December 1994 (Vol. VII, No. 11)

GREETINGS! May each of you know the peace, joy, wonder and love of this holiday season in the Silence of your heart ... may the Divine Child within you be born anew.

The child that is born is an open bridge to the unconscious

The child that is born is an open bridge to the unconscious, to the unmanifest, expanded multidimensional soul. Babies are so magnificent. They're always staring off into space, into the eyes of their beloveds, of their companion souls, of God. We have all heard it said that the eyes are the windows of the soul, and the soul is very present in children... As we touch the child inside ourselves, we begin to shift from the emotional body's experience to the deeper, more profound love of our cosmic self. The child reminds us that God laughs.

~ from ECSTASY IS A NEW FREQUENCY by Chris Griscom
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Guess who I am

Guess who I am?
Guess who it is
that loves you --
you, who were the breaking of spring
in my heart
before the beginning of time;
guess who I am,
You, in the womb
before the day star I have begotten you.

~ from CARYLL HOUSELANDER by Maisie Ward with thanks to Alice Somers
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The carefree hearts of children

The carefree hearts of children reflect qualities that are divine by their restless pranks and blissful for their innocence. It is for us to see how far we can make use of this "Divinity" in ourselves, expressed through the child-God.

~ Meher Baba
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To respond authentically to what we encounter

To respond authentically to what we encounter: this is how we all reacted as children, before we were punished or shamed for doing so. To respond authentically to what we encounter -- how hard it is for adults to do something that sounds so simple.

To do so, we only have to be inwardly attentive, we only have to know what we feel, we only have to be able to respond with an innocent, spontaneous, instinctive receptivity that is a finely attuned discriminating consciousness, a body and soul reaction to the world around us.

~ from CROSSING TO AVALON by Jean Shinoda Bolen
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I spoke it in my childhood

Once, in the early days of my desolution, I thought I might learn to write in the language of the spiders. Now, led by the Child, I am on my way to it. The true language, I know now, is that speech in silence in which we first communicated, the Child and I, in the forest, when I was asleep. It is the language I used in my childhood, and some memory, intangibly there by not quite audible, of our marvelous conversations, comes to me again at the very edge of sleep, a language my tongue almost rediscovers and which would, I believe, reveal the secrets of the universe to me the language whose every syllable is a gesture of reconciliation. I spoke it in my childhood. I must discover it again.

~ from AN IMAGINARY LIFE by David Malouf
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Keep the child in yourself

Most of all, you have to keep the child in yourself, especially the sense of wonder.
~ Anonymous
Anonymous child

In the silent night a child was sent

In the silent night
a child was sent
to embody
the Mystery of
God alive
among us.

~ Unknown
Unknown child

Like a child quieted at its mother's breast

I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a child quieted at its mother's breast;
like a child that is quieted
is my soul ...

~ Psalm 131:3
Psalm 131:3 child

How best to help this child

Vanya wondered how he could best help this child, so pure in heart, to grow in the love of God. It was too early to SPEAK to him about God dwelling within him, so he simply encouraged him to sit still, to relax and concentrate his thoughts within. He was sure that, in the boy's open and expectant heart, the mystery would make itself known in its own way without the sounds of words... Vanya, for his part, tried to see into the depth of those wonderful eyes and, behind them, into the sanctuary of that child's heart where so clearly God was dwelling.

~ Dom Henri Le Saux
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We must all work to make the world worthy of its children

Each second we live is a new and unique moment of the universe, a moment that will never be again... And what do we teach our children? We teach them that two and two make four, and that Paris is the capital of France. When will we also teach them what they are? ...

Do you know what you are? You are a marvel. You are unique. In all the years that have passed, there has never been another child like you... You have the capacity for anything. Yes, you are a marvel. And when you grow up, can you then harm another who is, like you, a marvel?

We must all work to make the world worthy of its children.

~ Pablo Casals
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We often forget that we are like children

We often forget that we are like children whose hearts must be open, trusting and needful of God's deep embrace... Deep within the divine embrace the self is always recognized as infinitely precious, worthy of dignity and respect. One discovers one's essential goodness and the graced quality of one's life... In that embrace one discovers true needfulness and vulnerability, the heart of the beloved child that rests in loving arms and finds there its peaceful home.

~ from "In the Circle of a Mother's Arms" by Wendy M. Wright
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You have only to play as a child with an unselfish heart

What sets monks apart from the rest of us is not an overbearing piety by a contemplative sense of fun. They know, as Trappist monk Matthew Kelty reminds us, that "you do not have to be holy to love God. You have only to be human. Nor do you have to be holy to see God in all things. You have only to play as a child with an unselfish heart."

~ from DAKOTA by Kathleen Norris
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Joy is my name

"I have no name:
I am but two days old."
What shall I call thee?
"Joy is my name."
Sweet joy befall thee!

~ William Blake
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November 1994 (Vol. VII, No. 10)

May you know peace, joy and gratitude in the Silence, friends! 

The attitude of gratefulness

And, how do you express your gratitude? -- by simply having the attitude of gratefulness... Gratitude and attitude!These two thoughts are similar, in that gratitude is an attitude, one that keeps you inside the flow of All Good, which is God.When you can maintain the attitude of gratefulness throughout each day, you are well on your way to growth, spiritually and in every other area.
~ from MESSAGES TO OUR FAMILY by Annie and Byron Kirkwood
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Within my being lives a silent power

Within my being lives a silent power,
A firm, sound frame of wise and compassionate strength.
How often do I deny this gift,
This blessing from my Source?
Perhaps as the outward power of the sun recedes
in winter,
I will learn to own the strength within.

