The living is a passing traveler;
The dead, a man come home.
One brief journey between heaven and earth,
Then, alas! we are the same old dust of ten thousand ages.
The rabbit in the moon pounds the elixir in vain;
Fu-sang, the tree of immortality, has crumbled to kindling wood.
Man dies, his white bones are dumb without a word
While the green pines feel the coming of the spring.
Looking back, I sigh; looking before, I sigh again.
What is there to prize in the life's vaporous glory?
During our
The phenomena we see are curious and surprising, but the most marvelous thing of it all we do not realize, that the one, and only one, illimitable force is responsible for all the phenomena we see and the act of our seeing them. Do not fix your attention on all these changing things of life, death and phenomena. Do not think of even the actual act of seeing them, or perceiving them, but only of that which sees all these things. This will seem nearly impossible at first, but by degrees the result will be felt. It takes years of steady, daily practice, but that is how a Master is made. Give yourself a quarter of a hour a day, keep your eyes open, and try to keep the mind unshakably fixed on That which Sees. It is inside yourself. Do not expect to find that 'That' is something definite on which the mind can be fixed easily; it will not be so. Though it takes years to find that 'That' the results of this concentration will soon show itself, in four or five months' time, in all sorts of unconscious clairvoyance, in peace of mind, in power to deal with troubles, in power all round, always unconscious power. I have given you this teaching in the same words as the Masters give it to their intimate disciples. From now onwards let your whole thought in meditation be not on the act of seeing nor on what you see, but immovably on That which Sees.
fnord is evaporated herbal tea without the herbs.
If you can dream — and not make dreams your master;
Originally published in The Plain Dealer on Sunday,May 28, 2006
To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me.
It is the most-requested column I've ever written. My odometer rolls over to 50 this week, so here's an update:
1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
16. Life is too short for long pity parties. Get busy living, or get busy dying.
17. You can get through anything if you stay put in today.
18. A writer writes. If you want to be a writer, write.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Overprepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: "In five years, will this matter?"
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
35. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
36. Growing old beats the alternative - dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood. Make it memorable.
38. Read the Psalms. They cover every human emotion.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.
41. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
42. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
43. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
44. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
45. The best is yet to come.
46. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
47. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
48. If you don't ask, you don't get.
49. Yield.
50. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.
Barbara Brennan is a former NASA scientist whose ground-breaking exploration of the human energy field is discussed in her books "Hands of Light" and "Light Emerging." DiCarlo: If you read all the self-help literature that is available, it would seem that we could all benefit from learning to forgive ourselves and others. That certainly seems like the right thing to do in life but I'm wondering, from a more concrete perspective, what happens in our energy field when we do this?
Brennan: When you forgive yourself, there are some wonderful things that happen. There is a certain tension and stagnated energy that is held in the field whenever there is anything that you won't accept within yourself. It's kind of like a mucous that you get when you have a cold. So you actually create distortions in your own energy pattern that have to do with unforgivingness towards your self. These distortions will eventually lead to illness. When you forgive yourself, you are actually unblocking the flow of energy in your field so that it can flush itself out. It allows for the resumption of the normal life flow.
Life is associated with constant movement in the personal energy field, so any attitude of non-forgiveness within the self will create blockage. When you have an non-forgiving attitude towards an individual, there will be a definite pattern in your field. The outer edge of your field will become rigid and brittle when interacting with that person. There will be additional ways that you will not let your life energy flow out towards that person.
There are great bands of energy or bio-plasmic streamers that normally flow between people when they interact. If you have an unforgiving attitude towards another person, that won't happen. So there's not an exchange of life energy that normally goes on between all living things and it's not just human beings. There's a flow between humans and animals. Humans and plants.
But if there is a sense of unforgiveness, all that will be stopped. There will be the same type of stoppage in the other individual also. It's usually a two way street.
Interview With Barbara Brennan Ph.D.
