The mind never stops looking for identity and this identity always defines itself through attributes: “the beautiful one”, “the smart one”, “the creative one”, “the successful one”… We are always searching for something to be.
Dzigar Kongtrul, Light Comes Through
Keep your feet on the top of the mountain
and sound deep to that
of God in everyone
George Fox, 1624 – 1691, founder of the Society of Friends (Quakers)
With thanks to Cilla at http://www.weaversjournal.wordpress.com for the thought
photo wyldnthewoods
It seems to me that almost all our sadnesses are moments of tension,
which we feel as paralysis because
we no longer hear our astonished emotions living.
Rilke, Letter to a Young Poet
photo of the coffee shop in Kilcullen, called An Tearmann, which is Irish for “Refuge” or “Sanctuary”
At the center of his existence man is unknown to himself and must remain so,
for that part of being that calls itself man could be known fully
only if the community of being and its drama in time were finally known as a whole.
Eric Voegelin, American political philosopher, 1901 – 1985
photo bert kaufman
He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe,
is as good as dead;
his eyes are closed.
Albert Einstein
photo at Kippure, Co Wicklow by joe king
Another way, which is our practice here, is slowly to open ourselves to the wonder of what life is, by meticulous attention to the anatomy of the present moment. Slowly, slowly, we become more sophisticated and knowledgeable…in this approach everything in our life becomes grist for the mill… as this anatomy becomes clear, freedom increases.
Charlotte Joko Beck
