barriers
Your task is not to seek for love,
but merely to seek and find all the
barriers within yourself that you
have built against it.
~A Course in Miracles
The Main Work
It is very difficult to see ourselves as others see us.
We have to put a mirror in front of ourselves, not to
see our physical shape, but to see our mental and
emotional make-up. This mirror is called mindfulness.
Sometimes the way other people react can create a
mirror, but not a totally truthful one, because their own
ego is involved. The main work has to be done by
questioning oneself.
~Ayya Khema in ‘Being Nobody, Going Nowhere’
Too lazy
Too lazy to be ambitious,
I let the world take care of itself.
Ten days’ worth of rice in my bag;
a bundle of twigs by the fireplace.
Why chatter about delusion and enlightenment?
Listening to the night rain on my roof,
I sit comfortably, with both legs stretched out.
Zen Master Ryokan
Everything is Waiting for You
Your great mistake is to act the drama
as if you were alone. As if life
were a progressive and cunning crime
with no witness to the tiny hidden
transgressions. To feel abandoned is to deny
the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely,
even you, at times, have felt the grand array;
the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding
out your solo voice You must note
the way the soap dish enables you,
or the window latch grants you freedom.
Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.
The stairs are your mentor of things
to come, the doors have always been there
to frighten you and invite you,
and the tiny speaker in the phone
is your dream-ladder to divinity.
Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into
the conversation. The kettle is singing
even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots
have left their arrogant aloofness and
seen the good in you at last. All the birds
and creatures of the world are unutterably
themselves. Everything is waiting for you.
~David Whyte
from Everything is Waiting for You
this and that
Some quotes posted by friends today on facebook:
Posted by Cheryl Holmes: “Love is when the other person’s happiness is more important than your own.”
H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Cathy Ginter: “Forgive the past and let it go, for it is gone. Look gently and behold the world has been transformed into love.” ~ A Course in Miracles
Gregg Braden: ”If the person you are talking to doesn’t appear to be listening, be patient. It may simply be that he has a small piece of fluff in his ear.” Winnie the Pooh
Zen Buddhism: “Sometimes our flame goes out, but is blown again into instant flame by an encounter with another human being.” ~Albert Schweitzer
Meditation – Ryokan
At night, deep in the mountains,
I sit in meditation.
The affairs of men never reach here:
Everything is quiet and empty,
All the incense has been swallowed up by the endless night.
My robe has become a garment of dew.
Unable to sleep, I walk out into the woods -
Suddenly, above the highest peak, the full moon appears.
~Ryokan
from “Dewdrops on a Lotus Leaf” translatedby John Stevens
A Life of Deep Awareness
The secret of beginning a life of deep awareness and sensitivity lies in our
willingness to pay attention. Our growth as conscious, awake human beings is
marked not so much by grand gestures and visible renunciations as by extending
loving attention to the minutest particulars of our lives. Every relationship,
every thought, every gesture is blessed with meaning through the wholehearted
attention we bring to it. In the complexities of our minds and lives we easily
forget the power of attention, yet without attention we live only on the surface
of existence. It is just simple attention that allows us truly to listen to the
song of a bird, to see deeply the glory of an autumn leaf, to touch the heart of
another and be touched. We need to be fully present in order to love a single
thing wholeheartedly. We need to be fully awake in this moment if we are to
receive and respond to the learning inherent in it.
~Christina Feldman and Jack Kornfield,
Stories of the Spirit, Stories of the Heart