Hafez It Felt Love How Did the rose Ever open its heart And give to this world All its Beauty? It felt the encouragement of light Against its Being, Otherwise, We all remain Too Frightened. ~Hafez (1320 – 1389)
Learn To Be Alone * Thomas Merton
Thomas Merton “Physical solitude, exterior silence and real recollection are all morally necessary for anyone who wants to lead a contemplative life but like everything else in creation they are nothing more than means to an end, and if we do not understand the end we will make a wrong use of the means We do not go into the … Read More
Mystic Union * Ramakrishna
Ramakrishna How foolishly you try, O mind, to know the nature of Reality. You are searching in vain, as a mad person seeks treasure in a pitch-black, empty room. God is known by ecstatic love, there is no other adequate mode. Truth is only experienced by recognizing all as God, never by discriminating neti, neti: “This is not God. That … Read More
On Writing * Saint Augustine
Saint Augustine “I am the sort of a man who writes because he has made progress, and who makes progress by writing.” ~ Saint Augustine Epistle 143:2-3 For more inspiration, meditate with the mystics
Meditate on Paper * Thomas Merton
Thomas Merton “Learn how to meditate on paper. Drawing and writing are forms of meditation. Learn how to contemplate works of art. Learn how to pray in the streets or in the country. Know how to meditate not only when you have a book in your hand but when you are waiting for a bus or riding in a train … Read More
Contemplation * Thomas Merton
Thomas Merton Contemplation . . . is the experiential grasp of reality as subjective, not so much “mind” (which would signify “belonging to the external self”) but “myself” in existential mystery. Contemplation does not arrive at reality after a process of deduction, but by an intuitive awakening in which our free and personal reality becomes fully alive to its own existential depths, … Read More
On Religious Inquiry * Vimala Thakar
Vimala Thakar Religious inquiry involves willingness to court failure. If we are too much concerned with doing the correct thing and are afraid of making mistakes, then fear creates inhibitions and prevents the openness necessary for learning. Sometimes we’ll make mistakes, slip and fall but as children learning to walk, we pick ourselves up and go on joyously, carrying no … Read More