A Beautiful Life

Wisdom: Simplify

Motivation: Service

Faith: Synergy

Photo: 'Courage Towards a Better Future'  —okei

        

Three Verse Fragments

I know something
But I just don't know
What it is I know.
I know...
Everything.


You hold the truth
in your hands
Look after the truth.


I am
walking
from where I am
to where I'd like
to be.

—okei

Photo: "driving can be cool and fun when enthralled by what lies at the end of the road", taken by a dear friend from a holiday in New Zealand.

140 Characters: Notes to Self

Private Notes To Self

• Four things we all know but don't put into practice: 1) Smell deeply!, 2) Drink copiously!, 3) Perform brilliantly! & 4) Live intentionally!
  17 Nov 08
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• 1) Give up Untidiness in All its Forms. 2) Focus Intention on your Purpose to be your Best. 3) Push to the limit using Creative Imagination.
  16 Mar 09
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• 4) Think & Do what you are Passionate about and at every Moment BE Passionate about what you Think & Do. In other words...Follow your Heart!
  19 Mar 09
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• Goals: 1) Wake Early. 2) Look inward for Value & Purpose of the present moment. 3) Vision for Now, Next & Pivot of Time when we must finish.
  21 Mar 09
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• To open yourself to Goodness, Love & Light is easy. What is difficult is not to be distracted by desires, drama & doubt but follow the path.
  19 Apr 09
  » (credit: GlowWings on Yahoo Answers)
• Remember always that you are under the authority of something greater. Under the guidance, tested by and on a mission for something greater.
  
• Greater still than nations, armies, teams, bosses or even friends that try to supplant this allegiance and harness it for their own purpose.
  
• It is a powerful tool. Let it be harnessed. But remember always the silent one that is greater still. Hush now & Listen... It is your Self!
  23 Apr 09
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• Intense stillness. A state of increased processing power & reduced processing. Increase the processing power & reduce what needs processing!
  1 Jun 09
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• When tomorrow comes, today is past. Fill yourself with silence and you shall find life & flourish like a tree that stands in a sunlit field.
  4 Jun 09
  » (credit: Proverbs of Amenemope)
• This moment is all we have. It deserves our everything: our courage, our love, our respect. There is no time for petty fears & distractions.
  4 Jun 09
  » (credit: itsallinasong on Multiply)
• What is the most nourishing thing for the soul? A single date shared between two lovers, with any of the three definitions of the word date.
  5 Jun 09
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• Stop thinking! What does it really mean? It means walk on water...don't swim and you can't drown, don't even get your feet wet! Just Do It!!
  6 Jun 09
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• The key is love. The goal is omnipresent. The ladder is imagination. To effect a change requires a commitment. List what you can start with.
  23 Jun 09
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• Common Sense is what remains when all the knowledge from books of learning is forgotten. Wisdom is what remains when even that is forgotten.
  2 Aug 09
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• Life's pleasures & life's joys are but a canvas pure fresh & peaceful for life's great deeds like a sleep that washes clean & reinvigorates.
  7 Aug 09
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• How should one travel? How should one be? Just sense energy. You can't? Me neither. Just try. Pretend you can. And who knows maybe you will.
  11 Aug 09
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• He is wise who looks after himself. She is loved who loves everything. Blessed are they who make all tasks one task & leave the rest to God.
  24 Aug 09
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• Express Mind in Ideals, Ideals in Purpose, Purpose in Thought, Thought in Sincerity, Sincerity in Action, Action in Fun & Fun in Everything.
  27 Sep 09
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• What is a diary? A dated index of things & thoughts that, when stuck, I can review the referenced memory & in remembering be refreshed anew.
  9 Oct 09
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• Security in oneself is the foundation of inner power, recognizing accepting and knowing Self through experience. Insecurity breeds distrust.
  15 Oct 09
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• If you live in a prison with the lock on the inside to keep criminals out, it's still a prison. Be brave! Find the key & Set your self free.
  30 Nov 09
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• Do what is fun! Not what you're addicted to. Know the difference: desire acting with pure intent without wanting versus habits perpetuating.
  22 Apr 10
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• Sometimes a gap opens, a primeval yearning at the pit of the stomach that seeks fulfillment. The gap must be filled with the will. Consigue!
  22 Apr 10
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• What to do at moments when you are disheartened or ego-bruised? Dance skilfully! Loosen wilfully the desire for control. Revise your Vision!
  22 Apr 10
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• Be a Servant of Love, a Master of Destiny, an Idolator of Good & an Idol to the World. But if any ask who is this One? Vanish! It is No-one.
  22 Apr 10
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• 4 truths: Love, Art, Philosophy & Science. Accessed by: introversion/extroversion, intuition/sensing, thinking/feeling & perceiving/judging.
  23 Apr 10
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• What raises Man above animal? What is his purpose? Aristotle said the Good. What is Good? It is realization of the infinite from the finite.
  23 Apr 10
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• The moment of attention is a prayer of the spirit communing with the divine, but it's later in distraction that the divine manifests itself.
  18 May 10
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• That which is limited in time or bounded in space cannot exist in isolation. Finitude must be understood within the context of the infinite.
  5 Jun 10
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• No-one can take anything away from you. An antidote to the clinging mind. Do not lose yourself in the object, it's the subject that matters.
  6 Aug
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• In between repression & acting out, there is something wise, profound & timeless. Transmutation of the emotions brings a great sense of joy.
  1 Sep
  » (credit: Pema Chödrön)
• Each out-breath is accompanied by a movement of energy. Can you make it sink or rise? Direct intent on the out-breath! Feel it deep arising.
  7 Jan
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• When there is no immediate external purpose, we may wonder what's the point? That's the moment for internal purpose, the moment of creation.
  19 Jan
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• We take pride in our sense of struggle that justifies our right to succeed. But success comes when we stop struggling, have fun and just do.
  19 Jan
  »

