Hate - Baldwin, Kornfield & Seng T'san

I imagine one of the reasons that people cling
to their hate (prejudice and racism) so stubbornly
is because they sense that once hate is gone,
they will be forced to deal with
their own pain...

James Baldwin

~

We project our fears and hate onto others
because we can't look honestly
at ourselves...

Jack Kornfield
Buddhist Teacher

~

When love and hate are both absent
everything becomes clear and undisguised.

Make the smallest distinction, however
and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart.

If you wish to see the truth
then hold no opinion for or against anything.

To set up what you like against what you dislike
is the disease of the mind.

When the deep meaning of things is not understood
the minds essential peace is disturbed....

Indeed, it is due to our choosing to accept or reject
that we do not see the true nature of things.

Seng-T'san

Chinese Poet

~

Photo from the internet

For Grief - John O'Donohue

When you lose someone you love,
Your life becomes strange,
The ground beneath you gets fragile,
Your thoughts make your eyes unsure;
And some dead echo drags your voice down
Where words have no confidence
Your heart has grown heavy with loss;
And though this loss has wounded others too,
No one knows what has been taken from you
When the silence of absence deepens.

Flickers of guilt kindle regret
For all that was left unsaid and undone.

There are days when you wake up happy;
Again inside the fullness of life,
Until the moment breaks
And you are thrown back
Onto the black tide of loss.

Days when you have your heart back,
You are able to function well
Until the middle of work or encounter,
Suddenly with no warning,
You are ambushed by grief.

It becomes hard to trust yourself.
All you can depend on now is that
Sorrow will remain faithful to itself.
More than you, it knows its way
And will find the right time
To pull and pull the rope of grief
Until that coiled hill of tears
Has reduced to its last drop.

Gradually, you will learn acquaintance
With the invisible form of your departed;
And, when the work of grief is done,
The wound of loss will heal
And you will have learned
To wean your eyes
From the gap in the air
And be able to enter the hearth
in your soul where your loved one
Has awaited your return...

John O'Donohue

from: To Bless the Space Between Us

~

Photo - from Keukenhof Tulip Garden in Holland
by Ellen Ratmeyer

~

The world still grieves its losses...
And the hatred and tragedies that keep occurring...

Briefly Here - Jim Wilson

Briefly
We walk this earth.
We have
But a short time.
We resemble grasses;
Green in the spring,
Brown in the summer heart,
Withering in the winter wind.
Those who understand this
Put aside their useless quarrels.
The cosmos is unfathomably vast.
The human mind is very small.
An act of kindness is never wasted;
it is the gateway to the deathless and unborn,
it is the exultation of the heart.

Jim Wilson

with thanks to The Beauty We Love

Photo via No Mind's Land

The Inner Cosmos...

Give no regard to the voice of Fear that
 divides you and conflicts you;
whether from within or without...

Walk as if the "Divine" were in your shoes,
walking you -
The Inner Cosmic Being that you are;
undivided by earthly "tribes"
of politics and religion,
earthly boundaries,
or the divided mentations of
mediocre minds...

Fall into the Inner Rhythm of
the Inner Universe,
the ubiquitous Primordial Essence
inherently everywhere at all times,
fluidly in and through all life.

Do not listen to the 10,000 teachings
in your head that you have
accumulated over the years,
all trying to tell you what is true,
which way to go,
and how to be.

Just sit, be still, breathe, and listen...

for the Inner Cosmic Rhythm,
until you feel the
Inner Cosmos
move
you

Fall into the Internal Silence
beyond artificial boundaries,
beyond the bluster of buffoons and bullies
with mouthfuls of meaningless words...

Just Breathe...

Wait...

for the movement of the
the Inner Cosmos to lead you...

Then you will know what is true,
which way to go,
and
how to be...

Mystic Meandering
2017

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

Perceptions of The Universe - Selected Quotes

The surface of the earth is the shore of the cosmic ocean.
Some part of our being knows this is where we came from.
We long to return, and we can because the cosmos is
also within us.

We are made of star stuff.

Carl Sagan
Cosmos

~

photo - Johannes Plenio on Unsplash

What are we?

