The Odyssey

Come To Me In My Dreams

2012-02-08T11:51:00.000-07:00

Come to me in my dreams, and then

By day I shall be well again!

For so the night will more than pay

The hopeless longing of the day.

Come, as thou cam'st a thousand times,

A messenger from radiant climes,

And smile on thy new world, and be

As kind to others as to me!

Or, as thou never cam'st in sooth,

Come now, and let me dream it truth,

And part my hair, and kiss my brow,

And say, My love why sufferest thou?

Come to me in my dreams, and then

By day I shall be well again!

For so the night will more than pay

The hopeless longing of the day.

... Longing, Matthew Arnold

My Heart Is A Place Of Prayer

2012-02-06T09:43:00.001-07:00

From the beginning of my life

I have been looking for your face

but today I have seen it

Today I have seen

the charm, the beauty,

the unfathomable grace

of the face

that I was looking for

Today I have found you

and those who laughed

and scorned me yesterday

are sorry that they were not looking

as I did

I am bewildered by the magnificence

of your beauty

and wish to see you

with a hundred eyes

My heart has burned with passion

and has searched forever

for this wondrous beauty

that I now behold

I am ashamed

to call this love human

and afraid of God

to call it divine

Your fragrant breath

like the morning breeze

has come to the stillness of the garden

You have breathed new life into me

I have become your sunshine

and also your shadow

My soul is screaming in ecstasy

Every fiber of my being

is in love with you

Your effulgence

has lit a fire in my heart

and you have made radiant for me

the earth and sky

My arrow of love

has arrived at the target

I am in the house of mercy

and my heart

is a place of prayer

... Looking For Your Face, Rumi

Love Is So Short, Forgetting Is So Long

2012-02-06T09:06:00.000-07:00

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.

Write, for example, 'The night is shattered

and the blue stars shiver in the distance.'

The night wind revolves in the sky and sings.

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.

I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.

Through nights like this one I held her in my arms

I kissed her again and again under the endless sky.

She loved me sometimes, and I loved her too.

How could one not have loved her great still eyes.

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.

To think that I do not have her. To feel that I have lost her.

To hear the immense night, still more immense without her.

And the verse falls to the soul like dew to the pasture.

What does it matter that my love could not keep her.

The night is shattered and she is not with me.

This is all. In the distance someone is singing. In the distance.

My soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.

My sight searches for her as though to go to her.

My heart looks for her, and she is not with me.

The same night whitening the same trees.

We, of that time, are no longer the same.

I no longer love her, that's certain, but how I loved her.

My voice tried to find the wind to touch her hearing.

Another's. She will be another's. Like my kisses before.

Her voice. Her bright body. Her inifinite eyes.

I no longer love her, that's certain, but maybe I love her.

Love is so short, forgetting is so long.

Because through nights like this one I held her in my arms

my soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.

Though this be the last pain that she makes me suffer

and these the last verses that I write for her.

... Tonight I Can Write The Saddest Lines, Pablo Neruda

Recited by Andy Garcia

In All Our Glory And Our Imperfections

2012-02-05T21:06:00.000-07:00

“There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance. We need to learn to love ourselves first, in all our glory and our imperfections. If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot fully open to our ability to love others or our potential to create. Evolution and all hopes for a better world rest in the fearlessness and open-hearted vision of people who embrace life”

... John Lennon

This Is To Have Succeeded

2012-02-05T20:55:00.002-07:00

“To laugh often and much;

To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;

To earn the appreciation of honest critics and to endure the betrayal of false friends.

To appreciate beauty;

To find the best in others;

To leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition;

To know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.

This is to have succeeded”

... Ralph Waldo Emerson

Independence Of Solitude

2012-02-05T20:41:00.000-07:00

“It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude”

... The Complete Prose Works Of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Ralph Waldo Emerson

Simplicity, Patience, Compassion

2012-02-05T20:35:00.002-07:00

“Simplicity, patience, compassion.

These three are your greatest treasures.

Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being.

Patient with both friends and enemies,

you accord with the way things are.

Compassionate toward yourself,

you reconcile all beings in the world.”

... Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu

Widening Our Circle Of Compassion

2012-02-05T20:30:00.006-07:00

“A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”

... Albert Einstein

I Exist As I Am

2012-02-05T20:27:00.000-07:00

“I exist as I am, that is enough,

If no other in the world be aware I sit content,

And if each and all be aware I sit content.

One world is aware, and by the far the largest to me, and that is myself,

And whether I come to my own today or in ten thousand or ten million years,

I can cheerfully take it now, or with equal cheerfulness, I can wait”

... Leaves Of Grass, Walt Whitman

Be In Your Pleasures Like The Flowers And The Bees

2012-02-04T04:17:00.001-07:00

Pleasure is a freedom-song, But it is not freedom.

It is the blossoming of your desires,

But it is not their fruit.

It is a depth calling unto a height, But it is not the deep nor the high. It is the caged taking wing,

But it is not space encompassed.

Ay, in very truth, pleasure is a freedomsong.

And I fain would have you sing it with fullness of heart; yet I would not have you lose your hearts in the singing.

Some of your youth seek pleasure as if it were all, and they are judged and rebuked.

I would not judge nor rebuke them. I would have them seek.

For they shall find pleasure, but not her alone;

Seven are her sisters, and the least of them is more beautiful than pleasure.

Have you not heard of the man who was digging in the earth for roots and found a treasure?

And some of your elders remember pleasures with regret like wrongs committed in drunkenness.

But regret is the beclouding of the mind and not its chastisement.

They should remember their pleasures with gratitude, as they would the harvest of a summer.

Yet if it comforts them to regret, let them be comforted.

And there are among you those who are neither young to seek nor old to remember;

And in their fear of seeking and remembering they shun all pleasures, lest they neglect the spirit or offend against it.

But even in their foregoing is their pleasure.

And thus they too find a treasure though they dig for roots with quivering hands.

But tell me, who is he that can offend the spirit?

Shall the nightingale offend the stillness of the night, or the firefly the stars?

And shall your flame or your smoke burden the wind?

Think you the spirit is a still pool which you can trouble with a staff?

Oftentimes in denying yourself pleasure you do but store the desire in the recesses of your being.

Who knows but that which seems omitted today, waits for tomorrow?

Even your body knows its heritage and its rightful need and will not be deceived.

And your body is the harp of your soul,

And it is yours to bring forth sweet music from it or confused sounds.

And now you ask in your heart, "How shall we distinguish that which is good in pleasure from that which is not good?"

Go to your fields and your gardens, and you shall learn that it is the pleasure of the bee to gather honey of the flower,

But it is also the pleasure of the flower to yield its honey to the bee.

For to the bee a flower is a fountain of life,

And to the flower a bee is a messenger of love,

And to both, bee and flower, the giving and the receiving of pleasure is a need and an ecstasy.

People of Orphalese, be in your pleasures like the flowers and the bees.

... Of Pleasures, Kahlil Gibran

Oasis of Memories

2012-02-04T04:10:00.000-07:00

Take me to the place where you go

Where nobody knows

If it's night or day

Please don't put your life in the hands

Of a rock and roll band

Who'll throw it all away

... Oasis

You Give But Little...

2012-02-04T03:57:00.003-07:00

You give but little when you give of your possessions.

It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.

... Kahlil Gibran

Lullaby

2012-02-04T03:07:00.000-07:00

Lay your sleeping head, my love,

Human on my faithless arm;

Time and fevers burn away

Individual beauty from

Thoughtful children, and the grave

Proves the child ephemeral:

But in my arms till break of day

Let the living creature lie,

Mortal, guilty, but to me

The entirely beautiful.

