Don't let your fire go out - Ayn Rand

For All who are oppressed...

In the name of the best within you, do not sacrifice [your]
world to those who are at its worst.  In the name of the values
that keep you alive, do not let your vision of man be distorted
by the ugly, the cowardly, the mindless...  Do not let your
fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark...  Do not let the
hero in your soul perish...

Ayn Rand

From: Atlas Shrugged
(Russian born controversial American Writer)

with thanks to Whiskey River

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

My heart feels Great Sorrow for the people
of Ukraine in this moment in time,
 and the suffering they are enduring... 
But also for those others who
experience the same oppression by
autocratic ideologies.

Blessings

 

Beyond Buffoons and Bullies...

Give no regard to the voices of fear that
divide you and conflict you;
whether from within or without...

The "Inner Essence" that you are is
undivided by the earthly "tribes"
of politics and religion;
of false power and ancient aggressions...

Do not listen to the baffling words of others
trying to tell you what is true,
what to do,
and how to be.

Instead, turn to your Primordial Essence
inherently within you at all times...

Listen to the deep internal Silence
beyond the bluster of buffoons and bullies
with mouthfuls of meaningless words...

Be still...

Breathe...

Wait...

Then you will know what is true,
what to do
and
how to BE...

Mystic Meandering

Feb. 24, 2022

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

Tend to Your Soul - Matt Licata

Art by Joe Maccer at Deviant Art

There are times in each of our lives when a chapter comes to
an end, when we find ourselves on the precipice of rebirth
and renewal.  Something has dissolved - the dream of me and
my life and the way it was all supposed to turn out - but it's
not yet clear what's going to arise from the ashes to take its
place.  As disorienting as these times of transition can be, they
are evidence of a sacred process occurring deep in the personal
and collective soul.

The question now for so many of us is: what is it that the soul
wants? Not what I thought I wanted, what I should want, or what
others want for me, but what is calling to me from the depths of
who and what I am, into a life of new vision, purpose and meaning?

As we engage in this holy reassembling, it can be so easy to lose
track of our home base, whether we imagine this center as the
palace of the soul, or the light of the spirit...  The great poets,
alchemists, wayfarers, and mystics have declared that the path is
everywhere, but it can take a slowing down and a cleansing of 
our perceptions for this to become a living reality.

The very foundation of transformation and healing is our capacity
to slow down and bring new levels of awareness to our experience,
as a way to cut through the billions of moments of habitual
consciousness and collective networks of trance. In the Daoist
alchemical text, The Secret of the Golden Flower, we are invited
to "turn the light around," which is an evocative metaphor for
inner work as alchemists of our own lives.

The reality is that most of us were not trained to practice embodied,
compassionate self-attunement and our increasingly electronic,
speedy, and fragmented world does not always provide a sensitive
holding environment in which to be a true friend to ourselves.

The spiritual path is a matter of direct revelation,
of primary first-person experience, and must be lived... 
Contrary to the beliefs of a world steeped in networks of
transgenerational trauma and trance, our unique sensitivities,
vulnerabilities, and eccentricities are not obstacles to our path,
but are the very path itself.

The soul is always calling to us, but often in ways that are hidden
to ordinary perception.

What is it calling you to?

Matt Licata

From: Tending the Soul

 

In Rhythm With Your Soul - John O'Donohue

Where you belong should always be worthy of your dignity.

You should belong first in your own interiority.  If you belong,
and if you are in rhythm with yourself and connected to that
deep, unique source within, then you will never be vulnerable
when your outside belonging is qualified, relativised, or taken
away.  You will still be able to stand.....on the ground of your
soul where you are not a tenant, where you are at home.

John O'Donohue
From: Anam Cara

I think that we are infinitely greater than our minds and we are

infinitely more than our images of ourselves.  One of the sad
things today is that so many people are frightened by the
wonder of their own presence.  They are dying to tie themselves
into a system, a role, or to an image, or to a predetermined
identity that other people have actually settled on for them.
This identity may be totally at variance with the wild energies
that are rising inside their souls.  Many of us get very afraid
and we eventually compromise.  We settle for something that
is safe, rather than engaging the danger and wildness that is
in our own hearts

John O'Donohue
From: Walking in Wonder

With thanks to Whiskey River

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

Multiplicity and Unicity - Licata and Ruvinsky

The experience of multiplicity is just as holy, as valid, and
as "spiritual" [as unity]...  God itself has no bias toward
unity or multiplicity, oneness or differentiation, but rather
expresses itself through each of these perspectives to
disclose one of its qualities or fragrances.  We need not
take sides but only enter into communion with each of
these energies...

Matt Licata
From: A Healing Space:
Befriending Ourselves in Difficult Times

~

"The question doesn't even arise in Silence..."

Fred LaMotte
Uradiance

~

She ["God"] births herself as the many who interchangeably
play the roles of objects and subjects, reciprocally adapting,
each of the many, even in their individual forms,
embodying the One...

