Abba Moses asked Abba Sylvanus, ‘Can a person lay a new foundation every day?’
The old man said,
‘If they work hard, they can lay a new foundation at every moment.‘
From the sayings of the Desert Fathers. Abba Moses lived 330 – 405 AD
Tag: Mindfulness
Here and not here
Acknowledging that there is a groundlessness at the heart of the human condition, or an unsatisfactory element to our experience, is part of most spiritual traditions. As Pema Chodron says: “The truth is that we can never avoid uncertainty. This not knowing is part of the adventure.…”
Why are we made the way we are made, that to love
Is to want?
Well, you are gone now, and this morning I have walked out
To the back shore,
To the ocean which, even if we think we have measured it,
Has not final measure.
Sometimes you can see the great whales there,
Breaching and playing.
Sometimes the swans linger just long enough
For us to be astonished.
Then they lift their wings, they become again
A part of the untouchable clouds.
Mary Oliver, There you were and it was like spring
Just the way life is
Some days are good, some days are bad.
Today is one of them.
Lawrence Welk, American musician and bandleader, 1903 – 1992
No solidity
Having an insight into the non-solid and passing nature of most experiences allows us let things pass through, without making them into the story of our life.
All realities are devoid of an abiding self;
When we see this with insight
we will get space in this life of suffering
Dhammapada, v.279
The tangle of fear thinking
Sit quietly, and listen for a voice that will say, ‘Be more silent.’
Your old life was a frantic running from silence.
Move outside the tangle of fear-thinking.
Dwell in silence.
Flow down and down in always widening rings of being.
Rumi
The distance doesn’t matter
The distance doesn’t matter;
it is only the first step that counts
La distance n’y fait rien; il n’y a que le premier pas qui coûte.
Marquise du Deffand, 1697 – 1780, French hostess and patron of the arts. She was commenting on the popular legend of Saint Denis who was said to have walked for 6 miles carrying his head after being beheaded.
