…..finished and unfinished

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I love this quote from Karl Rahner, one of the greatest Catholic theologians of the last Century. There is a great comfort in knowing in our bones the truth of these words. We have to continually balance two aspects within us: one which wants to know everything, to be everywhere, to be faithful to the energy and desire within. The other is that restlessness which knows that this can never really be possible, and that how we relate to what we don’t know is ultimately more important than what we do know.

In the torment of the insufficiency of everything attainable

we eventually learn that here, in this life,

all symphonies remain unfinished

Light and shade….

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The Full Moon is more beautiful

when partially obscured by clouds.

Murata Shuko

Life as it is

Those who don’t love themselves as they are rarely love life as it is either. Most people have come to prefer certain of life’s experiences and deny and reject others, unaware of the value of the hidden things that may come wrapped in plain or even ugly paper. In avoiding all pain and seeking comfort at all cost, we may be left without intimacy or compassion; in rejecting change and risk we often cheat  ourselves of the quest; in denying our suffering we may never know our strength and greatness.

Rachel Naomi Remen

Bare Attention

Mindfulness and some anxiety problems

Just know what is happening in your mind: not happy or sad about it, not attached.

If you suffer – see it, know it, and be empty.

It’s like a letter – you have to open it before you can know what’s in it.

Ajahn Chah

Concepts of how I should be

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Self-love involves a yes to myself in whatever I am going through, instead of holding on to some concept of what or how I should be. Any idea I have about who I am or who I should be is never accurate, for it always falls short of the living presence that I am, as this unfolds freshly in each new moment. Who I am is not a fixed entity but a dynamic stream of experiencing that is alive in every moment – when I let myself happen.

John Welwood

Not leaning forward

zen tea.

If your relationship to the present moment is not right,

nothing can ever be right in the future –

because when the future comes, 

it’s the present moment.

Eckhart Tolle