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wpc: friend

Friend: The Roget’s International Thesaurus listed friend as:

acquaintance, confidant, inseparable, alter ego, sisterhood, fellowman, well-wisher, supporter, companion, associate, compeer, consort, colleague, partner, crony, chum, buddy, roommate, schoolmate, playmate, …

wpc_friend

I identify friend as one with whom, for a too-short period of time, we walked side-by-side, sharing our unique and separate lives and gifting us with memories to cherish during the times of separation.

 

not yet

notyetrumikoTree

Within a tree
another tree that is not yet,
and now the upper branches shift in the wind.

Within the blue sky
another blue sky that is not yet,
and now the horizon is rent by a bird in flight.

Within a body
another body that is not yet,
and now the shrine gathers blood.

Within a road
another road that is not yet,
and now that space is shaken by my destination.

–Kora Rumiko

 

nature’s lace

 

 

nature'slace

“Life can certainly have meaning without books, but books cannot have meaning without life. Most of us probably share a belief that life is greatly enriched by them: life goes into books and books go back into life. But the relationship is not equal or symmetrical. Nonetheless what is in them not only adds to life, but genuinely goes back into life and transforms it, so that life as we live it in a world full of books is created partly by books themselves.”

~I McGilchrist, The Master and his Emissary

the untruth…the greatest truth

anovelistMilosz

“…the power of attraction exerted by totalitarian thinking, whether of the left or of the right, does not belong to the past…

When a writer strives to present reality most faithfully he becomes convinced that the untruth is at times the greatest truth. The world is so rich and so complex that the more one tries not to omit any part of the truth, the more one uncovers wonders that elude the pen.
…
Eyes that have seen should not be shut; hands that have touched should not forget when they take up the pen.”

~Czeslaw, Milosz: The Captive Mind

 

oolong tea

 

oolongteathy“…you cannot know how many people your words, actions and thoughts have touched.

When I make a pot of oolong tea, I put tea leaves into the pot and pour boiling water on them. Five minutes later there is tea to drink. When I drink it, oolong tea is going into me. If I put in more hot water, making a second pot of tea, the tea from those leaves continues to go into me. After I poured out all the tea, what will be left in the pot is just the spent tea leaves. The leaves that remain are only a very small part of the tea. The tea that goes into me is a much bigger part of the tea. It is the richest part.

We are the same; our essence has gone into our children, our friends and the entire universe. We have to find ourselves in those directions and not in the spent tea leaves. I invite you to see yourself reborn in forms that you say are not yourself. You have to see your body in what is not your body. This is called your body outside of your body.”

~Thich Nhat Hanh (No Death, No Fear, pp. 119-120)

 

Views…

Our Enemy

Our enemy wears the colors of ideology.

Our enemy wears the label of liberty.

Our enemy carries a fancy appearance.

Our enemy carries a big basked filled with words.

Our enemy is not man.

If we kill men, with whom shall we live?

~Pham Day  (Thich Nhat Hanh, Call Me by My True Names)

viewdiamondsutra

…views themselves are ideas or perceptions.  Any perception has two parts: a viewer  (subject) and that which is being viewed (object).  A self view, a person view, a living-being view, and a life span view are all objects of perception. They are neither independently existing or permanent. Like everything else, they are of the nature of interbeing.

~Thich Nhat Hanh, The Diamond that Cuts through Illusion