Spiritual Discussion

September 2008

2008-10-04T18:15:00.000-06:00

Opening Prayer 9/7/08
Divine Heart
Make room in our hearts for your mystery
Filled with our own devices we cannot feel you
Our hearts and minds know too many boundaries
Your heart is pure mystery
Love beyond reason
Beauty beyond imagination
Joy beyond experience
Open our hearts to yours
Amen

(Chandogya Upanishad, Hindu Scriptures)

In the beginning there was Existence, One only, without a second. Some say that in the beginning there was non-existence only, and that out of that the universe was born. But how could such a thing be? How could existence be born of non-existence? No, my son, in the beginning there was Existence alone--One only, without a second. Brahman, the One, thought to himself: Let me be many, let me grow forth. Thus out of himself he projected the universe; and having projected out of himself the universe, he entered into every being. All that is has its self in him alone. Of all things Brahman is the subtle essence. Brahman is the truth. Brahman is the Self. And that, Svetaketu, THAT ART THOU.

Edwina Gately (11th November, 1982)
It is good to have a sense for what is going on in the periphery of church and society, if I am going to ever understand what this ministry is about… It is important to be aware of how people are "unacceptable" and rejected. Perhaps it is those who consider themselves the norm, who are in fact the periphery as far as God is concerned? What is we turned it all upside down and were able to see with God's eyes - the rejected and the oppressed are ourselves in our lack of charity and our prejudice? So, I ask myself, "Who is on the periphery? What is the treasure? Who are the chosen people?

(Mahatma Gandhi, Young India, October 27, 1921)
What .. . . is Truth? A difficult question; but I have solved it for myself by saying that it is what the voice within tells you. How then, you ask, different people think of different and contrary truths? Well, seeing that the human mind works through innumerable media and that the evolution of the human mind is not the same for all, it follows that what may be truth for one may be untruth for another, and hence those who have made these experiments have come to the conclusion that there are certain conditions to be observed in making those experiments. . .It is because we have at the present moment everybody claiming the right of conscience without going through any discipline whatsoever that there is so much untruth being delivered to a bewildered world. All that I can in true humility present to you is that Truth is not to be found by anybody who has not got an abundant sense of humility. If you would swim on the bosom of the ocean of Truth you must reduce yourself to zero.

We look with uncertainty
Beyond old choices
For clear-cut answers
To a softer, more permeable aliveness
Which is every moment
At the brink of death;
For something new is being born in us
If we but let it.
We stand at a new doorway,
Awaiting that which comes …
Daring to be human creatures.
Vulnerable to the beauty of existence.
Learning to love
- Anne Hillman

(Thich Nhat Hahn--Vietnamese Buddhist Monk)
Life has left her footprints on my forehead, but I have become a child again this morning.
The smile seen through leaves and flowers is back to smooth away the wrinkles as the rain wipes away footprints on the beach.

Again, a cycle of birth and death begins. I walk firmly. I walk on thorns, but firmly, as among flowers. I keep my head high. Rhymes bloom among the sounds of bombs and mortars. The tears I shed yesterday have become rain.

Childhood, O my birthland is calling me, and the rain melts my despair. I am still here alive, able to smile quietly, the sweet fruit brought forth by the tree of suffering. Carrying the dead body of my brother, I go across the rice field in the darkness.

Earth will keep you tight within her arms, dear one, so that tomorrow, you will be transformed into flowers, this flower smiling quietly in the morning field. This moment you will weep no more, dear one, we have gone through too deep a night.

This morning, yes, this morning, I kneel down on the green grass and I notice your presence. O, flowers, that speak to me in silence, the message of love and understanding has indeed come.

On the Pulse of Morning
(Maya Angelou)

Across the wall of the world,
A River sings a beautiful song,
It says, come, rest here by my side.

Each of you a bordered country,
Delicate and strangely made, proud,
Yet thrusting perpetually under siege.
Your armed struggles for profit
Have left collars of waste upon
My shore, currents of debris upon my breast.
Yet today I call you to my riverside,
If you will study war no more. Come,
Clad in peace and I will sing the songs
The Creator gave to me when I and the
Tree and the rock were one.
Before cynicism was a bloody sear across your
Brow and when you yet know you still
Knew nothing.
The River sang and sings on.

A butterfly comes and stays on a leaf –
a leaf much warmed by the sun –
and shuts his wings.
In a minute he opens them, shuts them again,
half wheels around, and by and by –
just when he chooses and not before – floats away.
The flowers open, and remain open for hours, to the sun.
Hastelessness is the only word one can make up to describe it;
there is much rest, but no haste.
Each moment is so full of life
that it seems so long
and so sufficient in itself.
- Richard Jefferies

Chandogya Upanishad

As the rivers flowing east and west
Merge in the sea and become one with it,
Forgetting they were ever separate rivers,
So do all creatures lose their separateness
When they merge at last into pure Being.

9-14-08

I will give you a talisman ...
Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen and ask yourself if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him.
Mahatma Gandhi

Blessed are ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God
Luke 6:21– King James version

How blest are those that know their needs of God; the kingdom of heaven is theirs. Matthew 5:2

The poor in spirit go out of themselves and all creatures: they are nothing, they have nothing, they do nothing, and these poor are not save that by grace they are God with God: which they are not aware of.
Meister Eckhardt

Ripe are you who feel your personnel strength drained away,
your real power lies in the reign of Unity.

In tune with the cosmos are you who feel completely dissolved,
your new form appears by the vision-power of the One.

Suited for the divine purpose are you who are exhausted,
your power to stand then arises from the First Cause.

In the right time and place are you whose sense of Self becomes less,
to you belongs the integrity of the divine “I Can!”

Blessed are you who hold onto very little,
yours is the wealth and the rule of your original divine image.
From the Aramaic translated by Neil Douglas-Klotz

“… those who are willing to embark on a path and accept the hardships and the pain involved in it will reap the rewards of their commitment. When we speak of a kind of tolerance that demands you accept the fact of hardships, pain, and suffering, we should not have the erroneous notion that these spiritual teachings state that suffering is beautiful and that suffering is what we must seek. Needless to say I do not subscribe to such a view. Personally I believe that the purpose our existence is to seek happiness, to seek a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment. However since we do experience hardships, pain, and suffering, it is crucial that we develop an outlook toward them that allows us to deal realistically with these trials of life so that we gain some benefit from them.
Dalai Lama on The Beatitudes from The Good Heart

Mulla Nasrudin was outside on his hands and knees looking under a lantern when his friend came up. “What are you doing?” the friend asked. “I’m looking for the key, I’ve lost it.” So his friend got down on his hands and knees and they both searched for a long time in the dirt beneath the lantern. Finding nothing, the friend finally asks, “Where did you lose it?” Nasrudin replies, “I lost it in the house, but there is more light out here.”

I have no parents
I make the heaven and earth my parents
I have no home
I make awareness my home.
I have no life and death
I make the tides of breathing my life and death.
I have no divine powers
I make honesty my divine power.
I have no means
I make understanding my means.
I have no secrets
I make my character my secret.
I have no body
I make endurance my body.
I have no eyes
I make the flash of lightening my eyes.
I have no ears
I make sensibility my ears
I have no limbs
I make promptess my limbs
I have no miracles
I make right action my miracle
I have no principles
I make adaptability to all circumstances my principles.
I have no tactics
I make emptiness and fullness my tactics.
I have no talent
I make ready wit my talent.
I have no friends
I make my mind my friend.
I have no enemy
I make carelessness my enemy.
I have no armor
I make benevolence and righteousness my armor.
I have no castle
I make immovable mind my castle
I have no sward
I make absence of self my sword.
- Samurai song (15th cen.)

Let Your God Love You
Be silent.
Be still
Alone. Empty
Before your God
Say nothing.
Ask nothing.
Be silent.
Be still
Let your God
Look upon you.
That is all.
God knows
And understands.
God loves you with
An enormous love.
Wanting only to
Look upon you
With Love.
Quiet
Still
Be.

Let your God--
Love you.

Divine Heart
Make room in our heart for your mystery
Filled with our own devices we cannot feel you
Our hearts and minds know too many boundaries
Your heart is pure mystery
Love beyond reason
Beauty beyond imagination
Joy beyond experience
Open our hearts to yours
Amen

9-21-08

Certainty undermines one’s powers and turns happiness
into a long shot. Certainty confines.

Dears, there is nothing in your life that will not
change – especially all your ideas of God.

Look what the insanity of righteous knowledge can do:
crusade and maim thousands
in wanting to convert that which
is already gold
into gold.

Certainty can become an illness that creates hate and greed.

God once said to Tuka,
“Even if I am ever changing –
I am ever beyond
Myself,

what I may have once put my seal upon,
may no longer be
the greatest
Truth.”
Tulkaram 17th cen.

Psuedo-Dionysius - anonymous 6th cen. Monk points out two classical Christian states of contemplative consciousness in describing how the soul comes into union with the Divine Spirit: via Positiva and Via Negativa
“…we ascend to God, Dionysius wrote, through praising the ‘affirmative theology’ [via positiva] and the conceptual names, symbols, images, activities and emotions of God. And yet, as we rise from the things of this world up to God, we leave behind language and names because everything we know about God pales in comparison to the higher and more holy negation, [via negativa] the pathless path of contemplating God in its mode of nothingness. …
Apophatic discourse from the Greek word apophasis (to unsay or speak-away) is a language of negation based on the dilemma posed by attempting to name the transcendent. It is usually found paired with its opposite term kataphasis (to say, speak-with). If kataphasis expresses divine word, apophasis is divine silence. Leaving behind our ideas of God, the more the soul climbs toward God the more language falters [until one turns silent completely since it will finally be at one with that which is indescribable.] The result is a language of paradox, and the denial of names. Only a language that continually erases itself can capture the unknown divinity.

[In spiritual maturity] the journey of faith moves away from known into unknown, from belief into doubt, and from intellect into mysticism. The shift from affirmation to negation involves the whole person and everything that one has – up until now – accepted as true or real about self, God, or the world. …

Mystics from traditions as different in their metaphysical orientations as Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, etc. tell us that it is in this radical ambiguity – or nothingness- of being that we are open to Reality in itself. As the fuel of self-emptying, negation takes apart all that is constructed, all that is immediately present, dynamic, or real. It functions as a disruptive element in the spiritual life, designed to break down its linguistic coherence and structural logic, and thereby to shock the person outside conventional notions of reality into another plane of existence.”
Beverly Lanzetta – Radical Wisdom

Doesn’t this sound like Greg Bradden? Like physics today that tells us that reality is not what we perceive it to be? No wonder the way to make God laugh is to tell Her or Him your plans!

An Insidious Idol
Meister Eckhardt 14th cen

Commerce is supported by keeping the individual at odds
with himself and others, by making us want more than we need, and
offering credit to buy what refined senses do not want.

The masses become shackled; I see how their eyes weep
and are desperate – of course they feel desperate - for something,
for some remedy

that a poor soul then feels needs
to be bought.

I find nothing more offensive than a god who could condemn human instincts in us that time, in all its wonder
have made perfect.

I find nothing more destructive to the well-being of life
than to support a god that makes you feel unworthy and in debt to it.
I imagine erecting churches to such a strange god will assure
endless wars that commerce loves.

A god that could frighten is not a god – but an insidious idol
and weapon in the hands of
the insane.

A god who talks of sin is worshipped by the infirm;
I was once spiritually ill – we all pass through that –
but one day the intelligence in my soul
cured
me.

“… The corollary to the negation of concepts is the unsaying, undoing, and unwilling of the ‘lower self’ – that entity defined by the world of attraction, ego, demand, and economy – to find the one thing necessary, the true self.
Beverly Lanzetta – Radical Wisdom

I was meditating with my cat the other day
and all of a sudden she shouted,
“What happened?”

I knew what she meant, but encouraged
her to say more – feeling that if she got it all out on the table
she would sleep better that night.

So I responded, “Tell me more dear.”
and she soulfully meowed,

“Well I was mingled with the sky.
I was comets whizzing here and there. I was suns in heat, hell – I was galaxies. But now look - I am
landlocked in fur.”

To this I said, “I know exactly what
you mean.”

What to say about conversations
between

mystics?
Tulkaram 17th cen.

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

I am the one whose praise echoes on high
I adorn the earth
I am the breeze that nutures 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

9-28-08

During the last decade of his life, Mr. Derrida … understood that religion is impossible without uncertainty. Whether conceived of as Yahweh, as the father of Jesus Christ, or as Allah, God can never be fully known or adequately represented by imperfect human beings.
And yet, we live in an age when major conflicts are shaped by people who claim to know, for certain, that God is on their side. Mr. Derrida reminded us that religion does not always give clear meaning, purpose and certainty by providing secure foundations. To the contrary, the great religious traditions are profoundly disturbing because they all call certainty and security into question. Belief not tempered by doubt poses a mortal danger.
As the process of globalization draws us ever closer in networks of communication and exchange, there is an understandable longing for simplicity, clarity and certainty. This desire is responsible, in large measure, for the rise of cultural conservatism and religious fundamentalism - in this country and around the world. True believers of every stripe - Muslim, Jewish and Christian - cling to beliefs that, Mr. Derrida warns, threaten to tear apart our world.
Fortunately, he also taught us that the alternative to blind belief is not simply unbelief but a different kind of belief - one that embraces uncertainty and enables us to respect others whom we do not understand. In a complex world, wisdom is knowing what we don't know so that we can keep the future open.

By MARK C. TAYLOR
Birds
don’t brag about flying
the way we
do.

They don’t write books about it and then give
workshops,

they don’t take on disciples and spoil
their own air
time.

Who could dance and achieve
liftoff with a bunch of
whackos tugging
on you?
Tulkaram

Selections from Who Can Be Found Like Him?
By Matt Cavagnetto

Who does not fear the oncoming turmoil, even when the thunder is straining at its cloudy leash,
Or the wolves of the back country, rutting and fierce,
Or when the ibis and the crocodile present their dreadful questions;
Or when the darkness seeps from the very roof of the sky, down through the rafters of the trees;
Or when the eerie and electric cyclone threatens the calm Hesperidins, with its noise all blowing and fierce;
Yes, even though the very tumult of the sky be filled with mortal fear;
This man will not shake, nor blanch, nor turn tail and escape to dull safety;
But will dwell all content in uncertainty, knowing as he does that chaos is sacred,
That chaos is the counterpoint of order,
That order is the province of God and God alone,
That no one is perfect,
That to dwell in uncertainty is the province of those confused mortals, who live their lives all helter-skelter.
Yes, the gods alone are the ones who dwell in happy unity, and see in us only a scattered diversion.
Therefore be happy in confusion I say,
Be happy in uncertainty,
Be happy in doubt.
Be happy when even the rocks break in two,
Be happy when there are knocks on your door,
Be happy when you are full of mud,
Be happy when you are full of water.
Be happy when you are full of sunlight,
Be happy when you are full of champagne.
Be happy when you dive like a swan into nakedness.
Be happy when you are all alone in a dark room,
So that the walls of that room rush in on you, and back out again;
Be happy when the candles etch their vibrations on the walls,
Be happy when the grass pushes its wet face against yours.
Be happy when you draw a circle in the sand,
Be happy when you make an eye out of your two arms,
Be happy when you have to wait thirty thousand years to be delivered out of this land.
Be happy when the horses are all in promenade,
Be happy when the sounds of the air are all silver and rush in upon your ear,
Be happy when the water nymphs answer no questions, but only ask;
Be happy when the clouds of the sky turn quickly from light to dark, so that your very essence seems to be in peril;
(For who can fear destruction that nightly dissolves themselves in love?)
Be happy when you rush down the road to your dark appointment.
Be happy when you understand nothing.
Be happy when others try to explain that which can never be truly explained.
And be happy when the beasts of the field are curled up at your feet,
Be happy when your slumbering child breaks the fever that has weighed upon its brow,
When you contemplate the liquid iron of the sea,
When you cross the land on your own two feet,
When you drink the cup of destiny that no one can possibly empty,
Be happy when you see the fifty million forms that inspiration can take in one single moment.
Be happy when you are not happy,
And you will be that singular someone, an avatar of nature and calm as a water buffalo to all onlookers--Let the birds graze on your back.

In the end, religion collapses back into mysticism as it recognizes that after we have said all we can say about God, we are still surrounded by an impenetrable silence. Thomas Aquinas devoted his most rigorous thinking to trying to establish how we could speak about God based on analogies taken from human experiences.But after our minds have erected the ladder of analogy as high as possible toward God, he concludes, "we remained joined to Him as to One Unknown." Augustine, after writing endless words trying to explain the Trinity, admitted in the end, "I only write in order not to be silent."Mysticism counsels us to follow the via negativa, to honor the infinite distance that separate the finite and the infinite, to live within "the clouds of the unknowing" (Jacob Boehme), to respect the silence of the Godhead where nobody is at home (Meister Eckhart), to recognize the hiddenness of God (Martin Luther's "deus absconditus"), to understand that we can only speak about God in symbolic, parabolic and poetic way.We are caught in a paradox called human condition.
mysticsaint – blog

Eat dessert first. Life is uncertain

If you have the choice of the divine knowing or the divine unknowing, take the divine unknowing.As soon as you know, you have to take responsibility for all the actions. As soon as you don’t know, you still are open to receive of the grace of that.– John-Roger(From: The Tao of Spirit)

August 2008

2008-10-04T18:13:00.000-06:00

8/10/08

"Meditation is acceptance. It is the acceptance of life within us, without us and all around us. Acceptance of life is the beginning of human satisfaction. Transformation of life is the culmination of divine satisfaction. "
- Sri Chinmoy (1)

Sri Patanjali describes “accepting pain as help for purification” as the first and most important part of the practice of yoga. This is the true practice of tapasya (austerity). Pain is our teacher, an uncomfortable cleansing process that each individual soul must go through in order to realise the Self. When we realise that pain is a part of life that cannot be avoided, we must find the courage to face it, not fear it.

Many of us began our yoga [or other spiritual] practice because of a painful experience in our past: physical, emotional, or mental. … Sometimes students look for a way to off-load the pain –something that magically eludes them of all anguish. Sometimes we do the same thing, playing the blame game, or running to our teachers or mentors expecting them to take away our suffering instantly.

We spend countless hours running unnecessary thoughts in our minds: “Why did this happen to me? What did I do to deserve this? How could this person do this to me?” If we examine this behaviour closely and ask ourselves whether these types of thoughts actually give us an answer, we can see that they merely waste our time and energy. Regardless of how long we have been practicing yoga, all of us face pain, on different levels and with varying intensity. Accepting our experiences is our first step forward.

- We can only find relief from our grief through acceptance.
-

Mulla Nasrudin was sitting on his cot in a homeless shelter. "You know," he said to the fellow on the next cot, "when I was seventeen years old, I made up my mind that nothing was going to stop me from getting rich." "Well, how came you never got rich?" his friend asked. "OH," said Nasrudin, "BY THE TIME I WAS NINETEEN, I REALIZED IT WOULD BE EASIER TO CHANGE MY MIND."

If our habitual conditioning is to overcome our pain, we will have a tendency to feel overwhelmed when things don't go the way we wish. We may even feel a need to "beat" another's pain. We will find it difficult to connect with them just where they are. We won't be able to touch them with love because if we want anything from somebody, even for them to be out of pain, they will be an object in our mind rather than the subject our heart. If we can open to our own pain and explore our resistances and long-held aversions, there arises the possibility of touching another's pain with compassion, of meeting another as we meet ourselves with a bit more clarity and tenderness. We see in such instances how the work we do on ourselves is clearly of benefit to all sentient beings. Each person who works to open his/her heart touches the heart of us all. When we are no longer recreating the problem, we reaffirm the solution. We discover from day to day how the healing we do for ourselves is a healing for us all.
- Stephen Levine in "Healing into Life and Death"

A MONK FATHERING A CHILD?
This is a story about one of the great Tibetan kadampa masters of the 11th century, the monk Langri Tangpa who wrote the 'Eight verses of mind training',:
There was once a woman who gave birth to a baby girl. The woman had already lost one baby and was frightened that her baby girl would also die. The woman told her mother how worried she was and her mother told her that children given Geshe Langri Tangpa to be looked after would not die.
Later, when the little girl fell ill, the woman took her to see Geshe Langri Tangpa, but when she arrived she found him sitting on a throne giving a teaching to a thousand disciples. The woman began to worry that her child would die before the end of the teaching. She knew that Geshe Langri Tangpa was a Bodhisatta and would show patience, and so she walked up to the throne and in a loud, rude voice she said; 'Here, take your baby. Now you look after her!' She turned to the audience and said; 'This is the father of my child', and then turned back to Geshe Langri Tangpa and pleaded softly; 'Please don't let her die.' Geshe Langri Tangpa just nodded his head. As if he really were the father of the child, he wrapped it tenderly in his robes and continued his teaching. His disciples were very suprised and asked him; 'Are you really the father of that child?' Knowing that if he were to say no, the woman would have been thought crazy and the people would have laughed at her, Geshe Langri Tangpa said that he was. Although he was a monk, Geshe Langri Tangpa acted like a real father for the child, delighting in her and caring for her.
After some time the mother returned to see if her daughter was well. When she saw how healthy the child was she asked Geshe Langri Tangpa if she could have her back again. The Geshe then kindly returned the girl to her mother.
When his disciples understood what had happened they said; 'So you are not really the father after all!' and Geshe Langri Tangpa simply said; 'No, I am not

Withhumbleness,may I faceeveryonewith compassionWithdevotionto enlightened lifemay I abidein true compassionSo that othersmay knowtheir true Heart,may I havethe wisdomand True Knowledgeto bring out the bestin everyoneWithcompassionfor this world
with alland everyonein it,may I fightin every wayfor a better world,for the generationsto comeAcceptingany hardshipfor myself,may I abidein the Energyof the Universe,the sourceof wisdomand compassion

Empowered,may I havetrue compassionin sharingthe wisdomof life and deathwith others,bybeing presentin meditation,of any shapeor formof everyday lifeMaythis branchof Lovebeof benefit
compassion - steinar almelid

I was alone unto myself,content within the stillness of the sleeping forest,when he arose from out of the glowing embers of my fire,and filled the darkened sky as he smiled upon the night.And thus are the words he silently spokeunto my soul:
I ask not for your understanding,but only your quiet acceptance.I seek not your respect,but only the unsung song of your heart;For lonely is the flower of my souland still are the nights upon my ears.And as I stand in the silence of time,none save the mountains shall ever understand me;For they too have bled from the depthsof their rocky souls.

Excerpts from “The Prophet’s Candle” by Daniel

8/17/08

Much Ado About Nothing
Perhaps the deepest reason why we are afraid of death is because we do not know who we are. We believe in a personal, unique, and separate identity--but if we dare to examine it, we find that this identity depends entirely on an endless collection of things to prop it up: our name, our "biography," our partners, family, home, job, friends, credit cards. . . It is on their fragile and transient support that we rely for our security. So when they are all taken away, will we have any idea of who we really are?Without our familiar props, we are faced with just ourselves, a person we do not know, an unnerving stranger with whom we have been living all the time but we never really wanted to meet. Isn't that why we have tried to fill every moment of time with noise and activity, however boring or trivial, to ensure that we are never left in silence with this stranger on our own? -Sogyal Rinpoche, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying

All we are dealing with wherever we live in the Universe is just different levels of energy, some of which is unmanifest at one extreme, called spirit, and some of which we find at the other extreme in a manifest form which we call matter. Because it is ALL energy and all energy obeys a few basic laws. They are called he laws of physics in science, and called spiritual law in esoterics - everything in the Universe obeys exactly the same laws. The way we see and experience them simply depends on our perspective.
What you see, depends on where you stand.
- Ra Bonewitz in "The Cosmic Crystal Spiral"

A Zen story tells of two monks who met on the road. After their initial greetings, one monk asked the other, "What are you going to do tonight, my friend?" The second monk replied, "I will meditate and pray in the temple. What are you going to do?" "I'm going to spend a night of pleasure with the ladies," he answered.
The monks then went on their own ways, and that night in the house of pleasure, the monk was quite distracted. All he could think about was his friend meditating and praying. But was the other monk at peace with himself? No, he continued to think about his friend enjoying an evening with women.
When you make a choice, accept it completely and surrender to all the experiences that go along with your decision.
- Dick Sutphen in "The Oracle Within

As we understand it, the spiritual journey is not about becomingperfect. It's about acceptance, releasing judgment, and embracingeverything in wholeness. This is a great challenge for our personality. We've grown up comparingourselves to others, always judging how we're better and worse thanthose around us. And many of us are very good at finding fault withourselves. If we release judgment, then nothing needs to be fixed -- including you.Explore inviting your soul to help you accept all that is and experiencea whole new way of living. "Wherever you are is always the right place. There is never a need tofix anything, to hitch up the bootstraps of the soul and start at somehigher place. Start right where you are." -- Julia Cameron
POVERTY
One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the firm purpose of showing his son how poor people live. They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family. On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?" " It was great, Dad." "Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked."Oh yeah," said the son. "So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father.
The son answered: "I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them." The boy's father was speechless. Then his son added, "Thanks, Dad, for showing me how poor we are."

O Light of the Supreme, O Light of the Supreme,O Light of the Supreme! Kindle the flame of Liberation within me.Pour down the ocean of CompassionInto my heart.You are my Immortality's Divinity.Accept my darkness, bondage, ignoranceand death.

