Friend, you lie quiet,
watching the dawn light color your heart,
dreaming of healing for your hurt body
lying there unanswerable to your will.
You breathe deep and your breath has two sides:
inside and outside. You are on both, being breathed.
The future approaches. You will heal or
you will go back to being God.
Which will you do?
Oh by all that [...]

Lord I sing your praise
the whole day through, until the night.
Dad’s nets are filled; I have helped him.
We have drawn them in, stamping the rhythm with
our feet,
the muscles tense.
We have sung your praise.
On the beach there were our mammies,
who brought the blessings out of the nets,
out of the nets and into their basins.
They rushed to [...]

The great statements of Jesus Christ were never spoken from the personal, but always from the impersonal. No truth ever sprung from the personal mind because it is only the impersonal that can touch the universal, and it is only in the universal that absolute truth can be found. When the mind enters the impersonal [...]

I need somebody
to touch me
in a healing way
Somebody
Somebody
to touch me -
with love
somebody
who can hold
this depth of pain
hold me
crying tears
for every woman
whose
being a woman
has ever
made her cry
Unshed grief
running out slowly
in a river
of cleansing salt
Akasa Hull

Easter God,
persuade us that Easter
is not a once-upon-a-time story,
but rather a moment by moment leaning into,
a deep trust,
that your name and nature
is Resurrection.
This rising up
from the dead,
of life from matter,
and mind from life,
and a promised future
where we see nothing
but dead-ends and a darkened tomb,
is your M.O.
This is the only miracle,
that you are always rising up
in [...]

Matthew 23:32
Now we open
to the story of the Crucified and Risen One,
arms stretched out
across the chasms of fear,
pulling factions into his own broken body,
closer to his pierced heart,
so that this planet of pain
may one day claim as its own
the love flowing out from that
sacred, broken heart.
Yes, pull us in, Spirit of the Living God,
into the [...]

The healing power of love does not belong to any religion.
It is not Christian, or Jewish, or Buddhist or Hindu.
It is not exclusive or protective of itself.
It spontaneously opens to bless, surround and inspire any human being
who is ready to give it and receive it.
Your willingness to feel this energy of unconditional love in and [...]

My delight in death
exceeds the pleasure of a merchant
who makes a vast fortune,
or a victorious war god,
or a sage in a total trance.
Like a traveller taking to the road,
I will leave this world and return home -
My life is over and my karma is done with -
I am approaching the ground of primal perfection.
Longchenpa, (1363) [...]

Great Spirit,
give us hearts to understand;
never to take
from creation’s beauty more than we give;
never to destroy wantonly for the furtherance of
greed;
never to deny to give our hands for the building of
earth’s beauty;
never to take from her what we cannot use.
Give us hearts to understand that to destroy earth’s
music is to create confusion;
that to wreck her [...]

O Great Life-giving Spirit
whose commanding voice I hear in the winds
and whose warm breath gives life to all in the world
Hear me
one seven-billionth of the humans on the planet earth.
I am a natural part of the universe -
as natural and necessary as the rocks,
the trees, the birds and the mice
no more important – nor any [...]

Divine Mother does not force you to love and be loved.
She merely offers you the opportunity.
She invites you to be present and accept the gift of Her love.
Once you have received this gift,
it will vibrate in your body and in your consciousness,
expanding outward to embrace your life and everyone in it.
All that you do or [...]

A Perfect One was traveling through the desert.
He was stretched out around the fire one night
And said to one of his close ones,
“There is a slave loose not far from us.
He escaped today from a cruel master.
His hands are still bound behind his back,
His feet are also shackled.
I can see him right now praying for [...]

We have seen the highest circle of spiraling powers. We have named this circle God. We might have given it any other name we wished: Abyss, Mystery, Absolute Darkness, Absolute Light, Matter, Spirit, Ultimate Hope, Ultimate Despair, Silence. But we have named it God because only this name, for primordial reasons, can stir our hearts [...]

Possibly the only fear greater than death is love, real love. Finding out that you do love, that this is your nature, is the beginning of the end for everything in you that thinks it’s separate.
Adyashanti

Whoever you are as you read this
whatever your trouble or grief,
I want you to know and to heed this:
The day draweth near with relief.
No sorrow, no woe is unending,
though heaven seems voiceless and dumb;
So sure as your cry is ascending,
so surely an answer will come.
Whatever temptation is near you,
whose eyes on this simple verse fall;
Remember [...]

Oh God, when I have food,
help me to remember the hungry.
When I have work,
help me to remember the jobless.
When I have a home,
help me to remember those
who have no home and all.
When I am without pain,
help me to remember those who suffer.
And remembering,
help me destroy my complacency.
Bestir my compassion,
and be concerned enough to help.
By word [...]

Takers and just talkers
Lone Rangers
Excuse makers
Fair weather workers
Braggers
Magic bullet seekers and sellers and
Quitters.
God, send us and help us to be
Righteous warriors
Moral guerrillas
Scut workers
Nitty-gritty doers
Detail tenders
Long-distance runners
Energetic tryers
Risk takers
Sharers
Team players
Organizers and mobilizers and
Servant leaders,
to save our children.
Marian Wright Edelman

The gifts you have been given in this life do not belong to you alone. They belong to everyone. Do not be selfish and withhold them. Do not be selfish and imprison yourself in a lifestyle that holds your spirit hostage and provides no spontaneity or grace in your life.
Risk being yourself fully.
Let go of [...]

To live content with small means,
to seek elegance rather than luxury,
and refinement rather than fashion,
to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich,
to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly,
to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with open heart,
to bear all cheerfully,
do all bravely,
await occasions,
hurry never —
in a word, to let the [...]

Doing your best is about trusting in yourself and trusting in creation, the force of life. You set a goal and go for it 100% without any attachment to attaining it. You don’t know if you’re going to reach your goal, and you don’t care if you do. You go for it, and when you [...]

When we get out of the glass bottles of our ego
and when we escape like squirrels turning in the
cages of our personality and get into the forests again, we shall shiver with cold and fright but things will happen to us so that we don’t know
ourselves.
Cool, unlying life will rush in,
and passion will make our [...]

As no one desires the slightest suffering
nor ever has enough of happiness,
there is no difference between myself and others,
so let me make others joyfully happy.
May those feeble with cold find warmth,
and may those oppressed with heat be cooled
by the boundless waters that pour forth
from the great clouds of the Bodhisattvas.
May the rains of lava, blazing [...]

A lovely poster with a great story and tagline.

To be able to forgive your enemies can make a difference to one’s spiritual progress.
This is crucial. It is one of the most important things. It can change one’s life. To reduce hatred and other destructive emotions, you must develop their opposites – compassion and kindness. If you have strong compassion, strong respect for others, [...]

When healing is the target
Illness is the bow.
What is a bow but a device for the transfer of energy?
Likewise an illness.
Properly used, an illness turns an outward focus
inward,
Sends energy to where it’s needed most.
Transforms fears into strength
Arrogance into humility
Compulsion to caring
Cynicism to compassion
Brings balance to imbalance.
The release of pain over-long denied.
Worldly medicine does the opposite.
It [...]

“Jacob, where do you find the strength to carry on in life?”
“Life is often heavy only because we attempt to carry it,” said Jacob. “But, I do find a strength in the ashes.”
“In the ashes?” asked Mr. Gold.
“Yes,” said Jacob, with a confirmation that seemed to have traveled a great distance.
“You see, Mr. Gold, each [...]

 Ian McClaren (pen name of Scotsman Rev. John Watson) late 19th century

So, friends, every day do something
that won’t compute.
Love the Lord. Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.
Denounce the government and embrace
the flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.
Give your approval to all you cannot
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has [...]

At night I open the window and ask
the moon to come and press its
face against mine.
Breathe into me. Close
the language-door and open the love-window.
The moon won’t use the door,
only the window
Rumi

O God, you have prepared in peace the path I must follow today. Help me to walk on that path. If I speak, remove lies from my lips. If I am hungry, take away from me all complaint. If I have plenty, destroy pride in me. May I go through the day, calling on you, [...]

The healing power of love does not belong to any religion.
It is not Christian, or Jewish, or Buddhist or Hindu.
It is not exclusive or protective of itself.
It spontaneously opens to bless, surround and inspire any human being
who is ready to give it and receive it.
Your willingness to feel this energy of unconditional love in and [...]

Gentle me,
Holy One, into an unclenched moment,
a deep breath,
a letting go
of heavy experiences,
of shriveling anxieties,
of dead certainties,
that, softened by the silence,
surrounded by the light,
and open to the mystery,
I may be found by wholeness,
upheld by the unfathomable,
entranced by the simple,
and filled with the joy
that is you.
Ted Loder

Gentle me,
Holy One, into an unclenched moment,
a deep breath,
a letting go
of heavy experiences,
of shriveling anxieties,
of dead certainties,
that, softened by the silence,
surrounded by the light,
and open to the mystery,
I may be found by wholeness,
upheld by the unfathomable,
entranced by the simple,
and filled with the joy
that is you.
Ted Loder

Look forward to your transition.
It’s the first time you will experience unconditional love.
There will be all peace and love, and all the nightmares and the
turmoil you went through in your life will be like nothing.
When you make your transition you are asked two things basically:
How much love you have been able to give and receive,
and [...]

There is only One Son of God
and You are He.
From Him, you receive.
To Him, you give.
When you look at yourself,
may you remember.
When you look at your brother,
may you also remember.
When you look away in fear,
remember only this:
Subject and Object,
Lover and Beloved,
are not two,
but one and the same.
What you give
and what you receive
are reflections
of each other.
Paul [...]

Howard Thurman

“I want to know the mind of God,” Einstein said. “The rest are details.” What is the mind of God? Consciousness. What does it mean to know the mind of God? To be aware. What are the details? Your outer purpose, and whatever happens outwardly.
So while you are still waiting for something significant in your [...]

Subhuti was Buddha’s disciple. He was able to understand the potency of emptiness, the viewpoint that nothing exists except in its relationship of subjectivity and objectivity.
One day Subhuti, in a mood of sublime emptiness, was sitting under a tree. Flowers began to fall about him.
“We are praising you for your discourse on emptiness,” the gods [...]

Among the hills, when you sit in the cool shade of the white poplars, sharing the peace and serenity of distant fields and meadows – then let your heart say in silence, “God rests in reason.”
And when the storm comes, and the mighty wind shakes the forest, and the thunder and lightening proclaim the majesty [...]

LUKE 15:11-24
We gather now,
harvesters of an all-pervasive grace,
unexpected benefactors of the deed
to this great and glorious cosmic inheritance.
We, the walking, waking stars,
ablaze with wonder,
imagination,
and hope,
gather to remember three words:
kinship with all that is;
debt that can only be paid forward;
gift, sacred mantra of the humble.
Creation,
the great and glorious sacrifice of abundance,
asks in return —
only —
that we [...]

