The Wound of Humanity...

I resurrected the "poem" below from my journal notes from 2004, because it is something that keeps arising in our present time again and again.  You can see it on the faces of people who are suffering, physically, mentally, and emotionally - the felt sense of separation from Source - which continues to impact our society and the world...  The words, that I turned into a "poem", came during times of deep meditative Silence, as if from a dear friend who understands so much more than me...  Namaste

The "original wound" of humanity is a
perceived separation from the Essence of Life;
from Source, from Self, God; from our True Nature...

The Cry of Separation is the longing of the wounded heart
for its Origin...

Healing this universal wound is a
healing of the consciousness of separation -
The imagined "split" from the Consciousness of Pure Being
that becomes the shadow-self;
a shadow of the Truth...

This wound of separation is just a consciousness
spawned by the belief in separation.
A belief in separation dominates your existence,
creating a consciousness of
fear and darkness and suffering.

It is only a belief, a consciousness.
It is not real.

It manifests a particular reality of darkness,
a shadow, that you believe to be true.

But the consciousness of darkness, of separation,
is only a thin layer, a thin veil, a covering.
It has no power to sustain itself.
It gives the illusion of power
to seemingly rob you of knowing who You really are;
your inherent Beingness...

Whatever your consciousness/belief is, that is your reality.
You have become caught in the net of separation again, and
again, thinking it is real.
Awaken from this shadow-self.

Recognize and Embrace the Presence of your True Nature,
the Pure untouched Beingness that You are
in the Silence of your True Heart, beyond the wound,
the perpetual Light that cannot be dimmed...

It is the place of un-wounding.
The place of unwinding the wound...
The place of a new reality...

Mystic Meandering
Meditative Writings
2004

_/\_

~

Photo - shadow of a bamboo plant
on the wall making the form of a face...

Minding What Happens - Chuck Surface

[.....]

...I mind what happens ... immensely.
I mind with the Whole of my Being.
Even as I understand that all that occurs is,
From the Absolute perspective,
in the nature of things...

And as it is.

I mind the suffering of the world, terribly,
With the Whole of my Being.
Even as I understand that all that occurs is,
From the Absolute perspective,
in the nature of things...

And as it is.

I [want] with all my Heart...
For the end of suffering, everywhere, now, and forever,
Even as I understand that all that occurs is,
From the Absolute perspective,
in the nature of things...

And what will be, will be.

This "minding", this "caring"
This Heartfelt "desire for an outcome"...
None of it diminishes the Inner Radiance,
That shines in the Heart of my Being,
Full, Complete, Inexpressibly Ecstatic.

I mind what happens... a lot.

In Union, in the Absolute,
There is no space, time, or self,
To care what happens, or wish for outcomes,
But only Timeless, Spaceless, Objectless
Unalloyed Pure Being...

And what Is... Is.

But here, in this Dream of manifestation,
I pray and act with all my Heart for suffering's end,
Even as I understand that all that occurs is
From the Absolute perspective,
In the nature of things...

And what will be, will be.

It is not a matter of "not caring",
But rather, a matter of accepting.
Of caring deeply, with all your Heart.
But having the Wisdom to understand,
That Heartfelt prayer and effort aside...

What will be, will be.

In Love, I mind; in Wisdom, I accept.

Chuck Surface

In the Garden of the Beloved

Facebook

~

Photo via Love Is A Place

Zeitgeist...

In the first minutes of dawn,
at the edge of the dark of night,
I awake...

Inexplicable dread overtakes me...

.....a dream?

...or the zeitgeist of our time?

~

In the dark hours of time,
a "virus" slipped in;
a failing, narcissistic system;
a divisive ideology,
resurrected from former shadow
minds of tribal hatred,
attempting to invade and isolate
through the power of greed and
self-interest...

Turning us
against ourselves with its myopic lens,
demeaning and deriding
"other" cultures,
"other" races,
"other" religions
"other" peoples -
while pretending
to protect its own...

