The Unseen World - Rumi and Misc.

\

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 world 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 ever-flowing;
Do not grieve,
Drink your fill!

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

Rumi

~

From the earliest times, it was understood that the visible
world implied the existence of an invisible world, where
everything was infused with the supernatural and the felt
sense of the sacred.

Thomas Yellowtail expressed: "A man's attitude toward the
nature around him, and the animals in nature, is of special
importance, because as we respect our created world, so 
also do we show respect for the real world that we cannot
see."

Through the traditional wisdom of American Indians we
learn that there are ways of knowing that are obtained
through the earth that allow human beings to listen and
learn directly from the Great Spirit.

Samuel Bendeck Sotillos
Parabola Magazine
Fall 2017 Issue: "The Sacred"

~

Crazy Horse dreamed and went into the world where there
is nothing but the spirits of all things.  That is the real world
that is behind this one, and everything we see here is something
like a shadow from that one.

Black Elk

with thanks to Love Is A Place 
for all entries today

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering
Light through empty water bottles
on the counter :)

 

What Calls to You? - Dorothy Hunt

How does the Sacred call to you?  Through deep longing?
Through loving? Through the birth of an infant or the death of
a beloved friend? Through the silence of a forest or the
magnificence waves crashing at sea? Through a teacher or
teaching?  A guru or a God?  A scripture or a spiritual traditions?
Through art, poetry, music? Playing with your dog, sitting with
your cat?  Through a meditation practice or practice of service? Or
does the Sacred calling come when you are most desperate, most
vulnerable, unable to know what to do, where to go, how to address
the pain you are suffering or the suffering you see all around you?
Does it call you to your knees when you don't know where else
to turn?

What if the Sacred is actually calling us every moment: Come; see!
See what you are, what this moment is.  Come back Home.
Return - again and again and again!

Many of us think that a sacred calling is a calling to "do." but my
sense is that the Sacred calls us to "be,"and in the "being" the doing
 happens spontaneously. 

.

Being a human expression of life does not mean we have no
perception of choice, or of  moving toward or away from our
experience of the Sacred, toward or away from what is most true
within.  Rather than a calling to be something, perhaps the Sacred
is calling us to be, to see, to respond from what is most sacred 
within us.  Perhaps the Sacred calling calls us to come out  of
hiding - hiding our true self, hiding our true radiance, hiding the
Light that is here shining...

How does the Sacred call to you?  What does it beckon you to
discover, to sense, to be?  Perhaps the Sacred calling is not your
life's work. but discovering who/what is actually living life - your
life, to be precise!  

Dorothy Hunt
Buddhist Teacher

with thanks to No Mind's Land

Photo - taken by my brother off Salisbury Beach, Mass

 

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 Portal of the Ineffable...

Rendezvous with the Great Silence
through the Inner Window
of your Heart -
the portal of  "The Ineffable."

Sit quietly and listen deeply,
with no agenda or expectation,
leaving the window of your heart open -
waiting for the song of "The Sacred"...

Feel the caress of Silence begin,
like a breeze,
inviting you in
with Her gentle breath,
breathing in your Heart...

The Silence that is always there
opens HerSelf to you - always -
blessing...

Turn inward to the Inner Window,
bow to the Sacred Silence within and
enter the Cosmic Mystery,
Her endless Vastness...

Settle into the Rhythm of the Primordial Silence.
Feel the soft dance of intimacy absorb you,
in this silent rendezvous...

Nothing disturbs The Great Silence.

Nothing disturbs the depths of It.
Nothing prevents Its Song
from being sung...

Everything occurs within this Great Mystery.
All life, all breath, all death, all movement of life...

In the intimate awareness of the presence of The Sacred
know that everything is living according to Its
Natural Order, is following Its
Natural Rhythm,
the Rhythm of Life living ItSelf.,
including the life you think you have created...

All life is being lived by the Great Mystery...

All is the pulse of Silence...

The pulse of the Cosmos.

Mystic Meandering
May 2016

_/\_

~

Photo - Northern Light Swirls of an
Aurora Borealis over Yellow Knife Canada.
(sent to us by a "friend" of a "friend")

"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

 

At The Well of "The Sacred"...

At the Well of "The Sacred"
The OM of Existence is heard;
the deep OM -
the Primordial Song and Rhythm
of the Universe...

