In our time the impulses of evil have become so powerful throughout earthly evolution that inner powers reaching far beyond what is ordinarily called good or moral will have to be found if humankind is to be able to cope with them. What is so particularly -- and immediately -- necessary in this connection is the mastering of that spiritual process which has been defined as "moral breathing", the beginning of which is forgiveness.
We can forgive! Everyone can forgive what lies within them to forgive. We can forget what ought to be forgotten instead of rummaging about amongst old injustices. We could draw a line beneath all the old that wear us down and which we are not in a position to get to the bottom of. We can hold fast to the idea that what is fruitful is alone true. We must be able to work together again, in harmony and without excluding the people we do not like ... out of love for humankind, for the whole of erring humanity.
There is something in me that is not content to hang about directionless along the edge of the path ... A thirst in me so deep it will move aside the rocks, seeking moisture. There is a yearning that is intense in its desire to put God first.
It may take a lifetime, but I have no doubt this unnameable Mystery within, the seed that fell at the beginning of creation, will finally crowd out the thorns.
Yes, there is One who believes in me enough to continue singing up the country of my heart.
Every human being has an obligation to return to this planet and to all its creatures the sound of beauty, the power of prayer, the sense of harmony. In O PIONEERS!, Willa Cather reminds us of our need to believe in the good soil of our lives, to do what we can to wake it up and then to wait.
"The land had its little joke. It pretended to be poor because nobody knew how to work it right; and then all at once it worked itself. It woke up out of its sleep and stretched itself and it was so big, so rich, that we suddenly found we were rich, just from sitting still."
We can learn the same lesson from sitting still with the land of the heart. It, too, has its little jokes. We think it is poor soil because we don't know how to work it. When we learn to do our inner work, it will wake up and work itself. All we need is a PATIENT WAITING and a TENDER ABIDING.
