LEAVES OF A DESERT SAGE

© 2002-2010  Robert J. Baran
All Rights Reserved.



Are you a good enough friend to yourself
that you would do anything to help yourself out?
(1975)



A full life is being able to dream,
and to think about those dreams,
and to make those thoughts reality,
and to do all this with enough self-confidence
so as to not pay any attention to the self-doubts of others.
(1975)



We cannot grow spiritually if we deny that we are also partially a physical body.
We are in this world with a physical body so that we can grow spiritually in the first place.
Denying the body and all its workings, feelings, and experiences is a waste of one's life.
There are some who have chosen to deny the body for a higher purpose,
but most of us are probably not here for that reason.
(1976)



I never could do anything orthodox anyway.
(1976)



Learn to look through the master's eyes,
but do not stop by viewing all only as he would.
(1976)



No one can make a person [more] mature or give [more] maturity to that person.
The most anyone can do is provide that person with various opportunities
and place him or her in various situations with which and in which
that person can gain [more] maturity for him or herself.
(1976)



Perhaps God is a[n] [ec]static point.
(1976)



Self-preservation in the form of safety precautions
or self-defense to avoid unnecessary injury is proper and vital.
Self-preservation in order to avoid facing inevitable death is fruitless --
at best, it is a dwarfed rotten fruit in the long run.
(1976)



Our children are with us
because they have chosen to experience and learn life,
starting out from the homes we raise them in.
They chose to be with us, to learn certain things from us
and then to follow their own paths and depart from us --
as we did also with our parents, and they before us.
Therefore, this nonsense of having to follow in a parent's footsteps
or having to follow some path just because that will make the parent(s) happiest,
this has got to stop.
What the child does and will do, is of that child's choosing [when that child is old enough];
what the parent does, the parent chose.
If we would truly communicate with and understand each other,
how can this personal choice insult, upset, or hurt anyone?
(1977)



There is no such thing as just a coincidence.
(1977)



If you are in a situation of some temptation,
and you cannot help yourself,
well, then,
you might as well just go ahead and help youself.
(1977)



We are immortal, omni-dimensional luminous beings
of love and of creativity,
Ever-changing clusters of and channels for
the One's unlimited energies and awesome mysteries.
And, ah, so very much more...
(1981)



It is my long-term and realistic observation
that sometimes prosperity consciousness and positive thinking
have to take a backseat to the life path or karmic obligations
of oneself, your significant others and/or children.
It is sometimes necessary to just hang on and make do,
while in a position to be able to help persons
who you might not have otherwise met.
(2010)