tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-192987162024-03-14T04:12:17.177-10:00Reflections of BeautyWhat do you see when you look out through the rain-spattered window of your mind?
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And how do you interpret it?
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My goal is to photograph at least one thing of beauty each day, and share that with the world.
<br><br>
Because that's just how beautiful life is, don't you think? Please join the beauty and share your thoughts.
<br><br><i><strong>"Beauty is no quality in things themselves: It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them." </strong>
<br>— David Hume
</i>Steven Crisphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133103376050989480noreply@blogger.comBlogger353125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19298716.post-79068261870015472412023-06-25T13:20:00.013-10:002023-06-29T20:48:23.070-10:00The Whole of It<p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzI4v5-_R2m0G4Tv2WVsnbeBIHiBJYhClMo6jnVFrCPRfm3NpWlvxRHCQPA2hEtHjrwbAPf8vqDryk' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #eeeeee; font-size: x-small;">White-Rumped Shama and Warbling White-Eye bathing in a bowl</span></div> <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"><span style="color: #01ffff; font-size: large;">The Whole of It</span></b></div><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: large;"><b>Like these birds inside the bowl</b></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: large;"><b>You are bathing in the Whole</b></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: large;"><b>Conditioned early to see separation</b></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: large;"><b>No surprise we feel desperation</b></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: large;"><b>Words like “Either/Or” and “I”</b></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: large;"><b>Are knives that divvy up the pie</b></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: large;"><b>Moving towards “Both/And” and “We”</b></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: large;"><b>Creates the space for “Us” to "Be"</b></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: large;"><b>Behold the rain and sun and breeze</b></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: large;"><b>And praise the photosynthesis of trees</b></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: large;"><b>Without it All, you could not be</b></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: large;"><b>Unclench the self and newly see</b></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: large;"><b>Simply bathing in pure delight</b></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: large;"><b>Within awareness, a shift of insight</b></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: large;"><b>Like food offered to the begging bowl</b></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: large;"><b>Life is truly lived within the Whole</b></span></p><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Steven Crisphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133103376050989480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19298716.post-8211416246776713542022-02-18T20:19:00.062-10:002022-02-19T12:28:53.123-10:00"Everything Is Magic, Until You Think It's Not"<p style="text-align: center;"> <span style="text-align: center;"> </span><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uVUjFDbY1_8" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p><br /></p><p>So for those of you that aren't familiar with the band known as Cloud Cult and their singer/songwriter Craig Minowa, this is one of their songs. The title of this post is just a line in their song "No Hell", which is from their album "The Seeker." (Perhaps a good hint as to why I've come to love them.)</p><p>Anyways, I first learned about them from this <a href="https://onbeing.org/programs/craig-minowa-cloud-cult-music-as-medicine/" target="_blank">interview</a> by Krista Tippett's OnBeing podcast. You can listen to that if you want to get a nice sense of and introduction to the band (and hear three of their songs if you play the unedited version - it's better, trust me). You may also learn something about me, and perhaps realize why I was so drawn to them. As Craig says, "our supporters are seekers."</p><p>There is so much about them, on so many different levels, that make them so meaningful to me. I hope you like this song, the band, Craig, and maybe, see the depth and the hopefulness of their message.</p><p>You can also find them on <a href="https://www.patreon.com/cloudcult/posts" target="_blank">Patreon</a>. They are totally independent of the music industry, and do a great job of staying in touch with their Patreons (in fact, that is how they made it through the pandemic so well; that, and a very dedicated fan base). </p><p>May you enjoy their music, philosophy, mysticism, and hopeful message.</p>Steven Crisphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133103376050989480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19298716.post-28757046813995268112022-02-13T11:16:00.037-10:002022-02-13T20:47:48.003-10:00Reminder<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiFT3E0E8ijGjZRzEaFVrYmRhwcFMVPvdpsM3nfAvTKnIPEXolMYgT15J0tr3mYFhzVE-z6cnj3x7spUT_6PlfgyDa5msUBNw2akvsvF5BEtMQnHqYAfswndkTnpuDUrb5QXy-g-8KRIVmJp3Dv3nP0y5SDEPqVuAECyXxyBySelXEBUDhENCk=s3226" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2419" data-original-width="3226" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiFT3E0E8ijGjZRzEaFVrYmRhwcFMVPvdpsM3nfAvTKnIPEXolMYgT15J0tr3mYFhzVE-z6cnj3x7spUT_6PlfgyDa5msUBNw2akvsvF5BEtMQnHqYAfswndkTnpuDUrb5QXy-g-8KRIVmJp3Dv3nP0y5SDEPqVuAECyXxyBySelXEBUDhENCk=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-size: xx-small;">A Soft and Gentle Light ... Let It Be ... A Soft and Gentle Reminder -- February 2020, Kailua, HI, iPhone 11 Pro</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: medium;">A Soft and Gentle Reminder</span></span></b></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: medium;">In honor of Thich Nhat Hanh</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: medium;">I set up a meditation bell</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: medium;">Using his Plum Village app</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: medium;">Such that, every so often</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: medium;">It rings its soft and gentle chime </span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: medium;">To bring me back to the present moment</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: medium;">Actually, it doesn’t bring me back</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: medium;">It softly, and gently, reminds me</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: medium;">Such that I may choose</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: medium;">To stop and to breathe and to Be</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: medium;">Soft and gentle, mindful and present</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: medium;">Magically transported to the Now</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: medium;">To witness that alchemic change </span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: medium;">From a contracted and tense ego</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: medium;">To something soft and gentle, in an instant</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: medium;">It's really quite magical</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: medium;">Some might even say, miraculous</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: medium;">And here’s another benefit</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: medium;">I'm finding it quite astonishing </span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: medium;">Just how fast my life is flowing past me</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: medium;">When I’m not fully present</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: medium;">So how would you like to spend</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: medium;">Your one luminous Life?</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: medium;">Would you like a soft and gentle reminder?</span></p><div><br /></div>Steven Crisphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133103376050989480noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19298716.post-54356580365461670462021-09-25T17:21:00.008-10:002021-09-27T02:47:26.457-10:00The Wake-Up Call<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ti9qHRFBwsM" width="481" youtube-src-id="ti9qHRFBwsM"></iframe></div><span style="text-align: center;"><div><i>Mist on the Pond (or The Cloud of Unknowing)</i></div></span><p> So this morning, I had a little wake-up call. </p><p><span> <span> </span></span><b>Little,</b> in that I'm still here writing this to you 🤗.</p><p><span> <span> <span> <span> </span></span></span></span><b>Wake-Up,</b> in the sense that we often (always?) take for granted our very existence.</p><p>So what, exactly, happened? Well, I was up early in the morning as is my norm, sitting out on the deck of our cottage. Usually doing a sitting meditation, or listening to a dharma talk. Today I was listening to a podcast, and was captivated by the beauty of the morning. I wanted to capture it -- take a picture or a movie (like above) to try to show what I was seeing, and help me remember it.</p><p>At one point I decided to walk down to our dock to photograph the early morning fog sweeping along the glassy surface of the pond. We have some funky stairs (tilted on angle) that need to be replaced, and we had just finished 24 hours of pretty hard rain. So the steps, while water-free, were much more slick than they appeared to be, and then <b>Whoosh</b>, my feet slid out from under me.</p><p>Have you ever felt time slow down? As I crashed to the ground, I waited to find out where the pain would arrive. Fortunately for me, my butt and shoulder took the brunt of the fall along the edges of the steps (and not my head). I had survived, thanks to nothing but dumb luck.</p><p>I could even perceive two alternate futures emerge from that slip. The one that's writing this blog post, and the one that remained unconscious (or worse) on the steps until Carol arose and started to wonder where the heck I was. Wouldn't that have been a different life trajectory?</p><p></p><p></p><blockquote><span> <span> </span> <span> </span></span>One moment here, blissfully enjoying the scenery, <br /><span> <span> </span></span>And then ... <b>Wham</b> ... lights out (for a while or forever).</blockquote><p></p><p></p><p>I'm not trying to be overly dramatic. That's not the point of this story. But just take a moment to realize, we are all one incident away from a life-altering or life-ending trajectory. <b>That</b> is the very nature of our existence.</p><p>Now that may sound <b>Bad</b> to most people, but it's really <b>Not</b>. Not good or bad. It just is. </p><p>So what should you take away from this story, if that is true? Just this:</p><p>Your life is a very precious gift. The odds of <b>You</b> being here right now are extraordinarily slim. Savor that good fortune. Don't waste a minute of your precious life on anger or hatred or self-recrimination. Indeed, <b>Wake Up</b> to the unfathomability of your life just as it is, right here, right now. With all its <b>"apparent"</b> <b>lack</b> of perceived perfection, <b>lack</b> of financial security, <b>lack</b> of fulfillment or meaning. </p><p>You're just looking through the wrong end of the telescope. Turn it around and see the magnificence in every ordinary thing around you, and then let yourself blur the apparent boundaries of what you sense, and realize you are very much a part of that as well. </p><p>Not <b>you</b> and <b>the other</b> and the <b>10,000 things</b>. But just this ... right now ... right here. And that includes everything and nothing, or <b>no thing</b>. It's a conundrum only when you view the world as if from the homunculus in your head. Like those magic eye pictures, you don't easily see the 3D image because of how you have been <b>conditioned</b> to look.</p><p>Drop your focus and look through the image. Stop trying to analyze everything, control everything, plan everything. <b>Go with the flow</b> sounds pretty trite, but it is also pretty accurate. That is what life is ... the flow of the universe itself. An infinite set of processes continually interacting with each other. And thou art that.</p><p>Get out in Nature, as living objects may make this easier to recognize, or <b>re-cognize</b>. But you can do it anywhere. Everything you think of as a <b>thing</b> is more amazing than you can possibly fathom. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rJOrAKcRtYg" width="480" youtube-src-id="rJOrAKcRtYg"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Seeing everything with wonder and awe through a fresh set of eyes</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>If you have a science background, you probably realize that the chair you are sitting on is not as it appears. It is <b>not</b> a solid object, even though it looks and feels that way to your senses. It is 99.9999999% empty space. Trust me on this if you don't know that to be true<b>*</b>.<p></p><p>So just appreciate the unfathomability of life, and try to <b>drop</b> another construct of your mind. <b>You</b> do not have a permanent <b>self</b>. <b>You</b> are really not <b>who ...</b> <b>you ...</b> <b>think</b> you are. Really -- just like that chair. But even more, much more, than that.</p><p>The construct that needs to be de-constructed is that <b>you</b> are <b>here</b>, reading this post (BTW, congrats that you've made it this far 🥳), and the <b>rest of the world</b> is out <b>there</b>. That's just not how life, the universe, and existence itself work. That may be how they <b>appear</b> to work, but it simply isn't so.</p><p>Like the late David Foster Wallace observed in his classic commencement speech<b>**</b>:</p><p><span face="freight-text-pro, serif" style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(81, 81, 81); color: #515151;"></span></p><blockquote><i>There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says “Morning, boys. How’s the water?” And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes “What the hell is water?”</i></blockquote>This is all about being <b>open to</b> and <b>aware of</b> <b>Lif</b>e, and realizing how little we truly <b>know</b> and how much we are <b>conditioned</b> in this world (by our DNA, our upbringing, society, culture, etc.) <div><br /></div><div>So what I hope for anyone reading this, is that you too have <b>The Wake-Up Call</b>. Hopefully the benevolent kind, but no matter the circumstances, it can be used to re-focus your attention, increase your awareness, and bring wonder and awe into your life.</div><div><br /></div><div>Or better, let you <b>re-cognize</b> the wonder and awe of being a part of this very existence, right here, right now, nothing special, just this, just this.<br /><p></p><p>-----------------------------------------------------</p><p><b>* </b>Or look it up if you like -- here's a 3-minute listen: <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2015/04/07/398008378/why-doesn-t-your-butt-fall-through-the-chair" target="_blank">Why Your Butt Doesn't Fall Through The Chair</a>.