Becoming love

If you want to know God,
become love. If you want
to know others, become love.
If you want to know yourself,
become love. And if you want
to know love, forget all you
thought you knew or needed
to know, and become love.

Meister Eckhart

The word in the silence

Serene light shining in the ground of my being,
draw me to yourself.
Draw me past the snares of the senses,
out of the mazes of the mind,
Free me from symbols, from words
that I may discover the signified:
the word unspoken in the darkness
that veils the ground of my being.

Byzantine Hymn

Light and darkness

Go slowly
Consent to it
But don’t wallow in it
Know it as a place of germination
And growth
Remember the light
Take an outstretched hand if you find one
Exercise unused senses
Find the path by walking it
Practice trust
Watch for dawn.

Marilyn Chandler McEntyre, What to do in the Darkness

Sunday quote: All is here

The shortest days of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. Yesterday was very foggy here in Ireland. Darkness and light, shadows and haze. Metaphors for the different experiences we have to work with in our lives.

A certain darkness is needed to see the stars

Osho

 

Don’t grasp, don’t reject

Instead of blaming our discomfort on outer circumstances or on our own weakness, we can choose to stay present and awake to our experience, not rejecting it, not grasping it, not buying the stories that we relentlessly tell ourselves. This is priceless advice that addresses the true cause of suffering – yours, mine and that of all living beings.

Pema Chodron, Taking The Leap

Infinite First Moments

The thing about reality is that there is no later, there’s no second moment when one is going to be enlightened, when one is going to understand non-being, where there’s no outside, no second moment –  only infinite first moments arising as now. If you recognize this as the way the universe is, everything coming and going, not belonging to anyone, that’s the universe of not-self, a sense of space.

Katherine Thanas, The Truth of This Life