T'AO CH'IEN

____________________

Unsettled, a bird lost from the flock –
Keeps flying by itself in the dusk.
Back and forth, it has no resting place,
Night after night, more anguished its cries.
Its shrill sound yearns for the pure and distant –
Coming from afar, how anxiously it flutters!

It chances to find a pine tree growing all apart;
Folding its wings, it has come home at last.
In the gusty wind there is no dense growth;
This canopy alone does not decay.
Having found a perch to roost on,
In a thousand years it will not depart.

JOHN FOWLES

____________________

Nature regularly brings tears into my eyes; humans very, very seldom.

LITA BLAKE

Earthly Desires

____________________

"Go back up." The angel chuckled. "Well, that would be easy enough if I wanted to go up, but I assure you that I've had quite enough of up to last forever.' The angel shook with mirth again. 'Or until tomorrow. Or whenever I'm overcome with the lust for it once more. It's quite delightful, except that it's terrifying. Which is, of course, how so many of the best things are.”

JUST ENOUGH
Vegan Recipes and Stories from Japan's Buddhist Temples

Gesshin Claire Greenwood

MUSIC OF A DISTANT DRUM
Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Hebrew Poems

Bernard Lewis

URSULA K. LE GUIN 

The Left Hand of Darkness

____________________

How does one hate a country, or love one? Tibe talks about it; I lack the trick of it. I know people, I know towns, farms, hills and rivers and rocks, I know how the sun at sunset in autumn falls on the side of a certain plowland in the hills; but what is the sense of giving a boundary to all that, of giving it a name and ceasing to love where the name ceases to apply?

What is love of one's country; is it hate of one's uncountry? Then it's not a good thing. Is it simply self-love? That's a good thing, but one mustn't make a virtue of it, or a profession... Insofar as I love life, I love the hills of the Domain of Estre, but that sort of love does not have a boundary-line of hate. And beyond that, I am ignorant, I hope.

WENDELL BERRY

“How To Be a Poet"

____________________

(to remind myself)

I 

Make a place to sit down.   Sit down. Be quiet.   You must depend upon   affection, reading, knowledge,   skill—more of each   than you have—inspiration,   work, growing older, patience,   for patience joins time   to eternity. Any readers   who like your poems,   doubt their judgment. 

II

Breathe with unconditional breath   the unconditioned air.   Shun electric wire.   Communicate slowly. Live   a three-dimensioned life;   stay away from screens.   Stay away from anything   that obscures the place it is in.   There are no unsacred places;   there are only sacred places   and desecrated places. 

III

Accept what comes from silence.   Make the best you can of it.   Of the little words that come   out of the silence, like prayers   prayed back to the one who prays,   make a poem that does not disturb   the silence from which it came.

 HAGAZUSSA

Lukas Feigelfeld

Germany, 2017

SHEIKH HAMZA YUSEF

__________________

Perhaps a sin that humbles you is better than a good deed that makes you arrogant.

J. FRANK CONDON (1872)

___________________

It has been remarked by a wise man that he who wrestles with a hog must expect to be spattered with filth, whether he is vanquished or not. This maxim I have long known and appreciated; nevertheless, there are occasions when it must be disregarded. A man may be attacked in such a way that he is compelled to flagellate his hogship, even at the risk of being contaminated by the unclean beast.

TENNESSEE WILLIAMS

____________________

I do believe that the intelligent person, the moral individual, must avoid evil and cruelty and dishonesties. One can try to pursue a path of virtue. That remains to us, I hope.

EZRA POUND

"Canto XIV"

____________________

With Usura

With usura hath no man a house of good stone
each block cut smooth and well fitting
that design might cover their face,
with usura
hath no man a painted paradise on his church wall
harpes et luz
or where virgin receiveth message
and halo projects from incision,
with usura
seeth no man Gonzaga his heirs and his concubines
no picture is made to endure nor to live with
but it is made to sell and sell quickly
with usura, sin against nature,
is thy bread ever more of stale rags
is thy bread dry as paper,
with no mountain wheat, no strong flour
with usura the line grows thick
with usura is no clear demarcation
and no man can find site for his dwelling.
Stonecutter is kept from his tone
weaver is kept from his loom

WITH USURA
wool comes not to market
sheep bringeth no gain with usura
Usura is a murrain, usura
blunteth the needle in the maid's hand
and stoppeth the spinner's cunning. Pietro Lombardo
came not by usura
Duccio came not by usura
nor Pier della Francesca; Zuan Bellin' not by usura
nor was ‘La Calunnia' painted.
Came not by usura Angelico; came not Ambrogio Praedis,
Came no church of cut stone signed: Adamo me fecit.
Not by usura St. Trophime
Not by usura Saint Hilaire,
Usura rusteth the chisel
It rusteth the craft and the craftsman
It gnaweth the thread in the loom
None learneth to weave gold in her pattern;
Azure hath a canker by usura; cramoisi is unbroidered
Emerald findeth no Memling
Usura slayeth the child in the womb
It stayeth the young man's courting
It hath brought palsey to bed, lyeth
between the young bride and her bridegroom

CONTRA NATURAM
They have brought whores for Eleusis
Corpses are set to banquet
at behest of usura.

