Chopin

Albert Bloch, Munich (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Waif of that elder world of space and glamour

Outcast within this other world’s confine,

You fashioned from its chaos and its clamour

Your  world of wonder, leaving it to shine

Pale radiance on the world, and to draw near it

Those whose wild laughter, muted to a smile

Wan-broken, wakes to tears when you beguile

With your immortal waywardness their spirit.

Singer of numb despair and mad release,

Always the sun throbs through your melancholy,

Always the rain sobs through your gayest folly-

You who knew never peace bring always peace.

     And solace always to my bleakest mood

     And benediction on my solitude.

 This sonnet to Chopin appears in Portraits and People and was composed by Albert Bloch

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Namaste

English: Windchimes. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

You deserve a good life. If you believe this you will be running on God energy. You will be of maximum service to your fellows. You will bring a whole healed and complete person into all relationships.

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A Blessing Before Beginning

English: Seascape Polski: Krajobraz morski (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This is a blessing of  Macrina Wiederkehr

O  colors of earth, anoint me and robe me with all the attributes I need for my life work: purple for wisdom, meditation , transformation, and spirituality.  Red for passion, energy and courage. Blues and greens for calm restfulness, balance, healing, hope, serenity, and contemplation.  Golden yellows for optimism and joy, lucidity, compassion and illumination, and orange for animation, creativity and enthusiasm.  Black and white for death and life, power and innocence, mysticism and truth.

All of nature  send your mystical energy upon  my work. Rocks, precious stones, pebbles, air, wind, breezes, storms, earth, flowers, trees, plants, water lakes, ponds, rivers oceans, streams, brooks, fire, moon and stars, sun  volcanoes, bonfires, burning candles, quiet lights, and bright lights

O let everything that is good bless my work.

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Let Yourself be Loved

English: Portrait of Elisabeth of the Trinity wearing of religious veil (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Elizabeth of the Trinity 1906

The first note in an eternal sanctus. “You are uncommonly loved, loved by that love of preference that the Master had here below for some and which brought them so far. He does not say to you as Peter Do you love Me more than these? He says “ let yourself be loved more than these.” That is without fearing that any obstacle will be a hindrance to it, for I am free to pour out my love on whom I wish. Let  yourself be  loved more that these is our vocation . It is in being faithful to it that you will make Me happy for you will magnify the power of My love. This love can rebuild what you have destroyed. Let yourself be loved more than these.”

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Sailing Toward the Eternal Shore

Astronomy For Beginners (Photo credit: AndyRobertsPhotos)

At dusk at the moment when the sun disappears, The night is bathed in stillness and the immensity of sky, waves and stars take over. I went and sat down at the dock and contemplated the luminous moon trail over the water for a long time. It seemed like a path of grace to guide me. I made the promise never to leave this path that would lead me to the eternal shore.

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The Seventh Step Prayer

English: Maple Leaf Rag seventh chord resolution The seventh in a seventh chord normally resolves downwards by half-step: B ♭ down to A♭ (whole-step) E♭ stays at E♭ D♭ down to C♮ (half-step) G♮ up to A♭ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My Creator

I am now willing that You should have all of me,

good and bad.

I pray that You now remove from me

every single defect of character which stands in the way

of my usefulness to You and my fellows.

Grant me strength, as I go out from here,

to do Your bidding

Amen

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Glimpse of Essence

Connemara on a cloudy day. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“I love the word essence. It has mystery, heart and luminosity. It reminds me of the way a cloud can open over a dark  Conamara lake and turn it into a shimmering mirror of silver brightness, for a few moments the lake illuminates. The essence of a thing is always elusive and hidden. The dream of art and prayer is to come nearer, even to slip through to dwell for a while in the vicinity of the essence.”

John O’Donohue

Breathing Now

Puerto Princesa Subterranean River, Philippines: View of the cave’s entrance (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We are all here now

In the underground stream

Breathing deeply

We all came by our separate paths

Here we move freely

The waters are buoyant

None will be lost

At home breathing beauty

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Elizabeth of the Trinity

“We descend daily this pathway of the abyss which is God; let us slide down this slope in

Out of the abyss (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

loving confidence. Abyss calls to abyss . It is there in the very depths that the divine impact takes place, where the abyss of our nothingness encounters the abyss of mercy. The immensity of the all of God. There we will  find the strength to die to ourselves and losing all vestige of self, we will be changed into love…”

Ambuldancia (creative walking)

Woman at left is painter Suzanne Valadon (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A quote from Martha Graham – “I believe that we learn by practice, whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same. In each, it is the performance of a dedicated precise set of acts, physical or intellectual, from which comes shape of achievement, a sense of one’s being, a satisfaction of spirit. One becomes, in some area, an athlete of God. Practice means to perform, over and over again in the face of all obstacles, some act of vision, of faith, of desire. Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired.”

I suggest 3 practices for monks in the world

1. walk

2. dance

3. sing

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