Life in the Media Cave

So many of us spend our lives in front of screens (i. e., computer screens, television screens, and movie screens). Media consumption is now the major American activity. We spend about 69% of our waking hours consuming media such as TV, the Internet, music, radio, and phones.  For the latest numbers on media consuming check out: Media Use in the US. Enjoy!

Effortless Desires

We effortlessly desire
truth, beauty, and wisdom
because our souls are made of
truth, beauty, and wisdom.
The deep charm of meditation
is that it opens
doors to the soul.

John Lennon - Day After Day

It matters not who you love,

where you love, why you love, when you love

or how you love, it matters only

that you love.

~ John Lennon ~

The Good Life

What are the elements of "the good life"? For fifteen years I had lunches with Vince Bacon, an old man, who said, "In my day the good life was taken seriously. It was not about making money or being famous, it was about enjoying the good things of life: friendship, children, home, and the places you often visit." He said that in our time "the good life is forgotten". The years pass, more and more, I feel the truth of what Vince told me.  

Metamorphosis

Image: http://www.revuemag.com/2011/06/metamorphosis/ 

"Metamorphosis" implies "changing forms". Life requires going through stages of transformation - changing forms or stages of life. Before you are a baby you are a fetus, after birth you are the small little creature. You can't even walk, but later you start crawling, followed by walking, later on you're talking, one day you're going to school. Eventually you grow up and become fully functional. A worm turns into a butterfly. You are like a butterfly who had once been a worm. Now, what's next?   

Arunachala Mountain, India

Arunachala, India

One of our world's sacred mountains.

Let Your Life

Let your life

Be a thank you gift

For life received

Effortless Stillness

True stillness comes without effort as if by grace. Stillness, quiet, and meditation experienced everyday, lead to a good life. I go to my meditation spot at home - resolved to sit for eleven minutes and come to stillness. I sit and breathe. After five minutes or more the mind is suddenly quiet without effort. It seemed easy - perhaps because of forty years of meditation experience. It still surprises me, when the quiet comes easily and steady like a slow flowing river. So, please, wherever you are now: sit or stand in stillness. Eventually reality opens up. Be still now and surrender to being alive.

Options

Looking at ourself from a distance cultivates space for a new experience. Consciously make a choice of what experience it will be and keep your power; dabble in darkness or bathe in light.

Chief Seattle ~ All things share the same breath

"All things share the same breath -

the beast, the tree, the man, 

the air shares its spirit with all

the life it supports."

~ Chief Seattle

Excess Mobility

Excess mobility is the disease of the modern world. Here we are, Facebook users scattered in too many places often longing and missing each other. Systems like Facebook attempt to re-link us by providing virtual substitutes via the Internet. All this is a misuse of Internet technology. The Internet industry wants us physically separated and utterly mobile; but, at high cost to local community and real day to day family and community life. The radical thing now is to "go back" to being near each other and limiting travel. Less fuel burned up, less global warming gases, less sleepless time in clogged airports.

Everyone Creating What They See

Eckhart Tolle - All One

You are the universe,

expressing itself as a human

for a little while.

~Eckhart Tolle

All That IS

Consciousness is unbounded, 

free standing, and eternal. 

The Creator is a scientist, 

experimenting with possibilities; 

generating universes 

throughout an unbounded cosmos; 

beyond the limits of individual ego. 

The ancients would say: 

Om tat sat (All that is).

Proofs

When two hearts intersect, a point is created. It can be designated as any number on a line but nevertheless, they have left a point of themselves behind. They might begin to run parallel one day, but it’s all right, they made an infinite possibility for new lines to begin.

Time Passing

Time passing

Day by day

Always now

Centrifuge

In the middle of a storm is an eye which brings reprise from violent weather.

In the middle of an eye are pieces which help you see.

In the middle of yourself is the perceiver;

the ultimate 'I' that sets you free.

Baby steps

Fifty years can go in a flash while some days last forever.

I can learn to find my spirit with my heart and soul together. 

Spirit resides within. It can't be broken, though worn thin. 

Before life flashes before my eyes, my journey will begin.

Sometimes, the biggest gift you can give to a person is silence.

Buddha ~ Thinking, Attracting, and Creating

What you think,
you become.

What you feel
you attract.

What you imagine
you create.

         ~~ BUDDHA*

*Found in the internet commons. 

