Thursday, April 20, 2006

Sky follow up


The sky has been empty of all cloud traces for four days. It is supposed to rain tomorrow and I will enjoy the clouds then too. P.K.

LOVE

Love knows how to go into unseen and unknown, to conquer the unfamilar and uncharted, knows how to surrender and how to rise. Love is the greatest courage.Trust Love. Dont just fall in it, rise in it. (S.S.)

WHAT IS LOVE?

The eternal question that arises time and again. The closest I have heard to the truth that reverberates in my heart is that Love is a verb, an action. To love someone means not just that you feel tenderness and joy with them but that you show them by your actions, by the way you treat them, what is in your heart.
In Buddhist philosophy, which I follow, it is said that there are many kinds of love, perhaps expression is a better word. The love of a mother for her child, the love of a child for its parents, examples of this can be found in nature, the animal kingdom. If love is instinctive, as in the protection of one's own offspring then all beings have access to it. Even a spider will protect its young, some keep them close to their own bodies until the eggs hatch. Scorpions, snakes and crocodiles too.
That pure feeling arises in many different forms. The love of friends, spouses, devotion to beliefs or ideals, lovers, nations, pets. Sometimes people can even emote towards objects which are for our purposes without responses, like cars, boats and the like. Some pets have better lives than most people in the world, being lavished with love, affection, tenderness and every wish fulfilled.
When I punched in Love to the image section of Google I was astounded by the 3.9million response of images. Actually just taking a tour of this menagerie of visuals on love was in itself a teaching on the subject.

Here is a story I read about an amazing feat of love. This was actually witnessed by scientists in the field who were studying these animals.
One day there was a mother rhino with her baby who stopped at the watering hole to get some precious water during the dry season. Because it was drying up though, the baby rhino only a couple of weeks old became marooned in the very deep mud beside the watering hole. The mother raced frantically back and forth, watching helplessless as her baby sank deeper in with its struggles. The baby was crying and the mother was snorting and pacing not knowing what to do. All this commotion served to attract a herd of elephants who were moving through the area. Now elephants and rhinos are known enemies. So the herd respectfully kept its distance. Except for one female at the back. She paused and reviewed the situation. The mother rhino began making ominous charges at this intruder but not wanting to leave her baby she would race back and call to it from the banks. The elephant made her decision. She pushed into the deep mud and with her trunk she tenderly removed the baby rhino and placed her within safe distance of her mother on drier land. The elephant then turned and rejoined the herd.
The scientists observing this were astounded. They had not expected such behaviour from an animal who was not only from another species but one that is usually in direct conflict with the rhinos. One simply cannot explain this except by love which reaches beyond our boundaries, beyond our beliefs about the world, beyond our conceptions.


Again, another example is the story of the lioness and the oryx. She almost starved to death protecting the baby that was of the species she would usually eat. (please see link) There are many examples of this behaviour within the animal kingdom and our own culture.
Will this bring us closer to Truth? I believe so for if love surpasses all our notions and we strive to understand it then that shall bring us closer to the Noble heart of Truth.

Monday, April 17, 2006

SKY



Blue skies

A couple of days ago an acquaintance asked me about my first memory. Coincidentally my father and I had been discussing the same topic that very morning. So I mentioned that my first memory was of watching the blue sky through a window. I recall the white curtain was blowing in the breeze and I could see the clouds moving slowly across the deep endless blue. Somehow it was a reverent feeling that accompanied this. I estimate my age to be around 2- 3 years. It could have even been younger, I just remember this feeling of quiet bliss and the sense that there was little besides my own consciousness and this image. I was happy, I didn't need anything else in that moment. Peaceful. My acquaintance commented that the first memory usually sets a tone for that image for the rest of one's life. I laughed and said " I guess that's why I always feel peaceful watching the sky and must see it everyday through my window. I guess that's also why blues have always been my favourite colours because they evoke that feeling I had with the memory."

This past week and a half I have gotten angry because the white ribbons of jet chemtrails swelled up like tissue paper in water and spread in a fine mist or haze obliterating the view of the pure blue sky. In fact I raged about it. Something I don't do very often. I vowed with my intention that the sky wouldn't be touched by their poisonous ribbons. The thought even arose that I might somehow start a timed intention session with others all over the planet to eradicate the sky pollution. "Bring back the light" I would call it. I know intention is powerful, I may as well use it for a non harmful process.




Last night I had a dream that was so vivid it almost scared me awake. I was standing outside and the sun hadn't yet arisen. I looked up into the sky as was my usual custom. It was dark, deep indigo, velvet with stars clustered here and there. Suddenly I was large, larger, the sky was bending down to meet me. Then I was out in space. I looked back over my left shoulder and saw the earth a beautiful blue green marble. I started to cry. So fragile and precious, so beautiful! Then looking ahead the sky was deep dark space that began to enfold me as I moved further into it. I was consumed with the sensation of falling into that nether region even though a small part of my mind knew that there was no where to fall to. Vertigo and fear ensued as well as the feeling of growing vaster in the star filled void. I shut my eyes. When I opened them again I was once more on the earth in my ususal size. I looked to the east and saw the first rays of the sun reaching over the horizon toward me and as they caressed me bliss flooded my being.
The dream ends here.

Today even though I was very tired I smiled. The sky was a vast endless blue void. There was no trace anywhere of clouds. No wisps, no haze, no trails, nothing at all. Just empty stainless metal sky. Ah Ah Ah! Bliss!