The "virus" imposes boundaries on a boundaryless world,
polarizing unity into fragments
that shatter,
creating the current paradigm
of Ignorance,
Paranoia,
Protectionism,
Isolationism,
Narcissism,
Nationalism,
Fear and Violence.

But those who know the beauty of true Light,
endure the false light,
knowing that the mindless "virus" cannot
shatter the pristine Light of a radiant Cosmos,
for it cannot be rent in two
by the darkness of ignorant minds
whose pretense and perniciousness
would even attempt to destroy
what cannot be destroyed:

The Eternal, Infinite Light and movement of
a Grand Cosmic Mystery
with its own Rhythms and Purposes
unknown
by
feeble, darkened minds;
by the ineptness of fake power.

Mystic Meandering
January 23, 2017

~

Zeitgeist - the defining spirit of the time, or culture.

~*~

Yet another mass school shooting Weds here in the US,
moving me to tears - children killing children once again;
and what humanity is doing to itself is heartbreaking...
The more my heart opens, the more I feel the emotional
pain of those who have been traumatized for life by
the shadow side of humanity.

May the Infinite Spirit of Love heal our
wounded hearts and help us to endure our
wounded society...

_/\_

Namaste

~

Photo - I don't remember what this is a picture of
but it seemed fitting...

Guardians of Solitude - Rilke

The point of marriage is not to create a quick commonality
by tearing down all boundaries;
on the contrary,
a good marriage is one in which
each partner appoints the other
as guardian of his [her] solitude,
and thus they show each other
the greatest possible trust.

A merging of two people is an impossibility,
and where it seems to exist,
it is a hemming-in,
a mutual consent that robs
one party or both parties
of their fullest freedom and development.

But once the realization is accepted
that even between the closest people
infinite distances exist,
a marvelous living side-by-side
can grow up for them,
if they succeed in
loving the expanse between them,
which gives them the possibility
of always seeing each other
as a whole...

Rainer Maria Rilke
"Letter to a Young Poet"

~

Happy Birthday "B"!!
Always walking side-by-side with you  :)

Happy Love Day to all my blog readers!

~

Photo from the internet

Solfeggio Frequencies - Attuned Vibrations

528Hz - The Love Frequency

Excerpts from articles found on Attuned Vibrations about the Solfeggio frequencies:

Solfeggio frequencies make up the ancient 6-tone scale thought to have been used in sacred music, including the beautiful Gregorian Chants of medieval times. The ancient Solfeggio scale can be traced back to a Medieval hymn to John the Baptist (above video).  The original Solfeggio scale was developed by a Benedictine monk who lived between c. 991 AD and 1050 AD.

According to Dr. Leonard Horowitz, 528 Hertz is a frequency that is central to the "musical mathematical matrix of creation."  More than any sound previously discovered, the "LOVE frequency" resonates at the heart of everything.  It connects your heart, your spiritual essence, to the spiraling reality of heaven and earth.

The Love frequency is the "Miracle" note of the original Solfeggio musical scale.  Independently confirmed by researchers, these core creative frequencies were used by ancient priests and healers in advanced civilizations to manifest miracles and produce blessings.

528 Hz is the bio energy of health.  It is the harmonic vibration that lifts your heart and helps you flow in perfect rhythm and harmony.  Tune yourself back to the perfect vibrations.

Albert Einstein stated: "Concerning matter, we have been all wrong.  What we have called matter is energy, whose vibration has been so lowered as to be perceptible to the senses.  There is no matter."  All matter beings vibrate at specific rates and everything has its own melody.  The musical nature of nuclear matter from atoms to galaxies is now finally being recognized as science.

