The greatest tragedy
of human existence
is the illusion
of separation.
of human existence
is the illusion
of separation.
Albert Einstein
Monday, March 31, 2025
The Great Magic Trick
Snatching the eternal
out of the desperately fleeting
is the great magic trick
of human existence.
out of the desperately fleeting
is the great magic trick
of human existence.
Tennessee Williams
Wednesday, March 26, 2025
Don't Have to Aim for Perfect
There's a lot of liberation in seeing that
I don't have to aim for perfect
because it's just not possible.
There's a lot of relief in letting that goal go.
I don't have to aim for perfect
because it's just not possible.
There's a lot of relief in letting that goal go.
Judy Cohen
Humans Are Nuts
One reason humans are nuts in a way
that most other species are not is because
we have words and the words instantly
remove us from the actual experience ...
We don't experience life. We experience
a description of life for the most part
and it hurts because it's batshit crazy.
that most other species are not is because
we have words and the words instantly
remove us from the actual experience ...
We don't experience life. We experience
a description of life for the most part
and it hurts because it's batshit crazy.
Judy Cohen
Tuesday, March 25, 2025
When Death Comes
When death comes, I want to step through the door
full of curiosity, wondering: what it's going to be like,
that cottage of darkness? And therefore I look upon
everything as a brotherhood and sisterhood, and
I look upon time as no more than an idea, and
I consider eternity as another possibility, and
I think of each life as a flower, as common
as a field daisy, and as singular, and each name
a comfortable music in the mouth, tending,
as all music does, toward silence, and each body
as a lion of courage, and something precious to the earth.
full of curiosity, wondering: what it's going to be like,
that cottage of darkness? And therefore I look upon
everything as a brotherhood and sisterhood, and
I look upon time as no more than an idea, and
I consider eternity as another possibility, and
I think of each life as a flower, as common
as a field daisy, and as singular, and each name
a comfortable music in the mouth, tending,
as all music does, toward silence, and each body
as a lion of courage, and something precious to the earth.
Mary Oliver
Desires vs. Patience
Desires make slaves out of kings,
and patience makes kings out of slaves.
and patience makes kings out of slaves.
Al Ghazali
One Way to Happiness
There is only one way to happiness
and that is to cease worrying about things
which are beyond the power of our will.
and that is to cease worrying about things
which are beyond the power of our will.
Epictetus
Dreamhouse
Impossible to believe we need so much
as the world wants us to buy.
I have more clothes, lamps, dishes, paperclips,
than I could possibly use before I die.
Oh, I would like to live in an empty grass.
No planks, no plastic, no fiberglass.
And I suppose sometime I will.
Old and cold I will lie apart from all this buying
and selling, with only the beautiful earth in my heart.
as the world wants us to buy.
I have more clothes, lamps, dishes, paperclips,
than I could possibly use before I die.
Oh, I would like to live in an empty grass.
No planks, no plastic, no fiberglass.
And I suppose sometime I will.
Old and cold I will lie apart from all this buying
and selling, with only the beautiful earth in my heart.
Mary Oliver
Choose to Live in Joy
Participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world.
We cannot cure the world of sorrows,
but we can choose to live in joy.
We cannot cure the world of sorrows,
but we can choose to live in joy.
Joseph Campbell
Detached from My Own Being
While taking pictures, my mind is
essentially free from other thoughts.
In my experience, the best photos emerge
when my mind is empty of thoughts,
and I am completely focused and attentive.
I feel entirely absorbed, detached from
my own being during these moments.
essentially free from other thoughts.
In my experience, the best photos emerge
when my mind is empty of thoughts,
and I am completely focused and attentive.
I feel entirely absorbed, detached from
my own being during these moments.
Rinko Kawauchi
Intimate Process
I have two passions in life:
my profession as a psychologist
and photography, which is understood
as the intimate process of constructing an image.
my profession as a psychologist
and photography, which is understood
as the intimate process of constructing an image.
