The Comma - Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

All afternoon, each time
I think I should hurry,
I pull out a comma,

such humble punctuation,
and I invite it into the moment,
and the comma does

what it always does, which
is to invite a pause, a small pause,
of course, but a pause long enough

to breathe, to notice what else
is happening, a slight
suggestion that right here

is a perfect place to rest,

yes, how funny I never noticed
before the comma itself

looks as if it's bowing, nodding

its small dark head to what is,

encouraging us to find

a brief silence and then,

thus refreshed, go on.

Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

from All the Honey

Art by Mori Yuzan
(color digitally inverted)

with thanks to The Beauty We Love
for post and picture :)

 

Quantum Strangeness - Fred LaMotte

Here's another secret of quantum strangeness from the annals
of the quark.  All events, as to their quiddity, are equally
significant.

The daring leap of a tree frog from the spigot of your garden
hose, to her sanctuary in a pot of begonias, is as important as
the birth of a new political party, or an earthquake in Brooklyn.

The universe is not just as you see it, but as the frog sees it.
Your attention magnifies a breath of August breeze into a
hurricane; but for the frog, all human catastrophes are as
weightless clouds in a distant sky.  They pass soundlessly
overhead.

Why do you assume that your chief concern should be mine?
The liberal wants to convince me, the conservative wants to
convert me.  Neither allows me to create myself.  But that is
one task I can do better than anyone else.  Let me follow the
wondrous river of my own interest over all its rocks, through
the rough waters of responsibility and consequence, and I will
learn my lesson much better than you can teach me.

A Greek philosopher said, 'Be kind: everyone you meet is
fighting a great battle.'  A Jewish carpenter said, 'Judge not,
lest ye be judged.'  Here's another piece of advice: if you want
to see radical transformation in humanity, stop trying to change
each other.

Have you ever walked the labyrinth?  One who seems closest
to the goal may suddenly find their way veering far off.  When
two pilgrims pass, they don't know who is nearing the center,
and who is drifting further from it.  Compassion is precisely
this not knowing.  All they can do is bow...

Fred LaMotte
Uradiance

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

Prayer for the World - Mirabai Starr

Beloved One,
Living Light,
Spirit of all that is,
Thank you for welcoming us
To this sacred circle,
Comprised of every hue on the spectrum
Of the human community.
Be with us now
As we lean in to hear your call.
Stay close as we stand up
To speak your message of unconditional love.

Divine Mother,
Embodiment of Mercy and Compassion,
Enfold us in your protective cloak
As we dare to take in the pain of the world.
Give us the courage and strength
To drop our preconceptions
And step onto the field of global strife
Armed with the flaming arrow of unconditional love.

Sacred Friend,
Hidden behind the eyes of the broken,
Reveal yourself,
Let us behold the beauty of your face
In all beings, everywhere, always.
Where once we perceived only the impossible,
Blinded by our desire for circumstances, people,
And our own sweet selves to be different,
Let us rest now in what is
Alert to your power to astonish us
With the global awakening of unconditional love.

Holy One,
We carry legacy of our ancestors
In the marrow of our own souls.
We are all reluctant prophets.
We must be called and called again,
And yet again.
We turn and turn away,
We yield and bow and rise,
Until at last,
Clasped by the ferocious wings of your angels,
We declare, Hineyni.
Here I am.
Make of me a vessel of your divine will,
The will of unconditional love.

Great Spirit,
True Self and No-Self,
Fill the hearts of our leaders
With humility and holy awe.
Embolden them not to turn away from the Other
But to lay down their weapons
And take the adversary in their arms.
Infuse them with the fire
That melts swords into ploughshares
And spears into pruning hooks.
Show them the secret passageway from hopeless conflict
Home to unconditional love.

Father-Mother God,
May the Children of Abraham and Sarah
At last fall silent in the face of your radiance.
May our hearts soar in remembrance.
May our knees bend and our bodies bow down,
And our spirits rejoice,
Overflowing with unceasing prayer,
Resounding and cleansing and blessing all the land:
There is nothing but you,
Nothing but God,
Nothing.

AMEN.

Mirabai Starr

written in 2015
during the Iran and US peace agreements


With thanks to Michel at No Mind's Land

~

Photo from the Internet
digitally altered

The Meaning of it all? - Unmani

Since I was a child I asked myself this question:
"What is the meaning of it all?  Why am I here?
What the hell is going on here?"

I was surrounded by facades and people pretending to know
a lot of apparently very important stuff.  There were so
many rules and so much mental information that must prove
that there is a secret meaning that they all know.  And this
meaning must be very grown-up, important and serious...

That knowing that I knew wasn't intellectual or any kind of
belief.  It wasn't some kind of special experience or state of
mind.  It was beyond all that.  It was, and is, a simple knowing
that whatever is happening.....is part of the movie of life.

Recognizing this and letting go of the usual chase for meaning
can leave you feeling very lost.....empty of anything that means
anything.....

