Make yourself a refuge…
There is a lake somewhere
so blue and far nobody owns it.
A wind comes by, and a willow listens
gracefully.
I hear all this, every summer…
That lake stays blue and free; it goes
on and on.
And I know where it is.
William Stafford, Why I am Happy
Everything that seems empty
is full of the angels of God.
Hilary of Poitiers, 310 – 368 AD
Strong winds are predicted for this weekend, the tail-end of an Atlantic storm…
Time and again I was seeing that if I could handle the winds of the current storm, they would end up blowing in some great gift… Challenging situations create the force needed to bring about change. The problem is that we generally use all the stirred up energy intended to bring about change, to resist change. I was learning to sit quietly in the midst of the howling winds and wait to see what constructing action was being asked of me.
Michael SInger, The Surrender Project
Unusually long and hot weather spell in Ireland these last weeks, after our harshest winter in decades, The land is getting quite parched and water restrictions are in place. So we, who normally complain about the lack of sun in the Summer, now complain of its presence. Another example of the either/or dynamic which pops up so frequently in our thoughts and of the constant daydreaming that things should be different. This famous koan from the 9th Century Chan Master Dongshan challenges us to be completely with whatever is happening, without always placing it beside an alternative:
A monk asked Dongshan, “When the cold visits us, how can we avoid it?”
Dongshan said, “Why not go where there is no cold?”
The monk asked, “Where is the place without cold?”
Dongshan said, “When it is cold, let the cold kill you. When it is hot, let the heat kill you.”
The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.
Eden Phillpotts.
The Celtic stories suggest that time as the rhythm of soul has an eternal dimension where everything is gathered and minded. Here nothing is lost. This is a great consolation. The Happenings in your life do not disappear. Nothing is ever lost or forgotten. Everything is stored within your soul in the temple of memory. Integration is a vital part of coming home to yourself. Camus said aptly that after one day in the world you could spend the rest of your life in solitary confinement and you would still have dimensions of that day’s experience left to decipher. Every human heart seeks meaning; for it is in meaning that our deepest shelter lies. Meaning is the sister of experience, and to discern the meaning of what has happened to you is one of the essential ways of finding your inner belonging and discovering the sheltering presence of your soul.
John O’Donohue, Anam Chara
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