Being in St. Croix

If this were you, what would you be thinking about now? Nothing because you would be in the now completely not thinking.

Sunset, St. Croix

Just an ordinary early evening view. Something you could see anywhere. Yeah, right!

Buck Island (St. Croix, U.S. VI)

Soft Sun and Mountains
Photo Credit: Ben Nugent

Not just silence, but a great silence...

Seek the source, of course without seeking. All is indeed One. I ran across this wonderful Zen poem this morning (see below), and thought I'd share it on Conscious Living. It coincides with the direction of my own evolving meditation practice, and it aligns with the message of Healing from the Source: The Science and Lore of Tibetan Medicine, by Dr. Yeshi Dhonden, translated by Dr. B. Alan Wallace, which is one of the required readings for my course on Buddhist Psychology and Methods of Healing.

I love this line: "Sitting alone in a great silence." Not just silence, but a great silence.

Meditating deeply upon Dharma
Reach the depth of the source.
Branching streams cannot compare to this source!
Sitting alone in a great silence
Even though the heavens turn and the earth is upset,
You will not even wink.

- Jakushitsu Genko Zenji (1290-1368)

Who are You?

You are the lotus blossom flowering in the sunlight of your soul. Picture yourself as such, smile deeply, give thanks for your blessings, and be that.

Mind Shifts

"Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions."

-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Don's PS: Consider these ideas and see how your consciousness changes.

* Reality is unknowable.
* You are not who you think you are.
* You are that which comes before whatever you think.
* Through your consciousness, we create your own reality.

On Life

"It is not length of life, but the depth of life that matters."

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Do What You're Here to Do

"Believe, when you are most unhappy, that there is something for you to do in the world. So long as you can sweeten another's pain, life is not in vain."

— Helen Keller

The Non-Conformist Within Us

"He who would be a man must therefore be a non-conformist."

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Don's Recipe for "Conscious" Leadership

Following my speech, I had several engaging conversations with folks at the IEDC Leadership Summit last week. Many of these dialogues centered on the "personal side" of leadership, or what I call "self-leadership," or leading your life in a conscious, caring, and meaningful way. I was asked to share what I do to strengthen my own self-leadership.

There are two aspects to my daily regime: 1) cultivating self-awareness, being in the now, and harmonizing my mind, body, and spirit; and 2) setting myself aside and being present for others.

Here are ten things I try to do every day to lead my life in a more "conscious" way:

1. Meditate for 30 minutes each day. (Early morning works best for me.)
   
2. Exercise for one hour each day. (Usually 30 minutes of some type of cardio, 15 minutes of weight training, and 15 minutes of tai chi/yoga.)
   
3. Practice positive affirmation and cultivating feelings of well-being. My Conscious Living Journal website provides a daily vehicle for this. (10 minutes).
   
4. Read on a daily basis. Because of my graduate training in Consciousness Studies, I am reading many books on spirituality, philosophy, psychology, and consciousness studies. (1 to 2 hours daily.) Many people will find this difficult because of the time commitment.
   
5. Practice unconditional giving (love, caring, help, support) to my family and friends. (I try to do something specific for someone everyday. It can be a small thing that demonstrates my caring and love for others. (15 minutes daily)
   
6. Practice unconditional giving to those needing help with economic development. I have regular contact with economic developers going through a career transition, students exploring opportunities in economic development, and other people who contact me through my Economic Development Futures Journal website and newsletter. (15 minutes daily)
   
7. Acknowledge Nature's power and beauty each day. (Can be as simple as watching the birds at our feeders or gazing upon the beauty of my wife Mary's flower gardens.)
   
8. Give thanks for my clients, business partners, and others I encounter in my economic development work.
   
9. Remind myself every day that "leadership" is about serving others in a conscious, collaborative, and meaningful way. Set the right example and others will follow (not me necessarily, but their own true nature).
   
10. Do my best to bring both my mind and heart to the work I do every day. Work on feeling something about the work I do and the people I serve.
    

A few people asked me: "How do find the time to do these things?" My answer is that I make the time because these things are important to making me a better person. I do these things because they make a real difference in my life and they pay real dividends in my work and other aspects of my life. For those who need a business answer, the return on investment (ROI) is huge!

