The Living Room

LoL

Posted on November 9, 2010 by Michaela

Not good: Expectation and Entitlement…

Posted in What's the craic ? | Leave a comment

The wisdom of Rumi

Posted on November 9, 2010 by Michaela

Changing forms

This one is for myself.

There are days the pain is acute. It feels like something gets ripped open and old, forgotten feelings are coming up, like vermin, to cloud the soul. Who knew they were here to begin with, who knew they had to wait until today before they broke open from their hiding place.

No-one is a piece of rock or steel. The stories of our lives have left their marks and they too want to be recognised, come to the light of day and – dissolve.

Sooner or later they will. Until then, a little lamenting eases the ordeal. It’s actually a laugh…and that helps greatly too

Continue reading →

Posted in All things Rumi | 6 Comments

Converging the Feminine and Masculine – 2

Posted on November 9, 2010 by dsrtsng

Sunset on Lake Michigan

–by Paul
These two principles create something like a dance between them. This dance takes place on many, many levels. To get a sense of this, look at the water on an ocean or large body of water, like a lake such as Lake Michigan in the United States. There are, of course, “waves.” Within each wave is “water energy” that takes place and interacts within the wave. Then the wave is only there “because” of the valley between the waves. Of course, the wave is part of, or belongs to, a much deeper, much calmer depth of water underneath. And all of this relates to the air and everything going on above it, like wind, temperature changes, rain, etc. Of course, water is comprised of a lot of air anyway! What about the beach, the “destination” of the water? And “why” does it go there? Of course, as Geli pointed out to me, there are effects of the tides which now brings in the moon, and soon we realize, even in the mind, that all of this is deeply connected.

Continue reading →

Posted in Seeing myself in you, The Armchair | Tagged awakening, feminine principle, masculine principle, Relationships | 2 Comments

Doing not-doing

Posted on November 8, 2010 by Michaela

This is how it is done. The violinist is the tune. God through Vivaldi and Ann Sophie Mutter.

Posted in Classical Music | Tagged Antonio Vivaldi, doing not-doing, Quattro Staggioni, Vivaldi | 1 Comment

A heart teaching by Rumi

Posted on November 8, 2010 by Michaela

Chocolate for the soul

There are some Rumi teachings that simply hold the key to the heart. Read it slowly, with gusto, relish and enjoy each and every single stanza, taste and savour each and every single word, love and cherish each and every little syllable. Let them melt on your tongue like chocolate for the soul….

I guarantee for nothing, because once you have come to the end of the ode you may feel your soul of souls.

Continue reading →

Posted in All things Rumi | Tagged Rumi | 3 Comments

Sour and bitter faces

Posted on November 8, 2010 by Michaela

Friends

Are there people you are consciously turning away from ?

I thought of a Rumi teaching this morning when I contemplated on friendship. Many of my relationships have changed and there are people I used to be with a lot, who nowadays I have not even spoken to in a long time.

Others, who I wasn’t very close to, moved into my life. Less and less I feel the need – or even the impulse – to seek out the company of people with the ‘sour and bitter faces.’ That does not mean I turn them away of course, but I cannot help to register the demeanor, the negative energy and in particular this obsessive and all-consuming being in love with their own, fabricated false self, that is sprawling like the rampant growth of a parasite on a tree, taking away all the light and life, so it suffocates and dies off.

Continue reading →

Posted in The Crystal Mirror | Tagged Bitter people, painbody, Relationships, Rumi | 2 Comments

The tao is the way

Posted on November 7, 2010 by Michaela

Supple as a blade of grass...

I have come to marvel at occasion when I am able to observe a silent teachings unfolding. It helps me to understand the ” doing not-doing”, which is not passivity, far from it, but it is a state of high alertness, a state in which everything seems to happen by itself, without the interference of conscious will. This is the paradigm of non-action. The painting paints the painting, the poem writes the poem, we cannot tell the dancer from the dance. Nothing is done because the doer has melted into the deed and the nothing is in fact everything. Gentleness means resilience and it is synonym with endurance. This is where true power can be found, like water that erodes the rock.

Verse 43

The gentlest thing in the world
overcomes the hardest thing in the world.
That which has no substance
enters where there is no space.
This shows the value of non-action

Teaching without words,
performing without actions:
that is the Master’s way.

From the “tao te ching”
Translated by Stephen Mitchell

Posted in Doing not-doing | Tagged Stephen Mitchell, tao te ching | Leave a comment

A new blend

Posted on November 7, 2010 by johngraham123

Michaela suggested to me to listen to Lama Lobsang. Yesterday I made Geli listen to him as well. She suggested to mix Lama Lobsang´s voice with music performed by Till Brönner.

This is the result. Click on play to listen.

Enjoy!

Posted in Original Music, The Armchair | 3 Comments

Ready to be a doctor

Posted on November 7, 2010 by Michaela

All is One - detail from my practice

The real reason I got into medicine was because I liked the way hospitals smelled. It was that sharp, clinical scent of antiseptics I encountered on the few occasions one of us was rushed to the casualty department because of broken bones or bleeding wounds that needed stitches.

It was completely visceral. I sniffed it and was hooked. This is where I wanted to be and I never gave it another thought. Later, the time of going to medical school was one of the happiest in my life. I just loved everything about it and I was very motivated and driven to learn all about the mystery and functioning of this wonderful organism. However, when I graduated it occurred to me that now I knew a lot about how the body worked and how to fit symptoms into their respective disease category, but I still knew nothing about why we go sick to begin with.

Continue reading →