That is why these frequencies are so powerful.  They can literally bring you back to the original tones of the heavenly spheres and put your body into a balanced resonance.  Solfeggio music is the key to the Universe.  You can either throw it away or you can find healing and harmony, health and well-being.  Just play the music!

~~~~~

I am fascinated by this topic.  I have no idea how valid it is or how effective, so I will continue to do some research on the phenomenon, and am going to be listening to music containing the Solfeggio frequencies for the next 4-6 weeks.  Will let you know how it impacts my health.  There is a plethora of this music on You Tube, if you are so inclined.  Read more of the above articles on Solfeggio frequencies.

Also - if any of you have had any experience with the Solfeggio frequencies please leave a comment and let me know what your experience is/was.  Or you can email me at: mysticmeandering@gmail.com  

Thanks to Alixe at Love Is A Place
for bringing this to my awareness...

Cosmic Origin...

We are equipped with everything we need - right now.
There is no linear self-improvement program
to measure up to;
no spiritual standard to compare our progress with;
achieving lofty goals of "enlightenment" or non-duality.

Everything is open ended, boundaryless,
freely fluid, forever fluctuating - "enlightened."

The key - the one unchanging "truth" -
is Love;
unborn, inexplicable Love;

an "un-dualating" energy vibration of Love

that just IS - that has always existed -
that is the gateway to
knowing our Inner Beingness...

...into knowing
a truer Vibration that lies at
the Core of our Being;
the "mother energy" of
our Cosmology;
the place of no beginning, or ending,
only the infinity of the moment.

Dissolve into your Cosmic Origins...
Return to your "roots";
naked, Luminous, ever-present Love...

Entrain with the Maternal Heart,
where the ripples of  Love
form and expand,
pulsating the Rhythm of Ineffable Love
within you ~

You will know it when you feel it...

Pure, untainted, causeless, objectless

L o v e  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~ ~

Our Cosmic Origin

Mystic Meandering
Feb. 8, 2018

~

Photo - Aurora Borealis over
Yellowknife, Northwest Terr., Canada
Sent to us by a friend...

Walking in Cosmic Shoes...

Give no regard to the voice of Fear that
divides you and conflicts you;
whether from within or without...

Walk as if the "Divine" were in your shoes,
walking you -

undivided by earthly "tribes"
of culture, religion, or hatred;
earthly boundaries...
The divided mentations of
mediocre minds;
yours and others.

Fall into the Inner Rhythm of
the Universal Being that you are;
that ubiquitous Divine Presence
inherently everywhere, at all times,
and walk fluidly through life.

Flow with the Deep Silence of
your Inner Being...

Just Breathe...

Listen...

Wait...

for the Rhythm and the movement of the
Luminous Inner Cosmos to move you...

Then you will know what is true,
which way to go,
and
how to BE
in this world...

Mystic Meandering
Feb. 8, 2018

_/\_

I learn by going where I have to go - Roethke

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.

I learn by going where I have to go.

We think by feeling.  What is there to know?
I hear my being dance from ear to ear.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

Of those so close beside me, which are you?
God bless the Ground!  I shall walk softly there,
And learn by going where I have to go.

Light takes the Tree; but who can tell us how?
The lowly worm climbs up a winding stair;
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

Great Nature has another thing to do
To you and me, so take the lively air,
And, lovely, learn by going where to go.

This shaking keeps me steady.  I should know.
What falls away is always.  And is near.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I learn by going where I have to go.

Theodore Roethke

Original title: "The Waking"

~

It is Grace taking you where you must go...
It is Grace giving you what you need...
Grace is a gift...

Papaji

~

Note:  In one analysis of Roethke's poem,
it suggests another version,
changing the repetitive line:
"I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow", to
"I live to die, and take my living slow..."
It is ultimately a poem of life and death,
while embracing the totality of life experience
while we are here...

I rather like that interpretation...

~

photo: me on path
color digitally inverted