The light around your bones!
And the animals within you!
Oh, the millions, the blessed
beasts who feed your blood,
give life to your fluids,
swim in your waters, the myriad
birds, cataclysms of colors
of the animals! the animals!
I bless them for your life,
bless my own bright millions,
the brilliant dark and silent
creatures who live in the light
of my body, who sleep [...]

Promise me,
promise me this day,
promise me now,
while the sun is overhead
exactly at the zenith,
promise me:
Even as they
strike you down
with a mountain of hatred and violence;
even as they step on you and crush you
like a worm,
even as they dismember and disembowel you,
remember, brother,
remember:
man is not our enemy.
The only thing worthy of you is compassion—
invincible, limitless, unconditional.
Hatred [...]

I have heard it all my life, a voice
calling a name I recognized as my own.
Sometimes it comes in soft bellied whisper.
Sometimes it holds an edge of urgency.
But always says;
wake up my love.
You are walking asleep.
There is no safety in that!
Oriah Mountain Dreamer

This being human is a guest house, every morning a new arrival…a joy, a depression, a meanness,
Some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all.
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows who violently sweep the house empty of its furniture.
Still, treat each guest honourably. He may be clearing you out for [...]

Good morning, Grandfather.
I entered this life a ways back
and put skin on to walk two-legged on this Creation —
and what a glorious time it was.
It taught me about breath
and about sensing and feeling and caring through my heart.
And I walked on around that Red Road,
looking and trying to understand more
about the mystery and the secrets [...]

It is now.
Right now.
You and I are facing each other – you are reading these words, I within the page.
May I be so bold to offer you a gift? If I may, read on.
I gift you with the courage to be, to know deeply the divine design of your life.
I gift you with passion for [...]

Hand in hand with angels,
through the world we go;
Brighter eyes are on us
than we blind ones know.
Tender voices cheer us
than we deaf will own;
Never, walking heavenward,
can we walk alone.
Hand in hand with angels,
some are out of sight,
leaving us, unknowing,
into paths of light.
Lucy Laroom

Use all your faculties to appreciate God’s love. Use your soul to understand other souls. Use your body to sympathize with other people’s bodily experiences. Use your emotions of anger and revenge to understand war. Appreciate goodness by distinguishing it from evil. Enjoy every moment of life by constantly reminding yourself imminence of death.
Hildegard von [...]

People take different
roads seeking fulfilment
and happiness.
Just because they’re not
on your road doesn’t
mean they’ve gotten lost.
Dalai Lama

The time will come
when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other’s welcome,
and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you
all your life, whom [...]

In the point of rest at the centre of our being, we encounter a world where all things are at rest in the same way. Then a tree becomes a mystery, a cloud a revelation, each man a cosmos of whose riches we can only catch glimpses. The life of simplicity is simple, but it [...]

Each of us is unique, valuable, worthy, and irreplaceable. Each of us is kind, wise, knowing, and gifted. Each of us is filled with dignity, gifted with humor, funded with strength. We are met as equals. We bear gifts for each other. Our hearts are true friends, true colleagues. We have a place with each other. We [...]

Open the storage units
Unlock every second home
Distribute every safebox jewel
Take down the fences so any may pass
Burn the titles of your past
Invite the wild to backyards
and mark the dead with trees
Throw away your watches,
take the time you need
Scatter the riches written in
the ledgers of far-away banks
Wash your eyes with water and
look again
Plant the seed of [...]

Look to this day…
For yesterday is but a dream
And tomorrow is only a vision
But today well-lived
Makes every yesterday
A dream of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Sanskrit

This composite high definition image uses a number of swaths of the Earth’s surface taken on January 4, 2012. The NASA satellite was renamed ‘Suomi NPP’ on January 24, 2012 to honor the late Verner E. Suomi of the University of Wisconsin.

What keeps us alive, what allows us to endure?
I think it is the hope of loving,
or being loved.
I heard a fable once about the sun going on a journey
to find its source, and how the moon wept
without her lover’s
warm gaze.
We weep when light does not reach our hearts. We wither
like fields if someone close
does not [...]

The hardest part is people.
So Lord, help me face them
without rancor or disappointment.
Help me see the pain behind their actions
rather than the malice;
the suffering rather than the rage.
And in myself, as I struggle
with the vise of my own desire -
give me strength to quiet my heart,
to quicken my empathy, to act
in gratitude rather than need.
Remind [...]

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a
living.
I want to know what you ache for
and if you dare to dream of meeting your
heart’s longing.
It doesn’t interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk looking like a
fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.
It doesn’t interest me what planets [...]

There is a grace approaching
that we shun as much as death.
It is the completion of our birth.
It does not come in time, but in timelessness
when the mind sinks into the heart
and we remember who we are.
It is an insistent grace that draws us
to the edge and beckons us to surrender
safe territory and enter our enormity.
We [...]

When I die if you need to weep
Cry for your brother or sister
Walking the street beside you
And when you need me put your arms around anyone
Give them what you need to give me
I want to leave you something
Something better than words or sounds
Look for me in the people I have known or loved
And if you [...]

Wash me from all that I think I am:
my struggles, my stands, my cherished opinions,
my soaring dreams and deadening fears.
Leave me only Your purity and Your peace.
Wipe away the masks of judgment
I have placed on Your children.
Show me the faces made in Your likeness,
that I may see my own as well.
Brush aside all shrines to [...]

Health is easy to keep,
Difficult to restore;
Emotions move easily
When first they arise,
Become pain when suppressed;
To respond and release
Means less toil later.
An armored heart is easily injured
And pursuing fantasy invites despair;
A great life is composed of many details,
So walk firmly — each step counts.
A grand canyon began as a tiny cleft
A great master was born a [...]

I said to God, “Let me love you.” And He replied, “Which part?”
“All of you, all of you,” I said.
“Dear,” God spoke, “you are as a mouse wanting to impregnate
a tiger who is not even in heat. It is a feat way
beyond your courage and strength.
You would run from me
if I removed my
mask.”
I said to [...]

To live content with small means,
to seek elegance rather than luxury,
and refinement rather than fashion,
to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich,
to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly,
to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with open heart,
to bear all cheerfully,
do all bravely,
await occasions,
hurry never—
in a word, to let the spiritual, [...]

I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.
Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re Doing Something.
So that’s my wish for you, and all of [...]

As this year draws to its end,
We give thanks
for the gifts it brought
And how they became inlaid within
Where neither time
nor tide can touch them.
The days when the veil lifted
And the soul could see delight;
When a quiver
caressed the heart
In the sheer exuberance
of being here…
We bless this year
for all we learned,
For all we loved and lost
And for [...]

A sense of lightening, and expanding, a floating free.
For some it takes a single seamless sigh,
for others it is a more gradual ascension.
Either way works. Both astound the heart with unexpected
joy, both get us where we are going.
But an enormous irony separates the dying from the living -
a mirror effect in space.
Things are not what [...]

Let’s be clear that few people are committed to God’s work. Of those who say they are, only a handful are actively demonstrating that commitment. Don’t expect the world to support your journey to authenticity. It will not!
The world supports only what it understands. And right now all it understands is duty and sacrifice. That [...]

As a newborn babe I crawl from my mother’s womb
And stand on wobbly legs in the new world;
Wash the new body that has just been
So tenderly born from a lifetime labor,
And walk to stand before the fire.
I raise my face to your infinite sky
And feel your touch of grace:
Your gentle raindrops kissing my skin,
Your singing [...]

Oh Great Spirit
Whose voice I hear the winds,
And whose breath gives life to all the world,
hear me! I am small and weak, I need your strength
and wisdom.
Let me walk in beauty, and make my eyes
ever behold the red and purple sunset.
Make my hands respect the things you have made
and my ears sharp to hear your [...]

Dear God,
I have been betrayed.
Take me away from this pain.
Let me not be tempted to wrong those who have
wronged me, or hate those who hate me.
But rather, dear God, please use Your power on
my behalf,
That through Your love I might invoke the light,
That through Your forgiveness I might speed
resurrection,
That through Your grace the spirit of [...]

I am the child of the universe.
She puts her almighty protection around me.
I am free from accidents, death, sickness.
I am now shining with golden light from top to toe.
I am her chosen protected child, and she is my shield.
The winds shall aid my progress.
Water shall cleanse me from fear,
Fire will purify my doubts.
And the earth [...]

1. You will receive a body. You may like it or hate
it, but it’s yours to keep for the entire period.
2. You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a
full-time informal school called, “life.”
3. There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a
process of trial, error, and experimentation. The
“failed” experiments are as much a part [...]

And then compassion will be wedded to power
And then softness will come to a world that is harsh and unkind
And then both men and women will be gentle
And then both men and women will be strong
And then no person will be subject to another’s will
And then all will be rich and free and varied
And then [...]

Understand that here in this moment, there is nothing wrong with you or your life. Everything is as it should be. Right now, in this moment, you are completely loved.
Are you in pain or conflict? Okay. But that does not mean that you are not completely loved. The idea that being in pain cuts you [...]

What you call thinking is the voice of knowledge making up stories, telling you what you know, and trying to make sense out of everything you don’t know. The problem is that the voice makes you do many things that go against yourself.
The voice in your head is like a wild horse taking you wherever [...]

Listen, and feel the beauty of your separation,
the unsayable absence.
There is a moon inside every human being.
Learn to be companions with it.
Give more of your life to this listening.
As brightness is to time,
so you are to the one who talks
to the deep ear in your chest.
I should sell my tongue and buy a thousand ears
when [...]

I asked for strength that I might achieve;
I was made weak that I might learn humbly to obey.
I asked for health that I might do greater things;
I was given infirmity that I might do better things.
I asked for riches that I might be happy;
I was given poverty that I might be wise.
I asked for power [...]

Have patience with everything unresolved in your heart
and try to love the questions themselves…
Don’t search for the answers,
which could not be given to you now,
because you would not be able to live them.
And the point is, to live everything.
Live the questions now.
Perhaps then, someday far in the future,
you will gradually, without even noticing it,
live your [...]

O Great life-giving Spirit
whose commanding voice I hear the winds
and whose warm breath gives life to all the world.
Hear me
one seven-billionth of the humans on planet earth.
I am a natural part of the universe -
as natural and necessary as the rocks,
the trees, the birds and the mice
no more important – nor any less.
Let me walk [...]

Go for a walk, if it is not too dark.
Get some fresh air, try to smile.
Say something kind
To a safe-looking stranger, if one happens by.
Always exercise your heart’s knowing.
You might as well attempt something real
Along this path:
Take your spouse or lover into your arms
The way you did when you first met.
Let tenderness pour from your [...]

