We Grow Up - Rainer Maria Rilke

We say release, and radiance, and roses,
and echo upon everything that's known;
and yet, behind the world our names enclose is
the Nameless: our true archetype and home.

The sun seems male, and earth is like a woman,
the field is humble, and the forest proud;
but over everything we say, inhuman,
moves the forever-undetermined god.

We grow up; but the world remains a child.

Star and flower, in silence, watch us go.
And sometimes we appear to be the final
exam they must succeed on.  And they do.

Rainer Maria Rilke

Stephen Mitchel version

~

Our life is an apprenticeship to the truth, 
that around every circle another can be drawn;
that there is no end in nature, bur every end is a
beginning; that there is always another dawn risen
on mid-noon, and under every deep a lower deep opens.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
from Essays: First Series (1841)

_

Photo from the Internet
Color digitally inverted

 

The Soul of the Night - Chet Raymo

Photo - The Milky Way - David Peters

It is a thin membrane that separates us from chaos...

The space between the stars is silence. How are we to
understand the silence of the Universe? Beyond the earth's
skin of our thin sky is silent.  Stars blow themselves to
smithereens, we hear nothing...

The fireball of Creation exploded from a pinprick of infinite
energy - there is no soundtrack - the Universe is silent.

If we converted the radiant energy of stars into sound what 
would we hear?  The static of electrons fidgeting between
energy levels in the atoms of stellar atmosphere;
statistical, indifferent noise...

In the almost perfect vacuum of interstellar space, stars
detonate, meteors blast craters on moons, and planets split
at their seams without sound.

What's up there is just one galaxy after another, magnificent
in their silent turning.....a primeval silence...  The Silence of
that which cannot be named...

Chet Raymo
From:  The Soul of the Night

~

"In a dark time the eye begins to see"
Theodore Roethke

~

Medieval Mystics embraced the darkness...
The Night is our window into the Infinite...
Few people willingly choose to walk the dark path,
to enter the dark woods...

Chet Raymo
From: Soul of the Night

~

Photo - The Milky Way
David Peters

 

"The Companion" - a meandering...

"The Companion" is unidentifiable, nameless,
identity-less - and - indwells us.
"The Companion" is a felt sense of Presence within;
beyond all concepts of "God", religion, deity, or
enlightenment...

"The Companion cannot be reduced to a name, or
label - it's beyond that...
You can't wrap it, or trap it, in a conceptual framework.
It's beyond concept...

"The Companion" is a felt resonance...
that helps align us with the internal frequency of
our Essence, our Being, our Soul -
even when we don't recognize it.

It's what attunes us to the Essence of our Being -
inexplicably...

"The Companion" is always within us;
noticed as an inner stillness
when we pay attention to it.
It's been there all along - comforting.

We just haven't been aware...

~

Companion from the Unseen
Mysterious Friend of the Heart
You comfort me, and sustain me
and free me from my darkest night.

Mystic Meandering

Sept. 28, 2022

Written after a conversation with my husband
about something we were both experiencing back
in Sept - and we called it "The Companion" to give
a sense of what if feels like within - but which is
beyond even that description...

~

Photo - Northern Lights from a Calendar 

 

The Soul of the Night - Chet Raymo

It is a thin membrane that separates us from chaos...

The space between the stars is silence.  How are we to 
understand the silence of the Universe?  Beyond the earth's
skin of our thin sky is silent.  Stars blow themselves to
smithereens, we hear nothing...

The fireball of Creation exploded from a pinprick of infinite
energy - there is no soundtrack - the Universe is silent...

If we converted the radiant energy of stars into sound what
would we hear?  The static of electrons fidgeting between 
energy levels in the atoms of stellar atmosphere;
 statistical, indifferent noise...

In the almost perfect vacuum of interstellar space, stars
detonate, meteors blast craters on moons, and planets split
at their seams without sound.

What's up there is just one galaxy after another, magnificent|
in their silent turning.....a primeval silence...  The silence of
that which cannot be named...

Chet Raymo
From: The Soul of the Night

~

"In a dark time the eye begins to see."
Theodore Roethke

Medieval Mystics embraced the darkness...
The Night is our window into the Infinite...

Few people willingly choose to walk the dark path,
to enter the dark wood...

