Kisha-Gotami's story (1)

"A poignant story from Buddhist legend tells about the tragedy of a young and pretty Indian woman named Kisha-Gotami illustrating that no one can help us except ourselves. As a young girl she always dreamed about being married, having children and engaging in a happy household and family life. She lived in a society in which marriages are arranged by the parents, but she was more than satisfied when her parents chose a young man that she herself would have picked. They were happy with each other from their first moments together, but a year after their wedding tragedy struck. Her husband died in an anccident and Kisha-Gotami tried desperately to console herself by focusing all of her energies on her new baby, who looked exactly like her husband. 

One fatal morning soon after her husband's demise, the young widow woke up to find her baby lying lifeless beside her. Her grief was infinite, and she went mad. She walked holding her dead baby through the highways and byways of her village, holding her dead baby, unwilling to release the decaying corpse for a proper funeral. Though countless friends and neighbors tried to convince her to hand over the dead child, she would not relent. When some tried snatching the dead child from her arms, she ran away and began raving if anyone approached her.

An old woman told Kisha-Gotami that a very wise and powerful holy man was camped on a nearby mountain, and that it was rumored that he performed miracles of all kinds and even brought the dead back to life.

Kisha-Gotami ran at full speed up the mountain to see the Buddah sitting serenely in the shade of a banyan tree, instructing some of his disciples. She implored him on her knees to bring her baby back to life by use of his miraculous powers." (pp. 74-75)

Eugene Pascal (1992).  Jung to Live by: A Guide to the Practical Application of Jungian Principles for Everyday Life.  

Emptiness

Don't be afraid of emptiness within you. 

People try to fill the emptiness with tangible materials or by having things, such as money, status, friends, etc. They never really fill it. The harder you try, the stronger and larger the emptiness will feel.

Turn the emptiness into a space for light. Find light of wisdom to fill it in. Then you will find yourself in the emptiness, rather than emptiness inside you.

When you are surrounded by the light, you can be a giving person, a person who is ready to give others this light of love.

Age of Aquarius

"In terms of prophesy," Teabing said, "we are currently in an epoch of enormous change. The millennium has recently passed, and with it has ended the two-thousand-year-long astrological Age of Pisces--the fish, which is also the sign of Jesus. As any astrological symbologist will tell you, the Piscean ideal believes that man must be told what to do by higher powers because man is incapable of thinking for himself. Hence it has been a time of fervent religion. Now, however, we are entering the Age of Aquarius--the water bearer--whose ideals claim that man will learn the truth and be able to think for himself. The ideological shift is enormous, and it is occurring right now."

Dan Brown. (2003) Da Vinci Code. pp.289-290.

Emphases are mine.

And yet Jesus seems to be behind this enormous ideological shift anyway.

Poverty in the developed countries

"In the developed countries there is a poverty of intimacy, a poverty of spirit, of loneliness, of lack of love. There is no greater sickness in the world today than that one."

Mother Teresa: In My Own Words. (1996) Compiled by Jose Luis Gonzalez-Balbado. Liguori: Misouri, p. 89.

Humility

"It is said that humility is truth.The path that will make us more like Jesus is the path to humility.

Pride destroys everything. To imitate Jesus is the key to be meek and humble in heart."

Mother Teresa: In My Own Words. (1996) p. 56.

Great equalizer

"Each incarnation offers us an opportunity to improve on our mistakes, no matter how grievous, rather than being eternally condemned for them.  Reincarnation is the great equalizer.  By changing bodies and life situations, we are given countless chances to shift perspective.  We have infinite opportunities to truly understand whatever it is we need to learn about the human condition from all possible points of view.  If we faced challenges that ended in failure last time, we have another go at it.  For most of us, these lessons are not quickly or easily learned.  It takes lifetimes."

Carol Bowman (2001).  Return from Heaven: Beloved Relatives Reincarnated within Your Family.  p. 141.

Family karma

"In regards to the workings of family karma and the best response to that karmic memory, the Edgar Cayce material suggests that there are essentially two things to keep in mind: (1) Relationships pick up exactly where they have been left off; in other words, there is often a continuity of expressions (negatively or positively) in every relationship; and (2) Regardless of past-life memories that are influencing a present-day relationship, free will remains the strongest determinant of how that relationship will evolve."

K. Todeshi (2011).  Edgar Cayce on Reincarnation and Family Karma. pp. 79-80.