Solitude - the furnace of transformation

Solitude is the furnace of transformation.
Without solitude
we remain victims of our society
and continue to be
entangled in the illusions
of the false self...

Henri Nouwen

~

The great omission in American life is solitude;
not loneliness,
for there is an alienation
that thrives most in the midst of crowds,
but [it is] that zone of time and space,
free from outside pressures,
which is the incubator
of the spirit.

Maya Mannes

~

Awareness of the Divine Essence as our
innermost [Being] requires silence...

It is turning toward what lies hidden within -
to the internal - the all-embracing totality
of Divine Being.

It is the way of meditation,
the way of inner silence before Spirit.

Remaining quiet before Spirit is a prayer of silence,
through which we listen to that which secretly speaks
to us in the inner room of the heart.

What is hidden deep in our innermost being
lies in silence and stillness,

and in the silence of the deep
springs the eternal, inexhaustible, original
source of all being.

Where words fall silent,
the everlasting begins...

Wolfgang Kopp
From: Free Yourself Of Everything

~

Spiritual joys come from solitude.
A little while in your room
will prove more valuable than anything else
that could ever be given...

To be one with the truth for just a moment
is worth more than the world and life itself...

Rumi

~

Personal Note:

I am not suggesting that we all live a cloistered life of 
solitude and silence!  We're not all meant for that.  I don't
think I could even do that as much as I need solitude and silence.
As I have discovered, solitude is not always the "answer."
But it is  about going deeper within,
listening and hearing the deeper Voice within,
and responding to the inner movement of That.
We can be in solitude while cleaning or creating, or in nature.
And sometimes that inner Voice speaks to us through the voice
of others, as these quotes here did for me.
I merely wish to point out that part of the angst and entropy
we are experiencing personally and in the world is due to
a lack of spending time in solitude and silence,
becoming aware of and getting to know our deeper,
mostly unknown, Core Being.

MM
_/\_

~

There is no effort that we can make to still ourselves.
True stillness comes naturally from moments of solitude
where we allow our minds to settle.  Just as water seeks
its own level, the mind will gravitate toward the holy.
Muddy water will become clear if allowed to stand
undisturbed, and so too will the mind become clear
if it is allowed to be still.

Deng Ming-Dao, 365 Tao, Daily Meditations

~

Photos - Mystic Meandering

Remember Your Essence...

Our Essence is the same Silence that suspends the Cosmos,
and the same Energy of the Stars...
We are the Hush of "The Mystery"
and the breath of Life itself...

Our Essence is embodied in every cell of the body...

Our Being is the Dance of the Aurora Borealis
and the unlit Light of the Sun...

generated through the inner radiance
of Shakti - the primal energy -
coursing through our bodies...

Our Essence is "Godness" seeking expression...
in human form;
it is the Essence of all matter reality -
Life living us...

May we all remember our Inner Light,
our Essence...

_/\_

Blessings to all in this Sacred Season of Light...

Mystic Meandering
Oct. 16, 2023

~

Photo Mystic Meandering

 

The Longing - a meandering...

Since I was a young child I longed to know "God" -
the "God' of my childhood religion...

~

Recently longing has arisen again...

I long to know "God" still,
even though that longing has been covered over by layers of
different beliefs and stances - all veils...  And my idea of, and
names for "God" have changed; like "The Mystery", The Beloved,
The Great Silence...

It's time to part the veils so that I may truly know the "God" of my
longing; not the "God" of my childhood religion - not a man-made
"God" - but "The Source" Itself...  The Primordial, Nameless "God"...
Some have called it the Primal Energy, or even the Divine Breath...
But I long for something more personal...

I sense that all our longings and sorrows come from this longing for
"Source"; to know who/what that truly is - our origin, and if we are
that - as the many spiritual teachings say.

So I turn to look for the Source of my longing, that I wish to know 
intimately - again - as in the beginning - before birth.  All others
have been only names, personas, maybe even "lesser gods."