~ from ESSENE BOOK OF DAYS by Danaan Parry
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For me, prayer is a lifting up of the heart, a simple glance towards Heaven

For me, prayer is a lifting up of the heart, a simple glance towards Heaven, a cry of gratitude and love in the midst of trial as well as joy. It is something great, supernatural, which expands my soul and unites me to God.

~ Therese of Lisieux
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To live in gratitude for every moment

Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live in every experience, painful or joyous; to live in gratitude for every moment, to live abundantly.

~ Dorothy Thompson
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Gratitude is a choice that becomes a habit

GRATITUDE is a choice that becomes a habit. It is a major ingredient in the alchemy of transformation and is closely related to love... Gratitude creates a combustion of energy that powers our living cells. That's why all spiritual traditions teach the importance of gratitude. It certainly isn't because the deity needs any reassurance. Rather it's because when we are in the state of gratitude, we're affirming our faith in our own highest good and denying authority to the paralyzing, constricting energy of fear.

~ from WHERE TWO WORLDS TOUCH by Gloria D. Karpinski
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I understood the importance of thanking God for the things we receive

I understood the importance of thanking God for the things we receive. Gratitude is an eternal virtue. In humility we ask, and in gratitude we receive. The more we give thanks for the blessings we receive, the more open we become for further blessings. God's desire to bless is full to overflowing. If we will open our hearts and minds the receive blessings, we too will be filled to overflowing ... We may become like the angels themselves, helping others who are in need. In prayer and service our lights will always shine. Service is the oil to our lamps generated by compassion and love.

~ from EMBRACED BY THE LIGHT by Betty J. Eadie
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Honoring gifts in action with gratitude

The Great Source is always reaching out for people who are moved by the spirit of love rather than fear. And blessed are those who are willing to hear the teachings of peace and pass their inspirations along to the world with courage and confidence. Would that more of us trusted the inner voice of healing and honored its gifts in action with gratitude.

~ Reshad Feild
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O Gracious Creator

O Might Counselor, speak to us
within our hearts;
let your voice be heard.

And as we listen and heed your Word,
joy will be our song of thanks.

As You lead us into the Silence,
we become friends with solitude.

With trust in You, our lives become simple,
assurance and peace leaving
no room for fear.

All that we have is gift from You,
O Gracious Creator,
all that we are is Yours as well.

May we come to see that all
we give to others,
we give to ourselves and You.
 

~ from THE PSALMS RE-VISIONED, Vol. III
The Psalms Re-visioned gratitude

God weaves the threads of difficulty, serendipity, challenge, and blessing together in our lives

It is often difficult for us to see how, or sometimes even to believe that, God weaves the threads of difficulty, serendipity, challenge, and blessing together in our lives. That is why it is important at times to stop and look with fresh eyes and open hearts at what our Creator has been weaving around, within, and through us. From this new perspective, this vantage point of grace, we begin to discern God's artistry, the extraordinary ways in which unruly, unwanted, and unexpected threads are being woven deftly into a strong, resilient, and beautiful fabric. We see not only how the various threads of our individual lives are woven together, but also how they are woven into the lives of others.

~ from "The Weaving and Wedding of Our Lives" By Jean M. Blomquist
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Filled with gratitude

When you are filled with wonder at God's beauty, not only in nature, but in the amazing structure of your own body and mind, you are filled with gratitude. Thankfulness becomes an integral part of your daily living -- for the restoring benefit of sleep; for the dawning of yet another day; for the guidance you have received, and the opportunities of serving others, and for the strength to do this. Even if you are limited in your environment and your physical ability, you can still marvel. For you can enter your inner world, with its thoughts and memories, and reach out in prayer just where you are... To live without wonder is to wonder what living is all about.

~ Margaret Holmes
Margaret Holmes gratitude

The One who gives

In sharing, the meaning of our lives
is given back to God:
The One who gives
The One who receives
The One who is.

~ Gunilla Norris
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October 1994 (Vol. VII, No. 9)

BLESSED BE in the Sacred Silence, friends!

There is a silence into which the world cannot intrude

There is a silence into which the world cannot intrude. There is an ancient peace you carry in your heart and have not lost. Peace is a natural heritage of spirit. Peace and understanding go together and never are found alone. Strength and innocence are not in conflict, but naturally live in peace. In this quiet state alone is strength and power. Here can no weakness enter, for here is not attack and therefore no illusion. ABIDE IN PEACE

~ from A GIFT OF PEACE by F. Vaughan and R. Walsh
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Sacred silence engenders stillness

Sacred silence engenders stillness. It IS stillness. And that stillness opens up the dimension of spiritual existence -- that luminous world that awaits our discovery as soon as we redirect our attention from external things to our own radiant depths... Silence is not merely a discipline; rather, it is primarily a state of being. It is in, through, and as silence that we discover our authentic identity, the Self.

~ from SACRED PATHS by Georg Feuerstein
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A Great Silence overcomes me

A Great Silence overcomes me,
and I wonder why I ever thought
to use language.

~ Rumi
Rumi silence

Why is silence powerful?

Another silence began, rich and profound. I looked at the next question on my list and laughed. "You work in silence. This is because silence is the ultimate and final initiation, isn't it?" "Yes." Ma adjusted the bangle on her right wrist. "Why is silence powerful?" "God is silent. Everything comes out of silence. In silence more work can be done. the true experience of Bliss is without words." The silence returned, this time ringing with her sound.

