Compassionate action -- balanced by wisdom -- is a very important component of spiritual life. It opens our heart and puts us in touch with the happiness that illuminates existence and gives us the strength and courage to continue on the path.
Listen
Now is the earth most still.
No plows break the bare and frozen ground.
No creature stirs from its earthbound
burrow, tunnel, nest.
Matter is quiet.
Its clamor
hushed, we hear the rising of the star,
the morning light,
the seed within itself unfolding,
glowing, growing.
All is quiet and the earth most still.