Amparo Munoz Morella
Our Attention
What catches our attention reflects
how the world speaks to each of us personally.
how the world speaks to each of us personally.
Joel Meyerowitz
Human Affliction
Only the human species is afflicted with the idea
that just being alive is not enough, and that
enlightenment is required, in addition.
that just being alive is not enough, and that
enlightenment is required, in addition.
Judy Cohen
Monday, March 24, 2025
What's the Difference?
Run a business,
comb a dog's hair,
seek enlightenment.
What's the difference?
It's as good a thing to do
with a life as any.
comb a dog's hair,
seek enlightenment.
What's the difference?
It's as good a thing to do
with a life as any.
Judy Cohen
Not How It Works
We are really owned, we are possessed, we are
compulsive in our desire to only feel what we like.
It ruins lives. Really it ruins the joy of it because
it takes away some of that bliss that people are chasing,
because no life is ever going to supply anybody
with only liked feelings. It's just not how it works
on this planet.
compulsive in our desire to only feel what we like.
It ruins lives. Really it ruins the joy of it because
it takes away some of that bliss that people are chasing,
because no life is ever going to supply anybody
with only liked feelings. It's just not how it works
on this planet.
Judy Cohen
Thursday, March 20, 2025
The Priority of Beautiful
Artists in general, when they paint,
they want to create something beautiful
as if, if they make something ugly it's not art.
Nobody wants to make an ugly painting,
and the priority of beautiful, it's limiting, isn't it?
they want to create something beautiful
as if, if they make something ugly it's not art.
Nobody wants to make an ugly painting,
and the priority of beautiful, it's limiting, isn't it?
Judy Cohen
How Fun is That!
This is where we live, in this story of
who we are and what happened.
This is how we do it here, and how
cool is it that we live in a fairy story.
I mean, how fun is that!
who we are and what happened.
This is how we do it here, and how
cool is it that we live in a fairy story.
I mean, how fun is that!
Judy Cohen
Tuesday, March 18, 2025
No One Was Ever You
No one in the world was ever you before,
with your particular gifts and abilities and
possibilities. It's a shame to waste those by
doing what someone else has done.
with your particular gifts and abilities and
possibilities. It's a shame to waste those by
doing what someone else has done.
Joseph Campbell
Learn Something
The dream of my life
Is to lie down by a slow river
And stare at the light in the trees -
To learn something by being nothing
A little while but the rich
Lens of attention.
Is to lie down by a slow river
And stare at the light in the trees -
To learn something by being nothing
A little while but the rich
Lens of attention.
Mary Oliver
Freedom of the Spirit
There is as much freedom of the spirit in
watching sparrows on a city street as in
meditating in some mountain solitude
under the stars.
watching sparrows on a city street as in
meditating in some mountain solitude
under the stars.
Alan Watts
Still Worth Living
Yet, even amidst the hatred and carnage,
life is still worth living. It is possible
for wonderful encounters and
beautiful things to exist.
life is still worth living. It is possible
for wonderful encounters and
beautiful things to exist.
Hayao Miyazaki
Fix Yourself
Do not try to fix whatever comes in your life.
Fix yourself in such a way that whatever comes,
you will be fine.
Fix yourself in such a way that whatever comes,
you will be fine.
Sadhguru
Since the Beginning of Time
Everything that happens to you
has been waiting to happen to you
since the beginning of time.
has been waiting to happen to you
since the beginning of time.
Marcus Aurelius
No Concern for the Soul
I have some to think that
care of the soul requires
a high degree of resistance
to the culture around us,
simply because that culture
is dedicated to values that
have no concern for the soul.
care of the soul requires
a high degree of resistance
to the culture around us,
simply because that culture
is dedicated to values that
have no concern for the soul.
Thomas Merton
Friday, March 14, 2025
Truth is Lived Not Taught
The doctrine you desire, absolute, perfect dogma
that alone provides wisdom, does not exist.
Nor should you long for a perfect doctrine, my friend.
