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The Caverns of the Mind are Open
The caverns of my mind are open, and they will not close. A good mind ought to be incited, a bad mind restrained. To think the man, whose ample mind must grasp whatever yonder stars survey—what is your opinion of that image of the mind’s grasping the whole Universe? It is the first proof of a superior mind to liberate itself from prejudices of country or of education. Love for country, whilst it has occasioned some men to do noble deeds, has caused others to commit wild extravagances. Like the rainbow, Peace rests upon the Earth, but its arch is lost in Heaven. #RandolphHarris 1 of 9
On the whole, the fighters, dead and alive, ought to be very thankful that things turned out so well. Peace is only a name for civil war. Life itself is civil war; and our enemies are more or less strong and numerous, according to circumstances. A poor prince who is weak in cavalry, and whose whole infantry does not exceed a single man, had best quit the field. A certain readiness to perish is not so very rare, but it is seldom that you meet men whose hearts, steeled in the impenetrable armor of resolution, are ready to fight a losing battle to the last. #RandolphHarris 2 of 9
War or battle as a thing very beastly, and yet to no kind of beasts in so much use as to man, they do detest and abhor in Utopia. And contrary to the custom almost of all other nations, they count nothing so much against glory as glory gotten war. For the wrong done by one captain, all the captains conspire to do greater wrongs; and the blazing dwellings by midnight, the poor woman and her naked children escaping from the flames to perish of hunger; the gibbeted soldier on the nighest tree; and the wanton murder of the shrieking babe, quieted in its screams upon the bayonet of the yelling soldiers—these are the means by which, repairing one wrong, war does a thousand greater. #RandolphHarris 3 of 9
There is no casting of swine’s meat before men worse than that which would flatter virtue as though her true origin were not good enough for her, but she must have a lineage, deduced as it were by spiritual heralds, from some stock with which she has nothing to do. Virtue’s true lineage is older and more respectable than any that can be invented for her. As there are virtues which are their own reward, so there are vices which are amply their own punishment. Such is the power of virtue over the heart, that even a long course of vice will not render us wholly invulnerable to its divine influence. #RandolphHarris 4 of 9
Virtue alone is true honor, true freedom, and solid, durable happiness. Every man that is destitute of virtue is at heart a coward. The pressure of suppressed feelings is later felt as irritability, mood swings, tensions in the muscles of the neck and back, headaches, cramps, bleeding disorders, colitis, indigestion, insomnia, hypertension, allergies, and other somatic conditions. Weak as virtues, frail as guilty natures. Revenge may be wicked, but it is natural. For little more than the pleasure of revenge and the lust of bloodshed, our hostile clans do the work of executioners on each other. #RandolphHarris 6 of 9
There are plenty of boys that will come hankering and groveling around you when you have got an apple and beg the core off of you; but when they have got one, and you ask for the core and remind them how you gave them a core one time, they say thank you most to death, but there is not a-going to be no core. However, I notice they always get come up with; all you got to do it wait. When we repress feelings, it is because there is much guilt and fear over the feeling that it is not even consciously felt at all. It becomes instantly thrust into the unconscious as soon as it threatens to emerge. The repressed feeling is then handled in a variety of ways to ensure that it stays repressed and out of awareness. #RandolphHaris 7 of 9
Interest is the primum mobile of all human actions, at whose shrine are constantly sacrificed every tender virtue, every social perfection. Vice there puts on the appearance of virtue. Grandeur and magnificence may change the very nature of vice, and render criminality innocent. It is the guilty heart, not the guilty hand, which merits the vengeance of Heaven. Of these mechanisms used by the mind to keep the feeling repressed, denial and projection are perhaps the best-known methods, as they tend to go together and reinforce each other. There are no devils but those which are begotten upon selfishness and reared by cunning. He or she that is shipped with the devil must sail with the devil. #RandolphHarris 8 of 9
Pray what sort of gentleman is the devil? For I have heard some say there is no such person; and that it only a trick of the parsons to prevent their being broke; for, if it was publically known that there was no devil, the parsons would be of no more use than soldiers in peace. Methought, if there be no devil, how can wicked people be sent to him? Denial results in major emotional and maturational blocks. It usually accompanied by the mechanism of projection. Because of guilt and fear, many repress the impulse of feeling, much like Cody Stark, Tony Lopez, Dave Bender, Kevin Maurice Johnson, Jerry Brown, and other trashy harlots are to live with themselves because they deny its presence within them. Satan has faithful instruments, and the bond of wickedness is stronger than the ties of virtue. #RandolphHarris 9 of 9
Shaken Out of Destiny’s Dice-Box
It is not the least evil attendant upon the frequent exhibition of this last dread punishment, of Death, that it hardens the minds of those who deal it out, and makes them, though they be amiable men in other respects, indifferent to, or unconscious of, their great responsibility. I know no more than the dead. Thoughts are filed in the memory bank according to the various shades of feelings associated with those thoughts. Therefore, when we relinquish or let go of a feeling, we are freeing ourselves from all of the associated thoughts. Perhaps the dead know better, if they could only tell us. #RyanPhillippe 1 of 5
The great value of knowing how to surrender is that any and all feelings can be let go of at any time and any place in an instant, and it can be done continuously and effortlessly. When Death strikes down the innocent and young, for every fragile form from which he lets the panting spirit free, a hundred virtues rise, in shapes of mercy, charity, and love, to walk the World, and bless it. I had wanted to compromise Fate: to escape occasional great agonies by submitting to a whole life of privation and small pains. Fate would not so be pacified; nor would Providence sanction this shrinking sloth and cowardly indolence. #RyanPhillippe 2 of 5
