Season's Blessings

Recommendation


Promise me,
promise me this day,
promise me now,
while the sun is overhead
exactly at the zenith,
promise me:

Even as they

strike you down
with a mountain of hatred and violence;
even as they step on you and crush you
like a worm,
even as they dismember and disembowel you,
remember, brother,
remember:
man is not our enemy.

The only thing worthy of you is compassion-
invincible, limitless, unconditional.
Hatred will never let you face
the beast in man.


One day, when you face this beast alone,
with your courage intact, your eyes kind,
untroubled
(even as no one sees them),
out of your smile
will bloom a flower.
And those who love you
will behold you
across ten thousand worlds of birth and dying.


Alone again,
I will go on with bent head,
knowing that love has become eternal.
On the long, rough road,
the sun and the moon
will continue to shine.


-Thich Nhat Hanh, 1965


~Be well & peace to you~


::MixMasterE::

The Painter's Edge

Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion. ~Democritus

Everybody who has ever lived on this planet has, at one point or another, looked up into a clear, star-lit sky and wondered, "Why are we here? Who or what created everything?" No one will ever know these answers with absolute certainty and this to me is what makes this life so beautifully complex and interesting. Looking at the pictures of deep space from the Hubble Ultra Deep Telescope probing the outermost edge of the observable universe, one is awe-struck, speechless...humbled. Out of this infinite space where indubitably other beings exist (& where modern scientific theories become inadequate descriptive/predictive tools), one comes to the realization that we are definitely not what we appear to be or who we think we are.

What our eyes behold may well be the text of life but one's meditations on the text and the disclosures of these meditations are no less a part of the structure of reality.
-Wallace Stevens

OneLove

::MixMasterE::

On Existential & Democratic Possibilities

Listen: Hope on a Tightrope

Cornel West is indispensible in the quest for intellectual broad-mindedness and courageous honesty. I have highlighted the wisdom of Dr West before, & after reading his lastest book, "Hope On A Tightrope", I was once again deeply impressed with this modern-day Socrates. Words & ideas become alive and relevant when he expresses himself on any given topic, cross-pollinating various spheres of knowledge with such breath-taking dexterity, vision & passion that few can surpass. The Afterword of the book highlights the books & music that shaped his life which I dutifully noted for further research. I encourage you to CAREFULLY listen to Dr West in the above playlist and be prepared for reinvention (turning of the soul)....

Peace,

::MixMasterE::