December 1998 (Vol. XI, No. 11)

BLESSINGS and EVERY GOOD WISH this season of silent nights and holy days ... an apt time to be mindful of the angelic realms and to reconize Earth angels in our midst as well.

November 1998 (Vol XI, No. 10)

EVERY BLESSING, dear friends, in this season of thanksgiving. Taking time to enter the deep well of your own silende while opening to the spirit of gratitude can bear beautiful fruits of kindness, appreiate, peace, generosity, and joy to share with those around you.

Let go of your prayers for what you want and immerse yourself in thankfulness for what you have

Gratitude helps you to be receptive to the life force of the universe. Being appreciative empowers and strengthens you... If you have been praying for help and guidance and no one seems to be listening, start being thankful. Let go of your prayers for what you want and immerse yourself in thankfulness for what you have. When you are thankful, it is inevitable that you will gain in wisdom and inner strength.

~ from QUEST by Denise Linn
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Thanks for each kindly word

Thanks for the sympathies
that you have shown!
Thanks for each kindly word,
each silent token,
That reaches me, when
seeming most alone.
Friends are around us, though
no word be spoken.

~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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Praise and thanksgiving are important components of prayer

Since love and truth are the cornerstones of life and since they are but other names for praise and thanksgiving, it follows that praise and thanksgiving are important components of prayer. This is because prayer in its truest form is an alignment between the spiritual self of each of us with the spiritual Power that defies human understanding.

~ Jane De Vries
Jane De Vries gratitude

I have learned silence from the talkative

I have learned silence from the talkative, tolerance from the intolerant, kindness from the unkind. I am grateful.

~ Kahlil Gibran
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Gratitude produces true spiritual alchemy

Notice that the more you become a connoisseur of gratitude, the less you are the victim of resentment, depression, and despair. Gratitude will act as an elixir that will gradually dissolve the hard shell of your ego -- your need to possess and control -- and transform you into a generous being. The sense of gratitude produces true spiritual alchemy, makes us magnanimous -- large-souled.

~ Sam Keen
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Gratitude begets gratitude

Gratitude is the most fruitful way of deepening your consciousness that you are not an "accident", but a divine choice. It is important to realize how often we have had chances to be grateful and not have used them. When someone is kind to us, when an event turns out well, when a problem is solved, a relationship restored, a wound healed, these are very concrete reasons to offer thanks.

What fascinates me so much is that every time we decide to be grateful, it will be easier to see new things to be grateful for. Gratitude begets gratitude, just as love begets love.

~ from LIFE OF THE BELOVED by Henri Nouwen
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The power of appreciation comes through actions

The power of appreciation comes through actions. Feeling gratitude creates a wonderful internal experience; expressing it allows us to feel the full bloom of appreciation. Most significant would be our willingness on a moment-to-moment basis to find some aspect of every person and event to appreciate and then find a tangible way to express our gratitude.

~ B. N. Kaufman
B. N. Kaufman gratitude

There is always a time for gratitude and new beginnings

Thanksgiving comes to us out of all the prehistoric dimness, universal to all ages and all faiths. At whatever straw we must grasp, there is always a time for gratitude and new beginnings.

~ J. R. Moskin
J. R. Moskin gratitude

The fairest blossom

Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul.

~ Ballou
Ballou gratitude

At this time of thanksgiving

Eternal spirit of Justice and Love,
At this time of thanksgiving we would be aware
of our dependence on the earth and
on the sustaining presence of other human beings.
both living and gone before us.
As we partake of bread and wine,
may we remember that there are many
for whom sufficient bread is a luxury, or
for whom wine, when attainable,
is only an escape.
Let our thanksgiving for Life's bounty
include a commitment to changing the world,
that those who are now hungry may be filled,
and those without hope may be given courage.

~ The Book of Hours (1985)
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Gratitude upon gratitude

Here "Grace upon grace" is visible! "Gratitude upon gratitude" overcomes me. These are tears of joy that well up in me now. How grateful I am for everything, grateful for the gratitude! Forty days -- what wisdom lies in the exact measure of this time interval. Forty days, no more, no less! I am so grateful! I feel flooded with gentleness, acceptance, confidence, inner peace. May the veils never close again!

