“Enlightenment consists not merely in the seeing of luminous shapes and visions, but in making the darkness visible. The latter procedure is more difficult and therefore, unpopular.” Carl Jung
Darkness Visible
Category: Acceptance
Monkey Mind
The Buddha said that we all have monkey minds, with dozens of monkeys all clamoring for attention. Fear and anxiety are very loud monkeys, pointing out all the things we should be wary of and everything that could go wrong.
Daniel B. Smith, author of the book Monkey Mind writes: “Admit the anxiety as an essential part of yourself and in exchange that anxiety will be converted into energy, unstable but manageable. Stop with the self-flagellating and become yourself, with scars and tics.”
In other words, everybody’s got something to hide, except for me and my monkeys.
Letting Go
“How do you let go of attachment to things? Don’t even try. It’s impossible. Attachment to things drops away by itself when you no longer seek to find yourself in them.” Eckhart Tolle
Note: this is mostly true for living room chairs but also applies to couches, especially if you have pets.
The Eye of the Beholder
“As a man cannot be known by his looks, neither can the sea be fathomed by a gourd.” Chinese Proverb
Sunday Morning Sunflower
The Buddha (allegedly) said: “If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change.” I figured yes, I’d like my whole life to change, so I took a few photos to study at home since it was already almost 80 degrees at dawn this morning.
Not only could I not see the miracle of the flower but was disappointed that after getting up early, waiting for the right light and using a tripod my photos were not the way I wanted them to be.
Charlotte Joko Beck, author of one of my favorite books Everyday Zen: Love and Work wrote: “If we can accept things just the way they are, we’re not going to be greatly upset by anything.” I’m pretty sure that doesn’t apply to photography but it’s probably better than driving myself crazy.
Calming the Storm
“You can’t calm the storm, so stop trying. What you can do is calm yourself. The storm will pass.” Timber Hawkeye
The Little Engine That Couldn’t
The famous little engine that could, inspiring millions of other little engines is known for saying: “I think I can. I think I can. I think I can. I know I can.” But in this case, even with the Herculean effort of the pit crew his brakes could not be fixed and the little engine went home to practice his positive affirmations.
So basically, take it easy, take it easy, don’t let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy. Lighten up while you still can, don’t even try to understand. Just find a place to make your stand and take it easy.
Can you change yourself?
“You can’t change yourself, nothing can change you: no Primal Therapy, or Encounter groups-nothing. All that can happen is that you can come to accept yourself. You think you are ugly, then be ugly. You don’t like your body, you don’t like your mind-they are you, accept them.
And it is the ego that wants to change, become radiant, enlightened, unique. No one loves themselves. And this is the whole beautiful attitude of the religious man-that nothing can be changed, so eat well, live, enjoy. He doesn’t waste energy fighting against himself. Nothing is wrong but a wrong attitude. You are trying to square the circle-it can be done; if it could, it would no longer be a circle.” Osho
If you have a problem with this you can text or call 717-672-1014, I’m sure they have operators standing by who are experts on change.
Who we are has many faces
“A tulip doesn’t strive to impress anyone. It doesn’t struggle to be different than a rose. It doesn’t have to. It is different. And there’s room in the garden for every flower. You didn’t have to struggle to make your face different than anyone else’s on earth. It just is. You are unique because you were created that way.” Marianne Williamson
“Who we are has many faces, but these faces are not who we are.” Charlotte Joko Beck
Going Down The Road Feelin’ Bad
The other day I went to back up some files and discovered that my external hard drive was dead. Over eight years of photos, records and documents were on there and no matter what I tried I couldn’t get them back.
I’ve been told it might be possible to recover the data for a hundred or two hundred dollars but I’m not rushing out to do that. After struggling with it for a couple of days I put the thing in a drawer and decided to let it go for now.
Criss Jami said: “We are often taught to look for the beauty in all things, so in finding it, the layman asks the philosopher while the philosopher asks the photographer.”
Note to self: read less philosophy and get a new hard drive, maybe two.