Chuang Tsu ~ Harmony of Heaven

Along The Way

Then, begin again

First Aid

Let meditation be like an ice pack for a swelling mind. When your mind inflames and begins to cause you pain begin to meditate. It wont stop the cause but will help in healing the wound. Let go of your thoughts, let the swelling go down.

Presencing

What came before me?

What came before me?

Do I know?

Can I know?

The flood of memories

all jumbled up in

future, now, and past.

Where are you and me?

Parents and parents of parents

all rushing from life to life.

A waterfall of

laughter, boredom and tears. 

The Great Work

"The Great Work now, as we move into a new millennium, is to carry out the transition from a period of human devastation of the Earth to a period when humans would be present to the planet in a mutually beneficial manner."           

~~Thomas Berry, 1999

the work of stability

the most enlightened teachers
experienced great struggles of self

god is the safest constant
if god is ever changing

dear one, see inside yourself
the only constant
is you

Pico Iyer ~ The Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going Nowhere

Uphill Battle

Just because you age doesn't mean you are getting old. Bodies might grow older but souls only mature. Don't let your fear of your physical body aging grow like barnacles on a ghost ship. If you can stop carrying around the years of your life like a heavy weight on your back, you will become light and ageless.

Ahimsa and Satyagraha

Ahimsa is "not to injure".

Satyagraha is "holding onto truth".

Keith Whittingslow - The Fine Structure Constant

Recently, an old friend of mine, Keith Whittingslow, passed away. Especially sad for me since I had not kept up with him during the past fifteen years. He sent me a copy of his book: The Fine Structure Constant. This book is a fine blending of science and poetry. His poems are experiments expressing the beauty of the science that he loved. I encourage you to visit the Amazon web link to his book; it includes sample pages of his book. I was truly honored to have crossed paths with Keith in my lifetime.

Obituary

Walt Whitman ~ This is what you shall do

"This is what you shall do; Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body."

"This is what you shall do..." by Walt Whitman, from the preface of Leaves of Grass. Public domain.

Carl Jung - The World Within

Black Elk ~ First Peace

"The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness, with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells Wakan-Tanka , and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us. This is the real peace, and the others are but reflections of this. The second peace is that which is made between two individuals, and the third is that which is made between two nations. But above all you should understand that there can never be peace between nations until there is known that true peace, which, as I have often said, is within the souls of men."

~ Black Elk ~

Deep Nonviolence

Nonviolence is not-harming; it's what we don't do, not what we do. There's vast spaciousness in allowing things to be what they are short of violence. Nonviolence reminds me of the Taoist idea of "doing not doing"; by not-harming, by being nonviolent, we are going with the flow of life. The term "peace", however, is more limiting. It implies specific institutions and actions such as talk of "peace keeping armies". Nonviolence is one of the most ancient of great ideas: "ahimsa" - the Sanskrit word meaning "not harming" in the old Jain religion of India and later in the Vedic, Hindu, and Buddhist scriptures. Furthermore, we find strong suggestions of nonviolence in the ancient Jewish and Christian scriptures. Indeed, the earliest Christians would not fight in wars. In the mid twentieth century, "nonviolence" was a political strategy. We see scenes of mass demonstrations for Indian independence from the British, U.S. black peoples' civil rights protests in the deep South, and grape boycotts to secure rights of migrant farm works. While teaching nonviolence at the University of California, Berkeley, I became clear that nonviolence as protest is too narrow. Now, I sometimes use the term "deep nonviolence" to point to nonviolence at the root level -- where constructive actions naturally arise. This especially addresses the deep crisis between the whole of humanity and all other life on earth. The violence of humans upon the earth and it's living forms is now apparent. Deep nonviolence looks upon all our actions that may, can, and do harm life on earth. By working toward eliminating such actions (at all levels), we allow the earth to heal, to return to it's natural state of harmony and health; just as we can allow our bodies to heal of themselves by not harming them with drugs. Nature wants to be healthly; people want to be at peace. Remove the harming, and the rest takes care of itself.

Beyond Limits - Arthur C. Clarke

The only way to discover the limits of the possible 

is to go beyond them into the impossible.

~ Arthur C. Clarke

A flower grows...

A flower grows between sidewalk cracks
A smile shines between tears
A life unfolds between birth and death

Ghandi Speaks On Non-Violence

Dramatic recreation of 

Ghandi speaking on nonviolence in his early career.

Direct YouTube Link.

Diane Shavelson - Winner Take All

shine bright

the darkness is there to help you find your own light

see how brightly you can shine!

