As Within

I went

2008-04-10T11:42:00.001-05:00

I went to the root of things,
and found nothing but Him alone.

~Mira Bai

What is dark..

2008-04-08T21:34:00.000-05:00

What is dark clings to what is light and so enhances the brightness of the latter. A luminous thing giving out light must have within itself something that perseveres; otherwise it will in time burn itself out. Everything that gives light is dependent on something to which it clings, in order that it may continue to shine.

Thus the sun and moon cling to heaven, and grain, grass, and trees cling to the earth. So too the twofold clarity of the dedicated man clings to what is right and thereby can shape the world. Human life on earth is conditioned and unfree, and when man recognizes this limitation and makes himself dependent upon the harmonious and beneficent forces of the cosmos, he achieves success.

~I Ching

We are the guardians of His Beauty

2008-04-02T13:27:00.000-05:00

We are the protector
Of the Sun.

There is only one reason
We have followed God into this world:

To encourage laughter, freedom, dance
And love.

Let a noble cry inside of you speak to me
Saying,

"Hafiz,
Don't just sit there on the moon tonight
Doing nothing -

Help unfurl my heart into the Friend's Mind,
Help, Old Man, to heal my wounded wings!"

We are the companions of His Beauty.
We are the guardians
Of Truth.

Every man, plant and creature in Existence,
Every woman, child, vein and note
Is a servant of our Beloved -
A harbinger of Joy,
The harbinger of Light.

~Hafiz

Invocation of the Trinity

2008-03-17T16:40:00.004-05:00

At Tara today in this fateful hour
I place all heaven with its power,
And the sun with its brightness,
And the snow with its whiteness,
And fire with all the strength it has,
And lightning with its rapid wrath,
And the winds with their swiftness along the path,
And the sea with its deepness,
And the rocks with their steepness
And the Earth with its starkness,
All these I place
By God's almighty help and grace,
Between myself and the powers of Darkness.

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the Invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness
Of the Creator of Creation

I arise today
Through the strength of heaven,
Light of sun,
Radiance of moon,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of wind,
Depth of sea,
Stability of earth,
Firmness of rock.

I arise today,
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness
Of the Creator of Creation.

~St Patrick

Watching gardeners

2008-03-13T10:47:00.000-05:00

Watching gardeners label their plants
I vow with all beings
to practice the old horticulture
and let the plants identify me.

~Robert Aitken

Atum is the whole

2008-03-02T19:04:00.000-06:00

Atum is the Whole
which contains everything.
He is the One, not two.
He is All, not many.
The All is not many separate things,
but the Oneness
that subsumes the parts.
The All and the One are identical.
You think that things are many
when you view them as separate,
but when you see they all hang on the One,
and flow from the One,
you will realise they are united -
linked together,
and connected by a chain of being
from the highest to the lowest,
and subject to the will of Atum.

~The Hermetica

The air smells good

2008-03-01T13:00:00.000-06:00

Lord, the air smells good today, straight from the mysteries
within the inner courts of God.
A grace like new clothes thrown
across the garden, free medicine for everybody.
The trees in their prayer, the birds in praise,
the first blue violets kneeling.
Whatever came from Being is caught up in being, drunkenly
forgetting the way back.

~Rumi

I want

2008-02-21T11:03:00.002-06:00

Tent tethered among the jackpine and blue-bells. Lacewings rise from rock
incubators. Wild geese fying north. And I can't remember who I'm supposed to be.

I want to learn how to purr. Abandon myself, have mistresses in maidenhair fern, own no tomorrow nor yesterday: a blank shimmering space forward and back.

I want to think with my belly. I want to name all the stars animals flowers birds rocks in order to forget them, start over again.

I want to wear the seasons, harlequin, become ancient and etched by weather. I want to be snow pulse, ruminating ungulate, pebble at the bottom of the abyss, candle burning darkness rather than flame.

I want to peer at things shameless, observe the unfastening, that stripping of shape by dusk. I want to sit in the meadow a rotten stump pungent with slimemold, home for pupae and grubs, concentric rings collapsing into the passacaglia of time.

I want to crawl inside someone and hibernate one entire night with no clocks to wake me, thighs fragrant loam. I want to melt. I want to swim naked with an otter. I want to turn insideout, exchange nuclei with the sun.

Toward the mythic kingdom of summer I want to make blind motion, using my ribs as a raft, following the spiders as they set sail on their tasselled shining silk. Sometimes even a single feather's enough to fly.

~Robert Maclean

The day will come

2008-02-18T11:04:00.003-06:00

The day will come when, after harnessing the winds, the tides and gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of Love. And on that day, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.

~Teilhard de Chardin

O Lady

2008-02-17T11:39:00.000-06:00

O Lady
the hem of whose garment
is the sky, whose grace
falls from her glance, who gives
life from the touch of one finger
O Lady
whose hair is the willow, whose breath
is the riversong, who lopes
thru the milky way, baying, stars
going out,
O Lady whose deathshead holds a thousand eyes
eye sockets black imploded stars, who trails
frail as a northern virgin on the mist,
O lady fling your bright drops to us, emblems
of your love, throw
your green scarf on the battered earth once more
O smile, disrobe for us, unveil
your eyes.

