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Quote of the Day

The Great Creator lives within each of us. All of us contain a divine, expressive spark, a creative candle intended to light our path and that of others. We are shiny, not tarnished; large, not small; beautiful, not damaged– although we may be ignorant of our grace, power, and dignity. The human being, by definition, is a creative being. Practicing our creativity is healing. The more we ground it and regularly access it, the better off we are. The "healthier" we are. Creative change begins in the heart. When we start within ourselves and move outward, expressing what we love and what we value, life gets better, we feel better, and the world gets healthier too.

~ from WALKING IN THE WORLD by Julia Cameron

nature

To live close to the earth

Myczack | April 2001 (Vol. XIV, No. 4)

I just love silence. I love lying quietly in the afternoon with the sun streaming in through the windows of my cabin. Just being very quiet. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, when I climb the hill up to the cabin, I stop and either throw myself down on the ground or look up to the stars and say, "This is fabulous. I am so happy, happy, happy that I am doing this. It's so nice to live close to the earth." I just love silence.

~ from "A Voice For the River" by Myczack in "Heron Dance"

Our task before us is to build the earth

Teilhard de Chardin | April 2001 (Vol. XIV, No. 4)

When one views the planet Earth from outer space and sees no national boundaries, the prophecy of Teilhard de Chardin is compelling:

The age of nations is past. That task before us, if we would not perish, is to build the earth ... to help hear her wounds.

~ Teilhard de Chardin

Silently a flower blooms

Zenkei Shibayana | April 2001 (Vol. XIV, No. 4)

Silently a flower blooms,
In silence it falls away;
Yet here now, at this moment, at this place,
The world of the flower,
the whole of the world is blooming.
This is the talk of the flower,
the truth of the blossom;
The glory of eternal life is fully shining here.

~ Zenkei Shibayama

The mirrors of silence

Anonymous | May 2001 (Vol. XIV, No. 5)

Diving Love and Light are the mirrors of silence in which all of creation is reflected. Be still and know.

~ Anonymous

Sacred hart in the blackening wilderness

Richard W. Bachtold | April 2001 (Vol. XIV, No. 4)

Sacred hart in the blackening wilderness
stately deer, gracefully bounding,
holy vision of the Eternal Heart;
countless, unending blood memories,
surge like gold through your rhythmic veins,
ancient paths stir the soul's journey.
Sleeping titans stand on the edge,
disregarding the dark, grasping webs of life,
or silver antlers shining with white wisdom,
of pulsating pearls of poetry flowing
from open eyes of song,
as the saintly sculpture disappears
from its vanishing home into
a dying paradise.

~ from Sacred Poems by Richard W. Bachtold

Forests and fields all speak the same language

Thomas Merton | April 2001 (Vol. XIV, No. 4)

Forests and fields, sun and wind and sky, earth and water, all speak the same language: peace, solitude, silence.

~ Thomas Merton

This was happiness: sitting in a tree

Patricia Hart Clifford | April 2001 (Vol. XIV, No. 4)

A week of silence had tipped the balance from the desire for external rewards to the intrinsic value of being. I passed the oak I'd sat on the day before. This was happiness: witting in a tree. Lying in the grass. Feeling the fog or the sunshine touching my skin. Watching a hawk circle. All anbition and seeking had fallen away. Even my desire to cling to the sensations of the moment had dissolved. I only wanted to live my life while it was happening, not enmeshed in the past of all that lives.

~ from SITTING STILL by Patricia Hart Clifford

How wonderful and precious are all God's creatures

William J. Fitzgerald | April 2001 (Vol. XIV, No. 4)

The unique saga of the whooping crane's struggle to survive as a species reminds us of how wonderful and precious are all God's creatures. In its fragility and its numinosity the whooper provides a needed symbol for a spirituality of creation that rekindles human reverence for the mysterious presence of God dwelling deep down within the beauty and splendor of all that lives.

~ from ONE HUNDRED CRANES by William J. Fitzgerald