January 2012
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Silence | Sounds: Blessing in the chaos →
To all that is chaotic in you, let there come silence. Let there be a calming of the clamoring, a stilling of the voices that have laid their claim on you, that have made their home in you, that go with you even to the holy places but will not let you rest, will not let you hear your life with wholeness or feel the grace that fashioned you. Let what distracts you cease. Let what divides you cease....
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“To deliver oneself up, hand oneself over, entrust oneself completely to the...”
– Thomas Merton is 97 today. (January 31, 1915 – December 10, 1968) was a 20th century Anglo-American Catholic writer. A Trappist monk of the Abbey of Gethsemani, Kentucky, he was a poet, social activist and student of comparative religion. In 1949, he was ordained to the priesthood and given the name...
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“What is to give light must endure burning.”
– Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning. (via parabola-magazine)
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“When one first begins to work with conscious attention one discovers that the...”
– William Segal on Meditation. With many thanks to reclusland.
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Dropping the Head & Settling in the Heart →
Inspired by this post from earlier today, I wrote an inquiry into this practice over at Intense City:
Usually my center of gravity is in my head, and often I am not even aware that I have a body below it. How does one move from a fragmented and self-centered point of view to a more encompassing and organic intelligence that is responsive to the subtle movements of feeling? In other words, how...
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“You must descend from
your head into your heart.
At present your thoughts of...”
– Saint Theophan the Recluse (an orthodox monk from 19th century Russia). With many thanks to The Beauty We Love.
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from William Segal, "Openings"
We are living in a special time. Throughout the world there is a stirring and an interrelation of forces never before experienced by mankind. All around us we see an unprecedented acceleration of the possibilities of change. Power potentials have been released which threaten to upset cosmic balances. Ironically, the more gigantic and astonishing our manipulations of these energies, the more...
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“Since the entirety of our virtual world is being constructed in the present...”
– Andrew Olendzki, with thanks to Whiskey River.
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Fire Script
During the heavy months my life caught fire only when I made love with you. The firefly too lights up and goes out, lights up and goes out —by quick glimpses we follow its route among the olive trees in the darkness of night. During the heavy months the soul sat indolent and crushed, but the body took the nearest way to you. The night heavens gave off moos. We stole milk from the...
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“Every person is a half-open door / leading to a room for everyone.”
– Tomas Tranströmer, from “The Half-Finished Heaven”
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“Seeing is perception
with the original,
unconditioned eye.
It is a state of...”
– John Daido Loori, Zen Buddhist rōshi who served as the abbot of Zen Mountain Monastery and was the founder of the Mountains and Rivers Order and CEO of Dharma Communications. With thanks to the Tao of Photography.
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“I’ve learned to live with rage. In some ways, it’s my rage that keeps me going....”
– Etta James, in her autobiography, Rage To Survive (RIP). Thank you, Austin.
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“This wasn’t just plain terrible, this was fancy terrible. This was terrible with...”
– Dorothy Parker writes a mean couple of sentences. (via moreicecapades)
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“You have slept for millions and millions of years.
Why not wake up this...”
– Kabir (1440–1518), mystic poet and saint of India, whose writings have greatly influenced the Bhakti movement. By way of the incomparable Whiskey River.
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A Winter Night
The storm puts its mouth to the house and blows to get a tone. I toss and turn, my closed eyes reading the storm’s text. The child’s eyes grow wide in the dark and the storm howls for him. Both love the swinging lamps; both are halfway towards speech. The storm has the hands and wings of a child. Far away, travellers run for cover. The house feels its own constellation of nails holding...
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advice on how to write...
“I write with light.”
—Andre Kertesz, from Diary of Light, inside cover. Thank you, mythologyofblue.
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“We must force this insatiable desire within us, which is always oriented towards...”
– Simone Weil, with thanks to Meetings on the Path to Awakening.
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“Alienation begins when culture divides me against myself, puts a mask on me,...”
– Thomas Merton, The Literary Essays of Thomas Merton edited by Patrick Hart. New York: New Directions, 1981, p 381. Thank you, louie, louie.
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“Art is a spinning wheel, rotating around a still centre which we can neither...”
– Peter Brook on Creativity from his book The Open Door. Thanks to my good friend Ian, who blogs here, as well as on Tumblr. Be sure to check out some other posts featuring René Daumal and upcoming material by William Segal as part of Ian’s tribute entitled “Gurdjieff Week.”
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“For all that has been — Thanks. For all that shall be — Yes.”
– Dag Hammarskjold (Thank you, dhammanovice)
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