February 2007 (Vol. XX, No. 2)

 "Is there enough Silence for the Word to be heard?"

Heartfelt warm blessings to you, dear friends of silence, dear friends of Love and Peace!

We are born to love; we are all One Love. To extend Love, we must express the Love we are. And the more we recognize and forgive all the hidden ego-fears that keep us seemingly separate and bound to the world's values, the more Love we are able to share with all. In the silence, we can question our values and ask of each one, "Is this an eternal value?"Extending universal, eternal values is Love and Peace in action.

Love in action is the answer to every problem in our lives

Love in action is the answer to every problem in our lives and in this world. Love in action is the force that helped us make it to this place, and it's the truth that will set us free.

~ Susan Taylor
Susan Taylor love

There is a love that is at the core of creation

There is a love that is at the core of creation, a love that is born of oneness and carries the sacred interrelationship of all life. This love is alive within the hearts of those who love the Source of all life; its music is the song of the soul and the hidden purpose of creation. There is a wonder in this love, as well as a terror and beauty. Its wonder and terror come from its unconstricted nature, its limitless freedom; its beauty is a reflection of the face of God.

~ From THE SIGNS OF GOD by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee The Signs Of God love Buy on Amazon

Nor can that endure Which has not its foundations upon love

Nor can that endure
Which has not its foundations upon love,
For love alone diminishes not, but shines with its own light,
Makes an end of discord, softens the fires of hate,
Restores peace in the world,
Brings together the sundered, redresses wrong,
Aids all and injures none.
And who so invokes its aid will find peace and safety,
And have no fear of future ill.

~ Queen Jadwiga (Poland 1300 a. d. )
Queen Jadwiga love

In love there is only one

"What is love, my friends?" he asked, opening his arms as though he wished to embrace us. "What is love? It is not simply compassion, not simply kindness. In compassion there are two: the one who suffers and the one who feels compassion. In kindness there are two: the one who gives and the one who receives. But in love there is only one; the two join, unite, become inseparable. The I and the you vanish. To love means to lose oneself in the beloved. "

~ from ST. FRANCIS by Nikos Kazantzakis
Nikos Kazantzakis St. Francis love Buy on Amazon

The deepening of their capacity for love will first heal their own wound

Each individual who conquers the panic of their nightmare, who faces up to the terror of evil, and thereby discovers a goodness which heals and cannot be destroyed, brings fresh love into the world. The deepening of their capacity for love will first heal their own wound, and then go further, extending its gentle influence upon family, friends, and out to the world.

~ from NIGHTMARES IN HUMAN CONFLICT by John Mack
John Mack Nightmares In Human Conflict love

Let your God love you

Be silent.
Be still.
Your God only wants to
Look upon you
With love.
Quiet. Still be.
Let your God ... Love you.

~ Edwina Gately
Edwina Gately love

We are made for loving

We are made for loving. If we don't love,
we will be like plants without water.

~ Desmond Tutu
Desmond Tutu love

Love God ceaselessly as the fish loveth water

Listen, my heart: love God ceaselessly
As the fish loveth water:
The deeper the water
The happier and more tranquil the fish.
God alone knoweth the suffering
Of fish separated from the waters.

~ Nanak, Sufi teacher
Sufi teacher, Nanak love

To live with the consequence of love

I want to know
if you are willing
to live, day by day,
with the consequence
of love.
 

~ David Whyte
David Whyte love

The state of love communion

The state of love communion is simply the state of joining within with one another, heart to heart.It is an experience of the other as myself. When I meet you in my own heart, there is nowhere else I have to go. As long as we both remain in our hearts, our joining continues. When we move out of our hearts, we simply move away. And coming together does not mean reaching out after you, but reaching within myself to find the place where we are connected.

~ from THE CIRCLE OF ATONEMENT by Paul Ferrini
Paul Ferrini The Circle Of Atonement love

This giving of love to others, this sharing of the heart

She loved Botswana, which was good place, and she loved those with whom she lived and worked. She had so much love to give – she had always felt that – and now there was someone to whom she could give this love, and that, she knew was good; for that is what redeems us, that is what makes our pain and sorrow bearable – this giving of love to others, this sharing of the heart.

~ from IN THE COMPANY OF CHEERFUL LADIES by Alexander McCall Smith
Alexander McCall Smith In Th Company Of Cheerful Ladies love

To learn to bear the beams of Love

We are placed on this earth for a little space of
time to learn to bear the beams of Love.

~ William Blake
William Blake love

No relationship created in love can ever die

Each person who enters our life, every experience we have, is a teacher. Some things we learn amaze us, some trouble us. Everyone we have loved has become a part of us ... And no relationship created in love can ever die.

~ John E. Welshons
John E. Welshons love

Love is a verb

Love is a verb: alive wherever it is lived.

~ Anonymous
Anonymous love

An ever-deepening receptivity to the abundant love

Blessing offers us a personal consciousness-raising practice, a spiritual adventure bringing sensitivity and gratitude into the foreground of our lives. While we all have moments when a blessing rises spontaneously to our lips, the path of blessing can become a way of life. Through the practice of blessing we develop an ever-deepening receptivity to the abundant love and joy flowing through creation. We learn to accept that love, absorb it into our souls, and offer it back to the Source with joy. In this way we come to feel the Presence of God move within us and through us.

~ from THE PATH OF BLESSING by Marcia Prager
Marcia Prager The Path Of Blessing love

January 2007 (Vol. XX, No. 1)

"Is there enough Silence for the Word to be heard?"

NEW YEAR BLESSINGS, dear friends!As we celebrate our twentieth year of Friends of Silence, years of growing together in the Silence, let us take time to be still and listen for the Voice of the Blessed Spirit ever there to accompany us on the journey into Love.
Stillness is formed in the Silence from within where our souls are nourished and renewed.Wisdom, too, is born in the inner being as our minds, senses, and bodies are stilled in the Silence. More than ever, our homes, schools, work places, and even houses of worship … indeed, all of society, need to include times for stillness so that harmony and balance can develop.Imagine: just one individual radiating stillness of the heart can affect the world beyond measure. Be still ... And discover a great revelation: stillness in the Silence!

