Here’s something I stumbled upon a few days ago. I’m sure you’ll like it.

“A man who doesn’t know where he comes from cannot know where he is going.”

Having this in mind, last summer I went back to my forefathers’ lands. There I learned about my family past and visited my ancestors’ graves. I explored the nature, listened to the rivers and ate wild berries and apples and plums. I walked through the forests and I heard the wind call my name. Looking for my origins, like spotting the pieces of a puzzle: my past, my present, suddenly it all made perfect sense. I traced my roots all the way back to the future.

Today I met an old friend whom I hadn’t seen for quite a while, and he was impatient to give me his news. But even before he had a chance to say anything, I guessed it: he was in love. It doesn’t take a genius to see when one is in love. You can tell  just by the intensity of light those folks are emanating from within. It’s the very light that blinds them and unnerves or nauseates everyone around them.

He told me with much enthusiasm that life is not worth living unless one is in love. Everyone should be in love. It is so exhilarating, uplifting, inspiring, thrilling… It’s the strongest natural high one can get.

LOVE IS A DRUG.

Yeah, I thought, but in my case falling in love is not easy to do. It takes forever to fall in love. And, what’s more disturbing, it takes even longer than that to fall out of it. And it’s this “falling out” part that scares me. “Falling out?” My friend teased me, “Why would anyone in their right mind do something like that?”

We laughed and I could see that all that light he was bursting with was blinding him, making it impossible to understand where I was coming from. As anyone “in their right mind” who has ever been in love, he was confident that his love is special, different, beyond any comparison. I guess that’s only natural, as the first thing love does upon entering into one’s system, is to release its venom that instantly immunizes one from their “right mind”. I wondered if that was a good or a bad thing. I wondered how long it would last. I wondered if it was worth it. He seemed to be in a good place; in a place so far up from which it was impossible to see my gloomy perspective.  Even if I wanted to, which I didn’t, I couldn’t pop his bubble.

LOVE IS BLIND.

And it’s this very quality that eventually gets the better of the best of us. Why is it so difficult to see clearly when you are in love? It seems to me that being in love is like being in the dark. In order to see what’s in front of you, you need light or you are bound to lose your way. And once you lose your way, you’ve lost, period.

Recuperating sight entails falling out of love. It is a gradual and painful process.  For once the light pours in, it is unstoppable. And the vision itself is unforgiving. You can’t see just a little. Once you start to see, you see it all; there are no veils of romance or censorship of ideals to soften the blow. Imagination does not stand a chance when confronted with the crudeness of reality. And every time a new picture enters your vision, it hits you full force with the sole implication of its existence. And you can’t help but wonder, “How could I have been so blind? How could I have denied something so undeniable for so long?” Yes, well…

LOVE IS A MYSTERY.

The best you can hope for when in love is that it will be over before you fall out of love.
There is just one thing worse than losing love, and that’s losing faith in love.

]]> http://opajdara.wordpress.com/2009/09/13/love-is/feed/ 4 opajdara http://opajdara.wordpress.com/2009/09/10/quantum-apocalypse/ http://opajdara.wordpress.com/2009/09/10/quantum-apocalypse/#comments Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:53:12 +0000 opajdara http://opajdara.wordpress.com/?p=943 ]]>

What is the Quantum Apocalypse?  Lifting of the veil, to uncover the true nature of one’s self, to penetrate the surface of reality, the disclosure of hidden information, escaping the traps of lingusitic contructs, the evolution of consciousness, the awakening of perception to the mysteries which lie beyond the ordinary range of human knowledge. Ready?

Here is Jacques Brel’s maestral performance of his chanson AU SUIVANT.

And here is Nick Cave’s interpretation, at Barry Adamson’s concert in November 2007, where he appears as a special guest.

I just discovered an amazing music video editor, Kutiman, whose website you can check out here: thru you. Incredible what can be done with some inventiveness. Watch!

I believe in love. I even believe in that once-in-a-lifetime kind of love, the transforming, purifying and elevating love, the one that was meant to be.

I am not saying that it rarely happens; on the contrary, I am sure it happens more often than we’d dare to imagine. But without commitment on both sides, true love does not stand much chance.

True love can be right and it can be wrong. Maybe the only difference between the two lies in synchronicity, in how close or how far we’ve come on our respective paths, as that synchronicity sets the pace for relationship. The right love harmonizes us and puts us in tune with our needs, pushing us forward, making us grow. The wrong one creates a state of disequilibrium, hopelessness, and in the long run, stagnation.

It’s hard to find someone who is easy to love, and when we do it is even harder to tell where they are on their path, as love makes everyone seem close to each other. But for those of us who believe we are here to grow, moving forward is the imperative, and committing to the wrong person can be a huge setback. I’ve learned that much.

It was a cold morning chill that brushed against my feet and sneaked under my blanket, waking me up in shivers. I could not shake off the dream; it was still so real to me, the haunting, slow moving procession of heavily pregnant women, all dressed in black, carrying inside them the seed of one man, my sons’ father.  Every woman’s face had the same familiar look in her eyes, the empty gaze I see every morning in the mirror.

I sat up in bed, feeling my nostrils widen at the sudden intake of sharp mountain air, and I looked out trough the open window. The green treetops were blistering in the early morning sunlight. Their branches were almost touching the ground under the heavy load of unripe apples. Were the branches wondering if there was a higher purpose to their burden, if there was any meaning to their pain? And would the answer to that provide them with any solace? After all, branches don’t eat their apples, do they?

A big weight has been lifted today. I feel so light I could fly.

The most hurtful are the words not spoken, the words confined to the tangible silence that separates us into you and me.

