Thought for the Week – 4th September 2023
Happy Fathers Day !
Book of the Month – September 2023 : The Creative Act : A way of Being by Rick Rubin
“I set out to write a book about what to do to make a great work of art. Instead, it revealed itself to be a book on how to be.” —Rick Rubin
Many famed music producers are known for a particular sound that has its day. Rick Rubin is known for something else: creating a space where artists of all different genres and traditions can home in on who they really are and what they really offer. He has made a practice of helping people transcend their self-imposed expectations in order to reconnect with a state of innocence from which the surprising becomes inevitable. Over the years, as he has thought deeply about where creativity comes from and where it doesn’t, he has learned that being an artist isn’t about your specific output, it’s about your relationship to the world. Creativity has a place in everyone’s life, and everyone can make that place larger. In fact, there are few more important responsibilities.
The Creative Act is a beautiful and generous course of study that illuminates the path of the artist as a road we all can follow. It distills the wisdom gleaned from a lifetime’s work into a luminous reading experience that puts the power to create moments—and lifetimes—of exhilaration and transcendence within closer reach for all of us.
(Recommended by Craig C)
Continue readingA Dialogue between Rupert Spira and Swami Sarvapriyananda
A precious meeting of the hearts and minds of three very wise and loving people (including moderator Rick). Swami ji and Rupert are wonderful and very clear teachers, who can bring out the very best in all of us.
Thought of the Week – 28th August 2023(3)
Thought of the Week – 28th August 2023 (2)
“Whether we like it or not, change comes, and the greater the resistance, the greater the pain. Buddhism perceives the beauty of change, for life is like music in this: if any note or phrase is held for longer than its appointed time, the melody is lost. Thus Buddhism may be summed up in two phrases: “Let go!” and “Walk on!” Drop the craving for self, for permanence, for particular circumstances, and go straight ahead with the movement of life.”
― Alan W. Watts, Become What You Are
Thought of the Week – 28th August 2023
(Contributed by Mr Balasunder)
Erosion of our most precious treasure – Our Essence
Soul erosion is a gradual process—a slow, creeping, chipping away of our inner being, resulting in the inevitable death of all we know to be our truest selves. It’s a disease that begins in childhood and spreads contagiously, especially in women. Its symptoms include loss of power, authenticity, voice, and vision. Soul erosion is essentially an obliteration of our inner knowing. Each incident in which we suppress our inner truth, we engage in the erosion of our most precious treasure—our essence.
A Radical Awakening: Turn Pain into Power, Embrace Your Truth, Live Free
By Dr. Shefali Tsabary
When we start to walk, on the way, the way appears – Rumi
How will we know?
– When we question all that we are – our ideas, our habits , how we judge others
– When we begin to separate the behaviours and opinions of others from their essential values
– When we begin to listen to others without criticizing, or judging; ignoring our usual filters
– When we experience a decrease in our emotions such as hatred, envy and jealousy.
– When we no longer blame others for what happens to us
– When we start to love our enemies
– When we see a little less evil, hear a little less evil, when we speak a little less evil everyday
– When we understand what we ‘are’ is more important than how we ‘appear’ to others
– When we start to perceive the beauties of existence and the good in everyone
– When self awareness and only intent , begin to reveal the ones of everything , the fleeting nature of every element of the universe and the eternity of the absolute
ONE TUSK 