The valuable time of Maturity - Mário de Andrade

The valuable time of Maturity

I counted my years and discovered that I have
less time to live going forward than I have lived until now.
I have more past than future.
I feel like the boy who received a bowl of candies.
The first ones, he ate ungracious,
but when he realized there were only a few left,
he began to taste them deeply.
I do not have time to deal with mediocrity.
I do not want to be in meetings where parade inflamed egos.
I am bothered by the envious, who seek to discredit
the most able, to usurp their places, 
coveting their seats, talent, achievements and luck.
I do not have time for endless conversations,
useless to discuss about the lives of others
who are not part of mine.
I do not have time to manage sensitivities of people
who despite their chronological age, are immature.
I cannot stand the result that generates 
from those struggling for power.
People do not discuss content, only the labels.
My time has become scarce to discuss labels,
I want the essence, my soul is in a hurry.
Not many candies in the bowl.
I want to live close to human people,
very human, who laugh of their own stumbles,
and away from those turned smug and overconfident
with their triumphs,
away from those filled with self-importance,
Who does not run away from their responsibilities,
Who defends human dignity,
And who only want to walk on the side of truth
and honesty.
The essential is what makes life worthwhile.
I want to surround myself with people,
who know how to touch the hearts of people.
People to whom the hard knocks of life,
taught them to grow with softness in their soul.
Yes I am in a hurry to live with intensity,
that only maturity can bring.
I intend not to waste any part of the goodies
I have left .
I'm sure they will be more exquisite,
that most of which so far I've eaten.
My goal is to arrive to the end satisfied and in peace
with my loved ones and my conscience.
I hope that your goal is the same,
because either way you will get there too... "

Mário Raul de Morais Andrade (Brazilian poet, novelist, musicologist, art historian, critic, and photographer).

"Γκόλφω" - Η ψυχή που αγαπά δίχως φραγμούς

Είν’ η αγάπη βάτος που αν τύχει μάνα και μπλεχτείς

μέσα στις αγκαθιές του, δεν ξεμπερδεύεις εύκολα θα φύγεις λαβωμένος.

Είν’ η αγάπη θάλασσα, που γλυκοκυματίζει,

Και αν τύχει τα γαλάζια της νερά σε ξεγελάσουν,

Τις ομορφιές της λιμπιστείς και απλώσεις τα πανιά σου,

δεν είναι μάνα γονετώ πίσω για να γυρίσεις

και αν σε βοηθήσουν οι καιροί με κίνδυνο μεγάλο,

στην άλλη άκρη θε να βγεις, αλλιώτικα, εχάθης.

Είναι η αγάπη φονικό που ζωντανό σε αφήνει
Είναι η αγάπη ξενιτιά που παίρνει το παιδί σου,
μα κάθε μέρα καρτερεί μη και γυρίσει πίσω
Είν’ η αγάπη χείμαρρος που χιμά και σε συντρίβει
Είν’ η αγάπη όνειρο που θέλεις για να τρέξεις,
μα απ’ τη γη τα πόδια σου δεν λεν να ξεκολλήσουν.
Αγάπη είναι ν’ αγαπάς όποια πληγή σου ανοίγει
Αγάπη είναι η μοναξιά που πρέπει στον καθένα
Αγάπη είναι να κοιτάς την πόρτα ολοένα
Αγάπη είναι να μιλάς στα φύλλα και στα δέντρα
Στις πέτρες, στα τριαντάφυλλα, στους τοίχους, στα ταβάνια

UBUNTU - I am because we are & The Sharing Experiment

UBUNTU - I am because we are

An anthropologist proposed a game to the kids in an African tribe. He put a basket full of fruit near a tree and told the kids that whoever got there first won the sweet fruits. When he told them to run, they all took each other’s hands and ran together – and then sat together enjoying their treats. When he asked them why they had run like that as one could have had all the fruits for himself they said, “Ubuntu.” And asked him how anyone can be happy if all the other ones are sad?

UBUNTU in the Xhosa culture means: “I am because we are.”

The above reminded me of an experiment by “Action Against Hunger”

that took place to show us how kids react when they feel inequality between them.

Please take 2 minutes to watch this video about sharing.

We can definitely be taught from children.

An African tribe that does the most beautiful thing!

When someone does something hurtful and wrong, they take the person to the center of town, and the entire tribe comes and surrounds him. For two days they’ll tell the man every good thing he has ever done.

The tribe believes that every human being comes into the world as GOOD, each of us desiring safety, love, peace, happiness.