“He who knows nothing, loves nothing. He who can do nothing understands nothing. He who understands nothing is worthless. But he who understands also loves, notices, sees… The more knowledge is inherent in a thing, the greater the love… Anyone who imagines that all fruits ripen at the same time as the strawberries knows nothing about grapes.” – Paracelsus

I contemplate on that now, as I’ve done many times before, intuiting that this simple observation captures the essence of love.  Love does not just happen overnight; it comes through commitment, it comes through knowing. And that is the difference between growing in width and growing in depth. To grow in width is the way of knowledge. To grow in depth is the way of love.

And to grow in love is the only way to wisdom.

It’s not often one can hear a remake that sounds better than the original, but I find that Tina Turner’s version of the famous Beatles song “Help” does just that. Judge for yourself.

Here is the original Beatles song:

And here’s Tina’s interpretation:

Just as meter is the measure of length, and gram is the measure of weight, in the same way trust is the measure of intimacy. And although most of us tend to go by our gut feeling in any initial interaction, long term trust is built over time, for we can only trust what we know, where we feel certain familiarity and ease.

I spent a few incredibly inspiring evenings with a very dear and old friend, with whom I had shared many precious, unforgettable moments over the course of the last 22 years. He is one of few people who know me really well, maybe even better than I know myself, as he always manages to bring out the best in me and inspire me to be at my best. He does this in a direct yet loving way, at first mercilessly teasing me about my shortcomings; then simply dismissing them by pointing out, “That is not you.” And every time he does this, it works. I believe him.

I trust him with my life; but more than that, I trust him with myself. I believe him to know me inside out, and in effect, to know what is best for me. Maybe that is because I know him well enough to know that we are on the same page, that we see things the same way. It seems to be so easy for him to offer his love to use as fuel for my dreams. Either way, when I am lonely, hurt, or in self-doubt, I can count on him to return me to myself, to remind me of who I really am when I need to be reminded of that. And in doing this he sets me free because homecoming is always liberating. To be able to reciprocate, to give back that same gift of freedom is the most rewarding experience for me.

Thanks, F, for this wonderful insight.

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.

He said, “My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all.

One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: “Which wolf wins?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

Zen Master Seung Sahn

From the 1985 Sumner Kyol Che Opening, Ceremony

Linc just said, “Zen is very simple. Dishwashing time, just wash dishes; sitting time, just sit; driving time, just drive; talking time, just talk; walking time, just walk.” That’s all. Not special. But that is very difficult. That is absolutes thinking. When you’re doing something, just do it. No opposites. No subject, no object. No inside, no outside. Outside and inside become one. That’s called absolutes.

It’s easy to talk about “When you’re doing something, just do it,” but action is very difficult. Sitting: thinking, thinking, thinking. Chanting: also thinking, thinking. Bowing time: not so much, but some thinking, thinking, checking, checking mind appear. Then you have a problem.

But don’t hold. Thinking is OK. Checking is OK. Only holding is a problem. Don’t hold. Feeling coming, going, OK. Don’t hold. If your mind is not holding anything, it is clear like space. Clear like space means that sometimes clouds come, sometimes rain or lightning or airplane comes, or even a missile blows up, BOOM! World explodes, but the air is never broken. This space is never broken. Yeah, other things are broken but this space is never changing. Even if a nuclear bomb explodes, it doesn’t matter. Space is space. That mind is very important. If something in your mind explodes, then don’t hold it. Then it will disappear. Sometimes anger mind appears but soon disappears. But if you hold it, you have a problem. Appear, disappear, that’s OK. Don’t hold. Then it becomes wisdom. My anger mind becomes wisdom. My desire mind becomes wisdom. Everything becomes wisdom. That’s interesting, yeah? So don’t hold. That’s very important point.”

Sounds sound and worth holding on to. (Just teasing.)

For more, check out The Kwan Um School of Zen

Last week I’ve had a chance to meet a Peruvian shaman Don Alberto who will be holding ayahuasca ceremony this weekend in Montserrat. In preparation for the ceremony, I’ve been doing a lot of reading. The more I learn about it, the more sense it makes to have that experience now, in this exact moment in my life. I’ll let you know how it goes.

If you want to find out more, the most extensive resource guide is as always, Erowid Vault. Here is a nice documentary I found when I was doing my research.

Achilles and the Tortoise is one of Zeno’s paradoxes. It appears to demonstrate that even the fastest of runners, Achilles, could not catch the slowest of creatures, the tortoise, if the tortoise were given a head start.

To get from one place to another takes time. If the distance between the two is very small, or the speed of travel is very fast, then it may take a very short amount of time, but it will take some time nevertheless. It is impossible to move from one point to another instantaneously.

To catch someone, you need to cross the distance between you and them, you need to move from where you are to where they are. If there is any distance between you at all, then this will take time.

Suppose that the person that you are trying to catch is moving away from you, then in the time that it takes you to get from where you are to where they are, they will have moved on. If you begin at point A, and they begin at point B, then by the time you reach point B they will be at point C. The person that you are trying to catch will no longer be at the point that you have reached.

To catch them, then, you will need to reach the point that they are now at, you will have to get from point B to point C. Doing so, though, will again take time. Point C is at a distance from point B, and so by the time you have reached point C, your target will have reached point D. This process can be repeated ad infinitum, without you ever catching your target.

Zeno illustrated this with the example of Achilles and the tortoise. If, in a race, the tortoise, who moves slowly, is given a head-start on Achilles, then no matter how quickly Achilles runs he will never catch the tortoise.

For more logical paradoxes, see: http://www.logicalparadoxes.info/

After being glued to my computer like a geek,
I changed shifts and switched to party mode last week.
I met interesting people and what’s more, they got to meet me,
I impressed and was impressed, as it was meant to be.

Isn’t it amazing, how much there is to learn
When you make a u-turn?
Isn’t it great, how little it can take
To have and eat your cake?

So much to do, to feel, to see,
So much and it’s all about me!

A Word For My Sons

When two people decide to walk side by side,
There are many things they both must abide,
There are many things on which they must agree
To stay together and to still feel free.