When will we learn,
O Lover of all creation
that self-diminishment is not a
prerequisite for the Christian life?
You do not ask us to
drag around our sad sack of sins,
raising clouds of dust in our footsteps
for all to see;
and you do not ask us to do one more
wretched thing from guilt -
particularly, serve you.
When will we learn,
O Tender [...]

As we climbed up the mountain and came to where I thought the horizon would be, it had disappeared – another horizon was waiting further on. I was disappointed, but also excited in an unfamiliar way. Each new level had revealed a new world. Against this perspective, death can be understood as the final horizon. [...]

I was sad one day and went for a walk;
I sat in a field.
A rabbit noticed my condition and
came near.
It often does not take more than that to help at times -
to just be close to creatures who
are so full of knowing,
so full of love
though they don’t
- chat,
They just gaze with
their
marvelous understanding.
John of the Cross

Hold on to what is good
Even if it is a handful of earth
Hold on to what you believe
Even if it is a tree that stands by itself
Hold onto what you must do
Even if it is a long way from here
Hold onto life
Even if it is easier to let go
Hold onto my hand
Even if I have [...]

You shall ask
What good are dead leaves
And I will tell you
They nourish the sore Earth.
You shall ask
What reason is there for winter
And I will tell you
To bring about new leaves.
You shall ask
Why are the leaves so green
And I will tell you
Because they are rich with life.
You shall ask
Why must summer end
And I will tell you
So [...]

Until one is committed,
there is hesitancy,
the chance to draw back,
always ineffectiveness.
Concerning acts of initiative and creation,
there is one elementary truth,
the ignorance of which,
kills countless ideas and splendid plans.
The moment one definitely commits oneself,
then providence moves too.
All sorts of things occur to help one,
that would never otherwise have occurred.
The whole stream of events issues from the [...]

Pain is a treasure, for it contains mercies.
The kernel is soft when the rind is scraped off.
Oh brother, the place of darkness and cold
is the fountain of life in the cup of ecstasy.
So also is endurance of pain and sickness and disease.
For from abasement proceeds exultation.
The spring seasons are hidden in the autumns.
And the autumns [...]

my father moved through dooms of love
through sames of am through haves of give,
singing each morning out of each night
my father moved through depths of height
this motionless forgetful where
turned at his glance to shining here;
that if (so timid air is firm)
under his eyes would stir and squirm
newly as from unburied which
floats the first who, his [...]

May the winds, the oceans, the herbs,
and night and days, the mother earth,
the father heaven, all vegetation,
and the sun be all sweet to us.
Let us follow the path of goodness,
for all times, like the sun and the moon,
moving eternally in the sky.
Let us be charitable to one another.
Let us not kill,
or be violent with one [...]

I promise myself to be so strong
that nothing can disturb my peace of mind;
To talk health, happiness and prosperity
to every person I meet;
To make all my friends feel
that there is something in them;
To look at the sunny side of everything
and make my optimism come true;
To think only of the best,
to work only for the best
and [...]

Where there is charity and wisdom,
there is neither fear nor ignorance.
Where there is patience and humility,
there is neither anger nor vexation.
Where there is poverty and joy,
there is neither greed nor avarice.
Where there is peace and meditation,
there is neither anxiety nor doubt.
Francis of Assisi

When the signs of age begin to mark my body
(and still more when they touch my mind);
when the ill that is to diminish me or carry me
off strikes from without
or is born within me;
when the painful moment comes in which I
suddenly waken
to the fact that I am ill or growing old;
and above all at the [...]

Life is intentional, not accidental. I bless this central fact. Consciousness instigates shifts in outer reality. Recognizing that I have the power to change my world by changing my thinking, I set for myself a gentle vigilance toward negative thoughts. When I fear abandonment, I remind myself that the universe itself is my loving companion. [...]

Our true home is in the present moment.
To live in the present moment is a miracle.
The miracle is not to walk on water.
The miracle is to walk on the green Earth in the present moment,
to appreciate the peace and beauty that are available now.
Peace is all around us-
in the world and the nature-
and within us-
in [...]

We pray to make it whole,
tip the world on edge and
follow the trail home, singing.
Our voices carry
into the future,
our brief language
a migration of words,
slow voice of mountain,
wandering voices of caribou, wind.
Blown seed, all the
lost languages wandering
through seasons, moon and sun,
wandering through centuries,
drifting, every year
the grass return, the birds
begin to sing,
the sky clears and
we can see [...]

Matthew 18:10-14
Holy One,
how long,
how long
until we realize that it is love
which set the stars in place
and binds the planets in their orbits?
How long until we understand that the cardinal’s whistle
is a love song,
a canticle of praise for the lover,
and that Earth’s long journey through this cosmos
is the time it is taken to awaken to Love’s [...]

Forgive me most gracious Lord,
if this day I have done or said anything,
to increase the pain of the world.
Pardon the unkind word, the impatient gesture,
the hard and selfish deed,
the failure to show sympathy and kindly help,
where I have had the opportunity but missed it,
and enable me so to live,
that I may daily do something,
to lessen [...]

Learn the alchemy true human beings know.
The moment you accept what troubles
you’ve been given, the door will open.
Welcome difficulty, as a familiar comrade.
Joke with torment brought by the Friend.
Sorrows are the rags of old clothes
and jackets that serve to cover,
and then are taken off.
That undressing,
and the naked body underneath,
is the sweetness that comes after grief.
Rumi

In this century and in any century,
Our deepest hope, our most tender prayer,
Is that we learn to listen.
May we listen to one another in openness and mercy
May we listen to plants and animals in wonder and respect
May we listen to our own hearts in love and forgiveness
May we listen to God in quietness and awe.
And [...]

The world is fast losing its soul
but you don’t have to surrender yours.
You don’t have to live on a mechanical globe.
You don’t have to tame your deep-forest passions.
You don’t have to suppress your radiant beauty,
Live your joy,
Go against the grain.
Don’t be made timid by worried rejection.
Let nature’s curious wisdom fill you.
Let the world’s mystical heritage [...]

Reality is intricate and vast.
You are real.
Life is cosmically generous.
You are gifted, alive.
The Universe holds.
You are embraced,
you belong.
It is enough.
You are enough.
Do not be centered in
your self for the world,
but be a Self centered in God.
Love and let Love.
Listen – life is in love
with you!
Your life longs for
your trust.
Your life holds and
and graciously
carries you through.
Every [...]

Be still and know that I’m with you,
says the Lord.
Be still and know I am you,
says the Tao.
We are part of nature and nature is part of us.
We are held by the hand of God
and we are the hands of God.
Do not try to live as if you are separate
You are not.
You are of God,
Part [...]

What
Do sad people have in
Common?
It seems
They have all built a shrine
To the past
And often go there
And do a strange wail and
Worship.
What is the beginning of
Happiness?
It is to stop being
So religious
Like
That.
Hafiz

To every one of us there must come a time when the whole universe will be found to have been a dream, when we find the soul is infinitely better than its surroundings. It is only a question of time, and time is nothing in the infinite.
Shirdi Sai Baba

Gentle souls, walk with me sometimes through
the breath of strangers, which parts like rain,
tremblingly brushes your cheeks, then behind you
with the parting tremble joins together again.
Strong, compassionate ones who reach the plateau
of the heart’s new capital, settle here, mark
how your arrows love the bull’s-eye and the bow,
how tears extend your eyesight through the dark.
Don’t be [...]

Like two golden birds perched on a tree,
the ego and the self are united companions:
one eats the sweet and sour fruits of the tree,
while the other looks on without eating.
As long as you identify with the ego,
you will feel attached to both joy and sorrow.
But if you know that you are the self, the lord [...]

By practicing kindness all over with everyone you will soon come into the holy trance, definite distinctions of personalities will become what they really mysteriously are, our common and eternal blissstuff, the pureness of everything forever, the great bright essence of mind, even and one thing everywhere the holy eternal milky love, the white light [...]

Does one really have to fret
About enlightenment?
No matter what road I travel,
I’m going home.
Shinsho

Love not the shapely branch,
Nor place its image alone in your heart.
It dies away.
Love the whole tree;
Then you will love the shapely branch,
The tender and withered leaf,
The shy bud and the full-blown flower,
The falling petal and the dancing night,
The splendid shadow of full love.
Ah, love Life in its fullness.
It knows no decay.
Jiddu Krishnamurti

O God,
whose heart is broken
by the violence in the human race,
forgive us that we have lacked
the imagination and collective will
to create a warless world.
Forgive us for breaking faith
with those who gave their lives,
for the unconscionable gap between the rich and the poor,
for corruption and deceit in high places,
for the profit gained by the sale of [...]

Spirit, grant me:
The vision and wisdom of the elder she-eagle
The fierce focus of the lioness
The fluid leadership of wild geese
Small creatures’ ways of stillness
Beaver’s strong and beautiful cozy lodge
The devotion of a dearly beloved loyal dog.
Fill my spirit with the wild abandon-infused
winds of autumn that keep positive and
negative space moving and changing,
charged and clear.
Fill my [...]

Hold on to what is good
Even if it is a handful of earth
Hold on to what you believe
Even if it is a tree that stands by itself
Hold on to what you must do
Even if it is a long way from here
Hold onto life
Even if it is easier to let go
Hold on to my hand
Even if [...]

All powerlessness stems from failure to understand this point: the key to empowerment, personal and collective, is the understanding that, although darkness stalks light, the light will always reassert itself. No matter what is happening, the universe is invested in healing. Night is followed by morning. Crucifixion is followed by Resurrection. God always has the [...]

1. Change
“You must be the change you want to see in the world.”
“As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world – that is the myth of the atomic age – as in being able to remake ourselves.”
2. Control
“Nobody can hurt me without my permission.”
3. Forgiveness
“The weak can [...]

You carry the cure within you.
Everything that comes your way is blessed.
The Creator gives you one more day.
Stand on the neck of Fearful Mind.
Do not wait to open your heart.
Let yourself go into the Mystery.
Sometimes the threads have no weave.
The price of not loving yourself is high.
Jim Cohn

I do not have to go
To Sacred places
In far-off lands.
The ground I stand on
Is holy.
Here, in this little garden
I tend
My pilgrimage ends.
The wild honeybees
The hummingbird moths
The flickering fireflies at dusk
Are a microcosm
Of the universe.
Each seed that grows
Each spade of soil
Is full of miracles.
And I toil and sweat
And watch and wonder
And I’m full of love.
Living in [...]

You waited until you were alone.
Death is a private thing.
You knew your last act
was to a different audience.
As it entered you–
oh how you must’ve danced!
curving toward God,
elegant and alone.
Dear one, what is it like?
Tell us! What is death?
Birth,
you say, your voice swathed in wings.
I am born in the endless beginning.
I am not. I am.
You start [...]

Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.
Arundhati Roy

I am of the nature to grow old.
There is no way to escape growing old.
I am of the nature to have ill health.
There is no way to escape having ill health.
I am of the nature to die.
There is no way to escape death.
All that is dear to me and everyone I love
are of the nature [...]

Love all creation
The whole of it and every grain of sand
Love every leaf
Every ray of God’s light
Love the animals
Love the plants
Love everything
If you love everything
You will perceive
The divine mystery in things
And once you have perceived it
You will begin to comprehend it ceaselessly
More and more every day
And you will at last come to love the whole [...]

Forgiveness is the answer to the child’s dream of a miracle by which what is broken is made whole again, what is soiled is again made clean.
Forgiveness breaks the chain of causality because he who forgives you – out of love – takes upon himself the consequences of what you have done. Forgiveness, therefore, always [...]

My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.
Jack Layton

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles [...]

Refuse to fall down.
If you cannot refuse to fall down,
refuse to stay down.
If you cannot refuse to stay down,
lift your heart toward heaven,
and like a hungry beggar,
asked that it be filled,
and it will be filled.
You may be pushed down.
You may be kept from rising.
But no one can keep you
from lifting your heart
toward heaven–
only you.
It is [...]

May our eyes remain open even in the face of tragedy.
May we not become disheartened.
May we find in the dissolution
of our apathy and denial,
a cup of the broken heart.
May we discover the gift of the fire burning
in the inner chamber of our being–
burning great and bright enough
to transform any poison.
May we offer the power of [...]

Capax universi, capable of the universe are your arms
when they move with love.
And I know it is true that your feet are never
more alive than when they are in
defense of a good
cause.
I want to fund your efforts: Stay near beauty, for she will always
strengthen you.
She will bring your mouth close to hers and
breathe – inspire [...]

There are so many positions of love:
each curve on a
branch,
the thousand ways your eyes can hold us,
the infinite shapes each mind
can draw,
the spring orchestra of scents and sounds wafting through the air,
the currents of light combusting like
passionate
lips,
the revolution of the universe’s skirt, whose folds
contain other worlds,
our every sigh that falls against
His inconceivably close,
omnipresent,
divine
body.
Hafiz

It’s up to us
to re-enchant this planet Earth
We are the elves and giants
we are the shining ones
daughters of the Moon and
sons of the Sun
We are the shapeshifters
we are the mysterious light
shrouded in mists at
the dawn of our time
it’s up to us to re-enchant
this living planet Earth
Up to us to midwife
at our own rebirth
up to us [...]

A prominent Jewish prayer concludes “May He who made peace in the heavens grant peace to us on Earth.” What does it mean to create peace in the heavens? Ancient man looked up into the sky and he saw the sun and the rain clouds. And he would say to himself “How can fire and [...]

After a while you learn
The subtle difference
Between holding a hand
And chaining a soul.
And you learn
That love doesn’t mean leaning
And company doesn’t mean security.
And you begin to learn
That kisses aren’t compromises
And presents aren’t promises.
And you begin to accept your defeats
With your head up and your eyes ahead
With the grace of a woman or man
Not the grief [...]

All beings
are words of God,
His music, His
art.
Sacred books we are, for the infinite camps
in our
souls.
Every act reveals God and expands His Being.
I know that may be hard
to comprehend.
All creatures are doing their best
to help God in His birth
of Himself.
Enough talk for the night.
He is labouring in me;
I need to be silent
for a while,
worlds are forming
in [...]

I make the effort
to maintain a ground of oceanic silence
out of which arises the multitude
of phenomena of daily life.
I make the effort
to see and to passionately open in love
to the spirit that infuses all things.
I make the effort
to see the Beloved in everyone
and to serve the Beloved through everyone
(including the earth).
I often fail in these [...]

Just give me this:
A rinsing out, a cleansing free of all my smaller
strivings
So I can be the class act God intended,
True to my purpose,
All my energy aligned behind my deepest intention.
And just this:
A quieting down, a clearing away of internal ruckus,
So I can hear the huge stillness in my heart
And feel
How I pulse with all [...]

It is I who must begin…
Once I begin, once I try -
here and now,
right where I am,
not excusing myself
by saying that things
would be easier elsewhere,
without grand speeches and
ostentatious gestures,
but all the more persistently
- to live in harmony
with the “voice of Being,” as I
understand it within myself
- as soon as I begin that,
I suddenly discover,
to my [...]

I am not a mechanism, an assembly of various sections.
And it is not because the mechanism is working wrongly, that I am ill.
I am ill because of wounds to the soul,
to the deep emotional self
and the wounds to the soul take a long long time,
only time can help
and patience, and a certain difficult repentance,
long, difficult [...]

Sunday: Forgive yourself.
Monday: Forgive your family.
Tuesday: Forgive your friends and associates.
Wednesday: Forgive all across economic lines within your own nation.
Thursday: Forgive across cultural lines within your own nation.
Friday: Forgive across political lines within your own nation.
Saturday: Forgive other nations.
Only the brave know how to forgive.
A coward never forgives.
It is not in his nation.
Robert Muller

If you can work sincerely and correctly on what is at hand, and do so with energy and calm, not allowing distractions, but keeping your spirit pure, as if you had only borrowed it… hoping for nothing, fearing nothing, but satisfied with modulating your actions to the way of Nature, and with fearless truth in [...]

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 [...]

I call the high and light aspects of my being
spirit and the dark and heavy aspects soul.
Soul is at home in the deep, shaded valleys.
Heavy torpid flowers saturated with black grow
there. The rivers flow like warm syrup. They
empty into huge oceans of soul.
Spirit is the land of high, white peaks and
glittering jewel-like lakes and flowers.
Life [...]

On a day
when the wind is perfect,
the sail just needs to open and the world is full of beauty.
Today is such a
day.
My eyes are like the sun that makes promises;
the promise of life
that it always
keeps
each morning.
The living heart gives to us as does that luminous sphere,
both caress the earth with great
tenderness.
This is a breeze that [...]

All you big things, bless the Lord.
Mount Kilimanjaro and Lake Victoria,
The Rift Valley and the Serengeti Plain,
Fat baobobs and shady mango trees,
All eucalyptus and tamarind trees,
Bless the Lord.
Praise and extol Him for ever and ever.
All you tiny things, bless the Lord.
Busy black ants and hopping fleas,
Wriggling tadpoles and mosquito larvae,
Flying locusts and water drops,
Pollen dust [...]

I felt my soul was torn,
by the struggle raging within,
and of love my being was shorn,
as I gaze on the pleasures of sin.
Deep in my heart I pondered.
“Do I always struggle alone?”
“Am I like others?” I wondered,
“By life’s harsh blasts ever blown.”
Then passed like a flash,
through my memory,
a picture of Galilee.
I saw those fishermen,
weary battling [...]

There is no difference between
healing your body and healing the Earth
or helping another to heal.
It is all the same Body.
There is no difference between
healing Earth’s body and healing your own
or helping another to heal.
We are all the One Body.
Begin anywhere.
Begin with one tree,
or a bird.
Begin with your own heart
or skin, clean out your liver,
clear your [...]

We look with uncertainty
Beyond the old choices for
Clear-cut answers
To softer, more permeable aliveness
Which is every moment
At the brink of death;
Something new is being born in us
If we but let it.
We stand in a new doorway,
Awaiting that which comes…
Daring to be human creatures.
Vulnerable to the beauty of existence.
Learning to love.
Anne Hillman

Open the door,
liberate the blue sky;
let the inquisitive flower-scents
enter my room;
the light of the early sun,
let it flood my body
from vein to vein;
I am alive, the word of greeting
that’s throbbing
in every twig and leaf,
let me hear it;
this dayspring dawn,
let it swathe my heart and mind
with its scarf as it does the field
green with the shoots
of [...]

Start seeing everything as God,
But keep it a secret.
Become like a man who is Awestruck
And Nourished
Listening to a Golden Nightingale
Sing in a beautiful foreign language
While God invisibly nests
Upon its tongue.
Hafiz,
Who can you tell in this world
That when a dog runs up to you
Wagging its ecstatic tail,
You lean down and whisper in its ear,
“Beloved,
I am so [...]

Luke 5:1-11
Holy friend,
we gather this morning
weary and worn from the industry
of our living.
Like the Galilean disciples,
we have been fishing night and day
without a single sardine
to show for our troubles.
We have worked our fingers to the bone,
worried our minds into a fine mess,
and frightened our hearts into hiding.
But it is a new day.
Speak words of grace
into [...]

Forsake your devotion
to predicament and discord
Break the tradition
of rivalry and curse
Quick while there’s time
Uproot hostility
Claim your humanity
Insist on brotherhood
Open your fists
into embraces
Open your arms’ length
into loving circles
Remove every roadblock
to the peaceable kingdom
Outnumber the hawks
Outdistance the angels
James Broughton

In his four decades at the forefront of public life, South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu has been forthright in his views on the situation at home and abroad.
Here is a selection of his memorable quotes on a variety of topics:
Apartheid
Be nice to the whites, they need you to rediscover their humanity – October 1984
I am [...]

O Earth, wrap me
in your leaves -
heal me.
Let me fall
under Earthbreast -
feed me.
Sing to me
under the round nests
in your cedar trees.
Embrace me
when I sleep
in your shade.
Let your eye keep me
protected and cool -
hide me.
Warm me
with naked summer
kisses and
Cloister me
Around
with wild flowers.
Refresh me
with springs
and living waters.
Draw me down
into your well
of rebirth and
Let my wounds
Open
and empty
Into your [...]

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters,
of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you,
but not from you,
and though they are with you,
yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love,
but not your thoughts,
for they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies,
but not their souls,
for their souls
dwell in the [...]

Luke 19:28-40, Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-11
Jesus tells us that even the stones
would cry out if we kept silent.
How do we,
now the stones’ vocal cords,
express our awe?
The weight of pink cherry blossoms
drooping against the blue sky,
and the return of the yellow and oranges faces
we call “daffodil” leave us speechless.
Even as the word leaves our lips,
it must [...]

I sing
of the beauty of Athens
without its slaves
Of a world free
of kings and queens
and other remnants
of an arbitrary past
Of earth
with no
sharp north
or deep south
without blind curtains
or iron walls
of the end
of warlords and armouries
and prisons of hate and fear
Of deserts treeing
and fruiting
after quickening rains
Of the sun
radiating ignorance
and stars informing
nights of unknowing
I sing of a world reshaped
Niyi [...]

On a day when the wind is perfect,
the sail just needs to open and the world is full of beauty.
Today is such a day.
My eyes are like the sun that makes promises;
the promise of life that it always
keeps each morning.
The living heart gives to us as does that luminous sphere,
both caress the earth with great [...]

