A thread of truth

Awoke from the depths of a somewhat dangerous dream to watch the sun-rise today. It's like spring time, in between seasons, alive with the fluttering of wings and tweets of sun birds and sparrows. In these twilight minutes, just before the shape of heat takes on its over-powering form, the breezes are kind and gentle, the dark clouds moving rapidly away revealing a tinge of red behind  big bright chirpy clouds.

"Yesterday is History, Tomorrow a Mystery, 

Today is a Gift, That's why it's called the Present"

~Master Oogway

There is a thread that ties everything together. Watching the pedestrians commuting, anonymous and interchangeable in every way, a  boy would become the older man walking ahead of him; an elderly woman waiting to board the bus was the young lady behind her. The thread is so visible for a second, interweaving reality with a supernatural bond, and yet we hold on so tightly to our own ignorance, trying to break the thread in every way imaginable.

Of a story about the Australian Aborigines told by a guide on a recent trip, when  they have reaped the nourishment from a certain plant, they put up a sign to let others know that the plant has been harvested and will need time to re-grow. The thread is as evident as it is natural. They depended on the land, and thus they respected and cared for it. With all the technology of the modern world, we have not only failed to recognize this thread but worse, alienate ourselves from it.

The shape of heat follows the thread of our actions, "The universe is such a balanced instrument that any act immediately sets corrective forces into action," global warming, oil spills, depleting forests, greed, technology for the sake of consumption proclaimed as the state of advancement. Can't help but feel that we're all living in a lie.

In the valley of the Blue Mountains, the air is fresh, moist, lush and fragrant. There's a tingling of the senses; it makes you feel connected to the land. Not sure how things will balance out in the future. We're beginning to see how fragile our environment is.  Our past informs our future; our present is a gift to the truth. How do we even begin to see, feel, live in a new way?

I think we have lived life many times over and died as many times in a single lifetime. I woke up from the night to the excited fluttering of wing-beats and tweets; the sparrows and sun birds are happy today. I realized I have died in my sleep so that I can live again today.

Green Peace
catmaSutra cat art

;)

CCCC compilation 1

Quirky Pics from
Cute Cats Curated by CatmaSutra

from babykailan's photostream

Zen

Throw yourself into life

Wash your mind

&

open your eyes
;)

 
I TRUST YOU

  Verse
The soul is a newly skinned hide, bloody

and gross. Work on it with manual discipline,

and the bitter tanning acid of grief.

You'll become lovely and strong.

If you can't do this work yourself, don't worry.

You don't have to make a decision, one way or another.

The Friend, who knows a lot more than you do,

will bring difficulties and grief and sickness,

as medicine, as happiness, as the moment

when you're beaten, when you hear Checkmate,

and can finally say with Hallaj's voice,
 I trust you to kill me.

~Rumi

Verse

A silver of mirror shines out

from under a felt covering. Think how

it will be when the whole thing is open

to the air and sunlight! There are

mysteries I'm not telling you.

;)

Freedom of Madness

 Verse

Look for someone else to tend the shop.

I'm out f the image-making business.

Finally I know the freedom

of madness.

~Rumi

The Cat Files

Curious Curatorship of the catmaSutra Cat!

catmaSutra likes this!

Adapted from Andrea Galvani's work

Zen

Alas! the world is full of enormous lights and mysteries,
and man shuts them from himself with one small hand!....

~Baal Shem Tov.

Andrea Galvani'

Andrea Galvani'

It's the facts that lie,

never the stories...

...they become true when

we're interested in the pursuit of truth

;)

from the photo collection of SlyviaLadycat @facebook

Zen

Sense the surrounding space that connects you to everything.

Verse
You could be moving in a circuit without wing,

nourished without eating, sovereign without a throne.
No longer subject to fortune, you could be luck itself,

if you would rise from sleep, leave
the market arguing, and learn that
your own essence is your wealth.

~rumi

;)

No better love

 Verse

No better love than love with no object,

no more satisfying work than work with no purpose,

If you could give up tricks and cleverness,

that would be the cleverest trick!

~adapted from Rumi

"The Explorer"
  New catmaSutra Tile Coaster!

There can be no happiness if the things we believe in 

are different from the things we do.
~ Freya Stark quotes (French adventurer and explorer 1893-1993)

;)

Remote Control

from the photo collection of SlyviaLadycat @facebook

Zen

Recognize your inclinations,

but resist the pull to be controlled by them.

"This is not a Pipe"

catmaSutra painting of the day
 

Verse

Walk to the well.

Turn as the earth and the moon turn,

circling what they love.

Whatever circles comes from the center.

;)

love-wings

from the photo collection of SlyviaLadycat @facebook

Verse

Test your love-wings and make them strong

Forget the idea of religious or physical ladders

Love is the roof, the vital core of the soul,

And of all you see, only love is infinite

~adapted from Rumi

"Serendipity"
 
New catmaSutra Tile Coaster!

Dance, when you're broken open.

Dance, if you've torn the bandage off.

dance in the middle of the fighting.

Dance in your blood.

Dance when you're perfectly free.

;)

Papaya

It's Gone Now...

Came back on my bike in the night. The lot is empty. Less visitors now that the Karaoke lounge has moved. The papaya trees like a couple of young lovers are gone. Left no trace except the freshly cut grass in the little space in front of the lot. Several days ago, the papaya tree which was beginning to bear fruit has its head of leaves chopped off, the fruit still clinging to the upright and headless trunk. The Male plant was still there, stoic, standing by its side -  not anymore I guess. It's raining again, heavy drops pelting down on the night. The last grass-cutter, with his wrapped head like a gypsy ninja paused when he came to the papaya trees. He did cut one down but stopped as he carefully cut the grass around the other two. Not sure why he let them live. But time has ran out I guess, this other grass-cutter has no such mercy.

Beauty surrounds us,

but usually we need to be walking

in a garden to know it.

~Rumi

;)