Opening a beautiful book and never get passed the preface....

The Opening of Eyes That day I saw beneath dark clouds the passing light over the water and I heard the voice of the world speak out, I knew then, as I had before life is no passing memory of what has been nor the remaining pages in a great book waiting to be read. It is the opening of eyes long closed. It is the vision of far off things seen for the silence they hold. It is the heart after years of secret conversing speaking out loud in the clear air. It is Moses in the desert fallen to his knees before the lit bush. It is the man throwing away his shoes as if to enter heaven and finding himself astonished, opened at last, fallen in love with solid ground.   -- David Whyte       from Songs for Coming Home       ©1984 Many Rivers Press Listen

What is Time?

Time XXI

And an astronomer said, "Master, what of Time?"

And he answered:

You would measure time the measureless and the immeasurable.

You would adjust your conduct and even direct the course of your spirit according to hours and seasons.

Of time you would make a stream upon whose bank you would sit and watch its flowing.

Yet the timeless in you is aware of life's timelessness,

And knows that yesterday is but today's memory and tomorrow is today's dream.

And that that which sings and contemplates in you is still dwelling within the bounds of that first moment which scattered the stars into space.

Who among you does not feel that his power to love is boundless?

And yet who does not feel that very love, though boundless, encompassed within the centre of his being, and moving not form love thought to love thought, nor from love deeds to other love deeds?

And is not time even as love is, undivided and paceless?

But if in you thought you must measure time into seasons, let each season encircle all the other seasons,

And let today embrace the past with remembrance and the future with longing.

Khalil Gibran
All that lives, lives forever.

Only the shell, the perishable, passes away.

The spirit is without end, eternal, deathless.

The spirit is without End...Eternal....Deathless...,---Bhagavad Gita


source

The Need to Know: Living Beyond Love and Hate

The intrinsic inquisitiveness of children is a formidable force. They are full of the desire to learn, but also of ignorance and uncertainty.

Does that make me a child or/and ignorant. When does this curiosity end? Does curiosity kill the cat? Is it too dangerous to be curious??

All These Years I Just Wanted the Answer to One Question: Why?

Denmark, July 2010

“I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.”

Jimmy Dean

I loved you

By Pushkin

I loved you; and perhaps I love you still,
The flame, perhaps, is not extinguished; yet
It burns so quietly within my soul,
No longer should you feel distressed by it.
Silently and hopelessly I loved you,
At times too jealous and at times too shy.
God grant you find another who will love you
As tenderly and truthfully as I.

Another version is at "A collection of poems by Alexander Pushkin":
I loved you: and, it may be, from my soul
The former love has never gone away,
But let it not recall to you my dole;
I wish not sadden you in any way.
I loved you silently, without hope, fully,
In diffidence, in jealousy, in pain;
I loved you so tenderly and truly,
As let you else be loved by any man.
© Copyright, 1996, Translated by Yevgeny Bonver, August 1995,


The closest version to the one read by Max is this version at "Russian Poet, Aleksandr Pushkin":
I loved you; even now I may confess,
Some embers of my love their fire retain;
But do not let it cause you more distress,
I do not want to sadden you again.
Hopeless and tongue-tied, yet I loved you dearly
With pangs the jealous and the timid know;
So tenderly I loved you, so sincerely,
I pray God grant another love you so.

To read what Max actually said, go to the

Pushkin Links on the Web:
The Alexander Pushkin Home Page
Selected renderings of A.S.Pushkin's verse - Genia Gurarie
A collection of poems by Alexander Pushkin
Russian Poet, Aleksandr Pushkin

My Hero, Jane Goodall

ICONOCLASTS - Jane Goodall + Charlize Theron (Episode 1)

Award winning Primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall welcomes Academy Award® winning actress Charlize Theron to the Tchimpounga sanctuary in the Republic of Congo, where Goodall works to save endangered, orphaned chimpanzees.

Theron is introduced to adolescent chimps as she and Dr. Goodall discuss the issues facing the young people of Africa and the African wildlife.  Charlize explains how the loss of her father at a young age affected her, while Dr. Goodall describes what it was like being sent into the dense African Jungle in her early twenties and discovering just how similar chimpanzees are to humans. 

 The episode also features Theron working with the young people of South Africa teaching them how to protect themselves from AIDS.

For more info click here.