Passion for Being...

I want to walk through life truly seeing - truly Aware...
Awake to the Presence of the Eternal Being that lives this life...

- the Life that animates all life...

I want to See everything as Living Aliveness;

with the same innocent wonder and amazement
as I did as a child, as if seeing Life living for the
first time...

I want to be in Love with life again -
if I ever was...

Maybe loving, and living life in new ways...

I want to Hear
the laughter of Life

in my Heart.

I want to Experience the Euphoria of
Life ItSelf, living ItSelf
in all its unfolding luminosity,
in the every-day-ness of life...

I want to Embrace
every thought,
expression,
and feeling
as it arises
without
trying
to
confine it,
or suppress it,
or correct it
before it is expressed.

Let me be free from entanglements
of the mind that keep me compliant
and complicit with the world's ways...

I want to risk not following the rules,
the protocols, the agendas of others;
the well-worn paths.

Instead - rising above the familiarity
of any "path" to see what's really here...

May I have the courage to speak
with fierce grace to those who
would try to quell this passion,
to strip this enthusiasm, to
suffocate this spontaneity,
to dim the radiance and
clarity of
the

Passion of Being!

Mystic Meandering
Jan. 2011

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering
reflection of stained glass on wall

(Holy Fire :)

The Heart's Longing...

It's your destiny to be Love...
The only "purpose" is to BE - Love.

Rest in the Sacred Silence of the Heart
where the ripples of luminescent Love
form and expand...

It is already there in your Heart -
in the core of your Being.

Love is your sanctuary.

The longing of the Heart
is there to
draw
you
in

.

.

.

It's the longing of the Heart for that which is
True,
Pure, Innocent, Whole,
and Alive
within

you

It's the longing for the Embrace of
"The Beloved."

And...

It's the call of "The Beloved;"
pulling at your Heart.

Follow the call...

The longing is your Innocence;
an innocent longing
for Divine Embrace.

Let that innocent longing carry you Home...
To the Heart of "The Beloved."

You are held there - deep within
the Divine Heart...

Thrive in that Embrace.

That is Love...

Mystic Meandering
Meditative Writings
c. 2004-2006

~

Photo/Art - Mystic Meandering

Wonder and Awe - Stephen Jenkinson

photo from unsplash.com

It's dark.  You are standing in a field...  This the midnight sky
of your younger, wilder days.  It is ablaze, aching with stars.
It is the vault of heaven, indigo sea of time pierced by light
from the other side.  The horizons are gone, and the Bridge of
Sighs, the one they say the dead walk to leave this world,
dazzles you.  Dew settles on your shoulders and you're
atremble, no longer full with comprehension and certainties.
Every idea you have seems too small for the world.  You
lived long enough to see a night such as this, you're stilled by
it.  There are unlikely companions in the field with you,
everyone quiet.  Someone looks up into the night sky and says:
"You see that star right there?  Could be it isn't there anymore."
Some things in life are too hard to see by yourself because they
happen every day, unwinding above your busyness, or because
you thought you knew them already.

Wonder takes a willingness to be uncertain, to be thrown.  We
have a lot of information these days, and few are enamored of
imprecision or subtlety.  But starlight traveling a bewildering
distance for so long that there is every chance that it doesn't
even exist anymore, and all of that having already happened,
and you standing there, your face blazed in the dark by a
starlight gone, seeing it all, what is and what isn't there: that
is a marvel, and surely that is how awe is born...

Stephen Jenkinson
From - Die Wise

Mystical Alchemy...

We are born from the fathomless Cosmic "darkness",
the Eternal Depths of the Primordial Womb
before Light began...
from which Light emerged;
a mystery...

Without knowing how or why...
We simply are...
Life ItSelf - simply being...

Born of the Ineffable Mystery,
the Cosmic Igniter of the Divine Flame
ignites the Ember of our Heart
through the remembrance of Love -
in "Mystical Alchemy."

Without the need for certainties of the mind,
or intellectual "understandings."

Only visceral awareness of the
Presence of Divine Love
illuminating the Heart
through Grace...

Pure Bliss...
Pure Blessing...

