|
Attention: Year 2009 is here
Wishing a very Happy New Year to all members of FFI. Our new and improved site is ready. To visit main site, click at faithfreedom.org and to visit our new forum, click at forum09.faithfreedom.org and register again. Do not worry about your old forum posts and PM, everything is saved here till 31st December, 2008 for future references.
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
The Cat
Joined: 23 Apr 2005
Posts: 4357
|
 Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2006 5:53 pm Post subject: |
 |
|
''Life is like nothing I've ever seen.'' --Arthur Penn.
_________________
Authority has the same etymological root as authenticity.
Last edited by The Cat on Sun Jul 02, 2006 3:14 pm; edited 2 times in total |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
The Cat
Joined: 23 Apr 2005
Posts: 4357
|
| Posted: Sun Apr 16, 2006 1:55 am Post subject: |
|
|
Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet: On Work...
| Quote: |
Kahlil Gibran. The Prophet -07: Work
Then a ploughman said, "Speak to us of Work."
And he answered, saying:
You work that you may keep pace with the earth
And the soul of the earth.
For to be idle is to become a stranger unto the seasons,
And to step out of life's procession, that marches in majesty
And proud submission towards the infinite.
When you work you are a flute through whose heart
The whispering of the hours turns to music.
Which of you would be a reed, dumb and silent,
When all else sings together in unison?
Always you have been told that work
Is a curse and labour a misfortune.
But I say to you that when you work
You fulfill a part of earth's furthest dream,
Assigned to you when that dream was born,
And in keeping yourself with labour you are in truth loving life,
And to love life through labour is to be intimate
With life's innermost secret.
But if you in your pain call birth an affliction
And the support of the flesh a curse written upon your brow,
Then I answer that naught but the sweat of your brow
Shall wash away that which is written.
You have been told also life is darkness,
And in your weariness you echo what was said by the weary.
And I say that life is indeed darkness save when there is urge,
And all urge is blind save when there is knowledge,
And all knowledge is vain save when there is work,
And all work is empty save when there is love;
And when you work with love you bind yourself to yourself,
And to one another, and to God.
And what is it to work with love?
It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart,
Even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth.
It is to build a house with affection,
Even as if your beloved were to dwell in that house.
It is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy,
Even as if your beloved were to eat the fruit.
It is to charge all things you fashion with a breath of your own spirit,
And to know that all the blessed dead
Are standing about you and watching.
Often have I heard you say, as if speaking in sleep,
"he who works in marble, and finds the shape of his own soul
In the stone, is a nobler than he who ploughs the soil.
And he who seizes the rainbow to lay it on a cloth
In the likeness of man, is more than he who makes
The sandals for our feet."
But I say, not in sleep but in the over-wakefulness of noontide,
That the wind speaks not more sweetly to the giant oaks
Than to the least of all the blades of grass;
And he alone is great who turns the voice of the wind
Into a song made sweeter by his own loving.
Work is love made visible. And if you cannot
Work with love but only with distaste,
It is better that you should leave your work
And sit at the gate of the temple
And take alms of those who work with joy.
For if you bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter bread
That feeds but half man's hunger.
And if you grudge the crushing of the grapes,
Your grudge distills a poison in the wine.
And if you sing though as angels, and love not the singing,
You muffle man's ears to the voices of the day
And the voices of the night. |
_________________
Authority has the same etymological root as authenticity.
Last edited by The Cat on Mon Jul 03, 2006 8:51 am; edited 6 times in total |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
The Cat
Joined: 23 Apr 2005
Posts: 4357
|
| Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2006 1:24 am Post subject: |
|
|
The Crab Supernova. According to the -most reliable- Chinese astronomers, the Crab Supernova exploded the 4th of July 1054, producing a light so bright that it was visible in -daylight- for three whole weeks, and at nightime for about two years. The problem occurs because we know that the schism between the Orthodox and the Catholic Churches arose the 16th of July 1054, thus under the daylight visibility of this most singular phenomena. Yet, not a single western document talks about it. As always, silence answered much troubling astronomical questions, as in the case of the Southern Cross Constellation, visible in our hemisphere until the 1st century, at Easter time!
_________________
Authority has the same etymological root as authenticity.
