Elements of the Gothic Novel

The gothic novel was invented almost single-handedly by Horace Walpole, whose The Castle of Otranto (1764) contains essentially all the elements that constitute the genre. Walpole's novel was imitated not only in the eighteenth century and not only in the novel form, but it has influenced writing, poetry, and even film making up to the present day.

Gothic elements include the following:

1. Setting in a castle. The action takes place in and around an old castle, sometimes seemingly abandoned, sometimes occupied. The castle often contains secret passages, trap doors, secret rooms, dark or hidden staircases, and possibly ruined sections. The castle may be near or connected to caves, which lend their own haunting flavor with their branchings, claustrophobia, and mystery. (Translated into modern filmmaking, the setting might be in an old house or mansion--or even a new house--where unusual camera angles, sustained close ups during movement, and darkness or shadows create the same sense of claustrophobia and entrapment.)

2. An atmosphere of mystery and suspense. The work is pervaded by a threatening feeling, a fear enhanced by the unknown. Often the plot itself is built around a mystery, such as unknown parentage, a disappearance, or some other inexplicable event. Elements 3, 4, and 5 below contribute to this atmosphere. (Again, in modern filmmaking, the inexplicable events are often murders.)

3. An ancient prophecy is connected with the castle or its inhabitants (either former or present). The prophecy is usually obscure, partial, or confusing. "What could it mean?" In more watered down modern examples, this may amount to merely a legend: "It's said that the ghost of old man Krebs still wanders these halls."

4. Omens, portents, visions. A character may have a disturbing dream vision, or some phenomenon may be seen as a portent of coming events. For example, if the statue of the lord of the manor falls over, it may portend his death. In modern fiction, a character might see something (a shadowy figure stabbing another shadowy figure) and think that it was a dream. This might be thought of as an "imitation vision."

5. Supernatural or otherwise inexplicable events. Dramatic, amazing events occur, such as ghosts or giants walking, or inanimate objects (such as a suit of armor or painting) coming to life. In some works, the events are ultimately given a natural explanation, while in others the events are truly supernatural.

6. High, even overwrought emotion. The narration may be highly sentimental, and the characters are often overcome by anger, sorrow, surprise, and especially, terror. Characters suffer from raw nerves and a feeling of impending doom. Crying and emotional speeches are frequent. Breathlessness and panic are common. In the filmed gothic, screaming is common.

7. Women in distress. As an appeal to the pathos and sympathy of the reader, the female characters often face events that leave them fainting, terrified, screaming, and/or sobbing. A lonely, pensive, and oppressed heroine is often the central figure of the novel, so her sufferings are even more pronounced and the focus of attention. The women suffer all the more because they are often abandoned, left alone (either on purpose or by accident), and have no protector at times.

8. Women threatened by a powerful, impulsive, tyrannical male. One or more male characters has the power, as king, lord of the manor, father, or guardian, to demand that one or more of the female characters do something intolerable. The woman may be commanded to marry someone she does not love (it may even be the powerful male himself), or commit a crime.

9. The metonymy of gloom and horror. Metonymy is a subtype of metaphor, in which something (like rain) is used to stand for something else (like sorrow). For example, the film industry likes to use metonymy as a quick shorthand, so we often notice that it is raining in funeral scenes. Note that the following metonymies for "doom and gloom" all suggest some element of mystery, danger, or the supernatural.

wind, especially howling	rain, especially blowing
doors grating on rusty hinges	sighs, moans, howls, eerie sounds
footsteps approaching	clanking chains
lights in abandoned rooms	gusts of wind blowing out lights
characters trapped in a room	doors suddenly slamming shut
ruins of buildings	baying of distant dogs (or wolves?)
thunder and lightning	crazed laughter

10. The vocabulary of the gothic. The constant use of the appropriate vocabulary set creates the atmosphere of the gothic. Here as an example are some of the words (in several categories) that help make up the vocabulary of the gothic in The Castle of Otranto:

