Persistent Beauty

Persistent Beauty

Sharp edges are boundaries

in our perceptions which exhibit

the persistent illusion of a mind plus world..

So we allow the encroachment of Awareness

to soften the sharp

to expose the illusion

and bring us to discovery

of the Self reality

which as background lies ..

Allowing the sharp edges

to be sharp once more

made now of persistent Beauty...

Thought for the day....... “Miracles... seem to me to rest not so much upon... healing power coming suddenly near us from afar but upon our perceptions being made finer, so that, for a moment, our eyes can see and our ears can hear what is there around us always.” Willa Cather

Rilke for Today...

Mont Sainte-Victoire, by Paul Cézanne

You, mountain, here since mountains began,

slopes where nothing is built,

peaks that no one has named,

eternal snows littered with stars,

valleys in flower

offering fragrances of earth. . . .

Do I move inside you now?

Am I within the rock

like a metal that hasn't been mined?

Your hardness encloses me everywhere. . . .

Or is it fear

I am caught in? The tightening fear

of the swollen cities

in which I suffocate. . .

~~Rainer Maria Rilke .

See source at:  http://yearwithrilke.blogspot.com/2011/08/like-metal-that-hasnt-been-mined.html

Seeming..

Seeming..

Is a seeming something really so..

This word "seem" hedges our certainty

de-sharpens the edges of the object world

which in this moment is the scene we survey..

But on reflection it seems (that word again)

that all observations must begin with

this oft-neglected preface..

Seeming give recognition

to what we can know and the

wool which often diminishes our seeing..

Certainties melt in a wave of seeming

and somehow seeming brings

a wave of Peace...

Sabbath and clutter

Sabbath and clutter

Our weekdays unfold

as complexity and clutter..

We await what seems as

Sabbath's de-cluttering..

Waiting to discover

as we have before:

I am not this..not that..

..not really..yet I am..

A new Monday arrives

with Sabbath's late glow

and one more discovery:

we are strangely immersed

yet somehow free

of the clutter on

our path ahead...

A gnat swarm

A swarm of gnats

This entity appeared

not really welcome

due to imaginings

of tangling hair and eyes..

But the confrontational paths

circling directions

chaotic inside with appearance

of order and grace as whole..

If all is whole

we might announce that

chaos of the swarm is

composed of grace...

Eyeing

Eyeing

is the way perception becomes beauty

observing today August light and flower

and my Eye takes in the emerging color and form..

Then the distances burn

as Eyeing now is Seeing..

Gone now is Eye and flower

as Beauty remains...

The closest exoplanet

The closest exoplanet

The search goes on

to discover at last

that we are not alone..

Yet others wait

for the discovery

that we are alone..

Alone in knowing

that Awareness knows 

itself Alone

and that we

and this exoplanet

color our Awareness

as we remain Alone...

Closest Exoplanet To Earth -- August 2016

On Aug 24 2016, the European Southern Observatory announced the confirmation of the closest exoplanet to Earth. This illustration shows Proxima b, which orbits its parent star Proxima Centauri, the closest sun to Earth's sun. Proxima b lies within its sun's habitable zone, strongly suggesting the planet has liquid water on its surface.

Huffington Post

Surrounding..

Surround the irritation

the painful thought

the dull itch..

Ask that surrounding

the identity of that

which it surrounds..

Our real Self

is thus exposed

and touches the pain

which now.. undisguised

is found as One

with infinite Self...

Persistence of duality..

YOU ARE THE UNCHANGING STILL POINT AT THE CENTER OF EVERYTHING.

The silent stillness at the core of your being is the still point around which every sight, sound, feeling, emotion, or experience of any kind, revolves.

This still point at the center of your being is who you REALLY are on the very deepest level.

You have experiences of seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting, touching, constantly arising and ceasing perpetually. But you are infinitely more than any experience you may have.

Any experience is simply the content of the present moment. You are the context of it....the stillness, in which it all appears and disappears in the one eternal NOW of God!

At the heart of this constantly changing phenomenal world, you are the one constant, ineffable, immutable still point. You are the presence of God that is present to it all, that pervades all that ~~Francis Bennett

DHS Reunion...

Durango High School, Class of '56

a time for memories and Memorial..

September 16th, 2016

Convener:  Charlie Coon

Music: Eileen Haffey Brown

Audio/Visual and HS Tour:  Elizabeth Testa

Durango Education Foundation (DEF): Mary Kay Stewart

Photographer: Elvira England

Slide Show Producer: Penny Mannel

program flow..

Greeting 

(Charlie Coon)

Durango Education Foundation (DEF) Welcome

(Mary Kay Stewart)

That year, 1956

(Charlie Coon and Eileen Haffey Brown)

"The Toltec Lives"

(Charlie Coon)

Slide Show with Memorial..

