The goal of life is to match your heartbeat to
the beat of the universe,
to match your nature with Nature.
–Joseph Campbell
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 your 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
Ride the waves of Samara like a happy surfer and the waves will take you to the shore
O so unseriously :))
HOW ENLIGHTENED ARE YOU?
HOW ENLIGHTENED ARE YOU?
IF….
If you can live without caffeine,
If you can be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,
If you can resist complaining,
If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time,
If you can take criticism and blame without resentment,
If you can ignore a friend’s limited education and never correct him or her,
If you can resist treating a rich friend better than a poor friend,
If you can face the world without lies and deceit,
If you can conquer tension without medical help,
If you can relax without liquor,
If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,
If you can honestly say that deep in your heart you have no prejudice against
creed, color, religion, gender preference, or politics,
—Then you have almost reached the same level of spiritual development as your dog!
“Make the universe your companion, always bearing in mind the true nature of all creation - mountains and rivers, trees and grasses, and humanity - and enjoy the falling blossoms and scattering leaves.”
- Basho
“Not that I want to be a god or a hero. Just to change into a tree, grow for ages, not hurt anyone.”
- Czesław Miłosz
Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known.
-Winnie the Pooh
Inside yourself or outside, you never have to change what you see,
only the way you see it.
- Thaddeus Golas
It is only when we realize that life is taking us nowhere that it begins to have meaning.
-P.D. Ouspensky
