Soka Gakkai Int'l | The Lotus Sutra | Buddha Nature

"A core theme of the sutra is the idea that all people equally and without exception possess 'Buddha nature.' The message of the Lotus Sutra is to encourage people's faith in their own Buddha nature, their own inherent capacity for wisdom, courage and compassion."

The teachings of Shakyamuni, the historical founder of Buddhism, are recorded in an enormous body of texts, known as sutras. The manner in which the philosophy of Buddhism is presented within the sutras varies widely. This can be explained by a number of factors. During the some 50 years over which Shakyamuni shared his teachings with the people of his day, he traveled widely throughout India. Rather than expounding his philosophy in a systematic manner, his teaching mainly took the form of dialogue. Meeting with people from a wide range of backgrounds--from ministers of state to unlettered men and women--he sought to respond to their questions and doubts. Most of all, he sought to provide answers to the fundamental questions of human existence: Why is it that we are born and must meet the inevitable sufferings of illness, aging and death?

The sutras were compiled in the years following the death of Shakyamuni; it is thought that the Lotus Sutra was compiled between the first and second century C.E. In Sanskrit it is known as the Saddharmapundarika-sutra (lit. "correct dharma white lotus sutra"). Like many Mahayana sutras, the Lotus Sutra spread through the "northern transmission" to Central Asia, China, Korea and Japan.

Originally entering China in the third century C.E., the Lotus Sutra is said to have been translated into several different versions of the Chinese, of which three complete versions are extant. The fifth-century translation of Kumarajiva (344-413 C.E.) is considered to be particularly outstanding; its philosophical clarity and literary beauty are thought to have played a role in the widespread veneration of this sutra throughout East Asia.

The title of the Lotus Sutra in Kumarajiva's translation, Myoho-renge-kyo, contains the essence of the entire sutra, and it was on the basis of this realization that Nichiren (1222-1282 C.E.) established the invocation of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo as his core Buddhist practice.

The Lotus Sutra is considered the sutra that fulfills the purpose for Shakyamuni's advent in the world, expressed in these words: "At the start I took a vow, hoping to make all persons equal to me, without any distinction between us." In other words, the purpose of Shakyamuni's advent was to enable all people to attain the same state of perfect enlightenment that caused him to be known as "Buddha," or "awakened one."

The Lotus Sutra contains a number of concepts that were revolutionary both within the context of Buddhist teachings and within the broader social context of the time. Many of these are not stated explicitly but are implied or materialized in the dramatic and even fantastic-seeming events portrayed in the text. Much of the genius of later scholars of the sutra, such as T'ien-t'ai (538-597 C.E.), lay in their ability to extract and systematize these principles.
A core theme of the sutra is the idea that all people equally and without exception possess the "Buddha nature." The message of the Lotus Sutra is to encourage people's faith in their own Buddha nature, their own inherent capacity for wisdom, courage and compassion. The universal capacity for enlightenment is demonstrated through the examples of people for whom this possibility had traditionally been denied, such as women and people who had committed evil deeds.
In many sutras a number of Shakyamuni's senior disciples are condemned as people who have, through arrogant attachment to their intellectual abilities and their self-absorbed practice, "scorched the seeds of their own enlightenment." The profundity of Shakyamuni's teachings in the Lotus Sutra, however, awakens in them the spirit of humility and compassion. They realize that all people are inextricably interlinked in their quest for enlightenment, and that if we desire happiness ourselves, it is imperative that we work for the happiness of others.
In this sutra, moreover, Shakyamuni demonstrates that he actually attained enlightenment in the infinite past, not in his current lifetime as had been assumed by his followers. This illustrates, through the concrete example of his own life, that attaining enlightenment does not mean to change into or become something one is not. Rather, it means to reveal the inherent, "natural" state that already exists within.

As Daisaku Ikeda has written, the Lotus Sutra is ultimately a teaching of empowerment. It "teaches us that the inner determination of an individual can transform everything; it gives ultimate expression to the infinite potential and dignity inherent in each human life."

