Empty yourself of everything.
Let the mind become still.
The ten thousand things rise and fall while the Self watches their return.
They grow and flourish and then return to the source.
Returning to the source is stillness, which is the way of nature.
Tao Te Ching, 16
The first day of Spring in the Celtic Calendar, the Feast of Imbolc.
A state of permanent joy, hidden at the very centre of consciousness, is the Eden to which the long journey of seeking leads. There, the mystics of all religions agree, we uncover our original goodness.
We don’t have to buy it; we don’t have to create it; we don’t have to pour it in; we don’t even have to be worthy of it. This native goodness is the essential core of human nature.
We are made, the scriptures of all religions assure us, in the image of God. Nothing can change that original goodness.
Whatever mistakes we have made in the past, whatever problems we may have in the present, in every one of us this ‘uncreated spark in the soul’ remains untouched, ever pure, ever perfect.
Even if we try with all our might to douse or hide it, it is always ready to set our personality ablaze with light.
Eknath Easwaran
In moments of darkness and pain
remember all is cyclical.
Sit quietly behind your wooden door
Spring will come again
Loy Ching-Yuen (1873 – 1960) Chinese Taoist tai chi master.
Good feelings, bad feelings – we’re never going to get away from them.
The whole teaching is to completely make peace with everything –
to be able to just be with anything, completely.
Soeng Hyang, 1948 – Buddhist teacher
Even the long-beloved
was once an unrecognized stranger.
Just so, the chipped lip of a blue-glazed cup,
blown field of a yellow curtain,
might also,
flooding and falling,
ruin your heart.
A table painted with roses.
An empty clothesline.
Each time,
the found world surprises –
that is its nature.
And then
what is said by all lovers:
“What fools we were, not to have seen.”
Jane Hirshfield, Meeting the Light Completely
More John O ’Donohue after some very windy and rainy days…
How would it be to allow for knowing
and not knowing: allowing room
for the mystery of creating
to be able to wonder softly
without needing to understand everything
to trust in the process
to trust in love
to trust in the mystery and wonder
of the universe
that beats softly wildly true
all round about us,
that is hidden in the mists
in the clouds and the rain
in the wind blowing and the rain lashing down on your window.
Mindfulbalance 