The Inner Sanctuary - St. Teresa of Avila

There is a secret place.
A radiant sanctuary...

This magnificent refuge is inside you.

Enter

Shatter the darkness that shrouds the doorway.

Be bold.  Be humble.

Put away the incense and forget the incantation
they taught you.  Ask no permission from the
authorities.

Slip away...

Close your eyes and follow your breath
to the still place that leads to the invisible path
that leads you home.

Listen...

Softly, the One you love is calling...

Listen...

At first you will only hear traces of his [her] Voice.
Love letters he [she] drops for you in hiding places -
in the sun dipping down below the horizon,
in the nameless sorrow that fills your heart when you
wake in the night and remember that the world has gone
to war and you are powerless to break up the fight.

Let the idle chatter between friends drop down to
what matters.

Listen...

his [her] Voice will come closer.
A whisper you're almost sure is meant for you
fading in and out of the cacophony of thoughts
clearer in the silent space between them.

Listen...

Be brave and walk through the country of your own
wild heart.

Be gentle and know that you know nothing.

Be still...

Listen...

Keep walking...

Crossing the moat [threshold] between this world and that...

This is The Beloved reclining in the innermost chamber,
waiting for you...

The Beloved has chosen for his [her] dwelling place
the core of your own being because that is the single
most beautiful place in all creation.

Enter the center of your Soul...

Excerpts from the Introduction to:
The Interior Castle
by St. Teresa of Avila

translation by Mirabai Starr

[brackets mine]

~

Vortex Art - Mystic Meandering

2024

 

Live in Harmony with the Voice of Being - Vaclav Havel

It is I who must begin.

Here and now,

right where I am,
not excusing myself
by saying things
would be easier elsewhere,
without grand speeches and
ostentatious gestures,
but all the more persistently
- to live in harmony
with the 'voice of Being', as I
understand it within myself.....

Vaclav Havel

Teaching with Fire

with thanks to Love Is A Place

~

Photo Art - Mystic Meandering

 

Quiet Whispers...

Lately I've been hearing Quiet Whispers
in my chest, telling me that "everything will be okay" -
while standing at the sink doing dishes,
while making sandwiches for lunch -
or dicing carrots or peeling potatoes;
late at night just before sleep;
even watching TV.

Suddenly my Heart goes Quiet,
I feel pulled inward,
and "It" whispers:
"Everything will be okay."
And I am suddenly at peace...

Now I listen for the Quiet space inside,
reigniting inspiration, 
tapping me into my own inner knowing
telling me that "everything will be okay."
Nobody else can tell me this;
they don't know...

Only my own Quiet Heart Knows...

I listen to the whispers...

Mystic Meandering
June 8, 2024

10:10 am

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering
Butterfly Wing Shadow

 

The "Real Journey"? - a meandering...

It may be that when we no longer know what to do
we have come to our real work,
and that when we no longer know which way to go
we have come to our real journey.

Wendell Berry

I find myself facing major life changes these days, in my 70's,
living with the questions, waiting for the way to become clear.
Watching the mysterious signposts along the way.  It's not a
crossroads exactly, nor a threshold.  It's more like limbo: all
questions, few clues, no answers.  With a timing all its own.

Berry's quote is a reminder for me in this busy-ness, work-identified
realm we live in - living under pressure to "produce", to get things
done, to "fix" yourself, physically, spiritually, psychologically,
that it takes courage to not have answers, to just slow down, to
set out on an inner journey I cannot see...

In my elder years perspectives have changed, the body has less
stamina and endurance to live the way the world lives: the hurried,
cacophony of living.  And so a "new journey" has begun, both
spiritually and physically - a slower paced interior journey -
and not necessarily meditation, but just more silence and solitude
and inner listening, when I can.  Maybe this *is* the "real journey" 
that Berry speaks of.  I'll let you know :)

~

I was journaling about this "shift" I seem to be going through
when the Inner Voice whispered:

"It's all a story" -

"You're a story within the 'Greater Story' of Existence."

