midnight

Yes.

Christmas suggests God became human. 

Every human. 

Therefore, do not hate God. 

Do not kill God. 

Do not misuse God. 

See and welcome one another.

as I contemplated not doing silent sitting at 7:30am...

Blast these teishos! Taking Control of Habit

Each step may seem to take forever, but no matter how uninspired you feel, continue to follow your practice schedule precisely and consistently. This is how we can use our greatest enemy, habit, against itself.

—Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche, "Tortoise Steps"

but words are all I have, to take your heart away

Yes.

The wording is "consubstantial with the Father." (--creed at catholic mass, Christmas morning)

Since the Latin language lacks a present active participle for the verb "to be," Tertullian and other Latin authors rendered the Greek noun "ousia" (being) as "substantia," and the Greek adjective "homoousios" (of the same being) as "consubstantialis". Unlike the Greek words, which are etymologically related to the Greek verb "to be" and connote one's own personal inherent character, "substantia," connotes matter as much as it connotes being. 

The term is also used to describe the common humanity which is shared by all human persons. Thus, Jesus Christ is said to be consubstantial with the Father in his divinity and consubstantial with us in his humanity.[1] 

It has also been noted that this Greek term "homoousian" or "consubstantial", which Athanasius of Alexandria favored, and was ratified in the Nicene Council and Creed, was actually a term reported to also be used and favored by the Sabellians in their Christology. And it was a term that many followers of Athanasius were actually uneasy about. The "Semi-Arians", in particular, objected to the word "homoousian". Their objection to this term was that it was considered to be un-Scriptural, suspicious, and "of a Sabellian tendency."[2] This was because Sabellius also considered the Father and the Son to be "one substance." Meaning that, to Sabellius, the Father and Son were "one essential Person." This notion, however, was also rejected at the Council of Nicaea, in favor of the Athanasian formulation and creed, of the Father and Son being distinct yet also co-equal, co-eternal, and con-substantial Persons.

 (--Wikipedia). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consubstantiality

You think that I don't even mean a single word I say.

It's only words... 

Cosmic Christ "is" born with awareness

Unto us

is born

a child 

"Is" is born.

As child.

Unto us.

What do we understand about incarnation?

Better to ask: why is being born so difficult to comprehend as the mystery of the incarnation?

Being born, with awareness, is the fact of Christ in the universe.

For all, light

Invitatory

Lord, open my lips.

— And my mouth will proclaim your praise.

Antiphon: Today you will know the Lord is coming, and in the morning you will see his glory.

Comes very soon eve of nativity

Psalm 138 (139)

The Lord knows all things

“Who could ever know the mind of the Lord? Who could ever be his counsellor?” (Rom 11:34).

The Lord who is all-powerful will come from Sion to save his people.

O Lord, you search me and you know me,

    you know my resting and my rising,

    you discern my purpose from afar.

You mark when I walk or lie down,

    all my ways lie open to you.

Before ever a word is on my tongue,

    you know it, O Lord, through and through.

Behind and before you besiege me,

    your hand ever laid upon me.

Too wonderful for me this knowledge,

    too high, beyond my reach.

O where can I go from your spirit,

    or where can I flee from your face?

If I climb the heavens, you are there.

    If I lie in the grave, you are there.

If I take the wings of the dawn

    and dwell at the sea’s furthest end,

even there your hand would lead me,

    your right hand would hold me fast.

If I say: ‘Let the darkness hide me

    and the light around me be night,’

even darkness is not dark for you

    and the night is as clear as the day.

Glory to the Father and to the Son,

    and to the Holy Spirit:

as it was in the beginning, is now,

    and will be for ever. Amen.

The Lord who is all-powerful will come from Sion to save his people.

(--Vespers, Universalis, 23Dec)

Winter

A warm welcome!

if you want to know

Practice.

Sense reality.

Say nothing.

then vanish

Finding a yellowed newsprint fragment taped to bookcase in room. Typing it. Finding source.

"Selected Exits" is adapted by Alan Plater from a memoir by Gwyn Thomas, a crusty Welsh writer and raconteur who died in 1981 at 67. Established as a writer of novels, short stories and plays, Mr. Thomas became a television celebrity in the 1960's on the BBC talk show "The Brains Trust." That's when this dramatization begins, with Anthony Hopkins grumblingly playing the wittily provocative Thomas. "All writers are liars," he declares, explaining that the lie is a compulsory social tactic. Then, with Hopkins assuming the role of narrator, the story goes back to Thomas's adolescence in South Wales.  

Thomas's mother died when he was 6. He describes his father, partial to pubs and denouncing Shakespeare as an imperialist, as "a latter-day Moses who had lost his map." Despite his determination to be a sidelines rebel, the gifted Thomas ends up winning a scholarship to Oxford University, although he continues to insist on being an outsider. He is a shrewd observer of ordinary lives, noting that in his beloved valley in Wales, "from all sides I was pelted by the unbelievable." He pinpoints the theme of his stay on earth: “Get close to an event, hear it breathe, then vanish. 

(--from, TV Weekend; A Perpetual Outsider and a New Host, By JOHN J. O’CONNOR Published: October 1, 1993) http://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/01/arts/tv-weekend-a-perpetual-outsider-and-a-new-host.html

Good way to stay. Then, hearing breath, to go. 

When it changes from the military "pre-sent arms!" to the murmur "dans le présent, aimer."

They make snow next door. Lights on all night. It is 4th Advent. Who notices subtle changes?

The Two Freedoms
Whatever your difficulties—a devastated heart, financial loss, feeling assaulted by the conflicts around you, or a seemingly hopeless illness—you can always remember that you are free in every moment to set the compass of your heart to your highest intentions. In fact, the two things that you are always free to do—despite your circumstances—are to be present and to be willing to love.
—Jack Kornfield, "Set the Compass of Your Heart"

And yet, it is quiet in this room. Just images and memory. And realization, as Noah Levine wrote at our reading for Saturday morning practice, that with deeper awakening comes closer association of impermanence and death. At every moment. 

Anicca, anatta, karma, what remains of ego, and dukkha. Like a starting five on a college court a long time ago. 

It nears time. Nothing has an opposite. Just another view of same thing.

Gone.

Gone.

Gone beyond.

Everything presents itself with love.

Suddenly

Sunday