Silence is the Portal of "The Mystery"...

Rendezvous with the Great Silence
through the Inner Window
of your Heart -
the portal of "The Holy 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,
like a breeze,
inviting you in
with Its gentle breath,
breathing in your Heart...

The Silence is always there
opening Itself to you  - always -
blessing...

Turn inward to the Inner Sanctuary,
bow to The Sacred Silence within and
enter the Cosmic Mystery,
the Ineffable Vastness...

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

All life, all breath, all death, all movement of life
occurs within the Holy Silence
that enfolds us...

In this intimate embrace of the presence of "The Mystery"
know that everything is living according to its
Natural Order, is following its
Natural Rhythm - the Light and the Dark;
the Rhythm of Life living Itself...
Including the life you think you have created...

All life is being lived by "The Holy Mystery"...

All is the pulse of Silence...

All is the pulse of the Cosmos...

Mystic Meandering
Dec. 24, 2024

_/\_

~

"The Holy"
dwells among us
in us
and through us...

Holy-Holy

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

Attune to The Rhythm - Henry Miller

When you surrender, the problem ceases to exist.  Try to solve
it, and you only set up more resistance.  I am very certain now
that...if I truly become what I wish to be, the burden will fall
away.  The most difficult thing to admit, and to realize with
one's whole being, is that you alone control nothing.

To be able to put yourself in tune or rhythm with the forces
beyond, which are truly operative ones, that is the task...

Henry Miller

~

Photo - The October 2024 Aurora Borealis
taken by my brother in Mass.

~

"Touch Eternity/a deeper Reality on a daily basis"

MM

 

The Soul's Rhythm - John O'Donohue

We should not force ourselves to change by hammering
our lives into any predetermined shape.  We do not need to
operate according to the idea of a predetermined program or
plan for our lives.  Rather we need to practice a new art of
attention to our inner rhythm...  This attention brings a new
awareness of our own human and divine presence.

It is far more creative to work with the idea of mindfulness
than with the idea of will.  Too often people try to change
their lives by using the will as a kind of hammer to beat their
life into proper shape.  The intellect identifies the goal of the
program, and the will accordingly forces the life into shape.
This way of approaching the sacredness of one's own
presence is externalistic and violent.  It brings you falsely
outside of your own self and you can spend years lost in the
wilderness of your own mechanical, spiritual programs.

You can perish in a famine of your own making.

If you work with a different rhythm, you will come easily and
naturally home to your self.  Your Soul knows the geography...
  Your Soul alone has a map..., therefore you can trust this
 indirect, oblique side of your self.  If you do, it will take you

  where you need to go, but more importantly, it will teach
you a kindness of rhythm in your journey. 
There are no general principles for this art of being.
Yet the signature of this unique journey is inscribed deeply in
each Soul. If you attend to your self and seek to come into
your own presence, you will find exactly the right rhythm
for your life.  The senses are generous pathways which can
bring you home.

John O'Donohue
from Anam Cara

with thanks to The Beauty We Love

~

....belong first in your own interiority.  If you are in rhythm
with your self and connected to that deep, unique source
within, then you will never be vulnerable.
  You will be able to stand....on the ground of your
Soul, where you are at home.

John O'Donohue
from Anam Cara

~

Art - Mystic Meandering
Craypas oils done with fingers
"Ocean Splash"
2012

 

Inner Rhythms - a meandering...

I've been trying to find my "Inner Rhythms" again; the Inner
Rhythm of Being, of the Soul, and how that wants to move
in and through me.  I receive postings from  Nature Artist
and Writer, Rod MacIver, from his website, Heron Dance.
He has spent a lot of time alone in nature, getting in touch
with his Inner Rhythm.  He reflects:

"A balanced life is based on its own rhythm.  If you don't set
your own rhythm, and have the discipline to follow it, your
life will move at the speed of the culture around [you], which
moves too fast.  The space we make for quiet time affects our
thought patterns and, in turn, the quality of our lives."  And, he
asks:  "To what extent is the rhythm of your life a result of....
adapting.....to the flow that surrounds [you]."  Or, I would
even say, to the people around you.  Have we entrained to the
people around us - living their rhythm?  I know I have...

