Your smell is gone

[daka]

Your smell has gone
From the scarf
That wrapped
Your gift to me,
And that I tied
To my guitar.
I know not yet
If your spell has gone.

My dreams are gone.
We used to talk
Incessantly
About our dreams.
Each night seemed a
Continuation of
The drama of the day.
Have your dreams gone away?

I liked my dreams,
And yours,
Full of richness
And meaning,
A synthesis
Of the themes,
And complexities
Facing us;
New found friends.

Séan

[Jimmy O'Connell]

Reminds me, Sean, of a conversation recently... what life is about is loss... or I suppose what we as human beings have to get used to is the fact that we have to be able to cope with losses... there are so many of them... if we don't then we get fixated, become bitter... it's so difficult... we need to hold on tightly to our dereams and delusions... letting go is so difficult...

Jimmy

[William]

daka
Is it possible to play a guitar with a scarf tied to it?
I tied a dog to my cello once but it became difficult to play.

God bless
William

[daka]

Reminds me, Sean, of a conversation recently... what life is about is loss... or I suppose what we as human beings have to get used to is the fact that we have to be able to cope with losses... there are so many of them... if we don't then we get fixated, become bitter... it's so difficult... we need to hold on tightly to our dreams and delusions... letting go is so difficult...

Jimmy

Hello Jimmy

Too True

Life is about a constant series of losses
Our success at living depends on our ability to get good at losing..
Things, People, Dreams, Ideas, Life itself

One of the most important books I have read was called "Graceful Exits".
It is about how holy beings die... what their experiences are around that time..
What they had to say to those who spent time with them in the last days and moments..
There are many Zen masters in the book, and it gives a good idea about Leonard's base of wisdom, from which he writes and sings.

We need to grasp lightly not tightly

What does Leonard say?
"We are so lightly here"
and
"She came to me light as the breeze"

The lady who inspired this poem is "putting me through my paces".

Séan

[che]

"The lady who inspired this poem is "putting me through my paces"."

daka you is a lucky man

I live in Spain.

Che

[daka]

Hola Che

Y porque tengo suerte? Porque vivo en Espana o porque esta senorita me esta torturando un pocillo?

Donde vivis?

Vas al festival de Benicassim?

Sean

[Cate]

This makes me sad.

Smell is such a wonderful sense. The scent of someone seems to register someplace further back in the brain, often we don't even notice it. It seems to be one of the first things that we forget about a person, but when we are presented with a similar scent again, forgotten memories flood back.

The first lines to each of your stanza's are very strong.

Your smell has gone
My dreams are gone
I liked my dreams

I'm glad you shared this - I hope her scent and all that comes with it returns to you again.

Cate

[mickey_one]

"The lady who inspired this poem is "putting me through my paces"."

daka you is a lucky man

I live in Spain.

Che

how lovely to see the return of the Captain of this little Group, welcome back, Che!

I would write more but out of respect for this thread now I is gone

Lord Mickey of One

[che]

daka -

Tengo suerte
En los ojos de otros,
Que tengo enfrente
Abuelos de lugar de fotos.

Yes, yes I will to be there - and you?


Che

[Manna]

Life is about a constant series of losses

Not only is that depressing, but it also isn't the case with my life.

(Nyah nyah!)

[daka]

Hi Manna

Macroscopically my life is constantly changing and I am losing things:

people, dreams, stuff (generators, tools, solar system bits, screwdrivers) people, expectations, cars, books, friends, motorcycles, clothes, memories, relationships, kids, wives, girlfriends, reputation, good health, bad health ... I could go on and on.... I don't know about your life.

I suspect you and I are both very busy working with our attitude towards reality. Reminds me of that song by Hank Williams Junior... 'Attitude Adjustment'. But we are working differently.

Microscopically my whole reality (and all of the phenomena therein) is constantly changing, like a moving river. Nothing stays for a second moment. (Nearly) Everything is impermanent. Things (Phenomena) look like they are static (but you scientists know better!) People, planets, tables, chairs, books.. everything is moving, like the Niagara River.. moving towards the falls. Have you ever stood beside Niagara Falls and noticed how solid the 'falls' look so solid. That's a mistaken appearance. We make that same mistake with all phenomena.

