Beautiful Amnesia

... weird little things ...

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Dreaming, Chuang Tzu became a butterfly;
Waking, the butterfly became a man.
Who knows which is real?
Who know where endless changes end?
The waters of the deepest sea
Return to the smallest stream.
The melon-grower outside the city gate
Was once the King of the Hill.
Even rank and riches eventually disappear.
You know, and still you toil.

 Li T’ai-po

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Excerpt from C.G Jung Memories, Dreams Reflections

“… for the more I read and the more familiar I became with city life, the stronger grew my impression that what I was now getting to know as reality belonged to an order of things different from the view of the world I had grown up with in the country, among rivers and woods, among men and animals in a small village bathed in sunlight, with the winds and the clouds moving over it, and encompassed by dark night in which uncertain things happened. It was no mere locality on the map, but “God’s World”, so ordered by Him and filled with secret meaning. But apparently men did not know this, and even the animals had somehow lost the senses to perceive it. That was evident, for example, in the sorrowful, lost look of the cows, and in the resigned eyes of horses, in the devotion of dogs, who clung so desperately to human beings, and even in the self-assured step of the cats who had chosen house and barn as their residence and hunting ground. People were like animals, and seemed as unconsciuos as they. They looked down upon the ground or up into the trees in order to see what could be put to use, and for what purpose; like animals they herded, paired, and fought, but did not see that they dwelt in a unified cosmos, in God’s World, in an eternity where everything is already born and everything has already died.”

This is how you should contemplate. The world is an idea in the mind to which the word world has been attached. Beyond this idea is the mystery of beingness. But it’s not possible to free people from their attachment to the idea - to that which blinds them to the reality - without appropriate methods. So you should tread the path of perfect giving, of patience, energy, meditation, and wisdom. Yet while following these activities, you should remain aware that the world is illusory. It is for the sake of those who do not know that you engage in dynamic and vigorous work and also in meditation and one-pointed attention. Understanding that without wisdom you can do nothing for others, you remain in the perfection of wisdom, which is the awareness that what you are doing is both essential and illusory.

Buddha 

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A Message by George Carlin

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways , but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little. Drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life. We’ve added years to life not life to years. We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We’ve done larger things, but not better things.

We’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We’ve conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete…

Remember, spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.

Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn’t cost a cent.

Remember, to say, ‘I love you’ to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.

Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.

Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER: Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

These roses under my window make no reference to former roses or to better ones;they are for what they are; they exist with God today. There is no time for them. They are simply the rose; it is perfect in every moment of its existence. But man postpones or remembers; he does not live in the present, but with reverted eye laments the past, or heedless of the riches that surround him, stands on tiptoe to forsee the future. He cannot be happy until he too lives with nature in the present, above time.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

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You have to love each other more than you need each other, that’s the secret to a successful releationship.

~ anonymous

[—]

It’s as if we painted black dots on this wall. The dots are maybe an inch round, and three or four inches apart, and the whole wall is covered with black dots. When we walked into the room, the first thing we would usually see is all the dots, right? My God, this wall has so many dots! It’s all dots!

But, in fact, it’s not covered with dots. There’s a lot more white wall than there are dots. Even if we made those dots really small, the size of a pin, we’d still notice them and think, this wall is full of dots. But there is actually a lot more space than dots. The dots are just where the perception goes.

When awakening starts to arise, all the repressed material starts to arise, and the tendency is for awareness to contract around it. Of course, it seems quite terrible when awareness does this, rather than just resting and seeing everything as a whole. Sure, there’s lots of stuff arising, and now that you’re aware of it, you can let it arise. That doesn’t mean you’ve got to contract on each thing that comes up.

It’s much like when you look at the wall with some dots on it and just let your awareness take in the whole wall. Become aware that more of the wall is space than dots. Don’t ignore the dots, but don’t ignore the background either.

Adyashanti, Emptiness Dancing

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If someone is watching you, you can escape from him, but if no one is watching, you cannot escape from yourself.

Shunryu Suzuki from “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind”

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From Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Shunryu Suzuki

Tozan, a famous Zen master, said, “The blue mountain is the father of the white cloud. The white cloud is the son of the blue mountain. All day long they depend on each other, without being dependent on each other. The white cloud is always the white cloud. The blue mountain is always the blue mountain”. This is a pure, clear interpretation of life. There may be many things like the white cloud and blue mountain: man and woman, teacher and disciple. They depend on each other. But the white cloud should not be bothered by the blue mountain. The blue mountain should not be bothered by the white cloud. They are quite independent, but yet dependent. This is how we live, and how we practice zazen.

The opinion which other people have of you is their problem, not yours.

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

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