Saturday, July 5, 2008

Paradox of Our Time

by George Carlin

The paradox of our time in history is that
we have taller buildings but shorter tempers;
wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints.
We spend more, but have less;
we buy more but enjoy less.

We have bigger houses and smaller families,
more conveniences, but less time;
we have more degrees, but less sense;
more knowledge, but less judgment;
more experts, yet more problems,
more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much,
spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast,
get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired,
read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.
We have multiplied our possessions,
but reduced our values.

We talk too much, love too seldom,
and hate too often.
We've learned how to make a living, but not a life;
we've added years to life not life to years.

We've been all the way to the moon and back,
but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor.
We conquered outer space, but not inner space.
We've done larger things, but not better things.

We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul.
We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice.
We write more, but learn less.
We plan more, but accomplish less.
We've learned to rush, but not to wait.

We build more computers to hold more information
to produce more copies than ever,
but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion;
big men and small character;
steep profits and shallow relationships.
These are the days of two incomes but more divorce,
fancier houses but broken homes.

These are days of quick trips,
disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one-night stands,
overweight bodies, and pills that do everything
from cheer to quiet, to kill.

It is a time when there is much in the show window
and nothing in the stockroom.
A time when technology can bring this letter to you,
and a time when you can choose either to share this insight,
or to just hit delete.

Remember, spend some time with your loved ones,
because they are not going to be around forever.
Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe,
because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you,
because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart,
and it doesn't cost a cent.

Remember, to say
'I love you' to your partner and your loved ones,
but most of all mean it.
A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt
when it comes from deep inside of you.

Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment
for someday that person will not be there again.
Give time to love, give time to speak,
give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

To my family and all my friends in my life,
thanks for being there.

The secret of life is not to have everything you want,
but to want everything you have!

Desire & Happiness


Desiring is wanting what is not presently true, or real. If it were true, or real, you wouldn’t need to desire it. Inherent in desiring is a feeling of lack—of something missing. Also inherent in it is the feeling, or belief, that if that were not lacking, you would be happy.

We long for what we don’t have because we believe that having it will finally bring us peace and happiness. We don’t realize that the lack of peace and happiness we are feeling is actually a result of desiring what we don’t have. The desire is the cause of our unhappiness, not the fact that the desire is unfulfilled.

When we examine this, this seems so obvious. Desire is painful. We suffer because we believe we are lacking something necessary for our happiness. That is a very sad (and untrue!) story, but it is essentially everyone’s story. Everyone feels this way because the mind is programmed to be unhappy with whatever is happening. No matter what is happening, the mind comes up with complaints about it or ways to improve on it. That is its job. That is what it is programmed to do, and it does it very well.

This situation is painful for two reasons: It is painful to not have what you want, but it is also painful to discover that there is no end to wanting, even after you do get what you want. What we really want is the peace that comes from no longer wanting. We hope to experience peace and happiness once and for all by getting what we want. However, peace and happiness are not achieved by getting but by loving what is, just the way it is. We are so afraid that if we love what is we will never get what we want, when that has been the secret to happiness all along!

Loving what is would seem to be the simplest thing possible. It involves no effort, no struggle, no longing, and no disappointment. But loving what is goes against our programming, so it is difficult. It requires vigilance to counteract the egoic mind’s automatic rejection and resistance to whatever is happening. To experience the peace and happiness that exist in this moment, it is necessary to stop listening to the egoic mind, which undermines this peace and happiness with complaints and judgments. These are the tactics it uses to take us out of the present and into its world of desires, hopes, and dreams. It woos us with fantasies of a more perfect world, a more perfect mate, a more perfect experience, and a more perfect you, all of which are unreal
and will never be real.

Your fantasies, dreams, and desires don’t create reality or even reflect reality accurately, although they do affect your experience of it. When you are focused on your desires, dreams, and fantasies, you are not experiencing this moment, and you are missing out on the real richness, peace, and happiness that are right here, right now.

By Gina Lake

Yoga

That is the whole effort of Yoga: to make your body alive, sensitive, young again, to give your senses their maximum functioning. Then one functions with no taboos around, then lucidity, grace, beauty flow. Warmth arises again, openness -- and growth happens. One is constantly new, young, and is always on the adventure. The body becomes orgasmic. Joy surrounds you. Through joy the first corruption disappears, hence my insistence to be joyous, to be celebrating, to enjoy life, to accept the body. Not only to accept it, but to feel grateful that God has given you such a beautiful body, such a sensitive body, with so many doors to relate to reality: eyes and ears and nose and touch. Open all theses windows and let life's breezes flow in, let life's sun shine in. Learn to be more sensitive. Use every opportunity to be sensitive so that your first filter is dropped...When you are sitting on the grass, close your eyes, become the grass--be grassy. Feel that you are the grass, feel the greenness of the grass, feel the wetness of the grass. Feel the subtle smell that goes on being released by the grass. Feel the dewdrops on the grass--that they are on you. Feel the sun rays playing on the grass. For a moment be lost in it, and you will have new sense of your body. And do it in all kinds of situations: in a river, in a swimming pool, lying on a beach in the sunrays, looking at the moon in the night, lying down with closed eyes on the sand and feeling the sand. Millions of opprotunities are there to make your body alive again. And only you can do it. Society has done its work of corruption, you will have to undo it. And once you start hearing, seeing, touching, smelling through joy, then you hear the reality, then you see the reality, then you smell the reality.


Osho: From meditation to meditation