Deep Stillness

Resolve to live life with a deep quiet inside.

Nothing need be in the mind except an open

field of stillness and quiet. That is the ground,

the mother of all else. Of course, the world as

we know it is full of distraction and desires

pulling us here and there. That cannot be stopped.

But inside yourself is the (hidden) moment before the

universe was created. It contains all possibilities;

including return to divine union with the Creation.

Go back now into deep stillness - for a few minutes.

The world will again appear fresh.

Meditation, Prayer, and Contemplation

Life Axioms

1 Keep it simple

2 Be direct

3 Know when to quit

4 Breathe deeply and often

5 Allow it all to work out

6 Control with no-control

Tone of Silence

I talked with Glenn about silence. We came to an understanding that there is a tone, a basic tone that we can tune to.  

Glenn, “But you have to be still and quiet to hear that tone. It's like music flowing through us.”

“Yes,” I said.

“Let's have three moments of silence.”

“Yes.”

As the moments of silence came, I saw the mind weave in and out of silence for a period of time.

There is a clearing

Beyond what is, not away from it but before it, 
there is still something else that happens. 
In the midst of beings as a whole an open place occurs. 
There is a clearing, a lighting…. 
This open center is … not surrounded by what is; 
rather, the lighting center itself encircles all that is…. 
Only this clearing grants and guarantees 
to human beings a passage to those entities 
that we ourselves are not, 
and access to the being that we ourselves are.*
                                   - Martin Heidegger

* From passages selected/translated by Hubert L. Dreyfus.The Cambridge Companion to Heidegger. Edited by Charles B. Guignon. Cambridge University Press, 1993. Page 296.

Three Pillars of Good Society

Talking to Myself

While shaving in the morning, I noticed I was rushing. Why was I rushing? I had no fixed appointment for the day. I realized that many years of early morning commuting trying to catch the subway to the city had, in fact, embedded the habit of rushing while shaving. Here was the rushing without reason to rush.
I started talking to myself silently, "Say you!" Looking more deeply at myself in the mirror. "Yes, you! You are rushing. Why are you doing that? You've no reason to rush. You're free now. No appointments or schedule today."

I relaxed, wondering about this. My self-voice continues, "See it's not so bad talking to yourself. You're not mad. Besides you can mention this in your philosopher-at-large blog." There I was, talking to my best friend (and sometimes worst enemy). Certainly, it was not madness - as long as I know what I'm doing.

Talking to one's self has practical value -- beats listening to the radio, which eliminates the possibility of tuning into channel KSELF! Of course, we are not always ready for so much self-knowledge -- that's a lifework.