Wednesday, January 30, 2013

The Earth Speaks


The earth is what I speak to when
I do not understand my life…
The earth answers me with the same song
that it sang for my fathers when
their tears covered up the sun.
The earth sings a song of gladness.
The earth sings a song of praise.
The earth rises up and laughs at me
each time that I forget
how spring begins with winter
and death begins with birth.

~Nancy Wood

From Heart to Language

Appropos of the poetry weekend at The Farm:
Heart is sea, language is shore.
Whatever sea includes, will hit the shore.
~Rumi

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

The New Jerusalem?

As we slowly awaken, the world we have been taught will begin to disappear, all errors vanishing back into the dream from which they came. The sight that lead us away from truth will be redirected, and what once separated us from our brothers and sisters it will now unite us. The ears that once heard the call to war will reinterpret those same words as a call to peace. Those places within our hearts and minds where we once reacted with stress, worry, confusion, and chaos, will become a testament to trust, peace, and certainty. The same hand we use to point in judgment or strike out in anger will now be used to lift every brother and sister up and hold them steady throughout their storm. And the feet we once used to trample on their beliefs, feelings, thoughts, and emotions simply because they were different from ours, we will now be used to march along with them towards a place of love, respect, and understanding.

James Blanchard Cisneros

Monday, January 28, 2013

Worship

Good people come to worship me for different reasons. Some come to the spiritual life because of suffering, some in order to understand life; some come through a desire to achieve life's purpose, and some come who are men and women of wisdom. Unwavering in devotion, always united with me, the man or woman of wisdom surpasses all the others. To them I am the dearest beloved, and they are very dear to me. All those who follow the spiritual path are blessed. But the wise who are always established in union, for whom there is no higher goal than me, may be regarded as my very Self.

- Bhagavad Gita 7:16-18

Friday, January 25, 2013

One Foot in Eden

One foot in Eden still, I stand
And look across the other land.
The world's great day is growing late,
Yet strange these fields that we have planted
So long with crops of love and hate.
Time's handiworks by time are haunted,
And nothing now can separate
The corn and tares compactly grown.
The armorial weed in stillness bound
About the stalk; these are our own.
Evil and good stand thick around
In fields of charity and sin
Where we shall lead our harvest in.

Yet still from Eden springs the root
As clean as on the starting day.
Time takes the foliage and the fruit
And burns the archetypal leaf
To shapes of terror and of grief
Scattered along the winter way.
But famished field and blackened tree
Bear flowers in Eden never known.
Blossoms of grief and charity
Bloom in these darkened fields alone.
What had Eden ever to say
Of hope and faith and pity and love
Until was buried all its day
And memory found its treasure trove?
Strange blessings never in Paradise
Fall from these beclouded skies.


by Edwin Muir

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Materialism

The problem isn't materialism as such. Rather it is the underlying assumption that full satisfaction can arise from gratifying the senses alone. Unlike animals whose quest for happiness is restricted to survival and to the immediate gratification of sensory desires, we human beings have the capacity to experience happiness at a deeper level which, when achieved, can overwhelm unhappy experiences.
- His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Holy Essence

Beyond the beauty of external forms, there is more here: something that cannot be named, something ineffable, some deep, inner, holy essence. Whenever and wherever there is beauty, this inner essence shines through somehow. It only reveals itself to you when you are present.

~ Eckhart Tolle

The Opening of Eyes





That day I saw beneath dark clouds
the passing light over the water
and I heard the voice of the world speak out,
I knew then, as I had before
life is no passing memory of what has been
nor the remaining pages in a great book
waiting to be read.

It is the opening of eyes long closed.
It is the vision of far off things
seen for the silence they hold.
It is the heart after years
of secret conversing
speaking out loud in the clear air.

It is Moses in the desert
fallen to his knees before the lit bush.
It is the man throwing away his shoes
as if to enter heaven
and finding himself astonished,
opened at last,
fallen in love with solid ground.

