posted April 09, 2009 10:49 AM         

The material universe IS the spiritual universe. We do not transcend the world; rather, the world transcends us, and, with the world, we transcend ourselves. To the extent that the material realm may be transcended, it will make greater sense to say that She transcends Herself, than to say that we transcend Her. We must love the world, or spend Eternity despising Her. Those noble truths, beyond all human understanding, are cold monuments, carved in ether; but the Lord is here with us; in the world; in the flesh. Here is sickness, sadness, hunger, accident, loss and death. Where else is your love so needed and desired? What purpose or work have you, more sacred and pressing than this? Look to your brothers, that they may stand washed in a heavenly light; do not stare yourself blind, scouring the sun. Some of the highest adepts have wandered off, and left us, to go investigate the incorruptible spheres. Let us pray that they return, with wisdom to raise up the world. And we, who seek to exalt ourselves to heavenly heights, -- let us seek, rather, to exalt the world, and the entire creation of the Father. Truly, the world is our proper sphere. May we cease to long for vain infinities! May we, rather, long for the vision to know the world in Her honesty and glory. She does not deceive us, though we often wish that she would, and endeavor to believe that she does.

Form is modest,
beautiful and deep,
like silence.

His words were clay,
but his thoughts were silver.

Dig deep, and you may strike the deepest well-springs.

The grey,
the drowsy humble,
cloistered in patience
and confusion,
slain in silence.

You can dance the minute waltz in thirty seconds, but it won't be the minute waltz. Efficiency and velocity are not the same thing; a perfect pace is neither slack nor brusque. A gentleman does not hurry, and thereby accomplishes much. Though he could hurry himself and his work may suffer no outward blemish, it would lack the mark of true and spiritual craftsmanship that we recognize in the unhurried worker, and which stamps itself invisibly on all of his works. Let his progress be consistent, deliberate, ongiong, and without a show of haste.

If they doubt the value of the fruits,
how much more so, the value of the seeds?

We are flowers
that cannot move by ourselves,--
but maybe the light shines on us,
and sing hallelujah if it does.

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 deepest dreams
are the nearest to,
and the farthest from,
perfect manifestation.

yellow leaves,
pockmarked and leathern

chimneys pushing smoke
toward the sky;
smoke dispersing,
lazy and dazed,
like a crowd
after a good movie.

Am I
rabbit or turtle,
squirrel or snake?
Should I run or curl up?
Gather nuts or shed my skin?
What am I? And where do I begin?
Is my mind like a sword,
or the hammer than shapes it?
Is my will any good,
or only a vagrant?
And my heart,
does it weep
for your coming
or going, Lord?

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

Frequent admissions of fault in oneself
breed tolerance for the faults of others.

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

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 way of man is through himself.
"Do not attempt to go beyond
where you have yet to begin."
We must be mindful of two things:
Our direction and our steps.
Divinity is our direction,
but our path lies over the earth.

The closer you look,
the more real it becomes.
Be Careful What You Look For!

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

It is a small mind that looks
at a situation and sees only one thing.
Unless, of course, the one thing
encompasses all things, -- but, then,
to see the One Thing that encompasses all things,
is only to see it in part; the rest, the whole, is inferred.
But this inferrence marks a movement of the Spirit.

Be (all of) yourself.

Words are holy,
because the Word is holy.

Truth wears many masks,
and has as many faces,
but no man has seen
the "true" face of Truth.
Perhaps there is none?

posted April 09, 2009 12:36 PM         

One of the deepest forms of Wisdom
is to take something deceptively simple,
and to persevere in contemplation of it.

Trees are excellent role-models,
in a number of ways.

I often wish I were more tree-like.