Three Poems on Timelessness

In all ten directions of the universe, 

there is only one truth. 
When we see clearly, the great teachings are the same. 
What can ever be lost? 
What can be attained? 

If we attain something, it was there from the beginning of time. If we lose something, it is hiding somewhere near us.Look: this ball in my pocket:can you see how priceless it is?


~ Ryokan
Art: @Ganz Natürlich - Ju Dosi's Bilder
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ganz-Natürlich-Ju-Dosis-Bilder

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I dwell in Possibility—

A fairer House than Prose—
More numerous of Windows—
Superior—for Doors—

Of Chambers as the Cedars—
Impregnable of Eye—
And for an Everlasting Roof
The Gambrels of the Sky—

Of Visitors—the fairest—
For Occupation—This—
The spreading wide of narrow Hands
To gather Paradise—

~Emily Dickinson
Art: Bob King

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Silent friend of many distances, feel

how your breath enlarges all of space.
Let your presence ring out like a bell
into the night. What feeds upon your face

grows mighty from the nourishment thus offered.

Move through transformation, out and in.
What is the deepest loss that you have suffered?
If drinking is bitter, change yourself to wine.

In this immeasurable darkness, be the power

that rounds your senses in their magic ring,
the sense of their mysterious encounter.

And if the earthly no longer knows your name,
whisper to the silent earth: I’m flowing.
To the flashing water say: I am.

~Rainer Maria Rilke,Trans. Stephen Mitchell in the Enlightened Heart
Art: blackmorphin on deviantart

When we expand our minds outside of the realm of concept and form we approach Ultimate Truth, that which cannot be fully defined - that which precedes all concept, holds all possibility, and flows into and out of ideas/dreams/concepts/matter and action...and we realize we are that...I AM.

_/\_Peggy @ ECUMENICUS

If You Want

If

you want
the Virgin will come walking down the road
pregnant with the holy
and say,
...
“I need shelter for the night, please take me inside your heart,
my time is so close.”

Then, under the roof of your soul, you will witness the sublime
intimacy, the divine, the Christ
taking birth
forever,

as she grasps your hand for help, for each of us
is the midwife of God, each of us.

Yes there, under the dome of your being does creation
come into existence externally, through your womb, dear pilgrim—
the sacred womb of your soul,

as God grasps our arms for help; for each of us is
His beloved servant
never
far.

If you want, the Virgin will come walking
down the street pregnant
with Light and
sing . . .

~St. John of the Cross, translated by Daniel Ladinsky,
Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West
Artwork: Dirbi fresco

Saint John of the Cross, (1542 – 1591), was a major figure of the Counter Reformation, a Spanish mystic, a Roman Catholic saint a Carmelite friar and priest. He and Teresa of Avila founded the order of Discalced Carmelites, a mendicant order in the tradition of the Desert Fathers and Mothers, also called the Barefoot Carmelites. His writings on the study of the soul and spiritual journey are highly mystical, with movement toward God framed in a masculine (commonly used in mystical theology), ascent to the Divine context (versus a more feminine spiraling paradigm, such as Teresa's Interior Castle). John of the Cross was canonized a saint in 1726 and is one of 35 Doctors of the Roman Catholic Church.

May your Advent journey be blessed with the quiet openness of a compassionate heart, watching and waiting for the virgin to come walking....bringing the light of peace.

_/\_Peggy @ ECUMENICUS