Archive for the ‘Quotations,’ Category

“to the winds of the west
mother jaguar
protect our medicine space
teach us the way of peace, to live impeccably
show us the way beyond death”

– alberto villoldo, anthropologist
this is a part of an invocation prayer for creating one’s sacred space. i wrote about sacred spaces a few days ago…the jaguar represents the west and stands for transformation, renewal and the cycle of life and death.
invoking the symbolic energy of the jaguar leads to transformation of heavy energies to those of light – or more positive ones.
old patterns and habits that are destructive and redundant need to die to give life to new hope and restore balance.
when anyone needs spiritual or psychological balance connecting to the protecting energy of the jaguar is invoked.

“the greatest perfection seems imperfect
and yet its use is inexhaustible.
the greatest fullness seems empty
and yet its use is endless.”

lao tzu is asking us to look at the world we live in with new eyes. we are so used to looking at the world through conditioned eyes with the mindsets we have grown up with. our assessments are limited and endless and are based on teachings we have adopted as the only truth. they skim the surface and look at what’s obvious and superficial. we are being asked to look anew at that which we don’t see and consider senseless or out of sync.
step by step, moment by moment we evolve as human beings to that which we consider to be our higher vision of ourselves.  so all is as it’s meant to be.
perhaps there’s a method to the worlds madness and there’s tranquility in nonjudgement.

“it is right it should be so
man was made for joy and woe;
and when this we rightly know
through the world we safely go.”

– william blake
accepting suffering as a part of our existence of life is a way to end it . no getting away from it, but no point in letting it stick to us. the duality of life is there, the way to find a balance in it is through creativity and acceptance.

‘love is a surrender of ego and a meltdown of pride. love is a blossoming of beauty and a source of kindness. love is the soul of all stories, and inspiration to all poetry. the greatest art is the art of love. life without love is empty and art without love is vanity….
love is the solution to all our problems.
love is the answer to all our questions.
love is more than a thought or a concept or a principle, it is existence itself.
love is, therefore we are.
love is life imperative.’

- satish kumar, in ‘earth pilgrim’

love is a much used and abused word yet i come back to it for it is the source of all existence and happiness. like my friend satish says, love is a potent and all powerful life force and energy. there’s no life without love on earth.
for me it also means acceptance and loving what is in nature and being in peace with oneself and the world around us.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           it is unity and not uniformity.
compassion and kindness.
change is integral to our existence.                                                                                                                                                                           changing seasons, changing times, changing reasons…..birth and rebirth, accepting and growing, going with the flow and loving all of it as it comes and goes is a part of our life purpose.

” he who knows others is wise ;
he who knows himself is enlightened.”

- lao tzu

seems like we have about 60,000 thoughts every day. to control and monitor each and every one of them would be an exhausting task.
however, our feelings let us know quickly how we are feeling.
if you’re feeling good then you can be sure you’re having good thoughts about anything and if you’re not feeling so good then turn to your thoughts and you’ll find your thoughts are negative and are making you feel the way you are.
let your feelings be your guide to your thoughts. it depends on us and our awareness of where we want to be.
change your thoughts and you change how you feel.
it works if you want it to.
the choice is yours.

to see a world in a grain of sand,
and a heaven in a wild flower,
hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
and eternity in an hour.

– william blake

blake reminded us through these beautiful words that everything we may need in order to understand the vastness of this universe lives in the simplicity of each small fragment.

“time and tide wait for no man.”

“if you want others to be happy, practice compassion. if you want to be happy, practice compassion”.
– the dalai lama

….and i would add here what i was once told by rimpoche dagpo that, “to be truly compassionate you have to be very strong yourself.”

” the purpose of our lives is to be happy. ”

- dalai lama