I felt a resonance with his words, knowing that I needed to find
that sense of the deeper Inner Rhythm again, not just my own
personal daily rhythm with life, but the Flow with the Inner
Rhythm of my Being; the undercurrent flow of Life within -
from which all movement arises.

The only way I know to do this is to turn within to The Silence 
where The Rhythm of the Inner Being is felt - the Rhythm of
Silence ItSelf.  Being in The Sacred Silence is what brings me
joy, and a felt sense of Presence.  Finding that Inner Rhythm,
The Silence of Being, is "Divine Communion."  This, for me,
is the True Rhythm, the Rhythm of Pure Being ItSelf - the deep
undercurrent of Life that animates all life - which is The
Silence.  This is what calls to me - over and over again.

But the hypnosis of the world keeps me/us magnetized to the
ways of the world and pulls me/us out of this deeper way of
living and knowing.  We are conditioned to be drawn to the
external dramas of the world, to chew on them, teethe on them...
It's the pablum of the matrix we live in.  But no one trains us
to turn within to the Quiet Inner Presence of Silence.  And so
we follow the rhythm of the world (the "civilized", mechanized,
political, chaotic world), with its hypnosis of separation from
our Inner Rhythm, instead of turning inward to the awareness
of the Inner Rhythm; to that interior space of the "Great Mystery"
 that pulsates Its Rhythm within us...

I'm curious, before your innocent Heart was hypnotized by the
rhythms of the world, what did you want deep in your Heart,
not what you wanted to be when you grew up, but what did
you really long for?  What called to you?  Do you remember?
Do you know now?

Mystic Meandering
Sept. 6, 2015

~

Photo - Mandala Art
2013

 

The Dance - Oriah

 

“Don’t tell me how wonderful things will be…someday. Show me you can risk being completely at peace, truly okay with the way things are right now in this moment, and again in the next and the next and the next… Here is the question: Are you willing to be completely at peace with how things are right now in your life? Are you willing for just one moment to let go of all your dissatisfaction, of all your suffering about how things are? Are you willing to let go of all the worry and tension in your body and simply breathe? I think of happiness as the delight I have when I am aware of being completely at peace and fully present with myself and the world just the way it is in this moment. It is a lack of suffering plus a self-reflectivity that makes the peace I am feeling a conscious state of awareness. I am not simply at peace, I am aware that I am at peace—happy. So, are you willing to be happy?”

“If I want to live my ability to be fully present and compassionate, my ability to be with it all—the joy and the sorrow—I must find the ways, the people, the places, the practices that support me in being all I truly am. I must cultivate ways of being that let me feel the warmth of encouragement against my heart when it is weary.”

“What if the task is simply to unfold, to become who you already are in your essential nature—gentle, compassionate, and capable of living fully and passionately present? How would this affect how you feel when you wake up in the morning?”

Excerpts from - The Dance: Moving to the Deep Rhythms of Your Life
Oriah Mountain Dreamer

 

Divine Discontent - a meandering...

Something is arising in me - calling to me through the veils
of "spirituality" - that cannot be ignored...  The Call of the
Soul - the Passion of the Soul...  The call to a deeper
authenticity...

It's as if my Being, my Soul, is trying to free Itself from its
confines and constraints - A Divine Discontent.  There's a
sense of needing to break out of those limiting constraints,
to break out of a "role", a "spiritual identity", a "spiritual"
self-image that has kept me dancing to a tune that I now feel
out of sync with - out of sync with my Soul; needing to
find my own unique rhythm with life.

"Spirituality" has, in ways that I don't fully understand,
 suffocated my authentic expression of "The Mystery." 
And now I need to emancipate myself and live that
unique expression.  I must discover my own way, and
navigate my unique path.  It cannot be prescribed by others;
conforming to someone else's maps of Reality, but 
emancipating the true expression of the Soul, whatever
that may look like; listening to the authentic Voice within.

As I write these words, I feel myself settling back into
myself again - my Natural self - not an abstract 
"spiritualized" Self - hiding behind the
veils of "spirituality."

So what is my Soul calling me to?
What is my "unique path" - my unique expression?
What is the Fire in my Soul?

They are yet to be discovered...

But there is a kind of Alchemical transformation
arising within...  I feel its Fire...

