posted April 14, 2013 03:51 PM              

Ecstasy is a form of understanding.

Ribbons from tenderest moods are spun,
and flowers drawn -- one by one by one;
inside a wakeful heart our silken thoughts
unfurl, and soft words like petals drop,
by art, into the world.

Build a fire!
Devote your heart to God,
and you will find what you seek;
your own heart will become the treasure.

That love exists --
that even the notion of love exists, --
is proof that God exists, and that he loves us.

Faith is the staff a man carves from his dream,
to support him in a world that cannot sleep.

Whatever loves and instructs us perfectly is God.
I don't care if it's a coinage of my own brain. It's God!
And it's a lighthouse in a seasick world.

Only the servant of God is the master of himself.

Judgment is the antithesis of understanding;
hatred of evil is the craftiest, and least well-known,
of vices; so easily is it mistaken for love of good.

Asking God for mercy and forgiveness is like asking the sun for light and heat; these belong to the incorruptible nature of divinity itself; and though clouds of ignorance may cast shadows of guilt over the souls of men, the sun does not go black, nor does the Lord condemn.

A devil is a god outgrown.

We despise ourselves,
as though we were better than ourselves,
and exalt ourselves, as though we were less.
It may be that we are, in both instances, correct.

I would die for the answers, but I live for the questions.

You are here to decide for yourself why you are here;
not to discover a meaning, but to declare one.

posted April 14, 2013 03:59 PM              

Hell is spread out over the surface of the earth, as chaos,
while Heaven is gathered in the center of a heart that is pure.

It seems no stretch to imagine we exist in the unconscious,
the interior, the soul and entrails, of some gargantuan demiurge.
We make our pilgrimage along the path of absurdity,
from horror to horror, -- and only within ourselves
is there an evershowing light of God.

The best part of man is indistinguishable from the least part of God.

A life of epic proportions is lived in the balance between Heaven and Hell; the imagination, -- and, by extension, the will, -- can have no greater freedom, no wider field of endeavor, than what is marked out between these infinite extremities.

The cross as Libran scales:
the two thieves on either side of Christ;
their sins are equally balanced, -- yet,
the contrition of the one carries spiritual weight
(gravity, or significance) and tips the scale in his favor.

Christian love is not filial but spiritual.
Hence, the "blood" of Christ is only that love,
consecrated (or concentrated) by meaningful attention,
which we draw into ourselves, and which runs
in the veins of our souls, relating us to one another,
as no genetic likeness or proximity ever could.

The cross is no more than this:
A candle set upon a hill, lit to the Most High God, who is Love.
What is the crown of thorns, if not a nimbus on the wick?
See how the knees fold and droop like melting wax,
and flesh, as blood, pools in a circlet below...
Is this not "the light of men", whose flame ignites
innumerable hearts; kindles them with self-consuming love?

Place thyself as an unlit wick in the flame of Holy Presence,
and be still until you have caught the enthusiasm of God's Love;
the light of inspiration which is peace to the agrieved
and joy to the afflicted.

Some illumined souls burn like bushes in the wilderness,
some like torches hidden deep inside a mountainous cavern,
and some like makeshift candles set upon a peasant's table,
while others are housed in glass along chapel walls,
to concentrate and direct their light. All are needed.

Religion is not as obscure as men are obtuse.

Christianity, in its entirety, must be born again, reconstellated in every Christian soul. The symbols, to remain potent, fresh, and truthful, must undergo the metamorphosis of resurrection; altering not their outward form, so much as their relation to the shifting seasons, the life and death, of every soul. The man who comes to Christ recreates Christ, even as he recreates himself in the image of Christ; for as he dies and is reborn, the outworn vision of Christ is laid to rest and the new dispensation emerges from the tomb. Christ's life is for the unconverted. His passion and death are the emblems of contrition, and his resurrection is the establishment of sovereignty within the newly converted soul. For the true convert, the true Christian, in whom Christ reigns unchallenged, the problem of life is no more. "It is accomplished."

posted April 14, 2013 04:10 PM              

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The anxious, the restless, the overworked, the grief-stricken, the wrathful, the stumbling, -- they all do more to advance than to hinder your work, Lord. The more they fuss, the more evident is your peace; for the backwardness of their ways cannot long be hidden. They are a reproach to themselves and a veiled psalm in praise and supplication to you. They prove their ignorance, their lack of experience of your grace, just as surely as the saints prove their knowledge of, and intimacy with, your will. They can do nothing against the truth which is not, ultimately, for it.

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God cannot deny you that which you do not seek. If you train your will to desire only that which is given, that which occurs from moment to moment, then you will live in the fullness of his peace and joy. You will possess all that you desire, for you desire only that which you possess, and cease to desire it the instant you no longer possess it. How is this accomplished? It is not by attaching one's desire to objects or circumstances, but to the will of God as revealed by fate. Abandonment to fate is submission to the will of God, since it is God's will for us that we become receptive to all that is. Not what is done, but what is permitted, lights the way. Fate acts, and whatever resists is of the devil, but the will of God is to allow and, by allowing, to go its own way. It is because we do not rebel against the natural course of events that we are positioned to transcend the world altogether.

posted April 14, 2013 04:13 PM              

God will not resent it, if you become like Him, or even become Him. On the contrary, He will have ordained it as His highest purpose for your life. The scriptures will be seen to speak of you. The prophets will call you by name. I tell you, they will call you out of the womb, and call up the Holy Spirit in your breast as you live. Listen! Even now, they summon you, and strive to evoke your destiny. In the form of holy writ, they send out their ghosts to persuade you.

If I ever stopped believing in life,
it was to believe in something greater than life.

God is a big idea. The biggest.
You can't expect to have it all at once.

posted April 14, 2013 04:20 PM              

The mind in you is the same enlightened mind in The Buddha, but it clings.

I explained myself to the skeptics and they called me a believer. I explained myself to the believers and they called me a skeptic. I don't know what I am.

What a man allies himself to by thought in this life, he allies himself to by birth in the next.

Mercury is man. Witness how, with winged-feet, the man with mind mounts up, and taking hold of the corner of the cloak of a god, translates all he sees in his wild flight; half-carried, half-dragged, half-mad across the sky.

There is nothing so low that it may not be tied, and thereby allied, to something higher. The plot of the mystics was never to kill, but merely to let sleep the senses for a time, in order to recover the better use of them. That heaven may be present on earth, and spirit manifested in matter, is witnessed by those who have accomplished this great work; anchoring, and ultimately uniting, what is coarse with what is fine. They have truly delighted themselves in the eternal wonders of the spirit, and transcended the petty vicissitudes of the flesh, who no longer distinguish between the spiritual and material, nor find any but eternal wonders in this world.

