Saturday, June 17, 2017

Francis Lucille - Parmenides’ single poem On Reality



Born around 515 BC., Parmenides, was a citizen of Elea, a small town in the south of Italy. His
poem "On Reality" was probably comprised of three parts 
of which we have only the first two largely intact.
The first part takes the form of an allegorical poem in which we see the poet, impelled by a
strong desire, travel toward the domain of the Goddess, in a chariot pulled by powerful runners.
After unveiling their faces for him, the Maidens of light guide him to the "threshold where the
roads of Night and of Day converge", and he is allowed to cross it as a result of their
intercession. He is then welcomed with benevolence by the Goddess 
who takes his right hand in hers and commences her teaching.
The second part, translated here, is the metaphysical section 
and contains the teaching of the truth.
The third, which is fragmentary, is the physical part. It represents ignorant public opinion
according to which reality is the physical universe which came into existence in the past, exists
today, and is destined to disappear one day.


*****
Now then, I will instruct you; hear what I say:
Two paths are open to investigation.
The first says: being is and non­being is not.
It is the path of certainty, because it follows the truth.
The other says: being is not, therefore non­being is.
This misdirected path, I tell you, cannot lead to a sound conviction
For, if this statement were true, it would not be possible for you
to conceive of non­being, nor to name it.

Speaking and thinking necessarily arise from being, because being is.
And non­being is not. I invite you to reflect deeply on this point,
And to move away, in your search, from that other path
As from the one traveled by those ignorant mortals
Who are the men of two minds: the uncertainty which resides in their hearts
Misleads their wavering reason. They are swept along,
Deaf and blind, benighted, the masses without discernment
Who pretend that being and non­being are simultaneously identical
And different, they for whom, for any statement, the opposite is equally true.

No power will ever bring non­being into existence.
So direct your thinking away from this path of exploration.
May habit, so often resumed, not force you to return to it,
With eyes blinded, ears filled with noise
And mouth with words, and may your intelligence alone resolve  this contentious issue.

Only one path remains for us to pursue:
Being is.  And countless signs prove
That being is free from birth and death
Because it is complete, immutable and eternal.
It never was, it never will be, because it is completely whole in the now,
One, endless.  What beginning, indeed, should we attribute to it?
Whence would it evolve? Whither?
I will not allow you to say or to think that it comes from nothingness,
Nor that being is not.  What exigency would have brought it forth
Later or earlier, from non­being?
Thus, it can only be, absolutely, or not at all.
Our firm innermost conviction will never admit
That something can spring forth from nothingness.
In this way the goddess of Justice, forbidding birth and death,
Preserves without respite the existence of being. Whereas the question was to resolve
Whether being is or is not. We must therefore decide to abandon as false
The second hypothesis, the path which can neither be thought nor formulated,
And to hold to the first, which is the path of the truth.
How could what is, one day cease to be? How could it have, one day, come to be?
What is born, is not, neither what is to be born.
Thus dies birth and thus dies death.
Within being there remain no differences because it is completely identical to itself.
There is not, here, something more that comes to break continuity
Neither, there, something less: but everything is filled with being.
Thus it is all continuous:  being adjoined to being.
On the other hand, maintained motionless by powerful links,
It is without beginning and without end, since birth and death
Have been rejected as contrary to our intuition of truth.
Remaining itself, existing within itself, supported by itself,
Thus, immutable, it remains in the same place because the powerful necessity,
Hemming it in from all sides, keeps it firmly unified.
That is why it is not permitted that being be unfinished,
Because there is nothing missing in it; unfinished, it would be missing  everything!
Thought is identical to being, and so it is for the object to which thought refers;
Thus there is nothing, and there will never be anything, outside of being
Which Destiny compels to an eternal bliss. Thus,
To be born and to die, to be or not to be,
To change place or appearance,
All of these events are but names superimposed by man’s ignorance.
Being the ultimate, it is everywhere complete.
Just as an harmoniously round sphere
Departs equally at all points from its center.
Nothing can be added to it here nor taken away from it there.
What is not,  cannot interrupt it’s homogeneous existence.
What is, cannot possess it more or less.  Out of all  reach,
Everywhere identical to itself, beyond all limits, it is.


Thanks to

PDF  HERE
Francis Lucille 
 

Friday, June 16, 2017

Samana - Flow-er



That which is labelled duality
Is but the means for Love to recognize itSelf
And for the recognition and taste of Beauty
For in this timeless and apparent moment of Now
The recognition of Beauty is Love
The falling in Love is surrender
The surrender is to disappear
And the duality as the recognition of Beauty
Is the two-way door of self no-self
The realization of Self as absence is Presence
The recognition of Love is to rest as Heart
And Heart is Self



This flower is offered
This flower is Heart
That which appears to come and go
Has never gone anywhere
This dream unfolds as does the dreamer

That which is writing this, reading this, and the flower,
are One, God, the Divine, the Beloved, Self
The flower appears as you appear
And the words upon the page


Notice what is present in all apparent activity
Notice stillness in all apparent movement
The changeless unconditioned Awareness
One does not contain or possess the Eternal
One arises of and as This
You are ever present as the changeless
For it is the changeless which knows change
That which you seek resides as Heart
This is the eternal abode
The radiance of Heart illumines
And all is but a reflection as This

