• Sun Gazing

  Just look at existence and its abundance. What is the need of so many flowers in the world? Just roses would have been enough, but existence is abundant: millions and millions of flowers, millions of birds, millions of animals — everything in abundance. Nature is not ascetic; it is everywhere dancing — in the ocean, in the trees. It is everywhere singing — in the wind passing through the pine trees, in the birds…

  

Mornings are full of promise! This morning I looked out the kitchen window and noticed the planter that Brian had just filled with pansies. It was obvious that the plants were newly planted. They looked a bit confused and dishevelled. However, I know from experience that they will re-orient in short order and grow and flourish as one unit. This seems to be such a time for me, one of re-orienting. It was a blessing to have the reminder that a bit of confusion is okay and part of change and growth.

Also, I am reminded that entering the void requires a refreshment, or a reset of sorts, in perspective. A disconnect is, in fact, essential. I hope to remember this, and to allow a re-orientation, as I complete my drawing done on the lip of the gorge.

This morning I had postponed meditating, with the excuse that I was still transitioning from East Coast time. I was taking the laundry to the basement when the thought popped up that NOW is the moment to be present. So, I continued to the basement with a heightened sense of awareness, present in my body and senses. It was in this way that I took care of the laundry.

I have spent quite a bit of time at spiritual retreats, and nine months at Claymont Court, where the entire time was dedicated to working on being present. It is becoming more apparent day by day that mindfulness is to be practiced right here, right now. I don’t want to postpone it until another gathering or even until the time I sit on my meditation asana. NOW is the moment to be present. I do not wish to impose any conditions on my vow to be present in the moment.

I stand before you tonight to represent the people who do not count: The poor, the poets, and monks. As long as there are people who are trying to realize the divine in themselves, there shall be hope in the world.

—Thomas Merton

Earth may become on an instant all faery . . . and earth and air resound with the music of its invisible people… You may see the palace chambers of nature where the wise ones dwell in secret . . . and know an eternal love is within and around you, pressing upon you and sustaining with infinite tenderness your body, soul and spirit. – A.E.

When I forget the narrow will of self,

The cosmic warmth that heralds summer’s glory

Fills all my soul and spirit;

To lose myself in light

Is the command of spirit vision

And intuition tells me strongly:

O lose yourself to find yourself.

— Rudolph Steiner

St. Paul’s Cathedral stands on a sacred site and sends out powerful rays of light. For me, the pathway bridge across the Thames symbolizes how human beings emmanate from and return to the experience of divine awareness. Walking the bridge toward St. Paul’s was exhilarating. There was truly the sense of surrender of the small, contracted sense of self while moving toward the ineffable. (Ben and Anda in foreground)