Well here it is , Monday and all. In the crunch mode, so I won’t be long winded. Here is a selection of items that came out of discussions this weekend with a friend down in Peru, and family friends…
Rowan is off to Outdoor School… He has been jumping through the hoops and fires of pre-college testing and placement. There is a nimbus of creative fire as well playing over his head. He wrote a 6000 word paper Friday and Saturday. Ah… youth!
It is quite the mash-up, but I think there is a thread of coherency in it somewhere…. 8o)
On The Menu:
The Links
Lili Haydn – Strawberry Street
Quotes From Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat Hanh’s 14 Precepts
Jean Cocteau: Poet
Link: The life of a poet
Extract: La Belle et La Bête
Bright Blessings,
Gwyllm
____________
The Links:
The False Dilemma between Neo-Darwinism and Intelligent Design
Accidents at Disease Lab Acknowledged
Santeria priest suing city of Euless
Scientists discover 8,000-year-old trees
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Listening to the radio last night… I discovered Lili Haydn… Listen to her album at her site… but as a treat here she is performing live.
Lili Haydn – Strawberry Street (Live-First Performance)
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Quotes From Thich Nhat Hanh:
Life can be found only in the present moment. The past is gone, the future is not yet here, and if we do not go back to ourselves in the present moment, we cannot be in touch with life.
Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.
The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers.
When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow well, you don’t blame the lettuce. You look for reasons it is not doing well. It may need fertilizer, or more water, or less sun. You never blame the lettuce. Yet if we have problems with our friends or our family, we blame the other person. But if we know how to take care of them, they will grow well, like the lettuce.
Blaming has no positive effect at all, nor does trying to persuade using reason and argument. That is my experience. If you understand, and you show that you understand, you can love, and the situation will change.
The true miracle is not walking on water or walking in air, but simply walking on this earth.
Every day we do things, we are things that have to do with peace. If we are aware of our life…, our way of looking at things, we will know how to make peace right in the moment, we are alive.
Keeping your body healthy is an expression of gratitude to the whole cosmos – the trees, the clouds, everything.
People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.
Anger and hatred are the materials from which hell is made.
In each of us is a seed of understanding. The seed is God.
Life can be found only in the present moment. The past is gone, the future is not yet here, and if we do not go back to ourselves in the present moment, we cannot be in touch with life.
Our own life is the instrument with which we experiment with the truth.
People deal too much with the negative, with what is wrong. Why not try and see positive things, to just touch those things and make them bloom?
Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.
The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.
The true miracle is not walking on water or walking in air, but simply walking on this earth.
When your mind is liberated, your heart floods with compassion.
When things are not going well, it is good to stop in order to prevent the unpleasant, destructive energies from continuing.
In order to rally people, governments need enemies. They want us to be afraid, to hate, so we will rally behind them. And if they do not have a real enemy, they will invent one in order to mobilize us.
Harm no person, animal, plant, or mineral.
A smile can change the situation of the world.
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Thich Nhat Hanh’s 14 Precepts:
“Do not be idolatrous about or bound to any doctrine, theory, or ideology, even Buddhist ones. All systems of thought are guiding means; they are not absolute truth.
Do not think that the knowledge you presently possess is changeless, absolute truth. Avoid being narrow-minded and bound to present views. Learn and practice non-attachment from views in order to be open to receive others’ viewpoints. Truth is found in life and not merely in conceptual knowledge. Be ready to learn throughout our entire life and to observe reality in yourself and in the world at all times.
Do not force others, including children, by any means whatsoever, to adopt your views, whether by authority, threat, money, propaganda, or even education. However, through compassionate dialogue, help others renounce fanaticism and narrowness.
Do not avoid contact with suffering or close your eyes before suffering. Do not lose awareness of the existence of suffering in the life of the world. find ways to be with those who are suffering by all means, including personal contact and visits, images, sound. By such means, awaken yourself and others to the reality of suffering in the world.
Do not accumulate wealth while millions are hungry. Do not take as the aim of you life fame, profit, wealth, or sensual pleasure. Live simply and share time, energy, and material resources with those who are in need.