Joan Ruvinsky
From: The Recognition of Our Own Heart

~

Photo from the Internet

 

Not to Worry - Emmet Fox

It makes no difference how deeply seated may be the trouble,
how hopeless the outlook,
how muddled the tangle,
how great the mistake.

A sufficient realization of love will dissolve it all...

Emmet Fox

with thanks to  Death Deconstructed

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

The Times of Shaking - Fred LaMotte

Now we enter the times of shaking.
What can be shaken will be removed
so that what cannot be shaken may remain.
We begin to see that our personality can be shaken,
our emotions, our minds, our bodies can be shaken.
Thrown back into that which is never shaken,
we taste the eternal radiance of the Self [or Essence].

Find that in you which cannot be shaken.
This is the crisis, and the opportunity, of our time.
The crisis is not race, or gender, or disease, or economic woe.
The crisis is an invitation.
An invitation to distinguish the changing from the unchanging.
In the silent core of your heart, discover the unshakable.

Fred LaMotte
Uradiance

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

An Affair of the Heart - "A Simple Man"

A Spiritual Autobiography of a fellow traveler and Friend

Free on-line book with PDF here

From the Preface

  

You should only trust what you Know in direct experience. All
else is hearsay, concept, theory, and conjecture; the interpretations,
by others, of their experiences, after the fact.  This book is about
none of that.  I don't present an interpretation of my past experiences
or ongoing experience.  I don't hold forth a theology, cosmology, or
notion of the "Truth."  Any seeming assertions are merely questions,
cloaked in possibility.  Whatever commonalities may exist in our
mutual experience, each of our Paths is unique.  If I describe the
Path I've taken, it isn't to inform, instruct, or suggest such a Path
to you, but only to Evoke Love and Longing, to ignite the Ember
at the Heart of your Being.

the Author

~

The author calls himself "a simple man" - sharing his "spiritual
journey."  I know him as a man of depth and devotion to the path
of Love, and The Beloved.  It's an amazingly authentic story of his
"spiritual quest" from childhood on.  Leaving the walled villages
of traditional religion, to wander in the "Spiritual Wilderness", 
looking for the fulfillment of his Heart's Longing.  He experienced
the Great Sorrow and Suffering of the world and its Breathtaking
Beauty, while tasting different spiritual teachings and philosophies
along the way with various "spiritual teachers."  He relentlessly
questions all he was taught to be "true" - discovering the Perfume
of The Beloved is in the Nature of his own Essence.

His writing is honest, genuine, passionate and humble...
I found much resonance and commonality in our spiritual
experience...

An amazing story.  I loved it!
Take the journey with him!

An Affair of the Heart

~

MM

 

Moving Into Love - Danna Faulds

On this voyage of
the soul, may we be
bridge builders,
our common ground
visible beneath the
surface differences.

May we braid the
threads of reconciliation
into a chain of possibility
that joins, heals, and
includes what once
seemed separate.

May our shared prayer
be answered: to grow 
so open that there is
no "them" or "us"
only...moving
always into
love.

Danna Faulds
From: Limitless

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

Wisdom in the Storms - a meandering

Not everyone makes it through... and what tries to kill you
takes a lot of energy that makes you tired and anxious, and
might be better used elsewhere...

Rebecca Solnit
Recollections of My Nonexistence

~

What I call "unnecessary storms" are the ones that are created
by those in your life who have refused to take responsibility
for their own lives - whose life choices continue to impact you
in a negative way.  They can kill your spirit, your creativity
and your motivation, as well as drain your life energy, affecting
your health and well-being.  I almost drowned in another person's
addiction through "care taking", "rescuing", and enabling,
discovering how easy it is to get entangled in their "unnecessary
storms" - their crises, their dramas - that they create through their
addictive behavior; blaming you for their circumstances; calling
you names.  And no matter what you do for them, it is never
enough... (Some of you know exactly what I'm talking about.)

The "unnecessary storms" keep you focused on "the elephant in
the room" - keeping things in chaos and stress.  How interesting
that they have the power to do that - to distract and disrupt your
life rhythm - even your inner life - in their boredom, needing
your attention, time, and presence - in their self-induced
helplessness....

And yet... I have found there is wisdom gained in enduring these
"unnecessary storms."

A friend once told me, it is important to follow the wisdom of 
compassion, and I would add - kindness and even empathy.  We
all have our "addictions", even"spiritual" ones, and a common
dysfunction, which the Buddhists call conditioning.  The Hindus
call it Samskaras - the psychological wounds or imprints in the
mind, or innate behavior inclinations.  As a Professional advised:
Be compassionate - yes - but don't get into the water and drown
with them.  Don't get sucked into their vortex.

So I've had to learn to listen to and trust my inner instincts and
intuition, the whispers of the Heart...

