The Greatest Story In The World

Saturday Stories

December 29, 2018

I

The Christmas story I love most is about the baby Jesus born in a manger, the only place where Mary and Joseph found shelter. Then came three mysterious men who were on a quest to find the child, guided by a bright star that showed them the way. And my second favorite Christmas story is about a young man named Hafiz who found them. He had with him an expensive blanket he was supposed to sell to prove that he can be a salesman, to  show that he could be more than a camel boy. But he gave it to the shivering baby, and somehow, he knew it was the right thing to do.

II

As he made his way back to their caravans, he tried to think of a way to explain to the merchant Pathros, his master, what he had done with the blanket. At that same moment, Pathros was standing outside his tent, watching in awe of a bright moving star that seemed to have come from Bethlehem. Pathros was known as the greatest salesman in the world, and he had looking for many years for someone with whom he can share the secrets of his success.Then he saw Hafiz in the distance, with the star lighting his path. He then knew that, finally, his search was over.

III

Hafiz is the hero of one of the most beloved authors of all time – Og Mandino. I think of Og as the perfect example of how a single individual can change the lives of millions. I have a story, "Og Mandino's Messages of Hope," which appeared in Philippine Panorama on October 20, 2013 and is now part of my book The Way To Inner Peace from Amazon Kindle, my tribute to the man who made this world a better place through his stories. I shared some of the best lessons I learned from his books The Greatest Miracle In The World and The Choice and Greatest Success In The World and A Better Way To Live and the story of Hafiz – The Greatest Salesman In The World.

IV

Years later, Hafiz looked back at his life, and felt humility and such profound gratitude for his countless blessings. He had learned the secrets, written in scrolls that held the key to a life of joy and peace and abundance. Hafiz remained true to the teachings – he always gave half of everything he earned to the poor. And now, towards the end of his life, he had given away all his wealth. All he had left is enough for him to live out his remaining days in the world. And all he had left to give is the chest with the scrolls. He hoped that, before he dies, he would find the one who would be worthy.

Photo courtesy of AbeBooks.com

Kings and Wise Men

Saturday Stories

December 22, 2018

I

A poet friend and I have composed many poems together. I call it "Co-creation at its best," a phrase inspired by Abraham Hicks. Many of our poetry duets have been published in various literary sites. Our most recent was last Monday, December 17, in Galaktika Poetike Atunis, an online poetry magazine based in Albania in southeastern Europe.     

II

I'm happy that our poetry themes are now mostly about our own Philippine heritage – our myths, folklore, history, culture, heroes. Yet poetry knows no bounds of time and space. We once did a poem about ancient Palestine, posting our stanzas in the Comments section of "Hearts In Atlantis," my Facebook post for May 11, 2018. She spoke about the Middle East conflict that has been there since Old Testament times. The poem itself is still unpublished, but I think our poetry collection could become a book. Who knows?

III

My lines are inspired by the Three Wise Men who found the baby Jesus in a manger, according to the stories. I'm going to share here my part in that poem as a way to celebrate Christmas, and I will simply call it "Kings."

IV

My ABAB rhyme form and 8-7-8-7 beat is from one of my favorite poems, "A Psalm of Life: What The Heart Of The Young Man Said To The Psalmist" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow – "Lives of great men all remind us/ We can make our lives sublime,/ And, departing, leave behind us/ Footprints on the sands of time..."

Kings

By Jonathan Aquino

I

As all timeless stories begin,

I'll say "Once upon a time," 

in a small town called Bethlehem,

in what is now Palestine

II

There came wise men of that era:

Balthasar of Arabia

arrived with Melchior of Persia

and with Gaspar of India

III

Masters of the mystic arts came,

and they have all seen the sign

and the star with light like a flame

to lead them to the Divine

IV

Some say they are kings and wise men,

magicians and alchemists,

while some say they are all of them,

and they came with special gifts

V

Frankincense offered by Gaspar,

Melchior's gold, fit for a king,

sacred myrrh oil from Balthazar,

for mankind's greatest blessing.

Photo courtesy of AllJigsawPuzzles.com

Talking To God (2)

Saturday Stories

December 15, 2018

I

Henry David Thoreau once wrote: "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." He meant that many people feel a sense of being incomplete, and they try to fill the gap in their own ways. There are those who are unhappy, deep down, even if they may not appear that way. I've been up and I've been down so I know how it felt, and this is why I don't judge people because of their situation at any given moment. There was a time when I felt there was something missing, and thank God those days are over. Speaking of God, in the early nineties, He saw a letter addressed to Him that was full of sadness and anger, and most of all, pain – and He answered it.

II

"Thy Will be done," we say when we pray. But what exactly is God's will? A lot of us believe that the will of God is what happens in our lives. We think that God gives out cancer or senseless deaths like a judge giving out sentences or Santa Claus giving out gifts. Yet God Himself is saying now, through the "Conversations With God" series, that we got Him all wrong. He says that our will is His will – but His will is not our will. It means that if you want an apple, then God also wants you to have an apple, because your will is also His will. God wants us to have what we want, but we need to understand our relationship. God says: "I don't 'give' you anything – you call it forth." Everything in our lives is a reflection of our thoughts and emotions and words.

III

Yet God never condemns our choices. "I don’t make a judgment about what you call forth," He says. "I don’t call a thing 'good' or 'bad.'" We are the ones who judge everything all the time. God says: "You are a creative being — made in the image and likeness of God. You may have whatever you choose." He adds a crucial point: "But you may not have anything you want. In fact, you’ll never get anything you want if you want it badly enough." It simply means that if ask for something while feeling emotions of lack and scarcity, we will get what we feel. God says: "I produce what you call forth. You call forth precisely what you think, feel, and say. It's as simple as that."