~Diane Di Prima

Say quietly to God

2008-02-05T16:50:00.000-06:00

Say quietly to God: "Now, Thee alone I seek. Send what is best."
~Sri Gyanamata

O Lord

2008-02-03T10:56:00.000-06:00

O Lord,
I am caught in that moment of half-light,
the breathless point of balance between sun and moon.
As I bid farewell to the cold purification of the night,
in that same movement, I fling wide my arms
to be embraced by the warmth and glory of the sun,
knowing that in due time I will bow to the receding light
and open my arms to darkness once again.

Thus, O Lord, You come into our lives,
in the blaze of splendour, the certainty of Your presence,
in the times of aridity and isolation, even to the point of despair.

Throught this continuing journeying, from the zenith of midday to the depths of midnight
and back to the blinding noontide, we grow towards You,
the true light, that shines like the sun beyond darkness, forever.

~Ishpriya R S C J

In Praise of Atum

2008-01-26T18:49:00.000-06:00

In a place open to the sky,
facing west at the hour of sunset
or east at sunrise,
I pray that the cosmos be flung open to me
and that all nature
may receive the sound of my psalms.
Open, great earth,
and trees, silence your waving boughs,
for I am about to sing
the praise of the One and All.
Justice, praise the just through me.
Goodness, praise the good through me.
Selflessness, praise the All throught me.
It is Your words
that through me sing Your praises -
for all comes from You
and all returns to You.
Accept these pure offerings of speech
from a heart and soul uplifted.
You of whom no words can tell,
no tongue can speak,
and only silence can declare.

~The Hermetica

From that which we fear

2008-01-23T11:37:00.000-06:00

From that which we fear, make us fearless.

O bounteous One, assist us with your aid.

May the atmosphere we breathe

breathe fearlessness into us:

fearlessness on earth

and fearlessness in heaven!

May fearlessness surround us

above and below!

May we be without fear

by night and by day!

Let all the world be my friend!

~Atharva Veda XIX

We are Nature

2008-01-17T09:40:00.000-06:00

We are Nature, long have we been absent, but now we return,
We become plants, trunks, foliage, roots, bark,
We are bedded in the ground, we are rocks,
We are oaks, we grow in the openings side by side,
We browse, we are two among the wild herds, spontaneous as any,
We are two fishes swimming in the sea together,
We are what locust blossoms are, we drop scent around lanes mornings and evenings,
We are also the coarse smut of beasts, vebetables, minerals,
We are two predatory hawks, we soar above and look down,
We are two resplendent suns, we it is who balance ourselves orbic and stellar, we are as two comets,
We prowl fang'd and four-footed in the woods, we spring on prey,
We are two clouds forenoons and afternoons driving overhead,
We are seas mingling, we are two of those cheerful waves rolling over each other and interwetting each other.
We are what the atmosphere is, transparent, receptive, pervious, impervious,
We are snow, rain, cold, darkness, we are each product and influence of the globe,
We have circled and circled till we have arrived home again, we too,
We have voided all but freedom and all but our own joy.

~Walt Whitman

No Words

2008-01-13T11:46:00.000-06:00

Tired of all who come with words, words but no language

I went to the snow-covered island.

The wild does not have words.

The unwritten pages spread themselves out in all directions!

I come across the marks of roe-deer's hooves in the snow.

Language but no words.

~Tomas Transtromer

I've known rivers

2008-01-11T10:34:00.000-06:00

I've known rivers:
I've know rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset.

I've known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

~Langston Hughes

Excite the soul

2008-01-06T13:06:00.000-06:00

Excite the soul, and the weather and the town and your condition in the world all disappear; the world itself loses its solidity, nothing remains but the soul and the Divine Presence in which it lives.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

To all that is brief

2008-01-01T12:17:00.000-06:00

To all that is brief and fragile
superficial, unstable,
To all that
lacks foundation
argument or principles;
To all that is light,
fleeting, changing, finite
To smoke spirals,
wand roses,
To sea foam
and mists of oblivion...
To all that is light in weight
for itinerants
on this transient earth
Somber, raving,
with transitory words
and vaporous bubbly wines
I toast
in breakable glasses.

~Maria Eugenia Baz Ferreira

Happy New Year!

2007-12-31T21:34:00.000-06:00

What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night.
It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime.
It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.

~Crowfoot - Blackfoot warior and orator

This world

2007-12-30T10:51:00.000-06:00

This world is the abode of God,
and God truly lives in the world.

~Guru Angad

To see the greatness of a mountain

2007-12-27T18:06:00.000-06:00

To see the greatness of a mountain, one must keep one's distance;
To understand its form, one must move around it;
To experience its moods, one must see it at sunrise and sunset,
At noon and at midnight, in sun and in rain,
In snow and in storm, in summer and in winter
And in all the other seasons
He who can see the mountain like this comes near to the life of the mountain.

Mountains grow and decay, they breathe and pulsate with life.
They attract and collect invisible energies from their surroundings
The forces of the air, of the water, of electricity and magnetism;
They create winds, clouds, thunderstorms, rains, waterfalls
And rivers. They fill their surroundings with active life and give shelter and food to innumerable beings.

Such is the greatness of mighty mountains.