The greatest good is like water:
it benefits all life without being noticed.
It flows even to the lowliest places
where no one chooses to be
and so it is very close to the Tao.
It settles only in quiet locations.
Its deepest heart is always clear.
It offers itself with great goodness.
It keeps its rhythm as it keeps its promises.
It governs [...]

The seed of God is in us. Given an intelligent and hard-working farmer, it will thrive and grow up to God, whose seed it is; and accordingly its fruits will be God-nature. Pear seeds grow into pear trees, nut seeds into nut trees, and God-seed into God.
Meister Eckhart

For God to me,
it seems, is a verb,
not a noun, proper or improper;
is the articulation not the art,
objective or subjective;
is loving, not the abstraction “love”
commanded or entreated;
is knowledge dynamic,
not legislative code,
not proclamation law,
not academic dogma,
nor ecclesiastic canon.
Yes, God is a verb, the most active,
connoting the vast harmonic reordering,
of the universe,
from unleashed chaos of energy.
And there [...]

People are often unreasonable, irrational and self-centred.
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, interior motives.
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere, people may deceive you.
Be honest and sincere anyway.
What you spend years creating, others could [...]

Genesis 37:1–24
We have managed to roll together
the tangled strands of our lives
and get ourselves here.
We take this soft and colorful ball of life –
the school knapsacks filled with anticipation,
the news from home,
the co-worker we can’t stand,
the friend that means the world to us,
the dreams that become true if we just had time,
the failures that haunt [...]

Don’t unstring your bow.
I am your four-feathered arrow
that is not been used yet.
I am a strong knife blade word,
not some if or maybe, dissolving in air.
I am sunlight slicing the dark.
Who made this night?
A forge deep in the earth-mud.
What is the body?
Endurance.
What is love?
Gratitude.
What is hidden in our chests?
Laughter.
What else?
Compassion.
Don’t ask what love can make [...]

Even though the night darkens your spirit, its purpose is to impart light. Even tough it humbles you, revealing the depth of your wretchedness, its purpose is to exalt and uplift you. Even tough it empties you of all feeling and detaches you from all natural pleasures, its purpose is to fill you with spiritual [...]

Every blade of grass has its angel that bends
over it and whispers, “Grow, grow.”

The Talmud

The ancient ones saw it this way:
in the beginning the Holy One allowed the light,
“Let there be light,”
and from Spirit’s being,
a radiance emerged
that lit creation’s path toward its sacred future.
The scientists see it this way:
in the beginning, from the darkness and emptiness of nothingness,
an unaccountable explosion of radiation
expanded outward in all directions,
which now our instruments [...]

“The soft, glowing presence of planet Earth in the black abyss had a pristine clarity uncaptured by photographs. Images on film lack the subtle shades, the brightness, and the depth of the living sphere, which bulged out of the blackness as I sailed outward on Apollo 11… From the deep blue of the Mediterranean, all [...]

Knowing others is intelligence;
knowing yourself is true wisdom.
Mastering others is strength;
mastering yourself is true power.
If you realize that you have enough,
you are truly rich.
If you stay in the center
and embrace death with your whole heart,
you will endure forever.
Lao-Tzu

I woke up early today, excited over all I get to do before the clock strikes midnight.
I have responsibilities to fulfill today. I am important.
My job is to choose what kind of day I am going to have.
Today I can complain because the weather is rainy or I can be thankful that the grass is [...]

Fill your mind with positive thoughts,
and there will be no room for negativity.
Fill your days with effective action,
and there will be no room for laziness.
Fill your body with nutritious food,
and there will be no room for toxic junk.
Fill your life with love,
and there will be no room for hate.
Fill your work with challenge,
and there will [...]

Decide to forgive
for resentment is negative,
resentment is poisonous,
resentment diminishes
and devours the self.
Be the first to forgive,
to smile and to take the first step,
and you will see happiness bloom
on the face of your human brother or sister.
Be always the first.
Do not wait for others to forgive,
for by forgiving
you become master of the fate,
the fashioner of life,
the [...]

Your ego’s tendency is to keep things as they are, no matter how bad they may be. God says: “let go of the past and make room for something that honours you more deeply.” You are afraid to do that because there is no guarantee that the new will be any better than the old. [...]

That hurt we embrace becomes joy.
Call it to your arms where it can change.
A silkworm eating leaves makes a cocoon. Each of us weaves a chamber
of leaves and sticks.
Like silkworms, we begin to exist
as we disappear
inside that room.
Without legs, we fly.
When I stop speaking, this poem
will close in silence more magnificent…
I don’t regret how much [...]

The world is fast losing its soul
but you don’t have to surrender yours.
You don’t have to live in a mechanical globe.
You don’t have to tame your deep-forest passions.
You don’t have to suppress your radiant beauty.
Live your joy,
Go against the grain.
Don’t be made timid by worried rejection.
Let nature’s curious wisdom fill you.
Let the world’s mystical heritage [...]

Do not say that I’ll depart tomorrow -
even today I am still arriving.
Look deeply: every second I am arriving
to be a bud on a Spring branch,
to be a tiny bird, with still-fragile wings,
learning to sing in my new nest,
to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower,
to be a jewel hiding itself in a [...]

Beautiful are the youth
whose rich emotions flash and burn,
whose lithe bodies filled with energy and grace
sway in their happy dance of life;
and beautiful likewise are the mature
who have learned compassion and patience, charity and wisdom, though they
be rarer far than beautiful youth.
But most beautiful and most rare is a gracious old age
which has drawn from [...]

“I wish I could show you
When you are lonely or in darkness,
The Astonishing Light
Of your own Being!”

I know the voice of depression
Still calls to you.
I know those habits that can ruin your life
Still send their invitations.
But you are with the Friend now
And look so much stronger.
You can stay that way
And even bloom!
Keep squeezing drops of [...]

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do [...]

Throw away
All your begging bowls at God’s door,
For I have heard the Beloved
Prefers sweet threatening shouts,
Something on the order of:
“Hey Beloved,
My heart is a raging volcano
Of love for you!
You better start kissing me -
Or Else!”
Hafiz

Quickly, in the rose
garden at noon
or nearly tea time,
my basket full
of pink flowers,
I will drop
to the ground
and the fall will take
a lifetime
and when it is
complete, my still
head on the Earth,
that essence that will be
what I am will be saying
for the universe to hear,
“Thank You”
Alla Renee Bozarth

Empower me
to be a bold participant,
rather than a timid saint in waiting,
in the difficult ordinariness of now;
to exercise the authority of honesty;
rather than defer to power,
or deceive to get it;
to influence someone for justice,
rather than impress anyone for gain;
and, by grace, to find treasures
of joy, of friendship, of peace
hidden in the fields of the daily
you [...]

Life is intentional, not accidental. I bless this central fact. Consciousness instigates shifts in outer reality. Recognizing that I have the power to change my world by changing my thinking, I set for myself a gentle vigilance towards negative thoughts. When I fear abandonment, I remind myself that the universe itself is my loving companion. [...]

God stood at the shore of Himself and dove in.
How can He do things like that?
Anything goes with
the Big Guy, I
guess.
A divine splash happened,
billions of drops were propelled into space.
I said to a drop shooting past me one night,
“Where ya going, what’s the hurry,
slow down.”
It did, and we talked for a while, that drop and [...]

I know nothing else but miracles,
Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan,
Or dart my sight over the roofs of houses toward the sky,
Or wade with naked feet along the beach just in the edge of the water,
Or stand under trees in the woods,
Or talk by day with anyone I love, or sleep in bed at [...]

Eva Markvoort inspired an international following through her online diary about her lifelong battle with cystic fibrosis — finally succumbing to death on March 27th.
Her website, called “65 Red Roses,” inspired an award-winning documentary of the same name.
On March 25, Markvoort wrote her last post. “I am not managing, not managing at all. I’m drowning [...]

Whose blood runs the rivers of the world? Whose breath sings the sorrow of the universe? In the eye of the enemy, can you see your own soul? When a baby cries in the the outcasts’ camp, do you long to hold her? Can you comfort and soothe and rock her like the rhythm of [...]

All day long, a little burro labours, sometimes
with heavy loads on her back and sometimes just with worries
about things that bother only
burros.
And worries, as we know, can be more exhausting
than physical labour.
Once in a while, a kind monk comes
to her stable and brings
a pear, but more
than that,
he looks into the burro’s eyes and touches her [...]

Ensō (円相) is a Japanese word meaning “circle” and a concept strongly associated with Zen. Ensō is one of the most common subjects of Japanese calligraphy even though it is a symbol and not a character. It symbolizes enlightenment, strength, elegance, the Universe, and the void; it can also symbolize the Japanese aesthetic itself. As [...]

Last night my soul asked a question of existence.
Why are you upsidedown with flames in your belly?
Happy, unhappy, indigo-orange like the sky?
Why are you an off-balance wobbling millstone,
like the Buddhist Sufi, Ibrahim Balkhi,
who was king, beggar, buddha and dervish?
Existence answers, All this was made
by the one who hides inside you.
You are like a beautiful new [...]

Roll away from me the weight
of dead and frozen thoughts.
Clear away from me the fogs
of falsely sweet illusions.
Ignite in my heart
the warmth of true love
That with my new eyes of new love
And my angel at my back
I may see the Truth of the World
I may feel the Beauty of the World.
And I may act with [...]

One great question underlies our experience, whether we think about it consciously or not: What is the purpose of life?
I believe that the purpose of life is to be happy. From the moment of birth, every human being wants happiness and does not want suffering. Neither social conditioning nor education nor ideology affects this.
Therefore, it [...]

With every act of kindness,
The way grows clearer.
With every act of caring,
The way grows smoother.
I rejoice in every act of kindness
Great of small,
Near or far,
Known or unknown,
Ordinary or extraordinary.
I rejoice in every act of caring
Great of small,
Near or far,
Known or unknown,
Ordinary or extraordinary.
May kindness and caring
Blossom within me,
And within all sentient existence.
May wisdom and compassion
Blossom [...]

For as long as space endures
And for as long as living beings remain,
Until then may I too abide
To dispel the misery of the world.
Dalai Lama

In the name of daybreak
and the eyelids of the morning
and the wayfaring moon
and the night when it departs,
I swear I will not dishonour
my soul with hatred,
but offer myself humbly
as a guardian of nature,
as a healer of misery,
as a messenger of wonder,
as an architect of peace.
In the name of the sun and its mirrors
and the day [...]

Peace does not come through the agreement of egos, for it is impossible for egos to agree. Peace comes when love and mutual respect are present. When love is present, your enemy becomes like a friend who is not afraid to disagree with you. You do not cast him out of your heart just because [...]