Mystery	diabolical, enchantment, ghost, goblins, haunted, infernal, magic, magician, miracle, necromancer, omens, ominous, portent, preternatural, prodigy, prophecy, secret, sorcerer, spectre, spirits, strangeness, talisman, vision
Fear, Terror, or Sorrow	afflicted, affliction, agony, anguish, apprehensions, apprehensive, commiseration, concern, despair, dismal, dismay, dread, dreaded, dreading, fearing, frantic, fright, frightened, grief, hopeless, horrid, horror, lamentable, melancholy, miserable, mournfully, panic, sadly, scared, shrieks, sorrow, sympathy, tears, terrible, terrified, terror, unhappy, wretched
Surprise	alarm, amazement, astonished, astonishment, shocking, staring, surprise, surprised, thunderstruck, wonder
Haste	anxious, breathless, flight, frantic, hastened, hastily, impatience, impatient, impatiently, impetuosity, precipitately, running, sudden, suddenly
Anger	anger, angrily, choler, enraged, furious, fury, incense, incensed, provoked, rage, raving, resentment, temper, wrath, wrathful, wrathfully
Largeness	enormous, gigantic, giant, large, tremendous, vast

Elements of Romance

In addition to the standard gothic machinery above, many gothic novels contain elements of romance as well. Elements of romance include these:

1. Powerful love. Heart stirring, often sudden, emotions create a life or death commitment. Many times this love is the first the character has felt with this overwhelming power.

2. Uncertainty of reciprocation. What is the beloved thinking? Is the lover's love returned or not?

3. Unreturned love. Someone loves in vain (at least temporarily). Later, the love may be returned.

4. Tension between true love and father's control, disapproval, or choice. Most often, the father of the woman disapproves of the man she loves.

5. Lovers parted. Some obstacle arises and separates the lovers, geographically or in some other way. One of the lovers is banished, arrested, forced to flee, locked in a dungeon, or sometimes, disappears without explanation. Or, an explanation may be given (by the person opposing the lovers' being together) that later turns out to be false.

6. Illicit love or lust threatens the virtuous one. The young woman becomes a target of some evil man's desires and schemes.

7. Rival lovers or multiple suitors. One of the lovers (or even both) can have more than one person vying for affection.

By Robert Harris Retrieved at http://www.virtualsalt.com

Happy Chinese New Year!

A relaxed mind,
A peaceful soul,
A joyful Spirit,
A healthy body and
A Beautiful heart full of love.

Let this be my prayer for all these lovely people around me.
Wish a Happy Chinese New Year for everybody.

Let us celebrate the future with these two singers.

Osho's "Ten Commandments"

In 1970, Osho was asked about his "Ten Commandments". In his letter of reply, Osho noted that it was a difficult matter, because he was against any kind of commandment, but "just for fun" agreed to set out the following:

“

Never obey anyone's command unless it is coming from within you also. There is no God other than life itself. Truth is within you, do not search for it elsewhere. Love is prayer. To become a nothingness is the door to truth. Nothingness itself is the means, the goal and attainment. Life is now and here. Live wakefully. Do not swim – float. Die each moment so that you can be new each moment. Do not search. That which is, is. Stop and see.

”

He underlined numbers 3, 7, 9 and 10. The ideas expressed in these Commandments have remained a constant leitmotif in his movement.

----- From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

My notes: I don't agree with him fully, but I happened to see this video which is a portrait of a woman during a storm. Her mood is kind of " Osho". Don't you think so?

Tibetan Singing Bowl

By Diane Mandle

"If we accept that sound is vibration and we know that vibration touches every part of our physical being, then we understand that sound is heard not only through our ears but through every cell in our bodies. One reason sound heals on a physical level is because it so deeply touches and transforms us on the emotional and spiritual planes. Sound can redress imbalances on every level of physiologic functioning and can play a positive role in the treatment of virtually any medical disorder."

