Becoming silent

Karl Duffy3 Comments

File:The Silent.jpg

As my prayer become more attentive and inward
I had less and less to say.
I finally became completely silent.
I started to listen
– which is even further removed from speaking.
I first thought that praying entailed speaking.
I then learnt that praying is hearing,
not merely being silent.
This is how it is.
To pray does not mean to listen to oneself speaking,
Prayer involves becoming silent,
And being silent,
And waiting until God is heard.

Søren Kierkegaard, 1813 – 1855, Danish Philosopher

photo miguel virkkunen calvalho

How to look at things today

Karl Duffy1 Comment

File:Walking through fields in Arang Kel Azad Kashmir 2.JPG

Keep your eyes fresh and open and joyful.

And move with sure steps, yet flexibly

through the fields of world so richly endowed

Goethe

photo saadbintariq

What distracts us

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

File:Window shopping.jpg

In a consumer society there are inevitably two kinds of slaves:

the prisoners of addiction and the prisoners of envy.

Ivan Illich, Tools for Conviviality

photo Karin Beate Nøsterud/norden.org

Withdrawing permission

Karl Duffy2 Comments

File:Tree still standing - geograph.org.uk - 964093.jpg

In standing still and receiving life with all its adversity and sorrow, you have withdrawn your permission for suffering to define your life. You have also withdrawn your consent to living in fear. Something profound happens in your heart when you turn with kindness toward all the circumstances of pain which you have previously repressed, dismissed or fled from. There is a softening, an opening, a deepening capacity and willingness to understand sorrow and its cause.

Christine Feldman, Compassion

photo shaun ferguson

Love does that

Karl Duffy3 Comments
File:Donkeys at Dooks Mountain - geograph.org.uk - 647635.jpg
All day long the little donkey labours, sometimes
with heavy loads on her back and sometimes just with worries
about the things that bother only donkeys.
 
And worries, as we know, can be more exhausting
than physical labour.
 
Once in a while a kind monk comes
to her stable and brings a pear, but more
than that,
he looks into the donkey’s eyes and touches her ears
 
and for a few seconds the donkey is free
and even seems to laugh,
 
because love does that.
Love frees.
Meister Eckhart
photo dave whalley

….. A new month – another invitation to notice.

Karl Duffy1 Comment

File:Goldfinches at Audubon Dodson Road Nature Trail.jpg

Oh do you have time
to linger
for just a little while
out of your busy

and very important day
for the goldfinches
that have gathered
in a field of thistles

for a musical battle,
to see who can sing
the highest note,
or the lowest,

or the most expressive of mirth,
or the most tender?
Their strong, blunt beaks
drink the air

as they strive
melodiously
not for your sake
and not for mine

and not for the sake of winning
but for sheer delight and gratitude –
believe us, they say,
it is a serious thing

just to be alive
on this fresh morning
in the broken world.
I beg of you,

do not walk by
without pausing
to attend to this
rather ridiculous performance.

It could mean something.
It could mean everything.
It could be what Rilke meant, when he wrote:
You must change your life.

Mary Oliver, Invitation

photo stevevoght