Soul and body have no bounds:

To lovers as they lie upon

Her tolerant enchanted slope

In their ordinary swoon,

Grave the vision Venus sends

Of supernatural sympathy,

Universal love and hope;

While an abstract insight wakes

Among the glaciers and the rocks

The hermit’s carnal ecstasy.

Certainty, fidelity

On the stroke of midnight pass

Like vibrations of a bell

And fashionable madmen raise

Their pedantic boring cry:

Every farthing of the cost,

All the dreaded cards foretell,

Shall be paid, but from this night

Not a whisper, not a thought,

Not a kiss nor look be lost.

Beauty, midnight, vision dies:

Let the winds of dawn that blow

Softly round your dreaming head

Such a day of welcome show

Eye and knocking heart may bless,

Find our mortal world enough;

Noons of dryness find you fed

By the involuntary powers,

Nights of insult let you pass

Watched by every human love.

... Lullaby, W.H. Auden

Run

2012-02-04T02:24:00.000-07:00

To think I might not see those eyes

Makes it so hard not to cry

And as we say our long goodbyes

I nearly do

Light up, light up

As if you have a choice

Even if you cannot hear my voice

I'll be right beside you, dear

Louder, louder

And we'll run for our lives

I can hardly speak, I understand

Why you can't raise your voice to say

Slower, slower

We don't have time for that

All I want is to find an easier way

To get out of our little heads

Have heart, my dear

We're bound to be afraid

Even if it's just for a few days

Making up for all this mess

... Run, Snow Patrol

And Miles To Go Before I Sleep

2012-01-28T10:16:00.000-07:00

Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village, though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound's the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

... Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, Robert Frost

I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud

2012-01-28T10:11:00.000-07:00

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they

Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee;

A poet could not be but gay,

In such a jocund company!

I gazed—and gazed—but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

... William Wordsworth

Indonesian Delights

2012-01-02T06:36:00.000-07:00

"Semua Yang Terlambat" by Marcell "Menghitung Hari" by Kris Dayanti

"Untukmu Segalanya" by Ungu "Bintang Di Syurga" by Peter Pan

"Ayat-Ayat Cinta" by Rossa "Kaulah Segalanya" by Ruth Sahanaya

"PadaMu Ku Bersujud" by Afghan "Sampai Menutup Mata" by Acha Septriasa

"Hati Ini Telah Dilukai" by Ajai & Kris "Rindu Setengah Mati" by D'Masiv

In The End Is My Beginning

2011-12-31T21:57:00.000-07:00

“In my end is my beginning.” – T.S. Eliot

As we come to the end of another year, we remember that endings are merely beginnings, as Eliot reminds us. “In my end is my beginning” is the final phrase of his poem East Coker, second of the Four Quartets. We are reminded that for the new to come in, the old must be released. So as we enter a new year, a new experience, we remember to stand in the field of possibility. A new year is an opportunity to begin again.

In the musical "Rent," Jonathan Larson reminds us that a year contains 525,600 minutes. Each is an opportunity. Each is a small capsule of potentiality. Every time our planet revolves around the Sun, we are handed 525,600 opportunities to move towards a goal, to give love, to be of assistance, to accomplish, to achieve.

January is named after Janus, the 'god' of endings and beginnings. Janus looks backwards and forwards, at what was and at what is emerging. What is emerging in your life now? What do you most wish to achieve this year? What is God calling you to do? If you know, go and do it. If not, I strongly suggest that you sit down and go within. Ask, listen, and your answer will appear. It may surprise you, but if you resist, you’ll only add energy to it. What blocks have you created that keep you from going for it? It’s time to move them. Remember, to see farther, you have to fly higher.

A new year is a chance to open new doors and move forward in living your highest and best life, moving towards your calling. If there is something that has been in the back of your mind to do, be bold. Do it. If you don’t, it will still be there next year, nagging at you.

Seize the moment! Seize the day! Seize the year! There is no time like the present. Let this be the boldest, most adventurous, most successful and thriving year of your life so far.

Happy New Year!

... Post

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T21:45:00.001-07:00

I drop the dying year behind me like a shawl

and let it fall. The urgent fireworks fling themselves

against the night, flowers of desire, love’s fervency.

Out of the space around me, standing here, I shape

your absent body against mine. You touch me as the giving air.

Most far, most near, your arms are darkness, holding me,

so I lean back, lip-read the heavens talking on in light,

syllabic stars. I see, at last, they pray at us.

... New Year, Carol Ann Duffy

Lights Will Guide You Home

2011-12-27T11:16:00.000-07:00

When you try your best, but you don't succeed

When you get what you want, but not what you need

When you feel so tired, but you can't sleep

Stuck in reverse

And the tears come streaming down your face

When you lose something you can't replace

When you love someone, but it goes to waste

Could it be worse?

Lights will guide you home

And ignite your bones

And I will try to fix you

... Fix You, Coldplay

Look After You

2011-12-26T05:48:00.000-07:00

If I don't say this now I will surely break

As I'm leaving the one I want to take

Forgive the urgency but hurry up and wait

My heart has started to separate

Oh, oh, oh

Be my baby

I'll look after you

... Look After You, The Fray

Christmas Without You

2011-12-25T11:34:00.001-07:00

I missed Thanksgiving, missed a birthday or two

Didn't make St. Valentines, but I was thinking of you

Only one thing in the world, I couldn't do

Only one thing could kill me, its Christmas without you

... OneRepublic

Until My Dying Day

2011-12-25T11:02:00.006-07:00

Christian, you may see me only as a drunken, vice-ridden gnome whose friends are just pimps and girls from the brothels. But I know about art and love, if only because I long for it with every fiber of my being.

Tell our story Christian, that way I'll-I'll always be with you.

Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months. And then, one not-so-very special day, I went to my typewriter, I sat down, and I wrote our story. A story about a time, a story about a place, a story about the people. But above all things, a story about love. A love that will live forever. The End.

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love
and be loved in return"

Listen to my heart, can you hear it sings

Telling me to give you everything

Seasons may change, winter to spring

But I love you until the end of time

Come what may

I will love you until my dying day

... Moulin Rouge

The Journey Asks Of You A Lion's Heart

2011-12-22T13:21:00.000-07:00

They argued how to set about their quest.
The hoopoe fluttered forward; on his breast
There shone the symbol of the Spirit’s Way
And on his head Truth’s crown, a feathered spray.
Discerning, righteous and intelligent,
He spoke: “My purposes are heaven-sent;
I keep God’s secrets, mundane and divine,
In proof of which behold the holy sign
Bismillah etched for ever on my beak...

A prophet loved me; God has trusted me;
What other bird has won such dignity?
For years I travelled over many lands,
Past oceans, mountains, valleys, desert sands,
And when the Deluge rose I flew around
The world itself and never glimpsed dry ground;
With Solomon I set out to explore
The limits of the earth from shore to shore...

Join me, and when at last we end our quest
Our king will greet you as His honoured guest.
How long will you persist in blasphemy?
Escape your self-hood’s vicious tyranny --
Whoever can evade the Self transcends
This world and as a lover he ascends.
Set free your soul; impatient of delay,
Step out along our sovereign’s royal Way:

Do not imagine that the Way is short;
Vast seas and deserts lie before His court.
Consider carefully before you start;
The journey asks of you a lion’s heart.
The road is long, the sea is deep -- one flies
First buffeted by joy and then by sighs;
He you pursue Will sacrifice His inmost soul for you...

The hoopoe finished, and at once the birds
Effusively responded to his words.
All praised the splendour of their distant king;
All rose impatient to be on the wing;
Each would renounce the Self and be the friend
Of his companions till the journey’s end.
But when they pondered on the journey’s length,
They hesitated; their ambitious strength
Dissolved: each bird, according to his kind,
Felt flattered but reluctantly declined.

