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

Birthing... - Stephen Levine

There is a grace approaching
that we shun as much as death,
it is the completion of our birth.

It does not come in time,
but in timelessness
when the mind sinks into the heart
and we remember.

It is an insistent grace that draws us
to the edge and beckons us surrender
safe territory and enter our enormity.

We know we must pass
beyond knowing
and fear the shedding.

But we are pulled upward
none-the-less
through forgotten ghosts
and unexpected angels,
luminous.

And there is nothing left to say
but - we are That...

Stephen Levine
from: Breaking the Drought, Visions of Grace

~

Photo - Beautiful Mammatus clouds at sunset
taken by my husband a couple of nights ago.

Mystical Alchemy

We were 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 this Ineffable Mystery,
the Cosmic Igniter of the Divine Flame
ignites the Ember of our Heart
in Mystical Alchemy.

Without the need for certainties of the mind,
or intellectual "understandings."
Only visceral awareness of
"The Presence" that
Illumines the Heart
through Grace...

Pure Bliss...
Pure Blessing...

~

Ever in Gratitude,
A Humble Lover of "The Mystery"...

_/\_

Mystic Meandering
Feb. 2017

The Invisible Flame - Eric Baret & Mooji

The heart is yearning to be open.
When a heart meets an open heart,
when a match approaches a lighted match,
it rejoices in unity, in the flame;
there is no longer a match.
This is called transmission.
But nothing is transmitted.
No one transmits, no one receives.
There is heart-to-heart transmission.
There is only one heart...

Eric Baret

~

Don't take the behavior of the mind and body
to be a reading of your true Self.
Let everything happen,
but know and confirm inwardly,
you are watching everything from a very stable place...

There is a stillness there.
There is an untouched silence.
You must acknowledge this.
You must be like the Polar Star in the heavens.

Your heart is the Polar Star, the North Star.
Everything is revolving but it is still - unmoving.
You are the stillness,
the Silence inside which all is moving.
You only have to recognize and love that.
and nothing will trouble you.

Everything is the flow of time.
Everything is coming and going,
including even this body.
It is like a burning candle.
But there is an invisible flame inside
that never goes out.

Fix your attention inside the Formless
and leave the rest to God.
[However we know "God" to be]

Mooji

The Descendant Current - Matt Licata

Let us not forget the descendant current, flowing into the unlit
places, the underworld, and the dark caverns of the psyche.  The
realm of dream, fantasy, imagination and creativity.  The
invitation here is one of embodiment - into the contradictions,
the chaos, and the deflation we must confront on any journey of
depth.

There is a cultural fantasy that we are supposed to know what to do
with our lives, that things, are supposed to be clear, that we are
supposed to feel solar and heroic and in control of the feelings that
wash through us.  But Love is full-spectrum and will equally
employ the energies of not-knowing, disappointment, and
reorganization as part of its revelation here.  The process of
dissolution is non-negotiable.  It is by way of this sacred washing
of the known that new forms can find their way here.

Inside the vessel of life, encrusted, worn out ideas and opposites
are washed away, such as silence over noise, oneness over multiplicity,
quiet over inner revolution, crystal clarity over shaky uncertainty, and
power over vulnerability.  While we may have our conditioned
preferences, Love does not share these biases and will use the entirety
of the emotional and phenomenal world to reach us.  Even in the
darkness, the numbness, the chaotic, and the mud, the wild,
untamed activity of the soul erupts.

It is natural and ordinary to disconnect from the downward movement
as we overly identify with the ascending, the upward, the light, and
the transcendent.  In the rush to exit immediate experience - for
something that is higher, purer, less messy, and less contradictory -
we turn from the waters of life and lose touch with Essence.

While it is natural to have a bias for one current over another, let us
not do so as the expense of fragmentation.  In ways the mind may
never fully understand, there is a luminous middle place where the
currents intertwine.  It is buried in a secret chamber inside your
own heart.  

Matt Licata

~

Photo - Vortex Art

Digitally altered
2011

Failures of Kindness - George Saunders

What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness...

Those moments when another human being was there, in front
of me, suffering, and I responded...sensibly. Reservedly. Mildly.

Or, to look at it from the other end of the telescope:
Who, in your life, do you remember most fondly, with the
most undeniable feelings of warmth?

Those who were kindest to you, I bet.

Now, the million dollar question: Why aren't we kinder?

Here's what I think:

There's confusion in each of us, a sickness, really:
selfishness.

Each of us is born with a series of built-in confusions...
They are:

1) we're central to the universe (that is our personal story
is the main and most interesting story, the only story, really).

2) we're separate from the universe (there's US and "out there").