[Courtesy, July 2002 SGI Quarterly]

http://www.sgi.org/buddhism/buddhist-concepts/the-lotus-sutra.html

 

Indiajiva - Nam Myoho Renge Kyo

Stephanie Doty
Simply Amazing
August 15, 2014
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SOKA GAKKAI INT'L | The Eternity of Life

"A clear awareness and correct understanding of the nature of death can enable us to live without fear and with strength, clarity of purpose and joy. Buddhism views the universe as a vast living entity, in which cycles of individual life and death are repeated without cease. Death is therefore a necessary part of the life process, making possible renewal and new growth."

As a philosophy, Buddhism has always stressed the importance of squarely confronting the reality of death. Death, along with illness and aging, is defined in Buddhism as one of the fundamental sufferings that all people must face.

Because of this emphasis, Buddhism has sometimes been associated with a pessimistic outlook on life. Quite the opposite is, in fact, the case. Because death is inevitable, any attempt to ignore or avoid this most basic "fact of life" condemns us to a superficial mode of living. A clear awareness and correct understanding of the nature of death can enable us to live without fear and with strength, clarity of purpose and joy.

Buddhism views the universe as a vast living entity, in which cycles of individual life and death are repeated without cease. We experience these cycles every day, as millions of the some 60 trillion cells that comprise our bodies die and are renewed through metabolic replacement. Death is therefore a necessary part of the life process, making possible renewal and new growth. Upon death our lives return to the vast ocean of life, just as an individual wave crests and subsides back into the wholeness of the sea.

Through death, the physical elements of our bodies, as well as the fundamental life-force that supports our existence, are "recycled" through the universe.

Ideally, death can be experienced as a period of rest, like a rejuvenating sleep that follows the strivings and exertions of the day.

Buddhism asserts that there is a continuity that persists over cycles of life and death, that our lives are, in this sense, eternal. As Nichiren wrote:  "When we examine the nature of life with perfect enlightenment, we find that there is no beginning marking birth and, therefore, no end signifying death."

In the fifth century C.E., the great Indian philosopher Vasubandhu developed the "Nine-Consciousness Teaching" that provides a detailed understanding of the eternal functioning of life. In this system, the first five layers of consciousness correspond to the senses of perception and the sixth to waking consciousness. The sixth layer of consciousness includes the capacity for rational judgment and the ability to interpret the information supplied by the senses.

The seventh layer of consciousness is referred to as the mano-consciousness. This layer corresponds to the subconscious described in modern psychology and is where our profound sense of self resides.

Beneath this is the eighth, or alaya-consciousness. It is this layer of consciousness that contains the potential energy, both positive and negative, created by our thoughts, words and deeds. This potential energy, or profound life-tendency, is referred to as karma.

Again, contrary to certain assumptions, Buddhism does not consider karma to be fixed and unchangeable. Our karmic energy, which Buddhist texts describe as the "raging current" of the alaya-consciousness, interacts with the other layers of consciousness. It is at this deepest level that human beings exert influence upon one another, on their surroundings and on all life.

It is also at this level that the continuity of life over cycles of birth and death is maintained. When we die, the potential energy which represents the "karmic balance sheet" of all our actions--creative and destructive, selfish and altruistic--continues to flow forward in the alaya-consciousness. It is this karma that shapes the circumstances in which the potential energy of our lives becomes manifest again, through birth, as a new individual life.

Finally, there is the ninth level of consciousness. This is the very source of cosmic life, which embraces and supports even the functioning of the alaya-consciousness. The purpose of Buddhist practice is to stimulate and awaken this fundamentally pure amala-consciousness, or wisdom, which has the power to transform even the most deeply established flow of negative energy in the more shallow layers of consciousness.

quan-am-buddhist-wheel-of-life-peter-gumaer-ogden

The questions of life and death are fundamental, underlying and shaping our views of just about everything. Thus, a new understanding of the nature of death--and of life's eternity--can open new horizons for all humankind, unleashing previously untapped stores of wisdom and compassion.

[Courtesy October 1998 SGI Quarterly]

http://www.sgi.org/buddhism/buddhist-concepts/the-eternity-of-life.html

Stephanie Doty
Simply Amazing
August 15, 2014
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The Troubled Genealogy of Robin Williams by Geoffrey Jacques

August 12, 2014

As we think about the legacy of actor and comedian Robin Williams, we should not allow ourselves to bypass a singular and significant aspect [of] his background. While it is risky to speculate on what role, if any, the peculiarities of an artist's family history might play in the construction of his or her art, it is equally risky to proceed as if such history plays no role whatsoever.

