Quotes & Poetry
The Most Important Thing
I am making a home inside myself. A shelter
of kindness where everything
is forgiven, everything allowed—a quiet patch
of sunlight to stretch out without hurry,
where all that has been banished
and buried is welcomed, spoken, listened to—released.
A fiercely friendly place I can claim as my very own.
I am throwing arms open
to the whole of myself—especially the fearful,
fault-finding, falling apart, unfinished parts, knowing
every seed and weed, every drop
of rain, has made the soil richer.
I will light a candle, pour a hot cup of tea, gather
around the warmth of my own blazing fire. I will howl
if I want to, knowing this flame can burn through
any perceived problem, any prescribed perfectionism,
any lying limitation, every heavy thing.
I am making a home inside myself
where grace blooms in grand and glorious
abundance, a shelter of kindness that grows
all the truest things.
I whisper hallelujah to the friendly
sky. Watch now as I burst into blossom.
~ Julia Fehrenbacher
Threshold
If you knew you were about
To step off the cliff of the known,
To slip from the safety of the familiar
Into the womb of darkness
That has no names,
Would you still cross that threshold
With confident steps,
Or hasten back to the old small house
That lies tight and cramped
Like an old snake skin around you?
The call of the abyss
Looms like a reapers shadow
And looks annihilating
From the telecope of the mind,
But there secret treasures
Are sewn in the fabric of your skin.
To cross that line
Sometimes we have to trip and fall,
Lose ourselves like mist at dawn
Or take the hand of a friend
As we enter uncharted realms.
What happens there is hard to say,
Layers of silt are removed,
Our palette gets washed away
And the house of familiarity
Feels hauntingly different.
Roles and routines no longer fit
As we cast like spawn
Into the ocean's mouth
Or like light hurled in a starless sky,
Where there is nothing to do but
Yield to the tug of waves
Trust the path that takes us to the edge,
To the place where we can break open
And discover ourselves anew.
—Mark Coleman
Gentle
A gentler world begins
in the way you touch your heart.
Be soft with the light inside you.
Caress your body with this breath.
God is nothing else
but the place where the sun comes up
in your chest.
You are the glimmering destination.
You are the golden honey daubed
on the bread of the ordinary.
Whatever is perfect,
whatever is heavenly,
begins here.
~Fred LaMotte
"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in the bud
was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."
~ Anais Nin
In any quiet moment when you are breathing,
The breath may flow out and pause of itself,
Or flow in and pause of itself.
Here experience opens into exquisite vastness
With no beginning and no end.
Embrace this infinity without reservation.
Dive into it,drink deeply, and emerge renewed.
~
Breath flows in filling, filling,
Then surrenders to flow out again.
Breath flows out, emptying, emptying
Offering itself to infinity.
Mind dissolves into heart
Heart dissolves into space
Body becomes a shimmering field
Pulsating between fullness and emptiness.
~ The above are excerpts from The Radiance Sutras, translated by Lorin Roche, PHD.
Wild Geese
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.
Tell me your despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
- Mary Oliver
The Most Important Thing
I am making a home inside myself. A shelter
of kindness where everything
is forgiven, everything allowed—a quiet patch
of sunlight to stretch out without hurry,
where all that has been banished
and buried is welcomed, spoken, listened to—released.
A fiercely friendly place I can claim as my very own.
I am throwing arms open
to the whole of myself—especially the fearful,
fault-finding, falling apart, unfinished parts, knowing
every seed and weed, every drop
of rain, has made the soil richer.
I will light a candle, pour a hot cup of tea, gather
around the warmth of my own blazing fire. I will howl
if I want to, knowing this flame can burn through
any perceived problem, any prescribed perfectionism,
any lying limitation, every heavy thing.
I am making a home inside myself
where grace blooms in grand and glorious
abundance, a shelter of kindness that grows
all the truest things.
I whisper hallelujah to the friendly
sky. Watch now as I burst into blossom.
~ Julia Fehrenbacher
Threshold
If you knew you were about
To step off the cliff of the known,
To slip from the safety of the familiar
Into the womb of darkness
That has no names,
Would you still cross that threshold
With confident steps,
Or hasten back to the old small house
That lies tight and cramped
Like an old snake skin around you?
The call of the abyss
Looms like a reapers shadow
And looks annihilating
From the telecope of the mind,
But there secret treasures
Are sewn in the fabric of your skin.
To cross that line
Sometimes we have to trip and fall,
Lose ourselves like mist at dawn
Or take the hand of a friend
As we enter uncharted realms.