When any uncommon event happens to us, we often have a presentiment of it. The surrendered state means to be free of negative feelings in a given area so that creativity and spontaneity can manifest without opposition or the interference of inner conflict. To be free of inner conflict and expectations is to give others in our life the greatest freedom. It allows us to experience the basic nature of the Universe, which, it will be discovered, is to manifest the greatest good possible in a situation. The may sound philosophical, however, when done, it is experientially true. Heaven is above all. The curtain of our fate is still undrawn. #RyanPhillippe 3 of 5
Man is short-sighted creature at best, and in nothing more than in that of fixing his own felicity; or, as we may say, choosing himself. Not even the suicide expiries an instant before the period marked out by his destiny. Sickness, playing sick, which is a large part of this getting crazy, is not but the quest for environmental support…Regression means a withdrawal to a position where I can provide my own support, where I can feel secure. Often, if I have been trying to solve a problem for a very long time, withdrawing from it for a time—to get perspective or gather strength—may be an effective solution. However, people who habitually use withdrawal as a defense find their problems only getting worse, never being solved. #RyanPhillippe 4 of 5
Rationalization is also another technique people used to help them get through life. A lot of my friends cannot afford a Victorian mansions and so they say things like: No one wants an old house; it is probably going to fall apart anyway. Or they claim they do not want a Victorian mansion because you cannot make many changes to it by law, people constantly report you if you do things they do not like to the house, and you have to bribe city officials to get permits. Some even go as far as to say they are public homes people they get so much attention and people are always taking pictures of them. However, people need to stop rationalizing about the situation! Like most defense mechanisms, rationalization is a technique used by many people. However, it can be used to an extent that the person feels compelled to go through the rationalization process for every single thing that happens to him. #RyanPhillippe 5 of 5
He that Hath Been Bitten by a Serpent is Afraid of a Rope
Goodness and greatness are synonymous words. Weak men, who, meddling with things too high for them, do suddenly fall into distractions, which distractions do not only unman men, but they run upon desperate ventures to obtain they know not what. There is something almost pathetic in the humbleness of a young man’s strength before the object of his first true love. It is the abasement of the real before the ideal; but if the ideal fails, the real takes vengeance of the man for having trodden it under. Heaven always proportions our strength to the trials which it lays before us. Stress can no longer be regarded as a typical response to events or pressure from outside nor as the specific result of particular actions of our own. Instead, it is a common feature of all biological activities. The magnitude of stress can be determined by measurable effects upon the body, specifically in such functions as: adrenal stimulation, shrinkage of lymphatic organs, gastrointestinal ulcers, loss of body weight, and alterations in the chemical composition of the body. No man is strong enough to take liberties with his public. When stress is absent, life is absent. When stress is present, life is present. Stress is an essential element of all our actions, in health and in disease. Disease is not only suffering, but also toil. That is, the body fights to restore itself toward normal. Disease is not mere surrender to an ailment, but also fight for health; and unless there is a fight, there is no disease. Contrast this to the person born with a physical disability. In such a condition there is no toil; the fight was lost long ago and now there is peace in the body, although it is a scarred body. Strength is incomprehensible by weakness, and therefore more terrible. Stress equalizes bodily activities. It prevents overexertion in either work or rest. If I am carrying a heavy suitcase with one arm, fatigue sets in rapidly.
Fatigue is a sign of local stress and call for change. If there is proportionately too much stress in any one part, you require diversion. If there is too much stress in the body as a whole, you must rest. Nature likes variety…if I use the same parts of my body or mind over and over again, the only means nature has to force me out of the groove is: stress. The essence of stress may be understood as a three-stage process: the alarm that something is wrong, the resistance of the organism to that malfunctioning, and the submission of the organism to the condition. I am struck by the parallel with the process of pieces and parts transformed into peace. The initial shock of recognition comes in the alarm that something is wrong. The middle confrontation of intentions shows my resistance to what is upsetting. The final recognition of choices appears with submission to the situation. No one is blamed for suffering an evil he cannot avoid. Evocative therapies focus on general stress while minimizing specific symptoms. They are dealing with the general alarm system that alerts the whole body to the assault of stress. As the person grows more aware of influences and choices, the alarm system no longer goes off at the slightest stress. One is more oneself and so can deal with stressful situations with appropriately circumscribed discriminations. We are born to suffer—and to bear it. Directive therapies shift the focus from the general to the specific. As a responsible individual, I have to regain control, and find healthy ways to alleviate the presenting complaints. Stress is resisted with the least expenditure of my energy. One I am freed from the specific symptoms triggering the general alarm, general stress disappears. I am more able to do what I want because appropriate energy is available. Energy is perhaps of all qualities the most valuable. It is rare to meet a man who has lived much in the World who has not persuaded himself that caution is always the result of wisdom.