Not to judge, but to find a way to relate in as compassionate way
as possible - seeing their pain, and reasons for their addiction;
often using humor when needing to set boundaries.  I recently
moved into acceptance mode: accepting them and their life
experiences as part of a larger Tapestry - a diverse human
tapestry inclusive of all life experiences - each expressing a
unique piece - even the darker ones.  I dropped the old, hard
stances, (as Alanon and CODA use) and my old roles; learning
the hard lesson to accept who they are and their path - not trying
to control their behavior - or what I think "should" be happening.

But - I also have to remember to step back, to not go down the
rabbit hole with them, but find ways to compassionately take
care of myself, tending to my own soul and sanity - putting on
some music and dancing, finding my natural rhythm again -
my own flow, freeing myself from entanglement in the
"unnecessary storms."

_/\_

MM

I share this personal meandering in the hopes that it might
strike a chord with those who might be experiencing
"unnecessary storms."

Even mystics have messy lives :)

May we somehow find our way through them...

Blessings

~

 

Beneath the Storms - Thich Nhat Hanh

It's funny how much our surroundings influence our emotions.
Our joys and sorrows, likes and dislikes are colored by our
environment so much that often we just let our surroundings
dictate our course.

We go along with "public" feelings until we no longer even
know our own true aspirations.  We come a stranger to ourselves,
molded entirely by society...  Sometimes I feel caught between
two opposing "selves" - the "false self" impose by society and
what I would call my "true self."

How often I confuse the two and assume society's mold to be
our true self.  Battles between our "two selves" rarely result
in reconciliation.  Our mind becomes the battlefield...

Without storms like these, simmering in my own thoughts
and mental formations,  I would not be who I am today.  I
am often on the verge of tears or laughter.  But beneath all of
these [storms] what else is there?  How can I touch it?  If there
isn't anything why would I be so certain that there is?

I understand then that I am empty of ideals, hopes, viewpoints,

or allegiances.  I have not promise to keep with others.  In that
moment the sense of myself as an entity among other entities
disappears.  I know that this insight did not arise from dis-
appointment, despair, desire, or ignorance.

A veil lifted effortlessly.

That is all.

...what is actually here will reveal itself...

Some life dilemmas [storms] cannot be solved...
We just live them...

Thich Nhat Hanh
1926-2022

From: Fragrant Palm Leaves: Journals 1962-1966

with thanks to The Beauty We Love

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

Cracked Open by Illness - Jeff Foster

Just because someone manages a  smile today, or seems to hold
a positive outlook, or cracks a little joke, or convinces you that
they're okay, doesn't mean they're okay.

The experience of being on the inside of chronic illness has
completely cracked me open to a deeper compassion for
all my brothers and sisters.

I have no idea what anyone is going through, under their facade,
their mask, their personality, their brilliant defences, the 
"positive" or "spiritual" outfit they wear to survive.

They are trying to survive in the only way they know how.

Spiritual teachers and their students, therapist and their clients,
priests, philosophers, life coaches, world authorities, saints
and sinners - they are all in pain.

We are ALL trying to survive the only way we know how.

Let's be a little kinder to each other.  Forgive each other for
our masks, our awkwardness, our closed hearts, our weirdness.
Go beyond surfaces.

Sometimes we are not okay,
and that's okay.

As Ram Dass said, "we are all walking each other home..."

Jeff Foster

As some of you know know Jeff Foster has been very ill
since last July with debilitating Neurological Lyme Disease
that impacted him, not only physically but emotionally.

~

You may also be interested in reading a poem by Danna Faulds
on illness, called What Remains.

Or read John O'Donohue's piece on The Challenge of Illness

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

Go Further - Danna Faulds

Go further than your mind can reach,
further than your words can speak.
Go further than you know, outside of
your control.  Break your conditioning...

Like a twig plucked from a tree, carried a
great distance, and woven into a crow's
nest, you have no idea of your real destiny.

Keep going until there is nothing left, and
you are empty and bereft.  Hold that open
space.  Inhabit the place of not knowing
until grace tugs on your awareness and
says "Follow me into the center of chaos
and serenity.  Follow me to what you've
always been and always will be."

The truth of you is far beyond what you
imagine, simultaneously deathless and
here to be lived, then surrendered back
into the Infinite.

Danna Faulds
From: Limitless

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

Rekindling the Flame...

I'm rediscovering the Fire-Light that wants to come to life
again here; that wants to express and give voice;
and not be constrained by "spiritual" conundrums,
but the simplicity of the Light that Lives me -
without mentations and cogitations of words and concepts
that cloud and dim its Light...

Interesting that this is the cross quarter day between
Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox.  Celtic tradition
has it that Imbolc is celebrated in preparation of "giving birth" -
or re-birthing something new...
a rekindling of the inner Light; the inner Flame that is 
the expression of our deepest Being...

I feel the spark of Light shining...

Alegria!

Mystic Meandering

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering