just returned from kentucky...where SuperB and i completed the purchase of 100 acres of woods and farmland located in a nice area near louisville and lexington and our hometown of bardstown...this will be the future site of our integral artist colony/spiritual retreat center...a sanctuary for the great minds we have been gathering and connecting with...as well as a place for healing and growth within the community... deep woods, diverse plants and animals, rolling hills and creeks...this will be the place we set up artist studios, martial arts/yoga studios, meditation space, gardens, cabins, etc. for all of our varied interests and and paths of development...a blank canvas to pour out all that we have learned through our experiences in california and around the world...the lessons we have learned from such great teachers as ken wilber, roger walsh, alan wallace, jack kornfield, angeles arrien, frances vaughn, judith milburn, and many other spiritual and therapeutic leaders..

Every single sentient being wishes to be happy and free of suffering. By no means does Buddhism say this is wrong; rather, this is where we start from. The very root of this yearning for happiness, this yearning to be free of suffering, is the fundamental expression of the buddha-nature. If for the time being we turn our gaze away from the myriad ways that we can stray from the agenda--trying to find happiness by buying a more luxurious car, or a bigger house, or getting a better job--and just come back to the primary desire of wishing to be happy, we find at the very source of our yearning for happiness the buddha-nature wanting to realize itself. It's like a seed that wants to spring into the sunlight. Sometimes it gets terribly contorted, when we want to injure somebody else for the sake of our own happiness, but the fundamental yearning is something to be embraced.

 

--from The Four Immeasurables: Cultivating a Boundless Heart by B. Alan Wallace