Stillness is tranquility of the inner life

Stillness is tranquility of the inner life, the quiet at the depths of its hidden stream. Stillness is a collected, total presence, a being all there, receptive, alert, ready.

~ Romano Guardini
Romano Guardini stillness

Stillness is not a technique, but rather a lifestyle

Stillness is not a technique, but rather a lifestyle which arises from a personal commitment to take up citizenship in the internal world and a willingness to pay attention to the age-old question, "Who am I?" The best tool we have to begin this inward journey is the breath. As we begin to reclaim our birthright of a deep, smooth, even, diaphragmatic breath, the physical feeling of stillness begins to touch both the body and mind. The more we embrace a lifestyle of stillness, the less time we spend being tossed by the wind.

~ From "Stillness and the Healing Process" by Ginger Cunes
Stillness And The Healing Process stillness

I must abe still and hold a zone of Silence

To concentrate without effort,
to transform work into play,
I must be still and hold
a zone of Silence in my soul.

~ Anonymous
Anonymous stillness

When we sit in stillness

When we sit in stillness
we are profoundly active.

~ Gunilla Norris
Gunilla Norris stillness

This stillness generates all life

The silence of the storm dominated everything. There are no words to describe a quiet so potent. I knew the snow was echoing a stillness that exists, hidden, in everything. I do not understand how I suddenly knew this, but the knowledge filled me. I saw that this stillness generates all life. And sitting there in the snow, I wept at the profound sound and power of that silence. It was hard to witness its beauty, knowing I'd lived many years never suspecting it was there.

~ from A NEW SET OF EYES by Paula D'Arcy
Paula D'Arcy A New Set Of Eyes stillness Buy on Amazon

Nothing can happen without a certain stillness

To return back into ourselves, there are three things needed, for which you don't require a computer, television or radio: the first is a bit of stillness. Nothing can happen without a certain stillness. We also need silence. There is nothing so vocal and articulate as silence; all good language, all great words, are born of it. And the third thing we need is solitude. We need to acknowledge that solitude is an invitation to the soul to come alive. Solitude is utterly luminous if we lose our fears and begin to enter it more deeply.

~ from "Earth's Inner Light," an interview with John O'Donohue in "Earthlight" # 27
John O'Donohue Earthlight #27, Earth's Inner Light stillness

In stillness we add a grace and a benediction to our lives

In stillness we add a grace and a benediction to our lives. For a short period, through a daily practice, we choose to create an interval where we are in communication with Spirit. In this holy stillness we find the deep peace we most need and want in our lives. To be still with the attention in the heart ... all other things are beside the point.

~ from A SACRED PRIMER by Elizabeth Harper
Elizabeth Harper A Sacred Primer stillness Buy on Amazon

My greatest wealth is the deep stillness

My greatest wealth is the deep
stillness
in which I strive and grow
and win what the world cannot take
from me with fire or sword.

~ Goethe
Goethe stillness

I will be still, and let the earth be still with me

I will be still, and let the earth
be still with me. And in that
stillness find the Peace of God,
that dwells within my heart.

~ A COURSE IN MIRACLES
A Course in Miracles stillness

To draw a little nearer to such ubiquity by remaining still

... the silence in the mind
is when we live best, within
listening distance of the silence we call God ...
It is a presence, then,
whose margins are our margins;
that calls us out over our own fathoms.

What to do, but to draw a little nearer
to such ubiquity by remaining still?

~ from COLLECTED LATER POEMS by R. S. Thomas
R. S. Thomas Collected Later Poems stillness Buy on Amazon

Be still and empty

Be still and empty
God shall fill you
with far greater fullness
than you could ever
wish or will.

~ Angelus Sileshis, with thanks to Ruth Shrader
Angelus Sileshis stillness

Everyday at dawn and often throughout the day

Everyday at dawn and often throughout the day, I go back to the quiet place where my inner Voice strengthens and infuses my speaking voice. Whether my work is with troubled teens who fight at my city's local high school or with rebels in the Philippines, I go to my inner Voice for refuge and support. If I hear, "Be still and know I am God," then, I know that I am centered and ready for partnership with the Spirit.

~ from A MANTLE OF ROSES by Virginia Swain
Virginia Swain Mantle Of Roses stillness Buy on Amazon

As long as the soul is not still there can be no vision

As long as the soul is not still there can be no vision, but when stillness has brought us into the presence of God, then another sort of silence, much more absolute, intervenes: the silence of a soul that is not only still and recollected but which is overawed in an act of worship by God's presence.

~ From LIVING PRAYER by M. Anthony Bloom
M. Anthony Bloom Living Prayer stillness Buy on Amazon

The cat was much stiller than I

I saw Nuri sitting in meditation so motionless that not even one hair moved. I asked,
"From whom did you learn such deep meditation?"
"I learned it from a cat waiting by a mouse hole.
The cat was much stiller than I.

~ Shibli
Shibli stillness

To be still is to be alive

To be still is to be alive in a whole new way.

~ Anonymous
Anonymous stillness

In silence and stillness God's energy will become yours

When you slow yourself down and emanate peaceful, tranquil thoughts, you actually send the anxiety and stress out of your life. Similarly, when you meditate you bring God's silent love into your present moments. In silence and stillness God's energy will become yours. By slowing your mind and other thoughts, you allow the fastest vibrations of spirit to enter. That faster vibration is one of harmony, love, and peace.

~ from THERE'S A SPIRITUAL SOLUTION TO EVERY PROBLEM by Wayne Dyer
Wayne Dyer There's A Spiritual Soluition To Every Problem stillness

December 2006 (Vol. XIX, No. 11)

"Is there enough Silence for the Word to be heard? "

PEACE be with you, dear friends! And may the reality of Peace on Earth forall of humanity shine through the veils of illusion! To become the peace we yearn for is a double gift: we are blessed with an inner freedom that enlivens and energizes our souls . . . we, in turn, bless the Soul of the world in ways we cannot measure or imagine. As our thoughts, words, and actions reflect the peace of the great Peacemaker, we begin to build the Realm of Love here on Earth, our home.

Be not afraid. You are never alone. Listen in the Silence and know that Peace abides with and within you always. Peace! Peace! Peace!

