Finding the Rhythm - a meandering

 

”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 MacIver

 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 feel a resonance with his words, knowing that I needed to find
 that sense of the larger Inner Rhythm again,
 not just my own personal daily rhythm with life,
but the Flow with the Inner Being, commonly 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
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 magnetized to the ways
 of the world and pulls me 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…  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, political,
 chaotic world), with its hypnosis of separation from our Inner Being,
instead of turning  inward to the Awareness of the Inner Rhythm;
to that interior space of The Rhythm of the “Great Mystery”
 that pulsates Its Aliveness within us, and does not depend
on a name, label, or identity – or the world’s rhythms…  

Mystic Meandering
2015

 

~

Mandala Art:  Mystic Meandering
 Bliss Lotus Mandala
2013

Inner Rhythms - a meandering...

I've been rediscovering my "Inner Rhythms" again through my
funky "art"; the Inner Rhythm of Being, of the Soul, that
John O'Donohue talks about here, 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
in nature, paddling in a canoe, getting in touch with his
Inner Rhythm.  He reflects on the larger context of
"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."  And,
he asks: "To what extent is the rhythm of your life a result of...
adapting...to the flow that surrounds [you]."  Or, I even say,
to the people around you.  Have we entrained to the people
around us so much that we end up living their rhythm?  
I know I have...

I felt  resonance with his words, knowing that I need to find
that sense of the deeper Inner Rhythm again, not just my
own personal daily rhythm with life, getting through the day,
but the Flow with the Inner Rhythm of Being; the undercurrent
of the Flow of Life within - from which all movement arises;
creating color and movement on paper helps me do that...

It calls me into the Silence of my own Being,
and the pulsating Rhythm of Life.
At peace again...

Mystic Meandering

~

Funky Art 
Rhythm

2024

 

Life is a Stream - a meandering...

While lying in bed late one night, many years ago,
talking to my husband about "life events", groping
for perspective, recognizing how I continue to live
from habituated patterns, reacting to life events,
swimming up stream, trying to keep my head above
water, feeling drowned by the stream of life (which
I still do, especially all this past year), he made this
statement: "Life is a stream of events.  Events will
always happen.  Events come and go."  The context
of his statement was to say - if we see that life is
always a stream of events, or experiences, always
in flux, then we won't feel so overwhelmed by
them, they won't trip us up as much because we can
adapt and adjust and manage them.  Sounds a little
like the Tao to me - to see that no matter what
happens Life is Flow, and we are in that Flow as well.
It was helpful to begin to see a way to navigate my
way of going down stream...

In essence, he told me, what it is about is meeting life
as it comes by plugging in to the Cosmic Flow of the
Universe, of Life - meeting the "events"/experiences of
life through seeing the Cosmic Flow of all things,
and through all things; flowing with life as it happens,
not getting focused on the obstacles/events, or seeing the
events as obstacles. He said by seeing that everything is this
Cosmic Flow, we can be assured that it is flowing the way
it is supposed to - no matter what happens...  When you
don't fight it, you can begin to experience the harmony
of Flow.

B knows nothing of Taoism, but he intuitively "tapped in"
to "The Tao" - The Flow....

~

Empty yourself of everything.
Let the mind rest at peace.
The ten thousand things rise and fall
while the Self watches their return.
They grow and flourish
and then return to the Source.
Returning to the Source is stillness,
which is the way of nature.

If you are willing to be lived by it,
you will see [the Tao] everywhere,
even in the most ordinary things.

Lao Tzu

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

The Elusive Present Moment - St. Augustine & Ostaseski

"Now" is neither in time nor out of time.
The elusive present moment is measured by the tick-tock time
of a clock, which we humans have invented, nor is it separate
from past or future.  There is no time line, at least not as we
conventionally think about it.

St. Augustine (paraphrased)
from - The Five Invitations

~

Hope....is not a wish to be fulfilled, or a plan to be formulated
and executed, but in how we meet the ever-changing moment.

The present moment could best be described as the flow of life.
We are continually being shaped by it and we are shaping it
through the way we meet and respond to it...

