But above all we should understand that there can never be peace between nations until it is known that true peace is within our very souls.
But above all we should understand that there can never be peace between nations until it is known that true peace is within our very souls.
The peace in the sky, the peace in mid-air,
the peace on the earth, the peace in the waters,
the peace in the plants, the peace in the forest trees,
the peace in the angels, the peace in the Beloved,
the peace in all things
the peace in peace ...
May that peace come to me!
This is the way of peace:
Overcome evil with Goodness,
falsehood with Truth,
and hatred with Love.
My life, when I look back, has not been easy. One thing I learned was that compassion, a sense of caring, thinking about others' welfare, that sort of mental attitude brings me inner peace.
The grandmothers agree that personal healing is the essential first step toward healing the world. We need to strive for the peace of mind that has no price before we can realize peace on the planet, they say... . Deep within our hearts is where the peace and the healing will start. Surrender to Spirit. Be silent and listen to the guidance there.
Over all the mountaintops is peace,
In all the treetops, scarcely a breath;
The little birds in the forest are silent.
Wait then; you, too, will have peace.
If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.
Love is our shared truth.
Peace is our eternal hope.
A peacemaker prays. Prayer is the beginning and the end, the source and the fruit, the core and the content, the basis and the goal for all peacemaking. I say this without apology, because it allows me to go straight to the heart of the matter, which is that peace is a divine gift, a gift we receive in prayer.
A work of beauty requires the diverse and contrary qualities of discipline, hard work, gentleness and love.To create a work of beauty, a human being needs a spiritual life and a rhythm, and those two things need to work well together.By "rhythm" I mean a slower, more thoughtful pace than that which is generally lived in this society.
When your ears aren't filled with chatter and the cacophony of negativity, and your life is free of stress-generated mindless actions and the prolonged cleanup operations that result from the subsequent mess, then the still, small voice of spirit may be heard. The music of the universe becomes louder and louder in the silence generated by the absence of charged auto-chatter, and we are able to hear the whispered instructions of the soul, the rustle of angel wings, and the divine harmony of the spheres.'
Basking in solitude, Silence is
the Friend who stills
lurking desires, as
Wisdom cuts through tangled
webs of illusion.
Meditation lights the Flame.
An early century desert monk once shared an image:
"When the door of the steam bath is continually left open, the heat inside rapidly escapes through it; likewise the soul, in its desire to say many things, dissipates its remembrance of God through the door of speech, even though everything it says is good ..."
Timely silence, then, is precious, for it is nothing less than the mother of the wisest thoughts.
Silence purifies. Those who are dedicated to silence must persevere in our over-busy world zones of purified air. We must struggle against the asphyxiation, which threatens the cities of our consumer society. We live in a world mentally polluted by verbal intoxication. If dedication to silence did not exist, it would be necessary to invent it.
On the surface, silence was simple: we didn't speak unless it was necessary. But what was the point of silence? The point was, we learned, not mere silence, not silence to preserve some sort of order, but something much greater. In silence the idea was to recollect ourselves, to place ourselves more squarely in the presence of God than we would if people were talking to us all the time. We could pray, we could meditate, we could contemplate.
A poem is a passionate prayer of song
with blessings from and for the faithful All,
an innocent, sacramental creation
remembering ancient tradition,
a gift of praise at an invisible altar,
and a lone priestly vision embraced
by sacred silence,
seeking forever the eternal unknown.
Poetry comes out of silence and yearns for silence. Like us, it travels from one silence to another. It is like flight, like a circling over silence.
In silence
we hear God's whisper
moving like a feather
through our being,
stroking and transforming
timid souls into
fiery passion
for justice.
God speaks out of the inner-
most being of the mystics while they are silent.
I have listened to the Silence; and in the deep places of Life, I have stood receptive to Thy songs and they have entered my soul. It is in silence that we find the depth of our being. In the deep places of the soul, we connect to the boundless life that connects all things. In this secret place of the Most High, we are borne like leaves floating upon a still pond. Here, beyond identities and accomplishments, we find who we truly are.
... silence is filled with a Presence that
seeks us in our lostness, comforts us in our pain,
heals us in our brokenness, and guides us in our confusion.
We first Americans believe profoundly in silence – the sign of a perfect equilibrium. Silence is the absolute poise of balance of body, mind, and spirit.
If you ask us, "What is silence?" we will answer, "It is the Great Mystery. The holy silence is God's voice."
If you ask, "What are the fruits of silence?" we will answer, "They are self-control, true courage or endurance, patience, dignity and reverence. Silence is the cornerstone of character."
Sometimes there would be a rush of noisy visitors and the Silence of the monastery would be shattered. This would upset the monks; not the master, however, who seemed just as content with the noise as with the Silence. To those protesting he said one day:
"Silence is not the absence of sound,
but the absence of self."
Feel the winds of change blowing the superficiality of your life away.
The light of the soul throws sparks, can set up flares, builds fires, causes proper matters to catch fire. To display the lantern of the soul in shadowy times like these, to be fierce and to show mercy toward others, both, are acts of immense bravery and greatest necessity. Struggling souls catch lights from other souls who are fully lit and willing to show it.
