Coming into the Presence

The Peace of Wild Things

by Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

From The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry. Copyright 1998. We were graciously granted permission to reprint this poem in our book We Thank You, God, for These: Blessings and Prayers for Family Pets.

The Right Path?

"Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn't, it is of no use. Both paths lead nowhere, but one has a heart, the other doesn't. One makes for a joyful journey; as long as you follow it, you are one with it. The other will make you curse your life."

--Carlos Castaneda, 1925-1998, The Teachings of Don Juan

A question to ask myself every day....

\Il\ One, Origin

"You are what you choose" by Ilchi Lee

"Never forget that you have the power to choose anything. Recover that power. Then nothing in this world can torment you. All you have to do is live according to your choices. You are what you choose."

\Mahn\ Ten Thousand, Myriad, Infinite

"Every blooming flower is beautiful" by Ilchi Lee

"The reason you can see beauty in every being is because you see the unchanging One in a multitude of forms."

A Pathless Land

"I maintain that Truth is a pathless land, and you cannot approach it by any path whatsoever, by any religion, by any sect."

--Jiddu Krishnamurti, 1895-1986, speech dissolving the Order of the Star (1929)

"In oneself lies the whole world and if you know how to look and learn, the door is there and the key is in your hand. Nobody on earth can give you either the key or the door to open, except yourself."

--Krishnamurti

Dahlias

Frost To-Night

by Edith Matilda Thomas (1854-1925)

Apple-green west and an orange bar,
And the crystal eye of a lone, one star ...
And, "Child, take the shears and cut what you will.
Frost to-night--so close and dead-still."

Then I sally forth, half sad, half proud,
And I come to the velvet, imperial crowd,
The wine-red, the gold, the crimson, the pied--
The dahlias that reign by the garden-side.

The dahlias I might not touch till to-night!
A gleam of the shears in the fading light,
And I gathered them all,--the splendid throng,
And in one great sheaf I bore them along.

In my garden of Life with its all-late flowers
I heed a Voice in the shrinking hours:
"Frost to-night--so clear and dead-still ..."
Half sad, half proud, my arms I fill.

From Ward, Bobby J., A Contemplation Upon Flowers: Garden Plants in Myth and Literature. Timber Press, 1999. As found at www.schooloftheseasons.com/flowers/dahlia.html .

First, Exhale

Words from Ilchi Lee.

Exhale first.

To take another breath, you must first exhale.

When you have breathed out and emptied your lungs,

you can breathe in again.

\Shi\ Beginning, Open, Source #2

Begin Right Now

"Whoever you were, whatever situation you faced a moment ago, nothing from that past can hinder the new choice you make now in this moment."

--Ilchi Lee

Nature Is the Scripture of the Eternal

"Nature is the first and last revelation because it is the 'scripture' of the Eternal. ... the trace of His hand is found in every rippling field of grass or fluttering leaf or silent flower; to read them is to help recover our roots of immortality."

--Mark Perry

"Why are we drawn into the heart of nature? Why do we feel uplifted and spiritually renewed after spending time in some wild place far removed from the ordinary business of men?...

"...it is not only through sacred books like the Bible, the Upanishads, and the Quran that God reveals Himself to man. He also shows us the shining facets of His Reality through the beauties of the natural world; and just as we learn something about the nature of an artist through his art, we may discover the presence of the Creator in His creation. Whether the Absolute was referred to as God, Brahman, Allah, Wakan Tanka, Shunyamurti, Tao, or by some other Name, every branch of human society has, without doubt, seen traces of the One in the many wonders of nature."

--Barry McDonald

Although the writers quoted here refer to God as masculine, it is my belief that God is both beyond gendering yet inclusive of all gender. In my own writing, I refer to God as God, the Creator, the Divine, or other inclusive, gender-free names.

Shi: Beginning, Open, Source

Live This Moment

Awareness of the present moment makes every moment a new beginning, a new opportunity.

Nothing from the past can ruin the newness and sanctity of this moment.

--Ilchi Lee