A deep thank you for your sharing of your own insights, and those of others. This sharing has had a real impact on my own journey. As someone soaked in music, the jazz metaphor is delightful, and in this regard maybe you are kind of the Quincy Jones of insight - discovering and generously sharing new expressions of this liberating discovery. What a joy! The secret is out! Spread the word! Nothing matters - and everything matters.
Great article..quite the paradox! This supposed I..sitting on the proverbial fence, would lean to the side of the fence/ coin where Everything and Everyone matters..much Love and Thx Joan😍
"...each of us is a unique and unrepeatable movement of the whole."
Reminds me of the definition of Komorebi in the movie Perfect Days:
KOMOREBI: is the Japanese word for the shimmering of light and shadows that is created by leaves swaying in the wind. It only exists once, AT THAT MOMENT
It was this from your article that most struck me, “Thought poses as “me,” the thinker of my thoughts, the maker of my choices, and then takes what happens personally (“my” mistakes, “my” successes).”
We live in the past and future - rarely in the present. We think in terms of the second and third person - rarely in terms of the first person.
The following “came from “The Paramount Importance of Self-Attention:” - “All thoughts pertain to second and third persons and to past and future, but if we try to make a thought of the first person or of the present moment, the mind will subside, since ‘I’ and ‘now’ are not other than self.”
I resonate with the quote you share: "All thoughts pertain to second and third persons and to past and future, but if we try to make a thought of the first person or of the present moment, the mind will subside, since ‘I’ and ‘now’ are not other than self.” But I'd say, we live ONLY in the present, never actually in past or future. We think about past and future, and those thoughts only happen NOW. And I'd add that while the absence of thinking can be a beautiful experience, the thinking mind doesn't need to subside, and it will never permanently subside--but it may become less and less the focus of attention and it's stories less and less mistaken for reality, but real freedom, I'd say, is the freedom for everything to be as it is. 🙏
What I appreciate most about your writing is your recognition of the chaotic nature of our minds, which encourages us to simply watch what goes on. For me, the only way I have been able to observe the madness of the world is through observing the madness in my own mind and realizing how lucky I am that I have that capacity to just watch it unfold an pass without doing something to make things worse.
"we don’t get to decide our fate or the fate of the world or the universe."
along with
"Most of us couldn’t be serial killers even if we tried."
and these by peter brown (thank you for sharing!):
"There’s only one thing, which is the radiance. The radiance is all of it… We have a problem with nomenclature. We have too much of it. We have thousands of words in the dictionary, and there’s only one thing present here, and so they all refer to it. Take any word and ask: Does this refer to the radiance? The answer is yes..."
thank you for this window into the radiance that is all including the window and you and me and all,
Thank you Joan....it IS freeing to be in a moment when I can share this perspective. Of course, with flux being constant, the perspective shifts....which is also okay (I guess!)
Joan again thanks for another clarifying and “thoughtful” post. Loved your quoting two of my favorites ( honestly I have many favorites, you being one of them). Ramesh Balsekar and Karl Renz. Both of whom are very irreverent and very funny. Much love to all and again Joan much gratitude.
Thank you for this and all your of your posts. Some years ago, I stumbled on the realization “this doesn’t matter” and started applying it in order to wake up in moments when I thought something very heavy and serious was going on, something not to my liking. Even though I generally stayed engaged with whatever I am/was doing for whatever reason, that awareness was at the same time freeing and clarifying. Your reflections help me to understand why and encourage that practice (which of course I often forget!)
No free will is an interesting topic for me right now. Something I had not ever considered. I listened to Sam Harris interview Robert Sapolsky yesterday on this subject. It is also something Robert Saltzman points to. I do find it a challenge to break through the conditioning in order to fully understand, no free will. There is so much light in your writing and it brings me great peace.
Thank you Joan, you truly are a blessing to this realm.
Truth vibrations
Deeply liberating and compassionate, thank you 🙏. Also enjoying the jazz combo 😃
A deep thank you for your sharing of your own insights, and those of others. This sharing has had a real impact on my own journey. As someone soaked in music, the jazz metaphor is delightful, and in this regard maybe you are kind of the Quincy Jones of insight - discovering and generously sharing new expressions of this liberating discovery. What a joy! The secret is out! Spread the word! Nothing matters - and everything matters.
