When one goes to Obaku temple in Kyoto he sees carved over the gate the words “The First Principle”. The letters are unusually large, and those who appreciate calligraphy always admire them as being a mastepiece.  They were drawn by Kosen two hundred years ago.

When the master drew them he did so on paper, from which the workmen made the large carving in wood. As Kosen sketched the letters a bold pupil was with him who had made several gallons of ink for the calligraphy and who never failed to criticise his master’s work.

“That is not good,” he told Kosen after his first effort.

“How is this one?”

“Poor. Worse than before,” pronounced the pupil.

Kosen patiently wrote one sheet after another until eighty-four First Principles had accumulated, still without the approval of the pupil.

Then when the young man stepped outside for a few moments, Kosen thought: “Now this is my chance to escape his keen eye,” and he wrote hurriedly, with a mind free from distraction: “The First Principle.”

“A masterpiece,” pronounced the pupil.

Provided he makes and wins an argument about Buddhism with those who live there, any wondering monk can remain in a Zen temple. If he is defeated, he has to move on.

In a temple in the northern part of Japan two brother monks were dwelling together. The elder one was learned, but the younger one was stupid and had but one eye.

A wandering monk came and asked for lodging, properly challenging them to a debate about the sublime teachings. The elder brother, tired that day from much studying, told the younger one to take his place. “Go and request the dialogue in silence,” he cautioned.

So the young monk and the stranger went to the shrine and sat down.

Shortly afterwards the traveler rose and went in to the elder brother and said:  "Your young brother is a wonderful fellow. He defeated me.“

"Relate the dialogue to me,” said the elder one.

“Well,” explained the traveler, “first I held up one finger, representing Buddha, the enlightened one. So he held up two fingers, signifying Buddha and his teaching. I held up three fingers, representing Buddha, his teaching, and his followers, living the harmonious life. Then he shook his clenched fist in my face, indicating that all three come from one realization. Thus he won and so I have no right to remain here.” With this, the traveler left.

“Where is that fellow?” asked the younger one, running in to his elder brother.

“I understand you won the debate.”

“Won nothing. I’m going to beat him up.”

“Tell me the subject of the debate,” asked the elder one.

“Why, the minute he saw me he held up one finger, insulting me by insinuating that I have only one eye. Since he was a stranger I thought I would be polite to him, so I held up two fingers, congratulating him that he has two eyes. Then the impolite wretch held up three fingers, suggesting that between us we only have three eyes. So I got mad and started to punch him, but he ran out and that ended it!”

https://www.wattpad.com/story/199538758-i-want-to-be-like-dwayne-johnson

Yes you read that correctly! If you want a story that’s funny, unique, and has a little Dwayne Johnson love, then this is the book for you! It is a self-discovery, LGBTQ novel about a teenage girl who wants to be just like Dwayne Johnson. Chapter One has been released on Wattpad, so follow the link below and enjoy! 

Summary: "While girls my age are more into Shawn Mendes, Tom Holland, shopping, nails, getting their hair done, getting to that 1k follower status on social media, I’ve decided a whole new course for me to take. I am into sports, getting my hands dirty, wrestling, and…oh, yeah, Dwayne Johnson!“

*

Seventeen year old Harper Leavings is anything but your typical teenage girl. She’s a total tomboy, and very proud of this. She’s not afraid to speak her mind and doesn’t shy away from her beliefs. Her mother tries relentlessly to have her daughter conform to the girly ways while her dad embraces his daughter’s spitfire personality. 

All the while, Harper has one goal in mind: to become just like Dwayne Johnson. 

To Harper he is like god reincarnate. He’s strong, an impressive wrestler, and a rather funny actor. Not to mention he’s managed to charm the world with his lovable, charismatic personality. It’s something her mom finds absolutely exhausting and embarrassing, while her dad just laughs it off and gives her a pat on the back. 

But when Harper meets and begins to fall for the mysterious new girl, Juniper, Harper realizes that maybe she doesn’t need to become like Dwayne Johnson to find her way in this chaotic world.

Link: https://www.wattpad.com/story/199538758-i-want-to-be-like-dwayne-johnson  

ah kya yaad dila diya Parh parh ilm te faazil hoya Te kaday apnay aap nu parhya ee na

(You read to become all knowledgeable But you never read yourself

You read so many books to know it all, yet fail to ever read your heart at all.)

Bhaj bhaj warna ay mandir maseeti Te kaday mann apnay wich warya ee na

(You run to enter temples and mosques But you never entered your own heart

You rush to holy shrines to play a part, Would you dare enter the shrine of your heart)

Larna ay roz shaitaan de naal Te kadi nafs apnay naal larya ee na

(Everyday you fight Satan But you never fight your own Ego

You are quick to attack the evil one, yet pride is a battle you have not won.)