Last edited by The Cat on Sun Jul 02, 2006 3:30 pm; edited 4 times in total |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
The Cat
Joined: 23 Apr 2005
Posts: 4357
|
| Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2006 12:01 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Anthony deMello SJ, One Minute Wisdom...
| Quote: |
DOCTRINE
To a visitor who claimed he had no need to search for Truth
because he found it in the beliefs of his religion the Master said:
"There was once a student
who never became a mathematician
because he blindly believed the answers
he found at the back of his math textbook
—and, ironically, the answers were correct."
BENEVOLENCE
A grocer came to the Master in great distress to say
that across the way from his shop they had opened
a large chain store that would drive him out of business.
His family had owned his shop for a century ~
and to lose it now would be his undoing,
for there was nothing else he was skilled at.
Said the Master, "If you fear the owner of the chain store,
you will hate him. And hatred will be your undoing."
"What shall I do?" said the distraught grocer.
"Each morning walk out of your shop onto the sidewalk
and bless your shop, wishing it prosperity.
Then turn to face the chain store and bless it too."
"What? Bless my competitor and destroyer?"
"Any blessing you give him will rebound to your good.
Any evil you wish him will destroy you."
After six months the grocer returned to report
that he had had to close down his shop as he had feared,
but he was now in charge of the chain store
and his affairs were in better shape than ever before.
REVELATION
The monks of a neighboring monastery asked the Master's help
in a quarrel that had arisen among them.
They had heard the Master say he had a technique
that was guaranteed to bring love and harmony to any group.
On this occasion he revealed it:
"Any time you are with anyone
or think of anyone you must say to yourself:
I am dying and this person too is dying,
attempting the while to experience
the truth of the words you are saying.
If every one of you agrees to practice this,
bitterness will die out, harmony will arise."
Having said that, he was gone.
THOUGHT
"Why are you so wary of thought?" said the philosopher. "
Thought is the one tool we have for organizing the world."
"True.
But thought can organize the world so well
that you are no longer able to see it."
To his disciples he later said, "A thought is a screen, not a mirror;
that is why you live in a thought envelope, untouched by Reality." |
_________________
Authority has the same etymological root as authenticity.
Last edited by The Cat on Tue Jul 04, 2006 11:15 pm; edited 5 times in total |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
The Cat
Joined: 23 Apr 2005
Posts: 4357
|
| Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2006 12:06 pm Post subject: |
|
|
A star in becoming... This one is called the Eagle Nebula.
_________________
Authority has the same etymological root as authenticity.
Last edited by The Cat on Mon Jul 03, 2006 3:13 am; edited 3 times in total |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
The Cat
Joined: 23 Apr 2005
Posts: 4357
|
| Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2006 4:34 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Oh Yeah? You sure it ain't a honey hive? We're having an argument over that...
_________________
Authority has the same etymological root as authenticity.
Last edited by The Cat on Sun Jul 02, 2006 4:00 pm; edited 2 times in total |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
The Cat
Joined: 23 Apr 2005
Posts: 4357
|
| Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2006 4:48 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Bears are so silly. It's obviously some growing, delicious, plankton.
Don't we all tend to see things as we are (subjectivity) and not as they are in reality?
_________________
Authority has the same etymological root as authenticity.
Last edited by The Cat on Mon Jul 03, 2006 2:33 am; edited 1 time in total |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
The Cat
Joined: 23 Apr 2005
Posts: 4357
|
| Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2006 2:23 am Post subject: |
|
|
Jiddu Krishnamurti: On AWARENESS.
http://www.jkrishnamurti.org/ (16-21 June 2006).
Bits of editing in paragraphs...
| Quote: |
"In awareness there is only the present—that is, being aware, you see the past process of influence which controls the present and modifies the future. Awareness is an integral process, not a process of division. For example, if I ask the question, “Do I believe in God?”—in the very process of asking, I can observe, if I am aware, what it is that is making me ask that question; if I am aware I can perceive what have been and what are the forces at work that are compelling me to ask that question. Then I am aware of various forms of fear—those of my ancestors who have created a certain idea of God and have handed it down to me, and combining their idea with my present reactions, I have modified or changed the concept of God. If I am aware, I perceive this entire process of the past, its effect in the present and in the future, integrally, as a whole.
If one is aware, one sees how through fear one's concept of God arose; or perhaps there was a person who had an original experience of reality or of God and communicated it to another who in his greediness made it his own, and gave impetus to the process of imitation. Awareness is the process of completeness, and introspection is incomplete. The result of introspection is morbid, painful, whereas awareness is enthusiasm and joy."