Contact Don Iannone by email: dtia@don-iannone.com or by phone at: 440.449.0753.

Problems as Opportunities

View all problems as challenges.
Look upon negativities that arise as opportunities to learn and to grow.
Don't run from them, condemn yourself, or bury your burden in saintly silence.
You have a problem? Great.
More grist for the mill. Rejoice, dive in, and investigate.

Source: Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, "Mindfulness in Plain English"

How? Here's how...

Conquer the angry man by love.
Conquer the ill-natured man by goodness.
Conquer the miser with generosity.
Conquer the liar with truth.

Source: The Dhammapada

Let Us Be!

Let us dig our gardens and not be elsewhere:
Let us take long walks in the open air...
Let us bathe in the rivers and lakes...
Let us indulge in games...
Let us be more simple: simple and true in our minds above all. Let us be ourselves.
—Robert Linssen

Moroccan Wisdom

Whatever it is, it is! Don't seek the truth, reality, or anything else in life. Forget about economics, Business 2.0, economic development, and whatever other illusion that steals your "power of now." Surrender to the moment. Stop watching television, reading the newspaper, surfing the Internet, or gossiping about why the Mayor or Governor should be doing this or that. Why do you care about such things? Will they bring you peace? Ride your camel in life simply and honestly. Allow him to surprise you with an unexpected run. Let yourself get very thirsty for several hours and then savor a few drops of water. Talk about developing a new appreciation for life! Trust your own void. That's you!

Day Two: Moroccan Adventure

In some ways, nights are more special than the daytime in the desert. Maybe it's the zillions of stars in the pitch black sky. Maybe it is sitting simply around the campfire and listening to the ancient echoes that whisper to you through the crackling fire or through the cries of the striped hyena off in the distance.

Camels are fragrant beasts, and they have a powerful sense of smell. Check out this nose and you can see why.

It's easy to get riled when you're in an unfamiliar environment. My camel, Hameed, has a way of assuring you things will be alright, but first he must be confident that you respect his way of being in the world. It's either the camel's way or no way.

You see yourself differently from the Moroccan desert. The endless desert and the vast sky that surrounds it make you feel small and unimportant. I'm convinced that everyone should experience these things. Your ego seems to disappear in the vastness that engulfs you. After riding in the warm late morning sun without talking for two hours, you develop a sense of yourself that is different than anything you can find in Cleveland, Ohio. Well better get back to camp.

Moroccan Wisdom

"He who steps in the dung of his own camel knows not the path he walks in life nor the habits of his camel." --Mofad El Fez

Day One: Moroccan Adventure

Don and his camel, Hameed, at sunrise in the Moroccan desert. (Photo to left)

We started the day with a breakfast of Lahouifi M'semmen, preserved lemons, and fresh dates stuffed with nuts.

The food, the sand and sun, and all else is agreeing with me. Internet access is very good in the larger towns. I was able to post to my blogs from the Cafe Om Marrakech.

Yesterday we traveled the high dunes of Erg Lihoudi for an unforgettable night under the stars. We camped near the dunes. It gets chilly at night. (Photo below) In case you are wondering, I have not shaved in five days. Then again, why would you wonder about that?

Yakeeb (our fearless leader below) is blowing on a ghaytah, which is a Moroccan reed instrument. Strange sound. Haunts you. Extreme high notes and low notes. The notes are your life. The music reminds you to find balance somewhere between.

Azure and Gold
By Amy Lowell

April had covered the hills
With flickering yellows and reds,
The sparkle and coolness of snow
Was blown from the mountain beds.

Across a deep-sunken stream
The pink of blossoming trees,
And from windless appleblooms
The humming of many bees.

The air was of rose and gold
Arabesqued with the song of birds
Who, swinging unseen under leaves,
Made music more eager than words.

Of a sudden, aslant the road,
A brightness to dazzle and stun,
A glint of the bluest blue,
A flash from a sapphire sun.

Blue-birds so blue, 't was a dream,
An impossible, unconceived hue,
The high sky of summer dropped down
Some rapturous ocean to woo.

