June 1995 (Vol. VIII, No. 6)

Nan Merrill

BLESSED BE, friends! May Beauty ever radiate through your lives!

I carry the remembrance of the vibrant Life that breaks through the veil of this global village unexpectedly from time to time. And in those moments that joyful wound, that "terrible Beauty", is a balm for my soul. I remember and am assured of my sanity. I know again that all life is sacred and vibrates in shimmering Beauty. Only my density -- those concrete walls that were slowly and carefully constructed -- keeps me prisoner and in ferment. Ah, sweet Spirit, touch my wound of illusory separation that I might pour forth its joy to our broken, alienated world! Let me not be traitor to your hidden Presence within me by hiding the Light and Love in buildings constructed by hands or in a heart of stone.

Beauty in the person

June 1995 (Vol. VIII, No. 6)

If there is a light in the soul,
There will be beauty in the person.
If there is beauty in the person,
There will be harmony in the house.
If there is harmony in the house,
There will be order in the nation.
If there is order in the nation,
There will be peace in the world.

~ Chinese proverb

Purity is the power to see the beautiful in all things

Justin Moreward Haig | June 1995 (Vol. VIII, No. 6)

Purity is the power to see the beautiful in all things and in all functions of life, and to glorify all actions by the spirit of unselfishness.

~ Justin Moreward Haig

I was looking at the peach tree in blossom

Piero Ferrucci | June 1995 (Vol. VIII, No. 6)

I was looking at the peach tree in blossom, and then I suddenly felt that it was not just the tree that was beautiful, but LIVING BEAUTY seemed to be coming through it, and it was in touch with me. It was an intensely personal contact, and it was like some BEING was communicating with me in a wordless way. It was like meeting some very special person who had an extraordinary effect on me. This eternity, I felt, was seeking itself through the activity of innumerable forms of life -- through nature, as with a flower or spider weaving a web, or through a human being creating a work of art, so that the same life would express itself through me... I was flooded by an overwhelming sense of harmony. In a flash countless aspects of beauty were revealed to me which I had never realized before.

~ from WHAT WE MAY BE by Piero Ferrucci

Free the mind from the domination of time and everything takes on a curious beauty

James Fitzgerald | June 1995 (Vol. VIII, No. 6)

Free the mind from the domination of time and everything takes on a curious beauty. Experience then seems to exist for its own sake with a flavor and a color and a fragrance it had not before. The scene is no longer blurred and streaming away from us, broken by an anxious heart.

~ from the diary of James Fitzgerald

Beauty can be found in birth and also in dying

Thich Nhat Hanh | June 1995 (Vol. VIII, No. 6)

BEAUTY can be found in birth and also in dying. If we know how to live, we will also know how to die. Living in beauty means dying in beauty. The deepest way to be alive and the deepest way to die are the same -- doing so in harmony with everyone and everything, in the true spirit of interbeing. The moment we do this, ideas of self and nonself, life and death, vanish, and we experience joy, equanimity and non-fear.

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

The most beautiful thing we can experience

Albert Einstein | June 1995 (Vol. VIII, No. 6)

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.

~ Albert Einstein

Beauty in things

David Hume | June 1995 (Vol. VIII, No. 6)
Beauty in things exist in the mind which contemplates them.
~ David Hume

To be centered on God

Susan Howatch | June 1995 (Vol. VIII, No. 6)

I found myself wondering how far she could ultimately journey in her art if she remained self-centered and not God-centered. To be centered entirely on the self is inevitably to be limited in one's range; to be centered on God, aligning one's own self with the power of the Creator is to be open to the spiritual range of all humanity, to be in touch with the eternal, not merely the ephemeral. She was a fine artist, but with her narrowed vision she risked failing to reach her full potential -- or was she, in her preoccupation with beauty and truth, not so far from being God-centered as I in my arrogance supposed?

~ from ABSOLUTE TRUTHS by Susan Howatch

Truth is within ourselves

Robert Browning | June 1995 (Vol. VIII, No. 6)

Truth is within ourselves; it takes no rise
From outward things, what'ere you may believe.
There is an inmost centre in us all,
Where truth abides in fulness; and around,
Wall upon wall, the gross flesh hems it in,
This perfect, clear perception -- which is truth ...
and to KNOW,
Rather consists in opening out a way
Whence the imprisoned splendor may escape,
Than in effecting entry for a light
Supposed to be without.

~ from "Paracelsus" by Robert Browning with thanks to John Bryan

Truth is within ourselves

Robert Browning | June 1995 (Vol. VIII, No. 6)

Truth is within ourselves; it takes no rise
From outward things, what'ere you may believe.
There is an inmost centre in us all,
Where truth abides in fulness; and around,
Wall upon wall, the gross flesh hems it in,
This perfect, clear perception -- which is truth ...
and to KNOW,
Rather consists in opening out a way
Whence the imprisoned splendor may escape,
Than in effecting entry for a light
Supposed to be without.

~ from "Paracelsus" by Robert Browning with thanks to John Bryan

The principles of tea Rikyu

Soshiten Sen | June 1995 (Vol. VIII, No. 6)

The principles of tea Rikyu (the most revered Japanese master, 16th century) set forth are harmony, respect, purity and tranquility. Harmony is the oneness of host and guest with the flowing rhythms of nature ... Respect is the sincerity of heart that allows one to have an open relationship with the other participants, humbly recognizing their dignity ... Purity is removing the dust of the world from one's heart and mind ... Tranquility comes with the constant practice of harmony, respect, and purity in everyday life. In this state of mind, having found peace and beauty within oneself, a bowl of tea can truly be shared with another.

~ Soshiten Sen

Love's contemplation of itself

Unknown | June 1995 (Vol. VIII, No. 6)

BEAUTY is love's contemplation of itself.

~ Unknown

Beauty is before me

June 1995 (Vol. VIII, No. 6)

Now Talking God,
With your feet I walk,
I walk with your limbs,
I carry forth your body,
For me your mind thinks,
Your voice speaks for me.
Beauty is before me
And beauty behind me,
Above and below me hovers the beautiful,
I am surrounded by it,
I am immersed in it.
In my youth I am aware of it,
And in old age
I shall walk quietly
the beautiful trail.

~ a Navajo benedictory chant

Come into the Beauty and Silence of God

Unknown | June 1995 (Vol. VIII, No. 6)

Forget the world for a time and
Come into the Beauty and Silence of God ...

~ Unknown