You asked me how I became a madman. It happened thus: One day, long before many gods were born, I woke from a deep sleep and found all my masks were stolen.
~Khalil Gibran
I did not know him, I knew my idea of him.
~Sharon Olds
The light doubles and casts through the dark a sparkling that heavens the earth.
~Galway Kinnell
Student: Have you ever been in hell?
Chögyam Trungpa: Yes.
Student: How did you get out?
Chögyam Trungpa: I tried to stay there.
Whoever went in
naked to the core.
Whoever cast aside
all the armor.
all the fastenings.
Who could breathe air thin as flame.
Drink water pressed from blossoms,
rose petals
or violets.
Whoever stayed in that
darkness so dark
it became a circle of seeing.
Who could hear
the silent flute note
of the stilled wind,
hold rock turning to light.
~ Dorothy Walters
from Marrow of Flame
The Visitation, Mariotto Albertinelli, 1503
One of my favorite words comes from the study of astronomy. Derived from the ancient Greek, syzygy, meaning “yoked together,” is a straight-line configuration of three celestial bodies in a gravitational system. Syzygy sometimes results in a transit, an occultation, or an eclipse, as it does tomorrow morning, when the moon will be eclipsed (at it’s maximum) at 4:48 a.m. Pacific time.