~David Whyte From Songs for Coming Home

Listening

The first service one owes to others in the fellowship 
consists in listening to them. Just as love of God begins
 in listening to His Word, so the beginning of love for 
the brethren is learning to listen to them. It is God's
 love for us that He not only gives us His Word but
 lends us His ear. So it is His work that we do for our 
brother and sisters when we learn to listen to them.

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), Life Together [1954]


Monday, January 21, 2013

I Choose to Inhabit My Days

I will not die an unlived life.
I will not live in fear
of falling or catching fire.
I choose to inhabit my days,
to allow my living to open me,
to make me less afraid,
more accessible,
to loosen my heart
until it becomes a wing,
a torch, a promise.
I choose to risk my significance;
to live so that which came to me as seed
goes to the next as blossom
and that which came to me as blossom,
goes on as fruit.

 - dawna markova

EMBRACING INTERDEPENDENCE


 
Interdependence is our reality, whether we accept it or not. In order to live productively within such a reality, it is better to acknowledge and work with interdependence, wholeheartedly and without resistance. This is where love and compassion come in. It is love that leads us to embrace our connectedness to others, and to participate willingly in the relations created by our interdependence. Love can melt away our defenses and our painful sense of separation. The warmth of friendship and love makes it easy for us to accept that our happiness is intimately linked to that of others. The more widely we are able to love others, the happier and more content we can feel within the relations of interdependence that are a natural part of our life.

Love is possible in all our relationships because all people want happiness. No one wants to suffer. This is true of the people we love. It is also true of those we dislike. We are all absolutely identical in this respect. I think this universal wish for happiness is something we can easily grasp intellectually. When we learn to also feel and respect this in our heart, love naturally flourishes within us.
 
~ The Heart is Noble: Changing the World from the Inside Out by the Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje             

Melancholy

Melancholy may enter your soul, and ambush your happiness; but it will prepare you for true joy. Melancholy drives out all other emotions and feelings, so the source of all goodness may occupy the whole house. It shakes the yellow leaves from the tree, allowing fresh leaves to grow. It pulls up old bodily pleasures by the roots, allowing divine spiritual pleasures to be planted. Melancholy takes many things from the soul, in order to bring better things in return.
- Rumi

Her Cathedral

she kneeled at the cave entrance -
hands had quietly removed
the snow and ice that had blocked her
view.
lit in warmth and sacredness
she gazed upon her cathedral.
 
~terri st cloud

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Remember God

A devotee who can call on God while living a householder's life is a hero indeed. God thinks: "He who has renounced the world for My sake will surely pray to Me; he must serve Me. Is there anything very remarkable about it? People will cry shame on him if he fails to do so. But he is blessed indeed who prays to Me in the midst of his worldly duties. He is trying to find Me, overcoming a great obstacle, pushing away, as it were, a huge block of stone weighing a ton. Such a man is a real hero."
- Ramakrishna

Friday, January 18, 2013

Love Prompts

A Christian should always remember that the 
value of good works is not based on their number 
and excellence, but on the love of God which 
prompts one to do these things. 
 
John Of The Cross

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Purpose

What if your purpose is very different than what you've been taught to believe?

  • What if your purpose is to build an everlasting relationship with yourself? To fall deeply in love with precious you? This isn't self-centered or selfish, it's self-expansive. Interconnected. Conscious.

  • What if your purpose is to forgive yourself and others? And by doing so, to allow warm waves of compassion to wash over the entire planet (yourself included).


  • What if your purpose is to gently heal all self-injury? And by doing so, to become a mentor and role model for others to do the same.


  • What if your purpose is to release all shame and feelings of unworthiness? Guess what you'll find behind those feelings? Vulnerability. Roll out the red carpet for the V-word, because vulnerability is where your true strength and glory reside.


  • Shall we talk about perfection? Yes, I think we must. What if your purpose is to teach yourself that there is no such thing as perfection and that your never ending pursuit of it is destroying your life and your relationships. Let it go.


