T. S. Eliot

To arrive where you are

To arrive where you are, to get from where you are not,
You must go by a way wherein there is no ecstasy.
In order to arrive at what you do not know
You must go by a way which is the way of ignorance.
In order to possess what you do not possess
You must go by the way of dispossession.
In order to arrive at what you are not
You must go through the way in which you are not.
And what you do not know is the only thing you know
And what you own is what you do not own
And where you are is where you are not.
~ from FOUR QUARTETS (East Coker), by T. S. Eliot

And the stillness the dancing

I said to my soul, be still, and wait... In the darkness shall be the light And the stillness the dancing.

~ T. S. Eliot

If we really want to pray, we must first learn to listen

If we really want to pray, we must first learn to listen,
for in the silence of the heart, God speaks.

~ T. S. Eliot

You ARE the music while the music lasts

Music heard so deeply,
it is not heard at all:
You ARE the music
while the music lasts.

~ T. S. Eliot

You ARE the music while the music lasts

Music heard so deeply,
it is not heard at all:
You ARE the music
while the music lasts.

~ T. S. Eliot

O Light Invisible

O Light Invisible, we praise Thee!
Too bright for mortal vision.
O Greater Light, we praise Thee for the less;
The eastern light our spires touch at morning,
The light that slants upon our western doors at evening,
The twilight over stagnant pools at batfly,
Moon light and star light, owl and moth light,
Glow-worm glowlight on a grassblade.
O Light Invisible, we worship Thee!

~ from "The Rock" by T.S. Eliot

And the light shone in the darkness

And the light shone in the darkness and
Against the world the unstilled world still whirled
Above the center of the silent WORD.

~ T.S. Eliot with thanks to S. Charlene Schafer

The Dry Salvages

For most of us, there is only the unattended
Moment, the moment in and out of time,
The distraction fit lost in a shaft of sunlight,

Hints followed by guesses; and the rest
Is prayer, observance, discipline,
thought and action.
The hint half guessed, the gift half understood,
is incarnation.

~ "The Dry Salvages" by T. S. Eliot
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