To Become...

 

Michelangelo

To become a balanced man/woman 

is a very big thing. 

To see oneself, 

to see myself without becoming identified 

is a portal into another realm. 

So, how to balance (in practical terms) for myself?

I was telling P that as a child 

I loved riding my bike and roller-skating. 

The bike was freedom and roller-skating excitement. 

I remember that one day (as a child) 

my moving center was very active. 

I asked my mom 

if she needed anything from the store 

and said, yes, some potato chips. 

So off on my bike I went to the town center. 

I had an aim. 

After I came home with the chips, 

I asked if she needed anything else. 

Bless her heart, 

she gave me another errand. 

I rode like the wind and remembered being so happy. 

It was joyous.

In relaying this to P, 

I realized that I had an aim. 

My moving center was employed, 

the emotions were engaged, 

and the intellectual center (as a child) 

was in use to create the aim. 

I do this now. 

When feeling overwhelmed in the emotional center, 

I find that the moving center helps to balance me. 

It has to be a specific task that needs to get done. 

This has been beneficial on many levels, 

and I am experimenting 

and allowing the understandings to deepen over time.

~M

https://linktr.ee/academyofeuropeanarts

Who Shall Give...

 

                                                                                      

"Who shall give a lover any law?

Love is a great law, 

by my troth, 

thank any law written by mortal man".

~Geoffrey Chaucer

https://linktr.ee/academyofeuropeanarts

Free Workshop! Monday, March 10, 2025 - The Ladder of Love - Our Story Within

 

                            Salvator Rosa (1615–1673), Jacob’s Dream (c 1665)

You are invited to attend a free workshop on Monday, March 10, 2025 -  "The Ladder of Love: Our Story Within" 

Many spiritual teachers have used the symbol of the ladder as a way to make humanity more aware of its journey toward the union between heart and soul. Each person's life is a series of experiences condensed into a long line of memories. Many are beautiful, but others are painful and difficult. Let us explore together the story within us and try to understand the step we are on.

"Put anger and pride under your feet, turn them into a ladder and climb higher." 

~ Rumi 

This workshop will be facilitated by Caroline O'Reilly.  Caroline is one of the founding members of the Academy and the Director of our Center in Ashland, Oregon. She has led philosophy groups for three decades in Europe, the United States, and Mexico. Join us for this FREE Meetup on ZOOM.

 Click here to register for this free workshop!

Maybe in moments of terror and confusion....

 

Jacob's Ladder - William Blake

In a dream, Jacob was shown multitudes 

of Angels coming up and down, 

something we are all familiar with 

over the years and has been 

the topic of many meetings.

Maybe in moments of terror and confusion 

one is disconnected from the other steps, 
frozen and unable to move up or down, 
unable to feel and really know that maybe, 
even the Lower steps are just illusory, 
in the way that the body  thinks, in duality. 

In fear and confusion 

we are still connected to the higher 

and have to trust to stay on that step in presence, 

and not to be tired by waiting.

~C

https://linktr.ee/academyofeuropeanarts

A Perfect Example...

 

Jimmy Taurrell 

A perfect example for me 

of balancing all my centers is through music. 

Yes, it is so definitely in my essence,

 and I have had years 

of plumbing its depths as a performer. 

But even as a child 

I was attracted to music in a complete way—

I felt it so deeply (and transcendentally) 

with my lower and higher emotional centers. 

I took it in with its complex vibrations, 

feeling it course through my body, 

dancing with it, laughing, 

pondering its meaning. 

As I became more educated to its forms, 

I became amazed at the mathematical complexity 

and purity of its structures, 

especially with Bach, 

who has traveled with me since my infancy. 

~J

https://linktr.ee/academyofeuropeanarts

Love...

 

Robert Indiana

Love doesn’t just sit there, 

like a stone; 

it has to be made, 

like bread; 

remade all the time, 

made new.  

~Ursula K. Le Guin 

https://linktr.ee/academyofeuropeanarts

Eradicate the conflict....

 

Excerpt From Ouspensky’s Fable : 
The Benevolent Devil

" It is necessary to eradicate the conflict between 
the life of ideas and the life of every day. 
In order to achieve this, it is necessary that 
you should know yourself. 

Each moment know what you are doing 

and why. Only then will you be the 

master of things rather than their slave. 

Usually you carry out your wishes before 

you have given any thought as to whether 

or not they are necessary for your 
higher aims.  

Try to live in such a way that you keep a watch 

on your actions and do nothing 

that does not serve the higher purpose. 

Or, to put it another way, learn to
do everything in such 

a way that whatever you do serves a higher
purpose. It is possible to do that. 

But, whatever you are doing, 

it is vital that you ask yourself, before
each thought, before each word, before 

each action: Why am I doing

this? Is this necessary? 

Then, imperceptibly, a number of your 

actions and deeds will cease to be 

unnecessary and they will start 

to serve the higher aims.  

The inner conflict in your life 

will begin to disappear and be 

replaced by harmony. "

https://linktr.ee/academyofeuropeanarts