Everyone post some favorite quotes!

[9th]

[Marblehead]

"But the greatest menace to our civilization today is the conflict between giant organized systems of self-righteousness - each system only too delighted to find that the other is wicked - each only too glad that the sins give it the pretext for still deeper hatred and animosity." - Herbert Butterfield

[9th]

ashes to ashes.

dust to dust.

 

Quote

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I’ll meet you there.

When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase “each other”
doesn’t make any sense.

 

When I see your face, the stones start spinning!
You appear; all studying wanders.
I lose my place.

Water turns pearly.

Milk turns to Mecca.
Fire dies down and doesn’t destroy.

In your presence I don’t want what I thought
I wanted, those three little hanging lamps.

Inside your face the ancient manuscripts
Seem like rusty mirrors.

You breathe; new shapes appear,
and the music of a desire as widespread
as Spring begins to move
like a great wagon.
Drive slowly.
Some of us walking alongside
are lame!

 

Come to the orchard in Spring.
There is light and wine, and sweethearts
in the pomegranate flowers.

If you do not come, these do not matter.
If you do come, these do not matter.

 

- Rumi, from “The Great Wagon”

 

[liminal_luke]

To live anywhere in the world today and be against equality because of race or color is like living in Alaska and being against snow.

 

William Faulkner

[9th]

Quote

"There is an Eastern tale

which speaks about a very rich magician

who had a great many sheep.

 

But at the same time this magician was very mean.

He did not want to hire shepherds,

nor did he want to erect a fence about the pasture

where his sheep were grazing.

The sheep consequently often wandered into the forest,

fell into ravines,

and so on,

and above all they ran away,

for they knew that the magician wanted their flesh and skins

and this they did not like.

"At last the magician found a remedy. He hypnotized his sheep

and suggested to them

first of all

that they were immortal

and that no harm was being done to them

when they were skinned,

that, on the contrary,

it would be very good for them and even pleasant;

secondly he suggested

that the magician was a good master

who loved his flock so much that he was ready to do anything in the world for them;

and in the third place

he suggested to them that if anything at all were going to happen to them

it was not going to happen just then,

at any rate not that day,

and therefore they had no need to think about it.

 

Further the magician suggested to his sheep that they were not sheep at all;

to some of them he suggested that they were

lions,

to others that they were

eagles,

to others that they were

men,

and to others that they were

magicians.

"And after this all his cares and worries about the sheep came to an end.

They never ran away again but quietly awaited the time

when the magician would require their flesh and skins.

"This tale is a very good illustration of man's position."

 

- George Ivanovich Gurdjieff, AKA "The Tiger of Turkestan" AKA "The Black Greek"...

from the book "In search of the Miraculous"

 

Edited April 29, 2018 by 9th
OOPS!! FORGOT TO SITE THE SOURCE!!

[Marblehead]

I'm glad I'm not a sheep.

 

Damned lying magician! 

[9th]

8 hours ago, Marblehead said:

I'm glad I'm not a sheep.

 

Damned lying magician! 

 

Word up, G money...

 

followers...............

 

AMIRITE???

[Marblehead]

"Happy is he who dares courageously to defend what he loves." - Ovid

[thelerner]

11 minutes ago, thelerner said:

That reminds me (from my own experience): More then we need good friends at our side, we need better friends to tell us when we've gone to far, that we need to slow down; get back to equilibrium.

 

[Marblehead]

"It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it." - John Steinbeck

[silent thunder]

 

Helen:

It sounds like a boy Garry's age needs a man around the house.

 

 

Tod:

Well, it depends on the man. I had a man around. He used to wake me up every morning by flicking lit cigarettes at my head. He'd say, "Hey, asshole, get up and make me breakfast." You know, Mrs. Buckman, you need a license to buy a dog, or drive a car. Hell, you need a license to catch a fish! But they'll let any butt-reaming asshole be a father.

 

From the 80's film:  Parenthood

[silent thunder]

When I die, give what's left of me away
to children and old men that wait to die.

And if you need to cry,
cry for your brother walking the street beside you.
And when you need me, put your arms around anyone
and give them what you need to give me.

 

I want to leave you something,
something better than words or sounds.

Look for me in the people I've known or loved,
and if you cannot give me away,
at least let me live in your eyes and not in your mind.

 

You can love me best my letting hands touch hands,
and by letting go of children that need to be free.

Love doesn't die, people do.

So, when all that's left of me is love,
give me away.

 

 

Merritt Malloy

[neti neti]

"Youth is a strong life force. Innocence is pure life force. We lose strength as we lose our innocence.

You see, innocence is the only gift we're given in life; all else must be fought for.

In that gift is purity. In that purity lies strength." ~Poltergeist III (1988)

[silent thunder]

“There is no coming to consciousness without pain. People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own Soul. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.”

 

CG Jung

[Marblehead]

"I was never less alone than when by myself." - Edward Gibbon

[silent thunder]

"Fortunately Pien, like all true Taoists, was incapable of being digruntled."  ~John Blofeld

[David G]

"There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want." Calvin & Hobbes

[neti neti]

“The life of every individual, viewed as a whole and in general, and when only its most significant features are emphasized, is really a tragedy; but gone through in detail it has the character of a comedy.” ~Arthur Schopenhauer

[moment]

 ‎”The mental suffering you create is always some form of non-acceptance, some form of unconscious resistance to what is. On the level of thought, the resistance is some form of judgement. The intensity of the suffering depends on the degree of resistance to the present moment.”
~ Eckhart Tolle

[moment]

“If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few.”
~ Shunryu Suzuki ‎

[Papayapple]

On 5/18/2018 at 6:36 PM, silent thunder said:

"Fortunately Pien, like all true Taoists, was incapable of being digruntled."  ~John Blofeld

Could you please share the source?

[silent thunder]

3 hours ago, Papayapple said:

Could you please share the source?

Sure.  I should have added the title in the first place, thank you for asking.

 

It's from Blofeld's book The Secret and Sublime.  In it, he shares many gems garnered in his encounters with various taoist sages and buddhist recluses in his 17 years wandering China in the 1920's and 30's. 

[silent thunder]

@Papayapple  Here is the excerpt Rene shared years ago... that when I read it, prompted in me, such a poignantly familiar resonance that I spent years scouring booksellers for a copy @ a palatable price.

 

I'm only part way through and find the book a pearl-laden pleasure.  Blofeld's manner of sharing his encounters and personal insights are eerily and wonderfully familiar, simple and authentic. 

[Papayapple]

@silent thunder
Well it's very strange that you mention that because I have found a sole chapter in pdf on the web(6 The nameless) and I have felt the same urge to get a copy. What a treat! But it's seems like a rare and precious gem, price listings at 40$ USED on amazon. Interesting. Thanks for sharing, the article great.

[silent thunder]

16 hours ago, Papayapple said:

@silent thunder
Well it's very strange that you mention that because I have found a sole chapter in pdf on the web(6 The nameless) and I have felt the same urge to get a copy. What a treat! But it's seems like a rare and precious gem, price listings at 40$ USED on amazon. Interesting. Thanks for sharing, the article great.

$40 is a great price. 

While seeking my copy, I looked every few weeks for over a year and the cheapest I found was then 330.00 with one plucky copy going for 1,051.00.

 

I was happy when I found one for $51.00 and didn't hesitate to grab it as a birthday present from me to me.