~ Lama Govinda

I am the one

2007-12-20T22:58:00.000-06:00

I am the one whose praise echoes on
I adorn all the earth.
I am the breeze that nurtures all things green.
I encourage blossoms to flourish with ripening fruits.
I am led by the spirit to feed the purest streams.
I am the rain coming from the dew
that causes the grasses to laugh with the joy of life.
I am the yearning for good.

~Hildegard of Bingen

Do you think Atum is invisible?

2007-12-19T19:23:00.000-06:00

Do you think Atum is invisible?
Don't say that!
Nothing is more visible than Atum.
He created all things so that through them
you could see him.
This is Atum's Great Heart -
that he manifests in everything.

~The Hermetica

Heart, originally uploaded by Łєєм šιмρѕоη™.

One Leaf

2007-12-15T11:22:00.000-06:00

One leaf left on a branch
and not a sound of sadness
or despair. One leaf left
on a branch and no unhappiness.
One leaf left all by itself
in the air and it does not speak
of loneliness or death.
One leaf and it spends itself
in swaying mildly in the breeze.

~David Ignatow

Sometimes

2007-12-13T12:52:00.000-06:00

Sometimes
I go about pitying myself
While I am carried by
The wind
Across the sky.

~Chippewa Song

Do not feel insecure

2007-12-11T19:31:00.000-06:00

So do not feel insecure or afraid - we are all held firmly in the infinite mind of the All, and there is naught to hurt us or for us to fear. There is no power outside of the All to affect us. So we may rest calm and secure. There is a world of comfort and security in this realization when once attained. Then "calm and peaceful do we sleep, rocked in the cradle of the deep" - resting safely in the bosom of the Ocena of Infinite Mind with is the All.

~The Kybalion

It must be

2007-12-10T15:53:00.000-06:00

It must be that when God speaketh he should communicate, not one thing, but all things; should fill the world with his voice; should scatter forth light, nature, time, souls, from the centre of the present thought; and new date and new create the whole.

Whenever a mind is simple and receives a divine wisdom, old things pass away, - means, teachers, texts, temples fall; it lives now, and absorbs past and future into the present hour. All things are made sacred by relation to it; - one as much as the other. All things are dissolved to their centre by their cause, and in the universal miracle petty and particular miracles disappear.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

This is a day of change

2007-12-08T22:57:00.000-06:00

Ice mountain melted
ages ago
and made this ridge,
this place of changes.

Now we are rooted in it,
we of the old ones,
we of the new ones from afar,
oat grass meadow, Douglas fir thicket,
we are rooted in the ridge of changes in the time of changes.

The winds carry strange smells, this is a day of change.

Great ones above and below, bless us!
O shining One above, feed us with your light!
O soft ones, sky darkeners, wash us with your raindrops!
O powers above us, bless us with your gifts,
for we reach up to you,
branching wood and sap.

O Earthmother from whom we grow,
sandy gravel into whom our roots branch wood and sap deep down,
bless us in our night-sleep, in our death and decay.

Bless us, dark earth as we give back
that which we have received
as we make a forest of blessing a ridge of blessings
for the future to grow upon.

~Chinook Psalter

Kali be with us.

2007-12-07T12:17:00.000-06:00

Kali, be with us.
Violence, destruction, receive our homage.
Help us to bring darkness into the light,
To lift out the pain, the anger,
Where it can be seen for what it is -
The balance-wheel for our vulnerable, aching love.
Within the act of creation,
Crude power that forges a balance
Between hate and love.

Help us to be the always hopeful
Gardeners of the spirit
Who know that without darkness
Nothing comes to birth
As without light
Nothing flowers.

Bear the roots in mind,
You, the dark one, Kali,
Awesome power.

~May Sarton

Be like a tree

2007-12-05T10:37:00.000-06:00

Be like a tree in pursuit of your cause.
Stand firm, grip hard, thrust upward,
bend to the winds of heaven, and learn tranquility.

~Dedication to Richard St Barbe Baker

Nature

2007-12-03T10:17:00.000-06:00

Nature creates all beings without erring: this is its straightness.
It is calm and still: this is its foursquareness.
It tolerates all creatures equally: this is its greatness.
Therefore it attains what is right for all without artifice or special intentions.
Man achieves the height of wisdom when all that he does is as self evident as what nature does.

~I Ching

I will so trust

2007-12-02T23:00:00.000-06:00

I will so trust that what is deep is holy, that I will do strongly before the sun and moon whatever inly rejoices me and the heart appoints.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

God delights

2007-12-01T13:08:00.000-06:00

God delights to isolate us every day, and hide from us the past and the future... "you will not remember," he seems to say, "and you will not expect."

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Now Talking God

2007-11-30T21:06:00.000-06:00

Now Talking God
With your feet I walk
I walk with your limbs
I carry forth your body
For me your mind thinks
Your voice speaks for me
Beauty is before me
And beauty is behind me
Above and below me
hovers the beautiful
I am surrounded by it
I am immersed in it
In my youth I am aware of it
And in old age I shall walk quietly
That beautiful trail.

~Native American Prayer

Woman of Stone

2007-11-29T09:36:00.000-06:00

The man of wood sings,
The woman of stone
Gets up and dances,
This cannot be done
By passion or learning,
It cannot be done
By reasoning.

~Tung-shan

I become part of it

2007-11-27T22:55:00.000-06:00

The mountains, I become part of it.
The herbs, the fir tree, I become part of it.
The morning mists, the clouds, the gathering waters,
I become part of it.
The wilderness, the dew drops, the pollen...
I become part of it.

~Navaho Chant

Changes

2007-11-25T18:00:00.000-06:00

Green leaves
That dawn after dawn
Grow yellow;
Red cheeks
That fade
With the passing days -
If our world
Is made up
Of such changes
As these,
Is it strange
that my heart
Is so sad?

~Hsiao Kang

It is lovely indeed

2007-11-23T12:33:00.000-06:00

It is lovely indeed, it is lovely indeed.

I, I am the spirit within the earth.
The feet of the earth are my feet;
The legs of the earth are my legs.
The strength of the earth is my strength;
The thoughts of the earth are my thoughts;
The voice of the earth is my voice.
The feather of the earth is my feather;
All that belongs to the earth belongs to me;
All that surrounds the earth surrounds me.
I, I am the sacred works of the earth.
It is lovely indeed, it is lovely indeed.

~Susanne Anderson

A Thanksgiving Prayer

2007-11-22T11:08:00.000-06:00

Gratitude to Mother Earth, sailing through night and day -
and to her soil: rich, rare, and sweet
in our minds so be it

Gratitude to Plants, the sun-facing light-changing leaf
and fine root-hairs; standing still through wind
and rain; their dance is in the flowing spiral grain
in our minds so be it

Gratitude to Air, bearing the soaring Swift and the silent
Owl at dawn. Breath of our song
clear spirit breeze
in our minds so be it

Gratitude to Wild Beings, our brothers, teaching secrets,
freedoms, and ways; who share with us their milk;
self-complete, brave, and aware
in our minds so be it

Gratitude to Water: clouds, lakes, rivers, glaciers;
holding or releasing; streaming through all
our bodies salty seas
in our minds so be it

Gratitude to the sun: blinding pulsing light through
trunks of trees, through mists, warming caves where
bears and snakes sleep - he who wakes us -
in our minds so be it

Gratitude to the Great Sky
who holds billions of stars - and goes yet beyond that -
beyond all powers, and thoughts
and yet is within us -
Grandfather Space
The Mind is his Wife

so be it

~Gary Snyder

O Sacred Season

2007-11-21T17:50:00.000-06:00

O sacred season of Autumn, be my teacher
For I wish to learn the virtue of contentment.
As I gaze upon hour full-colored beauty,
I sense all about you
An at-homeness with your amber riches.

You are the season of retirement,
Of full barns and harvested fields.
The cycle of growth has ceased,
And the busy work of giving life
Is now completed.
I sense in you no regrets:
You’ve lived a full life.

I live in a society that is ever-restless,
Always eager for more mountains to climb,
Seeking happiness through more and more possessions.
As a child of my culture,
I am seldom truly at peace with what I have.
Teach me to take stock of what I have given and received;
May I know that it’s enough,
That my striving can cease
In the abundance of God’s grace.
May I know the contentment
That allows the totality of my energies
To come full flower.
May I know that like you I am rich beyond measure.

As you, O autumn, take pleasure in your great bounty,
Let me also take delight
In the abundance of the simple things in life
Which are the true source of joy.
With the golden glow of peaceful contentment
May I truly appreciate this autumn day.

~Edward Hays

O Holy One

2007-11-20T21:06:00.001-06:00

O Holy One, I ran through the fields and gathered flowers of a thousand colors -
And now I pour them out at Your feet.
Their beauty and their brightness shout for joy in Your Presence.
You created the flowers of the fields and made each one far more lovely
than all the skill of man could design.
Accept my joy along with theirs,
this field of blossoms at Your feet
Holy One
as the wind blows through these flowers
till they dance in the ecstasy of creation,
send Your Spirit to blow through my being
till I too bloom and dance with the fulness of Your life.

~Ishpriya

The heart refuses

2007-11-18T13:06:00.000-06:00

The heart refuses to be imprisoned; in its first and narrowest pulses it already tends outward with a vast force and to immense and innumerable expansions.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Standing up

2007-11-15T11:42:00.000-06:00

Standing up on lifted, folded rock
looking out and down -

The creek falls to a far valley,
hills beyond that
facing, half-forested , dry
- clear sky
strong wind in the
stiff glittering needle clusters
of the pine - their brown
round trunk bodies
straight, still,
rustling trembling limbs and twigs

listen.

This living flowing land
is all there is,
forever

We are it
it sings through us -

We could live on this Earth
without clothes or tools!

~Gary Snyder

What a thing it is

2007-11-14T22:52:00.000-06:00

What a thing it is to sit absolutely alone,
in the forest, at night, cherished by this
wonderful, unintelligible,
perfectly innocent speech,
the most comforting speech in the world,
the talk that rain makes by itself all over the ridges,
and the talk of the watercourses everywhere in the hollows!
Nobody started it, nobody is going to stop it.
It will talk as long as it wants, this rain.
As long as it talks I am going to listen.

~Thomas Merton

The life of a man

2007-11-12T13:07:00.000-06:00

The life of a man is a self-evolving circle, which, from a ring imperceptibly small, rushes on all sides outwards to new and larger circles, and that without end.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

You fancy this world

2007-11-12T13:00:00.000-06:00

You fancy this world is
permanent of itself
And endures because of its own nature,
But really it is a ray of light
from the Truth
And within it the Truth is concealed.

