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