When we let go of the continual construction of a self or even the need to be a “somebody,” then we are free to be who we are. When we are completely ourselves, we forget about needing to be the center of our perceptual world and thus we can take in others and our environment with greater sensitivity, compassion, and openness
Michael Stone, The Inner Tradition of Yoga
No one needs to tell us
we are already on our onward way,
no one has to remind us
of our everyday and intimate
embrace with disappearance.
We were born saying goodbye
to what we love,
we were born
in a beautiful reluctance,
not quite ready
to breathe in this new world,
we are here and we are not,
we are present while still not
wanting to admit we have arrived.
David Whyte, Cleave
I have decided to find myself a home in the mountains, somewhere high up where one learns to live peacefully in the cold and the silence. It’s said that in such a place certain revelations may be discovered. That what the spirit reaches for may be eventually felt, if not exactly understood. Slowly, no doubt. I’m not talking about a vacation.
Of course, at the same time I mean to stay exactly where I am.
Are you following me?
Mary Oliver, I Have Decided
When there is full awakened awareness, there is no identification with the body or with conditioned factors of mind…. the body and mind are not-self, so the heart remains serene through all life’s ups and downs, its many psychological births and deaths, triumphs and failures, as well as the ‘big death’ of the body’s ending. As St Teresa of Avila put it when expounding on this same theme: ‘We die before we die so that when we die, we won’t die.’
Ajahn Amaro, What does ‘I am the Way’ mean
The soul has an absolute, unforgiving need for regular excursions into enchantment.
It requires them like the body needs food and the mind needs thought.
Thomas Moore
Happiness cannot be found through great effort and willpower,
But is already present
In relaxation and letting go.
Don’t strain yourself, there is nothing to do.
As soon as you relax this grasping,
there is space – open, inviting and comfortable.
So make use of it. Everything is already yours.
Search no more.
Don’t go into the inextricable jungle
looking for the elephant who is already quietly at home.
Lama Gendun Rinpoche, Happiness