Dr. Mitchell Gaynor, director of Medical Oncology and Integrative Medicine,
the Cornell Cancer Prevention Center in New York

In the words of the great Tibetan master/Bodhisattva Gwalwa Karmapa, the Singing Bowls of Tibet emit the "Sound of the Void", the sound of the universe manifesting. They are a symbol of the ’unknowable’ and as an alloy, date back to the Buddha, Shakyamni (560-480 B.C.). Their origins and detailed histories are shrouded in the distant past and are surely a gift from the shamanistic ’Bon’ religion which precedes Buddhism in Tibet by centuries. For centuries they have been utilized for healing and consciousness transformation. We are now discovering the science behind this powerful ancient modality which is so effective for healing today. Modern medicine can now measure and thus confirm the practice of sound as a means to heal.

There is a trinity of Tibetan spiritual sound objects used for healing—the Singing Bowls, the Ganta and the Tingshas.

-- The Bowls emit a quieting, centering energy

-- The Ganta (bell) a motivating and unifying influence and the Tingshas stimulate energy fields

--The ancient bowls actually come from various Himalayan regions including Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan and are made from a consecrated seven metal alloy. Prayers and mantras were chanted to them during their creation so they carry that sacred energy

Used within meditations and physical healings the bowls’ characteristic blend of harmonic resonances are used as a vibrational tool to induce stress reduction, chakra balancing, energy synchronization and spontaneous healing. They effectively alter consciousness into a peaceful and expansive meditative state. Participants report a fundamental shift in their view of phenomenon space, accentuated clarity of mind and body, enhanced creativity and a sense of peace and well-being.

On a biological level these instruments affect a great deal of physical change but Tibetan bowl healing has far-reaching implications that occur on emotional, spiritual, and physical levels. It is a regenerative process married to a spiritual awakening that can have profound consequences on illness, disease, and all aspects of our lives. In fact, mainstream medical teaching facilities like Duke University and the University of North Carolina have added programs that link body, mind, and spirit to the treatment of cancer. Cancer prevention centers are utilizing sound as a vital part of the healing process for patients with astounding results.

Dr. Mitchell Gaynor has been using sound, including Tibetan bowls, crystal bowls and chanting in work with cancer patients for many years. The medical director of the Deepak Chopra center in California, Dr. David Simon, found that the sound from Tibetan bowls as well as chanting are chemically metabolized into ’endogenous opiates’, that act on the body as internal painkillers and healing agents.

How do the vibrations from the singing bowls help in the healing process disease?

It can be said that illness is a manifestation of dis-harmony within the body—an imbalance in the cells or a given organ and that healing can be achieved by restoring the normal vibratory frequencies of the diseased, out-of-harmony parts of the body. Since all matter is energy vibrating at different rates, by altering the rate of vibration we can change the structure of matter. Sound from the bowls entrain the brain to move into the deeper Alpha and Theta brain wave frequencies that induce deep meditative and peaceful states, clarity of mind, and intuition. When placed directly on the body the sound vibrations are transmitted into our blood, organs, tissues, and cellular memory through the 80% water in our system. The sound vibrations impact our nervous system, engaging our relaxation reflex and inhibiting the stress or pain response. It reduces brain wave activity, slows the respiratory and heart rate creating ’Cardio-Respiratory Synchronicity’—the perfect condition to release blocked energy and bring the body back into alignment.

Dr. Gaynor mentions in an article in Shamans Drum magazine that the reason sound (and chanting) are still used in shamanistic cultures is that the sound induces trance states of consciousness conducive to healing. The ancient Himalayan bowls are made from a consecrated seven-metal alloy which, when skillfully stimulated, produces five individual and simultaneous tones, each at its own consistent frequency, which vibrationally dance with each other. The raw materials were collected, smelted and purified, cast, reheated and hammered into shape and tone. Mantras or sacred chants were sung and infused intent into the bowls. Their sound synchronizes sentient brain waves and creates a therapeutic effect upon the mind/body realization.

