Love

DSC_4228, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Love looks not with the eyes,
but with the mind.

William Shakespeare

Each Day

RCC_5615, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Each day forces us

to totter on planks we hope

will become bridges.

Kevin Hart

Who we are

Christmas Day 2003 (2), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Who we are and who we become depends, 
     in part, on whom we love.

        Thomas Lewis, Fari Amini & Richard Lannon, 
        A General Theory of Love

Faith

RCC_5991, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


As our faith deepens,
the "container" in wihci fear arises gets bigger. 

Sharon Salzberg, Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience

Seeing

RC1_4536, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     How you see is what you see. And to see rightly 
     is to be able to be fully present — 
     without fear, without bias, and without judgment.

        Richard Rohr

The Path

RIC_3589-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

You cannot travel the path 

until you have become the path. 

Buddha

Birthing

RIC_1048-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

He not busy being born is busy dying. 

Bob Dylan

Sacred

RIC_1206-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Earth's crammed with heaven,

And every common bush afire with God,

But only he who sees takes off his shoes;

The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Decisions

Nutcrackers (2013, 12.21), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Decisions are made by those show up.

Aaron Sorkin

Remembrance

Toronto 3 (2013, 11.16), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

In remembrance is the secret of redemption. 

Jewish Saying

God

_DSC6888, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

God is a verb. 

R. Buckminster Fuller

Truth

RCC_5622, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Falsehood has an infinity of combinations,
but truth has only one mode of being. 

Jean Jacque Rousseau

Faith

RCC_9640, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


       You have to have trust in your own self. ... 
     The importance of having faith is to see it 
     concretized in your own self. 

        Esperanza Ortega in Birthing God: Women's Experiences of the Divine by Lana Dalberg

Fear

RIC_3470-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

When fear dominates, 

our sense of possibility collapses. 

Sharon Salzberg, 

Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience

Truth

Mississauga 1 (2013, 9.18), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Love of the truth puts you on the spot.

Naropa Institute Motto

Sadness

RCC_9615, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Sadness is a wall between two gardens. 

Kahlil Gibran

Healing

Toronto 3 (2013, 11.20), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

     The healing comes from letting there be room
     for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief,
     for misery, for joy. 

        Pema Chödrön,
        When Things Fall Apart: 
        Heart Advice for Difficult Times

Listen Completely

RC1_3438, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

When people talk,

listen completely.

Ernest Hemingway

Growing Old

Christian Island Ferry, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     One great thing about growing old is
     that nothing is going to lead to anything. 
     Everything is of the moment. 

        Joseph Campbell, 
        A Joseph Campbell Companion:
        Reflections on the Art of Living

Faith

RIC_9666, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Faith never knows where it is being led,
but it knows and loves the One who is leading.

Oswald Chambers

Instructions

Toronto 8 (2013. 10.27), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


      Instructions for living a life:
     Pay attention.
     Be astonished.
     Tell about it.

        Mary Oliver

Secrets

RIC_9614, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Nothing makes us so lonely as our secrets.

Paul Tournier

Wisdom

RC1_9580, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     It is said that no one truly knows a nation 
     until one has been inside its jails.
     A nation should not be judged 
     by how it treats its highest citizens,
     but its lowest ones.

        Nelson Mandela

To be

RIC_5859-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Esse est percipi.

To be is to be perceived.

George Berkley

Self

Candle 1 (2013,2.3), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

You are what your deep driving desire is.

Brihaduranyaha Upanishad

Except Love

RIC_0926-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Nothing is mysterious,
no human relation.
Except love.

Susan Sontag

Living

Toronto 1 (2013, 11.30), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Humans live through their myths and only endure their realities. 

Robert Anton Wilson

Creativity

Toronto 4 (2013, 11.8), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Creativity is subtraction. 

Austin Kleon, 

Newspaper Blackout

Play

RIC_3446, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

A wise man once said that all human activity is a form of play. 

And the highest form of play is the search for Truth, Beauty and Love. 

What more is needed? 

Should there be a ‘meaning’ as well, that will be a bonus?  

