Chris Blackwell’s Top 5 Films of 2008

Steve Norquist’s Haunted Universe

The world is full of half-enlightened masters. Overly clever, too “sensitive” to live in the real world, they surround themselves with selfish pleasures and bestow their grandiose teachings upon the unwary. Prematurely publicizing themselves, intent upon reaching some spiritual climax, they constantly sacrifice the truth and deviate from the Tao. What they really offer the world is their own confusion. The true master understands that enlightenment is not the end, but the means. Realizing that virtue is her goal, she accepts the long and often arduous cultivation that is necessary to attain it. She doesn’t scheme to become a leader, but quietly shoulders whatever responsibilities fall to her. Unattached to her accomplishments, taking credit for nothing at all, she guides the whole world by guiding the individuals who come to her. She shares her divine energy with her students, encouraging them, creating trials to strengthen them, scolding them to awaken them, directing the streams of their lives toward the infinite ocean of the Tao.

L a o - T z u

Good Advice for All Seekers

to

Follow Wisely

Watch the sun,
As it crawls across a final time
And it feels like,
Like it was a friend.
It is watching us,
And the world we set on fire
Do you wonder,
If it feels the same?

And the sky is filled with light
Can you see it?
All the black is really white
If you believe it
As your time is running out
Let me take away your doubt
You can find a better a place
In this twilight

Dust to dust,
Ashes in your hair remind me
What it feels like
And I won’t feel again
Night descends
Could I have been a better person
If I could only do it all again

And the sky is filled with light
Can you see it?
All the black is really white
If you believe it
And the longing that you feel
You know none of this is real
You will find a better a place
In this twilight

Depeche Mode - Martyr