Lauryn Hill – Motives and Thoughts

Rotating bodies, confusion of sound
Negative imagery, holding us down
Social delusion, clearly constructed
Human condition, morals corrupted
Trapped in reaction, lawlessness, war
Dissatisfaction from bowels to core
Devil’s technology, strategy for
Human mythologies, urban folklore
Sick of psychology, counterfeit cure
Wicked theology, robbing the poor
Scheme demonology mislead the pure
Strictly strategically studying war
Light shown in darkness, image exposed
Few can see through the new emperor’s clothes

Lustful this hustle turns humans to hoes
When the blind lead the blind
Just more trouble and woes
It’s the mind that they chose
It’s designed to stay closed
Standard of jokers, court jester logic
Cyclic and cosmic, from schoolyards to college

Primitive man and his “civilized knowledge”
System collapse and he still won’t acknowledge

God is the savior, studies behavior
Just trying to fix the mixed mind that he gave ya
Stiff-necked scholars on prescription meds
Wishing their problems were all in their heads
Moral dilemma, pride is the root
Misguided from youth, heart divided from truth
Egyptians and Grecians, spiritually dead
Empirically led, by the gods in their heads

Motives and thoughts

Industrial wealth
Global economy, in it for self
Heart full of madness, covered with kind
Pleasure designed to take over your mind
Furnished in godliness, painted in good
This tainted priesthood got real saints misunderstood
While classes in government, set up the veil
And cultivate minds for more mythical tales
Typical Hollywood follies good girl
While vice and corruption take over the world

Motives and thoughts
Check your motives and thoughts

Blind with the wickedness, deep in your heart
Modern day wickedness is all you’ve been taught
Lied to your neighbors, so you get ahead
Modern day trickery is all you’ve been fed

Motives and thoughts
Check your motives and thoughts

Epitaph on a Tyrant

Perfection, of a kind, was what he was after,
And the poetry he invented was easy to understand;
When he laughed, respectable senators burst with laughter,
And when he cried little children died in the streets.

The Process of Enlightenment?

The Buddha found enlightenment under a tree. His journey took him miles, distances people take lifetimes to traverse, yet his body remained in one place; under the tree.

 

Perhaps the bodhi tree itself had something to tell him, so much about the world and beyond. Maybe the shade taught him of the inner battles between good and evil; maybe the cool soil under his body taught him the blessings of reprieve; maybe the dancing leaves lamented to him the fickleness of man; maybe the solid trunk told him that steadfastness was the only way to survive in a world of such bitterness and cruelty.

 

Maybe the thing the Buddha did was listen. He closed his eyes and listened to the tree as it sung its song of agony and heartache, of joy and of hope. He listened to it as it spoke, of everything. He listened to the tree. Then he opened his eyes and saw it. And in a few short days he had travelled a million miles; to the moon and back. He got up empowered with knowledge, for he did what the majority of men never had. He became one with nature, and so, like few before him, and precious few after him; he understood the world.

 

His enlightenment brought him to what he called, “The Four Noble Truths” and the “Noble Eightfold Path.”

 

My aim isn’t to talk about the truths Buddha concluded, and the actuality of real truth and how far Buddha managed to attain it, but just to explain that the Buddha found his enlightenment through taking time out to seriously search for truth; with the aid of nature.

 

 

Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep

Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glint on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you wake in the morning hush,
I am the swift, uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circling flight.
I am the soft starlight at night.

Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there, I do not sleep.
Do not stand at my grave and cry.
I am not there, I did not die!

Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there, I do not sleep.

I am the song that will never end.
I am the love of family and friend.
I am the child who has come to rest
In the arms of the Father
who knows him best.

When you see the sunset fair,
I am the scented evening air.
I am the joy of a task well done.
I am the glow of the setting sun.

Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there, I do not sleep.
Do not stand at my grave and cry.
I am not there, I did not die!

