“One day Buddha was sitting with all his disciples around him when an old man appeared and said, “How long do you want to live? Ask for a million years and they will be granted to you.” Buddha answered without hesitation, “Eight years!”
When the old man was gone, his disciples disappointingly pressed him, “Master why didn’t you ask for a million years? Think of the good that you would do for hundreds of generations!” And Buddha replied with a smile, “If I were to live a million years, people would be more interested in extending their lives than in seeking wisdom.”
Do you know what he meant? That they were more interested in surviving than in improving the quality of their lives. How true that is! Few spend time and energy to improve the quality of their existence. You can live without having lived. People think they are alive because they are breathing, eating, speaking, conversing, and going from one place to another. They’re not dead of course. But are they really alive? What does it mean to really be alive? It means three things: being yourself, being now, and being here.”
Fr. Anthony DeMello, S.J., in “Walking on Water”
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Jeff Maziarek, author of Spirituality Simplified and Codi’s Journey, launched Pondercentral.com in May 2007 as a Web-based forum for “PONDER on THIS,” a series of weekday inspirational email messages he began sending to subscribers in March 1999. A FREE service since its inception, “PONDER on THIS” provides subscribers with meaningful content to assist them on their individual paths of spiritual growth. In addition, it benefits subscribers, authors, and publishers by including links to Amazon.com where subscribers can learn more about the book being quoted, and also purchase it.