What happens there is hard to say,
Layers of silt are removed,
Our palette gets washed away
And the house of familiarity
Feels hauntingly different.
Roles and routines no longer fit
As we cast like spawn
Into the ocean's mouth
Or like light hurled in a starless sky,
Where there is nothing to do but
Yield to the tug of waves
Trust the path that takes us to the edge,
To the place where we can break open
And discover ourselves anew.
—Mark Coleman
Gentle
A gentler world begins
in the way you touch your heart.
Be soft with the light inside you.
Caress your body with this breath.
God is nothing else
but the place where the sun comes up
in your chest.
You are the glimmering destination.
You are the golden honey daubed
on the bread of the ordinary.
Whatever is perfect,
whatever is heavenly,
begins here.
~Fred LaMotte
"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in the bud
was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."
~ Anais Nin
In any quiet moment when you are breathing,
The breath may flow out and pause of itself,
Or flow in and pause of itself.
Here experience opens into exquisite vastness
With no beginning and no end.
Embrace this infinity without reservation.
Dive into it,drink deeply, and emerge renewed.
~
Breath flows in filling, filling,
Then surrenders to flow out again.
Breath flows out, emptying, emptying
Offering itself to infinity.
Mind dissolves into heart
Heart dissolves into space
Body becomes a shimmering field
Pulsating between fullness and emptiness.
~ The above are excerpts from The Radiance Sutras, translated by Lorin Roche, PHD.
Wild Geese
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.
Tell me your despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
- Mary Oliver
When I am among the trees
When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness.
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.
I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.
Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, “Stay awhile.”
The light flows from their branches.
And they call again, “It’s simple,” they say,
“and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine.”
~ Mary Oliver
When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness.
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.
I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.
Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, “Stay awhile.”
The light flows from their branches.
And they call again, “It’s simple,” they say,
“and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine.”
~ Mary Oliver
Not causing harm requires staying awake.
Part of being awake is slowing down enough to notice what we say and do.
The more we witness our emotional chain reactions and understand how they work,
the easier it is to refrain.
It becomes a way of life to stay awake,
slow down and notice.
~Pema Chodron
What If
What if our religion was each other?
If our practice was our life?
If prayer was our words?
What if the temple was the Earth?
If the forests were our church?
If holy water the rivers, lakes & oceans?
What if meditation was our relationships?
If the teacher was life?
If wisdom was self-knowledge?
If love was the centre of our being?
What if God was oneself & all?
~ Ganga White
"Maximum snuggling
Minimal struggling"
~ Swami Vagashananda
Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I'll meet you there.
~ Rumi
Part of being awake is slowing down enough to notice what we say and do.
The more we witness our emotional chain reactions and understand how they work,
the easier it is to refrain.
It becomes a way of life to stay awake,
slow down and notice.
~Pema Chodron
What If
What if our religion was each other?
If our practice was our life?
If prayer was our words?
What if the temple was the Earth?
If the forests were our church?
If holy water the rivers, lakes & oceans?
What if meditation was our relationships?
If the teacher was life?
If wisdom was self-knowledge?
If love was the centre of our being?
What if God was oneself & all?
~ Ganga White
"Maximum snuggling
Minimal struggling"
~ Swami Vagashananda
Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I'll meet you there.
~ Rumi
When Einstein gave lectures at U.S. universities, the question students asked him most was: Do you believe in God? And he always answered: I believe in the God of Spinoza.
Baruch de Spinoza was a Dutch philosopher considered one of the great rationalists of 17th century philosophy, along with Descartes.
According to Spinoza, God would say: “Stop praying. I want you to go out into the world and enjoy your life. I want you to sing, have fun and enjoy everything I've made for you.
“Stop going into those dark, cold temples that you built yourself and saying they are my house. My house is in the mountains, in the woods, rivers, lakes, beaches. That's where I live and there I express my love for you.
“Stop blaming me for your miserable life; I never told you there was anything wrong with you or that you were a sinner, or that your sexuality was a bad thing. Sex is a gift I have given you and with which you can express your love, your ecstasy, your joy. So don't blame me for everything that others made you believe.
“Stop reading alleged sacred scriptures that have nothing to do with me. If you can't read me in a sunrise, in a landscape, in the look of your friends, in your son's eyes—you will find me in no book!
“Stop asking me, ‘Will you tell me how to do my job?’ Stop being so scared of me. I do not judge you or criticize you, nor get angry or bothered. I am pure love.