(Elizabeth Testa)

A Medley of Memories

(Charlie Coon)

DHS '56... My Spiritual Musings

(Crystal Hafling Carroll)

Musical Interlude

(Eileen Haffey Brown)

How Durango remembered 
(Adrian Wade)

Ken Spalding's reflections on time
(Elaine Slade)

Sharing your Memories...

 Larry Gibble (Dorothy Eggers Glascock)
Bud Barry (Matt Martinez)

 Johnny Garcia (Leo Lloyd)

 John Hitti (John Ashback)

Others...???

Moment of Silence

Closing Prayer

(Dave Folsom)

Class Photo

(Elvira England)

Tour..!!

(Elizabeth Testa)

Wendell Berry...Wednesdays

Wendell Berry...Wednesdays, Fall 2016

Broadmoor Community Church

http://www.poetrysoup.com/wendell_berry

http://www.inspiringquotes.us/author/2165-wendell-berry/page:15


Do not be ashamed

 You will be walking some night
in the comfortable dark of your yard
and suddenly a great light will shine
round about you, and behind you
will be a wall you never saw before.

It will be clear to you suddenly
that you were about to escape,
and that you are guilty: you misread
the complex instructions, you are not
a member, you lost your card
or never had one.
 And you will know
that they have been there all along,
their eyes on your letters and books,
their hands in your pockets,
their ears wired to your bed.

Though you have done nothing shameful,
they will want you to be ashamed.

They will want you to kneel and weep
and say you should have been like them.

And once you say you are ashamed,
reading the page they hold out to you,
then such light as you have made
in your history will leave you.

They will no longer need to pursue you.

You will pursue them, begging forgiveness.

They will not forgive you.

There is no power against them.

It is only candor that is aloof from them,
only an inward clarity, unashamed,
that they cannot reach.
 Be ready.

When their light has picked you out
and their questions are asked, say to them:
"I am not ashamed.
" A sure horizon
will come around you.
 The heron will begin
his evening flight from the hilltop.
~~Wendell Berry

“The complexity of our present trouble suggests as never before that we need to change our present concept of education. Education is not properly an industry, and its proper use is not to serve industries, either by job-training or by industry-subsidized research. It's proper use is to enable citizens to live lives that are economically, politically, socially, and culturally responsible. This cannot be done by gathering or "accessing" what we now call "information" - which is to say facts without context and therefore without priority. A proper education enables young people to put their lives in order, which means knowing what things are more important than other things; it means putting first things first.” 
― Wendell Berry

How quickly the mind

How quickly the mind

How quickly the mind

reaches for form and duality..

A painting's abstract presenting

urges the mind in reaching for form

and order and balance..

And then there is the body sensations

which the mind locates and

encloses within mindbody's form..

So on our path to our real Self

we might observe this

quickness of mind

to possess and limit

a more freeing perception

a perception which dissolves

inviting us to relax into

the happiness of real Self...

What is it about morning..?

What is it about morning..?

It must be the freshness and freedom

an issuing forth from night's rest..

It is flow from a real self

before the veiling of day's concerns..

There is a springing of words

seemingly from the morning sun

or from the silence of the new day

not yet stained by separation's illusions..

It is a portrait of ourself

as we always have been...

STRETCH quotes...

STRETCH 

August 15th, 2016

Charlie Coon

charlesrcoon@hotmail.com

polarityinplay.blogspot.com

Your response to the following quotes..?

"As we explore the actuality of the body and discover directly that it is insubstantial, impermanent, and boundless, we find that many knotty problems dissolve into thin air along with the body. For example, there is much debate over which is primary, mind or matter, consciousness or the brain, and whether consciousness is limited to the body or whether it is prior to and beyond the body. Will it survive the body or die along with the brain?  Did the universe begin with matter, and did consciousness appear much later in the evolutionary process as a feature of complex organic life, or are evolution and matter dream-like appearances in consciousness? "
---Joan Tollifson (Non-duality teacher)

“How can a three-pound mass of jelly that you can hold in your palm imagine angels, contemplate the meaning of infinity, and even question its own place in the cosmos? Especially awe inspiring is the fact that any single brain, including yours, is made up of atoms that were forged in the hearts of countless, far-flung stars billions of years ago. These particles drifted for eons and light-years until gravity and change brought them together here, now. These atoms now form a conglomerate- your brain- that can not only ponder the very stars that gave it birth but can also think about its own ability to think and wonder about its own ability to wonder. With the arrival of humans, it has been said, the universe has suddenly become conscious of itself. This, truly, it the greatest mystery of all.” 