  • What if your purpose is to speak kindly to yourself so that you elevate your energy and the world around you?


  • What if your purpose is to develop an everlasting faith in yourself? To remember your holiness and treat yourself accordingly. The deeper your faith gets, the stronger your connection to a higher power.


  • What if your purpose is to take impeccable care of yourself so that you have the energy and joy to serve others?


And lastly...

What if your purpose is to bear witness to your suffering? To acknowledge it and embrace it in order to move through it. "They" say that "suffering is optional." I'm not so sure about that anymore. I used to think that was true. But that was before I had a deep and layered experience with suffering. Today, I think suffering is essential. The trick is to learn how to move out of suffering once you get the nugget and are ready to apply the lessons. Note: Residue of pain may remain (and that's OK), but at some point you can fully release the suffering.

Seriously, what if finding your purpose is about finding and nurturing yourself? Not an external to-do or accomplishment, even if that to-do or accomplishment is the most important discovery of all time. Because if you are the one destined to find the most important "aha" of all time, you will probably find it quicker and easier if you feel good, loved and happy. Start there. It's that simple.

Now this doesn't mean that I don't love my job (or you), or that I'm going to quit in any way. I cherish my work and all of my readers. And it doesn't mean that you shouldn't start an orphanage or save animals or empower women or teach people how to file taxes. It means that you no longer need to connect your personal self-worth with a plaque on the wall.

Your self-worth has nothing to do with your craft or calling, and everything to do with how you treat yourself.

I've met brilliant and effective activists who I have gallons of respect for but who are dirty messes inside. Mean messes. Bitter messes. Sad messes. And guess what? Their reach and impact reflects their attitude. Imagine what they could accomplish if they moved from loathing to love, if they knew that no matter how important their mission, their inner purpose matters even more. Folks are like plants, we all lean toward the light.

You are the light. Your inner purpose is to connect with that light. Everything else will follow in time.

If you are struggling with this topic, I hope this blog gives you peace and exhale. 2013 can be easier than we think.

Now I'd love to hear from you. What do you think?

For more by Kris Carr, click here.

Inner Force of Faith

Faith is not a storm cellar to which men and women 
can flee for refuge from the storms of life. It is, 
instead, an inner force that gives them the strength 
to face those storms and their consequences with 
serenity of spirit. 

  - Sam J. Ervin, Jr.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Rest in His Will

God is God. Because He is God, He is worthy of 
my trust and obedience. I will find rest nowhere 
but in His holy will, a will that is unspeakably beyond 
my largest notions of what He is up to. 
 
   - Elisabeth Elliot

Breakthroughs

 
You'll know you're making progress on the spiritual path when you begin to experience powerful
and liberating breakthroughs in the time-honored domains of meditation and contemplation:

In meditation, the breakthrough I'm referring to is the exhilarating experience of freedom
from time, history, and personality. This feels like peace. But not an ordinary kind of
peace. It is a peace in which you are simultaneously awake to the mysterious presence
of a depth without end and mesmerized by an overwhelming sense of awe.


In contemplation, a breakthrough occurs as the result of focused and intense philosophical
inquiry. It is the emergence of a profound and shocking clarity of mind and thought.
Suddenly, you are able to see not only more clearly than ever before, but with more depth
and perspective than you have ever known. Your mind becomes vast like the sky and
crystal clear like a highly polished diamond.

Achieving these kinds of breakthroughs on a regular basis is, I believe, a prerequisite to living a sane, meaningful, and directed life in this often confusing, increasingly chaotic, and sometimes frightening world we share.
—Andrew Cohen

Monday, January 14, 2013

LONELINESS IS REAL

 

You do not have to seek out loneliness—it is always there. Egolessness is a concept, a philosophy, but loneliness is a reality that you experience. A feeling of loneliness is part of the journey. As for me, I feel that way constantly, and I think it’s a very healthy feeling, a very real feeling. When you sense that you are not you anymore and that nothing can replace that state, you begin to make discoveries. You discover devotion, and you discover a quality of richness and artistic expression that is very special. Being you, but not being you, is very resourceful. You become a complete mountain man: you know how to make fire and cook food. But it doesn’t mean anything. You are still nobody. That is the inspiration.
 
