Sometimes I can't help the feeling that I'm
Living a life of illusion
 And oh, why can't we let it be
And see through the hole in this wall of confusion
I just can't help the feeling I'm
Living a life of illusion

Pow! Right between the eyes
Oh, how nature loves her little surprises
Wow! It all seems so logical now
It's just one of her better disguises
And it comes with no warning
Nature loves her little surprises
Continual crisis

Hey, don't you know it's a waste of your day
Caught up in endless solutions
That have no meaning, just another hunch
Based upon jumping conclusions
Caught up in endless solutions
Backed up against a wall of confusion
Living a life of illusion

-Joe Walsh

Still Thrives This Love

I often wonder
Is it so
All I am holding
Wants let go
How could I manage
I don't know

I often question
Is it so
Life's contradictions
Tend to grow
Spawning the choices
And the woe

But, still somehow thrives this love
Which I pray I'm worthy of
Still somehow thrives this love

I often wonder
Is it so
The lessons of patience
Are learned slow
And earning of labour
May never show

But, still somehow thrives this love
Which I pray I'm worthy of
Still somehow thrives this love

-k.d. lang

All experience is preceded by mind,
     Led by mind,
     Made by mind.
Speak or act with a corrupted mind,
     And suffering follows
As the wagon wheel follows the hoof of the ox.

All experience is preceded by mind,
     Led by mind,
     Made by mind.
Speak or act with a peaceful mind,
     And happiness follows
Like a never departing shadow.

-Dhammapada 1
as translated by Gil Fronsdal

 

There is some kiss we want
with our whole lives,
the touch of Spirit on the body.

Seawater begs the pearl
to break its shell.

And the lily, how passionately
it needs some wild Darling!

At night, I open the window
and ask the moon to come
and press its face against mine.

Breathe into me.

Close the language-door,
and open the love-window.

The moon won't use the door,
only the window.

--Rumi

She who binds herself to a Joy
Does the winged life destroy

She who kisses the Joy as it flies
Lives in Eternity's sunrise

--Adapted from a quote by William Blake

Funny how I didn't recognize the wisdom in this Kansas song when I was a young girl singing along with the radio in the 70s!


Carry On Wayward Son

Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more

Once I rose above the noise and confusion
Just to get a glimpse beyond this illusion
I was soaring ever higher
But I flew too high

Though my eyes could see I still was a blind man
Though my mind could think I still was a mad man
I hear the voices when I'm dreaming
I can hear them say

Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more

Masquerading as a man with a reason
My charade is the event of the season
And if I claim to be a wise man, well
It surely means that I don't know

On a stormy sea of moving emotion
Tossed about I'm like a ship on the ocean
I set a course for winds of fortune
But I hear the voices say

Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more

Carry on, you will always remember
Carry on, nothing equals the splendor
The center lights around your vanity
But surely heaven waits for you

Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry (don't you cry no more)

Excerpted from Eckhart Newsletter December 2006

Put your story away.  It is not who you are.  Be done with it.

You don't solve problems by thinking; you create problems by thinking.  Let go of excessive thinking and see how everything changes.

When you are present in this moment,
you break the continuity of your story, of past and future.
Then true intelligence arises,
and also love.

The only way love can come into your life
is not through form, but through that inner spaciousness that is Presence.
Love has no form.

What does it profit you if you gain the whole world and lose yourself?
 

.... you're taking up way too much space.

[Adapted from Dharma talk by Gil Fronsdal on October 6, 2006]

Different activities require different dispositions; e.g., a stock broker versus a kindergarten teacher.  If you have an interest in liberation, then certain dispositions are more helpful than others.  Whatever you frequently think about, becomes the inclination of the mind.

Three unhelpful intentions:
1. Sensual desire
2. Ill will
3. Cruelty

Three helpful intentions:
1. Absence of sensual desire; relenquishment, letting go
2. Absence of ill will; lovingkindness
3. Absence of cruelty; compassion

Examine your sensual desires:
Do they obstruct wisdom?
Do they harm others?
Do they cause others difficulties?
Do they lead away from the path?

The ability to discern whether something causes harm depends on how sensitive we are.  Meditation helps us be calm and more sensitive to the consequences of our actions.

Let go into something better.  There's a gain when you let go.  It's not about deprivation or asceticism.  This is not so uncommon e.g., renouncing activities in order to go to college or have children.

Live an intentional life.  Deliberately and consciously decide what you want your life to be like.