It doesn't have to be sad...

This morning I served food (eggs exactly) to the homeless people at the kitchen. There were about 180 people passing my spot with scrambled eggs on their trays. I cracked 300 of eggs before that.

When I looked at them in the eyes, most of them were neutral, some of them were disengaging, some of them were just gazing, but a few of them had sparkling in their eyes. I was especially impressed by one man. He wore a very positive demeanor and had lots of shen in his eyes. I was even energized by his bright eye sight for a brief moment in that windowless basement kitchen. That bright eyesight immediately reminded me of my friend John B. who is currently working in Africa right now. I always felt a sense of wonder and his expansive warm presence whenever I was around him.

It made me wonder what made that man stand out from my radar screen. I am guessing that a person doesn't have to be sad when he or she is in a difficult situation. There must be an innate joy and innocence in everybody. It really is not by default that we have to react with sadness when we are in a difficult situation. The innate joy, love and light, are always there and will cut through the fog.

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Rumi's poems quoted in Wikipedia

* All day I think about it, then at night I say it. Where did I come from, and what am I supposed to be doing? I have no idea. My soul is from elsewhere, I'm sure of that, and I intend to end up there. * Come, come, whoever you are. Wanderer, idolator, worshipper of fire, come even though you have broken your vows a thousand times, Come, and come yet again. Ours is not a caravan of despair. o Variant: Come, come again, whoever you are, come! Heathen, fire worshipper or idolatrous, come! Come even if you broke your penitence a hundred times, Ours is the portal of hope, come as you are. * Do not grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form. * Every tree and plant in the meadow seemed to be dancing, those which average eyes would see as fixed and still. * Everyone has been made for some particular work, and the desire for that work has been put in every heart. * Everyone sees the unseen in proportion to the clarity of his heart, and that depends upon h

Miyamoto Musashi's painting

One of the monochrome paintings he produced later in life "The Shrike" expresses his ultimate teaching of swordsmanship, namely, "the myriad principles are all of the Void." The insect that can be seen roughly in the middle of the painting, crawling up the branch of the withered tree, provides us with a hint of the meaning of swordsmanship hidden within the work. Ono interprets the painting as such: The Shrike is waiting for the fish in the pond. She could shake the dead branch to make the insect fall into the water which will entice fish to come out and eat the bug. Before then, the insect has eaten up all the leaves of the tree which was transformed into a dead tree. The shrike could catch the fish, and strike her catch to the other pointed branch to kill it. Thus: Fish kills worm; worm kills tree; shrike kills fish...; The unseen kills shrike; new trees grow around the dead tree; Shrike, fish, worm, dead trees all turn into fertilizer to grow the new tree. Such i

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.

THEN a woman said, Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow. And he answered: Your joy is your sorrow unmasked. And the self same well from which your laughter rises was often times filled with your tears. And how else can it be? The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain. Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter's oven? And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives? When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy. When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight. Some of you say, "Joy is greater than sorrow," and others say, "Nay, sorrow is the greater." But I say unto you, they are inseparable. Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asle

Mind activities of a Stone boy

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