Quote of the day

"Plus, he said, 'We don't have enough time, energy and resources to map all the fuck you's of the world.' "

Robert Gibbs
Communications director for Obama Campaign

Modus Claritus Aquarius et Sometimus Bullshitus

A Voice Of Controversy
Aquarius Daily Horoscope
An intense need to speak the truth can influence your thoughts, speech, and actions today. Though you may be utterly sure in your convictions, you may also recognize that some of your beliefs will be deemed controversial by others. You will likely take pleasure in sharing radical ideas with people in your personal and professional spheres because the resultant lively conversations can stimulate your mind. You may even enjoy adopting a truly radical position in order to incite active debate. If you feel you must suppress certain opinions, however, take a moment to reconsider. Others may be receptive to even your most unorthodox beliefs today if you frame them in a rational and respectful manner.

We should never be afraid to speak our minds when the opinions we hold are controversial because the popular stance is not necessarily the most conscious one. Often, it takes someone willing to voice and then explain an unpopular belief to sway those who might otherwise gravitate toward the majority position. When we speak from the heart and are free with our ideas, we create an open forum in which those who are curious about what we think can ask questions. Likewise, we attract the attention of those who hold similarly radical opinions but were hesitant to speak out for fear of rejection. Even if others don’t agree with our ideas, our vocal commitment will earn their respect and esteem. When you allow yourself to speak controversially today, you will no doubt find support in unlikely places

Your Sudden Journey

your sudden journey
from our city
my beloved
filled you with sweetness
and left me in the dark

you went along
with your own sweetheart
the one for whom
every soul is ready
to leave the body and fly

it was that spectrum
the one who came
first as a light
brightened your path
then took you away in limelight

you were ready
happy to leave this lowly earth
while filled with ecstasy
you flew away with rapture
to the ultimate and beyond

now that you're gone
you've forever found
the ultimate paradise
free from bread
free from bread givers

now you are
like a pure soul
like a dream
every moment
taking a new form

send me some words
of your tender journey
my beloved and
if you don't
i know for sure
you're forever immersed
like a precious pearl
in the endless sea

-- Ghazal 2565, from the Diwan-e Shams
Translation by Nader Khalili.
"Rumi, Fountain of Fire"
Cal-Earth Press, 1995

"The Restless Dream of You"

In our world, where there are more and more faces, more and more alike, it is difficult for an individual to reinforce the originality of the self and to become convinced of its inimitable uniqueness. There are two methods for cultivating the uniqueness of the self: the method of addition and the method of subtraction. Agnes subtracts from her self everything that is exterior and borrowed, in order to come closer to her sheer essence (even with the risk that zero lurks at the bottom of the subtraction). Laura’s method is precisely the opposite: in order to make her self more visible, perceivable, seizable, sizable, she keeps adding to it more and more attributes and she attempts to identify herself with them (with the risk that the essence of the self may be buried by the additional attributes)."

"The method of addition is quite charming if it involves adding to the self things as a cat, a dog, roast pork, love of the sea or of cold showers. But the matter becomes less idyllic if a person decides to add love for communism, for the homeland, for Mussolini, for Catholicism or atheism, for fascism or antifacism. In both cases the method remains exactly the same: a person stubbornly defending the superiority of cats over other animals is doing basically the same thing as one who maintains that Mussolini was the sole savior of Italy: he is proud of this attribute of the self and he tries to make this attribute (a cat or Mussolini) acknowledged and loved by everyone."

"Here is that strange paradox to which all people cultivating the self by way of the addition method are subject: they use addition in order to create a unique, inimitable self, yet because they automatically become propagandists for the added attributes, they are actually doing everything in their power to make as many others as possible similar to themselves; as a result, their uniqueness (so painfully gained) quickly begins to disappear."

Milan Kundera, Immortality, Pg 100

Tis the Season

for letting go.

Rather than delete my entire profile this year, I deleted just about everything in it.

I just do things sometimes because I need to do them.

And that's as it should be.


~V~

Of course you Know...