Bulleh Shah asmaani ud-deya pharonda ay Te jera ghar betha unoon pharya ee na

(Bulleh Shah you try grabbing that which is in the sky But you never get hold of What sits inside you

You grab for a star you can control, yet fail to grasp the light in your soul)

Low Vibration Days Are Okay

Low Vibration Days Are Okay

When you think hear the words “spiritual awakening”, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? For me, it’s this vision of someone who looks a lot like me wearing white, sitting in some sort of meditative state under the sun with a big ol’ smile on my face. Someone who has it all together and there are no gray skies on the horizon. The reality is, I am still spirituality awakening and I STILL…

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swankivy:

punkfaery:

recently i’ve seen a lot of people being like “i used to identify as asexual, but then i realised i just had a lot of repression/internalised homophobia/body image issues, and once i had sorted through that, i no longer identified as asexual.” 

which is, like, fine. or not fine,but it’s understandable.

exceptthey then go on to say, “THEREFORE asexuality is a harmful and #problematic orientation because it allows people to justify their repression and avoid facing up to their Real Problems bluh bluh something bluh.” 

and that’s where i start to be like. uhhh. you do know an identity is not inherently flawed just because it no longer fits you, right? for example - i used to identify as bi because of compulsory heterosexuality. i was scared to face the fact that i was not even remotely into men, so i called myself bi because it was easier. does that make bisexuality a flawed identity? if a trans man initially identifies as a butch lesbian due to internalised transphobia, does that make butch lesbians “problematic”? no offence but could you people please, please think critically for once in your lives, i’m begging you

I can’t tell you how many times I have had a stranger e-mail me or comment on one of my videos to tell me that asexuality itself, and the activism I help promote, is inherently problematic because it was what they used as a cover when they weren’t in touch with themselves (or they simply made a mistake).

Somewhat recently I had an “ex asexual” write me an absolutely awful, very long message about how aces are socially repressed and he used to be one of them, and how people like me have personally contributed to harming them becausewe make them think they’re okay when they had so much work to do to find their real selves.

Do you know what the opposite of that looks like?

Asexual people being finally freed to be themselves because they have a word for who they are and an understanding for why it never felt right.

Asexual people finally having resources to leave abusive relationships or speak up for their own desires (or lack thereof) in relationships.

Asexual people who learn they don’t have to buy into the toxic messages society has been sending them since birth about what they need to desire to be okay, to be happy, to be fulfilled, and how horribly stunted and In Need Of Help they are if they “suffer” from “lack of libido” or whatever someone uninformed thinks asexuality is today.

Do you know how many people have pretended to be straight (or thought they were straight) because they either didn’t have the resources/support to admit otherwise or truly did not knowit was an option to be otherwise? There are many ways compulsory heterosexuality actually is toxic and we somehow don’t have our mainstream culture side-eyeing heterosexuals for influencing The Youth to buy into the lie that they are straight.

As the OP says, identities are not in themselves problematic. They don’t start being dangerous because someone who once used that identity later decided it didn’t fit them.

What we actually need to do is create/facilitate places and spaces where people aren’t shamed for exploring identity and won’t feel like they failed or “were tricked” if they either realize an identity was never true for them or they realize it isn’t true anymore (or that something else is truer). 

It’s okay to identify as asexual on your way to understanding yourself, and to be wrong. We’re not going to send a mob out to find you and blame you for destroying our legitimacy. Labels are what we use to communicate with each other and tell each other who we are. If we realize the words are doing us a disservice, we change how we speak. It’s okay. But don’t you DARE tell asexual people that their awareness activism is hurting people because we want everyone to know it’s an option (and we want people to know what our experience is like). 

It is horribly damaging to spread the lie that asexuality is more likely to be a phase that stunts people than it is to ever be the “final” label a person uses. If you found out it was wrong for you, you need to still support asexual people, and you need to use your time in the community as insight into how society treats them. You still need to make space for THEM to have THEIR journeys, and you do NOT have the right to present our community as harmful to yours because you tripped over us on your way to your true self.

