| About me: |
My child, at the very center of your being there is a golden throne room where divinity dwells. Here you can come and meet your Lord in the quietness of your own soul. Come each day, my child, set apart some special time; come, knock on that door of your heart and it shall swing open and you shall come in and hold sweet communion with the Lord of your Life.
I know, my child, it is often hard to steal away alone, the cares and duties of life press so closely and bind so surely; but if you will but try, if you will but make the effort, all these cares and duties shall fall into their proper relationship and you shall find such renewal of strength and beauty and calmness of spirit that as you leave that sacred spot and go again about the daily tasks you shall find every care lightened and the path of every duty made plain.
But, you say, how shall I find this throne room of my heart, how can I come close to this Divine Presence? And I say unto you, it is only by becoming very still that you can find the path, and when you find it the door shall open and flood your whole being with a glory of which you have never dreamed before. This being still does not mean a blank stillness, but rather a constant sense of inner quiet which you shall achieve when you have the firm knowledge that your God is in His Throne, not in some far-off sky, but at the center of your own being.
~ The first half of the first "chapter" of "Quiet Talks with the Master", by Eva Bell Werber, www.devorss.com
Lord, you are my beloved,
My longing,
My flowing stream,
My sun,
And I am your reflection.
~ Mechthild of Magdeburg (1210-1285)
Spirit, find your way in seeking lowness like a stream.
Reason, tread the path of selflessness into eternity.
Remember God so much that you are forgotten.
Let the caller and the called disappear;
be lost in the Call.
~ Rumi (Jalal-al-din Rumi, 1207-1273)
God is the still point at the center;
There is no doer but He.
All this he showed me with great joy,
Saying, “See, I am God!
See, I am in all things.
See, I do all things.”
~ Mother Julian of Norwich (1342-1416)
How could the soul not take flight
When from the glorious Presence
A soft call flows sweet as honey, comes right up to her
And whispers, "Rise up now, come away".
How could the fish not jump
Immediately from dry land into water
When the sound of water from the ocean
Of fresh waves springs to his ear?
How could the hawk not fly away
Forgetful of all hunting to the wrist of the king
As soon as he hears the drum
The king's baton hits again and again,
Drumming out the signal of return?
How could the Sufi not start to dance,
Turning on himself, like the atom, in the sun of eternity,
So he can leap free of this dying world?
Fly away, fly away bird to your native home:
You have leapt free of the cage
Your wings are flung back in the wind of God.
Leave behind the stagnant and marshy waters,
Hurry, hurry, O bird, to the Source of Life.
~ Rumi
In truth, everything is a shadow of the Beloved –
Our seeking is His seeking,
Our words are His words,
Our lives are Him living in us.
At times we flow toward the Beloved
like a dancing stream;
At times we are still water
held in His pitcher;
At times we boil in a pot
turning to vapor.
That is the work of the Beloved.
He breathes into my ear
until my soul takes on His fragrance.
He is the soul of my soul –
How could I be separated from Him?
He will make you as thin as a strand of hair,
Yet do not trade, even for both worlds,
One strand of His hair.
We search for Him here and there
while looking right at Him.
Sitting by His side we ask,
"O Beloved, where is the Beloved?"
Enough with such questions!
Let silence take you to the core of Life.
All your talk is worthless
When compared to one whisper
of the Beloved.
~ Rumi
We are as the flute, and the music in us is from you;
we are as the mountain, and the echo in us is from you.
We are as pieces of chess engaged in victory and defeat,
but our victory and defeat are from you,
O you whose qualities are beautiful.
Who are we, O Soul of our souls,
that we should remain in being beside you?
We all are lions, but lions on a banner –
because of the wind we are rushing onward from moment to moment.
Our onward rush is visible, but the wind is unseen.
This wind whereby we are moved, and our whole being,
are of your gift, your bringing into being.
~ Rumi
The great Way has no impediments;
It does not pick and choose.
When you abandon attachment and aversion
You see it plainly.
Make a hair's breadth distinction,
And heaven and earth swing apart.
To compare what you like with what you dislike,
That is the disease of the mind.
You pass over the hidden meaning;
Peace of mind is needlessly troubled.
It is round and perfect like vast space,
Lacks nothing, never overflows.
Only because we take and reject
Do we lose the means to know its nature.
If you want it to appear before your eyes,
Cherish neither *for* not *against*.
~ Seng Ts'an (died ca. 606)
Everything that God,
the source and substance of all,
creates in this world
flows naturally from the essence
of God's divine nature.
Creation is God encountered in time and space,
The infinite in the garb of the finite.
To attend to creation is to attend to God.
To attend to the moment is to attend to eternity.
TO attend to the part is to attend to the whole.
~ Anonymous Rabbi, ca. 275
My dear, please tell me,
Why do you throw sticks at your heart and God?
What is it that incites you to fear?
Now is the time to know
That all that you are, all you do, is sacred.
Right now, consider your Oneness with God.
Now is the time to live
With truth and love.
Now is the time for you to consider the impossibility
That there is anything but Grace.
Now is the season to know
That your every thought and action is sacred.
~ Hafiz (14th century) |