Delta Goodrem - Running Away

Why this creeping sadness that overcomes me?
Much better this than anger or indifference, but why?
What does it signal, is it I or is another suffering?
I bend double with a sneeze that reverberates,
Then silence returns, but for the ticking clock
And the sound of my blue pen tracing these lines
Of silent grief without a reason why –
I hope you are well, my blessings to you always.

–okei


Really, I'm fine. And I hope you are too... Just a strange post-holiday feeling.

Here's a song that came into my head after I wrote this...

Running Away

I close my eyes and make a wish for

Inner peace and tranquillity inside

My mind I feel it's changing

Breaking down the defences of my heart

It's like a new adventure

And this is my life

No longer know the girl inside

The stranger in my mind

I'm running away. Running away from you

Though I beg you to stay. I'm running away from you

I'm running away. From predictable

Miss reliable. So methodical

Wanna be individual. And original

So radical. And desirable

Put a message in a bottle

Watch it sail across the ocean blue

So free of limitations

A vision I can only fantasize

I'm floating in a new direction

As this is my life

No longer know the girl inside

The stranger in my mind

Repeating Patterns

We all have them! Sometimes they are beneficial. They provide structure and keep us going. A pattern has a momentum to it. Humans love patterns. They are the dance and we the dancer.
But what of the patterns that bind us and deplete our reserves of energy and spirit? Do we recognise them? They are the things which we think about but do not do, and the things we do but do not think about. They are the antithesis of the French philosopher's Henri-Louis Bergson's imperative, "Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought!"

Often, we do recognise a pattern as negative. But that which we resist persists. Trying to escape a destructive pattern, the feelings of annoyance and guilt at the pattern's hold on us only increases those feelings and reinforces the pattern. It is a vicious cycle. The only way to break a cycle is a change in perspective. To put right our mistakes, we must not only accept, but also forgive them.

If we try to break a pattern and fail, then do we have the heart to try again? It is like trying to climb out of a hole. And if we succeed, do we not fill up the hole? And if the hole is too deep to be filled, would we not put up warning barriers to remind yourself and others to never fall in again?

I came upon a blog by Jim Cassa the other day, which had this to say, "There is a super fast method you can apply to get out of the hole but, dear reader, in this world you have a higher probability of seeing a pig fly in the sky than to see this method being used. The simple, yet diamond rare, method for getting out of the hole super fast is this. You help a person out of the hole that has the same repeating pattern as you do. It works like magic. Hey, I did not invent the game of life, I just want to understand the life game and make it work for me!"

To heal others, heal yourself. To heal yourself, heal others.

As within, so without.

Transcend the ego!

Link: (originally posted on BT) Two Stories at Sedaka

A Short Poem about Everything & Nothing

Everything and nothing mingle.
They dance the dance of life.
Everything turns on each beat
And nothing, though having nothing,
Nothing to offer everything,
Lets everything in—
Everything is swallowed up into nothing
And nothing becomes everything.

—okei

The Truth Beneath The Clouds

Some say that all is dust,
A figment of the mind,
And when we beings turn to rest
We are no longer blind.
Welcome then the stillness
Beneath the daily grind
So that we may truly sense
And inspiration find.

—okei

Seeking Guidance

At some point when you feel in a relaxed state of mind, ask yourself questions, and go deep inside yourself and listen to the answers. After each answer you get in reply, write down the answer exactly as you hear it, neatly enough so that you can read it later, before returning to the relaxed state to ask another question. Thanks to Cyn for the inspiration to do this.

So here is an imaginary conversation...no visual cues... just questions and answers, just like Yahoo Answers, but with me as both asker and answerer.


What should I ask for?
You should ask for that which will guide you to greater wisdom of the self, for wisdom of the self is everything.

Where does will come from?
It comes from inside, from Source.

Where do I find morality?
Morality is like diving into a pool. If you do not come up for oxygen, you will drown. Morality is that which sustains us, gives us direction. You will know when you are ready. Temptation is distraction.

How to tell if something is a distraction?
Feel it! Say, is this oxygen that will sustain me and take me forward, or is it something that distracts and holds me back. Do I need it?

