Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Rumi poem



Rumi is a 13th century Persian Sufi mystic, born in Balkh, in what is now Afghanistan. The general theme of his thoughts, like that of the other mystic and Sufi poets of the Persian literature, is essentially about the concept of Tawheed (unity) and union with his beloved (the primal root) from which/whom he has been cut and fallen aloof, and his longing and desire for reunity. - Text from Wikipedia


The following poem is one of my favorites:


Since You Are I, You Who Are Myself


Once a man came and knocked at the door of his friend.
“Who are you?” asked his friend. “It is I,” he replied.
The friend said, “Go away! This isn’t the time to enter!
There’s no place at a table like mine for the one
Who’s not been cooked in the fire of true gnosis?
Apart from the fire of absence and separation
What’ll cook the raw or free the uncooked from fraud?
The poor man went away and for a whole year of travel and absence
He was burnt utterly by the flames of separation.
His heart burned until it was consumed; he came again
To the door of his friend and knocked at the door
With a hundred signs of the utmost fear and reverence,
Terrified a wrong word should escape his lips.
From within, his friend called out, “Who’s at the door?”
He replied, “It is you who are at the door, O charmer of hearts!”
“Since you are I,” the friend said, “O you who are myself,
Enter; there’s no place in my house for two I’s.
~ RUMI

Monday, September 29, 2008

The Hummingbirds



Since April of this year, I've enjoyed the company of some tiny friends in my garden, the little hummingbirds. So cheerfully chatting, flitting about from flower to flower and stopping for a drink of sugar water from my feeders, they've added such life to my backyard.

It's autumn now. For the last two days, I've not seen them. One by one, the tiny creatures quietly left on their long journeys south for the winter. How did I not know they were preparing to leave? Did they try to tell me good-bye and I missed it? The feeders are hanging in still silence and only my past visions of the little creatures remain.

Goodbye my little friends. I pray for you a safe journey...............'til we meet again.

Winged Jewel
With wings spun of silver and hearts of gold,These tiny creatures our hearts behold.With angelic features and colors so bright,Make even the heaviest heart seem light.The magical way they flit through the sky,They appear, then vanish in the blink of an eye.They're sending a message for us to retrieve,Anything's possible for those who believe!

Written by: Christopher Griffiths


Q & A about migration of hummingbirds:



Ruby-throats winter in Central America from Mexico to Panama. At the northern extreme, a few rufous hummers winter in southern and coastal California and along the Gulf coast from southeastern Texas to Florida. Most winter in Mexico.



Q. Do hummingbirds migrate by day or night?


By day, except in one situation: when ruby-throated hummingbirds light out over the Gulf of Mexico, they are over water when night falls and must keep on going until the reach the other side.



Q. When do hummers leave their wintering grounds?

They time their return to the breeding grounds according to location. Birds that live in the southern part of the US begin their return migration as early as February. Birds that live further north in the East, or in the inland mountains in the West, time their return to coincide with the flowering of their food plants or sapsucker migration.

-----diane

Friday, September 26, 2008

A Limb Just Moved by Mirabai


A LIMB JUST MOVED

You taught Your songs to the birds first,
why was that?

And You practised Your love in the hearts of animals
before You created man,

I know the planets talk at night
and tell secrets
about
You.

A limb just moved before me,
the beauty of this world
is causing me to
weep.

------Mirabai


Tuesday, September 23, 2008

A New Sacred Morning


Morning
From the east comes the sun, bringing a new and unspoiled day. It has already circled the earth and looked upon distant lands and far-away peoples.

It has passed over mountain ranges and the waters of the seven seas. It has shone upon laborers in the fields, into the windows of homes, and shops, and factories.

It has beheld proud cities with gleaming towers, and also the hovels of the poor.

It has been witness to both good and evil, the works of honest men and women and the conspiracy of knaves.

It has seen marching armies, bomb-blasted villages and "the destruction that wasteth at noon-day."

Now, unsullied from its tireless journey, it comes to us, messenger of the morning. Harbinger of a new day.
----Clinton Lee Scott (September 28, 1887-September 28, 1985), a Universalist minister

Saturday, September 20, 2008

The Tao





Lao-Tse

Before creation a presence existed,

Self-contained, complete,


formless, voiceless, mateless,


changeless,



Which yet pervaded itself with


unending motherhood.


Though there can be no name


for it.


I have called it the "way of life."


Perhaps I should have called it


"the fullness of life,"


Since fullness implies widening


into space,


Implies still further widening


into space,


Implies still further widening,


Implies widening until the circle


is whole.


In this sense


The way of life is fulfilled.


Heaven is fulfilled.


Earth is fulfilled.


And a fit person also is fulfilled.


There are the four amplitudes of


the universe


And a fit person is one of them.


People rounding the way of


earth,


Earth rounding the way of


heaven.


Heaven rounding the way of life


Till the circle is full.


-Lao-Tse



Tuesday, September 16, 2008

THIS CLAY JUG by Kabir

THIS CLAY JUG

by Kabir


Inside this clay jug there are canyons

and pine mountains, and the maker of

canyons and pine mountains!


All seven oceans are inside, and

hundreds of millions of stars.


The acid that tests gold is there, and

the one who judges jewels.


And the music from the strings

no one touches, and the source of

all water.


If you want the truth, I will tell you

the truth:


Friend, listen:

the God whom I love is inside.

Sacred Hoop

Then I was standing

on the highest mountain

of them all.


And round beneath me

was the whole hoop

of the world.


And while I stood there

I saw more than I can tell


And I understood

more than I saw.


For I was seeing

in the sacred manner

the shape of all things

of the spirit


And the shapes

as they must live

together like one being.


And I saw that the sacred hoop

of my people

was one of many hoops

that make one circle,

wide as daylight and starlight.


And in the center grew one

mighty flowering tree


To shelter all the children

of one mother

and one father.


And I saw that it was holy.
- Black Elk





Saturday, September 13, 2008

Gratitude



A recent visitor to my blog made a comment on my past posting about "Hidden Messages of Water". He said, "I loved Emoto's books, and never looked at water the same way since, or drank it without gratitude for such a marvelous gift that is the source and sustenance of life."


My visitor's very appreciated comment made a huge impact upon me. I, too, have been unable to look at water the same way since. Every encounter throughout my day with water is now noticed with an awareness of its aliveness and my gratitude for it. Each morning I visit my backyard fountain and say a silent hello and give it my love. Water thrives on attention, as we all do, even the plants and trees we surround ourselves with.


Now I keep on hand a bottle of water to drink that has been blessed with the words " LOVE" and "GRATITUDE" written on labels for the water to "see". I was not expecting anything different about the taste of this water, but it has surprised me tremendously! The first time I tasted my water after it had been exposed to these beautiful words, the water was deliciously sweeter than usual. I believe it is showing me its appreciation of my attention and love directed to it, just as Dr. Emoto has explained in his books.