Each of us can live a life of amazing power and peace and serenity

Each of us can live a life of amazing power and peace and serenity ... if we really want to — a life in which our competing selves within are integrated. This happens through surrendering everything to attend to the Holy Within, the Voice, the Whisper, the Life in us all: steadfastly direct your mind and thought to peace throughout the day with your normal activities.

~ Stratford Caldecott
Stratford Caldecott peace

Learn to be quiet in the midst of turmoil

Learn to be quiet in the midst of turmoil,
for quietness is the end of strife and this
is the journey to peace.

~ ACIM
ACIM peace

May harmony live in the hearts of all people

May harmony live
in the hearts of all people.
May peace be their way,
May we all be kind and gentle,
our paths straight and true.
May Star Beings show the way
and dark clouds never stay.
May life thrive upon the land,
and peace dwell in
the hearts of humankind.

~ Ten Bears
Ten Bears peace

As peacemakers working in the world, we exclude nothing

The Way is everything. It's not a particular direction or a special way of doing something; it's a circle with no outside and no inside, just the pulsating of life everywhere. It excludes nothing. Therefore, as peacemakers working in the world, we exclude nothing. We'll pick and choose according to what's appropriate for us at a certain place and a certain moment. But we won't be attached to what we choose, for everything is the Way.

~ from BEARING WITNESS by Bernie Glassman
Bernie Glassman Bearing Witness peace Buy on Amazon

Peace is not merely the absence of war

Sisters and brothers: We direct to your minds that peace is not merely the absence of war, but the constant effort to maintain harmonious existence between all peoples, from individual to individual, and between humans and the other beings of this planet. We point out to you that a spiritual consciousness is the path of survival of humankind.

~ from the Haudenosaunee Declaration, 1979
Haudenosaunee Declaration (1979) peace

A deep peace descended

A deep peace descended such as I had never felt before. My whole past, words, tears, everything sank into it. The only thing that remained was the here and now, transparent to light and to God... There was neither barrier nor distance between God and the world. Lying on the grass, I felt Love within me and I was filled with light, peace, and gratitude.

~ from PILGRIMAGE TO DZHVARI by Valeria Alfeyeva
Valeria Alfeyeva Pilgrimage To Dzhvari peace

Peace is our Eternal Hope

Love is our shared truth.
Peace is our eternal hope.

~ Museum of World Religions, Taiwan
Museum Of World Religions (taiwan) peace

PEACE comes within human souls

PEACE
comes within human souls
when they realize their
relationship, their oneness,
with the universe
and all its powers,
and when they realize that
at the center of the universe
dwells the Great Creator
whose Center
is really everywhere
within each of us.

~ Black Elk
Black Elk peace

Peace is not absence of strife

Peace is not absence of strife.
Peace is acceptance
and surrender to that which is.
Peace is the profound awareness of
the one true source
from which all things emerge . . .
and to which all things return.

~ from INVITING SILENCE by Gunilla Norris
Gunilla Norris Inviting Silence peace Buy on Amazon

Peace cannot be achieved through violence

Peace cannot be achieved through violence,
It can only be attained through understanding.

~ Emerson
Emerson peace

One moral duty: to reclaim large areas of peace in ourselves

Ultimately we have just one moral duty: to reclaim large areas of peace in ourselves, more and more peace, and to reflect it toward others. And the more peace there is in us, the more peace there will be in our troubled world.

~ from AN INTERRUPTED LIFE by Etty Hillstrum
Etty Hillstrum An Interrupted Life peace Buy on Amazon

Those who have not found their true wealth are beggars

Those who have not found their true wealth, which is the radiant joy of Being and the deep unshakable peace that comes with it, are beggars, even if they have great material wealth. They are looking outside for scraps of pleasure or fulfillment, for validation, security, or love, when they have a Treasure within that not only includes all those things but is infinitely greater than anything the world can offer.

~ from THE POWER OF NOW by Eckhart Tolle
Eckhart Tolle The Power Of Now peace

We know more about war than we know about peace

We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living. We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the sermon on the mount.

~ General Omar N. Bradley
General Omar N. Bradley peace

O Blessed Peacemaker, You invite us to return

O Blessed Peacemaker, You invite us to return, to rest in You; for, in the Silence, we become strong; with utter trust, our way is made sure.

By the power of your Love, we pray: Enter our hearts to your Indwelling Presence. As we are still we come to know You.

Beloved of our hearts united with All, blessed are You,
O true Life of our lives: Lumen Christi . . . Holy Wisdom.

~ Nan Merrill
Nan Merrill peace

Practice Peace

To protect our Planet:
practice Peace
promote Peace
become Peace.

~ Anonymous
Anonymous peace

Social change must start in our hearts

Social change must start in our hearts: peace and prayer open our hearts. People who practice spiritual disciplines have the most enduring impact on life because the inward work we do makes us more effective in any situation. We are most effective when we can return good will for ill will and show kindness to those who would harm us; when we look for a common solution without anger or a desire for retaliation; and act on principles of care and concern without a need for reciprocation.

~ from OPEN MIND by Diane Mariechild
Diane Mariechild Open Mind peace

Sow Peace at home

Sow Peace at home, scatter its fruits abroad.

~ Anonymous
Anonymous peace

O Blessed Peacemaker, You invite us to return

O Blessed Peacemaker, You invite us to return, to rest in You; for, in the Silence, we become strong; with utter trust, our way is made sure.

By the power of your Love, we pray: Enter our hearts to your Indwelling Presence. As we are still we come to know You.

Beloved of our hearts united with All, blessed are You,
O true Life of our lives: Lumen Christi . . . Holy Wisdom.

November 2006 (Vol. XIX, No. 10)

"Is there enough Silence for the Word to be heard? "

BLESSINGS OF THE SILENCE, dear friends! Silence is the deepest, clearest prayer we can offer our noisy, wounded planet today. Stilling the mind and basking in the silence of the heart is a healing balm for ourselves and radiates an active energy of peace out to the world. Our silence opens the door for creative potential to flourish and bloom and links us to the universe: a Oneness with which we come to appreciate. Be still and listen . . . Be open and know: Love and peace and understanding await us in the Silence along with blessings of the Mystery. Silent be and see!

