24 posts from April 2008

"Buckminster Fuller, the discoverer/inventor of the geodesic dome, at age thirty-two contemplated suicide for a few hours one night at the edge of Lake Michigan, as the story goes, after a series of business failures that left him feeling he had made such a mess of his life that the best move would be for him to remove himself from the scene and make things simpler for his wife and infant daughter.  Apparently everything he had touched or undertaken had turned to dust in spite of his incredible creativity and imagination, which were only recognized later.  However, instead of ending his life, Fuller decided (perhaps because of his deep conviction in the underlying unity and order of the universe, of which he knew himself to be an integral part) to live from then on as if he had died that night.

Being dead, he wouldn't have to worry about how things worked out any longer for himself personally and would be free to devote himself to asking, "What is is on this planet (that he referred to as Spaceship Earth) that needs doing that I know something about, that probably won't happen unless I take responsibility for it?"  He decided he would just ask that question continuously and do what came to him, following his nose.  In this way, working for humanity as an employee of the universe at large, you get to modify and contribute to your locale by who you are, how you are, and what you do.  But it's no longer personal.  It's just part of the totality of the universe expressing itself..."

"...Once the universe is your employer, very interesting things start to happen, even if someone else is cutting your paycheck.  But you do have to be patient.  It takes time to grow this way of being into your life.  The place to start of course is right here.  The best time?  How about now?

You never know what will come of such introspections.  Fuller himself was fond of stating that what seems to be happening at the moment is never the full story of what is really going on.  He liked to point out that for the honey bee, it is the honey that is important.  But the bee is at the same time nature's vehicle for carrying out cross-pollination of the flowers.  Interconnectedness is a fundamental principal of nature.  Nothing is isolated.  Each event connects with others.  Things are constantly unfolding on different levels."

 - Jon Kabat-Zinn, Wherever You Go There You Are

Take a deep breath, read this and we guarantee it will enhance the tone of your day. 

"Morning is when I am awake and there is a dawn in me... We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aids, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn, which does not forsake us in our soundest sleep.  I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.  It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look....  To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts."   - Thoreau, Walden via Wherever You Go There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn.

These are the final paragraphs from 'The Game of Life and How To Play It' by Florence Scovel Shinn.   First published 83 years ago, this slim little tome makes us believe that life is not a rough and tumble battle of yours and mine, but a creatively thoughtful game of giving and receiving. 

"Man should make an art of thinking.  The Master Thinker is an artist and is careful to paint only the divine designs upon the canvas of his mind; and he paints these pictures with masterly strokes of power and decision, having perfect faith that there is no power to mar their perfection and that they shall manifest in his life the ideal made real. 
All power is given man (through right thinking) to bring his heaven upon his earth and this is the goal of the 'Game of Life.'
The simple rules are fearless faith, nonresistance and love!
May each reader be now freed from that thing which has held him in bondage through the ages, standing between him and his own, and 'know the Truth which makes him free' - free to fulfill his destiny, to bring into manifestation the 'Divine Design of his life, Health, Wealth, Love and Perfect Self-Expression.'  'Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.'"

Greetings fair Citrine-ites.  Welcome to another round of Google Divination - the game we play where we type a few disparate words into a search engine and see what comes up.  Today's search terms were:  woman and the moon. These words led us to a cool little site describing how to see the 'woman in the moon' (apparently this is easier that seeing the more well-known 'man in the moon'.)  To wit:

'There is a WOMAN IN THE MOON but many people have never seen her. She is much more obvious than the "Man in the Moon." Seen in profile, the appearance of THE WOMAN IN THE MOON changes with varying light.

Numerous maria, ancient lava flows of dark basalt, help to outline THE WOMAN IN THE MOON. When these dark areas were first viewed with optical devices, observers mistook them for large areas of water.

Her hair is formed by:
1. Sea of Serenity (Mare Serenitatis)
2. Sea of Tranquillity (Mare Tranquillitatis). The yellow dot (just in front of our Moon Lady's ear) is the location of the first human landing on the Moon - Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, July 20, 1969.
3. Sea of Fertility (Mare Fecunditatis)
4. Sea of Nectar (Mare Nectaris)
Other features are:
5. Sea of Vapor (Mare Vaporum) her eye.
6. Seething Bay (Sinus Aestuum) her nose.
7. Central Bay (Sinus Medii) her mouth.
8. Sea of Clouds (Mare Nubium) is under her chin.
9. Tycho is a crater that is sometimes a gem on a chain of craters around the neck of THE WOMAN IN THE MOON.