At the Core of everything is
the sound of OM -
vibrating...

The Primordial Sound of Life
that reverberates through the Cosmos...

Looking into the Sacred Well within
I can hear OM playing - humming -
vibrating...

I come to the Well of "The Sacred" to listen;
to replenish Mind, Body and Soul;
To be Filled;
To feel the Presence of "The Sacred;"

To reclaim my Wholeness again...

Mystic Meandering
April 6, 2023

~

Photo from the Internet

 

The Sacred - Ostaseski

The Sacred makes surprise appearances,,,

To know the Sacred is not to see new things,
but rather to see things in a new way...

The Sacred is not separate or different from all
things: It is hidden in all things.
The Sacred has always existed.
It is the nature of reality.
We don't always perceive or distinguish
the Sacred.

We see in a conditioned way,
staying on the surface of life.
When we pay attention, however, we realize
that the Sacred reveals itself continuously - yet
is unnamable and cannot be fully described.
Ordinary people can and do regularly experience
the Sacred in myriad ways and forms.
Silence is a natural response to the presence of the Sacred
no matter when it appears.  We become aware of the 
majesty in the ordinary and the depth of the Sacred
that is always around us and within us...

Frank Ostaseski

From: The Five Invitations

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

Nighttime is for "The Beloved" - Ivan Granger

The stories we tell ourselves are the stories of the Soul,
the way the self understands itself.  In dreams and stories
we reformulate our perception of the world, deepen it.  And
in doing so the psyche becomes more dynamic and alive to
its own possibilities.

Nighttime is when we normally sleep and dream.  Most people
imagine life shuts down at night, but a lover [of The Beloved]
knows better.  When the rest of the world rests, the lover [of
The Beloved] finds those sweet illicit moments with The Beloved.
Even if it's just a glimpse, a smile through the window's lattice,
that is what the lover lives for.  We light up, we catch fire 
in the night.

Ivan Granger
Poetry Chaikhana

Note: "The Beloved" also refers to The Divine, The Sacred,
God, The Mystery - or however one calls it for themselves.

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

Doorways to the Sacred - Frank Ostaseski

To know the sacred is not to see new things, but rather to see
things in a new way.  The sacred is hidden in all things...

The sacred is the nature of reality - yet most of the time we
walk around in a sacred world with ordinary vision.  We see
in a conditioned way, staying on the surface of life.  When we
pay attention, however, we realize that the sacred reveals itself
continuously.  Ordinary people, like you and me, can and do
regularly experience the sacred in myriad ways and forms.
Recognition that the sacred is present may also arise suddenly
and spontaneously, as the sacred makes surprise appearances.
We may sense an inner stillness, as if the momentum we have
counted on to keep us moving through life is no longer needed.
Deep silence is not merely a pause between sounds.  It is an
inner felt quietness.  This silence strips us both of belief and
disbelief.  It takes us beyond the known, beyond language and
into the sacred.  Silence is the natural response to the presence
of the sacred, no matter where it appears.  Stillness and quiet
are the doorways to the sacred.

Frank Ostaseski

From - the Five Invitations

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

Sweet Scent of The Sacred...

Overcome with fatigue - exhausted,
I enter the Liminal Space of "The Sacred."
I listen for Her "voice" - Her Sound - Her vibration
in the space of Deep Rest...

...and find Her waiting...

Her sweet cedar fragrance briefly wafts through
the room and soothes my senses,
calming the "noise" in the body and mind...

In the Quiet, she whispers from within:

Let the mind rest in The Sacred,
take comfort in The Sacred.

There is nothing to do but let things unfold...

Nature is taking its course...
All will be made known in time,
and an "answer" revealed...

Stop everything:
all seeking for solutions
 to unsolvable dilemmas,
or attempts to shift consciousness.

Just allow the natural unfolding of all
circumstances in their own time...

Lay down all "spiritual trinkets"
that you "buy" into - to feel safe and
validated in your beliefs; to feel happy;
to feel "enlightened"; to feel "special."

Just cling to Me...

Communing with Me
in the Liminal Spaces
 all will be made clear.

Mystic Meandering

July 13, 2021

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

Resurrected...

 Breaking free of concepts, constructs, beliefs and stories
that have kept me entombed...

I rise...

