9 Comments.
recent meditation missive: "so all beings may be at ease"
joyce carol oates (very evocative/mystical writer):
re: the discussion on hierarchy vs. rapport:
"in politics, that's all there is– sides. A quest for power– and then, the determination to keep it"
on sharing/rapport building and, yes, even charm in a negative manifestation:
"no one who wanted to be his friend dared resist his promiscuous generosity"
"dialogues of plato amid much else that meant little to her but excited her with dogmatic certainties and paradoxes, that beauty is symmetry and exactness" (not sure I agree, can paradoxes be exact? but there is beauty in her writing!)
james beard:
"a soufflé will fall if it thinks you are afraid of it."
– Anonymous 2014-08-23 15:28 UTC
faith in the enquiry
from a moveable feast: people were always the limiters of happiness except for the very few that were as good as spring itself.
development of tree heartwood requires wind resistance
cultivate a heart that is empty and radiant
her intelligence excavates a truth at once uncomfortable & crystalline
aggressive positivity
– Anonymous 2014-08-23 15:29 UTC
"what happens when you get off the cushion..."
from Under the Wide & Starry Sky:
RLS from 'the story of a lie' short story re: the crush/muse discussion:
The woman I love is somewhat of my own handiwork; and the great lover, like the great painter, is he that can so embellish his subject as to make her more than human... to love a character is only the heroic way of understanding it. when we love, by some noble method of our own or some nobility of... nature in the other. We apprehend the love one by what is noblest in ourselves.
Robert Burns: The best-laid schemes of mice and men so often go askew.
That if he passed the world as he saw it through his soul, somebody, at least he, would be better for it.
He'd written with such conviction about 'the real knot of our identity' and the 'central metropolis of self'.
He hadn't any idea how one was supposed to help a loved one find her way out of such darkness.
He looked at his simple outline of the plot, waiting for some door to open into the chapter. "This is how it always is. I must sit on my eggs like a hen."
Ah, young love. There it was, embarrassing to read? Aye, but only as embarrassing and sweet as it was to experience young love.
And from NYTimes:
... who's always had obstacles in life... how I've overcome them is by staring them in the face and moving through them rather than sitting back' (reminded me of the discussion re: sound moving through the body during meditation)
– Anonymous 2014-08-23 15:30 UTC
thoughts on muses:
The subconscious seeks a voice and a muse is the human-form counter balance to that basic need for internal dialog and tenderness.
The challenge is to enjoy the muse and recognize it stems from reality but functions best for internal consumption, rumination, and intellectual stimulation.
The distance from reality can be celebrated and not discouraged or considered shameful (most of my friends disagree with this one).
The loop back to reality is unadvisable and unnecessary.
– Anonymous 2014-08-23 15:31 UTC
Start with some form of meditation to reach a stable, steady meditative state
In your mind, stand at a river's edge and take in the view in front of you
Take in the enormity of the sky and imagine it as "mind"
Take in the ground including all rocks under the river and imagine it as "body"
Take in the enormity of the rushing water and imagine it as "feelings"
Cycle through these "mind/sky body/earth water/feelings" as a visual-chant for a good long drink of time
When you feel good & ready, allow your mind to push off
Imagine the sky/mind expand as you free yourself from gravitation forces
The body/earth becomes more and more a singular physical unit as you drift off away from earth
The feelings/oceans become a steady pulsing flow
The earth with its oceans continue to recede
Your mind continues to expand as it distances itself from the conditioned responses of your body
Your mind remains open, aware, and ready as the earth with its oceans forms a tiny speck in your universal knowing
– Anonymous 2014-08-23 15:32 UTC
"I've been studying aggression for about 30 years, and I've seen that the most harmful belief that a person can have is that they're superior to others," Bushman said. "Men are better than women, my race is better than your race, my religion is superior to your religion. When people believe they're better than other people, they act accordingly."
– Anonymous 2014-08-23 15:32 UTC
newspaper this morning (story on author Amy Tan):
poem on display in her house:
"My heart is as calm as a full moon reflecting in a deep pond in winter. Spring rain arrives with a burst of creativity."
Her mom's saying:
"What's important is knowing who's genuine and who's fake."
– Anonymous 2014-08-23 15:33 UTC
article from last week's NYT was all metta : )
"There are two ways to think about kindness. You can think about it as a fixed trait: either you have it or you don't. Or you could think of kindness as a muscle. In some people, that muscle is naturally stronger than in others, but it can grow stronger in everyone with exercise. Masters tend to think about kindness as a muscle. They know that they have to exercise it to keep it in shape. They know, in other words, that a good relationship requires sustained hard work."
They categorized relationships as "Masters" or "Disasters"
There was also a nice paradigm of connectedness that they coined "bids":
"Throughout the day, partners would make requests for connection, what Gottman calls 'bids.' For example, say that the husband is a bird enthusiast and notices a goldfinch fly across the yard. He might say to his wife, 'Look at that beautiful bird outside!' He's not just commenting on the bird here: he's requesting a response from his wife — a sign of interest or support — hoping they'll connect, however momentarily, over the bird."
http://op-talk.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/07/11/our-love-affair-with-predicting-divorce/?ref=weddings
– Anonymous 2014-08-23 15:33 UTC
"creative connections"?
– Zzzzzzzzzz 2014-08-31 15:01 UTC</div>