Bob Dylan - With God On Our Side

Much truth and sadness and paradox in this tune.

Lyrics

Carl Jung - Speaks About Death

This video of Carl Jung was recorded at the tail end of his life. He says important things about death. Please listen and look carefully. This is a man who is mindful; who is speaking to what little can be said about an almost unspeakable subject.

Concept Acknowledgment: Marianne Henry

What The Tree Said

"Practice and Actualization" Americ + Josh

Americ Azevedo - Voice & Thoughts

Josh Williams - Music ( Acoustic Drumming, Acoustic Guitar, 

Electric Guitar, Drum Programming, Synths, Sounds )

Bob Marley - Don't Worry Be Happy

Much wisdom in this simple song.

Meher Baba - Live in the Present

"Live more and more in the Present
which is ever beautiful and stretches
away beyond the limits of the past
and the future.
                                 - Meher Baba

Limitless Presence

Those who cling to thought
are afraid of Being.

in alert Being, there is no thought
only stillness.

Trusting and letting go
to the endless ebb and flow,
all that is life~

like the waves rolling,
rising and falling,
over and over again.
You are an ocean of self, filled deep,
no limit to your Presence.

New Day

From http://www.goodmorningquote.com/52-inspirational-good-morning-quotes/

Ram Dass - Be Still

From http://griefandmourning.com/stillness

Don McLean - American Pie

Thanks to Spike for this suggestion.

Leonard Cohen and Judy Collins "Suzanne" 1967

Jacob Needleman - Time and the Soul

Make Friends with Uncertainty

Knowing, making friends with uncertainty gives freedom. To live fully find courage to face uncertainty moment by moment. Reality has things to tell us - that we may not wish to hear.

Refiners Fire

“Up on your feet! This is no time to tire!”
my Master cried. “The man who lies asleep
will never waken fame, and his desire

and all his life drift past him like a dream,
and the traces of his memory fade from time
like smoke in air, or ripples on a stream.

Now, therefore, rise. Control your breath, and call
upon the strength of soul that wins all battles
unless it sink in the gross body’s fall.

There is a longer ladder yet to climb.”

Dante Alighieri - The Inferno

Inner Peace

enjoy you

your breath is medicine
sun cleanses you
today's work is to sit and enjoy yourself!

Laudato si'

Also read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laudato_si'

Leonard Cohen - Dance Me to the End of Love

mystery

It's all a mystery
Let it come
And let it be

Speaker Box

When the thoughts in your head become louder than the voice inside, it's hard to hear the truth. It's like an echo in a cavern. Yelling,  "I can't do it" or " I am worthless" bounces off of the walls and drowns out the other sounds. Your inner voice is quiet and does not need to echo its message. Be gentle and allow it to guide you in the right direction.

Ephemeral Portraits

Those moments when everything seems so bleak

All at once your terrors peak

With a cracking voice, left unable to speak

Keeping your mind and body weak

Though, if you could only see yourself through my eyes:

You are powerful, so unique

Unlike a damaged and fragile antique

You are whole with a beautiful physique

There is a light inside, just continue to seek…

Takes A Long Time

Only One Moment

Spiritual Path

The World May Fall Apart

"Blindly feel your way around
You're better off that way for now
Who's to say the sun is kind
The brightest things will leave you blind

Reconciled from head to toe
The brightest things can help you grow"

-Scott Goldbaum

Steve Jobs ~ Your Time Is Limited

Pitfall

For many individuals, there is a hole in themselves that feels like it needs to be filled. Struggling to find a cure for the ache, something to make them feel whole, they turn to actions which do not fill but only patch this missing piece. It can be incredibly hard to find healthy ways but they are available to us if we just engage. Take an adventure into nature or the city. Help a child build a lego set. Listen or play music. Draw or paint. Meditate or even just take a moment to sit on the couch and breathe. The list can be endless if you just take the time to write.

Contact

“You’re an interesting species. An interesting mix. You’re capable of such beautiful dreams, and such horrible nightmares. You feel so lost, so cut off, so alone, only you’re not. See, in all our searching, the only thing we’ve found that makes the emptiness bearable, is each other.”

- Carl Sagan

Number Two

I used to use an eraser to fix the mistakes on my homework. The lead would go away but the imprint would still be etched into the paper. Now, I use the delete button. It leaves no imprint; the mistake is completely gone. We need to remember to continue learning from our mistakes. It has beome too easy to just erase everything with a simple
Delete

Savings

Money can buy a hearse, not a lifetime. Time can't be measured by money.

