Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Tony Parsons













Tony's website:  https://www.theopensecret.com/

The Open Secret...ConsciousTV
http://conscious.tv/nonduality.html?bcpid=45947084001&bclid=1610663950&bctid=1913973849

This is Compassion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n87HxTZlc2w

Wholeness manifests


Wholeness manifests

With our cultural lens
trained on our world:
dissimilarities abound
as we veil
that which manifests
such lovely attractions..
Mesmerized by variation
we ignore quiet assertions of 
that lurking Wholeness of
nothing as everything..
Ignor-ance  is suffering
amid life and death
until discovery burns
that illusory lens 
of our discontent...







Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Advent







Advent

Hidden within appearances of red and green 
lies a message for the season..
The message is most simple
 overlooked in the chaos and the charm 
 of red and green..
Yet it remains the pearl for which we  look
in all of those places..
With unexpected appearance..in no place...

Monday, November 28, 2016

iPhone...



How iPhone photography will change your life

Hi Charles,

Maybe you feel like you have nothing to take photos of where you live.

Or that other photographers are lucky because they live in a more beautiful area.

And that makes sense. Because I used to feel exactly the same.

But as my iPhone photography continued to improve, I realized that there are excellent photo opportunities no matter where you live. And your job is to recognize these opportunities.

I know this because I've had the pleasure of judging several iPhone photography contests with thousands of entries from all around the world. These contests had photos from Grand Canyon, Golden Gate Bridge, Glaciers of Iceland, Fjords of Norway, the Alps, Eiffel Tower and more...

But surprisingly, the best photos in these contests were not shot at famous landmarks. It was the creativity of the photographer, and not the scene itself, that made these photos great.

So it doesn't matter if you live in the middle of nowhere - or in a huge metropolitan city.

Because with the right knowledge, anyone can take excellent iPhone photos.

And as your iPhone photography continues to improve, you'll start seeing photo opportunities that other photographers don't even recognize... And they will be surprised that you can take such interesting photos in ordinary places where they see nothing to take photos of.

But even more importantly, something else is going to change...

When you grow as a photographer, you'll also start seeing the world differently.

You'll start seeing things that other people miss...

And you'll start appreciating beauty in the world that you didn't even know existed...

The things that you take for granted now - such as your daily commute - will turn into an exciting adventure as you start recognizing the beauty in the world all around you.

And that's why we love our work at iPhone Photography School so much.

We don't just teach iPhone photography. We give our students a whole new way of living.


Best Regards, 
Emil 

Friday, November 25, 2016

Gangaji Speaks...







Facing the Abyss:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbQMPUJJ-VI

It is Possible I Am Not:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KICwgM7Bvyo

Unraveling the Knot of Suffering:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPbYyhdwaBE

Advent










Happy Black Friday !


Happy Black Friday !

There must be a dish of
 happiness
in the depth of this day's seeking..
Momentary satisfaction and contentment
in midst of participation in this annual
running frenzy..running of the..
So..appropriately named..looking for
happiness
in the darkness this Friday..
Some may sit on a restful bench
in a crowded mall..or observing
a sea of people in downtown
Manhattan (I did this!)
and there seems to be at times
 a glow in the black..
Let's call it a black hole
as science speculates.. and
others remind of that 
springtime black Friday:
a new creation bursting forth...!





Darker...



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YD6fvzGIBfQ






You Want It Darker
If you are the dealer, I'm out of the game
If you are the healer, it means I'm broken and lame
If thine is the glory then mine must be the shame
You want it darker
We kill the flame
Magnified, sanctified, be thy holy name
Vilified, crucified, in the human frame
A million candles burning for the help that never came
You want it darker
Hineni, hineni
I'm ready, my lord
There's a lover in the story
But the story's still the same
There's a lullaby for suffering
And a paradox to blame
But it's written in the scriptures
And it's not some idle claim
You want it darker
We kill the flame
They're lining up the prisoners
And the guards are taking aim
I struggled with some demons
They were middle class and tame
I didn't know I had permission to murder and to maim
You want it darker
Hineni, hineni
I'm ready, my lord
Magnified, sanctified, be thy holy name
Vilified, crucified, in the human frame
A million candles burning for the love that never came
You want it darker
We kill the flame
If you are the dealer, let me out of the game
If you are the healer, I'm broken and lame
If thine is the glory, mine must be the shame
You want it darker
Hineni, hineni
Hineni, hineni
I'm ready, my lord
Hineni
Hineni, hineni
Hineni

Thursday, November 24, 2016

Wyrd

Wyrd

A word of ancient making
but in resurrecting now
bursts in meaning..
Wyrd iterates to Weird 
a uniqueness in extreme..
Not a fixed uniqueness
but one which is happening..
A momentary identity
living within and
made of Freedom..
Wyrd.. my friends
is who I am
a name which colors
my instant recognition
of
expanding..luminous
Freedom...


