Votum

Prayer is a poem you utter to Life. Little else reveals so unerringly who and what you are. That which fills your prayers bares your soul. Are your prayers supplications? Litanies? Tirades? Are they guilt-ridden? Judgmental? Self-righteous? Nothing stirs the Creators heart quite as much as truth, save love. Therefore, let your prayers be loving truth. An honest accounting that you don't know everything, but are learning. That your actions have not all been exemplary, but you are trying. That the world can be overwhelming...and if you didn't cling to some paltry, inconsequential tenet, you fear you'd fly off the face of the planet. In spite of that terror, however, you wish to be penetrated; pierced to the core of your being by your own authenticity. I say to you if your invocations bear similarities, you have no need of prayer. Your very life is one.

Book of Padrac: Section 2 Discourse 11

Listen...

For a change of pace, see how often you feel compelled to talk today. Rather than meeting the customary "good morning" with a perfunctory response, make eye contact and smile instead. When you find yourself engaged in conversation, see how often a nod of the head will suffice rather than usurping the conversation with your own anecdote. Evaluate how often you stop listening while formulating an answer in your head. See how silence affects you.

I have begun to realize that you can listen to silence and learn from it. It has a quality and a dimension all its own. ~Chaim Potok  The Chosen

In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in a clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness. ~Mahatma Gandhi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4QdLJx10TM

Sacred Feminine

       Brigid's Gloaming

The sky was inflamed tonight
A crimson, tangerine dream
Of a sunset...

It outlined and framed
A herd of birds
Who appeared (Exploded)
To cut and carve
Dip and dart
Over and through
The twilight embers

I heard a tree tonight
A silent, singing silhouette
Sharing springs essence
Of being (Zing!)
I felt Creations heartbeat
Strum through me
And the tree
As I thought of you

My heart was inflamed tonight...

~WPG

Sanctuary

I'm thrilled when I discover indigenous music where the language is unknown to me. It is a reminder that all language isn't of the intellect. Such is the case with "Habibi." It struck me as a lyrical, spiritual balm that slowly spread over that which troubled me. It produced images of hidden glades and glens; of a voice wafting over a courtyard wall that denied access but not interaction. Though you may not see me, come! soar with me on an updraft that takes us up over the rim of the canyon. Experience that which your 5 senses will never be able to produce. The haunting, enchanting, mystical bridge into the Unknown...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNjnZwFysqM

ENLIGHTENMENT

A story told in pictures...

http://500px.com/photo/15689343

Forgive Me Father

...for I have sinned. It has been ______ (fill in the blank) since my last confession; these are my sins.

So begins the Catholic sacrament of "Confession." (I have heard, though not confirmed, they now call it Reconciliation) Having attended Catholic school for the first 8 years of my education, I learned of this sacrament in the second grade. It was necessary to prepare you for your "first Holy Communion" by way of confessing all the sins you had committed at the ripe old age of 7.

Regardless, the cliche confession is good for the soul is true, and here's why: accountability. Unless a person becomes accountable for his actions, he denies genuine responsibility. Denying responsibility allows room for the lie, the inappropriate behavior, or the words used to hurt, damage, and condemn. Often, owning up to the behavior seems to invalidate the individual at such a core level, the person is unable to embrace their own actions. This predicates an alternate reality being conjured up. They were provoked. They were justified. They were fed up. They were anything and everything other than responsible.

The problem with this is, you can't be forgiven for a sin you haven't acknowledged. There can't be a reconciliation. There will only be more of the same--more lies, more questionable behavior, more reality skewered to prop up a failing proposition. And that, ultimately, is the tragedy. A person separated from themself. A mind at odds with a heart, a soul silenced.

As you go about your business today, wondering why people act as they do, remember that most everyone you meet has this dichotomy at work in their subconscious. It might enable you to see beyond the pretense. It might empower you to forgive that which they themselves are unable to.

Couples Therapy

Have you forgotten? Well then, remember...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0LZ4wMV3zw