Frank Ostaseski
The Five Invitations

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

Divine Dissatisfaction - Martha Graham

There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening
that is translated through you into [creative] action, and
because there is only one of you in all time, this expression
is unique.  And if you block it, it will never exist through
any other medium and it will be lost.  The world will not
have it.  It is not your business to determine how good
it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other
expressions.  It is your business to keep the channel 
open.  You do not even have to believe in yourself, or
your "work."  You have to keep yourself open and aware
to the urges that motivate you.  There is a queer dis-
satisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching
and makes us more alive...
Keep the channel open...

Martha Graham
Dancer/Choreographer

~

Befriend this perennial dissatisfaction while continuing
to unlock the spiritual electricity of creative flow.

Julia Cameron

with thanks to Brain Pickings for quotes

~

Art - Mystic Meandering

 

Life is a Stream of Events...

While lying in bed late one night recently, talking to my
husband about "life events", groping for perspective,
recognizing how I continue to live from habituated
patterns, reacting to life events, swimming up stream,
trying to keep my head above water, feeling drowned
by the stream of life - he made this statement:

"Life is a stream of events.  Events will always happen.
Events come and go."  The context of his statement was
to say - if we see that life is always a stream of events,
then we won't feel so overwhelmed by them, they won't
trip us up as much because we can adapt and adjust and
manage them.  Sounds a little like the Tao to me - to see
that no matter what happens Life is a Flow, and we are in
that Flow as well.  It was helpful to begin to see a way to
re-orient my way of going down stream...

In essence, he told me, what this is about is meeting life
as it comes by plugging in to the Cosmic Flow of the
Universe - meeting the "events" of life through seeing
the Cosmic Flow of all things, and through all things;
flowing with life as it happens, not getting focused on
the obstacles/events, or seeing the events as obstacles.
  He said by seeing that everything is the Cosmic Flow,
we can be assured that it is flowing the way it is supposed
 to - no matter what happens... When you don't fight it, you
 can begin to experience the harmony of Flow.

B knows nothing of Taoism, but he intuitively "tapped in"
to "the Tao" - The Flow...

Empty yourself of everything.
Let the mind rest at peace.
The ten thousand things rise and fall
while the Self watches their return.
They grow and flourish
and then return to the Source.
Returning to the Source is stillness,
which is the way of nature.

If you are willing to be lived by it,
you will see [the Tao] everywhere,
even in the most ordinary things.

Lao Tzu

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

The Energy of Life - Naomi Stone

There is something wonderful
working in the world
and in the natural flow
of life...
an energy
that moves this existence
moment to moment...

Trying to name it or trying
to control it changes
the inner wisdom
and steals the wonder
of discovery...

Watch a child exploring
his world.
Touching...tasting...squealing
with delight starting
at the beginning

We are seldom taught
to trust it
because someone
wants to pay you to live
their ideas and answers...
or charge you for learning
them by luring you away,
away from the gift
of your own gloriously
divine heritage...

Suddenly...
you are entrapped...
doubting who you are
in a world where
everyone seems
to think they have the answers...

Live the awareness of the flow
and infinite portals
ever opening
around and within you...

Naomi Stone
Original title: "Spiraling Energies of Creation"

~

Art - Craypas oils
done with fingers
2012

The Formless Happening - Darryl Bailey

All things are changing, flowing.  They're passing appearances
of a great unformed, and inexplicable happening - an event,
a presence - call it whatever you have to.

If we sit quietly, making no effort, life expresses itself clearly;
it simply happens on its own.  There'e nothing else to get.
The great truth is obvious.  The heart beats, the breath comes
and goes.  Vibrations, pulsations, twinges, feelings, thoughts,
and emotions rise and fall.  Urges rise and pass; some become
 actions, others do not; and so life flows.

Sitting quietly, making no effort, all is revealed; a vibrant,
pulsing, formless happening, simply happening.  There is no
goal in this, no final point; there is only what expresses itself
in this moment, and whatever it appears to be now is unavoidably
on its way to some other appearance.

There are many ways of pointing to this vibrant, formless happening.
Some have called it the Great Spirit.  Some call it the river of life,
or the ocean of existence.  Some call it the flow of nature.  It's been
compared to clouds and water, having no particular shape.  Some
say it's movement.  Some call it God, Tao, or Atman.  Some call it
Mind.  Some call it "original nature."  And some just call it the
universe, which literally means "undivided turning."