... Conference Of The Birds, Farid ud-Din Attar

Constancy

2011-12-22T12:50:00.003-07:00

“Do good deeds properly, sincerely and moderately and know that your deeds will not make you enter Paradise, and that the most beloved deed to Allah is that which are most regular and constant even though it were little” [Bukhari]

You Are The Great Universe!

2011-12-22T12:38:00.001-07:00

Then outwardly you are the small universe!
Then inwardly you are the great universe!

... Mevlana Rumi

Sincerity

2011-12-22T12:35:00.004-07:00

"Do not render vain your deeds by a reminder of your generosity and annoying the people to whom you have given assistance or help purely for the sake of God"... al-Baqarah 2:264

"He who has done an atom's weight of good will receive his rewards, and he who has done an atom's weight of evil will receive his punishments" ... al-Zalzalah 99:7-8

"The (true) servants of (Allah) the Most Gracious are those who walk on the earth in humility, and when the ignorant address them, they reply with (words of) peace" ... al-Furqan 25:63

What Is Success?

2011-12-22T12:25:00.000-07:00

To laugh often and much;

To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;

To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;

To appreciate beauty,

To find the best in others,

To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child,

A garden patch or a redeemed social condition;

To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.

This is to have succeeded.

... Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hold On To Your Dream

2011-12-22T12:19:00.005-07:00

There is inside you
All of the potential
To be whatever you want to be;
All of the energy
To do whatever you want to do.
Imagine yourself as you would like to be,
Doing what you want to do,
And each day, take one step
Towards your dream.
And though at times it may seem too
difficult to continue,
Hold on to your dream.
One morning you will awake to find
That you are the person you dreamed of,
Doing what you wanted to do,
Simply because you had the courage
To believe in your potential
And to hold on to your dream.

... Donna Levin

We Shrink Away...

2011-12-22T12:08:00.000-07:00

We can look at each other through both our lifetimes

like those two figures in the sticklike boat

flung together in the Chinese ink-scene;

even our intimacies are rigged with terror.

Quantify suffering? My guilt at least is open,

I stand convicted by all my convictions –

you, too. We shrink from touching

our power, we shrink away, we starve ourselves

and each other, we’re scared shitless

of what it could be to take and use our love,

hose it on a city, on a world,

to wield and guide its spray, destroying

poisons, parasites, rats, viruses –

like the terrible mothers we long and dread to be.

... Hunger, Adrienne Rich

Back To December

2011-12-21T12:09:00.003-07:00

These days, I haven't been sleeping

Staying up, playing back myself leaving

When your birthday passed, and I didn't call

Then I think about summer, all the beautiful times

I watched you laughing from the passenger side

And realized I loved you in the Fall

And then the cold came, the dark days

When fear crept into my mind

You gave me all your love, and all I gave you was goodbye...

I'd go back in time and change it, but I can't

So if the chain is on your door, I understand

This is me swallowing my pride

Standing in front of you, saying I'm sorry for that night

And I go back to December

It turns out freedom ain't nothing but missing you

Wishing I'd realized what I had when you were mine

I go back to December, turn around and make it alright

I go back to December, turn around and change my own mind

I go back to December, All The Time...

... Back To December, Taylor Swift

The One That Got Away

2011-12-21T11:55:00.000-07:00

In another life, I would be your girl

We keep all our promises, be "us against the world"

In another life, I would make you stay

So I don't have to say you were the one that got away

... The One That Got Away, Kate Perry

For Each Day To Have A New And Different Sun

2011-12-20T13:55:00.000-07:00

I'd like to repeat the advice that I gave you before, in that I think you really should make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing, or been too hesitant to attempt. So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.

If you want to get more out of life, Ron, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty. And so, Ron, in short, get out of Salton City and hit the Road. I guarantee you will be very glad you did. But I fear that you will ignore my advice. You think that I am stubborn, but you are even more stubborn than me. You had a wonderful chance on your drive back to see one of the greatest sights on earth, the Grand Canyon, something every American should see at least once in his life. But for some reason incomprehensible to me you wanted nothing but to bolt for home as quickly as possible, right back to the same situation which you see day after day after day. I fear you will follow this same inclination in the future and thus fail to discover all the wonderful things that God has placed around us to discover.

Don't settle down and sit in one place. Move around, be nomadic, make each day a new horizon. You are still going to live a long time, Ron, and it would be a shame if you did not take the opportunity to revolutionize your life and move into an entirely new realm of experience.

You are wrong if you think Joy emanates only or principally from human relationships. God has placed it all around us. It is in everything and anything we might experience. We just have to have the courage to turn against our habitual lifestyle and engage in unconventional living.

My point is that you do not need me or anyone else around to bring this new kind of light in your life. It is simply waiting out there for you to grasp it, and all you have to do is reach for it. The only person you are fighting is yourself and your stubbornness to engage in new circumstances.

[Christopher Johnson McCandless in a letter to acquaintance Ronald A. Franz]

... Into The Wild, Jon Krakauer

But Your Own Hands And Your Own Head

2011-12-20T13:40:00.000-07:00

"the sea's only gifts are harsh blows and, occasionally, the chance to feel strong. Now, I don't know much about the sea, but I do know that that's the way it is here. And I also know how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong but to feel strong, to measure yourself at least once, to find yourself at least once in the most ancient of human conditions, facing blind, deaf stone alone, with nothing to help you but your own hands and your own head ..."

... Bear Meat, Primo Levi

Idea Of Happiness

2011-12-20T13:32:00.000-07:00

“I have lived through much, and now I think I have found what is needed for happiness. A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people to whom it is easy to do good, and who are not accustomed to have it done to them; then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one’s neighbor - such is my idea of happiness.”

... Family Happiness and Other Stories,

Leo Tolstoy

For It Becomes Your Destiny

2011-12-20T12:44:00.004-07:00

Watch your thoughts, for they become words.

Watch your words, for they become actions.

Watch your actions, for they become habits.

Watch your habits, for they become character.

Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.

Where Do We Go From Here?

2011-12-20T03:22:00.001-07:00

Maybe we can take our chances, or

Maybe we can see what's on your mind

I wonder if we look inside our hearts

Exactly what we'd find

Or maybe we could take a lot of pain away

Or maybe we could heal the world today

Or maybe you know something I don't

If you do then don't leave

... Chris Rene

Kindness... Pass It On

2011-12-19T10:13:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I lay under the moon

And I thank God I'm breathin'

Then I pray don't take me soon

'Cause I am here for a reason

Sometimes in my tears I drown

But I never let it get me down

So when negativity surrounds

I know someday it'll all turn around

And in this life you may lose your way

It might drive you crazy

But don't let it phase you, no way

... One Day, Matisyahu feat. Infected Mushrooms

Waiting On An Angel

2011-12-19T09:14:00.001-07:00

Waiting on an angel

One to carry me home

Hope you come to see me soon

Cause I don't want to go alone

I don' t want to go alone

Now angel won't you come by me

Angel hear my plea

Take my hand lift me up

So that I can fly with thee

And I'm waiting on an angel

And I know it won' t be long

To find myself a resting place

In my angel's arms

... Ben Harper

Someone To Watch Over Me

2011-12-19T08:46:00.000-07:00

There's a somebody I'm longin' to see

I hope that he, turns out to be

Someone who'll watch over me

I'm a little lamb who's lost in the wood

I know I could, always be good

To one who'll watch over me

... Sarah Vaughan

I Can Almost Feel You Here

2011-12-16T12:26:00.000-07:00

Fading of the day

As night takes over

And I can almost feel

You here

Your memory remains

I breath it closer

I swear that I still feel

You near

... Waiting, Dash Berlin, feat. Emma Hewitt

Immortal And Divine

2011-12-15T09:32:00.002-07:00

"All men's souls are immortal,
but the souls of the righteous are immortal and divine"

... Socrates

Something

2011-12-15T08:56:00.000-07:00

Then, and now...

