“I have learned from long experience that there is nothing that is not marvellous, and the saying of Aristotle is true: that in every natural phenomena there is something wonderful – nay, in truth, many wonders. We are born and placed among wonders and surrounded by them, so that to whatever object the eye first turns, the same is full of wonders, if only we examine it for a while.”

John de Dundas, 14th century philosopher, quoted in Fragments of Holiness for Daily Reflection

“Another often-asked question when I speak in public: “Do you have some good advice you might share with us?” Yes, I do. It comes from my savvy mother-in-law, advice she gave me on my wedding day. “In every good marriage,” she counseled, “it helps sometimes to be a little deaf.” I have followed that advice assiduously, and not only at home through fifty-six years of a marital partnership nonpareil. I have employed it as well in every workplace, including the Supreme Court of the United States. When a thoughtless or unkind word is spoken, best tune out. Reacting in anger or annoyance will not advance one’s ability to persuade.”

Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933 – 2020), born on this day

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning… The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. 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 every day.”

Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955), born on this day

“Imagination is as vital to any advance in science as learning and precision are essential for starting points.. For reason.. compares what we imagine with what we know, and gives us the answer in terms of the here and now, which we call the actual. But the actual.. does not mark the limit of the possible.”

Percival Lowell, astronomer (1855 – 1916), born on this day

“I have lots of things to teach you now, in case we ever meet, concerning the message that was transmitted to me under a pine tree in North Carolina on a cold winter moonlit night. It said that Nothing Ever Happened, so don’t worry. It’s all like a dream. Everything is ecstasy, inside. We just don’t know it because of our thinking-minds. But in our true blissful essence of mind is known that everything is alright forever and forever and forever. Close your eyes, let your hands and nerve-ends drop, stop breathing for 3 seconds, listen to the silence inside the illusion of the world, and you will remember the lesson you forgot, which was taught in immense milky way soft cloud innumerable worlds long ago and not even at all. It is all one vast awakened thing. I call it the golden eternity. It is perfect. We were never really born, we will never really die. It has nothing to do with the imaginary idea of a personal self, other selves, many selves everywhere: Self is only an idea, a mortal idea. That which passes into everything is one thing. It’s a dream already ended. There’s nothing to be afraid of and nothing to be glad about. I know this from staring at mountains months on end. They never show any expression, they are like empty space. Do you think the emptiness of space will ever crumble away? Mountains will crumble, but the emptiness of space, which is the one universal essence of mind, the vast awakenerhood, empty and awake, will never crumble away because it was never born.”

Jack Kerouac (1922 – 1969), born on this day

“For years, every morning, I drank
from Blackwater Pond.
It was flavored with oak leaves and also, no doubt,
the feet of ducks.

And always it assuaged me
from the dry bowl of the very far past.

What I want to say is
that the past is the past,
and the present is what your life is,
and you are capable
of choosing what that will be,
darling citizen.

So come to the pond,
or the river of you imagination,
or the harbor of your longing,

and put your lips to the world.
And live
your life.”

Mary Oliver

Thought for the day, Sunday 10th March

“This magnificent refuge is inside you. Enter. Shatter the darkness that shrouds the doorway. Step around the poisonous vipers that slither at your feet, attempting to throw you off your course. Be bold. Be humble. Put away the incense and forget the incantations they taught you. Ask no permission from the authorities. Slip away. Close your eyes and follow your breath to the still place that leads to the invisible path that leads you home.”

From The Interior Castle by Saint Teresa of Avila (1515 – 1582), translated by Mirabai Starr

“The Buddha taught that inside us there’s an island where we can take refuge. When we feel lost, lonely, sad, hesitant, or desperate we can come back to that island and have safety. That island is our stable mind. That island isn’t a place outside us. One breath can bring us back to that island immediately. In each person there are seeds of stability, freedom, and nonfear. It’s these seeds that make a place of refuge for us and protect us. When we take refuge in our island, we’re taking refuge in something real.”

Thich Nhat Hanh

International Women’s Day

“Beloved One
Shekinah
Indwelling
Feminine Presence
Immanence
Embodiment
Mother-Heart
Please come flowing into every open window in our souls right now,
as we call to you.
Infuse every cell of our bodies with your fierce and tender Mother-Wisdom.
Give us the strength to speak truth to power in these fractured times.
Give us the tenderness and humility to listen deeply
to those that we are conditioned to otherize.
And remind us again and again when we forget that we belong to each other,
and we belong to you.
Amen.”

Mirabai Starr

Art by Tamara Liz Rivera Hyde

“”The three things which surpass understanding: the work of the bees, the mind of women, and the flow and ebb of the tide.” – ancient Irish triad

Much of our world is mysterious to us. However much science explains to us about our surroundings, there remain many mysteries that still evoke wonder. Though the beekeeper is close to the work of the hive, for example, she remains essentially an outsider, able only to exploit the bees and their honey-making skill. The thought processes of women, totally congruent to the feminine understanding, are mysterious to men. The ebb and flow of the tide can be reckoned by mariners and the Coast Guard, but they are mysteries to those who have not observed them.

These unmapped terrains of mystery do not yield themselves easily to us; they are not apprehensible or quantifiable after short study. Only by observing the movement of migrating birds over many seasons, for example, do bird-watchers understand a little of that process which is natural yet deeply mysterious to the casual observer. Even our own mysterious processes are graspable only when we give time and meaningful attention to them. This means long, patient observation and notation of our dreams, our intentions, our relationship to the world. When we become more sensitive to the subtle messages that are clearly transmitted to us, we come to a deeper understanding of ourselves and our place in the world.”

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