Quotes 9-30-07 HOPE

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