All things external are only the visible transmissions of their internal compliments. Even those things which are said not to exist, by this strange alchemy, are wedded to verities within. There is nothing a man may put his hand to, however lifeless and cold, which did not first arise, red-hot, from the furnace of his own beating heart.

Nothing will wake the people up. I have had to learn this. There are no large-scale victories. There are only skirmishes. Small advances and small retreats. History, like all big things, makes wide turns.

If something is intensely beautiful, it beautifies all that surrounds it. Nothing is so prosaic that it may not appear in a stranger, more poetical light, when placed beside an article of overwhelming sublimity. The insects are ennobled by the flowers. The rags which cover a beautiful peasant girl partake somehow of her charms, and we may even come to imagine that they suit her, in an odd way which no finery ever could. Might it not be that evil, too, somehow does justice to the benevolence of God? We may try to imagine Christ seated upon an immaculate throne, attended by the most gorgeous angels, yet, it seems that he is never so much "at home" as when he is on earth, condescending before some dangerous or leprous wretch. Good is the portrait, and evil what frames it. Not by coincidence do carpenters make both crosses and frames.

Sin is the manifestation in reality of a perception rooted in unreality.
It is life lived according to the hallucination.

Life (or Incarnation) is a doomed experiment, which God endures only for the sake of man's free will. However, the very failure of the experiment, on one level, must signify a paradoxical success on another, higher level. As the designs of men are brought to nothing, the masterworks of God are brought to light. Only the soul that wanders experiences return.

posted April 14, 2013 04:29 PM              

In reality, God is always present, always condescending to appear beneath the peculiar-yet-fitting mantle of some new form. Mostly, we don't see Him. Our prayers float up, but the Lord has already come down, and granted us an intimate audience with Himself. Our part, then, is not to speak, but to place ourselves in this divine presence; at the foot of the beloved one. We must be humble and we must listen. (Now, these two really are one, for we must be humble enough to listen, and listening itself is what humbles us, so, the more humble we become, the more deeply we listen, and the more deeply we listen, the more humble we become.) Lovers praise, and then become silent in the presence of the beloved.

What can we demand which our beloved has not already granted us; the very qualities she exudes, -- being herself no more nor less than the essence of their combined substance, -- those splendorous virtues which alone have endeared her to us? Though beggars in the eyes of the world, we should enjoy the most immeasurable riches in the presence of our beloved.

To pray is not to ask for blessings, but to count them.

How can you ask the Lord for ought?
It only proves you know Him not.

posted April 14, 2013 04:41 PM              

There is one path. It is that which you are on. It is the only path -- from which there is no deviation. Now it leads upward into wider light. Now down into a narrow dark. Like a river, it traverses hill and vale, field and wood, disdaining nowhere, welcome in all places and times. Without concern, it nourishes all things.

Our home will not shelter us unless the world becomes our home, our kin will not comfort us unless all creatures become our kin, and our god will not bless us unless all being becomes our god; for our home takes shelter in the world, our kin take comfort in all creatures, and our god is blessed by all that is.

A baby bird breaks through the egg and disregards it, not because it served no purpose, but because it's purpose has been served. So it is with the soul's relation to the material world. Like an egg, or a womb, it is that which shelters and nurtures the soul, until the soul has become sufficiently developed to break through.

The spiritual world is not altogether hidden behind the material. Truly, the Kingdom of Heaven shines through nature, as a light beneath the door. Thus, in preaching the doctrine of world-transcendence, we do no disservice to the creation as instituted by the Lord, Our God. One does not deny, nor disregard, a doorway by passing through it, -- but, rather, makes proper use thereof; for Heaven cannot be entered, lest the door be apprehended, and the threshold traversed.

Fools give credence to authority and whatever is commonly held.
To their way of seeing, that an idea is original only proves that it is false.

We are in no position to judge a vice which we have not discovered in ourselves. Nor have we any right to judge a vice which we have discovered in ourselves. The former would expose our ignorance -- the latter our hypocrisy.

It takes courage to be sincere; to be serious, vulnerable, insightful, and to allow others to be serious, vulnerable, insightful; without immediately cracking some careless, stupid joke. Not everything is ironic. Not every reflective moment needs to be shattered with instant levity. Where did we ever acquire this notion that being cool means caring for nothing? Enough with that! It is not cool to be flippant. It is cool to care, to question, to teach, to share what you really think and feel. All of my heart to the sincere, serious people. The ones who make you think. And, yes, I love the ones who make me laugh, but it would be nice if they knew when to stop; when not to make a joke out of everything; when to allow something to stand, a little awkward on the page, if need be, declaring something of substance. Jokes are easy. Apathy is effortless. Cowardice.

Love of hard work must have developed for sound reasons, dictated by necessity, but now we see it encouraged for absurd ones, far beyond the bounds of reason and dictated by excess. Without a doubt, it is one of the virtues most treasured by materialists (whether or not they practice it themselves), since their luxuries can only be afforded at the cost of tremendous labor. But, the one who glories in the work of God, requires only the liberty to enjoy what the Lord has made, and freedom is that commodity no labor can procure.

Idealists naturally esteem love of ease far more than love of labor, and labor only as much as it will afford them ease. Their pleasures are not culled from the earth, nor very long in procuring. They do not require heat, nor cold, nor any treatment at the hand of man. The world as it stands distributes more goods than they could ever make use of or hope to surmise. An idealist is wealthy beyond measure because he does not search for objects of beauty, but, rather, his search ignites the beauty within all objects. He is no less content with the idea of an object than with the object itself. This is why he praises leisure over labor; being over doing; as a man for whom God has performed all things, and is all things.

How could any momentary pleasure, however exalted, not leave a residue of disenchantment behind; when man is that being who harbors a longing (insatiable by definition) for the Absolute? Even mystical wine has dregs.

Mankind harbors a sneaking suspicion that the deepest emotions, insights, and perceptions to which he is sensitive have already occurred to him, and are present in his earliest memories. The aim of all culture is to make infancy articulate.

posted April 14, 2013 04:46 PM              

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What first strikes us about God is not his love, nor any other attribute, but his incomprehensibility. First and foremost, God is mysterious; subtler than silence, deeper than space, more impenetrable than eternity. "His ways are not our ways." In a flash, he strides over mortal understanding and is lost in the mystery. Therefore, we ought to desire a respectful ignorance of God; not to overstep the boundaries of experience by laying claim to knowledge we do not possess. Even in the interpretation of experience, we must not hasten beyond what is there plainly given. Faith reaches into the unknown, and what it posits are merely footholds; clumps of cloud, temporarily solid enough to serve as stepping-stones into a deeper experience of the ineffable. All supposed knowledge of God is kept in perspective, and the pride of man is held in check, by the constant recollection of one's ignorance of him; which infinitely transcends what one thinks one knows. We come closest to God when we have left all knowing behind, and entered firmly upon the way of the unknown; a realm of unspoken riddles, ghostly shades, fleeting glimpses, and forgotten dreams, charged everywhere with the unmanifested potentials of being. When we have shed a thousand ideas, a thousand skins, and become naked as the light, -- then, we may have some inkling of what "God" means.