Something in the way she moves

Attracts me like no other lover

Something in the way she woos me

I don't want to leave her now

You know I believe and how

You're asking me, will my love grow?

I don't know, I don't know

You stick around now it may show

I don't know, I don't know

I Have Died Everyday Waiting For You

2011-12-08T11:21:00.000-07:00

I have died everyday waiting for you

Darling, don't be afraid I have loved you

For a thousand years

I'll love you for a thousand more

And all along I believed I would find you

Time has brought your heart to me I have loved you

For a thousand years

I'll love you for a thousand more

... A Thousand Years, Christina Perri

I Wished You Were Here

2011-12-08T11:07:00.001-07:00

Many times, I wished you were here

Through the velvet shadows of my dreams

Many times, I wished you were near

Through the darkness as it came

... Just Tell Me You Love Me, England Dan and John Ford Coley

The Promise

2011-12-08T10:55:00.000-07:00

If you wait for me

Then I'll come for you

Although I've traveled far

I always hold a place for you in my heart

Remembering

Your touch

Your kiss

Your warm embrace

I'll find my way back to you

If you'll be waiting

Together again

It would feel so good

To be in your arms

Where all my journeys end...

... The Promise, Tracy Chapman

Where You Been?

2011-12-08T10:43:00.000-07:00

Nostalgic listening to these homies back from Colorado.

Memory is a dangerous thing...

Who I am, Who I'm not, and Who I wanna be

No way to know

How long she will be next to me...

Why'd you have to wait

To find me?

You And Me

2011-12-08T10:28:00.000-07:00

What day is it?

And in what month?

This clock never seemed so alive

I can't keep up

And I can't back down

I've been losing so much time

... You And Me, Lifehouse

Everything About You

2011-12-08T10:25:00.000-07:00

I miss those blue eyes

How you kiss me at night

I miss the way we sleep...

I see your blue eyes

Everytime I close mine

You make it hard to see

Where I belong to

When I'm not around you

It's like I'm not with me

I miss everything about you...

... I Never Told You, Colbie Caillat

As A Guide From Beyond

2011-12-07T01:13:00.000-07:00

This being human is a guest house.

Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,

some momentary awareness comes

as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!

Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,

who violently sweep your house

empty of its furniture,

still, treat each guest honorably.

He may be clearing you out

for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice.

meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.

Be grateful for whatever comes.

because each has been sent

as a guide from beyond.

... The Guest House, Mevlana Rumi

Breathe In The Same Air, And Step On The Same Ground

2011-12-07T00:49:00.003-07:00

I traveled around the world to create the film which concept is

"collecting the steps from all over the world
and playing a music with the steps".

All of us breathe in the same air and step on the same ground
... Takayuki Akachi

Life...

2011-12-07T00:43:00.000-07:00

Life is an opportunity, avail it.

Life is beauty, admire it.

Life is bliss, taste it.

Life is a dream, realize it.

Life is a challenge, meet it.

Life is a duty, complete it.

Life is a game, play it.

Life is costly, care for it.

Life is wealth, keep it.

Life is love, enjoy it.

Life is a mystery, know it.

Life is a promise, fulfill it.

Life is sorrow, overcome it.

Life is a song, sing it.

Life is a struggle, accept it.

Life is a tragedy, embrace it.

Life is an adventure, dare it.

Life is luck, make it.

Life is life, defend it.

"What is the meaning of Life to you?"

... Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

Just This Little Space In Between

2011-12-05T10:45:00.001-07:00

Before Sunrise is a 1995 romantic drama film directed by Richard Linklater and written by Linklater and Kim Krizan. The film follows Jesse (Ethan Hawke), a young American, and Céline (Julie Delpy), a young French woman, who met on a train and disembarked in Vienna, where they spend the night walking around the city and getting to know each other.

The plot is minimalist. The two characters' ideas and perspectives on life and love are detailed. Jesse is a romantic disguised as a cynic, and Céline is seemingly a romantic, albeit with some doubts. Taking place over the course of one night, their limited time together is always on their minds, and leads to their revealing more about themselves than they normally would, since both believe they will never see one another again.

50/50

2011-12-05T09:16:00.000-07:00

One of the best movies I've watched this year! Highly recommended.

Are You Living The Good Life?

2011-12-05T08:48:00.004-07:00

... And Then Dies Having Never Really Lived

2011-12-05T08:46:00.001-07:00

Q: What surprises you most about humanity?

A: Man, because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.

It Is Quite A Warm And Tender Place

2011-10-31T04:09:00.000-06:00

"Today, my prayer consisted in simply going to my heart and remembering all the folks I've stored there.

It is not cold storage.

It is quite a warm and tender place"

... A Tree Full Of Angels, Macrina Wiederkehr

All My Days

2011-10-26T12:22:00.000-06:00

Well many a night I found myself with no friends standing near

All of my days

I cried aloud, I shook my hands, what am I doing here?

All of these days

For I look around me

And my eyes confound me

And it's just too bright

As the days keep turning into night

Now I see clearly

It's you I'm looking for

All of my days

So I'll smile

I know I'll feel this loneliness no more

All of my days

For I look around me

And it seems you found me

And it's coming into sight

As the days keep turning into night

And even breathing feels alright

Yes, even breathing feels alright

... Alexi Murdoch

Colder Weather

2011-10-05T03:15:00.001-06:00

... At a truck stop diner just outside of Lincoln,

The night is black as the coffee he was drinkin',

And in the waitress' eyes he sees the same 'ol light shinin',

He thinks of Colorado

And the girl he left behind him ...

Oh I wanna see you again

But I'm stuck in colder weather

Maybe tomorrow will be better

Can I call you then?

Cause I'm a ramblin' man

I ain't ever gonna change

I got a gypsy soul to blame

And I was born for leavin' (born for leavin')

When I close my eyes I see you

No matter where I am

I can smell your perfume through these whispering pines

I'm with your ghost again

It's a shame about the weather

But I know soon we'll be together

And I can't wait 'til then

I can't wait 'til then

... Zac Brown Band

The A Team

2011-09-29T12:49:00.000-06:00

And we're all under the upperhand

Go mad for a couple of grams

And we don't want to go outside tonight

And in a pipe we fly to the Motherland

Or sell love to another man

It's too cold for angels to fly

Angels to fly

To fly, to fly

For angels to die

... Ed Sheeran

Alfie

2011-09-27T11:06:00.000-06:00

We haven't spoken in months

You see I've been counting the days

I dream of such inanities, such insanities

I'm lost like a kid and I'm late

But I've never taken your calls

You see, I've put a block on my phone

I act like an addict, I just got to have it

I never can leave that alone

Old habits die hard

Old soldiers just fade away

Old habits die hard

Harder than November rain

Old habits die hard

Old soldiers just fade away

Old habits die hard

Hard enough to feel the pain

Through Fidelity To A Worthy Purpose

2011-09-27T10:43:00.000-06:00

Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.

Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it. My optimism, then, does not rest on the absence of evil, but on a glad belief in the preponderance of good and a willing effort always to cooperate with the good, that it may prevail. I try to increase the power God has given me to see the best in everything and every one, and make that Best a part of my life.