So when we reach a state of needing nothing, do we run out of morals and is everything distraction?
We no longer need morals to sustain us. We are at peace.

Long pause in a still meditative state before I ask again...

This state of not needing anything, is it an amoral state?
The waters are cool and light. You do not need oxygen. You do not need warmth. You have it inside you and you can go where you will.

If two paths are presented to you, how to choose?
You have free will. You have choice. But a bad path in a pool filled with light will be very clear to you.

Is there anything else I should ask, and may I share this?
Yes, you should write it down and contemplate it. Ask "Why?"

Why? ... what?
Why I am here?

Why are you here?
Because you sent for me.

Thank you for coming.
All is in the asking.

Motorway Across the Universe

 
"Here is a problem for you," Nafurti said, producing the above picture of the universe. "On the left, you have the Earth, then the motorway that runs across the universe and on the right the planetary objects and the Sun. As you can see the motorway goes almost completely across the universe and the gap is too small for the planets to pass through. So the problem is how to move the planets across and settle them on the Earth, allowing for making the Earth smaller in the process."

I realize immediately that being allowed to make the Earth smaller means we can convert some of the mass of the Earth into energy and use that energy to perform the feat.

"How about moving the planets across the motorway?" I suggested.

But this is a two-dimensional model of the universe... so to take something "over" would involve taking it out of the universe, she explained.

"How about populating the Earth with humans," I suggest next, "The destructive power of humans will blow apart the motorway and the way will then be clear!"

At this, she was most displeased. Frowning, she explained "That will create debris all over the place which will be even harder to avoid and will make your problem much more difficult."

And then I had a third idea... "Complete the motorway, and then with tremendous force like a rocket taking off from its launch site, the left side of the universe must take off from the right, separating itself from it, and then double itself back and re-join itself to the right side."

"That's very good!" she said. "So how are you going to do the first of those two in practice, the splitting?"

I have no idea actually... and then I wake up.


And then there's still the second problem of doubling back and re-connecting...

I'll have to figure all that out in due course, but in the meantime I'll concentrate on completing that motorway. It might be a motorway of foolishness http://jamintoo.multiply.com/video/item/107/107 from which one might take off with complete freedom and nothing to lose, but in order to take it, in order to "let go" of something, a subjective attachment of any kind whatever it might be that holds us back, requires first for that thing to complete itself.

Don't you think?

June Dreams

In her sleep, she dreams
And in her dream, she sleeps.
And in this sleep, she dreams,
She dreams that she is waking,
But in the mirror of her mind
She sees herself still fast asleep.
'Tis but a dream within a dream
In which she opens out her eyes
Feels the world beneath her feet
And shivers with delight.

—okei

Leighton, "Flaming June" (1895)

The above can be considered as a loose translation of the following limerick I wrote as a kid, except in this it's a man who's dreaming in a dream. It was the only poem I ever wrote in a foreign language and also the only poem I wrote that I can remember which is the reason why it's here. One day hopefully I'll unearth where all the other poems I wrote as a child went to, but until then I'll just imagine that they were fantastic.

"homme"=man, "rêve"=dream, "se lever"=wake up, "dans" = inside... you get the gist!

Il y avait un homme qui a rêvé
Qu'il était en train de se lever
Mais il a pensé que c'était
Un rêve qui était
Un rêve dans un rêve qu'il rêvait.
 
—okei (1994)

          Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)     

And finally for a wake-up call!!!
A poem I've loved ever since I discovered it in a book of quotations.

         "Psalm of Life"
    Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
        Life is but an empty dream ! —
    For the soul is dead that slumbers,
        And things are not what they seem.
    Life is real !   Life is earnest!
        And the grave is not its goal ;
    Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
        Was not spoken of the soul.
    Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
        Is our destined end or way ;
    But to act, that each to-morrow
        Find us farther than to-day.
    Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
        And our hearts, though stout and brave,
    Still, like muffled drums, are beating
        Funeral marches to the grave.
    In the world's broad field of battle,
        In the bivouac of Life,
    Be not like dumb, driven cattle !
        Be a hero in the strife !
    Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant !
        Let the dead Past bury its dead !
    Act,— act in the living Present !
        Heart within, and God o'erhead !
    Lives of great men all remind us
        We can make our lives sublime,
    And, departing, leave behind us
        Footprints on the sands of time ;
    Footprints, that perhaps another,
        Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
    A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
        Seeing, shall take heart again.
    Let us, then, be up and doing,
        With a heart for any fate ;
    Still achieving, still pursuing,
        Learn to labor and to wait.

—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1838)

Ghost Riders

There it goes again —
And all I hear is the beating of hooves,
The beating of hooves upon the stony ground
And the whistle of the wind that follows
As it rushes over marsh and moor.
For an instant I am with them,
Senses galloping to their din,
Hair billowing — then gone
Forever onwards —
They fade into the night.
Whither to I cannot tell,
Nor fathom reason for such haste.
The earthly stillness swallows them up
And as the dust settles in the starlight,
All returns once more to how it always was.

—okei (23rd Jan. 2005)