Belly of the Whale

Thought twerks from the jumping-off place.

[johnjamesford]

I have always believed that local history is more important than national history. There should be an archive in every village, where stories such as the old man told me are recorded. Where life is fully and consciously lived in our own neighbourhood, we are cushioned a little from the impact of great far-off events which should be of only marginal concern to us.

Hubert Butler, Beside the Nore

[johnjamesford]

A writer, or any man, must believe that whatever happens to him is an instrument; everything has been given for an end. This is even stronger in the case of an artist. Everything that happens, including humiliations, embarrassments, misfortunes, all has been given like clay, like material for one's art. One must accept it. For this reason I speak in a poem of the ancient food of heroes: humiliation, unhappiness, discord. Those things are given to us to transform, so that we may make from the miserable circumstances of our lives things that are eternal, or aspire to be so.

Jorge Luis Borges, Blindness

[johnjamesford]

One animal chasing and killing its prey serves the greater purpose of preserving the balance of nature, wether or not the animal is aware of this—and again, the animal's intent is not evil. Man consumes ideas. In doing so he contributes to a different kind of balance, of which he is usually unaware. But no man acts out of the pure intent to do wrong, or to be vicious. Storms rend the summer sky, sending forth thunder and lightening. Earthquakes may ravage the countryside. You may deeply regret the havoc worked, knowing that neither the storm nor the earthquake is evil. Not only did they have no wrong intent, but the overall condition corrected earth's balance. This requires some unique understanding. I am aware of that—and yet the destructive storms worked by man ultimately cannot be said to be any more evil than the earthquake. While man's works may often certainly appear destructive, you must not blame man's intent, nor must you ever make the mistake of confusing man with his works. For many well-intentioned artists, with the best of intentions, produce at times shoddy works of art, all the more deplorable and disappointing to them because of the initial goodness of their intent. Their lack of knowledge and techniques and methods then become quite plain. By concentrating too deeply upon the world of newspapers and the negative reports of of man's actions, it is truly easy to lose sight of what I tell you is each man's and each woman's basic good intent. That intent may be confused, poorly executed, tangled amid conflicts of beliefs, strangled by the bloody hands of murders and wars—and yet no man or woman ever loses it. That represents the hope of the species, and it has ever remained lit, like a bright light within each member of the species; and that good intent is handed down through the generations. It is far more potent, that illumination, than any hates of national grudges that might also be passed along. It is imperative, for any peace of mind, that you believe in that existence of man's innate good intent. It is shared by all of the other animals. Each animal knows that under certain conditions the other may fight or posture aggressively, or defend its nest. Each animal knows that in time of hunger it might be hunted by another. Except for those situations, however, the animals are not afraid of each other. They know that each other animal is of good intent. Grant your own species the same.

Seth, The Nature of the Psyche

[johnjamesford]

Sanskrit literature describes 120 talas or time measures. The traditional founder of Hindu music, Bharata, is said to have isolated thirty-two kinds of tala in the song of a lark. The origin of tala or rhythm is rooted in human movements—the double time of walking, and the triple time of respiration in sleep, when inhalation is twice the length of exhalation. India has long recognized the human voice as the most perfect instrument of sound. Hindu music therefore largely confines itself to the voice range of three octaves. For the same reason, melody (relation of successive notes) is stressed, rather than harmony (relation of simultaneous notes). Hindu music is a subjective, spiritual, and individualistic art, aiming not at symphonic brilliance but at personal harmony with the Over-Soul. All the celebrated songs of India have been composed by devotees of the Divine. The Sanskrit word for ‘musician’ is bhagavathar, “he who sings the praises of God.” The sankirtans or musical gatherings are an effective form of yoga or spiritual discipline, necessitating intense concentration, absorption in the seed thought and sound. Because man himself is an expression of the Creative Word, sound exercises on him a potent and immediate effect. Great [music] of East and West bestows joy on man because it causes a temporary vibratory awakening of one of his occult spinal centres. In those blissful moments a dim memory comes to him of his divine origin.

Paramahansa Yogananda

[johnjamesford]

Very strange, very wonderful, seemingly very improbable phenomena may yet appear which, once established, will not astonish us more than we are now astonished at all that science has taught us in the last century. It is assumed that the phenomena which we now accept without surprise, do not excite our astonishment because they are understood. But this is not the case. If they do not surprise us, it is not because they are are understood, it is because they are familiar; for if that which is not understood ought to surprise us, we should be surprised at everything—the fall of a stone thrown into the air, the acorn which becomes an oak, mercury which expands when it is heated, iron attracted by a magnet. The science of today is a light matter…those amazing truths that our descendants will discover are even now all around us, staring us in the eyes, so to speak; and yet we do not see them; we do not wish to see them—for as soon as an unexpected and unfamiliar fact appears, we try to fit it into the framework of the commonplaces of accepted knowledge, and are indignant that anyone should dare to experiment further.

Charles Robert Richet, Nobel laureate in physiology

[johnjamesford]

Suffering itself is a deception; for its core is rapture, which is the attribute of illumination.

Joseph Campbell

[johnjamesford]

No one who is not himself divine can successfully worship divinity.

Gandharva Tantra

[johnjamesford]

It's a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it.

W. Somerset Maugham

[johnjamesford]

Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what next or how. The moment you know how, you begin to die a little.

Agnes de Mille

[johnjamesford]

When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate.

C.G. Jung

[johnjamesford]

A painting is never finished. It simply stops in interesting places.

Paul Gardner

[johnjamesford]

Do not fear mistakes. There are none.

Miles Davis

[johnjamesford]

Your 'shoulds' might tell you to admire Edison, while your heart belongs to Houdini—go with the Houdini side of you for a while.

Julia Cameron

[johnjamesford]

Creativity is...seeing something that doesn't exist already. You need to find out how you can bring it into being and in that way be a playmate with God.

Michele Shea

[johnjamesford]

There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique—and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost.

Martha Graham

[johnjamesford]

What I am actually saying is that we need to be willing to let our intuition guide us, and then be willing to follow that guidance directly and fearlessly.

Shakti Gawain

[johnjamesford]

Undoubtedly, we become what we envisage.

Claude M. Bristol