Broken & Whole

When you find the Infinite, where will you put it?

In your broken vessel? 

It will not stay.

In a new whole one? 

It will not fit.

Let the heart be broken in bitterness for its confines. Let it be whole in the joy of a boundless soul.

This is the secret that Man holds over the angels: Only the human heart can be broken and whole at once.

T. Freeman

The River from Eden

“A river went out from Eden to water the garden.”

Eden is a place of delight, far beyond the garden, beyond all created things. Yet its river nurtures all that grows in that garden.

The garden is wisdom, understanding, knowing—where all of creation begins.

Adam is placed in the garden, to work with his mind, and to discover the transcendent Eden flowing within.

The objective of all man’s toil in this world is to work to reach beyond his own mind, higher than mind at all. Not to a place where the mind is ignored, but rather, to its essence, to the inner sense of beauty and wonder that guides it. To Eden.

T. Freeman

Angry at the World

Why are you so surprised to find evil and corruption running amok everywhere you look? This world is the coarsest and harshest of all worlds, the ultimate concealment. Almost all of it is darkness and emptiness. Only a tiny spark of good is buried deep within to keep it alive.

You could spend your lifetime dwelling on the outrages and scandals and things that are not right—or your could take a moment to search for that spark. You could find it, grasp it, fan its flame. From within its aura, you will see the darkness shining brighter than the heavens. In that moment of light, the night will never have been.

Fueled by your love, the light will swallow all that surrounds it.

T. Freeman

La lumière du savoir

C'est uniquement par l'étude que la lumière du savoir peut entrer dans la tête, organiser la pensée et seconder le coeur en le protégeant par le discernement et en lui montrant ce qui peut entrer en lui et ce qui ne le doit pas. Dans une telle structure de sagesse, le coeur peut trouver un équilibre et une orientation supérieurs, un ciel ouvert et clair. Alors, quand l'homme se décidera à agir, il le fera d'après ce qu'il a réellement compris et ressenti dans l'harmonie et la clarté. Ainsi, son acte et son oeuvre s'inscriront eux aussi dans une harmonie plus grande et un bien-être général. En agissant par lui-même, l'homme deviendra conscient de son être et s'individualisera dans la Lumière sage. Il ne sera plus un ignorant, un inconscient qui sans cesse se fait envahir par un monde abstrait le dirigeant à son insu.

O. Manitara

Faithful Deeds

Examine, investigate and question all you can.

But when it comes to actually doing, leave your skepticism behind.

To get something done, you need conviction and faith.

A fruitful life cannot be built upon a foundation of doubts.

T.Freeman

When He made the world

When He made the world, He decided He would take the role of Kindness. That way, when we would be kind, we could bond to Him with our kindness.


He decided to have Wisdom. That way, by being wise, we could bond to Him and His wisdom.


He decided to be conscious of Himself, so that we could attain consciousness of that which is beyond knowing.


T. Freemana

Toute semence doit toucher la terre pour exister

Toute semence doit toucher la terre pour exister et se transmettre à travers les générations. Il en est de même pour la semence de la Lumière. Elle doit se faire chair et habiter parmi les hommes, faire partie de leur vie quotidienne pour perdurer dans la vérité. Ceci est vrai pour le bien comme pour le mal : si la semence ne touche pas la terre, elle n'a aucune puissance réelle.
O. Manitara

Miracles

At every moment, in each thing, a miracle occurs far transcendent of even the splitting of the Red Sea: Existence is renewed out of the void, and a natural order is sustained where there should be chaos.

Indeed, it is not the miracle that is wondrous, but the natural order. Does anyone have a good reason why gravity should behave today the way it behaved yesterday? Does anyone have a good reason why there should be anything at all?

T. Freeman

Real Motives

No person can know his own inner motives.


He may be kind because kindness brings him pleasure.


He may be wise because wisdom is music to his soul.


He may become a martyr burned in fire because his nature is to defy, his nature is to be fire.


When can you know that your motives are sincere? Only when it is not within your nature to do this thing.


And how do you know that it is not within your nature? Only when you travel two opposite paths at once.


T. Freeman

Treasure Island

Our souls are in exile within our bodies. Our people is in exile within a foreign world. And so there are two things we must know:

That this is not our place. 

And that hidden treasure lies buried here; for God dwells in darkness.

If we only remember that this is not our place, we may remain strong, we may even shine in the darkness. But what profit will there be from our exile?

And if we only remember that treasure lies here, we will begin to believe that this is our place, and if so, of what use is the treasure?

T. Freeman

I Versus I

There are times you must be like a reed in the wind.
And there are times you must face it like an iron wall.

When it comes to matters that lie at the surface, then “I hold like this” and “my opinion is like this” stand in the way of harmony and peace. Every such “I” is the very root and source of evil.

But when it comes to matters that touch your essence and core, the purpose for which you were placed in this world, then you must be an iron wall. Then you must say, “On this, I cannot budge.”

Liberated from its thick shell of ego, empowered and emboldened, the essential self breaks through the concrete, blossoms and flourishes.

T. Freeman

The Boundless Leaf

What is a leaf? A leaf is boundlessness compressed within a boundless context.

