Is it possible to let go of the belief that you should or need to know who you are? In other words, can you cease looking to conceptual definitions to give you a sense of self? Can you cease looking to thought for an identity?
Defining yourself through thoughts is limiting yourself. When you fully accept that you don’t know, you actually enter a state of peace and clarity that is closer to who you truly are than thought could ever be
Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth
The idea of love is not love
The idea of the ocean is neither salt nor sand;
The face of the seal cannot rise from the idea
to stare at you,
to astound your heart
Mary Oliver
Coming, going,
the waterbirds
don’t leave a trace,
don’t follow a path.
Dōgen Zenji, 1200 – 1253, Japanese Buddhist writer, founder of the Sōtō school of Zen, On Non-Dependence of Mind
It is blossom season in Japan and in gardens here. They are often used as a metaphor for human existence – beautiful but short lived – a reminder that life needs to be celebrated yet always contains an element of impermanence.
You ask me why I dwell in these green mountains;
I smile and am silent, for my heart is free of care.
As the peach-blossom flows down the stream and goes into the unknown,
I live in a world apart that is not of men.
Li Po, 701-762, Green Mountain
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
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
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