welcoming flies at the picnic

mighty joe henry

I don’t call

any song finished if I don’t

think that it somehow is vibrating with

the awareness of how we live in spite of the inevitable.

Which is what all spirituality is, is how do we come into being,

how do we live fully in the constant, conscious knowledge

that we won’t always? How do you invest in the idea

of any real commitment in the face of

everything being finite?

…We’re sort of

seduced into thinking that here’s life,

and there’s these bad things that can happen,

obstacles that just fall into your road, as if the obstacle

is not the road. You know? We want to think that all things

being equal, we should be content all the time, and would

be, except for these pesky flies that want to ruin

every picnic. As if that isn’t what

the picnic is.

Joe Henry

❤️

have a listen to

Welcoming Flies at the Picnic,

it will gladden your

💜

the aristocracy of the heart

collect and keep happy experiences

Tawazu’ in Sufic terms

means something more than hospitality.

It is laying before one’s friend willingly what one has,

in other words sharing with one’s friend all the

good one has in life, and with it,

enjoying life better.

When this tendency

to tawazu’ is developed, things that

give one joy and pleasure become more enjoyable by

sharing with another. This tendency comes from the aristocracy

of the heart. It is generosity and even more than generosity. For the

limit of generosity is to see another pleased in his pleasure,

but to share one’s own pleasure with another is greater

than generosity. It is a quality which is foreign

to a selfish person, and the one who

shows this quality is on the

path of saintliness.

Hazrat Inayat Khan

there is some sort of spirit

right where you stand

We sense that

there is some sort of spirit

that loves birds and animals and the ants —

perhaps the same one who gave a radiance to you

in your mother’s womb. Is it logical you would be walking

around entirely orphaned now? The truth is you turned away

yourself, and decided to go into the dark alone. Now you

are tangled up in others, and have forgotten what

you once knew, and that’s why everything

you do has some weird

failure in it.

Kabir

and here

buddha nature is your own nature

here is what a buddha is

🪷 and also here 🪷

A deep

and sophisticated

understanding of Buddhism,

Taoism, Zen, Ch’an, philosophy,

meditation technique — none of these

is necessary to attain realization.

They are just as likely to

ensnare you in towers

of complicated

thought.

Abide

in the simple

understanding that

buddha nature is always,

has always been, will always be,

your own nature. Breathe into

that. Breathe out from it.

That is all.

Wei wu Wei Ching, Chapter 25

Paperback / Kindle here

iPad/iPhone

iBooks

brian browne walker taoist app bundle ios ipad iphone

You

can now buy

Wei wu Wei Ching as part of a

five-app bundle of Taoist classics

for iPhone or iPad for less than

the cost of one hardcover

book.

be done with knowing

how hard was it to be a baby?

Be done

with knowing and

your worries will disappear.

How much difference is there between

yes and no? How much distinction between

good and evil? Fearing what others fear,

admiring what they admire —

nonsense.

Conventional

people are jolly and reckless,

feasting on worldly things and carrying on

as though every day were the beginning of spring.

I alone remain uncommitted, like an infant

who hasn’t yet smiled: lost, quietly

drifting, unattached to ideas

and places and

things.

Conventional

people hoard more than

they need, but I possess nothing

at all, know nothing at all,

understand nothing

at all.

They

are sharp; I am dull.

Like the sea, I am calm and

indifferent. Like the wind I

have no particular

direction.

Everyone

else takes his place and

does his job; I alone remain wild

and natural and free. I am different

from the others; I drink

directly from the

Mother.

Tao te Ching of Lao Tzu,

Chapter 20

ebooks & apps of the Tao the Ching, I Ching,

Hua hu Ching, and Art of War for

iPad, Phone, Kindle, Nook,

or Android