By: Sri Chinmoy

I stood up for my rights.My rights demandedThe life of universal acceptanceAnd the life of universal recognition.
I stand up for my rights.My rights demandMy heart's cry and my life's smile.
I shall stand up for my rights.My rights shall demandThe surrender-moonFrom the world of aspiration-sun.
Sri Chinmoy

8/31/08

“There is a story” writes Swami Vivekanada, “that the king of the gods, Indra, once became a pig, wallowing in mire; he had a she-pig, and a lot of baby pigs, and was very happy. Then some gods saw his plight, and came to him and told him, “You are the king of the gods, you have all the gods under your command. Why are you here?” But Indra said “Never mind; I am all right here; I do not care for heaven, while I have this sow and these little pigs.” The poor gods were at their wits end. After a while they decided to slay all the pigs, one after another. When all the pigs were dead, Indra began to weep and mourn, then the gods ripped his pig body open and he came out of it and began to laugh when he realized what a hideous dream he had had; he, the king of the gods, to have become a pig and to think pig life was the only life. Not so, but to have wanted the whole universe to come into pig-life! The Atman, when it identifies itself with nature, forgets that it is pure and infinite. The Atman does not love, it is love itself. It does not exist, it is existence itself. The Atman does not know, it is knowledge itself. It is a mistake to say the Atman loves, exists, or knows. Love, existence, and knowledge are not the qualities of the Atman, but its essence. When they get reflected upon something, you may call them the qualities of that something. They are not the qualities but the essence of the Atman, the Infinite Being, without birth or death, established in its own glory. It appears to have become so degenerate that if you approach to tell it, “You are not a pig”, it begins to squeal and bite.”
This pig-which-is-not-a-pig can, on occasion, become a very dangerous animal. The power of tamas in our nature is so great that we hate to be disturbed. We loathe any new ideas, especially if it implies that we are not pigs but God, we are apt to persecute and crucify them.
How to Know God (The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali)

The measure of having taken to heart the preciousness of the human body with its freedom and riches that are so difficult to find, is that we are unable to waste time. We are filled with deep joy at having attained something so precious and rare, and we want to put this treasure to full use. This sense of true appreciation, of rejoicing so deeply that one cannot sit idle, is the measure of having taken to heart the preciousness of the human body. Rainbow Painting (Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche)

No person can write his autobiography in advance. Generalization, by means of which theories evolve, fails in trying to understand man. For in dealing with a particular man I do not come upon a generality but upon an individuality, a person. It is precisely the exclusive application of generalities to human situations that accounts for many of our failures…My existence as an event is an original, not a copy. No two human beings are alike. A major mode of being human is uniqueness.
Abraham Heschel

Mother Theresa It is so beautiful that we complete each other! What we are doing in the slums, maybe you cannot do. What you are doing at the level where you are called – in your family life, in your college life, in your work – we cannot do. But together, you and we are doing something beautiful for God.

I am perfect paradox.
I am the silence that hollers.
I am the stillness that dances.
I am the beginning that is the end.
I am the newness that is ancient,
I am the here that is everywhere.
I am eloquence without words.
I am the human that is entwining with the divine.
I am the acceptor of “impossible” possibilities.
I am something so great that it is nothing,
I am, so fully that I scarcely care whether I am at all.
I know without knowing.
I weep with neither sadness nor apparent joy.
I am I AM, yet ever i.
William James

Discussion
(accepting the sacredness of our being)

Morning: The World in the Lake”
Linda Hogan – Seeing Through the Sun

In the quenching water.
Beneath each black duck
Another swims
Shadow
Joined to blood and flesh.
There’s a world beneath this one.
The red-winged blackbird calls
Its silent comrade down below…

And then it rises, the blackbird
Above the world’s geography of light and dark
And we are there, living
In that reveled sliver of red
Living in the black
Something of feathers,
Daughters all of us,
Who would sleep as if reflected
Alongside our mothers,
The mothers of angels, and shadows,
The helix and spiral of centuries
Twisting inside.
Oh the radiant ones are burning
Beneath this world.
They rise up,

Hiamove
(The words of an old Native American Man)

There are birds of many colors – red, blue, green, yellow – yet it is all one bird. There are horses of many colors – brown, black, yellow, while yet it is all one horse. So cattle, so all living things –animals, flowers, trees. So men: in this land where once were only Indians are now men of every color – white, black, yellow, red – yet all one people. That this should come to pass way in the heart of the Great Mystery. It is right thus. And everywhere there shall be peace.

July 2008

2008-10-04T18:10:00.000-06:00

7-6-08

... the love with which we love should be so pure, so simple, so detached that it inclines neither to myself nor to my friend nor to anything else next to it. The teachers say that one can name no good work as a good work and no virtue as a virtue unless it has taken place in love. ... How has God loved us? He loved us when we did not yet exist and when we were his enemies. So great a need had God for our friendship that he could not wait until we asked him. … So unitary should our love be, for love will never be anywhere else than there where equality and unity are. Between a master and a servant there is no peace because there is no real equality. ... when God is in me and I am in God, then I am not less and God is not higher. –
Meister Eckhardt

Whatever dilutes, falsifies, or blocks this love is foreign to our heart. This purity of heart is not esoteric or a pie-in-the sky state of being. It is within the realm of possibility for all people, but it does require a discipline of life and prayer that is … humble and constant . . .
Gail Fitzpatrick, OCSO
There is a deep malaise in our society … Many of us are not healthy within, yet we continue to look for things that only harm us more. We come home from work exhausted, and we do not know how to relax. We feel a kind of vacuum in ourselves, so we turn on the television. We live in a society where we always feel we are lacking something, and we want to fill it. If we don’t turn on the TV, we eat, or read, or talk on the phone, [go on the internet]. We are always trying to fill the void with something. Some people even do social or political work this way. But doing this only makes us less satisfied, hungrier, and we want to consume more. We feel alienated from ourselves. There is so much anger and fear in us, and we want to suppress them, so we consume more and more things that only increase the toxicity in us. We watch films filled with screaming and violence. We read magazines and novels filled with hatred and confusion. We do not even have the courage to turn off our TV, because we are afraid to go back to ourselves.
Thich Nhat Hanh

Howard Thurman, African American Mystic who inspired MLK reminds us
We are prisoners of timetables. We become busy – note the words – not, ‘we are busy’. But ‘we become busy’. Within ourselves we develop an inner sense of rush, and haste. There is a kind of anxiety that is like the sense of impending doom that comes into life when the spirit is crowded by too much movement. … It takes time to cultivate the mind, it takes time to grow in wisdom, it takes time to savor the qualities of living, it takes time to feel one’s way into one’s self;
it takes time to walk with God.

I make the effort
to maintain a ground of oceanic silence out of which arises the multitude of phenomena of daily life.

I make the effort
to see and to passionately open in love to the spirit that infuses all things

I make the effort
to see the Beloved in everyone and to serve the Beloved though everyone (including the earth).

I often fail in these aspirations because I lose the balance between separateness and unity, get lost in my separateness. and feel afraid.

But I make the effort [again]
Ram Das

To guard one’s heart is to recognize that many things may be good in themselves, but they may not be conducive to growth in one’s heart of love, compassion, centeredness . . . and the ability to give oneself daily…
Guarding one’s heart means continually discerning God’s call to love so one can choose the good and exclude from one’s innermost heart the trivial, mere curiosities, and those animosities that destroy tranquillity and the reign of God’s peace within.
Gail Fitzpatrick, OCSO

"And now here is my secret, a very simple secret;
it is only with the heart that one can see rightly,
what is essential is invisible to the eye."Antoine de Saint-Exupery

It depends on You
If in your heart you make
a manger for his birth,
then God will once again
become a child on earth.
Angelius Selesius

7/13/08
Living Spirits of Earth
Mother and Father to us all
You who hold us in Your breath
You who bathe us in Your waters
who feed us with Your fruits
Guardian of where we are going
of who we are becoming
Cradle of our days
and coffin of our nights
You who carry us folded in Your arms
Sailing silently among the stars
Hear our prayers
The Terra Collective

Amen.

Great lions can find peace in a cage.
But we should only do that
as a last
resort.
So these bars I see that restrain your wings,
I guess you won’t mind
if I pry them
open.
Rumi

From the days of spring – the sky
is bright and blue the sun is huge and warm.
Everything’s turning green.
Carrying my monk bowl, I walk to the village
to beg for my daily meal.
The children spot me at the temple gates
and happily crowd around,
dragging at my arms till I stop,
I put my bowl on a white rock,
hang my bag on a branch.
First we braid grasses and play tug of war,
then we take turns singing and keeping a kick-ball in the air;
I kick the ball and they sing, they kick the ball and I sing.
Time is forgotten, the hours fly.
People passing by point and me and laugh:
“why are you acting like such a fool?”
I nod my head and don’t answer.
I could say something, but why?
Do you want to know what’s in my heart?
From the beginning of time: just this! just this!
RYOKAN (1758-1831)

Selections from The Alter of the Heart by Beverly Lanzetta

I was sad one day and went for a walk;
I sat in a field

A rabbit noticed my condition and
came near.
It often does not take more than that to help at times –

to just be close to creatures who
are so full of knowing,
so full of love that they don’t
– chat,
– they just gaze with
– their
– marvelous understanding.
St. John of the Cross

Make of your life an offering! Make of your life a prayer!
…be awake to the Life
that is loving you and
sing your prayer, laugh your prayer,
dance your prayer, run
and weep and sweat your prayer,
sleep your prayer, eat your prayer,
paint, sculpt, hammer and read your prayer,
sweep, dig, rake, dive, and hoe your prayer,
garden, farm and build and clean your prayer,
wash, iron, vacuum, sew, embroider and pickle your prayer
compute, touch, bend and fold but never delete
or mutilate your prayer.

Learn to play your prayer
work and rest your prayer,
fast and feast your prayer,
argue, talk, whisper, listen, and shout your prayer,
groan, moan and spit and sneeze your prayer,
swim and hunt and cook your prayer,
digest and become your prayer,
release and recover your prayer,
breathe your prayer,
be your prayer

Alla Renee Bozarth

Offer only lovely things on my altars –
the bread of life, and jewels, and feathers and flowers.
Let the streams of life flow in peace
Turn from violence,
Learn to think for a long time how to change the world,
how to make it better to live in.
All the people in the world ought to talk about it
and speak well of it always.
Then it will last forever,
and the flowers will bloom forever
and I will come to you again
Quetzalcoatl

Learn to play your prayer
work and rest your prayer,
fast and feast your prayer,
argue, talk, whisper, listen, and shout your prayer,
groan, moan and spit and sneeze your prayer,
swim and hunt and cook your prayer,
digest and become your prayer,
release and recover your prayer,
breathe your prayer,
be your prayer

Alla Renee Bozarth

7/20/08
Holy Mystery
As we join together this morning in the light of your presence,
we are reminded that we are all one in the divine heart.
May this longing for oneness transform our world.
May our hearts be opened, in the very depths where we find you, God,
May our hearts be open to the glorious expression of your love found in all our religions and spiritual traditions.
You speak to us, Holy Mystery, in this diversity, and we are enriched and humbled by the breadth and depth of your Words.
May our gathering together this morning signify our hopes for the harmony of our planet, the alleviation of suffering, food for the hungry, shelter for the homeless, and respect for the poor. May this flame be a testimony of our willingness to struggle together toward the peace of inclusiveness, loving all and embracing all in the family of creation.
Amen.
Beverly Lanzetta

SONG

In the house made of dawn.
In the story made of dawn.
On the trail of dawn.
O, Talking God!
His feet, my feet restore.
His limbs, my limbs restore.
His body, my body, restore.
His mind, my mind, restore.
His voice, my voice, restore.
His plumes, my plumes restore.
With beauty before him, with beauty before me.
With beauty behind him, with beauty behind me.
With beauty above him with beauty above me.
With beauty below him, with beauty below me.
With beauty around him, with beauty around me.
With pollen beautiful in his voice, with pollen beautiful in my voice.
Navajo Prayer

I could not lie anymore so I started to call my dog – “God”
First he looked
confused,

then he started smiling, then he even
danced.

I kept at it: now he doesn’t even
bite.

I am wondering if this
might work on
people.
Tukaram

Selections from the Altar of the Heart by Beverly Lanzetta

All day long a little burro labors, sometimes,
with heavy loads on her back and sometimes just with worries
about things that bother only
burros.

And worries, as we know, can be more exhausting
than physical labor.
Once in a while a kind monk comes
to her stable and brings
a pear, but more
than that,

he looks into the burro’s eyes and touches her ears

and for a few seconds the burro is free
and even seems to laugh,

because love does
that.

Love frees.
Meister Eckhardt

Speak out the paralyzing secret
and begin to come back to yourself.
Cry it out to compassionate ears
and be in the hearts of your witnesses.
The truth shall make you free
but first it will shatter you.
What was broken can be mended,
what was lost, restored.
Find yourself, then,
pure and whole, a child of God.
Look back long enough to let it go.
Alla Renee Bozarth

Silence.
With beauty before him, with beauty before me.
With beauty behind him, with beauty behind me.
With beauty above him with beauty above me.
With beauty below him, with beauty below me.
With beauty around him, with beauty around me.
With pollen beautiful in his voice, with pollen beautiful in my voice.
It is finished in beauty.
It is finished in beauty.
In the house of evening light,
From the story made of evening light
On the trail of evening light.
Navajo Prayer
7/27/08

The grass beneath a tree is content
and silent.
A squirrel holds an acorn in its praying hands,
offering thanks, it looks like.
The nut tastes sweet: I bet the prayer spiced
it up somehow.
The broken shell falls on the grass,
and the grass looks up
and says
“Hey”.
And the squirrel looks down
and says
“Hey”.
I have been saying “Hey” lately too
to God.
Formalities just weren’t
working.
Rumi

This is the sanctuary of heart and mind where the normal laws of physics do not apply. You will not discover it all at once because this sanctuary is infinite . . . . In the sacred [heart] God gives you the plan [of the sanctuary] and he shows you how to build it. Nobody can do it for you – each sanctuary is a part of the same divine plan and yet each is different, personal to the one who dwells in it. It is unique because the sanctuary dweller is the sanctuary builder. So, I invite you to go through the door and take your first step inside. The floor under your feet is the material that underlies the whole of life, of the sanctuary. It comprises something that so many say they are craving: silence.
Abbot Christopher Jamison

Selections from The Altar of the Heart by Beverly Lanzetta

I stood before a silk worm one day.
And that night my heart said to me,

“I can do things like that, I can spin skies,
I can be woven into love that can bring warmth to people;
I can be soft against a crying face,
I can be wings that lift, and I can travel on my thousand feet
throughout the earth,
my sacks filled
with the
sacred.

And I replied to my heart,
“Dear, can you really do all those things?”

And it just nodded, “Yes”
in silence.

So we began and will never
cease.
Rumi

Have no fear of human sin. Love people living in their sin, for that is the semblance of Divine love and is the highest love on earth. Love all God’s creation – the whole – and every grain of sand of it. Love every leaf, every ray of God’s light. Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything you will perceive the Divine Mystery in things. Once you perceive it you will begin to comprehend it better every day. And you will come at last to love the whole world with an all-embracing love.
Fyodor Dostoyesky

Even
after
all this time
the sun never says to the earth,
“You owe me.”
Look
what happens
with a love like that –
It lights the whole
world.

Hafi

June 2008

2008-10-04T18:08:00.000-06:00

6/22/08

The Buddha compared faith to a blind giant who meets up with a very sharp-eyed cripple, called wisdom. The blind giant, called faith, says to the sharp-eyed cripple, "I am very strong, but I can't see; you are very weak, but you have sharp eyes. Come and ride on my shoulders. Together we will go far." The Buddha never supported blind faith, but a balance between heart and mind, between wisdom and faith. The two together will go far. The saying that blind faith can move mountains unfortunately omits the fact that, being blind, faith doesn't know which mountain needs moving. That's where wisdom is essential...--Ayya Khema

The fact that spiritual growth and personal transformation in general
May be promoted by personal turmoil suggests a parallel between spiritual seeking and wisdom whose development too has been linked to stressful life events. In any case, it was certainly true in our study that spiritual growth was linked to emtional pain and the ability to positiviely learn from and integrate that pain.
Michelle Dillon and Paul Wink

Shopenhauer 1788-1860: For a man to acquire the noble sentiments, … for the better consciousness to be active within him, pain suffering and failure are as necessary to him, as a weighty ballast is to a ship, which attains no draught without it.

Sacred psychology is the practice of soulmaking Ä not necessarily a happy thing. As seedmaking begins with the wounding of the ovum by the sperm, so does soulmaking begin with the wounding of the psyche by the larger story. Soulmaking requires that you die to one story to be reborn to a larger one. The psyche opens and new questions are asked about who we are in our depths.
. . .

The wounding becomes sacred when we are willing to release our old stories and become the vehicles through which a new story may emerge. When we fail to do this, we repeat the same old story. Sacred wounding marks the core of all great Western stories, from Adam's rib to Jesus' crucifixion.

In our woundings we are forced to move in new directions, to face what had been hidden to consciousness, to be pruned of primal growth so that we may bear fruit. . . . sacred psychology shows the power of myth to illumine and redeem the sacrality of the wounding that occurs in our lives. Jean Housten

The Journey Starts Here
Don’t go off sight seeing.
The real journey is right here.
The great excursion starts
from exactly where you are.
You are the world.
You have everything you need.
You are the secret.
You are the wide opened.

Don’t look for the remedy for your troubles
outside yourself.
You are the medicine.
You are the cure for your own sorrow.
Rumi

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. Barre Baker, father of the trees

When you walk across the fields with your mind pure and holy, then from the stones, and all growing things, and all animals the sparks of their soul come out and cling to you, and then they are purified and become a holy fire in you.
Hassidic saying

6-29-08

Mother Father God, Universal Power
Remind us daily of the sanctity of all life.

Touch our hearts with the glorious oneness of all creation
As we strive to respect all the living beings on this planet.

Penetrate our souls with the beauty of this earth.
As we attune ourselves to the rhythm and flow of the seasons.

Awaken our minds with the knowledge
to achieve a world in perfect harmony
And grant us the wisdom to realize that we
can have heaven on earth.
Amen.
Jo Poore

Hildegard von Bingen saw the notion of ‘Viriditas’, or Greenness, penetrating every aspect of life. This ‘Greenness’ was the very expression of Divine power on Earth. “The Word of God regulates the movements of the Sun, the Moon and the stars. The Word of God gives the light, which shines from the heavenly bodies. He makes the wind blow, the rivers run and the rainfall. He makes trees burst into blossom, and the crops bring forth the harvest.”
Since this extraordinary phenomenon called life could only be created by God, Hildegard believed, all that lives equally carried his Divine energy, or ‘viritis’. In her own words:
Oh fire of the Holy Spirit,
life of the life of every creature,
holy are you in giving life to forms…
Oh boldest path,
penetrating into all places,
in the heights, on earth,
and in every abyss,
you bring and bind all together
From you clouds flow, air flies,
Rocks have their humours,
Rivers spring forth from the waters
And earth wears her green vigour
O ignis Spiritus Paracliti

To be of the Earth is to know
the restlessness of being a seed
the darkness of being planted
the struggle toward the light
the pain of growth into the light
the joy of bursting and bearing fruit
the love of being food for someone
the scattering of your seeds
the decay of the seasons the miracle of birth.
John Soos

Be a gardener
Dig a ditch, toil and sweat,
and turn the earth upside down
and seek the deepness
and water the plants in time.
Continue this labor
and make sweet floods to run
and noble and abundant fruits
to spring.
Take this food and drink
and carry it to God
as your true worship.
Julian of Norwich

I am filled with joy
when the day dawns quietly
over the roof of the sky.

Life was wonderful in winter
But did winter make me happy?
No, I always worried
about hides and boot-soles
and for boots,
and if there’d be enough
for all of us.
Yes, I worried constantly

Life was wonderful
in summer
But did summer ever make me happy?
No I always worried
about reindeer skins and rugs for the platform
Yes, I worried constantly.

Life was wonderful
when you stood at your fishing-hole
on the ice
But was I happy waiting at my fishing-hole?

No, I was always worried
for my little hook,
in case I never got a bite.
Yes, I worried constantly.

Life was wonderful
when you danced in the feasting-house.
But did this make me happier?
No I always worried
I’d forget my song
Yes, I always worried.

Life was wonderful
And I still feel the joy
each time the day-break
whitens the dark sky
each time the sun
climbs over the roof of the sky.
Eskimo song

In our time
We do not speak because the voices are within us,
It is our quiet time.
We do not walk because the earth is all within us.
It is our quiet time.
We do not dance because the music has lifted us to a place where
the spirit is.
It is our quiet time.
We rest with all of nature. We wake when the seven sisters wake.
We great them in the sky over the opening of the kiva
Nancy Wood

I thank you God for this amazing
day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky, and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died and am alive again today, and this is the sun’s birthday, this is the birth day of life and of love and wings and of the gay great happening illumitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any – lifted from the no
of all nothing – human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)
ee cummings

April Theme Surrender

2008-06-17T21:04:00.000-06:00

3-27-08
Holy Mystery
As we join together this morning in the light of your presence,
we are reminded that we are all one in the divine heart.
May this longing for oneness transform our world.
May our hearts be opened, in the very depths where we find you, God,
May our hearts be open to the glorious expression of your love found in all our religions and spiritual traditions.
You speak to us, Holy Mystery, in this diversity, and we are enriched and humbled by the breadth and depth of your Words.
May our gathering together this morning signify our hopes for the harmony of our planet, the alleviation of suffering, food for the hungry, shelter for the homeless, and respect for the poor. May this flame be a testimony of our willingness to struggle together toward the peace of inclusiveness, loving all and embracing all in the family of creation.
Amen.

The mystical path is … psychologically integrative: it unties the unconscious, the conscious, and the superconscious. It also integrates the memory, will, imagination, and emotions with the body and the spirit. Within them, it establishes the harmony of love, compassion, mercy, and kindness – the quieting of emotions. All this surrenders to something much higher and more ultimate than the human. This surrender and the integration that follows, puts order in the chaotic domain of the unconscious and allows it to work with the other faculties in a person’s spiritual life.
Wayne Teasdale

God shows his love by Kissing the finite.
Man shows his live by kissing the infinite.
Tagore

Once Sita gave Hanuman a necklace of pearls. After a while, the residents of the city observed him breaking the necklace and inspecting each pearl minutely. Intrigued they asked him the reason. "I am looking for Rama and Sita," replied Hanuman. Laughing at his apparent naivety the spectators pointed out to him that the royal couple was at the moment seated on the imperial throne. "But Rama and Sita are everywhere, including my heart" wondered aloud the true bhakta. Not understanding the depth of his devotion, they further teased him: "So Rama and Sita live in your heart, can you show them to us?" Unhesitatingly, Hanuman stood up and with his sharp talons tore open his chest. There, within his throbbing heart, the astonished audience were taken aback to find enshrined an image of Rama and Sita. Never again did anyone make fun of Hanuman's devotion.

Hanuman's name too illustrates his self-effacing character, being made up of 'hanan' (annihilation) and 'man' (mind), thus indicating one who has conquered his ego.

Letting go and letting be are indispensable contemplative habits. These seemingly simple practices have to be learned – they are the fruit of years of spiritual practice through the day to day labor of meditation. Attaining inner quiet. Seeking stillness of mind and senses, requires enormous discipline. If we can learn to withdraw our attention from its attachment to sensory experience, to stop relying solely on the senses for satisfaction and joy, then we are in a position to become aware of God.
Wayne Teasdale

It pleased you to make me endless.

You empty this frail vessel over and over
Then fill it with fresh life again.
You carry me like a hollow reed over hill and dale
Eternally breathing new melodies though me.
As the immortal touch of your hand
My little heart looses itself in joy.

Still you pour into me, and still there is room
to fill.
Tagore

Words cling to death like dust.
Silence washes their souls.
Tagore

Breathe in me the way to love You,
That I may learn to faultlessly love You.
Pour into me the wisdom-wine
By which I become intoxicated with You.
Whisper into my ears of silence
The way to be with You always.
Speak to my wandering senses
And lead them back to your Sanctuary within.
Call the marauding mind and counsel it
How to retrace its steps to your home.
With all your silent eyes, just look at me,
And I will know where to find You.