The longing is not for a distant "God - but the "God" who
resides within - the Source or Essence of myself.

Whoa - What?

As those words slipped out onto the page, they caught my attention:
"the 'God' who resides within -
the Source or Essence of myself."

The "Source" is within!
What I long for is in myself! 

This hit me as if this was a "new" revelation,
with a feeling of relaxed awe and wonder...

And yet, I know I know this! - intellectually, in my head.
"God - aka the Primal Source of all that is resides in everyone and
everything...  But I want to know it experientially...
to feel it intimately...

I am not ashamed to feel that longing again; that was hidden by
the veils of the intellect, the intellectualized, conceptualized, and
abstract stances, and belief systems...

It is the Heart longing that will bring me to "the Source" of my
longing; not stances and belief systems, but the innocent, child-like
longing from the Heart - the direct experience that the "God" I long
for resides within myself.

I am finally allowing myself to feel that fire of longing
again...

My child-heart has opened once more...

Mystic Meandering
Dec. 8, 2023

from my journal

After this "revelation" I felt a Presence behind my heart and with it
a deep Quiet came over me internally...

the "God" of my longing dwells within!

Amazing!

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering
Sunset Heart Leaves

 

"Keys" - a meandering

On my "spiritual meanderings" over the years, I have learned
many things, discovered many "truths"; found 3 "keys", although
I'm sure there are more.

Maybe you have discovered a different set of "keys" for yourself.
But I wanted to share the ones I found in this meandering...

Photo - Mystic Meandering

~

Experiencing The Divine Within

Today the "Divine Mother" is silent.
But I feel Her energy in the stillness of waking.
She vibrates in my body, as I hold my heart
with my hands over my chest, grateful for Her
Presence...

My "reason to live" is this felt connection with
"The Divine Mother"; directly experiencing Her
Presence vibrating through me...

I learned from "Her" that I must turn inward and always
keep my awareness open to "Her" - with the inner ear -
listening for Her silent "voice" and unspoken words;
with the inner eye - "seeing" through the mental obscurations
that blind me; and - sensing Her Presence always within me.

"The Mother of the Universe" - however one names "Her" - is
ultimately, for me, not a persona, or deity, although I give Her
a name: "The Divine Mother."  I could call Her "The Sacred",
"The Beloved", "The Ineffable", but "Divine Mother" seems 
more personal, more relatable...

"She, however called, is the Energy that permeates all things;
that becomes all form in matter reality,
the Primal Energy that infuses us and
communes with every cell of our being -
enlivening and comforting...
I need to bask in Her Essence...

In this pool of Primal Energy all worries subside,
mentations give way, and "I" feel closer to my own true
Essence.

Mystic Meandering
Aug. 7, 2023
Photo - Mystic Meandering

~

July 18, 2023

Blessing

Today I started asking for blessings for people in my life.
Don't know why.  It just seemed like the natural thing
to do with so many people suffering in this world now,
feeling helpless to help them...

When I asked a blessing I began to feel a vibration in my
body, as if there was some kind of energy moving through me...

First Blessing

I ask a blessing on "the visitor"
that came to live here 10 months ago,
so that she may be free at last;
not in constant mental torture,
re-hashing her past - but free to
move on.

I ask that "The Divine Mother" would
be merciful to her, and relieve her of her
suffering, so that she can truly be at peace.

I ask a blessing on this whole situation!

I ask a blessing on this house!

Photo - Mystic Meandering

~

Acceptance

I don't know when I first came across the concept of
 "accepting what is" but it has been a recurring theme
 in my life experience.  I remember listening to a
guided meditation in the early 2000's by Adyashanti
 on "Allowing everything to be as it is."  And around
 the same time I read a book by Tara Brach called
Radical  Acceptance.  And Byron Katie's - Loving
What Is.  Then recently a book by Frank Ostaseski
called The Five Invitations.  One of the invitations is
 to Welcome Everything, push nothing away.
And this quote below by Jeff Foster from his book
 The Deepest Acceptance that I read sometime in 2014...