Robin McLaurin Williams is descended from one of the most important white supremacist politicians in the history of the country. His great-great-grandfather on his mother's side was Anselm J. McLaurin, a Democrat who served as the U.S. Senator from Mississippi from 1894 to 1895 and from 1900 to 1909. Senator McLaurin was also the first governor of Mississippi elected under the notorious "Mississippi Plan" constitution of 1890, serving from 1896 to 1900. McLaurin was a delegate to the convention that wrote that constitution, which disfranchised the African American population of that state. This was the constitution that introduced the poll tax (later outlawed by the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution) and the infamous "understanding clause," in which "literacy tests" were conduced under the supervision of local registrars. Prospective voters were "tested" on their knowledge of the state constitution. As Herbert Aptheker pointed out long ago in his famous essay America's Racist Laws (1951), these tests weren't conducted in public places, but in white people's homes, and the registrars had sole discretion as to what "understanding" meant.  The "Mississippi Plan" became the model on which the entire white supremacist movement to disfranchise African American voters was based. Even today, this model serves as a template for the restriction of voting rights that is gaining traction in the South and elsewhere.

This genealogy might not be worth mentioning, indeed talking about it at all might be considered, by some, an act of bad taste. However, the Clarion-Ledger of Jackson, a Gannett newspaper, writes of Williams's "blue-blooded Mississippi roots" with pride. It goes without saying that Clarion-Ledger reporter Therese Apel does not mention that those roots are also soaked in the bloody post-Reconstruction reestablishment of white supremacy in that state 130 years ago (she only mentions that McLaurin introduced a failed provision to disfranchise men who were convicted of spousal abuse); or in the establishment of a mode of restricting voting rights, whose legacy haunts us to this day.

It is perhaps worth mentioning, in this connection, that it was 50 years ago, on August 4, 1964, that the bodies of Mississippi Freedom Summer activists James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner were found in that state, as Wikipedia says, "buried beneath an earthen dam," about 80 miles from Brandon, where McLaurin started his political career, in 1869, as a twenty-one year old district attorney.

Still, pointing to this genealogy might be of little significance, except that it might serve as a window into thinking about some aspects of Williams's art, both in terms of its emotional tenor and its style. Williams was a master of parody, masquerade, imposture, and of the grand, theatrical, faux self-denigrating gesture, honing these into effective tools of his comedic art. His style recalled, in many ways, the conventions of "blackface" minstrelsy, a theatrical and performative form that, in addition to its racist content, consisted of a complicated network of speech and gestures that acted as a sort of relay of signification. The old "blackface" minstrelsy was, in fact, an act in which white performers satirized enslaved black performers who were themselves satirizing the social graces of their masters.

Williams's genius was to strip this style of its racist frame of reference while leaving us with those essential features that made minstrelsy funny despite its sordid social connotations. He imbued his work with that pathos that is generic to the figure of the clown; yet his pathos had an edge to it that seemed to refer to a decadence that lived just beyond the horizon. Maybe a more detailed examination of his performance style would show us how his gestures carry within them an emotional tenor that echoes the loss and decay that one finds at the heart of the work of artists like Faulkner, Welty, Harper Lee, Tennessee Williams, and many other classic Southern white writers. The multiple masquerades Williams offers in his portrayal of the "Scottish nanny" in the film Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) constitute just one example from among an extraordinary range of characters, personae, and performances that give us - if we choose to be sensitive enough viewers - a glimpse into how this outstanding artist used a complicated and troubled personal legacy in the service of laughter.