But sometimes in the pursuit of those things people make mistakes. The community sees misdeeds as a cry for help.

They band together for the sake of their fellow man to hold him up, to reconnect him with his true Nature, to remind him who he really is, until he fully remembers the truth from which he’d temporarily been disconnected: “I AM GOOD”.

John Steinbeck on Falling in Love

“If it is right, it happens - The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away.”

John Steinbeck’s response to his eldest son Thom’s 1958 letter, in which the teenage boy confesses to have fallen desperately in love with a girl while at boarding school.

“New York
November 10, 1958

Dear Thom:

We had your letter this morning. I will answer it from my point of view and of course Elaine will from hers.

First — if you are in love — that’s a good thing — that’s about the best thing that can happen to anyone. Don’t let anyone make it small or light to you.

Second — There are several kinds of love. One is a selfish, mean, grasping, egotistical thing which uses love for self-importance. This is the ugly and crippling kind. The other is an outpouring of everything good in you — of kindness and consideration and respect — not only the social respect of manners but the greater respect which is recognition of another person as unique and valuable. The first kind can make you sick and small and weak but the second can release in you strength, and courage and goodness and even wisdom you didn’t know you had.

You say this is not puppy love. If you feel so deeply — of course it isn’t puppy love.

But I don’t think you were asking me what you feel. You know better than anyone. What you wanted me to help you with is what to do about it — and that I can tell you.

Glory in it for one thing and be very glad and grateful for it.

The object of love is the best and most beautiful. Try to live up to it.

If you love someone — there is no possible harm in saying so — only you must remember that some people are very shy and sometimes the saying must take that shyness into consideration.

Girls have a way of knowing or feeling what you feel, but they usually like to hear it also.

It sometimes happens that what you feel is not returned for one reason or another — but that does not make your feeling less valuable and good.

Lastly, I know your feeling because I have it and I’m glad you have it.

We will be glad to meet Susan. She will be very welcome. But Elaine will make all such arrangements because that is her province and she will be very glad to. She knows about love too and maybe she can give you more help than I can.

And don’t worry about losing. If it is right, it happens — The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away.

Love,

Fa”

Source: bainpickings

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/01/12/john-steinbeck-on-love-1958/

The crisis is a crisis in consciousness - Jiddu Krishnamurti

Consciousness Crisis

“The crisis is a crisis in consciousness, a crisis that cannot anymore accept the old norms, the old patterns, the ancient traditions.

And considering what the world is now with all their misery conflict, destructive brutality, aggression, and so on, man is still as he was: is still brutal, violent, aggressive, acquisitive, competitive, and he has built a society along these lines.”

Jiddu Krishnamurti

You are the teacher - Jiddu Krishnamurti

A transformation of the mind

“What we are trying, in all these discussions and talks here, is to see if we cannot radically bring about a transformation of the mind. Not accept things as they are, but to understand it, to go into it, to examine it, give your heart and your mind, with everything that you have to find out a way of living differently. But that depends on you, and not on somebody else, because in this there is no teacher, no pupil; there is no leader; there is no guru; there is no master, no savior. You yourself are the teacher and the pupil; you are the master; you are the guru; you are the leader; you are everything. And to understand is to transform what is.”

Jiddu Krishnamurti

Pure Potential - Stillness

“You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait, be quiet, still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.”

Franz Kafka

Painting: "Lorette in a green robe against a black background" by Henri Matisse

Control Drama’s

Human beings are addicted to drama, which they create either consciously or on a subconscious level. Why do we create drama? As energy beings, we are constantly looking to acquire more energy.

A control drama, as depicted in The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield, is played by anyone who is low on spiritual energy, to manipulate and steal the energy of another.  This spiritual energy is absolutely critical for our survival, and lack thereof is the prime cause of ALL conflict in the world.

When two people begin an interaction, their energy fields merge into one and there comes the issue of, who is going to control this energy?  If one can get the other to accept their point of view, and see the world as he see’s it, then he has captured both energies, resulting in an instant feeling of euphoria, power, and security.

All of these positive feelings are won at the expense of another person, who then feels off center, anxious and drained of energy. All of these control drama's originate from your childhood, as a defensive measure to counteract the control drama's that your parents played to steal energy from you.

There are 4 types of control drama's:

- Intimidator

- Interrogator

- Aloof

- ‘Poor Me’

Intimidator

For many kids growing up, one or both parents would take a stance of intimidation, and entice their child into feeling afraid and powerless. 

