World Beyond

The Things That Carried Him

In June of last year I promised not to write anything else about Iraq for three months.  I guess that's one promise I was able to keep.  Maybe a little too well, as 10 months seems like too much time going by without mentioning the on-going struggle there.  Although there's been some uneven progress throughout the country, there is certainly no end in sight to US involvement.

A recent brief article in the Washington Post refers to a longer article in Esquire magazine that chronicles the final journey home of SGT Joe Montgomery, one of the now over 4000 Americans killed in Iraq.  Both articles are excellent.  You'll need a few minutes to read the article in the Post, maybe 20-30 minutes to read the Esquire article. 

War is tragedy, for all parties involved.  Sometimes it's easy to get lost and numbed by the statistics.  Every once in a while it's good for us to be reminded of the human costs. 

I've mentioned before that I firmly believe the invasion of Iraq was a huge mistake perpetrated by President Bush and his administration, most of whom did not factor in the human toll into their warped calculations.  But I also believe we need stand up some semblance of a functioning Iraqi state and government prior to bringing home the troops.

I hope the right person is elected president in November to make the best of the mess we are in, otherwise the loss of SGT Montgomery, and his comrades in arms, will truly be in vain. 

Only Pascal

Men are so inevitably mad that not to be mad would be to give a mad twist to madness. --Blaise Pascal

The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing. --Blaise Pascal

It is deserting humanity to desert the middle way. The greatness of the human soul lies in knowing how to keep this course; greatness does not mean going outside it, but rather keeping within it. --Blaise Pascal

One only consults the ear because one is lacking in heart. --Blaise Pascal

Life and Death

Hiding behind your buffers, you miss life. --Osho

A life never lived is ugly. Life postponed is ugly; life lived is beautiful. --Osho

Tao says nobody is superior and nobody is inferior; nobody is great and nobody is mean, because we belong to one reality, to one Tao. --Osho

Unless rest is achieved in life it cannot be achieved in death. Let this be an absolute rule, that whatever you achieve in your life, you will be able to keep in your death…the end can be great only if the whole journey has been great. Each step of the journey contributes to the end. It is simple, obvious. If you have been dancing your life, your death will be a great dance. If you have just been crying and weeping, your death will be just a crying and weeping—it cannot be otherwise; it concludes your life. --Osho

Being

The room is valuable not because of the walls, but the emptiness within. --Lao Tzu

Let each of us examine his thoughts; he will find them wholly concerned with the past or the future. We almost never think of the present, and if we do think of it, it is only to see what light it throws on our plans for the future. The present is never our end. The past and the present are our means, the future alone our end. Thus we never actually live, but hope to live, and since we are always planning how to be happy, it is inevitable that we should never be so. --Blaise Pascal

If you listen to Tao, then the message is very simple. Be rooted in your being, and you will be saved from all the troubles, all the troubles that having brings, and the troubles that not having brings, You just be. Being is the goal of Tao. And one thing more to be understood: being, you already are, there is no becoming; you are not to become—it is already the case, you have it within you. --Osho

True stillness comes out of understanding, the understanding that desire is futile. --Osho

Understanding

I never knew a man who had better motives for all the trouble he caused.  --Graham Greene

Wouldn’t we all do better not trying to understand, accepting the fact that no human being will ever understand another, not a wife a husband, a lover a mistress, nor a parent a child?  --Graham Greene

It is not good to be too free.  It is not good to have all one needs.  --Blaise Pascal

A religious person is one who is trying to live his life the best, the most total way he can; in the most alert way he can, he is trying.  And he is not interfering with anybody's life, not even by having an opinion.  --Osho

Cycles

Through endless cycles

nature renews herself - no

thinking, no boasting.

winter melts as spring blossoms

humbly witness miracle

Silent Mind

Warm sunshine, white snow

silent mind links open heart

store up peace, patience

Pathways

True path lies within

universe quietly speaks
reveals understanding

Spring

Chilly Spring morning

snow melts beneath pale blue sky

barren trees revive

Meditations from Marcus Aurelius - III

I recently read Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, a version translated by Gregory Hays.  Aurelius was a Roman emperor during the 2nd century AD.  He was probably the closest example to a "philosopher king" that the world has ever known.  Aurelius was a follower of stoic philosphy which in many ways is quite close to Taoism or Zen Buddhism.  I'm including some of my favorite quotes here:

"All that you see will soon have vanished, and those who see it vanish will vanish themselves, and the ones who reached old age have no advantage over the untimely dead."

"Enough of this wretched, whining monkey life."

"Whatever happens to you has been waiting to happen since the beginning of time.  The twining strands of fate wove both of them together: your own existence and the things that happen to you."

"Learn to ask of all actions, “Why are they doing that?”  Starting with your own."

"A straightforward, honest person should be like someone who stinks: when you’re in the same room with him, you know it…If you’re honest and straightforward and mean well, it should show in your eyes…It should be audible in your voice, visible in your eyes, like a lover who looks into your face and takes in the whole story at a glance…It should be unmistakeable."