[Geoffrey Jacques is a poet, critic, and teacher who writes about literature, the visual arts, and culture. His research interests include modernist poetry and poetics, African American literature and culture, and the postmodern city. His books include A Change in the Weather: Modernist Imagination, African American Imaginary (University of Massachusetts Press, 2009), and the poetry collection Just For a Thrill (Wayne State University Press, 2005). His writings have appeared in many periodicals, including Art Forum International, The Black Scholar, Freedomways, Radical Teacher, NKA Journal of Contemporary African Art, Killens Review of Arts and Letters, Black Renaissance/Renaissance Noire, Cineaste, Cover Arts New York, New York Newsday, and the Journal of Popular Music Studies.]

https://portside.org/2014-08-14/thinking-about-robin-williams-american-humor-and-troubled-mind

Stephanie Doty
Simply  Amazing
August 15, 2014
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To Know the Darkness and the Light by William Rivers Pitt, Op Ed

Robin Williams, during a tour of 30 cities, backstage before his performance at the Ted Constant Convocation Center in Norfolk, Va., Oct. 26, 2009. Williams, an Oscar-winning actor and comedian, was found unconscious at home around noon on Aug. 11, 2014. (Photo: Jay Paul / The New York Times)

Ye must welcome the phantoms that scream through the night
Take heed to the visions and presences bright
Lest ye waste up your life with the weight of street
In fear of the banshees ye'd happen to meet...

- "Jo'rneyman's Song," Barleyjuice

I know about the darkness. I have seen it, smelled it, tasted it. I have felt it invade me through my pores, had it envelop and encompass every river and sea and valley of me. I have been staggered as it conquers and pillages me, I have choked on the soot of its burning, and I have wept tears of ash as the hoofbeats of its raiders tear my soil and thunder up the road to batter down my gates.

There is that. There is also this:

The wind in the trees. The sun on my skin. The taste of rain. The morning light dappling the ripples on the pond. The swell and crescendo of music. The caress of a lover. The coo of a child. A long embrace. A turn of phrase, a rhyme of verse, a finely-told joke. The taste of chocolate, or whiskey, or wine. The way wildflowers look in Spring, and the leaves in Autumn, the low susurration of snow in Winter, and the cobalt blue aftermath of sunset on Summer nights.

All of these, and so much more, and everything, are electric to me. For as long as I have had memory, the world around me and within me has left me gasping in a way that beggars the word "overwhelmed." I am in a state of perpetual astonishment, because I am wired that way. I came into this world a human tuning fork, humming with the tones surrounding me entirely against my will. I cannot stop it, and would not if given the chance. Mine is wonder, and awe, and I am overtaken by it, as if the air itself is transformed into high waves breaking on the beach. I drown daily, hourly, in minutes and in seconds, I drown in moments, and smile as I sink, because it is beautiful beyond words and space and time.

[Continued; go to website to read entire article.] 

William Rivers Pitt

William Rivers Pitt is Truthout's senior editor and lead columnist. He is also a New York Times and internationally bestselling author of three books: War on Iraq: What Team Bush Doesn't Want You to Know, The Greatest Sedition Is Silence and House of Ill Repute: Reflections on War, Lies, and America's Ravaged Reputation. His fourth book, The Mass Destruction of Iraq: Why It Is Happening, and Who Is Responsible, co-written with Dahr Jamail, is available now on Amazon. He lives and works in New Hampshire.

http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/25564-william-rivers-pitt-to-know-the-darkness-and-the-light

Stephanie Doty
Simply  Amazing
August 15, 2014
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Prayer Before The U.S. Senate – 1975

Prayer Before The U.S. Senate – 1975 
by Frank Fools Crow
Lakota Ceremonial Chief And Medicine Man

In the presence of this house, Grandfather, Wakan-Tanka, and from the directions where the sun sets, and from the direction of cleansing power, and from the direction of the rising sun, and from the direction of the middle of the day. Grandfather, Wakan-Tanka, Grandmother, the Earth who hears everything, Grandmother, because you are woman, for this reason you are kind, I come to you this day. To tell you to love the red men, and watch over them, and give these young men the understanding because, Grandmother, from you comes the good things, good things that are beyond our eyes to see have been blessed in our midst for this reason I make my supplication known to you again.

Give us a blessing so that our words and actions be one in unity, and that we be able to listen to each other, in so doing, we shall with good heart walk hand in hand to face the future.