 
To live in the mind is to live as projection
See all and every apparent other as your Self
And all is but a reflection as This
This is the ever present Grace of this arising revealed as Now
You are timeless, unbound, unlimited, freedom itSelf
Not determined by this body nor this mind
All arises as one Omnipresent Divine Whole
No separation and no gap
The seer and the seen are One as Seeing
It is Self alone which reflects Self



You are the arising embodiment of all wisdom and teachings
You are the ever present unborn Sacred Principle
Every flowing element of which this body arises is Sacred
The water, the earth, the fire, the metals, the air, are One
There is no beginning and there is no end
The flower holds the seed
The flower is the sun and rain and earth and sky
The bird to the seed and the bee to the pollen
Every form a seamless unicity of elements at play
This flower is offered to you as you
Beloved as Love as Grace
To serve awakeness, to serve remembering, As Grace
This flower I AM and every aspect of Being is One as Essence
The flower and the perfume I AM
There remains nothing but the fullness as unconditional Love
For every single one of you Beloved
As I AM You and You are me
And all arises by means of reflection alone
You alone are the perceiver
There is but Self

Om

All Love,

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Nan Merrill - Silence



In silence and solitude you will come to meet the Beloved of your heart.
For Silence is power, the power of the Divine Lover blessing and transforming you.
Seek always the Eternal Flame ever shining in your heart,
and let yourself be nourished and refreshed in the Silence.

~~~

Silence is a doorway
into the heart of reality;
to cultivate a silent heart
is to discover your deepest truth.




 We come to know the power of Silence
In deep meditation; here,
True Wisdom emerges silently,
Rising up from the Mystery
Of the unseen Source within all.

~~~

 Silence and music
Ebb and flow:
Beauty of bird-song,
The silence that follows:
Afterglow which warms the heart
Sets us yearning
For our own soul-song:
Journey in silence
Take the path of Mystery
To the music of your heart.




Basking in solitude, Silence is
the Friend who stills
lurking desires, as
Wisdom cuts through tangled
webs of illusion.
Meditation lights the Flame.

~~~

Be still. In the silence become empty,
let us create space for Holy Wisdom
to enter in and through us,
expanding our horizons.




Here we will be peaceful, calm, in harmony
with the universe,
in unity with all beings.

~~~

 Breathing mindfully helps you to enter deep, inner silence ...




 In deepest meditation
the mind now utterly still
Truth reveals itself...

~~~

 Journey into Silence;
blessings await you there.


Source 

 
 
 

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Danna Faulds - The Weaver and the Loom



Sit here for a bit.
Place yourself outside the frenzied pace of life.

Slow down long enough to appreciate birds in flight,
water drops like prisms in the grass and countless shades of green.

Step off the fast track and listen to the sound of breath and birdsong.

Take a moment to just be,
and in the being, know the whole of this creation,
mystery and madness, passion and profanity,
know it all as one, stunning tapestry.

Sit still
and the thin line between sacred and profane simply fades away.
There is nothing then to reconcile.

All the disparate are woven on the loom of life.

Sit here for a bit
and your unique place in the pattern becomes clear.
Take the still point with you when it’s time to walk away.

Make the choice to see affinity,
to watch the picture taking shape as thread joins thread.

Dare to be the weaver and the loom,
creator and creation, the sower and the sown.

In a moment of stillness,
all that came before is seen as one.


 
Danna is “… a long-term practitioner of Kripalu Yoga, for the past seven years her writing has inspired and delighted a broad audience interested in the opportunities life provides for healing, growth, and transformation. Danna writes:

Some days, the first line of a poem interrupts me and insists on being written down – NOW! Other days, I write the words ‘This is what I have to say to you’ at the top of the page and see what comes. Like a faucet dispensing water from a hidden reservoir below the earth, this kind of writing allows the formless mystery to flow into my conscious life. What I tap into when I write from the quiet of my meditation cushion feels limitless. Each morning finds me at the edge of my current experience, writing about where I am stuck, where I am learning to let go, and what is calling me forward right now. Words on the page, both poetry and prose, are the bread crumbs left behind as I move beyond my comfort zone and into the unknown …” ~ excerpt from Amazon’s page on Limitless

Danna is author of several books including:
Go In and In; One Soul; Prayers to the Infinite; and From Root to Bloom.

Above Poem is from:
Go In and In: Poems From the Heart of Yoga by Danna Faulds

Thanks to Stillness Speaks
 



“Liberation is the aliveness and immediacy beyond belief.
Liberation is when all the answers, explanations and positions disappear,
and what remains is the open mind of not knowing.”

Joan Tollifson




 

Monday, June 12, 2017

Hafiz - The Beloved’s Divine Game



    The sky
    Is a suspended blue ocean.
    The stars are the fish
    That swim.


    The planets are the white whales
    I sometimes hitch a ride on,
    And the sun and all light
    Have forever fused themselves
    Into my heart and upon
    My skin.


    There is only one rule
    On this Wild Playground,
    For every sign Hafiz has ever seen
    Reads the same.


    They all say,
    “Have fun, my dear; my dear, have fun,
    In the Beloved’s Divine Game,
    O, in the Beloved’s
    Wonderful
    Game.