What is left is simply the experience itself.....without needing
a meaning.....  This gives space to really experience Life fully.
Everything is experienced in an open and raw way, without any
overlay of meaning.  None of it needs meaning.  It is enough
as it is.  It is overflowing with Life expression, with Life playing
itself in this way or that.  This is the expression of Love.

Life is Love loving itself in this particular way, now, exactly as
it is in this experience.  This is the true meaning of Life.  The
raw experience without any need of any filter or overlay.
Nothing means anything, and yet, everything means so much
that is beyond all words.

There is no need for any extra meaning or mental labeling
or interpretation to Life because it is enough unto itself.
The only thing the mind can do now is bow down in
absolute reverence to the simplicity of Life as it is.

Our limited minds cannot know the true meaning of Life.....
It is only when you give up trying to know something
that will give you a special 'me' identity, that you see
how simple and obvious the true meaning really is.
Life doesn't care about the meaning you think you know.
It is simply living itself as it is.

Within the movie of a person's life, the only purpose or
meaning is to acknowledge this simplicity and live in
alignment with that.  It is all around you, in you, and
as you.  Just stop for a moment and see the mysterious
love song of Life to ItSelf.

Unmani

excerpt from a larger article
via No Mind's Land

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

Among The Trees - Mary Oliver

When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and pines,
they give off such hints of gladness.
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.

I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.

Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, "Stay awhile."
The light flows from their branches.

And they call again, "It's simple", they say,
"and you too have come into the world to do this,
to go easy, to be filled with light, and to shine."

Mary Oliver

via - The Beauty We Love

~
Photo - Mystic Meandering

No Greater Temple - Matt Licata

At times the visitor of melancholy will appear,
arriving from the night world, from the moon,
[the feeling world], not to harm, but to reveal.
A tenderness, a disappointment, a raw achy
uncertainty.  The guide has appeared but wasn't
quite what we thought.  Such is the way of the
heart.  As we are made into dust, the fire is tended.

While it may be tempting to replace the burning
with bliss, the sadhana of disappointment demands
that we listen, to the stories and feelings and whispers,
and longings, and place the shattered pieces on the
altar in front of us.

Even if we cannot love, accept, or transform what has
come, we can always bow.  What this bowing looks
like for each of us will never conform to other's
fantasies and ways; for the map is weaved deep into
our soul alone.

We can fall to the ground and bear empathic witness to
the broken wholeness, to the wisdom shining out of
the human heart, for there is no greater temple.

Matt Licata

Saying Hello to Life - Padraig O Tuama

Neither I nor the poets I love found the keys to the kingdom...
and we cannot force God to stumble over us where we sit.
But I know that it's a good idea to sit anyway.  So every morning I sit.
I kneel, waiting, making friends with the habit of listening, hoping
that I'm being listened to.  There, I greet God in my own disorder.
  I say hello to distraction and privilege, I greet the day and I greet
 my Beloved...I recognize and greet my burdens, my luck, my
 controlled and uncontrolled story.  I greet my untold stories,
 my unfolding story, my unloved body, my own love, my own body.
  I greet the things I think will happen and say hello to everything
 I do not know about the day.  I greet my own small world and
 I hope that I can meet the bigger world that day.  I greet my
 story and hope I can forget my story during the day,
 and hope I can hear some stories, and greet some
 surprising stories during the long day ahead.
I greet God, and I greet the God who is more God than
the God I greet. [The Mystery?]
Hello to you all, I say, as the sun rises above the chimneys
of North Belfast.

Hello...

Padraig O Tuama

is a poet and theologian
living in Northern Ireland

from an interview with
On Being

via: No Mind's Land

Walk The Divine Life - Clare Blanchflower

What will it take
to rest
all your weight on to the foot
that walks the divine life?

What will it take
to saturate the
fear of living
With the peace
of loving presence?
To dance in
the freedom of reality

Dive deeper
than this surface
of mind that thinks
it knows something
Stop questioning
the grace that life
is spilling out
and rest
Listen
Be

What will it take
to feel,
to truly feel
it all
Right down to the
transparent
bones of clarity
And admit
you know not
what to do
Know not how to
live
Crack open

Rest your forehead
to the ground
Bow at the feet of life
In the glory of
your personal
disempowerment
Meet the true power
that you are
The richness
of love
that swoons in the
heart of Being

Allow praise
to dance on the
tip of your tongue
Allow gratitude to tumble
from your lips
Trust that
the idiosyncrasies
of life
are happening
for you
by you
are you

Fall into the silence that is
roaring with aliveness
Drowning out
the voice in
your head that wants you
to dance a small dance
in a circle
around and around

What will it take
to recognize
that life is
blessing you with
the honour
of unfolding
from your smallness
into the largesse of Being
Whole

Allow awe to take up residence
Be taken
by your unknowing
May the tears of surrender
swirl into a river of flowing love
that carries you
right to the heart of your
inner most Being

Clare Blanchflower
Original title: "Fierce Grace"

~

Photo - Incredible contemporary art piece
that the photo does not do justice to...

