1 - One raindrop raises the sea.
2 - Survival of all or none
3 - Weapons are enemies, even to their owners
4 - Give more - take less
5 - Others first - self last
6 - Observe, listen and learn
7 - Do one thing at a time
8 - Sing every day
9 - Exercise imagination
10 - Eat to live, don't live to eat
11 - FIND THE LIGHT
Survival of all or none.
We must have the determination to survive and understand that our survival and our ability to prosper is dependent on the Survival of ALL! The destruction of any, destroys a part of ourselves.
One raindrop raises the sea.
We are each a raindrop! Knowing that we all must survive, gives us Hope! Many thousands of computer programmers contributed one raindrop of computer code that all came together to create the sea of knowledge that we now call the Internet. That hope must never quit! We need to have faith that our efforts really count. "One raindrop raises the sea" is a sign to us that our effort can make a difference to the whole world!
Oikos Thot: Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.
Weapons are enemies, even to their owners.
Weapons come in many forms, an unkind word, a lie, an action taken in greed, these are all weapons we use against our human brothers and sisters throughout the world. Bombs, guns, knives are all designed to hurt and kill - they are our enemies.
Oikos Thot: They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.
G.O.O.D.
The first letters of the next four codes spell out "G.O.O.D." In everyone there is G.O.O.D. - even in ourselves. We need to train ourselves to see that G.O.O.D. and to relate to the world around us. These four codes help us to relate!
The Fourth and Fifth codes tell us how to deal with others.
The Sixth and Seventh codes tell us how to relate to our world.
Oikos Thot: God saw all that he had made, and it was very G.O.O.D. ... Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with G.O.O.D.
Give more, take less.
Researchers tell us that real giving, giving because we want to give, is something that we actually do for ourselves. It had hundreds of health benefits. In fact, trying to take all you can is the fastest way to an early grave! If you become a robber - you may be shot! Even if you get away with your greed, you will not be able to really enjoy what you have.
The richest people in the world are those who have found the art and joy of giving.
Build a better mouse trap and the world will beat a path to your door! The reason is because in building the better mouse trap, you are meeting their need, giving them a solution to their problem. True riches only come through giving ourselves.
Oikos Thot: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'
Others first, self last.
Did you ever wonder why the word "good" is so much like the word "God"? There was a time when they meant the same thing. Good speed or God speed, to send a person on their way with the best possible terms.
Oikos Thot: Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is G.O.O.D. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.
Observe, listen and learn.
You should learn something new every day. In fact, when you stop learning, you are dead!
Remember, if you would learn, first you must listen.
Oikos Thot: Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is G.O.O.D., in order that they may provide for daily necessities and not live unproductive lives.
Do one thing at a time.
After you have learned, the Seventh code reminds us to pay attention to the now, the moment in which you live. Do one thing at a time.
I remember a man that people used to laugh at... Each day, on the way home from work, he would stop at the river and select a few flat stones about a foot to 18 inches around. He would put these in his trunk and take them home. On Saturday he would cement these onto the other stones he had gathered and placed in what he called his home and and place to worship. Each Sunday, if you drove by you would see him. He appeared to be praying in the middle of a field of weeds! The weeds hid the very short stone walls.
Little by little, over a number of years, the walls grew taller until he had a place to live and worship his God. A God who had provided him with a home. And not just any home, but the most beautiful stone home in the whole area!
Oikos Thot: Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.
S.E.E.D.
We have reach this part by preparing a fertile and G.O.O.D. soil - the foundations of our lives. Now it is time to plant the seed! Our own self is what determines if we are a good seed. We must die to things like greed that cause others to not survive.
It is said that excellence, either Good or Bad is not a flash of brilliance. It is not hard work alone, it is not some toss of a coin or a chance of a life time. The excellence that brings true success is really a habit. A kind person is in the habit of giving kindness away. A loving person shows it in the way they care - it is their habit.
Chance favors a prepared mind! Ever notice in school that the students who study their lessons a lot are the very same students that usually get the best grades? The only way to explain this is that "Chance favors a prepared mind!" We sit together in the same classroom, for he same amount of time, and we all have an equal chance, as far as the teacher can tell, of coming up with a perfect test score! Nonetheless, those who have the habit of studying, have a better chance of getting a perfect score!
Excellence is really a matter of habit! So is laziness and sloppiness too!
The next four Codes are really the daily habits of Excellence we should practice until we hardly notice that we do them all the time.
Oikos Thot: "Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times." Then he said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
Sing every day.
Singing will sustain you -- "Sing everyday". But you must sing the right songs and think the right thoughts. Only perfect practice makes perfect! Sing songs that uplift your spirit! Songs that are grateful are wonderful ways to express your inner self daily.
Sing songs of gratitude even when the sky is gray and storm clouds are brewing.
Learn and practice to sing - even when you do not feel grateful and your songs of gratitude will sustain you.
Oikos Thot: Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.
Exercise imagination.
This will help us grow - together! You can be anything you dream you can be -- but you must see it in your mind, live it in your life, bend your thoughts to your dreams.
Oikos Thot: For as he thinks within himself, so he is.
Eat to live, don't live to eat.
We energy we get from eating: "Eat to live, don't live to eat." Make food a means, not an end.
Oikos Thot: Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?
Don't put out the light.