~

"Freedom is found not through escaping the present
experience, but by diving fearlessly into its hidden depths...

If we are to be truly free - we must face reality with open
 eyes. We must move away from denial, wishful thinking,
and hoping and tell the truth about life as it is. Great
freedom lies in admitting the truth of this moment, 
however much it clashes with our dreams and plans
 - self-image [or spiritual teachings]... Acceptance is about
seeing reality, seeing things as they actually are, not
 as we wish them to be.  And from that place of 
alignment with what is, all creative, loving and
 intelligent actions flow naturally.

Great freedom lies in fearlessly facing the darkness
and finally coming to see that the darkness is inseparable
 from light...  Life cannot be good or bad. 
  Life is simply life..."

Jeff Foster

Photo from the Internet

~

Accepting life as it is, is still a challenge for me, but I
 know it is a "key" - for when I "accept" someone the way
 they are,  kindness and compassion arise to meet them.
 Accepting what is means I recognize the things I can
 change, and the things I can't. I give up trying to "control"
the person or situation, and just let things/people be as/
who they are...

Even if I think they should be otherwise :)

_/\_

Blessings

MM

~

Keys Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

"Unknowing knowing" Commentary - Granger

The following is the commentary by Ivan Granger that
accompanied the previously posted poem:
"Unknowing knowing"/"I Entered the Unknown."
I thought it might be helpful...

He says:

...the poem's archaic use of the word "knowing" implies a
general sense of knowledge acquired through reason and the
testimony of the senses.

The Spanish Saint, [St. John of the Cross] is speaking about
the mystical idea of "unknowing", the state in which all
concepts and mental filters have been set aside.  In that state
of unknowing, we rise above the elaborate constructions of the
logical mind and come to rest in pure awareness ("knowing by
unknowing").  He is contrasting true, unfiltered knowing, gnosis,
with the mere accumulations and organization of information.

To be unknowing in this sense is to encounter every instant
entirely as it is, in pure wonder, without projections, without
anticipation or agitation.  [Whereas] the intellectual mind.....
is always processing, analyzing and making everything fit
within its comprehension.  In interprets.
Awareness can step beyond the intellect to fully apprehend
reality...

This state of supreme unknowing is not perception in the sense of
drawing in and interpreting exterior input through the senses.  In
normal perception, the intellect sifts and sorts that sensory data
and formulates it into a working hypothesis of what reality is.

...the mystic's unknowing is the centered awareness of unfiltered
reality.....without an egoic agenda.  The full awareness in this
state of unknowing does not sift reality, it bathes in it.

"The transcendence  of "knowledge".....is found to be an
experience of "the deepest ecstasy/of the Divine Essence."
[as St. John of the Cross calls it].

Ivan M Granger
Commentary from: This Dance of Bliss

Poetry Chaikhana

"Unknowing knowing" - St. John of the Cross

I entered the unknown,
and there I remained unknowing,
all knowledge transcended.

Where I entered I knew not,
but seeing myself there,
not knowing where,
great things then made themselves known.
What I sensed I cannot say,
for I remained unknowing,
all knowledge transcended.

In this peace and purity
was perfect knowledge.
In profound solitude
I understood with absolute clarity
something so secret
that I was left stammering,
all knowledge transcended.

So deep was I within,
so absorbed, so transported,
that all senses fled,
and outer awareness fell away.
My spirit received the gift
of unknowing knowing,
all knowledge transcended.

He who reaches this realm
loses himself,
for all he once knew
now is beneath his notice,
and his mind so expands
that he remains unknowing,
all knowledge transcended.

And the higher he rises
the less he knows;
That is the dark cloud
that shines in the night.
The one who knows this
always remains unknowing,
all knowledge transcended.

This knowing by unknowing
is of such exalted power,
that the disputations of the learned
fail to grasp it,
for their knowledge does not reach
to knowing by unknowing,
all knowledge transcended.