WYRD
Wyrd is a fundamental Anglo-Saxon concept. The word, wyrd, is related to the Old Saxon wurd , Old High German wurt , Old Norse urur. 

It is an ancestral word to the modern day English word weird. It means that which has turned/ that which is turning (some people substitute turned/turning for happened/happening). The concept is often hard to describe, frequently misinterpreted and occasionally difficult to grasp. Here is a modern definition for Wyrd: fate personified; any one of the three Weird Sisters. (wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn) Even this seems inadequate in describing wyrd. A key point to recognize is that Wyrd is not a set in stone type of fate, as seen in other early cultures. Fate was not fatalistic, or predestined under the concept of wyrd; rather it was believed that wyrd is continually happening and changing. 

Sunday, November 20, 2016

Grooves


Grooves

There are many in the sky
possibilities among the possible..
Who will dare to take a step
outside my prison of comfort
my groove my very own..
A sky of freedom beacons
a most fearful welcoming sky 
in which all grooves live and die..
Still the sky awaits and sends
patient messages of discomfort
until a moment of surprise:
I find my groove
made only of the sky...

Saturday, November 19, 2016

Gratitude






Gratitude

Thanksgiving
prompts reflection
upon the gratitude
at the heart of 
Thanksgiving this year..
If election darkness
fills one's being
and gratitude seems
contracted this year..
We need realize
as the day approaches
separation's illusory voice
seemingly amplified..
Until we find once more
with expanding gratitude
the gracious heart
in this and every
Thanksgiving...
Philosophical Cafe Broadmoor
November 22nd, 2016
Topic: Gratitude
Gratitude is not a passive response to something we have been given, gratitude arises from paying attention, from being awake in the presence of everything that lives within and without us. Gratitude is not necessarily something that is shown after the event, it is the deep, a priori state of attention that shows we understand and are equal to the gifted nature of life. Gratitude is the understanding that many millions of things come together and live together and mesh together and breathe together in order for us to take even one more breath of air, that the underlying gift of life and incarnation as a living participating human being is a privilege; that we are miraculously, part of something, rather than nothing. Even if that something is temporarily pain or despair, we inhabit a living world, with real faces, real voices, real laughter, the color blue, the green of the fields, the freshness of a cold wind, or the tawny hue of a winter landscape.
To see the full miraculous essentiality of the color blue is to be grateful with no necessity for a word of thanks. To see fully, the beauty of a daughter’s face is to be fully grateful without having to seek a God to thank him. To sit among friends and strangers, hearing many voices, strange opinions; to intuit inner lives beneath surface lives, to inhabit many worlds at once in this world, to be a someone amongst all other someones, and therefor to make a conversation without saying a word is to deepen our sense of presence and therefore our nature sense of thankfulness that everything happens both with us and without us, that we are participants and witness all at once.
Thankfulness finds its full measure in generosity of presence, both through participation and witness. We sit at the table as part of every other person’s world while making our own world without will or effort, this is what is extraordinary and gifted, this is the essence of gratefulness, seeing to the heart of privilege. Thanksgiving happens when our sense of presence meets all other presences. Being unappreciative might mean we are simply not paying attention.
~   David Whyte
"Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen

Now I’ve heard there was a secret chord that David played, and it pleased the Lord, but you don’t really care for music, do you? It goes like this: the fourth, the fifth the minor fall, the major lift; the baffled king composing Hallelujah! Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah 
Your faith was strong but you needed proof. You saw her bathing on the roof; her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you. She tied you to a kitchen chair she broke your throne, and she cut your hair, and from your lips she drew the Hallelujah! Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah 
You say I took the Name in vain; I don’t even know the name. But if I did, well, really, what’s it to you? There’s a blaze of light in every word; it doesn’t matter which you heard, the holy, or the broken Hallelujah! Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah 
I did my best; it wasn’t much. I couldn’t feel, so I tried to touch. I’ve told the truth, I didn’t come to fool you. And even though it all went wrong, I’ll stand before the Lord of Song with nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah! Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Questions~~~

1.  What is gratitude?

2.  What might be gleaned on gratitude from the Leonard Cohen lyrics above?

3.  What has the holiday Thanksgiving meant to you in the past?  Today?

4.  How is gratitude related to happiness?  To generosity? To abundance? To experience?

5.  A favorite Thanksgiving experience?



Friday, November 18, 2016

"Hallelujah"




















Now I’ve heard there was a secret chord that David played, and it pleased the Lord, but you don’t really care for music, do you? It goes like this: the fourth, the fifth the minor fall, the major lift; the baffled king composing Hallelujah! Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah 
 
