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
Eternity * William Blake
William Blake Eternity He who binds to himself a joy Does the winged life destroy; But he who kisses the joy as it flies Lives in eternity’s sun rise. ~ William Blake For more inspiration, meditate with the mystics
Love Gave Birth to Me * Rumi
Rumi It is love that brings happiness to people. It is love that gives joy to happiness. My mother didn’t give birth to me, that love did. A hundred blessings and praises to that love. ~ Rumi For more inspiration, meditate with the mystics
A Holiday Story from Rishikesh, India
A Holiday Story It was Christmas week, 1983. The rumpled foothills of the Garhwali Himalayan range shone blue-ish in the early twilight and late dawn. The harder core ascetics, not the ones who flock like snow birds to the holy sites closer to the equator and lower in elevation, knotted their rough orange wool scarves around their ears, turning … Read More
In Honor of Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z”l
With deep honor, respect, and great Love for Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, who always expressed his warmth, kindness, and humanity in a very unusual way. I always felt, quite personally, his profound respect for Spirit, his curiosity and opennness for other’s paths, and his generosity of support and encouragement to pursue the Divine authentically, however it may call. Like many, I … Read More