In The Garden of Time - Chuck Surface

[.....]

Some of our deepest wounds,
Are judgments, self-inflicted,
Endless paper cuts upon our spirit,
Made by an inherently imperfect 'self',
Despising its imperfection.

When in fact, the green-stemmed fruit,
The infant petals in a sheltering bud,
Are as they should be, in their time,
On schedule to arrive, in their time,
In this Dream of passing seasons.

For here, in The Garden of Time,
What is not yet, becomes what is,
And what is, becomes what was,
And our manifest Being, ever ripening,
Is not yet, now, as it will be, then.

On this Path of Love and Surrender,
Tend gently the seedling of the Heart,
Doing the needful, as you are able,
But then Surrender, giving yourself over,
Sweet unripened...

To The Beloved Gardner.

Chuck Surface
In The Garden of The Beloved Facebook

A Divine Puddle - Chuck Surface

When I and the world vanished, utterly,
And Ecstasy remained, as Nonexistent Existence,
I was not then a Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist,
But an agnostic, though I lived, nonetheless...

With Unquenchable Longing.

It was after that Experience,
And the subsequent Presence in the Heart,
Of The Beloved's Perfume lingering,
That I began looking here and there...

Wondering if I was alone in this Affair of The Heart.

I sought throughout the various religions,
Some reference to this Dissolution and Bliss.
To Union, and Her Sweet Perfume lingering,
And found in each some Fragrance...

More so here, less so there.

But I also found, always, inevitably,
The dogma and orthodoxy of each,
The varied descriptions of "reality",
Their firm pronouncements of "truth"...

And I found myself unable to linger.

I wondered, in heartfelt consideration,
If I must pour this Molten Mystery, unformed,
Into a framework of belief, a temple of faith,
Forged by other Lovers, long ago...

And now held to by millions.

And I determined, in heartfelt consideration,
To leave my Experience Molten, unformed,
A Divine Puddle, without center or periphery,
Undefined, unexplained, remaining...

A most Beautiful Mystery, a puddle of Grace.

Now I dance through the villages of belief,
Like a madman, unfettered, a reveling child,
Splashing through the fountains of their Beauty,
Sidestepping, deftly, the muddy pools.

I continue to Love those aspects of each,
In which this Puddle finds Reflection,
In the Water of Love and Surrender,
The Beautiful Face of The Beloved.

For I am now, in the only sense that matters,
A Christian, a Jew, a Muslim, a Hindu, a Buddhist,
"I am in Love" as Hafez declared,
"But with whom I do not know."

Chuck Surface

Garden of The Beloved

Facebook

Walk any path, if your Heart moves you.
Love and revere teachings and teachers.
But Revere, above all, the still, soft voice
Of your own Heart.

Chuck Surface

In the Core of the Contradictions - Matt Licata

At some point, how you thought it was all going to turn out
will crumble away into dust.....all that remains is your raw
burning heart...

It is the nature of form to take birth, to dance, to play, and then
to fall back into the unknown.  This is not some sort of cosmic
error, but the way of things - creative, intelligent, and a reflection
of universal flow.

Relationships, work, family, friends, our health ... ideas about
ourselves, others, and the world.  What we thought would
provide ongoing meaning and purpose. Even what we were so
 sure about just a few days ago - the great realizations, discoveries,
 and insights about who we are, what is most true, what will
 provide lasting peace... no longer quite as convincing.  A dream
 has vanished and has not yet been replaced by a new vision.
 But inside the shards of the broken world, pure

life awaits.

All form must end, departing through a portal into darkness, so that
new forms may emerge from the crucible of clear space.  But what
is emerging in the womb of Now is not knowable ahead of time,
and is not subject to our hopes, fears or fantasies of control.
While the mind will struggle with the wrathful nature of this truth,
the heart knows... the body knows...

See that the death of form is filled with erupting particles of life,
with magic, and with the fragrance of the holy.  You can relax...
and rest inside the core of the contradictions.  Here, the chaos
and the glory are one.

Matt Licata

Seeing God's Eyes...

