Thankful

There I go again... into the whispers again,

running in the air again like a no-motion dream...

I'm here - have always been, yet slightly askew.

A stance that is not new.

Mindful, playful, longing... careful.

Thankful

The Rooster

In old China, there once was an extraordinary painter whose fame crossed all borders. Shortly before the year of the Rooster, a rich businessman thought that he would like to have in his house a picture representing a rooster, painted by this fabulous artist. So, he went to the village where the painter lived and offered him a very generous amount of money for the work. The old painter agreeded immediately, but under one condition: he had to return a year later to pick up his painting. The businessman became a little bitter. He had dreamed about having the picture as soon as possible and enjoying it during the year signed by this animal.

But, the fame of the painter was so great, that he decided to accept and returned home without comments.

The months passed slowly and the businessman waited for the longed moment to arrive and go pick up his picture. When the day finally arrived, he woke up at dawn and went immediately to the village of the painter. He knocked at the door and the artist received him. At the beginning, he didn't remember who he was.

- I come to pick up the painting of the rooster - said the businessman.
- Oh, yes, of course! - answered the old painter.

And right there, he extended a blank linen cloth on the table, and in front of the eyes of the businessman, with a fine brush he drew a rooster with a single line. It was the simple image of a rooster, and by some kind of magic, it enclosed the essence of all the roosters that exist or ever existed. The businessman remained with an open mouth, stunning about the result, but couldn't avoid to ask him:

- Master, please, answer me a single question. Your talent is unquestionable, but, was it necessary to have me waiting for a whole year?

Then the artist invited him to come to the back room, where his workshop was. And there, the anxious businessman could see, covering the walls and the floor, accumulated on the tables and in enormous stacks up to the ceiling, hundreds and hundreds of sketches, drawings and paintings of roosters, the intense work of a whole year of search.

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Shavings

A disciple asked Hilmi:

'Why are you so interested in subjects that have nothing to do with the progress of human beings?'

'When you want to know if a copper craftsman has been working hard, check if his workroom is covered with shavings'

Old with New

Valencia was a delightful city - a mix of classical heritage with future design... where the old sits harmoniously with the new.

Some pictures are now available here

In Transit

Just landed... back in the UK after 8 days of wanderings... this time in sunny climes:

through streets lined with orange trees, and the sun in glaring kindly...

Easy to be romantic in such spaces - it all depends on how you cling to them.

Even thoughts and imaginations are baggage we carry, like a mind lost in reverie at some distant image that hangs like it is stuck to your insides with glue...yes, even our private thoughts are attachments that can linger beyond their time if we allow too much of a drift into their persuasion...

As always, I enjoy my travels. It only confirms that we move through a transitory world...

2007

Again, I go travelling over the New Year period... to welcome in the new year from a different position on the earth...

And 2007 will be another year of great changes...

It is also a time to turn evermore towards the Great Spirit - to reach out and ask for our evolutionary gifts... it is a road we must all travel, in our own Way.

May 2007 bring you Happiness, Health & Spirit

Bring on 2007

'I should have been a pair of ragged claws,
Scuttling across the floor of silent seas...'

Silence is needed. Silence is beneficial. We need to talk to Our-Selves.

There is an increase in static interference in the air - battering us to numb our senses.

Ever more important now to walk the Way of the Warrior...

Blessed to All Sky-Walkers... Bring on 2007

Boosting the Spirit

DNA is conscious. It is the part of us that retains the knowledge of the reality of consciousness, and thus all life has within the capacity for evolution up to a point where the species becomes conscious of its own existence as a separate form yet in union with the ‘Divine’ consciousness – I use the word ‘Divine’ since there are no suitable words for this ‘whole’ Truth. 97% of DNA is not for regular protein-building: the scientists thus refer to it as ‘junk’ DNA as they have no idea of its function – it is latent:

‘new organs of perception come into being in accordance with need – therefore increase your need!’ (Rumi)

This so-called ‘junk’ DNA holds the code for activating greater perceptive faculties within the body, that then are able to receive, to a higher and finer degree, the consciousness that surrounds and pervades us. It is for this reason that inner teachings prescribe particular breathing exercises and ‘activation’ exercises. Yet the signal is still very weak for us – it needs boosting. This is the role of the ‘Teacher’ or ‘Master’ – they act to booster the signal for us. Let us use a contemporary analogy: our mobile phones don’t always receive a signal, depending where we’re located. Some remote areas are too far out to receive a signal from the main mast, so the company needs to place a mast in that area – hence the thousands of mobile masts that litter our landscape – they boost the signal so that the mobile devices can receive. We too are like these mobile devices: and a Teacher acts as a local mast. This is why there are often reported feelings of tremendous energy when near to a Teacher. When a person is developed enough to have a direct connection with the Divine consciousness, the Teacher’s role is ended. Humanity as a whole needs a boost towards receiving consciousness – for this purpose many enlightened beings have set up energy-centres across the globe. Think in terms of sacred/holy places: temples, places of worship; tekkias – sometimes they are not even recognisable places at all so you wouldn’t guess its true function – yet someone, somewhere is always being helped by these boosting-stations. The design is to accelerate humanity’s shift into conscious beings.