_/\_

Mystic Meandering

July 1, 2022

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

The Rhythm of Rest...

I flow on the swells of the Great Sea.
Out beyond the thought stream,
in the deep calm of the Stillness
rising and falling in the endless, subtle
rhythmic movement beyond time;
a Stillness that ebbs and flows naturally.

Here is the gateway to deep Rest,
an attunement with the deep inner Silence,
where everything falls into
the Rhythm of Rest.

I allow myself to be taken by
"The Rhythm",
suspended in the mystical breath of the Cosmos,
the Silence of pre-existence.

Its Stillness holds me, sustains and supports me -
Is deeply Me...

And I realize everything is suspended in this
Essential Rhythm of Life.
 In some mysterious way,
We breathe, and are breathed by
"The Rhythm."

Immersing myself in "The Rhythm"
I deeply Rest
in harmony with the Universe...

Ommmmm...

Mystic Meandering
March 2022

~

Photo Art - Mystic Meandering

 

A New Dance - a meandering

I thought I had to follow a prescribed path of "enlightenment."
I thought I had to climb the highest "spiritual" mountain seeking
the "Truth."
I thought I had to find the "right" door, and then
I thought I had to knock and beg for it to open.
I thought I was being kept from the "Truth" -
that only the privileged "spiritual" elite could know...

My experience showed me otherwise...

I only had to turn inward to the Inner Sanctuary of my own Being
and truly See what was there - the "Mystery" Itself...

Over many years of "turning inward" to the Silence at my core,
I discovered that I did not need to be "purified" in order to be an
expression of "The Mystery"; I did not have to become a "perfect"
human being, or polish my heart.  My psychological wounds, my
samskaras, and conditioning still arise... and yet - I realized that
I am still a "Divine Vibration" in form...  Every part of me, and you,
vibrates subtly with the living Cosmos - even if not directly felt at
any given moment. 

An incredible mystery of Being...

In the deeper spaces of our Being we are enveloped in "The Mystery"
from which each one of our unique expressions of 
that "Mystery" arises...

Sometimes all I do to feel it, is to sit quietly in the deep Silence at
the core of my Being, my Inner Sanctuary, listening and attuning to
the Primordial Rhythm:
The Deeper Silence
The inbreath and the outbreath,
the Stillness of Being,
The Rhythm of birth, life, death, expansion and contraction.
In that space I feel suspended (held) in that Cosmic Rhythm; a
self-creating energy, expressing the rhythm of the
"Mystery" Itself...

And there I discovered that the Essence of our very Being is beyond
the intermediaries of the earthly "murtis" of our worship...

I am having to learn to move to a different Rhythm now,

to dance with the Mysteries of the Inner Cosmos...
Immersing myself in the Primordial Energy of
an Alive Cosmos - ever-unfolding into a new
Cosmology of Being...

Mystic Meandering
March 29, 2022

~

Photo from the Internet

Fall Into Your Rhythm - Fred LaMotte

 You don't need to be a rosy-soft new age angel
in order to meditate.

You don't need to sip liquified kale, live in an ashram,
or be politically correct, in order to tap the infinite Source.

You don't need to be someone better, someone higher,
someone purer, someone 'else.'
There's no one 'else' for you to be.

It is the very search that divides us from ourselves...

The beginning and end of spiritual practice is to rest
the mind in [your] own broken heart.

Align your jagged edges.  Tune into the rough, unpolished,
yet sparkling joy of your uniqueness.

The symphony of creation would not resonate in the same
harmony without your singular piercing lovely note.
The world doesn't need another Gandhi, Jesus, or "spiritual
teacher" - it needs You.

"Enlightenment" is more like falling than rising, more like
collapsing than getting it all together.

Fall into your own rhythm: this is perfect stillness.
Collapse into the Grace at the heart of your own chaos:
that is perfect peace.

I did not learn this from the gods.
I learned it from my dogs.

Fred LaMotte
Uradiance

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering
Rainbow light reflected on rug...
(looks like a musical note to me :)

The Loom of Weaving...

Withdraw from the Loom of Weaving;
the mind-made threads, the mind-made
rhythms, 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 a River,
that flows to the Ocean.
Find the Source in the Rhythm...

