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raybearAfter work I had a yummy dinner cooked for me, then went home and had a fabulous long chat with Damon. One might think we wouldn't spend an hour and a half chatting on the phone when we're planning on seeing each other tonight, for fear of running out of things to say, but that's not really a problem for us. Besides, tonight will be more about playing with my new toys (the computer is on the FedEx delivery truck in the downtown area right now!). Before rehearsal with Lynx and Ivanna, I found myself reclined on the couch with Sophie lying on my chest listening to Beethoven's Pathetique Piano Sonata when suddenly my mind bolted with this non-realization: I really hate my job. Beat. Then a female voice said, Peter, most people don’t like their jobs. But you go out there and find something that makes you happy.
Yeah, I'm not ashamed that lines of dialogue from cult movies help me feel better about my life.
At the library yesterday I checked out the book If the Buddha Married, the sequel to If the Buddha Dated, and no, I'm not married nor am I preparing to be in the near future, but since the subtitle was "Creating Enduring Relationships on a Spiritual Path", so I thought I'd give it a shot. The book has some great ideas that can be applied to all relationships too, not just lovers and partners. I started reading it on the train ride home yesterday evening and during one passage I teared up immediately, so that's probably a good sign.
[from Chapter 2: Say Hello to Your Beloved: Sufism]
To love one person is to love all, and to love all is to love each individual. If Buddhism is about meeting the emptiness and feeling at one with the void, Sufism is more about filing oneself up and surrendering to the ecstasy of nature, love and being one with All That Is. There is an ecstatic quality to a good relationship -- a joy beyond words amidst life's daily rituals and tasks, a joy of being one with our beloved.
...
Take a moment to think of your partner (or a special friend) as your beloved. Take a deep breath, relax your belly, and let the meaning of the word drench your heart -- this special person who wants what you want -- to be loved, to be free of suffereing, and to experience joy. This imperfect being who has chosen you as you have chosen him or her. This one whose touch, voice, habits, and smells are embedded in your senses. This one who shares the journey with you for better or worse.
Think of a love within you so rich and flowing that it can dissolve whatever is hard or knotted or afraid in your heart. Imagine a free-flowing energy so vast it spills out of you and into the heart of your beloved, taking you both to that place beneath illusions where there is nothing but love.
[/buddha book]
I smell like nature.
Yeah, I'm not ashamed that lines of dialogue from cult movies help me feel better about my life.
At the library yesterday I checked out the book If the Buddha Married, the sequel to If the Buddha Dated, and no, I'm not married nor am I preparing to be in the near future, but since the subtitle was "Creating Enduring Relationships on a Spiritual Path", so I thought I'd give it a shot. The book has some great ideas that can be applied to all relationships too, not just lovers and partners. I started reading it on the train ride home yesterday evening and during one passage I teared up immediately, so that's probably a good sign.
[from Chapter 2: Say Hello to Your Beloved: Sufism]
To love one person is to love all, and to love all is to love each individual. If Buddhism is about meeting the emptiness and feeling at one with the void, Sufism is more about filing oneself up and surrendering to the ecstasy of nature, love and being one with All That Is. There is an ecstatic quality to a good relationship -- a joy beyond words amidst life's daily rituals and tasks, a joy of being one with our beloved.
...
Take a moment to think of your partner (or a special friend) as your beloved. Take a deep breath, relax your belly, and let the meaning of the word drench your heart -- this special person who wants what you want -- to be loved, to be free of suffereing, and to experience joy. This imperfect being who has chosen you as you have chosen him or her. This one whose touch, voice, habits, and smells are embedded in your senses. This one who shares the journey with you for better or worse.
Think of a love within you so rich and flowing that it can dissolve whatever is hard or knotted or afraid in your heart. Imagine a free-flowing energy so vast it spills out of you and into the heart of your beloved, taking you both to that place beneath illusions where there is nothing but love.
[/buddha book]
I smell like nature.
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Date: 2003-06-17 07:56 am (UTC)During my Masters studies we had to read the book "If You Meet The Buddha On The Road, Kill Him" There were a lot of really great morsels of enlightenment in that book, mostly focusing on the role of a client and their psychotherapist. Very interesting - I recommend.