~ from HIDDEN JOURNEY by Andrew Harvey
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Silence is not a thing we make

Silence is not a thing we make; it is something into which we enter. It is always there. We talk about keeping silence. We keep only that which is precious. Silence is precious, for it is of God. In silence all God's acts are done; in silence alone can God's voice be heard, God's word spoken.

~ from MOTHER MARIBEL OF WANTAGE by Sr. Janet
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In Silence is perfect Rest

In Silence is perfect Rest,
and here the ever-so-faint sound
of the Comforter's voice
rings as notes struck from the crystal glass.
Certainty resides there,
and there alone.

...I bid you come to the Silence,
that the Voice may finally be heard.
Here marks the gentle turning point
in your long Journey.
Herein is the way home rediscovered ...
Come into Silence
let the journey end.

~ from THE JESHUA LETTERS by Marc Hammer
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The only means of authentic spiritual communication

The only means of authentic spiritual communication is the interior speech which is uttered in the silence from which the Word emerged, and which is only heard in the silence.

~ Abhishiktananda
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Nothing so much like God

There is nothing so much like God in all the universe as silence.
~ Meister Eckhart
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If we become and remain still and silent

Life in the dimension of Spirit is a mystery rooted in the joy of being. The wonderful beauty of prayer is that the opening of our heart is as natural as the opening of a flower. To let a flower open and bloom it is only necessary to let it be. So if we simply are, if we become and remain still and silent, our heart cannot but be open; the Spirit cannot but pour through into our whole being. It is this that we have been created for.

~ John Main
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A small oasis of Silence

I sit and stare
Into the where
Of within me
At the world of words and sounds and sights,
Peoples and places and empty spaces,
And under it all
A small oasis of Silence
Where time ceases to be
And I am part of eternity.

~ Patricia Waugh
Patricia Waugh silence

Going out from the silence, teach me to be more alert

Going out from the silence, teach me to be more alert, humble, expectant than I have been in the past: ever ready to encounter You in quiet, homely ways: in every appeal to my compassion, every act of unselfish love which shows up and humbles my imperfect love, may I recognize You still walking through the world. Give me that grace of simplicity which alone can receive your Mystery.

~ Evelyn Underhill on Prayer
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Oh silence, thou art an inestimable bliss

Oh silence, thou art an inestimable bliss,
Thou coverest the follies of the foolish
And givest inspiration to the wise!

~ a Persian saying
Persian Saying silence

Inwardness and true quietness appear to be but two aspects of the same thing

Inwardness and true quietness appear to be but two aspects of the same thing -- of a "truly centered" life. In the innermost religion of life there is a perpetual calm; perturbations and excitements belong to the comparatively superficial part of our own nature. In cleaving to the Center we cannot but be still; to be inwardly still is to be aware of the Center.

~ from LIGHT ARISING by Caroline Stephan
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Befriend the Silence

Be still and know I AM.

If you would know deeper dimensions of yourself and the Divine, my friends, befriend the Silence.

~ Unknown
Unknown silence

Friendship with Silence

The further one travels the spiritual path toward Home ... the more precious is one's relationship with Silence. Though spiritual disciplines may change over the course of one's journey, the one discipline which seems constant, though it ever deepens, is the friendship with Silence.

~ Jerry Wright
Jerry Wright silence

In silence will you hear Me

In silence will you hear Me;
In silence will you come to know Me.
Listen well.

~ Jeshua
Jeshua silence

September 1994 (Vol. VII, No. 8)

BLESSINGS BE WITHIN YOU, friends, in the Silence of your lives!

It is not right to acquiesce in the notion that our lives are divided

It is not right to acquiesce in the notion that our lives are divided into the time we spend on our work and the time we spend in serving God. We must be able to serve the Divine Plan, and the work itself must be accepted and respected as the medium of divine creation... Every maker and worker is called to serve God in their profession or trade -- not outside it.

~ from CREED OR CHAOS? by Dorothy L. Sayers
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Waiting in prayer is a disciplined refusal to act before God acts

Another will is greater, wiser and more intelligent than my own. So I wait. Waiting means that there is Another whom I trust and from whom I receive. My will, important and essential as it is, finds a Will that is more important, more essential. .. In prayer we are aware that God is in action and that when the circumstances are ready, when others are in the right place and when my heart is prepared, I will be called into action. Waiting in prayer is a disciplined refusal to act before God acts. Waiting is our participation in the process that results in the "time fulfilled".

~ from EARTH & ALTAR by Eugene H. Peterson
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A vision and a task

A vision without a task is but a dream,
A task without a vision is drudgery,
And a vision and a task is the hope of the world.

~ from a church in Sussex, England (c. 1730)
Church In Sussex England work

How I like things to be done quietly and without fuss

How I like things to be done quietly and without fuss... Let truth be done in silence "till it is forced to speak," and then should it only whisper, all those whom it may concern will hear.

~ from THE JOURNALS OF CAROLINE FOX (1843)
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Love made visible

Work is love made visible.
~ Kahlil Gibran
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ou do not need to stop working, but you need to strive for a new relationship with your work

To create from joy, to create from wonder, demands a continual discipline, a great compassion. It demands a severity of mind towards all vanity and posturing of the ego that loves its suffering, and clings to its despairs and depressions and fears; it demands a continual objectivity of spirit, a continual looking out at, and beyond, the world created by the senses, towards a spiritual reality, whose lineaments only emerge slowly, after years of experience and meditation. You do not need to stop working, but you need to strive for a new relationship with your work... With time and sincerity you will discover a way to work that does not harm you spiritually, does not tempt you to vanity, that is the deepest expression of your spirituality.

