Tuesday, December 29, 2009

12/30/09:: The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Meditating:

"The heaviest of burdens crushes us, we sink beneath it, it pins us to the ground. But in the love poetry of every age, the woman longs to be weighed down by the man's body. The heaviest of burdens is therefore simultaneously an image of life's most intense fulfillment. The heavier the burden, the closer our lives come to the earth, the more real and truthful they become.

Conversely, the absolute absence of burden causes a man to be lighter than air, to soar into the heights, take leave of the earth and his earthly being, and become only half real, his movements as free as they are insignificant. What shall we choose then-- Weight or Lightness?"

11/29/09: New Blog

So today I began my new film blog-- me going through the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, rating and talking about all the films in the book.

If you're interested in following, here is the link:


http://www.filmrevival.blogspot.com

Saturday, December 19, 2009

12/19/09:: Snowflakes



The semester is (finally) officially over for me, and I am back home in Pennsylvania for the holidays. 

Let it snow
Let it snow
Let it snow

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

12/17/09:: Two New Meditations

To my soul:

Are you ever going to achieve goodness? Ever going to be simple, whole, and naked–as plain to see as the body that contains you? Know what an affectionate and loving disposition would feel like? Ever be fulfilled, ever stop desiring–lusting and longing for people and things to enjoy? Or for more time to enjoy them? Or for some other place or country–"a more temperate clime"? Or for people easier to get along with? And instead be satisfied with what you have, and accept the present–all of it. And convince yourself that everything is the gift of nature, that things are good and always will be, whatever it decides and have in store for the preservation of the ever-moving entity–good and just and beautiful, creating all things, connecting and embracing them, and gathering in their separated fragments.

Will you ever take your stand as a fellow citizen with nature and human beings, blaming no one, deserving no one's censure?

----------------------

Everything you're trying to reach–by taking the long way round–you could have right now, this moment. If only you'd stop thwarting your own attempts. If you'd only let go of the past, entrust the future to nature, and guide the present toward reverence and justice.

Reverence so you'll accept what you're allotted. Nature intended it for you, and you for it.

Justice: so that you'll speak the truth, frankly and without evasions, and act as you should–as other people deserve.

Don't let other people deter you: other people's misbehavior, your own misperceptions, What People Will Say, or the feelings of the body that covers you (let the affected part take care of those). And if, when it's time to depart, you shunt everything aside except your mind and the divinity within. . .if it isn't ceasing to live that you're afraid of but never beginning to live properly. . .then you'll be worrying of the world that made you.

No longer an alien in your own land.

No longer shocked by everyday events–as if they were unheard-of abberations.

No longer the mercy of this, or that.


Saturday, December 5, 2009

12/5/09:: Meditations


HUMAN LIFE:

Duration: momentary.
Nature: changeable.
Perception: dim.
Condition of Body: decaying.
Soul: spinning around.
Fortune: unpredictable.
Lasting Fame: uncertain.
Sum Up: the body and its parts are a river, the soul a dream and mist, and a journey far from home, lasting reputation is oblivion. 

Then what can guide us?