Posts Tagged → mind

you are not so soft after all

7

 

Depending

on where you look,

what you touch, you are changing

all the time. The carbon inside you, accounting

for about 18 percent of your being, could have existed in any

number of creatures or natural disasters before finding

you. That particular atom residing somewhere

above your left eyebrow? It could well have

been a smooth, riverbed pebble

before deciding to call

you home.

 

You see,

you are not so soft after

all; you are rock and wave and

the peeling bark of trees, you are ladybirds

and the smell of a garden after the rain.

When you put your best foot forward,

you are taking the north side

of a mountain with

you.

 

Ella Frances Saunders

 

nothing to be born, nothing to perish

wim wenders

 

All Buddhas preach emptiness.

Why? Because they wish to crush the concrete ideas

of the students. If a student even clings to an idea of emptiness,

he betrays all Buddhas. One clings to life although there is nothing to be

called life; another clings to death although there is nothing to be

called death. In reality there is nothing to be born,

consequently, there is nothing

to perish.

 

Bodhidharma

 

we all could use a little mercy now


 
 

The shock of unsettling events
brings fear and trembling.
Move toward a higher
truth and all will
be well.

 

 The tendency of human beings is to rely on the strategies of the ego: desiring, plotting, and striving. When we exercise the ego, our spiritual development stops, and the universe must use shocking events to move us back onto the path. The appearance of the hexagram Chên indicates an immediate need for self-examination, self-correction, and a redevotion to following the path of the Sage. In Chinese, the hexagram translates to mean “thunder over thunder”: a continuing series of shocks occurs until the obstruction in our attitude is removed.

It is important not to react against these shocks.Instead, quiet and open your mind, accept that what is happening has come to teach you a specific and necessary lesson, and look inside to see where you are resisting the will of the Higher Power. The sooner you return to innocence and acceptance, the sooner the shocks will subside. 

Those who maintain a reverence for proper principles and an inner commitment to higher things are unperturbed by shocking events; they simply concentrate on deepening their understanding. If you find yourself feeling threatened by circumstances, withdraw into stillness and meditation. The only remedy for doubt and fear is a reconnection with higher truth.Shock is an important and beneficial teacher to those who follow the path of the Sage. Make good use of this new beginning and good fortune results.

 

from The I Ching, or Book of Changes

Hexagram 51, Chen / The Arousing (Shock)

 

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