Sometimes the best they can do
Is find out what’s true,
What really feels like the best thing to do,
What really feels like the best way to be,
And then agree to disagree.

Whatever happens from this point on,
You must never ever forget:
When mummy and daddy met, they kissed.
When mummy and daddy kissed, they met.
It was kismet.

————————————————

kismet /ˈkɪzmɪt, -mɛt, ˈkɪs-/ [kiz-met]
–noun
fate; destiny; the will of Allah.
Also, kis⋅mat  /ˈkɪzmət, ˈkɪs-/ [kiz-muht, kis-]
Origin: 1840–50; < Turk < Pers qismat < Ar qismah division, portion, lot, fate, akin to qasama to divide

Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.

It’s amazing how little is needed to change our perspective; and even more amazing how often it’s precisely that little we seem to lack. But once the perspective changes, everything falls into place.

Like waking up after a long dream, slowly coming to senses, becoming aware of surroundings, beginning to recuperate the feeling in numb hands, moisture in dry mouth. The mind still wonders how much of the dream is actually real, but in no time the dream will wear off, leaving barely a lovebite on the skin.

I look at reality. She looks right back at me, whipping me into shape with her crisp, uncompromising laughter. I’d better learn to laugh with her if I want to make it through. For the first time in a long time this seems easy enough to do.

“…seeing the awesome power of the word, we must understand what power comes out of our mouths. One fear or doubt planted in our mind can create an endless drama of events. One word is like a spell, and humans use the word like black magicians, thoughtlessly putting spells on each other. Every human is a magician, and we can either put a spell on someone with our word or we can release someone from a spell.” – Don Ruiz

We live in the matrix. A chaotic reality which we try to understand and master so as to be able to control it, as well as ourselves. It is a hard job, but each and every one of us has to do it. We live in and live out the pattern that is laid down before us, interlacing it with our own sets of dogmas, gathered and constructed to give our pattern some kind of meaning of accomplishment.

And all this in a world in which our own parents, flaw-full as they were made, teach us everything we need to know through their fears of disappointment.

We live in a messed up world where opposites combine all the time, where generalizations and exceptions are equally true, where everything simple is at once complicated… we live in a silly world! We live in a world of imprisonment and salvation. A world of constant transformation, modification. We live, wondering why, where, and how to live; while incessantly, relentlessly, and persistently wondering what to take – and what to give.

We live in the matrix, in a world of numbers and scores… doctorates and dollar signs and debts. A world of dates and days and deadlines. We live to go higher, get higher, and no one on any level is high enough. We live in a world where the answer is easy and impossible, where the only thing that we want is more and where the only thing that we need is less. Numbers don’t add up in this human matrix, this grand illusion of all illusions, where we share the same senses, but don’t make sense to each other, and worse: we don’t make sense to ourselves!

We live in a world of IQs and great thinkers. We live in a world of schools and grades and diplomas. We live in a world where our thoughts are our greatest weapon and our greatest battle. We live thinking that the more we think the smarter we are so we think a lot. We live in a world where people do awful things with their thoughts. We think this is awful and we keep on thinking. We simply don’t stop. We cannot disattach. If we do not become smarter, then we stand a chance to become wiser… but wisdom in such a world, is the loneliest place to be.

By Maya Delic

]]> http://opajdara.wordpress.com/2009/04/16/our-world/feed/ 0 opajdara http://opajdara.wordpress.com/2009/04/14/personals-ad/ http://opajdara.wordpress.com/2009/04/14/personals-ad/#comments Tue, 14 Apr 2009 07:29:55 +0000 opajdara http://opajdara.wordpress.com/?p=582 ]]>

I am the girl who will take time
To write this ad into a rhyme,
A crazy perfectionist known to dwell
If a job is worth doing it’s worth doing well.
If you lack initiative and common sense,
If you are slow to catch on, lets skip the pretense,
No need to apply and waste precious time.
I need a quick man, dexterous and fun,
Who won’t need to be told what needs to be done.
I need a guy who is complex
Whose inner life is rich
Who doesn’t have a chip on his shoulder
Or feels that life is a bitch.
An uncompromising nature
Willing to make a compromise with me,
That’s how he should be.
If you think I’m asking for a lot,
It’s because you haven’t seen half of what I got.
(I got a lot.)

If you want to play, I can play the game
As long as the rules we have are the same.
I can fly real high and dive in the deep,
I can be joyous and I can weep.
I am low maintenance yet demanding as hell
I am a handful, can’t you tell?

If you haven’t been put off yet,
just hear me out and you’ll get there, I bet.
Being controversial and unjudging
I expect nothing less than a marathon runner
Who smokes a few joints before the race,
To get in the mood, or to find his pace.
As far as smoking joints goes,
Or other hedonistic practices are concerned,
There’ll be no objection on my side,
And I expect by the same rule him to abide.

I can further guarantee freedom from routine
And promise, in his path, never to intervene
Except to offer support when he needs to grow
And help him find out what he needs to know.
Aside from that, I can make him fat,
My cooking’s real nice, all flavor and spice,
Whatever he wants, mousse, pot roast, pottage
Oh, and did I say I give great massage?
Assuming he is a spiritual being,
Sensually open to massage effects
I’d be happy to initiate him
Into the holly practice of tantric sex
And much more…

I was born to be wild, I was born to be free
I need someone to catch up with me.
I need someone who wants to commit
Someone who knows how to share
With the father of my children I already had an affair.
So to be clear, i don’t want to misguide –
I want someone open and giving now by my side.
A guy who will make us as strong as a tower
Who will have the strength and staying power,
A guy with the balls to speak his mind
I’m looking for one of a kind.

I get easily bored with others and never on my own
I like the people who don’t disturb me,
Who know how to leave me alone
This usually invites self-centered cocks
Who like just fine the „don’t disturb“ sign,
But when it comes to complying with my primal need –
The authentic imperative,
They will not bleed.

