4/29/2021
Opening
"A person is not a thing or a process,
but an opening
through which the absolute manifests."
~Heidegger
4/22/2021
4/21/2021
Like Love
“Like love, the light or guidance of truth that influences us
exists only in living form,
not in principles or rules or expectations or advice,
however widely circulated.”
~Alan Watts
4/19/2021
Writing
Writing is a discipline, not an art.
It’s a vehicle, not the destination.
Writing requires commitment, not inspiration.
Every day that you sit to write is a conscious decision.
It doesn’t matter how many days in a row you have written,
how many papers you’ve published, or how loved your books are.
Today, you still must choose to sit, and writing might still be hard.
If you’re wondering why it’s not getting easier to write,
know that it’s not supposed to.
Writing is uncomfortable. It’s confusing. It squeezes your brain,
forces you to expose you heart, asks you to bleed onto the page.
The difference between a writer and someone who wants to write is this:
the writer will feel uncomfortable and exposed, and will sit anyway.
Today, choose to sit. Set a timer if you must. Shut off your phone and write.
Telling the bees
There was a time when almost every rural British family who kept bees followed a strange tradition.Whenever there was a death in the family, someone had to go out to the hives and tell the bees of the terrible loss that had befallen the family.Failing to do so often resulted in further losses such as the bees leaving the hive, or not producing enough honey or even dying.
Traditionally, the bees were kept abreast of not only deaths but all important family matters including births, marriages, and long absence due to journeys. If the bees were not told, all sorts of calamities were thought to happen. This peculiar custom is known as “telling the bees”.The practice of telling the bees may have its origins in Celtic mythology that held that bees were the link between our world and the spirit world. So if you had any message that you wished to pass to someone who was dead, all you had to do was tell the bees and they would pass along the message.But the relationship between bees and humans goes beyond superstition. It’s a fact, that bees help humans survive. 70 of the top 100 crop species that feed 90% of the human population rely on bees for pollination. Without them, these plants would cease to exist and with it all animals that eat those plants. This can have a cascading effect that would ripple catastrophically up the food chain.Losing a beehive is much worse than losing a supply of honey. The consequences are life threatening.The act of telling the bees emphasizes this deep connection humans share with the insect.
Art: The Bee Friend, a painting by Hans Thoma (1839–1924)
4/18/2021
4/14/2021
Six modern proverbs
SIX TINY STORIES "WITH "GREAT MEANINGS"
{1} Once all the villagers decided to pray for rain. On the day of prayer all the people gathered, but only one boy came with an umbrella.
** That's FAITH**
{2} When you throw a baby in the air she laughs because she knows you will catch her.
** That's TRUST**
{3} Every night we go to bed without any assurance of being alive the next morning but still we set the alarms to wake up.
** That's HOPE**
{4} We plan big things for tomorrow in spite of zero knowledge of the future.
** That's CONFIDENCE**
{5} We see the world suffering, but still we get married and have children.
** That's LOVE**
{6} On an old man's shirt was written a sentence 'I am not 90 years old.... I am sweet 16 with 74 years experience'
** That's ATTITUDE**
4/11/2021
Believe
One of my favorite speeches comes from Robert Duvall in "Second Hand Lions":
"Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things that a man needs to believe in the most. That people are basically good. That honor, courage and virtues mean everything. That power and money, money and power mean nothing; that Good always triumphs over Evil; and I want you to remember this: That Love, true Love never dies. Doesn't matter if any of this is true or not. You see a man should believe in these things because these are the things worth believing in."
4/10/2021
4/07/2021
How close the truth
"Seeing
a difference or gap between your consciousness and that of a Buddha is
the single cause of samsara, suffering, and delusion. But it is the
Buddha Mind itself which is manifesting Itself as being the sentient
being that doesn’t recognize this!"
~ Jackson Peterson
☸️
“All beings are primarily Buddhas.
Like water and ice,
There is no ice apart from water;
There are no Buddhas apart from beings.
Not knowing how close the Truth is to them,
Beings seek for it afar--what a pity!"
~Zen Master Hakuin Zenji
4/05/2021
Planck on Consciousness
“I regard consciousness as fundamental,
matter is derivative from consciousness.
We cannot get behind consciousness.
Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness. There is no matter as such;
it exists only by virtue of a force bringing the particle to vibration and holding it together in a minute solar system;
we must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent mind. The mind is the matrix of all matter.”
– Max Planck
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)