Spring’s Gift

By Hamza Yusuf

I envy the sand that met his feet I’m jealous of honey he tasted sweet Of birds that hovered above his head Of spiders who spun their sacred web To save him from his enemies I envy clouds formed from the seas That gave him cover from the heat Of a sun whose light could not compete With his, whose face did shine so bright That all was clear in blinding night I envy sightless trees that gazed Upon his form completely dazed Not knowing if the sun had risen But felt themselves in unison With those who prayed, and fasted too Simply because he told them to With truth and kindness, charity From God who gave such clarity His mercy comes in one He sent To mold our hearts more heaven bent I envy all there at his side Who watched the turning of the tide As truth prevailed and falsehood fled And hope restored life to the dead Men and Women through him found grace To seek together God’s noble face I envy the cup that gave him drink His thoughts that helped us all to think To be one thought that passed his mind Inspiring him to act so kind For me this world is not one jot If I could simply be a thought From him to God throughout the ages As revelation came in stages I pity all who think it odd To hear him say there is one God Or he was sent by God to men To hone their spirits’ acumen It’s pride that blinds us from the sight That helps good men to see his light He taught us all to be God’s slaves And he will be the one who saves Humanity from sinful pride Muhammad has God on his side So on this day be blessed and sing For he was born to grace our Spring With lilies, flowers, life’s rebirth In a dome of green like his on earth

Ghandi’s speech

This speech is taking from the film, ‘Ghandi’, and I havent’ been able to find it’s original version, so it is quite possibly just a re-working of some of Ghandi’s speeches, meshed together, or creatively written purely for cinematic effect. I don’t know to be honest, but whatever the case, it was a BRILLIANT speech, and reminds me of modern-day Pakistan, and the political tug-of-war game it is presently host too.

“I already know that what we see here means nothing to the masses of our country. Here we make speeches for each other and those english liberal magazines that may grant us a few lines. But the people of India are untouched. Their politics are confined to bread and salt. Illiterate they may be but they are not blind; they see no reason to give their loyalty to rich and powerful men who simply want to take over the role of the British, in the name of freedom. This congress tells the world it representsIndia. My brothers, India is 700,000 villages, not just a few lawyers in Delhi and Bombay. Until we stand in the fields with the millions who toil each day under the hot sun, we will not represent India, nor will we be able to challenge the British as one nation.”

Expectation is the root of all heartache.

I know that… 

Expectation is the root of all heartache,

and I hope that…

I shall be loved when I am lacked,

and I know that… 

I hate ingratitude more in a man
than lying, vainness, babbling, drunkenness,
or any taint of vice whose strong corruption
inhabits our frail blood.

I think it’s important to… 

Assume a virtue, if you have it not.

And that if people told themselves to… 

Be great in act, as you have been in thought.

Then maybe greater things would be done.

I think great advice is…

Defer no time, delays have dangerous ends

But the problem is that people don’t think enough about the inevitable truth that…

Death, as the Psalmist saith, is certain to all; all shall die

For they don’t realise that…

By medicine, life may be prolonged, but death will seize the doctor too.

“This too, shall pass”

(From The Way of the Sufi by Idries Shah)

A powerful king, ruler of many domains, was in a position of such magnificence that wise men were his mere employees. And yet one day he felt himself confused and called the sages to him. He said: ‘I do not know the cause, but something impels me to seek a certain ring, one that will enable me to stabilize my state. ‘I must have such a ring. And this ring must be one which, when I am unhappy, will make me joyful. At the same time, if I am happy and look upon it, I must be made sad.’ The wise men consulted one another, and threw themselves into deep contemplation, and finally they came to a decision as to the character of this ring which would suit their king. The ring which they devised was one upon which was inscribed the legend: This, too, shall pass.

Another origin of the phrase is the story of a Middle Eastern potentate and his sons.

Once there was a Middle Eastern potentate who wanted his two sons to become the most intelligent people in the world. In order to do this he called a meeting of all the wise men in the Kingdom and ordered them to gather all the world’s knowledge together in one place so his sons could read it. The wise men returned in a year with twenty-five volumes of knowledge. The potentate told them that it was far too long and asked them to condense it. The wise men left and returned a year later, but this time with only a single volume. The potentate told them that it was still too long for his sons and ordered them to condense it further. The wise men left for another year and returned and gave the potentate a piece of paper with a single sentence on it. That sentence was “This too shall pass.”