~ from FORTY DAYS by Michaela Ozelsel
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When you arise in the morning, give thanks

Live your life so that the fear of death can never enter your heart. When you arise in the morning, give thanks for your food and the joy of living. And if perchance you see no reason for giving thanks, rest assured the fault is in yourself.

~ Chief Tecumseh
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The spirit of gratitude is a powerful energizer

Expressions of gratitude create in others an eagerness to reciprocate. When we become more fully aware that our success is due in large measure to the loyalty, helpfulness, and encouragement we have received from others, our desire grows to pass on similar gifts. Gratitude spurs us on to prove ourselves worthy of what others have done for us. The spirit of gratitude is a powerful energizer.

~ from THE ART OF CREATIVE THINKING by Wilfred Peterson
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Give us grateful hearts

To all else you have given us, O God, we ask you for but one thing more: Give us grateful hearts.

~ George Herbert
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We thank Thee

We thank Thee for all Thy golden silences --
Silence of friendship, telling more than words:
Silence of hearts, close-knitting heart to heart;
Silence of joys too wonderful for words;
Silence of sorrows, when Thou drawest near,
Silence of soul, wherein we come to Thee
And find ourselves in Thine immensity;
For that great Silence where Thou dwell'st alone --
Keeping watch above Thine own,
Deep unto deep, within us sound sweet chords
Of praise beyond the reach of human words;
In our souls' silence, feeling only Thee
We thank Thee, thank Thee, thank Thee.

~ John Oxenham thanks to Ruth Blood
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Wisdom is change

Wisdom is change. Wisdom is both the process and the result of transformation. Wisdom creates, is in constant movement, bringing design to the universe... Wisdom is my commitment to life, my willingness to continue changing, developing, transforming. When I live my life and love the living, all of it -- the births and the deaths, the fullness and the loss -- I wring wisdom out of it. My life is distilled, and wisdom runs rich and strong, a fine essence, through every word and act.

~ from FINDING STONE by Christin Lore Weber
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October 1998 (Vol. XI, No. 9)

My the BLESSING OF WISDOM be yours, dear friends! Within and out of the silence, may you grown in wisdom, may wisdom grace you with truth and clarity, and guide you on your way.

Holy Wisdom's Almighty power

Holy Wisdom's "Almighty power" ... is the liberating power of connectedness that is effective in compassionate love. With moral indignation, concern for broken creation, and a sympathy calling for justice, the power of God's compassionate love enters the pain of the world to transform it from within. The victory is not on the model of conquering heroism but of active, non-violent resistance as those who are afflicted are empowered to take up the cause of resistance, healing, and liberation for themselves and others.

~ from FINDING YOUR SELF by W. Norman Cooper
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Bathing yourself with wisdom and love

Create each day anew by clothing yourself with heaven and earth, bathing yourself with wisdom and love, and placing yourself in the heart of mother nature.

~ Morihei Ueshiba
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Drinking deeply from our inner cup of wisdom

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

~ Sue Patton Theole
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The old must live in the young

Elders and mentors have an irreplaceable function in the life of any community. Without them the young are lost -- their overflowing energies wasted in useless pursuits. The old must live in the young like a grounding force that tames the tendency toward bold but senseless actions and shows them the path of wisdom.

~ from OF WATER AND THE SPIRIT by Malidoma Some
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Compassion action balanced by wisdom

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.

~ Georg Feuerstein
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In Wisdom we ask for guidance

In Wisdom, we ask for guidance.
In Love, we ask for inclusion.
In Faith, we ask for space in our
hearts and minds to welcome renewal.

~ in "Contemporary Spirituality" - Fall 1996
Unknown Contemporary Spirituality wisdom

Messages for your soul

Study the silence of the wise ones,
there you will find messages
for your soul.

~ Anonymous
Anonymous wisdom

Compost for the field of wisdom

Suffering is compost for the field of wisdom.

~ Anonymous
Anonymous wisdom

Accepting the journey we've been handed

When we are able to trust our calling and accept the journey we've been handed, we trust in a wisdom beyond our comprehension, remembering that no matter what happens, we are part of sacred creation.

