Friday, December 30, 2011
When morning arose
When morning arose
By Qushayri
English version by Michael A. Sells
When morning arose
on the star of a strong wine,
drunkenness and soberness
were the same to me.
Sunday, October 02, 2011
September / October
A September to forget. Rain will wash away what the time changes. Light is where darkness failed to penetrate. I will find the path though I do not know the way.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
IT'S ALREADY DECEMBER 21, 2012
"Many visionaries and prophets expect there to be a huge and sudden shift in the world's story sometime soon. Whether it happens on December 21, 2012 or a later date, a sizable proportion of them even predict that it will be "in the twinkling of an eye" -- a sudden cascade of events that completely changes everything everywhere.
Some paint the scenario in broad, catastrophic strokes, expecting something -- they're not sure what -- that will have the impact of a large meteor strike or nuclear war or pandemic disease. Others harbor a more benign but equally fuzzy expectation, speculating that maybe some higher psychic powers will kick in to the multitudes all at once, or that benevolent extraterrestrials will arrive to solve our energy crisis.
What very few of the prophets do, however, is make a precise prediction about exactly what will happen. Their visions contain no assurances, no specifics. And in my view, that's worse than useless. It fills us with a vague buzz of fear or amorphous sense of hope, but offers no concrete directions about what to do to prevent the dreaded thing or help create the hoped-for thing.
And the fact is, as I see it, they can't possibly know what the Big Shift is -- if, that is, a Big Shift is really looming. The very nature of any Big Shift will be so unexpected, so beyond our imaginations, and so utterly alien to what we understand, that we can't possibly delineate its contours in advance.
I'm reminded of Jung's formula, which is that we don't so much solve our problems as we outgrow them. We add capacities and experiences that eventually make us bigger than the problems.
This theory can be applied in reverse: If we have not yet grown wiser than our current predicament, then we can't see what the evolved state is beyond the predicament. Our minds are as-yet incapable of embodying the vision that will catapult us beyond the problem we're stuck in.
When the Big Shift comes, whether or not it comes in the twinkling of an eye, it will be something that no one foresaw, let alone described in detail. It will be beyond our comprehension, unlike anything we could have visualized headed our way. (Thirty years ago, did anyone imagine the Internet or the impact it's having?)
And if that's true, then the inescapable conclusion is: There's no use trying to plan ahead for it. It's counterproductive to hold a particular scenario in our mind as the likely development. And it's downright crazy to harbor a chronic sense of dread about an unknowable, unimaginable series of events.
The best way to prepare for a Big Shift is to cultivate mental and emotional states that ripen us to be ready for anything:
* a commitment to not getting lost inside our own heads;
* a strategy to avoid being enthralled with the hypnotic lure of painful emotions, past events, and worries about the future;
* a trust in empirical evidence over our time-worn beliefs and old habits;
* a talent for turning up our curiosity full blast and tuning in to the raw truth of every moment with our beginner's mind fully engaged;
* and an eagerness to dwell gracefully in the midst of all the interesting questions that tease and teach us.
Everything I just described also happens to be an excellent way to prime yourself for a chronic, low-grade, always-on, simmering-at-low-heat brand of ecstasy -- a state of being more-or-less permanently in the Tao, in the groove, in the zone."
Some paint the scenario in broad, catastrophic strokes, expecting something -- they're not sure what -- that will have the impact of a large meteor strike or nuclear war or pandemic disease. Others harbor a more benign but equally fuzzy expectation, speculating that maybe some higher psychic powers will kick in to the multitudes all at once, or that benevolent extraterrestrials will arrive to solve our energy crisis.
What very few of the prophets do, however, is make a precise prediction about exactly what will happen. Their visions contain no assurances, no specifics. And in my view, that's worse than useless. It fills us with a vague buzz of fear or amorphous sense of hope, but offers no concrete directions about what to do to prevent the dreaded thing or help create the hoped-for thing.
And the fact is, as I see it, they can't possibly know what the Big Shift is -- if, that is, a Big Shift is really looming. The very nature of any Big Shift will be so unexpected, so beyond our imaginations, and so utterly alien to what we understand, that we can't possibly delineate its contours in advance.
I'm reminded of Jung's formula, which is that we don't so much solve our problems as we outgrow them. We add capacities and experiences that eventually make us bigger than the problems.
This theory can be applied in reverse: If we have not yet grown wiser than our current predicament, then we can't see what the evolved state is beyond the predicament. Our minds are as-yet incapable of embodying the vision that will catapult us beyond the problem we're stuck in.
When the Big Shift comes, whether or not it comes in the twinkling of an eye, it will be something that no one foresaw, let alone described in detail. It will be beyond our comprehension, unlike anything we could have visualized headed our way. (Thirty years ago, did anyone imagine the Internet or the impact it's having?)
And if that's true, then the inescapable conclusion is: There's no use trying to plan ahead for it. It's counterproductive to hold a particular scenario in our mind as the likely development. And it's downright crazy to harbor a chronic sense of dread about an unknowable, unimaginable series of events.
The best way to prepare for a Big Shift is to cultivate mental and emotional states that ripen us to be ready for anything:
* a commitment to not getting lost inside our own heads;
* a strategy to avoid being enthralled with the hypnotic lure of painful emotions, past events, and worries about the future;
* a trust in empirical evidence over our time-worn beliefs and old habits;
* a talent for turning up our curiosity full blast and tuning in to the raw truth of every moment with our beginner's mind fully engaged;
* and an eagerness to dwell gracefully in the midst of all the interesting questions that tease and teach us.
Everything I just described also happens to be an excellent way to prime yourself for a chronic, low-grade, always-on, simmering-at-low-heat brand of ecstasy -- a state of being more-or-less permanently in the Tao, in the groove, in the zone."
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
a drum beat will ripple whiskey in your glass
a Ting-Sha chimes out aural vibrations washing over the distance from metal struck to ear passage hoping for clearance eight auspicious symbols conch knot fish lotus parasol urn wheel banner
a drum beat will ripple whiskey in your glass dirt underfoot poofs up in brown sugar detonations the wave will give and the wave will take away surfers ride it as far as they can then paddle back out into the blue again (content, happy) (OK: stoked)
this is everything and nothing
a miracle and commonplace
this is everything and nothing
a miracle and commonplace
a cracked earth gave the rising sun eight minutes to cover a distance between massive epicenter and strangely underwater
"Here's what you need to do", I said to me.
"Forgive yourself and everyone you have ever been. Forgive your friends and enemies. Lost lovers. Strangers. Librarians. Do it now Nemo. Don't wait. What you have will slip through your fingers. Let go the weight as it drags you under the atomic wave."
Thursday, March 03, 2011
10 sun days
fireworks 10 year bubble burst each orbit round the sun a mammoth chapter in a colassally colorful pop-up book
[ in the year of the dragon my daughter fell from the sky i just had to find out where she landed ]
each page has a clicking timer only so much clock to read and delight in the 3D trees and pull-tab rainbows and typing cow flaps and Farmer Brown proclamations
[ looking at the chewy rabbit thingy she's up in my arms finally the rabbit my daughter and me ]
chapter one
[ in the year of the dragon my daughter fell from the sky i just had to find out where she landed ]
each page has a clicking timer only so much clock to read and delight in the 3D trees and pull-tab rainbows and typing cow flaps and Farmer Brown proclamations
[ looking at the chewy rabbit thingy she's up in my arms finally the rabbit my daughter and me ]
chapter one
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