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It has been said in Sufi literature that if a rock falls, "That is the Nature of God." So, perhaps it follows that rocks and have their "nature," the ingrained, never to be displaced essence of their Creator. I, for most of my life have looked at God's wondrous Creations with the view that is more scientific than metaphoric - Rock is ...... formed by the magma from the earth's core .... many types, granite, basalt ....... named and labeled to fit neatly in the box I placed them in.
To stop, look at anything created with an eye that is both outer and outer and which desires to see what of God is imbued in anything, is relatively new for me. Learning to sit with and allow something to tell me what its seeming secrets are requires a different way of looking than I have spent so many years accepting as the way to understand what is around me. I am learning to stop, take several breaths, and ask for the vision to see what has been in front of me all along - that which is the living presence of the Divine in all and everything. That has become the petition of the present moment's prayer.
I do not, however, get down on myself for not having done this new kind of observation before most of my life has passed. To the contrary, I am only grateful for the Gift of sight which I now know has its eyes within my core - where the senses of the heart operate in us all.
Bless the Lord. Bless this moment in this day.
By Victoria Austin of The San Francisco Zen Center
Click Here
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It has been said in Sufi literature that if a rock falls, "That is the Nature of God." So, perhaps it follows that rocks and have their "nature," the ingrained, never to be displaced essence of their Creator. I, for most of my life have looked at God's wondrous Creations with the view that is more scientific than metaphoric - Rock is ...... formed by the magma from the earth's core .... many types, granite, basalt ....... named and labeled to fit neatly in the box I placed them in.
To stop, look at anything created with an eye that is both outer and outer and which desires to see what of God is imbued in anything, is relatively new for me. Learning to sit with and allow something to tell me what its seeming secrets are requires a different way of looking than I have spent so many years accepting as the way to understand what is around me. I am learning to stop, take several breaths, and ask for the vision to see what has been in front of me all along - that which is the living presence of the Divine in all and everything. That has become the petition of the present moment's prayer.
I do not, however, get down on myself for not having done this new kind of observation before most of my life has passed. To the contrary, I am only grateful for the Gift of sight which I now know has its eyes within my core - where the senses of the heart operate in us all.
Bless the Lord. Bless this moment in this day.
All of God's Creation desires to be known -
and will slowly show itself
to the heart that desires to see.
-------------------------------
Look to the heavens and see ......
" I
am the Light within you.
My only
desire
is for
you
to allow
Me to be seen. "
++++++
There is a community of the spirit.
Join it, and feel the delight of walking in the street of
love,
and becoming scintillating love.
Bathe in the light of
grace.
Close both eyes to see with inner eyes.
Open your hands, if you want to
receive.
Open your arms, if you want to be held.
Sit down in this circle.
Quit acting like a wolf,
and
feel the shepherd's love filling you.
Be empty of worrying.
Think of who
created the soul
and who fashioned everything out of nothingness!
Why do you
stay in prison when the door is so wide open?
Move outside the tangle of
fear-thinking.
Live in loving passionately and bloom
like a beautiful
night-queen flower
that opens to the starry night,
silently, without any
noise.
~
Based on a prayer by Cynthia J. Alby
--------------------------
A talk on Light and The Inner Senses,By Victoria Austin of The San Francisco Zen Center
Click Here
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A gray rainy day is still filled with light
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Some humor:
Further adventures in "first love"
Peace, Bill Lagerstrom
Peace, Bill Lagerstrom