Such a colour, such infinite light!
The heart of a fabulous gem,
Many-faceted, brilliant and rare.
Centre Stone of the earth's diadem!
. . . . .
Centre Stone of the Crown of the World,
"Sincerity" graved on your youth!
And your eyes hold the blue-bird flash,
The sapphire shaft, which is truth.

Photo Credit: Marc Chagall

Photo Credit: Phyllis Bramson

Things
By Fleur Adcock

There are worse things than having behaved foolishly in public.
there are worse things than these miniature betrayals,
committed or endured or suspected; there are worse things
than not being able to sleep for thinking about them.
It is 5 a.m. All the worse things come stalking in
and stand icily about the bed looking worse and worse and worse.

Blowin' in the Wind
By Bob Dylan

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man ?
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand ?
Yes, how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned ?
The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

Yes, how many years can a mountain exist
Before it's washed to the sea ?
Yes, how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free ?
Yes, how many times can a man turn his head
Pretending he just doesn't see ?
The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

Yes, how many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky ?
Yes, how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry ?
Yes, how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died ?
The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

Photo Credit: Ellen McCormick Martens

Ab initio

Check out Don Iannone's new website. It's called Ab initio (Latin) for "from the beginning."

Photo Credit: Bryan Nance

Beatle's Abbey Road Album Cover 1969

This was a memorable album for me as I was just starting college at the University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ) in 1969. My first car was a 1952 Dodge and my first investment in the car was an eight-track tape deck. And my first tape was Abbey Road.



Something

Something in the way she moves
Attracts me like no other lover
Something in the way she woos me

I don't want to leave her now
You know I believe her now

Somewhere in her smile she knows
That I don't need no other lover
Something in her style that shows me

Don't want to leave her now
You know I believe her now

You're asking me will my love grow
I don't know, I don't know
You stick around now it may show
I don't know, I don't know

Something in the way she knows
And all I have to do is think of her
Something in the things she shows me

Don't want to leave her now
You know I believe her now

Cactus Flower
Sabino Canyon, Tucson, AZ
Photo Credit: KD Gordon

Rays of Hope
Photo Credit: Reuters

Peace

What We See"

"Normally, we do not so much look at things as overlook them." --Alan Watts.

Accept

"Just think of the trees: they let the birds perch and fly, with no intention to call them when they come and no longing for their return when they fly away. If people's hearts can be like the trees, they will not be off the Way." --Langya

Whatever It Is, It's About Now

"We have happiness of mind and freedom from anxiety to just the degree that our minds are tamed.... Once we want happiness and do not want suffering, we should engage in the means to achieve happiness and eliminate suffering. Practice is based on reasoning, not force; it is up to oneself.

The time for engaging in these techniques is now. Some feel, 'I did not succeed in this lifetime; I will ask a lama for help in my future life.' To think that we will practise in the future is only a hope. It is foolish to feel that the next life will be as suitable as this. No matter how bad our condition is now, since we have a human brain, we can think; since we have a mouth, we can recite mantra. No matter how old one may be, there is time for practice. However, when we die and are reborn, we are unable even to recite om mani padme hum. Thus, it is important to make all effort possible at this time when we have obtained the precious physical life-support of a human."

-- Deity Yoga: In Action and Performance Tantra by H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa, and Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications

See Through the Pain

"How would we feel if one of our children was overpowered by a serious disease and did some terrible things without knowing what he or she was doing? We should try to view someone dear who suddenly hurts us in the same light. If we can see that person is out of control and sick with negative emotions, we will not feel so much hatred and disgust. There may be resentment, and we may not be able to love that person more than before, but almost automatically there will be a certain sympathy that will lessen or end our hatred and allow us to forgive."

-- Daring Steps Toward Fearlessness: The Three Vehicles of Buddhism by Ringu Tulku Rinpoche

At Sunset

At sunset we watch
beyond where time goes
--to the next place
just beyond,
where we can see.

Give of Yourself

“You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.” --Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

The Fire of Knowledge

“Just as a stone, a tree, a straw, grain, a mat, a cloth, a pot, and so on, when burned, are reduced to earth (from which they came), so the body and its sense organs, on being burned in the fire of Knowledge, become Knowledge and are absorbed in Brahman, like darkness in the light of the sun.” --Shankaracharya

Ab initio

As if a corporate website and two blogs weren't enough, a new Don Iannone website has been born. It's called Ab initio (Latin) for "from the beginning."

