Hello, All. I'm taking a short hiatus from cyberspace for the next few weeks but will return in September with new musings, poems and pictures.
Enjoy these halcyon days of summer!
Enjoy these halcyon days of summer!
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Friday, August 14, 2009
Today's Krishnamurti quote
"Freedom is a state of mind--not freedom from something but a sense of freedom, a freedom to doubt and question everything and, therefore, so intense, active, and vigorous that it throws away every form of dependence, slavery, conformity, and acceptance. Such freedom implies being completely alone. But can the mind brought up in a culture so dependent on environment and its own tendencies ever find that freedom which is complete solitude and in which there is no leadership, no tradition, and no authority?
This solitude is an inward state of mind, which is not dependent on any stimulus or any knowledge and is not the result of any experience or conclusion. Most of us, inwardly, are never alone. There is a difference between isolation, cutting oneself off, and aloneness, solitude. We all know what it is to be isolated, building a wall around oneself in order never to be hurt, never to be vulnerable, or cultivating detachment, which is another form of agony, or living in some dreamy ivory tower of ideology. Aloneness is something quite different."
~ J. Krishnamurti, Total Freedom, pp. 124-125.
This solitude is an inward state of mind, which is not dependent on any stimulus or any knowledge and is not the result of any experience or conclusion. Most of us, inwardly, are never alone. There is a difference between isolation, cutting oneself off, and aloneness, solitude. We all know what it is to be isolated, building a wall around oneself in order never to be hurt, never to be vulnerable, or cultivating detachment, which is another form of agony, or living in some dreamy ivory tower of ideology. Aloneness is something quite different."
~ J. Krishnamurti, Total Freedom, pp. 124-125.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Journal of a Solitude
I finished reading May Sarton's "Journal of a Solitude" in the past week or so and was struck by the simplicity of the poet's message but also her stress on the importance of solitude throughout one's life. The book, her journal, is a treasure and a wonderful accompaniment to any retreat. I'd like to share a few of my favorite passages here with you:
December 2nd:
"It is only when we can believe that we are creating the soul that life has any meaning, but when we can believe it--and I do and always have--then there is nothing we do that is without meaning and nothing that we suffer that does not hold the seed of creation in it."
February 2nd:
"We are aware of God only when we cease to be aware of ourselves, not in the negative sense of denying the self, but in the sense of losing self in admiration and joy."
February 5th:
"...for it is only through this communication that each consciousness will discover the essence of its destiny which is not to perceive things or to dominate them, but is to live, and that means to find outside itself other consciousnesses from which it never stops receiving and to whom it never stops giving in an uninterrupted circuit of light, of joy and of love, which is the only law of the spiritual universe."
"I do not think it is the business of a poet to become a guru. It is his business to write poetry, and to do that he must remain open and vulnerable. We grow through relationships of every kind, but most of all through a relationship that takes the whole person. And it would be pompous and artificial to make an arbitrary decision to "shut the door."
And from Jung, whom Sarton quotes and whom remains one of my most treasured writers:
"The shadow is a tight passage, a narrow door, whose painful constriction no one is spared who goes down to the deep well. But one must learn to know oneself in order to know who one is. For what comes after the door is, surprisingly enough, a boundless expanse full of unprecedented uncertainty, with apparently no inside and no outside, no above and no below, no here and no there, no mine and no thine, no good and no bad. It is the world of water, where all life floats in suspension; where the realm of the sympathetic system, the soul of everything living, begins; where I am indivisibly this and that; where I experience the other in myself and the other-than-myself experiences me."
December 2nd:
"It is only when we can believe that we are creating the soul that life has any meaning, but when we can believe it--and I do and always have--then there is nothing we do that is without meaning and nothing that we suffer that does not hold the seed of creation in it."
February 2nd:
"We are aware of God only when we cease to be aware of ourselves, not in the negative sense of denying the self, but in the sense of losing self in admiration and joy."
February 5th:
"...for it is only through this communication that each consciousness will discover the essence of its destiny which is not to perceive things or to dominate them, but is to live, and that means to find outside itself other consciousnesses from which it never stops receiving and to whom it never stops giving in an uninterrupted circuit of light, of joy and of love, which is the only law of the spiritual universe."