Where does it take you?

Into the depths of yourSelf -
the depths of your Beingness,
the depths of Silence...

Attune to that Rhythm...

Mystic Meandering
Aug 27, 202

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

Holy Rhythm - Stephen Jenkinson

People in our culture play the polyrhythms of their life,
but don't play or tell the Rhythm inside those rhythms.
They know it - but they don't play it, and they don't
tell it; that is the work of "the Gods", they say, to play
that simpler, steadier Rhythm...  That Holy Rhythm that
 is the signature of life itself.

As you get into the sway of that Rhythm, you realize
you've been playing everything around the Rhythm,
everything but the Rhythm itself, trying all the
possibilities you found until all that's left is to be
told and played by the simple, ragged syncopation of
your days.

That's when the Rhythm finally is able to have its way
with you.  It's like answering at last somebody who's
been calling your name for years.  You play the rhythms
and you learn the Rhythm, and you move accordingly...

Stephen Jenkinson
from: Die Wise

~

Vortex Art - Mystic Meandering
2012

Healing Silence...

Find the inner Flow with Life again.
Turn inward to the Quiet, to the rhythm of
the breath that leads to the pool of Stillness
and breathe the Inner Rhythm;
just being...just resting.

Let life go - for now - just let it go...

"Sabbatical" is what is required;
the deep, inner rest...

Immerse yourself in the Silence;
the Luminous Mother Energy of all that is manifest;
the hum of the Universe that slowly pulses through you...

Let your life be a "sabbatical", resting in this Sacred Silence.
Move intuitively, spontaneously, and fluidly through life,
from the Stillness at the core of your Being;
untouched by the constant chaos of the world...

Turn inward again and again
feeling the Inner Rhythm;
breathing the Rhythm of Silence;
living the Rhythm of Silence,
until you intuitively feel the movement
of Life - moving you...

Live from the core of your Being...

Mystic Meandering
Sept. 13, 2019

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

Personal Note:  My poems sometimes come across as "directives."
That is how they have come to me in meditative Silence - directives from
The Silence.  They are not me telling you what you should do.  I merely write
the words that come and put them in poem form and share them...

Inner Rhythms

"A balanced life is based on its own rhythm.  If you don't set your
own rhythm, and have the discipline to follow it, your life will
move at the speed of the culture around [you], which moves too
fast.  The space we make for quiet time affects our thought patterns
and, in turn, the quality of our lives.  To what extent is the rhythm
of your life a result of.....adapting.....to the flow that surrounds you?"
Rod McIver - Artist

I feel a resonance with his words, knowing that I need to find that
sense of my own rhythm.  But I also want to find the deeper
 Rhythm of Life; not just my own personal daily rhythm with life, but
 the Flow of the Inner Being, also called the Tao, the undercurrent flow
of Life within - from which all movement arises.

The only way I know to do this is to turn within to The Silence within
where The Rhythm of the Inner Being is felt - the Rhythm of Silence.
Finding that deeper Inner Rhythm is, for me, the Rhythm of Pure
Being ItSelf - the deeper Rhythm that animates all life... 
 But the "externals" of life distract me and distort the felt sense
 of this Inner Rhythm.

The hypnosis of the world keeps me/us magnetized to the ways of the
world, and pulls me/us out of this deeper way of living and knowing.
We are conditioned to be drawn to the external drama of the world, to
chew on it, teethe on it...  I recently started using my husband's FB
account, just to see what it would be like...  I was hooked within a
couple of days.  It sucks you in, and displaces all other attention... I
have since tried to wean myself off of this "obsessive attention
disorder." It's the pablum of the matrix we live in. 
But no one trains us, when we're young, to turn within to the
 Quiet Inner Presence of Silence.
And so we follow the rhythm of the world, the civilized, political,
chaotic world, with its hypnosis of separation from our Inner Being,
instead of turning to that interior space of The Rhythm that pulsates
Its Aliveness within us, and does not depend on a
 name, label, or identity - or the world's rhythms... 
I'm still using training wheels...

Before your innocent Heart was hypnotized by the rhythms of the
world, what did you want deep in your Heart?  Not what you wanted
 to be when you grew up, but what did you really long for?  What
 called to you?  Do you remember?  Do you know now?

