“In every human Beast, God has implanted a Principle, which we call Love of Freedom; it is impatient of Oppression, and pants for Deliverance.”
African-American poet Phillis Wheatley (c.1753 – 1784), who was freed from slavery on this day in 1775

“I sometimes forget
that I was created for Joy.
My mind is too busy.
My Heart is too heavy
for me to remember
that I have been
called to dance
the Sacred dance of life.
I was created to smile
To Love
To be lifted up
And to lift others up.
O’ Sacred One
Untangle my feet
from all that ensnares.
Free my soul.
That we might
Dance
and that our dancing
might be contagious.”
Hafiz, Persian Sufi mystic (1315-1390)

“Be yourself; everyone else is taken.”
Oscar Wilde, born on this day in 1854

From The Celtic Spirit: Daily Meditations for the Turning Year by Caitlin Matthews,

“Expectation and Remembrance

‘Still thou art blest, compar’d wi’ me!
The present only toucheth thee:
But, och! I backward cast my ee,
Oh prospects drear!
An’ forward tho’ I canna see,
I guess an’ fear!’
Robert Burns, To a Mouse

It is only humans who fetter themselves with the chains of past and future; animals experience a continual present. That they do not inhabit their memories or expectations is a blessed condition for them that we cannot share. We do not know at what point early hominids evolved from this blessed condition, although many of the world’s creation myths speak about the fall from that state. Remembrance of the past and expectation of the future have proved a dangerous knowledge. The past has been used to dictate the false paradigms of history to terrible ends: the victim’s justifications for terrorism; the bully’s justifications for conquest, suppression, and genocide. The future has thrown back its shadow in no less startling ways: the utopian idealist’s programme of eugenics; the defensive group’s over-militarization. It would seem that when we call upon the past and future out of fear, we betray our animal origins again and again.

Expectation and remembrance can be balanced by the eternal now. By respecting the ancestors and the descendants equally, we can always find resourceful solutions to present difficulties, especially if we access the daring and courage within us without fear. A further evolution of human from animal origins will arrive when we can achieve the balance of remembrance and expectation with the now that is happening now… and now… and now.

Attend to the eternal present for an hour, an afternoon, or a whole day, without conscious recourse to remembrance or expectation.”

“Often when with deliberation
I set out to enjoy nature with a capital ‘N’,
my eagerness and expectation
lead to disappointment once again.
But if, without intent, I step outside
merely to hang my washing on the line,
I am completely overwhelmed by the fine
October day:
the singing birds, the sparkling light,
the falling leaves put to flight
all introspection, I belong
to the simple life of the bird song
and sunlight and Autumn breeze,
And for a brief moment am at ease
in the world, disarmed into the peace
of the everyday.”
Anonymous lay Buddhist, quoted in Fragments of Holiness for Daily Reflection

Eagle Poem by Joy Harjo, US Poet Laureate and member of the Muscogee Nation,
“To pray you open your whole self
To sky, to earth, to sun, to moon
To one whole voice that is you.
And know there is more
That you can’t see, can’t hear;
Can’t know except in moments
Steadily growing, and in languages
That aren’t always sound but other
Circles of motion.
Like eagle that Sunday morning
Over Salt River. Circled in blue sky
In wind, swept our hearts clean
With sacred wings.
We see you, see ourselves and know
That we must take the utmost care
And kindness in all things.
Breathe in, knowing we are made of
All this, and breathe, knowing
We are truly blessed because we
Were born, and die soon within a
True circle of motion,
Like eagle rounding out the morning
Inside us.
We pray that it will be done
In beauty.
In beauty.”

Colour and Fragrance by Norbert Fabián Čapek, founder of the Unitarian Church in Prague, who was executed on this day in 1942 in Dachau concentration camp,
“Colour and fragrance, magical rhythm,
sweet changing music will change us with them:
life within life, inner light gently glowing,
surely you seem to be God’s vision growing.
O starry heavens, worlds of all splendour,
suns without number, new life engender:
wheel in a wheel with the light brightly glowing,
moving in harmony, God’s vision growing.
Hand full of pebbles, high mountain passes,
depths of the ocean, dew on the grasses:
great things and small, with the light gently glowing,
word of the wordless song, God’s vision growing.
Delicate beings, lacewing and sparrow
in field and forest, clover and yarrow:
life greeting life with the light brightly glowing,
none are too small to be God’s vision growing.
In human eyes burns the soul of living,
illumines altars of loving giving:
greeting, we meet, seeing light brightly glowing,
share in a greater life, God’s vision growing.
Shaper of all things, to us you’ve given
our chance to keep here on earth, a heaven.
Moving in harmony, light gently glowing,
may we be, gratefully, God’s vision growing.”

“Let us pay attention to our breathing.
Let us be relaxed in our bodies and minds.
Let us be at peace with our bodies and minds.
Let us return to ourselves and become wholly ourselves.
Let us be aware of the source of being that is common to us all, and to all living things.
Evoking the presence of the Great Compassion, let us fill our hearts with our own compassion – towards ourselves and towards all living beings.”
Thich Nhat Hanh, who is 95 today!

“Past is gone, present is going, and tomorrow is day after tomorrow’s yesterday. So why worry about anything? God is in all this.”
R K Narayan (1906 – 2001), born on this day

“Above all, try always to be able to feel deeply any injustice committed against any person in any part of the world. It is the most beautiful quality of a revolutionary.”
Che Guevara, revolutionary and physician, who died on this day in 1967