The dream of my life Is to lie down by a slow river And stare at the light in the trees — To learn something by being nothing A little while but the rich Lens of attention.
~ Mary Oliver from "Entering the Kingdom" in DEVOTIONS
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Persons hungry for silence and for solitude seek a depth of contemplative experience in which one's usual assumptions about daily life are brought into question. The hunger for retreat carries with it a recognition that there is no other way out of many situations in which we find ourselves in the complexity of our lives. There is no other way than to take our messes into the darkness of silence before the Beloved... that by going into this silence, darkness, and helplessness can life be brought forth to sustain either ourselves or our world.
~ from "Come Apart and Rest Awhile" by Frances Irene Taber