I want to know what sustains you, from the inside!

[Zeus20]

It doesn't interest me in what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing. It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive. It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain. I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fake it or fix it. I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers, and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, or to remember the limitations of being human.

I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul; if you can be faithfull, and therefore trustworthy. I want to know if you can see beauty, even when it's not pretty, every day, and if you can source your own life from its presence. I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of a lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, "Yes!" It doesn't interest me to know where you live, or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after a night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done. It doesn't interest me who you know, or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back. I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away. I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments. :)

[Rivet]

Woah dude!

I am not quite up to that level. But I will strive to get there.

I must be doing something that challenges my mind or else I die a little inside.

Can I bear being alone? Sure, many times I can. I go hiking all the time by myself (with my dog, but he doesn't count). People ask me .. aren't you lonely? Not at all! I feel more lonely in a room full of strangers.

[mataj]

The Calling

Perhaps it's best that few will ever know
The horror of the Thing that calls to me
While dreaming dead within His tomb below
The surface of the vast, unchanging sea.
He calls to me in nightmares as I sleep
And speaks a message better left unheard;
He whispers ancient secrets from the deep
Of which I dare not tell a single word.

He waits long epochs till the stars come 'round
To wake Him from His slumber once again,
And now I wish that I had never found
This Dreaming One who blasts the minds of men.
I fear His hell-spawned visions every night,
For now I know the truth: the stars are right!

© 1997 Christopher B. Hicks

[xexon]

Knowing that I am not only a part of creation, but also a part of the creator.




x

[cpwill]

what sustains me? continual redemption.

[Simba]

My wife and daughters. They are my raison de etre! So, I believe in God for this blessing.... appointed guardian and servant to such that I love.

[Craig]

What sustains me? A desire to do something that has never been done before.

[Craig]

It doesn't interest me in what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing. It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive. It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain. I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fake it or fix it. I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers, and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, or to remember the limitations of being human.

I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul; if you can be faithfull, and therefore trustworthy. I want to know if you can see beauty, even when it's not pretty, every day, and if you can source your own life from its presence. I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of a lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, "Yes!" It doesn't interest me to know where you live, or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after a night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done. It doesn't interest me who you know, or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back. I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away. I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments. :)

I've seen this quote before. My uncle had excerpts of it on the side of his fridge at one point.

[eugene40]

Lets see,,,, training,,, in weapons and tactics.... honing my body and mind. Women ahhh the women. Nature,,, extreme sports you want spirituality,, toss yourself out of a plane and you will find spirituality.

[JD3]

Well, I have no problem being a lone with myself. There was a song by the Little River Band some years ago in which the singer says the only time that is missing is the time I spend alone. I have always enjoyed my lone time.

But I am also obsessed with my work. Let's face it, I'm very prone to obsession.

But at the end of the day, it really is my wife and kids that see me through. Nothing new or special, but it is the truth. ;)

[Blueangel]

,, toss yourself out of a plane and you will find spirituality.Eugene! Either you have a gift with words or I have a gift with double entendres :lol: :lol: :sorry:

[cpwill]

toss yourself out of a plane and you will find spirituality.

hehehehehe; we actually had a guy start doing that on our first jump at BAC at benning: "God, we've never gotten along; but if you keep my a-- from splatting on that ground.... :lol:


by the third time up, though, it was boring; we all fell asleep on the plane :o

[eugene40]

Eugene! Either you have a gift with words or I have a gift with double entendres :lol: :lol: :sorry:

a little of both maybe... but you totally ignored my women comment.

[eugene40]

hehehehehe; we actually had a guy start doing that on our first jump at BAC at benning: "God, we've never gotten along; but if you keep my a-- from splatting on that ground.... :lol:


by the third time up, though, it was boring; we all fell asleep on the plane :o


Sky diving can get a little boring yes it can.... That is why over the last summer I discovered BASE jumping.... it is a whole new level of shpincter tightening fun.

[cpwill]

base jumping?

[Blueangel]

a little of both maybe... but you totally ignored my women comment.But that's just you all over ;) We all know you're a little slapper on the sly.

base jumping?
Jumping off cliffs and tall buildings with a parachute.

[eugene40]

base jumping?


