You will only arrive at what you are aiming to achieve through the cultivation of two fundamental attitudes of soul. You must nurture a true love for what you represent, and also an insightful love of humanity. Be quite clear that if these two conditions are not met, you may be able to present material ever so logically, you may be able to demonstrate exceptional cleverness, and you will still not achieve anything.
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.
In the pouring forth of wisdom all things have their being; wisdom in my shining, wisdom beyond me shining. All things are branches of the Tree of wisdom wisdom in me growing, wisdom beyond me growing. In the circle of being all things share a blessing; wisdom in me turning, wisdom beyond me turning.
Wisdom replaces ignorance in our minds when we realize that happiness does not lie in the accumulation of more and more pleasant feelings, that gratifying craving does not bring us a feeling of wholeness or completion. It simply leads to more craving and more aversion. When we realize in our own experience that happiness comes not from reaching out but from letting go, not from seeking pleasurable experience but from opening up in the moment to what is true, this transformation of understanding then frees the energy of compassion within us. Our minds are no longer bound up in pushing away pain or holding on to pleasure. Compassion becomes the natural response of an open heart.
~ SEEKING THE HEART OF WISDOM by Joseph Goldstein & Jack Kornfield
Innocence is precious and powerful: not to be confused with ignorance, it is a Divine protection against the negative forces of life. We grow wise by stages and often a whole lifetime of experience is necessary to gain wisdom. "Wisdom is glorious," said Solomon, "and never fadeth away."
~ from THE VOICE OF SILENCE by Oonagh Shanley-Toffolo
Wisdom means "to see" or "to know". It does not mean knowing facts or having an opinion. Wisdom is uncovered by being present enough to perceive the essence of your whole experience. This wisdom will help you attend to what matters in your life and understand the meaning of your life's changes. The practice of moment-to-moment PRESENCE is key. Seeing essence; knowing wholeness.
Wisdom consists in doing the next thing you have to do, doing it with your whole heart and finding delight in doing it. And the DELIGHT is the sense of the sacred.
May you be blessed abundantly this summer season, dear friends! May you open your hearts to nurture your soul in silence each day; for WISDOM flows from the Heart of Divine Love to all who are receptive ... and the world is sorely in need of more Wisdom.
Little by little, from a deep level, the Spirit of Wisdom is showing herself. Sophia dwells in the hearts of those who seek new dreams and hope for a more wholesome world: the Dorothy Days, the Martin Luther Kings, the Archbishop Romeros ... [there are so many now!]. Sophia rejoices in the visionaries and the peace-makers. She fills them. In a world which is hungry, tired and seeking, God's presence is shown in Sophia through people who are to experience, in our insecure world, God's wholesome vision and dream for the human race, born of both the masculine and the feminine Holy Energies.
When all the strings of my life will be tuned, then at every touch of Yours will come out the music of love. Tagore
"Is there enough Silence for the Word to be heard?"
The music of our hearts and souls reflects our inner being -- for are we not the singer, the singing, and the song of our lives? In the silence, we can listen to our unique melody -- the words and thones that arise, the harmonies and discords. Perhaps we are ready to sing a new song. Perhaps we dance to the rhythm of our heart with delight. Note: the silences within our life's symphony make all the differences!
When we surround ourselves with sounds of nature, we are soothed and healed, comforted by the songs of our mother, the Earth. And who is there to sing back to the Earth?
Symphonies aim at healing the soul by taking human emotions and concerns and, through the alchemy of art, make us somehow feel better about all of life--and us. Music touches something higher in us directly. All of the arts touch something that is beyond the ordinary machinations of life. And this "something higher and more" makes even the most homespun art somehow therapeutic.
Music is pleasing not only because of the sound but because of the silence that is in it: without the alternation of sound and silence, there would be no rhythm. If we strive to be happy by filling the silence of life with sound, productive by turning all life's leisure into work, and real by turning all our being into doing, we will only succeed in producing a hell on earth. If we have no silence, God is not heard in our music. If we have no rest, God does not bless our work. If we twist our lives out of shape in order to fill every corner of them with action and experience, God will seem silently to withdraw from our hearts and leave us empty.
~ THROUGH THE YEAR WITH THOMAS MERTON with thanks to C.Ritz
Music is pleasing not only because of the sound but because of the silence that is in it: without the alternation of sound and silence, there would be no rhythm. If we strive to be happy by filling the silence of life with sound, productive by turning all life's leisure into work, and real by turning all our being into doing, we will only succeed in producing a hell on earth. If we have no silence, God is not heard in our music. If we have no rest, God does not bless our work. If we twist our lives out of shape in order to fill every corner of them with action and experience, God will seem silently to withdraw from our hearts and leave us empty.
~ THROUGH THE YEAR WITH THOMAS MERTON with thanks to C.Ritz
"That's me singing," Charlie says. "That's me playing the water drum, too. If you know my song, you know Charlie. Everyone has a song. God gives each a song. That's how we know who we are. Our song tells us who we are.
~ from WISDOMKEEPER by Steve Wall and Harvey Arden
When the world becomes repressive and ugly and mean, we need form and beauty and balance and music--that's when artists feel most pressed into service.
I'm coming to believe in the importance of silence in music. The power of silence after a phrase of music, for example: the dramatic silence after the first four notes of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, or the space between the notes of a Miles Davis solo. There is something very specific about a "rest" in music. You take your foot off the pedal and pay attention. I'm wondering as musicians whether the most important thing we do is merely to provide a frame for silence. I'm wondering if silence itself is perhaps the mystery at the heart of music. And is silence the most perfect form of music of all? Songwriting is the only form of meditation I know. And it is only in silence that the gifts of melody and metaphor are offered.
In the concert hall, each motionless listener is part of the performance. The concentration of the player charges the electric tension in the auditorium and returns to the playLIer magnified. I like the fact that "LISTEN" is an anagram of "SILENT". Silence is not something that is there before the music begins and after it stops. It is the essence of the music itself, the vital ingredient that makes it possible for the music to exist at all. It's wonderful when the audience is part of this productive silence.
~ Alfred Brendel in "The New Yorker" 4/1/96 thanks to B. Stockard
Harry Truman once said that listening to good music made him think of the way things ought to be, instead of the way they are. In the presence of music, we gain a taste of Heaven and Earth. Music is vitally important to our spiritual health: clearing the air, changing our mood, taking us to faraway places, revealing mysteries, calming the soul, allowing us true glimpses into the past.
If we do not keep pace with our companions, perhaps it is because we hear a different drummer. Let us step to the music we hear, however measured or far away.
Music is the glue that connects many parallel universes that run through your life. I am amazed at how often you can find grace and simplicity in this complex world. Through your talent, perseverance, and faith in the power of music, you have blazed a path for aspiring musicians from all over the globe.