The real trick is taking this intellectual understanding and allowing it to function in moment to moment awareness. I have 'miles to drive' in that respect.

Thank goodness!!! It would be depressing as hell if it were otherwise. Imagine nothing changing. Everything remaining the same. Doesn't that thought depress you?

I agree with Jimmy O'Connell that 'loss management' is a secret to a happy life. Sounds like you are short-circuiting that necessity by maybe not seeing life as a series of losses, but imputing some other description on the same process?

I am interested in how your life looks with respect to loss, from your perspective.

I hope you enjoyed Leonard and the excellent company in Montreal. I did wish I was there! Dublin, however, had a very special magic for me so I didn't suffer too much from the loss... (the dream-like potentialities of the imagined Montreal meetup).

Séan

[William]

Life is about a constant series of losses

Not only is that depressing, but it also isn't the case with my life.

(Nyah nyah!)

Manna
- is your "Nyah, nyah" meant as a one-upwomanship on daka because he has had losses in his life and you haven't? If you'll forgive my saying, it sounds preposterously self-righteous.
Be grateful for what you have because, like all of us, there are things that you won't always have - health, youth, certain friends, possessions, money, a job that's ecure and so on.

Che
Did you write that verse yourself?

God bless,
William

[daka]

Life is about a constant series of losses

Not only is that depressing, but it also isn't the case with my life.

(Nyah nyah!)

Manna
- is your "Nyah, nyah" meant as a one-upwomanship on daka because he has had losses in his life and you haven't? If you'll forgive my saying, it sounds preposterously self-righteous.
Be grateful for what you have because, like all of us, there are things that you won't always have - health, youth, certain friends, possessions, money, a job that's ecure and so on.

Che
Did you write that verse yourself?

God bless,
William

You misjudge Manna, William, methinks.

She is a tremendously kind and nice human being who is, I think, incapable of the 'preposterous self-righteousness' that you imputed on the tone of her communication.

She is a scientist, I think, and is merely making a scientific observation with no judgments attached. The "nyah nyah" was a good, measured attempt at humor to make sure the scientific observation did not come across too dry, I think. Remember too that she is a Mum... dealing with young kid (s).

Her scientific method may be in question here, certainly not her human qualities.

Of course Manna has had losses in her life! She just chooses to impute something different on them and on the process, I think.

Buddha bless

Séan

[Manna]

Sure, yes, most everything you encounter in your life is impermanent, but to equate the passage of time with loss seems notably one sided. I don't wake in the morning with a feeling of loss for the night I've passed. I don't finish my lunch wishing I could be hungry again.

It is probably so that the one who writes:

Life is about a constant series of losses

... has also experienced joy. When you think of your past joys, do you mourn that the time of that joy has passed, or do you remember it fondly? To call such things as the maturation of a child, the expansion of love and decay of pain "loss" doesn't align very well with my (albeit nebulous) philosophy of life.

Life is also a continuous, stuttering barrage of pleasure.

[daka]

but to equate the passage of time with loss seems notably one sided

I think it is one-sided Manna. Nothing remains, and all that we have and experience is transitory and impermanent. The suffering in life comes from grasping at permanence and grieving when impermanent phenomena disappear, it comes from making that fundamental mistake about the nature of phenomena.

Of course I have experienced joys too and I do not maintain that my life is only a series of losses. Some of the phenomena manifesting are delightful and produce joy, others produce suffering and problems. But they are both impermanent.

do you mourn that the time of that joy has passed

..... Yes, sometimes, and this is a mistake; it means that I am grasping at permanence. The antidote is falling back to the wisdom regarding the nature of phenomena... that's the medicine.. the silver bullet.

It sounds like your 'nebulous'

philosophy of life

provides you with an acceptable strategy for dealing with the same 'realities'.

Séan