Everyone can keep exploring who they are and trying on identity labels if they’re still unsatisfied. The nametags you leave on the floor are not to blame for distracting you from the ones you want pinned to your jacket. And if you won’t ever consider whether people who came to the same conclusion you did might be wrong, while you assume everyone calling themselves asexual is still looking for a “real” answer … we see who you are. We see that you’re weaponizing identity and centering your own experience in the lives of others. We see that you’re using the status quo to control and shame marginalized people. And we see that you can’t imagine asexuality except as a disorder. If you say things like this and spread these messages, know that you are just as bad as every authority who ever “diagnosed” other non-straight and non-cis identities with disorders, and know that you are making it easier for bigots to come for everyone else.

Four of Swords… l pulled today while walking in the forest. Standing in the forest from my childhood, surrounding the old country house of my parents, I can relate so much to the message of the card. I’m in my sanctuary, the place I used to play as a child, yet now it looks eerie, dark, abandoned as if telling a story of past storms and journeys that caused to leave the place of inner equilibrium. ******* I can see how constantly pushing too hard, failing to give ourselves time to connect back with our tranquil inner garden and check our compass, we come back there one day to see that it turned into mystical garden of storms and shadows and we need time to be able to discover here meditation, prayer, equilibrium and peace again and softly call for our soul. So we could heal ourselves after passed stressful, stormy, painful situations and come back to our core.

Your spirit guides are here, right now. 

They’re an inevitable part of our existence but we might be still learning to be aware of their presence. Wise advice popped up in your mind, sudden turn to the unknown street to bring you to the amazing place, strange butterfly, symbols hidden in bus numbers.

There is an immense dramatic element to be here, on this earth, carrying the grandness of your soul, with all that stories, karma, dimensions, previous lives, and trying to manage in the same time - soul mission, releasing karma, integrating aspects and aspects of self, merging with soulmates, helping humanity, helping Earth and yet not forgetting to take care of yourself. 

We’re not supposed to go alone.

Your soul is weaved with all the beings out there - they speak to you, merge with your feelings, guide and bring all of you together, they root for you, love you. They’re your portals and main teachers, your soul family, they can be you.

Put spirit radio on, tune into the vibes you need nowadays.

***Spirit guides tarot spread can be a lot, just a lot of everything***

know the spirit guides connecting with you at present moment: ancestors and animal spirits, ascendant masters, angels, extraterrestrial beings, your Higher self

be aware of ways they connect with you, purpose and mystery of your connection - here you can learn about own unique abilities and psychic predispositions + study your personal myth and history 

find out how you can deepen connection with the spirit guides 

find out what is blocking you from connecting with the spirit guides and how to work through that

get messages from the spirit guides, something they’re trying to convey to you at present moment - it can be anything, from very practical things to mysterious revelations 

if you’ve a question to your guides this spread can be a portal trough which you can try to get an answer 

This spread needs highly intuitive or psychic reading, you’re definitely going to decipher the specific ways the spirit guides use to speak through tarot. 

Some ideas to begin with:

Lay down cards 1-9 first and interpret them. 

1 - basically this is you, your current state in general or in regard to the spirit guides - your feelings, expectations, attitude.

2-9:

Major Arcana or court cards represents the spirit guides

Minor Arcana cards: all about your connection with the spirit guides (if this is what you’re interested in), 

messages for you (especially if you’re asking your guides specific question) 

Depending on 1-9 cards, you can lay down a-p cards. Consider to do that especially when there are no spirit guides among 1-9 cards. 

a-p cards can be interpreted differently from 1-9 cards, as spiritual work need to be done, challenges to overcome, interference to clear away.

entheognosis:

“You have to get away from all that madness for a while because we become insane, we get confused with our roles, as being who we really are. Man is not his role. Man is something deeper than that. So, go into the forest or some place ALONE in nature, all by yourself, and find out who you really are! And when you no longer confuse yourself with your particular temporary body, but identify with the entire process of nature and the whole cosmos… When death comes, what a funny thing that will happen. Death comes, and will find no one to kill.”

— Alan Watts

seeking-annwn:

Nobody is superior, nobody is inferior, but nobody is equal either. People are simply unique, incomparable. You are you, I am I. I have to contribute my potential to life; you have to contribute your potential to life. I have to discover my own being; you have to discover your own being.

— Osho

Bottom line: there’s nothing wrong with questioning, and I personally don’t think self-discovery has an expiration date. For some, labels are grounding and give a sense of identity. Others find them too narrow or restrictive. Some might be attracted to one gender identity at one point and a different gender identity at another. A guy who has only ever been attracted to men might find himself attracted to a woman. A girl who has only ever liked boys might find herself falling for her trans female best friend.

None of this is as simple as we want it to be. And I think that should be okay. Being who you are and loving who you love may not be easy, but it’s always worthwhile.

Odd One Out - Nic Stone (Author’s Notes)

@sadskellys

@oshthoughts