The Thirteen Thieves blog is about life, exploration of thoughts, glimpses into the lifestyle, motivation, grooming recommendations, and sometimes men's style and style staples.
There's a lyric from a Radiohead song that perfectly captures the wistfulness of lost love, the wistfulness of what could have been and might have been and should have been, if only. The lyric goes like this "I wish I could be who wanted, I wish I could who wanted." It so perfectly captures that bittersweetness, that aching sadness, that anguish of longing for what might have been, if you or I could have been what we hoped each other would be for one another.
Read More"Now, I came to this idea of bliss because in Sanskrit, which is the great spiritual language of the world, there are three terms that represent the brink, the jumping-off place to the ocean of transcendence: sat-chit-ananda. The word “Sat” means being. “Chit” means consciousness. “Ananda” means bliss or rapture. I thought, “I don’t know whether my consciousness is proper consciousness or not; I don’t know whether what I know of my being is my proper being or not; but I do know where my rapture is. So let me hang on to rapture, and that will bring me both my consciousness and my being.” I think it worked."
Read MoreWe are always looking for ways to get our products into more hands, especially in the local shop's Barbershops, Salon, local retail stores that you shop in every day and support your community. We offer our products for purchase through wholesale. Please contact us so that we may provide that information to you or tag a business you actively support that you would like to have our luxury grooming products available.
Read MoreAs opposed to extroverts who turn to other people to recharge and renew themselves, too much interaction saps our energy. Introverts turn inward and need quiet spaces to recharge. This is why we turn to nature, to prayer, to solitary hobbies.
We already know this from our own experience. What we often struggle with is the validity of this preference for time alone. I’ve wrestled with this too, thinking that there is something wrong with me if I am not excited about going to a party or socializing at the end of a hectic day.
Read MoreNow I have already mentioned that there was a disturbance in my heart, a voice that spoke there and said, I want, I want, I want! It happened every afternoon, and when I tried to suppress it got even stronger. It only said one thing, I want, I want!
And I would ask, “What do you want?”
But this was all it would ever tell me. It never said a thing except I want, I want, I want!
Read MoreOne of the classic definitions of mindfulness is that it helps us not cling to what's pleasant and not condemn what is unpleasant. An example would be if you're driving in New York City and someone cuts you off; that's unpleasant and one would instinctively have an angry response. But that's happening all the time and if you have an angry response too often, then you become a nightmare yourself. So what mindfulness is teaching is that the stimulus, which is someone cutting you off, is different; it's distinct from your emotional reaction to that thing. So someone could cut you off; you could feel the anger, but you don't have to act on the anger. So instead of being driven by your reactions, there's a little bit of room where you can choose to be a different kind of person. So mindfulness basically helps us tolerate the aspects of the external world and the internal world that otherwise are hard to face.
Read More“Every moment of your life is either a test or a celebration. The same is true about every moment with your woman, only doubly so. Not only is her simple existence a test for you, but one of her deepest pleasures in intimacy is testing you, and then feeling you are not moved off course by her challenge.” – David Deida
Read MoreIt's preposterous that we can entertain in our popular journalism the titillation of the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence and prop up all reductionist personalities, and trot them out to give the statistics on the distribution of G-type stars, and this sort of thing. Because the fact is, what blinds us to the presence of alien intelligence is linguistic and cultural bias operating on ourselves. The world which we perceive is a tiny fraction of the world which we can perceive, which is a tiny fraction of the perceivable world, you see.
Read MoreI'm not with the term ‘New Year New You.’ I feel it’s a part of the cultural lexicon that suggests you aren’t good enough and that you should keep trading your money for corporate products and your attention for social influence all based on the vampiric illusion of macro-tribal inclusion. It also makes us second guess our intuition. That keeps us feeling incomplete, which keeps us yearning, which keeps us stuck.
Read MoreFor the last posting of 2017, I thought I would share a piece that I have found influential. The Great Wave off Kanagawa, by Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849). This print illustrates a massive wave threatening boats off the coast of Kanagawa Japan, with Mount Fuji in the background. Interpretation can be as simple or complex as you want, you choose the adventure. Nietzsche said, “There are no facts, only interpretations,” some believe The Great Wave is depicting the force of a tsunami, a rogue wave, or the fishermen’s struggle with the sea. Others have said it is symbolic of the western idea’s and values overtaking Japan while others maintain it is to show how the Japanese can overcome their obstacles and persevere through the dangers of the world. The real question though, is what do you see when you look at?
Read MoreIf you are lucky enough to spend time in mindful communities you will hear the phrase “letting go” used frequently. The practice of letting go is used to support our acceptance of the way things are, and I believe it's a cornerstone of creating a happy, full life. But what happens when you're being asked to let go of something that is deeply emotionally charged or something that directly relates to how you identify yourself?
Read MoreNisargadatta Maharaj was equally insistent on channeling desire toward the Self: “Increase and widen your desires till nothing but reality can fulfill them. It is not desire that is wrong, but its narrowness and smallness. Desire is devotion. By all means be devoted to the Real, the Infinite, the eternal Heart of Being. Transform desire into love. All you want is to be happy… To imagine that some little things - food, sex, power, fame - will make you happy is to deceive yourself. Only something as vast and deep as your Real Self can make you truly and lastingly happy.”
Read MoreFilmmaker Greg Krehel captures 15 varieties of stunning Echinopsis cactus flowers blooming in this incredible time-lapse. The process happens overnight, and the flowers last for only a day, with a peak period occurring for a mere hour or two.
Read MoreJust be, is something I frequently see in today's media but does anybody really, know what that means? If we do not know the immediate answer, some of our social circles may provide a definition, or a quick google search will produce a laundry list of information but what does it mean to you? Right now, how would you define "Just be?" If you read a sign that said "Just Be," how would you respond or how would you feel? Would it blur into the background with all the other words that occupy signs that inundate us daily?
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