March 2011 (Vol. XXIV, No. 3)

Wisdom is
sweeter than honey,
brings more joy
than wine,
illumines
more than the sun,
is more precious
than jewels.
She causes
the ears to hear
and the heart to comprehend.

~ by Queen Makeda (ca 1000 BCE)
Queen Makeda wisdom
March 2011 (Vol. XXIV, No. 3)

O Highest Wisdom,
who circles the great circle,
who envisions the whole world
as one living path,
you have three wings.
One soars above the sky,
another moistens the ground with sweat,
while a third flies
everywhere at once.
O Wisdom, we sing your praise.

~ by Hildegard of Bingen
Hildegard of Bingen wisdom
March 2011 (Vol. XXIV, No. 3)

Everybody has had transcendent wisdom break into the mind.When you’ve wracked your brain with a problem for a long time and then, for some reason, you’ve stopped struggling, and then all of a sudden you got an "Aha! That’s it," where does that come from?Wisdom has broken through.

~ from EMPTY DANCING by Adyashanti
Adyashanti Empty Dancing wisdom Buy on Amazon
March 2011 (Vol. XXIV, No. 3)

Wisdom is an attribute of the soul and unfolds naturally as the soul manifests through the personality.Knowledge can be taught; wisdom is loving understanding or knowledge illumined by love.

~ from MAITREYA'S MISSION by Benjamin Creme
Benjamin Creme Maitreya's Mission wisdom
March 2011 (Vol. XXIV, No. 3)

Wisdom is not gained by traveling afar, but by standing still; not by thought, but by the absence of thought.

~ Anonymous
Anonymous
March 2011 (Vol. XXIV, No. 3)

Virtue comes through contemplation of the divine as well as through public service.The one is incomplete without the other.Power without wisdom is tyranny; wisdom without power is ineffective.

~ by Iain Pears
Iain Pears wisdom
March 2011 (Vol. XXIV, No. 3)

Each part of the world holds wisdom, a key to reigniting humanity’s pure spark.

~ by Carol Shaeffer
Carol Shaeffer wisdom
March 2011 (Vol. XXIV, No. 3)

Awaken Wisdom within and let it flow out to the world like a gardener sowing seeds of life.

~ from WALKING WITH WISDOM by Nan Merrill
Nan Merrill Walking With Wisdom wisdom Buy on Amazon
March 2011 (Vol. XXIV, No. 3)

Loving communication implies prayerful surrender to the word of God speaking in ourselves and others.Out of this respectful openness there emerges the wisdom to know when to speak and when to be silent.When we do have to say something, we do so wisely and moderately, and to the appropriate person.In persistently trying to see the other against the background of the Sacred, we preserve inner peace.
 

~ from WORDS OF WISDOM FOR OUR WORLD by Susan Muto
Susan Muto Words Of Wisdom For Our World wisdom
February 2011 (Vol. XXIV, No. 2)

Compassion literally means to feel with, to suffer with. Everyone is capable of compassion, and yet everyone tends to avoid it because it's uncomfortable. And the avoidance produces psychic numbing -- resistance to experiencing our pain for the world and other beings.

~ by Joanna Macy, quoted in OPEN MIND by Diane Mariechild
Joanna Macy Open Mind compassion
February 2011 (Vol. XXIV, No. 2)

The Earth is home to all creation,
to be lovingly cared for by us in
communion with the Divine Friend.
Praises be to the Creator of the cosmos!
With grateful hearts, let us give thanks!
What other return can we give to the One,
Who continues to gift us with life?
When we open our heart to the Friend,
when we live with compassion and kindness,
we walk in beauty!
We come to know the Divine Guest,
Whose companioning Presence
is ever with us.

~ from MEDITATIONS AND MANDALAS by Nan Merrill
Nan Merrill Meditations And Mandalas compassion Buy on Amazon
February 2011 (Vol. XXIV, No. 2)

The greatest gift of all is an awakened, unconstrained, limitless heart. It takes you out of your skin and fills you with such compassion that, in the words of one of my Bushmen teachers, "It even makes you love the man who stole your wife." I have no doubt that the Bushmen doctors of the Kalahari hold the most important answer to the world's present state of crisis, terror, and madness. It is not found in any defense budget, technological development, or politician's deal. It is found in each and every one of our hearts. It's the oldest news that can set us free and it is found when one surrenders to the hot, sweaty, weeping steam of love, the love that reveals the ropes that take us straight to the Big God.