You may hide behind the ocean,
You may hide behind delusion,
You may hide behind life,
You may hide behind dualities,
You may hide behind theological conundrums,
You may hide behind unanswered prayers.
But you cannot hide behind my love.
For in the mirroring light of my love
You are revealed.
Paramahansa Yogananda

Light comes through a gap in the curtains:
the promise of morning.
Light comes through the flaws in our lives:
the promise of love
Modern Prayer from Berlin Germany

April Theme Surrender

2008-06-17T21:02:00.000-06:00

Sunday, April 20, 2008 Ann Ladd Prayer – Dear Loving presence, thank you for the times in the quieted moments when we experience – and know - the deep loving support that is a constant beneath our lives –whether or not we are aware; through the many distractions we allow, teach us in these quiet times to awaken our hearts to the Present moment, nourish our souls with the precious mystery of Now. Thank you for the many blessings and gifts of our lives in each day. We offer gratitude for guidance and for our continuing yes to your loving guidance. Give us strength and heart to stay the course of your Divine purpose for each of us in this life.AmenWelcome – The topic this month is surrender. We generally think of the need to surrender to the challenges and difficulties of life. I think it is often equally difficult for us to surrender to the blessings and gifts….to truly receive them. Quotes – (1) What is a blessing? A blessing is a circle of light drawn around a person to protect, heal, and strengthen. Life is a constant flow of emergence. The beauty of blessing is its belief that it can affect what unfolds. (2) May all that is unforgiven in youBe released.May your fears yieldTheir deepest tranquilitiesMay all that is unlived in you Blossom into a futureGraced with love.- John O’Donohue(3) To be in the world is to be distant from the homeland of wholeness. We are confined by limitation and difficulty. When we bless, we are enabled somehow to go beyond our present frontiers and reach into the source. A blessing awakens future wholeness.(4) Awaken to the mystery of being hereand enter the quiet immensity of your own presence.Have joy and peace in the temple of your senses.Respond to the call of your gift and the courage to follow its path.May the warmth of your heart keep your presence aflame.Take time to celebrate the quiet miracles that seek no attention. May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder.(5) There is a kindness that dwells deep down in things…..The word kindness has a gentle sound that seems to echo the presence of compassionate goodness. When someone is kind to you, you feel understood and seen. There is no judgment or harsh perception toward you. Kindness has gracious eyes; it is not small-minded or competitive; it wants nothing back for itself. Kindness strikes a resonance with the depth of your own heart.May there be kindness in your gaze when you look within.May you never place walls between the light and yourself.May you learn to see your selfwith the same delight, pride, and expectationwith which God sees you in every moment.(8) You can never love another person unless you are equally involved in the beautiful but difficult spiritual work of learning to love yourself. There is within each of us, at the soul level, an enriching fountain of love. In other words, you do not have to go outside yourself to know what love is. This is not selfishness, and it is not narcissism; they are negative obsessions with the need to be loved. Rather this is the wellspring of love within the heart…. [L]earn to whisper awake the deep well of love within. This is not a question of forcing yourself to love yourself. It is more a question of exercising reserve, of inviting the wellspring of love that is, after all, your deepest nature to flow through your life. It is a great consolation to know that there is a wellspring of love within yourself. If you trust that this wellspring is there, you will then be able to invite it to awaken. -O’Donahue(11) “God is love” is not a truth we can master; it is only one to which we can surrender. Faith is being grasped by the power of love. –Wm Sloan Coffin Stand and form circleTake a moment to think of someone you love, recall one or two specific appreciations you have for them, things you love about them, especially that they may not see or easily acknowledge. Now put it in the form of a blessing….May you always…. May you never forget…., Without using the person’s name…say the blessing into the circle if you are willing to share it now….everyone else listen and see if you can allow the blessing to also be true of you. Open heart meditation – Quieting now, gently, Invite the wellspring of love in you to move within you, and through you to all in the circle, allow yourself to receive the flow of love coming back to you.Then together let us send the energy of our love to all in this city, to all in this country, to all in this worlda message of love and hope to all peoples, to all creatures, to all creation.

April Theme surrender

2008-06-17T21:01:00.001-06:00

4-13-08
Take, O Lord, and receive my entire liberty,my memory, my understanding and my whole will.All that I am and all that I possess You have given me.I surrender it all to You to be disposed of according to Your will.Give me only Your love and Your grace;with these I will be rich enough,and will desire nothing more.
Jesuit - St.. Ignatius Loyola - 16th century

What you are you do not see.
What you see – that you are not.
Tagore

The Journey Starts Here
Don’t go off sight seeing.
The real journey is right here.
The great excursion starts
from exactly were you are.
You are the world.
You have everything you need.
You are the secret.
You are the wide opened.

Don’t look for the remedy for your troubles
outside yourself.
You are the medicine.
You are the cure for your own sorrow.
Rumi

Surrender
There is really nothing else in life more worth doing. And to assent to the spiritual journey is to say “yes” to our own ultimate growth as well as that of others. … a cause of enormous joy.
Wayne Teasdale

To surrender oneself is something morethan to devote oneself, more than to give oneself,it is even more than to abandon oneself to God.To surrender oneself is to die to everything and to self,to keep it continually turned towards God.Self-surrender is no longer to seek self-satisfaction in anythingbut solely God's good pleasure.It should be added that self-surrender is to followthat complete spirit of detachmentwhich holds to nothing;neither to persons nor to things,neither to time nor to place.It means to accept everything, to submit to everything.
But perhaps you will think this is a difficult thing.Do not let yourself be deceived; there is nothing so easy to do,nothing so sweet to put into practice.The whole thing consists in making a generous act at the very beginning,by saying with all the sincerity of your heart:"My God, I wish to be entirely thine; deign to accept my offering"— then all is said. ...You must always remember that you have surrendered yourself.
St. Therese Couderc – 1864

In days of yore, an older master was traveling along a country road, followed by a disciple carrying his bags. As they walked, they saw lands being plowed while farmers and oxen were strained to the utmost. Countless worms and insects were killed in the process, and birds were swooping to eat them. This led the disciple to wonder to himself, "How hard it is to make a living. I will cultivate with all my strength, become a Buddha and save all these creatures." Immediately the Master, an Arhat able to read the thoughts of others, turned around and said, "Let me have those heavy bags and I will follow you." The disciple was puzzled but did as instructed and walked in front. As they continued on their way with the hot sun bearing down on them, dust swirling all around them, the road stretching endlessly in front, the disciple grew more and more tired. It wasn't long before he thought to himself, "There are so many sentient beings and there is so much suffering, how can I possibly help them all? Perhaps I should try to help myself only." Immediately, the Master behind him said, "Stop. Now you carry the bags and follow me." The puzzled disciple did as told, knowing he was not supposed to ask questions. He took up the bags again and walked behind. This sequence repeated itself several times. The Master walked in front with the disciple carrying the bags, then the disciple in front with the Master carrying the bags, back and forth, until they stopped for lunch. Then the disciple gathered his courage and asked the reason why. The Master said, "When you had exalted thoughts of saving all sentient beings, you had the Bodhi Mind, the mind of a Bodhisattva, and I as an Arhat had to follow you. But as soon as you had selfish thoughts, you were no longer a Bodhisattva, and being junior to me in years and cultivation, you had to carry my bags!"
Buddhist story

And what of truth? We don’t tend to see the truth as something that could set us free because it means embracing pain, acknowledging our differences and conflict, taking our real situation into account.
Kathleen Norris

From the cowardice that dare not face new truth,
From the laziness that is contented with half-truth,
From the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth,
God, deliver us.
Modern prayer from Kenya

April Theme Surrender

2008-06-17T20:58:00.001-06:00

4-6-08

Take, O Lord, and receive my entire liberty,my memory, my understanding and my whole will.All that I am and all that I possess You have given me.I surrender it all to You to be disposed of according to Your will.Give me only Your love and Your grace;with these I will be rich enough,and will desire nothing more.
Jesuit - St.. Ignatius Loyola - 16th century

I live in the world afraid to lose anything,
Take me to your world where I can lose
everything.
Tagore

Surrender is a dirty word in our militaristic culture – along with vulnerable –

MLK quote – “ Remember that non-violence is to seek justice and reconciliation, not victory.”

Life is not a battle to gain victory over

New World Dictionary includes and places first these meanings:
1. To give up possession of:
What do we really own anyway? What is really ours?
I have nothing to offer Thee,
For all things are Thine.
I grieve not that I cannot give;
For nothing is mine, for nothing is mine.
Here I lay at Thy feet
My life, my limbs, my thoughts and speech;
For they are Thine, for they are Thine.
Paramahansa Yogananda

To give up possession of the moment. To try to hold on to the moment is like trying to grasp water with your hands. It flows in and then it flows out.

Live loyally today-- grow --and tomorrow will attend to itself.The quickest way for a tadpole to become a frogis to live loyally each momentas a tadpole.
Urantia book - 1094:06

Definitions continued…
2. To give up power over
I think this could be seen as giving up the illusion we have of control. We really have no power over anything. We can have power with, but not over another human being. The power of community, creation, and communication. As Thomas Merton says:

The deepest level of communication is not communication but communion. It is wordless. It is beyond words, and it is beyond speech, and it is beyond concept. Not that we discover a new unity. My dear brothers [and sisters] we are already one. But we imagine that we are not. And what we have to recover is our original unity.

3. To give up claim to; give over or yield esp. voluntarily, as in favor of another
To understand this is to surrender to love. Love has no claim on anything and to feel love one must yield to love, voluntarily as in favor of another.

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
1 Corinthians 13

I heard the sea and asked,
“what language is that?”
the sea replied,
“The language of questions.”

I saw the sky and asked,
“What is the answer?”
the sky replied,
“The language of eternal silence.”
Tagore

Please attend to the ailing finances of the Center and meditate on the healing.

Even as a mother at the risk of her life would
watch over her only child, so let us with boundless
mind and goodwill survey the whole world.
The Buddha

Lord, may we love all your creation, all the Earth and every grain of sand in it. May we love every leaf, every ray of your light. For we acknowledge to you that all is like an ocean, all is flowing and blending, and that to withhold any measure of love from anything in your universe is to withhold that same measure from you.
Fyodor Dostoyesky

March Theme Passion

2008-06-17T20:57:00.001-06:00

3-30-08
Most gracious Spirit
Mother, Master, Messiah, and Savior of humanity
We greet You in all humility.
You are the First Cause and the Last Effect
The Divine Light and the Spirit of guidance
Alpha and Omega
Your light in all forms
Your love in all beings
In a loving mother, in a kind father,
in an innocent child,
in a helpful friend,
and in an inspiring teacher.
Allow us to recognize You in all Your names and forms,
known and unknown to the world.
We adore Your past,
Your Presence deeply enlightens our being ,
and we look for Your blessing in the future.
O messenger, Christ, Eve, the Rasul of God!
You whose heart constantly reaches upwards,
You come on earth with a message
as a dove from above when Dharma decays,
and speak the Word which is put into Your mouth as
the light fills the crescent moon.
Let the star of the Divine Light, shining in Your heart
be reflected in the hearts of Your devotees.
May the Message of the Divine reach far and wide,
illuminating and making whole humanity as
one single sister/brotherhood in the Mother/Fatherhood of God.
Amen
Rewritten from a Sufi prayer

To worship is to gather in one strong body, affirming that each of us is part of the body that is beloved community. To worship is to bring our deepest yearnings, our highest aspirations and our most cherished dreams together to share them, to proclaim them worthy to one another, so the truth they contain might support and nourish us as we strive to work for a better, more compassionate world for all beings.

Let us worship, then, with minds and hearts and hands and voices, knowing we are not isolated beings but connected, in mystery and miracle, to the universe, to this community and to one another.
Unitarian Universalist service

Sufi story as told by Andrew Harvey:
Once a young lion was frolicking in the long grass, chasing his tail when suddenly he discovered that all the other lions had left. He was a small cub who didn’t know much. When a flock of sheep came along, he tagged after them. The sheep took him in, brought him up, and taught him to walk, talk, snore, and baaaa like them, to chat about real estate, and pour derisive scorn on all things sacred. He became just like the best-educated sheep.

One day another lion happened to be striding though the mountains and saw this ludicrous sight a lion cub walking, talking baaaa-ing and sniveling like a sheep. With a great roar the lion ran down the hillside scattering the flock of sheep. He grabbed the lion cub and dragged it to a pond where he forced the cub to look at himself in the water. “Look, you are not a sheep, you are like me, you are a lion. You are a lion and you have the truth and the sincerity, the passion, and the majesty of a lion.” Then the lion gave an immense and glorious roar. This both terrified and excited the cub. “Now you roar” said the lion. The cub’s first attempts were pathetic rumblings, halfway between a baaaa and a shriek. But slowly, under the tutelage of the lion, the cub grew into claiming his lionhood and began over many years to learn how to roar.

Decide what is sacred to you, and put your best life energies at its service. Make that the focus of your studies, your work, the test for your pleasure and your relationships. Don't ever let fear or craving for security turn you aside. When you serve your passion, when you are willing to risk yourself for something, your greatest creative energies are released. Hard work is required, but nothing is more joyful than work infused by love.
~ Starhawk, The Spiral Dance

Reflections in the way of the Quaker – our reflections are part of our worship together. They are not ongoing conversation, but rather something that wells up from deep within. As we worship together in community, and in communion with one another, we share those things that have a profound meaning for us. We do not need to comment on or even acknowledge one another’s sharings, but simply offer them as a gift of worship. This might seem strange at first, but it will change and sanctify our energy together.

Divine MysteryDeliver me to my passion.Deliver me to my brilliance.Deliver me to my intelligence.Deliver me to my depth.Deliver me to my nobility.Deliver me to my beauty.Deliver me to my power to heal.Deliver me to You.
Amen

May there be peace in the higher regions
May there be peace in the firmament
May there be peace on earth
May the waters flow peacefully
May the herbs and plants grow peacefully
May all the divine powers bring unto us peace
The Supreme Being is peace
May we all be in peace, peace and only peace
And may that peace come into each of us
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti
The Vedas (1500 BCE)

March Theme Passion

2008-06-17T20:56:00.000-06:00

Easter Sunday
Holy Mystery
As we join together this morning in the light of your presence,
we are reminded that we are all one in the divine heart.
May this longing for oneness transform our world.
May our hearts be opened, in the very depths where we find you, God,
May our hearts be open to the glorious expression of your love found in all our religions and spiritual traditions.
You speak to us, Holy Mystery, in this diversity, and we are enriched and humbled by the breadth and depth of your Words.
May our gathering together this morning signify our hopes for the harmony of our planet, the alleviation of suffering, food for the hungry, shelter for the homeless, and respect for the poor. May this flame be a testimony of our willingness to struggle together toward the peace of inclusiveness, loving all and embracing all in the family of creation.
Amen.

…when those loved ones and His brethren came on that glad morning when the tidings had come to them; those who stood guard heard a fearful voice and saw a light. “The stone has been rolled away” … then they entered into the garden and there Mary first saw the risen Lord. Then came those of his brethren with the faithful women, those who loved His mother, who were her companions in sorrow, and those who were making preparations that the law be kept and there be no desecration even of the ground about His tomb. His friends too, His loved ones and His brethren saw the angels…

Open your eyes, and behold the Glory, even of the Christ present here, now, in your midst! Even as He appeared to them on that day. …

You, too often doubt; you, too often fear. Yet He is surely with you. And at this glad season when you rededicate your life, your body and mind to His service, you too may know as did they, that he lives ... and is [ready] to make intercession for you. If you will believe that He is, you may experience it.

When the Prince of Peace came into came into the earth for the completion of HIS OWN development in the earth, He overcame the flesh AND temptation. So He became the first of those who overcame death in the body, (and this) enabled him to illuminate, to so revivify that body that he could take it up again, even when those fluids of the body had been drained away by the nail holes in His hands and the spear piercing his side.

He came, the Master, in the flesh and blood even as you have come in flesh and blood. Yet as He then proclaimed … there is a cleansing of the body, of the flesh, of the blood, in such measure that it may become illuminated with power unto the Will of the Divine … and thus is an example for Man and only as a man.

The soul was made perfect in the beginning; it passes through the Earth plane where it may obtain its body to present before the Creator.
Adapted from Edgar Cayce’s Story of Jesus

An ending that is only a beginning; Forever renewing… A moon child wanders into a dark wood; into hidden, blackened parts; Finding moonstones and moonflowers; Offers them then, gifts long unclaimed. A Jesus wanders into a desert; into dry and barren parts; Finding through the burning the path of purification; Finding the water in the heart of the prickled cactus; Offers them the, gifts long unclaimed. A solitary figure; You… Me… Wanders into a cave of suffering; Knows the brokenness, the crucifying, the dying, the entombing, Finds through it all an inner self; Rising dusty, shaken, transformed, And offers a gift, long unclaimed. The holy heart; The Heart of Wholeness; Behind all faces; And the stars, in the darkness, nod. Marni P. Harmony

Great Spirit, Divine One, Creatorwho is heaven earth rock wind insect tree foxhuman of every size shape color
Holy are your infinite names chanted sung whisperedshouted in every language, tongue.
We will midwife the rebirth of Gaiaas best we canrestoring the Great Law of Peace.
Guide our hands to the soil and seedhonoring the alchemy of food.Let us remember your abundanceand share the bread of life with any who hunger.
We are for givingand giving and giving.We trust in the give-away.We give and receive.
Let us be humble before the darkness and the lightwalking in harmony amidst them.Give us courage to know them intimatelyboth within and without.
For you have breathed it all---the behind, the above, the below, the beyond.Your awesome power courses in our veinsand animates our hearts.You are the Great Drum.
We thank you.
translation of the lord's prayerfrom King James to Gaian - Claudia L'amoreaux

May the light of the Divine shine upon us
May the love of the Divine heal our struggling world
May the birth of the divine take place again and again
in each of our hearts.
Beverly Lanzetta

March Theme Passion

2008-06-17T20:55:00.000-06:00

3-16-08

Divine MysteryDeliver me to my passion.Deliver me to my brilliance.Deliver me to my intelligence.Deliver me to my depth.Deliver me to my nobility.Deliver me to my beauty.Deliver me to my power to heal.Deliver me to You.
Amen

Since the beginning of the world there has been an enigma, … man had always been looking for it but has never found it. It is present everywhere but it's hard to reach its chambers - it's guarded by deep waters, dense forests and profound thoughts. Everything important began with it: architecture, philosophy, sculpture... It is, at the same time, the strongest roar, and the only thing, which stops when its name is spoken.
Its name is Silence.
All the depths in nature are silent, as are all the profound feelings in man: love, faith, courage, persistence. … For centuries, man has found silence in faith and prayers, philosophers in philosophy, artists in art. The great orators were turned towards the sea during their speech, looking for inspiration in the silence of that [expanse].
How can we find, in life and speech, a secret thread, which will lead us along the entangled paths of our passion to silence? Do we have enough strength to resist our greatest enemies - thrills and ego? [We fear it as much as we crave it] We are we afraid of silence and its undiscovered paths, its passion, its sparkle that has often lit our soul, its ominous stillness which has brought us tough and joyous days? And just when we think that we have found it, we are uneasy and curious again, we wonder what's beyond it.
Maybe that is the end, torn down sacred monuments which we have worshipped, demolished cities which we have been building for centuries. We will always long for silence as we do for light and air, even though we, ourselves, destroy it most. Our uncontrollable passion leads us to the unknown, uncertainty, and into redemption. By making the poison, we always poison ourselves first. Out of our careless words, enemies and unease are born. It's already been said that honesty doesn't mean always telling what's on your mind. It actually means that everything you don't think should be left unspoken. You should rush slowly into silence. And quietly...If we say its name it will stop.( "Beyond silence", author Suzana Stojanovic, 02.12.2007. )

There are three monks, who had been sitting in deep meditation for many years amidst the Himalayan snow peaks, never speaking a word, in utter silence. One morning, one of the three suddenly speaks up and says, ‘What a lovely morning this is.’ And he falls silent again. Five years of silence pass, when all at once the second monk speaks up and says, ‘But we could do with some rain.’ There is silence among them for another five years, when suddenly the third monk says, ‘Why can’t you two stop chattering?”
Krishnamurti

Be still and know that I am God. (Psalm 46:10)

Meditation is a movement in and of the unknown … it is that energy that though-matter cannot touch. Thought is perversion for it is the product of yesterday … Everything put together by thought is within the area of noise, and thought can in no way make itself still … thought itself must be still for silence to be. Silence is always now as thought is not. Thought, always being old, cannot possibly enter into that silence which is always new. The new becomes the old when thought touches it … Love can only be, when thought is still. This stillness can in no way be manufactured by thought … this stillness can never be touched by thought. Thought is always old, but love is not … the flowering of goodness is not in the soil of thought’
‘Meeting Life’ (Bulletin 4, 1969) © 1991 Krishnamurti Foundation Trust, Ltd; Published by HarperSanFrancisco

Stillness is really another word for space. Becoming conscious of stillness whenever we encounter it in our lives will connect us with the formless and timeless dimension within ourselves; that which is beyond thought, beyond ego. It may be the stillness that pervades the world of nature, or the stillness in your room in the early hours of the morning, or the silent gaps in between sounds. Stillness has no form – that is why through thinking we cannot become aware of it. Thought is form. Being aware of stillness means to be still.
To be still is to be conscious without thought. You are never more essentially, more deeply yourself than when you are still. When you are still you are who you were before you temporarily assumed the physical and mental form called a person. You are who you will be when the form disappears. When you are still, you are who you are beyond your temporal existence: consciousness – unconditional – unconditioned, formless, eternal.
Eckhart Tolle

Watch over me
Hold your hand before me in protection.
Stand guard for me; speak for me.
As you speak for me, I will speak for you.

May all be beautiful before me.
May all be beautiful behind me.
May all be beautiful below me.
May all be beautiful above me.
May all be beautiful all around me.
I am restored in beauty.
Navajo Shootingway ceremony prayer

All is transient
When you perceive this, you are above suffering.
The path is clear

All is suffering,
When you perceive this, you are above suffering.
The pat is clear.

All is unreal.
When you perceive this, you are above suffering.
The path is clear

The Buddha

March Theme Passion

2008-06-17T20:53:00.000-06:00

3-09-08

Divine MysteryDeliver me to my passion.Deliver me to my brilliance.Deliver me to my intelligence.Deliver me to my depth.Deliver me to my nobility.Deliver me to my beauty.Deliver me to my power to heal.Deliver me to You.
Amen

Only passions, great passions,
can elevate the soul to great things.
Denis Diderot

“Thank you for a nice evening—
we must do it again, sometime.”
“Thanks for the present—it was very nice.”
“Sincerely yours….”
“Thank You God, for health, for life, for whatever…amen.”

O God, who of us does not mouth such
Kempt precedented underwhelming gratuities?
Who of us doesn’t sense how very shallow they are?
For even we
have known those moments
those shining experiences
when gratitude was not a stifling obligation
but an ecstatic necessity
a joy
a delight
when our very souls were grateful
to be alive
to learn
to love
to wonder
to say “AH!” (Ohler, 31)

The passion of my soul's desire is for the house of the Lord; my heart and my flesh are crying out for the living God.
Psalm 84:2

We are the generation that stands between the fires:
behind us the flame and smoke
that rose from Auschwitz and from Hiroshima;
before us the nightmare of a Flood of Fire,
the flame and smoke that consume all Earth.
It is our task to make from fire not an all-consuming blaze
but the light in which we see each other fully.
All of us different,
all of us bearing One Spark.
We light these fires to see more clearly
that the Earth and all who live as part of it
are not for burning.
We light these fires to see more clearly
the rainbow in our many-colored faces.
Blessed is the One within the many,
Blessed are the Many who make one. (Roberts, 105)

Earth teach me stillness
as the grasses are stilled with light
Earth teach me suffering
as old stones suffer with memory.
Earth teach me humility
as blossoms are humble with beginning.
Earth teach me caring
as the mother who secures her young.
Earth teach me courage
as the tree which stands all alone.
Earth teach me limitation
as the ant which crawls on the ground.
Earth teach me freedom
as the eagle which soars in the sky.
Earth teach me resignation
as the leaves which die in the fall.
Earth teach me regeneration
as the seed which rises in the spring.
Earth teach me to forget myself
as the melted snow forgets its life.
Earth teach me to remember kindness
as the dry fields weep with rain.
Ute Prayer

My brother the star, my mother the earth,
My father the sun, my sister the moon
to my life give beauty, to my body give strength,
to my work give goodness, to my house give peace,
to my spirit give truth, to my elders give wisdom.

We must pray for strength
We must pray to come together,
Pray for the weeping earth,
pray to the trembling waters
and to the wandering rain.
We must pray to the whispering moon
pray to the tip-toeing stars
and to the hollering sun.
Nancy Wood

May the earth continue to live
May the heavens above continue to live
May the rains continue to dampen the land
May the wet forests continue to grow
Then the flowers shall bloom
And we people shall live again.
Hawaiian prayer

March Theme Passion

2008-06-17T20:50:00.001-06:00

3/1/08
Divine MysteryDeliver me to my passion.Deliver me to my brilliance.Deliver me to my intelligence.Deliver me to my depth.Deliver me to my nobility.Deliver me to my beauty.Deliver me to my power to heal.Deliver me to You.
Amen

“People who lead exciting [or passionate] lives don’t know who got voted off the island, or know who got fired by the Donald.” … [Passion] in our life doesn’t happen TO us --- it can only happen THROUGH us. Life is meant to be lived, and it is best lived when it is lived passionately. The sooner we realize this, the more likely we are to start creating a little bit of excitement in the world around us. Doesn’t that sound like fun?
People who have changed the world have never been boring or timid people. They have always been willing to rock the boat, or even to capsize it, in order to get the attention of the world around them. Of course, this can
be very upsetting to those people who spend their lives just trying to keep everything on an even keel. It’s uncomfortable for some of us when someone comes in with a new idea that will change everything, and they just won’t
go away or be quiet.

Rev. Paul Gonyea

Fly Your Freak Flag High!

