Philo = Love
Sofia = Wisdom
The Past, Present and Future are totally, irretrievably and inseparably intertwined.
The Past to assist you in the present and The Present to guide us into the future.
The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, answered “Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the presence or the future; he lives as if he is going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”
Self
The I that is me you cannot see.
You see only the form that you think is me.
This form that you see will not always be.
But the I that is me lives eternally.
If you begin to be what you are, you will realise everything, but to begin to be what you are, you must come out of what you are not. You are not those thoughts which are turning, turning in your mind; you are not those changing feelings; you are not the different decisions you make and the different wills you have; you are not that separate ego.
(Sri Santananda Sarasvati)
The Tunnel
Zenkai, the son of a samurai, journeyed to Edo and there became the retainer of a high official.
He fell in love with the official’s wife and was discovered. In self-defence, he slew the official. Then he ran away with the wife.
Both of them later became thieves. But the woman was so greedy that Zenkai grew disgusted. Finally, leaving her, he journeyed far away to the province of Buzen, where he became a wandering mendicant.
To atone for his past, Zenkai resolved to accomplish some good deed in his lifetime. Knowing of a dangerous road over a cliff that had caused the death and injury of many persons, he resolved to cut a tunnel through the mountains there. Begging food in the daytime, Zenkai worked at night digging his tunnel. When thirty years had gone by, the tunnel was 2,280 feet long, 20 feet high, and 30 feet wide.
Two years before the work was completed, the son of the official he had slain, who was a skilful swordsman, found Zenkai out and came to kill him in revenge. ‘I will give you my life willingly,’ said Zenkai. ‘Only let me finish this work. On the day it is completed, then you may kill me.’ So the son awaited the day. Several months passed and Zenkai kept on digging. The son got tired of doing nothing and began to help with the digging. After he had helped for more than a year, he came to admire Zenkai’s strong will and character.
At last the tunnel was completed and the people could use it and travel safety.
‘Now cut off my head,’ said Zenkai. ‘My work is done.’ How can I cut off my own teacher’s head?’ asked the younger man with tears in his eyes.
Rene Descartes
Cogito, ergo sum
“I think, therefore I am.”
A clearer translation of Descartes’ “I am thinking, therefore I exist.” Regardless, in his exultant declaration Descartes assures himself of his own existence. It is impossible to doubt the existence of your own thoughts, because in the act of doubting, you are thinking.
The Tao of Knowledge
Do all you can
With what you have
In the time you have
In the place you are.
Blanketed by an azure sky, the orange-yellow rays of the setting sun can, at special times, gift us with a moment of such considerable beauty, we find ourselves momentarily stunned with frozen gaze. The splendour of the moment so dazzles us, our compulsively shattering minds give pause, so as not to mentally whisk us away to a place other than the here-and-now. Bathed in luminescence, a door seems to open to another reality, always present, yet rarely witnessed.