Soul Café
Acknowledging
Impermanence
Life
is fragile, like the dew hanging delicately on the grass, crystal drops that
will be carried away on the first morning breeze. – Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
A
wise man, recognizing that the world is but an illusion, does not act as if it
is real, therefore he escapes the suffering. – the Buddha
God has given man a heart and the heart must have some attachment. We
have proved that nothing is completely worthy of our heart’s devotion save reality,
for all else is destined to perish. Therefore the heart is never at rest and
never finds real joy and happiness until it attaches itself to the eternal. How
foolish the bird that builds its nest in a tree that may perish when it could
build its nest in an ever-verdant garden of paradise. – Abdu’l-Baha
“Sunsets,
like childhood, are viewed with wonder not just because they are beautiful but
because they are fleeting.”
"O
FRIENDS! Abandon not the everlasting beauty for a beauty that must die, and set
not your affections on this mortal world of dust." [Bahá'u'lláh, The
Hidden Words, No. P14.]
"O BRETHREN! Be forbearing one with another and set not your
affections on things below. Pride not yourselves in your glory, and be not
ashamed of abasement. By My beauty! I have created all things from dust, and to
dust will I return them again." [Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden Words,
No. P48.]
Man must attach himself to an infinite reality, so that his glory, his
joy, and his progress may be infinite. Only the spirit is real; everything else
is as shadow. All bodies are disintegrated in the end; only reality subsists.
All physical perfections come to an end; but the divine virtues are infinite.
How many kings have flourished in luxury and in a brief moment all has
disappeared! Their glory and their honor are forgotten. Where are all these
sovereigns now? But those who have been servants of the divine beauty are never
forgotten. The result of their works is everywhere visible. – Abdu’l-Baha
The
earth life lasts but a short time, even its benefits are transitory; that which
is temporary does not deserve our heart’s attachment…. Detachment does not
consist in setting fire to one’s house, or becoming bankrupt or throwing one’s
fortune out of the window, or even giving away all of one’s possessions.
Detachment consists in refraining from letting our possessions possess us. – Abdu’l-Baha
May no earthly entanglements, no worldly affections, no ephemeral
pursuits tarnich the purity, or embitter the sweetness, of that grace which
flows through you. – Lady Blomfield
Some people, sweet and attractive, and strong and healthy, happen to die
young. They are masters in disguise teaching us about impermanence. -Dalai Lama
If
we are not empty, we become a block of matter.
We cannot breathe, we cannot
think.
To be empty means to be alive, to breathe in and to breathe out.
We
cannot be alive if we are not empty.
Emptiness is impermanence, it is
change.
We should not complain about impermanence,
because without
impermanence, nothing is possible.
-Thich Nhat Hanh
Impermanence
is a principle of harmony. When we don’t struggle against it, we are in harmony
with reality. – Pema Chodron
Somehow,
in the process of trying to deny that things are always changing, we lose our
sense of the sacredness of life. We tend to forget that we are part of the
natural scheme of things. – Pema Chodron
Life
is expressed in a perpetual sequence of changes. The birth of the child is the
death of the baby, just as the birth of the adolescent is the death of the
child. – Arnaud Desjardins
Awareness
of impermanence and appreciation of our human potential will give us a sense of
urgency that we must use every precious moment. – D. Lama
“Nature's
first green is gold,
Her
hardest hue to hold.
Her
early leaf's a flower;
But
only so an hour.
Then
leaf subsides to leaf.
So
Eden sank to grief,
So
dawn goes down to day.
Nothing
gold can stay.”
“It
is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent him a sentence
to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and
situations. They presented him the words, "And this too, shall pass
away." How much it expresses! How chastening in the hour of pride! How
consoling in the depths of affliction!”
Come on sweetheart
let's adore one another
before there is no more
of
you and me - Rumi
This existence of ours is as transient as autumn clouds.
To watch the
birth and death of beings is like looking at the movements of a dance.
A
lifetime is like a flash of lightning in the sky,
Rushing by, like a torrent
down a steep mountain. – the Buddha
The
recognition of the impermanence of all forms awakens you to
the dimension of
the formless within yourself, that which is beyond death. Jesus called it “eternal life.” ….It leads
to…. nonresistance, non-judgment, and non-attachment .. the three aspects of
true freedom and enlightened living.”
~Eckhart Tolle
“Corporeality
is transient, feeling is transient, perception is transient, mental formations
are transient, consciousness is transient.
And that which is transient, is
subject to suffering; and of that which is transient and subject to suffering
and change, one cannot rightly say: `This belongs to me; this am I; this is
my Self’.
Therefore, whatever there be of corporeality, of feeling, perception,
mental formations, or consciousness, whether past, present or future, one’s own
or external, gross or subtle, lofty or low, far or near, one should understand
according to reality and true wisdom: `This does not belong to me; this am I
not; this is not my Self’.”
~ the Buddha
"What
have I to do with worldly things? My connection with the world is like that of
a traveler resting for a while underneath the shade of a tree and then moving
on." – Muhammad
One
who has finally learned that it is in the nature of objects to come and go
without ceasing, rests in detachment and is no longer subject to suffering. -
Ashtavakra
Gita
Live
in the nowhere that you come from,
Even though you have an address here.
- Rumi
Detachment
is not indifference. It is the prerequisite for effective involvement. Often
what we think is best for others is distorted by our attachment to our
opinions: we want others to be happy in the way we think they should be happy.
It is only when we want nothing for ourselves that we are able to see clearly
into others’ needs and understand how to serve them.