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The world is a deep pit, and who can fault a man for falling? But try to stand in the presence of the Lord. Recollect your soul into the presence, when you can. Do not wrestle with yourself, but give way to conflict, and discover that you have overcome. Seek peace. Seek it enough, and you will come to love it. Peace will attract you of its own accord, drawing you into the very heart and core of your being, that you might dwell in ever-widening oceans of bliss. For there is within you a still point, a calm in the eye of the storm. Here, one does not become drowsy with relaxation, but increasingly lucid. Keeping silent, one's soul vibrates to the most subtle, yet the most titanic, movements in the earth, sky, and spirit. There is a whole world to discover beyond oneself, within oneself; self-surrender IS self-realization.

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Contrary to popular opinion, having an ideal and falling short of it does not make you a hypocrite. Too often, we see idealists discouraged from speaking their truth, on the grounds that they have yet to bring their lives into accordance with their visions. Is this criticism, this attempt at censure, specifically designed to prevent those in need of virtue from contemplating virtue? But how are they to become virtuous? And even if all they ever do is speak of it -- what then? At least, fine words are spoken. Would you rather they conform all their perceptions to what they can lay hold of, like blind men? Ah, but this is what the crowd likes to do. How many would rather compromise their ideals, and pervert their reason, in order to conform all things to their own level; so as not to be haunted by the recollection of what is greater?

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posted April 14, 2013 04:55 PM              

I'm learning to claim victory when my ego is defeated;
to relish a sweet aftertaste when my pride is bitterly stung.

What we call "preaching", the wise call "speaking".
If we aren't being accused of preaching,
we probably aren't saying anything.

It is easy to forgive a sin when it is overshadowed by a graver sin;
we would damn Peter and his denial without Judas and his betrayal.

The answers we give are never so revealing, enlightening, nor damning,
than the reasons we possess for answering as we do.

Look with the heart. Listen with the heart.
Think with the heart. Speak with the heart. Act with the heart.
All our faculties should be loyal subjects of the heart, who is their king.

While honoring truth as a noble ideal, it is equally important to remember that it is not static, like a destination, but dynamic, like a journey. Truth is not less subjective than objective. What this means is that each of us must progress at our own pace, not attempting to run ahead of ourselves; -- for that is to run ahead of the truth.

However incredible our pleasures, however fantastic our joys, however powerful our loves, however cherished our sentiments connected to hearth and home, -- nothing in our lives compares to the common experiences of sainthood; to the exquisite voluptuousness of being caught up, lifted out of oneself, and hurled into a whirlwind of divine effulgence; pierced, showered, and shattered by grace. Our greatest natural successes cannot disfigure the reality as it appears in the supernatural light of heaven. We are failed saints; botched experiments at loftiness, salt without savor, fit only to be pitied and trodden upon by souls of keener quality than ourselves. If the realization of this fact does not pulverize and obliterate every idol erected by vanity, reducing our pretensions to nothing, to the fine ash of purest humility, then we are indeed lost; stricken; strangled in mediocrity; settled on something less than we were made for; dislocated utterly from the Absolute, which alone ought to inspire in us the most awful wonder, and the most wonderful awe. Our lives should be fodder. His to make, demolish, and remake. We should lust for our own destruction, and for the destruction of all that we have thought, amassed, and put into effect, if it is true (as it surely is) that such utter desolation is the only thing capable of heralding the rebirth of a Christian instinct.

Release your grip, relax and slip,
fall back and down, sink, sink, drop through,
trust Peace, and let Presence examine you.

Inside, the flame of Christ, and my poor heart dripping away. The subtle separating from the gross. Softly falling dregs of flesh, and perfumes of softly wafting soul; the incense of His Love. Cumbersome senses put to sleep, endless questions laid to rest, passions never fixed. Language crumbling into dust. The Virgin scattering into birds. Intimations breaking cloudbanks, and carried off by angels; for the Lord looks kindly on those who cannot fly.

My Soul, your great ambition was to be the artist. But, after a mere taste of humility, you wanted to be the brush. Another taste, and you swore you could become the paint. Yet another, and now you are even thinking like the canvas! So, for Christ's sake, be still. The LORD is painting his self-portrait.

My greatest insights are experienced at the limits of my understanding. It is only in the self-honest sense of my uncertainty and ignorance that I begin to touch my deepest truth. Only when the mystery remains intact, have I come to the ends of myself; if I am not confounded, it is because I have stopped short of the precipice. Every answer has in it something of a lie, and every question something of a truth.

Silence -- not listening to, but hearing from God -- is truth.

Because he spoke, because he loved, because he moved;
by his will, the Father draws us into communion with himself,
and what can we do, but wait upon his Word?

Man is either a slave of passion or a servant of love, --
but, for a single instant, when he chooses his destiny,
he is free; if only to decide who his master will be.

Your pain as well as your pleasure, your anger as well as your joy, your weakness as well as your strength, your fear as well as your faith, -- make you lovely in the eyes of the Lord.

He is mystery. He is awe. He is radiant design. Serendipity with a style. The abyss winking at you from behind the world. He is a chorus of light in the mind. Splendor beneath the surface of time. We should marvel at his depths. He is the reason for himself.

What a perfect expression it is, to say that we "reflect on" what we take into our minds, since we really do come to resemble, like a reflection, the matters we focus on. We cannot spend a day in the study of the saints without acquiring a conspicuous blush of goodness. And though we may become pale again a day later, all at once, the blood of Christ will run back into our cheeks, provided that we turn again to what is good. Saintliness is little more than an ingrained habit of fascination with goodness, and with God, who alone is good. Not all at once, nor once and for all, did the good become good. Rather, they became good by dwelling persistently on what is good. Even Jesus had to pray, and has to still. But, then, if he did not pray, he would not be himself. God is Prayer to God.

posted April 14, 2013 04:58 PM              

Prayer is the soul turned to God. It is impossible to be rightly disposed without being in an attitude of prayer. To be present is to be in the presence of God; to be present in God. Every experience of the true is an experience of the holy.

Holiness is meaning in the world.

Cast your heart upon the waters! Give your head to providence! Enter swiftly on that path which leads away from world events!

Be of good cheer; for the Lord is with you, always. Remembrance of this alone is needful. Every soul is well supplied until it doubts.

Have you exhausted the treasures of righteousness, that you should look elsewhere for an inheritance? God forbid! Only summon up the courage of your faith. There is gold enough among the good.

