The Loom of Weaving...

Withdraw from the Loom of Weaving;
the mind-made threads, the mind-made
rhythms on the surface of life, and find
the Silent Thread
that weaves through all other threads.

The True Rhythm of Life

Stay with this silent, organic Rhythm
that flows through you.
Put all other synthetic threads aside and
follow the Silent Thread...

Follow the Deeper Rhythm...

Wait in Silence
until you feel the True Rhythm within...
The Rhythm of Silence.

Follow this Rhythm to the Source,
like a stream that Flows to the River,
that flows to the Ocean.
Find the Source in The Rhythm...

Where does it take you?

Into the depths of your self -
the depths of your Being,
the depths of Silence...

Attune to that Rhythm...

Mystic Meandering
Aug 27, 2020

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

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

 

Just Walk It - a meandering...

Some people's nature is made for Silence and Solitude,
others - not...

I crave it...

that is - my body and soul crave it...

I am often overwhelmed by the stimulation
of daily living, being pulled by the externals,
needing to turn to the Inner Life...

There are many ways of accessing our "Inner Being"/Essence,
or "The Divine", or "Source" - however one calls it;
through being out in nature, thru Dance, or writing Poetry,
in Art, or Music, and Meditation; however we are naturally
inclined.  It's an individual thing and "The Divine"/Source/Life
meets us where we are, *as* we are...

There are no "shoulds" or "have to's" in intimacy with
"The Inner Silence."
You don't have to regurgitate what you have been taught
was the "truth"; what you are conditioned to *believe*
as an established way of "believing" - a dogma...

Maybe we're just a dramatization/expression of
"Consciousness", or "The Source", or "The Ineffable";
Unique waves on the Ocean of Awareness.

No one person, religion, spirituality, philosophy or
institution *has* the "answer"...

The Real Source of "truth" is within, and transcends all
beliefs, unencumbered by religion, language, history, or culture...

Life unfolds differently for all of us.
And maybe it "happens" according to the way we "believe" -
who knows...

Go the way you feel pulled/called to go,
the path will change as needed.

Whatever your walk of Life,
whatever your nature,
whatever your path,
just walk it...

Mystic Meandering
March 15, 2024

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

"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

 

The River of Silence - Kahlil Gibran

For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind
and to melt into the sun?  And what is it to cease
breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides,
that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?
Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you 
indeed sing.

And when you have reached the mountaintop, then shall
you begin to climb.  And when the earth shall claim your
limbs, then shall you truly dance.

Kahlil Gibran

~

You must seek nothing but the Source...

Rumi

~

Photo - my late blog friend Dorothea...
Walked into the Light - Jan. 17, 2021

~

In this season of honoring the rebirth of the Light;
in the cycle of birth, death and rebirth -

We don't have to physically die to experience the deep,
 restorative Silence - and dance


  MM

 

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

 

Fleeting Whispers...

Her past fades away -
mere images in a dreamland -
forgotten...

Her world fades away - unbelonging now -
a foreigner on a strange planet
whirling through space.
Kabuki theater...

Her mind fades - not remembering
the things she needs to remember -
unable to articulate what she has forgotten...

Her body fades - unable to do the things she used to do - 

challenged keeping pace with life -
frustration...

Her life, paper thin, fades to a shadowy form
unable to hold its color -
losing its luster...

We are impermanent, fleeting whispers of spirit
on a temporary journey -
this life experience...

And sometimes that story doesn't go the way
we have in mind...

It all fades away - eventually...

That is the natural state of things...

So she turns her inner compass
toward "Home" - toward Source -
that lies within her...

Mystic Meandering
Nov. 26, 2023

 

Receptivity - Rick Rubin

Be receptive to the Source, whatever that mysterious force
may be.  Listen, Meditate, Pay attention...
Take seriously receiving suggestions from friends and
others that you may be immediately inclined to reject.
It may be the Universe trying to bring an important
[message] into your awareness.

In order to make room in your life and consciousness
for incoming messages, you need to be time efficient.
Not rushed, you can't rush from appointment to appointment,
from project to project.  You need to slow down.
You need to protect your interior stability.
Avoid arguments.  Avoid over-committing.
Avoid people who are out of balance and inclined to waste
their time and yours.  Focus on projects that 
multiply your energy.