A fleeting, intricate presence riding a tiny speck of water
and rock, out here in the dark, sailing the ship of wonder
ever more deeply into the void from which we came...

Whitley Strieber and Jeffrey J. Kripal
from: The Super Natural: A New Vision of the Unexplained

~

When dew falls as tears from the morning sky,
When riverside trees sparkle in sunlight,
So close in my heart their shadows fall,
Then I know
That the Universe is a floating lotus
In the holy lake of my mind.
Then I know:

I am the voice within the Voice,
The song within the Song,
The life within the Life,
The light breaking through the heart of darkness.

Rabindranath Tagore
from - "A Flight of Swans"
translated by Aurobindo Bose

Photo - Mystic Meandering

~

... thus you came into being
from non-existence...

...like a star without a name...

Move across the night sky
with those anonymous lights...

Rumi

~

How we perceive affects what we believe,
what we believe affects what our perception is...

MM

Namaste

_/\_

Found Notes - MM

"There are no shortcuts to what lies beyond."

"There is poetry in emotion that needs to be expressed -
allowing yourself to be raw and open to what arises..."

"letting life take care of itself,
being open to where life goes..."

~

I found this piece of paper that these notes were hand-
written on, on top of some papers that were in a stand-
alone plastic file holder - as shown in the photo - on a
table next to my desk - very noticeable from where I
sat, noticing something was out of place, as messy as
it is :) - as if they were left for me to see...

I have no idea who said them!, or where I got them
from...  But wanted to share them as they seem
relevant for life as we are experiencing it at the
moment...

Namaste

_/\_

Cosmic Dust...

We are Cosmic Dust...

Star stuff...

Elements of the firmament...
Infinitesimal atoms
coalesced in time and non-time;

non-existence into existence.

Star born,
in luminous womb-like nebulae.
Light, born from darkness.
Carried by Solar winds
among trillions of galaxies...

The Cosmos runs through us -
IS us...

Undying brilliance that death cannot erase;
forever gliding through the Universe...
unconfined by the limits of time and place,
our "spirit" is always free,
unfettered by the bonds of earth.

Shine on...

Mystic Meandering
May 18, 2020

For all those who have lost loved ones
- they are not "lost" -

Their "spirit" is shining forever brilliant
lighting the darkness,
forever free...

Shine on, dear ones, Shine on...

MM

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

Soul Windows - John O'Donohue, Ram Dass & D.H. Lawrence

When your soul awakens,
you begin to truly inherit your life.
You leave the kingdom of fake surfaces,
repetitive talk and many weary roles,
and slip deeper into the true adventure of
who you are,
and who you are called to become.

The greatest friend of the soul is the unknown...

Yet we are afraid of the unknown because
it lies outside our vision and our control.
We avoid it or quell it by filtering it
through protective barriers of
domestication and control.

The normal way never leads home...

John O'Donohue

~

The spiritual journey is individual, highly personal.
It can't be organized and regulated.

It isn't true that everyone should follow one path.
Listen to your own truth...

Ram Dass

~

However smart we may be,
however rich and clever or loving and charitable
or spiritual or impeccable,
it doesn't help us at all.

The real power comes to us from the beyond,
the unseen, the unknown.

D. H. Lawrence

~

Photo from the Internet

Holy Helpers - Donna Iona Drozda

There is a deeper realm, there is an unseen world.
There is for each one of us.....unseen Holy Helpers
and Inner Guides - Mighty Companions...

...be still

See what arises to meet you when you listen with your
inner ears and see with your inner eyes.  See what
happens when you lift above the fray...

There is an aliveness, an alive world rich in beauty
flowering below the surface and beyond the horizon...
There is a softer, subtle music playing...

Donna Iona Drozda
Artist and Life Coach

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

Kindness and Sorrow - Naomi Shihab Nye

[.....]

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.

You must speak it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.

Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to mail letters
and purchase bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crown of the world to say
It is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend.

Naomi Shihab Nye

from: Words Under the Words: Selected Poems

[this is only an excerpt from one of the poems
in that collection].

