You are Here Now -- Robert Saltzman

NASA Releases Stunning New Images Of Jupiter

Break out of Prison

'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 feelings
as something separated from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.
This delusion is a kind of prison,
restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us.
Our task must be to free from this prison by
widening our circle of compassion
to embrace all living creatures and the whole nature in its beauty.'

 -Albert Einstein

Muere Lentamente by Martha Medeiros

Muere lentamente
quien se transforma en esclavo del hábito,
repitiendo todos los días los mismos trayectos,
quien no cambia de marca.
No arriesga vestir un color nuevo y no le habla a quien no conoce.

Muere lentamente
quien hace de la televisión su gurú.

Muere lentamente
quien evita una pasión,
quien prefiere el negro sobre blanco
y los puntos sobre las “íes” a un remolino de emociones,
justamente las que rescatan el brillo de los ojos,
sonrisas de los bostezos,
corazones a los tropiezos y sentimientos.



Muere lentamente
quien no voltea la mesa cuando está infeliz en el trabajo,
quien no arriesga lo cierto por lo incierto para ir detrás de un sueño,
quien no se permite por lo menos una vez en la vida,
huir de los consejos sensatos.

Muere lentamente
quien no viaja,
quien no lee,
quien no oye música,
quien no encuentra gracia en si mismo.

Muere lentamente
quien destruye su amor propio,
quien no se deja ayudar.

Muere lentamente,
quien pasa los días quejándose de su mala suerte
o de la lluvia incesante.

Muere lentamente,
quien abandona un proyecto antes de iniciarlo,
no preguntando de un asunto que desconoce
o no respondiendo cuando le indagan sobre algo que sabe.

Evitemos la muerte en suaves cuotas,
recordando siempre que estar vivo exige un esfuerzo mucho mayor
que el simple hecho de respirar.
Solamente la ardiente paciencia hará que conquistemos
una espléndida felicidad.

Dying Slowly by Martha Medeiros

“You start dying slowly
if you do not travel,
if you do not read,
If you do not listen to the sounds of life,
If you do not appreciate yourself.

You start dying slowly
When you kill your self-esteem;
When you do not let others help you.

You start dying slowly
If you become a slave of your habits,
Walking everyday on the same paths…
If you do not change your routine,
If you do not wear different colours
Or you do not speak to those you don’t know.

You start dying slowly
If you avoid to feel passion
And their turbulent emotions;
Those which make your eyes glisten
And your heart beat fast.

You start dying slowly
If you do not change your life when you are not satisfied with your job, or with your love,
If you do not risk what is safe for the uncertain,
If you do not go after a dream,
If you do not allow yourself,
At least once in your lifetime,
To run away from sensible advice.”

― Martha Medeiros

It is your Life -- Charles Bukowski

Calling The Others

Calling The Others from Simon Haiduk on Vimeo.


Take a walk with me to the Primordial. I hear Entropy.

 Visuals by: http://www.simonhaiduk.com | Music by: http://www.anilah.bandcamp.com

A companion video to the song "Calling The Others" by Anilah. Including motion graphics and artwork by Simon Haiduk, as well as an art feature by David Heskin.

Embrace the One

Yield and overcome;
Bend and be straight;
Empty and be full;
Wear out and be new;
Have little and gain;
Have much and be confused.

Therefore the wise embrace the one
And set an example to all.
Not putting on a display,
They shine forth.
Not justifying themselves,
They are distinguished.
Not boasting,
They receive recognition.
Not bragging,
They never falter.
They do not quarrel,
So no one quarrels with them.

Therefore the ancients say,
'Yield and overcome.'
Is that an empty saying?
Be really whole,
And all things will come to you.

