at United Airlines Station Operations Center
See on Path
Month: April 2014
at Concourse B
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at Airside Turnstiles : DIA
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at Starbucks
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Daly Tao / 97 – Encouragement
One thousand miles from home,
I open the same prayer book.
Some nights it was only obligation;
Tonight, it is comfort.
It’s best to be patient and persevering. Devotion may sometimes seem to be pure drudgery. Away from home, it’s possible to gain a new outlook. Taken from its usual context, our commitment can stand out all the more brilliantly. Something that may have become like a bit and bridle may now be warm and comforting. That is why one should master one’s emotions, and use discipline to even out the ups and downs of impulse.
When traveling, we are away from our usual surroundings, including those elements that suppress and restrict us. Nearly all of us have fears, frustrations, and inhibitions that we have acquired in the past; time and distance help us to assess them more clearly. To overcome them takes courage and initiative. How can we do it if our very problem is fear and timidity? That is when we need a friend to help and encourage us. They can give us the guidance and support to face our fears. Although they can neither live our lives nor solve our problems outright, they can provide an invaluable presence just when we most need it.
Within ourselves, our daily devotions are the way to encourage ourselves to persevere. With others, encouragement is the way to be compassionate.
One Word Movie Review
time for another One Word movie Review.
Today it’s :
Captain America: The WinterSolider
phenomenal.
Daily Tao / 96 – Constancy
Clear sunlight on falling snow: fire and ice.
Bare-boned trees stark to the horizon,
Cold marshes, havens to ducks and geese.
A groundhog sits motionless on a post.
Wherever we are, the constant flow of Tao is ever present. We see the cycle of opposites, such as the juxtaposition of sunlight and snow. We notice the ongoing rhythms of life : waterfowl carrying on their lives even as spring is slow to warm and leafless trees stand in anticipation of warmer weather. All things change, all things move constantly. The world is like the ongoing turning of a magnificent wheel. All things come in their own time.
Just as a groundhog sits motionless in the moving of the seasons, so too should we look within and slowly absorb the time. Within all the movement, the groundhog takes time to be still. Within all the changing of spring, we must take time to notice the constancy of inner devotion.
No matter how much is going on outside of oneself, one still reaffirms what is in one’s heart, taking comfort in the regular pulse. What works in the shelter of home or temple works everywhere. Only when we know such constancy will be know that our quest is succeeding.
Daily Tao / 95 – Travel
Body is the tabernacle.
Traveling one thousand miles,
The gods are still in place.
The body is the temple of the gods. It should be kept clean and pure, so that the holiest of events can take place. Sacred, it should be kept undefiled. Consecrated, its interior is where the deepest questions are explored.
In olden times, the devout carried tabernacles so that they could keep up their devotions when when far from their homes. Their gods were inside these boxes, protected and treasured. Followers of Tao believe that the gods are within themselves. Therefore, wherever they go, they carry the gods within them.
During their travels, when they come to a resting place, they open not a receptacle but themselves. They carry their sense of “place” within themselves. Even while sojourning, they remain oriented to their inner sacredness. Perhaps they can even make breakthroughs more quickly, for the preoccupations of the mind are no longer present to interfere with the flow of the divine. Once people connect to their inner strength, there is no end to the wonders of travel.
Daily Tao / 94 – Practice
Spiritual success is gained by daily cultivation.
If you practiced for the day, then you have won.
If you were lazy for the day, then you have lost.
Self-cultivation is the heart of spiritual attainment. Gaining insight and ability is not a matter of grand statements, dramatic initiations, or sporadic moments of enlightenment. Those things are only highlights in a life of consistent activity.
Whatever system of spirituality you practice, do it every day. If it is prayer, then pray every day. If it is meditation, then meditate every day. If it is exercise, then exercise every day. Only then will you be able to say that you are truly practicing spirituality.
This methodical approach is reassuring in several ways. First, it provides you with a process and a means to maintain progress even if that particular day is not inspiring or significant. Just to practice is already good. Secondly, it gives you a certain faith. If you practice every day, it is inevitable that you will gain from it. Thirdly, constant practice gives you a certain satisfaction. How can you say to yourself that you have truly entered a spiritual path unless you can look back on years of daily practice and take comfort in the momentum that it has given you?
at Kaiser Permanente East Denver
See on Path
my mostly unfabulous life 