Merton

Standing in the way of His light, we gaze in perplexity

 upon our own shadow.


And yet the shadow is cast by His light,

 and bears witness indirectly

to His presence.


(Merton)

W.Berry

 It may be that when we no longer know what to do

we have come to our real work,  

 and that when we no longer know which way to go

we have come to our real journey. 

The mind that is not baffled

is not employed.

 The impeded stream

is the one that sings. 
 
~ Wendell Berry ~

Karen 2012

The morning rise
Southern sky, rise high
And beam right through
My closed eye

Feet touching  the ground
Listen for the call
The birds, squirrels drop their
Nuts, they are so busy around..

I sit to awaken
To open my eyes
To the life that I live
Not to be controlled by my mind

I welcome the universe
How I see it supporting me
when I sit I know
I can see the workings begin
 how it can be...

And somewhere beyond
Knowing 
There is a play for control
My ipod suddenly blars out
Singing..  Rockstar by  nickelback
Surely not the 'om ' is was set to vibrate
""""
I want a brand new car and an episode on cribs
And a bathtub I can play baseball in..."""""

And I laugh

move to silence

I want to stand
I want to stretch
I want to move to the
Music of the wind

I feel my heart
Its arising,
Its tightening me behind my belly as it calls

Emotion rises, and I'm alive
And prayers  release, without thought from my outbreathe
I'm overtaken
By love
God
Living through me

I tip toe out of the knowing
The material of life here 
Exactly placed to support 
Where I am now

Stillness has a lesson

I wait to feel strong enough
To do this work with matthew
Yet its weakness that I need
Seems harder to pick up

Thank u for this day
Thank you for this life
Thank you that I may be human now and have this emotion
So I can be closer to you

Dear god keep me swimming in this pond, let me invite all who are in my life, 
who do your work,  with me and bless us, to lay hands and heal
In the name of your son., Jesus,
Ask and it shall be given
I listen
I pray
Have mercey on me

Amen 

from the Caribbean kmg 2012

Brown on the bodies that soak up the rays as they power jet skiis across the 
waters

Light on those of the visitors being changed by the transforming light to a 
shade the same

And as I feel the force of the sun, I feel the force of that which emcompasses 
everything

The water shimmers and is alive
The greens of what's growing from the earth is alive
The bird that sits with me now
Is alive
Without fear
We all exist
Without time
I can be ever so still
Ever so humble
I breathe deeply
In gratitude
I release my breathe in lov
Between the space
Lies compassion

on disturbing emotions

For these reasons, just as poison can be extracted from a poisonous
plant and taken as medicine, the special quality of this teaching lies
in the fact that any disturbing emotion that may arise is wisdom the
moment you relax in naturalness. Look directly into it, don't
deliberately reject it, regard it as a fault, indulge in it
concretely,

 or regard it as a virtue.

Wisdom of Solomon

 For Wisdom is a reflection of eternal light,

 A spotless mirror of the working of God,

 and an image of his goodness.

 Although she is but one, she can do all things,

 and while remaining in herself, she renews all things;

 in every generation she passes into holy souls

 and makes them friends of God, and prophets;

 for God loves nothing so much as the person who lives with wisdom.

 She is more beautiful than the sun,

 And excels every constellation of the stars.

 Compared with the light she is found to be superior,

 for it is succeeded by the night,

 but against wisdom evil does not prevail.

 She reaches mightily from one end of the earth to the other,

 and she orders all things well.

CORINTHIANS

If I speak in the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I am a 
resounding gong or clanging cymbal....if I have the gift of prophecy and can 
fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith
That an move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing...

If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but 
have not love, I gain nothing...

Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not 
proud, it is not rude, it is not self seeking, it is not easily angered, it 
keeps no record of wrongs...love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the 
truth...it always protectsn always trusts, always hopes always perseveres...(1 
corinthians 13;1-7)

Morning in the Caribbean 2012 kmg

Seaside
Are the locals
Walking along the sand
Staring out into the west
Where they look so orften

They carry nets to catch the bait for their daily meal, or is it also theor 
livelyhood

Makes me think of the passage in the sermon on the mount..
Look at the birds in the air
They neither sow nor neap,
Or carry into barns
And yet their heavenly father feeds them....

What a simple life
Seems at this moment
A completeness
With self and nature.........

Good Morning Caribbean 2012 kmg

Drawn to the ocean
The endless waterSo blueRipples to meet the sunriseAnd I enter out on the horizon The kingdom of god Everyone aroundToo many peoplePreparing comforts for the guests here Will the comforts relax them toReceive the gifts truly offered On this islandSo lush and full with all life potentials

On work, on Life Rilke

...And when one day one perceives that their occupations are palty, their 
professions petrified and no longer linked with living, why not then continue to 
look like a child upon it all as upon something unfamiliar, from out of the 
depth of one own world, out of the expanse of ones own solitude, which is itself 
work, status and vocation? Why want to exchange a childs wise incomprehension 
for. Defensiveness and disdain, since incomprehension is after all being alone, 
while defensiveness and disdain are a sharing in that from which one wants by 
these means to keep apart...think,dear sir, of the world you carry within you 
and call this thinking what you will....whether it be remembering your own 
childhood or yearning towards your own future....only be attentive to that which 
rises up in you and set it above everything that you observe  about you. 