Daily silence experienced in humility and fervor

Daily silence experienced in humility and fervor is an indispensable exercise in spiritual nourishment and gradually creates within us a permanent state of silence. The soul discovers in such silence unsuspected possibilities. It realizes that life can be lived at different levels.

~ from GOD IN SILENCE by Pierce Lacout
Pierce Lacout God In Silence silence

When we make a place for silence, we make room for ourselves

When we make a place for silence, we make room for ourselves. By making room for silence, we resist the forces of the world which tell us to live an advertised life of surface appearances, instead of a discovered life — a life lived in contact with our senses, our feelings, our deepest thoughts and values.

~ from SHARING SILENCE by Gunilla Norris
Gunilla Norris Sharing Silence silence

At the heart of each of us, whatever our imperfections, there exists a silent pulse of perfect rhythm

At the heart of each of us,
whatever our imperfections,
there exists a silent pulse of perfect rhythm,
a complex form of wave forms and resonances,
which is absolutely individual and unique,
and yet which connects us
to everything in the universe.

~ George Leonard
George Leonard silence

Standing shadowless like silence

I saw old Autumn in the misty morn
stand shadowless like silence, listening to silence.

~ Thomas Hood, 1799
Thomas Hood silence

Where we sit in deep silence, attentive and awake

We are familiar with the space in meditation and prayer where we sit in deep silence, attentive and awake, listening within the darkness. Yet we can also live in this state of deep receptivity, relying on what we hear inside our hearts in all aspects of our lives. This is what is needed of us now: to allow the divine to flow into the world and awaken us all within the oneness and joy of That which is at once both infinite within the silence of our own hearts, and visible in the sparkling moments of light and love that are creation.


~ from THE UNKNOWN SHE by Hillary Hart
Hillary Hart The Unknown She silence

Gradually I become one with the silence

I sit on the front porch of our cabin and "listen" to the complete silence. It's so quiet that when a bird flies past, I can hear the air passing beneath its wings. Gradually I become one with the silence and my heart opens to the joy of life. During the winter, when we don't live at the cabin, I visualize sitting on that porch as a way to "stop" the hustle and bustle of my day-to-day world.

~ Judy Barkley in "Spirituality and Health"
Judy Barkley Spirituality And Health silence

There is a tender sense of silence, without prayer to or from

There is a tender sense of silence, without prayer to or from. In the moments of our own silence we are welcomed, as both stranger and friend. We need to allow this presence to be with us, not in defined moments, but as a flow. The river is here, not hidden behind the bank or crossing the horizon. In the tranquility of the moment there is no moment, nothing defined or captured. This world is seeped with the other, soaked with the dew of timelessness.

~ from THE SIGNS OF GOD by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee The Signs Of God silence Buy on Amazon

Out of the oasis of silence can we drink deeply

Out of the oasis of silence can we drink deeply from our inner cup of wisdom.

~ Sue Patton Thoele
Sue Patton Thoele silence

Silence is not the absence of sound, but the absence of self

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 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. "

~ Thanks to Robert Blakesly
Anonymous silence

God strikes in the silence

God strikes in the silence through you all.

~ Elizabeth Browning
Elizabeth Browning silence

While I leaned into silence

Golden lace.
sunrise pours slantwise
into clear water
through the blue spruce,
the deep tangle of pine
and purled woodsmoke.

I turned
and the earth hushed.
While I leaned into silence
a morning too vast to fathom
filled with light.

~ David Lee, from SO QUIETLY THE EARTH, thanks to Heron Dance
David Lee So Quietly The Earth, Heron Dance silence Buy on Amazon

there must have come a point of stillness and silence after all the chaotic churning

I have long imagined that at some point in the process of creation there must have come a point of stillness and silence after all the chaotic churning and gurgling of lava and rain. In my visioning eye I see this first moment of silence, almost as if I had been there, and the spirit of the mist is there, hovering.

~ from THE MIST FILLED PATH, by Frank McEowen
The Mist Filled Path silence

How is spiritual growth achieved?

Spiritual growth is achieved with passion, difficulty, and intensity as much as it is achieved by peace, silence, and love.

~ Carolyn Forche
Carolyn Forche silence

Our being is silent, but our existence is noisy

Our being is silent, but our existence is noisy. Yet when our noisy actions stop, there is a ground of silence always there. Contemplatives must be in contact with that ground and communicate from that level to keep silence alive for other people.

~ Thomas Merton, with thanks to Liz Stewart
Thomas Merton silence

In order to listen to God's silence we must escape the din of distractions that normally deafen us to it

In order to listen to God's silence we must escape the din of distractions that normally deafen us to it. Being deafened to the silence within as well as the silence without is corrosive to God-hearing. To be silent is to so empty oneself of the din of transitory distractions that one becomes fully receptive to the silence that always and everywhere underlies them. Silence is that state of spiritual sensitivity in which seekers make themselves available to the silence of God's voice.

~ from SPIRITUALITY OF THE HANDMAID, by Kerry Walters
by Kerry Walters Spirituality Of The Handmaid silence

That we may hear the whisper of God

Let us be silent, that we may hear the whisper of God.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson silence

There lies a silence that is better

Under all speech that is good for anything, there lies a silence that is better.

~ Thomas Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle silence

Becoming attentive to the silence before, beneath, and between our words

One way of moving beyond words in meditative journaling is by becoming attentive to the silence before, beneath, and between our words, both as we write and as we read back to ourselves what we have written. This allows us to become more attentive to the silence into which our silence sometimes leads us. Where we feel our writing taking us into the Silence, we simply go there and allow ourselves to be in the Silence, "letting the words flow to silence... "As we become aware of something stirring in the silence, we record it, "letting the silence speak to the word..."

~ from SIMPLY SOUL STIRRING by Francis Dorff
Francis Dorff Simply Soul Stirring silence

October 2006 (Vol. XIX, No. 9)

"Is there enough Silence for the Word to be heard? "

HEARTFELT BLESSINGS, dear friends! As we spend time sitting and listening for the Voice of Silence, may we trust that our souls can plunge deeply into the inner well where truth dwells. There we may discover answers to our heart-concerns, our prayers, and insights to guide our way. May the harmony and balance of the elements, seasons, and music of the spheres ever be mirrored in our souls.