May every creature abound in well-being and peace.
May every living being, weak or strong, the long and the small
The short and the medium-sized, the mean and the great
May every living being, seen or unseen, those dwelling far off,
Those near by, those already born, those waiting to be born
May all attain inward peace.
Let no one deceive [...]

Just sit there right now
Don’t do a thing
Just rest.
For your separation from God,
From love,
Is the hardest work
In this
World.
Let me bring you trays of food
And something
That you like to
Drink.
You can use my soft words
As a cushion
For your
Head.
Hafiz

Spiritual unity is always followed by actual or personal unity; that is, what we enter into conscious possession of in the spiritual life we will, ere long, gain actual possession of in the physical life. Believe that you have already received in the spirit what you desire to receive in the person, and you will [...]

Then a woman said, “Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow.”
And he answered: “Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.
And how else can it be?
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.
Is not the cup that [...]

Don’t take anything personally because by taking things personally you set yourself up to suffer for nothing. Humans are addicted to suffering at different levels and to different degrees, and we support each other in maintaining these addictions. Humans agree to help each other suffer. If you have the need to be abused, you will [...]

You hunger to be touched, but deny your hunger. Allow me to love you. Permit me to teach you loving ways to treat yourself. Every hair on your head is precious to me, every inch of your skin. You are not a beast of burden. I do not intend you to work yourself to exhaustion, [...]

May we give birth to a new Dream of the People.
A dream that can sustain us in the new millennium.
A dream that remembers that there is no separation between spirit and matter.
A dream that infuses the life of the people with the power of the erotic.
A dream that reminds us of what is holy.
I call [...]

We light a narrow candle
for every turn around our little sun. make a wish
and try to blow them out with a single breath.
between the near stars and the ones we take on faith
there is no middle distance, no halfway measure
of the years they say light takes to get here.
souls are said to journey from other [...]

I awoke to the confusion of a new day.
The scraps of dreams, memories of yesterday, and new cravings creeping into awareness,
The sun spilling its light over all but the shadows and a cacaphony of sound
From outside and in.
What to make order of? What to let go?
And who makes the choice?
I think I will go down [...]

Now is the time
To climb up the mountain
And reason against habit.
Now is the time.
Now is the time
To renew the barren soil of nature
Ruined by the winds of tyranny
Now is the time.
Now is the time
To commence the litany of hope
Now is the time.
Now is the time
To give me roses, not to keep them
For my grave to [...]

Friendship toward all beings,
Delight in the qualities of virtuous ones,
Utmost compassion for afflicted beings,
Equanimity toward those who are not well-disposed toward me.
May my soul have such dispositions as these forever.
Peacefulness toward all beings;
self-control and pure aspirations;
abandonment of every thought
that is tainted by desire or aversion;
that, truly, is dwelling in my Self.
I ask for forgiveness of [...]

There is a dog I sometimes take for a walk
and turn loose in a field,
when I can’t give her that freedom,
I feel in debt.
I hope God thinks like that and
is keeping track of all
the bliss He
owes
me.
Rabia

Why are you waiting to begin your life?
Do you think the world must care and come soliciting?
Listen to the knocking at the door of your own heart
It is only faint because you have not answered
You have fooled yourself with preparations
Time left laughing while you considered possibilities
Wake up you have slept long enough
Wake up tomorrow may [...]

Every truth without exception – no matter
who makes it – is from God.
If a bird got accused of singing too early
in the morning,
if a lute began to magically play on its own
in the square
and the enchanting sounds it made drove a pair of young lovers
into a wild, public display of passion,
if this lute and bird [...]

Dear God,
Please bless and protect this sacred jewel,
Our vulnerable planet so besieged.
May the rivers and the oceans and the sky and the land
All be repaired somehow, dear Lord.
May the barbarism end, which threatens to destroy our priceless treasure.
For surely the earth has been our home,
The home of our parents unto all generations.
For the sake of [...]

The world will tell you that success is achieving what you set out to do. It will tell you that success is winning, that finding recognition and/or prosperity are essential ingredients in any success. All or some of the above are usually by-products of success. The conventional notion of success is concerned with the outcome [...]

And with that breath arrives a new body. Notice in the desires that arise as that new incarnation approaches the dimming of the light that precedes the forgetfulness. Attempt to stay alert through the process of re-entry.
Each breath the first.
Each breath completely new.
Taking birth once again.
Born back into a body to examine what was born. [...]

Gently, gently let yourself float free of the body. Constantly expanding outward through decreasing levels of density into increasing depths of grace. Enter the vastness of being. Rest there in your birthright, your deathright. Accept your inheritance.
Let yourself dissolve into the vastness. Edges melting, boundaries disappearing. Dissolving, dissolving into space. Uniting with the absolute joy [...]

Observe how each breath drawn in through the nostrils of the heavy body is experienced as sensation by the light body within. Notice how each breath connects the heavy body with the light body. Notice how each breath maintains that connection, allowing life to stay one more moment in the body.
Feel the contact between the [...]

Look about your home for a safe place to die.
Go from room to room surveying the space and sensing if you were to come home to die where that might be best accomplished. Go to that place and just for the work/play of it, sit there for this meditation. Later, as the meditation sinks from [...]

Life is being wasted. The human family is not having half the fun that is its due, not making the beautiful things it would make, and each one is not as good news to the other as he might be, just because we are educated off our natural track. We need another form of education.
The [...]

My head is bald…but hatted. My coat is warm. “Brave travelers dream time, hoist hope like a flag on a staff.” Green hills meet indigo sky. The wind pushes me on. “Clouds tell no stories.” The moon is bright. Prayer hurts. The sight of God is fatal. “Keep moving.”
Bernard Laurie Edwards

Consciousness is already conscious. It is the unmanifested, the eternal. The universe, however, is only gradually becoming conscious. Consciousness itself is timeless and therefore does not evolve. It was never born and does not die. When consciousness becomes the manifested universe, it appears to be subject to time and to undergo an evolutionary process. No [...]

I think God might be a little prejudiced.
For once He asked me to join Him on a walk
through this world,
and we gazed into every heart on this earth,
and I noticed He lingered a bit longer
before any face that was weeping,
and before any eyes that were
laughing.
And sometimes when we passed
a soul in worship
God too would kneel [...]

I am music waiting to be heard. I am a song unfolding. My notes are the voice of Life singing through me in majesty. I open my throat to the word of creation. I speak my truth and build my life upon it. I open my mouth to exclaim the glory that I feel within [...]

When I was the stream, when I was the
forest, when I was still the field,
when I was every hoof, foot,
fin and wing, when I
was the sky
itself,

no one ever asked me did I have a purpose, no one ever
wondered was there anything I might need,
for there was nothing
I could not
love.
It was when I left all we [...]

It’s the old rule that drunks
have to argue
and get into fights.
The lover is just as bad:
he falls into a hole.
But down in that hole he finds
something shining,
worth more than any amount
of money or power.
Last night the moon came
dropping her clothes
in the street.
I took it as a sign to start singing,
falling up into the bowl of [...]

Look to this day, for it is Life, the very life of Life;
In its brief course lie all the verities and realities of your existence…
the bliss of Growth, the glory of Action, the splendour of Beauty.
For Yesterday is but a dream,
and Tomorrow only a vision;
But Today well lived makes Yesterday a dream of Happiness
and Tomorrow [...]

“If we face our unpleasant feelings with care, affection, and nonviolence, we can transform them into the kind of energy that is healthy and has the capacity to nourish us.”
Thich Nhat Hanh
In times of loss and difficulty, I choose to consciously deepen my strength through actively seeking the blessing hidden in my adversity. I do [...]

National Newspaper Award and Amnesty International Award for Human Rights Reporting winner Stephanie Nolen is The Globe and Mail’s current India, and formerly Africa, correspondent. She just received an honorary Doctorate in Civil Laws from King’s and this is part of her address to students:
Sometimes bad luck turns out not to be so bad.
That you [...]

On the acorn side of surrender, freedom almost always means what Thomas Merton calls “choice freedom.” It’s about having the means to do what I want, go where I want, say what I want, buy what I want. What the acorn usually doesn’t see is how much these apparently “free” choices are actually dictated by [...]

What a luxury to have a year to live! With 250,000 people dying each day and knowing we are somewhere down that line, who has time to put life aside? We prepare for death by living every second, living life minutely, exploring our body and mind with a merciful awareness. To be this close to [...]

A rich man asked Sengai to write something for the continued prosperity of his family so that it might be treasured from generation to generation.
Sengai obtained a large sheet of paper and wrote: Father dies, son dies, grandson dies.”
The rich man became angry. “I asked you to write something for the happiness of my family! [...]

O my Father, Great Elder,
I have no words to thank you,
But with your deep wisdom
I am sure you can see
How I value your glorious gifts.
O my Father, when I look upon your greatness,
I am confounded with awe.
O Great Elder,
Ruler of all things earthly and heavenly,
I am your warrior,
Ready to act in accordance with your will.
Kikuyu, [...]

Return me, oh sun
to my wild destiny,
rain of the ancient wood,
bring me back to the aroma and the swords
that fall from the sky,
the solitary peace of pasture and rock,
the damp at the river-margins,
the smell of the larch tree,
the wind alive like a heart
beating in the crowded restlessness
of the towering araucana.
Earth, give me back your pure [...]

My good wishes
for this being
I experience:
May I fulfil
my destiny
and die a well woman,
like my Beloved
who knew such fullness
of being alive
that he simply grew out
of himself, radiantly
shed his small mortality,
let the bright shell
around his being die back
into Earth so he, unimpeded,
could go on growing on
and on and on, and
let the growing on of God
inhabit that being
that [...]

Forgiving one’s enemies can make a difference to one’s spiritual progress. It’s crucial. It’s the one important thing. It can change one’s life. To reduce hatred and other destructive emotions, you must develop their opposites – compassion and kindness. If you have strong compassion, strong respect for others, then forgiceness much easier. Mainly for this [...]

“You are the light of the world.” Do not hide your spirituality in your feelings or your emotions. There is power in the spirit. Live this power and give personal expression to everything that the spirit may contain. Then you will demonstrate to the world that the way of the spirit is the true way. [...]

Dear God,
May I have meaningful work and meaningful
activity in my life.
I desire to wake up each morning and feel that I
am used on behalf of something glorious.
I want to feel, no matter what my work, that I
dispense blessing, love, forgiveness and
kindness there to all I meet.
Help me remember that You are the power.
May I not [...]

Welcome O Supernatural One, O Swimmer
who returns every year in this world
that we may live rightly, that we may be well.
I offer you, swimming salmon, my heart’s deep gratitude.
I ask that you will come again,
that next year we will meet in this life,
that you will see that nothing evil should befall me.
O Supernatural One, O [...]

