Morning Trip (28)

“The major and almost the only theme of all my work is the struggle of man with ‘God’: the unyielding, inextinguishable struggle of the naked worm called ‘man’ against the terrifying power and darkness of the forces within him and around him. The stubbornness of the struggle, the tenacity of the little spark in its fight to penetrate the age-old, boundless night and conquer it.”

“Some crackpots search for God, thinking perhaps he lurks somewhere amid the branches of the flesh and mind; some squander precious life, chasing the empty air; some, still more pigeon-brained, think they’ve already found him and work on his compassion with their begging whines till their minds break from too much joy or too much pain. But others, great brain-archers, know the secret well: by God is meant to hunt God through the empty air!”
– Nikos Kazantzakis

Morning Trip (27)

Joyful expressions!

This is in four parts, they will all be posted one at a time each day in the comments on this particular Morning Trip. The description of the piece from the YouTube poster is also in the first comment.

Morning Trip (26)

Meditation on Affliction
Assailed by afflictions, we discover dharma and find the way to liberation. Thank you, evil forces!

When sorrows invade the mind, we discover dharma and find lasting happiness. Thank you, sorrows!

Through harm caused by spirits we discover dharma and find fearlessness. Thank you, ghosts and demons!

Through people’s hate we discover dharma and find benefits and happiness. Thank you, those who hate us!

Through cruel adversity, we discover dharma and find the unchanging way. Thank you, adversity!

Through being impelled to by others, we discover dharma and find the essential meaning. Thank you, all who drive us on!

We dedicate our merit to you all, to repay your kindness.

— Gyalwa Longchenpa

I felt moved by the above quote today. I am grateful it was posted on Secret Notebooks Wild Pages

Morning Trip (25)

“Vulnerability is built into our hearts, which can be sliced open at any moment by some sudden shift in the arrangements, some pain, some horror, some hurt. We know and instinctively fear this, so we protect our hearts by covering them against exposure. But this doesn’t work. Covering the heart binds and suffocates it until, like a wound that has been kept dressed for too long, the heart starts to fester and becomes fetid. Eventually, without air, the heart is all but killed off, and there’s no feeling, no experiencing at all.”
– Norman Fischer

And then…the Creator has other plans!

One drop of rains falls.
It can be ignored.
More gently patter down.
I look up (do you?).
A teasing pause.
One drop, two, a rush, a dance
The mind moves, the body follows.
A weaving dance, feeling joy, creating downpours of expression,
rising, twisting, and spinning
across a pattern of life
simple joy.
I smile, inside and out (do you?).
Come to ground.
Refreshed by self after converting gift of rain.
I sit, peacefully (do you?).
I watch the gift of ground.

–elisabeth connelley

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Morning Trip (24)

I see my beauty in you. I become
a mirror that cannot close its eyes

to your longing. My eyes wet with
yours in the early light. My mind

every moment giving birth, always
conceiving, always in the ninth

month, always the come-point. How
do I stand this? We become these

words we say, a wailing sound moving
out into the air. These thousands of

worlds that rise from nowhere, how
does your face contain them? I’m

a fly in your honey, then closer, a
moth caught in flame’s allure, then

empty sky stretched out in homage.
– Jelaluddin Rumi
The Glance Songs of Soul-Meeting

Morning Trip (23)

Happiness is not the opposite of depression. The pursuit of happy is much like trying to be hot or to be cold. The concept of happy robs all of the enchantment of simple experience,
creating both the illusion of depression and the biochemical state of the brain caused by the stress of trying to obtain a thing that does not exist. The illusion of leaving depression comes from the lift from moving forward and taking action on each daily thing. The relief of the state of depression does not equal happy, it equals healthy choices, though such choices can come from avoidance of unpleasant feelings and emotions. Perhaps underneath it all, humans are so used to listening to others insisting and promoting the concept that we have some thing to escape, that we are always attempting to create an alternative to heaven to possess right now–the ultimate escape artists.

Morning Trip (22)

Does a person have the ability to achieve happy? Or, is happy more like a state, such as being hot or being cold? Can one decide to be hot or to be cold?

Morning Trip (21)

A man’s interest in a single bluebird is worth more than a complete but dry list of the fauna and flora of a town. –Henry David Thoreau

Happy Birthday Mr. Thoreau!