Being independent in every way,
I don’t need taking care of,
But occasionally I need to be saved.

So I need a slightly different guy, this time.
An innately loyal soul would do just fine,
Someone my heart could trust,
As we all know, trust is a  must.
An unordinary cock strong enough to endure
My tears when feelings become a blur,
An unordinary cock strong enough to be
Whatever he is, unyieldingly.
Truthful as hurtful and strong as a rock,
That’s how I want my unordinary cock.

Interested? Send a short bio and a recent photo to opajdara@gmail.com

1. Be Impeccable With Your Word
Speak with integrity. 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.

2. Don’t Take Anything Personally
Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.

3. Don’t Make Assumptions
Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

4. Always Do Your Best
Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.

http://www.miguelruiz.com/

maggy and milly and molly and may
went down to the beach (to play one day)

and maggie discovered a shell that sang
so sweetly she couldn’t remember her troubles, and

milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles: and

may came home with a smooth round stone
as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose (like a you or a me)
its always ourselves we find in the sea

E. E. Cummings

THINGS MY SON SHOULD KNOW AFTER I’VE DIED

I was young once. I dug holes
near a canal and almost drowned.
I filled notebooks with words
as carefully as a hunter loads his shotgun.
I had a father also, and I came second to an addiction.
I spent a summer swallowing seeds
and nothing ever grew in my stomach.
Every woman I kissed,
I kissed as if I loved her.
My left and right hands were rivals.
After I hit puberty, I was kicked out of my parents’ house
at least twice a year. No matter when you receive this
there was music playing now.
Your grandfather isn’t
my father. I chose to do something with my life
that I knew I could fail at.
I spent my whole life walking
and hid such colorful wings.

by Brian Trimboli

I stumbled upon an interesting photographer yesterday, Alexander Bergstrom.  As I clicked through his fine art gallery, I could feel the hollowness of the images intruding on my mind’s eye, penetrating my soul.

It wasn’t the nudity, but the detachness that disturbed me. The photographs are beautiful, but so emotionally removed. They remind me of someone I know, and of how little I know them.

As I look at the images, it feels like I am looking at somebody else’s memories.

It’s a relief to know they are not mine.

I really liked this interview with John Lennon, and how it was animated.

Small plazas, busy bars, colorful shops.
The usual morning chit-chat makes for a slow moving cue in a tabaqueria.
I take a short break for croassants and coffee and watch drunks and junkies and anarchists and their dogs, who – like me, bask in morning sunlight.
Unlike me, they are not bothered by filthy streets smelling of urine and vomit.
I bike down Las Ramblas.
On a Saturday morning, Barceloneta is a better place to be.
Down by the sea, palm trees and blue sky.
Narrow streets with wornout buildings overlooking each other.
The smell of clean laundry hanging from the balconies, the sound of the wind whirling through white sheets, the sound of seagulls…
Time for a joint on the beach and the deep-is-the-sea-wide-is-the-sky meditation.
I lie down on the sand and watch the clouds move.
Soon it will be time to go home.
I fill my lungs with fresh sea air and look for my bike.
It’s gone.
Another beautiful day in Barcelona.

A little ant is looking less like a little ant every day, and more like a little bug.
Unlike the little bug, the little ant is a great sleeper, at night.
During the day, his little ant eyes are wide open, curiously examining the surroundings.
He smells great.
His strong little ant hand hangs on tightly to my finger with its strong grasp.
Sometimes the little bug picks up the little ant and carries him around.
The little ant never cries. He just makes little ant sounds.
Did I say he smells great?

If anybody asks you, “What is Sufism? What religion is it?“, you may answer, “Sufism is the religion of the heart, the religion in which the most important thing is to seek God in the heart of mankind.“

There are three ways of seeking God in the human heart. The first way is to recognize God the divine in every person, and to care for every person with whom we come in contact, in our thought, speech, and action. Human personality is very delicate. The more living the heart the more sensitive it is; that which causes sensitivity is the love element in the heart, and love is God. The person whose heart is not sensitive is without feeling; his heart is not living, but dead. In that case the divine spirit is buried in his heart.

A person who is always concerned with his own feelings is so absorbed in himself that he has no time to think of another. His whole attention is taken up with his own feelings: he pities himself, worries about his own pain, and is never open to sympathize with others. He who takes notice of the feeling of another person with whom he comes in contact practices the first essential moral of Sufism.

The next way of practicing this religion is to think of the feeling of the person who is not at the moment before us. One feels for a person who is present, but one often neglects to feel for someone who is out of sight. One speaks well of someone to his face, but if one speaks well of someone when he is absent, that is greater. One sympathizes with the trouble of someone who is before one at the moment, but it is greater to sympathize with one who is far away.

The third way of realizing the Sufi principle is to recognize in one’s own feeling the feeling of God, and to realize every impulse that rises in one’s heart as a direction from God. Realizing that love is a divine spark in one’s heart, one blows that spark until a flame may rise to illuminate the path of one’s life.

The symbol of the Sufi Order, which is a heart with wings, is symbolic of its ideal. The heart is both earthly and heavenly. The heart is a receptacle on earth of the divine spirit, and when it holds the divine spirit it soars heavenward; the wings picture its rising. The crescent in the heart symbolizes responsiveness; it is the heart that responds to the spirit of God that rises. The crescent is a symbol of responsiveness because it grows fuller by responding more and more to the sun as it progresses. The light one sees in the crescent is the light of the sun. It gets more light with increasing response, so it becomes fuller of the light of the sun. The star in the heart of the crescent represents the divine spark reflected in the human heart as love, which helps the crescent toward its fullness.

