close
advaita25

Last seen: 4 hours ago

Ben is a guy from Hereford, England, UK

Love is the way messengers from the mystery tell us things. ~Rumi

  • Created Jul 16



    Encountered this delightful creature when out walking one Summer's afternoon. It didn't seem to want to settle, but I followed it and managed to get a couple of shots when it was having a (brief) respite from wing flapping.

    imgfave we♥it facebook
  • On accepting Emptiness

    Rated Oct 06 13 reviews buddhism, sunyata planet.nl

    From the page: "A wise and intelligent person moves from body to mind to soul to final Emptiness. She will gain a deep insight in life, out of everything that life has to offer her. Finally she will sit down and close her eyes. She will no more run away from herself. That person will not look outside of himself anymore for happiness. For life has taught him a few lessons. No job, no fame, no money, no sex, no relationship, not anything in the world can chase away that Emptiness. For it is the only real thing in the world.

    Emptiness is energy in the bud. When your life is centered around Emptiness, you will become like an atomic bomb. You will become pulsating energy, thriving to make its way out. You will be so energetic and so creative, you can hardly imagine. And it will not be a destructive energy, but your atomic bomb will be a Love bomb. Emptiness is the energy of final Oneness, that has emanated into creation. It is Its quality of love and creativeness become manifest. That you will be, when you start disidentifying with your more shallow layers. That you are already, if only you were be brave enough to accept it.

    No more becoming.
    Just being.
    And not even that.

    I.
    Am.
    Nothing."
  • Nisargadatta Maharaj

    Rated Sep 28 4 reviews spirituality, advaita vedanta, nisargadatta maharaj nisargadatta.net

    "There is nothing to practise. To know yourself, be yourself. To be
    yourself, stop imagining yourself to be this or that. Just be. Let
    your true nature emerge. Don't disturb your mind with seeking"

    "All that a guru can tell you is:
    'My dear Sir, you are quite mistaken about yourself.
    You are not the person you take yourself to be.'"

    "There is no such thing as a person.
    There are only restrictions and limitations.
    The sum total of these defines the person. (...)
    The person merely appears to be, like
    the space within the pot appears to have the shape and volume
    and smell of the pot."
  • Pomegranate laughter

    Rated Sep 28 4 reviews poetry, sufism, spirituality, rumi demon.co.uk

    Pomegranate Laughter

    When you go to buy a pomegranate,
    pick the one that's laughing,
    that has its rind cleft,
    so that through its broken-open-ness
    you get some information
    about the seeds.
    Listen for the laughter
    that shows the inside,
    that cracks the casket-shell
    and lets you see the pearl.

    There's another kind, an unhappy laughing
    like the red anemone's that shows
    its inner blackness.
    But pomegranate-laughter is blessed,
    like the companionship of good people.
    Even if you're a common rock,
    when you join them,
    you'll become a precious stone.
    Keep the love of holy laughing in you.
    Don't visit sad neighborhoods.
    Let laughter lead you to the right people.

    ~Rumi
    (Mathnawi I, Version by Coleman Barks)
  • She Responded

    Rated Sep 28 2 reviews birds demon.co.uk

    She Responded

    The birds' favorite songs
    You do not hear,

    For their most flamboyant music takes place
    When their wings are stretched
    Above the trees

    And they are smoking the opium
    Of pure freedom.

    It is healthy for the prisoner
    To have faith

    That one day he will again move about
    Wherever he wants,
    Feel the wondrous grit of life -
    Less structured,

    Find all wounds, debts stamped canceled,
    Paid.

    I once asked a bird,
    "How is it that you fly in this gravity
    Of darkness?"

    She responded,
    "Love lifts Me."

    ~Hafiz
    (translation Daniel Ladinsky)
  • Terence McKenna: Psychedelic Awareness

    Rated Sep 14 2 reviews poetry, awareness fudomouth.net

    When asked what the secret of his angelic poetry was, Blake said: "Attend the minute particulars." That's all. Focus attention in the moment. Do not betray attention into expectation borne of abstraction, or regret borne of misplaced assumption, or remembrance borne of boredom and alienation in the moment. Attend the minute particulars as a kind of practice.
  • Luminous Mind: Quotes

    Rated Sep 13 8 reviews spirituality, quotations luminousmind.net

    If I don't manage to fly,
    someone else will.

    The spirit wants only that there be flying.

    As to who happens to do it,
    She has only a passing interest.

    ~Rainer Maria Rilke
  • THE GREAT WORK -- Hafiz

    Rated Sep 10 5 reviews poetry, hafiz panhala.net

    The Great Work

    Love
    Is the great work
    Though every heart is first
    An apprentice
    That slaves beneath
    The city of Light.

    This wondrous trade,
    This magnificent throne
    Your soul
    Is destined for
    You should not have to think
    Much about it,

    Is it not clear
    An apprentice needs a teacher
    Who himself
    Has charmed the universe
    To reveal its wonders
    Inside his cup.

    Happiness is the great work,
    Though every heart must first
    Become
    A student
    To one
    Who really knows
    About Love.

    ~Hafiz
    (translated by Daniel Ladinsky)
  • Foreword from &Amusing Ourselves to Death&

    Rated Sep 07 2 reviews civil liberties, aldous huxley serendipity.li

    What Orwell feared were those who would ban books.
    What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one.

    Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information.
    Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism.

    Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us.
    Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance.

    Orwell feared we would become a captive culture.
    Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy.

    As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions". In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure.

    In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us.
    Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.
  • Created Sep 05

    After months of 'written word' postings, at last some imagery. The lens on my Samsung compact seems to be particularly good at capturing...

    rays of light









  • Excerpt from "A New Earth" by Eckhart Tolle | Dee Hahn's...

    Rated Sep 02 2 reviews spirituality, eckhart tolle deehahn.com

    Once there is a certain degree of Presence
    of still and alert attention in human beings' perceptions
    they can sense the divine life essence
    the one indwelling consciousness or spirit in every creature
    every life-form
    recognize it as one with their own essence
    and so love it as themselves

    Until this happens, however,
    most humans see only the outer forms
    unaware of the inner essence
    just as they are unaware of their own essence
    and identify only with their own physical
    and psychological form.