Looking at Myself

When I meditate, I look at myself. I watch myself breathe, sit, listen. So who is the one breathing, sitting, listening? Who is the one watching all this? I realize that I am neither the doer nor the watcher. I am the one who contains both the watcher and the doer. I exist somewhere else in another place, in another home, of which all this is but a small part.

We are each so small and so large, so near and so far. No/thing contains us, and we contain all that is.  We are right next to ourselves, yet an eternity away. We are bodies and DNA scrolls crossing space and time, conveying new stories as we compose poetry in energy, condensing and scattering, then reformulating ourselves in new patterns and structures, like a living kaleidoscope.

Shalom

Where do we find shalom? Inside ourselves, then exhaled as life-giving breath for others.

Experiencing the Source

The Source (God) is not something you believe in.  The Source is something you experience,   People who believe in God attach themselves to an abstraction, a disembodied thought.  People who experience God have nothing to explain or justify.  The Source simply is.  It is not separate from life and creation, but integrated with life and creation.

Being in Becoming

Being and becoming, two halves of a whole.  Most of us search for essence, for permanence, but forget that we only arrive there through movement, through change.  We must first learn to still ourselves while moving:  to be while becoming.

Poem of the Day: C.P. Cavafy, “In the Same Place”

“In the Same Place” by C.P. Cavafy (1863-1933):  my translation

Surroundings of home, cafes, a neighborhood,
that I have seen and walked through year after year.

I gave you form amid joy and amid sorrows:
with so many incidents, so many details.

And you have transmuted into a feeling for me.

—————————————–

Στον ίδιο χώρο

Οικίας περιβάλλον, κέντρων, συνοικίας
που βλέπω κι όπου περπατώ· χρόνια και χρόνια.

Σε δημιούργησα μες σε χαρά και μες σε λύπες:
με τόσα περιστατικά, με τόσα πράγματα.

Κ’ αισθηματοποιήθηκες ολόκληρο, για μένα.

Poem of the Day: The Universe Breathes

Louise Bogan, “Night” (1954)

The cold remote islands,
And the blue estuaries
Where what breathes, breathes
The restless wind of the inlets,
And what drinks, drinks
The incoming tide,

Where shell and weed
Wait upon the salt wash of the sea,
And the clear nights of stars
Swing their lights westward
To set behind the land;

Where the pulse clinging to the rocks
Renews itself forever;
Where, again on cloudless nights,
The water reflects
The firmament’s partial setting;

–O remember
In your narrowing darkhours
That more things move
Than blood in the heart.

Not Yet

Something that is not yet can be–if you embody it.

Genetically Engineered Alfalfa Allowed to Grow Anywhere

For those of us who care about seed integrity, and its relation to human and planetary health, this is not good news.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/business/28alfalfa.html?hp

“God”

Instead of using a word for “God,” perhaps we should simply form an out breath–a glottal stop, like the Hebrew letter, “alef.”  When you want to say “God,” just speak with an exhalation.

We Are All Adam

We are all Adam, part of the same cosmic body, reaching out from one end of the universe to the other.

Bodies in Flux

Who are we? Definable bodies? But human bodies are composed mostly of water and space. We are descendants of beings who lived in oceans, lakes, rivers, and streams. Our bodies are not solid, but fluid and open. Every day the cells in our bodies are born and die. Every seven years, we are composed of entirely new sets of cells. Why do we fix ourselves into an illusion of isolation and rigidity, as concrete form, frozen images, as if we are separate things? In fact, we are permeable, protean, one composed of many, continually transforming. Made in the image of God, we are no/thing, one through many, colored glass turning in a kaleidoscope, always in flux, movement in form.

Breathing

Rather than working to breathe, let yourselves be breathed. Then you’re not an I, but a We.

Earth Energy

Tapping into the earth’s energy is a lot easier than creating our own.

“Why Exercise Makes You Less Anxious”

This article discusses the effect of exercise on brain chemistry (via Nelson French): http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/phys-ed-why-exercise-makes-you-less-anxious/?emc=eta1

Lost in the Woods

When we’re lost in the woods, we can use a compass or follow a stream. When we’re lost in our lives, we can use the intuition of our gut and heart through which our true self and the Source speak.

Pause Between Breaths

A pause between breaths: silence, the voice of God, the Source.

Health as Way of Life

Health is not a state of being, but a way of life.

Wisdom

Wisdom involves the heart and mind joined as two tributaries flowing into a great river.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2014 Laurence Kant

Holding Your Breath

Holding your breath is a way of putting your life on hold.

Eating in a Sukkah

Eating in a sukkah (hut), we realize we are all Adam, beloved creatures of the earth.

Feel Your Heart

Feel your heart, its beat, its warmth, your mind’s energy source.

Breath and the Life Force

To feel your breath is to feel the life force not only inside you, but inside all that is.

The First Adam

Gen 1:27: The first Adam was both female and male, bi-gendered, whole, integrated, one.

Breathing

Breathing is a rehearsal for both living and dying.

Breath, Words, Creation

Breath + words = creation (Gen 1)

Life and Death in Every Breath

There is life and death in every breath.

Rest

We all need to rest, and so does the earth. That’s why we have shabbat and why the earth has a sabbatical year.

Search Your Core

Search your core. There you will find genuine stories.

Thought

Thinking is a part of feeling.

Body and the Self

The more you are aware of your body, the more you feel the energy that shapes your greater self.

Full Breath

Full breath means full life.

Adam’s Breath

The Source breathed life into Adam (Gen 2.7). Every time we exhale, we also bring life into others.

Body and Mitzvah

Jewish tradition says that every part of our body corresponds to a mitzvah (a commandment). So, when our body is in proper attunement, we will then feel the presence of the Source and act accordingly.

Searching for Answers

Searching for answers is the heart’s way of leading you back to it.

Breath of the Earth

There is always a humming sound even in the quietest places: this is the breath of the earth.

Inhaling, Exhaling

Inhale-Exhale: breathe in-breathe out; go down-go up; hold-let go; receive-give; live-die.

Breathing

Breathing is three-dimensional: depth, height, width. So is life fully lived.

Our Greatest Accomplishments

Our greatest accomplishments are invisible to the eye, but felt by the heart and mind.

History in our Cells

Each person contains the history and memory of the species and the planet in his or her cells.

Humans are Earth Beings

Humans are earth beings (Gen 2.7), created from millennia of terrestrial DNA. To connect with our bodies is to connect with our primal origins.

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