Daryl Bailey

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.

Unbearably Holy - Matt Licata

Today may not be the day for answers,
but let your heart break open to the vastness
of the questions, the longing, the burning, the uncertainty;
the sense that a miracle is here,
just beyond the veil, but how to reach it?

How to fully show up and participate
in your immediate experience
and be fully alive...

All the teachings.....and worn out ideas about who you are
and why you've come here, about the true source of meaning...
At times, can be overwhelming...
The questions that once had answers...only a tenderness remains,
with no sign or resolution.

Only a burning where the questions once existed...

An old vision seems to be dissolving...
There is no life without the willingness to fully participate
in the shattering and the death of an ancient dream.
No life without embodiment to the vulnerability
as it surges in its eternal forms within you.
Perhaps it was never resolution you were after,
but the pure surging of life.

The heartbreak found here is not a mistake,
but to let your heart break open to the vastness
of the questions.
To fall to the ground as a humble lover of the mystery.

Trust in the flow of your immediate experience,
exactly as it is,
and participate in the raging truth that nothing is wrong with you...
For what you are is unbearably Holy...

Matt Licata

Matt's words, my format.
This is also a synthesis of two
different posts:
Unbearably Holy
and
A Humble Lover of the Mystery

~

Photo - Vortex Art Digitally Altered.

The Flow of Life - Matt Licata

We are always in the flow of life.

It is the idea that there is some "us" on one side
and something called "flow" in some other place,
that is a great trance that seems to be unique
to the human experience...

Usually when we talk of being
"in the flow,"
we mean that we like the feelings,
sensations, and experiences
which are arising in our experience.
If there are more
vulnerable, intense, groundless, unresolvible,
or unideal feelings,
then we this as clear evidence that we are
"out of the flow."

And so the war begins.
The dream of abandoning the non-flow
to return to the flow as quickly as possible.

Perhaps it is only in the willingness to fully participate
in our immediate experience, exactly as it is,
that the nature of the flow will be revealed.

It is not something you will get to one day,
as some sort of acquisition,"
when you line up all of the right experiences,
when you successfully abandon and replace
what is here for something else.

The flow is right here,
utterly inseparable from what you are,
and is revealed in your unconditional commitment
to the truth of your immediate experience.

When you are willing to bring your embodied curiosity,
openness, acceptance and presence
to whatever is arising in the immediacy of now,
the question of how to feel more flow ceases to arise.

In this embodied openness the path is everywhere,
even in those places we least expect.
What you are left with is what you are,
which is love itself.

Allow love to astonish you...
Allow it to craft you
as a vessel of aliveness,
in which it can pour out
into this world.
There is no flow separate from that.

Matt Licata

(Matt's words, my format)

Allow Everything Meditation - Adyashanti

In this form of meditation you are not leading the way,
you're not controlling.
It's almost like being a passenger in a car.

Instead of controlling your experience,
you're a passenger to your experience.

You're watching it and letting it be however it's going to be.
When you're more a passenger to your experience,
you can watch what naturally happens,
when you have no idea of what should happen
or where you're going.

You'll naturally come into more of a state of listening.
Listen, watch, see what happens.
Just allow awareness to flow wherever it wants to;
to be aware of whatever it wants to be aware of.

As you allow awareness to go where it wants,
rather than where you want it to go
it unwinds your thoughts, it unwinds your mind,
and your body.

So instead of seeing where you can direct awareness,
you're actually seeing where awareness will take you
when you let it go wherever it wants.

Nothing is held onto. Nothing pushed away.
Allow everything to take its natural course.

Make no effort to enhance or sustain anything.

Just have the notion that you will continue to allow
everything to be, as it is, as it wants to be,
and that you will continue to allow awareness
to go where it wants to go...

Adyashanti
An excerpt from his guided meditation.
from the CD set: "Spontaneous Awakening"
2005

The Unseen Current - Ivan Granger

We have this idea…..that the strong individual must aggressively forge his or her path through life; that it is a fight that only the strong will succeed, and unhappiness is a sign of weakness and inaction.  It is the idea that fulfillment comes through force of will. [But] if we are pushing for a life that is not ours, and feeling frustration because it is not happening, that is a sign that we are still serving the [personal will.].

Most of us imagine that we have to somehow *do* life.  [But] life itself is not something we do or make for ourselves.  It flows through us and is not of our making. The soul has a path that naturally unfolds as we move through life.  When we understand life this way, there is an immense sense of relief - and rest.  …..what is required is not…..willpower, not some total life revolution, but simply…..to feel the deep currents flowing through our lives, and then to fully live the life that naturally emerges....  In this way, we stop obstructing divine will with our endless frustrated efforts and, instead, we allow ourselves to become [an] expression of that heavenly flow that has always been eager to pour through us.  All we really need do is ride the great current flowing through us unseen...

Ivan Granger
Poetry Chaikhana

Inner Rhythms...

It’s been a while since I’ve written anything other than prose poetry.  But I’ve been thinking about “Inner Rhythms” lately; the Inner Rhythm of Being, and how that wants to move in and through me – and wanted to write about it.  I receive an on-line “newsletter” from a Nature Artist in northern Vermont by the name of Rod MacIver who has spent a lot of time alone in nature, getting in touch with his own life 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 larger Inner Rhythm again, not just my own personal daily rhythm with life, but the Flow with the Inner Being, commonly 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 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 drama of the world, to chew on it, teethe on it…  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, political, chaotic world), with its hypnosis of separation from our Inner Being, instead of turning  inward to the Awareness of the Inner Rhythm; to that interior space of The Rhythm of the “Great Mystery” that pulsates Its Aliveness within us, and does not depend on a name, label, or identity – or the world’s rhythms…   

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?

Photo: Bliss Lotus Mandala
2013

When the Heart Opens...

When the Heart opens
nothing else matters:

not trying to “figure ‘it’ all out,”
or to “make ‘it’ happen”,
or “understanding” anything…

When the Heart opens
you know that you are loved
beyond measure,
from a space beyond
known love...

Embrace this Love
that arises in the
 Heart of Hearts.
Feel its joy, its comfort,
and play in the channels
of Its Love.

It is not difficult to open to Its flow,
but you have erected many barriers
and limitations
through the years of hiding
who you are
as

 ~ Love ~

Don’t be afraid of where this Love might take you,
or how it will change you.
Allow the stream of Love to carry you,
to ~ flow ~ you ~

 through life ~

Allow the Truth of who you are to emerge:
~ Love ~
the Essence of your Being,
and all constrictions will release,
and
 Love will
flow ~ ~ ~ ~

Unrestrained…

All that is necessary is to Remember
the Essence of Love
that you are,
 from which you came,
in the Stillness of
your Heart…

It is your truth
and your substance…


Mystic Meandering
Meditative Writings
circa 2004/2006

“Meditative writings” are words that seem to have simply fallen
 out onto the page in narrative form during times in meditation
 or deep Silence.
They were written down as if spoken by someone else from within
– from the Cave of the Heart - giving Divine instruction.

I simply put them together in the form of a poem.

~

Top Photo: Sunrise 1-16-15
taken by Dear Hubby

Bottom Photo: Sunset 1-5-15
moi… J

Life is a Stream of Events...

While lying in bed late one night this week, talking with my husband about ‘life events’ that have recently arisen, groping for perspective, feeling inundated with yet more “events” to deal with, day after day, recognizing how I continue to live from habituated patterns, *reacting* to life events – usually resisting them - still identified with the little me always swimming up stream, trying to keep my head above water, feeling drowned by the stream of life - he made this statement: “Life is a stream of events. Events will always happen.  Events come and go.”  The context of his statement was to say – if we see that life is always a stream of events, then we won’t feel so overwhelmed by them, they won’t trip us up as much because we can adapt and adjust and manage them.  Sounds a little like the Tao to me – to see that no matter what happens Life is a Flow, and we are in that Flow as well.  It was helpful to begin to see a way to re-orient my way of going down stream…

He also shared with me this prayer that he says silently to himself every morning as he faces each day:

“Equip me to respond to life events as they come today.  Help me to adjust and adapt with Divine Purpose, and discern what is needed.”

I asked for clarification on his meaning of “with Divine Purpose”:

In essence, he told me, what this is saying is, meeting life as it comes by “plugging in to the Divine” (his words) – the Cosmic “Flow of the Universe” – meeting the “events” of life through seeing the Divine Flow, or Cosmic Flow, of all things, and through *awareness* of our Inner Divine Beingness – flowing with life as it happens, not getting *focused* on the obstacles/events, or seeing the events as obstacles, allowing them to distract – which I tend to do.  He said by seeing that everything *is* the Divine Flow, we can be assured that it is flowing the way it is supposed to – no matter what happens…  When you don’t fight it, you can begin to experience the harmony of the Flow.

Wow!  B knows nothing about Taoism, but he has intuitively “tapped in” to “the Tao” ~ ~~~ The Flow…   Amazing…

“Empty yourself of everything.
Let the mind rest at peace.
The ten thousand things rise and fall
while the Self watches their return.

They grow and flourish,
and then return to the source.
Returning to the source is stillness,
which is the way of nature. “

“If you are willing to be lived by it,

you will see [the Tao] everywhere,

even in the most ordinary things."

Lao Tzu

Insights from the Land of the Mundane...

Last week was challenging getting ready for an appraiser to appraise the house, as we are attempting to refinance…  It was like trying to do a major Spring cleaning that would normally take me a few weeks in only a few days, and I only made a dent. At first there was excitement and enthusiasm to be clearing through the dust and debris that had accumulated, but after 3 days I was physically exhausted, emotionally drained, overwhelmed, and spiritually dry.   I felt like I was living life according to a foreign rhythm, an artificial rhythm, imposed by the external demands of the house – not according to a deeper inner Rhythm.  Not getting enough meditative Silence, the mind took over.

Over 17 years the house has become an albatross, a task master, weighing me/us down.  It no longer suits our needs, or lifestyle.  And yet life has not afforded us the opportunity to move on.  In getting caught up in this “doing, doing doing” mode, I felt like I was on automatic, waking up everyday with the to-do list running in my head, and under pressure to get it done.  My life energy became cluttered, and I lost a felt sense of the inner Spirit of Life that pulsates underneath all the “doing”, leaving me feeling hollow and empty.

The mind, however, loved the external focus of all this doing, and became a “doing machine.”  The body just followed along with what the mind determined needed to be done; a body-mind mechanism that was on automatic, except the body was getting worn out following the mind, instead of its natural rhythms.  And so at the end of 5 days I had to let go of the “doing” and be in the Quiet – to drop into that Silent space of the Source within and *feel* the Presence of the Divine again.  And yet, the mind still continued to tell me what I should be doing – running its “to do” lists incessantly – the real task master…   

Let’s just say that through this mundane experience I have found out how I *don’t* want to live, not letting the house (or the mind) dictate the flow of my life, because, as I discovered, if one is *only* focused on the mundane, one can get lost. I am not a deva by any means.  It’s just that my priorities are different.  I delight in the Inner Life.  I thrive there.  I *need* the Silence out of time to *hear* and *feel* the Inner Rhythms of the Divine music in life. 

Without the sense of awareness of this Divine Presence life is empty, lived on automatic, going from one end of the day to the other.  No wonder we get lost in the latest technologies – dependent on our devices, rather than our inner Life.  We stay attached to our electronic leashes that seemingly “connect” us to the world because we are afraid that life without them holds no “meaning”, no “substance”, no “connection.”   We, as a culture, have lost a sense of Divine Presence, and so we numb our minds with technofog, with our ipads, ipods, iphones, internet, facebook, twitter, and yes, even blogging, J trying to make an illusive “connection” – avoiding the *real* connection to Life – losing touch with the *Essence* of Life ItSelf, cutting ourselves off from the Source. What does this have to do with house cleaning you may ask.  It’s a deeper issue.  It’s about whatever numbs us to The Mystery of the pulse of Life – for me it is getting bogged down in the practical tasks of living that do not feed my Spirit… 

I have felt the burden of this house for many years, feeling the need to move on and lighten the load.  And so the house is becoming an agent of change, as I live this experience and ask myself - what is absolutely necessary here?  In other words, why am I doing this ? – My resistance only reflects the need to defy the assumptions of my role and routine - beyond the apparent surface reason of the moment – ie: the appraisal.  What is important?  What is my priority?  What do I *really* want?  For me, it is doing that which enlivens my sense of awareness of the Inner Rhythm of the Divine, and letting that be what determines my life’s movement and give my life meaning and purpose.