~ Charlotte Sophia Kasl
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The fence around wisdom

Silence is the fence around wisdom.
~ Nan Merrill
Nan Merrill wisdom

The acquirement of spiritual wisdom does not necessarily prevent us from making worldly mistakes

The acquirement of spiritual wisdom does not necessarily prevent us from making worldly mistakes; but because it develops the qualities that will prevent them, and because it takes to heart the lessons of experience, humbly and receptively, it does reduce the frequency of those mistakes.

~ Paul Brunton
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The wisdom of the heart

When we are endowed with the Wisdom of the heart, but do not have access to knowledge, we are ignorant. Then we only believe what we see, or what has been proven to our satisfaction. Since it does not occur to us that we may be endowed with supernal wisdom, we do not open ourselves to the mystery of the Spirit that invisibly permeates the created world. So long as we limit our explorations and activities to the visible world as though that were all that existed, we must remain blind to the transcendent beauty of the eternal world.

~ from A BOOK OF HOURS by June Singer
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The alternative wisdom of Love

What is the way that leads to life? The narrow way, the way less traveled, the alternative wisdom of Love. It has two closely related dimensions. First, it is an invitation to see God as gracious and womblike rather than as the source and enforcer of the requirements, boundaries, and divisions of conventional wisdom to a life that is more and more centered in God. The alternative wisdom of Love sees the religious life as a deepening relationship with the Spirit of God, not as a life of requirements and reward.

~ from MEETING JESUS AGAIN FOR THE FIRST TIME by Marcus J. Borg
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Ecstasy results from the wisdom of emptiness

Ecstasy results from the wisdom of emptiness, of seeing the impermanent, insubstantial nature of all phenomena, where there is no clinging, no attachment, and no fear. In this experience, we become one with the unfolding process of life. This oneness is quite subtle, because it is the oneness of becoming zero.

~ Joseph Goldstein
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Where wisdom makes her home

Where Wisdom makes her home
peace and harmony abide
Suffering becomes redemptive
and quiet joy resides within the pain...

Peace and harmony abide
radiating out to a wounded world
And quiet joy resides within the pain --
within the dazzling darkness ...

Radiating out to a wounded world
silent messengers of healing --
Within the dazzling darkness
compassion and justice reign ...

Silent messengers of healing
suffering becomes redemptive
Compassion and justice reign
where Wisdom makes her home.

~ from WALKING WITH WISDOM by Nan Merrill
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The wisdom of wholeness

The Golden Rule is the Wisdom of wholeness calling into the illusion of separateness.

~ Doug Boyd
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Where wisdom makes her home

Where Wisdom makes her home
peace and harmony abide
Suffering becomes redemptive
and quiet joy resides within the pain...

Peace and harmony abide
radiating out to a wounded world
And quiet joy resides within the pain --
within the dazzling darkness ...

Radiating out to a wounded world
silent messengers of healing --
Within the dazzling darkness
compassion and justice reign ...

Silent messengers of healing
suffering becomes redemptive
Compassion and justice reign
where Wisdom makes her home.

September 1998 (Vol. XI, No. 8)

WISHING EACH OF YOU BLESSINGS, my friends, in this new autumn season of ripening and reaping the fruits of summer re-creation: a good time to awaken to the NOW moment, to be aware as nature prepares herself for yet another transformation. While in the silence, doing nothing, Autumn comes -- the leaves turn color and let go by themselves.

Time and space are the very music of God's harp

Time and space are the very music of God's harp, for each moment in time is empty of other moments, and each part of space is empty of other parts, so that we will not have to hear too much at once. That is why there are seasons.

~ Marty Cohen
Marty Cohen time

Movement is time, but stillness is eternity

The tree of life, the axis mundi is the central point, the pole around which all revolves. The central point of the world is the point where stillness and movement are together. Movement is time, but stillness is eternity. Realizing how this moment of your life is actually a moment of eternity, and experiencing the eternal aspect of what you are doing in the temporal experience -- this is the mythological experience.

~ from THE POWER OF MYTH by Joseph Campbell
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We are eternal beings living in a world of time

The tree of life is one's inner axis that grows from the depths of the earth and reaches to the heavens. It connects together the primal opposites of the temporal and the eternal. It is life lived from the "still center of the turning world" and it embraces the deepest human mystery: that we are eternal beings living in a world of time.

