Within The Mandala

The mandala is the privileged place, the axis of the mental and physical universe where the follower realizes the space. The psychic and physical life of the individual reflects that of the universe.

"Know yourself and you will know the universe."
~Socrates

~Jan Hollan took these photos from the roof of the Nicholas Copernicus Observatory and Planetarium in Brno. He used a wide angle adaptor, and captured these images when the sky cleared, toward the end of the "European" aurora on Jan 21, 2005.

I wanted a perfect ending.
Now I've learned, the hard way,
that some poems don't rhyme,
and some stories don't have
a clear beginning, middle, and end.
Life is about not knowing,
having to change,
taking the moment and making the best of it,
without knowing what's going to happen next.

~Gilda Radner

Often we do not know

Often we do not know what is really going on. Our perspective can barely accommodate another person’s point of view, no less the forward march of evolution or the eternal mind of God. Better to admit not knowing and to relax in the mystery of life than to try to force our minds where they can’t go.

~Elizabeth Lesser

Doubt

There is a time in life for doubt
Close as a lover, a shadow, a ghost
We walk for a while, my hand in his

Then comes a time in life for looking
I turn and see him, my friend Doubt
He stands there all knowing and looks back at me

Oh-! It must be me who is Doubt!
He smiles and we walk for a while, my hand in his
Close as a lover, a shadow, a ghost

This is how doubt goes, in sweetly measured steps
and in those ghost shadows we find
there is a time in life for knowing…

~Grace Gibson

Flame

A Bedouin sits by his fire
Who am I? he asks the embers
Touch me and find out, comes the answer

The man turns around and says to his camel
I have been out here too long –
I am having a conversation with a pile of burning dung…

The camel blinks stupidly;
no one can tell what a camel is thinking
The Bedouin shrugs and turns back to his fire
Truly, If I touch you, I will know who I am?

No, cracks the fire. But you will know two things…
Curious, the man asks – what two things?
You will know pain and you will know you are not pain

How stupid, grumbles the man
Indeed, says the fire
You have been confused for a long time.

~Grace Gibson