I'm getting really into them. I watched this Duvdeh on Jon Lennon today. I wouldn't call them revolutionary thinkers, but I would say that they're very provocative. They provoke new thoughts in myself.
I've realised that some of the greatest works of art don't actually describe love (or other opaque concepts), they actually describe around love. They describe the things that touch upon love, but aren't central to it. And I used to think this wasn't good enough; this didn't do justice to the brilliance of thought that was on my mind. But now I'm starting to think, sometimes you draw a circle by colouring the inside, and sometimes you draw a circle by shading everything on the outside. But either way, if your hand is steady, a circle you will end up with. And when it comes to love, something so pure and white (or Black, black power!) do I really want to tarnish that circle by painting it with colourful words? So here's to a new way of writing in my life.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Khalil Gibran - On Love
Then said Almitra, Speak to us of Love. And he raised his head and looked upon the people, and there fell a stillness upon them. And with a great voice he said:
When Love beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.
For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.
Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.
He kneads you until you are pliant;
And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.
All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.
But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,
Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.
The Prophet
When Love beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.
For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.
Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.
He kneads you until you are pliant;
And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.
All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.
But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,
Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.
The Prophet
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Play me a song on my birthday
Why do we turn into individuals? Is it really a function of the western world? Were the people of eastern cultures born with the disposition to help their neighbours? Were they in the womb, suffering the idea that they were unable to share the umbilical chord? No. We are born as individuals. We die as individuals. My soul is not encased within my body; but it isn't incased in yours either. Everything you've done has been for you. Everything I've done has been for nothing. I am nothing.
It was hard choosing the song. It was hard choosing the song I wanted to play. Do I play the song that will just make you happy? Do I play the song that will make you happy about me? Do I play you the song that takes you back? Do I play the song that moves you forward? But never was there a shortage of songs: Never in my entire life have I known a ___ that can be described in so many songs. In fact I know that it is ___ because every ___song in the world speaks to at least one day, one feeling, one moment that we have shared. And you'd like to tell me that I shared those moments with myself, that I was alone, that you only witnessed them happen. ___ is such an ugly word, it has only brought me pain.
We are all just individuals after all. You have your feelings, and I have mine. I wish I could believe that I never influenced your feelings. I wish I could believe that you never influenced mine. But I have to admit, I've been touched. To your benefit, it seems you never were. You'll make it to the promised land, stronger than before, seemingly untouched.
When you make up a theory on the toilet, you don't expect it to come back to haunt you. In fact, that goes for anything that happens on the toilet. All the same, to be touched, is to be used. At least I know I'm useful.
It was hard choosing the song. It was hard choosing the song I wanted to play. Do I play the song that will just make you happy? Do I play the song that will make you happy about me? Do I play you the song that takes you back? Do I play the song that moves you forward? But never was there a shortage of songs: Never in my entire life have I known a ___ that can be described in so many songs. In fact I know that it is ___ because every ___song in the world speaks to at least one day, one feeling, one moment that we have shared. And you'd like to tell me that I shared those moments with myself, that I was alone, that you only witnessed them happen. ___ is such an ugly word, it has only brought me pain.
We are all just individuals after all. You have your feelings, and I have mine. I wish I could believe that I never influenced your feelings. I wish I could believe that you never influenced mine. But I have to admit, I've been touched. To your benefit, it seems you never were. You'll make it to the promised land, stronger than before, seemingly untouched.
When you make up a theory on the toilet, you don't expect it to come back to haunt you. In fact, that goes for anything that happens on the toilet. All the same, to be touched, is to be used. At least I know I'm useful.
Monday, May 02, 2011
Krishnamurti on the occupation of the mind (exerpt 2)
Sitting outside Square one chapters...
---
Now, can the mind be free from the past, free from thought - not from the good or bad thought? How do I find out? Can the midn be free from a thought, thought being the past? How do I find out? I can only find out by seeing what the mind is occupied with. If my mind is occupied with the good or occupied with the bad, then it is only concerned with the past, it is occupied with the past. It is not free of the past. So, what is important is to find out how the mind is occupied. If it is occupied at all, it is always occupied with the past, because all our consciousness is the past. The past is not only on the surface, but on the highest level, and the stress on the unconscious is also the past. So can the mind be free from all its occupations? Watch your minds, sirs, and you will see.
Can the mind be free from occupation? This means - can the mind be completely without being occupied, and let memory, the thoughts of good and bad, go by, without choosing? The moment the mind is occupied with one thought, good or bad, then it is concerned with the past. It is just like the mind sitting firmly on the wall watching things go by, never occupied with anything as memory, thought, whether it is good, pleasant or unpleasant - which means, the total freedom of the past, not just the particular past. If you really listen - not just merely verbally, but really, profoundly - then you will see that there is stability which is not of the mind, which is the freedom from the past.
Yet the past can never be put aside. There is a watchign of the past as it goes by, but not occupation with the past. So the midn is free to observe and not to choose. where there is choice in this movement of the river of memory, there is occupation, and the moment the mind is occupied, it is caught in the past: and when the mind is occupied with the past, it is incapable of seeing somethign real, true, new, original, uncontaminated.
A mind that is occupied with the past - the past is the whole consciousness that says, 'this is good', 'that is right', 'this is bad', 'this is mine', 'this is not mine' - can never know the Real. But the midn unoccupied can receive that which is not known, which is the unknown.
---
Wise beyond your years.
---
Now, can the mind be free from the past, free from thought - not from the good or bad thought? How do I find out? Can the midn be free from a thought, thought being the past? How do I find out? I can only find out by seeing what the mind is occupied with. If my mind is occupied with the good or occupied with the bad, then it is only concerned with the past, it is occupied with the past. It is not free of the past. So, what is important is to find out how the mind is occupied. If it is occupied at all, it is always occupied with the past, because all our consciousness is the past. The past is not only on the surface, but on the highest level, and the stress on the unconscious is also the past. So can the mind be free from all its occupations? Watch your minds, sirs, and you will see.
Can the mind be free from occupation? This means - can the mind be completely without being occupied, and let memory, the thoughts of good and bad, go by, without choosing? The moment the mind is occupied with one thought, good or bad, then it is concerned with the past. It is just like the mind sitting firmly on the wall watching things go by, never occupied with anything as memory, thought, whether it is good, pleasant or unpleasant - which means, the total freedom of the past, not just the particular past. If you really listen - not just merely verbally, but really, profoundly - then you will see that there is stability which is not of the mind, which is the freedom from the past.
Yet the past can never be put aside. There is a watchign of the past as it goes by, but not occupation with the past. So the midn is free to observe and not to choose. where there is choice in this movement of the river of memory, there is occupation, and the moment the mind is occupied, it is caught in the past: and when the mind is occupied with the past, it is incapable of seeing somethign real, true, new, original, uncontaminated.
A mind that is occupied with the past - the past is the whole consciousness that says, 'this is good', 'that is right', 'this is bad', 'this is mine', 'this is not mine' - can never know the Real. But the midn unoccupied can receive that which is not known, which is the unknown.
---
Wise beyond your years.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)