Women Food and God: An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything Chapter 3 Never Underestimate the Inclination to Bolt - Geneen Roth In the spring of 1982, I found myself on a pay phone trying frantically to rent a helicopter so I could leave the ten-day retreat where I’d been for exactly fifteen hours… My therapist, Kate, had urged me to sign up for the retreat, but she forgot to mention that I’d have to spend fifteen hours a [...]
Tilling yourself...See Beyond Phenomena A cow may walk from one side of the amazing city of Baghdad to the other and notice only a watermelon rind and a tuft of hay that fell off a wagon. ~Rumi Tilling yourself A man was breaking up the soil, when another man came by, "Why are you ruining this land?" "Don't be a fool! Nothing can grow until the ground is turned over and crumbled. There can [...]
"What's Mine is Yours" Confessions of a former Sodomite "What's Mine is Yours" Confessions of a former Sodomite Angelic beings are rarely politically correct. The angels visiting Lot didn't wait around to file a sexual harassment lawsuit when the men of Sodom tried to pinch their booty. They just struck the suckers blind. All of them. And they didn't even stop to check with God about it, either. Later God blew up the city. The Sodomites must [...]
One of Those Days Each day I am in love with something, in full wonder at what is given. Yesterday it was partly some sparkling Mozart but mostly, five minutes earlier, the announcer’ remark “Mozart’s coming up in five minutes” Today it’s the beginning of a sentence in a book about Tu Fu — “In the spring of 761…” — regarding several short songs, an ancient fresh breath. I realize that the museum next door is [...]
How do you think not-thinking? Non-thinking FUKANZAZENGI by Eihei Dogen The Way is basically perfect and all-pervading. How could it be contingent upon practice and realization? The Dharma-vehicle is free and untrammelled. What need is there for concentrated effort? Indeed, the whole body is far beyond the world's dust. Who could believe in a means to brush it clean? It is never apart from one, right where one is. What is the use of going off here and [...]
Companionship with the Holy ~Rumi Don't tale a wooden sword into battle. Go find one of steel; then march forward with joy. The saint's protection is Truth's sword: your time with him is worth as much as the cup of life itself. All the wise have said the same: the one who knows God is God's mercy to His creatures....Companionship with the holy makes you one of them. Though you're rock or marble, you'll become a jewel when [...]
Wild Geese ~Mary Oliver You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on. Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and [...]
On Inquiry Learning You can do it. It makes no difference if it’s nuclear physics, primitive weaving, or electrical engineering, even mushrooms. All you need is an openness of mine which allows you to see. To see is to be able to perceive your surroundings as they are, not as your mind allows you see them. Try out your sharpened powers of perception after using this book, and you’ll discover a whole world. A famous late 19th [...]
SECRET FIDELITY by Rainer Marie Rilke In this life of neglect, is there anything desired by those that have never understood how all things support, answer and attract each other in an infinite exchange? Since childhood however, I have admired how, in this open world, no sustained glance, no smile, not one tenderness is lost. All comes back to us, if it isn’t stopped, each heart, According to its own rhythm, Will run the whole course, [...]
Thich Nhat Hanh´s Gathas Dwelling in the present moment, We can see so many beauties and wonders right before our eyes–a child’s smile, the sun rising, the autumn leaves. We can be happy just by being aware of what is in front of us. Practicing with a gatha can help us return to ourselves and to what is going on in the present moment. It is helpful to memorize these gathas, a few at first, and more as [...]