~ from "Dancing with the Kalahari Bushmen" by Bradford Keeney in Spirituality and Health, June 2003
Bradford Keeney Dancing With The Kalahari Bushmen compassion
February 2011 (Vol. XXIV, No. 2)

Compassion is not helpless pity, but an awareness and determination that demand action.

~ by Unknown
Unknown compassion
February 2011 (Vol. XXIV, No. 2)

Compassion is defined in Buddhist teaching as the trembling or quivering of the heart in response to seeing pain or suffering. Alone with love and altruism, compassion can be seen as warm-heartedness replacing cynicism, beneficence taking the place of indifference, caring supplanting aloofness. The Dalai Lama, whose life has not been easy, has said, "The reason I am pretty happy is because of the force of compassion. Compassion makes me feel at one with everyone."

~ from THE FORCE OF KINDNESS by Sharon Salzberg
Sharon Salzberg The Force Of Kindness compassion
February 2011 (Vol. XXIV, No. 2)

Live with attention,
cultivate compassion,
establish justice.
Then you will realize the purpose for which
you were created.
 

~ by Unknown
Unknown compassion
February 2011 (Vol. XXIV, No. 2)

Everything is here because of love. That's why we were created -- to love, and creation is set up to make love possible. Love keeps things going, not just for now but forever. Love gives life and makes sure what's around today will be around tomorrow. Love sets us on the journey and ensures our safe return. It's about compassion, it’s what the cosmos best responds to.

~ from THE WAY OF THE DREAMCATCHER by S. T. Georgiou
S. T. Georgiou The Way Of The Dreamcatcher
February 2011 (Vol. XXIV, No. 2)

What should you do?
Do good by doing compassion
to everyone
you know needs it.
Expect adversity.
Bear adversity with love.

~ by Mechtild of Magdeburg
Mechtild of Magdeburg compassion
February 2011 (Vol. XXIV, No. 2)

In a talk about compassion, a former teacher of mine once said that practice prepares the mind, but suffering prepares the heart. Perhaps the final step in the healing of all wounds is the discovery of the capacity for compassion, an intuitive knowing that no one is singled out in their suffering, that all living beings are vulnerable to loss, attachment, and limitation. It is only in the presence of compassion that we can show our wounds without diminishing our wholeness. For those who have compassion, woundedness is not a place of judgment but a place of genuine meeting.

~ from MY GRANDFATHER’S BLESSING by R. N. Remen
R. N. Remen My Grandfather's Blessing compassion
February 2011 (Vol. XXIV, No. 2)

Divine compassion is ever present within our limited compassion.

~ by Unknown
Unknown compassion
February 2011 (Vol. XXIV, No. 2)

Knowing God is the source of compassion in our lives. We realize that our separation from others is artificial. We are neither separate from other people nor from Tao. It is only our own egotism that leads us to define ourselves as individuals. In fact, a direct experience of God is a direct experience of the utter universality of life. If we allow it to change our way of thinking, we will understand our essential oneness with all things.

~ from 365 TAO, no. 105
365 Tao compassion Buy on Amazon
February 2011 (Vol. XXIV, No. 2)

In spiritual maturity, the opposite of injustice is not justice, but compassion. Not me against you, not me straightening out the present ill, fighting to gain a just result for myself and others, but compassion, a life that goes against nothing and fulfills everything.

~ by Charlotte Joko Beck
Charlotte Joko Beck compassion
February 2011 (Vol. XXIV, No. 2)

Compassion is the fire which the Lord has come to send on the earth.

~ by Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas compassion
February 2011 (Vol. XXIV, No. 2)

Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.

~ by the Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama compassion
February 2011 (Vol. XXIV, No. 2)

The process of establishing ourselves in a habitual state of compassionate love takes place in the context of countless failure to be compassionate.But this proves to be no hindrance as long as we commit ourselves to being compassionate toward ourselve in our failings to be compassionate.Even our failures to be compassionate prove to be but new opportunities . . .This process of yielding to compassionate love unfolds and deepens over a lifetime of learning that when all is said and done, love is the playing field where we most truly meet ourselves and others as we really are, precious in our collective frailty.