Our soul cannot live without the sense of a destination

The soul of each one of us has its destination, and that is the Sacred Heart that draws us to Itself. What is true of each one of us is true of all the world. Walt Whitman in his strong, urgent way cries:

One thought ever at the face—
That in the Divine Ship, the world breasting time and space,
All peoples of the globe together sail, sail the same voyage,
Are bound to the same destination.

Some such thought as this is surely necessary for the bare subsistence of a soul, for our soul cannot live without the sense of a destination ... the destination of Divine Love.

~ from CHRIST THE COMPANION by Fr. Andrew
Fr. Andrew Christ The Companion soul Buy on Amazon

The soul is a timeless, feathered thing that flies in more worlds than one

The soul possesses an ineffable intelligence that cannot be controlled. Like mist, the soul cannot be forced, directed, or squeezed into a box where it does not belong. It cannot even be fully seen or perceived, for the soul is a timeless, feathered thing that flies in more worlds than one.

~ from THE MIST-FILLED PATH by Frank MacEowen
Frank MacEowen The Mist-filled Path soul

We do not prize our soul as creatures made in the Divine image deserve

Each of us possesses a soul, but we do not prize our soul as creatures made in the Divine image deserve, and so we do not understand the great secrets which they contain.

~ St. Teresa of Avila, 1577
St. Teresa of Avila soul

What exists between souls is love

What exists between souls is love,
and that is all that exists.

~ Gary Zukav
Gary Zukav soul

The best way to nourish the soul

Had I taken the fork of despair, I would have remained angry and depressed over the fire, missing a golden opportunity to move West, to be closer to my son. Looking back, I see that I was too attached to my old environment to make the move on my own. I needed the tragedy to push me onward. I don't mean to trivialize the difficulty of certain aspects of life. It is important to look for the larger picture. If we could see that everything, even tragedy, is a gift in disguise, we would then find the best way to nourish the soul . . . "Crises" can help us discover much about ourselves and enrich our lives.

~ from "Soul Gifts In Disguise" by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross in HANDBOOK OF THE SOUL
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross Soul Gifts In Disguise, Handbook Of The Soul

What would become of our souls if they lacked the bread of earthly reality to nourish them

What would become of our souls if they lacked the bread of earthly reality to nourish them, the wine of created beauty to intoxicate them, the discipline of human struggle to make them strong? What puny powers and bloodless hearts Your creatures would bring to You were they to cut themselves off prematurely from the providential setting in which You placed them!

~ from HYMN OF THE UNIVERSE by Teillard de Chardin
Teilhard de Chardin Hymn Of The Universe soul Buy on Amazon

It is not good for the soul to strive toward exalted feats

Educate your inner being in all aspects of life. Keep to the order you learned during your schooling. You did not begin all of a sudden to grasp the higher subjects; you started by learning the alphabet. The same applies to your soul. It is not good for it to strive toward exalted feats until it becomes familiar with the spiritual alphabet: humility and obedience. Let the whole of your life become a continuous prayer.

~ from ABBESS THAILIA: An Autobiography
Abbess Thailia Abbess Thailia: An Autobiography soul Buy on Amazon

Value your soul as priceless

Value your soul as priceless
for a cage without a bird has no value.

~ Sadi
Sadi soul

The soul seeks to serve

The soul seeks to serve; it inspires the personality to serve in particular ways and means. As that happens we become less and less interested in the personality aspect and more and more concerned in altruistic service for the benefit of all. The soul has no sense of being an individual, separate self and knows nothing of separation. It sees only the whole and itself in relation to the whole.

~ Benjamin Creme
Benjamin Creme soul

Never to leave us til we take the longest stride of soul we ever took

Dark and cold we may be, but this
Is no winter now: the frozen misery
Of centuries breaks, cracks, begins to move:
The thunder is the thundering of the floes,
The thaw, the flood, the upstart spring.
Thank God our time is now when wrong
Comes up to face us everywhere,
Never to leave us til we take
The longest stride of soul we ever took.
Affairs are now soul-size.
The enterprise
Is exploration into God.

~ from "A Sleep of Prisoners" in SELECTED PLAYS by Christopher Fry
Christopher Fry Selected Plays, A Sleep Of Prisoners soul

There are seasons in our souls

There are seasons in our souls: times of withering, times of coldness, times of renewal, times of sun and light. May the force which drives nature to its fulfillment be brought forth in us, too. Within each of us is the power to love and care awaiting our wills and our acts to bring it forth. Let us be instruments of the power oflove which comes through us but not from us, the power which waits for us to bring it forth.

~ from CYCLES OF REFLECTION by Robert E. Senghas, thanks to Pat Habif
Robert E. Senghas Cycles Of Reflection soul

The argument for the soul: it holds reality together

This is essentially the argument for the soul: it holds reality together, it is my offscreen director, my presiding intelligence. I can think, talk, work, love, and dream, all because of the soul, yet the soul doesn't do any of these things. It is me... Everything that makes the difference between life and death must cross into this world via the soul... Soul is a connection between the world of the five senses and a world of inconceivable things like eternity, infinity, omniscience, grace, and every other quality unmanifest.

~ from HOW TO KNOW GOD by Deepak Chopra
Deepak Chopra How To Know God soul

The longing of the soul can never be stilled

Like billowing clouds,
like the incessant gurgle of the brook,
the longing of the soul can never be stilled.

~ Hildegard of Bingen
Hildegard of Bingen soul

The soul knows only the soul

The soul knows only the soul; the web of events is the flowing robe in which she is clothed.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson soul

What maketh the Soul immortal?

The contemplation of Eternity maketh the Soul immortal.

~ Thomas Traherne
Thomas Traherne soul

The love of God flows into a pure soul the way that light rushes into a transparent object

The love of God, unutterable and perfect
flows into a pure soul the way that light
rushes into a transparent object.
The more love that it finds, the more it gives
itself; so that, as we grow clear and open,
the more complete the joy of loving is.
And the more souls who resonate together,
the greater the intensity of their love,
for, mirror-like, each soul reflects the others.