~

Photo - Bliss Lotus Mandala
digitally blurred

2013

~

Personal Note: I am aware that there are FB pages out there that are not part of the manipulative matrix of superficial social media - that offer substantive and inspiring writings.  For them I am grateful...

Balance - Ursula Le Guin

Do you see how an act is not like a rock that one picks up
and throws, and it hits or misses, and that's the end of it.

When that rock is lifted, the earth is lighter; the hand that bears
it heavier.  When it is thrown, the circuits of the stars respond,
and where it strikes or falls, the universe is changed.
On every act the balance of the whole depends.
The winds and seas, the powers of water and earth and light,
all that these do, and all that the beasts and green things do,
is well done, and rightly done.  All these act within the
Equilibrium. From the hurricane and the great whale's
sounding, to the fall of a dry leaf and the gnat's flight,
all they do is done within the balance of the whole.

But we... we must learn to do what the leaf and the whale and
the wind do of their own nature.  We must learn to keep the
balance.  Having intelligence, we must not act in ignorance.
Having choice, we must not act without responsibility.

Ursula K. Le Guin
The Farthest Shore

via - Beyond the Fields We Know

~

Maybe we just need to keep learning how to live with each other
in a balanced way...

MM

~

The stars are like letters which inscribe themselves at every
moment in the sky.  All things depend on each other.
Everything breathes together.

Plotinus
CE 204/5-270

~

Photo - Funky art with "Scratch and Sketch Artist's Tile."
Represents balance, but also - how everything we do or
say reverberates out, affecting all beings...

"Sabbatical Life" - A Reflection

Over the last few years I've reflected on the idea
that the life of a "mystic" was supposed to be about
"sabbatical" - you know, living a monk's life :) -
spending days in Silence, meditating, continuously
aware of the Pure Being that we are.  And yet,
in reality, I am continually pulled outward into the
requirements of daily living with its ups and downs,
preoccupations and distractions.  Of course!  Aren't we all! 
That's just how life is...

Sometimes I think I may be delusional to think that it is
possible to live according to the Inner Rhythm, focusing

on the Inner Life...

I also sometimes wonder if I'm being selfish, self-centered,
narcissistic to want to focus on the Inner Life...  Is this just
hidden ego? - rhetorical question. :)  I don't see this as an
escape from life, but a call to a way of being - and yet it
eludes me.  

When I ride the waves of this Inner Rhythm in meditative
Silence, I can feel the chaotic surface waves dissipate.  But
at times I also find myself making the distinction between
life as it is and the *idea* of the "sabbatical life" - creating
 a separation where there is none.  When in fact it is more
one's orientation towards life and living that matters - one's
relationship with life as it is - and - with "The Ineffable
Mystery" within...  I'm still working on that...

I know that ultimately it's not either/or, but both/and:
living in harmony with life as it is - surrendering to where
LIFE wants to flow - to the wholeness of Being;
living fully from a deep, abiding *awareness* of Pure
Beingness within - and - the awareness that it's really
all "The Mystery" living ITself here anyway...

I may have romanticized the "sabbatical life", but it still
calls to me, feels like a very deep and vital need - this
resting in the awareness of Pure Beingness - like breathing.
And at this point, for me, it requires Silence and Solitude,
which is why I post about it here :)  

The "key" seems to be - to be willing to face into the realities
of living, the requirements of daily living - while at the same
time being deeply aware of the deeper Rhythm within; not having
any preconceived ideas about what "sabbatical life" should look like,
 but being open to The Rhythm of the Inner Life - while learning to
ride the waves of daily life as they come.
.  They are not in opposition to each other, but flow together.

~

Mystics are people who quest for wisdom or for God,
[or the Truth of Existence, etc.], not in the world of
externals but in the microcosm of their own soul.  There
they follow themselves to be fully present to the experiences
of a deep-felt joy or sorrow, of beauty or suffering, of gain
or loss, so that these opposing poles might in time reconcile
and grow and ripen into a harmonious whole - which wells
up as peace that defies all rational explanation...

