"I" am LIFE...

"I" am LIFE existing here...
not a concept...

"I" am the Essence of Life
living itself out
here...

I cannot say that I am "Christine" -
nor a Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu,

Sufi, Buddhist, Non-Dualist, Taoist,

or Mystic...

Mother, daughter, sister, friend,
or wife...

not a dream,
or an illusion...

"I" am simply LIFE ~ existing ~
playing all these roles...

The weight of existence
occurs when I try to
cling to an identity...

~

"I am a

f

e

a

t

h

e

r

on
the
breath of God."

Hildegard of Bingen says ~

and even the
identity of a 
"feather"

is
too
heavy

~

It's only a metaphor

~
~
~

I follow the breath
to its
Source,
the
Silence,
and
realize
I am being
breathed

~
~
~

The "task" then
is to surrender,
to
the
Infinite
Breath of
LIFE

that
"I"
am

~
~
~

Mystic Meandering
2014

~

Art - Mystic Meandering
"Explosion of Life"

Craypas oils

2012

 

Cosmic Breathing...

photo - Johannes-Plenio at Unsplash

Sitting in the Silence of the Inner Landscape,
I suddenly realize the Cosmic Breath of Infinity
is slowly breathing this body -
breathing in... breathing out...

Held in the pause between breaths -
I recognize that "I" am being breathed
by an unheard Rhythm...

From the Inner Window,
at the edge of Infinity
I see beyond this world,
into the formless void,
beyond moon and stars,
into the Infinite Cosmic Ocean
that holds it all...

Aware of what is aware within:
Life - breathing ITself...

Every Breath is the Primordial Breath
rippling through space...

Hush
Be Silent 
Listen

and I hear:

Entrain with the Rhythm
that is breathing you...

Slow down and breathe
the Infinite Breath of the Cosmos -
that whispers -
All will be infinitely well...

Mystic Meandering
April 12, 2020

~

Photo - Johannes Plenio at Unsplash

 

Holy Bellows...

She enters the Quietness of Her Being
and waits...

Breathing into the Quiet,
salvaging the remnants from
previous excursions here.

Waves of The Quiet that still
remain, before the mind
usurped the calming rise and fall
with its staccato tempo...

Finding the deeper Rhythm again,
she returns to the Core of Her Being,
unperturbed by the flailing mind
that wants attention.

Following the rhythm of the breath;
breathing in the Holy,
breathing out the Holy...
The Sacredness of The Breath
brings her back;
being breathed by the
Holy Bellows...

Resuscitating the Quiet Core,
she falls back into deep Rest -
just breathing...

The Holy Quiet permeates
her body again with the gentle
vibration of her Aliveness...

Mystic Meandering
June 18, 2020

~

Mandala Art
Mystic Meandering
2013

Cosmic Breathing...

Photo - Johannes Plenio at Unsplash

Sitting in the Silence of the Inner Landscape,

I suddenly realize the Cosmic Breath of Infinity
is slowly breathing this body -
breathing in... breathing out...

Held in the pause between breaths -
I recognize that "I" am being breathed
by an unheard Rhythm...

From the Inner Window,
at the edge of Infinity
I see beyond this world,
into the formless void,
beyond moon and stars,
into the Infinite Cosmic Ocean
that holds it all...

Aware of what is aware within:
Life - breathing ITSelf...

Every Breath is the Primordial Breath
rippling through space...

Hush
Be Silent
Listen

Entrain with the Cosmic Rhythm
that is breathing you...

Slow down and breathe
the Infinite Breath -
that whispers...

All will be infinitely well...

Mystic Meandering
April 12, 2020

~

Photo - Johannes Plenio at Unsplash

Step Through - Fred LaMotte

Painting by Joe-Maccer, Deviant Art

As you fall asleep tonight,
do not take this inhalation
for granted.
Honor her like a royal guest.
Make a spacious tent
of your flesh,
for She who contains
the galaxies
has come to dwell in you,
pouring her gift from the stars
down your backbone.
Each expiration will lead you
through a silver door,
a mirror of moonlight.
The key is silence.
Step through.
Follow her rainbow into the void
where wings of astonishment
will carry you from death to death.

A scent of blossoms
from the garden in your body
will guide you home,
enlarged by a memory
of stillness.
Neither come nor go
and She will lead you
from the mind to the Heart.