Tell us of Pain - Khalil Gibran & Nisargadatta

And a woman spoke saying:

"Tell us of Pain"

And he said:

Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your
understanding.  Even as the stone of the fruit must break,
that its heart may stand in the sun,
so must you know pain.

And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily
miracles of life, your pain would not seem less wondrous
than your joy.  And you would accept the seasons of
your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons
that pass over the fields.

And you would watch with serenity through the winters of
your grief.

It is the bitter potion by which the physician within heals
your sick self.

Therefore, trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence
and tranquility.  For his hand, though heavy and hard, is
guided by the tender hand of the Unseen.

And the cup he brings,
though it burn your lips,
has been fashioned of the clay
which the Potter has moistsened
with His own sacred Tears.

Khalil Gibran

The Prophet


~

The real world is beyond the mind's ken;
we see it through the net of our desires,
divided into pleasure and pain,
right and wrong, inner and outer.
To see the universe as it is,
you must step beyond the net.

Look at the net and its many contradictions.
You do and undo at every step.
You want peace, love, happiness
and work hard to create pain, hatred and war.
You want longevity and overeat,
you want friendship and exploit.
See your net as made of such contradictions
and remove them...
Your very seeing them will make them go.

Nisargadatta

Perfect Pleasure...

To be aware of the inner Presence of "The Divine"
gives great pleasure;
the perpetual awareness of Awareness...

To be blessed with the Grace of "Presence"
gives great Contentment;
the realization of ones Divine Nature...

To be embraced by the Silence of "The Infinite"
gives Bliss;
the Peace that passes understanding...

To rest in your "Divine Nature"
gives Perfect Pleasure;
the greatest Happiness...

To know the Ineffable Perfection of Being,
the felt experience of Divine Pleasure within;
is Love...

Mystic Meandering
January 28, 2018

~

Photo - Mandala Art
done by my 90 year old mother
(digitally zoom blurred for affect :)

The Silent Articulation of a Face - Rumi

Love comes with a knife, not some
shy question, and not with fears
for its reputation!...

Love is a madman...

[.....]

There are love stories,
and there is obliteration into love.

You've been walking the ocean's edge,
holding up your robes to keep them dry.

You must dive naked under and deeper under,
a thousand times deeper!
Love flows down...

[.....]

Don't put blankets over the drum!
Open completely.  Let your spirit-ear
listen to the green dome's passionate murmur.

Let the cords of your robe be untied.
Shiver in this new love beyond all
above and below.
The sun rises, but which way
does night go?

I have no more words.

Let soul speak with the silent
articulation of a face.

Rumi
(1207-1273)

excerpt from the original poem

Thanks to The Beauty We Love
for the photo and poem...

To be kind - Hermann Hesse & Maslow

To hold our tongues when everyone is gossiping,
to smile without hostility at people and institutions,
to compensate for the shortage of love in the world
with more love in small, private matters; to show
greater patience, to forgo the cheap revenge
attainable from mockery and criticism:
all these things we can do.

Hermann Hesse

~

Let people realize clearly that every time they threaten
someone or humiliate or unnecessarily hurt or dominate
or reject another human being, they become forces for
the creation of pathology, even if these be small forces.
Let them recognize that every person who is kind, helpful,
decent, affectionate, and warm, is a therapeutic force...

Abraham Maslow

~

Compassion is knowing that
you are part of everyone,
and everyone is part of you - is you.
When seeing this there is no longer judgment,
just a deeper understanding and respect
for our humanity -
a deepening of compassion.

Mystic Meandering
Meditative writings
c. 2004 - 2006

A Story of Unexpected Compassion

While at the cardiologist's office last week, signing in with the receptionist, asking her some questions, a woman suddenly appeared behind me.  She interrupted in a frantic, anxious voice, obviously distressed:

"I don't mean to interrupt, but I just need to know when my appointment is because I have an echogram scheduled down the hall and I want to make sure I don't miss my appointment with the doctor."