Rick Rubin

Music Producer

with thanks to Heron Dance

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

Roots in the Unseen - Rumi

Everything you see has its roots
In the unseen world.

The forms may change
Yet the essence remains the same.

Every wondrous sight will vanish,
Every sweet word will fade,
But do not be disheartened.

The Source they come from is Eternal,
Growing, branching out,
Giving new life and new joy.

Why do you weep?
That Source is within you
And this whole world
Is springing up from it.

The Source is full,

Its waters are every-flowing;
Do no grieve,
Drink your fill!

Don't think it will ever run dry,
This is the endless Ocean.

Rumi

~

Photo taken by my brother
somewhere in Canada :)

 

Inner Listening - Danna Faulds

I'm trying to listen
at the level of the soul,
to hear the liquid gold
that flows in from Source,
to receive the mystery
with all my inner senses.

I can't tell you how I
do this exactly.  It's a
matter of attuning and
also choosing to receive.
It isn't so much a practice
as a way of life --
opting for quiet so I don't
miss the gifts that come
from who knows where
to keep me focused on
the truth.  I'm not sure why
inner listening means so
much to me, but I think
it's why I'm here.  Today,
what the universe has to
say to me is this: There is
only one consciousness
shining through the whole.
Open to it.  Breathe it in.
Receive it fully.  By being
yourself without shame
or excuses, you add your
small puzzle piece to the
infinite frame of the unknown.

Danna Faulds

with thanks to No Mind's Land

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

Infinite Spirit/Divine Flow - Trine

There is an Infinite Spirit of Life behind all [life] -
a divine flow from the Infinite Source through the individual.
If this is true then the life that comes by this inflow to man
is necessarily the same in essence.  It is a difference in degree.

Our life as individual spirits is continually coming from this
Infinite Source by means of this divine inflow.  If our lives are
directly from this Infinite Spirit that is manifested in the life
of each [then it]is identical in quality with that Source, just as a
 drop of water from the ocean is, in nature, in characteristics,
identical with the ocean, its source.  How could it be otherwise?

Doesn't it not then follow that the only limitations are the
limitations he [man] sets to himself, by virtue of no knowing
himself?  Recognizing our true identity brings our life into
harmony with the same force.

The great central fact in human life, is the coming into a
conscious vital realization or our oneness with the Infinite Life,
and the opening of ourselves fully to this divine flow.

Ralph Waldo Trine

From: In Tune with The Infinite

published in 1897

~

Photo Aurora Borealis from a calendar

 

Listening for "The Beloved" - Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee

...listening is not an effort, not a technique...
Listening springs from the desire to be with the one
whom you want to hear ["The Beloved" - or however one
calls their Source.].  Listening is a coming close, waiting
for Presence to materialize into words, to form ItSelf
out of Silence.  Listening is a relationship, even in the
silence when nothing is heard.  Learning to listen is to
allow our self to be present without imposing or demanding,
to hold a space where something can be told, where
meeting can unfold between.....lover and The Beloved; 
where openness is answered.  The lover is the one who
listens, whose being is born to listen for The Beloved.
Without the lover, how could the song of The Beloved
be heard?

At the beginning we have to learn the art of listening, the
art of being present, attentive and empty. We have to
catch the still, small voice of The Beloved, and not
interrupt, not ask too many questions.  We have to learn
to be silent, because listening is born from silence.  The
listening of the heart is always an act of love, a coming 
together [communion], even when nothing is heard.
Listening is a wisdom.  It is feminine, receptive, hidden...
Rumi knew how central a part if plays in our wordless
relationship with The Beloved.  He said:

'Make everything in you an ear, each atom of your being,
and you will hear at every moment what the Source is
whispering to you, just to you and for you..."

You are - we all are - the beloved of The Beloved, and in
every moment, in every event of life, The Beloved is
whispering to you exactly what you need to hear and know.
Listen [for The Beloved] and you will discover it ever
passing moment.  Listen, and your whole life will become a
conversation in thought and action between you and The
Beloved directly, wordlessly, now and always.

We need to rediscover
how the heart listens to its Beloved.

Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
Sufi Mystic

Excerpts from an article called:
The Circle of Love
on Spirituality and Practice

~

Photo from the Internet

 

A Vessel For Blessing - John O'Donohue

May morning be astir withe the harvest of night;
Your mind quickening to the eros of a new question,
Your eyes seduced by some unintended glimpse
That cut right through the surface to Source.