MARK Z. DANIELEWSKI

House of Leaves

____________________

Then no matter where you are, in a crowded restaurant or on some desolate street or even in the comforts of your own home, you'll watch yourself dismantle every assurance you ever lived by. You'll stand aside as a great complexity intrudes, tearing apart, piece by piece, all your carefully conceived denials, whether deliberate or unconscious. And for better or worse you'll turn, unable to resist, though try to resist you still will, fighting with everything you've got not to face the thing you most dread, what is now, what will be, what has always come before, the creature you truly are, the creature we all are, buried in the nameless black of a name.

And then the nightmares will begin.

MARGARET MEAD
Interview, 1956

______________________

When human beings have been fascinated by the contemplation of their own hearts, the more intricate biological pattern of the female has become a model for the artist, the mystic, and the saint. When mankind turns instead to what can be done, altered, built, invented, in the outer world, all natural properties of men, animals, or metals become handicaps to be altered rather than clues to be followed. Women want mediocre men, and men are working hard to be as mediocre as possible.

GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
Back to Methuselah

____________________

You use a glass mirror to see your face; you use works of art to see your soul.

BONNIE 'PRINCE' BILLY
“No Bad News”

____________________

Trouble, more trouble can you get anymore
Slow bubble boiling on the bedroom floor
Lonely ain’t lonely, someone calling at the door
Someone lovely and she’s bringing bad news

She clenches and she cries and she lays on the stairs
Pounding on the earth and yanking at her hairs
And showing such fear at being found unawares
To be here and be bringing bad news

Well, something bad happens and a lot of people go
Bad themselves, that’s how awful it is
Turning half the heart into something hard and dark
And she had to bring here this

Well, she’s told, “Hold your buttons and look at the sky
Someone will fix things if you let your face dry
Keep your face near the earth and your heart beat high
And you may transcend the bad news”

Well, something bad happens and a lot of people go
Bad themselves, that’s how awful it is
Turning half the heart into something hard and dark
And she had to bring here this

For all hammers and nails
For all leaves and winds
For all love ambitions
And enemies and friends

BHAGAVAD GĪTĀ

Chapter 18 / Text 48

____________________

Every endeavor is covered by some sort of fault, just as fire is covered by smoke. Therefore one should not give up the work which is born of his nature, O son of Kunti, even if such work is full of fault.

 

JASON EPSTEIN
“This Side of Paradiso”

____________________

The future seems to me a vacuum, while the past, as one considers it, appears substantially uniform, shaped less by new technologies than by predictable human behavior, most of it discouraging. The moral world of The Divine Comedy is, after all, identical to the one we still inhabit.

HOT VEGAN
200 Sultry & Full-Flavored Recipes from Around the World

Robin Robertson

LAURA INGALLS WILDER

Writings to Young Women from Laura Ingalls Wilder: On Wisdom and Virtues

____________________

As the years pass, I am coming more and more to understand that it is the common, everyday blessings of our common everyday lives for which we should be particularly grateful. They are the things that fill our lives with comfort and our hearts with gladness -- just the pure air to breathe and the strength to breath it; just warmth and shelter and home folks; just plain food that gives us strength; the bright sunshine on a cold day; and a cool breeze when the day is warm.

CHÖGYAM TRUNGPA
“The Nameless Child”

____________________

There is a mountain of gold. When the sun’s rays strike it, it is irritating to look at. It is surrounded by red, green, yellow, orange, pink and liver-colored clouds, wafted gently by the wind. Around the mountain fly thousands of copper-winged birds with silver heads and iron beaks. A ruby sun rises in the East and a crystal moon sets in the West. The whole earth is covered with pearl-dust snow. Upon it a luminous child without a name instantaneously comes into being.

The golden mountain is dignified, the sunlight is blazing red.
Dreamlike clouds of many colors float across the sky.
In the place where iron birds croak,
The instantaneously-born child can find no name.

Because he has no father, the child has no family line. Because he has no mother, he has never tasted milk. Because he has neither brother nor sister, he has no one to play with. Having no house to live in, he cannot find a crib. Since he has no nanny, he has never cried. There is no civilization, so he cannot find toys. Since there is no point of reference, he doesn’t know a self. He has never heard spoken language, so he has never experienced fear.

The child walks in every direction, but does not come across anything. He sits down slowly on the ground. Nothing happens. The colorful world seems sometimes to exist and sometimes not. He gathers a handful of pearl dust and lets it trickle through his fingers. He gathers another handful and slowly takes it into his mouth. Hearing the pearl dust crunch between his teeth, he gazes at the ruby sun setting and the crystal moon rising. Suddenly a whole galaxy of stars wondrously appears and he lies on his back to admire their patterns. The nameless child falls into a deep sleep, but has no dreams.