I gently responded " no problem" to her interruption and stepped aside while she frantically went on.  I immediately noticed a portion of a vertical scar on her chest above the open top of her blouse - a sign of open heart surgery.

She was a fairly young (through my 68 year old eyes) short woman, disheveled, with stringy, dirty-blonde hair.  And even though it was nearly 60 degrees with no snow on the ground, she wore snow boots and a winter coat that sat cockeyed on her shoulders as she flailed her arms about excitedly; the unbuttoned coat flapped around as she flailed, in very apparent anxiety.  She reminded me of one of those odd characters in stories or movies, who interrupt a scene to bring awareness to something; to get your attention.  I could see the stress and fear on the woman's face, and in her body motions...  It was a familiar look and feeling.  I could relate...  I saw myself in her - although not quite as exaggerated - but often how I feel inside...

She kept apologizing for interrupting, and I kept saying it was no problem at all, that I understood; trying to put her at ease.

The receptionist, somewhat guarded, responded to her in a firm, almost stern voice - that her appointment was at 2:30 (it was now just after 1pm), and that she had time to get her echocardiogram done and come back in time for her appointment.  The woman left in a hurry, scuffing her snow boots across the carpeted floor.

I finished with the receptionist and took a seat, waiting for my turn.

After my visit with the doctor, I came out to a full waiting room - a sea of faces.  As I stood at the desk to make another appointment, I turned and saw the disheveled woman sitting there - fidgeting.  While I waited for the scheduler to attend to me, as she made no acknowledgment of my presence, I turned to the woman and said: "I see you made it back ok" - smiling.

She exhaled a long drawn out "yessss", looking frazzled - making more antsy body movements in her chair.

I said to her - "I have anxiety too" and smiled again, just wanting to soothe the woman's obvious internal suffering, as I knew deeply what that feels like - to be so anxious, to be so wound up inside that calmness doesn't seem possible at times.  And how "peace" often feels like a noble idea, just out of reach, while my frenetic mind and body take over, just like hers did.

I am haunted by the memory of her now - knowing how painful it is to go through life with such emotional intensity and the fear that lies hidden in the body, erupting in uncontrollable outbursts of anxiety at times - or heart problems :) - when awareness fails - although I have learned to meet it when the fearful mind arises, embracing it - trying to ride out its ferocity...  still...  I know how it feels when it is out of control...

Afterwards I was very aware that "I" didn't *decide* to be compassionate, yet Something in me responded automatically to her, from the Heart.  Compassion arose unexpectedly; a heartfelt response to reach out to someone in trouble - emotionally.

How ironic - in the cardiologist's office, where they take care of hearts, that I would experience a real Heart opening for another human being; meeting her where she was in her fear, not making judgments about her behavior...  Maybe that was a reflection, just a little glimpse in the mirror, of who "I" truly am - the True Self within.  Deep inside this fearful heart beats a Heart of Compassion...  I find that somehow comforting...

It's there in all of us, our True Nature, if we only open to it...

_/\_

Namaste

Please note:  this is not written to say how wonderful I am.  It's not about "me" being compassionate, but how the Heart opened and compassion arose unexpectedly.  How the disheveled woman came to me to teach me that it is there even when I don't realize it.  The woman's "condition" slowed my mind and gave me a different perspective.  I am forever grateful to the disheveled woman, and send her blessings wherever she is...

~*~

The only difference between "you" and "me"
are the words and concepts of "you" and "me."
The Source of everything is the same
- Love and Compassion -
this is [the True] Self.

Papaji

Travel Lighter - Rumi

Be foolishly in love,
because love is all there is.

There is no way into presence
except through a love exchange.

If someone asks, But what is love?
answer, Dissolving the will.

True freedom comes to those
who have escaped the questions