Lao Tsu,
Tao Te Ching - chapter 22

(translation by Gia-fu Feng and Jane English)

Alan Watts - Awakening Within the Illusion of the Dream

THE MIDDLE GROUND

There is a middle ground, a basic Reality embracing self
and Self. It may be called my true nature. To discover what
prevents me from the experience of it, I have only to look
at myself, just as I am.
It is so simple.
At this moment, what is my state?
I let my attention embrace the whole of myself, from the
top of the head through the torso, solar plexus, the entire
structure.
I am very still in the body. I follow the breath. I watch
the movements of thoughts and associations. The feelings
become quiet, and the activity in the head diminishes. I
am more. I perceive the whole of my world, just as it is.
I remain very still, refusing the mind’s inclinations to reach
for anything.
Thoughts and feelings come and go like floating clouds.
They are not me.
The experience is at one and the same time, both active
and passive. Through sensation of the body, I perceive that
I am. Yet, I do not know who or what I am. I am witness to
my existence.
I am aware of a feeling which suffuses the interior of myself.
It is a choiceless, an accepting awareness. With it comes a
sensation that extends to and envelopes all the parts of the
body. I am very still, relating to the silence that is both
inside and outside.
Nothing is lacking at this moment.

by William Segal

Nothingness is the Ultimate Reality - Alan Watts

Seeing John Coltrane's 'Giant Steps'

Kilian Martin: Searching Sirocco

I must go to the mountains

In Glenorchy, New Zealand

“I am losing precious days. I am degenerating into a machine for making money.
I am learning nothing in this trivial world of men.
I must break away and get out into the mountains to learn the news”
― John Muir

Alan Watts - Why the Apple Tree Apples

Alan Watts & David Lindberg - Why Your Life Is Not A Journey

The Best Season of Your Life

Ten thousand flowers in spring, the moon in autumn,
a cool breeze in summer, snow in winter.
If your mind isn’t clouded by unnecessary things,
this is the best season of your life.

Never Forget

Remember
You are braver than you believe
Stronger than you seem
Smarter than you think
And twice as beautiful as you'd ever imagined.

The Meaning of Life (ongoing)

"If you learn to use a perfect afternoon
in a perfectly useless manner,
you have learned the meaning of life."

 ―Lin Yutang

Too Lazy to be Ambitious

Too lazy to be ambitious,
I let the world take care of itself.
Ten days' worth of rice in my bag;
a bundle of twigs by the fireplace.
Why chatter about delusion and enlightenment?
Listening to the night rain on my roof,
I sit comfortably,
with both legs stretched out.

 ~ Ryokan Taigu

Sedona View

The skinny trails always fill me up

The Wave

THE WAVE

by Virgil translated by Robert Pinsky

As when far off in the middle of the ocean
A breast-shaped curve of wave begins to whiten
And rise above the surface, then rolling on
Gathers and gathers until it reaches land
Huge as a mountain and crashes among the rocks
With a prodigious roar, and what was deep
Comes churning up from the bottom in mighty swirls
Of sunken sand and living things and water —
So in the springtime every race of people
And all the creatures on earth or in the water,
Wild animals and flocks and all the birds
In all their painted colors, all rush to charge
Into the fire that burns them: love moves them all.

Pictured: Hokusai, "The Great Wave off Kanagawa," woodblock print, 1829-1833

Swimming with Sea Turtle in Malaysia

10 meters down swimming with my yoga breath instructor (Saya yoga nafas pengajar).
Sea turtles can hold their breath for several hours, depending upon the level of activity.
 A resting or sleeping turtle can remain underwater for 4-7 hours.
In Perhentian Island, Malaysia.  

A Little Help From My Friends [Live] | SIMO & Tommy Emmanuel

Tommy Emmanuel picks up the electric guitar and jams with SIMO
 At the High Watt in Nashville, TN.
 February 28th, 2015

The Wanderers

How unspeakably beautiful this world is,
how precisely engineered for our pleasure.
It is such a gift to be able to wander
in this vast, sensual paradise
With you.

Spring Is Here

THE TREES,
by Philip Larkin

The trees are coming into leaf
Like something almost being said;
The recent buds relax and spread,
Their greenness is a kind of grief.
Is it that they are born again
And we grow old? No, they die too.
Their yearly trick of looking new
Is written down in rings of grain.
Yet still the unresting castles thresh
In fullgrown thickness every May.
Last year is dead, they seem to say,
Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.

―Philp Larkin, "High Windows," (Faber and Faber 1974).