55th Birthday

I looked inside myself this fine morning, and this is what I saw: a budding lotus blossom. What better present could I give myself than a true picture of how I am emerging in this present moment?

Celebrate the real "you" inside yourself today on my birthday. Namaste, Don

Thank you His Holiness.

Be I shall, on my birthday and every day thereafter.

I give thanks for the truth that speaks through you.

Indeed!

Enlightenment

"Enlightenment means choosing to dwell in the state of presence rather than in time. It means saying yes to what is.” --Eckhart Tolle

Non-Dual Realization

Compliments of Dan Shimp at Anonymous Dharma.

Thanks Dan

Let's Hash It Over

Each life
--a rainbow in color.
Each soul
--the background
in which the rainbow appears.

Finding the spirit in all things

"Never regard your study as a duty, but as the enviable opportunity to learn to know the liberating influence of beauty in the realm of spirit for your own personal joy and to the profit of the community to which your later work belongs." --Albert Einstein

Go with Nature's Colors

"Nature always wears the colors of the spirit." --Ralph Waldo Emerson

Be a bridge for others

Time?

What is it that we call time? Can you divide this instant from the rest? --Jiddu Krishnamurti

we are guests...

The earth doesn't belong to anyone. It is the land upon which all of us are to live for many years, ploughing, reaping and destroying.You are always a guest on this earth and have the austerity of a guest. Austerity is far deeper than owning only a few things. The very word austerity has been spoilt by the monks, by the sannyasis, by the hermits. Sitting on that high hill alone in the solitude of many things, many rocks and little animals and ants, that word has no meaning."
--Jiddu Krishnamurti

Cast a Light Upon the World

Each of us...a candle in the darkness...there...to help others...and in so doing...we give light to find our own way.

Our real journey...

"We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey." --Stephen Covey

On justice...

"True peace is not merely the absence of tension, it is the presence of Justice." - Martin Luther King

Internet Dad
Photo Credit: Lee County Library, Tupelo, MS.

Earlier this week, I decided to do a search on Google Image for "Don Iannone," thinking digital images of myself posted to various websites would come up. Boy was I surprised when an image of my Dad came up.

Dad just turned 84 on Janaury 1st. The image you see here was taken at the Lee County Library in Tupelo, MS, where he volunteers each week. Seeing my Dad brought a feeling of joy to my heart.

Search for "yourself". You might be surprised at what you find.

Meditation and the Hamster Wheel of Life...

"Have you ever noticed that you keep solving problems? And you keep winding up with new ones?"

"Welcome to the hamster wheel of Life. This is the endless struggle that is part of the duality in which we live. (I'm right, they're wrong. I'm good, they're bad.)"

"We seem to spend our lives in endless struggles doing things we don't like doing. Supposedly, once we accomplish some project, we'll finally really get to do what we like. Or we'll finally have enough money to do something worthwhile."

Link to read more.

The Pain-Body...

"As ego, arising from thoughts of limitations, fractures itself against obstacles, it develops what Eckhart Tolle calls the pain-body.The pain-body then becomes an unconscious entity within. It seeks to feed on pain to survive. It makes a person feel pain and it causes this person to inflict pain on others." Link for more information.

Emergent beauty
Photo Credit: Paul Scharff

on saying grace...

"You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, and swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing, and grace before I dip the pen in ink." — G. K. Chesterton

Openness...

"Openness is a receptivity to everyone and everything. It is quite fundamentally an other-centeredness, a disposition of availability to others." — Wayne Teasdale

Ohio Geological Fault Lines: "It is probable that most significant faults in the state, and certainly the earthquake generating ones, originate in the crystalline basement rocks that underlie Ohio. Many of these faults are thought to be ancient ones that were initially formed hundreds of millions of years ago.. They are zones of weakness that periodically experience failure in the current stress field."