If we waste time looking for life’s meaning,

we may have no time to live — or to play.

Arthur C. Clarke

Questioning & Faith

RHUC 1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


When we claim our right to question everything, 
including our beliefs, we can unhook from our 
dependence on what is familiar and let in
the heartfelt, open, fresh quality of faith. 

Sharon Salzberg, Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience

Presence

Tower of Power (2013, 6.4), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     ... whatever
     returns from oblivion returns
     to find a voice.

        Louise Glück,
        The Wild Iris

Real

Toronto 7 (8.29, 2013), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     The question is always: Who am I? 
     You see, if I were allowed one single cry to God, 
     that cry would be: I want to be REAL.

        Katherine Mansfield

Writing

Mississauga Chinatown 7 (2013, 6.4), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     When we tell a story we exercise control, 
     but in such a way as to leave a gap, an opening. 
     It is a version, but never the final one.
     And perhaps we hope that the silences will be heard 
     by someone else, and the story can continue, can be retold.

     When we write we offer the silence as much as the story. 
     Words are the part of silence that can be spoken.

        Jeanette Winterson, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?

Understanding

Toronto 5 (2013. 10.27), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Nothing in life is to be feared, 
it is only to be understood. 
Now is the time to understand more, 
so that we may fear less.

Marie Curie

Mind

Camp Fire 10, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

The mind is not a vessel to be filled, 

but a fire to be kindled. 

Plutarch

Now

Toronto 1 (2013. 10.27), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

We're so busy watching out 

for what's just ahead of us 

that we don't take time to enjoy

where we are.

Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbs

Happy Ending

Toronto 1a (2013, 10.15), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     If you want a happy ending, 
     that depends, of course, 
     on where you stop your story. 

        Orson Wells

You

Toronto 3 (2013. 10.27), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


You are the traveler,
you are the path and
you are the destination.
Be careful never to lose
the way to yourSelf.

Shihab al-Din

Light

North Bramalea United Church, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Death is not extinguishing the light,
     it is only putting out the lamp
     because dawn has come.

        Rabindranath Tagore

Risk Taking

RIC_3518-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Sometimes not having any idea where we're going
works out better than we could possibly have imagined. 

Ann Patchett, What Now?

Curiosity

RIC_1044-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Look at everything. 
     Don't close your eyes to the world around you. 
     Look and become curious and interested  in
     what there is to see. 

        John Cage

Faith

Toronto 6(2013. 10.27), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Belief clings, faith lets go. 

Alan Watts

Possibilities

Five Oaks 1 (2013, 9.12), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     If your mind is empty,
     it is always ready for anything;
     it is open to everything.
     In the beginner's mind
     there are many possibilities,
     in the expert's mind there are few.

        Shunryu Suzuki

Longing

Toronto (2013, 10.24), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Blessed be the longing that brought you here
And quickens your soul with wonder. 

John O’Donohue, 

Blessing for Longing

Your Stories

Toronto 1 (2013, 11.10), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Don't forget — no one else sees the world the way you do, 
     so no one else can tell the stories that you have to tell.

        Charles de Lint

Soul

Real Jerk Restaurant (2013, 10.6), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

When the soul wishes 

To experience something, 

She throws an image 

Of the experience out 

Before her and enters into 

Her own image. 

Meister Eckhart

Art

Prayer 1 (2013, 10.5), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Art is a tool to set up new questions. 

Ai Weiwei

Creativity

Toronto 2 (2012, 9.1), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Creativity isn't the monopoly of artists,
this is the crucial fact I've come to realize and 
this broader concept of creativity is my concept of art. 

Joseph Benys

Stories

Toronto 1 (2013, 10.3), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Be careful which stories you expose yourself to.  ...
     The meanings you find, and the stories you hear, 
     will have an impact on how optimistic you are:
     it’s how we evolved. … If you do not know how to draw 
     positive meaning from what happens in life, 
     the neural pathways you need to appreciate good news 
     will never fire up.

        Philippa Perry

Love

RCC_9595, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Love doesn't die.
People do.
So, when all that's left of me
Is love,
Give me away.

Merrit Malloy, When I Die