... Helen Keller

Hiding My Heart

2011-09-24T12:47:00.001-06:00

This is how the story went

I met someone by accident

who blew me away

blew me away

And It was in the darkest of my days

When you took my sorrow and you took my pain

And buried them away, you buried them away...

Dropped you off at the train station

Put a kiss on top of your head

And watched you wave

Then I went on home to my skyscrapers

Neon lights and waiting papers

That I call home

I call that home

I woke up feeling heavy hearted

I'm going back to where I started

The morning rain

And though I wish that you were here

on that same old road that brought me here

It's calling me home

I wish I could lay down beside you

When the day is done

And wake up to your face against the morning sun

But like everything I've ever known

You'll disappear one day

So I'll spend my whole life hiding my heart away

I can't spend my whole life hiding my heart away

... Original by Brandi Carlile

Cover by Adele

A Dream Within A Dream

2011-09-20T09:56:00.000-06:00

Take this kiss upon the brow!

And, in parting from you now,

Thus much let me avow-

You are not wrong, who deem

That my days have been a dream;

Yet if hope has flown away

In a night, or in a day,

In a vision, or in none,

Is it therefore the less gone?

All that we see or seem

Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar

Of a surf-tormented shore,

And I hold within my hand

Grains of the golden sand-

How few! yet how they creep

Through my fingers to the deep,

While I weep- while I weep!

O God! can I not grasp

Them with a tighter clasp?

O God! can I not save

One from the pitiless wave?

Is all that we see or seem

But a dream within a dream?

... Edgar Allen Poe

You Can't Take The Sky From Me

2011-09-20T09:07:00.000-06:00

Take my love, take my land

Take me where I cannot stand

I don't care, I'm still free

You can't take the sky from me

Take me out to the black

Tell 'em I ain't comin' back

Burn the land and boil the sea

You can't take the sky from me

There's no place I can be

Since I found serenity

But you can't take the sky from me

... Firefly, Sonny Rhodes

But It Is For Your Private Pleasure...

2011-09-19T10:34:00.000-06:00

“You have a hierarchy of values; pleasure is at the bottom of the ladder, and you speak with a little thrill of self-satisfaction, of duty, charity, and truthfulness. You think pleasure is only of the senses; the wretched slaves who manufactured your morality despised a satisfaction which they had small means of enjoying. You would not be so frightened if I had spoken of happiness instead of pleasure: it sounds less shocking, and your mind wonders from the sty of Epicurus to his garden. But I will speak of pleasure, for I see that men aim at that, and I do not know that they aim at happiness. It is pleasure that lurks in the practice of every one of your virtues. Man performs actions because they are good for him, and when they are good for other people as well they are thought virtuous: if he finds pleasure in giving alms he is charitable; if he finds pleasure in helping others he is benevolent; if he finds pleasure in working for society he is public-spirited; but it is for your private pleasure that you give twopence to a beggar as much as it is for my private pleasure that I drink another whiskey and soda. I, less of a humbug than you, neither applaud myself for my pleasure nor demand your admiration.”

... Of Human Bondage, William Somerset Maugham

The Bell Jar

2011-09-19T09:53:00.000-06:00

"I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn't quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet"

... The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath

Felicity

2011-09-16T21:45:00.000-06:00

"Felicity" - one of my favorite television series back in the days - a poignant reminder of college life, and a second chance of re-living it in Boulder. And it was indeed nostalgic to see scenes all over New York again in this series. In a few year's time...

It all starts the moment shy, beautiful Felicity Porter asks Ben Covington to sign her high school yearbook. It was graduation day, he's gorgeous and she's had a four-year crush on him. Even though the two have never spoken, what he writes in her yearbook is so insightful, so perfect, it persuades Felicity to change the course of her future from Stanford to New York - a future defined by medical school and the dreams of her parents. She surreptitiously follows Ben to UNY (the fictional University of New York) and is quickly swept into a romantic triangle that brings both discovery and heartache. Felicity moved to New York to find romance but ends up finding herself.

Dear Felicity,

(Here it goes.) I watched you for four years, always wondered what you were like, and what was going on in your mind all that time when you were so quiet, just thinking. Drawing in your notebook. I should've just asked you, but I never asked you. So now, four years later, I don't even know you. But I admire you. Well, that makes me sound crazy, but I'm okay with that. So take care of yourself.

Love,

Ben.

PS: I would've said, "Keep in touch," but unfortunately, we were never in touch.

- Ben's yearbook message to Felicity

Ben Covington: Look, I... I understand why you rather see Felicity with someone like Noel. Someone who's obviously going to make it. And probably long before, I mean, I figure out what I'm going to be doing with my life. But I always remember this one thing a teacher said, which was, all the interesting people she knew they had no idea what they were going to do with their lives when they were 20. So chances are, I'm going to turn out to be a pretty interesting guy. Look, for some reason, Felicity cares about me. And on a good day, I feel like I might become everything she sees in me. It is because of that, it is because of about a million other reasons that she means pretty much the world to me.

Sally Reardon: I've become a real believer in not defining every single thing. Seems like everytime you think you've figured out what something is, it just becomes something else.

Felicity Porter: Maybe getting over someone you’re in love with isn’t impossible. Unless, maybe you don’t actually get over it. Maybe you just learn to live with it.

Sally Reardon: The hardest part about moving forward is not looking back.

Felicity Porter: Dear Ben. This wasn’t the way it was supposed to end. But you know that. At least, I know you used to. It doesn’t seem that long ago that I thought we’d be spending the rest of our lives together. But now it’s six months later and you’re in Arizona. And I’m here in Palo Alto. And somehow it’s okay. I mean, it’s actually good. Just so you know, everyone’s doing great. Sean and Noel have, like, a real business. They’re happy. And Meghan, despite her issues, still wants to be a psychiatrist. She’ll probably be amazing at it. I’ll probably become her first client. It’s ironic how sometimes the thing you’re fighting is actually yourself. After everything, despite everything, I realized I wanted to become a doctor. Of course, my parents couldn’t be happier. But now I know, I’m not doing it for them. I’m doing it for me. Because maybe I can make a difference. So who knows, Ben, maybe we’ll both be doctors. Anyway, I know you’re busy, but, um, gimme a call or write me a letter... or send me a tape. I’d love to hear your voice.

Love always, Felicity.

Have you seen yourself today?

Could you recognize your face?

Can you tell me what to say

Mine's lost without a trace...

How do you feel when all the diamonds have run dry?

How do you feel after bittersweet goodbye's?

Today I found my face

Floating in a puddle of grace

A porcelain doll with cracks to mend

Oh momma, I found a friend

It's Easier To Be Alone

2011-09-16T11:10:00.000-06:00

Meredith: There is a reason I said I'd be happy alone. It wasn't because I thought I would be happy alone. It was because I thought if I loved someone and then it fell apart, I might not make it. It's easier to be alone. Because what if you learn that you need love? And then you don't have it. What if you like it? And lean on it? What if you shape your life around it? And then it falls apart? Can you even survive that kind of pain? Losing love is like organ damage. It's like dying. The only difference is, death ends. This? It could go on forever . . .

... Grey's Anatomy, Season 7 Finale

And A Time To Let It Go...

2011-09-15T00:33:00.000-06:00

How far up the river

Would you go, would you go

To meet me again?

And I built the cathedral

With the shelves that you held

In the hole in a tree...