</p><p><b>** </b>I think this video adaptation is awesome: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eC7xzavzEKY" target="_blank">This is Water, by David Foster Wallace</a></p><p>Epilog: So you may be familiar with the way we can get somewhat attached, maybe dependent, perhaps even addicted to our portable electronic devices (e.g., smart phones and watches). One might even say that they have come to feel like a bionic extension of one's self. </p><p>Well then, I guess I've taken one small step at putting a crack into my conceptual self. Here is the one (and thankfully only) real casualty (beyond some scrapes and bruises) from my wake-up call today, not noticed until well after the event (when I went to check the weather forecast):</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt10H5LxRxGRj21CQm-ytY9LdbbKR6bAhuVKKnpsgqp1z8cCNn8j84_YU7hbOwGzkxJk6DeTBTnFK68Egstyv8fPfsgSYHT5lEUbzs6d4r54x3g2TdgYaGkXopvI6HcOnLqJmB/s2048/IMG_3703.HEIC" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt10H5LxRxGRj21CQm-ytY9LdbbKR6bAhuVKKnpsgqp1z8cCNn8j84_YU7hbOwGzkxJk6DeTBTnFK68Egstyv8fPfsgSYHT5lEUbzs6d4r54x3g2TdgYaGkXopvI6HcOnLqJmB/w300-h400/IMG_3703.HEIC" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shattered image of myself, er, my Apple Watch</td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: left;">And isn't it interesting that my body will self-repair with only healthy food, gentle movement, and adequate rest, but my watch is now kaput, and destined for Apple's recycling center. That's also an interesting "life" lesson. </p></div>Steven Crisphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133103376050989480noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19298716.post-44999648652471006662021-09-15T09:33:00.003-10:002021-09-29T03:10:54.157-10:00The Call of the Loon<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="318" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3F6Hr_sD_OA" width="479" youtube-src-id="3F6Hr_sD_OA"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="caret-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); color: #999999; font-family: arial;">Morning Loon Serenade, September 2021, </i><i style="caret-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); color: #999999; font-family: arial;">Tucker Pond, NH</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><br /></div>I've made a few attempts to capture the back and forth calls of the Loons that sometimes reside at our pond. First you hear them, but by the time I get my camera, they've stopped. Or they are triggered by a large overhead bird (such as a Bald Eagle or an Osprey), and then stop after the threat has passed.<div><br /></div><div>This morning they were pretty close to my dock, so I gave it another chance -- just filming them and seeing what happens. Either I was fortunate, or they perceived me as just another threat, as their tremolo calls started right after the camera was rolling. Sit back and enjoy this 90-second morning serenade. Listen closely, and you can even hear the echoes of their calls off the surrounding hills.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /><p></p></div><div><br /></div>Steven Crisphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133103376050989480noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19298716.post-14724674641810026682021-09-09T04:27:00.009-10:002021-09-09T08:48:46.656-10:00Just the Facts, Ma'am<p style="text-align: center;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTJl2rrLtSBY1VOyIkYyPnTfCq3ivbWFpxQNJZ5B6RqTSd_MZbjphLRV81xAIhL7GGHDqYG73XWofy6QX_YTe0L-NEiUsfk3iJNn2qBwADFk_Wiq6U58RHCUyZmJIsaHIRffNwZA/s2048/Loon+before+the+mist.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1366" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTJl2rrLtSBY1VOyIkYyPnTfCq3ivbWFpxQNJZ5B6RqTSd_MZbjphLRV81xAIhL7GGHDqYG73XWofy6QX_YTe0L-NEiUsfk3iJNn2qBwADFk_Wiq6U58RHCUyZmJIsaHIRffNwZA/w640-h426/Loon+before+the+mist.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="caret-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); color: #999999; font-family: arial;"><span>Loon before the Mist, Tucker Pond, September 2021</span></i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>So I've started meditating again, out on the deck of our camp, early in the morning. What an amazing time to be awake and outside. The rest of humanity (at least around the pond) has yet to stir. But the wildlife is buzzing and serenading me. It really helps one get back in touch with nature, with life, with reality.<div><br /></div><div>We had some family friends visiting us for a couple of days, and had some interesting conversations, one of which somehow, in that alchemic way, sparked this poem. It's called "Just the Facts, Ma'am" from that old TV show Dragnet, where the unflappable (and largely unemotional) detective wants the witness to just give the essence of the matter, not irrelevant commentary, like our minds so often do.</div><div><br /></div><div>So anyways, here's what emerged after one of those meditation sessions.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: medium;">Just the Facts, Ma’am</span></b></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: medium;">This thing called "life" sure is interesting, if nothing else</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: medium;">And there’s always something else</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: medium;">Life is a gift — it’s all of existence</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: medium;">The who-what-when-where-why of it</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: medium;">And yet, Life is nothing of the kind</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: medium;">It’s non-duality … simply the wholeness of being</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: medium;">Life is this moment, and only this moment</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: medium;">Constantly refreshed, nothing is fixed</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: medium;">The stillness of dawn’s light, and</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: medium;">The effervescence of hummingbird wings</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: medium;">Ever humming, flowing, emerging, creating</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: medium;">This impermanent dance of Lila</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: medium;">Sunlight dances across a misty pond</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: medium;">Dewdrops glisten upon Indra’s net</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: medium;">Ripples of consciousness itself</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: medium;">Are but the footfalls of so many water striders</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: medium;">That loon’s mournful morning cry really is</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: medium;">The sound of your original birth</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: medium;">Everything is, just as it is, enfolding and unfolding</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: medium;">Thirteen billion years of causes and conditions</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: medium;">No this or that, no good or bad … no separation</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: medium;">When in doubt, simply remember, “not two”</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: medium;">All of it, the sublime <span style="text-decoration: underline;">and</span> the ridiculous</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: medium;">Right here, right now … <b>**snap**</b></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: medium;">Thou art That<b> </b></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: large;"><b>Thou art That!</b></span></p><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div></div>Steven Crisphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133103376050989480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19298716.post-70701056263670086812021-06-12T19:35:00.004-10:002021-06-12T19:45:33.033-10:00Falling Water<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eJ2HjBnlmtQ" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><i>Bass Creek, off trail from Charles Waters Campground, Florence, Montana</i></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #01ffff; font-size: x-large;">Falling Water</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #01ffff; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #01ffff; font-size: large;">The sound</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #01ffff; font-size: large;">Of falling water</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #01ffff; font-size: large;">Is flooding my ears</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #01ffff; font-size: large;">And my very existence </span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #01ffff; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #01ffff; font-size: large;">The sound</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #01ffff; font-size: large;">Of rushing water</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #01ffff; font-size: large;">Flows deep within my bones</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #01ffff; font-size: large;">And penetrates my soul </span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #01ffff; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #01ffff; font-size: large;">This is the sound</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #01ffff; font-size: large;">Of Life itself</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #01ffff; font-size: large;">Unstoppable Flow ... Life’s effervescence </span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #01ffff; font-size: large;">Bubbling up, if only you will drink</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #01ffff; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #01ffff; font-size: large;">That primordial sound</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #01ffff; font-size: large;">Resonating somewhere deep within you</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #01ffff; font-size: large;">Is the very birth of this universe</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #01ffff; font-size: large;">And a newborn’s first ferocious cry</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #01ffff; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #01ffff; font-size: large;">You must tread, uphill, for miles</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #01ffff; font-size: large;">To reach the mighty headwaters of your Being</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #01ffff; font-size: large;">Until you can finally meet yourself </span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #01ffff; font-size: large;">For the very first time</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #01ffff; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #01ffff; font-size: large;">Revel in the cacophony</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #01ffff; font-size: large;">So often rough and tumble</span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #01ffff; font-size: large;">Yet at the same time, somehow soothing</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #01ffff; font-size: large;">Once you come to realize ... "thou art that"</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #01ffff; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #01ffff; font-size: large;">For there is … Only Being</span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p></div>Steven Crisphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133103376050989480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19298716.post-31955476888468155282021-04-24T10:23:00.021-10:002021-05-20T19:35:11.900-10:00Living on the Edge<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMnjko5HIdvEIvDePGZaH8w3STYVoxfleWJcVe4kjqHgSsPCS3LeyHk8l-DxNPl6rEZj23mz69sHQidlXXNLTJhXTtaec6p5CIEbArEsoNLM8WRkUarGPKDgYKiK2vI7DDnYIBlA/s3673/Living+on+the+Edge+-+panorama.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="856" data-original-width="3673" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMnjko5HIdvEIvDePGZaH8w3STYVoxfleWJcVe4kjqHgSsPCS3LeyHk8l-DxNPl6rEZj23mz69sHQidlXXNLTJhXTtaec6p5CIEbArEsoNLM8WRkUarGPKDgYKiK2vI7DDnYIBlA/w640-h150/Living+on+the+Edge+-+panorama.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="caret-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); color: #cccccc; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11.08799934387207px;"><span style="color: grey;"><u>Living on the Edge</u>, Ko'olau Ridgeline, Kamananui Trail Summit, HI, March 2019, iPhone 11 Pro</span></i><i style="caret-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); color: #cccccc; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11.08799934387207px;"><span style="color: grey;"> © Steven Crisp</span></i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="361" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Pebju5fl-MU" width="480" youtube-src-id="Pebju5fl-MU"></iframe></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">Living on the Edge</span></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Helvetica Neue;"><br /></span><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">What if Reality is that we are living on the edge?</span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"> </span><i style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">The edge of what?</span></i></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">Right on the edge of an epic cliff, the pinnacle of a mythic mountain,</span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"><br /></span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">Or perhaps the mysterious precipice of the Here and Now<br /></span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">Looking over the edge, we cannot even see the bottom<br /></span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">It’s occluded by the clouded thinking of our minds</span></blockquote><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Helvetica Neue;"><br /></span><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">Can you sense that, in your body?</span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"> </span><i style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Yeah, I'm feeling a little vertigo, a little bit woozy<br /></span></i><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">Exactly.</span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"> </span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">That’s what I’m talking about.</span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"> </span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">You’re tuning into it.<br /></span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">Your body knows something that your mind has chosen to ignore<br /></span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">Or is simply unwilling to recognize or acknowledge or process<br /></span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">And this is difficult to capture in words -- you have to feel your way</span></blockquote><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Helvetica Neue;"><br /></span><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">Indeed, language is both a pathway </span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; text-decoration: underline;">and</span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"> a boundary between us. </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"><span style="color: #9fc5e8;"><i>Say what?</i></span><br /></span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">Life is always about the whole of it … the totality </span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; text-decoration: underline;">and</span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"> nothing … that is, No Thing<br /></span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">So that’s a little taste of Living on the Edge … a reframing of you ... if you will<br /></span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">It requires a bit of a shift from your rational mind toward your intuitive sense<br /></span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">But try not to get lost in the language; words can only be a pointer, they’re not the point</span></blockquote><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Helvetica Neue;"><br /></span><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">Tell me, when did Creation occur?</span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"> </span><i style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Uhh, I don’t know … about 14 billion years ago?<br /></span></i><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">That’s just the Big Bang; I’m asking about Creation itself<br /></span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">Isn’t Creation happening this very moment?