Waking up to my "True Nature"

a living expression of "The Sacred" within me...

I rise...

Untangling the tattered threads of old roles, old crafted identities
worn to make me feel safe and important...

I rise...

Letting go of frayed "lifelines" that kept
me tethered to the shore of familiarity and conformity...

I rise...

Now not needing to be other than who I Am
my natural, playful, creative, expressive Aliveness...

I rise...

Mystic Meandering

April 3, 2021

~

Photo: Vortex Art 2010 - Mystic Meandering
done with fingers and Craypas oils

A Sense of Presence - Howard Thurman

 The true purpose of all spiritual disciplines is to clear away
whatever may block our awareness of that which [some call]
God in us...

It will be in order to suggest certain simple aids to this end.

One of these is the practice of silence , or quiet.
As a child I was accustomed to spend many hours alone in
my rowboat, fishing along the river, when there was no sound
save the lapping of the waves against the boat.

There were times when it seemed as if the earth and the river
and the sky and I were one beat of the same pulse.  It was a
time of watching and waiting for what I did not know -
yet I always knew.

There would come a moment when beyond the single pulse
beat there was a sense of Presence which seemed always
to speak to me.  My response to the sense of Presence 
always had the quality of personal communion.

There was no voice.  There was no image.
There was no vision.

There was God.

Howard Thurman

from Disciplines of the Spirit

With thanks to The Beauty We Love

Personal Note:  I shy away from using the word "God"
in my own experiences now because it holds religious
connotations from the religion of my childhood
 that I no longer relate to.  I use names now that don't hold
  identifications with the word, such as "The Mystery",
"The Beloved", "The Ineffable", "The Sacred" etc. 
I especially like the words The Silence, or The Quiet
as representations of what I experience when I sit in silence
Encountering the deep Silence of Being for me feels like
encountering "God", like "personal communion."

I bask 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", The Ineffable" - my refuge.

_/\_

Namaste

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

What the Heart Really Wants...

 What the Heart really wants is...

to know "The Sacred" - as Friend...

When we take our seat in the Heart...

we find the Friend...

The Sacred is here...

When we take our seat in the Heart...

we are filled from within...

Embodied with Her Grace...

The Sacred is here...

When we take our seat in the Heart...

our face is Her Face, our body is Her Body...

We are reclaimed...

The Sacred is here...

~

Just take your seat...

You have found the Friend...

The Sacred is here...

Mystic Meandering
Feb. 7, 2021

With thanks to Mitch Rosacker of
Self Discovery Studio
for the line:

"When we take our seat in the Heart,
we find the Friend..."

Note: the line "The Sacred is here..." is
meant to be read as a whisper...

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

The Sacred is Here...

 The Sacred is Here...

  The Sacred is Here...

   The Sacred is Here...

Om Namah Shivaya

 

~*~

She gently and quietly invites me
deeper into Her inner realms...

She infuses me with Her Grace...
from within

She is my guru, my teacher -
ever teaching through Her Quiet Presence,
Her soft energies, and whispers of
Love.

Mystic Meandering
Jan. 5, 2021

_/\_

Om Namah Shivaya is a Sanskrit phrase
meaning
Salutations to the auspicious one

~

Personal Note: This poem emerged as a result
of direct experience of the movement of "The Sacred"
within during meditation, which I have also called
"The Mystery", or "The Silence" - not based on
belief or concept, but just being open to that which
enlivens us from within - The Presence of the Ineffable.
"She" also whispered: "Always come back to the
feeling of The Presence within."

"She" is a reference to how I experience the energy of
"The Sacred", which feels feminine to me.
"She" is always Here.. :)

_/\_

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

Rendezvous with Silence...

 Rendezvous with the Great Silence
through the Inner Window
of your Heart -
the portal to "The Mystery."

Sit quietly and listen deeply,
with no agenda or expectation,
leaving the window of your heart open -
waiting for the song of "The Sacred"...

Feel the caress of Silence begin,
inviting you in
with Her gentle breath,
breathing in your Heart...

The Silence that is always there
opens HerSelf to you - always.
Turn inward to the Inner Window,
bow to the Sacred Silence within and
enter her Cosmic Mystery,
Her endless Vastness...

Settle into the Rhythm of Primordial Silence.
Feel the soft dance of intimacy absorb you,
in this silent rendezvous...