"I do not think it is the business of a poet to become a guru. It is his business to write poetry, and to do that he must remain open and vulnerable. We grow through relationships of every kind, but most of all through a relationship that takes the whole person. And it would be pompous and artificial to make an arbitrary decision to "shut the door."
And from Jung, whom Sarton quotes and whom remains one of my most treasured writers:
"The shadow is a tight passage, a narrow door, whose painful constriction no one is spared who goes down to the deep well. But one must learn to know oneself in order to know who one is. For what comes after the door is, surprisingly enough, a boundless expanse full of unprecedented uncertainty, with apparently no inside and no outside, no above and no below, no here and no there, no mine and no thine, no good and no bad. It is the world of water, where all life floats in suspension; where the realm of the sympathetic system, the soul of everything living, begins; where I am indivisibly this and that; where I experience the other in myself and the other-than-myself experiences me."
Monday, August 3, 2009
Clarity at 32,000 feet
i stand outside doors which once
opened into honeyed heat and into places
where i understood "home" a thousand ways.
but my key no longer grants access
and i discover disappointment
amongst frosted asters
and darkened windows.
what else is there to do
but acknowledge this new reality
and begin the hard labor
of sorting memories
and discarding the unnecessary?
yet, not all is sent to an amnesic river.
some remembrances i savor
and press into wax so that they
may outlast natural forgetting.
someday i will rediscover them
tucked away in books
and in boxes
and will feel surprise and nostalgia
but for now
i shove them into dark recesses
of my carpetbag
and strike out for those glimpses of promise
which flash against my eyes
like hope in a pan.
opened into honeyed heat and into places
where i understood "home" a thousand ways.
but my key no longer grants access
and i discover disappointment
amongst frosted asters
and darkened windows.
what else is there to do
but acknowledge this new reality
and begin the hard labor
of sorting memories
and discarding the unnecessary?
yet, not all is sent to an amnesic river.
some remembrances i savor
and press into wax so that they
may outlast natural forgetting.
someday i will rediscover them
tucked away in books
and in boxes
and will feel surprise and nostalgia
but for now
i shove them into dark recesses
of my carpetbag
and strike out for those glimpses of promise
which flash against my eyes
like hope in a pan.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Marathon Training Lesson #5: Fuel
After weeks of experimentation, I think I finally discovered the right fuel for my body on long runs. What seems to work (at least it did today when I ran 15 miles) is:
After said consumption and imbibing, I waited an hour or so and then hit the run. The first 10 miles breezed by and, other than hydrating, I didn't feel like I needed additional fueling. Miles 13-15 were more challenging, methinks, because I forgot to bring my Clif Bar Shot Bloks with me and my body was hurting for serious energy (a mistake I will not make again). But, these are reasons why I train...to learn what works, what doesn't and what my body really needs while running.
Another thing I've learned about myself is how much fluid I require and consume. I'm constantly drinking, which I think is good, but the downside of this is that I run out of the fluid I carry on my belt much faster. I'm pretty sure there will be hydration stations along the marathon course, so it's likely I'll just have to stop more often.
The best part of my marathon training is becoming more aware of my body's intelligence and its needs and in learning its own distinct voice - the one which is separate from my mind. By doing so, I'm able to hone in faster to what it's telling or asking me and keep it balanced.
- a large bagel topped with peanut butter and one mashed banana
- 1 cup of coffee.
After said consumption and imbibing, I waited an hour or so and then hit the run. The first 10 miles breezed by and, other than hydrating, I didn't feel like I needed additional fueling. Miles 13-15 were more challenging, methinks, because I forgot to bring my Clif Bar Shot Bloks with me and my body was hurting for serious energy (a mistake I will not make again). But, these are reasons why I train...to learn what works, what doesn't and what my body really needs while running.
Another thing I've learned about myself is how much fluid I require and consume. I'm constantly drinking, which I think is good, but the downside of this is that I run out of the fluid I carry on my belt much faster. I'm pretty sure there will be hydration stations along the marathon course, so it's likely I'll just have to stop more often.
The best part of my marathon training is becoming more aware of my body's intelligence and its needs and in learning its own distinct voice - the one which is separate from my mind. By doing so, I'm able to hone in faster to what it's telling or asking me and keep it balanced.
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