Here and Now

From http://www.thechicclassmate.com/2012/06/here-and-now.html

River of Thoughts

a river of thoughts flowing
through my days
returning to the ocean
never ending, always waving

Flash of Enlightenment

Subterranean Powers

Subterranean powers run our lives. We are not really in control of ourselves and destinies as much as we think. The illusion is that we have conscious control over our lives; the reality is that our preferences, desires, goals, objectives, loves, hates, etc. are all affected and determined by "forces" inside of us evolving along with our bodies over millions of years. Sometimes, I think that these "forces" are the real expression of God (and that they actually help us understand what God is as an actor in the universe). But perhaps it's best to just live with the mystery of it all.  

Frequency of the Universe

One of my the most heart warming projects is a decade long project of posting short audio teachings on Internet audio sites. One of the thousands of listeners gave the greatest of complements:

your words always give me hope

that there is someone on the same frequency out there.

the frequency of the universe.

What could that frequency be? Perhaps the ringing echoes of the Big Bang creation event. Maybe the sound of Aum (om) as suggested in the ancient Upanishads. Or, is it the frequency of truth - so sublime that only a quiet soul can hear?

Wisdom & Nonsense

Life's Breath

Life plays us like flutes. The flute's openings are mind, intellect and the five senses. With egos put aside - these flute openings become pure. Life's breath passes freely though us. Our lives become harmonic.  

Image from http://www.oldworldmusicandgifts.com/img/flutesmall.jpg  

Floating

 The mystery and secret of life. Learning to be. Relaxing into this present moment. A metaphor for living well.  

Don't Pick the Flowers Today

Please don't pick the flowers today
Stop the destruction now
Let everything live and die
    for good purpose
Eat the flowers if you need food
    But don't condemn the
    flowers to decoration - it is
    life that must give life 

One Step in Mindfulness

"Taking even one step in mindfulness
can benefit all beings on Earth."
                        -- Thich Nhat Hanh

Berkeley Farmers' Market (Published May 30th 2012)

Walked into the Tuesday Berkeley Farmers' Market. The day was wonderful. The atmosphere peaceful and healthy. Talked with farmers and musicians. So real. So good. 

Begin Again

Could I begin again, 

as if this is the first day?

Could God the Omnipotent

redo the creation -

and again say

"Let there be light"?

Image: http://genius.com/1564343/Isaac-asimov-the-last-question-part-vii/And-ac-said-let-there-be-light-and-there-was-light 

Green Oak

Green oak tree in desert
Oasis waters all around
Children holding hands
Singing "To life, to life"

Ecstasy of Learning

"If you're not having fun, you are not learning." That was my teaching motto during first lecture of Data Base Theory and Administration at Golden Gate University. Fun and learning go together. Children at play learn effortlessly. School gets too serious and we forget that learning is a natural human pleasure. Life itself is the school. During class a student suddenly echoed back: "If you're not having fun, you are not learning!"

Learning is ecstasy - naturally moving us outside ourselves. We are born learners. Humans learned to live on land, the sea surface and underwater, and outer space. There is a pleasure in learning about anything. In extending ourselves personally and collectively into new frontiers.

If you want to stay young keep learning something new everyday. Open up a different kind of magazine. Keep changing the environment what you're looking at so that your mind works at mastering new vistas. You're old when you can't be bothered learn new things.

~~~

Sensitive People Needed (Unreleased Draft Collection)

The world needs sensitive people
who feel more, getting hurt more easily.
More sensitive people all around
Will spare us from the
unconscious brutishness 
of tougher people
who easily end up running
the show. 

It takes more courage and
to face the world as a
sensitive people more aware
everything going on all around.

Bounded Unbounded Consciousness

Religious wars are fought over what form consciousness should take. In truth, consciousness is unbounded, like the open luminous sky. We tend to identify with the contents of consciousness; so that truth becomes truth within a way of talking and thinking. "This is the only true way. And it is expressed in these document for now and all time." If God be infinite, God would have to become not-God in order to be bounded by the particular documents of certain historic periods - in one particular planet in this vast universe. The truth is in the actions, in the love - not dogmas or doctrines. 

Meaning of Life

Absolute Presence

The infinite limitless boundary between is and is-not

expands ever more - as mind not knowing

when to stop movement. But in stillness, pure

and simple, it allows wholeness. Nothing

more furthers along this path.

Feeling present right here and right now.

Allowing the boundary between outside and inside to drop away.

You may not always live in this state of union with absolute presence.

But, you can unite with it several times a day;

so improving the miraculous quality of your life.

What is better than That?

Our Most Important Task

Who we know, who we love - these reflect who we are. Our most important task is to learn and know the truth - it frees us from illusion. Everyday, every life has infinite un-realized opportunities. Uncertainty is everywhere in a life. We can't control the future. "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

Life's Major Decisions

Most of life's major decisions are made against 

a background of immense ignorance.

Reason and intuition must work together

in the face of relentless uncertainty.