we are not allowing the voice of our angel to manifest itself through the words of others."

An elderly hermit was once invited to appear at the ourt of the most powerful king of that age.

"I envy a holy man who can be content with so little," said the king.

"I envy Your Majesty, who is content with even less than I," answered the hermit.

"What do you mean?  This entire country belongs to me," said the king, offended.

"Exactly," said the old hermit.  "I have the music of the spheres, I have the rivers and the mountains all over the world.  I have the moon and the sun, because I have God in my soul.  Your Majesty, though, has only this kingdom."

"Let's go to the mountain where God abides," said a cavalier to his friend.  "I want to prove that all He knows how to do is to ask things of us, while he does nothing to provide us with relief from our burdens."

"Well, I'm going there to demonstrate my faith," said the other.

They arrived at the top of the mountain at night -- and they heard a voice in the darkness: "Load down your horses with the stones from the ground."

"See?!" said the first cavalier.  "After a climb like that, he wants to make us carry an even heavier burden.  I shall not obey!"

The second did as the voice had bidden.  As he reached the foot of the mountain, it was dawn, and the first rays of the sun shone upon the stone that the pious cavalier had carried: they were the purest of diamonds."

The master says:

"God's decisions are mysterious; but they are always in our favor."

The master says:

"My dear fellow, I have to tell you something that you perhaps don't know.  I have been thinking about how to make this news less difficult to hear -- how to paint it in brighter colors, add to it promises of Paradise, visions of the Absolute, provide esoteric explanations -- but they do not apply.

"Take a deep breath, and prepare yourself.  I have to be blunt, and I assure you, I am absolutely certain of what I'm telling you.  It is an infallible prediction, without any doubt whatsoever.

"It's the following: you are going to die.

"It may be tomorrow or fifty years from now, but -- sooner or later --you are going to die.  Even if you would rather not.  Even if you have other plans.

"Think carefully about what you are going to do today.  And tomorrow.  And with the rest of your life."

An explorer, a white man, anxious to reach his destination in the heart of Africa, promised an extra payment to his bearers if they would make greater speed.  For several days, the bearers moved along at a faster pace.

One afternoon, though, they all suddenly put down their burden and sat on the ground.  No matter how much money they were offered, they refused to move on.  When the explorer finally asked why they were behaving as they were, he was given the following answer:

"We have been moving along at such a fast pace that we no longer know what we are doing.  Now we have to wait until our soul catches up with us."

Our Lady, with the infant Jesus in her arms, came down to earth to visit a monastery.  In their joy, the padres stood in line to pay their respects: one of them recited poetry, another showed Her illuminated images for the Bible, another recited the names of all of the saints.

At the end of the line was a humble padre who had never had the chance to learn from the wise men of his time.  His parents were simple people who worked in a traveling circus.  When his turn came, the monks wanted to end the payment of respects, fearful that he would damage their image.

But he, too, wanted to show his love for the Virgin.  Embarrassed, and sensing the disapproval of the brothers, he took some oranges from his pocket and began to toss them in the air -- juggling as his parents with the circus had taught him.

It was only then that the infant Jesus smiled and clapped his hands with joy.  And it was only to the humble monk that the Virgin held out her arms, allowing him to hold her Son for a while.

Do not always try to be consistent.  Saint Paul, after all, said, "The wisdom of the world is madness in the eyes of God."

To be consistent is always to wear a tie that matches one's socks.  It is to have the same opinions tomorrow as one has today.
And the movement of the planet?  Where is it?

So long as you do no harm to another, change your opinion once in a while.  Contradict yourself without being embarrassed.

This is your right.  It doesn't matter what others think -- because that's what they will think, in any case.

So, relax.  Let the universe move about.  Discover the joy of surprising yourself.  "God selected the crazy things on the earth so as to embarrass the wise men," said Saint Paul.

The master says:

"Today would be a good day for doing something out of the ordinary.  We could, for example, dance through the streets on our way to work.  Look directly into the eyes of a stranger, and speak of love at first sight.  Give the boss an idea that may seem ridiculous, an idea we've never mentioned before. 
The Warriors of the Light allow themselves such days.

"Today, we could cry over some ancient injustices that still stick in our craw.  We could phone someone we vowed never to speak to again (but from whom we would love to receive a message on the answering machine).  Today could be considered a day outside the script that we write every morning.

"Today, any fault will be permitted and forgiven. Today is a day to enjoy life."

The scientist, Roger Pemrose, was walking with some friends and talking animatedly.  He fell silent only in order to cross the street.

"I remember that -- as I was crossing the street -- an incredible idea came to me," Pemrose said.  "But, as soon as we reached the other side, we picked up where we left off, and I couldn't remember what I thought of just a few seconds earlier."

Late in the afternoon, Pemrose began to feel euphoric -- without knowing why.  "I had the feeling that something had been revealed to me," he said.  He decided to go back over every minute of the day, and -- when he remembered the moment when he was crossing the street -- the idea came back to him.  This time, he wrote it down.

It was the theory of black holes, a revolutionary theory in modern physics.  And it came back to him becaus
>Pemrose was able to recall the silence that we always fall into as we cross a street.