Tag: impermanence

Heartened, disheartened…

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

Once out of our particular bondage, self-made or otherwise, the long pilgrimage of spiritual work demands a commitment to wander into a life of authenticity and truth. Once awake, the journey of our promise is always near and challenging. At the same time, the journey of our bondage is still near and disheartening. This is our crooked path to enlightenment: two steps forward, one step back; two days of being heartened, one day of being disheartened. This is the dynamic of being alive. This is what we work with and for.   

Mark Nepo, The One Life We’re Given

Holding life lightly

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

One should say before sleeping,

“I have lived many lives. I have been a slave and a prince. Many a beloved had sat upon my knees and I have sat upon the knees of many a beloved.

Everything that has been shall be again.”

W.B. Yeats

New life

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

Letting go of all the theories from the past frees us to go with how it is actually unfolding

Throw away the light, the definitions,

and say of what you see in the dark

Wallace Stevens

Change and constancy

Karl Duffy4 Comments

Your job may change, your relationships may change, your body may change, your beliefs may change, your desires may change, your ideas about your role in the world may change, but the essence of who you are is the continuity of awareness that has no beginning or end. Your thoughts, beliefs, expectations, goals, and experiences may come and go, but the one who having the experiences – the experiencer – remains.

Deepak Chopra, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga

Fresh

Karl Duffy1 Comment

Today is the Spring Equinox – from the Latin “equal night”, when there is equal light and dark in our day –   marking the beginning of Spring for countries in the Northern Hemisphere.

We, the older ones,
Call it Spring,
And we have been through it
Many times.

But there is still nothing
Like the children bringing home
Such happiness
In their small hands.

Mary Oliver, Children, It’s Spring

Sunday Quote: Underneath the chatter

Karl Duffy1 Comment

The simplest sentences contain the most challenging teachings…

Activate the mind without dwelling on anything

The Diamond Sutra