Think about this

We are not thinking machines that feel,
        we are feeling machines that think.

                António R. Damásio, Descartes' Error

 

 

 

 

Whatever gets you through the night

I'm not unmindful of man's seeming need for faith;
I'm for anything that gets you through the night,
be it prayer, tranquilizers, or a bottle of Jack Daniel's.
But to me religion is a deeply personal thing
in which man and God go it alone together,
without the witch doctor in the middle.

        Frank Sinatra, Playboy interview 1963

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poem: I Laugh And Cry With The Same Eyes

I laugh and cry with the same eyes,
Love and hate with the same heart.
I feel my rage and my gentleness,
My sanity and suicide.
When I hide my anger, my joy doesn't seem real.
When I hide my fear, my strength is a fraud.
If I only laugh, I leave no place for your pain.
If I only shout, I leave no place for your tenderness.
I want to be all of myself,
So you can be all of yourself,
And together we can be whole.

                James Kavanaugh

 

 

 

 

 

 

Autumn Leaves

I asked the leaf whether it was frightened because it was autumn and the other leaves were falling.

The leaf told me, No. During the whole spring and summer I was completely alive. I worked hard to help nourish the tree, and now much of me is in the tree. I am not limited by this form. I am also the whole tree, and when I go back to the soil, I will continue to nourish the tree. So I don’t worry at all. As I leave this branch and float to the ground, I will wave to the tree and tell her, I will see you again very soon.

That day there was a wind blowing and, after a while, I saw the leaf leave the branch and float down to the soil, dancing joyfully, because as it floated it saw itself already there in the tree. It was so happy. I bowed my head, knowing that I have a lot to learn from the leaf. . . .

So please continue to look back and you will see that you have always been here. Let us look together and penetrate into the life of a leaf, so we may be one with the leaf. Let us penetrate and be one with the cloud or with the wave, to realize our own nature as water and be free from our fear. If we look very deeply, we will transcend birth and death.

Tomorrow, I will continue to be. But you will have to be very attentive to see me. I will be a flower, or a leaf. I will be in these forms and I will say hello to you. If you are attentive enough, you will recognize me, and you may greet me. I will be very happy.

        Thich Nhat Hanh, The Other Shore

Education

Learning is finding out what you already know.
Doing is demonstrating that you know it.
Teaching is reminding others that they know just as well as you.
You are all learners, doers, and teachers.

        Richard Bach, Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah

 

 

 

 

 

Belief and change

If you believe in peace, act peacefully;
if you believe in love, acting lovingly;
if you believe every which way, then act every which way,
that's perfectly valid —
but don't go out trying to sell your beliefs to the system.
You end up contradicting what you profess to believe in,
and you set a bum example.
If you want to change the world, change yourself.

            Tom Robbins, Still Life with Woodpecker

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Size matters

In a small room one does not say what one would in a large room.

            Louis Kahn, The Notebooks and Drawings of Louis I. Kahn