A meditation for the season

(Pre)Occupied

a poem by Jay Emerson Johnson

Few have been this preoccupied with tents

since you recklessly pitched one among us.

I would have chosen something more stable,

not quite so porous and vulnerable,

safe, secure, readily significant,

and missed the whisper of evening breezes,

the restless susurration of canvas,

and that one appearing in the shadows,

light flinting off flesh in a fading sun,

fireflies dancing in the night,

rousing my longing

to step into your own

luminous darkness.

See Jay's blog: peculiarfaith.com .

A Meditation on Connectedness

"In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true."

--attributed to Buddha

On the Idea of "Incarnation"

A meditation by Fahkruddin Iraqi:

Although you may not know it,

If you love anyone, it is Him you love;

If you turn your head in any direction,

it is toward Him you turn.

Let go of everything,

Completely lose yourself on this path,

Then your every doubt will be dispelled.

With absolute conviction you'll cry out--

I am God!

I am the one I have found!

In the light I praised you

And never knew it.

In the dark I slept with you

And never knew it.

I always thought that I was me,

But no, I was you

and never knew it.

(from The Essential Gay Mystics, ed. by Andrew Harvey)

About Wolves

"Wolves may feature in our myths, our history, and our dreams, but they have their own future, their own loves, their own dreams to fulfill."

--Anthony Miles

"Throughout the centuries we have projected on to the wolf the qualities we most despise and fear in ourselves."

--Barry Lopez

"We have doomed the Wolf not for what it is, but for what we have deliberately and mistakenly perceived it to be..the mythologized epitome of a savage, ruthless killer..which is, in reality no more than a reflexed images of ourself."

--Farley Mowat

Wolf at Beaver Creek

by Mike Burwell

(from The Cartography of Water)

This gray shape before me

not any known thing.

From twenty feet, my eyes slide

into other eyes, full

of wild streaks of darkening sky.

The creek rushes in its small calling.

He moves first, turns from the trail,

trots off, turns, stares,

trots, stops, stares

three more times before the willows

swallow him. I am rooted under clouds

ripping in winds too high to hear,

that other eye heaving in the heart.

"Wolf is the Grand Teacher. Wolf is the sage, who after many winters upon the sacred path and seeking the ways of wisdom, returns to share new knowledge with the tribe. Wolf is both the radical and the traditional in the same breath. When the Wolf walks by you-you will remember."

--Robert Ghost Wolf

From "My Glance Is Clear Like a Sunflower"

From "My Glance Is Clear Like a Sunflower"

by Fernando Pessoa

I believe in the World as in a daisy
Because I see it. But I don't think about it
Because thinking is not understanding...


The World was not made for us to think about
(To think is to be eye-sick)
But for us to look at and be in tune with...


I have no philosophy: I have senses...
If I speak of Nature, it's not because I know what Nature is,
But because I love it, and that's why I love it,
For a lover never knows what he loves,
Why he loves or what love is...



Loving is eternal innocence,
And the only innocence is not to think...


(translated by Alberto Caeiro)

Some quotes from Wayne Dyer

"Love is the ability and willingness to allow those that you care for to be what they choose for themselves without any insistence that they satisfy you."

--Wayne Dyer

Source: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/w/wayne_dyer.html

Desert Wisdom

Stories found in Desert Wisdom: Sayings from the Desert Fathers, by Yushi Nomura:

"A philosopher asked Saint Anthony: Father, how can you be enthusiastic when the comfort of books has been taken away from you? He replied: My book, O Philosopher, is the nature of created things, and whenever I want to read the word of God, it is usually right in front of me."

"Abba Evagrius said that there was a brother, called Serapion, who didn't own anything except the Gospel, and this he sold to feed the poor. And he said these words, which are worth remembering: I have even sold the very word which commanded me: Sell everything, and give to the poor."

"There were two old men who had lived together for many years, and they never quarreled. Now one of them said: Let us try to quarrel once just like other people do. And the other replied: I don't know how a quarrel happens. Then the first said: Look, I put a brick between us, and I say, This is mine, and you say, No, it's mine, and after that a quarrel begins. So they placed a brick between them, and one of them said: This is mine, and the other said: No, it's mine. And he replied: Indeed, it's all yours, so take it away with you! And they went away unable to fight with each other."

"Abba James said: We do not want words alone, for there are too many words among people today. What we need is action, for that is what we are looking for, not words, which do not bear fruit."

"An old man said: If you have words, but no work, you are like a tree with leaves but no fruit. But just as a tree bearing fruit is also leafy, a person who has good work comes up with good words."

"A brother came to Abba Poemen and said: Abba, a variety of thoughts are coming into my mind and I am in danger. The old man took him out in the air and said: Open your robe and take hold of the wind. And he answered: No, I cannot do it. The old man said: If you cannot do it, neither can you prevent those thoughts from coming in. But what you should do is to stand firm against them."