Perceptions of The Universe - Selected Quotes

The surface of the earth is the shore of the cosmic ocean.
Some part of our being knows this is where we came from.
We long to return, and we can because the cosmos is
also within us.

We are made of star stuff.

Carl Sagan
Cosmos

~

photo - Johannes Plenio on Unsplash

What are we?

A fleeting, intricate presence riding a tiny speck of water
and rock, out here in the dark, sailing the ship of wonder
ever more deeply into the void from which we came...

Whitley Strieber and Jeffrey J. Kripal
from: The Super Natural: A New Vision of the Unexplained

~

When dew falls as tears from the morning sky,
When riverside trees sparkle in sunlight,
So close in my heart their shadows fall,
Then I know
That the Universe is a floating lotus
In the holy lake of my mind.
Then I know:

I am the voice within the Voice,
The song within the Song,
The life within the Life,
The light breaking through the heart of darkness.

Rabindranath Tagore
from - "A Flight of Swans"
translated by Aurobindo Bose

Photo - Mystic Meandering

~

... thus you came into being
from non-existence...

...like a star without a name...

Move across the night sky
with those anonymous lights...

Rumi

~

How we perceive affects what we believe,
what we believe affects what our perception is...

MM

Namaste

_/\_

Bliss Lotus Mandala...

“The divine manifestation is ubiquitous,
only our eyes are not open to it.
Awe is what moves us forward…

Live from your own center.
The divine lives within you.

The separateness apparent
in the world is secondary.

Beyond the world of opposites
is an unseen,
but experienced,
unity and identity
in us all…

I say follow your bliss
and don’t be afraid,
and doors will open where
you didn’t know
they were going to be.”

Joseph Campbell

Via - Love Is A Place

~

It’s amazing to me how such a little thing
like creating mandalas could evoke
such bliss and happiness;
could bring peace of mind
and the joy of Being…

That’s why I call this one
Bliss Lotus…

What triggers your Bliss!? J

I inverted the top photo color
with Adobe Fireworks,
and voila!

More Bliss! J

"...the Buddha seed..."

As many of you who regularly read this blog know, I am not a “Buddhist”, although recently I find myself enamored with the Buddha, feeling a deep inner sense of the universal Buddha presence within. In the past I have given this presence names like Awareness, Presence, Spirit, Being, Stillness, etc. This Buddha Presence has a compassionate, loving, peaceful, comforting presence that I feel in my heart and gut; that calms and consoles; that has a sense of “assurance” to it. There is an innocent curiosity that arises with the felt sense of this presence within, wanting to follow. So I am exploring this new awareness of the Buddha internally – as in: This is interesting, let’s see where this goes. Do I need to leave breadcrumbs just in case?

Sometimes I feel gifted during times of meditation when I get words and insights that always seem to be just what I need to hear. With the recent drama in my life, silence and meditation have been difficult, but in the last couple of weeks they were beginning to become my internal comforts – although I admit, food and TV are still right up there at the top of the list, as well as various other distractions of the body/mind. :)

However, during meditation last week I was able to settle in to the Silence enough to get still and asked:

Buddha – what do you want here?

The response:

Utter and complete stillness, like a lotus on a pond.

Utter and complete waiting – in stillness.

Utter and complete presence – inward/inner presence.

And during this “utter and complete stillness” – which of course was not totally “utter and complete”, but the best that I could do - I reflected that the Buddha Nature is like a seed in the heart that needs attention, awareness, and presence, in order to open fully. Still, silent attentive awareness; a silent gaze of attention inwardly, continually, bringing the inner gaze there to the seed of the Buddha Nature: “the Buddha seed” were the words that came…

A visual of an open white Lotus flower also came.

So I asked: What does Buddha want me to know here?

Mindfulness – mindful awareness that *sees.*

Bring your awareness to the Buddha seed in the Heart.

Bring steadfast presence to the seed of the Buddha Nature within.

Hold the seed of light in your awareness – like the Lotus Light …

Constant, continual awareness of the seed within until it fully opens.

This is the Buddha Nature – the seed of the Lotus Light that shines.

Create an environment for this seed to thrive…

Be like the hidden jewel, the hidden light – waiting,

content to wait in stillness; enfolded, held and embraced. Waiting.

The Buddha seed will open when it is ready… Wait in stillness…

Be “stillness waiting.”

So be it…

~*~