❝the fruit of silence is prayer,

 the fruit of prayer is faith, 

the fruit of faith is love, 

the fruit of love is service, 

the fruit of service is peace.❞

~ mother teresa

...

❝these are the few ways we can practice humility:

to speak as little as possible of one's self.

to mind one's own business.

not to want to manage other people's affairs.

to avoid curiosity.

to accept contradictions and correction cheerfully.

to pass over the mistakes of others.

to accept insults and injuries.

to accept being slighted, forgotten and disliked.

to be kind and gentle even under provocation.

never to stand on one's dignity.

to choose always the hardest.❞

~ mother teresa, the joy in loving: a guide to daily living 

...

those who truly know you, will understand, love, accept and embrace you for who you are. those who speak from a faraway place can only voice their assumptions based on what they thought of you based on the information that they had read about you or hearsay. they don't call you up and say, "let's meet. i want to get to know you, your thoughts, your feelings, your points of view. i want to know you." 

come here, baby. you know you drive me up a wall?

the way you make good on all the nasty tricks you pull

seems like we're makin' up more than we're makin' love

and it always seems you got somethin' on your mind other than me

girl, you got to change your crazy ways

you hear me?

say you're leavin' on a seven thirty train

and that you're headin' out to Hollywood

girl, you've been givin' me that line so many times

it kinda gets like feelin' bad looks good, yeah

that kinda loving turns a man to a slave

that kinda loving sends a man right to his grave

I go crazy, crazy, baby, I go crazy

you turn it on then you're gone

yeah, you drive me crazy, crazy

crazy for you, baby what can I do, honey?

i feel like the color blue

you're packing up your stuff and talking like it's tough

and tryin' to tell me that it's time to go, yeah!

but I know you ain't wearing nothing underneath that overcoat

and it's all a show, yeah!

that kind of loving makes me want to pull down the shade, yeah!

that kind of loving yeah, now I'm never, never, never, never gonna be the same

I go crazy, crazy, baby, I go crazy

you turn it on then you're gone

yeah, you drive me crazy, crazy

crazy, crazy, crazy for you, baby

what can I do, honey? i feel like the color blue

i'm losin' my mind girl, 'cause I'm going crazy

i need your love, honey, yeah! i need your love

crazy, crazy, crazy for you, baby

i'm losing my mind girl, 'cause I'm going crazy

crazy, crazy, crazy for you, baby

you turn it on then you're gone

yeah, you drive me

ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh

ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh

ow, yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah

yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah

yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah

...

❝ i'll do me, you do you. we don't need nobody's permission. won't back down, win or lose oh yeah, one and only limited edition yeah. ❞

🫱🏾 alexander milov's official website 

🫱🏾the love project

...

i must say, mr. milov's journey for bringing this sculpture to life is truly inspiring. kudos to him for not giving up despite facing so many challenges and trusting his dear heart to keep going even though time and time again and again, problems and difficulties just kept coming. he faced them all so bravely and it simply makes me appreciate this artwork so much more than before. 

and, i am so blessed to have found and connect with this gorgeous artwork. 

❝The composition consists of two large metal cages in the form of figures of a man and a woman. The couple froze sitting, turning their backs to each other - their pose symbolizes a conflict. The female figure, tightly hugging her knees with her hands, curled into a fetal position. This pose symbolizes defenselessness and feelings. The male figure, unlike the female, is open and relaxed. A hand supporting the head creates an emphasis on the character's thoughts and symbolizes strength and consciousness. Despite the conflict, both figures are pressed with their backs to each other, which allows them to maintain balance. Inside both cages there are two children glowing with inner light. These children, having turned their faces to each other, stretch their hands through the bars. As night falls, the children begin to glow. Their light symbolizes purity and sincerity, which binds people together and gives a chance of reconciliation at the moment when the dark time comes.❞

~ alexander milov on love 

...

personally, i feel that we are getting so good at playing the roles in our lives but we miss out the fundamental - that is just to be human. 

we no longer apologise because of the pride that we carry in relation to our roles. we no longer listen because of that very same reason too. but the tiny human inside all of us is simply yearning to connect, to touch, to feel, to empathise, to liberate and to be awakened. 

it's just that.

credit: ice fire hand artwork

❝ i said: what about my eyes? ; He said: keep them on the road.

i said: what about my passion? ; He said: keep it burning.

i said: what about my heart? ; He said: tell me what you hold inside it?

i said: pain and sorrow.

