Wake Up

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Via Daily Dharma: What We Can Control

What happens when we sit is none of our business. The practice is to accept whatever arises instead of trying to control our experience. What we can control is our wise effort to be present with what is.

—Narayan Helen Liebenson, “The Refuge of Sitting”

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Via Lion´s Roar // Koans for Troubled Times

Koans for Troubled Times

How do we as Buddhists meet the challenges of our time? Joan Sutherland shares the history of koans, which were created to deal with a difficult period in Chinese history.

Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - July 29, 2020 💌

I’ve learned to slow down and not move as fast through things as my mind would like me to, but to feel at home in the process. See, the process and product are so interwoven that getting there is half the fun. How you get there is as much of a part of the game as getting there is.

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Open to Your World

We may come to our meditation with the hope of reducing our stress or perfecting our technique or maybe even attaining enlightenment. But we very soon discover that the practice requires that we drop such ambition and sit still on the cushion, letting go of our internal dialogue, opening to our world—very simply, very directly.

—Michael Carroll, “Bringing Spiritual Confidence in the Workplace”

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Via Daily Dharma: Helping Yourself to Help Others

It’s important to remember that until we straighten up our own lives, we probably won’t be that much help to anyone else.

—Clancy Martin, “It’s All for the Better”

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Floating Along the Milky Way (in 4k60p)

Deep Field: The Impossible Magnitude of our Universe

Via Daily Dharma: The Action of Prayer

[Through] prayer, you go to the edge of the world as you know it and reach out...  you step into the unknown, and you meet the hesitation, unwillingness, and raw fear that you encounter when you go beyond the confines of your conditioning. That’s where practice becomes real.

—Ken McLeod, “Say a Little Prayer”

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David Richo: Love

Via Daily Dharma: Awakening an Enlightened Mind

Awakening the enlightened mind may not be a question of self-improvement, which is never-ending; it may be a question of faith, which is always available right now.

—Hannah Tennant-Moore, “Buddhism’s Higher Power”

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Via White Crane Institute // CARL JUNG

This Day in Gay History

July 26

Born

Carl Jung

1875 -

CARL JUNG, Swiss psychiatrist born (d. 1961) Jung's unique and broadly influential approach to psychology has emphasized understanding the psyche through exploring the worlds of dreams, art, mythology, world religion and philosophy. Although he was a theoretical psychologist and practicing clinician for most of his life, much of his life's work was spent exploring other realms, including Eastern and Western philosophy, alchemy, astrology, sociology, as well as literature and the arts.

His most notable contributions include his concept of the psychological archetype, the collective unconscious, and his theory of synchronicity. Jung emphasized the importance of balance and harmony. He cautioned that modern humans rely too heavily on science and logic and would benefit from integrating spirituality and appreciation of the unconscious realm. It is for this reason that Jungian ideas are not typically included in curriculum of most major universities' psychology departments, but are occasionally explored in humanities departments.

Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - July 26, 2020 💌

The art of growth has to do with how quickly you admit error. What we do is constantly make decisions from where we’re sitting; then that decision leads to a new moment, and then in the new moment you listen again, and often you realize that the new moment suggests that that previous decision just led you into a new moment in which there is another decision that isn’t gonna be consistent with the last one.
To the extent that you define yourself as somebody, it is very hard to be inconsistent, to the extent that you keep coming back into the the existential situation with the trust that if I keep listening to the moment, and keep being true to what I’m hearing, while people may be upset with me, because I am not consistent, I will stay as close to the truth as I hear it, and that’s what I can offer myself and the universe.

- Ram Dass -

Via BBC Heart and Soul // Could you be silent for ten hours - for ten days?

Vipassana, which means to see things as they really are, is one of India's most ancient techniques of meditation. It was taught by the Buddha more than 2,500 years ago as a universal remedy for universal ills. The practice died out in India, but survived in Burma, and is now a growing movement around the world.

Hear Jide and Rosie, two participants in the UK, talk about their experience of it here.

Via FB

Via BBC Heart and Soul // Vipassana: 240 hours of silence

Inside the world of vipassana meditation - 10 days of demanding, illuminating silence.

Make the jump here to listen

Listen to this week’s podcasts from the Be Here Now Network

Mindrolling – Raghu Markus – Ep. 351 – Remembering Civil Rights Leader John Lewis w/ Danny Goldberg

July 24, 2020

Danny Goldberg returns to the Mindrolling Podcast to honor the life of civil-rights leader and former United States House Representative John Lewis. John Robert...

Listen Now

Via Daily Dharma: Realizing How Connected We Are

As we realize how truly connected we are to others, our loneliness recedes, we feel lighter and more resilient, and we move forward in our lives with a greater appreciation for our shared humanity.

—Mindy Newman, “Healing from Miscarriage”

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To Paint The Portrait Of A Bird // a poem by Jacques Prevert

a poem by Jacques Prevert
 (translated by Lawrence Ferlinghetti)

First paint a cage
with an open door
then paint
something pretty
something simple
something beautiful
something useful
for the bird
then place the canvas against a tree
in a garden
in a wood
or in a forest
hide behind the tree
without speaking
without moving...
Sometimes the bird comes quickly
but he can just as well spend long years
before deciding
Don't get discouraged
wait
wait years if necessary
the swiftness or slowness of the coming
of the bird having no rapport
with the success of the picture
When the bird comes
if he comes
observe the most profound silence
wait till the bird enters the cage
and when he has entered
gently close the door with a brush
then
paint out all the bars one by one
taking care not to touch any of the feathers of the bird
Then paint the portrait of the tree
choosing the most beautiful of its branches
for the bird
paint also the green foliage and the wind's freshness
the dust of the sun
and the noise of insects in the summer heat
and then wait for the bird to decide to sing
If the bird doesn't sing
it's a bad sign
a sign that the painting is bad
but if he sings it's a good sign
a sign that you can sign
so then so gently you pull out
one of the feathers of the bird
and you write yours name in a corner of the picture

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