Wednesday, January 31, 2018

a sense of true belonging...

“The mystic Thomas a Kempis said that when you go out into the world, 
you return having lost some of yourself. Until you learn 
to inhabit your alone-ness, the lonely distraction and noise of society 
will seduce you into false belonging, with which you will only become empty and weary. 
 When you face your alone-ness, something begins to happen. 
Gradually, the sense of bleakness changes into a sense of true belonging.”
 
~John O'Donohue, 
poet, priest, intuitive mystic
~ ~ ~ 

photo source: pixabay

Tuesday, January 30, 2018

our reality is a collective, overlapping, hallucination...

"Right now, billions of neurons in your brain are working together to generate a conscious experience -- and not just any conscious experience, your experience of the world around you and of yourself within it. How does this happen? According to neuroscientist Anil Seth, we're all hallucinating all the time; when we agree about our hallucinations, we call it "reality." Join Seth for a delightfully disorienting talk that may leave you questioning the very nature of your existence." 
(youtube link - as follows - for a 17 minute video)
 one youtube comment:
"This hallucination of the self is called "sakkhaya drishti" in Buddhism. And its the foundation of advaita tradition. Nothing is real, even your precious Self. Finally, science is catching up with the ancient wisdom."
photo source: pixabay
"Row, row, row your boat,
 gently down the stream...
..........
...life is but a dream."

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Light bringers...

"How can I stay completely present to this world—the light and the dark—while still keeping an open loving heart: Who ever promised me the world would be perfect...I need to set a different course by reminding myself that humankind has always been flawed...and Love and light continue to exist anyway. The news should simply inspire me to be extra loving and tender...Today I resolve to balance every dose of darkness I receive with an equal, if not greater, dose of light...I resolve to check the balance daily and provide myself with the silence and solitude I need to maintain it. I truly believe it does matter what energy we put out into the world. " 
- Ann O’Shaughnessy
photo source: pixabay

Sunday, January 21, 2018

connecting with Joy, our innermost essence...

"Times are difficult globally; 
awakening is no longer a luxury or an ideal.
It’s becoming critical. We don’t need to add more depression, 
more discouragement, 
or more anger to what’s already here. 
It’s becoming essential that we learn how to relate 
sanely with difficult times. 
The earth seems to be beseeching us to connect with joy 
and discover our innermost essence. 
This is the best way that we can benefit others."
~Pema Chodron
~ ~ ~ ~
...meditate...

zafu meditation cushion by etsyseller ZafuChi

Sunday, January 14, 2018

waking up from the hypnotic dream state...

"It is false to speak of realization. What is there to realize? 
The real is as it is always. We are not creating anything new 
or achieving something which we did not have before. 
The illustration given in books is this. We dig a well
and create a huge pit. The space in the pit or well 
has not been created by us. We have just removed the earth 
which was filling the space there. The space was there then 
and is also there now. Similarly we have simply to throw out 
all the age-long samskaras [innate tendencies] which are inside us. 
When all of them have been given up, 
the Self will shine alone."

~ Sri Ramana Maharshi
 
photo source: pixabay
 

Monday, January 8, 2018

inner beauty...

"There are times when beauty reveals itself slowly. 
Human culture seems to build its temples of meaning 
in the wrong places, in the garish marketplaces 
of transient fashion and public image. Beauty tends to avoid
 the siren call of the obvious. Away from the blatant center, 
it prefers the neglected margin. Beyond the traffic of 
voyeuristic seeing, beauty waits until the patience 
and depth of a gaze are refined enough to engage 
and discover it. In this sense, beauty is not a quality 
externally present in something. It emerges at the threshold 
where reverence of mind engages the subtle presence
 of the other person, place or object.” 

~ John O’Donohue, Beauty
photo source: pixabay

This blogpost brought to you by etsyseller ZafuChi.
filled and unfilled zafu meditation cushions - ZafuChi