The Sufi Message is the message of the day. It does not bring theories or doctrines to add to those already existing, which puzzle the human mind. What the world needs today is the message of love, harmony, and beauty, the absence of which is the only tragedy of life. The Sufi Message does not give a new law. It wakens in humanity the spirit of brotherhood, with tolerance on the part of each for the religion of the other, and with forgiveness from each for the fault of the other. It teaches thoughtfulness and consideration, so as to create and maintain harmony in life; it teaches service and usefulness, which alone can make life in the world fruitful and in which lies the satisfaction of every soul.

from The Religious Gathekas
Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

more info: http://www.ruhaniat.org/index.php

In London tube, we are warned to mind the gap between the train and the platform. In life, we must learn to mind the gap between the life we dreamed of and the one we are actually living.

One day a young Buddhist on his journey home, came to the banks of a wide river. Staring hopelessly at the great obstacle in front of him, he pondered for hours on just how to cross such a wide barrier. Just as he was about to give up his pursuit to continue his journey he saw a great teacher on the other side of the river. The young Buddhist yells over to the teacher, “Oh wise one, can you tell me how to get to the other side of this river”? The teacher ponders for a moment looks up and down the river and yells back, “My son, you are on the other side”.

“Be good. Do good.
Be kind. Be compassionate.
Bear insult. Bear injury.
This is the highest Sadhana.”

Swami Sivananda was one of the most prolific Yoga teachers who has ever existed. Although he rarely left the little town of Rishikesh, his teachings spread quickly throughout our entire planet. He wrote more than 200 books on topics connected to Yoga and Philosophy. The teachings of Master Sivananda are summarized in these 6 words: “Serve, Love, Give, Purify, Meditate, Realize”.

via Swami Sivananda — Poet Seers.

Here’s a collection of Swami Sivananda’s quotes:

A desire arises in the mind. It is satisfied immediately another comes. In the interval which separates two desires a perfect calm reigns in the mind. It is at this moment freed from all thought, love or hate.

Always do good to others. Be selfless. Mentally remove everything and be free. This is divine life. This is the direct way to Moksha or salvation.

Complete peace equally reigns between two mental waves.

Crave for a thing, you will get it. Renounce the craving, the object will follow you by itself.

Desire is poverty. Desire is the greatest impurity of the mind. Desire is the motive force for action. Desire in the mind is the real impurity. Even a spark of desire is a very great evil.

Desire nothing, give up all desires and be happy.

Do not love leisure. Waste not a minute. Be bold. Realize the Truth, here and now!

Forget like a child any injury done by somebody immediately. Never keep it in the heart. It kindles hatred.

Go beyond science, into the region of metaphysics. Real religion is beyond argument. It can only be lived both inwardly and outwardly.

God is all-full. He is self-contained. He is eternal satisfaction.

Humility is not cowardice. Meekness is not weakness. Humility and meekness are indeed spiritual powers.

If you do not know the laws of right conduct, you cannot form your character.

It is divinity that shapes, not only your ends, but also your acts, your words and thoughts.

Life is a pilgrimage. The wise man does not rest by the roadside inns. He marches direct to the illimitable domain of eternal bliss, his ultimate destination.

Meditation is painful in the beginning but it bestows immortal Bliss and supreme joy in the end.

Moral values, and a culture and a religion, maintaining these values are far better than laws and regulations.

Practice meditation regularly. Meditation leads to eternal bliss. Therefore meditate, meditate.

Put your heart, mind, and soul into even your smallest acts. This is the secret of success.

Terrible is the fight put up by the senses. Fight bravely! Conquer them you must.

The harder the struggle, the more glorious the triumph. Self-realization demands very great struggle.

The real spiritual progress of the aspirant is measured by the extent to which he achieves inner tranquility.

Thinking of disease constantly will intensify it. Feel always ‘I am healthily in body and mind’.

Today is you own. Tomorrow perchance may never come.

Your duty is to treat everybody with love as a manifestation of the Lord .

Carmen Amaya (1913 – 1963) is considered by many to be one of the greatest flamenco dancers who ever lived. During the peak of her career in the 40’s and 50’s, she was an international cultural icon who combined fury with tenderness—a wild, exotic woman with the fierce pride of Spain and the uncontrolled vagrancy of the Gypsy spirit.

Carmen Amaya’s career began at the age of four and throughout her childhood, she performed alongside her father in the taverns and music halls of Barcelona. By the time she reached her teens, she was on her way to becoming an international success, having received accolades from audiences in Madrid and Paris. With the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in the 1930’s, Amaya traveled the world and achieved her greatest fame in the Americas, mesmerizing audiences from Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, to Mexico and the United States. Fueled by romantic images of Spain, exotic gypsies, toreadors, and dons, the North and South America fell in love with Carmen Amaya–the embodiment of Spanish pride and passion. She made films in Hollywood, appeared on Broadway, danced for Roosevelt and Churchill, and toured the world–often accompanied by the great guitar virtuoso, Sabicas. And though she triumphed on stages all around the world, she always remained true to her Gypsy heritage. Throughout most of her performing life, her huge company was made up almost entirely of her extended family, and they traveled together in the traditional Gypsy way, sharing their luck as well as their hardships. And hardship indeed fell on Carmen Amaya. In 1963 at the age of 50, she died in her native Barcelona of kidney failure.

Flamenco today is deeply indebted to Carmen Amaya. Through her artistry and virtuosity, she effectively altered the history of flamenco dance forever. She crossed the traditional boundaries of flamenco by teaching herself the fast and furious footwork usually reserved for the male dancer. Donning a man’s pants and jacket, she skillfully combined the elegance and grace of the female style with the ferocity and high-impact footwork of the male style sending shockwaves through the flamenco world unaccustomed to seeing a passionate and powerful woman in pants dancing a man’s dance.

You need not do anything.
Remain sitting at your table and listen.
You need not even listen, just wait.
You need not even wait,
just learn to be quiet, still and solitary.
And the world will freely offer itself to you unmasked.
It has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.

