Trees grow weak in biospheres because there’s no wind for them to contend against. Artificial wind is generated to let the trees develop their strength, not to be cruel, not to bully them. Spare the wind, spoil the tree.
-Jed, in Warfare
Archive for the ‘Truth’ Category
Strange, strange
Tuesday, August 31st, 2010Thousands of hours of living, condensed
Thursday, August 5th, 2010
Whether you’re tall or short, attractive or not, wealthy or poor, young or old, spiritually mature or otherwise, the following is nevertheless true, at all times:
- At any given moment either you’re present for your life or you’re trying to avoid being present for your life. There really is no other choice.
- Avoiding being present sometimes feels good at first but it often leads to regret, and that’s how we find out that there was no real peace in it. The more we see the effects of avoiding being present, the closer we get to being sick of making those choices all the time.
- On the other hand, being present may not feel good at times, but it helps us recognize a kind of peace that is available to us regardless of the circumstances surrounding our current living. That kind of peace is actually indistinguishable from being present itself, and that is what is meant by the expression “the path is the goal.” This cannot be fully understood, really. Only experienced.
- In some spiritual traditions being present is what is called ‘heaven,’ the promises that come from avoiding being present are called ‘temptation’ and the effects of the avoidance are called ‘hell.’ Ultimately, it does not matter what words are used. What matters is: Are you using the ingredients of your life to fully come alive? The world will thank you and reward you for that choice, in more ways than one.
(In gratitude to my friend Kara Pecson / from whom I learn much / simply by watching her dance.)
Tailor-made
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010
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“We’re not supposed to” is a myth.
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Just notice the difference between what works and what doesn’t.
Which am I going to be?
Wednesday, June 9th, 2010
People with integrity
change the world
just by being themselves.
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People without integrity
change the world
just by being themselves.
Beware of replacing one belief system with another
Sunday, May 9th, 2010
I didn’t say “don’t do it.”
I said “Beware.”
Might as well
Monday, April 12th, 2010
“Since everything is but an ‘apparition’,
Perfect in just being ‘What It Is’ ~ as it is.
Having nothing to do with ‘good’ or ‘bad’,
‘acceptance’ or ‘rejection’ –
You might as well just burst out laughing!”
~ Tibetan Dzogchen master Longchenpa, 1308-1369 AD
Shhh
Thursday, March 11th, 2010I wondered for years why if TW was so effective nobody was as “advanced” as KT was even though there’s now been people doing TW for decades. One day I understood that we were all chasing the end of the rainbow. That day I “graduated.” It was a quiet ceremony. Nobody was informed. I did not receive a special certificate. If I had to put what I learned that day into words it would read like this:
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It doesn’t end.
It’s just not a problem that it doesn’t end.
That’s the freedom.
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The most amazing thing I learned that day was just how much I was like everyone else:
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I
I’m just as fucked up as the man next door,
I just don’t beat myself up about it as much as he does.
That’s the enlightenment I know.
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And sometimes
I notice he beats himself up much less than I do.
Those days he is the enlightened one
and I’m proud to call him
Teacher.
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II
Deep forgiveness for our apparent imperfections.
Deep compassion for our apparent flaws.
A knowing that it’s okay to be just like this.
Even as I try to be a better man with time.
Perfection and Imperfection in perfect harmony.
That is the enlightenment that I know.
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..
III
Anything that I can compare myself to
Is imagined.
Why would that be a fair standard of comparison?
Better to spend my time appreciating
How much of a good friend
I can be to myself.
Spiritual advice to follow on odd days
Thursday, February 11th, 2010
- Trust your own inner intelligence above anything else.
- Periodically consider points of view different from your own as a matter of practice, and
- Give yourself extended periods of time every now and then where you completely rest from thinking about spiritual stuff in any way. Devote that time to things you love to do like riding a bike, baking cookies, being with people you care about, living your life.
Spiritual advice to follow on even days
Monday, January 11th, 2010
Focus on what works,
Discard the rest.
One with Karma
Friday, December 11th, 2009
Much more than some sort of ‘eternal bliss,’ the end of suffering is a kind of equanimity, a perspective of the sort ‘this, too, shall pass,’ a gentle endurance towards small and large discomforts alike. If those sound like some sobered up (even boring) claims about what freedom looks like in practice, good, because that is the point of this post.
Meditation and self inquiry, dutifully engaged, deliver a taste of this basic freedom, and the miracle, the mind blowing grace of it all, is that THAT IS ENOUGH for us to be able to live a peaceful, joy filled life. The realization of this enoughness can happen in an instant or it may take a lifetime to figure out, and some people die without fully knowing it. It is the veil that separates heaven from hell.
And this realization can’t be promised. No meditation, medication or ’spiritual technique’ can give it. This does not render our practices useless, however. Paraphrasing Joan Halifax Roshi: Enlightenment is an accident. Our practices make us accident-prone.