~Sa'd Al-Din Mahmud Shabistari

I see now

2007-11-11T15:40:00.000-06:00

I see now that all creatures have perfect enlightenment
- but they do not know it.

~Buddha

Who we are

2007-11-07T13:05:00.000-06:00

Who we are and what is Nature, have one answer in the life that rushes into us.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Unnameable God

2007-11-06T15:41:00.000-06:00

Unnameable God, you are fathomless;
I praise you with endless awe.

You are wrapped in light like a cloak;
you stretch out the sky like a curtain.

You make the clouds your chariot;
you walk on the wings of the wind.

You use the winds as your messengers,
thunder and lightening as your servants.

You look at the earth - it trembles;
you touch the hills and they smoke.

You laid the earth's foundations
so that they would never be destroyed.

You covered the land with
ocean; the waters rose over the mountains.

They fled at the sound of your voice;
you thundered and they ran away.

They rushed down into the valleys,
to the place you appointed for them.

You bounded them, so that they would never
return to inundate the earth.

You send streams into the valleys,
and they flow out among the hills.

All the animals drink from them;
the wild asses quench their thirst.

Beside them the birds of the sky dwell,
singing among the branches.

You water the hills from the sky;
by your care the whole earth is nourished.

You make grass grow for the cattle
and grains for the service of mankind,
to bring forth food from the earth
and bread that strengthens the body,
oil that makes the face shine,
and wine that gladdens the heart.

You plant the trees that grow tall
pines, and cedars of Lebanon,
where many birds build their nests,
and the stork on the topmost branches.

The mountains shelter the wild goats;
the cliffs are a shelter for the rock squirrels.

You created the moon to count months;
the sun knows when it must set.

You make darkness, it is night,
the forest animals emerge.

The young lions roar for their prey,
seeking their food from God.

The sun rises, they withdraw,
and lie down together in their dens.

Humans go out to their labor
and work until it is evening.

How manifold are your creatures, Lord!
With wisdom you made them all;
the whole earth is filled with your riches.

Here is the sea in its vastness,
where innumerable creatures
live, fish both tiny and huge.

Here sharks swim, and the whale
that you created to play with.

All these depend on you
to give them food in due time.

You open your hands - they gather it:
you give it - they are filled with gladness.

You hide your face - they are stricken;
you take back their breath - they die
and return their bodies to the dust.

You send forth your breath - they are born,
and with them you replenish the earth.

Your grandeur will last forever;
eternally you rejoice in your works.

I will sing to you every moment;
I will praise you with every breath.

May all selfishness disappear from me,
and may you always shine from my heart.

~Psalm 104

We Give-Away

2007-11-04T17:56:00.000-06:00

We give-away our thanks to the earth
which gives us our home.

We give-away our thanks to the rivers and lakes
with give-away their water.

We give-away our thanks to the trees
which give-away fruit and nuts.

We give-away our thanks to the wind
which brings rain to water the plants.

We give-away our thanks to the sun
who gives-away warmth and light.

All beings on earth:
the trees, the animals, the wind and the rivers give-away to one another so all is in balance.

We give-away our promise
to begin to learn how to stay in balance with all the earth.

~Dolores La Chapelle

This body

2007-11-04T01:26:00.000-05:00

Here in this body are the sacred rivers, here are the sun and moon, as well as all the pilgrimage places. I have not encountered another temple as blissful as my own body.

~Saraha Doha

Sacred and Secret

2007-11-03T02:42:00.000-05:00

I can tell you there is no imperfection. God, the Infinite, overwhelms the finite universe. What a rare and beautiful world! The world is sacred and secret. Sacred is secret. Secret is sacred.

~Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami

Out of his heart

2007-11-02T12:20:00.000-05:00

Out of his heart God shall not pass

His image stamped is on every grass.

~W. H. Hudson

Gentle Goddess

2007-11-01T11:55:00.000-05:00

Gentle Goddess,
who never asks for anything at all,
and gives us everything we have,
thank you for this sweet water,
and your fragrance.

~Lew Welch

Worn-out garments

2007-10-31T15:40:00.000-05:00

Worn-out garments are shed by the body, worn-out bodies are shed by the dweller within the body, new bodies are donned by the dweller, like garments. Not wounded by weapons, not burned by fire, not dried by the wind, not wetted by water, such is the one.

Not dried, not wetted, not burned, not wounded, innermost essence, everywhere, always, being of beings, changeless, eternal, for ever and ever.

~Bhagavad-Gita 2:22

Prayer of Abandonment

2007-10-30T01:05:00.000-05:00

Father, I abandon myself into your hands;
do with me what you will.
Whatever you may do, I thank you:
I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only your will be done in me,
and in all Your creatures -
I wish no more than this, O Lord.

Into your hands I commend my soul;
I offer it to you with all the love of my heart,
for I love you Lord,
and so need to give myself,
to surrender myself into your hands,
without reserve,
and with boundless confidence,

For you are my Father.

~charles de foucauld

Whoever travels

2007-10-29T23:00:00.000-05:00

Whoever travels without a guide needs two hundred years for a two-day journey.

