Do
not fear failure. Whatever happened in the past is past; do not worry
about it happening again. Before you meet with success, failure is
natural and necessary.
—Master Sheng-Yen, “Being Natural”
—Master Sheng-Yen, “Being Natural”
Monday, May 6, 2019
Sunday, May 5, 2019
Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front
Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front
Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
vacation with pay. Want more
of everything ready-made. Be afraid
to know your neighbors and to die.
And you will have a window in your head.
Not even your future will be a mystery
any more. Your mind will be punched in a card
and shut away in a little drawer.
When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you
to die for profit they will let you know.
So, friends, every day do something
that won’t compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.
Denounce the government and embrace
the flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.
Give your approval to all you cannot
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has not encountered he has not destroyed.
Ask the questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millenium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.
Say that the leaves are harvested
when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.
Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees
every thousand years.
Listen to carrion – put your ear
close, and hear the faint chattering
of the songs that are to come.
Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.
So long as women do not go cheap
for power, please women more than men.
Ask yourself: Will this satisfy
a woman satisfied to bear a child?
Will this disturb the sleep
of a woman near to giving birth?
Go with your love to the fields.
Lie down in the shade. Rest your head
in her lap. Swear allegiance
to what is nighest your thoughts.
As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn’t go. Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.
~Wendell Berry
Wendell Berry was born in Henry County, Kentucky, in 1934. The author of more than 40 works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, Wendell Berry has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship (1962), the Vachel Lindsay Prize from Poetry (1962), a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship (1965), a National Institute of Arts and Letters award for writing (1971), the Emily Clark Balch Prize from The Virginia Quarterly Review (1974), the American Academy of Arts and Letters Jean Stein Award (1987), a Lannan Foundation Award for Non-Fiction (1989), Membership in the Fellowship of Southern Writers (1991), the Ingersoll Foundation’s T. S. Eliot Award (1994), the John Hay Award (1997), the Lyndhurst Prize (1997), and the Aitken-Taylor Award for Poetry from The Sewanee Review (1998). His books include the novel Hannah Coulter (2004), the essay collections Citizenship Papers (2005) and The Way of Ignorance (2006), and Given: Poems (2005), all available from Counterpoint. Berry’s latest works include The Mad Farmer Poems (2008) and Whitefoot (2009), which features illustrations by Davis Te Selle.
(“Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front” from The Country of Marriage, copyright © 1973 by Wendell Berry)
Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
vacation with pay. Want more
of everything ready-made. Be afraid
to know your neighbors and to die.
And you will have a window in your head.
Not even your future will be a mystery
any more. Your mind will be punched in a card
and shut away in a little drawer.
When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you
to die for profit they will let you know.
So, friends, every day do something
that won’t compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.
Denounce the government and embrace
the flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.
Give your approval to all you cannot
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has not encountered he has not destroyed.
Ask the questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millenium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.
Say that the leaves are harvested
when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.
Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees
every thousand years.
Listen to carrion – put your ear
close, and hear the faint chattering
of the songs that are to come.
Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.
So long as women do not go cheap
for power, please women more than men.
Ask yourself: Will this satisfy
a woman satisfied to bear a child?
Will this disturb the sleep
of a woman near to giving birth?
Go with your love to the fields.
Lie down in the shade. Rest your head
in her lap. Swear allegiance
to what is nighest your thoughts.
As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn’t go. Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.
~Wendell Berry
Wendell Berry was born in Henry County, Kentucky, in 1934. The author of more than 40 works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, Wendell Berry has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship (1962), the Vachel Lindsay Prize from Poetry (1962), a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship (1965), a National Institute of Arts and Letters award for writing (1971), the Emily Clark Balch Prize from The Virginia Quarterly Review (1974), the American Academy of Arts and Letters Jean Stein Award (1987), a Lannan Foundation Award for Non-Fiction (1989), Membership in the Fellowship of Southern Writers (1991), the Ingersoll Foundation’s T. S. Eliot Award (1994), the John Hay Award (1997), the Lyndhurst Prize (1997), and the Aitken-Taylor Award for Poetry from The Sewanee Review (1998). His books include the novel Hannah Coulter (2004), the essay collections Citizenship Papers (2005) and The Way of Ignorance (2006), and Given: Poems (2005), all available from Counterpoint. Berry’s latest works include The Mad Farmer Poems (2008) and Whitefoot (2009), which features illustrations by Davis Te Selle.