In the presence of the outside, we are thankful for many blessings. I make my prayer for all people, the children, the women and the men. I pray that no harm will come to them, and that on the great island, there be no war, that there be no ill feelings among us. From this day on may we walk hand in hand – So be it.

http://nativeamericanencyclopedia.com/prayer-before-the-senate-1975-frank-fools-crow/

Stephanie Doty
Simply  Amazing
August 15, 2014
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Fields of Gold

 

Stephanie Doty
Simply  Amazing
August 14, 2014
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Gratitude, thanksgiving and SMILES

This Coffee Shop Is Staffed By Homeless People — And It’s Working
by Scott Keyes

Getting a job can be difficult for anyone in our nation’s ongoing employment slump. For every job opening, there are currently more than three unemployed people looking for work. And those already-difficult odds are significantly exacerbated for job applicants who can’t afford a home.

“If you’ve been homeless and have a gap on your resume, people don’t give you a chance,” Seth Kelley, co-founder of RedTail Coffee in Fort Collins, told ThinkProgress by phone. “It’s a cycle that’s really hard to shake.”

That’s why Seth, along with his wife Kelly, opened RedTail Coffee in May: to provide job opportunities to homeless and low-income applicants.

The coffee shop is located alongside a new housing development that’s being built for homeless and low-income tenants called Red Tail Ponds. The Kelleys had attended a neighborhood meeting earlier this year and were surprised to find people upset at the idea of low-income housing being built in the area.

[Continued; to read the entire article, visit the website]

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/08/11/3469629/homeless-coffee-shop/

Stephanie Doty
Simply Amazing
August 11, 2014
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Tiny Buddha | Finding Kindred Spirits by Honoring Your Inner Misfit By Alexandra Heather Foss

“The thing that is really hard, 

and really amazing, is giving up

on being perfect and beginning 

the work of becoming yourself.” ~Anna Quindlen

It should theoretically be simple but being authentic is not easy. It takes gumption to assert with courageous conviction “This is me!” and grace to accept what comes after.

From my first discordant bear cry in a nursery full of normally crying babies, I was different, quirky. My own way of doing things—dresses over jeans, art over sports—made me an early outcast. Nothing I naturally did fit me within my particular society.

For a while, during a specific section of years, in order not to be misfit, I conformed completely. I lost not only the misfit but also myself, and with each false friendship, however popular, my spirit gradually disintegrated.

[Continued; to read the entire article, visit the website]

http://tinybuddha.com/blog/finding-kindred-spirits-honoring-inner-misfit/

Stephanie Doty
Simply Amazing
August 10, 2014
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Congruence

http://tinybuddha.com/

 

Stephanie Doty

Simply Amazing
August 10, 2014
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Each life canvas awaits our touch

Shared from a Google Plus post by Zohaib Bhatti.  Thank YOU, Zohaib, for this poignant reminder of the true beauty we have in our lives, within ourselves.

Stephanie Doty
Simply Amazing
August 9, 2014
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Inner Sanctuary | Divine Wisdom

Only when we find the quietness in our own minds can we begin to hear our inner teacher, so that we may receive some intuition. Only when we are ready to recognize and value the wisdom that we carry at the core of our being will we turn our attention inwards and ‘listen in’. Sit down, be quiet and listen in at some point today and you might be surprised at what you hear. Then do it again tomorrow. All you need to do is remember that you are the listener and not the noise.  

http://www.whispy.com/blog/our-inner-teacher/

Stephanie Doty
Simply Amazing
August 8, 2014
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More than ears

We all have an inner voice, our personal whisper from the universe. All we have to do is listen, feel and sense it with an open heart. Sometimes it whispers of intuition or precognition. Other times, it whispers an awareness, a remembrance from another plane. Dare to listen. Dare to hear with your heart.

http://www.whispy.com/blog/hear-with-your-heart/

Stephanie Doty
Simply Amazing
August 8, 2014
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Truer than true

 Spirit of the Lotus. Symbol of birth and enlightenment. Within each of us is the spirit of the sacred lotus. To begin as a tiny seed buried deep within the darkness, to make our way through the murky waters, to grow toward the light, to rise and become a perfect creation of life, To open to all that we can be in body, mind, and soul. Shedding earthly matters for a higher wisdom and inner healing, and blossom into something pure of heart and spiritually beautiful.

