Month: March 2022

No path

Karl Duffy1 Comment

Some thoughts as we end one month and start another….

Gawain, Arthur’s nephew, stood up and said,  “I propose a vow to this company, that we should all go in quest of that Grail to behold it unveiled.” Now we come to the part that interested me.  The text reads, 

“They thought it would be a disgrace to go forth in a group.  
Each entered the Forest Adventurous at that point which he himself had chosen, where it was darkest and there was no way or path.”

You enter the forest at the darkest point, where there is no path.  Where there is a way or path, it is someone else’s path;  each human being is a unique phenomenon. 

The idea is to find your own way.

Joseph Campbell, Pathways to Bliss: Mythology and Personal Transformation

Brooding

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Think of a problem that has plagued you for a long time – your weight, a loved one’s bad habits, fear of terrorism, whatever. No doubt you’ve tried valiantly to control this issue, but are your efforts working? The answer has to be no; otherwise you would have solved the problem long ago. What if your real trouble isn’t the issue you brood about so compulsively, but the brooding itself?

Martha Beck

Let go of who you think you are

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Let go, and respond to the immediate needs around you. Don’t get caught in some false perception of yourself. There will always be another person more gifted than you. And don’t perceive your position as important, but be ready to serve at any moment. If you can let go of who you think you are, you will become free – ready to love others. If you learn to see your impermanence, you will be able to live for the moment and not miss opportunities to love by pushing things into the future.

Thich Nhat Hanh

The grass is green

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We have to be patient with ourselves. Over and over again we think we need to be somewhere else, and we must find the truth right here, right now; we must find our joy here, now. How seductive it is, the thought of tomorrow. We must find our understanding here. We must find it here; it is always here; this is where the grass is green.

John Tarrant Calling on the name of Avalokiteshvara