</span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"> </span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">Indeed, </span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; text-decoration: underline;">only</span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"> in this moment?<br /></span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">In fact, isn't that knife-edge precipice the very place where Life lives us?<br /></span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">The exhilaration of birthing <u>this</u> very universe, in the eternal Now</span></blockquote><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Helvetica Neue;"><br /></span><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">You are both an insignificant speck of stardust </span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; text-decoration: underline;">and</span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"> a magical note in this universal symphony</span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"> <br /></span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">Without you, </span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; text-decoration: underline;">this</span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"> world would not exist … think about that … or rather, feel that and be that<br /></span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">Look deeply enough at anything in Nature and you will see it shimmer with Life’s creative energy<br /></span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">You are that very same creative energy … that inexhaustible, infinite potential<br /></span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">It’s coursing through your veins and thriving in the trillions of cells that constitute your body-mind</span></blockquote><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Helvetica Neue;"><br /></span><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">That creative energy is pumping every heartbeat, which races faster as you inch closer to that edge<br /></span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">Don’t worry!</span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"> </span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">You cannot fall from this edge, but you can leap, and if you’re willing, soar<br /></span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">Above the clouds of us vs. them, of right and wrong, of judgment and even preference itself<br /></span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">Every present moment of awareness opens up new pathways into fresh insights<br /></span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">Loosening the grip of old habits and patterned reactivity, while healing inner wounds</span></blockquote><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Helvetica Neue;"><br /></span><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">Isn’t this the place you’d want to live, every day, every moment?</span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"> </span><i style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Yeah, I think so<br /></span></i><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">Trust me, thinking won’t get you there … indeed, simply let the mind quiet into stillness and peace<br /></span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">Sit with me, won’t you?</span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"> </span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">Right Here, Right Now.</span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"> </span><i style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Sure, why not ... I'd love to<br /></span></i><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">Let us weave ourselves together into the emerging tapestry of this very moment</span><div style="text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">Words are not required. Let’s just feel our hearts beating together, as one. </span><span><span style="color: #6aa84f;">Can <u>you</u> feel that? </span><i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Oh Yes!</span></i></span></p></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">
<div><br /></div></div><p></p>Steven Crisphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133103376050989480noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19298716.post-15487214800501159042021-04-17T11:37:00.010-10:002021-04-17T11:57:33.681-10:00The Presentation of Your Mind<p style="text-align: center;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHkPi2a5wfhxyxIAaHQPCyo8FFJ4r07UBpcuzmqDQ2tdsVsQwHnpzNP6VOfBpfIBcg0mxxyNYJlXy3oVdA7dx9qBHQoWAD80obppYBiSo3h4G6fsoauPjpefR66ycHZQmZKnH-mg/s1453/The+Presentation+of+Your+Mind+%25281%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1453" data-original-width="1453" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHkPi2a5wfhxyxIAaHQPCyo8FFJ4r07UBpcuzmqDQ2tdsVsQwHnpzNP6VOfBpfIBcg0mxxyNYJlXy3oVdA7dx9qBHQoWAD80obppYBiSo3h4G6fsoauPjpefR66ycHZQmZKnH-mg/w400-h400/The+Presentation+of+Your+Mind+%25281%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><i style="color: #cccccc; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11.08799934387207px;"><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: grey;"><u>Java Sparrows or "Birds?"</u>, Kailua, HI, January 2019, <i style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="color: grey;"><i style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="color: grey;">Nikon D600, FX 28-300mm</span></i></span></i></span></i></div><span style="color: grey;"><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="color: grey;"><i style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="color: grey;"> </span></i>VR lens, </span></i><i style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="color: grey;">300mm,</span></i><i style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="color: grey;">1/60 sec @ f5.6, ISO 400, -1.67 EV, no flash © Steven Crisp</span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="color: grey;"><br /></span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="color: grey;"><br /></span></i></div></span></i><p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">The Presentation of Your Mind</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">Your mind is a tricky thing</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">Making you believe things to be true</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">Even when they make no sense at all</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">Perhaps you’ve realized that by now</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">Like that mysterious work presentation</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">You are due to give later this week</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">Yet you haven’t even studied the topic</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">While you reassure your boss you’re ready</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">But there are glimpses of the awakening truth</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">You even say to yourself, “It’s not really due”</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">And so you relax, smile, and return to your slumber</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">Only to find an audience waiting in your dreamworld</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">Ha-ha, as if dreams were your only trickster</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">Truth be told, your waking world is too clever by half</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">For when we glance at that yellow oleander in the garden</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">Shimmering in the setting sun after a light rainfall</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">All that our mind tells us we see is a “tree”</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">But it is most certainly not that; if anything,</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">It’s a dance of light, a mesmerizing joy,</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">A singing bowl of birds, and aptly named “Be-Still”</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">We’re fortunate though, since we stand on shoulders that tell us</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">About left and right cerebral hemispheres, and the corpus callosum,</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">Connecting nerve fibers, that permit <span style="text-decoration: underline;">and</span> inhibit transmissions</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">It is evolution that has brought about this draw-bridge in our mind</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">To keep us alive, at least long enough to continue our</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">Ancestral lineage, indeed, because we are so quick to judge</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">But if we are really lucky, we feel some strange pull ... an intuition</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">To look deeper, beyond features and categories and groups</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">We recognize the tug to understand something more</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">Beyond the reductionist, so-called, material world</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">We can catch glimpses of aliveness itself, that effervescence</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">Always bubbling up, in, through, and all around</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">Things are not the labels we ascribe to them, nor are people</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">Indeed nothing exists that can be studied in isolation</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">Everything is truly interdependent and arising …</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">Fresh and new, in this very moment, if we will only truly see</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">How can it be we see the multiplicity and yet</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">Somehow we can also glimpse the wholeness of life?</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">See the totality unfolding in this precious moment</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">As morning dawns and its singing bowl reverberates</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">What a gift to see each moment with fresh eyes</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">With that child-like wonder and utter astonishment</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">Every sense can come alive in this very moment</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: medium;">An open heart, welcoming Life, that’s living you</span></p></blockquote></blockquote><p> </p>Steven Crisphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133103376050989480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19298716.post-878889572052950122021-03-27T08:53:00.096-10:002021-04-17T10:09:30.915-10:00Seeing Through the Veil<p style="text-align: center;"> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu_JZ3jEb_52sH1g09_KWnsYfTUb4PW-swA-DQoPSV6pTKBNCzQL_3iYWPnxe84YAl5-pFFyMuTsCNKGDinnBbvhagXdkP67bcBpRcu2slseB8e42pVEEDj2FxHWbjkM-jLhKDKw/s2048/Seeing+through+the+veil.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1535" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu_JZ3jEb_52sH1g09_KWnsYfTUb4PW-swA-DQoPSV6pTKBNCzQL_3iYWPnxe84YAl5-pFFyMuTsCNKGDinnBbvhagXdkP67bcBpRcu2slseB8e42pVEEDj2FxHWbjkM-jLhKDKw/w640-h480/Seeing+through+the+veil.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="color: #cccccc; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11.08799934387207px;"><span style="color: grey;"><u>Seeing Through the Veil</u>, Honolulu Museum of Art (unknown pieces of art in storage), Honolulu, HI, December 2016,<br /><i style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="color: grey;">Nikon D600 with FX 28-300mm </span></i>VR lens, </span></i><i style="color: #cccccc; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11.08799934387207px;"><span style="color: grey;">160mm,</span></i><i style="color: #cccccc; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11.08799934387207px;"><span style="color: grey;">1/15 sec @ f5.6, ISO 1000, -0.67 EV, no flash © Steven Crisp</span></i></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div>This morning I was sitting at my desk, listening to the multitude of birds that begin their singing at the crack of dawn. I'm not complaining ;-) They all have different songs, and songs within songs, even discordant clicks and cackles, perhaps warning of this human illuminating their space so early.<div><br /></div><div>One of the birds we are blessed with is the White-Rumped Shama, a local visitor that we've <a href="https://reflectionsofbeauty.blogspot.com/2020/09/are-you-talkin-to-me.html" target="_blank">coaxed into singing</a>, and a <a href="https://flic.kr/p/2ebzrGS" target="_blank">virtuoso performance</a> I observed while hiking elsewhere on Oahu. These formerly Asian song birds were brought here to be caged in local gardens. Eventually released into the wild in the late 1930s, they now bless us daily with their melodic songs as they seem to celebrate their freedom. Anyways, something about the immersion in this avian chorus, and the glistening dew that emerged after sunrise, brought me into another way of being. Bubbling up in my head were the words "it seems as if" and the recognition that how we usually perceive the world is not "reality," which became "but it is not."</div><div><br /></div><div>And in this case, on this morning, that led to the emergence of these words. I hope they are as interesting for you to read and perhaps ponder, as they were for me to write (and edit and tweak and tweak some more) until they captured the essence of the unfolding flow. </div><div><br /></div><div>Oh, and about the photo above, which I picked from my photo library based on my first draft of these words. This was from a trip with an "insider" to the Honolulu Museum of Art, and while my wife and our friend were roaming through the art displays, I was roaming far and wide with my camera. And I stumbled upon a location where various pieces of art had been collected together and covered with plastic (perhaps it was "out with the old, in with the new"). Anyways, when I saw this photo, the words "seeing through the veil" came too me as this Buddha is meditating with his iPhone behind plastic, or so it appears. Haha, somehow, it seemed appropriate, and prompted yet more revisions ;-)</div><div><br /><p></p><div><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: large;"><span><span> <span> <span> <span> </span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: large;">Seeing Through the Veil</span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: large;"><span><span><span><span><span><span> <span> <span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><i><span style="font-size: large;">(</span><span style="font-size: large;">It Seems As If … But It Is Not)</span></i></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>It seems as if …</i> </span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;">You were born into this world</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;">To learn and to love and to live your life </span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;">With various struggles and occasional triumphs</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;">With the only guaranteed certainty of life, being death</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>… But it is not</i></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>It seems as if …</i></span><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;"> </span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;">You are a unique individual, with a name, and a face</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;">And tell-tale characteristics, as different from me as from</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;">The White-Rumped Shama's melodic birdsong at dawn </span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="font-size: medium;">And this morning’s </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>cool</span><span> </span><span>glistening dew just after sunrise</span></span></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>… But it is not</i></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>It seems as if …</i> </span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;">You find comfort and control in categorizing and dividing up the world</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;">Preferring, labeling, judging, or prejudicing your "sense"</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;">Of friend or foe, right or wrong, saint or sinner</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;">And good or bad (or maybe even evil)</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>… But it is not</i></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>It seems as if …</i></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;">You are searching for that great insight; that "aha" moment</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;">On a path, perhaps, to find some spiritual truth, or at least some inner-resonance</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;">Seeking God or Nirvana or Enlightenment, or maybe just a respite from your own mind</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;">To bring you inner peace, compassion and joy</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>… But it is not</i></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>But what if …</i></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;">You and your life were much simpler than all of that?