Topic: Lifelines

http://montalk.net/misc/95/research-notes

Check out the note called "Lifeline."

**

After reading over the "Lifeline" note by montalk, I decided to begin to Lifeline thread.

A Lifeline is an external shock, from a positive source, that helps you return to balance.  Don Juan spoke about these, in a roundabout way, in one of the Casteneda books.  He liked to use poetry to give himself a boost.

This is a meaningful topic to me because when I was 18 it was partly the use of a Lifeline that kept me from committing suicide.

I still use it to give me a boost.

I was in a tailspin and the only thing that could bring me balance at that time was repeating William Ernst Henley's "Invictus" to myself.  ("Invictus" is Latin for "unconquerable.")



INVICTUS

Out of the night that covers me
Black as the pit from pole to pole
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul

In fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall me, unafraid

It matters not how strait the gate
How charged with punishments the scroll
I am the master of my fate
I am the captain of my soul.

--William Ernst Henley

You can't change a tiger's stripes,
but you can avoid its teeth.

Re: Lifelines

Awesome. Thanks so much for posting that, dreamosis!

"The most important decision you have to make is whether you live in a hostile or friendly universe."
~ Albert Einstein

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. ~Marcel Proust

The evolution of humanity is an evolution of the heart. The path is through the heart.

Re: Lifelines

There's a song by Snog that contains a recitation of that poem. It's called Into the Light.

--Justin

Re: Lifelines

Here is one that helps me remember some of the simple but important things in life:

Desiderata
Max Ehrmann, c. 1952

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.

Acquiring fringe knowledge is like digging for diamonds in a mine field.

Re: Lifelines

cool posts!  here's one I like!

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream---and not make dreams your master;
If you can think---and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings---nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And---which is more---you'll be a Man, my son!
Rudyard Kipling

It is not for us to understand love, but simply to make space for it.

6 (edited by Jen 2005-11-21 00:31:19)

Re: Lifelines

Enjoying all the Lifelines posted, here's one that has been
meaningful to me. 

Say not the Struggle nought Availeth
Arthur Hugh Clough, 1819–1861

 
SAY not the struggle naught availeth, 
  The labour and the wounds are vain, 
The enemy faints not, nor faileth, 
  And as things have been they remain. 

If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars;         
  It may be, in yon smoke conceal'd, 
Your comrades chase e'en now the fliers, 
  And, but for you, possess the field. 

For while the tired waves, vainly breaking, 
  Seem here no painful inch to gain,
Far back, through creeks and inlets making, 
  Comes silent, flooding in, the main. 

And not by eastern windows only, 
  When daylight comes, comes in the light; 
In front the sun climbs slow, how slowly, 
  But westward, look, the land is bright.

Re: Lifelines

montalk wrote:

Here is one that helps me remember some of the simple but important things in life:

Desiderata
Max Ehrmann, c. 1952

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy
.

A revealing and wonderul truth.  Sometimes we spend so much time worrying about aliens, abductions, and other issues we discussed here in NR that we forget to smell the roses every once in a while.  For all the sufferering, killing, pain, poverty, etc... there is also joy, life, pleasure, riches, etc...  It is a wonderful World indeed! 

Continue your battle against the alien forces whose aim is to enslave our minds our bodies, but every so often pause, I please beg you,  and smell the roses so you can remember what it is all about!

Regards

8 (edited by Xenopope 2005-11-21 07:53:53)

Re: Lifelines

Hmm. Dunno if this counts but here's a poem by James Klerk Maxwell about the soul.

James Klerk Maxwell wrote:

"My soul is an entangled knot,
Upon a liquid vortex wrought
By Intellect in the Unseen residing.
And thine doth like a convict sit,


With marlinspike untwisting it,
Only to find its knottiness abiding;
Since all the tool for its untying
In four-dimensional space are lying."


        --James Klerk Maxwell

This poem helped usher in the 'awakening' process for me years ago. I find the capital 'U' quite helpful.

I am as is Void.

Re: Lifelines

I've carried a pocket size "Dhammapada: The Sayings of the Buddha" (rendering by Thomas Byrom) since 1998 in my purse everyday.  It's rather worn by now but keeps me company while standing in line or anywhere I might be waiting and subject to "thinking, thinking, thinking" which can lead for me into the slippery slope of depression, anger etc.

I love this first saying titled "Choices" -- this is just an exerpt.

"We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our
   thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the
   world.
Speak or act with an impure mind
And trouble will follow you
As the wheel follows the ox that draws
  the cart.

We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our
  thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the
  world.
Speak or act with a pure mind
And happiness will follow you
As your shadow, unshakable.

"Look how he abused me and
  beat me,
How he threw me down and robbed
  me."
Live with such thoughts and you live
  in hate"

"Look how he abused me and
  beat me,
How he threw me down and robbed
  me."
Abandon such thoughts, and live in
  love.

In this world
Hate never yet dispelled hate.
Only love dispels hate.
This is the law,
Ancient and inexhaustible.
You too shall pass away.
Knowing this, how can you quarrel?

....

Christine B.

10 (edited by whywhywhy 2005-11-21 08:06:29)

Re: Lifelines

Christine B. wrote:

I've carried a pocket size "Dhammapada: The Sayings of the Buddha" (rendering by Thomas Byrom) since 1998 in my purse everyday.  It's rather worn by now but keeps me company while standing in line or anywhere I might be waiting and subject to "thinking, thinking, thinking" which can lead for me into the slippery slope of depression, anger etc.

I love this first saying titled "Choices" -- this is just an exerpt.

