And we pray, not
for new earth or heaven, but to be
quiet in heart, and in eye,
clear. What we need is here.
Wendell Berry
Tag: Present moment
Light and darkness
Go slowly
Consent to it
But don’t wallow in it
Know it as a place of germination
And growth
Remember the light
Take an outstretched hand if you find one
Exercise unused senses
Find the path by walking it
Practice trust
Watch for dawn.
Marilyn Chandler McEntyre, What to do in the Darkness
Making no effort
If we sit quietly, making no effort, life expresses itself clearly; it simply happens on its own.
There’s nothing else to get. The great truth is obvious.
The heart beats; the breath comes and goes.
Darryl Bailey, Awakening
Past present and future
The past is already past — don’t try to regain it.
The present does not stay, don’t try to touch it from moment to moment.
The future is not come, don’t think about it beforehand.
Layman Pang, 740 – 808, Chinese Chan layman.
Always wanting things otherwise
The emotions that sting most, are those that are absurd: longing for impossible things, precisely because they are impossible; nostalgia for what never was; the desire for what could have been; regret over not being someone else; dissatisfaction with the world’s existence.
Fernando Pessoa, Portuguese poet, writer and philosopher, The Book of Disquiet
Not sticking to thoughts
Freedom from form means holding forms lightly in the midst of form.
Freedom from thought means having no thought in the midst of thought.
Huineng, 638–713, Sixth Patriarch of Zen
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