Hi friends, Thank you again for a wonderful weekend. Below are some resources and various links we talked about in class. If you'd like to be added to my email list just hit this LINK.
Quotes
Carlo Rovelli
“A thing is something which remains equal to itself. A stone is a thing because I can ask where the stone is tomorrow. A happening is something that is limited in space and time. A kiss is not a thing because I cannot ask where is the kiss tomorrow. It just happened now.
But now we don’t understand the world as made of stones, but rather we understand the world as made by kisses, by happenings. In other words the elementary quantities or ingredients for describing the world are not things which remain through time but processes that repeat themselves. A stone is just a common flickering of electrons which remains for a brief moment and then it fluctuates into powder for awhile.
To better understand the world we shouldn’t reduce it to things we should reduce it to happenings and the happening is always between different systems, always relations, like a kiss which is something that happens between two people.”
Hafiz -
Don’t surrender your lonliness so quickly.
Let it cut more deep,
let it ferment and season you as few human or divine ingredients can. Something missing in my heart tonight
has made my eyes so soft
my voice so tender,
my need of god absolutely clear.
MLK
“This is what Jesus meant when he said, "Love your enemies." and I'm happy that he didn't say, "Like your enemies," because there are some people that I find it pretty difficult to like. Liking is an affectionate emotion, and I can't like anybody who would bomb my home. I can't like anybody who would exploit me. I can't like anybody who would trample over me with injustices. I can't like them. I can't like anybody who threatens to kill me day in and day out. But Jesus reminds us that love is greater than liking. Love is understanding, creative, redemptive goodwill toward all men....
I've seen too much hate to want to hate, (myself), and I've seen hate on the faces of too many sheriffs, too many white citizens' councilors, and too many Klansmen of the South to want to hate, myself; and every time I see it, I say to myself, hate is too great a burden to bear. Somehow we must be able to stand up before our most bitter opponents and say "We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We will meet your physical force with soul force. Do to us what you will and we will still love you. (We cannot in all good conscience obey your unjust laws and abide by the unjust system, because non-cooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good, and so throw us in jail and we will still love you.) Bomb our homes and threaten our children, and, as difficult as it is, we will still love you. Send your hooded perpetrators of violence into our communities at the midnight hour and drag us out on some wayside road and leave us half-dead as you beat us, and we will still love you. Send your propaganda agents around the country, and make it appear that we are not fit, culturally and otherwise, for integration, and we'll still love you. But be assured that we'll wear you down by our capacity to suffer, and one day we will win our freedom. We will not only win freedom for ourselves; we will so appeal to your heart and conscience that we will win you in the process, and our victory will be a double victory."
If there is to be peace on earth and goodwill toward men, we must finally believe in the ultimate morality of the universe, and believe that all reality hinges on moral foundations.”
Viktor E. Frankl
Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.
Joan Hallifax
"Abolish all doubt and what's left is not faith, but absolute heartless conviction. You are certain you possess The Truth (inevitably offered with an implied uppercase "T") and this certainty quickly devolves into dogmatism and righteousness...by which I mean a demonstrative overweening pride in being so VERY right. In short, the arrogance of fundamentalism."
“A thing is something which remains equal to itself. A stone is a thing because I can ask where the stone is tomorrow. A happening is something that is limited in space and time. A kiss is not a thing because I cannot ask where is the kiss tomorrow. It just happened now.
But now we don’t understand the world as made of stones, but rather we understand the world as made by kisses, by happenings. In other words the elementary quantities or ingredients for describing the world are not things which remain through time but processes that repeat themselves. A stone is just a common flickering of electrons which remains for a brief moment and then it fluctuates into powder for awhile.
To better understand the world we shouldn’t reduce it to things we should reduce it to happenings and the happening is always between different systems, always relations, like a kiss which is something that happens between two people.”
Hafiz -
Don’t surrender your lonliness so quickly.
Let it cut more deep,
let it ferment and season you as few human or divine ingredients can. Something missing in my heart tonight
has made my eyes so soft
my voice so tender,
my need of god absolutely clear.
MLK
“This is what Jesus meant when he said, "Love your enemies." and I'm happy that he didn't say, "Like your enemies," because there are some people that I find it pretty difficult to like. Liking is an affectionate emotion, and I can't like anybody who would bomb my home. I can't like anybody who would exploit me. I can't like anybody who would trample over me with injustices. I can't like them. I can't like anybody who threatens to kill me day in and day out. But Jesus reminds us that love is greater than liking. Love is understanding, creative, redemptive goodwill toward all men....
I've seen too much hate to want to hate, (myself), and I've seen hate on the faces of too many sheriffs, too many white citizens' councilors, and too many Klansmen of the South to want to hate, myself; and every time I see it, I say to myself, hate is too great a burden to bear. Somehow we must be able to stand up before our most bitter opponents and say "We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We will meet your physical force with soul force. Do to us what you will and we will still love you. (We cannot in all good conscience obey your unjust laws and abide by the unjust system, because non-cooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good, and so throw us in jail and we will still love you.) Bomb our homes and threaten our children, and, as difficult as it is, we will still love you. Send your hooded perpetrators of violence into our communities at the midnight hour and drag us out on some wayside road and leave us half-dead as you beat us, and we will still love you. Send your propaganda agents around the country, and make it appear that we are not fit, culturally and otherwise, for integration, and we'll still love you. But be assured that we'll wear you down by our capacity to suffer, and one day we will win our freedom. We will not only win freedom for ourselves; we will so appeal to your heart and conscience that we will win you in the process, and our victory will be a double victory."
If there is to be peace on earth and goodwill toward men, we must finally believe in the ultimate morality of the universe, and believe that all reality hinges on moral foundations.”
Viktor E. Frankl
Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.
Joan Hallifax
"Abolish all doubt and what's left is not faith, but absolute heartless conviction. You are certain you possess The Truth (inevitably offered with an implied uppercase "T") and this certainty quickly devolves into dogmatism and righteousness...by which I mean a demonstrative overweening pride in being so VERY right. In short, the arrogance of fundamentalism."
Additional Resources
Meditation teachers you may enjoy checking out -
Gil Fronsdale - He has a huge amount of free on line classes and guided meditations.
Shaila Catherine - Honestly not the most engaging teacher in terms of skill at teaching but she is a powerhouse of authenticity.
Shinzen Young - A clear and down to earth teacher with a good amount on youtube as well
Marcia Rose - A no-nonsense teacher with a serious depth
Joan Hallifax - And a host of other teachers on this podcast platfomr
Gil Fronsdale - He has a huge amount of free on line classes and guided meditations.
Shaila Catherine - Honestly not the most engaging teacher in terms of skill at teaching but she is a powerhouse of authenticity.
Shinzen Young - A clear and down to earth teacher with a good amount on youtube as well
Marcia Rose - A no-nonsense teacher with a serious depth
Joan Hallifax - And a host of other teachers on this podcast platfomr
Retreat Options
Visiting the Farm