Struggles with the natural character, the strong native bent of the heart, may seem futile and fruitless, but in the end they do good. They tend, however slightly, to give the actions, the conduct, that turn which Reason approves, and which Feeling, perhaps, too often opposes they certainly make a difference in the general tenor of a life, and enable it to be better regulated, more equable, quieter on the surface; and it is on the surface only the common gage will fall. As to what lies below, leave that with God. When we utilize these techniques of relinquishing the negative and surrendering resistance to finding beneficial solutions, sooner or later we come into a sudden, comprehensive awareness of our true nature. Once this has been experienced, it will never be forgotten. The World will never intimidate us again as it once did. There may be continued compliance with the ways of the inner vulnerability, and the inner doubt is now gone. Outwardly, the behavior may appear the same, but inwardly, the causes for it are now totally different. The end result of the conscious handling of emotions is invulnerability and imperturbability. Our inner nature is now bullet proof. We are able to go through the World with balance and grace. Day after day, and almost every day, one meets censure which is felt to be unjust;–but the general result of all this injustice is increased efficiency. It is not mere industry that will produce good work, nor yet skill, nor even genius. My heart, as an artist, must be thrust with all its gushing tides into the performance of life.
Little Boy Blue II–Sanctuary Allows Passage from One Realm to Another
To be in the special place—the space of the Center—one comes to experience a fixed and focused orientation. In the midst of the disruptive, one discovers order. The entrance into the special castle constitutes the boundary line between inner and outer reality. It sets the limit that distinguishes the chaos of the passing from the orderliness of the permanent. #RandolphHarris 1 of 4
Yet the entrance, also paradoxically, expresses the coincidence of opposites. It is the place where the World of pain and the World of healing meet. The unusual, bizarre, unknown, meaningless, threatening real of the transient begins to be inhabited and possessed. To dwell in one’s previously rejected experience is equivalent to founding a new World, to entering a new life. #RandolphHarris 2 of 4
It is by virtue of the temple that the World is resanctified in every part. The special place reduces and eventually destroys the arbitrary distinction between the safety of the sanctuary and the threat of the World. The World once again reveals itself as cosmos, as ordered, as oriented, as sacred, as really real. #RandolphHarris 3 of 4
With me, this special space assumed crucial significance. The need for power compensates for a lack of love. This is not inherently bad; however, it arises from a lack of clarity and obscures the openness of the shared field of awareness. The castle served to protect us from uncontrollable emotion. There I had to face what I feared, yet felt shielded from its consequence. The castle gave me a place to experience the pieces, to explore the parts, and to center myself. #RandolphHarris 4 of 4
Little Boy Blue–Sanctuary Allows Passage from One Realm to Another
We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another. For us the meaning of taboo branches off into two opposite directions. On the one hand it means to us, sacred, consecrated: but on the other hand it means, uncanny, dangerous, forbidden, and unclean. A taboo is an expression itself of something in prohibition and restriction. Our combination of holy dread would often express the meaning of taboo. In other cases, objects of the taboo are many: direct taboos aimed at protection of important persons—chiefs, priests, etc.—and things against harm. It is also used to safeguard people of virtue and vulnerability, and protect them from initiation, marriage, and sexual functions—against interference; securing human beings against the wrath or power of gods and spirits. The taboo restrictions are different from religious or moral prohibitions. They are not traced to a commandment of a god, but really they themselves impose their own prohibitions; they are differentiated from moral prohibitions by failing to be included in a system which declares abstinences in general to be necessary and gives reason for this necessity. For instance, people may call an individual “crazy” and spread this throughout the community to place economic sanctions on a person and make their livelihood for that individual nearly impossible. The taboo prohibition lacks all justification and are of unknown origin. Though incomprehensible to us, they are taken as a matter of course by those who are under their dominance. #RandolphHarris 1 of 3
Sometimes taboos are imposed in order to secure against thieves the property of an individual, his fields, tools, and although this is the 21st century, even in America, some deem people as their property, and there are disputes of “ownership,” this is why some may label a person, as it is more of a ritual prohibition of a different nature. The violated taboo avenged itself. Wherever the taboo was related to ideas of gods and demons an automatic punishment was expected from the power of the godhead. In other cases, probably as a result of a further development of the idea, society took over the punishment of the offender, whose action has endangered his companions. The violation of a taboo makes the offender himself taboo. The dangers resulting from the violation of a taboo may be exercised through acts of penance and ceremonies of purification. A peculiar power inherent in persons and ghost, which can be transmitted from them to inanimate objects is regarded as a source of taboo. Persons or things which are regarded as taboo may be compared to objects charged with electricity; they are the seat of tremendous power which is transmissible by contact, and may be liberated with destructive effect if the organisms which provoke its discharge are too weak to resist it. #RandolphHarris 2 of 3
