“Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson, born on this day in 1803

“How many times
must I hear Buddha say,
“breathe in, breathe out,”
before I can do it myself?
I got tired of being spiritual.
So I came home.
Built a fire.
Made coffee.
Took out my mother’s cup
and ran my fingers over the cracks
of brown in blue.
Came home to hug you.
Fur on fur.
I got tired of being spiritual.
So I came back to Being.”

Fred Lamotte

“Nothing is more important than empathy for another human being’s suffering. Nothing. Not a career, not wealth, not intelligence, certainly not status. We have to feel for one another if we’re going to survive with dignity.”

Audrey Hepburn

Fifth anniversary of Manchester Arena bombing

From Mother of God Similar to Fire by Mirabai Starr,

“Mother of Mercy, ​​​​​​​​
the cries of the world keep me awake at night. ​​​​​​​​
I rise from my bed, but I cannot locate the source of the wailing. ​​​​​​​​
It is everywhere, Mother, coming from all directions, ​​​​​​​​
and my heart is shattered by the sheer intensity of suffering. ​​​​​​​​
You of boundless compassion, ​​​​​​​​
expand my heart so that I can contain the pain. ​​​​​​​​
Focus my mind so that I can arrive at viable solutions, ​​​​​​​​
and energize my body so that I can engage in effective action. ​​​​​​​​
Give me the courage to follow the crumbs of heartbreak ​​​​​​​​
all the way home to the place where I can be of real service. ​​​​​​​​
Let me dip my fingers into the dew of your compassion ​​​​​​​​
and scatter it now over the fevered brow of this world.​​​​​​​​”

Art by Kuzma Petrov Vodkin

“The years of all of us are short, our lives precarious. Our days and nights go hurrying on, and there is scarcely time to do the little that we might. Yet we find time for bitterness, for petty treason and evasion. What can we do to stretch our hearts enough to lose their littleness? Here we are – all of us upon this planet – bound together in a common destiny, living our lives between the briefness of the daylight and the dark. Kindred in this, each lighted by the same precarious, flickering flame of life, how does it happen that we are not kindred in all things else? How strange and foolish are these words of separation that divide us?”

A. Powell Davies (1902 – 1957), Unitarian minister

“Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.”

Utilitarian philosopher John Stuart Mill, author of On Liberty, born on this day in 1806

“A life without love is of no account. Don’t ask yourself what kind of love you should seek, spiritual or material, divine or mundane, Eastern or Western. Divisions only lead to more divisions. Love has no labels, no definitions. It is what it is, pure and simple. Love is the water of life. And a lover is a soul of fire! The universe turns differently when fire loves water.”

Shams Tabrizi

“We cannot live without the night,
gossamer veils of emptiness.
The Goddess is black,
but each pore of her body
emits a rainbow.
Motionless, she watches
beyond care, yet flows
like a river of healing.
Doesn’t dark energy circle us all
like Mother Raven?
Take root in your grief.
That is where the sun is born.
Ascend through a bolder falling.
Her womb is immaculate silence.
Her void is moist with stars.
Yet she who cradles them all
has become your breath.
Haven’t I told you there is wine
in the void between thoughts,
Joy and sorrow mingled in one cup?
Now taste, and who knows
if tonight you might not finally
embrace the fierce beauty
of your beaten heart?”

Alfred K Lamotte

“Let us be aware of the source of being common to us and to all living things. Invoking the presence of the Great Compassion, let us fill our hearts with our own compassion – towards ourselves and towards all living beings.
Let us pray that all living beings realise that they are brothers and sisters, all nourished from the same source of life.
Let us commit ourselves to live in a way which will not deprive other living beings of the chance to live.
Let us pray for the establishment of peace in our hearts and on earth.”

Buddhist prayer quoted in Fragments of Holiness for Daily Reflection

“There are three types of people:
A) There are those who define themselves by what they do.
B) There are those who define themselves by what and how much they have.
C) And there are those whose definition of self stems from who they are.

Most people’s self-worth and confidence (or lack thereof), is based on what they do and how much they have, yet, thinking about our purpose and personal Tikkun (correction/healing); why we are here and what is our deeper purpose, a shift of consciousness occurs from doing/having to being. Rather than being occupied with what we do, possess, or want to possess, we begin discovering who we are and what is our purpose.

When our “doing” is rooted in our “being”, we will then do what is correct for us to do, and know that we have what we truly need to have.”

Rabbi DovBer Pinson