~Rumi

Jerusalem Is Walking in This World

2007-10-28T23:23:00.000-05:00

This is great happiness.
The air is silk.
There is milk in the looks
That come from strangers.
I could not be happier
If I were bread and
you could eat me.
Joy is dangerous.
It fills me with secrets.
"Yes" hisses in my veins.
The pains I take to hide myself
Are sheer as glass.
Surely this will pass,
The wind like kisses,
The music in the soup,
The group of trees,
Laughing as I say their names.

It is all hosanna
It is all prayer.

Jerusalem is walking in this world.
Jerusalem is walking in this world.

~Julia Cameron

Do not chase after what is passed

2007-10-27T00:08:00.000-05:00

Do not chase after what is passed, do not worry over what is yet to come. The past is already thrown away, the future has not arrived. Simply grasp wholeheartedly what is here and now and without wavering, without yielding, look into it directly and realize it. Do today what should be done today, simply and mindfully. Nobody knows if death will come tomorrow and there is no escaping this invincible adversary. Achieve in this instant what must be achieved.

~The Middle Way (Journey of the Buddhist Society)

You do not have to be good

2007-10-26T11:47:00.000-05:00

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the praries and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

~Mary Oliver

The fiery light

2007-10-23T17:34:00.000-05:00

I, the fiery light of divine wisdom,
I ignite the beauty of the plains,
I sparkle the waters.
I burn the sun and the moon and the stars,
With wisdom I order all rightly.
I adorn the earth.
I am the breeze that nurtures all things green.
I am the rain coming from the dew
That causes the grasses to laugh
With the joy of life.
I call forth tears, the aroma of holy work.
I am the yearning for good.

~Hildegard of Bingen

Invoking the God

2007-10-22T15:49:00.000-05:00

Invoked or not invoked, the god will be present.

~Oracle at Delphi

I lie alone

2007-10-21T12:01:00.000-05:00

I lie alone
remembering changes
how sudden crystals grew
from water falling
in a cup in a rock
suprising forms
acids in a cup in a rock
receiving lightning
a cup in a rock receiving lightning
I am here
I lie alone
no one completes me
after lightning
I bide my time
I hold my forms beyond surprising islands
I lie alone
remembering changes
how grinding ice came down
the slide of earth
rub of rivers
knuckles of trees cracking rocks
receiving ice surprising
cracking rocks receiving ice
a tree of rivers sprang inside me
I am here
I lie alone
no one completes me
after water
I bide my time
I hold my face beyond surprising rains

~W.E.R La Farge

O Hidden Life

2007-10-21T11:38:00.000-05:00

O Hidden Life vibrant in every atom;
O Hidden Light shining in every creature;
O Hidden Love embracing all in Oneness;
May each who feels himself as one with Thee,
Know he is also one with every other.

~Annie Besant

I go amoung the trees

2007-10-18T15:36:00.000-05:00

I go amoung the trees and sit still.
All my stirring becomes quiet
Around me like circles on water.
My tasks lie in their places
Where I left them, asleep like cattle.
Then what I am afraid of comes.
I live for a while in its sight.
And the fear of it leaves me.
It sings, and I hear its song.

~Wendell Berry

You do not have to struggle

2007-10-11T15:28:00.000-05:00

(this is a Sandhill Crane hatching)

You do not have to struggle to reach God, but you do have to struggle to tear away the self-created veil that hides him from you.

~Paramahansa Yogananda

In the morning

2007-10-10T15:38:00.000-05:00

In the morning, the one who does not understand will consider what he will do, while the one who understands will consider what the one will do with him.

~Ibn 'ata 'illah

The Golden God

2007-10-05T15:36:00.000-05:00

The Golden God, the Self, the immortal Swan
leaves the small nest of the body, goes where He wants.

He moves through the realm of dreams; makes numberless forms;
delights in sex; eats, drinks, laughs with His friends;
frightens Himself with scenes of heart-chilling terror.

But He is not attached to anything that He sees;
and after He has wandered in the realms of dream and awakeness,
has tasted pleasures and experienced good and evil,
He returns to the blissful state from which He began.

As a fish swims forward to one riverbank then the other,
Self alternates between awakeness and dreaming.

As an eagle, weary from long flight, folds its wings,
gliding down to its nest, Self hurries to the realm
of dreamless sleep, free of desires, fear, pain.

As a man in sexual union with his beloved
is unaware of anything outside or inside,
so a man in union with Self knows nothing, wants nothing,
has found his heart's fulfillment and is free of sorrow.

Father disappears, mother disappears, murderer,
rich man, beggar disappear, world disappears,
good and evil disappear; he has passed beyond sorrow.

~The Upanishads

Here is a Zen story

2007-10-04T15:35:00.000-05:00

A master once described the journey to enlightenment as "like filling a sieve with water". When a woman questioned this master on his meaning, he gave her a sieve and a cup and they went to the sea, where he asked her to fill the sieve with water. She poured a cupful of water into the sieve. It was instantly gone.

"Spiritual practice is the same," the master explained, "if we stand on the rock of 'I', and try to ladle the divine realization in. That's not the way to fill the sieve with water nor the self with divine life."

He took the sieve and threw it into the sea, where it sank. "Now it's full of water, and will remain so. That's spiritual practice. It is not ladling little cupfuls into the individuality, but becoming totally immersed in the sea of divine life."

