“In streams of light I clearly saw
The dust you seldom see,
Out of which the Nameless makes
A Name for one like me…
All busy in the sunlight
The flecks did float and dance,
And I was tumbled up with them
In formless circumstance.”

— Leonard Cohen

Last update Oct. 24, 2022. History

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Leonard Cohen169

Canadian poet and singer-songwriter 1934–2016

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“I was tumbled up with them
In formless circumstance.”

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Context: All busy in the sunlight
The flecks did float and dance,
And I was tumbled up with them
In formless circumstance.

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“The stars, like dust, encircle me
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In one vast burst of sight.”

Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, known for his works of science fiction …

Source: Empire novels (1950–1952), The Stars, Like Dust (1951), Chapter 3 “Chance and the Wrist Watch” (p. 30)

“Under whatever name or form we worship It, It leads us on to knowledge of the nameless, formless Absolute. Yet, to see one's true Self in the Absolute, to subside into It and be one with It, this is the true Knowledge of the Truth.”

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“and as streams of light fan out behind the darkened sun like the wings of a butterfly, i realize that i never saw true beauty until now.”

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“Coming and going by the dance, I see
That what I am not is a part of me.
Dancing is all that I can ever trust,
The dance is all I am, the rest is dust.
I will believe my bones and live by what
Will go on dancing when my bones are not.”

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“I saw clearly only when I saw with love. Or can one ever remember love? It's like trying to summon up the smell of roses in a cellar. You might see a rose, but never the perfume. And that's the truth of roses, isn't it? — The perfume?”

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“You turned white, like a saintBut I'm tired of dancing on a pot of gold……Flecked paint.”

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“(…) as long as you cling to the idea that only what has name and shape exists, the Supreme will appear to you non-existing. When you understand that names and shapes are hollow shells without any content whatsoever, and what is real is nameless and formless, pure energy of life and light of consciousness, you will be at peace – immersed in the deep silence of reality.”

Nisargadatta Maharaj (1897–1981) Indian guru

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Source: "I am That." P.37.

“I will use these last pages to sum up our circumstances. A map of the world. […]
I seldom see Lytton; that is true. The reason is that we don't fit in, I imagine, to his parties nor he to ours; but that if we can meet in solitude, all goes as usual. Yet what do one's friends mean to one, if one only sees them eight times a year? […]
I use my friends rather as giglamps: there's another field I see; by your light. Over there's a hill. I widen my landscape.”

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