Do not maintain anger or hatred. As soon as anger and hatred arise, practice the meditation on compassion in order to deeply understand the persons who have caused anger and hatred. Learn to look at other beings with the eyes of compassion.
Do not lose yourself in dispersion and in your surroundings. Learn to practice breathing in order to regain composure of body and mind, to practice mindfulness, and to develop concentration and understanding.
Do not utter words that can create discord and cause the community to break. Make every effort to reconcile and resolve all conflicts, however small.
Do not say untruthful things for the sake of personal interest of to impress people. Do not utter words that cause diversion and hatred. Do not spread news that you do not know to be certain. Do not criticize or condemn things you are not sure of. Always speak truthfully and constructively. Have the courage to speak out about situations of injustice, even when doing so may threaten your own safety.
Do not use the Buddhist community for personal gain or profit, or transform your community into a political party. A religious community should, however, take a clear stand against oppression and injustice, and should strive to change the situation without engaging in partisan conflicts.
Do not live with a vocation that is harmful to humans and nature. Do not invest in companies that deprive others of their chance to life. Select a vocation which helps realize your ideal compassion.
Do not kill. Do not let others kill. Find whatever means possible to protect life and to prevent war.
Possess nothing that should belong to others. Respect the property of others but prevent others from enriching themselves from human suffering or the suffering of other beings.
Do not mistreat your body. Learn to handle it with respect. Do not look on your body as only and instrument. Preserve vital energies (sexual, breath, spirit) for the realization of the Way. Sexual expression should not happen without love and commitment. In sexual relationships be aware of future suffering that may be caused. To preserve the happiness of others, respect the rights and commitments of others. Be fully aware of the responsibility of bringing new lives into the world. Meditate on the world into which you are bringing new beings.
Do not believe that I feel that I follow each and every of these precepts perfectly. I know I fail in many ways. None of us can fully fulfill any of these. However, I must work toward a goal. These are my goal. No words can replace practice, only practice can make the words.
“The finger pointing at the moon is not the moon.”
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Jean Cocteau: Poet
Im prepared to believe you still love me,
Venus. But if I hadnt written about you,
If my house wasnt built of my poems,
I would feel the void and fall from the roof.
Quotes From Jean…
A film is a petrified fountain of thought.
A true poet does not bother to be poetical. Nor does a nursery gardener scent his roses.
I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little, they become its visible soul.
The worst tragedy for a poet is to be admired through being misunderstood.
Art produces ugly things which frequently become more beautiful with time. Fashion, on the other hand, produces beautiful things which always become ugly with time.
Man seeks to escape himself in myth, and does so by any means at his disposal. Drugs, alcohol, or lies. Unable to withdraw into himself, he disguises himself. Lies and inaccuracy give him a few moments of comfort.
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Audio:
—
Preamble (A Rough Draft For An Ars Poetica)
…Preamble
A rough draft
for an ars poetica
. . . . . . .
Let’s get our dreams unstuck
The grain of rye
free from the prattle of grass
et loin de arbres orateurs
I
plant
it
It will sprout
But forget about
the rustic festivities
For the explosive word
falls harmlessly
eternal through
the compact generations
and except for you
nothing
denotates
its sweet-scented dynamite
Greetings
I discard eloquence
the empty sail
and the swollen sail
which cause the ship
to lose her course
My ink nicks
and there
and there
and there
and
there
sleeps
deep poetry
The mirror-paneled wardrobe
washing down ice-floes
the little eskimo girl
dreaming
in a heap
of moist negroes
her nose was
flattened
against the window-pane
of dreary Christmases
A white bear
adorned with chromatic moire
dries himself in the midnight sun
Liners
The huge luxury item
Slowly founders
all its lights aglow
and so
sinks the evening-dress ball
into the thousand mirrors
of the palace hotel
And now
it is I
the thin Columbus of phenomena
alone
in the front
of a mirror-paneled wardrobe
full of linen
and locking with a key
The obstinate miner
of the void
exploits
his fertile mine
the potential in the rough
glitters there
mingling with its white rock
Oh
princess of the mad sleep
listen to my horn
and my pack of hounds
I deliver you
from the forest
where we came upon the spell
Here we are
by the pen
one with the other
wedded
on the page
Isles sobs of Ariadne
Ariadnes
dragging along
Aridnes seals
for I betray you my fair stanzas
to
run and awaken
elsewhere
I plan no architecture
Simply
deaf
like you Beethoven
blind
like you
Homer
numberless old man
born everywhere
I elaborate
in the prairies of inner
silence
and the work of the mission
and the poem of the work
and the stanza of the poem
and the group of the stanza
and the words of the group
and the letters of the word
and the least
loop of the letters
it’s your foot
of attentive satin
that I place in position
pink
tightrope walker
sucked up by the void
to the left to the right
the god gives a shake
and I walk
towards the other side
with infinite precaution
—
Sumo Poem
The players are pink giants.