(“Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front” from The Country of Marriage, copyright © 1973 by Wendell Berry)
Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - May 5, 2019 💌
If you follow your heart there is nothing to fear. As long as your
actions are based on your pure seeking for God, you are safe. And any
time you are unsure or frightened about your situation, there’s a
beautiful and very powerful mantra: “The power of God is within me. The
grace of God surrounds me,” which you can repeat to yourself. It will
protect you.
Experience the power of it, it’s like a solid steel shaft that goes from above the top of your head down to the base of your being. Grace will surround you like a force field. Through an open heart one hears the universe.
Experience the power of it, it’s like a solid steel shaft that goes from above the top of your head down to the base of your being. Grace will surround you like a force field. Through an open heart one hears the universe.
- Ram Dass -
Via Daily Dharma: Standing Up for Truth
Complacency is countered by integrity, which is an unswerving love of the truth and a willingness to live it.
—Interview with Jack Kornfield, “The Sure Heart’s Release”
—Interview with Jack Kornfield, “The Sure Heart’s Release”
Via Sojourners: Prayer of the Day: Thomas Merton's Prayer of Abandonment
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road
ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I
really know myself, and that I think I am following your will does not
mean I am actually doing so.
But I believe the desire to please
you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all I am
doing. I hope I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I
know if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know
nothing about it. I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost
and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you will never leave me
to face my perils alone.
Saturday, May 4, 2019
Via Daily Dharma: Ultimate Acceptance
Buddhist practice is not an effort to confirm or validate a sense of what we are. It is about seeing and experiencing what is.
—Ken McLeod, “Taking Fear Apart”
—Ken McLeod, “Taking Fear Apart”
Friday, May 3, 2019
Guided Mindfulness Meditation with Miles Kessler Sensei
Guided Mindfulness Meditation with Miles Kessler Sensei from Eagle de Botton on Vimeo.
A simple, very powerful, 20 minutes guided Mindfulness Meditation with Dharma teacher and Aikido Sensei Miles Kessler. After a 90 second description you will be guided by Miles into a 20 minutes, easy to follow, Mindfulness Meditation session.
Note that this guided meditation was recorded outdoor, by the lake side of Zurich, Switzerland. You are going to hear the sound of the nature, including sounds made by human...:) Let it be!
Meditation make it possible to experience the deepest part of ourselves. Only then we are able to engage in life beyond the narcissistic self, and be fully functional human beings, creating a better future for us all. (As add-on "side effects", meditation is also know, and proved scientifically, to improve our mental and physical health, and make us feel a lot happier...:).So, find yourself a quit place, sit in a comfortable position, and... follow the instructions.
This video clip is an Eagle de Botton - Good Reality Conscious Service for awakenedTV and TAC.fm (The Awakened Campaign). awakenedTV.com is a free video channel, sponsored by IntegralAffiliate.com
Via Daily Dharma: The Greatest Pursuit
When
you pursue awakening, it’s not going to lead to disappointment. Quite
the contrary, it goes wildly beyond your expectations, wildly beyond
your hopes.
—Thanissaro Bhikkhu, “Power of Conviction”
—Thanissaro Bhikkhu, “Power of Conviction”
Thursday, May 2, 2019
Via Daily Dharma: Understanding with Mind and Body
To
really understand the meaning of life, we have to go beyond thinking
and experience the vast scale of life directly, with our own body and
mind.
—Dainin Katagiri Roshi, “You Are Already Here”
—Dainin Katagiri Roshi, “You Are Already Here”
Wednesday, May 1, 2019
Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - May 1, 2019 💌
When you are in the presence of unconditional love, that is the optimum
environment for your heart to open, because you feel safe, because you
realize nobody wants anything from you. The minute that heart opens, you
are once again letting in the flow. And that flow is where you
experience God.
- Ram Dass -
Via Daily Dharma: Just Listen
The best way to deal with excessive thinking is to just listen to it, to listen to the mind. Listening is much more effective than trying to stop thought or cut it off.
—Ajahn Amaro, “Thoughts Like Dreams”
—Ajahn Amaro, “Thoughts Like Dreams”
Tuesday, April 30, 2019
Via Daily Dharma: Balancing Our Lives
There has to be breathing in as well as breathing out. We need to have both the active and the contemplative. We need time to just be with ourselves, and to become genuinely centered, when the mind can just be quiet.
—Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, “Three Kinds of Laziness”
—Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, “Three Kinds of Laziness”
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