Practicing shamanism means:
- I believe that everything has a spirit
- I can speak with spirits
- I get into animated conversations with my bicycle.
If there is a solution to the problem then don’t waste time worrying about it. If there is no solution to the problem then don’t waste time worrying about it.
Dalai Lama
(…) After the man had told the Buddha one of his problems and asked for help, the Buddha replied: ‘I cannot help you get rid of that problem.’
The man was surprised that the Buddha could not help him in this regard, but he told the Buddha about another problem; he thought to himself that the Buddha should at least be able to help him with that problem. But the Buddha told him ‘I cannot help you with that problem either.’
The man started to get impatient. He said: ‘How can it be that you are the perfectly Enlightened Buddha when you can’t even help people get rid of their problems?’ The Buddha answered: ‘You will always have 83 problems in your life. Sometimes a problem will go, but then another problem will come. I cannot help you with that.’
The baffled man asked the Buddha: ‘But, what can you help me with, then?’ The Buddha replied: ‘I can help you get rid of your 84th problem.’ The man asked: ‘But what is my 84th problem?’ The Buddha replied: ‘That you want to get rid of your 83 problem.’ (A few Buddhist parables)
“All I wanna say is it all works out: going through then just to get to now. Whenever you’re down you can rise above, if you never know pain then you never know love.
-Angélique Kidjo: ” No Worry “
The Churning Mirror
Feb. 19
turning off the device, healing the eye and just sitting
(I acknowledge the irony of posting this online, but in the name of art, I will do so)
turning off the device is more difficult that one might expect: the power button is misleading!
hold it down, choke the current from those obedient lights and the screen reveals a dark mirror
at this point you might think that the device is off, but in fact a ghost remains
it swims in real-imaginary waves of electromagnetic radiation streaming through you
trapped behind the dead pixels and plastic-glass you remain a dark reflection
reading the landscape, greeting their faces, always expecting a flat image!
you’ve been flicked in the eye: easily forgetting that we live in three dimensions
indeed, there is uncountable depth past the slice of “self” that the body publishes
the injured eye gradually heals, learning to stop darting about, left to right, top to bottom
looking to the distant mountain and seamlessly sweeping to where you sit: there is no border except ones unconscious emphasis of what is fleeting!
you just sit, learning that “just sitting” is not “just sitting”, but at the same time, it is exactly just sitting
“is this all there is?” you ask, “it seems so empty!” but keep still and sink deeper! will it ever end?
matthieuvenot