Building, Antennae, Span, Earth

You rig your chute for a really quick opening. And you find a high enough cliff,, or building or Antenna... or whatever that is high enough... you jump and off try to veer away from the building or cliff or whatever and hope that your quick rig chute opens up..... Its kind of like skydiving but way riskier there is no time for deploying a secondary chute... unless you find a really big cliff or maybe jump from the malaysian towers.... But the rush boy,,, I can feel the adrenaline pumping just thinking about it..... AHHHH

[Redratio1]

I have to say, more power to ya eugene, but you're INSANE! :D

Next step orbital re-entry jumping!

[eugene40]

I have to say, more power to ya eugene, but you're INSANE! :D

Next step orbital re-entry jumping!



Next is a HALO jump if I can find a pilot to help me do it..... HALO to the non military is a High Altitude Low Opening jump..... you jump at 30,000 feet and open the chute around 200 feet I think though I have heard of lower opening.... so basically you have a 29,800 foot free fall..... Now that would be cool. As for my mental Faculties.... My saying is this.... if you want to know the answers to life and really appreciate life and all things in it and want to find out what you are made of.... stare death straight in its eyes and tell it to F*** off.
There is nothing I have found that I will not do. The only thing I do not like is Skiing and snow boarding only because I don't like the cold.... but other then that,,,, give me a high cliff and I will free climb that bad boy and jump off of the top.... I will free dive down to 50 ft but I only did it once. find me a bridge and I will attach a big rubber band around my ankle and leap off that like it was a curb. If they had a legal game Like the story I think called The game where humans hunt you... I would love for people to do that to me.... only if I get a weapon too. But anything... drop me in the middle of the amazon, in the outback in Austrailia though I have never been and I will be a happy person.

[JoeR]

I never thought about what keeps me going. I geuss nothing. Well thanks now I'm depressed. :p

[cpwill]

....lower than 200 feet; falling from that high?

seems you're going to hit pretty hard there, pard.
hope you got one helluva plf.;)

[Rivet]

If they had a legal game Like the story I think called The game where humans hunt you... I would love for people to do that to me.... only if I get a weapon too.

I think that's called warfare. :)

Maybe you should try paintball.

[Redratio1]

I think that's called warfare. :)

Maybe you should try paintball.


Thats what I was thinking. He could always commit a major felony and go on the run, but I think piantball is more sane.

[eugene40]

I think that's called warfare. :)

Maybe you should try paintball.


Paintball is lame.... all of my weapons from my glocks to my M4 I have a spare barrel for simmuntion.. Simmunition is wax bullets that feed through most any weapon that they are the calibre for. Glock even makes a gun for them specifically,, I have two. But I train with those and with other of my moe gun happy buddy cops. and we shoot the hell out of each other with them... They sting probably about 3 times as much as a paintball.... anybody that can do it.. I suggest doing it... it is fun.

[eugene40]

....lower than 200 feet; falling from that high?

seems you're going to hit pretty hard there, pard.
hope you got one helluva plf.;)


I dunno the guys in the SEALs that I know that do it.. say it is one hell of a jerk when the chute releases but it isn't that hard of an impact.. though most of the time they do it over water. Either way I am going to try it within the next 5 years.

[mahayana]

Plants sustain me; the solar energy they trap through photosynthesis, and the oxygen they release. I suppose in some larger sense, the earth sustains me, odd that so many here find gravitation (the rush of jumping and falling) to be sustaining, rather than the solidity under their feet.

Meditation, the feeling of being part of the whole (god's eyes and ears), playing music, feeling loved, serving others...those are some personal ones.

Also, questioning and learning, looking for the light in others, seeking "truths." Like:

"Everything comes to pass, nothing comes to stay."

[JoeR]

Well now for a serious answer. What sustains me, is me.

[Mr.BlueOil]

When I was younger I would have to say friends and family were what kept me in this world. At the same time I let myself feel as though I was being driven away. All I wanted was escape.

Now adays I want to meet the right girl, settle down, have children, raise them right, and change the world. If ever I have a darker day what keeps me here is knowing giving up is not an option. Don't quit the game when you know your built better then it is. Then again I've never seen a shrink, maybe that over paid ape would be able to give me a better answer to give you, but then why give anything that's not your own.