Friday, December 19, 2014

Taigu Ryokan - You stop to point at the moon in the sky



You stop to point at the moon in the sky,
but the finger’s blind unless the moon is shining.

One moon, one careless finger pointing —
are these two things or one?

The question is a pointer guiding
a novice from ignorance thick as fog.

Look deeper. The mystery calls and calls:
No moon, no finger — nothing there at all.



Saint Symeon The New Theologian - Come!


Come, O true light! Come, O eternal life!
Come, O hidden mystery! Come, O indescribable treasure!
Come, O ineffable thing! Come, O inconceivable person!
Come, O endless delight! Come, O unsetting light!
Come, O true and fervent expectation of all those who will be saved!
Come, O rising of those who lie down! Come, O resurrection of the dead!
Come, O powerful one, who always creates and re-creates and transforms by your will alone! Come, O invisible and totally intangible and untouchable!
Come, O you who always remain immobile and at each moment move all,
and come to us, who lie in Hades, you who are above all heavens.
Come, O desirable and legendary name, which is completely impossible for us to express
what you are or to know your nature.
Come, O eternal joy! Come, O unwithering wreath!
Come, O purple of the great king our God!
Come, O crystalline cincture, studded with precious stones!
Come, O inaccessible sandal! Come, O Royal robe and truly imperial right hand!
Come, you whom my wretched soul has desired and does desire!
Come, you who alone go to the lonely for as you see I am lonely!
Come, you who have separated me from everything and made me solitary in this world!
Come, you who have become yourself desire in me,
who have made me desire you, the absolutely inaccessible one!
Come, O my breath and life! Come, O consolation of my humble soul!
Come, O my joy, my glory, and my endless delight!
I thank you that you have become one spirit with me,
without confusion, without mutation, without transformation, you the God of all;
and that you have become everything for me,
inexpressible and perfectly gratuitous nourishment,
which ever flows to the lips of my soul and gushes out into the fountain of my heart, dazzling garment which burns the demons, purification which bathes me
with these imperishable and holy tears that your presence brings to those whom you visit.
I give you thanks that for me you have become unsetting light and non-declining sun;
for you who fill the universe with your glory have nowhere to hide yourself.
No, you have never hidden yourself from anyone
but we are the ones who always hide from you, by refusing to go to you;
but then, where would you hide, you who nowhere find the place of your repose?
Why would you hide, you who do not turn away from a single creature,
who do not reject a single one?
Today, then, O Master, come pitch your tent with me;
until the end, make your home and live continually, inseparably within me, your slave,
O most-kind one, that I also may find myself again in you,
at my departure from this world and after my departure
may I reign with you, O God who are above everything.
O Master, stay and do not leave me alone, so that my enemies, arriving unexpectedly,
they who are always seeking to devour my soul,
may find you living within me and that they may take flight,
in defeat, powerless against me, seeing you,
O more powerful than everything, installed interiorly in the home of my poor soul.
Yea, O Master, just as you remembered me, when I was in the world and,
in the midst of my ignorance, you chose me and separated me from this world
and set me before your glorious face, so now keep me interiorly,
by your dwelling within me, forever upright, resolute;
that by perpetually seeing you, I, the corpse, may live;
that by possessing you, I, the beggar, may always be rich, richer than kings;
that by eating you and by drinking you, by putting you on at each moment,
I go from delight to delight in inexpressible blessings;
for it is You, who are all good and all glory and all delight and it is to you,
holy, consubstantial, and life-creating Trinity that
the glory belongs, you whom all faithful venerate,
confess, adore, and serve in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
now and ever and unto the ages of ages.
Amen.


Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Rafael Stoneman - I meet you in the void



I meet you in the void beyond time.
I shall remain here with you forever.
I have no life left to live, my Beloved.
Yet it feels so good to feel You living in me.
Do you feel that goodness Yourself,
since there is in truth no me?
I cannot touch this in words.
For I have no mind left to grasp.
I explode in the heart. I am Your I.