~ from A JOURNEY IN LADAKH by Andrew Harvey
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We lose ourselves in our love of the task before us

Responsible work is an embodiment of love, and love is the only discipline that will serve in shaping the personality, the only discipline that makes the mind whole and constant for a lifetime of effort.  There hovers about a true vocation that paradox of all significant self-knowledge -- our capacity to find ourselves by losing ourselves.  We lose ourselves in our love of the task before us and, in that moment, we learn an identity that lives both within and beyond us.

~ Theodore Roszak
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The ultimate work is an engagement with soul

Nicholas of Cusa described human creativity as a participation in the act of God creating the cosmos. God creates the cosmos, we create the microcosmos, the "human world". As we do our daily work, make our homes and marriages, raise our children, and fabricate a culture, we are all being creative... The ultimate work is an engagement with soul, responding to the demands of fate and tending the details of life as it presents itself. We may get to a point where our external labors and the OPUS of the soul are one and the same, inseparable. Then the satisfactions of our work will be deep and long lasting, undone neither by failures nor by flashes of success.

~ from CARE OF THE SOUL by Thomas Moore
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Act without doing

Act without doing,
work without effort.
Think of the small as large
and the few as many.
Confront the difficult
while it is still easy;
accomplish the great task
by a series of small acts.

The master never reaches for the great
thus she achieves greatness.
When she runs into a difficulty,
she stops and gives herself to it.
She doesn't cling to her own comfort;
thus problems are no problem for her.

~ from TAO TE CHING ed. by Stephen Mitchell
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Contemplation is an excellent practice for integrating our meditations into everyday life

Contemplation is an excellent practice for integrating our meditations into everyday life... Simply reading one line of something inspirational each morning can provide excellent material for contemplation if we design a practice that helps to encourage contemplative moments throughout the day... For people in a busy, active environment, it is perhaps the most accessible spiritual practice. A few moments of contemplation can be accomplished even in the middle of a business meeting. This experience is not like a passing daydream, but affects the quality of life, deepening our spiritual connections, drawing us into reflection and constant realization of the soul's quest to be at one with its divine source at all times and in all places.

~ from SILENCE, SIMPLICITY AND SOLITUDE by David A. Cooper
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It's the doing itself that is contemplation

Contemplation is not something that is done alongside or before and after our everyday action. It's the doing itself that is contemplation because you yourself are so united with God that you are simply living the divine life; you are God living and doing you in the world. You are God's manifestation ... a movement of consciousness from God, with God, in God, as God, out in the world, a movement in which the divine conscious and my conscious, flowing together, stream out in love and in creative, healing, beautifying energy to create the world and to make it ever better.

~ from RADICAL OPTIMISM by Bernice Bruteau
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To work is to pray

A story of three brick masons illustrates the great difference our attitude toward our work makes:

The first person, when asked what he was building, replied gruffly, without even looking up, "I'm laying bricks."

The second person answered, "I'm building a wall."

But the third person said enthusiastically and with obvious pride and wonder, "I'm building a cathedral."

TO WORK IS TO PRAY

The work you do out of love without a thought of reward is the work of God.

~ Tolstoy
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Work is what we do for love

A job is what we do for money;
Work is what we do for love.

~ Marysarah Quinn
Marysarah Quinn work

July-August 1994 (Vol. VII, No. 7)

GREETINGS and BLESSINGS, friends!

May the stars carry your sadness away

May the stars carry your sadness away,
May the flowers fill your heart with beauty,
May hope forever wipe away your tears,
And, above all, may silence make you strong.

~ Chief Dan George with thanks to Susan Bower
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All around me was the flow of life

I gazed across the swamp, its beauty overwhelming. I prayed for guidance, then slipped deep into the realm of silence, still not sure as to where I was going or what I was searching for. It did not take too long to reach deep into the quietude of the sacred silence, and in a flash of clarity all body and mind were gone. I emerged into the dazzling brilliance of the swamp in full light. In my imagination the swamp took on a new feel, a feel that reached into the consciousness of my very soul, purifying and healing. All around me was the flow of life ... green carpets of moss, tranquil pools full of frogs and fish, choruses and movements of all manner of birds, other animals dancing to the rhythm of the Earth, and a sense of beauty the like of which I had never experienced before.

~ from THE JOURNEY by Tom Brown, Jr.
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I am the breeze that nourishes all things green

I am the breeze that nourishes all things green
I encourage blossoms to flourish with
ripening fruits ...
I am the yearning for good.

~ Hildegard of Bingen
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Speak to me of serenity

Speak to me of serenity, of treasures yet to be found, of peace that flows like a river. Tell me of tranquil places that no hand has marred, no storm has scarred. Give me visions of standing in sunlight or the feeling of spring mist against my cheek as I live and move and breathe. Show me paths that wind through wild lilies and beds of buttercups. Sing me songs like the mingled voices of wrens and meadowlarks, the lowing of gentle cows, the soft mother-call of a mare to her colt. Lead me past a glass-smooth pond where frogs croak of coming-out parties, their graduation from frisky tadpoles to squat green frogs. Find me a place in the sunlight to sit and think and listen to the sweet inner voice that says so quietly, "Peace, be still."

~ from CHEROKEE FEAST OF DAYS by Joyce Sequichie Hifler
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God's creation is to be experienced in the rhythm of our lives

God's creation is to be experienced in the rhythm of our lives, which I see as: exoteric -- the mechanical, habitual body needs (human-made time); mesoteric -- that which we do with intention, awareness ... the pressure is gone, we slow down; and esoteric -- here we meet God, experience the gift and beauty of life with gratitude. Such moments are filled with awe and silence, without limit or measure ... all pressure, tension, worry, and unnessary suffering is gone. What a rich moment is God's Moment, what a rich time is God's time.

