Here is the poem by Mark Nepo:

Accepting This

Yes, it is true. I confess,
I have thought great thoughts,
and sung great songs—all of it
rehearsal for the majesty
of being held.

The dream is awakened
when thinking I love you
and life begins
when saying I love you
and joy moves like blood
when embracing others with love.

My efforts now turn
from trying to outrun suffering
to accepting love wherever
I can find it.

Stripped of causes and plans
and things to strive for,
I have discovered everything
I could need or ask for
is right here—
in flawed abundance.

We cannot eliminate hunger,
but we can feed each other.
We cannot eliminate loneliness,
but we can hold each other.
We cannot eliminate pain,
but we can live a life
of compassion.

Ultimately,
we are small living things
awakened in the stream,
not gods who carve out rivers.

Like human fish,
we are asked to experience
meaning in the life that moves
through the gill of our heart.

There is nothing to do
and nowhere to go.
Accepting this,
we can do everything
and go anywhere.

— Mark Nepo

Here’s the poem by Danna Faulds that was quoted on Tuesday evening:

SELF-OBSERVATION WITHOUT JUDGMENT by Dana Faulds

“Release the harsh and pointed inner
voice.  it’s just a throwback to the past,
and holds no truth about this moment.

Let go of self-judgment, the old,
learned ways of beating yourself up
for each imagined inadequacy.

Allow the dialogue within the mind
to grow friendlier, and quiet.  Shift
out of inner criticism and life
suddenly looks very different.

i can say this only because I make
the choice a hundred times a day to release the voice that refuses to
acknowledge the real me.

What’s needed here isn’t more prodding toward perfection, but
intimacy – seeing clearly, and
embracing what I see.

Love, not judgment, sows the
seeds of tranquility and change.”

Faulds, D. (2003).  One Soul: More Poems From the Heart of Yoga.  Kearney, NE: Morris Publishing.

and here is the quote by Tom Robbins:

“One has not only an ability to perceive the world but an ability to alter one’s perception of it; more simply, one can change things by the manner in which one looks at them.”  — Tom Robbins, Even Cowgirls Get The Blues

Please join us on Saturday afternoon, Sept. 11th –  Insight Meditation Modesto will be presenting:

A Benefit for the Brahmavihara/Cambodia AIDS Project, Saturday, September 11th, 2010, 2:00 to 4:00 pm at the Unity Church Children’s Classroom on 2467 Veneman Ave., Modesto, CA – meditation and talk on “Gratitude Under Fire” by Beth Goldring an American Buddhist nun from the Rinzei Zen tradition. Offered freely – all donations will support the Brahmavihara AIDS Project in Cambodia.  [Beth will be giving a separate and different presentation at the Cambodian Wat on Sunday morning.]

Please see the Beth Goldring Flyer for more details.  If possible, please RSVP! If necessary, I can change the space to the Fellowship Hall if there are a lot of people planning to attend. For more info or to RSVP, call Lori at 209-343-2748.

Please feel free to share this flyer with anyone who might be interested in supporting this cause.

Kind thanks,
Lori

Here are a few pictures from the daylong with Robert Cusick – thanks to Donna Wilhelm for taking these!

Here is the poem by Hafiz:

Castrating an Ego

The only problem with not castrating
A gigantic ego is

That it will surely become amorous
And father
A hundred screaming ideas and kids

Who will then all quickly grow up
And skillfully proceed

To run up every imaginable debt
And complication of which your brain
Can conceive.

This would concern normal parents
And any seekers of freedom

And the local merchants nearby
As well.

They could very easily become forced
To disturb your peace;

All those worries and bills could turn to
Wailing ghosts.

The only problem with not lassoing
A runaway ego is

You won’t have much desire to sing
In this sweet
World.

Some science articles that show how we perceive continuity and permanence in our perceptions despite that they are not:

Auditory Illusion: How Our Brains Can Fill in the Gaps to Create Continuous Sound (Nov. 27, 2009)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091125134655.htm

Now You See It, Now You Know You See It (Dec. 21, 2009)
http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2009/11/091130131329.htm

More Than Meets The Eye (Oct. 10, 2006)
http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2006/10/061009031340.htm

Why Does The World Appear Stable While Our Eyes Move? (Feb. 18, 2008)
http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2008/02/080215103316.htm

New Study Suggests The Brain Predicts What Eyes In Motion Will See (Aug. 29, 2009)
http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2009/08/090825112834.htm

Here is a link to the talk we listened to by Greg Scharf:

Five Subjects for Frequent Reflection

Also, here is a handout with different translations of the Five Remembrances:

Five Remembrances

Here are some articles worth reading:

The Aim of Attention – by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoches from Tricycle Magazine

The Hows of Happiness from the Greater Good website

Paying Attention from Psychology Today

“Pay It Forward” Pays Off from a UC San Diego news release