June 17th 2006
"How do you look at a tree? Do you see the whole of the tree? If you don't see it as a whole, you don't see the tree at all. You may pass it by and say, “There is a tree, how nice it is!” or say, "It is a mango tree," or "I do not know what those trees are; they may be tamarind trees." But when you stand and look—I am talking actually, factually—you never see the totality of it; and if you don't see the totality of the tree, you do not see the tree.
In the same way is awareness. If you don't see the operations of your mind totally in that sense—as you see the tree—you are not aware. The tree is made up of the roots, the trunk, the branches, the big ones and the little ones and the very delicate one that goes up there; and the leaf, the dead leaf, the withered leaf and the green leaf, the leaf that is eaten, the leaf that is ugly, the leaf that is dropping, the fruit, the flower—all that you see as a whole when you see the tree. In the same way, in that state of seeing the operations of your mind, in that state of awareness, there is your sense of condemnation, approval, denial, struggle, futility, the despair, the hope, the frustration; awareness covers all that, not just one part. So, are you aware of your mind in that very simple sense, as seeing a whole picture—not one corner of the picture and saying, "Who painted that picture?""
June 18th 2006
"If awareness is practiced, made into a habit, then it becomes tedious and painful. Awareness cannot be disciplined. That which is practiced is no longer awareness, for in practice is implied the creation of habit, the exertion of effort and will. Effort is distortion. There is not only the awareness of the outer—of the flight of birds, of shadows, of the restless sea, the trees and the wind, the beggar and the luxurious cars that pass by—but also there is the awareness of the psychological process, the inward tension and conflict. You do not condemn a bird in flight; you observe it, you see the beauty of it. But, when you consider your own inward strife, you condemn it or justify it. You are incapable of observing this inward conflict without choice or justification.
To be aware of your thought and feeling without identification and denial is not tedious and painful, but in search of a result, an end to be gained, conflict is increased and the tedium of strife begins."
June 19th 2006
"Awareness is that state of mind which takes in everything—the crows flying across the sky, the flowers on the trees, the people sitting in front, the colors they are wearing—being extensively aware which needs watching, observing, taking in the shape of the leaf, the shape of the trunk, the shape of the head of another, what he is doing. To be extensively aware and from there acting—that is to be aware of the totality of one's own being.
To have a mere sectional capacity, a fragmentation of capacity or capacity fragmented, and to pursue that capacity and derive experience through that capacity which is limited—that makes the quality of the mind mediocre, limited, narrow. But an awareness of the totality of one's own being, understood through the awareness of every thought and every feeling, and never limiting it, letting every thought and every feeling flower, and therefore being aware—that is entirely different from action or concentration that is merely capacity and therefore limited.
To let a thought flower or a feeling flower requires attention—not concentration. I mean by the flowering of a thought giving freedom to it to see what happens, what is taking place in your thought, in your feeling. Anything that flowers must have freedom, must have light; it cannot be restricted. You cannot put any value on it, you cannot say, "That is right, that is wrong; this should be, and that should not be"—thereby, you limit the flowering of thought. And it can only flower in this awareness. Therefore, if you go into it very deeply, you will find that this flowering of thought is the ending of thought."
June 20th 2006
"In awareness there is no becoming, there is no end to be gained. There is silent observation without choice and condemnation, from which there comes understanding. In this process when thought and feeling unfold themselves, which is only possible when there is neither acquisition nor acceptance, then there comes an extensional awareness, all the hidden layers and their significance are revealed. This awareness reveals that creative emptiness which cannot be imagined or formulated. This extensional awareness and the creative emptiness are a total process and are not different stages. When you silently observe a problem without condemnation, justification, there comes passive awareness.
In this passive awareness, the problem is understood and dissolved. In awareness there is heightened sensitivity, in which there is the highest form of negative thinking. When the mind is formulating, producing, there can be no creation. It is only when the mind is still and empty, when it is not creating a problem—in that alert passivity there is creation. Creation can only take place in negation, which is not the opposite of the positive. Being nothing is not the antithesis of being something. A problem comes into being only when there is a search for result. When the search for result ceases, then only is there no problem."
June 21st 2006
"In self-awareness there is no need for confession, for self-awareness creates the mirror in which all things are reflected without distortion. Every thought-feeling is thrown, as it were, on the screen of awareness to be observed, studied and understood; but this flow of understanding is blocked when there is condemnation or acceptance, judgment or identification. The more the screen is watched and understood—not as a duty or enforced practice, but because pain and sorrow have created the insatiable interest that brings its own discipline—the greater the intensity of awareness, and this in turn brings heightened understanding.