Live in the light, live honorably. For it is, in the end, all you really have -- your Foundation must be of the Light.
Oikos Thot: Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you may become sons of light. ... The one who says he is in the light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now. The one who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
We must have the determination to survive and understand that our survival and our ability to prosper is dependent on the Survival of ALL! The destruction of any, destroys a part of ourselves.
One raindrop raises the sea.
We are each a raindrop! Knowing that we all must survive, gives us Hope! Many thousands of computer programmers contributed one raindrop of computer code that all came together to create the sea of knowledge that we now call the Internet. That hope must never quit! We need to have faith that our efforts really count. "One raindrop raises the sea" is a sign to us that our effort can make a difference to the whole world!
Oikos Thot: Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.
Weapons are enemies, even to their owners.
Weapons come in many forms, an unkind word, a lie, an action taken in greed, these are all weapons we use against our human brothers and sisters throughout the world. Bombs, guns, knives are all designed to hurt and kill - they are our enemies.
Oikos Thot: They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.
G.O.O.D.
The first letters of the next four codes spell out "G.O.O.D." In everyone there is G.O.O.D. - even in ourselves. We need to train ourselves to see that G.O.O.D. and to relate to the world around us. These four codes help us to relate!
The Fourth and Fifth codes tell us how to deal with others.
The Sixth and Seventh codes tell us how to relate to our world.
Oikos Thot: God saw all that he had made, and it was very G.O.O.D. ... Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with G.O.O.D.
Give more, take less.
Researchers tell us that real giving, giving because we want to give, is something that we actually do for ourselves. It had hundreds of health benefits. In fact, trying to take all you can is the fastest way to an early grave! If you become a robber - you may be shot! Even if you get away with your greed, you will not be able to really enjoy what you have.
The richest people in the world are those who have found the art and joy of giving.
Build a better mouse trap and the world will beat a path to your door! The reason is because in building the better mouse trap, you are meeting their need, giving them a solution to their problem. True riches only come through giving ourselves.
Oikos Thot: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'
Others first, self last.
Did you ever wonder why the word "good" is so much like the word "God"? There was a time when they meant the same thing. Good speed or God speed, to send a person on their way with the best possible terms.
Oikos Thot: Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is G.O.O.D. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.
Observe, listen and learn.
You should learn something new every day. In fact, when you stop learning, you are dead!
Remember, if you would learn, first you must listen.
Oikos Thot: Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is G.O.O.D., in order that they may provide for daily necessities and not live unproductive lives.
Do one thing at a time.
After you have learned, the Seventh code reminds us to pay attention to the now, the moment in which you live. Do one thing at a time.
I remember a man that people used to laugh at... Each day, on the way home from work, he would stop at the river and select a few flat stones about a foot to 18 inches around. He would put these in his trunk and take them home. On Saturday he would cement these onto the other stones he had gathered and placed in what he called his home and and place to worship. Each Sunday, if you drove by you would see him. He appeared to be praying in the middle of a field of weeds! The weeds hid the very short stone walls.
Little by little, over a number of years, the walls grew taller until he had a place to live and worship his God. A God who had provided him with a home. And not just any home, but the most beautiful stone home in the whole area!
Oikos Thot: Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.
S.E.E.D.
We have reach this part by preparing a fertile and G.O.O.D. soil - the foundations of our lives. Now it is time to plant the seed! Our own self is what determines if we are a good seed. We must die to things like greed that cause others to not survive.
It is said that excellence, either Good or Bad is not a flash of brilliance. It is not hard work alone, it is not some toss of a coin or a chance of a life time. The excellence that brings true success is really a habit. A kind person is in the habit of giving kindness away. A loving person shows it in the way they care - it is their habit.
Chance favors a prepared mind! Ever notice in school that the students who study their lessons a lot are the very same students that usually get the best grades? The only way to explain this is that "Chance favors a prepared mind!" We sit together in the same classroom, for he same amount of time, and we all have an equal chance, as far as the teacher can tell, of coming up with a perfect test score! Nonetheless, those who have the habit of studying, have a better chance of getting a perfect score!
Excellence is really a matter of habit! So is laziness and sloppiness too!
The next four Codes are really the daily habits of Excellence we should practice until we hardly notice that we do them all the time.
Oikos Thot: "Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times." Then he said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
Sing every day.
Singing will sustain you -- "Sing everyday". But you must sing the right songs and think the right thoughts. Only perfect practice makes perfect! Sing songs that uplift your spirit! Songs that are grateful are wonderful ways to express your inner self daily.
Sing songs of gratitude even when the sky is gray and storm clouds are brewing.
Learn and practice to sing - even when you do not feel grateful and your songs of gratitude will sustain you.
Oikos Thot: Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.
Exercise imagination.
This will help us grow - together! You can be anything you dream you can be -- but you must see it in your mind, live it in your life, bend your thoughts to your dreams.
Oikos Thot: For as he thinks within himself, so he is.
Eat to live, don't live to eat.
We energy we get from eating: "Eat to live, don't live to eat." Make food a means, not an end.
Oikos Thot: Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?
Don't put out the light.
Live in the light, live honorably. For it is, in the end, all you really have -- your Foundation must be of the Light.
Oikos Thot: Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you may become sons of light. ... The one who says he is in the light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now. The one who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