Source: Seismic Center, OH Dept. of Natural Resources


















"Although northeastern Ohio is the secondmost seismically active area of the state, historic earthquakes have been confined to the greater Cleveland area, particularly east of the city. Citizens of the City of Ashtabula and Ashtabula County had never experienced an earthquake centered in their area since arrival of the first permanent European settlers in 1803. However, in 1987, a series of small earthquakes beneath the city of nearly 21,000 people dramatically elevated the community into the seismic spotlight. On July 13, 1987, a 3.8-magnitude earthquake was felt in Ashtabula and surrounding areas, much to the astonishment of residents. This event was the first of a series of felt earthquakes that has continued to the present."

Source: SEISMIC SPOTLIGHT SHINES ON ASHTABULA by Michael C. Hansen, Glenn E. Larsen, and E. Mac Swinford,Division of Geological Survey and Larry J. Ruff, University of MichiganOhio Geology, Issue 2001, Number 3.

Get map of major Ohio earthquakes: Ohio Department of Natural Resources Seismic Center

What might a geomancer have to say about northeast Ohio's changing sacred geometry?

...the math underlying sacred space

From Geomancy.com: "Geomancers are interested in sacred geometry because it is the study of the way that spirit integrates into matter - by echoing and amplifying the geometry of nature and planetary movements, we help to align the resonance of body/mind/spirit with the harmonic frequencies of the above and the below. Spaces that use sacred geometrical ratios, enable the participant to resonate or vibrate at the appropriate rate that maximizes the possibility of connection to the One.

When one looks at sacred enclosures globally, there is a group of five mathematical ratios that are found all over the world from India's temples to underground stone chambers in Vermont, and from Stonehenge to the Great Pyramid. These ratios are:

Pi - (?) - 3.1416... : 1 - Pi is found in any circle. If the diameter is 1, the circumference is 3.1416 (C = p D).
Square Root of Two - (?2) - 1.414
Square Root of Three - (?3) - 1.732
Square Root of Five - (?5) - 2.236
Phi (Ø) - 1.618 : 1 - phi is the Golden Section of the Greeks. It was said to be the first section in which the One became many."

"The square represents the physical. The circle represents the spiritual."

Geomancy

...explores the realm where human consciousness meets and dialogues with the Spirit of the Earth. It empowers the harmonious interaction between person and place.

Through the art of appropriate placement of both secular and spiritual structures, places where we pray, work and play, geomancers locate and shape spaces in harmony with both the physical and the spiritual environment of the place. Geomancers are spiritual ecologists.

Learn more at Mid-Atlantic Geomancy

Old Stone Church Stained Glass Window
Cleveland, Ohio
Photo Credit: Conrad Schmitt

Cleveland Public Square, some time in the latter years of the 19th Century.

What do you suppose these people were thinking about during this warm Spring day in Cleveland's Public Square?

Did they have any inkling what the reality of Cleveland might be like one hundred some years later? What are our thoughts about Cleveland one years from now?

Photo Credit: Zimmerman Family Homepage

on history...

Lately I have been much more aware of "history." Not just the passing of time, but the value of what we've been, and how that gives value to what we are "now."

In our fast-paced world, it is remarkably easy to forget--about what was before. We are still "that" even though we are now "this." It's good to remember who we are. Remember who you are. (Audio file, 4 MB)

Don's First Awakening
January 19, 1951
Martins Ferry Hospital
Photo Credit: Martins Ferry, OH Historical Society

Hilltop View, Martins Ferry, Ohio, Early 1900s?
Photo Credit: Martins Ferry Historical Society

Eastman Kodak Company Post Card
Rochester, NY, 1908
Photo Credit: Camera Works

Miniature Railroad Post Card
Connneaut Lake Park, Pa., 1950s
Photo Credit: VintageViews

Euclid Beach Rocket Ship Rides Post Card
Cleveland, Ohio 1953
Photo Credit: Braun Art Publishing Co.

Medicine Wheel
Source: Mark F. Dodich

Lakota Instructions for Living

Friend do it this way - that is,
whatever you do in life,
do the very best you can
with both your heart and mind.

And if you do it that way,
the Power Of The Universe
will come to your assistance,
if your heart and mind are in Unity.

When one sits in the Hoop Of The People,
one must be responsible because
All of Creation is related.
And the hurt of one is the hurt of all.
And the honor of one is the honor of all.
And whatever we do effects everything in the universe.

