Inspirational poems and quotes on The art of loving:by Erich Fromm,Victor hugo,O love by Khalil gibran,Friendship by Henry David Thoreau

Music:
Thepianoguys-Bring Him Home (from Les Misérables)

The art of loving
Erich Fromm

Love is a decision, it is a judgment, it is a promise. If love were only a feeling, there would be no basis for the promise to love each other forever. A feeling comes and it may go. How can I judge that it will stay forever, when my act does not involve judgment and decision.

Love is not primarily a relationship to a specific person; it is an attitude, an ordination of character which determines the relatedness of the person to the whole world as a whole, not toward one object of love.

If a person loves only one other person and is indifferent to all others, his love is not love but a symbiotic attachment, or an enlarged egotism.

Love means to commit oneself without guarantee, to give oneself completely in the hope that our love will produce love in the loved person. Love is an act of faith, and whoever is of little faith is also of little love.

Edouard Bisson Art
When love has fused and mingled two beings in a sacred and angelic unity, the secret of life has been discovered so far as they are concerned; they are no longer anything more than the two boundaries of the same destiny; they are no longer anything but the two wings of the same spirit. Love, soar.
Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

Edouard Bisson painting

O love, whose lordly hand
Has bridled my desires,
And raised my hunger and my thirst
To dignity and pride,
Let not the strong in me and the constant
Eat the bread or drink the wine
That tempt my weaker self.

Let me rather starve,
And let my heart parch with thirst,
And let me die and perish,
Ere I stretch my hand
To a cup you did not fill,
Or a bowl you did not bless.
Khalil Gibran,"Love"
From:Forerunner: His Parables and Poems

Friendship
Henry David Thoreau

I think awhile of Love, and while I think,
Love is to me a world,
Sole meat and sweetest drink,
And close connecting link
Tween heaven and earth.

I only know it is, not how or why,
My greatest happiness;
However hard I try,
Not if I were to die,
Can I explain.

I fain would ask my friend how it can be,
But when the time arrives,
Then Love is more lovely
Than anything to me,
And so I'm dumb.

For if the truth were known, Love cannot speak,
But only thinks and does;
Though surely out 'twill leak
Without the help of Greek,
Or any tongue.

A man may love the truth and practise it,
Beauty he may admire,
And goodness not omit,
As much as may befit
To reverence.

But only when these three together meet,
As they always incline,
And make one soul the seat,
And favorite retreat,
Of loveliness;

When under kindred shape, like loves and hates
And a kindred nature,
Proclaim us to be mates,
Exposed to equal fates
Eternally;

And each may other help, and service do,
Drawing Love's bands more tight,
Service he ne'er shall rue
While one and one make two,
And two are one;

In such case only doth man fully prove
Fully as man can do,
What power there is in Love
His inmost soul to move
Resistlessly.

Two sturdy oaks I mean, which side by side,
Withstand the winter's storm,
And spite of wind and tide,
Grow up the meadow's pride,
For both are strong

Above they barely touch, but undermined
Down to their deepest source,
Admiring you shall find
Their roots are intertwined
Insep'rably.

Julia Fischer performing Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E Minor-r - 1ºmov

Julia Fischer-Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E Minor- 1ºmov

Wisdom quotes for life

We all create the person we become by our choices as we go through life. In a real sense, by the time we are adults, we are the sum total of the choices we have made.
Eleanor Roosevelt

It's helpful to remind yourself that meditation is about opening and relaxing with whatever arises, without picking and choosing.
Pema Chodron

The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.
Henry Miller

Let us not look back in anger or forward in fear, but around in awareness.
James Thurber

Mother quote by Mitch Albom

Steve Hanks Art

But there's a story behind everything. How a picture got on a wall. How a scar got on your face. Sometimes the stories are simple, and sometimes they are hard and heartbreaking. But behind all your stories is always your mother's story, because hers is where yours begin.
Mitch Albom, For One More Day

Homeless by J.J. Slauerhoff-with the dutch original version:Woninglooze

Homeless
by J.J. Slauerhoff
Translated from dutsh by A.Z. Foreman

Only in my poems can I make my home.
I have found shelter in no other form.
There is no hearth I’ve pined for as my own.
A tent could be uprooted in the storm.

Only in my poems can I make my home.
While I still know that I can find those doors
In wilderness, in woods, on streets or moors,
I fear no grief- no matter where I roam.

Long though it be, the time shall surely come
When before night my old powers cease to spark
And beg in vain for tender words of old
That I once built with, and the earth must fold
Me to my rest as I bow to the cold
Space where my grave bursts open in the dark.

Woninglooze
J.J. Slauerhoff

Alleen in mijn gedichten kan ik wonen,
Nooit vond ik ergens anders onderdak;
Voor de eigen haard gevoelde ik nooit een zwak,
Een tent werd door den stormwind meegenomen.