Soul of our souls, Spirit of our spirits,And the One embracing All,Divine One, of infinite names and none:Powers of East, South, West and North,And all who weave the Universe:I call to you, within and without -This night, this rite.
Divine Air - bring imagination and creativity to the world.Like the far-seeing hawk,May we see this situation as the whole complex tapestry that it is,And be in-spired with fresh and virgin weavings.Like the unfettered winds,May we be freed from old assumptions and patterns in how we respond,And breath in new possibilities.
Divine Fire - bring clarity and compassionate passion to the world.Like the bright light of the Sun,May we see clearly the way-forward of "what is necessary" for all life,And the time to come.Like the transforming flames,May our grief, fear and rage be transformed into compassion for all -All victims and perpetrators alike.
Divine Water - bring yielding and wisdom to the world.Like the gentle erosion of water upon stone,May we release our personal and cultural biases,And acknowledge the 'wrong-thinkings' that we may harbour.Like the deepening twilight upon the earth,May we remember the lessons of the past,And contemplate their meaning for the future.
Divine Earth - bring greening and surety to the world.Like the stretching branches of the tree,May we stretch ourselvesInto the life-affirming paths of reconciliation and healing.Like the deep peaceful dome of night,May we stand firm in the Goddess and the God,Through this 'dark night' of confusion and fear, and false 'stars'.
May our souls be strong, steady and revealing.May our spirits be en-lightened, faithful and sure.May our choices be wise and enduring, for the generations to come.
By all that is Sacred and True,So Mote It Be.
pashta marymoon -

The prophet Mohammed understood:
What actions are
most excellent?
To gladden the heart
of a human being.
To feed the hungry.
To help the afflicted.
To lighten the sorrow
of the sorrowful.
To remove the wrongs
of the injured.
That person is the
most beloved of God
who does most good
to God’s creatures. (Roberts, 109)

Make of your life an offering
Make of your life a prayer
…to be awake to the life that is loving you
and sing your prayer,
laugh your prayer,
dance your prayer,
run and weep your prayer

Oh God give me strength to be victorious over myself,
for nothing may chain me to this life.
O guide my spirit.
O raise me from these dark depths,
that my soul, transported through your wisdom my fearlessly struggle upward in fiery flight.
For You alone understand and can inspire me.

Ludwig von Beethoven (when he realized his deafness was incurable)

From the cowardice that dare not face new truth,
From the laziness that is contented with half truth,
From the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth,
Good Lord, Deliver us.

Modern prayer from Kenya

February theme LOVE

2008-06-17T20:49:00.000-06:00

2/17/08

Divine One, may we love all of your creation,
all of the earth and every grain of sand in it.
May we love every leaf, every ray of your light.
For we acknowledge to you that all is like an ocean,
all is flowing and blending, and that
to withhold any measure of love from anything in your universe is to withhold that same measure from you.
Doystoyevsky

"We are put on earth for a little spacethat we may learn to bear the beams of love"--William Blake

On the way to God the difficulties
Feel like being ground by a millstone.
Like night coming at noon. like
Lightening through the clouds.
But don’t worry!
What must come, comes.
Face Everything with Love,
As your mind dissolves in God
Lal Ded 13th cen. Kashmir

Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there. When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, 'Nothing, I just helped him cry'

Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone – we find it with another. We do not discover the secret of our lives merely by study and calculation on our own isolated meditation. The meaning of our life is a secret that has to be revealed to us in love. And if this love is unreal, the secret will not be found, the meaning will never reveal itself, the message will never be decoded. At best we will receive a scrambled message, one that will deceive and confuse us. We will never be fully real until we let ourselves fall in love – either with another human or with God.
Thomas Merton

'Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.' Tommy - age 6

Love affects more than our thinking and our behavior toward those we love. It transforms our entire life. Genuine love is a personal revolution. Love takes your ideas, your desires, and your actions and welds them together in one experience and one living reality which is a new you. You may prefer to keep this from happening. You may keep your thoughts, desires, and acts in separate compartments if you want: but you will be an artificial and divided person. Our philosophy of life is not something we create all by ourselves out of nothing.
Thomas Merton

When you stand outside my thatched hut,
Could you guess how spacious it is inside?
There is a galaxy of worlds in here.
And space for as much love as I can find.
Ishikawa Jozan 17th cen. Japan

'Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.' Noelle - age 7

Blessed are they who givewithout expecting even thanks in return,for they shall be abundantly rewarded.Blessed are they who translateevery good thing they know into action,for ever higher truths shall be revealed unto them.Blessed are they who do God's willwithout asking to see results,for great shall be their recompense.Blessed are they who love and trust their fellow beings,for they shall reach the good in people andreceive a loving response.Blessed are they who have seen reality, for they knowthat not the garment of clay but that which activatesthe garment of clay is real and indestructible.Blessed are they who see the change we call deathas a liberation from the limitation of this earth-life,for they shall rejoice with their loved oneswho make the glorious transition.Blessed are they who after dedicating their livesand thereby receiving a blessing, have the courage and faithto surmount the difficulties of the path ahead,for they shall receive a second blessing.Blessed are they who advance toward the spiritual pathwithout the selfish motive of seeking inner peace,for they shall find it.Blessed are they who instead of trying tobatter down the gates of the kingdom of heavenapproach them humbly and lovingly and purified,for they shall pass right through.

Peace Pilgrim's Beatitudes - Mildred Norman

Through love bitter things taste sweet.
Through love pains become as healing balms.
Through love thorns turn into roses.
Through love vinegar becomes sweet wine.
Through love hard stones turn soft like butter.
Through love soft wax becomes hard iron.
Through love grief has the flavor of joy.
Through love stings are like honey.
Through love lions are harmless as mice.
Through love sickness is health.
Through love the dead come to life.
Through love the king is humble as a slave.

Jalil al-Din Rumi 13th cen. Persia

Light comes through a gap in the curtains:
the promise of morning.
Light comes through the flaws of our lives:
the promise of love.

Modern prayer from Germany

Feb theme: LOVE

2008-06-17T20:47:00.000-06:00

Feb 10

Living Spirits of the Earth
Mother and Father of us All
You who hold us in Your breath
You who bathe us in Your waters
You who feed us with Your fruits
Guardian of where we are going,
of who we are becoming
Cradle our days
and coffin our nights
You who carry us folded in Your arms
Sailing silently among the stars
Hear our Prayers
Amen.
The Terma Collective

'Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.' Mary Ann - age 4

I am Love.
I reflect the great givingness of God.
I am the awareness of divine generosity flowing forth
to everyone and everything everywhere.
I express the abundance of God bursting forth unreservedly
in my life and in everyone and everything.
adapted from C.A. Anderson & Deborah Whitehouse: New Thought

What is “the good news”? That true life, eternal life, has been found – it is not something promised, it is already here, it is withihn you; as life lived in love, in love without subtraction or exclusion, without distance. Everyone is the child of God – Jesus definitely claims nothing for himself alone – and as a child of God everyone is equal to everyone else.
Fredrich Nietzche

A wise woman who was traveling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him. She did so without hesitation. The traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime. But a few days later he came back to return the stone to the wise woman. "I've been thinking," he said, "I know how valuable the stone is, but I give it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious. Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me the stone."Author Unknown (from Bob Gould in the Yahoo Club: Admirers of HH the Dalai Lama)

Effortlessly,
Love flows from God into man,
Like a bird who rivers the air
Without moving her wings.
Thus we move in his world
One in body and soul,
Though outwardly separate in form,
As the source strikes the note,
Humanity sings –
The Holy Spirit is our harpist,
And all strings
Which are touched in Love
Must sound.
Mechtild von Magdeburg 13th cen.?

The Heart has its own Way. The mystical Heart belongs to God alone, it does not adhere to any creed, religion or sect. It transcends reason, even divine reason, and it stands untouched by mortal mind. . . .

Because divine love is so purified, so much of itself, it is the strongest weapon and the greatest force, stronger still than any physical prowess. It is the Light that pervades consciousness and germinates new life.The strength of the Heart is found in your flexibility, in your unconditional love. This is your strength. Your resistance or fear is not strength, but weakness. Strength is in flexibility because nothing can touch that which is holy, pure and giving. Why? Because that which is holy is never fixed; it never stops. Resistance can always be countered, because it is defined; it is determined. But what is flexible and unconditional can never be ultimately damaged. This is the truth of ultimate reality.The Heart is very quiet. It is non-aggressive. It is silent. It is gentle. It is subtle. You can not hear its gentleness in the midst of the harsh or negative language that constantly bombards you. When you are able to truly listen to the Heart, you are then incapable of violence to your self or to another. The Way of the Heart requires commitment and courage—it requires an openness to question and to receive challenges to the time-honored “truth”—because the heart answers to no one but God alone.
Beverly Lanzetta

'When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.' Karen - age 7

Healing Silence

You carry the cure within you.
Everything that comes your way is blessed.
The creator gives you one more day.
Stand on the neck of Fearful Mind.

Do not wait to open your heart.
Let yourself go into the mystery.
Sometimes the threads have no weave.
The price of not loving yourself is high.

Feb theme: LOVE

2008-06-17T20:43:00.001-06:00

Feburary 3

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:1

God is Love. John 4:8

'Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.' Chrissy - age 6

The word in language is half someone else’s … Prior to th[e] moment of appropriation, the word does not exist in a neutral and impersonal language (it is not, after all, out of a dictionary that the speaker gets his words!), but rather it exists in other people’s mouths, in other people’s contexts, serving other people’s intentions [and stories]: It is from there that one must take the word, and make it one’s own. Bakhtin

'When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.' Billy - age 4

Love is the perfect stillness
and the greatest excitement, and most profound act,
and the world is almost as complete as His Name.
Rabia - 8th cen Sufi Mystic

She Who Loved Too Much – the Gospel according to Dawn
Dawn Annette Mills, OSB

I
have a cause
We need those, don’t we?
Otherwise the darkness and the cold gets in
and everything starts
to ache.
My soul has a purpose; it is
to love;
if I
do not fulfill
my heart’s vocatiion,
I suffer.
St. Thomas Aquinas

The sky gave me its heart
because it knew mine was not large enough to care for the earth
the way
it did.

Why is it we think of God so much?
Why is there so much talk
about love?

When an animal is wounded
no one has to tell it, “you need to heal”; so naturally it will nurse
itself the best it can.

My eyes keep telling me, “Something is missing from
all I see.” So I went in search of the cure.

The cure for me was His beauty, the remedy –
for me was to
love.
Rabia – 8th cen Sufi Mystic

Ahimsa, January 27, 2008

2008-03-02T14:02:00.004-07:00

1-27-08

I am, O my God,but a tiny seed which you have sownin the soil of Your love,and caused to spring forth by the hand of Your bounty.This seed craves, therefore,in its inmost being,for the waters of Your mercyand the living fountain of Your grace.Send down upon it,from the heaven of Your loving-kindness,that which will enable it to flourish beneath Your shadowand within the borders of Your court.Thou art That Who waters the hearts of all from Your plenteous streamand the fountain of Your living waters.Praised be to God,the Lord of the worlds.
baha'i prayers - bahá'u'lláh

Martin Luther King
Delivered at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery, Alabama, on 17 November 1957.

How do you go about loving your enemies? I think the first thing is this: In order to love your enemies, you must begin by analyzing self.
…
And this is what Jesus means when he said: "How is it that you see the splinter in your brother’s eye and fail to see the plank in your own eye?" And this is one of the tragedies of human nature. So we begin to love our enemies and love those persons that hate us whether in collective life or individual life by looking at ourselves.

A second thing that an individual must do in seeking to love his enemy is to discover the element of good in his enemy, and every time you begin to hate that person and think of hating that person, realize that there is some good there and look at those good points which will over-balance the bad points.

I’ve said to you on many occasions that each of us is something of a schizophrenic personality. We’re split up and divided against ourselves. And there is something of a civil war going on within all of our lives. There is a recalcitrant South of our soul revolting against the North of our soul. And there is this continual struggle within the very structure of every individual life. There is something within all of us that causes us to cry out with Ovid, the Latin poet, and the Apostle Paul, "I see and approve the better things of life, but the evil things I do."
There is something within all of us that causes us to cry out with Plato that the human personality is like a charioteer with two headstrong horses, each wanting to go in different directions. There is something within each of us that causes us to cry out with Goethe, "There is enough stuff in me to make both a gentleman and a rogue."
That within the best of us, there is some evil, and within the worst of us, there is some good. When we come to see this, we take a different attitude toward individuals. The person who hates you most has some good in him; even the nation that hates you most has some good in it; even the race that hates you most has some good in it. And when you come to the point that you look in the face of every man and see deep down within him what religion calls "the image of God," you begin to love him in spite of what he does, you see God’s image there. Discover the element of good in your enemy. And as you seek to hate him, find the center of goodness and place your attention there and you will take a new attitude.

Another way that you love your enemy is this: When the opportunity presents itself for you to defeat your enemy, that is the time, which you must not do it. There will come a time when the person who has misused you most, the person who has gossiped about you most, the person who has spread false rumors about you most, there will come a time when you will have an opportunity to defeat that person. It might be in terms of a recommendation for a job; it might be in terms of helping that person to make some move in life. That’s the time you must do it. That is the meaning of love. In the final analysis, love is not this sentimental something that we talk about. It’s not merely an emotional something. Love is creative, understanding goodwill for all men. It is the refusal to defeat any individual. When you rise to the level of love, of its great beauty and power, you seek only to defeat evil systems. Individuals who happen to be caught up in that system, you love, but you seek to defeat the system.

And this is what Jesus means, I think, in this very passage when he says, "Love your enemy." And it’s significant that he does not say, "Like your enemy." Like is a sentimental something, an affectionate something. There are a lot of people that I find it difficult to like. I don’t like what they do to me. I don’t like what they say about me and other people. I don’t like their attitudes. I don’t like some of the things they’re doing. I don’t like them. But Jesus says love them. And love is greater than like. Love is understanding, redemptive goodwill for all men, so that you love everybody, because God loves them. You refuse to do anything that will defeat an individual, because you have agape in your soul. And here you come to the point that you love the individual who does the evil deed, while hating the deed that the person does. This is what Jesus means when he says, "Love your enemy." This is the way to do it. When the opportunity presents itself when you can defeat your enemy, you must not do it.

[And now] to go down into the question of why we should love our enemies. I think the first reason that we should love our enemies, and I think this was at the very center of Jesus’ thinking, is this: that hate for hate only intensifies the existence of hate and evil in the universe. If I hit you and you hit me and I hit you back and you hit me back and go on, you see, that goes on ad infinitum. It just never ends. Somewhere somebody must have a little sense, and that’s the strong person. The strong person is the person who can cut off the chain of hate, the chain of evil.
… Somewhere somebody must have some sense. We must see that force begets force, hate begets hate, toughness begets toughness. And it is all a descending spiral, ultimately ending in destruction for all and everybody. Somebody must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate and the chain of evil in the universe and inject within the very structure of the universe, that strong and powerful element of love.

There’s another reason why you should love your enemies, and that is because hate distorts the personality of the hater. We usually think of what hate does for the individual hated or the groups hated. But it is even more tragic, it is even more ruinous and injurious to the individual who hates. You just begin hating somebody, and you will begin to do irrational things. You can’t see straight when you hate. You can’t walk straight when you hate. You can’t stand upright. Your vision is distorted. There is nothing more tragic than to see an individual whose heart is filled with hate. He comes to the point that he becomes a pathological case. … For the person who hates, the beautiful becomes ugly and the ugly becomes beautiful. For the person who hates, the good becomes bad and the bad becomes good. For the person who hates, the true becomes false and the false becomes true. That’s what hate does. You can’t see right. The symbol of objectivity is lost. Hate destroys the very structure of the personality of the hater.

. . . You want to be integrated with yourself, and the way to be integrated with yourself is be sure that you meet every situation of life with an abounding love… [Jesus] looked at men and said: "Love your enemies; don’t hate anybody." It’s not enough for us just not to hate your friends because—because when you start hating anybody, it destroys the very center of your creative response to life and the universe; so love everybody. Hate at any point is a cancer that gnaws away at the very vital center of your life and your existence. It is like eroding acid that eats away the best and the objective center of your life. So Jesus says love, because hate destroys the hater as well as the hated.

Now there is a final reason I think that Jesus says, "Love your enemies." It is this: that love has within it a redemptive power. And there is a power there that eventually transforms individuals. That’s why Jesus says, "Love your enemies." Because if you hate your enemies, you have no way to redeem and to transform your enemies. But if you love your enemies, you will discover that at the very root of love is the power of redemption. You just keep loving people and keep loving them, even though they’re mistreating you. Here’s the person who is a neighbor, and this person is doing something wrong to you and all of that. Just keep being friendly to that person. Keep loving them. Don’t do anything to embarrass them. Just keep loving them, and they can’t stand it too long. Oh, they react in many ways in the beginning. They react with bitterness because they’re mad because you love them like that. They react with guilt feelings, and sometimes they’ll hate you a little more at that transition period, but just keep loving them. And by the power of your love they will break down under the load. That’s love, you see. It is redemptive, and this is why Jesus says love. There’s something about love that builds up and is creative. There is something about hate that tears down and is destructive. So love your enemies.

STORY of PRAHLAD

STORY of OMAR OSAMA BIN LADEN

Please call me by my true names
Call Me by My True Names
Do not say that I'll depart tomorrow because even today I still arrive.
Look deeply: I arrive in every second to be a bud on a spring branch, to be a tiny bird, with wings still fragile, learning to sing in my new nest, to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower, to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.
I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry, in order to fear and to hope. The rhythm of my heart is the birth and death of all that are alive.
I am the mayfly metamorphosing on the surface of the river,and I am the bird which,
when spring comes, arrives in time to eat the mayfly.
I am the frog swimming happily in the clear pond, and I am also the grass-snake who, approaching in silence,
feeds itself on the frog.
I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones,
my legs as thin as bamboo sticks, and I am the arms merchant, selling deadly weapons to Uganda.
I am the twelve-year-old girl, refugee on a small boat,who throws herself into the ocean after being raped by a sea pirate,and I am the pirate, my heart not yet capable of seeing and loving.
I am a member of the politburo, with plenty of power in my hands,and I am the man who has to pay his "debt of blood" to, my people,dying slowly in a forced labor camp.
My joy is like spring, so warm it makes flowers bloom in all walks of life.My pain if like a river of tears, so full it fills the four oceans.
Please call me by my true names, so I can hear all my cries and laughs at once, so I can see that my joy and pain are one.
Please call me by my true names, so I can wake up, and so the door of my heart can be left open, the door of compassion.
Thich Nhat Hanh

image of Godborn of God's breathvessel of divine Love after his likeness dwelling of Godcapacity for the infinite eternally known chosen of God home of the Infinite Majesty abiding in the Son called from eternity life in the Lord temple of the Holy Spirit branch of Christ receptacle of the Most High wellspring of Living Water heir of the kingdom the glory of Godabode of the Trinity.God sings this litany eternally in his Word. This is who you are.
a litany of the person –
anonymous trappist monk

Ahimsa, January 20, 2008

2008-03-02T13:57:00.002-07:00

Opening Prayer 1-20-07

Send Thy peace O Lord, which isperfect and everlasting,that our souls may radiate peace.Send Thy peace O Lord, that we may think, act and speak harmoniously.Send Thy peace O Lord, that we may be contented and thankful forThy bountiful gifts.Send Thy peace O Lord, that amidstour worldly strife, we may enjoy Thy bliss.Send Thy peace O Lord, that we may endure all, tolerate all, in the thought of Thy grace and mercy.Send Thy peace O Lord, that our lives may become a Divine vision and in Thy light,all darkness may vanish.Send Thy peace O Lord, our Father and Mother,that we Thy children on Earth may allunite in one family.
prayer for peace -
pir-o-murshid inayat khan - 1921

Violence at its worst may be non-physical. A violent act is a desperate act. It is the demand of a person to force another to honor his desire and his need to be cared for, to be understood above the other’s need. It is a plea. A begging or a demand to have one’s need to belong fulfilled.
Howard Thurman

Non violence arises from a deep inner unity and an expression of divine oneness – an endless sea of mercy.
Non violence of the Divine calls us to an act of transformation, to recognize that power and to never believe that negativity is a final condition.
No one can prevent us from loving.
Beverly Lanzetta

If everything is connected, we cannot disconnect.To disconnect is not a real choice.This is why we are always spiritual no matter what we do.Every alcoholic is spiritual. All our brothers and sisters are spiritual.We may not be behaving correctly, but nevertheless, we arespiritual. Our choice is to live out of harmony with spiritual ways orin harmony with spiritual ways. Everything is spiritual.Great Spirit, give me the knowledgeto be in harmony with the spirit today.
It's all spirit and it's all connected."--
Grandfather William Commanda , ALGONQUIN

What is this self inside us, this silent observer,Severe and speechless critic, who can terrorize us,And urge us on to futile activity,And in the end, judge us still more severely,For the errors into which his own reproaches drove us?--
T. S. Eliot

Self-acceptance is my refusal to be in an adversarial relationship tomyself.-- Nathaniel Branden
Everytime we heal ourselves we participate in non-violence.
Beverly Lanzetta

Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.
Howard Thurman

Contributor: Rachel
Location: Bloomington, IL
Country: United States of America
Series: Contemporary

This I Believe
Growing up, the name Douglas Wright was a source of fear: a dread that the man who murdered my maternal grandparents would somehow be able to hurt me too. He was my boogeyman, my nighttime terror; as a child, I had a vague impression that he existed somewhere, but it was not until I realized the true meaning of my grandparents' murder that the man became a source of bitter anger.I stayed angry from the time I was eleven till the summer I turned thirteen. My mother and I returned to California, an odyssey which was as essential as it was heartbreaking. With every turn down the streets of Fairfield, I saw my grandparents' ghosts: I wondered as we passed every street, every park, "Where they here? Did they laugh as they watched their children play? What would it have been like to have met them, seen them, spent time with them?"One morning, my mother took me to the Fairfield Public Library; I was allowed, for the first time, to view the legal details surrounding my grandparents' murder, Douglas Wright's trial, and his subsequent conviction.What struck me most was a quote from his mother: she told the media, the entire state of California, that she loved her son and planned to stand by him. Reading that quote became one of the most important moments of my life: Douglas Wright was a son he was no longer a vague impression of a night terror. He was someone's son, and she loved him more than life.Before that moment, I had never realized that Douglas Wright is not solely a murderer but is also a son, a living, breathing person. There must have been, at some point in his life, moments during which he felt love for others. All people, even murderers, are human beings they are capable of feeling love and being loved. I cannot hate Douglas Wright; I have not hated him since the summer I turned thirteen. His mother loved him, and I cannot hate him. I can only remember the love I have been given, and use that love to forgive

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.
St Francis

O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen.
St Francis

Ahimsa, January 13, 2008

2008-03-02T13:55:00.001-07:00

1-13-08

Practice of Ahimsa (non-harm) develops love. Ahimsa is another name for truth or love. Ahimsa is universal love. It is pure love. It is divine Love. Where there is love, there you will find Ahimsa. Where there is Ahimsa, there you will find love and selfless service. They all go together.
There is one religion - the religion of love, of peace. There is one message, the message of Ahimsa. Ahimsa is a great spiritual force.
Sri Swami Sivananda

Donald Weeks
Donald Weeks, Sanskrit name Janak began studying Kripalu Yoga in 1991, in that same year he met his teacher yogi Amrit Desai, which started the process of transformation.He has lived and worked at the Amrit Yoga Institute for the past 3 1/2 years as music director and audio technician. He shares his joy for chanting and transformation with you today from his heart and his love.

You are the peace of all things calmYou are the place to hide from harmYou are the light that shines in darkYou are the heart's eternal sparkYou are the door that's open wideYou are the guest who waits insideYou are the stranger at the doorYou are the calling of the poorYou are my Lord and with me stillYou are my love, keep me from illYou are the light, the truth, the wayYou are my Saviour this very day.
you are god –
AMEN
Celtic oral tradition - 1st millennium

Beloved, to Thee I raise my whole being,a vessel emptied of self. Accept, O Lord,this my emptiness, and so fill me withThy Self --- Thy Light, Thy Love, ThyLife --- that these Thy precious Giftsmay radiate through me and over-flow the chalice of my heart intothe hearts of all with whom Icome in contact this day,revealing unto themthe beauty ofThy joyandWholenessandtheserenityof Thy Peacewhich nothing can destroy.
prayer of the chalice –
francis nuttall

Ahimsa, January 6, 2008

2008-03-02T13:40:00.003-07:00

Jan 6, 2008

Holy Mystery
As we join together this morning in the light of your presence,
we are reminded that we are all one in the divine heart.
May this longing for oneness transform our world.
May our hearts be opened, in the very depths where we find you, God,
May our hearts be open to the glorious expression of your love found in all our religions and spiritual traditions.
You speak to us, Holy Mystery, in this diversity, and we are enriched and humbled by the breadth and depth of your Words.
May our gathering together this morning signify our hopes for the harmony of our planet, the alleviation of suffering, food for the hungry, shelter for the homeless, and respect for the poor. May this flame be a testimony of our willingness to struggle together toward the peace of inclusiveness, loving all and embracing all in the family of creation.
Amen.

