Tag: balance

Trust in darkness

Karl Duffy1 Comment

 

File:Acorns of Quercus robur, Eichel der Stieleiche 17.JPG

No seed ever sees the flower.

Zen saying

As I said yesterday, November marks the beginning of the “darker half” of the year in the Celtic Calendar, as the balance between light and darkness in the day continues to shift. The earth becomes colder and nature more dormant,  with a different rhythm from one of growth and maturity. Parallel process can occur in our lives. For example, difficulties occur which can seem dark or unclear and without hope, or we can have parts of our lives that seem dormant.  However, darkness in nature, and in our lives, does not mean that nothing is happening.  Things that are now hidden or buried will eventually become seen. That what is now unconscious will become conscious in time. At times,  all we can do is wait and trust.

photo by friedrich bohringer

A concrete instruction

Karl Duffy1 Comment

File:Singapura cat looking around.jpg

Not always easy to do when a piece of work or a meeting does not go to plan, but since we often cannot really evaluate something until much later,  it is best to rest in the present, and not in a story about what it means,  or with the passing mood which it provokes.

For us, as people wanting to live a full, unrestricted, adventurous, real kind of life, there is a concrete instruction we can follow: see what is. Acknowledge it without judging it as right or wrong. Let it go and come back to the present moment. Whatever comes up, see what it is without calling it right or wrong. Acknowledge it. See it clearly without judgment and let it go. Come back to the present moment.

Pema Chodron, The wisdom of No Escape

photo takahashi hososhima

Where to look

Karl Duffy2 Comments

File:Ordinary-seamen-swabbing-deck.JPG

A similar thought to that seen in the last two posts, but this time from the Western tradition, showing a corresponding understanding of the need to stay in the present moment and not in some thought about how an ideal life or an ideal day should be.

You seek perfection, but it lies in everything that happens to you.

Setbacks, actions and impulses  are the mysteries under which God reveals himself to you.

He will never show himself in the shape of that exalted image to which you are attracted to.

Jean Pierre de Caussade, 1675 – 1751, a French jesuit,  whose ideas Alan Watts compared to ones found in Zen Buddhism.

Serenity

Karl Duffy5 Comments

IMG_2566

A long weekend here in Ireland,  so a chance to refresh and nourish ourselves, taking a step back to notice compulsive running, outside and inside our minds.  Meditation practice is more about settling back into something that is already present,  rather than a need to “achieve” a goal, even a “good” or “calm” goal. Often this desire to achieve is based on a perfect image of ourselves and just fuels an underlying feeling that we are lacking in a fundamental way, needing to be supported and held up.

Empty your mind of all thoughts. Let your heart be at peace.
Watch the turmoil of beings,  but contemplate their return.

Each separate being in the universe returns to the common source.
Returning to the source is serenity.

Lao Tzu

with thanks to dear friend Patrick for the picture from his mountain walks in France

Waiting

Karl Duffy3 Comments

File:Chihuahua waiting in vehicle IMG 0541.JPG

Life is not somewhere waiting for you, it is happening in you. It is not in the future as a goal to be arrived at, it is here now, this very moment — in your breathing, circulating in your blood, beating in your heart – whatsoever you are is your life, and if you start seeking meaning somewhere else, you will miss it. Man has done that for centuries

Osho

photo Billy Hathorn

Staying open

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File:Shy Chital Stags.jpg

For things to reveal themselves to us,

we need to be ready to abandon our views about them

Thich Nhat Hanh

 photo sumeet moghe