Your faith was strong but you needed proof. You saw her bathing on the roof; her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you. She tied you to a kitchen chair she broke your throne, and she cut your hair, and from your lips she drew the Hallelujah! Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah 
 
You say I took the Name in vain; I don’t even know the name. But if I did, well, really, what’s it to you? There’s a blaze of light in every word; it doesn’t matter which you heard, the holy, or the broken Hallelujah! Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah 
 
I did my best; it wasn’t much. I couldn’t feel, so I tried to touch. I’ve told the truth, I didn’t come to fool you. And even though it all went wrong, I’ll stand before the Lord of Song with nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah! Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Post-election....from SAND...


There is a crack in everything. That is how light gets in.
                                                                 ~ Leonard Cohen

Love is seeing the unity under the imaginary diversity. 
                                                      ~ Nisargadatta Maharaji

The events of this past week have shaken even further the already fragile sociopolitical order of the world. For many it felt like a complete dissolution of the political system, while some have rejoiced at the election results.

If we truly take nonduality at heart, we find that the conditions of the world that have created the phenomenon Trump are not separate from us. We have all been brewing this conflict, this separation, this fear, in our bodies and in our cultures for a long time.

Maybe now is the moment to truly see, feel, accept and celebrate our interconnectedness. As Nisargadatta Maharaj points out  “We are the creators and creatures of each other, causing and bearing each other's burden.”  We can no longer look for any “them” to resolve our conflicts, protect our lives, and allow our growth, we need to collectively provide the alternative world view in which Trumps are no longer necessary. 

This is the time for a different form of activism. An activism that rises form a deeper level. An activism that does not spring from separation, judgment, hatred or fear. An activism deeply rooted in love, based on the profound understanding that we are all interdependent pieces of this mysterious puzzle we call life. Let’s birth a planet that accepts every human being as equal regardless of their beliefs, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and culture. And let this small SAND community be a catalyst for this emergence.

So please book your calendars for the two upcoming SAND gatherings in 2017. The first one, in Italy, will take place at the Titignano castle August 7 - 13.  Then October 18 -22, SAND17 US will STILL be held at Dolce Hayes Mansion in San Jose. As much as we love the desert, upon our last visit to Joshua Tree it became apparent that it is not the home for SAND. We will be one more year at Dolce, expecting to move to a new venue in 2018.

The SAND17 topic is "The Emergent Universe". Read the description below and see how much it applies to this conversation! 

Love,
the SAND Team

Thursday, November 10, 2016

change



change

change seems a beaconing in time
pleading a new search and goal..
to create a new chapter
amplifying the story we know
to which we cling..
yet real change
does not become.. but
is a startling recognition
of that within which
seeming change asserts..
that.. we are..
where freedom resides...

Sunday, November 6, 2016

Paradise




Paradise

It is not often considered
that paradise is empty..
We look for a fullness
with many comforts..
However..
Unless empty
paradise is not paradise..
Emptiness is the
paradoxical fullness..
Apparently only this
recognition
can satisfy our longing...

Saturday, November 5, 2016

Knowing Oneness...







Knowing Oneness

desire cries in our world of suffering..
lives seemingly and obviously
split and fragmented..
do we suspect that a larger secret
might reveal an illusion..?
our thoughts of Oneness conspire to confuse
and our perceptions confirm a blaring multiplicity..  
let us try something new:
a walk in the woods
a sit on a bench
welcome those thoughts and perceptions
in their rising and exits
all within indescribable Oneness..
And then please note:
Oneness of a sudden makes appearance
as surprising fragments of joy...

(with appreciation to Tony Parsons..!)


 ~~~Tony Parsons



All there is is this . . .and that . . . 
            being 
                        the one appearing as two
                        nothing appearing as everything
                        the absolute appearing as the particular
                        emptiness appearing as fullness
                        the uncaused appearing as the caused
                        unicity appearing as separation
                        subject appearing as object
                        the singular appearing as plurality
                        the impersonal appearing as the personal
                        the unknown appearing as the known 
                        It is silence sounding and stillness moving and these
                        words appearing as pointers to the wordless 
                                                . . .and yet nothing is happening 

Thursday, November 3, 2016

Change


Change

We stand comforted 
upon hearing: all is change..
..please make adjustment..
..go with the flow..
Temporary comforts these
intending to sooth
our upsets and tears..
Yet these comforts
float but seem flawed
arising as apparent truths..
..but unease finds questions..
questions of permanence  
 inklings of identity..
Temporary comings and goings
are these lodged in wider space..
space which illuminates..
is stable and restful..
in which we find
authentic identity
this arrival of Peace...