Thoughts: Easy to decide
Writings: It begins with you
All things in this creation exist within you,
and all things in you exist in creation;
there is no border between you and the closest things,
and there is no distance between you and the farthest things, and all things,
from the lowest to the loftiest,
from the smallest to the greatest,
are within you as equal things.
In one atom are found all the elements of the earth;
in one motion of the mind are found the motions of all the laws of existence;
in one drop of water are found the secrets of all the endless oceans;
in one aspect of you are found all the aspects of existence.
Kahlil Gibran
Writings: Always more alive, with Jeff Foster
WHAT WOULD HAPPEN…?
What would happen
if you removed the word ‘anxious’
and just paid attention
to these flickering sensations in the belly?
What would happen
if you took away the concept ‘lonely’
and simply became fascinated
with this heavy feeling in the heart area?
What would happen
if you deleted the image ‘sick’ or ‘broken’ or ‘bad’
and just got curious about
the tightness in the throat
the pressure in the head
the ache in the shoulders?
What would happen
if you stopped looking for solutions
and checked to see
if there was actually a problem?
Come out of the exhausting storyline, friend.
It’s not true. It was never true.
Commit sacred attention to a single moment.
Come closer to yourself.
Bring warmth to the tender places.
It’s never as bad as you think.
And always, always more alive.
– Jeff Foster
(re-posted from https://www.facebook.com/LifeWithoutACentre/)
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from Jeff’s website:
Jeff Foster studied Astrophysics at Cambridge University. In his mid-twenties, after a long period of depression and illness, he became addicted to the idea of ‘spiritual enlightenment’ and embarked on an intensive spiritual quest for the ultimate truth of existence.
The spiritual search came crashing down with the clear recognition of the non-dual nature of everything, and the discovery of the extraordinary in the ordinary. In the clarity of this seeing, life became what it always was: intimate, open, loving and spontaneous, and Jeff was left with a deep understanding of the root illusion behind all human suffering, and a love of the present moment.
Poetry of music: The place of loving in each of us, as infants….
From Shantala:
My heart has been broken by the violence, polarization and xenophobia that have been escalating so much in recent weeks. If things had been like this in 1933 when my father’s family came to the US to escape the Nazis, I simply would have never been born.
I’ve felt deepening anger, despair, sadness and frustration as these messages of hate and division increase in their frequency and intensity.
I must respond.
So here is my response, inspired in no small part by the kind and gentle percussionist Mike Wofchuck, who stayed with us in our home recently. Mike shared with me that, since he became the father of an infant, he’s been able to see people he encounters as infants, and he can instantly connect to a place of loving them. This song invites each of us into that place and, I hope, into living the lessons of the great Indian saint Neem Karoli Baba:
Love people.
Serve people.
Feed people.
Always remember God.
The opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of those in need is a gift beyond measure; I was given such a gift over 20 years ago when I was called to help dozens of Bosnian (and yes, Muslim) refugees here in Portland. It remains one of the true peak experiences of my life.
Our time to love is NOW. Our time to help is NOW.
Shantala, The Music of Heather and Benjy Wertheimer
Visit their Facebook page here…
Writings: Thankfulness & gratitude, with Ezra Bayda
One of my favorite quotes from the Buddha is: “Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so, let us all be thankful.”
Gratitude is one of the fruits of living from genuine happiness; at the same time, it arises from an inherent seed in our being, a seed that requires cultivation. There’s a quote from Meister Eckhart, the Christian mystic, that illustrates how important this quality is: “If the only prayer you said in your whole life was ‘thank you,’ that would suffice.” If we truly understood the depth of this teaching it would be all we’d need to know.
Unfortunately, we can’t just tell ourselves to be grateful and expect it to happen, yet it’s a quality that certainly can be nurtured.
– Ezra Bayda
About Brother Ian
Over the centuries, Brother Ian has been collecting stories & information & discourses for the purpose of elevating the human condition as needed, dissecting it when necessary, and building the case for hope.
In the spirit of noting that organized crime, organized baseball, organized labour, and organized religion tend to engender controversy & occasional discord, I promise to be neither organized or critical of those who are.