~ Dr. Edith Wallace
Dr. Edith Wallace journey

At rest in the very center of the universe

In THE SNOW LEOPARD, Peter Matthiesen describes his son, Alex:

In his first summers, forsaking all his toys, my son would stand rapt for near an hour in his sandbox in the orchard, as doves and redwings came and went on the warm wind, the leaves dancing, the clouds flying, birdsong and sweet smell of privet and rose. The child was not observing; he was at rest in the very center of the universe, a part of things, unaware of endings and beginnings, still in unison with the primordial nature of creation, letting all light and phenomena pour through.

~ from THE SNOW LEOPARD by Peter Matthiesen
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There is no art to wandering

There is no art to wandering. If I have a destination, a plan -- and objective -- I've lost the ability to find serendipity... I search for the Holy Grail of particularity and miss the chalice freely offered, filled full and overwhelming.

~ from ON BECOMING LOST by Cathy Johnson
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So much of life we all pass by with heedless ear and careless eye

So much of life we all pass by
With heedless ear and careless eye.
Bent with our cares, we plod along,
Blind to the beauty, deaf to the song.

But moments there are when we pause to rest
And turn our eyes from the goal's far crest.
We become aware of the wayside flowers,
And sense God's hand in this world of ours.

The sun flecks gold through the sheltering trees,
And we shoulder our burdens with twice the ease.
Peace and contentment and a world that sings
The moment of true awareness brings.

~ Helen Lowrie Marshall
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The more sensitive we are to the interdependence of things

The more sensitive we are to the interdependence of things, the more we see how the quality of our own lives affects not only the people we actually meet but also all beings... In this mysterious universe of subtle and vast interconnections, each one of our actions is as delicate and far-reaching as the butterfly flapping its wings. And the freer we are from greed, hatred and ignorance, the more our lives will be for the benefit of all. Reflecting on that fact can infuse our meditation practice and our lives with spaciousness and love as we travel this ancient and contemporary path.

~ from INSIGHT MEDITATION by Joseph Goldstein
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I keep moving toward a distant light

The rock strengthens me.
The river rushing through me
Cleanses
Insists
That I keep moving toward
A distant light
A quiet place
Where I can be
Continuous
And in rhythm with
The song of summer
That you have given me.

~ from MANY WINTERS by Nancy Wood and Frank Howell with thanks to Paula Davis
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If we are going to care for the soul

If we are going to care for the soul, and if we know that the soul is nurtured by beauty, then we will have to understand beauty more deeply and give it a more relevant place in life.

~ Thomas Moore
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June 1994 (Vol. VII, No. 6)

"Is there enough Silence for the Word to be heard?"

God is a singing sound in the heart of silence

I woke up from a dream several years ago and wrote the words, "God is a singing sound in the heart of silence." ... Silence is not an absence. It is a presence. Listen to the bird. Its sound comes from and returns to silence. Trees are surrounded by silence. They grow from silence. All things in nature are children of silence... At the core of my being there is an open road, and three words to guide me, TRUSTING/BREATHING/ATTENDING. Trusting that the universe is a friendly place. Breathing from the deepest part of myself. Attending to the process of becoming. These three guiding words of wisdom call me to travel the open road. To attend, breathe and trust in the heart of silence. To listen for the singing sound of God.

~ from "In the Heart of Silence" by Kalichi
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If you sing from deep within you, transformation happens

When I sing I feel ecstatic, as if in communion with God. Maybe, when I sing, that's when I feel and experience it most in my life -- that lack of separation from God... I think that a song, if you allow it into your heart, can remind you that you are whole, that you are not just a fragment, but everything. If people sing, if they let themselves really sing, they can feel that inside... No matter who you are, if you sing from deep within you, transformation happens. A song, whether you are singing or listening, can let your heart open to the spiritual world.

~ Susan Osborn
Susan Osborn music

Music is always in the air

Music is always in the air, particularly at night, for nature (being born of it) is necessarily more sensitive at night to the beautiful.

~ Hargrave Jennings
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In the new creation souls will sing together like this

Late that afternoon I listened to Thomas Tallis's SPEM IN ALIUM, a motet written in the 16th century for forty voice, forty separate parts... I was sitting in my chair looking at Ma's photograph as I listened. At once, as the music began, the photograph started to emit great waves of Light. The Light possessed my mind and body, and I heard the music not without me but within my heart.

Her voice: In my stillness all the voices of the world rise in ecstasy. In my silence all the voices of the world are reconciled.

Each voice in the sublime motet sang in perfectly lucid ecstatic harmony with every other voice, forming endlessly changing transforming masses of illumined ripe sound.

In the new creation souls will sing together like this.

I heard spiral after spiral of ascending glorious sound rise calmly, with a passion at once detached and supremely intense, from its bed of Silence, rise, commingle in bliss, and finally culminate in the vast prolonged cry of Light on Light at the end of the work, a cry that does not end but seems to reverberate throughout the cosmos forever.

~ from HIDDEN JOURNEY: A SPIRITUAL AWAKENING by Andrew Harvey
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The spirit alone truly lives in the artists' incessant creative activity

Dr. Eaglefield Hull describes Scriabin's attitude to music: His first symphony is a "Hymn to Art" and joins hands with Beethoven's Ninth. His third, the "Divine Poem", expresses the spirit's liberation from its earthly trammels and the consequent free expression of purified personality; while his "Poem of Ecstasy" voices the highest of all joys -- that of creative work. He held that in the artists' incessant creative activity, the constant progression towards the ideal, the spirit alone truly lives.