~  Chögyam Trungpa            

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Knowledge and Wisdom

Knowledge has two wings. Conjecture is one wing. Conjecture alone is lacking and cuts short the flight. The one-winged bird continues to struggle, hoping to reach the nest somehow with one wing. And then wisdom shows his shining face. Delivered from conjecture, the bird now spreads both wings (and soars once again).
- Rumi

Saturday, January 12, 2013

The Path of Devotion

Sovereigns and slaves, oppressors and mediators, hypocrites and the truthful, this world is passing, but the hereafter infinite. Strive therefore for the Lord alone. Attain to piety and purify your hearts. Save yourselves; do not be held back from divine mercy. The path of adoration may render the body weak and fill the heart with sorrow, but all sorrow departs the instant He touches the heart, awakening it to an abounding freedom.

- Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jillani

Friday, January 11, 2013

Simple Way of Salvation

O plain, and easy, and simple way of salvation, wanting 
no subtleties of art or science, no borrowed learning, 
no refinements of reason, but all done by the simple 
natural motion of every heart, that truly longs after God. 
For no sooner is the finite desire of the creature in 
motion towards God, but the infinite desire of God is 
united with it, co-operates with it. And in this united 
desire of God, and the creature, is the salvation and 
life of the soul brought forth.

- William Law (1686-1761), The Spirit of Prayer [1749]



Thursday, January 10, 2013

Mindfulness

Feelings, whether of compassion or irritation, should be welcomed, recognized, and treated on an absolutely equal basis; because both are ourselves. The tangerine I am eating is me. The mustard greens I am planting are me. I plant with all my heart and mind. I clean this teapot with the kind of attention I would have were I giving the baby Buddha or Jesus a bath. Nothing should be treated more carefully than anything else. In mindfulness, compassion, irritation, mustard green plant, and teapot are all sacred.
- Thich Nhat Hanh, "Miracle of Mindfulness"

Wednesday, January 09, 2013

Presence

Know God and all fetters will fall away. No longer identifying yourself With the body, go beyond birth and death. All your desires will be fulfilled in him Who is One without a second. Know him to be enshrined in your heart always. Truly there is nothing more in life to know. Meditate and realize this world Is filled with the presence of God.

- Shvetashvatara Upanishad

Bearing Witness to the Cosmos

 

In order to understand what the interior, or spiritual , dimension of evolution is all about, you have to pause and stand back for a moment. Stand back and dare to bear witness to the majesty of the creative process as a whole—the miracle that emerged from nothing in a burst of light and energy 14 billion years ago. Bear witness to the glory and inconceivable creative power of this cosmic process that ultimately gave rise to the conditions that made it possible for you to have the experience you are having in this very moment. And then pay attention to the experience of being alive when you step this far outside the normal narrow sphere of your daily awareness. Realize the enormity of what it means to exist from this expanded perspective. What you will notice is that inherent in the vastness of it all is a powerful driving ecstatic urgency. That ecstasy and that urgency is the felt sense that the entire creative process is moving. It's going somewhere all the time.

—Andrew Cohen

The Long View

I place a towel unto the surface of a deserted endless beach and am offered the symbol of what time is to eternity, of what judgment is to forgiveness, pain to peace, and condemnation to compassion. You, your brother and sister are eternal, the truth within changeless in its perfection and forever untouched by the illusion of sin. We have notice a blink in eternity’s eyes and call it time. We are the creation and extensions of God/Source/Spirit, and throughout eternity regardless of the dreams we dream this will be so. Yes, we have been gifted free will and thus we can choose to build upon that which is all, judge the sinless or try to change the changeless, it is our right to be wrong. Today we practice not trying to add to, or substrate from, or cover over the eternal in all of us. Today where we have condemned a brother or sister to a life without us, we finally realize the illusion of time by offering them the eternal in us. Today eternity awakens us to the understanding that one honest moment, one holy instant of forgiveness can end a lifetime of judgment and pain.