Franz Kafka, 1883-1924

Wilhelm Kempff plays Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata mvt. 3

Chameleon like shadows slice the world around me into jagged fragments
In the light in the darkness
Splinters of thought glimmer and fuse
Until from the corners of my eye a novel perspective elopes
Still I have to defend myself from stalking obscurities
That settle in thick pools of my being
Like coagulating blood

The walls threaten to close in
A big steel trap snapping shut in slow motion
Convicting me to eternal isolation
Too tired now to be inventive
I confront it with passive indifference
That puts steering wheel on automatic mode
And all is well again
The secret is in imperviousness
Of blessed ignorance
It grants immunity

Days become months
Months become years
Years become decades
And only the aging stamp of time
Bears witness to the merit
To the inevitability of the sacrifice
The scarring of a vestal virgin
The scarring

Although preordained
The zombie like waking seems to reach into perpetuity
Agonizing and unbearable like the morning after a drunken night
Healing comes after capitulation
So I cut my balls off and eat them
And turn a new page
Castration
Not much to it

Castration brings on a sad kind of liberation
But liberation nonetheless
Freedom is always good
Freedom is always handy

I don’t know if the river runs into the sky
Or if the sky runs into the river
But I know they run together
The blue the deep the wide
The free

“…A BLAZING MIND LONGING TO SOAR ABOVE THE CLOUDS.”

Hildegard (1098-1179) was the tenth child of of a noble German family. At the age of 8, she was sent to live with Jutta, the sister of a count whom Hildegard’s father served as a knight. When Hildegard was 14, she, Jutta, and one or two others, were enclosed as anchorites. At some point Jutta’s anchorhold grew into a Benedictine monastery, connected to the adjacent male monastery of St. Disibod. The number of nuns grew to about 10 at Jutta’s death in 1136 and to about 20 twelve years later.

After Jutta’s death, Hildegard was named prioress, leader of the nuns but under the authority of the abbot of St. Disibod. Within a few years, Hildegard told her confessor of visionary experiences; he had her write them down and showed them to the abbot. The abbot and the local archbishop ordered Hildegard to continue writing. After some resistance, Hildegard agreed and began the ten-year task of writing what would become Scivias, a report of 25 visions that would sum up Christian doctrine on the history of salvation.

In 1147, Hildegard was still concerned, not about the truth of her visions, but about whether they should be published, so she wrote to Bernard, abbot of the Cistercian monastery of Clairvaux. He responded favorably, and when Hildegard’s archbishop showed part of Scivias to Pope Eugenius, Bernard encouraged his fellow Cistercian to approve it.

While Hildegard was still working on Scivias (and writing hymns — some of her songs were apparently known in Paris by 1148), she decided to leave St. Disibod with her nuns and establish a separate foundation some miles away, near Bingen. The abbot of St. Disibod was not happy about the move, but with the help of the archbishop, the foundation of St. Rupert’s monastery was made by 1151, the year before the completion of Scivias.

The early 1150’s were a time of privation at St. Rupert’s, but gradually Hildegard was able to enlarge and consolidate the new monastery’s holdings. She also wrote a series of non-visionary works: Ordo virtutem (Play of the virtues) a play which grew out of a passage at the end of Scivias; a medical encyclopedia, Liber simplicis medicinae (later called Physica); and notes for a medical handbook, Liber compositae medicinae (later called Causae et Curae). This was also apparently the period in which Hildegard first collected her songs as Symphonia armonie celestium revelationum (Symphony of the harmony of heavenly revelation).

Around 1158 Hildegard began to write the second of her visionary works, Liber vitae meritorum (Book of life’s merits), a work of moral instruction. She also began a series of travels that would, over the next 13 years, take her to men’s and women’s monasteries and to urban cathedrals to preach to religious and secular clergy. We know of these trips because of the extensive correspondence Hildegard carried on until her death.

As soon as Hildegard completed Liber vitae meritorum, in about 1163, she began to write her last major work, Liber divinorum operum (Book of the divine work), on the relationship of humans to God and to each other. This work took over ten years to complete and seems to represent her most mature thought (it has not yet been fully translated).

We know little of Hildegard’s last years. She completed her final preaching tour in about 1171, when she was 73 years old. Her long-time secretary died in 1173, but she said in a 1175 letter that she was continuing to write regularly, despite the press of monastery affairs. (St. Rupert’s had grown to include some 50 nuns, plus servants and laborers; a new foundation with about 30 nuns had been had been made in 1165, and Hildegard continued to supervise that as well.)

New critical editions of Hildegard’s works are being prepared; until all of these are translated into English, the reader can use what is currently available to hear Hildegard’s distinctive voice.

Source: Other Women’s Voices

Here’s another one of my favorites, Humouresque, played by great master Art Tatum.

XX – Pablo Neruda

Puedo escribir los versos más tristes esta noche.

Escribir, por ejemplo: “La noche está estrellada,
y tiritan, azules, los astros, a lo lejos”.

El viento de la noche gira en el cielo y canta.

Puedo escribir los versos más tristes esta noche.
Yo la quise, y a veces ella también me quiso.

En las noches como ésta la tuve entre mis brazos.
La besé tantas veces bajo el cielo infinito.

Ella me quiso, a veces yo también la quería.
Cómo no haber amado sus grandes ojos fijos.

Puedo escribir los versos más tristes esta noche.
Pensar que no la tengo. Sentir que la he perdido.

Oir la noche inmensa, más inmensa sin ella.
Y el verso cae al alma como al pasto el rocío.

Qué importa que mi amor no pudiera guardarla.
La noche está estrellada y ella no está conmigo.

Eso es todo. A lo lejos alguien canta. A lo lejos.
Mi alma no se contenta con haberla perdido.

Como para acercarla mi mirada la busca.
Mi corazón la busca, y ella no está conmigo.