Great article..quite the paradox! This supposed I..sitting on the proverbial fence, would lean to the side of the fence/ coin where Everything and Everyone matters..much Love and Thx Joan😍
Thank you so much Joan.
"...each of us is a unique and unrepeatable movement of the whole."
Reminds me of the definition of Komorebi in the movie Perfect Days:
KOMOREBI: is the Japanese word for the shimmering of light and shadows that is created by leaves swaying in the wind. It only exists once, AT THAT MOMENT
Thank you.
Thank you, Joan ❤️
Thank you 🙏 Much love
It was this from your article that most struck me, “Thought poses as “me,” the thinker of my thoughts, the maker of my choices, and then takes what happens personally (“my” mistakes, “my” successes).”
We live in the past and future - rarely in the present. We think in terms of the second and third person - rarely in terms of the first person.
The following “came from “The Paramount Importance of Self-Attention:” - “All thoughts pertain to second and third persons and to past and future, but if we try to make a thought of the first person or of the present moment, the mind will subside, since ‘I’ and ‘now’ are not other than self.”
Subsidence of the mind Brings exquisite freedom.
I resonate with the quote you share: "All thoughts pertain to second and third persons and to past and future, but if we try to make a thought of the first person or of the present moment, the mind will subside, since ‘I’ and ‘now’ are not other than self.” But I'd say, we live ONLY in the present, never actually in past or future. We think about past and future, and those thoughts only happen NOW. And I'd add that while the absence of thinking can be a beautiful experience, the thinking mind doesn't need to subside, and it will never permanently subside--but it may become less and less the focus of attention and it's stories less and less mistaken for reality, but real freedom, I'd say, is the freedom for everything to be as it is. 🙏
What I appreciate most about your writing is your recognition of the chaotic nature of our minds, which encourages us to simply watch what goes on. For me, the only way I have been able to observe the madness of the world is through observing the madness in my own mind and realizing how lucky I am that I have that capacity to just watch it unfold an pass without doing something to make things worse.
dear joan,
thank you for these beautiful words as always.
some lines that leapt out at me:
"we don’t get to decide our fate or the fate of the world or the universe."
along with
"Most of us couldn’t be serial killers even if we tried."
and these by peter brown (thank you for sharing!):
"There’s only one thing, which is the radiance. The radiance is all of it… We have a problem with nomenclature. We have too much of it. We have thousands of words in the dictionary, and there’s only one thing present here, and so they all refer to it. Take any word and ask: Does this refer to the radiance? The answer is yes..."
thank you for this window into the radiance that is all including the window and you and me and all,
love
myq
Thank you Joan....it IS freeing to be in a moment when I can share this perspective. Of course, with flux being constant, the perspective shifts....which is also okay (I guess!)
Much love xx
Joan again thanks for another clarifying and “thoughtful” post. Loved your quoting two of my favorites ( honestly I have many favorites, you being one of them). Ramesh Balsekar and Karl Renz. Both of whom are very irreverent and very funny. Much love to all and again Joan much gratitude.
I love this and feel such a resonance with it. For me I get caught in wishing “if only my family could see this…everything would be so much better”
Thank you for this and all your of your posts. Some years ago, I stumbled on the realization “this doesn’t matter” and started applying it in order to wake up in moments when I thought something very heavy and serious was going on, something not to my liking. Even though I generally stayed engaged with whatever I am/was doing for whatever reason, that awareness was at the same time freeing and clarifying. Your reflections help me to understand why and encourage that practice (which of course I often forget!)
No free will is an interesting topic for me right now. Something I had not ever considered. I listened to Sam Harris interview Robert Sapolsky yesterday on this subject. It is also something Robert Saltzman points to. I do find it a challenge to break through the conditioning in order to fully understand, no free will. There is so much light in your writing and it brings me great peace.
Thank you Joan, you truly are a blessing to this realm.