The child’s world has no beginning or end.
To him, colors are neither beautiful nor ugly.
The child’s nature has no preconceived notion of birth and death.
The golden mountain is solid and unchanging.
The ruby sun is all-pervading.
The crystal moon watches over millions of stars.
The child exists without preconceptions.

IRIS MURDOCH

____________________

Beauty is the convenient and traditional name of something which art and nature share, and which gives a fairly clear sense to the idea of quality of experience and change of consciousness. I am looking out of my window in an anxious and resentful state of mind, oblivious of my surroundings, brooding perhaps on some damage done to my prestige. Then suddenly I observe a hovering kestrel. In a moment everything is altered. The brooding self with its hurt vanity has disappeared. There is nothing now but kestrel. And when I return to thinking of the other matter it seems less important. And of course this is something which we may also do deliberately: give attention to nature in order to clear our minds of selfish care.

HAROLD PINTER
Silence

____________________

Now and again I meet my drinking companion and have a drink with her. She is a friendly woman, quite elderly, quite friendly. But she knows little of me, she could never know much of me, not really, not now. She’s funny. She starts talking sexily to me, in the corner, with our drinks. I laugh.

CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS

____________________

I am absolutely convinced that the main source of hate in the world is religion and organized religion. Absolutely convinced of that. And I think it should be - religion - treated with ridicule, hatred, and contempt.

So when I say that I think religion poisons everything, I’m not just doing what publishers like and coming up with a provocative subtitle. I mean to say it infects us in our most basic integrity.

It says we can’t be moral without “Big Brother,” without a totalitarian permission. It means we can’t be good to one another without this. It means we must be afraid.

We must also be forced to love someone whom we fear - the essence of sado-masochism, the essence of abjection, the essence of the Master/Slave relationship. And that it knows death is coming, and can’t wait to bring it on.

I say that is Evil.

And though I do, some nights, stay home, I enjoy more the nights when I go out and fight against this ultimate wickedness and this ultimate stupidity.

FLANNERY O'CONNOR

____________________

Accepting oneself does not preclude an attempt to become better.

MARGARET ATWOOD

____________________

I write as if I’ve lived a lot of things I haven’t lived.

NĀGĀRJUNA
Mūlamadhyamakakārikā (Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way)

____________________

The pacification of all cognitive grasping and
The pacification of conceptual proliferation
Are peace.

VEGAN 100
Over 100 Incredible Recipes from Avant-Garde Vegan

Gaz Oakley

Circus Magazine
October 1977

EGON SCHIELE - EROS AND PASSION

Klaus Albrecht Schröder

THE ART OF PLANT-BASED CHEESEMAKING
How to Craft Real, Cultured, Non-Dairy Cheese

Karen McAthy

BISH BASH BOSH!

Henry Firth & Ian Theasby

SAMUEL BECKETT

The Unnamable

____________________

Bah, the latest news, the latest news is not the last.

 

FREDERICK DOUGLASS

____________________

Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground.

JOSEPHINE BAKER

____________________

I have never really been a great artist. I have been a human being that has loved art, which is not the same thing. But I have loved and believed in art and the idea of universal brotherhood so much, that I have put everything I have into them, and I have been blessed.

DakhaBrakha & Karbido. 
GogolFestTV 2013

NINA GARENETSKA
Vokals, cello, bass drum

MARKO HALANEVYCH
Vokals, darbuka, tabla, didjeridoo, accordion, trombone

IRYNA KOVALENKO
Vokals, djembe, bass drums, accordion, percussion, bugay, zgaleyka, piano

OLENA TSYBULSKA
Vokals, bass drums, percussion, garmoshka

HAROLD PINTER
Old Times

____________________

What worries me is the thought of your husband rumbling about alone in his enormous villa living hand to mouth on a few hardboiled eggs and unable to speak a damn word of English.

FLANNERY O'CONNOR

____________________

The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.

PIER PAOLO PASOLINI
From Selected Poems

It’s not Love. But what fault is it of mine
if my affections do not become
Love? Very much my fault, I would say,
when I can live from day to day
on mad purity, blind pity…
Make a scandal of meekness.
But the violence of the senses and intellect
that has confounded me for years
was the only way.

THE FORKS OVER KNIVES PLAN
How to Transition to the Life-Saving, Whole-Food, Plant-Based Diet

Alona Pulde & Matthew Lederman

JOHN FOWLES

The Magus
____________________

“The human race is unimportant. It is the self that must not be betrayed.“

“I suppose one could say that Hitler didn’t betray his self.”

“You are right. He did not. But millions of Germans did betray their selves. That was the tragedy. Not that one man had the courage to be evil. But that millions had not the courage to be good.”