CRY OUT IN YOUR WEAKNESS

A dragon was pulling a bear into its terrible mouth.

A courageous man went and rescued the bear.
There are such helpers in the world, who rush to save
anyone who cries out. Like Mercy itself,
they run toward the screaming.

And they can't be bought off.
If you were to ask one of those, "Why did you come
so quickly?" he or she would say, "Because I heard
your helplessness."

Where lowland is,
that's where water goes. All medicine wants
is pain to cure.

And don't just ask for one mercy.
Let them flood in. Let the sky open under your feet.
Take the cotton out of your ears, the cotton
of consolations, so you can hear the sphere-music.

Push the hair our of your eyes.
Blow the phlegm from your nose,
and from your brain.

Let the wind breeze through.
Leave no residue in yourself from that bilious fever.
Take the cure for impotence,
that your manhood may shoot forth,
and a hundred new beings come of your coming.

Tear the binding from around the foot
of your soul, and let it race around the track
in front of the crowd. Loosen the knot of greed
so tight around your neck. Accept your new good luck.

Give your weakness
to one who helps.

Crying out loud and weeping are great resources.
A nursing mother, all she does
is wait to hear her child.

Just a little beginning-whimper,
and she's there.

God created the child, that is, your wanting,
so that it might cry out, so that milk might come.

Cry out! Don't be stolid and silent
with your pain. Lament! And let the milk
of loving flow into you.

The hard rain and wind
are ways the cloud has
to take care of us.

Be patient.
Respond to every call
that excites your spirit.

Ignore those that make you fearful
and sad, that degrade you
back toward disease and death.

RUMI

Change

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.”
Aristotle

The Need for Emptiness

What a challenge it is to stay ongoingly empty, to be able to locate myself in the present. What a challenge it is to catch myself when I'm lost as though I existed in the near future for which I'm now making plans. Once I do, I feel the release of the energy that was getting stale, trapped in a box with no ventilation, rotting as I went on obliviously, lost in thought. Perhaps, this rancid energy, when noticed, can be the pointer to the need for freshness, the need to empty the planning mind. Choices need to be made, and although they will affect the future, they can only be effectively made in the emptiness of the present moment.

Happiness

My illusion about the achievement of happiness being a journey with a destination is slowly dying away. Concomitantly, temporal perception is shifting from linear movement toward a future, to the understanding of there being no future. Hence, happiness is slowly uncovered as a basic state, fresh in the present moment, by tuning the mind to the perception of here-now, and here-now alone.

Driving up north

My whole life I got it wrong: I thought that if only I helped others find answers, I would be helping them to be happier. I now understand that I can only truly help by having the courage to be who I am.

Now, plans and tomorrow

As I observe an enourmous amount of energy rise within as I continuoslly renew my direct connection with the present moment, I also think of tomorrow. I see my desire to use this energy for the well-being of others, my most intimate and profound aspiration in life, traceable to a very early age. Tomorrow, however, will bring what it will bring, including the end of this life, and today, that's OK, too.

What's new?

"What's new?" I'm asked. "Everything" I answer.