Transgressions of taboos are usually punished automatically in the most severe manner. There are reliable reports that innocent transgressions of such prohibitions have actually been punished automatically. For instance, the innocent offender who had eaten from a forbidden animal became deeply depressed, expected his death and actually died. The prohibitions mostly concern matters which are capable of enjoyment such as freedom of movement and unrestrained intercourse; in some cases, they appear very ingenious, evidently representing obstinences, and renunciations; in other cases, their content is quite incomprehensible, they seem to concern themselves with trifles and give the impression of ceremonials. Each of us must play a number of roles. These increase in number and complexity as a child becomes an adult, and the rules for the role may change, as well. Some roles carry more prestige than others. We are born into primary groups and choose secondary groups. Part of growing up is transference of loyalty from primary to secondary groups. How an individual reacts to authority figures is determined in large measure by his relationship to his own parents. This relationship is usually generalized to apply to other authority figures. This special place always symbolized Center. It marked the meeting point of Heaven, Earth, and Hell. Mythically, the summit of the cosmic mountain marked both the highest point on Earth and also Earth’s navel, the point at which creation originated. Thus, the sanctuary allows passage from one realm to another, from the vibrant underground to the controlled ordinariness to the ecstatic transcendent. Here is the realm of the Real. However, the passage, the road, the way leading to the sacred place is always fraught with difficulty. Because of the transition from the profane to the sacred, from the illusion to reality, from time to eternity, from death to life, from chaos to cosmos, the way is perilous. #RandolphHarris 3 of 3
Overcoming Hardships, being Crazy and Laziness– Even I have Interest
Children who are abused may grow up constructing a hopeless, or vindictive, image of self. In Jesus’ encounter with the man possessed by demons, he asked “What is your name?” The answer was, “My name is Legion, for I am in many pieces” (see Mark 5:1-20). People who have such a distorted self nevertheless feel compelled to satisfy its needs. If they think they need more power, or money, or love, or adventure, they will do everything to satisfy that need even beyond what is good for them in the long run. In such cases a person’s psychic energy, directed by an ill-conceived ego, is likely to cause entropy in the environment as well as within consciousness. As soon as the man was able to label and thereby identify his experience, he began to recover his peace. #RyanPhillippe 1 of 10
Being without a sense of self, an animal will exert itself until its biological needs are satisfied, but not much further. It will attack prey, defend its territory, fight for a mate, but when these imperatives are taken care of, it will rest. If, however, a man develops a self-image based on power, or wealth, there are no limits to his exertions. He will pursue the goal set by the self relentlessly, even if he has to ruin his health in the process, even if he has to destroy other people along the way. It is important that one gets to know oneself, and understand its peculiarities. It is then possible to separate those needs that really help us to navigate through life, from those malignant growths that sprout from them and make our lives miserable. #RyanPhillippe 2 of 10
Out of the forgiveness of others come self-forgiveness and the relief of guilt. With this increased awareness of who we really are comes the progressive invulnerability to pain. Once we compassionately accept our own humanness and that of others, we are no longer subject to humiliation, for true humility is part of greatness. Out of recognition of who we really are comes the desire to seek that which is uplifting. Out of it arises a new meaning and context for life. When that inner emptiness, due to lack of self-worth, is replaced by true self-love, self-respect, and esteem, we no longer have to seek it in the World, for that source of happiness is in ourselves. I can forget the unreturned fate, but I cannot forget your image and my love. #RyanPhillippe 3 of 10
When you can run into a devoted friend persistent in promise, faith, courage, and loyalty, you feel like an eagle soaring in the sky and a fish swimming in the sea, and you will never feel lonely. No amount of riches can compensate for the inner feeling of poverty. We all know many multimillionaires who try to compensate for their inner sense of hollowness and lack of inner worth. Once we have contacted this inner Self, this inner greatness, this inner completion, contentment, and true sense of happiness, we have transcended the World. The World is now a place to enjoy, and we are no longer run by it. We are no longer at the effect of it. #RyanPhillippe 4 of 10
Instead of being goal oriented, sometimes we have to trust in the unfolding process of self-discovery. Become more frequently open emotionally, present in the moment, engaged in activities, intimate, spacious, and compassionate. My attention tends to be more innocent and affectionate, and naturally I have a unique flavor and presentation because of my personality, gifts, and life experiences. Every thought, feeling, and sensation is acceptable in the space of just being together. It is an open space to simply be with self and another individual without an agenda to fix or change anything. This way of being together can continue as long as it feels fruitful to both parties. #RyanPhillippe 5 of 10
It is not the setback that is dreadful, but the despair in failure and repentance. All can start anew, and hope is within you. On the voyage of our life, everything will become antiquated except time. There is a red Sun greeting you everyday. It is another promising day, please cherish it! As we sit in this quiet contact, we are aware of various thoughts, feelings, and sensations. Because we are relatively peaceful within, we have discovered that these thoughts, feelings, and sensations often correspond to what are mate is experiencing at the same time. This is the surprising phenomenon of empathic resonance, which happens more frequently as the shared field between mates deepens. #RyanPhillippe 6 of 10
Empathic resonance sounds so nice to me, it is a chance to vibe with someone and become intimate, without getting sexual or having a superficial conversation. Have you ever been on a date, or been in love with someone and not want to spend time talk about your life or the past, but would like to fast forward through that and just sit together, watch TV, listen to music, or your thoughts and just be present in that moment without putting on a show? Well, that is basically empathic resonance. Usually there is a mutual sensation of dropping into a deeper place together. It is like a collaborative exploration. The intimacy of this shared field sometimes also brings up one’s resistance to being present and letting go. #RyanPhillippe 7 of 10
