From Earth Bound: Daily Meditations for All Seasons by Brian Nelson,
“On this day in 1734, Daniel Boone was born. John Mack Faragher’s biography of the woodsman describes how, in the early years of his marriage, Boone would disappear into the forest for long hunts, sometimes lasting a year or so. After one of these hunts, Boone returned to find a child born to his wife, a child fathered out of her loneliness and his absence. To his credit, Boone accepted the child as his own and she grew to be the most loyal of children.
Hunting and trapping on the frontier, risky as it was, was probably easier for Boone than living in society. The call of the wild is powerful and ignored at one’s peril – yet those who turn to the wild to escape life’s complexities may find that their lives remain just as complicated upon their return. The wilderness is not an escape, but an inspiration that can make each day richer no matter where you are.”

“The happiness of life is made up of minute fractions – the little, soon forgotten charities of a kiss or a smile, a kind look or heartfelt compliment.”
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, poet and one-time Unitarian minister, born on this day in 1772

“It is better to guide one soul than to possess all that is on earth, for as long as that guided soul is under the shadow of the Tree of Divine Unity, he and the one who hath guided him will both be recipients of God’s tender mercy, whereas possession of earthly things will cease at the time of death. The path to guidance is one of love and compassion, not of force and coercion. This hath been God’s method in the past, and shall continue to be in the future!”
The Báb (1819 – 1850), born on this day, forerunner of Baháʼu’lláh, the founder of the Baháʼí Faith

“We build on foundations we did not lay.
We warm ourselves at fires we did not light.
We sit in the shade of trees we did not plant.
We drink from wells we did not dig.
We profit from persons we did not know.
We are ever bound in community.”
Deuteronomy 6:10-12, adapted by Peter Raible

“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.”