3) we're permanent (death is real, o.k., sure - but nor for me).

Now, we don't really believe these things - intellectually we know
better - but we believe them viscerally, and live by them, and
they cause us to prioritize our own needs over the needs of others,
even though what we really want, in our hearts, is to be less selfish,
more aware of what's actually happening in the present moment,
more open, and move loving.

So - second million dollar question: How might we DO this?

...to the extent that you can, err in the direction of kindness.

One thing in our favor: some of this "becoming kinder" happens
naturally, with age.  It might be a simple matter of attrition:
as we get older, we come to see how useless it is to be selfish -
how illogical, really.  We come to love other people and are
thereby counter-instructed in our own centrality.  We get our
butts kicked by life, and people come to our defense, and help
us, and we learn that we're not separate, and don't want to be.
We see people near and dear to us dropping away, and are
gradually convinced that maybe we too will drop away
(someday, a long time from now.)  Most people, as they are,
become less selfish and more loving.  I think this is true.

And so, a prediction, and my heartfelt wish for you: as you
get older, your self will diminish and you will grow in love.
YOU will gradually be replaced by LOVE. 

That luminous part of you that exists beyond personality
 - your soul, if you will - is as bright and shining as any
 that has ever been.  Clear away everything that keeps you
 separate from this secret luminous place.  Believe it exists,
 come to know it better, nurture it, and share its fruits tirelessly.

George Saunders
author/writer

Excerpts from the convocation speech
to the graduating class of 2013
at Syracuse University

~*~

You are Eternal Being
unbounded and undivided.
Be kind to yourself
Open to your Heart...

If you want to help the planet
Live a life of compassion
Live a life of Love...

Papaji
From - The Truth Is

Happiness - Hermann Hesse

As long as you chase happiness,
you are not ready to be happy,
even if you owned everything.

As long as you lament a loss,
run after prizes in restless races,
you have not yet known peace.

But when you have moved beyond desire,
become a stranger to your goals and longings
and call no longer on happiness by name,

then your heart rises calmly
above the ebb and flow of action
and peace has reached your soul.

Hermann Hesse
translation by Ludwig Max Fischer

via: The Beauty We Love

Plumb the Depths of Being...

Do not be afraid to
plumb
the
depths
of your Being;
or what you have believed
to be the Truth...
Question
everything
you
have
learned.

Take the journey deeply inward
to your beginnings - and endings;
to the Silent hum
in the Heart
of all Life
that sings,
and
see
for
your
self.

There are many caravans to follow,
those aspiring to "enlighten" you
with their words,
left like firewood to light your way,
along the road...

But only in Sacred Silence can the journey be made
to the Heart of Being;
to discover the depths of Being - of Primordial Love...
the depths of That which you are;
That which wants to
live,
express,
and Love

Here...

Do not let fear stop your descent
into the inner Vastness;
the Deep Ocean
of your illumined
Heart...

Be still,
and open...

Follow the plumb line
of your breath,
past the Furies and the Sirens
into the soft ebullience
of Love...
and quiet Joy,
waiting for you,
like ethereal
liquid pools
of Light
drawing
you
in

Rest Here

In
the
depths
of
this
Alive
Silent
Loving
Awareness

Listen to the endless
Rhythm already
holding
you
in the cradle
of the Heart...

Feel
the
pervasive
Divine Presence
of Life

in
the
depths of
Sacred
Silence
within
that animates
every cell,
every atom,
every sound,
every thought,
every feeling ~
until you know

THIS

as

your
Self

Simply Living...

_/\_

Mystic Meandering
April 17, 2012

A Humble Lover of "The Mystery"

~

Photo - Vortex Art
done with fingers and craypas oils
2012

Caverns of the Heart...

How does one express
what is unspeakable
when the deep caverns
of the Heart, once closed,
open...
and...
Primordial Love begins
its ascent...

 "Love"

emerges
from an unfiltered,
unguarded space
where Pristine Love ItSelf
breathes
the
Rhythm of the Heart.

Sitting on the clef of this new Inner Rhythm
the word "Love" hardly seems adequate,
as this "Rhythm" has much more
depth, richness and fullness...
where
one experiences the Breath of the Formless
breathing ItSelf through the Heart;
a soft, clear Rhythm
continuously
unfolding ItSelf in the caverns of the Heart,
wave by wave...

It is a synchronous Rhythm of
Form and Formlessness;
Pure Sublimeness,
and much, much more...

It is the human heart entraining
with the Primal Rhythm of
the Heart of Pure Being;
felt as endless Openness, Bliss
and Aliveness,
much more profound
than the word "love"
can possibly convey -
as we experience it
in manifest existence...