Ever in Gratitude

~

Mystic Meandering
Feb. 2017

Mystical Spirituality...

Being an unapologetic "mystic" at Heart, since childhood, means
for me experiencing the Living Presence of Life that animates all
life.  Some call that God, The Divine, The Beloved, The Ineffable,
"The Mystery", Consciousness, Infinite Being, Spirit, Brahman,
The Tao, etc., etc., etc.  It has many names and forms.  It means
being able to see and experience "The Mystery" in the every-day-ness
of life; something I'm still "working" on - being more aware of the
Sacred in a chaotic world, in the mundane personal affairs of living;
the requirements of daily life: in the must do's and the have-to's
that always find their way to the top of my list, and seem to drive
life...

A "mystical spirituality" pertains to direct experience with Ultimate
Reality/The Divine/"The Mystery"...  Some may assume that a
 "mystic" doesn't experience the darker feelings and frustrations with
living the Cosmic Dance of life.  That has not been my  experience. 
A "mystic" just experiences them within context of the Greater Reality
 - and learns to embrace them as part of the totality of  experience. 
Some feel that a "mystic" has special insights, or powers,  or visions, 
or is only interested in seeking "mystical experiences." 
For me it is not about seeking experiences, but being open to the
movement of "The Mystery", the movement of Consciousness
through its many expressions, and at times experiencing an intimate
 encounter with what I know to be "The Divine", like my Epiphany in
Nov. 2013, or Waking Up To Bliss like I did recently, or "meditative
writings" many years ago, and poetry that sometimes just spills
 out onto the page.

Mystical Spirituality acknowledges the universality of what most have
come to call "God," "The Divine", or Buddha Nature (Dharmakaya),
not associated with any particular faith, religion, or practice, but a
transcendent truth - realizing that humans, at the very core of their
being are both "Divine" and human; formlessness and form, spirit
in matter, Timelessness in time...  This "union" takes place within
ourselves with the realization that we are not a separate entity from
our Divinity, from Consciousness ItSelf, needing to grovel our way
back - but that "comm-union" is always happening.  There is always
only the movement of "Divinity" through life, through us.  There is
 no other "Higher" Self to search for.  It's all Here within us...

Wayne Teasdale, a 20th Century Christian Mystic, and author of
A Mystic Heart, says:  "Mystical Spirituality draws us into the depths
of our Being, where we come face to face with ourselves, our weakness
AND with the Ultimate Mystery.  Spirituality is not external religiosity,
not confined to ritual and liturgy.  It is a way of life that affects and
includes every moment of existence.  It is a disposition to a life of depth."

He goes on - "How we make the journey is what spirituality is really
about - finding our own path.  This means finding a way to/awareness
 of the vast unlimited Consciousness of The Divine, The Mystery
within. We are created for this 'spiritual journey' - the direct and
 immediate experience of Ultimate Reality, which knows everything
 as ItSelf. Being infinitely aware, it knows in a unitive and universal
 fashion through awareness of no distance between ourselves and
 the Ultimate Mystery...  The spiritual journey is essentially one of
discovering the roots of our true identity.  It is a process of the totality
 of Consciousness, from which we arise.

He further says - "Everything is part of an undivided wholeness where
each being reflects this totality.  Non-duality means 'not two, and yet,
not one.'  [I know this is not the traditional Advaita/Non-dual
definition, but it is my experience as well.]  That is, the relationship
 between Divine Reality and human being is a subtle distinction,
but not a separation. And so the relationship is said to be non-dual.
Human beings are essentially Divine." [or Pure Consciousness, etc.]

Wayne Teasdale
20th Century Christian Mystic
from - A Mystic Heart

~

"We cannot live in a world that is interpreted for us by others.
[We must] take back our own listening,
use our own voice,
see our own Light."

Hildegard of Bingen
12th Century Christian Mystic

_/\_

Namaste

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

Mind and Consciousness - Rupert Spira

There is no distinction between Essence of Mind
and the expression of mind...

There is no entity called mind in Consciousness...

Mind is the activity of Consciousness.
Thought is just the activity of Mind
in the activity of Consciousness.

Perception appears in Consciousness.
The mind is not the container.
There are thought perceptions in
Consciousness.