Compassion is the highest expression of human emotion and virtuous energy. It is a level of development that takes hard work and serious meditation before it can blossom into one‘s life. It is not a single virtue, but the distillation and culmination of all virtues, expressed at any given moment as a blend of fairness, kindness, gentleness, honesty, respect, courage and love. It is the most beneficial energy to share with others.

If you are dealing with fears and insecurities from old head programs, have compassion for yourself. Just love your insecurities, fears and resentments. Release and forgive them as they come up. Judging, beating or repressing insecurities just gives them power. Then you have a pattern that never gets resolved. Recognize that your real security is built from your relationship with your own heart.

http://www.whispy.com/blog/category/spirituality-spiritual-living/

In this final chapter of my life, I am discovering that each day is an unexpected delight of unanticipated discoveries.  I now experience more abundance than I'd ever imagined.  Above all, I, at long last, feel greater depths of gratitude and love than I have before felt.  

Today, something as seemingly innocuous as my discovery of an inspirational, spiritually uplifting  website has confirmed my concept of the simply amazing life I now live.  

I am more richly blessed than I ever dreamed possible, sans an intimate relationship and/or financial reserves.  When I was younger [and far less enlightened], I was convinced that each would ensure peace of mind about my future.  Quite simply, this thinking was both ill-conceived and uninformed.

My life would have been different if I had chosen to share my final years with a loving partner and feel financially secure.  However, my life decisions did not result in either of those circumstances.  Thus, my life, as I have intentionally chosen to live it, is what it is. 

Yes, indeed. I am learning that living an uncomplicated, unfettered life is simply amazing.

Stephanie Doty
Simply Amazing
August 8, 2014
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Simply amazing

Oftentimes, the first step seems daunting, the obstacles overwhelming.  

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom”  Anais Nin

Ah, but then, one day, we decide ENOUGH and we choose to begin our journey to become the best of who we are [and, no doubt, always have been].  

Thus, the process of self-discovery and transformation becomes simply amazing.

Stephanie Doty
Simply Amazing
August 6, 2014
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The eternal truth

Stephanie Doty
Simply Amazing
August 5, 2014
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The best of the best

Stephanie Doty
Simply Amazing
August 4, 2014
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Om shanti, shanti, shanti

Stephanie Doty
Simply Amazing
August 2, 2014
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Moving forward

“May the slander, harm,
And all forms of abuse
That anyone should direct towards me
Act as a cause of their enlightenment.” 

Shntideva

Stephanie Doty
Simply Amazing
August 1, 2014
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August has arrived

August is a month of crossroads, choices and adjustments with this forecast. It promises to be far less disruptive than the first half of the year, and far more fun, too. The new contours of our universe are settling in, and it’s time to start exploring them.

* * *

Regardless of what you choose or don’t choose, by the Virgo New Moon of the 25th, a key is turning in a lock. Your heart is breaking free, but not haphazardly. Your energy is focused, committed and intense. Any impediments you encounter are springboards for your heart and will forcing action. This ups the flirt factor in relationships, but will also move all manner of situations along, particularly those that settled in at the month’s start. Where everything’s heading is not exactly clear. The otherworldly atmosphere of the 18th rolls in again as the month rolls out. It’s unfamiliar territory, same as the ground you’re now traveling. Your mind isn’t going to lead you through it. You know the rest.

http://omtimes.com/2014/07/astrology-forecast-august-2014/

Stephanie Doty
Simply Amazing
August 1, 2014
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A universal language for ALL

Stephanie Doty
Simply Amazing
August 1, 2014
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To know the blessings of the few is simply amazing

It is we who are blessed by those few who come into and grace our lives when they 'hear' and feel the songs of our hearts.    

Stephanie Doty
Simply Amazing
July 31, 2014
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Let there be peace

As I gaze upon this photograph, my mind re-focuses on the endless wars in the mid-east and elsewhere, the needless deaths and suffering of those who have tried to live their lives in the wake of all the misery they must endure -- for no other reason than those who could and should declare an end to the madness do not.  For those who needlessly suffer, I wish only for them to know the peace and comforting beauty of nature I feel from this photograph.
 