There are of course no words
to truly describe the experience
of unconditional Primordial Love...
as words are only phantoms of our
felt experience...

There is only the visceral sense of an
undulating Rhythm
rising from the deeply lit caverns of the Heart
experienced as "Love..."

Wondrously Inexpressible...

Mystic Meandering
June 22, 2015

_/\_

A Humble Lover of "The Mystery"

Photo: A picture of my hands/fingers
held together up to the sunlight, turned on its side...
Light seeping through the cracks
in what looks to me like caverns of the Heart...
(my interpretation of course :)

"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,
a humble Lover of The Mystery...

_/\_

Mystic Meandering
Feb. 2, 2017

Where We Began - Chuck Surface

Although we are often driven by sorrow,
To seek the end of sorrows,
It is the desire for Love,
and in the end, Love itself,
Which brings us to Freedom.

For when all Hope is lost,
And only Despair remains,
When all paths have failed,
And all efforts proven vain.

Then we sit alone, with nothing left.
Nothing, that is...
Except what moved us at the onset.
Our Own Shining Heart,
Our Own Inherent Love.

We wander for countless ages,
In the heartbreak of conditionality and causality,
Until, when grasping is exhausted,
We simply rest as the Love we Are.

Simply Here, where we began...

...always within...


Chuck Surface
In The Garden of the Beloved
Facebook

Love and Surrender - Chuck Surface

These days, with more behind than ahead,
I do not yearn to solve the Mystery of Life,
Or come to "enlightenment" or "awakening."

Those words long ago lost all meaning,
And the Great Mystery has proven,
Beyond all doubt, Unknowable.

These days I Cherish two things:

The Sacred Presence in The Heart,
That Ineffable Sublimity,
which Illumines the Experience of Being:

Love.

And the Enlivened Serenity of the mind,
Though ever awash in Wonder,
Surrendered to Not Knowing.

Love... and Surrender.

Having these,
What care is there of attainment,
Or "levels" of enlightenment?

Having these,
What care is there for states of being,
Created and sustained conditionality?

Having these,
How can one bear arid discourses,
Seeking to prove this "Truth" or that?

Having these,
What "spiritual desire" can arise
Save...

Love's desire to Bless.

I've grown so weary of all else "spiritual."

These days, with more behind than ahead,
This Mystery within a Mystery is content
To breathe in Love, and breathe out Surrender.

Chuck Surface
In The Garden of the Beloved
Facebook

~

...in the course of my life, I found,
No finality in the milestones come to along The Way.
No flag planted, no summit attained.
And however Profound each milestone,
More should not be made of them,
than should be made,
Each being merely a juncture...
On a Journey of Endless Enlightening.

Chuck Surface

~

Photo - sent to us by a friend many years ago.
The Fawn's mother had been killed...

What Remains - Danna Faulds and Rashani

Despite illness of body or mind,
in spite of blinding despair or
habitual belief, who you are
is whole...

Let nothing keep you separate from that truth.

The soul, illuminated from within
longs to be known for what it is.
Undying, untouched by fire or storms of life,
there is a place inside where stillness
and abiding peace reside.

You can ride the breath to go there.

Despite doubt or hopeless turns of mind,
you are not broken.
Spirit surrounds you, embraces, fills you
from the inside out.

Release everything that isn't your true nature.

What's left...

the fullness -
light, and shadow,
claim all that as your
birthright.

Danna Faulds
Yoga Practitioner and Poet
the Poem: "Birthright"
From: Go In and In

~*~

There is a brokenness
out of which comes the unbroken,
a shatteredness
out of which blooms the unshatterable.
There is a sorrow
beyond all grief which leads to joy
and a fragility
out of whose depths emerges strength.

There is a hollow space
too vast for words
through which we pass with each loss,
out of whose darkness
we are sanctioned into being.

There is a cry deeper than all sound
whose serrated edges cut the heart
as we break open to the place inside
which is unbreakable and whole,
while learning to sing.

Rashani Rea

Reflections on a Mother...

