It may be that when we no longer know what to do
we have come to our real work,
and that when we no longer know which way to go
we have come to our real journey.
The mind that is not baffled is not employed.
The impeded stream is the one that sings.
Wendell Berry
You will either step forward into growth,
or you will step back into safety.
Maslow
Inner calmness is a way of being that can transform our lives. Taking one thing at a time as our focus, letting the imperfections of life be, fosters a sense of the present, a contentment with the moment. At first our meditation may develop in some ways but still be mixed with a quality of striving or judgment. As we sit, extraordinary levels of silence & peace can open for us.
We can learn how happiness comes from a heart at rest and not from changing outer circumstances.
Jack Kornfield
Ancient wisdom for the day that is in it. It can apply to both people outside of us or to the complaining voice inside of us that forever “argues” with how things are:
Get away from any man who always argues every time he talks.
Abbot Pastor in Thomas Merton, The Wisdom of the Desert: Sayings from the Desert Fathers of the Fourth Century
All Saints Day, starting a month were there is an emphasis on simplifying, remembering and integrating, imitating the slower pace of nature. This is somewhat different to the current fashion of accumulating and rushing around at this time, as the main shopping festivals arrive.
Maybe a side effect of the pandemic this year will be to slow things down and remind us of what is important
The man to whom little is not enough
will not benefit from more.
Saint Columbanus, 540 – 615, Irish monk, missionary and founder of monasteries.
One is satisfied not by the quantity of food, but by the absence of greed.
Gurdjieff, 1866- 1949
Lie back daughter, let your head
be tipped back in the cup of my hand.
Gently, and I will hold you. Spread
your arms wide, lie out on the stream
and look high at the gulls….
As you float now, where I held you
and let go, remember when fear
cramps your heart what I told you:
lie gently and wide to the light-year
stars, lie back, and the sea will hold you.
Philip Booth, 1925 – 2007, American poet, First Lesson
