Daily Dose - Oct 5 2013 - Saturn/Kronos/ ~ Death, Time, & Discipline

• Live to learn how to die. We are given time on this planet in these bodies to 'die' and be 'reborn' before physical death, so we may know and remember the meaning, beauty and power of life, our purpose here, and the immortality of our spirit.
  
• If you know me/are local, make sure you attend one of my YogiShaman Trance Breath Empowerment or other Shamanic Journey workshops to experience this Alchemical process and transformation. Visit www.Miguelfl.com for more info.

• Does the way you live your life make you grateful? If it doesn't make you grateful don't waste your time. If we are unsatisfied we must ask why. In time the answers will come. Stay open.
  
• Each of us will, at some point or other, leave this life and this body. When it is time, Death comes for us all. It may be tomorrow, in 80 years or even today, but rest assured, he will come.
  This can be a source of stress, worry and fear, or a source of empowerment and enlightenment. So let us not waste our time here, and truly life live, enjoy all it has to offer, knowing the sacred in all things, being kind to ourselves and others and being grateful for this day, this breath.
  
• Time will heal all our wounds, and forgive us all our trespasses against ourselves and others and make us wise. For this healing and liberation to begin, however, we must set ourselves to our way without harming self or other.
  
  Make choices that help and support rather than hinder and cause guilt or fear. Thought we may stumble or fall, even many times each day, we have from then on to become better, to become who we wish to be, who we really are. 

Look, and it can't be seen.

Listen, and it can't be heard.

Reach, and it can't be grasped.

Above, it isn't bright.

Below, it isn't dark.

Seamless, unnamable,

it returns to the realm of nothing.

From that includes all forms,

image without an image,

subtle, beyond all coneption.

Approach it and there is no beginning;

follow it and there is no end.

You can't know it, but you can be it,

at ease in your own life.

Just realize where you come from:

this is the essence of wisdom.

- 14, Tao Te Ching

Daily Dose - Oct 4, 2013 - Friday/Venus/Libra/Hathor ~ New Moon in Libra!

I've been revisiting a lot of  my old writings (and emotions!) the last few days, which seems to be very fitting for this New Moon we're experiencing. I wish a smooth, balanced and liberating new moon to all of you, and hope you find today's dose both appropriate and supportive for this transition! Bless

• The more I choose to feel gratitude, the more there is in my life to be grateful for.
  
  The world of abundance exists through the doors of Peace.
  The key that opens those doors is Gratitude.
  
  Only when we are grateful for all our experience, for all of life just the way it is - only then do we open ourselves, our life, and our very consciousness to change - only then do we gracefully accept, embrace and create transformation.
  
  -Miguel Antonio

• When we learn to breathe efficiently and correctly, then all we do in life will be done efficiently and correctly.
  
  Breath is the constant within all our activities and spectrum of life and thought.
  
  When we can breathe with gratitude always and deliberately, then all actions are done in thanks and joy, bearing the fruits of peace and a constantly beautiful experience.
  
  Life becomes and endless stream of miracles.
  
  -Miguel Antonio
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Whoever is planted in the Tao
  will not be rooted up.
  Whoever embraces the Tao
  will not slip away.
  Her name will be held in honor from generation to generation.
  
  
  Let the Tao be present in your life
  and you will become genuine.
  Let it be present in your family
  and your family will flourish.
  Let it be present in your country
  and your country will be an example
  to all countries in the world.
  Let it be present in the universe
  and the universe will sing.
  
  
  How do I know this is true?
  By looking inside myself.
  
  
  -54, Tao Te Ching

Silent Love, circa 2008

Though there have been many distraction
The sound of silence once more reveals herself
And I once again hear the wind beckon me

It is the sound of eternal movement
forever being still
such Grace, such Effulgence
it awakens itself within our hearts
and once stirred, nothing is ever the same again.

This sound, this space, this presence within me,
it calls upon me, as if of itself
it teaches and directs me,
restores me; as one of her own

That sound, it lets me feel my blood; feel my heart beat
and within me I can see my relatives;
see my ancestors.
And within me I can see you.

I can see our cells, dancing the dance of love;
forever just one moment away from catching up with each other
where upon the slightest touch would create such emotion,
the world would melt before our eyes,
and all the mystery of the universe would stand with us,
revealed and untainted, just to be known.

And this, as the Earth crumbles in anticipation,
would heave open all the space between lovers,
to let everybody see
just what was here this whole time.

-Miguel Antonio, circa 2008

Daily Dose - Oct 3, 2013

• When we judge anyone in anyway, we are actually judging ourselves. When we think someone is "closed off" or narrow minded, it is in fact our own self that is exhibiting and experiencing that condition.

• Remember, it is the natural tendency of everything and everyone to evolve. This is the path of least resistance.

From chapter 34, "Impermanence of All Things" of the Kural

• There is no baser folly than the infatuation
  that looks upon the ephemeral as if it were everlasting.
  - 331
• Do good deeds with a sense of urgency,
  before death's approaching rattle strangles the tongue.
  - 336

Photo from: http://www.gravityglue.com/tag/master-of-balance/

"Success is as dangerous as failure.

Hope is as hollow as fear.