Of such supreme perfection
is this knowledge
that no faculty or method of mind
can comprehend it;
but he who conquers himself
with this unknowing knowing,
will always transcend.

And if you are ready to receive it,
this sum of all knowledge is discovered
in the deeper ecstasy
of the Divine Essence.
Goodness and grace
grant us this unknowing,
all knowledge transcended.

St. John of the Cross
(1542-1591)
Original title: "I Entered the Unknown"
From: This Dance of Bliss
by Ivan Granger
Poetry Chaikhana

Silence of Love - Rumi Revealed

Art by Rassouli

Rumi embodied the expression of love in a way that brought
heaven to earth.  He became part of the great mystery, the unity,
and the oneness that awakens the heart from a deep sleep to reveal
the divine truth of who we are...

The greatest of human achievements have not evolved from the
words expressed by a person manifesting greatness, but from the
depth of the Silence...

Silence is the ultimate presence of God.
The essence of love and creativity exists in Silence and not in the
words that are derived from the rational mind.  Every word evolves
from Silence, every sound proceeds from Silence, and every thing
that is created has originated from Silence.  All become the living
word of life itself.

Life is illuminated when the lips are closed, and the heart begins
to speak.

Rumi has given more value to "silence" for those on the path of
enlightenment than other mystics.  Many of the poems in the
Divan of Shams end with the words "Be silent", or some other
descriptive phrase about being silent.  His most mystical poems
and those with deeper meanings often reflect the importance of
Silence.  Perhaps some of the best advice in his poetry is when he
tells himself to be silent as he feels the emergence of the rational
mind interfering with his ecstatic state.  He usually stops the poetry
and goes into Silence when that happens.

.....poetry to him is conversation with love.  It is in
Silence that love most easily finds the way to the heart.  It is in
Silence that love is given the freest passage.  The expression of the
message then has the perfect clarity of truth. If we open our mouths
to speak, and our words do not come from love, then we should
say nothing.

Silence is pure essence, while talking is like a cover surrounding
the essence.  The deep ecstasy of the spiritual journey harbors the
beauty hidden inside.  Silence has many concealed advantages,
and the simplest one is that it relieves apprehension and doubt
and frees a person to embrace an inner peace.

There is sacred Silence inside everyone where a divine conversation
can be heard.  Be silent and listen to the whispers of love within
the heart that long to be expressed and feel the tranquility and
freedom love can bring.

What matters in life is what is true and the moments that are real,
moments when love is felt and experienced, when a connection
is made through love, whether it is another person, or when
feeling the presence of Divine Love.  Pure love is everything,
and it flows from a deep and sacred Silence...

Excerpts from: Rumi Revealed
from the chapter: Silence of Love
direct translations and mystical expressions
by Rassouli

Rassouli is also an exceptional artist

The World of a Mystic - Naomi Stone

A mystic cannot help vanishing
into the living mystery of God...
It calls the soul beyond everything I have ever known
and then surprises by manifesting creatively...

infinitely... and intimately...

in the feathering of divine essence
as such variation and beauty...

I experience melting of all identity
into the softness of love
and the magnificence of light
in the gift of caressing waves of peace...

God is [the] artist of stroking color and vision...
[the] sculptor of glorious expression...
the sound and symphony
of the evolution of the spinning stars...
a glowing luminous and embracing moonlight...
mountainous stairways to the sky...
whispering tenderness...
an interior river of flowing peace...

an eternal companion...
magnifying and enlarging and deepening
the expanse and reach of divine love...

the sacred path
of the sweet revelation
of relationship
where everything is transformed into life itself...

I surrender into the sacred surroundings
of an absolutely enchanting Beloved...
this is the exquisite and elegant dwelling
within the One
from whom we came...

Naomi Stone

Personal Note - This is similar to what I experience when I "enter" (become aware of) the Sacred Silence within.  It is the space of  Presence, the Divine, The Beloved, or "God", however one calls this for themselves...