Singing bowls, produce the primordial sound of ’AUM’: The fundamental utterance of energy metamorphosing into matter. They alter space, mind and time; awakening cellular memory and healing the energy body. The act of listening to their captivating overtones effectively stops one's internal dialog, the ’Monkey Mind’. The individual is transported into a space of tranquility and balance where the ’Universal Chord’, found within each self, is touched, joined with, and understood. The Universal Chord, if you will, is the primordial substance from which our whole reality is made and from which our universe originated. Although the vibrational energy of the bowls can be directed to a specific area for healing purposes, they work more on a fundamental level.

These instruments are used within meditations and physical vibrational healing techniques. Their harmonic resonance is used to:

--Reduce stress and pain

--Balance energy

--Create vitality synchronization and spontaneous healing

-- Effectively alter consciousness into a peaceful and expansive meditative state (trance induction)

-- Meditate

Himalayan bowls are also teachers. They carry the Buddhist voidness teachings that purport that nothing exists independently of anything else. Each note from these sacred instruments contains all other notes and herein lies their magic. Although possessing a variety of harmonics, the fundamental vibration of each bowl is rooted in the Sanskrit mantra OM. This primordial sound is the perfection of the universe. The ensuing sympathetic resonance between brain and bowls reawakens the intrinsic blissful self in us.

Our attitudes, beliefs and behaviors will either engage with or sabotage the healing potential as well. Positive thinking can strengthen your immune system and change your life. The combination of the sound vibration of the bowls with positive visualization and affirmations will greatly enhance the healing experience.

Thus, sound is a type of energy medicine that creates the sacred space in which people can heal from stress disorders, pain, depression, the emotional roller coaster and more. It also creates the perfect state for deep meditation, creative thinking and intuitive messages. The healing process is initiated by entraining our brainwaves and creating sympathetic resonance with the perfect vibrations of the bowls.



Diane Mandle is certified in Tibetan Bowl Sound Healing through the State of California and Sacred Sound Workshops. Based in Southern California, she maintains a private practice offering an integrated system for healing which includes Sound and Polarity Therapy, Toning, and Visualization. Diane conducts educational presentations, keynotes and concerts nationwide on healing using the Himalayan bowls. She can be reached at 760.944.3441 or info@soundenergyhealing.com.

My Notes: I Just got a new singing bowl from " Heaven Art" . I have made up my mind to practise meditation and yoga for personal harmony in this new year. I know I have to lay off writing for my blog for some time now.

OM NOT A BIG DEAL HUM

Posted by Chris Young on 06.12.06

Patience, from a Buddhist perspective, means not getting angry. Ultimately, the way to not get angry is to really connect with the realization that everything is in its right place. That means that when something is going on that is troublesome, you can see it in terms of its interdependency with everything else - its natural position in the scheme of things - it is in its right place. Patience is enhanced with three types of understanding: The understanding that there is suffering, the understanding of the truth of Dharma, and the understanding that accepts difficult people. The understanding that there is suffering clears away the wrong view of escaping difficulties. With this understanding, if difficulties come your mind won’t get caught up in wishing that everything was smooth all the time. That’s actually the source of a lot of suffering, especially for us ’spiritual practitioners’. Personally, I got into Buddhism because I figured if I could get enlightened then I wouldn’t have to go to work any more. I would be free from that type of situation where anything is required. Everything is struggling on some level - basically we are surviving. We are struggling to survive. What is the sound of struggle? Listen to your own heart beat. Maybe it would like to take a rest - maybe your heart feels tired. But as soon as it rests its responsibility becomes clear. Bump. Bump. Bump. Even after Shakyamuni became enlightened he still had to eat. He would take breaks from teaching because his back hurt. But we don’t want to accept trouble. We ache and cry whenever it comes - we want to never have problems. This causes extra problems! Do you see that? Actually, the most painful suffering comes from ideas that grow out of mere suffering. When I had my hernia operation I was very depressed. I felt broken. I had a cut on my groin and I wanted to be put away in a mental hospital or something. My mind went crazy and that’s because I hated the idea of being so sick. I had no patience. I wouldn’t accept my suffering. So that’s the first type of acceptance - accepting suffering.