What goes on in your innermost being is worthy of your love, you must somehow 
keep working at it and not lose too much time and too much courage in clarifying 
your attitude towards people. Who tells you that you have one anyway !?

First Day of School Sept 2012 kmg

Today, 76th street will be closed
Gather, the young at heart
Gather those to come to learn
Gather, those blessed teachers
Who create their own family here
in this school
For our children

And march on janie with ur tuba, and steve with ur flags, march open tony in 
your chefs hat and jonny cook with ur lab coat.....

And ill catch the smiles of he teachers, who I have embraced in the bossom of my 
love, cradling them thru the year, as ithey have cradled the child while he is 
away from me.......

There is a story in the bible as jesus is telling his disciples that they will 
see him no more
And then one of them asked "well we will believe everything u said if u just 
show us the father"

And if ur ears can hear, u feel like ugh, he still doesn't get it.

As I sat in prayer this morning after I wrote .I saw that scene so vivid in my 
head

How we all pray for the kingdom on earth here.......and its always 
here.........and it must just sound crazy to god !!!!!

awakening Osiris

I am light
I come forth by day
I am heat burning up mist
I am power, an ancient river overflowing. I am lov and memory and sorrow that 
drift away

My time is a reflection on the surface of water. A leaf falls and the dream 
shatters, breaks to pieces, the leaf drift off..slowly the waters calm and draw 
themselves together. And the leaf like life, like a thought, passes from me in 
the ripple of its own vibration. It enters the world

I am a holy man, not because I am so wise, but because I am a temple of god. I 
am a priest of the heart. I know what is mine to feel. I let the rain from 
heaven fill me. I give love away as easily as water......

I am changeable, yes. It is like this. A hummingbirds wings beat so fast he 
seems to fly standing still. Atoms in the rock whirl about, yet the rock holds 
together. Lions roar in the temple and the earth trembles.

It is only yesterday and tommorow keeping watch over today.

Oh spirits that guide a man  thru the dark halls at death, guide me safely. Let 
me always know the reason for my becoming...let me hear what gods hear, see what 
gods see,let me not starve for lov and thirst for wisdom. Let me go forth 
shining....

on love on truth

Love is the giving of energy and supports life. 

If u love someone or something
you will create conditions in which that person or work or plant thrives 

What is truth ?

In a conversation between two people there are always two truths present. 

In
order for understanding and harmony to be achieved, in order for love to be
reestabished, both truths must be fully expressed and understood.

 At that point,
a higher truth will emerege

Awakening Osiris

I am a child in awe of my own power, filled with wonder, bewildered, awake.

I am one of the wonders of earth, full of blood and breath and singing. Even as 
I dance toward the mountain, even as I dance towards death, I celebrate my 
marvelous being.

I have heard lies, yet have not believed them. The things said of me in anger or 
in praise I have not made my own. It is for my conscience to guide my hand, my 
deed to create myself.

In those moments of silence when desire and will are stilled, I know the purpose 
gods know. 

My body is nourished by things of the earth, my spirit by things of the heart. 
Under the flowering trees, I eat the fruit of love, I offer what I have , my 
peace , myself...i wrap my skin in the blue robe  of heaven..I sit in the garden 
listening to birds. I do what my heart tells me, I am what I know, what I feel , 
what I make. I am myself....the ether of  the instant, breathing. I gather and 
build my life..

What can be named can be known, what can not be named must be lived, believed. 

The joy of creating is the joy of forgetting everything else. I lean into life. 
There is no rest. I make children, peace, errors, and trouble. I dance under the 
sunrise and welcome this new day......

karen 2013

Soar the morning birdsIts from ur eyes viewEverything is smallEverything is new I hold on no moreWith no preference I sayI love you lordShow me the way

james allen 1903

It is in loving

Not in being loved

The heart is blessed

It is in giving not seeking
We find our quest

Whatever be thy longing or thy need

That do thou give

So shall thy soul be fed

And truly live..... Return good for evil

Lov for hatred

Gentleness for ill treatment and remain silent when attacked

So you will walk blamelessly yoked with the easy yoke of lowliness

And clothes with the divine garmet of humility.

Rilke the walk

A walk My eyes already touch the sunny hill going far ahead of the road I have begun So we are grasped by what we cannot grasp; it has its inner light, even from a distance- And changes us, Even if we do not reach it, Into something else, Which, Hardly sensing it, we already are; A gesture waves us on, answering our own wave... But what we feel is the wind in our faces. "The walk" by Rainer Maria Rilke

Buddist quote

For these reasons, just as poison can be extracted from a poisonous plant and taken as medicine, the special quality of this teaching lies in the fact that any disturbing emotion that may arise is wisdom the moment you relax in naturalness. Look directly into it, don't deliberately reject it, regard it as a fault, indulge in it concretely, or regard it as a virtue.