Know the Truth

The only freedom we've got
is not to react to anything,
but to turn within and
know the truth.

Robert Adams

It Is Enough

At some point in life
the world's beauty becomes enough.
You don't need to photograph,
paint, or even remember it.
It is enough.

Toni Morrison

Tremendous Energy

Nobody realizes that some people
expend tremendous energy
merely to be normal.

Albert Camus

Understanding a Person

You never really understand a person until
you consider things from his point of view ...
until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.

Atticus Finch of "To Kill a Mockingbird"

Expanded Present

Life is like music for its own sake.
We are living in an eternal now
and when we listen to music,
we are not listening to the past,
we are not listening to the future,
we are listening to an expanded present.

Alan Watts

I Worried

I worried a lot. Will the garden grow, will the rivers
flow in the right direction, will the earth turn
as it was taught, and if not how shall
I correct it?
Was I right, was I wrong, will I be forgiven,
can I do better?

Will I ever be able to sing, even the sparrows

can do it and I am, well,

hopeless.

Is my eyesight fading or am I just imagining it,

am I going to get rheumatism,

lockjaw, dementia?

Finally, I saw that worrying had come to nothing.

And gave it up. And took my old body

and went out into the morning,

and sang.

Mary Oliver

The Mysterious Ground of Now

Whatever it is, stop trying to figure it out now.
Let it remain unresolved a little while. Stop trying
to fast-forward to the "answer" scene in the movie
of your life; trust the present scene of "no answer yet."
Allow the question itself space to breathe and be fertilized.
Relax into the mysterious ground of Now.

Jeff Foster

More in Imagination

We suffer more
in imagination
than in reality.

Seneca

To Help Each Other

We are here to help each other
get through this thing,
whatever it is.

Kurt Vonnegut

The Greatest Frontier

Dying is the greatest frontier.
Loving is the art of living
as preparation for dying.

Ram Dass

The Afternoon Knows

The Afternoon knows
what the Morning
never expected.

Robert Frost

Improv Class

Forget kindergarten. I learned everything
I needed to know in life from an improv class.

Jenna Baddeley

Let Reality Decide

When I go out to take pictures,
I let reality decide what to do.

Louis Stettner

Say Yes

Well, you are about to start the greatest improvisation
of all. With no script. No idea what's going to happen,
often with people and places you have never seen before.
And you are not in control. So say "yes." And if you're
lucky, you'll find people who will say "yes" back.

Stephen Colbert
(2006 Commencement Address at Knox College)

Fired from Church Comedy

I'm like a wild animal in bed,
way more afraid of you
than you are of me.

Taylor Tomlinson

Build Laughter

It was her habit to build laughter
out of inadequate materials.

John Steinbeck ("Grapes of Wrath")