Today

2007-10-02T15:34:00.000-05:00

Today the peace of God envelops me,
And I forget all things except His Love.

~A Course in Miracles

The image is a solar eclipse
as seen from the moon.
(click on it to enlarge it)

In the beginning

2007-09-26T13:01:00.000-05:00

In the beginning, there is struggle and a lot of work for those who come near to God. But after that, there is indescribable joy. It is just like building a fire: at first it's smoky and your eyes water, but later you get the desired result. Thus we ought to light the divine fire in ourselves with tears and effort.

~Amma Syncletica

To arrive where you are

2007-09-24T23:20:00.000-05:00

You say I am repeating
Something I have said before. I shall say it again.
Shall I say it again? In order to arrive there,
To arrive where you are, to get from where you are not,
You must go by a way wherein there is no ecstasy.
In order to arrive at what you do not know
You must go by a way which is the way of ignorance.
In order to possess what you do not possess
You must go by the way of dispossession.
In order to arrive at what you are not
You must go through the way in which you are not.
And what you do not know is the only thing you know.
And what you own is what you do not own.
And where you are is where you are not.

~T S Eliot

A human being

2007-09-23T15:30:00.000-05:00

A human being is part of the whole, called by us "Universe". He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is kind of a prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us.

Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.

Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security.

~Albert Einstein

Wherever I go

2007-09-21T15:30:00.000-05:00

Wherever I go, only Thou!
Wherever I stand, only Thou
Just Thou, again Thou! always Thou!
Thou, Thou, Thou!

When things are good, Thou!
When things are bad,
Thou!Thou, Thou, Thou!

~Hasidic song

photo by Don Paulson
Webshots

If you are seeking

2007-09-20T15:29:00.000-05:00

If you are seeking closeness to the Beloved, love everyone.whether in their presence or absence, see only their good. If you want to be as clear and refreshing as the breath of the morning breeze, like the sun have nothing but warmth and light for everyone.

~Shaikh Abu-Said Abil-Khair

Here I am

2007-09-19T15:38:00.000-05:00

Here I am, Father, listening for Your voice. My inner ears are open. I have no requests, no demands, no hopes, no ambitions. I do not ask You to do anything You are not already doing. I await Your word of grace.

~Joel Goldsmith

Between

2007-09-18T15:39:00.001-05:00

Between the conscious and the unconscious,
the mind has put up a swing:
all earth creatures, even the supernovas,
sway between these two trees,
and it never winds down.

Angels, animals, humans, insects by the million,
also the wheeling sun and moon;
ages go by, and it goes on.

Everything is swinging: heaven, earth, water, fire,
and the secret one slowly growing a body.

Kabir saw that for fifteen seconds,
and it made him a servant for life.

~Kabir

O, friend!

2007-09-18T15:26:00.000-05:00

O, friend! Nobody veils you, but yourself. In your path there is no thorn or weed, but yourself. You asked: shall I reach the beloved or not? Between you and the beloved there is nobody, but yourself.

~Awhadoddin Kermani

God deposited within human beings

2007-09-17T23:33:00.000-05:00

God deposited within human beings knowledge of all things, and then blocked them from perceiving it; this is one of the divine mysteries that reason denies totally and thinks impossible.

The nearness of the the mystery to those who do not know it is like God's nearness to His servant, as proclaimed in His words, "We are nearer to Him than you, but you do not see"(Koran 56:83) and His words, "We are nearer to Him than His jugular vein" (Koran 50:16).

Despite this nearness, the servant does not perceive or know anything; no one can know what is within himself until it is revealed to him moment by moment.

~Ibn Arabi

Oh my Beloved Adonai

2007-09-17T02:45:00.000-05:00

Oh my Beloved Adonai
You are alive for me today.
Seeing the wind caress
the branches
Of the trees
I am delivered by Your grace into the infinity
of Your existence.

- Ronald Bedrick

O love, O pure deep love,

2007-09-15T01:13:00.000-05:00

O love, O pure deep love, be here, be now.
Be all; worlds dissolve into your stainless endless radiance,
Frail living leaves burn with you brighter than cold stars;
Make me your servant, your breath, your core.

~Rumi

With your feet I walk

2007-09-10T18:40:00.000-05:00

With your feet I walk
I walk with your limbs
I carry forth your body
For me your mind thinks
Your voice speaks for me
Beauty is before me
And beauty is behind me
Above and below me hovers the beautiful
I am surrounded by it
I am immersed in it
In my youth I am aware of it
And in old age I shall walk quietly
The beautiful trail.

american indian - navajo

Silence

2007-09-09T10:35:00.000-05:00

We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence… We need silence...

~Mother Teresa

A billion stars

2007-09-08T02:05:00.001-05:00

A billion stars go spinning through the night,
blazing high above your head.
But in you is the presence that
will be, when all the stars are dead.

~Rainer Maria Rilke

Let your thoughts flow

2007-09-07T01:55:00.001-05:00

Let your thoughts flow past you, calmly;
keep Me near, at every moment;
trust Me with your life, because I
am you, more than you yourself are.

~Bhagavad Gita

House made of dawn

2007-09-05T11:04:00.000-05:00

House made of dawn.
House made of evening light.
House made of the dark cloud.
House made of male rain.
House made of dark mist.
House made of female rain.
House made of pollen.
House made of grasshoppers.