~ from THE CALL AND THE ECHO by Llewelyn Vaughan-Lee
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What makes time into a spiral is setting aside time for reflection

I have learned to understand time and thought as a spiral: neither a straight line that must go always forward, even into a precipice, nor a circle that must remain forever stuck in repeating past experience. Instead, a spiral, which curves always backward in order to curve forward. What makes time and life into a spiral instead of a straight line or an endless circle is setting aside time for reflection, rest, renewal. That renewal time is the curve that moves the spiral onward. This lets us re-view where we have been, so that we can go forward.

~ from GODWRESTLING - ROUND 2 by Arthur Waskow
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Each moment may be experienced as a new birth

Embrace the open moment, recognizing that each moment may be experienced as a new birth and as a spectacularly open time, when what we do can make a difference to whether the human race grows or dies.

~ from MANUAL FOR THE PEACEMAKER by Jean Houston
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Ritual time can influence the past and summon destiny from the future

Time ... The ancient ones knew that there was a relationship between time and light. That light has no time. Nothing can travel at the speed of light but light itself. If we approach the speed of light, we must become light. When we become light -- a Child of the Sun -- then time is dissolved. We all know that our deeds today affect tomorrow, that our smallest gestures influence destiny, that the future of our species changes constantly with every action of every living thing on Earth. Time is polychronic AND monochronic -- it does not fly like an arrow only. It also turns. Like a wheel. (He traced a circle in the air with his fingertip.) When these two kinds of time intersect, that is sacred time, ritual time, when you can influence the past and summon destiny from the future.

~ from JOURNEY TO THE ISLAND OF THE SUN by Alberto Villoldo & Erik Jendresen
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Making-friends-with-time

SILENCE is making-friends-with-time.
~ Nan Merrill
Nan Merrill time

There is no future

There is no future in spending our present worrying about our past.

~ Ziggy
Ziggy time

The orphan boat of my heart

The orphan boat of my heart
Crosses the unsteady, undulant
Ocean of Time.

~ Ping Hsin
Ping Hsin time

All things are accomplished through waiting

All things are accomplished through waiting.  Time is the vehicle.  If we perseveringly maintain a correct attitude, the force of inner truth is able to work.  It penetrates gradually to all that needs to be influenced.  To rush anything, or impatiently force results, only causes setback.  At best we achieve surface reforms that in time revert to the same problems.  Steadfast waiting -- working sincerely to hold correct principles -- leads to slow but permanent changes for the better.

~ Carol K. Anthony
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To see a world in a grain of sand

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flow,
Hold Infinity in the palms of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.

~ "Auguries of Innocence" by William Blake
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Eternal life is theirs who live in the present

If we take eternity to mean not infinite temporal duration, but timelessness, eternal life is theirs who live in the present.

~ Wittgenstein
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Giving ourselves in prayer a chance to realize that we have what we seek

The whole thing boils down to giving ourselves in prayer a chance to realize that we have what we seek. We don't have to rush after it. It was there all the time, and if we give it time, it will make itself known to us. There is in all this a sense of the unfolding of mystery in time, a reverence for gradual growth.

~ Thomas Merton
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The secret heart of time

The secret heart of time is change and growth.
~ John O'Donohue
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Non-action is accepting life and not forcing it

Non-action is accepting life and not forcing it: being aware of the ebb and flow of the seasons, aware of the spirituality of all things, aware that in the great abundance of the God-Force, there is no time. It is knowing when to act, and not acting until you know. You can wait forever if you have to. You are eternal... It is being the silent person who is moving relentlessly toward and away from restriction -- towards your goal, one step at a time.

~ from SILENT POWER by Stuart Wilde
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You can't change the past

You can't change the past
But you can ruin the present
By worrying about the future.

~ Anonymous
Anonymous time

July-August 1998 (Vol. XI, No. 7)

EVERY BLESSING, friends! May the love you are and share with others ever increase that beauty might flourish. For is it not Beauty that has the potential to break through fears that separate us -- one from another, nation from nation? Like love, beauty is universal. Bask in beauty! Radiate beauty! Live in beauty! Support Beauty!

