this is what you shall do

fluid awareness

This

is what you

shall do: Love the earth

and sun and the animals, despise riches,

give alms to every one that asks, stand up for

the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor

to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have

patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat

to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men,

go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young

and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open

air every season of every year of your life, reexamine all you

have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss

whatever insults your own soul; and your very flesh shall

be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only

in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and

face and between the lashes of your eyes

and in every motion and

joint of your

body.

Walt Whitman

the reality is that we are safe

wholly absorbed in the breath

When we’re holding

the mental formations of despair

and suffering, we can look and see that

this has been born from that; suffering is born

because we are in touch with an image from

the past. The reality is that we are safe,

and we have the capacity to enjoy

the wonders of life in the

present moment.

When we recognize

that our suffering is based on images

instead of current reality, then living happily

in the present moment becomes

possible right away.

Thich Nhat Hanh

whatever way love’s camels take

han chengli

My heart has

become capable of every form:

It is a pasture for gazelles and a cloister

for Christian monks, a temple for idols and

the pilgrim’s Ka’ba, and the tables of

the torah and the book of

the Qur’an.

I follow

the religion of love:

whatever way love’s camels take,

that is my religion and

my faith.

Ibn ‘Arabi

the proper response to conflict

banksy

The proper response

to conflict, whether it lies within or

without us, is disengagement.

Whenever we allow ourselves to be drawn off balance, away from the strength of quiet integrity, we are in conflict. It matters not whether the confrontation is between competing values in one’s own mind or with another person: it is the inner departure from clarity and equanimity that leaves us with feelings of despair and vulnerability. The only remedy is to disengage from the problem and return to quiet contemplation of what is correct.

Conflict provokes strong feelings of doubt, fear, anxiety, and impatience to resolve the situation. If you act under the influence of these inferior emotions, you will severely complicate the misfortune. By following the prescription of the Sage and returning to a position of neutrality, acceptance, and detachment, you are able to meet opposing forces halfway: not recoiling in anger and condemnation, not pressing forward for some unnatural change in things, but waiting calmly in the center until the Higher Power provides the correct solution.

The I Ching teaches us that all conflict is, in the end, inner conflict. When you see it beginning, you are obliged not to pursue it, for this only compounds your own misfortune. If you cannot regain your equanimity on your own, then seek the assistance of a just and impartial person in resolving the difficulty. The only way to live free of conflict is to hold steadfastly to proper principles in all things. Through balance, patience, and devotion to inner truth we rise above every challenge.

The I Ching, or Book of Changes

Hexagram 6, Sung / Conflict

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