Love is golden splendor, giggling cherubs, soft honey in your tummy, light tumbling up your eyelids, the sky warm and giant, loose breezes in September.

The judgement of the Lord is mercy: A reprimand sufficiently tender to impress upon us the importance of tenderness could hardly be called a reprimand.

As a boy holds the hand of his father, hold the name of God.

It is sweet to remember the Lord; to stumble, at once, on the source, substance, and subject of all that is good.

Church is a spiritual gymnasium;
faith is a muscle exercised in prayer.

Virtue leaves its perfume in the mind.

We have light enough to find him, if we are serious about looking.

Prayer is the journey as well as the destination;
you cannot turn to God without turning in God.

Decorate the walls of your mind with icons of the saints.

We sing that we sing! We glory that we glory!
Praise the Lord who makes us to declare his praises!

Gratitude is the measure of gifts.

posted April 14, 2013 05:06 PM              

One cannot look upon goodness or the sun;
the conscience burns from shame and turns away,
or is blinded by pride, if it stares too long.

The Sun would be God, if not for the Night.

Sinners are busy with many things,
but the work of the saints is rest.

Even the peace of a wicked man is labor;
even the labor of a righteous man is peace.

Loving God begins with loving what is good.
Consider the simple, wholesome life of the saints.
Dwell on holy influences, and become as they are.

We could not love God if he had not shown himself to us,
and he could not show himself to us but by loving us.

God is a great mystery because of the world,
and the world is a great mystery because of God.

That you have permitted me to share in the wonder of contemplating you, O Lord, -- this is the grace which I am given. To read your word, and rend my heart. Not to covet an abundance of gifts for myself, but to reflect, and reflect upon, the gifts which already abound in your elect. Not to speak, but to become a worthy audience for those whom you, in your wisdom, have caused to speak. That the prayers of the devout might serve as answers to my own.

Lord, I am desolate amid your treasures! How deep is my ingratitude? You have opened your vaults and still I beg of you. You have given so much! The utterances of just and noble souls fill the world with your bounty. A bookcase, a single book, or even the Word, "Jesus!", is enough to purchase more wisdom than the world can spend; if one but knew how to redeem that coin. For the name of Christ is the gold which meets my hand, like magic, each time I reach for it; so that I become richest when I think myself poor. Lord, teach me to make use of this treasure!

Libraries are monuments of charity, where anyone may go and find gold enough to fill his pockets; that the soul, at least, if not the body of man, may never need to beg.

Love is more precious than all the souls and objects it dotes on or upholds. Nothing is more to be loved than love.

Karma is the Law of Moses and Grace is the Law of Christ. Karma is comforting to the just and fearful to the wicked. It is the mercy of justice. Grace is comforting to the wicked and fearful to the just. It is the justice of mercy. Grace really means this: That goodness is always God's. No act of virtue can make that more secure, nor can any act of vice take it away. God has triumphed, once and for all, because goodness is superior to evil by definition. Any supposed advance on the part of evil is only a lie. No matter how persistently it exists, it can never surpass good. The Law of Karma depends upon some reckoning, to make straight what is crooked. But the Law of Grace depends upon nothing, and declares that evil can never win, even when it goes unpunished. Appearances aside, evil is its own punishment, -- its own hell; and goodness its own reward, -- its own heaven.

It is innocent to be suspicious among the angels,
and suspicious to be innocent among the ghouls.

The virtuous contemplate virtue, not themselves. They are partakers of the eternal, and magnifiers of the present, because they give themselves over to what is greater than themselves.

posted April 14, 2013 05:07 PM              

Humility works hard to satisfy its pride.

In the same direction, forgiveness walks,
understanding runs, and love takes flight.

Good men find their greatest pleasure in being virtuous,
while the rest of us find great pleasure a virtue.

Cynicism is the denial of hope by the fear of disappointment.

Substance is the height of style;
good form takes the form of the good.

Patience isn’t waiting for something.

Courage is ripeness of will.

A warm humor satisfies all paradoxes.

Children always think they're playing.

Wise men carve the loneliest paths;
fools are always finding each other.

Some won't drink, but want a drunk.

In silence there is sweetness.
Words fall, and often rise, into this;
and fall back through, to rise again.

The emptier your mind becomes,
the bigger the ideas it can hold.

Nothing teaches, and nothing prejudices, like experience.

We walk clumsily in another man's shoes,
when we've yet to remove our own.

The soul is a fallen woman,
and the Lord, her unlikely suitor.
She eyes Him always with suspicion,
unable to believe that her longing
is answered by His love.
She is coy, elusive, silly.
He is sincere and devoted in pursuit.
By and by, He will win her heart,
and, with it, the dowry of the world.

The first requirement for greatness is the audacity to be great;
one must begin upon the heights to ascend beyond the clouds.

The heart is a treasurehouse,
where the sweetest things are preserved.

Inventions are higher discoveries. --
God is our most ingenious invention,
and our highest discovery.

The bell of the world is struck
by the birth of the man, or is silent.

Every head is a headstone;
every body, a grave for restless spirits.

I am a ferment of other minds.

The view that is not represented is never assented to.

My passion is tame. It's my reason that's wild.

Every man's philosophy is his own;
it will never fit anyone so well as himself,
and, even then, it will begin to pinch.

Have you been blinded in the darkest depths?
You will be blinded in the light, as well.
Look around you now.

The nut may not fall far from the tree,
but the roots spread into eternity.

The horizon recedes on the crest of an eternal dusk.

The wisdom of the earth is lofty in the underworld.

It is superfluous to judge a man if he is guilty in his own eyes,
and ridiculous if he is not.

The moral sense is strong in some, weak in others,
yet, even in this, the strong still persecute the weak.

A genius is a man who has his madness,
but whose madness does not have him.

We resent the ones
who have given us the most,
for not having given us more;
it is with them that our appetites
and expectations have been spoiled.

The world is a longing for God.

God is a furnace of mystery,
and all creation is burning with questions.

All things speak of God, but the Voice of God is Silence.

Grace is a gust of wind, prayer is a beating of wings.

Speaking well is the art of treating with equal respect
the claims of both honesty and tact.

What is good cannot be true. Only what is great can be true. Truth belongs to the heights. She is free and without purpose, because she is great, and not good; purposefulness is good, but pure being is great. A good teacher teaches with purpose, so that others may learn. But a great teacher teaches for no reason at all, and only because she is a true teacher. What is true has no purpose; this is what it means to truly "be".

Liars are always the last to hear the truths they speak.

To know an aphorism is human;
to know when to apply it, divine.

Who is more unreasonable:
the man who possesses no respect for human life,
or the man who expects it of him?

If a man is unfit to judge himself, who is fit to judge him?

posted April 14, 2013 05:07 PM              

We are frequently engaged in many places at once, and present nowhere.