Fred LaMotte
Uradiance

Original title "Shekinah"

Everything Breathes Together - Mark Helprin

The universe is still and complete.  Everything that ever was, is;
everything that ever will be , is - and so on, in all possible
combinations.  Though in perceiving it we imagine that it is
in motion, and unfinished, it is quite finished and quite
astonishingly beautiful.

In the end, or rather, as things really are, any event, no matter
how small, is intimately and sensibly tied to all others.
All rivers run full to the sea; those who are apart are brought
together; the lost ones are redeemed; the dead come back to life;
the perfectly blue days that have begun and ended in golden
dimness continue, immobile and accessible; and, when all is
perceived in such a way as to obviate time, justice becomes
apparent not as something that will be, but something that is.

Mark Helprin
From: Winter's Tale

via - Beyond The Fields We Know

~

The stars are like letters which inscribe themselves at every
moment in the sky.  Everything in the world is full of signs.
All events are coordinated.  All things depend on each other...
Everything breathes together.

Plotinus
CE 204/5-270

~

Photo from Facebook

The Breath of Sacred Silence

Beyond all concepts of duality and non-duality
there is only the Breath of Sacred Silence...
Here is neither oneness or two-ness,
only the exquisite Rhythm of
the Infinite Breath
IN which Existence exists.

In this space
everything else falls away -
all breathing falls into The Rhythm
of the Ineffable - the Unknown -
The Mystery...

The inhale and exhale
of the Cosmos,
one Rhythm.
No longer aware of
separation,
only unspeakable Silence
breathing...

The mind tries to hold onto concepts,
through thought patterns,
thought processes;
an automated mechanism
that just runs,
creating scenarios of I/me/other.

BUT

Here - in the river of direct experience,
only the Breath of the Sacred breathes,
unencumbered by thought...

In this space of Grace
there is no sense of
union,
or dissolution,
or surrender...

One is simply - absorbed -
into the Ineffable Breath.
A natural, organic absorption of the whole being
in the ongoing stream of the
Pure Isness of Being...

The Ecstatic Mystery of the Breath of Sacred Silence...

_/\_

Mystic Meandering
Meditative Writings
July 19, 2018

Who then is breathing? - Ilchi Lee

Observe your own body.  It breathes.
You breathe when you are asleep, when you are no longer
conscious of your own ideas of self-identity.
Who then is breathing?

The collection of information that you mistakenly think is you
is not the protagonist in this drama called the breath.  In fact,
you are not breathing; breath is naturally happening.

You can purposely end your own life, but you cannot
purposely keep your own life going.  The expression, 'my life'
is actually an oxymoron, a result of mistaken assumption...

You don't possess life; life expresses itself through you.
Your body is a flower that life let bloom,
a phenomenon created by Life.

Ilchi Lee

The Stream of Light and Breath - Naomi Stone

I write as I live
in an energizing stream
of light and breath
for love has its own
momentum

*

we feel the rhythm
of the heart
for we are all
contained
in the music
of a larger heart
*
a stream of energy
simply flows where it goes
and the same light
dances on the prairie
as on the ripples
and waves of the sea
in which we are all embraced
*
the same source dances us
into the day
the same pulse of life
beats in all awakening hearts
and the same breath
breathes us into being
*
the music of the heart
rises from the sweep and touch
of divine fingers
and the light that circles there
is as rich and golden
as the pure light pouring
through the sun
*
when the heart begins to sing
the song emerges
springing from joy
whether in the darkness of night
or the glow of morning
*
for it opens
from within the greater heart
and music flows
from a glorious mystery
no one
can truly name
*

music is always new
like the breath
no matter how it sounds
to another

*

for love is encoded
with a beauty only the heart
can recognize
and only unseen eyes
can behold
*
words dance out of the darkness
like our lives dance
and swirl in the curls
of beauty
that have entrapped mystics
through the ages
and time stands still
and falls away as a measure
that has no meaning
to the heart
*

there is no such thing
as separation
to the pulsing heart
of one abiding in the mystery
that listens
to all longing hearts
of countless beings
who have sweetly surrendered
their boundaries
to love
*

everything falls from a source
beyond my ability
to describe or control
it tumbles like a waterfall
into the fall line
of a timeless stream
energizing
this life
moment by moment
*
all the histories of all
of the faces and names
ultimately melt
in the dancing flames
of the beloved
and only the one
who sustains
my heart remains
*
this sweet existence
is the perfect
transparency
for this invisible flame
as the shimmering wings
of poetic vision
are carried by the light
of life itself
*

Naomi Stone

Only Breath - Rumi

Not Christian or Jew, or Muslim, not Hindu
Buddhist, Sufi or Zen...

