We perceive the world in a particular way and confidently expect it to conform to its appearance. But we fail to recognize that certain aspects of the ‘reality’ that appear to us are nothing but figments of our own imagination. In this confusion a conflict ensues between the world as it is and the world as we believe it to be. And the more we insist on our infallibility, the more frustrated we become as the actual world again and again stubbornly refuses to live up to our expectations.
Stephen Batchelor, born 7 April 1953, Sun in Aries and Moon in Capricorn, British author, teacher, scholar, proponent of agnostic or secular Buddhism.
“Exotic names, robes, insignia of office, titles — the trappings of religion — confuse as much as they help. They endorse the assumption of the existence of an elite whose explicit commitment grants them implicit extraordinariness.”
“The problem with certainty is that it is static; it can do little but endlessly reassert itself. Uncertainty, by contrast, is full of unknowns, possibilities, and risks.”
“The point is not to abandon all institutions and dogmas but to find a way to live with them more ironically, to appreciate them for what they are — the play of the human mind in its endless quest for connection and meaning — rather than timeless entities that have to be ruthlessly defended or forcibly imposed.”
“Patience is the specific antidote to anger and hatred. It is an attitude of accepting both the harm caused by others and the pains and discomforts found in life instead of angrily retaliating against them. Only in the calm afforded by patient acceptance is one able to clearly discern the nature of the situation and proceed to deal with it realistically. Once the mind becomes distorted and disturbed with anger, any possibility of objectivity is lost. One consequently embarks upon a course of action grounded in misconception that inevitably leads to a heightening of the initial conflict rather than its resolution.”
“Meditation… exposes a contradiction between the sort of person we wish to be and the kind of person we are. Restlessness and lethargy are ways of evading the discomfort of this contradiction.”
Seyyed Hossein Nasr (born April 7, 1933) Iranian professor emeritus of Islamic studies at George Washington University, and an Islamic philosopher. Nasr speaks and writes based on subjects such as philosophy, religion, spirituality, music, art, architecture, science, literature, civilizational dialogues, and the natural environment. He also wrote two books of poetry (namely Poems of the Way and The Pilgrimage of Life and the Wisdom of Rumi), and has been described as a ‘polymath’.
Other celebrities born today:
William Wordsworth, born April 7, 1770, Sun in Aries, Moon in Virgo, Ascendant in Scorpio, English poet
Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower;
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind;
In the primal sympathy
Which having been must ever be…”
Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The Soul that rises with us, our life’s Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar:
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
Annemarie Schimmel, 7 April 1922 – 26 January 2003, German Orientalist and scholar who wrote extensively on Islam and Sufism. Internationally renowned, she was a professor at Harvard University from 1967 to 1992.
Seyyed Hossein Nasr, born April 7, 1933, Iranian University Professor of Islamic studies at George Washington University, and a prominent Islamic philosopher.
Ravi Shankar (1.9) Indian sitar player (Varanasi, India, April 7, 1920)
Francis Ford Coppola (1.8.10) American film director (Detroit, April 7, 1939)
Russell Crowe (1.11.11) Australian actor (Wellington, Australia, April 7, 1964)
Pope Clement XII (1.1.1) (Florence, Italy, April 7, 1652 – 6 February 1740),
Nicola Sala (1.6) Italian composer and music theorist (Tocco Caudio, Naples, April 7, 1713 – August 31, 1801)
Charles Fourier (1.3.2) French philosopher (April 7, 1772 in Besançon– 10 October 1837 in Paris)
Billie Holiday (1.10.11) American singer (Philadelphia, April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959)
Tobias Stimmer, Swiss painter (1539-1584)
Gerhard Douw, born 7 April 1613, Sun in Aries and Moon in Scorpio, Dutch painter (1613-1675)
William Ellery Channing, Unitarian theologian (1780-1842)
Gino Severini, Italian painter (1883-1966) (1.1)
Megas, Icelandic singer, songwriter, and writer, 1945
Werner Schroeter, German film director, 1945
1539 – Tobias Stimmer, Swiss painter (d. 1584)
1613 – Gerhard Douw, Dutch painter (d. 1675)
1763 – Domenico Dragonetti, Italian double bass virtuoso and composer (d. 1846)
1780 – William Ellery Channing, Unitarian theologian (d. 1842)
1883 – Gino Severini, Italian painter (d. 1966)
1889 – Gabriela Mistral, Chilean writer, Nobel laureate (d. 1957)
1899 – Robert Casadesus, French pianist (d. 1972)
1908 – Percy Faith, Canadian composer and musician (d. 1976)
1909 – Robert Charroux, French writer (d. 1978)
1911 – Hervé Bazin, French writer (d. 1996)
1930 – Andrew Sachs, English actor
1931 – Donald Barthelme, American author (d. 1989)
1933 – Wayne Rogers, American actor
1934 – Ian Richardson, Scottish actor (d. 2007)
1936 – Jean-Pierre Changeux, French neuroscientist
1938 – Spencer Dryden, American drummer (Jefferson Airplane) (d. 2005)
1938 – Freddie Hubbard, American jazz trumpeter (d. 2008)
1945 – Megas, Icelandic singer, songwriter, and writer
1945 – Werner Schroeter, German film director
1946 – Stan Winston, American special effects artist, makeup artist, and film director (d. 2008)
1947 – Patricia Bennett, American singer (The Chiffons)
1947 – Florian Schneider, German musician (Kraftwerk)
1948 – Carol Douglas, American singer
1949 – John Oates, American rock guitarist and lyricst (Hall & Oates)
1951 – Janis Ian, American singer and songwriter
1962 – Ram Gopal Varma, Indian film director & producer
1967 – Artemis Gounaki, composer, writer and music producer
1971 – Guillaume Depardieu, French actor (d. 2008)
1975 – Karin Dreijer Andersson, Swedish singer
1866 – Annie Vivanti, nata il 7 aprile 1866, Sole in Ariete e Luna in Capricorno, poetessa italiana († 1942)
Io voglio il sole, io voglio il sole ardente
Che l’ebbrezza mi dia del suo splendore,
O pur la buia notte ed il fragore
Forte de la tempesta alta e furente.
La grigia nebbia il core la detesta:
Datemi il cielo azzurro o la tempesta.
Voglio la libertà! la sconfinata
Intera libertà la voglio mia!
O pur la tetra e stretta prigionia
Di quattro travi e la cassa inchiodata.
Oh, se non m’è concesso l’infinito,
Ch’io, l’ali infrante, giaccia seppellito
E voglio l’amor tuo; l’intero ardente,
Illimitato amore, o l’odio intenso.
Ma sia l’odio o l’amor, lo voglio immenso!
Io non sopporto un guardo indifferente.
L’amor che tutto soffre e tutto dona
O l’odio che non piega e non perdona.
O tutto o nulla io voglio: il riso o il pianto,
Il sole d’oro o l’uragano nero,
la stretta bara o l’universo intero,
E dallo sguardo tuo martirio o incanto!
Tutti i tuoi baci dammi e tutto il core,
O la croce sublime del dolore!
ACIM: 97. I am spirit.
Saints: Saint John Baptist de la Salle, priest – Memorial
Gospel of Thomas: (89) Jesus said: Why do you wash the outside of the cup? Do you not understand that he who made the inside is also he who made the outside?
Concise Epitome: 9.20 United till the Peak of Darkness you move on, dispensing light and receiving darkness, and then united to Handor you return. (Uniti fino al Picco di Buio procedete, luce elargendo e buio ricevendo, e poi indivisi celermente su Handor rimpatriate).