There is a wonderful Black woman at the Super Market where I shop.  We have chemistry.  I am drawn to her for some inexplicable reason.  Her black pool-like eyes shine and dance with aliveness and love from behind her personality.  She can be a bit of a pistol and cracks me up with her dry sense of humor.  I just love going through her line, and don’t mind waiting, so I can see those big beautiful loving eyes. I know she is a religious woman as she often mentions God. I expect an “Alleluia” out of her mouth at any time.  I do not share her religion or beliefs, but there is something in those eyes that I see whether one calls it God, The Divine, The Universe, Emptiness, Consciousness, Presence, Beingness, Allah, Brahman - or maybe just - Love…  She is not a guru, spiritual teacher, or anyone on a special “spiritual path” – just an ordinary woman who is a cashier at the market.

The other day she spotted me in her line, we gave one another a wide-eyed grin and a wave.  She finished with the person ahead of me, then pushed my carriage aside and gave me the biggest hug.  Imagine that, right there in the grocery store – as if we had been best friends forever!  A big Heart Hug.  After we embraced, while still holding onto each other, I looked into her big beautiful eyes and said “You have God’s Eyes. I can see it.”  We both almost started to cry.  Me - because I recognized something in her looking back at me.  I was looking into her True Being, seeing the reflection of True Beingness (“God”?) in her deep Being, beyond personality… Isn’t that really what we all want in an other, to see the reflection of our deepest Being, our Truest Self…

Afterwards there were few words, only silence between us; not her usual chatter and bantering humor…  She hardly said a word as she checked me out.  I worried that I had made her uncomfortable; that it was too awkward for her for me to tell her that I saw God in her eyes.  I could have said, I see love in your eyes, or you have loving eyes, but what rolled out of my mouth was “You have God’s eyes.” (like I know what that is!?)  At one point she just looked up at me and said: “I am so Loved.”  And I responded – “Yes you are.”  And we both smiled…  Isn’t that what we want the most – to know that we are truly Loved…

It doesn’t matter what one’s “religion” is.  It’s all about opening to Love.  Love shines through it all, whatever “God” one believes in, or does not believe in, or however we call that “God” - as it’s all the same “God” - the same Love shining through the Inner Being...  Who can claim “God” as their own?  Who can take a stance that “God” is only on their side?  For who is “God” anyway?  A persona that we have created?  A cosmic energy?  The Great Mystery…?  Clearly I don’t know with certainty, as my beliefs *about* “God” have changed over the years.  I only know what my experience is – and I saw “God’s” loving eyes looking back at me through the eyes of an ordinary woman at the check-out counter…

As Lydia said - “I am so loved.” 

Alleluia, Lydia, Alleluia… 

And thank you for your loving eyes…

Photo: Eye of God Mandala
Mystic Meandering
2013

Silent Love...

I listen…

for the soft breath of “The Beloved”

like the sound of a lover
sleeping…

I listen…

for the whisper of “The Beloved”

that only a Lover knows -
forever imprinted within
the Heart…

But today there is only silence…
The Sacred Silence of “The Eternal Beloved.”

Still…

I listen…

~

Held in “The Beloved’s” Silence -
like an impetuous Lover
impatiently wanting
”The Beloved’s”
Effusion

the
o u t p o u r i n g
of Illuminating Love
into
my

 Heart

But “The Beloved” remains
silent, even
elusive…

Unresponsive to
my impulsive need…

Meeting
me
only
with

  Silence…

Still…

I listen…

~

In  the Silent Wilderness
of the Heart...
Listening...

I feel it…
I sense it...

The Silent Rhythm

of

Lover and “Beloved”

Entrained…

An

Inner-Fusion

An
Illumined Perfusion

of

Silent
Love

~

Breathless

Mystic Meandering
March 13, 2015

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Be Where Love Is...

"My heart, sit only with those

who know and understand you.

Sit only under a tree

that is full of blossoms.

In the bazaar of herbs and potions

don't wander aimlessly,

find the shop with a potion that is sweet.

If you don't have a measure

people will rob you in no time.

You will take counterfeit coins

thinking they are real.

Don't fill your bowl with food from

every boiling pot you see.

Not every joke is humorous, so don't search

for meaning where there isn't one.

Not every eye can see,

not every sea is full of pearls.

My heart, sing the song of longing

like nightingale.

The sound of your voice casts a spell

on every stone, on every thorn.

First, lay down your head,

then one by one

let go of all distractions.

Embrace the light and let it guide you

beyond the winds of desire.