Not any religion or cultural system.

I am not from the East
or the West,
not out of the ocean

or up from the ground,
not natural or ethereal,
not composed of elements at all.

"I" do not exist,
am not an entity in this world
or in the next,
did not descend from Adam and Eve
or any origin story.

My place is the placeless,
a trace of the traceless.

Neither body or soul.

I belong to The Beloved,
have seen the two worlds as one
and that one call to and know,
first, last, outer, inner,
only That Breath breathing
human being.

Rumi

recited by Coleman Barks

A note to my email subscribers:
When Feedburner delivers my posts to you
the video is not included in the email,
so all you will see is the poem.
In some cases it doesn't even indicate that
there is a video...
If you want to view the video
you will have to click over to my blog...
Thanks :)

Remembering - again & again...

Sitting in the Sanctuary
of  Silence,
the deep space of  Formlessness
keeps pulling me in,
enticing me to
remember,

to listen
D
E

E

P

L

Y

.

.

.

In this space of Pure Awareness,
beyond thought,
I can feel the intimacy of Silence
once again;
the organic Rhythm,
immersed in its Flow...
Out of which all movement arises
and takes form...

Formlessness-Form
Form-Formlessness,
Not two - yet not one;
not either/or
but
both/and

The Ineffable Mystery

I sometimes call it "The Beloved."

It has many names -
this Aware Silence,
this Hush of The Mystery

that we are,
that we emerged from,
Life ItSelf;
and is no-name as well...

The Unknown

In this Sea of Silence
I remember the feel of
Its Rhythm - again;
the transparency and
boundarylessness
of Its S p a c i o u s n e s s
that just IS...

The Mystery of Life living ItSelf
in/as
the rhythmic
pulse of Living Silence

recognizing ItSelf as "me",
and "me" recognizing It
as my
Self

I had forgotten
this Sacred Silence
that knows us intimately
as ItSelf...

Our pain, sorrow, grief;
our laughter and joy,
are inexplicably
Its own

Inseparable


It knows our shadow
and embraces
all darkness
as Its own -
because
It is
Its own

Light

that knows
no darkness

The grief, the loss,
the sadness, the suffering,
the woundings...
ALL Its own;
feeling what we feel,
experiencing what we experience

as ItSelf...

Ever-present
Ever-aware
Ever-open
to all experience

Not a cold, conceptual,
hollow vacuum of Nothingness...

But the A L I V E N E S S of Life ItSelf
intimately living ItSelf...

OMing pre-Existence into Existence...
Breathing ItSelf into Life...
into every wound of pain
and suffering

with Its soft caress...

Aware Living Silence
knows our Hearts
as Its own,
and dances with
Joy
in
the
delight
of
knowing
it

.

.

.

I have forgotten THIS - many times...
The feel of this deep Love
in Its complete and utter Embrace:
Its total enfoldment
Its inclusiveness
of all that we are;
forgotten the once known
innocence of
being touched
by the
Depth
of
Love
in the
Heart of

"The Mystery"

~

Mystic Meandering
April 11, 2015

A Humble Lover of "The Mystery"

_/\_

Silence is Universal...

Midnight...
Sitting at the window again...
Sinking deeply into
the peace of Stillness,
leaning into the night
in awe... of its Silence...

The one constant is Utter Silence...
tangible; a felt sense
that undulates ItSelf through form
in Silent Rhythms...

The Universal Silence of all existence...
The Energy of Being that pulsates through all life...
manifesting many different faces of the Formless,
reflecting ItSelf in many expressions,
all "different", yet all the same Life Energy...

The mind focuses on differences,
instead of That which unifies;
the common thread of Living Silence...

Beyond seeming "difference"
is the same Infinite, Resonant Vibration of Being ~

Wondrous, Ubiquitous Silence in varying vibrations...

Every utterance from Infinite Silence
is an expression of the Eternal;
is a wave in the Ocean of Infinity...

Every life form is The Formless Silence...
It's Sound is an undulating OM ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And

This "me" experience, then, is the expression of
That ~ an emanation from Pure Silence...
in all Its disguises...

Mystic Meandering
Oct. 16, 2016

The Kiss of The Mystery...

There is an intimacy in deep Silence
that is indefinable, inexplicable, inexpressible
and hauntingly sublime...

A fluidity of

~ s p a c i o u s n e s s ~

A movement of Awareness,

a w a r e ~ i n g...