May this be a morning of innocent beginning,
When the gift within you slips clear
Of the sticky web of the personal
With its hurt and its hauntings,
And fixed fortress corners.

A morning when you become a pure vessel
For what wants to ascend from Silence.

May your imagination know
The grace of perfect danger,

To reach beyond imitation,
and the wheel of repetition,

Deep into the call of all
The unfinished and unsolved

Until the veil of the unknown yields
And something original begins
To stir toward your senses
And grow stronger in your heart

In order to come to birth
In a clean line of form,
That claims from time
A rhythm not yet heard,
That calls space to
A different shape.

May it be its own force field
And dwell uniquely
Between the heart and the light

To surprise the hungry eye
By how deftly it fits
About its secret loss.

John O'Donohue
From - To Bless The Space Between Us
Original title: "Blessing for Artists at the Start of the Day"

with thanks to The Beauty We Love

Photo - Mystic Meandering

Commentary by Brittany Deninger:

One of the things that O'Donohue's exquisite blessings suggest is that blessing doesn't erase difficulty, but rather reaches deeper.  [Blessing] he says, is not the invention of what is not there, nor the glaze-eyed belief that the innocent energy of goodwill can alter what is destructive.  Blessing.....issues from the confident depth of the hidden self, and its vision and force can transform what is deadlocked, numbed, and inevitable.  When you bless someone, you literally call the force of their infinite self into action.

The hope of a blessing is that we reach for language that is large enough to hold and welcome the full range of human experience. ...our hardships are an inevitable part of the story.  Our difficult experiences are our teachers that mark us and make us. ...the words that pass between us have potential to invite and to invoke.  Our words can clear a path for the depth of another soul to emerge.  The central gesture of a blessing is presence calling to presence.

Brittany Deninger
Asst. Instructor in Theology and Culture
Excerpt from an essay entitled: "The Art of Blessing", posted in the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology Website

 

The Face of The Sacred...

 All life is a Cosmic Dance
and a play of perspectives from which
you see it...

Everything is temporary -
breath, thoughts - life;
existence itself, even the planet.
All experience is energy;
pain, depression, anger,
joy, love - a vibration...

The Face of The Sacred is revealed in every "bloom" -
every experience of Life - as it is -
no matter how painful...

Every flower has its own "face" - concealed.
But even in the pain of life it blossoms...

Source reveals ItSelf through our pain...

She pulls back the veils of concealment to reveal
our True Face - a beautiful reflection of Her "bloom",
hidden in the movements of Her mystical Dance of Life...

Mystic Meandering
May 24, 2022

with thanks to Mitch Rosacker of Self Discovery Studio
for the inspiration for the poem :)

Video - from a Friend of Mitch

Personal Commentary about the poem:
This poem came about as a result of a break through moment while
talking with Mitch - and - from the video of the Iris that he sent
me from a Friend.  When the woman pulled back the top petals of
the Iris to reveal a face inside the "bloom" I gasped...  And realized
that our True Face is hidden behind the veils (or masks) that we
wear - thus the line: "She pulls back the veils of concealment to
reveal our True Face - a beautiful reflection of Her "bloom" (Face).

_/\_

MM

Soul Fury - Shams Tabriz

Art by Andrew Ostrovsky

born in Odessa, Ukraine
lives in the U.S.

What is your origin?
The Source?What is spirit?

Spend your life finding out...
other mysteries will come clear.

"God" is depth.  And you, you are also deep.
The same depth is in you.

Don't worry about terminology, pre-existence,
the original face, spirit, soul.

Search within yourself,  The great mystery is there.

Excerpts from the Sayings of Shams Tabriz

from: Soul Fury by Rumi and Shams Tabriz

With thanks to No Minds's Land

 

The Essence - a meandering

The Essence of our own Being is felt - not understood...
An animating life energy inherent in

the body system itself...

originating from within;
an innate aliveness
 that lives this body...

A mystery, The Mystery...

And also my felt experience...

And then of course the mind tries to put words
to it, to explain it, interpret it...  :)

Once I recognized it internally, it "awakened", or 
"came alive" in the body, although already there -
but made itself known , as my very own Being
 - embodied - in and through my
recognition of it.

