Faith is to not know

Uma Thurman: “What do you know for sure?”

Meryl Streep: "I know life is short and I'm a lucky woman. I think that you find your own way. You have your own rules. You have your own understanding of yourself, and that's what you're going to count on. In the end, it's what feels right to you. Not what your mother told you. Not what some actress told you. Not what anybody else told you but the still, small voice. … Beyond that, I don't know. And it's the not knowing that's the good part. To me, mystery is the most beautiful thing—the fact that you can't figure it out—that's it for me. That's for sure."

The Four Agreements

Before I forget to note them, here are the four agreements that Toltec wisdom taught the humankind to make:

The First Agreement: Be impeccable with your word.
The Second Agreement: Don’t take anything personally.
The Third Agreement: Don’t make assumptions.
The Fourth Agreement: Always do your best.

From the book The Four Agreements, by don Miguel Ruiz. Anybody read it? I want a copy tonight!

Images of beauty

‘The beauty is everywhere around you,’ said the calm voice, ‘but you cannot see!’

While searching for the meaning and the source of beauty, I saw a dream earlier this year (2005).

In my dream, I saw that my home was redone in a Kashmiri style. There were wooden carved windows and a balcony added. In amazement, I flew back to look at my home from a distance. And then I turned and beheld an amazing sight!

My neighbor’s home, I saw, was even more stunning with an etched metal roof styled in the Shangri-La fashion. There was now a tiny lake in the vast veranda of the house, which has three gondolas or shikaras – traditional Viennese and Kashmiri boats, respectively. They, too, were carved exquisitely. One of them looked like an intricate khussa.

I flew father still and saw what used to be the drab house on the corner. This house had the most remarkable make-over: it looked like a gazebo, once again all metal. The top roof was like the crown of a pomegranate upside down. Detailed etching adorned the metallic canopy.

In the unfocused expanse of my vision, I could see that the entire landscape was re-done, re-discovered, and glowing under its new beauty. I could no longer take in that utter beauty without letting out a squeal of joy. In my dream, I heard my voice remarking: ‘I never knew that my mohallah’s houses were so beautiful!’

And then, clear as ever, the voice which had been showing me images of beauty in the past many dreams replied, ‘The beauty is everywhere around you,’ it said in the ever-deep, ever-even tone, ‘but you cannot see!’

I woke up. I woke up from the dream, and I woke up in my life. I opened my eyes and I saw.

Life has never looked the same since.