St John of the Cross

"To attain to this which you know not,
you must pass through that which you know not.
To attain to that which you possess not,
you must pass through that which you possess not.
To attain to that which you are not,
you pass through that which you are not."

St John of the Cross

The Space between Thoughts

In a receptive state of mind, we strive, through meditation, to catch a glimpse of the clear light of the intermediate state as it presents itself while we sit. Observing the meaningless flow of thoughts that pass through the mind, one should try not to become involved. Just let them be. A thought that is ignored soon goes away. And there it is! The space between thoughts.

At first, when we begin to practise, this small glimpse of reality quickly passes and the mind is again flooded with attractive thoughts that have us by the nose. Unable to resist their lure, we follow helplessly and are once more entangled in their snare until the whole train of ideas comes to some kind of conclusion. Then, suddenly, there it is again! That small gap between one thought and the next. That small gleam of clear light, utterly devoid of graspable form or content.

The Illustrated Tibetan Book of the Dead, Stephen Hodge

whatever is really good

Poet: Lead me rather to the quiet nook that is my heaven,
the only place where a poet can be happy
and can cultivate his precious gift among those who love and cherish him.
The verses, good or bad, that spring to his lips from deep within him
are crowded out n the rough-and-tumble of the day.
You have to wait for years to see them in their true light.
Showy things are just meant for the moment,
but whatever is really good comes through to posterity.


Goethe, Faust