Awe-robics

A favorite Lily Tomlin character is Trudy, the bag lady. Trudy suggests that we practice "awe-robics", by taking time each day to appreciate something such as the beauty of the stars. Trudy says we're closest to understanding when we are in awe of what we don't understand. May our hearts open to a love that is awesome.

~ from OPEN MIND by Diane Mariechild
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Making beauty conscious

There are paintings and sculptures that tug at the heart because they catch a simple moment and make beauty conscious. There is music that "brims the eyes with bliss". Such works of art are shock waves that travel between the ego and the Divine Guest, reminding us of a nobler purpose to life. They create moments in which we know that we can lead a symbolic life, when the Self, like Michelangelo's God, reaches out to touch the outstretched hand of our inner Adam and our ego.

~ from "Reflections on the Ego/Self Axis by Alice O. Howell
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We were made to enjoy

We were made to enjoy music, to enjoy beautiful sunsets, to enjoy looking at the billows of the sea and to be thrilled with a rose bedecked with dew... Human beings are actually created for the transcendent, for the sublime, for the beautiful, for the truthful ... and all of us are given the task of trying to make this world a little more hospitable to these beautiful things.

~ Desmond Tutu
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With that from the earth, beauty I will create

With that from the earth,
beauty I will create --
With that beauty,
my soul I will give.

~ Amado Peno
Amado Peno beauty

Music is like a human echo of the beauty of the world

Music is like a human echo of the beauty of the world or nature or flowers somewhere out there sounding the beauty of a Creator... As I listen to this beauty, I can rest, let down the guard I consciously or unconsciously maintain against the next minor or major difficulty or crisis.

~ from DIARY OF A CITY PRIEST by John P. McNamee
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Love the beauty of my creation

What do I have to give You, God? A flock of gulls flies overhead. They are so beautiful, their black wings against the morning's blue sky. Last night I watched the same sky, covered with stars. I feel the ocean water which laps at my toe. I walk among the rocks, picking up quartz and crystal. What do I have to give You?

I close my eyes and listen. You say to me, "Love the beauty of my creation." I wait. There must be more. But there is no more. And I am left hearing the words again. Love the beauty of my creation.

~ from GIFT OF THE RED BIRD by Paula D'Arcy
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Appreciation of beauty is access to the soul

Appreciation of beauty is access to the soul. With beauty in our lives, we walk and carry ourselves more lightly and with a different look in our eyes. To look into the eyes of someone beholding beauty is to look through the windows of the soul. Anytime we catch a glimpse of soul, beauty is there; anytime we catch our breath and feel "How beautiful!" the soul is present.

~ Jean Shinoda Bolen in HANDBOOK FOR THE SOUL
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Beauty itself bears witness to God

Beauty itself bears witness to God.

Only in space are events and objects and people unique and significant -- and therefore beautiful. A tree has significance if one sees it against the empty face of the sky. A note in music gains significance from silence on either side. A candle flowers in the space of night.

~ from GIFT FROM THE SEA by A. M. Lindbergh
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I have been lost and drowned In beauty's deeps

I have been lost and drowned
In beauty's deeps
Forgetting,
Beauty is but the garment
Thou dost wear;
And when the eventide has come
Thou has departed,
Leaving Thy garment,
But I seek Thyself.

~ from FRAGMENTS OF EXPERIENCE by Viola Petitt Neal
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Beauty and love are as body and soul

Beauty and love are as body and soul.
Beauty is the mine, Love is the diamond.
~ Jami
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To see beauty is to be overcome by the glory that breaks out of this person

Aesthetics is concerned with form, shape, composition, expression, and seeing forms AS THEY ARE. Just as the artist is "inspired" and filled with enthusiasm, so too those who SEE are seized with the divine spirit. What is seen is the doxa (glory) of the form, but this glory is the glory of being. Balthasar argues that the mystery in such beauty is the interruption of the eternal into the material in such a way that one can speak of the event of beauty, the entrance of the numinous into this world. To see beauty is to be overcome by the glory that breaks out of this person, this poem, this picture, this flower... We are confronted by the sense of its Otherness.