The real “task” then became to let go of the daily tasking, to stop the “doing” until internal harmony was restored.  There is a Taoist saying: “In the not-doing, everything gets done.”  When I stopped the tasking, the tasks got done, freely and intuitively as *part* of the daily flow. And were no longer seen as a *chore.*  And yet I know I still need to find a way of living that supports the internal Divine Rhythm *without* the accumulated trappings of life that clutter my life.  Ultimately knowing there is nothing but “The Mystery” of Life being lived Here in the every-day-ness of life…

“A house can become a little self-enclosed world.
 Sheltered there, we learn to forget the wild,
 magnificent universe in which we live.
 When we domesticate our minds and hearts,
 we reduce our lives.
  We disinherit ourselves as children of the universe.

  Almost without knowing it, we slip inside ready-made roles and routines
 which then set the frames of our possibilities and permissions.
  Our longing becomes streamlined.
  We acquire sets of convictions in relation to politics, religion and work…
  We parrot these back and forth to each other, as if they were absolute insights.
  Yet for the most part these frames of belief function as self-contructed barriers,
 fragile clichés pulled around our lives to keep out the mystery.

The game of society helps us to forget the unknown…
  The control and ordering of society is amazing: we comply so totally

with its unwritten rules.
 We show up. We behave ourselves.
  Meanwhile, almost unknown to ourselves,
 we are standing on wild earth at a crossroads in time
 where anything can come towards us.
  Yet we behave as if we carry the world and were the executives of a great plan.

Everywhere around us mystery never sleeps.
 The same deep nature is within us.
 Each person is an incredibly sophisticated, subtle, and open-ended work of art.
  We live at the heart of our own intimacy, yet we are strangers to its endless nature.”

John O’Donohue
From: Eternal Echoes

The Simplicity of Silence...

~

The Rhythm of Silence within is simply found through sitting in meditative silence and listening for the Inner Flow, the Inner Rhythm of Silence, and bringing our awareness to That…  Being in the Rhythm within unwinds “you” – the little me with its stresses and worries and fears.  It unwinds the body, and the thoughts, emotions and feelings that have become our habitual response to life.  It is the medicine that brings us back into the current of Life again – the Inner Life of Spirit…

In the midst of chaos there is always Silence.  In the midst of complexity there is the simplicity of Awareness – if we just notice.  If we just get Quiet and listen…  Each of us has our own way of experiencing this deep Silence within, that brings us to a greater awareness of our “Divine” Nature within.  Simply be open and It will find you…

Reach deeply into the Stillness
within you…
The Primordial Space
of Silence
and thrive there…

In the Stillness is
the congruency of Life…

Be with this Stillness,
with Sacred Silence
and awaken to Its Rhythm…

Mystic Meandering

Meditative Writings

2006

~

Photo of Fall leaves remaining on a branch
 color inverted digitally

Frenetic Flow...

I’ve been violating my own natural rhythms of life this week, getting caught in the frenetic flow of the crazy Season.  You know, that time of year when human kind reverts to its animal nature competing for the best deals and the best gift, turning “giving” into greed. J  Did you *see* those lines wrapped around the big box stores on Thanskgiving Day, and customers camping out on the sidewalks in order to be the *first* in line, and those images of people beating up on each other to buy an i-pad!? – or whatever the newest technological device is…   It seriously warps my “spiritual” image of humanity each year, as apparently this is what the world is about – for some…  The world at large continues in its craziness, especially at this time of year.  Our conditioning and beliefs run deep.  I remind myself that I don’t have to follow the pack in their frenzie.  I am *so* very aware that I have been allowing my mind to take me on that mythical sleigh ride with those illusive reindeer – “Get-er-done” and “Get it over with” – and of course their leader – Resistance… J  What can I say…  Maybe I require a new consciousness…

I ventured out on a couple of shopping excursions this week.  Consequently I am feeling a little shell-shocked tonight.  My nervous system has been significantly overstimulated by all the noise, people and chaos, as well as the expectations of “The Season.”  I have a sensitive body, and am a Mystic at heart, so I need Silence, Solitude and Sabbatical on a *daily* basis, which I will take tomorrow (Friday) - purposely setting the day aside for Silence, meditation, and rest; becoming aware once again of that silent Rhythm of just Be-ing, finding a fluid flow with Life. 

I am very aware that I easily lose The Rhythm of Silence within – on a daily basis – swimming up stream, tuned to the “world’s rhythm.”  When I don’t get Quiet, I can’t *feel* the Silence within, and can’t follow the inner Flow, and a frenetic way of thinking takes over, (can you tell ? lol:) driving me through the day. I am aware of the need for a change in vision, needing more than just a new lens, but a deep shift within.  Unfortunately spending time in “Silence” seems to find its way to the bottom of my “to-do” list at the end of every day, which means it isn’t getting done.  Not that spending time in “Contemplative Silence” consciously is a “doing” – I realize that it is a way of Being – one which I haven’t evidently entrained with yet, so by the end of the day I have lost that *sense* of Rhythm, and the *awareness* of the Eternal Flow and crave time in Beloved Silence – my sanctuary… 

And then, unexpectedly, I am graced…  As I lay in bed before sleep, I cup my face in the palms of my hands, following the breath, and begin to *feel* the Silent Rhythm of Being again, recognizing its familiar Flow…  It was never completely gone…  I simply had to get Quiet…  When I am in that space the craziness of the world doesn’t matter.  There is only Sweet Peace…

“Our minds have become cluttered with so much programming
that we scarcely feel the intuitive currents of life,
which set the spirit free….
The spirit calls the heart to respond to its desire

 to break free of the imaginary bonds of
belief and fear,
and awaken from the dream of ego,
to new vistas of liberating insight…
opening to flow in new directions and new visions of life…”

Adyashanti

"Serenity Sabbatical..."

B left this morning in another attempt to visit his mother…   Fortunately this time he made it without a car glitch…

I am always saddened by his departure, even though I look forward to the “alone time.”

We always leave little cards for each other, reminders of our love, and little words of encouragement for the time apart.  This morning I found this card under my pillow.  He had made the card himself, finding these stylized Japanese symbols on-line - supposedly the symbol for “serenity” – adding the word “sabbatical”, knowing that this was my intention - to use this time to deepen into communion with Beloved “Silence.”  This means stopping the daily routine, finding the Inner Sanctuary and resting there; withdrawing from the internal chaos, sinking into Sacred Silence - and listening; withdrawing the mind from the quest for whatever it is I *think* I’m still searching for: the quest for “answers” to the cosmic questions, and the mental gyrations that go with that - allowing the mind to come to rest as well – just BEing.

 On the inside cover of the card there was another Japanese symbol for “awakening.”   “…..meaningful awakenings,” he wrote in his note, “revealed through venturing into the unknown, through the presence of Awareness, riding the rapids on our pathway to the Eternal Sea – the Ultimate Reality”

Love doesn't get any better than that :) Someone who knows your deepest Self...

And so over the next few days, that’s exactly what I’ll be doing: taking a “Serenity Sabbatical”, standing at the edge of the Unknown, dwelling in the Silence between thoughts, conversing with the Universe, J becoming aware of the Eternal Sea, the Inner Rhythm, the indwelling spontaneous movement of LIFE – again and again – carried by the Inner Flow of Being…

See you on the other side! J

“The finite man longs for the Infinite.
The love that makes the stars,
moves also the heart of man,
and a law of spiritual gravitation
leads his soul to the Soul of the Universe.

Man sees the sun by the light of the sun,
and he sees the Spirit
 by the light of his own inner spirit.

The radiance of eternal beauty
shines over this vast universe
and in moments of contemplation
we can see the Eternal…

Juan Mascaro

(From – Introduction to his translation of the Bhagavad Gita)

Via – Love Is A Place