~ from THE CONTEMPLATIVE HEART by James Finley, thanks to Liz Stewart
James Finley The Contemplative Heart compassion Buy on Amazon
January 2011 (Vol. XXIV, No. 1)

Ask that your consciousness be filled with Light;
ask to be illumined to follow the path of simplicity
with integrity and inner sight.
Inspired by Divine Light and Love
you begin to express Divine Will in action:
thus will your journey be eased,
joy will nest in your heart.
Awakening to the indwelling Divine Guest,
Loving Companion Presence of your heart,
family, friends, and strangers alike
are greeted with compassion.
A greater state of awareness being aroused,
you recognize the interconnectedness
of everything and everyone:
the unity of diversity.
 

~ from LUMEN CHRISTI...HOLY WISDOM by Nan Merrill
Nan Merrill Lumen Christi . . . Holy Wisdom light Buy on Amazon
January 2011 (Vol. XXIV, No. 1)

Someday perhaps the inner light will shine forth from us, and then we'll need no other light.
 

~ by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe light

The grosser consciousness depends heavily on particles of matter. The subtler consciousness is more independent -- it does not depend so much on the brain. Luminance, radiance, imminence -- the three states of subtle mind -- all of these disappear in the clear Light, the innermost consciousness.

~ from THE PATH TO TRANQUILITY by the Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama The Path To Tranquility light
January 2011 (Vol. XXIV, No. 1)

One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul. Struggling souls catch light from other souls who are fully lit and willing to show it.

~ by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, thanks to Liz Stewart
Clarissa Pinkola Estes light
January 2011 (Vol. XXIV, No. 1)

I had wondered what Nicholas was doing behind the closed door of his study so early in the morning. Now I knew he was not just reading scripture and praying. He was following a discipline which focused him and made it possible for him to realize his full potential. He was lining up his center with the integrating principle at work in the universe, the principle which was ultimately stronger than the drive to fragment. He was tapping into the powers of light which would allow him to live dynamically, surfing the chaos, splitting the darkness, serving the Creator by serving others again and again and again.

~ from THE HIGH FLYER by Susan Howatch
Susan Howatch The Hight Flyer light
January 2011 (Vol. XXIV, No. 1)

I dimly perceive that whilst everything around me is ever changing, ever dying, there is underlying all that change a living power that is changeless, that holds all together, that creates, dissolves, and re-creates. . . . in the midst of death life persists, in the midst of untruth truth persists, in the midst of darkness light persists.

~ by Mahatma Ghandi
Mahatma Ghandi light
January 2011 (Vol. XXIV, No. 1)

Say from the heart that you are the perfect day and in you dwells the light that will never fail.

~ from THE GOSPEL OF TRUTH, a Nag Hammadi text, thanks to Melinda Lee
The Gospel Of Truth light
January 2011 (Vol. XXIV, No. 1)

Know the Light in stillness and silence.

~ by Arthur E. Waite
Arthur E. Waite light
January 2011 (Vol. XXIV, No. 1)

One winter day
something will shine out
from an everyday object
and the darkness will flood with light.
Something we have seen
a thousand times
suddenly becomes
the sentinel of
another world.

~ from ALL THE DAYS OF MY LIFE by Marv and Nancy Hiles
Marv and Nancy Hiles All The Days Of My Life light Buy on Amazon
January 2011 (Vol. XXIV, No. 1)

All living creatures are sparks from the radiation of God’s brilliance, and these sparks emerge from God like the rays of the sun. If God did not give off these sparks, how would the divine flame become fully visible?

~ from SCIVIAS by Hildegard of Bingen
Hildegard of Bingen Scivias light
January 2011 (Vol. XXIV, No. 1)

"I have just the question for you: who are you?" "I just told you," said the young man. "No, you told me about the clothes you wear. You told me your name, where you’re from, what you've done, the things you've studied. Your problem is, you don’t know who you are. Let me tell you who you are. You are a ray of God's own light."

~ from INTO THE SILENT LAND by Martin Laird
Martin Laird Into The Silent Land light
January 2011 (Vol. XXIV, No. 1)

You can visualize God's light each day and send it to someone who needs help. Your divine nature must reach out and touch the divine nature of another. Within you is the light of the world. It must be shared with the world.

~ from Peace Pilgrim
Peace Pilgrim light Buy on Amazon
January 2011 (Vol. XXIV, No. 1)

I slowly began to make out forms and shapes, and the shapes soon became brighter until I was in a world of just light . . . As I flowed like mercury into the center of this light field, I knew I was Home! I had been there before. At the center of this awesome experience was a round ball of living water. I stepped into the middle of this ball of light-filled water just as I was asked to return. I know I'll go back there… I didn’t want to return, I was so alive.