Alleen in mijn gedichten kan ik wonen.
Zoolang ik weet dat ik in wildernis,
In steppen, stad en woud dat onderkomen
Kan vinden, deert mij geen bekommernis.

Het zal lang duren, maar de tijd zal komen
Dat vóór den nacht mij de oude kracht ontbreekt
En tevergeefs om zachte woorden smeekt,
Waarmee ’k weleer kon bouwen, en de aarde
Mij bergen moet en ik mij neerbuig naar de
Plek waar mijn graf in ’t donker openbreekt.

For beauty being the best of all we know by Robert Bridges

Richard Johnson Art

For beauty being the best of all we know
Robert Bridges

For beauty being the best of all we know
Sums up the unsearchable and secret aims
Of nature, and on joys whose earthly names
Were never told can form and sense bestow;
And man has sped his instinct to outgo
The step of science; and against her shames
Imagination stakes out heavenly claims,
Building a tower above the head of woe.

Nor is there fairer work for beauty found
Than that she win in nature her release
From all the woes that in the world abound;
Nay with his sorrow may his love increase,
If from man's greater need beauty redound,
And claim his tears for homage of his peace.

Fair Weather by Dorothy Parker

Vladimir Volegov Art

Fair Weather
Dorothy Parker

This level reach of blue is not my sea;
Here are sweet waters, pretty in the sun,
Whose quiet ripples meet obediently
A marked and measured line, one after one.
This is no sea of mine. that humbly laves
Untroubled sands, spread glittering and warm.
I have a need of wilder, crueler waves;
They sicken of the calm, who knew the storm.

So let a love beat over me again,
Loosing its million desperate breakers wide;
Sudden and terrible to rise and wane;
Roaring the heavens apart; a reckless tide
That casts upon the heart, as it recedes,
Splinters and spars and dripping, salty weeds.

light quotes

Into my heart's night
Along a narrow way
I groped; and lo! the light,
An infinite land of day.

Rumi

The black moment is the moment when the real message of transformation is going to come. At the darkest moment comes the light.
Joseph Campbell

God presents Himself in the light; He also conceals Himself by the light—just as we present ourselves in our garments and conceal ourselves by our garments.
John Pulsford

Joy quote by Nicholas Gordon

Joy requires one to be awake,
Adjusting the heart's ambience to bright.
Some prefer the dark, as is their right,
On grounds of agony, and to forsake
Not only bliss, but all that's blessed by light.
Nicholas Gordon

The Visit of Wisdom by Khalil gibran

Music:
kevin Kern-through the arbor

The Visit of Wisdom
Khalil Gibran

In the quiet of the night Wisdom came and stood beside my bed, gazing at me like a doting mother. She wiped away my tears and said, “I heard the cry of your soul and came to solace you. Open your heart to me, that I might fill it with light. Ask me, and I shall show you the path of truth.”
I said, ‘Who am I, O Wisdom, and how did I arrive in this ghastly place? What are these powerful longings, numerous books, and eldritch markings?

What are these thoughts that pass like a flock of doves? What is this speech, ordered in affection and scattered in delight? What are these consequences that sadden and enrapture, that embrace my spirit and besiege my heart?

What are these eyes fixed upon me, that gaze upon my innermost self and ignore my pain? What are these voices mourning over my days, singing of my childhood?

What is this youth, who plays with my desires, mock my sentiments, forgets the deeds of yesterday, rejoices in the trivialities of the moment, and loathes the tardiness of tomorrow?

What is this world that is hastening me toward I know not what, viewing me with contempt? What is this earth, its mouth gaping to swallow bodies, whose bosom offers relief to the abode of ambition? What is this person who acquiesces in loving happiness, but accepts hell if he cannot attain it;

who seeks the kiss of life and receives the blows of death; who buys a moment of pleasure with a year of regrets; who surrenders to the slumber and dreams that call to him; who walks along the canals of ignorance to the gulf of darkness? What are all these things, O Wisdom?’
She said,“You desire, O mortal, to view this world through the eyes of a god, and wish to comprehend the mysteries and this is the utmost folly. Go out into the open country, and you will find the bee hovering over flowers and the eagle picking apart its prey. Enter the house of your

neighbor, and you will see a child bedazzled by the fire's rays, while the mother busies herself with housework. Imitate the bee and do not spend the days of spring gazing upon the deeds of the eagle. Be as the child and delight in the flame's brightness, and pay no heed to your mother and her affairs.

“All that you see was and is for your sake. The numerous books, uncanny markings, and beautiful thoughts are the ghosts of souls who preceded you.

The speech they weave is a link between you and your human siblings. The consequences that cause sorrow and rapture are the seeds that the past has sown in the field of the soul, and by which the future shall profit...

This youth who plays with your desires is the very same person who opened the door of your heart so as to flood it with light. This earth with its gaping maw is the one who delivers you from bondage to your body.

This world that hastens you is your heart, and your heart is all that you conceive of as a world. The person you consider ignorant and insignificant is the one who came from God, that he might learn bliss from grief and knowledge from gloom.”