Our broken songs are half-composed,
and we ourselves, half-composed;
we sing ourselves,
and sing ourselves completely.

Great truths are dropped from great heights,
so they are sure to crush a few egos.

He has courage to attack who lacks courage to defend.

It is easy to disregard a man's objection, and to rise above his offense, if we consider him a simple lunatic or brute. It is only to the extent that we respect him or his opinion, that we may even be provoked by them at all. We must have some humility for our pride to be stung.

There is divinity in idealism; to have an ideal is not to be godless, --
and it is a kind of blessedness to remain faithful to one's ideal.

To admit when you are wrong,
suggests that it is not your pride
which insists on being right.

Every school should have a garden.

Every word is an Arcanum.

Reason is to revelation
what the mind is to the soul.
Reason mediates revelation:
mind mediates soul.

Form is modest, beautiful and deep, like silence.

For men of action, simplicity is character;
for men of thought, it is suicide.

The essential difference between a philosopher
and someone who is not a philosopher is this:
Both have a head full of contradictory and irreconcilable points of view,
but the philosopher knows it, -- and, beyond knowing it,
embraces this conflict as the fountainhead of creative thinking.

There is no such thing as "the last word", in wisdom, or in anything else. Even conversations continue when those who conversed have gone their separate ways. And there may be systems of philosophy, and men who claim to belong to them, but this is also a fib. No man has ever agreed on the essential points with any other man who has ever lived. Not entirely. We may have to dig for him, but we always find the individual. Though he surrender his reason to the common faith, he cannot silence the mind which whispers even out of the deep unconscious; and every mind is uniquely formed.

I’ve not chosen a religion, but I’ve tasted the many cups.
To drunkards who protest that I drink not, but merely swish and spit,
I say, “Perhaps I am a connoisseur.”

They wear crosses like anchors around their necks,
and fall on their knees like ships run aground;
their hands, joined in prayer, fork the sand:
"Lord, deliver us from oceans, though we be ships!"

There are those who see shipwrecked men,
and say, "The sea is off-limits to sensible men."
Perhaps it is so, and I would rather be senseless.

The truth of love, spoken clearly, is like a great flood, purging the land of all that is merely superficial and unrooted in the natural order. Nothing false can stand in its wake. The mouths of the foolish and the wicked are stopped, and the tides of ignorance and animosity ebb like phantoms in the morning light. Only the truth of love has this magnificent cleansing power. But it must be spoken. It must never be silent.

Silence is the wisdom of the foolish and the folly of the wise.

If fools could be silent, wisdom could speak.

That which is mortal in us is undisturbed by loud noises and harsh words. Being of the same nature as these, it will only grow louder and more harsh itself, in order to accommodate them. But that which is divine is truly delicate. The slightest noise, the merest hint of discord, is enough to dispel it. A mound of stones is not upset by a strong wind, but a mound of powder is lost in the weakest breeze. Though we may not disturb what is coarse by behaving in our usual way, we must take greater care not to disturb what is fine. So it is that we must be gentle with one another, not for the sake of what is mortal, but for the sake of what is divine.

Like a vagrant,
I fall asleep on the steps of my prayer,
and never ascend to the door of His love.

A thousand unlocked doors between us,
but I still search for a key.

To be precise, Lord, I do not believe
in the peacefulness of your kingdom,
but in the kingdom of your peace.

Fools will say that you are most yourself
when you are least in control of yourself.

posted April 14, 2013 05:09 PM              

The saints always talk about the saints, and say,
"They are no different from us, really."

You cannot inject peace into a situation,
but you can take conflict out of it.

If you do not relax, the mirror will not reflect your face.

The puzzle you have in hand can only be solved by putting it down.

If you can throw it away, it's a keeper.

You might be a Christian... if you shrug off the religion, and it attaches itself to you nonetheless.

I keep giving up, and finding Him!

I tried to pray,
but I broke into song...
Was this the reason for,
and the answer to,
my prayer,
all along?

Who loves Love, loves All.

It is the nature of error to be certain. The very instant you stop pretending to be wise, you have become a holy fool.

Put off your priestly garb, cast aside your unholy airs, and walk in the dust with Our Lord.

A false saint is too proud to receive applause,
while a true saint is too humble to accept rebuke.

"Take up your cross?" How do we take it up? Paradoxically, by putting it down.

There is no adventure but surrender.

What are they fighting over? A clod of dirt. A dry turd. Never anything.

Going into battle is only fleeing in defeat. Put down your sword, and take up your cup; drink with the victors, for whom the contest is done. There is no crusade, no great quest. The Holy Grail is whatever cup lies closest to your hand.

All who live by the sword live by the sword. Does it matter how they die?

We can add, even to God. --
The words of the wise are dead,
if we do not AMENd them.

Bring heaven down to earth -- why search the skies, when God is in the faces of the ones we love?

It doesn't matter, but don't give up.

A man inspired by God is God.

posted April 14, 2013 05:18 PM              

Tenderness unlatches the door to gratitude.

Humility lays down its weapons, and lays itself down, in the field of peace.

Put on the spectacles of prayer, if you would read scripture clearly.

A man who worships a vengeful God
will surely suffer vengeance in his turn,
just as a man who worships a loving God
will find love in the presence of his Lord.

Only when the eyes of the body become clouded with tears,
do the eyes of the spirit perceive clearly the tenderness of God.

Scripture is interpreted by each man according to the quality of his understanding. A fool lacks discrimination, but the considerations of a wise man are careful and carry weight. It is well for him to reject some things while retaining others. Do not believe the fools who say you must accept everything or nothing. Must he who enjoys the flesh of the date swallow the pit as well? Must an orange be eaten along with its rind?

A proud mind clings to itself, interprets all things according to its own proclivities, and is biased in its own favor; but a humble mind is attentive to the thoughts of God.

Pride lays like scales upon the eyes. It is delusion. A proud man is as one lost in a dream, or caught under the spell of an evil sorcerer; everything he perceives is twisted out of proportion. Only the eyes of humility see things as they are, independent of the self.

We are lost, shipwrecked, broken, desolate, captive in a land of all evils. And the worst of it is that we believe we are home; that we are good; that all is well, and we will go to heaven; despite the fact that we spend our hours in bickering, brooding, apathy, and frivolity. We haven't the will to confront the reality of our condition, and to despair as we should, -- let alone the will to overcome such desperate circumstances. How shall we pray? We are not humble enough to lower our eyes, nor reverent enough to lift them. Depression would be more dignified, and only ecstasy would suit us, but we are weak, sickly, sinful, lukewarm creatures. Only when we have lost faith in ourselves and our own efforts can we place our faith in God.

Be still; and behold the superorganic unfolding of the soul's potentialities in God.

The Lord, in His goodness,
teaches us gratitude for what we have
and humility for what we have not.