Art Credit: Gustav Klimt, "Flower Garden,"

I awaken to the true path

Drifting pitifully in the whirlwind of birth and death,
As if wandering in a dream,
In the midst of illusion I awaken to the true path;
There is one more matter I must not neglect,
But I need not bother now,
As I listen to the sound of the evening rain
Falling on the roof of my temple retreat
In the deep grass of Fukakusa.

 —Eihei Dōgen (1200 - 1253)

 Pictured: Hasui Kawase, "Rainy Night at Maekawa," 1932

Kiyohiko Senba & The Haniwa All-Stars w/ Mishio Ogawa - Mizu (水)

Prepare for the Future

“Life is a preparation for the future; and the best preparation for the future is to live as if there were none.”

― Albert Einstein

The Secret of Life -- Alan Watts

You are the Eternal Universe --Alan Watts

“Every one of us is an aperture through which the whole cosmos looks out." Alan Watts

The Real You -- Alan Watts

"The real you is not a puppet which life pushes around. The real deep down YOU is the Whole Universe. And It's doing... Your living organism and all its behavior, it's expressing it as a singer sings a song... You are something that the Whole Universe is doing, in the same way that a wave is something that the Whole Ocean is doing..."

 ~Alan Watts

Dissolving in the Infinite

I have opened all the windows in my house.
Eagles fly in and out, as do any words spoken about me.
Anything my ears might detect, firsthand or second.........
I might give that news a moment's attention
and then just let it be the tiny evaporating whiff of smoke it is,
dissolving in the Infinite. ~ Hafiz

How to become Limitless

We feel limited so often, with our money, opportunities, circumstances, needs, and time. Thus I believe it is super important to remind ourselves of our limitlessness and great potential. Here is the list of the ways in which we are limitless.

   In your creativity. The more you create, the more creative you will become. The more ideas you come up with, the more ideas you'll have. There will always be more where that came from.
 
   In your generosity. Karma bajillionaires know this well. If you want to be happy, make others happy. If you want to be respected, show respect for someone. If you want to receive letters, make sure to send some first. Give, give, give in order to receive. It doesn't have to be the money. Be generous with sharing your ideas, compliments, smiles, warm messages, words of encouragement. You can always give more. That's how you'll receive more.
 
   In your beliefs. Beliefs form the scenery for everything we're allowing into our experience. We grew up with many beliefs about the world and at certain point we stopped questioning them. No one will love you, unless they can get a tangible benefit out of your friendship. Or In the field of infinite possibilities. Nobody knows what will happen in the future. The future is the field of infinite possibilities. When you imagine it, you can only create as much. When you give directions and let the Universe do its thing, possibilities are endless.
 
   In human lives you may affect.  "Why should I write when no one is reading?" How do you know? You have no idea if and when will your old post will be discovered. You have no idea who will be the lonely person on the other side of the world who got smile on her face back after reading your post. If you encourage one person today, he or she will empower someone else. And so on. Your influence will translate. Don't expect the praise or reward, just do good.

   In love. No explanation needed.

   In your anti-fragility. (We are not absolutely limitless here, but much more than we've been taught.) If you want to build your muscles, do the workout, a bit stronger every day. The same goes for an idea muscle. If you want to build your immune system, it's good to be exposed to dirt and bacteria here and there. Don't try to avoid all the stress, all the hard work, don't clean obsessively. You'll ruin your inherent anti-fragility. Don't try to predict random event. Become anti-fragile. You have huge potential.

   In NOW. NOW is the only thing that has no end.  In NOW you're limitless.

   In ability to improve. Huge mistake is to believe that you've been somehow done with your growth. You reached a certain point and then it's over. It doesn't mean you're not good enough as you are. It means you can always get better, kinder, more generous, more loving, you can always grow. One more note: choose growth that feels good. Not the one like "something is wrong with me, I need to fix it." Choose the growth that makes you feel empowered and light. In whatever you choose to focus on. Because what you focus on, expands. And it's important to recognize that the choice is always yours. You can either choose to focus on 1 plane that crashed or millions of planes that landed safely (although newspaper won't write about them). You either choose to focus on how fucked up life is, or how many creative solutions there are now. And mind is powerful tool. It will find the proof for anything as long as you choose the side. Choose wisely.