I somehow felt relieved to hear this - and the recognition
that I am (my life is) only a story - as if I hadn't heard this before,
in different, more "spiritualized" words :)

Life is like a novel, the main story is your entire life,
with different chapters in it - different stories,
within a larger Story - a larger Reality.

The Inner Voice went on to say: Most people think they are in
control of their lives.  They don't realize they're just living a
story.  And the story doesn't dissolve until we die.  We are all
living the stories of our lives within a bigger context.  We are
all unique stories/expressions of the "Greater Story of Existence."
Which doesn't mean that we aren't "real", but like the wave of
the Ocean, we are each a unique expression of a greater Reality.
(And I like to think of it as a Cosmic Ocean - we are waves,
vibrations of a Cosmic Ocean that we can't see.  We are infinite
beings living a story.)

It kinda took the air out of the "self-importance" balloon; nothing
special, just a story, like everyone else, a blip in the ocean of
eternity...  It was like a burden had been lifted...  I could just
relax, internally, with no more striving after "enlightenment", or
perfection, or identifying with the "I Am"...  The story of "me" dies 
with us at death, unless "the story" is written down somewhere,
in a time bound obituary: a story of my life story...

Sigh - such relief to know I'm only a story...

BTW - if this perspective changes I'll be sure to 
write about it :) LOLOL

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

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

The Inner Sanctuary - Mirabai Starr

There is a secret place.
A radiant sanctuary...

This magnificent refuge is inside you.

Enter

Shatter the darkness that shrouds the doorway.

Be bold.  Be humble.

Put away the incense and forget the incantation
they taught you.  Ask no permission from the
authorities.

Slip away...

Close your eyes and follow your breath
to the still place that leads to the invisible path
that leads you home.

Listen...

Softly, the One you love is calling...

Listen...

At first you will only hear traces of his [her] Voice.
Love letters he [she] drops for you in hiding places -
in the sun dipping down below the horizon,
in the nameless sorrow that fills your heart when you
wake in the night and remember that the world has gone
to war and you are powerless to break up the fight.

Let the idle chatter between friends drop down to
what matters.

Listen...

his [her] Voice will come closer.
A whisper you're almost sure is meant for you
fading in and out of the cacophony of thoughts
clearer in the silent space between them.

Listen...

Be brave and walk through the country of your own
wild heart.
Be gentle and know that you know nothing.

Be still...

Listen...

Keep walking...

Crossing the moat between this world and that...

This is The Beloved reclining in the innermost chamber,
waiting for you...

The Beloved has chosen for his [her] dwelling place
the core of your own being because that is the single

most beautiful place in all creation.

Enter the center of your Soul...

Mirabai Starr

Excerpts from the Introduction to:

The Interior Castle
by St. Teresa of Avila

translation by Mirabai Starr

~

Vortex Art - Mystic Meandering
2012

 

The Ever-Changing "Path" - a meandering

Once again Life is asking me to change my "path."
I am again embarking on what feels like a leap into
uncertainty, jumping off the "spiritual treadmill,"
and allowing myself to just BE,
letting go of the need to look through a particular
"spiritual" filter.
Although I am still drawn to all things "spiritual."
It's in my Soul, and DNA :)

I rediscovered recently how freeing it is to just be "me" - 
not trying to be more "spiritual", or something other than I am.
I don't have to be self-conscious about using the words
 "I", "me", and "my" - in some kind of pseudo "non-dualness",
as some traditions do...
 - because -
 it's all Source - expressing ItSelf. 
There's no need to make a distinction between self and
 Self, creating divisions where there aren't any.

I only need to BE, and let Source reveal Itself,
express Itself, live Itself as "me" - a wave on the Ocean of Being.

It's not about "me" being "enlightened", but rediscovering my
authentic, natural self - and just living it - just walking it.
It's a fluid "path", not static, and not always clear.