Chet Raymo
From: The Soul of the Night

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering
Lunar Eclipse May 15, 2022

(taken with my cell phone :)

 

 

A Prayer...

Call my name...  Call my name...

My unborn name...

The name that only You know...

When I danced with the unnamed stars
and unknown galaxies...

Let me hear Your voice again...

Let me sink into Your depths...
Let me feel the warm glow of Your
hidden light...
Let me hear the soft sound of Your
unplayed music -
dancing through the Cosmos -
before You were called
Shakti, Shiva, The Buddha, Allah, The Christ;
or however You reveal Yourself,
in the land of myths and stories...

Let me rest in
Your Primal Energy at the Core of my Being,
That which infuses all life
and lights everything from within.
The Breath of the Eternal Source...

Amen

Mystic Meandering
Nov. 7, 2021

Photo from the Internet

 

The Song of Life - J. Krishnamurti

I have no name,
I am as the fresh breeze of the mountains.
I have no shelter;
I am as the wandering waters.
I have no sanctuary, like the dark gods;
Nor am I in the shadow of deep temples.
I have no sacred books;
Nor am I well seasoned in tradition.
I am not in the incense
Mounting on high altars,
Nor in the pomp of ceremonies.
I am neither the graven image,
Nor in the rich chant of a melodious voice.
I am not bound by theories,
Nor corrupted by beliefs.
I am not held in the bondage of religions,
Nor in the pious agony of their priests.
I am not entrapped by philosophies,
Nor held in the power of their sects.
I am neither low nor high,
I am the worshipper and the worshipped.
I am free.
My song is the song of the river
calling for the open seas,
Wandering, wandering,
I am Life.
I have no name...

J. Krishnamurti

with thanks to The Beauty We Love

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

A Moratorium on Names - LaMotte

 I've been in love for seven million years.
It was always you.
Don't ruin it now by telling me your name.

Isn't it time for a moratorium on names,
so that we may finally see?

A moratorium on the name of God
and the word Peace,
until we learn to use them as verbs.
A moratorium on Love, so that this body
may be love's exquisite synonym.
A moratorium on Better, Worse,
on Sin and Hell, or Heaven too,
so that our eyes may grow
accustomed to the earth.

A moratorium on the names Christ,
Krishna, Allah, Yahweh,
so the "goddess" may have room to breathe,
and we may hear her inscrutable murmur
from the cavern of the prophet in each
human heart, her infinitesimal thunder
in a violet's bell, rung by a dewdrop.

Isn't it time to reinvent the tongue,
so the Ineffable may babble sweet
new names for the One Who Is?

[.....]

Fred LaMotte
Uradiance

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

"She"...

"She" - is not Shiva
             not "The Mystery"

             nor "the Goddess"

"She" - is the Primal Energies of the Universe -
            The Originating "Mother Energies"
             like the mother load of Gold

"She" - is beyond all concepts of "God",
             religion, or enlightenment
             Nameless, beyond form or identity

"She" - is the pre-verbal Primordial Energies
             infusing all Existence

"She" - is the all-consuming Holy Fire that burns
             through all our illusions and delusions

"She" - is the depth of Sacred Silence - the Deep Quiet
             always calling us Home - to the Heart of Being

Mystic Meandering
January 21, 2021

Photo - Mystic Meandering

            

The Divine "Puddle"...

 Melt into the "puddle" of your Inner Being,
the Great Silence and Stillness of "The Mystery."
Free of "imposed tensions" from
the chaotic social disorder
and the muttering mentations of the mind.
Enter the quiet realm of the Nameless within.

Rest - there...

Beyond "traditions" of belief and thinking...
Beyond "disciplines"
that only scratch the surface.
Just feel the awareness of the
deep core of your Being,
where the Great Silence abides.
That is your refuge...

Just be - there...

Untouched - Unscathed...

Aware only of the Great Stillness that you are...

Just be the "puddle" -
fluid, calm, undisturbed -
just Resting - there...

And if you dare,
play quietly - there...

In the Divine "Puddle" :)

Mystic Meandering

Nov. 26, 2020

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

Inner Life - John O'Donohue

The visible world is only the shoreline of the magnificent
ocean of the invisible.  The invisible is not empty, but is
textured and tense with presences [energies].  These
presences cannot be named; they can only be sensed,
not seen.

