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ethics and philosophy

my thoughts are sometimes better expressed by others.....

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Everything we care about—
our mental and physical well-being,
our relationships, our ability to benefit others and the world,
the deepening of our spiritual life—
all depend on the power of love and compassion operative in us.
The strength of that power, in turn,
depends on how well we are able to access the qualities,
attitudes, and energies of love and compassion;
how deeply we can be healed, replenished,
and transformed by them.
Then we can extend that same loving power
to others more sustainably and unconditionally
in our attention and action.
Love and compassion take us beyond ourselves,
so we are less caught up in our own worries,
more fully present to others,
more in touch with our better selves
and our purpose for living,
and therefore naturally happier.

John Makransky
(American professor of Buddhism and comparative theology)

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

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Let the laughter come,
even if it has not been heard
for a very long time,
especially if times are hard
and the future uncertain.
Laughter is as important in adversity
as wisdom and courage.

Steven Charleston
(1949 to pres., Episcopal bishop and Choctaw elder)

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 10260

Location: a temperate, clay/loam spot on planet earth, the universe

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Sitting quietly in a serene environment, letting go of the various petty disturbances that roil and diminish consciousness, and experiencing as fully as possible the poignancy of this fleeting moment—this is an enterprise of deep intrinsic value, an aesthetic experience beyond words.

Andrew Olendzki

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 10260

Location: a temperate, clay/loam spot on planet earth, the universe

3483

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You may say I'm a dreamer,
but I'm not the only one.
I hope someday you'll join us.
And the world will live as one.

John Lennon

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 10260

Location: a temperate, clay/loam spot on planet earth, the universe

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I am continually challenged
to stop arguing with reality
and instead soften into what is.
Over time, I learned to find beauty, meaning,
and wholeness in the heart of reality.
Unpredictable, ever-changing,
humiliating, and humbling reality.

Mirabai Starr
(1961 to pres., author, philosopher, counselor,
teacher of contemplative practice and inter-spiritual dialog)

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 10260

Location: a temperate, clay/loam spot on planet earth, the universe

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Life beckons us as a flicker.
A tendril.
A corner of darkness.
A bell.
A spark of the soul.
And curiosity propels us to follow.

Rose Zonetti
(Community Program Coordinator
at A Network for Grateful Living)

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 10260

Location: a temperate, clay/loam spot on planet earth, the universe

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Much of our suffering comes from wrong perceptions.
To remove that hurt, we have to remove our wrong perception.

When you make the effort to listen and hear the other side of the story,
your understanding increases and your hurt diminishes.

Thich Nhat Hanh

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

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The life I am living right
here and right now,
“mundane” as it often seems,
is an inconceivable, improbable,
unfathomable, deeply wondrous
and mysterious thing.

Brad Warner
(1964 to pres., bass guitarist,
writer, Soto Zen monk)

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 10260

Location: a temperate, clay/loam spot on planet earth, the universe

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In times like these,
many things become too late...
It will be too late to save
this coastline or that ecosystem,
this city or that species,
this democracy or that economy.
But it is not too late to love,
and it never will be.
Love will count,
no matter what.
Even on the last day of the world.

Brian McLaren
(1956 to pres., Author, activist,
theologian, teacher. and pastor)

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 10260

Location: a temperate, clay/loam spot on planet earth, the universe

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The rooting (of trees, of our selves)
is as important and as necessary as the rising.
We have the opportunity to sink roots into soul
and rise up with branches in heaven.
Our spiritual growth is meant to go in both directions,
toward the fertile darkness
and the glorious light,
each of us having the opportunity
to bridge earth and heaven—
the underworld and the upperworld—
through the trunks of our middleworld lives.
There's no conflict between spirit-centered being
and soulful doing,
between transcendence and inscendence.
Each supports and enhances the other.

Bill Plotkin
(1950 to pres., depth psychologist, wilderness-based soul guide,
and agent of cultural evolution)

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 10260

Location: a temperate, clay/loam spot on planet earth, the universe

3483

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The primary cause of unhappiness
is never the situation
but the thought about it.
Be aware of the thoughts you are thinking.
Separate them from the situation,
which is always neutral.
It is as it is.

