Holding Peace by Nancy Howe© 2001-2007 Free Spirit ArtFrom Pronoia by Rob Brezsny: At the Beauty and Truth Laboratory, we believe that stories about the rot are not inherently more captivating than stories about the splendor. On the contrary, given how predictable and omnipresent the former have become, they are actually quite dull. Obsessing on … Read more
It takes dynamite to get me upToo much of everything is just enoughOne more thing I just got to say —I need a miracle every day,I need a miracle every day. — Bob Weir/John Barlow Every year in August, I have been going on a week-long spiritual retreat to West Virginia. But last year, I … Read more
May all beings have happiness and the causes of happiness.May all beings not have suffering and the causes of suffering.May all beings never be without the supreme bliss, free from all suffering.May all beings live in the great equanimity, free from all attachment and aversion.— from The Great Peace Prayer of the Buddha Craft leader … Read more
The nature of life is bliss. Everyone is born to enjoy, we are not born to suffer. We have been hearing for centuries past that there is great potentiality hidden within everyone. It is hidden in us, not because it is difficult to bring out, but simply because we are not bringing it out, that … Read more
Because of you, in gardens of blossoming flowers I ache from thePerfumes of spring…Because of you, the heady perfumes of summer pain me; becauseOf you, I again seek out the signs that precipitate desires: shootingStars, falling objects.— Love by Pablo Neruda Some say that happiness can only be reached by ceasing to desire. In this … Read more
It’s good to be just plain happy, it’s a little better to know that you’re happy; but to understand that you’re happy and to know why and how and still be happy, be happy in the being and the knowing, well that is beyond happiness, that is bliss. — Henry Miller Bliss is so many … Read more
The Lovers – © Sharon RussellSweet days of SummerThe jasmine’s in bloom.July is dressed up and playing her tune…Seals and Crofts – Summer Breeze What is bliss? What exactly, for that matter, is pleasure? James Olds was the chemist who first located the brain’s pleasure center, while he was experimenting with rats. He dubbed it … Read more
Let us roll all our strength, and allOur sweetness, up into one ball;And tear our pleasures with rough strifeThorough the iron gates of life.Thus, though we cannot make our sunStand still, yet we will make him run.from To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell (1681) What perfect synchronicity! Now, in the height of the fertile, … Read more
Listen, whatever it is you tryto do with your life, nothing will ever dazzle youlike the dreams of your body, its spiritlonging to fly while the dead-weight bones toss their dark mane and hurryback into the fields of glittering fire where everything,even the great whale,throbs with song.The Humpbacks by Mary Oliver When we experience bliss, … Read more
When I was one I’d just begun,When I was two I was nearly new,When I was three I was hardly me,When I was four I was not much more,When I was five I was barely alive,But now I am six! As clever as clever!And I think I’ll stay six now for ever and ever! — … Read more