Thoughts Along the Journey - Verse 43 - Flowing

     Gently, softly, silently flows nature.  In harmony, embracing each moment, let what is yours flow to you.

     It is easy, this allowing, letting what is, be.  Letting what is your own come to you.  There is no rushing, no striving, no haste to make this moment end before its time.

     The bud opens and the blossom spills its perfume upon the ambient air.  The dolphin jumps; the bird takes flight.  Each knows its joy - without effort, without strain.

     Flowing like water, silently, steadily, softly... be.

Thoughts Along the Journey - Verse 42 - Duality

     As silence grows, so grows clarity.  When words are not enough, knowing comes.
And truth, whatever form it takes in this moment, reveals the essence of my thoughts.

   I contain,
   Both love and indifference,
   Both unity and divisiveness,
   Both majesty and commoness,
   Both harmony and discord.
   Both reverance and distain.

     It is my lot to garden wisely this fertile ground of my mind, uprooting that which chokes the beauty that is always there.

Thoughts Along the Journey - Verse 41 - It's Not Easy Being Green

It's not easy being green.

You blend in with so many ordinary things.

         Kermet the Frog

     It does not matter if the way is solitary nor if it is obscure and not easily understood.

     It does not matter if a world that values glitz and glamour turns its back on your small light.

     What is true power, what is true strength comes in quiet hours.  It comes with love and peace - its greatest gifts.

Thoughts Along the Journey - Verse 40 - Rise and Fall

     Rise and fall, rise and fall - the ego's trip through the bumpy road of life. A hectic ride where one's existence depends on outside approval, accumulation and appearances.

     I did not know that insults, injuries, injustices, betrayals and obstacles were signposts leading me back to what is real, true and of the Spirit.

In these seemingly misfortunes and weaknesses, can I yield gracefully and gratefully to the loving Spirit that shows me the way back to It?

     The ego bristles and rages, lashing out to protect itself from life's so called "threats".  Puffed up on its own delusions, it does not know the gentle voice that whispers, "yield, return and be My own."

Thoughts Along the Journey - Verse 39 - We Are One

"Wonderer, worshipper, lover of leaving, it doesn't matter.

Ours is not a caravan of despair.

Come, even if you have broken your vow

a thousand times.

Come, yet again, come, come."

                        Rumi

     So long I have perceived myself as separate, apart and experiencing this life as a solitary being.  Yes, there have been little inroads to oneness and to wholeness along the way.  And more so now these past months as I read the Tao.

 

     Like ripples in a pond, a word, a glance, a seemingly small gesture, radiates out and where it touches and who it touches and how it touches another human heart cannot be known.  This web of life encompasses all: every creature, every plant, every mountain and star.

 

     Our hearts that know life, give life, give love, give kindness, give compassion and give joy.

 

     Let our beings soar in the knowledge that we are of a piece, an interwoven fabric, whose threads are many but of one pattern, simple, harmonious and whole.

Thoughts Along the Journey - Verse 38 - Our Highest Nature

     It is easy to allow the most loving inclinations of the heart.  Without judgment, without striving to be good or just or impartial, it flows unhindered and naturally.  It is our nature, our highest nature and as sons and daughters of the living God, it is our legacy.

     To be true to those soft and silent whisperings, those knowing feelings of trust, is to be in that flow of energy that creates worlds and harmonizes with the music of the spheres.

Thoughts Along the Journey - Verse 37 - Innate Knowledge

    "Does a bird stop singing because

it can't read music?"

Loosely quoted from "Never on Sunday"

     The Tao does without doing.  The essence of each of us, infilled with the Spirit that created us, unfolds perfectly, allowing that Spirit of love free reign.  All gets done, all accomplished with perfect timing.

     The seasons transpire at the perfect time, the rose blooms as it is ready and the butterfly emerges from the chrysalis at exactly the right moment. They do not need "helping hands". The innate knowledge of their being is already there, given to them before the world was.

     In a moment of calm, I retreat to the silence, the center of my being, where all is known and understood.

Thoughts Along the Journey - Verse 36 - What Lasts and Endures

"In quietness and confidence

shall be your strength".

    Isaiah 30:15

     Ebb and flow, the tide at its zenith retreats and grows shallow.

     What lasts and endures makes no outer display of itself.  What grows strong, what expands, what flourishes will grow weak, will retreat, will diminish.

     No effort is needed to be at one with the Tao.  It is aware of everything, recognizes everything It has created.

     There is no need to compete, no need to be above another.  The flame of celebrity burns out and turns to ash.

     What lasts and endures can only be found in oneness with the Tao.

Thoughts Along the Journey - Verse 35 - Worldly Pleasure

"...it is so little we know of pleasure,

Pleasure that lasts as the snow."

       Kenneth Patchen

     Worldly pleasure, that fleeting, sensory bliss.  Does it really give a life calm, peace, joy and true serenity?  When it subsides, and it does, what is left?  Another experience that leaves one bereft and wanting more.

 The physical is but one aspect of pleasure.  To seek the Tao ever present in Its creation is to find a lasting bliss.  It gives all, that is what Its nature is.  It gives to us Its essence.  To be aware of Its presence in all that we behold, touch, taste and hear is knowing that which is lasting, that which gives true peace and joy.