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Ground Luminosity
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.
http://www.siddhayoga.org/
Entering the Void with the Eyes Open
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
shared with love Alyson xx
Gurupurnima– July Full Moon
Happy July Full Moon Time!
May the light of the moon lead your way
In Honor of Ben’s Birthday– July 15
“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”
Entering the Void with the Eyes Open
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.
Osho
Sink Into This!
~Patrick Kavanaugh
www.wildwestirishtours.com
Expect great things in simple places
Carrying the Cloister Within
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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.
Art in the Making:Entering the Void with the Eyes Open 13
I spent a lot of time agonizing about starting this drawing. In my intellect, I know this is not productive. But there I was procrastinating day after day, letting other activities get in the way. Finally, the day came when I knew I would begin. I found myself having to do all sorts of little things before I could start, even after I had chosen what I would draw. I decided to draw from the porch. I needed a pillow, I needed my water. I needed my hat. I needed to do all sorts of little things I can’t recall now. I also jammed my face with chocolate chips and macademia nuts– I do nibble, but this was a real face jammer! I will reserve commenting any more on my approach to this drawing…
… except to say that what made a huge difference in my getting down to it was this quote:
The question is not what you look at, but what you see. — Henry David Thoreau
What I took from that was I didn’t have to find just the right place or thing to draw. I just needed to be present to myself and my surroundings. I need to remember this, to cut through one of the procrastination techniques to drawing!
I had determined I would draw the potted plant on the front porch and the yard beyond. I didn’t know what would happen. It was scary. I didn’t know what would happen out there beyond the plant. I am petrified I will draw something cutesy from my imagination. But those little beings just had to be seen. Tiny stroke by tiny stroke they came onto the page. All I can say is, it feels right.
Entering the Void with the Eyes Open
“You think answering a call is peaceful?
You think taking something from the unmanifest
to the manifest is supposed to flow easily?
You think it is supposed to be filled
with ease and grace.
No.
It has never been so.
At least not as a constant.
All the moments of ease and grace you have
experienced in your life are what make
getting ready for this moment even possible.
Callings, like birth, are messy,
bloody, hard, screaming out in pain hard.
Why has that come to mean something
bad in this modern ‘thought’?
Yanking something from the stardust
and shaping a golden cup of hope
from it in FORM is the work of warriors
not the work of those not ready for the
long haul of manifestation. But if you
do not make the cup there will be
no where to place your ideas
and no where for the abundance
to collect in THIS realm.
Sometimes… it pops through… there it is.
But if you look it is after years of preparing
for that meeting, that idea, that connection.
Your entire life is preparation for you
to say yes to your TRUE CALLING.
Callings need to be tended, nurtured, answered
and sought after. Yell after it. Scream into the
dark after it. Don’t let it go. Find the tail
and pull as hard as you can until the animal
called YOUR WORK comes through that
cosmic portal onto your drawing room floor
squirming with life and begging
to be expressed on the pages of the book of
your great life.
Don’t expect so much.
Don’t expect so little.
Don’t wait so long.
Don’t stop reaching no matter what.
Don’t listen to anything here that does not ring true for you.
Do listen to your heart.
Do listen to your inner tugs
Do find where the pain still lives
Do find where the light wants to shine
Do call out to your calling
as if you life depended on it.
It does.”
~Shiloh Sophia McCloud