The root of prayer is interior silence. We may think of prayer as thoughts or feelings expressed in words, but this is only one expression. Deep prayer is the laying aside of thoughts. It is the opening of mind and heart, body and feelings -- our whole being -- to God, the Ultimate Mystery, beyond words, thought, and emotions. We do not resist them or suppress them. We accept them as they are and go beyond them, not by effort, but by letting them all go by. We open our awareness to the Ultimate Mystery whom we know by faith is within us, closer than choosing, closer than thinking, closer than choosing -- closer than consciousness itself. the Ultimate Mystery is the ground in which our being is rooted, the source from whom our life emerges at every moment.
~ from OPEN MIND, OPEN HEART by Fr. Thomas Keating
Wisdom is radiant and unfading, and she is easily discerned by those who love her, and is found by those who seek her. She hastens to make herself known to those who desire her. One who rises early to seek her will have no difficulty, for she will be found sitting at the gate. She goes about seeking those worthy of her, and she graciously appears to them in their paths, and meets them in every thought.
Pleasure is one thing; wisdom is another. The first leads to sorrow, though pleasant at the time. The latter, though at first unpleasant, leads to lasting joy.
Wisdom has no limitations and embraces the profound as well as the simple. She can be found in the huts of the poor and in the palaces, in workshops and in lecture halls. She deals with the most profound speculations on the creation of the world and the very nature of God and even with the inability of men and women to come up with adequate answers to these great mysteries. Wisdom tells us to be attentive to her and to incline our ears to her understanding.
There is a Wisdom that arises--sometimes gracefully, sometimes gently, sometimes awkwardly, sometimes fiercely, but it will arise to save us if we let it, and it rises from WITHIN us, like the force that drives green shoots to break the winter ground, it will arise and drive us into a great blossoming like a pear tree, into flowering, into fragrance, fruit and song ... in that part of ourselves that can never be defiled, defeated or destroyed, but that comes back to life, time and time again, that lives--always--that does not die.
Wisdom is the art of balancing the known with the unknown, the suffering with the joy; it is a way of linking the whole of life together in a new and deeper unity ... Wisdom is the art of living in rhythm with your soul, your life, and the divine.
There came upon me an overshadowing bright cloud, and in the midst of it a Figure of a Woman, most richly adorned with transparent gold, her hair hanging down, and her face as terrible as crystal for brightness, but her countenance was sweet and mild. At this sight I was somewhat amazed, but immediately a Voice came saying, "Behold, I am God's eternal Virgin, Wisdom, whom thou hast been enquiring after. I am to unseal the Treasures of God's deep wisdom unto thee."
Wisdom is a living stream, not an icon preserved in a museum. Only when we find the spring of wisdom in our own life can it flow to future generations.
What is my word, what is human wisdom but a noise that reaches the outer ear? But from that ear to the heart lies a road that only God can travel. Blessed are you who do not put your trust in the noise of your own words, even though they come wrapped in great human wisdom.