If you do it that way - that is,
if you truly join your heart and mind
as One - whatever you ask for,
that's the Way It's Going To Be.

Passed down from White Buffalo Calf Woman

on being an Indian...

"Being Indian is an attitude, a state of mind, a way of being in harmony with all things and all beings. It is allowing the heart to be the distributor of energy on this planet; to allow feelings and sensitivities to determine where energy goes; bringing aliveness up from the Earth and from the Sky, putting it in and giving it out from the heart." ~ Brooke Medicine Eagle

Dancing Figures at Picture Rocks, Near Tucson, Arizona

Ancient messages left from those before helping us understand what earlier people held in their consciousness. Thank you for the message.

in silence there is God...

"For God is silence, and in silence is he sung by means of that psalmody which is worthy of Him. I am not speaking of the silence of the tongue, for if someone merely keeps his tongue silent, without knowing how to sing in mind and spirit, then he is simply unoccupied and becomes filled with evil thoughts: … There is a silence of the tongue, there is a silence of the whole body, there is a silence of the soul, there is the silence of the mind, and there is the silence of the spirit." --John the Solitary in The Syrian Fathers on Prayer and the Spiritual Life

what is I?

"I, and "mine" that is ignorance. By discriminating, you will realize that what you call "I" is really nothing but Atman [the Self]." -- Ramakrishna

detachment from our senses...a tough one

"Now a man may be striving for a perfect union in this life through grace ….. But, manifestly, the perfect union in this life through grace and love demands that he live in darkness to all the objects of sight, hearing, imagination, and everything comprehensible to the heart, that is, to the soul. --Saint John of the Cross

Old door in Kutna Hora in Prague (Czech Republic), photographed by Brad Malin from Carnegie Mellon University.

Old doors have always intrigued me. Maybe because they are the entrance ways to "old places." For me, the old door is a metaphor for the path to timeless wisdom.

They seem to invite us to explore, and discover things about ourselves. Don't you agree?

Open the door (your door) and enter with honesty. See what you find. It may well be one or another version of what Dan Shimp (Santa Fe Dan) may have posted to Anonymous Dharma yesterday.

do objects exist...

"We have established that when any phenomenon is sought through analysis, it cannot be found. So you may be wondering whether these phenomena exist at all. However, we know from direct experience that people and things cause pleasure and pain, and that they can help and harm. Therefore, phenomena certainly do exist; the question is how? They do not exist in their own right, but only have an existence dependent upon many factors, including a consciousness that conceptualizes them."

"Once they exist but do not exist on their own, they necessarily exist in dependence upon conceptualization. However, when phenomena appear to us, they do not at all appear as if they exist this way. Rather, they seem to be established in their own right, from the object's side, without depending upon a conceptualizing consciousness."

"When training to develop wisdom, you are seeking through analysis to find the inherent existence of whatever object you are considering—yourself, another person, your body, your mind, or anything else. You are analyzing not the mere appearance but the inherent nature of the object. Thus it is not that you come to understand that the object does not exist; rather, you find that its inherent existence is unfounded. Analysis does not contradict the mere existence of the object. Phenomena do indeed exist, but not in the way we think they do."

"What is left after analysis is a dependently existent phenomenon. When, for example, you examine your own body, its inherent existence is negated, but what is left is a body dependent on four limbs, a trunk, and a head."

Source: Dalai Lama

understanding selflessness...

"Both Buddhists and non-Buddhists practice meditation to achieve pleasure and get rid of pain, and in both Buddhist and non-Buddhist systems the self is a central object of scrutiny. Certain non-Buddhists who accept rebirth accept the transitory nature of mind and body, but they believe in a self that is permanent, changeless and unitary. Although Buddhist schools accept rebirth, they hold that there is no such solid self. For Buddhists, the main topic of the training in wisdom is emptiness, or selflessness, which means the absence of a permanent, unitary and independent self or, more subtly, the absence of inherent existence either in living beings or in other phenomena." Source: Dalia Lama

finding the essential...

