More Rumi

We rarely hear the inward music, 
but we're all dancing to it nevertheless.

Sometimes a metaphor no longer works.

Small Gods

We are Here and this is Now. After that, everything turns toward guesswork.

- Philosopher Didactilus



(Made me smile.)

One Love

In the language of Rastifarians, there is no "we". There is "I and I"

Leonard Cohen - Titles

from Book of Longing

I had the title "poet" and maybe I was one for a while.
Also, the title "singer" was kindly accorded me even though I could barely carry a tune.
For may years, I was known as a "monk".
I shaved my head and wore robes and got up very early.
I hated every one but I acted generously and no one found me out.
My reputation as a "ladies' man" was a joke.
It caused me to laugh bitterly through the ten thousand nights I spent alone.

From a third story window above the Park de Portugal,
I've watched the snow come down all day.
As usual, there's no one here. There never is.
Mercifully, the inner conversation is canceled by the white noise of winter.

I am neither the mind, the intellect nor the silent voice within.
That's also canceled.

And now Gentle Reader, in what name, in whose name do you come to idle with me in these luxurious and dwindling realms of aimless privacy?

Zen Jazz

Attributed to Wynton Marsalis in A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore:

Jazz was a zen art. Controlled spontaneity. Like sumi-e ink painting. Like haiku. Like archery. Jazz wasn't something you planned. It was something you did. In jazz, every moment is a crisis and you bring all your skill to bear on that crisis. It's all right there. No future. No past. Just that moment and how you deal with it. Art happens.

Snark

Why do the 10 Words of Spiritual Unfolding require 27 pages?

Lao Tzu

David Hinton translation:

the named is mother to the ten thousand things,
but the unnamed is the origin to all heaven and earth.

Stephen Mitchell says :

The unnamable is the eternally real.
Naming is the origin
of all particular things.

Victor Mair:

The nameless is the origin of the myriad creatures.
The named is the mother of the myriad creatures.

Stephen Addiss and Stanley Lombardo:

Nameless: the origin of heaven and earth.
Naming: the mother of ten thousand things.

Thomas Cleary:

Nonbeing is called the beginning of heaven and earth;
being is called the mother of all things.

Waldo Japussy:

Meow is the beginning of all things,
The source of everything I want.


Various translations in one place.

Dag Hammarskjöld

Do not seek Death. Death will find you. But, seek the road which makes death a fulfillment.

-------------------------------------------

Tomorrow we shall meet, death and I. And he shall thrust his sword into one who is wide awake.

Bits and pieces

1. I met a guy on a beach when I was 15 and I learned that you can only learn what you're ready for and that opening to what it is time for occurs when it is appropriate. I can't stop it and I can't force it. Not for me, not for someone else.

Duh.

2. I like the language of the metaphors that I have encountered along the way. They give me a language to consider the ineffable.

At least, they give that illusion.


3. You didn't get to read the very long post I wrote about spiritual search in the form of an Aztec pyramid. It was far too long for a small thought. And by being long, it missed the point. I still like the metaphor.

4. Just because someone else might read it doesn't mean this shit has to make sense to any one but me.

(yes. 5 is missing.)

6. Reminder: Life is change.

6a. Expectations are pointless.

7. I LOVE the pinch that is NOW.

8. So, I had this thought. Is there going to be a place where I can see all the Whens at once BEFORE I lose the skin? I suspect you can't get there from here. I suspect that's a body-free awareness. I think it will be very cool.

LOL!!!!

9. The singularity creates the empty spaces, too.

My First Mister

This is much better than the beginning indicated. There's a scene where she is at a party and he is dying. And in the middle of it, she sees herself totally alone. It is the other side of the Yes-gasm.

This is a good story.

Some parts are a little trite but there are bits that are very good.

The singularity creates the empty spaces, too.

You know

This made me laugh

It was the Quote of the Day on iGoogle.

If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.
- Rene Descartes