Dear LO,
In case poor Rick has had to trim the title, it reads, 'three strangers on
the path beside the uprunning stream'.
This whole contribution depends;-) in two tiny arcs in opposition ...
'Seeing through people is one thing, seeing through time is quite
something else;-)'
Once my deepest senses were assaulted with a form of exile: a friend arose
from a place of great depth and defended what founded in me, was both
unformed>formed in order, precisely in order, that I could continue to
become. (note to self: C.S Lewis.)
Does the sistine ceiling 'mean' anything beyond paint? Does the final
pieta of Michelangelo mean anything beyond broken marble? Does the starry
night of Vincent van Gogh mean anything beyond pigment and some cloth
stretch over a few feet of wood? What is Picasso's Geurnica, just some
paint on a field of linen? -- (There is a story, that when the UN sought
the image of a dove for the symbol for peace Picasso gave a whole folder
full of drawings, and a man chose the one he felt nicest, best, fitting.
When he'd gone, when he'd gone, Picasso explained that it was in fact a
drawing from a pigeon.) In the UK we used to have a very, very famous
actor and comedian called Michael Caine ;-) and his tag line was, '...not
many people know that'
Some of the 'things' that I have been 'working with' for the last few
decades ;-) are starting to come together. That's always an unsettling
experience at the best of times;-)
For 'compassion' you may interpret almost any word, like 'art'
'presencing' 'learning'...You will have read the post I just sent about
Leo's visit to my little cave ;-)
{~ cave has a very special resonance for Andrew, in current fields }
Knowing a little about people, a nineteenth century hermit called Patrul
Rinpoche told one of his pupils to go to a cave and meditate for six
months, thinking of nothing else but compassion. In the beginning it is
(was) bound to be contrived, artificial. The, gradually the mind becomes
permeated with compassion; it remains in mind with no effort. (Goleman et
al)...Well, the student, pupil, disciple, whatever reached six month or
thereabout, from his perch he saw in the valley a rider go by, and he had
a strong premonition that the rider would die within the week. As the man
rode closer by he heard him whistling with joy, singing. Suddenly the yogi
was made boundlessly sad about the 'conditioned existence'. ( I personally
do not believe in such a 'conditioned existence' but the yogi did -which I
guess is part the threefold pointiness;-). (Goleman et al)
Point is then, 'compassion' became 'second nature' after the saturation
(internal practice phases without point) meeting with the 'point'
(external happening in the presence/present) Genuine <compassion=second
nature> Message is according to author, the oldie, change begins in us.
Like a snake can 'knot' and 'unknot' ;-) itself without effort from the
inside out;-)
I sense in the science of all this there is perceived a first moment and
movement of mind, Varela tried to map it. I think I sense that a lot of
people are trying to open that tiny moment up into a much more spacious
realm. I think it is an unconditioned realm of great wonder and promise. I
think at it's beating heart, or whirring centre ;-) is something like the
'creative collapse' of At's reflectioning, others appropriately describe
it in other ways. A paradox seems to lie;-) at the heart of this 'better
understanding' though Jan, that 'less understanding leads all and each and
every to ''better'' understanding' which would be a contradiction if it
were not for two things, called 'quality' and 'quantitity'.
Down in a valley I see a rock on which is written, infinite affined finite
-- though in reality it reads, infinite ......... finite - and in that
space is the 'cave of compassion' into which anyone, manyone might
retreat.
All my life I will remember the lesson that someone passing here left
behind, that the human thought is at once most powerful and most
weak...formless and formful.
Here then, I will take the little bird of Eleanor Rosch and Picasso
transfiguring both as they pass by my cave - The story doesn't belong to
me, or Goleman in whose book it rests (stops) alighting;-) ...in eastern
Tibet there was a former warrior who had foresaken all his martial and
worldly activities and gone to his cave. He stayed there for a few years.
One day a lot of pigeons visited the cave and in compassion no doubt he
gave them some of his grain. But as he was watching the host they reminded
him of his former legions of warriors under his command, which made him
remember his expeditions and campaigns, then his former enemies arose in
his mind, and he grew angry. Soon his mind was invaded, he went down into
the valley, found his former companions, and went to wars again....
Now, this is something I found in passing on a commercial web site, a
marketing company calling itself White Canvas, in a side bar it has this
If you look carefully,
Listen carefully,
You will find a lot of things
carefully
Look...and listen
It's good to
Look carefully
Listen carefully
That's the way you learn a lot
of things carefully.
Look. Look...and listen.
Some things you see are
confusing.
Some things you hear are
strange.
But if you ask someone
to explain on or two
You'll begin to notice a change
in you.
If you will
Look carefully.
Listen carefully.
That's a way to keep on
growing carefully.
Look, look, look, and listen.
The 'late' Fred Rogers
So, finally the Art of War. Better to Jaw jaw then war war....Very wise,
very wise.
There are two kinds of forecasters, those who do not know and those who do
not know they do not know. Very wise, very wise.
In this military campaign, whatever it's better called, I have noticed one
thing, that communications under the surface has been used to enable those
within the system who do not wish to see its continuance, leave without
harm, exit. aka surrender in advance of the sword. This seems to be
working in some cases.
Mussolinni and Saddam are very similar in past presenting and future
;-(...They are hated more by their own people than they are by their so
called enemies.
The little lamb remaining, surviving, premature. He's up in the centre of
the field surrounded by thirty other pregnant ewes, where he's safe. ...
needing no cave the crows chatter to him each morning, the bird sing, and
I keep remembering the complete and utter indifference of his mother
toward his brother. I am reminded of what happens to the second born twin
in the San communities of your country At, it is killed and buried
immediately after birth- and the afterbirth of the first is wiped away
with the next of the weaver bird...I have now seen the nest of such a
bird. My head nearly exploded. I said, my head nearly EXPLODED with
suprise.
Now Bucket wants to go for his walk. - I think it's a very good time to
start a new thread, i am going to dedicate it to Peter Beamish, it will be
called, the Chamber of Altruism. It sits beside ;-) (knot) the Charnel
House of Evolution.
I must say, inwardly compelled to say, to marketeers, business gurus,
authors of enlightenment in corporate and sub corporate dynasties of one
kind and another, please be careful what you do, as you sing and whistle
of happier ways in the valleys of other's discontent;-) There are men in
caves who sit, and look, look, look and listen and 'see through' the 'cave
walls' and inside your ...
" the point here is simply to see the difference when you are asked to do
a task. Here you have a whole group of cases where the person is
distracted, and the patterns are so different that they don't combine into
something stable. Whereas when you do the task very precisely, they always
combine into a stable pattern." - " Wouldn't that (bracketing of
experience) require a kind of arrogance deep down, thinking you have the
ability to know everything?"
" Not to know everything, but to know the basis."
Francisco Varela and Dalai Lama
Love,
Andrew
Love, peace (but) better: understanding
Jan Lelie
Gijs Houtzagers wrote:
>Hi Vana,
PS
Look, look, look ;-)
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