Everything is open

Pure 

BE ~ ing ~ ness

There is depth and breadth,
yet no boundary.

There is substance and fullness
yet - Emptiness...

It is a subtle, rhythmic

intimacy
of
the Unheard

embracing,
surrounding, and filling
every crack and crevice of existence...
Unwinding the contractions
of
body and mind.

There is a "sanity" in this Silence
that bestows a soundness of heart through Grace
that is beyond mere mental comprehension ~
beyond cognition...

Finding the deeper Rhythm within
one loses a sense of "self"
and becomes
The Silence ~

Breathing ItSelf...

"knowing" it is

The Breath of the Infinite

The Whisper of Love

The Kiss of The Mystery

*

Mystic Meandering
June 2016

~

Photo - Aurora Borealis
from the South Pole

The Aurora seems to take the shape of a round face
looking down, kissing the earth ~
The Kiss of The Mystery :) 

Solace...

What remains...
when all surface identities,
all beliefs and facades of truth have
proven to be untrue,
and the mental constructs begin to fail...
is a more softened, innocent perspective;
a simplified view of reality...

One begins to feel more,
viscerally,
the finer, subtler vibration
of the Ineffable;
which was here long before we were born...

There is no need to remember...
The mind and body may fail in their functions
may still contract
around old thought and feeling impulses
of the brain...
But trust that the Ineffable in you
Remembers Its Origins...

So Rest...
Let the mind float...

Be still, aware...
Keep feeling...
Keep listening inwardly,
for the Music,
The Divine Rhythm,
the pulse of the Universe
playing subtly,
the original Rhythm of your pre-conceived life...

Find solace in the Rhythm
that plays you;
the Breath within the breath
that breathes you;
the Rhythm of
That which is
eternally Present *in* you;
That to which you have
devoted your
Heart...


Mystic Meandering
April 22, 2016

~*~

Be Silently Drawn...

I am being silently drawn by the stronger pull
of what I love -
Ineffable Silence,
the Essence of Life,
the Cosmic Breath,
the Infinite Rhythm
of ceaseless Love,
 Loving.

Deep Silence is “Home,”
the Primordial Womb,
which is not the absence
of thought or thinking,
or “doing”,
or creativity,
but a deep space
of Inner Quiet -
that thrives
with Aliveness

My greatest delight
is Immersion in
This - Pure Silence
Pure Awareness
Pure Aliveness
Pure Isness
of Being.

My greatest
JOY
is living
 in the Rhythm
 of this Sacred Silence of Life…

Life is calling me to This -
to experience the Essence of Life;
the Silent Presence of the Ineffable;

to know intimately
this all-pervasive Infinite Aliveness
that breathes everything…

The Living Breath…

Mystic Meandering
Meditative Writings
Feb. 8, 2016

“Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull
of what you really love…
It will not lead you astray…”

Rumi

~

Photo - Vortex Art
2011

The Ineffable Breath...

Beyond the concepts of duality and n0n-duality
there is only The Breath of Sacred Silence...
Here is neither oneness or two-ness,
only The Rhythm of the
Ineffable Breath
of Silence
IN
which
Existence exists

In this space
everything falls away -
even our own breath –

 all  breathing falls into the
the Rhythm of the
Ineffable – breathing
the essential Life that

underlies everything.

The Ineffable Breath is always
 here - and "we" -
 are always being breathed
by the Ineffable Breath...

A mystery...

The inhale and exhale
of the Cosmos,
one Rhythm.
No longer aware of
a separate "me,"
only the Ineffable Silence
breathing…

The mind tries to keep the personal
sense of "me" alive through
thought patterns,
thought processes,
an automated mechanism
that just runs,
creating scenarios of I/me
BUT
There is only The Breath
of The Ineffable,

Breathing -
breathing Existence.

There is no sense of
union,
or dissolution,
or surrender
of a thing
called
"me"

One is simply - absorbed -
 subtly by/into The Ineffable.

A natural, organic absorption of the whole being

 taking place IN the Ineffable Breath -
 the ongoing stream of
 Pure Beingness –

Ecstasy…

The mystery of Existence
 all takes place
IN

The Ineffable Breath of Silence

Mystic Meandering
Meditative Writings
January 18, 2016

~*~

This poem triggered a mass exodus from my blog.
Maybe it is too "esoteric", too confusing, as a "Friend" suggested.
And yet, this was/is my experience of the Ineffable, the Mystery of
Existence, during times of meditative Silence -
 lost in the Ineffable Breath.
But how does one express the inexpressible in
 "understandable" ways?