Then there is accepting the truth of dharma. Notice that dharma here has a small ‘d’. Small ‘d’ dharma means everything is changing. Everything that is a thing is called dharma in Sanskrit. This means that it has come together and it will change. Everything that you have now, even your body, will decay. That’s true! Maybe it seems morbid to think about that, that your mind is sitting on a decaying pile of temporary pleasures and pains, but there is something valuable in being realistic. When we ignore these things we will eventually have to face them and then we will become angry, we will lose our patience - many people die in a furious state because they feel gypped. Like they did everything right and now here they are, falling to pieces. It’s as if they didn’t believe that it would happen to them - maybe they feel like they had a special deal. Very few people accept that everything is impermanent and changing. Things are decaying right now. It is not the case that everything is very solid and then, just at the end, it falls apart. Everything that exists will go away. This is true. Accepting this leads to patience when things change.

Then the third type of acceptance is . . . . .. .

I don’t remember right now.

Oh, yes I do. It is accepting difficult people - both people outside of you and yourself. Actually, you are the most difficult person to yourself. Maybe you call yourself bad names in your head because you screwed up in this and that situation. This is also a lack of patience, a lack of acceptance that people are difficult.

See, patience leads to happy states, anger leads to suffering. That is true. When you are patient, anger cannot arise - the mind can not be angry and patient at the same time. By not experiencing anger your body won’t experience all kinds of very heavy duty bad chemicals - it won’t oxidize as quickly - you will have a smile instead of a frown. You can enjoy patience. In fact if you are not enjoying it, then it is not quite there. Maybe you are just begrudgingly tolerating something - waiting anxiously for the moment when it is over - acting like a good boy or girl.

Rinpoche told this story about a meditator coming out of retreat. He didn’t tell it exactly like I am going to - but that’s okay, its just a story.

This yogi had been meditating a long time and had gotten some genuine spiritual experience. He decided it was time for him to go back into the town down the hill for a visit. As he was walking he came across a very rude man. The man said all kinds of nasty things, it seemed he didn’t like meditators. “How can you be so selfish” “Your body stinks and you look awful” “You are a coward running from society.” He said stuff like that - things that meditators get crap for all the time. The yogi just listened patiently - his expression didn’t change. After some time the rude man became a bit distraught. Its hard to go on with insults if you don’t get any response. Finally he said, ‘What is wrong with you!? I am insulting you here, don’t you have any honor, why won’t you fight back? Normal people would get so angry.’

The yogi said, “I have a question for you. If you give someone a present and they don’t want it - if they can’t use it and so they don’t accept it, who, then does the present belong to?”

The rude man said, ‘well, the person who is trying to give it away’

The yogi said, ‘well, I don’t need your angry words, so you get to keep them, they belong to you.’

So dealing with difficult people is like this. Rinpoche says it is as simple as just not taking what others think personally. That goes really deep, actually.

Someone raised their hand at this point (remember, this all comes from a teaching) and asked, “Rinpoche, is there some sort of mantra a person can say to help to deal with someone who is acting like that, who is being so rude?”

Rinpoche thought for a moment - just a moment, and then he said, ‘yes there is a mantra - “OM NOT A BIG DEAL HUM”. Everyone laughed very hard. I bet everyone in the room laughed. Then he said, “I’m kind of kidding but really not.” He went on to explain that mantra does not have to be in Sanskrit. He said the purpose of mantra is to invoke memory of something meaningful (I think there are other purposes as well), so mantra can be in English. So that’s a really good mantra, he said.