~ Dr. Eaglefield Hull
Dr. Eaglefield Hull music

My musical productions came into existence through understanding and pain

My musical productions came into existence through understanding and pain. Those which pain has brought forth seem to please the world most ... (out of pain comes new birth ... new life).

~ Schubert
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We know that we are part of this grand orchestra

Within this life we live and have our being; this is the power, the wisdom and the love in which we are encompassed. And yet bodily we remain in shadow because we are clothed in the darkness of the earth. But no one need ever remain a prisoner; it only requires the will to aspire and so to know the wisdom of the divine -- and the prisoner is free! And so we ascend in spirit, and being raised, we then step forth into a life heavenly in its beauty and are encompassed by a heavenly concourse... We may become conscious of music -- delicate, gentle, sweet music beyond all description -- which may swell in grand crescendo to embrace the great universal music of all creation. And we know that we are part of this grand orchestra.

~ from SPIRITUAL UNFOLDMENT 4 by White Eagle
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Why does a bird sing?

A bird does not sing because it has an answer.It sings because it has a song.
~ Chinese Proverb
Chinese Proverb music

May 1994 (Vol. VII, No. 5)

\GREETINGS and BLESSINGS be with you, friends, in this season of seed-sowing! ... a reminder to ask ourselves how we are cultivating the inner soil of our hearts to prepare for renewal and new growth.

True partnership between divine and human realms becomes possible

Mystics and contemplatives offer a perspective on resurrection that seems to mirror their own experiences of illumination and unity. They tell us that perhaps regeneration is effected through a profound state of self-reflection, possible only to those who have become transparent to transcendence and are coded by that experience with a quality of eternity that does not, cannot, die with death. This implies that a new order has been created within spirit, within nature, within the soul, within the meaning and matter of history. Here we move out beyond miracle into the heart of mystery, and consciousness grows into the capacity for co-creation with God. The world turns a corner, and true partnership between divine and human realms becomes possible.

~ from GODSEED by Jean Houston
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To become proficient in the discipline of contemplation, we must be willing to live in the midst of paradox

To become proficient in the discipline of contemplation, we must be willing to live in the midst of paradox. For we can only know the Mystery by letting go of knowing, and by putting aside our reason, our thinking, our too quick words. We must sit still, doing nothing at all. We must wait, allowing things to reveal themselves to us, and seek by allowing ourselves to be sought. In contemplation we must take Thou in by allowing ourselves to be taken in. By doing these things, we will gradually become "modern" contemplatives and find ourselves living at the still point of the turning world.

~ from DANCE OF THE SPIRIT by Maria Harris
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What is offered to the seeker of today is the same as it was before

What is offered to the seeker of today is the same as it was before. The same luminous inner light, the same fathomless tranquility, that same drink which deeply quenches, that explosive, boundless love from the source of Love beyond, that same handhold with hundreds of thousands of messengers of light, that same blessed transmission being extended from the unfailing generosity of God. The ante remains as it has always been: the surrender of everything entirely, including one's very self. What is at stake, however, is greater than ever before. If you have understood this invitation my friends, if your heart has heard the calling of a traveler just like you, then take heed now and make haste as the saints have urged.

~ from THE WRITING ON THE WATER by Muhyiddin Shakoor
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Wherever the Word is to be heard, it must occur in the stillness and in silence

Wherever the Word is to be heard, it must occur in the stillness and in silence... There we can hear it and understand it correctly, in that state of unknowing. Where we know nothing, it becomes apparent and reveals Itself... People should be as free of their own knowledge as when they were not yet, letting God accomplish what God wills ... standing empty.

~ from THE ETERNAL YEAR by Karl Rahner
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Only then could I welcome the One whose fire I had long sought

I wanted it. Desired it greatly. Yearned for its coming. But when it did come, I fought, resisted, ran, hid away. I said, "Go home!" I didn't know the fire of God could be more than a gentle glow or a cozy consolation. I didn't know it could come in as a blaze ... a wildfire uncontrolled, searing my soul, chasing my old ways, smoking them out. Only when I stopped running, gave up the chase, surrendered, did I know the fire's flaming as consolation and joy. Only then could I welcome the One whose fire I had long sought.

~ from MAY I HAVE THIS DANCE? by Joyce Rupp
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If you would know deeper dimensions of yourself

If you would know deeper dimensions of yourself and the Divine, my friend, befriend the Silence.

~ Jerry Wright
Jerry Wright stillness

Are we standing now, quietly, in the new life?

I have a feeling that my boat has struck, down there in the depths, against a great thing. And nothing happens! Nothing ...
Silence ... Waves ...
Nothing happens? Or has everything happened,
and are we standing now, quietly, in the new life?

~ Juan Ramon Jimenez, trans. by Robert Bly
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In the emptying that silence is

The Great Mystery will draw closer and begin to reveal some of her secrets in silence. We hope, in the emptying that silence is, to discover a way of being present to what happens and to what is. To be totally open to apprehend the full impact of each moment and each encounter, the heart must be set free from all prejudices, pre-conceptions and expectations. The silence at the center of our reflections here is for emptying and for letting go of the images and knowledge that obscure the vision of our hearts and our ability to truly hear.

~ from YEAR OF THE HEART by Daniel J. O'Leary
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Conversation is the ultimate experience of being in love.

Conversation is the ultimate experience of being in love. It involves self-surrender to the heart of mystery, to an uncomprehended "Who", given in a mystical way. The shift in our attention from all finite loves and hates, whether interpersonal, familial or philanthropic to concern for the Transcendent Other, available in the unmediated experience of love and awe, occurs first in that incarnate meaning that we are. We discover by God's gracious love, we are a meaningful word already spoken, a beloved whose very being is the expression of God's turning toward us. In essence, our conversion toward God is the created effect of divine love. We could not pray if God was not already invested in our hearts and mind.

