There is no ideal in observation.
When you have an ideal, you cease to observe,
you are then merely approximating the present to the idea,
and therefore there is duality, conflict,
and all the rest of it.
The mind has to be in the state when it can see, observe.
The experience of the observation
is really an astonishing state.
In that there is no duality.
The mind is simply —
aware
Jiddu Krisnamurti
Much of life is ruined for us by a blanket or shroud of familiarity that descends between us and everything that matters. It dulls our senses and stops us appreciating everything, from the beauty of a sunset to our work and our friends. Children don’t suffer from habit, which is why they get excited by some very key but simple things — like puddles, jumping on the bed, sand, and fresh bread. But we adults get ineluctably spoiled, which is why we seek ever more powerful stimulants, like fame and love.
The trick …. is to recover the powers of appreciation of a child in adulthood, to strip the veil of habit and therefore to start to look upon daily life with a new and more grateful sensitivity.
Alain de Botton, How Proust Can Change Your Life
Everyone, from time to time, experiences a challenge which makes life seem less safe, when things seem to tighten around them – a new job, relationship difficulties, facing an illness or being let down. Under these pressures we may stumble and even fall:
If there be anywhere on earth a lover of God who is always kept safe,
I know nothing of it, for it was not shown to me.
But this was shown:
that in falling and rising again we are always kept in that same precious love.
Julian of Norwich
photo of memorial for Captain Scott South Pole, by Barneygumble
Each Moment
life as it is
the only teacher.
Zen Center of San Diego, Practice Principles
photo tobosha
A quote for the beginning of the most important week in the Christian calendar:
The quieter you become
The more you can hear
Ram Dass
photo USFWS Mountain Prairie
Keep your heart clear and spacious
and you will never be hooked.
A single disturbed thought
causes ten thousand distractions
Ryokan, Zen Buddhist monk, 1758 – 1831
photo Adityamadhav83
