“O humans, so long as you call upon Me and ask of Me, I shall forgive you for what you have done, and I shall not mind. O humans, were your sins to reach the clouds of the sky and were you then to ask forgiveness of Me, I would forgive you. O humans, were you to come to Me with sins nearly as great as the earth, and were you then to face Me, I would bring you forgiveness nearly as great.”
Prophet Muhammad [peace be upon him], quoted in Perennial Wisdom for the Spiritually Independent by Rami Shapiro
“At dawn, I meditate in my heart on the truth of the radiant inner Self. This true Self is Pure Being, Awareness, and Joy, the transcendent goal of the great sages. The eternal witness of the waking, dream and deep sleep states. I am more than my body, mind and emotions, I am that undivided Spirit. At dawn, I worship the true Self that is beyond the reach of mind and speech, By whose grace, speech is even made possible, This Self is described in the scriptures as “Not this, Not this”. It is called the God of the Gods, It is unborn, undying, one with the All. At dawn, I salute the true Self that is beyond all darkness, brilliant as the sun, The infinite, eternal reality, the highest. On whom this whole universe of infinite forms is superimposed. It is like a snake on a rope. The snake seems so real, but when you pick it up, it’s just a rope. This world is ever-changing, fleeting, but this eternal Light is real and everlasting.” Adi Shankara [8th century Hindu philosopher]
“Ten years ago—feeling lost in my work, the world’s madness, the challenges of aging, and the wilds of my own mind—I spent a week in solitude and silence, hoping to be found.
I rented a small cabin with a wood-burning stove out in Wisconsin’s deep-frozen winter woods. For a week I did little more than hike, stare into the fire, read and write, nap, and make simple meals. It sounds lovely and in many ways it was. But the week was laced with deep loneliness.
Late in the week, on one of my hikes, I had the experience I tried to capture in this poem—a sense of “being found,” not by someone or something else, but by the mystery within me.
Wherever they come from, few words we can hear are better than “Welcome Home.” In a world where so many feel lost, few missions are more meaningful than extending that welcome to each other on every level of our lives.
“Welcome Home” by Parker J. Palmer
Alone in the alien, snow-blown woods, moving hard to stay warm in zero weather, I stop on a rise to catch my breath as the setting sun—streaming through bare-boned trees—falls upon my face, fierce and full of life.
Breathing easier now, in and out with the earth, I suddenly feel accepted—feel myself stand easy, strong, deep-rooted as the trees, while time and all these troubles disappear.
And when (who knows how long?) I trudge on down the trail and find my ancient burdens returning, I stop once more to say No to them— not here, not now, not ever again—reclaiming the welcome home the woods have given me.”
“I have seen many storms in my life. Most storms have caught me by surprise, so I had to learn very quickly to look further and understand that I am not capable of controlling the weather, to exercise the art of patience and to respect the fury of nature.”
“May we find the world to be so beautiful, and life so richly and meaningfully shared, that we shall want this to be true, more often, for more people, everywhere.”
Unitarian Universalist minister Jacob Trapp (1899 – 1992)
“At some point in life the world’s beauty becomes enough. You don’t need to photograph, paint, or even remember it. It is enough.” Toni Morrison, born on this day in 1931
“We are vanishing from the earth, yet I cannot think we are useless or else Usen would not have created us. He created all tribes of men and certainly had a righteous purpose in creating each… There is one God looking down on us all. We are all the children of one God. The sun, the darkness, the winds are all listening to what we have to say.”
Apache leader Geronimo, who died on this day in 1909
“We live within an earth full of wild reciprocity, each being- the rooted, feathered, winged, furred and scaled all bring their own medicine, their own purpose to themselves and to their wild community. Our bodies, woven from nature, are made of this love. So gifted are we with tools that show us our care, that speak our core each day, in a language older than words,. Eyes that show us of the beauty of this world, hands and bodies to feel the wild waters, the touch of petal and child’s hand. Our breath that softens, calms and clears. Our feet that take us to forest, meadow and river. A tongue to taste with, to speak our truth to whisper our spells. Minds and hearts that dream, ears to listen to song, wind, water and word. A nose to smell the delights of spring the fruits of autumn, the death of winter and the fullness of summer. This body, this toolkit is full of love, and it shows it each day, it holds you in each moment. Remember the beauty you are made from, listen to the reciprocity of bone, skin and blood. Know how you are held.” Brigit Anna McNeill
King Edward Street Chapel 