My interpretation?:

One standing single-pointed
helping the other to take the step...

Connection - Jennifer Welwood

Willing to experience aloneness,
I discover connection everywhere;
Turning to face my fear,
I meet the warrior who lives within;
Opening to my loss,
I gain the embrace of the universe;
Surrendering to emptiness
I find fullness without end.

Each condition I flee from pursues me.
Each condition I welcome transforms me
And becomes itself transformed
Into its radiant jewel-like essence.
I bow to the one who has made it so...

Jennifer Welwood
From: "Unconditional"

Let Life Open You - Mark Nepo & MM

As you enter the day,
try not to reach for life...
Try to let life enter you.
Allow what touches you to
change your path...

Drop all reachings and simply open...
We have to settle into the wait
until we discover that there's
nowhere to go...

If we can survive the pain of being emptied,
a deeper place is cleared
in which the mystery can sing through us...
Each soul is a living flute
being carved by life to
a deeper and deeper song...

Uncover the mystery of strength by bringing
into focus a deeper sense of truth,
and your ability to step quite naturally,
with your heart...

Excerpts from Mark Nepo's book:
The Book of Awakening
(Mark's words, my format)

~

Trusting in the simplicity of Life,
let Life come to you...
Resting in simplicity,
Life will find you...

The more you trust Love
the more Life will
open up to you...

Mystic Meandering
Meditative Writings
2004

~

Top Photo - digitally altered

Sabbatical...

Deeply hidden within is a longed for “sabbatical life.”

Tired of "the journey", I am in need of respite - Primordial Rest.

– but life, it seems, has its demands...

  Still, I try to carve out some semblance of “sabbatical living” daily –

 despite the roller coaster ride of distractions and preoccupations;
 the daily requirements of life, health, family and relationship -
bowing to the inevitable and the Ineffable -
submitting to both...

  Spending time in Meditative Silence
is an infrequent refuge lately...

  But even in that Stillness I bobble on the surface of life,

 challenged by an aging body, the crises that others create,

 navigating the maze of family dynamics –
whirling havoc in my mind...

But a Deeper Rhythm calls from within...

"Sabbatical"

The Primordial Rhythm of Rest

"Sabbatical" is a very deep and vital need – like breathing -
 and requires Silence and Solitude,

like the Holy Quiet of a Natural Sanctuary;
  a lily pond found in the deep woods...
where only the Ineffable moves,
and converses in an
unspeakable language
that only Silence can hear...

I linger here - drawn into the depths of Silence
until I'm ready to move again
into life's currents,
  facing into the present realities of living,
 – and just live -

Listening...

 for the Deeper Rhythm within...
The Inner Sabbatical;
not its outward form.

 Opening to the hush of The Mystery
 revealing Itself through the every-day-ness of living...

Just Living...

Mystic Meandering
April 14, 2016

Goosey Goslings ~ ~ ~

Feeling a little lack-luster this week, I decided to cross the bridge today at a local park to see if the gardens were in bloom, only to find this lovely surprise - no flourishing gardens – but Canadian Geese and their goslings!  

Truly, we live with mysteries
 too marvelous to be understood.

How grass can be nourishing in the
mouths of lambs.
How rivers and stones are forever
in allegiance with gravity
while we ourselves dream of rising.

How people come
from delight
or the scars of damage,
to the comfort of
a poem…

Let me keep my distance,
always,
from those who
think they have the answers.

Let me keep company,
always,
with those who say -
”Look”
and laugh in astonishment,
and bow…

Mary Oliver
from Evidence

When we are free of mental concepts
and our senses are awake,
the sounds, smells, images,
and vibrations we experience
connect us with all life…

It is not my aliveness
but simply
life…
unfolding and intense,
mysterious and beautiful.

By meeting the changing dance
with radical acceptance

we discover our intrinsic
belonging
to the whole…

Tara Brach
from: The Buddha Is Still Teaching
by Jack Kornfield

Serenity's Sanctuary - Bow to Life

“…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 your house

empty…

Still treat each guest honorably.

[She] may be clearing you out

for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,

meet them at the door laughing,

and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,

because each has been sent

as a guide from beyond…”

Rumi

~

“To bow to the fact of our life’s sorrows

and betrayals is to accept them;

and from this deep gesture we

discover that all life is workable.”

Jack Kornfield

~

“No matter what happens to you,

you are always standing in the middle

of sacred space,

standing in the middle of

a sacred circle…

Everything that comes into that circle

and exists with you there

has come to teach you what you need to know

to open your heart…"

Pema Chodron

~

“Can you be here just the way you are?

Are you able to be tender with whatever

is arising in your experience?”

Neelam

~

Today I became experientially aware that I hold both

sadness and joy at the same time!

They exist together!

Sweet laughter and crying arose

in the seeing of this…

Sweet Bows of Serenity

Christine

photo - trees bowing - Christine