~ from THE THEOLOGICAL AESTHETICS OF HANS UR VON BALTHASAR by Louis Roberts
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The universe is in the habit of making beauty

Looking for and enjoying beauty is a way to nourish the soul. The universe is in the habit of making beauty. There are flowers and songs, snowflakes and smiles, acts of great courage, laughter between friends, a job well done, the smell of fresh baked bread. Beauty is everywhere, ready to nourish the soul. It must only be seen to begin helping us.

~ from "Soul Creation" by Matthew Fox
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The soul recognizes its higher self

In beauty, the soul recognizes its higher self and seeks to become one with it.

~ Christopher Banford
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Open to beauty

What is essential is to keep the heart always open to beauty.

~ Bede Griffiths
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How can I search for beauty

How can I search for beauty and truth unless that beauty and truth are already known to me in the depth of my heart? It seems that all us human beings have deep inner memories of the paradise that we have lost. We were innocent before we started feeling guilty; we were in the light before we entered into the darkness; we were at home before we started to search for a home. Deep in the recesses of our minds and hearts there lies hidden the treasure we seek. We know its preciousness and we know that it holds the gift we most desire: a life stronger than death.

~ from LIFE OF THE BELOVED by Henri J.M. Nouwen
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How beauty grows

Insomuch as love grows in you, so in you beauty grows.
~ Augustine
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June 1998 (Vol. XI, No. 6)

SUMMER BLESSINGS, dear friends! May we pause long enough each day to move from the sounds and birdsong into the depth soundings of our own soul songs and through to the sound of Silence.

The silence between the notes

Music is not merely a rhythmic arrangement of notes, but derives its life from the matrix of silence out of which it arises and into which it flows. And it is the silence between the notes that gives them meaning and grace.

~ from THE MUSIC OF SILENCE by David Steindl-Rast
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Deep song

Last night, after praying Compline in the darkness, the final verse of the last Psalm began to move around inside me, like the Spanish canto hondo -- deep song.I found myself cooperating with this music, leaning into it, knowing that when its last note vanished into the silence, another leaf would be living in the tree I call "myself".
~ from DANCING MADLY BACKWARDS by Paul Marechal
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The silent music of the night

Do not shun the darkness of the night.Learn to love it, learn to feel it.For in the darkness of night you will hear the silent music, music that runs through all eternity, and through us, as though we were not there.It is the harmony, the rhythm of all things.It is preludes, fandangos, great symphonies of joy, all things that are in harmony.One of the strongest of all is our heartbeat, which keeps us upon this earth, and the prayers throughout the world.So in your darkness, listen quietly, for it comes at such times: the silent music of the night ... the silent music of life.
~ from DESCENT INTO LIGHT by Dorothy Fielding
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All my being is song

How many songs I have I cannot tell you.I keep no count of such things.There are so many occasions in one's life when a joy or a sorrow is felt in such a way that the desire comes to sing; and so I only know that I have many songs.All my being is song, and I sing as I draw breath... It is just as necessary for me to sing as it is to breathe.
~ Orpingalik, a Netsalik Eskimo
Orpingalik music

Music reproduces the dynamic variation of our inner life

Music reproduces for us the intimate essence, the temp and energy, of our spiritual being; our tranquility and our restlessness, our animation and our discouragement, our vitality and our weakness -- all, in fact, of the fine shades of dynamic variation of our inner life.

~ from THE CREATIVE PROCESS by Brewster Ghiselin
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Teach me to play the instrument of my Being

My soul sings, Beloved, You are the melody.
You are the strings on which I play.
You are the One for whom I sing.
You are all that is and my soul seeks Oneness with You.
Teach me the music of life, Beloved.
Teach me to play the instrument of my Being,
and of this world, that I might see and hear
and know more clearly the nearness of your Presence.
I would sing into the Oneness that You are.

~ David Spangler
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The entire world is a musical instrument

The entire world is a musical instrument, the pole of the world celestial is intersected where this heavenly chord is divided by the spiritual sun. Earthly music is an echo of this cosmic harmony: it is a relic of heaven.

~ Author unknown, with thanks to Anne Amerson
Anonymous music

Music and Silence

Music. Silence.
Two to offer to God
A magical mystery in my life.