Again, a mystery that I try with words to explain...

Although its movement is now deeply felt within,
nothing actually changes in my
human experience.

I did not become a different "person."
The "ego" didn't suddenly disappear.
Old habits of conditioning still remain -
and yet - there is this recognition of the Source
energy that mysteriously inhabits and animates this body.
Not conceptually known, but a felt movement of Being in 
the body - embodiment...

It's not even the feeling of "love" - as we know love...

It's a tangible felt sense of openness, of 
total acceptance of what is...
of whatever is unfolding in the life experience...

And what is "love" really but
the total acceptance of everything...

The Essence of Being...

_/\_

Namaste

Mystic Meandering
Jan 20, 2022

 

In the Heart of Every Creature - The Bhagavad Gita

Creatures rise and creatures vanish;
I alone am real, Arjuna,
looking out, amused, from deep
within the eyes of every creature.

I am the object of all knowledge,
Father of the world, its mother,
Source of all things, of impure and
Pure, of holiness and horror.

I am the goal, the root, the witness,
Home and refuge, dearest friend,
Creation and annihilation,
Everlasting seed and treasure.

I am the radiance of the sun, I
Open or withhold the rain clouds,
I am Immortality and
Death, am being and non-being.

I am the Self, Arjuna, seated
in the heart of every creature.
I am the origin, the middle,
And the end that all must come to.

The Bhagavad Gita
Lord Krishna to Arjuna
Stephen Mitchell version

with thanks to Death Deconstructed

~

Photo - Guru Cat :)

 

The Universe is the Great Self - Thomas Berry

The universe must be experienced as the Great Self.

Each is fulfilled in the other.
The Great Self is fulfilled in the individual self,
the individual self is fulfilled in the Great Self.

Alienation is overcome as soon as we experience this
surge of energy from the Source that has brought the
universe through the centuries...

New fields of energy become available to support
the human venture.

It is all an exuberant expression of Existence ItSelf.

Thomas Berry

with thanks to The Beauty We Love
and the photo too :)

~

All is the Sacred Mother of all existence...
Rest in that...

MM

 

The World Shines Forth - Joan Ruvinsky

The world shines forth as the embodiement
of the Divine Mother;
the eternal Feminine -

the Ultimate Reality
never separate from
its Source.

~

She births Herself as the many...

even in their individual forms,
embodying the One,
the One who condenses into the mind...

She confines Herself by the limits
of space and time...

Contracting Her powers, She
explores limitations -
becoming ordinary, isolated
individuals...

She knows fully Her own play of
contractions and realizes Herself
as these.  Even by her descent into
contraction She recognizes
the Universe as Her own very Self.
Blossoming forth from her own Heart,
the play of the One and the many...

~

Everything becomes potentially
a doorway to the Infinite
since it is simply a coagulation
[contraction] of this Infinity.

Joan Ruvinsky

Center section is excerpts from the
Pratyabhijnahrdayam - an ancient Hindu
text from the Kashmir Shaivism tradition
meaning - The Recognition of our own Heart
(aka - The Recognition of the Self)

From the Joan Ruvinsky interpretive version,
in her book: The Recognition of Our Own Heart

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

The Real In You - Joan Ruvinsky

 ...Absolute Reality overflows spontaneously into denser and
denser myriads of interacting forms, [including human form]
 playfully forgetting the knowledge of their identity with Source. 
Then there is an inward-turning that reveals the primordial
 hum that surges at the heart of all things.  Pure Being reiterates
 ItSelf in the continuous interplay of creation and reabsorption,
simultaneously.

...[With this recognition] we stop pretending that we don't
know Who we are.  We are no longer fooled by our play
of ignorance.  The incandescence and the ordinary are
simultaneously present [in us].  We experience ourselves
to be in continuous dynamism with the Heart of Being,
surrounded and penetrated by Presence.

[We see that]...separateness is just another experience in the
field of unity.  These, too, are our co-creations with the Source.
It could be said that we are walking in God's shoes, [or Buddha's
shoes, or Shiva's shoes - however one knows that Presence].
We settle back into a seamless, timeless continuity [with Source]...

The game of hide-and-seek has found its own conclusion...

We are home...

Joan Ruvinsky
from her book: The Recognition of Our Own Heart

[brackets mine]

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering