February 2011
Hot Nights, Cool Moon
I love the hot nights walking home from meditation. The streets are quiet- there is nothing before me but an endless sky.
In class, our teacher told us a Buddhist saying: ‘The man who walks through fog only slowly begins to get wet.’ Changes in our lives happen slowly; over time. Nothing will happen over night.
Outside, under the stars, I think about this. I look up at the sky and...
“We are the same as plants, as trees, as other people, as the rain that falls....”
– Guatama Buddha (via bodymindandsoul)
January 2011
misscaptaincrackers asked: exactly... trying to have as little impact on the environment as you can just feels like the right thing to do for me.
Do you have any more ideas for things you can do?
I feel like I know very little on the subject
Do you have any more ideas for things you can do?
I feel like I know very little on the subject
1 tag
Have you ever noticed how much faster the years go now than when we were children? I’ve been thinking- maybe that’s because when we’re children, we’re totally present. Every moment is the only moment. Now that we’re older and have had more experiences, we don’t live in the moment. We look to the seconds of the future or past, and in the meantime, allow the...
As Above, So Below
Last night I did something I’ve never done before- I looked below. I lay on the grass beneath the night sky with my sister, and she turned to me. ‘Have you ever imagined what it’s like beneath the earth? Right down to the core. It kind of… lifts you. When you look at the stars it makes you feel tiny- when you realise they’re far away. But when you look into the...
“All we have to decide
is what to do
with the time
we are given.”
– Gandalf to Frodo, The Fellowship of the Ring
Here's to the first clear night in weeks!
The perfect night for stargazing.
5AM
It’s all so funny, isn’t it? How I’m here- in all the eons of the universe, in the infinite stretches of cosmos, right here on earth, right now. Really- what are the odds? I lie awake at night sometimes and marvel at what I am. I am this cohesive body- this mass of cells and chemicals, that somehow knit together and work in some amazing way I will never understand. I try to look...
by the light of graveside lanterns eating rice - totally naked
-Kobayashi Issa
R.I.P. Burn Face- CocoRosie So lovely.
“nothing is tiny, nothing is huge —
there are worlds within us — the...”
– Edvard Munch
Lucid Dream:
I’m standing in a messy house. I feel lost, confused. All around me demons scratch at windows, rolling bloodshot eyes and gnashing teeth. They pop their fingernails under the window panes and try to come inside. I run around from window to window, slamming them down on their fingers, trying desperately to keep them out. But each time I close one window, another one opens. I run and run and...
“To see the world in a grain of sand
And heaven in a wild flower
Hold infinity...”
– William Blake, Auguries of Innocence
The basic English translation of Om mani padme hum is “Om Jewel in the Lotus Hum” or “Praise to the Jewel in the Lotus.” However, the meaning and significance of the six Tibetan syllables have been interpreted in a variety of ways. One common interpretation is that each syllable corresponds to one of the six realms of existence and purifies the vice associated with that...
From My Heart
I’ve been holding back. Somewhere deep inside, there’s been a part of me that won’t let go. The further I travel on this journey, the more I open up, but still- this part has remained. But today, I read this, in Conversations With God by Neale Donald Walsch: ‘For if you cannot depend on God’s love to always be there, on whose love can you depend? If God retreats and...
lucindaellen asked: Upload more of your drawings Kate, I would love to see them!
How do you get this mystical 'ask' thing...?
How do you get this mystical 'ask' thing...?
Our life in this world-
To what shall I compare it?
Its like an echo
Resounding through the mountains
and off into the empty sky.
- Ryokan
Beautiful
I’ve just gotten back from my first ever group meditation class (can’t go it alone forever, can I? :D). It was an introductory talk, with no actual practice, but already- I’m in love.
There’s something about sitting in a room with a dozen strangers that is just so beautiful. I mean, who are these people? They could be anyone- just regular people you’d see on the...
binnyyy asked: so down to start reading! up to what page, by when? I say we discuss at some point :D
binnyyy asked: LOVE your post about art from the other day. I couldn't agree more (as usual). Much much love. <3
1 tag
A Personals Ad
Dear collective man: Can I date you? Can I take you out to Dinner, Ask you questions On your tie? Please- Tell me about your Childhood, That time you Left your dinner, Those times That made you cry. I want to take you driving Beneath the sea Of stars- We’ll swallow gulps Of cosmos, We’ll take in breaths Of sky. (And maybe make out a little) Then I’ll take you back To my...
Visualization Meditations
I found these in Ram Dass’ book, Journey of Awakening. I did one after the other, and ‘I’ was just blown away. These are really powerful meditations, and I thought I might share them with you all: Sit with a straight back, eyes closed. As if it had a nose, breathe deeply in and out of your heart centre (located in the middle of your chest) for a few minutes until this area of...
Art Gallery
The beauty of art lies not in the artwork. It is not in the materials, or the techniques used. It is not in the artist, or however famous they may be. It is in the reaction, the people’s faces as they view the work- the wonder, the beauty; the awe.
Standing today in an art gallery, I found myself not looking at the sculptures, but looking at the people. The faces- human faces, lying still-...
Long seeking it through others, I was far from reaching it. Now I go by myself; I meet it everywhere. It is just I myself, And I am not itself. Understanding this way, I can be as I am.
Tung-Shan (806-869)
withinandbeyond asked: Ah, 'the coffee shop'. That was wonderful.
"I am THAT I am" .. Indeed. :)
Hey, curious, does Sparrowhawk allude to Demian by Hesse perchance?
"I am THAT I am" .. Indeed. :)
Hey, curious, does Sparrowhawk allude to Demian by Hesse perchance?
Infinity
If anyone were to ask me what I was passionate about, I’d have to say the stars. I’ve wondered at them, studied them, lay beneath them; cried beneath them.
But last night, under the light of the full moon, something entirely different happened. I looked up at the stars, and for the first time, it really rang home- there is no duality. I am a part of eternity, as is everything else. I...
When your cat bites your arm.
She’s an angel and a demon, all in one.
“Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to...”
– Khalil Gibran
binnyyy asked: "Lately, I’ve been thinking- everything happens for a reason, everything happens at exactly the right time. There is no coincidences, just the universe working in perfect harmony and balance. There couldn’t be a better time for us both to read this book, because there is no other time. By one of those crazy fluctuations of the universe, we have found the same book, and have been...
What I have learned about poetry over the past...
1. Don’t think. Let the words flow. If you think, you get all muddled up with words and grammar structures, and it all comes out a heaping mess. Just put pen to paper and write. 2. Poetry is personal. If you haven’t experienced something personally, don’t write about it. Don’t even try. It won’t work. It will sound forced, like you’re trying too hard. Write from the heart, not the head. 3. Don’t...
The Coffee Shop
I met up for coffee with God the other day.
It was our first date, and I wasn’t sure he’d show up. I was nervous- everybody was always talking about how wonderful he was, how considerate, etc. I just didn’t think I could match up. But when I got to the café, there he was: sitting at my favourite table in the corner, sipping chai latte; reading the opinion section of the paper. He didn’t look...
““Do you know what it’s like,” he said, “to feel that...”
– Aldous Huxley, Island
Waves
I remember looking out at the ocean a few years back, and noticing something. For every wave that came crashing onto the rocks, there was a force behind it, pulling it back. I watched the waves roll forward and back, forward and back- and I realised: Everything is in perfect balance. For every movement, there is an un-movement, and for all knowledge, there is un-knowledge. We are all dancing in...
binnyyy asked: ahh, great finds! tell me when you start "Conversations with God" as that is on my list of books to read, so it'd be nice to read it at the same time, perhaps :)) <3