There's a time to let it grow

There's a time to let it slow

And a time to let it go

... Cathedral, Cocoon

Come Back When You Can

2011-09-15T00:23:00.000-06:00

you left your home

you're so far from everything you know

your big dream is crashing down and out your door

wake up and dream once more

come back when you can

let go you'll understand

you've done nothing at all

to make me love you less

so come back when you can

come back i'll help you stand

let go and hold my hand

if all you wanted was me

then i'll give you nothing less

so come back when you can

.. Come Back When You Can, Barcelona

Life Is Painting A Picture

2011-09-14T20:06:00.001-06:00

Life is painting a picture, not doing a sum.

... Oliver Wendell Holmes

Less And Less, More and More

2011-09-14T11:45:00.000-06:00

As I grow to understand life less and less,

I learn to love it more and more.

... Jules Renard

Take A Broom And Clean Someone's House

2011-09-14T11:35:00.000-06:00

There should be less talk; a preaching point is not a meeting point.
What do you do then?

Take a broom and clean someone's house. That says enough.

... Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

Human Experience

2011-09-14T11:25:00.001-06:00

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience.

We are spiritual beings having a human experience.

... Teilhard de Chardin

Always Try To Make Everyone Happy With Whatever You Have

2011-09-13T19:24:00.001-06:00

A 10 year old boy went to an ice-cream shop and asked how much a cone costs. The waiter said "Rs. 18." Then the boy started counting how much he had. And he asked how much does a small cone costs. The irritated waiter said "Rs. 15." Then the boy ordered for a small cone. He ate, paid the bill and left.

When the waiter came to pick up the plate he was surprised: the boy had left Rs.3 as tips for him.

"Always Try To Make Everyone Happy With Whatever You Have"

... author Unknown

Each Person Knows Only Their Own Pain And Renunciation

2011-09-10T18:39:00.000-06:00

“We can never judge the lives of others, because each person knows only their own pain and renunciation. It's one thing to feel that you are on the right path, but it's another to think that yours is the only path”

... Paulo Coelho

How We Experience Change - That Is Up To Us

2011-09-09T14:11:00.001-06:00

Every cell in the human body regenerates, on average, every seven years. Like snakes, in our own way, we shed our skin. Biologically we’re brand new people. We may look the same, we probably do. The change isn’t visible, at least not on most of us but we're all changed completed forever.

When we say things like, “People don’t change,” it drives scientists crazy because change is literally the only constant. Energy, matter, it’s always changing, morphing, merging, growing, dying. It’s the way people try not to change that’s unnatural. The way we cling to what things were instead of letting them be what they are. The way we cling to old memories instead of forming new ones. The way we insist on believing despite every scientific indication that anything in this life time is impermanent. Change is constant. How we experience change:- that is up to us. It can feel like death or it can feel like a second chance at life. If we open our fingers, loosen our grips, go with it. It can feel like pure adrenaline. Like at any moment, we can have another chance at life. Like at any moment we can be born all over again.

... Grey's Anatomy, Season 7, Ep 1

When It's A Chance To Start Again...

2011-09-09T13:53:00.001-06:00

"I've had to say goodbye more times than I would have liked, but everyone can say that. And no matter how many times we do it, even when it's for the greater good, it still stings. And though we'll never forget what we've given up, we owe it to ourselves to keep moving forward. What we can't do, is live our lives always afraid of the next goodbye. Because, chances are, they're not going to stop. The trick is to recognize when a goodbye can be a good thing. When it's a chance to start again."

... Ugly Betty, Season 4 Ep 11

For Everything That Rises Must Converge

2011-08-24T10:26:00.002-06:00

"Remain true to yourself, but move ever upward toward greater consciousness and greater love! At the summit you will find yourselves united with all those who, from every direction, have made the same ascent. For everything that rises must converge."

... Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Before I Die...

2011-08-12T08:51:00.001-06:00

What would you do before you die,
if you knew the hour of your death?

It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day and forget what really matters to you. With help from friends and neighbors, I turned the side of an abandoned house in my neighborhood into a giant chalkboard to invite people to share what is important to them. Before I Die transforms a neglected space into a constructive one where we can learn the hopes and aspirations of the people around us.

... Before I Die, Candy Chang

I Am Not Gone

2011-08-12T08:44:00.000-06:00

I am not gone

I remain here beside you

Just in a different form

Look for me in your heart

And there you will find me

in our love which forever lives on

In those moments when you feel alone

Look for me in your thoughts

And there you will find me

in sweet memories that burn strong

Every time a tear

Forms in your beautiful eyes

Look up to the heavens

And there you will see me

Smiling down from God's glorious skies

... Injete Chesoni

What Is A Saint?

2011-08-05T11:23:00.001-06:00

What is a saint? A saint is someone who has achieved a remote human possibility. It is impossible to say what that possibility is. I think it has something to do with the energy of love. Contact with this energy results in the exercise of a kind of balance in the chaos of existence. A saint does not dissolve the chaos; if he did the world would have changed long ago. I do not think that a saint dissolves the chaos even for himself, for there is something arrogant and warlike in the notion of a man setting the universe in order.

It is a kind of balance that is his glory. He rides the drifts like an escaped ski. His course is the caress of the hill. His track is a drawing of the snow in a moment of its particular arrangement with wind and rock. Something in him so loves the world that he gives himself to the laws of gravity and chance. Far from flying with the angels, he traces with the fidelity of a seismograph needle the state of the solid bloody landscape. His house is dangerous and finite, but he is at home in the world. He can love the shape of human beings, the fine and twisted shapes of the heart. It is good to have among us such men, such balancing monsters of love.

... Beautiful Losers, Leonard Cohen

I Want You

2011-08-05T11:17:00.000-06:00

... I Want You (Love Theme from "French Kiss")

Ask Not Of Me, Love, What Is Love?

2011-08-05T11:00:00.000-06:00

Ask not of me, love, what is love?

Ask what is good of God above;

Ask of the great sun what is light;

Ask what is darkness of the night;

Ask sin of what may be forgiven;

Ask what is happiness of heaven;

Ask what is folly of the crowd;

Ask what is fashion of the shroud;

Ask what is sweetness of thy kiss;

Ask of thyself what beauty is.

... Festus, Philip James Bailey

If...

2011-08-03T22:28:00.000-06:00

If you are, you breath.

If you breath, you talk.

If you talk, you ask.

If you ask, you think.

If you think, you search.

If you search, you experience.

If you experience, you learn.

If you learn, you grow.

If you grow, you wish.

If you wish, you find.

And if you find… you doubt.

If you doubt, you question.

If you question, you understand.

If you understand, you know.

And if you know, you want to know more.

And if you want to know more, you are… alive.

Koran By Heart

2011-08-02T03:51:00.000-06:00

On his way home from covering the Persian Gulf war, the filmmaker Greg Barker stayed overnight in a small Egyptian village. Early the next morning, an undulating sound awakened him. For someone raised in Southern California, where predawn interruptions usually come from car alarms, it took some time to realize he was hearing the muezzin’s call to prayer.

In that moment, Mr. Barker sensed both epiphany and rebuke. Something about the summons to worship clearly mattered enormously to the people now heading toward the mosque. Yet even after working for months as a journalist in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, reporting on a war in the midst of the Muslim world, Mr. Barker had to admit that he knew virtually nothing about Islam.

Now, 20 years later, the curiosity and challenge of that moment have reached fruition in the form of the documentary “Koran by Heart.” The film follows three children as they compete in an international contest to memorize and recite from the Koran, the Muslim holy book. Fittingly, it will be shown on HBO on Monday as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins.

... Koran By Heart

Trapped In Our Own NOW

2011-07-27T19:39:00.000-06:00

The night sky is a time machine. Look out and you look back in time. But this "time travel by eyesight" is not just the province of astronomy. It's as close as the machine on which you are reading these words. Your present exists at the mercy of many overlapping pasts. So where, then, is "now"?