Often times people report negative self-judgments, strong feeling such as fear, shame, anger, or grief, as well as sensations of contraction in our bodies. Transderential phenomena are very common. It is the unconscious redirection of the feelings from on person to another. Some may project a critical, abusive, engulfing, or uncaring caretaker onto their mate, and fear attack, absorption, dependency, or abandonment. Alternatively, they may idealize their partner as the loving, caring, and protective reincarnation, of some important figure out of his childhood or past, and consequently transfers on to him feelings and reactions which undoubtedly applied to this prototype. The intimacy of the contact may also evoke strong erotic feelings when there are sensations of melting and merging. #RyanPhillippe 8 of 10
This fact of transference soon proves to be a factor of undreamt-of importance, on the other hand a source of serious dangers. This transference is ambivalent: it comprises beneficial (affectionate) as well as negative (hostile) attitudes towards the objection of your affection. The reason being there may be a few misunderstandings between the two and they have not been able to expression them, but the feeling of love is the strongest emotion. Likely, they have both done things to hurt each other, but more loving things than unloving. So sometimes old memories come up or an illusion may create a situation, which disrupts their harmony. The good thing is the couple is not trying to impress each other, they are able to be real and move forward. #RyanPhillippe 9 of 10
Together, the two have been able to become a true motivating force and are not worried about winning love nor applause. Other aspects of the two, as they pick up their shattered souls, becomes strong; under each other’s influence they are able to achieve things that would ordinarily be beyond their power; they leave off the symptoms and seem apparently to have recovered—merely for the sake of their relationship. Both may admit that they set out on a difficult undertaking without any suspicion of the extraordinary powers that would be at their command. As obstacles in the castle stir up the gurgling, hardships and setbacks in the lifetime, they also facilitate two rational people to compose splendid music movement. #RyanPhillippe 10 of 10
Ryan Phillippe
Celestial Body Beyond the Galaxy
A reviving personality must be nourished with another kind of new communication—communication with other people. We have become too enamored of ourselves. An example is the inability of people to form commitments, which has resulted in half the urban population in developed countries spending their lives alone, and in the dissolution of such a high proportion of marriages. Another is the increasing disillusionment that people report, in survey after survey, with most of the institutions that we had previously trusted, and with the individuals who lead them. #RyanPhillippe 1 of 9
Besides opening yourself to the riches of art and knowledge, you must also open yourself to new friendships, particularly to those which can reinforce your newly expanded interests. How long has it been since you noticed yourself warming to someone new, how long since you made even the mildest effort to bring a new person into your life and affections? Thank you. It is you that open the window to my heart. It is you who makes me see the vast World, celestial body beyond the Galaxy, tomorrow, and future, yesterday, and all things millions of billions of years ago. #RyanPhillippe 2 of 9
Do not underestimate the difficulty of this process. The true revolution of our times is the disappearance for friendship. Most of us are far out of the habit of searching for friends and retaining them that we feel it awkward and painful to begin. However, there is nothing so satisfying as success in this regard, and noting so basic to the problem of subduing the Type A’s free-floating hostility. It appears that the individuals who are supported by love and secure family and community bonds can cope much better with stressful psychological situations than individuals who are deprived of such support. #RyanPhillippe 3 of 9
More and more, we seem to ignore things we do not like and pretend they do not happen in order to avoid confronting bad news, and people are withdrawing into gated communities protected by armed response. However, a good personal life is impossible while staying aloof of a corrupt society. It would be much easier if we were responsible only for ourselves. Unfortunately, things do not work that way. An active responsibility for the rest of humankind, and for the World of which we are a part, is a necessary ingredient of a good life. #RyanPhillippe 4 of 9
Act always as if the future of the Universe depends on what you do, and realize you can make a difference. I will not attempt to win your delight and will not be concerned about whether I will gain your love. Since I am now totally attached to you, I should tell you the truth. How many times I want to see your happy smile. How many times I have a good time with your whispering face to face. I have been laughing with you, full of tender feelings; I have gained your elation which only love gives you. I like to gaze at you in silence, and to be gazed at the same; I wish to be deeply loved by you and love you as deeply. #RyanPhillippe 5 of 9
Words can be used to defend rather than connect, and talking can be a barrier to intimacy. Stay in touch with yourself and with me as we are in quiet contact. While this contact accents silence, it does not exclude words, since being holds them both. Verbal silence usually does not signify a corresponding inner silence, but it does allow the mind to relax so that we may experience sincerity, beauty, and love. I will embroider with emotional stitches one pattern after another of happiness to be embedded in you and my hearts. I love you faithfully and sincerely. #RyanPhillippe 6 of 9
Conversely, the part of an individual that wants to cling to negative emotions is the smallness. It is a portion of one that is mean, petty, selfish, competitive, cheap, conniving, mistrusting, vindictive, judgmental, diminished, weak, guilty, ashamed, and vain. It has little energy; it is depleting, demeaning, and leads to the lowering of self-respect. It is the small part of people that accounts for their self-hatred, unending guilty, and seeking for punishment, sickness, and disease. Is that the part with which we want to identify? Is that the part we want to energize? Is that the way we want to see ourselves? Because if that is the way we see ourselves, that is the way others will see us. #RyanPhillippe 7 of 9
Let my blessing, like your favorite song, hover over your ears and remain in your heart. Picture yourself as being generous, forgiving, loving, and experiencing your inner greatness. We recognize that part of our nature has always been willing and wanting to forgive, but we did not dare chance it. We thought we might appear foolish. We thought we were punishing the other person by holding the resentment, but we have actually been suppressing love. We usually stumble by the stones that exist in our hearts, but always stride over the stones that are in our way and creating a real obstruction. #RyanPhillippe 8 of 9