Nothing disturbs The Great Silence.
Nothing disturbs the depths of It.
Nothing prevents Its Song
from being sung...

Everything occurs within this Great Mystery of Silence.
All life, all breath, all death, all movement.

In the intimate awareness of Sacred Silence
know that everything is living according to Its
natural order, is following Its
natural Rhythm,
the Rhythm of Life ItSelf,
including the life you think you have created...

All life is being lived by the Great Mystery...

All is the pulse of Silence...

The pulse of the Cosmos.

Mystic Meandering
May 2016

~

Photo - Northern Light Swirls of an
Aurora Borealis over Yellow Knife, Canada
(sent to us by a "friend" - probably from the internet :)

The Sacred Calls - Dorothy Hunt

 How does the Sacred call to you?  Through deep longing?
Through loving? Through the birth of an infant or the death of
a beloved friend?  Through the silence of a forest or the 
magnificence of waves crashing at sea? Through a teacher or
teaching? A guru or a God?  A scripture or a spiritual tradition?
Through art, poetry, music? Playing with your dog, sitting with your
cat? Through a meditation practice or practice of service?  Or
does the Sacred calling come when you are most desperate, most
vulnerable, unable to know what to do, where to go, how to address
the pain you are suffering or the suffering you see all around you?

Does it call you to your knees when you don't know where else
to turn?

What if the Sacred is actually calling us every moment: Come; see!
See what you are, what this moment is.  Come back Home.
Return - again and again and again!

Many of us think that a sacred calling is a calling to "do," but my
sense is that the Sacred calls us to "be," calls us to surrender to
Being, and in the "being" the doing happens spontaneously.  It is
Being, rather than self, that is always becoming.  Whether we
resonate with the idea of a Supreme Being, or simply Being Itself,
surrender is a humbling act of acknowledging that the human mind
cannot fathom the Mystery of the universe, cannot "know" its Source
as an object, and in innumerable ways each day, does not even
know how to accept the moment it finds itself experiencing.  The
mind does not know how to surrender.  Yet over time, and with
Grace, it may discover its own limitations in the face of the Unknown
and let go of its illusion of control, its illusion of separation, its 
illusion of a self.  It may become so emptied of its false identity,
that Truth simply moves itself without anyone to know how or why
or when.

It seems to me that the Unnamable is here having a human
experience, and yet in the deepest place in our hearts, we may
sense that this  expression called "human" Being is called by the
 Sacred to experience the Sacred as what we are, what life is. 
It appears the Sacred enjoys this dance with Itself.  In this dance,
we are invited to find out what is here when all we have believed
 about ourselves - the ways we have identified with thought,
feeling, body, memory, image - falls away, or is stripped away, or
 simply melts in its encounter with the Sacred. When all the forms
 of thought, memory, feeling, etc. have disappeared, what is left?

Being a human expression of life does not mean we have no
perception of choice, or of moving toward or away from our
experience of the Sacred, toward or away from what is most true
within.  Rather than a calling to be something, perhaps the Sacred
is calling to us to be, to see, to respond from what is most
sacred within us.  Perhaps the Sacred calling calls us to come out
of hiding - hiding our true self, hiding our true radiance, hiding
the Light that is here shining....

How does the Sacred call to you?  What does it beckon you to
discover, to sense, to be?  Perhaps the Sacred calling is not your
life's work, but discovering who/what is actually living life - your
life, to be precise!  You may discover there is no moment where we
can actually divide life into sacred and secular, holy and unholy.
Dream, dreamer and dreamed may disappear into What has no
name, no attributes and yet continually calls from itself to itself
within our own experience to be, to see, to love.

Dorothy Hunt
Buddhist Teacher

with thanks to No Mind's Land

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

World Insanity - Chelan Harkin

 Oh world,
I've been trying to convince you
of my sanity for far too long!
Trying to hold it together,
play the part.
I'm ready for the sacred undoing!
I'm ready to give up the game.
I'm delighted to say I've lost!

Here is my raw, naked heart,
my soul is ready to strip down
and streak through social conventions!
I am tired of pretending with you
that I'm ok with anything short of the sweetest,
most tender intimacy.
I'm un-signing my name
from the social contracts
enabling extreme blandness and terrible distance
from our hearts!
Come close and I will kiss your face,
come closer and I will offer you
every jewel in my soul
come closer still and I'll delightedly
give you my very life
and then go into my closets to see
what else I have in there for you!
Friend, it doesn't take much
to destroy social norms,
all it takes is to crack open
the sacred, wild barrel
of love in your chest
and offer it to whoever
might pass by.

