Wishing each friend A BLESSED SUMMER! Through pauses in the Silence, may you remain aware of the Sacred Journey to wholeness wherever you are, wherever you travel. May you invite times of quiet relaxtion and re-creation into your life. As Frederick Franck reminds us in The Zen of Seeing, "In this twentieth century, to stop rushing around, to sit quietly on the grass, to switch off the world and come back to the earth, to allow the eye to see a willow, a bush, a cloud, a leaf, is an unforgettable experience".
Why is it so difficult to give up old perceptions when it is clear that what we really know is only a fraction of what there is to be known? The tiny fraction we see is not the only way it is. Whenever we say, "I know it," it means that we no longer want to struggle with other ways of seeing it. But the way we once saw it may not be the way it is now. Certainly the way something is now does not determine that it will always be that way because we are, all of us, on a journey whose ultimate destination is unknown.
The spiritual journey is an expanding awareness of the Divine as all in all, vividly and actually present in all external reality, without dualistic separations. Here is the simple truth I keep trying to own, the one that breaks the bounds of beauty: everything is in God, and God is in everything. Think of it. There is no separation, no conflict, no obstruction between the world and the Divine. All that exists is penetrated with divinity. Creation, matter, our bodies -- everything is a vast incarnation or manifestation of Real Presence.
We are divine but imperfect beings who exist in two worlds, material and spiritual. Knowing we have a home of everlasting love waiting for us, makes us receptive to the higher spiritual power within our minds... The highest forms of self-expression are acts of kindness. Our soul may be traveling away from a permanent home, but we are not just tourists. We bear responsibility in the evolution of a higher consciousness for ourselves and others in life. Thus, our journey is a collective one.
Our spiritual journey is deeply reflected by the evolution of the voice and by the ways in which we communicate with others. Our fears, softness, sharp edges, peacefulness, and joy are carried to others by our tone, words or lack of words. As people become more whole and in tune with themselves, they usually speak with greater simplicity, resonating from both heart and head.
The only little journey we have to make -- the only little moment of transition -- is the moment where we actually become aware of the dignity and beauty and light of the presence in which we already are. I think that being here in this graced planet of landscape, nature, presence, and person is the miracle -- is the journey.
The sublimation of the human will to the Greater Will is the prime challenge of the spiritual Journey. In fact, this transference of one's allegiance from self to Self, and to God, IS the essence of the spiritual Path. All other aspects of this Path -- all practices, all tests and trials, all teachings and disciplines, and all of the love and the adversity are a part of the great drama of the gradual fusing of the mortal, lesser self with that which is immortal and immutable. But in order to become one with God, the soul itself must first possess an identity, rounded out and matured as a worthy offering to give back to its Creator.
pull anchor
and journey
to that place
where all land
cries yes
and all water
envelops
limitless
possibility.
We are not yet what we shall be,
but we are growing toward it;
the process is not yet finished,
but it is going on;
this is not the end,
but it is the road.
In the luminous darkness through which we travel on our human journey, we are often lonely but never alone. Road-weary, overwhelmed by the magnitude of the difficulties we face during our brief days, we are tempted to despair or to settle for cheap optimism. But in the deep place of the spirit, we are moved and called forth to undertake this ongoing adventure by the yearning, restless, and creative One who -- though called by the ten thousand names of God -- is still clothed in marvelous silence.