As we keep surrendering our resistance to love, we will notice that within ourselves there is something that wants to express itself through our sharing and giving, letting the past go and letting go of negativity. There is a desire to make a friendly gesture; we want to heal the separation, to repair the wound, to make good the wrong, to express gratitude, and to take a chance on being that fool. Greatness is the courage to overcome obstacles. It is the willingness to move to a higher level of love. Stars cannot only give us direction at night, but also report to us the coming of dawn. #RyanPhillippe 9 of 9
Playing by Heart:Restoration Gallant and the Regency Bucks
The World smiles when you smile. My heart and waiting and waiting. One cannot lead a life that is truly excellent without feeling that one belongs to something greater and more permanent than oneself. Each person’s birth makes ripples that expand in the social environment: parents, siblings, relatives, and friends are affected by it, and as we grow up our actions leave a myriad of consequences, some intended, other are not. Great advances brought about by technology and science are so heavily depended on that we are in danger of completely forgetting our allegiance to the community and to spiritual values. Individualism and materialism should not prevail over essential aspects of common good, appreciation for religion, art, and other ineffable aspects of life. People have to know when to be industrious and when to give tender feelings. Life is not all about money and status. #RyanPhillippe 1 of 9
Bitterness and love created the day, it makes us understand life and feelings, and sometimes strange ideas come to me. I am shy and want to express my deep hidden feelings. When we look at our lives, we will see the residual of past life crises which are still on our minds. Thoughts and feeling about the events tend to occur and color our perception, and they even inhibit us so much that we start to experience limitations in other parts of our lives. Is it worth paying the continuing cost of reliving the past? No. Therefore, to heal emotionally, once it has passed, place the major event in a different context so that we can see it from a different perspective with an altered significance and meaning. You are obviously a victim of painful emotions. #RyanPhillippe 2 of 9
It is not my fate to spend my life regretting the past nor fearing the future. Life does not have to be painful. I have to learn to take on a different attitude about the past difficulties and trauma so that I can acknowledge the hidden gift in it. This suffering is my opportunity to achieve inner triumph, as everything can be taken away, but I can always choose my attitude in any given set of circumstances. Life gives us all the chance to grow and these past events may have taught me something that I was required to learn, and as painful as it was, that was the only way it could be brought into experience, even if it was traumatic to the conscious mind and body. Passing through a life crisis makes us more human, more compassionate, more accepting, and understanding of ourselves and others. #RyanPhillippe 3 of 9
Law and the police struggles against violations. Everyone possess the opportunity to steal. Among savages nearly everywhere it is a taboo which binds the members of the clan together and ensures that they shall behave one to another in a decently social manner. We have lost the word, but we have the bond under our names. Social opinion makes me strongly opposed to capital punishment and to any form of vengeance wreaked on the criminal. It is my belief that the real deterrent against crime is social opinion. It is not the police nor the laws. It is the healthy public opinion which affects and surrounds a man from his youth. In other words, it is the existence of taboos which keep many obeying the rules of the land. #RyanPhillippe 4 of 9
The word savagery, now that we know more about savages, is losing it old meaning. For the most part, I have known savages well and savages are gentlemen. They have a moral code and there is no supernatural sense of morality; the fear of hurting the feelings of one’s fellow men is the real moral sanction, though it is associated with, as minor motives, the fear of retaliation and, still more, the fear of public reprobation, and death. It is the sympathetic sanction, as it involves a constant consideration for all the members of one’s sympathy-group. It is indeed, only the existence of such taboos which enable us to possess any sacredness of personality at all. The words you threw behind when you left has rippled the serenity and brought about some mysterious dream to my heart. #RyanPhillippe 5 of 9
Handling an emotional crisis leads to greater wisdom and results in lifetime benefits. It is not facts that we fear, but our feelings about them. Once we have a mastery over our feelings, our fear of life diminishes. We feel a greater self-confidence, and we are wiling to take greater chances because we now feel that we can handle the emotional consequences or benefits, whatever they may be. Because fear is the bass of all inhibitions, mastery over fear means the unblocking of whole avenues of life experience that previously had been avoided. One benefit from a life crisis is greater self-awareness. My body still has your temperature. My pluses run your bloods. My personality has your prints. My thoughts have your wisdom. Thank you, it is you who bred me and brought me up. #RyanPhillippe 6 of 9
It is taboos that preserve our more refined sensibilities from the people who wipe their mouths wit the tablecloth and blow their noses with the serviette, and it is taboos that preserve us from being murdered outright, as some rich men like to play a game of hostile with the lives of others. If we were objects of complete indifference to our fellows, or of no more concern than stone trees, we should soon be driven up to or over the verge of suicide. Life is livable because we know that wherever we go most people we meet will be restrained in their actions towards us by an almost instinctive network of taboos. We know that they will allow us the same or nearly the same degree of freedom and privilege that they claim for themselves. #RyanPhillippe 7 of 9