Wisdom placed her hand on my feverish forehead and said, “Advance and never halt, for advancing is perfection. Advance and do not fear the thorns in the path, for they draw only corrupt blood.”

The secret of intellectual excellence by Karl R. Popper

But the secret of intellectual excellence is the spirit of criticism ; it is intellectual independence. And this leads to difficulties which must prove insurmountable for any kind of authoritarianism. The authoritarian will in general select those who obey, who believe, who respond to his influence. But in doing so, he is bound to select mediocrities. For he excludes those who revolt, who doubt, who dare to resist his influence. Never can an authority admit that the intellectually courageous, i.e. those who dare to defy his authority, may be the most valuable type. Of course, the authorities will always remain convinced of their ability to detect initiative. But what they mean by this is only a quick grasp of their intentions, and they will remain for ever incapable of seeing the difference.
Karl R. Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies

Around the corner by Henson Towne

Around the Corner
Henson Towne

Around the corner I have a friend,
in this great city that has no end.
Yet the days go by and weeks rush on,
and before I know it, a year is gone.

And I never see my old friends face,
for life is swift and a terrible race.
He knows I like him just as well,
as in the days when I rang his bell.

And he rang mine, if we were younger then,
and now we are busy, tired men.
Tired of playing a foolish game,
Tired of trying to make a name.

"Tomorrow" I say," I will call on Jim"... "
Just to show that I'm thinking of him".
But tomorrow comes and tomorrow goes,
and distance between us grows.

Around the corner!- yet miles away,
"here's a telegram sir" "Jim died today".
And thats what we get and deserve in the end.
Around the corner, a vanished friend.

Life quote by John Ruskin

Let every dawn of the morning be to you as the beginning of life. And let every setting of the sun be to you as its close. Then let everyone of these short lives leave its sure record of some kindly thing done for others; some good strength of knowledge gained for yourself.
John Ruskin

Heart quote by vincent van Gogh

One may have a blazing hearth in one's soul and yet no one ever came to sit by it. Passers-by see only a wisp of smoke from the chimney and continue on their way.
Vincent van Gogh

Reflective quotes on Childhood :capacity for laughter and joy

To me, authentic religiousness means a childlike innocence, playfulness, and a wholehearted capacity for laughter.

My whole effort here is to keep you as non-serious as possible, for the simple reason that meditation, all kinds of meditation, can make you too serious and that seriousness will create a spiritual disease and nothing else. Unless a meditation brings you more laughter, more joy, more playfulness, avoid it. It is not for you.
Osho

Happiness was different in childhood. It was so much then a matter simply of accumulation, of taking things - new experiences, new emotions - and applying them like so many polished tiles to what would someday be the marvellously finished pavilion of the self.
JOHN BANVILLE, The Sea

Songbird lyrics-Barbra Streisand

Music:
Songbird-Barbra Streisand
accompanied by story:
Birds:A lesson in perseverance

Songbird sings from the heart
Each word can tear you apart
I sing, you sing along
You find your life in my song

When you need the strength to carry on
You've got me to turn to

With the songs that I sing and the magic they bring
They've helped you be strong now
The song sets you free but who sings to me?
I'm all alone now, who sings for songbird?

Sometimes when I'm all alone
I sing my saddest song
Lonely, and no one can see
This time the song is for me

I can touch your secret place inside
And still you don't know me

With the songs that I sing and the magic they bring
You've learned to be strong now
The song sets you free but who sings to me?
I'm all alone now, where is my songbird?
Where is my songbird, who sings his songs for me?

Birds:A LESSON in PERSEVERANCE

Have you ever observed the behaviour of birds in the face of adversity? For days and days they make their nests, sometimes gathering materials brought from far away, And when they have completed the nest and are ready to lay eggs, the weather, or the work of humans, or some animal, destroys it, and it falls to the ground, all that they have done with so much effort .

Do they stop ? Bewildered, and leave the work ? No way. They start over building the nest again and again until they have eggs in the nest again. Sometimes,and very often before the chicks are are hatched, an animal, a child, or a storm destroys the nest once again, but this time with its valuable contents. It hurts to go back to begin again… Even so, the birds do not ever stop, they continue to sing and build, and keep singing and building…..

Do you sometimes get the feeling that your life, your work, your family is not what you had dreamed. Do you sometimes want to say “enough”, the effort is not worthwhile. It is all too much for me! Are you tired of it all? Do you feel that the daily struggle is a waste of time, your trust has been betrayed, your goals not reached just as you were about to get them?

Life strikes you down sometimes, but do you go on, say a prayer, put your faith in hope, not darkness? Do not worry if you get injured in the battle, that is to be expected. Gather yourself together and rebuild your life, so that it runs well again.

No matter what happens… Do not shrink back, but move forward. Life is a constant challenge, but it is worthwhile to mostly accept it. And never stop singing.