The eye should learn to listen before it looks.

—Robert Frank

I am hoping to provide a space that visually & spatially
may help us remember or rediscover our inner selves,
our own individual thoughts, feelings & spirits.
—Stephen Antonakos

TRIUNE

Relax the body
Quiet the mind
Free the spirit

Earth
as sink
& source

My teacher used to say:

The most precious thing in the world is peace of mind, and anyone who tries to take it from you is your enemy...

And I always say:

The only thing we all have in common: we are all our own worst enemy...

If you have a noisy mind then
you definitely have
a tense jaw

To be happy is to love (your) life, & vice versa.

The thing we fear most
is nothing(ness)

The first stage to freeing the mind from the clutches of Ego is relaxing (into) the body. Content to be just another body amongst bodies. Traditionally the mind simply watches the breathing – this never-ending exchange with the environment.

But I aspire
downward

—Wendell Berry

As long as you don't get suckered in by the false promises of Empire, there's no reason why you won't continue on this journey until the day you die.

By far the largest part of the work is struggling to overcome our own resistance to the teaching. This is what Ego is: resistance to the teaching, whether that teaching is coming directly from a teacher or simply from life itself. And nobody can do this work for you; it is purely your responsibility, your private endeavour.

Repetition is never mechanical.
Repetition becomes possible by making it
better, newer and endlessly different.
That’s why great repetition is always fresh.
Likewise, our everyday life is not boring
because of the subtle differences.

The process matters.
Above all, encounters matter.
—Lee Ufan

If you're not grateful then you're resentful.
There's no neutral in this game.

for the love of god

Without, it's not humanly possible to sustain openness

The lies we tell ourselves
just to continue

The vehicle that's brought you to the mansion

must be abandoned to pass the threshold.

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 & Natural way Best way, and the one unique to Taiji: Turning & returning.

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.