shelves of words

Over the last few days I have been compiling a database of books that I have read. There are more than a thousand on my bookshelves and they cover more than twenty main topics. There is a mood associated with the project. It verges on the pleasant.

Memories are stirred of times past when I was excited by ideas that were new to me. They swept me off my geo-historical and happenstantial feet; they pointed to alternatives beyond xenophobic parochiality; they oozed vague promises of better ways to be human; they cracked norms and provoked a paradigm shift.

And all this was managed using words. Many remarkable people from a wide range of times and places have realised the impotence of words but presented some anyway. The paradigm shift results in pioneers climbing the spiritual mountain; and the lead climbers feel obliged to utter words to help others elevate themselves and experience the grander and more beatific world view.

The compilation and the climb continue!

Hammarskjold

When asked by a journalist the requirements of somebody who wished to contribute to the development of peace and reason, second secretary-general of the United Nations Dag Hammarskjold responded, "He must push his awareness to the utmost limit without losing his inner quiet, he must be able to see with the eyes of others from within their personality without losing his own."

Marking the 51st anniversary of his death, in the current issue of Tricycle author Roger Lipsey commemorates Hammarskjöld, a disciple of Meister Eckhart and a great appreciator of Buddhism. Read the article.

geo-historical happenstances

Does reading set you free from your geo-historical happenstances?

Or does it simply lead to new enculturation and thus to a new imprisonment?

Rumi

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” ― Rumi

Living Beyond Words

Tricycle Daily Dharma September 17, 2012

Zen practice is always about returning to that place where there are no words. Early on, I realized that to use words, you have to live life beyond words, before words, without words. Only then do you have the right to speak.

- Seido Ray Ronci, "No Words"

All-encompassing Mindfulness

Tricycle Daily Dharma August 6, 2012
All-encompassing Mindfulness


"If ‘mindfulness’ is to create genuine change in our society, it must involve being mindful of more than just our own need for comfort, good health, or serenity.

It must entail being mindful of the social and economic forces that allow some to prosper while others struggle, forces that promote and perpetuate certain behaviors and thought patterns while discouraging or suppressing others." ...

"Wisdom is not necessarily synonymous with comfort, or better health, or even happiness. If Wisdom 2.0 (a conference) had addressed the sometimes painful conflict between technological growth and human needs, it would have been forced to challenge its attendees, its speakers—and yes, its corporate sponsors. It could be argued that this, and not feel-good sessions for acquisitive millionaires, is the work of wisdom.

Philosophers like Mortimer Adler, along with later thinkers like the economist Kenneth Boulding, created a simple hierarchy, known as DIKW, that was applied to early thinking about computer technology. It stood for Data, Information, Knowledge, and Wisdom, with data at the lowest rung on the ladder and wisdom at the highest. Each of these rungs is important.

But data and information are not knowledge, and knowledge is not wisdom."


- Richard Eskow, “Buying Wisdom"

ryokan

At night, deep in the mountains, I sit in meditation.
The affairs of men never reach me here: everything is quiet and empty,
all the incense has been swallowed up by the endless night.
My robe has become a garment of dew.
Unable to sleep I walk out into the woods
--suddenly, above the highest peak, the full moon appears.
(Ryokan)

Whispers from everywhere.

"Words of Faith" from the Lesotho days

to see the book click HERE

Huston Smith interview

Robert Wright interviews Huston Smith at meaningoflife.com

making quagmires of their brain

a clip from one of my old songs

You'll find plenty question masters
making quagmires of their brain
The man said 'there are no answers'
They said 'you are insane'

For the audio version click HERE