 They would yell at you, scream at you, and ultimately send you to your room, leaving you feeling weak, powerless and drained of energy.

Struggles like these can often be very intense and even traumatic for a child, and as a result, you developed your own control drama to fight back for that energy.  Most respond at first with a 'poor me' drama, where one creates a guilt trip for the intimidator, and if they respond to this, the child will get energy in return, and will continue using that style of control drama throughout their life.

But if the 'poor me' posture goes unnoticed, the only remaining option for the child is to explode into an intimidator themselves, in attempts to regain their stolen energy.  Once this works, the child will exploit the intimidator stance regularly when they're low on energy.

An intimidator may be a very loud and talkative person who tries to force you to give them your attention (energy) by listening to what they have to say. 

They may also be the type of person, who leaves you finding yourself looking over your shoulder, to see where they are and what they will do next.  Devoting your conscious attention to figuring out where someone is, or what they will do, creates a flow of energy to that person. 

Interrogator

An Interrogator is someone who criticizes another, probing, into their world with the specific purpose of finding something wrong.

Once this is found they pounce, and criticize this aspect of another’s life. This type of control  drama will leave you feeling self-conscious around the interrogator, wondering what they are thinking.

If your parents acted this way, you may have interrogated in return, or developed the aloof’s front – lacking concern and sympathy – in hopes they would feel like the interrogation is falling and a resultant energy transfer would occur in your favor. Whichever one worked on your parents would be the same one you use prevalently throughout your life, to this very day.

Aloof

The aloof control drama is perpetrated by distancing oneself from situations and spontaneously acting out to gather people's attention and energy. 

If your parents were distant from you as a child, you were not receiving enough of the nurturing, and loving energy as a child may require. 

The control drama you may have developed to end the distancing would most likely be that of The Interrogator.  You would criticize a characteristic or behavior of theirs to end the distancing, and subsequently, steal the energy you needed from them.

Poor Me

The 'Poor Me' drama is characterized by creating a guilt-trip towards another person, in turn making them feel at fault, resulting in the much-desired transfer of energy. 

Typically, this type of person is quiet, often anxiously waiting for someone to come and ask them what's wrong. 

If someone does come and ask what's wrong, this attention is then exchanged.  Attention is energy; thoughts are energy; and thus, somebody thinking of you translates into energy received.

If this doesn't work for the person, often one will attempt the Aloof control drama until their 'energy tank' is replenished, and their insecurities are temporarily forgotten.  

The Bottom Line: There is a constant battle between people to steal each other's energy.  This matter of energy is the cause of

ALL conflict in the world and the reason that people feel the need to control others.  No human being can evolve until they become consciously aware of the drama they use to manipulate others for energy.

What drama or drama's you use (it could be more than one) to manipulate for energy?

Source: stoptherobbery.com - Accelerating Human Evolution

A Moment Of Hapinness by Rumi

"A moment of happiness,
you and I sitting on the veranda.

Apparently two, but one in soul, you and I.

We feel the flowing water of life here,
you and I, with the garden's beauty
and the birds singing.

The stars will gaze upon us,
We shall show them the sickle moon, you and I.

You and I, unselfed, will be together,
Indifferent to idle speculation, you and I.

All the bright-plumed birds of heaven will devour their heart with envy,
as we laugh together, you and I.

In one form upon this earth,
and in another form in a timeless sweet land, you and I."

Rumi

Yoga Inspiration

"When the heart opens, the life opens. When your body opens your mind opens.

It’s not the yoga that you do. It’s the courage that you bring to your practice.

Even when you want to stop, that’s exactly when you don’t stop.

Sweat & laugh every day. That’s what makes a person healthy, happy and whole.

If you don’t start in life somewhere, then your life will be nowhere. So you must start where you are.

If you fall over, you fall over, but you start again.

May you come to know your true identity and find the peace within yourself.

May the sun shine upon you, all love surround you. The pure light within you guide your way on."

Thank you Gurmukh

* Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa: Kundalini Yoga teacher and a pioneer in the field of pre-natal yoga.

Cucurrucucu Paloma

They say that every night

He was overtaken by tears
They say he wouldn’t eat
He didn't feel like having any food
They swear that even the sky
Was vibrating by listening to his weeping
How he was suffering for her,
And even when he was dying he was calling at her:
Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay he was singing
Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay he was wailing
Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay he was singing
He was dying from mortal passion.
That a sad dove
early in the morning will sing
At the lonely house
Whose small doors are widely open
Swear that this dove
Is no other than his soul,
That is still waiting
For the unhappy woman to return.
Cucurrucucú dove, cucurrucucú don’t cry.
The stones will never, dove
will know of love.