Anne Marie Kidder, Editor
 Etty Hillesum: Essential Writings

The Soul's Rhythm - John O'Donohue

We should not force ourselves to change by hammering our
lives into any predetermined shape.  We do not need to operate
according to the idea of a predetermined program or plan for our
lives.  Rather, we need to practice a new art of attention to our
inner rhythm of our days and lives.  This attention brings a new
awareness of our own human and divine presence.

It is far more creative to work with the idea of mindfulness than
with the idea of will. Too often people try to change their lives
by using the will as a kind of hammer to beat their life into proper
shape.  The intellect identifies the goal of the program, and the
will accordingly forces the life into shape.  This way of approaching
the sacredness of one's own presence is externalistic and violent.
It brings you falsely outside of your own self and you can spend
years lost in the wilderness of your own mechanical, spiritual
programs.  You can perish in a famine of your own making.

If you work with a different rhythm, you will come easily and
naturally home to your self.  Your soul knows the geography of
your destiny.  Your soul alone has a map of your future, therefore
you can trust this indirect, oblique side of your self.  If you do,
it will take you where you need to go, but more importantly it will
teach you a kindness of rhythm in your journey.  There are no
general principles for this art of being.  Yet the signature of this
unique journey is inscribed deeply in each soul.  If you attend to
your self and seek to come into your own presence, you will find
exactly the right rhythm for your life.  The senses are generous
pathways which can bring you home.

John O'Donohue
from Anam Cara

via The Beauty We Love

For A New Beginning - John O'Donohue

In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
where your thoughts never think to wander,
this beginning has been quietly forming,
waiting until you were ready to emerge.

For a long time it has watched your desire,
feeling the emptiness inside you,
noticing how you willed yourself on,
still unable to leave what you had outgrown.

It watched you play with the seduction of safety
and the gray promise that sameness whispered,
heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
wondered would you always live like this.

Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
and out you stepped onto new ground,
your eyes young again with energy and dream,
a path of plenitude opening before you.

Though your destination is not yet clear,
you can trust the promise of this opening;
unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
that is at one with your life's desire.

Awaken your spirit to adventure;
hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
for your soul senses the world that awaits you.

John O'Donohue
"For A New Beginning"

~

Photo - Portal Cloud

For Samhain - "A Morning Blessing"

“I bless the night that nourished my heart
to set the ghosts of longing free
into the flow and figure of dream
that went to harvest from the dark,
bread for the hunger that no one sees.

All that is eternal in me
welcome the wonder of this day,
the field of brightness it creates
offering time for each thing
to arise and illuminate.

I place on the altar of dawn:
The quiet loyalty of breath,
the tent of thought where I shelter,
wave of desire I am shore to,
and all beauty drawn to the eye.

May my mind come alive today
to the invisible geography
that invites me to new frontiers,
to break the dead shell of yesterdays,
to risk being disturbed and changed.

May I have the courage today
to live the life that I would love,
to postpone my dream no longer
but do at last what I came here for
and waste my time on fear no more…”

John O’Donohue
”A Morning Offering”
From: To Bless the Space Between Us

~

For those of the ancient Celtic and Druid traditions Samhain
 (Nov. 1) is the beginning of a new cycle in
 the Great Round of Time - recognizing the cyclical nature
 of manifest existence.

Warm Blessings to all no matter what your tradition…

Finding The Rhythm of "Silence..."

Photo and Quote by: Larry Kanfer
Photo called “Gatekeeper” from: “On Second Glance”
Published by the University of Illinois Press

~

Winter is upon us, much like the above photo; intuitively the time for hibernation.  And I’ve been a cranky contemplative because I am not getting enough solitude, quiet, and meditative Silence…  I’m needing to be in "The Stillness", finding the Rhythm of Silence within again – just BEing in that space of Divine Silence until my entire Being feels “nourished” and restored.  It appears that life may soon afford me this deep necessity, allowing me to spend more time in Inner Quiet– the “Gatekeeper” of the Inner Life - listening to "The Silence"; which does not mean I won’t be *doing* anything. HA! There is always "doing" to be done.  But there are some life changes on the horizon that I hope to write about in some future-now…

Finding the Rhythm of Silence is simply sitting in silence, listening for the Inner Flow, the Inner Rhythm and bringing the awareness there...  Finding the Rhythm of Silence within unwinds you - unwinds your thoughts, your feelings, emotions and stresses of the day.  It is the medicine that brings us back into the current of Life - the Inner Life...