After a rather poignant moment at Christmas, when my mother squeezed my hand after we hugged good-bye, an unheard language was transmitted through the hands: Love – something not easily expressed between us - and I had these reflections…

I wish I could have had a different relationship with my mother – more open, authentic, and loving…  I feel sad that it couldn't have been different.  Because of our personalities and the dynamic in the relationship from the beginning – an unseen dynamic unfolded between the two of us; which has now softened as she becomes more fragile.  She is losing more and more of her vision, her abilities and faculties.  There is less cognizant ability to understand what is being asked of her.  Her brain cannot handle too much information or stimulation.  But maybe love is emerging…  Maybe that is what is left when the body-mind mechanism begins to fail…

She covers it well, talking mostly in clichés – turning the personality on – speaking from the face – the mask.  But don’t ask her what she had for breakfast, or what she did yesterday, or what the doctor told her – it will scatter and scramble her brain.  And she will hide from you…  and turn the conversation back to you and ask:  And how are YOU doing? – just to avoid the difficulty of holding a conversation…

Sometimes she gets frustrated and angry because she is losing her abilities.  I feel the frustration too, as well as sadness and compassion for her fragility, vulnerability and woundedness – and the relationship we never had, but which now seems to be emerging in an unexpected way.  There is a softness between us now – sometimes - a caring, a loosening of defense mechanisms that served to protect each other from each other - sometimes.

And now in her “failing” years I wish it could have been different – that I could have been more present and more open to her, to not have closed off my own heart, but to have really seen the illumined heart of love that was really there, in both of us, behind the dynamic without the mask that veiled that Love.  I know that when she dies I will grieve that, and the relationship we never had – and maybe even the one we lost – and the one we might have had. 

In some ways my heart has already started to grieve the love we missed: a  genuinely loving mother-daughter connection; and yet it is not over…   Maybe, just maybe, our hearts will open to each other.  It seems they are beginning to...

Photo:
 a picture of my sister-in-law’s and mother-in-law’s hands…
My mother-in-law is in a Nursing Home with Alzheimer’s,
and yet there is still a “connection” through touch…

I made comment to my sister-in-law that it was interesting that
in some cases we can’t really connect with our mothers
until they are fragile and vulnerable,
and become like children again…

Blessings to Mothers and Daughters

Luminous Repose...

The body’s frailties
slow me down

and draw me closer to
 The Beloved…

I feel Her sweet breath drawing me in
to Her abode of repose…
The body and spirit nurtured
by the cocoon of

 Her Silence

I feel Her Heart Rhythm,
the Quietness of the pulsations
rhythmically lulling me into deeper rest…

I breathe the breath of Her Pure Essence

~ Silent Love ~

The Elixir of Life

poured from within
like warm golden honey
gliding through every fiber,
cell and atom;

in-lightened

with Life
from
w/in

Her undulating Rhythm
awakens the body,
in surges of...
wonderment,
calling it to
the

Dance

One cannot *stop* this dance
One can only resist or Flow

Surrendering,
my body entrains with
The Divine Rhythm,
the Flow of Liquid Light…

In this Mysterious Divine Dance,
glowing, vibrating energies circulate
through the body in
waves ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
 spiraling through
the portal of
Her Heart

Sweet Luminous Repose

Mystic Meandering
Aug. 18, 2015

Photo: Mandala Art

2013

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Please Note: I use the word “Her” referring to “The Beloved”

because the “energy” has always felt more “feminine” to me.

But it really is the Primordial Cosmic Energy which flows through

all of us, with no specific gender.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Caverns of the Heart...

How does one express
what is unspeakable
when the deep caverns
of the Heart, once closed,
 open
and
Primordial Love begins
its rhythmic ascent.

“Love”
emerges endlessly
 from an unfiltered,
unguarded space
where Pristine Love ItSelf
breathes
the

Rhythm of the Heart

Sitting on the clef, feeling this new Rhythm of Being begin,
the word “Love” hardly seems adequate,
as The Rhythm has much more depth, richness, and fullness…

It is the deep Breath of Formless Being
breathing ItSelf *through* the Heart;
a soft, clear Rhythm
continuously
unfolding ItSelf in the Heart
wave by wave…

It is the
synchronous Rhythm of
the depth of
Pure Being, Pure Sublimeness;
and much, much more…

It is the human heart coming into sync
with the Primal Rhythm of the Heart of Pure Being;
felt as an endless Openness, Bliss
and Aliveness,
much more profound
than the word “love”
can convey -
as we experience it

 in manifest existence…

There are of course no words to truly describe “IT”…

Words are only phantoms of our
felt experience…

There is only the Silent undulating Rhythm

from the deeply lit caverns of the Heart

Experienced as Love…

Wondrously Inexpressible…

Mystic Meandering
June 22, 2015



~

Top photo is a picture of my hands/fingers
held up to the sunlight, turned on its side…
I loved the affect that came out:
light seeping through the cracks
in what looks to me like caverns of the Heart.

(My interpretation of course J)

Infinite Unfolding - Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee

The Mystical Path
takes one into the depths of the Heart.

It leads you from the known to the unknown,
and then further into
the unknowable,
into a darkness brighter than
any light.