“Stop asking for forgiveness, there's nothing to forgive. If I made you, I filled you with passions, limitations, pleasures, feelings, needs, inconsistencies, and best of all, free will. Why would I blame you if you respond to something I put in you? How could I punish you for being the way you are, if I'm the one who made you? Do you think I could create a place to burn all my children who behave badly for the rest of eternity? What kind of god would do that?
“Respect your peers, and don't give what you don't want for yourself. All I ask is that you pay attention in your life—alertness is your guide.
“My beloved, this life is not a test, not a step on the way, not a rehearsal, not a prelude to paradise. This life is the only thing here and now—and it is all you need.
“I have set you absolutely free, no prizes or punishments, no sins or virtues, no one carries a marker, no one keeps a record.
You are absolutely free to create in your life. It’s you who creates heaven or hell.
“Live as if there is nothing beyond this life, as if this is your only chance to enjoy, to love, to exist. Then you will have enjoyed the opportunity I gave you. And if there is an afterlife, rest assured that I won't ask if you behaved right or wrong, I'll ask, ‘Did you like it? Did you have fun? What did you enjoy the most? What did you learn?’
“Stop believing in me; believing is assuming, guessing, imagining. I don't want you to believe in me, I want you to believe in you. I want you to feel me in you when you kiss your beloved, when you tuck in your little girl, when you caress your dog, when you bathe in the sea.
“Stop praising me. What kind of egomaniac God do you think I am? I'm bored with being praised. I'm tired of being thanked. Feeling grateful? Prove it by taking care of yourself, your health, your relationships, the world. Express your joy! That's the way to praise me.
“Stop complicating things and repeating as a parrot what you've been taught about me. Why do you need more miracles? So many explanations?
“The only thing for sure is that you are here, that you are alive, that this world is full of wonders.”
Baruch de Spinoza was a Dutch philosopher considered one of the great rationalists of 17th century philosophy, along with Descartes.
According to Spinoza, God would say: “Stop praying. I want you to go out into the world and enjoy your life. I want you to sing, have fun and enjoy everything I've made for you.
“Stop going into those dark, cold temples that you built yourself and saying they are my house. My house is in the mountains, in the woods, rivers, lakes, beaches. That's where I live and there I express my love for you.
“Stop blaming me for your miserable life; I never told you there was anything wrong with you or that you were a sinner, or that your sexuality was a bad thing. Sex is a gift I have given you and with which you can express your love, your ecstasy, your joy. So don't blame me for everything that others made you believe.
“Stop reading alleged sacred scriptures that have nothing to do with me. If you can't read me in a sunrise, in a landscape, in the look of your friends, in your son's eyes—you will find me in no book!
“Stop asking me, ‘Will you tell me how to do my job?’ Stop being so scared of me. I do not judge you or criticize you, nor get angry or bothered. I am pure love.
“Stop asking for forgiveness, there's nothing to forgive. If I made you, I filled you with passions, limitations, pleasures, feelings, needs, inconsistencies, and best of all, free will. Why would I blame you if you respond to something I put in you? How could I punish you for being the way you are, if I'm the one who made you? Do you think I could create a place to burn all my children who behave badly for the rest of eternity? What kind of god would do that?
“Respect your peers, and don't give what you don't want for yourself. All I ask is that you pay attention in your life—alertness is your guide.
“My beloved, this life is not a test, not a step on the way, not a rehearsal, not a prelude to paradise. This life is the only thing here and now—and it is all you need.
“I have set you absolutely free, no prizes or punishments, no sins or virtues, no one carries a marker, no one keeps a record.
You are absolutely free to create in your life. It’s you who creates heaven or hell.
“Live as if there is nothing beyond this life, as if this is your only chance to enjoy, to love, to exist. Then you will have enjoyed the opportunity I gave you. And if there is an afterlife, rest assured that I won't ask if you behaved right or wrong, I'll ask, ‘Did you like it? Did you have fun? What did you enjoy the most? What did you learn?’
“Stop believing in me; believing is assuming, guessing, imagining. I don't want you to believe in me, I want you to believe in you. I want you to feel me in you when you kiss your beloved, when you tuck in your little girl, when you caress your dog, when you bathe in the sea.
“Stop praising me. What kind of egomaniac God do you think I am? I'm bored with being praised. I'm tired of being thanked. Feeling grateful? Prove it by taking care of yourself, your health, your relationships, the world. Express your joy! That's the way to praise me.
“Stop complicating things and repeating as a parrot what you've been taught about me. Why do you need more miracles? So many explanations?
“The only thing for sure is that you are here, that you are alive, that this world is full of wonders.”