~ Dante Alighieri
Dante Alighieri soul

September 2006 (Vol. XIX, No. 8)

"Is there enough Silence for the Word to be heard? "

MAY BLESSINGS ABOUND, dear friends, in work, leisure, learning, sharing . . . as we move into the Autumn season. When we offer ourselves in service to humanity as co-creators with Love, all that we need in all aspects of life will emerge to assist in the inner and the outer work. May we ever be guided in all we do by the Voice heard in the Silence — Holy Wisdom.

Think of your work not as a place to make a living, but as an opportunity to make a life

Think of your work not as a place to make a living, but as an opportunity to make a life. Think of yourself as a channel through which creative activities flow.

~ from SPIRITUAL ECONOMICS, by Eric Butterworth
Eric Butterworth Spiritual Economics work

These moments move us beyond the ordinary labors of our lives

Douglas Steere writes in WORK AND CONTEMPLATION of occasional moments of transcendence, as "ripples of ecstasy, when our deepest creative impulse, our spring of freedom, is drawn upon and released . . . And in such moments of utter self-absorption, we are lifted above both pain and pleasure. "These moments move us beyond the ordinary labors of our lives. They often occur when we have been in the company of strangers. They require time, and they invite Love.

~ from ATHENA'S DISGUISES by Susan Ford Wiltshire
Susan Ford Wiltshire Athena's Disguises work Buy on Amazon

Not to have and hold, but to give and serve

The purpose of this world is not to have and hold, but to give and serve.

~ Wilfred T. Grenfell
Wilfred T. Grenfell work

A vast work, born of the spirit

I was invited to a barn raising near Wooster, Ohio. A tornado had leveled 4 barns and acres of prime Amish timber. In just three weeks the downed trees were sawn into girders, posts and beams and the 4 barns rebuilt and filled with livestock donated by neighbors to replace those killed in the storm. I watched the raising of the last barn in open-mouthed awe. Some 400 Amish men and boys, acting and reacting like a hive of bees in absolute harmony of cooperation, started at sunrise with only a foundation and floor and by noon, BY NOON, had the huge edifice far enough along that you could put hay in it -- a vast work, born of the spirit.

~ Gene Logsdon in AMISH ROOTS by John A. Hostetler
John A. Hostetler, Gene Logsdon Amish Roots work

Each person, no matter how old, has an important work to do

Each person, no matter how old, has an important work to do. This good work not only accomplishes something needed in the world, but completes something in us. The work we do in the world, when it is true vocation, always corresponds in some mysterious way to the work that goes on within us.

~ Elizabeth O'Connor
Elizabeth O'Connor work

Freed enough from the addictions of the world that I can be true to my Work sent from above

For me, the question is whether my encounter with death has freed me enough from the addictions of the world that I can be true to my Work as I now see it "sent" from above. It clearly involves a call to prayer, contemplation, silence, solitude, and inner detachment. I have to keep choosing my "not belonging" in order to belong, my not being from below in order to be from above. For, the taste of God's unconditional love quickly disappears when the addictive powers of everyday existence make their presence felt again.

~ from BEYOND THE MIRROR by Henry T. Nouwen
Henri Nouwen Beyond The Mirror work Buy on Amazon

Be a gardner, dig a ditch, toil and sweat

Be a gardner.
Dig a ditch,
toil and sweat
and turn the earth upside down
and seek deepness
and water the plants in time.
Continue this labor
and make sweet floods to run
and noble and abundant fruits
to spring.
Take this food and drink
and carry it to God
as your worship.

~ Julian of Norwich
Julian of Norwich work

The wise work diligently without allegiance to words

The wise work diligently without allegiance to words.
They teach by doing, not by saying;
they are genuinely helpful,
not discriminating,
positive, not possessive.
They do not proclaim their accomplishments,
and because they do not proclaim them,
credit for them can never be taken away.

~ Tao Te Ching
Tao Te Ching work

To rediscover through passionate work those one or two images

A person's life purpose is nothing more than to rediscover, through detours or art, or love, or passionate work, those one or two images in the presence of which that person's heart first opened.

~ Albert Camus
Albert Camus work

What is my Work? Is my present action leading to my Work?

Twenty years ago, when I was near death from a life-threatening illness, a vivid dream was more real than life. Floating out of my body, I rose up, up, and up inside the clouds above. With no door visible, I nevertheless knocked, repeatedly demanding entry. The sky whitened with my greeting as a Large Voice stated, "You have got a lot of work to do. "It sent me down, down back into my body with the life-long question: What is my Work? Is my present action leading to my Work?

~ Rosie Rosenzweig
Rosie Rosenzweig work

So my secret is to start right away doing whatever little work I can do

If we just worry about the big picture, we are powerless. So my secret is to start right away doing whatever little work I can do. I try to give joy to one person in the morning, and remove the suffering of one person in the afternoon. If you and your friends do not despise the small work, a million people will remove a lot of suffering.

~ S. Chan Khong , thanks to Liz Stewart
S. Chan Khong work

In order to continually re-imagine ourselves through our work lives

In order to continually re-imagine ourselves through our work lives, we must have a part of us that belongs to something beyond the status quo. Something over the horizon or, paradoxically, beneath us, in the ground of our life. Something as yet hidden, yet to be brought to light. Something which is governed by other laws than the ones we so assiduously obey every day. Something to do with the laws that govern the way we belong to this stubborn and beautiful world.

~ from CROSSING THE UNKNOWN SEA by David Whyte
David Whyte Crossing The Unknown Sea work Buy on Amazon

All work is empty

All work is empty save when there is love.

~ Kahlil Gibran
Kahlil Gibran work

May Work with Meaning flourish on Earth

As we enable others to work
with meaning, mutual
fulfillment becomes a
building block to peace
and smiles become contagious.

We are asking,
May Work with Meaning
flourish on Earth.

~ from PEACE PLANET: Prayers for Our World by Nan Merrill
Nan Merrill Peace Planet work

May Work with Meaning flourish on Earth

As we enable others to work
with meaning, mutual
fulfillment becomes a
building block to peace
and smiles become contagious.

We are asking,
May Work with Meaning
flourish on Earth.

July/August 2006 (Vol. XIX, No. 7)

SUMMER BLESSINGS, dear friends! Freedom is very much in our hearts and minds these days. Still freedom is just a word, a concept; an ideal until we will it in our individual lives. We cannot have outer freedom, however, if inwardly we are imprisoned by our fear and all its negative companions. Yet blessed are we who choose to face our fears, one by one. Each fear faced increases our love-quotient. Silence is the golden key that helps us open our heart-gate wider and deeper toward freedom: thus, we bless the world.