One doesn't  - that is why it is "ineffable" - i.e. beyond expression,
unspeakable.  And yet I felt compelled to write,
 to share the experience
through the only vehicle I know - words -
in hopes that it would inspire...

Namaste

Beyond Words - Wu Hsin & La Motte

Silence is the most powerful instruction.
It is the global solvent in which all doubts
and questions dissolve…
It is the Silence that is eloquent,
not my words…

The Silence speaks louder than any words….
Words consistently fail to express the Ineffable…
Words produce concepts…

…bask in Silence and in so doing
discern the deeper meaning…
do not attempt to understand…

Let the words pass through you,
piercing through the mind and
through the intellect,
and returning to their true Source…

Excerpt from
Behind the Mind:
The Short Discourses
of Wu Hsin

God’s native language is silence.
To meditate is to listen to God’s words of silence,
God’s breath of silence…

[Meditative Silence] is the deepest prayer,
the deepest conversation,
like the movement of waters in the ground
before they spring up into light.
Meditation is not a mute silence,
an empty silence,
but a silence filled with the juice of mutuality,
the flow of yearning and love.

There are tides in silence.
There are voices in silence.
There is giving and receiving.
But there are no words.

This is the Mystery of our union with God.

Fred La Motte
Uradiance


Photos: Sunrise
taken by hubby

Just Breathe...

Late at night,
at the edge of sleep,

I fall into the Rhythm of The Breath…

Content to just breathe ~

The silence outside the window

is pungent,

leaving me rapt,

sinking more deeply

into timelessness beyond time,

letting go of thought,

just awareing the stillness
of the night;

being breathed by

 The Silence of the Unknown…

I hear the sound of the ceiling fan

breathing its own whirling rhythm…

feeling the breeze of its breath

gently move the strands of my hair…

Just breathing ~

And "I" am suddenly gone…
unaware of my – self ~

slipping off the edge

into slumber;
lost in the Breath

until

just

before
the

rising
of

the

next

day

Again finding my-self

at the space at the edge,

before awakening ~
aware of…

Just Breathing ~

Aware of just Being…

Conscious of the Stillness

before thought...

Just breathing ~

Mystic Meandering

July 15, 2015

Photo: My husband found this on Facebook :)

The Cosmic Breath...

Rest in the breath of the Cosmos…
Ride the waves of an invisible
Aurora Borealis
dancing through space,
to the edge of Infinity…

…if there is an edge…

Have you ever wandered there?

Do you know?

Marvel in awe at the light of a gaseous nebula,
interstellar luminous dust
coagulating into form,
emanating its
brilliance
in

d
e
e
p

s p a c e

…the birth of a star?

Pause at the portal of a
swirling black hole.
A vortex
of nothingness
between parallel
realities?

Or ~
maybe a
door
into
the
still
point
of

I

N

F

I

N

I

T

Y

Have you ever looked through?

Do you dare…

Have you seen into “The Beyond”…

Have you felt the hush
floating in a field of stars?

Have you heard the
 Cosmic Silence
that carries you
deeper
into
”The Mystery”
and knew
you
were
That?

The Mystery of Existence…

Do you want to know?

Rest in the Cosmic Breath

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Wander the starry fields

* * *

* * * *

* *

*

Mystic Meandering
Dec. 7, 2014

2am

~*~

Photo - South Pole Aurora Borealis

"I" am LIFE...

“I” am LIFE existing here…

“I” am the Essence of Life
 living ItSelf out
 here...

I cannot say that I am “Christine” -
nor a Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu,
Sufi, Buddhist, Non-Dualist, Taoist,

or Mystic…

Mother, daughter, sister, friend,
or wife…

nor a dream,
or an illusion…

“I” am simply LIFE ~ existing ~
playing all these roles...

Suffering happens when
I try to claim
and
maintain
a
separate
identity,
a
separate
sense
of
"me"

~

”I am a

f

e

a

t

h

e

r

  on
 the
 breath of God,”
Hildegard of Bingen
says -
and even the
identity of a
”feather”

is
too
heavy
~

It’s only a metaphor

~
~
~

I follow the breath

to its
Source,
the

Silence,
and
realize
I am being
breathed

~
~
~

The “task” then
is to surrender,
to

 the
Infinite
breath of
 LIFE
that
”I”
am
~
~
~

Mystic Meandering
Feb. 25, 2014

~

Photo: “Explosion of Life”

CrayPas Oil Pastels
2012