As almost everyone knows, when you stare into the depths of space you are also looking back in time. Catch a glimpse of a relatively nearby star and you see it as it existed when, perhaps, Lincoln was president (if it's 150 light-years away). Stars near the edge of our own galaxy are only seen as they appeared when the last ice age was in full bloom (30,000 light-years away). And those giant pinwheel assemblies of stars called galaxies are glimpsed, as they existed millions, hundreds of millions or even billions of years in the past.

We never see the sky as it is, but only as it was.

Stranger still, the sky we see at any moment defines not a single past but multiple overlapping pasts of different depths. The star's image from 100 years ago and the galaxy image from 100 million years ago reach us at the same time. All of those "thens" define the same "now" for us.

The multiple, foliated pasts comprising our present would be weird enough if it was just a matter of astronomy. But the simple truth is that every aspect of our personal "now" is a layered impression of a world already lost to the past...

We live, each of us, trapped in our own now.

The simple conclusions described above derive, in their way, from relativity theory and they seem to spell the death knell for a philosophical stance called Presentism. According to Presentism only the present moment has ontological validity. In other words: only the present truly exists; only the present is real.

Presentism holds an intuitive sway for many people. It just feels right. For myself, when I try and explore the texture of my own experience, I can't help but feel a sense of the present's dominance. Buddhism, with its emphasis on contemplative introspection, has developed a sophisticated presentist stance concerning the nature of reality. "Anyone who has ever mediated for anytime" the abbot of a Zen monastery once told me "finds that the past and future are illusions."

Yes, but ...

The reality that even light travels at a finite speed forces us to confront the strange fact that, at best, the present exists at the fractured center of many overlapping pasts.

So where, then, are we in time? Where is our "now" and how does it live in the midst of a universe comprised of so many "thens"?

...Where Is The Now? The Paradox Of The Present

Only In My Thoughts...

2011-07-25T11:25:00.001-06:00

‎"I have so much to tell you that I do not [know] where to begin.

Nor do I know what things I have actually written to you about already,

and what things I have related to you only in my thoughts"

... Alban Berg to Theodor Wiesengrund-Adorno

Vienna. May 2, 1927

Mid-Sya'ban

2011-07-15T12:43:00.001-06:00

“The Messenger of God stood [in prayer] and lengthened his prostration until I thought that he died. When I saw this, I got up to move his finger and it moved. And so I went back. When he rose his head from prostration towards me and completed his prayers he said, ‘O ʿĀʾisha, or O Ḥumayrāʾ, did you believe that the Prophet was deceiving you? I said: ‘By God, no. But I thought you died because of the length of your prostration. He said: ‘Do you know what night this is?’ I said: ‘God and His Messenger knows best.’ He said: ‘This is the Night of Mid-Shaʿbān. God looks at his servants on the Night of Mid-Shaʿbān and he forgives those seeking forgiveness, has mercy on those seeking mercy, and leaves the bearers of grudges as they are.’”

She also related: “God the Exalted showers goodness (khayr) in abundance during four nights; the Nights of Aḍḥā and Fiṭr (i.e. the night of the two ʿĪds), the Night of Mid-Shaʿbān in which deaths and provisions are determined as are the pilgrimages written, and the evening of ʿArafa until the call to prayers."

The Prophet used to spend the Night of Mid-Shaʿbān praying and its day fasting. On the authority of ʿAli the Prophet said: “If it is the Night of Mid-Shaʿbān then stand [in prayer] during its night and fast its day. For God descends to the heavens of the earth when the sun sets and says, ‘Is there anyone who seeks forgiveness so that I may forgive him? Is there anyone who seeks provision so that I may grant him provision? Is there anyone afflicted so that I may remove his affliction? Is there not such and such,’ until the dawn breaks.'

For this reason, it is encouraged to be abundant in worship during this night, particularly in prayer and supplication. ʿAtāʾ b. Yasār said: “After the Night of Power (Laylat al-Qadr), there is no night greater than the Night of Mid-Shaʿbān. It is from amongst the nights that supplications are answered.”

It is said that the angels in the heavens have two ʿĪds as humans on earth have two ʿĪds. The ʿĪd of the angels is the Night of Salvation (Laylat al-Barāʾa) which is the night of the fifteenth of Shaʿbān, and the Night of Power (Laylat al-Qadr). The ʿĪds of the believers are ʿĪd al-Fiṭr and ʿĪd al-Aḍḥā. For this reason, the Night of Mid-Shaʿbān has been described as the night of the ʿĪd of the angels.

Al-Subkī writes in his Tafsīr, the Night of Mid-Shaʿbān atones for the sins of a year, the night of Friday atones for the sins of the week, and the Night of Power (Laylat al-Qadr) atones for the sins of a lifetime. In other words, keeping vigil during this night is a cause of the atonement of a year’s sins. For this reason, the Night of Mid-Shaʿbān is also known as the “Night of Atonement.”

This night is also called the “Night of Forgiveness” because of the hadith on the authority of Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿar saying, the Messenger of God said: “God looks [at His creation] during the Night of Mid-Shaʿbān and forgives the entirety of His creation except for the polytheist and the inciter of ill-will amongst people (mushāḥin).”

It is also known as the “Night of Apportionment (qisma) and Determination (taqdīr),” ʿAṭāʾ b. Yasār said: “During the Night of Mid-Shaʿbān, the angel of death records all those who will die from Shaʿbān to Shaʿbān. The servant plants seeds, gets married, and builds buildings all the while his name is recorded amongst the dead. The angel of death but awaits for the order to seize his soul.”

It is said that the one who is miserable (shaqī) is he who has been deprived of the blessings and mercy of this night. In a hadith on the authority of ʿĀʾisha saying, “The Prophet said: ‘Jibrīl has come to me and said: ‘This is the Night of Mid-Shaʿbān. By God, there are people who will be saved from the Fire as the number of hairs on the sheep of [the tribe] of Kalb. In it, God will not look at a polytheist, one who incites rancor in the hearts of people towards others, one who severs the bonds of the womb, one who drags his clothing [out of pride], one who transgresses against his parents, or one who is addicted to alcohol.’”

... Taken from SeekersGuidance

Cathedral

2011-07-15T02:19:00.000-06:00

How far up the river

Would you go, would you go

To meet me again ?

And I built the cathedral

With the shelves that you held

In the hole in a tree...

There's a time to let it grow
There's a time to let it slow
And a time to let it go

... Cathedral, Cocoon

Evening Solace

2011-06-25T09:31:00.000-06:00

The human heart has hidden treasures,

In secret kept, in silence sealed;—

The thoughts, the hopes, the dreams, the pleasures,

Whose charms were broken if revealed.

And days may pass in gay confusion,

And nights in rosy riot fly,

While, lost in Fame’s or Wealth’s illusion,

The memory of the Past may die.

But there are hours of lonely musing,

Such as in evening silence come,

When, soft as birds their pinions closing,

The heart’s best feelings gather home.

Then in our souls there seems to languish

A tender grief that is not woe;

And thoughts that once wrung groans of anguish

Now cause but some mild tears to flow.

And feelings, once as strong as passions,

Float softly back — a faded dream;

Our own sharp griefs and wild sensations,

The tale of others’ sufferings seem.

Oh! when the heart is freshly bleeding,

How longs it for that time to be,

When, through the mist of years receding,

Its woes but live in reverie!

And it can dwell on moonlight glimmer,

On evening shade and loneliness;

And, while the sky grows dim and dimmer,

Feel no untold and strange distress —

Only a deeper impulse given

By lonely hour and darkened room,

To solemn thoughts that soar to heaven

Seeking a life and world to come.