Rather, you should long for the perfection of yourself.
The deity is within you, not in ideas and books.
Truth is lived, not taught.
that alone provides wisdom, does not exist.
Nor should you long for a perfect doctrine, my friend.
Rather, you should long for the perfection of yourself.
The deity is within you, not in ideas and books.
Truth is lived, not taught.
Herman Hesse
Wednesday, March 12, 2025
What For?
If what they want is to discuss enlightenment and how
to get there and they want to try one more thing, my first
question is always, "What for? Like what are you after?"
Because without knowing, without being clear
on motivation, you're just endlessly, aimlessly seeking.
to get there and they want to try one more thing, my first
question is always, "What for? Like what are you after?"
Because without knowing, without being clear
on motivation, you're just endlessly, aimlessly seeking.
Judy Cohen
Tuesday, March 11, 2025
How You Carry It
It's not the weight you carry
but how you carry it -
books, brick, grief -
it's all in the way
you embrace it, balance
it, carry it
when you cannot, and
would not,
put it down.
but how you carry it -
books, brick, grief -
it's all in the way
you embrace it, balance
it, carry it
when you cannot, and
would not,
put it down.
Mary Oliver
Monday, March 10, 2025
The Real You
The day you become
OK with not being liked,
is the moment you become
the real you.
OK with not being liked,
is the moment you become
the real you.
Mel Robbins
Not a Race
What if life
were not a race,
but a cup of tea
poured by a loving grandmother,
to be sipped slowly,
savoring its taste?
were not a race,
but a cup of tea
poured by a loving grandmother,
to be sipped slowly,
savoring its taste?
Tahlia Hunter
Friday, March 7, 2025
The Leaf is Singing Still
What can I say that I
have not said before?
So I'll say it again.
The leaf has a song in it.
Stone is the face of patience.
Inside the river there is
an unfinishable story
and you are somewhere in it
and it will never end until all ends.
Take you busy heart to the art
museum and the chamber of commerce
but take it also to the forest.
The song you heard singing in the leaf
when you were a child
is singing still.
I am of years lived, so far, seventy-four,
and the leaf is singing still.
have not said before?
So I'll say it again.
The leaf has a song in it.
Stone is the face of patience.
Inside the river there is
an unfinishable story
and you are somewhere in it
and it will never end until all ends.
Take you busy heart to the art
museum and the chamber of commerce
but take it also to the forest.
The song you heard singing in the leaf
when you were a child
is singing still.
I am of years lived, so far, seventy-four,
and the leaf is singing still.
Mary Oliver
Tuesday, March 4, 2025
Already Perfect
There is nothing to achieve, there is nowhere to go,
there is nothing to be done. We are already divine
and we are already perfect - as we are.
No improvement is needed, no improvement at all.
God never creates anybody imperfect.
there is nothing to be done. We are already divine
and we are already perfect - as we are.
No improvement is needed, no improvement at all.
God never creates anybody imperfect.
Osho
What Use?
Of what use is the universe?
What is the practical application
of a million galaxies?
What is the practical application
of a million galaxies?
Alan Watts
Because of Their Striving
Everyone is in pain because of their striving
to achieve something, but no on realizes it.
By no more than this instruction,
the fortunate one attains tranquility.
to achieve something, but no on realizes it.
By no more than this instruction,
the fortunate one attains tranquility.
Ashtavakra Gita
The Most Difficult Thing
You don't want to be an ordinary person.
That is really the problem. It is the most
difficult thing to be an ordinary person.
Culture demands you must be something
other than what you are. That has created
a certain momentum - a tremendous,
powerful movement of thought.
That's all that it is. Otherwise it has no use.
That is really the problem. It is the most
difficult thing to be an ordinary person.
Culture demands you must be something
other than what you are. That has created
a certain momentum - a tremendous,
powerful movement of thought.
That's all that it is. Otherwise it has no use.
U.G. Krishnamurti
Monday, March 3, 2025
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
