Fortunate Falls

Medieval retreat in Greece

Becoming more of who I am often seems to start with some kind of growing down, a fortunate fall (that didn’t seem that fortunate at the time). It can feel more like a descent, and being stripped away of more of my false wrappings(which I wouldn’t have minded keeping). It ls like becoming naked (and even more transparent to myself), which is sometimes frightening. But entering into a ‘deepening’ like that can take us down into something more true about ourselves and what really calls us (and our common human and spiritual struggle), which somehow makes me feel more connected to humanity. — Jon Wilson

To Maslow, “transcenders” are regularly motivated by values and experiences that go beyond the satisfaction of basic needs and the fulfillment of one’s unique potential. These “metamotivations” include a devotion to a calling outside oneself, a seeking of “peak experiences”, and a commitment to the values of Being, or the “B-values”, including truth, goodness, beauty, justice, meaningfulness, playfulness, aliveness, excellence, simplicity, elegance, and wholeness — as ultimate goals in themselves. — Scott Barry Kaufman

There really are mistakes in life. Some people say, “There are no mistakes,” and I get it — you don’t want to lose yourself in regret. But you’ll never get back to your heart if you think all paths lead to the same goal. (If you’ve ever been hiking, you know that isn’t true.) It’s good to be gentle with yourself, but you also have to cultivate what the Buddha called samvega: a sense of urgency and dismay about how you’re living..” David Houston

#mistakes #samvega #buddha #tseliot #meditation #mindfulness #love

Invoked or uninvoked, our authentic spiritual guides will appear. — Robert Moss

I took all my falls in stride until the last one. I had a lot invested in that life, that self. I had status and possessions, mostly unearned, although I worked hard to fall upward into that impressive lifestyle in the French countryside. I used inherited money to convert a giant hulking old house into a gorgeous silk purse. It went from the untouchable category to sought-after destination for the affluent.

And then, pow, I was knocked off my perch. It was one damned thing after another until it was wrenched out of my hands. Two strokes, bankruptcy, wandering, confused, I…