MAY SHE ALWAYS SMILE ON YOU...'
To visit this page created and maintained by George Leonberger, go to:  http://www.tufts.edu/as/wright_center/personal_pages/george_l/w_in_the_m.html

We are test driving a new formula for living, feel free to try it on for size... 
Step one - identify what you truly want.
Step two - decisively ask for it, adding "this or something that fits me even better"
Step three - prepare for its arrival, be faithful
Step four - enjoy it when it comes, be grateful
Step five - identify a new desire and repeat process
We'll keep you posted on our results, which we suspect will be tinged with magic.

You know how the Eskimos have a hundreds of words for snow?  Ostensibly because they've experienced so many aspects and varieties of snow, they've developed a veritable lexicon to describe it.  Well, we grew up by the beach and we are on similar terms with fog.  We can recognize the difference between the mist and a low-lying cloud.  We know how to tell a haze that will burn off by 10am from a fog that is going to stay all day.  And maybe it is nostalgia for those mornings by the beach growing up, or perhaps those later adventurous days when we woke up in Paris to a sky the color of exhaled smoke, but we can't help ourselves - we find something deeply beautiful and romantic about the haze...

In case you are someplace sunny today, and want to feel what it is like to disappear into the clouds with your feet still on the ground, we'd like to direct you to a lovely little video by artist David Horvitz called 'Disappearing'.  Although it is an homage to Bas Jan Ader  (pioneer video artist) we love it so much we think it stands on its own.

To see 'Disappearing' - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qM478jSHYpQ&eurl=http://www.davidhorvitz.com
For more on David Horvitz - http://www.davidhorvitz.com

For more on Bas Jan Ader - http://basjanader.com

Having just passed the full moon last Sunday night, we are still feeling a bit wild.  You know how we get.  In honor of those primal rumblings in our psyche and soul here's some pro-wilderness tidbits...

"Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountain is going home; that wildness is necessity; that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life.”
John Muir

"To be whole. To be complete. Wildness reminds us what it means to be human, what we are connected to rather than what we are separate from.”
 Terry Tempest Williams

“In Wildness is the preservation of the world”
 Henry David Thoreau

We cordially welcome you to another installment of our very fun game, The Daily Find.  Quick re-cap of the rules - over the course of your day, just look around until you find something.  Then appreciate it and put it in a place of honor or pass it on to someone else, known or unknown. 

Now, let's get to the business of sharing with you what we found today when we were just minding our own business - a playing card, namely the Three of Hearts.  Upon arriving at Le Studio Citrine, we went to our virtual library to research what the Three of Hearts might be telling us.  We found some interesting and pertinent information at the Arcana Arcanorum:  The Playing-Card Oracle.  To wit:

"THREE OFF HEARTS    OPPORTUNITY    The chance for betterment that one should never miss or overlook."

Awfully synchronous with our way of life and this game itself, isn't it?  Sometimes this blog writes itself.  The sheer volume of coincidences and lucky breaks we've experienced since its genesis last August can only be described as awe-inspiring.  Almost as if some grand plan effortlessly orchestrated it all and we are merely playing our small part.

For more about this kind of divination, follow this link to the playing card oracle - http://www.alcyone.com/arcana/oracle.html

"'April Will Smile, A Pale Apple Tree Will Disrobe'
Pale, such as we see in rare porcelain
The dream of an opal sea by Yuldo,
April will smile on a slender slope of water
So sweet with the bright tone of Japaneseries.
A pale apple tree will disrobe
(In this country such adorable absurdity is allowed)
Among the delicate treasure of its beloved blossom.
Above will shine a flight of white moths
Of a hue exquisite and delicate as satin;
In the heavens will languish the roses of the morning.

-- Marcel Proust

(Allegedly written on the back of an envelope sent by his father from Aix-en-Provence)"

Originally via: whiskey river, but we found it on the Staircase - http://theresalduncan.typepad.com/witostaircase/2006/04/easter_sunday_o.html.