of free will and fate....

Love and lover live in eternity.
Other desires are substitutes...

How long do you lay embracing a corpse?
Love rather the soul, which cannot be held.

Anything born in Spring dies in the Fall,
but love is not seasonal.

With wine pressed from grapes,
expect a hangover.
But this love path has no expectations.

You are uneasy riding the body?
Dismount, Travel lighter.
Wings will be given.

Be clear like a mirror
reflecting nothing.

Be clean of pictures and the worry
that comes with images.

Gaze into what is not ashamed
or afraid of any truth.

Contain all human faces in your own
without any judgement of them.

Be pure emptiness.
What is inside that? you ask,
Silence is all I can say.

Lovers have some secrets
That they keep.

Rumi

excerpts from: No Expectations

~

Photo - Mandala Art
digitally altered

The Liberated Soul - Marguerite Porete

I am God, says Love, for Love is God and God is Love...
...and the Soul is God by condition of Love,
thus I am God by divine nature...

(The liberated soul) loses her name in the one in whom she
is melted and dissolved.  Thus she would be like a body of
water which flows from the sea.  And when this water returns
to the sea, it loses its course and its name, and is now in the
sea where it rests...

This Soul is always in full sufficiency, in which she swims
 and bobs and floats, is surrounded by divine peace, without
any movement in her interior, and without any exterior work
[effort] on her part.

(The liberated soul) is at rest without obstructing the outpouring
of divine Love.  She no longer seeks God through penitence, nor
through any sacrament; not through thoughts, nor through words,
nor through works, nor through divine understanding, nor through
divine love, nor through divine praise.

Her will is planted in the One...  She is dissolved into that prior
existence where Love has received her.

She has fallen into certainty of knowing nothing and into
certainty of willing nothing.  And this nothingness...gives her
the All...

Marguerite Porete
14th Century French Mystic
Her writings, of which the above is only a
small excerpt, were considered heretical.
She was burned at the stake in Paris in 1310.

Porete's vision of the Soul is one of ecstatic union with God...
Once united with God the Soul's will becomes that of God's.

Interestingly 200 years later St. John of the Cross
expressed an almost identical view of the nature of the
Soul's union with God in his Ascent of Mount Carmel, i.e.
that once united with God the Soul's will becomes that of God's,
but he was not denounced as a heretic.

Source - Western Mystics
via No Mind's Land

~*~ 

The naked, open, loving, Self-aware, luminous Being
within, our Essential Nature, is God...
God is The Silence within us...
God is the Self...

Rupert Spira
Contemporary Non-Dual teacher

~

Photo - rainbow light on wall

The Rhythm behind the rhythm...

I've heard a deeper rhythm...
Composed of cello, viola and oboe, I think.
I heard it when I was in the kitchen
cooking dinner one night,
a few years ago,
and every other night after that,
for several weeks,
until it stopped...

when the noise of my life
became too loud - again,
and the weight of a weary heart
drowned it out...

There was no music playing on the stereo,
just the sound of the meal cooking,
and the sounds of daily living
outside the window:

children playing,
dogs barking,
lawn mowers,
power saws,
and birds -
chirping...

Underneath it all was a Rhythm
so melodious I could even hum it.
I just listened, and hummed, with wonder...
Where was this coming from -
this music -
this slow, deep, melodic rhythm,
drawing me into itself...

I didn't even have to try to listen,
it was just there
soft - in the distance,
barely audible,
as if in another room,
through another door,
maybe even in another realm;
a cosmic rhythm...

I knew then, somehow, that my own life rhythm
was hidden in this deeper Rhythm...
But I no longer hear it now;
drowned out by the
noise of living
other people's
rhythms -
and
the endless
rhythms
of daily
existence.

But I know it is there -
playing somewhere.
And I listen for it -
this deeper Rhythm,
that underlies
all other rhythms...

The Rhythm behind the rhythm...

Love mysteriously playing its song...

Mystic Meandering
Nov. 5, 2015

~

Photo - the inside of a sea shell

digitally altered

The Refuge Within - St. Teresa of Avila & Angeles Arrien

There is a secret place.
A radiant sanctuary.
As real as your own kitchen.