</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;">What if ... you already </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(241, 194, 50); color: #f1c232;">are</span><span style="caret-color: rgb(241, 194, 50); color: #f1c232;"> </span><span style="color: #f1c232;">enough, exactly as you are now, and always have been?</span></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;">What if ... you and me and everything, including that melodic birdsong, are simply one?</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #f1c232;">One what, you may ask ... one</span><span style="color: #f1c232;"> </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(241, 194, 50); color: #f1c232;">thing</span><span style="color: #f1c232;">? No. No thing. Nothing.</span></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Quite simply:</i> <span style="color: #f1c232;"> "Just This" ... Life, emerging, </span></span><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;"><span>creating,</span><span> </span><span>flowing, dancing, loving, smiling</span></span></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>And what if …</i></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;">Words are fundamentally inadequate to express this </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(241, 194, 50); color: #f1c232;">interdependent </span><span style="color: #f1c232;">totality?</span></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;">What if ... duality is but an illusion, no subject or object existing in isolation?</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;">What if ... there is NoThing for the self to examine, because the whole is always emerging?</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;">What if ... the “10,000 Things” are illusory, for there are “not two” nor is there even “one”?</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>But <b>even this</b> it is not</i> </span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;"><span> <span> </span></span>... it is so, so much simpler (and mysterious and amazing)</span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;"><span> <span> <span> <span> </span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;">… it is what it is </span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;"><span><span><span><span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> </span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;">... not you or me </span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;"><span><span><span><span><span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;">... just dancing, behind the veil</span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;"><span><span><span><span><span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;"> ... now, eternally now </span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;"><span><span><span><span><span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;">... within the flow</span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;"><span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> ... ahhh, resting, breathing, smiling arises</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p></div><div><br /></div></div>Steven Crisphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133103376050989480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19298716.post-64016028871196820402021-03-09T15:22:00.016-10:002021-03-10T08:38:04.120-10:00After the Deluge ... Without Condition<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="362" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LvhibO6rO7o" width="471" youtube-src-id="LvhibO6rO7o"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="caret-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); color: #cccccc; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11.08799934387207px;"><span style="color: grey;"><u>After the Deluge</u>, Kailua, HI, March 2021, iPhone 11 Pro</span></i><i style="caret-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); color: #cccccc; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11.08799934387207px;"><span style="color: grey;"> © Steven Crisp<br /></span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="caret-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); color: #cccccc; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11.08799934387207px;"><span style="color: grey;"><br /></span></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="verdana, geneva, sans-serif"><span style="caret-color: rgb(204, 204, 204);">Last night and into this morning we had torrential rains fall. Indeed, I was awakened by the noise at 1:30 AM, and could not get back to sleep. So I got up and did some reading on the sofa, hoping to fall asleep (no luck). </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="verdana, geneva, sans-serif"><span style="caret-color: rgb(204, 204, 204);"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="verdana, geneva, sans-serif"><span style="caret-color: rgb(204, 204, 204);">The rains continued into the morning, and first-world-problem-I-know, we had our Yoga class cancelled 🤣. And still the rains came. Finally, the intensity diminished, and I put on a raincoat and went out for a walk. And lookee what I found at our normally completely dry "grotto" near where we live. So the rains were not all bad, eh?</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="verdana, geneva, sans-serif"><span style="caret-color: rgb(204, 204, 204);"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="verdana, geneva, sans-serif"><span style="caret-color: rgb(204, 204, 204);">Anyways, after this experience, and related to some non-dual spiritual reading I was doing, I wrote whatever this is ... enjoy (or not ;-)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="verdana, geneva, sans-serif"><span style="caret-color: rgb(204, 204, 204);"><br /></span></span></div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: large;"> <span> <span> </span></span></span><u><span style="font-size: large;">Without Condition</span></u></span><br /><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(159, 197, 232);"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">Unconditional, that is, without condition</span><br /><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">No legalese to sign</span><br /><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">No ifs, ands, or buts</span><br /><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">Whatever is … is … just as it is</span><br /><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(159, 197, 232);"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">And so can be your acceptance of it</span><br /><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">Unless of course you have preferences (and who doesn’t)</span><br /><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">Now you are comparing “what is” to what you desire</span><br /><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">And my guess is most of us would choose our desires over what is right here, right now</span><br /><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(159, 197, 232);"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">But here’s the revelation, and a radical proposition</span><br /><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">There is another way</span><br /><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">We can instead “desire” what is happening in the present moment</span><br /><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">After all, that’s really just “desiring” Life as it is unfolding</span><br /><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(159, 197, 232);"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">And what would that be like to desire Life exactly as it is?</span><br /><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">Without condition?</span><br /><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">Well, it would be a complete “allowing” and “acceptance” and yes,</span><br /><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">even profound “gratitude” for just what is, right now, in this moment</span><br /><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(159, 197, 232);"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">And the next moment … and the next</span><br /><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">Then you are desiring Life exactly as it unfolds</span><br /><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">Without trying to make it different</span><br /><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">Without trying to change anything</span><br /><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(159, 197, 232);"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">Ahhhhhh, such a sigh of relief</span><br /><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">All that is needed is your awareness</span><br /><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">And acceptance of this mystery while</span><br /><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">Being awed by the resplendency of Life</span><br /><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(159, 197, 232);"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">And then what becomes apparent</span><br /><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">Is that this is, in fact, Unconditional Love</span><br /><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">For the present moment</span><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"> </span><br /><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">For circumstances and people (and even yourself) just as they are</span><br /><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(159, 197, 232);"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">No need for anyone to change</span><br /><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">For anything to change</span><br /><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">Make no doubt about it, though, things are going to change</span><br /><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">In every moment — that is the Reality and Truth that is Life</span><br /><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(159, 197, 232);"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">And now Life will be directly influenced</span><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"> </span><br /><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">by your Open Awareness,</span><br /><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">by your Gratitude and Acceptance</span><br /><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">... Without Condition</span><br /><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(159, 197, 232);"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">Imagine how you would respond to someone who met you</span><br /><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">with that much openness to this Mystery of Life</span><br /><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">with Simple … Unconditional … Joy</span><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(159, 197, 232);">What have you got to lose? Only your suffering.<br /></span></span><div style="text-align: left;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span face="verdana, geneva, sans-serif"><span style="caret-color: rgb(204, 204, 204);"><br /></span></span></p><p></p></blockquote></div>Steven Crisphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133103376050989480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19298716.post-34415372367464234502021-01-26T07:59:00.010-10:002021-01-26T08:11:54.052-10:00Your Invitation<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuDyeoJZybavvss-pvz58rCV18faLP9b-S0kWItiKU9LKytDGDBK7t6MfcHw8Pc36i61ZG8P7g0DroEqqdxUUc_GvqLKtsbuy6TR3wGYxgiBLHl_Uoi72osNIP8h1h5iQod6nooQ/s2048/Your+Invitation.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1367" data-original-width="2048" height="429" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuDyeoJZybavvss-pvz58rCV18faLP9b-S0kWItiKU9LKytDGDBK7t6MfcHw8Pc36i61ZG8P7g0DroEqqdxUUc_GvqLKtsbuy6TR3wGYxgiBLHl_Uoi72osNIP8h1h5iQod6nooQ/w640-h429/Your+Invitation.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="color: #cccccc; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11.08799934387207px;"><span style="color: grey;"><u>Soulmate or Solemate?</u>, Kailua, HI, April 2020, Nikon D600 with FX 28-300mm VR lens, </span></i><i style="color: #cccccc; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11.08799934387207px;"><span style="color: grey;">135mm,</span></i><br /><i style="color: #cccccc; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11.08799934387207px;"><span style="color: grey;">1/160 sec @ f10, ISO 200, -0.33 EV, no flash © Steven Crisp </span><span style="color: grey;">[Click on the photo to enlarge]</span></i></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #04ff00; font-size: medium;">Your Invitation</span></div><div><span style="color: #04ff00; font-size: medium;"><br />Are you frustrated with your life?<br />Asking why this befalls you or that keeps on happening?<br />Wishing some pain would just go away?<br />Wondering why you feel so tired or trapped by despair?</span></div><div><span style="color: #04ff00; font-size: medium;"><br />You could take up arms! Cinch tight your armor!<br />Spend every free moment devising the master battle plan!<br />Envision the vanquishing of your archest enemy!<br />Surely then, with your foot upon his neck, the sun will shine brightly!</span></div><div><span style="color: #04ff00; font-size: medium;"><br />Funny thing about life. The sun is always shining brightly.<br />It’s just that some days clouds bless the earth with rain.<br />Each night, if we look up, distant stars will twinkle.<br />And we may glimpse the infinite vastness of life unfolding.</span></div><div><span style="color: #04ff00; font-size: medium;"><br />So let us recalibrate our thinking. Judge not each day,<br />By the harvest that you reap, but by the seeds that you sow.<br />That’s the measure of control you have with life. <br />Then, if conditions are favorable, life will be bountiful.</span></div><div><span style="color: #04ff00; font-size: medium;"><br />But when conditions leave the ground dry and barren, <br />As life surely will from time to time, you have<br />Only two choices: 1) Acceptance; 2) Acceptance, <br />While you till the soil and water by hand.</span></div><div><span style="color: #04ff00; font-size: medium;"><br />The truth about life is that we are not in control <br />Of the whole of it. But we can influence our role in it.<br />We can check our motivations, reset our expectations.<br />See that it is our actions that count, and not our wishes.