The terms Sunyata or Shunyata, void and emptiness are synonyms in Buddhist philosophy. They are ways of expressing the sense that all we see, feel and observe is relative, in fact non-essential and not self-sustaining. Finding the essential is the real challenge. One clue can be given: compassion, insight and calmness in the mind are part of the essence of things.

mysticism...

"The goal of all mysticism is to cleanse the heart, to educate, or transform, the self, and to find God. The lowest level of the self is dominated by pride, egotism, and totally self-centered greed and lust. This level is the part within each person that leads away from Truth. The highest level is the pure self, and at this level there is no duality, no separation from God." --Robert Frager

Durango, Colorado
This is another town with a "special feel" making you want to "be" there. Maybe it's the calming blue sky on a sunny day. Certainly the surrounding mountains create much "energy."

I have been "through" Durango, but never spent any time there. That was a long time ago. Durango feels familar.

Durango has been touched deeply by Native spirits, which still linger, but seem to speak with more muffled voices.

The historic Strater Hotel is pictured in this photo. Durango has done a nice job of retaining its older downtown building base, which is really important in passing along the city's past and connecting it to the future.

learn by watching ourselves learn...

"When do you learn most? Have you ever watched yourself learning?" --Jiddu Krishnamurti

observation without choice...

" true understanding is possible only when we are fully conscious of our thought, not as an operative observer on this thought, but completely and without the intervention of a choice. "--Jiddu Krishnamurti

C.C. Cohen Restaurant, Paducah, KY

I have never been to Paducah, Kentucky, but my friend George Harben lives there. Because of a recent email exhange with George, I decided to do a virtual tour, which allowed me to discover that Paducah is a charming, almost magical, place along the Ohio River. Paducah speaks to me like a poem that resonates. Who knows, maybe Paducah is a poem living along the Mighty Ohio.

This photo of Cohen's Restaurant in downtown Paducah speaks warmth, a gathering place, and spirit. My quick research finds that the place is on the town's "haunted history" list. Maybe that is what I was "sensing" about it. Here is a little more insight about the Cohen Building, which houses the restaurant and its "ghostly" nature.

Photo Credit: KyHomeTown.

on happiness...

"The pursuit of happiness is a most ridiculous phrase: If you pursue happiness you'll never find it." --C.P. Snow

be the music...

"You are the music while the music lasts." --T. S. Eliot

have faith to love...

"Love is an act of faith, and whoever is of little faith is also of little love." --Erich Fromm

Winter Sun

a good one to consider...

"When you are offended at any man's fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger." --Epictetus

on becoming wise...

"No man ever became wise by chance." --Seneca

January speaks to us
in black and white voices.
Freezing us in time, until
the spring thaw frees us in color.
Shorter days, longer nights,
In the darkness, new light
is born, waiting for us to flower.

the spirit within us...

"Spirit is an invisible force made visible in all life." ~Maya Angelou

seek and cherish in everyday life...

"The spiritual life does not remove us from the world but leads us deeper into it." ~Henri J. M. Nouwen

from meaning to spiritual growth...

"The spiritual quest begins, for most people, as a search for meaning." ~Marilyn Ferguson

best of TIME 2005 photos...

So much suffering in 2005. Click here. May we find more peace in 2006.

Arizona Desert Sunset
Every beginning an end, and every end a new beginning

on working in 2006...

"You have the right to work, but never to the fruit of work. You should never engage in action for the sake of reward, nor should you long for inaction. Perform work in this world, Arjuna, as a man established within himself—without selfish attachments, and alike in success and defeat. For yoga is perfect evenness of mind." --Bhagavad Gita

spring from within...

"Can one behave the same inwardly, whatever the circumstances? Can one's behavior spring from within and not depend on what people think of you or how they look at you?" --Jiddu Krishnamurti

The world is simply a dream that we have agreed to experience together. The dream disappears when we withdraw our awareness from it. Source: Daily Zen Inspiration

dreaming...

In the light of day,
Yet in a dream,
He talks of a dream.

--Mu-mon

a wish for the new year...

Let us dig our gardens and not be elsewhere:
Let us take long walks in the open air...
Let us bathe in the rivers and lakes...
Let us indulge in games...
Let us be more simple: simple and true in our minds
above all. Let us be ourselves.

—Robert Linssen