Thought, choice, desire, feelings are a
movement of Consciousness.

Consciousness in its naked form is empty
of thought, choice, desire, and feeling.

Rupert Spira
Non-Duality teacher

Excerpts from one of his YouTube video talks

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering
 Clear Cut Glass Crystal
in a stoneware candle holder

Spirit and Mind - Etty Hillesum

Spirit and mind should feed each other.  What you must
not do is rely on some external certainty, and that means
being secure in yourself and at peace with yourself, but
also that your mind is allowed to explore what makes life
hang together, not because you want to achieve something
or you want to succeed at something that interests you, but
because you happen to have been created with a passionate
and honest concern for what goes on in the world, and
above all for what goes on in your inner world.

You shouldn't live on your brains alone but on deeper, more
abiding sources...  You should gratefully accept your brains
as a precious tool for delving into what problems your soul
brings forth... And have ever greater trust in intuition...

Etty Hillesum
from: Etty Hillesum - Essential Writings

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering
Quartz Crystal with reflection of light

Waking Up to Bliss...

I woke this morning surprised by Bliss...

It was just there -
undisturbed by my mind...

Just this Bliss
bubbling up through me.

There was only Openness...
with/about life...

And there was Gratitude,
that apparently comes with Bliss...

Gratitude for my bed, my pillows,
for the sheets, and the body "I" inhabit,
that struggles so often...

I woke this morning feeling FREE...

Not free from anything -
just Freeness - unencumbered...

I was Freeness ItSelf...

And there was LOVE...
As if I could reach out to everyone with my Heart,
and just Love them!

It was a natural, organic urge for love and kindness
that rose from somewhere inside...

I woke this morning feeling - JOY!~

Quiet Joy...
Internal Joy...

I did not conjure up any of these...
I did not meditate on them,
or "practice" them...

They were already here...

They just happened!

I was graced - unexpectedly
when I wasn't looking for them...

I didn't want to lose this -
this Bliss, this gratitude,
this joy and love for life;
this unfettered Freeness.
So I just lay there...
basking in Bliss -
until it left, just as it came...

It was all inside;
not happening TO me,
but was taking place inside me...
It had nothing to do with me at all!
Something was coming alive within...

Was this "The Kiss of The Mystery"?
Most assuredly...
unbidden...

This realization arose from the Silence of Bliss:
One cannot "Awaken" one's self.
One's self does not "Awaken" - but
Something inside us
Opens
for no apparent reason,
spontaneously...

and creates in us a new way of seeing and being
in the world...

Mystic Meandering
Feb. 7, 2020

~

Photo - Mandala Art
Mystic Meandering

The Silence Inside the Illusion - Jack Kerouac

painting by joe maccer deviant art

Everything is ecstasy, inside.  We just don't know it
because of our thinking-minds.  But in our true blissful
essence of mind it is to know that everything is alright
forever and forever and forever.  Close your eyes, let
your hands and nerve-ends drop, stop breathing for 3
seconds, listen to the silence inside the illusion of the
world, and you will remember the lesson you forgot,
which was taught in immense milky ways of cloudy
innumerable worlds long ago and not even at all.  It
is all one vast awakened thing.  I call it the golden
eternity.  It is perfect.  We were never really born,
we will never really die.  It has nothing to do with
the imaginary idea of a personal self, other selves,
many selves everywhere, or one universal self.
Self is only an idea, a mortal idea.  That which
passes through everything, is one thing.  It's a
dream already ended.  There's nothing to be
afraid of and nothing to be glad about.  Do
you think the emptiness of space will ever
crumble away?  Mountains will crumble,
but the emptiness of space, which is the
one universal essence of mind, the one
vast awakenerhood, empty and awake,
will never crumble away because it
was never born...

Jack Kerouac


Thanks to The Beauty We Love

The Darkness has Wisdom too - Brooke McNamara

painting by Joe-Maccer Deviant Art

If you can't change yourself, after all
the efforts, change the light
by which you read your story.

