每天早晨
睜開眼的那一刻
我們就得面對許多抉擇
早餐吃燒餅還是吐司、咖啡還是茶
聽古典或爵士藍調、居家極簡或普普
向前向後或轉左轉右
愛你膩他或怨你順他
是謊言還是真言
該相信或懷疑
是自信或自卑
該輕蔑或慈悲
要自由或拘束
該放手或臣服
該往外尋找或是向內在探索
你的世界
架構在心中或是外在的哪一端點
?
該如何抉擇
Friday, June 26, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
人生知何似?
人生到處知何似?
應似飛鴻踏雪泥 。
泥上偶然留指爪 ，
鴻飛那復計東西 。
宋朝/蘇東坡(和子由澠池懷舊)
To what can human life be likened?
Perhaps to a wild goose's footprint on snow.
The claw's imprint is accidentally left,
But carefree, the bird flies east and west.
by Su Tungpo (Nostalgia-in Response to Tseyu's Poem)
Translated by Lin Yutnag 翻譯/林語堂
應似飛鴻踏雪泥 。
泥上偶然留指爪 ，
鴻飛那復計東西 。
宋朝/蘇東坡(和子由澠池懷舊)
To what can human life be likened?
Perhaps to a wild goose's footprint on snow.
The claw's imprint is accidentally left,
But carefree, the bird flies east and west.
by Su Tungpo (Nostalgia-in Response to Tseyu's Poem)
Translated by Lin Yutnag 翻譯/林語堂
Friday, June 19, 2009
WHAT IS MY WORLD VIEW?
Do you view suffering as random? Do you view it as punishment for sinners? Do you view it as Divine Intervention in human affairs? Do you feel that events have meaning? If so, what is the meaning? If you feel that they have no meaning, examine that as a world view. In other words, do not assume that events have no meaning beyond what you can see, and you can see none. Assume that your understanding that events have no meaning is not necessarily the case. It is your world view. Then ask yourself if you are comfortable with that world view.
However you interpret the events that you encounter, look at your interpretation of events as your way of understanding phenomena that are larger than you can comprehend. That is your world view. Allow your experiences of suffering, your own and other’s, to illuminate for you the world view that you hold and, whatever it is, consider the possibility that your world view is not necessarily the way the world is. Therefore, you can choose the world view that is most comfortable to you, and the most healthy that you can imagine, and experiment with it.
WHAT ARE MY VALUES?
What is important to you? Allow your experiences of the suffering of others, or your own suffering, to help you put into perspective what is valuable, why you are alive, what is worth living for, and what is not. What if people whom you see suffering on television, such as people who have lost their homes, been driven from their country, survived a bombing, or any of the hundreds of causes of anguish and agony were (or are) your neighbors, family, or friends? You can examine what your priorities have been during this time of great suffering for others and, if you see places to make changes, what they could be. What have been your experiences as you have gone about your life doing that which needs to be done while others suffer? Perhaps making repairs to your house, going to work, feeding pets, taking children to school, redecorating, shopping at a discount warehouse - which of all of your many activities are truly important to you? Allow your experiences with the suffering that surrounds you when you have the courage to look at it, or your own suffering when you have the courage to look at it, to illuminate in your life – as though you were suddenly awakened to a larger perspective – what is important to you and what is not and then begin to see how much of your life is in alignment with this new perspective. And where it is not, you can change your alignment.
WHAT CAN I LEARN ABOUT MYSELF?
Are you a participator or a spectator in your life? Do you watch the events of your life unfold as though on a movie screen, not affecting you, or do you use those events to learn about yourself? The first OPPORTUNITY that every painful experience offers, even if it is a painful experience that others are suffering, is to ask yourself, “What can I learn about myself from this experience?” Not what the people who are suffering can learn, not what friends can learn, not what you can learn about others, but what you can learn about yourself. For example, do you feel overwhelmed? Do you feel there is nothing you can do? If so, are you paying attention to that feeling? Those experiences are experiences that you can challenge and change because they are expressions of frightened parts of your personality, not “who you are.”
If you watch a disaster on television, such as a flood, hurricane, or tsunami and decide to contribute to the relief effort, why are you giving? Do you look at your intentions? Are you giving because of guilt? Because you have so much and now so many have nothing? Because you think others expect you to give? Or because you expect yourself to give in these types of situations, that your self-image requires giving? Are you giving because you want to help with no second agendas? Look at your intentions and learn about yourself from them, not to judge yourself but to learn about yourself so that you can free yourself wherever you see yourself controlled by fear.
NO BODY KNOWS YOU WHEN YOU ARE DOWN AND OUT
Once I lived the life of a millionaire,
Spent all my money, I just did not care.
Took all my friends out for a good time,
Bought bootleg whisky, champagne and wine.
Then I began to fall so low,
Lost all my good friends, I did not have nowhere to go.
I get my hands on a dollar again,
I'm gonna hang on to it till that eagle grins.
'Cause no, no, nobody knows you
When you're down and out.
In your pocket, not one penny,
And as for friends, you don't have any.
When you finally get back up on your feet again,
Everybody wants to be your old long-lost friend.
Said it's mighty strange, without a doubt,
Nobody knows you when you're down and out.
When you finally get back upon your feet again,
Everybody wants to be your good old long-lost friend.
Said it's mighty strange,
Nobody knows you,
Nobody knows you,
Nobody knows you when you're down and out.
Spent all my money, I just did not care.
Took all my friends out for a good time,
Bought bootleg whisky, champagne and wine.
Then I began to fall so low,
Lost all my good friends, I did not have nowhere to go.
I get my hands on a dollar again,
I'm gonna hang on to it till that eagle grins.
'Cause no, no, nobody knows you
When you're down and out.
In your pocket, not one penny,
And as for friends, you don't have any.
When you finally get back up on your feet again,
Everybody wants to be your old long-lost friend.
Said it's mighty strange, without a doubt,
Nobody knows you when you're down and out.
When you finally get back upon your feet again,
Everybody wants to be your good old long-lost friend.
Said it's mighty strange,
Nobody knows you,
Nobody knows you,
Nobody knows you when you're down and out.
Marcel Proust's Pondering
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes" ......Marcel Proust