Okay, so I hope you are all having a wonderful day and that you will all learn to deepen your patience through acceptance of the truths of struggle, impermanence, and difficult people.

From: http://authenticpersonality.lucaserve.com

Leslie Cheung -- a Bi-sexual Singer

Leslie Cheung (12 September 1956 – 1 April 2003) was an actor and musician from Hong Kong. Cheung was considered as 'One of the founding fathers of Cantopop," and "combining a hugely successful film and music career'.

In 2000, Cheung was named Asian Biggest Superstar by China Central Television, and voted as The Most Favorite Actor in 100 Years of Chinese Cinema in 2005.

Cheung was bisexual and once said in an interview in Time magazine: 'It's more appropriate to say I'm bisexual. I've had girlfriends. When I was 22 or so, I asked my girlfriend Teresa Mo to marry me.'

Despite numerous tabloid rumors, he denied his homosexual/bi-sexual orientation for the first half of his career, until his stance relaxed considerably after emigrating to Vancouver. In the early 1990s he became one of the few Hong Kong actors who dared to play gay characters on screen.

--- From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

My Notes: I have no comments on the gay culture. I simply observe it as an interesting part of sociology.

Leonard Cohen and Things about Poetry

The other day, I got an email message from a friend. It was about Leonard Cohen's words I quoted to my blog. I didn't know Leonard Cohen until I heard his songs " Dance me to the end of love" and " Famous blue raincoat". I liked his lyrics first and then his deep magnetic voice. He became one of my favorite singers ever since then. That was last year. Cohen's works deal with love, religion, and complex interpersonal relationships. I spent many nights listening to " Famous blue raincoat" as if I were Leonard himself sitting on the balcony of an apartment deep into the night , totally trapped in these two typical human emotions: love and hatred. " What can I tell you, my brother, my killer, what can I possibly say? " The lyric shows the complicated feelings a man has when he finds out that his best buddy has stolen his woman. It takes human sensitiveness ---- the inner oracle of of a man's heart, where there is courage , to forgive . I think this song is typical of L. Cohen's works.

I am always into poetry, but I seldom follow a specific poet. It is bits and pieces of the language in the poems that fascinate me. Poetry surely has its effects on our society, and personally speaking, it has made me sensitive and emotional as a woman. However, I don't have theoretical views on poetry, and reading poems is merely a way of entertaining myself. I very much like what my friend says about Leonard and poetry in the email.

Here it is:

"Just a note to let you know you I check your blog daily for new entries. I very much like your poets’ thumbnail corner. Of course, it helps that L. Cohen is one of my favorite poets/songwriters/singers. I hope you continue or expand this feature of your blog and hope again that my review, as one, soon echo with the support of millions. But, one is enough for a writer when a reader, by existential accident, stumbles upon their words-enthralled: mysterious to behold, that out of all possibilities, that for a short section of time, the writer lived in climaxed transcendental copulation with a reader.

Poetry forms a noble equilibrium between the conceptually paradoxical such as; ‘money talks’ on one end of a mythical scale to the perceptually obvious; ‘a dog with a tin can tied to its tail is no philosopher’ on the other end. It is for this reason, we are blessed by poets who took the time, they no longer have, but were glad to take when they were rich with a vocabulary, to make into rhyme, what they itched to scribble, those words they now have forgotten. Poetry helps our intellect and spirit form a polished, intricately coherent and supportive proof for the reasons of our existence in a terminally chaotic world and the biological inevitability of death. Poems are truth, the simple essence of life, and when written in the language of forgiveness and compassion gives gladness when we find ourselves in them: asking for and taking nothing. Poetry guides our search for our truth, as we share our stories and slip a little nearer to understanding the sorrows of common failure of human motives and as we fumble toward the language of empathy. Those choice tidbits of gossip, impetuous enthusiasms, scraps of prejudice, semantic twists of persuasion, favored theories; all the transient junk in our lives is flushed from our souls to give a glimpse of what life’s crisp and sparkling perfection could be."