There you will find a spring and

nourished by its sweet waters

like a tree you will bear fruit forever."

 –Rumi

Via: Love Is A Place

I was lamenting to a friend recently about the dynamics of my family of origin and how challenging it is to be around an angry alcoholic who hates the world and acts with disgust toward everyone, making faces at both my mother and me...  TMI?  J  Maybe, but this is the reality of facing into life as it is…  I sometimes want to recoil, and find my heart contracting in the face of such disdain - not wanting to be wounded again, vowing that *I* do *not* have to endure this behavior - clearly failing in the "unconditional love" department. :)  And yet, I return and try to keep the Heart open once again...  But I also made this comment to my friend: “I need to be where Love is…” – as Rumi points to in his poem – to be in the unprotected ease and openness of people who *know* LOVE.  But do any of us really *know* Love - the pure Essence of Love…  Sometimes our families of origin are not where we find Love – the unconditional kind of Love that nurtures, and allows us to flourish.  I'm sure some of you have already experienced this…   And so, where do I find this Heart of Love, how do I come to know this Love more deeply myself, so that I may be present in and to a family who doesn’t *know* real Love, but is caught up in the matrix of their madness?   

It is in the deep Silence during meditative times that I experience this expansive Love the most.  We are immersed in this vast open *space* of Love that holds us and embraces us without condition - from within...  The Heart of Love is within. 

“And so the journey continues…  Your Heart takes you…..to an endless landscape of love that knows no boundaries.  And the wind is real and the snow continues to fall and the love continues, and will always continue.  So you can leave behind those old worn clothes that you called your existence, those ways you used to walk when you thought you were alive.  Because here in this place that is like no other there is the freedom you always knew, a freedom that belongs to love.

Do not be discouraged…..when the wheels of existence carry you always along roads you would rather not travel.  There is this other land, this landscape that belongs to love.  This is the place where the two seas meet [meaning where human and Divine meet], where existence reveals its secrets, where time uncovers what always was, even if you have never seen it before.

 You *are* the place where the two seas meet, where love is uncovered…  There is always this place, the vastness [of love] that calls to us.  Remember, it is always here.  It cannot be anywhere else."

 Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
Sufi Mystic

From: Fragments of a Love Story


You might also be interested in reading the post:
Prickly Personalities 
about how I met this prickly situation two years ago...

Photo:  My new Amaryllis in full bloom!

Evoking Love J

Postcard from the Heart...

"There is some kiss we want

with our whole lives,

the touch of Spirit...

Seawater begs the pearl

to break its shell.

And the lily,
 how passionately

it needs some wild Darling!

At
 night,
 I open the window

and ask the moon to come

and press its face against mine.

Breathe
 into
 me.

Close the language-door,

and open
 the
 love
window

The moon won't use the door,

only the window."

Rumi

And what if the moon should silently whisper…

”I want to know what your heart aches for,
and if you dare to dream of
meeting your heart’s longing…

Remember…
you belong to the Sacred…
You are an embodiment
 of the sacred Mystery,
surrounded
and
held
by
The Beloved.”

Oriah

We are loved beyond measure… ♥

~

Photo: The Kiss of Spirit

Thresholds - John O'Donohue and Rumi...

“Like Spring secretly at work within the heart of Winter,
below the surface of our lives
huge changes are in fermentation.
We never suspect a thing.
Then when the grip of some
long-enduring winter mentality
begins to loosen,
we find ourselves
vulnerable
to
a
flourish
of

possibility

and we are suddenly negotiating
the challenges
of
a threshold…

At any time you can ask yourself:

At which threshold am I now standing?
At this time in my life, what am I leaving?

Where am I about to enter?

A threshold is not a simple boundary;
it is a frontier
that divides two different territories,
rhythms, and atmospheres.

Indeed, it is a lovely testimony
to the fullness and integrity
of an experience or a stage of life
that it intensifies toward the end
into a real frontier
that cannot be crossed
without
the heart being passionately
engaged
and
woken up.

At this threshold
a great complexity of emotion
comes alive:
confusion,
fear,
excitement,
sadness,
hope.

This is one of the reasons
such vital crossings
were always clothed in ritual.