― V.S. Rakmachandran (Neuroscientist)

“Consciousness cannot be accounted for in physical terms. For consciousness is absolutely fundamental. It cannot be accounted for in terms of anything else.” 

― Erwin Schrödinger

“And I am sure that I never read any memorable news in a newspaper. If we read of one man robbed, or murdered, or killed by accident, or one house burned, or one vessel wrecked, or one steamboat blown up, or one cow run over on the Western Railroad, or one mad dog killed, or one lot of grasshoppers in the winter, - we need never read of another. One is enough. If you are acquainted with the principle, what do you care for a myriad instances and applications?” 

― Henry David Thoreau, Walden

"Why is it that there are various ways of seeing one object, or is it that we have mistaken various images for one object?

--Dogen

The confusion is apparent and purely verbal. What is, is. It is neither subjective nor objective. Matter and mind are not separate, they are aspects of one energy. Look at the mind as a function of matter and you have science; look at matter as the product of the mind and you have religion…Neither [mind nor matter] comes first, for neither appears alone.

--Nisargadatta Maharaj

The Nature of Consciousness

Rupert Spira

August 9 at 3:54am

The great equation of the Vedantic tradition states simply ‘Sat (being) chit (consciousness) ananda (happiness)’, indicating that when the being or existence that is common to all objects is revealed to be identical to the consciousness with which all experience is known, the distinction or separation between people, animals and the world dissolves, and the experience of peace, happiness, love and beauty shines. The same understanding is expressed in Buddhism as, ‘Nirvana is samsara’ and by the Sufis as, ‘There is only God’s face’. There is only infinite, indivisible consciousness modulating itself in and as the totality of experience but never being, becoming or knowing anything other than itself and, therefore, free of any impulse to fulfil or protect itself. It is, as such, unconditional happiness itself.

This recognition is said to be absolute because it is not derived from or dependent upon anything other than itself. It never changes; it doesn’t come and go; it is not relative to the finite mind; and it is known by itself alone. This understanding is the essential recognition that lies at the heart of all the great religious and spiritual traditions. The differences lie only in the forms in which it is expressed and the means by which it may be recognised. It is for this reason that, whilst the truth can never divide people, religion almost always does.

In fact, this recognition is the only understanding that can truly unite people, because it is shared by all people equally, irrespective of race, creed, religion, health or wealth. It remains the same throughout all states and circumstances, and throughout all ages. It can never be the property of any single person, nor the provenance of any single nation or religion. It is equally available to all people and no one has privileged access to it. It does not have to be earned because it is already and always our essential, unconditioned nature. It cannot be possessed or manipulated. It shines in each of our minds as the knowledge ‘I am’, the feeling of being or the experience of love. It is, therefore, the foundation of peace in individuals, communities and nations. It need only be recognised and its implication lived in all realms of experience.

Extract from Rupert's forthcoming book, The Nature of Consciousness.

What remains?

What remains?

Awareness remains

never enters or departs..

The spider approaching my chair

in this moment

is an appearance soon departing..

And a gentle rain

just gave way to sunshine..

Two more fleeting perceptions

gaining attention 

within and as

the remaining Awareness

which you and I must be...

Labor of Love

Labor of Love

in progress

Worry

Worry

When the Self descends

to the self..

Mind contractions obscure

a free and open identity

our attention is needed..

Not logic laced in more worry

but a recognition of vastness

no..of infinity

of the Self which we

seemingly left behind..

Thus we deplete and dissolve 

a wave of worry

in an ocean of 

newfound clarity...

STRETCH..Science meets Consciousness...

STRETCH...

August 15th, 2016

Myron Stratton Home, 3:00 to 5:00 PM

Facilitator:  Charlie Coon

(charlesrcoon@hotmail.com)

No cost

Topic:  Science meets Consciousness...

In this gathering we will address the relationship of science and consciousness.  We will view and discuss film clips pertaining to this significant topic. A few days ago, a Stretch participant found a very helpful video, which I previously forwarded to the group, and which provides background on a current perspective of science.  If you did not have the opportunity to view this short film, here is the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPLbWsYhZMA&list=WL&index=75

Silence

Silence

We exchanged emails

Gus and I

which framed our Understanding..

Gus expressed his preference: 

choosing not to speak

and finding that

silence works best..

With enthusiasm I grasped

this truth

along with a hope

that words spoken

express our Understanding...

Birthday #3

Birthday #3

Luke Michael is his name...

A milestone in a life we observe

now edging on reason's time..

That time in which most seem 

to forever engage and remain..

But for now

he enjoys with delight 

a Presence

and he lives in that place

to which we all long to return..

Today in play and celebration  

I discover that from this place
we have never departed...