A double-header from theoretical physicist Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955) to start our week. On this day in 1905, the physics journal Annalen der Physik published Albert Einstein’s paper “Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?”, introducing the equation E=mc².
“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existence. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvellous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery each day..”
“When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That’s relativity.”

“To be silent with another person is a deep expression of trust and confidence, and it is only when we are unconfident that we feel compelled to talk. To be silent with another person is truly to be with that other person… We do not have to create silence. The silence is there within us. What we have to do is to become silent, to become the silence. The purpose of meditation is to allow ourselves to become silent enough to allow this interior silence to emerge. Silence is the language of the spirit.”
Benedictine monk John Main (1926 – 1982), quoted in Fragments of Holiness for Daily Reflection

From The Two Winged Soul by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi,
“There is a basic notion that every soul has two ‘wings.’ These’ wings of the soul ‘ are Love and Awe. When the soul is free, fresh and open, and available for inspiration, it flies on these two wings. With one wing it is hard to fly; you must have two.”

I found it by Palestinian poet Fadwa Tuqan (1917 – 2003), translated by Charlie Huntington,

“I found it on a beautiful, sunny day.
I found it after great loss:
Fresh verdant soil,
Wet and flourishing.
I found it as the sun passed over palm trees
Scattering over the grassy gardens
Its golden bouquets.
It was an April generous and fertile
In seeds, warmth, and the spring sun.

I found it after great loss:
An evergreen-fresh bough
In which birds seek refuge,
So it lodges them in its protective shade.
If a violent wind crosses it someday,
Thunderous and trembling,
It bends slightly,
Twists before the wind lightly.
As the thunderstorm dies down
The limb levels out,
Its water-heavy leaves quenched of thirst;
Its pliant body did not shatter
Under the wind’s hand:
The branch remains as it was.
As if its trials did not break it
It laughs, with the beauty in all that it
Sees, in the radiance of a star,
In the lightness of a breeze,
In the sun, the dew, and the clouds.

I found it on a beautiful, sunny day,
After loss, after a long search:
A lake, clear and tranquil.
If at times its pure heart
Was lapped at by the wolves of mankind,
Or the winds of fate played in the lake
And muddied it briefly,
It cleared with the clarity of a crystal
And became the moon’s face:
A pool of blueness and light
Where the guiding stars bathe.

I found it! Oh you tempest, blow
And mask the sun’s face with clouds
As you like, and you days, turn my fate
From sunny and cheerful
To sullen and gloomy;
Even then my lights do not fade
And all the darkness that has been
Extending blackly through my life,
Enfolding it night after night,
Is gone, buried in the grave of the past,
Since the day my soul found itself.”

From Fragments of Holiness for Daily Reflection, based on the Buddhist Metta Bhavana (Loving Kindness) meditation,
“May I be at peace.
May my loved ones be at peace.
May those I have never met be at peace.
May those I have hurt, knowingly or unknowingly, be at peace.
May those who have hurt me, knowingly or unknowingly, be at peace.
May everybody be at peace.”

From Earth Wisdom by Glennie Kindred,
“Now day and night are equal in both hemispheres.
We too experience balance and integration as we reconnect to our inner selves. We become aware of the changing season, which gives us the chance to start again. This is a good time to release the past and move forward with clarity as we begin to prepare for the coming Winter and to incubate new seeds within.
This is time of ripening fruits, nuts, berries, mushrooms and seeds. Trees and plants are letting their energy fall back down into their roots. Leaves are dropping to Earth to make compost, rich in nutrition and goodness, providing the best conditions for future new growth.
This is the time for long-term planning and nurturing. The seeds of ideas and the seeds of hope that we plant now will re-emerge in the Spring, strengthened and consolidated by their time in the dark and stabilised by their strong roots.
It is time to celebrate the power of balance, to move beyond our old habits of polarity, the ‘us and them’ mentality which has led to war, misery and poverty. Now we seek inspiring new ways to bring harmony and equality into our lives and the world.”

“In India we always pronounce the word peace three times: shanti shanti shanti – peace, peace, peace. Why three times? Because peace has at least three dimensions: inner peace, social peace and ecological peace – making peace with yourself, making peace with the world and making peace with nature.”
Satish Kumar

“Let love continue. If we agree in love, there is no disagreement that can do us any injury; but if we do not, no other agreement can do us any good. Let us keep a secret guard against the enemy that sows discord among us. Let us endeavour to keep the unity of spirit in the bonds of peace.”
Universalist minister Hosea Ballou (1771 – 1852)

“We eat foods whose cells are filled with water that has travelled thousands of miles airborne in flying rivers from the rainforests.
We drink that waters that have been circulating through earth, body, river, ocean and cloud upon our planet since water began here billions of years ago – it’s all the same water and water carries the memory of it all.
Our bodies are more bacteria than almost anything else – we are hosts and hostesses to vast families and populations of thriving ‘others’ whose reality is ‘us.’
We are intimately woven in to a living system and evolving intelligence that knows itself as part of all things – and as such has access to the intelligence of all things. And we are part of that system.
Our minds have been taught to see ourselves as separate when in fact that misconception is utterly bizarre in the face of the interconnectedness of all things.
We have no idea what we’re capable of. But if we can bow in humility and open our minds and hearts to the vastness of creation and its mind blowing evolutionary brilliance – then maybe we can open to the miracles that are lining up to help inform us about who and what we really are.”
Clare Dubois, founder of the TreeSisters social change and reforestation charity

“We are not alone.
There are many others,
here, alongside of us.
Some are just like us.
Some are very different.
Some are somewhere in between.
Some are wiser than us.
Some are more intelligent.
Some are more advanced.
Many are none of these.
Minds think.
Hearts feel.
Bodies move.
As it is with us,
so too is it with them.
Many are just like us on the inside
however different they are
on the outside.
Differences are mostly
on the outside,
for on the inside,
many are just like us,
be it for good, or for bad.
There are many secrets
still left in the world around us.
We think that we know a lot,
until we truly discover
that we know only a little.
Much is yet to be discovered.
Much discovered
is yet to be revealed.
Much to be revealed
is yet to be believed.
Even when a secret is revealed
there are those who refuse
to accept what is means.
Those healed of blindness
can only see
once they are willing
to embrace the healing
that has already healed them.
Once upon a time
begins a story of make-believe.
Yet, not all stories
are make-believe.
Some old stories have to them
more than just a grain of truth.
Where there’s smoke there’s fire.
But not all fires burn bright.
Not all fires burn safe.
Some fires are best put out,
and not left to burn or smolder.
Sometimes it’s best
to hide the truth.
And there is no better place
to hide an inconvenient truth
than under layers of legend
and smoke.
Sometimes, “once upon a time,”
is a good cover
for “the time is now.”
Curiosity is a smoldering flame.
Curiosity can be a contagious disease.
Curiosity can lead one
to many profound revelations.
Curiosity can also lead one
into the fire,
where one is consumed,
and burned up.
Curiosity can be good,
and it can be bad.
Therefore, watch the fire
and control it.
Never let it get out of hand.
There is more to tell.
There is much more to know.
But when is the right time?
Where is the right place?
These are questions
we each must contemplate.”
Rabbi Ariel Bar Tzadok