Snippets By Jonathan Berman

9/29/2013

Oft times our interactions with another are merely to be the catalyst of a reaction, a safe harbor for the moment, a launching off place for the spirits destination... a port in another's storm... this is our gift to another... this simple, and yet this crucial, this miracle, this love.

9/28/2013

The reason faith is easy is because for every layer of understanding we embrace, there is a larger world of uncertainty beyond it.

The world needs dumb people in the same way shipping boxes need packing peanuts.

I like to think of myself as a packing peanut for precious cargo ;)

9/27/2013

I went into the guestroom... my black cat, my baby girl Luna, followed me in... when I went out, I called to her turning out the light in the process... I couldn't see a thing... I called to her again, and a recognizable black shadow appeared, somewhat hidden behind the nearby bookshelf, stretching out with familiarity... I called to her again... Luna then appeared from the other direction, at the stairs where she'd snuck by long before I'd turned out the light and not noticed... I turned back to where the shadow had been, that had come when I called... what was it? What had come to me in the darkness?

9/26/2013

One of the first things humans master is the art of the interpretation of others intentions based on what serves us best, but ultimately what we must master is what lies beyond these momentary interpretations, these illusions of our selves, constructing competition and expectation to what serves the universal self, that empathetic center derived by compassion, the way water clears sand from a surface to read the messages beyond. And what is this beyond but simply what is ever present, hidden by the seeking

9/25/2013

Anything you do at any given moment can go horribly wrong. Be mindful. Go slow. In awe, in grace. With hard work and gratitude.

9/21/2013

Glasses close like a book, pages of perception with their aftershocks shook. A candle reminder of all you took, I must admit I gave it to you.

Morning comes an ocean to the shore, every half-light an open door. Every sound a metronome of time that claws for more, I must admit I did it too.

Senses hold no meaning, to one who wakes from dreaming, and breathes the moment streaming, I admit I never saw it coming.

To touch the sand far beneath the waves of the ocean blue and green, and hold each moment soft and grave, more music than matter it seems.

9/20/2013

What is Zen? I will take a stab at it, then your turn ;)

I don't think my answer would be very good, but perhaps I'd say Zen is the mutual embrace of life with life as inseparable lovers in the snowflake unique beatitude of the moment, with appreciation, acceptance, creativity, and childlike joy, ever learning, ever deepening present and sharing. A question much like the present, whose answer is ever transforming and unfolding in the now, like a kiss. Zen is a kiss granted by time.

9/19/2013

We do tend to judge ourselves harshly, perspective and objectivity are hard to come by commodities, but perhaps when we look at ourselves the way we hope God or the perfect parent looks at their children, we begin to understand a little of what empathy is and how its seed sprouts true compassion in the heart, flowering into all perception.

9/18/2013

The morning brings inspiration that the evening puts into practice.

9/16/2013

I tell you the days do not grow old, they grow every new! And that is the reason men despair... for as they feel the new dawn rising, their own grow shorter, the days close in closer, like thinner but warmer cashmere, and the earthen arms that all those youth spent and wasted days, to ignore their embrace that released them so beautifully at morning, at once releases no more, and we succumb to the life of new fish, who once breathed one thing, now attempt another, in the brave journey from embodiment to eternity.

9/15/2013

There comes a time in your life where you have no idea who the bands are on Saturday Night Live, and you just don't care anymore. All the fashions are just re-introductions of what you wore in your twenties, and all the late night overpriced nostalgia CD collections are the love songs of your youth. Nothing wrong with it, in fact it's kind of nice. No one to impress, saves you a lot of wasted energy and heartache, middle age, shows up with a nice watch, an appreciation of a quality pen, where prized possessions aren't anything you can buy or sell, but the memories of those who keep them.

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The fish tank sits empty on the mahogany chest, lights and filter running like a movie in a theater playing without an audience. I keep it on as a sort if night light white noise generator. It's soothing, harmonizing with the AC. Everything has a personality, caught in time, frozen there with all the dreams and unrealized plans of those who've come and gone.

9/14/2013

Family isn't about blood, it's about the heart that pumps it.

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New song I just wrote, think I'll have to record this

One day I'll buy a private jet, and then I won't be afraid of flying, cos I'll have my own fucking parachute if anything goes wrong for trying. I'll fly out to visit you on days like this and we'll romp the room,with our magic mirror for the afternoon, and then I'll fly back home none too soon, and no one will be the wiser!

~My Own Fucking Parachute

9/9/2013

Honor nature, and it will be your closest ally.

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From cats to cicadas, every little thing holds different knowledge, yet all know love when they feel it.

9/6/2013

Just some thoughts I wanted to share on cherishing life, because it saddens me when people feel compelled to kill creatures from tiny to large in any environment, home or wilderness. Slugs, spiders, bugs, all life to me is sacred.

One of the most beautiful things a human being can learn is how to cherish the life of every living thing. There are no lifeforms in our way. No spiders, no ants, no cockroaches, no bees, no thing of any kind... in fact, there is no "our way", the way is shared, a beautiful pathway for all things... and through this cherishing of life, we approach life differently, we see everything differently, we are like drops of water in a stream... apprehending all things as reflections of ourselves... my revelation to you is that once all humanity learns this way, Utopia will not be something we can achieve, it will be something that has been all along, an Eden we never left, but merely forgot ever existed. I'll go one step further... everything is a lesson, when you stub your toe, clip your shoulder on a doorway, the universe is a classroom and we are forever its students, constantly given what we need for today's lesson, if we stop fighting the teacher, and embrace the gift of studenthood, the body becomes an empty reed, the breath a metronome, and we are the universe that flows through it.

9/5/2013

I don't want all the answers, I just want to pursue a well-lit path.

9/4/2013

Never look up to anyone you plan to get to know, or you may discover they're human just like you.

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Quotes are boats we rent until we are ready to craft our own.

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I love the classics, they remind me of an era in which I wasn't living, which means it instantly becomes Utopian.