When you name a dimension of your experience, one of
your qualities or difficulties... you give it an identity.  It
then responds to you according to the tone of its name...

The wildness of the invisible world is nameless.  It has no
name.  A first step towards reawakening respect for your
inner life may be to become aware of the private collage
of dead names you have for your inner life.  Often the
experiences of wilderness can return us to the nameless
wildness within.  Sometimes, go away to a wild place
on your own.  Leave your name and the grid of intentions
and projects and images which mark you out as citizen Z.
Leave it all and let yourself just slip back into the rhythms
of your intimate wildness.  You will be surprised at the
lost terrains, wells, and mountains that you will rediscover,
territories which have been buried under will-meant
but dead names.  To go beyond confinement is to
rediscover yourself.

John O'Donohue
from: Eternal Echoes

~

Photo - taken in Gloucester MA
 by my brother

Letter to a New Born Girl - Elias Amidon

me - 1949

You come fresh from the place where names are not needed.
In that place there's a blissful secret most of us can no
longer remember.  We have forgotten.  But soon you
will start to learn words.  You will learn to say what you
feel and want, and with that saying you too will forget
what is so natural to you now.  Or perhaps you will be
lucky, and a current of the bliss you came from will
continue to stream through your heart...remembering
the beauty of your origin.

.....each of us is unique, and each of us has to find
our own way.  I suppose it's only natural that I
should want to give you some advice...

Know you are safe...

Everything is all right forever.
We are made out of light.
One day you may doubt it -
that's part of the drama...
Just remember - you are safe...

Walk in the open air.
Spend as much time as you can
in nature, in places that humans
have not built on and paved over.
The natural world will teach you,
heal you, and replenish your soul
with its beauty.  It is, like you are now,
fresh from the generosity of the
Unamable.

Be interested in everything.
Be a generalist.
Be curious and amazed by things.
Listen to others.
Welcome new ways of seeing, but
always think for yourself.

Follow your love.
Do what you love.
Love what you love.
I'm not talking simply
about love that's affection
or passion - but love that
continually moves to heal...

Little one, you are about to start
a great adventure.
Follow your love.
Be interested in everything.
Walk in the open air.
Know you are safe.

Elias Amidon

age 2 or 3

Stillpoint Presence - John Welwood

If you look directly into the experiencing consciousness itself,
what you find is a silent presence that has no shape, location or
form.  This nameless, formless presence - in, around, behind
and between all our particular thoughts and experiences - is
what the great spiritual traditions regard as our True Nature,
the Essential Self, or Holy Spirit...

Be-ing means resting in the flow of this Presence, which is
awake, open and responsive.  This dynamic fluid openness
provides a direct channel to the heart of Life...

Our [unconditioned nature] lies much deeper than our
conditioned personality and behavior, which are always a
mix of positive and negative tendencies.  It lies in the essential
openness at the core of our nature [Being].
It is the stillpoint Presence.

In turning away from our [essential nature] we throw away our
own jewel-like essence and then express that alienation in
everything we do.  This is the plague that is ravaging humanity.

John Welwood
from: Love and Awakening

John was a Spiritual Psychotherapist
known for integrating Western Psychology
and Eastern Spiritual Wisdom

He passed Jan 17, 2019

~

Photo - Mandala Art
2013

The "Infinite In-Between"

Art by Mitra Banejad

Cradled in the "Infinite In-Between",
like the space between words, or
the breathless pause between thoughts,
that space of Stillness of Being -
Pure Awareness unfolding ItSelf
within me...

I bow before the Mystery,
the limitless, boundaryless Infinite
Beingness that just IS;
that lives ItSelf through/as this body-mind.

I cannot help myself.
I must bow inwardly before the Ineffable
that fills this being...
The pull of "The Beloved" is so strong...

I am prostrate within - unable to move;
not out of some false sense of piety,
or self-negation, or false effort to attain -
but out of sincere and genuine adoration
for that which can't be named or spoken,
but which is Alive within me.
My Heart kicks in recognition...

It is the Nameless that calls to me, from within.
The deep Presence of the pureness of Existence...
The Living, Breathing Being that "I" am;
not the surface persona of thoughts, perceptions,
and feelings...  but the deepest Essence of Being
ItSelf invites me inward to ItSelf...
How could "i" resist...

