Noche de San Juan

St John the Baptist night is a much celebrated party in the mediterrean and as I am currently visiting the area, I had the opportunity to celebrate it with the local people. It went something like this: We went to the beach, lighted some candles, had our dinner and then we went to the sea at mid-night and jumped over the waves several times (I forgot the number...) It was great fun and it is to say that the mediterrean is seriously beautiful. I can only make a hint of the symbolism of this night.

On another note, I am pretty much reminded of don Juan's words these days:

"The grand trick of those sorcerers of ancient times," don Juan continued, "was to burden the flyers' mind with discipline. They found out that if they taxed the flyers' mind with inner silence, the foreign installation would flee, giving to any one of the practitioners involved in this maneuver the total certainty of the mind's foreign origin. The foreign installation comes back, I assure you, but not as strong, and a process begins in which the fleeing of the 'flyers' mind becomes routine, until one day it flees permanently. A sad day indeed! That's the day when you have to rely on your own devices, which are nearly zero. There's no one to tell you what to do. There's no mind of foreign origin to dictate the imbecilities you're accustomed to.
"My teacher, the nagual Julian, used to warn all his disciples," don Juan continued, "that this was the toughest day in a sorcerer's life, for the real mind that belongs to us, the sum total of our experience, after a lifetime of domination has been rendered shy, insecure, and shifty. Personally, I would say that the real battle of sorcerers begins at that moment. The rest is merely preparation."

There is a point of no return

"There is a point of no return, that point must be reached"

The first requirement, the first condition, the first test for one who wishes to work on himself is to change his appreciation of himself. He must not imagine, not simply believe or think, but see things in himself which he has never seen before, see them actually. His appreciation will never be able to change as long as he sees nothing in himself. And in order to see, he must learn to see; this is the first initiation of man into self-knowledge.

First of all, he has to know what he must look at. When he knows, he must make efforts, keep his attention, look constantly with persistence. Only through maintaining his attention, and not forgetting to look, one day, perhaps, he will be able to see. If he sees one time he can see a second time, and if that continues he will no longer be able not to see. This is the state to be looked for, it is the aim of our observation; it is from there that the true wish will be born, the irresistible wish to become: from cold we shall become warm, vibrant; we shall be touched by our reality. [G.I. Gurdjieff]

Zanskar Valley

Via www.follmi.com

On the banks of the frozen river, at -30 degrees, people warm their hands over the last embers of a fire used for making tea.

If we think of the vast majority of human problems, both on a personal and on a worldwide scale, it seems that they stem from an inability to feel sincerely involved with others, and to put ourselves in their place. Violence is inconceivable if you are genuinely concerned with the happiness of others. [Matthieu Ricard]

Sigh, but for some people these words don’t mean anything at all.