~ from THE DESIRES OF THE HEART by Bernard Lonergan
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The heart knows what the tongue will never utter

The heart knows what the tongue
will never utter
and what the ears can never hear.

~ Kahlil Gibran
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Place your MIND before the mirror of eternity

Place your MIND before the mirror of eternity!
Place your SOUL in the brilliance of glory!
Place your HEART in the figure of the divine substance!

And transform your entire being in the image of the Godhead Itself through contemplation.

~ St. Clare of Assisi
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Only by learning silence

Only by learning silence, solitude, and emptying can you find the place where the roots of all living things are tied together.

Unknown
Unknown stillness

April 1994 (Vol. VII, No. 4)

SPRING GREETINGS, friends. May blessings of life and love, healing and beauty, grace you lives ... may harmony flow that flowers may unfold and blossom within your inner beings! For "the currents of life in humanity and nature are always in accord unless humanity disturbs the harmony." (C. Heline)

God is the friend of silence

God is the friend of silence. See how nature -- trees, flowers, grass -- grow in silence; see the stars, the moon, the sun, how they move in silence... The more we receive in silent prayer, the more we can give in our active life. We need silence to be able to touch souls. The essential thing is not what we say, but what God says to us and through us. All our words will be useless unless they come from within.

~ from SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL FOR GOD by Malcolm Muggeridge
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My first remembered experience of the numinous

My first remembered experience of the numinous occurred when I was barely three... The sun was shining, and as I walked along the dusty lane I became acutely aware of the things around me. I noticed a group of dandelions on my left at the base of a stone wall. Most of them were in full bloom, their golden heads irradiated by the sun, and suddenly I was overcome by an extraordinary feeling of wonder and joy. It was as if I was part of the flowers, and stones and dusty earth. I could feel the dandelions pulsating in the sunlight, and a timeless unity with all life.

~ from THE ORIGINAL VISION by Edward Robinson
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Many of us need the wilderness

Many of us need the wilderness as a place to listen to the quiet, to feel at home with ancient rhythms that are absent in city life, to know the pulse of a river, the riffle of the wind, the rataplan of rain on the slickrock.

~ from WIND IN THE ROCK by Ann H. Zwinger
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As long as it talks, I am going to listen

What a thing it is to sit absolutely alone, in the forest, at night, cherished by this wonderful, intelligible, perfectly innocent speech, the most comforting speech in the world, the talk that rain makes by itself all over the ridges, and the talk of the watercourses everywhere in the hollows! Nobody started it, nobody is going to stop it. It will talk as long as it wants, this rain. As long as it talks, I am going to listen.

~ Thomas Merton
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We can only start to grow in being when we take time to be still

We can only start to grow in being when we take time to be still, even if it is only a few minutes each day, and open ourselves to God, like a flower opening its pedals to the sun, and receiving the strengthening rays of light. With continual practice, we can actually know that the spirit of Divine Love -- the Love of the omniscient creator of the entire universe -- is in us. ... Being still and experiencing the presence of God is the most important thing we can possibly do; for in this state of passivity we receive directive and strength for the day's action.

~ from GROWTH INTO BEING by Margaret Holmes
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We are earth of this earth, and we are bone of this bone

Spirit that hears each one of us,
hears all that is --
Listens, listens, hears us out --
inspire us now!
Our own pulse beats in every
stranger's throat.
And also within the flowered ground
beneath our feet.
We can hear it in water, in wood, and
even in stone.
We are earth of this earth, and
we are bone of this bone.
This is a prayer I sing, for we
have forgotten this and so
the earth is perishing.

~ Barbara Deming
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How we teach

We teach by our BEing.
~ Unknown
Unknown nature

Optical delusion of our consciousness

A human being is part of a whole, called by us the "Universe", a part limited in time and space. We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest -- a kind of optical delusion of our consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.

~ from IDEAS AND OPINIONS by Albert Einstein
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There are three walls that divide us from one another

There are three walls that divide us from one another and from the realization of Unity for which we yearn... These are the walls of envy, resentment and pride... Everything is reaching towards the light, and just as the trees and the beautiful flowers seek out the light, so does Beauty herself seek out the light within us. As long as Beauty is covered by these walls, She cannot be one with the Light who created Her in the first place... When you can watch and observe and be honest about the sense of separation that we all feel, you will come closer to the walls. And then, gently, you can reach out to each stone and brick that needs to be removed ... stones and bricks that can be washed and transformed in love.

~ from REASON IS POWERLESS IN THE EXPRESSION OF LOVE by Reshad Feild
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Everything was God, holy

George Leonard in THE SILENT PULSE shares the sense of unity and harmony with the planet that a young man of seventeen experienced:

"Even though physically separate, I knew a tree, grains of sand, sea, flying birds. Everything was God, holy; as God is total, so the driftwood branch was holy. This must be the stuff religion is made of. Never before or after have I felt so alive."

~ from THE SILENT PULSE by George Leonard
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Spirituality is that quality of being

Spirituality is that quality of being that expresses the bonding of all living and non-living things into an evolutionary unity.

~ from MIND OF OUR MOTHER by Bob Samples
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The direct experience of silence, stillness, solitude, simplicity, ceremony and vision

The wisdom of the peoples of elder cultures can make an important contribution to the post-modern world, one that we must begin to accept as the crisis of self, society and the environment deepens. This wisdom cannot be told, but it is to be found by each of us in the direct experience of silence, stillness, solitude, simplicity, ceremony and vision.