Literally speaking, ahimsa means non-violence.
But to me it has much higher, infinitely higher meaning.
It means that you may not offend anybody; you may not harbor uncharitable thought, even in connection with those who you consider your enemies.
To one who follows this doctrine, there are no enemies.
A man who believes in the efficacy of this doctrine finds in the ultimate stage, when he is about to reach the goal,
the whole world at his feet.
If you express your love- Ahimsa-in such a manner that it impresses itself indelibly upon your so called enemy,
he must return that love.
Gandhi

The human capacity for peace – ahimsa – is a capacity affecting every domain of our lives. And so it must be in all of these domains that we explore the dimensions of ahimsa, and hear the voices, which are voices of ahimsa.
http://www.ahimsaberkeley.org/index.php?page=voices-of-ahimsa

There is within us, in even the brightest, most lighthearted among us, a fundamental ‘dis-ease’ that acts like an unquenchable fire that renders the vast majority of us incapable of, in this life, of ever coming to full peace. This desire lies in the marrow of our bones, the deep regions of our soul. All great literature, poetry, art, philosophy, psychology, and religion tries to name and analyze this longing. We are seldom in direct touch with it. And, indeed, the modern world seems set on preventing us from getting in touch with it by covering it with an unending phantasmagoria of entertainment, obsessions, and distractions of every sort. But the longing is there, built into us like a jack in the box that presses for release. That is the hidden hunger that is within all of us. The San people of the Kalahari Desert refer to it as the “Deep Hunger” which is even deeper than the physical hunger of the stomach.
Huston Smith

St. Thomas Aquinas
I have a cause
We need those don’t we?
Otherwise the darkness and the cold get in
and everything starts
to ache.
My soul has a purpose, it is
to love;
if I
do not fulfill
my heart’s vocation
I suffer.

Louder than yelling ...
BY LOOLWA KHAZZOOMSpecial to The ExaminerAFTER THE DOUBLE suicide bombing in Tel Aviv twoweeks ago, all I wanted to do was hide out in my apartment and keep a lowprofile.I was wondering once again if all the heartacheand terror were worth living in Israel. But then a close friend, EliyahuMcLean, a fellow Lowell High School alum and peace activist, e-mailed meabout an Arab-Jewish peace walk after the attack.When he told me that a bus full of Arab teenagerswas coming from the North to join this walk, I felt deeply touched. In myexperience, Arab-Jewish peace events were attended almostexclusively by Jews. I felt inspired that the youths were risking their ownsafety to come to Tel Aviv right after an attack against Israel, to stand sideby side with Jews and condemn the violence. If they could do it, so could I.As I arrived, I noticed an old man with a longwhite kafia to the right, two women with veils to the left, and a large groupof youths in between, speaking Arabic. I wanted to cry from the sense ofsolidarity.A meditation gong rang out to bring all the participants to silence. It rang out again, and we began a four-hour walk fromYaffo through Tel Aviv.Friday afternoons are full of pre-Sabbath hustleand bustle. The contrast between our single-file quiet line and thenoise around us was startling, causing an external and internal impact.Everywhere we went, people asked, "What's thisabout?" We handed them fliers with a full text explaining the walk's mission-- to unite Arabs and Jews as human beings, promoting tolerance andnonviolence. Some people just stood and watched, clearly touched. Others droppedwhat they were doing and joined our walk.Inside, I felt a growing sense of calm. I felt connected to and strengthened by the silent walkers before and after me. I felt that our love for each other as human beings was stronger than all the hatred in the region.Others seemed to share my feeling. "A lot of times in the past," an Arab youth later told me, "when I came to Tel Aviv, people made unpleasant remarks at me as an Arab. I got very upset about that. But now, the people on these walks are always with me in my heart. So I don't pay attention to other people's comments anymore."Against the backdrop of extreme levels of daily violence, the silent expression of human love may be the loudest, most powerful force around

Eternal wellspring of Peace –
May we be drenched with the longing for peace
That we may give ourselves over to peace
Until the earth overflows with peace
As living waters overflow with the seas.
Marcia Falk

Psalm 131 translated by Stephen Mitchell

Lord, my mind is not noisy with desires,
and my heart has satisfied its longing,
I do not care about religion
or anything that is not you.
I have soothed and quieted my soul,
like a child at its mother’s breast.
My soul is as peaceful as a child
sleeping in its mother’s arms.
Amen

Renewal: December 30, 2007

2008-01-27T16:34:00.001-07:00

Living Spirits of Earth

Mother and father of us all

You who hold us to Your breath

You who bathe us in Your waters

Who feed us with Your fruits

Guardian of where we are going

of who we are becoming

Cradle our days and coffin our nights

You who carry us folded in Your arms

Sailing silently among the stars

Hear our Prayers –

The Terma Collective

Write it on your heart
that every day is the best day in the year.
He is rich who owns the day,

and no one owns the day
who allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety.

Finish every day and be done with it.
You have done what you could.
Some blunders and absurdities, no doubt crept in.
Forget them as soon as you can, tomorrow is a new day;
begin it well and serenely, with too high a spirit
to be cumbered with your old nonsense.

This new day is too dear,
with its hopes and invitations,
to waste a moment on the yesterdays.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Everything -- absolutely everything -- that happens in our lives has a
spiritual cause. Mental, emotional and physical events are only effects.
When we are struggling with any challenge, whether it be ill health, a
lack of money, a lost job, relationships, an accident, whatever -- we
need to look for the spiritual learning. We can ask ourselves, "What
quality does my soul want me to live more fully?"
"I went to the root of things, and found nothing but Him alone." – Mira Bai

Empower me

to be a bold participant,

rather than a timid saint in waiting,

in the difficult ordinariness of now;

to exercise the authority of honesty,

rather than defer to power,

or deceive to get it;

to influence someone for justice,

rather than impress anyone for gain;

and, by grace, to find treasures

of joy, of friendship, of peace

hidden in the fields of the daily

you give me to plow.

Ted Loder

To expect to have faith before embarking on the disciplines of the spiritual life is like putting the cart before the horse. In all the great traditions, prophets, sages, and mystics spend very little time telling their disciples what they ought to believe.

…

All the great teachers of spirituality in all the major traditions have … insisted that before you can have faith, you must life a compassionate life, transcending the demands of the clamorous ego and recognizing the sacred in others; you must perform rituals … that make even the most mundane detail of our lives an encounter with the Ultimate; all traditions insist that you must also pray. Prayer is thus not born of belief and intellectual conviction; it is a practice that creates faith. Karen Armstrong

I Am the New Year. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bible Illustrator

I am the new year. I am an unspoiled page in your book of time.

I am your next chance at the art of living. I am your opportunity to practice what you have learned about life during the last twelve months.

All that you sought and didn’t find is hidden in me, waiting for you to search it but with more determination.

All the good that you tried for and didn’t achieve is mine to grant when you have fewer conflicting desires.

All that you dreamed but didn’t dare to do, all that you hoped but did not will, all the faith that you claimed but did not have—these slumber lightly, waiting to be awakened by the touch of a strong purpose.

I am your opportunity to renew your allegiance to Him who said, "Behold, I make all things new."

Going deeper, releasing more.

Having less, feeling more.

Watching, waiting, feeling strength grow within me.

I challenge the old, the painful, the regrets.

I welcome the newborn, green shoots of awareness.

I open my center to light and love.

I let go in order to have.

No one can tell me where I must go, what I must do.

I follow the path of my opening heart to a place

where only joy and light are present.

Where peace and acceptance are constant.

Here it is never dark or cold.

Harsh words have no power.

The sun is always rising,

In the Beginning darkness covered the face of the deep

Then the rushing breath of life hovered over the waters.

Let us breathe together.

Let us catch our breaths from the need to make, to do

Let us become conscious of the breath of life.

We breathe out what the trees breathe in.

We breathe in what the trees breathe out.

Together we breathe each other into life.

Blessed is the One with the many.

Blessed are the many who make one.

Arthur Waskow

Christmas Eve 2007

2008-01-27T16:32:00.000-07:00

Most Holy Mystery

As we celebrate this Christmas may we be reminded of our own divinity.

May we birth the light which is within us.

May we spread the Love of our deepest hearts

May we find Humility and Joy

As we celebrate this Christmas

May we remember to breathe and still our busy minds.

May we, our families, loved ones, and all beings know your Benevolence.

May we find the Peace of this moment, every moment.

As we celebrate this Christmas

May we find generosity of spirit

May we find ways to serve our fellow human beings

May we find ways to bring Peace to the earth

Amen

Sing my tongue; sing my hand;

sing my feet, sing my knee,

my loins, my whole body.

Indeed I am His

choir.

St. Thomas Aquinas

SONG: O Come All Ye Faithful

“Christmas” by Friedrich Buechner

from “Whistling in the Dark” (paraphrased)

The young parents do all the things you’re “supposed” to do on Christmas Eve. They tuck in the children, they scurry around trying to finish all of the things that they said they would do weeks ago. “This year is going to be different,” they proclaimed back in November…but it’s pretty much the same. The stockings are the same, the Egg Nogg’s the same, even the candles on the mantle are the same because they never actually burn them – they’re just for decoration.

Finally, everything is done. It’s 2 a.m. Just as they are about to fall exhausted into bed, she remembers the neighbor’s sheep. “You promised you’d feed them,” she tells him. In the rush they had forgotten all about them. So down the hill he goes through knee-deep snow. He gets two bales of hay from the barn and carries them into the shed. There’s a forty-watt bulb hanging by its cord from the low roof, and he turns it on. The sheep huddle in a corner watching as he snaps the bailing twine, shakes the squares of hay apart and starts scattering it. Then they come bumbling and shoving to get at it with their foolish, mild faces, their puffs of breath showing in the air. He is reaching to turn off the light and leave when suddenly he realizes where he is. The winter darkness. The glimmer of light. The smell of the hay and the sound of the animals eating. Where he is, of course, is the manger.

He only just saw it. On his best days he believes that everything that is most precious anywhere comes from that manger; yet he might easily have gone home to bed never knowing that he himself had just been in the manger. The world is the manger. It is only by grace that he happens to see part of the miracle.

Christmas itself is by grace. It could never have survived our own blindness and damage otherwise. It could never have happened otherwise. Perhaps it is the very wildness and strangeness of the grace that has led us to try to tame it. We have tried to make it habitable: The lovely old carols play and replay till their effect is like a dentist’s drill or a jackhammer; the sappy sentimentalism; the chilling commercialism; people spending money they can’t afford on presents we neither need nor want; “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer;” the plastic tree, the candy-coatedness of it all; the Hallmark Nativity Scene. Yet, for all of our efforts, we’ve never quite managed to ruin it. That in itself is part of the miracle, a part you can see. Most of the miracle we can’t see, or don’t.

We have roofed it in and furnished it. We have reduced it to an occasion we feel at home with, at best a touching and beautiful occasion, at worst a trite and ridiculous one. But if the Christmas event in itself is indeed—as a matter of cold, hard fact—all it’s cracked up to be, then even at best our efforts are misleading.

The Word became flesh. Ultimate mystery born within a body so small that it could be crushed in an instant. Incarnation. It is not tame. It is not touching. It is not beautiful. It is uncomfortable. It is unthinkable darkness torn apart by unbearable light. Agonized laboring led to it, space and time split apart, a wrenching and tearing of the very fibers of reality itself. You can only cover your eyes and shudder before it, before this: “Almighty God, Prince of Peace,” who was born, who is born – to us!

Only then do we dare uncover our eyes and see what we can see. It is the Resurrection and the Life she holds in her arms. It is the bitterness of death he takes at her breast. All wrapped up in one, tiny little baby – our hope, our life, our vulnerability, our end, our beginning, our light.

SONG: What Child is This?

All beings are words of God,

His music, His art.

Sacred books we are, for the infinite camps

in our

souls.

Every act reveals God and expands his Being.

I know that may be hard

to comprehend.

All creatures are doing their best

to help God in His birth

of Himself.

Enough talk for the night.

He is laboring in me;

I need to be silent

for awhile,

worlds are forming

in my heart.

Meister Eckhardt

Vulnerable we are, like an infant,

We need each other’s care

or we will

suffer.

St Catherine of Siena

The Crib Beneath the Christmas Tree - reading

I like this side of you I see

in the crib beneath the Christmas tree

I see a God who lets go of power

so I won’t be afraid of him

I see a God who lets go of riches

so I won’t be embarrassed to be his friend

I see a God who lets go of wisdom

so I won’t feel stupid when I talk to him

I see a God who lets go of being judge

so I feel free to be myself with him

I see a God who lets go of experience

so I can start from scratch with him

I see a God who lets go of expectations

and loves me as I am

I see a God who lets go of independence

and needs me to do for him

I see a God who lets go of maturity

and lets me sing a lullaby to him

I see a descending God

who moves downward to be with me

I see a humble God

who chooses to be on the same level with me

I see a poor God

who comes begging love from us

I see a newborn baby

in this crib

beneath the Christmas tree.

(Little Sisters of Jesus)

SONG: O Holy Night

I will start the lighting of our candles with a blessing then each person will pass the light on to the next. After the last reading and music, you may go into the night silently, carrying your light (or you can leave it at the door if your wish).

O Spirit, as light comes from this candle, may the blessing of Jesus Christ come to us, warming our hearts and brightening our way. May the spirit of Christ bring life into the darkness of this world, and to us, as we rejoice at his coming.

After all candles have been lit:

God has sent the Spirit of the Child dancing into our hearts.
The time has come for our birth.
Leap within the world’s womb!
Let us go forth into an expectant world.
Do not take with you a cry of pain, believing that you are
thrust into the midst of strangers.
May we take with us a cry of recognition, knowing that
we have entered the company of sisters and brothers.

SONG: Silent Night

May the Light of the Divine Shine upon us

May the Love of the Divine heal our struggling world

May the birth of the Divine take place again and again

In each of our Hearts

Beverly Lanzetta

Renewal: December 23, 2007

2008-01-27T16:29:00.000-07:00

Most gracious Spirit

Mother, Master, Messiah, and Savior of humanity

We greet You in all humility.

You are the First Cause and the Last Effect

The Divine Light and the Spirit of guidance

Alpha and Omega

Your light in all forms

Your love in all beings

In a loving mother, in a kind father,

in an innocent child,

in a helpful friend,

and in an inspiring teacher.

Allow us to recognize You in all Your names and forms,

as Radha, Krishna, as Shiva, As Buddha

as the Goddess Durga, as Anu, as Persephone

Let us know You as Abraham, as Solomon, as Lilith

as Zarathustra, as Moses, as Sophia,

as Jesus and Mary,

as Mohammed and Khadijah,

as Rumi, as Rab’ia

and in many other names and forms known and

unknown to the world.

We adore Your past, Your Presence deeply enlightens our

being , and we look for Your blessing in the future.

O messenger, Christ, Eve, Nabi, the Rasul of God!

You whose heart constantly reaches upwards,

You come on earth with a message

as a dove from above when Dharma decays, and

speak the Word which is put into Your mouth as

the light fills the crescent moon.

Let the star of the Divine Light, shining in Your heart

be reflected in the hearts of Your devotees.

May the Message of the Divine reach far and wide,

illuminating and making whole humanity as

one single sister/brotherhood in the Mother/Fatherhood of God.

Amen Adapted by Neema from a Sufi Prayer

Reading from The Gospel According to Dawn –

“The Innkeeper’s Wife” – Dawn Annette Mills OSB

The angels dance in your wake
The sun rises for your glory
Stars illume in your light
Magnificent and eternal
My Lord Jesus
My timeless love

justina m. pernetter

My soul magnifies the Lord
and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour.
For he has regarded
the lowliness of his handmaiden.
For behold, from henceforth
all generations shall call me blessed.
For he that is mighty has magnified me
and holy is his name.
And his mercy is on them that fear him
throughout all generations.
He has showed strength with his arm
he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down the mighty from their seat
and has exalted the humble and meek.
He has filled the hungry with good things
and the rich he has sent empty away.
He remembering his mercy has helped his servant Israel
as he promised to our forefathers, Abraham and his seed, for ever.

- song of mary - gospel of luke - 1:46-55

"The Magnificat,"- based on Mary's Song from the birth narrative of the Gospel of Luke. That song can be found in Luke 1:46-55

My soul sings in gratitude.
I'm dancing in the mystery of God.
The light of the Holy One is within me
and I am blessed, so truly blessed.

This goes deeper than human thinking.
I am filled with awe
at Love whose only condition
is to be received.

The gift is not for the proud,
for they have no room for it.

The strong and self-sufficient ones
don't have this awareness.

But those who know their emptiness
can rejoice in Love's fullness.

It's the Love that we are made for,
the reason for our being.

It fills our inmost heart space
and brings to birth in us, the Holy One.

Joy Cowley, Auckland, New Zealand

Renewal: December 16, 2007

2008-01-27T16:27:00.000-07:00

So

Precious

is a person’s faith in God,

so precious

never should we harm

that.

Because

He gave birth

to all

religions.

St Francis of Assisi

first reading:

In striving to recognize the primacy of Fire and Light,
I feel kinship with my Zoroastrian brothers and sisters.
In striving to obey the Ten Commandments,
I feel kinship with my Jewish brothers and sisters.
In striving to be kind to neighbor and the needy,
I feel kinship with my Christian brothers and sisters.
In striving to be compassionate to creatures great and small,
I feel kinship with my Buddhist-Jaina brothers and sisters.
In striving to surrender myself completely to God Almighty,
I feel kinship with my Muslim brothers and sisters.
In the recognition that wisdom flows from enlightened masters,
I feel kinship with my Sikh brothers and sisters.
In remembering that serving people should be the goal of religion,
I feel kinship with my Baha'i brothers and sisters.
In my respect and reverence for Nature that sustains us,
I feel kinship with my Native American brothers and sisters.
In feeling that these and more are all paths to the same Divinity,
I feel kinship with my Hindu brothers and sisters.
In my love and laughter, joy and pain,
I feel kinship with all my fellow humans.
In my need for nourishment and instinct to live on,
I feel kinship with all beings on the planet.
In my spiritual ecstasy with this wondrous world,
I feel kinship with the Cosmic Whole.

universal reflection - v. v. raman - cape of good hope - 1999

I desire neither earthly kingdom,
nor even freedom from birth and death.
I desire only the deliverance from grief
of all those afflicted by misery.
Oh Lord, lead us from the unreal to the real;
from darkness to light;
from death to immortality.
May there be peace in celestial regions.
May there be peace on earth.
May the waters be appeasing.
May herbs be wholesome and
may trees and plants bring peace to all.
May all beneficent beings bring peace to us.
May thy wisdom spread peace all through the world.
May all things be a source of peace to all and to me.
Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.

hindu peace prayer - mahatma gandhi

Vulnerable

we are,

like an infant,

we need each other’s care

or we will

suffer.

St Catherine of Siena

From the point of Light within the Mind of God
Let light stream forth into the minds of men.
Let Light descend on Earth.

From the point of Love within the Heart of God
Let love stream forth into the hearts of men.
May * Christ return to Earth.

From the centre where the Will of God is known
Let purpose guide the little wills of men --
The purpose which the Masters know and serve.

From the centre which we call the race of men
Let the Plan of Love and Light work out.
And may it seal the door where evil dwells.

Let Light and Love and Power
restore the Plan on Earth.

the great invocation - maitreya

second reading:

Peace be to earth and to airy space!

Peace be to heaven, peace to the waters,

Peace to the plant, and peace to the trees!

May all the powers grant to me peace!

By this invocation of peace may peace be diffused!

By this invocation of peace may peace bring peace!

With this peace the dreadful I now appease,

With this peace the cruel I now appease,

With this peace all evil I now appease,

So that peace may prevail, happiness prevail!

May everything for us be peaceful!

(Atharva Veda XIX--Hindu Scriptures)

Great Spirit, Divine One, Creator
who is heaven earth rock wind insect tree fox
human of every size shape color

Holy are your infinite names chanted sung whispered
shouted in every language, tongue.

We will midwife the rebirth of Gaia
as best we can
restoring the Great Law of Peace.

Guide our hands to the soil and seed
honoring the alchemy of food.
Let us remember your abundance
and share the bread of life with any who hunger.

We are for giving
and giving and giving.
We trust in the give-away.
We give and receive.

Let us be humble before the darkness and the light
walking in harmony amidst them.
Give us courage to know them intimately
both within and without.

For you have breathed it all---
the behind, the above, the below, the beyond.
Your awesome power courses in our veins
and animates our hearts.
You are the Great Drum.

We thank you.

translation of the lord's prayer
from King James to Gaian - claudia l'amoreaux

Holy Mystery of Peace

(B.Lanzetta)

Holy Mystery draw us

to the dwelling place

of peace.

Silent Mystery still us

with the brilliance

of emptiness.

Fiery Mystery wound us

with the cautery

of an open heart.

Love’s Mystery inspire us

to embrace all creation

as family.

Mystery of Forgiveness

fill us with healing balm

throughout the year.

renewal: December 9, 2007

2008-01-27T16:24:00.000-07:00

12-9-07 Renewal

God of grace, creation and renewal:

We are people who unwittingly take the many miracles of life for granted.

We thank you for you wondrous gifts of clean air,

clean water, wholesome food:

those simple things upon which our lives depend.

We thank you for your wondrous gifts of color, sound, taste, aroma, texture, that delight our senses and add a special beauty to our days.

We thank you for the gift of each other,

and pray that we may truly treat

each other a gifts from you.

Teach us to enjoy the wonder of life, O God.

Receive these gifts we return to you in token of our thanksgiving.

Use them and use us in love for your world.

amen

To everything there is a season,
a time for every purpose under the sun.
A time to be born and a time to die;
a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
a time to kill and a time to heal ...
a time to weep and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn and a time to dance ...
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to lose and a time to seek;
a time to rend and a time to sew;
a time to keep silent and a time to speak;
a time to love and a time to hate;
a time for war and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

The term advent connotes not only an arrival, but also that which is yet to come. The very word itself expresses a strange interpenetration of the present and the future of what now exists and what is yet to come, of possession and expectation. The incarnation of the Word of God took place in the past and still continues in the present . . . and yet is constantly at the point of coming. The expectation of this return and the memorial of [t]his entrance into the word are both celebrated in the advent liturgy.

Karl Rahner

Life is short and we have not too much time
for gladdening the hearts of those
who are traveling the dark way with us.
Oh, be swift to love! Make haste to be kind.

Henri-Frederic Amiel – 1885

There are four seasons of the heart. Several seasons can be present simultaneously in the heart, though usually, at any one time, one season is dominant in your life. . . . In the autumn time of your life your experience is harvested. . . . [This]invites you to become aware of the sacred circle that shelters your life. Within the harvest cycle you are able to gather lost moments and experiences, bring them together, and hold them as one.

. . .

In wintertime nature withdraws. A tree looses its leaves and retires inward. When it is wintertime in your life you are going through pain, difficulty or turbulence. At such times it is wise to follow your instinct and withdraw into yourself. . . you need sanctuary in the shelter of your own soul.

. . .

There is a lovely phrase in Gaelic that means there is a quivering life about to break forth. Spring is a youthful season; it comes forth in a rush of life and promise, hope, and possibility. At the heart of the spring there is a great inner longing. It is a time when desire an memory stir toward each other. Springtime in your soul is a wonderful time to undertake some new adventure. . . . then the rythmn, the energy, and the hidden ligt of your own clay works with you.

. . .

Summertime in your soul is a time of balance, a time of light, growth, arrival. You are in the flow of your own nature. You can take as many risks as you like and you will always land on your feet. There is enough shelter and depth of texture around you to compleely ground, balance , and mind you.

John O’Donohue

Many people regularly squander their time. They live under the
assumption that they'll live forever. As a result, they don't value the
present as a precious opportunity that will never come again.
Others continually race against time, trying to cram too many activities
into each hour, and suffering stress in the process.
In our view, we are more effective and most happy when we balance being
and doing. We continually ask ourselves what's most important to get
done. And we're learning to BE -- fully present -- when we do. We also
regularly give ourselves permission to relax.
Make today really matter. It's all you'll ever have.

Deepak Chopra
"Very few of us know how much we can put into life if we use it
properly, wisely, and economically. Let us economize our time --
lifetimes ebb away before we wake up, and that is why we do not realize
the value of the immortal time God has given us."
-- Paramahansa Yogananda

Awaken To a new dawn,
I stretch to Infinity 'n reach Beyond the Stars,
In an instant I return,
filling every tissue, sinew, with Joy,
I feed the nectar of life, into each molecule and cell,
The mind and body embrace Divine love
Through the eye of time I see eternity,
Life in life shine bright,
Shine the torch of majestic light,
Find the path to my universal frame,
So I may bask in the wisdom of pure potential,
Guide my hand to write your words.

the writers prayer - Michael levy

The sons of men are one
and I am one with them.
I seek to love not hate.
I seek to serve and not exact due service.
I seek to heal not hurt.
Let pain bring due reward of light and love.
Let the soul control the outer form
and life and all events,
and bring to light the love which underlies
the happenings of the time.
Let vision come and insight;
let the future stand revealed.
Let inner union demonstrate
and outer cleavages be gone.
Let love prevail.
Let all men love.

mantram of unification - maitreya

The angels dance in your wake
The sun rises for your glory
Stars illume in your light
Magnificent and eternal
My Lord Jesus
My timeless love

justina m. pernetter

Renewal: December 2, 2007

2008-01-27T16:19:00.000-07:00

12-2-07

Create in me a pure heart, O my God,
and renew a tranquil conscience within me, O my Hope!
Through the spirit of power confirm your presence
O my Best-Beloved,
and by the light of your glory reveal to me your path,
You are the Goal of my desire!
Through the power of your transcendent might
lift me up unto the heaven of your holiness,
O Source of my being,
and by the breezes of your eternity gladden me,
O Thou Who art my God!
Let your everlasting melodies breathe tranquillity on me,
O my Companion,
and let the riches of your ancient countenance
deliver me from all except your presence,
O my Mother,
Let the tidings of the revelation of your
incorruptible Essence bring me joy,
O You Who is the most manifest of the manifest
and the most hidden of the hidden!