Interviewed By Russell E. DiCarlo
Excerpted from the book Towards A New World View: Conversations At The Leading Edge with Russell E. DiCarlo. The 377-page book features new and inspiring interviews with 27 paradigm pioneers in the fields of medicine, psychology, economics, business, religion, science, education and human potential. Featuring: Willis Harman, Matthew Fox, Joan Boysenko, George Leonard, Gary Zukav, Robert Monroe, Hazel Henderson, Fred Alan Wolf, Peter Senge, Jacquelyn Small, Elmer Green, Larry Dossey, Carolyn Myss, Stan Grof, Rich Tarnas, Marilyn Ferguson, Marsha Sinetar, Dr. Raymond Moody, Stephen Covey and Peter Russell.
According to contemporary teacher Chögyal Namkhai Norbu, in Dzogchen the perceived reality is considered to be unreal. All appearances perceived during the whole life of an individual through all senses, including sounds, smells, tastes and tactile sensations in their totality are like a big dream. It is claimed that on careful examination the dream of life and regular nightly dreams are not very different, and that in their essential nature there is no difference between them.
The non-essential difference between our dreaming state and our ordinary waking experience is that the latter is more concrete and linked with our attachment; the dreaming is slightly detached.
Also according to this teaching, there is a correspondence between the states of sleep and dream and our experiences when we die. After experiences of intermediate state of bardo an individual comes out of it, a new karmic illusion is created and another existence begins. This is how transmigration happens.
One aim of dream practice is to realize during a dream that one is dreaming. One can then dream with lucidity and do all sorts of things, such as go to different places, talk to people, fly and so forth. It is also possible to do different yogic practices while dreaming (usually such yogic practices one does in waking state). In this way the yogi can have a very strong experience and with this comes understanding of the dream-like nature of daily life. This is very relevant to diminishing attachments, because they are based on strong beliefs that life's perceptions and objects are real and, as a consequence, important. If one really understands what Buddha Shakyamuni meant when he said that everything is unreal or of the nature of shunyata, then one can diminish attachments and tensions.
2.
Locate or create a symbol of your own pain. Mail it to us at the Angst Incineration Crew, P.O. Box 150628, San Rafael, CA 94915, USA. We will then conduct a sacred ritual of purification during which we will burn that symbol to ash. While this may not banish your suffering entirely, it will provide a substantial amelioration which you will be able to feel the benefits of within a month.
3.
Eat a pinch of dirt while affirming that you are ready to kill off one of your outworn shticks -- some idea or formula that has worked for you in the past but has now become a parody of itself.
4.
Using crayons, paints, scissors, glue, collage materials or any other materials, create a piece of large-denomination paper money, good for making a payment on your karmic debt.
5.
Kick your own ass 22 times.
6.
Brag about yourself nonstop for 10 minutes. Record it so you can listen back to it later.
7.
Perform a senseless act of altruism, for instance by giving an anonymous gift or providing some beauty or healing to a person who cannot do you any favors in return.
8.
Deliver a concentrated stream of praise about someone, either to that person herself or to anyone who will listen. Extra credit: Force yourself to think a kind and loving thought about someone you don't like or from whom you feel alienated.
9.
Conjure up an imaginary friend and have an intimate conversation with him and her for at least 15 minutes.
10.
Build an altar devoted to beauty, truth, and love in one of the ugliest places you know.
11.
With a companion, watch a blank TV while making up a pronoiac story featuring plot twists that are rife with happiness, redemption, and good times -- yet not boring. You may either speak this tale aloud or write it down.
12.
Compose and perform a ceremony in which you get married to yourself.
13.
While making love, imagine that your physical pleasure is a carrier wave for a spiritual blessing which you beam in the direction of some person you know who needs a supercharged boost.
"I consider myself just a human being, one of 6 billion human beings," he said. "We must find more nonviolent ways to solve our problems. War and nuclear weapons never solved human problems."
He invoked Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Bishop Desmond Tutu, all of whose teachings he said he admired. He talked about his respect for religions other than Buddhism, and that he often visits religious shrines around the world and is touched by them.
"All 6 billion people are the same family," he said. "Everyone wants a happy life."
Albany, NY, USA, 7 May 2009 (By Paul Grondahl, Times Union)
Let your life lightly dance on the edges of Time like dew on the tip of a leaf.