Exchange overhead for something softer -
a lamp, a candle, a vine of shining
holiday lights - and feel yourself
become hugged by the fabric of shadows.
You see the darkness here has wisdom too.
You see the objects around become related
by the pregnant emptiness that holds them,
and you.  Let this light reveal the rapture
of being just this.  Then, further still, try
moonlight, or no light, until, at last,
this open, sourceless incandescence
which you are
no matter who you think you are
will follow you from the inside
wherever you may go, however
you may change, or not.

Brooke McNamara
from - Feed Your Vow -
poems for falling into fullness

with thanks to The Dawn Within

Sing to me the Song...

Sing to me the Song of the Heart,
as you have heard it...

Do you know that song?

Has "The Mystery"
kissed your Heart?

Does It fill your body?
Does It Sing to you?

Sing to me Its lullaby that
sings through you -
in soothing syllables of sound,
lyrical and refined,
emerging from an unknown
place deep within you -
that brings you back to life again.

Sing to me that song - the one
that enlivens your very being,
and warms you like the sun.

Let me be moved by those melodies
playing from the depths
of our Inner Being.

Sing to me that song,
the one that makes the body
tingle with delight, with recognition,
and remembrance of
our true origins...

Sing to me that song...

Mystic Meandering
Feb. 6, 2020

~

Friends are those people who know
the words to the song
in your heart and sing it
back to you when you have
forgotten the words.

Anonymous

~

Photo from the Internet

The Challenge of Illness - John O'Donohue

We never value or even see some things in our lives until we
are just about to lose them.  This is particularly true of health.
When we are in good health, we are so busy in the world
that we never even notice how well we are.  Illness comes
and challenges everything about us.  It unmasks all pretense.
When you are really ill, you cannot mask it.

Illness also tests the inner fiber and luminosity of the soul.
It is very difficult to take illness well.  Yet it seems that if
we treat illness as something external that has singled us
out, and we battle and resist it, the illness will refuse to leave.
On the other hand, we must not identify ourselves with our
illness. .....very ill people are often more alive to life's
possibilities than the medical verdict would ever allow or
imagine.

When we learn to see our illness as a companion or friend,
it really does change the way the illness is present.  The
illness changes from a horrible intruder to a companion
who has something to teach us.

...Sometimes, when you see a thing as the enemy, you
only reinforce its presence and power over you...

Held openly, as a friend, this bit of unknown aliveness
may take you on an amazing journey to places you may
never have anticipated.  Such attention enriches and
deepens genuineness and presence.

Illness also focuses us onto our "inner landscape", into
resting deeply in the inner silence of the "Soul."  It is a
remedial silence that allows us to endure, to move through,
but not necessarily getting rid of the illness.  We can't have
an agenda - only deep acceptance of the companion - and
learn to navigate it.

John O'Donohue
From Eternal Echoes

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

For One Who Is Exhausted - John O'Donohue

Photo by Martin Stranka

When the rhythm of the heart becomes hectic,
Time takes on the strain until it breaks;
The all the unattended stress falls in
On the mind like an endless, increasing weight.

The light in the mind becomes dim.
Things you could take in your stride before

Now become laborsome events of will.

Weariness invades your spirit.
Gravity begins falling inside you,
Dragging down every bone.

The tide you never valued has gone out.
And you are marooned on unsure ground.
Something within you has closed down;
And you cannot push yourself back to life.

You have been forced to enter empty time.
The desire that drove you has relinquished.
There is nothing else to do now but rest
And patiently learn to receive the self
You have forsaken in the race of days.

At first your thinking will darken
And sadness take over like listless weather.
The flow of unwept tears will frighten you.

You have traveled too fast over false ground;
now your soul has come to take you back.

Take refuge in your senses, open up
To all the small miracles your rushed through.

Become inclined to watch the way of rain
When it falls slow and free.

Imitate the habit of twilight,
Taking time to open the well of color
That fostered the brightness of day.

Draw alongside the silence of stone
Until its calmness can claim you.
Be excessively gently with yourself.

Stay clear of those vexed of spirit.

Learn to linger around someone of ease
Who feels they have all the time in the world.

Gradually, you will return to yourself,
Having learned a new respect for the heart
And joy that dwells far within slow time.

John O'Donohue

~

Photo - via No Mind's Land