I continue to gradually shed the conceptual frameworks that
have defined and informed my "path" so far - the boxes of
belief that have tended to constrain my authentic expression.
And now trying to extricate myself from the life dramas
that have preoccupied my mind and life recently; although that
is proving to be harder than I thought.

This shift in consciousness is happening gradually, over time,
and I doubt that it's over.  There is no finish line to cross, no
destination to arrive at.  It's a never-ending exploration of the
Truth of Myself;  which sometimes feels like an
"existential crisis." :)

I no longer pursue a "path" or "teacher", but only a direct
intimacy/communion with "The Mystery"/The Divine/Source
(however one defines that for themselves) - listening and
waiting for the Inner Voice...

Asking: What is "The Mystery" calling me to now?

Mystic Meandering
April 2024

~

Photo from the internet

 

The Inner Voice - Janet Conner

There is a Voice inside you.
There is a Voice inside everyone.
Whether you hear it or not, the Voice is there.
Whether you acknowledge it or not, 
the Voice is there.
Whether you ask for help or ignore its guidance,
the Voice is still there.  

Waiting.
It is waiting for you to stop,
if just for a moment, and listen.
The Voice is always there, guiding you,
encouraging you, loving you...
Pick up your pen and penetrate the thin wall
of consciousness that keeps you apart...
Once you start asking for more you will start 
receiving more:
more ideas, more intuition, more inspiration,
more wisdom, more opportunities,
more challenges, and more questions.
Always, there are more questions.
The answers live deep inside the questions.

Janet Conner
from: Writing Down Your Soul

with thanks to Heron Dance

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

My mother's and grandmother's
writing desk, at sunset...  Now topped with
assorted baubles :)

 

Silence Lost?...

Entering "The Silence"
the place of deep inner Silence and Stillness...

Relaxing...

Listening deeply for the Inner Voice.
Following its sound.
Finding its Rhythm in the fluid, instinctive
inner River...

It is the space of The Sacred...

This aware, awake space is curious and unafraid,
wants to engage, to see, to know,
to experience ~

...and be experienced...

This space is deeply compassionate,
deeply open.

...and is waiting to be known...

Pure Awareness
flows through here ~

the life blood of The Sacred.
It flows around the obstacles of my mind,
and moves toward every disturbance,

filling every mind-made crack and crevice,
wanting to meet, soothe, comfort, and embrace.

In "The Silence"
there is only patience, listening
and deep rest...

It is a gentle refuge
that feels like Home...

Mystic Meandering
Nov. 2010

~

Vortex Art - Mystic Meandering
Craypas Oils with fingers
March 2024

~

Personal Note:

In 2010, and for many years, encountering the deep
Silence of Being for me felt like encountering "God",
"The Beloved", "The Sacred", "The Ineffable."

I basked in The Sacred Silence, absorbed, feeling the
sense of Presence, of something vaster than an image of
"God" that I hold in my mind; something which is
ever-present and personal...  The Deep Silence within
is the Heart of Being, "The Mystery" - my refuge.

Over the last 17 months I have "lost" the "sense" of
Intimacy with The Deep Silence within, getting
consumed by the *content* of my current life
experience...

The Great Silence has been my Companion, my Helper,
my Sanctuary, my "Teacher" for many years, and I hope
to regain that inner sense of Communion, to be able to
access the Deeper Dimension of The Silence again,
as this is the only way I will get through this period
in time, with its struggles and challenges...

Intellectually/conceptually I understand that "The Silence"
- however one calls it - "God", "The Beloved", "The Divine",

"Awareness" is always here - never "lost."
What is "lost" is the felt sense of intimacy with "The Silence
of the Sacred", my "Source."
I miss it - like a dear Friend...

But as of this post I do feel it slowly returning...
Or is it me that is returning to the Source :)

MM

March 2024

 

"The Cave"...

Entering "The Cave"

the place of deep inner Silence and stillness...

Relaxing...

Listening deeply for the Inner Voice.
Following its sound.
Finding its Rhythm in the fluid, instinctive
inner River...

