Things are not always as they seem, nor are they otherwise ...

     "... the six types of phenomena - sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations, and mental events ... the six knowables - arise and pass away, a constantly appearing and disappearing display, like a movie or like images passing through a mirror. These 'things' do not endure even for an instant in the present moment; as we turn our head, as our attention shifts, as the light changes and things move, the display is constantly in motion, transforming so completely and continuously that we cannot even point to something that has changed. It is a continual 'presencing,' - a presencing of what we call phenomena."

       John J. Baker. "The Dharma in a Single Drawing" Tricycle, Spring 2015          www.tricycle.com

a riverboat - close-up

Upside Down

     At some level, every single one of us knows what the mystics, sages and saints have embodied throughout the ages - that all of us, everything, is a manifestation of the great heart of perfect wisdom.

     But there's a mysterious divide between what we know, and what we pretend is true.
     Much of our life is lived in painful pretense - why? - we can choose to live authentically.

Depth of Meaning

     "In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And an outstanding reason for choosing some sort of God or spiritual-type thing to worship — be it J.C. or Allah, be it Yahweh or the Wiccan mother-goddess or the Four Noble Truths or some intangible set of ethical principles — is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things — if they are where you tap real meaning in life — then you will never have enough. Never feel you have enough. It's the truth. Worship your own body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly, and when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally plant you. On one level, we all know this stuff already — it's been codified as myths, proverbs, clichés, bromides, epigrams, parables: the skeleton of every great story. The trick is keeping the truth up-front in daily consciousness. Worship power — you will feel weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to keep the fear at bay. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart — you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out. And so on."


       David Foster Wallace "This is Water" http://www.metastatic.org/text/This%20is%20Water.pdf

 

 

Without Love ...

     "People became like monsters. No one loves anyone anymore. People don't love each other at all, a brother doesn't even love his brother."

       a refugee, explaining why he, his pregnant wife and four young children risked their lives to flee war-torn Syria - CBS 60 Minutes, Sunday April 26, 2015

vigil to honor migrants who died at sea in Sliema, outside Valletta, April 22, 2015 - Darrin Zammit Lupi/Reuters

Perfectly Human

"Just as a jewel that has been buried in the earth
for a million years is not discolored or harmed,
in the same way your noble heart can be brought out
into the light at any time, and it will glow
as brilliantly as if nothing had ever happened."

Pema Chodron

WisdomAtWork.com

Interbeing

"When the soul wishes to experience something,

she throws an image of the experience out before her

and enters into her own image."

Meister Eckhart

 

luminokaya.com

Loving-kindness Prayer

"May all beings be peaceful.
May all beings be happy.
May all beings be safe.
May all beings awaken to the light of their true nature.
May all beings be free."

WisdomAtWork.com