... Evening Solace, Charlotte Brontë

Of Cabbages And Kings

2011-06-23T13:30:00.000-06:00

The Walrus and the Carpenter

Walked on a mile or so,

And then they rested on a rock

Conveniently low:

And all the little Oysters stood

And waited in a row.

"The time has come," the Walrus said,

"To talk of many things:

Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--

Of cabbages--and kings--

And why the sea is boiling hot--

And whether pigs have wings."

"But wait a bit," the Oysters cried,

"Before we have our chat;

For some of us are out of breath,

And all of us are fat!"

"No hurry!" said the Carpenter.

They thanked him much for that.

"A loaf of bread," the Walrus said,

"Is what we chiefly need:

Pepper and vinegar besides

Are very good indeed--

Now if you're ready, Oysters dear,

We can begin to feed."

"But not on us!" the Oysters cried,

Turning a little blue.

"After such kindness, that would be

A dismal thing to do!"

"The night is fine," the Walrus said.

"Do you admire the view?

"It was so kind of you to come!

And you are very nice!"

The Carpenter said nothing but

"Cut us another slice:

I wish you were not quite so deaf--

I've had to ask you twice!"

"It seems a shame," the Walrus said,

"To play them such a trick,

After we've brought them out so far,

And made them trot so quick!"

The Carpenter said nothing but

"The butter's spread too thick!"

"I weep for you," the Walrus said:

"I deeply sympathize."

With sobs and tears he sorted out

Those of the largest size,

Holding his pocket-handkerchief

Before his streaming eyes.

"O Oysters," said the Carpenter,

"You've had a pleasant run!

Shall we be trotting home again?'

But answer came there none--

And this was scarcely odd, because

They'd eaten every one.

"I like the Walrus best," said Alice, "because you see he was a little sorry for the poor oysters."

"He ate more than the Carpenter, though," said Tweedledee. "You see he held his handkerchief in front, so that the Carpenter couldn't count how many he took: contrariwise."

"That was mean!" Alice said indignantly. "Then I like the Carpenter best—if he didn't eat so many as the Walrus."

"But he ate as many as he could get," said Tweedledum.

This was a puzzler. After a pause, Alice began, "Well! They were both very unpleasant characters—"

... The Walrus and The Carpenter, Lewis Caroll

The Seven

2011-06-16T11:43:00.000-06:00

“There are seven whom Allah will shade with His shade on the Day when there is no shade except His: a just ruler; a youth who grew up in the worship of His Lord; a man whose heart is attached to mosques; two men who love each other only for Allah’s sake, meeting and parting for that love; a man who resists the call of a woman of noble birth and beauty to commit fornication, but he refuses and says “I fear Allah”; a man who gives charity secretly so that his left hand does not know what his right hand has given; and a man whose eyes flood with tears whenever he remembers Allah in private.” [Sahih Bukhari]

The Lady Of Shalott

2011-06-14T13:46:00.000-06:00

In the stormy east-wind straining,

The pale yellow woods were waning,

The broad stream in his banks complaining,

Heavily the low sky raining

Over tower'd Camelot;

Down she came and found a boat

Beneath a willow left afloat,

And round about the prow she wrote

The Lady of Shalott.

And down the river's dim expanse

Like some bold seer in a trance,

Seeing all his own mischance--

With a glassy countenance

Did she look to Camelot.

And at the closing of the day

She loosed the chain, and down she lay;

The broad stream bore her far away,

The Lady of Shalott.

Lying, robed in snowy white

That loosely flew to left and right--

The leaves upon her falling light--

Thro' the noises of the night

She floated down to Camelot:

And as the boat-head wound along

The willowy hills and fields among,

They heard her singing her last song,

The Lady of Shalott.

Heard a carol, mournful, holy,

Chanted loudly, chanted lowly,

Till her blood was frozen slowly,

And her eyes were darken'd wholly,

Turn'd to tower'd Camelot.

For ere she reach'd upon the tide

The first house by the water-side,

Singing in her song she died,

The Lady of Shalott.

Under tower and balcony,

By garden-wall and gallery,

A gleaming shape she floated by,

Dead-pale between the houses high,

Silent into Camelot.

Out upon the wharfs they came,

Knight and burgher, lord and dame,

And round the prow they read her name,

The Lady of Shalott.

Who is this? and what is here?

And in the lighted palace near

Died the sound of royal cheer;

And they cross'd themselves for fear,

All the knights at Camelot:

But Lancelot mused a little space;

He said, "She has a lovely face;

God in his mercy lend her grace,

The Lady of Shalott.

... Alfred Lord Tennyson

For Good

2011-06-14T13:22:00.002-06:00

I've heard it said

That people come into our lives for a reason

Bringing something we must learn

And we are led

To those who help us most to grow

If we let them...

It well may be

That we will never meet again

In this lifetime

So let me say before we part

So much of me

Is made from what I learned from you

You'll be with me

Like a handprint on my heart

And now whatever way our stories end

I know you have re-written mine

By being my friend...

... Who can say if I've been changed for the better?

But because I knew you

I have been changed for good

... Wicked

Photographs And Memories

2011-06-11T01:58:00.000-06:00

Photographs and memories

All the love you gave to me

Somehow it just can't be true

That's all I've left of you

But we sure had a good time

When we started way back when

Morning walks and bedroom talks

Oh how I loved you then

... Photographs And Memories, Jim Croce

If I could save time in a bottle

The first thing that I'd like to do

Is to save every day

Till Eternity passes away

Just to spend them with you

If I could make days last forever

If words could make wishes come true

I'd save every day like a treasure and then,

Again, I would spend them with you

... Time In A Bottle, Jim Croce

Drifting Further Away

2011-06-08T04:43:00.001-06:00

Come make your peace, come find your way

Come lay your wreath at the altar of change

Don't lose your step, don't break the bones

Don't shoulder the burden out there on your own

Cause every word and every turn

Every sign points to your hurt

With every hour you're drifting further away...

... Powderfinger

One Never Reaches Home...

2011-06-04T13:42:00.002-06:00

"One never reaches home, but where paths that have an affinity for each other intersect, the whole world looks like home, for a time"

"If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn't part of ourselves doesn't disturb us"

"But every man is more than just himself; he also represents the unique, the very special and always significant and remarkable point at which the world's phenomena intersect, only once in this way and never again. That is why every man's story is important, eternal, sacred; that is why every man, as long as he lives and fulfills the will of nature, is wondrous, and worthy of consideration"

"Each man had only one genuine vocation - to find the way to himself. He might end up as a poet or madman, as prophet or criminal - that was not his affair, ultimately it was of no concern. His task was to discover his own destiny - not an arbitrary one - and live it out wholly and resolutely within himself. Everything else was would-be existence, an attempt at evasion, a flight back to the ideals of the masses, conformity and fear of one's own inwardness"

"The things we see are the same things that are within us. There is no reality except the one contained within us. That is why so many people live such an unreal life. They take the images outside them for reality and never allow the world within to assert itself. You can be happy that way. But once you know the other interpretation you no longer have the choice of following the crowd. Sinclair, the majority's path is an easy one, ours is difficult"

"I live in my dreams... Other people live in dreams, but not in their own. That's the difference"

... Demian: The Story of Emil Sinclair's Youth, Hermann Hesse

Landslide

2011-05-13T12:44:00.000-06:00

I've been afraid of changing

'Cause I've built my life around you

But time makes you bolder

Even children get older and I'm getting older too

Oh yes, I'm getting older too

So, could you take this love, take it down?

Oh, if you climb a mountain and you turn around

If you see my reflection in the snow covered hills

Well, the landslide bring it down

... Stevie Nicks / Fleetwood Mac