T. S. Elliot - endless invention, endless experiment

Endless invention, endless experiment,
Brings knowledge of motion, but not of stillness;
Knowledge of speech, but not of silence;
Knowledge of words, and ignorance of the Word.
All our knowledge brings us nearer to death,
But nearness to death no nearer to God.
Where is the Life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
The cycles of Heaven in twenty centuries
Brings us farther from God and nearer to the Dust.
                                     T. S. Elliot
                                                    Choruses From “The Rock”

Eleven lines of poetry from T. S. Elliot - suggestive of a deep understanding of our human predicament in an ever expanding age of technology. We are creatures of meaning, not just bodies of functioning.  ~ Americ ~

Teeter Totter

To get on our feet,

we had to crawl.

Learning to walk, 

we had to fall.

Feeling lost and alone,

we found life was our guide. 

Though it was frightening, 

we found the power inside.

Reception

it is Me.

this is the breakthrough
realizing over and over that
everyone is here to help you
those you feel are hurting you
are teachers themselves
some lesson there to learn for you

painful.

all there is to do is open yourself to see
as safely and as carefully as you can be
knowing that it is true
that love is abundant
this is your work

to Receive.

Lao Tzu's Recommendations

In Chapter 3 of the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu recommends that leaders should encourage the people to:

    Relax the mind
    Make belly firm
    Reduce the will
    Make physiques strong

A good recommendation, even 2,600 years later. 

Kindling

Destroy a shadow by casting a light; lingering in shadow lets darkness ignite.

Palettes

Awareness is always changing, influenced by growing older and the introduction of coloring in the lines. Soon, by believing that lines must be straight, boxes must be cubes, and colors cannot run, the world becomes black and white. Our paint brushes become pens and color palettes reduced to blue, black, and hopefully not red. Emotions are converted into faces on a "feelings" magnet attached to the fridge. Yet, it is so simple to shift; remember, it all began with a simple belief. Blink. What was once a geometrical problem which wasn't painted in all the way can become emotion dissected and connected by lines which fashion shapes full of water color to inspire reflection. So remember to rub your eyes when you awaken; stir up a world of color.

self integration

depression sinking
dark and deep
space falls infinitely
i am so small
frightened mind
this vision is not comfort

nowadays I focus
with positive momentum
I still my mind more and more
to see how strong
each present moment is

no more this struggle of selves
rest death and destruction in peace

me in my body
trees look upon us
to move

nothing changes
except my visual lens
one perspective to another
a constant realization practice
over and over in each moment
remembering how
I am in this space
right here and right now

Mother stretches out her soul to feed my little branches
She compassionately fills each twig
so sunlight pierces through my star pores
She allows me to fill myself in this space
so finally I feel myself here in body grounded

the art of happiness is found
I feel loved in this space
being held lovingly in Me
this is home
thank you

Photo Shop

The fact is that no person is perfect. We are given a universal idea of perfection which is contrived. Why spend time and money to become someone you are not. Your imperfections made you who you are though; you are literally one of a kind, like a snowflake. We struggle to look like someone we envy and fail due to the technology which enhances their looks. With the right amount of money or skilled designer, a terrible picture can come out looking perfect. Airbrush for flawless skin. Photo editing programs to enhance the exposure.

Sadly, society then takes it one step further and begins to alter the physical body. Too much weight? No need to work out, just get it removed with surgery. Excessive amount of wrinkles? Easy, use a chemical to look younger. Put it on your face every night.

Now you are getting closer to your dream...right?

planet self-protection

     ∆
   .
  .
 .
.
rhythmic moments
thought messages
wisely letting go
.
releasing is strength
presencing cuddler
love-hugging myself close
.
pieces of peace emitted by all
tiny-big dreamer gathering
i am whole!
 .
  .
   .
    .
      ∆

Embedded in a Society

Our parents, if we are fortunate, train us in “right and wrong”. They do it because they are embedded in a society - and they know that we, too, will be embedded in a society. We are not separate; we are in society. And, to be outside of society is not a good thing because we are evolved, designed to be social, to communicate, to think, and to learn. We come into this world with bodies programmed by millions, billions of years of evolution. We are born into human cultures with thousands of years of collective learning. That is our inheritance. Now to use it wisely. 

