Mary Oliver is such a poet as speaks to our hearts, our souls, without cleverness or opaqueness. She is open, and opens our love and pain with the beautiful pictures she paints of all of the states and passions we pass through.
This, on death:
“When you are awake, you must be fully awake and conscious about everything. This is a wonderful exercise.
Philosophy is itself the disease for which it pretends to be the cure: the wise man does not pursue wisdom but lives his life, and therein precisely does his wisdom lie.
To realize freedom the mind has to learn to look at life, which is a vast movement, without the bondage of time, for freedom lies beyond the mind.
The moment we stop analyzing and let go, we can start really seeing, feeling – as one whole.”
~ Bruce Lee
Boy is this tough to remember tho it sure seems right. Periodically I come back to myself but I sure like to delve into the pool. I’ve been a life-long delver as a matter of fact. It seems the truth is out there somewhere in the midst of some words. Not that words are all wrong. They do point us in the right direction, time and time again. I am reminded of Basho (at least I think it was Basho) who said, “Do not seek after wisemen. Seek what wisemen sought.” Amen to that.
“The dream is a little hidden door in the innermost & most secret recesses of the soul, opening into that cosmic night which was psyche long before there was any ego-consciousness, & which will remain psyche no matter how far our ego-consciousness extends.” ~ Carl Jung 
Our search for the eternal, as always, appears to be within. Meditation. Sleep. Dreams. Breathing. And the space between everything, the space between thoughts. Making contact with the true self and the Universal.
Alice Sebold first made her name with the publication of Lovely Bones. She continued writing and published Lucky and The Almost Moon.
More posts by Donna May and more about writing, of course.
“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” ~Carl Jung
Another life lesson we—that is, I—have to learn over and over. Why does a friend irritate me so when she does a certain something? What is there in that that is in me? Plus, I believe that the more we learn the more difficult things become. That is, within the lessons we are to learn. Not easier in the dark to see, but more hidden and more disguised.
Did I tell you about the phone calls I used to get in my sleep? Someone would call me up to contradict a thought I’d had or a statement I’d made about my progress. I loved this and tried and tried to figure out whose voice it was. The voice was so familiar but I couldn’t quite place it. “Fear? You think you have overcome Fear? My dear, you are loaded with Fear.” Who said that? Who was calling? I knew it was my subconscious, but not the manifestation of the voice. Once I understood—it was my own voice, of course—I no longer received the calls. Damn! Too easy I guess. Growth is painful and it doesn’t happen on our timetable. It also requires work. Double Damn!
Writers Ink—Writing and Stuff 