He said: stay with it. the wound is the place where the Light enters you. ❞ 

~rumi (jalal ad-din muhammad ar-rumi)

yes, i am a sucker for indie films especially the ones on love. throw me any facets of love, i'd take them all because i cannot imagine a person without. it would have been dystopic. so throwback to last year october 2023 when past lives entered and considering i'd been hankering for this film to be released since july 2023. 

and, i was not disappointed. in fact, the film brought me to places that i hadn't been in a while and revisiting those places again brought much...peace. 

there are many articles online about this film and how everyone thought about it. i am not going to write about that because what inspired me from the film was final closure was possible as long as we allow ourselves to rest in that state of flow.

i love 'love' and have been blessed to experience the many faces of it in my life. they come and came in all shapes and sizes. various flavours and forms. multitudes of facets, curves and arcs, multidimensional yet linear...it is satisfyingly amazing when the heart cracks opens and embrace this free-ness. 

but what is more satisfying is that - this notion of once bitten twice shy (not meaning the usual way) but rather, there is an instant recognition of that state or phenomena and there is no fear or cautiousness. but what is present is just openness and liveliness. it is this spaciousness in knowing that this 'fit' is perfect and complete as it is. 

the expansiveness is free flowing and unobstructed. so love flows freely - without tightening of the fists or trying so hard to hold on. there is none of that. it just is. just love. 

past lives helped me finally extracted that last bit of love essence before closing a long standing past and honestly, this film made me realise that it is okay to grow and to change because that is the only constant in this human life and changes, are only human. at least for me, it wasn't about throwing the pain and suffering behind or burying it deep so sight unseen means out of sight out of mind kind of thing but rather holding that experience in my hands, heart and mind...and just look at it simply because it happened. 

and because every little thing that happened were the very steps necessary to make now happen...it's just being human in this human realm living a human life being human. 

and by word and to me, in yeon is not just related to human relationships but relationships in general. from the things you posses, to the life you are leading, to personal preferences, to the kind of thoughts and emotions that bubble up...it's in yeon, in some way. 

...

i am thoroughly inspired. truly. simply because how one thought and/or emotion and the actions taken create a ripple that either surfaces in this life or the next. even if the relationship is unpleasant, it is the dissolution of the karmic thread that runs and binds. it has to be taken apart or burn away to undo the bindings. 

this is purification. this is expansiveness. this is spaciousness.

knowing that we are all connected in one way or another and having known that we connect to some people more strongly than the other are all aeons and aeons of layering, constructing, building, structuring, cultivating...

my final takeaway of this film: being utterly grateful for every single moment and every single occurrences in my life. for without all those moments and occurrences, i would not be here today - experiencing what i had experienced, seeing what i had seen, listening to what i had heard, and most importantly, being immersed in the three jewels and living in an environment that is supportive. 

...

❝ If you want to know your past life, look at your present condition.

If you want to know your future life, look at your present actions.❞

~Guru Rinpoche

they say there is a war between the man and the woman (ah, ah)

i've never felt like this before my heart knew that I couldn't (ah)

and then you take me in and everything in me begins to feel like i belong

like everybody needs a home

and when i take your hand like the world has never held a man

i know i cannot heal the hurt but i will hold you here forever

if i can, if i can

and then i learned the truth - how everything good in life seems to lead back to you 

and every single time i run into your arms i feel like i exist for love

like i exist for love only for love

i can't imagine how it is to be forbidden from loving (ah, ah)

'cause when you walked into my life i could feel my life begin

like i was torn apart the minute i was only born and you're the other half

the only thing that makes me whole

i know it sounds like a lot but you really need to know

we are leaning out for love and we will lean for love forever, i know

i love you so

and then i learned the truth - how everything good in life seems to lead back to you

And every single time i run into your arms i feel like i exist for love

only for love

and when you say my name like white horses on the waves

i think it feels the same as an ocean in my veins

and you'll be diving in like nothing is out of place

And we exist for love only for love

And i love you, i love you, i love you

And i love you, i love you, i love you

...

❝love is the universal language that transcends countries, borders, barriers, and differences.❞ ~ susan c. young

so our Most Venerable Tathāgata Shakyamuni Buddha gave sermons related to this in Tittha Sutta and Canki Sutta. 

french artist jean-léon gérôme painted pygmalion & galatea in both perspectives.

then these guys did this...

...

who's right and who's wrong?

who's left and who's right?

who's great and who isn't?

who is in and who is out?

who should and shouldn't?

who's telling the truth and who's lying?

who is needing validation?

who is blaming?

who is gratifying?

he is right so is he. 

he is right through his own lens and experiences so is he.

but no. the world chooses you're wrong and i'm right.

you're weak and i'm strong.

you're less and i'm more.

mr pygmalion was probably tired of all these bullshit so he turned all these  into inspiration and created galatea.

that's when he found love.

❝this is my favorite aria. this is maria callas. this is "andrea chenier", umberto giordano. this is madeleine. she's saying how during the french revolution, a mob set fire to her house, and her mother died... saving her.

"look, the place that cradled me is burning."

can you hear the heartache in her voice? can you feel it, joe?

in come the strings, and it changes everything. the music fills with a hope, and that'll change again. listen... listen..."I bring sorrow to those who love me." 

oh, that single cello!

"it was during this sorrow that love came to me." a voice filled with harmony.

it says, "live still, I am life. heaven is in your eyes. is everything around you just the blood and mud? i am divine. i am oblivion. i am the god... that comes down from the heavens, and makes of the earth a heaven. i am love!... i am love." ❞

~ andrew beckett; played by tom hanks