Most men in power have not the strength or wisdom
to be satisfied with the way
things are.
The sane know contentment, for beauty is their lover,
and beauty is never absent from this world.
The farther away light is from one’s touch
the more one naturally speaks of
the need for change.
Yes, overthrow any government inside
that makes you weep.
The child blames [...]

Late by myself, in the
boat of myself,
no light and no land
anywhere,
cloudcover thick.
I try to stay
just above the surface,
Yet I’m already under
and living
within
the Ocean.
Rumi

i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes
(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun’s birthday; this is the birth
day of life and love and wings: and [...]

Your fear of death is but the trembling of the shepherd when he stands before the king whose hand is laid upon him in honour.
Is the shepherd not joyful beneath his trembling, that he shall wear the mark of the king?
Yet is he not more mindful of his trembling?
For what is it to die but [...]

When your brother attacks you, realize that he is not feeling loved. If he felt love, he would not attack you. Do not react to his attack. Find a way to remind him that he is loved.
Do this again and again.
Here is a simple walking meditation.
One day, when you are feeling cheerful, go out into [...]

With
passion pray. With
passion work. With passion make love.
With passion eat and drink and dance and play.
Why look like a dead fish
in this ocean
of
God?
Rumi

The earth is all that lasts.
The earth is what I speak to when
I do not understand my life
Nor why I am not heard.
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 [...]

Faith is so important because it is the force that gives life to every word, to every concept that we store in our mind. We can say that life manifests through faith, and that faith is the messenger of life. Life goes through our faith, and then our faith gives life to everything we agree [...]

You waited until you were alone.
Death is a private thing.
You knew your last act
was to a different audience.
As it entered you -
oh how you must have danced!
curving toward God, elegant and alone.
Dear one, what is it like?
Tell us! What is death?
Birth,
you say, your voice swathed in wings.
I am born in the endless beginning.
I am not. [...]

After a while you learn
The subtle difference
Between holding a hand
And chaining a soul.
And you learn
That love doesn’t mean leaning
And company doesn’t mean security.
And you begin to learn
That kisses aren’t compromise
And presents aren’t promises.
And you begin to accept your defeats
With your head up and your eyes ahead
With the grace of a woman or a man
Not the [...]

4 cups of Love
3 cups of Loyalty
3 cups of Forgiveness
5 tsp.of Hope
2 tsp. of Tenderness
4 quarts of Faith
1 cup of Friendship
1 barrel of Laughter
Take Love and Loyalty, mix thoroughly with Faith. Blend it with Tenderness, Kindness and Understanding. Add Friendship and Hope. Sprinkle abundantly with Laughter. Bake it with Sunshine. Serve daily with generous helpings. [...]

The woman
whose speech and actions are the same -
her feet become worthy of
worship.
Keeping our word is the alchemy to become free
and whole.
Try and make amends for any broken hearts
or broken promises;
if you cannot do so in form
then prayer can heal a debt with the light you
can send,
and even a man can become
this precious
gold.
Tukaram

You have been invited to meet
The Friend.
No one can resist a Divine Invitation.
That narrows down all our choices
To just two:
We can come to God
Dressed for Dancing,
Or,
Be carried on a stretcher
To God’s Ward.
Hafiz

O Lord,
open my eyes that I may see the needs of others;
open my ears that I may hear their cries;
open my heart so that they need not be without succor;
let me not be afraid to defend the weak because of the
anger of the strong,
nor afraid to defend the poor because of the
anger of the rich.
Show [...]

Father/ Mother God:
Help me to feel my oneness with you
and my equality with my brothers and sisters.
Help me to recognize my judgments
and to look within for correction.
Help me to give up shame and blame
and to learn from my errors
so that I do not repeat them.
Help me to care for my body, my family,
my community and [...]

I will nurse this autumn carefully,
treat its brittleness gently,
smooth its crumbling edges, its weeping afternoons.
I will rise early and go to it,
wrap it in a soft cloth
and watch it’s breathing.
I will nurture this autumn knowing
it is myself
in a pure and golden form,
and that childlike
soft words will be brought bubbling up
to be recorded in the patterns [...]

Paul Reps

The wonder of water moving over that rock in the stream
justifies existence.
The swish of a horse’s tail – again I am stunned
by the grandeur of the unseen One
that governs all
movement.
I resist looking at the palms of my hands sometimes.
Have you ever gotten breathless before a beautiful face,
for I see you there,
my dear.
There is a wonderful [...]

Joy is the greatest cleanser, and it is
the greatest testimony to our
faith.
“Toil with happiness,” my Lord once
said to me.
God sent a servant on an errand
through a dangerous part
of the world.
The servant, having received in hand
what God wanted
delivered,
turned to the Holy and said,
“My Beloved Master, do you have a final instruction?”
and God replied,
“A kind face is [...]

What would a man buried alive do?
Try with all his strength to breathe the sun again, of course.
Your hands, your feet, your eyes,
your every word and
thought,
there is
not one waking
second
the soul pounding against the cage of the body
does not want God
to rush into its
lungs.
The sleeping man is blessed with
a faith that is not
active.
Faith as it ripens [...]

What is laughter? What is laughter?
It is God waking up! O it is God waking up!
It is the sun poking its sweet head out
From behind a cloud
You have been carrying too long,
Veiling your eyes and heart.

It is Light breaking ground for a great Structure
That is your Real body – called Truth.
It is happiness applauding itself [...]

May we discover through pain and torment,
the strength to live with grace and humor.
May we discover through doubt and anguish,
the strength to live with dignity and holiness.
May we discover through suffering and fear,
the strength to move toward healing.
May it come to pass that we be restored to health and to vigor.
May Life grant us wellness [...]

I don’t think there is such a thing as
an intelligent mega-rich
person.
For who with a fine mind can look
out upon this world and
hoard
what can nourish
a thousand
souls.
Kabir (1440-1518)

When the ripe fruit falls
its sweetness distills and trickles away
into the veins of the earth.
When fulfilled people die
the essential oil of their experience enters
the veins of living space, and adds a glisten
to the atom, to the body of immortal chaos.
For space is alive
and it stirs like a swan
whose feathers glisten
silky with oil of distilled experience.
D.H. [...]

What is the difference
Between your experience of Existence
And that of a saint?
The saint knows
That the spiritual path
Is a sublime chess game with God
And that the Beloved
Has just made such a Fantastic Move
That the saint is now continually
Tripping over Joy
And bursting out in Laughter
And saying, “I Surrender!”
Whereas, my dear,
I’m afraid you still think
You have a thousand [...]

We are the earth.
Earth is stardust-come-to-life, a magic cauldron where the heart of the universe is being formed. In me, the Earth and its creatures find their voices. Through my eyes the stars look back on themselves in wonder. I am the earth. This is my body.
We are the air.
Air is the breath of the [...]

Ironic, but one of the most intimate acts
of our body is
death.
So beautiful appeared my death – knowing who then I would kiss,
I died a thousand times before I died.
“Die before you die,” said the Prophet
Muhammad.
Have wings that feared ever
touched the Sun?
I was born when all I once
feared – I could
love.
Rabia

“Greenland” by Annie Dillard

At a certain point, you say to the woods, to the sea, to the mountains , the world, Now I am ready. Now I will stop and be wholly attentive. You empty yourself and wait, listening. After a time, you hear it: there is nothing there. There is nothing but those things [...]

I quietly gaze into the depths of a forest
and see nothing save beauty and peace.
Birdsong fills my ears.
A gentle breeze brushes against my cheek.
Seeing from inside the seeing.
I drink the dark riches of the woods.
Would it be that every day
I could see my own face so clearly in these still waters,
And meet the emptiness which [...]

Individual happiness can contribute in a profound and effective way to the overall improvement of our entire human community.
Because we all share an identical need for love, it is possible to feel that anybody we meet, in whatever circumstances, is a brother or sister. No matter how new the face or how different the dress [...]

May those
whose lives are gripped in the palm of suffering
open
even now
to the Wonder of Life.
May they let go of the hurt
and Meet the True Self beyond pain,
the Uncarved Block
that is our joyous Unity with Wholeness.
May they discover through pain and torment
the strength to live with grace and humour.
May they discover through doubt and anguish
the strength [...]

From too much love of living,
From hope and fear set free,
We thank with brief thanksgiving
Whatever gods may be
That no life lives forever;
That dead men rise up never;
That even the weariest river
Winds somewhere safe to sea.
Algernon Charles Swinburne

A female humpback whale had become entangled in a spider web of crab traps and lines. She was weighted down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat. She also had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped around her body, her tail, [...]

I know a cure for sadness:
Let your hands touch something that
makes your eyes
smile.
I bet there are a hundred objects close by
that can do that.
Look at
beauty’s gift to us -
her power is so great she enlivens
the earth, the sky, our
soul.
Mirabai

Fire has a love for itself -
It wants to keep burning.
It is like a woman
Who is at last making love
To the person she most desires.
Find a Master who is like the Sun.
Go to His house
in the middle of the night.
Smash a window.
Act like a great burglar -
Jump in.
Now,
Gather all your courage -
Throw yourself into His [...]

So
precious
is a person’s faith in God.
so precious;

never should we harm
that.
Because
He gave birth
to all
religions.
Francis of Assisi

We are living in a world of continual change, a world in which thought, thing, and experience are all in a constant state of flux. It is the very nature of the universe that there should be continual change and variation. It is a living world, the creation of a living creative Intelligence, not a [...]

The sage is illumined
by an inner light
glowing the awareness
of the Tao,
Knowing giving
is the same as receiving,
and truth teaching
is the job of living,
In raising collective consciousness
to new levels of conduct
where compassion is spread impartially,
all inclusively, spontaneously,
to cover all possible scenarios,
Realizing the bad man is but
the good man’s opportunity
to do love’s duty,
instructing while conveying respect,
without judging,
One thought,
one [...]

What a cruel act to be untruthful.
Earthquakes happen in the heart that hears sounds
that are amiss.
Havoc is created in the mind that can no longer trust someone
once loved, and schisms devour alliances
that help support
our life.
Words can enrich and be wonderful spices mixed into days
we imbibe with all our senses.
There are fields in the soul – [...]

Once the wrongdoer has confessed and the victim has forgiven, it does not mean that is the end of the process. Most frequently, the wrong has affected the victim in tangible, material ways. Apartheid provided the whites with enormous benefits and privileges, leaving its victims deprived and exploited. If someone steals my pen and then [...]

“God is the shadow of man,” was commented upon by the Baal Shem as follows: just as a shadow follows the gestures and motions of the body, God follows those of the soul. If a man is charitable, God will be charitable too. The name of man’s secret is God, and the name of God’s [...]

All of us are only one living being, and we come from the same place. There is no difference between any of us; we are the same. You can look at your hand and see that there are five fingers. If you focus your eyes on one finger at a time, you might believe that [...]

