30 Nov Way Of Way 84
The self sees selves in everyone. The soul sees one person with many selves....
29 Nov Way Of Way 77
All things are everchanging. All things are different from different perspectives and different dimensions. Any thing of which we are certain is an illusion....
28 Nov Koan 3
“A man of wisdom delights at water” -- Confucius Reflections from slowly stirring water in a pond (as above) are like an everchanging abstract painting. The images we identify are illusions we create. Water is like the universe: one thing and yet many things. Water manifests in different shapes (clouds, rivers, oceans) and forms (vapor, liquid, and ice). Water is interdependent, as a wave cannot be a wave without the sea. Water is interconnected, from cloud to rain to river to sea. As drops of water, we fear not rain over us. Together as a flood, water reigns over us. On water we can calmly float or panic and sink. While essential to life, water also brings drowning and death. Sound travels four times faster and further in water than air, though we can't hear underwater what someone next to us is saying. Water is odorless and tasteless, yet present in everything that smells and tastes. Though colorless in a glass, water has a bluish hue which is evident in large bodies of water like the ocean. Water in lakes and oceans seems impassable, but the easiest path between places is by boat. Still water is dead-silent. Moving water is alive with sounds. In a pond, still water is clear and turbulent water opaque. Seeing ourselves and surroundings in a reflecting pond, we don't notice the water. Water is impossible to grasp, but easily captured in cupped hands. Water is weak, flowing to places of least resistance; unlike fire which destroys all in its way. Yet, water easily extinguishes fire. While not hard like stone, high-pressure water cuts stone like it's butter. Unlike but a few other materials, water expands when it freezes. Thus, a quart of water weighs more than a quart of ice which is why ice floats on water. Water symbolizes the cycle of life; born as drops of rain, living together in rivers and seas and disappearing as vapor to form clouds for its rebirth. Water is what it is whatever it is, but how we see it is a reflection of who we are. A man of wisdom sees water variously. That's the essence of wisdom....
25 Nov Final Post
After it's born, a baby will surely die unless it is loved by some people. At the end of our days, eternal being will elude us unless we unconditionally love the now and its infinite forms. Love enables us to survive in life and survive death. In the now, we are a self. Before and after the now, we are the soul. The now never changes, but all forms in the now are ever-changing. Forms transition until no longer recognized as being what they once were; simply, they die. When our individual form dies, we are solely the soul. Unlike a self, the soul is eternal. As the soul, we are eternal. The now is the manifestation of the soul. The soul loves the now, as the soul loves its manifestations. When we love the now and all its forms, we are the soul. We are eternal being. Wisdom delivers us to this realization and compassion delivers us to its actualization. ...
24 Nov Way Of Way 50
We experience life in reality and as illusions. Reality is what it is whatever it is, beyond description. Describing it precludes us from experiencing it. Descriptions are allusions to illusions....
23 Nov Way Of Way 39
The smartest are fastest to make the way to the finish line. The wisest find the shortest and easiest ways....