Because of taboos, if we take our place in a queue at a railway station or a theatre, others will not thrust themselves in front of us; if we elect a mayor, he will not torture members of the human population nor put a multimillion dollar colosseum over the needs of the people and the entire city; if we claim a seat by placing our suitcase on it, people will not fling the article aside and place themselves there; if they desire to perform any of the intimate natural excretory function which are commonly regarded as disgusting, they will not spontaneously do it before our faces and giggle like it is cute; if—to come to the sphere with which taboos are to-day for most persons specially associated—they chance to experience an impulse of sexual attraction they will not lay lustful hands on us but either conceal their feeling or strive to find delicate methods of expressing it. #RyanPhillippe 8 of 9
No published laws and regulations—even when such exist—are required to restrain them. They are held back by almost instinctive taboos. I endorse the observations recently made that manners, especially among the young and middle aged (25-60), did indeed incline to be rough and ready as the too much and the too little discipline of the War time took to shaking down together; but the patient and self-effacing elder seems now to be reaping his reward in the new gentleness, new consideration, new attention to social forms and refinements of behavior which he cannot help observing among his young acquaintance. A for their morals, it is certain that any man who was even suspected of committing the offenses which the Restoration gallant and the Regency bucks made a boast would be cut by everyone. #RyanPhillippe 9 of 9
Catch Hell: Reagan Pearce Don’t Let the Sun go Down on you here in Louisiana!
The same ability used by the disabled people or injured, to transform a tragic situation into at least a tolerable one, is also shown by victims of terrorists who survive solitary confinement, like Reagan Pearce (Ryan Phillippe) did in the shocking thriller Catch Hell. In such conditions the outside, real environment is so barren, brutal, and dehumanizing as to induce despair in most people because of the whipping, shackling, beating, mutilation, branding, and imprisonment. Those who survive are able to ignore selectively the external conditions and to redirect their attention to an inner life that is real only to themselves. It is easier to do so is you know poetry, gardening, mathematics, psychology, or some other system of symbols that allows you to concentrate and do mental work without any visible, material props. #RyanPhillippe 1 of 7
Your honesty, plainness, and diligence influence me and I am proud of you! You are my supreme Sunshine and I remember you bring me up—on several occasion. May you be healthy and happy every day. You place your meticulous consideration in everything you have done. I hope I can repay you the happiness you give me. There is no want for anything because everything manifests in our life spontaneously and automatically, without conscious will of effort. Thoughts held in mind at this level are very powerful and tend to manifest rapidly. The phenomenon of synchronicity is continuous. It is you who fill plain days with happiness and it is you who care much about everybody. My love for you is beyond words and you deserve every beautiful thing. I wish you a happy life. #RyanPhillippe 2 of 7
I have been a lot of places in the World, but I love my home most because I have you at home. The mechanisms of cause and effect and the inner working of the Universe stand forth clearly revealed, as we are now witnessing the very basis of Reality itself. You have built a warm World for us with your love. May my blessing be around you and in your heart like clear and melodious twinkling like the celestial sounds the stars in the Heavens give off. These very high states of awareness happen spontaneously and unexpectedly, and they tend to recur and stay for longer and longer durations. Once this has been experienced, our intention automatically becomes to make the state of peace permanent. #RyanPhillippe 3 of 7
Please recall the beautiful past and hold the existed present at your heart’s content. I am missing you and expressing my love for you in a few words. I want to go with wind at every night, with stars twinkling in the sky—to look for the dream. I know I am growing up as I look at the steps behind, let me bring you an eternal Spring. I am still present and wishing you’re a poetic life silently. May sweetness and splendor add to your happiness and be a part of your life forever! The World has been miraculously transformed. There is a profound sense of stability and peace greater than anything imaginable. We have learned to control our attention and have mastered our own wills. #RyanPhillippe 4 of 7
A letter and sadness takes memories away, but leaves feelings of missing you. Another letter and another longing are for you. My love for you never changes. Any specialization or expertise that one finds enjoyable and where one can improve one’s knowledge over time. The important thing, however, is the attitude towards these disciplines. If one prays in order to be holy, or exercises to develop strong pectoral muscles, or learns to be knowledgable, that is good, but most benefit is gained when I learn to enjoy the activity for its own sake, and to know that what matters is not necessarily the result, but the control one is acquiring over one’s cerebral cortex. You step out of my vision in the dim night—do you ever know you never step out of my missing? #RyanPhillippe 5 of 7
Normally, attention is directed by genetic instructions, social conventions, and habits we learned as children. In the hazy moonlight, I saw you off on your long journey. From today on, there will be a tearful star on the horizon, gazing at your fading figure. We are two lotus flowers on the same stalk, two Alpine Fir trees interlocked together. Separated as we are, our hearts are tied together. However far away, my heart will be together with you. As a result, our lives are meaningful. The love course of life shines in the corner of life obscurely like leisurely clouds, which drift slowly, illuminating our hearts and warming our life. All of these remind us of the happiness, disconsolation in the past years. #RyanPhillippe 6 of 7
In the past most of what we experienced had been programmed for us. We learned what is supposed to be worth seeing, what is not; what to remember and what to forget; what to feel when we see a flower, a flag, or Greek statues; we learned what is supposed to be worth living and dying for. Beautiful as it is, our treasure island, I feel sometimes like a lonely like Gil Martin on the Albatross drifting on the sea in a White Squall. I think you are the one who will pull me to the seashore and we will embrace this life, land, house, and car we jointly own. The only way to take the ownership of life is by learning to direct psychic energy in line with our own intentions. #RyanPhillippe 7 of 7
Straight A’s will get you to Heaven: May Everything Turnout as you Wish!
