All of the sense organs are both organs and capacity. The synthesizing acting of the heart continuously creates a unity of the inner world and outer world. Moments in which we perceive this unity are moments of the experience of beauty. Beauty is thus a consciousness of the heart. The heart has always been connected with love due to this relation between bringing what seems to be separated into conjoining as profound beauty.
Even as a child I knew the sacredness of personal space. I remember going behind my grandmother's house to a place where I could hide behind tall weeds. I would sit for hours in my circle of stones. That space was so special I never revealed it to even my closest playmates... Sacred spaces can be created anywhere. When I felt a need for a sacred simplicity within my city home, on a sudden inspiration, I emptied a closet and painted it white. Within this purified space, I placed a stone, a leaf, a bowl of water and a sitting cloth from the Amazon -- things special to me at that moment. I had created my own sacred space.
~ from "Earth As Sacred Space" by Vijali in EARTHWALKING SKY DANCERS
This was my first conscious experience of listening to Gaia, even though I didn't call it that then or hear an actual voice... I have come to learn that there are many ways of listening. One may hear an internal or external voice, feel a body sensation, or simply just "know" with that intuitive understanding that is beyond words. However, I continue to describe this experience as "listening" because we have forgotten how to be silent and listen to ourselves, one another, and the earth.
~ from "Listening to Gaia" by H. I. Austen in EARTHWALKING SKY DANCERS
I envision a world where children are born to loving parents who want and cherish them, who recognize their pure and divine nature; where women and men are respected and honored as equals and cultures are based on the ecstatic experience, creative expression, exploration and protection of the interconnectedness of all life ... where the values of love, affection, compassion prevail, nurturing all beings... It is possible to create a realized world -- a pure land -- but we must all return to our primordial nature. That is the pilgrimage we are all on. It is the sacred space from which all sacred places are born.
