12 Apr Way Of Way 2
Everyone's life is unique, fascinating and entertaining. But that's often not their experience of it....
11 Apr Nuriya Khakimulla
"Silence is the greatest secret in the world." "He who speaks does not know, he who knows does not speak." --Lao Tzu. "Silence is the only voice of our God." -- Herman Melville. In true silence we not distracted by sounds or other stimulation or by our mind's thoughts. In true silence, we are in the present, the pre-sent, the space before the universe expresses itself and time begins. In true silence the universe is revealed as an ineffable ethereal experience. Attempting to share these revelations through words with others breaks the silence, shrouds its revelations in oblivion and keeps silence a secret....
10 Apr Alice (from Alice in Wonderland)
"It's no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then." Every day is a life in a day, not a day in a life. We've lived thousands of lifetimes, dying in the evening and born anew in the morning into circumstances similar to those in which we died yesterday. Upon rebirth, we resemble the person we were yesterday but are not the same person; though we assume we are and live in the context of our past identities. As to who we are now, it is difficult to say beyond "I am who I am" as we, like everything, are ever-changing....
07 Apr Sadhguru
"When people are alone, they become spiritual. When in company, they become religious." When we are alone and our mind is calm, we can connect with everything, That's a spiritual experience. When with others, we see ourselves as apart and separate and need rules and rituals to calm ourselves....
06 Apr God and the Fool
The fool thinks he is God. The wise man knows he and everything is God. The fool thinks himself apart and superior to others. The wise know we are all unique and yet the same, infinite manifestations of God....
05 Apr The Value Of Associations
Underwear costing $20 new is worthless in our eyes if it's used, spoiled and smelly. But in our mind it can be worth 1,000 times more than new if it came from Jacqueline Kennedy's hamper....
03 Apr Erich Segal
"Love means never having to say you're sorry." We may have regrets about being thoughtless and treating our body poorly; say, getting fat, a hangover or not sleeping enough. Yet, we never apologize to our body. Our body is who we are and we don't apologize to ourselves. Likewise, in love, we and whom we love are one. Apologizing or thanking whom we presumably love implies we and they are not one; that we don't truly have a love connection....
01 Apr Seeing With Our Eyes
In October, 1992 I started collecting tribal art. While initially I didn't imagine tribal art would be expensive, I was soon amazed at how expensive some objects were; some fetching hundreds of thousands of dollars. What made these objects so expensive is that there is a limited supply of "authentic" objects. (Authentic objects are those made by a tribal people for their own use and used accordingly. That's unlike "tourist" objects made for others and "fakes" made to appear like authentic objects.) Authenticity is essentially the sine quo nom of the collectibles markets generally. Without a limited supply of art objects qualifying as authentic, the art market would collapse. If objects were judged simply by their aesthetic appeal alone, facsimiles that were indistinguishable from authentic objects would flood the market, making authentic objects not worth more than the cost of making a facsimile. Without high-priced collectibles, there would be no collectors spending huge sums to support art museums, auction houses and well-heeled dealers. Art, as well as everything else, is viewed by our eyes and our mind. Our eyes see things as they see things. As our eyes have no memory, our eyes cannot compare one thing with another. However, while some things engage and appeal to us and some less so, just about everything has a unique beauty to it from some perspective. Our mind cannot see, it can only hear. When we look at an art object in terms of its authenticity, provenance, description and in comparison to other art objects, we are "seeing" through our mind, not our eyes. The art market depends on collectors seeing through their mind, not their eyes. As a collector I've met many dealers. One thing that several said in passing particularly struck me: there have been many well-considered collectors that as they got on in years often sold many of their "top" objects and purchased others that were clearly fakes or of lower quality. Dealers speculated that these old collectors simply lost their "eye;" that is, they could no longer distinguish a fake from an authentic object or they lost their sense of taste and as such were satisfied with lower quality objects. Perhaps or maybe these old collectors finally saw art objects with their eyes, not their mind. Now, I too am an old collector and appreciate the mindset of the old collectors who were pooh-poohed by dealers and museum people. Someone truly engaged with the art itself (not with art as an investment or status symbol) solely focuses on the aesthetic and engaging aspects of an art object. Whether it's fake or real is immaterial. Each object is what it is whatever it is; to be appreciated as it is, absolutely, not relative to something else or because it's dressed in superlatively flattering adjectives. Collectors who've come to this realization tend to be older, having spent many lifetimes and considerable sums building their collections. They truly have a great "eye" as they see objects with their eyes, not with their mind. More generally, beyond art, these older individuals tend to be in Act 3 in the play of life; the transition from their finite material selves to who they were before their birth, one with everything. In the transition, we see beauty everywhere. As to the art market, they shake their heads and laugh at the foolish collectors they once were....
29 Mar Freedom From Mind
The present is the pre-sent, the space before the universe expresses itself as infinite unique manifestations. The present is empty. It is silent. Time does not exist in the present. It is dark until we light it up by opening our eyes. The now is when the universe expresses itself. It is when time begins. In the now we experience the universe via our senses and our mind. The present is the space between exhale and inhale, between bodily death and birth, between going to sleep and awakening. In the present we are not distracted by the universe expressing itself in the now. We can observe the universe and come to know it. The experience via our senses is what it is whatever it is; some of it to our liking and some not. It's a visceral connection with the universe. The experience via our mind is of memories, meanings and stories that make us feel good, bad, indifferent and countless other states of mind. We equate our mind's perception of the universe with reality. We take it seriously and hold onto it regardless of how miserable it may make us feel. Perceiving the universe otherwise requires us to abandon our mind. We're afraid to do that as we fear we would be lost without our mind. That's how our mind imprisons us. However, we can escape our mind's prison and not find ourselves lost when we leave the now and go to the present. The present is a peaceful place where there is nothing to fear. In the present we can open our eyes and realize that there are infinite mind frames for experiencing the universe; that the mind frame we heretofore could not let go was not particularly more valid than others; that we are free to experience the universe through a mind frame of our choosing. This is wisdom. As a default, we choose the happy mind; a mind that is grateful, optimistic and free from karmic prisons. With a happy mind, much of life is absurdly funny as we see most people taking their respective mind's perceptions seriously. When we open our eyes and light up the darkness in the present, we realize the universe is just light; infinite, eternal, ever-changing and unique manifestations of light; that we are light, not just individual little selves trying to make a go of it in the short time between birth and death. Realizing all is light, we fill with compassion. We're joyous making others happy and helping them escape their mind's prison as that's our purpose in life. ...
26 Mar Everything Is One Thing
Everything is unique now and unlike itself after now. Everything is nothing before it is something. I am nothing before I am what I am whatever I am. Nothing is one thing, nothing. Everything, including me, is one thing....