It is the space of The Sacred...

This aware, awake space is curious and unafraid,
wants to engage, to see, to know,
to experience ~

...and be experienced...

This Space is deeply compassionate,
deeply open,

...and is waiting to be known...

Pure Awareness
flows through here ~

the life blood of The Sacred.
It flows around the obstacles of my mind,
and moves toward every disturbance,
filling every mind-made crack and crevice,
wanting to meet, soothe, comfort, and embrace.

In "The Cave"
there is only patience, listening
and deep rest...

It is a gentle refuge
that feels like Home...

Mystic Meandering
Nov. 2010

Personal Note:  It's been a long time since I've
entered "The Cave."  I've missed it...

~

Photo - Art - Mystic Meandering
Craypas oils with fingers

 

The Voices of the River - Hermann Hesse

Christopher Robin came down from the Forest to the Bridge,
feeling all sunny and careless, and just as if twice nineteen
didn't matter a bit, as it didn't on such a happy afternoon, and
he thought that if he stood on the bottom rail of the bridge, and
leant over, and watched the river slipping slowly away beneath
him, then he would suddenly know everything that there was
to be known.

- From Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne

Siddartha came to the same realization - that the river offers
access to all knowledge, at least all that is important.  You have
to tune into the river first though. You can't think of it as an
impediment.

It slips slowly by underneath you.  If you tune into it, believe it
might be able to tell you something, it offers unity with all voices,
all goals, all yearnings, sorrows, pleasures, good and evil, the 
laughter of the wise as well as the groan of the dying.