Adapted from Baha'i prayers - Bahá'u'lláh

It's hard for some of us to believe that the world is served when we
seek happiness. We've been taught that this is selfish. If we stop to reflect on how we are in the world when we are happy, we can see how this serves. We have more vitality. We're more loving and generous to others when our own needs are met. What activities bring you greatest joy? Your unique gift to the world will be found in those pastimes you love the most. How can you live your joy each day?

"Spiritual growth is not made in reaction against, for all striving
against imposed restrictions is imaginary. Spiritual growth is
accomplished by inclination toward. We grow like the sunflower,
following the light."
-- Joy Houghton

Our God, who celebrates who we are,
turns us from ourselves to a world in need.

We go out to share the patience of God
with those who usually exasperate us.

Christ appoints us to serve in difficult places,
challenging the false values of our world.

We go out to live what we profess
and to profess what we really believe.

God rejoices in the lost who are found
and strengthens us with overflowing mercy and grace.

We venture into new experiences
in the confidence that God cares for us.
Amen.

Basil Mathews was walking along the dusty streets of an Arabian village. He met a tall, young, Arab boy playing a flute. He asked to see the flute and it seemed surprisingly heavy. After examining it he discovered it was made out of an old gun barrel. The boy explained that he had picked up the gun in an area where there had been fierce fighting. He filed it down and drilled holes in it. From a weapon of destruction he had created an instrument of music. (from, Ride the Wild Horses, by J. Wallace Hamilton)

The great benefit of heightened awareness is that we have more choice in
how we live our lives. At any moment, we can purposefully choose a new
experience for ourselves. We can choose to pay attention, breathe more
deeply, laugh, rest, play, appreciate, do something different - the
possibilities are endless.

Whenever you remember, take yourself off auto-pilot and really examine
your situation. Take charge and make a choice that will enrich your
experience. At the end of the day, reflect on what happened and how you
felt when you chose a new line of thought, feeling or action.

"We cannot tell what may happen to us in the strange medley of life. But
we can decide what happens in us -- how we can take it, what we do with
it -- and that is what really counts in the end."
-- Joseph Fort Newton

I invite you to enter for a moment
into Sacred Time and Space,
into a way of seeing that is broad and spacious.
See this Day, from the time you arose this morning
until you sleep this evening, as one Ceremony,
divided into small and familiar rituals,
your Heart as the Altar.
You, part of the Cycles of Light and Darkness.

Now begin to see your Life,
from the moment of your Conception
until the time of your Death
as one long, continuous Ceremony,
filled with many rituals,
some familiar, some unknown and challenging.
Your Home and all Your Relations, the Altar.
You, part of many Seasons and Cycles.

Now see this Ceremony of your Life
as part of a much larger Ceremony that extends
Seven Generations into the Past and Seven into the Future,
made up of many Births and Deaths.
This beautiful spinning Earth the Altar.
You, part of the great Ebb and Flow.

Now, if You will, imagine this larger Ceremony
to be but one part of a Ceremony so grand,
so magnificent as to be hardly comprehensible,
a great, vast Ceremonial Circle, rich and vibrant
with millions upon millions of swirling
Circles of Dancing Light,
and You, one of those Dancing Circles,
a Dancer on the Altar that is the Universe,
where Time is Eternal.

May You Dance In Beauty.

circle wisdom - Sedonia Cahill

Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

bible - psalm 51:10-12 - king david

Life is short and we have not too much time
for gladdening the hearts of those
who are traveling the dark way with us.
Oh, be swift to love! Make haste to be kind.

henri-frederic amiel – 1885

GRATITUDE: November 25, 2007

2008-01-27T16:14:00.000-07:00

11/25/07

God of grace, creation and renewal:

We are people who unwittingly take the many miracles of life for granted.

We thank you for you wondrous gifts of clean air, clean water,

wholesome food:

those simple things upon which our lives depend.

We thank you for your wondrous gifts of color, sound, taste, aroma, texture, that delight our senses and add a special beauty to our days.

We thank you for the gift of each other,

and pray that we may truly treat each other as gifts from you.

Teach us to enjoy the wonder of life, O God.

Receive these gifts we return to you in token of our thanksgiving.

Use them and use us in love for your world.

The great sea

Has sent me adrift,

It moves me as a weed in a great river,

Earth and the great weather

Move me,

Have carried me away

And move my inward parts with joy.

Inuit

My work is loving the world.

Here are the sunflowers, there the hummingbird –

equal seekers of sweetness

Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums

Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.

Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?

Am I no longer young, and still not half perfect? Let me

keep my mind on what matters,

which is my work,

which is mostly standing still and learning g to be

astonished.

The phoebe the delphinium.

The sheep in the pasture and the pasture.

Which is mostly rejoicing, since all the ingredients are here,

which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart

and these body-clothes,

a mouth with which to give shouts of joy

to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,

telling them all, over and over, how it is

that we live forever.

Mary Oliver

Researchers find the virtues of gratitude include good health.

From Cicero to Buddha, many philosophers and spiritual teachers have celebrated gratitude. The world's major religions, including Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Hindu, prize gratitude as a morally beneficial emotional state that encourages reciprocal kindness. Pastors, priests, parents and grandparents have long extolled the virtues of gratitude, but until recently, scholars have largely ignored it as a subject of scientific inquiry.

McCollough and Emmons report that the results of their study indicated that daily gratitude exercises resulted in higher reported levels of alertness, enthusiasm, determination, optimism and energy. (3 groups: list of events of day, unpleasant experiences, things to be grateful for) Additionally, the gratitude group experienced less depression and stress, was more likely to help others, exercised more regularly and made more progress toward personal goals. According to the findings, people who feel grateful are also more likely to feel loved. McCollough and Emmons also noted that gratitude encouraged a positive cycle of reciprocal kindness among people since one act of gratitude encourages another.

McCullough says these results also seem to show that gratitude works independently of faith. Though gratitude is a substantial part of most religions, he says the benefits extend to the general population, regardless of faith or lack thereof. In light of his research, McCullough suggests that anyone can increase their sense of well-being and create positive social effects just from counting their blessings.
Michael McCullough: Professor of Psychology

Reading from Tom Cowan:

O Great Spirit

Oh Our God, wisdom through the ages

We are thankful for your spirit that permeates all that is

Help us grow in your knowledge

Because we long for you with our whole being

May we call on you intimately, like a friend

Father, Mother, God,

Thank you for your presence
during the hard and mean days.
For then we have you to lean upon.
Thank you for your presence
during the bright and sunny days,
for then we can share that which we have
with those who have less.
And thank you for your presence
during the Holy Days, for then we are able
to celebrate you and our families
and our friends.
For those who have no voice,
we ask you to speak.
For those who feel unworthy,
we ask you to pour your love out
in waterfalls of tenderness.
For those who live in pain,
we ask you to bathe them

in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask
you to keep them company.
For those who are depressed,
we ask you to shower upon them
the light of hope.

Oh, Our God, wisdom through the ages

We are thankful for your spirit that permeates all that is

Help us grow in your knowledge

Because we long for you with our whole being

May we call on you intimately, like a friend.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless
sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the
world that which we need most—Peace.

prayer - maya angelou

Gratitude: November 18, 2007

2008-01-27T16:11:00.000-07:00

11/18/07

We are, O my God,
but tiny seeds which You have sown
in the soil of Your love,
and caused to spring forth by the hand of Your bounty.
This seed craves therefore,
in its inmost being,
for the waters of Your mercy
and the living fountain of Your grace.
Send down upon it,
from the heaven of Your loving-kindness,
that which will enable it to flourish beneath Your shadow
and within the borders of Your court.
Thou art That Who waters the hearts of all
Your plenteous stream
and the fountain of Your living waters.
Praised be to God,
the Glory of the worlds.

Adapted from Baha'i prayers - Bahá'u'lláh

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.
Serve the Lord with gladness;
come before his presence with singing.
Know ye that the Lord he is God;
it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving,
and into his courts with praise;
be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting;
and his truth endureth to all generations.

Oludumare, oh Divine One! I give thanks
to You, the one who is as near as my
heartbeat, and more anticipated than my
next breath. Let Your wisdom become one
with this vessel as I lift my voice in
thanks for Your love.

african - yoruba

There is joy
in all:
in the hair I brush each morning,
in the Cannon towel, newly washed,
that I rub my body with each morning,
in the chapel of eggs I cook
each morning,
in the outcry from the kettle
that heats my coffee
each morning,
in the spoon and the chair
that cry "hello there, Anne,"
each morning,
in the godhead of the table
that I set my silver, plate, cup upon
each morning.

All this is God,
right here in my pea-green house
each morning
and I mean,
though often forget,
to give thanks,
to faint down by the kitchen table
in a prayer of rejoicing
as the holy birds at the kitchen window
peck into their marriage of seeds.

So while I think of it,
let me paint a thank-you on my palm
for this God, this laughter of the morning,
lest it go unspoken.

The joy that isn't shared, I've heard,
dies young.

welcome morning - anne sexton

You spoke to me today, my Beloved.
You blessed me by revealing an aspect of Your countenance.
From the bush by the side of the trail, You call out to me,
stopping my movement, stilling my legs, transfixing my gaze in awe.
I see jeweled beads of rain from the night's storm, lying sprinkled on leaves
Like translucent crystal gems arranged in unique patterns
on hundreds of oval green velvet carpets.

You draw my eye to embrace each one, from the very smallest -
smaller than a grain of salt - to the largest - fully ripe like round pearls.
Each one perfect and perfectly placed.
Some defy gravity as they cling to the edge of a leaf.
Others line up like the gemstones of a necklace strung along the leaf's center line.

And then you begin to speak so that I would understand.
And you lead me to know that each droplet, regardless of size or position,
is like a human soul, irreplaceably precious in Your eyes.
Though seemingly distinct, each is lovingly fashioned
from the same essence, the water of Life.

You whisper that though apparently separate, each is connected with all others
through the unified web of leaves, stems and branches that form a whole plant.

Each is nourished by the same roots and earth, air, water, and sun
all of which You sustain and nurture in Your resplendent heart.

Oh My Beloved, Oh ever Faithful One, thank you for Your blessing that
opens my eyes to see and understand the workings of Your love.

ronald bedrick - april 2004

Hazrat Inayat Khan: “It is a patient pursuit to bring water from the depth of the ground; one has to deal with much mud in digging before one reaches the water of life.”

Imagine that you find yourself walking on a woods trail, just before dawn after the first snow of the year. The oak leaves crunching beneath your feet let snow nestle in their crinkled bowls; the pines bow slightly in their new fleece. You reach up and pinch a little snow from their branches, and the freshness of its cool taste on your tongue startles you. Not far away you can hear a not-yet-frozen waterfall flowing with the full force of recent autumn rains. Everything else remains hushed, except for one sparrow who greets the snow with her own sweetness.

Where is water not to be found in this woods world? It adorns the branches and runs through their vessels. It forms fleeting clouds with each breath you exhale, and with each inhalation you can feel in your mouth how you yourself are made almost entirely of water. It runs through the streams that lead to the source of the water you drink. You could not live without its physical sustenance, but neither could you be truly alive without its beauty. As the goblet is passed and you are blessed with water and bless the person next to you – say a prayer of thanksgiving for the water that keeps us all alive.

WATER BLESSING

We call you ocean.

We call you sea, gulf, strait, bight,
bay, lagoon, river, falls, creek,
stream, lake, pond, spring.

We call you rain.

We call you pool, puddle, snowflake,
glacier, dew, mist, cove, channel, inlet,
cascade, brook, tributary, bayou, tarn,

H20.

We travel your powerful currents
to meet our relations.
We flood our rice fields.
We bathe our children.
We cleanse the dead.
We baptise, we purify, we do ablutions,
We immerse in the mikvah.
We heal with you - Holy Water.

We remember to protect you.
We remember to protect you.
We remember to protect you.
We remember to protect you.

prayer to protect water - claudia l'amoreaux

The sun shines down,
and its image reflects a thousand
different pots filled with water.

The reflections are many,
but they are each reflecting the same sun.

Similarly, when we come to know who we truly are,
we will see ourselves in all people.

amma

Cover my earth mother four times with many flowers.
Let the heavens be covered with the banked-up clouds.
Let the earth be covered with fog;
cover the earth with rains.
Great waters, rains, cover the earth.
Lightning cover the earth.
Let thunder be heard over the earth;
let thunder be heard;
Let thunder be heard over the six regions of the earth.

american indian - sia - invocation to the u'wannami

Gratitude: November 11, 2007

2008-01-27T16:04:00.000-07:00

11/11/07

Lord make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is sadness, joy;

Where there is darkness, light.

O Divine Master, grant that I may

not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

not so much to be understood, but to understand;

not so much to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life.

St Francis of Assisi

Veterans Day - I want to give thanks to veterans by praying for peace today.

I want to give thanks especially for the very strong and courageous soldiers who are able to step out of their training to kill, which maims them, at least emotionally and spiritually. Both from Mylai in Vietnam:

As a helicopter pilot in the Vietnam War, Thompson was hovering his craft low over Mylai, trying to draw enemy fire. But there wasn’t any. Surveying the hamlet he saw not a battle but a massacre. “This wasn’t war.” He later recalled. Thompson landed his chopper between the marauding GIs and cowering Vietnamese villagers confronted the GIs and ordered them to stand off. Then he and his crew rescued 4 adults and six children, including one badly wounded boy, and flew them to safety.

The other in his own words reading from War and the Soul by Ed Tick

Oh Lord, once I was smart enough to know a just war when I saw it, the kind of war you would approve of. I am not so smart anymore. Every war looks evil to me now. And even the war well begun becomes evil before it is over. So let us have no more just wars; they are the worst kind. Now, at last, give us a just peace.

Time for Shalom. Shalom for our breaking hearts. It’s time. Past time.

Lewis Smedes

To confront evil successfully, we as a nation must confront our own darkness; we must act not as a messiah, filled with undue majesty and certainty, but rather as a healer, filled with compassion, empathy and humility.

David Spangler

READING:

Assailed by afflictions, we discover Dharma
And find the way to liberation.

Thank-you, evil forces!

When sorrows invade the mind, we discover Dharma
And find lasting happiness.

Thank-you, sorrows!

Through harm caused by spirits we discover Dharma
And find fearlessness.

Thank-you, ghosts and demons!

Through people's hate we discover Dharma
And find benefits and happiness.

Thank-you, those who hate us!

Through cruel adversity, we discover Dharma
And find the unchanging way.

Thank-you, adversity!

Through being impelled to by others, we discover Dharma
And find the essential meaning.

Thank-you, all who drive us on!

We dedicate our merit to you all, to repay your kindness.

- Gyalwa Longchenpa

Whatever God does, the first outburst is always compassion.

Meister Echhardt

The Messenger

My work is loving the world.

Here are the sunflowers, there the hummingbird –

equal seekers of sweetness

Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums

Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.

Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?

Am I no longer young, and still not half perfect? Let me

keep my mind on what matters,

which is my work,

which is mostly standing still and learning g to be

astonished.

The phoebe the delphinium.

The sheep in the pasture and the pasture.

Which is mostly rejoicing, since all the ingredients are here,

which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart

and these body-clothes,

a mouth with which to give shouts of joy

to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,

telling them all, over and over, how it is

that we live forever. Mary Oliver

How then can we argue?

Having lunch in a field one day,

I troubled an ant with a question. I asked of him humbly,

“Have you ever been to Paris?”

And he replied, “No, but I wouldn’t mind going.” And then he asked me

if I had ever been to a famous ant city. And I regretted that I hadn’t,

and was quick to add, “I wouldn’t mind, too.”

This led to a conclusion: There is life that we do not know of.

How aware are we of all consciousness

in this universe?

What percent of space is this earth in the infinite realm?

What percent of time is one second

in eternity?

Less than that is our

knowledge of

God.

How then can we ever argue about

Him?

Meister Eckhart

We are one, after all, you and I: together we suffer, together exist,

And forever will recreate each other.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

I know a cure for sadness:

Let your hands touch something

that makes you smile.

I bet there are a hundred objects close by

that can do that.

Look at

beauty’s gift to us –

her power is so great she enlivens

the earth, the sky, our

soul.

MiraBai 16^th century Hindu Mystic

Gratitude: November 4, 2007

2008-01-27T15:54:00.000-07:00

11/04/07

Great Spirit, Divine One, Creator
who is heaven earth rock wind insect tree fox
human of every size shape color

Holy are your infinite names chanted sung whispered
shouted in every language, tongue.

We will midwife the rebirth of Gaia
as best we can
restoring the Great Law of Peace.

Guide our hands to the soil and seed
honoring the alchemy of food.
Let us remember your abundance
and share the bread of life with any who hunger.

We are for giving
and giving and giving.
We trust in the give-away.
We give and receive.

Let us be humble before the darkness and the light
walking in harmony amidst them.
Give us courage to know them intimately
both within and without.

For you have breathed it all---
the behind, the above, the below, the beyond.
Your awesome power courses in our veins
and animates our hearts.
You are the Great Drum.

We thank you.

translation of the lord's prayer
from King James to Gaian - claudia l'amoreaux

Amen.

Jesus said: Blessed is one who existed
before coming into being.
-- Gospel of Thomas

Imagine a vast ocean with a single wooden yoke floating on the surface. Deep on the bottom of this ocean lies a single blind tortoise. Once every 100 years she swims to the surface for a gulp of air. Buddha compared the chance of achieving a precious human birth to the chance that tortoise will poke her head through that yoke when she comes up for air. For a more contemporary analogy imagine a pea is dropped from an airplane and lands on the head of a pin held by you.

First, what does precious mean? The word for precious in Sanskrit is ratna. In Tibetan sometimes ratna is translated as konchog and sometimes as rinpoche. Other times it is translated as norbu, which means jewel.

A human birth alone does not ensure that it be a “precious” one. There are 18 conditions called the “opportunities and endowments” that enumerate the circumstances required for a precious human birth. They include having sufficient leisure time, freedom, intelligence, ability to practice the dharma, being born in a time and a place where the teachings are available to you, having faith, a good heart and loving nature, and a spiritual guide to help you.

Think of it!

One of the major foundations of Buddhist thought, impermanence remind us that these blessed circumstances might not last.

Our friend George Breed remind us:

Rather than knowing that we are rich beyond measure
as children of the Light, offspringings of the Source,
taoings of the Tao, daughters and sons of God,
we often settle into being a humanoid,
struggling through the days and nights
with doubt and fear and worry.

Rather than owning the blessings of our birth right,
we follow the illusion of a separate existence,
as alienated isolated blobs of protoplasm
in a cruel and murderous world
relieved only by our desires, our hostility,
and our attempts at stupor.

When we know, truly know,
that we are children of the Living Source,
that the One who births us cares for us and loves us,
we move with great happiness through the world.

As re-presentations of the Divine,
as manifestations of the Source,
we existed before coming into being.
Our roots are deep. We are blessed.

"I do only want to advise you to keep growing quietly and seriously
throughout your whole development; you cannot disturb it more rudely
than by looking outward and expecting from outside replies to questions
that only your inmost feeling in your most hushed hour can perhaps
answer."
-- Rainer Maria Rilke

Vespers - A. A. Milne

Little Boy kneels at the foot of the bed,
Droops on the little hands little gold head.
Hush! Hush! Whisper who dares!
Christopher Robin is saying his prayers.

God bless Mummy. I know that's right.
Wasn't it fun in the bath tonight?
The cold's so cold, and the hot's so hot.
Oh! God bless Daddy - I quite forgot.

If I open my fingers a little bit more,
I can see Nanny's dressing gown on the door.
It's a beautiful blue, but it hasn't a hood.
Oh! God bless Nanny and make her good.

Mine has a hood and if I lie in bed,
And put the hood right over my head,
And I shut my eyes, and I curl up small,
And nobody knows that I'm there at all.

Oh! Thank you God, for a lovely day.
And what was the other I had to say?
I said "Bless Daddy," so what can it be?
Oh! Now I remember. God bless Me.

Little boy kneels at the foot of the bed,
Droops on the little hands little gold head,
Hush! Hush! Whisper who dares!
Christopher Robin is saying his prayers.

Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.

We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

attributed to- Sir Francis Drake -1577

I know a cure for sadness:

Let your hands touch something

that makes you smile.

I bet there are a hundred objects close by

that can do that.

Look at

beauty’s gift to us –

her power is so great she enlivens

the earth, the sky, our

soul.

MiraBai 16^th century Hindu Mystic

We are the ocean -- vast, deep, powerful and rich. Nourishing and
nurturing. Dive down into the dark stillness of being. Sense the rising
and falling of surface thoughts and emotions, sometimes gentle,
sometimes violent. Always shifting. Always in motion. Draw back and
watch the waves of your life at play. Know you are the unfathomable
depths -- surface agitations can't disturb you. Know that you are bigger
than the little things that aggravate you.
"The bird of paradise alights only on the hand that does not grasp."
-- John Berry

10-28-07 HUMILITY

2007-11-21T09:18:00.000-07:00

I'm not trying to counsel any of youto do anything really specialexcept to dare to think,and to dare to go with the truth,and to dare to really love completely.
R. Buckminster Fuller - 18951983
We each have our own pathways to develop both personally andspiritually. They are based on our character and past experiences. Noone else can identify our paths for us. Tune in to your inner guidancesystem and follow its direction.
M. Scott peck
What every man needs, regardless of his job or the kind of work he isdoing, is a vision of what his place is and may be. He needs anobjective and a purpose. He needs a feeling and a belief that he hassome worthwhile thing to do. What this is no one can tell him. It mustbe his own creation.-- Joseph M. Dodge
Story of Martha and Mary- Sister Dawn Annette

Many of us try to escape the demands of prayer [or meditation] by setting up a false dichotomy between Martha and Mary making either/or what Jesus intended to be both/and. The Marthas say work is primarily their spiritual mode; the Marys say prayer is. Some pretend to be more Martha than Mary to justify their compulsive action and addiction to work/[busyness]. Others pretend to be more Mary to justify their spiritual inertia or laziness. Neither one of the extremes is valid, or isolated from the other.
Tessa Bielecki

All God asks is humility of heart … No one talks about the necessity and power of humility more than St Teresa of Avila, but when it comes to [intimate prayer], she clearly states that this is not a time to get bogged down in a sense of personal sin [or unworthiness]. If we focus on our unworthiness, we will not be able to accept the gift of intimacy. Of course we are unworthy and undeserving! But that is beside the point. What matters now is the incredible overture of love the Holy One is making. Refusing to respond is not truly humble, we do not refuse God’s gift but gratefully accept it the way we accept a human gift with: “Thank-you!” And “Yes!” then we enjoy and delight in the gift.
Tessa Bielecki

How many of us wallow in this kind of false humility? Do we deny the love through Martha’s busyness? Or a spiritual inertia we call Marian? Can you remember a time when you did?

Ah Power that swirls us together
Grant us Bliss
Grant us the great release
And to all Beings
Vanishing, wounded
In trouble on the earth
We pass on this love
May their numbers increase.
Gary Snyder

In safety and in Bliss
May all creatures be of a blissful heart
Whatever breathing beings there may be
Frail or firm … long or big … short or small
Seen or unseen, dwelling far or near
Existing or yet seeking to exist
May all creatures be of a blissful heart
Sutta Nipata

10-21-07 humility

2007-11-21T09:16:00.000-07:00

Develop the mind of equilibrium.You will always be getting praise and blame,but do not let either affect the poise of the mind:follow the calmness, the absence of pride.
Sutta Nipata

No one is so wrong as the man who knows all the answers. Chuang Tzu preaches an essential humility: not the humility of virtuousness and conscious self-abasement, which in the end is never entirely free from unctuousness, but the basic, one might say “ontological” or “cosmic” humility of the man who fully realizes his own nothingness and becomes totally forgetful of himself, “like a dry tree stump … ”. One may call this humility “cosmic’, not only because it is rooted in the true nature of things, but also because it is full of life and awareness, responding with boundless vitality and joy to all living beings. It manifests itself everywhere.

Chuang Tzu’s Taoism is nostalgic for the primordial climate of paradise in which there was no differentiation, in which man was utterly simple, unaware of himself, living at peace with himself, with Tao, and with all other creatures. But for Chuang this paradise is not something that has been irrevocably lost by sin and cannot be gained except by redemption. It is still ours, but we do not know it, since the effect of life is society is to complicate and confuse our existence, making us forget who we really are by causing us to become obsessed with what we are not. It is this self-awareness which we try to increase and perfect by all sorts of methods and practices, that is really a forgetfulness of our true roots in the unknown Tao and our solidarity in the uncarved block in which there are as yet no distinctions.
Thomas Merton

Your worst enemy cannot harm you as muchas your own unguarded thoughts."
- The Buddha

In what is seen, there should be just the seen;In what is heard, there should be just the heard;
In what is sensed, there should be just the sensed;In what is thought, there should be just the thought.
Sutta Nipata II,14

One day Ananda, who had been thinking deeply about things for a while, turned to the Buddha and exclaimed:"Lord, I've been thinking- spiritual friendship is at least half of the spiritual life!"The Buddha replied: "Say not so, Ananda, say not so. Spiritual friendship is the whole of the spiritual life!"
Samyutta Nikaya, Verse 2
~

The spiritual life is built entirely on humility If there is no growth in humility – Teresa of Avila does not mince words here – “Everything is going to be ruined.” She uses comforting imagery when discussing this foundational virtue: “Humility is an ointment for our wounds. If we are humble – an indispensable requirement for [intimate] prayer- the surgeon, who is our Lord, will come to heal us.”
Teresa distinguishes between true and false humility. The more we know ourselves, the more we feel distress over our wretchedness. … If we experience excessive distress, anger, agitation, disturbance, and frustration, this is a definite sign of false humility, wounded pride, and egotism. Wee must grieve over our offenses, but what matters more is the unfathomable mercy of God. When we are humble we take God so seriously that we take everything else – especially ourselves – light heartedly.