Stephanie Doty
Simply Amazing
July 30, 2014
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Peace -- let it begin with me

“Peace requires us to surrender our illusions of control. We can love and care for others but we cannot possess our children, lovers, family, or friends. We can assist them, pray for them, and wish them well, yet in the end their happiness and suffering depend on their thoughts and actions, not on our wishes.”    Jack Kornfield

Stephanie Doty
Simply Amazing
July 27, 2014
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Silence the mind

Stephanie Doty
Simply Amazing
July 27, 2014
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Illusion

Stephanie Doty
Simply Amazing
July 27, 2014
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Life's eternal truism

Stephanie Doty
Simply Amazing
July 27, 2014
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Beauty can lighten the darkest corners

Edward Galagan privately shared " Sunny World " today on Google Plus. 1860x1200. 2003. HQ Wallpaper. Color   

P L E A S E   SEE FULLSIZE & FULLSCREEN !!!

Original Size: 79cm x 51cm
NIKON E990, Exp. 1/1000, f/5.5, Manual, ISO 100
#wallpaper #galagan #sunflower #nikon #sun #sky #bee #field

I saw this sunflower on my Google Plus newsfeed this morning and was captivated by the simply amazing natural wonder of what I was seeing.  As I was also mesmerized by so much of what I was reading about the darker aspects of living in this world of seeming chaos and mayhem, the photograph of the sunflower triggered a more life-sustaining thought.

 

I'm not aware where I first learned this, but there is something especially  wonderful about the sunflower -- not only its beauty and resiliency, but its healing balm for a war-weary world.    

For a more detailed history of this most incredible flower, I've included a link that I encourage you to use.

http://www.sunflowernsa.com/all-about/history/

Stephanie Doty
Simply Amazing
July 22, 2014
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Only through peace . . . om shanti, shanti, shanti

‎ ريما امين originally shared [on Google Plus] to Beautiful Things (Обсуждение):

Take time to smell the flowers.

 Such a gentle reminder of ALL that is in this chaotic, dark world of war, needless killing and death.  Om shanti, shanti, shanti

Stephanie Doty
Simply Amazing
July 22, 2014
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A cautionary tale | Narcissus and Echo

The story of Echo and Narcissus is used as a warning to those who love someone that can not love them back and is often used as a basis for understanding the implications of a condition known as Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD). It is also used in reference to Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD).

Extracts taken from the "The Age of Fable" written by THOMAS BULFINCH were used . . . .

 http://www.echo.me.uk/legend.htm

In this day and age of ill-conceived wars that impose needless suffering and death, I decided to seek an appealing distraction and welcome respite.  I thought of the beautifully fragile narcissus blooms I'd once so loved.  I hadn't stopped to consider the legend of Narcissus and Echo, but a beautiful graphic that was included amidst the images I discovered through a Google search led me on an additional discovery.  

That, in turn, led me to wonder about  the 'legend' of Narcissus and Echo.  What I read, seemed somehow fitting as a basis for reflecting on human frailty and the importance of trying to understand humanity's cruelty.  

As I said, the legend of Narcissus and Echo is sometimes used as a cautionary tale.  I believe the legend deserves to be read, digested and understood . . . in light of the toxicity and inconceivable cruelty too often needlessly inflicted.  

Knowing the genesis of an inability to love helped me to assuage the pain I felt when I personally experienced a failed relationship.  What I ultimately concluded is that someone's inability to feel love toward someone is not due to any lack on the unloved person's part.  Rather, the individual who suffers from an inability to feel is responsible for him/herself, completely separate and apart from another.  Absolutely NOTHING the rejected, wounded individual would ever do would make the one incapable of love feel differently toward the one who has been rejected.

Perhaps, as with one-on-one relationships, we can apply the same dysfunctional toxicity to those who commit atrocities on a much grander scale.  If so, trying to conceive and understand man's inhumanity to one another become reduced to something all but inconceivable in its banality.  This train of illogical, thoughtless, mindlessness -- at least to me -- seems simply amazing in its simplicity.  

For the moment, I have decided to refocus my attention and enjoy the elegant, delicate beauty of the narcissus blossoms.

 

Stephanie Doty
Simply Amazing
July 21, 2014
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No time for needless ANYTHING

You BETCHA -- otherwise . . . life's just way too short to mess around with needless toxicity

Stephanie Doty
Simply Amazing
July 20, 2014
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