James Blanchard Cisneros

Tuesday, January 08, 2013

Devotion

Devotion is the real spiritual sweetness which takes 
away all bitterness from mortifications, and prevents 
consolations from disagreeing with the soul; it cures 
the poor of sadness, and the rich of presumption; it
 keeps the oppressed from feeling desolate, and the 
prosperous from insolence; it averts sadness from
the lonely, and dissipation from social life; it is as warmth 
in winter and refreshing dew in summer; it knows how
 to abound and how to suffer want, how to profit alike 
by honour and by contempt; it accepts gladness and 
sadness with an even mind, and fills men's hearts 
with a wondrous sweetness.

- Francis de Sales (1567-1622), Introduction to the Devout Life [1609]


Monday, January 07, 2013

Surrender Prayer

Make me what Thou wouldst have me. I bargain for nothing. 
I make no terms. I seek for no previous information whither
 Thou art taking me. I will be what Thou wilt make me, and all 
that Thou wilt make me. I say not, I will follow Thee whither-
soever Thou goest, for I am weak, but I give myself to Thee,
 to lead me anywhither.

- John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801-1890),  
Parochial Sermons, v.V.

(Try to pray this prayer of surrender as sincerely as possible.  
Notice your areas of resistance, and offer them to 
God for conversion.)

Timelessness

Make this day a bough on a tree
leaning over infinity, where eternity flows forward
and with the day the river runs
carrying all that falls in it.

Jimmy Santiago Baca

Friday, January 04, 2013

The Danger in Words

It is a defect in language that words suggest permanent realities and people do not see through this deception. But mere words cannot create reality. Thus people speak of a final goal and believe it is real, but it is a form of words and the goal as such is without substance. The one who realizes the emptiness of objects and concepts does not depend on words. Perfect wisdom is beyond definition, and pathlessness is the way to it. The wise one treads this path for the direct realization of impermanence and for the direct realization of understanding. This, then, is perfect wisdom. Such a one should tread this path knowing that attachment and attractions are neither good nor harmful, even enlightenment is neither good nor harmful, because perfect wisdom is not meant to promote good or harm for that person. However, even though there is no intention of good or harm, it does confer endless blessing.

- Prajnaparamita

Wednesday, January 02, 2013

Anything Is Possible

  
 
The powerful experience of inspiration that many of us feel
at the beginning of a new year is the recognition that we
really can do something that we hadn't believed possible before—
that we are capable of breaking through to higher ground and
reaching previously unimaginable levels of our own potential.
Indeed, the uplifting experience of inspiration that we feel
in those moments is the thrilling sense that anything is possible.
That feeling of inspiration is a taste of spiritual freedom,
because within it we experience liberation from any habitual
sense of limitation.
 
—Andrew Cohen

Tuesday, January 01, 2013

We Need a New Myth

The link below leads to a thoughtful article on the current lack of a viable mythos for western society in particular and the world community in general. The drive toward materialism and consumerism is diminishing both humankind and the environment, but we lack both a widely held understanding of the trajectory of the results of these "isms" or a widely held and viable alternative. I believe the spiritual community must lead in developing a new understanding of the role of humankind in relating to our world, its resources and each other. Perhaps the new year is a good time to begin in earnest.  http://www.alternet.org/visions/everything-we-tell-ourselves-about-america-and-world-wrong?akid=9884.316236.cHliLk&rd=1&src=newsletter769265&t=3&paging=off

Happy New Year!

Another fresh new year is here . . .
Another year to live!
To banish worry, doubt, and fear,
To love and laugh and give!
This bright new year is given me
To live each day with zest . . .
To daily grow and try to be
My highest and my best!
I have the opportunity
Once more to right some wrongs,
To pray for peace, to plant a tree,
And sing more joyful songs!
 
- William Arthur Ward