Teresa’s major teaching on humility is clear: To be humble is to walk in truth – the truth of who we are and who God is. Since humility is truth, it does not mean thinking little of ourselves, but thinking of ourselves very little. This virtue is not for wimps, but for warriors! Humility carries with it a breath of greatness, a jubilant freedom, and holy audacity.
Tessa Bielecki

The idea or practice of surrender does not function in Teresa’s thought to repeat the passivity or the dainty submissiveness of women[“s traditional roles]. Instead it is an empowering recognition of what it means to commit to inner fidelity - to a truth that takes away … subordination and restores … equality. Seldom in life do we give ourselves so totally and fully to the one necessary thing – to find the true self and to know God. Beverly Lanzetta

~
These teachings are like a raft, to be abandoned once you have crossed the flood.Since you should abandon even good states of mind generated by these teachings,How much more so should you abandon bad states of mind!
~
Conquer the angry man by love.Conquer the ill-natured man by goodness.Conquer the miser with generosity.Conquer the liar with truth.
The Dhammapada

Drink your tea slowly and reverently,as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves - slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future;Live the actual moment.Only this moment is life.
- Thich Nhat Hahn

10-14-07 HUMILITY

2007-11-21T09:13:00.000-07:00

Divine Mother of all BeingsGreat Goddess of Compassion and MercyMay my heart be home to youlike your island in the sea.May I feel your presence guiding me in fear and rage.May the strength and balance of your grace-filled body be mine when I need them,And may I walk in your Bodhisattva Way with trust and gladness,Beyond time, beyond the end, beyond the beginning.
prayer to quan yin - claudia l'amoreaux

I am bowing my headIn the eye of the Mother who gave me birth,In the eye of the Maiden who loves me,In the eye of the Crone who guides me in wisdom,
In friendship and affection.
Through thy gift of nature, O Goddess,Bestow upon us fullness in our need.
Love towards the Lady,The affection of the Lady,The laughter of the Lady,The wisdom of the Lady,The passion of the Lady,The blessing of the Lady,And the magic of the Lady
To do in the world of Abred,As the Ageless Ones do in Gwynfyd;
Each shade and light,Each day and night,Each moment in kindness,Grant us Thy Sight.
carmina gadelica - ancient celtic oral tradition

This new Bible shall be writtenOn the hearts of all mankind,Not by pen or book,But by acts of Love.For to Love as She doesIs to truly know who He is.The unchanged truth is eternal lifeFor all, without exception.For no longer do we wander lost in the Word,But live the word in eternal life.
justina m. pernetter

Yet determination and persistence without surrender and humility are like wild horses, undisciplined and unfocused. True desire involves the pursuit of longing though the practice of giving ones self over to God.
Teresa of Avila

The most intense form of courageous humility is surrender of will, for it operates on a determined faith that there is something greater than the individual self.

Not submissiveness, but an expression of self-knowlwdge and self-worth, the soul surrenders itself “with true confidence.” Julian of Norwich says “whether it be seeking or contemplating … [it] taught me to understand that the soul’s constant search pleases God greatly. For it cannot do more than see, suffer, and trust.”

The idea or practice of surrender does not function in Teresa’s thought to repeat the passivity or the dainty submissiveness of women[“s traditional roles]. Instead it is an empowering recognition of what it means to commit to inner fidelity - to a truth that takes away women’s subordination and restores their equality. Seldom in life do we give ourselves so totally and fully to the one necessary thing – to find the true self and to know God. Beverly Lanzetta

The early years of the great painter Paul Cezanne were difficult and his career was, from the very start, troubled with frequent rejection and failure. His family considered him peculiar and were unsupportive of his art.
After much family turmoil in his younger years, his father gave him a small allowance and he left for Paris where he worked alone and ignored.
Another painter Camille Pissarro became his mentor both lending him moral support, and influencing his palette. Cezanne, in a relatively short time period, switched from dark tones to bright colors.
Cezanne produced beautiful works as an unknown painter for many, many years. His commitment to, and passion for, his art was strong and unwavering and he did not strive for fame or even lesser recognition.
One day, a French art dealer happened to see the masterpieces of Cezanne. He was so impressed that he collected several of the paintings and arranged an exhibition in his gallery. Visitors to the dealer's gallery were stunned as they saw for the first time the works of the unknown master.
The story goes that Cezanne arrived at the gallery and was also stunned. He had never before seen his work featured and admired this way. He walked around looking at his paintings, leaning on his son for support. Slowly he turned his head and looked at his son in surprise and awe. Cezanne then said, "They have put them in frames!"

To know the masculine and yet to cleave to the
feminine is to be the womb of the world.
Being the womb of the world, never departing
from the eternal power of the Tao,
you become as an infant once again: immortal.

To know the bright and yet hold to the dull
is to be the example for the world.
Being the example for the world, not deviating
from the everlasting power of the Tao,
you return to the infinite once again:
limitless

To know honor and yet keep to humility
is to be the valley for the world.
Being the valley for the world,
rich with the primal power of Tao,
you return once again to simplicity,
like uncarved wood.

Allow Tao to carve you into a vessel for Tao.
Then you can serve the world without
mutilating it.

The Tao te Ching, Lao Tzu

All life is your own,
All fruits of the earth are fruits of the womb,
Your union, your dance.
Lady and Lord,
We thank –you for blessings and abundance
Join with us, Feast with us, Enjoy with us!
Blessed Be.
Starhawk

10-7-07 HUMILITY

2007-11-21T09:09:00.000-07:00

Holy Mystery
As we join together this morning in the light of your presence,
we are reminded that we are all one in the divine heart.
May this longing for oneness transform our world.
May our hearts be opened, in the very depths where we find you, God,
May our hearts be open to the glorious expression of your love found in all our religions and spiritual traditions.
You speak to us, Holy Mystery, in this diversity, and we are enriched and humbled by the breadth and depth of your Words.
May our gathering together this morning signify our hopes for the harmony of our planet, the alleviation of suffering, food for the hungry, shelter for the homeless, and respect for the poor. May this flame be a testimony of our willingness to struggle together toward the peace of inclusiveness, loving all and embracing all in the family of creation.
Amen.

Life is a lesson in humility.
James Mathew Barrie

We often confuse humility with timidity. Humility is not clothing ourselves in an attitude of self-abasement or self-denigration. Humility is all about maintaining our pride about who we are, about our achievements, about our worth – but without arrogance – it is the antithesis of hubris, that excessive, arrogant pride which often leads to the derailment of [many] as it does with the downfall of the tragic hero in Greek drama. It’s about a quiet confidence without the need for a meretricious selling of our wares. It’s about being content to let others discover the layers of our talents without having to boast about them. It’s a lack of arrogance, not a lack of [assertiveness] in pursuit of achievement.
Bruna Martinuzzi

The Toddler’s Creed
If I want it, it’s mine.
If I give it to you, then change my mind, it’s mine.
If I can take it away from you by force, it’s mine.
If I had it a little while ago, it’s mine.
If we are playing with something together, then all the pieces are mine.
If it looks just like the one I used to have at home, it’s mine.
A sign in a nursery school

Walking a spiritual path . . . means that we are trying to be a little less toddler-like. Lama Surya Das

Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to anunderstanding of ourselves.-- C.G. Jung

An epoch will come when people will disclaim kinship with us as we disclaim kinship with the monkey. Kahil Gibran

Humility cannot be an observance by itself, For it does not lend itself to being deliberately practiced. It is, however, an indispensable test of ahimsa, non-harm. In one who has ahimsa in him it becomes a part of his very nature. … To cultivate humility is tantamount to cultivating hypocrisy ….
Gandhi

The King's Humility
One day a sage came to a King for an interview. The sage had to wait for a long time because the King was very busy. Finally, the King said he could come in.
When the sage entered the hall, the first thing he did was to take off his hat and bow to the King. Immediately the King took off his crown and bowed to the sage. The ministers and others who were around the King asked, "What are you doing? He took off his hat because he is an ordinary man. But you are the King. Why should you have to take off your crown?"
The King said to his ministers, "You fools, do you think I wish to remain inferior to an ordinary man? He is humble and modest. His humility is a peerless virtue'. He showed his respect to me. If I did not take off my crown, then I would be showing less humility than an ordinary man, and I would be defeated by him. I f I am the King, I should be better than everybody in everything. That is why I took off my crown and bowed to him!”
Hindu story

Directly if we imagine ourselves to be something, there is egotism. If a man who keeps observances is proud of keeping them, they will lose much, if not, all of their value. And a man who is proud of his virtue, then becomes a curse to society. … Our existence as embodied beings is purely momentary. What are 100 years in eternity? But if we shatter the chains of egotism and melt into the ocean of humanity, we shall share its dignity. . .
How is it possible to cultivate humility? It develops of itself if we understand the spirit of our observances. Can anyone who aspires to follow truth ever be a proud man?
Gandhi

In humility is the greatest freedom.
As long as you have to defend the imaginary self that you think is important, you lose your peace of heart. As soon as you compare that shadow with the shadows of other people, you lose all joy, because you have begun to trade in unrealities and there is no joy in things that do not exist.
thomas merton

In his acclamation, “You are humility," Francis establishes the theological foundation of minority. Francis chose humility as the chief characteristic of his brotherhood because humility characterizes the self-revelation of God: Though he [Christ Jesus] was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness (Phil 2:6-7).

A liberated soul knows that he is not the doer. He knows and feels that he is a mere instrument for the higher power. It is this awareness that enables him to be a channel for divine light. A liberated soul does not deal with his own individual will and individual freedom; he seeks only to be a channel for the Divine Will.
"Because I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of the one who sent me." - Jesus Christ [1]
This humility is only possible when a person has subdued his ego. When our ego is predominant we feel that we are the doer. But, if we transcend the dominance of the ego, we learn true humility. This state of consciousness gives does not give us a sense of superiority, but oneness with others. Because of his sense of identification with others a liberated soul will never feel better than others.
"A real spiritual Master will never think that he is superior to anybody. He will feel that it is his bounden duty to be of service to the divinity, to the Supreme in humanity."
Sri Chinmoy

At birth a person is soft and yielding,
at death stiff and hard.
All beings, the grass, the trees:
alive, soft and yielding
dead, stiff and hard.

Therefore the hard and inflexible
are friends of death.
The soft and yielding
are friends of life.

An unyielding army is destroyed.
An unbending tree breaks.
The hard must humble itself
or be otherwise humbled.
The soft will ultimately ascend.

The Tao te Ching, Lao Tzu

The greatest achievement is selflessness.The greatest worth is self-mastery.The greatest quality is seeking to serve others.The greatest precept is continual awareness.The greatest medicine is the emptiness of everything.The greatest action is not conforming with the worlds ways.The greatest magic is transmuting the passions.The greatest generosity is non-attachment.The greatest goodness is a peaceful mind.The greatest patience is humility.The greatest effort is not concerned with results.The greatest meditation is a mind that lets go.The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances.
Atisha

Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. (KJV, Matthew 5:5-9)

Quotes 9-30-07 HOPE

2007-11-21T09:03:00.000-07:00

Come, Come, Whoever you are.
Wanderer, Worshiper,
Lover of leaving – it doesn’t matter.
Ours is not a caravan of despair.
Come, even if you have broken your vows
A hundred times, a thousand times
Come, come again, come
Rumi

A brother asked one of the elders: What good thing shall I do, and have life thereby? The old man replied: God alone knows what is good. However, I have heard it said that someone inquired of Father Abbot Nisteros the great, the friend of Abbot Anthony, asking: What good work shall I do? And that he replied: “Not all works are alike. For Scripture says that Abraham was hospitable, and God was with him. Elias loved solitary prayer, and God was with him. And David was humble, and God was with him. Therefore, whatever you see your soul to desire according to God, do that thing, and you shall keep your heart safe.
Wisdom of the Desert Fathers

Do I believe in a decadent state (or society)? How am I passively guided by it? How do I depend on accepted conventional values?

Am I prepared to seek my own true self, in Christ? And to reject my false self, fabricated under social compulsion?

What does my false self look like? What social compulsions have fabricated it?
[What do you give up to belong?]

What does my true self look like? What do I need to realize it?

Have I freely chosen my [own] way to God? Or have I inherited it from others who mapped it out beforehand? What is an appropriate balance between these two?

How much do I conform? Am I courageous enough to be different? To follow the secret, hidden, inscrutable will of God for me?

Am I hospitable like Abraham? Humble like David? Do I love solitary prayer like Elias? [Or is my path something altogether different?}

Since God is the authority, and apart from [the Divine’s] manifest will there are few or no principles, what do I see [my] soul to desire according to God?

Thomas Merton

How is it they live for eons in such harmony –
the billions of stars –
when most men can barely go a minute
without declaring war in their mind against someone they know.
There are wars where no one marches with a flag though that does not keep casualties from mounting.
Our hearts irrigate this earth.
We are fields before
each other.
How can we live in harmony?
First we need to
know
we are all madly in love
with the same
God.
St. Thomas Aquinas

It has been told, that during the reign of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna, there lived a certain Haidar Ali Jan. His father, Iskandar Khan, wanted to gain the patronage of the Sultan, so he sent Haidar Ali away to study spirituality under the guidance of a well known sage.
After Haidar Ali had mastered various exercises and spiritual recitals, taught in the Sufi schools, his father took him before Sultan Mahmud.
"Mighty Sultan Mahmud," said Iskandar Khan, "I have had my eldest and most intelligent son specially trained in the ways of the Sufi, so that he might be given a good position in your court, knowing that you are a patron of learning!"
Sultan Mahmud did not look up, but just said, "Bring him back in a year!"
Slightly disappointed, but maintaining high hopes, Iskandar Khan sent Haidar Ali to study the works of the great Sufis of the past and to visit the shrines of the ancient masters, so that he would be better prepared the following year.
The next year, when he took Haidar Ali back to Sultan Mahmud's court, he said, "Your Majesty, my son has covered long and difficult journeys and is now more knowledgeable in Sufi history and classical spiritual exercises. Please have him tested, so it can be proven that he will be a wonderful asset to your court."
"Let him," said Sultan Mahmud without hesitation, "return after another year!"
Over the next twelve months, Haidar Ali crossed the Amu Darya river and visited Bukhara and Samarqand, Qasr-i-Arifin and Tashkent, Dushambe and the turbats of the Sufi saints of Turkestan.
When he returned to the court, Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna took one look at him and said, "He may care to come back after a year!"
Haidar Ali made the pilgrimage to Mecca that year. He then traveled to India and in Persia he consulted rare books and never missed an opportunity to seek out and pay his respects to the great dervishes of the time.
When he returned to Ghazna, Sultan Mahmud said to him, "Now select a sheikh (teacher) if he will have you, and come back in a year!"
Another year was over and Iskandar Khan prepared to take his son to the court, however, this time Haidar Ali showed no interest in going before the Sultan. He sat at the feet of his sheikh in Herat and nothing that his father could say would move him.
"I have wasted my time and money, and my son has failed the tests imposed by Sultan Mahmud," Iskandar Khan cried to his family and friends. He decided to abandon his great plans for Haidar Ali and left him alone with his sheikh.
The day preset for Haidar Ali to present himself at the court came and went. Sultan Mahmud said to his courtiers, "Prepare for a journey to Herat, for there is someone in that city I have to meet."
When Sultan Mahmud's entourage entered Herat to the sound of drums and trumpets, Haidar Ali and his sheikh were sitting in a garden sanctuary near by. Sultan Mahmud and his courtier Ayaz, approached the sanctuary and took off their shoes in respect.
"Welcome, Sultan Mahmud," said the Sufi sheikh, and he pointed to Haidar Ali and said, "Here is the man who was nothing while he was a visitor at your court, but now, he is worthy of a visit from a king. Take him as your Sufi counselor, for he is ready!"
Note: This is a true story from the life and studies of Hiravi also called, Haidar Ali Jan, the Sage of Herat!

We must adjust our trials to ourselves,and not ourselves to our trials.--John of the Cross

It is your destiny to see as God sees,
to know as God knows,
to feel as God
feels.

How is this possible? How?
Because divine love cannot defy its very self.

Divine love will be eternally true to its own being,
and its own being is giving all it can,
at the perfect
moment.

And the greatest gift
God can give us is His own experience.

Every object, every creature, every man, woman, and child
has a soul and it is the destiny of all

to see as God sees,
to know as God knows,
to feel as God feels,
to Be
as God
Is.
Meister Eckhardt

I am the wind on the sea.I am the wave of the sea.I am the bull of seven battles.I am the eagle on the rock.I am a flash from the sun.I am the most beautiful of plants.I am a strong wild boar.I am a salmon in the water.I am a lake in the plain.I am the word of knowledge.I am the head of the spear in battle.I am the God that puts fire in the head.Who spreads light in the gathering on the hills?Who can tell the ages of the moon?Who can tell the place where the sun rests?
druid - song of amergin

I celebrate myself, and sing myself,And what I assume you shall assume,For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.I loafe and invite my soul,I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.My tongue, every atom of my blood, form'd from this soil, this air,Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same,I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin,Hoping to cease not till death.Creeds and schools in abeyance,Retiring back a while sufficed at what they are, but never forgotten,I harbor for good or bad, I permit to speak at every hazard,Nature without check with original energy.
verse 1 - song of myself - Walt Whitman

Amazing grace! How sweet the soundThat saved a wretch like me.I once was lost, but now am found,Was blind, but now I see.
'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,And grace my fears relieved.How precious did that grace appearThe hour I first believed.
Through many dangers, toils and snaresI have already come;'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus farAnd grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promised good to meHis word my hope secures;He will my shield and portion be,As long as life endures.
Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,and mortal life shall cease,I shall possess within the veil,A life of joy and peace.
When we've been there ten thousand yearsBright shining as the sun,We've no less days to sing God's praiseThan when we've first begun.
traditional hymn - John Newton - ± 1760 c.e.

May I be happy, well and peaceful.May my parents, grandparents and ancestors be happy, well and peaceful.May my brothers and sisters, my spouse and children, my grandchildrenand all future generations be happy, well and peaceful.May all my friends and all my enemies be happy.May all human beings sharing the earth be happy.May all forms of life, plants, animals, birds, fish and insects be happy.May all sentient beings in the universe be happy.May we all be free from suffering and pain.May we all be free from attachment of greed, anger and ignorance.May we all attain perfect peace and happiness of Enlightenment throughBuddha's Wisdom and Compassion.
loving kindness meditation - reverend t. Kenjitsu Nakagaki

September 16, 2007

2007-09-29T21:01:00.000-06:00

Opening Prayer

How wonderful, O Lord, are the works of your hands!
The heavens declare Your glory,
the arch of the sky displays Your handiwork
In Your love You have given us the power
to behold the beauty of Your world
robed in all its splendor.
The sun and the stars, the valleys and the hills,
the rivers and the lakes all disclose Your presence.
The roaring breakers of the sea tell of Your awesome might,

the beast of the field and the birds of the air
bespeak Your wondrous will.
In Your goodness You have made us able to hear
the music of the world.
The voices of the loved ones
reveal to us that You are in our midst.
A divine voice sings through all creation.

traditional Jewish prayer

Today I purpose to live

My life will shine
As the morning sings
I walk in liberty
Bound in true dreams
Manifested promises
Chase my forward motion
A covered path before me
The fruits of my hoping
The fruits of my living

Today I purpose to love

My love will speak
With the sound of grace
Merciful within mercy
The works of my faith
Smiles of overflowing
Inspire my giving
Abundance of joy as rain
The fruits of my living

Michael John Faciane

Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not be faint.

Isaiah 40:31

Rav Kook taught:

There are those who sing the song of their own soul, finding therein everything: full spiritual satisfaction…
And there are those who sing the song of the people, moving beyond their own soul, reaching for more powerful heights…
And there are those whose souls lift beyond the limitation of Israel, to sing the song of all humanity. This spirit expands to include the glory of the human image and its dreams…
And there are those who lift beyond this level, becoming one with all creation and all creatures, and all the worlds… and with all of these worlds sing a song…
And there are those who rise together with the bungle of all these songs. All of them sing out, each gives meaning and life to the other.
And this completeness is the song of holiness, the song of God, and the song of Israel.

Creator of heaven and earth,
You are me,
I am you.

prayer of a Navajo girl - early 20th century

Every morning begins with new hope and new possibilities

As it begins let the morning star sing and the children of God shout and let us sing and shout with them.

William R. Locke

Mulla Nasrudin was outside on his hands and knees below a lantern when a friend walked up." What are you doing, Mullah?" I am looking for my key . I have lost it." So his friend got down on his hands and knees and they both searched for a long time in the dirt beneath the lantern Finding nothing, his friend finally turned to him and asked, "Where exactly did you lose it?" Nasrudin replied, "I lost it in the house, but the light is better out here."

May the sacred stream of amity flow
forever in my heart,
may the universe prosper
such is my cherished desire.

May my heart sing with ecstasy
at the sight of the virtuous,
and may my life be an offering
at their feet.

May my heart bleed at the sight
of the wretched, the cruel, the poor and the irreligious,
and may my tears of compassion
flow from my eyes.

May I always be there to show the path
to the pathless wanderers of life,
but if they should not hearken to me,
may I bide in patiently.

May the spirit of goodwill
enter all our hearts,
may we all sing together in chorus
the immortal song of human concord.

The immortal songs - Gurudev Shri Chitrabhanuji - 1950's

I release all of my past, negatives,
fears, human relationships, self-image, future,
and human desires to the Light.

I am a Light Being.

I radiate the Light from my Light Center
throughout my being.

I radiate the Light
from my Light Center to everyone.

I radiate the Light
from my Light Center to everything.

I am in a bubble of Light
and only Light can come to me
and only Light can be here.

Thank you God for everyone, for everything, and for me.

7 steps of effective prayer - Jim Goure

You and I are One
All of You and Us are One.
All The Souls are One Soul
All The Lights are One Light.

the messenger of unity

september 9, 2007

2007-09-29T20:59:00.000-06:00

Opening Prayer

Holy Mystery

As we join together this morning in the light of your presence,

we are reminded that we are all one in the divine heart.

May this longing for oneness transform our world.

May our hearts be opened, in the very depths where we find you, God,

May our hearts be open to the glorious expression of your love found in all our religions and spiritual traditions.

You speak to us, Holy Mystery, in this diversity, and we are enriched and humbled by the breadth and depth of your Words.

May our gathering together this morning signify our hopes for the harmony of our planet, the alleviation of suffering, food for the hungry, shelter for the homeless, and respect for the poor. May this flame be a testimony of our willingness to struggle together toward the peace of inclusiveness, loving all and embracing all in the family of creation.

Amen.

Hope is like a road in the country; there was never a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence.
-- Lin Yutang.

A faintish journey do I make
As through this frazzled world I wind,
With heavy heart and weary steps,
But with determined mind.

Beseech I for a flicker of
The faith than can a mountain move,
And hold that tenet close to me,
Believing where I cannot prove.

The pow'r that comes when sinking low
To man who grasps for straw or rope,
Will clutch til has he breath no more
For where there's life, there's hope.

If my good turn be given to
My fellow man's deficiency,
I'll try to share my lowly gifts
Of Faith and Hope and Charity.

faith, hope, and charity - anne shannon demarest – 1965

One day I decided to quit.... I quit my job, my relationship, my spirituality. . I wanted to quit my life. I went to the woods to have one last talk with God.

"God", I said. "Can you give me one good reason not to quit?"

His answer surprised me...

"Look around", He said. "Do you see the fern and the bamboo?"

"Yes", I replied.

"When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds, I took very good care of them. I gave them light. I gave them water. The fern quickly grew from the earth. Its brilliant green covered the floor. Yet nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo.

In the second year the Fern grew more vibrant and plentiful. And again, nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo".

He said. "In the third year, there was still nothing from the bamboo seed. But I would not quit. In the fourth year, again, there was nothing from the bamboo seed. >But I would not quit.

He said. "Then in the fifth year a tiny sprout emerged from the earth. Compared to the fern it was seemingly small and insignificant. But just 6 months later the bamboo rose to over 100 feet tall. It had spent the five years growing roots. Those roots made it strong and gave it what it needed to survive. I would not give any of my creations a challenge it could not handle."

He said to me. "Did you know, my child, that all this time you have been struggling, you have actually been growing roots. I would not quit on the bamboo. I will never quit on you. Don't compare yourself to others."

He said. "The bamboo had a different purpose than the fern, yet, they both make the forest beautiful."

"Your time will come," God said to me. " You will rise high!"

"How high should I rise?" I asked.

"How high will the bamboo rise?" He asked in return.

"As high as it can?" I questioned.

"Yes." He said, "Give me glory by rising as high as you can."

