“One person, on doing well by others, immediately accounts the expected favour in return. Another is not so quick, but still considers the person a debtor and knows the favour. A third kind of person acts as if not conscious of the deed, rather like a vine producing a cluster of grapes without making further demands, like a horse after its race, or a dog after its walk, or a bee after making its honey. Such a person, having done a good deed, won’t go shouting from rooftops but simply moves on to the next deed just like the vine produces another bunch of grapes in the right season.”

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 5.6

“I wish to speak a word for Nature, for absolute freedom and wildness, as contrasted with a freedom and culture merely civil–to regard man as an inhabitant, or a part and parcel of Nature, rather than a member of society. I wish to make an extreme statement, if so I may make an emphatic one, for there are enough champions of civilization: the minister and the school committee and every one of you will take care of that.

I have met with but one or two persons in the course of my life who understood the art of Walking, that is, of taking walks–who had a genius, so to speak, for SAUNTERING, which word is beautifully derived “from idle people who roved about the country, in the Middle Ages, and asked charity, under pretense of going a la Sainte Terre,” to the Holy Land, till the children exclaimed, “There goes a Sainte-Terrer,” a Saunterer, a Holy-Lander…

So we saunter toward the Holy Land, till one day the sun shall shine more brightly than ever he has done, shall perchance shine into our minds and hearts, and light up our whole lives with a great awakening light, as warm and serene and golden as on a bankside in autumn.”

From Walking by Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862), Unitarian Transcendentalist, born on this day

“Every morning I awake torn between a desire to save the world and an inclination to savor it. This makes it hard to plan the day. But if we forget to savor the world, what possible reason do we have for saving it? In a way, the savoring must come first.”

E. B. White (1899 – 1985), writer, born on this day

“Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing.”

Camille Pissarro (1830 – 1903), painter, born on this day

“The storm don’t steer the ship.
Storm may push it, toss it, rock it, crack it,
even sink it.
But it takes a knowing mind and guiding sense to steer a ship toward safety.
It takes a memory of the harbor haven
to guide a body soaked with fear, pushing
against the wind

It takes faith to hold out
for the storm to run out of rain.”

From Incantations for Rest by Atena O. Danner, Unitarian Universalist minister

“Open our eyes so we may recognise that of God in all those we meet..
Open our ears to hear other people’s life stories and, through hearing, understand them better..
Open our mouths to speak words of friendship and kindness to strangers..
Open our arms to help tear down the barriers of fear that divide one group from another..
Open our minds to think bigger, braver thoughts and go beyond our narrow prejudices..
Open our hearts so love may flow through us, creating this world as one community which rejoices in people’s diversity and encourages the inclusion of all.”

Sarah Tinker, Unitarian minister, quoted in Fragments of Holiness for Daily Reflection

“Only the transitory lends itself to description; but what we feel, surmise but will never reach (or know here as an actual happening), the intransitory behind all appearance, is indescribable. That which draws us by its mystic force, what every created thing, perhaps even the very stones, feels with absolute certainty as the centre of its being, what Goethe here — again employing an image — calls the eternal feminine — that is to say, the resting-place, the goal, in opposition to the striving and struggling toward the goal (the eternal masculine) — you are quite right in calling the force of love. There are infinite representations and names for it . . “

From the letters of Gustav Mahler (1860 – 1911), born on this day

“Sometimes we feel that we aren’t in our true home because the person we love isn’t there. We think that if we can be together with our beloved, we’ll feel more at home. But if we have not found our true home, then even when we’re with the person we love, we won’t feel at home. This is why it’s very important for us to find our true home first. Only then can we help our beloved one find their true home. Otherwise, both of us will be without a home, still looking somewhere outside of ourselves.

We should not think that our true home is wherever our beloved one is. Our true home is in our heart. And when we have found our true home, we feel at home anywhere we go.”

From Peace Is This Moment by Thich Nhat Hanh

“You are a part of me I do not yet know: What do these words mean to you? I practice saying these words in my mind when I see faces on the street, on the screen, across the table. I practice with people I fear or want to to hate. I practice with parts of the earth, with trees and birds, rocks and mountains. I say these words to parts of my own self — my grief or pain, my rage or fear. And every time, these words cultivate a sense of humility in me, an openness. An ability to get quiet and listen. I learn something new. I gain information for how to respond with care. I make wonder a practice. Wonder is the precondition to love. It is what makes love revolutionary.”

Valarie Kaur

“”Three indispensables of a nobleman are: his harp, his blanket and his cauldron.” – triad from Laws of Hywel Dda

Under most modern laws of distraint – whereby goods are removed from a household in compensation for debts unpaid – there are certain articles that cannot be removed. These usually include the items by which the householder earns her living, the tools of a worker’s trade, the bed, and the means to make food. In the triad above, from the Welsh legal code formulated by King Hywel Dda in the ninth century, we discover that the three indispensable objects of the nobleman are the harp by which his bard entertained him, the blanket that kept his body warm in bed, and the cauldron that heated his food. Today, these items would probably be equivalent to the television set, the bed, and the stove: means of entertainment, sleep, and food.

We have become used to the possession of certain inalienable rights: life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, among others, in our modern world. These are rights that we take for granted, that are enshrined in constitutions and maintained by the law of the land; and yet even within civilized societies there are many who do not enjoy these rights. The poor, the disadvantaged, and others who live on the margins of society need the actions and voices of those who honour the commitment to the inalienable rights that we should all enjoy.”

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

Illustration ‘Proclaiming the laws of Hywel Dda’ from Flamebearers of Welsh History