</span></div><div><span style="color: #04ff00; font-size: medium;"><br />This is the good news. Everything you can control is <br />before you and inside you. Before your ego is hurt or stroked.<br />Inside the heart and soul of your very Being. Go There.<br />To that place of Knowing. A subtle Opening. That’s your Invitation.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Note, this post was inspired by a quote I read this morning, and you'll find my </i></div><div><i>close approximation of his words above:</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds that you plant."</i></div><div><i>-- Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1094), Essayist, Poet, Novelist</i></div><div><br /></div>Steven Crisphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133103376050989480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19298716.post-5279669589432112532020-12-31T16:15:00.011-10:002020-12-31T19:08:02.769-10:00Ripples of Light<p style="text-align: center;"> <iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/r17SDbcI5Eo" width="560"></iframe></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="caret-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); color: #cccccc; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11.08799934387207px;"><span style="color: grey;"><u>Ripples of Light</u>, Lanikai Beach, HI, May 2020, iPhone 11 Pro</span></i><i style="caret-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); color: #cccccc; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11.08799934387207px;"><span style="color: grey;"> © Steven Crisp<br /></span></i></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: center;"><i>Take a moment to watch the video above, it’s less than 2 minutes long</i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></p><div style="text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This video gives you a glimpse<br />of how the Earth and its Oceans and Islands are made<br />Indeed, how the Cosmos itself was formed<br />And what makes up the some-body each of us think we are</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">And what do you see?<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Ripples of Light - on the surface<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Vibrations of Waves - on the ocean<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Undulations of Quanta - on the sandy bottom<br /></span><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It also gives you a glimpse, and a metaphor, if you will<br />for the interplay of the Cosmos and of Life itself<br />The manifest dynamic pattern is an unfathomable Wholeness<br />And no part can be isolated for ease of analysis or exploitation</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This is the Wisdom we need at this time — Right Now<br />To recognize and explicitly value our dependance on this One Earth<br />And to see our neighbor, and even our so-called enemy, as ourself<br />Made of the same stuff, we are kith and kin; we're all in this together</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">There is more, of course, once you begin to see these Ripples of Light<br />You start noticing them everywhere ... Seeing the shadow dances<br />Feeling your subtle body sensations as they come and go, <br />Watch them simply arise and then pass; this is the Life process itself</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">All of this is impermanent, is transitory, except, perhaps, <br />the awareness that is aware of these “sense”-sations<br />Science has yet to find the ultimate building blocks of Nature<br />But many before us have lit candles in this darkness</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The common instruction of this exploration is to look within<br />Hold that candle of awareness, and look deeply into all<br />that you might think “you” are, and see, that you are not that<br />No unchanging “self” can be found; nothing fixed anywhere</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It may seem unsettling at first, but actually it is such a relief<br />To be able to drop one’s opinions and beliefs, and replace them <br />with curiosity and awe and not-knowing — it’s so liberating<br />to simply live Life, as it Unfolds, in this Moment, Here and Now</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p></div>Steven Crisphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133103376050989480noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19298716.post-58782942567160383982020-12-27T08:20:00.015-10:002021-03-28T13:39:57.275-10:00Of Magic and Miracles<p style="text-align: center;"> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3zOcT7A_28c88pw9Cg1ihUPZjzU9C8GbUSAshQL-W39Wczt8mg3HQ-OuGfBnjzfmCpRBKDDlHP-Hy_1qBWvok1um9p-EELobNQvB87SzJ1nGfDVbedg_vzJlAD3hVACBbJx60uA/s2557/We+Come+in+Peace+%25F0%259F%2599%258F%25F0%259F%258F%25BB.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1230" data-original-width="2557" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3zOcT7A_28c88pw9Cg1ihUPZjzU9C8GbUSAshQL-W39Wczt8mg3HQ-OuGfBnjzfmCpRBKDDlHP-Hy_1qBWvok1um9p-EELobNQvB87SzJ1nGfDVbedg_vzJlAD3hVACBbJx60uA/w640-h308/We+Come+in+Peace+%25F0%259F%2599%258F%25F0%259F%258F%25BB.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="caret-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); color: #cccccc; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11.08799934387207px;"><span style="color: grey;"><u>We Come in Peace</u>, Kailua, HI, September 2020, iPhone 11 Pro</span></i><i style="caret-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); color: #cccccc; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11.08799934387207px;"><span style="color: grey;"> © Steven Crisp<br /><br /></span></i></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Of Magic and Miracles</span></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Surely it is Magical,</span></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">if by magical you mean </span></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">unknown to science and </span></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">the rational (wo)man</span></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">You have seen with eyes</span></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">that intuit the Whole, where others</span></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">see only the little bits and pieces</span></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Magic and Miracles abide in Wholeness</span></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">We are bathed in a cultural paradigm of </span></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">reductionism: If, Then, Goto, Else, Loop</span></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">A causes B causes C, <i>ad nauseam</i></span></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But this is not the language of Life</span></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In Reality's mother tongue, the Whole </span></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;">really is </span><span style="font-family: arial;">greater than the sum of its parts</span></span></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">And Wholeness must be seen</span></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">from a (w)ho(l)ly different vantage point</span></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Jesus told us that the Kingdom of </span></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Heaven is within each of us! You, me,</span></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">saint and sinner … put down your stones,</span></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">and abide in Peace, Love, and Joy</span></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Even during these painful times and</span></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">personal hardships we can know this Truth</span></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">If only we look deeply within, and see</span></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">the Miracle of our in-ter-dependence</span></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So Love deeply, and lift up our brothers and sisters</span></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">For that is how we’ll find our better Angels</span></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Know that every birth is Sacred and Miraculous</span></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Feel deeply, for there is no music like Soul music</span></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">You have heard that no (wo)man is an island, </span></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So then, let us not ask for whom the bell tolls</span></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The(e) real Magic is that we are all in this Together</span></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">And our Salvation begins with(in) (W)hol(i/e)ness</span></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
<div><br /></div><p></p>Steven Crisphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133103376050989480noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19298716.post-66527781676692091652020-12-05T12:58:00.004-10:002020-12-05T13:00:15.518-10:00On Fearlessness<p style="text-align: center;"> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8lmZHUR78Oz3PM7v5LPp5iQcryGK4nV1rxruq4c_FCzOLkQJj93OeIffcY65bSoyb1t35gbn52Zmuv9tq5RUGF3V4fcBBs1XlEt06qQ6veG596-nhIgEBSlNg68GSosTwQefezQ/s2048/IMG_0386.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8lmZHUR78Oz3PM7v5LPp5iQcryGK4nV1rxruq4c_FCzOLkQJj93OeIffcY65bSoyb1t35gbn52Zmuv9tq5RUGF3V4fcBBs1XlEt06qQ6veG596-nhIgEBSlNg68GSosTwQefezQ/w480-h640/IMG_0386.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="caret-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); color: #cccccc; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11.08799934387207px;"><span style="color: grey;"><u>Trick or Treat?</u>, Lanikai, HI, October 2020, iPhone 11 Pro</span></i><i style="caret-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); color: #cccccc; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11.08799934387207px;"><span style="color: grey;"> © Steven Crisp</span></i></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-size: large;">On Fearlessness</span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-size: large;">You, my friend, are fearless</span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-size: large;">And if you think otherwise, please,</span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-size: large;"><span>Please, know that you can be </span><span>fearless, </span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-size: large;">Just as you are, right now</span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-size: large;">How so? Simply this: Understand that fear</span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-size: large;">Only exists in the past or the future</span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-size: large;">You know that from your own experience</span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-size: large;">Don’t believe me? Please think, my friend</span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-size: large;">Think back to a time when you were</span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-size: large;">Exposed to grave physical danger</span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-size: large;">Do you remember how, it seemed,</span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-size: large;">That time, itself, slowed down?</span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-size: large;">That was you, living fully in the present moment</span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-size: large;">Remember? There was no danger or fear; only</span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-size: large;">Whatever action was needed in the moment</span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-size: large;">This is the power of being fully present</span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-size: large;">And so, my friend, please free your mind </span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-size: large;">From its shackles of the past and the future</span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-size: large;">Abide in the timeless, eternal Now, and know</span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-size: large;">This is where Peace and Love reside</span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-size: large;">Go there often, my friend, </span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-size: large;">Return again and again,</span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-size: large;">Be that which is your true nature </span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">And become fearlessness </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue;">itself</span></span></p><div><br /></div>Steven Crisphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133103376050989480noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19298716.post-27132073226941101972020-09-18T09:14:00.007-10:002020-09-18T18:15:09.397-10:00Don't Just Be Yourself ... Just Be<p style="text-align: center;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaRXpnEgs25D5z7EmdMXQe9J3_tKNNTjm6j67S2sfOFh43svjvxgQGHUgS5Bt89GZftUMShdpS_815GcB7Hd6OziufKgy7QW53FEHHRtOCmgzQcNlwH1nvguF65kSbjMoLg1_5eA/s2048/IMG_4911.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaRXpnEgs25D5z7EmdMXQe9J3_tKNNTjm6j67S2sfOFh43svjvxgQGHUgS5Bt89GZftUMShdpS_815GcB7Hd6OziufKgy7QW53FEHHRtOCmgzQcNlwH1nvguF65kSbjMoLg1_5eA/w640-h480/IMG_4911.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="caret-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); color: #cccccc; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11.08799934387207px;"><span style="color: grey;"><u>Morning Flower Sermon</u>, Lanikai, HI, September 2020, iPhone 11 Pro</span></i><i style="caret-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); color: #cccccc; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11.08799934387207px;"><span style="color: grey;"> © Steven Crisp</span></i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The common advice when one is uptight or troubled is to “just be yourself” as if that will relax you and let you breathe more easily. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">But while that may be better than being anxious or fearful, is not enough. Still you have yourself — your ego — and that requires defending, stroking, placating, and the like. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">So the real step to take is to Just Be! Dis-identify with that self that needs protection. That self is itself a contraction of being. You can even feel that contraction in your body if you become still, quiet, and aware. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Just Be that which is present in this moment, or as Ram Dass so wisely titled his first book, just Be Here Now. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">So rather than just <b>being</b> yourself, try <b>freeing</b> yourself so that you can <b>Just Be</b>. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">After all, what you call the self is not a solid, well-defined, static thing. If the self is anything more than just a label, it is a dynamic, ever changing, process of being. The flux and flow of Life itself. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">You understand this intellectually — cells constantly dying and dividing, new experiences being processed and becoming part of your identify, even gut microbiome being changed based on the food you eat and affecting your health, etc., etc.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Absolutely everything you believe is your “self” is changing continuously. It's impermanent. That is what Life is. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Come to know that fact intellectually <u>and</u> experientially, and you will have unlocked a precious treasure. The ability to allow yourself to simply <b>Be</b>. Recognize that you already are part of Life itself, an ever unfolding part of the Cosmos. You are not looking at Nature, you <b>Are</b> Nature. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Nature does not worry about its past or project what might be its future. Nature simply flows, based on the deep interconnection with all that <b>Is</b>. Indeed, it is that Is-ness, or <b>Such-ness</b> that constitutes your true <b>Being</b>.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">There is a so-called Flower Sermon, given by the Buddha to his monastics and visiting lay-people. It is captured in a famous Buddhist Sutra, and has been interpreted by Thich Nhat Hahn, in the book <a href="https://openlibrary.org/books/OL1863654M/Old_path_white_clouds" target="_blank">Old Path White Clouds: Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha</a> (available for free).</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">In the Sutra, at the beginning of his anticipated dharma talk, the Buddha (Guatama) held up a single flower in his hand, and remained silent for a long time. One of his disciples, Mahakassapa smiled and received the direct transmission of wisdom of this teaching, as interpreted below:</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px;"></span><blockquote><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">“The Buddha began to speak. “Friends, this flower is a wondrous reality. As I hold the flower before you, you all have a chance to experience it. Making contact with a flower is to make contact with a wondrous reality. It is making contact with life itself.</span> </span></blockquote><blockquote><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: x-small;">“Mahakassapa smiled before anyone else because he was able to make contact with the flower. As long as obstacles remain in your minds, you will not be able to make contact with the flower. Some of you asked yourselves, ‘Why is Gautama holding that flower up? What is the meaning of his gesture?’ If your minds are occupied with such thoughts, you cannot truly experience the flower.</span></blockquote><blockquote><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: x-small;">“Friends, being lost in thoughts is one of the things that prevents us from making true contact with life. If you are ruled by worry, frustration, anxiety, anger, or jealousy, you will lose the chance to make real contact with all the wonders of life.</span></blockquote><blockquote><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: x-small;">“Friends, the lotus in my hand is only real to those of you who dwell mindfully in the present moment. If you do not return to the present moment, the flower does not truly exist. There are people who can pass through a forest of sandalwood trees without ever really seeing one tree. Life is filled with suffering, but it also contains many wonders. Be aware in order to see both the suffering and the wonders in life.</span></blockquote><blockquote><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">“Being in touch with suffering does not mean to become lost in it. Being in touch with the wonders of life does not mean to lose ourselves in them either. Being in touch is to truly encounter life, to see it deeply. If we directly encounter life, we </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue;"><span>will understand its interdependent and impermanent nature. Thanks to that, we will no longer lose ourselves in desire, anger, and craving. We will dwell in freedom and liberation."</span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote><blockquote><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px;"><i>Excerpt From: Thich Nhat Hanh. “Old Path White Clouds: Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha.”</i> </span></blockquote></blockquote><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And that is the intended purpose of the flower photo above. Open your eyes and try to see all of Nature just as it is, part of the "wondrous reality" that is Life itself. And <b>Just Be</b> a part of that wondrous reality! No words are needed; no words can really describe it.</p><div><br /></div><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><br /></b></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><div><br /></div>Steven Crisphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133103376050989480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19298716.post-76078786117029967382020-09-17T15:05:00.004-10:002020-09-17T15:09:02.691-10:00Do You Know What Day It Is?<p style="text-align: center;"> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CFP1B2mBsQv/?igshid=1vg3ym0c4h1fq" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1176" data-original-width="2362" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju8h47LBXeYYrlW2223QesO3954tO-3SsJya9DNKEvyVhhgpCqEOTskh9Fqf8-Z3IhRJLT7An2x-gWu6fnz3FWmHAj6-FY5N9MdFgVYll2Zh_DWVIWo_Z0k3uJYxhYsVVF0IdYbA/w640-h319/World+Manta+Ray+Day.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"><i>It's World Manta Ray Day!</i></span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>Well, as my daughter Alli informed me, today is World Manta Ray Day. You can click on that picture to be taken to the Instagram page if so desired.</p><p>I thought you might also be interested to hear (and see) why that is noteworthy for us.</p><p>We recently completed a project to tile our lanai. As we were picking out the tile, and thinking of the large area that would be tiled, we thought the addition of some sea life would be a cool addition. </p><p>Back in 2015, when we tiled the inside of our foyer, we found an artist who made sea turtle mosaics, and we bought a set and had our tile installers set them into the tile. Quite an intricate job cutting the tile to fit all the turtle flippers. He did the whole job with an angle grinder, and it was perfect.</p><p>So, we reached out to that artist again, and based on a suggestion by my wife, and some research by my daughter and me, asked if he wanted to create a manta ray for our lanai. Well, he thought that would be "epic". So after two months of design, material selection, mock-ups and feedback, we agreed on the final design and had our same tile installer set it into the new tile for our lanai.</p><p>Here's a picture of the end result, with my wife sitting in the hammock over the manta ray: </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZgrAE_ldRAphRnJbNAzYcVSaHvTim1bT5kg-GnQNPJBZxcHaCX6PI3WIKnJ0Vqoa4CU51RaNp3-S8kvOc9t1NQTZTRfQo4GzDThl_egL0dN9IyHe9wtbwR8Qs1dow1c5gc9nFnQ/s1280/Carol+hammock+over+manta+ray.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZgrAE_ldRAphRnJbNAzYcVSaHvTim1bT5kg-GnQNPJBZxcHaCX6PI3WIKnJ0Vqoa4CU51RaNp3-S8kvOc9t1NQTZTRfQo4GzDThl_egL0dN9IyHe9wtbwR8Qs1dow1c5gc9nFnQ/w640-h480/Carol+hammock+over+manta+ray.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"><i>Lounging over the Manta Ray</i></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: left;">Well I'd say she is a real beauty! And I think the Manta Ray turned out pretty nice too! 😂</p>Steven Crisphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133103376050989480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19298716.post-10724916125327824292020-09-05T17:40:00.002-10:002020-09-05T17:46:44.949-10:00Are You Talkin' To Me?<p style="text-align: left;">Remember that scene from Taxi Driver, where Robert DeNiro asks the mirror, "Are you talkin' to me?".</p><p>OK good, but this is nothing like that. 😬</p><p>Instead, this is more of a inter-species intervention, when we notice a White-Rumped Shama on a nearby branch, and knowing they had once been caged song birds that had gotten into the wild, try to get this one to "talk" to us.</p><p>So you will hear at times, my wife or I whistling to prompt this bird to sing, and sure enough, he does quite a few times.</p><p>They really are quite sociable birds, and great singers. Anyways, we thought you might enjoy this as your moment of Zen today (or just a nice diversion from current events, etc.):</p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FxydbwHbDY0" width="560"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: left;">May all of your conversations today be as melodic and peaceful as this one was for us.</p><p style="text-align: center;">Namaste 🙏🏻 </p>Steven Crisphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133103376050989480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19298716.post-81776196411614718652020-09-02T15:46:00.006-10:002023-04-21T06:49:48.670-10:00Lifetime Warranty<p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBNCk4-uFqZeKxbacepkH41Gbb-8NQijmIbye6QxtJIlGu8z5c3LjTRSWZRFm3jEfTzAdrnhfDoo1gLgRw-fFyChp_btMhqP2suR2hlfbPYCQrMUFY3n8iOm_msbfk8yo3G4nD/s2048/Wedelia+and+friend.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBNCk4-uFqZeKxbacepkH41Gbb-8NQijmIbye6QxtJIlGu8z5c3LjTRSWZRFm3jEfTzAdrnhfDoo1gLgRw-fFyChp_btMhqP2suR2hlfbPYCQrMUFY3n8iOm_msbfk8yo3G4nD/s640/Wedelia+and+friend.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i style="caret-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); color: #cccccc; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11.087999px;"><span style="color: grey;"><u>Wedelia and a Friend</u>, Kailua, HI, March 2020, Panasonic DMC-ZS50</span></i><i style="caret-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); color: #cccccc; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11.087999px;"><span style="color: grey;">,</span></i><br style="caret-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); color: #cccccc; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11.087999px;" /><i style="caret-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); color: #cccccc; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11.087999px;"><span style="color: grey;">1/200 sec @ f3.3, ISO 80, 0 EV, no flash © Steven Crisp </span><span style="color: grey;">[Click on the photo to enlarge]</span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Do you ever check those warranties you get on products? Some are only good for 90 days, some for 1 year. But the great ones are lifetime warranties, good as long as the original owner is still alive.<p></p><div>Well, here's some good news. <b>We</b> also come with a lifetime warranty. On our Life. The only requirement is we have to be alive to claim it.</div><div><br /></div><div>Want more good news? There's no paperwork required, no receipts you need to save. Whenever <b>Our Life</b> is not working as it should be, we can swap it for a new one. Really. It's True!</div><div><br /></div><div>So what's the catch, you may ask? Who gets to determine if my life is working "as it should be"? That's the best part -- <b>We're </b>the ones who get to make the call. In fact we <b>have</b> to make the call, to claim the warranty.</div><div><br /></div><div>So maybe an example would better explain how this warranty works. Imagine you have a nice home in a nice neighborhood, outfitted with a nice security system to keep you safe. But then your security system keeps sending you alerts of intruders in your driveway. And it turns out to be neighborhood kids running amok, unable to stay on the public sidewalk. Annoying, right? They're not allowed on your property without your permission, right? What are you going to do -- how will you handle the situation? Well here's how one man dealt with it:</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3xj-J0NUuk8" width="560"></iframe><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">See how it works? Once we decide we don't like what is happening in <b>Our Life</b>, we get to decide how to respond. We could react with frustration, anger, bitterness, revenge -- all perfectly natural, automatic, ego-centric responses. Then once we recognize how we are reacting, and if we don't like how that makes us feel, time to turn in our Old Life for a New Life. Right Now. In each new Moment.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">That's right, we get to choose our response to everything that Life throws at us. Both the "good" and the "bad", except those are really only defined by how we choose to respond to Life. Really, it is that simple.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">And this is not limited to precocious kids in your driveway. This is about <b>any</b> situation that causes us to suffer. Take for example, being incarcerated, locked up in prison, or worse. Indeed, having survived 3 years in Nazi concentration camps including Auschwitz, Victor Frankl famously wrote:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div data-mh="-1" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><div class="YwqY0" style="padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 16px; padding-top: 0px;"><div class="OTnkWc PZPZlf" data-ved="2ahUKEwivjIiC5cvrAhXBu54KHdcgDQQQhFsoADABegQIBhAC"><div class="Qynugf"><i><span style="color: #ffa400;">Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.</span></i></div><div></div></div></div></div><div data-mh="-1" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><div class="dH80Y" style="padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 16px; padding-top: 16px;"><div class="OTnkWc PZPZlf" data-ved="2ahUKEwivjIiC5cvrAhXBu54KHdcgDQQQhFsoATABegQIBhAD"><div class="Qynugf"><i><span style="color: #ffa400;">When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.</span></i></div><div></div></div></div></div><div data-mh="-1" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><div class="dH80Y" style="padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 16px; padding-top: 16px;"><div class="OTnkWc PZPZlf" data-ved="2ahUKEwivjIiC5cvrAhXBu54KHdcgDQQQhFsoAjABegQIBhAE"><div class="Qynugf"><i><span style="color: #ffa400;"><b>Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.</b></span></i></div><div></div></div></div></div><div aria-hidden="true" class="xpdxpnd" data-mh="-1" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: arial, sans-serif; max-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;"><div class="dH80Y" style="padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 16px; padding-top: 16px;"><div class="OTnkWc PZPZlf" data-ved="2ahUKEwivjIiC5cvrAhXBu54KHdcgDQQQhFsoAzABegQIBhAF"><div class="Qynugf"><span style="color: #ffa400;"><b><i></i></b></span></div><div></div></div></div></div><div aria-hidden="true" class="xpdxpnd" data-mh="-1" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: arial, sans-serif; max-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;"><div class="dH80Y" style="padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 16px; padding-top: 16px;"><div class="OTnkWc PZPZlf" data-ved="2ahUKEwivjIiC5cvrAhXBu54KHdcgDQQQhFsoBDABegQIBhAG"><div class="Qynugf"><span style="color: #ffa400;"><b><i></i></b></span></div><div></div></div></div></div><div aria-hidden="true" class="xpdxpnd" data-mh="-1" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: arial, sans-serif; max-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;"><div class="dH80Y" style="padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 16px; padding-top: 16px;"><div class="OTnkWc PZPZlf" data-ved="2ahUKEwivjIiC5cvrAhXBu54KHdcgDQQQhFsoBTABegQIBhAH"><div class="Qynugf"><span style="color: #ffa400;"><b><i></i></b></span></div><div></div></div></div></div><div aria-hidden="true" class="xpdxpnd" data-mh="-1" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: arial, sans-serif; max-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;"><div class="dH80Y" style="padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 16px; padding-top: 16px;"><div class="OTnkWc PZPZlf" data-ved="2ahUKEwivjIiC5cvrAhXBu54KHdcgDQQQhFsoBjABegQIBhAI"><div class="Qynugf"><span style="color: #ffa400;"><b><i></i></b></span></div><div></div></div></div></div><div aria-hidden="true" class="xpdxpnd" data-mh="-1" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: arial, sans-serif; max-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;"><div class="dH80Y" style="padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 16px; padding-top: 16px;"><div class="OTnkWc PZPZlf" data-ved="2ahUKEwivjIiC5cvrAhXBu54KHdcgDQQQhFsoBzABegQIBhAJ"><div class="Qynugf"><span style="color: #ffa400;"><b><i></i></b></span></div><div></div></div></div></div><div aria-hidden="true" class="xpdxpnd" data-mh="-1" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: arial, sans-serif; max-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;"><div class="dH80Y" style="padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 16px; padding-top: 16px;"><div class="OTnkWc PZPZlf" data-ved="2ahUKEwivjIiC5cvrAhXBu54KHdcgDQQQhFsoCDABegQIBhAK"><div class="Qynugf"><span style="color: #ffa400;"><b><i></i></b></span></div><div></div></div></div></div><div aria-hidden="true" class="xpdxpnd" data-mh="-1" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: arial, sans-serif; max-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;"><div class="dH80Y" style="padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 16px; padding-top: 16px;"><div class="OTnkWc PZPZlf" data-ved="2ahUKEwivjIiC5cvrAhXBu54KHdcgDQQQhFsoCTABegQIBhAL"><div class="Qynugf"><span style="color: #ffa400;"><b><i></i></b></span></div><div></div></div></div></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></div><div style="text-align: left;">That is our Lifetime Warranty. And we get to use it over and over, each time we get trapped by our reaction to a situation. We get to choose another path. And over time, we will be able to sense that <b><span style="color: #ffa400;">space</span></b> that Frankl speaks of, and make a conscious choice of what our response will be to Life's stimulus.