In the world, they are ashamed to speak of Christ,
but in Christ, they are ashamed to speak of the world.

The heart is a bridle for the intellect;
Love forges a simple path through the forest of the mind.

Strait is the spirit of love in pursuit of the heart of God.

The heart desires to be heard and not to conceal itself in a forest of clever words.

Simplicity charms the heart.

Gifts, like children, do not come out of us, but through us.

What I have loved in mortal natures is only the grace which proceeded from God.

In the time it takes to know a man he may become a different man.

posted April 14, 2013 05:24 PM              

If only one minute of your day is given
to the contemplation of higher things,
be thankful for it; it is the Lord's.

To seek God is to find Him; not to seek God is to lose Him;
the more you seek Him, the more He dwells in you.

The best sayings of the wise always sound so perfect, so simple, and so obvious, that we can hardly believe we have not heard them before, or that they have not been uttered since the beginning of the world.

When a man's hands are often in his pockets, very likely,
he is in there too, slipping through his fingers like loose change.

Love your weaknesses: they keep you humble.

We ask God to humble us, and to show us to ourselves, "warts and all". We don't realize that it is our vanity which causes us to believe we are strong enough to bear the unmitigated sight of ourselves, nor that it is God's mercy which permits us our delusions until such a time as we may dispel them more gradually and with less pain.

Whoever dies to the well-lit world of the living,
comes alive to the darkness and speaks with the dead.

Buried deep within the unconscious of every person,
there is a reservoir of courage, freedom, faith and love,
to which only the names of God provide access.

God's love being infinite, there is no adequate way to measure it,
nor to articulate it, so that mortal minds may begin to form an idea of its greatness,
other than to say that God's very nature is to love, and that God Himself is Love.

The Gospel is not about Jesus, as you have been taught to understand Him. It is about the idea of Jesus triggering a sudden awareness in the reader of a loving presence, which is accessible whenever we remember to call it to mind. This idea is Jesus. When you understand that an idea can be holy, and even divine, then you have understood Christ's divinity. As a man, because of his divine works, may be rightly called a God, so, also, an idea, by the divine works it inspires, may rightly be called the Holy Spirit of Our Lord. To deny that an idea (if it is the idea of Love) is worthy of ultimate reverence, is to deny the savior because He is humble. Christ is "just" a metaphor for the idea of love. When the idea is embraced and given its due, the kingdom of heaven will reign in men's hearts and upon the earth. In order to bring this idea into full manifestation, we must honor it as though it were already a reality for us and for all men. We must think it into being. We must rid ourselves of distracting concerns, all of which are chaff and dust, so that we may allow "Love" to be. Really, it is the simplest thing in the world. Do you think it is difficult? It is only difficult because you are resisting it. Before you imagine reasons to resist love, ask yourself, "do you really want to do that?" You will find that you do not. You have always been Love's disciple. Many times you have strayed from the path, but you always return when the master calls.

Return to Love. Love is the only reality. If only you stopped there!! But you are restless creatures. You need it set before you elaborately. You need it complicated and obscure. You need Bibles. It is not enough that the Bible is contained in the Lord's Prayer, or that the Lord's Prayer is contained in the first line, "The Lord is my Shepherd," and this is itself contained in that one word, which says more than all other words combined; "Love". My friends, what is there to do, but to moisten our lips, and speak the word, "Love," or to think it, and listen as it sinks to the bottom of our hearts, is arrested by something hard and, like a red-hot stone at the bottom of the sea, sizzles, steams, and burns through, to reach a depth as yet unknown? This word, "Love" is the philosopher's stone, which burns through all things, and is untouched. But it must be spoken, it must be thought, it's presence must be felt everywhere and at all times. We are all approaching this superior concentration. All our missteps, all our wrong turns, lead us back to this quiet, unassuming Word.

If I were a conqueror, I might write about the glory of Alexander, who perfected the art of conquest. But I am a lover, so I write about the glory of Jesus, who perfected the art of loving.

Remember, Jesus is a symbol. He represents all of us. Like Him, we are all tested, we all die and are reborn, and, in the end, we will all realize our divine nature; our Oneness with God. Like him we shall all say, "I and the Father are One". We are the children of God, destined to carry the cross of flesh, until we are ready to transcend our earthy lives. There is no shortcut. This is the only Way. This is what is meant by "Jesus is the only way". Jesus is the symbol, the model, the prototype, and the pioneer. He is the "first fruits", but we shall all become ripe.

True Christianity is not about sin, but grace. Grace is not exclusive, but inclusive. It is not dependent on actions, or even beliefs. It is for everyone. You don't even have to know about it. You are forgiven, you are innocent. The reason faith is important, is not so that you may be forgiven (you already are forgiven - "it is accomplished"), but, so that you might be spared the distress of imagining yourself guilty in the eyes of God.

Religions form around a nucleus, which is the "religious experience". An individual attains a high level of spiritual comprehension, and speaks to others from this place, probably never intending to inspire the creation of a religious system, but aware that it is inevitable. When a person is illumined, life becomes religion. There is no need for empty rituals, to pour the spirit into them. The spirit is everywhere, and every action, however small, is imbued with the significance of ritual. For others, ritual is like a set of training wheels, used to hold them up in the religious feeling, until they can learn to pedal, balance, and hold themselves up by their own speed. All religions forget their source in time. All religions become empty forms. They may still contain the spirit, but, at a certain point, the spirit grows and desires to overflow the rituals, and even the religion itself. When people cling to the rituals and the religion, this moment is lost, and even the rituals begin to lose power to invoke the spirit. Just as the body of Christ had to incarnate and die, religions have to "incarnate", to contain the spirit for a while, and then die. But, the moment when the religion dies, it actually attains itself, and accomplishes its greatest triumph. It will resurrect itself in spirit, it will come to people in spirit, and, in time, it will incarnate in another form. When Christianity dies, and is replaced by something else, something which resembles what Christianity was in its beginnings, that will be a second coming of the Christ.

If we only knew what supernatural wonders surround us, -- if we could see that angels, with their great wings outspread, protect us, bless and watch over our inauspicious activities, -- we would be stopped in our tracks, and our hearts, overcome with awe before their beauty, would render praise at all times to the majesty of God.

Nothing is more godly than humility, or more humbling than God.

Vanity is the single greatest source of cowardice. How often do we speak and act, or prevent ourselves from speaking and acting, merely from fear of what others might think? Pride, on the other hand, has to do with what we think of ourselves. It cuts much closer to the bone. People will adopt virtues for the sake of their pride, but for vanity they'll adopt only an appearance of virtue. Pride covets Virtue, vanity covets her appearance.

Prefer a faith in the divine to an education in the ordinary.

Knowledge trembles, but faith is fearless.

Faith is the beginning, humility is the center, and peace is the end, of prayer.

