One Clear Mind Is All You Need
Last night, full of longing, asking the wine woman for more and then more. She teased me so lovingly I fell into her and disappeared. Then she was there alone. In the wineshop, I drank a little wine and threw off the robe of this body. I knew, drunk on love, this world is harmony — creation, destruction, I am dancing for them both. ~Rumi
Who could say it better than this??
I really resonate with this quote. Most of our hopes are based on the unreal future and a rejection of reality as it is right now. This attitude invites little elde besides dissapointment.
“Hope is a sign of despair & belief is a cover up for insecurity. To be grounded in spirit is the freedom of infinite potential .”
Deepak Chopra
Your life is the sand mandala: Strive tirelessly, patiently, and lovingly on your life creation all but forgetting the end result. Work purely for the joy of working and when your masterpiece is complete, step back and fully embrace its destruction.
Time is not an absolute. Time is not what you think it is.
Time is nothing more than the memory of change occurring in the present, written on the face of form.
If you’ll look a little deeper at intention, you may find that often people try to gain love and acceptance from others by winning and succeeding: impossible. Love and acceptance from others can only ever be a byproduct of true authenticity = when you love and accept your-self.
I moved to Los Angeles almost 10 years ago with almost no expectations but a simple openness. I had heard the stereotypes about its people – shallow, empty hearted, empty headed, passionless, and cold – but came anyway.
I’m sitting now at a typical LA cafe on a typical LA sunny, warm, and beautiful day. The Angelinos in my midst, milling about, conversing, keeping up their appearances, keeping up win one another. They’re all so incredibly beautiful. And I don’t mean that in an outward way but an inward way.
Overall these are my Angels – truly. I have spent the last decade surrounded by nothing less than the most kind, sincere, and pure angels I may ever come to know. Most people come to LA with the hearts of innocent children – well meaning, sometimes looking for the world’s attention, sometimes looking to turn the world on its head, sometimes looking to become great in their respective fields, sometimes seeking to create and express themselves, sometimes simply looking for the deep blue ocean, palm trees, and the bright white sand. Those who grew up here seem to embody and promote this spirit as well.
The Angelinos never fail to amaze me because they are a mass of powerful dreamers. They not only have dreams but work tirelessly to manifest their dreams of a beautiful and adventurous future.
And yet there are many problems in this place: deep poverty, injustice, power struggles, hazardous environmental conditions to name a few – in many ways this city is a microcosm for the entire world due to its sheer vast nature.
Yet each being here is my angel. I look into their deep and beautiful eyes and see an ancient knowing behind their exterior personalities – I see wisdom that is as old as time and a spirit that could form new galaxies. Each one of them is a dear teacher of truth to me for when I choose to pay attention: from the guy walking around his little black chiwawa in a baby stroller to the polite kid who just made my coffee to the woman who smashed my car into my neighbor’s lot last week. Each one a teacher and each with a different teaching.
More than all else though, these angels have taught me the respect that the world has for me. Each being greets me with absolute respect no matter in what form it comes, be it a “bless you,” a “fuck you,” or a simple acknowlegding glance. Each word, each syllable: the voice of God made manifest.
*You* are not the reason things get done in your life. #fb
Our minds are deeply confused most of the time. They developed over time and were genetically and psychologically trained to perceive illusion. For the most part they are limited by only being able to conceive of the world of form – they rarely if ever are aware of the emptiness underneath all forms.
The only problem with this is that we suspect we are more than what our minds perceive us to be. Yet our minds only see *something* they cannot perceive the Truth of who we are: nothingness.
So our minds become frantic as we age and we lose that childlike trust that we had at the start of this whole game. We don’t remember what we are and so we seek to find out what we are by seeking in the world of form for ourselves.
-I’m a man/woman
-I’m a professional
-I’m a father/mother/son/daughter/husband/wife/girlfriend /boyfriend. . .
-I’m poor/rich/healthy /sick/dumb/smart/ugly/attractive
Yet even with these titles we’re still frightened. “No, something is wrong here – I must need to *do* something more; then I’ll figure out who I am.
- I’ll work harder, change careers, find the love of my life, divorce the one I thought was the love of my life, have kids, not have kids ever so that I can save the planet, recycle, compost more, stop eating meat and buying sweat shop clothes, think positive, manifest abundance . . .
It’s so simple: nothing you ever do, get, or become will ever make you know who you are – will ever give rest to your frantic mind. Just stop and notice. Whatever you feel is you. Whatever you hear is you. Whatever you see is you. And everything you don’t have but think you need? That’s you too.
Sunscreen is a wonderful creation. Kudos to its inventor. #fb
It’s tempting to believe in your-self and all the accessories that are going to make your self know who or what (s)he is. But the only you that really exists is a picture in your head that you refer to as “me” and all the accessories are also pictures that you call “mine.”
So much of our actions are motivated by this illusion in the head which we take to be real, and those actions create lifetimes of bondage (over and over and over . . .)
