So long as we do not die to ourselves,
and so long as we identify with someone or something,
we shall never be free.
The spiritual way is not for those wrapped up in exterior life.

       Farid ud Din Attar

~~

Intoxicated by the Wine of Love.
From each a mystic silence Love demands.
What do all seek so earnestly? 'Tis Love.
What do they whisper to each other? Love.
Love is the subject of their inmost thoughts.
In Love no longer 'thou' and 'I' exist,
For Self has passed away in the Beloved.
Now will I draw aside the veil from Love,
And in the temple of mine inmost soul,
Behold the Friend; Incomparable Love.
He who would know the secret of both worlds,
Will find the secret of them both, is Love.

      Farid ud Din Attar (translation Margaret Smith)  

Gary Jules - Mad World

All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for their daily races
Going nowhere, going nowhere
Their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression, no expression
Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow
No tomorrow, no tomorrow
And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very
Mad World
Mad world
Children waiting for the day they feel good
Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday
And I feel the way that every child should
Sit and listen, sit and listen
Went to school and I was very nervous
No one knew me, no one knew me
Hello teacher tell me what's my lesson
Look right through me, look right through me
And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very
Mad World
Mad World
Enlarging your world
Mad World. 

------------------------------------------------------

I've now accepted that I'm going through my mid-life crisis. I question the most basic and fundamental assumptions, and marvel at the hypocrite I've become and the level of duplicity I'd begun to endorse. This is NOT who I wanted to be, not the values I want to pass on to the kids I might have. Something's certainly rattling the cage I've built around myself and I believe I know what it is - my conscience.

I just know that there awaits a whole new level of peace at the end of this stretch. But as always, I remain Yours Impatiently.

P.S. - This video gets to me even today. And the lesson in it is one very simple to comprehend. Now to apply it...

James Kavanaugh - There Are Men Too Gentle to Live Among Wolves

I am one of the searchers. There are, I believe, millions of us. We are not unhappy, but neither are we really content. We continue to explore life, hoping to uncover its ultimate secret. We continue to explore ourselves, hoping to understand. We like to walk along the beach, we are drawn by the ocean, taken by its power, its unceasing motion, its mystery and unspeakable beauty. We like forests and mountains,, deserts and hidden rivers, and the lonely cities as well. Our sadness is as much a part of our lives as is our laughter. To share our sadness with one we love is perhaps as great a joy as we can know – unless it be to share our laughter.

We searchers are ambitious only for life itself, for everything beautiful it can provide. Most of all we love and want to be loved. We want to live in a relationship that will not impede our wandering, nor prevent our search, nor lock us in prison walls; that will take us for what little we have to give. We do not want to prove ourselves to another or compete for love.

For wanderers, dreamers, and lovers, for lonely men and women who dare to ask of life everything good and beautiful. It is for those who are too gentle to live among wolves.

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Reconciling this outlook with the real "practical" world has been consuming an inordinate amount of my effort and time for more than 20 years. Perhaps, its only a gentle reminder for me to delve into and resolve the hypocritical world I have chosen to create for myself. (There are times I think consciousness be damned and free-will zindabad!)

P.S. - Omitted to mention I'd picked the note up from here.

Joshua Radin - Brand New Day

Some kind of magic
Happens late at night
When the moon smiles down on me
And bathes me in it’s light

I fell asleep beneath you
In the tall blades of grass
When I woke the world was new
I never had to ask

It’s a brand new day
The sun is shinning
It’s a brand new day
For the first time
In such a long long time
I know
I’ll be ok

Most kind of stories
Save the best part for last
Most stories have a hero who finds
You make your past your past
Ya you make your past your past

It’s a brand new day
The sun is shinning
It’s a brand new day
For the first time
In such a long long time
I know
I’ll be ok

This cycle never ends
Gotta fall in order to mend

And it’s a brand new day
It’s a brand new day
For the first time
Inn such a long long time
I know
I’ll be ok

Joshua Radin - You've Got Growing Up To Do

I've been down this road before
I walk out the door
Leave you on the floor

Sometimes you run and hide
Your foolish pride's what keeps me from giving you more

So the best thing I can give to you is for me to go
Leave you alone
'Cause you got growing up to do

Some day I'll return when it's time for payment in kind
The churchbells are chimed

You stand before me surrounded by lights
Dressed in white
You threw flowers in the air this night

But the best thing I can give to you is for me to go
Leave you alone
You got growing up to do

It looks like the rain is pouring down on me
It's drowning me now and all I want is to come back home

And this old corduroy coat is not keeping me dry
But I can't think of what else to try

That's why the best thing I can give to you is for me to go
Leave you alone
You got growing up to do

Yeah
The best thing I can give to you is for me to go
Leave you alone
You got growing up to do

I Corinthians 13:1-13

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Life's Journey

 

Hehehe... but of course, o Sensei! >;)

Katie Melua - What It Says On The Tin

How can I say it? Where do I begin,
Everything you are is just what it says on the tin

Words that were honest, spoken from the heart,
Everything you did was just what you said from the start.

You are the angel with whom I would gladly live in sin,
Thanks for being exactly what it says on the tin.
I never doubted, and though I never shouted from the roof,
All about it, I'm with you every day as living proof.

Ain't gonna lose now, such a lot to win,
'Cos I will always know you're just what it says on the tin.

You are the angel with whom I would gladly live in sin,
Thanks for being exactly what it says on the tin.
I never doubted, and though I never shouted from the roof,
All about it, I'm with you every day as living proof.

Ain't gonna lose now, such a lot to win,
'Cos I will always know you're just what it says on the tin.

You're just what it says on the tin.

Just what it says on the tin

Metallica - Wherever I May Roam

(And the road becomes my bride)

And the road becomes my bride
I have stripped of all but pride
So in her I do confide
And she keeps me satisfied
Gives me all I need

And with dust in throat I crave
Only knowledge will I save
To the game you stay a slave

Roamer, wanderer
Nomad, vagabond
Call me what you will

But I'll take my time anywhere
Free to speak my mind anywhere
And I'll redefine anywhere

Anywhere I roam
Where I lay my head is home

(And the earth becomes my throne)

And the earth becomes my throne
I adapt to the unknown
Under wandering stars I've grown
By myself but not alone
I ask no one

And my ties are severed clean
Less I have the more I gain
Off the beaten path I reign

Roamer, wanderer
Nomad, vagabond
Call me what you will
Yeah, you wi-i-i-ill

But I'll take my time anywhere
I'm free to speak my mind anywhere
and I'll take my time anywhere

Anywhere I roam
Where I lay my head is home
heh-yeah

But I'll take my time anywhere
I'm free to speak my mind
And I'll take my time anywhere

Anywhere I may roam
Where I lay my head is home
That's right

But I'll take my time anywhere
I'm free to speak my mind anywhere
And I'll redefine anywhere

Anywhere I may roam
Where I lay my head is home

Carved upon my stone
My body lies, but still I roam,
Yeah yeah!

Wherever I may roam

...