A mystic is a person who is deeply aware of the powerful presence of the divine Spirit; someone who seeks, above all, the knowledge and love of God, and who experiences to an extraordinary degree the profoundly personal encounter with the energy of divine life. Mystics often perceive the presence of God throughout the world of nature and in all that is alive, leading to a transfiguration of the ordinary all around them. However, the touch of God is most strongly felt deep within their own hearts.
Fifty years of marriage is the essence of a journey that spans uphills and downhills, goals achieved; unexpected joys, and times of failure, disappointments, and offenses that sought forgiveness. The thirteenth chapter of Corinthians is a discipline and a constant for the days and years. Love is not arrogant or rude, love glories not in one-upman-ship or being right, love suffers and is kind, love hangs in there. And ultimately this delicate, gentle but tough bond supersedes all else and becomes the one imperishable gift we can have if we are humble enough to receive it.
~ Ross Cameron in DEEP IN THE FAMILIAR by J. C. Borton
I had found a kind of serenity, a new maturity. I didn't feel better or stronger than anyone else but it seemed no longer important whether everyone loved me or not--more important now was for me to love them. Feeling that way turns your whole life around; living becomes the act of giving.
Alone with God, we feel no need to perform, to do. The pressure is off. That good, refreshing feeling is nothing less than an experience of God's accepting love. It is the healing power of an eternal passion that is consummated in the reunion of creature and Creator. God is delighted by our act of will in which we love and place ourselves in the Presence. That divine delight is the lover who draws each of us back and forth between twin poles, the loving opportunities of solitude and solidarity.
"Is there enough Silence for the Word to be heard?"
Blessings of the new year, dear companions on the journey. Just as the daily renewal of sunlight sustains the earth, so our inner soul-light nourishes and guides our lives.
"You are the light of the world."
Astonishing! In stillness and silence may you recognize the light you are and the Light you bear. May you more consciously radiate your heart-light out to the world and shine, wherever you may be.
... the visible quality of the divinity, of the energies of grace in which God is made known ... This light is a light which fills at the same time both intellect and senses, revealing itself to the whole individual, and not only to one faculty. The divine light, being given in mystical experience, surpasses at the same time both sense and intellect
May the Light that lighteneth Everyone come into this world, pierce the darkness of the age, so that the tree of life may survive and bring forth new shoots!
We cannot know that we are illuminated by a great light simply by looking up into the sky. But if we lower our heads and look down at our feet, we can clearly see the long, dark shadow that stretches out from us. We know that the darker and blacker that shadow is, the brighter is the light that shines upon us. Thus, we have been told to look at our own dark shadows [within].
~ from TARIKI: Embracing Despair, Discovering Peace by Hiroyuki Itsuki
Light is present everywhere, yet hidden and unused. It is covered over by the denseness of our desires and a collective unconscious that has little space for the divine. Working with the light of the soul will open us to a new level of interconnectedness, a knowing of our oneness. This knowing is necessary for the evolution of the planet. It contains the knowledge of the future, a knowledge that is based upon oneness rather than duality.
You are above me, O God You are within. You are in all things yet contained by no thing. Teach me to seek You in all that has life, that I may see You as the Light of light. Teach me to search for You in my own depths that I may find You in every living soul.
I invented what I call the Invisible Art and Light technique. In normal light the painting appears one way, and when you turn on the black lamp, the beams of light emerge. It is also a brilliant metaphor. If we look with our physical eyes we see only the surface of the message. But when we look with our spiritual eyes we see so much more. We see the light that is given as a gift from Heaven. And isn't it interesting that a black light is used to see the whole picture? In the same way we must go into our own darkness, the things we hide because we are ashamed, in order to unleash the light within. It is only when we give our whole selves to God--the positive and the negative--that we are enlightened.
~ Jacqueline Ripstein in THE SECRET OF THE BELOVED DISCIPLE by James Twyman
When you turn within you think you see a light. What you think is the light that you see in the inner world is the light that sees, not the light that can be seen. This is a different kind of light, not the kind of light that can be radiated from a source. This is the all-pervading light. Think of yourself as that light, then your aura will burn more brightly.
In the silence we feel the Light penetrating, recharging, purifying, blessing us. We identify with the Light. Words and thoughts opening from this depth will have life--the Life that will create and endow all things with good.
Crying was my most constant companion. One day, while walking on the beach, I saw the reflection of the sun on the water. Inexplicably, I felt a sense of a Presence larger than life itself after seeing a patch of light differently than ever before. The light image kept me alive ... I was suffused with love. I had sensations of warmth from the light coming into my body and entering each cell, having awareness of my whole body in a startling way. It felt comforting, life-changing and dramatic, yet peaceful. I was able to function again. My most important focus became to deepen my experience of being suffused by the light.
True friendship exists when human beings share a love of goodness and truth. Two friends alone, like two legs on a table, offer a wobbly situation at best. But two friends anchored to a third, spiritual center form a rock-solid foundation to support everything that comes: hardship, suffering, exaltation, love. True friendship between two human beings exists only when there is a third Friend present: call this third friend God, or simply the Sacred.
~ from GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT by Kaufman and Zalinski
"Is there enough Silence for the Word to be heard?"
In this season of celebration, may angelic blessings be yours, dear friends. Living with an awareness of their companioning presence, even if only with trust to begin with, we come to realize angelic joy is working with us, surprising us, and reminding us that we are loved beyond measure. Limit not the myriad ways your angelic companions may knock on the door of your heart. Spending time in the Silence draws them nigh. And you might ask, "When was the last time I thanked my angels?"
To study angels is to shed light on ourselves, especially those aspects of ourselves that have been put down in our secularized civilizations, our secularized educational systems, and even our secularized worship system. By secularization, I mean anything that sucks the awe out of things.
Life always begins again. The Angel of Earth embraces the seed And gives unto it Life. The kiss of the Angel of Water Awakens the seed. The warmth of the Angel of Sun Makes the seed grow. The little plant bends in the breeze– The Angel of Air makes it grow strong. The little plant is holy. It bathes in the Lifestream Of Eternal Order.
~ from Thanksgiving Psalms of the Dead Sea Scrolls
I was walking in the open air on a beautiful spring morning. The wheat was growing green, the birds were singing, the dew was sparkling, the smoke rising; a transfiguring light lay over everything; this was only a tiny fragment of Earth – and yet the idea seemed to me not only beautiful, but also so true and obvious that she was an Angel – an Angel so sumptuous, so fresh, so like a flower and at the same time so firm and so composed, who was moving through the sky.