How can we discern the true freedom of our soul

How can we discern the true freedom of our soul, the freedom in which everything is given, from the promises and practices of personal liberation? Mystics who have given themselves to love know what is beyond the borders of culture and conditioning. They inhabit a region of the soul where love and service are given freely and there is neither striving nor achievement. Living a relationship of oneness, they recognize that the deepest longing of their heart belongs not to themselves but to their Beloved... Belonging neither to this world or the next, they are servants of love and carry the wisdom that comes from a commitment to love.

~ from THE SIGNS OF GOD by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee The Signs Of God freedom Buy on Amazon

Wings of freedom

Resting in the heart of God
births
wings of freedom.

~ Sue Robinson
Sue Robinson freedom

Most people want solitude because they want to discover their unconditional freedom

Most people want solitude because they want to discover their unconditional freedom, where they are free of all definitions.

~ William Irwin Thompson
William Irwin Thompson freedom

To lie fallow is a gift

To lie fallow is a gift. We don't really know how to do it. Rather we are done by it or undone by it. The moments we are allowed to be in that condition are times of gratitude. It is from these that our freedom comes. It is where authentic being exists. Any fruitfulness arises from that surrendered openness. It is there that God makes each of us a fertile ground, a bearing soil.

~ from A MYSTIC GARDEN by Gunilla Norris
Gunilla Norris A Mystic Garden freedom Buy on Amazon

Spirit's gift of freedom comes to us as a conscious rhapsody of being chosen and choosing

Spirit's gift of freedom comes to us as a conscious rhapsody of being chosen and choosing. We are journeyed through life by mysterious Spirit that will not let us be till we grasp our freedom, with fear and fascination, till we say yes or no. This is the glory of being human: experiencing being chosen to decide, and deciding, again and again, endlessly. This is the conscious rhapsody of our lives.

~ from OUR UNIVERSAL SPIRIT JOURNEY by John P. Cock
John P. Cock Our Universal Spirit Journey freedom

That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free

Someone was drawing water and my teacher placed my hand under the spout. As the cool streams gushed over one hand, she spelled into the other the word "Water," first slowly, then rapidly. I stood still, my whole attention fixed upon the motions of her fingers. Suddenly, I felt a misty caress as of something forgotten—a thrill of returning thought; and somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me. I knew that "w-a-t-e-r" meant the wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand. That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free!

~ from THE STORY OF MY LIFE by Helen Keller
Helen Keller The Story Of My Life freedom

In the spiritual life, freedom is for nothing other than love

Freedom is not an end in itself. It is not just freedom from something; it must also be freedom for something. In the spiritual life, freedom is for nothing other than love. Human beings exist because of love, and the meaning and goal of our lives is love.

~ from THE DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL by Gerald May
Gerald May The Dark Night Of The Soul freedom

Those who are disciplined with joy and light

Those who are disciplined with joy and light within become one with God and reach the freedom that is God.

~ Bhagavad Gita
Bhagavad Gita freedom

To be in God at last made free

Heaven is to be
in God at last made free.

~ Evelyn Underhill
Evelyn Underhill freedom

Freedom from the mundane and ordinary, from the rational and need to know

Play is our contact with our love for life. It brings us back into our joy at being alive and shows us where our freedom is. Play moves us out of our fixed mindsets: it offers freedom from the tyranny of habit, freedom from the mundane and ordinary, from the rational and need to know and be in control. It is freedom from rigid identification with race, class, gender, and even species.

~ Gwen Gordon in "EarthLight," Vol. 13, No. 3
Gwen Gordon No. 3), Earthlight (vol. 13 freedom

To live in its knowledge is to know yourself to be free

The inner spirit is who I really am. My body is alive in this nature and exists in its frame. I do not need to be spiritual to find this. I only need to stop believing that the ego, the small self, is me. If I do, a different knowing emerges which has a largeness and a certain beauty. It is an expression of power and love beyond the usual definitions. To live in its knowledge is to know yourself to be free.

~ from A NEW SET OF EYES by Paula D'Arcy
Paula D'Arcy A New Set Of Eyes freedom Buy on Amazon

The struggle must be continuous, for freedom is never a final act

In the last years of his life, Rultin was fond of repeating a statement attributed to A. Philip Randolph: "The struggle must be continuous, for freedom is never a final act. "A few months before Rultin died, a young admirer asked how he kept hopeful in dismally conservative times. "I have learned a very significant message from the prophets," Rultin replied. "They taught that God does not require us to achieve any of the good tasks that humanity must pursue. What is required of us is that we not stop trying."

~ from LOST PROPHET by John D'Emilio
John D'Emilio Lost Prophet freedom

Find an inner freedom

Consider freedom: find an inner freedom and then,
however constraining the circumstances are,
it will not diminish your internal freedom.

~ Pir V. I. Khan
Pir V. I. Khan freedom

The tapestry of our lives is colored with freedom

There's such beauty in sharing the distinctive songs of our own souls as we dance with the grand web of life, each of us embodying particular forms, energies, and rhythms, bringing into the world our unique purposes, passions, and gifts. The tapestry of our lives is colored with freedom when we are guided by our own creativity and knowing.

~ JoAnne Dodgson
JoAnne Dodgson freedom

True freedom

Compassionate action is a requisite to true freedom.

~ Anonymous
Anonymous freedom

When you are interiorly free you call others to freedom, whether you know it or no

When you are interiorly free you call others to freedom, whether you know it or not. Freedom attracts wherever it appears. A free man or a free woman creates a space where others feel safe and want to dwell. Our world is so full of conditions, demands, requirements, and obligations that we often wonder what is expected of us. But when we meet a truly free person there are no expectations, only an invitation to reach into ourselves and discover there our own freedom. Where true inner freedom is, there God is. And where God is, there we want to be.