From The Silence today:

“You must come into the eternal Rhythm of ‘The Quiet…’
You must learn to live in and from ‘The Silence’
which does not mean
live *in* silence,
but to live *in*
’The Silence...’
from

the eternal vastness
and depth
of
’The Silence’

~

Find your truth
*in*
’The Silence’”

Mystic Meandering
Meditative Writings
Nov. 21, 2013

~

Also see: Perfect Pulsing Silence


May we all find The Rhythm of Silence in our lives...

Photo:

I just love this photo,

the simplicity, the zen-like quality;
the tangible silence…
It is an old newspaper clipping from years ago
found in one of our archive boxes recently.

The "Art" of Remembrance...

It’s been an interesting journey through the art e-course at Bloom True I just finished.  No art to show you yet, except this little corner of a piece. (The rest of it doesn’t look anything like this.)  It just amazes me sometimes what emerges.  This little piece was not intended to look like a flowing river, with river bank and trees.  Can you see it?  It just emerged that way.  It is just marks on canvas, and in this piece is covered by a translucent layer of green.  That’s the mystery of intuitive painting.  Some of my subsequent layers have sometimes come out looking more contrived with images painted in…  But essentially there’s no intent.

Although the course is over, I’m still not finished yet… I have 5 unfinisehd canvases…   When I first signed up for the art e-course in July I anticipated that “art” would open me up to realms of inner Beingness that would flow out onto the canvas.  Instead, I felt only anxiety staring at the canvas.  Each time I step up to the canvas, whether there’s already paint, or the emergence of images on it or not, I contract (except maybe a couple of times) – fearful to make a mistake, of where it’s going to go, of how it’s going to look.  There’s that “not knowing” again that is so anxiety provoking.  Which means - I’m still trapped in the construct of the mind, under the veil of the fabricated self that needs to *know.*  I’ve probably mentioned all this before, but I am reflecting on my experience now, as I continue to try to paint with a sense of inner ease that isn’t apparently happening – much like life… J  

And yet, ironically, the anxiety I experience is now bringing me to what is really needed – the deeper need – the deeper awareness of the mental barriers, as well as of The Mystery, and the awareness of the need to let go – in life as well as in art.  I am more aware that I’m nearly always caught up in an undercurrent of anxiety about life.  It is my auto-pilot approach.  Interesting…  Maybe this was the real need – to become aware through art…

The art course is a very intuitive process of painting.  There is no preconceived *idea* of what to paint.  That’s why I was drawn to this course.  You just start putting paint to canvas, in layers of color and markings, *allowing* the painting to emerge… Interestingly images emerge *through* the many layers… You might like to see Flora Bowley’s (art instructor’s) paintings here.  It’s a free flow of movement, color, and intuitive expression.  It’s not like intentionally painting a landscape, or a portrait, or a scene, or an object – although those things may show up.  And you can add imagery in.  It is totally whatever intuitively wants to be painted.   You can always paint over what you’ve done, or transform it.  Even knowing this the mental block is still there.

So why is this totally free way of painting so challenging?  I think it is partly the fear of the unknown, not feeling in control, the fear of letting go of knowing, my mind wanting something concrete to paint.   In the process of contracting into fear – over what “should” be a joyful creative experience – I forget to stay open and trust the process, to trust The Mystery, to trust what wants to express here – that inner Beingness - some call the Soul, some call Awareness, some call Pure Consciousness.  This veil of fear hides The Mystery from my awareness.

However, paradoxically, the angst over art-making has become a *way* of remembrance.  To open to that anxiety, to fully feel it, to face it has become a vehicle to come back to the Heart of Awareness, if I allow what emerges within me to be felt and seen – and - remember the Silence of Inner Being that is always right there – waiting.  If I open to The Mystery and let go, not being afraid of the fear, but to stand before the canvas of Life and remember who’s really painting this reality; remembering the underlying Rhythm of Life Itself that creates everything we see – then it becomes the “art” of Remembrance - realizing that fear is just an overlay of the mind.

“Every part of you has a secret language.
Your hands and feet say what you’ve done.
And every need brings what is needed…”

Rumi