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A long cry at midnight, a dying cry.
The young man sitting there says "that sound does not
frighten me."
He hears beyond his death fear to union.
He says, "It's that time for the merging in me now".
He jumps up and shouts to God, "if you can be human, come
inside me now, or it is time to leave my body".
The signal of a death yell splits him open.
Gold pours down, many kinds, from all directions.
The young man works all night carrying the gold away.
If you think that I am talking about actual gold, then you
are like children that pretend that pieces of broken dishes
are money.
This is the other gold that glows in your chest when you
love.
The young man is a moth who gambles himself and wins. A true
human being is not human. This candle does not burn.
It illuminates!

Excerpts from "Rumi, We Are Three" by Coleman Barks

--contributed by Ben

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>From Chuang tzu Chapter 6;

"Real people of ancient times did not oppose minorities, did
not lionize success, and did not scheme things up. Being
thus, they were not sorry when they were wrong, and they
were not smug when they were right.
So they were not frightened in high places, did not get wet
in water, were not scorched by fire.

This is how knowledge can ascend to the Way.
Real people of ancient times slept without dreams, and awoke
without worries. Their food was not sweet, their breathing
was very deep.
Real people breathe from their heels; ordinary people
breathe from their throats.

Those who are stifled speak from their throats as if
choking. Those whose cravings and desires are deep are
shallow in their celestial potential.

Real people of ancient times did not know to like life and
hate death. They came to life without rejoicing andwent to
death without resisting; they simply came unencumbered and
went unencumbered. They did not forget their beginnings or
look for their end. They accepted their lot gladly, then
returned it without minding.

This is called not diminishing the Way by the mind, not
trying to help the divine by means of the human. Such are
called real people.
Those who are thus have a focused mind, a quiet countenance,
and a relaxed brow. They are cool as autumn, warm as
spring; their emotions correspond to the four seasons. They
have expedients for dealing with people, and none know their
limit."

--contributed by Andrew
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I was walking down the street last night and just paying
attention. But this time the attention went much deeper and
there was not a trace of judgment or any attempts to get
away from the thoughts&feelings. It was so quiet as I heard
all those thoughts, on and on.

What was different was that I really saw that thought was
ultimately about fear. Every single thought seemed to come
out of fear. Even the thought that I had to get some food
at the grocery store. These thoughts seemed to have a panic
quality -- always trying to get something or to 'cover my
ass' constantly. it's subtle. amazing.

I also noticed something important for me. In addition to
judgment blocking this clear observation, I am often not
able to see due to analysis. (ha, ha -- too much therapy
{the joke's on me}. So last night for some reason, I backed
up about 20 steps and really saw what was going on NOW. Not
what I thought was going on. Does that make sense?
Although it may not sound like much for anyone else, it's
quite a revelation for me.

You have to get so close to "yourself" to see it. Truly,
the reaching outward is in the wrong direction. It's just
that I didn't realize it was so close as to actually become
it. And don't ask me to explain that. I can't. Those
words came from some place else.

Perhaps a person to person meeting with Greg, a one on one
chat with Mira last night and a 'personal' email from Dave
have opened some doors. Also, on Monday nite around 3 am I
awoke and out of the blue and thought, "all of my thoughts
are the past!". then i went back to sleep.

Becky
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...it seems that stand-up comedians (and comediennes) are
our fast-paced society's alternative to the old 'guru trip.'
I think Tim Leary, back in the '60s, coined the title
"stand-up philosopher" to describe the unique work he was
doing, viz., bringing metaphysical truth to the masses
through humor and outrageous behavior.

A really great comic, such as Steven Wright ... can show us
truth that we wouldn't have the patience to listen to coming
from a dull, dry old teacher. There are very few comics
like this.

Lenny Bruce was certainly one, and there was a wonderful
retrospective on his t.v. work last month at the Museum of
Television and Radio in Beverly Hills. It showed 90 minutes
of his television appearances with such people as Steve
Allen (another "stand-up philospher"). He was the first to
bring an incisive social consciousness to comedy, and thus
his controversiality.

Andy Kaufman was another. I'm looking forward to "Man on
the Moon."

--Petros
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"I remember the day I got drunk and flung open the doors to
the ladies room. Wait a minute, sorry, that was the day I
flung open the doors of perception."

--Jerry

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