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Rumi ♡ - The beatific vision of eternal truth


The end and object
of all negation is to
attain to subsequent
affirmation, as the
negation in the
creed, "There is no
God," finds its
complement and
purpose in the
affirmation "but
God." Just so the
purpose of negation
of self is to clear
the way for the
apprehension of the
fact that there is no
existence but the
One. The
intoxication of Life
and its pleasures
and occupations
veils the Truth from
men's eyes, and they
ought to pass on to
the spiritual
intoxication which
makes men beside
themselves and lifts
them to the beatific
vision of eternal
Truth.

download "The Persian Mystics" HERE



Monday, December 15, 2014

Magdi Badawy - Not knowing


Not knowing.
The tendencies of the separate mind is to hold on and to resist.
It stubbornly abides in knowing, 
defending its positions, maintaining its structures.
True knowing is the all-knowingness of not knowing.
Only not-knowing is all-knowing, 
as it is not calcified around any form, 
around any conclusion, around any experience.
The freedom of not-knowing does not accumulate experiences or beliefs.

The path is an empty-handed journey from here to here...
from dream to wakefulness... 
from the illusion of separation to the eternity and infinity of consciousness... 
to the one reality ... 
the reality of consciousness.


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Jeff Brown - New bridge



“I look forward to the day when we can meet one another in our true nakedness, 
stripped free of unresolved emotions, pain-induced projections, the distortions of duality. 
For too long we have been on opposite sides of the river, 
the bridge between our hearts washed away by a flood of pain. 
But the time has come to construct a new bridge, 
one that comes into being with each step we take, 
one that is fortified with benevolent intentions and authentic self-revealing. 
As we walk toward one another, our emotional armor falls to the ground, 
transforming into the light at its source. 
And when we are ready, we walk right into the Godself at the centre of the bridge, 
puzzled that we ever imagined ourselves separate.” 

Sunday, December 14, 2014

Vicki Woodyard - Wisdoms



Knowing yourself as the Self is the ultimate intimacy.


The Self is sanctuary.

Everything is seamlessly integrated. It is only the mind that says otherwise.

Straight is the way and narrow is the gate and the ego is a double wide.

Let the heart be the path on which the mind walks.

The seeker is within, as well as the sought.

The whole purpose of the spiritual journey is to learn to live behind the mind.

Awareness is the pearl in the oyster of mechanical life.  Use grit to grow.

My tension comes from inattention.

Drop the “k” in seeker.

The daily grind can be a “find,” when you are looking at the nuggets of now.

Nurture the now.

I count my blessings to make sure none get away.

Charity begins within.

The teacher, both within and without, is merely a mirror.  Simple reflection is the great healer.

For something to happen, the entire universe must AGREE.
Everything is destined.

The flow will find you when it needs you.
In between, relax…

Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is within. He had a lot of nirvana to say that!

No one can reach the silence. One must become it

Retreat from self-attack and all others will retreat immediately.

My place of surrender is my place of power.

Trying to push the river makes one all wet.

 

 http://www.vickiwoodyard.com/

 

Vicki’s new book – Bigger Than The Sky

 http://www.amazon.com/Bigger-Than-Sky-Vicki-Woodyard/dp/1908664452/ref=pd_sim_b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=0Q098V6D7QS58QTCZEB8

Hafiz - So what...





You have not danced so badly, my dear,
Trying to hold hands with the Beautiful One.

You have waltzed with great elegance,
My sweet, crushed angel,
To have ever neared God’s heart at all.

Our Dancing Partner is notoriously difficult to follow,
And even His best musicians playing at His bid are not always easy to hear.

So what,
If the music has stopped for a while.

So what,
If the price of admission to the Divine is out of reach tonight.

So what, my dear,
If you do not have the ante to gamble for Real Love.

The mind and the body are famous for holding the heart ransom, 
but Hafiz knows the Beloved’s eternal habits.

Have patience,
For He will not be able to resist your longing for long.

You have not danced so badly, my dear,
Trying to kiss the Beautiful One.

You have actually waltzed with tremendous style,
O my sweet,
O my sweet crushed angel.