Lift up your eyes, and stretch out your minds, towards God.

Rinse your hearts out with tears, and hang them up in holy light.

Number your words, measure your movements, and do not squander your thoughts;
fools squander from a wealth of hollow words, empty thoughts, and aimless actions,
-- but wise men are frugal and poor.

It is possible to be too deep, and to know too much.
Many a man is too deep for us to get at what is within him.
Many a mind is too quick to keep up with itself.

People talk about going inside, not outside. What "inside"? What "outside"? No such thing. In order to make use of something "out there", you first have to be open to it "in here". That's all that means to me. Close your heart and mind, and the world really is "out there".

Do not be so identified with a cause that you identify everyone who does not share it as an opponent. And if any man opposes your cause, remember that he is a man first, and an opponent second. If you do not wish him to mistreat your cause, you must not mistreat him.

Prefer a noble cliché to a novel distraction.

Fill your hours with noble deeds and reflections, so that pettiness will find no foothold.

When we abandon God, when we abandon the contemplation of holy things and the attitude of prayer, we abandon ourselves to the forces of degeneration.

We endure and overcome evil by fixing our attention on the good which transcends it.

What to the fool is a stumblingblock, to the wise is a steppingstone.

Too often, we pride ourselves on being hardhearted and immovable. We must learn that it is better to be tenderhearted and easily moved. Clay must be soft in the hands of the Potter.

It is better to lose one's object through tenderness than to gain it by being overly strict.

There are many ways to pray. Do not force yourself, but allow yourself to be led along those paths which inspire you, provided that they awaken in you a devotion to higher things.

Even the smallest virtues are worthy to be encouraged, while the smallest vices should be overlooked.

People sometimes adopt greater vices in their efforts to eradicate lesser ones.

Schools are to education what religions are to spirituality. You don't need school to be educated, or religion to be spiritual. Structures, which can help to preserve and organize the wisdom of the past, also tend to become rigidly locked into ways of seeing which ultimately thwart innovation and pose resistance to progress. Only a religion which receives as well as dispenses prophecy, like a school which corrects itself even as it corrects others, is truly alive.

Consider the spirit and not the letter of the law: One is not a Christian merely because one calls oneself a Christian, and one who does not call oneself a Christian may yet be more a Christian than many who bear the name. Christ is love. If a religion has love it has Christ. Though it may never speak his name, it bears his spirit. Regardless of its outward forms, if it is compassionate it is Christian.

Ego is treading in a sea of awareness. Branches floating by are thoughts which ego clings to in order to remain afloat. Ego strings these branches together so as to make a raft which can separate him from the water. If he accomplishes this, he will be completely unaware. Drown yourself in the sea of awareness and be reborn as pure spirit.

Depths, which sparrows do not suspect the existence of, make up entire environments, which salmon take for granted. Who knows if there may not be some, among the spirits, who disbelieve reports of incarnation?

The corrupt man promotes his own interest in the world,
while the spirit of corruption destroys his interest in the soul.

The fool imagines himself victorious when the sage cannot move him to relinquish his folly.

Relax to discover your talents. Relax into your gifts.

You will never know peace until you humble yourself.
Pride does you no good. It only riles you.

Let your heroes be saints, not pundits.

Humility is the key to Heaven. Be humble; be at peace; have a warm heart.

Humility, love, and peace are mysteriously related;
each depending upon and increasing the others.
Whenever one of these is spoken of,
know that the others are understood.

A proud man has no peace, and a peaceful man has no pride.

Pride smothers spiritual gifts,
like sand shoveled onto hot coals;
but humility is a breath of the Spirit, igniting them,
and fanning the flames of God's glory in the world.

Humility is wide-eyed, expectant, braced for anything, overcome by a godly ideal. She is cautious, breathless, grounded, and aghast. Humility watches in respectful awe; waits, listening for the step of God. Humility has patience because she is slower than the world, and more deliberate. Humility has affection, feels connected to all things, is not insulted or indignant, as if anything were beneath her.

Love fuels the lamp of prayer.
Fill your prayers with the oil of love,
that they may light the way to heaven,
and may light heaven.

Do not think it degrading, to liken a monk to a dog. The dog, for his loyalty and devotion, is called 'man's best friend'. In the same way, it may be instructive to think of the monk as 'God's best friend'. Just as the dog sits and gazes expectantly at the door through which his master will enter, so does the humble monk sit and pray faithfully before the cross or icon of his Lord. And just as the animal leaps for joy when his master returns, so does the heart of the monk leap in his breast, and rush out of itself to meet the Savior when, at last, the Holy Presence is felt.

We must be in agreement with a truth,
in order to be in a position to refute it.

Seek with one eye, find with the other.
When you grasp it, let it go.

God is talking over himself to himself.
Everything is true. Every truth is incomplete.

If you are not contradicting yourself,
you are only telling half the story.
The end should find you back at the beginning.

The sense in which it is true
is not the sense in which it is false.

The best teachers don't say too much,
or teach too well.

I thought I was the teacher.
That will teach me.
Will I ever learn?

The closer you are to getting it,
the less sense you make.

My God, where have you been? You never left me.
I missed You all day. I didn't know what I was missing.
I thought about You. I didn't know what I was thinking.
Now I find You in the place where You sent me.

Lord, fashion my prayer. Teach me what you will, as you will.
I am vain to think I can instruct you in the ways to instruct me.

In the heart of every sentient being,
there is a fragment of the heart of God.

posted April 14, 2013 05:42 PM              

It is a sign of respect, when entering a church, or entering the prayerful chambers of the heart, to remove one's hat. In the same way, one ought to remove, as it were, and inasmuch as this is possible, one's own self and self-will, becoming receptive only to the divine presence and will of God.

Scripture can only be interpreted by the spirit which inspired it. If you could not have written the Bible, you could not have read it.

In every mind are vain and righteous thoughts, but the vain clamor and crowd and compete for the chief places in the heart, and one must dismiss them, turn them away, in order to discover the better; which are meek and audible only to one who listens.

Glory to the blessed ones of all religions, and also to the blessed ones who serve God without religious structure. They are proof that all God desires is a pure and loving heart, humbly devoted and entrusted to the noblest impulses of the spirit. Glory to the many forms and names of God, and to the formless and unnamed divinity. Praises to the eternal source of love, hope, charity and healing. God makes saints of Catholics, Muslims, Buddhists, and all who are full of humility and compassion. Boundless is His goodness. Praised be His graces, for ever and ever. Amen.

Wisely was it said, 'There is no companionship with fools.' Silence is a stranger to them, and peace has no part in their conversation. Neither do they speak by turns, but each, desiring his own hearing, clamors over the voices of his neighbors and is not edified. The more fools speak, the more confusion spreads; but a wise man instructs even by his silence.