I willingly succumb, collapsing internally into the Formless,
and find myself fluidly suspended in Its Breath,
Cradled in Its Rhythm,
Dissolved in the purity of Being beyond being;
the quintessential "Infinite In-Between"
of untainted Knowing Awareness.

Mystic Meandering
Sept. 7, 2018

~

Note:  the phrase "Infinite In-Between" just rolled out onto
the page in the Silence the morning that I wrote this - and
then the poem emerged.  I know someone will tell me there is
no "in-between."  I understand.  Sometimes the words just
come as they come, prior to mind or definition.  In this case
there is no particular "meaning" for the phrase "Infinite In-Between"
except my experience of it that morning as described in the poem.
My only "intention" in writing is to inspire, as I am inspired to write.
May it do so, no matter if your mind wants to argue with the words.:)

_/\_

Namaste

~

Top photo of painting via
In The Garden Of the Beloved

The Space of "The Quiet"...

I awoke to "The Quiet" filling this space...

A palpable Nameless Presence...
As if "It" had taken up residence here,
in this space of my dwelling...

I breathed in "The Quiet"
as It breathed me,
and with curiosity
turned my inner awareness more keenly to
"The Quiet" that filled the space of me -
and was comforted
by this unbidden
Presence...

Through fluid inner eyes I understood that
only "The Quiet" truly occupies this space,
not the things in the rooms, or the rooms themselves.
but only the ubiquitous space of "The Quiet"

that matter reality dwells in
beyond sight, beyond form...

Every manifest being dwells within
"The Quiet"
and "The Quiet" dwells within them...

The pure unadulterated, untainted Silence of Being...

I surrendered in Love and Gratitude to "The Quiet"
subtly filling the space here - tangibly -
forever present in each breath
of this space that "I"
occupy as well...

Hush...

"The Quiet"
dwells among us
and in us...

Holy-Holy

Mystic Meandering
Dec. 5, 2016

~

Photo - have no idea what this is,
probably a "mistake", but can you see
the faint outline of a heart in the center
of that "cloud"?  :D

Tao Te Ching (Lao Tzu) - Heysinger

The way that can be over trod is not the Eternal Way.
The name that can be named is not the Everlasting Name,
which Nameless brought forth Heaven and Earth,
which named, if any may,
the Mother of all myriad things of time and space became.
Thereby we sound eternally the mystery divine,
but only without desire to sound,
for if desire abide,
the portals of the issuing host our baffled sight confine.
And deep within the eternal veil
the mystery shall hide.
These two, the Nameless and the Named,
they differ but in name.
For in their vast progression from
the deep they are the same.
The deep of deeps, from whose eternal
gate all spirit came.

Tao Te Ching
Lao Tzu
Translation by I.W. Heysinger - 1903

Lao Tzu was a famous Chinese Philosopher
who founded Taoism.
Taoism is about living in harmony with
the flow of Life ItSelf, in tune with your True Nature...
 intuitively.

The Gift of "The Quiet"...

I awoke to "The Quiet" filling this space...
A palpable Nameless Presence in the air this morning,
as if "It" had taken up residence here,
in this space of dwelling...

I breathed "The Quiet" in,
and with curiosity
turned my awareness more keenly to
"The Quiet",
and was comforted...
by this unbidden Presence.

Through fluid eyes I understood that
only "The Quiet Presence" truly occupies this space,
not the *things* in the rooms, or the rooms themselves,
but only the ubiquitous space of "The Quiet"
that matter reality dwells *in*
beyond sight, beyond form...
Every sound, every form dwells within "The Quiet"
and "The Quiet" dwells in them...

I surrendered in Love and Gratitude to "The Quiet"
that dwells here,
that fills the space here - tangibly -
forever present in each breath
of this space that"I"
occupy as well...

Hush...

"The Quiet" Presence
dwells among us
and in us...

Holy-Holy

Mystic Meandering
Meditative Meanderings
Dec. 5, 2016

~

If you celebrate Christmas
may you experience
the gift of "The Quiet" Presence
filling your space today...
and every day...