If you listen to the river long enough, if you stand on the bottom
rung and tune in, the river offers unity in all things.

~~~

Siddartha listened.  He was so listening intently, completely
absorbed, quite empty, taking in everything.  He felt that he
had now completely learned the art of listening.  He had often
heard all this before, all these numerous voices in the river, but
today they sounded different.  He could no longer distinguish
the different voices - the merry voice from the weeping voice,
the childish voice from the manly voice.  They all belonged to
each other: the lament of those who yearn, the laughter of the
wise, the cry of indignation and the groan of the dying.  They
were all interwoven and interlocked, entwined in a thousand
ways.  And all the voices, all the goals, all the yearnings, all
the sorrows, all the pleasures, all the good and evil, all of them
together was the world.  All of them together was the stream of
events, the music of life.  When Siddartha listened attentively
to this river, to this song of a thousand voices; when he did not
listen to the sorrow or laughter, when he did not bind his soul
to any one particular voice and absorb it in his Self, but heard
them all, the whole, the unity; then the great song of a thousand
voices consisted of one word: OM - perfection.

"Do you hear?" asked Vasudeva's glance once again.

Vasudeva's smile was radiant; it hovered brightly in all the
wrinkles of his old face, as the OM hovered over all the voices
of the river.  His smile was radiant as he looked at this friend,
and now the same smile appeared on Siddartha's face.  His
wound was healing, his pain was dispersing; his Self had
merged into unity.

From that hour Siddartha ceased to fight against his destiny.
There shone on his face the serenity of knowledge, of one who
is no longer confronted with conflict of desires,
who is in harmony with the stream of events, with the stream
 of life, full of sympathy and compassion, surrendering himself
 to the stream, belonging to the unity of all things.

Hermann Hesse  
From Siddartha

With thanks to Rod MacIver
at Heron Dance Art Studio

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

The Voice of Silence Within - Fred LaMotte

Upon emerging from meditation.  I was moved to share this:

The world is not in chaos.  Minds are in chaos.
There is a place we need to return to: the wellspring of our own
intuition, the starry depth in our core.  This is the real Guru, the
true Friend, the true Master.  Throw the penny in this little mind
into that well, which has been silently bubbling up for countless
lifetimes, in a hidden glade, the wildest glen of your ancient brain.
Fall into this yearning hollow, all the way down your spine,
through your rib cage into the solar plexus.  You are just a ripple
of silence trembling into the galaxy.  Who will guide you to this
well?  The true Friend.  She leads you not to herself, but points 
beyond words to your own heart.  Listen to the voice of the Silence
inside silence.  A real Guru reveals this murmuring spring in the
valley of your chest,through a whisper, a touch, or their mere
presence.  They then walk away, freeing you to name the Mystery
for yourself, as you gaze into the unfathomable waters of Shakti,
the healing current of your own awakened grace.  Whenever you
want to come to this forest pool and sit with your Guru, or the
Christ, with Buddha, or with any of the Rishis, you find them
waiting here, nearer than your pulse.  Not in any temple or
ashram, but in the golden dark inside the inward spring of
Divine Love, overflowing with the nectar of emptiness,
gushing stars, pouring out the fierce wild atoms of your body,
for no reason but to dance.

Fred LaMotte
Uradiance

~

Photo from the Internet 

 

Thresholds - John O'Donohue

Like Spring secretly at work within the heart of Winter,
below the surface of our lives
huge changes are in fermentation.
We never suspect a thing.
Then when the grip of some
long-enduring winter mentality
begins to loosen,
we find ourselves
vulnerable
to
a
flourish
of
possibility

and we are suddenly negotiating
the challenges

of
a threshold...

At any time you can ask yourself:
At which threshold am I now standing?
At this time in my life, what am I leaving?
Where am I about to enter?

A threshold is not simply a boundary;
it is a frontier
that divides two different territories,
rhythms, and atmosphere.

Indeed, it is a lovely testimony
to the fullness and integrity
of an experience or a stage of life
that intensifies toward the end
into a real frontier
that cannot be crossed without
the heart being passionately
engaged
and
woken up.

At this threshold
a great complexity of emotion
comes alive:

confusion,
fear,
excitement,
sadness,
hope.

This is one of the reasons
such vital crossings
were always clothed in ritual.

It is wise in your own life
to be able to recognize and acknowledge
the key thresholds;
to take your time;
to feel all the varieties of presence
that accrue here;
to listen inward
with complete attention
until you hear
the inner voice

calling you
forward:

The time has come
to cross.

John O'Donohue
Excerpts from: To Bless the Space Between Us
(I put the excerpts into prose poem format)

~

...I find myself navigating the challenges of a major
threshold - an unexpected visitor has arrived, creating
an unexpected threshold and transition in life -
from a fairly quiet, slower paced, contemplative lifestyle,
now thrown into the role of a caregiver for a sibling, who
requires my constant attention - while the TV runs all
day long; background noise to a life thrown into chaos

I am having to find my own little quiet sanctuary both within
myself and in the house; as my house is no longer
my "sanctuary."

My life is cluttered with noise - full of distractions and
interruptions that muddle the mind with the over-stimulation.

And I wonder, why I must cross this particular threshold at this
time in my life - my elder years.  And how do I navigate and
negotiate the challenges that are being presented and still
maintain a sense of sanity...