Eckhart Tolle
(1948 to pres., German Philosopher and Mystic)

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 10260

Location: a temperate, clay/loam spot on planet earth, the universe

3483

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To imagine that at the time of our dying,
we’re going to have the mental stability,
the emotional strength,
the mental clarity
to do the work of a lifetime,
is a ridiculous gamble.
The time for the conversation is now.

Frank Ostaseski
(Buddhist teacher founding director
of the Zen Hospice Project in San Francisco)

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 10260

Location: a temperate, clay/loam spot on planet earth, the universe

3483

posted 7 months ago

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Quote words that affirm
all men and women are your
brothers and sisters.

Author-Poet Aberjhani,
The River of Winged Dreams

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 10260

Location: a temperate, clay/loam spot on planet earth, the universe

3483

posted 7 months ago

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The Guest House

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice.
meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.
Be grateful for whatever comes.
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

— Jellaludin Rumi,
(translation by Coleman Barks)

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 10260

Location: a temperate, clay/loam spot on planet earth, the universe

3483

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The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy,
and after all our most pleasing responsibility.
To cherish what remains of it and to foster its renewal is our only hope.

Wendell Berry

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 10260

Location: a temperate, clay/loam spot on planet earth, the universe

3483

posted 7 months ago

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So many factors demand our attention;
isn’t it awesome that we have
at least some influence
over what we choose to focus on?
And if there is power in acknowledging
and being thankful for even small blessings,
the power of finding meaning
in the face of suffering
can be transformative.

~Pamela Gayle White
(Tibetan-French-English translator
and Buddhist Teacher)

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 10260

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posted 6 months ago

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The Moment

The moment when, after many years
of hard work and a long voyage
you stand in the centre of your room,
house, half-acre, square mile, island, country,
knowing at last how you got there,
and say, I own this,

is the same moment when the trees unloose
their soft arms from around you,
the birds take back their language,
the cliffs fissure and collapse,
the air moves back from you like a wave
and you can’t breathe.

No, they whisper. You own nothing.
You were a visitor, time after time
climbing the hill, planting the flag, proclaiming.
We never belonged to you.
You never found us.
It was always the other way round.

Margaret Atwood

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 10260

Location: a temperate, clay/loam spot on planet earth, the universe

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posted 6 months ago

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"I wish you well on your journey of life,
I hope you connect with some genuine
souls along the way,
and may you move between your
failures with optimism,
and always know life is fluid,
it changes.
Some things are too heavy to carry on
your journey, but love is light,
keep that."

Shams Tabrizi

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 10260

Location: a temperate, clay/loam spot on planet earth, the universe

3483

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may my heart always be open to little
birds who are the secrets of living
whatever they sing is better than to know
and if men should not hear them men are old

may my mind stroll about hungry
and fearless and thirsty and supple
and even if it's sunday may i be wrong
for whenever men are right they are not young

and may myself do nothing usefully
and love yourself so more than truly
there's never been quite such a fool who could fail
pulling all the sky over him with one smile

E.E. Cummings, Complete Poems, 1904-1962

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 10260

Location: a temperate, clay/loam spot on planet earth, the universe

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Our spiritual practice
is really about the transformation of consciousness
in such a way that makes compassionate responsiveness
the default setting of our lives.
Can we really open in such a way
and understand things in such a way
that it simply becomes the way we are—
it becomes our natural response.

Joseph Goldstein
(1944 to present, Vipassana Zen Teacher)

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 10260

Location: a temperate, clay/loam spot on planet earth, the universe

3483

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Be the most ethical,
the most responsible,
the most authentic you can be
with every breath you take,
because you are cutting
a path into tomorrow
that others will follow.

,Ken Wilber
(1949 to pres., transpersonal
and integral psychologist)

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 10260

Location: a temperate, clay/loam spot on planet earth, the universe

3483

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Another way of dealing with
the challenges and imperfections of life
is to turn toward our experience
with warmth and kindness.
We can intentionally cultivate
a stance of compassionate understanding
toward our struggles,
so that we feel moved to help in some way.
Even when things aren't going
as we would like them to,
we can be accompanied
by our own caring and goodwill.
We can find solace in the warmth
of our own hearts
so that the sweetness of our love
holds the bitterness of pain
and makes it more bearable.