~ Peggy Ripp
Peggy Ripp beauty

Be like that bird

Be like that bird
Who, pausing in flight,
Feels the bough give way
Beneath her feet
And yet sings
Knowing she hath wings.

~ Victor Hugo
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The truly musical person

The gift of love is nothing short of a miracle, and the same is true for the experience of the singer who works with prayer: sung prayer is one of the many ways in which love is made audible and brought into the fullness of life... In sung prayer, one must risk burning and one must risk soaring, nothing less. Whether one falls in love or whether one sings in love, surrender is to be and to radiate love. In the case of the musician, this is done through the medium of music. In the case of the truly musical person, this can even be achieved through a silence which radiates interior harmony and, by extension, brings peace to those surrounding them.

~ Therese Schroeder-Sheker in SO THAT YOU MAY BE ONE by Joa Bolendas
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Some golden orb of perfect song

When our two souls stand up erect and strong,
Face to face, silent, drawing nigh and nigher,
Until the lengthening wings break into fire
At either ... curved point, -- what bitter wrong
Can the earth do to us, that we should not long
Be here contented? Think! In mounting higher,
The angels would press upon us, and aspire
To drop some golden orb of perfect song
Into our deep, dear silence.

~ from "Sonnets From the Portuguese" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
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Music is the breathing of our soul and consciousness

Music is the breathing of our soul and consciousness. It is through music that the soul manifests itself in the world. When our higher consciousness is awakened, when we develop our capacity to perceive the subtler realities, we will begin to hear the great and glorious symphony that reverberates throughout space from one end of the universe to the other, and we will comprehend the deepest meaning of life.

~ from CREATION: ARTISTIC AND SPIRITUAL by Aivanhov Omraam Mikhael
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Listen for the divine music

Listen for the divine music called the silence of the Spirit.

Within us, around us, the music of the spheres unfolds in rhythms celestial and melodies terrestrial... In the beginning was the creative sound, symphony, harmony and melody, every pattern and structure ever to be. The Word that was with God has not ceased to be; this very moment, it holds suspended within its vibratory magnificence, every atom, molecule, cell and organism. It sings the very earth into being. The sun, moon and planets share in a symphony of the heavens that includes every comet, asteroid and star-system in our galaxy -- and in a billion others.

Each individual who restores trust in God sounds a note in harmonic resonance with the entire cosmos. This magnifies the vibrations of the Holy Place.

~ from TERRA CHRISTA by Ken Carey
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Sing with me

O, listen!Hear!
Sing with me, for I am joy.
~ Cherokee Song
Cherokee Song music

May 1998 (Vol. XI, No. 5)

BLESSINGS, dear friends. As the flowers begin to bloom, 'tis a good time to pause in the Silent Sacred Space of our own heart soil to celebrate all that wants to flower in us.

Mountains are huge contemplatives

The silence of landscape conceals vast presence. Place is not simply location. A place is a profound individuality. Its surface texture of grass and stone is blessed by rain, wind, and light. With complete attention, landscape celebrates the liturgy of the seasons, giving itself unreservedly. The shape of a landscape is an ancient and silent form of consciousness. Mountains are huge contemplatives. Rivers and streams offer voice; they are the tears of the earth's joy and despair. The earth is full of soul.

~ from ANAM CARA by John O'Donohue
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Sacred space is the playground of the soul

Sacred space is the playground of the soul. To create a sacred space, we start from nothing. We define its parameters, clear it of accoutrements, and bless the emptiness. Then we bring to the space only that which leads us into harmony with our own center, fortifies us, reflects our intention, reminds us of the reason we are there. Our sacred space is defined in such a way that everything in it becomes a metaphor for the journey out of the secular realm and into the spiritual, when we disengage from the limits of time and temporal concerns.

~ from MARRY YOUR MUSE by Jan Phillips
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Certain redwood groves are holy places for me

Certain redwood groves are holy places for me because they capture silence and light. The forest is so dense as to exclude all external noise. It is possible to ignore their silence until a single bird sings within. When the single song has died not only do I realize I have heard a sound exquisite in its simplicity, but also that I have heard it so precisely because it was embedded in pure silence.