I arrange the centre of a table with flowers for a birthday—expensive flowers; one has to pay for them; lilies-of-the-valley, violets, and pinks or carnations. This is an expression that I expect you to appreciate the value of the things I do for you. I have had to pay for your life. As I have said before, many things we find interesting are not so by nature, but because I took the trouble of paying attention to them. Until one starts to collect them, flowers and minerals are not very appealing to the general public. Nor are most people until we find out about their lives and thoughts. Running marathons, renovating houses, the game Jeu Royal de la Guerre or Thomas Kyd’s ‘The Spanish Tragedy’ and Shakespeare’s ‘Cymbeline’ dramas are rather boring except to those who have invested enough attention to realize their intricate complexity. #RyanPhillippe 1 of 6
Let us awaken tomorrow with all our zest and zeal by embracing and creating life. It is not a staring contest, a power struggles, a form of analysis, or a method to get somewhere or accomplish something. It is not a hypnotic induction. It is a shared presence. As one focuses on any segment of reality, a potentially infinite range of opportunities for action—physical, mental, or emotional—is revealed for our skills to engage with. There is never a good excuse for being bored. Having been weathered through so many storms, you look much younger not only in appearance, but also in heart. I have a little dream. There is only you in it. Your smile and exhortation always are in my heart. I have prayed several times the emerging of miracle: Let me look at your appearance and your voice and tell you something. #RyanPhillippe 2 of 6
Once you have been in the presence of a great teacher who radiates this energy, it changes your life. Many beneficial things have happened to me from being in your environment because I picked up your vibration by being in your physical presence. It was a silent transmission and an energetic phenomenon. To control attention means to control experience, and therefore the quality of life. Information reaches consciousness only when we attend to it. Attention acts as a filter between outside events and our experience of them. How much stress we experience depends more on how well we control attention, than on what happens to us. I am here while you are there. Although we are under the same colorful clouds, straits make us apart. The distance between us is far, but close. #RyanPhillippe 3 of 6
You leave with love, yearning, and tears. Oh, please take care of yourself. Please believe me, time cannot take pure memory away. Your Spring tender feelings will live in my heart. When I think of you, I remember many beautiful dreams we wove together. I cannot hide my dear missing for you. The effect of physical pain, of a monetary loss, of a social snub depends on how much attention we pay to it, how much room we allow for it in consciousness. The more psychic energy we invest in a painful event, the more real it becomes, and the more entropy it introduces in the consciousness. To deny, repress, or misinterpret such events is no solution either, because the information will keep smoldering in the recesses of the mind, draining away psychic energy to keep it from spreading. #RyanPhillippe 4 of 6
Past events are dreams in memory. Trickling rain, endless longing. Oh, the raindrops of my yearning, will they fall on your hair and moisten your heart? It is better to look suffering straight in the eyes, acknowledge and respect its presence, and then get busy as soon as possible focusing on things we choose to focus on. Let us listen to the blessing of the Earth in this beautiful and warm World. I wish you a happy life and successful career in this promising new reality. No one is perfect. In a study that was done by Professor Matthew Ryan Phillippe and his team, they found that several had adapted remarkably to an injury that caused them to become severely disabled. The people claimed that their lives had become better as a result of their limitation. #RyanPhillippe 5 of 6
Some might wonder, well, these people are flawed, they are injured, have a handicap or disability, how can they be happy when I am perfect, get paid well, and have friends, but am unhappy and angry? What distinguished such individuals is that they decided to master their limitation through an unprecedented discipline of their psychic energy. They have learned to derive flow from the simplest skills like dressing, walking around the house or park, and driving a car. Those who did best went far beyond just negotiating again the basic tasks of life. One became a swimming instructor, others became accountants, traveled to play at international chess tournaments and swimming meets, or became archery champions. In this splendid and happy day, I present you with all the best blessing! #RyanPhillippe 6 of 6
