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 5 Apr 2005 @ 01:38
I have lived on the lip
Of insanity, wanting to know the reasons,
Knocking on the door. It opens.
I've been knocking from the inside!
---Jalaluddin Rumi
After all, if I can't be myself, who can?
---Auntie Mame
Behind Ise Shrine,
unseen, hidden by the fence
Budhha enters Nirvana
---Basho
Ivy Clear, Donna Silva, and Robert Blankshine show perfect balance in Gloria Contreras' ballet "Moncayo I" for the Joffrey, 1966
Thirty-five years ago, in through April somewhere probably, a tradition of tonic and renewal began in my life, which I continued yesterday---though it appears to have changed drastically. Well I'm 65 now, I was 30 then. In 1970 or so, Ivy Clear and I took a drive into the Catskill Mountains, west of where we were living outside New York. It might have been around Margaretville...or maybe it was further up into the Adirondacks. We frequently were in a celebratory mood when we ventured out into Nature, and usually it didn't matter quite where we were. More >
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 10 Jan 2005 @ 10:37
Tom Toles' great work is available all the time online at [link] .
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The great man is one who never loses his child's heart.
---Mencius
In eternity there is indeed something true and sublime. But all these times and places and occasions are now and here. God himself culminates in the present moment, and will never be more divine in the lapse of all the ages.
---Henry David Thoreau
The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.
---William James
James' implication of course is what not to overlook either. Am I seeing things or is Tom Toles becoming even more brilliant with each day? This cartoon is for yesterday but should live through the ages. It has layers of meaning that make me want to ask a lot of questions. More >
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 31 Oct 2004 @ 12:23
Lives based on having are less free than lives based on either doing or on being.
---William James
The River moves, moon travels rock,
Streams unreal, clouds there among the flowers.
Sails go: They can't know where.
---Tu Fu
Let each one turn his gaze inward and regard himself with awe and wonder, with mystery and reverence; let each one work his own influence, his own havoc, his own miracles.
---Henry Miller
Guerrilla Warfare (Picket Duty in Virginia), 1862
Bierstadt, Albert
A very dear, caring and empathetic Internet friend in Scotland advised me yesterday to remember: all this is not "your very own responsibility". She was referring to the flurry of activity in my life now, particularly as the Election approaches. I'm sure many of us in America are feeling the intensity, even if we're not particularly busy volunteering. Harvest may be done, but there's cleanup and lots of preparation for winter in the northern areas. There always are assignments at school and duties at church or synagogue this time of year. Caroline particularly of course was referring to my recent surgery and continuing health concerns. More >
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 15 Jun 2004 @ 10:12
Preparing food is not just about yourself and others. It is about everything.
---Shunryu Suzuki
A thief entered the house of a Sufi and found nothing there to steal. As he was leaving, the dervish, sensing his disappointment, threw him the blanket on which he had been lying.
---Sa'di
Fishermen have hauled their nets and gone.
The crows of dusk, in pairs, all flown.
Young moon, a tattered fan,
Thin clouds, a ragged gown.
---Tu Fu
The photo, taken by Ivy Clear, is of the author, on the road and a bit zonked in the summer of 1971. This would make the man, despite all appearances, aged 31!
There are times of loneliness, brought on by and/or bringing on the use of intoxicating substance, when one can feel a bond of friendship with that bottle, that pipe, that syringe. Ever since the first primitive man fell face down into a puddle of some kind of fermentation, and came up with a feeling of giddy well-being, men have wondered about this sense of relationship---and sometimes even given it a name or worshipped it as a god. Tribal man was very careful about it, and only designated holy people or times of the year that were appropriate for altered state indulgence. Violations were extreme taboo. In our society, where every man with money in his pocket is king and shaman, and every woman at least priestess of her medicine cabinet, a little fling can be anyday, all day. More >
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 10 May 2004 @ 10:16
Why am I aging so
this autumn?
A bird flying into the clouds.
---Basho
The quieter you become,
the more you can hear.
---Baba Ram Dass
Springtime light
fills the room
vacancy.
---Soen Nakagawa
First, I'd like to thank those who have encouraged me to get back to writing...and particularly an attempt to chronicle this past week. It's a daunting project for a number of reasons, but chiefly physical: I still tire easily, and my coordination is not always there when I look for it. But the longer I put this off the more difficult it becomes, so here goes~~~ More >
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