La misma noche que hace blanquear los mismos árboles.
Nosotros, los de entonces, ya no somos los mismos.

Ya no la quiero, es cierto, pero cuánto la quise.
Mi voz buscaba el viento para tocar su oído.

De otro. Será de otro. Como antes de mis besos.
Su voz, su cuerpo claro. Sus ojos infinitos.

Ya no la quiero, es cierto, pero tal vez la quiero.
Es tan corto el amor, y es tan largo el olvido.

Porque en noches como ésta la tuve entre mis brazos,
mi alma no se contenta con haberla perdido.

Aunque éste sea el último dolor que ella me causa,
y éstos sean los últimos versos que yo le escribo.

As taught by the wizard
I denounced my stars and guides
And left them behind
As taught by the wizard
I picked up the scattered pieces
And put them together

I now travel through
This inviting, fickle land
I know so well
Without a map or a compass
Without paths, laws or frontiers
Without companions
Without a reason to stay

Looking for landmarks to remember
The next time I visit

Miles Davis & John Coltrane

William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827)

•    A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees.

•    Every harlot was a virgin once.

•    Eternity is in love with the productions of time.

•    Excessive sorrow laughs. Excessive joy weeps.

•    If a thing loves, it is infinite.

•    Exuberance is beauty.

•    Active Evil is better than Passive Good.

•    One thought fills immensity.

•    Opposition is true friendship.

•    For everything that lives is holy, life delights in life.

•    Art can never exist without naked beauty displayed.

•    Art is the tree of life. Science is the tree of death.

•    A truth that’s told with bad intent beats all the lies you can invent.

•    Always be ready to speak your mind, and a base man will avoid you.

•    As a man is, so he sees. As the eye is formed, such are its powers.

•    Better murder an infant in its cradle than nurse an unacted desire.

•    Both read the Bible day and night, but thou read black where I read white.

•    Can I see another’s woe, and not be in sorrow too? Can I see another’s grief, and not seek for kind relief?

•    Christ’s crucifix shall be made an excuse for executing criminals.

•    Do what you will, this world’s a fiction and is made up of contradiction.

•    Energy is an eternal delight, and he who desires, but acts not, breeds pestilence.

•    Great things are done when men and mountains meet.

•    He who binds to himself a joy Does the winged life destroy; But he who kisses the joy as it flies Lives in eternity’s sun rise.

•    He who desires, but acts not, breeds pestilence.

•    He who would do good to another must do it in Minute Particulars: general Good is the plea of the scoundrel, hypocrite, and flatterer, for Art and Science cannot exist but in minutely organized Particulars.

•    He whose face gives no light, shall never become a star.

•    I am in you and you in me, mutual in divine love.

•    I have no name: I am but two days old. What shall I call thee? I happy am, Joy is my name. Sweet joy befall thee!

•    I must create a system or be enslaved by another mans; I will not reason and compare: my business is to create.

•    I was angry with my friend: I told my wrath, my wrath did end. I was angry with my foe: I told it not, my wrath did grow.

•    If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.

•    If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise.

•    If the Sun and Moon should ever doubt, they’d immediately go out.

•    Imagination is the real and eternal world of which this vegetable universe is but a faint shadow.

•    In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.

•    It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.

•    It is not because angels are holier than men or devils that makes them angels, but because they do not expect holiness from one another, but from God only.

•    Lives in eternity’s sun rise.

•    Love seeketh not itself to please, nor for itself hath any care, but for another gives its ease, and builds a Heaven in Hell’s despair.

•    Man has no Body distinct from his Soul; for that called Body is a portion of Soul discerned by the five Senses, the chief inlets of Soul in this age.

•    No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings.

•    Poetry fettered, fetters the human race. Nations are destroyed or flourish in proportion as their poetry, painting, and music are destroyed or flourish.

•    Prisons are built with stones of law, brothels with bricks of religion.

•    Prisons are built with stones of Law. Brothels with the bricks of religion.

•    Prudence is a rich, ugly, old maid courted by incapacity.

•    That the Jews assumed a right exclusively to the benefits of God will be a lasting witness against them and the same will it be against Christians.

•    The bird a nest, the spider a web, man friendship.

•    The difference between a bad artist and a good one is: the bad artist seems to copy a great deal; the good one really does.

•    The eye altering, alters all.

•    The fool who persists in his folly will become wise.

•    The foundation of empire is art and science. Remove them or degrade them, and the empire is no more. Empire follows art and not vice versa as Englishmen suppose.

•    The glory of Christianity is to conquer by forgiveness.

•    The hours of folly are measured by the clock; but of wisdom, no clock can measure.

•    The man who never alters his opinions is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind.

•    The man who never in his mind and thoughts travel’d to heaven is no artist.

•    The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.

•    The road to excess leads to the palace of wisdom… for we never know what is enough until we know what is more than enough.

•    The soul of sweet delight, can never be defiled.

•    The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest.

•    The tigers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction.

•    The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity… and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.

•    The true method of knowledge is experiment.

•    The weak in courage is strong in cunning.

•    Think in the morning. Act in the noon. Eat in the evening. Sleep in the night.

•    Those who restrain their desires, do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained.

•    To generalize is to be an idiot.

•    To generalize is to be an idiot. To particularize is the alone distinction of merit. General knowledges are those knowledges that idiots possess.

•    To see a world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower Hold infinity in the palms of your hand and eternity in an hour.

•    To see the world in a grain of sand, and to see heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hands, and eternity in an hour.

•    To the eyes of a miser a guinea is more beautiful than the sun, and a bag worn with the use of money has more beautiful proportions than a vine filled with grapes.

•    Travelers repose and dream among my leaves.

•    Want of money and the distress of a thief can never be alleged as the cause of his thieving, for many honest people endure greater hardships with fortitude. We must therefore seek the cause elsewhere than in want of money, for that is the miser’s passion, not the thief s.