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">We can choose a response that lifts our heart and soul, perhaps at the same time it lifts the other person's heart and soul as well, and helps heal ourself and the other. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Please don't be shy. This is powerful stuff. We get to use our Lifetime Warranty over and over again, as many times as we need it, until we can <b>live</b> in that <span style="color: #ffa400;"><b>space</b></span>, and make more heartfelt, compassionate, choices.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Oh, and how does that picture at the top of this page relate to any of this? Well, Wedelia can be considered an invasive weed. But it is also a very effective ground cover, holding on to the topsoil, providing beautiful flowers, supporting local honey bees and various other insects, as you can see. Did you notice that little fella there, looking you right in the eye? Is that a pest? Or another sentient being?</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Sometimes, Life is really all about how We choose to see things. And whether we judge, label, and call something good or bad. Just realize it is Us, and not Life, that assigns those labels. With some practice, we really can find Reflections of Beauty everywhere we go. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>Steven Crisphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133103376050989480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19298716.post-34959378567510774472020-09-01T18:21:00.003-10:002020-12-20T13:11:37.815-10:00"What If?" is a Beautiful Question<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjELwg6UCgorjTpDNQdkOp_UBNu2GbB9MkHkun8Tsp8DSnFWtjmz771C5_Xl7fYcLBn50gl7AMiBfOcO1iBGADSTg6E6HyM-4BsmeHrDCqQFHLPWhDpsqP8NwgviqByehnle8pIFw/s2048/What+If+...+dogs+could+dance+the+rumba%253F+%25281%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="427" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjELwg6UCgorjTpDNQdkOp_UBNu2GbB9MkHkun8Tsp8DSnFWtjmz771C5_Xl7fYcLBn50gl7AMiBfOcO1iBGADSTg6E6HyM-4BsmeHrDCqQFHLPWhDpsqP8NwgviqByehnle8pIFw/w640-h427/What+If+...+dogs+could+dance+the+rumba%253F+%25281%2529.jpg" title="What if ... dogs could dance the rumba?" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="caret-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px;"><span><u><span style="color: #ffa400;">What If ... Dogs Could Learn to Tango?</span></u><span style="color: #cccccc;">, Lanikai Beach, Lanikai, HI, April 2020, </span></span></i><br style="caret-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); color: #cccccc; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><i style="caret-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); color: #cccccc; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px;"><span style="color: grey;">Nikon D600 with FX 28-300mm VR lens,</span></i><i style="caret-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); color: #cccccc; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px;"><span style="color: grey;">160mm, 1/500 sec @ f10, ISO 400, -0.67 EV, no flash © Steven Crisp </span></i></div><p><span style="color: #ffa400;">"What If?"</span> It's a good question, don't you think? </p><p>Or you might call it a way of questioning. Of contemplating. Of looking more deeply.</p><p>I've been doing that recently, having reinvigorated my spiritual inquiries. And I must say it's all pretty fascinating. Those who know me have heard me say "I'm spiritual, but not religious." Indeed, I have called myself a-religious, and have some issues with a personified God. I was not entirely sure why that issue was so visceral for me, but I guess that's just my karma (no, that's not irony, just some humor ;-)</p><p>During my recent investigations, I came upon a physicist named David Bohm. I had heard the name before (as a wannabe physicist myself), but really knew nothing about him. And then I stumbled upon this movie, Infinite Potential. I think it's well done, and ties together some complex physics topics, with the drama of the A-bomb development, McCarthyism, and a scientist looking deeply for the fundamental underlying mechanisms of the cosmos. Which ultimately brings him in touch spiritual insights from past millennia that help guide his thinking. Here's the movie trailer (and by all means, if any of those topics sound interesting to you, you may want to <a href="https://www.infinitepotential.com/purchase-the-film/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">purchase the movie</a>, like I did, even having watched it twice before):</p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GzbgdI3NLiY" width="560"></iframe><br /></p><p>So anyways, <span style="color: #ffa400;">"What If?"</span></p><p>What if our scientific world view, with its remarkable progress using experimentation to prove out theories, is still not the whole story?</p><p>What if underlying all that we can detect and classify, still lies something that would be able to explain some remaining conundrums, like entanglement (non-local effects), like wave-particle duality, like Schrödinger's cat (paradox), like dark matter/energy that is vastly greater than observable matter/energy throughout the universe?</p><p>What if consciousness, which remains poorly understood, has some role in this, and/or applies beyond one's physical body?</p><p>What if it's not only possible, but repeatable, and trainable, for individuals to gain control of their own mind-bodies, and realize the truths of impermanence, not-self or egolessness, and equanimity or non-reactivity, and then enter states of non-duality.</p><p>I think the biggest take-aways from the movie and from these sample what-if questions are that we really need to keep our minds open, alert, and inquisitive. While it might temporarily "feel good" to think we have an answer, opinion, belief, or even an orthodox interpretation on these or other important questions, we should never close our minds to the possibility of new information or direct experience that might tell us otherwise.</p><p>And in the end, a recurring question we can ask is: </p><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><b>Will we try to protect ourselves </b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><b>from the vicissitudes of life?</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><b>or</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #ffa400;"><b>Will we accept </b></span><b style="color: #ffa400;">and fully participate </b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><b>in Life, with Life, and as Life itself? </b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><b>Accept Life as it comes, </b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><b>in each moment, </b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><b>and remain grateful </b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><b>for each breath, </b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><b>for each smile, </b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><b>for each relationship, </b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><b>for each beautiful question,</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><b>and for each chance to Tango! </b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;">😉</div></div><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p><br /></p>Steven Crisphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133103376050989480noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19298716.post-84640391336762713732020-06-29T14:06:00.001-10:002020-08-16T07:33:46.772-10:00Maybe I'm Just A Basket Case<div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QqT8UcO8VCM" width="560"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="caret-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); color: #cccccc; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11.08799934387207px;"><span style="color: grey;"><u>The Basket Case</u>, Lanikai Loop, Lanikai, HI, June 2020, iPhone 11 Pro</span></i><i style="caret-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); color: #cccccc; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11.08799934387207px;"><span style="color: grey;"> © Steven Crisp</span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="caret-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); color: #cccccc; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11.08799934387207px;"><span style="color: grey;"><br /></span></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Look what I stumbled on today, while coming back from my morning beach walk. Waiting to cross the street, I glimpsed something in my peripheral vision. Light flickering in the breeze. And then I was hooked. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The interlaced palm fronds, weaving together with the sunlight, blue sky, and white puffy clouds. The shadows dancing, playing peekaboo with the dazzling morning star. And the breeze, don't forget the breeze. Sometimes strong, sometimes calm, and sometimes dangerous -- always changing day to day, hour to hour, really moment by moment. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">All of it, plus what you don't see. The soil in which the Acacia Palms are planted. All the insects and microbes that keep the earth alive. The periodic rain showers and occasional tropical deluges that water them all. The landscaper (or homeowner) that planted them, and who prunes off dead or dying fronds to make room for the new growth that just magically appears.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">And what about the Nursery owner who's livelihood comes from raising and selling these palms. With only some land and a little business acumen (and capital) to raise them. Possibly, the land where these were raised has been in their family for quite some time. Perhaps the son or grand-daughter is now the proprietor. So much owed to the family, the upbringing, the hard work plus good fortune.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">And where did that breeze come from? Heating of the air from the rising sun, trade winds that brought missionaries and Polynesian ancestors, or the chaotic flap of a butterfly's wings? No matter. Nature does not keep score. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">It moves only in the present moment. And in this moment, it has woven you a basket of earthly delights. May you lighten your load into this basket, and skip more easily as you go about your day. With love and Namaste.</div>Steven Crisphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133103376050989480noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19298716.post-71833867861996696072020-06-24T17:40:00.001-10:002020-06-29T13:26:39.273-10:00Waving with Wonder<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i style="caret-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); color: #cccccc; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11.08799934387207px;"><span style="color: grey;"><u>Waving with Wonder</u>, Kailua Beach, Kailua, HI, June 2020, iPhone 11 Pro</span></i><i style="caret-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); color: #cccccc; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11.08799934387207px;"><span style="color: grey;"> © Steven Crisp</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">Imagine that you and I are waves.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">It’s a pretty good metaphor</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">For scientists, poets, and mystics alike</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">You wave your energy at me</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">And I wave mine to you.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">And in that way we meet, we touch, </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">We hold hands or at least share knowing glances.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">And if we look deeply, in that moment,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">We merge, and we amplify our Being. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">The Two become One. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">And the One joins that which it never left. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; line-height: 1.5;">That great Ocean of Being ... </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; line-height: 1.5;">our true nature.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">You have possibly felt this before. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">Had a glimpse of the vastness of your own being. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> <span style="font-family: "arial"; line-height: 1.5;">Or better ... simply ... Being.</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; line-height: 1.5;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large;"> And the interconnectedness of all that is.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">Think back to when you were a small child. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">Remember the Wonder you had with Life. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">With each new experience ...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">The beauty of a flower ...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">or the excitement of a butterfly. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">Can you recall a more recent time </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">when you felt this Wonder again? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">The flux and the flow of Nature itself. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">And the wondrous realization that </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">you</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; line-height: 1.5;">are not separate from Nature.</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; line-height: 1.5;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">In fact, you are one with Nature. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; line-height: 1.5;">You </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; line-height: 1.5; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="line-height: 1.5;">are</span></span><span style="font-family: "arial"; line-height: 1.5;"> Nature itself.</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; line-height: 1.5;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">No 'this' or 'that'. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">No 'us' versus 'them'. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">No 'me', 'my', and 'mine'. </span></div>
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</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large;">No 'selfing' and no-self.</span></div>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: center;">
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">What is Reality except the waves of somethingness?</span></div>
</div>
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: center;">
