This morning as I was looking out on the circle garden in the front yard, I thought it wasn’t right; the plants seemed scrawny. Then it dawned on me that rather than expecting the garden to be perfect, it is up to me to bestow my own delight upon the garden.
Perfectionism is rooted in this tendency to have expectations, to want things to be “just so,” and to be disappointed when they aren’t. It is a problem I have had all of my life. Re: the drawing process– when I learn that I can bestow my blessings upon that which I behold, I won’t need to always be looking for the perfect thing to draw. I can choose a subject with more ease and just get on with it.
There is a quote from Bob Dylan that I can’t find any more that he would rather hear the ash cans clanging… and he went on listing ordinary sights and sounds. It made a deep impression on me. It relates to this need I have to be able to extract perfection from each moment.
It is your sadhana to extract the perfection from each moment, from each particle of the universe… This is perfect, that is perfect.
As the days and weeks go by, I find myself becoming more attuned to the qualities emanated by the time of day and the season. The manifestations of nature in accordance with time are becoming more and more important to me. I am “tuning into” increasing levels of subtlety. Being attuned to the relationship between time and nature is growing a carpet beneath me. It is a true foundation for Self* knowledge.
*I understand the Self to be unity awareness, the knowledge of the Whole within which all of the parts are contained.
“The breezes at dawn have secrets to tell you Don’t go back to sleep! You must ask for what you really want. Don’t go back to sleep! People are going back and forth across the doorsill where the two worlds touch, The door is round and open Don’t go back to sleep!”
This morning, at the time of Gurupurnima, the full moon of July, as a result of a dharana given by my meditation master, I became aware of what I would call “ground luminosity.” I was aware of an all-pervading Light within which everything exists and of which everything is composed. Everything is within it, yet it is unaffected by anything. From this perspective, there is no identification with the need to change anything. Everything is perfect. This vision, which belongs to no particular religion or path to the exclusion of another, was made possible through the grace of the master.
And as the seasons come and go, here’s something you might like to know. There are fairies everywhere: under bushes, in the air, playing games just like you play, singing through their busy day. So listen, touch, and look around – in the air and on the ground. And if you watch all nature’s things, you might just see a fairy’s wing. ~ Author Unknown
“On the night you were born,
the moon smiled with such wonder
that the stars peeked in to see you
and the night whispered,
“Life will never be the same.”
Because there had never been anyone like you…
ever in the world.
So enchanted with you were the wind and the rain
that they whispered the sound of your wonderful name.
It sailed through the farmland
high on the breeze…
Over the ocean…
And through the trees…
Until everyone heard it
and everyone knew
of the one and only ever you.
Not once had there been such eyes,
such a nose,
such silly, wiggly, wonderful toes.
When the polar bears heard,
they danced until dawn.
From faraway places,
the geese flew home.
The moon stayed up until
morning next day.
And none of the ladybugs flew away.
So whenever you doubt just how special you are
and you wonder who loves you, how much and how far,
listen for the geese honking high in the sky.
(They’re singing a song to remember you by.)
Or notice the bears asleep at the zoo.
(It’s because they’ve been dancing all night for you!)
Or drift off to sleep to the sound of the wind.
(Listen closely…it’s whispering your name again!)
If the moon stays up until morning one day,
or a ladybug lands and decides to stay,
or a little bird sits at your window a while,
it’s because they’re all hoping to see you smile…
For never before in story or rhyme
(not even once upon a time)
has the world ever known a you, my friend,
and it never will, not ever again…
Heaven blew every trumpet
and played every horn
on the wonderful, marvelous
night you were born.”
~Nancy Tillman “On the Night You Were Born”
Take hold of your own life.
See that the whole existence is celebrating.
These trees are not serious, these birds are not serious.
The rivers and the oceans are wild,
and everywhere there is fun,
everywhere there is joy and delight.
Watch existence,
listen to the existence and become part of it.
“To know fully even one field or one land is a lifetime’s experience. In the world of poetic experience it is depth that counts, not width. A gap in a hedge, a smooth rock surfacing a narrow lane, a view of a woody meadow, the stream at the junction of four small fields – these are as much as a man can fully experience.”
~Patrick Kavanaugh www.wildwestirishtours.com
Expect great things in simple places
St. Benedict’s Rule for Monasteries opens with an appeal: Listen. Perhaps it is the most important word in the Rule. Listen, “obaudire,” also means obey. In listening something new can emerge, something beyond my own assumptions, control, and agenda. Rainer Maria Rilke spoke of writing as an obedience to the moment, to what is given in the present. He would not find it strange if this were called a monastic approach to writing. He aspired to carry the cloister within him, although he knew he could not live in a monastery.
—Brother Paul Quenon, an excerpt from “Prayer, Poverty, and Creativity,” a Christian monk’s reflections on solitude and community in the latest summer issue of Parabola: “Alone & Together” which is available on newsstands and better bookstores now.
PHOTOGRAPH: William Lovell Finley, “Chickadees,” c.1900-1909.