Each of us has an inner compass. Its voice calls us to our highest good. Sometimes it requires that we alter a long-standing but stifling situation. It is difficult to face the severing or alteration of a relationship even when we know such change is for the highest good. Faced with a divorce or separation, [...]

When each day
is sacred
when each hour
is sacred
when each instant
is sacred
earth and you
space and you
bearing the sacred
through time
you’ll reach
the fields of light.
Guillevic

May you be for us a moon of joy and happiness. Let the young become strong and the grown man maintain his strength, the pregnant woman be delivered and the woman who has given birth suckle her child. Let the stranger come to the end of his journey and those who remain at home dwell [...]

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. [...]

Center of all centers, core of cores,
almond self-enclosed, and growing sweet–
all this universe, to the furthest stars
all beyond them, is your flesh, your fruit.
Now you feel how nothing clings to you;
your vast shell reaches into endless space,
and there the rich, thick fluids rise and flow.
Illuminated in your infinite peace,
a billion stars go spinning through the [...]

The winter evening settles down
With smell of steaks in passageways.
Six o’clock.
The burnt-out ends of smoky days.
And now a gusty shower wraps
The grimy scraps
Of withered leaves about your feet
And newspapers from vacant lots;
The showers beat
On broken blinds and chimney-pots,
And at the corner of the street
A lonely cab-horse steams and stamps.
And then the lighting of the lamps.
II
The [...]

The woman
whose speech and actions are the same -
her feet become worthy of
worship.
Keeping our word is the alchemy to become free
and whole.
Try and make amends for any broken hearts
or broken promises;
if you cannot do so in form
than prayer can heal a debt with the light you can send,
and even a man can become
this precious
gold.
Tukaram

Don’t look back,
battered child
Time then hurt you.
Let time heal you.
Don’t look back.
Don’t look back,
beaten child.
They knew not what
they did except what
was done to them.
Don’t look back.
Don’t look back,
abandoned child,
abused, neglected child.
     Denial is salt in your wounds.
     Dwelling is repeating
     the deliberate disappearance
     of your soul.
     Don’t perpetuate this harm.
   [...]

Let my words
be bright with animals,
images the flash of a gull’s wing.
If we pretend
that we are at the centre,
that moles and kingfishers,
eels and coyotes
are at the edge of grace,
then we circle, dead moons
about a cold sun.
This morning I ask only
the blessing of the crayfish,
the beatitude of the birds;
to wear the skin of the bear
in my [...]

Wayfarer
Your whole mind and body have been tied
To the foot of the Divine Elephant
With a thousand golden chains.
Now, begin to rain intelligence and compassion
Upon all your tender, wounded cells
And realize the profound absurdity
Of thinking
That you can ever go Anywhere
Or do Anything
Without God’s will.
Hafiz

And the priestess spoke again and said: ‘Speak to us of Reason and Passion.’
And he answered saying:
Your soul is oftentimes a battlefield, upon which your reason and your judgment wage war against passion and your appetite.
Would that I could be the peacemaker in your soul, that I might turn the discord and the rivalry of [...]

Every creature has a religion. Every
foot is a shrine where
a secret candle
burns.
Every cell in us worships
God.
Every arrow in the bow of desire
has rushed out in hope
of nearing
Him.
Thomas Aquinas

The First Training: Aware of the suffering caused by the destruction of life, I vow to cultivate compassion and learn ways to protect the lives of people, animals, plants and minerals. I am determined not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to condone any act of killing in the world, in my [...]

O Children of Nothing!
Truth can’t come in through your eyes,
Nor can speech go out through your mouth to find Him;
Hearing leads the speaker down the road to anxiety,
And if you follow your hands and feet you will arrive at confusion -
The real work is in the Heart:
Wake up your Heart! Because when the Heart is [...]

We stood before the waving sea
and stared at vast infinity,
and praised the Life that brought us here
to take our ride upon this sphere,
for when we reach the distant shore
I know we’ll be returning,
rich from the journey
rich from the journey.
You never know what’s up ahead.
The tempest rolls and the skies are red.
But, off into the world [...]

Glory be to God for dappled things -
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
Landscape plotted & pieced – fold, fallow & plough;
And all trades, their gear & tackle & trim.
All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled, (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; [...]

The thought manifests as the word;
The word manifests as the deed;
The deed develops into habit;
And habit hardens into character.
So watch the thought and its ways with care,
And let it spring from love
Born out of concern for all beings.
 
The Buddha

Offer only lovely things on my altars -
the bread of life, and jewels, and feathers and flowers.
Let the streams of life flow in peace.
Turn from violence.
Learn to think for a long time how to change this world,
and how to make it better to live in.
All the people in the world ought to talk about it
and [...]

The human heart craves certainty yet life is sometimes uncertain. In times of ambiguity, doubt and apprehension, I claim the certain safety of my spiritual connection. Reminding myself that even in the face of difficult change, my grounding in Spirit remains secure, I find ground on which to stand. It is timeless and serene. Spirit [...]

She caught me off guard when my soul said to me,
“Have we met?”
So surprised I was to hear her speak like that
I chuckled.
She began to sing a tale: “There was once a hard working man
who used to worry so much because he could
not feed and clothe his children and
wife the way he wanted.
There was a [...]

You might hear the beautiful shout of “Geronimo”
from a lover who has just dove from a
cliff and is heading full speed
into the Ocean – into the
Beloved.
And of course there will always be lots of gab
along the shore from those who are
drawn to God
but have yet to really get bare assed
and go in.
“Geronimo” may be the [...]

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 [...]

Creator of the germ in woman,
Maker of seed in man,
Giving life to the son in the body of his mother,
Soothing him that he may not weep,
Nurse (even) in the womb,
Giver of breath to animate every one that he maketh!
When he cometh forth from the womb…
on the day of his birth,
Thou openest mouth in speech.
Thou suppliest [...]

The sky gave me its heart
because it knew mine was not large enough to care
for the earth the way it did.
Why is it that we think of God so much?
Why is there so much talk
about love?
When an animal is wounded
no one has to tell it,
“You need to heal”;
so naturally it will nurse
itself the best it [...]

When sorrow comes, let us accept it simply, as a part of life. Let the heart be open to pain; let it be stretched by it. All the evidence we have says that this is the better way. An open heart never grows bitter. Or if it does, it cannot remain so. In the desolate [...]

My gift for unconditional love is a great blessing in my life. I am able to manifest an inner nobility in my relationships. I accept those who love me as they are. I allow them to love me at their speed and tempo as they are able. I do not dictate or control. their love [...]

I wanted to be a hermit and only hear the hymns
of the earth, and the laughter of the sky,
and the sweet gossip of the creatures on my limbs,
the forests.
I wanted to be a hermit and not see another face
look upon mine and tell me I was not
all the beauty in this
world.
For so many faces do [...]

God
and I have become
like two giant fat people living
in a tiny
boat.
We
keep bumping into
each other
and
l
a
u
g
h
i
n
g
.
Hafiz

Not
Christian or Jew or
Muslim, not Hindu, Buddhist, Sufi, or Zen.
Not any religion
Or cultural system. I am
not from the east
or the west. Not
out of the ocean or up
from the ground, not
natural or ethereal, not
composed of elements at all.
I do not exist,
am not an entity in this
world or next,
did not descend from
Adam and Eve or any
origin story. [...]

We should make all spiritual talk
Simple today:
God is trying to sell you something,
But you don’t want to buy.
That is what your suffering is:
Your fantastic haggling,
Your manic screaming over the price!
Hafiz

God loves a curved universe.
Buckminster Fuller
 
God is an intelligible sphere whose centre is everywhere and circumference nowhere.
12th Century Latin hermetic text

Commerce is supported by keeping the individual at odds with himself and others, by making us want more than we need, and offering credit to buy what refined senses do not want.
The masses become shackled; I see how their eyes weep and are desperate – of course they feel desperate – for something some remedy that a poor soul then [...]

With a wish to free all beings
I shall always go for refuge
To the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha,
Until I reach full enlightenment.
Enthused by wisdom and compassion
Today in the Buddha’s presence
I generate the Mind for Full Awakening
For the benefit of all sentient beings.
As long as space remains,
As long as sentient beings remain,
Until then, may I too remain,
And [...]

Men are afraid to forget their minds, fearing to fall through the Void with nothing to stay their fall. They do not know that the Void is not really void, but the realm of real Dharma.
Huang Po

Grace — such a lovely word, so effortlessly evocative, being suggestive not only of a dimension of being ordinarily far from accessible to us, but also of a guidance and support preternaturally attuned to our deepest needs.
In Grace there is an implication or felt sense of sacred intervention, a not-by-us engineered doing that deeply serves [...]

The seed of God is in us. Given an intelligent and hard-working farmer, it will thrive and grow up to God, whose seed it is; and accordingly its fruits will be God-nature. Pear seeds grow into pear trees, nut seeds into nut trees, and God-seed into God.
Meister Eckhart

When I dwelt in the ground,
in the bottom, in the stream, and
in the source of the Godhead,
No one asked me where I was going or
what I was doing.
Back in the womb from which I came,
I had no God
and merely was myself.
And when I return
to God and to the core, the soil, the ground, the stream [...]

As swimmers dare
to lie face in the sky
and water bears them,
as hawks rest upon air
and air sustains them,
so would I learn to attain
freefall, and float
into Creator Spirit’s deep embrace,
knowing no effort earns
that all-surrounding grace.
Denise Levertov

And a poet said, “Speak to us of Beauty.”
Where shall you seek beauty, and how shall you find her unless she herself be your way and your guide?
And how shall you speak of her except she be the weaver of your speech?
The aggrieved and the injured say, “Beauty is kind and gentle.
Like a young mother [...]

I am of the nature to grow old.
There is no way to escape growing old.
I am of the nature to have ill-health.
There is no way to escape having ill-health.
I am of the nature to die.
There is no way to escape death.
All that is dear to me and everyone I love
are of the nature to change.
There is no [...]

Dear God.
As I rise up, I thank you for the opportunity to be on this earth.
I thank you for my mind and body,
I thank you for my life.
please bless my body and use it for Your purposes.
May I rise up strong today, and may my body and soul radiate Your love.
May all impurities be cast [...]

You feel fatigued. You doubt your strength. Put aside such anxieties. Count on me for your resilience. Come to me for your strength.
I am the one mind. All things are made from me. Your body is fashioned from my energy. My energy sustains its health. Come to me for your greater well-being. Come to me [...]

The quality of mercy is not strained. 
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven 
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest: 
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes. 
Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes 
The throned monarch better than his crown. 
His scepter shows the force of temporal power, 
The attribute to awe and majesty, 
Wherein doth sit [...]