~ from LIVING IN THE HEART by D. Melchizedek
D. Melchizedek Living In The Heart light
January 2011 (Vol. XXIV, No. 1)

There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.

~ by Edith Wharton, thanks to Joy Heaton
Edith Wharton light
January 2011 (Vol. XXIV, No. 1)

I started to compose the opening of "Fos" (light) and I had the idea of a string trio playing in the distance which would represent the soul yearning for God. The choir represented God in uncreated energies. This yearning choir is played by the string trio which is cut off by the joy/sorrow chord by the choir singing the word "Fos," light, light, light, light, light -- until it becomes an expanded light separated from all yet united to all, and moving straight into the second section, Doxa: symbolizing the glory of that Light filling everything with light.

~ from THE MUSIC OF SILENCE by John Tavener
John Tavener The Music Of Silence light Buy on Amazon
December 2010 (Vol. XXIII, No. 11)

As one progresses on the path, one seeks silence more and more. It will be a great comfort, a tremendous source of solace and peace . . . Here finally is the place where you need neither defense nor offense -- the place where you can truly be open. There will be bliss, wonder, the awe of attaining something pure and sacred . . . This is the peace that seems to elude so many.

~ from 365 TAO by Deng Ming-Dao
Deng Ming-Dao 365 Tao peace Buy on Amazon
December 2010 (Vol. XXIII, No. 11)

God is peace, God’s name is peace, and all is bound together in peace.

~ from The Zohar
The Zohar peace
December 2010 (Vol. XXIII, No. 11)

When many agree that peace is possible, heaven will grow from a weak and helpless concept to a manifested experience involving an entire planetary family.

~ from DESCENT OF THE DOVE by Ann Valentin & Virginia Essene
Ann Valentin, Virginia Essene Descent Of The Dove peace Buy on Amazon
December 2010 (Vol. XXIII, No. 11)

The stillness and the peace of now enfold you in perfect gentleness.

~ from A COURSE IN MIRACLES
A Course In Miracles peace Buy on Amazon
December 2010 (Vol. XXIII, No. 11)

Sean, my Yogic Irish dairy farmer, explained our chaotic world to me in this way. "Imagine that the universe is a great spinning engine," he said. "You want to stay near the core of the thing -- right in the hub of the wheel -- not out at the edges where all the wild whirling takes place, where you can get frayed and crazy. The hub of calmness -- that's your heart. That’s where God lives within you. So stop looking for answers in the world. Just keep coming back to that center and you'll always find peace."

~ from EAT, PRAY, LOVE by Elizabeth Gilbert
Elizabeth Gilbert Eat, Pray, Love peace Buy on Amazon
December 2010 (Vol. XXIII, No. 11)

To be at one with God is to be at peace . . . Peace is to be found only within, and unless one finds it there one will never find it at all. Peace lies not in the external world. It lies within one’s own soul.

~ Ralph W. Trine
Ralph W. Trine peace
December 2010 (Vol. XXIII, No. 11)

Each one has to find his peace from within. And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances . . .

~ by Mohandas Gandhi
Mohandas Gandhi peace
December 2010 (Vol. XXIII, No. 11)

In finding peace and recognizing the light in yourself, we say there's a hearth in your heart where the Creator has given you something very sacred, a special gift, a special duty, an understanding. And now is the time for us to clean out those hearths, to let that inner light glow.

~ from WEAVING THE VISIONS by Dhyani Ywahoo
Dhyani Ywahoo Weaving The Visions peace
December 2010 (Vol. XXIII, No. 11)

Peace is every step.
The shining red sun is my heart.
Each flower smiles with me.
How green, how fresh all that grows.
How cool the wind blows.
Peace is every step.
It turns the endless path to joy.

~ from PEACE IS EVERY STEP by Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat Hanh Peace Is Every Step peace
December 2010 (Vol. XXIII, No. 11)

Our work for peace must begin within the private world of each of us . . .

~ by Dag Hammarskjold
Dag Hammarskjold peace
December 2010 (Vol. XXIII, No. 11)

All that matters is to be at one
with the living God
to be a creature in the house of the God of Life.
Like a cat asleep on a chair
at peace, in peace . . .
feeling the presence of Peace
like a great assurance
a deep calm in the heart
a presence
as of the master sitting at the board
in his own and great being
in the house of life.

~ by D. H. Lawrence
D. H. Lawrence peace