What does it mean that success is as dangerous as failure?

Whether you go up the ladder or down it, you position is shaky.

When you stand with your two feet on the ground, 

you will always keep your balance.

What does it mean that hope is as hollow as fear?

Hope and fear are both phantoms

that arise from thinking of the self.

When we don't see the self as self,

what do we have to fear?

See the world as your self.

Have faith in the way things are.

Love the world as your self,

then you can care for all things."

- 13, Tao Te Ching

Thoughts on the Teachings of Non Self, Wesak, Venus Transit 6/6/12

Although I do not write here as often as I would like or probably should, I keep several journals and am constantly writing the tidbits of insight I receive or occur to me throughout the day and my experience. The following is an entry I wrote on the weekend of Wesak, a day celebrating Buddha's life, Enlightenment and teachings.
I figure now, with the amazing astrological event of the last week (lunar/solar eclipse, full moon, Venus transit) is probably a good time to post this, with particular emphasis put on the Venus transit. Maybe more on that to come... :)
AND as I look at my journal I JUST realized this Wesak/Buddha entry was actually written on the day of Venus! (Friday: see note)*


*The way I title many of my entries in my journals includes the content and subject matter, but puts emphasis on the actual date (i.e, 4/28/12), the time of day, and any correspondences I feel are significant, which always includes the planetary ruler of the day (for magickal/astrological/shamanic purposes). Venus rules Friday.

Thoughts on the teachings of Non Self...
Buddha's teaching of Nonself does not implicate that we lack self or are empty or void in any way. Rather, that all of life and all things in it flow together in a single river of self. No thing and no one is separate from anything or anyone else. All is connected in every possible way.

When we eat a vegetable or fruit (I'll use fruit as the example), we are not just eating the fruit, or something that has only been alive on this Earth for some days. We are eating the tree that bore the fruit, and the ground the tree grows in. We are putting into out bodies the rain and sun light that fed and nourished the tree to make that fruit.

Nonself shows us that self has no boundaries, and is not separate from itself ever in anyway. Not that life nor you nor me are empty of self, but that we share the same self.

That fruit is the tree, the ground, the light and the rain - and when we eat it (and even before!) we are that. Even before we taste it, we breathe (and therefore are part of) the air that made the clouds that made the rain that watered the ground that made the vegetables that fed our parents that made us. Nonself means everything (in its essence and it's physical seemingly separate form) is, always has been and always will be connected as parts of a whole, nothing ever being lost or wasted, as everything is transformed (and already a part of!) into something else!

We can use this understanding to bring peace, hope and strength to our lives. Let us speak of trees again as an example. Sadly, trees are extensively cut down (when other materials and processes are more efficient, ecological, economical and safer) and used for all sorts of things. But, they are also used to make paper to make get-well-soon cards that family and friends give to loved ones when they are sick to show that they care which makes them feel better and helps them heal. This does not change that harm is being done to our planet (and therefore ourselves), but this persepective changes our thinking and teaches us to see things in a new light positively with courage and can enable us to have some peace and also find new solutions and ways to transition into a sustainable and intelligent (yet efficient and thriving) global culture. Anyone can worry. Anyone can complain. Anyone can judge. It requires true character, wisdom and strength to remain rooted in peace, compassion and faith.

So we see, through the understanding of nonself, that there is no seperation between us, between how we treat others and how we feel about ourselves. Between the happiness we give and the happiness we feel in our own lives. Between how we live and what we eat and what we waste and the destruction of our planet. Between how we think and speak and the violence created and felt by others across the world.

And this is a good thing! For when we learn to see things in this way we are able to create the world we wish to live in. We will quickly realize that to know true joy in our own lives we must give kindness to others. To take care of ourselves we must take care of others. And to take care of our planet we must take care of ourselves, for we are all connected. The health, prosperity, and peace of one depends on all the others. We only have immediate control of ourselves; of our actions, our words, our lifestyle, thoughts, and habits. If we all remember these things constantly, our lives will quickly become rich with meaning and we will feel constantly satisfied, at peace and inspired.

Daily Dose 4.22.12 - Sun Day, Earth Day Weekend

I was recently brought aware of Tiruvalluvar and the Tirukural.
Beautiful.

A translation entitled Weaver's Wisdom has brought much wisdom quickly and sublimely as I read slowly, attentively and reflectively.



Humility and pleasant words are the jewels that adorn a man; there are none other. - Kural 95

To utter harsh words when sweet ones would serve is like eating unripe fruits when ripe ones are at hand. - Kural 100

More to come... :)

Holy Cow!

When I was way younger, a small boy in Colombia, I visited a beautiful finca (ranch) in the mountains outside of the city. It was gorgeous and breathtakingly quiet. I remember standing a safe but close distance behind a line of immense cows as they fed from one long container. My face must have gaped in awe because I remember being in awe of how huge, powerful and gentle these creatures were. But that must have been nothing compared to the face I made when the cow pie released by the cow in front of me at that moment hit the ground and splattered, my 4 ft body and face speckled with brown and black.

In many places and cultures the cow is considered a holy creature, and its excrement a divine substance. Maybe I was blessed by that cow. But then again, maybe I just got shit on.

:)