Category: Spiritualibus

Eye to eye
How are you
Where, when
Open or closed
As reality knocks
May crack frames
That are narrow
To let go free
Soul to soul
Reach out
Embrace
Be embraced
Light and sound
Love all around
Bring silence
With noise
Into life
And death
Transports all
And one across
Gates and bridges
Worlds and planes
Home’s a golden heart
Ocean of love and mercy
God is realizing itself
Every moment now
See each other
Just as soul
Eye to eye

“Welcome to the moment” — remembering the future

Entrusting yourself to divine guidance

The promise of the mysticism of all traditions, namely that heaven will take care of us, is a great challenge for us. At first we experience it differently: that we are dependent on external circumstances… [But] mysticism is alive (mysticism from the Greek myein, to close one’s lips and eyes, meaning: “what do I hear when I am silent; what do I see when I close my eyes?”). The surface of life is dominated by the will to survive and assert ourselves, which demands our performance and our full attention. But the surface is only thin; not so far underneath lives another experience, hidden but just as real; quieter and more delicate, but just as strong and sustaining.

The question that mysticism asks us is: “To whom do you give priority? Do you allow your life to be guided by the laws of the surface or by the mystery of the Tao, which provides and cares for us?” If we make the surface our guiding star, we must abandon all hope, because this is where performance and struggle apply. But if we place the secret at the center of our lives, it is the proofs and being right that we must abandon. Because trust, devotion and love apply here, and these are not based on the power of evidence, but on the power of meaning and affirmation.

— Kontexte des Segens, I Ching – The Book of Changes, 坤 KUN, Thomas Primas

Eye to eye with the divine

No price is too high
For freedom’s peace
If one can pay in coin
It’s better than blood
But best it’s with love
With light and sound
And in total honesty
It could be painful
But deeply healing
Cleaning out all dross
Lives past and present
Entirely here and now
Observing the divine
God is realizing itself
Every moment anew
Giving each freedom
To create one’s world
An existence in love
Free of any hatred
So easily kindled
Human interaction
Claims of ownership
Or plain selfishness
Let go and jump in
The current of life
And love divine
Where we ever are.

“Pragmatic freedom in expression” — a prayer song

Two fundamental laws humans agree upon

“Two fundamental laws on which all major religions and philosophies agree: (1) do all you have agreed to do and (2) do not encroach on other persons or their property. A simple formula, 17 words. Black’s Law Dictionary defines encroach as follows:
‘To enter by gradual steps or stealth into the possession or rights of another; to trespass or intrude. To gain or intrude unlawfully upon the lands, property, or authority of another.’
Each religion or philosophy expresses these laws in different ways but all concur on these two laws — and not much else.
The not much else is as important as the two laws. …
The two laws are stated and restated throughout the lore of all the great religions. They are the point on which all come together.
But only these two. Except for them we have little or no agreement about right and wrong.
So, these are the only two rules that can be enforced on everyone. To go beyond them would be encroachment.”

— “Whatever happened to justice?” by Richard J. Maybury, pp. 31-32

No price is too high for the beauty of freedom and peace

Knots open themselves
When put into the flow
Of life, love, and spirit
If left alone actively
Do what’s possible
And leave the rest
To the divine in all
Detached trusting
That all is as needed
For soul’s unfoldment
As most all repeats itself
Again — and again to learn
To take the very next step
Always another there is
And yet again another
Therefore, why hurry
There’s time aplenty
In the here and now
Much space for all
Being themselves
To go with the flow
Of light and sound
Embraced by love
And peace at heart
Life is so very good
When joy is relished
And shared together
In spite of suffering
Or rather because
For we all are one.

“Ubuntu” — I am because we are

Humanity in action — South African ancient wisdom

An anthropologist proposed a game to the kids in an African tribe. He had put a basket full of fruit near a tree and told the kids that who ever got there first won the sweet fruits. When he told them to run, they took each others hands and ran together, then sat together enjoying their treats. When he asked them why they ran like that as one could have had all the fruits for himself, they said: “Ubuntu, how can one of us be happy if all the other ones are sad?”

Ubuntu in the Xhosa culture means: “I am because we are.”

Animals of various kinds, and a cat — no knots to open

A spiritual being
With a goal to be
Beyond all duality
Implying in or out
Thus still very dual
Like one a student
Another a teacher
Separate polarity
Instead of unity
Together as one
Spiritual being
So conscious
As individuals
Embrace in love
No longer beyond
Rather here and now
Free of duality’s crutch
No more condescension
But eye to eye as soul
Standing tall at last
On one’s own feet
Experience ‘nd all
A divine blessing
Without exception
Entirely all inclusive
Trusting and acting
As spiritual being
At peace with love
Realize God’s present

“Sardic spiral stairwell” — for spiritually inclined beings

“The Search for Truth” — a widespread story of unknown origin

There once lived a man who set off to look for truth. He scoured the world in search of it, giving up his possessions, his family, his home, all to search for truth.
After many years of wandering, his travels took him to India, where he heard tales of a distant mountain. Atop that mountain, people told him, he would find that place where truth resides.
For many months he searched, until he found the mountain of which they spoke. He climbed for several days until he finally came to the mouth of a cave. He called into it and, a minute later, his call was answered by the voice of an old woman.
“What do you want?”
“I seek truth.”
“Well, you have found me.”
He entered the cave and there, in the back, saw the most horrific creature he had ever laid eyes on, huddled over a fire. Her eyes bulged out, one further than the other, and bumps covered her face. Stray teeth stuck from her mouth, and her long tangled hair hung down in matted strands.
“You?” he said. “You are truth?”
She nodded.
Though shocked at her appearance, he stayed with her and found that she was, indeed, truth. He lived there many years, learning her ways. Finally, as he prepared to leave, he asked how he could ever repay her for all she had done for him.
“I would ask simply this,” she said. “When you go out in the world and speak of me, tell them I am young and beautiful!”

— The Beggar King and the Secret of Happiness, Joel ben Izzy, pp. 81-82

Behold the spiritual light and sound on the palm of your hand!

What else matters?
The sound is loud
The light is bright
The divine is present
Spirit is in everything
Everywhere and always
What else matters?
Balance and peace
Of heart and mind
Detachment to be
Trusting life and love
Guidance and protection
That things are as needed
To take the next step
In consciousness
Unfolding soul
Into realization
Observing God
Realizing itself
Every moment
Here and now
No matter what
Tries to block the way
Used as stepping stone
To move on beyond
Root into giving
Mostly being
In the moment
Free in divine love
What else matters?

“Mischief or miss a chief” — PentaBluNaLa with chant

“The Conference / Speech of the Birds” مقامات الطیور / منطق الطیر

BIRDS
Are we alive or dead?
Where is that king
with all the answers?
We’ve come all this way.
Let us see him!
We made it through
all these valleys!

HOOPOE
Valleys?
They were only
an illusion, birds, a dream.
We’ve been through nothing.
We are just now
at the beginning
of our journey.

— “The Conference of the Birds”, Peter Sís / Farid Ud-Din Attar فریدالدین

Sun about to rise over a calm sea — what else matters?