It is wise in your own life
to be able to recognize and acknowledge
the key thresholds;
to take your time;
to feel all the varieties of presence
that accrue there;
to listen inward
with complete attention
until you hear
the inner voice
calling you
forward:

The time has come
to cross.”

John O’Donohue
Excerpts taken From: To Bless the Space Between Us
and put into prose poem format...

“Remember, the entrance door to the sanctuary
is inside you.”

Rumi

~

Whatever “threshold” you find yourself at
in the coming year,
I hope you make a peaceful passage.
May your life journey
be illuminated
from within
bringing
you “home”
to
the
Heart

~♥~

Photos taken by Hubby
Sunrise, Dec. 23, 2013

Notice the “angel wings”
at the top of the top photo J

On The Threshold of a "New" Journey...

Here we are again, at the turning of yet another wheel! J B started a new job in November - just 3 days before Thanksgiving!  Woo-Hoo!J  We were/are relieved and grateful, with a tinge of tentativeness; despite which I was doing my happy dance.  I *wanted* to share it here immediately, but felt it was too soon to announce it publicly, although I have already told some of you privately.  Of course we know that nothing is permanent, that life is always in flux, ebbing and flowing continually, but – he was hired as a “permanent” employee, not a “contract-to-hire” position.  So we breathe now with a little more “certainty” – knowing that even that is illusive.   And even though it still feels a little “new”, I felt that the Winter Solstice was an excellent time to bring it to Light… J  …the Solstice being symbolic of Light “returning” out of darkness, of new beginnings, and the turning of the wheel once again… 

As B embarks on this new stage in his career with confidence, passion and enthusiasm, we sense that we are on a threshold of a “new” journey…   After only 4 weeks he feels he has found his “dream job”, where he can shine and feel fulfilled.  Good thing at almost 62. J  And so we are settling into his work schedule, and I have been trying to use the last few weeks to find the internal Rhythm with Life once again, and gain some clarity on my life direction.  That is partly why such a deep need for solitude and silence – to get clear, to simplify internally, to become single-minded, although that is not quite working out as I intended, as there are still so many distractions pulling at me. But, I am managing each week to carve out blocks of time in silence and solitude, and beginning to feel The Rhythm of Silence within again, as I have been writing about recently.

I have known for a long time now that there is something innate within that compels me to explore and discover deeper layers of Truth, and Intimacy with the “Divine Nature” within - however one defines that for themselves.  And with that there is a sense of being at a threshold spiritually.  In many ways I feel like I am on the threshold of a “new” Light of Awareness, a “new” way of seeing and being; coming out of the *illusion* of separation *from* this “Infinite Nature” that we are.   These are only words, and they cannot accurately convey what I’m really experiencing.  All I can say is that it is profound.  And sometimes the less said the better - for the time being. J

I feel this new threshold calling me into even more solitude, and deeper layers of Silence, like the Christian “Desert Fathers”, or Buddhist Monks who went to live in the forests, and Hindu Sadhus who went to live in caves.  Except that I would need lots of windows in that cave! Lol…  It is in the metaphorical sense that I use these terms and images.  In reality it is more a turning inward, and entering the cave of the Spiritual Heart, withdrawing the mind from the world’s rhythms – not as an escape, but to become more deeply *Aware* of the Voice of “The Infinite” – that’s what Mystics do. J  I am neither a renunciate nor an ascetic.  I am still very much engaged in the requirements of daily living and family.  I simply want more time to sit in Infinite Silence – listening - finding the intuitive Rhythm of the Heart again – dropping the false veil of separation from the Ultimate Reality that we are.   It’s not really even about seeking “enlightenment” anymore, but a deep recognition that we are already lit from within.  Liberation…

At this new threshold, and after 4 1/2 years of blogging, I have no idea what direction this blog may take, or how often I will be blogging, as that too will be part of the new Flow.  The “blogging” experience has been an ever-evolving process reflecting my own spiritual unfolding.  I have lost some readers along the way, and gained some friends as well; the ebb and flow of relationships, touching each others lives – even momentarily.  For those who are still with me I have enjoyed your loving, supportive, and encouraging company on the road…  And if you are unknown to me out there reading this in cyberspace somewhere J I appreciate your silent Presence as well.  The invitation is always open to come along on this next phase of Life’s journey with me and see where I land.   I enjoy the company of Friends who help light the way… J

~♥~

“A baby pigeon on the edge of the nest hears the call
and begins her flight…

How can the soul/Heart
not fly
when a message arrives saying,
’…come, come back to me!’