IV

The letter was from a man named Neale Donald Walsch who was at the lowest point of his life. He lost his family, his home, his job, and he broke his neck in a car accident. But it wasn't just a rant, it was also a demand for answers – and in that receptive state, God was able to come through. There were no chorus of angels, just that "still, small voice" we all heard about but we don't always hear. God answers everyone all the time. "I am never not with you," He says. "You are simply not always aware."  We can talk to God because He is listening and answering all the time, but only if we tune in. He also understands that, sometimes, we get so busy, yet that is precisely when we need Him most. God says to us through Neale: "All the more reason to have included your soul in the process. These past months would have all gone much more smoothly with My help. So may I suggest that you don’t lose contact?"

Photo courtesy of Penguin Random House

The Ancient Wisdom of The Toltec

Saturday Stories

December 8, 2018

I

The British philantropist John Templeton once said: "It is nice to be important, but it is more important to be nice." I love that quote so much that it is now a personal mantra. One of the most significant lessons I learned is that our words and actions can affect others, often in ways we may not even realize. I have known it as a concept, but last week when I read "The Four Agreements" by the shaman Don Miguel Ruiz, my life flashed before me – and I saw the things I have said and done from a larger perspective. Don Miguel shares the ancient wisdom of the Toltec, a civilization that flourished from the tenth to the twelfth century in what is now Mexico. Toltec shamans have been masters of the mystic arts even before aliens showed themselves to the Mayans and the Aztecs.

II

I now understand that who and what I am is the sum of all my beliefs – or, more precisely, of all the things I have chosen to believe. Don Miguel says: "Whenever we hear an opinion and believe it, we make an agreement, and it becomes part of our belief system." When I was a child, my grandmother taught me that if I can't say anything good about a person, then it's better not to say anything at all. Now I'm a grown-up now, I have literally lost count of the times I stopped myself from saying something unkind, even when it seemed that common courtesy is not common anymore. I have taken that lesson to heart, and it has been with me ever since.

III

But I lost it – in a major way. Twice. In 1995 I tagged along with a friend who went to Cavite to collect payments for their product. Then one of the customers refused to pay and called him names. It was one of the few times when I felt really mad. I told her I hope her house burns as I led my friend away. The next day, his colleagues came there to collect, and they saw the house had burned. When I heard it, I said it was just coincidence. Then, in 1999 when I put a curse on a man who insulted me in public and he got beaten by muggers that same night, I said that lighting strikes the same spot. But I never did that again.

IV

And, of course, it bounced back. Everything does. During that time, I was living in Quiapo, in downtown Manila. One night, our boardinghouse was plunged in complete darkness. "Fire!" a neighbor shouted, and screams began. I remember it all in sharp detail because it was one of my many confirmations that I wasn't normal – the more the people around me panicked, the more I felt calm. There was no fire, really, just sparks from the electric fuse that blew up. I mention all these to illustrate the power of words – and how everything we say and do will always come back to us. What we say can hurt or heal, bring pain or bring comfort. My life changed for the better because of the times when somebody said the right thing at the right time. "Speak with integrity," says Don Miguel. "Say only what you mean.  Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love."

Photo courtesy of ProgamingPick.com

The Greatest Lesson I Learned

Saturday Stories

December 1, 2018

I

Sometimes, the people you meet when you were young are the ones who change you forever. I first met Don Juan Matus, the Yacqui Indian sorcerer, through Journey To Ixtlan by Carlos Castañeda when I was a kid. In the early 2000s, when I began to get published in national magazines, Don Juan was a star in one of my feature articles, "My Most Unforgettable Literary Characters," along with many others including a seagull named Jonathan. In a way, he was my first mentor. He was my first guide to a place that most people have forgotten, and some don't even believe is real – the world of the mystic.

II

Don Juan appeared again towards the end of 2014 with impeccable timing. It was during a major turning point in my life, which I've put down in words in a memoir I called "A State of Grace." I wrote – "I shivered as chills ran down my chakra points when I saw a rare copy of Tales of Power where the author, the anthropologist Carlos Castañeda, shares more stories about being a sorcerer's apprentice to Don Juan Matus whom I just happened to be thinking about earlier. I first encountered Don Juan when I somehow came across Castañeda's Journey To Ixtlan when I was fourteen and it expanded my young mind decades after it was published in the sixties, not knowing our paths would cross again that fateful day."

III

The greatest lesson I learned from Don Juan is the greatest lesson I have learned in life – assume responsibility for my actions. I'm interested in the question – "Why do some people survive hardships while others give up and blame God?" Why do some people who had nothing were able to make something of themselves, while some who had everything have chosen instead to self-destruct then blame others? Then I realized – why do we need someone or something to "blame" in the first place? If we assume responsibility for what we do or don't do, then why does the outcome have to be either "right" or "wrong"? I also understand that there are people who see themselves as "victims" of Fate, and they want others to feel bad for them. They love the drama. And that's fine – to each his own.

IV

His teaching are cryptic and subtle. What he says about self-importance has nuances that words cannot show. I understand that a lot of people think they are so important, which makes them feel superior (or less inferior). They want to be the center of attention because they think the world agrees. Again, I make no judgment, but it is fascinating to study human behavior. And after all these years, I thought about Don Juan again last week. Then, out of the blue, I got another copy of Journey To Ixtlan – and Tales of Power and The Art of Dreaming and Power of Silence and Las Enseñanzas De Don Juan. The world "is stupendous, awesome, mysterious, unfathomable," says the sorcerer. "Make every act count, since you are going to be here for only a short while, in fact, too short for witnessing all the marvels of it."

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