mysticism

I look at the idea of rest as rotating one__ qualitative focus, not just doing less or changing activity. The role of rest is recovery. If you keep pushing the same quality button (fast or slow, concentrated or dispersed, hard-working or lazy_) for the same component all the time, of course it__ going to become depleted, just like if you keep working a single muscle in the same fashion or don__ use it at all.

The essential dynamic underlying almost every elite and esoteric physical art is work with the breath, so there__ information available. I would only add that it__ unfortunate that so much work is done with it, and not much play. Laughter has got to be the single healthiest activity one can perform. Just think how healthy you would be if you could sincerely laugh at that which now oppresses you. I__e mentioned before that one good measure of someone__ depth of spirituality is how long it takes before they become offended. Imagine laughing hysterically at the criticisms, complaints and impositions you receive. At the least, you__ be breathing well.

As I__e mentioned too often before, we are governed, and specifically our physicality is governed, by fairly strict rules, which are easily observable in nature. We have some freedom to manipulate some of these, but really not by very much. Everyone knows, or at least has the information, about the horrors of ignoring health issues and expecting your body to do what you want it to do with the least investment in it. Another __uthority_ telling you what you should do is not the answer.

Once you get off the bandwagon of believing that truth is your enemy and is bad news with all kinds of associated unhappy obligations, you can then afford to take it on with some enthusiasm and start to have some fun with it.

This pace and rhythm I speak of is constantly adjusting through discernment and sensitivity to all aspects of our life and being. As you notice more joy and resolution in your life through the movement toward what you yearn for, you naturally adjust in such a way that you invest more in that direction. If the idea of yearning and acting on what you yearn for causes more aggravation and suffering, you__e not looking at the elements accurately, or the idler is fighting against it.

Every brilliant theory in physics, for example, has been proven mainly wrong, except for the most recent ones, which will be. The big players, like Newton and Copernicus, gave us answers that were later proved more wrong than right. What they did__nd why they are valued__s direct our attention to more piercing and compelling questions or possibilities. (I__ suggest the same holds true for the big spiritual players, but that__ a different letter.)

If you don__ practice presence, you never learn how to have busyness facilitate accomplishment.

By its nature, what you yearn for is most often intimidating. It produces, and itself is, a question, and one that is not easy to engage or answer.

The transitory and random quality of emotions (__ell, that__ just the way I feel about it_) is deeply connected to, and largely the cause of, random engagement of one__ values and priorities. This very randomness and inconsistency is actually the cause of deeper suffering, primarily through the accumulation of addictions and the indulgence in reactions that are disproportionately small in comparison to what is really being sacrificed for them. Curiously__nd a major theme in my own work over decades__he casual association of emotions to love is part of the insanity in all this.

Appreciation, affection, focus and intention fill up the space of self-reflection, and one loses oneself in the engagement. And what a relief it is when you get there.

The trick is in genuinely appreciating the elements of apparent resistance while you are engaging them. Not to oppose or remove them as much as to creatively fold them into one__ linear line of movement, exploiting them and making the necessary adjustments as you go.

There exists a direct link, or harmony, between the past, the present and the future. This has been misinterpreted, or exaggerated in both directions, either by the assumption that everything is random, or that there is already a predetermined destiny. There is an actual link, and there is a lot of mystery or room to play and invent.

Because as you become better at everything, as the innate skills actually manifest in reality, the bar rises for the next jump. The core demand for evolution is relentless, and respect, happiness, love and joy are irrevocably tied to it.

The ability to remain constant, whole and playful, even while working technically, concentrating and upholding urgency, is essential to achieve a state of balance that will allow for this to happen. This has to come to life, and cannot stay just an idea or hope or intention or imitation, or ignored. The guarantee and proof that this balance and power is real is in its actualization. That is, that it manifests in functional reality. As in any intention, whether that be vague or specific, an ambition or desire, a goal or state of being, a question or hope, a curiosity or purpose, there exist natural and unnatural obstacles to its realization.

You have everything already inside you necessary for the true response to any challenge you will meet. Usually, it__ just a question of assembling some elements in a way that you didn__ think to do before (which brings us to intuition_).

Like all things organically formed, there does exist a harmony, interrelated patterns, intuitive logic, and purpose, but these are subtle and you can__ find them exclusively by emotional or intellectual analysis. At first glance it__ all too complex and liquid-like, and our minds and emotions look for control and relief. To know water, you have to get wet; you can__ just sit back and analyze its components. So, do try to enjoy the swim, and don__ be afraid to just sit back and drink now and then__he water__ clean.

Life will give you what you need once you will do something with it. It may not give you what you want so as to be as comfortable as you want, as Nature__ concern is need as it relates to evolution. In my humble opinion, Nature is too kind, but, as I say, the game is big, and the challenges and temptations absolute. And this is a fascinating aspect of the totality of beauty; it gives more than is only necessary. The generosity is mind- and heart boggling.

It takes a relative amount of courage just to get out of bed each day. There are those who are stronger in their courage, and they help to compel us along a little further in the fulfillment of our faith.