1. I WILL NOT accept boundaries; appearances cannot contain me; I choke! To bleed in this agony, and to live it profoundly, is the second duty.
2. The mind is patient and adjusts itself, it likes to play; but the heart grows savage and will not condescend to play; it stifles and rushes to tear apart the nets of necessity.
3. What is the value of subduing the earth, the waters, the air, of conquering space and time, of understanding what laws govern the mirages that rise from the burning deserts of the mind, their appearance and reappearance?
4. I have one longing only: to grasp what is hidden behind appearances, to ferret out that mystery which brings me to birth and then kills me, to discover if behind the visible and unceasing stream of the world an invisible and immutable presence is hiding.
5. If the mind cannot, if it was not made to attempt the heroic and desperate breach beyond frontiers, then if only the heart could!
6. Beyond! Beyond! Beyond! Beyond man I seek the invisible whip which strikes him and drives him into the struggle. I lie in ambush to find out what primordial face struggles beyond animals to imprint itself on the fleeting flesh by creating, smashing, and remolding innumerable masks. I struggle to make out beyond plants the first stumbling steps of the Invisible in the mud.
7. A command rings out within me: “Dig! What do you see?”
   “Men and birds, water and stones.”
   “Dig deeper! What do you see?”
   “Ideas and dreams, fantasies and lightening flashes!”
   “Dig deeper! What do you see?”
   “I see nothing! A mute Night, as thick as death. It must be death.”
   “Dig deeper!”
   “Ah! I cannot penetrate the dark partition! I hear voices and weeping. I hear the flutter of wings on the other shore.”
   “Don’t weep! Don’t weep! They are not on the other shore. The voices, the weeping, and the wings are your own heart.“
8. Beyond the mind, on the edge of the heart’s holy precipice, I proceed, trembling. One foot grips the secure soil, the other gropes in the darkness above the abyss.
9. Behind all appearances, I divine a struggling essence. I want to merge with it.
10. I feel that behind appearances this struggling essence is also striving to merge with my heart. But the body stands between us and separates us. The mind stands between us and separates us.

–Nikos Kazantzakis, from “The Saviors of God”

all we are saying…

photo via Last Night’s Dinner

What kind of love have you got?
You should be home, but you’re not
A room full of noise and dangerous boys
still makes you thirsty and hot
I heard about you and that man
There’s just one thing I don’t understand
You say he’s a liar and he put out your fire
How come you still got his gun in your hand?
Victim of love, I see a broken heart
You got your stories to tell
Victim of love, it’s such an easy part
and you know how to play it so well

Some people never come clean
I think you know what I mean
You’re walkin’ the wire, pain and desire
Looking for love in between
–The Eagles, “Victim of Love”

From How to Lie With Statistics, illustration by Irving Geis:

A man once came and spat on Buddha, on his face… His closest disciple, Ananda… was red hot with anger. Buddha wiped his face and said to the man “Thank you, sir… You created a context in which I could see whether I can still be angry or not. And I am not, and I am tremendously happy. And you also created a context for Ananda : now he can see that he can still be angry. Many thanks – we are so grateful! Once in a while, please, you are invited to come. Whenever you have the urge to spit on somebody, you can come to us.”… His whole being was saying that he was grateful, his whole atmosphere was grateful. He could not forgive himself now, what had he done? Spitting on that man – a man like Buddha!

Early the next morning he rushed back, fell down at the feet of Buddha, and said “Forgive me, sir, I could not sleep the whole night.” Buddha said “Forget about it… and I cannot forgive you, because in the first place I was not angry with you. If I had been angry, I could have forgiven you. If you really need forgiveness, ask Ananda. Fall at HIS feet – he will enjoy it!”
–From The Book of Wisdom : Discourses on Atisha`s Seven Points of Mind Training