As Rembrandt's life moves toward the shadows of old age, as his success wanes, and the exterior splendor of his life diminishes, he comes more in touch with the immense beauty of the interior life. There he discovers the light that comes from an inner fire that never dies; the fire of love. His art no longer tries to "grasp, conquer, and regulate the visible," but to "transform the visible in the fire of love that comes from his own unique heart."
Spirituality's highest purpose is to touch a mystery beyond words, which is perceived only in silence and solitude. Listening within the silence puts one in touch with the energy, vibration, and spiritual forces that are at the heart of creation. The realms are real and can only be reached by a quiet mind and practice. The Grandmothers believe we must return to the inner spirit and the spirit of all things, which we have abandoned while looking elsewhere for happiness.
Love all the earth,
every ray of God's light,
every grain of sand
and blade of grass,
every living thing.
If you love the earth enough,
you will know the Divine Mystery.
Life is not a problem to be solved, but a Mystery to be lived.
Owl thought much about his life and about the loss of his father, his brother, and now Grandmother, Eyes of Wisdom. Death and the loss of his loved ones seemed a harsh way for the Universe to arrange his time here. This is perhaps why people have named the "All That Is" the Great Mystery, and that mystery may be what has sent me on this journey to find "My-Story.
The experience of ecstatic oneness with the Divine comes in many forms: quiet contentment, a sense of gentle rapture, a mystical feeling of universal harmony, all-consuming passion, flights of spiritual abandon, and ferocious joy. But the most powerful experience of ecstasy is a combination of these feelings, when, in one unforgettable moment, we touch the hidden God – the terrible and wonderful Mystery that has given birth to all things and that makes them glow and dance with Its life force. In those moments we may see what It sees and feel at least an infinitesimal part of what It feels.
The living myth explains the world at a non-rational, non-verbal, or preverbal level, making existence sacred and informing the believer that he/she is not alone in the universe. Myth and mystery inform the heart that a person belongs and has a part in an eternal drama. Mystery simply is.
Aspire to humility rather than power,
prestige, and privilege; for
grace and gentleness sustain
the humble of heart.
As seed germinates in fertile soil,
the Seed of Divine Thought
will grow in soul-silence.
Ground yourself with deep roots
in the Great Mystery.
Leave room in your heart for the Mystery.
Come, let's away to prison:
We two alone will sing like birds in a cage:
When thou dost ask me blessing,
I'll kneel down,
And ask of thee forgiveness:
so we'll live,
and pray, and sing,
and tell old tales, and laugh
at gilded butterflies ...
and take upon us the mystery of things,
as if we were God's spies ...
Creator of the Universe, we know that You are Mystery beyond mystery, yet our finite minds and fragile fears often want to contain You in a way that keeps us comfortable. We resist stretching our beliefs to include the new. We hesitate to break with the past, even if it is filled with illusion. Help us to be open to your revelation, not merely because it is new, but because it can bring us closer to the truth of who You are and who we are in You.
When you set off on the path, the first thing you do is surrender yourself to a greater power, for you will encounter things you will not understand. You will understand things only with your heart, and that can be a little frightening. For a long time, the journey will seem like a Dark Night, but then any search is an act of faith. But God, who is far harder to understand than a Dark Night, appreciates our act of faith and takes our hand and guides us through the Mystery.
The first mystery is simply that there is a Mystery. A Mystery that can never be explained or understood. Only encountered from time to time. Nothing is obvious. Everything conceals something else...Spiritual awareness is born of encounters with the Mystery.
Our life is a faint racing on the surface of mystery.
Changeless and calm, deep Mystery…
Ever more deeply rooted in Thee.
Being your true self, being your true nature, is different than experiencing it with thought. Realize that you are the mystery, and you can't really look at mystery because you are only capable of looking from the mystery. There is a very awake, alive and loving mystery, and that is what is seeing through your eyes at this moment. Encounter pure mystery, which is pure spirit, and wake up to what you are.
I didn't know exactly how to go about helping others. But if I could remember that great acts are the small, quiet ones that no one hears about, that would be a start. I could look for ways myself to help people in need of a boost, to align myself with underdogs. I need to remember Ella's way with her leprosy ... her intent. Perhaps it didn't matter what I did to earn a living, as long as the motive was to help others and not just gain attention.
God, give me work
Till my life shall end
And life
Till my work is done.
When love and skill work together,
expect a masterpiece.
Contrary to what many think, contemplatives are the great doers. In their return from silence they take up the work of giving form to the liberating truths that have been given to them in flashes of insight and vision. Because they have been present to themselves, they are able to be present to others in a way that awakens, enlivens, gives courage. In them we see more clearly a way of existence that combines both being and doing.
I am learning as I go about my daily life of work, play, or prayers that it is right and good to be here doing whatever it is I am to be doing. In a word, attentiveness and being in the present. Learning to be. A growing sense of vocation with the liberty to be at One ... to be harmonious.
Work helps prevent one from getting old. My work is my life. I cannot think of one without the other. The one who works and is never bored is never old. A person is not old until regrets take the place of hopes and plans. Work and interest in worthwhile things are the best remedy for aging. ... With age your facility of expression and perception diminishes. I have almost nothing left but time. But if I can be of service, I would like to go on living.
O Thou, cut down in me this hour and every
hour the swift growing tree of self-regard
which screens me from the needs of others.
Fill me with the realization that for these
few swift years I am put here on earth,
I am lent to be spent in the service of others.