∆

New Beginnings

Second hands

Count second opportunities

Second hands

Count the seconds lost

Second hands

Count down the minutes

Second hands

Count the replacement cost

Flowing Out

flowing out
time's ocean 
emptying out
without limit 

Martin Luther King Jr. ~ Keep Moving Forward

If you can't fly, then run,

if you can't run, then walk,

if you can't walk, then crawl,

but whatever you do,

you have to keep moving forward.

~ Martin Luther King Jr. 

Game Face

Tears smeared her mascara and etched a script of an emotion she tried to hide from him. As he continued to berate her with words which pierced like knives, she tried to speak with words unbroken through broken breath. 

Never show weakness in the face of adversity her mother had taught her; these words were hollow if they could not prevent the wounds continuously opened by his rage. For years she allowed him to deteriorate her self esteem for fear of losing the man she loved by speaking against him. 

She looked back over the years and noticed that she had lost him years ago. As he grew more possessive and jealous, she pulled away from him. Once she began to grow distant, he turned away, causing her to return to him yet again. They played this game more and more frequently as time progressed until finally, he turned away all together. 

The once loving relationship which brought them together and helped them grow, now cast a shadow upon her heart. To reanimate herself, to bring life back into her dim eyes, she had to end this game tonight. 

A fire, while dim at first, began to grow. It was not anger or even resentment. It was a longing to be free; it was a light to guide herself home. She finally understood what her mother had told her so many years ago; do not hide your face in adversity, show your strength when all you want to do is hide. The tears which once smeared her mascara now became war paint; she found the power to fight again.

A Philosophy of Life

Real Life

"For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life." 

~ Alfred d'Souza ~

Beyond Understanding

Deep reality is beyond our understanding. Physics may never be complete. Some mystery could always remain. Who are we? Why are we here? What is our destiny? Religions and philosophies struggle to satisfy us. Let's not get too optimistic. We're built for life with mystery.

Eleanor Roossevelt ~ Beautiful Young and Old People

Home Away From Home

if you find a shell

far away from the sea

listen to it closely

it will remind you where it has been

it does not tell you to bring it back

or ask to be used as a home again

it accepts that it has served its purpose

and only wants to sing the songs of the sea

John Lennon ~ Fear and Love

“There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance. We need to learn to love ourselves first, in all our glory and our imperfections. If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot fully open to our ability to love others or our potential to create. Evolution and all hopes for a better world rest in the fearlessness and open-hearted vision of people who embrace life.” 

~ John Lennon, The Beatles ~

Cocoon

Lost in the woods for what felt like decades, he emerged expecting to be a butterfly.

With all the tales he had been told when he was a child about a wide-eyed adventurer plunging into the forest with only bravery and coming out a new person, he emerged into the open field of dead grass. It seemed his fables had failed him.

He shouted to the heavens, "I have struggled for so many years! Overcome so many trials and tribulations! Fought to keep myself alive..." His voice echoed through the forest. He began to cry tears full of anger interwoven with despair while he waited for the butterfly wings promised to him in his fables. As his tears subsided, he murmured to the forest, "then I have truly failed."

Tired and full of self pity, he lay on the dead grass, ignoring the tiny sprinkles of mist which collected in his beard and mustache. A thick fog began to rush though the forest like a phantasm, engulfing it entirely like a down blanket. It spread across the sky and the temperature dropped incredibly quickly, limiting his vision. As he reached into his pack to get his camping jacket, his small reflective mirror fell out and cracked on a rock. "Why!" he yelled again with a sense of renewed passion. As he leaned over to pick it up, he saw himself, after all of these months on his journey.

Shattered glass projects shattered images; this wasn't the case for him. He only vaguely saw the person who first set out on the journey; he was a young, inexperienced teenager, who decided he wanted to have an adventure. It wasn't his beard or his long matted hair, it was the inner strength he saw. He had developed a type of resolve which that boy could have never understood or believed he had inside. A tear welled up in his eye. While he might have not grown butterfly wings, he had become something more than what was promised to him in his fables. That broken image now reflected a full picture of who he had become.

Lost in the woods for what felt like decades, he emerged expecting to be a butterfly, but instead came out a man.

Silence

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

Glenn said, “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. That was good enough. Yes, good enough.

∆

Thomas Edison ~ Listening

We have but two ears and one

mouth so that we may listen twice

as much as we speak.

~ Thomas Edison ~