I HOPE IT CAN BE SAID

I hope it can be said
When after you’re dead
That you lived
While you were alive
And that you didn’t hide
Your music inside
But sang out-loud
When even in a crowd
And sang all the louder
When eating clam Chowder
What is that thing
That you thing you can do
What is that dream
That you hope will come true
You know it is there
Just make sure
You get caught being aware
That each day of your life
You never get back
So live moving forward
And leave new tracks
On the road less traveled
Just do
What your heart tells you
And when you do
Then all things become new
Oh one day you’ll die
You know that it’s true
And when that day comes
May it find you—
Living

SURVIVAL

Where do I begin?

Survival. What does this word mean? What is the meaning behind it?

When we hear this word, survival, we generally associate it with staying alive.

Everyone wants to stay alive. If you’re not on top of it, you are going to die. And who wants that?

Life is a struggle, a turbulent river. Everyone is trying to keep their heads above water. Why so wild? Why can it not be still and peaceful?

Well, because that river is the river of death. Death is the only true silent state. It is the extreme yin. Here you do not have to do anything. You can’t drown. You’ve already drowned. You are still.

Start moving around and you will create waves, distortion, turbulence. The moving water will actualize a struggle. If you stop swimming, the river swallows you. You drown once again. This is life. The extreme yang.

Survival means, try to be as yang as possible. The more yang, the greater the chances of staying alive.

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Where does spirituality comes into play here? Right in the middle. Right above the water and below the surface. Meditation is a state of floating. It’s like laying on your back in the dead sea. The salt will keep your body afloat. You can keep your head above water, without effort.

Meditation is no effort. This is the key. Acknowledging the staggering simplicity of balancing your polar opposites. When this happens, you are not swimming and not drowning.

In other words, there is no water.

When the water disappears, the ego dissolves, because the ego must swim. It cannot not exist. The ego makes it a survival to exist. That is its nature.

Lose the ego.

And you will float.

I love you like a river

‘I love you,’ I tell her.

‘I love you because all the loves in the world are like different rivers flowing into the same lake, where they meet and are transformed into a single love that becomes rain and blesses the earth.

‘I love you like a river that gives water to the thirsty and takes people where they want to go.

‘I love you like a river which understands that it must learn to flow differently over waterfalls and to rest in the shallows.

‘I love you because we are all born in the same place, at the same source, which keeps us provided with a constant supply of water. And so, when we feel weak, all we have to do is wait a little. The spring returns, the winter snows melt and fill us with new energy.

‘I receive your love and I give you mine.
“Not the love of a man for a woman, not the love of a father for a child, not the love of God for his creatures.
“But a love with no name and no explanation
‘Like a river that cannot explain why it follows a particular course, but simply flows onwards.

‘A love that asks for nothing and gives nothing in return; it is simply there. I will never be yours and you will never be mine; nevertheless, I can honestly say: I love you.’

- PAULO COELHO