All the world religions and wisdom traditions come to the same conclusion: True contentment comes about through working out, through the twists and turns of one’s own life, a personal understanding of these deeply different realities.
For whoever has learned to love,
for whoever has learned to suffer,
life is imbued with serene beauty
Br Roger
More lessons from these three days. There are different ways of saying that at times we need to be patient, to sit in silence and wait for the real meaning of what is happening to become clear. It is put beautifully in this quote: we need to give difficult periods the space their “gentle origins” demand. We do not need to “add on” stories, which only ultimately make things more difficult.
If you do not clear a decent shelter for your sorrow, and instead reserve most of the space inside you for hatred and thoughts of revenge – from which new sorrows will be born for others – then sorrow will never cease in this world and will multiply. And if you have given sorrow the space its gentle origins demand, then you may truly say: life is beautiful and so rich.
Etty Hillesum
The Lily is a symbol of Easter, being associated with new life and a pure offering to God. In this poem, Mary Oliver sees the flower silently following night and day, darkness and light, the up’s and down’s of life, trusting, knowing that the dawn will follow the night. It is a thought which suits this Easter Saturday,- starting , as it has, in more muted colours than the glorious sunshine of yesterday – a day which places the emphasis on waiting. The flower waits for the silver moon and the golden sun, which are often used to refer to the unconscious, unknown part of our lives and the conscious, known parts. It trusts that what is now unconscious will become conscious in time. This trust is a quiet, contented attitude – the trust of a child who knows that ultimately all is good – an attitude that we cultivate when we sit in meditation.
Night after night, darkness enters the face
of the lily which, lightly, closes its five walls around itself,
and its purse of honey, and its fragrance,
and is content to stand there
in the garden, not quite sleeping,
and, maybe, saying in lily language
some small words we can’t hear
even when there is no wind anywhere,
its lips are so secret, its tongue is so hidden –
or, maybe, it says nothing at all
but just stands there
with the patience
of vegetables and saints
until the whole earth has turned around
and the silver moon
becomes the golden sun –
as the lily absolutely knew it would,
which is itself, isn’t it, the perfect prayer?
Mary Oliver, The Lily
No matter what stories our mind may tell us in times of difficulty, all things are ordered and return to their home. We are calm deep down when we realize that our days have meaning in an overall rhythm and we are not isolated but have a place in the overall “family of things”
The wild geese, high in the clean blue air, are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting –
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
Mary Oliver
Many people today assume that happiness implies the absence of suffering and struggle, as if a life of meaning, service to others or tormented but creative accomplishment is not also a happy life. Another misconception is that happiness must be sought and acquired, as if it were something special that is apart from ordinary, everyday life. It must be attained by fulfilling some requirement – perhaps by making more money or finding a new relationship – or by following some prescribed method or program of self-improvement. But happiness is right before our eyes, immediately available to us if we surrender to what this very moment offers, to what fate has put on our table right now. The happiness complex consists of the hope that happiness will come, if only….
Michael Gellert, The Way of the Small
Be gentle and patient both with yourself and with others, no matter what comes along. In this way, waiting becomes a fulfilling, very meaningful experience. If you live gently, honorably, focusing on the cultivation of your heart, good things are sure to follow. Try to live as purely and as simply and as gently as you can. Relax. Be flexible. Be forgiving. Be creative. Be loving. Those who cross your path may need you.
Robert Lax, The Way of the Dreamcatcher.
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