It has been a difficult threshold for sure: exhausted and
stressed most of the time - unable to keep up the pace;
needing to remember to "step back", to disengage from the
emotions that are rising up, and bring my attention to the
Essence of my own Being; not allowing the stress and
anxiety to engulf me - and the new way I am living -
which is so foreign to my own rhythm with life,
and with my soul...

I know many of you out there have been "caregivers" for
a family member.  I would be interested in hearing your experience
 and how you were able to transition into a new way of living
without losing yourself - your own rhythms with life...

You can email me at:
mysticmeandering@gmail.com

_/\_

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

Time is Limited - Steve Jobs

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living
someone else's life. Don't be trapped by
dogma. which is living the results of other
people's thinking.  Don't let the noise of others'
opinions drown out your inner voice.  And 
most importantly, have the courage to follow
your heart and intuition.  They somehow
already know what you truly want...

Steve Jobs

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

There is a Voice - Jonathan Star

Art by Joe Maccer at Deviant Art 

 There is a voice in us all that is ever-present,
a voice that always sings its melody to the world...
This is the voice of truth..., the voice that
lays bare the hidden mysteries of the Soul.

Jonathan Star 

 translator of Rumi poetry

from his book: In the Arms of The Beloved

The above quote is taken from an article written
by Jonathan star on Stillness Speaks.
See the full article at "In Silence - Rumi"

Remaining Empty - Thomas Merton

Art by Ann Poucher

The true "contemplative" is not one who prepares his mind
for a particular message that he wants or expects to hear, but
is one who remains empty because he knows that he can never
 anticipate the words that will transform his darkness into light. 
He does not even anticipate a special kind of transformation.
He does not demand light instead of darkness.  He waits in
silence, and, when he is "answered," it is not so much by a
word that bursts into his silence.  It is by his silence itself,
suddenly, inexplicably revealing itself to him as a word of
great power, full of the voice of [the Silence].

Thomas Merton
from: The Climate of Monastic Prayer

(one of the last books he prepared for publication)

~

Personal Note: Although I do not consider myself a
"contemplative", as a "Mystic", I have had similar
experience with silence/Silence.  The labels don't
really matter.  It is the "remaining empty" in silence,
listening without agenda, that allows for the "direct
experience" of the Ineffable - aka - the Voice of
The Silence...

An Inner Whisper - John O'Donohue

Human identity is complex.  Nothing is ever given simply
or immediately.  Even the simplest act of perception has
many layers... Time and memory often reveal things later
that were staring us in the eye, but we never noticed them.
The quest for the truth of things is never ending.  Every
experience is open to countless readings and interpretations.
We never see a thing completely.  In sure anticipation, our
eyes have always already altered what awaits our gaze.
The search for truth is difficult and uncomfortable.  Because
the mystery is too much for us, we may opt to settle for
the surface of things.  Comfort becomes more important than
true presence.  This is precisely why we need to hear the
discerning voice.

Somewhere in every heart there is a discerning voice.  This
voice distrusts the status quo.  It sounds out the falsity in
things and encourages the dissent from the images things
tend to assume.  It underlines the secret crevices where the
surface has become strained.  It advises distance and opens
up a new perspective through which the concealed meaning
 of a situation might emerge... Its intention is to keep the heart
clean and clear.  This voice is an inner whisper not obvious or
known to others outside...  Yet much depends on that small
voice.  The truth of its whisper marks the line between honor
and egoism, kindness and chaos.  In extreme situations,
which have been emptied of all shelter and tenderness,
that small voice whispers from somewhere beyond and
encourages the heart to hold out for dignity, respect, beauty
and love.  That whisper brings forgotten nobility into an arena
where violence has traduced everything.  This faithful voice
can illuminate the dark lands of despair.  It becomes both the
sign and presence of a transcendence that no force or horror
can extinguish.  Each day in the world, in the prisons, hospitals
and killing fields, against all the odds, this still, small voice
continues to echo the beauty of the human being.  In haunted
places this voice carries the light of beauty like a magical
lantern to transform the desolation, to remind us that
regardless of what may be wrenched from us, there is a
dignity and hope that we do not have to lose.  This voice
brings us directly into contact with the inalienable presence
of beauty in the soul.

John O'Donohue

~

Photo from the Internet

Spirit and Mind - Etty Hillesum

Spirit and mind should feed each other.  What you must
not do is rely on some external certainty, and that means
being secure in yourself and at peace with yourself, but
also that your mind is allowed to explore what makes life
hang together, not because you want to achieve something
or you want to succeed at something that interests you, but
because you happen to have been created with a passionate
and honest concern for what goes on in the world, and
above all for what goes on in your inner world.

You shouldn't live on your brains alone but on deeper, more
abiding sources...  You should gratefully accept your brains
as a precious tool for delving into what problems your soul
brings forth... And have ever greater trust in intuition...

Etty Hillesum
from: Etty Hillesum - Essential Writings

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering
Quartz Crystal with reflection of light