More real than that.
Worlds within worlds.
A clarity so complete you will
never again forget.

This magnificent refuge is inside you.
Enter. Shatter the darkness that shrouds the doorway.
Step around the poisonous vipers that slither
at your feet to throw you off course.
Be bold.  Be humble.
Put away the incense and forget
the incantations they taught you.
Ask no permission from the authorities.
Close your eyes and follow your breath
to the still place that leads to the
invisible path that leads you home.

St. Teresa of Avila
Mirabai Starr translation

~

I trust the mystery.  I trust what comes in silence
and what comes in nature where there's no diversion.
I think the lack of stimulation allows us to hear and
experience a deeper river that's constant, still, vibrant,
and real.  And the process of deep listening mobilizes
exactly what's needed at that time.

Angeles Arrien

With thanks to Michel
at No Mind's Land

The Fathomless Pull - Papaji

There is a perpetual fathomless pull of Love into Love,
an undercurrent of Forever expanding Self into Self.
This is how I experience Love as the depth of Emptiness.
The more you go into this Fathomlessness
the more you will be pulled, attracted, dissolved into It.
...as you go deeper into it you will be more in Love
every moment.

This moment is pure Love
which is Absolutely Forever,
all is Love, everything is this Love,
there is no escape!

Love is the Self
and this is so complete
that it doesn't even need understanding.
There is nothing besides Love.

In the Heart there is no need for maps to get home.
Love, the Heart, this Moment, Is the Truth.
To see this Love everywhere see only from Love.
See from the Heart and you will see only the Heart.
This Love does not belong to a "me", or a "you."

Heart is Self...
Fathomless Love is where
Existence, Consciousness and Bliss
arise from.

Love is always Loving you...

You are this Love...

Be and radiate Love...

Simply Be

Papaji

From - The Truth Is

A Unitive Place...

In these sometimes harsh, divisive times
one must dive deep and refocus
on the depths of the Stillness of Being within oneself,
moving inward beyond the polarities of existence
where nothing is disturbed, nothing harmed...

There we will find a deeper unitive place of Restful Presence,
knowing that externally it's just the duality of existence
playing itself out in the construct of time...

In the Primordial Womb of Stillness,
in which matter reality exists,
everything is allowed...

The world will go the way it goes -
life will continue to unfold as it unfolds -
the light and the dark will continue to dance together -
in time bound reality.

If we focus only on the divisive chaos we will
react out of the mind-created contractions of fear and ignorance...

If we are able to experience the depths of this True Silence,
the Silence of the Everlasting Depths of Existence,
we can experience what's beyond the outward mentations
of chaos and fear:
- the Silence that holds the Cosmos together -
- that is the Cosmos -

the enduring Silence of the Universe within all form;
the pure Stillness of Being...

The Unitive Place...

In this deep Silence that sustains Existence
we Rest...in the True Heart of That which animates Life...

The True Timeless Heartbeat of Reality...

_/\_

Namaste

Mystic Meandering
Jan. 5, 2018

~

Photo - Vortex Art
2011
Craypas Oils
done with fingers

For Light - John O'Donohue

[.....]

In the glare of neon times,
Let our eyes not be worn
By surfaces that shine
With hunger made attractive.

That our thoughts may be true light,
Finding their way into words
Which have the weight of shadow
To hold the layers of truth.

That we never place our trust
In minds claimed by empty light,
Where one-sided certainties
Are driven by false desire.

When we look into the heart,
May our eyes have the kindness
And reverence of candlelight.

That the searching of our minds
Be equal to the oblique
Crevices and corners where
The Mystery continues to dwell,
Glimmering in fugitive light.

When we are confined inside
The dark house of suffering
That moonlight might find a window.

When we become false and lost
That the severe noon-light
Would cast our shadow clear.

When we love, that dawn-light
Would lighten our feet
Upon the waters.

As we grow old, that twilight
Would illuminate treasure
In the fields of memory.

And when we come to search for God,
Let us first be robed in night,
Put on the mind of morning
To feel the rush of light
Spread slowly inside
The color and stillness
