Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we’ll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we’ll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends

1 year ago  /  Notes

An interesting, controversial paragraph from What makes you not a Buddhist by Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse.

Those who believe in an almighty God generally do not analyze their concept of time, because God is assumed to be independent of time. To give credit to an all-powerful, omnipotent creator, we must factor in the element of time. If this world has always existed, there would be no need for creation. Therefore it must not have existed for a period of time before creation, and thus a sequence of time is required. Since the creator — let’s say God — necessarily abides by the laws of time, he, too, must be subject to change, even if the only change he has ever gone through has been creating this one world. And that is fine. An omnipresent and permanent God cannot change, so it’s better to have an impermanent God who can answer prayers and change the weather. But as long as God’s actions are an assemblage of beginnings and ends, he is impermanent, in other words subject to uncertainty and unreliable.

1 year ago  /  Notes