Individuals who have begun to have a better reception of consciousness also give off a ‘charisma’, or ‘energy’ or other similar descriptions of that ‘something different’ – for this reason, people on the inner path are encouraged to spend time with such Friends as it helps to send a signal to them:

‘When you visit a rose garden, would you sit next to the thorns or the roses?’ (Saadi)

Gurdjieff in Paris

It's always a bonus to come across new Gurdjieff material for the first time - and now we have G. on video:

Here is a brief yet original video of G. on a Paris Street in 1949, the year of his death - a 1m 18sec segment from his life -

Download G. here

And lets try not to feed the moon!

Timeless Simplicity

The industrialist was horrified to find the fisherman lying beside his boat, smoking a pipe.

- Why aren't you fishing? said the industrialist.

- Because I have caught enough fish for the day

- Why don't you catch some more?

- What would I do with them?

- Earn more money. Then you could have a motor fixed to your boat and go into deeper waters and catch more fish. That would bring you money to buy nylon nets, so more fish, more money. Soon you would have enough to buy two boats, even a fleet of boats. Then you could be rich like me.

- What would I do then?

- Then you could sit back and enjoy life.

- What do you think I'm doing now?

Days in Berlin

The seat of history...


The seat of governance...


Through the passage of my staying...


Near the sun...


I was here...


The Passage...


On the street... was I waiting?


Entertainment in a darkened room...


Through a glass.... looking for clarity through the champagne...

In the Streets

Currently I'm walking the streets of Berlin... through the old 'Eastern' parts... just walking... past the river, the Brandenberg Gate... past, in, and through the bars...

...as a cold wind blows, wrapping chilly around me... as I experience this city for the first time...

...staying with friends in a large old building that used to be for squatters... fueled only by old coal burners...

yet the welcome and hospitality is warm... Everywhere there exists both distance and familiarity... and running along with the times is only as meaningful as the running you can do within your own spaces, places & peace...

Coming Unity

The emerging awakening of global collective consciousness has been described in various ways: some see it as The Second Coming; others as part of the 2012 agenda; others as somehow involved in the Coming Singularity.

I let each person decide on the emerging wave of global consciousness: here is a link to 'Sufi' Llewellyn Vaughan Lee in a quick video clip explaining his own take on the coming unity.

Written in the Sands

A stream, from its source in far-off mountains, passing through every kind and description of countryside, at last reached the sands of the desert. Just as it had crossed every other barrier, the stream tried to cross this one, but it found that as fast as it ran into the sand, its waters disappeared. It was convinced, however, that its destiny was to cross this desert, and yet there was no way. Now a hidden voice, coming from the desert itself, whispered: “The wind crosses the desert, and so can the stream.”

The stream objected that it was dashing itself against the sand, only getting absorbed: that the wind could fly and this was why it could cross a desert.

“By hurtling in your own accustomed way you cannot get across. You will either disappear or become a marsh. You must allow the wind to carry you over to your destination.”

But how could this happen?

“By allowing yourself to be absorbed in the wind.”

This idea was not acceptable to the stream. After all, it had never been absorbed before. It did not want to lose its individuality. And, once having lost it, how was one to know that it could ever be regained?

“The wind,” said the sand, “performs this function. It takes up water, carries it over the desert, and then lets it fall again. Falling as rain, the water again becomes a river.”

“How can I know that is true?”

“It is so, and if you do not believe it, you cannot become more than a quagmire, and even that could take many, many years; and it certainly is not the same as a stream.”

“But can I not remain the same stream that I am today?”

“You cannot in either case remain so,” the whisper said. “Your essential part is carried away and forms a stream again. You are called what you are even today because you do not know which part of you is the essential one.”

When he heard this, certain echoes began to arise in the thoughts of the stream. dimly, he remembered a state in which he - or some part of him, was it? - had been held in the arms of a wind. He also remembered - or did he? - that this was the real thing, not necessarily the obvious thing to do.

And the stream raised his vapour into the welcoming arms of the wind, which gently and easily bore it upwards and along, letting it fall softly as soon as they reached the roof of a mountain, many, many miles away. And because he had had his doubts, the stream was able to remember and record more strongly in his mind the details of the experience. He reflected, “Yes, now I have learned my true identity.”

The stream was learning. But the sands whispered: “We know, because we see it happen day after day: and because we, the sands, extend from the riverside all the way to the mountain.”

And that is why it is said: The way in which the Stream of Life is to continue on its journey is written in the Sands.

Via Seeker After Truth