Photo ~ Rainbow light on wall

Silence is Prayer - Zensho Wolfgang Kopp

Awareness of the Divine Essence as our innermost true Self
requires silence.
It is turning toward what lies hidden within -
to the internal - the all-embracing totality of Divine Being.
It is the way of meditation,
the way of inner silence before Spirit.

Remaining quiet before Spirit is a prayer of silence,
through which we listen to what secretly speaks to us
in the inner room of the heart.

What is hidden deep in our inner most being
 lies in silence and stillness,
and in the silence of the deep
springs the eternal, inexauastable, original
source of being.

Where words fall silent, the everlasting begins...

Wolfgang Kopp

From: Free Yourself of Everything

Take Refuge in Silence - Kalidas and Kopp

All sound arises out of Silence
     and dissolves into Silence.
All thought arises out of Silence
     and dissolves into Silence.
The universe arises out of Silence
     and dissolves into Silence.
Suffering arises out of Silence
     and dissolves into Silence.
The unbounded spaciousness of Silence,
     filled with the clear light of Awareness,
     dissolves the roots of pain and sorrow.
Take refuge in Silence and know
     unshakable joy.

Kalidas – Western Hindu Yogi

Via: No Mind’s Land

Awareness of the Divine Essence as our innermost

true Self requires silence.

It is turning toward what lies hidden within -
to the internal – the all embracing totality of
Divine Being.
It is the way of meditation,
the way of inner silence before Spirit…

Remaining quiet before Spirit is a prayer of silence,
through which we listen to that which secretly speaks to us
in the inner room of the heart.

What is hidden deep in our innermost being lies
in silence and stillness,
and in the silence of the deep
springs the eternal,
inexhaustible,
original
source
of
all
being.

Where words fall silent,
the everlasting
begins…

Wolfgang Kopp – Western Zen Master

From: Free Yourself of Everything

~

Top Photo: Snow on screen
Bottom Photo: Rainbow Lights on wall

Divinely Human...

My mind wants to tell me that ‘just sitting’
- sitting meditation in Silence – is not enough.
But my Heart/Spirit knows that
’just sitting”-
in Silent Awareness

is exquisitely enough…

It is
communion
with the
Infinite
Beingness
of all
life

It is the “medicine”
for every ailment…

It is the Light that brings awareness
to all hidden places…

It is the Spaciousness
from which all knowing
and all needed action
arises
with
clarity

Heart says:
Spend as much time as possible
’just sitting’

in the depths
 of Silence
communing

with the
 inner movement
of
    Eternal Being…

experiencing intimately
 the embrace
and intelligence
of what lives us;
not resigned to
”just being human…”

not settling…

But being aware
of our Humanness and Infiniteness
as One Rhythm,
playing together…
The Infinite manifest as finite,
the formless in form:
The Truth of Existence…

Humanness infused with
such Suchness
that we are enlivened with
a Life
much vaster
than
”just”
our humanness…

Can we truly embrace
that

enlivened
Life
as
who
we
are

The
Pure
Conscious
Awareness

that
breathes
us
into
e
x
i
s
t
e
n
c
e

Can we allow ourselves to remember
what we *really* are,
beyond
disturbances of the mind,
our insecurities,
our thoughts,
our feelings,
our beliefs,
our
self-image,
our self-identities
our roles and labels…

Can we allow ourselves
to see/sense/know
The Infinite Presence
that
we
are
behind these eyes,
behind this persona,
animating this body:

The Heart of Being

that
we have longed
to know
all our lives

Don’t settle…

Can we quit pretending
that “we’re only human”
that we can’t know…

Can we
take off the shadowy masks
that blind us,
and
SEE

the
Infinite Conscious Awareness
that we are…

That we are Divinely Human…

You don’t have to wait lifetimes…
It’s right here, right now -
everywhere…

Just be still
’just sit’
in
Silence

and
listen

Open the eyes of the Heart
and
SEE

Our “Divine Essence”
 has always been here

Feel IT

Experience IT

Don’t settle…

Meditative Writings
original -August 2012
reworked May 2014

~

“Divine Essence” is also:
Buddha Mind
True Nature
Infinite Consciousness
Pure Awareness

