It's OK to feel hurt. People hurt other people for all sorts of different reasons; jealousy, self esteem, thoughtlessness, self gratification - the reason matters not, what matters is how you deal with it. No man is an island. It is human to feel hurt, to feel confusion and betrayal - especially towards those to … Continue reading Hurt
Fear
Have you ever noticed how one single person who does something differently from the rest of the crowd is often labelled as strange, eccentric, bohemian? The crowd, who all do the same thing, the same way, give it validation and acceptance. If we, each of us, contain the whole universe within our beings, then it … Continue reading Fear
The Watcher
For a split second the grasp on an ice cold metal clasp can burn the naked skin exactly as if it were red-hot. There is self-consciousness and there is un-self-consciousness. This latter is a state of wholeness whereby the mind functions freely, easily, without the ego colouring it. It is the letting of the body … Continue reading The Watcher
Tunnel vision
Darkness is only in the mortal eye. We think that we see, but we see not. We believe we are governed by laws; laws of physics, laws of anatomy, laws of society - and so it is true. If we believe like this, we live like this. Why should we believe it? We only ever … Continue reading Tunnel vision
Abdication
If someone were to offer you more money than you've ever had in your whole life, would you turn away? Would you reject the gift in front of your eyes, even though no strings were attached? The majority of people would see the money as a gift, something positive that will improve their lives. How … Continue reading Abdication
At your peril…
Why do we suffer? We love and lose, we toil and sweat blood, each experience brings with it an opposite and fear is the opposite of love. Fear is born of suffering, and we learn, like the child with a match. It is how we respond to the suffering that dictates if it brings fear. … Continue reading At your peril…
Creeping normality
Show a primitive man a TV and he will watch in horror, amazement, awe, fascination, disbelief. Show a new born baby and they will look away. It holds no interest for them. There is such purity in new life. The baby is existing just to exist, at this stage, much like a tree who has … Continue reading Creeping normality
The quick of life
What makes a man? Is it his mind, his thoughts? If we took away his capacity for thought, would he still be a man? And what when we're asleep? Are dreams our thoughts, or does the mind rest? Either way we are not thinking as we do when awake, yet we continue to exist. What … Continue reading The quick of life
Walking the line
Life is full of opposites - great joy, deep grief, love and hate, right and wrong - and it's a fine line to walk between them. We are here, we are alive and part of that is experiencing life to the full, the full range - to do justice to our existence. But at the … Continue reading Walking the line
Compassion
When we live by compassion, nothing can harm us. When compassion pervades our being, there can be no right or wrong done to us, those concepts are meaningless, because everything is as it should be. Have you ever met someone who, when they walked into the room, they brought the sun with them, and because … Continue reading Compassion
Zen musings 