Nothing can prepare you for the Heart’s journey,
for the places it can take you,
the depths and the heights
that are within you.
So many times you think you are crazy,
bewildered and lost.
There are few signposts,
often little sense of direction.

It is our own unique journey.

It takes us to places where there are no
books or stories, no words to comfort us,
except the story of our own Heart,
our own confusion, longing and love.

We discover the illusory nature of the ego.

The “I” is just an illusion, a veil of separation.

We awaken to the simple and fundamental truth
that there is nothing other than God.

Even the idea of a path is an illusion…

~

So what is this love story that unfolds within
the Heart of a Mystic?

How much of “our story” is [really] “God’s story”?

…all one story,
One Light
split into many fragments,
yet always remaining
One Light…

This one story
is lived in millions of ways,
each story a unique fragrance of Love.
Every cell in creation lives its own love story,
its longing for the Source.

Human beings have the capacity
to make this story conscious,
to know the nature of their
hidden longing.

There can only ever be
one story,
because
there is only one Beloved,
and yet
we are part of this story;
our little “i”
must also be
a part of
The Beloved…

Infinitely Unfolding

Excerpts from:
Fragments of a Love Story

Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
Sufi Mystic

Please note: I have taken excerpts from various pages
in the book and arranged them in the form of a prose poem.

~

Photo: Lotus Heart Stained Glass Zoom Blurred

Buddha Light...

I am not a Buddhist, but I LOVE sitting with the Cosmic Buddha in meditation; experiencing the Buddha energy, which for me is a tangible, felt sense of the Loving Joy of the Buddha Heart that makes my Heart smile with Bliss. Some might call me a “Buddha Mystic. ”J  I feel the energy as I write here after spending time in meditation this morning.   It is an energy that is deeply abiding, that knows your Heart, and is recognized as Pure Love and Joy – even making your Heart laugh.

Today is Wesak – the celebration of the historical Buddha’s birth and “enlightenment” (and some say his death as well) when The Buddha’s Presence is more tangibly felt, according to legend.  I feel it…

May you bask in the Presence of the ‘Buddha’s Heart” today – feeling the Joy and Love in your Heart of Hearts that makes your Heart a little Lighter…   _/\_

Wilderness Wanderers...

The following poem was created from an email dialogue I had with
  Chuck Surface last month.

Most of the words are his, some are mine, and some a synthesis of
 the essence of the dialogue. I was so inspired by his message
 that I couldn’t help putting the words together in poem form.

  I merely played with the words as they sang to my Heart…

 He has kindly given his permission for me to post it here…

Wilderness Wanderers

We, of the Wanderers Tribe,
wander The Vastness

of
The Unknown…

instinctually
 seeking the warmth
and shelter of a council fire.

Wandering from encampment
to encampment
we recognize the gifts of each;
we learn and are blessed,
but find ourselves
riding on once again
into

The

 Wilderness…

As is our human nature,
we seek again and again
for the comfort and shelter
of an encampment
with which our Heart resonates

 and our Being finds affinity.

But time and again
the constraints of
the “known” and “accepted”
descriptions of
”reality’ and “truth”
are more than we can bear,
and The Vastness
calls to us…

Wilderness Wanderers
will never be at
Peace or Illumined
within the constraints of
 any council fire

Vagabonds of the Heart,

we are not aimless,
but seek only the Heart’s Truth,
beyond  tradition,
beyond definition

We know that however much our
human nature craves
comfort
warmth
nourishment
and
fellowship,
these
will not be satisfied
in the encampments…

For we are Wilderness Wanderers
wandering the
Immeasurable
V a s t n e s s
of
The Great Mystery

And
 if we are Graced,
we find there
ones such as ourselves…

Wandering…

Together,
yet in solitude,
we band of Vagrants
sit…

…within and as the Great Mystery…

Unsheltered by
concepts
theories
and
conjecture

Nomads by Nature
We are blessed to be

simple
Wanderers

Mystic Meandering
January 29, 2015

With Gratitude to Chuck…

~*~

I am going to be wandering in the Inner Wilderness
 for a while,
taking a break from blogging,
refocusing inward again toward the Silence and Love

 of the Great Mystery, the Inner Cosmos; playing

 in the delight and Joy of just Being – Just living
Dancing with the Universe -
intuitively moving *with* Life…

Maybe I will find you wandering there too
in the Inner Wilderness… J

Namaste

~*~

comments off

Photo: Northern Lights in Yellow Knife Canada
in the Northwest Territories…

Heart Light...

We are all
a tone
of

Infinite
Love

Love

Love

Love

Love

♥

playing our
uniqueness
in
the chord of Life

~♥~