I left the forest and brought back this story. I hope these words can help you see that God will never give up on you........

anonymous email

My Lord God,

I have no idea where I am going
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself,
And the fact that I think I am following
your will does not mean that I am
actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please
you does in fact please you.
And I hope that I have that desire in all
that I am doing.
And I know that if I do this, you
will lead me by the right road
though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore will I trust you always
though I may seem to be lost
and in the shadow of death, I will
not fear, for you are ever with me
and you will never leave me
to face my perils alone.

thomas merton

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

Now I say to you in conclusion,
life is hard,
at times as hard as crucible steel. (Mmm)
It has its bleak and difficult moments.
Like the ever-flowing waters of the river,
life has its moments of drought and its moments of flood. (Yeah)
Like the ever-changing cycle of the seasons,
life has the soothing warmth of its summers
and the piercing chill of its winters. (Yeah)
But if one will hold on,
he will discover that God walks with him, (Yeah. Well)
and that God is able (Yeah) to lift you from the fatigue of despair
to the buoyancy of hope
and transform dark and desolate valleys
into sunlit paths of inner peace. (Mmm)

eulogy for the martyred children - martin luther king jr. - 1963

Write it on your heart
that every day is the best day in the year.
He is rich who owns the day, and no one owns the day
who allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety.

This new day is too dear,
with its hopes and invitations,
to waste a moment on the yesterdays.

ralph waldo emerson

August 19. 2007

2007-08-19T10:16:00.000-06:00

O God!Refresh and gladden my spirit.Purify my heart.Illumine my powers.I lay all my affairs in Thy hands.Thou art my Guide and my Refuge.I will no longer be sorrowful and grieved;I will be a happy and joyful being.O God! I will no longer be full of anxiety,nor will I let trouble harass me.I will not dwell on the unpleasant things of life.O God! Thou art more friend to me than I am to myself.I dedicate myself to Thee, O Lord.
Baha'i prayers - `Abdu'l-bahá
Amen.

Letting go doesn’t mean giving up, but rather accepting that there are things that cannot be.– Anon

Don't worry it's going to be ok.
It's all right little one you're safe and loved.

It's ok to cry, it's ok to be afraid, it's ok to be weak,
it's ok to be vulnerable, it's ok to be human.

It's from all these elements that we grow,
and it's from all these elements that I am born out of you.

I Love You.
You're not alone.
So long as you reach out to others you're never alone.
Ask for my help in loaning you the courage you already have.
It's not that I never give you more than you can handle,
I am not responsible for the consequences of your actions,
only you are.

Stay on the path if you're suffering
by taking the steps you need to take.
Hang on and hang in there, because it's now
that you're growing at light speed,
You're never going backward only forward.

Decay your loneliness, by making full use
of my greatest gift to mankind, which is mankind.

Feel my alleged absence, as proof,
for the paradox that I exist and have always existed.
Let me in by letting me out.

Love fear and all of the other feelings spored
are what create this reality.
These are the cause and effect of compassion and true forgiveness.
Ask for my help in walking through the anguish of forgiveness.
Do everything in your power to learn to forgive
and love those that hurt you,
Not for just them, but for others as well as yourself.
And never give up the hope that some day your ex-sufferingwill be able to help the ones who were sick and hurt you,
As well as those who suffered like you.
Learn all this by practicing to love everyone.

Always look into yourself first;
you're past, your present, your motives,
you're feelings, and share the secrets
you find with myself as well as others.
Be gentle and kind to yourself
by being vulnerable, and sharing yourselfwith others who are patient, kind and who can onlytry to love and accept you as much as I do.As you get better at this,take the risks that will enable you to venture outfurther and further, so that your true selfmay finally be exposed to the real worldI created for you to live in.Be honest with everyone by neveraccepting the blame that is not yours.Free yourself with the truth, by tellingthose stepping on your toes how you feel,no matter how difficult it may seem at first, orwhat it's consequences may beyou'll only get better at it.If you can learn to love/forgive,fully listen, understand and accept those around you,you will eventually begin to learn how to love/forgive,fully listen, understand and accept yourself.
A personal prayer - Kevin Morais

We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the life that is waiting for us.-- Joseph Campbell

How are you sabotaging your potential for change? We unconsciously use defense mechanisms to shield us from situations weperceive to be scary or painful. A part of you may want to grow andchange, but another part may be resisting because change always movesyou into new territory in your thinking and emotions. If you find you are getting anxious, fearful, angry, frustrated,dismissive or unmotivated, then defense mechanisms are at work. Watchfor them and know them to be signs of fear that wants to hold you back.Then courageously move through them. "I have never been contained except I made the prison." -- Mary Evans

Mulla Nasrudin was sitting on his cot in a homeless shelter. "You know," he said to the fellow on the next cot, "when I was seventeen years old, I made up my mind that nothing was going to stop me from getting rich." "Well, how came you never got rich?" his friend asked. "OH," said Nasrudin, "BY THE TIME I WAS NINETEEN, I REALIZED IT WOULD BE EASIER TO CHANGE MY MIND."

People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.-- Thich Nhat Hanh

Never regret a day in your life.
Good days give you Happiness.
Bad days give you Experiences.
Both are essential to life.
Keep going...
Happiness keeps you Sweet,
Trials keep you Strong,
Sorrows keep you Human,
Failures keep you Humble,
Success keeps You Glowing,
But Only God keeps You Going!
Have a great day! The Son is shining!!

God is so big He can cover the whole world with his Love and so small
He can curl up inside your heart.
http://club.live.com/chicktionary.aspx?icid=chick_hotmailtextlink2>

I realize that the body is not separate from the mindAs I let go my old attitude toward my bodyI appreciate the influence of the spirit and soulAnd I embrace my body and my entire selfMy body is a reflection of my thoughtsAs I give myself positive affirmationsI release my negative emotions and thoughtsAnd I let my body be healed as well as my mind
… I open my heart, my soul and my bodyI know the strength and the power of faithI feel the process of cleansing andI welcome the miracle of healing…May every cell of my body be healthyMay every feeling of my soul be radiantMay every thought of my being be vibrantMay every action be aligned with love… I am aware of the need to forgiveI am grateful for the opportunity to growI am confident that I will succeedI am expecting my freedom and healing…I am ONE and I am LOVING.I am HERE and I am NOW.I am HEALED and I am WHOLE.Thank YOU. Let it Be! And SO IT IS!
prayer for healing - Darina Stoyanova

August 5, 2007

2007-08-19T09:43:00.000-06:00

You are the Creator,
and You are the One
Who dissolves all creation.
You are the Non-doer;
ever changeless; resting in Yourself.
And You are the Doer behind everything,
without Whose will neither a leaf falls,
nor a cat licks it's paws,
nor a woman blinks her eyes.
You are the Infallible,
the Almighty,
the Soul of the Universe.
You are beyond all material qualities;
You are the Inconceivable!
devaki katja nagel

When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.
-- Lao Tzu

Letting go is one of the hardest lessons in life. In life, there are many things that we have to let go of. We have to let go of situations, things, memories, people and ultimately, even ourselves.
It's easy to form attachments to people and things. It is a kind of paradox because in fact, we need to form attachments to others. But when it’s time to let go, it is often very painful. Even the mere thought of not having that person or thing in your life may squeeze your heart in pain.
However, either death or some other form of change will bring a time where it will be necessary for you or that person to let go of the relationship or friendship, so that each of you can fulfill your life path.
Letting go of your past and memories is also extremely hard. Even though old memories can be tormenting, we might hold on to the past and refuse to move forward. However, by refusing to let go of the painful past, it'll serve as a roadblock to love.
Letting go of your old self and the process of letting the new you emerge can be one of the scariest experiences in your life. But by leaving behind your old self and taking a leap of faith into the unknown, it might just reveal what you are truly capable of becoming.
http://www.great-inspirational-quotes.com/letting-go-quotes.html

I have lots of things to teach you now,
in case we ever meet,
concerning the message that was transmitted to me
under a pine tree in North Carolina
on a cold winter moonlit night.

It said that Nothing Ever Happened, so don't worry.
It's all like a dream.
Everything is ecstasy, inside.
We just don't know it because of our thinking-minds.
But in our true blissful essence of mind is known
that everything is alright forever and forever and forever.
Close your eyes,
let your hands and nerve-ends drop,
stop breathing for 3 seconds,
listen to the silence inside the illusion of the world,
and you will remember the lesson you forgot,
which was taught in immense milky ways
of cloudy innumerable worlds
long ago and not even at all.
It is all one vast awakened thing.
I call it the golden eternity.
It is perfect.
We were never really born,
we will never really die.
It has nothing to do with the imaginary idea
of a personal self,
other selves,
many selves everywhere,
or one universal self.
Self is only an idea, a mortal idea.
That which passes through everything, is one thing.
It's a dream already ended.
There's nothing from staring at mountains months on end.
They never show any expression,
they are like empty space.
Do you think the emptiness of space will ever crumble away.
Mountains will crumble, but the emptiness of space,
which is the one universal essence of mind,
the one vast awakenerhood,
empty and awake,
will never crumble away because it was never born.

The world you see is just a movie in your mind.
letter to ex-wife - jack kerouac

There is an old Chinese tale about a woman whose only son died. In her grief, she went to the holy man and asked, "What prayers, what magical incantations do you have to bring my son back to life?"

Instead of sending her away or reasoning with her, he said to her, "Fetch me a mustard seed from a home that has never known sorrow. We will use it to drive the sorrow out of your life." The woman went off at once in search of that magical mustard seed.

She came first to a splendid mansion, knocked at the door, and said, "I am looking for a home that has never known sorrow. Is this such a place? It is very important to me."

They told her, "You've certainly come to the wrong place," and began to describe all the tragic things that recently had befallen them.

The woman said to herself, "Who is better able to help these poor, unfortunate people than I, who have had misfortune of my my own?"

She stayed to comfort them, then went on in search of a home that had never known sorrow. But wherever she turned, in hotels and in other places, she found one tale after another of sadness and misfortune.

The woman became so involved in helping others cope with their sorrows that she eventually let go of her own. She would later come to understand that it was the quest to find the magical mustard seed that drove away her suffering.
The Magical Mustard Seed
Author Unknown

To surrender oneself is something more
than to devote oneself, more than to give oneself,
it is even more than to abandon oneself to God.
To surrender oneself is to die to everything and to self,
to keep it continually turned towards God.
Self-surrender is no longer to seek self-satisfaction in anything
but solely God's good pleasure.
It should be added that self-surrender is to follow
that complete spirit of detachment
which holds to nothing;
neither to persons nor to things,
neither to time nor to place.
It means to accept everything, to submit to everything.
But perhaps you will think this is a difficult thing.
Do not let yourself be deceived; there is nothing so easy to do,
nothing so sweet to put into practice.
The whole thing consists in making a generous act at the very beginning,
by saying with all the sincerity of your heart:
"My God, I wish to be entirely thine; deign to accept my offering"
— then all is said. ...

You must always remember that you have surrendered yourself.
st. thérèse couderc - 1864

Do everything with a mind that lets go.
Do not expect any praise or reward.
If you let go a little, you will have a little peace.
If you let go a lot, you will have a lot of peace.
If you let go completely, you will know complete peace and freedom.
Your struggles with the world
will have come to an end.
insight meditation - achaan chah

Let my heart be the vessel of God's Love.
Let my thoughts be the blossom of God's Love.
Let my words be the expression of God's Love.
Let my actions be the fulfillment of God's Love.
willingness - david ridge

July 15

2007-07-20T20:54:00.000-06:00

Help us, Holy One

to begin our quest for you

knowing and accepting

that you will forever escape

our every attempt to confine you

to what we can understand.

Our words cannot capture you.

Our imagination cannot define you.

Our hearts cannot limit you.

But support us, I beg you,

on a journey without end,

with a love that knows no bounds.

Angelus Silesius (1600’s)

We don’t have to defeat our humanness in order to be happy. Defeating our humanness will not work. It’s like a general sending squadron after squadron of troops on suicide missions against a huge and impregnable wall, trying to breach the wall head on. Instead of this we have to just send a peaceful scout or two to ride slowly along the wall- until the way around it is discovered. It’s necessary to accept the real facts and real consequences of being human. That’s the way to be happy and to help others to be happy.

Zoketsu Norman Fischer

God is the purest naught

untouched by time or space;

the more we reach for him,

the more he will escape.

Angelus Silesius (1600’s)

The life of letting go is the life of freedom, the life of nonattachment. Nonattachment doesn’t mean we are distant from things or have no warmth or no care for things; the word nonattachment is good because it suggests some distance and in love there always has to be some distance- some spaciousness or openness. In ordinary everyday human life there is always some desire- if there weren't any desire there couldn't be any life. But if desire is held onto too strongly it becomes very confining. If there’s too much strongly held desire in our loving then our loving becomes confining too and soon it is no longer love, it turns into dependency, or even antipathy; real love has to have some distance in it, some nonattachment.

Zoketsu Norman Fischer

D.H. Lawrence wrote: “Men are not free when they are doing whatever they like. Men are only free when they are doing what the deepest self likes. And there is getting down to the deepest self. It takes some diving.”

When we are motivated by immediate gratification to do “just what we like”, we will feel continuously driven. No amount of productivity or consuming or recognition can break through the trance of unworthiness and put us in touch with the “deepest self”. As Lawrence points out, to do what the deepest self likes, “takes some diving.” To listen and respond to the heart requires a committed and genuine presence. The more completely we’re caught in the surface world of pursuing substitutes, the harder it is to dive.

Tara Brach

Ask, and it shall be given you;
seek, and you shall find;
knock, and it shall be opened to you.
For whoever asks, receives;
and he who seeks, finds;
and to him who knocks, the door is opened.

Matthew 7:7:8 - Jesus of Nazareth

With the eye of nonattachment we can see that the object of our love can never be possessed, can never be held onto. When I say this maybe it seems tragic to you. In a way it is tragic, tragic if you don’t like it and you don’t want to accept it. But if you accept it you see that it is a good thing that we cannot possess or hold onto the object of our love: because if we could it would not really be a living being; it would only be our invention, and inventions are not lovable. Any living being needs its own integrity and its own freedom and spaciousness- so there has to be always some distance and nonattachment in loving.

Zoketsu Norman Fischer

Two disciples of an old rabbi were arguing about the true path to God. One said the path was built on effort and energy. “You must give yourself totally and fully with all your effort to follow the way of the law: to pray, to pay attention, and to live rightly.” The second disciple disagreed. It is no effort at all. That is only based on ego. It is pure surrender. To follow the way to God to awaken is to let go of all things and live the teaching. ‘Not my will but thine.’”

As they could not agree on who was right they went to see the master. He listened as the first disciple praised the path of wholehearted effort and when asked by the disciple, “Is this the true path?” the master said, “You’re right.” The second disciple was quite upset and responded eloquently with the path of surrender and letting go.” When he had finished he asked, “Is this not the true path?” The ,master responded, “You are right.” A third disciple was in the room and said, “But master, they cannot both be right.” And the master smiled and said, “You are right too!”

It would be easier, Divine One

To stay with what I know

To take only well marked paths

to familiar places

in my heart and soul.

But if I am to come to you

then I must leave behind

the comfort of what I already know

and accept your invitation

to journey into your infinite mystery.

Take my hand,

guide my steps,

Give courage to my heart and soul.

John Kirvan

July 8, 2007

2007-07-13T08:55:00.000-06:00

‘...the sense of an object as being attractive, unattractive, or neutral...feelings of pleasure, pain, or neutrality arise. Due to such feelings, attachment develops, this being the attachment of not wanting to separate from pleasure and the attachment of wanting to separate from suffering...’ the Dalai Lama

There ain’t no answer.

There ain’t going to be any answer.

There never has been an answer.

That’s the answer

Gertrude Stein

In the 16th century, St. John of the Cross counsels that after, and in the midst of, our liturgies, hymns and discursive prayers, Christians must also occasionally enter a dark night of the senses and soul, emptying ourselves of our self-centered preferences and ideas about God and everything else. Jesus modeled this discipline of self-emptying love for us, but he did not do it instead of us. We ourselves need to clear our minds of self-centered and habitual thinking. We must become inwardly nonattached in an ambience of love that continuously connects us to others and to creation. Our contemplative tradition tells us that when we open ourselves to the Divine movement within, the Holy Spirit will help us do this work. We do the work of creating a space within us for God, and then trust that the Holy Spirit will do the work in us: as we flow out of ourselves, the Holy Spirit flows in.

We need not take ourselves quite so seriously. If all things are constantly transforming and will eventually die, then, perhaps the best way to live is not by holding on, but by letting go with all our might – letting go of our impossible craving for certainly or significance; letting go of our demands on the universe for perfect happiness and everlasting life. Our only option may be to learn what Alan Watts called ‘the wisdom of insecurity” and to discover that which Camus sought – a way to be comfortable with unfamiliarity. We are then free to leap with Chuang Tzu into the boundless and make it our home. Accepting uncertainty as our philosophy might allow us to honor each other’s stories more, delighting in all the bizarre and wondrous interpretations of the mystery. We might also show more tolerance for those who appear to be fools, and for those who speak truths we don’t wish to hear.

Wes Niskeryh

"What in the world happened at the picnic yesterday?" a fellow asked Mulla Nasrudin. "They are saying around the tavern that you acted like a coward." "Well, I am no fool," the Mulla said. "Some of the girls found a big hornet's nest in the top of a tree and dared me to climb up and get it. And I just didn't do it, that's all." "Whether you were smart or not," said the friend, "That sort of thing makes you unhonored and unsung around here." "THAT'S RIGHT," said Nasrudin, "BUT I AM ALSO UNHARMED AND UNSTUNG."

But letting go is hard to do because our human mind persistently wants to hold on; it has an enormous and ancient habit of holding on. In fact, holding on is all we know; holding on is literally us, and we do not want to give ourself up. Letting go feels like death and we are frightened of death because it means the end of us. And actually letting go is a kind of death- it may be literally sometimes death: we have to let go of our life sometime. But actually whether it is what we call death or just everyday letting go it really is death anyway. Every moment we have to die - every moment anyway we do die to this moment of our lives. It is gone and it will never return. If it is a wonderful moment it will go away and if it is a terrible moment it will go away in exactly the same way. Every moment dies to itself and this is how every moment of our lives takes care of itself completely; every moment contains within itself its own perfect resolution. To practice letting go is to participate with this actual moment by moment dying which is life: to let go is to join our life.

Zoketsu Norman Fischer

Ho! If I am supposed to get sick, let me get sick, and I'll be happy.

May this sickness purify my negative karma and the sickness of all sentient beings.

If I am supposed to be healed, let all my sickness and confusion be healed, and I'll be happy.

May all sentient beings be healed and filled with happiness.

If I am supposed to die, let me die, and I'll be happy.

May all the delusion and the causes of suffering of sentient beings die.

If I am supposed to live a long life, let me live a long life, and I'll be happy.

May my life be meaningful in service to sentient beings.

If my life is to be cut short, let it be cut short, and I'll be happy.

May I and all others be free from attachment and aversion.

Letting go really is dying but dying isn’t just dying: dying is freedom, release, peacefulness. Dying means laying down the burden of our life and going off into the mountains for a big hike, just wandering around, like a cloud. Dying means that we don’t hold onto anything of the six senses- whatever we see hear smell taste touch or think we just appreciate it for what it actually is - we don’t “me” it and try to hold it fixed- we just let it come and go- we allow it to be born and die as it really is being born and dying moment by moment.

This is really the kindest way to live and it is the only way to love: to let each thing really be what it is and then to let it go- to let it be free. To try to hold ourselves or our world or another person in place is impossible. Nothing can be held in place. Life is very pressured, very stressful, very burdensome- and this is why- because we are trying mightily to hold in place what cannot be held in place, we are trying to preserve the unpreservable and fix the unfixable. Actually everything has integrity as it is; everything is surrounded by immense space: each of our thoughts, even our miseries, certainly trees and grasses, the sun and moon and clouds, our human body- everything passes and reappears as it is, all of it operating together in a marvelous harmony of freely passing by, if we will only let it, if we will only let go and allow it to be that way in the course of our living.

Zoketsu Norman Fischer

O, Brother of the Cosmos, focus your light within us -- make it useful
Create your reign of unity now
Your one desire then acts with ours,
As in all light,
So in all forms,
Grant us what we need each day in bread and insight:
Loose the cords of mistakes binding us,
As we release the strands we hold of other's guilt.
Don't let surface things delude us,
But free us from what holds us back.
From you is born all ruling will,
The power and the life to do,
The song that beautifies all,
From age to age it renews.
I affirm this with my whole being.

THE ARAMAIC PRAYER OF JESUS translated from the Aramaic by Saadi Neil Douglas-Klotz of the Sufi Order of the West

July 1, 2007

2007-07-13T08:51:00.000-06:00

Let our hearts be the vessel of God's Love.

Let our thoughts be the blossom of God's Love.

Let our words be the expression of God's Love.

Let our actions be the fulfillment of God's Love.

willingness - David Ridge

Attachment is the origin, the root of suffering; hence it is the cause of suffering.’ [1]

Attachment is an attraction: a like or dislike, which we express in many different ways to people, situations, possessions and definitely in our own projections and expressions. In fact, we do not know how to live without attachment. It is a condition that can create some form of holding on to– sensory, sensual, emotional, intellectual, subjective or objective – some form of repulsion or attraction. This is the concept of attachment in a nutshell: It is the human tendency to identify with, to link up and to relate to something very intimately from a very personal point of view. We cannot develop objectivity in that situation because we are constantly projecting ourselves.

Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati

If one

Ponders on objects of the sense, there springs

Attraction; from attraction grows desire,

Desire flames to fierce passion, passion breeds

Recklessness; then the memory—all betrayed—

Let noble purposes go, and saps the mind,

Till purpose, mind, and man are all undone.

Bhagavad Gita

Human beings get attached to ideas — ideas about who they are, what's the best way to live, ideas about what other people should be like, how other people should live, and so on — and our attachment to those ideas causes most of our day-to-day suffering. It really does. I know it seems like the circumstances and reality is what makes us unhappy. But it is our ideas about reality and believing that other people really should be different that causes the suffering, not the reality itself. When you change your ideas about something, it changes the way you feel about it.

Adam Khan

Do everything with a mind that lets go.
Do not expect any praise or reward.
If you let go a little, you will have a little peace.
If you let go a lot, you will have a lot of peace.
If you let go completely, you will know complete peace and freedom.
Your struggles with the world
will have come to an end.

insight meditation - achaan chah

We tend to run away from discord. Discord and anger are real so what is the use of reacting against them? The moment we react we are creating a process within ourselves which holds on to the negativity, and the moment that happens, our mind, nature and behaviour are affected by that impression. Our past impressions and memories bring up the corresponding negative emotion and we project anger, frustration or discord, more so than it actually is.

Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati

In this life we cannot do great things.
We can only do small things with great love.

mother teresa

Let nothing disturb thee;
Let nothing dismay thee;
All things pass:
God never changes.
Patience attains
All that it strives for.
He who has God
Lacks for nothing:
God alone suffices.

st. teresa of avila - 16th century

June 24, 2007

2007-07-06T09:40:00.001-06:00

An ancient philosopher says the soul is made in between one and two. The one is eternity, ever alone and without variation. The two is time, changing and given to multiplication. He means to convey that the soul in her higher powers touches eternity, God, that is, while her lower powers being in contact with time make her subject to change and biased towards bodily things, which degrade her.

Meister Eckhart

To be identified with your mind is to be trapped in time: the compulsion to live almost exclusively through memory and anticipation. This creates an endless preoccupation with past and future and an unwillingness to honor and acknowledge the present moment and allow it to be. The compulsion arises because the past gives you an identity and the future holds to the promise of fulfillment in whatever form. Both are illusions.

Eckhart Tole

That’s the main thing. As long as you are wanting to be thinner, smarter, more enlightened, less uptight, or whatever it might be, some how you are always going to be approaching your problem with the same logic that created it to begin with: you’re not good enough.

Pema Chodron

What you thin k of as the past is a memory trace, stored in the mind of a former Now. When you remember the past, you reactivate a memory trace – and you do so now. The future is an imagined Now, a projection of the mind. When you think about the future, you do it now. Past and future obviously have no reality of their own. Just as the moon has no light of its own, but can only reflect the light of the sun, so are past and future only pale reflections of the light, power and reality of the eternal present. Their reality is “borrowed” from the now.

Eckhart Tole

A modern master described how the Buddha had encouraged the monks by stating that those who practiced diligently would surely be enlightened in seven days, or if not then in seven, months, or seven years. A young American Monk heard this and asked if it was still true. The master, Achaan Chah promised that if the young monk was continuously mindful without break for only seven days, he would be enlightened.

Excitedly the young monk started seven days, only to be lost in forgetfulness ten minutes later. Coming back to himself, he again started the seven days, only to be lost once again in mindless thought – perhaps about what he would do after his enlightenment. Again, and again. And again he began his seven days, and again and again he lost his continuity of mindfulness. A week later, he was not enlightened, but he had become very much aware of his habitual fantasies and wandering mind – a most instructive way to begin his practice on the Path to real awakening.

Buddhist story

Spiritually there is a lesson in every moment. When we are seemingly stuck in a boring routine, the miracle lies not so much in finding something else to do as in realizing how much we can do in a single moment – through the power of our own consciousness – to transform ourselves and the world around us. Marianne Williamson

Looking forwards and backwards [in time] is how we lose joy. How we become fragmented, shallow, and diversified. Once gotten beyond time and temporalities we are free and joyous all the time; then is the fullness of time, then is the Son of God born in you.

Meister Eckhart

The essence of what I am saying here cannot be understood by the mind. The moment you grasp it, there is a shift in consciousness from mind to Being, from time to presence. Suddenly, everything feels alive, radiates energy, and emanates Being.

Eckhart Tole

Saint Theresa's Prayer

May today there be peace within.
May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.
May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.
May you be content knowing you are a child of God. Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.