~ from IN SEARCH OF STONES by M. Scott Peck
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In this sacred space, the goal is not to hide from others

When we sit prayerfully in silence and solitude we are entering the desert, our desert. In this sacred space, the goal is not to hide from others, devoid of pain, or to hold ourselves apart from and above the community in which we live. It is to receive the grace to learn to face ourselves directly so we can learn to live ordinariness, to live ethically and generously with others.

~ from TOUCHING THE HOLY by Robert J. Wicks
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What is essential is to keep the heart always open to beauty

Bede Griffiths once said to me,

"What is essential is to keep the heart always open to beauty."

What could be harder in an age like ours? And yet, it is just because our age is so harsh and brutal that it is more than ever essential to create around us, in our homes and offices and meeting places, a sacred environment. To do so is to awaken the poet in each of us, the poet and the lover of life and beauty. Creating a sacred environment is not complicated; it just requires concentration and the constant reminder that the one important thing in your life is to keep your heart open to Divine Love.

~ from MARY'S VINEYARD by Andrew Harvey and Eryk Hanut
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Our homes can become sacred places

I want to remind myself and others that our homes can become sacred places, filled with life and meaning.

~ Gunilla Norris
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Should a greater ecological awareness begin to shape our thinking

Should a greater ecological awareness begin to shape our thinking, new symbols would arise that could bind the scientific and the spiritual and would reinfuse all life with the essence of the sacred. We would be increasingly capable of envisioning the "blue, true dream" that is the living Earth luminous in the darkness of the surrounding sky.

~ in FROM ECO-CITIES TO LIVING MACHINES by Nancy and John Todd
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A place of peaceful rest amidst my struggles

Your arched aisles wooed me near, a place of peaceful rest amidst my struggles.

~ from PORTRAITS IN RHYME by John Albert
John Albert Portraits In Rhyme sacred place

Sacred spaces can be created anywhere

Even as a child I knew the sacredness of personal space. I remember going behind my grandmother's house to a place where I could hide behind tall weeds. I would sit for hours in my circle of stones. That space was so special I never revealed it to even my closest playmates... Sacred spaces can be created anywhere. When I felt a need for a sacred simplicity within my city home, on a sudden inspiration, I emptied a closet and painted it white. Within this purified space, I placed a stone, a leaf, a bowl of water and a sitting cloth from the Amazon -- things special to me at that moment. I had created my own sacred space.

~ from "Earth As Sacred Space" by Vijali in EARTHWALKING SKY DANCERS
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A sacred space is a place where you feel protected

A sacred space is a place where you feel comfortable and protected. You are free from outside influences to meditate, pray, or just sit quietly and be.

~ Leila Castle
Leila Castle sacred place Buy on Amazon

Where you can find yourself

Your sacred space is where you can find yourself again and again.
~ Joseph Campbell
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The quiet place has to be within he person first of all

I looked at the gentle blue-eyed Englishman and asked him how he managed to meditate and concentrate in such a noisy, busy place.

"It's not difficult," he replied. "I simply incorporate the sounds into my meditation. It becomes a kind of rhythm. It doesn't disturb my peace and quiet at all."

I recognized that the quiet place, the sacred place, has to be within the person first of all.

~ John Hofield in SEEING THROUGH THE VISIBLE WORLD by June Singer
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This room was a sacred space

This room was a sacred space, a place that he had chosen to make especially his own, a place redeemed from mere "use" in which he would make a conscious attempt to be at rest and to put a part of his life in order. In short, this was the evidence that the man was able to pray.

~ from A DRESSER OF SYCAMORE TREES by Garret Keizer
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Let us enter into silence

Let us enter into silence, that the Holy Mystery might take possession of us.
~ Nan Merrill
Nan Merrill sacred place

Silence entered me

One day I stood quietly gazing through our sliding glass doors... It was a windless day and without thinking, I found myself slipping into a silent world.Then, something overcame me.Whereas silence had been a visitor, a friend with whom I communed when I chose, now silence slipped into the core of my being.Without my knowing, without even my conscious consent, silence entered me.
~ from SILENCE: Making the Journey to Inner Quiet by Barbara Erakko Taylor
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Wherever you live is your Sacred Chapel

Wherever you live is your Sacred Chapel if you treat is as the abode of the Beloved.
~ Nan Merrill
Nan Merrill sacred place

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