As unique as the frescoes from a famous cathedral.
The regimen gives some of them enormous bellies
and breasts as mature as any woman.
Each of them sports a top-knot
and the face of a pretty girl.
They come together in equilibrium,
their legs intertwined,
their fingers grasping each other’s sash.
And the fringe standing erect.
Their muscles flexing.
Legs rooted to the earth.
Blood coursing through their veins.
And the ring is all a pastel of pink.
—
A Snippet I found on-line…..
“Take care not to shave your antennae of a mornimg.
Respect movements, flee schools.
Do not confuse progressive science with intuitive science, the only one that counts.
Do as the beautiful woman: see to your figure and your petticoats. Though, of course, I am not speaking literally.
Be someone else when receiving your blows (Leporello).
People would say to Al Brown: “You are not a boxer. You are a dancer.” He laughed at this, and won.
Do not take up cause against the inaccuracies printed about you. They are your protection.
Be a constant outrage to modesty There is nothing to fear: modesty is exercised only among the blind.
One is either judge or accused. The judge sits, the accused stands. Live on your feet.
Never forget that a masterpiece is testimony to intellectual depravity (A break with the norm.) Turn it into action, and society will condemn it. That is what usually happens anyway.
Contradict the so-called avant-garde.
Hasten slowly. Run faster than beauty.
Find first, seek later.
Be helpful, even if it compromises you.
Compromise yourself. Obscure your own trail.
Withdraw quietly from the dance.
He who is affected by an insult is infected by it.
Understand that some of your enemies are amongst your best friends (a question of standards).
Fight any instinct to be humorless, for humorlessness is the worst of all absurdities.
Do not fear being ridiculous in relation to the ridiculous.
Don’t put all your baskets in one egg.
See your disappointments as good fortune. One plan’s deflation is another’s inflation.
A certain kind of stupidity is essential. The encyclopedists are the source of the kind of intelligence that is a transcendent form of stupidity.
Do not close the circle. Leave it open. Descartes closes the circle. Pascal leaves it open. Rousseau’s triumph over the encyclopedists is to have left his circle open when they closed theirs.
The pen should be a dowser’s rod, capable of reviving an atrophied sense, to help an infallible yet almost totally dysfunctional sense. (The real me.) .
Do not flee yourself in action.
Allow the power of the soul to grow as flagrant as the power of sex.
Expect neither reward nor beatitude. Return noble waves for ignoble.
Hate only hatred.
An unjust conviction is the supreme title to nobility.
Disavow anyone who provokes or accepts the extermination of a race to which he does not belong.
Be a mere assistant to your unconscious. Do only half the work. The rest will do itself.
Consider metaphysics as an extension of the physical.
Know that your work speaks only to those on the same wavelength as you.
Anything of any importance cannot help but be unrecognizable, since it bears no resemblance to anything already known.
. . . The ultimate politeness in art consists of speaking only to those who are able to uncover and measure its relationships. Anything else is symbolic, and symbolism is merely transcendental imagery. . . .”
—
Jean Cocteau: The life of a poet
Extract: La Belle et La Bête
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