Reflection for September 24, 2008

Dare To Be True

The Way ahead may not be clear

The way ahead should hold no fear

Have an inner peace

Conviction strong

To sail your path

To sing your song

Live it to the full

Be kind and brave

And don't hold back

When you strike a wave

Just charge on thru

'cause on the other side

Is what you've wanted

The life you crave

And should you find

That you were wrong

All is not lost

Just change your song

A new direction

More inner strength

And start again

Jump another fence

Adjust, adapt but don't despair

It will work out if you only dare

Don Stratford

Reflections for September 10, 2008

It Felt Love

How
Did the rose
Ever open its heart

And give to this world
All its
Beauty?

It felt the encouragement of light
Against its
Being,

Otherwise,
We all remain
Too
Frightened.


The Suburbs

Complaint
Is only possible

While living in the suburbs
Of God.

Hafiz, The Gift, translated by Daniel Ladinsky


Living in the Now

There is nothing you can ever do or attain that will get you closer to salvation than it is at this moment. This may be hard to grasp for a mind accustomed to thinking that everything worthwhile is in the future. Nor can anything that you ever did or that was done to you in the past prevent you from saying yes to what is
and taking your attention deeply into the Now. You cannot do this in the future. You do it now or not at all.

Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now

Fun and Play

"The more fun you have, the greater your value to yourself and to your society. The more fun you share with others, the more fun you have."

"The Path that is best for you is the Path that keeps the best of you in play"

both from Deep Fun.com

Mystery

MYSTERY

The first time I heard the word Mystery I did not understand what it meant. As an avid reader of mystery stories, I had the idea that something is a mystery only because its solution has not yet been found. But mystery is different from Mystery. By it’s very nature Mystery cannot be solved, can never be known. It can only be lived…

…We have not been raised to cultivate a sense of Mystery. We may even see the unknown as an insult to our incompetence, a personal failing. Seen this way the unknown becomes a challenge to action. But Mystery does not require action; Mystery requires our attention. Mystery requires that we listen and become open. When we meet with the unknown in this way, we can be touched by a wisdom that can transform our lives…

…A sense of Mystery can take us beyond disappointment and judgment to a place of expectancy. It opens in us an attitude of listening and respect. If everyone has in them the dimension of the unknown, possibility is present at all times. Wisdom is possible at all times. The Mystery in anyone may speak to them and heal them in the grocery store. It may speak to us and heal us too. Knowing this enables us to listen to life from the place in us that is Mystery also. Mystery requires that we relinquish an endless search for answers and become willing to not understand, that we be open to witness. Those who witness life may eventually know far more than anyone can understand.

Perhaps real wisdom lies in not seeking answers at all. Any answer we find will not be true for long. An answer is a place where we can fall asleep as life moves past us to its next question. After all these years I have begun to wonder if the secret to living well is not in having all the answers but in pursuing unanswerable questions in good company.

From My Grandfather’s Blessings, by Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D.