Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Via Ram Dass

August 3, 2016

This is the path of love. The path of the heart. Like all paths, it is fraught with pitfalls and traps, and most of our emotions are either in the service of our minds or our frightening things that overwhelm us and make us afraid so we protect ourselves from them.

So we come through life a little bit like hungry ghosts. We are beings that have huge needs for love, but seemingly it’s like we have some kind of amoeba that doesn’t allow us to digest our food. So, though we get love, it goes through us and then we need love all over again. This conception is so deep within all of us that we’ve built an entire reality around it, and we think that’s the way it is; that everybody needs love and that if you don’t get it you are deprived, and that the more of it the better, and you need it every day from everything. In that sense it’s like an achievement; you see people that are achievers. The minute they achieve something it becomes irrelevant, and their awareness turns to the next achievement because they are addicted to the practice, not to the goal.


Via Daily Dharma / August 3, 2016: On Art-making

When you sit down, all that you’re exposed to is your own mind, there is nothing else... Just to remain in that space and to let things arise and fade without having to grasp at them makes one realize that everything is already here, that no higher teaching is needed or to be grasped at.

—Robert Beer, "Art Making the Artist"

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do dia - Flor del día- Flower of the day - 02/08/2016

“O ódio é um mecanismo de defesa que se manifesta como destrutividade, tanto em relação ao outro como a si mesmo. Mas a destrutividade só se mantém porque existe uma ligação entre a energia sexual e o sofrimento, ou seja, existe um certo prazer envolvido nesse processo. Em algum momento da sua biografia, você teve que usar a sua energia vital, que é a mesma energia sexual, para anestesiar a dor, e isso estabeleceu uma conexão entre o prazer e o sofrimento. Por trás do ódio sempre existe dor. E por trás da dor está o verdadeiro Eu.”

“El odio es un mecanismo de defensa que se manifiesta como destructividad, tanto hacia el otro como hacia ti mismo. Pero la destructividad solo se mantiene porque existe una unión entre la energía sexual y el sufrimiento, es decir, hay cierto placer involucrado en este proceso. En algún momento de tu biografía, tuviste que utilizar tu energía vital, que es la misma energía sexual, para anestesiar el dolor, y esto estableció una conexión entre el placer y el sufrimiento. Por detrás del odio siempre hay dolor. Y por detrás del dolor está el verdadero Yo.”

“Hatred is a self defense mechanism that manifests as destruction both to ourselves as well as to the other. Destructivity continues because there exists a connection between our sexual energy and suffering. There is a certain pleasure that is involved in this process. At one point in our personal story, we had to use our vital energy, our sexual energy, to numb the pain. In doing so, a connection was made between pleasure and suffering. Behind hatred, there is always pain. Beyond this pain is the true self.”

Via Daily Dharma / August 2, 2016: Alternative Meditation

No matter who you are, you can’t sit still all the time. And some people just find it virtually impossible to stay seated and mindful with the levels of pain and agitation and anger they feel. But they can walk with it.

—Jon Kabat-Zinn, "Walking: Meditation on the Move"