A downer is someone looking for something deeper.

Give attention to the good, and the evil will swallow itself up.

All artists thirst and hunger for inspiration, and bear their craving like a prayer.

Don't forget music.

It is as if one is standing beside a heavy stone door, and one can hear God calling from the other side of the door, bidding one to enter. Alas, the door is too heavy to open. Still, there, just beside the door, is a set of weights. It appears the only thing to do is to lift the weights until one is strong enough to open the door. But this is difficult. This takes persistence, and persistence is the only true mark of faith. So, instead, we imagine that God has said "Don't come in. You are not ready." Or we leave and go searching for Him elsewhere. And the sound of His voice, still calling us to enter, fades into the distance as we wander off in search of Him. How sad. We ought to know by now that it is not a search. It is a practice.

The sun cooks food as it grows on the vine, on the tree, or in the earth. We call this process "ripening", but really this is cooking. The food is cooked, sun-cooked, when it is ripe (and raw). The truth is, we don't cook; we overcook. This is just one more example of a principle we see everywhere in human behavior. What God has done, man wants to overdo.

Nothing so astonishes me as the popularity of the belief in an unconditionally loving God who will yet condemn you to an eternity of hellfire for the sin of thinking with your own mind and seeing with your own eyes; that God must be infinitely cruel to be infinitely kind. And nothing provides such palpable proof of the subtle depths to which human foolishness and impressionability may sink. Never imagine that simple men are insensible to paradox, or incapable of holding two contradictory notions in the mind at one and the same time. On the contrary, they have a genius for precisely this!

When you reach the point where you no longer need to reincarnate, you will choose to reincarnate "by default", for the sake of others. To transcend the world is not to escape from the world, but from one's attachment and aversion to it.

War is slavery, and the military man is a whip in the master's hand. A soldier is the personification of misguided service, who murders in the name of peace. He is the tragic figure par-excellence. All the more tragic because he not only dies in vain, but dies while making the world a more violent place. Generally, a brave, self-sacrificing soul without the sense to question the motivations of a government bent on war. And to think how many soldiers consider themselves Christians, as if it were possible to be a follower of the Prince of Peace and a professional killer. Judas betrayed Christ because, like so many, he was waiting for a worldly messiah, who would lead the Jewish people in a bloody revolt against their Roman oppressors. But Christ forbid Peter to defend him with force (when Peter cut off the Centurian's ear), and chose rather to allow himself to be crucified than to resist violence with violence. The entire message of his words, his life, and his death was to return good for evil; love for hatred. This was not some impractical ideal for which he wished to be honored, but an example which he demanded all his self-proclaimed followers to follow. "Why callest me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not the things which I say?" Though I have tremendous respect for the courage and the noble intentions of these soldiers, the fact remains that there is nothing sadder or more absurd than a person wearing a cross and holding a machine gun; praying to Christ while slaughtering the children of God, whom Christ came only to comfort, instruct, and forgive.

Nothing is more delusional than truth: Parents give their children cancer-causing poisons, and both the parents and the children think it's nourishment; Doctors torture patients who have cancer, and both the doctors and the patients think it's helping; Soldiers devastate whole countries for the cause of peace; Believers in a loving God condemn Gandhi to hell. Any questions?

Silence is spiritual research.

Awareness is paternal/maternal. The operations of consciousness are like children playing in a field. Awareness remains in the background, like parents observing their children at play.

I am not a wise man dispensing his own wisdom, but an inspired man dispensing wisdom intended as much for his own edification as for others.

Who is the Mother? She is the one in whose lap we are cradled and tenderly held. With boundless love and infinite tenderness, she guards our innocence and receives our devotion. In this way, we are nurtured, and mature into the saviors of worlds.

The New Testament did not arise from the Old Testament and is not a fulfillment of it. The Grace of Jesus Christ did not arise from the Law of Moses. Christ emerged from the supple lap of Mary; not from the rigid finger of Moses. The Goddess-worshiping cultures of prehistory are the true soil from which the Truth has sprung. She is the first part of the book. How can you understand the second part of the book, if you have not read and understood the first? Conversely, if you only read part one, your understanding remains incomplete. Seed begins in the earth, and only indirectly receives the sun. So, focus on the Mother, and see Christ peripherally. Once the seed has sprouted, grown roots, and pierced the soil of the earth, then it is ready to receive the direct rays of the sun. If it remains in the earth, it cannot reach its full maturity. First the Mother, then the Master. Worship the forms of God until you are ready to worship the formless God. When you have fed upon the wisdom of the earth, you will ascend to receive the manna from heaven. Understand this, and will you understand the mystery of reincarnation.

Rice scattered on water;
stars in the night sky.

Birds dart thru branches,
like shafts of light,
shook loose by the wind.

posted April 14, 2013 05:45 PM            

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Passion, Lust, Desire. Check out my journal

posted April 14, 2013 05:47 PM              

In order to truly know one thing, we must be ignorant of many things,
and in order to truly know God, we must be ignorant of all.

Having embraced my brother, I go to my God.

A teacher wants a student,
no less than a student wants a teacher.

The greatest teaching is "how to be a student".

I need to see myself as more of an artist than a sage. I am not a sage. I may want to express pure truth, but I can only express the obscure visions of my process, my confusion, my questions, and the mysteries that yawn like so many wild abysses on all sides. I straddle a thousand thresholds, describing the visions I see within. And trying not to block the way.

The two faces of a stained-glass window reflect the two faces of virtue;
for they obscure the world outside, while revealing the kingdom within.

Do not scrutinize the sayings of the wise. A cup turned over cannot hold water; truth cannot perform its function in an atmosphere of doubt. The wise know their insights are precarious steps, which crumble beneath all but the lightest feet. It is with the quickness of faith that they carry their message, and do not fall.

The source of wisdom is mysterious.
Even the wise are shocked by what they know.

How easy it is,
to read and reflect on the holiest thoughts.
And, again, how easy to forget them.

posted April 14, 2013 06:51 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by I'm so cappy:
You really need someone to talk to

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She has us. It is cool. I did the same thing in Sweet peas and Randall let me go, as well as other loving people because I needed it.

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Passion, Lust, Desire. Check out my journal

posted April 14, 2013 07:14 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by T:
HSC, is a guy & he's been writing like this here for years. He's back after a long break. This is how he always is/has been. He's a thinker and a writer especially on subjects about God and matters of the heart. His name was also Valus once. I don't think he's doing it as a theraputic exercise like you, Ami or necessarily that he's yearning for someone to talk to. I think he does it more to help and inspire people and because it's part of his nature and calling.

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It is Valus .Did not know that, T.

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Passion, Lust, Desire. Check out my journal

posted April 14, 2013 10:01 PM            

quote:

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A kind heart needs no instruction,
and is itself the source of all instruction.

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