Now is the time to listen within,
tend our inner garden mindfully
until new flowers,
new blessings can blossom.
~ Hermann Hesse ~
09 Wednesday Apr 2014
Posted Authentic living, Contemplation, Quotation, Words as Prayer
inNow is the time to listen within,
tend our inner garden mindfully
until new flowers,
new blessings can blossom.
~ Hermann Hesse ~
18 Tuesday Mar 2014
Posted Authentic living, Everyday Sacred, Quotation
inTags
11 Tuesday Feb 2014
Posted Authentic living, Contemplation, Quotation
inTags
“Third eye seeing is the way the mystics see. They do not reject the first eye; the senses matter to them, but they know there is more. Nor do they reject the second eye; but they know not to confuse knowledge with depth or mere correct information with the transformation of consciousness itself. The mystical gaze builds upon the first two eyes–and yet goes further. It happens whenever, by some wondrous ‘coincidence,’ our heart space, our mind space, and our body awareness are all simultaneously open and nonresistent. I like to call it presence. It is experienced as a moment of deep inner connection, and it always pulls you, intensely satisfied, into the naked and undefended now, which can involve both profound joy and profound sadness. At that point, you either want to write poetry, pray, or be utterly silent.
The third-eye person has always been the saint, the seer, the poet, the metaphysician, or the authentic mystic who grasped the whole picture. There is more to the mystical gaze, however, than having “ecstatic visions.” If people have ignored the first and the second eyes, their hold on the third eye is often temporary, shallow, and incapable of being shared with anybody else. We need true mystics who see with all three sets of eyes, not eccentrics, fanatics, or rebels. The true mystic is always both humble and compassionate, for she knows that she does not know.”
~ Richard Rohr, from The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See
08 Saturday Feb 2014
Tags
awareness, compassion, heart, mindfulness, Pema Chodron, warrior
“Our habitual patterns are, of course, well established, seductive, and comforting. Just wishing for them to be ventilated isn’t enough. Mindfulness and awareness are key. Do we see the stories that we’re telling ourselves and question their validity? When we are distracted by a strong emotion, do we remember that it is part of our path? Can we feel the emotion and breathe it into our hearts for ourselves and everyone else? If we can remember to experiment like this even occasionally, we are training as a warrior. And when we can’t practice when distracted but know that we can’t, we are still training well. Never underestimate the power of compassionately recognizing what’s going on.”
~ Pema Chodron, from Comfortable with Uncertainty
Photo credit: James Marvin Phelps / Foter.com / CC BY-NC
04 Tuesday Feb 2014
Posted Contemplation, Everyday Sacred, For the Love of Books, Quotation
inTags
Gail Godwin, God, love, Psalms
“Because the psalms were written by humans and humans are a messy, contradictory lot. They grow up very slowly. The reason these psalms still speak to us is because the writers showed us ourselves as we are and yet put it in a larger container. They’re reporting to God what’s going on inside them at the moment. They rage and lament and give thanks and praise for their good fortunes and curse their enemies some more and blame God for abandoning them, but they also write down God’s voice telling them things they need to know, telling them that they are loved and special. It’s a mixed bag, but the point is it’s all in a bag, bigger than they are, called God.”
~ Gail Godwin, from Evensong
22 Wednesday Jan 2014
Posted Authentic living, Contemplation, Meditation, Quotation
inTags
Just as a mirror, which reflects all things, is set in its own container, so too the rational soul is placed in the fragile container of the body. In this way, the body is governed in its earthly life by the soul, and the soul contemplates heavenly things through faith.
Hildegard of Bingen, letter to Monk Guibert, 1175
03 Friday Jan 2014
Posted Authentic living, Contemplation, Everyday Sacred, Meditation, Quotation
inGlance at the sun. See the moon and the stars.
Gaze at the beauty of earth’s greenings.
Now, think.
What delight God gives to humankind
with all these things. . . .
All nature is at the disposal of humankind.
We are to work with it. For
without we cannot survive.
~ Hildegard of Bingen
Photo credit: blmiers2 / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA
14 Saturday Dec 2013
Posted Authentic living, Everyday Sacred, Quotation
inPeace is present right here and now, in ourselves and in everything we do and see. Every breath we take, every step we take, can be filled with peace, joy, and serenity. The question is whether or not we are in touch with it. We need only to be awake, alive in the present moment.
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
10 Tuesday Dec 2013
Posted Contemplation, Everyday Sacred, Meditation, Quotation
inWhat I am describing here is the contemplative work of the spirit. It is this which gives God the greatest delight. For when you fix your love on him, forgetting all else, the saints and angels rejoice and hasten to assist you in every way… Your fellow men are marvelously enriched by this work of yours, even if you may not fully understand how… and, of course, your own spirit is purified and strengthened by this contemplative work more than by all others put together. Yet for all this, when God’s grace arouses you to enthusiasm, it becomes the lightest sort of work there is and one most willingly done. Without his grace, however, it is very difficult and almost, I should say, quite beyond you.
For in the beginning it is usual to feel nothing but a kind of darkness about your mind, or as it were, a cloud of unknowing. You will seem to know nothing and to feel nothing except a naked intent toward God in the depths of your being. Try as you might, this darkness and this cloud will remain between you and your God. You will feel frustrated, for your mind will be unable to grasp him, and your heart will not relish the delight of his love. But learn to be at home in this darkness. Return to it as often as you can, letting your spirit cry out to him whom you love. For if, in this life, you hope to feel and see God as he is in himself it must be within this darkness and this cloud. But if you strive to fix your love on him forgetting all else, which is the work of contemplation I have urged you to begin, I am confident that God in his goodness will bring you to a deep experience of himself.
~ The Cloud of Unknowing
The Cloud of Unknowing is considered a valuable text of medieval Christian Mysticism in the 14th century–most likely by a male author. He sets out a unique approach to God not through intellect but through contemplation. It is a worthwhile read.
Photo credit: Hop-Frog / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA
04 Wednesday Dec 2013
Posted Authentic living, Everyday Sacred, Quotation
inTags
You never know when a face may begin to shine, including your own, but even when we cannot see the light, we believe in it, because we have heard the stories. We know that God’s glory is pulsing just beneath the surface of things, with power to transfigure the darkest of our days.
~Barbara Brown Taylor, from Bread of Angels