Eating is important - it keeps the physical body alive.
But how about the MIND? Do we feed it enough? Do we offer it enough "food" to keep it growing?
I had a feast today, and I wanted to share some goodies with you. This is Part 1, follow my channel for Part 2,3,4, and 5.
"You think of yourself as a citizen of the universe. You think you belong to this world of dust and matter.
Out of this dust you have created a personal image, and have forgotten about the essence of your true origin."
"Symbolism is the language of the mysteries, by symbols men have ever sought to communicate to each other those thoughts which transcend the limitations of language." ~ Manly P. Hall
“I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart. I am, I am, I am.” - Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar
"There are thoughts which appear not to have come from the senses, but rather to have been forced through the skull."
"Without knowing yourself, do what you will, there cannot possibly be the state of meditation. I mean by “self-knowing,” knowing every thought, every mood, every word, every feeling; knowing the activity of your mind—not knowing the Supreme Self, the big Self; there is no such thing; the Higher Self, the Atman, is still within the field of thought.
Thought is the result of your conditioning, thought is the response of your memory— ancestral or immediate. And merely to try to meditate without first establishing deeply, irrevocably, that virtue which comes about through self-knowing, is utterly deceptive and absolutely useless." ~ The Book of Life
"There is no method for self-knowledge. Seeking a method invariably implies the desire to attain some result and that is what we all want. We follow authority—if not that of a person, then of a system, of an ideology because we want a result that will be satisfactory, which will give us security.
We really do not want to understand ourselves, our impulses and reactions, the whole process of our thinking, the conscious as well as the unconscious; we would rather pursue a system which assures us of a result. But the pursuit of a system is invariably the outcome of our desire for security, for certainty, and the result is obviously not the understanding of oneself. When we follow a method, we must have authorities—the teacher, the guru, the savior, the Master—who will guarantee us what we desire; and surely that is not the way to self-knowledge." ~ The Book of Life
"Authority prevents the understanding of oneself, does it not? Under the shelter of an authority, a guide, you may have temporarily a sense of security, a sense of wellbeing, but that is not the understanding of the total process of oneself. Authority in its very nature prevents the full awareness of oneself and therefore ultimately destroys freedom;
in freedom alone can there be creativeness. There can be creativeness only through self-knowledge." ~ The Book of Life
"Without self-knowledge, experience breeds illusion; with self-knowledge, experience, which is the response to challenge, does not leave a cumulative residue as memory. Self-knowledge is the discovery from moment to moment of the ways of the self, its intentions and pursuit, its thoughts and appetites.
There can never be “your experience” and “my experience”; the very term “my experience” indicates ignorance and the acceptance of illusion." ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti
"If we can understand the compulsion behind our desire to dominate or to be dominated, then perhaps we can be free from the crippling effects of authority.
We crave to be certain, to be right, to be successful, to know; and this desire for certainty, for permanence, builds up within ourselves the authority of personal experience, while outwardly it creates the authority of society, of the family, of religion, and so on.
But merely to ignore authority, to shake off its outward symbols, is of very little significance. To break away from one tradition and conform to another, to leave this leader and follow that, is but a superficial gesture.
If we are to be aware of the whole process of authority, if we are to see the inwardness of it, if we are to understand and transcend the desire for certainty, then we must have extensive awareness and insight, we must be free, not at the end, but at the beginning." ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti
"Learning is always in the active present; it has no past. The moment you say to yourself, “I have learned,” it has already become knowledge, and from the background of that knowledge you can accumulate, translate, but you cannot further learn. It is only a mind that is not acquiring, but always learning — it is only such a mind that can understand this whole entity that we call the “me,” the self." ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti
"Wisdom is something that has to be discovered by each one, and it is not the result of knowledge. Knowledge and wisdom do not go together. Wisdom comes when there is the maturity of self-knowing. Without knowing oneself, order is not possible, and therefore there is no virtue." ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti
"If you have the fire of knowledge, let others light their candles with it."
"I understood that our entire universe is contained in the mind and the spirit. We may choose not to find access to it, we may even deny its existence, but it is indeed there inside us, and there are chemicals that can catalyze its availability.” ~ Alexander Shulgin
"When one loses the deep intimate relationship with nature, then temples, mosques and churches become important." ~Jiddu Krishnamurti
Who looks outside, dreams;
Who looks inside, awakes.
~ Carl Gustav Jung
“Nature’s servants are Simplicity and Innocence. She lets the proud scholar stand in front of closed doors at the temple of Nature, and she will not honor him with her presence. In the meantime, Nature reveals her secrets to those who honor her, and she will make them aware of the value of her treasures.” - "The Principles of Higher Knowledge" ~ Karl von Eckartshausen
"At the basis of all opinions are beliefs. At the basis of all beliefs are judgments. At the basis of all judgments are fears. And at the basis of all fears is the layer of your ego, defining who you are, and trying its best to maintain its existence."
To journey to find the center of yourself is a journey to try to grasp air with your own hand. You will catch nothing. There is a Zen poem which speaks to this nothingness:
“You cannot catch hold of it, nor can you get rid of it. In not being able to get it you get it. When you speak its silent, when you are silent it speaks."
There is no method, all methods are gimmicks to strengthen your ego.
"To himself everyone is immortal; he may know that he is going to die, but he can never know that he is dead. The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time. A man does not die of love or his liver or even of old age; he dies of being a man."
Enjoyed the food? If you did, make sure you don't miss Part 2, which will be served in the next following days.