~ Henri Nouwen, with thanks to James V. Dolson
Henri Nouwen freedom

June 2006 (Vol. XIX, No. 6)

"Is there enough Silence for the Word to be heard? "

WARMEST GREETINGS, beloved friends! Out of the silence come songs of summer as day and night Nature's melded voices offer music when we pause to listen. Our own organ of the heart plays all the rhythms of our lives: from pain, loneliness, grief, sadness . . . to joy, praise, celebration, silence. At every moment we can listen inwardly for the music of our heart, body, and soul. And we can dance, wail, sing, pray, chant to its changing tunes. Just as birds naturally sing their various songs, so we, too, have heart-songs to share with one another and Life! May your own special heart-songs rise up out of the silence.

The world as symphony

The imagination is one of every thing in the universe as a song of praise ... the world as symphony. If one note in a musical composition is played off-key, the whole composition is off. If a musician decides to go his or her own way in the middle of a symphony in order to express freedom, the free play of the whole is destroyed. On the other hand, musicians find true freedom when their individuality harmonizes with the whole.

~ from LOVE AND THE SOUL by Robert Sardello
Robert Sardello Love And The Soul music

How can I keep from singing?

My life goes on in endless song
above Earth's lamentations,
I hear the real, though far-off hymn
that hails a new creation.
Through all the tumult and the strife
I hear its music ringing,
It sounds an echo in my soul;
How can I keep from singing?

~ Traditional hymn
Traditional Hymn music

Hear the sound of the Love to which you belong

Nothing prepared me for what I saw. I realized that the young voice was coming from 83-year-old Jonas, who was singing the "Sanctus" by Beethoven, with a beauty that could not be explained. It was like the Soul of all life summoning each spirit who listened: Here! Here is the sound of all that is true. Hear the sound of the Love to which you belong. That afternoon I learned that Jonas had been sent to Siberia as a young man because of that voice. Because of the remarkable gift he had been sent to build roads and live in obscurity. Now he was an elderly man, but the voice had never aged. Truly, it existed apart from any space and time.

~ from A NEW SET OF EYES by Paul D'Arcy
Paul D'Arcy A New Set Of Eyes music Buy on Amazon

It's a wonder to behold how human beings feel after making their own music

It's a wonder to behold how human beings feel after making their own music. It's been well-documented throughout history that people really put themselves on a higher spiritual level when they involve themselves in music or any of the allied arts. Our lives are so affected by what we do artistically. But too often we hold back because of our limiting image of success thinking: I don't know how to do this. We need to give ourselves the freedom to create our own sounds of music.

~ from "Playing for the Fun of It" by Jeff Wangenheim
Jeff Wangenheim Playing For The Fun Of It music

After listening to the music I was able to pray again

I am one of a new breed, a hospital musician. Last week a doctor who had come out of a difficult eight-hour surgery heard the piano and stopped to rest. He said the aria I was playing from Bach's Goldenberg Variations revived him by reminding him of the larger picture. He said he felt more accepting of the outcome of the operation he'd performed. The man who'd received a new kidney said, "Beethoven's Ninth Symphony reminded me how much I want to live, how much I love life. After listening to the music I was able to pray again."

~ from THE NATURE OF MUSIC by Maureen McCarthy Draper
Maureen McCarthy Draper The Nature Of Music music

You ARE the music while the music lasts

Music heard so deeply,
it is not heard at all:
You ARE the music
while the music lasts.

~ T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot music

You ARE the music while the music lasts

Music heard so deeply,
it is not heard at all:
You ARE the music
while the music lasts.

~ T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot music

Music comes first from my heart

Music comes first from my heart, and then goes
upstairs to my head where I check it out.

~ Roberta Flack
Roberta Flack music

I am carried by the movement of the sound

I am carried by the movement of the sound.
I go with it, listening.
It is a flow of music through the universe,
A flow of music into me.
It is a flow of harmonies,
Vast, beyond me.
Tremendum. A great word, a sound,
The music of life playing in the spheres beyond.
In the Silence, in the Silence.

~ from THE STAR/CROSS by Ira Progoff
Ira Progoff The Star/cross music

We're walking temples of noise

And we began to sing, "Why should I feel discouraged? Why do the shadows fall? "And Ranola watched Ken rather skeptically for a moment, and then her face began to melt and contort like his, and she went to his side and bent down to lift him up — lifted up this white rag doll, this scarecrow. She held him next to her, draped over and against her like a child while they sang. And it pierced me. I can't image anything but music that could have brought about this alchemy. Maybe it's because music is about as physical as it gets: your heartbeat; your essential sound, the breath. We're walking temples of noise, and when you add tender hearts to this mix, it somehow lets us meet in places we couldn't get to any other way.

~ from TRAVELING MERCIES by Anne Lamott
Anne Lamott Traveling Mercies music Buy on Amazon

Nothing remained in the world save this bird and God: God, and a beak that was singing.

A small bird with a red bonnet on its head came and perched on a rock opposite us. It waved its tail, turned its head anxiously in all directions, then glanced directly at us and as it did so, it grew bold and began to whistle softly, tauntingly at first; but soon it threw back its head, swelled its throat, and gazing at the sky, the light, burst into song with abandon. Everything vanished; nothing remained in the world save this bird and God: God, and a beak that was singing.

~ from ST. FRANCIS by Nikos Kazantzakis
Nikos Kazantzakis St. Francis music Buy on Amazon

The songs of whales ring wistful, even melancholy, to the human ear

The songs of whales ring wistful, even melancholy,
to the human ear. Perhaps this tone belongs to all
who plumb the depths.

~ Linda Sussman
Linda Sussman music

There is always music amongst the trees in the garden

There is always music amongst the trees in the garden,
but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it.

~ M. Aumonier
M. Aumonier music

That which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music

After Silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.

~ Aldous Huxley
Aldous Huxley music

Music has always been intimately connected with the numinous

For a composer silence is something pregnant with expectation ... the most naturally spiritual medium. The music grows in the spiritual life: the silence of monks, the silence of meditation, the silence of not knowing something, the terrible silence of God when we are confronted with evil in the world. Music has always been intimately connected with the numinous and the immaterial. I increasingly believe that the non-corporeal quality of music can be a direct challenge to the world and its materiality.

~ James MacMillan on "Silence," Symphony No. 3 with thanks to Frances Kellog
James MacMillan Silence (symphony No. 3) music

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