Mahatma Gandhi
Much
of our inner turbulence reflects the fear of loss: our dependence on people,
circumstances, and things not really under our control. On some level we know
that death, indifference, rejection, repossession, or high tide may leave us
bereft in the morning. Still, we clutch desperately at things we cannot finally
hold. Nonattachment is the most realistic of attitudes. It is freedom from
wishful thinking, from always wanting things to be otherwise.
Marilyn Ferguson
Your
heart must become a see of love. Your
mind must become a river of detachment. – Sri Chinmoy
Set
your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. –
Colossians 3:2
Dear
God,
Please help me to detach
from things that hold me back.
Remove from
me
illusions and falsehood.
Restore to me
the lightness
of my being.
-Marianne
Williamson
As
for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. – the
Bible
We
are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a
shadow. – the Bible
Joy
and sorrow, beauty and deformity, equally pass away. – Sa’di
Fame
is a vapor, popularity an accident; the only earthly certainty is oblivion. –
Mark Twain
Live
as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. - Mahatma Gandhi
O
friends! Abandon not the everlasting beauty for a beauty that must die, and set
not your affections on this mortal world of dust. – Baha’u’llah
"When I was still a child and had not yet attained the age of
maturity, My father made arrangments in Tihran for the marriage of one of My
older brothers, and as is customary in that city, the festivities lasted for
seven days and seven nights. On the last day it was announced that the play
"Shah Sultan Salim" would be presented. A large number of princes,
dignitaries, and notables of the capital gathered for the occasion. I was
sitting in one of the upper rooms of the building and observing the scene.
Presently a tent was pitched in the courtyard, and before long some small
human-like figures, each appearing to be no more than about a hand's span in
height, were seen to emerge from it and raise the call: "His Majesty is
coming! Arrange the seats at once!" Other figures then came forth, some of
whom were seen to be engaged in sweeping, others in sprinkling water, and
thereafter another, who was announced as the chief town crier, raised his call
and bade the people assemble for an audience with the king. Next, several
groups of figures made their appearance and took their places, the first
attired in hats and sashes after the Persian fashion, the second wielding
battleaxes, and the third comprising a number of footmen and executioners
carrying bastinados. Finally there appeared, arrayed in regal majesty and
crowned with a royal diadem, a kingly figure, bearing himself with the utmost
haughtiness and grandeur, at turns advancing and pausing in his progress, who
proceeded with great solemnity, poise and dignity to seat himself upon his
throne.
At that moment a volley of shots was fired, a fanfare of trumpets was
sounded, and king and tent were enveloped in a pall of smoke. When it had
cleared, the king, ensconced upon his throne, was seen surrounded by a suite of
ministers, princes, and dignitaries of state who, having taken their places,
were standing at attention in his presence. A captured thief was then brought
before the king, who gave the order that the offender should be beheaded.
Without a moment's delay the chief executioner cut off the thief's head, whence
a blood-like liquid came forth. After this the king held audience with his
court, during which intelligence was received that a rebellion had broken out
on a certain frontier. Thereupon the king reviewed his troops and despatched
several regiments supported by artillery to quell the uprising. A few moments
later cannons were heard booming from behind the tent, and it was announced
that a battle had been engaged.
This Youth regarded the scene with great
amazement. When the royal audience was ended, the curtain was drawn, and, after
some twenty minutes, a man emerged from behind the tent carrying a box under
his arm.
"What is this box," I asked him, "and what was the
nature of this display?"
"All this lavish display and these elaborate
devices," he replied, "the king, the princes, and the ministers,
their pomp and glory, their might and power, everything you saw, are now
contained within this box."
I swear by My Lord Who, through a single word
of His Mouth, hath brought into being all created things! Ever since that day,
all the trappings of the world have seemed in the eyes of this Youth akin to
that same spectacle. They have never been, nor will they ever be, of any weight
and consequence, be it to the extent of a grain of mustard seed. How greatly I
marveled that men should pride themselves upon such vanities, whilst those
possessed of insight, ere they witness any evidence of human glory, perceive
with certainty the inevitability of its waning. "Never have I looked upon
any thing save that I have seen extinction before it; and God, verily, is a
sufficient witness!"
It behoveth everyone to traverse this brief span of
life with sincerity and fairness. Should one fail to attain unto the
recognition of Him Who is the Eternal Truth, let him at least conduct himself
with reason and justice. Erelong these outward trappings, these visible
treasures, these earthly vanities, these arrayed armies, these adorned
vestures, these proud and overweening souls, all shall pass into the confines
of the grave, as though into that box. In the eyes of those possessed of
insight, all this conflict, contention and vainglory hath ever been, and will
ever be, like unto the play and pastimes of children. Take heed, and be not of
them that see and yet deny. - Baha'u'llah
“We may think that
to detach ourselves means to hate, to ignore, to divide, to separate, to stand
aloof, or to be cold and rough toward a given object. These are not signs of
true detachment. True detachment is a Soul attitude, a function carried out on the
Soul plane rather than on the physical, emotional, or lower mental planes.
Actually you are not detaching your True Self from anyone or anything. You are
detaching your Self from the inertia of the body, from the glamors of your
emotional world, and from the illusions of your mental realm. You are also
detaching your Real Self from the objects with which you were identified only
through inertia, glamors, and illusions.” - Native American Saying
““I will be a saint” means I will
despoil myself of all that is not God; I will strip my heart of all created
things; I will live in poverty and detachment; I will renounce my will, my
inclinations, my whims and fancies, and make myself a willing slave to the will
of God.” – Mother Teresa
“He must be a lover of the rose, no matter in what soil it
may be growing. He must be a seeker of the truth, no matter from what source it
come.” – Abdu’l-Baha
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