What is the secret that opens the door?

The key is the flutter of the hearts wings
and its endless longing.

When the door opens,
walk on the path…
where everything old becomes new,
and never look back…”

Rumi

~

A warm and Light-filled Yuletide Season
to all…

~

Photo: Sunset from B’s building

An Ocean of Gold...

“Surrender the heart
and you see that everything
is suspended in
still radiance
like ghee

poured

into
an
ocean
of
gold

Divine light dwells
in the quality
of
the
heart’s
S

U
R

R
E
N

D

E
R

~
~
~
~

Fred La Motte
Uradiance

~

 We exist in an
 Infinite Ocean
 of
Divine
  Consciousness

S

U

S

P

E

N

D

E

D

in the
 Eternal Formlessness
of
Being

There is no distinction
between

 You-and-the-Ocean…
Just waves in the Cosmic Sea

There is only the Infinite,
the Ultimate Reality,
Being ~ You ~ Being ItSelf.

The Mystery
 of Life
~
~
~

Mystic Meandering
Meditative Writings

2013

~

Top Photo: Unfortunately not mine…
A friend sent it along with some others
that he got off the internet.
Original source unknown…
It also looks better in its
original size, 700 pixels J

2^nd Photo – mine J

The Unknown Self - John O'Donohue...

“So much of what delights and troubles you
happens on the surface
you take for ground.

Your mind thinks your life alone,
your eyes consider air your nearest neighbor.
Yet it seems that a little below
 the heart
there houses
 in you an unknown self
who prefers the patterns of the dark,
and is not persuaded by the eye’s affection,
or caught by the flash of thought.

[This “unknown self”]

enjoys contemplative patience
with
all
 your
 unfolding
 expression…

is never drawn to break into light
though you tangle yourself in unworthiness
and misjudge
what you do
  and who you are.

It presides within like an evening freedom
that will often see you enchanted by twilight
without ever recognizing the falling night.

It resembles the under-earth of your visible life:
All you do and say and think is fostered
deep in its opaque and prevenient clay.

It dwells in a strange, yet rhythmic ease
that is not ruffled by disappointment:
it presides in
 a

 deeper

 current
 of time

Free from the force of cause and sequence
that otherwise shapes your life.

Were it to break forth into day,
its dark light might quench your mind,
for

 it

 knows
 how
your
prrimeval
 heart
sisters
 every
 cell
 of
 your
 life
to all your known mind would avoid.

Thus it knows to dwell in you gently,
offering you only discrete glimpses
of how you contruct your life.

At times, it will lead you strangely,
magnetized by some resonance
that ambushes your vigilance.

It works most resolutely at night
as the poet who draws your dreams,
creating for you many secret doors,
decorated with pictures of your hunger.

It has the dignity of the angelic
that
 knows
 you
 to
 your
 roots,
always awaiting your deeper befriending
to
 take
 you
 beyond
 the
 threshold
 of want,
where all your diverse strainings
can come to wholesome ease…”

© John O’Donohue

“For The Unknown Self”

From: Bless the Space Between Us

Via: The Sacred Alter:The Art of Transformation

Check out her unique artistic expression!

~

~

Note:
I took the liberty of reconstructing the format for emphasis…
The brackets on the line [This “unknown self’] indicate my
paraphrase of the original line… “It is a self that”….

 What O’Donohue speaks of as “an unknown self”
 I understand as our True Self, or Divine Nature,
not a separate self residing within;
but of course that is my interpretation. J

I also find it interesting that he gives “it” a location in the body
”a little below the heart.” ?
Would love to have been able to ask him about this…
 

In any case, the poem spoke to me
and wanted to post it. J
Hope you enjoy it too…

~

~

~

Photo:

A ribbed glass container
catching the mid morning light…

Learning about Love...

“The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves,
and not to twist them to fit our image.
Otherwise we love only the reflection of
ourselves we find in them…”

Thomas Merton

“You have to learn to get up from the table
when love is no longer being served…”

Nina Simone

“Love arises when you die into
the Unknown Mystery of Being -
when you realize that Love
has no intention to change you,
it has no agenda…”

Adyashanti