It is boundless because its very existence is an act of a Creator who knows no bounds, who can extrude an endless number of leaves in endless variety out of the nothingness.

It is boundless in design, containing a wisdom that may be studied for endless lifetimes and yet never depleted.

It is boundless in form, for there is nothing about it that can ever be measured and stored with perfect accuracy, nothing of its future that can be predicted with precision.

And it lies within a context that is boundless, the boundless destiny of all creation: that the Unknowable should be made known from its hiding place within a single leaf.

T. Freeman

Stories of Life

Life does not tell stories. People do.

Life provides no more than raw materials. Raw enough for us to look back and construct at least two versions of our own biography: one a prison, the other a palace.

This is the greatest kindness the Master of Life has given us: He has placed His own pen in our hands, so that we may enjoy the dignity of a palace constructed by our own design.

T. Freeman

Celui qui ne croit à rien

 Celui qui ne croit à rien est finalement plus ouvert et plus sensible à ce qui se passe autour de lui et en lui, aucun dogme ne pouvant motiver son action. Celui qui croit est beaucoup plus sensible à l'envahissement du dragon parce qu'il met tout ce qu'il fait et tout ce qui lui arrive en correspondance avec ce qu'il croit. Si sa croyance n'est pas fondée sur une expérience profonde, alors il suffit que les apparences correspondent à ce qu'il porte en lui pour qu'il ne se méfie pas et ne perçoive pas qui est à l'origine, qui se tient vraiment derrière ce qu'il perçoit.

O. Manitara

Three Stages of Enlightenment

There are three ways of life on the ladder of enlightenment:

One is life upon a wild beast. But the inner self is awake, and that innerness is joined by a great light from Above, so that eyes stay on the road, with mind, words and limbs working together to reach their destination. There are many levels to this rung, but all are within the reach of every person.

Then there is a person in whom burns a holy fire of desire for the Oneness of the Infinite Light. With this fire, he overwhelms the fire of earthly passion, until it is diminished to no more than a faint flicker. This again knows many levels, but all within the realm of the tzaddik—something not every person can reach in a single lifetime.

There is also an ultimate point: Where the fire of earthly passion becomes itself a Godly force. Then there will not be any more darkness, for we will have revealed how all darkness shines. This is the stage of a time to come, but it will sprout from the seeds of our struggle with darkness in the here and now.

T. Freeman

Leaving

The biblical slavery of Egypt represents bondage to your own self.

Every day, every moment, must be an exodus from the self.

If you’re not leaving Egypt, you’re already back there.

T. Freeman

La Beauté des Mathématiques

1 x 8 + 1 = 9
12 x 8 + 2 = 98
123 x 8 + 3 = 987
1234 x 8 + 4 = 9876
12345 x 8 + 5 = 98765
123456 x 8 + 6 = 987654
1234567 x 8 + 7 = 9876543
12345678 x 8 + 8 = 98765432
123456789 x 8 + 9 = 987654321

1 x 9 + 2 = 11
12 x 9 + 3 = 111
123 x 9 + 4 = 1111
1234 x 9 + 5 = 11111
12345 x 9 + 6 = 111111
123456 x 9 + 7 = 1111111
1234567 x 9 + 8 = 11111111
12345678 x 9 + 9 = 111111111
123456789 x 9 +10= 1111111111

9 x 9 + 7 = 88
98 x 9 + 6 = 888
987 x 9 + 5 = 8888
9876 x 9 + 4 = 88888
98765 x 9 + 3 = 888888
987654 x 9 + 2 = 8888888
9876543 x 9 + 1 = 88888888
98765432 x 9 + 0 = 888888888

Brillant, n’est-ce pas ?

Et admirez cette symétrie :

1 x 1 = 1
11 x 11 = 121
111 x 111 = 12321
1111 x 1111 = 1234321
11111 x 11111 = 123454321
111111 x 111111 = 12345654321
1111111 x 1111111 = 1234567654321
11111111 x 11111111 = 123456787654321
111111111 x 111111111 = 12345678987654321

Longing for Spring

Cultivate the soul with hope; teach it to await the break of dawn with longing eyes.

Through its ordeals, the soul is softened to absorb the rains. Yet, nevertheless, Spring comes for those that long for it.

T.Freeman

Arrows of Life

In which direction does your life move?

To wherever you have placed its arrow.

If the arrow points forever backward, to blame the present on the past and to script the future accordingly, then what is to make life worth its pain, the story worth its struggle?

But if the arrow points forward to an unfolding destiny, then every pain becomes the cracking of a shell, every travail the shedding of a cocoon; as an olive releasing its oil to the press, a seedling breaking its path to reach the sun. What is the pain relative to the promise it holds?

For our destiny is sown deeply within the hard soil of this God-blessed earth.From its nourishment and from our struggle with it, through these alone can we burst forth and blossom.

T. Freeman

Reinterpretation

There are no things. There are only words. The Divine Words of Creation.

The words become scattered and we no longer understand their meaning. Only then are they things. Words in exile.

If so, their redemption lies in the story we tell with them. Reorganizing stuff into meaning, redefining what is real, and living a life accordingly.

T. Freeman