The patient persistence of a water drop

water dripping onto stones

Never stop trying, not even for a day. For however small your efforts may be, the secret to success lies in persistence and perseverance. If you pause you may even risk losing what you have already acquired. For matter possesses an immense power of resistance, of inertia. True success does not depend on making intense, exceptional efforts for a few moments but on the constant repetition of small, daily endeavours. Dripping water hollows out a stone. And yet, water is soft and stone is so hard! Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov Related posts on perseverence: The brave heart of a snow drop

The brave heart of a snowdrop

The snowdrop, which flowers toward the end of winter, announces the imminent arrival of spring. Study it: with what willpower and courage it commands the snow and the earth, ‘Let me through! I want to come up!’ And yet it is fragile, it has such tender, delicate petals, and the slightest thing can harm it. But the earth and the snow obey it, they make way for it, and it comes up and flowers. How does it make the earth open up? It possesses an irresistible force within the tiny stem that is starting to come up, and so it …

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Liberate the powers of the spirit

Those who do not rebel against their difficulties and hardships, but accept to understand and learn from them liberate the powers in their soul and spirit. After a time they realize that something magnificent has occurred within them as a result. Many people say they feel attracted to alchemy! Well this is the true work of alchemy. When you understand this you will be able to extract from the raw, black, formless matter of suffering, a matter that is precious, sparkling, iridescent and dazzling with a thousand colours. Since suffering is inevitable you should learn to work with it, otherwise …

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Freedom is …

To what extent are human beings free? Thinkers and theologians have discussed this question for centuries without reaching agreement; because they are not asking the correct question. Freedom is not a condition that is either given or not, once and for all, to humanity. Instead of asking, ‘Am I free?’ each of us must understand that our present life is the consequence of our past life, and it is impossible to return to the past and change it. We must endure the past and assimilate it, and this is what we are doing in the present life. But as for …

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The creative spirit is above destiny

In order to survive on the physical plane, we, as human beings, must receive everything we need from the external world. We would be unable to live without the elements that the earth, water, air and the sun provide for us. We are creatures, and all creatures have to get what they need from outside themselves in order to survive. Only the Creator is above this law – he has no need of anything external to himself since he is life. But since within each creature, the Creator left a particle of himself, a spark, a spirit, of the same …

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Overcoming fear- the secret of serenity

Where does the serenity that radiates from the face of great sages come from? Simply from their having conquered the fear of loss. They have raised themselves to a peak where they feel something indestructible within them that can never be taken from them. Whatever happens, a true sage knows that the only reality, both in him and in all beings, is that peak beyond the reach of evil, safe from all trials and tribulations: the spirit, the spark given by God to us his creatures. But how can we reach this peak? By working on ourselves, by purifying our …

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Liberation- how to transcend limitation

Whatever the external circumstances, in our inner world – the world of thought – we can always feel free. It is only when we want to manifest on the physical plane that we depend on the conditions around us and are limited. Even the most powerful being is limited in their action. We will never be able to achieve all the things we want, but we should not worry about this, because nothing prevents us from living a rich inner life, one that is beautiful, expansive and that benefits all creatures. Our thoughts and feelings reach out very far into …

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Never get discouraged-the value of patience

“We can be sure that those people who never let things get them down, no matter what difficulties they have to overcome, will go a long way. You may say, ‘Never let things get them down? How is that possible?’ It is made possible by their willingness. Yes, willingness, for the will alone is not enough. When faced with difficulties, it is not enough to say, ‘I’ll hold on in there’, while gritting your teeth and clenching your fists, for you cannot be certain that you will be able to be stronger than the events you’re faced with, and you will …

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Tall trees- growing through the difficulties

“You always tend to view difficulties as obstacles. In reality, it is often when faced with difficult conditions that we have the greatest possibility for growth, precisely because we find ourselves in a tight situation. Look at how the trees in a forest solve this problem. In a forest, all the trees are so closely packed together that, if one of them wants to spread out, the others prevent it from doing so. So the tree says to itself, ‘These are not the best conditions for my development, but I am going to find a solution’, and it pushes upwards. …

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Transcending difficulties and limitation

The Dalai Lama, like the master Omraam Mikhael, impresses me as a saintly example of how the human spirit can transcend the greatest difficulties of life. Forced to leave his home while still young and living most of his life in exile from Tibet,  he has won the admiration of people all over the world to become arguably the most influential spiritual leader alive today. This extract from the master describes how Spirit transcends the karma created by our past mistakes.  SJJ  “Many initiates, saints and prophets have experienced great suffering and difficulty in their lives but that did not …

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Mozart- the courage to continue

“I love Mozart’s music so much! And besides, who doesn’t? Such richness! But what impresses me the most about him, almost more than his genius, is his courage. For a musician, he had the most incredible courage. Yes, you often find that artists do not have much resistance: they are very sensitive, very emotional, very vulnerable and you have to be very thoughtful and attentive towards them. How many of them have ended their life crushed and discouraged because they had not been accepted or recognised! While he was alive, Mozart was never appreciated to the extent that he deserved. …

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Faith is knowledge of divine laws

As far as many of our contemporaries are concerned, faith is a matter only for those who are ignorant, naive or even a bit slow. They are convinced that for humanity to evolve it must abandon all so-called irrational beliefs imposed by religions. Well, they are mistaken. On the contrary, faith is based on knowledge of the great cosmic laws, and there is no science more essential than the science of laws. So, to have faith is to build our existence on a stable foundation, based on the knowledge of these laws. Those who have faith know they are travelling …

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Pressure created the diamond

The diamond is considered the most precious stone. But what does a diamond begin as? Carbon- which in graphite is black. Well, this carbon, as a result of tremendous pressure and very high temperature, transforms over time into a diamond, the most brilliant of all stones. When people look in wonder at a diamond, they consider only its appearance and the qualities it now displays. They do not pause to think what it has had to undergo to acquire its brilliance, hardness and resilience, which make it so remarkable. In the same way, when we are before a great sage, …

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