"We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our
   thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the
   world.
Speak or act with an impure mind
And trouble will follow you
As the wheel follows the ox that draws
  the cart.

We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our
  thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the
  world.
Speak or act with a pure mind
And happiness will follow you
As your shadow, unshakable.

"Look how he abused me and
  beat me,
How he threw me down and robbed
  me."
Live with such thoughts and you live
  in hate"

"Look how he abused me and
  beat me,
How he threw me down and robbed
  me."
Abandon such thoughts, and live in
  love.

In this world
Hate never yet dispelled hate.
Only love dispels hate.
This is the law,
Ancient and inexhaustible.
You too shall pass away.
Knowing this, how can you quarrel?

....

Christine B.

Hi Christine!

My mind is always racing and a million thoughts seems to be the order of the day, but many times these thoughts betray me for they are old issues and concerns I "suppossedly" abandoned some time ago.  Most of them deal specifically with anger management.....I am still working on it.  Anyways, this may be a nice "Saying" to carry in my pocket for those not so easy days. 

Regards

Re: Lifelines

Go to Borders/B&N and find yourself a pocket edition of the Dhammapada if you want to.  This is but ONE saying -- there are 26.

This edition is published by Shambhala publications and if your bookstore doesn't have it, they can order it easily.  Costs about $6.00 -- a tad bit more than a latte and lasts lots longer <g>

This book "saved" me during a time in my life when my mind was so incredibly noisy that once I took a left hand turn into 4 ONCOMING lanes of moving traffic.  It was only then that I realized that the noise in our heads can be deadly -- before that -- I just thought it was uncomfortable.  I started reading this book daily after that.

Love,
Christine B.

Re: Lifelines

I've had lifelines come from within during particularly difficult times in my life. As I felt the depth of whatever pain, sadness, depression or futility that I thought surely was my life, I'd seek inward for something - ANYthing - I could do to change my state. Most often, a poem or encouraging energy that formed into words would arise.

This is one of those, that I have certainly felt and used as a lifeline many times since it first came through:


Trust and Surrender

Oh! But for the shadows
cast by self-made fears…
The despair borne
of self-made limitations…

This universe bursts
with unending potential!
Any conception takes form if permitted,
if unhindered,
by the heart of its very creator.

Most cannot conceive
beyond previously set borders;
Their minds and spirits so ingrained
with outdated notions of What Is.

There’s so much more
to see and feel and know…

Shed Light
on your self-perceived darkness
by opening your heart
to the unbounded, all-consuming Love
that gave birth to your own existence.

Chance letting go of all self-control.
Give yourself over
to the whim and fancy
of a single, unfettered moment.

Dive into the unknown
with Carefreeness and Freedom!
And feel the life-sustaining support
of Love’s Truth, warm and tender…

… All life is eternal
Trust and Surrender

~Sowelu

"The most important decision you have to make is whether you live in a hostile or friendly universe."
~ Albert Einstein

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. ~Marcel Proust

The evolution of humanity is an evolution of the heart. The path is through the heart.

Re: Lifelines

Thank you Christine!

14

Re: Lifelines

All the posts are inspiring!  Sowelu, thanks for sharing your lovely poem.  Trust and Surrender--truly words and concepts to live by. 

You reminded me of a prayer-poem I wrote myself.  I haven't used it as a Lifeline so far, but maybe it's time I did: 


Finding Myself

I am aware of myself,
I am aware of my radiating impact.
My heart beats with the heart of All.
I love and have faith in myself
as I navigate my self-created experiences,
and my thoughts and actions
dance and flow together inseparably.
I respect and honor my emotions and heart-felt desires,
holding the Vision,
knowing it is full-filled, in the spacious Now.
It is done, it is done, it is done,
in pleasure, ease and exhilaration.
I am each day growing closer and closer
to who I am and who I can be;
I am a dolphin jumping for joy
In the ocean of life.

Re: Lifelines

In 2000 I befriended a girl in an internet chatroom who then suffered a major tragedy by completely losing her hearing through contracting (and almost dying from) Meningitus. She was 17 at the time. I spent just over 3 years (on and off) supporting her through what she was going through. She attempted suicide twice in that period.

Looking back with the awareness I have now, I think it could well have been some kind of lovebite scenario. It certainly sucked a huge amount of energy out of me, but at the same time I'm incredibly grateful for the experience because of the lessons I learned. And boy were there lessons!! I could easily write an entire book about what happened in those years.

But on to the topic of lifelines. Not long after she first lost her hearing I emailed her "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" by Richard Bach, which is a lifeline in itself. She really loved it, and then many months (or maybe over a year) later she sent me this poem she found. She didn't write it but I know it summed up exactly how she felt about me and I still use it as a lifeline when I'm not feeling so good about myself:

My Jonathan Seagull

My dear friend....
You came into my life so unexpectedly..
Little did I know what was to lie ahead
For the longest time you were a click of a mouse, words on my screen
Hugs that warmed my days.. and secured my nights

Within the many hours of our private room,
You showed me strength, when I showed you my weaknesses.
You taught me the importance of believing in myself,
When I thought there was nothing to believe in
You taught me so much, in ways I never knew
You stood behind me when I began to fall.

Along side of me when I needed a friend
In front of me when I needed a guide
You showed me my ability to fly...
How to reach places I had only dreamed of
You saw me with your heart and not your eyes
But more importantly you gave me a piece of you
A gift worth far more than money could buy.

You gave me a floor to dance on..
A song in my heart that I finally understand the words to
And a peacefulness in my heart...where you will live forever..
I hope everyone finds a "YOU"

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