of a found word.

John O'Donohue
From: To Bless the Space Between Us

~

Photo - Mandala Art

A Wish for the World - Rabindranath Tagore

Where the mind is without fear...
Where knowledge is free...
Where the world has not been broken up
into fragments by narrow domestic walls...
Where words come out from the depths of Truth...
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
into the dreary desert sand of dead habit...
Where the mind is led forward...
into ever-widening [inclusive] thought and action...
Let my country [the world] awake...

Excerpt from Verse 35 of the Gitanjali
by Rabindranath Tagore

~

Only the inspired should make decisions
that effect the lives of many,

never a man who has not held God in his arms
and become the servant of unity...

St. Teresa of Avila
(1515-1582)

Failures of Kindness - George Saunders

What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness...

Those moments when another human being was there, in front
of me, suffering, and I responded...sensibly. Reservedly. Mildly.

Or, to look at it from the other end of the telescope:
Who, in your life, do you remember most fondly, with the
most undeniable feelings of warmth?

Those who were kindest to you, I bet.

Now, the million dollar question: Why aren't we kinder?

Here's what I think:

There's confusion in each of us, a sickness, really:
selfishness.

Each of us is born with a series of built-in confusions...
They are:

1) we're central to the universe (that is our personal story
is the main and most interesting story, the only story, really).

2) we're separate from the universe (there's US and "out there").

3) we're permanent (death is real, o.k., sure - but nor for me).

Now, we don't really believe these things - intellectually we know
better - but we believe them viscerally, and live by them, and
they cause us to prioritize our own needs over the needs of others,
even though what we really want, in our hearts, is to be less selfish,
more aware of what's actually happening in the present moment,
more open, and move loving.

So - second million dollar question: How might we DO this?

...to the extent that you can, err in the direction of kindness.

One thing in our favor: some of this "becoming kinder" happens
naturally, with age.  It might be a simple matter of attrition:
as we get older, we come to see how useless it is to be selfish -
how illogical, really.  We come to love other people and are
thereby counter-instructed in our own centrality.  We get our
butts kicked by life, and people come to our defense, and help
us, and we learn that we're not separate, and don't want to be.
We see people near and dear to us dropping away, and are
gradually convinced that maybe we too will drop away
(someday, a long time from now.)  Most people, as they are,
become less selfish and more loving.  I think this is true.

And so, a prediction, and my heartfelt wish for you: as you
get older, your self will diminish and you will grow in love.
YOU will gradually be replaced by LOVE. 

That luminous part of you that exists beyond personality
 - your soul, if you will - is as bright and shining as any
 that has ever been.  Clear away everything that keeps you
 separate from this secret luminous place.  Believe it exists,
 come to know it better, nurture it, and share its fruits tirelessly.

George Saunders
author/writer

Excerpts from the convocation speech
to the graduating class of 2013
at Syracuse University

~*~

You are Eternal Being
unbounded and undivided.
Be kind to yourself
Open to your Heart...

If you want to help the planet
Live a life of compassion
Live a life of Love...

Papaji
From - The Truth Is

Light Will Split You Open - Hafiz

Light will someday split you open
even if your life is now a cage.

Little by little, you will turn into stars.
Little by little, you will turn into
the whole sweet, amorous universe.

Love will surely burst you wide open
into an unfettered, blooming new galaxy.
A life-giving radiance will come.

You will become so free
in a wonderful, secret
and pure Love that flows
from a conscious, one-pointed,
Infinite Light.

[.....]

O look again within yourself,

[.....]

and spin in Eternal Ecstasy...

Behold the Beautiful One
from the vantage point of Love.
He is conducting the affairs
of the whole universe
in a tree house - on a limb
in your heart.

Hafiz

From: The Subject Tonight is Love

It is said that the above poem reflects Hafiz's
mystical experience into cosmic consciousness.