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">You and I are the answer to the question</span></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: center;">
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">“Why is there something rather than nothing?”</span></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: center;">
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">You are literally made up of waves from the Big Bang. </span></div>
</div>
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: center;">
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">You are the Singularity made manifest. </span></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: center;">
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">Everything is exactly as it should be.</span></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: center;">
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">How could it be any other way?</span></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<br />
<div>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 1.5;">
</div>
<div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: center;">
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">We are the sound of a Great Song, </span></div>
</div>
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: center;">
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">The Uni-Verse, </span></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: center;">
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">The primordial A-U-M (Om). </span></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: center;">
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">Waves and energy in constant motion. </span></div>
</div>
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: center;">
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">Creation and Destruction as one. </span></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: center;">
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">No opposites, only the Whole. </span></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: center;">
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">You can hear it and feel it if you enter the Stillness. </span></div>
</div>
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: center;">
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">If you look deeply enough ... into anything, </span></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: center;">
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; line-height: 1.5;">You can catch a glimpse ... w</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large;">ith awareness</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large;">.</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large;"> </span></span></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: center;">
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">Walk through nature. </span></div>
</div>
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: center;">
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">Be Present in Nature. </span></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: center;">
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">"Be" Nature, that which you already are. </span></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: center;">
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">Just. Be. Here. Now. </span></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: center;">
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">Do you realize that this Precious Moment</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large;"> ... Is It?</span></div>
</div>
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: center;">
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;"> This is all there is ... the Timeless Present.</span></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: center;">
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">And that past and future, both, each,</span></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: center;">
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">Can only exist, as memories or plans, Now?</span></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large;"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.5;">
</div>
<div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: center;">
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">Your Mind may fight back, and deny this Reality. </span></div>
</div>
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: center;">
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">So let your body sensations help you stay Present, </span></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: center;">
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">And feel that which is alive within you. </span></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: center;">
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; line-height: 1.5;">Within me. Within us.</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; line-height: 1.5;"> </span></span></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: center;">
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5;">Within our vast Universe. </span></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<blockquote style="border: none; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: center;">
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; line-height: 1.5;">Just ... Waving with Wonder.</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; line-height: 1.5;"> </span></span></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<div style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: center;">
<div style="line-height: 1.5;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Steven Crisphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133103376050989480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19298716.post-12314028899385664692020-06-14T18:37:00.000-10:002020-06-14T18:40:25.120-10:00Windswept Lover<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oOyuBgUqiEo" width="560"></iframe></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Sitting together o</span><span style="font-size: large;">n the lanai</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">With eyes closed</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">At the dawn of a new day</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Calm, peaceful and still </span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">We meditate while</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Birds sing to the rising sun</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">And then you touch me</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Tussle my hair, tickle my skin</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">And caress my face</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Suddenly your all around me</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Rippling over my clothes</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Bringing a smile to my lips</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Oh, my silent lover</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">So unpredictable and blustery</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Sometimes cool, sometimes warm </span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Yellow Oleander branches quiver</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Flowers dance in delight</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Grasses sway to and fro</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">And then, still toying with me</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">You go breathless</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">with an energetic stillness</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Until the </span><span style="font-size: large;">whispers</span><span style="font-size: large;"> and currents</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">of your loving embrace</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Caress me once again</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Why must you keep yourself hidden</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">So shy … yet available to all</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Invisible, like the pulsing of Life itself</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Such a precious offering</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">For those who are willing</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">To simply quiet their minds</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">... and observe</span></div>
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Steven Crisphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133103376050989480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19298716.post-2599073098056828632020-05-28T15:30:00.003-10:002020-05-29T21:51:37.692-10:00Be Still Buddy<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj_X81Wb0Z5DHY5NmI7pR6tSBpXNJP3CsqQBJnpqZwm0dvwKAKtRGQ5mO9fN-hhyxC0lcbCg9C8IWgUOsBAOr8EO-urUacF3tCxICv1MR0-ykfzDCFDG8jopZrzfFKYMW9defu7A/s1600/Be-Still+Buddy-large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj_X81Wb0Z5DHY5NmI7pR6tSBpXNJP3CsqQBJnpqZwm0dvwKAKtRGQ5mO9fN-hhyxC0lcbCg9C8IWgUOsBAOr8EO-urUacF3tCxICv1MR0-ykfzDCFDG8jopZrzfFKYMW9defu7A/s640/Be-Still+Buddy-large.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="color: #cccccc; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11.08799934387207px;"><span style="color: grey;"><u>Be-Still Buddy</u>, Kailua, HI, May 2020, Nikon D600 with FX 18-300mm VR lens, </span></i><i style="color: #cccccc; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11.08799934387207px;"><span style="color: grey;">300mm,</span></i><br />
<i style="color: #cccccc; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11.08799934387207px;"><span style="color: grey;">1/320 sec @ f5.6, ISO 500, -0.33 EV, no flash © Steven Crisp </span><span style="color: grey;">[Click on the photo to enlarge]</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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This is a Red-Crested Cardinal (really a Tanager) holding a Be-Still flower in its beak, and drinking its nectar. These cute songbirds bounce through these trees (also known as Yellow Oleander), plucking flowers, holding them like trumpets, and then dropping them. <br />
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So many fall to the ground you could make quite a beautiful Hawaiian lei with them, except that the flowers (and all parts of this plant, especially the seeds) are poisonous to humans (and many animals). Hence the name -- the result of someone eating parts of the tree -- they would literally stop moving and "be still." Even the nectar, gathered by bees and transformed into honey, ends up containing toxins.<br />
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And yet will you look at that ... poison to some is nectar from the gods for these birds. Nature certainly is fascinating. <br />
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And I'm quite fond of our Be-Still Buddy, reminding me to, "Be Still, Buddy" 😬. But in my version, this is more like the inner stillness found during meditation.<br />
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Here's hoping that you -- my blog Buddy -- can spend some time today both in Stillness and in Nature ... and each and every day going forward.<br />
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Namaste!<br />
<br />Steven Crisphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133103376050989480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19298716.post-10847755361315008882020-05-26T12:50:00.000-10:002020-05-28T14:48:51.472-10:00Dancing Minnows<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="400" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xzEz4Uv-Kcg" width="640"></iframe></div>
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<span style="color: cyan;">Dancing minnows </span></div>
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<span style="color: cyan;">What do they know?</span></div>
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<span style="color: cyan;">Of water or sunlight or shadows</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: cyan;">And what do they think</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: cyan;">Of ripples or waves or vast ocean</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: cyan;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: cyan;">Look!</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: cyan;">They just flow within it all</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: cyan;">No effort or worry</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: cyan;">Just one more dance among the cosmos</span></div>
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<span style="color: cyan;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: cyan;">Why must you do any more?</span></div>
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<span style="color: cyan;">Pay no mind ... No Mind! </span></div>
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<span style="color: cyan;">Find your way with choiceless awareness </span></div>
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<span style="color: cyan;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: cyan;">Have you sensed it? </span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: cyan;">That tingling ... that connection </span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: cyan;">Among, within, and as a part of Nature </span></div>
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<span style="color: cyan;">To all beings ... to all that IS. </span></div>
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<span style="color: cyan;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: cyan;">Your mind will protest ... that’s understood</span></div>
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<span style="color: cyan;"> This is beyond your your thinking mind</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: cyan;">Beyond me, my, and mine</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: cyan;">Beyond I'm right and your wrong</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: cyan;">Beyond past regrets and future plans</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: cyan;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: cyan;">There is a wholeness </span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: cyan;">Just ... Be ... Here ... Now ...</span></div>
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<i><span style="color: cyan;">(Thank you Ram Dass)</span></i></div>
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<span style="color: cyan;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: cyan;">Where preferences are a hindrance,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: cyan;">opinions are burdensome, and</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: cyan;">beliefs are anything-but True faith</span><br />
<span style="color: cyan;">Where opposites just flow together</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: cyan;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: cyan;">Can you accept good ... and evil?</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: cyan;">Can you accept us ... and them?</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="color: cyan;">Can you accept life ... and death?</span></div>
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<span style="color: cyan;">Not separate ... nor superior</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: cyan;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: cyan;">Just Reality as it IS</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: cyan;">So simple ... even a child can understand</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: cyan;">Let go of concepts that keep you old and stale</span></div>
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<span style="color: cyan;">Become child-like again ... see everything fresh and new</span><br />
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Steven Crisphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133103376050989480noreply@blogger.com0