•    What is a wife and what is a harlot? What is a church and what is a theatre? are they two and not one? Can they exist separate? Are not religion and politics the same thing? Brotherhood is religion. O demonstrations of reason dividing families in cruelty and pride!

•    What is grand is necessarily obscure to weak men. That which can be made explicit to the idiot is not worth my care.

•    What is now proved was once only imagined.

•    What is the price of experience? Do men buy it for a song? Or wisdom for a dance in the street? No, it is bought with the price of all the man hath, his house, his wife, his children.

•    When a sinister person means to be your enemy, they always start by trying to become your friend.

•    When I tell any truth it is not for the sake of convincing those who do not know it, but for the sake of defending those who do.

•    When I tell the truth, it is not for the sake of convincing those who do not know it, but for the sake of defending those that do.

•    Where mercy, love, and pity dwell, there God is dwelling too.

•    Without contraries is no progression. Attraction and repulsion, reason and energy, love and hate, are necessary to human existence.

•    You cannot have Liberty in this world without what you call Moral Virtue, and you cannot have Moral Virtue without the slavery of that half of the human race who hate what you call Moral Virtue.

•    You never know what is enough unless you know more than enough.

•    You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.

My soul is dark – Oh! quickly string
The harp I yet can brook to hear;
And let thy gentle fingers fling
Its melting murmurs o’er mine ear.
If in this heart a hope be dear,
That sound shall charm it forth again:
If in these eyes there lurk a tear,
‘Twill flow, and cease to burn my brain.

But bid the strain be wild and deep,
Nor let thy notes of joy be first:
I tell thee, minstrel, I must weep,
Or else this heavy heart will burst;
For it hath been by sorrow nursed,
And ached in sleepless silence, long;
And now ’tis doomed to know the worst,
And break at once – or yield to song.

- Lord Byron (1788–1824)

In the kingdom of fire-spitting dragons
Five headed monsters
And other blown up villains
Guarding the walls of the air fortress
One blonde knight is screaming joyfully
Not a single care in the world
Bursting with contagious laughter
With jumps and rolls and slides and free falls
He is saving this princess from Herself.

Jiddhu Krishnamurti (1895 – 1986)
Questions and Answers – Ojai, California, 8th May, 1980

Question: There is a prevalent assumption these days that everything is relative, a matter of personal opinion, that there is no such thing as truth or fact independent of personal perception. What is an intelligent response to this belief?

Is it that we are all so personal that what I see, what you see, is the only truth? That my opinion and your opinion are the only facts we have? That is what the question implies; that everything is relative; goodness is relative, evil is relative, love is relative. If everything is relative (that is, not the whole complete, truth) then our actions, our affections, our personal relationships are relative, they can be ended whenever we like, whenever they do not please us.

Is there such a thing as truth apart from personal belief, apart from personal opinion? Is there such a thing as truth? This question was asked in the ancient days by the Greeks, by the Hindus and by the Buddhists. It is one of the strange facts in the Eastern religions that doubt was encouraged – to doubt, to question – and in religion in the West it is rather put down, it is called heresy.

One must find out for oneself, apart from personal opinions, perceptions, experiences, which are always relative, whether there is a perception, a seeing, which is absolute truth, not relative. How is one going to find out? If one says that personal opinions and perceptions are relative then there is no such thing as absolute truth, all is relative. Accordingly our behaviour, our conduct, our way of life, is relative, casual, not complete, not whole, fragmentary.

How would one find out if there is such a thing as truth which is absolute, which is complete, which is never changing in the climate of personal opinions? How does one’s mind, the intellect, thought, find out? One is enquiring into something that demands a great deal of investigation, an action in daily life, a putting aside of that which is false – that is the only way to proceed.

If one has an illusion, a fantasy, an image, a romantic concept, of truth or love, then that is the very barrier that prevents one moving further. Can one honestly investigate what is an illusion? How does illusion come into being? What is the root of it? Does it not mean playing with something which is not actual?

The actual is that which is happening, whether it is what may be called good, bad or indifferent; it is that which is actually taking place. When one is incapable of facing that which is actually taking place in oneself, one creates illusions to escape from it. If one is unwilling or afraid to face what is actually going on, that very avoidance creates illusion, a fantasy, a romantic movement, away from that which is. That word `illusion’ implies the moving away from that which is.

Can one avoid this movement, this escape, from actuality? What is the actual? The actual is that which is happening, including the responses, the ideas, the beliefs and opinions one has. To face them is not to create illusion.

Illusions can take place only when there is a movement away from the fact, from that which is happening, that which actually is. In understanding that which is, it is not one’s personal opinion that judges but the actual observation. One cannot observe what is actually going on if one’s belief or conditioning qualifies the observation; then it is the avoidance of the understanding of that which is.

If one could look at what is actually taking place, then there would be complete avoidance of any form of illusion. Can one do this? Can one actually observe one’s dependency; either dependency on a person, on a belief, on an ideal, or on some experience which has given one a great deal of excitement? That dependence inevitably creates illusion.

So a mind that is no longer creating illusion, that has no hypotheses, that has no hallucinations, that does not want to grasp an experience of that which is called truth, has now brought order into itself. it has order. There is no confusion brought about by illusions, by delusions, hallucinations; the mind has lost its capacity to create illusions. Then what is truth? The astrophysicists, the scientists, are using thought to investigate the material world around them, they are going beyond physics, beyond, but always moving outward. But if one starts inwards one sees that the `me’ is also matter. And thought is matter. If one can go inwards, moving from fact to fact, then one begins to discover that which is beyond matter. Then there is such a thing as absolute truth, if one goes through with it.

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For an extensive English language archive of Krishnamurti’s teachings, see: http://www.etresoi.ch/krishnamurti/