Dove: a symbol of innocence, gentleness, tenderness and peace.

I Do Not LOVE you except because I LOVE you

I do not love you except because I love you;
I go from loving to not loving you,
From waiting to not waiting for you
My heart moves from cold to fire.

I love you only because it's you the one I love;
I hate you deeply, and hating you
Bend to you, and the measure of my changing love for you
Is that I do not see you but love you blindly.

Maybe January light will consume
My heart with its cruel
Ray, stealing my key to true calm.

In this part of the story I am the one who
Dies, the only one, and I will die of love because I love you,
Because I love you, Love, in fire and blood.


Pablo Neruda

The kiss - Auguste Rodin

Dies Slowly

He who becomes the slave of habit,
who follows the same routes every day,
who never changes pace,
who does not risk and change the color of his clothes,
who does not speak and does not experience, dies slowly.

He or she who shuns passion,
who prefers black on white,
dotting ones is rather than a bundle of emotions,
the kind that make your eyes glimmer,
that turn a yawn into a smile,
that make the heart pound
in the face of mistakes and feelings, dies slowly.

He or she who does not turn things upside down,
who is unhappy at work,
who does not risk certainty for uncertainty,
to thus follow a dream,
those who do not forego sound advice
at least once in their lives, dies slowly.

He who does not travel,
who does not read,
who does not listen to music,
who does not find grace in himself, dies slowly.

He who slowly destroys his own self-esteem,
who does not allow himself to be helped,
who spends days on end complaining about his own bad luck,
about the rain that never stops, dies slowly.

He or she who abandon a project before starting it, who fail to
ask questions on subjects he doesn’t know, he who don’t reply when they are asked something they do know, dies slowly.

Let’s try and avoid death in small doses,
always reminding oneself that being alive
requires an effort by far
greater than the simple fact of breathing.

Only a burning patience will lead to the attainment
of a splendid happiness.

Pablo Neruda

card by Paulo Zerbato

This night remains

A sea to live I won't find
in a fish's soul body of a cat
every night I go out to drown myself
sometimes stars, sometimes the edge of the abyss
something I chase, like the castaway
my years, my sheets, cigars to put out

This night remains
for centuries frozen
during which two souls never found a shelter
and they came into the world as strangers and condemned
to live an earthly love

I was also lost one night
sea was Kazantzidis's voice
the stars were falling into the mud
black guy the weather and black snake
the heart waived at me, smell
how the oil burns and live the journey

This night remains
for centuries frozen
during which two souls never found a shelter
and they came into the world as strangers and condemned
to live an earthly love

A Thousand Kisses Deep

Don't matter if the road is long

Don't matter if it's steep
Don't matter if the moon is gone
And the darkness is complete
Don't matter if we lose our way
It's written that we'll meet
At least, that's what I heard you say
A thousand kisses deep

I loved you when you opened
Like a lily to the heat
You see, I'm just another snowman
Standing in the rain and sleet
Who loved you with his frozen love
His second hand physique
With all he is and all he was
A thousand kisses deep

I know you had to lie to me
I know you had to cheat
You learned it on your father's knee
And at your mother's feet
But did you have to fight your way
Across the burning street
When all our vital interests lay
A thousand kisses deep

I'm turning tricks
I'm getting fixed
I'm back on boogie street
I'd like to quit the business
But I'm in it, so to speak
The thought of you is peaceful
And the file on you complete
Except what I forgot to do
A thousand kisses deep

Don't matter if you're rich and strong
Don't matter if you're weak
Don't matter if you write a song
The nightingales repeat
Don't matter if it's nine to five
Or timeless and unique
You ditch your life to stay alive
A thousand kisses deep

The ponies run
The girls are young
The odds are there to beat
You win a while, and then it's done
Your little winning streak
And summon now to deal with your invincible defeat
You live your life as if it's real
A thousand kisses deep

I hear their voices in the wine
That sometimes did me seek
The band is playing Auld Lang Syne
But the heart will not retreat
There's no forsaking what you love
No existential leap
As witnessed here in time and blood
A thousand kisses deep

