~ John O’Donohue ~
]]>“As human beings, we are all the same. So there is no need to build
some kind of artificial barrier between us. At least my own experience
is that if you have this kind of attitude, there is no barrier.
Whatever I feel, I can express; I can call you ‘my old friend’. There
is nothing to hide, and no need to say things in a way that is not
straightforward. So this gives me a kind of space in my mind, with the
result that I do not have to be suspicious of others all the time. And
this really gives me inner satisfaction, and inner peace.
So I call this feeling a ‘genuine realization of the oneness of the
whole of humanity’. We are all members of one human family. I think
that this understanding is very important, especially now that the
world is becoming smaller and smaller. In ancient times, even in a
small village, people were able to exist more or less independently.
There was not so much need for others’ co-operation. These days, the
economic structure has completely changed, so that modern economies,
relying on industry, are totally different. We are heavily dependent
on one another, and also as a result of mass communication, the
barriers of the past are greatly reduced. Today, because of the
complexity of interdependence, every crisis on this planet is
essentially related with every other, like a chain reaction.
Consequently it is worthwhile taking every crisis as a global one.
Here barriers such as ‘this nation’ or ‘that nation’, ‘this
continent’, or ‘that continent’ are simply obstacles. Therefore today,
for the future of the human race, it is more important than ever
before that we develop a genuine sense of brotherhood and sisterhood.
I usually call this a sense of ‘universal
responsibility’ ”
.
–from Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great Perfection by the
Dalai Lama, translated by Thupten Jinpa and Richard Barron, Foreword
by Sogyal Rinpoche, edited by Patrick Gaffney, published by Snow Lion
Publications
£53/Bring a friend £44/Bring 2 friends £35
“Explore the skills of flirting in a safe and playful environment”
I have done this workshop with Jayaraja twice now and I love the depth and playfulness he and Lilamani share. Jayaraja also shares NVC in a way I enjoy and he brings his love of connection to this particular form of communication which I have had great fun with.
When you are alone you are not alone, you are simply lonely - and there is a tremendous difference between loneliness and aloneness. When you are lonely you are thinking of the other, you are missing the other. Loneliness is a negative state. You are feeling that it would have been better if the other were there - your friend, your wife, your mother, your beloved, your husband. It would have been good if the other were there, but the other is not. Loneliness is absence of the other. Aloneness is the presence of oneself. Aloneness is very positive. It is a presence, overflowing presence. You are so full of presence that you can fill the whole universe with your presence and there is no need for anybody.
]]>What happens when your soul Begins to awaken Your eyes And your heart And the cells of your body To the great Journey of Love? First there is wonderful laughter And probably precious tears And a hundred sweet promises And those heroic vows No one can ever keep. But still God is delighted and amused You once tried to be a saint. What happens when your soul Begins to awake in this world To our deep need to love And serve the Friend? O the Beloved Will send you One of His wonderful, wild companions ~ Like Hafiz. From: 'I Heard God Laughing - Renderings of Hafiz' - Daniel Ladinsky]]>