Words of Martha Graham to Agnes De Mille
There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening
that is translated through you into action,
and because there is only one of you in all time,
this expression is unique. Read more…
Our companion from childhood.
Photo by Katenflix
The bad news is you’re falling through the air, nothing to hang on to, no parachute. The good news is there’s no ground.
Chogyam Trunpa
The Dissolution of the Order of the Star
by Jiddu Krishnamurti
Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895-1986) was born into a Telugu Brahmin family in what was then colonial India. In early adolescence, he had a chance encounter with prominent occultist and theosophist Charles Webster Leadbeater. Leadbetter and Annie Besant identified him as a “vehicle” for an expected World Teacher. The Order of the Star in the East was founded in 1911 to proclaim the coming of the World Teacher. Krishnamurti was made Head of the Order. On August 2, 1929, the opening day of the annual Star Camp at Ommen, Holland, Krishnamurti repudiated and dissolved the Order before 3000 members. He claimed allegiance to no nationality, caste, religion, or philosophy, and spent the rest of his life traveling the world, speaking to large and small groups and individuals.
From An Essay by William Burroughs
It seems counterintuitive – almost iconiclastic – to imagine that William Burroughs would have written self-help essays, but he did. Burroughs (1914-1997) was an American novelist, poet, essayist and performer, as well as a drug addict. In 1943 in New York, he became close to Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, forming the countercultural movement of the Beat Generation. Read more…
Eugene Debs delivered this Statement to the Federal Court of Cleveland, Ohio on September 18, 1918 after being convicted of violating the Sedition Act, a law passed by Congress to ban anti-war rhetoric. A demonstration supporting Debs on May 1 escalated into a riot. Debs ran for president from prison and received 913,664 write-in votes.
Your Honor, years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on earth. I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. Read more…
by Thich Nhat Hanh
This is one of the most beautiful teachings ever.
If you are a poet, you will see clearly that there is a cloud floating in this sheet of paper. Without a cloud, there will be no rain; without rain the trees cannot grow; and without trees, we cannot make paper. Read more…
Tantra Song is a book which triumphed over a series of barriers. The result is a rare glimpse into an art form in which East and West, the spiritual and the aesthetic, the ancient and the modern converge.
Chanting the verses from Shantideva’s Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life can transform our limiting attitude that it is all about us and open us to a more spacious understanding of life.
I shall give away fully with no sense of loss
My body, enjoyments and all merits of the three times (past, present and future)
To accomplish the work for ALL sentient beings.
Live in joy, in love
Even among those who hate
Live in joy, in health
Even among the afflicted.
Live in joy, in peace
Even among the troubled.
Look within,
Be still
Free from fear and attachment.
Know the sweet joy of the way.
The Buddha
Orlando had been keeping a visual diary since the beginning of the year. Here is a random selection.
Painting by Orlando Leibovitz
- A moment to moment choice between samsara and nirvana, between bondage and liberation
- Kensho – a brief experience of enlightenment, a flash…
- Sartori – enlightenment, infinite space, intuitive and sudden
- Riding my breath to infinity
- Look within, be still
- Everyday is spellbinding
- Within tears, find hidden laughter Read more…
Metta is a Buddhist practice that cultivates love, kindness and concentration. “Metta is like a soft rain that penetrates the heart, relaxing defense mechanisms associated with fear and ill will,” says DaeJa Napier. “With an active Metta practice, we find ourselves attending to life with greater gentleness. A sense of lightness accompanies the process of thought, speech and general movements of the body.”
On the path to becoming a Digital Goddess, with an apprenticeship in WordPress – determined to learn it inside and out!
11.28.11 Trying out different themes, learning about categories and tags, experimenting with situating these screen shots on the page, reading WordPress documentation and blogs.
Put up two posts and took them down. Imported another template, took screen shots, reverted. Learned about tags and categories.