...You can follow a thing if it moves slowly; a rapid machine must be made to slow down if one is to study its movements. Similarly, thoughts-feelings can be studied and understood only if the mind is capable of proceeding slowly; but once it has awakened this capacity, it can move at a high velocity, which makes it extremely calm. When revolving at high speed the several blades of a fan appear to be a solid sheet of metal. Our difficulty is to make the mind revolve slowly so that each thought-feeling can be followed and understood. What is deeply and thoroughly understood will not repeat itself." |
_________________
Authority has the same etymological root as authenticity.
Last edited by The Cat on Mon Jul 03, 2006 3:15 am; edited 2 times in total |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
The Cat
Joined: 23 Apr 2005
Posts: 4357
|
| Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2006 2:29 am Post subject: |
|
|
Meditation is all about slowing down the interpretative so that real awareness comes into being...
_________________
Authority has the same etymological root as authenticity.
Last edited by The Cat on Mon Jul 03, 2006 9:15 pm; edited 1 time in total |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
The Cat
Joined: 23 Apr 2005
Posts: 4357
|
| Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2006 2:40 am Post subject: |
|
|
A dove on a barb wire...
_________________
Authority has the same etymological root as authenticity. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
The Cat
Joined: 23 Apr 2005
Posts: 4357
|
| Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2006 8:12 pm Post subject: |
|
|
A few excerpts from Jelaluddin Rumi
| Quote: |
Everything in the Universe is within you.
Ask all from yourself.
On Children Running Through
I used to be shy.
You made me sing.
I used to refuse things at table.
Now I shout for more wine.
In somber dignity,
I used to sit on my mat and pray.
Now children run through
and make faces at me.
Say, I Am You
I am dust particles in sunlight. I am the round sun.
To the bits of dust I say, Stay. To the sun, Keep moving.
I am morning mist, and the breathing of evening.
I am wind in the top of a grove, and surf on the cliff.
Mast, rudder, helmsman, and keel,
I am also the coral reef they founder on.
I am a tree with a trained parrot in its branches.
Silence, thought, and voice.
The musical air coming through a flute,
a spark of stone, a flickering in metal.
Both candle and the moth crazy around it.
Rose, and the nightingale lost in the fragrance.
I am all orders of being, the circling galaxy,
the evolutionary intelligence, the lift, and the falling away.
What is, and what isn't.
You who know, Jelaluddin,
You the one in all, say who I am.
Say I am you.
Just as the heart becomes carefree in a place of green, growing plants,
Goodwill and kindness are born when our souls enter happiness.
Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.
Intellectuals try not to drown, while the whole purpose of love is drowning |
_________________
Authority has the same etymological root as authenticity. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
The Cat
Joined: 23 Apr 2005
Posts: 4357
|
| Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2006 8:25 pm Post subject: |
|
|
''In somber dignity, I used to sit on my mat and pray.
Now children run through and make faces at me.'' --Jelaluddin Rumi.
''Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked them, but Jesus said, "Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."(Mat.19.13-14).
_________________
Authority has the same etymological root as authenticity. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
The Cat
Joined: 23 Apr 2005
Posts: 4357
|
| Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2006 8:52 pm Post subject: |
|
|
''I used to refuse things at table. Now I shout for more wine.'' --J. Rumi.
Claude Monet, Still life. I actually have this reproduction in my kitchen.
--"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you will know them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Just so, every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. So by their fruits you will know them.'' (Mat.7.15-20).
--He said to them, "Are even you likewise without understanding? Do you not realize that everything that goes into a person from outside cannot defile, since it enters not the heart but the stomach and passes out into the latrine?" (Thus he declared all foods clean.) "But what comes out of a person, that is what defiles. From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile." (Mk.7.18-23).
_________________
Authority has the same etymological root as authenticity. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
The Cat
Joined: 23 Apr 2005
Posts: 4357
|
| Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2006 9:14 pm Post subject: |
|
|
''Just as the heart becomes carefree in a place of green, growing plants,
Goodwill and kindness are born when our souls enter happiness.
Let the beauty we love be what we do.'' --J. Rumi.
_________________
Authority has the same etymological root as authenticity. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
The Cat
Joined: 23 Apr 2005
Posts: 4357
|
| Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 1:28 am Post subject: |
|
|
Sunset over the French Saint Michel medieval monastery.
_________________
Authority has the same etymological root as authenticity. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