Osho's commentary: The Rebel

The powerful and authoritative figure in this card is clearly the master of his own destiny. On his shoulder is an emblem of the sun, and the torch he holds in his right hand symbolizes the light of his own hard won truth. Whether he is wealthy or poor, the Rebel is really an emperor because he has broken the chains of society's repressive conditioning and opinions. He has formed himself by embracing all the colors of the rainbow, emerging from the dark and formless roots of his unconscious past and growing wings to fly into the sky. His very way of being is rebellious - not because he is fighting against anybody or anything, but because he has discovered his own true nature and is determined to live in accordance with it. The eagle is his spirit animal, a messenger between earth and sky. The Rebel challenges us to be courageous enough to take responsibility for who we are and to live our truth.

People are afraid, very much afraid of those who know themselves. They have a certain power, a certain aura and a certain magnetism, a charisma that can take out alive, young people from the traditional imprisonment... The enlightened man cannot be enslaved - that is the difficulty - and he cannot be imprisoned... Every genius who has known something of the inner is bound to be a little difficult to be absorbed, he is going to be an upsetting force. The masses don't want to be disturbed, even though they may be in misery, they are in misery, but they are accustomed to the misery. And anybody who is not miserable looks like a stranger. The enlightened man is the greatest stranger to the world; he does not seem to belong to anybody. No organization confines him, no community, no society, no nation.

We are always remembering

what we already know
what we are born with

Funny how we forget
or maybe we get distracted
by other things until
Our lessons and our teachers
wave a stick and poke us in the eye
slap us on the ass

Smarting at the jab and the whack,

You chuckle under your breath
"Hey, I have known that for so long
and if I'm so awake and aware, how
could I have misplaced everything I
already knew?"

We are continually revisiting the same things in different ways
until we are not simply remembering and forgetting
but one day actually beginning to live what we've known all along and have take for granted,
set aside in our pursuit of myriad distractions and all the flavors we think we want to taste

The pace and structure of our lives lends a hand to never quite getting back to things
and we wonder why we are restless, never quite in tune, never quite satisfied
with those things in our lives that are never fully embraced and understood
much less lived...

~V~

One way of looking at the day:

"Our feelings shouldn't direct our actions and our lives. Our actions should be driven by our hopes, values, and aspirations; above all, they should be driven by our essential purpose. People who are driven by feelings are dangerous. They are undisciplined, inconsistent, and unreliable."

"Every aspect of the human person thrives on discipline, and relationships are no different. Discipline is the price life demands for happiness. Discipline is the road that leads to fullness of life. ... Freedom is not the ability to do whatever you want. Freedom is the strength of character to do what is good, true, noble, and right.

(The Seven Levels of Intimacy, Matthew Kelly)

Squawking Nature

Here's to the crazy ones.
The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They're not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.

You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them,
disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can't do is ignore them.
Because they change things.
They invent. They imagine.
They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire.
They push the human race forward.
Maybe they have to be crazy.

How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?
Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written?
Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?
While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.

Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world,
are the ones who do.

Mantra

The restless wind
Has seen all things
In every kind of light
Rising with the full moon
To go howling through the night

The sleepless wind
Has heard all things
Between the sea and sky
In the canyons of the city
You can hear the buildings cry

...

Oh the wind can carry
All the voices of the sea
Oh the wind can carry
All the echoes home to me

Run with wind and weather
To the music of the sea
All four winds together
Can't bring the world to me
Chase the wind around the world
I want to look at life
In the available light

Play of light
A photograph
The way I used to be
Some half-forgotten stranger
Doesn't mean that much to me

Trick of light
Moving picture
Moments caught in flight
Make the shadows darker
Or the colors shine too bright

...

Oh the light can carry
All the visions of the sea
Oh the light can carry
All the images to me

...

Run to light from shadow
Sun gives me no rest
Promise offered in the east
Broken in the west
Chase the sun around the world
I want to look at life
In the available light

All four winds together
Can't bring the world to me
Shadows hide the play of light
So much I want to see
Chase the light around the world
I want to look at life
In the available light

I'll go with the wind
I'll stand in the light

N. Peart