Dark cloud is at the door.
The trail out if it is dark cloud.
The zigzag lightning stands high upon it.
An offering I make.
Restore my feet for me.
Restore my legs for me.
Restore my body for me.
Restore my mind for me.
Restore my voice for me.
This very day take out your spell for me.

Happily I recover.
Happily my interior becomes cool.
Happily I go forth.
My interior feeling cool, may I walk.
No longer sore, may I walk.
Impervious to pain, may I walk.
With lively feelings may I walk.
As it used to be long ago, may I walk.

Happily may I walk.
Happily, with abundant dark clouds, may I walk.
Happily, with abundant showers, may I walk.
Happily, with abundant plants, may I walk.
Happily, on a trail of pollen, may I walk.
Happily may I walk.
Being as it used to be long ago, may I walk.

May it be beautiful before me.
May it be beautiful behind me.
May it be beautiful below me.
May it be beautiful above me.
May it be beautiful all around me.
In beauty it is finished.
In beauty it is finished.

~Navajo Chant

All that matters

2007-09-04T12:58:00.000-05:00

All that matters is to be at one with the living God
to be a creature in the house of the God of Life.

Like a cat asleep on a chair
at peace, in peace
and at one with the master of the house, with the mistress,
at home, at home in the house of the living,
sleeping on the hearth, and yawning before the fire.

Sleeping on the hearth of the living world
yawning at home before the fire of life
feeling the presence of the living God
like a great reassurance
a deep calm in the heart
a presence
as of the master sitting at the board
in his own and greater being,
in the house of life.

~D H Lawrence, "Pax"

Blessed be you

2007-08-26T10:03:00.000-05:00

Blessed be you, harsh matter, barren soil, stubborn rock:

you who yield only to force, you who cause us to work

if we would eat.

Blessed be you, perilous matter, violent sea, untamable passion:

you who, unless we fetter you, will devour us.

Blessed be you, mighty matter, irresistible march of evolution,

reality ever new-born: you who, by constantly shattering

our mental categories, force us to go ever further and further

in our pursuit of the truth.

Blessed be you, universal matter, immeasurable time,

boundless ether, triple abyss of stars and atoms and generations:

you who by overflowing and dissolving our narrow standards

or measurements reveal to us the dimensions of God.

Blessed be you, impenetrable matter: you who, interposed

between our minds and the world of essences, cause us to languish

with the desire to pierce through the seamless veil of phenomena.

Blessed be you, mortal matter: you who one day will undergo

the process of dissolution within us and will thereby take us

forcibly into the very heart of that which exists.

You who batter us and then dress our wounds,

you who resist and yield to us,

you who wreck and build

you who shackle and liberate,

the sap of our souls,

the hand of God,

the flesh of Christ:

it is you, matter, that I bless.

~Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Holy Spirit

2007-08-03T01:40:00.000-05:00

Holy Spirit,
giving life to all life,
moving all creatures,
root of all things,
washing them clean,
wiping out their mistakes,
healing their wounds,
you are our true life,
luminous, wonderful,
awakening the heart
from its ancient sleep.

~Hildegard of Bingen

Everyone is looking

2007-08-02T10:27:00.000-05:00

Everyone is looking for a miracle outside rather than looking at the power within.

– from Gems of Wisdom

Are you looking for me?

2007-08-01T09:42:00.000-05:00

Are you looking for me? I am in the next seat.
My shoulder is against yours.
You will not find me in stupas, not in Indian shrine rooms, nor in synagogues, nor in cathedrals:
not in masses, nor kirtans, not in legs winding around your own neck, nor in eating nothing but vegetables.
When you really look for me, you will see me instantly-
you will find me in the tiniest house of time.

Kabir says: Student, tell me what is God?
He is the breath inside the breath.

Self is everywhere

2007-07-31T19:46:00.000-05:00

Self is everywhere,
shining forth from all beings,
vaster than the vast,
subtler than the most subtle,
unreachable,
yet nearer than breath,
than heartbeat.
Eye cannot see it,
ear cannot hear it nor tongue
utter it;
only in deep absorption can the mind,
grown pure and silent,
merge with the formless truth.
As son as you find it,
you are free;
you have found yourself;
you have solved the great riddle;
your heart forever is at peace.
Whole,
you enter the Whole.
Your personal self
returns to its radiant, intimate, deathless source.

Mandaka Upanishad

The soul of the whole

2007-07-27T01:16:00.000-05:00

The Cone Nebula

Within man is the soul of the whole; the wise silence; the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally related; the eternal ONE. And this deep power in which we exist and whose beatitude is all accessible to us, is not only self-sufficing and perfect in every hour, but the act of seeing and the thing seen, the seer and the spectacle, the subject and the object, are one.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Stream of Life

2007-07-26T01:18:00.000-05:00

The same stream of life
that runs through my veins
runs through the world
and dances in rhythmic measure.

It is the same life that shoots in joy
through the dust of the earth
into numberless blades of grass
and breaks into tumultuous waves
of leaves and flowers.

It is the same life that is rocked
in the ocean cradle of birth and death
in ebb and flow.

My limbs are made glorious
by the touch of this world of life.

And my pride is from
the life throb of ages dancing
in my blood at this moment.

~Rabindranath Tagore