Via Daily Dharma: We’re Inseparable, Naturally

There is something special and precious about meditating outside and rediscovering our deep connection with the natural world. When we do, it becomes more evident to us that the world is not a collection of separate things but a confluence of natural processes that include us.

—David Loy, “How a Growing Buddhist Movement Is Responding to the Ecological Crisis”

Via Daily Dharma: In the Real, Fast World

We do not have to be afraid of entering unfamiliar territory once we have learned how to hold experience within the gentleness of our own minds. Learning to transform obstacles into objects of meditation provides a much needed bridge between the stillness of the concentrated mind and the movement of real life.

—Mark Epstein, “Stopping the Wind”

Via Daily Dharma: How to Build a Better Future

Even though we cannot see clearly how it’s going to turn out, we are still called to let the future into our imagination. We will never be able to build what we have not first cherished in our hearts.

—Joanna Macy and Sam Mowe, “The Work That Reconnects”

Via Daily Dharma: Confronting the True Causes of Harm

Asking “Who is the villain?” is the prologue to asking who should be punished. But asking “What are the conditions that led to this?” leads us to consider how to change those conditions so that the situation is less likely to happen again.

—Matthew Gindin, “The Red Hat Rorschach Test”

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - June 19, 2019 💌

One doesn’t have to beat down one’s ego for God. That isn’t the way it works. The ego isn’t in the way. It’s how we are holding the ego. It is much better to just do the spiritual practices and open to God and love God and trust your intuitive heart. As the transformation changes, the ego then becomes this beautiful instrument that’s available to you to deal with the world. It’s not in the way anymore. 

- Ram Dass -

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Via Daily Dharma: The Way to Lasting Happiness

The quick fixes and immediate gratification I think will make me happy never do in the long run, leaving me empty-hearted. Mindfulness digs the truth out from under the excuses and confusion, lighting the way to true satisfaction.

—Joan Duncan Oliver, “Do I Mind?”

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Via Daily Dharma: Fear Is Not the Enemy

Fear is not the enemy—it is nature’s protector; it only becomes troublesome when it oversteps its bounds. In order to deal with fear we must take a fundamentally noncontentious attitude toward it, so it’s not held as “My big fear problem” but rather “Here is fear that has come to visit.” Once we take this attitude, we can begin to work with fear.

—Amaro Bhikkhu, “Inviting Fear”

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - June 16, 2019 💌

For my spiritual work I had to hear what Alan Watts used to say to me: “Ram Dass, God is these forms. God isn’t just formless. You’re too addicted to formlessness.” I had to learn that. I had to honor my incarnation. I’ve got to honor what it means to be a man, a Jew, an American, a member of the world, a member of the ecological community, all of it. I have to figure out how to do that—how to be in my family, how to honor my father. All of that is part of it.
That is the way I come to God, acknowledging my uniqueness, if you will. That’s an interesting turn-about in a way. That brings spiritual people back into the world.

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Softening One’s Self-Concern

All meditation practices require that one relax self-preoccupation. Just like being too tense to ride a bike, when people are too concerned with themselves it can be very difficult for the mind to be soft enough to settle into meditation.

—Gil Fronsdal, “Evaluate Your Meditation”

Via Daily Dharma: The Jeweled Net of Family

The Net of Indra is a vast, bejeweled matrix spanning and encompassing the whole universe. From every knot hangs a jewel, and each jewel reflects all the other jewels within the net. My father’s life was one jewel hanging from a knot in that infinite web, and in that jewel was reflected my life, and my brothers’ lives, and my mother’s life.

—Eugene Richards, “A Life Too Long”

Via Daily Dharma: Uncover the Value of Loving Yourself

As we become aware of the feelings in us, our self-understanding will deepen. We will see how our fears and lack of peace contribute to our unhappiness, and we will see the value of loving ourselves and cultivating a heart of compassion.

—Thich Nhat Hanh, “Cultivating Compassion”

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Via Daily Dharma: Making Space for Happiness

The joy of letting go comes from insight into what truly brings happiness and suffering, and choosing the lasting happiness. Letting go may take some work but it can be a joyous relief.

—Hai An (Sister Ocean), “The Joy of Letting Go: Spring Cleaning Inside and Out”

from Song of Myself by Walt Whitman (read by Tom O'Bedlam)

Via Daily Dharma: The Wonder of Not Knowing

The fact that we don’t know—that nothing is certain and we therefore can’t hold on to anything—can evoke fear and depression, but it can also evoke a sense of wonder, curiosity, and freedom. Some of our best moments come when we haven’t yet decided what will happen next.

—Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel, “Open Stillness”

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - June 12, 2019 💌

Surrender who you think you are and what you think you are doing into what is. It is mind boggling to think that spirituality is dying into yourself. 

- Ram Dass -