~ Sogyal Rinpoche
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All of nature is in us

All of nature is in us, all of us is in nature,
This is as it should be.

~ Lame Deer
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March 1994 (Vol. VII, No. 3)

MAY JOY BE WITH YOU, friends, as we move from the dark days of winter toward the spring-light! Even in joy, we know that:

Deeply spiritual persons experience the suffering in the world as their own suffering

Deeply spiritual persons experience the suffering in the world as their own suffering. Their skin is like a dividing membrane through which events flow into each other. But they do not let it overtake them and destroy their spirit, their ability to choose life. To live deeply in the spirit is to be able to see beyond the immediate evidence of brokenness. It is to seek the not yet, but possible future. To live deeply in the spirit is to find the courage to create in the midst of darkness.

~ from "Toward a Global Spirituality" by Patricia Mischo in the "Whole Earth Papers"
Patricia Mischo Whole Earth Papers surrender

Prayer is naught else but a yearning of the soul

Prayer is naught else but a yearning of the soul... When it is practiced with the whole heart, it has great power. It makes a sour heart sweet, a sad heart merry, a poor heart rich, a foolish heart wise, a timid heart courageous, a sick heart well, a blind heart full of vision, a cold heart ardent. For it draws down the great God into the little heart; it drives the hungry soul up to the plentitude of God; it brings together these two lovers, God and the soul, in a wondrous place where they speak much of love.

~ Mechthild of Magdeburg in THE HIDDEN TRADITION by Lavinia Byrne
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My way is all of trust and love

My way is all of trust and love; I do not understand souls who are afraid of so loving a Friend.
~ Unknown
Unknown surrender

Don't talk and don't run

An inner city priest went to the home of a poor old lady in the parish. She was dying. When the priest came to her side, she said, "Don't talk and don't run." She seemed to want to die fully appreciative of her life in God, which was too deep for any consoling words at that point. And she wanted to die appreciative of the human community that incarnates God's presence on this plane of existence, which was too deep for words but not for silent, prayerful human presence. That is contemplative dying.

...We can approach all of the myriad little ego deaths, all the ways we don't get what we want (as opposed to what we need) in our lives, in the same way as that woman faced physical death... We need to leave room for the silence that can free the wonder, as well as for words.

~ from LIVING IN THE PRESENCE by
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So long as we do not die to ourselves

So long as we do not die to ourselves, and so long as we are identified with someone or something, we shall never be free. The spiritual way is not for those wrapped up in exterior life.

~ S. Attar
S. Attar surrender

Letting go is never easy

Letting go is never easy. The desire to have, to hold, to possess and to control is part of our nature. But the more powerful part yearns to learn the lesson of growth and openness; to enter the mystery of secret loving without desiring, to live in emptiness and stillness and therefore in a state of receptivity and readiness so that the quality of our being and "our being present to" are all that matter.

~ from YEAR OF THE HEART by Daniel J. O'Leary
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I return to God

I come from God,
I belong to God,
I return to God.

~ Ignatius thanks to Mary Ward
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God's grace cannot be found

God's grace cannot be found in the sense that lost property is found ... It can only be found in seeking God and surrendering ourselves in self-abandoning love, unconditionally and forever. We should continue to ask ourselves as we go through life whether we feel that we are being granted this favor of living by dying to ourselves.

~ Karl Rahner in FIRE AND LIGHT by William M. Thompson
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Surrendere

Surrender is not an abandonment of ourselves in the face of difficulty, nor is surrender synonymous with submission, we yield ourselves to God freely, not under coercion. Surrender is not resignation. It is an invitation to be ourselves more fully... Surrender is not so much a giving up as it is an OPENING up. It is a dynamic living and striving in the face of the unknown. When we surrender in faith, we enter into the power of God, into the realm of all possibility. We open ourselves to new perspectives, thoughts and dimensions of life yet to be explored. We do not give ourselves in the sense of extinguishing ourselves. Instead, the little lick of light we are joins with the holy flaming that is God. We are brought more fully into ourselves and at the same time brought into that fullness which is greater than all that is.

~ by Jean M. Blomquiest in "Weavings" (July/August '91)
Jean M. Blomquiest Weavings surrender

Contemplation and deep self-forgetfulness

Direct experience suggests that contemplation and deep self-forgetfulness draw us into God, in whom we have our life and being. This magnetic, purifying silence has healing power: it fuses time -- brings past, present and future to a single still and perfect point. Here healing (what we call a miracle) is automatic. This stillpoint is love, and only love heals.

~ from A WAY WITHOUT WORDS by Marsha Sinetar
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It is the nature of a word to reveal what is hidden

It is the nature of a word to reveal what is hidden. The word that is hidden still sparkles in the darkness and whispers in the silence. It entices us to pursue it, to yearn and sigh after it. For it wishes to reveal to us something about God.

~ Meister Eckhart
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The soul lives there

The soul lives there in the silent Breath.
~ Rumi
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Only passing through

There is an old story about a famous rabbi living in Europe who was visited one day by a man who had traveled by ship from New York to see him. The man came to the great rabbi's dwelling, a large house, and was directed to the rabbi's room, which was in the attic. He entered to find the master living in a room with a bed, a chair, and a few books. The man had expected more. After greetings, he asked, "Rabbi, where are your things?”

The rabbi asked in return, "Well, where are yours?"

The visitor replied, "But, Rabbi, I"m only passing through."

And the master answered, "So am I, so am I."

~ Unknown
Unknown surrender

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