Photo from the Internet

The Troll in the Mind - Mark Nepo

We spend so much time
anticipating what will happen next that we miss
the whisper of Heaven that unfolds wherever we are.

Though I have known and survived
many forms of pain,
fear is the troll in the mind
that anticipates more.

And just as a loud noise prevents us
from finding the peace in the center of silence,
fear prevents us from finding
the inch of Heaven in the center
of whatever moment we are in.

Yet, no matter how much I've been through
and how much I've learned,
I can't stop the wave of anticipation.
No one can.

It is part of being human.

Mark Nepo
(a cancer survivor)

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering
 A dried rose petal with one eye
at the top and a big schnozz.
Looks like a troll to me :)

Wordless Whispers...

Who is here for you,
in your vulnerability,

your fragility?

Maybe you talk to "God"...
The Buddha, maybe Allah,
or the Divine Mother...?

It doesn't matter what "God" you believe in..
"The Mystery" holds them all...

What comforts you?
What calms your agitated mind?
Can you feel the invisible arms
around your shoulders?

Who is your Friend?

The one who stands with you
in times like these;
that consoles and comforts,
that reminds you of who you really are -
on the inside - beyond personality,
beyond hardship...

beyond the chaos and confusion
of the troubled world?

Be still...  Breathe...

Listen for the Wordless Whispers...
that others cannot hear...

Listen deeply...
For it's your own compassionate Heart
whispering:

You can overcome anything...

You are loved...

Mystic Meandering
May 1, 2020

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering
Orchids that look like a face in the way they hung;
comforting eyes that heal and soothe
the restless mind and troubled spirit...

Weight Shift - Ram Dass

If we can imagine a wheel whose rim is the cycle of births and deaths,
all of the 'stuff' of life, conditioned reality, and whose center is
perfect flow, formless no-mind, the Source, we've got one foot with
most of our weight on the circumference of the wheel, and one foot
tentatively at the center.

That's the beginning of awakening.  And we come in, and we sit and
meditate, and suddenly there's a moment when we feel the perfection
of our Being and our connection.  Then our weight goes back on the
outside of the wheel. Over and over and over, this happens.

Slowly, slowly the weight shifts.  Then the weight shifts just enough
so that there is a slight predominance on the center of the wheel, and
we find that we naturally just want to sit down and be quiet, that we
don't have to say , "I've got to meditate now," or "I've got to read a
holy book." or "I've got to turn off the television set," or "I've got to
do... anything."  It doesn't become that kind of discipline anymore.
The balance has shifted.

And we keep allowing our lives to become more and more simple,
more and more harmonious.  And less and less are we grasping at
this or pushing that away...

[We are no longer trying to make anything happen.]

Ram Dass

[brackets mine]

~

Photo - digitalized Mandala Art

2013

Why I Sit in "Silence"...

I come to sit - to rest in the deep Quietness...

To sit with uncertainty,
with the fear and anger,
if they arise again, as they
most certainly will.

I come to sit - to mourn the losses of life
and losses of the ways of life;
to mourn the living and the dead,
for the suffering they have endured;

and for the grief - unending grief.

I come to sit - to feel the depths of healing Silence,
the deep Stillness;
to lay the burdens of the heart down
and just rest...

Mystic Meandering
April 30, 2020

~

Photo - Meditating Monks Mandala

?date

Wake Up!- Rumi & Hendrick

The breezes at dawn have secrets to tell you...

Don't go back to sleep!

Rumi

~

All over the world people are waking up to a new reality
To how little control we really have.
To what really matters.

Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.

Today - breathe.

Listen, behind the noises of your panic...
The birds are singing again,
the sky is clearing.

Spring is here...

And we are always encompassed by Love.

Open the windows of your soul...

Richard Hendrick
Irish Franciscan Monk

via - Rays

~

Photos - I brought this potted Mum in for the winter
not knowing if it would survive.
As you can see it became "leggy", part of it died off.
But low and behold, somewhere in the 2nd week of April
I noticed a lonely bud - which bloomed by April 19th!
Take heart - Life is resilient and keeps living Itself!
Maybe we can actually create a livable environment...