Annie Dillard

On the surface of mystery

Our life is a faint tracing on the surface of mystery.

Now I will stop and be wholly attentive

At a certain point you say to the woods, to the sea, to the mountains, the world: Now I am ready. Now I will stop and be wholly attentive. You empty yourself and wait, listening ... you wait, you give your life's length to listening.

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The true source of joy is love—love of God, love of beauty, love of wisdom, love of another human being, it does not matter which. It is all one love: a joyful awareness of dissolving boundaries of our ordinary narrow self, of being one with reality beyond, of being made whole.

~ from The Door to Joy by Irma Lalecki in "Heron Dance"

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Annie Dillard

On the surface of mystery

Now I will stop and be wholly attentive

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