Today, like every other day, we wake up empty and frightened.
Don’t open the door to the study and begin reading.
Take down the dulcimer.
Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.
- Mevlana Jellaludin Rumi
Category Archive for 'Quotes'
Dulcimer Making and The Weather
Posted in Dulcimer, Hammered Dulcimer, Lutherie, Quotes, Thoughts, Tools on Mar 6th, 2009
The first sign of Spring coming was noticing my wooden jack plane now has a twisted sole. Ah yes, the weather is changing!
I keep the humidity in my shop relatively stable by using a humidifier during Winter and a dehumidifier in the Summer. A hygrometer helps me tweak everything to keep the environment between 45%-50% [...]
When I was a teenager an older friend gave me a very helpful piece of advice.
He said, “You are a creative person and you may find that you don’t fit in mainstream culture. This can make you feel like there is something wrong with you, but really, it’s just that you are creative. You won’t [...]
The Internet Archive has something for everyone. Books, music, film and more, usually copyright free or opensource.
It was here that I found this book:
“The Music of Nature, or, An Attempt To Prove That What is Passionate and Pleasing In The Art of Singing, Speaking, and Performing Upon Musical Instruments, Is Derived From The Sounds of [...]
Chuang Tzu on Craftsmanship
Posted in Quotes on May 10th, 2008
Woodworker Qing made elaborately carved wooden bell stands.
When others saw the completed bell stands, they were startled and thought they must have been created by supernatural beings.
The Marquis of Lu saw one of them and asked: “What special art (artistic skill) do you have to be able to do this?”
He replied, “Your humble servant is [...]
Music, the word we use in our everyday language, is nothing less than the picture of our Beloved. It is because music is the picture of our Beloved that we love music. But the question is what is our Beloved and where is our Beloved? Our Beloved is that which is our source and our [...]
Quote – Rabi’a Al-’Adawiyya
Posted in Quotes on Apr 22nd, 2008
“I have two ways of loving You;
a selfish one and another way that is worthy of You.
In my selfish love I remember You and You alone.
In that other love You lift the veil and let me feast my eyes on Your Living Face.”
-Rabi’a Al-’Adawiyya
“It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.”
“What one has to do usually can be done.”
“What is to give light must endure the burning.”
“Do what you feel in your heart to be right- for you’ll be criticized anyway. You’ll be damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.”
“A little simplification would [...]
“I like the man who cultivates poetry for self-instruction, not for lucre, and the man who practices music for pleasure, not for gain”
- Ibn Muqla
Reason Is Powerless in the Expression of Love
Posted in Quotes on Jan 14th, 2008
Reason is Powerless in the expression of Love.
Love alone is capable of revealing the truth of Love and being a Lover.
The way of our Prophets is the way of Truth.
If you want to live, die in Love; die in Love if you want to remain alive.
[...]