HOW TO BE A POET
               (to remind myself)


Make a place to sit down.
Sit down. Be quiet.
You must depend upon
affection, reading, knowledge,
skill—more of each
than you have—inspiration,
work, growing older, patience,
for patience joins time
to eternity. Any readers
who like your work,
doubt their judgment.

Breathe with unconditional breath
the unconditioned air.
Shun electric wire.
Communicate slowly. Live
a three-dimensioned life;
stay away from screens.
Stay away from anything
that obscures the place it is in.
There are no unsacred places;
there are only sacred places
and desecrated places.

Accept what comes from silence.
Make the best you can of it.
Of the little words that come
out of the silence, like prayers
prayed back to the one who prays,
make a poem that does not disturb
the silence from which it came.


—Wendell Berry

Consumer society only works when we all agree to consume far more than we need. So be radical (of the root) and consume the barest minimum.

My teacher, John Robert Kells, was told by his teacher, Chi Chiang-dao, that modern-day Taiji is less than 2% of what it once was.

mind continuous : continuous present
the present moment oozing through time
(amoebic movement)

I paint in order not to cry.
—Paul Klee

Everyone lies. Everyone has an agenda. This is why I only believe what my sensitivity tells me. What I feel.

Taiji is the art of concealing hardness with softness

—Yang Chengfu

(My favourite definition of Taiji)

The teacher intimates a deeper truth – telling tales of what awaits beneath the tension & the noise.

Civilisation enables (& encourages) us to drift through life without ever fully waking up.

For me, the most important principles in Taiji are the two we share with all other internal arts: Relaxation and Natural way Best way, and the one unique to Taiji: Turning.

The essence of all beautiful art,
all great art, is gratitude.
—Friedrich Nietzsche

All that is, is light.

—Duns Scotus

The aim of spiritual work is the dissolution of the self. Unfortunately, the self is clever and will do all in its power to keep control, including turning spiritual work into the ultimate ego trip. This is why we must be constantly on guard. The first task, once we've become quiet inside, is to locate, feel & identity the Spirit – our Divine Spark. The work, from then on, serves this spark rather than self-interest, and such work is always humbling.

The word humble comes from the Latin humus, which means ground, earth, soil. To be humble is to be down to earth. You stay grounded and do not put yourself above others.

I've reached the moment where the movement of my thought interests me more than the thought itself.

—Pablo Picasso

This blog (such an ugly word) is a journal of sorts. An accrual of daily thoughts generated by the work. It is designed to help us out of the world and into the work – put us in the mood for practice, for love.

MEDITATION

lingering

in

stillness

I am thinking about the hand of the gardener.

What does it touch? It is a loving, waiting, patient hand.

It touches what is not there yet.

It guards the distance.

—Byung-Chul Han

YIELDING:
                      reaching forward from the back (rounded shoulders)
                      pulling back the front (hollow chest)

I choose to live off crumbs because I believe they mark a trail. The value of frugal.

Knowledge bolsters the Ego
Poetry feeds the Soul

empathy is a moral obligation

We've created a society full of elderly
but devoid of elders.

in the midst of silence

When the mind truly quietens, you have no choice but to face God, and you realise there's nothing more terrifying than silence.

That's the job of art:
to undo the logic of the world.
—Sean Scully