My special thanks go to my friend who sent me the email. I appreciate his consent for posting these words here, and I respect his insightful mind and erudition. He is my teacher and my friend

My notes: This article used to stay at another blog site of mine which is meant for private stuff. I am releasing this in Michelle's scrapbook today, since quite a few of my friends like L. Cohen. Am I a private person? Haha... I don't mind sharing anyway. After I embedded the youtube video, it has become a bit noisy --- in a nice way, but it doesn't fit into " Fish in the water" anymore.

The Darkest Winter

The Darkest Winter ( Lyrics)

---- Sonata Nocturna

I can feel the silence of the wind
like a nightingale that never sings
Widows of the the light is all I see
the darkest winter memory remains

Lonely, afraid them, the voices of wood
calling me through the window...silent night.
Darkness, tenderness, the sadness of hope,
in my heart I can feel the cold...

I can feel the silence of the wind
like a nightingale that never sings
Widows of the the light is all I see
the darkest winter memory remains

Dying, the rainbow will never appear
with the snow in my hands, I scream in tears.
Blindly, I tremble like a lonely wolf
lost in dark paradise of night.

I can feel the silence of the wind
like a nightingale that never sings;
signs of sorrow flow from within.
My heart is dying, the flame suffocates,
the snow is falling down and I am breaking down,
from this valley of tears to the eternity.
And there is no sun...my world becoming black
The beauty is dark, like feelings of my heart;
I feel alone...

Energetic Stillness

This is an article about the power of patience from www.dailyom.com. I would like to express my special gratitude to the author Madisyn Taylor for his or her wonderful writing and reflection which I enjoy reading so much. This article is surely beneficial for our spiritual journey.

"We typically think of patience as a quality that we employ on an as needed basis. We are in a hurry at the grocery store, but the line is long, so we take a breath and practice patience. Similarly, if we are interacting with someone who is slower than we are-a child or an elderly person-we try to slow ourselves down and be patient with that person. But another way to think about patience is as an all-pervasive force at our disposal, something we can practice continually in relation to the bigger picture.

Patience means being centered in our bodies. When you are in a hurry, you can almost feel that your energy is dislocated, as if it's reaching forward out of your body trying to get to your desired goal. It's a very unbalancing feeling, and causes us to make mistakes and be clumsy in the world. We may go through an entire day feeling this way and never realize that impatience is at the root of the situation. We may also go through our whole lives this way, never quite fully inhabiting the moment. When we become overly goal-oriented or future-oriented, consciously practicing patience is just the thing to return us to our bodies and our immediate lives. We can begin by taking time each day just to be still, observing our thoughts and desires without acting on them or following them. We simply let them arise and disappear as we remain seated and centered.

More than just an attribute to be cultivated, patience is an energetic experience. While it may seem mild or tepid as a concept, the actual experience of patience is quite powerful. When you are patient, when you resist reaching out to grab the first thing you think you want, when you are able to sit still and simply observe without reacting, you begin to see the world more fully and clearly. You become capable of acting more consciously. You become more attuned to the openings and closings and more able to see when to move forward and when to be still. And most importantly, you discover the deep, quiet power of the experience of patience."

Poetry is Immortal

"In spite of difference of soil and climate, of language and manners, of laws and customs, in spite of things silently gone out of mind and things violently destroyed, the Poet binds together by passion and knowledge the vast empire of human society, as it is spread over the whole earth, and over all time. The objects of the Poet's thoughts are everywhere; though the eyes and senses of man are, it is true, his favorite guides, yet he will follow wheresoever he can find an atmosphere of sensation in which to move his wings. Poetry is the first and last of all knowledge--it is as immortal as the heart of man." --William Wordsworth, "Preface to Lyrical Ballads"