I was first introduced to the teaching of J. Krishnamurti while studying A Course In Miracles, with Tara Singh while living in Los Angeles. Since then I have found great comfort and wisdom from the teaching of J. Krishnamurti…

The center of suffering

When you see a most lovely thing, a beautiful mountain, a beautiful sunset, a ravishing smile, a ravishing face, that fact stuns you, and you are silent; hasn’t it ever happened to you? Then you hug the world in your arms. But that is something from outside which comes to your mind, but I am talking of the mind which is not stunned but which wants to look, to observe. Now, can you observe without all this upsurging of conditioning? To a person in sorrow, I explain in words; sorrow is inevitable, sorrow is the result of fulfillment. When all explanations have completely stopped, then only can you look -which means you are not looking from the center. When you look from a center, your faculties of observation are limited. If I hold to a post and want to be there, there is a strain, there is pain. When I look from the center into suffering, there is suffering. It is the incapacity to observe that creates pain. I cannot observe if I think, function, see from a center- as when I say, ‘I must have no pain, I must find out why I suffer, I must escape.’ When I observe from a center, whether the center is a conclusion, an idea, hope, despair, or anything else, that observation is very restricted, very narrow, very small, and that engenders sorrow. ~~ J. Krishnamurti, The Book of Life

Let go of the suffering, I believe Krishnamurti is saying here. Release it. Sorrow is inevitable, we all go through it. We can’t get past it if we hold it at our center. It’s a hard lesson, but in time we must release the sorrow and suffering and move through it.

This quote caught my eye earlier today…

Nothing in the world is permanent, and we’re foolish when we ask anything to last, but surely we’re still more foolish not to take delight in it while we have it. If change is of the essence of existence one would have thought it only sensible to make it the premise of our philosophy. ~~ W. Somerset Maugham, The Razor’s Edge, 1943

Reflecting on the subject of taking delight in something “while we have it,” I think back to times of great joy. We know instinctively in the midst of sheer joy, that that joy will not last forever, but we still revel in it while it is happening.

And then, is that joy not our solace, when we slip down into a period of the dark nights of soul. It is there, lost in the dark nights of soul, that we reflect deepest sometimes. And that reflection at first can appear messy, like the reflection of the clouds amidst the winter trees in the marshes.

Difficult as the path may seem, it is taking the journey through the dark nights of the soul that clears our hearts and allows us to find strength in the notion that “nothing in the world is permanent.”

(Photo: Reflection In Hellcat Swamp ~~ c. Pamela J. Leavey 2011)

Word Press ate my thoughts… I had rambled about being in the “still” and added a photo and when I hit publish all I had was a title.

The so very troubled and talented Amy Winehouse is dead, at 27.

Amy Winehouse “found worldwide fame with a sassy, hip-hop-inflected take on retro soul, yet became a tabloid fixture as her problems with drugs and alcohol led to a strikingly public career collapse.” She was found dead today in her London apartment, the police said.

Although the cause of death is at this point “unknown,” the news of Winehouse’s death stunned me and made me feel a sense heartbreak that she had most likely lost her battle with drugs and alcohol.

With her “husky, tart voice and a style that drew equally from the sounds of Motown and the stark storytelling of rap, Ms. Winehouse became one of the most acclaimed young singers of the past decade, selling millions of albums, winning five Grammy Awards and starting a British retro-R&B trend that continues today.”

I didn’t want to like Winehouse’s music because the lurid details of her self-destructive, troubled life were such a turn-off. Yet, her talent could not be ignored. Her life was vividly portrayed in “Rehab” but with so much soul that you couldn’t help sing along and groove to the Motown-esque beat.

Born in Southgate, London on Sept. 14, 1983, Amy Jade Winehouse is survived by her mother, Janis, a pharmacist, and her father, Mitch, a cab driver “who nursed a love for music,” and her brother, Alex.

Ms. Winehouse showed an early talent for performing, as well as an eclecticism that would characterize her later work. She loved her father’s Sinatra records, but she also liked hip-hop; at age 10 she and a friend formed a rap group called Sweet ’n’ Sour that Ms. Winehouse later described as “the little white Jewish Salt-N-Pepa.” (Ms. Winehouse was the “sour” half.)

She attended the Sylvia Young Theater School in London and later went to the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology, a free performing arts school there that counts several other recent female pop stars among its alumnae, including Ms. Allen and Adele, another young singer who is sometimes seen as picking up the neo-soul mantle from Ms. Winehouse.

In 2003, at age 19, Ms. Winehouse released her first album, “Frank.” Influenced by jazz, it established her as a rising star in Britain. But “Back to Black,” recorded with the producers Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi, and the Brooklyn retro-soul band the Dap-Kings, made her an international sensation. With thick horns and club-ready hip-hop beats, the album was a darkly stylish update of classic 1960s R&B, and it was adored by critics and the public alike.

Nielsen SoundScan, a company that tracks music sales, reports that “Ms. Winehouse has sold 2.7 million albums and 3.4 million tracks in the United States.”

The true peak of Winehouse’s career was the 2008 Grammy Awards when she “was nominated for six prizes and took home five, including Best New Artist.”

Yet even days before the show, her appearance there was uncertain because of visa problems. In the end, she performed by satellite from London.

Although Ms. Winehouse has not made an album since “Back to Black,” she tried to revive her career several times. In a recent interview with The New York Times, Ms. Winehouse’s father, who released a jazz album this year, said she had been in good health lately. (Mr. Winehouse was scheduled to perform at the Blue Note jazz club in New York on Monday, but canceled after learning of his daughter’s death.)

Her most recent comeback attempt was a bust, as Winehouse canceled a European tour last month, “after a performance in Belgrade on the first night, during which she appeared to be too intoxicated to perform properly.”

Her death is a tragic loss to the world of soul music as Winehouse becomes another talented and troubled musician to pass away at 27.  Winehouse joins Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin as part of the 27 club.

R.I.P. Amy Winehouse…

Click here to view the embedded video.

(Cross posted from The Democratic Daily.)

“The life of a flower is never too brief that we can not capture it’s essence and appreciate its beauty forever.” ~~ Pamela J. Leavey

(Photo: © Pamela J. Leavey 2011)

“Enter each day with the expectation that the happenings of the day may contain a clandestine message addressed to you personally. Expect omens, epiphanies, casual blessings, and teachers who unknowingly speak to your condition.” ~~ Sam Keen – Hymns To An Unknown God

Life is a series of roads. Just when you feel that you have traveled a road far enough, a new and more interesting road appears on the horizon. – Pamela J. Leavey

“Being is the practice of gratitude and compassion. I am alive only in the degree that I am moved by the tidal rhythm of receiving and giving. I am a gossamer curtain hanging in a window separating time and eternity, blowing back and forth in the everlasting breeze.” ~~ Sam Keen: Hymns To An Unknown God

(Photo: Plum Island Center, December 2010 ~ © Pamela J. Leavey)

In the daily living of our lives we must recognize that compassion is a must for all. No where do I look where I do not see those in need of compassion and understanding. ~~ Pamela J. Leavey

“Never forget the importance of giving, and remember that the simplest gift is the gift of love and understanding.” ~~ Pamela Leavey