_/\_

Photo - have no idea what this is a photo of,
probably a "mistake" - but can you see
the faint outline

 of a heart in the center
of that "cloud"?  :)

Invocation - Dolores Stewart

You who were with me before I was born,
dark shining on dark,
be with me now.
You who will stay with me after I die,
light traveling on light,
be with me now.

You who are nameless
in the marketplace of the ten thousand things,
how shall I call you?
You who are invisible between the stars,
how shall I see you?

You who nurture me with silent wisdom
speak to me now.
I am listening beyond the sounds of night,
I am looking beyond the sights of the day.
You who fill the infinite void,
travel on my shoulder now,
show me the way.

Dolores Stewart
From - Doors to the Universe

Via: Beyond The Fields We Know

~

The desire to go home
is a desire to be whole,
to be the point of intersection
of all the lines drawn through
all the stars...
that center called love.
To let the soul go wild,
to cease to speak
and be perfectly
understood.

Rebecca Soinit
Excerpt from - Storming The Gates of Paradise

(Ms. Soinit's words, my format)

The Tao of Physics - Fritjof Capra

...the intuition behind the physicist's interpretation of the sub-atomic
world, in terms of the quantum fields, is closely paralleled by
 that of the Eastern Mystic who interprets his or her
 experience of the world in terms of an ultimate underlying reality.The Brahman of the Hindus, like the Dharmakaya of the
 Buddhists, and the Tao of the Taoists, can be seen,
 perhaps, as the ultimate unified field from which spring
 not only the phenomena studied in
 physics, but all other phenomena as well.
In the Eastern view, the reality underlying all phenomena is beyond
 all forms and defies all description and specification.  It is therefore
 said to be formless, empty, or void, but this emptiness is not to be
 taken for mere nothingness.  It is, on the contrary, the essence of
 all forms and the source of all life.  Thus the Upanishads say:

Brahman is life.  Brahman is Joy.  Brahman is the Void.
Joy, verily, that is the same as the Void.
The Void, verily, that is the same as Joy,

(Chandogya Upanishad 3.14.1)

The Eastern sages make it clear that they do no mean ordinary
 emptiness, when they talk about Brahman, Sunyata or Tao,
 but.....a Void which has infinite creative potential...
Like the quantum field, it gives birth to an infinite variety of
 forms, which it sustains and eventually reabsorbs.

Fritjof Capra
From: The Tao of Physics

via: No Mind's Land

~

"...in reality only the Ultimate is...
When you understand that what is real is
nameless and formless,
pure energy of life and light
of consciousness,
you will be at peace -
immersed in the deep silence
of reality."

Nisargadatta

Note: I know nothing of Quantum Physics or the "unified field theory" from a scientific perspective.  But this excerpt caught my attention.  The subject fascinates me as a mystic, and sometimes confirms
to me what I have experienced in "meditation."  _/\_

Photo: Mandala Art

Heart Summons - Rumi

In the silence between your heartbeat
bides a summons.
Do you hear it?

Name it if you must,
or leave it forever nameless,
but why pretend it is not there?

Leave that which is not,
but appears to be.
Seek that which is,
but is not apparent.

Rumi

What in your life is calling you,
when all the noise is silenced,
the meetings adjourned...
the lists laid aside,
and the Wild Iris blooms
by itself
in the dark forest...

What still pulls on your soul?

Rumi

Echoes of "The Nameless..."

The Silence of the Great Void,
where “The Nameless” dwells – Formless,
bathes the manifest world
in Infinite Cosmic Waves
of Grace…

We are echoes of
”The Nameless”,
the Face that lights our face -
inseparable…
You can feel it in the Great Silence -
the undulating pulsation of Life within,
reverberating through Form…

The Infinite Cosmic Emptiness
echoes Its Light into Form,
and we are birthed ~
from the Cosmic Heart,
Loved beyond measure,
held in Infinite, rippling waves
of Love ~ ~ ~

When we know this – instinctively -
in our being,
we will heal…
individually,
collectively
and
globally


Be still…
Turn your face to “The Nameless.”
Recognize your wholeness
in the Great Silence…


Mystic Meandering
Oct. 2015

~*~

“Face that lights my face,
you spin intelligence into
these particles [that] I am…”

Rumi

~*~

Photo: Mandala Art
Digitally altered

~*~
Watch this beautiful video
that Michel Bellegarde of No Minds Land
made of this poem
here