Kristen Neff
Psychologist

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 10260

Location: a temperate, clay/loam spot on planet earth, the universe

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Too often we underestimate
the power of a touch, a smile,
a kind word, a listening ear,
an honest compliment,
or the smallest act of caring,
all of which have the potential
to turn a life around.

Leo Buscaglia
(1924-1998, author, motivational speaker,
professor in the Department of Special Education
at the University of Southern California)

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 10260

Location: a temperate, clay/loam spot on planet earth, the universe

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Just as fog is dispelled
by the strength of the sun
Prejudice, preconception and bias
are cleared by the strength
of realization.
There is no other way of clearing
prejudice, preconception and bias.
Experience them as baseless dreams.
Experience them as ephemeral bubbles.
Experience them as insubstantial rainbows.
Experience them as indivisible space.

Milarepa
(1052-1136, Tibetan poet and mystic,
from Drinking the Mountain Stream)

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 10260

Location: a temperate, clay/loam spot on planet earth, the universe

3483

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Spread love
everywhere you go.
Let no one come to you
without leaving happier.

Mother Teresa
(1910 - 1997, Albanian Catholic Nun)

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 10260

Location: a temperate, clay/loam spot on planet earth, the universe

3483

posted 6 months ago

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My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird — equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.

Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young and still not half-perfect?
Let me keep my mind on what matters, which is my work,

which is mostly standing still and learning to be astonished.
The phoebe, the delphinium.
The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.
Which is mostly rejoicing, since all ingredients are here,

which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart and these body-clothes, a mouth with which to give shouts of joy to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,
telling them all, over and over, how it is that we live forever.

Mary Oliver

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 10260

Location: a temperate, clay/loam spot on planet earth, the universe

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Oftentimes, things are not in their right place—
something feels disconcerting or agitating
because we're honing in on a small bit of the picture.
But when we can keep stepping back
and reminding ourselves of the possibilities of equanimity,
that's when the heart settles.
We can let people and circumstances be what they are,
we can let the world be what it is.
When we're not comparing, pushing, manipulating,
or trying to get it to be a certain way,
we're a lot more accepting,
and just reminding ourselves of this simple perspective
gives us an opportunity for clear seeing.

Ajahn Pasanno
(1949-pres., abbot of Wat Pah Nanachat International
Forest Monastery in Northeast Thailand)

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 10260

Location: a temperate, clay/loam spot on planet earth, the universe

3483

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Have compassion for everyone you meet,
even if they don't want it.
What appears bad manners,
an ill temper or cynicism
is always a sign of things no ears have heard,
no eyes have seen.
You do not know
what wars are going on down there
where the spirit meets the bone.

Miller Williams
(1930-2015, American Poet, editor,
And translator)

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 10260

Location: a temperate, clay/loam spot on planet earth, the universe

3483

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Much that is worth doing
cannot be fully achieved in our lifetime;
therefore, we must be saved by hope.
Much that is true or beautiful or good
makes complete sense
in any immediate context of history;
therefore, we must be saved by faith.
Anything we do, however virtuous,
cannot be accomplished alone;
therefore we are saved by love.

Reinhold Niebuhr
(1892-1971, American Theologian)

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 10260

Location: a temperate, clay/loam spot on planet earth, the universe

3483

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We are called to be strong companions and clear mirrors to one another,

to seek those who reflect with compassion
and a keen eye how we are doing,

whether we seem centered or off course …

we need the nourishing company of others to create the circle needed for growth,
freedom and healing.

Wayne Muller

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 10260

Location: a temperate, clay/loam spot on planet earth, the universe

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I worried a lot.
Will the garden grow,
will the rivers flow in the right direction,
will the earth turn as it was taught,
and if not, how shall I correct it?
Was I right, was I wrong,
will I be forgiven, can I do better?
Will I ever be able to sing,
even the sparrows can do it and I am, well, hopeless.
Is my eyesight fading or am I just imagining it,
am I going to get rheumatism, lockjaw, dementia?
Finally I saw that worrying had come to nothing.
And gave it up.
And took my old body
and went out into the morning, and sang.

Mary Oliver
(1935 to 2019 American Poet)

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 10260

Location: a temperate, clay/loam spot on planet earth, the universe

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Don’t try to get anyone to think well of you
Instead, act well.
Bring the best of yourself to each moment,
make mistakes, and cultivate repair.
When you do this consistently,
you won’t have to chase after
anyone’s trust or respect.
You’ll have naturally earned them.

~Resmaa Menakem
(Psychotherapist, trauma and racism researcher)

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 10260

Location: a temperate, clay/loam spot on planet earth, the universe

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She believed it was a gift to never truly know the self.
We are not who we think we are, nor how others see us.
Long before death, we die a thousand times at the hands of a definition.

Simon Van Booy

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 10260

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To my mind,
there is perhaps no better demonstration
of the folly of human conceits
than this distant image from space
of our tiny world.
To me, it underscores our responsibility
to deal more kindly and compassionately
with one another
and to preserve and cherish
that pale blue dot,
the only home we've ever known.

Carl Sagan
(1934-1996, American Astronomer, cosmologist,
astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author)

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 10260

Location: a temperate, clay/loam spot on planet earth, the universe

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Sitting quietly in a serene environment,
letting go of the various petty disturbances
that roil and diminish consciousness,
and experiencing as fully as possible
the poignancy of this fleeting moment—
this is an enterprise of deep intrinsic value,
an aesthetic experience beyond words.

Andrew Olendzki
(Director of the Mindfulness Studies program at Lesley University)

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 10260

Location: a temperate, clay/loam spot on planet earth, the universe

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Our brokenness is also the source
of our common humanity,
the basis for our shared search for comfort,
meaning, and healing.
Our shared vulnerability and imperfection
nurtures and sustains
our capacity for compassion.

Bryan Stevenson
(1959 to pres., Social justice activist)

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 10260

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Man's nature
is not essentially evil.
Brute nature
has been known to yield
to the influence of love.
You must never despair
of human nature.

Mahatma Gandhi
(1869-1948, Indian Spiritual
and Political Leader)

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 10260

Location: a temperate, clay/loam spot on planet earth, the universe

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The singular and cheerful life
of any flower
in anyone’s garden
or any still unowned field-

if there are any-
catches me
by the heart,
by its color

by its obedience
to the holiest of laws:
be alive
until you are not…

those princes of everything green-
the grasses
of which there are truly
an uncountable company,

each on its singular stem
striving
to rise and ripen.

What, in the earth world,
is there not to be amazed by
and to be steadied by
and to cherish?

Oh, my dear heart,
my own dear heart,
full of hesitations,
questions, choice of directions,

look at the world.
Behold the morning glory,
the meanest flower, the ragweed, the thistle.
Look at the grass.

Mary Oliver

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 10260

Location: a temperate, clay/loam spot on planet earth, the universe

3483

posted 6 months ago

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The problem in middle life,
when the body has reached its climax of power
and begins to decline,
is to identify yourself, not with the body,
which is falling away,
but with the consciousness of which it is a vehicle.

This is something I learned from myths.
What am I?
Am I the bulb that carries the light?
Or am I the light of which the bulb is a vehicle?

One of the psychological problems in growing old
is the fear of death.
People resist the door of death.

But this body is a vehicle of consciousness,
and if you can identify with the consciousness,
you can watch this body go like an old car.
There goes the fender, there goes the tire,
one thing after another— but it’s predictable.
And then, gradually, the whole thing drops off,
and consciousness, rejoins consciousness.
It is no longer in this particular environment.

Joseph Campbell
(1904--1987, Mythologist and Philosopher)

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 10260

Location: a temperate, clay/loam spot on planet earth, the universe

3483

posted 6 months ago

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True affluence

is not needing anything.

Gary Snyder
(1930 to pres., American Poet, Essayist,
Environmental Activist and Buddhist Teacher)

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

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