The Dance Between Passivity and Action

In the background, and often the foreground, there’s a dance that’s playing out. And it’s the dance between passivity and action. Sometimes it feels more like a title fight than a dance, but it’s bigger than us, so we let it ride. Or that’s what we attempt to do, though it doesn’t always work out. One the one hand, we know that all is already perfect and whole, and on the other hand, we are always evolving, developing. Like the Buddhist idea of Always Being, Always Becoming. How do we know when to just Be, and when to Do? If you’re quiet inside, you can feel a leaning toward one and away from the other. A feeling of division and contraction one way, and a feeling of expansion or unity in the other. If it’s too “loud” outside to be quiet on the inside, you can always do nothing. If “something” keeps coming back and...

The Robe Visualization

I think every moment we are able to stay “here” with our experiences, whether good or bad, is a win.  Life only happens in this instant.  It doesn’t happen yesterday or tomorrow.  It doesn’t even happen in an hour.  Our lives are only experienced in the singular moment that we are in right now.  As you read this, it is now.  And again, it is now as you read this next sentence.  Faster than every breath, life is renewed, refreshed, started again.  Plug into that. With some exceptions, living in the past or future seems to be a strange kind of indulgence.  And yet, I find myself doing it as well.  I’m not really sure why we fixate on times other than now.  I mean, you can rehash your mistakes or regrets, difficult times, but to what effect?  You can worry about the future, personally, as a nation, as a species, but does it generally help?  Most of the time, value isn’t...

What If We Don’t Know

What if we don’t know? Then we don’t know. That is all. There are no stories behind it, there’s no need for the thought “and I should know” or anything else. It’s completely quiet inside. Like the calculator has computed an impossible answer and just stops. But we usually don’t do that, do we. We try and try and try some more, then pile on some stories about why we should have an answer. Not knowing, while it may seem like a scary place, is actually a place brimming with possibilities. Instead of feeling like you’ve stopped at a dead end, contemplate instead that you’re at a new beginning. Maybe you’ll remember to consider this next time it happens to you, and prevent the story machine from kicking into gear and adding it’s $.02.

Notable Quote

Stop thinking and start living.

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UG Krishnamurti

Notable Quote

I do not teach my pupils. I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.[ssba_hide]

Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

The Pill Bug

I watched a pill bug cross the patio this morning. Up and down, across the breaks between bricks, his little army of feet waving rhythmically as he journeyed forward. Exposed to the bright sun, shining like a silver dot against the red brick. All he knew was forward. He wasn’t set on winning any speed records, he was just moving at his natural pace. As I was watching him quietly, I heard the familiar buzz of a hummingbird coming to feed and turned my attention to her for a bit.  And when I turned back a moment or two later, it took some looking for me to find my pill bug friend again. It was surprising to see how much ground he had covered by simply continuing to move forward, even slowly. As he made his path from the garden toward the shady fence, it occurred to me that his journey is not unlike yours and mine. We have our ups and downs, we are seeking the comfortable destination we...