Chelan Harkin
Original title: Oh World!

~

And, for Love's sake, wear a mask!!! :) MM

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

Full Participation - Matt Licata

 With the moon as your witness, renew your vow to no
longer postpone your full participation here, for even
one moment.  It is rare for one human being to allow the
implications of what it really means to take birth in a
star where love is alive.

While it may appear that your sensitivity and your heartbreak
are obstacles along the way, look carefully and see they are
forming the light strands of your journey in every moment.

Within the embodied temple of your heart-essence nature, 
everything is utterly valid, outrageously intelligent, and
overwhelmingly creative.

Without you and your vulnerability - without your unique gifts,

your courage, and your willingness to give everything for the
call to intimacy with all things - this realm will never know the
burning essence of timeless and eternal love.  The oceans, the
galaxies, the snow-capped mountains, and the translucent stars
are counting on you, for it is only through you that love can
enter into this rare world of time and space.

May love pour through you, awakening your cells, your organs,
and each and every strand of your sacred DNA.  May it open you
to the magic of the sacred world, re-wiring everything in its
wake with its signature and fragrance of aliveness.  May it make
use of your eyes to see the truth, your hands to touch another
sweetly, your body to feel more, your words to speak kindness,
and your presence to shower healing upon everyone and everything
you encounter.

May the mysteries of separation and union pour out of the unseen
and take form as your body, your nervous system, and as the flow
of thought, feeling, and emotion within you, crafted as a vehicle
of grace to see this world with the wild, creative, particles
of love.

Matt Licata, PhD
From a post on his blog

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

Beyond Death - Eckhart Tolle

The natural way of being after death of a loved one is suffering
at first, then there is a deepening.  In that deepening, you go to
a place where there is no death.  And the fact that you felt that
means you went deep enough, to the place where there is no
death.  Conditioned as your mind is by society, the contemporary
world that you live in, which knows nothing about that dimension
- your mind then tells you that there is something wrong with this.
Your mind says "I should not be feeling peace."

But that's a conditioned thought by the culture that you  live in.
So instead we can recognize when this happens, when that
thought comes - recognize it as a conditioned thought
that is not true.

It doesn't mean that the waves of sadness don't come back
from time to time.  But in between the waves of sadness, you
sense there is peace.

When you go deep enough to the formless, the dreadful is no
longer dreadful, it's sacred.

When somebody dies who is close to you, it [feels] dreadful
on the level of form.  It's sacred on the deeper level.
Death can enable you to find that dimension in yourself - the
sacred dimension of life, where life is indestructible.

There is always the window into the formless.  It's not through
an explanation that says, well, he or she will move on or
reincarnate, or go to some place of rest.  That can be comforting,
but you can go to a deeper place than that, where you don't need
any explanations, because what opens up when the form
dissolves is life beyond form.  That is the sacred dimension.

Eckhart Tolle

via The Beauty We Love

~

Photo taken by my husband
at the Butterfly Pavilion

Personal Note:  While I understand and have experienced what Eckhart says here, I have also experienced that grief is a very organic process and sometimes we just have to sit with the feelings of sadness and sorrow, embrace them while we go through the grief, and not try to "spiritualize it, but allow the feelings to be what they are...

It Will Be in the Silence - Jamie K. Reaser

Sometimes you come upon a place that
beckons you into silence: an old stone bench,
a lake shore, a certain time of your life.  Nothing
small can reside there.

.

I'm looking for that place now, the kind of place
that puts clocks to rest because something must
come forth to reset everything.  I don't want to
follow these rules and constructs anymore -

written, not written, felt.

.

Something is asking me not to, and it is wise.

.

Reason doesn't have roots that run deep enough
to tap the place that I am longing for, that place
where obvious things cannot be explained. That
place that is called sacred even by those who
never used the word before.

.

I want you to sit and wait with me, away from the
noise and the voices of those who speak only to rob
you of your name.  What most needs to be heard
hasn't yet been said.

Jamie K. Reaser

© 2016

From "Conversations with Mary"