Eternal Being
Presence

~~~~

Photo: Yin-Yang Lotus Mandala
May 4, 2014

Divine Fire...

I want to walk through life
truly *seeing* - truly Aware…

Awake to the Truth of Existence

Open to LIFE…

I want to See *everything* as the expression
 of Divine Beingness;
every leaf that drops,
or snowflake that falls,
every being…

with the same innocent wonder
and amazement
as I did as a child;
as if truly *seeing* Life
for the first
time.

I want to be in love with Life again…
if ever I was…
Maybe loving Life in new ways…

I want to hear
Divine laughter

In my
Heart
and
experience
Divine
intimacy
in
my
being

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

Let me embrace
every thought,
expression,
and feeling
as it arises
without
trying
to
confine
it
or
suppress
it

Life
 is a passage,
endless pathways,
and I want to risk
not following
the rules
of
the well-worn
paths.

Instead,
rising above
the familiarity
of “the path”
to feel
the Essence
of Life
that lives
this
life
that
”I”
am

/

The
Divine
Fire

Mystic Meandering
meditative writings
2012/14

~

Photo: Amaryllis flower
 radially blurred

A Pathless Pilgrim...

I continue to walk a “pathless path” (read here) – and yet there is a focus…  I am not “called” to any particular “spiritual path”, although I have meandered down many over the course of my life.  I am no longer “seeking” anything “out there” – not “God”, nor even “enlightenment.”  And still, there is a sense of a contemplative “pilgrimage” of sorts – an exploration of the vastness of the Divine inner landscape, a deepening into The Mystery of the Divine, The Mystery of Existence, plumbing the depths of The Mystery of God-Consciousness and seeing how IT unfolds within me - what IT is calling me to…   It is a way of life actually, a continuous unfoldment, a “returning” to the core of Being, what I now refer to as “the God Space”: the silent, still core of Infinite Being from which everything arises and emerges into being…  For what is “God” but the Eternal OM – the Infinite Sound of Being, the Infinite “Emptiness” of the Cosmos that *isn’t* “empty”, the Silence that isn’t silent, the Stillness that isn’t still, but pulsates with the Rhythm of Life that flows within us and through Existence.  It is the genderless spaciousness of Pure Awareness where there is no separation *or* union, just the Isness of Being – Divine Essence – Innate Presence - our True Nature…

~*~

“This moment in time and space is an eggshell,
personal identity is a sheath.
The breath of God is breathing through it…

Remember the deep root of your Being.

Give yourself to the one who already owns
your breath and your moments.”

Rumi

You must always keep in mind that a path is only a path.

Each path is only one of a million paths.
If you feel that you must not follow it,
you need not stay with it under any circumstances.
Any path is only a path.
There is no affront to yourself or others in dropping a path,
if that is what your heart tells you to do.

But your decision to keep on a path or to leave it

must be free of fear and ambition.

I caution you: look at every path closely and deliberately.
Try it as many times as you think necessary.
Then ask yourself and yourself alone this one question:
Does the path have a heart?

All paths are the same.  They lead nowhere.
The only question is: Does this path have a heart?

If it does, then it is a good path.
If it doesn’t, then it is of no use.

Carlos Casteneda

“Wanderer, your footsteps are the road,

and nothing more;

Wanderer, there is no road.

The road is made by walking…

By walking one makes the road,

and upon glancing behind

one sees the path that will

never be trod again…

Wanderer, there is no road –

only wakes upon the sea…”

Antonio Machado

“The Self is like a powerful magnet within us.

It draws us gradually to ItSelf…

It is the [Divine] magnet

that is pulling us towards ItSelf.”

Ramana Maharshi

~

  ~

   ~

Surrender

    ~
   ~
~

Top Photo taken by my father
1952/53