July-August 2003 (Vol. XVI, No. 7)

Nan Merrill

Warm summer blessings, dear frinds. May you BEHOLD BEAUTY, her many faces, whever you may be. Pauses in silence an stillness with a gentle openness are invitations to heart and soul to recognize Her graces -- especially in unexpected places. Beauty: another name for the Divine.

Such beauty in my own backyard

Neil Henry | July-August 2003 (Vol. XVI, No. 7)

The garden was a splendid sight, rich with life and glowing with color and greenery in the desert heat. I heard bluejays squawking and sparrows chirping near our rooftop, gazed at the white butterflies dancing amid the tomato plants pregnant with fruit, and I took a deep breath, longing to capture forever the magical moment in my mind's eye. Such beauty, such peace, I thought, right here in my own backyard.

~ from PEARL'S SECRET by Neil Henry

The beauty of the world

Simone Weil | July-August 2003 (Vol. XVI, No. 7)

The beauty of the world is the co-operation of divine wisdom in creation. All love of universal beauty proceeds from God dwelling in our souls and goes out to God present in the universe.

~ from WAITING FOR GOD by Simon Weil

Redeem in beauty all my life has been

Parker Palmer | July-August 2003 (Vol. XVI, No. 7)

Spirit cuts like water though it all
Carving out this emptiness
So inner eye can see
The soaring height of canyon walls within
Walls whose very color, texture, form
Redeem in beauty all my life has been
The darkness and the light, the false, the true
While deep below through my parts
To resurrect my gravebound heart
Making, always making, all things new.

~ from "Grand Canyon" by Parker Palmer

I wonder what beauty is

Jane Steger | July-August 2003 (Vol. XVI, No. 7)

I wonder what beauty is. I have been seeing lovely things all my life, but they never moved me, never presented themselves so poignantly as they have done since I entered into adversity. Now beauty appears as something more than itself. It seems to me a gateway into God. the thrilling, moving, tremendous thing about it is not the especial aspect under which it appears, not the tree, the flower the bird note at dusk, but the occasional sense of otherwhereness, of something more, a marvelous Something — complete ecstasy — that beauty half reveals... It is this overpowering Something, hidden in the midst of beauty, that moves one so exquisitely, tears the heart out, almost terrifies at times by its nearness — "Oh Ecstasy behind the grass, come softly when Thou comest nigh!"

~ from A SECRET JOURNAL by Jane Steger

Love the beautiful in everything

Alan Neame | July-August 2003 (Vol. XVI, No. 7)

Love the beautiful in everything; it is a ray of light divine. It is love's beauty. The beautiful thrills us into a kind of ecstasy, suspending the din of our inward activity in the silence of admiration; and admiration gives our nature a kind of fulfillment, a restful satiety asking for nothing more. It is the very essence of contemplative adoration.

~ from THE HERMITAGE WITHIN by an anonymous Monk

See a beautiful picture everyday

Goethe | July-August 2003 (Vol. XVI, No. 7)
An individual must hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a beautiful picture everyday in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of Beauty which God has implanted in the human soul.
~ Goethe - 1795

The night is beautiful

Langston Hughes | July-August 2003 (Vol. XVI, No. 7)

The night is beautiful
So the faces of my people.

The stars are beautiful
So the eyes of my people.

Beautiful, also, is the sun.
Beautiful, also, are the souls of my people.

~ by Langston Hughes

To discover the hidden beauty

Nan Merrill | July-August 2003 (Vol. XVI, No. 7)

Be not afraid to seek the Treasure within,
To discover the beauty hidden in the heart's garden.
For as you root out the weeds of fear,
peace, love, truth and joy begin to flower;
Light radiates out from your
inner garden to all the world.

~ from MEDITATIONS AND MANDALAS by Nan C. Merrill

The journey toward our beauty

Rod McIver | July-August 2003 (Vol. XVI, No. 7)
The journey toward our beauty is a magnificent struggle. Achieving an integrity between what we believe and how we live is a challenge worthy of the gift of life. A thousand obstacles stand between ourselves and the honoring of our truth. A thousand distractions. (A thousand ego-generated delusions). To dive down, find the beauty, nurture it and offer it to the world is magnificent. Staying with your beauty, your truth, your integrity is difficult, but out of these things comes meaning, and meaning is all-transcendent.
~ from JOURNAL NOTES by Rod McIver ... "Heron Dance" #19

Through Earth's beauty

Michelangelo | July-August 2003 (Vol. XVI, No. 7)
My soul can find no staircase to Heaven unless it be through Earth's beauty.
~ by Michelangelo

Beauty is luminous radiance

Daphne Rose Kingma | July-August 2003 (Vol. XVI, No. 7)

Beauty is luminous radiance. Beauty is lucent, mystical essence, he face that is unforgettably lovely, the dance with the exquisite movements that our minds cannot erase, the music whose notes repeat themselves endlessly in our hearts. Beauty infuses; beauty enthralls; beauty inspires and illumines; beauty lifts up and enlivens our souls.

~ from HEART AND SOUL by Daphne Rose Kingma

You can walk in beauty and still change diapers

Wendy Crockett | July-August 2003 (Vol. XVI, No. 7)

Life is a spiral, slowly moving through the seasons and cycles o four lives. If we are balanced in our actions, creating beauty and harmony within our spiral, we are following the path of right action, the path we strive to follow... To balance the spiral we must participate in our becoming well. We must learn not to be judgmental, not to be dragged down by grief, anger and negativity, forgetting the joy, passion, generosity and kindness of life. Beauty is no threat to the wary. You can walk in beauty and still sack groceries or change diapers...

~ from SWEETWATER WISDOM by Wendy Crockett

To behold ourselves in Your Beauty

St. John of the Cross | July-August 2003 (Vol. XVI, No. 7)

Let us rejoice, Beloved,
Let us go forth
To behold ourselves
In Your Beauty.

~ from THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS by St. John of the Cross

Beyond finite beauty

Augustin Guillerand | July-August 2003 (Vol. XVI, No. 7)

Beyond finite beauty — the beauty that we see — is a depth of infinite beauty from which all created beauty comes, and to which it must return to find its fulfillment. This is the light in which all works of art must be immersed, if they are to touch the depths of all being and of all hearts.

God is at the deep center of all things; there we find eternal life. Every creature gifted with reason has received light to see in all created things both their own individual beauty and that of the Supreme Being, from whom they have received their being, and who sustains them in it. With the light given us we can see God in all things and come into harmony.

~ by Augustin Guillerand