Leonard Cohen

Poem

Song

Bees - It's getting dark, I am coming out to find you

It’s too late to hate you

air with freshness
the bees are chasing me
and you that didn’t want me

I shake the basil
to stop the bad
witches had tied you
but you still cracked me

It’s getting dark, I am coming out to find you
like a two day moon
closed shutters
How much I would want you to love me

I throw thyme on fires
the beauty’s are afflicting me
the beauty’s the murderess
and you that have forgotten me

Don’ be afraid if I cry
I have felt it before you disappeared
a bitterness in rose water
because you have been refusing the dream

I will throw where you walk
our vow to step on
even if the bees are hurting me
and you that didn’t want me

The pomegrenate

The pomegranate has been a recurring motif in art and literature. It is depicted in Chinese porcelains, Turkish textiles, Italian paintings, Norwegian coverlets, Spanish chests, Mexican embroideries and New Mexican colcha. It is mentioned in Greek mythology, in the Qur’an, the Bible and the Torah. Oscar Wilde wrote a collection of fairy tales called “A House of Pomegranates”, Homer referred to pomegrenates in his “Garden of Alcinous”, Shakespeare wrote of nightingales singing in pomegranate trees (Romeo and Juliet) and of picking kernals out of the pomegranates (All’s Well that Ends Well). Botticelli created “Madonna of the Pomegranate”. Paul Cezanne’s “Ginger Pot With Pomegranates and Pears” and Pierre Auguste Renoir “Nature Morte A La Grenade” both capture the beauty and power of the pomegranate. “Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening” is a surrealist painting by Salvador Dali depicting Freud’s discovery that external stimuli could be the cause of a dream.

Most frequently the pomegranate is a symbol of fertility, birth and eternal life, owing to its abundance of seeds. Its deep blood red colour has led to its interpretation as a symbol of death. It also represents unity, illustrated by the many seeds bound together in a single skin.

The pomegranate is prominently featured in the myth of Persephone, the goddess of the Underworld. In one version of Greek mythology, Persephone was kidnapped by Hades and taken off to live in the underworld as his wife. Her mother, Demeter (goddess of the Harvest), went into mourning for her lost daughter and thus all green things ceased to grow. Zeus, the highest ranking of the Greek gods, could not allow the Earth to die, so he commanded Hades to return Persephone. It was the rule of the fates that anyone who consumed food or drink in the Underworld was doomed to spend eternity there. Persephone had no food, but Hades tricked her into eating six pomegranate seeds while she was still his prisoner and so, because of this, she was condemned to spend six months in the Underworld every year. During these six months, when Persephone is sitting on the throne of the Underworld next to her husband Hades, her mother Demeter mourns and no longer gives fertility to the earth. This became an ancient Greek explanation for the seasons. 

Dreaming of Pomegranates 1912, Felice Casorati (1883-1963 Italian painter, sculptor and printmaker)

The orange girl

She became so intoxicated by the sun's juice
That she bowed her head and consented
very slowly to become: the Orange Girl !

So while the seven skies glittered with blue
So while the crystals touched a fire
So while swallow-tails flashed
Angels above were bewildered and girls below
Storks above were bewildered and peacocks below
And all together gathered and saw her
And all together called her: the Orange Girl !

Vine shoots and scorpions reel drunkenly

the whole world is drunk

But the sting of dawn will not leave pain alone
The dwarf heron says it amid the earthworms
The drip-drop of water says it amid golden moments
And the dew says it to the lips of the good North Wind

Get up small small small Orange Girl !
No one knows you as the kiss knows you
Nor does the laughing god knows you
Who with his hand open to the flaming glare of the sun
Exposes you naked before his thirty-two winds

Odysseus Elytis -" the sun-drinking" poet, recipient of the 1979 Nobel Prize for Literature.

Make your own dream

That's the Beatles' story, isn't it? That's Yoko's story, that's what I'm saying now. Produce your own dream. If you want to save Peru, go save Peru. It's quite possible to do anything, but not to put it on the leaders and the parking meters. Don't expect Jimmy Carter or Ronald Reagan or John Lennon or Yoko Ono or Bob Dylan or Jesus Christ to come and do it for you. You have to do it yourself.

That's what the great masters and mistresses have been saying ever since time began. They can point the way, leave signposts and little instructions in various books that are now called holy and worshipped for the cover of the book and not for what it says, but the instructions are all there for all to see, have always been and always will be.

There's nothing new under the sun. All the roads lead to Rome. And people cannot provide it for you. I can't wake you up. You can wake you up. I can't cure you. You can cure you.

John Lennon, 1980