It’s not impermanence per se…. that is the cause of our suffering. Rather, it’s our resistance to the fundamental uncertainty of our situation. Our discomfort arises from all of our effort to put ground under our feet, to realize our dream of constant okayness.
Pema Chodron, The Fundamental Ambiguity of Being Human
The river is everywhere at once, at the source and at the mouth, at the waterfall, at the ferry, at the rapids, in the sea, in the mountains, everywhere at once, and that there is only the present time for it, not the shadow of the past, not the shadow of the future.
Herman Hesse, Siddhartha
photo: vincent, la rivière Rouvre.
Although the reflection in the pond
is often blurry to us:
Grasp the image.
Only in the double world
do voices become
tender and eternal.
Rilke, Sonnets to Orpheus, I,9
If the doors of perception were cleansed,
every thing would appear to man as it is,
infinite
William Blake
photo: jalal volker
I have noticed in my life that all men have a liking for some special animal, tree, plant, or spot of earth. If men would pay more attention to these preferences and seek what is best to do, in order to make themselves worthy of that toward which they are so attracted, they might have dreams which would purify their lives.
Brave Buffalo, Teton Sioux, By the Power of their Dreams (late 19th century)
Sabbath honors the necessary wisdom of dormancy. If certain plant species, for example, do not lie dormant for winter, they will not bear fruit in the spring. If this continues for more than a season, the plant begins to die. If dormancy continues to be prevented, the entire species will die. A period of rest – in which nutrition and fertility most reality coalesce – is not simply a human psychological convenience; it is a spiritual and biological necessity.
Wayne Muller, Sabbath
photo werner100359
